Her hair was dark and stringy. Her face was speckled with sweat. She looked down at herself. She was sweaty all over. Her pubic curls were matted down.
She felt pretty sticky down there, too.
So she decided that a shower would be a good way to pass the time while she waited for Dan’s return.
If he
She picked up her can and took it with her to the bathtub. Squatting beside the tub, she had a couple of swallows, then reached out with one hand and turned on the faucets. While the water rushed out of the spout, she tested its heat with one hand and drank beer with the other.
The can was still pretty full by the time she was ready to step in, so she took it with her.
Holding it above the spray, she raised her other hand to close the shower curtain.
She watched the way her arm angled up to the curtain. It was slender and lightly tanned, and it glistened with wetness. She felt a drop of water slide along its underside, tickling.
The curtain’s metal rings clamored along the shower rod as she pulled it shut.
Then she faced the heavy, warm spray.
The water pelted her, flooded her open mouth, spilled down her chin. It drummed her closed eyelids until her eyes ached. Then she bowed her head. It pounded down, matting her hair, streaming down the sides of her face, into her eyes and along her lips and chin. It ran down her shoulders and breasts and belly.
It felt great.
But she wanted to use soap and get herself clean.
Hard to do that with a can of beer in one hand.
So she turned away from the shower. With the spray splattering her back and sliding down her buttocks and legs, she tilted the can to her mouth and drank.
Gulped it down.
All of it.
Then belched.
From the other side of the shower curtain, Willy said, ‘Excuse you.’
Marty jumped and her feet slipped out from under her.
20
As she started to fall, she dropped the beer can and made a grab for the curtain rod. It broke loose and she followed it sideways over the edge of the tub. She landed on her back, both legs propped up by the tub.
‘Nice fall,’ Willy said. ‘Nice view.’
She swung her legs down to the floor, clamped a hand between them and crossed her other arm over her breasts. Raising her head, she looked at Willy.
He stared down at her, grinning. ‘Pretty as a picture,’ he said. ‘Wish I had me a camera.’
‘Where’s Dan?’
‘Who?’
‘Dan.’
‘Oh, the prick?’ Willy spread his arms. The front of hits T-shirt was soaked with blood. ‘I stabbed him with my little knife. Took his billfold. He didn’t have much cash to speak of. A shitty thirty bucks and change. You really oughta go out with a better class of guy. Like me.’
‘You… killed him?’
‘Maybe yes, maybe no.’
‘God.’
‘You really shouldn’t have sent him after me, honey.’
‘I didn’t.’
‘Bitch.’Willy took a wallet out of his back pocket and threw it at Marty. It slapped her bare shoulder and bounced off. ‘Time to go.’ He slipped a faded blue towel off its bar and flung it. It dropped across Marty’s knees, but she didn’t make a move to take it. ‘Now,’ he said.
Sitting up quickly, she grabbed the towel.
‘Don’t just sit there, dry yourself.’
Holding the towel against her body, she carefully got to her knees.
‘Now!’
‘Turn around,’ she said.
‘My ass. I’ll give you five. One.’
Clasping the towel to her breasts, she reached out sideways with her free arm. She groped blindly, keeping her eyes on Willy.
‘Two.’
Her hand found the side of the bathtub. She braced her palm against it and pushed herself up.
‘Three.’
She stood up straight.
‘Four.’
She glanced from side to side, looking for a weapon. Anything heavy or sharp. Nothing.
‘Five.’
She backed away as he came forward.
‘You know what happens now?’ he asked. ‘I’m gonna dry you myself.’
‘No.’
‘Yep. You had your chance. I counted five. Lucky me.’
‘Please.’
Her jerked the towel away from her. ‘Nice. Real nice. Last time I saw you stripped, you didn’t have hardly any tits at all. Look at ’em now.’
She tried to push past him. He shoved her backward against the wall. With the towel in both hands, he started rubbing her.
‘Stop it! Don’t!’
‘Real nice.’
‘You damn bastard!’
‘I’m not hurting you.’
‘Stop it!’
‘How does that feel?’
‘You…!’
‘Honk honk!’
‘Bastard!’
He laughed.
Marty drove her knee up, changing his laugh to a squeal of pain.
As he started to fold, she shoved him. He fell backward. She leaped over him and ran for the bathroom door.
She rushed through the door and threw it shut. A moment later, a blast slammed the air. A bullet knocked through the door, throwing splinters into her forearm.
As she ran across the front room, she snatched her blouse up off the floor. She thrust her wounded arm through a sleeve. Some splinters caught the cloth. Others flattened down. She hardly noticed the pain as she made for the front door.
She flung it open. As she raced outside, she got her other arm into its sleeve.
A car was parked along the roadside. Willy’s Chevy.
The street was deserted. The nearest building, half a block to the south, had no lights in its windows. A
