Chapter 12

The Awakening of Evon

A door slammed in the apartment next door, jarring Tony awake. He stretched, raised on an elbow in bed and looked at his new wrist watch, It was one thirty in the afternoon. It had been almost daylight when he got back to his apartment that morning after his fruitless search for Evon. He wondered if she had ever returned to her apartment.

He felt like a heel. He'd never taken a woman by force before. But, dammit, she'd asked for it with her snootiness. His masculine ego had been bolstered, but he feared her hatred may have hardened for him and he didn't want that.

Tony raised and pivoted out of bed. He reached down, picked up his swim trunks and pulled them on. Dobber was gone. When Tony had come in that morning, Dobber had told him that he was going to be working the beaches with a pusher, earning his own heroin. He seemed elated that he no longer had to rely on Tony's money.

Tony smoothed fingers through his thick, dark hair. He walked over to the door of the adjoining apartment, tapped lightly, then opened it a crack.

"Race? Margo?"

"Come in, kid," Race said. He was sitting in an easy chair in his undershirt, his feet propped up on a coffee table. He was scanning a racing sheet.

Tony walked in and closed the door. He looked about check-rein on his temper. He shrugged. "Oh, sit down, kid. I'll give you the lowdown. But keep your mouth shut, see. You tell that hophead friend of yours and every junky in town will know about it before dark. You can never trust a hophead in a pinch, remember the apartment for Margo.

Race watched him closely. "Margo's got a trick going with a couple of guys from Harvard. They're loaded." Race's dark eyes turned back to the racing sheet. "Want to pick up a little easy cash on a dog race, kid? I got a sure tip on the third race. It's fixed."

Tony shook his head. He sat down on the couch and shuffled his feet nervously. He knew he was going to have to be blunt with Race to find out what was going on.

"Laid the little brunette coed yet?" Race asked, grinning.

"Yeah, last night," Tony said, feeling a surge of masculine pride. "Still, I don't think she-likes me very much."

Race laughed. "What'd you do, rape the little bitch."

"Well, sort of, I guess."

Race's laughter deepened. "Hell, you're learning, kid. First think you know, she'll be back begging you for another throw."

Tony's jaw set firmly. "Race, Dobber and me want to know what's going on. What kind of a job we're going to be pulling, I mean. We want to know, or we're pulling out."

Race's smile vanished. Irritated, he crumpled the racing sheet and tossed it to the floor. "Goddammit, kid. Get off my back, will you? I told you there's only one brain man to a caper and I'm it. I'll tell you what to do when the time comes. I already gave you an assignment play lovey-dovey with the little coed and have her get friendly with the guy I showed you. When that's done, I'll tell you the rest."

Tony shook his head, determined. "That's not good enough." He rose. "Then we're pulling out tomorrow."

"Oh, horse manure!" Race shouted. Then he got a that."

Tony sat down. "What kind of job is it?" he asked coolly, feeling he had faced down the older man.

"The guy I showed you, remember the redhead? He's one of the biggest gamblers in the state. He never sits in a game with a pot less than 50 Gs."

Race drained his beer and grimaced. "Lousy beer," he said irritably. "They don't make beer worth a damn in this country any more. Germany that's the place to get quality beer. And those German broads aren't bad, either. When I was over there in the Army in '51, those big-boned, broad-assed German whores would climb on you and beat you to a frazzle. Perpetual motion motors that's what they had."

"You planning on getting into a game with the cowboy and slipping in a crooked deck?" Tony asked, bringing Race back to the subject.

"Hell no, kid. These guys who play for the big cabbage are real pros. They'd spot anything crooked a mile away." Race scowled. "See what I mean, kid? If I let you figure out a caper we'd be six feet under before dark."

"What's your gimmick, then?"

"We hijack the game, kid. Hell, that's the only way." He laughed. "What can the bastards do? That kind of high-stakes gambling is illegal in this state. They can't complain to the cops. And by the time they get their hoods after us, we'll be in California."

"What's the delay, then? Why don't we pull the job and get it over with?"

Race smirked. "Kid, you're as green as a seasick Marine. You just don't get into one of those high-stakes games that easily. These guys have got to know you. I've talked to Yorty a couple of times, but I don't think the bastard trusts me. A couple of guys and myself hi-jacked a big game in Chicago a few years back and I think he may suspect I was in on it."

"But how about Evon? You think she can get us into the game?"

"I was talking to a bookie the other day who knew

Yorty in Dallas. He-likes his women young and tender and especially has a weakness for coeds. Why, I don't know. Those brainy bitches don't know beans about satisfying a guy. They can talk a good trick, but when it comes to cutting the mustard, I'll take a dumb little blonde bitch who's got her learning beaten into her, flat on her back." He laughed. "Naw, kid, your broad doesn't even have to get us into the game. All she's gotta do is find out when and where the game is and old Race'll take care of the rest."

Tony started to tell him about Evon and being a lesby, then changed his mind. "It may take a lot of persuading to get her to agree."

"You can do it, kid," Race said confidently. "You've got a way with the broads, Just like me. I remember this little redhead whore I used to have I had a five hundred dollar trick lined up for her with a couple of Negro truckdrivers. She wouldn't do it and I was going to kick her out. The bitch cut her wrists in the bathroom. God, what a mess! Did you ever see a bathtub a quarter full of blood?" Race stretched. "What time is it, kid?"

Tony looked at his watch. "Quarter till two."

Race jumped up. "Damn! They must be at the gate now. I'd better rustle my ass if I'm going to place that bet." He picked up the phone and dialed.

Tony rose and walked back into his own apartment. He sat down in a chair and rubbed his chin reflectively. So it was to be a hijacking. He wasn't sure he wanted to go along with it. But hadn't he already been in on another hijacking the two college kids? The cops hadn't caught them for that, had they? And those wealthy gamblers could afford to drop fifty thousand. They'd hardly feel it.

Tony rose. The first step was Evon to get her to cooperate. He shook his head. He didn't think it could be done. Now if it were Frankie he believed he could persuade the surf girl without much trouble. But the cowboy apparently had eyes for Evon's dark beauty.

The whole scheme didn't make too much sense to

Tony. But he would play it Race's way. After all, he didn't have a better plan.

Tony walked over to the bureau, took some money out of his billfold and tucked it into the small pocket of his swim trunks. He left the apartment and walked down to the beach. He turned in the direction of Frankie's motel.

The day was balmy with a strong breeze from the ocean. Unusually high breakers roared into shore, sloshing far up on the white sands.

Tony left the beach and strode up the shell walkway to the motel. He turned a corner and was approaching the girls' apartment when a door opened and Frankie ran out. She was in her bikini. She saw Tony and smiled.

"Hi! You're up awfully early." She winked. "You had quite a night, ti-gerrrr."

"Did Evon ever come back?"

"Oh yes she returned about sunup. She'd been walking on the beach. God, you made her mad! She would have killed you if she'd had a gun last night."

"Yeah, I know. But I was worried that she might run into the maniac you told me about the one who butchered that beach bunny a while back."

Frankie shook her head. "No, she's Okay" Frankie's eyes glinted mirthfully. "Why don't you go in and say hello?"

Tony looked at her doubtfully. "Think it's safe?"

Frankie laughed. "Sure. She's cooled off. I don't think she'll claw you now. In fact she was asking me some questions about you this morning. It's the first time I've ever known Evon to show any interest at all in any guy."

Frankie moved away. "Sorry I can't stay, Tony," she called over her shoulder as she ran down the path. "I've got a sailing date."

Tony waved to her as she ran, vibrating front and back, down toward the beach.

Tony hesitated by the door to the apartment, wondering if Frankie were playing a joke on him. He remembered how she had laughed last night when he had made forcible love to Evon.

Frankie had left the door slightly ajar. Tony tapped on it, then pushed it open. Evon was sitting on a couch doing her nails. She wore denim shorts and a white halter. Her gleaming, metallic black hair was brushed back and cascaded past her shoulders.

Evon looked up from her nails. Her dark eyes still held a trace of anger, but Tony thought he also detected a spark of interest. "If you're looking for Frankie, she's not here." It seemed to Tony that her voice had lost some of its coldness.

"I know I saw her outside. She said she was going sailing."

"Didn't she invite you along?"

Tony grinned. "I guess she had a date."

Evon looked at him saying with her eyes, "Well, what do you want here?"

Tony eased himself down into a chair. "I I was wondering if you wanted to go to the beach."

She tossed her head back and laughed. Tony wasn't expecting that. He looked at her, surprised.

"Frankie said you had a lot of gall."

"Gall?"

"What would you call it? You rape a girl, then come back the next day and ask her for a date."

"Is that so bad?"

Evon shrugged. Her eyes swept up his legs to his thighs. "I really got you, didn't I?" Tony caught a twinkle of amusement in her dark eyes.

He rubbed a hand over a scratched thigh and smiled. "You're a little tigress." He looked into her dark eyes, trying to read her thoughts. "I searched for you after you can out last night. But I couldn't find you."

She looked down at her nails. "I'm glad you didn't. I would have killed you if I could have found a way."

"You don't feel that way now?"

She shook her head, still looking at her hands. "No-" She glanced up, eyes snapping with sudden feeling. "You made me ... feel things I'd never felt before

emotionally, I mean. I'm a sociology major in college, but I've had several hours of psychology. My new feelings interest me scientifically. You understand?"

Tony nodded that he did. But he had no idea what she was talking about. He knew only that she was one of the most attractive women he had ever seen. He remembered last night and he wanted her all over again but not by force.

Evon put the nail brush into the bottle, screwed the cap tightly and set the bottle on the table. She rose and looked down at Tony. Evon's smoky dark eyes had the same look Tony had seen last night when she had looked at Frankie's naked body.

Evon turned and walked slowly to the partially opened door. Her long, slender legs rippled beautifully.

She closed the door and slid the bolt lock closed. She turned and leaned back against the door, looking at him. "When a scientist runs up against something he doesn't understand, he conducts some more tests experiments and experiments again. I've felt something strange, Tony. I don't know whether I like it or not ... but I want to know more about it." She ran a tongue over luscious lips, lightly lip stick painted. "And I want you to teach me ... everything."

She lifted her eyes and walked past him toward the bedroom, chin high, head tilted and body rippling like a fashion model crossing a stage. As she entered the bedroom door she reached back and unhooked her halter.

Tony sat for a moment flabbergasted. He hadn't expected this. He had been prepared to have a door slammed in his face now she was asking him to make love to her.

But only for a moment did Tony hesitate. Then he was following her into the bedroom, his pulse rate quickening with each stride. He stepped across her halter on the floor.

Evon was stepping out of her shorts by the bed, raising one of her long, slender legs and bending over until her knee touched a downspilling breast as she peeled the garment down. She wore nothing under the tight shorts, and her golden body glistened like a lacquered statue. Her ruby pendant hung between her breasts like a drop of rich blood.

Evon sank down onto the bed, rolled over on her back and reached up for him ... Her mysterious dark eyes were half closed, moist luscious lips parted, showing very white teeth. "Tony," she whispered, "teach me to love. Teach me to satisfy you. Make me feel good like you did last night."

Tony dropped his swim trunks and kicked them across the floor. Then her golden body was under him, entwining him, closing on him like an exotically beautiful jungle flower entrapping a bee.

He taught her the intricacies of sexual love, running through the gamut of positions. She was a good student, approaching the lesson as if it were a lab period in her biology class. Coolly, scientifically, she asked him intimate personal questions about the female role in love-making. And she followed his directions to the letter, occasionally experimenting with an impish variation of her own. Her golden hips at first reluctant, uncertain soon found his rhythm, matched it sometimes even stepping it up, surpassing it. As her passions reached the pinnacle, she began to swear, her voice rising almost to a shout, "Damn ... Damn! ... DAMN!" Her long nails sliced his back like sharp knives, his blood staining them a deeper red.

Tony rolled to one side and sighed deeply. Despite her inexperience, their bodies seemed perfectly attuned. She lay for a moment, breathing heavily. Then she stretched her arms languidly, her breasts uptilting.

Tony walked forward and opened his arms. Evon came into them. And for Tony it was like a cloud of joy enveloping him, making him a prisoner forever, a prisoner of love.

They made love a long time and rested a long time. But finally they disengaged their bodies and Evon rose from Tony's side. She went to a bed table drawer and fumbled within it until she found the package of cigarettes that she wanted. She held them out to Tony. "Reefer?" she asked.

He hesitated, finding it hard to turn down anything Evon offered. But he shook his head and said, "I think I'd like a drink."

Tony slid out of bed and walked into the living room. He poured himself a drink and carried it back into the bedroom. Evon was curled up in a white modernistic chair by the bed, head tilted back as she smoked the reefer savoringly. The white chair was like a pale frame about her golden nudity. One of her legs was curled back in the chair under her opposite thigh. The other leg was thrust forward.

Her torso was twisted slightly and the trim little muscles of her flat stomach stood out taut, the curve of her hips melting down into spitting brunette luster.

Tony lay back on the bed. He sipped his drink and watched her. "Did you have fun?" he asked.

She took a deep drag on the cigarette and its tip glowed like a fiery red eye. She expelled the smoke in twin streams from her nostrils. She smiled dreamily. "I had a ball."

Tony felt a surge of pride as if a general had decorated him.

She gave him a long searching look. "You know, I think Frankie probably has the best psychological sexual makeup," she said as if mulling an interesting scientific problem. "She can enjoy both men and women." Evon smiled. "If all guys were like you, I think I might become normal sexually, and just stick to men."

Tony felt a sharp pang of jealousy. Men, hell! He wanted her all to himself.

"You're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen, Evon. You could have any man you wanted."

She smiled, pleased at the compliment. "Do you like my body?" She snubbed out her cigarette. Slowly, she rose and did a slow pirouette like a fashion model showing off a Christian Dior original.

Tony grinned, eyes moving slowly up the length of golden-fleshed curves. "Lovely ... lovely."

Evon thrust out her breasts, put her hands on her hips and bounced them like a stripper. Her ruby pendant swung from one golden breast to the other. She was an impish little exhibitionist. Tony remembered the first time he had seen her on the rock in the lagoon.

"How do you manage to get tanned all over?" he asked, knowing the answer.

Her smile deepened. "You have to find an isolated stretch of beach and take a pistol with you in case a pack of wolves happen by."

Tony raised an eyebrow. "A pistol?"

"Yes, and you're damned lucky I didn't have it with me that night when you barged up on me in the lagoon. I thought you were the fiend who killed that girl on the beach."

She sat down in the chair again and crossed her legs. An ash from her cigarette fluttered to her stomach. She brushed it away quickly. Tony noticed she had a small, pinkish birthmark shaped like a butterfly with its wings spread on her upper inner thigh.

"Ever been to a nudist resort?" she asked, smiling.

"No," Tony said," but it sounds like fun."

"I go to one in South Florida." She ran her hands down her breasts to her hips. "That's how I usually get my complete tans."

A question rose in Tony's mind, but he hesitated. She might get put out at him for asking it. But he liked her and wanted to know all about her. And he felt somehow however corny the idea seemed that he had given her life a new rebirth, a turn toward the better.

"Evon," he asked, "what made you start with, you know ... with other girls?" He felt his face redden in embarrassment.

Evon lighted another cigarette, took a deep drag on it and looked at the ceiling. She seemed to be mulling the question objectively, as if a professor had posed it in a classroom.

Evon's eyes met his. "I was raped when I was nine. He was my uncle, the bastard. He got drunk one day when he was supposed to be watching out for me. He threw me down on a green velvet couch and raped me." Her eyes retreated into the past. "The couch was covered with blood when he finished. To this day I get sick and almost throw up at the sight of green velvet." She took a deep pull at the cigarette and expelled the smoke in a long sigh. "After that I screamed whenever a man touched me, even my father. I swore I'd never have anything to do with sex. But like any other healthy girl, I had passions, too. But I channeled mine in other directions..."

"When did you first "

"My first lesbian experience? That was with an English teacher at a private girl's school. She saw that I had no boyfriends and seemed to sense my passions. She was strong in will, almost like a man. Yet, her hands were so gentle. And she did things -- things I learned to crave." Evon reached up and touched the ruby pendant. "She gave me this to remember her by when I graduated. She made me promise to come back and visit her every opportunity I got, but I didn't. I found other women with the same passions as mine."

Tony rose and stepped behind her. He reached down to her neck, fingers fumbling. In a moment, the golden chain parted and he stripped the ruby pendant from her neck. He tossed it down on a dressing table. She looked up at him and unspoken thoughts passed between their eyes.

Tony sat down on the bed.

She finished her cigarette in silence, eyes introspective. Tony sipped his drink and watched her. He could never grow tired of reveling in her golden beauty.

She suddenly tossed her head back and laughed as though remembering a long-forgotten joke. She snubbed out her cigarette and rose quickly.

She turned to him. "Come on, lover boy. I've got a boat for the afternoon. Let's go have a few kicks."