Rumours

by Alison Tyler

  When I followed him in, Alden was already talking to the bartender. The room was much larger than I’d thought from the outside, a candlelit bar area up front and a huge feeding room in the back. The rear doors were French-style, and they opened to a giant field. Smoke-filled grills stood lined up outdoors, with a bandstand off to one side. I could see through the glass windows that a group was gathering up on stage. It didn’t occur to me that the band was Noah’s until I heard the first chord.

  Limited resources, I thought again. We’d driven 25 miles out of town, only to hear the same band we could catch every Saturday night back home.

  Alden came over with two beers and then squired me out into the fading light. Colourful paper lanterns were strung up under canvas canopies. As I watched, a waitress started to turn on each one, creating a ethereal glow beneath the shelters. Alden waved at Noah, who raised a hand back. I looked around the yard, immediately spotting my blonde best friend off in the corner on a hay bale. A hay bale! I wished I had a digital camera with me. I would have loved to take a picture and send it around the globe to all of Mia’s classy friends. No one would have believed the picture – they’d all have thought I’d amended it in Photoshop.

  Mia was wearing her hair in French braids and she had more make-up on than she’d worn previously. She must have checked out the other girls at The Saloon and updated her look accordingly. Tonight, her lips were glistening and red, and she’d outlined her eyes more heavily. She had on a pair of jeans again, and those same killer boots, along with a red-checked sleeveless shirt and a fringed denim vest. I turned away when her eyes met mine, and then Alden whispered to me, ‘Hey, Charlie. Look over there. That’s the girl I was telling you about. Now look at the Sweethearts. They don’t look pleased, do they?’

  He was right. They did not look pleased at all. That made me smile. Mia has the same effect wherever she goes. Women dislike her on sight. They sense the competition and they get their backs up. Mia, on the other hand, appreciates romantic tournaments. She never gets nervous, and she never backs down. When I glanced around the crowd, I saw that Willow’s brother Zeppelin was also there. He looked as unhappy as his sister. I supposed that he had to take her side, the siblings sticking together in their dislike for my femme fatale friend.

  ‘You ready for some meat?’ Alden asked, nodding to the grills.

  ‘I’m OK with the beer for now,’ I told him. I wasn’t sure how I was going to handle eating the plates of ribs I saw in front of the other patrons. It looked like messy work, something I would generally never attempt outside of the privacy of my own kitchen.

  ‘Come on, Charlie. Live a little.’

  And then he was off, heading for the line by the grills. I stood against the side of the building, watching him go. Yeah, he was handsome, and he seemed able to make me do things I didn’t usually do. But I felt as if I were nothing more than a prize he’d won. He got me before Noah. He’d already said as much. The two of them probably had a standing competition over any stray girl who wandered into town. He did look fine in his jeans, though, and he was trying hard to be gallant.

  Apparently, harder than I’d thought, because he left his space in line to come back to my side. ‘That was rude,’ he said. ‘I should have set you up first.’

  Carefully, he took my hand and led me to a picnic table covered with a clean sheet of white butcher paper, There was nobody here yet, but I sensed that the dining was communal style.

  When he brought two paper plates piled high with ribs, I couldn’t help look over at Mia. She grinned at me, understanding my dilemma completely.

  ‘Dig in.’

  I didn’t want to.

  ‘Afraid of getting your hands dirty?’

  And my mouth and clothes and everything.

  ‘It’s good,’ Alden said.

  ‘Oh, yeah,’ chimed in a waitress as she set a citronella candle down on the table in between us. ‘Once you start, you won’t be able to stop.’

  Tentatively, I lifted a rib, aware of the barbecue sauce spreading immediately to coat my fingers. I took a small nibble, and Alden started to laugh at my cautious behaviour. He was right. It was delicious. In moments, I’d given up all pretence of being ladylike, and I truly dug in. Alden looked extremely pleased.

  ‘That’s the girl. You need to eat some ribs every once in a while. It’s good for the soul. In fact, that’s the book they ought to write: Barbecued Ribs for the Soul. Forget the Chicken Soup.’

  When we were finished, the waitress came quickly to my side with wet napkins and told me where the ladies’ room was. I was relieved to see it was an indoor set-up and not a port-a-john. Once inside, I washed my hands more thoroughly, and then did a quick touch-up on my make-up, adding a fresh coat of lipstick and mascara. I wasn’t surprised when Mia entered, and I quickly pressed her for information.

  ‘You and Alhambra –’

  ‘Sh,’ she said, and bent to peek under the stalls, looking for feet. When she was sure we were alone, she said, ‘I thought it would add to the allure.’

  ‘People are definitely talking.’

  ‘And you’re not hiding out at all, are you? You’re back with him. So you didn’t really need me after all.’

  I didn’t agree. ‘With you in town, at least you split the gossip. Not everyone’s focused on me.’

  ‘But what’s your plan, Charlie? Are you playing for keeps?’

  The door to the ladies’ room opened then, and Mia slipped into the last stall while I left the room. Back at the table, Alden slid close to me and put his arm around me. ‘So,’ he said. ‘You never did come all the way clean with me. What’d Geneva really want that she couldn’t ask on the phone?’

  ‘What do you think?’

  ‘Your pussy.’

  I laughed. ‘Something like that.’

  ‘Really?’ His eyes opened wide.

  ‘For NUDE. Just like you said the other day. She wants me to –’ I hesitated.

  ‘She wants you to go down on her for hours.’

  ‘She wants me to go totally bare for a photo shoot. Shave off everything. But there’s no salon in town, and I don’t really want to drive back to the city and try to get in at some chichi place …’

  ‘I’ll do it.’

  ‘You’ll –’

  ‘Shave you. I’d like to.’

  I could feel myself warming up to the idea, even as a flush coloured my cheeks. I hoped the fact that it was full night now, and that the outside restaurant was only lit by the low-watt bulbs and mosquito-repelling candles, would help to hide my blush.

  ‘You’d like that, too,’ he said softly, guessing correctly. ‘Wouldn’t you?’

  I nodded.

  ‘So let’s go.’

  ‘Now?’

  ‘When’s the shoot?’

  ‘Monday.’

  ‘So we’ll do it now, and if you need a touch-up next Monday morning, I’ll be there for you.’

  ‘OK.’

  I looked back at Mia as we headed towards the Spanish-style building. She wasn’t paying the slightest bit of attention to me. Noah Sweet was on a break, and the two of them were kissing passionately on the hay bales while Zeppelin and the Sweethearts watched from a safe distance away. It looked to me as if the Sweethearts were ready to combust – but then Mia looked a bit that way, herself.

  I thought for sure that Alden would take me straight back to my place, but he had other plans. He drove us in the opposite direction, towards Petalinda, where stores were still open, even at ten o’clock at night. What a novel idea. I had actually grown accustomed to not being able to find anything you needed after seven p.m. At least, anything except a shot of tequila. We pulled into a 24-hour drugstore, and he told me to wait. I watched him sprint into the brightly lit store, and in moments he returned with a small paper bag.

  ‘Supplies,’ he said.

  Then we headed back towards town, but he bypassed the turn-off road that led to my tiny cabin.

  ‘Where are we going?’
/>   ‘Home.’

  ‘You live at the station.’

  ‘Not when I’m off.’

  I had no idea he owned a place close by. This made sense, but it hadn’t occurred to me. He drove along the windy road towards the beach, turning off at Dylann. This tiny community was made up of several rows of minuscule beach houses, staggered so that each one had a view of the ocean. Alden pulled into the driveway of a pastel-painted box-house only one row back from the actual sand. This time, he walked around to my door and held it open.

  ‘After you, m’lady.’

  Once inside, Alden got the bathroom ready for me. He ran water in the old-fashioned claw-foot tub, helped me undress and then had me step into the warm, soap-filled bath. I relaxed into the water as I watched him arrange the razor and the shaving cream, but I realised that I was slightly nervous at the prospect of going bare. I’d never done it. Yes, I keep this area neat and trim, and each year I make sure that my bikini line is in proper shape for a summer of sunbathing, but I’d never gone all the way naked. Not like NUDE wanted me to.

  Not like Alden wanted me to.

  When he was ready, he helped me out of the tub and towelled me off. The sensual feel of his large hands patting me dry had me ready for sex. Forget the shaving, I wanted to say. Just take me. Put me up on your sink or bend me over the bath, or spread me out on the fluffy bathmat and take me. But Alden was on a mission. Without a word, he spread me out on the bathmat, precisely as I’d imagined, but only to have me part my legs wide so that he could lather me all over with the shaving cream. He used a special bristle brush to deposit the cream, and the feel of the bristles tickled intensely. I trembled at the sensation.

  ‘Stay still for me,’ Alden admonished, adding more of the cool cream to my water-warmed skin. When I shivered, he immediately grabbed another towel and covered the upper portion of my body. He rolled a third towel and placed this under my head. Then he began.

  With careful strokes, he whisked away the curls between my legs. In between each slide of the razor on my tender skin, he dipped the blade into the sink, and then back he went, continuing in his steady motions. His face looked intent, and he bit his bottom lip as he admired his handiwork. He pinched my nether lips between his thumb and forefinger, and very slowly ran the razor there. Then he dipped a pale yellow washcloth into the sink and used this to wipe the rest of the shaving cream softly from my skin.

  ‘Back in the tub,’ he insisted, and I climbed back in and let him soap me all over again. I felt entirely in his hands, willing to do whatever he requested. Then he drained the tub and helped me out a second time, spreading me once again on the mat that covered the black-and-white tiled floor.

  ‘Here’s the real test,’ he said, and bent his head between my spread legs. When his tongue met my naked skin, I sucked in my breath. This felt different from all other times a man has gone down on me.

  ‘Uh oh,’ he said softly. ‘I’ve found a part I missed.’

  The shaving cream came out again, and Alden used the tickling brush to spread the menthol-scented lotion all over. Then he reached for the razor and proceeded to do the touch-ups. I was so aroused that my own juices were mixing and mingling with the cream. Each time his fingertips probed and positioned me, I thought I might come. I tried to behave, though. I tried to force myself to think of this as a non-sexual situation, as if I’d just gone to a salon and asked them to perform this service. But no salon would have offered the tongue bath that Alden graced me with as soon as he’d washed away the shaving cream once again. This time he was satisfied with the results, and he brought out a small silver hand mirror and angled it between my legs so that I could see myself.

  ‘Oh, my God,’ I said, genuinely shocked by my appearance.

  ‘You’re beautiful,’ Alden told me softly. While I watched, he parted my pussylips and bent down to lick between them. I held on to the mirror with shaking hands, witnessing the sexiest act imaginable. He tricked his tongue over my bud and then ran the flat of it up and down between my juicy lips. I wanted to shut my eyes and bask in the experience, but I couldn’t tear my gaze away from the shocking erotic reflection in the mirror. Alden continued to work me with the tip of his tongue, using his fingers to spread me wide open and then actually thrusting his tongue inside me. It felt unreal to watch, so unbelievably sexy I wondered why I’d never thought to do this before. Johnny would have gone for it. I was sure of that. Johnny went for anything kinky. If I’d asked him to grab me a mirror during sex, he would have gone out of his head at the idea.

  But Johnny wasn’t here. It was Alden. And when Alden ran his thumb up and over my clitoris, I came, my hips lifting up off the soft bathmat, my heart pounding.

  ‘Much better,’ he said, as I crested through the orgasm. ‘But I have one final test I’d like to perform.’

  ‘Oh, yeah?’ I asked, breathless. ‘What’s that?’

  ‘I think you know, baby doll,’ Alden crooned. ‘I think you know exactly what plans I have for that freshly shaved pussy of yours.’

  This time, he bent me over the tub, and I heard the sound of his fly opening, and I steeled myself for him. I was ready, incredibly ready, and apparently the shaving scenario had turned Alden on, as well. His hard rod probed between my warm, shaved nether lips, and then he entered me in a single thrust.

  ‘So smooth,’ he sighed as he slipped back out. ‘You feel so goddamn smooth and silky.’

  He was right. The experience was entirely different, being completely bare between my legs, and I drew in my breath as Alden probed forwards, and then slid back. When I got close to coming again, I brought one hand between my legs, preparing to take care of myself, but Alden would have none of that. He replaced my fingers with his own, rubbing and circling in just the right motion, taking me to the limits with him, timing my orgasm with his own.

  I held on to the edge of the tub, my fingers slipping on the porcelain lip. Alden kept up the motions, tricking his fingertips up and around, teasing me ever onwards. I looked over my shoulder at him, watching his face as he worked me. Watching his face as he came.

  But when he took me home that night, I wondered why I felt as if something was missing. Even though the experience had been sensationally sexual. Even though I’d come several times, had felt extremely decadent by being totally bare.

  And then I realised it – if Johnny had shaved me, the scene would have played out differently. He would have told me not to come while he worked. That this was a job, not some flirty little adventure. Then, as if to spite his own words, he would have made sure that I did come, doing everything in his power with his tickly bristle brush and the luxurious dollops of expensive shaving cream to bring me to my peak. I would have had to call him ‘Sir’ as he worked and, when I disobeyed him and came anyway despite his numerous warnings, he would have punished me before fucking me, spanking me with a heavy-handled hairbrush, or his open hand against my wet skin.

  Although I assured myself that I didn’t need a scene like that in order to get off, this was the image that made me climax again when I was in bed by myself, stroking my newly bare pussy with the very tips of my fingers. This was the scene I craved. And this was why, even though I knew that Alden would go if I asked him, I went on my own to see The Misfits the following evening at the sole movie theatre in town: Deja Vu.

  Going to the movies by myself is something I’ve always enjoyed, and The Misfits was a classic film that I’d caught once on TV but wanted to see on the big screen. Or bigger screen, at least, since the Deja Vu didn’t actually possess a huge movie screen. I’d learned from Sukie at the post office the reason that the movie house didn’t even have real theatre seats. When the theatre was opened, there’d been a donation drive and people brought in old armchairs, barcaloungers and loveseats. These were arranged in the room in uneven rows, some close together, others slightly apart. A concession stand in the lobby sold coffee and treats from the Cowpie. There was an old popcorn machine and the popcorn was served in wooden bowls t
hat you returned at the end of the film.

  After buying popcorn and a cherry soda, I found a comfy blue velvet chair off in the corner. As the lights went dim, I was surprised when someone sat down on the loveseat nearby. The place was three-quarters empty. Why would a customer choose to sit right at my side? I squinted in the darkness to see Cody.

  ‘You here all by yourself?’ he asked me.

  I looked to my left and to my right. ‘Apparently so,’ I said, as if this were some big surprise to me, as well. As if my guests for the evening had mysteriously vanished in a puff of smoke.

  ‘Don’t be flippant,’ Cody insisted, his voice stem. ‘I asked you a genuine question. You ought to answer me politely.’

  My stomach tightened at the tone in his voice. He sounded just like Johnny. At least, just like Johnny did before he gave me a spanking.

  ‘So let’s try that again,’ Cody said, the barest hint of humour now in his voice. ‘I’ll ask you another question. We’ll see if you can answer it without being a brat.’

  I waited, staring at him. What was going on?

  ‘Do you like this movie?’

  ‘I think so,’ I told him, honestly. ‘I saw it a long time ago.’

  ‘What’s your favourite part?’

  ‘I’ll tell you at the end,’ I whispered, as the movie started. I didn’t think I would have the nerve, but at least it was something to say to stall for time.

  He leaned over the edge of his chair to talk to me in a husky whisper. ‘No, Charlie,’ he said. ‘I’ll tell you.’

  ‘You will?’ I teased. ‘You’re a psychic?’

  ‘I know why you’re here, Charlie. I know exactly what it is about this movie that you’re interested in.’

  My pussy spasmed at his words. Did he know? Could he really tell? Or was he simply making an educated guess. There was a famous scene in The Misfits that featured spanking dialogue between Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe. Dialogue that I longed to hear again. Yeah, Alden was kinky in his own way, a kind of kinky vanilla way, with the cuffs and the shaving, but he hadn’t seemed to pick up on the fact that I longed to be put over a strong man’s lap and have my jeans taken down for me.