Chapter 11
Peggy Copeland walked down to the recreation room. This was one party where she had decided not to take part in the upstairs bedroom sessions. She had counted on being with Jeff but when Arthur set up his little scheme she knew that was out of the question.
Grant sat slumped in a chair in the corner. He held his stomach and moaned. "I didn't know Jeff was such a sorehead," he said. "That's the last time we ever have him over."
Peggy looked at her fat husband. She wanted to tell him about the frame-up, but there was really no point. He would have enough to think about when the Colonel arrived and found Jeff and Sue together upstairs. She heard a car start up outside, gave it no more than a passing thought. "I don't think you'll have to worry about him too much anymore," she said.
Grant moaned again, held his stomach. "That bastard must have torn something loose inside. I still can't see a guy getting that pissed about a piece of ass."
"You seemed to want her badly enough. You were drooling all over her."
The Colonel did not bother to knock. He came banging through the front door, face flushed and fists clenched. "All right, where are they?" he demanded. He looked about him. "And where's Arthur?"
"I thought he was with you," Peggy said.
"Well, never mind," the Colonel groused. "Where are the other two?"
Peggy smiled sweetly. "Would you like me to escort you to the den of iniquity, Colonel, so you can see some firsthand love-action?"
"Don't try to be cute. Just show me where they are."
Grant had looked on in silence. Now he turned to Peggy and asked, "What's this all about? Who's he looking for?"
"You'll see soon enough," Peggy said. "Ready, Colonel?"
"Yes, yes, let's get on with it."
The trio went silently up the stairs, Peggy leading the way. Some of the early excitement had died down in the bedrooms and the hallway seemed ominously still, although there were still the muffled sounds of lovemaking coming from behind closed doors. They stopped in front of the door at the far end of the hall.
Peggy drew a breath. She had a moment of misgiving. When she opened that door, Jeff would disappear forever from her life. But then the thought of Jeff lying in bed with Sue flashed through her mind. Her eyes narrowed as she turned the knob slowly and swung the door open.
The Colonel pushed past her and went directly to the bed. He was quivering with rage. He studied the two naked figures briefly. They were in a sixty-nine position, the man on top, slurping noisily between the woman's legs while his stiff cock drove in and out of the woman's mouth. Neither of them seemed to notice that they had a trio of interested onlookers. The Colonel motioned with an upward sweep of his hand that someone should turn on the light.
Grant was just inside the door. He moved his hand over the knob, flooding the room with light.
The Colonel was livid. In the sudden light and with anger boiling inside him, he saw only two naked figures. His set mind had already identified them as Jeff and Sue. He screamed, "You two! You two are a disgrace to humanity. You're a disgrace to everything that's decent!" The words poured out as though he had rehearsed them, which, in his well-organized way of life, he probably had. "Get up from there, you filthy pigs!"
Arthur jerked erect, blinked in the bright light. Despite having been knocked out by Jeff, his sexual urges were such that he served them first, before thinking of revenge. He stared at his father, his face wet and shining from his lapping between the woman's legs. The motion of his hips ground to a halt.
The Colonel had his mouth open, all ready to deliver the remainder of his speech. The words never came. His mouth hung open as the color drained from his face. And as the paleness crept over him, his body sagged like a crumpled overcoat.
"Oh, God ... " Arthur moaned, a stricken animal sound. He seemed to die at that moment. His eyes closed, his body went limp. He rolled to one side and buried his face in the bed clothes. His fingers clutched at the wrinkled sheets.
"Ar-Arthur ... Arthur," the Colonel murmured weakly. "How could you?"
The woman sat up and looked at the faces around her. "What's wrong, Peg?" she asked. "Are we changing partners again?"
"No, Laura, I'm afraid the party's over," Peggy said. And then, under her breath, she mumbled, "A lot of things are over."
For the Colonel, the walk down the hallway was a thousand miles long. He trudged it like a condemned man. His head hung low and he muttered while he walked. Grant and Peggy walked slowly behind him.
"I don't understand, Peggy," Grant said. "Who told him his son was in that room? I thought ... " His mind was fogged with liquor but through the haze the picture of Jeff and Sue going into that bedroom stood out. He had taken a good shot in the stomach because of it. He leaned toward his wife and whispered, "I thought Jeff and Sue were in there. How the hell did Arthur wind up there?"
"I-I don't know ... I honestly don't know," she replied.
But if some of the starch had gone out of the Colonel, his well-regimented mind quickly began to shore up and by the time the group reached the living room, he had already prepared a series of questions.
"Has Jeff Marston been here this evening?" he asked.
Peggy debated with herself. Everything was lost anyway, so why not make a clean sweep of the whole thing? With some embellishments of her own, of course. "Yes, he was here," she said. "But he didn't stay but ten minutes or so." Along with the bit of twisted truth, came a look of deep seriousness.
"And Sue. Was she here this evening?"
"Yes. Arthur brought her."
The Colonel frowned. He tilted his head to one side and scratched an index finger at his temple. "Then where is she? In one of the other bedrooms?"
"Of course not, Colonel," Peggy said. "Jeff took her home. I called him and told him to come and get her."
"I really don't understand what's going on," the old man said. "Arthur called me at home and told me that Jeff and Sue had ... had gone to bed together, that I should come right over if I wanted to see for myself." He shot a glance to the stairs. "Why on earth would he call me and let me find him like ... like that?" He jabbed an angry finger toward the upstairs bedroom. "It doesn't make sense."
"Are you sure it was Arthur who called you?"
"Of course I am. I know my own son's voice," the Colonel snapped. "And from what I could tell, he wasn't drinking." He paced about the room, pounding his fist into his palm. He arrived back in front of Peggy. "You said you called Jeff to have him come and get Sue. Why was that necessary?"
"Arthur had a ... well, a thing going," Peggy lied. "He wanted to stay, Sue didn't. He wouldn't take her home, so I called Jeff. He was good enough to come right over and get her out of here."
The Colonel turned and glared at Grant. "Damn you and your filthy parties, Grant!" he growled. "Even your wife doesn't seem to approve." His body grew rigid with a new anger. "Under the circumstances, I believe it would be best for both of us if we severed our relationship, both business and personal. I will instruct Jeff to bring the figures up to date on the materials we've bought to date. Austin will have a check ready for you in a day or so. That, I believe, should conclude our business for the evening."
"But, Colonel ... " Grant cried.
The little man ignored him. He had already turned to Peggy. "Thank you, Mrs. Copeland, for salvaging the decency of my daughter-in-law. Who knows what might have happened to her here tonight. Good evening."
"Colonel ... please," Grant pleaded. "Let's talk this thing over."
"My conversation with you has come to an end, Grant. Good night." He stalked to the door and went out.
Jeff and Sue had hurried to his car after depositing Arthur in the bedroom. "If my theory is right, the Colonel should be along pretty soon," Jeff said.
Because Jeff had been the last to arrive at the Copeland house, his car was parked some distance away. In fact, it was the last available spot. There was a car to one side of his, high shrubbery on the other.
"Sue, I love you," he said as soon as they had settled themselves in the car.
"I love you, too, Jeff."
He pulled her to him. His lips found hers. He kissed her long and hard. It was the most expressive kiss he had ever delivered in his life and his heart began to pound when he realized he was genuinely in love. His hands went instinctively to her breasts. The gown was low cut enough so that he was able to run his hand inside with ease.
"Oh, Jeff ... darling," she sighed.
Bending down, he kissed her cleft, then eased the luscious mound out and touched the eraser-like knob with his tongue, then nibbled at first one, then the other. He lost himself in the feel of her. He was aware of a pressure at the back of his head. Her hands were there, pressing his mouth even closer and tighter against her.
She was breathing heavily already. Her hands stroked the back of his head as she heaved her breasts toward him. She ran her hands down his chest, unbuttoning several buttons on the way. Then her hand was on his bare skin. Her fingertips danced in the hair of his chest, making finger-painting motions across the surface. Then she dipped low and took hold of the hard knob in his pants.
It brought him to sudden awareness. He said, "Oh, no."
"Wh-what's wrong?" she asked. "Did I do something?"
He gave her a quick peck on the lips. "No, darling, it's nothing you did. It's us. We're at it again-in the car. When are we ever going to go some place where we can be comfortable?"
It was shortly after when the Colonel's car sped into the drive. Jeff and Sue watched as the stiff little man stalked into the house. Then Jeff started the car and eased out of the drive and onto the street, lights out.
"Where are we going?" Sue asked.
"Anywhere but around here."
She snuggled up to him as he drove, her hand gripping the hot stalk between his legs. She eased the zipper down and ran her hand inside to bring the bludgeon of solid meat out. With a quick dip, she ducked down and kissed the swollen head, then rose again.
"Hey, you want me to ram this thing into a tree?" he laughed. "You do that again and we'll go hurtling into the brambles alongside the road."
"I like to do that. Would you like me to do it to you while you drive?"
"You want to wreck us?"
She ignored him. Her head sunk into his lap. He moved his hips toward her a little to allow for the steering wheel. She put the plum-like head in her mouth and sucked it tenderly. One hand went under his balls and lifted them from his pants. Because of the confining space, she was unable to minister to the stiff prick the way she wanted to and after a time eased her mouth off it.
"I'll let it rest a while," she said. She patted the wet cock-head and pushed it back into his pants, then zipped him up. "Where are we going?"
"I should take you to my house," he said. "I'm sure Maria wouldn't give a damn." He turned the idea over in his mind. The more he thought about it, the more sense it made. Arthur's marriage was through as of tonight. She would be free. But he didn't relish the idea of sneaking around to be with her. Maria stood in his way. "You know," he said at last, "that's not the worst idea I ever came up with. Why don't we go to my house?"
"Are you crazy? Maria would kill both of us."
"Not if she didn't know we were there until it was too late. You're all through with Arthur, so why don't we fix it up so I'll get my freedom, too?"
"I-I don't know, Jeff. You'd be making me a part of something that should be between you and Maria."
"Would you rather I found someone else to take to my bed?"
A little quiver of fear ran through her. She didn't want to share Jeff with anyone. He was not serious, she knew, yet the thought of him going to bed with another woman disturbed her. "If ... if you think it would work ... "
"Honey, once she sees me in bed with someone else, she'll fly out of that house like she's been shot out of a cannon. Hell, let's do it! At least we'll get what we want and to hell with what anybody else thinks or says."
"I think you're completely insane, Jeff Marston-but I love you," she said happily.
He guided the car to his street, switching off the lights when he was half a block from his house. He eased the car into the driveway, turned off the motor.
The house was dark, as he had expected it would be. He had come home to a dark house many times during his marriage. Maria did not believe in waiting up for him or leaving a light on. He had long ago interpreted that as a sign that she cared only for herself, nothing for him. Waiting up for him or leaving a light burning meant he was welcome, that she was at least minutely concerned about him.
"I'm scared," Sue breathed.
But his strong grip on her upper arm was an assurance to her that he knew what he was doing. Or that he thought he did.
The house was as quiet as it was dark. The two figures moved through it like vague shadows.
"In here," Jeff said. He eased open the door to his bedroom, adjacent to the one Maria had insisted on having to herself since the first day of their marriage. There was no connecting door, of course.
The spacious room swallowed them up.