Bad Desire by Gary; Devon Read Free Book Online Page A

were passed around; a joint was lit, burning a red point in the night. One of the boys streaked across the dun-colored grass to the privacy fence. Seconds later, the gate squealed open and the underlit, Olympic-size swimming pool glowed before them like an eerie green lagoon.
    â€œThat thing better be heated,” Claudia Finney said.
    â€œTrust me,” said two of the boys simultaneously.
    Zippers and buttons slipped undone. They were quickly pulling off their outer clothes. On Mary McPhearson’s swimsuit, a sprig of blue sequins glittered. Twisting her hips, Lana Russo wiggled out of her bib-overalls, revealing a bikini of bright chrome yellow. Two of the couples ran off toward the pool.
    â€œIt looks radioactive,” Claudia groaned.
    â€œJust think,” her boyfriend said, “tomorrow we’ll be salamanders.”
    Denny was stripped to his trunks before Sheila had folded her jeans. “Go ahead,” she told him. “I’ll be just a minute.”
    In the carbon light, he looked lean and tough. “I’ll wait,” he said and stood looking at the pool.
    â€œNo, go on, Denny,” she insisted. “Go ahead. I want you to. I’ll come with Mary.” Sheila smiled at him, her fingers motionless on the top button of her denim shirt.
    â€œOh, I get it,” he said. “Another heart-to-heart.” He backed away in the direction of the pool. Sheila went on, then, unbuttoning her shirt, watching until he had trotted from view. Slowly, she turned her head.
    Across the thirty yards of asphalt, parked in a reserved space near the front of the clubhouse, she had seen Mr. Slater’s dark blue Cadillac. Just looking at his car and knowing that he was in there drew her like a magnet. From inside the main building, she heard the muted throb of a band playing, and she felt oddly left out. It was impossible not to imagine him dancing with Mrs. Slater, holding her close in his arms. Sheila wanted to do something to let him know that she had been here, too. I’ll surprise you , she thought.
    But how?
    Mary McPhearson interrupted her reverie. “Doolin’s got the nerve, hasn’t he?” she said. “Sneaking his old man’s keys like this.” The two of them were alone now between the Firebird and the Trans Am. “Sheila, if we get caught, it’s my ass.”
    â€œMe, too,” Sheila said. “This’s crazy. If it wasn’t for Denny …” She shrugged. Peeling off her shirt, she laid it, along with her jeans, on the backseat of the Firebird.
    Mary stood appraising her, shaking her head with appreciation. “I love that bathing suit on you. You always look so damned fabulous—it makes me sick.” Mary handed her a towel, which Sheila knotted over the top of her bathing suit.
    â€œYou ready?”
    â€œI think so,” Sheila said.
    They stepped over the curb, onto the grass. Again, Sheila looked back toward the Cadillac; she had a habit of playing with her necklace when she was preoccupied and now her hand trailed thoughtfully to her throat. My necklace, she thought. “Mary,” she said, “I forgot to take off my necklace. You go ahead. I’ll take it back to the car.”
    Mary waved and kept on walking.
    If Sheila was going to do something, she knew she had only a minute or two to do it in before Denny would come looking for her. As Mary’s plump shape disappeared inside the privacy fence, Sheila rushed across the parking lot and slipped in alongside the large polished fender of the Cadillac.
    The late evening mist had condensed to dew; it stood in bright, glistening beads on the car’s long surfaces. Sheila felt the urge to write something in it with her finger like a child. HI HENRY or even something more private, but she knew she shouldn’t. She couldn’t . She didn’t want to cause him any trouble. When she came to the door handle, she stopped and touched it, rubbing the