Chapter 11

Sarah Bernstein may have been down but she wasn’t out — not by a long shot. The fact that she was now unemployed simply meant that she had more time to devote to the pursuit of her story, namely, young Anton Balan.

She’d ruined any chance of enlisting the cooperation of Widener, the police, and now, the TV station, and that meant she was entirely on her own. But Anton wasn’t just a story, he was a BIG story. If she could scratch up enough stuff to put it together, she knew damned well that she could sell it to somebody for a lot a money; another TV station, a magazine, maybe an important online blogger. Hell, she could write her own blog and do the story in installments! She already had some good material, but she needed details and pictures to flesh it out enough to make it truly newsworthy.

To that end, she’d been surveilling everybody surrounding the kid to the extent she could manage by herself. She saw Eric and Anton leaving the home and followed them all the way to the road that goes up to the cabin. Sarah had no interest in running into that bitch deputy and getting arrested, so she got a room at the cheapest nearby motel she could find because she was now living off her savings. She’d do her spying after dark.

At sundown she was just about to take the road up to the cabin when she saw Eric’s Jeep Cherokee turn onto the highway. She followed him to the grocery store, then to a strip mall. The amazon bitch was with him. She waited patiently for them to do whatever they were doing, then followed them back to the dirt road. She waited about ten minutes before following them to the cabin.

She pulled off and parked about a hundred yards down the road. There was a spot in the trees directly across the road from the cabin where she could set up her tripod and camera, and a telephoto lens gave her a great view of the living room as long as the drapes weren’t drawn. Ken and Raul didn’t seem at all concerned about being seen by passersby.

Over the next hour, Sarah got some good snaps of everyone; Raul, Ken, Eric and his bitch, and yes, Anton.

About ten PM, Eric and the amazon left together in his Jeep, and soon after, the lights went out in the cabin. Sarah broke down her equipment and headed back to the motel. She was going to have to keep a very close eye on them from now on.

Anton had never had a birthday party in his entire life, so the one his friends threw was overwhelming to him. The chocolate cake with thick chocolate frosting had sixteen candles that he was reluctant to blow out because, lighted, they made such a beautiful picture.

He was blown away by the Sound-Dock and insisted on trying it out right away, choosing a selection of lively Hungarian and Czech dances to play in the background during the festivities. Neither Raul nor Ken had an opportunity to do any shopping, but they both came up with something that brought a broad grin to the birthday boy’s face. Raul prepared Anton’s favorite meal, which was nothing more complicated than hotdogs topped with chili and chopped onions, and a big bowl of mustard potato salad. Ken searched through his belongings and decided on a Stetson leather and linen ivy cap. He’d ordered it online a month earlier, but he hadn’t as yet had a chance to wear it. Anton loved it and wore it at a rakish tilt.

The party was pretty much over by late afternoon, and that’s when Andrea put her seduction plan to work. She looked over at Eric and winked as she slipped her arm around Anton’s waist and kissed his cheek. “Happy birthday, sweetheart.”

He was still in a pique of excitement. “Thank you so much, all of you! Today is most wonderful day for me!”

She squeezed his side sending a little thrill through his body. “It’s been fun for all of us. Hey, I know a little place higher up the mountain I’d like to show you. It’s an old forestry station and it’s got an amazing view. Would you like to see it?”

Anton looked around and asked, “We will all go?”

Andrea laughed and said, “Nah! We’ll leave these old men to take their afternoon naps and talk about the good old days. I know a place we can park off the road and hike up to the station. It’s only about a two-mile walk. You can actually drive all the way there, but what’s the fun in that? You feel up for a nice hike?”

The idea of spending the rest of the day with Andrea made his heart race again. “Yes! Maybe I need long walk after so much food. We have cake and ice cream when we come back?”

“Of course.”

Ken had no clue about her plan and he was concerned about the late start. “You are aware that if you hike, it’ll probably be getting dark by the time you get to the station, aren’t you? You guys might be stuck there all night.”

“So what? There’s a wood-burning stove, lots of wood and plenty of food. If it gets too dark to see the trail, we’ll just overnight it in the cabin. We’re grownups; we can handle it, can’t we Anton?” She took his hand and pulled him toward the door. “Let’s hit the trail, kid?”

A few minutes after they drove off, Eric rinsed out his coffee cup and casually said, “You know what? I think I might just join them. I could definitely use a little exercise.”

Ken was busy at his laptop describing Anton’s party and organizing the photos, and Raul was indeed leaning back in the lounger almost asleep, so no one paid much attention to Eric’s departure. He drove up the dirt road to the turnoff and saw Andrea’s Pathfinder parked off the side of the trail a few yards into the trees. He parked behind it, put on his jacket and slung his backpack over his shoulder. Andrea had given him a green light to indulge in a little voyeurism, but she had no idea he planned to take pictures. It would be his little surprise.

It took over an hour for Anton and Andrea to climb to the top of the mountain. When they stepped into the clearing, he looked around and asked, “This is forestry station?”

“Yup, this is it. Come on, I’ll fire up the stove and make us some tea. Then we’ll climb up the tower and take in the sunset.”

He looked at her curiously as they strode toward the cabin. “I think you already make plan for us to stay overnight in cabin. Why you didn’t say before? I don’t even have toothbrush.”

She patted him on the shoulder and said, “I’ll bet there’s ones in the cabin, but if there isn’t, I’ll show you how to make one out of a twig. And there’s mountain mint growing all over the place if you need a breath freshener. You’ll like it ‘cause it’s hot n spicy, like me.”

Anton smiled, hoping upon hope that what he thought might be happening was really happening. The day before when he’d made such a bold point about turning sixteen, he was teasing her just like she was teasing him. It never occurred to him that she might actually take him seriously.

But while he was fantasizing about what might be, he got a sinking feeling in his chest about the possible consequences. What would Eric think if he had sex with Andrea? Would he be jealous and angry? But if he was jealous, why did he not come with them on the hike? Anton began to feel distressed again because he didn’t want to do anything that would cause difficulties between Andrea and Eric.

But if she really wanted to do it, how could he say no?

Andrea lit two kerosene lamps as Anton carried in more wood for the stove. Once everything was fired up, a large enameled coffee pot was filled with water, set in the center of the stove, and half a dozen Lipton tea bags added. It was going to be strong.

Andrea looked out the window and said, “Looks like the sun’s over the yardarm, kid. Let’s climb up the tower and take in the view, shall we?”

It turned out to be a truly breathtaking sunset. The weather over the last three weeks had been bone-dry and there was lots of dust in the air painting the sun a brilliant crimson as it sank behind the hills. High altocumulus clouds fluoresced pink and orange. As they watched the big red ball disappear, movement in the trees caught Anton’s eye. He squinted to make it out and identified a human form. He wasn’t sure, but he thought it was Eric, and he was hurrying toward the cabin crouched over like he was trying to sneak up on them.

Anton assumed he must be playing some kind of a game, so he leaned over the rail and shouted, “Eric, you make terrible ninja! I see you before you even get out of trees!”

Andrea burst out laughing as Eric looked up at them surprised and embarrassed. “No fair,” he shouted back, “you ambushed me!”

Anton asked, “Why did you not come with us?”

“Oh, uh, well, after you left, I decided a hike sounded like a good idea. I was only about ten minutes behind you. I thought I’d catch up, but you must have been racing each other up the mountain.”

“Hey,” Andrea called down to him, “grass doesn’t grow under our feet. We’ll be down in a minute. Check the pot and see if it’s starting to boil yet. If it is, take it off the stove and scoop the teabags out.”

“Right.”

As they sat around the table sipping the strong brew, Andrea stated the obvious, “It’s too dark to see the trail, so I guess we’re here for the night. Anybody hungry? I think there are a few cans of soup in the cupboard.”

Eric walked over to take inventory. “Looks like we have a choice of chicken noodle, cream of mushroom or minestrone. There’s a bag of oyster crackers here too, so what’s your pleasure?”

Andrea chose the minestrone, but Anton was too anxious about their awkward situation to eat. He stood and said, “I think I ate too many hotdogs. I don’t have hunger so I maybe walk around outside for little while.”

Eric looked at Andrea and smiled sheepishly as the door closed. “I think I kinda ruined your plans, didn’t I?”

“Yeah, I think you kinda did — his plans too. I think he was just catching on to what I had in mind, so you showing up is a real buzz-kill for him. You could have at least waited until after dark to do you snooping.”

“Sorry, I had no idea you were up on the tower. So how do I fix this?”

She considered the possibilities and offered the only solutions she could come up with. “Well, I’d say we either have to forget the plan altogether or go with your dumbass idea of a threesome.”

Eric chuckled, “That was a joke! You know I didn’t really mean that, don’t you? Anyhow, somehow I can’t see him going along with it, can you?”

She shook her head. “Not really.”

But after a little thought, she said, “Unless we don’t ask him. We could just, you know, let it happen. There’s only one bed, so we’re gonna be snuggling anyhow, aren’t we? And hormones being what they are and doing what they do, nature will probably just take its course if we encourage it a little. I’ll take the middle of the bed with you two on either side.”

Eric grinned wickedly. “You are one devious vixen, you know that?”

Half an hour later, Anton came back in. His cheeks were red from the cold wind that was whipping up outside. He looked around and said, “We don’t have sleeping bag. You have extra blankets for me to make up bed on floor?”

Andrea got up to rinse out her bowl and said dismissively, “Not necessary, kid. That’s a queen size bed and it’s big enough for all of us if we arrange ourselves efficiently.”

Anton, again feeling the anxiety creeping in, looked at her and at Eric. “You want me to sleep in same bed with you?”

“Why not?”

His mental image was of them side by side and fully dressed. It would be a little uncomfortable, but he thought he could manage.

He sighed, “Okay, if you think is not a problem. I am tired from hike, so I think maybe I sleep now.”

He sat on the side of the bed to take off his boots and climb over onto the far side to stretch out.

Andrea said, “Um, that’s not going to be very comfortable, Anton. You’ll sleep better if you get out of those jeans and that heavy shirt and get yourself under the sheets and blankets. We’ll look the other way while you get undressed.”

He looked over at them, wondering again if he was missing something. Without a word, he stripped down to his boxers, T-shirt and socks and crawled under the covers. He lay there on his side facing the wall, wide awake and trying to control his breathing as he listened to them moving around the cabin and chatting like there was nothing unusual about this situation. Maybe he mistook Andrea’s meaning. Sometimes she was hard to figure out.

Sara had just pulled up to park few yards down the road from the cabin when she saw the nose if Eric’s Jeep appear from behind the trees. She felt a moment of panic until he turned right and headed up the mountain. She was too far from the cabin and Anton to be in danger of arrest for violating the restraining order, but being discovered so near would pretty much ruin any chance of getting any good photos.

She vacillated between tailing Eric and setting up her camera across the road from the cabin, finally opting to find out what Anton’s counselor was up to. The twisty road kept her out of his sight, but she had no trouble following the dust cloud he was kicking up.

She actually drove past the turnoff to the trail, but stopped when she realized there was no longer a dust cloud in front of her. She had to back up a hundred yards or so before she saw the turnoff on her left, spotting the Jeep and the bitch’s Pathfinder parked in the trees.

Sarah watched until she was sure there was no one around, then drove up the trail and parked behind the Jeep. She had to assume they were hiking up the mountain, maybe to camp out overnight, although she couldn’t imagine why since it was so late in the year the temperature dropped so much after sunset. “Bad time of the year for fucking in a tent,” she thought.

There was probably no good reason to follow them, but her curiosity got the best of her. If there was any chance at all of getting something on that deputy, she didn’t want to miss it. She grabbed her digital Nikon and headed up the trail cautiously, thinking they probably weren’t that far ahead if they were on foot.

She must have gone a half a mile, ducking in and out of the trees before she began having second thoughts. This was probably a wild goose chase, so why should she waste her time. Except there might be a chance to get some good shots of Eric and his bitch. There was probably nothing blackmailable there because she didn’t think either of them was married, but you never knew. Pictures were always worth a thousand words, and anything that might bring grief to that amazon cunt would be worth it.

By the time she’d gone another quarter of a mile, a pitch-black darkness had fallen. There wasn’t even a sliver of a moon to see by and a cold wind was rustling the pine needles. She walked another few yards barely able to see the trail before she decided that trying to follow them further was hopeless. Disappointed, she started back down the mountain wishing she’d thought to wear her heavier coat because it was starting to snow. She also wished she had a flashlight because she couldn’t even see the damned trail.

In spite of his anxiety, Anton finally relaxed enough to drop off, sleeping soundly enough that he didn’t even feel Andrea’s body slide in under the covers next to his. In his slumber, he naturally gravitated toward the source of warmth, scooting back until his butt was nestled against her naked belly and his back against her tits. He snored softly as she snaked her hand over his boney hip searching for his cock.

He stirred and became vaguely aware of a pleasant sensation. As the fog of sleep began to lift, he felt his dick being gently squeezed, then he became aware of the warm body pressing against his back. At first, his still sleepy brain thought it was Rhonda, but the distinct soft perfume caressing his nose said it was someone else. Realization struck him all at once and his eyes popped open. His brain shouted, “It is happening!”

His cock was now fully awake and his hips were doing small, involuntary thrusts into the soft hand surround it. As awareness grew, he remembered Eric was with them. What was he doing? Was he watching? Was he in bed with them? Anton hardly dared to move because he didn’t want to interrupt what Andrea was doing ... or was it her? He remembered Eric’s relationship with Ken. Could it be? But no, he was sure it was Andrea he smelled.

Anton’s breathing grew ragged as he trembled with a combination of sexual excitement and anxiety over the unknown.

Andrea felt the growing tension in his body and sensed his nervousness. She put her mouth next to his ear and whispered, “It’s okay, sweetheart. Just relax and enjoy it.”

He turned his head toward her and breathed, “Where is Eric?”

“I’m right here, dude.”

Anton felt a hand squeeze his shoulder and knew it wasn’t Andrea’s because hers was busy doing nice things to his cock. He had no idea what to do next, so he did nothing but lay there and thrill to feeling of being slowly jerked off by the beautiful woman whose rather large tits were pressing against him.

Again, she whispered in his ear, “Sweetie, do you feel like you’re close? We don’t want you to cum all over the sheets, do we?”

He could hardly speak, so he nodded his head, then shook it trying to answer both questions. He felt the blankets lift off his body as he was rolled over to lie on his back. It was almost pitch black, only the faintest light coming from embers glowing behind the small glass window in the door of the wood stove. He saw only the merest shadow as Andrea’s head moved down his body and took his cock into her mouth. He couldn’t restrain the moan that escaped his chest and there was no controlling his ejaculation. With an even louder moan, he bucked his hips upward and shot streams of semen into her mouth as she cradled and gently squeezed his churning balls.

Eyes closed tight, Anton lay panting, grateful for the wonderful gift that Andrea had given him, but still anxious and nervous about Eric who was lying on her other side. When she had taken all he had to give, she whispered again in his ear, “I want you to fuck me when you’re hard again. You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

He could hardly get the words out. “Y-yes, I would like that.” Then, “Eric?”

He felt the bed move. “I’m here, my man.”

With a deep breath, he asked in a trembling, fearful voice, “What are we doing? Are you going to put your penis in me?”