diversion she had almost forgotten existed. It had been a very eventful day, she thought, reviewing individually once more all the things that had happened, as she sipped her gin and tonic. For a change, there'd been a few happy things! She smiled down at the big German shepherd resting at her feet, a stimulated little tingle rippling in her belly when she remembered the lewd hour they'd spent together. Then, Mark Cannon came excitedly to mind, adding to those provocative stirrings…
Suddenly the door buzzer sounded. For a moment, Carol hesitated as Sultan's throaty growl gave warning, mental reflections of Ed White racing through her mind. Again the buzzer sounded, and with a staccato urgency this time that she couldn't ignore. Carol set down her drink and answered it with her dog close beside her.
It was Peg White and she was crying, her face flushed and crumbled, one cheek noticeably redder than the other. Clutched against her breast she held a purse, and a sob choked from her throat as she charged into the room!
'Close the door and lock it, please, Carol! Hurry, before he knows where I've gone!' Peggy White gasped in a terrified voice… locking the door herself when the blonde girl didn't react quick enough. 'If he finds me, he'll kill me! I–I just know it! I've never seen him so raving drunk!'
Without asking, Carol knew that the almost hysterical girl was referring to her husband. 'Wh-Where is he now?' she quickly questioned hoping to God he hadn't seen his wife come in there.
'I-in the apartment, still looking for this, I suppose!' Peggy whispered in a shaking voice holding up her purse. 'I–I keep the rent money in here for the bank deposit. It's not ours, you know… we have no right to use it, but that makes damned little difference to Ed! It's money… and that's all he cares! Money to throw around in bars… and to buy those slutty teenage bitches…!'
Trembling, the distraught wife began to cry again and Carol tried to comfort her, putting an arm around Peg's shoulder and walking her toward the couch. 'Here, dear, you sit down and let me get you something to steady you. You're safe here…'
'As… as tong as… he doesn't know where I am…!' Peggy sobbed.
'Don't worry. He can't get beyond that door, not with Sultan here!' Carol assured her. 'Now you sit right there while I get you a drink, honey. Then, we'll see what to do about this!'
The ugly brute had obviously slapped her, Carol thought, trembling herself as she poured straight whiskey into a small glass. The red welts from his big fingers were still embossed on the poor girl's cheek.
'Here, drink this, hon,' Carol said, dropping down beside Peg to gently place a hand on the shivering brunette's shoulder as she handed her the glass. 'Just sip at it… would you like some water…?'
'No… no thanks, Carol. T-This is fine… and I'm so grateful. I–I didn't know where to run to. He was like… like a maniac when he couldn't find my purse… but I'd expected this and… and hid it in a different place!'
Carol didn't know what to say. She didn't want to be nosy, or get involved in the Whites' domestic problems, but… 'What're you going to do, Peggy? Will he get over it…?'
'Oh yes… by tomorrow probably,' the still shuddering wife replied, sighing raggedly as if to shake the fearful quaking possessing her. 'He always does. He'll be too hungover to carry on by then.'
'But what about tonight? You just can't go back there and take a chance on him beating you?' Carol said. 'He's probably furious by now!'
Again Peggy sighed, laying her head back onto the edge of the couch, a little smile sardonically twisting her pretty mouth. 'That… is putting it mildly, darling! Ten years of experience with him tells me that he's in a murderous rage by this time, vowing to tear me limb from limb!'
'My God! Why do you put up with it, Peg?' Carol gasped in disbelief. 'I'd call the police… have him arrested… anything!'
'I know… I know, honey,' Peggy said, lifting her head and drinking from the glass. 'It sounds like the only answer, doesn't it, but it isn't. Believe me, it isn't! Any woman who has ever had a drunken, wife-beating man would quickly tell you the same. So, they're arrested, fined, and released… and what do you suppose happens to the poor girl then? That's right, his vengeance is even worse.'
'Then, for God's sake, divorce him!' Carol exclaimed, reaching a point of exasperation.
'Divorce him…? Oh… I couldn't do that, honey!' Peggy replied, shaking her head. 'You see, he really needs me… and I love him!'
Carol stated at her, speechless. Well, so much for ridiculousness, she thought, draining her glass. What more was there to say? The anguished wife had pathetically said it all in six words which had struck a familiar chord in the divorced girl's memory… he needs me… I love him! Incredibly enough, Carol thought, I understand just how she feels!
'Here, let me get us another drink,' she said, taking Peggy's empty glass and walking into the little kitchenette. Then, in a low voice that couldn't be overheard through the thin walls, she said: 'You better stay here with me tonight, Peg. As you say, he'll be over it by tomorrow, or at least too sick to give you any further nonsense.'
'Thanks, Carol, but… but I don't want to put you to any trouble. If I can stay just a little while longer, maybe he'll have fallen asleep…'
'Don't be silly,' Carol said, returning to hand her a second bracing measure of straight bourbon, then lowering herself into the chair across from her neighbor. 'You know it's no trouble. The bed is big enough for both of us, and I've got an extra toothbrush and nightie. Besides, I wouldn't sleep all night worrying about you, and here we both can rest comfortably with Sultan protecting us…'
Peggy White breathed out heavily once more, her radiant smile showing itself for the first time since she'd frantically entered the apartment. She set her purse on the couch beside her and said: 'I'm not going to refuse again, darling. God knows, I'll be safer in here with you tonight, and especially with Sultan, as you say, to protect us…'
The big German shepherd heard his name spoken a second time and raised his head to survey the two females. He studied them both for a long moment, noting that his mistress' face and eyes had taken on an unfamiliar laxness, while hers of the midnight hair were quickly beginning to appear the same. He listened to the soft sounds of their voices, then changed his position so that he could rest his head on the floor and watch them. The confusion which had tensed him at first was no longer in the room, the quiet sounds of their voices beginning to gently lull him toward sleep…
How or why Peggy had started talking about that side of her personal life, Carol wasn't sure, but she quickly found herself more than a little intrigued, as well as pitying the obviously passionate girl across from her. She listened intently to Peggy's intimate unburdening, as if she just had to confide the awful truth in someone.
'I–I have to be loved, Carol… physically… sexually loved,' Peggy whispered, her dark eyes reflecting her excitement in the mere talking about it. 'And… and this is another form of Ed's brutality. Knowing how much and often I need it… he denies me… or at the very least, makes me beg him… sometimes on my knees… and I have to say it the dirtiest way possible… like… please fuck me, darling? Or, please shove your big cock up my hot cunt… or, let me suck it until it cums in my mouth?'
'H-Has he always been this way?' Carol heard her own raspy whisper, the curvaceous brunette's candid revelations easily rekindling the tingles in her belly that the young divorcee had been experiencing before her buzzer had interrupted. She couldn't resist pursuing the rousing subject, and a much more relaxed Peggy White, under the soothing influence of the bourbon, seemed just as eager to discuss it.
'Oh God, honey, he was wonderful… for the first eight years of our marriage! I couldn't have asked for more in bed! He not only has a big one… you know, long and thick and hard, but… but he knows how to use it to bring out the most in a girl! God… honest, he makes me cum like… like an earthquake! Not just once, but five, six, seven times…! At least, he did… before we came here. In San Diego it was beautiful, Carol. We were so happy together. He had a good job with an electronics firm… always came home after work… and we owned a nice house… Then, he met some people from below the border, you know, Mexico, some dark looking men who came to the house several times. The next thing I knew, we were selling everything to come here! I wasn't asked; I was told! Overnight, he was a changed man. That… that was two years ago… and here we are, right up until tonight!'
Carol swallowed tightly, Peggy's uninhibited description of her sex life like a bellows fanning the smoldering embers in her own belly and loins. She thought of Jonny and his lovemaking, but the memory of him was quickly brushed aside by the fresher memory of her interlude with Sultan, and even the more mysterious wonder of Mark Cannon. 'The… the teenagers you spoke of, Peg… you mean those young girls who are all over the neighborhood?'
