PluckingthePearl

by Afton Locke

  She’d begged him to deduct these purchases from her pay but he refused. The man was every bit as stubborn as she was.

  Her cunt stayed deliciously sore almost all the time. Every step and movement she took while cleaning reminded her of how perfect his cock felt inside her. The fast, urgent thrusts during the times they couldn’t get enough of each other were as wonderful as the slow, gentle strokes that expressed their love.

  She’d memorized every scent, texture and sound of Caleb’s body. He was her man. If only he could be her husband in every way.

  When she opened his top dresser drawer to put away his clean socks, coloring the air with the aroma of cedar, she noticed something hard tucked beneath the socks. She and Caleb were so close she didn’t think he’d mind if she explored.

  She pulled out the hard, square object, realizing it was a framed picture. It almost dropped out of her hands when she realized it was a picture of Caleb on his wedding day. Her fingers trembled as she brought it to the window to see it better.

  He looked much younger, his hair completely black, but his serious expression was familiar. Then she studied the woman seated in front of him, the woman in a white dress and veil. His dead wife…

  Gertrude was almost as pale as her dress in every way. Pearl guessed she was blue-eyed and blonde from the black and white photograph. She couldn’t be more different from Pearl. Her lips were thinner and her hair was smooth and straight where Pearl’s was thick and wavy.

  How could Caleb have chosen such opposite women?

  Had he loved his wife? Looking out at the leaden sea and back to the picture, she wondered what it would be like to sit in that chair and be Caleb’s bride. To wear the dress, veil and ring. To be acknowledged by society as a legal, proper spouse. To show the entire world how much they loved each other.

  A heavy weight filled her chest as she put herself into that picture. How ridiculous she would look sitting there in a wedding dress next to a white man. The sight of such a picture would probably inspire an angry mob to form. At the very least, people would throw tomatoes at it or point at it and laugh.

  Unable to look at it a moment longer, she tucked it back in the drawer where she’d found it. She was thankful Caleb didn’t have any pictures of his wife on display in the house and she never wanted to see this one again.

  What they had was enough, she told herself. So why didn’t that aching, empty spot inside her chest go away? Even the piano couldn’t always fill it.

  I need to get out of this house.

  Her family had not come to visit after that first time. For some reason, she needed to see them. Caleb got out and interacted with the world every day and she needed to as well.

  Outside, the autumn breeze from the water, laced with the scent of fish, buffeted her face as she walked to the oyster plant. It had been weeks since she’d been there. Stepping inside the doors was like walking back into an old world.

  The clatter of oysters being shoveled into baskets and thrown across the shucking tables sounded as loud as warfare after being in Caleb’s quiet, empty house. Had she really worked here? She clutched her hand to the collar of her coat, wondering how she’d done it.

  It was even worse now that it was colder. The cloakroom was jammed with coats. Despite the oil-burning stove, dampness rolled in from the open unloading dock door and seemed to hover like a cloud above the piles of wet, discarded oyster shells.

  Caleb hadn’t just given her love. He’d given her life back.

  Not until this moment did she realize just how lucky she was to be a housekeeper again.

  She walked toward her old workstation where a new man had taken her place. Jimmy waved at her, apparently carrying no grudge.

  Leroy pulled her into a fierce hug. “How you doin’, cousin? You look good.”

  “Fine. I thought I’d come to visit.” But when she looked at the oysters piled up on his table, she realized taking his time would also take his money.

  Sadie grabbed her arm. The girl smiled so wide Pearl had barely recognized her.

  “Pearl! Guess what? I’m getting married!”

  Pearl’s jaw hung open. “You’re what?”

  Sadie held out her hand, displaying a thin silver band on her ring finger. “Buck asked me a couple of days ago.”

  Pearl inspected the ring and gave her cousin a hug. “Oh, Sadie. I’m so happy for you.”

  “The wedding is less than a week away. Say you’ll come.”

  “Of course I will,” Pearl replied.

  Wilma’s greeting was more subdued than the others. “Well, Miss High and Mighty decided to pay us a visit.”

  Pearl took a fortifying breath, thinking Elizabeth Abbott wasn’t so bad after all compared to her aunt.

  “How are you, Aunt Wilma?” she asked politely.

  “Wore out.”

  “How’s Uncle Charlie?” Pearl asked next.

  Wilma knifed an oyster and spread it open. “The cold, damp weather is still setting him back. He mostly sleeps by the fire now.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that,” Pearl said. “I’ll try to visit him.”

  “That’s a mighty fancy dress you got on. You got any extra money with you?” Wilma asked.

  Pearl nodded and pulled an envelope from her dress pocket, wishing she’d worn something else even if it was cold out.

  After the older woman tucked it into her bodice, she pointed to her oysters. “Thank you. As you can see, I’m too busy for chitchat. Some of us got to work hard for a living.”

  Pearl opened her mouth to reply but stopped herself. It wasn’t worth it. She wasn’t prepared for the other woman to look her up and down with a knowing leer.

  “I see you been workin’ hard too, on your back,” Wilma said. “You better hope he don’t get tired of you.”

  How does she know?

  Heat roared through Pearl’s cheeks. Would everyone know by looking at her that she slept with her boss? This was exactly what she’d hoped to avoid by being celibate. Shame. The last time Aunt Wilma had made her innuendoes Pearl had been able to hold her head high.

  Now she felt exactly like what she was—a whore.

  * * * * *

  As Caleb walked through the plant, he caught sight of Pearl walking out. He headed to the door but she slipped through before he could reach her. The tense line of her lips worried him. He glanced back at her aunt who looked extra sour today. The two of them must have argued. He’d find out what was the matter at home where all these people weren’t watching.

  In fact, he might fuck Pearl in the kitchen first. Whatever was on her mind would disappear in the midst of their passion. His cock felt pleasantly sore inside his trousers. Who needed marriage anyway? He had everything he needed.

  The cold dampness made him shiver. All the coffee he’d drunk this morning to keep warm had caught up with him. He headed upstairs to the men’s bathroom the office personnel used but it was occupied. Unable to wait, he went back downstairs to the one the shuckers used.

  He hadn’t used it in years. The sight that greeted him pulled his jaw to his chest. It was in complete disrepair. There was dirt everywhere, no soap, no towels and at least two toilets looked clogged.

  Was this filthy hole really part of his plant? Why hadn’t he checked the conditions? There was no sign outside the door saying “colored only” but there might as well be. The workers passing in and out even gave him strange looks as if he didn’t belong there.

  He did his business and washed his hands only to realize there was no hot water either. The cracked mirror showed every bit of the self-disgust he felt inside written on his face. The door banged on his way out.

  “Murdock!” he called out to the floor supervisor standing several yards away. “Come to my office. Now.”

  In his office, Caleb sat behind his desk while the other man stood in front of it. Angry heat burned across his face and neck but he knew he had to handle this carefully.

  “The men’s bathroom downstairs is a shambles,” C
aleb said.

  Bill Murdock wrinkled his large nose. “You actually went in there?”

  Caleb nodded. “The facilities—all of the facilities—are your responsibility. I want that bathroom repaired and restocked by the end of tomorrow.”

  The other man shrugged and looked baffled. “But that’s the coloreds’ bathroom. They don’t need anything better.”

  Caleb’s jaw twitched painfully as he held back his opinion of Murdock’s bigotry. “All of the bathrooms in this plant will have the same high standards. Fix it by tomorrow or you no longer work here. Understood?”

  Murdock took a step back as his face flushed red. “You can’t be serious.”

  “I am.” Caleb said. He almost hoped the man didn’t comply so he could have an excuse to fire him.

  * * * * *

  Pearl stood at the oven that evening. She’d cooked fish, cornbread and collard greens for dinner, hoping Caleb wouldn’t mind eating what her people enjoyed. The image of his wedding picture coupled with her unsettling conversation with Aunt Wilma made her jumpy inside. If not for the money she’d given to help Uncle Charlie, she was sorry she’d visited the plant.

  When she heard the front door close, her nerves jumped with the thrill of anticipation instead. She needed to be held after the day she’d had.

  “I hope you like fish and cornbread and—”

  Caleb’s mouth covered hers before she could finish. She gasped and shivered with delight when he lifted the back of her striped dress and caressed her thighs.

  “The food—” she protested.

  “It’ll keep,” he said as he sucked the side of her neck.

  When his bare cock brushed her thigh, dragging a hot, sticky trail across her flesh, she moaned. His fingers undid her garters and he pulled down her panties and stockings just enough to bare her backside.

  Her conversation with Aunt Wilma drifted away as urgent heat radiated from her pussy, making it wet and swollen.

  “Bend over the oven, honey.”

  A thrill shot through her chest. By the sound of his voice, he meant to be obeyed. When he’d talked about doing this before, she had no idea how arousing it would be. The edges of the electric oven were warm under her fingers as she inhaled the tantalizing scents of what she’d cooked.

  Her ass felt bare and exposed as Caleb pulled her dress up around her waist. If Aunt Wilma could see her now… Luckily her thoughts derailed when she heard the familiar sound of unrolling rubber followed by his shaft pushing inside her. She gasped as she struggled to accommodate the long, hard heat filling her so suddenly.

  His powerful hands gripped her hips as he pumped her with every inch of that wonderful cock. He’d never taken her from behind before and his penis felt longer than ever. Her sensitive pussy lips felt the coarse hairs around his balls as they pounded against her. Each stroke penetrated her all the way through, straight to her soul. She moaned a guttural cry with each one.

  “I’m not hurting you, am I?” he asked.

  “No,” she whispered, barely able to talk.

  “Because I could stop.” And he did, pulling completely out of her.

  “Don’t stop,” she cried. “Fuck me, Caleb.”

  “What was that? I didn’t hear you.”

  “Yes you did. Fuck me now!” She reached back for his cock but it slipped out of her fingers. “Damn you.”

  He chuckled, infuriating her further as he slid his member’s swollen head across her folds.

  “Is this what you want, honey?” he asked.

  She answered by thrusting her hips back, desperate to get him inside her again. He only gave her an inch or two so she thrust and thrust, making the oven rock and shake on its four legs. With no warning, he speared his cock all the way inside her again.

  “Yes!” she cried.

  He followed that pounding thrust with another and another until one blended into the next.

  Pearl’s head, weak and dizzy with passion, drooped over the stove. Having Caleb take her this way was like being caught up in a rip current. There was no time to think or breathe. She couldn’t escape even if she wanted to but she definitely didn’t want to…

  The heat from the oven and steaming food competed with the fire burning in her pussy and bathed her face, drenching it in perspiration. She hung on to both sides of the stove, making it rock with Caleb’s thrusts. The cookware clattered and danced until the bowl of collard greens fell on the floor, shattering.

  “Leave it,” he ordered before she could react.

  All too quickly, she yelled hard enough to split her throat in half with her climax as her belly exploded. It echoed around the hard surfaces of the kitchen as aftershocks continued to rock her. She cried out again when Caleb’s cock withdrew and hot semen rained across her backside.

  She cleaned herself with a nearby towel, pulled her dress skirt back down and grabbed the oven again for support. “You could warn a girl before you do something like that.”

  He winked at her, cleaned himself and put his cock back into his pants. “You looked so adorable standing there, I couldn’t resist.”

  “And you shouldn’t have taken the condom off,” she added. “I’m a mess!”

  “I wanted to see you in the new dress,” Caleb said, “but I suppose it’s a good thing we didn’t muss it up.”

  Now that the tidal wave of passion had passed through, her troubled thoughts returned as she stared at the mess of greens and broken crockery on the floor. Whore. This time she hadn’t even done it in his bed like a respectable woman. He’d pulled down her indecent, see-through panties and taken her from behind in the kitchen.

  In fact, she’d begged him to fuck her like an animal and all the vulgar words he’d taught her were such second nature to her now they were part of her thoughts. Just thinking about cunts, cocks and fucking made her wetter than rain.

  Unable to bear the sight of the floor a moment longer, she grabbed the wastebasket and mop. “Go sit in the dining room, Caleb. If dinner can be saved, I’ll serve it.”

  He took the items out of her hands, set them aside and touched her face. “What’s wrong, honey? You looked upset at the plant today too. Did you have an argument with your aunt?”

  She pressed her lips together. He knew her too well. “We didn’t argue exactly.”

  “Then she must have said something.” Caleb pulled her close, holding her hand while he gazed at her with kind blue eyes.

  She was so lucky to have him. Why ruin it by telling him how she really felt inside?

  “Sadie is getting married,” she said in the most cheerful voice she could muster.

  He smiled. “That’s great. You’re not happy for her?”

  “Of course I am. I guess I’m just a little envious and I found… Never mind.”

  “Found what?”

  Pearl took a deep breath. Holding her feelings back from him was even harder than holding back her passion.

  “I was putting your socks away and came across your wedding picture. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snoop.”

  He sighed. “If it’s any comfort to you, I didn’t love her. I only married her because I thought I should.”

  She looked across the room. “I appreciate what we have and I know you care about me. But no matter how hard I try, I can’t help feeling like a whore.”

  Caleb put his hand on his hip. “Pearl, we’ve been over this before.”

  “I know. The way Aunt Wilma looked at me today and what she suggested just upset me.”

  His face looked even more serious than it had in his wedding picture. “Maybe you should stay away from her for a while.”

  Pearl nodded.

  “I’m going out,” he announced.

  She looked at the food she’d worked so hard to cook. “But what about dinner?”

  “I’m afraid I’m not hungry.”

  “Don’t leave.” She grabbed his arm. “You look upset too.”

  He shook his head. “Pearl, I’ve tried every way I know how to make you f
eel special. Every time I see the pain and shame on your face, it kills me that I can’t do a damn thing about it.”

  Darn Aunt Wilma, Sadie’s engagement and that wedding picture, Pearl thought after he walked out. She had Caleb’s heart. Why wasn’t that enough?

  * * * * *

  The damp, rainy weather the next evening matched Caleb’s mood as he walked to the Sapphire Crab. Murdock hadn’t done a thing about the men’s bathroom today so he’d fired him as promised.

  “You haven’t heard the last of this!” the other man had yelled, pointing a threatening finger in his face.

  Caleb promoted a shucker who’d worked at the company for twenty years to take his place, wondering why he hadn’t done it sooner. Just when he’d been about to go home to spend a quiet evening with Pearl, Henry summoned him to this important meeting with the mayor.

  It couldn’t be good.

  When he walked inside the restaurant, Betty ushered him to the small private room in the back where several tables had been joined into one large one. The mayor sat with several men he knew, including the restaurant owner, and several he didn’t. His stomach shifted when he eyed the hard-looking strangers. Who were they?

  But he knew. He could see it in Henry’s cautioning expression as he motioned to the empty seat beside him.

  The Klan had come to Oyster Island.

  “Now that we’re all here,” Mayor Carter began, “let’s get started. As I’ve discussed with most of you, I’m concerned about incidents that have happened nearby.”

  Cambridge was hardly nearby, Caleb thought.

  “I’ve invited these gentlemen to help us implement our plan of action,” the mayor stated.

  The room felt especially cold and smelled musty from lack of use. Caleb’s stomach felt queasier with each man Mayor Carter introduced. They were from all over the state and each had a title. Chairs squeaked, punctuating the rain and quiet voices.

  Although he’d always known the Klan was around, he’d never come face-to-face with it before. He didn’t see why he needed to now either. Oyster Island was a peaceful place but he knew better than to speak up at this meeting. Luckily Bill Murdock was not important enough to be here.