The Beach House (13 page)

He bent down and retrieved the book, read
the words slowly. Mark read everything slowly. He glanced at Jenni,
back to the book and read the signature again.

“What the fuck is this?”

This is going to be bad
, Jenni
thought.

“I told you about the couple in the Bradley
place. Turns out he’s a writer.”

Mark studied the book, turning it over
gingerly as though he held something rotten.

“I can see that. What’s this crap he’s
written here?”

Jenni couldn’t pretend the words were meant
for someone else. “A joke, Mark,” she said. “Only a joke. He
thought he was being funny.”

“Funny? With my wife?” Mark returned to the
table, placed the book flat and started eating again. Jenni watched
him, waiting, wondering if she might get away this time.

Mark cut meat and chewed, his eyes on the
book the whole time. He reached across and opened the cover again,
scanned the words, then he lifted the book and threw it hard across
the table. It hit Jenni on the cheek, heavy and sharp cornered and
she cried out. Mark rose and followed, grabbed her arm and dragged
her off the chair so she sprawled on the kitchen floor. He stood
over her, hands loose beside him, fingers held straight and stiff
along his thighs.

“Pick it up.”

Jenni retrieved the book, climbed to her
feet.

“Out back. Now.” Mark gripped her wrist, his
fingers hard, dragged her out the back door into the small yard
that had no fence but gave directly onto the sheep-grazed grass
that ran up to the spine of the island.

“Burn it!” Mark’s voice was cold.

Jenni shook her head, holding the book tight
against herself. Mark’s fist lashed out and struck her ear. Jenni
dropped to her knees, head ringing.

“I said fucking burn it!”

“No!” Jenni screamed at him, getting to her
feet again.

“What?”

“No, I won’t burn it. This is mine. No-one’s
ever signed a book for me before.”

Mark reached out and Jenni turned away. He
punched her hard, low down on the back, twisted her round and
grabbed the book. Jenni fought, trying to keep hold but Mark’s left
hand slapped her face and her fingers came loose. Mark stepped
away, his hands tearing pages loose. Jenni cried out and lunged for
him again and he hit her casually back handed and continued on. An
old oil drum stood on a patch of scorched grass where they burned
rubbish. Mark fumbled in his overalls and pulled out a disposable
lighter, flicked a flame from it and held it to the pages he had
torn out. The paper caught rapidly, flaring up, and he dropped them
in the incinerator, tore more free and added them. He turned to
Jenni, holding the book open, showing her the front page Joe had
signed, ripped it slowly away from the spine, his movement
deliberate. Mark held Joe’s words over the flames until they
caught. He tossed the remains of the book into the drum. Then he
turned and started toward Jenni.

Jenni did not return to the beach house until
Friday
, waiting for the worst of the bruising to fade. Kim and
Joe were clearing lunch from the bleached table on the porch when
Jenni came up in her mismatched top and bikini briefs. Kim slipped
her arm around Jenni’s waist and kissed her on the mouth.

“Joe’s nearly ready. We missed you. Where
were you?”

“Stuff.” Jenni shrugged

“You’re okay to stay today?”

Jenni nodded. “Mark’s out with his buds
tonight. Bowling, again.”

Something in Jenni’s voice made Kim turn to
her. “What’s wrong, honey?”

Jenni shook her head. “Nothing’s wrong.” But
even as she spoke her voice caught and broke. Kim reached out and
drew her into a hug.

“Tell me, Jen, tell me what’s wrong.”

Jenni shook her head. “I can’t. Nothing.
Nothing’s wrong.”

“There is. Tell me. Is it Mark?”

Jenni sobbed, her head nodding into Kim’s
shoulder. “He burned Joe’s book, Kim. He found what Joe had written
and he burned the book. He can’t stand seeing me happy, Kim, he
can’t stand it.”

“I’ll get Joe sign another one.”

“I haven’t got another one.”

“We have,” Kim said. “And if there’s
anything we can do to help you only need to ask.”

Jenni gasped a sob and shook her head.
“Nothing. Shit happens, that’s all.”

“Shit shouldn’t happen.”

“It does to me. Not you and Joe, no, I can
believe that, but to the likes of me shit happens all the time. All
the fucking time.”

Kim pulled back and looked at the face of
the most beautiful women she had ever known, saw the shadows under
her eyes, then the dark stain on her cheek.

“He hit you!”

Jenni shook her head, not negation, just a
postponement of the truth.

“That bastard hit you!” Kim repeated.

“You don’t understand.” Jenni made an effort
to pull herself together, straightening up, wiping the back of her
hand across her eyes. “This is my life. This is what I understand,
Kim. Not everyone can be like you and Joe. This is
real
life, and in real life husbands knock their wives about.”

“Not the real life I know,” Kim said. “You
can leave him.”

Jenni gasped a laugh. “Yeah. On this island?
Where would I go that would be any better?”

“You could-” Kim cut herself off. She had
almost said
You can come and stay with us
, but that would
sound weird, too much, too soon. Maybe too much
ever
. So
instead she said, “You can stay then, if he’s out with the guys.
Can’t you?”

Jenni nodded. “I guess.”

“No,” Kim said. “You can stay. We’d both
love you to stay. Ami would love it. I think she has a new hero
figure.”

“She’s so sweet,” Jenni said.

“So you will stay?”

“I guess, if I’m invited,” Jenni said, and
Kim grinned. Something different was happening today, she sensed
it, anticipation vibrating through her body like a drawn
bowstring.

Joe came out in speedos, tighter and more
revealing than the shorts he had worn the last time, and Kim saw
Jenni’s gaze drop to his trunks. The curve of Joe’s cock was
obvious, tucked to one side, a thick ridge pushing against the dark
orange lycra. Jenni lifted her eyes and caught Kim watching her and
her cheeks flushed.

Oblivious, Joe brushed past Jenni. “Come on,
lazybones.” He lengthened his stride into a slow jog. Jenni glanced
again at Kim before turning to run after him. Kim watched her go,
enjoying the way Jenni’s ass moved in the tight bikini briefs. She
leaned against the porch railing and continued to gaze after them,
not concerned when Jenni caught up with Joe and punched him on the
side and he reached back and grabbed her around the waist. This
thing was going to happen. Kim knew Joe well enough to trust him.
She was not going to lose Joe to this woman, however beautiful she
was. She knew this deep in her heart, even though they had never
before entertained the fantasy they were now playing out.

The couple reached the breaker line and
splashed around, kicking water at each other before striding out
through the waves, lifting their arms as each breaker rolled in,
splashing foam and spray around their lean bodies. The water had
reached their waists when Kim saw Jenni stop abruptly and dart
violently sideways. Joe turned to her, trying to grab her arm but
as she fell backward Jenni knocked his hand aside and leapt away
from him. Joe tried to close the gap but Jenni was shouting
something, her voice loud enough for Kim to catch the edge of her
words even back on the porch, caught her words but not the meaning.
Joe stopped and Kim saw him come toward shore, wading as fast as
possible. He came back twenty feet, turned and moved across the
waves before turning back toward Jenni. She was floating on her
back, arms out, hair spread around, tugged and tangled by the
waves. Joe grabbed Jenni under her arms and pulled her back to the
shore.

Kim ran down the beach, her feet flying over
the sand toward them. She reached the shore as Joe was dragging
Jenni from the water. She lay back in his arms, face contorted with
pain, her left leg held up as though she was trying to push it away
from her.

“What happened. What’s wrong?” Kim helped
Joe with Jenni, not sure what to do and Joe shook his head and put
his arms under Jenni and lifted her easily, walked up the beach
with her.

“Jellyfish,” he said. “Big one. Stung her on
the leg.”

“Vinegar,” Jenni said between gritted teeth.
“It’s not a bad one, but fuck it hurts!”

“Go ahead,” Joe said to Kim. “Find some
vinegar. Anything else?” he asked Jenni but she was not
listening.

Kim ran to the house, grateful Ami had gone
to sleep after lunch. She found a pint bottle of vinegar, took it
out to the porch while Joe carried Jenni the rest of the way. He
sat her on the step and knelt beside her leg. The perfect skin was
mottled and red all along the front of her thigh, above and below
the knee. When Kim leaned close she saw minute stingers hooked into
Jenni’s skin. Joe took the bottle of vinegar from Kim and tipped it
up, letting a little splash against Jenni’s leg. She winced and
gritted her teeth, but when Joe stopped Jenni said, “No, more. And
I’ll need some help to shave my leg.”

The incongruity of what Jenni said made Kim
giggle nervously. “They’re pretty smooth already, babe. Shouldn’t
we worry about these stingers first?”

Jenni shook her head, the pain seeming to
recede a little as the vinegar discouraged the nematocysts from
releasing their toxin. “More vinegar, Joe. The shaving will remove
the stingers without release any more poison. I need one of you to
help me do it.” She looked at them and they both nodded, and at
that moment she didn’t care if they both helped. Her leg was a
flame of agony.

Joe splashed more vinegar on her leg and
Jenni waved her hand. “Enough. Keep some for later. Help me
inside.”

Joe took most of her weight and she hopped
beside him into the kitchen, through to the small downstairs shower
room. Jenni sat on the white plastic seat in the shower and held
her leg out. The pain seemed to be easing a little, and she laughed
harshly. “This isn’t how I was thinking we might share the shower,
but needs must.”

Kim knelt beside Joe, holding a can of
shaving cream and a safety razor.

“Lots of foam,” Jenni gasped, and Kim let
the nozzle spray white foam all over the affected area. Joe ran the
razor over Jenni’s leg. Kim took the shower head and turned it on
but Jenni shook her head. “Not yet. Fresh water will make it worse.
Let Joe remove the stingers first.”

Kim dropped the shower head and sat on her
heels, her hand touching Jenni’s hip in a gesture of sympathy.

“Again?” Joe asked. He had removed all the
foam, and when Jenni nodded he sprayed again and repeated the
operation.

“Okay, more vinegar,” Jenni said. The color
had returned to her face, and already Kim could see the irritation
reducing. Joe poured the remaining vinegar across her smooth skin
and Jenni sighed deeply. She looked to Kim and nodded. “You can
wash it off now. If you’ve got some soap and shampoo that’ll help
neutralize the venom. I was going to ask if you had any baby oil,
but of course you have.”

“I’ll get it,” Joe said, moving away.

Kim turned the spray on and poured shampoo
on Jenni’s leg, working it in with her fingers, trying not to press
too hard. Jenni leaned over and added her own hand.

“How do you feel now?” Kim asked, looking up
at Jenni’s face.

“Lucky. If that had been a man-of-war I’d be
on my way to the emergency room. It was only a moon-jelly, thank
God. Have you got anything I can take for the pain?”

“Some Tylenol?”

Jenni nodded. “Sounds good. Two.”

Kim went to find them as Joe returned and
started applying the clear baby oil to Jenni’s leg. When Kim
returned Jenni had stopped trembling. Kim could see that the slick
oil under Joe’s hand against Jenni’s smooth skin was starting to
turn him on. She felt it too and tried to push the arousal to one
side. Now was not the time.

“I think I can walk now, but I’m going to
need to lie down for a couple of hours.” Jenni pulled a face. “I’m
sorry guys, this is not what I was hoping for this afternoon.”

Kim gave her a hug as Joe helped Jenni to
her feet. “It’s you that matters, babe. Use our room upstairs,
it’ll be quieter for you.”

Jenni used Joe as a crutch to climb the
stairs. Kim followed, amused to see how his cock had filled and now
pushed against his speedos. Under other circumstances the sight
would be turning her on as well, but at the moment she was content
to observe only.

Upstairs Jenni dropped to the bed and
sighed. Kim handed her a glass of water and two tablets. Jenni
swallowed them, looked down at herself and pulled a face, grabbed
Joe’s arm so she could stand.

“I’m getting your bed all wet. Kim, help me
out of these things. Joe, you’d better find something else to
do.”

Joe looked at her, his face a comical mask,
and Jenni gave a little smile.

When they were alone Jenni hopped around and
said over her shoulder, “Unclip me, Kim.”

Kim pulled the catch on the bikini top and
Jenni let it drop from her breasts to the floor.

“I don’t know how we can do this without
scraping my leg.” Jenni hopped back around, her breasts bouncing
enticingly as she moved.

Kim went to her knees in front of Jenni and
slipped her fingers into the waistband of the bikini bottoms.

“I’ll try and pull these down. See if you
can sit when your butt’s clear and I’ll do what I can to keep them
away from your leg.”

“I’m so glad you and Joe were here.”

Kim smiled. “Anything for you, babe.”

“Even this? Isn’t this a bit too much like
changing Ami?”

Kim looked up along Jenni’s perfect body, at
the large breasts hanging self-supported, swaying slightly as she
breathed.