Haunted (27 page)

The smell of her now nearly drove him mad. She pulled him over on top of her, wrapping her legs around his waist as he entered her, using them to force him deeper inside her with every thrust. Her nails dug into his back, and tears came to his eyes as her teeth sank into his earlobe. He pulled his ear free and raised himself as far as she would allow, looking down at her flushed features, trembling lips, and brilliant dark eyes glassy with desire. Her nostrils flared with each rapid breath she took.

"Fuck me!" she ordered. He cringed as her long red nails broke through the skin of his back.

Last night, when he was intoxicated, he knew she had done the same, but he'd been imprisoned in an erotic cloud that made him nearly unaware of the pain. Now, it was too much and his erection began to fail. With all his strength, he pulled away from her, trying to ignore the fingernails as they raked over his back and across his ribs. He took hold of her hips and pushed. Immediately, she understood what he wanted, and turning herself, she rested her head on the satin-sheathed pillow and thrust the globes of her perfect ass up toward him.

Roughly, he plunged into her, giving her the depth and roughness she craved, excited by her expert muscle control and her breathless demands for him to fuck her.

Safely out of reach of her teeth and nails, he gave her exactly what she wanted, and when they were done and he rolled off her, she took his limp penis in her hand and squeezed it. Looking him in the eye, she told him he was an incredible fuck, the best she'd ever had.

He didn't answer, only gave her a small, tired smile. His body was satisfied, but he felt used, very much like he had after the succubus episode. Guys don’t care if they’re used, Masters, so what’s wrong with you?

Abruptly, a vision of Melanie swam across his mind, smiling and bright, giggling over the silliness of some position they'd tried, he chuckling with her as they tried it again. Now he knew what was missing: laughter. Theo Pelinore was deadly serious in her lovemaking; she never laughed.

Theo, long and tall, unfolded herself and rose from the bed. She padded into the bathroom and he heard the shower come on a moment later. As he lay there listening to the water, he wondered briefly if perhaps he should compromise his morals and give his career to Melanie to agent. Then he would have her to talk to and to love. To laugh with.

"Care to join me?" Theo's voice carried above the sounds of the shower.

He glanced at his watch. Holy shit, its nine in the morning! Rapidly, he searched for his socks and underwear but found only one sock and no shorts. "Oh hell," he muttered and pulled on his pants and shirt, then slipped his bare feet into his shoes. He glanced around once more, but saw no sign of his underclothing. He'd have to pick them up later. Haphazardly dressed, he stepped into the steamy bathroom, unmoved by the dappled silhouette of Theo behind the shower glass. "Theo, I have to go. It's late!"

"Are you sure you don't want to shower first?" she asked. "I've got a shower massage."

Watching her, he realized that she held the instrument in question between her legs. Maybe she was just washing… Maybe she was ready for more. "Sorry, but I'll have to take a rain check. I've got to get home before Amber catches on."

"If you say so." She finished her sentence with a little moaning sound. Five seconds later, David was out the door, trotting toward the Bronco.

Body House: 9:00A.M.

Where is he? Amber had left Kelly's house early because she'd been worried about her father being all alone in the house, but when she got back, she was dismayed to find he wasn't home.

An hour had passed and she was a little worried and a lot annoyed as she carried a basket of laundry downstairs. Though he'd acted pretty normal for the last week or two, judging by the circles under his eyes she suspected he was probably just getting better at hiding his nervousness.

Carefully balancing the overfilled basket, she opened the laundry room door and went inside. She'd thought she'd never have to wash her own clothes again, thanks to Minnie. "Fat chance," she muttered, putting the basket on the table and turning on the light. Sighing, she opened the washer and started tossing in underclothes. "Minnie, I could kill you," she muttered under her breath.

Yesterday, she and Kelly Cox had gone to cheerleading practice, then met up with a bunch of other kids, including her date for the Come As You Were Dance, luscious Rick Feldspar. They'd spent the day at Pismo Beach, with Rick valiantly trying to teach her how to ride his surf board, while Kelly and her boyfriend, Jason Swenson, showed off on their boards. Amber had declared herself a klutz, partly because she felt that way, but mostly because it made Rick renew his efforts to teach her, and she liked that very much. At the end of the day, they'd built a big bonfire and roasted hot dogs.

Jason Swenson dropped the girls off at Kelly's house and the pair had a pleasant evening. She'd expected Mr. and Mrs. Cox to be weird like Ferd Cox at the store, but they were nice and normal. They'd all sat together in the family room and watched E. T. Amber had seen it maybe a million times, but it was still lots of fun.

Mrs. Cox asked her a few questions about Body House and about her dad, but Amber handled them just the way she had when her new friends questioned her: she made everything sound boringly normal, saying her dad was a terrible nag about chores and that the stories about the house being haunted were complete baloney. Mrs. Cox had looked disappointed, but Amber figured that if she said anything at all about the rotten-flower stinkfest that arose without warning almost every day and lasted seconds to minutes, or told her about the creepazoid cold spots, or even the ghostly piano music, she'd probably decide Amber was weird and wouldn't let Kelly hang out with her. She did
n't tell her friends, except for Kelly, whom she'd sworn to secrecy, for the same reason.

Amber leaned down and opened a cabinet next to the washing machine, withdrew a box of Ivory Snow, and poured a cup of it on top of the clothes. "I could kill you, Minnie," she repeated.

The reason she was so ticked at the housekeeper was her big fat mouth. At first, she'd liked Minnie because of all the interesting stories she told, many of them nasty ones about that witch, Theo Pelinore. But last night, she found out from Kelly that Minnie had been gossiping about her to Mrs. Cox.

"You bitch," she whispered, closing the lid and starting the water. She had set it on the delicate cycle, so there was no point in leaving the room: she'd have to add softener in ten minutes, tops. She backed up to the built-in folding table, put her hands on it and easily hoisted herself up so she could sit.

Swinging her legs back and forth, she thought about what Kelly had told her Minnie said, and started doing another slow burn. How dare she!  "I gotta tell you something, Amber," Kelly had said, once they were sprawled out on the twin beds in her room. "You better watch out for Minnie Willard, she's been talking about you to my mom."

"What?"

"And my mom's way down on her list of people to visit. Like, twentieth or something. By the time she gets to Mom, she's already told half the town." Kelly started brushing out her thick chestnut-colored hair.

"Christ, Kel, what did she say to her?"

Kelly leaned forward. "She was talking about your underwear."

"My what?"

"Shhhh. She told Mom you had really sexy underwear and that she didn't think it was proper for your dad to buy you things like that."

Amber couldn't believe her ears and it took a major effort to keep her voice lowered. "What the hell is she talking about? Who the hell does she think she is?"

"She probably thinks you're supposed to wear white cotton fat lady pants like she does, and shit like that." Kelly stopped brushing a moment. "Don't get too excited, Amber. Everybody knows what a prude she is."

"How dare she! That bitch! What my underwear looks like isn't any of her business!"

"That's right, so you better start washing it yourself. Do all your laundry yourself or she'll talk about how low-cut your shirts are and what size you wear and the length of your skirts." Kelly made a face. "I guess she'll do that whether she washes your clothes or not. But at least don't let her wash your bras and panties."

"God."

"Can you lock your bedroom door? She'll read your diary and everything and then tell the whole town."

"My dad put locks on both our doors already. God, for once he was right."

"Right about what?"

"He said she's a snoop. He's usually really stupid about women, but he didn't like Willard from the moment he met her. I did." She smiled sheepishly. "I liked the nasty things she said about Theo Pelinore."

"Theo's kind of a twat."

"She's after my dad, big time."

Kelly cocked her head. "Come on, Amber, what'd you expect? Your dad's kind of a hunk for an old guy, and he's rich and famous."

"Yeah, I know. That's why she wants him. She's a predator, I just know it, but he thinks she's nice."

"She's got big boobs." Kelly covered her mouth to muffle the trail of giggles that followed.

Amber started giggling too, and soon they'd pretty much trashed Theo Pelinore. Then Kelly told her Theo didn't fuck everybody in town, just rich, good-looking guys, no matter what Minnie the Bitch claimed. "Willard says she tried to seduce that toad she's married to."

"Mickey Rat?"

"Yes! Can you believe that?" They giggled hysterically. "Can you even imagine it?"

Amber held her sides. "I don't want to imagine it! Gross plus!"

About then Mrs. Cox knocked on the door and told them it was after midnight and let's get some sleep, shall we? They whispered in the dark, talking about Rick Feldspar and Jason Swenson, who turned out to be Eric's cousin and Chief Swenson's baby brother.

"My dad wants to meet the chief," Amber said.

"Why?" Kelly gasped in the dark and lowered her voice a notch. "He's not on probation or anything, is he?"

"God, no! Why would you think that?"

"Who wants to talk to a cop if they don't have to?"

That made sense. "My dad talks to all kinds of weird people. Once he went to a mortuary."

"Gross!"

"Tell me about it!"

"So why's he want to talk to Craig Swenson?"

"To talk about the history of Body House. Eric said Craig was a rookie cop when those hippies got killed, so my dad wants to ask him about it."

"Oh. Isn't Eric cute?"

"He's not my type," Amber said, "but I like him. He's sweet."

"I don't know him, but my dad says he's retarded."

Amber considered that a moment. "Minnie the Bitch says he's retarded, too. Maybe your dad heard it from her. Theo the Witch said it too. But I don't think so. My dad says he's just different and that he's really psychic."

"Theo the Witch and Minnie the Bitch. Are you gonna be a writer, too, Amber?"

She threw her pillow at Kelly. "God, no way!"

Kelly threw the pillow back. "Why's he say Eric's psychic? What's he mean by that?"

Amber told her a little, then asked her not to repeat it, for Eric's sake.

They fell silent for a few minutes, and Amber's eyes grew heavy. Then Kelly spoke again.

"You know that stuff I told you about the underwear?"

"Yeah?" Inwardly, Amber cringed

"Can I ask you a question?"

"You can't try on my underwear."

"No, seriously, Amber. Can I ask you a question without you getting mad?"

Amber propped herself up on one elbow, instantly alert.

"You can ask," she said, using her dad's standard reply.

"Well... "

"Spit it out."

"Did your dad buy your underwear?"

Amber couldn't answer for a long time, all she could do was feel her heartbeat reverberating in her head. "Kelly, you said nobody listens to Minnie, but you just asked about what she said. If you ask that, everybody's going to ask that. Shit." She felt like crying.

"I'm sorry, Amber. I mean, you guys live by yourselves and all and... Oh shit, I'm sorry."

"I buy my own clothes, okay? My dad had a girlfriend in New York who lived with him a long time and they were going to get married, but they broke up. Melanie was great. She was the only female my dad ever brought home that wasn't a gold-digging bitch." The words came out venomously, but she didn't care. "Melanie is a literary agent and she's gorgeous. She taught me all about clothes and make-up and stuff and she and I used to go shopping at Bloomie's all the time. Melanie helped me pick out lots of things, like shoes and purses. And underwear."

Kelly quietly switched on the lamp between the beds. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you. I'm really sorry."

"It's okay. I'm glad you told me about Minnie Rat. I've gotta get my dad to fire her."

"If he doesn't like her, that should be easy."

"It would be if there was another housekeeper around he could hire. But he's not going to want to do it until there is."