Chapter 7
The next day was rotten.
Each of them secretly wished that last night had been their last at the cabin and that today was the day for their return home. Yet they felt compelled to ignore the events of the night before and to play out this act of their little drama to the very end. To have done otherwise would have been to admit openly the importance of their escapade.
They all tried to be cheerful, but a pall had been cast over them, particularly over Able, who seemed to be drained of life even when he smiled. For the most part they made no reference to what had happened, as if discussion weren't worth while. But even that seemed artificial, and Ben and Chuck traded a few feeble jests and then lapsed into embarrassed silence.
Fern seemed the least affected by the minor orgy in which Daisy, Ben, and Chuck had indulged; Able seemed the most affected. But the affair haunted the minds of all of them.
Another factor of which they didn't speak was "the job", the promotion to manager of Tri-Compass's engineering division. All of them had a feeling that the public loving in which Daisy, Ben, and Chuck had indulged might in some way affect the selection of the successor of George West, but none had any idea of how that would come about. The possibility simply hovered like a cloud, helping to darken their last full day at the cabin.
In the morning they all went swimming, not all together as they'd been inclined to do before, but one, or two, or three at a time. They were all inclined to stay apart from each other, with the exception of Ben and Fern, who still favored each other's company, and Able found himself retiring periodically to the loneliness of his and Daisy's bedroom.
He brooded. His thoughts were scattered and incoherent. Few times in his life had he ever felt so utterly depressed, was deprived of his manhood.
In the early afternoon Daisy came to the room, where he was lying on the bed, one arm thrown over his face. When he removed his arm to look at her, her eyes were flat, and her manner was distant.
"Chuck and Fern and I are going to town. We have some things to get and he wants to have his car checked."
"All right."
"Shall I get you anything?" Clearly he wasn't being invited along on the trip. "No. When will you be back?"
"Chuck says probably not before six. Supper will be late tonight."
"See you then."
Without saying goodbye, Daisy left, shutting the door behind her. Able covered his face with his arm again.
How long he lay there he didn't know. Chuck would be alone with Daisy and Fern. Would he take Daisy on again? Would he give Fern a loving too? Probably not. But last night had put ideas into Able's head.
And perhaps into a number of other heads as well.
Edna and Ben were downstairs somewhere. What were they doing?
He sighed. Ben had said something about workinp on an outboard motor. Edna was probably reading a magazine. Nothing was happening at all. He decided that, rather then waste the entire afternoon lying here, he would go for a swim.
He stripped off the few clothes he was wearing and pulled on a pair of brief, black swimming trunks, the same trunks he'd been wearing the night before. He left the bedroom and padded silently along the hall.
As he started down the stairs, he saw Erna.
She was just stepping into the house, and evidently she'd been swimming. She was holding a woolly white towel in her left hand and her white halter in her right. The only things she had on were a white bathing eap and the bottom of her bikini, and her luxurious naked curves glistened with droplets of water.
She tossed the halter aside, pulled her cap off, and tossed it away too. Then she brought the towel to her breasts and began drying herself.
Able didn't even think of speaking or of moving. He watched the shifting of Edna's large breasts as she drew the towel back and forth over her back. He watched the sensuous movement of the woman's curves as she slowly dried her arms and then her legs.
A motor sputtered in the boat house. That was where Ben was.
Able and Edna were alone.
Last night she'd challenged him. She'd derided him. But he'd known that she'd wanted somebody. And after what Chuck had done she still might want....
He saw her as a chance to regain some portion of what he'd lost, some portion of his manhood.
She looked up and froze as she saw him standing on the stairs.
He continued on down, slowly, as if being careful not to frighten her away. His hands and knees felt shaky. Edna kept her eyes on him for a few seconds and then, more slowly than before, went on drying herself off.
He walked across the room toward her, stopping five feet away. Edna looked at him for a few seconds. Neither of them spoke, neither of them smiled.
Her movements became more sensuous, more alluring, than ever. Looking at the swing of her breasts, he saw that the nipples appeared to be enlarging. He viewed the round curves of her belly and her smooth long legs, frankly seeking stimulation, and a flood of desire invaded him.
Without looking at him., she slipped off her last piece of clothing. She carefully dried her legs.
Then, her feet apart, she turned to face him directly. Her finger tips slid over her abdomen, pointing, and she arched slightly toward him. Her eyes were hazy, her red lips full and soft.
"This is what you want, isn't it?" she asked quietly.
"Yes."
An abrupt change came over her. Her face twisted with rage, and she whipped the towel around her waist.
"You stupid mutt!" she snarled. "You just try to get it! Don't you know when the party's over, chicken? Don't you know you couldn't take what you wanted if I put it on a platter for you? Go ahead, show me, show me what you've got! Don't you come around spying and making passes at me like a dirty little boy!"
She kept on, but he hardly heard what she said. He was so set back on his heels that he was stunned. Then there was an instant when he had an impulse to do just what she said, to show her what he had. To take her, to rape her if need be.
But he knew that he couldn't do that. He knew at once that he'd failed again, that he'd never be able to make love to Edna, that what had happened last night not only wasn't in the past but might never be.
He turned and rushed back up the stairs, rushed back toward the bedroom, wishing he could bury himself in loneliness forever.
Edna stood there naked, panting, a predatory grin on her lace as she watched Able disappear up the stairs. She felt vicious and victorious, filled with sensual well-being.
So Able Crowell had thought he could get even with Chuck for Chuck's having put the works to Daisy!
Well, she had news for Mr. Able Crowell! She wasn't going to fall into that trap! Certain battle lines had been drawn, and she knew that simply giving Able a loving wasn't going to wipe them out. If she had her way, Able would be so psychologically beaten down that everyone would see that something was wrong with him. He wouldn't be worth two cents at the office, and any slight chance that he might have of being promoted over Chuck's head would go up in smoke.
Standing there, she jiggled her breasts with her hands and she laughed aloud.
She had to admit that she'd gotten a kick out of having Able look at her naked like this, even more of a kick in a way than last night. Because last night she'd been pretty high; now she was sober and could feel and enjoy every last little subtle tingling that went through her.
And Able was an attractive man, even if he'd goofed last night. Too bad, in a way, that he was off-limits.
Now, Ben....
Ben, it occurred to her, was a different matter. She hadn't thought of that before.
Ben was out in the boat house, tinkering around with something or other.
What would Ben be like?
She hadn't cheated on Chuck, not once since they were married. But after what he'd done with Daisy, she really owed him something. Maybe she owed it to herself to get even.
She'd taken on only two men before marrying Chuck, and both of them had been dismal let-downs. But maybe now that she was more experienced....
Such an adventure would be far more thrilling than anything that happened last night, because last night she hadn't gotten anything, not even from Chuck.
Suppose she were to take a little walk down to the boat house just as she was, stark naked, and saw what happened?
She stood there in the doorway for two minutes more. Then she went through the door and out onto the porch. She hesitated, then went down the steps, and over the grass and sand toward the boat house....
Sitting in the stern of the little boat, Ben adjusted the position of the outboard motor, preparatory to fastening it into place. Something had been wrong with the carburetor, and his engineer's instinct had made him want to fix the thing up. Though he was wearing only his walking shorts, his body was lightly filmed with sweat from his exertions.
He heard someone approaching, not the sound of feet but of someone whistling. Each time I look at you
I get that old feeling ... Fern? No, she'd gone to town Able, probably. He didn't look around.
The boat rocked as someone stepped off of the bare wooden planks with one foot. "Hi," that someone said. He twisted around.
In the dim light of the boat house, his gaze fell on a sleek, smooth calf. That led up to a trim knee. He raised his head some more and saw a long firm thigh, and then he saw that he was staring at a blonde, completely naked, and only a few inches from his face.
He looked farther up, seeing the soft subtle contours of the naked stomach that rolled a little as he stared. He looked beyond the deep navel to the rib cage and then to the undersides of large globes, pink-tipped.
He looked into Edna's smiling face framed with golden hair.
His voice was tight in his throat as he turned away. "Have we given up clothes altogether around here?" he asked as casually as possible.
"Why not?" he heard her say. "I thought you might like to go skinny-dipping with me."
He didn't know what to say, and he concentrated on fastening the motor. The boat shifted slightly as she stepped the rest of the way into it. Hands fell on his bare shoulders, and he felt her naked body sliding against him as she sat down close to him. Her hands slid over his back and one of his thighs.
"How about it, Ben? Want to skinny-dip with me?"
"Are you sure that's what you've got in mind?"
She laughed softly and her hands moved on him.
"Can you think of anything better?"
His mind was racing. He knew, they both knew what she was here for. He'd had a number of women before marrying Fern, but he'd honestly not wanted any other since then. Even last night he hadn't really wanted Daisy. He'd simply wanted to love, she'd been waiting and Fern had seemed willing to play along with the crazy gag.
But that didn't mean he couldn't get excited if a female like Edna set out to get him that way. And never before in his life had a woman other than Fern tried to excite him simply by walking up naked to him and commencing to paw him. Every touch she gave him made him shake and set off sparks of desire.
The only trouble was that he really didn't want to be unfaithful to Fern.
"How about it," she asked again as she leaned against him, "can you think of anything better?"
"Aren't you coming to the wrong guy?"
"I don't think so. Why do you say that?"
"You're trying to get even with Chuck for last night, aren't you?"
"No, not really. But since he had his fun, I do feel that I'm entitled to mine."
"Why don't you try Able?"
"Him!" She laughed. "Don't be silly. Are you done fussing with that outboard motor?"
"Yes, I think so."
He turned from the motor toward Edna, sliding against her hands and one of her breasts. Somehow she seemed even more naked now than she had last night
"Br-r-r!" she said. "It's cool in here. See my goose-flesh? See what the cool does to my nipples?"
She looked at a nipple as she brought his fingers to the swollen nub.
"Maybe we'd better get out of here," he said. "We'd better get out into the sunlight where you'll be warm."
"Not yet." Her voice was almost a whisper as she unfastened his waistband. "First take off your shorts. Then we'll skinny-dip." She laughed again. "Honestly, Ben. That's all I have in mind."
From the way she said that, he almost believed her. Or maybe he was kidding himself. All he really knew was that he was having trouble keeping calm.
And that he wanted to be naked with her.
He pushed her hand away and started taking off his shorts. Edna at once backed away from him. She found several pillows in the boat and arranged them so that she could lie back in some comfort, one leg pulled up over the other and her arms above her head. As he looked at her she smiled, scissored her legs, and shook her breasts from side to side. Sober now, he found her attraction even greater than it had been last night.
He pushed his shorts down his legs and off. "All right, if you want to swim naked," he said, "let's go."
"Not yet. First, let's talk."
He nodded. "That's what I figured."
"You really believe that I came out here just to seduce you? Is that what's going through your mind?" Even her smile was a come-on.
"What do you want to talk about, Edna?"
"Oh, about you and me. Do you like me, Ben?"
Did he like her? Not particularly. Did he like what she had, what she was teasing him with? Of course. What man wouldn't?
If Fern knew how Edna was tempting him, surely she'd understand why he yielded. She'd understood about last night, and surely this wasn't so very different. She'd implied that she'd understand if he got a little on the side now and then. So why was he hesitating? Why was he struggling to keep calm? Why did his conscience already bother him a little?
"What man wouldn't like you?" he heard himself say.
"And I like you. Much more than Able. You're taller, and stronger, and," she laughed, "you're so much man!"
As she spoke, she slid closer to him on the bottom of the boat. Then she raised one foot. She advanced the foot slowly toward him, moving it between his knees. The foot came closer still.
Her bare toes touched Mm and wiggled.
He lost his last vestige of calm. At the touch of her moving toes all of Ms force made itself known.
Her toes went on moving against him.
"Do you like that?" she asked.
He didn't answer. He extended his own leg until his toes were moving against her.
Her eyes narrowed and she purred.
The next thing he knew, he was over her and they were exploring with their hands. She smiled, panting, and rolled beneath him, an alluring mass of writhing female flesh; he bent down to kiss her about the neck and breasts.
He pulled away from her, kissed his way to her thighs, hearing her squeal and groan. He was no longer thinking about Fern. He only knew that he was over a naked female who yearned to be taken.
She commanded him bluntly, twice.
He moved over her again, and again her fingers found him.
Then he was seeking his way, little by little.
The white flesh of their tanned bodies met, and they paused, locked tightly together.
"Oh, you're good, you're good," she moaned, "and I'm going to be so good to you! We have all afternoon! We'll do this again and again!"
He tensed his muscles and showed her his strength without moving her hips. The breath went out of her in a long hot sigh.
"Do that!" she said. "Do that some more!"
He repeated his action several times and she strained to get away from him, then shoved back.
He could wait no longer. His hips raised. He moved hard, swinging into a gallop.
Then they were on their way together, traveling harder, always harder as they raced toward the moment of complete ecstasy.
If the day was rotten, the evening was even worse. After a late supper, none of them followed their usual custom of retiring to their rooms. Only Fern and Edna showed any vestige of gaiety, and that was soon subdued by the moodiness of the other four.
They read, watched television, played solitaire.
"I'm going to hit the sack," Able said at ten o'clock. "I want to get away from here early tomorrow."
"That's not a bad idea," Ben said dully.
One by one and two by two they went to their individual rooms.
As soon as they were alone, Daisy fell on Able with a fury.
"You're really smart, aren't you! You really know how to make a fool of yourself, don't you! If you aren't the biggest jackass that ever roamed the face of this green earth!"
"What's the matter now?" Able asked wearily.
"You know perfectly well what's the matter! Of all the fool things to do: to make a pass at Edna Graham!"
So Edna had told Daisy. And probably Fern too. Of course. He should have known she would. She'd make sure that everyone knew that, after last night, he'd made an even bigger fool of himself.
"Is what I did any worse than what you did?" he asked dispiritedly.
"Are you trying to blame me?"
A sudden insight hit him. He looked at Daisy as if he were seeing her fox the first time.
"Actually, you're angrier with me for failing to seduce Edna than you would have been if I'd succeeded, aren't you?"
For a moment he thought that she was going to hit him.
"Yes!" she said. "If you'd succeeded, at least you'd have been a man! But instead you had to make me look more like a fool than ever for marrying you!"
Her words seemed to backlash at her. She paled and brought a hand to her cheek as if she knew that she could expect murder from him for such a remark, even though his expression didn't change.
"I'm sorry, Abe," she said softly. "That was a terrible thing for me to say. But, Able, I just hope you show them all who you are by getting that job!"
His whole world, he thought bleakly, seemed to depend on his getting the promotion. And right now he felt as if he hardly had the strength to go on Mving.
In another room Fern Lancing sat on the bed in a flimsy baby-doll nightie, without pants, and wished that her husband would take it off her. She looked down at Ben, the moonlight from the window streaming over his broad deep chest. His eyes were closed, but she sensed that he was still awake. For the first time since their arrival at the cabin he was wearing pajama pants, and he'd pointedly ignored every signal she'd sent up.
Still she wanted him. She wanted him badly. Ordinarily her fuse wasn't lit with any particular speed, nor was she especially slow about cooling off when things didn't work out. But during the last couple of weeks she'd become attuned to regular and frequent loving, such as few people get except on a honeymoon or during a vacation. She realized sadly that tomorrow this second honeymoon would come to an end and that their loving would once again be curtailed by the frustrating time-table of civilized existence.
She hadn't had any loving from Ben since the small hours of last night, and she thought that this final night should be the best of all. But it wasn't. The whole house was cast in gloom, a gloom which she realized wasn't generated simply by the fact that sadness was caused by Edna's contemptuous tattling to her of Able's feeble and abortive attempt at seduction. She didn't think that Able was right in what he'd done, but she could understand why he'd made the pass. She thought that Edna might at least have let the poor guy down gently.
"Ben, darling?"
"Hm?"
She drifted her hand over the front of his pa-jama pants.
"If you're having trouble sleeping, I can help you."
"I could sleep," he mumbled, "if you'd lie down and go to sleep yourself." She tried to entice him.
"Wouldn't you like to ... our last night here?" She kept trying, but he didn't respond.
"Honey, a guy is like a girl in that there are certain times he just doesn't feel like moving. And when he feels that way, usually he can't."
She withdrew her hand. She understood that there was some truth in what he'd said, but somehow she didn't believe that he'd told her the real reason for his coolness. While he was no insatiable adolescent, she'd seldom if ever found him completely unresponsive before.
She remembered what Edna had told her about being naked in front of Able.
She remembered that Edna had said something about spending the afternoon swimming and doing a little skinny-dipping. With Ben? Fern had asked casually, jokingly. Edna had looked startled, then grinned. Sure! Who else?
Edna and Ben.
Fern had honestly meant what she'd said when she'd told Ben that she'd try to be understanding if he ever cheated on her. But, still, the idea that he might have done so hurt her, and she wondered if the party would trigger a series of infidelities on his part. Maybe he would find that he was tired of her.
She was hurt further by the idea that he would suddenly go behind her back. That he would have his fun with a woman who obviously had hurt poor Able very badly. That he would spoil their second honeymoon by secretly taking on Edna, not even doing so as part of a joke, admittedly a very bad joke, like his loving of Daisy.
But maybe nothing had happened between him and Edna.
She had to know. She felt a rift of suspicion between them, a rift which could only be healed by the truth. If he would tell her the truth, they would somehow find a way to turn what had happened into inconsequential nonsense. They would joke about him and Edna. And he'd know all the more how much sho loved him, he'd love her all the more, and he'd be all the less apt to turn to another woman in the future.
"Ben?"
"Yes?"
"Is there something you want to tell me?"
"About what?"
"I won't be angry. Honestly."
"About what, for Pete's sake!"
"About you and Edna this after-"
"Nothing happened!" he said too quickly, too sharp ly. "We skinny-dipped two or three times, that was all, just like the whole gang of us did yesterday evening!"
And look at what that led to, she thought sadly. "Ben, if you told me, I wouldn't be mad."
"Honey, we've got a long drive ahead of us tomorrow! "
She gave up. She lay down and rolled away from him. And for the first time since her marriage she found herself on the verge of tears.
Able would help me, she thought miserably in the darkness, and I would help Able....
In yet another room Edna Graham looked gleefully at the surprise on Chuck's face as she played with him more lustily and wantonly than ever. Lying on her back as he kneeled and arched over her, she pulled and twisted and stroked him.
"Where shall I put you, baby?"
"Edna, honey!"
"Come on! That's right! Oh, you're a bull!" They settled down, locked close together. He was great, she thought, great! And after tonight he'd never guess that she and Ben....
She laughed to herself. Four times!
She doubted that Ben would be much use to Fern tonight. But Chuck was certainly of use to her, and she was enjoying herself as much as ever.
Of course, she was crazy to have done what she did with Ben. She admitted that to herself. And she would certainly never do such a crazy thing again! She'd make things up to Chuck without his ever realizing what had happened.
But, just the same, she'd gotten a special kind of thrill out of taking Ben on. He was the only man besides her husband with whom she'd made the grade.
And now, even before she and Chuck had started to move, she felt herself approaching another.
"Oh, Chuck-swing me!"
He drew away and came thundering back.
Thundering-everything seemed to come tumbling in on her as she achieved complete glory.
And then they were striking, bucking as she made he way toward the ultimate moment with him once more.