Chapter 12
He hung up the phone and walked back to his room. He was still dazed. It felt like a hammer had hit him on the head. Helene, naked and luscious, smiled at him and ran her hands sensuously over her body to show her impatience.
"Well," she said anxiously.
"Look, Helene," he said, slowly. "You're going to have to leave now."
"Leave?"
"That's right." His voice was hoarse. "I ... I've got to go down to the depot and pick someone up. I'd rather you didn't stick around."
"That's sweet of you. May I ask, who it is that's so important, you have to throw me out?"
"I ... I've got company. Unexpected company."
"Who?"
"My kid sister," Shep said, after he had frantically searched his mind for a reasonable and believable solution to his dilemma.
"And she's going to stay here, with you?" Helene asked. "Here. Right here with only one bed?" she added skeptically.
"What the hell do you think I am? She'll have the bed, and I'll get a cot set up in here for myself. It'll work out."
"Why can't she stay at one of the hotels in town?"
"It's too late to start cruising around town to find a hotel room. Besides, they're all dumps, anyway. She'll be better off here. Now, be a good girl and clear out. She's had a hard trip down here and I don't want to keep her waiting down there all night."
Helene didn't appear to have swallowed the story, but she got up anyway and started to dress reluctantly.
"How old is this sister of yours?"
"A year and a half younger than me."
"That's nice," Helene said, sweetly.
She buttoned up, and Shep cleared her out of the room. Then he straightened the room as well as could be done in a minute and ran down to his car. He got to the depot fifteen minutes later from the time Lily had called.
Lily was standing next to the newsstand.
"Lily," he called.
"Shep! Oh Shep!"
She ran into his arms. Her breasts dug into his chest, and her tongue snaked into his mouth. She acted as if they were home in bed, and not in the center of a bus depot.
They parted. Her eyes glowed brightly, her breasts heaved, and she breathed heavily.
"It's so good to kiss you again," she breathed.
"Yeah, it is," Shep said. "Let's get out of here. Are these your suitcases?"
"Yes, Shep. So how have you been? I've read about you. All those runs you've been hitting."
"Short fences," Shep told her. "I've been lucky. But this isn't the big leagues."
They piled into his car and headed back to the boarding house.
When they got into Shep's room, Lily said, "It's cute. Bigger than I thought it would be, and neater than I expected, too."
"I was just changing the sheets," he explained. "They were getting pretty dirty."
He put the suitcases down. Lily turned to him, and her eyes gleamed with desire.
"You know what I want to do?" she asked.
Shep knew exactly what she wanted to do. The same thing he had done with Jeanie this afternoon. The same thing he had just done with Helene a half-hour ago. And now, the same thing he was going to do with Lily.
Three rounds with three different girls in the same day. That would be a record, for him anyway. He wasn't completely sure he could manage it. The two earlier rounds with Jeanie and Helene had taken a lot out of him. A guy apparently could get too much of a good thing after all.
Lily was half stripped when the knock came at the door.
Damn! Who could that be now? "Who is it?" he called.
"Telephone again, Mister Coleman."
"Okay, okay. I'll be right there."
"I'll be back in a second, honey."
"I'll be waiting," Lily said softly.
She would be too, he thought to himself. She was pulling off her bra and panties, exposing that lush, full body he had grown accustomed to before he came to the minors.
He ran down to the phone and picked up the receiver. "Hello?"
"Coleman?"
"Yes."
"McMurdo here. Get your things packed. You're leaving tomorrow for California. You've been called up to the San Diego Blue Bills."
Shep stood there in a state of shock. He was moving up to Triple A ball! After less than a month, he was moving up one step closer to the majors!
"You're not putting me on, are you."
"No. And you can thank me in a small way for getting you out of here."
"What do you mean?"
"I got the word to the right places to get you this chance. I hated to see a player with your talent rotting here with a group of losers. I know you won't let me down. Drop by tomorrow and I'll fill you in on the rest. Good night."
"Good night, Mac."
Shep still couldn't believe his ears. Sure, he had always thought he would move up. But now it was really true, not a dream. He would be making more money, live in better hotels, travel in first-class transportation, and play ball with real ballplayers in a civilized part of the world. It was too good to be true, but it was true!
Lily! He had to tell Lily! He ran back up the stairs in giant leaps and bounds, hooting like a wild man. He burst through the door. Lily was in bed. The covers were pulled up around her shoulders, and a startled expression was on her pretty face.
"I've made it!" he howled. "I've made it!"
"Made what?" Lily asked.
"Triple A ball. I've made Triple A," he shouted.
"Oh, Shep!" Lily's face lit up with a wide smile. "I'm so happy for you."
They were busy discussing their future plans when Helene and Jeanie walked into the room through the door Shep had left partially open.
"What's all the excitement about, Shep."
Shep turned and saw the two girls standing there. His blood chilled at the sight. He had tried to avoid Lily and any of the girls from meeting, but there they were. From the looks on Helene's and Jeanie's faces, he was in for trouble.
"Uhhh ... Lily, this is ... uhh..."
"I'll do the introductions, Shep," Helene said sarcastically. "I suppose this is your sister?"
"Why..."
"Don't bother to waste your time lying, Shep. I know who she is. Does she know who we are?"
Shep looked at Lily sitting up in the bed with the sheet pulled to her neck. He expected her to be shocked and horrified by the intrusion, but she just sat there calmly.
"Let me have the honor of explaining who I am," Helene said, bitterly. "First of all," she said, "she's not your sister. She's the girl you've been writing to. And I'm the girl Shep's been fucking for the last month. This little innocent twerp," she pulled Jeanie forward, "is another girl he's been fucking around with. She's in love with him." Her voice was filled with sarcasm. "She thinks that the son of a bitch is going to marry her." Again the sarcasm oozed from her.
Poor Jeanie just stood there without saying a word. Her eyes were tearing up fast.
Helene said, "I wonder what she'd think if she knew about the time you, me and Vickie got together ? Or the whorehouse in Twin Falls? Or what you did to Jeanie?"
"I loved you!" Jeanie sobbed. The tears started. "I was virgin. I loved you."
Shep felt like crawling into a hole. He looked at Lily. She was still sitting there perfectly calm. H e expected her to be packing by now, but she just sat there silently.
It was all over now. He would go on to play Triple A ball, but Lily would never see him again. That witch, Helene, had seen to that. He didn't feel any hate for Jeanie, but at this moment he could have wrung Helene's neck. He had a thing or two to tell them both. There was nothing to lose.
"Just wait a minute!" Shep said sharply. "Now that you've pointed out what a bastard I am, let's set a few things straight.
He turned to Jeanie. "I should have said this before, but I didn't want to hurt you, but it's time to say it now. You're too old and too well put together to think this Alice in Wonderland garbage above love. It's time for you to grow up. Just because some guy beds you, is no sign that he has marriage in mind. If you don't believe that, just ask Helene about that. You were right when you said you didn't have to be married to go to bed. Remember that in the future. You're a sweet kid, but you'll never get what you want from life if you don't take a chance now and then.
He turned to Helene who stood there glaring at him. "As for you. I'd call you a slut, but you know that already. Doing this, you're just showing another side of your rotten nature. I can't say I didn't enjoy fucking you, because I did. But I can say, that I really wish I'd never known you. You're a good fuck, but a lousy, warped human being, and you don't have the excuse of innocence Jeanie does. With her it's just a lack of maturity. With you, it's a complete lack of everything. Now, both of you get out of here before I throw you out."
Lily got up from the bed. She was stark naked. She picked through one of her suitcases and pulled out a thin robe. She put it on and came over to Helene.
"You really wasted your time coming over here," she said quietly. "I knew that Shep wasn't taking in a movie on his free time. I'm not that sheltered. I wouldn't care if he bedded half the women in this town. I prefer he do it now, than after we're married. I love him. So, you see, you wasted your time."
She came over to Shep and put her arm through his.
"Oh, Jeanie," she said as an afterthought. "I wouldn't worry about losing your virginity. Shep thought I was a virgin when we first slept together, but he was wrong. I lost mine the same way you lost yours, and I lived through it. Not only that, but I got the man I wanted besides." She looked at Shep.
Jeanie managed a weak smile, and she left the room.
Helene was raging. Her teeth gritted together and the muscles of her jaw were rigid with anger. She had lost in her bid to foul up Shep and Lily. She turned and stormed out of the room, and she could be heard cussing all the way out to the street.
Shep turned to Lily.
"I've never seen you like this before," he said. "I never really realized all I had until now."
"Would you like me to show you what you have," she said, smiling broadly.
She pulled him eagerly toward the bed. "I've been waiting for this a long time. Don't let me down, lover."
She let the robe slip off her shoulders and fall silently to the floor. Smiling, she laid down on the bed.
Shep thought all the way to the bed. Lily, a new team, a bright new start for him. But someday, Helene and Jeanie will have forgotten this day, and maybe, just maybe, he would pass through here again and find out.