"Please leave me alone to my bath," Eugenia pleaded, not liking this girl's presence at all. And she was embarrassed that this girl was relieving her bladder right in front of her. Eugenia had even heard her pee splash into the water below her. She knew that she could never like this girl. She even looked hard around the eyes. As though life had been cruel to her somehow. One thing she knew for sure, this girl couldn't be one of Madam Valerie's daughters. She would have expected Madam Valerie's daughters to show some signs of class about them. The house had openly spoken "class" when she had entered. Surely this painted-up person had only just stayed the night for some reason. Maybe Madam Valerie had been just as nice to this girl as she was being to her.
"Sure, doll," the girl laughed. "Take your time. You'll find out soon enough that time is one thing you'll have plenty of while living in this joint."
"I'm not goin' to live here," Eugenia said stubbornly. "I'm just gettin' a meal in my stomach and restin' my
bones awhile before headin' on my way."
"Uh huh," the girl said, rising from the toilet. "Tell me about it. I've heard it all before."
Eugenia was relieved when the girl slammed the door behind her, leaving Eugenia alone with her frustrated thoughts. Something just didn't seem right here. Maybe she had made a mistake accepting this generosity from a complete stranger. This girl had made it sound so wrong somehow. But, shrugging it off, she completed her bath and stepped out onto the softness of a braided rug, wanting to hurry and get back into the bedroom so she could get some food inside her stomach. That was all that was important now. The bath had made her feel more refreshed, but hadn't filled the gap in her aching abdomen. It had even increased her feeling of lightheadedness. She couldn't even take the time to brush her hair or pull the beautiful dress over her head. She would do that later.
She crept out of the bathroom, attired in only her petticoat, her eyes searching all around her. Then when she found that she was alone, she hurried to the room that had been so generously opened to her. The sight of the steaming cup of coffee and tray of eggs, toast, and bacon made her toss the dress aside onto a chair, and drop her hairbrush and combs to the floor.
With a growling stomach, she began to scoop the food into her mouth and took a deep swallow of coffee. She coughed frantically, spewing it all out of her mouth. The coffee was so bitter it made her tongue curl. But being so thirsty, she tried another swallow and found that it proceeded on down her throat with more ease.
She continued to eat and drink until all signs of food and coffee were gone. She had never been so hungry in all her life. But now she was ready to leave this house to go exploring, to see what lay ahead of her.
Eyeing the satin dress draped across the chair, she longed to slip it over her head. But she knew that once she left this house, it couldn't go with her. No. She had to put on her own cotton dress. One that was fresh and wrapped neatly inside her travel bag. But first things first. She had to get the "witch's knots" out of her hair. She had to brush it, make it shine once again. And she wouldn't braid it. She would leave it draped across her shoulders in case she happened to find Drew. He preferred her hair let out. She would never forget his touch…
Bending over to pick up her hairbrush from the floor, Eugenia felt a sweep of blackness rush before her eyes. She staggered and leaned limply against the bed. She jerked her head around her. Everything seemed to be one big blur. She shook her head, trying to clear the fuzziness, but found that she only had the strength to stretch herself across the bed. She felt herself drifting off into a deep sleep, wanting to fight it, to stay awake, not understanding what was happening, but she couldn't. Suddenly, it felt so good, as though she was floating above herself…
* * *
Chapter Three
The sound of distant laughter awakened Eugenia, but only into a hazy existence. She could see a body lowering down over her, then she smiled and spoke. "Drew? Is that you?"
She closed her eyes once again as this male body covered hers and returned the kiss from this mouth pressing hers with force. "Oh, Drew," she murmured, reaching upward to run her hands across the smoothness of this male's back. "I didn't think I would ever find you."
The mouth had worked lower and was flicking a tongue over one breast and then another, making Eugenia's mind swim even more. She could even hear herself moaning deeply as she arched her back upward to urge this mouth downward until she felt the wetness of a tongue between her outstretched thighs. "Oh, it feels so good, Drew. Please don't stop," she said, pressing her hands against this male's head. His hands were reaching upward to cup her breasts while continuing to wet her thighs with more flicks of his tongue.
"It's so good, Drew," she panted, trembling, feeling the pleasure sweeping over her like another splash of bath oil against her throbbing skin. Then she threw her legs around this male's body as he entered her swift and sure, lunging hard, over and over again, until she could feel his body being wracked in spasms to match her own. She began to cry with joy, remembering how the exact feelings had encompassed her the first time Drew had entered her. She was now more of a woman than she could ever wish for. And she had him with her once again.
As she felt him pull away from her, her eyes opened, the haziness now reduced to only a shimmer. She gasped loudly when she saw a stranger standing beside the bed that she had just been taken to heights of pleasure on. A stranger who in no way resembled Drew. A stranger who was busy pulling his breeches up, not even looking her way.
Feeling confused, scared, degraded, and used, she began to sob frantically. "Who are you? Why are you here? Who let you into this room?" she yelled.
The man laughed sarcastically. "You're askin' me that?" he blurted, slipping a white, lace-trimmed shirt on. "What kind of game is this, lady? You acted like you knew what you were doin'."
Eugenia reached for the sides of the bedspread and pulled them up over her, now fully aware that she was completely disrobed. "How did this happen to me?" she continued, her eyes traveling around her. The last thing she could remember was eating the breakfast food and drinking the coffee that had been so generously given to her by Madam Valerie.
"You'd best talk to the madam," the man said, his mustache hiding the lines of his mouth. But it was evident that the lines around his eyes had deepened with worry, most surely now understanding that he had just taken a woman who hadn't been fully aware of her situation.
"I thought you were someone else," Eugenia said, still sobbing, feeling her heart aching, knowing that she had just had sex with another stranger, but this time with one she hadn't truly wanted to have sex with.
With hat in hand, the man turned and started to hurry from the room but turned and smiled again, looking back in Eugenia's direction. "I don't know who the hell you thought you were in bed with, lady," he said. "But I'll tell you one damned thing. You're one good lay. Madam Valerie ought to keep you around. Would be good for business."
Eugenia tossed her body around to get her face away from this man's leering eyes. She couldn't stand the knowing. She couldn't stand the thought of what had just happened. She let her insides go limp when she heard the door slam behind him. She had to figure out how such a thing could have happened. And how it shamed her to remember having enjoyed it to such an extent. But, she hoped, the only reason she had was because while in her drugged stupor she had thought it was Drew doing those fantastic things to her body.
With desperation seizing her, Eugenia jumped from the bed and went to the door. One turn of the knob, and it was apparent that someone had just locked her in. She began to scream. "Let me out of here. Why are you doing this to me?" But there was no response. All she could hear was loud boisterous music rising from the downstairs area and soft laughter coming from somewhere across the hall from the room she was in.
Turning, her eyes swept over the room. Her hair brush and combs were lying next to each other on the vanity, and her dress was placed neatly across a chair next to the green satin one. With quick, jerky steps, she hurried and began to slip her dress over her head when she heard the door open behind her. She stopped and swung around, holding the dress in front of her to hide her nudity. "It's you," she gasped, eyeing Madam Valerie. Madam Valerie didn't look at all like she had earlier in the day. She was now attired in a sweeping dress of red velvet, and under the dim lighting of a gas light on the wall beside her, it looked as if the makeup had done a fairly good job of hiding her wrinkles. And her hair; it was in a neat pile of curls on the top of her head, making her appear almost beautiful. But the hard stare of her eyes took away from all of this. Eugenia cringed when Madam Valerie walked toward her, lifting her skirt up, revealing black patent-leather three inch heels.
"Joe just paid you a high compliment, dearie," Madam Valerie said, lifting a strand of Eugenia's hair from her shoulders. "He said you could be really good for my business." Then Eugenia could feel Madam Valerie's eyes move downward. Eugenia couldn't stop her from jerking the dress away from her. "I gues
s he likes his women plump," Madam Valerie added. "We've got to do something about that thick waistline. Maybe not feed you for a few days. That could rid you of a few pounds. Don't you think so?"
"What do you mean? I'm leaving here. Now!" Eugenia shouted.