Su-Moon came up with an idea back at the scooter, just as the fog turned to a cold drizzle-“Let’s hang around and see if the woman leaves. We can get her license plate number.” They headed back to the parking lot and took cover in the shadows on the dry side of a van. Waverly couldn’t get the spanking out of her head.
“Have you ever been spanked like that?” she said.
“Once. You?”
“No, never. Did you like it?”
“Someone else has control of you,” she said. “That makes it dangerous. Danger can be an aphrodisiac. It can also be scary and inhibiting. It depends on the people involved. For me, the night I got it, it got me hornier than hell.”
Waverly exhaled.
“I’m not sure if I’d like it or not.”
“I’ll tell you what. When we get home, I’ll give you a few.”
“Spanks?”
“Right.”
“We’ll see.”
Ten minutes passed.
The drizzle turned to rain.
Five minutes passed.
The rain turned to a hard rain.
It crept around the van and into their clothes.
Suddenly the sounds of splashing feet and out-of- breath chatter entered the parking lot from the marina side. Waverly peeked around the edge of the van. It was Bristol and a woman, under an umbrella, walking fast.
“Bingo.”
They made their way to a black Mercury where Bristol got the woman into the passenger seat then ran around to the driver’s side, collapsing the umbrella and darting in.
The engine fired.
The headlights turned on.
The vehicle took off.
The women couldn’t make out the license plate number.
“He’s taking her home,” Su-Moon said. “This is our chance.”
“Our chance for what?”
“What do you think?”
Su-Moon grabbed Waverly’s hand and led her at a trot back to C-Dock and down to Bristol’s slip. The front door was locked.
The bedroom window was shut but not locked.
It lifted up when Su-Moon tried it.
They looked around and saw no one.
“Boost me up,” Su-Moon said.
Waverly shivered.
“This is a bad idea.”
“It will be if you keep wasting time,” Su-Moon said. “Come on, boost me up-hurry.”
Waverly looked around one last time and saw only black rain and lifeless houseboats. Then she cupped her hands for Su-Moon’s foot and tried not to buckle under the woman’s weight.
Inside, Su-Moon said, “Go around to the front and I’ll let you in,” then closed the window.
The front door was open by the time Waverly got there.
She entered and shut it behind her.
“What are we looking for?”
“I don’t know but it will be in the bedroom,” Su-Moon said. “Maybe he keeps a journal.”
“This is crazy.”
“You keep a lookout, I’ll search.”
“I’m dripping water all over the floor.”
“Don’t worry, if it’s still there by the time he gets back he’ll think it’s from him. Just keep a lookout.”
Waverly got the front door ajar and kept an eye on the dock. If someone approached, they wouldn’t be visible until the last second.
The dock was a dead end.
It was a perfect place to be trapped.
Her heart pounded.
Something bad was going to happen.
They’d pressed their luck one step too far.
30
January had been through a lot in her life, but what happened tonight shook her to the core. It took a hundred questions before River got the story out of her as to exactly what happened. Two drunk cowboys in a pickup truck spotted her on the side of the road and stopped.
She told them she had car trouble and her boyfriend had gone for help.
She tried to get rid of them but the one with the big gut-the one the other one called Jackson-ended up popping the hood. He fumbled around for a long time and eventually spotted the problem, one of the battery cables had come off.
He said, “Try it again.”
She turned the key.
The engine started.
She said “thanks” and shifted into first but before she could pull away the other drunk-the stringy muscular one called Condor-grabbed the steering and turned the key off.
“You’re going to give us a reward, right?”
She nodded.
“Sure.”
She reached in her purse.
That’s when Condor grabbed her tit and said, “I’m not talking about money, baby. Why don’t you get your sweet ass out here and show us how grateful you are.”
Her heart raced.
“Sure.” She opened the door as far as it would before Condor’s body blocked it. “Step back baby.”
When he did, January fired the engine, did a one-eighty and took off. They gave chase and ran her off the road.
Then they raped her, both of them.
