Chapter 43

I started to rush to Mom, but Kate held her arm in the way, and Ben said, “Step away from the table for a minute and let Kate help her.” We stepped back, and I stood alongside him while Kate dug into Mom’s purse and brought a vial of pills out. She gave mom a couple, then she held her and stroked her head. A full two or three minutes went by, but Mom finally seemed to recover, and she motioned for me to come and sit beside her. She said, “I need you to do exactly as I say, Pete.”

I nodded and stammered, “Of course, Mom, what’s the matter?”

“I’ll tell you, but not right now. Here’s what I want you to do. I want you to go to the girls, tell them that Ben has been called away on business, and that we have to leave right away, but it’s important that you don’t mention what just happened to either one of them. I’m sorry that you won’t be able to see Kristen’s final performance, but I think that I better get home. Can you do exactly as I say?”

“Sure, Mom, I’ll do it right now. Will you be okay?”

“Yes, I’ll be fine. Go get packed, and bring your bags to my room.”

I started to protest, because I wanted to know what was going on, but she shook her head and said, “I’ll tell you later. Now go say goodbye to Kristen and Amy, and remember what I said about not mentioning anything.” I started for the elevator, but there was a group of people waiting, so I remembered the service elevator. It’s actually closer to our room, so I took it.

I tried to figure out what was happening on the way to my room. I couldn’t believe that Mom was ill. She was never ill! She didn’t usually even get colds, and why didn’t she want me to tell the girls. It was quiet when I opened the door to our room, so I went into the bedroom. The girls were in bed sound asleep. I stopped for a minute and looked at the two gorgeous girls lying there and my heart went out to both of them. Kristen was on her side with her back to Amy.

I immediately wanted to crawl in beside her and do ‘spoons’. She said that she loved me to do it because it made her feel safe. I loved to do it because it was one of the few times that I felt that I was really protecting this intelligent strong-willed girl. Amy was lying on her back. Her hair was a halo around her head, and the light from the window was accentuating her beautiful face. I was going to wake them and tell them I was leaving, and Amy opened her eyes as I reached for them.

I said, “Hi, heard that you ran into Brandy and...” Amy quickly looked at Kristen and held her finger to her lips, then she got out of bed and I followed her into the living room. She said, “Yes, we talked to them this morning and it looks like you dodged the bullet this time, but Kristen didn’t get much sleep last night, and tonight is going to be a big deal. Some very important people are going to be here.”

“That’s great, but something has come up. Ben has a problem at work, and we have to leave right now. I want to wake her and say goodbye.”

Amy thought for a minute, then she said, “No, she needs to sleep. She’ll be upset when she wakes up and you’re gone, but to tell the truth, she didn’t know how she was going to say goodbye, and she might actually be a little relieved.” I guess I must have looked disappointed, because she quickly said, “But you know that she really loves you, don’t you?”

She was staring up at me, and I could see how tired she was, but she also had kind of wistful look on her face, and my heart suddenly went out to her and I said, “Yes, I know she does, and I like her a lot. Is that okay with you?” It took her a second to realize what I said, then her eyes got wide and she said, “Of course, it’s okay; what made you say that?”

I pulled her against me and said, “Because I love you too, and I don’t want you to forget it.”

She sighed, “Oh, Pete,” and she hugged me back.” We stood that way for a long time, and her eyes were moist when she looked up at me. I said, “I’m really glad that you’re not going on the tour back east with her because I’d miss you like crazy, but why aren’t you?”

Her eyes narrowed for a second, then she looked away and said, “There’s, uhh, too much to do at home, and I don’t want to miss school. But let’s talk about this later, I want to say goodbye to Mom,” and she started toward the door. I followed her next door and Amy grabbed Mom when she opened the door, kissed her, and they talked about Kristen needing to sleep for a minute, then she said, “Have a good time skiing, Mom. Kiss Erin and Dad for me, and I’ll see you next weekend.”

Mom kissed her back and said, “Okay, Sweetheart. Tell Kristen that we’re sorry we couldn’t stay for her performance. You and she have a great time next week and I’ll see you when you get home.” I went back to the room with her and she started to help me pack, but I could see how tired she was, so I gave her a hug and told her to go back to sleep. She mumbled, “See ya next week,” and went back and lay down next to Kristen. I think that she was asleep by the time her head hit the pillow.

Ben and Kate were there when I took my stuff to mom’s room. They called for someone to get the bags, and Mom asked me to go to the lobby and get a cab ready to take us to the airport, so I grabbed the service elevator again and went downstairs. Dolly and Brandy saw me on my way through the lobby, and followed me to the taxi area. Dolly said, “Are you leaving?” after I arranged for one.

“Yeah, something came up at home.”

She said, “Gee, I’ll miss you,” and she started rummaging around in her purse. Brandy said, “I guess we saved your ass with your girlfriend this morning,” while Dolly was doing it.

“Yes, thank you.”

“So, tell me, why didn’t you fuck Nell last night, Hotshot?”

Dolly was scribbling something on a piece of paper and she stopped and said, Shame on you, Brandy,” then she shook her head, finished writing, handed me a folded paper and said, “Give me a call sometime if you ever want to talk.” Brandy laughed out loud, then she said, “And give me a call if you ever want to fuck,” and she laughed some more.

The bags arrived just then. I was helping the porter load them into the taxi when Brandy picked up one of the smaller bags and handed it to me. She leaned close when I reached for it, and whispered, “I’m not finished with you yet, Hotshot.

A man suddenly came up, leaned in close, and said, “Have the taxi go to the side entrance, Mr. Baker. Your people are waiting for you there.” I waved goodbye to Brandy and Dolly, and we drove to the side entrance. Mom, Ben, and Kate were there, and they jumped into the cab. Mom looked at me and said, “How did you get to the taxi?”

“I took the service elevator and walked right there. Why?”

“We were swarmed by photographers, all looking for you when we got off in the lobby. Hotel security came and got us and whisked us through some back rooms and took us to the side entrance.”

“Gee, I didn’t see anyone when I left our room.” Ben said, “That’s because the floors we are on are off-limit to the press.”

The trip to Cantil was quick. I wanted to talk to Mom about what was going on with her and why she didn’t want the girls to know, but it was too noisy to talk in the plane. We were losing altitude for landing when I glanced at Mom. She was frowning and holding her stomach. I said, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I guess we overdid the roller-coaster thing. I must have strained something, but I’ll be fine as soon as I get some rest. Kate had been watching us, and said, “She’ll be okay. We’ll drop you off and be home in a few minutes.”

The airport was deserted except for the construction equipment when we landed. My car was where I left it, and a pickup truck with a small camper on the back was parked alongside. Ben said it belonged to Jesse, a watchman that stayed there on weekends when I pointed it out. He was standing there as we taxied up.

We had just stopped, when I thought that I heard Mom groan, but she seemed fine when I looked at her. Ben kept the engines running, and he said, “We’re going on ahead. We’ll see you at home in an hour or so,” when I got out of the plane. They watched until I opened my car and started it, then they waved and took off. I was waiting for the car to warm up a little, when it suddenly died. I tried to start it again, and all it would do was crank over. Jesse walked over and when we checked things out, it didn’t seem to be getting gas. Jesse said, “It’s either gotta be a blocked fuel line or a bad fuel pump. I don’t have any tools here, and we can’t get any parts until tomorrow. Do you want me to drop you someplace?” He agreed to take me to Kate’s, and a car was parked next to the house when we got there. I knocked, but nobody answered, so I went inside. There was nobody around, so I guessed the car belonged to one of the ranch hands. I called home, but they weren’t there yet, so I left a message. Then I remembered that Kate had a bicycle, so I rode it over to the Torres. Nobody was home, so I decided to go for a ride.

It had been a while since I had ridden a bicycle, and I was enjoying working the kinks out of my legs, when a car drove by going the other direction. I suddenly heard a screech of tires, and the car was making a U-turn when I looked around. A smiling Desi said, “Is that you, Pete?” when it pulled up alongside me. We pulled off the road and She introduced me to the driver. His name was Denny, and he was about my age. She said that he was a friend of hers from school, then quickly added that they were ‘just friends’.

He and I shook hands, then he looked at Desi and said, “Uhh, isn’t he the one that...” She was nodding her head, and I said, “What’s going on?”

She said, “Don’t you know?”

“About what?”

She cocked her head at me, then she reached in the back seat of the car and handed me a newspaper.

Cantil is a small town, but the ‘Cantil Sentinel’ covers a rather large area, because of the farms and ranches, and it’s circulation is impressive. The Sunday edition has a ‘Funnies’ section and also a separate section called ‘Our Town’.

Desi pulled that section out and handed it to me. The whole cover page was a full-color picture of Kristen and me. It was one of the ones that were taken outside her dressing room. She had her arms around me, and we were both smiling. A caption under it said ‘Pete Baker, the gunslinging young man who was instrumental in bringing down the drug lord last summer, is seen in Las Vegas with singing sensation, Kristen Baker, who some of you may remember from the holiday dance at the Grange.’

The inside pages were full of pictures of Kristen, and even one of us kissing outside her dressing room. The article said that, “Ms. Baker refused to respond when she was asked about her relationship with young Mr. Baker. Mr. Baker was not available for comment.” Desi was staring at me When I looked up from the article, and she said, “Well?”

“Well, what?”

“You know damn well what I want to know. Did you two get married?”

I was going to tell her the truth, but I thought it might be kind of fun teasing her, so I said, “Gee, Desi, that’s kind of a personal question. Maybe you better call Kristen and ask her.” What happened next surprised me. She flew out of the car, started swinging her fists at my body, and yelling, “Tell me dammit! Tell me right now!”

A couple of the blows landed and they hurt, so I grabbed her arms and said, “Stop it, little one! It’s only her stage name.” Her face had been full of rage! It suddenly changed to one of relief. She tore away from my grasp and threw her arms around me. She was tightly hugging me, and there were tears streaming down her face when I managed to pull her away a little. I was standing there trying to figure out what to say when Denny stepped forward and said, “Are you okay, Desi?”

She wiped her eyes, and in a shaky voice she said, “I’m uhh, fine. Thanks for taking me for the ride. I’ll go home with Pete.”

He blinked and said, “But he’s on a bicycle.”

“I know, but Pete won’t mind.”

Then she turned to me and in a little voice she said, “You won’t mind, will you, Pete?”

I sighed, shook my head, and said, “No, I won’t mind, little one.”

There was suddenly a sharp pain in my arm, as she hit me and said, “Quit calling me ‘Little one’!”

Denny shrugged, waved at us, got in his car, and drove away.

Desi picked the bike up, said, “Let’s go,” and, she jumped on the crossbar as soon as I got on, and we started towards her house. It was kind of fun riding like this. I hadn’t done it since I got my car, and it brought back fond memories of the years I had spent astride a bicycle.

We were almost back to her house when Mr. Torres’ car passed us, then slowed so that we could catch up. Mrs. Torres rolled her window down, and I could see Mr. Torres and the twins, but Desi said, “Pete’s here for dinner. We’ll see you at home,” before she could say anything. She grinned, waggled her fingers at us, and they drove on.

I told Mr. Torres about the car when we got to their house and he said that he would help me get it fixed. I called mom and told her what happened, and said that I’d be home as soon as the car was ready tomorrow. She said that she was feeling better, then she talked to Mrs. Torres for a few minutes, and I could hear them laughing and joking.

I asked about Della, and Mr. Torres said that she had gone to Palmdale with some friends and would be back late. Then everyone wanted to know what had gone on in Las Vegas. I told them about Kristen’s success, why she was using Baker as a stage name, and how she was using our relationship as a ‘teaser’ to keep the press off-guard.

Mr. Torres insisted that I have a ‘Hair of the dog’ with him when I mentioned that I drank too much beer last night, and we had a great dinner after that. Last night’s events began to catch up with me around nine o’clock, and I started to yawn, so I thanked everybody and told them I’d see them in the morning.

Desi wanted to walk me to Kate’s, but I reminded her that I had the bike. She started to complain, but her mother told her leave me alone because I looked tired. I was going to go to my old room when I got to Kate’s, but the thought of spending the night in Kate’s big bed sounded better, so I went upstairs, stripped to my shorts, and crawled in.

I was tired, but being in this bed, and thoughts of the time I’d spent here with Kate, and more recently with Kristen, and then Della, began to roll through my head. Why did I deserve these wonderful creatures? I tried to think of the times that Kate and I had been here, and I began to remember her smell and taste. I remembered the times she had taken me into her mouth, and how I felt when I looked down and saw the woman I’d had a crush on for as long as I could remember, doing something that I had fantasized about, but never imagined would happen.

I remembered the first time I put my mouth on her wonderful pussy. It was something that the guys at school always talked about, but I suspected that few of them had actually done. I remembered how wonderful I felt when she came. I couldn’t believe how great it made me feel to think that I had caused this response in that beautiful woman. Kate had asked me if I missed her. I did. I missed her a lot, but she’s still a fantasy, and I’m glad that she’s with Ben. I know that I could never be the man she needs or deserves.

It was with some reluctance that I forced myself to think of Kristen. I could almost feel her with me now, and I could picture her standing by these windows after we had made love last week. She’s everything a guy could want. She’s beautiful, rich, has a killer body, and says that she’s in love with me, but something’s missing, and I don’t know what it is.

I can’t help but think of Sam when I think about my life and Kristen’s part in it. The girls are different from each other in both looks and attitudes, but they are similar somehow. They’re both beautiful, strong-willed, intelligent girls, but they approach things in a different manner. Kristen is more assertive, but she’s older, and has traveled in much different circles. Sam seems sweeter, but that was before, and I don’t know what she’s like now that she’s been on her own for a while.

And then there is Amy. Amy is like a ghost. Amy is always in the background no matter who I think of. She never intrudes, she never stands out in any way, but she’s always there. She’s every bit as beautiful as either one, but her beauty is softer and more real somehow. These thoughts and others were running through my head when I heard a car come into the driveway.

I went to a window to see who it was, and I got there just in time to see the driver open the car door for the passenger. It was dark out there but when the car’s interior light went on, I could make out the form of a girl with dark curly hair as she stepped out of the car. The door closed and I couldn’t see more, but they didn’t start for the house right away. I looked closer, and they seemed to be kissing. I tried to think who they could be, but it was just too dark to see. The kiss lasted for quite a while, then they started toward the house.

I threw my pants on, grabbed a shirt, and went to the top of the stairs, but they seemed to have gone into the kitchen, so I quietly went down the steps, and they were standing at the refrigerator with their backs to me when I got to the kitchen door. The one with the curly hair had her arm around the other one’s waist, and it surprisingly was two women! They had taken bottles of beer from the fridge, and they both turned around at once. I was suddenly facing Nicole Fell and Clair Gilroy.

We were all surprised, but Mrs. Fell spoke first. She looked at me standing there, barefoot, with my shirt open, and said, “Well, what have we here! Are you and a friend enjoying a getaway this weekend as well? I thought we had the place to ourselves.”

I stammered, “Uhh, no, I’m alone. I had some car trouble, but it’ll be fixed tomorrow.” They opened the beers and each took a drink.

Mrs. Gilroy had been intently staring at me, and she raised an eyebrow and said, “You ever fucked two women at the same time?” I was shocked and surprised, and I took a moment to answer her, but Mrs. Fell said, “Yes, he has, Dear, and he did a good job of it,” before I could. Mrs. Gilroy swung her head around and said, “How do you know? Have you fucked him too?”

An equally surprised Mrs. Fell said, “What do you mean ‘Too?’ Have you fucked him?”

“Yes! He was the one I was with the night that cunt of a stepdaughter hit me. Plus, he, Vince and I played together one afternoon.” Mrs. Fell turned back to me and grinned, then she said, “Well, isn’t that interesting!

The three of us stared at each other for a minute, then Mrs. Fell took another drink, set her beer down, and pulled Mrs. Gilroy’s to her. She kissed her on the mouth, and Mrs. Gilroy returned the kiss, and pulled Mrs. Fell close to her. The kiss was a sexy one and they began grinding their bodies against each other. Mrs. Fell broke away first, and the grin returned. Then she looked at me and said, Well, what do you think, are you up for some fun tonight?”

I was shocked, and I have to admit that I was intrigued as hell, but I immediately thought of Kristen, and the promise I had made to myself that I would quit thinking with my penis, andMrs. Fell said, “It looks like our friend here is too tired. Why don’t we let him go back to sleep?” as I stood there considering things.

I was suddenly a little resentful. I was going to turn her down, but I wanted ME to be the one who did it. I started to say something, but she just raised an eyebrow and looked at me. I turned and started for the stairs, and I thought that I heard a giggle, but they were both soberly staring at me when I turned back.

I thought to myself that it had been a while since I had been with a woman On the way upstairs. The last one was Lu, and it hadn’t really been satisfying. Kristen was gone, and I didn’t know when, or even if, I’d see her again. I stripped down to my shorts again and I lay on the bed, thinking. Mrs. Fell acts like she knows me from somewhere. She said that I had been with two women, and I have of course, but how did she know? Did Kate or Sylvia say something? Could it possibly have been Della?

I was trying to think of what she meant when I heard footsteps on the stairs. It was dark in the room, but there was enough moonlight that I could see both of them. It suddenly occurred to me that they probably wanted to sleep in this bed, so I said, “Oh, I’m sorry. I’ll take my things and go to another bedroom.”

Mrs. Fell said, “That’s okay, Dear. Stay where you are; you won’t bother us,” and they went into the bathroom. I lay there staring at the light coming from under the door, and the hair on the back of my neck stood up. It was obvious that they were up to something, but what? It could be anything knowing Clair Gilroy, and my cock began to get hard thinking of what it might be.

I didn’t have long to wait. The light went off, and they came out together. Then they went to the window and stood there looking at the foothills with their arms around each other. They were naked, and their bodies were silhouetted by the moonlight, and I was reminded again, how much I love looking a woman’s body. I was fully erect now, and I knew that they were teasing me, but I didn’t care and slipped my shorts off. They heard the bed rustle and they turned toward me. I couldn’t see their faces because the moonlight was behind them, but I knew there was enough light that they could see me, and there was a sharp intake of breath from one of them