Learning the Hard Way by B.J. Mathews Page A

wrench away, but Tim held her firm. “I have to go,” she said. “I’m supposed to meet Kari. She’s expecting me.”
    It was a lie. Kari and all her other friends were out at their friend’s lake house, but Annabelle had to work in the morning, so she didn’t go with them. She’d been planning on a quiet night in her room. Alone.
    Tim turned her around in the circle of his arms, pinning her arms to her sides and her breasts against his chest. “I don’t know how I feel about you spending so much time with that Kari girl. I don’t think she’s a good influence on you.”
    “Tim, I’m eighteen years old. I can pick my own friends.”
    “Y ou are eighteen now, aren’t you? ” She didn’t like that unholy glimmer in his eyes. “All grown up.”
    “Please let me go.”
    “So you can go spend time with that trampy friend of yours? What kind of daddy would I be?”
    “You’re not my dad!” As soon as she said it, she regretted it.
    He pushed his crotch against her. “No, pussy cat. I’m not your daddy. I can do a lot of things with you your daddy shouldn’t do.”
    Annabelle shook her head as the butterflies in her stomach threatened to make her sick. This was not good. Not good at all. She needed to think of something quick, something to make him stop and remember what he was doing was wrong. “But you’re kind of a dad, right? Almost a stepdad? So, that makes us related in a way.”
    Tim leaned down and kissed her neck. “No, baby, we’re not related. But that does make me an authority figure to you. And I’m fix’ n to use some of that power on you right now.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “If you want to go out with Kari, you need to convince me she’s not a bad influence on you.”
    Annabelle thought about what she could possibly say to convince him. “She’s a nice girl. We both are.”
    “I guess we’ll see.” He took a step back and Annabelle sighed with relief. “Tell me what you do when you’re at her house.”
    “We watch movies and hang out.”
    “Are there boys there?”
    Annabelle shrugged. “Sometimes.”
    “Do you kiss the boys, pussy cat?”
    Her skin heated suddenly. “Tim, I don’t want to talk about boys with you.”
    “That means yes. You kiss boys when you’re with that tramp.”
    “Tim, I’m going to college next month. Yes, I’ve kissed boys before, but it’s no big deal.”
    He grabbed her jaw roughly and pulled her to his face so she could see the red in his eyes. “Don’t you tell me it’s no big deal. I’m not going to send you over there so you can be a slut like Kari.”
    “We’re not sluts,” she tried to reason with him, but his hand was hurting her jaw. “Just normal girls.”
    “Show me how you kiss the boys, then.”
    “What?” He couldn’t mean it.
    “Like this?” He smashed his mouth against hers, holding her in place. His lips gentled and he was kissing her almost sweetly , though his hand s were on her ears to steer her head.
    She didn’t fight him, just let him kiss her, hoping he’d relax. Tim pulled back.
    “Like that? Is that how you kiss them?”
    She nodded.
    “That’s not so bad.”
    She shook her head, agreeing with him.
    “But do they ever do this?”
    He pulled her to him again, this time shoving his tongue in her mouth. She couldn’t move her head, so she took it. Took it as his tongue plunged in and out like it was having sex with her mouth. He pulled back again. “Do you let them do that? Do you let the boys put their tongues in your mouth when you kiss them.”
    “Sometimes,” she whispered.
    “Do they touch your tits?” His hand groped her, squeezing and kneading her breast.
    She sobbed. This couldn’t be happening.
    “Do they?”
    “My ex-boyfriend did, Tim. But we were going out for a long time before he tried .”
    “Over your bra or under, like this?” He snaked his hand under her t-shirt and in to her bra, tweaking her nipple .
    She knew she shouldn’t like it, knew it was gross, but she got