The Adored (37 page)

“Who do you think?” she questioned.

He decided to go for it, “Me, you did this for me. For us?”

Santa looked at him and began to laugh. And she laughed and laughed, and the others were silenced by her throaty laugh and her broad smile that revealed two rows of perfect white teeth. Sebastian’s face got red, he froze.

And now they listened as she spoke. “Sebastian, you are so silly; you are so funny. This is for Winston. In one week he will be married; this is to help him get prepared.” And now looking at a pale Winston she asked, “So, Winston, are you prepared?”

“Santa, I am more ready than I ever thought I’d be. Thank you. The next gift you can give me is to teach my bride how to do that.”

“Winston, sweetie, you need to be born here. It’s in the DNA.” Santa laughed and her friends, including Sebastian, joined in laughing with her. And they drank.

The Gipsy Kings continued playing. Couples took to the dance floor. Several men came over to ask Santa to dance, and she politely declined. After a while Santa noticed that Sebastian had gotten unusually quiet. As a slow song started, Santa grabbed Sebastian’s hand.

“Come, dance with me,” she said in an excited tone.

“Thanks, Santa, but I’d like to just sit here and watch,” a strangely subdued Ball replied.

“There wasn’t a question mark at the end of my sentence. Come on,” she persisted, rising with his hand in hers.

The big man reluctantly rose and followed Santa to the dance floor. As they neared the circle, the crowd parted and began cheering, hoping for an encore. Santa gently raised her arm, and they quieted, respecting her space.

“What’s the matter, Sebastian? You got so quiet.”

Bravely he said, “Santa, I’m having the time of my life. This is wonderful. The music of this island is wonderful.”

“But there was something else I missed. What was it?” She tilted her head. “You went cold when I said my little surprise was for the groom-to-be. I thought it was so funny when you said you thought I danced and dressed like this for you. Only you weren’t trying to be funny, were you?” Santa asked.

“Farthest thing from my mind,” Sebastian replied.

“What happened, what did I do to let you think that?”

“Honestly?” he asked

“Honestly,” she said as they waltzed slowly across the dimly lit floor.

“You awoke something in me,” he said, short and sweet.

“Or something in you awoke?” she replied.

“You,” he retorted.

“How,” she asked.

“I have no idea. Something was never there and now something is there.” He said, not understanding himself but fully understanding what he was missing.

“Good,” she said.

“What?” Sebastian said looking at her, realizing she did not understand what pain she was inflicting on him.

“I said good. It is good isn’t it, Sebastian?”

“It’s only good if it was intended. It’s only good if it works. Otherwise it’s like waking up in a dark room and bumping into something and wondering what the hell was that,” he replied.

“Come with me,” and they left the dance floor. She led him out past the reception desk, outside and into the night. The evening air was pierced by the song of the coqui, the tiny frog of the island that sits in the palm trees. Santa led Sebastian past the pool area and out onto the darkened beach.

She sat on the sand and pulled Sebastian down beside her.

When he was seated beside her, she pushed him back, leaned into him and across his chest and kissed him.

He lay immobile, his lips reaching hers, longing for hers, hungry for hers. He rolled her over, placing himself half on her, reaching for her hip. He thought: Oh, that hip. And he felt the thin line of the black thong. The fire was lit. He kissed her passionately; she responded fiercely.

They went at each other, unbuttoning, sliding what would slide, pulling what would pull until they lay on the beach naked.

Not a word was spoken from the time Santa said “come with me,” on the dance floor. Two hours later they lay beside each other, cool from the 2 a.m. breeze, spent.

Spent is the right word. He took his large frame and placed it on top of her strong body and kissed her passionately and inserted himself into her and then pumped for all he was worth. She enveloped him. She wrapped herself around him every possible way—around his large, long probe; around his strong, wide back; around his head; around his legs with her powerfully strong legs. It was if an octopus was on him, a pulsating octopus. For whenever he pumped, she met him. And when he pulled back, she pulled back. And this went on for over an hour, pumping at and into each other. When they came, covered in sand and sweat, a second period of love making began. Then they took each other’s clothes and wiped the sand and moisture away from their bodies and they stood. They began foreplay as afterplay, exploring every crevice and curve and organ that had not been fully explored before the rush to fulfillment. They touched each other with their toes, their hands, and their mouths. And when they were licked clean, they lay back down in the sand, spent.

“Do you still think my surprise wasn’t for you?” she teased.

“I don’t care about the surprise; I have the real thing,” and Sebastian reached over and gently ran a hand over one of the breasts that had been bulging through the blouse during her dance.

Lying naked in the pitch black of the night, Sebastian and Santa looked out to the stars. With nothing but a bright night sky above them, it was as if they were there, out in the universe, floating through time.

Sebastian thought of the stars and their energy. He knew all things were possible. He believed what Winston always told him, that man’s discoveries are just evidence that God left behind.

He knew that energy from the sun was the answer, that it could provide most of the energy the earth required to run things. God had left many clues on how to harness the sun’s energy. He concluded he and Winston Trout would find those clues and fulfill God’s plan.

He rose up on an elbow and looked at the beauty queen of Coamo in her naked glory. For the first time in the young titan’s life, he wanted something. And he wanted more and more of her.

And out among the stars, with palm trees rustling in the early morning breeze, they made love again. And again.

Later, as Sebastian looked at Santa, she asked him, “What will we tell Edward?”

And now that the lust had been fulfilled, he wondered, what would he tell Edward. He hadn’t had time to think. He must think, and an injured conscience was beginning to weigh in: his friend, Edward.

Chapter 49

Traynor Johnson was the athlete of the boys from Brunswick. He played baseball with abandon and football without fear. He was salutorian of Brunswick, behind his best friend and valedictorian Winston Trout.

Traynor was not of the wealth that existed at Brunswick. His father was a rear admiral, who when he retired from the Navy, he settled in Greenwich, CT. When the admiral applied to Brunswick for Traynor, tuition was waived and every year for the fourteen years Traynor spent there with the friends of his life. A grateful and loyal Brunswick School valued service to America, and for the Board of Overseers at Brunswick, there could be no greater loyalty than to spend one’s working life in military service. Those same board members also were aware their sons could benefit from association with a child reared by an admiral. And they were correct in that regard. The friends of Traynor Johnson were stronger because of his fire for life, and they were smarter because of the depth of knowledge he pursued. In their activities he was direct. He would not veer off course. If a friend was moved to misdirection, it was always Traynor who could be depended upon to guide them back on course. He was straight and respectful. He never lied.

But Traynor Johnson also benefited from his friendship with the six members of the Brunswick School Investment Fund, never more so than from Winston Trout. If Parker Barnes was off with his father learning the construction business in a summer, it was Trout who was readily available to be with Johnson. When Sebastian Ball spent part of his winter vacation skiing in Utah, Johnson and Trout made it their business to be together. They were there for each other, not that Sebastian, Kish, Parker, Edward, or Gideon would not give up anything for each other, but of the seven, the two closest friends were Winston and Traynor.

And while they were not planning to sit with one another on the trip home from Puerto Rico, Winston convinced Sebastian to swap first class seats and sit with Parker so he could sit with Traynor. “I’ve got business to talk over with Tray, really important business.”

When Winston plopped into the heavy leather seat, which sat two abreast in the front of the Boeing 767, Johnson saw a worried look on his friends face.

“Getting nervous now, huh, Winny?” Johnson asked.

“Not about the wedding, if that’s what you mean, Tray,” Winston Trout replied.

“Then what, you don’t seem yourself?” Johnson persisted.

“Then what? I’ve been watching you for the past four days, Tray. You’re in some kind of fog. What’s wrong?” Winston, ever the concerned friend, asked.

“Ha, Winny, I think I’m in love,” a jubilant Johnson blurted out, surprising himself with the words.

“That would be with Silvana, Santa’s friend, I’d presume.”

“You would presume correctly.”

“Sebastian told me that it may be more serious than love,” Trout continued probing. “I can’t imagine what could be more serious than love. What do you think he meant by that?”

“Sebastian should not worry too much about my affairs; after all, I think he may have gone further than he should have last night,” Johnson confided.

“Why do you say that, Tray?” Trout asked.

“After Santa and Sebastian left, Eddie came looking for Santa when he finished with the casino. We told him that we thought she had gone up to her room. Eddie came back a half hour later and said she wasn’t in her room,” Johnson finished.

“Oh, oh,” Trout said, a look of surprise coming over his face.

“And,” Johnson began.

“There’s an ‘and,’” Trout smiled.

“Isn’t there always,” Johnson smiled also, “but this is not funny. AND, this morning when I went to say goodbye to Silvana, Santa was just coming in at 4:30.”

“What’s that mean,” a now confused Trout asked his friend.

“Well, you probably went up to your room around 1 a.m., and Santa left before you. When Eddie finished up, it was around two thirty; when he came back down after looking for Santa, it was around four. So where was Santa from say twelve thirty till after four?”

“OK, I get it. I have a better question. Where was Sebastian till after three,” Trout posited.

“You should have asked him before you gave up your seat to come inquiring about my love life,” Tray said to his friend.

Winston rose as if to go ask Sebastian.

Johnson grabbed his arm laughing, “Sit your ass down, Winny.”

And they both got silly for a moment thinking of the complications about to set in among their friends.

“Alright, enough of that,” Trout finished with a smile, “Back to you. So tell me about Silvana. We haven’t seen enough of you these few days to know what’s going on there. But Sebastian says it’s more than just puppy love.”

Tray almost laughed now, “How in the heck does Sebastian Ball know so much about Silvana and me?” and Johnson paused for a moment, “Unless,” and he stopped.

“Unless,” Trout continued Johnson’s train of thought, “he heard it from Santa who got it from Silvana.”

“When did he let on how much he knew about Silvana and me?” Tray asked.

“This morning before you came down for the ride over to the airport,” Trout reported.

“Then that confirms a lot more than you were looking for. Yes, I’m in love, but yes, Sebastian was spending time with Santa,” Johnson analyzed.

“Tray, my boy, I am not interested one bit in what Sebastian and Santa were up to last night. If Eddie loses her, it will be his own fault. He doesn’t pay enough attention to the girl and last night she was crying out for it. So let’s get back to you. How bad is it?”

Trout persisted.

“As bad as it can get. I love her, and I’m going to marry her,” Tray confessed.

“Ah, Tray, four days. Just a bit in a hurry are we.”

“As much in a hurry as I’ve ever been. I knew it the second I saw her, Winny. I don’t know how that’s possible but that’s what happened.”

“Are you sure it’s not being on leave, being here in this country with all these beautiful women. You know what Gideon says.”

“Yes, I know. “In Puerto Rico, even the men are beautiful,” and the two friends laughed loudly, enough so that it annoyed a passenger in the row ahead who was trying to nap.

From behind them they heard the loud voice of Sebastian Ball call out, “Can you people up front hold it down,” a rather large laugh followed.

“Well, the one thing I notice,” Trout said, “is that you’re looking a little weak in the knees. So what’s next?”