Chapter 20

Cal arrived back home just as Rebecca was coming in. They chatted briefly with their parents, and as they headed up the stairs, Rebecca grabbed his arm. "Can I sleep with you again tonight?"

Just about to say that Cheryl was already there, Cal caught himself. This chance with his sister was too precious to miss. Yet Cheryl needed him badly, too. Giving Rebecca a quick kiss on the cheek, he hurried off to see what he could do.

When Rebecca came into Cal's room a while later, she did not notice Cheryl on the other side of Cal until she was right up to the bed. Cal had awakened Cheryl and warned her of the coming squeeze, so when Cal jumped up and hugged Rebecca to prevent her from leaving the room, Cheryl held up the covers for the two of them to get back in bed. Rebecca resisted, but Cal pulled her forcefully in with him. When Cheryl reached across Cal to stroke Rebecca's hair, Rebecca gave in and relaxed against her brother.

"I wish there was room here for Tessa. And Bobby, too," Cheryl lamented. "I just need you guys so much!" Cal proceeded to tell Rebecca about the day's happenings with Cheryl's parents.

That triggered Rebecca, and she started to tell about her plans to make love with Bobby. "Wait, Sis. If this is tell all time, Tessa should be here, too."

"But your bed is already full!"

"Just call her. We'll work it out."

By the time Tessa arrived, the two queen beds in Rebecca's room were pushed together. A little later, Cal mused that he now knew what a pajama party was like. From sadness and need, the mood quickly changed. Rebecca was cajoled into starting again and telling about her plans with Bobby. When she recounted her conversation with Bobby's mother, the girls all squealed with glee.

When the three friends got going strong, Cal managed to sneak out and make some popcorn. That boosted the spirits even more. Cheryl had slept for a few hours already. Rebecca was so high emotionally that sleep would have been difficult anyway. Tessa was never one to worry about sleep if there was talking to be done.

Thus it was that Cal found himself waking up alone in the improvised bed some time later. He was about to get up and find out what was going on when all three girls came back into the room. Feigning sleep, he let them arrange themselves the best they could, and soon they were all asleep in a disorderly but loving pile of bodies.

Two consecutive mornings of skipped workouts had not happened since Cal's wound, but it happened that Sunday morning. Cheryl was much less stressed in the morning, and Rebecca's glow overshadowed her massive bruises. By the time the others made their way downstairs after showering, she was already at the hospital.

By means of one of those strictly female signals that Cal knew he would never be able to decipher, Tessa decided that she really should get home. She and Cal had a shoot that afternoon, and she claimed some remaining homework.

Tessa was no sooner out the door than Cheryl was towing Cal up the stairs, her reason crystal clear. The depression of the day before was overwhelmed by her natural energy and optimism, and absorbed by the love of her close friends. Now she was horny.

"It's about time I gave YOU a massage, don't you think?" He decided thinking or responding in any way was not necessary when she pushed down his shorts and began stroking him. If that was what she meant by a massage, he was all for it.

Cheryl was at least semi-serious about the massage, though. She finished undressing him, but just before putting him down on his stomach, she wrapped a clean washrag around his cock. "Don't want you lying there in a mess," she said mischievously.

Lying with a rock-hard erection pressed upward against his belly was not the most comfortable position Cal had ever been in, but Cheryl's plan soon became obvious. She actually worked his back and shoulder muscles, but every little while, she would grab his hips and move them back and forth or use them as handles to move his whole body slightly up and down. Naturally, every such motion caused his cock to rub against the coarse material of the rag, adding to his already high arousal.

After she paused and moved around a bit, Cal felt first some soft hair against the back of one thigh, then warmth, then heat, then wetness. At about that time, she leaned over him and slid a hand underneath to grasp his rag-enclosed cock. Her other hand went between his legs and she began rubbing her finger along the sensitive area behind his scrotum.

With his weight over her hand, she could not really stroke his cock, but she started squeezing rythmically, in time with her other hand. She rested her head on his back and kissed and licked the skin. Cal did not know he had an erogenous zone there, but it did seem like his whole body had turned into one all of a sudden. He did not know she had taken off her top until he felt her diamond-cutter nipple tracing over his back.

All of the sensations added up to a charge running up and down through his whole body. When she started whispering dirty thoughts, it was too much and he almost bounced her off of his leg with the strength of his convulsions. "That's what the rag is for," she cooed. "I knew you'd fill it up for me. Now, let's do your front."

When she said that and grabbed his arm to roll him over, he was still twitching out small spurts of come. With her determination and his exhaustion, she had him on his back in nothing flat.

She knelt beside him and almost reverently wiped off his tender glans with the rag. But then the reverence ended, just as it had so often with Teri. What was it with these women who wanted his cock just when it wanted to be left alone.

He was still rigid, and she crouched over him and lowered her very slippery cunt right down onto him. His first impulse was to scream and throw her off of himself because he was so sensitive. But he remembered how he had survived many such times with Teri and enjoyed tremendous feelings afterward. She probably saw the struggle in his face, but his hands holding her hips down stopped her from pulling off.

Instead of starting an up and down motion, she started massaging his shoulders and chest. "This is the way to massage the front," she declared. He had to agree since her relative stillness gave his body time to redirect blood back to his shaft, thus reducing the extreme sensitivity he always experienced.

Although he was not analyzing her actions at the time, he later figured out that she knew exactly how sensitive he was. She must have assumed that a little pain would make the intercourse even better. After the fact, he was hard-pressed to argue with her.

Being considerate, he reached one hand up to tease her super-sensitive nipple, and slid the other thumb down over her clit. "Huh, uh!" she scolded him. "This time is for you. If you can do it without my clit, fine. Otherwise, just lie there and take it."

Now, that was a challenge he could not pass up. Once the sensitivity was gone, he knew he could stroke for quite a while, and he knew another way to work her clit. Grabbing her arms, he pulled her down atop himself and began pushing and pulling her back and forth. He knew her clit would bump into his root when he pushed her back, and her noises and twitches told him that he was right.

When he started moving his pelvis laterally and in circles when their pubic bones contacted, the evidence of her arousal increased. When he was sure there was no way she would stop the motion, he re-aquired one nipple and increased his own thrusts and wriggles from below her.

He was half-expecting it when she soared into a major orgasm, then broke into long, wrenching sobs as she came down. The overflow of emotions kept her writhing for a long time, even as she sobbed. The climax seemed like the destruction of a dam with which she had held in months of anger, shame, fear, and regret. She had cried the night before, but nothing like this.

Cal had just put one hand behind her head to pull her close and had just starting comforting strokes on her back and shoulders when it happened. The only way he could describe it was that Cheryl went crazy.

Having not come since being inside her, Cal was still very hard. Almost as if someone had flipped a switch, she started pumping vigorously back and forth, her chest against his and her turgid nipples rubbing against him. Right away, she started moaning, gasping, and muttering unintelligibly. Soon, every part of her body seemed to be in motion: kicking, pounding, jerking, writhing, plunging.

Cal had never seen anything like it, and he feared for her safety. He also feared for his own safety because of the violent way she was pounding against his cock. He was about to roll over and pull out of her when she roared into another orgasm. This one was accompanied by a high-pitched keening sound, but her frantic motions did not stop. If anything, they increased. Cal had the brief thought that he was glad that his parents had already left for their usual brunch.

The orgasms were the whole point of her fit, if that's what it was, Cal decided. And if she needed them, he would do what he could do help her get more. Both to protect himself and to make sure he did not pop out of her in her violent motions, he took hold of her hips for all he was worth.

It took all of his strength to guide her motions. He was working so hard that coming himself was not even a consideration. It was not a very erotic episode as far as Cal was concerned, but it seemed to be what Cheryl desperately needed.

With Cal's guidance and her keyed up state, the orgasms began to chase each other in a non-stop stream. Cal did not try to count them. There was no way to tell a single come from the one before it or the one after it. Time also became indistinct. It probably was somewhere between five and ten minutes before Cheryl stiffened one last time and passed out.

Carefully holding her head as he rolled them over, Cal pulled out of her. He could already feel the bruising of his pubic bone and his penis felt like it had been rubbed raw. He could not imagine how Cheryl would feel when she woke up.

As with all of the homes in the affluent neighborhood, there was a hot tub on the patio. It was a long way to carry Cheryl, who did not weigh a lot less than Cal. Still, it seemed like the ideal place for a gentle recovery. They were both drenched in sweat and the smell of sex was overpowering. The hot tub was just what they needed.

Picking up her totally limp body and bracing her as best he could over his shoulder, Cal started down the hall. He hoped that she would rouse so she was not quite such a dead weight, but he had to kick back the hot tub cover with his foot and step shakily down into the water as she stayed in her unconscious state. He tried to find a place to brace her where she would not fall over, but ended up having to sit with her to keep her face out of the water. He had no chance to finish removing the cover and he could not even reach the controls.

Cheryl's return to wakefulness was almost as remarkable as her recent emotional seizure had been. She just opened her eyes, smiled at Cal, hugged herself to him with all her might, and mouthed "No more Greg! No more Greg! No more Greg!" She did not ask where she was; she did not even look around to check out her surroundings.

A few minutes later, she released her death grip on him and sat beside him, but she still did not seem to care where she was. "Do you think there is a chance of patching things up with my folks?"

The night before, she had slept through Cal's return trip to her house, and he had not mentioned it when he returned. It did not seem to fit the loving mood that developed between the four of them. Now, he replayed his visit with the Carsons in as much detail as he could. At the end, she was teary when she said "Thank you for doing that. I couldn't have done it without getting hysterical. I hope it helps. I really do want a family."

As Cal was going off to a shoot that Sunday after his intense session with Cheryl, Genevieve Overland was facing a far more stressful encounter.

Greg's knee had been stabilized with braces, and he was now waiting for the swelling to recede enough for the first surgery to be performed. Everything was set up in his suite at home and a nurse had been hired to care for him. Rebecca had scratched his cornea and he had a patch over his eye to let it heal. He had talked very little since the attack, and when he did, the bruising of his larynx made it sound raspy. If his testicles still hurt, there was no way for Genevieve to know that.

Besides the pain, this had been the most humiliating weekend of Greg's life. The police had insisted that he report for booking whenever he left the hospital, and all of Brandon's legal maneuvers could not dissuade them. Thus, Greg's booking photo showed him with an eye patch, visible facial scratches, and one handle of a wheelchair showing over his shoulder.

Greg's alcohol haze from the party had been largely erased by the excruciating pain of his mangled knee, only to be quickly replaced by the blessed fog of painkillers. Since sometime Friday afternoon, nothing that had happened to him seemed quite clear, and none of it seemed real.

He would not be playing football that season, and might never play again. That fact hovered somewhere at the edge of his consciousness, but it seemed like it only affected someone else. It could not have been him that the nerd girl and her nerd brother trashed. That just was not possible.

Despite the extra dose of painkiller, the trip to the limo from his hospital room had left him sweating from the pain. And the police station... there was just no connection between that and reality.

Genevieve, just by luck, timed her entrance into Greg's suite perfectly. He had just slammed down the phone with a curse and he looked up angrily at his grandmother. "Trying to reach Cheryl?" she asked. He just grunted in reply.

"Why do you think she would want to talk to you?" Genevieve prodded.

"She's my girl. It's not my fault that nerd bitch wouldn't..."

"It absolutely is your fault!!" Genevieve shouted, as loudly as Greg had ever heard her. "What is wrong with you, anyway, that you have to try a rape some innocent girl that was not bothering you at all?"

"Innocent? Hah!" The old arrogance was there, but he could not generate any fire.

"As of Friday night, she was still a virgin," Genevieve stated.

"See, her wimp boyfriend doesn't deserve her! She needed me to take care of that problem," he sneered.

"Is that how you really think? That you can just do whatever you want, with no consequences?" she demanded.

"Well, what's the big deal? That's how Mom and Dad think. And you."

Somewhat taken aback, Genevieve recovered to say "At least we don't break the law."

"You mean you believe their story and not mine?" Greg asked, trying his best to look angry.

"Your half-killing that boy makes theirs pretty credible," she said, "and your skin under her fingernails. My lawyers have examined everything. You are in a lot of trouble. The DA has open and shut cases on assault and attempted rape. How could you do this to the family?" At the last question, her voice had risen to a shout again.

"Fuck the family!!" he tried to scream at her. "There," and he pointed to his knee, "goes my football career!! Just 'cuz some nerd bitch thought her pussy was so damned special. And because her crazy ninja brother has had it in for me. I oughta fuckin' break his neck."

Greg had rarely used such language in the presence of any of his family and Genevieve was about to light into him full force. She held back in time, though, realizing that shouting matches were not her best venue.

"What would you have done if someone was trying to rape Cassandra?"

With a big snort, he laughed. "Cheered! Little twat needs it bad."

"All right. What about if it was Cecily, then?" That froze Greg in place.

By then, Genevieve realized that she was neither going to sway Greg's opinion or cause him to reform by anything she said. It was all just delaying the inevitable. She believed that Cheryl would somehow get the word to him, and Genevieve could not stand that. As bad as it was to have to reveal here own perfidy, it would be so much worse if the young hussy told him.

"I suggest you forget Cheryl. You won't be seeing her again."

"Why not? She knows I've been with other girls before. It didn't stop her."

"Well, it's final now. I won't pay her any more," Genevieve stated with some satisfaction at his completely confused expression.

"You won't what?" Greg again tried to shout.

"I won't pay her any more. I've been paying her huge amounts of money to be with you for the last eighteen months."

"Riiiiggght! Very funny! She's hot for me!"

"No. She detests you."

"Bullshit!!"

"She was ready to break up with you a year ago Memorial Day. I caught her going out the door and made her an offer she could not refuse. She wants to go to medical school, you know." Genevieve was thankful that she could leave out the details of her battles with Cheryl over the many months.

"But... but she was with me all the time!" Greg protested.

"That was her job: to keep you out of trouble. Until now, she was remarkably successful."

"You mean... you mean... those times I swore at her and told her she wasn't my mummy: she really was, because you paid her to be?"

"That's right. Now, before you go yelling and screaming at me, it is my job to protect the family..."

"Fuck the family!" he screamed.

"That is precisely what you have been trying to do for the last few years. Cheryl helped stall it off, but you have finally succeeded."

"I don't believe a damn word of this," Greg spat out. When Genevieve just shrugged her shoulders, he went on. "But she's a damned wildcat in bed!"

"I do not like Cheryl, but I have to respect her. She took her job very seriously and worked very hard at it. She worked hard at being a good sex partner. That was one way she held onto you."

"Well, I guess I taught her a lot." he stated in an obvious attempt to salvage some ego.

Genevieve knew that she should leave at that point. Saying anything more would not be productive. But the damned pup had put them all in a bad spot, and she was just plain angry. 'Screw him' she thought, in her closest approach to crudity.

"No. Apparently, you learned almost nothing from her," Genevieve said, plunging in with both feet.

"What the fuck does that mean?"

"That means that she considers you a very selfish, inept lover."

"Stupid bitch! What does she know anyway?"

"Well, I checked with Cecily, and she verified how you perform in bed. It does seem pretty amateurish. Why do you think she cut you off?" Genevieve had debated briefly using the Cecily card, but at this point she was aiming her full arsenal at her grandson. He deserved it.

When Greg was silent for nearly a whole minute, Genevieve got up and walked out. She saw no need to encourage Greg to keep the Cheryl arrangement secret. It was about the last thing he would care to divulge to anyone.

Shortly after Genevieve's session with Greg, the family doctor, ever on duty for his premier patients, called with more disturbing news about Greg. Blood tests done as a matter of course in any situation involving rape showed that he was infected with both chlamydia and genital herpes.

Having no appreciation for the seriousness of either disease, Penelope, to whom the report was given, tore into Greg's suite in a near panic. "Greg! Where did you get chlam... chlam something and... and herpes? Who gave them to you? My God! What's going to happen to you?"

"God! Settle down, Mother. They're not fatal, you know. I kinda suspected something. Shit! I don't need this!"

"But who gave it to you? Was it that Cheryl?" Greg just stared at her without answering. Penelope tried several more times to engage her son in conversation, but he just clammed up.

Not knowing about the most recent news, Genevieve called Penelope and Brandon to her apartment, the place where all momentous family decisions were made. Penelope was taking Greg's injuries very hard, further convincing Genevieve of her daughter-in-law's unholy attraction to the boy. They were hardly gathered when Penelope blurted it out.

"Greg caught chlamydia and genital herpes somewhere. I'll bet it was that Cheryl girl. Can we sue her? I knew she was trouble!"

"Penelope, I am positive Greg did not catch anything from Miss Carson."

"How could you know that?"

"She always made Greg wear a condom. She wants to be a doctor and is very conscious of diseases. It was the only time Greg wore condoms, so he could have caught it anywhere else."

"How can you know all of this? You can't just take her word for it," Penelope almost screamed. "Who else could he have been with?"

With a resigned sigh, Genevieve revealed what she had never planned to tell. "I have had Greg followed for over two years. I know of at least eleven girls besides Miss Carson that he has had sex with. Unfortunately, there were some gaps when he was at football camp this summer. It probably happened there."

"I still think we should sue her!"

"Do you want it public knowledge that he is infected? Think of how that will sound to a jury."

"Jury? Why would Greg ever have to face a jury?" Penelope demanded.

"He is charged with assault and attempted rape. We need to strategize how to keep him out of jail," Genevieve declared.

"WHAAT?!?" Penelope shouted. "How can you believe he would do that?"

"Penelope," Genevieve answered, trying to be gentle, "the evidence is overwhelming."

"I don't believe it," Penelope asserted, sounding almost like a petulant child. In a more subdued voice, she asked "How could that Banner boy do so much damage? Greg is so much bigger. Chad, too."

"The Banner boy could have very easily killed both of them," Genevieve informed them to a huge gasp fron Penelope. "He is highly trained in martial arts."

"Then isn't it a felony if he attacks someone?" Brandon asked hopefully.

"This was in defense of his sister, and Greg attacked him. If Greg had just backed off, nothing would have happened."

"How can you believe what they're saying about your own grandson?" Penelope asked, almost in tears.

"Someone in this family has to deal with facts," Genevieve answered, not trying to disguise the bite of her words. "Enough of this. We need to develop a plan that will allow us to negotiate Greg out of jail."

"Jail! But that boy put him in the hospital! Why should he go to jail."

"The charges are assault and attempted rape, woman! That means jail! Whether you believe it or not, we have to have a plan."

Late that evening, Genevieve Overland was having a rare struggle with her conscience. The thought of Cheryl catching the diseases from Greg despite the condoms gave her some perverse satisfaction. On the other hand, she remembered Cheryl's concern over Greg's use of steroids. Also, the way Cheryl's friends had extracted Greg from the potentially damaging New Year's Eve party. All that despite how Cheryl detested Greg.

It had been a terrible thing for Cheryl to threaten to tell Greg about the contract, but Genevieve had to admit that she had brought it on herself. Did the girl deserve to be punished by being infected? Punished for what? For facing down Genevieve? For outsmarting her repeatedly? For working hard and honestly to do what she was paid for?

In all of the rest of Genevieve's dealings with Cheryl, anything was fair. But the girl's health? Hardly believing that she was doing it, Genevieve dialed the Banner home at 11:15 pm.

Rebecca answered the phone in her room. "This is Genevieve Overland," the voice said. "I doubt if Miss Carson will want to speak to me, but please tell her this could be important to her health."

Wide-eyed with disbelief and concern, Rebecca hurried to fetch Cheryl. As soon as Cheryl identified herself, Genevieve started right in. "I know you always used protection with Greg, but I thought you should know. He has chlamydia and genital herpes. You probably should get tested. Good night, Miss Carson."

There was no chance for Cheryl to even say 'Thank you', and that was how Genevieve wanted it. She had assuaged the loudest voice of her conscience. That did not prevent her from hoping that she had at least ruined the night's sleep for the girl.

Cheryl's sleep was indeed very troubled that night. Her tests did prove out negative, but she was left with the concern that she might never really by free of Greg.

It probably would not have changed what Cal did if he had known the legal melee that would ensue. Oh, he might not have permanently crippled Greg. Then again, it was the only way to make sure he was severely punished. Legal? Doubtful. Fair? In Cal's mind, absolutely.

Somehow, Greg and Chad had gotten together and concocted their version of the story. According to the two, Bobby had become enraged when Rebecca decided that she wanted to go and have sex with Greg. He had shaken her and slugged her, explaining the huge bruises on her arms and on her cheek. In retaliation, Greg and Chad had roughed him up. In the fight, Bobby had scratched Greg's face - just like a girl, they both pointed out. They did not deny the beating. They also said that Rebecca wanted sex with Greg, and wanted to do the others afterwards. Cal had been furious and had attacked Chad and Greg before they could explain what had happened.

Brandon initiated a civil suit against the Banners for excessive force. Martin's lawyer explained that it was a bargaining ploy. The Overlands wanted some negotiating power to try to avoid jail time for Greg. They already knew that the weight of evidence and testimony was against him.

The lawyer advised the Banners that the only way to avoid a major financial blow was to push the case to trial and hope for a conviction. The conviction would make the civil suit untenable. It was to be a contest of who the jury believed.

In another tactical move, the Armstrongs were convinced to file civil actions against both Greg and Chad. Martin promised to cover the legal expenses in the worst case. The action against Chad was strictly done to put pressure on him to change his story. He had falsely claimed to have participated in the beating, and it became a useful tool.

While the legal maneuvering was cranking up, school started. Football practice had been going for three weeks already, and on the first morning of school, Cal was called to the coach's office.

"Banner, turn in your gear. You're off the team."

Cal's first instinct was to try to argue. However, he had heard enough to know that Greg and Chad's version had been spread around the entire school. He had learned to enjoy football and had been looking forward to the season. From what he could tell, though, any chance of being accepted by the team had been lost.

"So, you haven't bothered to find out the truth, huh?" Cal asked.

"What do you mean?" the coach demanded, but Cal was out the door already.

In the very next class, Cal was summoned to the principal's office, a place he had never been before.

"John, I am surprised that you showed up for school today."

"Oh, why wouldn't I?"

"Well, after what you did to those boys..."

"So, you're just like the coach. You haven't bothered to find out the truth, either. Read the police report then call me back in." He knew it was highly impertinent, but he was angry and stood up and headed out of the office.

"Now, just a minute young man, you don't walk out on me. I'm going to have to suspend you because of the events at the park."

Cal had half expected this, and had done some research over the weekend. "No, Ma'am. You do not have the authority to do that."

"What do you mean? I'm the principal. It's my responsibility to see that disruptive elements are kept out of the school."

"Nothing in school board policy allows you to suspend me for something that happened outside of school control. There are at least nine students now attending class with felony charges against them."

The principal's reaction was stony silence, so Cal continued. "My sister is in the running for valedictorian. She is still a virgin, thanks to Bobby's courage and my arriving in time. Bobby is the only boy she has ever dated, and they have been dating for almost eighteen months. And you believe that fairy tale Greg Overland cooked up? Are you sure you don't want to re-consider?"

To her credit, the principal took the high road. "Sit down, please, and tell me your version."

"First of all, it's not just my version. It's also Vick Smaak's, one of the players that was with Greg and Chad; Cheryl's, Greg's long-time girlfriend; my sister's; and Bobby's, until he lost consciousness." Then, he proceeded to tell what had really happened.

She did not react directly when he had finished, but asked "What did you mean about the coach? Aren't you on the football team?"