Taboo

Keywords: Dare, Truth, Ch., 07, or,

*Part Two
Accusation*


"How do I look?" Dare asked James Thomas once they were out on the front porch. He looked at her in the moonlight, seeing her as she had seen herself in the mirror five minutes ago, dark hair hanging loose in curls down her back, dressed in jeans, boots with no heel, a white blouse and a black suede jacket he recognized as Nick's.

"Fantastic, as always," he told her. "But are you "sure" you want to do this?"

"Yeah," she told him, taking his hand and starting toward his car. "Don't worry about me."

"He's dangerous, Dare," James told her, getting into the car. Dare fastened her seatbelt. "If I take you out there, you realize there's no phone within a two mile radius. So be careful, okay?"

"Yes, Daddy," she said, rolling her eyes. He laughed. "Now will you please drive?"

James started the car and put it in drive. He pulled away from the house and Dare looked back at it for a moment, thinking of her father sitting in the living room watching T.V., Julia reading. She felt a twinge of guilt.

"I still don't like the idea of you out there without your own car," James said, shaking his head.

"Oh, shut "up" already!" Dare said, not unkindly, flipping the radio on. Classic Led Zepplin, "Stairway to Heaven", blared out of the speakers. Dare turned it up until the sound was distorted.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Maybe I should wait here with you," James said as she opened the door. Dare sighed.

"James, go home!" she cried. "I promise that I won't do anything you wouldn't."

"That leaves it pretty much wide open," he said with a grin. She laughed and shut the door.

He leaned over and rolled down the window. "Just be careful, okay?"

"Will you—"

"Go home," he finished. "Yeah, yeah, I'm going."

He turned the car around and she watched as he left, going out the only entrance and exit there was to the Cat Path. The little car fit easily between the long path of trees, but Dare had seen trucks come down with only a foot of room on each side on the few times she had been here.

She turned back to look at the circular stretch of land. Cars were parked haphazardly, and a large bonfire was burning in the center. The entire stretch of land was surrounded by pine trees, their trunks taller than she was.

She began walking between cars, looking for Shane. A few radios competed and most people were sitting on their cars or on the grass, drinking, smoking, or making out. The Cat Path was just a place to go where they didn't have adult interference.

"Hey, Dare! What are you doing here?" Billy asked, coming up behind her.

"I'm looking for Shane," she told him. "Have you seen him around?"

"Sure, come on, I'll show you," he said, taking her arm and starting to lead her. "Why are you looking for him?"

"We have some business to discuss," she said, glancing sideways at him. He stopped for a minute and looked down at her. The bonfire blazing brightly next to them threw shadows on his face.

"I never got to tell you," he said softly. "I'm real sorry about Nick." He stopped and looked away. Dare saw that he was fighting tears. "I miss him."

There was laughter and talking and music around them, but there was a silent understanding between them in that moment.

"Come on," Billy said, tugging her sleeve. "This way."

She followed him. It took a few minutes to cross the entire land area of the Cat Path. She saw Shane sitting on the hood of a black Mercury. He was laughing, his arm draped across the shoulder of a girl who was also laughing, tucking her blonde hair behind her ear. His profile in the firelight made her chest tighten. He leaned over and whispered something into the blonde's ear that made her giggle. She kissed him on the cheek.

Three cars made a semi-circle around the fire. A bunch of six-packs were sitting on the roof of the Mercury. Aerosmith wailed "Sweeeet Eeeemoooooooootion..." out of someone's car speakers.

Jake and Ethan were sitting on the hood of Shane's black Mustang, tossing beer caps into the fire. They look comfortably numb, Dare thought, straight from Pink Floyd. Chris was swaying with some dark-haired girl, although it seemed absurd to be dancing slowly when Aerosmith was on.

A girl came up behind Billy, covering his eyes with one hand. In the other, she was holding a beer.

"Guess who?" she asked, giggling. Billy turned around and hugged her around the waist, swinging her around. She squealed. "You're going to make me spill it!"

"We always got more, Meg. Right, guys?" Billy called, starting toward their circle, his arm wrapped around Meg's waist. He motioned for Dare to follow them.

"We got plenty," Shane told him, laughing, tipping a beer at them and winking. Shane lifted it to his mouth. As he lowered it, he saw Dare and met her eyes. For a minute he looked stunned and pale, even in the glowing light from the fire. Billy sat next to them on the hood, pulling Meg onto his lap. Dare stopped about six feet from them.

"Well," Shane said, smiling. "I never thought..."

Dare closed the distance, standing in front of him. "That's not unusual," she said, hooking her thumbs in her belt loops.

"Same old Dare."

"Same old Shane," she countered, glancing at the blonde girl.

"Oh, where "are" my manners?" Shane said, and Jake and Ethan found this statement to be hilarious and went off into gales of laughter. "Dare, this is Beverly." He squeezed Beverly's shoulder. "Bev, this is Dare." Gesturing with the beer bottle.

"Hi," Dare said, appraising her.

"Hi," Beverly replied, looking at Shane. Shane's eyes were on Dare.

"We have some unfinished business," Dare said. There was a light flutter in her stomach when she looked into his eyes. Shane hopped to the ground. Beverly looked at him, bewildered.

"Can you give Bev a lift home?" Shane asked Billy. "I have to go. Got some, uh," he looked sideways at Dare. "Unfinished business."

"Sure," Billy said. They were all watching now, and Dare felt uncomfortable.

"Get off my car," Shane told Jake and Ethan, who were still snorting laughter every once in a while. Dare followed him and got into the passenger's side.

"Are you morons going to get off my car, or am I going to have to hurt you?" Shane asked, leaning on the open driver's side door. Jake and Ethan started howling again, doubling over, but they managed to roll off the hood.

Shane muttered something under his breath as he ducked into the car and started it up. He put the car into reverse and, putting his arm across the back of the seat, he quickly and effortlessly backed the car up onto the gravel that ran along the edge of the Cat Path. Shane put the car into drive and accelerated. Dare twisted around to see Beverly still sitting on the Mercury's hood, looking stunned.

"That wasn't very nice," Dare told him, turning back around.

"I'm not a nice guy, remember?" Shane glanced back at them in the rear-view mirror. Dare didn't dispute this. He guided the car along the gravel. It was little more than a path that was outside the ring of grass, but inside the ring of trees.

"Where are we going?" Dare asked him as he turned the car and started up the path that led out to the main road. Dare looked out the side window and, in the fading light from the fires behind them, all she could see were the trunks of the pine trees. The branches were high above them.

"You'll see," Shane said, coming to the end of the short path. He turned right onto another dirt road, this one made with two cars in mind. Dare reached for her seat belt, and found that there wasn't one.

"Where are your seat belts?"

Shane laughed, flipping on the radio.

"What's so funny?" Dare demanded.

He looked at her and shook his head.

"You," he replied, still laughing, Roy Orbison on the radio singing about pretty women.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"You know," Shane said, shutting the car off. "It's funny, because I never read any recent headlines about the devil becoming a Frigidare salesman."

He clicked the headlights off. They were up on Shadow Hills Bluff, and Dare was thinking of Tommy.

"Since when do you read?" Dare asked, but her mind wasn't on conversation. She looked across the hood of the car, at the lights of the city below.

"Dare," Shane said and she looked at him. He touched her hair, rubbing a stand of it between his fingers. "You up to finishing that piece of business?"

She didn't answer him.

"What am I doing? What if this goes too far? What if it "has" gone too far?"

She knew it had. Something fluttered in her stomach, and a dull ache had begun to pound in her chest. Looking at him, she tried to think of Nick, of Tommy, but they seemed far away.

He leaned over and kissed her, pulling her toward him. His hands were eager, insistent, and she let herself into his arms. Snuggling up to him and exhaling, she rested her forehead on the soft spot of the side of his neck.

She unzipped his jacket and undid the buttons of his shirt, running her hand over the hard, planed muscles of his chest and stomach. There was a line of hair that started at his navel and disappeared below the waistband of his jeans, blackly exciting. Dare touched it, her breath quickening.

"Dare," he said hoarsely, almost pleading. She lifted her head to look at him, aware of the power she held. He put one hand behind her head and pulled her mouth to his. She became soft and pliable in his hold, relaxing against him. He tasted like beer, and it excited her.

She didn't know how long she was in his arms. A familiar smell filled the car: heated Old Spice and White Lilac. She had expected to have to fight him off, but he was slow and gentle, his hands and mouth expert but tender and caressing. Her mind rejected this as impossible, but her body responded with a fervor that frightened her. He was the first to push her away and she looked at him in the dimness, drawing shaky breaths.

Silent, he took a cigarette out of the pack that had been tucked away in the pocket of his leather and lit it. His hands shook only slightly.

Keywords: Dare, Truth, Ch., 07, or,