Chapter 5

Laura Wilson sat dumbly at the table in her immaculate kitchen, staring stupidly at the broken pieces of china that covered the freshly waxed floor. That was the third plate she'd broken that afternoon, and the crash had made her tense nerves even tighter, and more strained.

As she bent to the floor to pick up the pieces, Laura looked up at the kitchen clock, and then sighed to herself with resignation. Bill would be home any moment now - he'd just called from the airport that he was taking a taxi home - and she wondered if she could face him. She gazed around the freshly scrubbed kitchen, and realized that all the house cleaning in the world would never make her feel any more guiltless when she greeted her husband.

The few days since her experience with her neighbor, George Farrington, had been spent indoors: watching television, sleeping fitfully, or simply sitting for hours on end, staring straight ahead, thinking of absolutely nothing. She didn't really trust herself to go outdoors. She didn't want to see or talk to anyone, especially her next door neighbors, and she was terrified that George might try to call her or see her. At least that hadn't happened... one small bit of light in an otherwise somber few days.

Laura finished picking up the scattered pieces of broken plate almost mechanically, throwing them into the garbage can with the remains of the earlier ones she'd broken, and sat down again at the kitchen table, smoothing her freshly ironed skirt out across her lap with unconscious precision. As she sat, from all outward appearances perfectly composed and calm, her mind raced through a maze of conflicting emotions, bounced off the contradictory explanations of what had happened to her the last few days, and finally came to rest on the motives for her actions: motives which, for her, were still painfully unclear. Why had she done it? What was she going to tell Bill, for he would surely find out by himself in due time: George Farrington would see to that. And worst of all, how was she going to rid herself of the awful hold her lascivious neighbor had over her, his chance knowledge of her husband's run-in with the law in San Francisco?

All these questions tangled themselves together in maddening and conflicting patterns, filling Laura's mind and heart with an almost tangible pain, a tightness that threatened suddenly to choke her. And then, as spontaneously as they had come, those patterns were vaporized by the sound of a loud greeting from the living room, and the slamming of the heavy front door.

"Hello? Laura? I'm home, honey!!!!"

Laura felt her body freeze, then thaw, then turn reluctantly toward the kitchen door and her husband's voice. Well, she thought to herself wryly, it won't be long now.

"Laura?" Bill called out again. "Are you home?"

"Yes, darling," Laura felt the pressure against her vocal cords, heard the sound of her words, but didn't really feel as though she were speaking. "I'm out in the kitchen."

The kitchen door swung open with a crash, and Laura's husband strode into the room, his face illuminated by a huge, happy grin.

"Hey, no flowers for the returning hero? No kisses?"

Laura suddenly rushed forward and threw herself into her husband's arms, pressing her lips against his as though it might blot out all the anguish she'd been living the past few days; as though she could lose herself in him, and thereby escape herself.

"All right!" Bill exclaimed, "that's more like it! How's my little angel been?"

Laura didn't answer at first, his question again raising the awful spectre of her guilt before her.

"Fine," she finally managed. "And how were things in Dallas?"

Bill smiled broadly, and led his wife to a kitchen chair, where he sat down and pulled her onto his lap. One arm snaked around her slender waist, the other rubbed soothingly against the smooth material covering her soft, ivory thigh.

"It went well, honey. It really did. I learned a lot these past few days... about a lot of things. I can't tell you really what I learned, because I don't really know myself. All I know is, I saw men older then myself, men who'd been working their hearts out for ten, twenty, even thirty years - and all they had to show for it were ulcers, insomnia, and an expensive capacity for hard liquor. It was an eye-opener, Laura, it really was."

"But what about the other thing," Laura asked breathlessly. "Did anybody recognize you, or say anything, or..."

"No, not a soul!" Bill laughed out loud. "You know, by the time I got off the plane in Dallas, I'd already worked up my resignation speech for my boss, saying how awful it was that a guy could never get a second break in this world; I was convinced someone would be there who recognized me, and I went to the first meeting just wondering who it would be - trying to guess which of those guys would be the one to wreck my life this time. And nothing happened, honey! Nobody said a thing!"

"Oh, Bill!"

"Do you realize what that means, sweetheart? We don't have to be afraid anymore! We can go on just like nothing had ever happened. Oh, I swear to you, Laura, I'm the happiest man in the world at this moment!"

Laura responded to her husband's enthusiastic embrace, and yet her heart was splitting inside her. Oh Bill, she was crying through her closed eyes to him, we're not safe! We do have to be afraid! We aren't free at all! George Farrington knows, Bill - he knows! The pretty young wife's mind was tortured by the realization that their neighbor was far more serious and dangerous an adversary than some faceless man at a business convention could ever be: because he was sadistically out to control their present as well as their future.

"What's the matter, honey? You're not saying very much."

"Nothing at all," Laura lied, snapping to attention. "I was just listening to you. I haven't had a chance to say anything."

"So I talk too much," Bill kidded. "Well, enough of this talking. Let's get down to some serious business." He pulled her close to him and kissed her hard on the mouth, completely surprising her. Laura let him continue, but didn't return the kiss. Besides the fact that her mind was tormented by thoughts of their neighbor George Farrington, she wasn't going to let her husband get off the hook so easily for not making love to her for so long.

"It's been awhile," Bill whispered. "It's been an awful long while, and I know that's my fault. I have been so tired trying to work sixteen hours a day. But from now on, honey, you are going to see a big difference in me, I swear it. That's one of the things I learned in Dallas, Laura. If you give everything to your business, it leaves you empty and only half-alive. And that's not going to happen around here anymore, believe me."

Bill's apology surprised his wife, and she wanted desperately to believe him. But she wanted something more to do with it, too. After all, she had put up with his neglect for a long time, and she should have something to say about it. But she didn't resist as, wordlessly, he took her hand and led her toward the stairs. Her tormented mind did not want to make love, but her lonely body needed him desperately. She held back as he started to climb the stairs to their bedroom.

"What's wrong, Laura?" Bill asked, turning to her.

"Nothing... I... there's just so much I have to talk to you about..."

"Can't it wait?" Bill smiled suggestively.

Laura paused, gazing up into her husband's eyes. "I love you, darling," she finally said.

"And, I love you and that's all that matters," Bill replied.

Laura responded dutifully as he kissed her gently on the lips. She wanted him so badly, but her conscience still fought her desire, her thoughts turning to George Farrington again, and what had happened only a few nights ago in the back seat of his sleek convertible. She still remembered the erotic pleasure of his expert kisses, the unbelievable excitement of his huge cock as it had slipped inside her, hurting her and yet bringing pleasure at the same time. She could not forget the degradation he had submitted her to, but somehow the thought still managed to excite her. And even now, with her eyes closed, she could imagine the man who was holding her was her neighbor, not her husband.

"Let's go to bed," Bill said, waking her from her illicit dream. The pressure of his husky voice on her ear awakened the only barely suppressed desires within her, and she could feel her honey-brown nipples tighten beneath her lightweight housedress. He held her tightly to his side and their legs rubbed sensuously together, exciting her even more as they walked up the steps to their darkened bedroom.

Laura felt her husband's large hand cup her smooth breasts, covered only by the thin material of her dress, as he stepped slightly to the side and let her go through the door before him. This was the room in which George Farrington had defiled her marital bed, was the first thought that came to Laura's mind. This was the room where she had become nothing more then a lusting animal and sucked at his steel-hard cock almost greedily. And now she felt her mouth again begin to involuntarily salivate and she knew she wanted to suck Bill now, suck him even as she had her sadistic neighbor: but she knew that she could not, not unless he tried something first. She dared not to do anything that would reveal to her husband that she had been unfaithful. She knew she never could let him know about George and the threat he posed to their lives. What was she going to do?

"You'll never need a brassiere," Bill said to her in the darkness. "You're perfect."

His hand at her firm breasts kneaded the softly pliant flesh, reminding her that her desire still lived within her. Perfect? she thought bitterly, and smiled at him in the afternoon light that filtered through the closed drapes. If you only knew what an animal I've become. And there's nothing I can do about it. Oh, Bill, what have I done to you? What have I done to both of us?

The trembling young wife put her arm around her husband's powerful waist as they walked toward the bed, her other hand rubbing across the growing bulge in his trousers as she reached to unfasten his belt. She must try to make him happy; she must try to be a good lover for him, and then somehow, some way, they would make out all right.

The young couple stood facing each other as they worked at each other's clothing. Hurriedly, Bill unfastened her dress and let it fall to the floor, at the same time kicking off his pants, which she'd unsnapped and unzipped. His shirt came off quickly and he kneeled to slide her silk panties from the soft swell of her ivory hips. The sweet scent of the dampness that was flooding her desperately yearning vagina entered his dilated nostrils as he pulled the panties downward and kissed her belly, nibbling at the golden skin above the silky pubic hairs that glistened in their clean blondeness.

Kiss me lower, darling, Laura prayed silently to herself. Do what George did, please! Make me want you more than I wanted him!

The long time without sex had caught up with Bill. The more than a month away from her had left him filled with desire, his throbbingly erect penis felt now as if it were going to burst... and she had not even touched it yet in its fully naked state. He could sense himself being filled with a rising torrent of passion that he could not hold back, and there was no method, no plan to his love-making. He was guided only by what was closest, and at that moment the softly wet lips of her moistly flowing vagina were nearer to him than anything. Not thinking that his wife might reject him, he lowered his head a few inches and started to nuzzle his nose between her legs into the silky resilient hair that covered the enticingly raised mound of her womanhood.

Instead of being revolted as she had always been, Laura found herself further excited by the fact that her husband was venturing into hitherto forbidden territory, that he was going to do it to her just like George had! Her straining heart pounded at a furious rate as she felt his nose slide through the dew-dropped pubic hair between her trembling legs, and part it gently for an infinitesimal moment. But then, immediately, he pushed her back softly onto the bed, and she fell with her legs spread wide resting most of her weight back on her shoulders as she lifted her quivering hips to open herself to his probing mouth.

"Oooohhhhhhh," she moaned lasciviously. "Don't stop, darling. That's soooooooo good."

Bill was too engrossed to be surprised at his pleading wife's actions. He thought that his wife, too, had been without sex all this time and would be ready for anything. He would not even be surprised if, in order to satisfy herself, she had been masturbating during their month long abstention. The thought of Laura finger-fucking herself brought an involuntary twitch to his blood-filled penis, already jerking in anticipation of what was to come, and he nuzzled in closer, his tongue licking wetly at the smoothly pink flesh that enclosed the puckered hair-lined opening to her beckoning vagina. Then, pulling himself up so that he too was completely on the bed, he felt her tugging desperately at him, urging him to turn his muscular body so that she could also indulge in sucking him.

God, Bill thought to himself, she's really ready. I've never seen her like this before. Eagerly, he turned so that his massively thrusting cock neared her swaying head, pulling at her phallus-like clitoris with pursed lips at the same time, torturing the moistly throbbing bud until Laura thought she could no longer stand it.

"Oh, my darling," the quivering young woman gasped aloud as she pulled her husband's aching shaft of flesh toward her pursed lips and, with a lascivious groan, sucked the huge, bulbous head into her moist warm mouth at once, swirling her tongue around it voraciously.

"Ooooooohhhhhh, baby," Bill moaned in ecstasy, feeling her hot lips hungrily caress the length of his painfully hardened cock. Her sharp teeth toyed carefully with the edges of his sensitive glans-eye, like razor blades cutting into the swollen flesh, and she gulped at him lovingly, even though her mouth was not as full as it had been with George's great cock. This was better, because this was the man she loved! The man she really loved!