Chapter 6
It was extremely difficult for Janie Kent to get herself moving the day following her visit to the lodge with David. She was filled with thoughts of him, with admiration for him, too. He consumed her every thought. Again and again she remembered the sweetness of his kisses and the hardness of his body. Sometimes she wondered why he had not made love to her. He could have, she admitted. In fact, she almost demanded it herself. But David Chalmers had remained aloof from that involvement. Janie liked to think that it was a superior quality of his character that had caused this. But sometimes she worried that it was something else.
Finally, Janie dressed, gathered together the materials for her next interview, and made ready to depart for the residence of Adam Longfellow, the sixty-ish friend of her uncle, the older man of the group whose sexuality she was to discover.
Janie, as she left the house and entered her car, was filled with mixed feelings. On the one side, there was the job she was doing that she loathed. On the other, more affirmative side, there was the fortune that awaited her and the use she could make of the money. This seemed doubly important since her visit to the lodge. Now, she had a new incentive. She wanted to help bring David
Chalmers' dream of a camp for delinquent children to realization. And she could, too, she told herself, if only she completed the requirements of the will, if only she could make herself see the sex query to a successful conclusion.
Janie had decided upon calling Adam Longfellow before she called on him in person. He had been overjoyed.
"Righto," he had exclaimed. "Come anytime, my dear. I'll be delighted to see you whenever you get here."
"Will this afternoon be all right?" she had asked.
"Of course, of course," Adam had answered. "I have some house guests, but that won't disturb us a bit. It might even help your work."
This had sounded strange to Janie. But she dismissed it from her mind, asked Adam for directions to his country home, then hung up the phone and made ready for her visit to the distinguished looking man.
Adam Longfellow lived quite a distance outside of Port Harris. Janie drove there slowly, feeling considerable apprehension for this first interview with a man. True, Adam was an older man, a man of her own uncle's age, but still he was a man and that made it doubly difficult to talk about sex. But she could not turn back, did not even think of it. There was much at stake-Janie did not intend to squander the future because of self-consciousness.
Three cars were parked in the circular driveway of Adam Longfellow's hone. They were all luxury models. Janie guessed that they belonged to the guests he had mentioned.
Adam was even more delighted to see Janie than he had been to hear from her on the phone.
"My dear, my dear, you are ravishing today," he said happily when he greeted her in the foyer of his home. "You are a jewel and I'm delighted that you called on me."
"It's mostly business," Janie explained.
"Any reason, my dear," he said. "Any reason at all is a good one if it brings you to my humble dwelling."
"Humble?" Janie laughed, looking around at the lavish furniture.
"In your presence, even a castle would be humble, my dear," he said grandly.
"Oh, my," she laughed. "You are really overwhelming, Mr. Longfellow."
"Adam, please," he said quickly. "You must call me Adam and I'll call you Janie, if I may."
"You may," she said.
"But come-hurry-I have some guests for you to meet."
He gripped her arm and led her into an adjoining room. Janie couldn't find a proper definition for the room, but she decided that it resembled a game room. There were many animal heads on the wall. Swords were crossed at several places and there was an array of paintings of fencers and ballet dancers. It seemed a strange combination to Janie.
But she was impressed with the bear and tiger skin rugs that abounded on the floor.
Two men and two women looked her way when Adam ushered her into the room. The men were middle aged; one was dark, the other fair, and this seemed to be the only distinguishing characteristics of the two. The women were similar, too. One with dark hair, the other a blonde. Both were very attractive. Both wore daring clothes with low necklines and short skirts. They appeared to be in their thirties.
"These are my friends-members of my little Friday Afternoon Club," Adam said as he urged Janie forward.
He introduced her to each of them. The women: Claudia, the blonde, Myra, the dark-haired woman. The men: Ralph and Harold. It seemed odd to Janie that Adam did not provide last names for he seemed a stickler for manners, but she dismissed the thought and accepted Adam's suggestion of a cocktail.
Janie took a seat on a couch next to Ralph and facing Myra and Harold. Adam, at the bar, mixed drinks.
"Are you going to be joining our club?" Harold, the dark-haired man asked.
"No. I'm sorry, I didn't know this was a meeting or I wouldn't have come today," Janie said.
"Oh, but we're glad you did," said Ralph.
"Indeed we are," added Myra. Claudia nodded knowingly.
The manner of Adam's guests confused Janie. For one thing, she wondered how she would find the opportunity to talk to Adam alone. Such a personal thing as a sexual case history could not be discussed in a group. And, Friday afternoon hardly seemed like a conventional time for a club meeting, Janie decided. Besides, why had Adam Longfellow not mentioned it on the phone or suggested a different time.
"Here we are," Adam said, returning to the group with a silver tray of cocktails.
When the cocktail glasses were distributed, Adam settled himself next to Janie on the couch.
"Now, I suppose you're curious about this club of ours," he said.
"A little," she answered. "I really didn't mean to interrupt anything."
"Not at all, my dear," Adam said. "If anything, you've added to our little gathering. At least, I hope this will prove to be true."
"Cheers," said Harold, lifting his glass.
"Cheers," chorused the others.
Janie sipped her drink, then decided that it was one of the strangest, or strongest, Martinis she had ever had. But she took a good swallow of the drink, felt its heat plunk in her stomach, then took some more of it.
"Now, about our club," said Adam Longfellow. "Let me explain." He paused, finished his drink, replaced the glass on the tray, then turned to Janie as if he were ready for a long conversation.
"You see, my dear," Adam continued. "My friends here and I are of the opinion that there is not enough thinking and experimentation with thinking in the world. We feel that most people are just motivated by codes and customs without really considering why they do certain things. We also feel that this is particularly true of sexual matters."
Adam paused dramatically, obviously waiting to see how she would react to his statement.
She reacted with buzzing thoughts. How strange it was, she thought, that Adam Longfellow and the others should be discussing the very subject upon which she was conducting a survey.
"I have to admit that many of my ideas are not original," Adam said. "Your uncle and I were very dear friends and from conversations with him I developed the idea of this little club, or seminar that we hold weekly."
"Uncle was in this club?" Janie asked.
"No. Poor fellow. He died before we were organized. But, in a way, he is our founder. As you know, he was fanatically interested in people and their motivations and their sex life."
"Yes, I know," she answered.
"So, we formed a club for this purpose-for the purpose of investigating all sorts of sexual experiences," Adam went on. "Now what do you think of that?"
Janie waited a moment before replying. But then she said, "I'm sure Uncle Amos would have approved of such an organization. As a matter-of-fact, I'm interested in it too."
"Really?" exclaimed Myra.
"Oh, wonderful," cried Claudia.
"Bully for you," agreed Harold.
"Oh, you are indeed a charming one," said Adam Longfellow.
"Tell me about your club," Janie said, feeling for the first time that her drink had been stronger than she had expected. "It might even help me with my own work."
"Little Janie here is a sociologist," explained Adam to the others.
"A sociologist!" Claudia exclaimed, saying it as if it were a dirty word.
"Yes," Janie said, turning toward her.
"Well, we do a variety of things," explained
Adam. "We read, we experiment, and we involve ourselves in rather deep-very intellectual, if I say so myself-discussions involving sex and people's reactions to it. As an example, we've recently been discussing the use of certain drugs for full sexual realization, and we meant to experiment with this topic today."
Janie gulped. It seemed almost too good to be true. She was to be the witness of people's sexual drives as induced by drugs. It would add a lot to her report. She was delighted. For a moment, that is.
"And of course, to fully understand all that drugs can do, we have to partake of them," Adam said, looking meaningfully at Janie. "Oh, I see."
"They're quite harmless," Adam went on. "Quite. That is, if they are taken in seclusion, such as here, and not allowed to show their effects to the world outside."
"It sounds mysterious," Janie said.
"Life is mysterious, my dear," Adam told her.
"I presume so," said Janie.
"You mean you don't know that?" Claudia exclaimed.
Janie looked at her, but did not answer.
"So, will you experiment with us?" Adam asked Janie very suddenly.
"Why-I-don't know," she replied.
"It will give you great knowledge," Harold said, coaxing a bit.
"And it's in the name of science," Ralph added.
"And I guarantee that you will find it thoroughly enjoyable," Adam said, almost purring.
"Well, I guess I'm game," Janie replied.
There were words of approval from all of them.
Janie had no sooner agreed, than she began to doubt the wisdom of her decision, for, she realized that it wasn't really a decision of her own that she had made. It was more as if her decision had been willed by the others.
"You're just wonderful, my dear," Adam said. "But before we begin our experimentation, let me fix you another drink."
"Was there something in that one besides liquor?" Janie asked.
Adam looked sheepish. "Yes, my dear. I confess to spiking your drink with a dot of an aphrodisiac."
"An aphrodisiac!! "
"Yes, my dear. You know, to help lower the barriers for the experiments we are about to conduct."
Janie felt angry, but for some reason she could not express it. She reasoned that this was due to the effects of the dope she had been given. In a flash, she thought of David Chalmers and wondered what he would say if he knew of her presence-and her possible participation-in the club's sexual experiments. Then she dismissed it from her mind. It was too much to consider at the time.
"Will you be putting an aphrodisiac in this new drink, too?" Janie asked Adam.
"Not if you don't want me to," he said.
Janie hesitated. She wondered about the effects the dope would have on her. She wondered about herself, too, thought again that she might be using the sex survey as a deliberate excuse for her to participate in as much sex as she could, and all under the disguise of scientific inquiry.
"Well, what do you say, my dear?" Adam asked, rising from the couch.
"Yes, go ahead," she said. "Dot my drink with your aphrodisiac and we'll see if it really works or not."
"Bully," exclaimed Adam.
"Jolly," Harold breathed, almost to himself.
"Good girl," said Myra.
"Very, very good girl," added Claudia.
Adam made new drinks. He served them. Immediately, Janie tasted hers. It was more bitter than the first, but it was not unpleasant. She took a generous swallow, then became intent upon her feelings, wondering if the effects of the stuff would show at once. It did not, or at least not in any way that she could immediately determine.
Adam, holding his glass in his hand and sipping from it from time to time, took a position in the middle of the room and facing the group, striking the pose of a master of ceremonies or the leader of a teaching group.
It became very quiet. Adam looked at each of them. Then he cleared his throat and made ready to speak. Claudia looked at him and knew a stab of real admiration, for Adam Longfellow was in his sixties, yet was hard of build and handsome of features. He was lean and hard. Very hard. Jane wondered why she kept thinking of him in these terms. Then she gave her strict attention to the somber tone of his voice as he began his little speech.
"Friends," Adam began, moving his eyes to each of them. "As we have already discussed, we are going to experiment today with the effects of drugs on sex and the love life of an individual. First, for the benefit of Miss Kent-Janie-let me explain that our purpose is not that of prurient interests.
Rather, we, as ordinary citizens, seek to enhance our knowledge of the world and its people, and we are willing to use ourselves for this knowledge. There is nothing evil in what we do. None of us consider our acts immoral or against society, although society-stupid and ruled most often by idiots-has made laws against these things that we do experiment with here."
Adam paused. Janie concentrated on the others. There seemed to be nothing especially odd about any of them. Then she took another swallow of her drink and concentrated on her own feelings. She felt warm, but not especially sexual. She did feel a kind of lazy willingness for anything that might happen to her, however. But it was not an aggressive feeling, not one that would make her hurry to seduce the nearest man-or woman-as she had always thought aphrodisiacs would do. Rather, she just seemed terribly willing and very, very curious about the people in the room and about Adam Longfellow, the club's leader.
"May I ask a question?" Janie asked, suddenly speaking out without realizing that she was going to.
"Of course," Adam said.
"I realize that everything that goes on here is confidential," she said, moving to the edge of the couch a bit. "But, does anyone object if I make these activities the subject of a scientific report?"
"I don't object," Adam said. "And I'm sure our other members won't."
"Not at all," said Myra.
"I love to be the subject of reports-sex reports," said Claudia.
"No objections," said Harold.
"And none from me, either," said Ralph.
"Good," said Adam. "You may use our material as you will, my dear."
"Thank you," Janie said. She settled more comfortably into the couch.
"Today," Adam continued, "we are going to consider the effects-we hope, the advantages-of certain drugs on the sexual responses of our members. Most of us are already aware of the advantages of certain drugs. Speaking for myself, and for the benefit of Janie here who hasn't had previous knowledge of our meetings, let me say that I personally have used drugs for a number of years, and that because of them I enjoy life even more fully than a man twenty years my junior."
Janie looked at him and believed it. Then she wondered why colleges didn't investigate these very matters that Adam was discussing. She took a new swallow of her drink. Heat swamped her and she noticed a definite pulsation at her thighs. There was a tremble at her breast ends, too. She ran her tongue over her lips a little nervously. Her body became more taut and anxious, as if she wished Adam would hurry with his talk and get on with the experiments.
"So, now, to continue," Adam said, "let me say-again for Janie's benefit-that no one is ever made to participate in our sexual experiments. Everyone comes to these meetings willingly and participates, if they do, in the same manner. So, no one is being hurt by what we do here. No one will ever be hurt, I might add, by the greater knowledge of sex and how it motivates the lives of us all."
Adam's words sounded vaguely familiar to Janie. She had an idea. Then she expressed it.
"I have another question," Janie said.
"Of course, my dear," Adam replied.
"Is Mona Andrews a member of this group?"
Adam smiled. "Yes, she is, my dear. Unfortunately, Mona could not attend this afternoon's session."
Janie smiled too, thinking that it was like a cult, that all the members believed the same thing. Adam's words about the non-use of force were the same that Mona had used.
"Harold, did you secure the drug and bring it with you today?" Adam asked.
"Yes, I did," Harold replied formally.
"Excellent," Adam said. "Now, if you'll distribute it among those who want it."
Harold rose, then took a small vial from his inside pocket. It was filled with small, yellow pills. He extended the vial toward Myra who nodded and held out her hand, palm upward. Harold freed a pill from the vial and dropped it in her hand. Then he went to the next, did the same, and through all the group until at last he faced Janie.
She hesitated. Harold looked into her eyes.
"Will this have any adverse effect with that drug I've already taken?" she asked.
"None at all," said Harold.
"How soon will the effects wear off?" she asked.
"Our experience estimates about an hour-not more than two," Harold replied.
"And there are no lingering effects?"
"None, I assure you."
Janie hesitated. Harold looked at her, then brought the vial toward him as if to replace it in his jacket pocket.
"I'll try it," Janie said.
"Good girl," Harold breathed.
"Bully for you, Janie," Adam said from where he stood.
Janie took the pill, examined it, then looked at the others. When Harold had reseated himself, Adam nodded to the group. Janie watched as the others tossed the pills into their mouths, then washed them down with their drinks. Still, she hesitated. Then she turned toward Adam.
"Do you have another question, my dear?"
"Yes. Is this L.S.D.? "
"No, it is not," he said. "It is a special drug that comes from the Middle-East. It is rather rare and has had absolutely no affiliations with the college set."
"Thank you," Janie said. Adam nodded.
Janie hefted the pill in her hand, looked at it once more, decided that it looked like nothing more than a yellow aspirin, then lifted it, placed it on her tongue, took a swallow of her cocktail, then sent the pill and all scurrying to her stomach. She expected an immediate reaction. There was none. She looked at Adam Longfellow with a note of inquiry in her eyes.
"Allow me to explain something about this particular drug," Adam said. "The effects of it will work differently on each individual, depending upon their own characteristics. For some it might have an immediate reaction. For others, the effects will be delayed. And perhaps, for some, there is no reaction at all. If anything, the drug can be called a 'personalized' drug, for it attunes itself to the individual, to that person's needs and desires and inhibitions." He paused and looked around, then added, "Now, if you'll excuse me a moment, I'll arrange for some music while we meditate upon our feelings."
Adam turned and moved across the room to a hi fi set that was placed against the wall. He carefully looked through several dozen records, then placed a group of them on the spindle. He flicked on the switch, then stood watching the turning disc as music began to issue through the room.
Janie guessed that Adam's set must have had at least six speakers for the music seemed to come from every area of the room. She glanced at the others. There were no visible effects of the drug in any of them. And there were none in herself, either, she decided. But there was a vagueness present that she sensed would soon become something else.
Adam turned and returned to the group. He smiled at all of them. Then he said, "Does anyone have any wish to express their feelings at this time?"
There was silence for several long seconds. Then Janie noticed that Myra had tensed. The girl's mouth was open and her tongue whisked at her lips, as if they were dry and she sought to keep them moist.
"Anyone?" Adam asked again, his voice softer and more luring this time.
"I-I want to do something," Myra said, rising. "Certainly," Adam said.
Myra moved to the front of the group. Adam stepped a few paces backwards. Myra looked at each of them for what seemed like a very long time and Janie noticed that there was now an extreme quivering to her body. There was a kind of glaze to the dark woman's eyes, too. They seemed a little remote, as if they dwelled on other things in other places. But she stared straight ahead, looking at all of them and none of them in particular. Then she raised her right hand to the side of her dress. She unzipped it. It made a clicking noise as it descended, and it filled the room. With a shrug, Myra brought the straps of her gown below her shoulders. Then she gave a quick twist of her entire body and the dress fell to her feet. She stepped out of the pile of material and looked at the group again.
And Janie looked at her. Myra was dressed in only a strapless bra and brief, bikini panties. She also wore high-heeled shoes. She was without stockings. Janie tried to consider Myra's body in an objective manner, but she found that it was a nearly impossible task. The woman's body was exceptional, and Janie kept observing it and thinking of it in terms of her own; wondering if Myra's breasts were the size of her own, if their stomachs had the same flatness, if they compared favorably with each other although many years were between them. She became intent upon her concentration. And she became anxious for Myra's next move, too.
After Myra made another sweep of the group, she unhooked her bra and dismissed it from her body. Her breasts, large and cone-shaped, tumbled forth. The nipples were round and hard looking. They had a reddish-brown tint to them. Janie began to wonder what it would be like to kiss those breasts, and even as she thought of it she knew that she was beginning to feel the effects of the drug she had taken, otherwise, she would never possess such a thought.
Myra smiled at each of those present. She did it individually, as if she were trying to make a secret communication with each of them. And then she tucked her hands into the sides of her panties, stretched them away from her body, then bent, lowering the panties until she was able to step out of them.
When Myra rose, Janie nearly gasped aloud. She was struck by the beauty of the woman's body, made even lovelier, it seemed, by the presence of the high-heeled shoes on bare feet and at the very end of her total nudity.
Myra turned toward Adam, and Janie was distracted from her intent observance of the flesh.
"Adam?" Myra said softly.
"Yes?" he replied, just as softly.
"Do you have any caviar?"
"Oh, yes," he said, smiling.
"May I have some?"
"Of course. May I ask why?"
"Certainly. I want the caviar to love my body," Myra said.
Adam nodded and moved to the bar. In a moment, he returned with a deep bowl, heaped to the top with the glistening black-silver caviar.
He handed it to Myra.
"Thank you," she said.
Myra took the bowl, then placed it on the floor at her feet. She looked at it for a moment, then scooped a handful of the stuff with her right hand. She stretched it out in front of her as if presenting it for examination by the group. Then she turned her hand, jerked it back quickly and smashed the caviar against her right breast.
"Ohhhhh," she breathed, her eyes rolling upward as if she had already been sent to a high place of feeling.
Then, very slowly, Myra smeared the caviar around her body, circling it again and again around her one breast, grinding it in, then bringing the remains of it to her flat stomach where she smeared it again. All the time her eyes rolled, sometimes showing only their whites. And she began to utter little sounds of pleasure.
Janie felt perspiration dot her body. She felt excited. The pulsation at her loins had increased, both in frequency and intensity. And her breasts felt ready to burst. She wondered what would happen to her by the time Myra finished with the expression of her sexual desires.
Myra stooped and with both hands scooped out huge heaps of caviar. Again, she extended both hands. Then she smashed the caviar of one hand against her untouched breast while she continued to hold her other hand away from her body. She ground the substance viciously into her breast, rubbing it hard, then, suddenly, going gentle and merely daubing it upon her nipple, doing it as if she were a child seeking to make a mysterious castle from some cumbersome substance. Then she kneaded breast and caviar together, squeezing herself hard, reacting to that motion, too, by new sounds and a greater rolling of her eyes and heaving of her chest as she struggled with the deep, exerting breaths that raked her.
Janie did utter a little cry when Myra smashed the other handful of caviar against her thighs. Then she held her breath as Myra ground the caviar into her body.
"Umnimmmmm," Myra moaned. "Ahhhhh," she exalted. And finally she screamed out an eerie "EEEEEEEEE!" as the results of all her endeavors reached a peak and exploded her emotions.
Myra slumped with a new cry to the floor. She gurgled her happiness for the benefit she had given herself, for the self-love the drug had helped her express in the audience of her peers.
Janie slumped back as if she had herself experienced the same thrill that had tortured Myra's body.
Silence reigned in the room. And it continued until Myra finally rose, glanced around, then slowly departed the presence of the others, leaving the room with a slow step that spoke volumes about the physical exhaustion she knew.
Adam stepped forward. His voice was different, was deeper and more entranced when he spoke.
"Are there others of you who wish to step forward at this time?" he asked dreamily.
No one responded. Janie felt a certain urge to stand up, speak out, cry for some inspiration of her own. But she did not. She remained quiet, watching Adam and the others.
"Well, if there is no one else at this moment," Adam said, "I wish to express all that I feel-and I wish to express it privately, if you don't mind."
Janie looked around. The men nodded their heads approvingly. Claudia just stared straight ahead.
Janie wasn't sure what was going to happen as Adam moved toward the couch, but she knew that it was she he wanted. And, she was correct.
Adam stopped in front of her, smiled, extended his hand for hers, and said, "My dear, if you will, please."
As if she were motivated by forces other than her own, Janie reached out her hand and clasped Adam's. He pulled her to her feet, then, still holding her hand, led her across the room and out the door. They moved across the foyer and into the room at the far end. It resembled a living room, but Janie was not sure. She paid little attention to it. She was much too intent upon her feelings and the presence of the distinguished Adam Longfellow.
When they were in the room and had moved across it to a leather couch, Adam released Janie's hand. He looked into her eyes. Then he said, "Do you know why you're here with me?"
"Yes," she answered.
"Why?" he asked.
"Because you want to make love to me," she replied, saying it very simply, very matter-of-factly, without emotion or alarm.
"That's correct, my dear," Adam said.
He reached a hand out and fingered at the curls around her ears. Then he touched her eyes and nose and chin with the tips of his fingers. Then he lowered his hands and whisked them against the indentation her nipples made against the material of her dress.
Janie raised her head and looked into Adam's eyes as he touched at her body. She continued looking at him when he stopped, then moved his fingers to the zipper at the side of her dress. She heard its clicking sound as a far-away noise, one that was remote from the act itself. And she continued standing very erect when Adam pulled the dress away from her body and bared her to the waist.
"Oh, my dear, you are exquisite," he said, breathing the words slowly as he stared at the rise and fall of her breast.
Janie felt his hands at her breasts. She felt their moisture and their anxiety as they quivered over her tingling love-mounds and played at the ends. She felt all this, yet felt no true response for the attractive man's attentions. She wondered why, wondered if the unresponsiveness that she had known with Jack Prescott still plagued her. She deemed to find out if this was true. She raised her mouth upward, half-open and awaiting Adam Longfellow's kiss.
He gasped when he kissed her and his hands squeezed her breasts hard. And he thrust his hips forward until they burrowed against her thighs. She was close to him, very close, so close that she felt his strength and drive and the lust that he held for her body. And she felt his tongue roaming her mouth like a hurried traveler. It sought and found the special, secret, pleasure spots of her mouth.
And all the time he caressed the flesh of her breasts.
Janie-gave her mouth and tongue and the closeness of her body to Adam with a vigor that seemed immense, yet her mind wandered elsewhere than upon the passion that they created. She thought of David Chalmers, of Jack Prescott, of the people of her sex query and of her late uncle, Amos Kent. But especially she thought of David and the warmth and security she had known with him as she burrowed close to him in the tight quarters of a sailboat's cockpit.
"My dear, my precious dear," Adam breathed, pulling his mouth from hers and clamping his lips to her neck.
His hands worked to her back, tucked within the lowered dress, then gently tugged it downward.
Janie's dress had reached her hips, exposing all of her upper body from her navel upward, before she stopped him.
"Don't Adam," she whispered.
"But I want to love you, my dear," he whispered into the flesh of her neck.
"I know you do," she said. "But I don't want you to."
His mouth stopped moving upon her neck. He drew back. He looked into her eyes. Then he said, "But I thought you wanted me to make love to you."
"I thought I wanted you to, too," she said. "But now I don't."
"But the drug--. "
"It doesn't work on me, Adam," she said, wondering if this was really true. "It must not, for I don't want you to love me-to do anything, but to let me go. Now. Please."
Adam looked crushed. He stepped away from her a pace. He looked at her heaving breasts and Janie knew that he saw them as passion-filled symbols of excitement. It was true, too, but for some reason, she could not endure another moment of Adam Longfellow, of him or anyone. She wanted to be free of them all, to hurry, leave the house, hide if necessary, do anything that was necessary to depart the depravity and the confusion she had witnessed.
Adam frowned, furrowing deep lines of concern in his forehead. But he nodded and said, "Of course, my dear. As you wish."
"Thank you," Janie said.
Embarrassed suddenly, she turned her back to Adam and readjusted her dress, covering her nakedness. Then she moved toward the foyer.
Silently, Adam accompanied her as she gathered together her things and left the house.
Janie sat in the car for a few minutes before pulling away. She didn't know what had happened to her, but she knew that it had something to do with David Chalmers, the memory of him, the hope of him. She didn't understand it; she didn't even want to investigate her feelings about him. But she was glad that something of him had intervened to keep her from the love-making that Adam Longfellow had been ready to offer.