Rumours

by Alison Tyler

  ‘I’m not on the wagon any more?’

  ‘I didn’t want you to go into that station and make a fool of yourself.’

  ‘Who said I would have made a fool of myself?’ I asked, even though I knew that he was right. I felt confused. Part defiant. Part aroused. And still pretty damn curious about what Cody was all about.

  After taking a sip of my drink, I sat down on the rug, and then lay back on it, gazing up at him.

  ‘I don’t have any secrets,’ he said finally.

  ‘Sure you do.’

  He gave me a look and sat on the edge of the mattress, staring down at me. ‘I don’t play the games. That’s all. They want to weave their stories out of thin air, and that’s fine for the rest of them. That’s what they consider entertainment, but I won’t participate.’ His hat was off now, and he ran one big hand through his sandy-blond hair in a gesture that seemed intent on showing me how weary he was.

  ‘But something must have happened,’ I said, unable to stop myself. ‘Everyone warned me away from you, the way you tried to warn me from Alden.’ I ticked the names off on my fingers: ‘Geneva, Nica, Alden –’

  He took a long sip of his drink. ‘Would you mind if we talked about it later, Charlie? We’ve got other business I’d like to get out of the way first.’

  ‘Business?’ My voice trembled as I repeated the word. It was as if we were having a perfectly normal conversation while standing on the edge of a volcano. At any second, I expected the whole situation to explode.

  ‘I think you know.’

  The way his fingertips were slowly stroking the silvery buckle of his belt made me feel weak inside. I thought about how he’d acted towards me at the movies, as if all I had to do was say the word and he’d pull me over his lap on the loveseat and give me a stern, bare-handed spanking. What would have happened if I’d let him? Would we still be here right now?

  ‘You require a firm hand, don’t you, Charlie? It’s what you’ve always craved. When you play the brat, you’re looking for someone who can tame you.’

  I nodded again, my breath starting to come faster. I glanced around the room. There was nothing to give me even the slightest sign that he was into what I was into. No kinky sex toys lined up on a dresser. No heavy chains attached to the bedframe. But the way he was talking, and the way he was looking at me, made my whole body feel as if I were on the verge of melting away.

  ‘And when I spoke to you out at The Saloon this evening, you knew that I meant exactly what I said.’

  I nodded again.

  ‘And you wanted that.’

  I took a deep breath and nodded again.

  ‘It’s why you went to The Misfits. For that one scene only.’

  ‘Yes.’ Not so much for the scene, even, but for my mental filling in of the bedroom scenario that would have followed. Clark Gable turning the luscious Marilyn over his lap and truly spanking her for keeps before fucking her.

  ‘Then get yourself on over here,’ Cody said, his voice husky. ‘Get on over my lap, young lady. You’ve got a good, old-fashioned spanking coming to you.’

  My heart seemed to stop. I looked directly into Cody’s shining blue eyes, and then immediately down at the ground.

  ‘Now, Red.’

  I stood on shaky legs and made my way to his side. Cody was patient. First, he cradled me between his legs and kissed me. My whole body started to tremble. It was as if he had found a key to my inner soul and was turning it slowly, gradually opening me up so that he could see inside me. When we parted, he stopped me from moving away from him, biting my bottom lip hard enough to make me moan. I immediately sucked my lip into my mouth and ran my tongue over the sore spot, where I could feel the indentations left by his teeth. I knew just what was going to happen, yet I couldn’t believe this was real. That he and I had got to this point together, with him about to make my dreams come true.

  ‘Ready, baby?’ he asked, his voice a drawling whisper, a melody to my ears.

  I nodded.

  ‘No, kid. You know better than that. I’ve seen you in action. You know how to behave. That ex-beau of yours, Johnny, made you lower your eyes with one single look, and the two of you weren’t even together any longer.’

  ‘You saw us,’ I said dumbly.

  ‘You knew I saw you. Wasn’t that one of the reasons you bent over for him?’ I shuddered all over as he continued. ‘You respond when spoken to. That’s rule number one. It’s always been that way in games like these.’

  I drew in my breath in a big shuddering sigh.

  ‘So let’s try it again,’ Cody said, his voice so deep, his eyes focused clearly on mine. ‘You ready, baby?’

  ‘Yes, sir,’ I said. ‘Yes, Cody.’

  ‘That’s right, Charlie. You try real hard to be a good girl for me, all right?’

  ‘Yes, sir,’ I repeated quickly.

  ‘A really good girl,’ he said, and then he bent me over his knees and his open hand loosely caressed my denim-covered ass. I fit perfectly over his lap, my clit easily gaining the most delicious contact with his knee, even through my faded jeans. I had a moment to think about where I was and how I’d got myself here, and then he started spanking me. Hard and firm, letting me grind myself against his knee with each blow. He didn’t talk to me while he spanked me. He didn’t have to. And, even though he didn’t spell out the reason, I knew why Cody was doing this. Because I’d ignored his silent advances for all these months. Because even after I had sensed there was something strong between us, an undeniable connection, I’d pushed the feelings down inside, choosing instead to while away the time in the drama that was made up of Alden and his posse.

  He spanked me with authority, like someone who definitely knew what he was doing. The solid blows landed squarely on my right cheek and then my left, and I could feel the sweet spark of pain even through my Levis. His hand smacked against me in a perfect rhythm, bouncing me forcefully against his lap. I tried to do exactly what he’d said, I tried to be a good girl for him, to behave and take this spanking as he wanted me to. I wanted to make him proud. Or at least make him want to do this again.

  When I felt his hands on the waistband of my jeans, I stood up to help him, and I let him undo the button fly and pull them down. Then I immediately crawled back over his lap, knowing that he’d lower my panties himself. Knowing that he was going to give it to me on the bare. In my head, I envisioned all sorts of future ways that Cody might punish me. Bound in the centre of this simple bed. Bent over the edge of his leather armchair. Outside, on his wraparound deck, my hands gripping the white-washed railing. In the bed of his dusty blue truck. Over one of his well-worn saddles. But now, being bent over his sturdy knee was all I wanted, all I could comprehend.

  Cody’s warm fingers lingered at the waistband of my turquoise panties, then he carefully eased them down my thighs. I knew my ass was already well reddened by the initial spanking through my denim, and I knew he would darken it further with his firm, steady blows. That’s what I most wanted. For him to take care of me. Really take care of me. For him to raise the connection between us to a sizzling point. I wanted him to stand me in front of a full-length mirror afterwards and make me look back over my shoulder, wanted him to show me what a well-chastised girl really looked like.

  And now he finally started talking, letting me know what he’d been thinking all along. ‘From that first day,’ he said, ‘I would have bent you over one of the barstools in Dogtown and given you what for with my belt.’

  I could easily visualise that picture in my head, and I just barely managed to whisper, ‘Why?’ even through the threat of my tears. Oh, he was going to make me cry. I could sense it. The tears would fall, and then I would come, and all those emotions would get tied up together inside of me. A beautiful mess. A perfect storm. ‘Why?’ I whispered again.

  ‘Simple, Charlie. You looked like you needed it. That’s all. Those great stunning green eyes of yours, and that impish way you have of flicking your red hair back. Plain and simp
le, you look like you need someone to break you in.’

  The spanking continued at a harder pace then, and I groaned as his palm met my bare-naked skin. I realised in a sudden burst of clarity that I wasn’t embarrassed at all to be upended over Cody’s lap. On the contrary, this position seemed proper, the right place to be when in Mr Lassiter’s bedroom. I felt as if I’d never get enough from him, never tire of being his pet or his plaything, his naughty girl to punish.

  Then his hand spread my thighs and his fingers slapped at a much lighter rhythm right between my legs. I moaned and arched my hips, raising myself higher for him, and Cody’s fingers danced between my nether lips, circling slowly, dripping with the wetness that awaited him, then giving me that light little patty-cake series of blows again. Before I knew what was happening, I was coming. Coming hard and crying out. To my great relief, he didn’t stop. He kept rubbing and patting, until the orgasm extended and flared through me, and I felt breathless and undone. When I finally slipped off his lap and stared up at him, that soft rug tickling my bare ass, he said, ‘Tell me what you need, Red.’

  ‘You,’ I told him, my body shaking all over. ‘I need you, Cody.’

  ‘What do you need?’

  I knew exactly what I needed, but I showed him instead of telling him. My hands fumbled for his belt buckle, and I opened it quickly, then split the buttons on his jeans. With hungry hands, I drew out his cock, noting somewhere in my head that it was hard and thick and gorgeous. Then I leaned forwards on my knees, and started to suck him, my mouth ravenous. Cody pushed back on his arms for support and, when I looked up at his face, I saw that his eyes were closed. As I continued to suck him, he groaned. I liked the fact that I was giving him pleasure, and I was crazy with lust to show him how much satisfaction he’d already given me. I worked him steadily in an up-and-down motion, using my hands to stroke his shaft as my lips and mouth caressed him. I got him so wet with the passion of my mouth, and I knew that I wasn’t going to stop until he came. My mission was to take him over the edge and into pure bliss.

  How insane I’d been to try and convince myself I didn’t need someone who could read me, who could see inside of me and make all those secret fantasies come true. And how fulfilling to know that I’d finally found my match.

  Over a late-night snack in the kitchen, Cody came clean. I watched as he cooked us a huge meal of scrambled eggs, toast and coffee, as if it were true morning and not three a.m. I sat wearing one of his crisp blue button-up shirts, my panties and nothing else. But from the way Cody looked at me every so often, I felt as if I were dressed in couture.

  ‘It was a long fucking time ago,’ he said, adding generous shots of good whiskey to our mugs. ‘Ancient history.’

  I squirmed in my seat to get comfortable, feeling liquid and relaxed after our upstairs exchange.

  ‘And it was over a woman. She wanted me to play the games they were playing. She wanted me to take a stand for her, and I wouldn’t do it. Not like that. Not in the way this town expects. I needed to know that she wanted to be with me because of who I was, not because I was willing to put up a fight for her at The Saloon.’

  ‘Who was your rival?’

  ‘Can’t you guess, baby?’

  I opened my eyes wide as I started to grasp the bigger picture. ‘Alden?’

  ‘Yeah.’

  ‘But this wasn’t over Sheila –’ It couldn’t have been. I’d never seen Cody give her as much as a second look. Aside from her red hair, she didn’t seem his type in the slightest.

  ‘No.’ He shook his head, shooting me a stern frown as if I should know better, as if I should give him more credit than believing he’d have any sort of war over the redheaded bar bimbo. Despite her nursing status, that’s the only way I could ever think of her. ‘Look, Charlie. It was a long time ago. A long fucking time ago. But I knew better. I could have stopped her from going with him. They’d had a lot to drink, but so had I. So had everyone. It was during Western Weekend, when the beer starts flowing at nine a.m. And there was an accident. Down at the Red Bridge.’

  Suddenly, I thought I understood. I’d seen the whitewashed cross out at the bridge. Crosses popped up everywhere around here, as far as I could tell, on the winding roads where motorcycles or cars ran off the pavement and into trees, poles or each other. But that one always had fresh flowers by it.

  ‘Why wouldn’t the town be upset at Alden?’

  ‘Cause she was the one driving. He was just a lucky son of a bitch to survive, and everybody knew it. And he got punished enough for his dumb actions. The kid was in the hospital for months.’ As he spoke, I remembered the scars on Alden’s chest, and his unwillingness to discuss them.

  ‘Why would they warn me against you, then?’

  ‘Because I guess I changed afterwards. I wasn’t the same person.’

  ‘Clearly, it wasn’t your fault. You weren’t even in the vehicle.’

  He took a sip of the bitter-strong coffee and leaned against the blue-and-white tiled counter. ‘It was a long time ago. And facts get twisted. She and I had some words before they got in the car, and maybe I should have tried harder to stop them, and maybe I could have exerted more force to do so. I had a few years on the two of them. I was the one who probably ought to have kept his head. But I didn’t. And after that, I didn’t do much of anything for a while.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘I stayed out here, and I lived in this place that had been decorated a hundred and fifty years ago, and I just rotted away with the rest of the old furniture. It was only in the past few years that I started to pull it together again. But I don’t play the way they do.’

  ‘So you haven’t been with a girl for a long time?’

  ‘I’ve got friends,’ he said with a wry smile. ‘Betty at the Turnaround and Nica at The Saloon. Nothing serious. Just friends to take the edge off when the loneliness gets too bad. Sex for the sake of sex. They don’t expect anything else of me, and I’ve never made them any promises, or asked them for any sort of emotional exchange in return. We don’t play the way I need to, because I won’t engage in those sort of scenarios with someone I don’t genuinely care about.’

  I thought of Nica’s warning, and I realised that she must have been trying to protect Cody, without giving me any information about why.

  ‘But I’ve become more of an observer, and I think people were worried for my sanity for a little while there.’

  ‘And Alden’s fine?’

  ‘Fine is a relative term. Alden understood what I didn’t get right away. That it was all a big, fucked-up accident. That the wheels were set in motion, fuelled by anger, alcohol and hot-headedness, and that maybe, even if I had taken a stand, the same damn thing would have happened. The car would have hit the bridge, and he would have got thrown free, while she was trapped inside. Just exactly like it happened that night. Alden dealt with the accident by becoming a firefighter. He tried to turn a negative into a positive, saving others since he couldn’t save her. And ultimately, I guess, he saved me, as well.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Alden was the one who came out here to the ranch, time after time, to try to bring me back into town. To try to get me back into anything. He was the one who convinced me to DJ at the radio station, and who forced me to ride horses again.’

  ‘So why’d you want to warn me off him?’

  ‘Because he’s a player, kiddo. He’s never changed that part of him. He’s not really looking for “the one”. He’s looking for the next one. That’s the other way he dealt with the situation. He can’t stand to get too serious. To really care about someone. It’s not in him any more. No matter how hard he tries. It’s why he and Sheila dance around each other like that. As soon as she pulls him in, he leaves again, as if they’re magnets that repel one another once the forcefield gets too strong. I just didn’t want to see you get hurt.’

  ‘You didn’t know me.’

  ‘I know you, Red.’

  ‘That’s what Ald
en said.’

  ‘No.’ He shook his head. ‘I know you. I saw what you were like on that first day, trying to find yourself, trying to make your way. You couldn’t find what you wanted in LA, so you had to come way out here to the end of the road. I haven’t looked at anyone for a long time. But I saw something in your eyes.’

  He came close to the table and lifted my chin with his fingers. ‘I’ve been waiting, Charlie.’

  We didn’t go back to town for a couple of days. I thought of my car out there, still parked at the ‘No Barking’ space outside of The Saloon, and I realised people would be talking. But realising that didn’t make me want to go and set the record straight. Not since I was having such a good time with Cody. He had supplies for days, coffee and fresh eggs and vegetables from a small plot of land outside. And he had the stamina that I needed, so that, if I woke up in the night and raked my fingers over his broad chest, he’d be up in an instant as if he’d never been asleep, looking into my eyes to see what exactly I was looking for.

  Whatever I was looking for.

  A kiss. A touch. A set of metal cuffs to hold my wrists tight while we fucked. A caress. A squeeze. The sizzling connection of his belt against my bare ass that made what Johnny’d given me behind the bar look like child’s play.

  After several days, I decided to tell Cody the rest of it. All of it. He’d come clean with me. Now it was my turn. I told him about the situation with Alden and how Mia played a role in that. Even though he’d cleverly guessed that I was somehow involved with the beautiful blonde. Told him the fact that she’d fallen for Zeppelin while pretending to be someone she wasn’t.

  Cody didn’t seem surprised by any of the revelations. He sat and listened, and he didn’t interrupt one time. If I’d been telling the story to Johnny, he’d have wisecracked his way through the whole tale. If I’d been talking to Alden, he’d have been working on his defence. With Cody, I felt as if I had his total attention. And, when he walked out of the room and returned with a paddle, I knew that everything was going to be OK.

  Epilogue