Rumours

by Alison Tyler

  ‘I wasn’t expecting company,’ I reminded him. The morning seemed like a long time ago.

  ‘That’s even sexier,’ he whispered. ‘You look hot even when you’re all by yourself.’ As he spoke, he slid his hand down under my top and touched my naked breasts. I took a deep breath as he fingered me, stroking first one breast and then the other, then pinching each of my nipples until I groaned even louder. I wanted his mouth on them, but I couldn’t find my voice to tell him that. Luckily, Alden didn’t need instructions. He bent and kissed me through the camisole, his mouth making wet spots on the fabric over my nipples, the heat coursing instantly through my body, radiating outwards in warm, swift pulses. The wetness of his mouth was delectable, even through the thin cotton, and I could feel myself responding as I grew more turned on in the confines of my cut-off jeans.

  ‘I knew you’d feel like this,’ he murmured, moving his mouth up my body. ‘I knew exactly how you’d feel when I first saw you. And I thought about it the whole day.’

  ‘Back when you thought I was a fancy redhead?’ I asked him.

  ‘You are a fancy redhead. Has nothing to do with the way you dress.’

  His breath was hot on my neck as he kissed me there, then moved his lips to my mouth and kissed me again. I dissolved into the sensation, feeling the fullness of his lips on mine, the strength of his body against me, and then suddenly I felt his fingers working the row of buttons on my cut-off jeans. I’d already decided to invite him in when he took me home. I thought he might be just the man to christen the old brass bed with me in the small master bedroom. But this was different.

  ‘Alden, no –’ I told him, opening my eyes and pushing his hand away.

  ‘That’s not what you’re supposed to say,’ he admonished me, stepping back to stare into my eyes.

  ‘I mean, not here. Anyone could see –’

  ‘Don’t you like that concept, Charlie? Even a little bit?’

  I flushed. ‘Well, yeah, but you said people talk out here.’

  ‘Oh, they do.’ He nodded emphatically.

  ‘You said they were already talking about me, and I haven’t even done anything at all, just gone to the bar and danced with a few cowboys.’

  ‘Yeah,’ he said, nodding, but his eyes seemed to tell me he knew something different.

  ‘And if they find out …’ I stammered.

  ‘Who are you worried about, Charlene? Is there someone else on your list of locals to sample? Zeppelin, maybe? Or Noah, our local rock star?’

  I didn’t have an answer, and Alden took my silence as the perfect opportunity to slide my cut-offs down my thighs. Without waiting for him to give me any instructions, I stepped out of the shorts and watched as he nudged them aside. Then he came forwards, pressing against me. The truck was cold metal behind me. His body was warm and hard in front of me, and I found that I no longer wanted to protest. I lifted my arms over my head, wrapped my hands around one of the high rungs of the ladder, and held on tightly as Alden bent and began to kiss me through my plain white panties. His sweet touch sent shivers through me, and I closed my eyes and stopped thinking of all the reasons why we shouldn’t, and started thinking about all the reasons why we should. It felt good. That was an easy one. He was so fucking sexy. That was two. I didn’t owe anybody anything. Not Johnny. Not Alden’s ex-girlfriend Sheila. Not Cody. We were grown-ups, after all. Adults with minds and wills of our own. I was in a new town. Making a new start.

  This was definitely a new start, wasn’t it?

  He had me wet and ready for him in moments, his tongue tracing intricate designs over my panty-clad mound. He brushed against my clitoris, finding that hot button instinctively, even through the opaque fabric of my panties. If he kept doing those magic tricks with his tongue, he would make me come. Right there. Right from the beginning. But Alden didn’t seem to want that. He wanted to stretch this out, to make me wait.

  Slowly, he turned me around, so that I was facing the back of the truck, my arms still locked tight on the ice-cold metal ladder. He used the very tips of his fingers to push my panties over the curve of my ass and then slip them the rest of the way down my thighs. He took his time over this simple movement, and I felt undone at how carefully he undressed me. He could have ripped my clothes right off and I wouldn’t have complained, but the fact that he was moving so slowly, as if enjoying every single moment, turned me on even more. I stepped out of my panties and looked over my shoulder at him as he reached for them and brought them up to his face. I watched, my heart pounding, as he breathed in deeply, inhaling my most secret scent.

  ‘You smell amazing,’ he whispered, staring right at me as he drank me in.

  His eyes were mesmerising. I watched as he inhaled a second time, and then my panties seemed to disappear from his grip, and he brought his powerful hands around me once again. His touch made me feel weak all over. When his hands reached the split of my body and gently parted my pussy lips, I bit down on a moan, stifling the noise as his bare fingertips brushed over my swollen bud. He used one hand, then the other, strumming me repeatedly as if he were playing an instrument. Then he pressed his body to mine from the rear, and I sighed as he let me feel how hard he was. Through his jeans, I could tell that his cock was steel-like and ready. He rubbed against me, back and forth, giving me the most delicious contact with his denim-clad rod. I wanted to insist that he take off his clothes immediately, that the two of us be put on an even playing field, but I was curious about his intentions. How long would he tease me before he finally fucked me? Would he let me come first, just one time, before sliding inside of me?

  I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been this aroused. Sex with Johnny was always good, but this was different – the joy of giving oneself to an expert new lover. I was desperate to feel Alden thrust into me, desperate to have him inside me, filling me to the hilt. The fact that he was going so slowly only worked to make me that much more excited. I wanted him to tear open his fly and just pound into me so that I could really feel it. Wanted him to force me against the cool metal of the truck, slamming against my body until I cried out. But somehow I didn’t voice any of my desires. I stayed within myself, my head lowered to my chest, trying not to beg, trying to let him lead.

  The humming fluorescent lights over our heads were extremely bright in the firehouse, and the sky was a dark, star-studded navy blue outside. The contrasts made me feel dizzy, as if we were on display in a picture window of a department store – Alden and myself putting on an X-rated sex show. I liked the thought, but I had a difficult time believing that Alden had read me so quickly that he would have known this sort of thing would turn me on. Yet maybe we were more alike than I’d thought.

  His fingertips never stopped their tantalising trip between my slick nether lips, tickling my clit in the sexiest fashion as he ground his muscular body against me from behind. His knowing fingers brought me closer and closer to climax as his body let me know just what it would be like when he decided to take us one step further. He still had all of his clothes on, and was still teasing me with the feeling of his cock sheathed in denim. I looked over my shoulder at him, and finally I found my voice. ‘Take off your shirt, Alden.’

  ‘This old shirt?’ he asked, playing coy.

  I nodded.

  He grinned at me, then pulled the T-shirt over his head. I drew in my breath at the sight of him in his jeans, his well-muscled chest sexy in spite of the scars. Or maybe because of them. He had a different body type to Johnny – more muscular and rippled, while lacking all the colourful ink that I was accustomed to. I found the look arousing, and I wanted to see more, wanted to see him totally revealed as he had been out at Heart’s Desire. Because this was different. That had been for show, while this was for real. But, when he finally popped the buttons on his fly and pressed up against me, I had an instant memory of the previous night, of him roughly pushing into me at the bar as a rather ungallant way to make an introduction, and that made me think of Cody. I wondered what Cod
y would say if he saw the two of us in such a compromising position. The gentleman rancher was sure to have an opinion about this. I could visualise his blue eyes looking us up and down, and a slow smile spreading over his handsome face, as if to say, ‘You kids don’t know nothing about fucking.’

  And then I stopped wondering about anything as the fire alarm rang and Alden swore fiercely under his breath. ‘Oh, Jesus. Charlie, I’m sorry. You gotta go. I mean, I gotta go.’ He quickly tucked himself back into his jeans, while I awkwardly turned around to face him. ‘Two for two,’ he said with a despondent shake of his head. ‘Someone up there really doesn’t want me to fuck you.’ He buttoned his fly quickly, if slightly regretfully, adjusting his erection and giving me a soulful look of unfulfilled lust. ‘Take my truck if you’d like.’ His words came in a rush as he hurried to dress. ‘Or wait for me upstairs in my room. It’s the last one on the left. Just wait to go up there until you see me and Joe leave.’ He pulled his shirt back over his head and ran his hand over his face.

  I heard a squawking sound on the radio from the office.

  ‘That’s the dispatcher out – in Marshall. They’re backfilling the station by calling the volunteers at Dylann,’ Alden explained. ‘I have to go up and make sure Joe gets out of bed.’ He reached into his side pocket for a key ring, then pushed his keys into my hands as I hopped off the engine and fumbled for my shorts. I tried to find my panties, but Alden had tossed them aside somewhere. I couldn’t waste precious time looking for them.

  ‘I’m sorry, Charlene. I really am. Things are generally slow on Sunday nights. But you never know. I’ll call you tomorrow. Promise.’

  Then he was off, hurrying to the office to respond to the emergency. I thought how unbelievably sexy he looked as he blurred past me. So focused. So different to the wisecracking man who’d tried to splash me with water earlier in the day. He was part little boy and part full-grown adult, and I liked the two parts equally well. I felt giddy from the pleasure I’d just experienced. My body was ready to be fucked, and I had to calm down, to remind myself that sometimes it’s better to wait. But that’s a fortune-cookie philosophy that people like to tell themselves when pleasure eludes them. It was not anything I wanted to learn about in real life.

  I stepped outside of the building at the same moment as I heard footsteps rushing down the stairs. Christ, not only one, but three sets of footsteps. When he’d said ‘Joe’ was upstairs, he’d been referring to the collective trio of Joes. Just in time, I ducked behind a large green bush, my heart pounding. I felt as if I were back in high school, trying to ditch class, and about to get caught by the principal. I had no idea what to do. Take his truck? Hide in his bed? Neither option seemed viable. What if he were gone all night, and I was discovered sleeping in his bed in the morning like some perverted redhaired Goldilocks? Redilocks. That was a good name for me. I was definitely ready. But, if I took his old Ford, how would I get his truck back to him? I wished there were a regular cab service in Raysville, but I already knew that only one rental ride existed in town, and you had to book it weeks in advance. If I called the number now, I’d wake up the old man who owned the community’s sole yellow cab, and that would definitely get the gossip going.

  I could walk, I suddenly realised. Nobody walks in LA, but people definitely walked out here. You saw them all the time on the different footpaths, or even on the main thoroughfares. I watched as two of the Joes backed the ambulance out of the building and Alden followed a moment later, driving the yellow squad, the third Joe sitting at this side. I thought again about walking, feeling afraid of getting lost on the winding footpaths, or of twisting an ankle and being unable to find help. There were no cars out at this hour, and no lights to guide my way.

  Unsure, I started to head in the direction of the main road. But I was cold. I hadn’t dressed appropriately for the day’s series of adventures. Quickly, I raced back into the station and headed up the stairs. I found Alden’s room, easily identified by a photo of him with Sheila on the desk. In it they both appeared years younger and much more innocent. Sheila didn’t have that pinched, irritated look on her face, and Alden looked much more like a boy on the verge of manhood than a grown man who enjoyed boyish games. I hoped that the picture simply represented a happy time in his past and was not an indication that, even if they were broken up now, the break-up was destined to be short-lived. Or that he was pining for her, only using me as a way to recapture her interest. After a moment, I set down the photo, rifled through his closet and came out with a heavy cream-coloured cable-knit sweater. I slid it on and rolled up the sleeves. The sweater hung down my thighs, obscuring my shorts entirely. I caught a glimpse of myself in the TV screen next to Alden’s bed. I looked like a waif, lost and forlorn. After a final moment’s hesitation, I made my way down the stairs. I took my time leaving the building, making sure that nobody saw me go.

  As I headed again towards Main Street, I heard a rustling in the bushes next to me. A stray dog? A fox? Skunk? Coyote? Oh, Jesus, what other animals did they have out here? Raccoons. Possums. Not dangerous, just ugly. Once again, the city girl in me trembled, and I headed back behind the station, Alden’s keys still in my pocket.

  Why not drive his truck? After all, he’d offered.

  In the morning, I woke up feeling stiff and cold. The weather appeared to have changed overnight, which I’d been expecting based on information I’d overheard from the locals. People constantly greeted each other with ‘Beautiful day. Enjoy it while you can.’ I shivered all over, wishing I’d had more sense than to sleep in just my panties and camisole. My cabin was freezing, and I gratefully slipped Alden’s giant sweater back on and went to heat up water for coffee. But then I remembered that I didn’t have any coffee. I’d finished the last of the grounds the day before and, although I’d planned to make a stop at the Castle Market for supplies, I had been gone with Alden all day long.

  I’d head out to the Cowpie, I decided. If I truly wanted to be a local, I’d have to try and follow the locals’ schedule. Or create my own schedule, as Alden had suggested. He’d told me that the bakery opened before six, so that the ranchers and the dairy workers could get their daily cup of java before heading out to a hard day’s work. It was after eight now. I could go and see what downtown looked like in the bright light of early morning. I thought of calling Alden and asking him to meet me for a cup of coffee, but I didn’t have his cell phone number, and I didn’t want to dial the fire department directly. I could imagine that: ‘No, Chief, it’s not an emergency, but I was fucking – well, almost fucking – one of the studs on your force last night, and he had to take an emergency call, so I drove his truck home. I’m trying to return it. Oh, and by the way, you didn’t happen to find my panties, did you? Cotton white hipsters?’

  Yeah, that would play out well. I was fairly certain there’d be a billboard out on Main Street within an hour broadcasting that tidbit of news.

  After considering my options, I decided I’d drive Alden’s truck back to the station, park it, get my coffee and see if he might give me a ride back home. If not, the walk back to my cabin wouldn’t be nearly so bad in the daylight. As I drove down the Saint James Boulevard – a two-lane road that went the distance from the famous lighthouse way out on the point all the way to Highway 101 – I found that I actually liked being in his truck more than in my tiny Mini. Being high off the ground gave me a different view. For a moment, I daydreamed about buying my own truck, then laughed out loud at the thought. I’d return to Los Angeles to visit Mia, driving some huge 4x4 with assorted bumper stickers. So far, I’d seen ‘SMAO IRAQ’ on a truck in a nearby redneck town and ‘SHUT UP AND DRIVE’ in response to all the cell phone use. Then there was the irritating ‘Annoy a liberal. Work hard and be happy.’ Or the variants on the Darwin Fish: the original Jesus Fish, a Gefilte Fish, an Alien Fish and a Jesus Fish eating a Darwin Fish – which didn’t seem all that Christian to me. Out here, though, the stickers were mostly anti-war and anti-Bush. But my favourit
es so far were ‘The weather is here, wish you were beautiful’ and ‘Welcome to California. Now go home!’

  As I drove, people in oncoming cars raised their hands to me. At first, I assumed they were simply being friendly, smalltown charm, and all. When I noticed that most of them stopped in mid-wave, I realised that locals assumed at first sight that I was Alden and then, seeing a girl in the cab, froze with their hands in mid-air.

  Hoping I’d done the right thing, I parked his truck in the space, left the keys in the glovebox and walked the half a block to the Cowpie. When I entered, the same magical aroma sailed over me, as always. Unfortunately, that was the only thing familiar from my previous experiences in the place. Elsa wasn’t there, but the women behind the counter glared as I came forwards, and I heard one hiss to another, ‘That’s the girl who fucked Alden.’ I recognised her as one of Sheila’s trio of friends from The Saloon, and I froze in place, my eyes huge.

  Had she really said what I thought? How could she possibly know that?

  Several of the customers ahead of me in the line turned to look at me, and I felt those behind me craning their necks to do the same. I wanted to tell them that I hadn’t actually fucked Alden. I’d only tried to fuck Alden. Wasn’t there a difference? Would they change their attitude if I explained that we’d been rudely interrupted by the sound of the alarm before we were able to consummate our brand-new relationship, with Alden mounting me on the back of the glistening red firetruck?

  While I waited for my turn, I pretended to be deeply interested in the tourist information, brochures about the lighthouse and the cheese store. But I couldn’t shake the feeling that everyone was watching me. I hurried to pay for my coffee and leave, and I burned my tongue on the first sip of the java, unwilling to take my time with it. Next, I headed to the grocery store to pick up coffee beans for the house – perhaps it would be better if I avoided the Cowpie for a few days, anyway – and the man behind the counter snickered as he rang me up. I looked at him quizzically, but he didn’t say a word apart from telling me my total. Yet, as I walked out, I heard him say, ‘Hey, Bill. That’s the one. She and Alden …’