The rain came harder. The sky grew darker. The pain crept up his spine.
32
They walked in the woods for an hour. They chatted casually, awkwardly at first, but eventually they eased into the rhythm of one another?s conversation. He asked about New Orleans. She asked about music school and the mandolin. It all had that slightly tentative but reasonably pleasant feeling of a first date. She seemed strangely delighted when she saw a bunny or squirrel.
When they reached the summit of the ridge they traveled along the top, up a gentle slope. They found themselves in a small clearing, three enormous boulders leaning against one another. Lizzy scrambled to the top boulder, and Andrew followed. The view was amazing. Andrew realized they?d left his uncle?s property far behind, three different valleys stretching out in different directions below them. Was this how the pioneers felt?
Lizzy sat on the edge of the boulder and lit a cigarette. Andrew joined her.
Lizzy said, ?When I was thirteen, she lied for me.?
?What??
?To our father she lied,? Lizzy said. ?I can?t even make you understand how brave that was. Or stupid. I got into Daddy?s gun cabinet. You want a kid to be interested in something, then lock it up. If they?d have locked up the complete works of Shakespeare, I?d have every play memorized word for word. You know??
She went quiet, puffed her Camel. Andrew didn?t take her silence as an invitation to comment. He sat and waited.
A few seconds later she said, ?Anyway, Dad came in and caught me. I?d picked the lock on the cabinet, and I had three of his pistols out. Dad was about to go crazy? he was big on discipline? but Meredith jumped in and said she?d been showing me the guns. She was older, so it was okay for her to be in the gun cabinet. I never knew why she did that, why she lied for me.?
?To help you,? Andrew said.
?I thought so for a long time. Now I think maybe it was something against Dad.?
She exhaled, shoulders slumping. ?You can see a long way from here.? She leaned in close to Andrew, kissed him lightly on the cheek.
Andrew took it as a friendly gesture, a thank-you for listening to the story about her sister. He was about to go all aw-shucks, when she grabbed his face and turned it to hers, mashed her lips hard against his.
He pulled away. ?What?s that for??
?It?s not for anything,? Lizzy said. ?I just need it. I?ve been locked up for eight months, and you seem nice.?
?But??
She covered his mouth with hers, tongue stabbing urgently against his. Her hands went under his shirt. A surge of longing spread through Andrew, a sudden primal excitement. He tugged her shirt over her head, worked the clasp on her bra as she tugged his belt loose and unzipped him.
They pulled at clothes, kicked off shoes. Soon both of them were naked atop the boulder, white skin gleaming in the sun.
He looked at the elaborate Chinese dragon tattooed from her left breast to just above her dark thatch of pubic hair. The tail of the dragon curled around her breast, the dragon?s mouth gaping, razor teeth on either side of Lizzy?s mound. A possible warning to would-be suitors? Andrew didn?t care.
He cupped one of Lizzy?s breasts, licked the nipple.
?Forget that,? she said. ?Just get inside.?
He put himself in, tight at first, then thrust in to the hilt. She grunted, reached around and grabbed his ass cheeks, dug in her nails. They thrust into one another, smacking and scraping along the boulder, bodies dripping sweat.
Lizzy?s eyes squeezed shut. She threw her head back, body shuddering, grunts deep in her throat. She screamed, the climax nearly shaking Andrew off her. She sucked in a deep breath, whining utterances leaking from her as the orgasm waned.
