Six months after his arrest, Mel Ott was being escorted out of the courthouse by sheriff's deputies after his sentencing hearing. He hated jail, but he was getting by. The judge gave him an eighteen month sentence, which meant that, with credit for time served, and time off for good behavior, Mel would probably be up for parole in about a year. He knew it wouldn't be easy, but he figured he could make it through a year in jail.
When Mel, accompanied by one of the sheriff's deputies who transported prisoners for the court, came out of the courthouse, he saw Captain Alex Martin, the cop who busted him, talking to one of the other transport deputies. "What the fuck is he doing here?" Mel wondered. As he watched, the detective clapped the deputy on the shoulder, then started toward where Mel was standing.
"Mind if I have a few words with Mel in private before you take him away?" Alex asked.
"Take all the time you want, Cap," the deputy escorting Mel said. "We got two more guys in there waiting to be sentenced. We'll be here a while yet."
"What the fuck do you want?" Mel muttered to Alex. "I'm goin' to jail. You happy now?"
Alex smiled and nodded. "Melvin, do you know a girl named Donna Wells?" he asked.
"What if I do?" Mel replied. He didn't understand this, not one bit. What the fuck was this cop up to? Why was he asking about Donna? Had the bitch ratted him out? If she had, how come he hadn't been charged?"
"I know what you did to her, Melvin, and what you made her do with those men," Alex said.
"Yeah, so?" Mel asked.
"I know you'll probably be getting out of jail in a year or so," Alex said. "When you do, you stay away from Donna, you hear?" He leaned closer to Mel. "If you ever come within a hundred miles of her, Melvin, you're going to wish you were never born."
"OK, OK," Mel said. He looked into Alex's eyes, saw the intense anger there, and knew he better listen. This fucking cop was crazy!
"I'm glad you understand," Alex said. He turned and looked as if he was going to walk away. Then, smiling broadly, he turned back to Mel. "Oh, Melvin," he said, "I almost forgot. You know how much guys in the joint like stoolies?"
Mel stared at him. He knew stoolies had a hard time in jail. That much he'd learned during his stay in the county jail. Nobody in the joint like stoolies. The guys who ratted other guys out were beat on and messed with all the time. He looked around and realized that the other prisoners in the sheriff's van were watching him attentively, and he began to get scared.
"I wanted you to know that I put the word out through a couple of guys I sent up to the joint that you can't keep your mouth shut, Melvin," Alex continued. "They know how helpful you've been to us in a whole bunch of cases."
"Hey, man! What the fuck did you do that for?" Mel whined. "Jesus! It the other guys in the pen think I'm a stoolie, do you know what's gonna happen to me?"
Alex's smile got colder. "I do know, Mel. And that isn't all I told them," he said. "If I was you, I'd see about getting a commercial-sized tube of K-Y Jelly." He grabbed Mel's hand and shook it, then he clapped him on the shoulder. "Take care, Mel," he said, loud enough for the prisoners in the van to hear. "I really do appreciate all the help you've given me." He lowered his voice so the men in the van couldn't hear him, and said, "Have a good life, you slime."
Mel stood there trembling while Alex turned and walked away. He turned and looked at the van and saw the prisoners were glancing at him and talking to each other.
"Come on, Mel, get in van," one of the deputies said. He opened the door. "Make yourself comfortable. They're all done inside, we'll be going in a couple minutes."
Mel, his face ashen, trembling so hard he could barely move, climbed into the van. His movements were already hampered by the handcuffs, waist chain, and leg irons he was wearing, and the fact that he was shaking like a leaf made getting in the van even harder. Once he was in the vehicle, he settled himself on one of the hard vinyl seats and heard the deputy close the door behind him. The three other prisoners in the van glared at him.
A half-hour after his conversation with Mel Ott, Alex drove up in front of his house, got out of his car, and walked up the steps to the house.
"Hi, honey," Jennifer said when Alex walked into the house. She was holding what looked like a card and envelope in her hand. "Look what I got," she said. She handed the card to Alex.
"Mr. and Mrs. William P. Atherton, Jr., joyfully invite you to join them in celebrating the marriage of their son, William Percival Atherton, III to Arlene Williams Ott," Alex read. A broad smile formed on his face.
"Do you believe that?" Jennifer asked. "The Athertons are actually putting on the whole thing. I talked to William's mother on the phone a little while ago and she didn't sound at all like the woman I thought I knew. I really believe she and William's father are excited and happy."
"One thing I've learned being a cop is that you really never know what people are like," Alex said, pulling her into his arms. "Just when you think you have them figured out, they turn around and surprise you." He kissed her, then grinned. "When are we going to send out invitations of our own?" he asked.
Jennifer leaned back in his arms and looked at him carefully. "Do you mean...is that a..." She pressed against him, and hugged him fiercely. "Yes, Alex, I'll marry you," she said. Then she turned her head up and their lips joined in a passionate kiss.
"We're done," Tommy Singleton told Donna after they finished the last of the work his father had given them to do. "Dad said if we finished early, we could take the afternoon off."
"What are you going to do the rest of the afternoon?" Donna asked. She liked Tommy a lot. In the months since he and his family moved to the farm, she and he had become close. She'd seen the way he got all moony-eyed when he looked at her sometimes, and had a feeling he liked her, maybe even more than that. But it puzzled her that he'd never made a move on her, or asked her to go out with him, even to the movies.
"I don't know," Tommy said. He did like Donna. He thought she was the prettiest girl he'd ever seen and, on top of that, she was a lot of fun to be with. He dreamed about her at night, and had wanted to ask her out for a long time. The problem was, he was painfully shy and was afraid Donna wouldn't go with him if he did ask her.
"We could take Bosco and Bonnie for a ride," Donna suggested. "Jennifer said Bosco needs more exercise than she's been able to give him since she's been spending so much time at Alex's place."
"That sounds like fun," Tommy agreed. "Why don't we do that, then?"
Donna smiled. "I'll get some stuff together and we can have a picnic," she said. "What do you think?"
"I think that would be a neat," Tommy said. "Why don't I saddle the horses while you get the food?"
When Donna came back to the barn, Tommy noticed that she'd changed her clothes. Instead of the old jeans and sleeveless sweatshirt she was wearing while they worked, she had on a pair of tan wide-wale corduroy jeans and green popcorn stitch cotton sweater with a mock turtleneck. Tommy looked at her and got a funny feeling in his stomach. She really was the prettiest girl he'd ever seen, even prettier than his mom and Mrs. McIntyre, who he also thought were gorgeous!
The two teenagers climbed on the horses and set off through the fields. Tommy led the way and, eventually, they halted in a shady meadow next to a pond.
"This is really a neat place, Tommy," Donna said. "I never even knew this was here. How did you know where it was?"
"My Dad told me about it," the young man replied, blushing a little.
They dismounted and Tommy unsaddled the horses while Donna spread out the blanket and laid out their lunch. They sat down to eat.
Tommy liked being with Donna, but he wasn't sure how she felt about him. She seemed to like him, but his shyness had kept him from doing anything to make their relationship move forward and it still did. He thought this might be a good time to try and kiss her, but he was scared of how she'd react if he did.
"Earth to Tommy," Donna said.
"What?" Tommy exclaimed. He looked at his companion.
"This really is a lovely place, Tommy," Donna said softly, looking into his eyes. "Thank you for bringing me here. I've never been on a nicer picnic."
Tommy knew it was now or never. He wasn't about to get a better chance. He leaned toward Donna and she moved closer to him. Then their lips were touching. Their arms slid around each other and, tentatively, their tongues probed.
Fire flashed in Tommy's body, and from the way Donna was moving against him and cooing, he had a feeling it was doing the same in hers. They lay back on the blanket. Tommy decided he wasn't going to stop until Donna told him to, so he screwed up his courage and slid his hand under her sweater. He was surprised to discover that she wasn't wearing a bra.
"Goddd!!!" Donna moaned when the young man's hand began caressing her bare breasts, "Oh, Tommy! That feels so nice!" She'd wanted him to make love to her for a long time, and didn't understand why he hadn't made a move on her before this. Her hands went to his waist, opened his jeans, slid inside them and grasped his cock. To her delight she discovered it was already swollen and throbbing.
Tommy shuddered with delight when his companion touched his erection. "Oh, God!!! Oh, Donna!" he groaned. He had wanted this, and had dreamed about it almost every night since he and his family had moved to the McIntyre farm, but he never imagined it would actually happen. And now it was!
Donna lay back on the blanket. Tommy rolled over, pushed her sweater up and began sliding his hands over her smooth, warm skin. His lips moved to her straining nipples.
Donna groaned and arched her back, pressing her breasts into Tommy's mouth. "Uhhhhhh!!! Yessssss!!! Oh, Tommy!!! Yessssss!!!!" she murmured. Her body strained and twisted as his hands roamed over it.
Tommy, not quite sure what to do, but wanting to be good for Donna, kept his touch as light as he could. His hands trembled as he explored Donna's lithe, lovely body. His caresses, inexpert, but gentle, evoked loud cries of joy from his gorgeous companion.
Tommy wanted to do more, to see more of her! He pushed her slacks down, then slid his hands up the insides of her slim, beautiful legs. He began to explore her opening with his fingers. Gasps of ecstasy came from Donna while he caressed her. When he brushed her clit, her gasps turned to wails and her body twisted and strained even more fervently. Kneeling between Donna's out-stretched, trembling legs, he began kissing her flat belly.
"Ohhhhhh!!! Ohhhhhhh!!!! Tommy!!! Tommy!!!!" Donna babbled, her motions becoming more and more frenzied. She'd never known feelings like those Tommy was giving her! This was the way she'd always dreamed love-making would feel! "Uhhhhhhhh!!!!" she grunted when he slipped one of his fingers into her. Her hips kept moving insistently and her head rolled from side to side on the blanket.
