Rumours

by Alison Tyler

  I didn’t even know if the time spent with Alden was worth all the trouble. Not when Alden and I hadn’t spoken since the gossip began. I wished I could talk to him, but that didn’t seem possible unless he was the one to contact me. So instead I called Mia as soon as I got home. I knew she would be up. Mia does her best work late at night. She’s a journalist with monthly assignments for several national travel magazines. Almost all of her writing occurs after eleven p.m. It’s the only time she says that she can really think. Or really fuck. I hoped I was going to be interrupting the former activity, not the latter.

  ‘Tell the truth. You’re ready for me to come get you, aren’t you?’ she asked. I could tell from her voice that she was wide awake.

  ‘You sound like a mom talking to a homesick kid at camp.’

  ‘And that’s exactly what you are, isn’t it? Homesick. And I’ll bet plenty horny, too. Do you miss Johnny enough yet?’

  ‘Enough?’ I asked, feeling guilty as I realised he hadn’t been on my mind much since I’d met Alden, and embarrassed because I hadn’t told Mia about what had happened when Johnny met me on my way out of town, or about how the two of us had engaged in phone sex at the public booth.

  ‘Enough to come back home.’

  ‘That’s not why I’m calling, Mia.’

  ‘Then it’s the ghost, isn’t it? You’re scared stiff, and you need a friend to come and perform an exorcism.’

  ‘I don’t think you exorcise ghosts. I think that’s for evil demons.’

  ‘Well, have you seen it yet? Are you spooked?’

  ‘This isn’t about a ghost,’ I insisted. I took a breath and then slowly explained the situation, and over her immediate and buoyant burst of laughter I worked my way up to describing precisely what I wanted from her. ‘I didn’t know it would be like this. Alden’s ex-girlfriend is upset because she thought they were on a break.’

  ‘Were they?’ Mia asked.

  ‘He assured me that they were no longer together, but all of her friends are taking her side, of course.’ I left out the part about finding her photo in his room. She’d undoubtedly use that as evidence against me.

  ‘Did you know about her?’

  ‘I didn’t think he was off-limits. Now the whole town is talking.’

  ‘So let them talk. You’re tougher than that, Charlie. You’ve been doing the LA scene for ten years. This can’t begin to compare with that sort of back-stabbing world. There are only a few of them. Smaller than an audience at one of Johnny’s concerts.’

  ‘But at least in LA you can get lost in the multitude. Now, I can’t show my face anywhere. If I go to the bakery, the girls behind the counter snarl at me. The men at the bar think I’m easy –’

  ‘Why would they think that?’

  ‘Because what I did and what they think I did are two completely different things.’

  ‘What’d you do?’ said Mia, giggling.

  ‘You and your filthy mind. We had a good time …’

  ‘So you did do what they think you did.’

  ‘Stop it! Even if we had slept together, which we didn’t, why does everyone care so much?’ Before she could weigh in with an answer, I continued, the words coming out in a rush. ‘And from the way people talk, I’m learning that everyone in town seems to have slept with everyone else.’

  ‘Of course they have. Who else would they sleep with? People from Texas? Seattle? New York? Guam? What did you expect, Charlie?’

  ‘I mean, the bartender made this comment that let me know she’d been with Alden, and that Sheila had been with Noah –’

  ‘You’re losing me, Charlie. I don’t know these people.’

  ‘Well, here’s the main point. When someone does something, everybody finds out about it overnight. You can’t hide anything.’

  ‘Sounds like college,’ Mia said with a sigh.

  ‘At least then I could just drop whatever class the guy was in and avoid him in the student centre. Now, I really might have to move.’

  ‘Well, why don’t you?’ she asked, sounding excited. ‘Your room is still ready for you here. I’ll only charge you double what you were paying before.’

  ‘I want to stay,’ I insisted, holding firm. ‘I just don’t want to wear a scarlet letter on my chest for the rest of my visit.’

  ‘What letter would it be?’ Mia mused. ‘He’s not married. You didn’t commit adultery. What about a “C” for cheating? It’d also work for Charlie. You might start a whole new trend, like the initials on the purses that everyone had last year –’

  I interrupted. ‘I need your help.’

  But Mia obviously already knew what I was hoping for because she said, ‘You want me to really give them something else to talk about, don’t you? Like we did back in school.’

  ‘Precisely. And then the people will forget about my actions and start talking about yours. If I’m the model citizen the whole time, then I might be able to start fresh. All you have to do is tramp your way through the town.’

  ‘Lovely.’

  ‘You don’t have to stay long enough for that to bother you. Just a week or so, to let everything smooth over for me. When you go back home, that will cause as much gossip as your being here. I’m sure of it. All I want is a little time to make the situation less raw.’ To further convince her, I told her about the ménage I’d witnessed in action at the bar, and how easily the people were captivated by a brand-new situation.

  ‘So why do you even need me? Maybe tomorrow everyone will still be talking about the trio you saw tonight and you’ll be ancient history.’

  ‘I need a diversion bigger than what happened tonight. Something that involves the locals. I can’t count on a scandal happening naturally. Maybe in a month or two, but I don’t want to hide my head in the sand for that long.’

  Mia sighed again, but I could tell she was warming up to the concept. She’s always enjoyed acting the part of the tart. ‘All right,’ she said. ‘I could definitely use a bit of vacation. What better way to spend it than by going up North to make out with some hunky strangers.’ A pause. ‘They are hunky, right?’

  ‘Oh, yes. The farmers. The builders. The fishermen. They’re all here. Every male cheesecake archetype you can imagine. And they’re all hot.’

  ‘And your fling?’

  ‘Fireman.’

  ‘Oooh.’

  ‘And I really do like him.’

  ‘No problem, Charlie. We’ll definitely give them something to take their minds off of you. I just finished a big deadline this weekend. I’m due for a break. Now, let me see what’s available –’ Mia has all sorts of tricks as a travel writer, and I heard her clicking away on the computer and muttering under her breath. In moments she’d booked a flight for the following day. She gave me all of her information and then said, ‘Meet me in San Francisco, so we can plan.’

  In the middle of the night, I awoke to a pounding on my front door.

  The ghost, I thought, remembering Mia’s earlier comments.

  The pounding continued. Would a ghost knock at the front door?

  I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and looked at the clock on the nightstand. It was nearly two-thirty. Maybe I’d imagined the noise. I held my breath, staying as quiet as I possibly could, extremely aware that I was all by myself in the middle of nowhere. In LA, I would have been soothed by the endless, oceanlike sounds of traffic rushing by on Neilson Way. Here, the quiet was oddly menacing, and I suddenly missed all the comforting white noise. Had the sound been in my dreams? No, there it was again. The banging was definitely human, not the sort of ruckus a scrounging animal would make. I didn’t know what noise a ghost would make, but I was pretty sure it would involve chains rattling, not fists knocking.

  I padded my way slowly to the front door and flicked on the porch light. In its yellow-gold glow I saw Alden standing there, dressed in his fire gear, his face streaked with sweat and smudged with dirt.

  I opened the door but didn’t invite him in. I still smarted from the fact t
hat he hadn’t called me since the gossip had begun.

  ‘It’s late, Alden.’

  ‘I had to see you.’

  ‘It’s late,’ I said again. Then I looked him over more carefully. He’d definitely been involved in some sort of major outdoor activity. His pants were dirty and his hands were scratched and raw. When I glanced back into his dark-brown eyes, I saw that they looked troubled, and the cold feelings within me started to thaw.

  ‘You were out on a call.’

  He nodded.

  I thought about the sirens I’d heard in The Saloon when Sheila had confronted me. Although I could count on one hand how many times I’d heard sirens since moving to town, I’d reminded myself that the sound generally didn’t mean anything, as Alden had assured me previously. But, from the look on his face now, I guessed these sirens had indicated a different sort of situation than usual. I waited for him to explain, but he didn’t tell me the story. Staring at me, he swallowed hard and then said, ‘Charlie.’ Just my name. Just one time.

  After a final moment’s hesitation, I backed up and let him in. Without another word, he picked me up in his strong arms and carried me down the hall to my room. He didn’t turn on the bedroom overhead light, but light from the hallway filtered into the room. On my bedside table were the remnants of the flowers he’d left for me early Sunday morning. The hearty irises still held on to their bloom, but several of the silky orange petals from the California poppies ringed the vase in a circular pattern.

  In seconds he undressed me, pulling off my short white nightshirt then tossing it aside. He took in my nakedness by sweeping a hand from my collarbone down to the split between my legs, and then he went on his knees and pressed his face against my naked pussy. I caught my breath as he started to lick me there, his tongue tracing up and down between my pussylips, and then probing between them more forcefully, as if trying to find the very centre of my body.

  ‘Oh, God, Alden,’ I whispered, my voice hoarse.

  He rocked his head back and forth, and the scratchy feeling of his fresh beard brought the pleasure up another notch for me. He was being so gentle with his lips and tongue, yet that unexpected roughness was what took me even higher. I gripped on to his shoulders and sighed, my fingers digging into him through the tough blue fabric of his uniform. I could feel wetness on my skin and looked down to see that his face was tear-streaked, but he didn’t stop, didn’t make any sort of sound at all. He pressed onwards, using his tongue to trick up and down in lazy circles, and then around in spirals that had me breathless in seconds. The sweetness of his tongue on me worked magic through my body. I felt heat swarming up from between my legs and spilling outwards.

  Finally, I could take no more, and I pushed him away. He came back forcefully, gripping my waist and holding me to him, as if he’d be the one to let me know when I’d had enough. When I looked down at myself, I could see that dirt from his hands had smeared my thighs. I felt as if I were part of an ancient ritual, as if Alden had marked me as his own. He certainly seemed to know what he wanted.

  I didn’t fight this time. I did my best to stay upright, gripping him, crooning nonsense words of encouragement until the orgasm flared through me, electrifying my body. The throbbing waves went on and on, assisted by the continuing lapping of Alden’s tongue, more lightly now, against my swollen bud. And then I felt myself collapsing, and Alden spread me out on the bed, his eyes so different from the way they’d been the day before, lost somehow, his thoughts hidden from me as if he were a stranger.

  And maybe he was a stranger.

  But he was a stranger I wanted to fuck.

  He undressed himself with impatience, as if he couldn’t wait to be free of the clothing. Getting out of his uniform took an effort since he still had on his heavy boots with the laces that ran nearly to his knees. I pushed myself up on one elbow and watched him, waiting for him to tell me what had happened, but he remained locked in that silent world and I found that I couldn’t be the first one to speak.

  Then the two of us were on the mattress, joined together amidst my rumpled, still-warm sheets. His tanned face was streaked with dirt and his hair was matted. I saw a scratch on his chin and a deep purple bruise rising on his right cheekbone. I could feel the strength in his body as he moved me to the centre of the bed, and then we just stared into each other’s eyes as he parted my slim thighs and thrust inside of me without speaking at all. It was if he were a coiled spring; all wound up and needing to discharge the tensions of his rough, manly job.

  Being filled overwhelmed me. I drew in my breath and held it, then released the air in a whispering hiss through my teeth. I couldn’t believe how good it felt to have him inside of me. The reality of Alden being here, in my room, made all of my worries about my newfound reputation seem nonsensical. He was larger than life, able to protect me against anything, and I felt more than ready to let him.

  He pushed up on his arms, gazing down at me as he worked me. In the light from the hallway, I could see the total fatigue in his eyes, a look mixed with a pain and sadness that I wished I had the power to erase. His jaw was held tight, as if he were unable to let go, and, when I glanced at his chest, I saw those scars, etched into his skin like ancient hieroglyphics, symbols that I could never decipher. At least, not without his help.

  Alden gripped my arms as he thrust forwards. His fingers held me tightly, and I knew he’d leave marks before he was through. Before we were through. But I could hardly feel his hands. I wanted more, wanted him to crush me, to demolish me, to hold me so tightly that I disappeared inside of him. I wanted to make everything better, to absolve him for something, yet I had no idea what.

  As the pleasure built within him, his eyes shut and his face finally began to relax. I stayed with him, watching him, unable to lose myself in the moment because of the intensity of his expression. His cheekbones looked razor-sharp, his jawline like solid rock. I reached up one hand and stroked his forehead, and then traced my fingertips along the lines of his face. He opened his dark-brown eyes and looked at me, and I felt as if we were connected more deeply than by our bodies alone. I felt as if we’d bridged a gap between us, and I wished I could say something that would let him know how close I felt to him. But there were no words. We weren’t at ‘I love you’. We were hardly at ‘I know you’.

  And then he was coming, bucking even harder into me until the bed rattled against the old wood wall and the soft downy pillows fell one after the other on to the floor. With each powerful thrust, it was as if he were driving something out of himself. And with each thrust he brought me closer to my own limits, until I ultimately felt myself losing control, a feeling that came with a great deal of relief, as if I were being drawn out into a deep turquoise sea by gently rolling waves. I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him down on top of me, my body echoing his powerful thrusts, captured in his same random rhythm.

  For the very first time, we were truly locked together, doing exactly what the people in town had assumed we’d already done.

  Chapter Nine

  I slept through the night in the warmth of Alden’s strong arms. Whenever I stirred in my sleep, he pulled me even tighter to him, grasping me firmly to his body in a spoonlike embrace as if he understood exactly what I needed in order to fall back into my dreams. Several times during the night I could tell that he was hard, and at some pre-dawn hour, in a pearl-grey light, I felt him grab me against him and he eased inside of me.

  Neither of us said a word, our bodies doing the communicating for us, rocking each other in a soothing rhythm until we were both satisfied with the connection of skin on skin. Once again, we didn’t speak, and this time we didn’t even meet eyes. I couldn’t force myself to pull away from him, to roll over and see what sort of expression might be on his face. I didn’t want to lose the feeling of his warmth against me, so I stayed languid and let him do the work. Our bodies remained connected, even after we came.

  I opened my eyes a bit before six, and saw the room in that hazy ea
rly-morning glow. Alden’s boots were still in the corner of the room, his clothes tossed in a haphazard manner on the wicker chair by the bed. When I rolled over on the mattress I saw that he was asleep, his expression one of peace. I nestled against him again, my face on his chest, and he brought one arm around me and held me tight.

  I thought we’d talk when we got up, that he would explain to me what had happened, but the next time I awoke it was long after dawn, and I was by myself in an empty bed. There was no sign that Alden had even been there, aside from the flecks of dried mud left by his boots on my polished hardwood floor. That and the fact that my body still hummed with aftershocks of the pleasure we’d shared. I didn’t understand what his nighttime visit meant, and I didn’t have time to find out. Mia was taking a late-morning flight, and I wanted to be in San Francisco by the time she got there.

  With my mind still on Alden, and Sheila, and whatever had happened to him the previous evening, I packed my bags and headed to the city. I drove without seeing the sights, taking the curves through the tall redwood trees in my stride, paying little attention to the beauty of nature that surrounded me.

  The city brought me back to my senses, and I felt myself sliding into LA mode as I manoeuvred among the congested traffic, dancing from one lane to another with the type of grace that only comes from years of city-driving experience.

  I checked into the hotel Mia had named and unpacked my small satchel, then waited for her. I raided the mini bar for the makings of a cocktail, and spent my time drinking Johnny Walker Red and doing my nails.

  In college, our trio only occasionally was forced to make actual plans of attack. Usually, Joelle and Mia came up with an idea on the fly, brainstorming a way to get me past an angry girlfriend, or hosting a night of such decadent orgy-like festivities that nobody remembered one measly indiscretion. But this was different. Now that the whole town was talking about me, Mia needed to give them some drama, something big and fierce to take their minds off the Alden situation.