THE CRUEL SEVEN

by Terence Mitford

  “The jeep’s fan belt. Will it fit the truck?”

  “No way, it’s too small. Pa knows nothing about the mechanics of the truck. I told him it wouldn’t fit, but he insisted I check.”

  Lisa’s stomach knotted up. Now she was dependent on Billy going back to town. She handed the glass to Luke and glanced back at the clock. Three minutes to go.

  Luke gulped down the water and wiped the back of his hand across his mouth. “Let’s sit down for a while.”

  “Your hands are covered in dirt. Are you not going to wash them?”

  Luke spread his fingers out and nodded. “Yeah, I’ll use the scrubbing brush in the washroom.” He crossed the floor and disappeared through the door.

  Lisa glanced up again. Two minutes to go. She rubbed her palms together while an argument raged in her head.

  Don’t do it Lisa, let the little creep tell tales if he wants to. No one will believe him.

  But if he makes a scene and the twins get involved, they might tell about me showing them my bra.

  So what, who is going to believe them?

  It would be three against one. In any court, that would tip the balance against me.

  Okay, you’re right. You’re fucked.

  She glanced up at the clock. The deadline had passed. She sighed. He was bluffing. He wouldn’t dare tell Luke anything.

  The door opened and Billy walked in. “Are you ready?”

  She shook her head.

  He smirked. “Okay, where’s Luke?”

  “He’s not here.”

  The sound of running water filtered through from the bathroom. Billy sat down at the table. “I’ll wait here until he’s finished.”

  “Are you really going to tell him that lie?”

  “Of course I am. Why should Luke and the twins have all the fun?”

  Lisa paced the floor, slowly shaking her head. She wanted to punch this skinny runt and teach him how to treat a woman with respect. But when she looked at him, he smiled at her. “I don’t know what all the fuss is about. It will only take a minute, and I’ll consider it my birthday present.”

  “You said you didn’t celebrate birthdays. So that means no presents.”

  “Yeah, but I bet you do. So on this occasion I’ll make an exception.”

  Lisa drew a deep breath and blew out a frustrated sigh. “Okay, okay, I’ll do it. But you had better keep your word and say nothing about it to anyone.”

  Billy grinned the biggest grin she had ever seen. Then he stood up and pointed to the door. “I’ll go first. Wait thirty-seconds and follow me.”

  Lisa nodded.

  After he’d gone, she brought her hands up to her face and shook her head in them. This could be another mistake, and God knows she’d made a few over the last couple of days. But she had made up her mind. So thirty-seconds later, she followed Billy around to the shed at the side of the house. He was waiting inside, and when she entered, he told her to close the door.

  The shed was constructed from similar boards to the house, but with less care, because there were gaps all around, allowing the sun to stream in and provide just enough light for her to see the grin on Billy’s face. Which meant he could see her, too.

  She didn’t wait for him to give her any orders. She unfastened the buttons down to her waist and pulled open the top of her dress, leaving her small breasts on display for Billy.

  The grin dropped from his face, replaced by wide eyes and an open mouth. “You are beautiful, Lisa. More beautiful than I could have imagined. Can I touch, just for a second?”

  She sighed again. “Hurry up then, just for a second.”

  He rushed over and cupped her left breast in his hand and moaned as he gently squeezed.

  She counted to three and stepped back, breaking the contact between them. Then she pulled her dress together and fastened the buttons. “I hope you’re satisfied now. Don’t ever ask me to do that again.” She stormed out of the shed and, as she headed for the house, she heard giggling. She turned back, walked around the side of the hut, and found Summer grinning at her.

  Lisa felt the blood drain from her face and her legs almost gave way. She had seen men killed with an axe, a knife, and a shotgun, but the sight of Summer next to a gap in the boards of the shed shocked her more than all the deaths put together. “What are you doing here?”

  “I had to see if you’d go through with it. Billy didn’t think you would, but I did, and I was right.”

  “You planned this with Billy?”

  “It was just a bit of fun.”

  “Maybe to you it was, but not to me.”

  Summer stopped grinning. “Sorry, Lisa. We didn’t mean to upset you. Billy wouldn’t have told Luke anything. He can be cruel, but Luke would have beaten the hell out of him.”

  Lisa couldn’t speak, so she just stared at Summer and Billy for a long moment, then turned and walked away. But not to the house. She couldn’t face anyone. So she walked to the lake, hoping to clear her head and shake off her embarrassment at falling for their practical joke.

  As she walked, she remembered her concern for Billy when she first arrived, and how she had worried that he was being neglected. But she threw that empathy for him right out of her mind and vowed to ignore the little bastard in the future. And she was seriously reassessing her opinion of Summer. She had given her the benefit of the doubt over her flirting with Mike, but after this, she was done with her, too.

  When she reached the lake, she sat on a rock by the shore but had no desire to enter the water. She had swallowed enough of it the second time she had been there, and there was no way she wanted another film show of her life passing before her eyes. Especially after the most recent events that would no doubt be added to it. So she stared at the ground where Luke had spread the blanket and remembered the mind blowing experience she’d had with him.

  But then she wondered whether it really had been as intense as she remembered. Maybe she had exaggerated it in her mind as a way of getting back at Mike, and maybe the wine she drank had affected her memory. But as she pictured the scene of her and Luke together on the blanket, a little tingling sensation rippled through her body, confirming that everything she remembered about that night was real.

  34

  LISA

  Lisa stood up and gave her surroundings a final glance before she turned and set off back. She had been gone for over an hour and no doubt they’d be wondering where she was.

  Being alone at the lake had given her time to think, and she had decided to make up with Mike when she got back. After everything that had happened recently, maybe one kiss with Summer shouldn’t bother her as much as it did. She should keep it in perspective. Mike told her he didn’t fancy Summer in that way and that the girl had kissed him. So maybe she should give him the benefit of the doubt.

  She headed straight to the cabin to speak to him, but as she veered off to bypass the house, she saw Billy peeping around the corner at her as if keeping watch. As soon as they made eye contact, he took off towards the cabin.

  As the cabin came into view, Summer was running away from the door, pulling up her underwear with one hand, and holding the top of her dress closed with the other. She looked at Lisa and ran around the back of the house so they didn’t have to cross paths. Billy sprinted after her.

  Lisa hurried into the cabin to find Mike bent over, pulling the blankets off the floor and back onto the bed. He looked up at her and smiled.

  She scowled at him. “So this is what you get up to when I’m not around.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Don’t deny it. I just saw Summer running out with her underwear around her knees and her dress undone.”

  Mike gasped. “She was just here, but she was fully clothed, and I assure you nothing like that happened. When Billy shouted her, she pulled off my blankets and ran out. I thought it was some kind of prank.”

  “Is that the best you can do?”

  “If you don’t believe me, ask Summer. She’ll tell y
ou.”

  “I’ll do that.” She stormed out and hurried around to the front of the house, where she found Summer and Billy sitting on the deck outside. Lisa headed straight for them. “What the hell is going on, Summer?”

  “I’m sorry. I thought you had gone for a walk to the lake. You weren’t supposed to see that.”

  “Mike said nothing had happened and that you just pulled off his blankets and ran out.”

  Summer smirked. “Okay, if that’s what he said.”

  “I’m asking you what you say.”

  Summer just stared down at the floor with a sheepish look on her face.

  “I’m waiting, Summer. What happened?”

  The girl raised her head and looked at Lisa. “We just did it. I’m sorry, but we got carried away. Then Billy shouted you were coming, so I panicked and ran out. I’m so sorry.”

  Lisa stared at the girl for a moment, then walked inside the house and made straight for Erica near the kitchen. “Where’s Luke?”

  Erica glanced at her and pointed up. Lisa strode over and climbed the ladder and found Luke behind one of several curtains hanging from the rafters separating five single beds. He was lying down, fully clothed. She threw herself on top of him and gave him a full-blown, passionate kiss. When she came up for air she said, “I’m going to give your ma what she wants.”

  Luke drew a breath as he gazed at her. “And what exactly is that?”

  “She wants us to be together, doesn’t she?”

  “But I thought that wasn’t what you wanted.”

  “I’m allowed to change my mind, aren’t I?”

  “Yes, of course.” He pulled her to him, rolled her onto her back, and kissed her again. Then he sat up and motioned with his head for her to follow him. “Let’s go somewhere a little more private, away from prying little eyes.”

  Lisa remembered Billy telling her how Summer liked to spy on everyone, so she jumped up and followed Luke down the ladder and outside. Summer and Billy were no longer on the front deck, so there was less chance of them following her and Luke as he led her through the trees.

  They walked for a few minutes until they reached an open space at the foot of a large hill. Luke sat down and patted the ground, inviting Lisa to sit next to him. “It’s sheltered and peaceful here.”

  Within seconds, they had shed their clothes and were wrapped in each other’s arms, lost in the passion of the moment. Lisa was barely aware of the cool grass under her back as Luke positioned himself between her thighs and eased inside her.

  He was less forceful than the time by the lake, and within minutes she had her answer to the questions she had asked herself earlier. The intense mind-blowing orgasms were not a onetime thing, and she soon found herself having several more, one after the other. For a while, all the problems of the last few days and the stress of her relationship with her husband were replaced by pure ecstasy.

  But then, as they laid side by side recovering, guilt overwhelmed her, and a little voice inside her head was crying out, hypocrite. She had done exactly what she was angry at Mike for doing.

  Gazing up at the clear blue sky, she attempted to rationalize. Was it all Mike’s fault? Could she still blame him for everything after this? If he had not gone with their neighbor, if he had not chartered the plane from Carlos, if he had not tried it on with Summer and then taken her virginity, she would never have given herself to Luke like this, would she?

  A thought took root at the front of her mind, and for the moment, it was going nowhere. Maybe she’s just as flawed as Mike, after all.

  The only thing she knew for certain was that since the plane crash, she was different and had lost her ability to use rational thought and decision making. Or was it since she had stumbled across a house in the woods and a family of seven?

  Just as she was regaining her breath, another thought tore through her mind like a ballistic missile. She sat up with her hand covering her mouth. “Oh, my God. What day is it today?”

  “It’s Monday, why?”

  She shook her head. “Nothing.”

  He sat up next to her. “You don’t gasp like that for nothing. What is it?”

  She looked at him. “I’m not on any contraceptive. I was due to start again today but my pills are trapped in my suitcase on the plane.”

  Luke laughed. “Is that all?”

  She frowned. “What do you mean, is that all? It’s early in my cycle but I could still get pregnant.”

  “I hope so.”

  “You hope so?”

  He wrapped an arm around her. “Why do you think Ma is so keen for us to get together? She’s not just concerned with my sex life. She wants a grandchild, and she wants us to give her one. Actually, she wants many grandchildren. She would have had ten herself but she had complications while having Summer and can’t have any more.”

  Lisa jumped up. “I can’t get pregnant. Not yet, and not with you. I’ve only known you a few days.”

  “But you are attracted to me, aren’t you?”

  She nodded. “That doesn’t mean I want to have babies with you. I have a life back home, a job, friends, family.”

  “Don’t you work for Mike?”

  “I work at his gym, yes.”

  “Maybe that wouldn’t be wise now.”

  Lisa’s mind was swimming with uncertainty again as she did the math with the dates. It was day eight of her cycle, so maybe it was just early enough to be safe. She buttoned up her dress in a daze. “We should go back. I have to help Summer prepare the meal.”

  After adjusting their clothing and brushing themselves down, they set off for the house. Doubt and uncertainty were back at the forefront of her mind. She liked Luke, and sex with him was earth shattering, but she was under no illusions. She had just given herself to Luke because of her anger with Mike and the hurt she’d felt at seeing Summer leaving the cabin half dressed.

  During the walk back to the house, she relived the scene at the cabin. When she’d seen Summer in a state of undress, she was already running away and the door was closed behind her. She remembered the cruel trick Summer and Billy had played on her earlier and, for the first time, considered the possibility that she may have been set up again. Could Summer have staged the scene to make Lisa think something had happened between her and Mike? Had she been too quick to condemn him based on his previous behavior with their neighbor?

  As they reached the front of the house, she turned to Luke, gave him a quick kiss, and told him she just needed to check on Mike.

  Luke sighed, then nodded and walked into the house.

  As always, Mike smiled when he saw her. “Have you spoken with Summer?”

  Lisa shook her head and lied. “I haven’t had a chance yet.” She waited to see if he would volunteer a confession.

  But he gave her a tight-lipped smile that said he knew she was lying.

  She couldn’t help the guilty glance she gave him in return. Because she knew he knew.

  He nodded towards the window. “I saw you and Luke walking into the woods earlier and then return together just now.” He pointed to her dress. “You have a couple of buttons open.”

  As she grabbed at the buttons, she glanced out of the window and cursed under her breath. She hadn’t realized Mike would have been able to see them. Then she had a worrying thought. Had Luke deliberately led her that way, knowing that Mike could see them from the cabin? Or was she now becoming paranoid and suspecting that everything and everyone was not as they seemed?

  She focused on Mike’s eyes. “I have to ask you, and I want the truth. Did you fuck Summer?”

  Mike laughed out loud. “Are you kidding me? Of course I haven’t fucked Summer. I told you I would never do anything like that again. Even if you leave me, it will be a long time before I can look at another woman in that way, if ever.”

  Usually Lisa knew when he was telling little white lies. And even though if he was lying now, it would be a huge dirty red lie, she had lost all confidence in her ability to read him, an
d not just him, but anyone. Either Summer was one of the best liars she had ever met, or Mike was. Because they both seemed to be telling the truth, yet one of them clearly wasn’t.

  She accepted she would need more time to decide. But in the meantime, maybe she should ease up on Mike until she knew one way or another.

  35

  ERICA

  When Luke walked into the house on his own, Erica had to know why, and she had to know what had happened while he and Lisa had been together. She called him over and patted the couch next to her. “Give me an update.”

  Luke sat down and smirked. “I think you are going to get your wish.”

  “Really, is Lisa onboard with having a baby?”

  “Not exactly, but I think she will be. And even if she isn’t, it’s probably going to happen by accident, anyway.”

  “Tell me more.”

  “She’s mixed up right now, but if we carry on as we are, I think we’ll convince her to stay here, and then it’ll only be a matter of time before she gets pregnant.”

  “In that case we’ll continue to manipulate her but we’ll keep it friendly.”

  “Great. It’s fun having such a pretty girl around the place to use whenever I want.”

  Erica straightened her face. “I need to tell you a couple of things.”

  Luke lowered his eyebrows. “Go on.”

  “We need to keep her away from the pit.”

  “That goes without saying. I’ve already told her it’s where we throw the animal carcasses, so she won’t be curious or suspicious about the smell if she goes near it.”

  Erica nodded. “Good thinking.”

  “What’s the other thing?”

  “She won’t be exclusively yours.”

  “What?”

  “After she’s had your baby, we want her to have them with the twins.”

  “We?”

  “Me and your Pa. And one more thing. Your Pa wants to have some fun with her soon.”

  Luke shook his head. “Can’t we get him another girl to keep him happy?”

  “That won’t be so easy now that the sheriff’s not around to bring them out here. So it’s only right that you share her.”