She was afraid to do anything but stand there while he ran his hands over her and up under her dress. He told her to take her clothes off and get on the bed. Then he switched off the light and took off his shoes and pants and got in bed with her. At first she thought he had his hand down there and was pushing on her with the tip of his thumb—and then was astonished to realize that what was rubbing on her was his “thing.” What there was of it. He rubbed and rubbed himself on her and then it was over and he rolled off her and turned his face to the wall. She thought he might’ve been crying. She hadn’t known she’d been crying too until she got up and went into the bathroom to clean herself and saw her face in the mirror.
When she came out he had the cover pulled over him and was snoring. She had no idea how long she stood there before finally putting on her dress and shoes and going out to the car and lying down on the seat. But she couldn’t sleep for the cold and she kept listening for her cabin door to open. Finally she came to my door and tried it and found it unlocked and came in real quiet and curled up next to the wall. She didn’t think she’d be able to sleep but she must’ve because next thing she knew she saw the light in the bathroom.
“He threaten to hurt you if you didn’t do like he said?”
“No, he never.”
“Then why do it if you didn’t want to?”
“I thought I had to. I thought you were right outside.”
“Come again? You thought I was right outside? Outside your cabin? Then why didn’t you run out?”
“I thought…I thought you were waiting to be next.”
And then she was crying into her hands again.
Well hell. After a minute I put an arm around her and she leaned into me with her face on my chest. Her crying became a case of hiccups, and when I chuckled at the mix of hics and sobs, she hit me lightly on the shoulder with her fist and said, “It’s not—hic—funny”—and we both laughed.
“Let’s try and get some sleep,” I said. “Sun’ll be up soon. You can have this bed.”
She lay down and I covered her with the blanket and tucked it around her. Then got in Buck’s bed and under the blanket.
I don’t know how much time passed before she said, “Sonny?” She said it so softly I wasn’t sure I’d heard it. “You awake?”
“What?”
“Charlie told me the trouble you had in Loosiana.”
“She did, huh?”
“Was it terrible in prison?”
“What do you think?”
“It must’ve been terrible.”
“Go to sleep.”
“I’m glad you got away.”
“Not as glad as I am. Now go to sleep.”
Another minute went by.
“Sonny?”
“Christ’s sake, what?”
“I’m glad you weren’t waiting to be next.”
“Do I have to go knock you on the head to shut you up?”
She chuckled. “You wouldn’t neither. You’re too nice.”
I came awake up with my head still hurting and discovered her lying beside me. No telling how long she’d been there. She was rolled in her blanket like an Indian, her back to me, her ass against my hip. I had an urgent erection, and my first inclination was to use it on her. Then I remembered how pathetic she’d looked last night, and how she’d thought I’d been waiting to take a turn. I’d never been prone to confusion about myself or about women, but if somebody had put a gun to my head at that moment and demanded to know exactly what I was feeling, I couldn’t have given a straight answer.
She stirred and started to come awake. I rolled on my side away from her and feigned to be still sleeping. She lay still for a minute, then eased out of bed. I waited till I heard the bathroom door click shut and then got up and put my clothes on.
When she came out and saw me she blushed. Then looked down at herself and said, “Will you look at this dress? You’d think somebody’d been sleeping in it, for Pete’s sake.” I smiled at that and then she smiled too. Then we went over to the café.
The others weren’t there yet but we went ahead and ordered. Several mugs of coffee and some fried eggs and sausage and hash-browns and biscuits dripping with butter all helped put a cushion on my hangover. Belle ordered the same thing but only picked at it. She was nervous and kept cutting her eyes to the front door. I was feeling a little squirmy myself. She probably sensed it and didn’t even try to make small talk.
I was done eating when Buck showed up. I’d figured he’d get there ahead of Russell and Charlie, who were prone to a morning hump and were usually the last ones to the table. He slid into the seat opposite us in the booth and gave a lopsided grin. His eyes were badly bloodshot. “Feel like I been run over by a damn booze truck,” he said. The waitress came with a mug of coffee for him and took his order and went away again.
He lit a cigarette and smiled at Belle. She was looking at her plate and pushing her food around with her fork. “When I woke up by my lonesome,” he said, “I figured you’d gone to see if young Romeo here could use some company too.” He winked at me. “She’s a darling, ain’t she?”
I wasn’t smiling, and he finally seemed to tune in to our mood.
“What?” he said.
“She didn’t like what you did last night,” I said. I hadn’t intended to be so blunt, but there it was.
“Say what?” He looked at me like I’d spoken in a foreign language.
“You scared her, man,” I said. “She’d rather you don’t do that again.”
He laughed. “She’d rather, would she?” He looked at Belle. “Is this rascal telling me true, missy? I scared you?”
She kept her gaze on her plate and nodded. I was pulled between pity and the urge to slap her on the head for being so damned sheepish.
“And so?” Buck said. “You don’t want me to come creeping into your tent no more?”
She looked all set to start crying again. It really irked me. “It’s what she said, Buck.”
“Not to me, she didn’t—and she can speak for herself.”
She laid her fork alongside her plate and for the first time looked at him directly. “I don’t want you to do that again.”
He stared at her without any expression at all.
“Please,” she said.
Which got a smile from him. “Well hell, honey. All you had to do was say so. I never in my life forced myself on a woman and I ain’t starting now. This how you want it, this is how you got it. Good enough?”
She nodded.
“Still friends?”
She looked like she’d never heard such a question. Then made a small smile and nodded again.
“Well, all right then,” he said.
The waitress arrived with his food and the coffeepot and refilled our mugs. Buck cut into his pork chop and said it was done just right. Belle started nibbling the sausage links off her plate with her fingers. The matter of last night had been so swiftly settled it felt like I’d missed something, but she seemed well satisfied with the way it went.
Buck said he’d already checked on the car—radiator all patched up and ready to go. Then Russell and Charlie showed up and ordered big well-done steaks with scrambled eggs and hashbrown potatoes and biscuits and gravy and tall glasses of milk.
Charlie was happy to see how much the swelling had gone down in Belle’s cheekbone. She lightly traced the bruises with a forefinger and said, “Look here where the purple part’s already turning blue. This spot here’ll be green by tomorrow, and here’s some yellow starting to show. Declare, girl, right now you got about the most colorful face in Texas.”
Russell leaned over for a closer look at the swellings. “You’re lucky the bastard wasn’t wearing some kind of mean ring,” he said. “You won’t have no scar at all.”