Chapter 8

Sandy lay naked on the edge of the bathtub and did her nails while Lucy lay in the steaming hot water, covered with foamy piles of bubbles. It had only been two days since Jimmy and Ed had packed up the camera and lighting equipment and left for San Diego, but both girls were already anxious for their return.

"A penny for your thoughts!" Lucy said to her friend, brushing away a pile of bubbles that obscured her full breasts as she spoke. She was content and happy, although there was still some discomfort in her lower back from that last day's frantic lovemaking. Soaking in hot water had seemed to help, and she hoped that she would be ready for Jimmy when he came back.

Sandy looked down at Lucy and smiled at how young and vulnerable her friend looked. Only part of her body and her face were visible. With her long hair pinned in a bun on top, and without makeup, Lucy could have passed for much younger than her sixteen years. There was no hint on her innocent face of the naked lust that had transfixed her features when she had thrown herself on Ed's body.

"Oh, I was just wondering if my parents are going to be able to see the change in me," Sandy replied, blushing a little at how much she had experienced in the few days they had been at they're going to take one look at me and know!"

Lucy laughed at her friend's apprehensions. She had had the same worry when Jimmy had taken her virginity. For several days she had avoided her mother, believing that her new condition would be obvious to everyone. And surprisingly, her mother had known! Her only comment had been a cryptic warning not to "let anything happen!" Lucy had no intention of becoming pregnant, if that was what her mother meant.

"You worry too much, honey!" Lucy said confidently. "Think how much you'd be missing if it hadn't happened!"

Sandy finished her nails and stood up, waving her slender hands through the air to make the polish dry faster. As she caught sight of herself in the full-length mirror she began to giggle at how ridiculous she looked, flapping like a bird. Lucy joined in the laughter as Sandy began a slow parody of a hula-girl, sensuously moving her naked hips in an exaggerated series of rolling motions and ending in an obscene bump-and- grind. They were both laughing hysterically as she finished the dance and collapsed on the toilet seat, her long beautiful legs stretched before her and her breasts and stomach quivering with the paroxysmal guffaws.

The telephone suddenly rang.

Still giggling, Sandy forced herself up from the seat and went to the bedside phone. She waited a few seconds for her giggling to stop and then picked it up.

"Hello."

"Lucy? What the hell have you been up to?" It was an angry male voice at the other end of the line, a voice that Sandy could not identify. The ominous voice frightened her.

"This is Sandy... uh... Sandra Robinson, that is! Did you... uh... did you want to speak with Lucy?" A cold chill ran down her naked spine.

"Damnit! Put Lucy on," the angry voice replied, "and hurry it up, will you?"

Sandy carefully laid the telephone receiver down on the table and walked back toward the bathroom. She wondered who the angry man was. The voice sounded vaguely familiar, but she could not for the life of her think who it might be. She wanted to believe that it was just Ed or Jimmy playing a joke on them, but something told her that it was far more serious.

"Who is it, Sandy?" Lucy called out to her as she neared the bathroom door. Sandy could see that Lucy was out of the tub, her heat-pinkened body partially wrapped in a large white bath towel.

"I don't know!" Sandy replied, her voice full of puzzlement. "It's a man and he wants to talk to you! He sounds awfully mad about something... he almost took my ear off!"

Lucy's smile disappeared immediately, to be replaced by a look of apprehension. "Wants to talk to me?" she asked. "It must be Jimmy playing some sort of joke!"

"No, I don't think so! You'd better answer it, Lucy!"

Lucy went past her friend and into the bedroom, her feet leaving wet footprints on the plush carpet. She stood next to the telephone for a moment as if summoning up courage and then picked it up.

"Hello... this is Lucy."

Sandy watched the color drain from Lucy's face as the voice began to come out of the telephone in an indistinct jumble of angry words. The towel slipped from her shoulders and one hand went to her breast as Lucy sat there on the bed, her head nodding silently as the voice assaulted her ears. It seemed to go on for ever, but finally, Sandy heard Lucy mumble something and drop the phone heavily onto its base.

"For God's sake, Lucy! Who was it?" Sandy asked, terrified at the change in her friend. Lucy's mouth opened but no words came out. She seemed to be gasping for breath.

"Lucy, what is it?" Sandy repeated, trying to make her voice firm.

'That was my father!" Lucy moaned. "Ed and Jimmy tried to blackmail him with the... the film they took! Oh, my God! What am I going to do?"

Sandy could only stand there, shocked by the words that came out of her friend's mouth. They were awful, horrible words, and she wanted to shut her ears against them. How could Ed and Jimmy have done this? What possible need for money could they have that would make them do something this terrible? It was like some insane nightmare, Sandy told herself, as she heard Lucy beginning to sob loudly.

"Oh, Sandy! What am I going to do?" Lucy repeated through her tears.

"Calm down a minute, Lucy!" Sandy said, forcing herself to speak with authority. She sensed that Lucy was close to hysterics and she needed to know all of the details. "What else did your father say? Did he pay them?"

"Oh, I don't know... no, he didn't!" Lucy's voice was rising. "He called a friend of his on the police force and... and the man made them give him all of the prints and the negatives!" The terrified girl was shaking as she tried to continue. "I'll just die, Sandy! I know I will! To think of my... my father, watching me do all those awful things!"

What about my parents? Sandy could not bring herself to verbalize the terrible question. She wanted to kill Jimmy and Ed Walsh! She could have happily done it herself if they were here and she somehow had the means to punish them for the rotten thing they had done.

Lucy suddenly jumped to her feet, her body naked and ashen-white as the towel dropped to the floor. "I've got to get to my mother before he does!" she cried out, and she ran to the dresser and pulled out a drawer, searching for clothing to put on. Lucy remembered her mother telling her that she would be at a friend's home in Las Vegas for a few days. If she could only get to her before her father did, she could make everything all right again! Her mother would protect her, she just had to! Quickly she pulled on a pair of jeans and a sweater.