Plebs

by Jim Goforth

  "Shoot."

  "How is it you came about being them? You and Melissa? And Blaise, as her alter ego?"

  Desiree took the soft drink can from him, drank and then shook her head.

  "No, that's a story for later on hun. We better sleep now, we'll need it."

  'For what?' Corey wanted to ask. He hoped it was to store up some energy for plenty more sex, but somehow he didn't quite believe that was the reason.

  "Yeah, s'pose so." Corey agreed. "Should we go see how the others are faring?"

  "No," said Desiree, extinguishing her smoke in the horrid mixture in the ash glass. "They're all adults, they can look after themselves."

  "True," Corey dropped his butt in the glass and then pulled the window shut and lowered the drapes so even though it was morning and the sun was well and truly climbing up into the sky, it was dark inside his bedroom.

  "Come and spoon me baby," Desiree invited and rolled over onto her side with her naked back to him.

  "With pleasure." Corey sucked the dregs of lemonade from the can, crushed it halfheartedly and then scrambled into bed behind Desiree.

  She turned her head to kiss, tasting of lemon and tobacco, unusual but not unpleasant.

  Corey guessed he tasted the same.

  He dragged the sheets and covers up to their necks and then cuddled in behind her, his groin comfortably resting against her buttocks, one arm draped over her hip. She took that hand and held it behind hers, after pushing all pillows, but one each onto the floor.

  "Night Corey," she murmured.

  "Night Desi," he replied, kissed the back of her head and dropped his cranium to the pillow.

  No sooner had his head touched the soft heaven of the pillow before he was catapulted into the waiting arms of slumber.

  CHAPTER 26

  To begin with it was an uneasy sleep, where he was immediately transported to a furious woodland tableau where bestial creatures lurked in dark corners and evil snake eyed black girls threatened to dice him into confetti. All manner of events happened at break neck speed, jumbled confused scenarios chasing each other through his mind. First the Plebs in hordes massacring Tim over and over, then great choking clouds of smoke, then Errol Haskell swinging a meat cleaver and beheading a hapless kneeling girl, and then finally sweet relief, Desiree naked, Desiree making love to him. Sudden violent images too fast to pinpoint, one thing after another, constant, confusing.

  Eventually his slumber sank him even deeper, beyond mental cogitations and the sleep he had was a long dark dreamless one.

  He came to the surface some long time later and raised his head, eyes blurry. It took a while for him to get his bearings and acknowledge where he was.

  After that he acknowledged that his penis was erect again, probably due in no small part to the close proximity of Desiree's ass and the fact that she was gently pushing back and forth against him.

  "Desi," he grunted, voice thick with sleep. "You awake?"

  "Uh huh," she replied. "You think I'm doing this in my sleep?"

  "Do you want to...?"

  "Go on," she urged. "I'm ready. I probably should have told you I get horny when I'm sleeping sometimes so don't be alarmed if you wake up to find me riding your rod."

  "I think the alarm would have been minimal. The excitement would have been high."

  Corey wondered how long she had been pumping her sexy ass against his groin while he slept. Probably not long he decided, with the information she'd just provided him regarding her tendency to get sexually excited. If that was the case she most likely would have gyrated her butt against his penis until she got a rise out of it then backed herself onto it and brought him awake.

  Whatever it was Corey was wide awake now.

  This time around their lovemaking session lasted a fraction longer than previously, but it still culminated identically with a loud cry from Desiree and a blinding shoot of body racking pleasure from Corey.

  They spoke no words to each other, but murmured adulation's of love and once they were finished they remained in the position they'd begun, spooning bodies tight together.

  They drifted back into the welcome realm of sleep with Corey still comfortably nestled deep inside her.

  When Corey next awoke he found he was alone in both the bed and the room. Disoriented he flung the bed covers back and pulled himself up onto his elbows, blinking in the dark of the area.

  Instinctively he glanced to his left wrist for an indicator of the time only to see that his arm was bare. His wrist watch was no more; it was lost somewhere in the woods.

  Or had that all been some twisted nightmare/fantasy, all those events of previous hours?

  He looked to the nightstand for some proof that all was real. There was none there for the glasses were gone, even the ash laden one. Only items he had sitting there prior, such as his Golden Thong card were there.

  In consternation he sat upright on the edge of the bed, seeking a sign that he'd not conjured everything up in a fitful sleeping fugue.

  He was naked, but that wasn't unusual for he often slept completely naked.

  His groin was pleasurably numb so perhaps...

  Shaking the foggy remnants of sleep from his mind he saw his clothes strewn across the floor.

  There was no sign of Desiree's clothing, no evidence that she'd ever been here.

  Corey dressed hastily in the clothes, they were clean after all, he really only had them on for all of five minutes before they came off at the hands of Desiree. If she existed, if the love-fest had even occurred.

  Dreading that possibility, but also somewhat optimistic that if that was a dream then it all was a dream and therefore Tim Hayworth should be alive and kicking, Corey opened his bedroom door and wandered out onto the landing.

  Two things immediately greeted him; one was the heavenly aroma of burgers cooking and fries sizzling, two was the heavenly vision of Desiree mounting the steps with a silver tray laden with food. Relief punched Corey almost as hard as it would have done had he discovered Tim sprawling his big figure on a lounge, but it was swiftly followed by the bitter pangs that although all of the intimacies with Desiree were very real so too was the death and loss of his friend.

  "Good afternoon hun," said Desiree, greeting him with a warm welcoming smile. "I was just coming to get you."

  "Afternoon?" Corey blinked like a stupefied owl. "What time is it?"

  "Half past five. Way past lunch time."

  "Shit. Let me take that from you."

  Corey took the tray from her hands, his mouth beginning to water as the varied smells of the food upon it began to waft up into his twitching nostrils.

  There were beef burgers of massive dimensions on soft sesame buns, enough golden brown French fries to feed a third world nation and grilled tomato halves swimming in melted cheese.

  Corey's stomach rumbled like the San Andreas fault-line ready to ignite a point ten Richter scale earthquake.

  Desiree did an about face and the pair of them traipsed back down to the lounge room, Corey keeping a tight two fisted grip on the tray of edibles.

  The others were assembled in the room already eating, but even on cursory inspection Corey could see that numbers were down from this morning’s count.

  Blaise, Jess, Peter, Ryan, Lee and Tasha were absent from the congregation.

  As he carried the tray to one of the available lounge chairs, Corey suspected that Melissa was gazing upon he and Desiree with amused knowing eyes. Perhaps Desiree had already told her friends about the morning love tryst. He didn't particularly care though he hoped if she had that she'd been good enough to relay all the accolades to them she had to him.

  Perching on the lounge with Desiree beside him, he slid the tray across so it rested across their knees.

  "Where are the others?" he asked conversationally.

  "Lee and Tash are in the kitchen cooking," Melissa replied, accounting for two of the absentees. "They cooked all this. He sure does like to cook, young Lee."

  "
That he does. And the others?"

  "They've gone out to do some things," Melissa replied vaguely around a mouthful of burger.

  "What things?" Corey wanted to know, snagging a fry and poking it into his mouth.

  Apprehension suddenly sparked an alarm in Corey as he conjured up one likely reason which could explain why Blaise was missing.

  Hastily he chewed his fry and swallowed too soon, the barley masticated food balling up in his throat. He choked it down and stared evenly at Melissa.

  "Blaise hasn't gone looking for Errol Haskell as she?"

  "No she hasn't," Melissa replied too quickly as if she'd been expecting such a question from him. "Don't worry about it. Eat your food."

  "If she has gone looking for him then I am worried. Not for him. For her."

  "Don't be worried. Blaise can look after herself."

  To Corey that particular statement almost seemed like an admission from Melissa that Blaise had indeed gone searching for Haskell, maybe with the others in tow.

  "I don't doubt that," he said. "I just don't like the thought of her looking for him. He swore he'd get her and given half a chance he will."

  "Don't stress about it Corey. She hasn't gone after Haskell."

  "Where is she then? And the others?"

  "You ask a whole lot of questions."

  "And you answer very little. I'm just worried about Blaise. And my friends. I'm not keen to lose any more, not with a fucking lunatic like Haskell about vowing bloody vengeance on all of us."

  "It's a good point," Desiree spoke up, her voice distorted by the chunk of meat and sesame bun she was currently munching on. "Just tell him where they are."

  Melissa sighed as if she was arriving at the conclusion that various alliances in the group might have subtly shifted and Desiree could probably be expected to side with Corey, which may have appeared unusual to those who were aware of the history between the two Twilight Twins.

  "They've gone to alter the van. All four of them."

  "Alter the van? What the hell are you talking about?"

  "Ryan's a mechanic right? They've all gone to his shop to change the plates and give it a new spray paint."

  Corey's burger tasted sensational, resplendent with lettuce, tomato, cheese and bacon atop the meat along with a healthy splash of barbecue sauce, but he was finding it difficult to swallow.

  If indeed the missing quartet had driven Errol Haskell's van to Ryan's shop to make possible illegal alterations to the vehicle then that meant one of two things.

  Either Ryan had been forced into cooperation, possibly with the aid of Blaise's pistol grip shotgun, or the surfer himself had done a complete three sixty on his views of this morning and was now suddenly deciding he could help the renegade girls. If the latter was the case what occurred to abruptly change Ryan's mind?

  Swallowing the mouthful of burger Corey voiced his thoughts.

  "Christ, how did you get Ryan to agree to that?" He asked. "Doesn't sound like something he'd be involved with."

  Melissa smiled a smile which would have looked more at home on the scaly visage of a crocodile.

  "As I understood it, Ryan was more than willing to help out. I personally didn't have anything to do with persuading him. I believe Jess may have had quite a hand in it. And as for Peter, well he and Blaise seem to have struck it off quite nicely. So, we're all on the same team now."

  Corey's burger was quite an amazing burger, but he may as well have been dining on sesame sprinkled cardboard.

  Melissa's final couple of phrases rang ominously in his ears, what she'd said making the whole situation seem suddenly sordid and manipulated.

  To Corey it came off as though various women within the faction seduced all of the available lads to a certain point where absolutely all of them were pushovers, able to be easily manipulated into cooperating with whatever demands made by the ladies. That meant Tasha blindsided Lee, Jess and Blaise seduced Ryan and Peter, and Desiree...well she accounted for Corey.

  Corey chewed another small section of burger, but with these sordid thoughts churning incessantly in his head he found no flavour.

  He wanted desperately to look at Desiree, but he feared that if he dared gaze upon her beautiful countenance he would see confirmation of his terrible thoughts reflected there. He needed to look into her eyes, she was so close to him their thighs touched.

  Eventually when he'd downed another chunk of cardboard he summoned up enough courage to turn his gaze upon her. She gazed straight back at him and seemed to possess the power to tap right into these sordid thoughts of his and read him as easily as a large print paperback novel.

  She looked horrified by the suggestion his visage was conveying.

  "No Corey," she said emphatically before he could even open his mouth to speak. "No, it isn't like that. I don't know what has gone on between Jess and Ryan or even the others, but I assure you it isn't happening the way you're thinking."

  "It seems that way," Corey couldn't prevent himself from bitterly biting off those particular words. "It seems very convenient."

  "Relax, Corey," Melissa put in. "I'm just teasing you. Ryan and Jess are...or were together as were the other two, but nobody pressured anybody into trading services for services if you catch my drift. It isn't as sinister as you are making it out to be."

  "Really?" Corey wasn't convinced, though alongside him Desiree was looking truly distressed.

  "Corey," she pleaded. "We need to talk about this."

  "I'll say," Corey pushed the remainder of his food away untouched, his appetite having long since deserted him.

  He noticed that none of the other girls in the room bar Melissa had anything to say, they ate in silence.

  He wanted so badly to believe Desiree, but for a sheer coincidence it seemed unfeasible. How convenient, how coincidental it all happened like this.

  "Corey?" Desiree directed at him. "Can we go outside?"

  "Sure." Corey dumped the food tray on the floor and strode purposefully to the front door and outside.

  Desiree had to trot to keep up.

  She stepped out, closing the door behind her.

  "Corey, look at me please?"

  He did so, albeit reluctantly. Gazing at her achingly beautiful features simply hurt his heart, made him feel like even more of a duped stooge who'd been very cunningly deceived and easily manipulated like so much pliable silly putty.

  However there appeared to be no evidence of sly manipulation on her gorgeous face, only distress and a desperate desire for him to believe her.

  "Corey, what we shared was real. It wasn't part of an elaborate scheme to win you guys over or anything like that. I can't speak for Blaise and Jess, I suspect they just wanted somebody to have sex with and your friends were only too keen to reciprocate.

  As for Tash I know she has genuine feelings for Lee and cares for him and I bet she'd be as upset as I am with suggestions that something untoward led to certain people coupling up.

  I can tell you also that while Lee and Tasha did sleep together they didn't have sex.

  Corey, you and I shared a connection-didn't we? As soon as we first met I was intrigued by you and I know you had strong feelings for me, you told me so. That hasn't changed has it?"

  Corey could only shake his head. His feelings for Desiree were stronger than ever which made any supposed betrayal so much more painful.

  "Corey, regardless of how I look I fear rejection as much as anybody else and when I came to your room with you knowing what you know about the things I've done I was like any girl in the same boat, deathly afraid that you would reject me.

  And when you didn't, when you embraced me and told me all of the beautiful things you said, I was so happy.

  What we shared was real, we have feelings for one another we can't simply erase and I'd hate for it all to be cheapened and dirtied by a belief that there were sinister sordid motivations behind it.

  Do you believe me? Please believe that this is the truth Corey."

 
All of a sudden the glacial frost Corey had been cultivating around his heart thawed, melting so completely and abruptly that the feeling it left him with seemed more like a case of bad heartburn than an Antarctic winter. Looking into her earnest eyes, the expression on her face begging him to believe her and Corey felt very bad. Not bad in the same way he'd felt mere minutes before, but another kind of bad.

  The kind of bad where he detested himself for ever doubting her.

  Why had he doubted her?

  Standing here before him, her hands holding his which he'd been trying hard not to coil up into clenched fists previously, she was either an Academy Award winning actress or she was speaking the honest truth.

  Corey sure didn't think it was the former.

  He hoped he wasn't about to cry because it felt like he might.

  "You believe me?" Desiree asked again, her soulful eyes lancing searchingly into his.

  "Yes," Corey mumbled, his voice thick. "I do. And I'm sorry."

  "What for?"

  "For doubting you. For believing your motives were anything than what they were."

  "Don't be sorry. I can see how the situation created that belief. So, friends?"

  "Hopefully much more."

  "Yes," Desiree beamed a great radiant smile and as she did Corey saw how close to tears she'd been, a faint sheen glistening in her eyes. "Much more."

  Corey flung out his arms and she fell gladly into his warm embrace.

  They walked back into the house, arm in arm and still perched on her lounge, Melissa favoured them with a smug smile.

  "Is all good in lover-land?" Caroline asked and the remainder of the group including Lee and Tasha who’d made their return from the kitchen broke into an ensemble of clapping.

  Blushing brilliant scarlet Corey grinned bashfully and squeezed Desiree a little tighter.

  Then the telephone rang, blasting discordantly through the clap chorus.

  "That'd be Pete and the gang," Lee hazarded through a mouthful of grilled tomato, spilling melted cheese out the corner of his mouth. Very helpfully Tasha was on the spot to dab the spillage with a paper napkin.

  Corey guessed Lee was probably right; he hadn't been expecting any calls whatsoever and couldn't think of who else would be calling.