No One Notices the Hired Help

Jimmy looked disgusted, but a glance at the bartender made him conclude it was this or nothing. "Fine," he said.

Ben didn't want to think too much about just why there were two little beds in the same room in a whorehouse, but at least it meant he didn't have to settle for the floor. From what he'd seen of Peg both with and without her dress, he figured he got the better part of the deal anyway. The younger woman was a bit chubby but not unattractive, and she looked relieved to be with him rather than Jimmy. "Relly, was it?" Ben asked, admiring her vast bosom as she matter-of-factly tossed her dress aside while Jimmy and Peg got down to business behind him.

"Short for Aurelia," she said with the closest thing he'd seen to a smile yet. Ben waited for her to ask his name, then realized she likely didn't want to know.

"That's a pretty name," he said, helping himself to a squeeze of her breasts, the biggest he'd ever had access to.

"Ow, be careful!"

"Sorry!" he jumped back and held up his hands.

"He hurtin' you, Relly?" came Peg's voice across the room.

"I said I was sorry!" Ben protested.

"Stop apologisin'," ordered Jimmy. "You bought 'er, didn't you?"

"I really am sorry," Ben whispered to Aurelia, and now he rubbed her breasts much more gently.

"That's more like it," Aurelia said. "And thank you." Leaning up, she whispered in his ear, "It's my first night in this dump. Me ma lost 'er job last week and it's the last thing we could think of to make ends meet! I don't know how good I am at this, but I'll try to make it worthwhile, all right?"

Ben wasn't sure if he believed her, but she did look sincere in her bewilderment over the whole thing.

"Enough of my sob stories," she said. "I know what you're here for." She pushed him down onto the bed and straddled him.

Ben had concerns about her weight, but that no longer mattered once she had him inside her. "Oh, lovely!" he grunted.

"Been a long time at sea, huh?" she cooed, welcoming his hands back on her breasts.

"Wet in every way but one!" he said, losing no time in thrusting into her -- or in any case trying to. She had him pinned to the thin mattress, and all at once he realized she could likely do just about anything she wished to him. But that only added to his pleasure as she rocked hard back and forth above him.

"I said not that, Jimmy!"

"You want me to tell your boss you wouldn't give me what I paid for?"

Ben was quite sure he didn't want to know what "that" was, or what the slapping sound he heard next, blended with Peg's grunts, which did not sound very pleasurable to him. Fortunately, he was able to let Relly's throaty moans drown the rest of the room out. They rang out with increasing intensity, interrupted only by occasional encouragements for him to give it to her harder. Notwithstanding that he couldn't push any harder under her weight, he rocked as best he could until he felt his orgasm coming.

When he was sure the point of no return was at hand, he remembered a trick he'd learned in a parlour in Polerma, where even the whores expected pleasure in return. He reached down between their bodies and rubbed as close to Relly's clitoris as he could reach.

It worked, and she came with a roar just as he did. "Thank you!" she whispered loudly as she caught her breath.

"You're...good at this," Ben said; it felt utterly inappropriate, but he could think of nothing else to say.

"I guess I've got to be," Relly said. "But if they're all as kind as you are..." She leaned over and kissed him, and in the silence on their side of the room they could almost avoid hearing the howls from Peg and the brutal commentary from Jimmy from the other bed.

By the time she met Dylan for their walk to the Green Lake the next afternoon, Celestine had gotten over her shock and humiliation at discovering Troy had spent the night. "But it still makes me feel a little dirty to think about it," she confided in Dylan as they made their way through the downtown streets. "Especially since he probably thinks I was thinking of him!"

"Who were you thinking of?" Dylan couldn't resist asking.

Celestine gave him a bemused look but said nothing. In the awkward silence that prevailed, Dylan decided the time was right for his less salacious but wonderful news.

"Listen, I had a talk with my mother last night..."

"Oh, go and rub it in, why don't you?" Celestine had always been jealous of her best friend's relationship with his mother.

"Oh, I wish you'd been there!" Dylan protested. Then he reconsidered. "Of course, if you had been, we couldn't really have had this talk..."

"About me, was it?"

"About us, Celestine."

They had reached the edge of downtown, and the streets were far less crowded now, so Celestine was able to stop in her tracks. "What about us, Dylan? Please don't tell me she wants you to stay away from me or anything like that!"

"The opposite!" Dylan said. "She wants to help you get out from under Troy. I swear I didn't know, but she's been putting money away for years, and when I told her I wished I could take you to Polerma...Celestine, she offered to get us passage there! On a ship!"

Celestine looked wounded rather than joyful as Dylan had anticipated. "Dylan," she said, her voice shaking as if she were struggling not to cry, "How could you pull a trick like that on me? Don't you realize what a miserable situation I'm in?"

"It's not a trick!" Dylan said. "She said she would do it! Something about the captain of some ship owing her a favour, and they're sailing this week! She's going to give us some of her savings. All she wants in return is for us to send for her when we're settled. Which I would've done anyway, of course."

The tears had come while Dylan was talking, and Celestine brushed them away. "You're not joking," she finally said, still not sounding like she believed it.

"I'd never joke about this! Don't you know how much I hate Troy?"

"One question," Celestine finally said. "This must be one big favour the captain owes her."

"She set him up with his wife," Dylan said. "At least that's what she told me, and I believe her. I mean, I had no idea, but I guess she's been playing matchmaker behind the scenes for years. Always heard a rumour that Fliss hated her because she helped so many men find what she's selling only for free -- now I see why.

Celestine's crying turned to laughter. "Okay, that's funny, and I believe her, too. I hate to say it, but how many other ways could a woman save any money of her own in this country?"

"That's why I was afraid to ask her," Dylan agreed, as they resumed their stroll. "But she told me without my asking, probably because she wanted to make sure I knew she wasn't a...you know. So how about it, Celestine, come away with me?"

Celestine took a deep breath and gave her friend an admiring look. Then she leapt into his arms without another word.

As he and three of their friends watched Jimmy lace up his shoes on the dock, Ben still hoped to talk his partner in crime out of this particular crime. "It's not Celestine you have a problem with is it?" he said yet again. "It's her ma, innit?"

"Can it, Ben!" said Sam, while Jimmy ignored his plea again. "That bird's the finest young cunt in Candover and how else are we ever gettin' a piece o'her?"

"Yeah, no one's sayin' you gotta take your turn, Ben," added Rich, the oldest of the lot, who'd been permanently banned from Portia's restaurant since before Ben could even remember. "But we're the heart o'this town and she gets all the praise just for bein' born on that hill. 'Bout time we put 'er in 'er place!"

"You don't have to like her, Rich," Ben protested, "But --"

"But shut yer goddamn beer hole!" snapped Scott, the newest addition to the gang. "You don't want no part in it, you ain't got to go, 'ave you?"

"But I also don't want you guys getting in any trouble!" Ben saw it was no use appealing to better angels that didn't exist. "You want to get sent up the mountain?"

At last, Jimmy stood up and addressed his friend. "We ain't gettin' caught, 'less you tipped the cops off. I'm askin' you once and once only, did you do that?" He thrust his hand in his right pocket for the knife he always hid there, and Sam and Rich closed in on his either side, ready to shove Ben into the harbour.

"No." Ben was relieved -- a question he could answer truthfully. "I ain't told the cops."

"Good," Jimmy said. "But I don't trust you anyway. Boys?" He stepped back to give Sam and Rich full access. Ben raised his arms in defence, but he was no match for a shove from them both. His shoes skidded helplessly on the edge of the dock, and he fell sprawling into the briny water.

"Enjoy your swim," Jimmy teased, and he led the other three up the dock, none of them taking another look back at Ben.

Splashing around in the water, Ben attracted the attention of several passers-by, who rushed to help him as soon as Jimmy and the others were gone. So he was soon safe back on dry land, but helpless to go after them without arousing any further suspicions. Just as well, he mused as he thanked his rescuers, but he could only hope Troy wasn't too chickenshit to save his fiancée. Of that he was not certain at all.

"Don't be shy!" Celestine commanded as she unbuttoned Dylan's shirt. "If I'm going to run off to Polerma with you, surely we're going to make love day in and day out, aren't we?"

"I sure hope so," Dylan said. "I just...I don't know what to do, Celestine."

"What to do?" Celestine laughed. "Just let it be natural! We love each other, that's all that matters."

"That's sweet," Dylan said. "And I always did feel it was kind of unfair, you always being naked up here while I kept everything on."

"So did I, but I always have loved the way you admired my body. And yesterday...oh, Dylan, that was so beautiful."

"So...is that what you thought about last night? In your room?"

"Dylan, if you have to ask..." Having pushed his shirt off, she now unbuttoned his pants and pushed them down, and saw just how happy he was with the situation even before he had started undressing her. She gave it an affectionate squeeze and raised her arms. "Help me off with my clothes already!"

They kissed and caressed one another a bit on the rock, and for a wonderful moment Celestine thought they would make love then and there. But Dylan sensibly pointed out that their risk of getting caught was higher than usual, and wouldn't that be an awful shame when they were so close to an escape? That mollified Celestine -- let it be the cherry on top of their victory when they were safely on their way to Polerma! So she happily contented herself with splashing about in the water, admiring the warm glow on Dylan's skin and exulting in the serene way he looked at her as they waded and floated and enjoyed the one wonderful thing about growing up in Candover for one last time.

"Isn't it just as wonderful as I've always told you?" she asked Dylan.

"Better! But I almost wish I hadn't done it this time either."

"Why, Dylan?!"

"Now I know what I was missing! And when will we ever be able to do it again?"

"I know, I know," Celestine admitted. "But think of it as our real beginning!"

Dylan looked delighted. "That's a great way of looking at it!" He took her in his arms and they kissed.

They were still locked in one another's arms, chest-deep in the glow, when a pebble plopping in the water caught their attention. With a panicked gasp, they both looked up onto the rock it had fallen from, and saw Jimmy Aldrich leering down at them. Celestine screamed and wrapped her arms tightly around Dylan, who glared angrily back at the interloper. But he knew it was hopeless.

"Well hello," Jimmy said in a smarmy drawl while Sam, Scott and Rich guffawed behind him. "I am ever so sorry to interrupt your little encounter, but I've got to wonder what your groom-to-be would think about this, Miss Celestine. What's his name again? Roy?"

"It's none of your business what his name is or what we're doing," Dylan grumbled. "Act like a gentleman at least and get lost, huh?"

"You boys gonna let 'im talk to me like that?" Jimmy asked his minions.

Without a word, the three of them jumped into the water fully clothed. Dylan tightened his protective embrace of his dear friend, but they had no trouble pulling Celestine away from him. Rich soon had her hamstrung against his chest with his arms locked around her shoulders, while the other two easily subdued Dylan.

He didn't stop thrashing at them and struggling to escape, but it was hopeless. "Boy, you cool it now or we hold you under the water," Sam told him. "Whadd'you think o'that?"

"I don't want no part in no murder, Sam," Scott said.

"You already got a part in a rape, what difference is that gonna make?" Sam grunted back at him.

"Least I get a piece o' that bitch once Jimmy's done wi'er!" Scott said. When Dylan didn't stop trying to escape, he added, "Boy, don't you make me change my mind!"

Celestine was wriggling just as hard in Rich's grip, kicking at his knees but never landing the blow and trying to bite his arms to no avail, as he climbed the rock with her. "No! Please! My mother's got money!"

"Ain't her money I want," Jimmy said, unbuttoning his pants.

He was just pushing them down when the shot rang out. "Ack!" he snapped, clapping his left hand over his right shoulder, which was already a bloody mess. As if in slow motion, he pulled his hand away and looked back and forth between it and the growing red stain on his shirt.

There was no slow motion for Rich. Not even pausing to discern where the shot had come from, he dropped Celestine onto the rock and dove for cover behind it, while Jimmy stumbled into the lee as well as if in a trance. Sam and Scott released Dylan and ducked into the water. Dylan, unsure as yet of whose side the shooter was really on, followed suit, just in time to see his captors scurrying along the lake floor as fast as they could, while two more shots cut through the water, both missing but both clearly aimed at his captors. Satisfied that he wasn't in danger, Dylan came up for air just in time to see Sam and Scott scurrying up the rocks. One or the other of them -- Dylan couldn't tell in the panic of the moment -- was armed with a stone from the lake floor, and threw it into the leaves of the nearest tree.

"Ack!" A rustling of leaves and branches ensued, and a man fell awkwardly to the ground. Dylan thought he recognized the man, but told himself it couldn't be -- it was anyone but who he thought it was. There was little time to worry about that, as Sam and Scott pounced out of Dylan's sight, but presumably upon the man. Celestine moaned behind him, but Dylan was rooted to the lake floor.

A jumble of sounds of flesh hitting flesh and screeches of pain ensued for what was probably far less than a minute, but felt much longer to Dylan and Celestine. Presently another shot rang out followed by a howl from Scott-or-Sam. A moment later, whichever of the pair had not been shot burst out from behind the rock and ran as fast as he could down the hill; one last gunshot missed him.

Satisfied that he and Celestine were in no further danger, Dylan rushed out of the water and found her sitting up on the rock where she'd been dropped, shaking with terror and nursing a scraped knee, but otherwise unharmed. "Dylan!" She leapt up into his arms, and he held on to her as if for dear life.

"Oh, thank God!" Dylan kissed her cheek and neck passionately as he rubbed her back, his heart still pounding out of control. When at last he felt a modicum of control returning, it occurred to him to look up to confirm that their saviour was not who he had thought he'd seen.

He stood on the opposite edge of the lake, bloody and dishevelled, and now his gun was trained on them. Dylan gasped, and Celestine looked up to see what had startled him.

What she saw startled her even more. "Troy!" She jumped back from Dylan, realizing a moment too late that she had only made herself even more vulnerable. She crossed her arms over her breasts and crouched down, but the damage was done.

"How could you, Celestine?" Troy sounded so dejected Dylan thought he might even feel sorry for him, if he weren't still in very real danger of being shot by him.

"You wouldn't understand!" Celestine forgot her embarrassment and stood up defiantly. "It involves true love. And respect! I never had any of either for you, and you know it! Or you should!"

"I'd watch my mouth right now if I were you, my dear," Troy seethed.

"You'll never shoot us! You'll go up the mountain if you do, and you won't get Mother's money!"

Troy glared at them for ten long seconds. At last he uncocked his pistol and said, "You're right. Far better that I let you live knowing I know what I know. If I were you both, I would keep that in mind before I breathe a word of this to anyone at all." He holstered his gun inside his suit coat and turned to leave. "I shall see you at home, Celestine."

"He won't tell Mother," she said. "He can't."

"Best that we don't wait and see," Dylan said. "Let's get our clothes on and get to my place before Aldrich and them come back."

Too traumatized to cook up a story, they spilled the whole truth to Lorelei as soon as they had stumbled into the safety of her kitchen. "Good Lord, Dylan, how could you be so careless?" she demanded.

"Mother, please, I'm sick about the whole thing myself!" Dylan said while Celestine sobbed softly beside him.

"You should be." Then Lorelei clenched her fists and stood up. "But what's done is done." She took down a bottle of wine and three glasses. "And I guess there is some celebrating to be done now. Congratulations, both of you."

"Thank you," Celestine said.

"And we can't wait to bring you over too," Dylan added.

"Should've seen it years ago with the both of you." Lorelei allowed her first smile as she handed them each a glass. "And I have no sympathy at all for that Troy. Thinks he owns the whole town just because his father owns half of it."

"I just have one question," Celestine said. "How'd you ever manage to save up all that money just by matchmaking? I know it's none of my business, of course, but..."

"Well, you're practically my daughter now anyway," Lorelei said, clinking their glasses. After a long sip, she went on. "An awful lot of men get off the ships here with only one thing on their mind, and who can blame them when they haven't even seen a woman since who knows when? But I figured out a long time ago, some of them have too many morals to go see Fliss. And plenty of women in town, well, they're only human as well, but they're not supposed to say out loud they want it just as bad as the men do. So for a small fee, I provide discreet introductions." She paused and chuckled. "Turns out there are a lot of horny ladies in this town."

"That's ingenious," Celestine said.

"Maybe so, but it's dangerous, too," Lorelei said. "I feel like I ought to apologize, Celestine. I've always had my suspicions that Fliss has it in for me for costing her so much business, and heaven knows those guys at the lake are just her type of clients. I wouldn't be at all surprised if she was mixed up in this. I just thank heaven Troy showed up. But I wonder why?"

"I don't know and I don't care," Celestine said. "I'm almost glad now he knows about us."

"When's the ship sailing?" Dylan asked, eager to change the subject. "I realized when I was asking her, I didn't know exactly when."

"Tomorrow," Lorelei said.

"Tomorrow!" Celestine and Dylan exclaimed in unison. They both looked sad more than pleased.

"Oh, none of that!" Lorelei decreed. "I hate long goodbyes, I will be joining you soon enough, and I'd say you two have an awfully good reason to be getting out of Candover!"