Chapter 12

Five days of the week were the only times that Cara visited the gym. She spent the weekends doing other little exercises around the house, like tending the garden at the back and swimming. She had just finished weeding the garden with her little shovel on a Saturday morning and was about to go in for a shower when she heard a car pull up somewhere behind her. At first, she thought it was Lance, but when she turned to look, she found that it was his mother instead.

"Good Morning, Carol," she greeted as the older woman walked up to her.

"Where is Lance?", Carol demanded, ignoring her greeting.

Cara was by no means surprised. It was clear that that incident at the party had forever damaged their friendship.

"I have no idea. Haven't seen him in a long while," she shrugged in reply.

"Are you sure?", Carol asked, eyeing her suspiciously. "I sincerely hope he's not somewhere on a bed in your house, because that would be..."

"Look, Carol," Cara cut her off. "You caught me in a compromising position with your son. Fine! I'm sorry. But that's not enough reason for you to insult me."

"Really? So you still possess the guts... Anyway, you pedophiles generally lack conscience and..."

"I'm not a pedophile," Cara shot back. "Your son is way past 18 and he... Look, stop trying to make him look like a victim and..."

"Of course he's not a victim. He's a survivor. And provided he stays away from you, he'll heal and hopefully, you won't get another victim to prey on."

Cara kept quiet as the woman walked away after delivering those biting words. Then she shouted after her in a shaky voice,

"Keeping us apart won't do anyone any good, you know. Have you ever stopped to think about how and what we feel.. for each other?"

Carol turned around to regard her with a wicked smile on her face.

"If you think you've got my son ensnared in some Stockholm Syndrome kinda thing, then you're hugely mistaken. He will forget about you in no time. And you better pray I find him before the day runs out."

It was on the tip of Cara's tongue to say 'or else what?', but she wisely kept her mouth shut and watched in silent anger as her lover's mother returned to her car and drove off.

Later in the evening, hours after Carol's visit and Lisa's return from visiting with friends, Cara and her daughter were in the kitchen, preparing.. or rather, one was preparing supper while the other was playing with utensils, when her phone rang. She checked the caller ID and found that it was Lance. She thought about not answering it, but his mother had been looking for him. Perhaps he was in a scrape or some desperate situation and needed help.

"Hello," she said into the phone as she tapped answer.

Immediately, a barrage of noise hit her and she quickly put the phone away from her ear. The sound was continuous and deafening. It wasn't from loud music, it was just from extremely noisy people. Above the din, she could hear someone shouting, "Hey Cara, where you at?"

She thought she could recognize the voice, even though it did not sound very normal.

"Lance? Is that you?", she asked.

"Come on over here!", he shouted back. "Come have fun!"

"What? Where are you? Why's it so noisy?"

"Rob's Cove," came the sing-song reply from several voices at the same time, followed by raucous laughter. Cara began to suspect something.

"Just get your bubble butt over here!", Lance shouted immediately after.

"Lance!", she scolded, mortified and blushing furiously as she rushed away from Lisa's presence. "What's gotten into you, Lance? Are you drunk?"

"Drunk in love," came another sing-song reply from the group, and Cara's suspicion was confirmed.

"Look, I'm on my way. Just hang tight and try to stay conscious, okay?"

She quickly disconnected the call to avoid hearing the inevitable nasty response from her drunk lover and his friends. Only God knows what he must have told them about her, but she had to push that out of her mind and go out to get him. Calling his mother would certainly put him in trouble and would also implicate her in whatever way Carol could cook up. So she had to go it alone. She rushed back to the kitchen, grabbed Lisa and sat her at the dining table. Then she got out a pack of the girl's favourite cookies and set it down on the table. Lisa went for it immediately.

"Look babe, when the minute hand on the clock reaches 5, go turn off the stove. I'll be back in just a few minutes. When you're done eating, go up to your room and play, okay?"

Lisa nodded.

"Don't leave the house, alright? If anything happens, dial 911 or call me, okay?"

Lisa nodded again.

That settled, Cara picked her keys and her phone and without bothering to change, rushed off to her car.

**

When Cara arrived at Rob's Cove, which was a popular outdoor resort of some sort in the area where youths spend time having all kinds of 'fun', she parked her car in the most suitable place she could find and sat watching the crowd of noisy young people gathered in and around a pool, just a hundred metres or so away. She scanned the crowd again and again, trying to see if she could spot Lance.

On the third try, she got lucky. She sighted his stubborn head being shaken by some other boys while he sat with his legs in the water. Cara stepped out of her car and marched in that direction. As she zeroed in on the group, she saw the girl sitting next to Lance grab his head and place it on her half-covered big breasts which attracted a lot of laughter and cheers.

Being either drunk or occupied in some other way, most of them did not notice Cara's approach until she was in their midst. As she walked up to Lance and his big-breasted girl, some of the boys were presented with the sight of her backside, the glory of which was accentuated by the tight jeans she usually never wore outside her house. She could hear whistles and catcalls, but she ignored them and grabbed Lance by the collar, pulling him off the girl's breasts.

"Come on, party's over. Let's go home," she said to him as she slapped him into full consciousness.

"Cara," he droned as she helped him to his feet.

She desperately wished he would keep his mouth shut and not say any more scandalous things about her, but she was more than relieved when she heard one of the other boys say, 'he called his girlfriend, but his mom came instead'. As she helped his staggering frame towards her car, she sincerely hoped that that sentiment was shared by more than just one person!

When Cara arrived at her house less than half an hour after she left, she stayed in the car for a few minutes, wondering how she would sneak her drunk and semi-conscious lover into the house without the knowledge of her daughter. She stared at Lance for a while and then stepped out of the car.

She went into the sitting room and then the kitchen, looking around. Lisa was absent in both places, perhaps she was upstairs. Or had she gone out of the house? Well, she would find out after the completion of her mission. She hurried back to the car and managed to drag Lance out of the passenger side and helped him into the house. The destination was upstairs and how on Earth would she prevent him from alerting the entire neighborhood, Lisa especially, that a drunk man was moving up her staircase? She dropped him on a couch in the sitting room and squatted in front of him.

"Hey," she whispered, as she slapped him back to planet Earth. He tried to focus his unfocused eyes on her as he struggled to sit erect. "Look, Lisa is upstairs and we're going upstairs too. Try to walk normal, okay? Try not to stagger or fall, alright?"

He nodded drunkenly and belched into her face as she tried to help him up. She quickly fanned off the alcoholic breath from her face and finally got him to his feet. While praying that Lisa would not choose this moment to come down, she led him to the stairs and then an idea came into her head.

"Take off your shoes," she ordered. But it was near impossible for him to stand on his own two feet, not to mention taking off his shoes. So she made him hold onto the railing while she took off his shoes for him.

"Not a word," she whispered in warning as she helped him up the stairs, barefooted. Luckily, her room was the first one upstairs, so she didn't need to go too close to or past Lisa's room. She pushed open her door and helped him in, hoping that Lisa had not chosen today to get cozy on Mommy's bed. But the place seemed devoid of human presence. It looked exactly as it was when she last saw it. So she deposited Lance on the bed and rushed out to go retrieve his shoes.

When she returned to her room, Lance was already snoring. She ignored him and went out again, this time to check on Lisa.

As luck would have it, Cara found her daughter fast asleep. She thought about waking her up to ask if she was hungry, but eventually decided against it. No need to disturb the poor girl's sleep. The cookie pack in the kitchen was empty anyway. She tucked her in and left her with a motherly kiss. Then she went back again to her room.

Lance was still snoring away and she almost laughed out loud at the spread eagle position he had himself. Working quickly, she took off his trousers, which were just as wet as his shoes and then took off his shirt and underwear. It was when she had gotten him naked with his flaccid penis in view that she realized that they had never had protected sex since they began this semi-relationship of theirs. Could he have had sex with any of the girls at Rob's Cove? Only God knew what those girls could be infected with. She certainly would need to have this conversation with him as soon as possible.

Grabbing his hands, she jerked him out of his sleep and helped him to a standing position. He was far from happy, grumbling as he staggered along towards the bathroom. She led him buck naked to the shower and gave him a playful swat on his backside before setting it to cold water and turned it on full blast. He screamed and swore, trying to escape the jet of icy water, but she jumped out of the shower and locked the door behind her, leaving him trapped inside. Then she proceeded to take off her now wet clothes and went back into the bathroom. She found Lance huddled up in a corner, looking soaked and battered by the merciless barrage of water.

"This is wicked," he grumbled in protest.

"Then you should never have gotten drunk," she shrugged in response as she allowed the water to have its way with her naked body.

One thing she had never done with Lance, or anyone else for that matter, was sex in the bathroom, not because she hated it, but because the opportunity had just never presented itself. Right now, he was in no condition for optimal performance and by the way, it was still too risky at this point.

When the shower session was over, Cara led her young lover back to bed and tucked him in completely naked and then crawled in beside him, wearing a tightly tied robe and a pair of tight big panties. She did not expect him to keep his hands and other even more effective body parts to himself throughout the night.