Rumours

by Alison Tyler

  Alden returned just then with two long-necked beers. When he saw Cody he made no reference to our kiss at the bar. He simply said, ‘You come with Nica, or Betty?’

  Cody pointed towards the corner of the bar where both of the pretty bartenders were drinking together, the one from The Saloon and the other from the Turnaround Bar in Dogtown. ‘I didn’t see a reason to choose one over the other.’

  ‘That’s Cody.’ Alden grinned at me, throwing an arm loosely around my shoulders. ‘Why take one when you can have both?’

  My eyes narrowed as I looked at him, but Cody didn’t seem to notice, or maybe he just didn’t care. He ran his callused hand under my chin, tilting my head up to look into his eyes.

  ‘You look beautiful,’ he said, obviously not worrying the slightest that Alden was standing right there, one arm tight around me. ‘You ought to dress like that more often.’ And then he went back to his ladies in waiting, while I was left with my stomach tied up in knots.

  Mia was the one to find me when Johnny went looking. She pointed her finger to me, and then to herself, and shook her head at him with her eyes opened very wide, obviously trying to let him know that the two of us weren’t officially together. Johnny seemed to understand what she was indicating, even if he couldn’t fathom the reason. At the end of his set, he strode right by her, acting as if he didn’t know who she was. With his standard confidence even more pumped up after being on stage, Johnny came over to me and shook Alden’s hand in a casual way. Tonight he was dressed in his classic rock ’n’ roll attire, all black – jeans, boots, T-shirt, long-sleeved button-up shirt.

  The two men sized each other up like dogs getting ready to fight. But after a moment I could tell that Johnny’s testosterone wasn’t going to get in the way of a good time. His body relaxed, and he said easily to Alden, ‘Hey, man, how you doin’?’ and then whisked me off to one corner of the room, pressing me up against the green felt wall.

  ‘So what the fuck’s going on here?’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Why’s Mia here? Is she visiting for the weekend?’

  ‘It’s too long a story, Johnny,’ I told him, my lips pressed to his ear. ‘And it’s too loud in here to try to explain it all.’

  ‘Then tell me about it outside.’

  I hesitated, but I saw Alden looking at me with an unhappy expression on his face, and I thought that maybe it was time to deal him a serving of his own favourite dish. That’s what one of the girls from The Saloon would do in the same situation, I was sure of it.

  ‘All right,’ I said. ‘Meet you out back.’

  I brushed past Alden, who tried to grip my waist, but failed, his fingers slipping away from my shiny satin bustier. ‘I’m going to talk to Johnny,’ I told him.

  ‘Talk.’ This time he held on to one of my hands, his bare fingers interlacing with my velvet-clad ones.

  ‘Just like you were talking with Sheila the other night.’ I pulled away from him, heading for the door.

  ‘Hey, Charlie, which night?’ he called out, and when I didn’t stop, he raised his voice. ‘Which night?’

  ‘Choose one, Alden,’ I snarled over my shoulder, refusing to meet his eyes. I pushed out the front door and found my way to the place where the band had parked their cars. Alden’s beauty of a Mustang was parked at an angle, taking up two spaces in the corner, and he was waiting for me already, leaning against the trunk and looking as if he’d been plucked from a James Dean film.

  ‘You look good, Red,’ he said, as I approached. I felt myself putting an extra wiggle in my walk. The costume made me feel more sexy than my recent standard fare of blue jeans and vintage cardigan. Maybe Cody was right. Maybe I ought to consider dressing like this more often. I could just imagine what the tongues in town would have to say about that. ‘Really good,’ he repeated.

  ‘Yeah? So do you.’

  ‘I like that outfit.’

  ‘I know you do.’

  ‘So you’re telling me that you put it on for me, not for that lunky fireman you’re with.’

  ‘We’re not together,’ I said honestly. ‘We just came in the same truck.’

  ‘And, if you fuck me, will he still be the one to take you home?’

  ‘I’m not going to fuck you, Johnny.’

  He stared at me, and I could see in his wolf-grey eyes that he knew I was lying. Inside the bar, the third band of the evening was gearing up. I could imagine Mia sliding against Noah, and I could picture the Sweethearts watching the couple with venomous expressions on their kewpie-doll faces. I realised that I’d probably caused a bit more gossip by walking out on Alden, but I had finally learned something about the rumours in the town – they lasted only long enough to cause a brief flurry of trouble, and then a new scandal spread and took the heat away. And there was something else I’d realised, as well. Maybe I was finding the gossip a bit exciting. Could that be possible? I didn’t want to face up to that fact yet. I knew women in town who felt the gossip was addictive. Were Mia and I already turning into those women? Was it too late to save us?

  As if reading my mind, Johnny repeated, ‘So what’s Mia doing here? And why was she across the room from you like that? The two of you are usually hip to hip.’

  I sighed. ‘She’s in town to bail me out.’

  He waited for me to continue.

  ‘I got myself into trouble right at the start, and I thought that, if Mia came to visit, she might be able to create a diversion –’

  ‘Like you guys did back in college?’ He snorted a laugh. He’d heard all about our escapades over the years.

  ‘Just like that.’

  ‘You’re regressing, Charlie. You’re acting eighteen instead of twenty-eight.’

  ‘I didn’t want to have to move back to Los Angeles so soon.’

  ‘So you needed Mia to rescue you?’

  ‘Yeah.’ I lowered my head, embarrassed when I heard it put that way.

  ‘And now that she’s here, are things any better?’

  I thought about that question as Johnny’s fingers began to roam over my body. Were things better? I was in some sort of tug-of-war with Sheila over Alden, and I wasn’t entirely certain that I wanted him if I won. How pathetic was that? I couldn’t ask Alden for what I wanted, and I hadn’t found anyone else to give me what I so desperately craved. And now, here was Johnny.

  He reached more securely for me, and I let him bring me into a warm embrace. His arms were welcoming and he pulled me in tight, then lifted me and set me down on the cool metal trunk of his car. He moved to face me, standing between my legs, and he kissed me once on the lips before staring into my eyes.

  ‘Don’t you miss me, Charlie?’

  ‘Of course, I do.’ Missing him was never the problem. Being with him was the problem.

  ‘But you’re not coming home.’

  ‘I don’t really know where my home is right now, Johnny.’

  ‘But do you know who your Daddy is?’ His voice was husky. Johnny and I have played games like that in the past, starring in perverted and twisted situations in which I generally have on some crisply ironed little red-and-black plaid schoolgirl skirt and highly polished Mary Jane shoes and he leaves his rock-god persona aside and plays my stern yet seductive headmaster. We’ve been doctor and patient and coach and cheerleader. Who were we going to be tonight?

  ‘Do you?’

  I flushed and looked at the ground again.

  ‘Come on, Kiddo. Tell Johnny what you need.’

  Oh, I knew what I needed. But I wasn’t sure I needed it from Johnny. In truth, I wasn’t sure I needed it from Alden either. Visions of Cody flashed in my head and, as if he’d been beckoned, I heard the door to the bar push open and the sound of animated female voices filling the air, along with one lone baritone. I looked over to see Nica and Betty and Cody all exiting the building together. They didn’t glance in our direction. At least, I didn’t think they did. While I watched, the girls headed off towards Cody’s truck, parked near the fro
nt of the lot, and I heard him call out something to them, but I couldn’t make out the words.

  I stared at Cody as he headed back into the building. Just as the door shut behind him, Johnny flipped me around so that I was bent over the rear of his car. The air was cold and crisp around us. The metal of the trunk was smooth and icy, and a shiver rippled through me, but not because of the temperature. I heard his belt buckle slicing open, and then I heard the sound of the leather pulling free from the loops of his jeans. I didn’t say no, because I didn’t want him to stop. At this point, I had almost asked Geneva to spank me at the clothing exchange. By next week, I probably would have booked an appointment with some dom in the city to get what I wanted. And here was Johnny, about to grant me my fantasies for free.

  ‘You tell me what you need,’ he said. Again, the door to the bar opened, and when I looked over my shoulder this time I saw Cody, alone, holding what I recognised was Nica’s satin-lined leopard-print jacket in his arms. We weren’t close enough for me to see his expression clearly, but I could tell that he was looking my way. Well, if he really did want me, then could it hurt for him to see another man want me, too? Wasn’t that how people played scenes out here? But would he be turned off by what Johnny was about to do to me? Well, I had to find that out, too. I was tired of wanting something and not getting it. That thought fluttered through my head just as Johnny’s warm hand flipped up my skirt in back. Then he waited.

  ‘Take them down,’ he insisted.

  ‘Oh, Johnny.’

  ‘Do it, baby. Let me know how much you want this. Take those panties down yourself.’

  I reached behind and slowly pulled my waistband down past the curve of my ass. Immediately, Johnny took over, doing the rest, lowering my knickers to my ankles, so that they draped over my shiny black boots. Before he struck the first blow, he let his fingertips play over my pussy, and he sucked in his breath when he realised I was shaved bare.

  ‘That’s a change,’ he whispered.

  ‘You like it?’

  He answered my question with one of his own. ‘You do that yourself, or did that big old fireman take care of that for you?’

  I said nothing, but I turned my head again, and there was Cody, still watching, now with a cigarette in hand, as if he were simply enjoying a smoke in the cool night air. I was starting to realise that Cody hardly ever smoked, except when he wanted to be outside, paying attention to what I was doing. This had happened several times at The Saloon, and now it was happening out here. In spite of his cigarette prop, I could tell that he was staring intently at the two of us, and he didn’t look away when he saw me gazing back.

  ‘For old time’s sake,’ Johnny murmured, not aware of our audience of one. ‘Play the game with me, Charlie. Tell me what you need me to do.’

  I finally found my voice, and I whispered. ‘I need you to take care of me, Johnny.’

  ‘How?’

  ‘I need you to punish me, Johnny.’ A deep breath, and then I finally got it out. ‘I need you to spank me.’

  ‘That’s right. You’ve gone too long without some proper discipline to keep you in line, haven’t you, Charlie?’

  ‘Yes, Johnny.’

  ‘And, when it comes right down to it, that’s what my bad girl always needs, isn’t it, Charlie? Good, old-fashioned discipline.’

  ‘Yes, Johnny.’

  ‘Something to remind you how to behave. Something to think about when you stand in front of the mirror and look over your shoulder at your reflection.’

  ‘Yes, Johnny.’

  ‘Then prepare yourself, baby. This has been a long time coming.’

  My mind went blank, as it always does before a spanking. I was finally getting what I wanted, but I had a difficult time making myself believe that this was true. For weeks, I’d wanted this exact scenario. Every time Cody looked at me in that calculating way of his, I’d felt something twist within me. What did that mean?

  Johnny’s belt brought me back to reality. The leather whistled in the air before landing on my naked skin, and I sighed and lowered my head, swallowing hard. With expertise, my sadistic ex-lover lined the next blow up right below the first, and I gritted my teeth this time, but didn’t say a word. After the third blow, I looked around again, and this time I could tell that Cody wasn’t even pretending not to stare. He was focused, intently, and that made me sigh and close my eyes, on the brink of coming only because I knew I had an audience.

  You watch, Cody. If you can give this to me, then let me know.

  But when I opened my eyes again and looked in his direction, Cody was gone. Had he got an eyeful and decided he’d seen enough? Or had the girls come looking for him and he’d had to head back to the truck? I couldn’t think too hard about that now, because Johnny was working me more fiercely, counting out each blow when I failed to do so. He reached ten, and then dropped the belt and flipped me around once again, turning me in his arms.

  Tears streaked my face. But I felt warm and relaxed now, as always after a spanking. I felt as if I’d been given something back, some semblance of control that had been lacking. ‘I want you to fuck me,’ I said, my voice soft. ‘But we shouldn’t have even done that.’

  ‘Couldn’t help myself. You looked like you were so ripe for a spanking that you were on the verge of bursting.’

  His hands stroked my naked ass as he spoke, his fingers playing over the lines left by the belt. I flinched each time he stroked one of the marks, but my pussy spasmed in response, as well. Nothing turns me on so much as a good, hard spanking. ‘So what are you going to do now? Are you just going to mark me and leave me hanging?’ I teased.

  ‘Get your fireman to fuck you,’ he said, ‘if you don’t mind him seeing the pretty berry-coloured stripes on your ass.’ He palmed my naked heart-shaped cheeks as he spoke, squeezing tightly until I squirmed. As he did, I realised exactly what his words meant. Oh, shit. Acting on impulse had got me in trouble yet again.

  Johnny’s silvery eyes gleamed as he watched me work it all out for myself. He’d never planned on fucking me tonight. He’d just been intent on making my life a bit more complicated than it already was. Payback for leaving him. I knew from past experience that it would be days before I could bare myself in front of Alden without having to offer an explanation. But I didn’t hold that against Johnny. After all, he’d given me exactly what I needed, and maybe the yearning would be quiet inside me now. Maybe I could get on with acting the way I knew I really should.

  Chapter Eighteen

  ‘All right,’ Alden said on the ride home. ‘Truce.’

  ‘What do you mean?’ I asked, trying my best to find a comfortable position on the leather seat. I hadn’t been sure he’d actually give me a ride back with him. Not after I’d disappeared with Johnny for nearly an hour. But he’d been waiting for me at the front of the bar and, as soon as I’d walked back in, he’d insisted we leave.

  For the first part of the trip, Alden had remained deathly quiet. So quiet that I thought he might actually stop by the side of the road and force me out. Now he seemed willing to talk. ‘I want a truce,’ he said again.

  ‘I know what the word means,’ I told him. ‘But what are you actually asking me for?’

  ‘Look, I was with Sheila again. OK?’

  I’d known it was true after seeing her car parked at the station, but I hadn’t actually wanted to believe it.

  ‘We’ve got a lot of history together. Years of history.’

  ‘So do me and Johnny.’

  ‘And I couldn’t stand that.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘I couldn’t stand seeing you walk out with him like that. Seeing the way he watched you, the way he knew so much about you. I don’t know what you two did out there, and I don’t want to know. It killed me not to follow you outside.’

  ‘So what are you saying?’

  ‘I won’t mess around on you, Charlie, if you won’t do that to me again.’

  I tried to believe him, but I found t
hat I couldn’t. If the only thing that made him want to be with me was the fact that someone else also wanted to be with me, then it was as if I were back for one more round with Johnny. Interested if others were looking, backing off when things went smoothly. I squirmed again on the leather seat, trying to find a comfortable position for my well-tanned ass, but Alden didn’t seem to notice.

  ‘Trust me,’ Alden said. ‘Give me another chance.’

  I thought of Johnny, whipping me with his belt over the trunk of his car. What would Alden have thought if he’d seen that? Would it have made him run for cover, or would he have come closer for a more thorough look, wanting to stroke my ass and feel the heat with the palm of his hand? And what had it meant to Cody? I thought of asking Alden to give me what I really craved, since we seemed to be at the barest point of our relationship so far. At a place where we might be able to be really open with one another. And then I chickened out and simply nodded. ‘All right, Alden. Let’s give it another go.’

  He sighed with visible relief. But then I suddenly remembered what Mia had said. Alden wanted a woman who would take charge. I couldn’t let him see me naked tonight – and probably not tomorrow night, either, or the next – but I could do something.

  ‘You want to come in?’ I asked when we pulled into my driveway.

  ‘You’re serious?’

  ‘Dead serious.’ I paused just long enough to stare into his eyes. Then I said, ‘Do you still have those cuffs on you?’

  He grinned and popped open the glove box. Out came the cuffs.

  ‘And where’s the key?’

  ‘On my chain.’

  ‘Let’s have that, too.’

  ‘Why do you need it?’

  ‘Trust me, Alden,’ I said, and took both cuffs and key from his hand and headed towards the house. I was sure that he would follow me, and I was right. His heavy steps trailed after mine, yet he hung back. Usually, he’d be the one to scoop me up in his arms and carry me across the threshold. Instead, he walked slowly behind me, and I could sense that what Mia had told me was the truth. I worked hard to steel myself inside. I knew what I craved from a dominant partner, and I was determined to channel that energy into myself.