Chapter 7
Peggy Copeland smiled as she heard the insistent knocking on her door. Her heart beat a little faster. She knew it was Jeff. She had felt it all day. Perhaps it was because she had been thinking about him and how exciting he was to be with.
She patted her hair, straightened her dress, and fixed a warm welcoming smile to her lips. She had just showered and put on fresh things so she felt good. Warm. She opened the door. Arthur Drake stood outside, his eyes darting nervously. When the door opened, he rushed in, bumping into her rudely. Her smile disappeared.
"What on earth ... ?" she exclaimed, half angry.
"Where's Grant?" Arthur asked loudly, looking around excitedly. His face was flushed and he reeked of alcohol.
"You might say hello first," she said, annoyed. "Grant is out. Where else?"
He reached out and took hold of her shoulders. His fingers bit into her flesh, hurting her. "Where? When will he be back? I've got to see him!"
She slapped his hands from her shoulders. "How the hell do I know? He doesn't give me a rundown on where he's going."
"Peggy, I've got to see him. It's important." He began to pace up and down, clenching and unclenching his fists. "Fix me a drink."
She watched him with detached curiosity. She knew Arthur was an excitable person, that he sometimes became all worked up over nothing, but he looked genuinely concerned this time. She wondered how she had ever allowed herself to become involved with him.
"How about that drink?" he asked impatiently.
She poured a double. He snatched the glass and drained it.
She made up her mind not to give him another drink.
"What are you so worked up about, Arthur?" she asked.
He stared at her as though he did not understand the question. Then he said vehemently, "That goddamn Jeff Marston!"
"You two at it again?"
"Do you know what that lousy bastard did? He found out about my little deal with Grant. He knows all about it. How would that grab you?"
She looked at him curiously. She knew about the shady dealings between the two men. "Did he tell your old man?"
"No, at least he didn't go that far-not yet." He was sweating profusely. He pulled out a handkerchief and wiped his face.
"So now you have to play Jeff's game, huh?"
He glared at her in utter outrage. Suddenly, his eyes turned ugly. "Yeah, funny, funny. By the way, you were supposed to call me at the office Monday night. What happened?"
"I called, but you weren't there," she said evenly.
Then he remembered. "Oh, yeah. But Jeff was!" he shouted. "You told him about the kickback. That's how he found out!"
"Don't talk so stupid. When he said you weren't there, I hung up."
"Well, it had to come from someplace," he pouted.
"What reason would I have to tell him anything like that?" she asked. "Besides, I hardly know the man."
"You talked to him the night of the party. I think you know him pretty good, probably even been out with him. Or to bed with him."
"So? What difference would it make to you?"
His slap came so suddenly that she had no time to protect herself. It knocked her backwards onto the sofa. She lay there, collecting her scattered senses. The anger came over her in pumping waves. She flew at him as if she had been launched by a catapult. Screaming with fury, she raked his face with her nails.
Backing away from her, Arthur kept crying out, "No, Peggy, no. I didn't mean to do it. I've been out of my mind with worry. Listen to me ... "
There were three oozing lines of blood along his jaw. She wanted to put a hundred more on his face. He side-stepped her wild lunges.
"Peggy, Peggy," he kept imploring. He backed into an end table, and a lamp crashed down on the floor. She made a wild leap toward him, and he caught her wrist. He spun her around, then pulled her to him. He wrapped his arms tightly about her. "Darling, listen to me," he said. "I didn't mean to do that. I'm sorry. I lost my head. My God, you know I love you."
"Let go of me," she said weakly.
He let her go. She staggered over to the sofa. She stared at him with burning eyes. "Don't ever slap me again."
He limped to the sofa and sat down beside her. "Golly, you're some kind of wildcat," he said, smiling hesitantly. He looked down at her legs then. In the melee, her dress had split and now her leg was exposed almost to the hip. He noticed she wore no panties. Even in his frightened condition, he appreciated the sight of a fine leg. He reached for her hand, but she jerked away. Her hair had fallen over her eyes and she was breathing heavily.
"Honey, I'm sorry," he said. "I love you. I just went sort of berserk thinking that you and Jeff might have ... have ... " He shook his head as though pained. "I love you so much ... "
She said nothing. She only looked at him disdainfully. She had a wild desire to tell him that Jeff was a better man than he could ever hope to be.
"You know I love you, don't you?" he begged.
She had heard him say these words before. And once, in fact, she had even thought that she might be in love with him. But she no longer saw in him the Arthur she had once known.
"One day we'll be married," he went on.
"You seem to have forgotten two little details, Romeo-my husband and your wife. That does make it a little sticky, doesn't it?"
"It'll all work out," he said, but he sounded unsure and had to avert his eyes when he said it.
"I suppose you have some sinister plan all worked out where we'll get rid of both of them and then we'll live happily ever after. Tell me, are we going to use poison or just shoot both of them?"
"Peggy ... please. This is serious. I love you. I need you. We can work things out."
"I've always been partial to a gory throat-slitting," she chided. "It's so messy with blood and ... "
"Peggy! Stop it! This is nothing to make fun of." There was a hurt look on his face. He felt defeated, frustrated. "I want you so much." He pulled her roughly to him. Most of the fight had gone out of her and she did not resist. Resistance might bring out the anger in him once more.
His hand grasped her breast, squeezed. Too hard. His lips found hers, mashed against them cruelly. Then his tongue went between her lips but she would not open her mouth. He grasped her jaw and squeezed the muscles on either side, sinking his fingers into her flesh until she was forced to open. His tongue then darted into her, jamming back and forth hungrily.
The hand on her breast began to move about, rolling the mound, pressing it. Then he tried to go down the front of her dress but the material was too tight. With an urgent thrust, he forced his hand inside, tearing the material.
She tore herself away from his mouth, gasped, "Arthur ... please. You're being too rough. You're hurting me."
He made no reply. He thrust one leg between hers, his knee ramming into her crotch, and sending currents of pain through her body.
"Arthur! Please ... stop!"
"N-Not now ... I can't, Peggy. I need you."
"You don't need me this way. How can you think of such a thing with all the troubles you've got?"
"I need you this way and every other way," he panted.
He rose slightly, grasped the material of her dress with both hands and tore it down its entire length. He put one hand in the brassiere and pulled. The snap gave and he stripped the garment from her. She now lay in front of him completely naked.
He fumbled with his zipper, ran the tab down, then reached in and hauled his semi-hard cock out. He fell on top of her and tried to cram the limber prick into her.
"Arthur! Not rape! You wouldn't dare rape me!" she cried.
"It's not rape," he breathed heavily, working his hips back and forth.
"Arthur, you're acting like an animal."
He paid no attention to her. He managed to spread the lips of her pussy, somehow stuffed the partially erect organ into the opening. He began to pump furiously now, ramming against her. Surprisingly, the limp cock began to rise and was soon a stiff rod, probing her depths, ramming murderously into her.
"Arthur, you're hurting me," she said calmly and without the slightest emotion. "You don't have to be so rough. Take it, but don't tear me up doing it."
"Peggy ... I love you ... "
She began to move in rhythm with him, but it was more to keep from being hurt than for any personal satisfaction she got out of the act. Besides, with her movements she knew she could bring about his orgasm much faster than if he were left on his own. She pressed her hands on his ass and spread her legs to accommodate him.
He grunted and panted over her, sometimes sounding like a lusting animal. He pawed at her breasts, roughly and crudely. He tried to kiss her tenderly but managed only to ram his teeth against hers as he paid more attention to his crotch than his kissing.
And when he did finally come, it was a slow, unemotional thing, a grunting and a twitching of his body. Her only sensation was the hot liquid which seemed to ooze from him rather than spurt.
She put her hands on his chest and tried to push him off her. "Satisfied now?" she asked sarcastically.
"Oh, baby."
"Oh, baby what? Are you happy you had to force me?"
"You wanted it, too. I know. I can tell," he said softly.
"Sure, I want sex, but not the way you go at it. You come on like a bulldozer. God, Arthur, if you don't know how to make love to a woman, why don't you give it up? You might be better off playing with yourself."
"Peggy ... don't talk like that."
"If there's one thing a man should learn, it's how to fuck," she clipped. She knew any type of foul language irritated him. "That's the main reason for a man growing a cock."
He seemed stunned by her words. He said nothing, just looked at her.
"How about letting me up so I can wash your mess out of me? I wouldn't want to go drooling all over the carpet." He was suffering and she knew it.
"All right," he grunted. He got off her and tried to help her.
"Oh, leave me alone, Arthur. Go get your silly looking cock cleaned up." She snatched her arm away. "You're dribbling."
They both left the room, she to hers upstairs, he to the guest bathroom down the hall downstairs.
He took some time to think while he was washing himself. If only there was some way to have Peggy all to himself. How could he ever rid himself of Sue, though? And how could she shed Grant? He had never given it serious thought before, but now that Peggy had treated him the way she had he realized it was time to do something.
Sue and Jeff, he thought. If only those two could be brought together in some compromising position. If Jeff became involved with Sue, surely the Colonel would want no more to do with him and discharge him. But could it be done? Could he possibly arrange an involvement between the two? The way they always looked at each other, maybe it wouldn't be too hard.
But Jeff was not stupid. Whatever plan he devised would have to be a good one. He had no worries about Sue. She would believe anything he told her and when the time came ...
Peggy returned then. She had on a fresh dress and she had combed her hair. She ordinarily would have looked radiant. She did not. She looked tired and disgusted instead. She started to speak as soon as she entered the room. "You know I could have you arrested for rape if I wanted to, don't you?"
"Oh, come on, Peggy. How could you prove it?"
"By my torn dress, for one thing."
"After all, we've done it before so why would this time suddenly be considered rape? But let's not talk about that nonsense now. I need help, darling. Will you help me?"
"Help you? How?"
"You know I want to marry you."
"So?"
"I'll tell you later," he said. "When I've got it all worked out. In a few months from now you're going to be Mrs. Arthur Drake."
She winced at the thought. "You've already disposed of the two unwanted bodies?" she asked sarcastically.
"Will you help me?" he asked, ignoring her sarcasm.
"Oh, then you haven't disposed of the bodies yet," she egged. "Why, of course I'll help you, Arthur. What will we do-bury them in the basement or cut them up and throw them in the garbage disposal?"
"Dammit, Peggy, you're not funny!" he snapped. "You're making fun of my love for you. That hurts, darling. I wish you wouldn't do it."
She saw the anger in his eyes and knew she had gone far enough. "All right, Arthur, tell me what you have in mind."
"I have a plan that will make it possible for us to be together," he said slowly. Then he pointed his finger at her and said, "And don't start with that nonsense again. I don't like it."
"A plan?" She studied him slowly, carefully. "A plan could mean only one thing. You have something in mind for your wife."
"And it's not murder or anything as drastic as that," he said quickly. "I wouldn't have the guts for anything like that."
"I know," she said under her breath.
He grinned evilly, but said no more. The look in his eyes told her his mind was toying with something terrible.
Sue Drake often sat and thought about her situation. The one thing she had wanted from Arthur was his love. He had not given it to her. And now, because he had denied her, she had become an adulterous. She did not like the title, yet she felt an inner satisfaction that she had given herself to Jeff. He had brought relief to her. He had made her feel like a woman once again. If Arthur's neglect of her was to destroy her ego as a woman, he had succeeded only in driving her to another man. And, ironically, that had restored her faith as a woman, as a human being.
A tremor went through her when she recalled what she and Jeff had done in the car that night. It was exciting. She felt good about it. No shame. She had had a need and he had taken care of it. That is all that mattered to her at this moment.
She walked into the kitchen and mixed herself a drink. She lifted her glass and uttered a small toast to herself-and to Jeff. The kitchen clock showed it was after midnight. She had been home just a half hour. She wondered when Arthur would come home. She felt no anger over his absence as she had done so many times before. She had suspected he was running around with other women. For a long time it had angered her, hurt her. Now there was Jeff in her life. He took away all the pain of her loneliness.
She knew Jeff must be unhappy in his marriage. Maria was cold, he had said. A tingle of warmth stole over her breasts and in her crotch as she recalled what he had done to her. His very touch had sent tremors through her even before they had gotten together in that silly bathroom that first time. She had lain in bed and thought how much she would like to have Jeff lying next to her. Now she had had him. She was very pleased that she had.
She jumped as she heard the front door open. That would be Arthur. She crushed the thoughts of Jeff out of her mind, composed herself, and waited.
He saw the light in the kitchen and came in. "What are you doing up?" he asked gruffly.
"Having a drink," she replied. Her tone was carefully guarded. She did not want to be flippant. He had been drinking. It showed in his bleary eyes. He seemed to be in his usual quarrelsome mood.
"Funny time to be having a drink," he said. "You must really need the stuff."
She trembled inside. He could be nasty when he was full of booze. He could also be violent. "I was just having a drink while I was waiting for you, dear," she said softly.
"What the hell are you waiting for me for? Checking up to see what time I come in?" His voice rose. He was baiting her intentionally. "Are you going to check my collar for lipstick? Or would you rather check my pants for pussy tracks?"
"Please don't raise your voice, Arthur. Steve's asleep."
"That's another thing," he shouted. "I'm sick and tired of everything in this house revolving around that kid. Is he the only important thing around here?"
"Arthur ... please."
"Arthur, please," he mocked. "Why do you always have to snivel? I hate women who snivel."
She looked at him some time before she spoke. "Arthur, what is it you want? What's bothering you?"
He wheeled and glared at her. "Well, I sure as hell don't want you! Who the hell does?"
"Are you trying to ask me for a divorce?" she asked calmly.
"You figure it out," he snapped. He wanted to tell her, plain and clear. But the Colonel liked Sue. There would have to be more grounds than simply being tired of her. "I'll make up my mind what I want. No one is going to tell me what to do!"
"I wasn't telling, Arthur-I was asking."
"That's my business," he growled.
She wanted to scream aloud in her anguish, yet somewhere in the back of her mind she was at least halfway pleased that things were coming to a head.
She brushed by him.
"Good night, Arthur," she said coldly.
"Get your ass back here!" he yelled. "I'm not through talking to you!" She kept walking away. "I don't know why I married you. I never wanted you!"
He looked down the hallway. His eyes were glaring and red. Then, when he heard the soft click of her door, a smile spread over his face. He had carried off the first phase of his plan very well, he thought.
Peggy, it's going to be a long, hard road, but we're going to make it, you and I. Nothing is going to stand in the way of our love. Nothing.