The Necklace - The Dusky Club, June 1962, Linda S Rice [manga ebook reader .TXT] 📗

>“Thing is, we need to leave early tomorrow morning and you can’t come to the audition. I asked my dad if it was okay to drop you at the house, and he said it would be fine. I should only be gone a couple of hours at most.”

She looked at him across the top of her wine glass. “Well, that sounds fine to me. I like your dad...but...now that we’ve um...you know...and he knows we’ve been here overnight alone...” She blushed.

“Dad won’t hold you responsible. He’ll be blaming me for what happened anyway. What do you say we go do some more ‘you know’ right now?”

“Not before the dishes are done, and everything put away.”

She tipped her wine glass, sipped the last of the wine, and got up from the table, carrying her plate. She put it in the sink and turned around to go back and get his, but he was blocking her way. Before she could utter a sound, he’d scooped her up in his arms and carried her into the bedroom.

“The dishes can wait,” he said, tossing her onto the bed and pushing Buttons off onto the floor.

She smiled up at him and opened her arms.

As Lynn watched and listened to Ian sing, she started thinking back to the time when she had a huge crush on him. “Might as well live in the moment,” she thought. He had a sensitive look about him, and she remembered he’d always been called the “quiet one.”

“Well,” she thought, “He might be quiet, but he certainly isn’t shy!!”

She wondered if she was doing the right thing, letting him flirt with her so outrageously and with such bold innuendos. She was giving him back everything he was throwing her way. How wicked of her!

And what fun!

No sign of Susan, and she knew she wasn’t likely to come across her tonight, so why not enjoy herself? No one would ever know...Ian was looking at her intently as he sang. Her mind wandered back to the past; she found that she rather enjoyed it.

Sandra came over just then, a tray balanced in one hand, plucked a glass of dark brown stuff off the tray, and set it on the table in front of Lynn.

“Compliments of Ian,” she said with a wink.

Lynn picked up the glass and sniffed. “What is this?” she asked.

“Why, ale, of course. Ain’t you ever had ale before?”

“I’ve had beer, but not ale. Is it the same?”

“Pretty much, but we have small beer too. Hey, you’re an American too, ain’t you? There was another American girl in here Friday and Saturday. Nice girl, name of Susan. I’m sorta getting to be her friend. You wouldn’t be part of her history group, would ya?”

“Yes, yes, I am. In fact, I came here looking for her. She wasn’t in her hotel room, so I thought she might be here.”

“Ha! Not likely...She’s off with one of the blokes who plays in the band Friday, Saturday, and tomorrow. Ian plays with them regularly, but he sometimes fills in for other bands who need a good guitarist. He’s the best actually...in high demand.”

“No surprise to me!” thought Lynn.

“You wouldn’t happen to know where the bloke from the other band would be with Susan, would you?”

“James, you mean? No clue. Probably has her off somewhere private like.”

“That’s what worries me.”

“No need to worry; he’s a good bloke.”

“Well, I’m not so sure of that, but never mind. Thanks for bringing the drink.”

“No worries, Luv,” Sandra giggled. “Your friend, Susan, taught me that phrase. I’ve been usin’ it a lot! Well, enjoy yourself,” she said, walking off to deliver the other drinks on her tray.

Lynn made an executive decision and decided to forget about Susan for the rest of the night. She took a sip of the ale, making a face at the bitter taste, then smiled at Ian, who had finished playing the last set for the night and was coming over to her table. Oh, yes! She was going to enjoy the night...

After Ian packed up his gear, he and Lynn headed down to the pubs by the pier, where they chatted amicably for two hours. They hopped from pub to pub, listening to the music and sharing family history and experiences. It wasn’t long before they felt they’d known each other for much longer than a few hours.

“Time to go to your hotel then?” Ian asked, leaning back in his chair with his booted feet and legs stretched out in front of him.

He looked fabulous to Lynn in his relaxed pose. Very sexy, in fact. The beer she’d been drinking had also most likely affected her vision and perception of him.

“I think I’d like that,” she said.

He stood up, threw some money on the table, grabbed her hand, and they headed out the door.

When they reached the hotel, Ian grabbed his acoustic guitar out of the car's boot and took it with him into the hotel. Lynn pressed the elevator button for the fourth floor. As soon as they entered the hotel room, Lynn reached for the light switch. Ian put out his hand and stopped her as he closed and locked the door behind them, leaning his guitar against the wall next to it.

“Full moon shining through the window. No reason to waste the moonlight, is there?” he asked softly, putting his arms around her waist from behind and nibbling at her neck.

“Mmmmmm...” she sighed as he unzipped the back of her dress.

It slithered to the floor.

He pushed the bra straps down her arms, then reached around to tweak the nipples of her breasts.

“Oh!” she squealed breathlessly.

He then turned her around and brought his mouth down on her breasts, suckling her until she felt she would go wild with wanting him. She pushed her panties down over her hips and used her feet to pull them the rest of the way off and onto the floor.

“Let’s get in the bed,” she whispered.

“Yes, let’s,” he said, kissing her full on the mouth and pushing her backward.

She sprawled onto the bed on her back and watched him remove all of his clothes. In the moonlight, she could see that he was ready for her and opened her arms to receive him. But instead, he brought his head to her collarbone and licked his way down her chest to her belly button, teasing and taunting her all the way. His head and tongue went lower, then even lower.

“I plan on pleasuring you first, Luv,” he said in a husky voice. “Lay back and enjoy it.”

As his tongue reached her most private and sensitive nether parts, she let out a moan and grabbed his hair.

A pang of guilt washed over her but only briefly. She was definitely letting Ian win the wager...

 

Chapter Eleven

Susan and Mel

James and Susan left Auntie Annabelle’s cottage at 8:30 after a hasty cup of coffee, not waking up in time for breakfast. Just as they were walking out the door, Susan remembered the pastries that the hotel had packed in the picnic hamper and grabbed them out of the bread box where she’d put them on Sunday. She also took the leftover Italian chicken from the previous night, thinking that maybe James’s dad would like it for dinner. She set down a saucer of milk and the pieces of chicken she’d saved for Buttons on the back porch. They hastened out the door and to the car.

They ate the pastries on the way, and James dropped Susan off with just enough time to load his gear into the boot of Derek’s car and take off for the recording studio. Derek had been waiting out front, as they were going to South Brighton together and leaving James’s car with Mel.

James threw a quick “hello” to his dad, who was out back of the townhouse in the small garden but took time to give Susan a rather long and romantic kiss.

“I love you,” James said softly with his hand on her cheek.

“I love you too,” Susan said, meeting his eyes.

He patted her teasingly on the bottom then went out the door. She wondered if Mel had noticed and blushed.

Susan stood awkwardly behind him in the garden. Mel was kneeling on a small rubber pad, weeding around the tomato plants. He pushed back off the pad, stood up, and smiled.

“Welcome back,” he said cheerfully.

The awkwardness of the situation instantly vanished. She smiled back at him.

“Thank you,” she said. “I hope I’m not imposing on your morning or anything.”

“No, no, dear…not at all. No plans at all for today. Why don’t we go inside, and I’ll put the tea kettle on for us…unless you prefer coffee?”

“Either sounds great. We only had time for a quick cup of coffee before we left…” Her voice trailed off, and she blushed furiously.

Mel pretended not to notice and turned away toward the stove to reach for the coffee pot.

“So, what did you think of the countryside?” he asked, trying for a neutral topic of conversation.

“It’s beautiful, and the cottage is so quaint. We had a picnic under this wonderful tree at the top of the hill above the cottage, then James showed me the pond where he and Chad used to go swim...” She stopped dead.

“The pond, eh? Yeah, we all liked swimming in that pond. Sherry and I used to watch the boys swim there all the time.”

Susan had her eyes cast down, not sure of what to say next. She bit her lip.

“Don’t think I hold you responsible for anything that happened,” he said, touching her gently on the arm. “I knew what it would be the minute James told me where he was taking you and knowing Annabelle wasn’t going to be there.”

“Oh, but...he...he told me before we left that what happened on the picnic would be all up to me...he said...”

“It doesn’t matter what he said. He knew you were ripe for the plucking if you’ll pardon the expression. It was easy to see what an innocent you were.”

Mel poured two cups of coffee, and they both sat down at the kitchen table.

“Well, I’m not innocent anymore,” she said, tears stinging her eyes. “You must think I’m no better than those other girls at the club...”

“I don’t think anything of the sort about you. You’re nothing like those other girls.”

“But, I’d always thought I’d save myself for…you know…stay innocent until…But…I wasn’t any better than those girls when it came to...to... resisting.”

“Susan, I doubt you could have resisted if you’d wanted to. James is very persuasive. He had his mind set on having you. You would have given in eventually, if not Sunday, then the day after or the day after that.”

She gave a large sigh. “You’re probably right, but it doesn’t make me feel any better about myself.”

“So, do you love each other then? I overheard what you said to each other. Obviously, it would seem like too short of a time for two people to fall in love, but it was that quick with my Sherry and me. Love at first sight, it was. We were a lot older, but I can see the way you two look at each other...And, I also saw the way he kissed you before he left...tender like.”

She looked at him shyly. “I believe that, yes, we do love each other. Oh yes, Mel, I really do...but it won’t work...”

“But? What do you mean that it won’t work? Now that he’s taken your innocence, James will do the right thing by you, you know…”