"I must be the horniest seventeen-year-old girl alive!" Cheri Adams thought to herself. She wiggled in the bus seat and crossed her long, shapely legs so that her red knit mini-skirt rode high on her delectable thighs, almost to the edge of her hot pink panties. "Why else would I always be getting in so much trouble?" she wondered, but the sly smile at the corners of her ruby red lips betrayed the fact that trouble was one thing Cheri definitely enjoyed.
With her body twisted slightly to the side, she tried to survey the passing countryside through the bus window, but it was still too dark outside for her to see anything more than her own reflection on the glass. She studied herself carefully, enjoying what she saw.
Cheri had a beautiful, almost angelic face: soft, bow-shaped lips; a pert little button nose; dimpled cheeks with a naturally rosy blush to them; and skin that was a perfect peaches and cream color. Only her eyes showed the devilment that was part and parcel of her true nature. For a girl whose hair was naturally blonde-and Cheri showed it off by letting it grow long and luxuriously past her shoulders her eyes were remarkably green. like two bright chips of jade, they sparkled and flashed inside a setting of carefully applied mascara and eye shadow. At one moment Cheri's eyes seemed as soft as a baby's-innocent and pure. In the next they blazed with fire, beckoning to all who gazed into them and promising every reward which her amply endowed body could so well provide.
It was hard for most males to believe that Cheri was actually as young as she was when they first met her. Aside from the fact that she carried herself with all the grace and sophistication of a woman of the world, her body was so tantalizingly perfect in every way it seemed impossible that it had taken a short seventeen years to develop in the ways it had.
Her height, in stocking feet, was just under five foot eight inches of shapely, delectable flesh. Prominent and most eye-catching, of course, were her breasts, which swelled out from her chest like two majestic baby melons-soft to the touch, silky to run across with bare fingers, and unbelievably hot to nuzzle against with bare cheeks. At the tips of each of these twin delights were nipples the size of pretzel nuggets when fully extended, and just about as brown in color. Surrounding these were haloes the size of silver dollars, which had the remarkable quality of changing from a light beige color when Cheri was relaxed to a deep brown, almost violet hue when her blood pounded hotlv through her veins and set her breasts pulsing with rigid, expectant life.
The skin above her belly button was sleek and soft and rosv pink in color. Surrounding her cute little navel was just the hint of golden down, which feathered its way across her flaring, sensual hips and flowered at last into the incomparable beauty of a true blonde when it got to just the right place.
Cheri's thighs and buttocks were probably the second and third most amazing parts of her anatomy, following her breasts. At times her muscular control surprised even herself. She could lie flat on a bed and roll her belly as she undulated her thighs and feel the muscles contracting and tightening as they responded to the age-old rhythms she worked herself into. The pull of her thighs was like a suction pump-drawing and holding firmly, squeezing from every angle as rolls of soft, juicy flesh quivered and trembled in the most spectacular ways imaginable. One meeting with those marvelous thighs were enough to make any man feel as though he had been caught in a whirlpool of ecstasy which would deyour him completely-and which he would never want to escape from as long as such throbbing sensations continued to drive him wild with pleasure.
like her thighs, Cheri's buttocks were objects of many a man's speculation and more' than a few's delight-when the hot-blooded young blonde was in the mood to grant special favors. Full and firm with exciting flesh, the twin spheres wiggled and shimmied bewitchingly as she walked, shifting from side to side beneath her skirt in a way that provoked wicked thoughts in even the meekest of men. They seemed so ripe for the feel of eager fingers to squeeze; so ready to be pinched and-if wildest dreams could come true-to be playfully, lovingly spanked until they glowed a ripe, rosy hue.
There was nothing Cheri's body didn't promise a man-and very little pleasures it had not already given and received at least once.
"Maybe I should give up men," she thought to herself, then had to hide her beautiful little mouth to hold back the giggle that broke from her throat. Men-of any age, size, or variety-were the last things in the world Cheri could do without. She craved male attention, doted on masculine affection, and went wild at the sight of a man ready for action. It was because of men, in fact, that she was where she was at the moment-on a rumbling cross-country bus heading for Springfield and the home of her mother's brother Oscar, a stern old bachelor who had volunteered to take charge of his "problem niece" and see if he could instill in her the discipline her parents could not.
"Men!" she thought dreamily, recalling the events just prior to her sudden and all-too-hasty departure from Chicago. Actually, she thought to herself, her parents were being entirely unreasonable. Just because she had volunteered to "entertain" at a fraternity initiation and been discovered in a room full of naked, excited boys by police who'd been summoned by complaining neighbors, was no reason for her Mom and Dad to blow their stacks as they had.
At first the Adamses had talked about bringing statutory rape charges against the two dozen or so boys of the fraternity house who were waiting their turn with Cheri. But following a long talk with then-daughter, during which a great many previously unknown facts had come to light, the distraught parents decided it might be best for all concerned to forget anything had ever happened and look for a different locale for Cheri. That's when Uncle Oscar had been brought into the picture, and within a day or so of the fraternity party, Cheri was on her way to Springfield and a life which her parents hoped would settle her down.
"Not a chance," Cheri thought with a smile. "Not a blooming chance!"
Shifting once again in her seat, she felt her leg brush against that of the person in the seat next to her. She looked up quickly and muttered a soft apology.
"Not at all," the man beside her said with a smile. "I didn't mind at all." His eyes held fast to Cheri's and twinkled with lewd suggestion as they roamed up and down the length of her body. He was a greying man, at least in his late fifties, but the look he was giving Cheri was that of a young colt eager to kick over the traces.
"Look at the old dog licking his chops!" the blonde thought mischieyously. Glancing down quickly at her thighs, which were all but completely exposed due to the high lift of her mini-skirt, she felt a curious tingle begin to course through her body. "I wonder how much I could work the old boy up if I really tried? It might be kind of fun!"
Sticking her tongue in her cheek to hold back a broad grin, an idea began to form in her mind. She knew the old man sitting next to her was still admiring her exposed flesh.
"I guess I'm nervous about this trip," she lisped sexily.
The man smiled and widened his eyes curiously. "Oh? First time away from home?"
Cheri nodded. "I really didn't want to leave Mom and Dad, but we don't have that much money and they couldn't come with me to the hospital."
"Hospital?" The man's eyes widened even further and he backed off quickly. "What's the matter with you?"
Cheri laughed low in her throat-a soft, rich, purring sound that seemed to rouse the man's interest all over again. "Oh, nothing serious-I hope. It's just that I have this itch all the time."
"Itch?" The man's eyes narrowed suspiciously.
Cheri nodded her head in a solemn up and down gesture. "Yes, it just drives me crazy! We went to all kinds of doctors back home, but they don't seem to be able to do anything for it. It's kind of a rare tiling." Leaning closer to the man and lowering her voice to a confidential whisper, she murmured, "It's called hotitis."
"Hotitis?"
Cheri could barely keep from giggling, but she bit her lip and continued in the same serious vein. "Yes. Did you know that only one girl in even' fifty thousand in this country is susceptible to hotitis?"
"No, I can't say that I did."
"Well, wouldn't you know that it would be me who gets it!"
The man seemed to study this for a long moment. "Just, uh, what is the nature of hotitis?" he asked.
Cheri wiggled her bottom on the seat and let her shoulders shiver involuntarily. "Oooh! It makes me itch just thinking about it and talking to you about it! Ooooooh! There it goes again!"
The man blinked, his mouth half-open in amazement as Cheri bounced and jerked her lovely young body up and down, from side to side, back and forth, until the mini-skirt was twisted far above the legs of her panties.
She smiled as she watched him swallowing hard and crossing his legs to hide what was rapidly becoming evident through the material of his trousers. "Is there, uh, anything I could do to help?" he wheezed.
Cheri slumped down in the seat as though she was suddenly drained of all emotion. "It's past-at least for the moment." Then, turning wide-eyed to the man, she added, "It just drives me wild when it happens!"
"Uh ... where ... uh ... does it affect you, my dear?" the man inquired.
"Right here," she said, pointing without a trace of embarrassment.
"There?'
"Yup," she said, nodding.
The man shook his head from side to side in mock sympathy. "That's terrible. I can see why it would bother you." He thought for a long moment, while his eyes continued to drink in Cheri's beauty. "I'd be glad to, uh, help in any way I could."
A sly smile crept across Cheri's face. Yeah, I just bet you would! she thought. "Well, sometimes the doctor says a massage would help prevent it from happening."
The old man gulped. "Massage?"
"Uh-huh," Cheri nodded. She put her hand down on her lap and showed him just what she meant. "Like this."
The man's eyes popped open so wide they seemed about to drop from their sockets as he watched the young girl's hand wriggle inside her panties and begin to rub at herself. All the while she continued to stare at him with an innocent expression on her face and explain that what she was doing was just what the doctor had prescribed-and what he had done himself during her many visits to his office.
"He said it's better if somebody else does it," she concluded. "He told me that it would be more therapeutic. Something about outside influences, you know?"
Swallowing every other second as he wiped away a line of nervous perspiration from his forehead, the man nodded eager agreement. "Do-do you think it would help if I ... uh ... massaged you?" he asked.
Cheri looked shocked. "You?" She shook her head violently from side to side. "I wouldn't hear of it!"
"You wouldn't?" The old man seemed crestfallen.
"Of course not! Why I hardly know you!"
The old man's disappointment began to change to apprehension. "Young lady," he explained, "I hope you didn't get the wrong idea. That is, I didn't mean to-
"Why I wouldn't think of imposing on a perfect stranger!" Cheri interjected.
The man took several long seconds to consider this. Finally, his voice faltering, he whispered, "It wouldn't be imposing on me."
Cheri looked at him questioningly. "It wouldn't?"
"Honest."
"You really mean that? You're not just trying to be nice?"
"Huh-uh," the man squeaked.
"Well...." Cheri pondered. "If you're sure it wouldn't be imposing, I guess I would be grateful to you for helping me."
"My pleasure!" the man rasped, as his hand dove into Cheri's lap, pulling away her own and replacing it in the hot seat of her panties with his trembling fingers. "There," he whispered. "How does that feel?"
"Ummmm!" Cheri moaned. "Like heaven."
"How about like this."
"Oooooooh! Better yet!"
The man gathered his courage into one daring thrust. "How does that feel?" he whispered.
"Uh! Uh!" Cheri moaned, no longer pretending what she was feeling. The man might be getting on in years, but he certainly knew just what he was doing! And was he ever doing it! She felt her thighs beginning to turn to soft butter under the stroking and prodding of his expert fingers. He knew just where to go; just how far to venture to obtain the maximum amount of thrills for them both.
"Do you think it's going to come?"
"What?"
"The hotitis?"
"Oh! That!" Cheri rasped. "I-I'm not sure. Maybe."
"How do you think it would be if ... if I were to kiss the hurt away?" the man croaked. "Kiss?"
His tongue wiggled outside his lips and ran slowly, hungrily over the entire surface of his mouth. "Kiss."
"Right here? In the bus."
"Why not?"
"Well, uh, what about the other people?"
"There isn't anyone awake but us," the man panted heavily. "Nobody'll see. And I'm sure it'll make your hotitis feel much, much better!"
Cheri darted her head quickly around from side to side. He was right. The seat across from them was empty, and the rest of the bus was dark. Everyone was sleeping. She pondered the point in her mind, but a sharp jolt from the old man's finger brought her decision instantly to the fore. "Yes!" she gasped. "Yes! I think you're right!"
She could see the smile on the man's face as he lifted himself up from his seat and wiggled his way around so that he knelt sideways to Cheri's body in the space between their seat and the one in front. His hands groped for her panties, urging them down over her thighs and to her knees as his eyes drank in the loveliness of her. Strange, almost animal-like sounds grunted from his throat and his lips smacked continuously together.
Cheri's own breath was coming hard and hot in her throat. She hadn't intended to let things get this far, but the man's fingers had worked her up to the point where she was putty in his hands. Her body craved loving-and if he was willing to give it to her, why not make him and herself happy at the same time?
The old man's lapping tongue drew closer and closer, and just before his face disappeared from sight, Cheri saw him close his eyes in rapture. Then her body shot forward in the seat at the first jolting contact and the long, langourous tickle of pleasure that followed it. Above the rasping of their voices, she could hear the sharp hiss of a zipper being opened, and in the next moment she could see the man's arm begin to move in frantic, wild motion.
"Oooooh!" she sighed heavily. Squeezing shut her thighs, she heard an answering moan from the old man's throat, and when she slowly opened them again she thought he was going to go out of his mind with joy. His attack was so frantic, so ruthless that all she could do was bounce and twist on the seat in time to the pace he was setting.
Suddenly she opened her eyes and pushed at his shoulders. "Hey! Why didn't you warn me you were going to do that?" she gasped, as she quickly fished in her purse for a handkerchief. "Just look what you did to my stockings!" She dabbed furiously with the hankie, feeling an odd tingle in her belly at the thought of how excited the man had been.
"I'm sorry," he murmured, kissing Cheri's thighs and belly apologetically. "I-I didn't know myself. It happened so fast!"
"Well just look what you did to me!" she moaned. "If these stockings are ruined, I'm going to make you buy me a new pair."
"I can think of a better way to show you I'm sorry," he whispered, his eyes twinkling with devilment.
"Like how?" Cheri pouted.
The man's hands squeezed against the soft flesh of her legs so he took up his position once more. "Like this!" he hissed, as he drew in close.
CHAPTER TWO
Cheri almost leaped out of her seat as the man went back to work with renewed vigor. The jolts of excitement he was sending through her body were so intense, so powerful, so skillfully applied that the young girl had to marvel at his proficiency. To look at him, she'd never have imagined that he was capable of arousing a girl to such an extent. But there was no doubt of it in her mind now!
"Maybe it's years of practice," she thought with a little giggle. Then, with yet another furious assault from him, she put every other thought away and concentrated on the driving force which was bringing her closer and closer to the brink of total surrender.
"Ohhh, Daddy!" she moaned under her breath. Her hands curled through the thin strands of hair atop the man's head, forcing him closer still. And he responded instantly, pitching forward and wiggling from side to side with his snake-like tongue until Cheri was nearly out of her mind.
"Daddy, Daddy! Oh, do it, Daddy!" she moaned. Her eyes were clenched tightly shut, her muscles tensed as she arched her body forward to meet him.
"Jast like that! Oooooh! Just like that!" Sucking in her breath harder, she twisted the old man's hair between her fingers until she heard a little whimper of pain come from his throat. But there would be no stopping now-not for either of them. They were too close to what they both wanted to happen, and each of them knew it.
Suddenly Cheri's hips lurched out of control and began to tremble and quiver. "Yes!" she panted. "You got me now, Daddy! Oh, yes! Oh, yes! Do you ever got me!"
A mumbled, appreciative reply bubbled from the man's throat. He knew what he had-and he was relishing every moment of it. It was a lifetime of thrills concentrated into a few quick seconds-seconds which he could dream about and relive a thousand times over in the future.
like a coil which had been drawn so taut that it could do nothing but snap, Cheri's body went suddenly limp and she collapsed against the back of the seat. Her hands continued to fondly stroke the top of the man's head, but when he gave no sign of letting up and the feel of him there was too much for her to endure any longer, she grabbed him tenderly by the ears and pulled him away. A grateful, still-hungry smile ran across his face from ear to ear.
"That's enough, honey," Cheri panted. "You want to give me the screaming-meemies?"
He stuck out his tongue and ran it devilishly across his lips. "You know what I want to give you, girlie," he whispered, as he reached for Cheri's hand and brought it down where he wanted it.
She recoiled quickly from the touch. "Wow!" she thought in amazement. "This guy's a real live wire! And at his age!"
"Come on," he begged. "Wiggle down a little further in the seat and we can do it."
Cheri laughed kindly and shook her head no. "I'm sorry, but I can't. We'll be in Springfield soon, and how would it look for my Uncle to see me like this?" She indicated her completely disheveled appearance: rumpled skirt, baggy nylons, stained panties, half-opened sweater, tousled hair.
"Who cares what your uncle thinks?" the old man pleaded, lifting his other hand to touch, while the fingers holding Cheri's hand squeezed tighter to prove he wasn't kidding.
"I care," she said flatly. She was beginning to get a little annoyed at him. After all, she thought, fun is fun-but enough is enough, too. She'd thoroughly enjoyed what the old man had done to her, but she wasn't in the mood for anything more. At least not with him. When she went in for that she preferred somebody closer to her own age. Somebody who she could be reasonably sure wouldn't have a heart attack in the middle of it if the excitement got too much for him!
"And besides," she told herself, remembering the balled-up handkerchief she'd stuffed down into the seat, "he got his jollies already; what does he want more for?"
"Come on, honey," he pleaded, stroking Cheri's legs and trying to work her into the right mood. "It'll just take a couple of minutes. Then I'll leave you alone-I promise. Just wiggle down a little bit more, so I can-"
"If you don't take your clammy hand off me this second and get up off your knees," Cheri said flatly, "I'll scream so loud the roof of this bus will blow off."
The man blinked and seemed genuinely fearful for a moment. Then he chuckled under his breath and bent his head to kiss Cheri once again. "Don't play hard to get, honey," he murmured. "It's not like you."
"Mister, cut it out!" Cheri squealed. She was genuinely angry with him now. Her hands struggled to be free so she could shove away his head-keep that driving, tickling tongue from continuing what it was doing so expertly-but his hands held her fast. "Stop that!" she shrieked. "I'm not kidding! Stop that!"
But he was giving no sign of stopping. He knew Cheri was powerless as long as he held her hands, and apparently he'd decided that if he couldn't get what he really wanted, another round of second best would do just as nicely.
"Mister!" the young blonde cried, her voice rising considerably. "Get away from me! Stop that!"
Suddenly a deep masculine voice startled the two of them to rigid attention. "I said, is something wrong?" the voice repeated.
The man's hands let go of Cheri's arms instantly, and within seconds she was tugging at her panties to get them back where they should be. The old man was scrambling to get up from where he knelt as the sound of shuffling feet started toward them from a point several seats forward in the bus.
"What's the matter?" the voice asked. "Is somebody in trouble?"
"I-uh-" Cheri began to say, but the man clamped his hand hard over her mouth.
"Shhh!" he ordered. His face was ghostly white, and for the first time in quite a while he looked his age. "Don't make a sound."
Cheri twisted her head to break free of his grip, then stopped suddenly and stared with gaping eyes at the man who stood squarely alongside the seat.
At first all she saw was white. White pants, white shirt, and a little white cap perched atop blonde hair. Then her eyes began to pick out the sailor's features. He had a rugged, muscular build, but his face was gentle, almost boyish-looking. His eyes seemed to be blue, although in the darkness of the bus she couldn't be sure. There was no doubt about the square cut of his jaw, though, or the power lurking in his muscular biceps and rock-hard chest and stomach.
"What's going on here?" the sailor demanded, his eyes glaring down accusingly into the old man's timid face.
"Mmmmmphf!" Cheri mumbled through the fingers covering her mouth.
"The-uh-young lady was having a nightmare, sailor."
"Oh yeah?" the boy said gruffly. "Couldn't have been caused by that open fly of yours, could it?"
Cheri almost swallowed her teeth fillings, and she could feel the tremors racing through the old man's body.
"Oh!" he gasped. "Is my-uh-is it open."
"Get your hand off her mouth," the sailor ordered, as he grabbed out and pulled the hand away. "I'd like to hear what the young lady's got to say about all this."
"Please, sailor. Do you want to wake up everyone on the bus?"
"I'll wake up the morgue attendants if what I suspect you were trying to do is true," the boy cracked, and there was little doubt in anyone's mind that he meant every word of what he said. He had the body to back up his threat. "What about it, Miss? Was this guy trying to do something he shouldn't?"
"Please ... I" the man whimpered, turning to Cheri with a look of absolute panic in his eyes.
"I-uh-" she stammered, wavering back and forth between turning the rugged young sailor on the man or protecting him. Deciding at last that it just wouldn't be right-after all, he had given her a good time for a while there-she smiled sheepishly and shook her head no.
"He's right," she declared. "I was just having a bad dream. I-I guess I'm not used to riding on buses, especially right over the wheel like this."
The sailor relaxed his guard somewhat, but he continued to eye the older man suspiciously. "You traveling with this guy?"
Cheri shook her head no. "We just met on the bus. He's been very ... helpful."
The man beamed back and forth from Cheri to the brawny young sailor, already feeling safe from punishment. "See," he enthused, "I told you!"
"But, uh, maybe I should change my seat," Cheri added, just in case the old dog was getting any further ideas about picking up where they'd left off.
"So I won't upset anybody else, in case I have another nightmare."
The young sailor smiled indulgently. "There's a seat empty next to me," he offered. "And it's far away from the wheel. Want to join me?"
Cheri debated for only a moment. He was awfully handsome ... and those muscles! "Thank you," she purred, lowering her eyes seductively. "That's very kind. I believe I will." Wiggling up from her seat and trying to push down her miniskirt at the same time was a pretty difficult job, but she managed admirably. She felt the pressure of the old man's knees rub against the backs of her thighs as she slid out of the seat, and when she stood in the aisle she turned to glance one final time at him. There was a forlorn look in his eyes, like that of a cat who's just lost the most delicious canary it's had in its life.
"Sorry, Pops," she thought to herself, as she allowed the young sailor to lead her up front to the vacant seat next to his. "That's what you get for being so greedy!"
"Would you like to sit next to the window or on the aisle?" the sailor asked.
"It doesn't make any difference. Either one."
"Well, where are you getting off? If it's before me, you take the aisle. If not, I will, so I won't disturb you in case you fall asleep again."
"I'm getting off at Springfield," she replied.
"Really? So am I! What a coincidence!"
"Do you live there?"
The boy shook his head yes. "With my folks, on Cheny Street. How about you?"
"I'm going to visit my Uncle Oscar. I believe he lives on Delmarre Avenue."
"Oh, the rich part of town," the boy laughed. "You're out of my class then."
"Don't be silly," Cheri smiled, touching the boy reassuringly on the arm and marveling at the solid feel of his muscle and the heat emanating through his cotton uniform. "I'm from the poor branch of the family tree."
The sailor smiled in return, then shook his head and playfully cuffed himself on the cheek. "What the hI mean, what am I thinking about. We're standing here jawing and all you probably want to do is sit down and get back to sleep." Before Cheri had a chance to protest, the boy was ushering her into the seat by the window. "Go on, you sit in there. Since we're both getting off at the same place, it doesn't make any difference. And I could use some room to stretch out my legs." He grinned in a most appealing, wholesome manner. "I've got awful long legs."
"So I noticed," Cheri murmured. And he did, too. Everything about him looked big, in fact. Big hands, big arms, big legs, big ears-she thought with a giggle. I wonder if everything is that big. ... She bit her tongue instantly for the thought that had been in her mind.
"The guys in high school used to call me Stretch," the sailor laughed, as they settled down into their seats.
"Do they still call you that?" He shook his head no. "I just grew faster than the rest of them. But they caught up. When I was home on leave last time I hardly knew any of 'em. They could call me Shorty now, they all shot up so fast!"
Cheri laughed warmly, appreciating the naturalness of this boy-his home-spun simplicity and genuine friendliness.
"What do they call you then, if it's not Stretch?" she asked.
The sailor slapped himself on the head again. "How about that! How stupid can a guy get? I meet a good-looking girl and I don't even tell her my name, let alone find out her name! I'm Marty Hobart." He grinned broadly and stuck out his hand.
"Hi, Marty," Cheri murmured, as she clasped his hand in a warm, friendly shake. "My name's Cheri. Cheri Adams."
"Cheri," the boy said softly. "That sure is a pretty name.'
"Thank you, sir."
"A pretty name for a real pretty girl."
"Well!" Cheri laughed. "Aren't we complimentary this morning! How long have you been in the Navy?"
"Past two years," Marty said. "But that doesn't make any difference. I'd still think you were pretty if I'd been in civvies all that time." He stared hard into Cheri's eyes, as though he were trying to memorize every detail of her face-or read her mind. It was this last thought, silly as it was, that gave Cheri a little start.
Looking away from him, she slipped her hand out of his and clasped it with the other one in her lap. "Thank you, Marty," she said. "It's so seldom a girl meets a real gentleman these days, and that's just what you are."
The sailor blushed in a most appealing way. "Well, I always try to be-although it's hard sometimes. If you know what I mean."
Cheri nodded her head. "Yes, I know what you mean."
"That's what makes me so burned up when I see a guv like that old goat you were sitting with do something he shouldn't do to a lady. A guy should always treat a lady with respect."
A sudden lump was in Cheri's throat. "Is-is that what you think I am, Marty?" she said, her voice almost a whisper. "A lady?"
"Well sure!" he said instantly, as though it were the most natural answer in the world. The only answer, in fact. "Why shouldn't I?"
Cheri took a deep breath and felt a little chill run down the length of her spine. "What's happening to me? she wondered. Why do I feel so funny inside-just because some skirt-crazy sailor is trying to make a play by using nice words instead of his hands? He's no different from any of the rest of them; don't try to kid yourself.
"Well," she laughed, trying to get control of herself once more, "for one thing, I'm not old enough to be properly considered a lady. And for another-"
"How old are you?" Marty interrupted.
"Seventeen."
The boy shrugged. "I'm only twenty-two. Does that mean I'm not a gentleman?"
"No," Cheri said, meaning every word she said. "You're definitely a gentleman, Marty."
They stared at each other for a long, long moment in silence-private thoughts running through each of their minds as their eyes sought out those of the other.
"What's the other reason?" the boy finally said, breaking the silence. "What?"
"The other reason why you don't think you're a lady. Remember? You started to say and for another-"
"I-uh-" Cheri stammered. She knew all too well what she was going to say back then, but suddenly she knew she couldn't say those words. She couldn't hint that there was far more to her than his innocent eye. In that moment of silence between them, something had happened. Something mysterious which she did not fullv understand. Something which frightened her by the strangeness of it; something which thrilled her with its wonderful promise. No, she couldn't tell him the other reasons. She couldn't spoil the picture he had of her. Because, to Cheri's complete amazement, at that moment she wanted more than anything in the world to really be the way Marty saw her. A young lady. Pure. Innocent. Sweet. A girl he might date. Somebody he might even fall in-
No! she thought abruptly. Stop thinking stupid things like that!
"Aren't we coming into Springfield?" she asked suddenly. "I thought I saw a sign back there on the road."
"Let me see." Marty leaned closer to her to get a better view out the window, and when he did, his thigh pressed up hard against Cheri's and his hand fell absently, innocently on her knee. She felt as though she would jump clear out of her skin from the heat and the strength of him. He felt so good close like that. She wanted more than anything to reach out and twine her arms around him; draw him close and hold him to her breast; kiss those strong lips; rim her fingers through his hair and whisper soft, loving words in his ear. She wanted him. She knew that now, beyond a doubt. She could feel the want beginning to hurt deep inside herself as the need spread through her body.
"Yes, I think you're right," Marty said, pulling away from the window and settling back in his own seat. "I just saw Kramer's grocery store, and that's just outside of the main part of town." He laughed pleasantly. "Gee, time sure flies when you're with somebody you like, doesn't it?"
Cheri could only nod her head slowly up and down. Her voice was too close to tears to be trusted. She feared that if she opened her mouth even once she would either burst out crying or blurt out a confession of desire which would leave the young sailor so shocked he would be speechless.
"Are you going to be in Springfield long, Cheri?" he asked.
She swallowed hard and when she spoke her voice was barely above a whisper. "A few months, maybe. Maybe longer; maybe shorter. It depends."
"On what?"
"A lot of things." She turned away from him and stared out the window. The bus was stopping, and across the street she could see a knot of people waiting for the passengers who would momentarily be unloading. Her eyes unconsciously sought and found an old man among the crowd, standing between a woman with her hair in curlers and a dark-haired, handsome boy who looked like he was Cheri's age. Uncle Oscar, she thought grimly. Come to get the prisoner.
"Such as what?" Marty asked. "What kind of things does it depend on."
"Oh, I don't know!" she snapped irritably. "Everything's up in the air so much right now I just don't know." She got up from her seat before Marty knew what was happening and slid past him. She would have made it down the aisle had he not seized her arm and held her back. He stood blocking the passage of everyone else getting off the bus, but seemed completely oblivious to it.
"Well listen, Cheri, can I see you sometime while you're here? I mean, my hitch is over and I'll be home for a while until I find a job and-uh-well, I won't have much to do and I thought maybe-"
"Mv Uncle's waiting for me," she said quickly and, breaking free of Marty's grip, pushed her way through the people in front of her and ran from the bus as fast as she could.
CHAPTER THREE
Without knowing for certain whether or not the old man she'd seen standing in front of the bus station was her Uncle Oscar, Cheri headed straight for him. Behind her she could hear Marty's voice calling, and although she dared not turn around to see, she was certain he was following.
No, her mind repeated over and over again, I can't stop now. I don't want to get involved with him.
But as she waited at the comer for the traffic light to flash green, she could hear Marty's voice getting closer and closer. Knowing that it would only be a matter of moments before he caught up with her, she dashed out into the street, dodged the light morning traffic, and ran toward the man she believed was her uncle.
"Uncle Oscar?" she inquired, the moment she'd stopped in front of the old man.
"What in the world--? " he began to scold, but his words were drowned out by another voice, still calling her name and obviously only a few feet away.
Cheri panicked, and acting on the first thought to come into her mind, broke from her uncle and flung herself into the arms of the tall, dark-haired young boy standing next to him.
"Darling!" she squealed, as she wrapped her arms around his neck, pressed her body flush up against his, and buried her warm, moist lips on the handsome boy's mouth.
He seemed stunned for an instant, but then Cheri felt him responding by tightening his arms around her back and working the point of his tongue out through his lips. Before he could gain admittance into Cheri's mouth, however, she pulled away from him and turned back toward her uncle. She knew Marty would be standing there also-and that he had witnessed the whole little scene she had just put on for his benefit.
"I've missed you so much-" she murmured, pretending for a moment not to notice the ashen, frozen stare of her uncle or the stunned surprise written all over Marty's face. "Why didn't you tell me you were going to bring Phil along, Uncle Oscar?" she beamed. "But you're an angel to have done so. I don't think I could have waited an extra--Oh! Marty!" she said, arching her eyes in exaggerated surprise. "I didn't see you there."
Uncle Oscar, whose face was rapidly turning a deep, violent purple, wheeled around and glowered at the confused sailor, then turned smartly on his heel and bore down hard on his young niece, who was still entwined in the arms of the handsome boy at her side. "Now see here!" he blustered. "I insist you tell me the meaning of-"
"Uncle Oscar," the blonde interrupted quickly, grasping her uncle's sleeve, "I'd like you to meet Marty Hobart, a very nice boy who I met on the bus."
Then, before the old man could utter a sound, she hurriedly turned to the boy whose arm was still around her waist, whose fingers were pressed possessively into her soft flesh and whose face was lit up like a Christmas tree in response to his unexpected and still unexplained good fortune.
"Marty," she continued, "I'd like you to meet Phil. My fianc'."
"Your--! " the old man gasped, but his outburst was sharply curtailed by a fit of coughing. Even the boy whom Cheri had introduced as Phil seemed stimned by the rest of her introduction, and she could feel him pull his hand away as though it had been resting on hot iron. Cheri could scarcely blame him. The boy was undoubtedly petrified by the sudden look of envy and undisguised jealousy that came over Marty's face. He drew himself up to his full height, puffed up his chest inside the sparkling white sailor's uniform as he took several deep breaths, then everything inside him seemed to collapse.
He shifted nervously back and forth from foot to foot, as though he were debating something within himself. At last he looked back into Cheri's eyes, held them for a long moment, then mumbled, "I'm sorry; I didn't know," and hurried off down the street.
Cheri watched him go with mixed feelings of regret and relief, but she didn't have more than a second or two to ponder her feelings. She jumped in surprise at the feel of a damp, leathery hand on her elbow, jerking her away from the boy whom she'd pretended was her husband-to-be.
Fire flashed in the eyes of her uncle as he roared, "I have a good mind to put you right back on that bus, young lady, and tell the driver to lose you somewhere! You haven't been in this town more than five minutes and already I can see why your mother was so anxious to shove the responsibility of looking after you onto my shoulders. Never in my life have I seen-"
"Uncle Oscar," she said sweetly, reaching up to stroke the old man's cheeks in supplication, "please don't upset yourself like this. I would have explained if I had a chance, but you see Marty came up so fast I just had to do what I did before he started getting the wrong ideas."
The old man's eyebrows arched high on his balding head. "I can not imagine, for the life of me, what ideas he might have had that could be any worse than he must have right now-after seeing you make a shameless spectacle of yourself on a public street with my houseboy! And calling him your fianc', no less!" His voice rose to a bellow. "Have you no shame, girl? Have your parents allowed you to sink so low into depravity?"
"Uncle Oscar," she said softly, before things got too messy for all concerned, "aren't you forgetting that this is a public street? If you're going to scold me for being naughty, wouldn't it be better if you waited until we got to your house, so everyone in town won't overhear?"
The old man blinked in astonishment, then soothed his ruffled feathers by turning to the young boy. "Carlos, wipe that smug grin off your face and fetch my niece's luggage. We'll wait for you at the car.
Carlos, Cheri thought, as she watched the boy move sullenly away and start toward the bus terminal. He had a good body, she decided. A very good body. Lean, but well-muscled thighs; powerful biceps and shoulders; a hard-looking stomach; and solid buttocks that swayed with the masculine grace of a jungle animal as he moved across the street. He was quite good-looking, too, she had to admit. Spanish descent, no doubt, with a trace of fiery Indian blood mixed in somewhere to give him the haughty, mysterious flash he had in his eyes and the strength of his smile. She remembered the way those powerful, hot lips had pressed down upon hers-how quickly his tongue had been there to search out her mouth-and felt an all-too-familiar tingle begin deep in her thighs. Carlos....
The drive back to Uncle Oscar's house served as the setting for a monolithic tongue-lashing from the old man. Almost from the moment he and Cheri settled themselves in the backseat of the shiny limousine until Carlos steered the big automobile through the front gates of Uncle Oscar's estate, he rallied at her without letup. He let her know, in no uncertain terms, that he did not relish the idea of being in charge of a teen-age girl, that he did not intend to put up with any nonsense from her, and that he would be forced to enact harsh discipline if she stepped out of bounds at any time. He talked loudly enough so that Cheri was positive Carlos could overhear every word being said, and she blushed at times as her uncle went into fairly graphic detail about some of her past exploits and warned her that he would not put up with such carrying on.
After the first minute or two, the young blonde managed to drown out the ranting old man's words as she concentrated on the back of Carlos's head. Such curly black hair, she thought with pleasure. I always had a weakness for hair like that. I wonder if lie's got it everywhere? They say that Spanish boys even have it-
"Pardon me, Uncle Oscar?" she smiled sweetly, realizing that she'd just been asked a question which he expected her to answer.
"Nothing, nothing," the old man growled. "Just so we understand each other."
"Oh, yes," she hastily purred, her eyes wide and filled with a carefully practiced innocence, "I'm quite sure we do, Uncle Oscar." She could see that Carlos was turning off the main road and beginning the drive up a gently sloping hill toward the big house, and she wondered how long it would be until she had an opportunity to see the handsome young man again. Did he live somewhere on the grounds and could she visit him in his cottage? She had to cover her mouth to keep from giggling at the thought of playing Lady Chatterley with him picking flowers and twining them in his body hair, then running through the rain with him, both of them stark naked! What would Uncle Oscar think about that? she wondered.
"Let my niece and me off at the front door, Carlos," the old man ordered. "Then you take the car around to the back and bring in her luggage. When you've finished that, you can drive me into town. I have a business appointment at the Century Club this morning." Turning to Cheri he muttered, "I suppose you're worn out from your long trip. You can rest if you'd like." From the tone of his voice, it was more a command than a suggestion.
"Anything you say, Uncle Oscar," Cheri said agreeably. She waited until Carlos had brought the car to a full stop, then bounded out to open the door for her. As he helped her from the car, his hand touched her elbow and lingered there just long enough for her to look up in surprise and see the question in his eyes. She held his stare for a long moment, feeling the heat of his hand race through her body. Then a slow smile spread across her lips and she gave him just the hint of a wink. She knew his eyes followed her as she moved rhythmically, seductively toward the front door, her marvelous buttocks twitching and swaying in the most fantastically inviting patterns as she walked.
Uncle Oscar showed her to the bedroom she would occupy-a well-furnished room done in ivory and blue and situated near the back of the house, with a view of the gardens and swimming pool and stayed with her while Carlos brought up the luggage. Cheri's mind was hardly aware of her uncle's continuing lecture as she watched the young Spanish boy cast furtive glances at her while he worked. His muscles fairly rippled beneath the tight white tee-shirt, and although she felt she might have been mistaken, she felt fairly confident that by the time he left the room to bring the car back around to the front of the house for her uncle, the boy's tight jeans were also considerably tighter than they had been when he'd first come into the room I From what Cheri had been able to discern in the quick glimpses she had, Carlos possessed a truly magnificent body in all respects!
She lay down on the wide, soft bed and listened to the purr of the big limousine die away as Carlos sped her uncle back to town. Her mind danced with delightful images, and it was all she could do to keep from twitching with anticipation.
Carlos, she moaned, clutching at one of the big downy pillows and hugging it to her breasts. She squashed it down atop herself, pretending it was the boy's hard male body. Squirming and wiggling her thighs up and down on the bed, she began to moan deep in her throat as she imagined the feel of a hot mouth kissing her neck, her breasts, her stomach....
"Ooooh!" she squealed aloud, tossing the pillow away from herself. Now she'd really done it. As though what had happened on the bus with the old man had not been bad enough, compounded with the cravings Marty had managed to work up in her, she had now roused her senses to the pitch of desire for a boy she knew absolutely nothing about and who could doubtless provide her with nothing more than sheer animalistic sensation. Her present condition was a far cry from the picture Marty had of her, she thought ruefully. She wondered what would he think of his blushing, innocent virgin if he could see her now-frantic, panting, sex-crazy wanton-waiting desperately for her uncle's servant to return and give her some service.
She paced the room from one end to another, trying to fight down the feeling. But the more she walked, the worse it got. Something about the tightness of her panties rubbing against super-sensitive flesh, perhaps. Or the whistle of her legs as nylon brushed against nylon. Or possibly just the release of her natural instincts, which had to be appeased once they were aroused.
In any event, deciding that there was no way to fight what she was feeling, she hurriedly stripped out of her clothes, rummaged around in her suitcase until she found the sheerest nightie she owned, they stretched out flat on the bed-to wait for Carlos to return.
CHAPTER FOUR
Cheri didn't have long to wait. It seemed as though only a few minutes had passed before she heard the sound of the big car roaring up the driveway and come squealing to a halt somewhere near the back of the house. She heard the door open and close, and felt her muscles tense. He's coming now! she thought. He's been thinking about me all the way in to town, and he'll be so ready! Oh, so ready!
She waited, anticipating the sound of the back door to the house opening and closing, but only silence met her ears. Maybe he wanted to wash up first, she told herself.
Twisting slightly on the bed, she fussed with her nightie to make sure it was just the way she wanted it-high enough to give ample evidence of the charms that lay beneath its filmy material, but draped low enough on her thighs to preserve at least a small amount of modesty.
Confident that she looked her best, Cheri nestled her ripe young body back atop the blue satin coverlet. But after a few minutes, with still no sound coming from downstairs, she began to get a little worried. What could be keeping him? It had been over five minutes since the car stopped outside, but there was no sign of Carlos. Cheri whimpered at the thought of all the things they could have done already-at the things they could be doing that moment, if only he were there in bed with her ... stripping away the nightie, tossing his tight jeans off his heavily muscled legs, raising himself up on his elbows as he swung his lithe, handsome body over her....
"Oooooh!" she squealed, leaping up from the bed as a sharp, anticipatory pain shot through her loins. "Where in the hell is he?"
Storming to the window, she leaned far out over the sill and surveyed the grounds below. There was no sign of the boy anywhere. Cheri's desperation began to change rapidly to anger at the thought of being stood up by Carlos. She'd played up to him as much as she'd ever done to any man in her life, and he'd left her high and dry. Content to walk off about his business while she panted away for him. "Why that. . . " she muttered, but before she'd even begun to catalogue the names she had in mind for the Spanish boy, she spotted him.
Down by the swimming pool there was a sudden flash of sunlight on metal, and when Cheri craned her neck to see around the branch of a tree growing outside her window, she could see that Carlos was walking around the rim of the pool with a long rake in his hands. He'd taken off his tee-shirt, and even from that distance she could see his hairy, muscular shoulders and back glistening from the strain of working in the hot sun. A little leap sprang up from her heart.
"Oh Carlos!" she called. The boy either didn't hear or pretended he didn't, for he went right on with his work. Cheri cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted a second time.
Carlos looked up in the direction of the house, but apparently couldn't decide where the voice had come from.
"Up here!" Cheri called, waving to him. "On the second floor."
He lifted a hand to shield his eyes from the sun, searched the row of windows, then a smile broke across his handsome, bronzed face and he nodded his head ever so slightly.
"Come here!" Cheri cried. "Come on up here so I can talk to you!"
Carlos seemed to consider this for a moment. Then, as Cheri continued to call to him, he smiled again and dropped the rake. As he started toward the house, he mopped the sweat from his bare belly with the tee-shirt.
"He is hairy," the young blonde thought. "Like a big bear! I don't think I've ever seen anybody with so much hair!"
The sight of Carlos's naked belly and chest, matted with rich, jet-black wool that grew so thickly his golden-bronze skin could barely be seen through it, was one of the most exciting sights Cheri had seen in months, and she could feel herself beginning to respond vigorously. The Spanish boy's body promised a thousand sensual delights, and she could scarcely wait to get started.
"Hello," she purred, leaning further out the window so that the front of her nightie billowed and her breasts dropped straight down. She knew Carlos would be able to see them from where he stood, and she shimmied her torso just enough so he would know they were every bit as firm and full as they looked.
He nodded his head courteously. "Hello." It was the first time Cheri had heard him speak, and just that one word was enough to send another electrifying tingle down her spine. His voice was deep and rich, as mellow as fine Spanish port.
"Why didn't you come up to say hello?" she inquired, with a cute little tilt of her head.
The boy shrugged his broad shoulders and grinned. "I thought you were going to sleep."
Cheri bit playfully on her hp. "I was going to bed. But who said anything about sleeping?" Her eyes twinkled with fire and hunger for the nigged, fascinating body standing just below her window. "Why don't you come up and talk to me?"
She could see the muscles in Carlos's throat tighten as he swallowed hard, but he shook his head no. "I have my work in the yard."
Oh, brother! Cheri thought. You've got your work cut out for you up here, too, buster. Whether you realize it or not!
"Oh, come on up for a couple of minutes at least. The work can wait, can't it?"
Carlos shook his head no, but it was a halfhearted no and he was clearly not convinced by it himself.
Cheri had a sudden inspiration. "Carlos," she drawled, "did my Uncle Oscar tell you not to bother me and to stay out in the yard while he was away from home?"
A sad smile crossed the boy's face as he nodded his head yes.
"That's what I was afraid of," Cheri muttered under her breath. "The old goat's not as dumb as he looks."
Then, tilting her head back toward Carlos, she said brightly, "Well, you wouldn't be bothering me at all. I need you, in fact." Do I ever! she laughed silently. "I'm, uh, having some trouble with one of my suitcases. It's stuck and I can't get it open. Won't you come up and help me?" Just to make sure he got the point, she gave her breasts an extra little wiggle before she pulled her body back inside the room and lowered the window. She walked toward the bedroom door with her fingers crossed and listened. A moment later a smile curled up the corners of her mouth as she heard the downstairs door slam shut, then listened to the sound of rapidly moving footsteps heading toward the stairs.
Carlos must have taken the steps three at a time, for he was standing in the doorway to the bedroom just seconds later. His eyes looked like they might drop from their sockets as he took in Cheri's scanty costume. The. nightie was of sheer black silk, and its ruffled hem stopped a good eight inches above her knees. The deep cut of the top allowed ample room for her lovely breasts to spill over the frilly lace border, and the thin gauze looked like it might shred at any moment from the pressure of her nipples as they pushed out hard and full against it.
Every curve of her body could be clearly discerned through the nightie, and Carlos was taking in each one of them.
Cheri smiled as she watched him wipe his forehead with the back of his hand and swallow hard. "Where, uh, is it?" he stammered.
"Where's what, honey?"
Carlos blinked and had all he could do to fight back the broad smile spreading its way across his face. "The suitcase."
"Oh. That." Cheri shrugged and waved her hand toward the still-unopened luggage. "Take your pick."
"But which one is the one that's giving you trouble?"
Wow! Cheri thought in amazement. Did I ever pick a live wire this time! I'm decked out in my sexiest undies, and he wants to play bellhop! If he weren't so damn good-looking....
"It's, uh, this one, I think," she said, pointing to the one nearest the bed. "Yes, it's definitely that one."
Carlos moved quickly to the luggage and examined it for a moment. Then, with two quick flips of his wrists, he'd snapped open the locks and lifted the lid as easily as Cheri knew she could have done by herself. "Are you certain?" he asked, puzzled by his quick success.
"My goodness!" Cheri exclaimed, coming up close to him and rolling her eyes in appreciation. "I never thought you could do it so easily! You must be an awfully strong boy, Carlos."
He swallowed and grinned foolishly. "It was nothing. Really."
"Oh, but it was!" Cheri protested. "You don't know how I fought with that suitcase before you came along. I guess that's the difference between boys and girls."
Carlos shrugged his shoulders and continued to grin. "I guess."
"But not the only difference," Cheri purred. She was already standing so close to the boy that she was positive he could not only see right down the front of her nightie, but could inhale the delicate, perfumed scent of her breasts. All he would have to do would be bend his head a few inches and he could have her nipples clamped firmly between his lips. A quick hug and he could pull her right up against himself, hold her there and do anything he wanted with her all-too-willing flesh. So why wasn't he doing anything? Why was he just standing there like a stick?
"Let me feel your muscles, Carlos," she whispered. She reached for his bicep, but had scarcely dug her fingers in against the hard muscle when she felt him back away. A curious smile was on his lips.
"No. Sorry little one, but no more games today."
"Who's playing games?" Cheri growled, reaching out to rim her fingers up and down his stomach, feeling electric charges shoot up her arm from the tickle of the coarse black hair against her skin.
"You are. Just like you play at the bus station. But I need my job-I can not afford to have your uncle find me where I should not be."
"How's he going to find us? He can't get home unless you come for him, can he?"
"Sometimes he takes a taxi from town. He might suspect and come home by surprise."
"Oh, for gosh sakes!" Cheri laughed tensely. "You're the first boy I've ever had to beg to bed! What's the matter with you-you queer or something? Don't you like girls, Carlos?"
The boy's lips tightened with anger and his dark eyes flashed in a way that terrified and excited Cheri at the same time.
"I like girls," he said thickly. "If you were not my boss's niece I would show you just how much-and you would be sorry you ever say such a thing to me. I would make you pay-"
"Show me!" Cheri growled, nuzzling right up against his naked chest and grinding her hips seductively from side to side. "Make me pay!" Her fingers scampered down the front of Carlos's body until she touched the tab of his zipper. As they stared into each other's eyes, her fingers ran slowly downward, the hiss of the metal electrifying to her ears. Carlos stood rigid and stiff as Cheri wiggled her hand inside the parted jeans and probed for a moment as her fingers searched. Then a sharp sigh broke from her throat and she made a soft fist around him. "Oh, baby! You're showing me!"
"You like it?" he beamed, flexing for her increased enjoyment.
"Do I!" Her other hand curled around Carlos's back and ran quickly up and down from his shoulders to the base of his spine. "And I'm crazy about that hair of yours! You even have it on your back, you animal!"
His face tightened and he grabbed her arm so roughly she winced in pain. "I am not an animal! I am a man!"
"I know you're a man, baby," she whimpered. "You don't have to break my arm to convince me."
Carlos relaxed the tension of his grip and reached down to part the front of Cheri's nightie. His warm fingers stroked the surfaces of her breasts, then dipped into the deep crevice between them and squeezed. His thumb and forefinger caught one throbbing nipple and pinched it almost flat, then released it. He laughed as he watched the bud spring back to life, as though begging for more.
Cheri's fist tightened in response to the boy's teasing, and she felt a shiver run through her back as he twitched and flexed harder against her. "Let's go to bed," she whispered, urging her body slowly away from him. With one quick gesture she had shrugged the nightie off her shoulders and let it fall around her ankles. She scampered onto the bed on her knees, then rolled flat onto her back and spread her legs wide-lifting up her arms to him in invitation.
But Carlos stood right where she'd left him-his jeans open down the front, his body proudly alive and shook his head no.
"Not so easy, little one. You are too sure of yourself. I still do not trust you."
What in hell more do you want me to do, big one? her mind screamed, but to Carlos she only smiled and wiggled back into a sitting position. With his crazy Latin temperament there was no telling what he might do if she antagonized him, and she was in no condition to have him walk out on her. She needed him too badly. She'd never had to coax a boy in her life, but if that's what it took to set this hunk of hairy man into action, she would force herself to do it. She would be as humble as a slave girl in a bad Hollywood movie, do anything Carlos wanted done, say everything he wanted to hear. This time. But if he had any ideas about acquiring a full-time lackey, he had another thought or two coming. There wasn't a boy in the world who Cheri would allow to dominate her. Oh, she would pretend with Carlos, in order to get what she wanted out of him. But the last laugh would really be hers, because when he came to her the next time-and she was determined to show him such a hot time that the boy would definitely want a next time-she would be the one who held all the cards, and who refused to deal him in.
"How can I prove myself?" she purred sexily, tossing her long mane of golden blonde hair over her shoulder. "What can I do?"
"I can think of one thing," he said with a strange little smile. He walked slowly toward her, until he stood alongside the bed, just at the level of Cheri's face. He reached down and stroked her silken hair, pulling her head gently toward him. "Can you guess what it is?"
Cheri didn't need to be a mind reader to know what he was getting at. "Is that all?" she drawled, as she allowed him to lead her to the edge of the mattress. Bracing herself up on her knees in front of him, she reached out and touched his hot flesh, smiling at the way his belly tightened in anticipation. "I would have done that anyway, lover. A gal doesn't get something like you've got every day of the week, you know, and when she does ... she wants to take every advantage she can!"
Carlos beamed proudly and put his hands on his hips as he widened his stance. "Go ahead," he urged, thrusting gently toward her.
"How about if we get rid of these first?" Cheri said, pushing on the sides of his jeans. She scampered off the bed and dropped to her knees, pulling the boy's pants down with quick, sure tugs. She lifted each leg in turn and pulled the tight-fitting cuffs away from his feet. When at last he was naked, she wiggled closer to him on her knees and wrapped her arms around his buttocks, pressing her cheek into the warmth of black wool at the base of his stomach.
"Now, little one," Carlos whispered dryly, tangling his fingers in the long blonde hair and turning her head around to face him. "Now!"
"Hmmm!" Cheri purred, as her fingers played teasingly, twisting and turning him as she examined from every angle. "Nice! Very nice!" Her mouth felt dry with excitement and she wet her lips nervously. "Now what was it you wanted me to do?" she whispered, bending closer. "This?"
"Oooooo!" Carlos gasped. "Yes, that!"
Cheri backed away playfully. "You're sure it wasn't this?"
"Caramba!" Carlos howled. "Si, si! That too!"
"Well make up your mind, honey," she teased, pulling away yet again. "Which will it be?"
"Both! Do them both! Only quick-quick! I will go crazy!"
"You like that, huh?" she whispered, bending forward for just a moment.
"Si! Si! Oh, madre mio, yes! You can not imagine how that feels!"
"Good?" Cheri purred, teasing him with the tip of her tongue.
"Oh! Oh! Oh!" Carlos grunted, bucking with his hips to encourage more from her. "Yes, good! So very, very good!"
"You want more."
"Por favor! Oh, yes, please! More! I love it when you do it like that to me! Oh, si! Si! Si!" His hands dug in Cheri's hair, clamping onto her ears and holding her so she couldn't back away again. He was grunting and sighing deep in his throat, and making rocking, thrusting movements on his heels. "Oh, little one! Your tongue! It will make me a crazy man if you keep that up! Oh, but don't stop! No! I love it!"
Cheri moved expertly, knowingly, employing all her skill on him until she felt the responses which she knew meant her labors were about to be rewarded. Just at the moment she knew would be the final one. she pulled back quickly and scampered to her feet.
A look of dumb horror fell over Carlos's face. "No Please! You can not stop! Not yet! I was-"
"I know what you were going to do," she scolded. "And I think it was very naughty of you to even consider such a thing! What kind of girl do you think I am, anyway?"
"Stop acting like a motorboat and come here," Cheri growled, as she stretched herself out flat on the bed and lifted her arms to the stunned Carlos.
"Come here, lover! I had my turn, now let's see what you can do!"
Carlos fell with the force of a toppled oak, his big body covering Cheri's as he grappled to trap her legs with his and slide his arms around her back. His mouth fell hungrily onto her breasts, sucking with such force she feared he would rip off one of the throbbing, sensitive nipples.
"That's the way, baby," she sighed. "Show me what a man you are! Show me now, honey, show me now!" Her hands shoved against Carlos's naked rump, urging him into the spot where she wanted him most. She screamed at the first brush of lus hot flesh against her. "Yes! Come on, dammit, show me what a man you are!"
"I'll show you, bitch," Carlos growled through clenched teeth. He poised himself up on his elbows for just a second, then thundered back down to slap his belly against Cheri's with such force that her head shot back and a deep cry burst from her throat. "There!" he panted, beginning to move instantly. "You see now? Am I enough man for you?"
"Yes!" she sobbed, feeling as though her body was going to explode from the sheer assault of pleasure ramming past every nerve inside her. "Oh, wow, ves! Carlos, baby! Do it! Oh, baby, hurt me just like that! Oh, yes! More, honey, more! Ooooooh! Yes! like that! like that! like that! Ooooooh!"
Their bodies grappled furiously over the satin bedspread, hammering with such wild abandon that the lamp on the table beside the bed rattled as though it would overturn. Cheri screamed in his ear, telling him in the words she knew would excite them both just what she wanted him to do, and what she was feeling when he did it. She praised his body, and he praised hers. She told him what he was doing to her, and he did it all the more furiously.
Her hands raked up and down his back and across his shoulders, seizing great clumps of his thick, black hair and pulling it, twisting it as they rose and fell together. She knew her nails were breaking the skin by the sharp cries he made, but she couldn't control herself. She was wild now, driven by the all-consuming passion they shared.
I almost forgot what it feels like! It's been so long! she thought, just before their frenzy reached its peak and shot both of them into a spinning, rocketing orbit. At least two days!
CHAPTER FIVE
"And so," the hawk-beaked spinster teacher droned on, "we can see by this example that in the early Roman Empire, household pottery served a decorative as well as a functional purpose. Note the detailed scroll work around the handles...."
Oh, brother! Cheri yawned, trying her best to keep awake. Her first day of class in Jefferson High was proving to be just as dull as she'd imagined it would be. As dull as school had always been for her back in Chicago, in fact. She had already sat through an economics class, a geometry session, a science lab, and now ancient history. Flexing her wrist to look at her watch, she saw with dismay that there were still twenty minutes to go before lunch. She doubted she would be able to sit still until then.
"And even if I can," she wondered, "then what? A tuna fish and jelly sandwich in the cafeteria, then back to more of the same in the afternoon classes." She shivered at the thought of it. At least back in Chicago school had been half-way bearable because of the "extras"-the little activities she'd devised to help the days go faster. like quickie sessions in a deserted classroom; or fun-and-games in the backseat of somebody's car in the school parking lot; or sneaking into the pool area while the boys' swimming team was practicing and watching dozens of naked male bodies glide through the water and arch in the most fascinating and revealing of positions on the diving board. Those were the good old days, she reminisced.
If a lecture on romantic poetry of the Victorian period began to bore the pants off her, she could look around the room and concentrate on one of the boys who would be coming up with a much more interesting way of removing those flimsy garments during the lunch break. Or she could stare at a boy whose completely nude body she'd seen in the swimming pool, and wonder what it would be like to have that body all to herself for an hour or so.
But here in Jefferson High Cheri didn't have any such wonderful moments to look forward to-for the simple reason that she'd only been in school for a half-day and had not as yet made friends with any of the boys.
Not that there wasn't an abundance of raw material for her to work with. Cheri's eyes traveled slowly around the classroom, picking out some-likely candidates for future friendships.
Near the front of the room, sitting right in under the teacher's watchful eye, was a boy with thick, curly blonde hair and shoulders that all but burst the seams of his tight-fitting knit shirt. Cheri could see the muscles of his back rippling when he leaned forward, and she pictured herself wrapping her arms around those wonderful muscles and clawing her fingernails up and down the sleek, smooth skin as they vaulted together toward the heights of passion.
A few rows over from the blonde boy sat a boy of a different sort. This one had coal black hair, and a bluish shadow of beard on his young cheeks and chin. "A hairv one," she thought, unconsciously smacking her lips. Looking at the boy's big-boned body and imagining what it would look like to see it completely naked started her thinking about Carlos-and the way the hair on his body had driven her wild as she twisted and writhed her soft white skin against it the night before.
An itch was starting to spread through her thighs, and she looked away from the dark-haired boy. Now she was really in trouble. All she had meant to do was escape the boredom of the teacher's droning lecture, but her fantasies had excited her to the point where she was now playing the game in earnest. "The first one whose eye I catch," she thought tensely, "will be in for the surprise of Ins life!"
Turning her attention to the other side of the classroom, Cheri's eyes widened, blinked, then stared in stunned disbelief at the boy only a few seats away. He was one of the young toughs of the school-dressed in motorcycle boots; tight, tight jeans; and a white tee-shirt that clung to his muscled chest like another layer of skin-and sat with his both legs stretched far out into the aisle. From where she sat, Cheri had a perfect view of the lower section of his body. Her attention was riveted to one particular spot. The jeans were so tight and so revealing of what the boy possessed that Cheri could only gape in stunned admiration.
"He's either brought a banana in his pocket for lunch," she thought, wetting her lips nervously, "or he's one of the luckiest guys alive!" The boy shifted his legs slightly, and the corresponding ripple of solid muscle confirmed Cheri's opinion of his incredible endowment. She felt her heart flutter as she stared, tracing the outline through the tight-fitting pants.
"What could you ever do with something like that?" she wondered. But the dry ache in the back of her mouth and the gulping sounds she was making in her throat gave her at least one idea for a starter. The tense pain lower down in her anatomy gave a few other suggestions.
Look at me, she wished silently, concentrating on the natural wonder before her eyes. Look at me and read my mind, baby. If you knew what I was thinking right now you'd have those jeans burst apart before they knew what hit them!
But as her eyes slowly left the object of their attention and traveled up the boy's torso, she felt a little thud of disappointment sink her heart and hopes. The boy's handsome head was drooped almost to his chest and his eyes were sealed shut. His muscular chest rose and fell in steady, regular rhythms of the soundest sleep.
Damn! Cheri muttered. Now she had two reasons to hate the droning old spinster and her lecture on ancient pottery.
By now the pain between her legs had reached fever pitch, and it was all she could do to sit still in the seat. She felt as though she wanted to leap into the air and scream; her muscles were twitching that violently.
I've got to find a man! she whispered under her breath. I'll go out of my mind if I don't!
Her eyes spun frantically from one male body to another, no longer selective. They all had the same basic equipment, so any one of them would do. Some might have a little more, and some might be able to do the job a little better than others, but at the moment she wasn't going to be choosy. Redheads, blondes, brown-haired boys and black. She surveyed them all, hoping to catch at least one's attention. If she just had a male eye for a moment, she could work from there. But, to her utter frustration, every boy in the room seemed to be either verging on heavy sleep, doodling on his desktop, or paying rapt attention to the old hag's endless lecture.
Come on! Cheri's mind shouted at them. Do you want me to wait until Christmas? And then, even in the midst of her gnawing hunger, something about that thought struck her as extremely hilarious. Well, she reflected, Santa does have an awfully long beard, and if he-likes to do what every other old man I've run into-likes, I bet he could drive me straight up the wall! She made a mental note to see if next Christmas Eve Santa might not be interested in something a little different than milk and cookies!
No longer able to restrain herself, Cheri suddenly giggled aloud at her little fantasy, then covered her mouth with her hand as a deadly hush fell over the classroom. The old teacher's beady eyes searched from face to face with the scrutiny of a vulture.
Heads began to turn in Cheri's direction, and although she tried her best to appear innocent it soon became obvious just who the culprit had been.
"Miss Adams," the teacher's razor-sharp voice accused, "might I ask what you found so amusing?"
"Ma'am?"
The two females glowered at each other for a long moment in silence. "Well?" the elderly woman insisted.
All right, honey, Cheri thought grimly, you asked for it; now you're going to get it.
"I was amused by your comment that our civilization should imitate that of ancient cultures, as depicted on their pottery," Cheri said, lounging back in her seat and twinkling her eyes mischievously.
"Yes?" the teacher said. "And what is so peculiar about bringing a little grace and gentility into this sordid world, Miss Adams?"
Cheri rolled her tongue around the inside of her cheek playfully before answering. The entire class, she realized, was giving its undivided attention to this encounter between the stern old history teacher and the upstart newcomer to Jefferson High. She couldn't have hoped for a better opportunity if she'd planned it deliberately. Even the young tough with the fantastic endowment was wide awake and sitting up straight in his chair to see how Cheri would handle herself.
"Well," she drawled slowly, "a friend of mine back in Chicago once showed me a book that had pictures of some ancient pottery. The kind of stuff museums keep locked away from public view."
"Yes--? " the teacher said uncertainly.
Cheri lowered her eyes in a purposefully demure gesture. "Some of those pictures were pretty raunchy, Miss Farnsworth. I mean especially the ones from early Greece and Rome. They showed boys doing things to each other, and they sure didn't try to cover up just what was going on. I remember one picture showed a guy down on-"
"Miss Adams!" the teacher gasped, cutting off Cheri's description of the erotic pottery. "That will be quite enough!"
"But I just wanted to know," Cherri continued, in spite of the teacher's warning to stop, "why you would think we should imitate those things today?" She looked quickly about the classroom, catching the eyes of quite a few of the boys she'd surveyed just minutes before. "I mean, you wouldn't suggest that any of the boys in this class, for instance, go home tonight with their best friend and-"
"Miss Adams!" The teacher's face was drained of all color, and her eye was twitching violently.
"I mean, I'm a broad-minded girl and if they really enjoyed it I wouldn't knock them for it, but do you think they should be encouraged to do it? Especially when there are a lot of girls around who could do it for them-and better?"
"Miss Adams!" the teacher shouted. "One more word from you and I shall order you to the principal's office."
Cheri smiled, shrugged, and slunk down a few inches further in her seat to survey the effect her comments had had on the class in general. Nearly all of the girls were blushing violent shades of red; the boys were exchanging lewd winks with one another and staring at Cheri with a sudden and profound interest.
Well, she thought with a self-satisfied smile, if that doesn't start a little action, I'd better give upl
To her delight, as the ruffled and very shaken history teacher resumed her lecture, Cheri found that there was considerable interest worked up. A number of the boys winked at her and gave her cockeyed smiles-which she promptly returned as she twisted her body in the seat in such a way as to give them all the best view possible of her magnificent breasts and glorious thighs. The boy in the tight blue jeans was eyeing her openly, while his right hand smoothed its way slowly up and down his pants leg in a way that could mean only one thing. Cheri's heart was throbbing at the thought of the stress and strain the denim pants must be enduring.
Suddenly she was startled by the ringing of a bell just outside the classroom door, and a moment later the students began shuffling to their feet to file out for lunch.
Now! Cheri's mind thought with a nervous leap. I've got a whole hour to spend with one of these lucky guys! Which one will it be? Secretly hoping it would be either the curly-haired blonde or the boy in the tight jeans, she rose slowly from her seat and ambled toward the door. On her way she cast furtive glances at many of the boys around her, but even though several of them smiled and winked, none of them stopped or made any attempt to strike up a conversation. Cheri was dumbfounded! She'd done her utmost to let every boy in that class know she was ready, willing, and more than able-and yet there were no takers!
What's going on? she wondered, as she found herself standing alone in the hallway, with most of the class already out of the room. I hope what I said about that damn pottery didn't put some other ideas in those guys' heads! Wouldn't that be a kick in the head-if I turned them all on to each other!
Wretched with thwarted desire and perplexed by what had gone wrong with a seemingly wonderful opportunity, Cheri started glumly down the corridor through the sandwich line and when she selected a table near a window. Tugging open the sandwich she'd bought, she attacked it with the fury of a caged animal. Everywhere she looked there were boys, but not a one of them was paying her any attention.
"Mind if I join you?" a sudden voice behind her interrupted.
Cheri looked around in surprise and saw a big-chested redhead smiling down at her.
"Sure; why not?" she shrugged, as the other girl took a seat beside her.
"Your name's Cheri, isn't it?"
"That's right." Cheri didn't even look up from the continuing attack on her sandwich. She was so worked up and so frustrated that she could have been chewing iron and not known it.
"My name's Rita. I'm in your ancient history class."
Cheri said nothing. She wasn't really interested in striking up a friendship with the redhead. What she craved at the moment was something more than a friend-and certainly with a member of the opposite sex. She'd never gone in for girl games, although she understood such activities were rather popular with some of the cheerleaders back in her old school in Chicago.
"That was quite a shock you gave old Farnsworth," the girl named Rita laughed. "I thought the old broad was going to pop her cork! I don't know when I've seen anything as funny as the look on her face when you told her about those pictures!"
A flicker of interest began to raise itself in Cheri. The other girls in the class had seemed shocked by her comments, but this one obviously enjoyed them. Maybe she was worth cultivating after all. If not for herself, for the male contacts she must surely have around the school.
"I wish a few other people would feel the same way," she said.
"What do you mean?"
"What's wrong with the guys in this school?" Cheri burst out, deciding to lay all her cards on the table in one swoop and see what happened. "Are they all queer for each other? Doesn't a girl have a chance around here?"
Rita smiled and shook her head. "No-to both questions. Oh, I've heard a few rumors about what goes on in the shower room when some of the guys on the baseball team get together, but for the most part they're all pretty normal. Their problem isn't other boys-it's the girls at Jefferson, and that's why I say no to your second question. A girl doesn't have a chance around here-especially not a new girl in school."
"Why is that?" Cheri put down her half-eaten sandwich and listened with rapt attention. If she understood what the problem was, she was confident she could fight it. All she wanted was the chance.
"Well, it's because of a club made up of a bunch of bitches who call themselves the Smart Set. Between them, they've got every guy in Jefferson sewn up so tight they'll never see daylight again."
"All of them?" Cheri gasped. The situation was getting blacker by the minute.
"Well, nearly all. The ones you'd be interested in, at least. The good-looking jocks on the school teams and just about everyone else who isn't a grind with more of an interest in dissecting frogs than dating girls."
"I-I don't understand," Cherri stammered, tasting defeat once again.
"It's very simple, really," Rita explained. "The Smart Set is a select little club made up of all the 'right' girls in Jefferson. They have regular little meetings and decide what girls are 'right' and which ones are 'wrong." She smiled bitterly. "About two years ago they decided I was 'wrong.' I haven't had a date since."
"But--? '
"Honey," Rita continued, "if you don't belong to their club, you don't make it. They all have an understanding with each other to date only the guys the club decides they should date. The poor guys known that they're stuck, but there's nothing they can do about it, either. If they try to go against the club and date a different girl or one who doesn't belong to the Smart Set, they're automatically blackballed from everything that goes on at Jefferson. They can be sure they'll never have an 'acceptable' date for any of the dances or parties. Most of them knuckle under right away."
"That doesn't make any sense," Cheri complained.
"Honey," Rita laughed, "you're not telling me anything new. I'm just biding my time until I get out of this creepy high school and get to college, where I'll have a chance at some action with the male element."
"Why should you have to wait until then."
"Didn't I just finish--? "
"I know," Cheri nodded impatiently. "I know what you told me. But there must be a way to crack through their little ivory tower."
"Well," Rita laughed skeptically, "if you ever discover how, would you do me a favor?"
"What's that?"
"Let me know how you did it, so I can too?"
Cheri offered her hand to shake on the bargain. "That's a promise," she said sincerely. "And don't be surprised if it's sooner than you think."
CHAPTER SIX
During the rest of the afternoon Cheri had a chance to see for herself the truth of Rita's story. In nearly every class she was able to stir up some masculine interest, but when the period was over and everyone filed out of the room, the boys were all herded out like sheep-each on the arm of a girl who Cheri was positive qualified as a card-carrying member of the Smart Set.
"This is ridiculous," she thought near the end of the day. "It isn't natural for boys to be forced into roles like these guys have to play. They should be free to pick and choose whatever girl they want, not be chained down to somebody who's selected for them by a committee, for Pete's sake!"
When the final bell for her last class of the day had rung, Cheri was no nearer to a decision on how to break up the Smart Set's iron grip on the boys of Jefferson High than she was at lunch, when Rita had first stated the problem. She'd been preoccupied with it all afternoon, however, and as she walked out of the school building she was deeply in thought.
"Hey!" a deep voice rumbled at her side, at the same time that a strong male hand grabbed onto her arm and slowed her down. "Wait a minute, hull?"
Cheri's heart leaped, then fell as she quickly turned and confronted the young sailor she'd met on the bus to Springfield.
"Marty!" she gasped. "What are you--? "
"What am I doing here?" He gave her a threatening frown. "I'm here to find out a few things."
"Such as?"
"Such as why you told me your uncle's chauffeur was your fianc'," the boy said. "Oh. That."
Marty shook his head grimly. "Yeah, that." His hand squeezed harder on Cheri's arm. "Come on, what's the scoop? Did you think I was going to attack you on the street or something? I only wanted to get a date with you, for gosh sakes!"
Cheri felt the blush of embarrassment color her cheeks, and started to walk ahead in the direction of the street. Marty trailed right alongside, however, still gripping tightly to her arm. "Well, I-" She tried to find a satisfactory explanation, but her mind was a complete blank. Why does he make me feel like this? she wondered.
Every nerve in her body was acutely aware of the warmth of Marty's hand on her arm; of the closeness of his big, rugged body; of the subtle masculine aroma of him. There he was-just the kind of guy she'd been trying to attract all day-and suddenly, instead of throwing herself at him and urging him to take her to some dark, secluded spot where she would let him use her in any way he wanted, she was acting like a blushing little virgin on her first date.
What in the hell is the matter with me? But if there were any easy explanations for her strange behavior, Cheri didn't know them.
"Marty, I-" She shrugged stupidly, feeling as though her tongue were ten times too big for her mouth.
"If you don't want to see me," he said, "just say so. I'm a big boy, Cheri. I can take a hint."
"Oh, no! It's nothing like that...."
"Then what is it?" He stopped her on the cement path and stared down hard into her eyes. "Do you want me to get lost?"
"No," she said, quite simply and quite softlv.
"Then will you tell me when I can see you?"
Cheri said nothing. What could she say? Feeling the way she was, almost any time would be out of the question. She could just imagine what would happen if they were out alone together. He'd touch her once in a dark theatre or in his car and that would be the end of everything. She'd turn to jelly inside and be all over him. Then he'd know what kind of girl she really was.
Maybe that was it, she pondered. Maybe she wanted Marty to think of her as an innocent little virgin. Maybe, for some reason she couldn't begin to understand, it was important to her that at least one boy in the world didn't think of her as an easy mark, but held her in the highest respect. And yet how could he go on thinking those things about her if he ever saw her true nature? No, a date was far too dangerous. She wouldn't be able to trust herself alone with all that masculinity. Her flesh was simply too weak.
"Tonight?" he pressed.
Cheri shook her head and tried to break away from him. "I'm sorry, but I've."
"Tomorrow night."
"Marty, I-
"The night after next."
"If you'd only-"
"You pick the night then. Any night in the next week. Or the next month. As a matter-of-fact," he added, reaching into his pocket for a little leather date book, "I've got a calendar right here. You tell me when in the next year, and I'll be satisfied."
"Oh, Marty!" Cheri wailed. She jerked her arm free of his hand and started to run away from him. Her eyes were flooding with tears, and deep in the back of her throat she felt a hard little lump. It was useless to run, she knew, since he could easily catch her. But she struggled blindly ahead, only conscious of the big, black limousine parked near the curb when she'd already run past it.
She drew herself up sharply and whirled about. Carlos stood grinning by the side door, motioning for her to come back and get inside. Sighing with relief, Cheri raced toward the car and slammed the door the moment her legs were tucked inside. An instant later, the big car was pulling away from the school and Marty was left standing in the middle of the street-a look of total confusion furrowing his brow.
"Were you surprised to see me?" Carlos asked, when they were several blocks from the school. Cheri nodded silently and dabbed at her eyes with a hankie she'd fished from her purse. Why am I crying over a stupid boy? she thought angrily. Why did I let him upset me like that?
"Your uncle does not know I have come for you," the Spanish boy explained, with a sly wink in Cheri's direction.
"He doesn't?"
"Oooh! What he would say if he knew!" Carlos laughed heartily.
"Then why did you come for me?"
Carlos reached out his arm and clamped his hand around Cheri's shoulder, pulling her toward him on the front seat of the car. "Must I tell you?"
"Yes." Her back stiffened as she felt the hot fingers of the handsome youth glide down the expanse of bare skin on her arm and stroke softly at the side of her breast.
"You play a little joke on Carlos," the boy laughed. His hand pinched the slope of her ripe young flesh, then pressed forward and cupped all of it against his palm. A little shiver raced down Cheri's back as she felt him grind the flat of his hand against her nipple.
"Take your hand off me," she said flatly. Carlos laughed again. "Of course, darling. As soon as you tell me to."
"I just told you to."
For the first time, the boy began to get the idea that Cheri was not joking. He lifted his foot from the accelerator and the car slowed. His head turned to look into her ice-cold eyes. "No more jokes, please," he said softly. "I will think you are serious in another moment."
"Good," Cheri said, shoving his hand away from her breast and pulling her body as far away from him as she could. "Then maybe you'll keep your hands off me."
"I do not understand...." he said. Total perplexity was written across his face.
"There's nothing for you to understand. Take me home and keep your hands to yourself."
The boy blinked, more confused than ever. "But, I thought-"
"You thought wrong, Carlos. I guess you're not so bright after all, are you? Better not let Uncle Oscar find out, or you'll be back on the banana boat before you know it."
The thick veins in the boy's neck stood out stifffv as he set his mouth in a hard grimace. Suddenly the car shot ahead so quickly that Cheri lost her balance and fell against the side door. When she righted herself, she saw the deep frown on Carlos's face-and the way his fingers were gripping the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles were white.
The car careened around a corner, narrowly missing a delivery truck in the opposite lane.
"Carlos!" she shrieked. "Watch out!"
The corner of the boy's mouth turned up in a strange sort of smile, but the car only shot ahead faster.
"Are you crazy?" Cheri screamed. "Do you want to kill the both of us?"
"Why not?" he muttered. "Why not?"
Total panic gripped her insides as she stared at the boy's face and realized that he was deadly serious. He was driving as though he did, indeed, want to kill them both in the shiny, expensive automobile.
I went too far! she thought fearfully. You never know when these hot-blooded Latins will go off the deep end.
She moved quickly toward the boy's body, touching his arm and stroking her fingers down the hairy golden skin.
"Carlos, slow down, please," she begged. "I was just teasing you. I didn't mean what I said, honest. It was all just a very bad joke."
"It was. Very bad."
The car screeched around another corner on two wheels and Cheri was positive they were going to topple.
"Carlos! Please slow down!" she pleaded. Her hand left his arm and went instantly to his lap, groping, seeking, then squeezing when she found him. "Pull over to the side of the road; I'll prove I didn't mean what I said."
The boy made no response with his voice, but Cheri felt the first hopeful signs of his violence relenting as her fingers moved to his zipper and hastily jerked it down.
"Let me, Carlos," she whimpered. "Slow down at least, and let me show you." Her heart was pounding in her chest-both with fear and excitement-as she worked her fingers outside his pants and leaned in closer to him. His arm on the steering wheel was in the way of her head, however, and she could go no further.
"Carlos," she begged, as her fingers moved in slick, skillful patterns against his flesh. "I want to-" She bent her head up to his ear and whispered the rest
-telling him exactly what it was she proposed to do, using the common words of the gutter and leaving out no vivid detail. "Wouldn't you like me to finish what I started last night? And I will finish this time-I promise."
Carlos whimpered, and for the first time since their wild ride had begun, Cheri felt the car slow down.
"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" she whispered, flicking her tongue against his cheek. "You like to feel my tongue, don't you, Carlos? And my lips. You like them, too, don't you?"
"Uuuuuhn!" the Spanish boy whimpered, writhing his hips as Cheri continued to murmur to him and work her hand in its knowing motion.
"My lips like you, too," she whispered softly, kissing his ear. "And my tongue. It wants to dart all over and stroke and caress. And then, when you're ready to-" She bent close to him once more and finished her lurid description of what she promised to do.
"Caramba!" the boy shouted, and suddenly Cheri knew that anything further would be unnecessary. Just talking about it while her knowing fingers had done their best had been enough. She held him for a moment longer, then with her other hand, fished back into her purse for the hankie. As she wiped off her hand, she sighed with relief. Carlos had slowed the car down to a near crawl, and from the deep groans and sighs coming from his throat she knew there was little possibility of his acting up again. He just didn't have the strength left.
Later that night, after a long and tedious supper with Uncle Oscar-during which he reported he had heard some very distressing things about her first day at Jefferson High-Cheri sat upstairs in her bedroom and drummed her fingers restlessly against her head.
There's got to be a way out of this mess, she told herself. How could sex get somebody into so much trouble? The worst thing about it all, she realized, was that the problem wasn't even sex itself. More-likely, it was the lack of it. The absence of wild, uninhibited revelry was beginning to eat away at her insides, and she knew that unless she got back into the old pattern she'd established in Chicago, she would very-likely lose her mind within a matter of days.
But how to do it?
On the one hand there was Marty. He certainly would get a class-A rating in the stud department. Whenever she was near him she felt like her insides were melted butter. But at the same time, for whatever kooky reason, she also knew that having wild sex with him was out of the question. Even if she did date him, it would take weeks-possibly even months-before they reached the point where they could do anything like Cheri had in mind. That is, if she wanted him to continue thinking of her as a "nice" girl. Which she did.
That left Carlos on the other hand. With him, the situation was entirely different. He was ripe and ready for any kind of action now, and it seemed that unless Cheri was willing to oblige every time he came around, she'd be in for more wild sessions like the one in the car that afternoon. Not that she would have minded all that much-if he hadn't pulled that little act on her that first night in her bedroom. Never before had she gone begging to any boy, and the fact that Carlos had forced her to do so had permanently soured her on him.
But, she reminded herself for perhaps the twentieth time that night, what other choice was open? Either Marty or Carlos. Either way she lost; with either one she wouldn't be getting what she really wanted. Where were the kind of boys who just liked a good time-with no complications? The one who could give a girl what she wanted and let that be the end of it-who didn't get her all hung-up with guilt feelings and complexes?
The answer was obvious. They were all tied up in a neat little bow by the Smart Set. It was the same conclusion she'd come to again and again that night.
One stinking little club had removed every good boy in the high school from circulation. And, from what Rita had told her, there was very little chance for Cheri to be invited to become a member.
"It would serve them right if I started a little club of my own," she thought angrily. Then, as she lay back on the bed and lit a cigarette, she began to play with the idea in her mind.
A club of my own! she thought. A special little club with its own set of rules and regulations-and its own membership requirements! Why not?
She leaped up from the bed in a sudden flurry of motion. Why not! she exclaimed aloud. She dived for the telephone book in the night table beside her bed and searched frantically for Rita's number. When she'd found it and dialed, she waited until she heard the familiar voice on the other end of the line.
"Hello, Rita?" she exclaimed. "This is Cheri. Can you meet me at the soda shop across from the high-school in a half hour? ... Don't ask why; just he there. Oh, and Rita, you'd better wear a steel helmet, because I think an ivory tower or two are about to topple."
CHAPTER SEVEN
"Listen, Rita," Cheri argued, as the two girls sat across a table from one another a short while later, absently sipping cokes and munching on cheeseburgers, "there's no reason in the world why my plan won't work."
The redheaded girl sighed wearily. "There's every reason in the world why it won't work, and you know it."
"Name one."
"Well-uh-"
"See!" Cheri cried exuberantly. "You can't! That's because it's a perfect plan!"
"Cheri, it's absolutely ridiculous to think that we could start a sex club at Jefferson High! I never heard of anything so outrageous."
"Everyone laughed at Madame Curie, too," Cheri pouted. "And look at Florence Nightingale!"
"What about Florence Nightingale?" Rita asked suspiciously. "I didn't know she had anything to do with high school sex clubs."
"The reason I brought up Florence Nightingale," Cheri patiently explained, "is because she brought comfort and aid to thousands of needy men-and was made a national hero for it."
"I still don't see what you're driving at," Rita said sullenly.
"Look. Did you ever in your life see a bunch of guys who needed comfort and aid more than the poor jerks in this school? And you know just what kind of comfort I'm thinking about aiding them with."
A wicked smile played across Rita's pretty pink lips. "Yeah! I'm all for that! I don't think they're getting much-any of them-from the Smart Set bitches. Most of those gals are saving it so long it'll be sour before it's popped!"
The two girls laughed hysterically. "Well," Cheri boasted, "there it is in a nutshell. The guys aren't getting what they want from the girls they're dating, so they'll be more than ready for us. And that's the beauty of this whole thing, Rita. If one girl tried something like this, the guys would think she was just a tramp. But if two or more say it's really a little club, and we all switch partners every chance we get, the whole thing takes on a different appearance. Just think how the guys would go for the idea of having any girl they wanted-whenever they wanted her!"
"Hold on a minute," Rita interrupted. "Where does this any girl they want business come in? I thought they'd have a choice between you and me."
"Well, at first that's all they will have. But as time goes on and we expand our membership, well have to take in more girls. I mean we couldn't possibly handle that many guys alone!"
"Speak for yourself," Rita purred. "I've been without for so long I think I could take on the Seventh Fleet!"
"Oh, Rita!" Cheri laughed. "But seriously, we will have to let some of the other girls join. After all, when word spreads among the boys, they're going to be sitting high and dry. I think they'll knuckle under to whatever terms we dictate. We could let them handle the guys we don't particularly care for or are getting tired of."
"Baby," Rita drawled, "at this point I don't think I'd even hand over the Wolf man to another broad! You don't know what the past couple of years have been like. Oh! It hurts just to talk about it!"
Cheri patted her friends hand affectionately. "Don't worry. Your trouble will be over before you know it. There are only two things standing in our wav at the moment."
"I could name at least twenty that come to my mind," Rita smirked. "Which two are you thinking of?"
"A place and a pigeon."
"I dig on the place, but what's a pigeon got to. do with it? You swing with feathers or something? I once heard about a guy who tied a feather on the end of his-"
"Rita," Cheri chided, "I know that story by heart. I'm trying to get something serious accomplished here. I mean we have to decide who's going to be our guinea pig-the first one we let know about the club. It'll have to be somebody who-likes to brag a lot, so we can be sure the word spreads fast."
"Dan O'Brien," Rita said instantly. "He thinks he's the hottest thing since fire-and just loves to brag in the locker room."
"Dan O'Brien..." Cheri thought aloud. "Do I know him?"
"He's in ancient history with us. Sits near the front of the room."
"Is he the one with that hunk of curly blonde hair and those sexy shoulders?"
"None other."
"Dreamy! He sounds like just the one."
"Now all we need is the place," Rita stated. "And I don't think that's going to be quite as easy to solve."
"Hmm," Cheri thought. "I guess we couldn't do it at your house, could we?"
"My house!" Rita choked. "Are you nuts?"
"Your folks wouldn't understand, huh?"
"Would your uncle? Why not at his house?"
Cheri nodded glumly. "I see what you mean. Well, there's always a hotel or a motel."
"Not in this town, baby. This is one place where the walls not only have ears but eyes as well! The manager's."
Cheri thought for several minutes in silence. "I don't think we should hold our first meeting in the woods or in somebody's car. That takes away from the dignity of it all."
"The dig--? " Rita began, but Cheri cut her off with a sudden triumphant shriek.
"I've got it!"
"What?"
"The place!"
"The high school!"
"Now I know you're nuts!" Rita fumed. "I should have known there was something gooofy about you from the start. The high school! Whv not say in the principal's office-on top of his desk?"
"Is his office open at night?" Cheri chuckled. Then, patting her friend's hand to reassure her that she had not, indeed, lost her mind, she explained further. "Listen, if Jefferson High is anvthing like my old .school in Chicago, there must be a dozen rooms that nobody comes near-especially once the day is over."
"Well," Rita admitted, "there is a storage room in the basement that the school teams use to keep their equipment...."
"That's perfect!" Cheri cried in delight. "I'll bet it's got wrestling mats and everything!"
"The athletic manager. He's got the only key to the place."
"Well, we'll get it away from him."
"How?"
Cheri thrust out her breasts and smiled a kittenish smile. "There are ways."
"Not with Howard there aren't."
"Why not?"
"Honey," Rita explained with exaggerated patience, "no man in his right mind is going to make a life-time career out of picking up sweaty jockstraps unless he really enjoys his work."
"You mean he's-" Cheri swished a bent wrist limply through the air.
"Yup," Rita nodded. "He's-" She imitated Cheri's gesture. "So."
"So!"
"There are ways to get around that kind, to."
"Cheri," Rita sighed, "if you can figure out a way to interest Howard in anything you've got, it'll be one of the unheralded miracles of the twentieth century."
A devilish smile beamed across Cheri's face. "I think I've got something just right for old Howard," she said mysteriously. "Something I'd be more than happy to let him have."
The next afternoon, a short while after school had let out for the day, Cheri led Carlos hand in hand down the back stairs to the basement. An impish smile was on her face as she recalled the bargain she'd struck with Howard, the athletic manager, earlier that day. He'd been a hard man to deal with, but when Cheri got through explaining what could be his if he'd cooperate, she found he was putty in her hands. He'd promised to have everything set up, just the way Cheri dictated.
"Where are we going?" the Spanish boy asked.
"Down to a secret place I know."
"But why?"
"Why?" Cheri stopped near the bottom of the steps and turned to face Carlos, pressing her breasts into the pit of his belly as he stood a few steps above her. "Baby, do you have to ask why?"
He nodded his head yes. "I don't understand.
When you called and asked me to meet you with the car, I thought-"
"You thought we'd have another session like yesterday, right?" Carlos's face widened with a lewd grin. "That's what I thought you'd think," Cheri muttered. "But that's not what I want today."
"No."
"No."
"What-what do you want today?" he asked timidly.
"I want what I promised I was going to do to you vesterdav. What we didn't get around to doing because of-well-because of unexpected circumstances."
Carlos blushed at the memory of how Cheri had overlv excited him with her expert fingers and softly whispered words.
"And Uncle Oscar's car is just not the place for something like that to take place," Cheri added.
"But-but you have a place?"
"Yup."
"And you will do it for me?"
"Yup." Cheri nodded her head again.
"To the end? The very end?"
"Carlos, honey," she purred, "why quit in the middle of a good thing, I always say."
"Oh, baby!" he growled, clutching his arms around her and pulling her face up tight against his belly. "You will make me so happy!"
"Not here, Carlos!" Cheri protested, struggling to be free of his bear hug. "Not here, for gosh sakes. Control yourself, will you?"
"Where is your place?"
"Right down that little hallway." She pointed toward the storage room.
"Hurry," Carlos urged, moving quickly ahead of her and leading the way.
"Brother!" Cheri thought with amazement. "When this boy wants something, he really wants it!"
The door was unlocked, just as Howard had promised, and Cheri led the way inside. A quick flick of the light switch gave the layout of the room. A few scattered wrestling mats, a chair or two, and shelves stacked with equipment for the various athletic teams sponsored by Jefferson High. Carlos led her instantly to one of the mats, his hands already working on the broad leather belt holding up his pants.
"Hurry, baby!" he moaned, as he ripped open the belt and began to shove down his work pants. Cheri's eyes gaped at the sight of him. He was ready, all right! And how! She wet her lips nervously. Maybe she'd make a change or two in her plans andNo. Remembrance of the wav Carlos had tried to con her that first night came flooding back, and the desire for revenge outweighed desire. His body was certainly tempting, but so was the idea of giving him just what he deserved. In spades.
"Carlos!" she squealed, struggling as the boy shoved hard on her shoulders, trying to force her to her knees in front of him. He hadn't even kicked his legs free of his pants. They lay tangled in a heap around his feet. "Wait a minute!"
Pulling away from him, she shot an angry look and began to dictate her terms.
"Now if we're going to do this at all, we're going to do it my way. Understand?"
Carlos nodded reluctantly, but the ache he was feeling continued to assert itself.
"First of all, I am not about to risk getting a runner in my stockings by getting on my knees on this floor. You're going to lay down on one of those mats; that's why I chose this place to begin with."
"Anything you say," the boy moaned, rubbing himself as though the motion would relieve some of the pressure. "Only hurry, little one. Please hurry."
"Second," Cheri continued blandly, as though she were unaware of Carlos's urgent need, "we're not going to do it with this light on."
"But I like to watch how it looks when you put-"
"We're doing it in the dark or not at all," Cheri barked.
Carlos shrugged. "Whatever you say."
"Finally, and this is the most important of all, you are not to touch me in any way once I start."
"But-"
"You heard me," she snapped. "You are to keep your hands completely free of me. Don't try to grab my hair, don't force my head, don't touch me at all." Then, smiling wickedly, she added, "After all, remember your promise to my uncle to keep your hands off me."
"Little one," Carlos moaned, "I must explain about that. You see-"
"No," Cheri interrupted, "a promise is a promise. And you have to give me your promise that you'll keep your hands to yourself until it's all over. Agreed?"
Carlos's eyes tightened and he nodded his head violently up and down. "Yes, yes, yesl Just hurry, please!"
"All right," Cheri smiled. "Get down on the mat. That's right. It might be easier if you took your pants all the way off, you know." She watched with an inner sense of glee as the Spanish boy hastily tugged away his pants, then lay flat on his back, his legs spread wide and ready, and looked up at her with a hungry pleading in his eyes.
Damn, but he does tempt me, Cheri thought ruefully, as she surveyed the length of Carlos's lean, hard, muscled body, drinking in every one of his charms and remembering that first night in bed. Then her better judgment came to the fore and she snapped out of it. If I can pull this off now, she thought, there'll be a hundred more opportunities for doing that-and with guys a whole lot better than this conceited jerk.
"All right," she said, "now you wait just like that while I turn out the light and get ready. I won't be a minute."
"I hope not," Carlos moaned, thrashing his hips up and down anxiously.
Cheri slipped quickly to the door and flicked out the light switch, then ducked into the hall and softly closed the door behind her.
"Howard!" she whispered.
He appeared so suddenly that Cheri jumped with fright. "Is everything okay?" he grinned. His eyes were wild with anxiety, and it seemed at any moment he'd begin to drool at the mouth with anticipation.
"He's as ready as you're ever going to get anyone, Howard," Cheri grinned. "All you've got to do is go in there and go to it! But remember-don't let him touch you and find out it's not me, or we're both going to be in for it."
"Darling," Howard gushed, "who spoils a chance of a lifetime?"
Cheri watched as the athletic manager slipped quietly into the storage room and closed the door behind him. She could almost picture him tip-toeing across the floor to where Carlos lay waiting ... bending down on the wrestling mat on his knees ... bringing his head closer and closer ... his lips smacking with frantic eagerness....
"Oh well," Cheri muttered, as she went to sit on the stairs and light a cigarette. "To each his own."
Within a few minutes after Howard had gone into the storage room, Cheri heard a loud, strangulated outcry that she recognized instantly as Carlos's voice.
"Brother, that was quick!" she thought, stamping out the cigarette and preparing to make the switch back into the room when Howard opened the door. But after several more minutes, when there was still not a stir from the room, she had to laugh to herself. "Must be a double header!" she giggled.
It seemed an eternity later when the door creaked and Howard slipped out into the hall. His eyes sparkled with the look of a cat who's just broken into a cream factory.
"How did it go?" she inquired.
"Divine! Just divine!" Howard enthused. "What a stud! I just couldn't get away from him! Each time I thought I'd better clear out, he'd buck and moan, 'No darling, once more-please!' "Well, who am I to turn down a plea for help!"
"He never knew it wasn't me?"
"If he did, it didn't make much difference."
"Frankly," Howard added, a peevish look on his thin lips, "I kind of wish he did know. I hate to see somebody else get all the credit!"
Cheri rolled her eyes and laughed. "Maybe I'll tell him some day, Howard."
"Would you, dear? Oh, that would be heaven!"
"Now how about the key?" She held out her hand and wiggled her fingers. "You did have a spare made up like you promised, didn't you?"
"Of course, dear, of course." He fished in his pocket and came up with the gleaming brass key-the key which insured the success of Cheri's little club. "Would you mind if I used my key now and then?" Howard said with a wink. "I think your idea is heaven, and I'd love to join in sometime."
Cheri patted him playfully on the cheek. "If we get a call for that sort of thing, Howard, you'll be the first one I think of!"
CHAPTER EIGHT
Cheri had never looked forward to going to school so much in her life as she did the next morning. She was up by seven, her mind filled with the image of Dan O'Brien's curly blonde hair and those broad shoulders. She was one of the first through the doors when the school opened, and all through her morning classes she looked for the opportunity to find Dan alone, so she could put into action the plan she and Rita had devised over the phone the night before.
She got her chance while classes were changing for the noon lunch break. Dan was standing by himself near the stairway to the cafeteria, shifting his weight nervously from one foot to another and searching both ends of the corridor, as though he were looking for somebody.
Cheri moved quickly to him and turned on her brightest smile. "Hi," she beamed. "Your name's Dan O'Brien, isn't it?"
He seemed startled for a moment, then lounged back against the wall in a confident pose, stuffing his hands half-way into his pants pockets. "Yep, that's me." His expression bore no trace of surprise that
Cheri-a newcomer to Jefferson High-had known who he was. He acted, in fact, as though everyone automatically knew him by sight, as well as by reputation. "You're that new girl in my history class, right? Shirley something?"
"Cheri," she corrected, gritting her teeth as she forced herself to keep the broad smile on her face. Pompous ass, she swore under her breath. If there was one thing she couldn't stand it was conceit, particularly of the masculine variety. There was nothing wrong with a man being proud that he was good-looking or well-built, but if he acted as though everyone else in the world should worship him because of it, he was definitely headed for trouble in Cheri's book.
"Oh, yes. Cheri." His clear blue eyes sparkled as he nicked them appraisingly up and down the length of her ripe young body. "I, uh, enjoyed the way you stood up to old Farnsworth the other day. Not many people have the guts to do that."
Cheri shrugged her shoulders casually, as though her little act of bravado had been nothing at all. She could have just as much false modesty as Dan O'Brien.
They stared into each other's eyes for another moment, then Cheri asked softly, "Are you waiting for someone?" Her voice was heavy with suggestion.
Dan smiled a cock-sure grin and nodded his head slowly. "I'm afraid so."
"Anybody special?"
"Well, in a way. My girlfriend Kim."
"But only in a way? Don't you know for sure if she's someone special or not?"
Dan laughed and shifted his weight again. He was hip to the little game they were playing, but he was going to make sure it was Cheri who did all the pursuing. "She's special, I guess. But she makes me pretty damn mad sometimes when she keeps me waiting for her."
"Why do you wait? Where I come from, it's the guy who keeps the girl waiting. Girls from Chicago know how to appreciate a good thing when they find it."
Dan's smile broadened. He knew what she was driving at, all right, and it seemed like he just might change his mind and play along. "What would you suggest I do?" he asked slyly.
"Well...." Cheri cocked her head to the side and returned his smile. "You could come with me and settle a little argument I'm having with my friend Rita."
"Oh?"
"Yes," she explained. "You see, we've just started a new club, and we can't decide which one of us should be the president. I mean, it's kind of silly for a club with only two members to worry about who'll be the president, but we're hoping to add to our membership roll in the very near future. So you see, it actually is vital that we decide these things now."
The smile slowly faded on Dan's face. This wasn't quite what he'd had in mind, Cheri could tell. "What kind of club is it?" he asked.
Without blinking an eye, Cheri responded, "A sex club."
"A-I" he gasped. "Did I hear you right?"
"Well, if you heard me say a sex club you did," she purred. "Rita and I just can't decide who's hotter-her or me." She tugged playfully on the big boy's arm. "Won't you come and help us decide, Dan?"
His grin was back in full force, nearly from ear to ear. "Hell, why not?" he chuckled. "Lead the way!"
By prior arrangement, Rita had agreed to go to the storage room during lunch hour, just in case Cheri had luck in luring Dan there. When she and the fair-haired boy pushed their way through the door, therefore, Rita was already there-lounging on one of the wrestling mats, casually smoking a cigarette.
"Hi," she purred, not moving an inch, "I see you found somebody."
Cheri nodded triumphantly. "Dan, you know my friend Rita, don't you? Rita, this is Dan."
The sultry redhead rose slowly from the mat and wiggled her way across the room, her eyes smoldering as she scanned the boy's body. "I sure do know Dan," she drawled. "Not as well as I'd like to know him, of course." Her hand flew up to the boy's chin, squeezed gently, then traced delicate fingers up and down his cheek.
"None of that, Rita," Cheri complained. "That's giving yourself an unfair advantage. We haven't begun the contest yet."
"Well what are we waiting for, honey?" the redhead growled. "We can't waste Dan's time now, can we? I'm sure he wants to get right down to brass tacks."
The boy swallowed hard in his throat and continued to smile. It was obvious he hadn't ever run into anything quite on the order of this, and he wasn't sure what to make of it.
"What, uh, do you want me to do?" he gulped, as Rita's fingers tickled their way down his chest and rested with feathery softness on his belt buckle.
"Do?" the redhead giggled. "Oh, baby, what I want you to do!"
"Rita!" Cheri yelled in mock anger. "Now get away from him. Remember we promised there wouldn't be any touching. Only looking. He's got to decide only on what he sees."
"No touching?" Dan said with heavy disappointment.
"None," Cheri confirmed. Her fingers went slowly to the buttons of her blouse and began to peel them open one at a time. "We want you to decide which one of us should be the president of our club-on the basis of how fit we are for the job. And physical fitness is all-important, don't you agree?"
Dan nodded his head quickly, but his attention was clearly on Cheri's torso. He stared in--.amazement as she pulled open the last of the buttons and tossed the blouse off her shoulders. Her ripe young breasts stuck out like majestic peaks capped by the snow-white layer of cotton that was her bra. Quickly lifting her arms behind her back, she pulled open the snaps and lifted away the bra. She smiled as the boy drew in a sharp breath at the sight of her exposed flesh.
"Wow!" he gasped, his eyes taking in every contour of the twin mounds. "Are they ever big!"
"I'm glad you like them," Cheri purred, arching her back slightly so that her breasts stabbed out even further toward the boy's devouring eyes.
"How about mine, Danny? You haven't seen mine yet."
The boy whirled about and discovered that while he was watching Cheri undress, Rita had also taken off her blouse and bra. Her breasts, while not as pointed as Cheri's, were fatter and meatier looking, with wide brown circles surrounding her nipples. The redhead hefted both hands in under the pendulous bosoms and shimmied them for Dan's appreciation. "How do you like these?" she taunted, shaking them almost in his face.
"They're-they're both nice," he stammered, his eyes glued to the deep crevice between Rita's proud beauties.
"Of course they are, silly!" she giggled. "They're a pair! They're identical!"
"No, I-uh-I didn't mean that. I meant yours and Cheri's are both nice."
"Oh." Rita pouted. "But which are nicer?"
Dan fidgeted as first one girl and then the other shoved her breasts up close to him. "It-it's hard to say."
"Touch mine," Rita commanded, grabbing the boy's hand and clamping it hard atop one of the globular mounds. "Feel how nice and firm it is, and how smooth when you run your fingers all over it."
"Taste mine!" Cheri chimed, thrusting a ripened nipple at Dan's lips. The hard bud was in his mouth instantly, and hungry smacking sounds broke from his throat as he curled his tongue about the sensitive little bullet and licked at it mercilessly.
"Which one is better?" Rita demanded, pulling the boy's head away from Cheri's bosom.
He groaned with disappointment and shook his head sadly. "I-I can't decide. Couldn't I have just another taste to be sure?"
"Nope," Cheri laughed, pulling back from his snapping mouth. "It's obvious this isn't going to get us anywhere. We'll have to move on to the next plateau."
"The next--? " Dan gulped.
Rita giggled and shimmied her hips from side to side. "I'll bet this is where you lose, Cheri," she teased, her fingers working on the zipper of her skirt. "Danny looks like the kind of guy who goes ape over redheads-particularly if she can prove she's a real redhead!"
"You mean you're going to show me--! " he gasped.
"But of course," Cheri purred. "But I have a hunch you're partial to blondes. Real blondes." She had already slipped out of her skirt, and while the boy watched with dumbfounded eyes, she slid her fingers in under the waist of her panties and began to work them down over her hips. "After all, it's true what they say about blondes. They know how to have more fun-and how to make sure somebody else does, too!" With a sharp little whistle of silk against skin, the panties dropped into a milky white pool around her feet and she beamed cheerfully at the astounded boy. "Like?" she growled, wiggling her hips so that her thighs opened and closed in quick, revealing poses.
"Wow!" he choked, wiping his forehead with the back of his hand '"Wow! Oh, wow!"
"See? I told you he liked blondes, Rita."
"But he hasn't inspected the other merchandise yet," she argued, whirling Dan around so that he stood facing her completely naked body. "How about this?" She bumped her hips straight out at Dan, and the shock of what he saw almost toppled him backwards. Then, rolling her body slowly from side to side, she began to hum deep in her throat in a seductive accompaniment to the motions she was making.
"I-I-I-" Dan stammered helplessly.
"Oh, Rita," Cheri pouted, "this isn't going to get us anywhere either. You know, something tells me that Dan just isn't interested in judging our contest."
"Mmmmm," the redhead purred, edging up closer to the boy and sliding her hand suddenly into a spot that made him jump in surprise. "Something else tells me he's very interested!"
"Really? I don't believe it," Cheri scoffed.
"Danny, did you hear her? She doesn't believe it." She brushed her lips up close to the boy's ear and flicked the side of his neck with her tongue. "Let's show her how wrong she is, okay?" Her nimble fingers were at the tab of his zipper instantly, racing it down to the bottom.
For a moment the boy seemed stunned by what Rita was doing with his pants and pulled back from her touch. But as her coaxing fingers groped further and a deep purr of appreciation came from her throat as she found and squeezed what she was looking for, he relaxed and let her wiggle her hand back outside-together with its prize held tightly captive.
"See!" she crowed happily. "Now what do you have to say?"
"Nothing," Cheri murmured. "I can only say, I like it! I like it!"
"Of course you had nothing to do with this," Rita boasted. "It's all because of me, isn't it, Danny?"
"It is not!" Cheri protested. "I was the one he saw first."
"But I was the one he liked best."
"Dan, tell us who's responsible," Cheri begged, sidling up on the other side of him and working her fingers down to where Rita's were continuing their soft, teasing strokes.
"Uh-uh-uh-" he mumbled incoherently. His face was covered with sweat and his lips looked bone dry.
"Well, there's one more way to find out who's the better of us," Cheri growled, as she dropped quickly down the length of Dan's body and pulled away Rita's hand. The boy's eyes flew open and he stared in amazement as Cheri's arms wrapped around his thighs and she drew her head steadily closer-her tongue flicking body outside her moistened, eager lips.
"Oh!" he gasped, as the first tickling embrace ran over him. "Oh! Oh! Oh!" His hands dug deep into Cheri's long blonde tresses and drew her closer in to him. "Baby!" he murmured. "Oh, baby! That feels so good! Where did you learn to use your tongue like that?"
"I taught her everything she knows!" Rita cried, as she, too, grabbed Cheri's hair. But she pulled in the opposite direction from Dan, yanking Cheri abruptly away from his highly responsive body. "But I didn't teach her everything I know! I saved a few special tricks for occasions just like this. Want to see them, Danny?"
"Oh, yes!" he gasped, pulling in on Rita's shoulders to hurry her closer. "Show me! Show me!"
"Sure, honey," the redhead purred, and then she was.
Dan's head flew back on his neck and he let out a howl so loud and so violent that Cheri feared it might bring down the entire school. His knees' buckled and he thrust repeatedly back and forth to meet Rita's dynamic lunges. The muscles in his neck were stiff with tension, and from the short, sharp gasps breaking from his throat it was obvious what was about to happen.
That was precisely the moment Rita chose to back away and scramble to her feet. "Well, I guess it's a draw," she said glumly. "I tried every trick I know and didn't get any more response than you did, Cheri."
"Keep trying!" Dan wailed. "Keep doing what you were doing! Just another minute! Please-that's all it'll take-just another minute of that and I'll-"
"Sorry," Rita said, forcing a look of sadness into her twinkling eyes, "but we have to have a time limit on these things. It wouldn't be fair to Cheri if I took more time than she did. I mean, it wouldn't really be a true contest, would it?"
"To hell with the silly contest!" Dan begged. "Just don't leave me like this! It's not fair! It's too cruel!"
"Leave you like what?" Cheri purred sweetly.
"You know damn well like what!" he swore furiously.
"Sorry," Rita smiled, shaking her head, "but we've used up all our time. We've got to get back to class, Danny boy. Some other time maybe, okay?"
"Like when?"
"Well...." Cheri drawled, "I suppose we could let you come to our first meeting tonight."
"No, that won't do," Rita butt in. "Why not?"
"Well, Danny's got a girlfriend, didn't you know? Kim wouldn't permit him to spend any evening away from her."
"Oh?" Cheri shook her head sadly and clucked her tongue. "What a shame. We had such a nice program planned for tonight's meeting, too."
"I can come! I can come!" the boy wailed.
"And break your date with Kim?" Rita teased.
"She doesn't own me," he bellowed. "I'm my own boss. I can do whatever I damn well please."
"And would you like to come tonight, Danny?"
"If I can't right now, I guess it'll have to be tonight." He shrugged and smiled weakly.
"Oh! You're terrible!" the girls laughed simultaneously, exchanging a quick wink.
He was hooked all right. And the Jefferson High Sex Club was about to initiate its first member!
CHAPTER NINE
"Well, you're right on time," Cheri quipped, as she and Rita walked down the steps to the storage room that night and found Dan lounging against the wall. The boy snapped to immediate attention, his face aglow with anticipation.
"I couldn't think about anything else all afternoon," he explained, as he came up to Cheri and wrapped his arm possessively about her shoulder.
"Raring to go, hull?" she teased, sliding away from him to open the storage room door.
"And how!" he exclaimed. Cheri flipped on the light and the three of them stepped inside. The minute the door was closed he began to unbutton his shirt.
"What do you think you're doing?" Cheri inquired, arching her eyebrows.
"Getting ready." Dan pulled the tails of his shirt out of his pants and tossed it off his broad shoulders. The muscles of his smooth, tanned chest and stomach rippled in the dim light.
"For what?"
A wicked glint twinkled in the boy's eyes. "You know for what."
"No, I don't know. I wish you would explain why you're taking your clothes off."
Dan stared dumbly at her for a long moment, his hand frozen at his belt, his smile slowly fading. "But after what happened at noon, I thought-"
"Well you thought wrong, I'm afraid," Cheri said crisply. "This afternoon you were here as an arbitrator for our little dispute. Tonight you're applying for membership in our club. There's quite a difference."
"There is?"
"Quite," Rita chimed in, but it was clear from the puzzled look on her face that she wasn't too sure just what that difference was herself.
"You see, Dan," Cheri explained, as she began to unbutton her blouse, "we're trying to run a very respectable sex club. We have to maintain our standards, and can't allow just anyone in." She peeled her arms slowly out of the blouse and smiled at the way Dan's eyes were watching the steady rise and fall of her breasts, so daringly revealed through the skimpy bra.
"That's right," Rita added, taking her cue from Cheri and beginning to strip out of her own blouse. "What kind of club would it be if we let people who weren't properly qualified join?"
Dan's eyes bulged as Cheri adroitly snapped open the grips on her bra and slid the thin straps off her shoulders. The twin mounds bounced free as she tossed the bra to the floor and hiked her skirt to un-snap her garters. "But-but I'm qualified!" he argued. "Couldn't you tell that much this afternoon?"
"Silly boy!" Cheri laughed, as she reached out and ran her fingers down his naked chest, pinching him playfully just above the belt line. "Just because you've got the raw material doesn't mean you know what to do with it!"
"I know! I know!" Dan panted, darting his eyes wildly between Cheri and Rita. The redhead had already stripped out of her blouse, bra, and skirt, and stood before him with only her sheer panties on, her hands at her hips.
"That remains to be seen," she purred.
"You going to stand there like that all night, Dan, or are you going to take off your clothes and make yourself comfortable?" Cheri drawled.
The boy whirled back to her and his mouth fell open. The young blonde was completely naked, stretched out invitingly atop one of the wrestling mats, her one leg drawn up seductively to heighten the effect of her pose. Dan swallowed hard and tugged at his belt. In a matter of seconds he'd pushed his tight jeans down his legs and was struggling with his socks and shoes.
"My, my," Cheri said huskily, as she stared at the straining cotton underpants of the boy, "you sure do come prepared, don't you?"
He smiled bashfully as he disentangled his legs from his pants. When they were off and he was about to peel down the cotton shorts, Cheri stopped him.
"Come here, handsome," she growled. "Let mama do that for you."
Dan walked proud and tall to where Cheri lay curled on the floor. Rising to her knees, she gripped the elastic waistband and started to slid it down the boy's hips. She stopped momentarily to nuzzle her cheek against the hot golden flesh, then laughed as Dan responded violently.
"Steady, honey," she said, stroking her cool fingers up and down the boy's hairy legs. With another tug, Dan's underpants fell down around his knees and Cheri helped him step out of them. Her eyes widened as she stared straight at him and a low growl began to work its way up in her throat.
"Like what you see?" Dan inquired.
"Um-hmm. But it's not what you've got, it's what you do with it that counts, big boy!"
"You want to find out what I can do with it?" he challenged.
"That's why we're all here, isn't it?" Cheri wrapped her arms around the boy's thighs and bent quickly forward, kissing him with her moistened lips and darting out the end of her tongue to flick teasingly back and forth. "Come here," she growled, pulling him down to the mat with her. The weight of his body crushed her breasts almost flat and she felt a violent heat pressing against her belly. Her arms curled around his strong shoulders and clutched him even tighter. "Oh, baby," she sighed, "show me! Show me now!"
Dan's eyes flashed wickedly as he raised himself up and threw his legs outside Cheri's. His hand scurried down her belly and stroked softly, knowingly, until the moment was exactly right. Then, grinding his teeth and grunting in short, sharp spasms, he began to lower himself inch by inch.
"Oh, wow!" Cheri squealed, rocketing up her hips to meet his advance. "That's the way, baby! Ooooh! That's just the way!'
Dan moved so slowly that Cheri thought she was going to go out of her mind. He seemed to be purposefully taunting her, teasing her by settling down so slowly. He knew that one quick, violent thrust would give her exactly what she wanted, but he seemed bent on prolonging it-making her beg him with her body for it.
"Dan!" she hissed. Her legs flew up from the floor and knotted around his buttocks, pressing against them with both heels to urge him down. "Dan! Now! Don't tease me! I want everything now!"
And then the teasing must have been too much for the boy, too, for he unexpectedly gasped and rammed himself down all the way to grind his belly against Cheri's. The two of them moaned as the swift stroke of pleasure charged both their bodies with an electric thrill.
"Yes, honey!" Cheri whimpered happily, arching her back and clamping her legs even tighter around his buttocks. "That's how I want you! That's just how I want you! Now make me feel something!"
Slowly at first, then with increasing speed as his breath quickened and his forehead began to bead with sweat, Dan moved himself in sure, ruthless drives. His hands gripped Cheri's breasts as she wriggled in under him, squeezing them and diving for them with his hungry lips as he lifted up just enough to swoop down and thrust a rock-hard nipple inside his mouth. Without letting up for even a second, he sucked on the stiff brown bud furiously with his tongue and lips-increasing the attack as Cheri moaned and screamed for him to stop.
Their bodies hammered as one, arching and lifting from the wrestiing mat in wild motion. Their cries and grunts filled the little room as they raced nearer and nearer to the end.
"Honey!" Cheri shrieked. "Now! Now! You too?"
"Yeah!" Dan grunted. "Yeah, me too, baby! Right now?'
Cheri threw back her head and wailed as she felt the rush of hot sensation flood through her. Answering it with all her might, she rode the crest of the wave with him, panting and sighing, stroking her nails down his back and clutching those wonderfully strong shoulders until at last he settled motionless and drained of energy. His breath was ragged as he kissed her neck and cheeks, murmuring words of appreciation and praise in her ear.
"Hey!" Rita cried, tugging on Dan's shoulders to roll him up and away from Cheri. "How about me?" She had been watching everything that just happened and there was a wild, savage look in her eyes. Her lips were moist with excitement and her body fairly quivered as she flopped Dan onto his back and knelt down beside him to run her hands over his slick, hot skin.
"Baby, I don't know if I can," the boy laughed weakly. "That Cheri is too much!"
"Oh yeah?" Rita growled. "Well wait till I'm done with you before you start handing out compliments." She moved quickly to squat on her haunches between his legs. "Come on, Danny boy," she urged, stroking him with her fingers in an effort to bring him back to life. "You can do it."
"I should have brought along some help!" he laughed.
"Why didn't you?" Cheri pondered. "Huh?"
"Well, this is a club-and we're open to new members. Why don't you pay us another visit tomorrow night and bring along a buddy-so Rita or I won't have to wait in line?"
"Who cares about tomorrow?" Rita said anxiously. "Just so baby doesn't disappoint Rita tonight! Maybe a little special coaxing would do the trick. What do you think, Danny?" She bent her head quickly, her tongue fluttering wildly even before her mouth was there.
"Oooooh!" the boy sighed heavily. "Oh, baby! Oh! Maybe I won't need help after all!"
Much later that night, as Cheri was walking back to her uncle's house from the bus stop, she noticed a strange car parked outside the gates. The headlights were off, but she could see the glow of a single cigarette from behind the wheel. As she came into view, the cigarette suddenly went out and the car door opened.
"Cheri?" the all-too-familiar voice called.
"Hi, Marty," she answered, recognizing the young sailor as he came out of the shadow of the trees. "What're you doing here at this hour?"
"Waiting for you," he said. There was more than a hint of irritation to his voice. "I've been sitting in that car since eight o'clock."
"Did I ask you to?" Cheri snapped.
"No, you didn't," he said, his voice softening immediately. He touched her arm and drew her to him. "Come and sit with me for a couple of minutes. I want to talk to you."
"Marty, it's very late and...."
"It'll only take a minute," he urged.
Resigning herself to another unavoidable confrontation with him, Cheri allowed Marty to lead her to his car. "All right," she said, when they were settled side by side. "Now what's so important that you had to see me tonight?"
"I've got a job offer, Cheri," he beamed. "A real good job-in Detroit. They want me to start in two weeks."
"I'm happy for you, Marty," she said, but feeling a sudden twinge in her heart. That meant he'd be leaving town....
"I-I didn't tell them yes or no yet," he continued, "because I had to know something first."
She was afraid to ask the question, but knew she had to. If she didn't, he would say it anyway. "What's that, Marty?"
"Whether you would come with me," he said softly. Before Cheri had a chance to utter a word, he had his arm around her shoulder and was pressing his lips on hers. "Don't say anything," he whispered. "I know it's crazy-we're still practically strangers-but I can tell we were made for each other. Something happened on that bus the other night-something wonderful that only happens once in a lifetime for a person. It happened to me with you, and I can't let it disappear. I know you'll probably laugh at me for saying this, but I love you, Cheri. I want you to be my wife and come with me to Detroit."
It was all she could do to keep from fainting! Was she hearing him correctly? He wanted to marry her? He loved her? Oh, if she could only believe it....
"Marty," she whispered, "why me? Of all people, why me?"
"I just told you. Because I love you."
"But you don't know me. You don't know anything about me-what I am, what I do...."
"I know all I need to know. You're the most wonderful girl I've ever known in my life, and I know you would make my life so happy if you said yes."
Cheri felt on the brink of tears. If the past few years had never been, if she hadn't done all those things with all those boys, she would be the happiest girl alive right now. She would have a wonderful guy in love with her, wanting her to be his bride. She would know that her future would be safe and secure with a man who loved her. But there was no way to erase the past, Cheri knew, and sooner or later it would catch up with her. Someday, in some unexpected way, Marty would find out about all the things she'd done, and she knew it would destroy him. He thought so highly of her, when there was really so little for him to respect. She just couldn't hurt him like that. He didn't deserve the kind of life she would have to offer; he was too nice a guy.
"Marty, I-" she began, but he stopped her before she'd really started.
"Don't give me your answer right now, Cheri. I know this has been a shock and you'll want time to think about it. Let me see you tomorrow night and we can talk some more, okay? What do you say?" He hugged her tighter with his arms and started to pull her close, but Cheri shoved him away and scrambled for the door handle.
"No, Marty!" she cried. "I can't see you tomorrow, or any time. I can't! I just can't!"
She had the door open and was running up the drive to her uncle's house before Marty had a chance to stop her.
CHAPTER TEN
Cheri sat cross-legged on the mat, her skirt hiked high on her tempting thighs, and stared at the boy standing in front of her. Curly brown hair, flashing dark eyes, a rugged cleft to his chin, football shoulders, an obviously exciting and interested body tucked into skin-tight jeans and a clinging knit shirt. At the moment, there was a foolish grin on his face and he wet his lips nervously.
"So you're Brad Allen?" Cheri inquired, although she well knew his name.
"That's right," the boy smiled, his eyes glued to the proud thrust of Cheri's breasts inside the tight black sweater. "I thought Dan told you-"
"Silence!" Cheri snapped. "You will speak when you are spoken to, not before. This is a very exclusive club, you know, and any infraction of the rules will immediately disqualify you from membership."
"Oh!" Brad Allen said, blinking in surprise. "I didn't know this was a club, for gosh sakes. Dan just told me we were coming down here to-"
"He told you what!" Cheri gasped in mock outrage, although the word Brad had used sent a little shiver of excitement running up her spine. That was exacthj what they'd come to do, of course, but not until Cheri had had a little fun taunting the boy. "I believe that comment immediately rules out you and your friend from membership!"
Brad Allen's face fell almost to his knees. "You mean we're not going to--? "
A sharp little giggle came from the other side of the room, where Rita and Dan sat huddled against each other, the boy's arm around her waist, his fingers working their way inside her short-shorts.
"Madame Vice-President," Cheri said, "what is your vote? Should they or shouldn't they?"
"They should! They should!" Rita squealed, as Dan slipped his whole hand down the front of her shorts. "And the sooner the better!"
"Rita!" Cheri snapped, beginning to feel a tinge of real anger. "Come over here."
"Later!" the redhead panted. Dan was slowly lowering her to the mat, his fingers dancing wildly up and down inside her shorts.
"Now!" Cheri leaped to her feet and scurried across the room to pull Dan away from Rita, just as he was unbuckling his pants.
"Come on!" Rita shouted, as Cheri yanked her to her feet. "What do you think you're doing?"
"We have business to settle."
"I know, I know. So get off my arm and let me settle it!"
"Not that kind of business. Club business."
"To hell with the club!"
"Rita!" Cheri looked genuinely shocked. She twisted the redhead's arm painfully. "Do you want our club to be a success or not?"
"Oh, I guess I do," Rita moaned.
"All right then. Come over here and help me decide what to do with these two."
"I know what to do with them!" Rita complained. "If you'd give me half a chance I'd do it!"
Cheri preferred to ignore that remark as she settled herself back down on the other mat. From the corner of her eye she could see Dan adjusting his pants and grumbling his way over to where the other three teen-agers were.
"Now," she said to Rita, "this young man wants to join our club-but he has said some highly insulting things about its purpose."
"Such as?"
Cheri leaned her head to Rita's ear and repeated Brad Allen's comment.
"Well didn't we?" Rita exclaimed, wide-eyed and perplexed.
Cheri gave her a sharp jab in the ribs with her elbow. "Yes, but we don't have to be so crude about it, do we?" she whispered.
"What's going on, Cheri?" Dan growled, as he flopped down onto the mat and reached for a cigarette. "I got to be home by eleven. If we waste all this time, we're not going to be able to-"
"Who told you to sit?" Cheri snapped imperiously. As Dan blinked, she ordered him to his feet and demanded that he squash out his cigarette. "You two must learn to show the president and vice-president of this club some respect," she warned, "or your membership will be more seriously in question than it already is."
"All right," Dan sighed wearily. "What do you want us to do, for gosh sakes? Let's get this nonsense over with so we'll have plenty of time to-"
"Dan!" Cheri warned angrily. "If either you or your friend use that word again, Rita and I are going home. Understand?" Why couldn't they have manners like Marty? He'd never say a thing like that to me. But Marty's gone-you sent him away....
"Very well," Cheri said, both boys nodded their heads glumly, "we shall get down to business then-trusting there shall be no further interruptions from the prospective members."
"We promise," Dan grunted, and Brad shook his head in anxious agreement.
"You propose this young man for membership, is that correct?" Cheri inquired, imitating the most officious language she knew.
Dan nodded yes. He was obviously weary of the little game they were playing, but realized that if he didn't go along with it he and Brad might both go home without getting what they'd come for.
"What are his qualifications?"
"Well, he's on the baseball team, he's a good swimmer, he drives a new Mustang, he's-"
"Not those kind of qualifications," Cheri interrupted. "For our club those things don't count at all."
"What do you want me to tell you?" Dan protested.
"It's not what I want you to tell me; it's what I want him to show me!"
Both boys blinked in surprise.
"I don't get it," Brad whispered to his friend, in a voice loud enough for Cheri to overhear. "What does she want me to show her?"
"Honey!" Cheri laughed derisively. "If you don't know, you sure as hell don't belong in this club!"
"You mean my--? " he gaped.
"That's right. Your-We can't let just anybody in our club. We have to make sure new members measure up, so to speak."
"Oh come on!" Brad protested, backing away from the two leering girls. "If you think I'm just going to show you, just like that, you're nuts!"
"Meeting dismissed! Membership denied!" Cheri said, making a gesture to get to her feet.
"Wait a minute!" Dan's eyes were wild with frustration. "He didn't mean that! Give him another chance." He poked his friend hard in the ribs. "Show her the damn thing, for Pete's sake!" he whispered.
"I can't just show it-"
"You want a black eye?" Dan warned.
The two boys squared off with each other for a moment, then Brad resigned himself to Dan's threatening strength. "All right," he grumbled, as his hands began to unfasten his pants, "but this is the craziest thing I ever heard of." He fumbled for another moment, then pulled away his hands. "There," he grunted at Cheri. "Satisfied?"
She stared intently at him for several seconds, feeling her mouth beginning to water and her heart beat a little faster, but she shook her head no. "Hardly. Is that the best you can do?"
"Well what the hell do you think?" Brad shouted. "Under these circumstances, what guy could get it--? "
"Dan could," Cheri interrupted, flashing her attention at the blonde-haired boy. "Couldn't you, Dan?" He gulped and smiled a foolish grin. "I-I."
"Show Brad what a real club member can do when he's called on to stick up for his rights, Danny!" Rita giggled.
"Yeah, go ahead, buddy," Brad leered, happy to have his friend in the same position he was in just moments before.
Dan grumbled and protested, but with Rita, Cheri, and Brad taunting him together, he suddenly made a furious swipe with his hand and did what they wanted. Instantly Brad howled with laughter.
"Look! He flunks the test, too!" He punched Dan playfully on the arm. "What's the matter, big boy?" he teased.
Cheri clucked her tongue and shook her head sadly from side to side. " don't know what we're going to do with these new members, Rita," she said. "I think we'll just have to say no to them both. If they can't work up any enthusiasm for our club...."
"I've got an idea!" Rita said brightly. "How about if-" She leaned toward Cheri and whispered in her ear, giggling as the idea took shape in her mind.
"Wonderful!" Cheri cried. "It's the perfect test!" She looked from one to the other of the sad-faced boys. "We've decided to give you both a second chance to prove yourselves," she purred. "But if you flunk this test, I'm afraid there's no hope for you."
"Name it!" Dan lunged.
"If you'll just give the vice-president and me a few moments," Cheri said wickedly, "I will." She and Rita exchanged conspiratorial winks as simultaneously they rose up from the mats and wiggled down their panties. Rita had to take of her shorts first, but Cheri's slid easily from under her skirt. When both pairs of flimsy silk were off, the girls lay down on their backs and propped themselves up on their elbows.
"Aha!" Cheri laughed, staring up at Brad's flushed face, then trailing her eyes lower down his body. "I see we're getting results already! And you, too, Dan! My, you might pass this test with flying colors!"
"What do you want us to do?" Brad gulped. His eyes were riveted to Cheri's lap, and his tongue nervously wet his lips.
"Guess," she purred, as she flipped her skirt up even higher and stretched apart her legs. "You had such a big mouth before, let's see you use it now!"
"You mean you want us to--! " he swallowed.
"That's the general idea," she laughed, as she reached up and tugged on his pants leg to urge him down to his knees. She smiled with satisfaction as she watched Dan follow suit in front of Rita.
"I really think you'd make a fine member for our club, Brad," she drawled, as she coaxed her fingers through his thick brown hair and urged his head where she wanted it, "but we've got to be sure. You understand that, don't you?"
"Mmmmmffpph!" the boy mumbled.
"What's that?" Cheri gasped, as her body shot straight out under the shock of the first sharp tickle of excitement. "Mmmmmffpph!"
"Oh!" she gasped, clamping her thighs open and shut in violent response to the boy's suddenly furious assault. "You said it!"
CHAPTER ELEVEN
"What do you think, Rita?" Cheri gasped a few minutes later.
"I-think-I'm going to-climb the walls!" the redhead shrieked, twisting and writhing as Dan burrowed down further. "Oh, lover man! That's just the way I like it!"
"Me too!" Cheri panted. She could feel the muscles in her legs twitching up and down involuntarily, and she grabbed down to seize Brad's hair. Her fingers clamped on his ears, scratched the skin on the back of his neck as she squirmed and thrashed wildly under the tickling torture. "No more, honey!" she begged. "Oh, no more! I can't stand it when you do that! Oh, Brad! Please! No more! Oooooh! Honey! Oh, that drives me wild Stop! Please!"
But both boys seemed too far gone to pay any heed to Cheri's desperate pleading. Their heads bobbed furiously, like a pair of jack hammers in simultaneous motion. It seemed almost as though they were in competition with each other, to see which one of them could please his girl first. As soon as Cheri would let out a wild cry of delight, Dan would increase his speed against Rita. When the redhead threw back her head and howled, Brad would nip lightly with his teeth in a way that would throw Cheri into a spasm of wild, bucking motions.
Finally she knew there was nothing she could do or say to stop what she'd started half in fun, so Cheri lay back and surrendered herself completely to Brad's inundation of thrills. She jerked and twitched fitfully as she felt him pulling her closer and closer to the brink, and when at last he'd taken her right to the very edge-then forced himself to go even further with his speed and intensity-she howled as though a jolt of fire had just sped through the length of her body.
"Oh, honey!" she screamed. "Oh, baby! Oh! Oh! Oh! So good, so good, so good, so good! Oh! I'm going to die if you don't make it stop! Oh! Oh!" And then, slowly, her muscles began to stop quivering and she felt the tension oozing out of her legs. She wanted to lay just as she was and let sleep wash over her body. Everything inside her felt so peaceful, so contentedly pleased.
But Brad had other ideas. He had no sooner lifted away his head than he was half-standing, shoving his jeans down his muscled legs. Cheri rolled her head and stared up at him, almost fainting at what hovered just above her.
"Well, baby," he said, through clenched teeth, "now" do I pass your silly test?"
"Yessss!" she hissed, reaching up to touch and grip him. "Oh, brother, do you!"
Brad smiled as Cheri began to tug him down to her. "Careful, baby, don't pull too hard," he joked.
"Mmmmm!" she purred. "Mmmmmm!"
She sighed as she felt the weight of him settle flat on her breasts, his thighs spreading to fit flush against the outside of hers. He rocked his body in a slow, up-and-down motion for a minute, teasing her as his hot flesh brushed against her and lifted away.
"Baby!" she moaned. "Oh, Brad! How I want it! Don't tease me!" She wiggled seductively in under his chest, then fit her hand down between their bodies to grip him again and draw him where she wanted him. "There, honey!" she sighed. "Right there! like that!" Both hands were at his buttocks then, pushing him to her, urging him to fill her with joy.
"Okay," he grunted, "you asked for it." With a sudden jolt of his body, he shot straight forward, pinning Cheri flat to the wrestling mat. A long, low sigh of pleasure inched from his throat as he settled. "How's that?"
"Oh, Brad!" she panted. The pleasure tearing through her body was so intense she nearly fainted. Her fingernails raked the bare skin of his back as she began to answer the slow, steady thrusts of him with matching ones of her own. Lifting her belly up so she could rub against the sleek, hairy skin of Brad's stomach, she tightened her hold on him and smiled as he growled with delight against her ear.
"Honey!" he moaned. "You do it so good! Oh, boy, you do it so good!"
"I'm glad you enjoy our service," she kidded, "and I hope you'll recommend our little club to all your friends."
"Not till I'm done, baby," he growled, beginning to thrust and drive himself in earnest now. "Not till I'm done!"
Within two weeks, Cheri's club had grown to such proportion that it threatened to be too large for the storage room. Word had spread like wildfire through Jefferson High, and each night when she and Rita came back to the school they found more leering male faces waiting outside the door. For a while it seemed as though things were going to get out of hand. With more than three dozen boys wanting to be shown a good time, and only herself and Rita to provide it, Cheri wondered how long either of them could keep up the pace. It was fun to have that many boys desiring you, but not when it meant getting home long after midnight each evening and waking up in the morning feeling as though paralysis had set in both legs.
That problem was happily solved for her one day when a delegation of girls from the Smart Set invited Cheri to have lunch with them. At first they'd been catty, attacking her and Rita in not-too-subtle ways and making all kinds of inferences about them both. When Cheri readily admitted to all their charges, however, and told them point blank that she intended to steal away every one of their dates, the other girls became a little more submissive. Wasn't there some way that everyone could be friends? they wanted to know. Cheri didn't have to think for more than a minute or two before she outlined her ideas along that line. If the girls wanted to get their boys back, it would have to be on Cheri's terms-and with the understanding that nobody belonged to anybody else. All members of the club were free to pick and choose whoever they wanted to be with on any given night, and that went for both boys and girls, she added.
The Smart Set was deeply shocked by Cheri's proposal and flatly refused to have any part of her idea. Until a few more boys deserted their camp, that is. When it became apparent that they were soon going to be an exclusively spinsterish society, they had another talk with Cheri-to ask when and where they should be for the merger.
The only other problem Cheri encountered was what to do with Carlos. While it was relatively easy for her to slip out of the house once Uncle Oscar went to bed, Carlos was well aware of how often she went out and what time she came back. He even followed her a few times in the limousine, and while he didn't know precisely what went on once she went inside the school building, he had a pretty fair idea when he watched Cheri and Rita emerge hours later with a herd of boys surrounding them. The only solution, as Cheri saw it, was to add one more member to the club.
One night shortly after the merger between the Smart Set and Cheri's club, she and Rita were driven to the school in her uncle's car by Carlos.
From the size of the crowd waiting outside the storage room door, it would have seemed as though a major school function was taking place that night. But once the door was opened and the throng passed inside, that impression was instantly dispelled. Boys and girls paired off automatically, each couple seeking out some dark corner where they could be alone and get down to the business at hand.
Cheri had to smile to herself as she watched the girls of the Smart Set. They had been so restrained for so long, denying the boys what they both wanted because of some silly regulations that turned people into machines. Now, thanks to Cheri, they were able to act as most of them had undoubtedly wanted to act all along-like healthy, fun-loving teen-agers anxious to taste all that life had to offer.
Cheri would have been pleased with herself, except for the fact that as she watched the group breaking up into couples she realized that, once again, she was being left out in the cold. There wasn't one boy in the bunch who interested her enough to feel serious about, as she doubted that any of them thought of her as anything more than a good time for a few nights at most.
"But isn't that what you've always wanted?" she asked herself. "To be foot-loose and imagine free? No strings attached? Everything for laughs? Never get involved with anybody or let anybody put any ties on you?"
At least that's what she'd told Marty two weeks ago, when he'd pressured her for her answer. She had explained, quite patiently and quite painfully, that she couldn't possibly marry him, that she just didn't feel they were right for each other, and that she would really appreciate it if he didn't bother her any more. She wished she'd meant what she said. The truth was, she'd cried herself to sleep that night, wishing things could have been the way he wanted them.
She knew that he'd been hurt by her rejection, but she suspected it would only be a temporary hurt. He would find somebody else when he got to that job in Detroit. Somebody who deserved him, she thought bitterly. And as for herself-well, there was always the club and the momentary thrills it could provide.
The whole trouble was, she found herself getting less and less of a kick out of the meetings. Every boy she was with reminded her of Marty in some way. She wondered each time she felt a new pair of lips fondle her nipples how Marty's lips would have felt. When she wrapped her arms around a boy's back and hugged him close, she pretended it was Marty she was embracing. And when she was so deeply involved in the act of love that she shouldn't have been thinking of anything but the waves of pleasure assaulting her senses, Marty's face was in her mind-his body filling her with such happiness.
But Marty was gone. A closed chapter in a book that had no room for anything but raw sensuality and transitory pleasures.
Steeling herself for the long night ahead, Cheri looked about the room and called for attention. "Before we all get too involved with other matters," she said, forcing a smile, "we have some business to settle. Some new gentlemen have been proposed for membership, and we must decide if they aie acceptable."
A howl of laughter went up from the crowd. These initiation ceremonies had grown more outrageous by the night, with Cheri and Rita devising all sorts of tests and challenges for the applicants to endure.
No one had ever been denied membership, but quite a few must have wondered if it would all be worthwhile as they went through Cheri's tests.
Her latest inspiration had been to require all of the boys seeking membership to appear before the assembled crowd wearing nothing but a gym towel draped around their waists. The towel was simply to protect the boys' initial modesty, and was quickly stripped away once they were led into the midst of the room. As a further little twist, Cheri decided to have masks put over the boys' heads, so they could not see who was putting them through the initiation and so that when it came time for the throng to vote, they would not be quite sure who was being admitted. Cheri explained her reasons for the masks by stating that it was a boy's body and what he could do with it that counted-not who he was. The masks made the club more democratic in its selection of members, she added.
"Who've we got tonight?" she asked. One of the other boys, who had already gone through his night of initiation, went to the storage room door and told the first applicant to come inside. The crowd silenced immediately as a tall, muscular body was led into the center of the room.
Cheri had an idea who it was from the moment she saw him. Those muscular legs, hairy arms and chest, and broad shoulders gave him immediately away as Johnny Mastro, the boy from her history class whose tight-fitting pants had excited her so much that first day.
"Now we'll get a chance to see if all that was real!" she thought wickedly. She took her place in front of the boy and reached out to touch his naked chest. He jumped in surprise, but quieted instantly as Cheri stroked her fingers softly up and down the sleek skin, curling the long, black strands of hair and pulling on them playfully. Her eye watched the towel around his middle until she saw it begin to lift and vibrate. Then, knowing the moment was right, she slid her hand down to where the towel was fastened and jerked it open. As it fell to the boy's feet, a whistle of appreciation came from the assembled crowd.
"Yep," Cheri thought as her blood pressure began to mount, "this is Johnny Mastro, all right. And it's all real!"
Her fingers curled further down the boy's stomach, tickling and playing through the hair along the way, until the palm of her hand brushed against hot, firm skin. A little sigh of pleasure came from Johnny's throat as Cheri's cool fingers snaked their way around him and began to caress.
"I believe we will give this applicant a test of endurance," she said to the crowd. "We will determine how well he bears up under our own version of the water torture!" Her eyes sparkled mischievously as she wet her lips with her tongue and searched the leering faces in the group. "Any volunteers to administer the test?"
"Me, dear! Me!" a shrill voice rang out instantly from the back of the room.
"Not you, Howard!" Cheri laughed, as the athletic manager started toward her, eyes aglitter. The man stopped short, a look of intense disappointment on his face as he stared at Johnny Mastro's proud, waiting body. Then he noticed Carlos standing at the edge of the crowd and, his smile returning, started toward the Spanish boy.
"How about me?" a sexy little brunette from the Smart Set purred.
"All right," Cheri consented, although she had been secretly hoping there would be no volunteers so she could administer the test herself. It didn't really matter that much, of course, since Johnny was sure to be elected to membership and there would be plenty of other opportunities for her to take a turn with him.
The crowd hushed as the sleek brunette walked up to Johnny and whispered a breathy hello against the side of his head. With the mask on, he couldn't tell who she was, but her voice came through to him so sensually that his excitement mounted still further.
Sliding her hands around Johnny's back, the brunette began to kiss his shoulders and the base of his neck as she wiggled her body sensuously back and forth against the front of him. Then, bending slightly, she slid her hands lower on his sides, while her playful mouth nipped at the hairs on his chest and her tongue trailed its way to his navel. Settling herself on her knees in front of Johnny, she began to tongue his deep belly button, moaning and purring to herself as he throbbed with response.
The crowd watched in awe, struck by the intensity of the girl's performance. She was expert in what she was doing; there was no doubt of it.
Her mouth left Johnny's navel and her tongue slid further down, tracing wet circles through the hairy flesh of his lower belly and onto his hips. Then, squeezing into his buttocks with both hands, she straightened her head for the final attack.
Several girls gasped as they watched the brunette assault Johnny with the hunger and abandon of a starved person. It seemed incredible that she could cope with so much of him, and yet she was doing so expertly. The big boy's body rocked and thrust as tide after tide of hot pleasure swept over him. Deep, guttural sounds broke from his throat.
As Cheri watched, she could feel her loins itching with excitement, burning as though acid were lapping away at them. The next applicant would be handled by her personally, she resolved. She couldn't watch much more of that kind of stuff without going ape!
Suddenly a sharp grunt came from Johnny's throat and he shot his body forward so far that he almost toppled the brunette backwards. She clung to his buttocks, gurgling in her throat as he pressed down on her for what seemed an eternity. When he finally straightened his knees and stood up tall again, the girl slumped to the ground, her face flushed, her eyes strangely wild.
"Less than a minute," Cheri announced. "I'm not sure if that means our applicant is very weak or our test administrator very strong. What do you say, members? Shall we accept him?"
A loud cheer went up from the crowd, and several of the boys went instantly to Johnny's side to remove the mask and congratulate him.
"All right," Cheri yelled over the noise of the group, "who's next?"
Again the door opened and a new boy was led inside. This one was as tall as Johnny and seemed even more muscular. Unlike Johnny, however, this boy's chest was sleek and smooth, with virtually no hair on his skin until his navel, where a luxurious sprout of blonde fuzz cropped up and disappeared into the towel around his waist.
Cheri had no idea who the boy was, because of the mask he wore, but she liked what she could see and felt desire begin to race through her veins. She approached him slowly, surveying the ripple of his muscle, the hardness of his stomach. When she touched him she pulled her hand away suddenly, surprised by the heat of his flesh.
"This one is something else, all right," she thought, as her hand reached out for the towel. With trembling fingers, she loosened the fold and watched as the terry cloth slid to his feet. An even louder murmur of admiration than had greeted Johnny Mastro came from the throng.
Cheri's heart was thumping at twice its normal rate as she reached for him, running her fingers through the soft, luxurious hair.
So beautiful, her mind whispered. What shall I do with all this? What first?
"What's his test?" someone called from the group.
"Well," Cheri began, "for this one I think-"
"Cheri?"
The name was whispered so softly that for a moment she didn't believe she had heard it. But it came again, louder this time, and she pulled her hand away from the boy in shock.
No! It couldn't be! Not him! she thought frantically.
"Cheri, is that you?" he asked, and this time she was positive of the voice.
No! How could this happen? Who let him in?
"Hey!" somebody shouted from the crowd. "What's going on? Let's get going with the initiation, huh?"
"Cheri!" His voice was almost angry now, as he reached up and began to tug at the mask over his face. In another moment he would have it off and see her-know she was the one who had touched him like that-who had done similar things to all the other boys in the room! No! She couldn't bear it!
Cheri turned from the boy and ran toward the door, her heart ready to burst. She had to get away before Marty got the mask off!
CHAPTER TWELVE
Cheri ran blindly from the deserted corridor of Jefferson High, not daring to look back to see if Marty was following her. She could hear the commotion of the crowd in the storage room receding in the distance as she searched frantically for a place to hide. He couldn't find her, he just couldn't!
A thousand questions spun dizzily through her mind. How had he found out about the club? Who had brought him there? What did he know about it-about her? Everything? How long had he known?
Her cheeks burned with shame. It was bound to have happened, sooner or later. How could she have expected to get away with it? When you're putting out for any guy who asks, she thought scornfully, word is bound to get around. She wouldn't have been a bit surprised if the next applicant to walk through that door had been Uncle Oscar!
Why not? Jump on the bandwagon and get a free ride!
For the first time in her life, Cheri saw herself for what she really was. Not a fun girl, a swinger, a liberated woman-but a tramp. Something cheap and vile, who would let any man put his hands on her, do anything for a quick thrill. Hot tears of burning anguish ran down her cheeks as she abused herself. Only Marty could make her feel like this, because he was the only one who had ever really cared for her. And, she realized now, the only one she had ever cared for.
But what can a girl do to show a guy she's in love with him, when all her life she's been passing it out like free samples? She knew now that she had run from Marty so frantically because she didn't want him to be like all the others-the countless men and boys who had used her, abused her in ways that only the man she truly loved had a right to do. It would have been so easy to let him rip off the mask and know whose hand was fondling him like that. She could have shrugged and told him so what? This is how I am, take it or leave it. But she didn't stay; she'd run. That meant something, didn't it? She searched her frantic mind for an answer. Did it mean anything that she wanted Marty to love her in a way more permanent, more enduring than the cheap thrills she was used to?
She reached End of the corridor and suddenly stopped dead. There was no place else to go; the door to the other stairwell was bolted shut. She turned back in the direction she'd just come ... and saw him.
He was walking quickly toward her, his shirt hanging open, his pants hastily thrown on, his arms swinging menacingly at his sides.
"No, Marty," she whimpered, backing up to escape. "Marty, please...."
She came flat against the wall. Trapped. His big hand reached out and grabbed her arm, squeezed and pulled her into the teachers' lounge nearby. He slammed the door shut, locked it, and threw Cheri into the center of the room.
"Now suppose you explain just what in hell's going on?" he stormed. "Tommy Bolton told me there was a big sex party at the high school tonight and dragged me along-but I never dreamed I'd find you in charge of it!"
She hung her head in shame. What sense was there in trying to lie or argue her way out? He'd already seen the worst, why not tell him the rest? And so she did. Everything. From the trouble back home in Chicago to what had really been happening on the bus the night they met and right through to Carlos and her organizing the club. The initiations, the orgies ... everything. She made no special emphasis of the part about him, simply telling him that she loved him-but she was afraid to let him fall in love with her, because of what she was.
When she was finished, Marty stared at her for a long, long time in silence. Then he said, "You know what your trouble is?"
"What?"
"You're spoiled. Spoiled rotten. You've always gotten things your own way, so you think you can get away with anything. You've never had anybody to haul in your reins and slap you around when you step out of bounds." He came toward her slowly, his eyes flashing darkly, his fists clenching and unclenching. "What you need right now, for instance, is a good hard spanking. And I'm just enough in love with you to be the man to give it."
"Marty!" she squealed, backing up from him. "What are you going to do? Marty...."
He lunged for her before she could break away and run toward the door. With a quick pull of his arm he dragged her to the couch and pulled her down with him. As she kicked and squealed, he flipped her over his knee and lifted up her skirt. Her panties came shredding off in his big strong hand on the first tug.
"Now," he warned, as he swung his arm high in the air, his palm open and flat, "I want you to remember this, because it's just what you're going to get every time you're bad. Understand?"
Before Cheri had a chance to squeal any reply, Marty's broad hand was swinging down-landing with a sharp stinging crack on the blonde's dimpled buttocks. She howled with pain as he swung back up and brought another sharp smack to the same pink skin. Again and again the crack of his palm hit against soft flesh, until tears rolled down Cheri's eyes and her cute little fanny was a blushing red color all over.
"I hate you," she cried, as Marty picked her up off his knee and turned her onto the other side. He stretched her out flat on the couch, then stood quickly and unbuckled his pants. "What are you going to do now?" she whimpered, watching him shove pants and underpants down to his ankles.
Without saying a word, Marty was climbing up on the couch with her, spreading her legs apart and hovering his gigantic self over her.
"Marty!" she squealed. "Don't! No-not now! I hurt!"
"I told you," he said through clenched teeth, "that when I get through with you, you're not ever going to be interested in another guy. And I meant it."
As Cheri howled in protest, he drove himself straight down, never stopping for even a second until his belly ground hard into hers. He rested his head on her shoulder for just a moment, panting almost as heavily as she was, and then he began to move again. Each jolt of his body pushed Cheri's freshly spanked bottom harder into the couch, until she felt the tender flesh would surely be rubbed raw.
His mouth sucked furiously at her neck and breasts as he lunged without mercy, heaving all of his weight and strength at her until she began to moan and gyrate in response to him. Even through all the pain, she felt the most incredible flood of pleasure begin to seep through her body. She flung her arms around Marty's shoulders and rode up and down with him as he lifted and plunged-her legs draped up so high they hung suspended in air.
"Like it, baby?" he grunted, as he nipped savagely at her nipples;
"Oh, yes!" she cried, meaning it more than she had ever meant anything in her life. She realized, under the thundering attack of Marty's big body, that this was exactly what she had always needed-a man who wouldn't take no for an answer, who would tame her and subject her to his own will. And Marty was just that man. The feelings he was sending through her body were unlike anything she had ever known. No man had ever reached so deeply into her soul or touched so many nerves and set them so alive with tingling, raw sensation.
She dug her nails into his back as she bounced and twisted up and down in under him, working her muscles to make him cry out with wild shouts of pleasure. She was going mad from the slick rubbing of their wet bellies together and the pressure of his chest flattening her breasts.
And then she could restrain herself no longer. He had touched her too deeply, set off too many tiny explosions for the dam of passion to withstand the raging torrent. "Marty!" she cried. "I-I can't help it! I'm going to-"
"Go ahead, baby," he grunted. "I'm just waiting for you!"
It happened then, just that way. First she was screaming-biting into his shoulder and hugging him for dear life as her muscles twitched and jerked in wild response. Then he was sobbing and barking out loud grunts of satisfaction as his body hammered and throbbed its last convulsive proof of the love he had for her.
They lay side by side, his arms still tightly wrapped around her; her legs still locked behind his back. Lazy contentment oozed over them as their bodies cooled. Cheri cried softly against his chest for a while, as Marty stroked her hair and told her it was all right.
And much later, when they were dressed and walking out of the building with their arms around each other, they heard the sounds of laughter still coming from the throng downstairs.
Marty stopped and nodded toward the sound.
"Want to go back down there?" he asked, his voice tight and serious.
Cheri shook her head no, smiling wistfully. "We've got to get home and call my folks," she said, squeezing his arm and leading him away from the noise.
