A terrible thought occurred to him. What if Patty had told her mother about last night? He knew he'd die of shame if Patty's mother accused him of trying to seduce her daughter. Just thinking of Mrs. Edwards upset him. There was something about the older woman that made him tongue-tied and nervous in her presence. She was… well… she made him feel… Then he finally blurted it out to himself.
Goddamn, she was sexy! Yeah, that was it, Patty's mother really turned him on. To his horror he began imagining how Mrs. Edwards would look naked. He pictured himself running his hands over those big ripe breasts, and his virile young cock started to swell in his pants. With a terrible effort he tore his mind away from these lewd exciting thoughts. Damn, it was almost incest to be thinking this way about the mother of the girl he loved.
There seemed to be nothing moving over at the Edwards' place, and that may have been what decided him to pluck up his faltering spirits and cross the road and start up the long dirt driveway. Probably nobody was home anyhow.
He was moving across the yard just a few paces from where he and Patty had been passionately locked together last night when he saw a quick movement and heard a low warning growl. Champ's fierce head appeared above the grass, his ears sharply alert. Then the big dog relaxed as he recognized Danny. Patty's head popped up along side Champ's.
"Danny," she said with obvious delight. "Oh, Danny, I'm so glad to see you."
"You are?" Danny replied incredulously. Somehow this wasn't the dramatic scene he had expected. "I kind of thought after last night…" his voice trailed away.
"What do you mean?" she said, her face genuinely puzzled. Then understanding came to her. She blushed a little. "Oh, that!"
Then it all came tumbling out of the embarrassed young boy in a rush.
"I'm really sorry that happened," he blurted. "I don't know what came over me – I guess what I did was inexcusable…" To his confusion he saw that the more he said the darker and more threatening Patty's face became.
"Danny Peters," she said sternly, her hands planted on her hips. "What do you think I am, some helpless ninny? It just so happens that I liked making love to you, so don't you go apologizing as if we'd polluted each other." Then she couldn't keep from laughing as she saw the hopelessly lost expression on Danny's face. After a moment he was laughing too, and the next thing they knew they were locked together in a long passionate kiss. It was some time before they came up for air.
"I'm the one that should be sorry," Patty said. "I just couldn't handle it last night. And then Champ started barking and I was afraid Mom would come. Oh, Danny," she said tears brimming up in her eyes. "I wish I had let you, I wish you had been the first man to have me, because now…" she couldn't continue as sobs began to shake her vibrantly young body.
"W-What do you mean?" Danny asked haltingly, his joy at her tender loving words tempered by fear that he was about to hear something he didn't want to. A horrible suspicion was forming in his mind. "W-was there someone else last night?" He had to force the words out, a terrible jealousy making him feel sick to his stomach.
"Not last night," Patty said, hating to tell him of her sordid shame but needing to. "It was this morning. Hank… Hank Jones came over after Mom left. He made me do awful things. He told me he'd kill Champ if I didn't. Oh, Danny it was terrible," the distraught young girl said, her body shaking with shame and grief. "You don't hate me, do you? I had to do it, he forced me!"
Each time she said this some of the guilt she felt for her shamelessly passionate reaction to Hank's loveless caresses dropped away from her. She was beginning to remember only Hank's threats and the pain he had caused her. Deep in her unconscious mind she was building a mental defense which she could reinforce by sharing it with Danny. Then her own wild response would be buried. She would never have to admit that Hank had aroused her as she had never been aroused before. No! It was rape, she had not enjoyed it! She was blameless!
But she had not expected the strength of Danny's response. His face twisted as the blood rushed to it, his jealousy channeled into rage and hatred.
"The dirty son of a bitch," he choked out. "I'll kill him. My dad has a shot gun. I'll go home and get it and kill him. I'll blow his rotten balls off." He was actually starting to turn away, but Patty held tightly to his arm, frightened.
"Oh, no, Danny. Don't do it. He's mean – he'll kill you."
"I'm not afraid of that fat slob," Danny snarled, rage still his master. "And I'm not afraid of the cops either. That pig is finished."
"Oh, no, don't!" Patty wailed. "You'll get us both in trouble. Can't you see? What will people say about me? It's just like telling the whole world what's happened if you do anything crazy like that, and I just couldn't stand having people know."
This fine of reasoning cooled the young avenger's anger a little. It also gave him time to reflect on how dangerous a road he was embarking on. He stood for a moment irresolutely shifting his weight from one leg to another.
"But what'll we do?" he asked in confusion. "We can't just let him get away with it. And what's to keep him from doing it again?"
"Oh, I don't know," Patty said, tears once again coming to her eyes. "I just needed to tell somebody, somebody who would understand. Please don't make things harder for me than they already are." And she sank down in a heap of dejected misery, her shoulders shaking from silent sobs.
Danny stood irresolutely for a minute, not knowing what to do. Then he awkwardly knelt and put his arm around the distraught girl's shoulder. She clung to him fiercely seeing in him some kind of potential salvation.
Danny thought for a moment and then tried another tack.
"I know it might be hard," he said gently, "but maybe you should tell your mother. She might be able to help."
Patty looked up at him embarrassed. "Well…" she started… "Well, it's like this. Mom and Hank have something going. I just don't know what I'd say to her. 'Hey Mom, your boy friend raped me!'"
"You mean that fat slob is your mother's boy friend?" Danny blurted out before he had time to think. He looked up guiltily as signs of anger returned to Patty's tear-stained face.
"Now you just be careful what you say about my mother," she said sharply. And then, "Oh, I'm sorry, Danny. I suppose it looks bad, but Hank really isn't Mom's boy friend, I-I just said that. He comes over to see her every once in a while. I guess she gets a little lonely now that Dad is gone."
She left it to Danny to infer the rest, but he kept his mouth shut this time. The two young people sat disconsolately on the grass together for several minutes without saying a word. The youth had his arm around Patty's shoulder and her head was resting on his chest. Champ came over and sat down against them, his big handsome body adding a measure of strength and protection to the little group. Patty reached out and ran her hand affectionately up and down his back.
"Maybe we'd better just wait and see if he comes back," she said, a brave smile on her lips. "Champ will warn me if he does."
"Maybe we could figure some way to trap him," Danny said with a slight edge of excitement. "Maybe…"
"Oh, lets not talk about it any more," Patty said, placing her hands over her ears. "I want to get it out of my mind for a while," she turned so that her head was now lying in Danny's lap. She smiled up at him. "You'll help me if there's any more trouble, won't you?"
Danny's young heart leaped in his breast. Two days ago this would have been beyond his wildest dreams. The girl he loved curled up in his lap, looking up at him with her big blue eyes, asking him to protect her. At that moment he would have gladly tackled a lion for her. As he looked down at her she shifted to a more comfortable position, and he could see her proudly upthrust breasts sway as if they were alive inside the thin material of her summer dress. She was obviously not wearing a brassiere, and her peaked little nipples were all-too-evident through the flimsy material. The top two or three buttons had been left undone, and his warm, glowing eyes moved hungrily down her firm cleavage, imagining the creamy flesh that lay just out of sight.