Chapter 94

Pressing the phone to my ear, I listened with interest as the doctor described what he thought women like Nell Burger were like.

“Wealthy powerful women are used to getting their own way. They respond aggressively in most cases when someone surprises them by being forceful. Their response is rarely passive. It has even resulted in violence from what Herb has told me about this particular young lady. In rare cases they will temporarily allow a personality they perceive as more powerful than theirs to take over their lives. It sounds like that’s what happened here.”

“But, I didn’t do anything to...”

“It has very little to do with what you did or didn’t do. It had to do with her state of mind when you were together. Powerful people sometimes tire of always being in control. Mister Johnson tells me that you are a large, powerfully-built, young man. Your physical presence when you forced her to ask you to see her again probably jarred her psyche and triggered something in her that caused her to release that control to you. She welcomes your dominance right now, but I must warn you that this won’t last long. You have to see her often and you have to use that power every time you’re with her if you want to continue your influence over her.”

“You’re telling me that I have to be mean to her whenever we’re together?”

“‘Mean’ isn’t the right word. You have to be positive and assertive when you deal with her. You’ll lose the power you now have if you don’t, and she’ll probably resent the fact that she was subservient to you if that happens.”

“Are you saying that I can’t be nice to her or I’ll lose her as a friend?”

“She’s not your friend if what I heard about her is true. She’s a very disturbed woman and you’d do well to stay away from her.”

It sounded like Herb had taken the phone from him, because I heard his voice say, “Thank you, Doctor.” There was a slight pause, the noise of a door closing, and Herb came online by saying, “I won’t lie to you, Pete, this is important to us. I’d like you to go to Nell and ask her why she all of a sudden doesn’t want to come in with us, but I don’t want to you to do anything that’s against your morals or anything that makes you uncomfortable.”

A lot of things were going through my mind, so I said, “Let me talk to her and I’ll get back to you.” I hung up before he had a chance to say any anything else. I knew that Nell was strange, but I never thought that she was crazy. Her feelings for me had seemed odd, but genuine. I tried to call Sylvia for advice, but all I got was her voicemail, so I took a deep breath and called Nell.

Caller ID told her who I was and all she said was “Hi,” when she answered.

She surprised me. I expected her to be frantic or out of control from what Cohen said, but she seemed perfectly calm and she asked, “Are you having a good time?” when I said ‘Hi’ back to her.

“Yeah, I’m, uhh, in La Jolla.”

“I know. Did you stay on the boat last night?”

“No, we stayed at my friend’s house.”

“Good, that boat is no place for you.”

A little shocked, I asked, “You know about the boat?”

Her voice was quiet when she answered, “Yes, I know about the boat. Is that the reason you called?”

“No, I want to talk to you.”

“When are you coming home?”

“This afternoon, can I call you later?”

“Sure, would you like to come for dinner?”

“I don’t know how late I’ll be. I’ll call you when I get in.”

“Okay, I’ll see you then.”

I sat on in my room thinking about Nell. She sounded perfectly normal. Was it an act or was something else going on? I was still wondering when there was a tap on my door.

It was Meg, and she said, “I’m glad I caught you. We need to talk.”

“What’s up?”

Leaving the door open, she came in, sat on the bed and said, “I may have screwed things up.”

“How?”

“The girls were teasing me about being with Lane last night, and I teased Monique back about her spending Friday night with you.”

“She didn’t spend Friday night with me.”

“Yeah, that’s what she said, and that’s where I screwed up.”

“What do you mean?”

“I told her I saw you and her in bed together.”

“It wasn’t her, it was Marla. She stopped by and all we did was talk for a while.”

“Don’t bullshit me, Pete. You were on top of a girl and you definitely weren’t talking when I opened the bathroom door. I couldn’t see who the girl was, so I assumed that it was Monique.”

“So, what did Monique say?”

“Nothing, she just sat there staring at the ground. Marla jumped in and tried to say that you and she were just talking, but I think Monique suspects more than that was going on and I guess I can’t blame her after what happened last night with Delores.”

“What do you think I should do?

“I don’t know, Pete. I guess that it depends on how badly you want to be with Monique. What was it all about? Is there something going on between the two of you?”

“No, Friday night was just ... well it was an ending, I guess. It won’t happen again. Marla really likes Jay. Was he listening?”

“No, It was just us girls. Jay and Lane were in the pool.”

“Speaking of Lane, how did you get along with him?”

She blushed, “Uhh, we got along just fine.”

“Oh, c’mon, Meg, what do you mean by ‘just fine’?”

Blushing deeply now, she glared at me and said, “What do you want, a blow by blow description?”

She was embarrassed, but she was obviously happy and I was genuinely pleased for her. I grabbed her, began swinging her around and in a sing-song voice I kept repeating, “Meg got laa-aid, Meg got laa-aid, over and over. Meg was wriggling around trying to get away, when my doorway was suddenly filled with girls.

Marla yelled, “Put her down, you big dork,” and she ran over, pulled Meg off me, and said, “That’s enough screwing around. We’re starving. You have five minutes to get ready.”

We went to a local coffee shop for breakfast and it turned out to be a lot of fun. Lane is a good-looking man and he has a sophisticated air about him, but he seemed to melt every time he looked at Meg, and Jay started to tease him about it. Lane glared at him, but that didn’t stop Jay, and he continued until Marla kicked him under the table.

I noticed that Jay began to be different around Marla. A natural prankster, he tried to make a joke about everything, but a look (or sometimes, a kick) from Marla would cause him to quiet down and he seemed to be trying to behave himself as the morning wore on.

Delores seemed to be enjoying herself as well. She came back with a quip that had us in stitches when Jay tried to tease her about something. I saw a different side of Delores. A little girl from another table recognized her and came over for an autograph. Delores was very gracious. She signed the autograph and even hugged the little girl.

Monique was quiet, as usual. I tried to figure out if she was mad at me about what Meg told her, but I couldn’t get a read on her. She sat close to me and always had one hand touching me while I was eating. She smiled at everyone’s jokes, but she didn’t add much to the conversation.

We were on our way back to Jay’s place when Marla’s cell phone rang. There was a short conversation and she said to Monique when she hung up. “It’s Tammy. Something is happening early tomorrow, and she wants to make sure that we stay down here tonight.”

Monique asked, “Do you know what it’s about?”

“We had a bad connection. I told her that I’d call her when we got to Jay’s house.”

Delores looked at me and asked, “Should I call someone and ask for a ride home?”

I was thinking about my meeting with Nell, and I answered, “No, I’ll take you home, I have stuff to do tonight and I have to be at the studio early tomorrow.”

Meg chimed in with, “So do I.”

Marla got on the phone when we got back to Jay’s house, and I was able to get Monique alone for a few minutes. I said, “About Friday night. Marla and I were just...”

She held her hand up to stop me, and said, “Its okay, I understand.”

I was surprised and maybe a little annoyed that she didn’t seem to be bothered, but I seemed to have dodged the bullet, so I pulled her to me, closed my eyes, and kissed her. She came willingly and the kiss was wonderful, but something seemed to be missing and she was looking at me when I opened my eyes. I was trying to figure out what the matter was when Marla called us over. She looked at Monique and said, “The local newspaper is sending some people over around nine tomorrow morning. Tammy’s driving in, but she wants us to be there early in case they show up before she gets here, then she looked at Meg. “She wants to meet you today. Can you call her when you get back to town?”

Meg looked surprised and said “Uhh sure, what’s it about?”

Marla smiled and said, “Well it might be about a job. I lied to her and told her that you were kinda cute for an older lady.”

Meg blinked then she grinned. “Well, you’re right about one thing; I am cute and I guess that twenty five does seem old to someone who’s barely out of diapers.”

That got a laugh out of everyone, including Delores, who frowned and said, “Shit! I’m almost thirty. I guess that makes me a fucking antique.”

Jay immediately broke in with, “A fucking antique! Gee, I didn’t know antiques came in different categories. Could I sign up for a test drive?”

It got Jay a laugh from everyone and a poke in the ribs from Marla.

We sat around talking about what a good time we had for the next hour. I tried to talk with Monique again, but she, Marla, and Meg were continually talking about what was happening with WE.

We started to gather our things up around one o’clock. I called home to say that I was leaving, but I just got the answering machine, so I left a message. Monique she said she was going to come back to LA on Wednesday when I was finally able to talk to her again and that we could talk then.

Jay drove Meg, Delores, and me to the airport, and we had an easy flight home.

There were people waiting for Delores when we parked the plane. She gave both Meg and I huge hugs and we made tentative dates to have lunch at the studio.

Meg was very quiet on the way to her house. I asked, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“You’re thinking about Lane, aren’t you?”

“Uh-huh.”

“He seems like a good guy.”

“Yeah, he sure is.”

“Are you falling for him?”

There was a long pause before she said, “I don’t know. I didn’t really mean to spend last night with him. It just happened and it’s a little scary.”

“Why, did he get weird?”

“No, just the opposite, he’s a wonderful lover. The scary part is that I can’t get him out of my mind. He wanted me to ride back to LA with him, but I had to get away from him and think about things.”

I turned the ignition off when we pulled up in front of her house, and asked, “So, you had a good time?”

“Yes, I had a wonderful time.”

“And you found someone you’d like to spend some time with?”

“Uh-huh.”

“So, go for it! Relax and have some fun for a change.”

“What if he finds out that he doesn’t like me?”

“How could he not like you? You’re beautiful, you’re smart, and you have a killer ass. What’s not to like?”

She surprised me by sliding across the seat, throwing her arms around my neck, and laying a big wet one on me. Then, still holding on to me she said, “You always know the right thing to say, don’t you. It’s no wonder women can’t wait to jump in bed with you.”

I smiled, “It didn’t work with you.”

She smiled back, gave me a quick peck on the cheek, and said, “I was tempted,” as she turned to leave. She was almost out of the car when she suddenly turned around, jumped on me, and gave me a kiss that almost curled my toes.

I stuttered, “W-What was that about?”

“That’s for convincing me to come along with you this weekend.”

“Wow! You can thank me like that anytime you want.”

She grabbed her bags and she said, “Be careful what you ask for,” as she stepped away from the car.

It was after three o’clock when I got home. No one was there, so I went to my room and checked my machine. There were several calls. One was from Bill. He said hello and asked me to get hold of him when I had a chance. Another was from Denise reminding me about next weekend, so I called her. I got her machine and left a message that I hadn’t forgotten, then there were two hang ups. Both came from restricted phones, so there were no call back numbers.

With the words the doctor said about being my assertive with her running through my head, I finally called Nell.

She didn’t say hello, she answered with, “What time will you be here?”

I surprised myself by saying, “Six o’clock, have dinner ready.”

There was a slight pause, then she said, “Will there be anything else?”

I said, “Yes, be naked when I get there,” and I hung up.

I sat there laughing to myself. This was so out of character for me that I couldn’t believe I said it. I was pretty sure that Nell would do it, and the thought of her answering the door naked was exciting, but I suddenly remembered something. I was supposed to be going with Monique. She and I were, uhh ... What were we? Was she really my girlfriend? I sat thinking about it for a while but I couldn’t come up with an answer. I know that anyone would be proud to have someone like her as a girlfriend, but something was missing. I finally gave up and called Bill.

I realized that it had been quite a while since I talked with him as I was dialing, and I had to go through five minutes of him cursing at me and accusing me of abandoning him when he answered the phone. It was good-natured ribbing and I really was really happy to talk with him. He said that he and Tess were going steady, he was completely off drugs, and that he and Tess had made some new friends at school. He said that they met at the burger palace on Sundays and asked me to join them, but remembering my date with Nell, I said that I was busy. He wanted to know how the acting thing was coming along, and I downplayed everything and told him that it was just a lot of work and that I hadn’t met any famous people. We agreed to get together soon after that, and I realized that I missed hanging with people my own age when I hung up.

I knocked on Nell’s door at exactly six o’clock and she answered the door naked as I expected. Seeing that long lean body of hers was still a bit of a shock even though I expected it. I stood there admiring her, until she said, “Are you going to come in or are you going to stand there all night?”

Without thinking, I said, “I think I’d like to just stand here. You’re so beautiful that I’m afraid you’ll disappear if I move.”

She blinked, stared at me for a minute, then she got a serious look on her face, and said, “Don’t, Pete.”

“Don’t what?”

“Don’t say things like that. You’re just a boy and I can’t afford to get serious about you.”

“A few words would cause you to get serious about me?”

“You’d be surprised what a few words can do. Now come inside before I attack you right her in the doorway.”

“That sounds like a great idea, are you game?”

“I’m ready if you are. Drop your pants.”

I decided this had gone far enough, so I stepped inside and took her in my arms. Kissing a girl is always exciting, and kissing Nell is special, especially when she’s naked. She’s so tall that I don’t have to bend to kiss her and her body is as toned and muscular as a professional athlete. The kiss started normally, but it soon graduated into a tongue fest and my cock was pressing against her before long. She stepped back as soon as she felt it, and said, “If I have to be naked, so do you,” and she began pulling my clothes off. She had to reach inside and hold my cock in order to get them off when she got to my shorts. It jumped to attention when my shorts were finally off. She smiled, bent and kissed it on its head. I went to grab her, but she stood up and said, “Follow me.”

We went to the dining room and two place settings and an open bottle of wine were on the table. She said, “Please sit,” and she turned to leave, but I caught her hand and said, “I need to talk to you, Nell,” but she put her finger to my lips before I could say anything else, and said, “Not now. We’ll have some dinner first, then we’ll talk about what you have to say after you make love to me. I only want to talk about dinner in the meantime.”

She left and a minute later came back carrying two covered plates. I asked, “Did your friend help you prepare this?” when she put them down.

“No, I did this, she isn’t here tonight.”

“Oh! Where is she?”

“I’ll tell you later. Let’s eat first.”

She poured us each a glass of wine first. I’m not much of a wine drinker, but it turned out to be light and delicious. She then took the lid off the plates to reveal some kind of fish lying on top of what looked like a bed of mashed potatoes with a mound of something green next to it. It looked kind of odd, but it turned out to be the best fish that I ever tasted, and the green stuff was creamed spinach which I usually don’t like, but it was excellent. I was tempted to wolf everything down, but she was watching me, so I behaved myself and took normal bites like Mom taught me, and I complimented her several times over the course of the meal. Dessert was simply cherries and ice cream, but the cherries had a slightly alcoholic bite to them that helped finish the meal.

I finished before she did, and I pushed back from the table and sat watching her. She seemed completely unconcerned about being naked, and watching her as she finished her dessert, and when she later pushed her chair back and dabbed at her mouth with a napkin was a huge turn on for some reason. My hardon had never gone completely away and it was back full strength now. She threw her head back when she saw it, and laughed, “Does it ever go away?”

“Not when someone as beautiful as you are is sitting next to me.”

Suddenly serious, she stood up and said, “Come with me.”

I followed her to her bedroom and she came to me and kissed me when we got there. It was a long, luxurious, very sexy kiss, and we were both a little breathless when we separated. She went to the bed, sat down, and held her arms out to me, so I went to her and I was about to lie down next to her when I saw a look in her eyes. There was lust, but there was something else. Something seemed to be missing and I tried to think of what it was. A lot of things flashed before me; things that Cohen had said, what the doctor had to say, and even what Herb told me, but I refused to believe she was a nut case or a monster.

I tried to think of what was missing and I suddenly had an idea. She was ready to have sex, but what was missing was fun. Not sexual fun, just fun in general. I took a chance. I sat next to her and took her in my arms. I kissed her again and said, “I need a favor. I want to make love to you.”

“Okay, come here.”

“Not just yet, I want us to do something first.”

Her eyes narrowed and she asked, “Like what?”

“Do you have a pair of jeans, a sweater, and some sneakers?”

“Uhh, sure.”

“Put them on.”

“What ... Now?”

“Yes, right now, and hurry!”

She watched me as I started to put my clothes back on, then she shrugged and left the room. She was back dressed as I asked in a few minutes, but she was wearing some light makeup, so I said, “Go wash your face. Come back without makeup and grab a hat of some kind.”

She made a face at me, but I could tell that she was intrigued, and she looked freshly scrubbed and she had her hair tucked under a baseball hat when she came back a minute later. She still looked striking, but she could pass for being a lot younger. I think that she suspected what was going on, because she didn’t say a word when we got into my car and she was actually grinning when I pulled into the Burger Palace parking lot.

Bill spotted us as we came in and called us over. He was with Tess and two couples I recognized from school. I introduced Nell as a friend from a cross-town school and I watched Nell play the part of a high school girl for the next hour or so. Tess seemed a little leery of Nell at first, but Nell soon won her over and the girls began chattering like old friends before long. It was fun watching Nell. The girls were asking her about her school, and Nell was telling outrageous stories about things that supposedly went on at the campus.

I went to the bathroom at one point. Bill followed me and he was all over me with questions about Nell, what a fox she was, and how long we’d been dating when we got inside. I kept saying that we were only friends, but I could see that he didn’t believe me. Bill leaned close to Tess and said something to her when we got back to the table. Tess looked at us and asked, “How long have you two been going together?”