Chapter 13
Jay Berry followed Claire when she took her morning walk into the bushes. He wanted to know why she was ignoring him, and he also wanted more of her. He had built a place for her in his mind, and he was suffering some delusions about love in general and her in particular. He had to catch her alone and have it out with her. He lagged far behind her in order to watch her sexy walk.
His wife, Helene, saw him leave on his chase of the girl, and her lips twisted into a humorous condoning smile, but she didn't feel humorous and condoning when she started to think about it. She honestly analyzed her feelings and realized that she was suffering from a worm of jealousy. Her humor turned inward, and she laughed at herself for being jealous of any man.
In any case, she was ready again for more sex and Troy was not available to her. Jay was out, and Bart Coldridge was injured. That left only Jefferson Burns, and Helene admitted to herself that a girl would have to be pretty hard up to settle for him. It was rather difficult to imagine him as a suitable sex partner. Little about him was masculine enough to be attractive sexually, and maybe that was what attracted her to him.
She was attracted to him. Maybe the attraction related to the likeness he bore to her father....
Jefferson Burns was jealously watching his wife, Marilyn, tending to the needs of Bart Coldridge, and he read more into that nursing than simple Good Samaritanism. Helene joined him and snickered as she saw the woman's fat, gentle hands reach under the blanket covering Bart for on extracurricular caress.
Burns looked at her angrily. "It's not that funny, young lady. You think I don't know what's going on over there? My wife has lost her mind. I think she's a bit unbalanced and is going through the change."
"Nuts! She's just found a young lover. Why don't you pay her back? Why don't you take someone into the bushes and get even?"
"Who do you have in mind? Yourself?"
Helene was casual about it, but her heart was already anticipating the delicious play of her father. "Why not? I'll help you out that much."
Her ready acceptance frightened him, and it took a lot more persuasion and patience before she led him out of sight of the rest. She pulled him down to a sun-warmed rock and waited for him to start teasing her into delighted orgasm. But it just didn't happen that way at all.
He huffed around her for a few minutes until he was sure that she wasn't playing with him, and then his bluff and bluster let him drop his pants and spread her legs. She made mental excuses for his filthy shorts, and she still believed that he would bend to her now and get down on his knees to begin worshipping at her shrine. She opened wide for the expected lip caresses.
He got down on his knees, and then she was shocked to see him fish a puny little penis from his shorts and jab at her with it. He must have jabbed some twenty futile times before he found her opening. He was grunting over her shoulder, and she closed her nose over his bad breath. He sweated in his hurry to get it over with, and the stench of his unwashed skin was an obscenity in her nostrils.
He squealed like a piglet seeking a tit and it was all over. He stood up and puffed out his chest as though he had just killed his dragon for the day. Helene wanted to vomit with the ugly thought that she was carrying his spewings in her body. He was tugging his pants back on when she ran blindly into the brush while tears of savage disappointment streamed down her cheeks.
She stumbled over a heap of something and tumbled headlong to the ground. She heard someone swear, and she opened her eyes to see that she had tripped over Jay and Claire. She couldn't have chosen a worse time to interrupt them, she saw. Claire's mouth was still open to savor that last gasp of air before orgasm, and Jay shook his head in amazement as his body kept up an involuntary pumping. The couple were still joined, although Claire was trying to free herself.
Helene moved to them and pressed a hand on Jay's bare buttock to hold him where he was. She flipped her tears away with the back of one hand and forced a smile.
"Go ahead, kids. I just dropped by to visit, and I didn't mean to spoil anything. Keep pumping, Jay, I think you've got her on the edge. You don't mind if I kibitz, do you?"
Jay's erection faded fast, and Claire was jerking in frustration. He fell away from her, and they both tried in vain to cover themselves. Helene kept a hand on each of them.
"Believe me, Jay, it was an accident. I truly didn't know you were here. I'm sorry, Claire. I didn't mean to ruin your fun. I'd leave you two right now, but I don't think you'd go back together again. I'd hate that worse than anything. I've already spoiled enough for one day. You have lovely legs, Claire. Go ahead, Jay. Love her some more, please?"
They looked at her as if she had suddenly lost her marbles. She shut her mouth and sobbed silently.
Claire reached out an arm and tried to console her. "Look, Helene, I'm sorry if this thing between Jay and I upset you. I promise you that it will never happen again. I didn't think you cared that much about him."
Helene found her voice again. "It isn't that. It isn't that at all! It really was an accident that I fell over you. I finally screwed my father, and he lied to me. All these years and he lied to me. He wasn't any good at all, Jay. He was the worst piece I've ever had!"
"Shut up, Helene. What in the hell are you talking about? You told me that your old man had been dead for years."
Helene was near collapse when Claire and Jay got the whole garbled story from her. It took them an hour to calm her down, and Claire dressed with dejected futility. Jay pulled on his trousers and questioned her.
"It was an accident, Claire. Her busting in on us. It wasn't her fault. We'll take her back to camp and then...."
"It's no good, Jay. She loves you. It's that thing with her father that's been bothering her all these years. Take it easy with her, Jay. She needs all your help and understanding right now. You don't need me, and I've discovered that I don't need you. Be good to her, darling."
Claire left them together, husband and wife. Erring husband and equally erring wife. There was no need for mutual confession or apology. The excuses were evident, and Helene clung to Jay's shirt sleeve as though she were trying to keep him from going away. He patted her hand, and they sat for a long time like two bewildered children. Helene finally got up and took Jay's portable water jug with her. She didn't go far and he could hear her scrubbing herself thoroughly.
When she came back, there was a sheepish look on her face. "I used a lot of your water, Jay. I had to wash that bastard off me. I guess I owe you the debt of finding you a steady piece of tail to replace Claire."
Jay laughed. "You'd do that for me? Obligation for ruining this afternoon, or are you worried about my sex life? Don't bother, honey. I'm still capable of turning up my own ass."
"I've made a mess of things, haven't I Jay? I think I've grown up a little today. What did you get out of my raving hallucinations?"
"A lot I didn't know about you before. I thought your trouble was nymphomania. You might have told me you like lewd sex, you know. I just happen to have found a taste for it myself. Want to go back to camp now?"
"Maybe not. How about a quick piece, Jay? I'm all mixed up about everything else, and I'd like to know if it's still the same."
"Not right now, Helene. I'd still be seeing that fat bastard's hands on you, and you'd still be seeing me and Claire. If we get out of this mess, I'd like to try out another honeymoon with you. Anywhere but Las Vegas."
They walked hand in hand back to camp, and Jay noticed that Jefferson Burns could not raise his head to meet his eyes. The fat man looked as if he had aged ten years since morning. His bluster had gone, and there was a furtive air about him now-an air of rejection.
Helene pressed Jay's arm. "I pity him, Jay. I really feel sorry for him."