Chapter 11
Evan whirled in shock at the sound. He had been prepared for her surprise, but not this. "Stop that!" he yelled at her.
Dana choked off her cry and pressed her hand to her mouth. She stared at the thing on the bed. It moved! It was alive! For one horrible moment, she had thought it was a corpse.
But it was a woman, a flesh and blood woman. She was tied with the golden cords, bound hand and foot in a spread cross the way Dana had been her first night here. That was part of what had startled Dana so. Not only seeing the woman, but seeing herself. It was like going back in time. For the woman on the bed now, looked almost exactly like Dana! The same short blonde hair, wide blue eyes, and well-proportioned heavy figure. like Dana had been, the woman was naked, spread obscenely in her nudity. It was like looking at her reflection in the mirror, yet being able to move away from it and see it live as a separate entity.
Dana stared at the uptilted heavy breasts with their popped nipples. Her gaze moved down to the girl's crotch, wet and glistening. Waiting? Dana turned away.
"Well," Evan demanded. "Do you like them?", She looked at him in surprise. "What?" She saw only the girl on the bed. Who was he talking about?
He looked cross. "The clothes, silly. I went to a lot of trouble. to get them for you and now you don't even want to see them!" He was annoyed, and she followed his glance. Hanging along the door of the closet and the bathroom were dresses, skirts and sweaters. She had never seen such an array of beautiful things in her life. It was like stepping into a fashion magazine. On the lounge chair, stacks of silky underwear were a rainbow of pastels.
"For me?" she repeated stupidly.
"Of course! I was really sorry about your dress and things the last time you were here. I wanted to surprise you." He looked a little disappointed in her lack of enthusiasm.
"But I couldn't accept them! I couldn't-"
He turned away and went to sit by the girl on the bed. He was angry now. Dana crossed and tried to make him understand.
"It isn't that I don't appreciate your thoughtfulness. Really. You shouldn't have gone to so much trouble. But it would be impossible for me to take them."
She hunted for words to appease him. His face still was twisted in a scowl. His hands were busy at the golden cords that held the girl to the bedposts. "I guess she doesn't want to see you model them, Stephanie. You can go now."
The girl lifted her hand to Evan's cheek and touched his face gently, soothingly. She threw a quick look at the other woman near the bed. Dana felt awkward and embarrassed again. The naked girl rose from the gold bed and walked slowly past Dana. The contempt in her stare was obvious. She left the room and closed the door behind her.
For a minute, the stillness was heavy on both of them. Dana realized she had offended Evan Roeden. She knew, too, that crossing him and inspiring his anger was the wrong thing to do. She began to feel frightened as the silence became prolonged. She wished Nick were here.
Evan sat on the side of the bed idly twirling the gold ropes in his hand. His forehead was furrowed and his eyes brooding.
"I'm sorry," Dana said softly and hopefully. "I didn't mean to spoil your surprise. But I just couldn't accept such an expensive gift from you."
He looked up at her, his eyes hard and cold. "Why not?"
"It wouldn't be right."
"Other girls do. They like them!" He was pouting. "I'm sorry." The words sounded foolish as she repeated them.
He lifted his chin and his lower lip jutted. "Oh, you'll take them." He seemed so sure! She studied his face.
"I want you to have them, so you shall have them," he said very positively. Almost as an afterthought, he added, "If you don't, I'll tell the police how you killed poor Orville!"
Dana's mouth dropped in shock. She had been so intent on the minor problem of her pride and prudishness, she had completely forgotten the big threat this man held over her. She had forgotten Orville's lifeless body at the foot of the stairs. She had pushed it from her mind the same way Evan and Nick had gotten rid of the incriminating corpse. Suddenly, she began to tremble violently.
Evan smiled slowly. "Don't tell me you had forgotten that little detail, my dear! Shame on you! Have you killed so many panting admirers that you've lost count?"
Dana's knees buckled and she stumbled forward and fell against the bed. Evan watched her without helping. The twisted smile on his face grew as she struggled but finally had to sit down.
'Little bitch!' he thought. 'No one refuses Evan Roeden! One way or another, I'll have just what I want from you!'
He was almost sorry he had had Terry and Stephanie spend so much time selecting and purchasing the clothes with him. He should have spent the money on them! They appreciated it. Not like her. He looked away from her.
Dana cringed and took deep breaths to calm herself. The full impact of the nightmare had returned. How easily she lulled herself into false peace. The clamor of her body for the newly discovered sexual fulfillment made her forget the ugly brutal existence in which she'd discovered it. Now the horror was back. She wanted only to run, to escape, to hide.
Evan rose and dropped the gold cords to the bed. "I'm hungry," he announced. "Come on." Without waiting for her, he started from the room.
Numbly, Dana followed. The man's former glee and expectation in showing her the surprise had vanished completely. She no longer had any idea what was going on in his mind. He had shut its door in her face. He walked quickly from the room, not seeming to care if she followed or not.
He used the back stairs again and re-entered the spa. Terry and Nick were still on the bench, only Terry now was bent over the form lying down, her mouth kissing and licking at the man's belly and crotch. Dana felt a stab of jealousy as she saw the girl's lips around Nick's penis. She quickly forced her mind away from the thought.
Nick looked up. "Back so soon?"
"She didn't like my surprise," Nick said sourly. "I'm hungry. Tell Amelia I want to eat now!"
Terry got to her feet like an uncurling cat. She hurried from the room, not covering her nakedness. Nick sat up and glanced quickly at Dana, then at Evan. "Come on over and let's sit around the table, Ev. Amelia will have the stuff here in two seconds."
He took Evan's arm and propelled the older man to a low table in the center of the white fur rug. "Want to take off the robe?"
Evan nodded, and Nick took the white garment from him and threw it off to the side of the pit. He gave Evan a large white pillow so he could stretch out in comfort. Then he walked over to where Dana was watching the proceedings wordlessly.
"You goddamn fool! What'd you make him mad for?"
Dana stared at him in disbelief. He was angry with her too! She buried her face in her hands and began to sob. It was too much, too confusing. She didn't understand any of it. She must be going insane!
"Shut her up!" Evan barked.
Nick yanked her by the arm and took her to the small dressing room where they'd left their clothing. He closed the door behind him.
"Listen, Dana, get one thing straight. You'd better start pleasing Evan a bit or there's apt to be trouble. What the hell happened upstairs?"
She hiccupped. "Nothing. I just told him I wouldn't take all those clothes he bought."
Nick looked at her with a puzzled frown. "Why the hell did you say a stupid thing like that?"
She felt her own anger rise. "It isn't stupid. It was stupid of him to think I would take them."
His frown deepened. "You have to be the craziest chick that ever came into this town. Half the dames in Wisconsin would give their eyeteeth to be on Evan's Santa Claus list, and you throw a few dresses back in his face. I don't get it."
"Why should he buy clothes for me?" Dana was confused by the illogical argument.
"Why shouldn't he? Hell, woman, he buys presents like he buys booze, in large quantities and only the best." Nick shook his head and leaned against the wall. "Besides, maybe he did feel bad about that tacky outfit he ripped off you."
Dana gaped. She couldn't argue. She didn't understand the way either of these men's minds worked. They lived and thought in a world completely foreign to her. Suddenly, she realized that her ways were just as peculiar to them!
Tacky outfit! And she had considered the blue cotton so chic, so daringly modern. Tacky outfit! Compared to the garments hanging on the doors of the bedroom upstairs, she knew he was right. She lowered her stare to the carpet and couldn't face him.
After a long silence, she said softly, "He said he'd go to the police about that man if I didn't take them."
Nick laughed softly, but when she looked up, he forced his expression back to one of seriousness. "That settles it then. Take them. Maybe he's blackmailing you, but what can you do?" The idea amused him, but he hid his smile.
Dana chewed her lip. He was right, of course. Unless ... But no, she couldn't go to the police herself and admit what had happened. She couldn't! It would be too late. They would ask a lot of questions about why she hadn't called them right away, why the body had been hidden instead of reported. And there was still the threat that Evan might tell them she'd done it deliberately. She was caught in a web of deception. There was no way out. No way but Evan's way.
Nick was watching her, almost as if he could read the thoughts that ran through her mind. He smiled. "Ready to go out there and have a good time?"
She looked at him.
"Evan is waiting."
She moistened her dry lips with a cottony tongue. Her glance took in Nick's beautiful body, the thick crop of hair on his broad chest, the slim line of his waist, the flat plain of his abdomen, the enticing triangle of hair at the junction of his legs. And the loose hanging penis that partially hid the large bulging sacs of his scrotum.
"I'm waiting too, baby. For you."
She looked up. There was no decision to make. She nodded her head slowly.
He grinned. He motioned toward the robe she still wore. She untied the belt and shrugged it from tier shoulders. She held it out, and Nick took it and dropped it on the bench. Then he put his arms around her and pulled her into a tight embrace. His lips found hers quickly, and they met open and ready. His kiss was warm and sweet, and she closed tier eyes and mind to everything else. The hard angles of his body rubbed against the soft curves of hers. They pressed together in silent wonder and need. Finally, Nick released her. "We'd better get back there so Evan knows everything is all right."
"Nick?"
"Yeah, kid?"
"Do you always do exactly what Evan wants?"
He laughed. "More or less. It beats digging ditches, baby."
"You work for him?"
He laughed again. "Sort of. I try to see that things go right for him. Yeah, it's a job okay." He slipped his arm around her waist and opened the door. "Come on, baby, smile. Wait until you see the way Evan has this meal set up. You'll like it, I guarantee!"
He led her back to the pit where Evan and Terry were lying together in each others arms on the white fur rug. Terry's leg was thrown over the man's hip and her body moved sensuously against his flesh. Evan had come out of his pout and seemed to have completely forgotten his anger.
Just then double doors at the side of the spa opened, and a man and woman entered. The woman was a tall slender black woman dressed in flowing white robe. Again, Dana thought of pictures of ancient Rome! The dress was little more than a thin drape of cloth over the woman's shoulders, slashed to below the waist in front and back, slit up both sides almost to her waist. The waist was secured with a gold cord, like the ones Evan had used to tie her to the bed upstairs. The girl's gleaming ebony skin cast a dusky shadow, under the cloth, and her high, tight breasts jutted forward and made rippled circles in the cloth.
"Ah, Amelia, my love. Perfect timing. I'm starved." Evan sat up and released Terry. She propped her head on her hand and smiled at him.
Dana looked at the man who had entered with the girl. He too was black, glistening, gleaming black skin that looked like polished coal. His wide shoulders and narrow waist emphasized the white loin cloth he wore. It was his only garment. Dana stared in fascination at it. Hung on a gold cord across his hips, the white folded cloth hung loose over his private parts, covering but not hiding them. As he moved, she could catch glimpses of the enormous dangling black prick and the big black balls behind it. She knew she was staring, but she could not pull her eyes away. She had never seen anything like him before.
The two moved quietly around the room, setting trays of food on the low table. Each time the man leaned over, Dana saw the hidden promise of the loincloth. She forced herself to listen and answer when Evan spoke to her.
"I decided to have a Roman party tonight," he said. "The big parties have become such a crashing bore. Honestly, sometimes I think the world is mad."
Dana tried to smile. "Yes, maybe it is."
He liked her answer and moved closer to her, snuggling his bare chest against her arm. "You're very nice, Dana. I think I like you after all. You will take the clothes home when you have to go, and you must also come back next week."
It wasn't a question but a statement. Dana was amazed at how quickly his moods changed, how easily he forgot his anger. Now she said nothing, merely nodded. She would never come back if she could help it! But she knew that her fate was strangely sealed to this man and this house.
The meal progressed in a lively vein. The others talked easily and comfortably. Evan laid his head in Dana's lap and let her feed him bits of pastry and meat that were rolled together. Tiny honey cakes, bits of confections, glasses of white sparkling wine. He raised his glass over and over to her lips and she drank from it until her head grew light and her problems faded. Once again she sought refuge in passive submission. She could do nothing. She had to stay. She found it easier and easier to not argue with her conscience as the evening progressed.
By the time the meal was over, she was laughing and she felt good. Nick winked at her. Evan turned his head to her and kissed her navel. "Mmmmm, I think maybe it's time to move into the other room. Don't you think so, Nick?"
Nick agreed quickly. "Whenever you're ready, Evan."
They got to their feet in a tangle of bodies and quick grabs. Dana giggled as she pitched forward and Evan caught her around the hips. It was no accident that his hand left by way of her crotch. She giggled again.
Evan hurried ahead. Terry, still draining a glass of wine, was right behind him. Nick waited for Dana. He put out his arm to stop her.
"Remember now, no more pretending to be shocked, right?"
She looked at him and his face danced in fuzziness. "What?"
He laughed. "You're not much of a drinker either, are you, baby?"
She hiccupped and shook her head.
He smiled. "Okay, sweetie. This room is another of Evan's little surprises. No screams, no tears, no bolting. Got it?" He squeezed her arm.
She tried vainly to focus on his face, but her vision was blurred. Of course she wouldn't scream or run. What did he think she was anyhow? She nodded and the quick motion made her dizzy. She should have eaten some of the food, she thought, now that it was too late. The early dinner had long since been burned off in energy. The repeated drinks of wine had gone to her head, easing her tensions, making her carefree and light. She took Nick's arm and snuggled to him. He laughed.
"Okay, baby, I guess you get the message Let's go. It's fun and games time." Still laughing, he led her after the others.