“You have to admit, they change the picture somewhat. In terms of the guys,” he added.
“I’d say so,” Bert agreed. “Substitute victims. If the boys are so inclined. Which would let us off the hook.”
“They must be out of their gourds, coming out to a place like this. Two girls.”
“Dykes,” Bert said.
“You think so?”
She laughed. “Maybe. On the other hand, maybe not. Not fully fledged yet, anyway. Borderline in my opinion. Bonnie’s the pushy one and Andrea’s playing hard to get. But don’t quote me on that. And I don’t think they’re out of their gourds. They’re probably safer out here than they’d be on the streets of Santa Cruz.”
“That’s not saying much.”
“So what are we going to do?” Bert asked.
“I think they’re worried about running into the guys.”
“Of course they are. You made the fellows sound like escapees from a chain-gang.”
“What do you want to do?” Rick asked.
“Let’s stay. We’ll give the girls a good long lead. The guys can jump them and fuck their brains out, and be too pooped to care by the time we go by.”
“Sometimes,” Rick said, “you’re very strange.”
She contorted her face and rolled her eyes.
“Does this mean you think we should join up with them?” Rick asked.
“I’m not thrilled by the idea, but I guess it makes sense. I get my camping trip, the girls get our protection, and you get to continue drooling over a couple of nymphets young enough to be your daughters.”
“I wasn’t drooling,” Rick protested. “And I’m not that old.” She arched an eyebrow.
Rick grinned. “Maybe we’d better forget it. I just might lose control and go for them.”
“I’m worried.”
“Obviously.”
“You get the urge, buddy, just remember something.”
“What?”
Smiling, Bert gently squeezed him through the front of his pants. “They ain’t me.” She let go and patted his leg. “Come on, we’d better catch up with the children.”
Chapter Twelve
Jerry Dobbs was smiling at Gillian over the top of the fence. “Sorry,” he said. “Did I startle you?”
“That’s all right.” The jolt of alarm she’d felt at first hearing his voice faded, but her heart still raced from the shock of it. She managed a smile.
“A little warm today for the hot tub, don’t you think? How about coming over here and joining me in the pool? I was just about to go in myself.”
Gillian, surprised and delighted by the offer, didn’t hesitate. “That sounds great.”
“Come around to my driveway, I’ll open the gate for you.”
“Be right there,” she said.
His face disappeared, and Gillian went into the house.
She knew she was breaking her rule against fraternizing with neighbors, but she didn’t care. Ever since meeting Jerry so briefly last night, she’d hoped to see more of him. He must’ve felt drawn to her, also. A guy doesn’t invite just anyone over to use his pool.
I’ll have to watch what I say to him, she cautioned herself.
Wouldn’t do, at all, to slip up and let him find out I’m not Fredrick’s niece.
Fredrick, the sicko.
The house, though pleasantly cool after the heat outside, seemed forbidding to Gillian as she hurried toward the bedroom.
She dreaded the thought of spending another night in it.
I won’t, she told herself. After I leave Jerry’s, I’ll pack up and get out of here.
In the bedroom, she set her beer bottle on the dresser and slipped into sandals. She turned to the wall of mirrors. And shook her head in dismay. The bikini was little more than cords that tied at her hips and behind her back and neck. Strung from the cords were flimsy, meager swatches of snug white fabric. Gillian felt naked. This was an outfit for wearing in private, not in front of strangers. She had a modest onepiece swimsuit for beaches and pools, but it was back in her apartment; she hadn’t foreseen any need to bring it along.
That’s because you don’t go swimming with neighbors, she thought. Right.
She considered changing into shorts and a T-shirt.
He already saw me in this. He’d think I’m nuts.
With a sigh, she put on her shirt as a cover-up. The shirt was long enough to drape the scanty bottom of her bikini. She buttoned it, brushed her short hair, then picked up her beer bottle and headed for the front door.
She removed the burglar bar. Having no key, she left the door unlocked.
She walked across Jerry’s yard and found him waiting at the open gate of his driveway. He was lean and dark. Instead of trunks, he wore an old pair of tan corduroys with the legs cut off.
“Glad you could come over,” he said.
“Who could refuse a swimming pool on a day like thins?”
He shut the gate. Gillian walked with him toward the rear.
“Enjoying the house-sitting?” he asked.
“It sure beats staying in my little apartment.”
“Does your apartment have a pool?”
Gillian nodded. “I never use it, though. There could be thirty people watching you from their windows. Not to mention an assorted variety of tenants who might decide to join in the fun.”
“Yeah. Know just what you mean.”
His pool was shimmering and clear, its surface flat in the still afternoon.
“Feel free to dive in,” Jerry said. “I think I’ll get myself a beer. Could you use another?”
Gillian squinted at her bottle. It was half-empty. “Sure, why not?”
She sat at the table under the shade of its broad umbrella while Jerry went into the house. She sipped her beer. Her hand trembled slightly and she felt her heart thumping. She looked at the house. From the rear, it seemed similar to Fredrick’s.
Bet it doesn’t come with a collection of sick magazines, she thought.
Or mirrors on the ceiling.
Not that I’d mind the mirrors.
She wished her heart would slow down.
Take it easy, she told herself. Relax.
The rear door slid open and Jerry came out with a bottle of beer in each hand. He sat at the table. He pushed a bottle across to her.
“Beck’s,” Gillian said, reading the label. “I like it.”
“What’s that you’re drinking?”
She slid the bottle toward him. “Corona. Have some. It’s okay, I don’t have any diseases.” As the words came out, she felt herself blush. That’s certainly laying the cards on the table, she thought.
Jerry drank from her bottle and nodded. “I’ll have to pick up some of this stuff.” He passed it back to her.
She drank the rest of it. “Uncle Fredrick has good taste in beer,” she said. “I can’t say the same for his taste in reading matter.”
“Oh?”
Careful, she thought. “He seems to go in for some pretty gruesome stuffy.”
“I guess we all have our quirks.”
“Does he seem all right to you?”
Jerry shrugged. “I’m embarrassed to admit it, but I really don’t know the man at all. I’ve said hi to him a couple of times when we’ve crossed paths, but that’s about the extent of it. He keeps to himself pretty much. So do I. Comes from all those years of apartment living, I think. The less I see of my neighbors, the better.”
“That’s why you poked your head over the fence and asked me over,” Gillian said, smiling.
He laughed. “That’s different.” He took a drink of beer and flinched slightly as the bottle dripped water onto his chest. Gillian watched the clear bead trickle down his skin, leaving a shiny trail. He smeared it with the flat of his hand.
“Are you on vacation?” he asked.
“Me? I’m on permanent vacation,” Gillian said. “I don’t do much in the way of work.”
“How nice for you. Wealthy family?”
br /> “Dead family.”
His eyes widened.
Gillian felt a little shocked herself. Why am I telling him the truth about my family? she wondered. Would’ve been easier to lie. She always lied about her background.
“I shouldn’t be flippant about it. I’m sorry. But it’s been a few years and I usually don’t ... I usually just make up a story. The fact is, my parents were killed in a traffic accident. A deputy sheriff’s car lost its brakes while it was in hot pursuit of a robbery suspect and smashed into them. My parents’ attorney filed a wrongful-death suit on my behalf, and it was settled for a good sum. I’m pretty well. set up.” Gillian shrugged.
“I’m sorry about your folks.”
“Well, thanks. What is it that you do?”
“I design computer programs.”
“Ah, you must be a brain.”
“That’s me.” He laughed and took a drink of beer.
“What kind of programs?”
“I specialize in weapons systems.”
“You mean like for missiles?”
“Something like that.”
“Yikes. Guess I’d better stop asking questions or you’ll put the FBI on me.”
“That’s right.” He set down his bottle. “Well, ’m about ready to go in for a dip. How about you?”
“Sure.” Gillian lingered at the table, taking another sip of beer while Jerry rose from his seat. He hitched up his shorts and turned toward the pool. Gillian pushed her chair back. He looked around at her. “You don’t have to wait for me,” she said, and crossed a foot over her knee to remove a sandal. Nodding, Jerry headed for the deep end of the pool. Gillian slipped off her other sandal and stood up. She slowly unbuttoned her shirt. As Jerry dove, she took it off. She draped it over the chair and stepped quickly to the pool, watching him skim beneath the surface to the opposite side. He was just coming up for air when she leaped. She hit the water in a shallow dive. For an instant, the chill was an agony. Then it felt good as she glided along through the silence. Her fingers touched the tile wall. She bobbed to the surface and stood. The water covered her to the shoulders.
She spotted Jerry near the middle of the pool, treading water, watching her. “I missed your dive,” he said.
“Too bad. It was a ten.”
“Let’s see you go off the board.”
“Thanks, anyway.”
“I’ll go first.”
“I’m not stopping you.”
He swam to the side and boosted himself up. His sodden shorts hung low. Gillian saw a pale band of skin where his tan stopped, the top of his buttocks. He tugged the shorts up as he walked toward the diving board. Pausing at the end of the board, he rubbed his hands together. “I’ll now perform my world famous triple somersault.”
He bounced on the board, springing higher and higher, his firm body shining in the sunlight. Suddenly, he tucked and hugged his knees. Gillian winced as his head barely missed the tip of the board. Midway through the first somersault, his back slammed the surface. A geyser of white water exploded.
He came up grinning foolishly, and Gillian clapped. “Bravo!” she called.
“Do I get a ten?”
“I’ll give you a three on the grounds that you survived at all.”
“Okay. Let’s see how an expert does it.”
“I don’t know.”
“Come on. I’m you can do better than me.”
“I’m not much into diving.”
“You’re too modest.”
That’s about right, she thought.
Jerry side-stroked to the opposite side of the pool. Facing Gillian, he boosted himself up and sat on the edge. He grinned and wiped the water from his eyes. “I’ll make you a deal. One dive will get you a steak dinner tonight. Barbecued by the master chef, me. How about it?”
“Shameless bribery,” Gillian said.
“Naturally, the offer includes cocktails and hors d’oeuvres.”
“What about dessert?”
“Ice-cream, followed by after-dinner drinks.”
“And all I have to do is one dive off the board?”
“That’s all.”
“How come you’re so eager for me to go off the board?”
“So I can get a good look at you,” he said.
His smile vanished. “And so you can stop being nervous about your bikini.”
“You noticed, huh?”
“Yep. You came over here in a shirt. That was my first clue. Then you kept it on.”
“I don’t usually parade around in something like this.”
“But remember, I’ve already seen you in it.”
“You took me by surprise.”
“Nevertheless, the damage is done. I’ve seen what there is to see.”
Gillian grimaced.
“I think we’ll both enjoy ourselves a lot more once you get over the self-consciousness. You can stop worrying about what I might see, and I can stop worrying about trying to see what you’re hiding.”
“Makes sense,” she muttered. She rolled her eyes upward and sighed. She wished she had left the shirt back at the house. Drawing attention to her timidity had turned out to be even more embarrassing than if she had simply shown herself from the start. “I feel like an idiot,” she said.
“Don’t. There’s nothing to be ashamed of. If I were in your place, I would’ve been reluctant, myself, about going over to a stranger’s pool in an outfit that exposed every intimate detail of my anatomy.”
The remark stunned Gillian for an instant. Then, bursting into laughter, she cried out, “You bastard!”
He rocked, clutching his knees and grinning, delighted.
Gillian whirled around, still laughing, and thrust herself out of the pool. She strode toward the far end, scowling over her shoulder at him. “Every intimate detail, my ass!”
“That’s included!” he called. He wasn’t laughing anymore. His smile was slipping. He stared at her.
Gillian looked away from him.
It’s all right, she told herself. Plenty of women wear as little as this to the beach. Why should it bother me?
Her wet feet slapped the concrete. Water trickled down her body. The cling of the bikini kept her terribly aware of how little there was of it. Her breasts, though firm and not very large, jiggled and swayed as if they were bare. Without looking down, she knew that her nipples were erect and that the fabric of the bikini was too flimsy to hide the fact.
At the end of the pool, she turned toward the diving board. Jerry was still sitting with his legs in the water. He was gazing straight ahead.
He’s not even looking at me!
Gillian felt a mixture of relief and annoyance.
She stepped onto the diving board. Jerry kept staring into space.
She walked to the end of the board. It was springy under her feet. She stood straight, toes curled over the edge, and waited for the board to stop moving.
What’s with this guy? she wondered. He bribes me to climb out of the pool so he can get a good look at me, and then it’s like I’m not even here.
“Yoo-hoo,” she called.
His head turned. “Oh,” he said, as if mildly surprised to see her.
“Welcome back.”
“Guess I was daydreaming for a second there.”
“Gee, thanks. I thought you couldn’t wait to ogle my marvelous, semi-nude body.”
His eyes slowly roamed down Gillian. “And a fine body it is,” he said. “Now, let’s see if you can top my dive.”
“That’d be tough,” she said. What do you want? she asked herself. Do you want him to gape and pant in awe? Lick his lips? Drool? The bastard could show a tiny bit more interest.
Maybe he’s gay.
Wouldn’t that be a joke?
With a sigh, Gillian hopped. Her feet hit the board. She leaped as it flung her up. Soaring over the pool, she arched toward the sky, bent quickly at the waist and touched her toes, then straightened her body and knifed down into the water. When her fingerti
ps brushed the bottom, she pushed herself away and glided to the surface.
Jerry held up both hands with their fingers spread. “Definitely a ten,” he said. “I had no idea I was in the presence of a champion.”
“I.think it was a seven,” Gillian told him. “But thanks.”
“I knew you looked familiar. I saw you in the Olympics.” Zit
“I’m not that good,” she said.
“Could’ve fooled me. And you claimed you weren’t into diving.”
“It was an easy one.”
“Well, don’t stop now. Let’s see another.”
“Okay, one more.” She boosted herself of the pool. “Don’t expect anything spectacular,” she cautioned him. “I’m a little rusty.”
She was standing at the end of the board before she realized that she had forgotten to be self-conscious about her bikini. Jerry was watching her. He had an eager look on his face.
What the hell, she thought. He thinks I’m a great diver.
She bounced high, tucked, somersaulted, and went in straight and clean.
Jerry was clapping when she came up. “An artist!” he proclaimed. “A virtuoso. You could win trophies for that kind of performance.”
“I’ve got a few,” Gillian admitted, treading water just in front of his submerged feet.
“I don’t doubt it. Let’s see another one.”
“I think two’s enough,” she said. “I don’t want to press my luck. Next time, I might belly-flop and embarrass myself.”
“Just one more?” he asked.
What’s the point of refusing? she thought. He really wants to see me dive again, and I’ve got no good reason to disappoint him. “Okay,” she said. “One more, and that’s it. For now, anyway.”
“Terrific.”
Instead of crossing the pool to climb out where she had before, she swam to Jerry’s side. He watched as she placed her hands on the edge next to him and thrust herself up. Gillian stayed there for a moment, braced with stiff arms. She saw him glance at her breasts, then look into her eyes. “I’ll do a really hard one this time,” she said. “My grand finale.”
Jerry made a thumbs-up sign.
Gillian swung her leg up, climbed from the pool, and hurried to the diving board. She walked out to the end of it, stood motionless until the board stopped shaking, then did an about-face.