Chapter 3

"What nigger is that?" Jed Judson asked, squinting his eyes at the shiny red pickup disappearing ahead of them up the dusty road. "Looked to be Lucas Allen's truck, but it shore warn't him drivin'"

Billie-Ann tried to keep her voice relaxed and casual- sounding. "Probably it's Hanson. That's the Allen boy." As she said it, she thought how funny it was to call Hanson a boy. Standing in that pond he hadn't looked like any boy she'd ever seen.

Jed spat out the window and got the truck into first gear. "Shit, that's that uppity kid they sent to college a long time ago, ain't it?"

Billie nodded, remembering how scared she'd been alone by the edge of that pond--especially when Hanson's cock had started growing right before her eyes. That's when she'd thought he was going to find her for sure... and drag her under the nearest bush. That's when she'd run and never stopped till she was halfway to the fork.

"How come you know so much about him anyway?" Jed nagged, shifting into second.

"Chrissake, Jed," she said sharply, "you asked me who he was, didn't ya?" If there was one person Billie-Ann wasn't afraid of it was Jed Judson. Him, always dressed in bib overalls and wearing that silly straw hat. Jed was as big as a bull and about as strong but there was something weak and easy about him too. Young as Billie was, Jed had never been able to get her goat and she enjoyed reminding him of that fact.

"You don't have to go gettin' sassy," he snarled. The truck rattled and lurched over a rough spot in the road.

Billie-Ann let him cool down awhile, then turned toward him with the pouty smile she'd practiced just that morning in the mirror. "Got any new books, Jed?"

"There's a good one in the glove compartment," he said, grinning, happy that he owned something Billie wanted.

Billie dug the book out and saw that it was a science-fiction novel. That was fine with her, especially if it had some sexy parts in it, and most of them did these days.

"You through reading it?" she asked.

Jed nodded. "Sho, it's all yours."

Billie riffled the pages of the book, and a packet of photographs held with a rubber band fell out in her lap. Jed Judson chuckled like a moron and licked his lips.

"What're these?" she asked, holding them up. There was a piece of cardboard over the first picture, so she couldn't see it.

Jed snuffed his nose and rubbed a big hand over the crotch of his overalls. "Go ahead; jest take a look!"

At times like this there was something dumb about his eyes that always bothered Billie. Not just because of their washed-out color or shallow depth, but because sometimes she caught Jed staring at her in a way that made him seem not really human at all. She wondered lots of times what thoughts Jed had in his mind that could make him look like that.

Innocently, she snapped the rubber band off and slipped the first photo out from under the piece of cardboard.

"Oh, God!" she gasped and quickly covered the picture again. She felt the red rushing to her cheeks and didn't know whether to slap Jed Judson's giggling mouth, or what. Maybe it was Jed's laughing that had her so mad anyway. The picture had been pretty bad all right, but his stupid guffaws made it seem filthy. If only he'd stop leering at her like a slobbering dog she might even take another look. Billie knew she really wanted to, because the picture had showed a man and a woman doing the very thing she was dying to find out more about. She was getting lots closer to the truth about so many things. It was exciting and scary all at the same time, but she had to go ahead had to find out more about sex one way or the other.

"Can I have these pictures, Jed?" she asked, surprised at how quickly she'd come to a decision with herself.

Jed's laughter choked short when he saw that Billie meant exactly what she'd said. "Well, hell, you ain't even looked at but one of 'em." He pushed his mouth up in an ugly knot and stared sullenly at the road. "Naw, them's mine," he said finally.

"Can I borrow 'em then?" Billie pleaded.

"I don't know. They cost me plenty."

Billie-Ann knew his weakness and knew how to play on it. Twice in the past year he'd tried to kiss her and she had strongly refused. She didn't plan to give in to him now, but there were ways...

"Please, Jed," she said, scooting over until her bare thigh was nestled tight against his overalls. Then she slunk her slender body against his side and wrapped a small hand over his bare, sunburned arm.

Jed glanced from Billie-Ann to the road and back to her again. "Maybe if... Uh..."

Billie figured that Jed was about to ask for a kiss, and though she didn't like the thought of it she'd made up her mind to allow him just one if it meant getting the pictures for a while.

"Well?" she asked, shrugging. "Can I borrow 'em or not?"

"If you let me have your panties!" Jed blurted. Billie stared up at Jed's reddening face, but he kept his eyes on the road, lips clamped tightly together.

"You mean... the ones I've got on?"

He swallowed and twisted his hands on the steering wheel. "Yeah."

It dawned on Billie that she'd known Jed a long time and had never felt threatened much in his company. Maybe the reason had been because he was kinda... strange. But she hadn't been ready for this.

"Now just where in heck do you think I'm gonna pull 'em off, Jed!" The whole thing seemed pretty ridiculous, but Billie was a bit curious as to Jed's reasons for wanting her sweaty underwear.

"I can stop by the woods on old Mister Thompson's land," he said, still not looking at her. "You can go behind the trees and I won't look... promise."

There was an eager, almost frantic, look on Jed Judson's face. It didn't frighten Billie-Ann, just set her to wondering all the harder.

"And if I give them to you, I can have the pictures to keep?"

Jed thought a little on that one but finally gave a nod. "Okay, I'll let you keep 'em if I get the panties."

It seemed crazy, but Billie couldn't figure how it would hurt anything. Not just to give Jed Judson her panties. And besides, she'd have the pictures to look at in private as long as she wanted. Billie-Ann smiled to herself. In a way it was better than having to kiss him.

When the thick, close-spaced trees of Mr. Thompson's woods came into view up the road, Billie felt a tiny tug in her guts. Jed pulled off the road, stopped the truck behind a huge thicket of scrub oak and turned off the key.

"Now don't you get out of the truck," Billie warned him, opening her door. "If I hear you coming, you can forget the whole thing."

"I'll wait," he said, nodding as if he meant it.

Quickly Billie-Ann slipped into the trees and when she'd found a shady place hidden from the road, undid her leather belt and tugged off her Levi's shorts. Then listening again to make sure Jed was still in the truck, she hooked her thumbs over the elastic band of her nylon panties and skinned them down. The crotchband clung for a moment to her juice-damp little cunny and then came away with a sticky-wet sound. Billie knew she was moist because of what she'd seen at Basset's Pond an hour before Jed had met her at the fork; and the run through the woods had just made her that much more soppy. Well, it couldn't be helped. Jed would just have to be satisfied with her panties the way they were. She slipped her thin ankles out of the filmy things and hung them on a branch. For an instant she felt a wicked little thrill. Standing there in the woods with only her T-shirt and sandals on was naughty. Almost as naughty as peeking at Hanson Allen naked in Basset's pond. Thinking of his lean, muscled body and the big brown cock that had risen from his groin like an awakening cobra made Billie want to touch her own body. Slowly she ran her hands up the long, graceful lines of her thighs and then over her flat tummy. "Ohhh, that's nice," she said to no one but the trees. Billie wondered for a moment what it would make Hanson feel like if he happened to come upon her naked. Then she remembered that Jed was only a few yards off and the public road was up there, too. Quickly she pulled her shorts back on, buttoned them up and cinched her belt. Then she picked her sheer underwear off the branch she'd hung them on and started out of the thicket. Jed watched her as she came in sight of the truck.