Chapter 5
Susanne's mind whirled. She was no longer merely the daughter of a small-town businessman who would protect her interests, or a student whose attitude would not affect anyone but herself. She was, literally, the Hair-After, and this Ranalee Graton was a client.
"You are very kind," she said just as the music stopped, and her voice rang out clearly, "and I am sure you are understanding. My personal effects have been unpacked and put in order, but my personal impressions haven't. I truly need solitude this weekend."
And before Ranalee could say anything, some signal was given, the cowboy band went into a galloping tune, and Henri so far forgot himself and his painful dignity as to gallop with it.
He didn't gallop far. He'd been aware a trap was being laid for Susanne. He'd hurried to her side. He had reveled in her handling of Ranalee Graton, but alas, that very ability awakened him to the problem she could present to him.
"It was kind of Leehoff to forewarn you," he ventured.
"Oh?" She made it a question. "I wonder if he knew." And Henri was more baffled than ever.
"You would have met many of our better patrons," Henri told her.
"If social communication is an asset, I'd better learn more about the business before I indulge, don't you agree?"
Susanne was home by ten o'clock.
"Have a good time?" Maggie asked.
"The barbecued beef was delicious," Susanne replied. "Maggie, did Julie send the dress I am to wear tomorrow?"
Maggie grunted an assent, and Susanne regretted her abruptness.
"Maggie, this evening was one large puzzle. I went to dinner with Henri to hear him discuss business. I met a number of people. Each and everyone from Henri on talked riddles."
Maggie wagged her head. "So what did you do?"
"Talked riddles back at them. I don't know enough to commit myself. Right now I wonder if I'll ever learn."
"You'll learn," Maggie assured her. "Then you will riddle them riddles such as they've never heard before. Ah, Miss Mary chose wisely. Now to bed with you."
At the breakfast table, she offered a bit of advice. "Don't go making judgments yet. Three days you've been here, and you are as big a puzzle to them as they are to you. And right pretty you look in that orange dress, though it's not a color I hold by."
"Cheer up; it's burnt umber," soothed Susanne, donned a brown topcoat and crush hat to match, and set forth for the salon.
Maggie was wise. Snap judgments snapped both ways. Actually, the only thing upon which she could depend was figures. Promptly she turned two keys, one to the office door, the other to the file holding the salon's books.
There were interruptions by decorators and furniture men and a disapproving Henri, who questioned her legal right to establish a coffee-break room.
"I am paying for that myself," Susanne told him lightly. "If I don't last more than six months, fine; for that length of time the girls can relax."
Then she wasn't indignant. And it did add to the status of the Hair-After.
"Maggie," she asked that night, "why didn't Aunt Mary provide one?"
"If Miss Mary had a weakness, and that I'm not ready to say, it was that she thought of the mind and the spirit and not a body's underpinnings. And me with me feet that swollen at times not even slippers could I wear."
Yet the girls' spirits responded as much to the consideration Susanne was showing them as to their rest periods. And of course the girls talked.
Susanne looked at the finished room before she left for the apartment Saturday night. It was a cheery yellow and green; the big mural made it seem twice its width. The lounging chairs were inviting; the electric plate and other appliances shone in their corner.
Driving back to the apartment that murky fall evening, she wondered what to expect of it. Henri had asked to see her Wednesday to discuss business, and none had been discussed. Leehoff was seeing her Saturday evening, purportedly for the same reason.
He groaned in defeat after dinner. "Maggie's cooking," he explained. "But I shall nobly respond to any questions asked. Have you any?"
"Yes. Why didn't you beg off and go to the Kilmers':"
"Easy. I preferred being here. Now wait." He lifted a hand. "I'll answer the next one, too. Why? Because I am interested.
"Admittedly, I first looked upon the salon angle as a bore. Now I don't. I could tell you it is because you are charming and beautiful, but if I did you'd show me out the door before I had the strength to go.
"Seriously, Susanne, there is more to the Hair-After than meets the eye. You wouldn't believe the number of people, men as well as women, who have questioned me about it."
He confided he'd been asked if the salon would be sold when the estate was settled, and if so, what the asking price would be.
"Now," he conceded, "I have to find out hat there is about the Hair-After which sets it apart from most of the other salons in town. Our firm has two they can't give away."
"I imagine," Susanne said thoughtfully, "it is Aunt Mary's personality, something she added to the routine of cosmetology."
"Yet she is no longer there."
"What she taught is there. As long as we retain the same operators, I believe that something she instilled in the salon will remain. Maybe it can be passed on to others, too. I hope so."
He asked a few questions: how she'd been spending her time; if she was as enthusiastic as on that first day; if she'd run into any major problems.
"I wouldn't recognize them if I had," she answered the last one first. "That is why I am boning up on my subject. It will take me at least a month to learn enough to ask an intelligent question."
When he looked startled, she admitted she had thought running a beauty salon, as her aunt's heir, would consist of no more than smiling at patrons.
She learned patrons asked questions and that she, the current owner, didn't know the answers. would be until after the holidays; then, with rains washing the city and necessitating long walks from parked cars, there would be a definite drop.
"I am even considering a shuttle service from the municipal parking lots to the salon."
Restlessly Leehoff walked to the big window and looked down on the sprawling young city, now glittering with lights washed by a drizzling ram.
"The problem is bigger than the salon," he said thoughtfully. "All of the merchants in the city center, the physicians, dentists, lawyers and bankers are faced with it. They have a choice of establishing branch offices, removing to suburban areas, or suffering rapidly dwindling business.
"Large cities have inter-area transportation-cars, buses. Smaller ones can't support such an investment. The only answer is adequate parking space within walking distance of the city's center."
"There's always the Space Needle," Susanne offered lightly.
"I know." And he did know she was talking of the conversion or building of block-wide areas to garage shoppers' cars.
"But try to get any of these die-hards to relinquish their holdings."
Susanne nodded. She wouldn't like to give up the Hair-After site.
Maggie slipped in with a coffee tray. Nothing, she thought fondly, looking at the two young people, like a rainy night, a cozy fire and a girl pouring coffee from a tall silver pot.
She didn't know that she held with this Danny. He'd been trying to reach Susanne now for two hours, although she herself told the operator Miss Morgan would not "be back" before eleven. And he came right in on the line to yell. "That will be three o'clock here."
Returning for the tray, Maggie shrugged. She might as well have let Danny break into the party. The two of them present were still talking business.
Leehoff left early, with an enthusiastic, "We must do this again soon." The moment the door was closed, Susanne whirled and went directly to her room to sit before a mirror.
Danny, Henri, and now Bert-each in his own way had said, "Oh, come on; you look all right," never seeing her.
"I'm just a symbol," she mourned. "To
Danny, I'm something he's always had around; to Henri, a new boss to be placated; to Bert, a client. What's wrong with me?"
The call from Danny came through just then, and Susanne turned to the telephone, eager to be reassured.
Danny was not at his best. He had been steering a mammoth truck through the Cumberlands that day, finally stopping off in a small town to sleep in his quarters behind the driver's seat. What was more, he had had to bribe the telephone operator to keep the line open until he could put through his call.
"Well, where on earth have you been?" was his greeting.
A glance around to assure herself the apartment was still moored to the planet earth, and Susanne's chin came up. Where but here, but why let him know?
"Talking to my attorney," she replied.
"At this hour?"
"Oh, Danny, remember your geography. It's only ten-thirty here."
That quieted him a little. He was en route to Florida. If he didn't pick up a load for the northeast, he'd be heading back west in a few days. However, he couldn't tell in advance how many detours there'd be, nor had he the vaguest idea when he'd reach home.
"But that's all right," he concluded happily. "One thing about my girl: I don't have to worry about other fellows making passes at her. Good night, dear."
Gently, carefully, Susanne replaced the telephone in its cradle.
In her room, she strode to the full-length mirror in a frontal attack. Now just what was wrong with her that Daniel Harper thought no other man would look at her?
She looked all right, she thought. She had changed to a campus casual upon returning from the salon. Perhaps it was a bit drab in color, but her hair looked lovely. Her face wasn't too bad, either, was it? Regular features, that sort of thing. Her eyes?
At the moment they appeared anxious.
This week, she informed her reflection, has been too much for me. Tomorrow I'll take a rundown on me as a person. I'm tired.
She didn't sleep until a wet dawn came in. She had been trying to be calm and collected so she would rest properly.
Her dreams were a reflection of her inner confusion.
Everything was so simple before she arrived to take over the salon. What had happened?
In her mind she saw her nude lover Danny, all erect and bulging. What was she picking up from him? Nothing had changed, as far as she could see. She still wasn't certain she had done the right thing.
Then she was fully asleep and dreaming of Bert, and his solemn face, like that of an old man, incongruous on one so young.
She saw him approach her bed where she lay unable to move. Was he really here? She could hardly tell. He stood over the bed and smiled at her.
Suddenly with a shiver of excitement she felt herself want him.
But Bert hadn't made a move. He seemed to be frozen in place. Susanne reached out and ran the palm of her hand over his crotch.
The big thing bulged and nudged as she touched it, giving her a hint of its thickness and power. She felt at the big tool until in the dim light she could tell that he was excited.
She rubbed flat against the hard pecker, pushing it around in his pants and making the thing jump about sensitively.
His prick stood out in relief from his trousers as she slowly pulled down his zipper. He grinned at her in a very wicked way.
Bert stepped closer to the bed and cradled her head. "Why don't you suck me off?" he asked.
She was glad to oblige. Susanne reached in and tugged out his throbbing penis, then stroked it gently, loving the rippled feel of its taut flesh.
She loved the sight of men when they were excited. When they were soft, their cocks looked small, almost laughable. But when their members grew, stretched, and thickened, their hard long bats had a power and majesty that made her mouth water.
"Oooooooohhhhhh, yeah!" she moaned. "It's so fat and thick. I'd love to suck it!"
She couldn't stand just holding and looking at it any longer. She leaned forward and jabbed the head of his pecker into her hot waiting mouth. She encircled his hard flesh with her pliant wet lips, encasing the head of his slab in her mouth.
She licked at it while she trapped the sensitive bulging head there, raising blood and wild feelings in his tool.
He began to push himself in on her slowly. Her tongue pushed back at him with erotic resistance, holding its ticklish surface against the slit face of his tip and rubbing it. He felt his groin swirl and quiver.
He worked a few inches into her, which she sucked at with wet affection. Her tongue swirled all the way around the fatness of him, feeling how smooth it was but for the tiny bulges where blood pumped fast and hard through blue veins.
As he held her head in his hands she hummed with excitement. The buzzing noise made his glans lurch and grow wet. She licked little droplets from the tip happily.
She loved the feel of his slick hard flesh as it passed through her lips. It made her folded, curly center get wet and hot. She felt a twinge between her legs.
Then he started moving his hips faster, his hands on her head and his groin setting up a beat as he pounded his pud into her face.
Her mouth gave way and then sucked at him, surrounding him with a hot and moist breath that made his skin crawl. He felt his balls start to cook his brew.
Then he was moving faster and she was getting more excited. Would he come in her mouth? She longed for him to do the hot sticky act.
Bert was groaning, overcome with passion. She felt him attempt to withdraw from tighter around his shaft and worked her tongue on the underside of it.
Then he groaned once again and her mouth filled with warm delicious juice and still she sucked, swallowing hard, loving the jets of pleasure that filled her mouth.
Then she was lying on her back, gasping for breath. She had never felt so excited in her life.
Bert was still standing beside the bed. As she watched, he undressed, carefully folding his clothing. There was a businesslike manner to him, now that he had reached his peak.
She felt excited and wanton. She rubbed herself between her legs while Bert watched and grinned. Then she quickly slid two fingers into her moist center, writhing as she did so.
She brought her fingers up to his mouth and Bert licked them, sucking off the savory juices.
"Your pussy tastes oh-so-sweet," he told her. "Where do you want me to eat you?"
She put her hands back down and with one spread open the damp and mushy folds. With her other hand she stirred the sheath of her womb, indicating the desired route for his tongue to follow.
"Come on, Bert," she urged. "Chew me!!"
His tongue rose gallantly to the challenge. He laid his face by her quim and stuck it down into the deepness of her fleshy womb. The juices stung and tantalized him. He lapped and rolled it about, pushing aside the mushy flesh to dig deeper.
"OOOOOOOOHHHHH BERT!!! EAT ME!!!! EAT ME!!!"
She grabbed his head and pressed his face deeper inside. She could feel his nose nuzzling her clit, and she rubbed his head from side by side so it might touch the aching spot and give her a touch of release.
He moved his face up to the burgeoning bud and slapped it with his tongue. She cried out.
"OOOO YES BERT!!! SWAB MY CLIT!!!"
He put his tongue right against the button and started mushing it around in circles, sending out hot flashes from her toes to head.
Then he pulled back down to go into her deeply. He brought his hands around to open her up.
Bert laid a hand on each of her inner thighs and pushed apart her legs. He tongued her above the juncture of fingers and flesh. His lapping quickly teased her to the point of orgasm, and then he stopped.
Susanne was beside herself with excitement and desire. She tugged his arms, helping him mount her. Once he was in place between her legs, she reached between them, grasped his once-again hard cock, and guided it to the soft lips of her center.
And then he pushed in.
She shivered with pleasure and opened wider for him.
Bert seemed larger than Danny, longer and thicker. It felt as if she were going to tear apart, but he held his movements until she was loose and ready, and then he began to slowly feed it to her, stuffing it in all the way.
She was groaning and moving her head from side to side. No longer concerned with anything, her mind a complete blank except for the pleasure she was receiving, Susanne felt her blood seemingly thicken and heat up. She felt a warm glow, as if she were sitting in front of a fire.
And still he plunged on, stroking harder now, the weight of his body completely supported by Susanne.
She locked her legs around his back, urging him on by digging her heels into his buttocks. He grinned down at her now, as if to ask if she wanted more.
She was unable to think or talk as she felt her center expand until it filled her entire consciousness. All she wanted was more of this, all of it that she could get. And Bert seemed willing to give it to her, whenever she wanted it.
Then she was twisting, trying to get even more of him inside, but he was in all the way now, grinding down on her, keeping her firmly planted on the bed.
She screamed once and then it seemed as if she began to dissolve, and all that she could sense was the feeling of thick heat between her legs, satisfying, soothing, and completely pleasurable.
He split open her rippling folds, making them itch and tingle. Her firm round bottom fell open for him, taking in all his meaty length with a loud gulp and sucking it tenderly.
She thundered her heels into his back as he shot his cock into her with a pounding faster than she could believe. Bam, bam, bam smacked their hips as he stretched open her sheath, making it feel ripped and charred with his touch.
Suddenly his heat came rushing from the tip of his cock and into her swirling velvety passage. Thuds of hot jism fell into the bottom of her slit, launching her in mad cries and wild kicking.
"OOOOOOO BERT!!! IT'S SOOOOO HOT AND SOOO STICKY. POUND THAT COME INTO ME WITH YOUR PRICK!!!"
He beat at her still, hard and fast, each sword stroke firing the cannon of love that destroyed her walls and left her tumbling hot and pleasured on the bed.
They fell together and she lay there feeling his cock quiver within her. Then she awoke, surprised that the quiver still persisted.