Chapter 4

VALLEY OF A THOUSAND ENCHANTMENTS

At six-thirty that night, Freda and Jeff entered the kitchen at BRUNO'S PLACE. Jeff looked a lot different from the derelict whom Freda had picked up last night. His suit was neatly pressed, his shirt clean and carefully ironed, and his face freshly shaven.

They were greeted by the sound of clattering dishes and the rattling of pots and pans. Through the labyrinth of cooking utensils of all sizes that hung from overhead racks, Jeff could see the big black gas stoves; the immense baking ovens. Off to one side a dull red glare arose from the coal broiler. The sizzle of frying meat. The smell of steak and seafoods and onions. It was all part of a familiar pattern Jeff had seen many times before.

A couple of men in long white aprons, stood fussing at the long, wooden food counters preparing salads and other delicacies for the night's menu. They glanced perfunctorially at Freda and Jeff then went back to their work.

Through the door that lead from the club proper, came a big, swarthy, bald-headed guy. Jeff recognized him at once as Roy, the man he'd met, informally last night in the alley. In his white pants and white shirt with the sleeves rolled up to reveal his hairy arms, he looked even bigger than he did last night. His coal black eyes appraised Jeff with a dark frown.

"Who's he?"

Freda brought Jeff forward. "Roy, I'd like you to make the acquaintance of my cousin Jeff, from California."

Roy sniffed at him with his eyes. "Ain't I seen you someplace before?"

Jeff shook his head, "I just got into town."

"Jeff's looking for a job," Freda cut in.

"What kinda job?" Roy asked.

"I told him you needed somebody to wash dishes."

Roy gave Jeff another appraisal. "Job pays ten bucks a night and meals. You work seven 'til four and maybe do some sweepin' and straightenin' up."

"When do I start?"

Roy glanced over his shoulder at the huge double-sinks piled high with dirty dishes and greasy pots and pans. "Soon as you get your coat off."

Action didn't really start at BRUNO'S PLACE until after ten. There was a first show for the dinner crowd at nine, another at eleven and the last show of the night went on at one-thirty.

Stuck in the kitchen, perspiring over the hot sink, Jeff didn't get to see any of the entertainment. But he could hear the band and the beat of the big drum that vibrated the floor boards and gnawed at his heart and made the tips of his parboiled fingers ache ... as the steam that arose from the sink seemed to envelope him and melt away the years from his brain....

It was more than eight years ago and he was back on the coast ... in Hollywood ... at a night club called the NIGHT HAWK. He was seated be-fore a baby grand in a bright spotlight, wearing an impeccable, white dinner jacket. He was billed as the MELODY MASTER OF THE KEYBOARD; darling of the Strip. Night after night, the faithful, that included some of Hollywood's biggest names, came to pay homage to his talented playing.

So popular did he become that he finally took over the night club; invested every penny he had into it. He didn't necessarily do it for himself, alone. His friend, Val Salem, was in on it, too. In fact, it was Val who more or less, convinced him what a wonderful opportunity it was. So when the place became his, Jeff put Val in charge and let him handle the business end.

There wasn't the slightest reason why Jeff shouldn't trust Val Salem. Not only was Val a keen business head, but they'd been the closest of friends ever since they served together in Korea. Even more than that, they came to share what they had, with each other ... not the least of which was Janice Winters.

Janice was a soft dream with silken blonde hair that hung past her shoulders plus all the most wonderful accoutrements with which any girl possibly could be endowed. A beautiful, angelic face; perfectly proportioned body; exquisite legs. She knew exactly what clothes to wear to show off each and every one of her charms to their full advantage.

As if it were actually happening right now, Jeff remembered that first night she walked into the club. She was alone and wearing a pastel green gown of diaphaneous chiffon that molded to her breath-taking figure and gave just a hint of the rising swell of her deliciously formed breasts. With her golden hair flowing behind her, she looked like a vision as she made her entrance. Every male eye in the big room suddenly stripped and raped her in their imagination.

However, she didn't affect Jeff Harlow in quite that manner. To him, she was the most gorgeous creature he had ever seen. She was Aphrodite, Venus, Helen of Troy-all the most beautiful women who had ever lived, rolled into one. This was his "enchanted evening", and she was "that stranger across the crowded room". This was the one and only woman in the whole world who, at first glance, he felt he could really and truly love.

From that first moment he saw her, everyone in the club ceased to exist and he was playing exclusively for her. This attention did not go wanting. Because she kept her eyes focused on his every moment.

Then shortly before he finished playing, a surprising thing happened. Val Salem came out of the club office, walked to her table, sat down beside her, held her hands and began talking to her very confidentially.

Jeff couldn't understand it until after he had finished his turn at the piano and was getting up from the bench, and Val stepped alongside him and said, "Friend of mine I'd like you to meet, old buddy."

Jeff's blood began to race as Val led him to the girl's table, where Val introduced them. She couldn't have been mofe than nineteen and she was even prettier close up, with flesh as smooth and delicate as Dresden china; her soft, low-pitched voice as melodious to his ears as the most beautiful musical instrument he had ever heard. He would never have believed that such perfection could be rounded into one woman, or that one woman could stir him so deeply.

After they sat at the table, Jeff at one side of her, Val at the other, Val told him that Janice had only recently arrived in Hollywood. That she and Val had grown up together back in Kansas.

"And Gregory," Janice tacked on.

"Oh-yes, we can't forget ol' Gregory," Val agreed.

"We were just like brothers and sisters," Janice said.

"Well-not quite," Val corrected with a smile that Jeff didn't understand. In fact, there were a lot of things Jeff found difficult to keep track of that night. Not the least of these things was how, after the club closed, the three of them ended up at Val's apartment.

It was true that they'd had a considerable a-mount to drink, including a couple after they got to Val's place. But that didn't explain the daze Jeff was in.

He just remembered that after they got to the apartment and had their drinks, Janice excused herself and went into the bedroom. Val said something about her being the original "pajama girl" and that's exactly what she was wearing when she came out of the bedroom. A freshly laundered pair of Val's blue silk pajamas, with the sleeves and the pants-legs rolled up.

She looked cuter than a kitten with her long, sun-drenched hair falling across her shoulders. Jeff felt a strange stirring in his stomach and his arms ached to reach out and greet her as she came for-ward and climbed onto the vacant stool between him and Val at the bar. He tried not to look at the way the silk moulded to her thighs and to the contours of her high, full, out-thrust breasts; her nipples outlined and straining against the soft material.

"How's about you and me getting comfortable too?" Val asked Jeff.

"Go ahead," Janice insisted.

So Jeff followed Val into the bedroom and they both changed into pajamas that Val dug from one of the dresser drawers. Jeff was no novice when it came to women. He was as sophisticated as the next guy. But he wasn't even close to figuring out this scene. He was even more in the dark when Val walked to the door and opened it and called out to Janice:

"You wanna bring your drink in here, Honey, where it's more comfortable?"

Jeff heard Janice get down off the stool and the next moment she was standing on the thresh-hold, holding a tall drink in her hand, and looking into the bedroom.

Val went around to the far side of the bed. Jeff stayed where he was. Val patted a place on the bed near the head.

"All for you, Honey," he said.

Janice glanced at Jeff as she came forward, then dropped her gaze as she climbed onto the bed. Val grabbed the two pillows and propped them behind Janice so she could sit up. Janice finished her drink and handed the empty glass to Val. He placed it on the night stand then sat at the head of the bed alongside the girl.

"Make yourself comfortable, old buddy," Val said to Jeff, who was still standing in the doorway.

With considerable reserve and mounting uneasiness Jeff sat near the foot of the bed and watched Janice's nipples trace a line upwards under the silk top as she brushed her hair back off her shoulders and interlaced her fingers behind her head; one leg crossed high over the other. She even had beautiful feet, Jeff noticed, each toe-nail painted a shiny ivory to match the nails on her long, slender fingers.

"A real cutie, huh?" Val evaluated. And for all his worldliness, Jeff was a little shocked when he saw Val brazenly reach across and touch the tip of his index finger to Janice's left nipple. Her body jerked with the unexpected sensation it caused her.

"Think you're pretty funny, don't you?" she reacted; her breathing just a little strained.

Val grinned and his answer was to run the palm of his hand along the underside of the thigh of her upraised, crossed leg. She stiffened a little and stared at Val, reprimandingly.

"Don't," she said with not too much assertion. "What'll your friend think of me?"

Val glanced at Jeff's expression. "I think he's pretty impressed. Let's make him really impressed."

His hands went to the row of buttons that ran down the front of Janice's too large pajama-top and began to unfasten them.

"No," she protested but she didn't do a thing to try to stop him; didn't even take her hands from her head.

When he had undone the final button, Val drew back like a painter admiring his work.

Jeff was perspiring profusely; his throat dry; his heart hammering against his ribs. He just sat as if paralyzed, watching a scene that he couldn't believe was really happening.

Never before had he ever been a party to anything like this ... where he just sat and watched. He'd been to orgies, where everybody changed partners; and the most indelicate things had happened. But always he'd been one of the protagonists-never just a passive observer as he was now. What made it even more difficult for him to just sit and watch, was the fact that he wanted to do all these things to her-touch the intimate parts of her body-disrobe and make love to her.

Even as these thoughts bombarded his brain and he felt the swelling in his loins strain against the light weight material of his pajama bottoms, he saw Val brush aside the girl's pajama top and uncover her luscious breasts as she closed her eyes and dropped her head a little. In all sincerity, Jeff believed hers were the most beautiful breasts he'd ever seen. Larger than he had imagined they would be; high and firm and even whiter than the rest of her delicately textured, heavenly formed body, with nipples that were dark, suckable pink centered in wide areoles of a much lighter shade.

"How about those things?" Val asked like a slave auctioneer showing off his richest prize. Then his hand cupped her delicious looking left mound from underneath. He lifted it gently and stroked the rising nipple with his tongue. She shivered and straightened out her legs and the next moment Val covered the nipple 'with his mouth and began to suck on it.

Jeff felt like a man chained and tortured as he watched the thing he cherished being defiled. But he had no way of knowing their relationship. What had gone before. What they meant to each other. Maybe he didn't even have the right or reason to be here; watching them.

He hadn't realized he'd subconsciously inched toward her from the foot of the bed, until he felt her foot brush his fingers. Instead of drawing back her foot, she let it creep up over the back of his hand. This contact with her flesh suddenly enflamed him and he took her foot in his two hands and held it tight.

Never before had he been aware of a fetish a-bout feet. He'd always admired women's feet, liked to see them in tall heels; in sandals, some even bared. He liked the feel of them on his body; rolling over his thighs. But never before had he wanted to hold a woman's foot so possessively, nor had he ever had the consuming desire to kiss the sole ... the instep ... the ankle ... kiss his way along her legs ... her thighs ... kiss every part of her body. No woman in his entire life had ever affected him this way before; made him want to possess her so completely. This was another man making love to her; exciting her body. What the hell had gotten into him, anyway-?

He saw her open her eyes very slowly. She met his eyes for a moment and smiled, almost coyly, then her gaze fell to her uncovered, right breast, invitingly. Only half-conscious of what he was doing, knowing only that the desire he felt for her was too powerful to even try to resist, he moved forward. He covered her right breast with his hand and it jellied between his fingers as he massaged and bounced it in his palm. Then he held it and put his lips to the nipple.

She moaned softly with this double pleasure they were bringing her as she lowered her arms and placed a hand at the back of each head to hold them tight against her passionate breasts.

Suddenly Jeff was aware of her heavy breathing and he felt her body begin to writhe on the bed. He realized then that Val had forsaken his post and moved to another area; his hand down inside the silky bottoms of her PJ's; fingers working rapidly between her thighs.

As Jeff drew back, Val looked up at him and grinned. "Just waiting until you got through, old buddy, for the unveiling."

Janice had closed her eyes and returned her hands to the back of her golden head. Again Jeff just sat there and watched as Val unsnapped the fly of Janice's pale blue bottoms and worked them down over her hips. Jeff could feel his eyes bugging out of his head; his heart pounding so loud that he was sure that both of them could hear it. Lower and lower, Val slowly drew down the silk pants to allow Jeff the full appreciation of her beautiful young body. And she WAS beautiful-breath-takingly blonde and beautiful-every part of her. From the shadowy triangle where her pale, rounded thighs joined together to her knees and ankles and the painted tips of her curled toes.

Val was again looking up at Jeff, amused at his awed expression. "Tastes just as good as she looks, too."

Jeff suffered a traumatic reaction as he watched Val lean forward, massage one of her kiss-reddened breasts; kiss her dimpled knees and begin to slowly tongue his way upward over her thighs. Not that he hadn't done the same thing himself to other girls. It was because of the crude exhibitionism Val was attaching to it and because this girl had affected him so intensely from the very moment he saw her enter the club. Until they arrived here at Val's a-partment and this incredible orgiastic scene that he was witnessing right now began, she was the personification of every thing he wanted in a girl-yes, maybe even a wife! To see this baring of her body, to watch Val flagrantly manhandle her lovely young flesh-even if Val was his best friend-appalled him.

"Christ!" Jeff blurted out, as he got up off the bed. "Don't!"

Val raised his head, quizzically. Janice popped open her eyes. "Something wrong, old buddy?" Val asked. Jeff swallowed and took a deep breath. The bulge in his pajama pants starting to slowly deflate.

"I'm ... I'm going to leave," he said as he started to gather up his clothes. "Why?" Val wanted to know. Jeff swallowed again, and making sure he didn't look toward the bed, replied, "I-I think it'd be better if I left you two alone."

He started to go toward the bathroom to change into his clothes.

"Jeff," came a soft purr that halted him in his tracks a few steps from the bathroom door. "Look at me, darling."

He held his breath and turned his head to look at her.

She was leaning on her right elbow, her left hand extended to him, breasts dangling; blonde hair falling across her shoulders and half-covering her pretty face. "Put down your clothes and come back here, darling. I want you to stay."

Any guy between the age of puberty and the grave who wouldn't answer her siren call just wasn't for real. Jeff very definitely WAS for real. Even though he might have had some misgivings about the situation and Val's presence there, he threw his clothes into a chair and returned to the side of the bed.

She pushed one of the pillows aside and moved lower in the bed so she could lie down. Then her two arms went out to him and she opened her mouth slightly and made her moist lips invitingly limp. Jeff leaned into her, one knee on the bed, a hand at each side of her. Her arms wrapped around his neck and she brought his mouth to hers. Her tongue brushed his lips and then slithered into his mouth, letting him taste the honey that dripped from it. No kiss he had ever known was quite like this one; anesthetizing his body; swirling his brain in a sea of sweetness.

She drew back just enough to look up at Val and whisper, "Be a good bunny and bring me another drink."

Val looked at the two of them as he arose from the bed.

"What the hell I won't do for a pal," he muttered as he reached her glass from the night stand and started for the living room.

"Take your time, Val," she called after him. "I'm in no hurry for it."

The moment he was gone, she fastened her lips to Jeff's and began to twist and turn until his knee was clamped tightly between her soft thighs.

He lifted his right hand off the bed and placed it on her breast, his palm rubbing lightly over her rising nipple; causing her tongue to move faster inside his mouth. Over her satiny stomach his hand moved downward through her silky blondness to the hot, downy moistness of her womanhood that told him how ready she was.

It was no distance at all from there to the snaps on his pajamas. It took even less time for him to get them open. His manhood sprang out. It was bigger and harder and more sensitive than it had ever been before. He placed it against the warm, soft flesh at the inside of her thigh. It was a delightful thrill for her as much as for himself, because he felt her tingle and heard her hum her delight at his exciting size.

She moved more to the center of the bed, closed her eyes and put her hands back behind her head, as he positioned his knees between her parted thighs. She looked so soft and demure and child-like lying there that he couldn't resist the temptation of kissing the inflamed tips of her milky breasts and then her mouth.

Again with his hands at each side of her on the bed, he slowly lowered himself to her. His joy brushed lightly over the velvety entrance to the valley of a thousand enchantments. Then slowly, gently he entered. The heated thrill that greeted his first entrance raced back from the tip of his manhood through his body to his brain and he froze there for a long moment as if the sensations ahead were more than he could endure.

It wasn't until he felt her lift herself off the bed to help him that he continued his exploration; gliding as easily and unhurriedly as a newly christened ship sliding down its greased ways. Deeper and deeper, he pressed into the moist heat of her body; the spongy wall vibrating as they molded themselves to his size; expanding and contracting as he began to move against her. No valley through which he had ever ventured was so deep, so wet, so stimulating, so responsive.

Val and all the things that had led up to this most wonderful moment of sheer ecstasy were forgotten. Right now as they began to find a rhythm, there was no one else in the world but the two of them.

"On our sides, darling," she whispered as she kissed and nibbled the lobe of his left ear. "Turn over on our sides. It's more restful and takes longer, darling. You'll enjoy it."

Anything that would prolong this ecstasy, he was willing to try. Without breaking contact, they rolled over until they were lying on their sides facing each other; their bodies pressed close against each other for their full length. Then Janice raised her upper leg, bent it sharply at the hip and placed it over Jeff's hip. She pressed hard against him while his free hand went to her buttocks to keep them riveted together. Actually penetration wasn't so deep in this position but the close intimate contact of their bodies made it even more delightful. She began kissing him again; moist, soft-lipped, sensual kisses, her long ivory talons scraping his back as they again found the rhythm and he took his hand from her buttocks to fondle her breasts.

And then an incredible thing happened. Jeff heard Janice wince as her body suddenly stiffened against him. Then she began to whimper with a newly incited passion and she kissed him with an even more desperate fury than before.

It wasn't until Jeff heard the labored breathing of a third party and felt a muscled arm pressing against his belly as he moved close to her that he realized what was happening. Val had slipped into bed with them and entered her from behind.

Jeff's first reaction was violent disgust; to withdraw; get up out of bed and leave them alone. He even thought for a moment of dragging Val out of bed and beating him senseless. But what right had he to do that? He still had no idea of their relationship with each other; how deeply their feeling for each other ran. In fact, HE was actually the intruder. Not Val. Val didn't even have to invite him here, or leave the room so that he might make love to her alone for a few moments. Besides, now that the initial shock that Val's entrance had caused her, was over, she seemed not to mind at all that she was part of a sex sandwich ... an affair a trois!

Any fleeting idea that Jeff might have entertained about withdrawing from this bizarre act of troilism vanished when she tightened her leg around him and held him securely in her arms and he was aware of the first tell-tale tingling of what was starting to happen to both of them.

"Oh, Jeffrey, ... Jeffrey...." she sang out close to his ear. "Don't hold back ... don't ... oh ... oh ... oh...!"

Her "oh" built to a crescendo that ended in a scream of ecstasy as he exploded inside her and his discharge of passion flooded every accessible crevice in her body. He felt the pulsations of the shattering climax he had caused her almost simultaneously with his own release. For himself there was glorious relief. But for Janice there was yet more to come. Her wait, however, was a brief one. Val grabbed her breasts from behind and with ever increasing frenzy he banged against her and she moved with him as she had done with Jeff ... until all at once his body stiffened ... he groaned pleasureably ... and then with a gradual deflation he relaxed against her and poured his masculine strength into her ... and the three of them lay there for a long time in one embrace....

Had it happened with any other girl in the world, this sex circus would have disgusted Jeff. Made him so that he never would have wanted to even see her again. But this didn't happen with Janice. Because as bizarre and far-out as it may have been, the truth was-he was still in love with her. No matter what she was, no matter how many similar sessions she'd been a part of, and incredible as it may be, he still loved her. Loved her as much as any man could love a woman.

When she learned how he felt, she promised there would be no more troilism. That she'd never again expose him to such an experience. That as discreetly as possible, she'd try to discourage Val and not go out with him again. He told her he didn't want to hear about it, but she insisted that he had a right to know how it all began.

"Val and another boy named Gregory, and I-we grew up together, in the country. Val laughed when I said we grew up like brothers and sister-but we did-until I was thirteen and they were both fourteen. Then one day they went off without me. I went looking for them and found them in the tall weeds down by the river. They were sitting there, playing with each other.

"I was so ashamed and embarrassed that I just wanted to get away from there as fast as I could. But I wasn't fast enough. They saw me and came after me and caught me. They were afraid I was going to tell what I saw them doing. I promised I wouldn't. They said they wanted to make sure. So they got me on the ground. Gregory held my hands, Val sat on my legs and took down my panties. They both started poking at me with their fingers.

"I was scared at first and started to cry. But then I started to like what they were doing to me; the way they were making me feel. It was the first time I ever came to a climax. I guess it just sort of became a habit after that ... and of course, the three of us got more and more curious. It wasn't long before they were taking turns with me. But even that didn't seem to satisfy. So they'd keep thinking up new ways to try to stimulate me. One right after another and then both at once-like the other night."

"Then one day Gregory's family sold their farm and moved away. That left Val and me alone. But not for long because he went away to college and then to Korea with the Army. I wrote to him same as I wrote to other boys in the Army. But I didn't see him again until a few days ago when I came to Hollywood. He told me about you-what pals you were-and said he wanted me to meet you. I don't know whether he had it all figured for you to take Gregory's place in the trio, or whether he was afraid I was going to be a dead weight around his neck, and wanted you to take me off his hands."

Jeff managed to grin in spite of the sordidness of the story she'd told him and said, "That'll be my pleasure."

After that, when Jeff saw Janice they were strictly alone. It wasn't just a hands-holding romance. They went all the way. Sometimes at his apartment. Once in a while at her place. Jeff wanted to make the whole thing legal and lead her to the altar. But she kept putting him off.

"Let's make sure first, she said. "It's such fun like this-let's not spoil it."

He went along with the arrangement, even though he wasn't entirely happy with it. Strangely, Val didn't seem to mind what was happening. He didn't try to crash the twosome, or interfere in any way. In fact, Jeff began to wonder if maybe Janice wasn't right-that he did want to unload her on Jeff, which suited Jeff just fine. Val was proving himself a true friend.

Until one night after his final performance, Jeff Harlow returned to his dressing room to find two men sitting there, waiting for him. Before them on the dressing table was a briefcase; had his initials on it. But it's contents, Jeff Harlow had never seen before. They said it was uncut heroin-worth almost one hundred thousand dollars! They told him they'd found another hundred thousand dollar's worth taped behind a mirror in his bedroom.

For a long time Jeff hadn't been able to figure out how Val could maintain an expensive apartment like he did; wear a new suit almost every night; en-tertain as lavishly as he did and bet heavily on everything from craps to the horses. Jeff certainly hadn't been able to do it.

It wasn't until Jeff went to prison and proved himself a right guy with his fellow inmates that the true story began to seep in through the bars of his cell. The details weren't very pretty.

For a long time, Val Salem had been mixed up in the dope racket. The authorities got a leak that the NIGHT HAWK had been an outlet for the stuff; that one of the two guys operating the place was mixed up in the racket. Which one, they weren't sure so they kept a close lookout on the club.

Learning that the authorities were closing in on him, Val planted the heroin where it would point to Jeff, then he blew the whistle, loud and clear. Val figured that sacrificing a couple of hundred thousand dollars worth of heroin would be cheap compared with the prison term he'd have to serve if he were caught. So he dumped the whole business in Jeff's lap and Jeff was whisked off to the penitentiary.

Shortly after he was behind bars, Jeff also learned that with some fast shuffling, Val had sold the NIGHT HAWK and washed Jeff out of the picture. But what hurt most of all was when Jeff found out that Janice had waited only until he had been convicted, to march down the aisle with Val Salem. Then the newlyweds bundled. up the money that came from the sale of the night club together with Val's earnings from his sale of narcotics and hightailed it to New York, where the bird of good fortune really tucked them under its lucrative wing....

One of the waitresses dumped a trayful of dirty dishes into the sink and the visions in the vapor suddenly vanished ... and Jeff was back to the present. A few minutes later, Freda came up with another trayful of dishes and slid them into the soapy water.

"How're you doin', lover?" she whispered.

He wiped the perspiration from his face with one end of the big white apron he was wearing. "I haven't had so much fun since they bundled me off to prison."

She glanced around to make sure no one could hear what she had to say. "Looks like this is your day to spend in the water, doesn't it?"

He didn't need a diagram to remind him of their session earlier in the day in the bathtub.

"You've only got a couple more hours to go," she whispered with a meaningful rub of her thigh against his. "Then it's home to bed. MY bed. Just rap three times on the door and I'll let you in."