“They’re guys, aren’t they? No offense, Rick,” she added, and grinned up at him with one side of her mouth. “I’m talking mostly your basic teenage toad. They got just one thing on their minds, and we all know what that is. Fuckywucky.”
“You’re gross,” Bonnie said.
“But perceptive.” Andrea twisted her head around and peered up at her friend. “You think these guys are gonna just ignore us, we meet up with them?”
“You can level them with your tongue.”
“Yeah, that’d be sure to save the day. Get the scrotes pissed at us.” She turned to Rick. “Maybe the four of us oughta stick together for a while. You mind us tagging along?”
“They’re leaving,” Bonnie reminded her.
“Oh, yeah. Shit soup. You guys sure about that?”
“It’s not definite,” Rick said.
Bert looked at him. “We’ll have to discuss it,” she said. “If we change our minds, we won’t be far behind you.”
“Well,” Bonnie said. “We’d better get moving.” She leaped from her perch, picked up her hat and dusted it off. “If we don’t see you again, have a good trip back.”
“Thanks,” Bert told her. “You too.”
“I was just getting comfortable,” Andrea complained, reaching behind her for the pack straps.
Bonnie lifted her pack off the trail without apparent effort, swung it onto her back, and slipped her arms through the straps.
Andrea struggled with hers. First, she clutched both straps and tried to rise from a squatting position. That didn’t work, so she lurched forward onto her hands and knees, then thrust herself up.
“So graceful,” Bonnie said.
Grimacing, Andrea rubbed her hands on her shorts. They left dust smears on the faded blue fabric. She turned her palms up. “Never gonna be clean again,” she muttered.
“The pleasures of roughing it,” Bert told her.
“Yeah. You guys really serious about leaving?”
“We’ll see,” Bert said.
Andrea grinned at her. “Want to loan us Rick for a few days? We’ll make sure we get him back to you in good condition.”
She caught Bonnie’s sour look and rolled up her eyes in a gesture of mock despair.
Rick laughed. “I could go for that.”
He was joking. Almost.
Bert slapped his leg. “Sorry,” she told Andrea, “I’m afraid I can’t do without him. He’s my love-slave.”
The girls, including Bert, laughed it up.
“Real cute,” Rick said, smiling but embarrassed.
Still laughing, Bonnie and Andrea raised hands in farewell, turned away, and began striding up the trail. Rick and Bert watched until the two girls disappeared around a bend in the trail.
“Nice kids,” Bert said.
“Yeah.”
“So what about it?” she asked. “Do you still want to split?”
“I don’t know,” Rick said. “Maybe not.”
Bert looked amused.
“You have to admit, they change the picture somewhat. In terms of the guys,” he added.
“I’d say so,” Bert agreed. “Substitute victims. If the boys are so inclined. Which would let us off the hook.”
“They must be out of their gourds, coming out to a place like this. Two girls.”
“Dykes,” Bert said.
“You think so?”
She laughed. “Maybe. On the other hand, maybe not. Not fully fledged yet, anyway. Borderline in my opinion. Bonnie’s the pushy one and Andrea’s playing hard to get. But don’t quote me on that. And I don’t think they’re out of their gourds. They’re probably safer out here than they’d be on the streets of Santa Cruz.”
“That’s not saying much.”
“So what are we going to do?” Bert asked.
“I think they’re worried about running into the guys.”
“Of course they are. You made the fellows sound like escapees from a chain-gang.”
“What do
“Let’s stay. We’ll give the girls a good long lead. The guys can jump them and fuck their brains out, and be too pooped to care by the time we go by.”
“Sometimes,” Rick said, “you’re very strange.”
She contorted her face and rolled her eyes.
“Does this mean you think we should join up with them?” Rick asked.
“I’m not thrilled by the idea, but I guess it makes sense. I get my camping trip, the girls get our protection, and you get to continue drooling over a couple of nymphets young enough to be your daughters.”
“I wasn’t drooling,” Rick protested. “And I’m not that old.” She arched an eyebrow.
Rick grinned. “Maybe we’d better forget it. I just might lose control and go for them.”
“I’m worried.”
“Obviously.”
“You get the urge, buddy, just remember something.”
“What?”
Smiling, Bert gently squeezed him through the front of his pants. “They ain’t me.” She let go and patted his leg. “Come on, we’d better catch up with the children.”
Jerry Dobbs was smiling at Gillian over the top of the fence. “Sorry,” he said. “Did I startle you?”
“That’s all right.” The jolt of alarm she’d felt at first hearing his voice faded, but her heart still raced from the shock of it. She managed a smile.
“A little warm today for the hot tub, don’t you think? How about coming over here and joining me in the pool? I was just about to go in myself.”
Gillian, surprised and delighted by the offer, didn’t hesitate. “That sounds great.”
“Come around to my driveway, I’ll open the gate for you.”
“Be right there,” she said.
His face disappeared, and Gillian went into the house.
She knew she was breaking her rule against fraternizing with neighbors, but she didn’t care. Ever since meeting Jerry so briefly last night, she’d hoped to see more of him. He must’ve felt drawn to her, also. A guy doesn’t invite just anyone over to use his pool.
I’ll have to watch what I say to him, she cautioned herself.
Wouldn’t do, at all, to slip up and let him find out I’m not Fredrick’s niece.
Fredrick, the sicko.
The house, though pleasantly cool after the heat outside, seemed forbidding to Gillian as she hurried toward the bedroom.
She dreaded the thought of spending another night in it.
I won’t, she told herself. After I leave Jerry’s, I’ll pack up and get out of here.
In the bedroom, she set her beer bottle on the dresser and slipped into sandals. She turned to the wall of mirrors. And shook her head in dismay. The bikini was little more than cords that tied at her hips and behind her back and neck. Strung from the cords were flimsy, meager swatches of snug white fabric. Gillian felt naked. This
