"Just in case you have any ideas of turning your promise around…"
He gripped her by the hair, kicking her legs and torso around until she tumbled over the lip into an abyss. It was dark in there. Her nostrils filled immediately with a dank, wretched smell that reminded her of an unflushed toilet. She could hear scrambling around inside, the sounds of hundreds of living things tumbling over one another from that sudden intrusion.
"Rats, baby, thousands of 'em around in here. Sometimes they crawl up outta this place. But they'd love to have a good feast on you."
Laurie screamed, her fingers clawing at the slick bulkhead while her hair began tearing from her scalp. She shrieked, the pain agonizing in her head. But even worse was the possibility he would lose his grip and send her plummeting to a hellish death. Another swell caught the barge starboard and lurched the ship. A porthole cover became dislodged and a stream of light peeked from round the curve, illuminating just for an instant the immediate area. There they were, a moving furry carpet of rats, their sharp white teeth and beady red eyes sparkling with hunger while they squealed and squeaked angrily at her.
Laurie shrieked again, pissing on her thighs, her tits flopping against one another while her toes banged and kicked at the sides.
Jack let the girl hang there for some time until she had screamed her throat raw. Only then did he pull her up, letting her roll to the floor. She grabbed her throat, retching and gagging, her mind blank with the horror of what she had just endured.
Laurie screamed and screamed when she could, covering her ears and eyes as she saw those awful rats crawling over one another. They would chew her alive. Lurching forward the girl threw her arms around his ankles, begging him not to do this again. She would do anything, even lie about what he'd done to her.
Jack slammed the door shut, dogging it down before reaching up and pulling the hysterical girl to her feet. He had to slap her several times before bringing her back to her senses.
"Now, you understand, this isn't going to disappear," he remarked, nodding in the direction of the door. With a hard, painful grip he sank his fingers into her white shoulders, thrusting her against the now-locked door and watching as the girl shuddered and pissed on her shivering thighs once more. "Good, now you tell the good captain what you've done, and I'll see things don't happen to you. You might even stay in as a Sea Scout. You'd like that, wouldn't you?"
Laurie wanted to faint, but somehow managed to nod her head, follow him out to where he had dumped her clothes. She was wretched, but still feeling oddly pleased with what had happened.
CHAPTER FIVE
"I don't believe you."
"But ma'am, it's the truth."
"I know what you told the captain. I know what you said in there. But I don't believe this. You're too much of an honest girl in the first place to lie for the first time. Someone or something's gotten to you, Laurie, and I want to know what."
The female officer sat in front of her, her eyes firm, anxious, compassionate. Laurie was miserable. She had had to recant her story, looking like a slut while hiding the whip marks Jack had given her. All along she thought of those rats crawling all over her, of the horrors that would wait for her.
"Nothing happened, ma'am, I swear it. I… it's just like what I told the captain. I've got to go now."
She knew word of what she'd done and said would be all over the station. They would be laughing behind her back, sniggering and calling her slut and whore. She would have to leave the Sea Scouts. Thank goodness her mother didn't know anyone in the program. She would be spared having to explain what she'd done to her mother. The female officer rose from behind her desk just as Laurie reached the door, putting a light, friendly hand on her narrow shoulders.
"I don't believe you, Laurie. You're not that kind of girl," she said softly, her voice caressing the girl's confused mind. "I'm not giving up on you. I'm going to find out what's happened here whether you like it or not."
"Please, don't… oh, what's the use?" Laurie cried, brushing away a tear and rushing from the office.
She could hear the woman's voice calling out for her. But Laurie could only think of rushing away from the office into the light. She saw some of the enlisted personnel of the reserve center staring at her, the men grinning while the women frowned. She was already branded. Fitting her small black and white ribboned hat over her head, Laurie was halfway out the door when she spotted the lieutenant coming up the broad concrete path.
Laurie turned, feeling her heart sinking into her shoes. She wouldn't talk with him. She just wouldn't have anything to do with him and his lies. It was the captain who took her by the wrist and forced her to stay there just as Jack walked through the door, his sardonic smile penetrating her very soul. People were watching her from behind, laughing while she stood there turning scarlet.
"You've told me the truth, Laurie. Now it's time you apologize publicly to the lieutenant here."
"I'm… I'm sorry for having lied like that," she whispered, the words choking in her throat.
Why was she feeling so hot between her legs? Even now standing here befriending the man who had hurt and degraded her, the young teen could only feel sexual flames of lust licking up her thighs and tingling her pussy. She turned away, breaking from the captain and rushing from the door. She held her face in her hands, running pell-mell down the path toward the docks. It was Lieutenant Jack Barrington who caught up with her, his fingers gripping her arm as they always had – unquestioningly, firmly. Laurie stopped as if by magic, terrified to make one move.
"That was good, very good. Now I want to show you what your reward is."
They were all watching her. If she spat in his face as one part of her wanted to do, they would consider her an ingrate and never speak to her again. Perhaps her mother might even hear about the scandal. Laurie stood her ground, shivering in her shoes as she thought of the barge.
"You know the executive officer, right? She's got a little something for you… a mother instinct, I think. I want to fuck her."
Laurie's eyes widened, her heart racing as she pulled back from Jack.
"I…"
"I want you to get her alone, tell her anything you want, but tell her you have to prove it. I'll be there," he said, nodding in the direction of the barge. "I've got it fixed up for the two of you. In fact," he said, leading her by the elbow toward a black government car, "I'll show you myself."
Laurie wanted to scream, to protest what he was doing to her. But she would only make a fool of herself, and no one would believe her. Reluctantly she followed the lieutenant into the car, looking back ruefully and watching the others stare back at her. Doubtlessly, they were marveling at Barrington's magnanimity, his forgiveness.
Laurie gripped the armrest and gasped for breath. Jack pushed her from the car. There were no accusing eyes here, no one to please on this deserted dock. He rushed her over the rotting planks into the barge, grabbing her roughly and sticking his tongue down her throat while feeling her ass.
Laurie was taken aback, her fists pummeling his chest, useless as cotton balls as she felt him opening her slacks and pulling them down. His hands were crawling over her ass like spiders, milking the buns against one another. When she managed to pull her hands up and scratch her fingernails across his face, Jack reared back, touching his scarred cheeks and seeing droplets of blood smeared on his fingertips.
"You hurt me enough! I won't go through with this! I won't let you have her either," she cried.
"So that's it, huh? Jealous little slut! You want me all to yourself, eh?"