Cheap Thrills

"You can't," she guffawed.

"Why can't I?" I hissed. "Fuck the rules. He's my boyfriend and I'm going to see him. Nothing can keep us apart. The hospital and even his family can't keep him from seeing me. If I have to stand outside his window and scream for him, once he hears me he'll make them let me in."

I knew then that my relationship with my sister had been seriously damaged. She had a look on her face that told me how much she enjoyed telling me the next part. I don't know if her glee stemmed from getting something back from the losses I caused her with this incident, or if it was just all of those old differences in the way our parents treated her, but Julie was smiling as she plunged the knife into my heart.

"It's not the hospital, or his parents," she smiled. "GREG doesn't want to see you...EVER!"

The first part didn't affect me; but when she said that Greg didn't want to see me, my knees buckled and the floor came up to meet me. Her last word, "Ever," was stretched out and it almost sounded like that Doppler affect. It was as if her voice got deeper and slower as she formed the syllables with her evil, unsympathetic lips.

The next thing I knew, I was back in the hospital. My dad was really upset at Julie, but my mom was on the fence. It was worse than I thought. My therapist thought that the best thing for me would be for me to have a few, short, light conversations with Greg, who was by that time getting stronger every day.

They were going to remove the patch over his left eye very soon and he wasn't scheduled for any more surgeries. He'd been allowed to start using a computer so he could take online classes and maybe even graduate on schedule. I got these reports from my dad who kept them brief and unemotional.

My therapist had outlined an entire treatment program that would be good for both Greg's and my mental health, with follow up couples therapy to help us work through what had happened and hopefully emerge a strong couple with a good future ahead of us.

I needed therapy to get at the root of what I'd done and why. They also needed to work with me to make sure I had no ill effects from what was done to me. Greg needed therapy to try to deal with his feelings about what I'd done. And we needed the couple's therapy to make sure there were no lingering resentments and give us the tools to handle it when they did flare up.

It was a great plan and it made all of the sense in the world. There was only one reason it failed. Well, I can't actually say that it failed. We never started it. Greg refused to see me. By this point he had all kinds of visitors including people he barely knew who just wanted to stop by and tell him how brave or how stupid they thought he was. Greg was still Greg. Mentally he was as sharp as a tack. He had a computer in his room and was drawing out parts for his boss on AutoCAD when he got bored.

There was no sign of any brain damage or any lingering emotional problems to make any one think that there was anything wrong with him. But he absolutely would not see me. My dad had visited him a few times a week and Greg was cordial to him and even told him not to worry. But whenever my dad even mentioned me, Greg's face clouded over.

Julie, my bitch of a sister, visited him every day. In fact, Julie and that cop, Terri, were on Greg's family list. So if he had visitors and was at his limit, one of them had to leave the room if Julie wanted to see Greg.

I even tried to sneak in once, but the nurse on staff recognized me and wouldn't let me in the room.

"He'll see me," I screamed. "Just ask him." Maybe it was the desperation in my tone, but she did. She went into the room and came out a few moments later and told me I'd have to leave.

I tried making it up with Julie, but it's really hard to make up with someone who won't talk to you. My dad even told her to talk to me and she refused. That was a first. Julie was always the dutiful daughter, so even at nineteen and an adult, Julie telling one of our parents no, was news.

The next time I did get to see Greg was an event. They had wheeled his chair out in front of the hospital. Julie was on his left side and his mom and dad were on his right as Greg sat there in his wheel chair. I heard a distant rumble and the reporters and photographers that were there started taking pictures.

Maybe I shivered or something, but as I clearly recognized the sound of motorcycles, my dad held my hand. "It's not them," my dad whispered. "It's the good guys; the bikers who saved you and Greg."

As I watched, a car slowly drove down the block. As it got closer, I noticed that it was Greg's Mustang. It had been re-painted. It was outfitted with really nice chrome rims. The car sounded more powerful and it looked like the interior had been redone. Behind the car were two lines of motorcycles.

A woman who had to be that Terri bitch, even though she wasn't in uniform, got out of the car after parking it across the street. She came over and stood beside Julie after giving Greg a kiss on the cheek. I was pissed and my dad squeezed my hand. "That was a friendship kiss for the cameras, Honey," he said. "If you want to stay out of jail until the trial starts next week, you need to calm down."

"Daddy, Greg won't even see me and he's kissing other women in public," I whined.

Several of the people in the crowd around us gave me dirty looks. Then it started. The mayor got up and gave a speech. He gave Greg the key to the city. The governor gave a speech and announced that this year on Greg's birthday it would be Greg Stephens's day all across the state. Finally, a representative of the president who couldn't be there since he was out of the country, showed a video of the president speaking to Greg and giving him some kind of fucking medal. No one mentioned me.

Then the motorcycles all revved their engines and started their procession. Each rider moved forward one bike length. The riders, one at a time, got off of their bikes and came over and shook Greg's hand. Then they got back on their bikes and drove off.

The amazing thing was the last three riders. They all pulled up next to Greg together instead of one at a time. The first one shook Greg's hand and talked to him like everyone before him had. The next man gave Greg a leather vest that had the symbol of their motorcycle club on it. Greg smiled broadly and told them that now he'd have to get a bike. The rider moved forward, but unlike the others before him he didn't drive away.

The last rider got off of his bike and scared me, even from the distance I watched from. There was something about his face. My dad told me that he was the leader of the guys who'd saved us. He was also the father of the leader of the bikers who'd raped me.

He spent a lot of time talking to Greg and they smiled and he hugged Greg and then got onto the back of the bike of the rider before him and they drove away. He'd left a shiny brand new Harley right in front of Greg. The bike was a gift and a tribute to his courage, from the bikers. They, like everyone else, respected Greg's bravery. No one respected anything about me. A couple of the cops wheeled the bike over so Greg could get a better look at it and the crowd went wild.

For at least an hour, Greg sat there in his chair talking to people getting hugs and handshakes. Every time someone recognized me, they gave me dirty looks.

I read every story I could find in the newspapers or the internet the next day. It was a PR field day. Everyone even vaguely connected with the story used it to drum up publicity for themselves. The district attorney was bragging about how he'd soon be prosecuting everyone involved. The mayor and the governor used it as part of their campaign ads.

The bikers even used the publicity to say that most bikers are law abiding citizens just like every other group. There were a very few who gave the rest a bad rep, but most bikers were your next door neighbors.

The only ones who couldn't capitalize on the incident were the town's police and me. Our town's police force dwindled from twelve to four. All of the officers present at the incident were fired, as was the chief of police. Several other officers who'd been called into help with the problem but never showed up were fired as well.

Terri was suspended with pay for one day, for disobeying orders and endangering herself. That didn't go into her permanent record, but the commendation she received for bravery in the line of duty did. Until a new chief of police could be elected, the captain of the state police ran our police force.

All of the fired police officers moved out of town. Most of them had trouble finding other positions in law enforcement.

The trial began the next week. All of the bikers who'd been caught took plea deals. There was no need for me to testify. That was a good thing because except for the two I'd met in the park and the leader with the braided beard, I wouldn't have been able to identify any of them. There were warrants issued for the arrest of the ones who got away, but everyone doubted that they'd ever be found.

I was charged in a later case with two counts of public indecency, inciting a riot, creating a public nuisance and malicious mischief. My fines, including repaying the town for the resources expended in rescuing me, were over ten thousand dollars. I had to make weekly payments and I knew that I'd probably be paying for the rest of my life.

My mom assured me that she and my dad would not be making the payments. I needed to get a job as soon as possible.

I ended up working in the diner with Becky. After the heat died down, Brian got his head out of his ass and begged Julie to take him back. They ended up getting married, which I never expected. I was happy for her. Mostly because it meant that I didn't have to worry about her going after Greg. I needn't have worried. Less than a year later, Greg, armed with his great job and fresh new engineering degree married the town's new chief of police.

Terri, all twenty seven years old and five foot one of her, ran unopposed and won in a landslide. Julie was her maid of honor and my mom helped to plan the wedding, I wasn't invited. They built a nice new house on the edge of town and were very happy. I had my doubts. The first was that Greg just didn't look at her the way he'd always looked at me, even though she was clearly head over heels for him. I also remembered that dream I'd had about Greg and me sitting on deck and our little girl coming over to us and telling her Daddy that I loved him.

My dad finally found out why Greg had come after me, even when he knew what I done. Greg had always been an honorable man and he'd been planning on breaking up with me when he found out what I'd done. Greg had to come after me because until he broke things off with me in person, I was still his girlfriend, so he had to defend me. In his mind it was that simple.

The end

* * * * *

Epilogue

Penny

Things continued along the same way for about three years. Eventually, my mom and dad came to terms with what I'd done and started to treat me better. Julie got to the point where although she still didn't talk to me, she answered my questions; but she never forgave me. My mom bothered Julie all the time about when she was going to have grandchildren but Julie simply never answered her. If mom pestered her she always got angry and said, "When I get pregnant."

Julie and I weren't very close any more but I could see that her and Brian were having problems. When they'd come over to the house, yes I still lived at home, they weren't very lovey dovey like you'd expect. Brian had suggested that they see a marriage counselor. They'd been supposedly trying to have a baby for a while so Brian had gone to get himself checked out. Brian was proven to be fine. Julie refused to go to the doctor. After months of Brian asking her and my mom bothering her, Julie started to bend. My mom assured her that in most cases fertility problems could be fixed, and Brian assured her that he'd love her no matter what.

The thing that scared me the most happened when Brian said that. I guess it had been meant to show that he loved her. In a voice under her breath that only I heard, Julie said, "That's what I'm afraid of."

So Julie got tested. She got the entire work up. They drew blood and they used scopes to examine her internal reproductive structures. It was the blood test that was the most damning. And I think that Julie simply didn't care by then. I really think she wanted to get caught.

Julie was found to have a healthy reproductive system. The doctor assured them that Julie could start simply spitting out babies very easily...As soon as she gave up the birth control drugs. According to her doctor, Julie was taking a very strong dosage of one of the most potent drugs they had. She was taking nearly the dosage that Nevada prostitutes used to make sure that she didn't get pregnant under any circumstances.

Brian was angry and upset. My parents tried to console him. They used everything they could think of. They told him that maybe Julie was just afraid to be a mother so soon in her life. I remembered Julie as a child playing with her dolls and dreaming of having a husband and kids.

Julie and Brian's marriage didn't last long after that. Brian was distraught. Julie seemed relieved. Brian moved away and Julie continued to live in her apartment.

My own sex life was non-existent. I had a large selection of vibrators and movies. There were plenty of guys sniffing around me all of the time. But most of them just wanted to fuck the whore. A few offered dates as long as the culmination of the evening, was horizontal. Some of them were married.

I did start to occasionally visit with a retired vet who lived in the next town. He was about fifty and we had a no strings relationship. His gentle love making, even though it wasn't actually filled with love, more like friendship, reminded me of Greg.

So I guess everyone was living their lives and as happy as they could be until fate intervened. The hand of fate manifested itself as a drunken driver who T-boned Terri's car, killing her instantly. The tragedy of it was that she hadn't been on duty when it happened. She'd been picking up steaks that she and Greg would grill that evening.

The whole town turned out for her funeral. I guess you could call me predatory, but I saw this as an opportunity to set my life the way it should have been. I stopped seeing my retired friend in the next town and took a serious look at my life. I didn't want there to be anything that could come between us.

To be honest, I couldn't think of any. It had been my quest for cheap thrills and excitement that had ruined things with Greg the first time. I'd grown out of that and when I looked at what Cheap Thrills had cost me, I was ready for a boring life. I remembered the way that Greg had fought for me. And I was ready to fight the same way to get him back.

I checked on the internet to find out what was an acceptable waiting period. There was nothing conclusive. The shortest was 24 hours, the longest was three years. There were people who quoted the bible or other religious texts and others who went by common sense.

I decided to give Greg three months and then re-introduce myself to him as his friend only. I'd tell him that if he needed someone to talk to, I was there. I was sure the friendship would grow and I was prepared to take our time.

The twelve weeks seemed to pass as if each second was a day. I got my hair cut the way I used to wear it when we were together and started a fitness program to lose a few of the extra pounds I'd picked up.

I practiced the speech I'd prepared to give him daily. When the three months, I actually only waited twelve weeks, which left me a few days short, was up I chickened out the first night.

I decided to wait until the following afternoon. I was excited about seeing Greg again. The few times that I'd seen him around town he seemed to be okay. He'd gone back to work after a month, so I'd actually given him two months to sit around being lonely.

I borrowed my dad's car but didn't tell him where I was going. My dad knew that I went over to the other town to visit my friend a couple of times a month and I guess he understood that we all have our needs. I was pretty sure that he thought that was where I was going and I said nothing to convince him otherwise.

I pulled up down the road from Greg's beautiful house. Mentally, I started planning what I wanted to change about it and the grounds. Greg's original Mustang GT and another newer Mustang were both in his driveway along with another car that I didn't recognize. Then I remembered that when we were together, Greg had always talked about having another car to drive during the winter so he could keep his Mustang out of the inclement weather.

I arranged my hair and knocked softly on the door. It seemed to take forever. The door opened and I went into shock.

"Didn't you see the sign? You can just leave packages on the doorstep. We were uhm...aslee..." Her words trailed off and her eyes narrowed dangerously as she recognized me.

My sister let the partially opened door open all the way and she stood there with only a robe that she was barely holding tightly closed. She smirked and let it fall open. I didn't care about Julie's large breasts or her shaven pussy or her long blonde hair. I cared why the fuck she was standing there naked in Greg's house less than three months after his wife passed. Her nipples were extended and there was a light sheen of sweat on her. The look in those big innocent looking eyes was anything but innocent. Julie's blonde hair was all over her face and there were spots on her neck. Her whole demeanor was that she was pissed and trying not to show it. I realized then that my sister had just been fucked and was itching to get back to it.

"You fucking bitch," I spat. Seconds later Greg walked up to the door too. He'd had time to throw on a pair of sweat pants and a t-shirt.

"Is it the car parts I ordered?" he asked. He took one look at me and turned on his heel and walked away.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" I asked.

"Why the fuck would you care?" she asked.

"Because...I began," and then I broke down crying. Julie reacted then in a way that I'd never have expected. She grabbed my arm and pulled me into the house. It was beautiful. The décor was perfect. The mixture of ceramic tile, parquet flooring and carpeting was incredible.

Julie saw me looking at everything and told me that the carpet in some areas was new. "The carpeting is all me. Terri and Greg only like wood and tile. I haven't had to do much in the area of redesign. Terri had excellent taste. She was a really nice girl."

I was still shocked. "But what are you doing here?" I asked tearfully. "I was waiting for the appropriate mourning period to...You cheated."

"Don't be stupid, Penny," she said. "Terri and I became friends during that awful time at the hospital. We were both crazy about Greg. Things with Greg and me would have been weird for a number of reasons. One, I was with his brother. Two, he'd just almost gotten killed defending my sister. It just never would have worked out. I only married Brian because I guess I hoped he'd be the next best thing to Greg. And Brian is a good guy, but he wasn't Greg. They almost killed Greg in his attempt to protect you. But Brian dumped me as soon as people started calling me the whore's sister. I tried to get over that but I never could. That was part of the reason that Brian and I always seemed more like friends than anything else. When he started pushing for me to get pregnant, I knew it would be the biggest mistake I could make. He's a great guy and I hope he finds someone to make him happy, but I'm not his girl."