Coercion - Ch 3
Kelly left the lab at four on Friday. She had parked her car over in the student lot and Don knew she had to change and stash her regular clothes there before she went to meet Randall. She had shown him the outfit she planned to wear that morning before they had left for the school. It consisted of a plaid skirt, cut several inches above her knees, and a light yellow blouse with ruffled collar. She wore flats on her feet and her only underwear was a black thong. "Not really comfortable," she had remarked, "but he'd expect a hot little teeny bopper like me to wear something like that."
"Teeny bopper?" Don teased. "That expression was old before you were born."
"Well, I heard it in a movie once. Anyway, I have the recorder all set. I'll turn it on before I go into his office so he won't see anything but my purse. By tomorrow, we should have him."
Now, as Kelly left, she told Don, "I expect I'll be back home by ten tomorrow. From what Jan said, he never keeps the girls later than he has told them." Then, sarcastically, "He's so considerate."
Don watched her from the lab window until she disappeared around the corner of another building. This is the hard part for me, he thought. Now the waiting starts. But it had to be a lot harder for Kelly. He closed his work, knowing he would accomplish nothing else that night, and shortly after five he started for home.
Don spent a very edgy night. He ate a TV dinner for supper and first tried to read a novel. When he couldn't concentrate on that, he turned on a movie, but that, too, proved no distraction. When he finally went to bed at eleven, it was another two hours before he slept and when he awoke at seven the next morning, he felt as though he had rested no more than an hour or two.
For the next three hours Don fidgeted around the house, not able to concentrate on anything. A quarter after ten he heard Kelly's car pull into the drive and half a minute later she came in through the garage door. Before he could say anything he saw the look on her face. It was a combination of anger and frustration and something else he couldn't identify. She was carrying the recording device in her hand and set it down on the kitchen table on her way towards him. She dropped her coat on a chair and headed to the hallway door without saying a word. But before Don could make a sound she stopped and turned towards him. "Don, I'm going to take a shower. Make us a fire, pour me a Scotch, and I'll tell you everything when I come back. OK?"
Don nodded dumbly. He moved to the family room and soon had a nice log fire burning in the hearth. He retrieved the bottle of Scotch and poured a healthy amount into each of two glasses. Neither he nor Kelly drank much at all. Wine with dinner and occasionally, like now, a single glass of Scotch. They had found that both preferred the "good" stuff: single malt, well aged and straight, so the smoky flavor mingled with the smooth taste.
He sat down on the love seat facing the fireplace and waited. Kelly was spending a long time in the shower. In fact, Don realized, she was spending longer than he had ever known her to. When at last he heard the water stop, he looked at his watch and found that forty five minutes had passed. He heard the hair drier going and in a few more minutes, Kelly appeared in the doorway. She was wearing a terry robe, her hair had been dried and brushed and hung down her back. The look of frustration was still there, but her face had softened and she seemed more composed and a little less tense.
Don walked over and handed her the drink. He waited while she took a long swallow and then led her back to the couch. He sat and she lowered herself beside him, snuggling close and resting her head on his shoulder. "Hold me for a minute," she said. Don pulled her close and slowly he felt more of the tension leave her.
Finally she began to talk. "I know you're wondering, so first I'll tell you, we haven't got anything we can use." Don looked surprised, but before he could say anything, Kelly continued, "No, the unit worked OK. But the bastard made me leave my purse in the car. I couldn't object without it sounding suspicious. Anyway, let me just tell you what happened."
She took another drink and then began. "He was ready when I got to his office and we left immediately for his car. Once we got inside he drove off campus and we started out Route 35. But he pulled over in a mile or so and made me put on a blindfold. A very good one. I couldn't see a thing. I tried to keep track of where we went, but he made so many turns I quickly lost any idea. That doesn't really matter. We do have the GPS data, so we can pinpoint exactly where he took me."
"Anyway, we drove for about forty minutes and then pulled into a long gravel drive. When he stopped the car he let me take the blindfold off and I could see we were at a small farmhouse in the middle of nowhere. Couldn't see another house at all, just fields and woods. He told me to get out and when I started to bring my purse and back pack, he said to leave them in the car, that I wouldn't be needing them."
"We went inside and he was very polite - took my coat and everything. He'd brought some carry out dinner and he said we'd eat first. He didn't say first before what, but he didn't really ask: he just told me to get the food ready. I set things out on the table and he even held the chair for me as I sat down. I acted very nervous during dinner. Actually, I didn't have to act too much because I wasn't real sure what he was planning, but nothing happened at all."
"But when we finished eating he said something about being ready for his dessert. He took my shoulders in his hands and pulled me towards him. He simply said, 'Take off your blouse.' I tried to pull back and told him that I'd changed my mind, that I didn't want to do this, but he didn't pay any attention. He held me in place and said, 'It's a little late for that, Kelly. You don't have any choice.' I decided that this might be a good time to give in a little and went ahead and took off my shirt. He took me into a bedroom and had me kneel down in front of him. You can guess what happened next"
"When he finally came - all over my face - I thought he would leave me alone for awhile, but he wasn't done. He made me strip the rest of the way and then started pushing me towards the bed. I told him 'No', but he pushed me onto the bed. When I tried to fight back a little, he pulled out a pair of handcuffs and cuffed me to the headboard. He told me that either I did what he wanted, when he wanted, or he'd force me. To make the story short, he fucked me, and left me cuffed to the bed. I spent the entire night like that, naked and cuffed, and he had me twice more before he let me go."
She turned to look in Don's face. "I knew I was taking a chance on that, but I was still surprised at how it made me feel. It wasn't like when we play at all. I was so helpless and it just felt like he was using me and I didn't have a damn thing to say about it. I'll get over it, but I can't help but think how much worse it would have been for a real, inexperienced freshman. I mean, I'm used to sleeping nude and even tied to the bed sometimes. But for someone who never had, it would have been really traumatic. I'm just mad that I didn't get any hard data. He even wore condoms, so we couldn't even use DNA even if I could convince someone I didn't agree to the whole thing." She became silent for a few seconds and then said, "Now, Don, just hold me close for awhile."
She quickly finished the rest of her drink and pushed her head down against Don's shoulder. He gently stroked her hair and lightly rubbed her neck, feeling the tension recede. After some time had passed he noticed her breathing had settled in to a slow, regular rhythm and he realized she had fallen asleep. He held her for a while longer and then arranged her so she was stretched comfortably on the couch. He added a light cover and then moved to another chair to let her rest.
The fact that Kelly had been effectively raped only increased his concern. Of course, he didn't blame her for anything. He had never understood how any man could feel disrespect for a woman who had been ravaged although he had heard and read enough to know that some did. Instead, he now worried some that maybe he had encouraged her too much in this venture and that maybe they should just withdraw her from the class and drop everything. So far they hadn't gotten any real evidence that they could use to bring down this predator.
Kelly slept for several hours. Twice Don built up the fire again and the sun was sinking behind a thick bank of clouds in the west when Kelly finally began to stir. Don left the book he had been trying to read and quickly moved over beside her as she awoke. Kelly blinked open her eyes and looked up at him. "Hi," she said, and her voice seemed normal and the tension seemed to have vanished from her body.
"How are you feeling?" he asked.
Kelly thought for a few seconds. "Actually, not too bad. I'm still angry and frustrated that we didn't get anything usable, but otherwise I'm all right." Don looked at her with a somewhat inquisitive look on his face, a little disbelief showing in his features. Kelly smiled at him. "No, really, I'm all right. I was pretty well prepared for what happened and it didn't get to me enough to do any real hurt." Then she grinned at him with her usual sense of humor. "I told you I've been fucked before. Just usually I want to have some say in the matter."
Don hugged her to him and kissed her. "Maybe we should just drop this whole thing," he suggested.
Kelly's face flashed with hard determination. "No way! Now I want to get him even more. It's just I'm not quite sure how. I'm sure he won't let me take anything inside, so I don't know where I can hide the recorder. Let me think about it for a while."
They fixed dinner, working together in the kitchen in companionable silence. As they ate they talked about other topics and Don was surprised to see that the events of the previous night really didn't seem to have hit Kelly too hard. After dinner Kelly brought the recorder out and dropped it onto the table. "Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time." She picked the unit up and examined it. "Maybe we can use it to make our own porno movies," she kidded.
Don smiled at the remark. "Well, if we do, at least we could put it in the right place and leave it there," he quipped. "Mount it in the playroom and we could get some good shots."