Loretta Lariat: Peace Officer

"No. I won't."

"You will. Or my brothers can do it for you, if you prefer. Or Captain Shrike. Which shall it be? You'd rather do it yourself? Fine with me. Strip."

"Please. Don't make me. I can't—I can't go through this again."

"You can and you will. Every damn stitch, this time."

Loretta started to lift the derringer again, though only half-heartedly. And Angie just snatched it right out of her hand. "Weak little fool." Then she slapped Loretta across the face, knocking her hat off. "Do you want another one?"

Loretta shook her head. "No. Don't hit me again. I'll do it. I'm doing it." The blow hadn't hurt very much, or if it had, she had already forgotten the pain, but everything felt cloudy and unreal now, like she was only dreaming. She looked down meekly at the buttons of her shirt, and began to fumble with them. But it felt like she wasn't doing it herself—she was only watching her hands do it by themselves. As if they weren't connected to her at all. God, her hands were shaking so much they almost couldn't get hold of the buttons. Her legs were still trembling too. Much worse already than when they started. She could feel her knees literally knocking together. She couldn't make them stop.

She took off her shirt and handed it to Angie, who flung it aside contemptuously. "I don't want your shirt. Toss your things on the floor. What are you doing now?"

Loretta was pulling her pants down ...

"Take your boots off first, you fool! Those jeans are much too tight to take off over your boots. No, don't pull your pants back up. Leave 'em around your knees."

Loretta sat down on Angie's bed, to pull off her boots—but Angie didn't like that. "Don't you sit on my bed, hussy. Sit your ass on the floor, if you have to sit down. Not on my nice rugs, neither—sit on the bare part over there, against the wall!"

Loretta obeyed.

"No socks again?" She hadn't been wearing any again, under her boots. "Don't you have any socks?"

"They—they all have too many holes. I haven't got around to buying any more."

"You've got handsome little feet, I noticed last time. Very well shaped, good trim nails, no tacky paint. You're feet are prettier than mine. Mine are too big and bony, and my toes are all crooked. Yours are all perfectly even, aren't they? I betcha like scamperin' around barefoot, don'tcha? That's the real reason you don't wear socks. I betcha you chuck yer boots off, whenever you get the chance. Tell the truth now."

She did, actually. When she was at home, when she was by herself. She was just more comfortable that way. Or at least she had used to be—before her humiliation. It was no longer true, was it? She didn't do that any longer. She might never be able to feel comfortable and safe in an unshod condition ever again, after everything that had happened—and now was happening once more. "What's wrong with that? Why do you care?"

"My Pa always said only trashy poor ignorant farm girls that don't know no better went without stockings. Well, them and lewd corrupted sluts in the towns and cities, and also the Heathen Injun squaws in the wilderness. Only benighted lowly creatures of one sort or another, was his point. Only females who were no better than they should be went without stockings. That's what he would always tell me. I preferred to go bare-legged myself, under my skirts—especially in the prickly summer heat. Pa always beat me for it, when he caught me. To make sure I'd grow up civilized."

Loretta couldn't imagine how Angie wanted her to respond to this revelation. "I'm sorry."

"Well, I suppose at least you don't have to give them up, since you ain't got any in the first place. What are you waiting for now? You can get those pants off now. Don't stop. All the rest. All of it, I told you!"

It occurred to her then, as if it was a new and unexpected thought—as if she hadn't been carrying this plain fact around in her mind all along—that Loretta had never fully undressed herself since the last time Angie Maddox and her brothers had abused her. Close to a full week ago, now. She just simply hadn't been able to. Not even to bathe. This was not to say she hadn't washed at all—but only in pieces. Retaining a shirt, while she scrubbed herself beneath it, or when she was changing her trousers. And then only changing her shirt while she had pants on. Never taking off all of her things at once. Even in the secure privacy of her bedroom, she couldn't do that. It hadn't felt safe. And the spectacle of her bare body in her looking glass was too dreadful to bear. The livid stripes of her beating. She couldn't look at herself like that. In the state Angie and her brothers had reduced her to. Utterly helpless and powerless and disgraced. Seeing herself that way brought all of it back. All at once. She would relive the whole ordeal, in her mind, over and over. And not just in her mind. She would feel it in her flesh, too, somehow. All over. Her whole body would relive the punishment and the shame.

And now ... Oh God! Oh God help me! Save me! Spare me!

How could she possibly survive this? She couldn't, of course. Not again. Nobody could, in her place. That was the only answer. It was too much. This was just too dreadful.

She thought she would swoon. She didn't, though. Why didn't she? If she fainted, all of this would stop. It was the only escape open to her, even if it would only be temporary. Why couldn't she do it, when she needed it this much? How did you go about it? What was the damn trick? Other women seemed to swoon all the time.

"Please let me keep my underwear. Please!" She got on her knees—painful, on the bare wood—and pressed her hands together, praying. It would do no good, but what else could she try? "Please, Angie! Don't take my underwear again! I beg you. Please! I don't have any other corsets at home. This is my only other one!"

"Too bad for you. You should have thought of that before. It's joining my collection."

Noises on the stairs again ... Clomping footsteps, loud guffaws ...

"Oh listen, here come my brothers. Better be quick, Loretta. If you're not done before they come in, I'll let them finish the job."

"No! No! I'm doing it! There! It's done! It's all off!"

For the first time in a week, she was naked again. Fully exposed once more, at the feet of her arch enemy, in all her shame and weakness. Oh God. Oh dear merciful Jesus. Yet it was almost fitting, wasn't it? Who else could get her undressed like this, if Loretta could no longer do it herself at home? Who else would have this dreadful power over her but Angie Maddox? Cruel and irresistible as a queen or an empress. Yes, it was fitting. It was a bitter but it was true, wasn't it? Felt like it was. This felt right that Loretta be naked and kneeling now. She deserved this to happen to her—since she hadn't had the will or the smarts or the strength to prevent it or evade it. All she'd needed to do was stay away, after all ... why hadn't she just stayed away, like she'd been told? Because she was a fool. That was why. She hadn't learned her lesson. She needed it taught to her again. And it was going to be. Oh Jesus. Oh dear God.

"Good girl. But put your hands down. Don't try to cover yourself."

Loretta didn't want to obey again, but she did, all the same.

The men barged in. Hadn't bothered knocking.

"Angie, is someone with you? Oh my! Lookee here!"

"God Be Praised!" the other exclaimed, "Our favorite marshal's back!"

Loretta moaned out loud, piteously. She couldn't help herself. Couldn't contain her despair. "Ohhh ... God. God. Oh no. Ohhh ... It's all happening again. It's all gonna happen again." Angie wouldn't let her cover her tits or her bush, but maybe she'd let her keep her face covered? So she hid behind her hands, sobbing. Angie made no objection.

"She wanted to give you boys another good look at her bouncy creamy knockers. And the stripes we put on them."

"Yessir, you can still see 'em plain as punch. The marks have barely faded at all. Are the ones on her cute little round butt the same?"

"I'd imagine so. Turn around and show 'em, marshal."

"You're all so mean. You treat me like an animal. You're so cruel to me." But she turned and showed them, like they wanted.

"Yep. There they are. Ain't that pretty?"

"More stripes on her ass than on a zebra's! Har har!"

"But I guess she wanted some more, huh? Only reason I can imagine she'd come back for another visit so soon. Didn't get enough last time. Are we gonna oblige the woman?"

"Yes. I think we certainly shall."

4.

It had all gone wrong again. Oh God, how did all go so wrong? Why had she come back here? She had made the wrong choice. It had felt like the right thing—because it was the brave thing. The heroic thing. But she was no real heroine, was she? She was only a deluded fool. Why did she take the risk? How could she have been so idiotic?

She was at their mercy again, and these criminals had none. They were going to torment her, just like before. But even worse this time. Angie had thought up a way to make it worse. A million times worse.

"I'm going to finish my bath," she had told her brothers, "Meanwhile, I want you boys to tie up this hussy same as we did last time, and the sling her back across the same old nag. Don't wait for me. You take her on back to town, the two of you. And when you get there, go to the gallows in the town square and put her up on the platform, high up so everybody can get a good view. Get a barrel or something you can tie her down on, bent over nice. You know the position I want. Make sure her legs are loose, so she can kick. I want everybody to see her kick. When you've got her ready, gather up all the citizens. Hell, most of them will have gathered on their own, when they see what you're up to. But if they haven't, you round everybody up. Make announcements in the taverns, if it's necessary—but don't take too many drinks while you're doing that. You can take a few, but only a few. Now then, I'll be arriving myself just before sundown. And then I'm going to administer another good healthy dose of corporal correction on the marshal. This time, the whole damn town is gonna watch me do it."

"No! Oh no! You can't! You can't!"

"You'll find I damn well can. And what's more, I'm going to enjoy it, thoroughly. And I'm sure I won't be the only individual that does so."

"The townspeople won't let you do it! They'll stop you!"

"If you think that, you're an even greater fool than I thought you were already. Hell, all they'll do is cheer me on, most of 'em. They'll know you're only gettin' what you've asked for, with your own stubborn foolishness. And any few that don't agree, they still won't dare cross me. Not for your sake. They don't respect you no more, Loretta, not a one of 'em. You've turned into a shameful blight on the town's respectability. Most of them think you're a wanton. Don't you understand that?"

"What? Never! You're wrong! You're crazy."

"No, you're the one that's crazy, if you've never realized the truth. In fact they all thought that you was lust-crazed even before I bested you, the last time—just from the immodest mannish way you dress—Hell, you never button the front of your shirts properly—and on top of that, the high-minded saucy manner you've always dared to present yourself. They think you enjoyed it when I made you display your nakedness in the streets. I think they're right about that, too, whether you can admit it to yourself or not. It's the real reason you came back on my land, isn't it? So I'd make you do it again. Well, congratulations. Your wish is granted. Take her away, boys."

"No! It's not true! Don't! You mustn't! Let go of me! Let go!"

She struggled as much as she could, but it did no good. It only seemed to make it more fun for the brothers. They laughed and laughed, as they deflected her weak feminine punches, then caught her arms and with infuriating, scornful easiness, forced them crossed behind her back. In moments, rope was looped over and over around her torso and elbows, and she was bound tight. They tied her legs together as well with a separate length of cord just beneath her knees. Carried her sideways downstairs and out of the house like a piece of furniture.

And now the three of them were on the road, riding easy. They couldn't go fast, even if the brothers had wanted to, because her nag hadn't any wind. One brother rode in front, leading the nag with a rope. The other rode behind them.

Even if she hadn't been entirely naked in the blazing hot sun, it would have been a painful ride. The cruel hairy ropes chafed her skin, her shoulders and elbows were burning inside, from the strain, and the jostling saddle was practically kicking her in the stomach, over and over, because of how she was slung across it, face down. Her skull was throbbing so much from her head dangling upside down it felt like it was about to explode. She tried to tell herself to relax as much as possible, in order to save her strength for later when it might do her some good. But she couldn't keep still. It was useless but in her wild desperation she couldn't stop fighting the ropes. Nor could she keep quiet. She knew doing this was even more useless than trying to wriggle the ropes loose, but she kept pleading with the brothers as they rode along. She couldn't help herself. She hated the way she sounded—the childish whine her voice had turned into—but still somehow she just couldn't stop doing it.

"Please listen to me! Please have mercy! Oh please! Take pity on me! Please won't you just stop for a minute and think about it? Will you listen?"

"There's nothing more to say, Marshal. Hush now."

"But please! Oh God! Oh please God help me!"

"Hush up, I said."

"Now, now, brother" said the other one, "No need to be like that. Let her carry on, if she likes. I don't mind listening to her. Fact is, I rather get a kick out of it. Don't you?"

"I suppose I do, when you put it like that."

"Don't take me into town! Please! Please! I can't bear the thought! If you want to punish me, do it here! You can do anything you want! But not in town in front of everyone! That's too horrible! You can't be so cruel and heartless! Not even men like you! Have pity! I'm begging you! As a woman—not as an officer of the law, I'm not a real marshal any longer, but just a helpless woman—I'm begging you! Listen to me! I'm begging you!"

"Very moving, don't you agree, brother?"

"Yes indeed. Breaks my heart. But it's not for us to say, Loretta. Angie decided, and Angie's the boss. It's always been that way. She's the eldest and the smartest and the toughest of us, even if she's a woman. That's why Pa left the ranch in her name. Whatever she says goes. It's how things have to be. How on Earth do you imagine you could talk us into disobeying her? The very idea is plain foolishness. She told us to take you into town and put you on display in the square, and that's exactly what we're gonna do. And after we get done with that, we're gonna hit all the taverns and spread the word and make durn sure everything and everybody's ready for when Angie arrives to put on a big show with you, at sundown. So that's what's gonna happen. That's how it's gonna be. Time you got started getting' yerself used to the idea."

"I can't! I'll go mad! I'll go mad! Oh God, I'd rather just die. Just kill me! Pick one of these trees and lynch me right here!"

"We ain't gonna do that. How could you even suggest such a dreadful notion? We ain't murderers."

"And killin' you wouldn't be any fun. Not for us and not for anybody, no how. Or at least nowhere near as fun as watchin' what Angie's gonna do to you—again."

"But I can't bear it! I won't be able to bear it! Not again! Not naked again! Not in front of the whole town! Oh God! Oh please don't let this happen! I'll do anything! Anything! Please!"

"There's nothing you can do. There's nothing you can offer that's gonna getcher pretty bare hiney out of this."

"What if—what if I suck your cocks? What if I suck your cocks, right now?"

Well, that stopped them. The brothers both drew their horses up and looked at each other with raised eyebrows. "Did she just say what I think she just said?"

"Hard to believe. But I think she did, unless my ears have gone bad. Say that again, Loretta. What was that you just offered to do?"

"Will you let me go, if I do it? Would that be good enough for you to let me go?"

"Do what exactly? Let's make sure there's no durn confusion."

"You heard what I said. You both heard me just fine. If I—If you let me go—if you untie me—then I'll suck your cocks. Both your cocks. Right now."

"Right here, by the side of the road?"

"Yes. Or we can go back behind the trees, if you want, if that would be better."

The brothers pondered the offer carefully, studying each other's expressions again. "What do you think about this?"

"Hell. Gosh. Never would have imagined ... but I mean to say, well, shit."

"My sentiments exactly."

"To have her do it willingly, you know ... Not to have to force her, but ..."

"Yep. Might really be something."

"Well then. I figure, what the hey." He turned to Loretta. "Now you better listen good. If we're gonna do this, you better do it real good. You better make it worth our while. If you don't do it good enough, or if you try to bite us or any bullshit like that ..."

"I understand. I won't try anything like that. I'll do it good. Good as I can." Not that she'd ever done anything like that ever before. But how hard could it be? It would be disgusting, but so long as she closed her eyes and tried to think of other things, she should be able to get through it. It wasn't a complicated procedure. All she had to do, basically, was let them stick the filthy things in her mouth and then suck on them, like on a lollipop, until they were satisfied. She would just have to pretend she was doing it to a couple of large, ill-flavored lollipops.

But oh God, they were outlaws! A pair of vile dastardly villains that she wanted more than anything to lock behind bars forever, and instead she was going to have to defile herself for their lust ...

They left the road and went in among the trees, and then they dismounted and pulled her off the nag, but they didn't untie her arms. There was some grass here, but still the ground was rough and prickly under her unprotected feet, from twigs and dried-out leaves. Her head was spinning, now that they had straightened her up—she thought she might faint. "I'm gonna fall over. I can't balance myself. Let my arms loose. You said you'd release me."

"Afterwards. Not before. And only if you do a good job, remember. Now you ready to get started? You better be. Get on yer knees, Loretta. You won't feel dizzy down there. Let's see what you can do with that purty mouth of yers, besides fuss and moan."

She knelt down, with a sorrowful sigh.

"Hey now, if that's how you feel about it ... If you don't feel up to this, after all, then we can go ahead and put you right back on the nag and proceed as planned. Is that what you want?"

"No. No, I'm sorry, I'll do what I promised."

"Are you sure? You still sound awful reluctant."

"Of course I'm reluctant, you bastard! If you had any human decency, you'd set me free without putting me in this ... position."

"You put yerself in that position, not me. Trespassin' on our property. Admit it."

"I was trying to get my things back! That's all! Everything you stole from me!"

"Yer motivations ain't significant to the issue at hand," he pronounced, loftily, "Admit we caught you trespassin'."

"I won't! I won't accept blame. Don't you dare pretend you've any natural right to treat me like this."

"You'll admit the truth once Angie gets started on you. Come on, brother-of-mine. Let's put her back on the nag."