Cherry Orphan

Chapter 43

Chapter 43

Robert made a lame excuse to Colleen and left abruptly in his Jaguar. Tony Scott came running over as he pulled away. "Anything I can do, Bob?" he called out.

Robert waved him off and kept going.

Scott didn't notice Calley inside the doorway until she said something to him.

"He's gone to Salinas. Stay for supper, Tony. There'll be plenty, Dad won't be back for a while."

His forehead wrinkled as he turned. "Is this about...?"

"Yes. It's our mess, nothing to do with you. The police are going to have to sort it out now. Not a word to Colleen."

"I take it things have gotten out of hand." He walked over, noting she'd changed from the bikini into jeans and a poncho-style lace top.

She folded her arms and bristled. "You might say that. He'll try to keep me out of it, but I doubt if he can. After all I started it. The cops are not as stupid as he thinks."

"Look if there's anyplace you have to go it's alright. The gates will let you through if you're with me."

He got a lethargic shrug in return. "No, Carlo's being taken care of. I'll try to smooth things over with Joby when he's better. There's something I promised Mom. Might as well get all the hard stuff out of the way while I'm at it." She turned and went inside.

***

James still occupied Sonia's room where Calley had left him—but not how she'd left him. For the second time inside an hour the girl barged onto an unexpected scene.

He lay on his back with Sonia straddling him from above. Despite the fact they were still clothed for the most part, the activity left nothing to the imagination. Sonia let out a small cry and went rigid. James tilted his head back, over the end of her bed, and looked at Calley upside-down. His inverted face looked clear. Amazingly he'd not blushed, except for a redness on his neck and chest from intimate arousal.

As she turned to crash from the room James cried out. "Calley, don't go! Please, Calley."

At the threshold she faltered, but didn't turn. Her hand gripped the doorframe. "What's this goddamn double standard, Sonia? You can't have it both ways. Don't you dare remind me whose fucking house this is ever again."

In seconds Sonia scrambled off the bed and started to rearrange her clothes. James reached down and pulled up his pants. The zipper made its characteristic sound.

"Calley?" James called out again. "Come back, please. It's not Sonia's fault. We were supposed to be together—all three of us. Every time we tried something happened."

"So you thought you'd start without me, is that it? Stupid Calley keeps messing up and spoiling everyone's plans?"

"Your plans, Calley," Sonia finally contributed. "Wasn't it always your idea?"

She turned slowly, knowing her sister had it right. How could she blame them? Sonia had no inkling her feelings for James had changed so dramatically.

The sisters moved towards each other and stood silently for a moment. James watched as they quickly embraced, then Sonia led Calley by the hand, back to the bed.

"Did you talk to Bob?" James eventually said in a whisper.

Calley perched beside the boy. She caught that unmistakable aroma of her sister on him. "Talk? I yelled, if that's what you mean. I threatened to tell Mom everything if he didn't phone the police. He's gone there now, to finally put an end to it."

Sonia let out her breath. "Thank God. You told him about Carlo?"

Calley nodded at her sister. "He seemed genuinely upset about that. Enough to throw money at the problem the way he does. At least Carlo will get the decent medical care he needs. His name will be kept out of it."

Sonia asked the obvious one. "What about your name?"

"Not a chance. I expect to be questioned at the very least. I can identify people. No matter what Dad says I'll never stroke my way out of it. There's something else he's done. This'll really make you flip."

"Oh no, what now?"

"He thinks we're all gonna grab our buckets and spades and fuck off to the Caribbean for two weeks. Mom assumes it's their 'shiny new beginning' thing that's brought this on. Ha! As if."

"Wow, that gives me some idea how rattled he is over this mess. Right about now he usually gets into high gear preparing for the shows."

Calley looked at James hard. "Fancy a side trip to the Islands on a big boat, big fellah? You can do what you like to Sonia when Mom and Dad are not around. As you know, I'm off limits, but Colleen has no idea you've switched mounts."

"Calley!" Sonia retorted, "that's a damn awful thing to say."

To Calley's surprise James pulled her to him, placed a hand on her breast and squeezed. His mouth hovered only a couple of inches from her ear. "According to Colleen I mustn't do anything like this with either of you. The problem is: I love you both. What do I do, Calley?" He continued rubbing through the thin lace, noting the arousal. "You made me what I am."

"God-damn you, James, I'm supposed to put a stop to this." Their mouths made contact and they fell back onto the quilt. Calley groaned as he went further, skillfully pressing the body triggers he knew would make her squirm.

Sonia climbed back on the bed and watched intently at first. Soon she began helping them shed their clothes.

***

Colleen found Tony near the garage and waved him over. "Where'd everyone go? I'm sure I heard Sonia and James. Now Calley's disappeared. Bob went strange all of a sudden and took off in a mighty big hurry. What the hell is going on?"

Tony closed the gap wondering what he should say. His shoulders hunched and his arms went out to the sides. "It's my first day. All I've done is wash and tidy up one car. No one wants me to drive them anywhere so I try to look busy. A big zero; that's what's going on, Colleen." He contemplated her bodyline in the one-piece Speedo overlaid with a flowered pareo loosely tied at the waist. "And yes, you did hear the Aston. I think Sonia and James went upstairs."

"Hmm. I hate to say this, Tony... Today could be your first and last day for a while. Bob wants to take off for two weeks. All of a sudden he needs a vacation with me and the kids. Personally I think he's gone a little nuts, but hell, if this is the new Bob I'm not complaining. He needs to spend quality time with the girls and so do I."

Tony wiped the perspiration at his neck. Between Colleen and Bob, he conservatively estimated their combined assets at over thirty-five million. A fortune that currently included fast cars, lies, adultery, drugs, incest, beatings and now unfair dismissal. He did find it interesting—gaining a brief inside track of a wealthy asylum founded on quicksand.

"Unemployed again, wouldn't you know it. Calley invited me to stay for supper. If it's okay with you I think I will."

Rather than tone it down, James and the girls are making good on their three-way plan—the exact opposite of Colleen's warnings. And when he gets back from his little confession to the police, what will Bob find?

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