that had come her way in the course of hygiene classes. She had never felt the urge to examine that part of herself in a mirror – indeed, she had always assumed it was better not seen, any more than one would want to look at anything dirty or disgusting.
But now she moved her face to within an inch of the open pussy, gazing with intrigued attention at its intricate structure: at the grooved central ridge with the tiny slit of the urethra; at the little inner lips that were the entrance to the vagina, and at the shadowy cleft behind that vanished in shadow.
She could smell it, too – not an unfamiliar smell. It was the same scent that had been on her finger when Jake had forced her to probe herself, and so presumably the taste would be the same as her own, musky, very slightly like very fresh fish…
'Go on,' Doris urged her, voice husky with anticipation.
Slowly Sally advanced the tip of her tongue to make the tentative connection with the moist, hot, slippery flesh – this was territory utterly unknown. She had always assumed that some day she would be initiated into the mysteries of sexuality with a man, but such intimate contact with another of her own sex had never occurred to her before today as anything but a strange aberration of certain people who were – different.
Doris sucked in a long, shuddering breath between her teeth as Sally's tonguetip brushed over her eagerly waiting flesh, then suddenly she pulled herself away convulsively and rolled over, and sat up cross-legged on the bed, shaking her head as though dazed from a sudden blow.
Sally, alarmed, pushed herself up and sat back on her heels, and asked anxiously:
'Did I hurt you?'
'Hurt me?' Doris said bemusedly, then gave an odd, dry laugh. 'No, chickie. No. It's just – I find I don't have the temperament for rape, that's all.'
There was a long silence, during which Sally kept perfectly still, watching as Doris sat with fingers clenching and unclenching, her breath hissing in and out between her teeth in a rigidly controlled cadence, as though she were bearing the pitiless attack of some physical agony.
'I was falling into that goddamned trap,' Doris said at last, 'of trying to rival them in – piggery. Sexual obnoxiousness. Show them a woman can be every bit as crude as a man.' She laughed again, bitterly. 'I was raped once – that was enough. You'd think I'd have learned better, wouldn't you?'
Sally said nothing.
'Now it's happening to you,' Doris went on. 'I thought I'd like to see it happen to somebody else. Join in – get my share of the action.' She shrugged. “Well, I can't do much to protect you, but I guess I can claim my share of you and give you the pleasure of being let alone once in a while.'
She swung herself off the bed and stood with her hands on her hips, her slim, high-breasted figure straight and proud.
'The bathroom's through there,' she said, gesturing at a door in one wall. 'You could probably use a shower or something.' She reached for a robe and wrapped it around herself. 'See you later – I need a drink.'
Sally found herself alone.
Her brain felt totally fatigued. Only Doris' suggestion about the shower really stayed with her, and she went to the bathroom. There were towels that looked clean, and a shower cap she could use, and soap – and when she tried the faucet, the water flowed through hot and soothing.
She took a deep breath, set the shower cap in place over her bundled-up hair, and stepped beneath the wonderfully cleansing warm spray. She reached for the soap and a washcloth, and made a generous lather of foamy white suds, spreading them over every inch of her body, over her breasts that had been violated by Willy and Jerry, over her sex where Jake's hand had worked and filled her with that curious flood of sensation that had knocked her right out of the world for a few hectic moments.
Suddenly she ceased all movement as a thought struck her – had that been orgasm?
She had thought that it was just the sudden ending of tensions, of fear, of that dreadful hot itching – but – She resumed washing herself, but carefully avoided her sex now, wondering profoundly. Her upbringing had so thoroughly prohibited any genital exploration with the twin threats of dirtiness and of damage to her 'maidenhood' that she had never had any chance to discover for herself what that mysterious sensation was like.
Had she enjoyed what he had done to her?
She had enjoyed the relief – but the thing itself had been more frightening than pleasurable.
But-Now her curiosity was intensely aroused, and in view of what had happened to her already, and what was going to happen in the course of the waiting for the mysterious Miles to put in an appearance, there didn't seem any point now in restraining herself from finding out!
She came out of the shower and dried herself, then went out into the bedroom, Doris had returned, and was in bed. She gave Sally a wry smile.
'I won't molest you,' she said.
Sally took a deep breath.
'I hardly know anything at all about sex – really about it,' she told Doris.
'You are really a virgin, hm?'
'Yes… '
Sally got into bed and leaned back against the pillows. She turned to face Doris who was looking at her quizzically.
'I was very strictly brought up, you see,' she said.
Doris replied: 'I didn't think it was because you weren't attractive to men!'
'I wanted to – stay a virgin till I was married.'
'Well, I guess you're out of luck.' But Doris' tone was not unsympathetic. 'Shit, I'd get you out of this if I could – but there's no way. I can't control those dogs of Jake's – and anyway, I'm in it as deep as they are, now.'
'How – I mean – why…?'
'How did a nice girl like me get mixed up in anything like this?'
Sally couldn't repress a tiny nervous giggle.
'Stupidity, chickie,' Doris said somberly. Never mind the details – you put one foot wrong, and if there's guys like Jake around, you get deeper and deeper, trying to wipe out your first mistake. I thought I'd shaken him off, but he needed a place to hole up – and my house was it.'
''This is your house?'
'Yup. Mine and Tod's. He's my brother. That's how I got tangled up with them in the first place.'
'It's kind of lonely – do you live here all the time?'
'On and off. Not for a while. I wanted to try to set up a kind of commune here – only it looks as if I'm going to spend the next few years keeping out of the clutches of the FBI,' she concluded bitterly.
'Couldn't you – tell them you were forced into it?'
'Sure I could – and they'd all swear I was the brains of the outfit. Anyway… '
There was a silence, then Doris said:
'Well, I guess we might as well go to sleep.'
Sally said:
'I wish you'd – tell me about sex, Doris.'
'Huh?'
'I told you – I just don't know anything – and I'd rather – be prepared if – '
'Oh.' Doris grimaced. 'Well – what can I tell you? I assume you know where babies come from!'
'You see, I've never – nobody's ever touched me – rye hardly ever even touched myself – '
'Mm.'
'I don't know if I – had an orgasm – before?'
'With Jake, you mean?'
'Yes,' she replied, embarrassed.
'Well, you certainly looked as though you were!' Doris told her. 'Didn't you enjoy it?'
'I – I don't know…'
Doris assumed a thoughtful expression.
'You know,' she said slowly, 'the first couple of times I ever masturbated – trying out things I'd heard about – I seem to remember that it was just sensations, without any special pleasure attached – it took a time or two
