It had been almost ten years since Nell Capuano had flown. Needless to say, the hassle and aggravation involved had multiplied exponentially since then.
She'd mustered the gusto to weather the two delays, the insidiously invasive security measures, even the baby three rows back that cried all through take off. Once they were finally up, flying east across America's breadbasket, Nell was able to get some much needed rest. She knew the next five days could be quite draining.
This was also the first time she'd ever flown alone. Her husband certainly had no interest spending four days at a Mary Kay conference in Boston, and they agreed it probably wasn't a good idea for him to tag along when she drove the rental car south to Newport to visit some of her old friends in Rhode Island, considering the legacy he'd left behind there.
The first leg of her trip, the conference, would be laced with a healthy dose of optimism and dread. Optimism, because it would give her the chance to re-kindle some connections, tell a few war stories, along with providing an opportunity to just get out of the house for a week. The dread came in when she'd invariably have to answer the questions about how such a successful business woman could throw all that hard work away and move to Timbuktu. Not that some of them minded considering Nell's lost sales was their gain.
She could close her eyes and almost nail down every single ad-lib or quip she'd use during the conference to cover her tracks. How the second part of her 'vacation' would play out once she made the short drive down to Newport, that was another story.
The trip to Boston had been planned for months, the addendum to visit her old stomping grounds had been a late addition. All it took was one accidental look at the listing of friends on her oldest son's Facebook page to light the fuse of a potential powder keg.
Over the course of time, people's hair color might change, either by nature or design. It may become longer or shorter, just as their frame may become wider or thinner. They may put on weight or take it off, even change their appearance through medical altercation. One thing that stays relatively constant, however, is the unique gleam in each individual's eyes. Having raised that two second snippet of catching someone peeking at her through the fence of her old house in Rhode Island to near mythical status in her own mind, to once again see those same eyes peering back at her from the screen of her son's computer nearly caused Nell Capuano to have a stroke.
What had happened in the 10 minutes or so following the haunting recognition, Nell wasn't exactly proud of. Thankfully, no one else on Earth would ever have to know.
JJ Gentry's family lived two blocks from the Capuano's home back in Newport. In hindsight, Nell remembered the now 22 year old did hang out with the Henley boys next door quite a bit back then, but honestly, she'd never given him a second thought since her family had been exiled to Arizona. Rocking back and forth as she stared at JJ's seemingly innocuous picture on the screen, Nell somehow felt the young man had become part of the fabric of her being.
Like magma being pushed up to the outer crust, the years worth of built up curiosity and frustration burst through.
"You could just say now you know who it was and get on with your life, Nell," her conscience solemnly scolded, but powers far greater were already set in motion.
Before she even realized she had, Nell's right hand had dropped between the pink thighs of the old pair of sweatpants she often did housework in. Her pussy responded instantly, sending a humid wave through the material of her pants to the rotating digits of her fingers.
Considering the young man had never been what you'd call 'on Nell's radar', she'd never taken the time to assess how truly handsome the young lad was. The few times she remembered seeing the Gentry clan together, JJ did have his father's rather prominent jawline and broad shoulders. The dark and brooding hallows of his eyes, however, were all his mother's.
"Bet those eyes of hers would be burning if she knew the way I was thinking about her oldest son right now," Nell flinched as she continued to fixate on the thumbnail photo.
The cautionary thought did nothing to stop her. If anything, it tweaked something twistedly devious inside Nell, causing her to wrench her hand that much harder between her thighs.
Reaching forward with her left hand as she kept the pressure on her crotch tight with her right, Nell clicked on the icon to switch the page from her son's profile to JJ's. Leaning back on the bed and biting her lower lip, Nell's belly filled with a cauldron of boiling heat as JJ's image spread across the screen.
The bigger picture simply allowed Nell to lose herself that much quicker in JJ's dark, cavernous gaze. Rutting forward on her buried hand, Nell commenced with her hypnotic, well-practiced ritual of self gratification. Spinning her fingers rapidly across her flared vaginal folds, Nell gouged the sizzling ridge of her clitoris with her thumb as the bed below began to creak.
Sliding forward off the bed just before she stained her son's sheets with her own seeping lust, Nell kept her eyes focused squarely on the young man's face on the screen as she came to rest on her knees. Rocking her hips forward in quick, jerking circles, Nell looked every bit a sinner kneeling before an alter as she shoved her hand deep inside her pants.
Within a few seconds she'd clasped her left hand across the front of her loose fitting tee-shirt, squeezing her heaving breasts hard as she shamefully barreled towards release in the center of her son's bedroom.
Alone in her house in Flagstaff that had yet to feel like home, Nell Capuano let out a low and gurgling moan until she doubled over on the carpeted floor, her loins churning as she absorbed her self inflicted orgasm. Through it all, JJ Gentry's pixilated smile remained stoic on the screen, as if unphased by the display of depravity taking place on the floor below.
Re-living the carnal crescendo of one of the weakest moments of her life as she dozed on the plane, Nell jerked upright in her seat when the flight attendant eased over and asked if she needed a pillow.
"....Uh...No...I'm good...," Nell babbled to the pretty Asian woman somewhere over Missouri, the color slowly starting to return to her cheeks.
The warmth glazing the seat beneath her would take a little longer to subside, however.
__________________________
The four day conference had gone better than Nell could have hoped. Re-connecting with several old faces and making friends with many new, in a professional sense she felt as vital and engaged as she had in a very long time. Every night once back in her room she called her husband and kids to check on them as well, shunning the opportunity to go out and sample the abundant nightlife surrounding her hotel.
"Saving your energy for Day 5," a sly, intuitive voice Nell didn't quite recognize whispered inside her head, even though her rational mind hadn't yet wrapped itself around what she was about to do.
Even though it had been four years plus since Nell set foot in Newport, the last thing she felt like was a returning hero triumphantly making her way back into town. Rolling into town in her rented Acura, no one she knew from the fair hamlet even knew she had made the trip.
Driving by the high school where her husband's sins had played out, Nell couldn't help but simmer in her seat as all the deja-vu feelings of anger and hurt she thought she'd tucked away for good began to nibble once again at her craw.
"Like pulling an old scab back," she reasoned, feeling the ripping sting but knowing no blood was left to shed.
Tempted to swing by some of her old haunts, Nell continually reminded herself to stay on task. She did make the one very difficult decision to drive up her old street and see what the people they'd sold the house to had done to the place. Cringing as she steered towards the property, Nell choked back a couple of tears until she saw the place wasn't all that much different than they'd left it.
Weaving up and down several of the other streets to check on some of her former friends' homes, Nell was thankful she'd chosen a rental with tinted windows so no one she knew would recognize her inside. Those tinted windows would also play a crucial role if everything went according to plan.
The park where most of the local kids gathered was about four blocks from Nell's old house. While video games and other digital pursuits had certainly put a crimp into the outdoor activities of kids today, with Summer here and school out, the park was usually teeming with young male testosterone. Rounding the bend and easing into one of the small parking lots that had been carved out of a picturesque woodline, Nell immediately saw the pool and basketball courts were bustling on this warm, but thankfully not overbearing day.
"Well, you made it this far without anyone knowing you were in town," Nell congratulated herself as she backed into one of those out of the way parking spaces and surveyed the landscape.
Reaching for her Diet Coke and taking a long swig, Nell winced from the hearty extra nip of bourbon she'd added to help her get through the day. It didn't take long for her eyes to settle on the basketball courts a 100 or so yards away. Even though it had been nearly a half decade since she'd seen any of those boys, she immediately recognized several as they hustled up and down the blacktop in shirts and skins.
The air conditioning potent in the cab of her car, a razor sharp chill coiled down Nell's spine as she scanned for familiar faces. Even though she didn't see JJ Gentry out on the courts, Nell's thighs gracefully rubbed together beneath the steering wheel as she picked out some of the crew he use to run with.