Doris made a slight grimace and turned away, and Jake snapped: 'Get in the house, fer chrissake!'
'Yeah, let's get inside,' Jerry leered.
With his hand still on her buttock, Willy gave her a slight shove forward, and in helpless obedience, she climbed the steps to the opened door and went inside.
It smelled a bit musty, as though nobody had lived there for a long time: an impression heightened by the film of dust that lay over things not in immediate use. The room into which she was propelled was furnished with a motley assortment of armchairs grouped around a portable television set and a rickety coffee table, piled with used paper cups and empty cans of beer.
Jake pushed her into one of the chairs and stood looking down into her frightened eyes for a moment Then he turned his head and gave a sharp, summoning whistle.
There was a clatter of claws, and a pair of dobermans came running from somewhere in the house and bounded over to Jake. He pointed at Sally and said: 'Guard her.'
The dogs sniffed at her, and turned away.
Jalce explained casually: 'They've done this before. They've been trained to watch you – to watch anyone they're told to guard. If you try to get out of any room without me – well, you can give it a try if you wanna know what happens.'
Sally sat staring at the two dogs in horror. She had no doubt whatever that Jake was telling the truth.
'Outside,' Jake said to the dogs, and to her relief they ran out of the room.
'They're very alert – superb watchdogs,' Jalce added meaningly. 'They've never let me down yet.'
Willy and Jerry stood watching the little scene with evident enjoyment, and now another man came in: Sally recognized the pale brown hair of the man who had been driving.
'All okay, Tod?' Jake asked.
'Uh-huh.'
Tod's eyes were an Indeterminate color, a sort of fishy gray-green. He looked at her now with a kind of neutral interest, as though she were a specimen of animal he had never seen before.
She said tremulously: 'Please, I – I need to – '
Four pairs of eyes were focused on her. 'You'll have to raise your hand, teacher,' Willy teased her, and she blushed.
Jake said: 'I'll let your hands loose, but remember the dogs, and don't go tryin' nothin' dumb.'
He pulled her to her feet and once again wielded the razor, and she rubbed her wrists with relief, then tugged her bra and sweater back into place.
'Soon have 'em out again,' Willy assured her. 'Soon as you take your leak or crap or whatever.'
'Across the hall,' Jake told her.
She was disproportionately thankful to find that the small bathroom was recently cleaned. She washed her face clean of the dried semen Willy had smeared there, and cleaned It off her thighs. She was reluctant to emerge from that illusory haven, but a sharp rap at the door summoned her forth. She dared not disobey.
The four men were lounging in the chairs around the television when she emerged, refreshing themselves with cans of beer. Willy held one out to her, and, because she was thirsty, she accepted it.
'Thank you,' she said, thinking that perhaps she could establish some kind of sympathetic communication by acting as though this were a usual, civilized situation.
'You're welcome, teach.' He watched her pop open the top and take a long swallow. 'Maybe I'll come watch you next time you take a leak, huh? Bet you look real cute.'
Doris came in carrying a plate of sandwiches which she set on the shaky table.
She said: 'Since I'm the only one of you slobs that knows how to cook, I'll do it; but you'll clear up after me and do the dishes, or the deal's off. Work it out how you like.'
She slumped down into one of the chairs and reached for one of the sandwiches.
Sally stood nervously where she was, clutching her beer can, wondering if she should sit down too. She was horribly conscious of Willy's pale blue eyes raking over her body, and of Jerry's avid moist-brown gaze.
Doris glanced at her once, and jerked her head towards an empty chair, and Sally sank down into it, trying to make herself inconspicuous.
Without success. The two pairs of eyes never left her, and Tod and Doris and Jake checked her out from time to time. Sally sat with her eyes riveted to the screen, but saw nothing.
Jake finished his beer and sandwich and reached forward to flick off the set. He twisted round in his chair and looked directly at Sally with that icy gray gaze.
There was a gathering of breath among the others, a silent expectation.
Jake said: 'We're gonna be here a day or two, schoolteacher. Then we're leavin' the country. We ain't gonna be around for no rap-kidnap or any other kind.'
She sat holding her breath.
'It won't make no difference to us if we leave you here well an' healthy to be picked up by the cops, or chewed up dead by the dogs. We won't be here. Get that?'
He waited in cold silence until she managed a tiny nod of terrified comprehension.
'You give any trouble, like tryin' to get away, and it won't be well and healthy they find you,' he said flatly. 'And since cunt makes trouble if it ain't free for all, you damn well better put out for anyone who wants you while we're waiting. Or I'll fix you so there won't be nothin' to cause trouble over. See?'
Again the long, silent, menacing stare.
Again the tiny nod of compliance.
He shrugged, and flicked the television back on.
For a couple of minutes the only sound in the room was the enthusiastic sales pitch for Junk-o's, The Marshmallow Cereal With Tongue-Tip Tingle.
Then Willy's voice:
'Miss Avalon.'
Slowly, reluctantly, she turned her face to him.
'Why don't you take off your sweater and bra, huh? Then those of us that don't like what's on TV can have somethin' real nice to look at.'
She sat paralyzed. Until Jake fixed on her his wintry stare, and she forced her hands into action.
Slowly, as slowly as she dared, she peeled her white sweater off over her head. And even more slowly, she groped behind her back and unfastened her brassiere, and slipped the shoulder straps down her arms, and off…
'Sit back Miss Avalon, so we can see 'em,' Willy urged.
She sank back against the cushions of the chair, a tide of crimson shame staining her face and neck and her very breasts themselves.
Nothing… nothing… nothing…
The seconds crawled by, each one a blessed reprieve from some more outrageous demand, yet each an eternity of fear of what the next thing would be. The knot of tension in her belly sent tendrils all through her body, making her almost lightheaded.
'Teacher's tits,' Jerry gulped. 'She ever do that in class, Willy?'
'Nab. Woulda been more interestin' than all that history garbage. Hey, Miss Avalon, make your nips stand up. Play with 'em some, huh?'
Slowly her hands rose to her breasts. Uncertainly, she touched their tips with her fingers, coaxing the pale pink nipples into little towers of hardness.
'Push 'em together,' Willy ordered hoarsely, and meekly she gathered the twin masses in her hands and forced them into an exaggerated cleavage.
'Yeah,' Willy breathed. 'Jerry, you ever fuck a broad between the tits?'
'Real big tits like the ones on her, it's somethin' else, man, I'm tellin' you.'
'Yeah?'
'Go on-go give it a try.'
'Yeah?' Jerry looked around uncertainly, then gave a giggle of bravado, and heaved himself out of his chair and strutted across to where she was sitting.
The bulge in his pants swelled visibly as he walked.
