CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Neala woke up. Her head was on Johnny’s lap. They were still outside, Johnny sitting with his back to the cabin wall.

He smiled down at Neala. His eyes were bloodshot. His face, dark with a day’s growth of whiskers, was torn by scratches and streaked with the brown stains of dry blood. This is how soldiers must look, she thought.

Reaching up, she touched his rough cheek.

“Guess I could use a shave, ” he said.

“And sleep. Did you get any sleep at all? ”

“What’s that? ”

His hand caressed Neala’s forehead. It felt big and warm and comforting. She drew it down to her mouth, and kissed it. Then she slipped it inside her shirt. She closed her eyes as the hand moved lightly over her breasts. It stroked the skin of her belly. She felt his hardness push against the back of her head. The hand returned to her breasts, less gentle now, squeezing and plying her rigid nipples.

She moved his hand away, and stood. Her stiff muscles ached and burned as she stretched. She smiled down at Johnny. He watched as if he knew what would happen next.

She opened her shirt, and slipped it off.

“Are you sure? ” Johnny asked. “Here? ”

She kept her eyes on Johnny. If she turned to the field of impaled heads, she knew she could not go through with it. “Here’s the only place we can, ” she said.

“Inside? ”

“Sherri. ” She tugged at her belt, and opened it. “Here’s fine. In the sunlight. ” She unfastened her corduroys, and slid them down her legs. Stepping out of them, she stood before Johnny, clad only in her brief panties. She slipped them off. The morning breeze licked her skin. The sun was warm.

She crouched in front of Johnny, and helped remove his boots and socks. Standing, he peeled off his T‑ shirt. As he opened his pants, Neala stroked his broad shoulders. His chest was smooth and muscular and tanned. She fingered his nipples.

He bent down to lower his pants. Then he embraced her. He was warm and big. His tongue pushed into her mouth like the phallus of a small, insistent animal.

For a long time, they held each other. They touched and probed. Then they spread their clothes on the ground.

Neala lay on her back.

Johnny knelt between her legs. His shaft was huge and solid.

It filled her, stretched her, hurt her, but the pain only sharpened her desire. She whimpered into his mouth. She clutched his buttocks as he drove into her with long, endless strokes that seemed to plunge deeper with each thrust.

Then it was too much.

He pounded, pumping, flooding her, and she tried not to cry out as she quaked with her own spasms more intense than any she had ever known.

The cabin door squeaked. Opening her eyes, Neala saw Sherri step out.

“You done? ” she asked, her voice sarcastic.

“For Godsake, Sherri! ”

“Oh, don’t pay any attention to me. ”

“Get out of here! What’s the matter with you! ”

Shaking her head, Sherri gazed into the distance. “Nothing’s the matter with me. I just wonder about you two. ”

“If you’ll go inside for a minute, ” Johnny said, “we’ll finish up and get dressed. ” His voice was calm.

“Don’t you like an audience? ”

“Damn it, Sherri! ”

“Well, you’ve got one. Just thought I’d let you know. ” She pointed.

Neala turned her head. “Oh God, ” she moaned. She gripped Johnny’s sides.

“They’ve been out there since you started, ” Sherri said. “Just a couple, at first. Must be fifteen or twenty now. I guess they liked the show. ”

“Don’t worry, ” Johnny whispered to Neala.

He raised himself. He was still inside her, still erect. With a look of tenderness and regret, he slowly slid out. Moving on his knees, he grabbed his rifle. He stood, shouldered it, and aimed toward the scattered group beyond the barrier of heads.

Neala began to gather the cast‑ off clothes. She glanced up. Sherri was staring at her. “Give me a hand, damn it! ”

Nodding, Sherri crouched and picked up Johnny’s boots, his socks, his pants. That took care of it. Neala rushed ahead of her into the cabin.

Sherri stopped in the doorway, and looked out. She stayed in the doorway as Johnny moved toward it.

Dropping her bundle of clothes, Neala grabbed Sherri’s arm and tugged her inside.

Sherri swung around. “Leave me alone! ”

“Sherri, for Godsake, you’re acting…”

Sherri clutched Nealas hair and jerked her head back. “Shut up, ” she hissed. “Just shut your fucking mouth! ”