Zeke

by Wodke Hawkinson

  “Want to try something a little naughty?” he asked. “Just for kicks?”

  “I don’t know. What do you have in mind?” Dilly responded, sounding eager.

  “You seem like the adventurous type, Dilly. And this is a good thing. Sue and I are very uninhibited people, very comfortable in our own skins. Easygoing, you know. So I just thought maybe you’d like to try a few things just for fun, you know take a few silly pictures.”

  “Yeah, that’s cool.”

  “Great,” Zeke said. “Why don’t you and Sue pretend you’re kissing, just for the camera. It’ll be wild.”

  “Well, okay, just for the picture,” Dilly said. “If that’s okay with you.” She turned to look at Sue.

  Sue said nothing, her eyes wide. Dilly leaned over and placed her lips on Sue’s. Sue sat perfectly still while Zeke took shots. Dilly’s lips were soft and closed and the kiss was very innocent. Sue was relieved to feel nothing other than the sensation of light pressure on her mouth.

  “How was that?” Dilly asked.

  “That was pretty good,” Zeke said. “But I think you guys can do better than that. Why don’t you try again, and maybe hug each other or something.”

  Dilly shrugged and looked at Sue. At that point, Sue wanted to hold her, but not in a sexual way. She wanted to hold her like a best friend, hold her for comfort, two girls stuck together in a weird dream. Sue put her arms out and Dilly slipped into them. They held each other chastely for a moment. Then Dilly broke the spell when she kissed Sue again, this time with her mouth parted and her tongue out slightly. Sue felt a small quiver in her belly. Dilly pulled back with a surprised look on her face.

  “Now isn’t that nice?” Zeke asked, his camera hanging at his side.

  “It was nice,” Dilly said softly. “Not so rough, like guys can be.”

  “I don’t know about this.” Sue balked. “It feels wrong.”

  “No, it doesn’t. It feels good. Just relax and go with it. You’re just enjoying each other, nothing wrong about that.” Zeke’s voice was smooth, comforting. “Don’t you like Dilly?”

  Sue looked at the girl and back at Zeke. “Yes,” she replied quietly.

  Zeke looked at Dilly with a raised eyebrow.

  “It’s kind of fun.” Dilly squeezed Sue’s hand encouragingly. “I don’t mind, if she doesn’t.”

  “Then, do it again,” Zeke urged. “Just pretend like you two are a couple. A couple in love.”

  “Now, that’s weird,” Dilly said, but giggled. She leaned over and kissed Sue again. This time they both made the most of it. Sue pretended she was kissing Zeke, and Dilly pretended Sue was a guy. The kiss was very enjoyable. Sue found she didn’t mind this at all. She was warm and relaxed from the booze now and Dilly was soft, clean, and cute. For a girl. Yes, this was just fine. She could handle this. She moved deeper into Dilly’s arms.

  “There’s nothing to be afraid of, girls.” Zeke’s encouragement fired up their imagination. “It’s perfectly natural for two beautiful women to be drawn to each other, to admire each other, to be curious. Wouldn’t you each like to see what you look like without all those clothes in the way?”

  “Fine with me,” Dilly said. “I’m not shy.” She disengaged herself from Sue’s arms and stood beside the bed. “Do you want to, Sue?”

  “She wants to,” Zeke answered for Sue. “She told me when she first laid eyes on you that she thought you were the prettiest girl she had seen in a long time, and we’ve seen a lot of professional models in our work.”

  “Really? Wow. Thanks, Sue.” Dilly took off her shirt and wiggled out of her skirt and panties.

  Sue watched her undress, lost in a sense of unreality, until Zeke caught her eye and gave her a nod. Complying with his silent command, Sue started pulling off her clothes too. As she did so, she watched Dilly, making mental comparisons between their bodies. Dilly was watching Sue with fascination also.

  “Have you ever been with another girl, Dilly?” Zeke asked.

  “Sort of,” Dilly said. “A friend of mine kissed me once on a dare, in front of some guys. It was okay, no big deal. Plus we undress together all the time when we go to the gym.”

  “Have you ever made love to a woman?” Zeke slyly rubbed his crotch with the edge of his thumb.

  “No, not really.”

  “Well, neither has Sue. But if you guys want to, it’s okay with me. In fact, I think you ought to try it, just to see what it’s like. I mean, seeing each other naked like this, aren’t you curious?” The catch in Zeke’s voice revealed his growing excitement.

  “A little,” Dilly admitted, running her eyes over Sue’s body, then looking back at Zeke “What the hell, I suppose we can try it. Might be a nice change of pace. We can always stop if we don’t like it, right?” Dilly eyed Sue.

  Sue nodded. Dilly crawled back onto the bed beside Sue. Plainly, both girls were embarrassed and uncertain how to proceed, but Zeke was quick to instruct them.

  He took picture after picture as they followed his directions. Before long, Zeke’s arousal was too intense to contain. He laid his camera aside, stripped off his clothes, and joined them in bed.

  Drunk as Sue was, she still registered every time Zeke touched Dilly and jealousy flared off and on during the heated encounter. She didn’t blame Dilly for reacting to Zeke’s touch, though. She knew from experience his seductive powers.

  Afterward, the three lay tangled together, breathless, and smelling of each other. Dilly leaned over and gave each of them a kiss. “I want to thank you guys,” she said dreamily. “This is the most exciting thing that’s ever happened to me.”

  “Us, too.” Zeke stretched like a lazy cat. “Right, Sue?”

  Sue extricated herself from the pile and got up. “Anyone want another beer?”

  She walked to the counter, and Dilly exclaimed behind her. “What happened to you? Is that a bite mark?”

  “It is.” Zeke watched Dilly carefully.

  “Oh, no!” Dilly pushed herself into a sitting position. “I don’t go for that sort of thing. I’m not into pain.”

  “Neither are we,” Zeke said calmly. “Sue got mixed up with a truck driver at our last stop and he got carried away. I had to go back and kick his ass when I found out.”

  Dilly relaxed back onto the bed. “What a jerk!”

  “Yeah, he was. We had no idea the bastard was like that, or Sue wouldn’t have gone with him. You have to be so careful these days.”

  “That’s for sure,” Dilly agreed.

  Sue followed the exchange with a frown on her face. Zeke lied so easily. She wondered what all he’d lied about to her. She carried the beers back to the bed and passed them out.

  “Aw, sweetie, I feel so bad for you,” Dilly said to Sue. “Come here and sit by me.”

  Sue climbed into bed next to Dilly, who patted her leg comfortingly. Zeke sat on the edge of the mattress and lit a cigarette. He gazed at the two nude women, sitting close to each other, drinking their beers in companionable silence. Zeke smoked languidly with a look of amusement on his face.

  Dilly stirred a little, looking with skepticism between the two. She scooted off the bed and stood. “You’ll have to excuse me. I have to pee.” She hurried to the bathroom, lifted the lid to the stool noisily, and pressed an ear to the closed door.

  As soon as Dilly disappeared into the restroom, Zeke turned to Sue. A strange smile lit up his face. “That was pretty hot, wasn’t it, Susie Q?”

  Sue said nothing. But Zeke continued as if she’d responded.

  “Well, let me tell you, if you liked that, you’ll be pleased to hear that it’s about to get even hotter. When she gets back out here, the real fun’s gonna start. If you’re squeamish, you can go hide in the bathroom for this next part. Unless you want to help out, hold her down for me?”

  “What are you going to do to her?” Sue whispered, heart racing.

  “What I can’t do to you.” His voice was ominous.

  “Like what?”

 
“Like that bite you didn’t think was sexy. I want to do that to Dilly’s sweet ass. And more. So very much more. We might have to get rid of her body later, if things get too rough.” Zeke smiled in anticipation.

  Sue was dumbstruck. She couldn’t think of one thing to say. Thankfully, she was saved from responding as Dilly’s voice drifted from the bathroom.

  “Hey, I hate to rush off, but I need you to take me back to the bowling alley.” The toilet flushed, and there was the sound of water running. Dilly continued, “My brother’s waiting for me to drive him home.”

  Zeke froze and looked at Sue. His face paled. “Your brother?”

  The water stopped and Dilly came out of the bathroom. “Yeah, when I went back to get my coat, I told him I was going with you guys, and he said he’d wait for me to come back. Hey, sorry we didn’t get a chance to talk about good sites for your pictures, or order our pizza.” She started pulling on her clothes. “Oh, well, what we did was a lot more fun anyway.” She waggled her eyebrows at Zeke and smiled sweetly at Sue.

  Sue was relieved. She hadn’t even realized she’d been holding her breath. She got out of bed and gave Dilly a hug before putting her own clothes back on. Zeke sat as if stricken.

  “Zeke?” Dilly said. “You okay?”

  “Yeah, yeah. Just thinking about all the fun we had.” The firm set of his mouth belied his words as he collected his clothes. He ducked into the bathroom.

  “He okay?” Dilly asked.

  Sue shrugged, but she knew Zeke was bitterly disappointed. He exited a few minutes later, quiet and withdrawn. The air around him fairly crackled with animosity. Dilly sensed the change in mood and pulled on her coat, heading for the door. Silently, Zeke and Sue followed her out to the van.

  A thin layer of snow covered the ice on the streets now, and Zeke eased the vehicle down the slick roads with caution. Nobody said anything on the way to the bowling alley, the van filled with awkward silence. The carefree spirit of the past few hours was gone. It seemed like forever before they reached the parking lot and edged toward the door. People were leaving in groups of three or four; Zeke swore quietly under his breath as he waited for everyone to get out of his way. Finally, he pulled up to the front of the building. Sue started to get out and open the sliding door, but Dilly beat her to it, stepping quickly, yet gingerly, onto the icy surface. “Bye, Dilly,” Sue whispered.

  Dilly practically ran away from the vehicle, slipping a time or two, not looking back even once. She stepped into the building and ducked to one side. As soon as the van left the parking lot, Dilly made a dash for her car. She had no brother, but intuition told her she had narrowly escaped an evil fate.

  Zeke was in a black mood by the time they got back to the motel. “I just wanted to punish her a little, you know, give her some smacks. She had such a ripe ass, perfect.”

  “She doesn’t like pain; she told you that,” Sue said calmly, glad it was just the two of them again. She figured she could handle Zeke, if she was crafty about it.

  “I know.” He slumped in the chair and glared at her. The odd, unhappy gleam in his eyes was unsettling. “This is so fucked up.” He slowly tapped the arm of the chair with a clenched fist.

  Sue looked at him with apprehension. Early on, in their relationship, he had commented that swear words were the refuge of the intellectually bankrupt. He’d even been arrogant about it, boasting of a vocabulary sufficient to express himself without resorting to profanity. Obviously, he had lied about that, too. She was catching him in more and more lies. It was becoming hard to know when to trust him or not. Was his mental state deteriorating?

  Sue decided to divert him from whatever dark urges were tormenting him. “Hey, let’s look at the pictures,” she suggested.

  His mood suddenly lifted and he clapped his hands together once, sharply. “Great idea!” He hooked the camera up to his laptop, and fiddled with it a few minutes, humming with pleasure. “Look at these, Sue. They’re good. I wish I would have taken more.”

  Sue walked over and glanced at the screen. She tried to remain dispassionate about the graphic images, but it was impossible. She could hardly believe she actually did those things. And Zeke wasn’t done. With her leaning over his shoulder, he clicked on other folders, his hands trembling slightly. “These are awesome, bunny. Look.”

  They compared the new shots with the ones of her and Ernie. Soon, he pushed the laptop aside and reached for her. She was exhausted, but relieved that his disposition had improved. He carried her to the bed and made slow, easy love to her.

  They cuddled afterward. He stroked her hair and called her his sweet baby. She was nearly asleep when he pulled his arm from beneath her head with a jerk. Sue groaned.

  “I’m too wound up to sleep.” Zeke crawled out of bed. “I can’t stop thinking about you with Dilly, and then I’m wide awake all over again.”

  “Just lay down and rest,” Sue mumbled sleepily from under the covers. Her legs were shaky, her body warm and heavy. She drifted off.

  Midnight Visitors

  Sue woke slowly to the sound of low voices in the room. In her drowsy state, she thought it was the television. Stretching languorously, she tossed back the covers, flung her leg out over the folds of blankets, and touched herself. She was a little tender and very moist. I must have had wild dreams, she thought, though she didn’t remember them. But then, who wouldn’t after all she had been through.

  “Holy shit,” an unfamiliar voice blurted.

  Sue opened her eyes, lying perfectly still. She turned her head slowly and saw Zeke smiling at her from the chair, two strange men on either side of him, their jaws slack, beer bottles stopped halfway to their mouths.

  “Oh!” she cried and pulled the covers over herself.

  “It’s okay, honey. These guys are with me.” Zeke’s eyes were unnaturally bright, and he gave her that look of warning, the look that told her not to raise a fuss.

  Sue burned with embarrassment, holding the covers up under her chin. “You might have told me!”

  “No, you were sleeping; I didn’t want to wake you. We were just going to have a couple of quiet beers and let you rest.” Zeke took a long drink. With a sardonic lift of his brow, he challenged her.

  “Sorry if we woke you,” one of the men interjected.

  Sue glanced quickly at him. He looked to be about thirty years old, handsome in a rough way, dark reddish hair over the collar of his flannel shirt, eyes swimming with a combination of embarrassment and frank interest. He was relaxed, leaning back against the wall, one hand in his pocket, the other holding his beer.

  On the other side of Zeke, the second guy looked less comfortable. A slender blonde man, slightly younger than the first one, he wore jeans hanging low on his hips and a holey Kid Rock t-shirt. He was cute, even in the dim light. Sexy cute. He was also obviously shy too; he looked at the walls, the floor, anywhere but at her.

  “I don’t have any clothes on,” Sue said petulantly.

  “We know, bunny.” Zeke chuckled. “We saw.”

  “Well, I’d like to take a shower and get dressed, if you don’t mind.”

  “Go ahead,” Zeke said softly. “It’s not like these gentlemen have never seen a naked woman before. We’re all friends here.”

  Sue clenched her jaw and lay still for a moment. Then, making up her mind about something, she threw the covers off and stood beside the bed. Her anger made her bold. The blond still avoided looking at her, but the other man feasted his eyes. She stretched again, deliberately. If this was how Zeke wanted to play, it was fine with her. She walked slowly to the bathroom, putting a little bump and grind into her step.

  She closed the door and used the toilet. Then, defiantly, she opened it back up. She got into the shower and bathed, soaping herself and rinsing off. She left the door open as she toweled her body and put on a dab of perfume.

  “I’m going to dry my hair now.” She peeked around the doorway, allowing a breast to show. “If any of you need to use the restroom, now
’s the time.” She looked at each of them, but they shook their heads, the blond still trying not to stare.

  Once her hair was dry, she sashayed across the room and sat on the bed. Glancing at the men from under her lashes, she leaned back on her hands and spread her legs. She’d teach Zeke a lesson. He’d be sorry he did this.

  The blond cleared his throat and the other man gaped. Zeke laughed softly.

  “Aren’t you going to introduce your new friends?” Sue forced a casual tone into her voice.

  “I didn’t catch their names.”

  “Lou,” said the redhead, and then nodded toward the blond. “This is Mike.”

  “Nice to meet you, boys,” Sue said, still not smiling, but definitely enjoying the notion of making Zeke jealous. The blond was finally looking at her, too. She opened her legs wider. It was almost funny, for they certainly had no idea what to do next. There was no protocol for this particular social situation.

  Zeke got up from the chair and walked over to the bed. He fondled her, looking at Lou and Mike while he did. They watched, frozen, waiting for some clue whether they should leave or stay. With a sinking feeling, Sue realized her effort was wasted. Zeke wasn’t jealous; she had played right into his hands.

  “My wife and I are open-minded.” Zeke ran his hands over her body. “Very open-minded.”

  Against her will, Sue felt a small rush. She wanted to giggle, the situation was so absurd and yet so titillating. The air of expectancy in the room was electric. She herself didn’t know how things would proceed from here.

  “What…” Lou said, but didn’t finish his question. He couldn’t seem to find any words. Mike sat heavily in the chair and just stared.

  “You both look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Zeke said cheerfully. “You need to loosen up a little.”

  In a flash of understanding, Sue’s exhilaration died. He doesn’t care about me. The realization struck her like a slap in the face. He wouldn’t put her with other men if he cared. Why was she still with him?