Chapter 2

"Trouble in paradise?" Pauline asked when we got outside.

"You could say that."

"How much trouble? Enough to free you up? I meant what I said sweetie."

"What you said?"

"The night you took me home after my meeting Natasha. I told you that if things didn't work out to give me a call."

"Well I guess that things haven't worked out."

"You have anything planned for this weekend?"

"Not a thing."

"How about we go to the game on Friday and then maybe we can think of a way to fill the rest of the weekend."

"I'd like that."

Pauline was driving her parent's car so I told her that I would see her in school the next day and I went on home. I hadn't been there twenty minutes when I got a call from Tom.

"You really upset Nat when you got up and joined Pauline and then left with her."

"Tough shit bud; she's the one responsible. It will probably wind her watch even more when she finds out that I'm dating Pauline this weekend and probably beyond."

"Nat is in the mood right now that with a smidgen of effort you could fix things up with her."

"I don't think so. Did you not hear the venomous "fuck you" tone in her voice when she told me she was dating Eddie? She can just keep on dating the asshole for all I care."

"We still on for our regular Saturday morning?"

"Wouldn't miss it."

"I'll let mom know."

Thursday at school I had to work extra hard at avoiding Natasha because she had gone from avoiding me to trying to get to me. I was sitting at a table in the cafeteria during lunch period and she came up and asked if she could sit there. I told her to go ahead and when she sat down I got up and left.

When class ended I headed for the student parking lot and saw Natasha standing outside on the steps. She was talking to Eddie Wooters and I debated turning and going out the west entrance, but decided not to. As I walked out Natasha left Eddie and headed my way.

"We need to talk Bobby."

"Didn't any one ever tell you it wasn't polite to walk away from your main man to talk to another guy?"

"He isn't my main man."

"Now isn't that a coincidence. I'm not either" and I walked away from her.

I'd gone maybe five steps when I heard "Hey!" I turned and saw Wooters coming toward me. I had no idea what he wanted and I didn't care. I owed the asshole, but I wasn't stupid. He had me by four or five inches and at least sixty pounds so a fair fight was out of the question. When he got close he said:

"Where the fuck do you ge ... ooof!!"

The last thing that he expected was that I would attack so when I drop kicked him in the nuts it came as a total surprise. While he was still stunned I kicked him again and he screamed and went to his knees. I kicked him a third time as Natasha came running over.

"Stop it Bobby; you're going to hurt him."

"That's what I'm trying to do you stupid bitch."

I kicked him a fourth time and then I grabbed a handful of his hair and jerked his face up to within inches of mine.

"You are bigger than me fuck face so I'm never going to fight fair with you. I owed you this for what you did to me and Natasha. You can accept it as your due or you can come looking for payback, but if you do know this. You will need to grow eyes in the back of your head because one day I will creep on you from behind and I'll open up your head with a baseball bat, a crowbar or a two by four and I'll keep doing it until you get the message."

While that was going on Natasha was trying to pull me away from him. I stood up and pushed her away.

"Remember what you said to me that day in the cafeteria? Well back attcha; get the fuck away from me!"

I got lucky. Apparently no teachers or other school officials noticed what had just happened and I walked away, got in my car and left.

I was helping my mom do the dishes when I got a call from Tom.

"You could very well end up being the least popular guy in school."

"Why?"

"You know why. What you did to Wooters."

"How does that make me unpopular?"

"We play the Braves tomorrow and if we don't beat them we don't go to the State finals."

"So?"

"What you did to Eddie caused him to miss practice and that means he will be benched for the game."

"Tough titty bud. I owed him for the shit he pulled on Natasha and me. I'm not the least bit sorry and if the rest of the school is upset about it fuck 'em. Besides, Reynolds may let him slide since he had a valid reason for missing practice."

"Can you get loose for a bit? Gail and I have some place to go and mom is alone. She can use some company."

"I'll see what I can do."

When the dishes were done I told mom that I was going over to Tom's to study.

"Say hi to his mom for me. I haven't talked with her in quite a while. Not since she kicked her husband out."

"Kicked him out? I thought he ran off with a younger woman."

"No. She caught him cheating and kicked him out. I guess once she booted him he hooked up with one of the women he cheated with and left town. If you think of it ask her to give me a call."

"I was hoping you would be able to come over" a naked Mary said when she answered the door. "Hurry up and get your clothes off. I want to play the numbers game and then fuck your brains out."

"The numbers game?"

"Sixty-nine silly; sixty-nine."

I was dressing to go home when I said, "My mom said to say hi and said that you should give her a call sometime."

"She did, did she?"

"I didn't know that you knew each other."

"A long time ago we were good friends."

"A long time ago? What happened that you aren't friends any more?"

"Albert Bagley happened."

"Albert Bagley?"

"My late unlamented husband."

"I don't understand."

"Simple enough. Beth and I were good friends until I found out she was fucking my husband."

"My mom? I don't believe it."

"It is true. She doesn't know that I know, but that is why I stopped speaking with and associating with her. She called me a couple of times wanting to get together, but I always told her I was too busy raising Tommy as a single mother to go out."

"Too busy raising Tom? That would mean she was doing it while married to my dad and raising me. I don't believe it. You have to be wrong. She would never cheat on my dad. Whoever it was who told you that she was cheating with your husband had to be lying to you."

"Think so? Wait right here."

She left the room and came back a few minutes later and handed me a folder.

"Go ahead. Read it."

I opened the folder and read the top sheet. The logo on the top of the page said Spenser Investigations and it was dated just a little over eleven years ago. The report described following Albert Stanley Bagley for the week and it showed that he met my mom on five separate occasions. Twice at our house and three times at the Red Roof Inn. There were photos of my mom kissing a man, holding hands with a man and entering rooms 113, 127 and 201 at the Red Roof Inn with a man. A man who was not my father and whom I could only assume was Albert Stanley Bagley.

I stared at the words in absolute disbelief. My mom cheating on my dad! I was shaking my head. It couldn't be. My mom loved my dad. I know she did.

"If it helps she had what she thought was good reason to cheat on your father. She caught him fucking his secretary and she was getting even. She just should have gotten even with a man who wasn't the husband of a friend. Like I said, she doesn't know that I know. When I finally confronted the asshole it was over another woman he was fucking and not your mother.

"Even though your mom doesn't know that I know I have always planned on telling her. In fact, I have a confession to make. The main reason I pressed Tommy to bring you in as his helper was so I could corrupt you and then throw it in your mother's face. It was going to be a "You fucked my husband so I got even by fucking your son" moment."

I looked at her alarmed and she laughed.

"That was then lover; this is now. To begin with I woke up to the fact that you could be pissed enough to blow the whistle on Tom, Gail and me and I couldn't have that. But the main reason I can't do it is because it would put an end to what I'm doing with you. I've grown fond of you lover and I'm hoping I can keep you around for a long, long time. Now give me kisses, run on home and look forward to our Saturday. Oh, and tell your mom I said hi."

I thought about what I'd found out all the way home. I still had a problem believing it. Mom cheating on dad? Dad cheating on mom? How could that be? I saw them every day and it sure seemed to me like they loved each other.

There was a change in me when I got home. I hoped that mom couldn't see it, but it was there. I had heard that most boys at sometime during their lives looked on their mother's with lust and had sexual fantasies concerning them and used those fantasies as mental sexual stimulus when masturbating. That had never happened to me. Until I got home that night.

Suddenly I saw mom in a new light and when I walked into the house and saw her I got a hard on. The first one ever that was caused by my mom. When I saw her in the kitchen I saw her entering a motel room with Albert and I began to imagine what she did inside that room. The image of my mother fucking a man who wasn't my father was in my head when I went to bed that night and was the cause of the first time I ever beat off while thinking of her. As I spurted into the hankie in my hand I even wondered if my mom might consider a little incest.

Friday Natasha was waiting at the west entrance when I got to school. I thought "Shit! Here we go; another damned scene" but then off to my right I saw Pauline coming. I slowed until she reached me and then I offered her my arm and we walked into school together. As we walked by Natasha she gave us a very, very nasty look.

Natasha tried to catch me between classes, but I was able to avoid her and during lunch period I sat with Pauline so Natasha didn't come anywhere close to our table.

"You sure you want to go to the game tonight" Pauline asked.

"Sure. Why wouldn't I want to go?"

"From what I've been hearing this morning you might possibly be hung from the goal posts. Is it true what I'm hearing about you and Eddie Wooters?"

"You mean my getting a little upset with him? Yeah. I guess I did."

"Whatever for?"

I told Pauline the story.

"He actually used me in his lie?"

"That's what I was told."

"The next kick in the nuts he gets will be from me." She paused and looked at me for a moment or two and then asked, " I guess the next question is how long do I have?"

"What do you mean?"

"How long do I have until she gets you back?"

"I don't see us getting back together, but one answer to your question could be nine months."

"Why nine months?"

"In nine months you will be off to college. Last I heard you are going to Vassar and since I'm staying here and going to State that puts about two thousand miles between us."

Just then the bell rang and we got up and headed for class.

Reynolds must have accepted that Eddie had a legitimate reason for missing practice because Eddie did suit up and play, but he wasn't at one hundred percent. He did contribute to our win over the Braves and I didn't get hung from the goal posts.

After the game we stopped at the malt shop and Tom and Gail were there and so was Natasha. Natasha was sitting with three other girls and Tom and Gail were sitting alone so we joined them. We talked about the game and Tom reminded me (for Pauline's benefit) that I had promised to help him in the morning.

"I don't think that it was a good idea to come here Bobby" Pauline said. "The looks I'm getting from the other side of the room should be able to kill."

"They are not aimed at you sweetie; there are being sent my way. I'm the one who asked you out and I'm the one who brought you here. Besides, the caster of the glances is the one who caused things to fall the way they are falling. I should be the one giving her the evil eye."

Just then there was a stir in the place and all eyes went to the door and then to me as Eddie and two of his team members walked in. Eyes bounced from Eddie to me and then back at Eddie. I saw Tom tense up and I said:

"Stay out of it if anything happens bud. I've already told Wooters what will happen if he wants to carry things any father. Just let what happens happen. No need for you to get messed up."

While I was speaking Eddie and his two team mates, Phil Reed and Gene Ellsworth, joined Natasha and the girls she was with. Gail reached across the table and grabbed my arm and when I looked at her she nodded to her left. I hadn't noticed her getting up, but I saw Pauline striding the floor toward the group. When she got there she reached over Gene's back and picked up a glass of water from the table and then she poured the water on Eddie's head.

"When you are going around telling lies asshole best you keep my name out of them. The next time it will be me kicking you in the nuts and I'll make damned sure that when I do it I'll make sure that the shoes I'm wearing will have the pointiest toes."

She turned and headed back to our table. Eddie watched her walk away and he had a murderous look on his face. He started to get up so I did too, but then Gene and Phil pulled him back down so I settled back down on my chair. I saw that Eddie's look was more at me than Pauline and it was at that moment I knew that Eddie was going to ignore what I'd told him and I knew without the slightest doubt that things were not over between Eddie and me. Some day I was going to have to follow through on the promise I'd made him.

Pauline sat down and Gail asked, "What was that all about? What brought that on?"

"I owed the asshole. I dated him once and after a movie and some time at the arcade he drove out to Steven's Point and I asked him why and he said it was so we could make out. I laughed at him and told him that it was our first date and I didn't even know yet if I liked him enough to give him a second let alone kiss him. Then he said that it didn't matter to him and that if I wanted to walk home it was up to me."

"He didn't!!"

"Oh yes he did."

"What did you do?"

"I laughed at him and asked him how he would like to go to jail for attempted rape. I told him to take me home right that minute or I'd get out of the car and run from it screaming for help because he was trying to rape me. He knew as well as I did that the cops knew what went on at the Point and turned a blind eye on it, but they still usually had a car in the area in case of trouble. He knew that if I hollered rape he would be in a world of shit so he called me a cunt and drove me home.

"That was as far as it went and I never did get to do anything to him for what he pulled. His lying to Natasha and using me in his lie gave me a chance to do something so I did."

On the other side of the room Natasha was staring daggers at us so I put my arm around Pauline, kissed her on the cheek and said:

"Remind me never to piss you off."

She turned, kissed my cheek and said, "Like you ever could."

Ten minutes later Eddie and his team mates left and a couple of minute's later Natasha and the girls she was with got up and left and Pauline told me that it was time for her to be getting home.

As soon as we were in the parking lot Pauline said, "I don't really have to go home right now. It is a full moon tonight so the view at the Point should be pretty good."

"If I take you to the Point you won't see the view and you know it."

"That pretty much depends on you doesn't it?"

She was right. The full moon shinning down on the lake was pretty, but I was right in that she didn't get to see much of it. I'd no sooner parked than she said:

"You sure didn't use much forethought when you bought this car did you."

"What do you mean?"

"The center console screws up using the front seat and the back seat isn't big enough. I hope you are smart enough to at least have some blankets in the trunk."

I was and we got out and spread the blankets on the ground and then we got down on them. We made out for a good twenty minutes and then Pauline broke the kiss we were in and said:

"I'm not a virgin Bobby."

That caught me by surprise and it was a couple of seconds before I said:

"That is a first for me. The girl asking instead of me working my butt off to try and score."

"I thought that I'd better make the first move because I doubted that you ever would."

"Why would you think that?"

"Because you are still hung up on Natasha. You might not admit it to yourself, but you are. You made sure that we sat where you could see her and you watched her the whole time we were there. If I'm going to have a chance with you I need to strike before you decide to try and get back together with her."

"If you want a chance with me?"

"I've wanted a chance with you since the seventh grade, but it just never worked out. You would be with some one so I'd date a guy and sort of go steady and then you would break up and by the time I got out of the relationship I was in and get to where I could take my shot you would be with some one else. I thought I'd finally made it the night we hooked up at Skate City, but then I found out about you and Natasha. Now you are on the outs with her so I'm taking my best shot before you have a chance to go back to her."

"That doesn't even make sense Pauline. Why would you want to make love with me if in the back of your mind you think I might get back with Natasha?"

"Truth time? If I'm fucking you and she isn't I think I can hang onto you. If you have been fucking her I'm hoping to be better than she is and that will help me keep you. And there is one more thing. If I'm fucking you she may give it up to some one else to spite you and that will piss you off enough to stay away from her."

While she had been talking she had also been working on my belt and zipper and she finally worked my cock out and - surprise surprise - it was hard. Then I surprised myself when I pushed her hand away.

"I like you Pauline; I have always liked you and we have always gotten along good together. I don't want to ever get to the point with you where we can't smile at each other and talk to each other and I'm afraid that might happen if we do this. If we do it and I do end up back with Natasha you will think I'm an asshole and I don't want that."

"You say that as if getting back with Natasha is what you want."

"It is what I want, but I'm not sure anymore that it is what she wants. The first time I saw her I knew she was the one I wanted to spend my life with. There was a spark that flashed between us and she said she felt it too. I still think that way, but I don't think that she still feels the same about me any more. Given what she has done and the way she has acted I will not chase after her, but that doesn't mean that we might not eventually get back together. It would depend on her and what she does and to be honest about it right now it doesn't look like she even gives a shit. I just don't know."

"It is a chance I'm willing to take Bobby. I have to take my shot while I can."

Well, I was up front about things and if she still wanted to do it so be it.

Pauline was only my third so I didn't have all that much experience, but I was aware that there were differences. I mean the mechanics were the same. Fucking was fucking and sucking was sucking, but it was still different. Mary was active, needy and pretty much take charge – almost business like in getting it done. Gail was fun loving but, at least to me, there was no sense that it mattered if it was me or some one else doing it to her. I was just a body that was there to meet Mary's operational requirements and as a result I was there to be used by Gail while Tom was busy elsewhere.

Pauline sucked cock every bit as well as Mary and Gail and responded to being eaten pretty much the same as Mary and Gail, but she seemed more energetic in giving pussy than either Mary or Gail. With Pauline it was as if her life depended on seeing to it that I was satisfied with her. Probably a piss poor explanation, but what can you expect from a teenager not long from giving up his cherry. I guess the best way to put it is that Mary and Gail were takers and Pauline was a giver.

The only downside to the evening was that November nights can be pretty cold and making love outside on a blanket under the stars took a little something away from the experience. Not saying that the sex wasn't good; just saying it could have been better.

When I took her home Pauline and I made a date for the next day. She wanted an early start and wanted me to pick her up at noon, but I told her that I already had plans for the morning that I couldn't break and that the soonest I could pick her up would be around four. Of course I didn't tell her that my morning plans were to spend a fairly exhausting time with Mrs. Bagley.

Driving home I thought about how the evening had gone and what some of it had meant. Two things stood out to me. The first was the rage on Eddie's face when he started to get up after Pauline had dumped water on him. The look he threw our way was more at me than it was at Pauline and I'm guessing that it was in his mind that his public humiliation was as a result of my exposing the lie he told Natasha which in turn had brought Pauline's wrath down on him. He undoubtedly coupled that with what I'd done to him outside school. I knew that Eddie and I were not done yet.

The second thing was that it was Natasha who grabbed a bunch of napkins and started to dry him off and that did not bode well for our ever having a relationship again. It was one more item to add to the list of things to discuss if we ever started talking again.

That of course brought up another thought. We could have already been talking, but I was avoiding her. Why? I had to admit that I honestly did not know. There was just something inside me that wouldn't let me. A little voice in the back of my mind saying to me:

"She fucked over you now it is your turn to make her hurt."

Make her hurt? Was that any way to treat the woman I loved and wanted to spend my life with? I think what it was is that the little voice was telling me that if I let her get away with shit now she would try it again later. Stomp on it now to let her know that I wouldn't put up with it and hopefully I would never have to do it again. Of course that attitude just might prevent there being a later. Being a teenager sucked. I was too young to be thinking about stuff like that.

Saturday morning I got up and went for my run at Paint Brush Park. When it was over and I was getting into my car I saw Natasha's mother dropping her off. I saw Natasha heading for me, but before she could get to me I left.

When I got home dad had already gone off somewhere and mom was in the basement sorting clothes prior to putting them in the washing machine so I took the opportunity to go into my parent's bedroom and open the bottom drawer of my mother's chest of drawers. I 'borrowed' the item that was there. It was buried under some sexy lingerie that brought what I knew about mom to my mind and those thoughts gave me a hard on. I wondered what she would look like wearing them and then I wondered how she would look wearing them as Tom and I double teamed her. My hard on throbbed. God, but I was weird.

I was at Mary's at ten to eight and before I could ring the bell the door opened and a naked Mary was telling me to hurry up and get my clothes off. Tom wasn't there so I had to try and satisfy her myself. She was doing her absolute best to fuck me to death and she pretty much wore me out.

She was still trying for one more when I told her that I had to be home by four to help my dad with something in the garage. It was a lie, but I didn't think it would be wise to tell her the real reason. I didn't think telling her that I had to leave to go meet a girl would go over well and I was in no hurry to do anything that would end the weird relationship I had going with her. A horny teenager fucking up chances for pussy? No way. No fucking way!

I took Pauline to the AMC theatre complex for a movie and after the film we went to the arcade. We had a fun time right up until about nine. Eddie, Phil and Gene showed up with several girls and Natasha was one of them. It was an awkward situation. Gene, Phil, Bev, Marlene, Carol, Pauline and I had been classmates from the first grade on and we were friends whereas Eddie had only moved to town at the start of eighth grade. Gene and Phil were tied in with Eddie because of being teammates. They and the girls (except for maybe Natasha) wanted to socialize with Pauline and me, but because of being with Eddie and the rift between Eddie, Pauline and me we were all avoiding each other.

Adding to the problem was that the arcade wasn't all that big so we were always around each other. Eddie kept throwing nasty looks our way and it was obvious, at least to me, that he was spoiling for a confrontation. After about an hour I suggested to Pauline that we get out of there and she agreed so we left.

We were almost to my car when from behind me I heard, "Hey! Asshole!"

I turned and saw Eddie and his group.

"We got some unfinished business dickhead."

"I thought you were halfway smart Wooters" I said. "I believe I told you what would happen if you didn't stay clear of me."

"You don't scare me shit head."

Once again I did what he didn't expect. I attacked. The little guy doesn't go after the big guy right? He put up his arms and hands to stop my rush and that gave me what I needed. As I ran toward him I took an object out of my pocket and when I got to him I touched his bare skin with the object and he went down like a ton of rock had dropped on him.

A couple of years previous there had been series of muggings in town and my dad had purchased a stun gun and had given it to mom for personal protection. She hated the thing and wouldn't carry it and it had set in the bottom drawer of her chest of drawers until that morning. When Eddie had come into the arcade I had switched it on so the power charge would build up and be ready if I needed to use it.

I'd just given Eddie over eighty thousand volts and he was lying on the ground and thrashing around like a fish out of water. I walked over to my car, unlocked the trunk and got out the aluminum ball bat I had there and I walked back to where Eddie was flopping around on the ground. Phil asked me what I was going to do and I told him about the warning I gave to Eddie.

"I warned him and now I'm going to follow through on my promise."

"Hey man, no; don't do it Bobby. Not cool man, not cool at all."

"I made him a promise Phil. If I don't follow through on it and show the dip shit that I mean what I say I'll be putting up with his shit forever."

"Don't do it Bobby. Me and Gene will straighten him out. Right Gene?"

Gene nodded a yes and I thought for a moment and then said, "A promise is a promise. I won't smack his head, but he has to feel the bat" and I whacked his left knee.

"Make sure that he understands that if there is a next time I will not be talked out of it."

Natasha was standing there with the rest of the onlookers and she was staring at me with a look on her face that I could not decipher. Pauline took my arm, leaned in close and whispered in my ear:

"Get me out of here and take me somewhere and fuck me you wild assed caveman."

It was cold on the blanket at Stevens Point, but we managed to generate enough heat.

The next morning when I finished my run I found Natasha sitting in my car waiting for me. I got in and before I could ask her what she wanted she said:

"We need to talk Bob."

"About what Natasha? About the way you let Eddie fuck us up? You knew he was an asshole when he tried to make a date with you while you were out on a date with me. So how did he, a known asshole, get a chance to sit down with you and talk? And what about the talk Natasha? You knew he was a dirt bag, but you believed what he told you anyway. Did it not occur to you that all you had to do was ask me if the drivel he fed you was true? Give me my day in court so to speak? No. I got slapped and called a bastard. What else can we talk about? How about the fact that after you were shown he was a lying sack of shit you still hung around with him? Well quite frankly if those are the things you want to talk about I'm not interested.

"I'll tell you what I'm thinking. That night he horned in on our date I wanted to go after him, but you told me to let it go and that you had handled it. What I'm thinking now is that your way of handling it was to give him your number and tell him to give you a call. That would go a long way toward explaining how easy it was for him to sit down with you so he could tell you his lies."