Body Rides (23 page)

Call up Trudy, see if she wants to go. Do I really want to go with her? She’s always on the make, she’ll get herself picked up by some guy and that’ll be the last I see of her and I’ll be stuck at the beach alone. Might as well go alone in the first place, save myself the aggravation
.

While thinking those thoughts, she wondered (vaguely, less distinctly) if she had remembered to lock the front door. She took a few steps toward the door and saw that it was locked.

I oughta go by myself. Not Venice beach, that’d be too yucky. What a freak show. And now they’ve got gangs over there shooting at each other every weekend. Don’t wanta get myself shot. What about Santa Monica beach? Probably just as bad. Malibu? That might be okay
.

Pleased by the idea of an adventure at Malibu beach, she reached up and turned off the lamp. The room went dark except for the murky haze coming in through the curtains.

Might meet a nice guy. Who knows? Miracles do happen
.

As she stepped carefully through the near-darkness, she imagined herself walking along the beach, slim and tanned and
wearing a white bikini. And along comes the cutest dog she has ever seen. She squats in front of it, says ‘
Hi, ya, fella
,’ and rubs its neck. Then a voice says, ‘
His name’s Growler
.’ She looks up, and there stands a gorgeous, tanned man in white swimming trunks. He looks a lot like Pierce Brosnan. ‘
And I’m Tom
,’ he says. Reader stands up, smiling and flustered. ‘
I’m Karen
,’ she says.

Ah-ha! Neal thought. Karen! She
must
be Karen. Nobody’d go around giving herself a fake name in her own fantasies.

‘
Hello, Karen
,’ Neal said into her mind, though he knew she couldn’t hear him. ‘
My name’s Neal. Nice to meet you
.’

Fat lousy chance
, Karen thought, startling him.

Did she hear me?

No, she was still involved with Tom, but her fantasy had gone a bit sour with the intrusion of a cynical part of her mind.
Never gonna meet a guy like that. If he’s that handsome, he’s already taken, or he’s gay. Or he’s a total jerk who thinks he’s God’s gift to the universe. Or else he
is
perfect, in which case he won’t give me a second glance
.

She stepped through a doorway, flicked a light switch, and squinted in the sudden brightness. She had entered her bedroom. Turning around, she shut the door. On its back was a full-length mirror. She stopped and looked at her reflection.

Not too bad
.

Not bad at all, Neal thought. This was the best view he’d had of Karen so far. She was prettier than he recalled. She wasn’t as heavy, either. No skinny super-model type, but still a long way from chunky. She had fairly broad shoulders, and . . .

Neal’s view of Karen disappeared. For a few moments, all he could see was the white of her T-shirt.

When the shirt no longer blocked his view, Karen was twisting sideways to toss it underhand toward her bed.

She wore nothing at all.

Holy smoking Toledo! Neal thought.

She looked at herself in the mirror, and shook her head.

Spectacular! Neal thought.

Could be worse
, thought Karen, and wondered how many pounds she might be able to lose before next weekend.

She turned away from the mirror.

Shit! Neal thought. ‘
Don’t go away! Gimme a break! Please!
’

His disappointment quickly faded. Though he could no longer see Karen in the mirror, he enjoyed the feel of the air on her bare skin, and the moving weight of her breasts as she walked across her room. She stopped in front of her dresser.

If none of these fit, I’m gonna just kill myself
.

The words in her mind were an exaggeration.

She knew that she’d gained weight since last summer, but she had also been working out. Her swimsuits might or might not fit, but she felt fairly confident that she would look better than usual on the beach this year.

She almost hoped they
would
be too small for her. That way, she’d have a good reason to go shopping.

Crouching a bit, she bent over at the waist and reached for the handles of the bottom drawer. Her breasts pulled downward, swaying slightly.

Neal moaned, but heard nothing.

This is so fantastic, he thought.

Karen wasn’t overly impressed by her naked body, but she did like the feel of the air on her skin, especially where it felt cool in the heat under her arms and between her legs.

In the drawer were several swimsuits. She wanted nothing to do with most of them. Pushing a couple aside, she spotted her white bikini. She took it out and stood up. Leaving the drawer open, she turned around and walked toward the mirror.

Neal watched Karen approach her reflection, watching herself.

Her arms swung by her sides, the bikini clamped in her right hand. Her breasts jiggled and bounced a bit. Her nipples stuck out. Neal could feel the air on them. He wished he could put his mouth on them.

But he could only look.

Stopping a few paces from the mirror, Karen separated the two pieces of her bikini. Eyes on the skimpy pants, she bent over and spread the elastic waist band. Then she raised her head.

Yes! Neal thought.

Head up, she watched her mirror image. It showed her bent low at the waist, gazing at herself. Her nose was wrinkled to keep her glasses high. A sweep of shiny brown hair draped her brow. Her arms were stretched straight down, breasts suspended between them.

She raised one foot and stepped into the bikini pants, then raised the other.

She was concerned.
Not only too fat, but I’ve got no damn tan at all. It’s July already! The ninth? Tenth? And look at me. I can’t go to the beach like this
.

As she unbent to pull up her pants, Neal could see all the way up her legs, to where they joined. He glimpsed a thatch of brown curls, and lips like the puffy edges of a gash. Then the wispy nylon came in underneath snug against her crotch and buttocks. When she let go, the elastic hugged her like a soft cord.

Karen looked down at herself.

Could be worse. Have to remember to shave, though. Good Lord
–
if I ever get one any smaller, there won’t be any point
.

She raised her head. The front of the pants appeared even smaller in the mirror. From the corners of the patch, elastic strips stetched upward over her hip bones. Turning, she looked over her shoulder. The strips slanted down behind her, where they kept the seat of her pants stretched taut against her buttocks. The sides of her cheeks were bare.

She wiggled her rear end, watched it shimmy, and wished it was firm with hollow cheeks.

Ah, well. Can’t have everything. Not bad, as buns go
.

‘
Lovely, as buns go
,’ Neal told her with his mind, though he knew she couldn’t hear him. ‘
Not to mention, you’ve got fabulous tits
.’

Neal suddenly felt ashamed of himself for the tit remark.

Nice going, he thought. Very nice.

What’s the big deal? he asked himself. She doesn’t know what I’m thinking. Hasn’t got a clue.

That makes it okay?

What am I doing in here? he wondered. I’m no better than a Peeping Tom.
Worse
than a Peeping Tom.
I
get to spy on her thoughts, too. And her feelings.

The bikini top still dangling from her right hand, Karen arched her back and sucked in her belly. She gazed at her profile.

Still got great boobs. A shame nobody gets to see them but me. I oughta find a nude beach somewhere
.

Yeah, right
.

Like I want a bunch of strange men drooling over me. Bet they’d
really
be strange, too, at a place like that. Perverts. A bunch of lechers hanging around with their whangs in the breeze
.

She saw the scene in her mind.

To Neal, the nudist lechers looked like they’d just escaped from a home for scrawny lunatics.

Then the crowd dispersed, and only one man remained. He was especially cadaverous and ugly. Neal realized this was how Rasputin might look, beardless and naked.

Whose fantasy is this? he wondered.

Has to be Karen’s.

She felt sick inside as he strolled toward her. Grinning, he grabbed his limp member, lifted it, and waved it at her like a snake. ‘
Say hi to Monty
,’ he said.

Karen grimaced at herself in the mirror.

Monty? Where on earth did I dig up a name like that? Never even known a guy named Monty. Much less a dick
.

She shook her head and laughed. The horrible images faded, but she still felt a little uneasy because of them.

‘Monty the dick,’ she said aloud, but softly. Neal liked her voice. ‘I’d better find me a guy fast, I’m losing my marbles. And now I’m talking to myself. Talking to myself and daydreaming about . . .’

‘
Penises
,’ she finished the thought in silence. ‘
Too long since I’ve been around any
.’

A memory suddenly filled Karen’s mind. She was on a bed in a sunlit room, stretched out on her back, a man on all fours above her. His name was Darren. She knew that, though she couldn’t see his face. She could only see his belly, and sometimes his penis. His
thing
, that’s what she always called it. Mostly, his thing was out of sight, hidden between her breasts. It felt enormous, hot and very hard.

Darren loved her breasts, so she was giving him a special treat. First, she had instructed him to rub oil on them. When they were slippery, she’d rolled onto her back and guided Darren onto her. Then she’d used both hands to push her breasts together and trap his thing.

Facing the mirror, Karen shook her fingers. The bikini top fell from them, brushed the side of her calf and dropped silently against the carpet.

She took hold of her breasts and pushed them together. Rubbed them against each other.

They felt a little slippery with sweat.

Not as slippery as they’d felt with Darren, though.

Concentrating, she tried to feel his thing.

Thick and long, sliding in and out of the crevice between her breasts. Rubbing up and down, sometimes plunging downward so deep it nudged her sternum. Other times sliding forward until its glistening head came squeezing out, inches from her mouth, like a wiener popping out of its bun.

‘
Next time, we’ll use mustard
.’

She’d actually said that to Darren. But there hadn’t been a next time.

Karen suddenly parted her breasts, clutched them by the front and squeezed, digging in her fingernails. Hard enough to hurt.

But the pain from her breasts was nothing compared to the agony crushing her heart.

She dropped to her knees, sobbing wildly.

Oh my God! Neal thought. What’s going on? What’s
the matter
with her?

He fled.

In his own body again, Neal found himself squirming on his back, breathless and sweaty. He swung his legs off the mattress. Sitting on the edge of the bed, he tried to calm down.

Horrible to see Karen go crazy like that, he thought. What the hell had gone wrong? She’d lost Darren, obviously. Lost him in a way that had done major damage to her. Did he get himself killed, or just dump her?

Go back and find out?

No thanks, he told himself.

Maybe she’s over the tantrum, by now.

Neal didn’t want to take the chance.

Poor gal, he thought. Jeez.

Being inside her had been wonderful for a while, though.

Wonderful? Spectacular!

My God, she stripped right in front of me!

He gazed at the bracelet on his wrist.

No wonder Elise warned me about getting hooked on it. I can go to anyone I want, get inside, watch her undress, take a bath, make love. But I don’t just get to
look
, I get to
feel
everything she feels.

Incredible, Neal thought. Literally unbelievable. Way too good to be true.

He
couldn’t
believe it was true, but neither could he find a way to deny it. The bracelet didn’t bestow vivid dreams or fantasies, it allowed you to enter actual people. Which he knew to be impossible.