Chapter Eight
It was thirty minutes at least before Max thought back to the incident in the barn and realized that the Bradford dame had saved his ass.
From the kitchen he went into the living room and checked on her husband. The man was sitting against the wall, just where they'd left him, and he was still tied tightly. That was one thing about Pete. He did his work well. Even if he was being stupid about killing that little twat. That kind of thinking could well make for their end. Still, Max didn't think it was worthwhile arguing about it with him right at this time. Maybe he could bring him around a little later.
He went down on his haunches and looked at the farmer's wrists to see if they were still tied tightly. He pulled the man a little away from the wall to get a good look. Then he decided to take the gag out of the guy's mouth just for the hell of it.
'How you feelin', buddy?' he asked.
The farmer looked at him coldly. 'How would you feel if you'd had your wrists and ankles tied for this long?'
'I don't know. That's why I'm asking you. And I'll ask you one more question: do you think I could afford to let you go?'
'I wouldn't keep a man tied up like this for anything, myself.'
'Sure you wouldn't. Not even if your ass depended on it, eh? In a pig's eye you wouldn't. Besides, you know fucking well that if I turned you loose you'd make your try the first chance you got.'
'What happened in the kitchen? The shot?'
'We had a little trouble. The visitor, Connie or whatever her name is, shot Butch. Killed him.'
'Glad to hear that.'
Max smiled. 'Yes, I thought you would be. But don't let it swell your head, friend. It isn't going to make much difference. Two of us can handle three women, and you aren't going to be worth a fart in hell, tied up like that. And that's just the way you're going to stay, no matter how sad a song you sing about it.'
'You'd better hope I stay tied up,' Bradford said. 'If I get loose, you're the first one I'm going to head for.'
'Really? Well, then, I guess I'd better do my best to keep you trussed.'
'I guess you'd better. But you can't keep me this way forever. Sooner or later you're going to make a screwup, mister. And that's going to he your last screwup.'
'Maybe I ought to kill you.'
Bradford looked at him thoughtfully. 'You know, I really can't figure out why you haven't done that already.'
'Because we don't have anything to lose? I said why I was against the idea in the kitchen, earlier. Your wife might not be so cooperative if you weren't here as a hostage. And she certainly has been cooperative.' Max grinned. Bradford's face turned white with anger.
'Shut up,' he rasped.
'You know, I can see why you married her. She's a good piece. I can't remember when I've ever had a better one.'
'Goddamn you, shut up!'
'Fucks like a trooper. You're a lucky guy. Or you were. We're the lucky ones now.'
'I'll kill you, you son of a bitch!' Bradford shouted suddenly. 'Let me loose and I'll break your fucking neck!'
'Sure, but you aren't going to get loose. You're going to sit there and think about your wife and me, and your wife and Pete, and whenever we feel like it one of us is going to pat her on the ass, and she'll just trot along to the bedroom with us, obedient as a trained dog. A trained bitch, eh?'
Bradford opened his mouth to say something else, but he shut it again, so hard it made a clicking noise when his teeth came together. Max laughed. 'You remember how she practically dragged Pete into the bedroom back there? Man, I thought she was going to fuck him right there on the kitchen floor.' Bradford didn't even look at Max. He had gotten hold of himself, Max thought, and he was keeping it in. He was a man who knew how to use his emotions instead of wasting them. And that was a dangerous kind of man. Max decided to give him one last jab before he left.
'She not only fucks like a trooper, friend, she sucks like one, too. She ever suck your cock for you?' Bradford looked at him, and there was a kind of hooded, cobra look in his eyes that sent a chill down Max's spine.
'You just keep it up, friend. You just keep going. When I get my hands on you, finally. You're going to eat each one of these words separately.'
Max managed to laugh again, although he didn't really feel much like it. 'Don't go talking like a hero, buddy. We're not only going to fuck your wife all we want. We're also going to be the last men who ever fuck her. We'll be staying here a little longer. And when the heat lets tip enough, we'll be moving on. And when we do that, we're not going to leave anything alive on this farm except maybe a few chickens. Butch's corpse will be here, of course. And yours. And the corpses of maybe three pregnant women.' Max gave him another grin. He pulled up the gag and stuffed it into Bradford's mouth again, then tied it up tight. He stood and looked down and winked. 'I think maybe I'll give her a little reaming now. She got cut off in the middle of a good fucking when Connie shot Butch. He was in her then, from what I gather. She must feel frustrated. And her regular boy friend, Pete, is in the bedroom with Connie right now, having a ball. So I don't think he'll mind if I stick my prick in Julie-baby. Do you?'
Max grinned broadly and walked out of the room without looking back.
He got the feeling that the women had been talking about something. When he walked in, there was one of those sudden silences that you can feel. They didn't look at each other, or at him. Max walked over to Sally and pinched one of her breasts. She looked up at him sullenly, and there was pain in her eyes, but she didn't say anything, and she wasn't in any position to offer any direct resistance.
'Nice and comfy?' Max asked. She still didn't say anything. Max reached down and took a pinch of pussy hair between his thumb and forefinger. He gave it a little yank, and she made a small, grunting sound of pain and surprise. 'Well, now, you can still talk, can't you?' He laughed and pulled the hair again. This time she didn't make any sound, or give any reaction at all. She looked like she was trying to decide whether to spit in his face or not. 'Go ahead,' Max grinned, 'Go ahead and try it. It might be very satisfying, and the most it can cost you is an extra eight or nine hours tied to the sink.'
She looked down at the floor, and Max laughed again. He couldn't remember when he'd enjoyed himself more. The little twat had some spirit, but she had too much sense to get herself tied up in this position for any longer than necessary just for whatever satisfaction she could glean from a moment's show of defiance.
Max roughed her hair with his hand and pinched her cheek hard enough to bring tears to her eyes. 'That's a smart girl,' he said. 'I thought you'd turn out to have more brains than to pull something really dumb like that. Now I'm going to go have a little fun with your big sister. Don't you go away.'
He walked over to the chair in which Julie was tied. She looked up at him with a strange expression, and he couldn't decide whether she was scared shitless of him or just trying to be placating. He had tied her with one ankle lashed to each of the chair's front legs, and she was spraddled open, with her slit winking at him from between her thighs. The robe, with nothing to hold it closed, had fallen completely away from the front of her body, and with her hands tied behind her she had no way to pull it closed even a little bit.
'I think you and I ought to go get acquainted again, sweetheart. What do you think of that idea?'
She didn't look at him, and she flushed deeply. It tickled the hell out of Max. 'I–I don't suppose it really matters what I think of it, does it?'
'No, I don't suppose it does, really. Now that you mention it.' He walked around behind her and untied her wrists. She started to pull her robe closed around her. 'Leave it alone,' Max ordered. 'I like it open in the front. I think that's very becoming, Julie.' Her fingers flexed nervously, as though they ached to pull the robe about her, but she left it alone. Max went around in front and squatted down right in front of her. From his position he could see her slit, on a level with his face, and he looked at it directly for several seconds before raising his face to grin at her.
