Chapter 8

It was thirty minutes at least before Max thought back to the incident in the barn and realized that the Bradford dame had saved his ass.

From the kitchen he went into the living room and checked on her husband. The man was sitting against the wall, just where they'd left him, and he was still tied tightly. That was one thing about Pete. He did his work well. Even if he was being stupid about killing that little twat, That kind of thinking could well make for their end. Still, Max didn't think it was worthwhile arguing about it with him right at this time. Maybe he could bring him around a little later.

He went down on his haunches and looked at the farmer's wrists to see if they were still tied tightly. He pulled the man a little away from the wall to get a good look. Then he decided to take the gag out of the guy's mouth just for the hell of it.

"How you feelin', buddy?" he asked.

The farmer looked at him coldly. "How would you feel if you'd had your wrists and ankles tied for this long?"

"I don't know. That's why I'm asking you. And I'll ask you one more question: do you think I could afford to let you go?"

"I wouldn't keep a man tied up like this for anything, myself."

"Sure you wouldn't. Not even if your ass depended on it, eh? In a pig's eye you wouldn't. Besides, you know fucking well that if I turned you loose you'd make your try the first chance you got."

"What happened in the kitchen? The shot?"

"We had a little trouble. The visitor, Connie or whatever her name is, shot Butch. Killed him."

"Glad to hear that."

Max smiled. "Yes, I thought you would be. But don't let it swell your head, friend. It isn't going to make much difference. Two of us can handle three women, and you aren't going to be worth a fart in hell, tied up like that. And that's just the way you're going to stay, no matter how sad a song you sing about it."

"You'd better hope I stay tied up," Bradford said. "If I get loose, you're the first one I'm going to head for."

"Really? Well, then, I guess I'd better do my best to keep you trussed."

"I guess you'd better. But you can't keep me this way forever. Sooner or later you're going to make a screwup, mister. And that's going to he your last screwup."

"Maybe I ought to kill you."

Bradford looked at him thoughtfully. "You know, I really can't figure out why you haven't done that already."

"Because we don't have anything to lose? I said why I was against the idea in the kitchen, earlier. Your wife might not be so cooperative if you weren't here as a hostage. And she certainly has been cooperative." Max grinned. Bradford's face turned white with anger.

"Shut up," he rasped.

"You know, I can see why you married her. She's a good piece. I can't remember when I've ever had a better one."

"Goddamn you, shut up!"

"Fucks like a trooper. You're a lucky guy. Or you were. We're the lucky ones now."

"I'll kill you, you son of a bitch!" Bradford shouted suddenly. "Let me loose and I'll break your fucking neck!"

"Sure, but you aren't going to get loose. You're going to sit there and think about your wife and me, and your wife and Pete, and whenever we feel like it one of us is going to pat her on the ass, and she'll just trot along to the bedroom with us, obedient as a trained dog. A trained bitch, eh?"

Bradford opened his mouth to say something else, but he shut it again, so hard it made a clicking noise when his teeth came together. Max laughed. "You remember how she practically dragged Pete into the bedroom back there? Man, I thought she was going to fuck him right there on the kitchen floor." Bradford didn't even look at Max. He had gotten hold of himself, Max thought, and he was keeping it in. He was a man who knew how to use his emotions instead of wasting them. And that was a dangerous kind of man. Max decided to give him one last jab before he left.

"She not only fucks like a trooper, friend, she sucks like one, too. She ever suck your cock for you?" Bradford looked at him, and there was a kind of hooded, cobra look in his eyes that sent a chill down Max's spine.

"You just keep it up, friend. You just keep going. When I get my hands on you, finally, You're going to eat each one of these words separately."

Max managed to laugh again, although he didn't really feel much like it. "Don't go talking like a hero, buddy. We're not only going to fuck your wife all we want. We're also going to be the last men who ever fuck her. We'll be staying here a little longer. And when the heat lets tip enough, we'll be moving on. And when we do that, we're not going to leave anything alive on this farm except maybe a few chickens. Butch's corpse will be here, of course. And yours. And the corpses of maybe three pregnant women." Max gave him another grin. He pulled up the gag and stuffed it into Bradford's mouth again, then tied it up tight. He stood and looked down and winked. "I think maybe I'll give her a little reaming now. She got cut off in the middle of a good fucking when Connie shot Butch. He was in her then, from what I gather. She must feel frustrated. And her regular boy friend, Pete, is in the bedroom with Connie right now, having a ball. So I don't think he'll mind if I stick my prick in Julie-baby. Do you?"

Max grinned broadly and walked out of the room without looking back.

He got the feeling that the women had been talking about something. When he walked in, there was one of those sudden silences that you can feel. They didn't look at each other, or at him. Max walked over to Sally and pinched one of her breasts. She looked up at him sullenly, and there was pain in her eyes, but she didn't say anything, and she wasn't in any position to offer any direct resistance.

"Nice and comfy?" Max asked. She still didn't say anything. Max reached down and took a pinch of pussy hair between his thumb and forefinger. He gave it a little yank, and she made a small, grunting sound of pain and surprise. "Well, now, you can still talk, can't you?" He laughed and pulled the hair again. This time she didn't make any sound, or give any reaction at all. She looked like she was trying to decide whether to spit in his face or not. "Go ahead," Max grinned, "Go ahead and try it. It might be very satisfying, and the most it can cost you is an extra eight or nine hours tied to the sink."

She looked down at the floor, and Max laughed again. He couldn't remember when he'd enjoyed himself more. The little twat had some spirit, but she had too much sense to get herself tied up in this position for any longer than necessary just for whatever satisfaction she could glean from a moment's show of defiance.

Max roughed her hair with his hand and pinched her cheek hard enough to bring tears to her eyes. "That's a smart girl," he said. "I thought you'd turn out to have more brains than to pull something really dumb like that. Now I'm going to go have a little fun with your big sister. Don't you go away."

He walked over to the chair in which Julie was tied. She looked up at him with a strange expression, and he couldn't decide whether she was scared shitless of him or just trying to be placating. He had tied her with one ankle lashed to each of the chair's front legs, and she was spraddled open, with her slit winking at him from between her thighs. The robe, with nothing to hold it closed, had fallen completely away from the front of her body, and with her hands tied behind her she had no way to pull it closed even a little bit.

"I think you and I ought to go get acquainted again, sweetheart. What do you think of that idea?"

She didn't look at him, and she flushed deeply. It tickled the hell out of Max. "I--I don't suppose it really matters what I think of it, does it?"

"No, I don't suppose it does, really. Now that you mention it." He walked around behind her and untied her wrists. She started to pull her robe closed around her. "Leave it alone," Max ordered. "I like it open in the front. I think that's very becoming, Julie." Her fingers flexed nervously, as though they ached to pull the robe about her, but she left it alone. Max went around in front and squatted down right in front of her. From his position he could see her slit, on a level with his face, and he looked at it directly for several seconds before raising his face to grin at her. Julie was looking back at him, and when he caught her gaze she flushed deeply and looked away. Max chuckled and untied one ankle. The instant it was free she started to move the leg against the other, to close herself off from his gaze. Max put a hand lightly on her knee, exerting a pressure outward. "Now, now, you don't want to cover up all the goodies, do you? You wouldn't want to cheat old Max of his fun, would you, honey?" She held her legs open with the same obvious effort it had taken her to keep from pulling the robe closed. Max stood up and pulled a chair over. He sat down on it, in front of her and a little to one side, giving Sally a good shot of her sister.

Julie fidgeted with the desire to close her legs or pull the robe about her, but she sat there, spraddled and open, afraid to do anything that might make him mad at her.

Max ran a hand up over her left thigh. The flesh was delightfully soft and firm, and the skin was very smooth. He pulled his hand down the length of it again, then ran it back up. He could feel the heat of her open crotch with his fingertips.

"Pete and Connie are using our bedroom," he said. "I don't think Pete would mind, though, if you and I headed off to the other one for a little fucking. Do you?" He looked at her hard, obviously demanding an answer, and she managed to choke one out.

"No, sir, I don't--I don't suppose--he would."

"Of course not. And you could even suck me off. What do you think?"

"Whatever--" She choked into silence. "What--whatever you want, Max."

"That's the girl. You're a very smart girl, Julie. The only smart girl in this place. And just because you're so smart, I'm going to let you suck me off while your little sister over there stands in the corner, so to speak. Of course if you'd rather trade places with her, I'll be glad to let you. Just say the word."

Julie looked at him, and then at her sister. Max glanced back and saw Sally studiedly looking away from both of them.

"No," Julie said. "I don't think I want to trade places with her."

"Okay, then, you can stand up now."

She came to her feet and hugged the robe about her body. Max took her hands in his and pulled them away. The robe fell open again.

"I'll tell you when it's all right to hold it closed again, Julie," he said. "Right now, why not just let it drape that way? I like it."

"A--all right." She held her arms at her side, stiff and trembling. She was as red as a stop light. Max slipped his arm under her robe and put it around her waist. He pulled her close beside him. The smell of her perfume was in his nostrils, mixed with the shampoo she had used recently and the natural smell of clean woman. Max led her past Sally, who was beginning to make little gasping sounds with every breath. The discomfort of her position had turned to actual pain now, Max guessed. He reached out and ruffled her hair again.

"You just stand there and think things over until your sis and I get back, honey," he said. "Then maybe you'll have a nice little apology thought up for all the nasty things you've been thinking about me, eh?"

The hand under the robe gave Julie a squeeze and she got the message. She moved off toward the door beside Max. When they were in the hall, Max turned and looked in through the living room door at the guy tied up in there. He was leaning against the wall, his eyes closed. Max stood there for a while, waiting for Bradford to open his eyes and see them. Julie tried to move on, no doubt wishing to spare her husband the sight of the two of them, but Max held her there. Finally, Bradford's eyes opened, and he looked around him, as though he had been dozing. When his eyes passed over the door in which Max and Julie were standing, they slid by and then darted back quickly. It seemed to take him a moment to make out what he was looking at. His eyes focused slowly on the scene, and even then it took a noticeable amount of time for him to react to the picture. Max gave him a casual wave, but Bradford didn't even seem to notice that. His eyes were fastened on his wife, her body naked down the front, her pussy out in the open, and her breasts jutting before her, young and firm and superb. Max still had his hand under her robe, on her waist. He grinned as Bradford's gaze finally moved to him. "I just thought we'd stop by and see how you feel. Your wife and I are on our way to the small bedroom to do a little fucking. Isn't that right, honey?"

When she didn't answer right away, Max gave Julie's flesh a little pinch. Bradford couldn't see it, of course, because the hand doing the pinching was hidden under the robe.

"Yes, sir," she said quickly.

"And then maybe I'll have you suck me off, too. Isn't that right?"

" Yes."

"You hear that, Bradford? Your wife thinks that's nice."

Bradford looked up at Max with something not quite human in his expression. Max felt an urge to check the man's bonds again, although he had checked them just minutes before. He was seeking reassurance, evidence that Bradford wouldn't be able to get loose and get his hands on Max. Max had never seen anything quite like that expression before, and he decided that he would not like to fuck with this man. When the time came to leave the farm, he would make very, very sure that Bradford was dead. Because this looked like the kind of man who would hunt him down if it took a lifetime. This man, he thought, would very definitely have to be dead in order to be stopped. Keep him tied, Max thought. And then give him a bullet right through the brain, front to back. Open his skull wide and let the wind whistle thought it.

"Well, we just stopped in to say hello," Max said. "Now we're going to go on into the bedroom. You just sit here and think about us in there having a good time, boy. I don't know whether I ever did thank you for being so thoughtful about marrying a beautiful wife with a beautiful sister and all that. This hiding out could be a real drag if it weren't for your thoughtfulness."

Bradford looked it Max with the same expression, and Max had to tighten his muscles to keep from shivering. He felt a flash of anger at Bradford for being able to scare him like that. But Max choked down the anger and managed to keep his grin. He gave another little wave and ushered Julie out into the hall again.

When they were in the bedroom Julie turned to him with a look of mild disapproval. Max supposed that was the most guts she could work tip.

"Why did you have to taunt him that way?" she asked. "He already knows what you and I are doing, and what Pete and I have been doing. Anyway, you're having the fun of taking me to bed. Why do you have to torment my husband, too?"

Max walked over to her, moving casualty, with no evidence of his intentions until he was within reach of her. Then he lashed out with his right hand, and his palm made a high, cracking sound against her cheek. She stumbled backward with a little whimper, and when he started toward her again, she stepped back, raising her hands to guard her face against another blow.

"You don't question my actions, Julie," Max said. "You just keep your mouth shut and do what you're told. You understand?"

"Yes, sir. I'm sorry. I didn't think."

"Well, from now on you'd better think before you open that pretty little mouth of yours. The only reasons you have to open it as far as I'm concerned, is kissing and sucking cocks. You got that?"

"Yes, yes, of course. I'm sorry, Max. Please." She backed away from him another step.

"You stay where you are, bitch. One more step and I'll kick your ass up between your shoulder blades." She made herself stop and stand in one spot while he came forward. Max stood close in front of her, and she cowered away on the verge of flight, just managing to obey him by the sheer force of will. "I rubbed it into your hubby out there because I thought it was fun. I liked doing it. And I do what I want here. As long as I have the guns, I do what I want. And you do what I tell you. You got that?"

"Yes, yes, of course. I said I understood. I said I was sorry. Please, Max, I just didn't think. Please overlook it."

Max took one nipple between thumb and forefinger and pinched it until she cried out with pain. Her hands rose as though to try to push him away, but she held back, and he laughed in her face. She knew better than to offer him any resistance. He had taught her that much.

"Kneel down," he ordered. "I'm going to let you suck my cock right now. What about that?"