Chapter 9

Time and space I'd lost track of both. It was impossible to tell how long it had taken me to get from the parking lot to my apartment. My throbbing head was filled with a jumbled mass of incidents, some real, some nightmarish. But now it didn't matter any more. I'd made it home.

My shoulder was propped up against the apartment wall next to my front door. I was doubled over weakly as I dug the key out of my pocket. It was covered with mud and I tried to dean it off the best I could before inserting it into the lock.

As I twisted the key I felt the quick stab of pain in my right side. Grimly I gritted my teeth, turned the key all the way and then I shoved the door open and staggered inside.

"Link?"

I'd slammed the door shut behind me. Now I was leaning heavily against it. I saw that the TV was on, tuned to one of the black and white late-late shows. Nancy was coming out of the easy chair in front of the set.

"What in the world happened to you?" She was at my side now, holding onto my arm and helping me across the room.

"A couple of guys beat the hell out of me."

She was guiding me towards the bathroom door. "Let's find out how badly you're hurt."

The toilet seat was down and I slumped onto it. Already Nancy was gently taking off my trench coat and I helped her get me out of the rest of my clothing.

When all of my mud-caked clothes piled up in a corner of the bathroom, Nancy helped me stand unsteadily in front of the mirror so that I could inspect myself. My face was unmarked; but the bruises around my rib cage and middle were great splotches of angry red, beginning to turn the shade of purple.

Gently Nancy's hands were probing my ribs. "Do you suppose they might be broken?"

"I don't think so, Nancy."

"How about internally? Shall I call the doctor?"

"No. I'll be all right."

Hearing the concern in her voice and seeing her dark blue eyes staring back at me in the mirror had made me feel better already.

"I'll fix you a hot bath," she said. "That'll fix you up fast."

Her lovely face smiled encouragement; and the way the robe was clinging to her elegant figure was better than any medicine. I grinned back at her. "I'd appreciate that."

"Sit right down here. It'll only be a minute." She helped me settle down on the toilet seat again. She turned on the water, letting it run into the tub. Bending forward like that had opened up the front of her robe. Inside, suspended like two lush oranges, were her delightful breasts, moving slightly as she adjusted the water. Silently I cursed the two guys for incapacitating me momentarily.

"All right," she said. "Let's get you into the tub." Together we managed it, slowly and carefully. I slid down into the hot water, relishing its heat seeping into my sore muscles.

After I'd stretched out luxuriously she straightened up and her glance moved slowly over my body. "What a shame," she said. "But you'll be good as new. This will warm you up outside. I'll get something to warm you up inside."

The moment she'd left the bathroom I closed my eyes and let the warmth of the water work its therapy. Thank God, for Nancy. Thank God for all Nancy's.

Somehow she always managed to turn up whenever I really needed her. Whether I needed her encouragement, her companionship, or her sex, she seemed to be there just at the right time. She didn't have to. After a couple of years of marriage we'd gotten a divorce.

We'd had a great sexual relationship while we'd been married. In fact, we'd gotten along very well in every respect. Except one. Nancy just couldn't wait the years that it was taking for me to get my law degree. For her, life was too short. It was enjoyed now, not tomorrow. And so the divorce.

It had been a divorce without anger, without recriminations. Ever since then Nancy had dropped by occasionally to spend the night with me. The robe she was wearing, along with a few of her clothes, remained in my closet. She lived in West Los Angeles and worked for an advertising agency.

"Here you are, Link," Nancy was saying now. She handed me a drink of scotch, she'd also fixed one for herself. "This will warm you up inside."

"Thanks, Nan."

"Oh, by the way," she said quickly, "congratulations on passing the Bar. I'm so happy for you, Link."

"I'll drink to that and to you."

She turned off the water before she sat down on the toilet seat. While I lay in the tub, having my drink, she insisted I tell her what had happened that night. So that she'd be able to understand all of it, I had to go back to the moment I'd gotten the phone call from Sarah Leighton. I went through the entire thing chronologically. But I omitted a few items. The intimate things with Bonnie and her sister Honey, for instance.

Every once in a while Nancy got up and turned on the hot water tap. With the heat of the water and the double scotch I was getting very drowsy. I didn't want to go to bed to sleep but after I'd climbed out of the tub and showered with cold water, I was so weary I could barely stand up.

Nancy helped me into bed, pulling the sheet up to my chin. Before she'd straightened up again, I was already asleep. When I awoke the next morning I was aware of the comforting warmth of Nancy in bed with me. Outside my window I could hear the rain continuing. I moved my legs and squirmed slowly around in bed, finding that I felt much better than the night before. Silently, so that I wouldn't awaken her, I got out of bed and went into the bathroom.

Standing in front of the mirror I inspected myself. My rib area and the middle section was a mass of black bruises. I let my fingers probe my ribs, then the kidney area. There was no pain within it. My muscles were very sore and I had a slight headache but I figured I'd live. I was especially grateful for that when I noticed that Nancy was standing in the bathroom doorway. Her sleep-misted eyes mirrored her concern.

"What's the matter, Link?"

"Nothing. Nothing at all."

I was beginning to feel great. Nancy always slept in the nude and she'd crept out of bed and carve to the bathroom without slipping into her robe. Framed in the doorway, she was an exciting and elegant dusky figure with the mass of jet-black curls slightly disheveled. Just enough. to make her look even sexier.

I glanced causally down the front of myself, noticing that the sight of her had stirred me markedly. "I was just making an early morning inspection, Nan." My glance came up to meet hers and I smiled. "No problems."

As I started toward her she retreated. "Now, Link," she said, "please take it easy. You need some more rest. Come back to bed and sleep some more."

When Nancy spoke like that she meant it. No nonsense. "All right," I said. "Let's go back to bed."

She stepped to one side so that I could get by her. I went back to the bedroom and slid under the sheet. I heard the toilet being flushed and a couple of minutes later she was sliding into bed beside me.

I kept my eyes closed, faking sleep. She squirmed around a bit and finally got settled onto her stomach. I felt the quick and pleasant surge of excitement jolt through me; but I didn't rush it.

Motionless and with my eyes closed I was recalling the other times that we'd been in bed together, the stimuli and reactions between us that had always made sex so wonderful. Outwardly Nancy gave the appearance of being a cool and elegant woman, uninterested in sex to the point of being frigid. But after you live for a time with a woman you soon began to understand her.

You soon begin to learn her wishes and wants, the most sensitive parts of her skin and body. With some it's the breasts, other the back or the hollow of the shoulder, and so on. With Nancy it was her fanny.

Not only was hers sensitive, it was hyper-sensitive. Just a mere touch there always set her off. And now, with my eyes closed, feeling the strength building within me and my breath coming very rapidly, I plotted and schemed. She had fallen asleep again, I could tell, because she was breathing slowly and very regularly.