Her mind was miles away.
The words of the stranger growled in her ear were still ringing in her head. The very audacity of it! He had suggested they go off somewhere and do obscene things together, and she didn't even know his name! Her mind mused on all the hotel rooms in Chicago and, perhaps, in some of them, there were men and women in them; strangers, just meeting and getting together and stripping naked and drinking too much and doing obscene things together.
For the first time in her life, Nancy felt her body racked with an emotion that hit her with a fury and intensity she had never even dreamed of before.
She found every single nerve in her body tingling with a supreme lust. She sat in the crowded cab as if in a trance, her eyes looking far off and slightly glazed, her red fulsome lips slightly parted and gleaming wetly, as she felt a lewdness throbbing in her pulse as she wondered: Could I do that? Could I have gone off with that stranger?
The answer was yes! Nancy sat, feeling a massive throbbing pound rhythmically through her sensually aroused body as she sat and allowed herself, for a few reckless moments, to imagine… daydream… about what it would be like to be naked and alone with a strange man. The drinks were beginning to have an effect on her, and she still felt as if she were on a holiday. Wildly smiling, she let herself think about what it would be like to be naked and drinking with a stranger. More than that… to be naked and enticing in front of a stranger like the one who whispered in her ear! To be totally naked and at the mercy of someone who was coarse and vulgar and used her like a whore! To have some hairy man paw her soft naked body… to have them do obscene things to her… to be forced to do… things… to him! Oh God! It was all so… so exciting!
"Hey, what's the matter, baby?"
Nancy turned, startled, to see the man crammed against her was talking to her. "Oh. Nothing. Why?"
"You looked funny."
"Did I?"
"Hell, yes. No private thoughts on this party. Everybody sticks together. Hey, here we are!"
They piled out of the cab in a strange part of Chicago, a section that was away from everything Nancy knew. They fled their way into a brownstone house. It was one of those brownstones that are completely gutted inside and re-done in modern taste. It was also obvious that a large noisy party was going on inside. Speakers carried the sound of a jazz combo playing somewhere in the depths of the house. Nancy hesitated at the crowd around the door, but found herself propelled forward from all sides as they waded into the din of laughter and conversation and people standing elbow to elbow.
The whole house was packed with people as they inched their way deeper into the party. The air was thick with cigarette smoke, and everyone seemed to be drinking. Nancy, still shaken from her lewd daydreaming, tried hard to get her bearings. A drink was shoved in her hand, and Rita was shouting in her ear.
"Hey, this is Tom. My Tom. Tom, baby, I want you to meet Nancy Dodge. Remember the Nancy I talked about? This is her."
Nancy looked into the sweating face of a handsome man who was just beginning to get a little fat. He looked at her face, and then looked up and down her body, un-nerving Nancy, for it was almost as if he had guessed what she had been thinking in the cab. He almost made her feel naked the brash way he looked at her breasts and the brazen way he looked at the fertile and velvety "vee" where her vagina nestled behind her dress. She felt she really didn't like him as he let out a low long wolf-whistle and said, "Hi, Nancy, welcome aboard."
Her instinct was to distrust and avoid him, yet she was feeling absolutely no pain and was completely swept up in the excitement and fun of the night: this was going to be something she would remember for a long while. She giggled, realizing there were already things that she didn't dare tell Allan about. She felt a little wicked when she thought about telling Allan about the obscene stranger. She could never tell him about the foul-mouthed man. She looked around her at the room packed with people. People were pressed tightly together and talking and laughing and drinking and smoking. A regular din of laughter and shouted conversations fell on her ears. She looked about, seeing people touching one another, kissing one another. Nancy watched with a strange kind of hunger in her as a couple kissed with their mouths wide open, their tongues wetly thrusting in and out of each other's mouths.
A little drunk, elated, excited with the heady party swirling around her, Nancy had a gut-feeling and knew, intuitively, that something was going to happen. She looked about her. This was no ordinary gathering. It was very subtle, but it was there.
It was the people. Nancy let herself be pushed by the crowd, feeling bodies all around her, seeing faces emerge from the swirl and disappear again. It was the people. All the women were young, her age, and all of them were attractive. The men were generally older, but still handsome. People were dressed just a trifle too stylishly, a little too loosely. One girl, wearing an Indian headband, was obviously not wearing a brassiere. Nancy took in her cool, wicked good looks as she went by.
"She's in the movie," a voice said in her ear. "I hear she's out of sight."
Nancy frowned. They way everyone was dressed and… more than that… the loose, almost insolent way so many people were acting… the way men and women pawed one another. She looked around her for a face she would recognize. "Say, what's the name of this film we're going to see?" she asked suddenly, her instincts coming to life under the constant barrage of suggestive sights.
A man, shouldering by with his hands full of drinks, paused and eyed Nancy before saying, "It's called, Scorpio Sex Rites."
Nancy opened her mouth to say something, anything, but the man was gone, already lost in the crowd. Nancy twisted around, feeling one of her breasts crushed against a man's arm. She couldn't see anyone she knew. She tried to go against the flow of the crowd and she saw she was working her way to where Rita stood laughing with several men. Tom, a drink in one hand, was a few feet away, shaking hands with someone who looked important. She got to Rita's side and leaned to talk in her ear. "Rita… I mean… what kind of a movie is this premiere we're going to see?"
Rita looked surprised. "Didn't I tell you? It's called, Scorpio Sex Rites."
Again, she leaned next to Rita's ear. "Is it a sex film?"
"Yeah, sure. Didn't I tell you?"
"A real one… a real sex film?"
Rita shouted back. "Yeah! It was made in San Francisco. Real hard-core. Tom's representing these people who are fronting a theater operation here. Big money."
Nancy was too stunned to say anything. She let the crowd gradually part them. She felt she had to get off somewhere… a bathroom or something… for awhile and be by herself and think. Should she be doing this? The question demanded answering. She was feeling good and had too much to drink, but… should she be doing this?
She had read enough in the papers and magazines and discussed it enough with Allan to have a good idea of what she was in for if she saw the movie. She imagined she knew what they were like. One night, Allan had talked about the two of them going to see one. Finally, he ruled against it, deciding it wasn't right. Nancy felt she had to agree with him, still… there was always that lingering longing… just once… just to see one and find out what it was about.
The temptation was too much. Nancy's face was flushed with excitement as she drained her glass and made her way to the nearest bar. After all… she always had a perfect out… she didn't know what she was seeing… besides, if it got too rough, she could always leave…
She found her pulse pounding in her wrist with an excitement so intense it almost made her giddy! With a blink of amazement, she realized she hadn't felt so alive in years. She threaded her way along with the crowd, tossing her mane of lamp-black hair, eagerly sipping at her drink. With the exception of Tom and Rita Nelson, she didn't know a soul at the party. They would never say anything.