Chapter 7

Nat's old pick-up still wasn't parked by the house when I walked down the hill into the yard. I only hoped that Old Man Gordon was true to his word and didn't care about my uncle plowing his pretty young wife. When Linda saw me dragging into the kitchen, she wiped her hands on her apron and gave me an inquisitive look.

"Where's your uncle?"

"He let me off at the pasture gate," I said, making up lies as fast as I could. "Said he had to get over to Johnston's to pick up some baling wire."

Linda looked as if she believed me so I got a drink of water and went into the front room. Frank was sitting on the couch blowing steam off of a cup of coffee. There was a big bruise under his right eye and a long cut on his forehead.

"That was a neat little trick you played on me last night," he muttered.

I looked at him coolly. "You're the one who plays tricks." I started out onto the porch.

"Wait, don't leave yet."

I stopped and looked at his battered face. "How did you explain those bruises to Linda?" I asked with a smile.

"She just thinks Nat and I scuffled a bit," he said, digging something out of his pocket. "But unless you keep your voice down, she'll know the rest."

I put my hands on my hips and frowned. "Maybe a few people should know just how lousy you really are," I said. Somehow I felt more confident around my stepfather now. More and more he seemed a tired old man with no morals instead of a rampaging tiger on the loose.

"Okay, okay," he grumped, pushing a shaking hand through his thin hair. "Look, I'm leaving tomorrow or the next day. It'll be the last chance I'd have of..." His beady eyes took in my long legs below the hem of the miniskirt.

"I've got some things to do, Frank," I said, starting out the door again. He stood up, almost spilling his coffee, and thrust a wad of bills into my hand.

"Just let me come see you tonight." He looked like a man who hadn't eaten in months. I smoothed the crumpled bills out and counted them. About fifty dollars... a down payment anyway on all that my horrible stepfather had done to me in the past.

"Okay," I said, stuffing the bills into the pocket of my blouse. "But don't come until morning. Daybreak would be best." By then I hoped to be in Thad's warm arms and heading out of the state.

"Yeah... sure." He rubbed his bleary eyes and picked up his coffee again. "You won't regret it, Shelly."

Linda came in from the other room and Frank left the house quickly, avoiding her face. She watched him go, then looked at me.

"Something funny's going on around here," she said. "Shelly, what made you drive off in that pick-up last night? By the time I'd gotten away from your drunken uncle there was all kinds of commotion, and then them out there fightin' by the barn."

"I just felt like taking a ride," I said quickly. "Nat said I could if I didn't go far."

"I don't like it," she said as I went out. "I don't like it at all."

Jason was coming across the barnyard with a bucket and, though I pretended I didn't see him, he blocked my path and undressed me with a lewd look.

"Wanta ride into town with me later?" he asked.

"No, Jason. I'm busy." He put down the bucket and grabbed my wrist. When I tried to jerk free he squeezed until the pain shot up my arm. It was his favorite trick and one that always worked.

"Tell you what," he continued, "I'll just sneak down tonight and take care of you... How's that?"

"What are you talking about?" I forced my eyes to meet his.

Jason gave me a twisted smile. "Hell, it's been about twenty-four hours since you've been bred. You must be missing my cock somethin' awful."

I wanted to scream to Jason that I'd met a wonderful boy named Thad, wanted to tell him how much better Thad was with a girl. More than anything I wanted to tell my horrible cousin that I was leaving the farm the very next day with Thad.

"Let me go, or I'll call for Linda." My voice was shaking, but Jason recognized the anger in it and dropped my hand. I walked on toward my room, Jason only a step or two behind.

"Listen here, cunt," he snarled. "I'll be down here when the sun sets--and you'd better be ready for it, or I'll break down that silly little shed you live in."

I slammed the door in his face and bolted the lock. Napoleon had gotten up from his corner and was standing with his hackles up, growling low in his throat.

"It's okay, baby," I said, petting him calm again. The big shepherd, it seemed, was the only friend I had left on the place besides Uncle Nat. Even Linda had been getting short with me since I'd tried to cool our more intimate relationship.

By the time suppertime had rolled around, I'd stuffed what few things I owned in an old duffel bag I'd found in the barn and hidden it under the bed just in case someone wanted to snoop.

When I went into the kitchen, everyone was eating quietly. Frank was eating in his room, still a little shy of Uncle Nat to face him over a plate of fried chicken.

Jason immediately started touching me under the table, but I managed to stay away from his greedy fingers long enough to stuff myself with drumsticks. I knew I'd be missing breakfast the next morning and would have a long way to walk, so when the pie came around for the second time, I had more of that, too.

The sun was just going down when I went back to my room and locked the door behind me again. It would only be a few hours and I'd be with Thad. Already I was yearning to be naked underneath him. How could it be wrong to fuck someone like him?

The mugginess of the night made me open both windows, but I still had to shed my clothes to be comfortable. I thought of touching myself as I lay on the sheets, but decided to wait for Thad to do it instead. It was better somehow when he fondled my slick parts, when he made me come.

I don't know how long I'd been asleep when a terrible crash made me sit up in the bed, hands over my bare titties. The door stood open and, though it was too dark to see much of anything, I recognized the shadowy form silhouetted by the moonlight. Jason!

Napoleon started across the room growling, but then there was a scurrying scratch of his paws on the bare wood floor and a barking squeal of pain as Jason grabbed the dog by the forelegs and sent him somersaulting out the door. Then he slammed the door shut and blocked it with a chair.

I tried to get out of bed, but Jason caught my shoulders and shoved me down again. Already I could feel his cock pressed against my panties. He was unshaven and there was the unmistakable odor of beer on his breath.

"Jason," I cried, "I don't want you to do this. I don't, I don't!"

"That don't matter none," he said.

I bit and scratched, but Jason pinned my wrists against the mattress. Oh, why did it have to happen now--after I'd found Thad? There was another noise at the door, drowning out Napoleon's steady barking. Had Uncle Nat heard the noise from the house and was coming down to help? The door crashed open again, knocking the chair across the room on its side. Someone grabbed Jason by the shoulders and jerked him off of me. Then there was the sickening thud of a fist against my attacker's face.

"You bastard, Billy!" Jason spit. The two of them fell heavily to the floor.

It was Billy Joe--and from Jason's groans, my younger cousin wasn't doing so bad. Napoleon was in the room now, yipping wildly as he hopped back and forth over the fighting boys. Then there was another enormous, splintering crash and Billy fell through my table and slumped against the wall.

"Crazy little shit," Jason said, wiping blood from his nose. "He shoulda known better than try and kick my ass." He stumbled out the door into the moonlit yard.

Billy pushed himself to his knees and then stood up while I struggled with the kerosene lamp. For a moment I thought Jason was going to come back in again, but Billy stood in the doorway defying him.