The Trust Ch. 09

Marcus was surprised but pleased when Cindy climbed into the cab with him and Danny, company on the long drive would help. Katey was tempted, but Cybil had mentioned her plans to join the mile high club, so she was going to give flying one more shot. Marcus pulled out and the others loaded up in the rental, Mason and Brigid taking a last look around before following.

***

Mason should have figured something was up when Brigid returned from the galley with a couple mini bottles of Jose Cuervo and handed them to Katey. With real sympathy, he watched as she promptly downed one then coughed and shuddered, before doing the second and leaning back in the seat with her eyes closed. It was the wink and half grin he got when he looked at Brigid that made him suspicious though.

A couple of minutes passed, then Katey shook herself and unbuckled her belt, Cybil giving a little cheer and going to help her up, then they headed to the rear. Mason started to twist around and watch them, but Brigid laid a hand on his shoulder as she got up.

"Just stay in your seat, we'll call you in a bit." She told him then headed back herself. Shelby wouldn't look at Mason when she went by, but Jess licked her lips with a sly smile. He sat there, listening to them laugh, trying to picture what they were up to, his cock coming awake at the possibilities. Music started playing, quickly cycling through several stations before settling on an oldies rock one.

"Okay Mason." He finally heard Cybil call. When he got up and turned, he had to stop and take it in. Brigid and Shelby were on the left couch, Cybil and Jess mirroring them on the right. And Katey was on the big seat to the left of the bathroom door. All of them were naked, kneeling on towels, with their asses in the aisle.

Everyone except Katey was watching him over a shoulder and grinning. "We want our wings." Cybil told him. "Brigid won the draw, so start with her, and switch every time a new song starts. Hopefully you'll be able to initiate the hell out of us by the time we get ready to land." Mason grinned and started shedding clothes. Stepping up behind Brigid just as The Tokens started singing A Lion Sleeps Tonight.

It didn't take Cindy long to trade places with Danny and let him have the window, his head and one paw out in the wind. She thought she would have ridden with Marcus even if Brigid hadn't taken her aside and warned her that Cybil was hatching a plan to join the mile high club, and that the return fight was bound to get a little out of control.

Now she couldn't stop picturing it. She thought Mason was cute and all, but once when he was getting out of the pool, his normally loose swim trunks had clung wetly to him, clearly outlining a cock that scared the hell out of her, yet kept her checking for another glimpse any time they went swimming. And of course she'd heard all the off-hand comments about it being big and fat. She couldn't imagine having to deal with something that size, even if the idea seemed to make the others goofy eyed.

She still couldn't figure out how this Cinderella episode in her life had started, but she prayed every night when she went to sleep, that she'd still be in her new rooms when she woke up. And despite Brigid's assurance that nothing sexual was expected of her, it wouldn't be the first time she was lied to by someone she thought she could trust. She'd found the fact that everyone around her seemed so open about their sexuality very odd, at least until she and Brigid had made love in the steam room. That had been a real eye opener for her, so gentle and loving, not like before. Dammit, she didn't want to think about him.

"You okay?" Marcus asked her, afraid she was getting car sick and ready to pull over or tell Danny to get in the back seat so the girl could have the window.

"I'm fine." She assured him, blushing and a little flustered. "I was just thinking about the others on the plane."

"They'll be fine." He told her reassuringly. For some reason this struck her funny bone, and she snorted so hard she was glad to see some old napkins on the dash.

"I know, it's not that." She told him, wiping her nose and turning to look out over Danny's back, afraid Marcus would somehow know exactly what she'd been thinking just by seeing her face.

"You could have gone with them." Marcus told her, not understanding. "I'd have been okay. Danny would have listened to me talk."

"Brigid warned me," she started, glancing at him then turning away again before continuing, "that they were all going to join the mile high club." she finished. Then laughed at the puzzled look on Marcus' face when she glanced at him after he didn't say anything for a moment. "It means, they're all going to have sex on the plane." She told him and he grimaced.

Marcus blushed and harrumphed to clear his throat, but stayed quiet for a bit longer. "I see." He finally said. "And you didn't want to join this club?" He asked her with a straight face, then chuckled when she turned beet red.

"I don't think I ever want to have sex with a man again." Cindy told him in a small voice, looking down at her hands clasped in her lap. She hadn't ment to say that, and couldn't believe she had. Suddenly she wished she still had the door, so she could jump. She didn't want Marcus to know, she didn't want anyone to.

Marcus recognized the pain in her, and had to stop his hand from reaching to take hers as the words sank in. He drove for a long few minutes, his knuckles white from gripping the steering wheel, before sighing.

"I don't know what happened girl, but it don't sound like you were ever with a man to me." He told her quietly and firmly. "A man doesn't take advantage of the young." It was a guess, but she was still a girl yet.

"It hurt." She told him and started crying, his gentle voice dragging tha admission out of her despite herself.

Hearing the need in her voice, Marcus reached over and took both of her hands in his right, giving them a little squeeze as she leaned against his shoulder and began crying. Smiling despite himself when Danny turned to lick at her face, making her laugh through the tears. Seeing a vista point exit, he pulled off and parked. Out the window, the view of a rocky canyon fell away, a small foaming river tearing at it.

Twisting a bit, Marcus took her in his arms and let her cry, Danny laying his head on her thigh. She fell silent after a while, just huddling in his arms. Then slowly started telling him about Raymond, her mother's boyfriend. How he had been so nice, buying her stuff and slipping her an extra dollar here or there. How he'd downloaded music for her, making her copies of all the new albums to listen to on the little cd player he'd given her. All the while, her mother disappeared into a bottle.

Raymond always had a bottle for her mom, and once she'd climbed into it, he'd take Cindy to the mall and buy her something. A top or a bracelet, some earrings. Small things, but they made her feel good. She would model them for him. It was fun. The first nightie he bought her was a onesie with the feet in it. They got smaller after that, sexier, and she still liked it. Sometimes it seemed like he was all she had. She started looking forward to when her mother would pass out.

When he started bringing home more than one bottle, so that her mom could get started earlier in the day, she was happy about that too. She liked their time on the couch at night, snuggling and watching a movie. Everything was good for a long time, until Raymond started bringing a bottle home for himself too.

"The bastard." Marcus muttered, but gave her a squeeze when she paused, so she'd go on.

When he started drinking, the little fun things they did, weren't fun any more. His hands were rougher, meaner. Soon most of the prettier nighties were ripped or stained. And they didn't go get new ones. She had to sit there and try to hold them closed, praying that he'd pass out like her mother and leave her alone for the night. She had tried to stay in her room once. He'd joined her, and the pain had started.

Looking up at Marcus, to see if she could tell him the rest, she was surprised to see the tears on his cheeks. It made her heart hurt with love for him. For the first time since her father had gone off to die, she knew she was safe. It all came out then, the wall she had thrown up to keep everyone else out crumbling before the grief and anger in the gentle eyes watching her.

It was a bout of the flu that finally saved her. Her mom was just too sick one day to get up and find her bottle. She was fevered and sweating, but it broke late in the evening, and she heard Cindy crying.

"She found us." Cindy said, stopping to pet Danny's head for a moment, his tail thumping the door panel. "She had a steak knife, and she started stabbing him, screaming that she was going to cut it off. But he hit her and ran. And she just laid there screaming that he was a dead man. I had to call 911, when she fell, the knife stabbed her in the side, it was sticking out of her." Marcus just held her again for a time after that, while she cried some more.

"He was right, they didn't believe me." She told him. "If they did, why would they have sent her to prison? Why would I have had to live with my aunt?"

"The world can be a messed up place. My Neve had a bastard of a father." He told her in his quiet voice. "Used to think women and sheep were the same. When I found out, I left him with a bad leg and a bad hand, and everything between his legs ground under my boot til both the sheep and the women were safe." He shook his head. "I wish I knew where the this bastard Raymond was, I'd do worse to him."

"I don't know." She told him, snuggling against him, comforted by his outrage and not doubting that he would for a second.

"I hope someday you meet a real man." Marcus told her. "Someone that will take the time to show you that that piece of shit wasn't even half of one." They were quiet for a bit, then Marcus nudged her shoulder. "How about we let Danny out so he can do his business, then we get going again, I don't know about you, but I could handle a burger or two." He asked and she nodded, her stomach growling in agreement, then had a hard time reaching around the suddenly excited Danny to get to the door handle.

When the captain's voice announced that they were getting ready for their approach, Mason and the girls made a mad dash to get back into their clothes, laughter and giggling breaking out as things went on backwards or inside out, or just on the wrong person and had to be redone. Even Katey forgot they were in the air as she sought her stuff.

***

"He was sure the man was American?" Brian Meyer asked, careful not to step in any of the splattered blood with his expensive Italian loafers.

One of the two still breathing but sweaty men in the room gave a small grimace and a shrug. "He's been pretty far gone in the whiskey for a lot of years, since the old days. He thought he was American, and was sure he was asking about you, other than that, the only evidence is a few American dollars left in his pocket."

The cabinet minister looked down at the body of the old derelict, vaguely remembering him from those old days. Wondering who was interested enough in them to bother feeding good whisky to this wasted old fool.