PluckingthePearl

by Afton Locke

  “You’re determined to kill me, aren’t you?”

  “I’m sorry, Caleb, but was that it?” she asked. “Did I have a climax?”

  He laughed. “My God, woman. Do you have to ask? That was a climax for the record books.”

  Feeling limp and giddy, she laughed too. “I thought I was going to die.”

  His moustache ground against her face as he kissed her hard and possessively. “I never imagined you’d be so wild. You’re such a treasure, Pearl. My secret treasure.”

  Their weight shifted, bringing her bare cleft against the hard ridge under his trousers. She ground against the bulge.

  His hands gripped her hips and stopped them. “Don’t move. I’m already half a moment away from fucking you.”

  The flushed, taut look on his face told her he wasn’t exaggerating. She knew he was hanging onto control to honor her wishes so she didn’t want to make it more difficult than it already was. She must have gasped because he apologized.

  “I forget you’re not used to my language,” he said.

  “My mother never taught me those words,” she replied. Or that her body was capable of such exquisite sensation.

  “I want to feel like that again,” she whispered.

  He smoothed the damp roll of hair pinned behind her ear. “You will. I’m going to make you feel it again and again. Don’t wear panties Monday evening either, although I don’t know how I’m going to get any work done knowing how hot and wet you’ll be while you’re working.”

  “I won’t be able to concentrate either,” she agreed, “especially after this.”

  His face grew serious. “We’ll have to make sure you don’t scream next time, though.”

  She put a hand to her mouth. “I tried not to. It just surprised me. I hope no one heard me. Oh, Caleb. What if someone did?”

  He kissed her before she could say anything else. “You worry too damn much.”

  A noise from outside sent him rolling out from beneath her.

  “What was that?” she whispered.

  He sprang to his feet. “I heard it too.”

  The knock on the door sent her heart to her throat. “Someone knows, Caleb,” she whispered soundlessly. “Someone knows.”

  And she feared their little world would shatter as quickly as it had begun.

  Chapter Six

  “Pearl? Are you in there?”

  Her heart pounded in tune with the knocking on the door as she hurriedly smoothed her hair and dress.

  “It’s just Leroy,” she whispered to Caleb.

  Caleb smoothed his shirt front before unlocking and opening the door. “Thank you for cleaning this lock, Pearl. It works much better now.”

  “Y-you’re welcome, Mr. Rockfield.” She dusted her shaking hands as if she’d really been cleaning.

  “Hello, Leroy,” Caleb said.

  Although Pearl’s nerves felt tied in hundreds of tiny knots, Caleb seemed to assume the role of Mr. Rockfield—calm, polite and in charge—with ease.

  She glared at her cousin standing there in his familiar plaid cap. He’d scared her out of her mind for nothing. Because of the upcoming weekend, she wouldn’t see Caleb for two days. Thanks to Leroy, they hadn’t had a chance to say goodbye this evening.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked him.

  “I didn’t want you walkin’ around at night by yourself so I figured I’d come here and look for you. I heard voices coming from this room.”

  Her mouth went dry. He hadn’t heard her scream, had he?

  Caleb stepped closer to him. “You’re right, Leroy. I should have had someone escort her to meet you last night but I gave you specific instructions to wait at the restaurant.”

  Leroy looked down at the pail of food in his hand with guilty eyes. Pearl knew he bought extra food with Caleb’s money to bring home to the family.

  “From now on, you’ll wait at the restaurant. Is that understood?” Caleb asked.

  Caleb’s voice was kind but had a current of power running under it that allowed no room for argument.

  “Yes, sir.”

  Pearl stepped out of the room.

  “Good night,” Caleb called after them as they left. “See you all on Monday.”

  Pearl didn’t dare to even look back at the man who’d brought her such pleasure just minutes ago. As she and Leroy walked through the plant and outside toward the family boat, gritty sand and oyster shells crunched under their feet.

  Cool evening air reached under her dress to caress her bare, still-swollen…cunt, Caleb called it. She wished now she’d worn panties. Ever since Leroy had knocked on the door, she’d felt unbearably naked.

  She didn’t dare say a word as they walked toward Oyster Harbor. An occasional car rumbled down the road and in the distance she heard a boat engine.

  Leroy stared straight ahead at the lit pier. “What do you really do in that room, Pearl?”

  “I clean,” she insisted.

  He stopped short under a streetlight and faced her. “Do you think I’m stupid or something? I fooled around with a few girls before. I know the look they get in their eye when they’re satisfied. The same look you got right now.”

  Pearl looked away. “I told you, I just clean.”

  But her cousin stepped closer until he was just inches from her. “I also know how they smell.”

  Shame engulfed her in a grip of ice. Leroy’s words made her feel cheap, as if she were nothing more than some greedy whore. She slapped his face and ran.

  He caught up to her and pulled her by the arm to the dark side of the hardware store. “I’m just worried about you is all,” he said.

  Tears stung the backs of Pearl’s eyes. What had she been thinking? That she and Caleb could shut off the rest of the world like a light switch and pretend it didn’t exist? Leroy knew and she could no longer deny it.

  How long before the entire world knew? What would happen to her and Caleb then?

  She gripped the sleeves of Leroy’s shirt, almost tearing the thin fabric. “Please don’t say anything. Not even to Aunt Wilma. Especially to Aunt Wilma. Please!”

  “It ain’t right, you messin’ around with some white man. ‘Specially not the owner of the company. It’ll come to no good.”

  Pearl hugged her arms around herself, shivering more from emotion than the evening temperature.

  “It’s not like that, Leroy. He’s special and so caring.” Words tumbled out of her, straight from her heart to her mouth. “That time is all we have.”

  “Don’t you see you’re heading for serious trouble? I don’t want you to get hurt.”

  She touched her cousin’s cheek, feeling calmer now that she realized he was only looking out for her. “I’ll be very careful. I promise.”

  He took off his cap and studied it. This conversation must be embarrassing for him too. “If you’re lucky, he’ll just get tired of you. Are you prepared for that?”

  No. She hadn’t even thought it was possible but Leroy had made her realize crossing the color line was uncharted territory. Anything could happen. She was certain Caleb wouldn’t reject her, though. What they had was so special it would last.

  Then she remembered her plan to marry. How could she have forgotten such an important goal so easily?

  “This is just temporary, Leroy. I’m going to settle down and marry someone when the time is right.”

  “Unless you get knocked up with his half-breed bastard child before you get the chance.”

  Pearl’s fist clenched and she was tempted to slap him again. “I’m still a virgin.”

  Leroy put his cap back on and walked toward their boat. “For how long, cousin?”

  She caught his sleeve. “Promise me you won’t tell anyone.”

  The corner of his mouth turned down. “Don’t worry. I swear I ain’t going to say anything.”

  And she knew he wouldn’t. Caleb was his boss and no one in the family riled Aunt Wilma any more than necessary.

  As Pearl stepped into the
ir boat with shaky legs, she wondered why her moments of joy with Caleb had to come at such a high price. At least it was worth it. The climax she’d experienced had been unlike anything she’d ever dreamed. It was as if she’d exploded into a million pieces and Caleb had put her back together again. She couldn’t wait to have another.

  The hardest thing she faced now was living without him for two whole days.

  * * * * *

  Caleb half-dozed in one of the canvas deck chairs on Mayor Carter’s yacht, The Great White, Saturday afternoon. The boat was so big it barely moved up and down. His brother sat in the chair next to him, sipping a bottle of beer, the smell of it mixing with the fish they’d caught. Water slapped against the hull while the sounds of the mayor’s snoring drifted up from below-deck.

  They were anchored out in the Patuxent River within sight of Oyster Island. My island, Caleb thought as he fiddled with his boater hat in his hands.

  “Well, as usual we’ve got buckets of fish and the mayor is out cold,” Henry said. “What do you want to do now?”

  Lick Pearl, Caleb thought. While he liked having her up on the oyster table, he didn’t want to limit their encounters to that one room. Leroy’s intrusion last night had ruffled his nerves, reminding him what a dangerous game they played. Their little sanctuary wouldn’t be quite the same now.

  Maybe he’d take her to some different places. A boat would be nice. They could lie on the bottom, rocking with the waves, while he feasted on her breasts or buried his tongue inside her wet pussy. The lips between her legs looked as kissable as her mouth.

  He must have replayed her powerful climax in his mind hundreds of times last night in his bed. He’d had to rub his own cock until he came himself just so he could get some sleep. With every thrust, he’d imagined his hardness inside her tight heat.

  Her passion could be dangerous on a boat, he thought. Her climax would probably capsize it. She would be unbelievable in bed too. How lucky he was to find such an incredible woman even though it couldn’t last. If only they could sail away somewhere magical where it could last.

  Caleb recoiled when a playful fist struck his arm.

  “I asked you what you want to do now,” Henry insisted. “What is wrong with you? Are you going deaf or something?”

  He shook his head as if to clear out his thoughts of Pearl but that was impossible. It was as if she’d planted an entire oyster bed inside him, layer upon layer.

  “There’s still some gas left in this thing,” Caleb replied. “Let’s cruise around a bit.”

  “Sure.” Henry gulped the rest of his beer. “Where should we tell the captain to take us?”

  “Crab Creek,” Caleb stated.

  His brother frowned. “Crab Creek? But that’s the colored section. What in the world do you want to go there for?”

  If he only knew, Caleb thought, savoring his special secret like a raw oyster on his tongue.

  “I just want to pass through,” he said. “I’ve never really seen it before and I’m curious.”

  He needed to see where Pearl lived. If he was lucky, he might even catch a glimpse of her. Monday night was too damn far away.

  Henry crossed his arms. “Mayor Carter wouldn’t approve.”

  Caleb gripped the rail. “I don’t need his approval for every little thing I do.”

  “Is that why you haven’t even looked at the bulkhead plans yet?”

  “Why do you fawn around that man so much?” Caleb asked his brother. “You even put worms on his hook for him today. It’s sickening.”

  The tips of Henry’s ears grew pink. “I don’t fawn. I get on well with my superiors, which makes life easier.”

  Caleb had spent his life doing the same thing. Not to the extent of Henry but close. Maybe that’s what sickened him most of all. He released the railing.

  “Are we going to Crab Creek or not?”

  Henry shrugged. “Okay. I’ll go ask the captain if he’s willing to risk taking this big boat into such shallow water.”

  Until now, Caleb had no desire to see it either. As usual, Pearl had turned him upside down and changed everything about him. No wonder poor Henry was so confused. He knew the captain would oblige too. When the mayor was asleep, Caleb was unofficially in charge.

  The boat picked up anchor, sped over the river and slowed as it entered Crab Creek. Fingers of marshy land, filled with scrubby bushes and red-winged blackbirds, reached into the water. The river breeze disappeared as the pungent smell of hot swamp mud pressed around them. The sound of a distant barking dog carried over the water.

  Homes appeared here and there among the trees and mud flats. No, these weren’t homes, Caleb realized. They were shacks. The outdoor fire pits and ramshackle outhouses told him the standard of living here lagged several years behind that of Oyster Island.

  Children wearing clothes just short of rags played in one yard while a man hauled in a rusty crab trap at another. Guilt needled Caleb’s arms along with all the mosquitoes. These people worked for him. Why was it that he’d never bothered to even see where they lived?

  Why had it taken the beautiful face of a young woman to finally open his eyes to the world around him?

  He tried to picture how it would be to live here. The gardens looked fruitful and he knew the water was filled with fish and crabs. Chores probably occupied most of everyone’s time since there was no plumbing or electricity.

  The worst part, though, had to be the housing—hot and stagnant in the summer, damp and cold in the winter.

  “It’s pretty primitive, isn’t it?” Henry asked. “Thank goodness we don’t have to live like this.”

  Caleb didn’t reply. He was too busy scouring both sides of the water for any sign of Pearl. The creek seemed to meander forever. Did these people really row their boats all the way from here to the plant every morning in all sorts of weather? He’d sure have a hard time arriving for the six a.m. shift if he had to come so far. No one complained about it either. Everyone just worked hard.

  Maybe he really wasn’t king of Oyster Island. Without all his workers, he’d have nothing. He should do something special once in a while to thank them, he realized—a big picnic or holiday party.

  Caleb rubbed his temples, his head aching from so much thinking. That woman made him think too much, more than he ever had in his life.

  “Let’s head back now,” Henry said, “before we run out of gas or get eaten alive by mosquitoes.”

  “Just a bit farther,” Caleb insisted. He had to see her place.

  Around the bend, he spotted a shack with turquoise paint peeling away to reveal large gray patches of wood. When he saw the Johnson name above the door, his heart sank into the water. That had to be it. He could see gaps in the walls and holes in the patched roof from here.

  The thought of his Pearl living there nearly brought tears to his eyes. Her mother had been a housekeeper in Annapolis, he recalled her telling him. She’d worn nice clothes. What a comedown this must have been for her, yet she never complained.

  When shuffling footsteps sounded on the stairs leading from the cabin below deck, Caleb clenched his hands together.

  “You’re up. How do you feel, Mayor Carter?” Henry asked.

  Caleb had hoped they’d get back to Oyster Island before the mayor woke up. It wouldn’t be easy to explain this little detour. Again, he found himself having to lie. The sensation of lead sinkers in his stomach was beginning to feel familiar.

  The mayor rubbed his gray head. “I feel lousy. Why did you let me drink so much?”

  Because he was easier to be around when he was unconscious, Caleb thought.

  Mayor Carter looked around and grimaced with disgust. “And what the hell are we doing here? This is the colored section, for God’s sake.”

  “We blew off course,” Henry said affably.

  “It we get stuck, they’ll sink my yacht or try to steal it,” Mayor Carter complained. “They can’t be trusted, you know.”

  Caleb didn’t answer. The pom
pous man’s bigoted remarks had always grated on his nerves but he’d never come so close to wanting to punch him as he had today. Thank goodness fall was coming so he could get a break from these fishing trips.

  He forgot all about the mayor when he saw her.

  She stood in front of a drooping clothesline with a basket of laundry beside her. He noticed everything, from the way the sun shone on her arms, to the peaceful curve of her lips. Despite her surroundings, she looked content.

  The blue scarf on her head made her look wild and innocent. Better yet, her hair hung loose and long. He had half a mind to knock the men overboard and whisk her off to the deep seas.

  Henry steered the mayor toward the bow. “How about a nice big glass of water?”

  Pearl looked up as the boat came closer. Relieved to have this moment without the other men watching him, Caleb stood with his hands glued to the railing, staring at her. He didn’t dare smile or move a muscle. It was enough just to look at her.

  Her arm moved as if she were about to wave but she must have thought better of it. The sight of the fancy yacht probably reminded her of the roles they had to play. Caleb had taken a risk coming here with the mayor. As usual, he had no common sense when it came to her.

  It was wrong to come, he thought. He had his world and she had hers. Mixing the two as he’d done today had stirred up things better left alone. Now that he saw how she lived, he had a harder time accepting the way things were.

  He jumped when he realized his brother was by his side.

  “You startled me, Henry. How long have you been standing there?”

  Henry leaned on the railing, looking at Pearl too. “Long enough. Caleb, I’m thinking something right now and I sure hope I’m wrong.”

  Caleb pushed himself away from the railing feeling the sun burn the scratches on the back of his neck. “You are wrong. Let’s get the hell out of here.”

  He said the last sentence louder than he intended but he had to convince his brother he had no interest in the girl hanging clothes. As he headed toward the captain, he wrung his hands again. First Leroy last night and now this. Two close calls in two days were too damn many.