"Nobody who wants to hear you can hear you," he whispered. "Don't waste your breath."
"Stop," I moaned.
"Naw, you don't mean that," he said, his hands moving down over my hips and between my legs.
I tried wresting myself out of his grasp, but he was too strong. The shock of feeling his hard sex moving between my thighs froze me for a moment.
"Hey, you like that?" he asked.
"No, please, let me go."
"You fascinate me. April. You're the youngest bisexual girl I know. Rhona thinks you just haven't had a real man yet. That Chinese bay is a wimp. I think she's right. You'll thank me for this. I'll help you make up your mind."
I squirmed and tried pushing him away, but he put his weight against me and I was barely able to move.
"You don't want to keep fighting me like this. April. It takes away from the experience, the pleasure."
"Get off me!"
"Hey if I get off you, I'll have to go elsewhere and Rhona is asleep," he said. "Where do you think I might go? Huh?"
It had the effect of a knife made of ice cutting toward my heart. Was he saying he would go into Echo's room?
"All the young women here need the experience, don't you agree?"
"No."
"Sure you do. Who's it going to be first?"
"You're horrible."
"You don't know that yet. April. I might be very, very good. You saw how I was with Rhona. Don't tell me you didn't think about it. want it. too. Rhona said you were standing there and watching us for quite a while.'
"I was not! And I don't want you. You're disgusting," I said. He laughed.
"Stop!" I cried, trying to elbow him away.
"Take it easy. You're about to have the experience of your life and if you're a good girl. I'll help you with Rhona and keep her from driving you out of here, but you have to be a good girl," he said. "Hymn, lots here to grab onto. That's nice," he continued, his hand all over my sides, my stomach, working on turning me around. I tried to fight it, but he was too strong and he threw his leg over me as he turned me, pushing me down until I was on my back, looking up at him. He sat on my legs and in the starlight coming through the window. I could see his tormenting smile.
I swung at him and he grabbed my right wrist and twisted it hard.
"You're hurting me!" I cried.
"Makes it more exciting," he said, and didn't let up on his grip. "Rhona likes that. too. Now what we're going to do here is be very cooperative. I don't like forcing myself on a girl. I like feeling I'm wanted.'
"Well, you're not. Get off me,"
He twisted my wrist again and I cried out in pain. "I can break your wrist in half, you know."
"I thought you don't like forcing yourself on someone."
"I don't, so don't make me do it. I want you to pull your legs apart slowly, see, and then I want you to put your feet flat on the bed and lift your bottom a bit so I have no trouble fitting in neatly. Got it?"
He slipped off me, but held onto my wrist. I tried pulling it free, but he was far too strong. In the process, my left hand hit Destiny's control and I remembered it was there. He hadn't noticed her sitting across from us, facing the bed. Somewhere in the deepest, darkest places in my mind. I realized that she wouldn't like this and that she would help me. Where I found the power. I do not know, but it came back to me: all the skill Uncle Palaver had taught me returned.
"What do you think you're doing?" Destiny asked in her deeper
Skeeter stopped moving but held on to my wrist. "What?" he muttered, looking at me.