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Cheap Thrills

By: StangStar06



Thanks to Mikothebaby for her tireless work editing this story. Let's get to it.

*  *  *  *  *  *

It was yet another perfect late summer day as I hopped over the edge of the giant bucket and unsteadily ran towards the closest restroom. I dodged a man and his small son who were standing in the doorway, lost in a conversation about whether or not the boy needed to go. Coming at them from my angle, I could already see what the boy's dad couldn't. The reason his child no longer needed to go, was because judging from the stain on the back of his shorts, he'd already gone.

"Excuse me," I said, as I lurched past them with one hand over my mouth and the other over my stomach. Luckily, I was the only one in the room. And even better, my stomach had settled down to the point where I just felt queasy. Like the little boy outside, I no longer had to go, but in my case everything I was about to vomit, stayed inside.

I stood there looking at myself in the mirror wondering why I was such a wimp. Why would I let myself get pushed into doing something that I knew terrified me, not once but over and over again?

Before the question was even voiced, I answered myself. Love; I did it for love. Okay, there was a bit of lust thrown in there too, but I really do love Penny. Or at least I did back then. Shit, there was nothing about her not to love. She had rich, beautiful, brown hair, smoldering brown eyes and a smile that lit up any room she was in. She was thin yet curvy, with the cutest, tightest ass ever imagined and a rack that belonged on a much bigger girl.

Penny could probably have had any guy she wanted, but for some reason she seemed to want me. Me being plain old Greg Stephens. We were, as usual, spending my off day at the Great Lakes Adventures Amusement park. Penny loved roller coasters and all kinds of thrill rides so we went on quite a lot of them.

After getting my equilibrium back, I went back outside of the bathroom and found Penny, her sister Julie and her best friend Rebecca, who for some reason was called "Bucket," waiting for me.

"What should we ride next, Hon?" smiled Penny.

"Whatever makes you happy, Sweetheart," I said.

"Greg, could we get something to eat?" asked Julie looking at me. "We've been riding the rides all day and I'm kind of hungry."

"God damn it Julie," snapped Penny. "We can eat when we get home. It's a pretty long drive to get here and the only day that we get to come is on Greg's off day. It's going to be dark soon. We'll grab something to eat and you can eat it in the car."

I reached into my pocket and pulled out some money for the next ride. I handed it to Penny and she kissed me. "This isn't enough for all of us," she said.

"I know, Honey," I told her. "But I promised your parents I'd make sure that Julie had a good time. You and Bucket go ride the roller coaster again and I'll take Julie to get something to eat."

"Greg, you don't have to give in to that brat's whining," she said.

"I know, but some day, hopefully soon, she'll be my sister," I said.

"Count on it," said Penny, kissing me yet again. "As soon as we get off of the coaster, I'll meet you by the exit." She and Bucket walked away from us heading for the next thrill ride they could experience. That was one of the things about Penny that I didn't share. Penny was very adventurous and seemed to go from one thrill to the next. She loved all of those terror inducing rides and scary movies and anything with a risk involved.

"Thanks Julie," I said, as we watched her sister walk away from us.

"Any time, brother," she smiled. Julie was as different from Penny as two sisters who shared both parent's DNA could be. Where Penny's hair as mentioned, is a luxurious brown color; Julie's is blond. Penny cuts her hair short so it's easy to manage; Julie's tresses hang halfway down her back. They both share those smoldering brown eyes, but Penny seems to have smaller eyes like their dad, and Julie has those big innocent peepers like their mother.

"You'd think that my sister would realize that you're afraid of heights and stop forcing you to go on that type of ride. I mean it's not my business, but for as much as she goes around claiming she loves you, she really doesn't treat you very well," she said.

"Well, she's young," I said. "I guess when she has a chance to, she just likes to get out there and experience things."

"Greg, I'm young," said Julie. "I'm nineteen. Penny is twenty two years old. What she is, is selfish. And you've spoiled her. She goes after cheap thrills no matter what the consequences to anyone else. She's always been like that though; even when we were little. Someday, her cheap thrills are going to cost her more than she's willing to pay."

"What are you in the mood to eat?" I asked to lighten the mood.

"Anything is fine, Greg," she said smiling at me. "I'm not really that hungry, but I'd better get something now, because I know you're not going to let me eat anything in your Mustang."

I found myself wondering how the younger sister could be so much more mature sometimes, as we wandered off to find something to eat.

  *  *  *  *  *  *

  Penny

  "How come you always get the good guys?" asked my best friend Bucket, as we walked back towards the roller coasters. I was so pissed that I almost missed her question.

  "Two reasons," I said smiling. "Nice guys don't marry sluts is one reason. And the second is because of the balance."

  "What balance are you talking about?" asked Bucket. "And it really isn't nice to call me a slut."

  "I meant it in the nicest possible way though, Beck," I smiled.

  "And you're the lucky one. You don't have to drag your annoying ass little sister around with you everywhere you go," I said. "And you don't have your parents constantly on your ass about trivial bullshit, every day of the fucking week."

  "They're only showing you that they care," smirked Becky.

  "Why can't they care for me from a distance," I said. "Or better still, why can't they be like your parents and just stay the fuck out of my business. I'm twenty two years old not four. My life is already planned out. Julie has to get good grades in school. She's going to be a career woman. Those two years of college that I finished were the worst two years of my fucking life and a big waste of time. I don't need college to be a housewife." We got into the shortest line we could find for any roller coaster.

  "Then I have to listen to them asking me why I don't have a God damned job like Julie has. Julie needs to have a job because after college she'll be entering the work force. I'm just going to marry Greg and sit back and make babies with him. We'll have all kinds of gorgeous little kids who are as smart and hard working as he is and as pretty as I am. Nuff said. My contribution to society will be handled," I said.

  Becky smiled as she listened to my rant. She'd heard it all before. "Well, you seem to have your life planned out and everything seems to be in perspective," she said smiling. "One question though..." I looked at her suspiciously because Beck could be a wise ass at times.

  "If you're just going to be a housewife then..." She began before I interrupted her.

  "There's no such thing as JUST a housewife," I snapped. "Housewives...domestic engineers are the mainstay of American society. They are the main pillar supporting the family unit. As a woman and a feminist, I'm making a choice and I choose to stay at home and assure that my children are brought up properly."

  "Okay, Oprah," she smirked. "Can I finish my question?" I nodded at her again, but I was suspicious.

  "Why can't you get a job until you get some kids?" she asked. I just growled at her.

  "Or how about this," she stepped back a bit, just outside of the reach of my arm. "If you're going to be this awesome domestic engineer, why aren't you practicing and preparing for your career by helping out around your house. Your room looks like a fucking pig sty."

  "Well bitch," I said, swinging at her and missing. "It's because number one, the house I live in right now isn't my house. And two, because I'm sure Greg is going to make enough money that we'll be able to afford a maid to do all of that boring shit."

  "I totally agree. Fuck the boring shit," said a voice from behind us. I turned around and noticed three guys behind us.

  "Hey cutie" said the tallest, most muscular one of them. I looked him over at the same time that he was checking me out. I stuck my chest out just a bit further to let him see what he'd never have.

  "How many tickets ya got?" he asked. He was dirty. He even had smudges of dirt on his face like a naughty little boy. And his face, his features were no more handsome than Greg's but he just looked wilder. His hair wasn't combed. It looked like somebody tried to combine a mullet with a bird's nest. He had on a dirty t-shirt and his pants still had holes in the knees, like it was still the nineties. But there was just something primal about him. And looking at him, you could tell that he knew it.

  "Why do you want to know?" I asked.

  "Well, because this coaster isn't as cool as the one over there," he pointed. "And that one is half the price. So, if we go over there, all four of us could ride on your tickets."

  I just looked at him.

  "Why would I want to pay for you and your friend to ride the coaster?" I asked.

  "Because it's no fun to ride alone," he spat. "Do you really want everyone in this park to think you can't get a man? Besides..."

  He spread his arms and gestured around him. 

"It IS fun meeting new people and doing things right? Have you ever ridden a coaster with your hands up the whole way? I'll bet as soon as we take off you'll grab for that safety bar like a baby grabbing for its bottle." His taunting got to me.

  "Will not," I said, sounding extremely juvenile.

  "Prove it," he said.

  Bucket and I got out of line and got into another line with him and his friend. I noticed that one of the guys didn't get into line with us.

  The guy who'd been talking to me was named Brett. His friend, who hadn't said anything to me, was Ronnie. I never found out the third guy's name.

  I gave the man who ran the ride our tickets and we started to get into the car for the roller coaster. As soon as I got in, Brett jumped in front of Bucket and sat beside me. Bucket sat down next to Ronnie. I noticed that his third friend had a camera.

  As he took a picture, I turned my head. "That's unusual," said Brett. "A pretty girl who isn't so stuck on herself that she wants to always have her picture taken."

  "Not so unusual," I said. "I have a boyfriend who might get upset if he saw pictures of me on a roller coaster with another guy."

  "Getting upset with me would only get him hurt," said Brett. "I'm an MMA fighter. I've never lost a fight."

  Just hearing that got me more excited for some reason. The car started to move and the thrill of what would soon be happening sent a thrill through me.

  "Damn, we haven't even started yet and you're already hanging on the safety bar like a life preserver," spat Brett. I looked down at my hands and reached upwards as the car chugged its way up the initial hill.

  The view was spectacular as the car climbed higher and higher and the distance between us and the ground got bigger. I stubbornly refused to grab the safety bar, and the thrills I normally got from anticipating the first big drop were magnified.

  Suddenly, the car hung there on the track for a second as we started to drop and the speed increased dramatically. With the increase in speed, came my need to increase my safety. I wanted to grab the safety rail but I wouldn't give him the satisfaction. I kept my hands in the air and it felt marvelous. The breeze blowing my hair wildly was exhilarating as we rocketed down the track and approached the loop. My eyes were as large as saucers and I screamed as we reached the bottom of the hill and started upwards. Then I felt them. I looked down and Brett was grabbing my breasts. I don't know why I didn't say anything. Maybe it was the fact that I was upside down and not holding onto anything as the car flew through the loop. Maybe it was the fact that the combination of thrills and fear overloaded my mind and left me open to other things, but before I could tell him that I wasn't the type of girl who let men other than her boyfriend fondle her; I was.

  As the car went around the track to build speed and went through a series of curves, I moved his hands and said, "No, I have a boyfriend." He looked at me as if my words meant nothing but he moved his hands. I looked behind us to see if Bucket had noticed anything, but she was out of it. She had her legs spread and Ronnie was finger fucking her and sucking one of her huge tits. Her head was back and her eyes were closed and she was too far into what he was doing to her to care what I was doing or not doing.

  "See your friend knows how to have a good time," said Brett sounding disappointed.

  "My friend isn't about to get married," I said. "She's a slut and everyone knows it."

  "I think she's just a woman who knows how to let her hair down and enjoy herself," he said.

  For a few minutes neither of us said anything. Then the car did a series of hills that gradually got bigger building us up for the last huge hill and another even bigger loop. As the car hurtled down the last huge drop Brett made his move. I was almost expecting it. His fingers slid down into my jeans and past the waistline of my panties.

  "No," I said. "I don't want that."

  "Then why are you already so wet?" he asked. And he was right. I don't think it was Brett. In fact, I had no interest in him other than some kind of animal-magnetism that I could have easily ignored. But the fact was that I loved the sense of danger of the bigger faster rides and when you coupled that thrill with the idea of illicit sex, I had an itch in my pussy that I'd never felt before. "Don't worry, he'll never know," said Brett. That was the end of the conversation as we shot into the last loop. As soon as we got out of the loop, I wanted to pull his hands out but I was so close to cumming, that I just couldn't stop and he knew it. He kept rubbing my overly sensitive clit until I screamed one final time and just snatched his hand away from me. I couldn't get away from him fast enough. Almost before the car stopped moving, I was trying to hop out of it and distance myself from him. I looked back and just saw him laughing.

  I found my bratty sister and Greg and ran to them as quickly as I could. I threw my arms around Greg and started to kiss him as if doing it would somehow take away my guilt.

  We drove home with me holding his hand the entire way. We dropped off Bucket first and then drove to my house. My sister took her time getting out of the car. She thanked Greg about ten times and just wouldn't leave.

  "Uhm Julie," I said loudly. "Do you think I could have a few minutes alone with my boyfriend? You did get to monopolize him for the last half hour or so that we were at the park. "

  Julie looked at me strangely and nodded her head. "I have to go anyway," said Greg. "I have to be at work early in the morning." He kissed me. It was a really good kiss as he slipped his tongue into my mouth. I was horny as hell and if Julie hadn't been standing there, I'd have taken him around to the side of the house and let him fuck me right on the grass. It was dark outside and no one would see us. My knees got weaker as he kissed me. The thing about it was that I realized then, that it made me feel even more ashamed of what I'd done. Greg didn't have awesome technique as a kisser. The thing that made his kisses so powerful was the feelings of love that I got from them. Each kiss told me that this man loved me. They told me that he would do anything on earth for me and they made me dizzy.

  It wasn't the kind of dizziness you get from being on a roller coaster with your hands in the air. It was a more solid, more substantial dizziness that stayed with you long after the ride or the kisses were over. In the dizziness I dreamed. I saw Greg and me in a beautiful house together with two little kids running around. The kids ran all over the yard and finally the little girl came over and told Greg, "Daddy, mommy loves you and I do too."

  "Are you okay, Penny?" Greg asked me, pulling me out of the dream. He was smiling and my sister was looking at me really strangely. Her mouth was set in a straight line and she was pissed about something. I guess it wouldn't be too weird for the younger sister to have a crush on her older sibling's boyfriend.

  "I'm fine, Honey," I said. "You just take my breath away every time you kiss me." He smiled.

  "Augh, oh shit. I just threw up," said Julie. "...God damn that was cheesy." She walked into the house singing Berlin's "Take my breath away," from Top Gun.

  Greg waved at me one final time and got into his Mustang and drove away. I walked into the house, floating on a cloud not realizing that my life was about to change. As I walked into my room and lay down on my bed to think about what had happened, Julie went by on her way to the bathroom to take a shower. She shook her head as she went by and I laughed.

  My sister stopped and walked into my room. "Listen, today is the only time I'm ever going to cover for you," she said. "Greg is too good a guy to let you fuck over."

  "Are you jealous little sister?" I smirked.

  "If I was, I wouldn't have distracted him and you'd probably be walking back here from Ohio right now," she spat. Suddenly I looked at Julie, and realized that she wasn't just my bratty little sister. She was a grown woman too, and she was really angry at me.

  "What are you babbling about?" I asked.

  "It's really stupid for a woman who thinks she's about to get married to let some other guy feel on her boobs on a roller coaster with her boyfriend sitting in a food court right under her where he could see her," she said. Then she just rolled her eyes at me and walked into the bathroom for her shower.

  Before I could do anything my phone rang. I smiled thinking that everything was fine. Greg always called me right before he went to bed and again first thing in the morning. He always said that he wanted my voice to be the last thing he heard before he fell asleep and the first thing he heard every morning.

  "Hi, Honey," I said, pulling the blanket around me. "I wish you were here in my bed with me. I could show you exactly how much I love you."

  "Shit, Penny, we've known each other since we were eight and I never knew you liked women. If I had known, we wouldn't need any guys. I don't really have any experience eating pussy, but hell I'll try anything; especially since I know that you love me and all," said Becky.

  "Bucket," I gasped. "I thought you were Greg."

  "Sure you did," smirked Becky. "Want me to come over right now so you can show me how much you LOVE me?"

  "What the hell do you want retard?" I said affectionately. "Hurry up. Greg is going to call me soon."

  "Those two guys we met at the park want to hook up with us," she gushed.

  "How did you find that out?" I asked.

  "I gave Ronnie my number and he texted me," she said. "Then he called me and we talked. I'm gonna do it and I need you to come along with me."

  "Becky, that's why you can't hold onto a guy," I said. "As soon as another one comes along, your head swivels around so fast it looks like it's going to fly off."

  "I got off twice on that roller coaster," spat Becky. "I'm going to find out whether his dick feels as good as his fingers."

  "What about Jason?" I asked. "Earlier this morning you were telling me that you thought he might be the one."


Cheap Thrills



"I'm not very good at thinking," she said laughing. "I'm even worse at it when I need my pussy filled. I've got it all worked out though and my plan will work for you too. First thing in the morning I'm going to call Jason. I'm going to be sweet and angelic, but then I'm going to start an argument with him and break up with him. Then we can meet the guys and if it isn't any good, I'll call Jason back or just try to run into him later. I'll get back with him and then if he ever finds out, I'll just tell him it happened while we were broken up. You could do that too."

  "I'd never do that to Greg," I said. "...Besides Greg isn't stupid enough to fall for something like that. I could lose him."

  "Then don't do anything. Just come with me to make sure that things don't get out of control," she said.

  "What do you mean?" I asked.

  "Well there are three of them," she said. "I might not be able to handle all three of them."

  "Since when?" I asked laughing.

  *  *  *  *  *  *

  Greg

  The next morning I woke up and called Penny first thing. She didn't pick up her phone which told me that she was still asleep. After all of the excitement she'd had the previous day at the amusement park, I'd kind of expected her to sleep in. I left a message telling her that I loved her and went to work.

  My morning was the same as always. Filing reports, processing invoices and adding details or making minor changes on prints. Near the end of the morning though, my boss called me into the office and asked me if I was any good on Master CAM. I assured him that I was and he gave me a support bracket that had come off of one of our customers machines. That bracket had snapped in two and needed to be replaced. Since those brackets were fairly common and they failed a lot, my boss decided that we should just make them ourselves instead of wasting time and money ordering them from the manufacturer. He wanted me to reverse engineer the bracket and make it a little more beefy and then draw up the blue prints for the new bracket.

  I was over the moon. At lunchtime, I went over to the jewelry store in the mall, with my chest stuck out.

  Julie, my girlfriend's little sister, came over to see me.

  "Hey Greg," she smiled at me. "Do you want to take another look at it or just make another payment?"

  "I'm just making a payment," I said. "But with the bonus my boss is going to give me for the job I'm working on, I might be able to pick it up early." Julie just shook her head.

  "I hope my stupid sister realizes how lucky she is," she said. I gave her the money and she gave me an updated receipt that showed how much I still owed on the ring. She called her boss over and handed him the money.

  "Greg, do you want to just take the ring with you?" he asked. "You only owe me three hundred dollars more."

  "Thanks Mr. Burton," I said. "But I haven't actually asked her yet. She might say no."

  He just looked at me and laughed. "She'd have to have rocks in her head." He called out to a woman working on the other side of the store. As she came over and looked at us, he started talking to her. "Helena," he said. "If Penny decided not to marry Greg, would you step in for her and marry him?" His daughter looked at me and immediately smiled and nodded her head.

  "She'd have to get in line behind me," laughed Julie. I was feeling pretty good when I left the store and headed back to work.

  *  *  *  *  *  *

  Penny

  Becky was as good as her word. She went ahead with her stupid plan. She broke up with Jason and I swear I don't understand it. Neither of us were virgins, but Becky was just a slut. That's why they called her "Bucket."

  "Bucket," was short for, "Cum Bucket." Becky had gotten a reputation for doing multiple guys at parties and just letting all of them cum in her and on her wherever they wanted. I thought that what she was doing was stupid. Jason had grown up and gone through school with us and he was the one decent guy in town who'd have anything to do with her. He was the only guy I knew who'd tried to look past her reputation and see the real Becky.

  Becky is a complicated woman. She can be the most caring and sensitive person in the world. She'd never hurt a fly and she was always volunteering to help out with any cause you'd name. What she really wanted, like me, was to find a man who loved her and settle down so she didn't have to work all of those ten hour shifts waitressing at the diner for less than minimum wage.

  But at the same time, Becky is a round heeled slut. She will literally fuck any guy who so much as asks her for some pussy. She doesn't care what they look like. Big or small, black, white or in between, old or young, when Becky gets an itch, all it takes is a dick to scratch it.

  We met them at the park near my house. There were lots of secluded areas in the park. It was early in the afternoon because Becky had to work the late shift at the diner and I wanted to be done with this by the time that Greg came home from work.

  They pulled up in a beat up pick up that had seen better days. Ronnie was driving and he went right over to Becky. Brett got out and came over to me. I wouldn't speak to him or even look at him.

  "So it's going to be like that huh?" he laughed. "Ronnie, she's playing hard to get."

  Ronnie wasn't paying him any attention. He was whispering in Becky's ear and she was smiling like it was Christmas. She rubbed the front of his pants and then grabbed him by the arm and led him off into the bushes. The other guy seemed to follow them. I was glad that she'd gotten started quickly. The sooner she got her fix, the sooner I could get away from them. I knew that Becky wouldn't stay with Ronnie for very long. I figured she'd get bored with him and start to miss poor Jason as soon as she got her daily dose of dick.

  It took less than a minute before I heard Becky moaning from behind the bushes. "Hey you want to see something?" asked Brett.

  "Nope," I said. He held his phone near my face anyway.

  "You sure looked like you were having a good time," he said. He flicked from picture to picture. The first few were photos of him and me on the roller coaster the previous day.

   The next few showed me with my hands in the air and him with his hands on my boobs. Suddenly, I knew what the third guy was for. As I looked, the next pictures showed Brett with his hand in my panties. Then he showed me a video with the coaster coming down the track close to the exit with Brett fingering me, while I shouted at the top of my lungs that I was cumming.

  "Why are you showing me this?" I asked.

  "My stupid friend took those pictures with his iPhone," said Brett. "I think I should make him delete them don't you?"

  "I'm not giving you any money," I said. "I have an uncle who's a cop. He'll handle this blackmail for me and you and your two stupid friends will go to jail."

  "I'm on your side, dummy," he said. "I don't want this to get out any more than you do. And I don't want any money. How much could you actually give me any way? I WAS listening to you, yesterday so I know that you don't even have a job. It's just that if I'm going to stick my neck out and possibly lose a friend, I didn't want to do it for nothing."

  "I thought you didn't want any money?" I snapped.

  "I didn't say anything about money," he said. "Besides he's probably already uploading it to his Facebook page. Shit, he has over a thousand friends. We only live two towns over. A lot of his friends live around here. You never know who might see it. It only takes one person you know. That person tells a friend. And they tell two friends and the next thing you know, you no longer have a boyfriend."

  "What do you want asshole?" I asked.

  "A blow job," he said.

  "Fuck you," I spat.

  "Okay," he said. "But I really would have settled for the blow job. Hey, don't worry about it. It's your choice. These are really good pictures. Maybe we'll put them up on one of those amateur porn sites. You're really a pretty girl. We'll get a lot of hits."

  "Let's go," I said.

  "Let's go where?" he asked.

  "Into the bushes so you can get your blow job," I said. "But give me the phone first. I'll delete the pictures and give it back after we're done."

  "Unh uh," he said.

  "I'm not going to beg you to do it," I snapped. "Now let's go or just forget it."

  "Right here, right now," he said.

  "What?" I asked.

  "I know you Penny," he said. "You're like me. You get off more on the excitement and the nastiness more than what you're actually doing. You need a thrill. In this case it's going to be the thrill of possibly getting caught. Now get on your fucking knees slut and suck my dick."

  I just stared at him. "I'm not..." I began.

  "The longer you wait the bigger the chance that someone sees you," he said.

  I got down onto my knees and pulled his pants around his ankles. I can't begin to go into how degrading it was to be forced to do something so personal for someone that I hated as much as I hated Brett. At the same time, it only took a few minutes of me looking out of the corners of my eyes and seeing cars come in our direction only to turn off at the entrance to the park for my pussy to start becoming moist. He was right. The chance of getting caught was adding to my excitement. I imagined bringing Greg here and doing something like this.

  Brett reached down and pulled my shirt up and started playing with my tits. He flicked my nipples and made it hurt, but it only made me wetter. I was licking his dick and moaning like there was no tomorrow. The next thing I knew, he had stood me up and bent me over the bench we'd been sitting on. He rammed his dick into me and started fucking me."

  "No," I said loudly.

  "Shut up slut," he spat. "You like it. You're so turned on that my dick went into you until it bottomed out in one thrust. You're looking around like you want someone to see us."

  "No, I don't," I whined.

  "Then why are you fucking me back?" he asked. And I realized that I was doing just that. I also realized that I was very close to cumming again. "Do you want me to stop?" he asked.

  "No," I said quietly.

  "I can't hear you," he said. "I don't want anyone to misunderstand this. They might think I was trying to rape you, I'll stop."

  "No," I said louder. "Don't stop, I'm almost there." He slowed down his thrusts and I slammed my ass back against him as hard as I could. I needed to orgasm and I needed it badly.

  "Fuck me," I said even louder. "I want you to fuck me." And he did. I wish I could say that it was worth the risk, but it wasn't. Greg and I had checked into motels a few times since we both still lived with our parents and the sex wasn't nearly as good as what I got from Greg. Greg was bigger and far more loving and I didn't feel out of control or degraded with Greg. I also didn't feel that crushing sense of guilt with Greg, because I knew that we belonged together. But that afternoon in the park, it was as if someone lit a fire in my pussy and any guy could have put it out.

  "I'm gonna cum, slut," he said. "Do you want me to pull out?"

  "Just a little longer," I said. "I'm..."

  At that moment I felt him ejaculate inside of me and my vagina started convulsing around him. Every spurt of semen from him resulted in more convulsions and then it shot through me and I lost control and just screamed.

  Becky and Ronnie came running out of the bushes adjusting their clothes to see what was going on.

  "Damn, girl, I can't believe you fucked him right out in broad daylight," said Becky shaking her head. "What if someone had seen you?"

  I started moaning again because just the thought of someone seeing me getting fucked was enough to trigger another small orgasm.

  I pulled my skirt down and looked at Brett with venom in my eyes. I snatched the phone and deleted the video and all of the pictures. I handed the phone back to Brett. "Are those the only copies?" I asked.

  He just smiled and nodded at me. He pulled his pants up. "That was really good," he said.

  "I'm glad you liked it," I spat. "It'll never happen again."

  He just started laughing. He and his friends headed back for the truck. As he jumped into the bed of the truck he waved at me and said, "See you tomorrow, Slut."

  I gave him the finger and then turned and slapped the shit out of Becky.

  "What was that for?" she whined. "It looked like you had a good time."

  "Oh, you think me cheating on my future husband was a good time?" I asked loudly. "That asshole blackmailed me. He made me do it."

  "Oh, Ronnie didn't blackmail me," said Becky. "He just fucked me."

  "I can't believe you fucked those guys willingly," I said.

  "What guys?" she asked. "It was only Ronnie."

  "Where was the other guy?" I asked.

  "I don't know, but he wasn't with us," she said. "I wish he had been. Ronnie is good with his fingers, but size wise he's a little lacking in his pants. I think I'll go back to Jason tomorrow; maybe even tonight. So we don't have to do this again."

  We went home. As soon as I got home, I headed for the shower. I must have scrubbed myself inside and out for over an hour and it just seemed like I couldn't get clean. Then I got into my bed and started crying. I swore that I would never do anything like that again. I also blamed Greg for what had happened to me. If he'd gone on the roller coaster with me, none of this would ever have started. Greg knew me better than anyone else. He knew that I loved thrills and chills. If he loved me as much as he claimed, he should have been willing to do it with me. Greg backed out of going on the coasters every chance he got. This was his fault.

  As I sat there lost in my thoughts, my revelry was suddenly shattered by the loud slamming of my door. My brain refused to process what was going on. Then as the shock died down, I noticed Julie standing in front of me. Her chest was heaving up and down. I don't know why I'd never noticed that Julie's breasts were at least a size bigger than mine. She was a couple of inches shorter and was smaller than me everywhere except in the bust line. Julie had definitely inherited our mom's incredible figure besides those angelic innocent eyes. My tits were nothing to sneeze at, they were definitely on the larger side, but Julie was clearly bigger still.

  "What the fuck is your problem, Julie," I screamed at her. After the morning I'd had, I was in no mood for her shit.

  "You fucking whore," she screamed. "How could you be so stupid?"

  "Look Julie, if you have something to say, just say it," I spat. "I'm not in the mood for twenty questions."

  "Do you know Jason Daniels?" asked Julie.

  "Of course I do," I said. "We grew up together. He's Becky's boyfriend. He's a good guy."

  "He isn't Becky's boyfriend anymore," said Julie. "He just slapped the shit out of her in the middle of town. She walked up to him and started talking to him in front of the diner she works at. Apparently Becky tried to do that thing she does, where she breaks up with him and then goes and fucks some other guy, one time too many. Jason followed her today and watched her. When the police came to ask him what was going on, Jason spilled his guts. Right there in the street he told them about her fucking some guy in the park. He also claimed that you were there and you did it too. Becky stood up for you. She told them that it wasn't you it was someone else."

  "It wasn't me," I lied. "I've been here the whole time." Julie looked at me and just walked out of the room.

  A short time later, Becky called me. She was crying and could barely talk. It turned out that the officer had believed Jason's story at least about Becky. Jason didn't have to face any assault charges because the police understood how badly he'd been hurt and because Becky agreed not to file charges against him. It took seeing Jason standing there in the street, crying in front of everyone there, including other men, to make Becky understand how much he loved her. The thing that Becky wanted most of all, she had always had, but was just too stupid to realize it until she'd thrown it away. Becky got charged with public indecency and has to pay a huge fine.

  Just hearing that, forced me to realize that I was in the same boat. Bad news travels at the speed of light in a small town. I was sure that sooner or later Greg might hear about all of this. That was when Becky lowered the boom on me. "I'm so sorry," she said. "I tried to cover for you."

  "I know Beck," I said. "Thanks."

  "What are you thanking me for?" she asked, still crying. "They have a video of you. Jason saw me go into the bushes with Ronnie with his own eyes, so there's no chance for us. For years now, he's heard about me doing what I do. But since he'd never seen it, he loved me enough that the love beat out the doubt. But this time he saw it with his own eyes. He's never going to forgive this Penny. And if Greg ever sees that video, he'll never forgive you."

  "Becky, you have to call Ronnie and get him to let me speak to Brett," I said angrily. She quickly pressed a couple of buttons on her phone and switched it to a three way call and added Ronnie to it.

  "I want to speak to Brett," I said.

  "About what?" asked Ronnie. "What will you give me if I find him for you? He told me how good what you guys did was and maybe I want a little taste too."

  "You got your taste from Becky," I said.

  "Fat girl pussy is too easy to get," he smirked. "Becky practically raped me. You saw her pull me into the bushes. She likes it. She's too easy. You on the other hand, Brett said that he had to convince you but once he got you started, you were begging him for it. It's always the quiet, hard to get ones..."

  "Fuck you," I screamed.

  "That's what I want you to do," he smirked. "Besides you're going to get some more of Brett tomorrow anyway. If he can get away from his wife and br..." He stopped talking immediately, realizing that he'd slipped.

  For a long time none of us said anything. "Ronnie, call Brett and put him on the phone now, or I swear, I'll give my uncle your number and he's a cop. They're really interested in you over what happened in the park today."

  "Bullshit, " he said. "If you rat me out, I'll tell them that you were there too."

  "Ronnie, the guy I love and want to marry may find out about this," I said coldly. "I have to make sure that he never sees that tape. I'll pay the fucking fine. I have more than that saved up in my bank account. Do you? Do you and Brett need me following you around and finding out who he's married to and causing problems in his life, like you've caused in ours. How about I just show up at Brett's next MMA fight and tell his wife everything that happened?"

  Ronnie snorted at that.

  He hung up the phone and ten minutes later Brett called me back.

  "What do you want?" he sneered.

  "I want the fucking tape," I sneered back matching his tone and delivery. "No copies and no more tapes. In fact, you come alone tomorrow morning. Don't bring your sneaky friend with the camera. I don't want anyone to even know that I'm meeting you."

  "And why would I bring you the tape?" he asked. "What's in it for me?"

  "Not going to jail would be good," I said.

  "Maybe you need to watch that tape," he said. "Everything we did was consensual. I even offered to stop. You're twenty two years old. You're well past the age of consent. You started the whole thing by pulling my pants down. You told me several times to fuck you. After watching the tape it actually appears that you're the aggressive one."

  "What do I have to do to end this?" I asked.

  "Give me some more of what I got this morning," he laughed.




Cheap Thrills



"Fuck," I screamed loudly. "This is the last time we ever see each other," I said.

  "No problem," he snapped. "I have another slut in development."

  "Aren't you married?" I asked. "It sounds like you're the slut."

  "Yeah," he said. "But I admit it. I embrace it and it has nothing to do with your pathetic life. See you in the morning. You don't need to wear any panties. They'll be coming off soon enough." And he hung up.

  "What are we..." began Becky. I hung up on her too. I blamed Becky for a lot of what had happened. If she hadn't been so hot to trot with Ronnie and hadn't begged me to go with her, I wouldn't be in the trouble I'm in."

  I looked up and saw my sister staring at me like I was an insect. She looked like I was something that should be scraped off of her shoe.

  "So you did screw that guy in the park?" she said, shaking her head. "And you're going to do it again? You're an even worse whore than I thought. You don't deserve him."

  "I'm not a whore, Julie," I spat. "I'm a human being and I made a mistake. I like excitement. It's like a drug for me. I loved riding those roller coasters. And Greg is not perfect. If he'd gotten on that coaster with me instead of babysitting you, none of this would have happened. And where is he all the fucking time. He's always working and leaving me bored and..."

  "You must be the stupidest bitch ever," she laughed. "Greg rode the fucking roller coasters with you all day," she said. "Didn't you notice how sick he was getting? You followed him into the men's bathroom to get him to go on that last ride with you. He wasn't in there peeing, Penny. Greg has severe acrophobia. He's deathly afraid of heights. He rode those things with you all fucking day long because he loves you that much. Did you actually want to see him puking his guts out just so you could ride one more ride that's supposed to be for enjoyment and also supposed to be for kids?"

  "I didn't know that," I said. "I'd never do anything to hurt Greg. I can't believe he did that for me. Why didn't he say something?"

  "Because Greg isn't perfect," she said. "I don't think he's very secure when it comes to you. He sees you as something really special and he doesn't want you to think he was weak or something. And as far as him working so much," she said. "He's trying to make sure that he has a great job right out of college so the two of you don't have to struggle like so many young couples do."

  "Bullshit Julie," I spat. "I don't mind Greg working at his summer internship. But he works way more hours than the rest of the interns do. Steve only works twenty hours a week. He and Melissa have time to go to the beach with us all the time."

  "Steve probably won't have a job with the company when he graduates like Greg will," she said. "And..."

  "And what, bitch," I snapped. "You know something about my boyfriend that you're not telling me. You want him, don't you?"

  "Penny, I'm dating Greg's brother, remember," she said softly. "And even if I did want Greg, you're my sister. I wouldn't ever do that to you. One of us has morals."

  "Then what are you hiding?" I snapped. "Julie, I can't take this...I'll"

  "Greg is working all of these hours because he's trying to pay for the two carat engagement ring he bought you. Almost every penny he's made this summer is going for your ring, stupid. Are you happy now?" and she walked out of the room leaving me feeling even worse.

  The next few hours seemed to drag as I waited for Greg to call me. I called him and left several messages but he never picked up the phone or returned my calls. That was a first in our relationship. Usually, even if Greg and I were upset with each other, he'd return my calls. I felt lonely and empty at that moment and I realized what a stupid thing I'd done. I knew that sooner or later, Greg and I would talk and I had to make sure there were no copies of that tape around. It was like Becky had said. I might be able to get Greg to forgive me for this. But if the tape was around and anyone saw it or told him about it, or Lord forbid, if he ever saw it himself, I'd have no hope.

  I weighed all of my options and even if I decided to come clean with him and hope for his forgiveness and in time for us to get past this, I needed the tape destroyed. Greg might take a while to get over this, but he loves me so as soon as it all blows over, we'll be okay. I would spend the rest of my life making things up to him. Nothing like this would ever happen again. I had to work towards that dream of us I always see in my mind. But, if he ever saw that tape, there'd be no chance.

  No man would ever forgive a woman that he watched beg someone else to fuck her under any circumstances. If we both stayed in this same town for the rest of our lives, Greg would never speak to me. Our siblings could marry each other and he wouldn't even speak to me at their wedding. I had no choice.

  Greg never called me that night. That was another first. Greg always called me even before we were together. When we were just friends, he called me so much that my mother begged me to go out with him so he'd stop trying so hard. If someone told him a joke, he'd call me and tell it to me; even if it wasn't funny. He's always been so eager to share his life with me. I'm such a fool.

  I headed for the park at around noon. I'd told Brett to be there at twelve thirty and not a moment before. I wanted to make sure that he couldn't sneak any of his friends into the area to take any kind of pictures or video.

  He came alone and he smiled at me as he walked up. This time, I walked further back into the woods with him so we wouldn't be seen unless someone came driving down the road. There was little chance of that. Most people who picnicked in the park got there early and if they weren't there probably wouldn't show up. If they went to the park after work they wouldn't get there until after three or so, which gave me more time than I needed to get this over with.

  I held out my hand and he put the phone into it. It was a different iPhone than the one from the day before. Mr. Sneaky must've had more than one phone. I had Brett take off his clothes so I could make sure he wasn't carrying any kind of recording device or camera.

  I'd picked our location at random to make sure he hadn't arranged for cameras to be placed there ahead of time.

  "Okay, do it," I said.

  "Do what?" he asked.

  "Rape me," I said. He got nervous.

  "This isn't rape," he said. "Just like yesterday wasn't. I asked you for a blow job. You gave me one and we both got turned on by the thought of people watching. You told me to fuck you."

  "Whatever," I said. "This time, it's blackmail pure and simple just like yesterday was. I don't want to have sex with you. You aren't physically forcing it, but you're coercing me into doing something I don't want to do."

  "No," he said shaking his head. "There's no force here and there is no coercion. You want something that I have. I set a price. You agreed. Fuck this I'm leaving. Give me my phone."

  "Okay, Brett," I said. I just wanted that nightmare to end so I could wipe that mistake out of my memory and go on with my life. I could just see that ring on my finger. My mom only had a one carat diamond in her ring and it was spectacular. "Let's just do this and get it over with."

  He smiled and reached for me. "I really wish this hadn't gotten this ugly," he said. "We're really alike. We both like excitement. We could have arranged this so that your boyfriend never found out and never got hurt."

  "This should never have started," I said. "It was a mistake from the beginning. You kept conning me into doing what you wanted. You dared me into paying for your ride on the coaster. Then you waited until I was excited and vulnerable and you groped me during the ride. You saw how excited I was and you fingered me until I couldn't say no. But that wasn't enough for you. You blackmailed me into giving you a blow job yesterday so my boyfriend wouldn't find out and then got me excited all over again. You knew the thrill of doing it in public would make me lose control and do something I shouldn't have done. We could never be ANYTHING together because I don't even like you. You just trick me into doing things that I'd never do for you otherwise, so let's get this settled."

  He just looked at me. "Oh yeah, I forgot," I said looking at him. "You're like a vampire. I have to give you permission first. Okay, it's not rape. You can fuck me. Get it over with." I bent forward and spread my legs. He tried to push his dick into me but I was so dry that nothing happened."

"Come on," he whined. "It wasn't like this yesterday."

"Yesterday, I was stupid," I said. "I wasn't acting like a grown woman. I let the excitement and the nastiness of what happened control me. I wasn't thinking about how much what happened would hurt the people who love me. It's like it was a game." He looked at me strangely. It was as if some of my words had sunk in.

"How do you think your wife would feel if she knew what you were doing?" I asked. His dick wilted in front of me and he looked at the ground.

"So let's get this done," I said. "I'm willing. Just go ahead and fuck me. I need to start repairing my life."

While he was waiting for an inspiration to strike, we heard the sound of motorcycle passing by. So many cars had passed by without turning that we didn't pay the biker any attention.

"Well, can you just give me a blow job?" he said. "And we'll call it even."

I got down on my knees on the grass in front of him and grabbed his shriveled dick. He really wasn't turned on at all anymore. We were both so busy concentrating on what we were doing that we hadn't realized that more than one motorcycle had passed by us or that they'd parked. In fact we didn't notice anything until we heard the voices behind us.

"I'm next," said a gruff sounding voice.

"Then me," said another. "I told you I'd seen this bitch fucking a guy here in the park yesterday. I only saw her from a distance though. I didn't know she was this cute."

"Yeah and she's got some big old titties too," said the first guy.

I was shocked. I'd never heard anyone talk about me like that, before; especially not right in front of me.

"So is she your old lady?" asked one of the bikers.

"No!" said both Brett and me at the same time.

"Good then you won't mind if we borrow her for a while, will you?" asked the bigger guy.

"Uhm...I don't..." began Brett.

"Well it's not like you have any choice," said the biker. "And I'd hate to beat your ass in front of your woman."

I started laughing at that point. "Brett is an MMA fighter," I said. "He'll tear your ass..." At that point, I heard the sound of someone crashing through the bushes and Brett was gone. He'd left his pants and even the phone that I'd sought."

I left his pants on the park bench and picked up the phone. "You don't need a phone, girl," said the bigger biker.

"I'm not really like this," I said with my voice shaking. "That asshole had a video on his phone that he was blackmailing me with to make me do this."

"Sure he was," said the other biker.

"Just look on the phone," I said. I turned the phone on and went to the page with the videos on it. Then I selected the video and pushed play. Both of the men looked at the video and started laughing."

"So he got a video of you begging him to fuck you," said the first guy.

"Big deal, where we're going there are lots of guys who are going to fuck you and you won't have to beg any of them." He grabbed me by my hand and dragged me over to his bike. I was kicking and screaming, but there was no one in the park to hear me.

Finally the guy got tired of me fighting him and just hit me. He didn't knock me out. But he knocked all of the fight out of me. I don't think I've ever been hit that hard in my life. He told me to get on the bike and I did. I'd have done anything to avoid being hit like that again. I was still so dizzy that I could barely hold on. After riding a block, he got off the bike and put me in front of him so he could hold me up.

"I didn't mean to hit you that hard," he said. "When we get to the house, we'll give you something to make you feel all nice and relaxed. We'll give you a couple of minutes for it to kick in and then you won't even mind what's going to happen. You'll probably enjoy it."

We rode to a house that was less than six blocks away from the park. I knew exactly where we were going when we got to the street. You couldn't miss it. It was a dirty run down house with about ten motorcycles parked in front of it. There were more bikes in the driveway and from what I could see, there were several more in the back, including a couple that looked like they were being worked on.

They grabbed me again and dragged me inside the house. I didn't put up very much fight but I did scream loudly that I didn't want to go. I kept screaming, hoping that a neighbor might call the police. When he cocked his fist back, I stopped screaming and he pulled me up the stairs and into the house.

He dragged me up a flight of stairs and into a bedroom with nothing but a dirty mattress on the floor and slammed the door. I was more afraid than I've ever been in my life. I was sure that they were going to kill me. He slammed the door after telling me to get comfortable.

Then I realized that he'd taken Brett's phone from me but not mine. I texted Becky, "In trouble. Bikers took me. Big house near the park. Call police. Hurry." I sent the same text to Julie.

I left my phone turned on and stuck it back in my pocket just as the door opened. "You weren't kidding Bubba. She's a cute little thing. She don't look like no whore," said another biker. This one was even bigger than the other two and had a beard that was braided into a long pony tail.

"I'm not," I screamed. "I'm not a whore. I was being blackmailed. You're going to be in so much trouble. People are going to be looking for me." He just looked at me and nodded his head. Then he gave me a bottle of beer.

"Take a swig," he smiled. "It'll make this easier for you and help you relax. Then maybe we can make a deal and tell you what you have to do to get out of this alive."

"No," I said. "I know you put something in it."

He moved so quickly I didn't even see it coming. If I thought I'd been hit hard before, it was nothing compared to this. He picked me up off of the floor like I weighed nothing and pulled my face over his to his. "Drink the fucking beer, slut," he said. I said a silent prayer that Becky or my sister would get the police and I drank the beer.

They weren't lying. Almost as soon as it hit my stomach, I started to relax and feel better. I started to feel warm all over like I had too many clothes on. I don't remember much after that.

  *  *  *  *  *  *

Greg

"Not bad Greg," said my boss, Bill Miller. "You did a great job on this bracket. You made it smaller so it takes up less space overall, but also made it beefier so it'll last longer. You even managed to keep the manufacturer's original hole locations. That will make installing them a piece of cake. I couldn't have asked for a better job from one of my full time engineers. I'm hoping you'll be one of them next year when you graduate."

I was really happy at that moment. I was certain that the bonus I got in this week's check would be more than enough for me to...That was as far as I got before I remembered the conversation I'd had with Jason the night before.

I'd hated talking to Jason even though we were old friends, because I knew that he was going through an incredibly rough situation. In fact, as we talked about it, I got the impression that Jason had pretty much made his mind up. He was leaving town. I knew that Becky was kind of screwed up in the head and I'd heard rumors about her. But I'd never seen her do the kinds of things that people said she did.

When I got home, as usual, I was on my phone getting ready to call Penny when I noticed that I had a voice mail. I listened to it and it was, of course, from Jason. I called him right back because he sounded really upset.

After we spoke for a few moments, I realized that the latest rumors around town were true. Becky had broken up with Jason like she had at least three or four times over the past year. The pattern was that she'd meet him and apologize to him a day or so later and everything would be fine. But this time, Jason wanted to know why and what the hell she was doing when they were broken up and he found out. He'd been heartbroken and decided to just walk away from her with his head held high.

Later on that afternoon, Becky had called him several times and he hadn't returned any of her calls. Jason works in the hardware store next door to the diner where Becky works. He decided to leave work early so he wouldn't run into her. Unfortunately, she'd decided to go in early so she could talk to him, because it wasn't like him not to return her calls.

She'd walked right up to him and started giving him some kind of bullshit story about how the way he was acting was why they'd broken up. He tried to ignore her and just walk away but she just kept talking and talking and talking. Anyone who knows Becky knows she can't shut up. Anyway, she started in on how she had no idea why he even deserved a woman like her, but she had no choice, because she loved him. And that was it. Something just snapped in Jason's brain and he just slapped the cowboy shit out of her.

He told her that she was right. He didn't deserve a woman like her. He'd treated her like a fucking princess despite the things they said about her all over town. He had loved her more than she would ever deserve and done everything he could for her. She'd repaid him by fucking some strange guy in the bushes in a public park like the whore that everyone said she was. He told her to delete his number from his phone and never call him again because they were done.

About that time, Becky started telling him how it was just a rumor like all of the others and he had to believe her. She loved him and she'd never do that to him. Whoever told him was just trying to keep them broken up.

Jason told her what she was wearing in the park before she went into the bushes. He told her what the guy she fucked looked like and what his truck looked like. He even told her who was with her. Finally, he told her that it wasn't some person trying to break them up who told him about it, he'd followed her and seen it with his own eyes.

Becky started crying and begging him to forgive her and that was when the police got there.

Then Jason told me that he was done with Becky and instead of returning to the university in the next town over that most of us went to, he was going to transfer to an out of state college and start all over with his life. He needed to get away from Becky and our town was just too small for him to make a clean break of things. He'd constantly be running into her and he needed some space.

I wished him well and told him we'd still hang out during the summers. That was when he lowered the boom on me and told me about Penny. He said that Becky had told the truth to the officer who took the report and gave her the fine, but she'd told the officer that Jason was mistaken. It hadn't been Penny that he'd seen. Jason told me that he was torn on that fact because first off, he didn't think that Penny was that kind of girl. She'd never been with Becky during the rest of Becky's episodes, but he'd been sure at the time that it was her. He told me to never trust anyone with my heart blindly because I could end up in the same boat he was in. Trust, but verify, was the exact phrase he used.

After I hung up the phone, it moved to my next voice mail message. It was from Penny. Usually, unless there was an emergency she waited for me to call her when I got done at work. She knew it was always the first thing I did. The next message was from her as well and her voice sounded anxious. By the third message, her voice was desperate and I had a bad feeling that I knew why.




Cheap Thrills



I knew that there was a person I could trust to get to the bottom of all of this, but surprisingly I didn't know how to reach her. If I called their home phone, I only had a one in five chance of getting her. If her mom, her dad, Penny or their machine got the call I'd be busted and have to talk to Penny before I was ready.

That was one of the benefits of living alone. I just ignored the phone all night and played video games. I decided that the safest course of action would be to talk to Julie first. Julie loved her sister, but she was also an honest and trustworthy person. She would tell me the truth no matter what.

I never did think about calling my little brother at my parent's house and asking him to ask Julie to call me. I guess I didn't want my brother or even my parents to know what was going on. If the feeling I had after talking to Jason was correct, it would be too embarrassing to have anyone know that I was a fool too.

So after a night during which I hadn't slept at all, I drove into town. I'd had another idea. I could stop by the diner and have breakfast. While I ate, I could ask Becky about what happened. I was figuring she'd probably lie. She'd just taken a bullet for her friend, but I'd be able to tell by looking in her eyes as she answered me. Somehow I doubted that Becky would be able to look me in the face and lie without showing some sign of it.

Unfortunately, Becky wasn't at the diner. Mary Johnson the owner of the diner told me that Becky had called in that morning to say that she wouldn't be in. Mary, one of the town's gossips was sure that Becky had finally gotten her comeuppance. She said Becky couldn't stop crying over the phone.

So I ate and got ready for work. That takes me back to where we started. I wondered whether or not I'd ever pick up the ring. I mean I'd paid for it, so I had to pick it up. It would probably just end up gathering dust until I found someone else.

As I walked back towards the office I shared with the other interns, I pondered moving away like Jason was. Then I decided that I was convicting the woman I supposedly loved before I had any evidence or proof. Didn't she deserve more than that?

As I had that thought, my phone rang. I pulled it from my pocket and got another call as soon as I said, "Hello."

"Greg, this is Becky. We have a big problem and I don't know what to do. It's about Penny," said Becky. "And you're not going to like it."

"Does this have anything to do with the guy she fucked yesterday?" I asked.

"Greg, I can't talk about any of that," she said. "Right now there are more important things going on."

"Becky if you can't talk to me then, goodbye," I said. "I have another call. I'll get back to you."

As soon as I answered the other call, Julie started talking. "Greg, my stupid sister has really gotten herself into trouble. She sent me a text. Hang on, I'm going to send it to you." I read the text and shook my head.

"Did you call the police already?" I asked.

"Yes Greg," she said. "I called them first. The guy on the phone said that the dispatcher was out of the office but he'd try to send a car over there as soon as someone got back. We live in a small town."

"Hang on Julie," I told her. I switched back to Becky. "Okay Becky," I began.

"Okay we did it," she said loudly. "I did it on purpose because I thought I could get away with it. I didn't think Jason would just give up on me. But Penny, it was just an accident that got out of hand. She loves you."

"So how many times?" I asked.

"Does it matter?" she asked.

"Hell yeah, it matters," I snapped.

"Including today, I guess it's three times," she said. "But Greg, she loves you, really."

"Becky, meet me in the park," I said. "I think I know where that house is. When Penny and I first started going out we'd sit in that park forever just talking. After curfew, we'd drive around the area, and I remember a house that there were always a bunch of motorcycles parked in front of. Did you call the police too?"

"After yesterday, no one in this town will ever take anything I say seriously, especially the police," she said.

"Okay, I'll see you at the park," I said hanging up on her. "Julie, did you call your parents?"

"Uhm no," she said.

"Julie, call your dad and tell him what's going on. I'm going to find her," I said.

"Greg, do you know what she did that got all of this started?" she asked.

"Yeah Julie," I said. "I didn't want to believe it, and I don't know all of the details, but I do know that we're done."

I jumped into my Mustang and headed to the park. On the way there, I called the police myself.

"Police Department, how can I help you," said a cheerful voice.

"I guess a bunch of bikers took a friend of mine out of the park," I said.

"Shit, we've gotten three calls about that already," the woman said. "After the second one, I sent word out to all four of the officers we have in the field. As soon as they're done with what they're working on, they'll try to find out what is going on."

"She's been in that house for over an hour with who knows how many guys," I said.

"Sir, calm down," she said. "What is the victim's name?"

"Penny Thompson," I said.

"Oh boy," said the officer. "Uhm you do know that there was some suspicion about her being involved in..."

"She fucked some guy in the park yesterday," I snapped. "She did it, case closed."

"How do you know that sir?" she asked.

"The person who got the text from Penny about her being in trouble told me," I said. "Becky Breckinridge, the other person involved in the incident yesterday told me about it."

"That means that Ms. Breckinridge lied to the officers," said the woman. "She told them according to their report that Ms. Thompson wasn't involved."

"Can we go through all of that later," I snapped. "She's still in danger and you guys are supposed to protect and serve, not whine and fill out paper work."

"Who are you sir and what is your relationship with the alleged victim?" she asked.

"My name is Greg Stephens and until all of this came out, I was her boyfriend. We were going to get married. You guys are useless," I said. "I'll go myself."

"But sir," she screamed as I hung up the phone. I was at the park by that time and I picked up Becky. I saw Julie's car and she followed us. We drove around gradually widening our circle until we located the house.

We all got out of the cars and I asked Julie if she'd been able to reach her dad?

"He's on his way but he's about an hour away.

"Julie, take care of my car," I said, handing her the keys.

I counted at least fourteen bikes in front of the house. There was loud music playing and none of the houses around that one seemed to be occupied. I guess most of the neighbors would move out as quickly as they could with that going on.

There were beer bottles all over the yard and all kinds of other debris as well. Property values obviously weren't very high on their priority list. I tried to calm myself down as I stepped up onto the porch and knocked on the door.

A really big guy opened the door and looked me up and down. "Whut the fuck do you want, kid?" he asked.

"My girlfriend is in there," I said. "I just want to make sure she's okay."

"Son, a lot of guy's girlfriends are in there," he smirked. "Now run along. You might want to get yourself another girl. They aren't much good when they come back out." He was laughing his ass off as he closed the door.

I jumped down off of the porch and grabbed a beer bottle and a rock. As I picked up the items I saw a police car cruising down the block from a distance. "Flag it down," I yelled to Julie.

Then I went back up on the porch. I knocked again and this time the guy came out onto the porch. "I told you to get the fuck out of here," he sneered. "Next time, I'll kick your ass. But I will tell you one thing. I've already had one turn with your slut and as soon as the other guys are done I'm going back. Of course, she'll probably be all stretched out by then."

He had the shittiest look on his face and he looked at me like I was nothing. That look vanished when I brought the beer bottle down on his head. He didn't go down, he just got pissed. That was when I swung the rock into his forehead and the lights in his eyes went out.

I went into the house and looked around. There was a baseball bat behind the door. I picked it up and walked to the room that I heard all of the noise coming from. There had to be at least ten guys watching as three other guys fucked Penny. Her arms were slack and not moving, so she wasn't doing it consciously. One guy had pried her mouth open and was forcing his dick almost down her throat while he moved her head up and down. Penny had a vacant look in her eyes; like she wasn't even there.

While he did that to her, another guy was under her and it looked like his dick was in her ass. The third guy was on top of her just pounding away like she was just a piece of meat. Penny wasn't a virgin. We'd been sexually active since we gave our virginities to each other at nineteen. But we had never done anal sex. At least I hadn't. I had no idea of what Penny had done.

I pushed my way through the crowd and swung the bat at the guy fucking Penny. I caught him around the kidneys and the gang of drunken bikers roared with surprise. A lot of them were drunk and didn't realize what was going on. The guy screamed in pain and went down. A blow like that to the kidneys would have him pissing blood for a week or two. I turned and swung the bat with all of my might at the unprotected ribs of the guy fucking Penny's mouth. I heard and felt several of his ribs snap and he went to the floor struggling to breathe. I swung the bat overhand straight down and caught the guy in Penny's ass across his shoulder again there was the satisfying crunch of bones and screaming.

That was it. The bikers woke up and they were pissed.

"Little fucker," spat the biggest one a guy with a long braided beard. "You've got a lot of stones coming in here. What the fuck do you want?"

"Her," I said pointing at Penny.

"Are you her brother?" he asked smiling. I shook my head. A couple of the guys were trying to circle around and get behind me. I swung and caught one in the knee. He screamed and started flopping on the floor. The big guy gestured for them to wait. "We're talking assholes," he spat. That was enough for the guys to back off, but they still looked at me like they were hungry and I was a steak.

"So who are you then?" he asked.

"Until yesterday, I was her boyfriend," I said.

"Son, you don't want a slut like this for a girlfriend," he said. "Look, I want to show you something. Let's have a truce until we're done talking. You can keep the bat and my guys will leave us alone until we're done." Apparently his word was good because the other guys stood back while he approached me. He got closer but not enough, that I could get him with the bat. Then he slid something over to me.

"Go ahead," he said. "Pick it up. No one will touch you until we're done talking."

I reached down but never took my eyes off of the guys behind him. I picked up an iPhone.

"Go to the videos section," he said. "Watch the last one."

When the video came on, I recognized the park immediately. I could hear Becky moaning but I couldn't see her. Two other people were coming into focus. It looked like a girl sucking some guy off in the park. As she stopped sucking him, he bent her over the park bench and just jammed his dick into her. I recognized the clothes she was wearing. I was sure it was Penny. My heart clutched in my throat. Once I heard her voice, I knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that it was definitely Penny. But when she turned towards the camera and started begging him to fuck her, I couldn't take it anymore. I threw the phone against the wall shattering it.

"Are you sure you want to die for some whore," he said. "Kid, you got more balls than half of my guys. I got a son out there somewhere and I hope he's half as brave as you are. What I don't get is why you're here? You just said it yourself, "Until yesterday you were her boyfriend". Why can't you just walk away?"

I shook my head. "I just can't," I said.

"Do you know that she was doing it in the park again today when my guys picked her up?" he asked. I shook my head.

"I know she looks like a princess but she's probably the biggest slut I've ever seen. Even whores take their Johns into a car or a motel. She just fucked this guy in broad daylight in a public park. Today she was sucking a guy off on the side of the road where anyone walking or driving by could have seen her. What kind of whore are you risking your life for?"

I just shrugged my shoulders.

"Look Kid, just walk the fuck out of here. We were almost done with her anyway. She just wasn't much fun. After about twenty minutes, she blacked out. So you go on home and we'll leave her in the park where we found her in a couple of hours."

"I can't," I said.

"But you two aren't even together anymore," he said. "Consider this revenge for her cheating on you." I shook my head and gripped the bat tighter. He shrugged his shoulders and stepped out of the way. Four of them charged me at the same time. I swung the bat as hard as I could and caught one on the side of his head. I got a second one, but it was only a glancing blow and then the bat was ripped from my hands.

Everyone still in the room, except for their leader and Penny, started pounding me. A fist hit me in the eye so hard I couldn't open it. Two men grabbed my arms while a third punched me in the stomach repeatedly. When they let go of my arms, I hit the floor. I was too weak to even stand. Then they started kicking me. Three of them grabbed Penny again and I staggered over to her. I grabbed one of them around the neck and pulled as hard as I could. I barely moved his face but it was all I needed. I jammed my fingers deeply into his eyes causing him to scream like a banshee.

Another guy slammed his fist into the side of my head. I had no equilibrium. I staggered into the wall and slid down to the floor and got up yet again. A really big guy smiled at me and then slammed a ham-like fist into my face. I heard a huge pop and I knew that he'd broken my nose. I sat there on the floor with them just laughing at me. The leader glared at them.

"Had enough?" he asked.

"I'm just taking a breather," I said spitting out blood. I tried to stand up and couldn't so I tried to crawl over to where one of the guys was pinching Penny's unfeeling nipple.

"This bitch is out of it," he said. "This isn't even fun anymore." As he said it, he kicked me in the ribs and this time it was my ribs that snapped. I was having trouble breathing and my hand found something. It was the bat. I picked it up but it weighed a lot more than it had only a few moments before. It felt like I'd been fighting for hours, but I knew that it had been less than three minutes.

I lunged with the bat, or I tried to lunge. One of the guys easily took it from me and bent my wrist backwards until it snapped too. Using the other hand I pulled his leg out from under him and then kneed him in the nuts as hard as I could. I didn't actually knee him it was more like I fell on him but I made sure my knee landed in his privates.

"Let's get this over with," said one of the guys. He picked up the bat and stood over me. "I'm gonna put him out of his misery. Shit, how much beating can one guy take? This really isn't even fun anymore."

As he lined the bat up, I couldn't even raise my arm to protect myself. Before he could swing, there was a sound so loud that it almost shattered my eardrums.

I managed to turn my head so that the eye that was only bruised, not the one that was swollen shut, looked across the room.

I saw a tiny, almost elfin looking woman in a police uniform cocking an assault shotgun for another round.

"It takes a special kind of bravery for almost twenty huge bikers to beat up one skinny guy doesn't it?" she asked. "Move away from him and put your hands up."

"Go...way," I muttered. "Kill you too...Run...Get help...Get cops,"

"Sugar, I am the cops," she said shaking her head.

The leader stepped up. "When this fight started I had two dozen guys. The pipsqueak took out about seven of them, one way or another. You got a nice pop gun there Missy. I always wanted one of those. The problem with shotguns like that one is that once you shoot it you have to cock it again. So the way I see it, you'll get one of my guys. Maybe you'll kill him or maybe you'll just wound him. But after that, your ass is mine. And unlike the whore over there, we won't be giving you the drugs to dull what we're going to do to you."

The cop swallowed and aimed at the leader's head. "At least you won't be around to see it happen," she said.

"God damn it," said the leader. "The women and kids got all of the balls in this town. Okay Missy, here I am, shoot me. But what happens after that." I felt Penny stir beside me but I knew that she wouldn't be any help in the fight. I wasn't sure that I could even get up and my other eye was starting to close. I still couldn't take a full breath and I had to fight just to remain conscious. There was blood in my mouth.

Penny looked at me. "Greg," she said. "You came for me"

"Loved you Pen," I said.

"So what happens after you shoot me," the leader repeated.

Suddenly the area behind the policewoman filled with a lot more bikers. "Run lady," I said. "Not your fight. Get help. I can take these..."

"That would be when we take over," said one of the other bikers.

"Not your business Jake," spat the leader of the bikers.

"My town, my business, Howard," said the biker behind the lady cop. "You assholes are going to bring the cops down on everyone in the state who rides a bike. All of us aren't assholes. So when we heard over the police band that one kid was standing up to all of you cowards over some hooker, I got interested. There are only five or six cops in the whole town. Except for the little darling with the shotgun over here, the rest of them are out front waiting for the state police and the national guard who are all on their way. This is over. I have forty guys in your house right now."

"I'm offering you a one-time deal to avoid bloodshed. Then we're going to take you apart," he said. "Walk your ass out of here. Get on your bikes and make a run for the border, Howard. Leave the lady cop, the whore and the retard with me."

The leader gestured and his men started to walk away. They tried to pick up some of their fallen men, but the other guy stopped them.

"Those guys need to be hospitalized," he said. "Leave them. Besides, someone has to go to jail."

After that there was nothing but confusion as paramedics started to look at me, Penny and the fallen bikers.

I think that was about the time that I blacked out.

  *  *  *  *  *  *

  Penny

  When I first woke up, I was lying down in bed. I looked around and saw my family. None of them were smiling. My mom was holding my hand. As my eyes fluttered and light filtered in, she looked at me.

  "Penny," she said. Then her face turned sour and she dropped my hand.

  "What the hell is wrong with you?" asked my dad. I ignored his question. I tried to sit up in bed and noticed that I had a tube in my arm. I also noticed that my pussy and my ass were really sore.

  "Where's Greg?" I asked. "Greg came to get me." That was when it happened. My sister Julie came across the room and slapped me in the face. My dad had trouble grabbing her to keep her off of me.

  "Daddy, where's Greg?" I asked. My dad looked down at the ground.

  "Honey," he said. Even as he looked away from me he forgot about Julie and she got loose and slapped me again. I tried to ward off her blows and only succeeded in ripping the tube from my arm. The security guard and a cop came into the room and helped my dad to pull Julie off of me.




Cheap Thrills



"I hope you go to jail, you whore," Julie spat. "You killed him." The guard, the police officer and my mother pulled Julie out of the room.

  "Dad, I saw Greg. He came for me. He fought for me. Brett...ran away. I don't understand. Greg isn't tough. Brett is a professional fighter...why?" I asked.

  "Penny, Greg isn't dead, Honey, but it's not good. He had a collapsed lung and one of his broken ribs was squeezing blood out of his heart. From all of the kicking they did on him, he has a broken leg. One of his arms is fractured along with the wrist on the other side. The orbit of his left eye is fractured. His other eye has a detached retina. His nose is severely broken, his jaw is bruised and he has a serious concussion. They haven't ruled out brain damage either. He died three times, once in the ambulance and twice on the operating table. It really doesn't look good."

  I started crying then. "Why Penny?" he asked. "I just don't understand why you did this."

He looked at me as if he expected me to say something that would make this fucked up situation make sense. It was surreal. We grow up looking to our parents for guidance, wisdom and the answers to the questions that really trouble us. This time it was my dad looking to me for answers.

"Did Greg do something to you, baby?" he asked. "Because if I live to be two hundred years old, I don't think I could have found a nicer boy for you to marry. I mean you've always been my little princess. That's why I was harder on Julie than we ever were on you. When you dropped out of college last year, it didn't bother us. Hell, we breathed a sigh of relief, because it meant we could save money. Besides, everyone who had ever seen the two of you together knew that you and Greg would be getting married." I nodded.

"I have to tell you, your mom was a little bit jealous of you. She stopped by the jewelry store and had Julie show her your ring. Then she started bugging me about how a college kid can save up enough money for a two carat ring when all she got was a one carat diamond. I had to remind her that we both had expenses and we had the mortgage and we were trying to save money back then. It was especially bad when we didn't have great jobs and we made YOU, kind of before we actually got married." He smiled at me when he said that and he reached over and brushed my hair out of my eyes.

"I told her that in your case, you are Greg's total focus, so he can afford to spend all of his money on you. Plus, there's the fact that Greg has a great summer job and is on a great career track. That's something that your mom and I couldn't say. So tell me baby, what did he do? Did he cheat on you and you were just doing this to get revenge on him?" I shook my head.

"Is he one of those guys who treats you really nice in front of people and then when you're alone he's abusive? Because I'll kick his ass into next week if he ever laid a hand on you..."

"No Daddy," I said. "Greg, if anything, is even more loving and affectionate when we're alone. You know how he is. You remember why I had to get a cell phone? He still calls me as soon as he wakes up and just before he goes to bed. He treats me like I'm some kind of glass princess. I do wish he'd realize that I'm tougher then he thinks, but other than that we're fine."

"Then why did you do this?" he screamed. "Our whole family is a laughing stock all over town, because of you. Your sister got propositioned three times on her way to work this morning. You've been lying here asleep for over twenty four hours and everything has gone to hell. My boss asked me to take a few weeks off so I could attend to my FAMILY matters." My dad gave me a sarcastic smile as he said that part.

"What he really meant was that the distraction I brought to the office was bad for business. There were all kinds of people stopping by to see the father of the whore. Penny, I'm a salesman and a very good one. But Honey, my base salary is less than half of my income. If I'm not out there selling products and meeting customers, I don't make much money. Your mom's job is more of a hobby than anything else. After taxes and what not, she probably clears about a hundred bucks a week. This is going to hurt us."

"I'm sorry that I was raped by a bunch of bikers," I spat. "If only I could have told them, hey guys don't rape me because my dad won't make any money and my family will be embarrassed. This wasn't my fault Daddy. I didn't wish for this to happen."

"Don't take that tone with me young lady," he yelled. "While you've been laid up here on your ass, the rest of us have had to deal with the mess you made. No one blames you for what happened with the bikers. Everyone knows that was against your will, or at least we hope it was. But what led to you being taken by them was your whorish behavior in the days before it. You basically put yourself in a position by your actions that made those men think they could do what they did. And then someone else had to pay the price for what you did."

"What?" I said. "Daddy that's stupid. You're saying that if a woman is out on the beach wearing a bikini then that gives perverts a license to rape her."

"Of course not," he snapped. "But think about it. Those assholes ride right by women all the time. Some of them are attractive young women wearing miniskirts and whatever else girls wear these days. They've never attacked or taken anyone off the streets before this. Do you think that seeing a girl, especially an attractive one, fucking a guy in broad daylight in public might've made them think she was available? They'd really believe that if they saw her doing it more than once, wouldn't they?"

I refused to answer him and I could no longer meet his gaze.

"I guess they beat the guy you were with pretty badly, huh?" he asked.

"No, Daddy," I said. "He ran off and left me with them. I don't understand it. He's an MMA fighter. He's never lost a fight."

"He's never had a fight," spat my dad. "He's not a fighter of any kind. He's a bum. He's married to a woman who lives two towns over. While she goes to work every day, he's supposed to be watching their children. He's been getting his younger sister to watch the kids in exchange for favors while he goes out. The police department had him interviewed with one of their behavioral specialists while they try to figure out what to do with him. Apparently, he's so dissatisfied with his life that he goes out and spins these fantasies and takes advantage of simple minded girls. He has very little power in his home life since his wife is supporting him, so he gets back his self-esteem by becoming an adventurous and mysterious figure; or in your case an MMA fighter."

I sank down even further in the bed. "That's what everyone in town is laughing at you for. They were already laughing at Becky for losing Jason, but we already knew the kind of woman Becky is. No one expected this from you. Another thing they hate you for is the beating that Greg took for you. Even the bikers who beat him admitted that they've never seen anyone take that kind of beating for someone else. Half of the town thinks he's a hero. The other half, think he's a fool."

I looked up at him. "Would you have done that for mom?" I asked.

My dad looked at me and I could tell he was telling me the truth. "I like to think that I would," he said. "But there are a lot of things to consider. First, of course, is the fact that, Penny, most of the things they did to him should have caused him to black out from the pain alone. Even the doctors have no clue as to how he was able to keep getting back up. Any one of his injuries would have put most men down for the count, but he kept getting back up. As much as I love your mother, under the same situation, I'm not sure I would have."

"You would have dad," I smirked. "You love mom."

"But not if I knew she'd been cheating on me," he spat. "That's why they think he's a fool. Penny, Greg went in there after you, knowing what you'd done. I'm hoping he wakes up, because I really need to know why the hell he suffered all of that after what you did to him. I also want to see him recover because he's a fine young man. And whether you realize this or not, if Greg dies, we're probably going to have to move and your life in particular will be over."

"Daddy, eventually this will die down," I said. I was sure that Greg would pull through. He just had to. There was no way I could be without him. My dad looked at me stupidly.

"Honey, have you ever heard of the internet? Your picture and news of what happened are all over the world. People all over, everywhere, are waiting breathlessly to see if Greg pulls through. There was even a call from the White House, expressing the well wishes of the president for Greg's speedy recovery. Do you remember Monica Lewinski?" I nodded.

"The world and the US have forgiven Bill Clinton many times over. He does speaking engagements and accepts all kinds of accolades and awards for his presidency. Among democrats, he's so highly regarded that they trot him out to endorse whatever candidate they're running, like some sort of prized pony. Hell, even the republicans used some of his quotes..."

"The thing is, Penny, years later the scandal is fodder for the history books. Clinton is rich, famous and well thought of. This is despite the fact that he was a mature adult who held the highest office in the land and he let us down, badly. On the other hand, Monica was only a young girl, who was star struck and was probably taken advantage of, but the world has never forgiven her. In the Clinton scandal, no one was seriously hurt or killed. Do you really think this will just blow over?"

I didn't have an answer for that. All my father's words did was made me feel worse.

"Have you noticed that they have both a cop and a security guard watching your room?" he asked. "The cop is to make sure that you don't try to flee."

"Why would I try to escape?" I asked. "I'm the victim."

"You're also facing a bunch of charges," he said.

"For what?" I asked.

"Remember what they got Becky on?" he said. "She has to pay a five hundred dollar fine. In Becky's case, she did what she did out of public view. She was behind a hedge or something. You were right out in open so it carries a stiffer fine. You also did it twice. They're also putting part of the blame for what happened at the house on you. They're trying to charge you as an accessory to Greg's beating, because if it hadn't been for you, this would never have happened."

"Okay, I'm a criminal," I spat. "I understand why there's a cop on my door. Why is there a security guard? What can he do that the cop can't?"

"The security guard is there to protect you from the cop," spat my dad. "The police in this town don't really like you much. The governor has sent down a team to investigate our police department after this incident."

"You know that we have a very small police force. There are usually only six on them on duty at a time, with another six off duty. They work twelve hour shifts and rotate them monthly. When this happened, I had just pulled up in front of the house and the police were already there. There were five of them and they wouldn't let me go in. They told me I'd get killed. They told me that some fool kid had gone in there and hadn't been heard from since. They told me they'd called the state police and were waiting for them to arrive. Then, that tiny little lady officer grabbed a shotgun and ran inside. She called them all cowards. They all just stood there looking at the ground and calling her crazy."

"We heard one shotgun blast and then nothing. The cops were saying that she probably got one of them before they took the gun from her and overpowered her. That was when the rest of the motorcycles pulled up and the police ran away. Penny, they got into their cars and burned rubber getting out of there. I guess they assumed that the second group of bikers would stand with the first group. We found out what happened later on when we talked to Terri."

"Who the hell is Terri?" I asked.

"She's the cop," he said. "She was the one who told us about what happened inside at least from when she got there. She didn't paint a pretty picture of it. She said they just stood around taking shots and kicks at him even when he couldn't even stand up any more. But he never stopped fighting."

"Daddy, I'm tired," I said. "I need some sleep."

"Honey, you've been asleep for more than a day. The police are going to ask you about what happened. What do you remember?" he asked.

"That's just it Daddy," I shouted. "They put something in a drink they gave me. I don't remember anything. I know I had sex with them, but I don't know how many times, or who it was. I know they took my ass because it hurts really badly and I've never done that before. But everything is a blank slate." He just looked at me and pulled the blanket up around me so I could go to sleep.

Over the next few days, I was interviewed many times. I saw therapists, profilers, police sketch artists and people whose jobs I don't even remember. I told them all the same story; over and over until I was tired of hearing it myself. 

For over a week, I asked several times a day whether or not I could see Greg. I was always told that he hadn't regained consciousness yet. Every day was worse. Greg had three surgeries to repair injuries while he was still in a coma. No one ever told me anything about him except for my dad. After a week, I was allowed to go home, but I had to wear an electronic tether on my ankle and there was an officer assigned to our house. Mostly he followed me around and watched TV, while scowling at me.

My dad always spoke to me but things were different between us. I guess this had knocked me off of the pedestal he'd put me on. My mom was polite, but she never looked me in the eye. She also never touched me. I'd grown up in a house where we were always affectionate with each other. My mom usually came in to give me a hug and suggest possible chores for me before she went to work. It was a joke between us because she knew I wouldn't do them.

I think my mom's refusal to hug me or touch me in any way hurt me more than what was going on. But nothing prepared me for the outright hostility in my sister's eyes. It was as if she was openly daring me to say something to her so she could attack me. I'm not sure she'd have limited her attack to a verbal one either. I was still remembering her slapping me and having to be pulled off of me at the hospital.

My sister and I had always had an adversarial relationship. We were relatively close and I could count on her to cover for me, if I was in trouble; like she'd done earlier with the incident on the roller coaster. But there had always been an undercurrent of competition between us. My parents had been to blame for that. I had always been the golden child. I was pretty much given whatever I wanted. Julie had to work for hers.

When we first met, Greg had started calling me night and day, so my parents got me a cell phone to keep the house phone from being tied up, but also so they wouldn't have to get up to answer it, then walk up the stairs to get me. Julie asked them for a cell phone and they tied it to her grades which had always been far better than mine and to her getting a job to pay the bill.

But her animosity seemed to stem from something deeper. I asked my dad about it and found out that Brian, Greg's brother, had bowed to the pressure of the people in town and had dumped Julie.

They made it seem like Brian was a fool to be dating the sister of the town whore. She'd probably end up getting him killed like I had Greg. Brian had tried to stick to his guns, but he wasn't made of as stern a stock as his brother was, so he folded under the pressure. I never thought that Julie cared for Brian the way I did for Greg. I always thought the two of them were kind of going through the motions and practicing for when they met their real true loves, but what did I know?

After almost two weeks and five surgeries, Greg woke up. He was as weak as a kitten and only stayed awake for minutes at a time and no one, not even my parents or my sister, bothered to tell me.

The first I heard of it was when I overheard my mother and my sister. They'd both gone into the bathroom together and closed the door. Our house has more than one bathroom, so there was no need for them to both go in there together with the door closed unless they were hiding something. At first I thought that they didn't want my cop to know what they were talking about, but he was downstairs. Dad was outside. He'd been trying to do a lot of projects around the house to fill his time since he couldn't go to work.

That meant that there was something they didn't want ME to know. I took the water glass from my bedside table and put it against the door. That shit really works. I heard Julie telling my mom that they had been worried about brain damage, but that the swelling in his brain was going down. They didn't think it would be necessary to take a piece of his skull out to reduce the pressure. I almost dropped the glass when I heard that.

Then I heard something that pissed me off royally. Julie told my mom that the previous evening he'd awakened for a few minutes while she was there. He had squeezed her hand and said her name.

I opened the door and confronted them. My mom looked like she'd been caught with her hand in the cookie jar, But Julie just glared at me.

"The least you could have done was to tell me that he was out of the coma," I said.

"Sorry," said my mom. "Penny, your therapist doesn't think it's a good idea for you to see Greg or Becky or anyone connected with this until we have a full work up on your condition. Your memory loss might be due to the drugs, in which case seeing Greg wouldn't hurt you at all, it might even make you better. On the other hand, if your memory loss is due to your mind blocking out what happened to avoid traumatizing you, seeing Greg might bring it all back."

"There's also the fact that, Honey, you love Greg don't you?"

"Of course," I said. "There's no doubt of that."

"Well, seeing him this way would probably hurt you. He has blotches all over his face and swelling. They have a patch over one of his eyes and the other is just barely open. There are wires and weights attached to his legs and the cast on his wrist is huge. There was a tube sticking out of it to allow the blood to drain out after the surgery and..."

"Mom, I love Greg," I whined. "You know, for better and for worse...I can handle it. I want to see him. I need to see him." My sister snorted at my words.

I looked at her and told her that she could have at least told me what she knew about him.

"Why?" she asked. "I don't have to tell you shit!"

I was shocked because Julie doesn't curse much, even when she's upset. And she had never cursed in front of either one of our parents.

"Besides," she said nastily. "His visitation is extremely limited. Right now, it's no more than two people at a time in the room. Usually there's a family member and one other person. His family is kind enough to allow us to visit him. One of them has to go and do something else while we visit. There's also a list of exactly who is allowed to visit him." She looked at me and smiled.

"I go over every day at lunchtime and in the evening after work. Besides seeing Greg, I get to see my cowardly ex-boyfriend. Most of the time, when I get there Terri is just leaving." My eyes narrowed then. I wanted to see this Terri. I'd heard too much about her.

"Well, I'm going over there," I said. "Seeing Greg won't hurt me. Even if I am traumatized, he's the one who saved me. Seeing him would make me feel stronger and protected. And Greg loves me, so seeing me won't hurt him. It'll probably help him get better sooner." Julie spat out an ugly laugh then.