Part 2 (2/2)

I wasn't sure what that might entail, but it scared me plenty. My mouth got dry and my heart started whamming so hard I could barely catch my breath.

”It's awfully late,” I said. ”And I really am in quite a rush. But thank you, anyway.”

”Aw, you're such a shy one you are.”

With that, she steered me into an alley.

”No, please,” I protested. ”I don't think...”

”Now it won't take any time at all, Trevor, and then we'll be right along on our way.”

Sue was just about my own height. She might've outweighed me some. But I was strong for my size, and quick. Could've broken away from her, if I'd tried.

Didn't try.

For one thing, I didn't relish losing my one and only guide through dangerous territory.

For another, I didn't want to hurt Sue's feelings.

And then, too, I'd never had a ”go” at anyone. Here was my chance to learn, firsthand, what it was all about.

By the time I decided this was neither where I wanted to do my learning nor who I wanted to learn it from, Sue had me pushed against a brick wall.

She unb.u.t.toned my coat and spread it open. Then she commenced to rub me through my s.h.i.+rt. It felt just fine. But that was nothing to when she rubbed me down below. If this was what having a ”go” was all about, I'd been missing plenty. I was all-fired embarra.s.sed, but that didn't count near as much as the rest of the way I was feeling.

Before I knew it, she'd unwrapped her shawl and lifted my hands and planted them smack on her bosoms. There was nothing except thin wet cloth between them and me. I could feel their heat coming through. They were big and springy and soft, with parts that pushed like little fingertips against my palms.

I knew I shouldn't be touching her there. I reckoned it was a sin, for sure, and I might be risking h.e.l.l.

If Uncle Bill could see me now, he'd tan my hide. Mother would likely faint dead away.

But I didn't care a whit about that.

All I cared about was how good those bosoms felt and how good Sue's hands were making me feel. n.o.body'd ever touched me down there, that was for sure.

Wh.o.r.e or not, Sue seemed just then to be the finest human being I'd ever encountered in my whole life.

Then she fetched me up a whack.

A quick, hard punch below decks.

I felt like my guts were exploding up through my stomach.

She scampered out of reach. I crumpled. My knees. .h.i.t the mud. As I clutched myself, I heard her call out in a rough whisper, ”Ned! Bob!”

In a trice, the three of them were having at me. They trounced me good, but I got in a few licks. I caught Sue a good one on the chin, which pleased me greatly. All around, though, I took the worst of it.

They stripped me of my coat and s.h.i.+rt and shoes. But when they went for my trousers, I hauled out my knife and got the blade open right smart and split open the nearest arm. Don't know whether it belonged to Ned or Bob, but whichever, he let out a howl and scurried out of range.

I got to my feet and fell back against the wall and slashed at the fellows when they tried for me.

They grunted and cursed and leaped away from my blade.

”Come on, y' b.l.o.o.d.y swines!” I raved. ”I'll rip your guts out! Come 'n' get it! I'll cut y' up for bangers.”

Sue stood back, watching, hanging onto the booty.

I kept ranting and slas.h.i.+ng.

Ned and Bob finally gave up trying for me. They backed off, huffing for breath, one of them clutching his gashed arm.

”Well, go in and get him, you fools,” Sue said. ”We ain't got nary a bob off him yet. He's got a pocketful of coins, he does, I felt them there.”

They both looked at her.

”Well, go on!”

The one I hadn't cut took her up on it.

He came rus.h.i.+ng at me, growling. He flung out an arm to block my knife. I went in under it. He slammed me hard against the wall.

My blade punched straight into his belly.

His breath gushed out, hot and stinky in my face.

For a while, he didn't move. I felt his blood pouring over my hand, running down my belly and soaking the front of my trousers.

Then he backed away. He slid off the blade. Clutching his stomach, he took a couple of steps. He sat down hard. From the splas.h.i.+ng sound, he must've found himself a puddle.

”b.l.o.o.d.y h.e.l.l,” he muttered. ”I've been killed.”

Sue and the other fellow bolted.

I was alone in the alley with the man I'd stabbed. He was making awful sounds. Whining and moaning and crying.

”I'm sorry,” I told him. ”But you shouldn't have come at me.”

”You gone and killed me dead is what you done.”

”I'm awful sorry,” I said. And I was.

He let out a bellow that curdled my blood. I ran. Not out into the street. That's where Sue and her confederate had gone. Instead, I dashed the other way, deeper into the black pit of the alley.

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