Chapter 7
The whole idea was crazy, doomed from the start. She felt it instinctively, and yet she stood on the pier and looked at the boat riding high in the water.
He had to take her with him. There was no other choice for her future, and he had to understand that. If only so that she could hide from Uncle Brad, from Nick, from Lonny's giant cock. Then she sucked in her breath and held it when she saw Pete Phillips move haltingly onto the back deck and squint against the rising sun.
"Pete!" she cried, running forward.
He stood and watched her. She jumped onto the deck with him and ran towards him and stopped just in front of him. Tears streamed down her cheeks. He looked at them, and his lip curled slightly.
"Get out of here," he said with a muted snarl, e winced and held his hand to his stomach. "Pete, I'm sorry!" she cried. "I didn't want it to happen, I swear I didn't."
He looked over her shoulder, behind her. "Where are they? What do you want? I don't have any more. I've got a sore gut, maybe more. Get the ell off my boat and leave me alone, Marla, once is enough."
"They aren't here, Pete, I swear it. I ran away. I can't take any more of them! Pete, take me with you, please!"
He looked at her. It was painful for him to, but he laughed at her. "Sure," he said. "What's next, a kidnapping, blackmail kind of thing?" , "No, Pete, no! Darling, what we had yesterday was real. You felt it, too, I know you did.
"Yeah, right in my gut. I don't want to feel it again. It's dropped. Go back and tell them I won't cause any trouble. But they'd better not try it again."
"Pete, I'm not going back," she said firmly. "I've left them. I want to go with you. I prayed that you'd still be here this morning. I don't care if you leave me off at the next island, just as long as I get away from them."
"That's flattering as hell. Not that you could flatter me any more."
"Damn you, I didn't mean it that way, and you know it!" she cried, tears of frustration streaming down her face.
He looked behind her again and stiffened. "You unbelievable little bitch," he hissed. "Tell them it's no deal. Tell them to go to hell."
Marla looked at him. Then she followed his gaze and saw Uncle Brad's car pulling up at the end of the pier. Nick and Lonny and Sue all piled out of it, leaving it empty. The sun shone off her brother's scar tissue like a gleam of danger.
"Oh, God!" she cried. "Hurry, start the engines! Pete, you've got to believe me!"
"Yeah, shove off so that they've really got a case of kidnap against me, huh? You're out of your beautiful head, Marla."
Nick had spotted her. They began walking down the pier. She gave a small cry and ran for the back mooring line. The tide was pulling the boat away from the dock. She unhooked the loop from the cleat and threw the rope away from her. "Hey!" Pete shouted.
He ran back to try to retrieve the line, but it was impossible. The stern began to swing away quickly. Marla turned to him and held his arms and pleaded with him.
"Pete, you've got to believe me. They made me do that yesterday. But the rest of it -- what you and I felt together-nobody made that happen. It just did. Please-God, please take me away from them."
Fortunately, he'd been moored at the outer slip. It made Nick and Lonny have longer to run after Sue had seen what was happening and had shouted at them. The boat swung in a wide, slow arc until it was straining against the bow line, the front deck now separated from the dock by a good ten feet.
"Marla! What the hell are you doing!" Nick shouted at her.
"I'm leaving you, Nick-all of you! He's got you so twisted you don't know what you're doing any more, and I can't stand to watch it!"
"Marla, you can't leave me, honey," he cried plaintively. "We've got to look out for each other. What kind of sister are you that you'd leave me with that bastard? Honey, I told you how it was going to be-just as soon as we'd saved up enough money from suckers like Phillips there. Uncle Brad knows how to get it, honey, it won't take long, Marla, come back!" "Pete, please," she cried, hugging him tightly, pressing her slim body against his.
"Who's this Uncle Brad?" he said, looking down t her, his eyes shifting over her features again. She felt hope leap inside her, because she could see that he was feeling it start up between them again. "I'll explain everything, Pete, just get us out of here. You can't let them on board. They'll take me away, yes, but look at Nick. He's frantic. And Lonny is with him again. God, don't let them take me!" she cried, growing frantic herself. "I can't stand to know that he's going to fuck me again!"
"Who?"
"Uncle Brad!"
"What?"
"Pete, he's crawling out on the rope!" she shouted, hysteria coloring her voice. She watched Nick take the rope and try to pull the heavy boat into the dock. When he saw that it was going to be slow work against the strong tide, he swung down and began coming along it, hand over hand. His feet were trailing in the water, and the line was sagging more under his weight.
"Marla, you come back!" he shouted over and over. "Goddamn it, I need you-come back!"
Pete watched it a moment. He felt his ribs thoughtfully and then memory spurred him to move forward along the catwalk to the bow deck. He looked down at Nick, watching him struggle. He was now on the uphill part of the line, kicking and splashing his feet as his hands kept slipping along the wet nylon.
He halted and blinked at Pete and puffed for breath. His scars were vivid. Lonny stood on the end of the pier smacking his fist into his open palm.
Sue was yelling for Nick to hurry up, promising him a good fuck if he did.
"Let her go, Phillips. She's my sister. I'm not going to hurt her. She doesn't know what she's doing."
"Maybe she does," Pete said.
"I said to let her go, damn it!" he shouted, dangling from the line, up to his waist in the water.
"You're a bossy son of a bitch," Pete said. "And I owe you something for yesterday. Have a good swim, buddy. I hope you're not out of breath yet, because there's nothing but a long float to the ocean from here." He knelt and started working the rope free of its cleat.
"Hey!" Nick yelled.
Pete got it loose. The weight on the rope tore it from his hands, and Nick sank the rest of the way into the water. He came up sputtering and wisely clinging to the rope. He yelled again and began pulling himself towards the dock, shouting for Lonny to pull the fucking rope up instead of standing there watching him and the pretty boat. Lonny was crazy about boats.
Pete hurried back along the catwalk. The boat drifted quickly, but it was in the clear. Pete lifted the engine hatch quickly, sniffed, fitted it back in place, then cranked the twin Chryslers, making them roar to life. In seconds, he had the boat under complete control. He moved slowly down the channel towards South Bay and turned to look at Marla. His eyes went up and down her figure, and a hint of the look that had been in them yesterday was back.
"I find myself in a hell of a predicament," he said. "What am I going to do with you?"
She came up to him. "Take me with you," she said. "Pete, I want that. I know it's crazy, but I want it. Yesterday was crazy, too, but it was real."
"No way," he said finally, shaking his head. "Kidnapping is out of my line."
"They won't do it."
"Bullshit. From what I've seen so far, they'll do anything. Uncle Brad is the brains of your little outfit, I gather."
"Oh, God-he knows everything about you, Pete-about Carol, about Jenny. I'm sorry I've gotten you into this mess."
"What about Carol?" he asked coldly *'Damn it, what about her?"
"Everything, I guess. I don't know how he finds out, he just does."
"On top of the blackmail, huh? Christ, why did you ever bump into my life and spread your little cunt open!"
"It was Uncle Brad!" she cried. She explained it to him while he gripped the spokes on the wheel and glared out through the windshield and threaded his way into South Bay. "He won't try to blackmail you, Pete. He must know now that 111 talk, that I'll tell everything I know and put him out of business. He'll just try to take me."
"He sounds like a perverted creep," Pete said finally. "His daughter, then you, his niece." He grinned into the wind and turned on his marine radio. "Don't worry. Captain Benny's been after Jenny for a long time and hasn't managed to find her. I guess I can hide another cunt away." He spoke into the microphone, frowned, then checked the dials. Then he stuck his head through the cabin door and looked at the paneling behind the radio. He swore.
"What's the matter?"
"Where it's bashed in-it must have bent the radio casing and popped the printed circuits. That's great. Goddamn great." He pushed the throttles forward. The bow rose, and the boat began plowing and thudding through the choppy water.
Marla hung on. "What's the matter?" she shouted over the engine noise.
"Carol! I was going to call her, tell her to activate the electric fences. Now-fuck it!" he cried with frustration, banging the microphone back into its cradle.
Marla watched him. She didn't dare speak. She felt sick inside, and it wasn't from the rolling boat and the high seas. Everything was her fault. She shouldn't have fallen for him, shouldn't have come back to him this morning. Now, because of her, his sister was in danger, his maid-Pete himself. She knew Uncle Brad didn't make idle threats. And all of it was her fault.
She rode up and down with the motion of the boat. They hadn't spoken for a long time. She recognized that they were in Hawk Channel, heading down the line of the Florida Keys, where Big Pine was, towards the bottom of the chain.
She didn't try to intrude upon his thoughts. As far as he was concerned, she wasn't even there any more. Only his sister was on his mind. She let her eyes roam over the land to the west of them. Key Largo. She gasped suddenly and blinked and looked at the lone car keeping abreast of them on the Overseas Highway.
"Pete," she said quietly. "Pete, look!" He looked. The road was close to the sea, and the channel they were in was close to the land, ere was no mistaking the color and make of the car, nor of the scarlet patch on the cheek of the driver.
"It's Nick!" she cried. "Oh, my God!" He told her which cabinet, and she got his binoculars from them. She trained them on the car, and there was no mistake. They were all in the front seat, Nick and Lonny and Sue. They were watching the boat.
Pete hit back on the throttles. The car slowed. He speeded up, and it kept pace with them.
"Great," he uttered.
She looked at him. "Can they follow us to your dock?"
"No. But it won't matter. I can't make it there. I need gas. I was going to gas up at the marina. Then, just now, I was going to pull in at Islamorada."
"But they'll..."
"That's right," he said, unable to conceal a growl. "If we put in, they'll run aboard like rats. We're stuck, Marla," he said, facing her fully. "You and me, alone on the boat. We'll have to anchor until night and try to sneak in when they can't see us. What do you propose we do to pass the day away, huh?"
She looked at him and felt her mouth go dry. Her cunt throbbed suddenly, because she knew what he meant. She deserved it-every pounding, jabbing stroke into the bottom of her cunt.
He cut the engines after pulling close to the edge of the channel. He went forward and threw the anchor over, letting the line play out until he was hooked shoreward of the channel. He came back and cut all switches, then looked at her.
"I owe you, Marla," he said.
"I know you do. I'm sorry for everything, Pete."
"You said that."
"They're out there-standing on the shore, now, watching us."
"Then we'll give them something to see."
He came towards her and took her shoulders. They were on the back deck in the bright sunlight. The boat bobbed and rolled. She went off balance, and her weight made her dress rip off in his hands.
Her naked tits spilled into the sunlight, and she covered them with her arms and looked at him, wondering if she were seeing a side of him she hadn't thought existed.
"You don't have to rape me," she said.
"I didn't think so. You were willing enough yesterday. To give me your cherry, you said. It's convenient that your Uncle Brad just happened to fuck you last night, isn't it?"
"W-what do you mean?"
"Now you don't have to produce the cherry for me, either."
"Pete," she whispered. "I swear to you it's true."
"Yeah. You've sworn a lot this morning. Frankly, Marla, I think you're lying through your teeth. I think you're a confused kid who's too damn pretty for her own good. I think maybe you snitched some of my money from your uncle yesterday and got caught. I think maybe he's checked around my estate enough to know that he can't get into it without some inside help. And I think you think you're going to give him that help just as soon as you make me intoxicated with your pretty, golden pussy. And you're dead wrong, you cunt."
She recoiled as if stung with a whip. "So are you," she snapped back. "All the way wrong. You saw Nick a little while ago."
"Staged," he said.
"They're following us now."
"Of course, they are. It's theatric, designed to make everything seem real."
"God, you're bull-headed!" she cried.
"What's next?" There was a mocking grin on his face as if he were enjoying the little game.
"The money I supposedly stole-where is it? Tucked inside my bra?" She removed her arms and showed him her naked tits and the obvious fact that she wasn't wearing a bra.
"Maybe it's rolled up inside your cunt," he suggested.
Marla looked at him. She felt a thrill of emotion go through her. She paused a moment and then took the hem of her dress and lifted it, pulling the garment over her tits, over her head, letting it flutter to the deck. She thought she heard her brother yell something from the shore, but she wasn't sure. She stood before Pete as she had done yesterday, but with a difference. He saw it, too, crusted all over her thighs.
"You've had a busy night with Uncle Brad," he sneered.
"Some of that's blood," she said, seeing the pinkish tinge.
He shrugged. "You're having your period-just starting, just finishing up."
She looked at him for a long moment. Her lower lip trembled finally. "Pete, what can I do to make you believe me?" she whispered. The sound was as still as the breeze whispering past her ears, the sucking and slapping of the water against the hull.
"Nothing," he said firmly, coming towards her, unbuckling his pants.
She watched him close the distance between them, looking up into his face. She shivered once, but she didn't give way. He took her shoulders in his hands and pulled her nakedness against his. She felt his limp cock mash against her belly and didn't care if Nick watched it happen or not.
"God," she wept. "I wish it was still yesterday."
"So do I," he said.
He picked her off the deck and carried her inside.