Chapter 4

(Fifteen years earlier)

The night he finally told Donna everything about himself and his mother was a milestone for Dex. Until that event, he had been focused on just functioning in the face of his tragedy and his unwarranted guilt. With the ability to share openly with someone who sincerely cared, he gradually changed his focus to building a life in spite of what happened to him. Starting with the spring of his first year at the Ferguson's, he entered into an unbelievable year that would shape the rest of his life. Nothing that happened erased the tragedy, but the foundation of the man he was to become was constructed that year.

One night in April of Dex's Freshman year, Donna came home with the news that she had been asked out by Rick Santee, a senior All-State wide receiver and a forward on the basketball team. As she gushed the news at the table, Dex congratulated her right along with her parents. At ten that night, she was waiting when Dex came downstairs and immediately asked him, "Dex, what's wrong? You don't seem happy about my date with Rick. You never reacted like that about any of my other dates." He was reluctant to dampen her excitement, and tried to assure her how happy he was for her. She was by now too in tune with his moods to buy it, and told him so. "C'mon Dex, out with it. Let's not start hiding things from each other now."

"OK, Donna, but please don't be angry with me. It's just that Rick is a gunslinger."

"A gunslinger? What do you mean by that?"

"I mean his main goal is putting more notches on his gun - getting girls in bed with him."

"Oh, no! That can't be true! He's going to be valedictorian, and he has a football scholarship next year. His dad's one of the top surgeons in town. He dates lots of girls, and he... Oh!"

"How many nice girls have gone on second dates with him?"

"I... I don't know. He's a Senior and I don't have that much contact with him. It's such an honor to be asked by him. All my friends are in shock."

"Donna, don't go out with him. I've been in the locker room and heard his talk. It could be bad for you."

"Dex, I can't turn down Rick Santee, especially after I've said yes. I would be dead forever in that school if I did that. It's not like he's going to rape me or anything."

He just looked at her for quite a while, then asked her to wait. He returned shortly and handed her two twenty dollar bills and two quarters. "What's that for?" she asked him.

"Promise me you will have these on you somewhere you can't lose them. This is for a cab ride home. I don't think you will want to call your Dad for a ride when things go bad."

"What do you mean, when things go bad? Rick won't hurt me! Why are you trying to scare me? Keep your money!" and she threw it at him and stomped up the stairs. The next two nights were the first evenings they had both been home that they had not been together at ten o'clock. Karen and Mike noticed the chill, of course, but both kids assured them it was nothing serious.

For all of his training, Dex could not relax Friday night after Donna left. Karen asked him repeatedly what was wrong, and each time he felt more guilty for withholding his concern from them. He was balancing their trust versus Donna's and he did not know what was right. Finally, concern for her safety won out and he told them why he was worried. Mike went ballistic and was ready to call the cops. It took Karen and Dex a while to get him to see the folly of that move.

Dex begged them to say nothing to Donna if the date turned out alright, and they reluctantly agreed. Then he told them he knew where the party was and asked Mike if they could drive there and wait nearby just in case. Karen was to stay by the phone. He told them about Donna refusing the money for the cab. Mike was in the car almost before Dex finished asking, and the two drove silently the few miles to the party site.

As they sat waiting in the car, they talked, Mike at first angry that Dex had not come to them earlier, then realizing the dilemma the situation had posed. Things had relaxed and they were chatting in their normal fashion when they saw a girl run out of the house. Dex told Mike to stay right there, and his tone was so commanding, Mike didn't consider any other action. Dex bolted from the car, and ran toward the girl, now obviously Donna.

"Donna, did he hurt you?"

"Ohhh, Dex, you were right! It was awful! I am so embarrassed!"

"Donna, did he hurt you?"

"No, no! He tried to get me to go up to a bedroom. When I wouldn't, he started yelling all these terrible things so everyone could hear. All his friends were laughing at me!"

"It's OK now. Your Dad is here in the car and..."

"Whaaat!? Daddy's here? You told him? How could you?"

"I'm sorry Donna. You may hate me forever, but I couldn't let him hurt you."

Mike's strong parental instincts had taken over, and when Donna got in the car, he just hugged her and told her he was sorry she had a bad time. He knew scolding would be totally redundant. He was about to shift into gear and drive home when Dex stopped him, asked him to wait, and darted back toward the house.

Rick Santee was pissed. That stupid cocktease had gotten under his skin. He really liked her looks, and she was a good dancer. He thought everything was on track until she wouldn't go upstairs with him. How could she dare refuse? Even Junior chicks should know what's expected. Then she goes and runs out of the house crying! Well, maybe it wasn't so cool to yell after her like that. He decided to step outside and see where she was. He had just gone down the first porch step when his arm was jerked up behind his shoulder blade and his thumb twisted back excruciatingly. Before he could even scream, a hand was clamped over his mouth and he was dragged stumbling around the corner of the house into a clump of tall shrubs. A voice told him, "Rick, I'm taking my hand away and easing the pressure. If you yell, it will be worse. Got it?"

"Dex, is that you? What the hell do you think you are doing?"

"Giving you a chance to act like a man."

"What kind of shit is that? What are you doing here, anyway?"

"Watching out for my cousin. I knew you would hurt her."

"Your cousin? You mean Donna? Hey, man, I didn't touch her."

"How'd you get to be a Senior and not know shit about women? You hurt her just as badly with your foul mouth. Especially in front of all your friends."

"Awww, what's the big deal? She'll get over it."

"But you might not."

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean? You'd better let go of me right now and get out of here while you've got a chance. Just 'cause you got a lucky jump on me doesn't mean I can't still beat your brains out... Aaaaagh!"

"Get this straight, Rick! You're not in charge here. I am. Lucky jump, huh? Okay." Dex released the taller boy and turned him so they were face to face. "Now, are you all on guard so I can't get another lucky jump on you?"

"Man, I oughta... Aaaagh!" Seemingly without movement, Dex had Rick pinned again, this time with his weight poised to drop on Rick's extended knee. "Ahhh, man, you're crazy!!"

"No, but you're an arrogant prick who should be castrated. But I'm going to give you a chance. Do you have any doubt I could end your football career right now?"

"No, no, don't do that. Christ, all I did was yell at the little cocktease, it's no reason to... Ow, ow, ow! OK, OK. You can ruin me. Jesus, that hurts!"

"Do you have any doubt I could do this again any time I wanted to?"

"N... no!"

"Good, then here is what is going to happen. I am going to give you some orders, and you are not going to say a word. I will keep the pressure on your knee to make sure. When I am done, you will have a choice whether to be a man or a cripple. Got it? Good!"

"First, you are going to walk down to that Pontiac and rap on the driver's window. Then you are going to apologize to Mike Ferguson, Donna's father, for your crude treatment of her." Rick started to object, but Dex increased the pressure, causing a loud groan.

"Next, you are going to ask permission to apologize to his daughter and take her to dinner to make up for your behavior. You will at least be allowed to apologize to Donna. You had better do this right, because I will know how you did."

"You are going to take Donna to dinner at the Gaslight next week, whether Mike gives you permission right now or not. You will keep asking until you get permission and you will accept whatever conditions are put on you. At dinner you will find out everything possible about Donna, her family, and her life. I will quiz you afterward to make sure."

"On Monday, you will bring flowers to Donna at lunch in the cafeteria and apologize in front of her friends." Rick was almost thrashing around in anger and frustration at this point, but Dex increased the pressure whenever he moved too much.

"Last but not least, you are never to tell anyone I was even here tonight. Now, are you going to be just a gimpy student next fall, or are you going to be a man?" Rick started to protest more loudly than ever, but ended up groaning with the pain. He angrily spat out his acquiescence.

Dex released Rick all at once without warning, and moved between him and the porch. Rick stood and waited for the pain in his knee to ease, then looked toward the front door, only to see Dex in his path. He stood motionless for many seconds, then his shoulders slumped and he started walking toward Mike's car. The speedy wide receiver who could do a 4.4 second 40 seemed to take a day and a half to reach the car thirty yards away.

Dex could not hear the conversation between Rick and Mike, but it went on quite a while. Mike was not prone to histrionics, so everything looked polite and civilized from a distance. Eventually, Rick walked around and opened the passenger side door and knelt on the running board. This conversation was much shorter, and he was soon walking back toward the party.

Wanting to at least try to hide his involvement, Dex slipped between houses and circled to come from behind the car. As he slid into the back seat, Donna dove between the front buckets and wrapped him in a big hug. "What was that for? Last I saw you, you were a puddle of tears!"

"Who do you think you're fooling, John Dexter Madison? What did you do to him, anyway?"

"Oh, just a friendly talk between teamates."

"Oh, sure! Well, whatever you did, he's taking me to the Gaslight to apologize."

"So he's forgiven, then?"

"Of course not! I would prefer never to set eyes on him again. I'm doing it to punish him."

"Won't hurt your social standing either, will it?" At this, she pounded on his chest in mock anger while Mike laughed. "Seriously, it is very important never to mention that either your Dad or I was here tonight. Can you keep that quiet?"

"Why should I? It would serve him right for everyone to know a Freshman showed him up!"

"But it wouldn't be good for you, would it?"

"Ohhhh, I see what you mean. My lips are sealed."

Back at home, everyone played it very cool and said nothing about the incident. Dex was sound asleep when Donna slid into bed next to him. He jerked awake and objected. She hushed him and told him she needed to feel safe that night and this was her safest place. They fell asleep cuddled together. He woke for his early workout and carried her up two levels to her own bed. She roused only enough to emit a contented hum.

While the two teens slept affectionately in Dex's basement room, Mike was not doing so well. After three hours of fitful naps and much tossing and turning, he went to the kitchen and poured a glass of orange juice. He was hunched over the table staring at his half-empty glass when Karen came up behind him. She said nothing, but pressed herself against his back, reached around him and stuck both hand into the front of his boxers. As she fondled his limp member, he finally spoke. "Hon, I'm afraid I'm not exactly horny right now."

"Ooooh! That bad, huh? Well, Lover, I consider that an intolerable situation." With surprising ease, she turned his chair around and knelt in front of him. Opening his shorts, she went to work on him, firmly shushing his half-hearted protest. Using both hands and her mouth, even his current funk was no match for her skillful and energetic arousal efforts. In a short time, she had him fully inflated, and declared, "Now you're horny!" She stood and pulled her short nighty over her head, leaving her naked. Straddling his lap, she sat right down on his cock and worked her way down. When fully impaled, she pulled his head between her breasts, started a gentle rocking motion, and said simply, "Talk!"

"Uh, what if the kids... ?"

"No! Not about that! I want to know what's got you thrashing around in bed like a beached whale."

"Oh, I don't know. I guess tonight was a jolting reminder that having a daughter is different. I can't get out of my mind what could have happened to her. Somehow, with the boys, I had confidence they could take care of themselves."

"Don't you think Donna can?"

"Well, I always thought so, but after tonight... I mean, Rick seems like every parent's dream date for their daughter."

"Honey, Donna was not in any real danger. She would not let Rick do anything she didn't want, and I'm sure Rick would not force her."

"Yeah, but you should have seen her when she got in the car. It about tore my heart out."

At those words, Karen literally crushed his head to herself and started bouncing vigorously up and down on him. Carried along by her energy, he began stroking and kneading her hips and her ass and returning her thrusts. It was barely two minutes before he erupted into her, his groans muffled in her cleavage.

"God! What brought that on?"

"The kind of love you showed is just damn sexy. I couldn't help myself."

"But you didn't have a chance to come."

"What makes you think I'm done with you?" She pulled back and kissed him fervently.

"Maybe we should get back in bed. I'm worried about the kids."

"I know for a fact they will not bother us. Donna is downstairs in Dex's bed."

"She's what!!?"

"Don't worry. They won't have sex."

"How do you know?"

"Donna promised she would let me know, first. I believe her."

"Even so, there's a lot of other things they could do that they shouldn't."

"Why shouldn't they?"

"Karen, you mean you don't mind your daughter doing who knows what with her younger cousin?"

"Younger, hah! Haven't you noticed that Dex is now her big brother? There is a very unusual bond between those two. You know, it won't be long before Donna is having sex."

"And that's OK with you?"

"I don't think at her age and her level of maturity it is up to us to decide if it is OK. It's going to happen. We can only hope to make it a safe and happy occurrence. Haven't you noticed how much she has changed since Dex arrived. She has more confidence and composure than most women I know."

"But she's still only seventeen."

"That's a fluke of the calendar. Haven't you noticed how nicely her hips have flared out, and how her cute little girl's butt is now a sexy woman's ass? Haven't you seen how long and smooth her legs are, and how graceful she looks when she walks. And those B cup bras I bought her not too long ago - they hold her in, but there's a lot slopping over."

"Honey, why are you telling me this? I... ?"

"Hah! I knew talking about your sexy daughter would get you hard again!" With that, she began moving against his renewed stiffness. Momentarily ashamed of his reaction, he soon got into the spirit, deciding that this time, she would get hers, too.

"You are a shameless hussy!" he growled as he searched out her clit with one hand, and used the other hand and his mouth to assault her nipples.

"Look who's talking, you lecher," she giggled.

They quickly got into a vigorous rhythm with her bracing her hands on his shoulders to hold them in place. After a couple of minutes, the chair was fairly dancing on the floor. He had only a faint thought of the noise carrying downstairs where the kids were sleeping. With the remains of his first ejaculation, the friction was reduced so he was confident of getting her off first.

As the intensity moved toward climax, he had to drop the hand from her nipple to grab around her waist. The bouncing motions had become so violent he was in danger of becoming unsheathed. Both of them were getting a little weary when Karen finally went over. As usually happened, the convulsing of her pussy and the sheer eroticism of her orgasm drove him to completion. Afraid of waking the kids, she planted her mouth at his neck, and actually bit down to keep herself quiet. The mild pain was the final push for him.

After two comes in a short time, he was completely depleted, tender, and quickly flaccid. There was quite a puddle running down between them. Still, neither was anxious to move, basking in the afterglow.

"Hey, Stud. Think you can sleep, now?"

"Almost am."

"Not worried about Donna anymore?"

"Huh, uh?"

"Gonna let her become a woman at her own pace?"

"If you say so, Hon."

"Gonna help her get there?" He found the energy to deliver a sharp smack on her ass, and they both revived enough for a playful chase up the stairs, Mike holding up his unfastened boxers.

Being the first up on the weekend morning, Dex emptied and rinsed the glass of juice, and mopped up the mess from the chair and the floor. Laughing to himself, he hung Karen's discarded nighty on the doorknob of their bedroom.

Dex had said nothing about the flowers in the cafeteria, so Donna was completely shocked. Of course, they could not be left to wilt in her locker, so she carried them with her the rest of the day. The school barely stopped buzzing about the event by graduation.

At dinner at the Gaslight, Rick actually talked to Donna, asking her numerous questions. She had dressed up and looked absolutely stunning. Rick asked Donna out several times more that spring and summer, but she flatly refused. It was no loss to her because she now had a steady stream of prospective dates, so many in fact that Karen joked about being nothing but a social secretary. Donna was still very selective and did not go out often, and then only after the boy had Dex's approval.

During the final week of school, Rick stopped by the practice field where Dex was preparing for a meet with the track team. Not knowing what to expect, Dex walked over to him. "Dex, that stuff you said about me that night at the party - did you mean that? Is that what people really think about me?"

"You already know or you wouldn't be asking."

Rick looked glumly at the ground. "How come Donna went to the Gaslight with me, but won't go out again?"

"Shit, man, you really are clueless! Ask your mother!" With that, Dex turned and walked away.

Dex had managed to land a summer job, and had, in fact, started working in early May. He had gone out for track, mainly to help his conditioning, so his time was scheduled very tightly the last month of school.

One evening, Dex was leaving work after closing up at 9:30, when a white Cadillac pulled up alongside him and a woman spoke to him from the driver's seat. She identified herself as Margo Santee, and asked if she could buy him a Coke. Intrigued and seeing no reason for suspicion, Dex agreed. Once seated in a nearby fast food joint, she asked simply, "Dex, what happened that night at the party?"

He didn't respond for quite a while, just looked her straight in the eye. "Mrs. Santee, if something happened with Rick that night, he should be the one to tell you. I really can't."

She nodded and went on to tell him, "This is what I do know. At the party he treated your cousin Donna very badly. I have found out exactly what he said to her and how he embarrassed her in front of the whole group. I am ashamed of his behavior. I also know that afterward he did some things that were totally out of character for him. Something forced him to do those things, and I can only conclude it was you."

"Maybe he just had a change of heart."

"Surrrre! That must be it! Hey, I may have no control over my son, but I do know him rather well. The only way to give him a change of heart is with a hammer. No, you did something to him."

"You're a good detective, Mrs. Santee, but why does it matter what happened?"

"I thought maybe it was something I could use in dealing with Rick."

"'Fraid I can't help you there. There must be a bigger reason you wanted to see me."

"Guess my subtlety isn't in great form tonight. In the last month, I have had three conversations with Rick where I felt like an actual parent, rather than an ineffective jailer. He is totally frustrated by your cousin Donna."

"How's that?"

"She's apparently the first girl to turn him down."

"No, I don't think that's true."

"Oh?"

"The word is no nice girl ever goes out with him a second time."

"But Donna did."

"That was payback."

"Ah! She only went to restore her social standing."

"Something like that."

"And it wouldn't be good for her if everyone knew her cousin forced him to do it."

After a pause, he told her firmly, "No, I won't do it."

"Shit! So I'm transparent, too, huh?"

"I wouldn't say that. It took me a while to figure it out."

"Look, Rick is a good kid. He studies hard, he practices hard, and he has never been in any trouble."

"But he treats girls like dirt."

"Donna could help cure him of that."

"That's not her job. She is supposed to be having fun on her dates. I believe that's your job."

A flash of anger crossed Margo's face. She obviously did not like being lectured by a fifteen-year-old. When she had her control back she told Dex, "But just think of what she is missing out on."

Now it was Dex' turn to be angry, but his control prevented it from showing. "Mrs. Santee, I have already said things that are disrespectful to you. Before I say any more, I had better go home. Thank you for the Coke."

"No, wait! Tell me what you were going to say. Please. I won't consider it disrespectful."

"Okay, you asked me to. Don't you wish you had missed out on all that stuff?"

"Shit! How did you get so damn smart?"

"Maybe you're not as good a detective as I thought, Mrs. Santee."

Dex was not even mildly surprised when the Cadillac appeared the next night he closed. This time, he just climbed right in. Instead of a fast food joint, Margo pulled to the far end of the parking lot. "I've been doing some more detective work, Dex."

"Not a pleasant discovery, was it."

"I'm truly sorry. I had no idea."

"I'm afraid you still don't. What you could read doesn't tell the story."

"Why don't you tell me about it?"

"No. Only one person knows the whole story. I would rather keep it that way."

"Donna, right? That means you too are very close, doesn't it?"

"Mmm hmmm."

"So in a way, Rick has to compete with you."

"She's my cousin, but more like a sister. Of course, I never had a sister, so I don't know for sure."

"But she's older, and you're watching out for her!"

"It goes both ways. Isn't that how it's supposed to work?"

"Could I meet Donna?"

"I'm not in charge of who she sees?"

"Excpept for her dates, you mean?"

"I give her my opinion, but she doesn't always take it."

"Like that party with Rick?"

"Yeah, like that."

"You were there watching out for her, weren't you?" He said nothing. "Does she screen your dates, too."

"There aren't any to screen." She looked about to comment, but held back.

"Why are you against her going out with Rick? He wouldn't mistreat her again."

"He's still a gunslinger, and she would be just another notch. Besides, she is the one saying no. I have said nothing about Rick since that night. I do not even know how many times he has asked her. Look, as far as I know, Donna is a virgin. When she gives it up, I hope it's to a guy who realizes the treasure he has received, not one who will brag about it in the locker room and move on to the next."