It was noon, a warm Saturday in August; Phillip Gates sat at the desk in the den of his suburban split-level home with several law books opened before him, while he watched subconsciously through the window the provocative full contours of shapely Beth Tierney, their next-door neighbor, who, clad in the briefest of white bikinis, was pretending at puttering with her flower beds. He noted further that the wisps of cloth straining to cover her generous endowments were wet, offering an almost diaphanous quality that caused him to swallow tightly. She had evidently just climbed out of their pool and it occurred to him suddenly that her damned near naked presence right in front of his window might not be coincidental. She was aware that he studied there on Saturday afternoons; besides, she had mentioned something to that effect when she and Jack, her husband, were over last night.
All the same, she offered no sign of awareness to his being there, but kept her head down as if she were taken up with her task, while Phillip watched her full rounded buttocks move smoothly beneath the skintight, partially covering briefs, the rich cleft separating her buttocks obvious to him as she squatted teasingly, her back to him, then worked herself around on her haunches until he was gaping along her smooth white thighs to the vee of her crotch where the material inlaid snugly, suggestively, outlining the soft creased mound of her vaginal lips.
At first, when she appeared, he'd watched her rather idly, subliminally, he supposed, his mind too occupied with his studies, plus the Party Convention in the Capital come Monday, then, all of a sudden he'd sensed a stirring inside his shorts and realized that his neighbor was stimulating his erotic appetite. The genital reflex startled him first off; he'd never paid that much attention to their sensually attractive neighbor… no more than the standard niceties and raillery one expounds upon a friend, and certainly he'd seen her hustling around often enough in those skimpy, tantalizing outfits she chose to wear, and he'd spent enough time in her company to get a charge from her before this, it seemed… Then, a few of her not so casual pointed remarks, fetching smiles and enticing body contacts briefly filtered through his mind and he traced his tongue over his dry lips… Cripes, had he been so engrossed with his work, studies and politics that he was oblivious to the more earthy things going on right under his nose? Hell… he grinned bitterly to himself, face it, man. That gnawing in your belly is nothing more than a holdover from last night's botch with Laurie.
He swallowed distastefully at that recollection, just as he heard his lovely young wife descending the short flight of stairs from where she had been packing and preparing for their three-day stay at the coming convention, with all of the fuss one might expect necessary for a six-month cruise. She appeared in the doorway to his right and smiled beautifully.
"Like some coffee, darling?" she said, hands on hips, elbows back, causing her full, erect breasts to strain against the thin, green material of the scanty halter endeavoring to contain them.
"No, thanks," he replied, his vision leveling on the smooth white flesh of her naked midriff and the lush swelling contour of her rounded hips in the matching, tight green shorts she wore. Damn, he was engulfed by tantalizing female flesh… Look, but don't touch, he thought drily. "I'll settle for a bourbon-soda though." He forced a little smile. "If you don't mind…"
Laurie Gates returned his smile with a warm, green-eyed-like expression of her own, meant to disarm him. She knew what he was implying… last night still very vivid in her own memory.
"Sure… Why should I mind, Honey?"
She went off leaving him to catch another glance at Beth Tierney who was bent forward toward him, her lush white breasts, all but their tips, completely exposed to him, and momentarily, he swore that would happen in a burst of glory if she leaned over one more fraction of an inch. Then Laurie entered carrying an ice-tinkling, partially filled glass and his eyes locked on her once more.
She was wearing her shoulder-length, strawberry-blonde hair in thick braids wound cleverly up on top of her head. She looked like a child, her hair that way and with no sticky makeup to mar her natural cream-like complexion… those wide sea-green eyes, straight little nose and full, perpetually pouting lower lip… even younger than her nineteen years, he thought, remembering back a year when he'd met her and she was "Home Coming Queen". She set the drink on his desk then crossed the room to the little table where he had tossed the daily mail. He watched the rolling sway of her generous, spherical buttocks and the long, tapering ivory columns of her perfectly formed legs as she moved gracefully away from him.
Christ, he thought, I have no right… absolutely no right…!
"Sooo… that's what you've been watching instead of studying, eh?" she said, a teasing lilt to her voice; and he saw her looking beyond him through the window at their neighbor who had bent down to retrieve something, the lusty, almost completely naked moons of her full, rounded buttocks staring directly at them. She dropped the mail and moved up beside his chair to watch. "My God, Beth might as well be naked… she certainly isn't leaving much to the imagination," she remarked, gasping at the tall raven-haired girl as she continued to bend and squat unconcernedly, puttering with her flowers.
Phillip sensed his face reddening. "Don't be ridiculous," he snapped, shuffling about in his chair. "I've got more important things on my mind…"
"Oh Honey, come on," Laurie laughed cutely. "Don't tell me you haven't been ogling Beth's charms…?"
He cut her short. "Look, Beth Tierney could be running around out there bare-assed for all the difference it would make to me," he lied, moving books and papers around on his desk nervously. "Right now, I can hardly study. All I can think of is the Party nomination for Governor coming up and how to keep Mark Coleman from getting it."
Laurie placed the full, firm cheeks of her round buttocks on the edge of his desk and studied him. "What does Uncle Julian say?" she asked softly.
"He hasn't committed himself," Phillip answered, tasting his drink. "But I can't imagine him endorsing Coleman… knowing that he's completely dominated by that scheming wife of his…"
"You don't think that Mark Coleman would make a good Governor?" she questioned, watching his disturbed, almost ruthless dark eyes.
"Byron Acker would make a better one."
"He's the City Councilman, isn't he?"
"Yes, and an honest, sincere man…"
"I've seen Mrs. Coleman several times," Laurie said. "She's very beautiful. Have you ever seen her, Darling?"
Phillip felt the blood rushing to his face again. He avoided her eyes and grunted something unintelligible as he began to fidget with his books once more. "I have to get back to studying if I'm ever going to be ready for my Bar Exams," he said, flipping pages, as though he were concentrating.
Laurie moved from his desk to stand beside him. She draped her arm around his neck, her hand resting on his shoulder. "You're trying to do too much, Darling," she said softly. "Going to school nights… working in the District Attorney's office through the day, plus getting yourself all wrapped up in Uncle Julian's politics…"
"Your Uncle Julian is the most powerful man in this State, Laurie. Whoever Judge Reed chooses to endorse as his candidate will win the nomination of the party and will undoubtedly be the next Governor. The Reed Machine is that strong… and I intend to have it behind me one day. In order to do that I've got to work and show your Uncle Julian I deserve it."
"Is it worth it, Phillip?" she questioned seriously. "Are you sure that's what you really want… a political career?"
"Of course, I'm sure," he snapped, his eyes raking her face critically. "What makes you say such a thing? Why in hell do you think I'm breaking my back night and day…?"
"That's exactly what I mean, Darling. We… we hardly see anything of one another now, and we've only been married six months. What's it going to be like when you're completely into politics? I mean… don't you intend to practice law at all…?"
Phillip's lean face seemed to narrow even more. She'd irked him, unintentionally, but she had. Now, she was sorry that she had said anything at all.
"Your concerning yourself with matters that are my personal business, Laurie," he snapped, "I'll make the living in this house, and decide how it's to be made." He paused, staring at her sharply. "I think you'd do better if you applied yourself to more wifely duties… such as learning how to make love to your husband, eh?"
Now, it was Laurie's turn to blush. His words had sliced into her like a keen knife blade and he knew it. Immediately, he was sorry; it had been an unnecessary, short-tempered remark… he was so damnably on edge. She started to leave, her head down to hide the tears and he caught her by the hand.
"Please…" she said, trying to tug herself free.
"No… I'm sorry, Laurie… I didn't mean that," he stammered. "I… I just don't know what I'm saying these days, I guess… Please, I… I don't want us to quarrel."
Laurie studied her handsome, twenty-six year old husband's troubled face for a long moment through tear-dimmed eyes. Finally, she said, "That's what I was trying to tell you… You've taken too much on your shoulders… as if your studies aren't enough right now, you've involved yourself in this political thing…"
Phillip started to speak, thought better of it and just listened. There was no way he could explain his reasoning, or the vindictiveness that kept his whole inner-being in a constant turmoil and would continue to do so until he'd satisfied his vengeance upon Dianne Coleman and her drunken puppet Senator husband. Nothing else mattered to him… absolutely nothing, nor would it ever until he'd finished with his vendetta… But these were his own hidden secrets; there was no way he could explain to the lovely young girl before him without actually destroying himself in her eyes… and he didn't want that, at least, at this point, either. Instead, he pretended to listen, nodding his head.
"…And I was hoping we'd have such a nice time at the convention," she was saying… She sighed. "What I really hoped, I guess, was that you and I… well, being together for three whole days and nights… it would be almost like a little honeymoon, and maybe we'd find each other…"
Phillip smiled. "Of course, Baby, I understand… but you've got to remember that this is a political convention. I'm going to be plenty busy, you know… probably won't have as much time for you as we'd like…"
"But we will have our nights, Phillip," she hastened to add, then questioningly: "Won't we?"
He drew her to him and sat her down on his lap; she placed her lips on his and kissed him warmly. Finally, he said: "We'll arrange it so that we have our nights together, Honey…" He kissed her again, brushing her lips with his tongue, the touch of her soft, voluptuous body… the feel and weight of her buttocks and thigh pressed tightly onto his hardening penis rekindling the desire his neighbors scantily clad body had awakened moments earlier.
She sighed once more, relaxing in his arms and trailing her fingertips caressingly along his temples. He felt like some kind of hypocrite.
He'd had no right marrying her in the first place when he didn't love her. It was the cruelest thing he had ever done in his life… but she'd been his key into Rio Lado's social circle… the country club-set… into the very political world that Dianne and Senator Mark Coleman were involved in, and nothing, or no one, mattered except the revenge he sought, the complete destruction of his betraying childhood sweetheart, beautiful Dianne Coleman. God, he doubted that he would ever stop loving her… or hating her: he lived only, it seemed, for the sweet taste of revenge on that day soon when it would come to pass.
Of course, Laurie was completely innocent, unaware of this thwarted love he carried sealed away in a vengeful heart. It was probably the last thing he would've revealed of himself. Only Dianne and he knew what she had done to him by eloping with her employer, Mark Coleman, then an attorney and one of the city's leading and wealthiest bachelors. She had come to Rio Lado from her home in New Hampshire to become his own wife, Phillip remembered. They hadn't wanted to wait any longer and he still had two-years of law school to complete, but then he'd been taken ill and while recuperating from a lung operation… it had all happened.
Some year and a half ago, yet it seemed almost a lifetime… At first, he'd wanted to die; he'd been that heartbroken, but gradually those morose feelings had given way to sheer bitterness and rage, until there was nothing left but ruthless hate and avengement within him, constantly churning and saturating his brain, even as they were at that very moment.
Yet, simultaneously, these ruttish sensations were agitating his loins and for one brief interval he actually forgot all else but the stimulating presence of this enticing creature in his arms. He continued to kiss her as he held her tight to him, pressing his tongue between her soft wet lips, tasting the sweetness of her mouth… still feeling very much like a Judas as his shaft lurched beneath her.
"Darling…" she whispered, drawing back her head to better see him. "Are you angry with me?"
"Angry…? What for?" he pretended, knowing well what she was getting at.
"Last night… the way I acted… spoiling it all for you… for both of us…"
"Don't be silly," he said, smiling, then bringing her mouth to his once again, his tongue immediately seeking entry and feeling a slight tremor ripple over her lithe young body against him. He heard her sharp intake of breath as he slipped his hand inside the halter to cup one full, resilient breast, tenderly rolling its swelling, tiny pink nipple into a distended hardness before she could squirm free of him.
"Darling… not in front of the window," she said, her smile confused, almost embarrassed. "Beth might see us…"
"To hell with Beth!" Phillip snapped, but it was enough to break the shallow mood for him, and he withdrew his hand from her breasts with an obvious air of disgust, pressing her to her feet while he tried to manipulate his jerking organ into a more comfortable and less obvious position inside his shorts.
She smiled openly, staring at the front of his trousers. "Did I do that, Darling?"
"Forget it," he replied sharply. "Like I do most of the time. It'll go away… it always does." He swung back to his books, watching her smile fade out of the corner of his eye, then, with lowered head she walked from the room and he heard her climbing the stairs.
Goddamnit, he'd said it and he wasn't sorry. He'd had enough of her damned prudish morals in the last six months to last him a lifetime. Not once since they'd been married could he remember her even coming close to letting herself go and trying to enjoy sex with him. Christ knows, it was difficult enough for him to even pretend, but her constant: "Oh Phillip, don't do that…" or, "Do you have to be such an animal about it? Oh, Darling, please… those perversions make me feel so dirty…"
Damnit, it'd been more enjoyable with her in the back seat of his car before they were married… at least, he'd had a goal to shoot for then… but it was a good thing she hadn't let him go all the way, he mused bitterly, as his prick gave an aching jerk, or else they probably wouldn't be married right now…
Well, that wasn't true either, he thought, again feeling like a Pharisee. He hadn't married her for love, had he… just gain. Besides, she really wasn't to blame for the hang-ups her missionary parents had steeped her in… twisted little quirks that could be overcome with patience and time… and a loving husband. She was nineteen, still a child… and she loved him. God, how he'd used her!
He couldn't study; his mind was confused. Dianne crept into his thoughts, but he forced her out quickly. Instead, he tried to concentrate on his own ambitions; they were the only solace he could ever seem to find… the only self-satisfying reasons behind the ruthless things he had done to further his own ends. God knows, they were all that had kept him going after Dianne…
It'd been shortly following his meeting Laurie that the student revolt and demonstrations had started at the University, and he'd thrown himself into it, feeling their causes and demands to be just, suddenly finding himself the unappointed leader. Laurie had been frightened because of her uncle, Judge Julian Reed, afraid that he would refuse to let her have anything to do with a radical, but as it turned out, his own bringing of all parties concerned to the table and settling the thing to the satisfaction of both students and authorities, had gained him considerable publicity, until the obese Judge and kingmaker began to look upon him as a possible political figure of the future.
He'd never considered the field of politics prior to that episode, but once the Judge had instilled the thought in his mind, the idea of killing two birds with one stone had quickly registered. He immediately saw himself on the same level with Dianne, and moving in the same circles socially. How better to get at her, to destroy her than from within the very world she lived, while at the same time, furthering his own career! And to secure it all… assure himself that the Judge could have no change of heart, he'd marry his precious niece, tie it all up in one little knot… and he had, even to accepting Uncle Julian's "string-pulling" in obtaining him a position in the District Attorney's office, and the down-payment on this thirty-thousand dollar home in exclusive Carlton-Dell.
Why not, he thought acrimoniously to himself. Why not take all he could get? Wasn't that the way it was done by the unscrupulous… the people who amounted to a damn in this world? Well… he wasn't sorry for a single thing he'd done, or intended to do, and whoever got hurt in the course of events had his sympathy… that was all, just his sympathy!
He picked up his glass and drank from it while sounds of Laurie moving about him came to his ears. Once again, he began to watch the enticing figure of Beth Tierney engage in some intriguing bends, wiggles and thrusts. Damn… she did have one tight looking ass all right… and he'd gamble that she knew how to use it. Jack Tierney was the type of fellow who'd demand that from a woman… big, muscular, athletic Jack… a pretty fair architect too.
Phillip tilted the glass to his lips while he contemplated some of Beth's more recent actions that had caused the sudden stimulation to his libido, after knowing her all these months. Like last night when they were all assembled in his living room and he'd just come in from a political confab with the Judge. He'd been damn near exhausted with school five nights a week, after working all day, and politics on top of that, not excited a bit at seeing them there, but after a few drinks he'd picked up, even to the point of taking part in the dancing. It'd been one of those slow, romantic numbers and Jack, Beth's husband, had chosen Laurie for a partner, so he'd done the gentlemanly thing and extended a hand to Beth… Damnit, the more thought he gave to it, there was no question but what she had really ground her cunt right into him… and all of the time whispering little goodies like: "Gosh, it's too damned bad you're not around more, Phillip Gates…" and, "I'll wager we'd have some dandy times… just you and I, Doll… given half an opportunity…"
Where the hell had he been, anyway? Allowing such obvious "come ons" to soar right over the top of his skull. Hell, this sexy piece of pulchritude was trying to make him! Maybe he didn't want any, but was that any excuse for being so stupid as to not be aware when the dessert was being offered?
He shook his head, finished his drink and smiled to himself at his own asininity. No wonder he had gone after Laurie like a rutting bull moose last night!
Laurie moved about their bedroom trying desperately not to break into outright tears. His words had slashed deeply into her. God, he could be cruel… and she'd tried so hard to understand, knowing the strain he was under with the workload he was trying to shoulder. If there was only some way she could help; she felt utterly useless to him, even in… no, especially in, bed. Oh, God, she didn't want to think anymore about that.
She stared at the two valises she had started packing yesterday morning and left open to add odds and ends as she thought of them. She had so wanted to make these three-days they would have together their most rnemorable ones to date… at least, sexually memorable. Dear God, she loved him so much… and it was as if she had actually watched him change from the sweet, attentive boy-man she'd fallen in love with, to an almost ruthlessly ambitious, and feelingless robot.
Sometimes, she felt as if she were but a prop in the whole scene… a tool meant to be used by both her Uncle and her husband. Perhaps it wasn't fair to think such a thing, but she did, nevertheless. She couldn't help it.
Since that tragic day when word had come from the Nigerian government explaining that her missionary parents had lost their lives, and she had come to live with her Uncle Julian where she could finish her education at the University of Rio Lado, she had been plagued with a feeling of uselessness… of being an unwanted burden to her retired and widowed, mother's brother. She had never before seen the man, having been born and raised in the East, then traveling from one country to another with her parents, wherever their calling would take them. And now, as she recalled that first meeting with the powerful Judge, she remembered how shocked she'd been at the initial sight of him.
His obesity had startled her speechless, and the fact that he was forced to employ a wheelchair for mobility even though he was not at all impaired of limb, seemed almost unfeasible to her. She remembered that he had grinned at her with a little, baby-like mouth in the center of his massively bloated face. Near nausea had gripped at her stomach, but somehow she'd fought it and managed to smile back at him, while he stared at her through tiny, wet, and unquestionable lecherous blue-eyes set deep in the puffs of fat on either side of a button-nose, gaping and raking her supple young body lasciviously, his small pointed tongue popping out to lick at red, wormish lips. From that day forward to the last day she had lived under his roof, he had continuously tried to put his hands on her, but always in the guise of parent-like affection, fondling when he could, or brushing his hands unconsciously against her breasts or buttocks, until she learned to carefully stay beyond his reach. Yet, she had never hated him… just grown to pity him, and when he'd finally agreed to let her marry Phillip… gave them an expensive church ceremony and the down-payment on this house as a wedding present, she had even come to love him a little.
He had been good to them, letting her leave school to become Phillip's wife, getting her new husband a place in the D.A.'s office, plus all the other little things she didn't think of right at that moment, but she couldn't help believe he had ulterior motives of his own. Maybe, once more, she was being unfair, but she'd come to know Julian Reed both as a guardian and as the powerful kingmaker… and she couldn't imagine him doing anything that wouldn't evolve into some personal gain for himself. Lately, she was convinced she'd discovered the answer to that in Phillip's political future… Uncle Julian intended to one day manipulate him into the Capital, and own his soul in the bargain.
Several times she had wanted to discuss it with Phillip, but her attempts were invariably futile and clumsy; she just didn't know how to reach this man she loved so deeply. He would sit and stare at her, until she actually felt like an imbecile… until she had to get away from his presence and cry the thing out of her. She felt so damned alone…
God, she didn't know what she would do if it weren't for Beth and Jack right next door… probably lose her mind with loneliness. Yet, there were those evenings, sitting in their living-room and watching TV with them, waiting for Phillip to come home and seeing them cuddling and teasing; it practically turned her inside out, she would want her Phillip so badly. Then, there were all the little things Beth and Jack said, small hints they dropped about "barrels of fun" they could all enjoy together if Phil was ever home.
"I think that husband of yours is making a political widow of you, Baby. He must be some kind of stupe, letting a luscious creature like you galavant around alone at night," Jack had said, grinning and shaking his head.
"But he can't help it; he's going to school," she had replied, her aggravation obvious. "He'd be home if he could…"
"If it were me, I'd quit," said Jack. "No cluck in his near-right mind is going to let such a delectable dish waste away waiting for her man to come home and take care of her."
"You just tend to your own knitting, Lover," Beth had chimed in, snuggling closer to him on the davenport where they sat. "You've got all the stitching you can handle right here."
Jack shrugged good naturedly. "Just trying to be helpful, Little-One. Look, Laurie-baby, you get too lonesome for lovin', come on over and squeeze in bed with us, eh Honey? We'll fit her in, won't we?"
"Sure… why not?" Beth had said, laughing suggestively and causing Laurie to blush, but she'd managed to laugh, too, knowing it was all a joke and in fun.
Now, Laurie seated herself slowly on the edge of their bed where she had placed the valises and began to rearrange his shirts for the dozenth time, handling them lovingly, while a melange of thoughts continued to occupy her brain. Tiny tears of emotional affection at the mere touch of his possessions momentarily dimmed her eyes. She loved him so much… so very, very much. And she'd tried so desperately to reach him, to make him understand and know her love, but there seemed no way to span the almost heartless distance he kept between them… Sometimes, it were as if his mind were a million miles away, as if he were harboring some tremendous inner burden that he didn't want her to know existed.
She had so looked forward to these three days and nights coming up together in the Capital. She'd pretty near convinced herself that this break in their routine could be the secret catalyst necessary in making a complete woman of her… a sexually fulfilled woman… helping her let herself go the way he wanted her to…
After last night, she was ready to place her hope in anything. He'd come at her like… like an animal, his wild lust-hardened thing throbbing and brutal… She shuddered at the memory of it and the cruel manner in which he'd thrown himself on top of her, half drunk, his face a mask of lust as he plunged his blunt, thick shaft of flesh into her unprepared vagina without the slightest hint of mercy, or fear of damaging her inwardly. He'd ignored her agonized pleas entirely, his eyes glazed in his drunken desire, shoving her legs back until her knees ground into her full, soft breasts, his long, wicked penis battering into the very depths of her sensitive womb. She was still sore… but even so, she couldn't help remembering the sudden sensations of spontaneous elation he had briefly aroused within her belly and loins before he'd unceremoniously emptied his boiling sperm into her, then rolled away from her in apparent disgust. She'd reached out to him at that moment, the electrifying spasms alive and titillating inside her, but he'd shrugged her off angrily and fell into an almost immediate exhausted stupor. As usual, she'd cried herself to sleep.
This morning, neither had mentioned the fiasco and she found herself wondering if he even remembered. There'd been so many similar bedroom disasters in their short marriage, but she couldn't help it; she just could not bring herself to wanton sex the way he expected. God, why couldn't he understand that… have patience with her and be gentle? Instead of trying to force her into those debasing, perverted acts that went against the very grain of her soul; she was certain now that with a little tenderness, just a measure of tolerance on his part, that she, too, could… She blushed at the very thought.
A slight tingling stirred within her young, soft, sensual body as he realized how close she had come last night. If he hadn't been drinking and so tired, if Beth and Jack hadn't stayed so long… if, if, if!
Suddenly, sounds of Phillip in the den below brought her back to the moment, at hand. She stood and went to her vanity for a tissue to dab at her eyes. It certainly would do her no damned good to brood over what was already done; it was what lay ahead that counted. Those three days could only be as good for them as she made them… and after all, she did have the equipment for it, she thought quite practically, studying her lush, curvaceous reflection in the mirror… if only she could let herself go and learn how to use it. She straightened, lifting her chin high, touching at her hair and making sure her eyes were dry before going down to the den where he still sat at his desk, probably watching Beth in her next to nothing bikini, although he turned as she entered and smiled up at her.
"Let's get into our swimsuits and enjoy our neighbor's pool," he said, holding out one arm for her to come inside. "I've had enough of books for one day. I'm ready for some playtime. You game?"
"I'd love it," Laurie said, as he slipped his arm around her upper thighs causing little prurient tingles of ripple over her. She bent down for him to kiss her.
He did.
"I-I love you so very, very much, Phillip darling," she whispered.
"I know, Honey… I love you too."