Body Rides (37 page)

Neal saw her frown at herself, saw the back of her head with its thick blond ponytail, then her frowning face deeper in the mirror, then her ponytail again, then her frown again, still smaller and farther away. ‘S’pose we go on back like that forever?’ Sue asked.

‘More than likely,’ Neal said.

She laughed and bumped her shoulder against him, and Sues
bumped Neals deep into the mirrors.

The elevator stopped and its doors slowly slid open. Neal and Sue picked up their bags and stepped out. The corridor was deserted.

Sue hurried on ahead of him. When she found the door to their room, she leaned back against the wall and crossed her ankles. ‘Ya gonna take all day?’ she asked.

‘What’s the big hurry?’

‘Wanta see what we got.’

In front of the door, Neal set down his suitcase. He dug into a pocket and took out the two keys. ‘You want one?’ he asked.

‘Sure,’ she said. Her hands were full. She bared her teeth and clicked them together.

‘I’m not putting a key in your mouth. It’s probably filthy.’

‘My mouth or the key?’

‘I was speaking of the key, but . . .’

‘Well, good. I try and not swear any more than I have to.’ She grinned. ‘Ya gonna let us in, or ain’t ya?
Aren’t
you.’

Neal looked at her, amazed. So
that’s
what she’d meant by the ‘hasn’t’ downstairs: she’d been correcting herself. Unlocking the door, he said, ‘You don’t need to improve your language on my account.’

‘Well, it . . . isn’t exactly flattering to go around and get yerself called an ignerunt twerp.’

‘I just said it so Marta wouldn’t . . . I didn’t mean it. You know that. You were in me.’

‘Well, ya meant it, all right. Only thing is, ya still like me anyhow. Spite-a how . . .
in spite of
the way I talk like a dope.’

‘You’re fine the way you are,’ he said, and opened the door.

Sue stepped into the room. ‘Look at this!’

Neal scanned the room. He’d been in plenty of motel rooms, and the rooms of several good hotels. Never in one this large, though. And never in one this old-fashioned. The wallpaper, the paintings, the dresser, the lamps and chairs, the rugs spread here and there on the dark and glossy hardwood floor – all looked like real antiques. Even the four-poster beds looked as if they might’ve been around in the days of the Gold Rush.

Sue dropped her bags onto the smaller of the two beds, then hurried into the bathroom. Standing in the doorway, she said, ‘Get
a loada this.’ She sounded more wary than impressed.

Neal put down his suitcase and joined her.

‘What’n tar is
that
?’ Sue asked, nodding at the toilet.

The white porcelain water tank was up near the ceiling above the toilet, not down behind the seat. A chain with a wooden handle dangled from the bottom of the tank.

‘I guess they wanted to keep things authentic,’ Neal said.

‘Ya think it works?’

‘I imagine. There’d probably be a mess if it didn’t.’

Sue nudged him with her elbow.

‘Besides,’ he said, ‘it looks like new piping.’

‘Hmm.’ She wandered past the sink and mirror, past a full-length wall mirror that was flecked with gold like those in the elevator, and halted near the side of the tub.

The large, claw-footed boat of a bathtub stood away from the walls. A shower curtain hung behind it on a curtain rod that curved around, just below the ceiling, like a suspended race track. ‘How ya s’pose to use it?’ Sue asked.

‘For a shower?’

She frowned over her shoulder at Neal. ‘Yeah.’

‘Just pull the curtain around on the rod. Make sure it hangs
inside
the tub.’

‘Looks mighty all-fired queer to me. It’d likely get
on
ya. Maybe I’ll just have me a bath, stead . . .
instead of
a shower.’

‘Now?’

‘Sure. It’ll perk me up.’

‘What about the Fort?’

‘Don’t ya wanta rest up awhile ’fore . . .
before
we go over there?’

‘Wouldn’t be a bad idea. I’m pretty tired. I could use a little nap.’

‘Good. So you take yerself a nap, and I’ll take me a bath. Then we’ll head on over to the Fort in maybe like an hour?’

‘Sounds good to me.’

‘Ya better
go
first.’

He raised his eyebrows.

Sue nodded toward the toilet. ‘I know ya gotta.’

He grimaced, and she laughed.

A few minutes later, lying on the bed with his shoes off, Neal
heard the water start to run. Quickly, he pulled the bracelet out of his pocket. He slipped it onto his wrist.

Why not? Turn-about’s fair play. She did it to me
. .
.

When Neal heard the door open, he lifted his head off the pillow. Sue stepped out of the bathroom. She was barefoot but wearing her black leather skirt and her sleeveless blue shirt. Both her hands were busy rubbing her hair with a towel.

Her gaze flicked to the bracelet on Neal’s wrist. A corner of her mouth curved up. ‘Where
you
been?’ she asked.

Neal sat up on the mattress, and crossed his legs. ‘Just sleeping,’ he said. He gave her a smile that he hoped looked good and smirky.

Standing near the foot of the bed, Sue continued to rub her hair with the towel as she stared into his eyes. ‘So ya slept, huh?’

‘Yep.’

She smiled as if she knew better. ‘I know good an well ya was in me.
Were
in me. And you know I know.’

‘How would I know that?’

‘You know how.’

‘Tell me.’

‘I told ya in my head, and ya know it,’ Sue said. ‘We had us a fine, long talk.’

‘Must’ve been rather one-sided.’

‘Ya know dang well . . .!’

He shook his head.

Somehow managing to frown and smile at the same time, Sue draped the towel over her shoulders and crawled onto the mattress. On hands and knees, she stared into Neal’s eyes. ‘Admit it. C’mon.’

‘No.’

‘Come
on
. It ain’t no big deal.’

‘Isn’t,’ he said.

Sue rolled her eyes upward. ‘I
knew
ya were gonna do it. I
planned
on ya doin it. That was the whole idea. Ya know? ’Cause I owed ya. And I wanted ya to know how I feel . . . about you. From the inside.’

She gazed into his eyes.

‘Ya know all that,’ she muttered. ‘Ya were in me, so ya know everything.’

He shook his head.

‘Like all ’bout the grand tour.’

He smiled. ‘Grand tour? Of what?’

‘Ya know dang well.’

‘Of
you
?’

Her mouth dropped open again. She gaped at him.

‘Damn! I missed it.’

Shaking her head slowly from side to side, Sue muttered, ‘Judas H. Priest on a rubber crutch.’

‘I slept,’ Neal said.

‘Ya slept.’

‘Honest to God. The fact is, I
almost
paid you a visit. I put the bracelet on. I sure
wanted
to jump inside you and . . . I mean, my God, everything else aside, you were taking a
bath
.’

‘Ya better believe it.’

‘I just figured . . . you know, there’s Marta.’

‘Ya were’t aimin to
tell
her?’

‘Even if she never found out about it,’ he said, ‘
I’d
know. It would’ve been like cheating on her.’

‘Ya aren’t married to her.’

‘No, but . . . It wasn’t just because of Marta. I didn’t want to
use
you that way. Invade your privacy. Spy on you. It seemed wrong. Besides, it’s against the rules to use the bracelet on someone you . . . care about. That was Elise’s first warning. You might find out things you shouldn’t.’

Sue, still on her hands and knees in front of him, still gazing into his eyes, was now slowly moving her head up and down. ‘You’d of found out plenty,’ she said.

‘Well . . .’ Neal shrugged.

Sue raised her right hand off the mattress and pointed her forefinger at him. ‘Ya got no idea what ya missed, buddy,’ she said. Smiling gently, she pressed her fingertip against the end of his nose.

He tried to smile.

‘But ya sure win points for honor.’ She put her hand down and crawled backward. As she lowered her legs off the end of the mattress, she said, ‘Betcha was a Boy Scout.’

He blushed. ‘Yep. A Baptist, too. But that was all a long time ago.’

‘Well, some stuff sticks.’

‘It’s pure hell, being virtuous.’

Laughing, Sue tugged the towel off her shoulders. ‘Ya got yerself a long ways to go before they start puttin ya up fer sainthood. Ya got that honor, but ya also got a dirty mind and a mean temper.’

The words shocked him.

‘Temper? What temper?’

‘Ya let me fall and hit the table on purpose, back at lunch. I also happen to know all ’bout how ya slugged that Karen gal in the belly last night.’

‘I had to do that.’

‘Didn’t have to
like
it.’

He started to protest, but realized it would be pointless. Why try to deny it? Sue had been inside his head when he saw the nude painting on the bar and remembered punching Karen. She knew the truth.

Hot with shame, he muttered, ‘I’m not perfect.’

‘Nope. But y’ain’t too bad, taken all-round.’

‘Thanks. You ain’t, either.’

‘Aren’t.’ She grinned.

As Neal put his shoes back on, Sue said, ‘We could save us some money if only just one of us goes in the Fort.’

‘Save even more if
neither
of us goes in,’ he told her.

‘How I meant is like, I go in normal, and
you
go in by the bracelet. Ya know? Ridin me? That way, we get in for half the price.’

He looked at her, and was tempted.

But the temptation had been far greater when she’d been taking her bath. He’d resisted that; he could resist this blatant offer.

‘You sure are eager to get me in you,’ he pointed out.

She shrugged. ‘I got nothin to hide.’

‘So it would seem.’

‘Anyhow, ya know?’ She wiggled her shoulders and hips, moving her hands slightly up and down in front of her like a
juggler. ‘I’d be like yer host, ya know? It’d be my job to show you a good time. I’d go on all the rides, and chow down on snacks, and just do
everything
. It’d be great, ya know? You just stay here in the room, and I gain all the weight, and if the Pony Express crashes or somethin when I’m on it, I’m the one that cashes in her chips, and yer home free.’

‘That’s a pleasant thought.’

‘Well, I . . . I’m not lookin to get killed. Only if it
did
happen, you could just bail and stay all nice and safe.’

‘Very thoughtful of you.’

‘Well, it’d save us the money, too.’

‘Why do we want to save money? Before you know it, we’ll have fifty thousand dollars.’

‘Well, that’s still sort of iffy, ya know?’

Neal got to his feet and said, ‘Let’s both go over to the Fort. I came all this way; I’m not about to stay in the room and try to get all my fun from in
you
.’

‘It’d be
more
fun from in me.’

‘Maybe.’

‘Ya don’t know what yer missing.’

‘Oh, I can imagine. But I need to go myself. For one thing, I’m hungry. Getting to enjoy
your
snacks won’t quite do the trick.’

‘Okey-doke,’ she said. ‘Just thought I’d make the offer.’

‘You ready to go?’

‘Almost.’ She returned to the bathroom and shut the door.

While she was gone, Neal wondered what to do with the bracelet. He thought about putting it into his overnight bag with the pistol, but was afraid that it might get stolen if he left it in the room. So he took it off his wrist and stuffed it into a front pocket of his trousers.

Sue came out of the bathroom with her denim purse swinging by her hip. She was wearing her white socks and sneakers. The towel no longer draped her shoulders, but it had left dark patches of moisture on the blue of her shirt. Her hair, still damp, had been combed or brushed backward. It swept behind her ears and hung like a thick yellow banner down her back. She looked pale and fresh and wonderful.