Zeke (28 page)

“Aw, sweetie, I feel so bad for
you,” Dilly said to Sue. “Come here and sit by me.”

Sue climbed into bed next to Dilly,
who patted her leg comfortingly. Zeke sat on the edge of the mattress and lit a
cigarette. He gazed at the two nude women, sitting close to each other,
drinking their beers in companionable silence. Zeke smoked languidly with a
look of amusement on his face.

Dilly stirred a little, looking
with skepticism between the two. She scooted off the bed and stood. “You’ll
have to excuse me. I have to pee.” She hurried to the bathroom, lifted the lid
to the stool noisily, and pressed an ear to the closed door.

As soon as Dilly disappeared into
the restroom, Zeke turned to Sue. A strange smile lit up his face. “
“
That was pretty hot, wasn’t it, Susie Q?”

Sue said nothing. But Zeke
continued as if she’d responded.

“Well, let me tell you, if you
liked that, you’ll be pleased to hear that it’s about to get even hotter. When
she gets back out here, the real fun’s gonna start. If you’re squeamish, you
can go hide in the bathroom for this next part. Unless you want to help out,
hold her down for me?”

“What are you going to do to her?”
Sue whispered, heart racing.

“What I can’t do to you.” His voice
was ominous.

“Like what?”

“Like that bite you didn’t think
was sexy. I want to do that to Dilly’s sweet ass. And more. So very much more. We
might have to get rid of her body later, if things get too rough.” Zeke smiled
in anticipation.

Sue was dumbstruck. She couldn’t
think of one thing to say. Thankfully, she was saved from responding as Dilly’s
voice drifted from the bathroom.

“Hey, I hate to rush off, but I
need you to take me back to the bowling alley.” The toilet flushed, and there
was the sound of water running. Dilly continued, “My brother’s waiting for me
to drive him home.”

Zeke froze and looked at Sue. His
face paled. “Your brother?”

The water stopped and Dilly came
out of the bathroom. “Yeah, when I went back to get my coat, I told him I was
going with you guys, and he said he’d wait for me to come back. Hey, sorry we
didn’t get a chance to talk about good sites for your pictures, or order our
pizza.” She started pulling on her clothes. “Oh, well, what we did was a lot
more fun anyway.” She waggled her eyebrows at Zeke and smiled sweetly at Sue.

Sue was relieved. She hadn’t even
realized she’d been holding her breath. She got out of bed and gave Dilly a hug
before putting her own clothes back on. Zeke sat as if stricken.

“Zeke?” Dilly said. “You okay?”

“Yeah, yeah. Just thinking about
all the fun we had.” The firm set of his mouth belied his words as he collected
his clothes. He ducked into the bathroom.

“He okay?” Dilly asked.

Sue shrugged, but she knew Zeke was
bitterly disappointed. He exited a few minutes later, quiet and withdrawn. The
air around him fairly crackled with animosity. Dilly sensed the change in mood
and pulled on her coat, heading for the door. Silently, Zeke and Sue followed
her out to the van.

A thin layer of snow covered the
ice on the streets now, and Zeke eased the vehicle down the slick roads with
caution. Nobody said anything on the way to the bowling alley, the van filled
with awkward silence. The carefree spirit of the past few hours was gone. It
seemed like forever before they reached the parking lot and edged toward the
door. People were leaving in groups of three or four; Zeke swore quietly under
his breath as he waited for everyone to get out of his way. Finally, he pulled
up to the front of the building. Sue started to get out and open the sliding
door, but Dilly beat her to it, stepping quickly, yet gingerly, onto the icy
surface. “Bye, Dilly,” Sue whispered.

Dilly practically ran away from the
vehicle, slipping a time or two, not looking back even once. She stepped into
the building and ducked to one side. As soon as the van left the parking lot,
Dilly made a dash for her car. She had no brother, but intuition told her she
had narrowly escaped an evil fate.

Zeke was in a black mood by the
time they got back to the motel. “I just wanted to punish her a little, you
know, give her some smacks. She had such a ripe ass, perfect.”

“She doesn’t like pain; she told
you that,” Sue said calmly, glad it was just the two of them again. She figured
she could handle Zeke, if she was crafty about it.

“I know.” He slumped in the chair
and glared at her. The odd, unhappy gleam in his eyes was unsettling. “This is
so fucked up.” He slowly tapped the arm of the chair with a clenched fist.

Sue looked at him with
apprehension. Early on, in their relationship, he had commented that swear
words were the refuge of the intellectually bankrupt. He’d even been arrogant
about it, boasting of a vocabulary sufficient to express himself without
resorting to profanity. Obviously, he had lied about that, too. She was
catching him in more and more lies. It was becoming hard to know when to trust
him or not. Was his mental state deteriorating?

Sue decided to divert him from
whatever dark urges were tormenting him. “Hey, let’s look at the pictures,” she
suggested.

His mood suddenly lifted and he
clapped his hands together once, sharply. “Great idea!” He hooked the camera up
to his laptop, and fiddled with it a few minutes, humming with pleasure. “Look
at these, Sue. They’re good. I wish I would have taken more.”

Sue walked over and glanced at the
screen. She tried to remain dispassionate about the graphic images, but it was
impossible. She could hardly believe she actually did those things. And Zeke
wasn’t done. With her leaning over his shoulder, he clicked on other folders,
his hands trembling slightly. “These are awesome, bunny. Look.”

They compared the new shots with
the ones of her and Ernie. Soon, he pushed the laptop aside and reached for
her. She was exhausted, but relieved that his disposition had improved. He
carried her to the bed and made slow, easy love to her.

They cuddled afterward. He stroked
her hair and called her his sweet baby. She was nearly asleep when he pulled
his arm from beneath her head with a jerk. Sue groaned.

“I’m too wound up to sleep.” Zeke
crawled out of bed. “I can’t stop thinking about you with Dilly, and then I’m
wide awake all over again.”

“Just lay down and rest,” Sue
mumbled sleepily from under the covers. Her legs were shaky, her body warm and
heavy. She drifted off.

Midnight Visitors

Sue woke slowly to the sound of low
voices in the room. In her drowsy state, she thought it was the television. Stretching
languorously, she tossed back the covers, flung her leg out over the folds of
blankets, and touched herself. She was a little tender and very moist. I must
have had wild dreams, she thought, though she didn’t remember them. But then,
who wouldn’t after all she had been through.

“Holy shit,” an unfamiliar voice
blurted.

Sue opened her eyes, lying
perfectly still. She turned her head slowly and saw Zeke smiling at her from
the chair, two strange men on either side of him, their jaws slack, beer bottles
stopped halfway to their mouths.

“Oh!” she cried and pulled the
covers over herself.

“It’s okay, honey. These guys are
with me.” Zeke’s eyes were unnaturally bright, and he gave her that look of
warning, the look that told her not to raise a fuss.

Sue burned with embarrassment,
holding the covers up under her chin. “You might have told me!”

“No, you were sleeping; I didn’t
want to wake you. We were just going to have a couple of quiet beers and let
you rest.” Zeke took a long drink. With a sardonic lift of his brow, he
challenged her.

“Sorry if we woke you,” one of the
men interjected.

Sue glanced quickly at him. He
looked to be about thirty years old, handsome in a rough way, dark reddish hair
over the collar of his flannel shirt, eyes swimming with a combination of
embarrassment and frank interest. He was relaxed, leaning back against the
wall, one hand in his pocket, the other holding his beer.

On the other side of Zeke, the
second guy looked less comfortable. A slender blonde man, slightly younger than
the first one, he wore jeans hanging low on his hips and a holey Kid Rock
t-shirt. He was cute, even in the dim light. Sexy cute. He was also obviously
shy too; he looked at the walls, the floor, anywhere but at her.

“I don’t have any clothes on,” Sue
said petulantly.

“We know, bunny.” Zeke chuckled.
“We saw.”

“Well, I’d like to take a shower
and get dressed, if you don’t mind.”

“Go ahead,” Zeke said softly. “It’s
not like these gentlemen have never seen a naked woman before. We’re all
friends here.”

Sue clenched her jaw and lay still
for a moment. Then, making up her mind about something, she threw the covers
off and stood beside the bed. Her anger made her bold. The blond still avoided
looking at her, but the other man feasted his eyes. She stretched again,
deliberately. If this was how Zeke wanted to play, it was fine with her. She
walked slowly to the bathroom, putting a little bump and grind into her step.

She closed the door and used the
toilet. Then, defiantly, she opened it back up. She got into the shower and
bathed, soaping herself and rinsing off. She left the door open as she toweled
her body and put on a dab of perfume.

“I’m going to dry my hair now.” She
peeked around the doorway, allowing a breast to show. “If any of you need to
use the restroom, now’s the time.” She looked at each of them, but they shook
their heads, the blond still trying not to stare.

Once her hair was dry, she sashayed
across the room and sat on the bed. Glancing at the men from under her lashes,
she leaned back on her hands and spread her legs. She’d teach Zeke a lesson.
He’d be sorry he did this.

The blond cleared his throat and
the other man gaped. Zeke laughed softly.

“Aren’t you going to introduce your
new friends?” Sue forced a casual tone into her voice.

“I didn’t catch their names.”

“Lou,” said the redhead, and then
nodded toward the blond. “This is Mike.”

“Nice to meet you, boys,” Sue said,
still not smiling, but definitely enjoying the notion of making Zeke jealous.
The blond was finally looking at her, too. She opened her legs wider. It was
almost funny, for they certainly had no idea what to do next. There was no
protocol for this particular social situation.

Zeke got up from the chair and
walked over to the bed. He fondled her, looking at Lou and Mike while he did.
They watched, frozen, waiting for some clue whether they should leave or stay.
With a sinking feeling, Sue realized her effort was wasted. Zeke wasn’t
jealous; she had played right into his hands.

“My wife and I are open-minded.”
Zeke ran his hands over her body. “
Very
open-minded.”

Against her will, Sue felt a small
rush. She wanted to giggle, the situation was so absurd and yet so titillating.
The air of expectancy in the room was electric. She herself didn’t know how
things would proceed from here.

“What…” Lou said, but didn’t finish
his question. He couldn’t seem to find any words. Mike sat heavily in the chair
and just stared.

“You both look like you’ve seen a
ghost,” Zeke said cheerfully. “You need to loosen up a little.”

In a flash of understanding, Sue’s
exhilaration died.
He doesn’t care about me.
The realization struck her
like a slap in the face. He wouldn’t put her with other men if he cared. Why
was she still with him?

As if he read her mind, Zeke gazed
down at her with an expression of tenderness. “I love you, Sue,” he said
softly. “What other man would go this far just to see you satisfied? What other
man would care this much?”

She hung her head, barely feeling
his hands on her skin.

“Mmmm.” Zeke stroked his fingers
lightly between Sue’s legs, and then turned his attention to Mike and Lou.
“Anyone else want to try?”

It had gone too far. Sue wanted to
get dressed and walk out, but Lou had taken a timid step toward the bed. Zeke
encouraged him. “That’s the way. Go on and take her. She’s ready. She’s nice
and wet.” He licked his finger.

Mike got to his feet and moved
closer so he could see. Zeke stopped him with a hand to his chest.

“Do me first,” he said quietly.

“Oh, no,” Mike said, backing off.
“I don’t swing that way.”

“Neither do I,” Zeke said. “But I
want to see how it feels. It won’t hurt you to do a little for me. After all,
look what I’m offering
you
.” He gestured toward Sue.

Mike looked at Lou and back to
Zeke. He swallowed hard. “What do I have to do?”

Lou looked in amazement at his
friend. Mike shrugged. “I don’t mind,” he said, “as long as I can be with her
afterward.”

With a tight smile, Zeke unzipped
his jeans.

It seemed like a lot of time
passed, but Sue knew that was an illusion. After appetites were sated all
around, awkwardness crept in. The men dressed quickly, in a hurry now to be
away from each other and away from this room.

Sue huddled under the blankets.
I’m
not the same person I was when I left home
,
not even close
.
I
don’t know who I am anymore.

“Well, we gotta go,” Lou said. “So
long.” He opened the door and Mike dashed out ahead of him. A cold breeze
rounded the room as the door closed. Sue propped herself up on the pillow and
watched Zeke knowingly.

“What?” He looked disgruntled,
defensive.

“Oh, nothing,” she replied. “I was
watching you part of the time, that’s all. You with another man.”

“Oh, yeah? Well, it wasn’t that big
of a deal. But, you know what’s really funny?” He snorted. “Lou’s going to
wonder about ole Mike for the rest of their lives.”