69 Barrow Street by Lawrence Block Page B

told me.” Jimmy laughed.
    “Say,” Roger said. “You know, sometimes I get pretty fed up with women.”
    Jimmy looked at him.
    “You know what I mean?”
    “I think so.”
    “Well? Are you interested?”
    Jimmy thought for a moment. “What the hell,” he said finally. “It’ll be something new.”
    “You never done it before?”
    Jimmy shook his head.
    “Then c’mon. Maybe you’ll dig it.”
    “Where’ll we go?”
    “Bedroom.”
    “Can’t,” Jimmy said. “Larry and Sally are in there. I just told you.”
    “Where, then?”
    “I think the bathroom’s empty.”
    Roger smiled. “So what are we waiting for?”
    Sally took off her dress. She dropped it on the floor. She wasn’t wearing anything underneath it.
    “Hurry up,” Larry said. “I can’t wait much longer.” She joined him on the bed. He pulled her to him and kissed her, his tongue slipping between her lips. She let out a little moan and put her arms around his neck.
    “God,” she said. She buried her face in his neck. “Oh Jesus God.”
    “What’s the matter?”
    “I just wish I could make it,” she said. “That’s all. That’s all I want.”
    “What are you talking about?”
    “I just wish I could make it. I like it but it never happens for me.”
    “Never?”
    “Never.”
    “That’s a bitch,” he said. “Hell, you still got time though. How old are you, anyway?”
    “Almost sixteen.”
    “That all?”
    “Yeah.”
    “Then you got plenty of time. Lots of chicks, they’re twenty-five before they get banged for the first time. You got no worries.”
    “I hope you’re right.”
    He ran his hand down her back. She was plump, and he liked the feeling of plenty of soft feminine flesh under his hand.
    “Hey,” he said. “I got an idea.”
    “What?”
    “You ever try it with you on top?”
    “No. Why?”
    “You might have a better chance of making it.”
    “Honest?”
    “There’s a chance.”
    “What the hell,” she said. “A chance is a chance.”
    Ralph was still handling Elaine’s breasts. She seemed totally removed to a dream world of her own and totally oblivious to his hands on her. He didn’t care. He just wanted to stand there forever with his hands cooled by her soft flesh.
    Maria tugged at his arm.
    “What do you want?”
    “You want to make it with me?”
    He flushed, remembering the last time. That time she hadn’t had to ask. She didn’t have a chance to ask, for that matter.
    He shrugged.
    “Please, Ralph. I’m trying to find someone who’ll make it Greek fashion.”
    “I don’t want to.”
    “Why the hell not?”
    “I’m busy.”
    “Busy? All you’re doing is giving her a feel.”
    Ralph smiled. “Yeah, but it’s one hell of a feel.”
    “Do it Greek with me and you can feel me at the same time.”
    “Go away, will you.”
    “You go to hell,” she said, leaving him. “You go straight to hell.”
    Rhonda said: “If you’re on junk, do you and Luke do anything anymore?”
    “No,” Betty said.
    “That must be rough to take.”
    “It’s not that bad.”
    “No kidding?”
    “Well,” she said, “he can’t do it any more, what with the junk and all. Sometimes I want to, but it doesn’t matter too much to me. Just being with him is enough.”
    “I guess so.”
    “It’s a shame,” Betty said. “Luke and I were good together, you know. Luke used to be wonderful in bed.”
    “I know.”
    “Huh?”
    “It was a long time ago,” Rhonda said. “Before the two of you even knew each other.”
    Betty relaxed.
    “I wouldn’t horn in on you now,” Rhonda went on. “Even if I could. I know how you two feel about each other.”
    Betty got a dreamy smile on her face. “We’ve very much in love,” she said.
    “I know it.”
    “Very much in love. It’s so good this way. He loves me and I love him and it’s wonderful. We’re both pretty lucky, when you stop to think.”
    Stella and David Jordan were on the couch. Her arms were around his neck and their mouths were