Catherine Giller

The Loving Game

Electronic book

Dedication

This book is dedicated to Vierka and Anthony Nicholls, my dear friends from Great Britain.

This book is fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, venues and events are invented by the author. Any similarity with real people, whether living or not, with events or locations, is purely accidental.

Year 1990

Dangerous Curves (of a Woman)

The big Chevy Suburban had just swerved sharply to the right, from the smooth narrow asphalt road on to a forest path stretching up the hill through a tunnel of tall leafy trees, when the first drops of rain began to fall on the windshield. The August sky was shaded by gray clouds as dusk fell on the forest and evoked the impression of an unexpected change from August into November.

„To hell with it!“ Edward Boughlton cursed loudly and bent forward over the steering wheel. „It’s not looking good. We still have a long way ahead of us.“

„I’m hungry,“ Justin, his eleven-year-old brother, grumbled moodily behind him, fidgeting restlessly in his seat.

„You should have stayed at home!“ snapped Edward. „Why must you hang out with adults?“ he looked angrily in the rear-view mirror and glared at the boy. „You have still some cookies in the rucksack, kiddo, so stuff your mouth with them and shut up.“

He wanted most desperately to step on the gas and get moving but he had to drive carefully to avoid the deep potholes in the forest road and prevent losing his grip on the steering wheel, which vibrated in his hands to the rhythm of the wheels bouncing on the soft surface.

The road wound through the forest like a dark snake. They passed rocky gorges, and tall trees rose up ostentatiously to the sky as if to ward off the intruders from their intention.

„There’s some cake left,“ said Caroline looking pityingly at Justin. She leaned forward to the red rucksack at her feet and rummaged around in it for a while with her hand. Finding a piece of cake, she passed it with a smile to Justin sitting next to her. „I hope it will be enough for you until we have a chance to get some dinner.“

Eagerly, Justin took the cake from her hand and greedily bit in to it with a gratified expression. A lock of hair was falling over his face and the short hair stood like wires on his head.

„I haven’t heard the words „thank you“,“ Edward reproached him sternly, keeping an eye on the road before him. He envied his younger brother for getting at least something to satisfy his hunger and, feeling constant cramps from hunger himself, hoped it would not be long before they finally reached their destination.

Oliver Conley, who was sitting in the back next to Caroline on the other side, felt no hunger whatsoever. His body was so paralyzed by the presence of Caroline’s body he was unaware of having any stomach at all. The only thing that possessed him for the whole journey was the feeling of excitement aroused by Caroline’s decision to go finally on this foolish journey with them, a promise she had made to him on the bench in the park only two weeks previously. At that time, in the deep shadows of a densely bushed corner of the park his whole body was shivering when she let him kiss her.

„Watch out!“ screamed Tom Sullivan suddenly. Tom was sitting in the front next to Edward. „We almost went over the edge of the ravine,“ he shouted, eyes wide open with fear. At the same moment, Edward slammed on the brakes.

„What the hell!“ he cursed again. The car came to a standstill.

It started to rain heavily. The rain was beating the car roof and pouring down the windshield. Edward switched the wipers to fast mode, where they flitted in front of his eyes like two black wizard sticks. „This journey didn’t start well and our progress is even worse,“ groaned Bryan Simmons from behind Oliver’s back. He sat at the very back of the car but from where he had the best view. „Perhaps we should go back.“

„Are you nuts?“ Edward barked at him. „Where do you want to go back to? To Kaymoor, that ghost town? Wasn’t it enough for you to see those derelict abandoned buildings? Do you think you would have been able to get dinner there?“

„No, perhaps not,“ Bryan grumbled. „But it doesn’t look promising here either,“ he said, throwing up his hands and looking at the surroundings through the car windows.

„The hotel can’t be that far away,“ said Edward trying to encourage himself. „And it’s not my fault that we had to put the journey off for a few weeks because of grandmother’s death. I’m sure it would not have rained then.“

Oliver could feel Caroline pressing against him more closely. He went hot from his desire to hug her but in this situation he just found her hand secretly and squeezed it gently. She answered him with the same squeeze and he felt how his heart was beating, even somewhere in his neck. Her closeness deprived him of any ability to evaluate the situation critically as did Bryan.

At that moment, Oliver Conley was just the happiest man on earth. When, on the way here, he was looking through the car window, he saw nothing of the passing countryside outside. He was not terrified by the stop in Kaymoor like the others, as they looked at the partial ruins of houses where, from imagined living rooms, were growing robust trees with their branches shaking balefully, as though threatening the intruders from above.

Instead, before his eyes he had the vision of nights full of glowing passion. He saw himself hugging Caroline’s beautiful body in his arms, stroking her delicate skin and clutching her firm breasts in his hands.

With these thoughts occupying his mind, he was thrilled with excitement and Caroline’s discreet warm looks, full of promise, burnt into him more and more.

„Don’t mention grandma!“ Justin screamed at the older brother. He was eating the cake and still had some crumbs left around his mouth. „You know how awful she looked in that casket!“ he said shaking and with a shadow of fear flashing across his big gray eyes.

„Why were you so determined to look at her in the coffin?“ said Edward grinning at him derisively.

„I had never seen a dead person,“ Justin grumbled and kicked nervously into the front seat with the tips of his trainers. His fair-haired locks floating in rhythm like dancing strings.

„You should have stayed at the very back next to me,“ said Bryan Simmons who had been present at the funeral of the respectable Edwina Boughlton who had died at the age of eighty-nine years. The Simmons and the Boughltons were families related through a line of distant cousins dating back to the mid nineteenth century when they had joined their businesses together for the production of components for mining equipment and deep-mine drilling.

It was in fact the death of Edwina Boughlton, that had spoiled their holiday plans and put their journey to New River Gorge in the Appalachian Mountains off for a whole two weeks.

Edward had previously proposed his idea of spending two weeks, in the middle of nowhere in the mountains, at the little old hotel dozens of miles away from civilization.

„An assistant lecturer from university told me about the place and he was delighted with it,“ said Edward by way of encouragement. A little old hotel, with its own cemetery, dating back to the Victorian era! Imagine what an adventure it will be without electricity, television and any connection with the outside world.“

„You can count on me for sure,“ Tom Sullivan had declared immediately. His mother has recently remarried and Tom would agree to anything that would give him a chance to get away from home and from a new father and mother who were still head over heels in love.

„I’m for a bit of fun as well,“ Bryan Simmons nodded. „At last I can take some time off and relax for a while. Certainly it will be better than keeping a low profile all the time because of Emma Wright,“ he twisted his face to register a disgusted look.

Bryan had made a mistake on one occasion when he had the urge to weigh, in his palms, Emma Wright’s big boobs. However, his impulse did not stop at just weighing. There had been no difficulty at all persuading Emma concerning the matter who even obliged by removing both pieces of the mini dress she was wearing. Since then Bryan had not been able to get rid of her. It was as if Emma had radar installed in herself signaling every step Brian made and everywhere he went she appeared in the very same places. Bryan started to hate her and ran away as soon as he spotted her. It was especially annoying for him because he worked in a family firm without breaks and had little time for fun. When he finally did manage to get away, he still had to avoid that predator Emma.

For this reason, he gladly accepted an offer from Edward to join a trip with a group of eight or nine people, an offer that Edward also made to Oliver Conley.

„It looks interesting,“ Oliver had said hesitantly. He did not look very convinced but he was a team player and had never let any group down.

„Perhaps Sebastian would join, too,“ said Tom who had also been invited to join the group. „He likes adventure and would be enthusiastic about this idea.“

However, Edward had not been too pleased by this suggestion. Sebastian Spencer was someone who often liked to place himself above others. He came from a rich business family and his uncle had been elected to Congress. By virtue of this, the Spencer family was immensely proud and on their imaginary coat of arms, this distinction would have been made obvious for all to see.

„It would be fine,“ Oliver nodded. „With Sebastian there would be five of us.“

Back then, he had no reason to believe that a week later he was going to meet, at someone’s birthday party, Caroline Howard and that her charming smile would become the reason for his sleepless nights. In addition, that Edward would be plotting to cast his nets to ensnare the tender and vulnerable Caroline who would never guess that she would be just one of his many conquests.

In situations such as this, Oliver had never been able to compete with Edward and he always took a back seat. Attractive girls and Edward had been a natural match since the time they both studied at private high school.

Following their schooling, they each went their separate ways. Edward started studying physics at Duke University in Durham and became involved in research projects, which allowed him to indulge in his own passion for meta-materials and other obscure matters, which were totally beyond his friends’ understanding.

Because he felt a financial obligation to his aunt Ruth, Oliver chose to study economics at the university in Memphis. There, it was not necessary for him to live-in with fellow-students in the campus as he could stay in aunt Ruth’s large mansion and be company for her.

Because of their studies at different universities, Edward and Oliver’s paths drifted apart but their friendship did not. Whenever Edward came back home from Durham to Memphis they went together for a drink or to some party. One year they visited Europe during a holiday and their experiences in London, Paris and their travels across the old continent brought them even closer.

At the time when Edward suggested the trip to the Appalachian Mountains he could have had no idea that their plans would be thwarted by the death of his grandmother, malicious old Edwina and that, the whole family would have to travel from Memphis to Brookhaven because of the funeral arrangements and other matters that required attention.

Since he could not have foreseen this situation he would not have anticipated the further development that, after the funeral, his parents would insist he took his younger brother Justin for the trip so they could focus their attention on the matter of the inheritance left by the late Edwina.

Edward was convinced that all that should have been his inheritance, consisting of a large house with a farm, a couple of valuable real estates and a substantial pile of money in the bank, Edwina Boughlton had left to some religious foundation. Definitely, he could see her rubbing her dried palms with bony, curved fingers and all the while mouthing gloatingly.

He did not believe his family would inherit even one cent from her estate and that was why he protested furiously against his parents’ decision to stay longer in Brookhaven and force him to take that nasty kid, whom he hated and who had no place on the trip, with adults.

Unfortunately, it could not be avoided and so at last, after the return from Brookhaven he had to pack, with bad humor, Justin’s essential belongings and clothes, which had been prepared for him by their housemaid Adele.

Sebastian Spencer, who, at the beginning had been in favor of the mysterious trip, decided at the last minute not to participate but to Edward’s delight Caroline still decided to go along with it. It was a balm to sooth his frustration from having his brother’s forced presence and he was delighted that, with the prospect of time with Caroline in that little old-fashioned hotel he would, one day, be able to seduce her on some ancient velvet sofa by flickering candlelight.

However, he was now trying to dig his wheels out from the soft soil of the forest road. He selected four-wheel drive and carefully applied the accelerator.

The rear wheels finally got a grip and the car lurched forward on to firmer ground. Edward shifted gear and moved on slowly. He would have been happier with his driving escape if the sight in the rear-view mirror was not that of Caroline excessively snuggled up to Oliver. An Oliver who was wearing a blissful and dreamlike expression.

„Would you like to change places with me?“ he asked sharply, turning his head towards the passengers behind him. He noticed how Caroline drew away gently and Oliver’s dull eyes returned slowly to reality.

„Shall I drive?“ Bryan asked willingly.

„Not you but Oliver,“ said Edward refusing Bryan’s offer and waiting for his friend’s reaction.

Oliver wore a look of surprise. „You’re too fond of your car to trust it to me on this surface,“ he exclaimed. There was a disapproving tone in his voice. Not for anything in the world would he change his seat next to Caroline and the feeling of warmth from her hot thigh, for driving in bad weather through a haunted forest.

Oliver leaned forward and Edward noticed how Caroline leaned with him, her chestnut hair brushing against Oliver’s cheek, their fingers meeting and intertwining for a while as if by accident.

Edward bit his lower lip in frustration and forced his attention from the couple behind back to the road ahead twisting through the forest like a dark slimy snake.

„Are we nearly there?“ whined Justin, looking like a five-year-old who had had his toy taken away. „Shut up, you should have stayed at home!“ barked his brother. His voice held all the frustration from the moment’s situation and Justin found himself on the receiving end instead of Oliver.

Justin looked sullen and angry as he wiped the misty window with his sleeve. He pressed his nose against the glass and stared, wide eyed, at the jagged walls of the ravine outside.

Suddenly and without warning the car again slid uncontrollably across the road and came to an abrupt halt, the front wheels almost lost from view in a massive water-filled pothole.

„This is just absolute nonsense!“ Edward banged the steering wheel angrily with his hand. „Well, we are not going to get out of this one so easily!“

An awkward silence enveloped the car. For a while, Edward sat helplessly without moving. Then he raised the top of his hooded jacket over his head and stepped from the car. Flinging the door open, he walked around the vehicle in the heavy rain, checking how deep the wheels were buried and shaking his head discontentedly.

Finally, he returned to the car. From the glove compartment, he pulled out a map and started studying it.

„So now what?“ Tom finally broke the silence. „Shall we get out and push?“

„In this rain?“ muttered Justin looking at Caroline. Surely, they wouldn’t expect a girl to push a car out of the mud.

Edward shook his head dismissively. „No chance,“ he replied. „We have to leave the car here and set off for the hotel on foot. According to the map we are almost there.“

„Leave the car here?“ Bryan asked with an uncomprehending look. „Just leave it here, on this narrow road in the middle of the forest?“

„When it stops raining and the soil dries up, I’ll come back for it,“ insisted Edward. „It doesn’t look as if they have much traffic here, and the car won’t be in anybody’s way.“

„What fools except us would come here anyway?“ Tom laughed mockingly. „We wanted an adventure, so here it is, isn’t it?“

„We each have a raincoat,“ said Edward. „So everybody puts it on and takes their rucksack.“ I hope to come back for the car in about two days.“

„I think the rain is easing up!“ Caroline exclaimed hopefully, as she stared intently through the windshield.

„My sneakers are brand new,“ said Justin tearfully. He was already tired of this long, boring journey and hours of sitting in the car, the subject of his brother’s obvious hatred. He was sick of hearing that he had no place to be there and that his presence on the trip was only due to the insistence of their parents. He also regretted his own decision to insist that his brother took him along. If he had stayed with his parents, he could have visited Isabel in Brookhaven and spent a few days with her in the attic of their house as he did the previous year when grandma was still living and they had come to a celebration party for her birthday. The party actually did not take place because she accused them all, during the preliminary congratulations, that they just couldn’t wait until her death to become heirs but Justin found time for examining, with Isabel, lots of interesting things that had accumulated in the attic since the time of Isabel’s great grandparents.

„Grab your rucksacks and let’s go!“ ordered Edward without compromise.

No one wanted to express a lack of enthusiasm. At first they exchanged looks but as each one came to the conclusion that there was no other choice they started to dress slowly.

Luckily, the rain had stopped completely and, avoiding the deep mud holes, they each took their rucksack from the trunk.

Justin had the look of someone with a toothache, Tom grinned with amusement as Oliver helped the boy put the rucksack onto his shoulders. Not until however, Tom noticed, Oliver had first enveloped Caroline, spending an excessively long time adjusting the harness of her red rucksack around those slender shoulders.

They all stepped out together at the edge of forest road, inline like a flock of geese. Edward, with a look of authority went first, holding a map in his hand.

„I hope we don’t get lost,“ said Caroline with a worried voice. They had been walking for perhaps thirty minutes along the seemingly endless road through the forest.

Hearing her words, Edward stopped and waited until she caught up with him. He put his arm around her shoulders. „When you are with me, you don’t have to worry about anything,“ he reassured her warmly. He wore the look of a Savior, his hand forgotten on her shoulder, his step matched to hers. They walked on as one, shoulder to shoulder.

Frustration appeared in Oliver’s eyes. He moved forward to be close to them but still maintaining a slight distance behind. Justin ran forward and joined him.

In the forest, the humidity was getting under their skin. An unpleasant feeling from the mist rising between the trees forced them to zip their jackets more closely and put the hoods over their sticky wet hair. The odd silence between the trees was disturbed only by the sound of cracking twigs under their feet and the splash of water when they stepped in to an unavoidable puddle in the middle of the forest road.

They walked behind each other in pairs. Bryan and Tom at the rear were making fun of Oliver.

„Look at that,“ Bryan nudged Tom with his elbow and pointed with his chin in the direction ahead of him. Tom, nodding his head, acknowledged with a grunt and grimace.

The amusement derived from watching Oliver helped them on their way. He was walking behind Caroline, mesmerized by the line of her body and especially by the sight of her buttocks swaying rhythmically beneath her tight clad jeans.

She had on a white and red streaked rainproof jacket that barely reached her waist. This had the effect of emphasizing that thin waist, the roundness of her hips and shapely buttocks.

Oliver followed behind, his attention fixed entirely on Caroline’s entrancing lines. In his imagination, he had already seen himself in the room tearing off her tight jeans and shirt and unfastening her bra. Edward may fondle her during the walk through the forest, thought Oliver, but later Caroline would belong just to him.

Tom Sullivan smiled with amusement but deep down he was trembling with anxiety. Oliver so much resembled his new mother’s husband, who also devoured his bride with eyes craving for sex. The worst part was that he did not attempt to conceal his lust at all and, regardless of Tom’s presence, openly alluded to the exploits he would have with his mother in the forthcoming nights.

Tom’s mother’s house was spacious and large enough for four families, if a newly married couple were prepared to accept the fact that they would not be alone there. However, they appeared unconcerned and it was in fact the sounds from his mother’s bedroom that jarred Tom’s ears, which he had to plug during his new father’s groaning in ecstasy, or his mother’s screaming when she achieved orgasm in the embrace of her passionate younger husband.

For Tom it was simply unbearable. He moved into another wing of the house after a few such nights and was able to block out the disturbing nocturnal sounds. However, the „sexual embarrassment“ created by these two with their touches, hugs and innuendo was present every time he found himself in their company.

The couple were oblivious to their ridiculous behavior and the embarrassment caused for Tom having to watch, during breakfast, his stepfather clutching at his mother’s boobs from behind when she stood near the open door to the terrace. Or, his patting her on the buttocks and stroking somewhere between her legs as she bent over the table to pour him a cup of coffee.

Naturally, their housemaid Delilah, like Tom, was aware of their behavior. On such occasions Delilah watched them from the kitchen with a disapproving look and her glances to Tom showed compassion in her eyes.

So now, Tom Sullivan found himself, at twenty-two years of age, at one of life’s crossroads with a decision to make and how to go about it. Before this present situation developed, it had suited him well to live with his mother during his university studies and enjoy the full benefits of his mother’s money. Now however, after returning from a trip away, he had decided to request access to the finances placed in trust for him by his father and become independent.

Tom would have done that long before but the years of disputing over wealth between his mother and father after their divorce gave him little opportunity. His mother insisted that Tom stayed and lived with her as it gave her the best reason for keeping possession of the big house from which she would leave under absolutely no circumstances.

Edward stopped for a while and studied the map intently. In front of them, were massive lichen covered sandstone rocks and steep gullies overgrown with brushwood, ferns and moss.

„In a while there will be a turning to the left. We should get to the hotel in about ten minutes,“ he announced and looked triumphantly at Caroline. She rewarded him with a grateful smile.

„My legs hurt,“ said Justin woefully. Edward frowned at him but didn’t consider his remark worthy of an answer.

„Give me your rucksack,“ Oliver stretched over, took the rucksack from Justin’s shoulders and threw it over his own.

Together they moved on, impatient to get to the end. Dusk in the forest under the high leafy trees created a gloomy effect. A thick copse of oaks rose impressively around demanding respect. Their feet plunged into the soft ground. The air smelled of humid soil, and putrefying leaves peppered by a mixture of fern, moss and berries, which blended to create an overwhelming soaring scent.

Bryan Simmons was beginning to feel guilty. It had not crossed his mind to take Justin’s rucksack to ease his slim back and protruding shoulder blades. He watched as the boy stumbled more and more often and realized Justin should, by this time, be tucked up in bed after the exhausting all-day journey.

Bryan had sympathized with Justin since the funeral of his grandma, old lady Edwina Boughlton. Up until then he had not noticed the boy, just taking him subconsciously as a part of Edward’s family. But when he saw Justin starting to tremble at the sight of his dead grandma in her open coffin and the terror in his eyes it suddenly reminded him of his little brother years before. Those eyes wide-open, fear, helplessness…

Bryan’s heart nearly stopped beating and he tried to break free from the thoughts that watered his eyes with tears. Instead, he preferred to fix his eyes on Oliver who was watching, in total fascination, Caroline Howard’s buttocks. And that was a sight worth looking at!

At the crossroads, they turned left and after ten minutes walking they noticed they were near the edge of the forest. The light was penetrating more intensely through the trees even though it was already late afternoon.

Suddenly, there appeared in front of them, like something from the Victorian Era, a majestic stone building.

„This is a small hotel?“ Tom exclaimed. „This is a damn castle!“

They stood there open-mouthed.

Among the trees rose a large mansion, a two-storey building, erected from massive blocks of rough-hewn grayish granite. Each of the two wings of the U-formed building ended with a square tower boasting windows in curved niches framed with stone arched masonry.

„It radiates Victorian romance,“ Caroline breathed enthusiastically. Her fingers were playing with a zip on her jacket and her gaze turned unnoticeably to Oliver.

„I present you Gorge Hall,“ Edward made a grand gesture with his hands. He was proud of himself for getting the little group to their destination without, in the end, major problems. If the car had not been stuck in the mud, it could be said that everything had worked smoothly under his direction.

„And the adventure can start!“ said Tom jumping for joy, hopeful, that in the end, behind those thick walls a rich supper was waiting for them.

„It began a long time ago,“ Oliver remarked. He also felt relief that the route through the gloomy damp forest had led them there in the end.

They advanced towards a massive wrought iron gate. Edward took the ornate cast iron knocker into his hand and struck it firmly against the ironwork. The sharp sound of metal against metal was heard far away.

They waited anxiously for something to happen. As Edward took the knocker, again into his hand they heard the sound of a slammed door.

„Somebody is coming,“ Bryan whispered.

In the breathless silence, all eyes were focused on the Iron Gate. The creaking hinges were crying out for oil as the gates opened with a sound that stabbed into their consciousness.

At the gate appeared an old man of tall stature and shabby attire. His close-cut gray hair stood unevenly on his head as though he had just risen from bed with no time to reach for a comb.

He was wearing patched trousers made from a coarse material, which had already seen many years of wear. The shirt, of an indeterminate dark color, looked desperately in need of a wash. Over the shirt, he wore a thick bushy waistcoat and Caroline, at the sight of it, screwed up her face in disgust.

She only hoped that it was not the home of fleas or lice and that he at least took it off at night and did not wear it twenty-four hours a day.

„Good afternoon,“ Edward spoke at last. „Well, we finally made it.“ He added, gazing steadily at the tall figure.

The man was standing there like a statue but slowly moving his eyes from one to another in the group. Only Edward was ignored.

„We had waited you two weeks ago,“ spoke a voice from behind the old man.

A figure of an old woman appeared and when Caroline first caught sight of her she did not know whether to laugh or run in terror. Justin’s face registered shock and he stepped back pressing himself against Bryan who was standing nearest to him.

„I wrote to you to say that we had to delay our journey for two weeks,“ said Edward, staring at the old woman with questioning eyes.

„Nothing was delivered,“ replied the old woman shaking her head on its thin shriveled neck.

Her clothes, with a long since faded pattern that could no longer be identified, reached down to the middle of her calves, with the skirt tattered and dirty. She had over it a thick sweater as disgusting as the old man’s waistcoat. On her feet, from beneath her clothes, warm woolen knee socks and slippers with big holes near her toes were peeping out.

However, the most bizarre sight was that of her left arm bound in a dirty bandage, which was wrapped from her palms along the whole forearm. The dirt, with close inspection, could be identified as a dried blood.

„What happened to you?“ Caroline asked in a whisper.

„I was bitten by a dog,“ said the old woman waving her bandaged hand.

„A dog?“ Justin wondered looking around. He had not seen any animal running around.

„Don’t worry, my boy, Frank shot it dead,“ said the old woman trying to calm Justin but instead frightening him more.

The End of the Preview

Table of Contents

Title Page

Dedication

Year 1990

Dangerous Curves (of a Woman)

Year 2009

Year 2012