A little while later, Marta asked, ‘What movie was that, anyway?’
‘Made it up.’
‘Thought so.’
‘It sure worked,’ Neal said. ‘It made him start thinking about the payoff.’ To Marta, he said, ‘You know how people imagine things? It’s like a mental movie?’
‘Sure,’ she nodded. ‘Daydreams and things.’
‘Right. Well, I got to see his. I saw him park his car at Video City and take out a grocery sack. He was planning to leave it there for Glitt.’ Neal nodded at the pile on the table. ‘So I went hunting through his house for a bag of money.’
‘Did ya find it in his safe?’ Sue asked.
‘He doesn’t have a safe.’
‘Huh.’ She looked as if she’d been cheated. ‘Yer kiddin.’
‘No safe.’
‘Crippled Judas! After I got him to think all about his combination?’
‘You might’ve, if he’d had one. It was an admirable attempt.’
‘I’m so safe,’ Marta said, ‘she’d like to hide her jewelry in me.’
Sue smirked at her. ‘Up yer kazoo.’
‘A hell of a show,’ Neal said.
Grinning and shaking her head, Marta told Sue, ‘That was a terrific story about breaking into your father’s liquor cabinet. Nine years old?’
‘Brilliant,’ Neal said. ‘Vince might’ve pondered every turn and number of his combination lock – I could’ve run straight to his safe and opened it up slick as a whistle. No doubt about it.’
‘That’s how I had it figured,’ Sue said. She shrugged. ‘Ain’t my fault if he didn’t have a safe.’
‘You’re amazing,’ Marta told her.
‘Well . . . thanks. Sometimes I’m more amazing than at other times. You ain’t a slouch, yerself.’
‘Thank you.’
Sue nodded and took a drink. Then she frowned. ‘The tricky part was how I worked the combination lock into the story. That’s what took the genius. ’Cause there weren’t no combination lock on that cabinet where he kept his booze. It took a key Daddy wore on a chain. He wore it around his neck, there with his little gold cross that he always wore on account of he worried about vampires. So I had to sneak the necklace off him that night while he was snoozing.’
Marta and Neal stared at her.
‘What?’ Sue asked.
‘It was a true story?’ Neal asked.
‘Not the part about the combination. All the rest, though, yeah, I reckon it was.’
‘Sounds like you’ve had an interesting life,’ Marta said.
‘Mostly not,’ Sue told her. ‘I reckon I’ve had some adventures, but they mostly been bad things. The best stuff, it’s all happened since I run into Neal. Minute I laid eyes on him, I knew he was the fella I been waitin for. I figured to head off with him, if he’d take me. I fell in love, that’s the thing. Never figured on gettin messed up with a magic bracelet or a murder – or heistin half a million bucks. Or meetin you, either, Marta. It’s all been pretty wild.’
‘I’m glad things turned out this way,’ Marta said. ‘I was a little upset at first, but . . .’
‘To know me is to love me. Ain’t that right, Neal?’
‘You’re modest, too,’ he said.
‘Anyhow,’ Sue continued, ‘I just feel like the luckiest girl ever was, fallin in with you two desperados.’ She hoisted her glass and drank.
‘You can afford your own Jeep, now,’ Neal told her.
‘You want a Jeep?’ Marta asked.
Sue lowered her glass. ‘Yup. A Jeep Cherokee. Leastwise, I did want one. I’m not so sure, anymore.’
‘What do you mean?’ Neal asked, dismayed. ‘That was your dream. To have a brand-new four-wheel-drive Jeep Cherokee and drive all over the country, seeing all the sights, stopping to visit with strangers . . . Now you don’t want to anymore? Now that you’re rich? Now that you’re free to really do it?’
Marta frowned. ‘If we split the take three ways,’ she said, ‘you’ll end up with . . . more than a hundred and fifty thousand dollars. You could buy a ton of Jeeps . . .’
‘Well . . . I’d only need one.’
‘What’s the problem?’ Neal asked.
With a sad look on her face, Sue said, ‘I don’t wanta go off and break up the team. I mean . . . ya know? I’d like the three of us to stick together. If I went off by myself – or even with just you, Neal – I’d feel like a part’s not there.’
‘Yeah, me,’ Marta said, and tried to smile. But her smile faltered. ‘You can’t leave me behind, for godsake.’
‘Wouldn’t think of it,’ Neal told her.
‘No way,’ Sue said. ‘Ain’t no way in tarnation we’d leave you behind.’
‘I should hope not. After all, I’m the one who’s pregnant around here.’
Fifty-Two
Neal gazed at her, stunned.
Marta stared at him over the top of her glass. ‘Let’s just say I might be.’
‘You might be pregnant?’ Neal asked.
‘That’s one of her two big secrets,’ Sue explained, grinning like an imp.
‘What’s the other?’ Neal asked.
‘Still a secret,’ Sue said.
Marta set down her glass. ‘It’s not definite yet. I shouldn’t even have mentioned it, but . . . I’m pretty late, and . . .’
‘We’re gonna buy one of them home pregnancy tests tomorrow,’ Sue said.
Marta gave her an uneasy look. ‘I shouldn’t have said anything till we’d made sure.’
‘It don’t matter. I betcha a thousand bucks yer knocked up. Ten thousand – there for a second, I forgot I’m rich.’
Neal tried to think of something to say. Finally, he managed to ask Marta, ‘You really think . . .?’
‘I’m pretty sure.’
‘Not only that,’ Sue said, ‘but Marta figures it’s at least fifty-fifty odds that yer the father.’
‘Sue!’ Marta blurted, and laughed. To Neal she said, ‘If I am, you are.’
‘Good thing.’
‘You’re the only one . . .’
‘ . . . she’ll admit to.’
They both looked at Sue.
‘Okay. Okay. Sorry.’ She held up her hands. ‘I’ll butt out. Fact is, I oughta get outa here for a while and give you two some privacy.’ She set her empty glass on the table, then stood up. ‘I’ll just take me a little walk and come back in maybe an hour.’
‘You don’t have to,’ Marta said.
‘Yeah, that’s okay.’ Sue gave them a wave as she headed for the front door.
‘You don’t have to go,’ Marta said again. ‘Really.’
Hand on the doorknob, Sue looked back. ‘You two gotta have a while . . .’
‘Don’t,’ Marta said. ‘Just stay here. Please. I don’t want you going outside . . . not alone. Not until all this is over. You tell her, Neal.’
‘It might not be safe,’ he said. ‘You’d better not . . .’
‘I don’t wanta be in the way.’
Probably better if you are, Neal thought. He wasn’t so sure that he looked forward to being alone with Marta just now. What would they talk about? The future? Commitments? And what if she wasn’t completely happy about the situation?
Neal wanted a baby. He supposed that he’d always hoped to become a father, someday. But this seemed like a very odd and inconvenient time to spring such a thing on him.
If we can just put it off till after Glitt and Vince . . .
‘You won’t be in the way,’ Marta told Sue.
‘Glitt’s out there someplace,’ Neal said.
Sue smiled slightly. ‘Where do ya think he was when I went to the mall this afternoon?’
‘Sue!’ Marta snapped. ‘Please!’
‘Y’oughta be alone together.’ With that, she swung open the door.
Marta lurched to her feet and rushed at her, blurting, ‘I mean it! Damn it! Don’t go out! I’m not letting you go out there and get yourself killed.’
Neal
stood up. But he stayed put, uncertain what to do.
Sue, turning to face Marta, raised both hands and shook her head. ‘Okay, okay! Whoa! Calm down!’
Marta halted, put an arm out to bar Sue’s way, and pushed the door shut. She fastened the deadbolt. Then she leaned back against the door. She was breathing fast. Her eyes looked a little frantic. ‘I’m sorry,’ she gasped. ‘I just . . . I’m sorry. Everything’s . . . I’m a little scared, okay? Everything’s . . . going too well.’ She glanced toward Neal, then back at Sue. ‘You know? We put over such a big one on that prick Conrad. We’re suddenly rich. I mean, it’s a ton of money. And I’m probably going to have your baby, Neal. We’ll have a little boy or girl. We’ll be a family. And there’s us. The three of us. We’re all . . . we make a great team, like you said, Sue. The three of us. So the thing is, I just can’t stand the idea that it might all suddenly go down the tubes. I want us to stay together and be safe.’ Her mouth twisted crooked and tears shimmered in her eyes. ‘Okay?’
‘Okay,’ Sue said.
‘We’ll be fine if we stick together.’ Her wet eyes swung to Neal. ‘You know?’
‘I know,’ he muttered through a tightness in his throat.
‘You know?’ she asked Sue.
‘I know.’
‘If something happened to either of you . . . it’d kill me.’
Sue went to her. She pressed her face against the white of Marta’s T-shirt, just below the shoulder. Marta’s arms went around her.
They held each other and wept.
Neal watched. He was glad Marta had talked Sue into staying, but the closeness between them bothered him more than ever.
What’s going on? What about me?
He glanced down at the gold serpent wrapped around his left wrist.
No. I won’t. Not with them. They can have their secrets.
I don’t want to know.
Can’t invade them. It’d be wrong, and I won’t do it, no matter what.
‘Neal,’ Marta said.
Mouth against the white of Marta’s T-shirt, Sue said, ‘Get yerself over here, hon.’
‘Me?’ he asked.
‘Yeah, you,’ Marta said.
‘Okay,’ he said.
As he neared them, Marta met his eyes. She opened her arms and reached out beyond Sue, stretching both arms toward Neal. He moved in gently against Sue’s back. He felt the heat of her body through her knit top. He felt the curves of her back, the firm mounds of her buttocks.
Marta’s hands caressed his sides. Reaching past Sue, he put his hands on Marta’s hips. He slid them upward, feeling her smoothness through her T-shirt.
He pushed his face into the soft warmth of Sue’s hair.
Reaching behind herself, Sue curled her hands around the backs of Neal’s thighs. Her hands roamed higher and clutched his buttocks.
He kissed the nape of her neck. The hair tickled his face. Close to her neck, it felt moist.
‘I feel like the meat on a sandwich,’ Sue murmured.
‘The meat’s the lucky part,’ Marta said. ‘You get to have us on both sides.’
‘Reckon so.’ Sue squirmed, rubbing herself against them. ‘Only thing is, ya godda unwrap me.’
Neal noticed that nobody was crying anymore.
He fingered the bottom of Sue’s knit pullover. It was partly tucked into the waist of her skirt. He plucked it loose, then lifted it. She raised her arms. He slid her shirt all the way up and off.
Instead of lowering her arms, she kept them high and eased them forward against the door. Elbows straight, she pressed her open hands against the wood some distance above Marta’s shoulders. She tilted back her head. Marta’s face angled down toward her.
It occurred to Neal that they were kissing.
It also occurred to him that it seemed like a perfectly fine idea, and he wondered vaguely why he didn’t feel shocked or offended or jealous.
Pressed to Sue’s back, he glided his hands from the waist of her skirt up her naked sides. When he felt her ribcage, he slid his hands forward and cupped her breasts – soft, smooth hills, springy, with rigid tongues that thrust against his palms.
Curving his hands over the tops of Sue’s breasts, he met the soft undersides of Marta’s breasts.
She still had her T-shirt on, but no bra. Neal had known all along that she’d put on nothing except the T-shirt after coming back from Vince’s. No bra and no panties. It had been obvious from the way the T-shirt draped her body.
Pushing upward, he lifted her breasts. They were heavy against the backs of his open hands. He moved his hands to the front, still lifting. He felt her nipples rub against his knuckles. Spreading his fingers, he trapped the stiff juts of flesh. He squeezed them through the T-shirt. Marta let out a shuddery breath.
Moments later, Sue’s hands came up from somewhere below. They collided with Neal’s hands, knocking them away from Marta’s breasts. He thought she’d done it to interfere. Then he realized she was lifting Marta’s shirt. He helped. Marta raised her arms. Neal pulled the shirt off them and flung it aside.
Now she was entirely naked, Sue in nothing except her pleated white miniskirt.
Both women seemed to become aware, at the same moment, that Neal remained fully clothed. Marta, reaching past Sue’s bare sides, plucked out his shirt tails. Sue, still pressed against Marta, reached behind her own back and unfastened Neal’s belt.
An awkward way to go about things.
Neal almost suggested that they break up their sandwich and move to the bedroom.
Are you nuts? Keep your mouth shut – you could ruin the whole deal. Interrupt a thing like this, might be the end of it. Somebody gets a case of the guilts . . .
And you might never get a chance like this again.
Don’t blow it.
He said nothing. He helped by taking off his own shirt. While Marta caressed him, Sue worked on his shorts. He let Sue open them and pull them down his thighs, along with his briefs.
A hand encircled his penis.
He didn’t know whose hand.
It glided lightly up and down.
At the same time the mystery hand went away, Sue used the heel of one foot to shove Neal’s pants the rest of the way down to his ankles. He stepped out of them and used his own feet to pry his shoes off.
Then he slid his hands up Sue’s legs and under her pleated skirt.
She wore nothing under there.
Neal was not surprised, but he was very pleased. He curled his hands around the fronts of her thighs. As he brought them slowly upward, someone removed Sue’s skirt. It stopped brushing against the backs of his hands.
He was vaguely aware of Marta and Sue clutching and exploring each other, kissing and moaning.
A hand that he thought might belong to Marta squeezed one of his buttocks, fingertips digging at his crack.
He squirmed, rubbing himself against Sue’s sweaty back. He slipped fingers into her. She gasped. She writhed on his hand. Soon, she was thrashing about, making whimpery sounds. And so was Marta. Neal didn’t know what was being done to Marta, or who was doing it, but she seemed as frantic as Sue.
Someone took his hand.
It was pulled forward, leaving Sue, and lifted and shoved up between Marta’s legs. She let out a cry. Not a cry of pain, but of surprise and delight.
Sue must’ve been the one who’d moved his hand.
Nice of her to share.
With his other hand, he went for Sue’s left breast. But a hand was already there, so he found his way above it and took hold of Marta’s breast.
One of Sue’s hands reached around behind her back. Reached for Neal and found him.
Marta, writhing frantically, blurted, ‘Stop it! Stop it! Let go! Everyone . . . let go.’
She shoved his hand away.
Sue stopped moving.
‘What?’ Neal gasped.
‘Let go. Everybody . . . let go. Step back.’
Knew this was too good to last.
Sue l
et go of him. He took a couple of steps backward. The air felt cool against his sweaty skin where he’d been pressed against Sue. His penis stood erect, so hard and straining that it seemed ready to explode. His right hand hung by his side, dripping.
Sue freed herself from Marta and stepped backward slowly. Her hair was matted against her head with sweat. Her back gleamed.
Neal moved to the side so he could see past Sue. Marta stood with her back to the door, arms raised and legs apart. Strands of wet hair clung to her face. She was panting for air. Her skin dripped.
‘Y’okay?’ Sue asked her.
Marta nodded, her mouth hanging open. ‘Neal,’ she gasped. ‘You want . . . one of us?’
Breathless, he nodded.
‘Shoot, I reckon . . . he wants . . . the both of us.’
‘I reckon you’re right,’ Marta said.
‘Right,’ Neal said.
‘Can’t have us both.’
Oh, shit! Here it comes! I knew this was too good to . . .
Marta’s eyes went to Sue. ‘Your turn,’ she said.
‘Ya sure you don’t wanta go first?’
‘Come here, honey,’ Marta said to Neal.
He went to her. She pulled him tight against her hot, sweaty body. Hands roaming up and down his back, she kissed him. Her tongue pushed into his mouth. She squirmed, sliding herself against him.
And suddenly she wrestled him.
Shoved him and turned him around and wrapped her arms around his chest and hugged him tight. He felt her strong embrace, her breath on the side of his neck, the push of her breasts against his back, the tickle of her pubic thatch against his rump.
‘Come and get it, honey,’ she said to Sue.
A grin spread across Sue’s face.
She had to jump.
Neal caught her. Hands cupping her slick buttocks, he lifted her. He eased her down onto him. He did it very slowly, and watched. As he felt himself slide into Sue’s hugging tightness, he saw his penis vanish.
Marta stopped hugging Neal’s chest. Reaching out, she clutched Sue by the sides, just beneath the armpits.
Sue came forward. Breasts pushing against Neal’s chest, she kissed Marta over his shoulder. Then she kissed him. Then Marta nibbled his ear.