“Oh. Right.” Jake blushed a little.
Alison pulled the nightshirt over her head. Facing him, she began to open the buttons of his pajama shirt. He swallowed the remains of his popcorn. He stared into her eyes. His gaze roamed downward, lingering on her naked body.
Alison watched his hands move slowly toward her until his fingertips trembled against her breasts. The hand that had held the popcorn felt grainy with salt, and slick. “Woops,” he whispered. He took the hand away and rubbed it on his pajama pants, leaving an oily smear.
The oil and butter on Alison’s breast gleamed in the lamplight. “You’d better lick it clean,” she said.
He did.
As his tongue lapped and swirled, Alison slipped the shirt down his arms. She gasped and arched her back when he sucked.
Then his mouth went to her mouth and his arms went around her.
Alison fell sideways against the sofa back and stretched her legs under the table. Jake pushed his tongue into her mouth. She tugged the waistband of his pajamas. The snaps popped open and she pulled at the pajamas until he was bare against her, smooth and hard.
His tongue left her mouth. He kissed her lips, her chin, the side of her neck. His hands roamed, caressing her shoulder blades, gliding down, curling over her buttocks, moving up again.
They stayed away from the middle of her spine.
Gently clutching his hair, Alison eased his head away and looked into his eyes. “You never touch me…there.”
His eyebrows lifted slightly.
“Where it was.”
“I guess not,” he whispered. Alison could feel his penis shrinking against her thigh.
“Does it disgust you?”
“No. God, no. Nothing about you disgusts me.”
“It was in me.”
“Nothing’s in there, now. I watched the doctor clean the wound, and—”
“But you’re afraid to touch me there.”
“No, I’m not.”
“Scared you’ll catch something?”
“I don’t want to hurt you.”
“It’s healed. All but the scar.”
“You want me to touch it?”
“Not if you don’t want to.”
“It isn’t that,” he muttered, looking miserable.
“What is it?”
“I did it to you. I stabbed you, cut you open. I hurt you, and when I see the wound or touch it, it all comes back, how you cried out and jumped and dug your nails into the floor. It all comes back how much I hurt you.”
“You mean it’s guilt, just guilt?”
“You might say that.”
“Dipshit, you saved my life.” Alison pressed her cheek to his and held him tight. “I look at it in the mirror. It’s special, Jake. It’s you cutting into me and taking out the nightmare.”
The tips of Jake’s fingers trembled against the flesh of Alison’s wound. They gently followed the length of it. They tickled and she squirmed.
“Does it hurt?”
“No. Does this?”
Jake moaned.
“Let’s knock off all this small talk,” Alison said. “The popcorn’s getting cold and we’ve still got a double feature to watch.”
“What am I,” Jake asked, “the coming attraction?”
Alison laughed and swung a leg over his hip.
Rave Reviews for Richard Laymon!
“I’ve always been a Laymon fan. He manages to raise serious gooseflesh.”
“Laymon is incapable of writing a disappointing book.”
“Laymon always takes it to the max. No one writes like him and you’re going to have a good time with anything he writes.”
“If you’ve missed Laymon, you’ve missed a treat!”
“A brilliant writer.”
“I’ve read every book of Laymon’s I could get my hands on. I’m absolutely a longtime fan.”
More Praise for Richard Laymon!
“One of horror’s rarest talents.”
“Laymon is, was, and always will be king of the hill.”
“Laymon is an American writer of the highest caliber.”
“Laymon is unique. A phenomenon. A genius of the grisly and the grotesque.”
“Laymon doesn’t pull any punches. Everything he writes keeps you on the edge of your seat.”
“One of the best, and most reliable, writers working today.”
Other Leisure Books by Richard Laymon:
DARK MOUNTAIN
BEWARE
THE WOODS ARE DARK
CUTS
TRIAGE (Anthology)
THE MIDNIGHT TOUR
THE BEAST HOUSE
THE CELLAR
INTO THE FIRE
AFTER MIDNIGHT
THE LAKE
COME OUT TONIGHT
RESURRECTION DREAMS
ENDLESS NIGHT
BODY RIDES
BLOOD GAMES
TO WAKE THE DEAD
NO SANCTUARY
DARKNESS, TELL US
NIGHT IN THE LONESOME OCTOBER
ISLAND
THE MUSEUM OF HORRORS (Anthology)
IN THE DARK
THE TRAVELING VAMPIRE SHOW
AMONG THE MISSING
ONE RAINY NIGHT
BITE
Copyright
NEW YORK CITYA LEISURE BOOK®
September 2009
Published by
Dorchester Publishing Co., Inc.
200 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10016
Copyright © 1988 by Richard Laymon
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
e-ISBN: 978-1-4285-0729-6
The name “Leisure Books” and the stylized “L” with design are trademarks of Dorchester Publishing Co., Inc.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Visit us online at www.dorchesterpub.com.