When Smiles Fade (11 page)

Emma smiled at him sweetly. “What’s up, Jake?” she asked in the sexiest voice she could muster.

“What’s it to you?” he said sullenly. “I’m gonna take a bath.” Then a small smile played on his lips. “Did you find Gracie?”

Emma resisted the urge to lunge at him and rip his fucking head off, but with the greatest difficulty, she kept her contempt for him from showing through.

“No,” she answered, trying to keep her tone even, “I guess she must have run off and is hiding at a friend’s house. I’m kind of pissed off that she hasn’t called me. I figure she’ll come home when she’s ready.”

Jake was visibly amused over all the chaos he had caused. “Maybe you’ll learn to believe me from now on when I tell you something,” he quipped. “She’s a typical thirteen-year-old. I deal with this shit all the time.”

He went into Valerie’s bedroom and Emma could see him starting to undress. When he came into the hallway again on his way to take a bath, he was wearing nothing but his boxers. Emma scrutinized his revolting body. He was covered in hair from neck to navel. His bloated belly made him look as if he were six months pregnant. His arms had lost their tone, but were thick and bulging, mainly because of his excess weight. When he turned away from her to enter the bathroom, Emma almost threw up at the sight of the hair that covered his back like a furry rug. She held herself together, wondering if she could execute her plan without the small amount of food she had managed to eat that day rising up her gorge and splattering all over him.

Jake had left the bathroom door ajar, just enough for Emma to see what he was doing. She saw him drop his boxers and step into the tub. She paused at the top of the stairs, alert to every little sound. When she heard the television blaring Valerie’s mindless entertainment, she moved into action. She slipped into the bathroom and looked down at Jake.

“What the fuck!” he said, startled. “Get the fuck out!” Then his lips twisted in a clever smirk. “Unless, of course, you want to join me!”

“Shhh!” she hissed softly, putting her finger to her lips. “I don’t want my mother to hear us. I was just wondering if you needed me to wash your back.” She knelt down at the tub next to him, took the washcloth gently from his hand, and lathered it with soap. With tender movements, she rubbed the rag through the tangled nest of hair crawling over his back.

Emma was relieved that Jake wasn’t suspicious of her sudden change in behavior toward him. Being the perverted pedophile that Jake was, his lust for the beautiful teenager overcame any common sense that he was born with.

“You know, Jake, maybe I’ve been harsh,” she whispered. “I mean, maybe you’re not such a bad guy.”

Then she leaned in and kissed him on his neck, running her tongue softly over his folds of fat. She reached into the water and ran her hand over his man boobs. Quickly aroused, he reached up her shirt, his damp fingers crawling like slugs under her bra, and fondled her breast. The feel of his hand on her flesh was so revolting, Emma thought she could probably drown him right there. Her hatred for him was so intense that she had to fight it back so as not to ruin her plan.

“Jake, not here,” she protested faintly, “my mom is downstairs. How about if we meet up tonight at the George Washington Motor Lodge in Norristown? You get us a room. I’ll meet you there around nine o’clock. Meet me out back by the pool and you can take me up to the room. Okay?”

So aroused he could barely think straight, Jake readily agreed. He reached up and pulled her head down to his. Closing his eyes, he opened his mouth to kiss her. She hesitated and he quickly opened his eyes.

“I’ve been waiting to have you since the day we met,” he confessed.

Emma smiled thinly. She needed to keep her composure. She needed to find Gracie.

“It’s just that I’ve never been with a man before, Jake,” she said, pretending to be bashful.

“Oh, baby, it’s gonna be so fucking good!” he promised her. “I’ll make you feel like you’ve never felt before.”

Then he pulled her to him again and they kissed, his tongue plunging into her mouth with such raw force she thought she would suffocate and die. But she forced herself to play the game, using her so-called virginity, which Pepper had stolen years ago, as the excuse for the slight resistance on her part.

Emma pulled away from the kiss and stood. “Well then, it’s all set,” she said. “We’ll meet tonight at the pool. But Jake, please remember I’ve never done this before. I mean, I really don’t even know what to do. I just know I want you to be my first.”

She left him in the tub and went back into her bedroom, forcing down the bitter bile that seemed ready to spew out of her mouth. She could still taste his acidy stale breath on her tongue, and his smell made her nostrils shrink in repulsion.

Jake lay back in the tub, masturbating as he thought about having Emma, a virgin. He wanted to last a while so he could fuck her all night. Half an hour later, he masturbated again just thinking of her. He was getting himself ready for the event. In an effort to build his stamina for the evening with Emma that lay ahead, he needed to blow a few loads.

At seven thirty that evening, Emma went back over to Brianna’s.

“We’re ready to rock,” she told her friend, adrenaline pumping through her veins. “We need to get some whiskey so that I can get him drunk.”

“No problem,” Brianna said, reaching into a kitchen cabinet and coming out with a bottle. “No problem at all. I guess there’s one advantage to living with a drunk.” She giggled.

“Perfect, Bri!” Emma exclaimed. “Let’s go.”

While driving to the other side of Norristown, the girls went over their plan once more. Emma would meet Jake at the pool, get him drunk, find out where Gracie was, and coax him into drinking enough to pass out. It was pretty simple.

Brianna parked the car in front of the motel. It was a run-down, dumpy place that was dark and depressing. The motel doors were painted in dreary shades of orange, yellow, and brown. The brick front gave it an eerie appearance. The hotel was known for being used by prostitutes and their clients. As Brianna put the car in park she shot her friend a worried look.

Emma smiled. “Stay here and don’t come back to the pool,” she directed her friend. “If he sees you, he’ll know something’s up.”

While Brianna waited, Emma made her way around to the back of the building where the pool was located and leaped over the short fence. She stood for a moment looking around her. The place gave her the creeps. The metal lounge chairs, with their cushions put away for the winter, sat stark and uninviting. The surroundings were bare and isolated. A low cement wall surrounded by bushy evergreens providing a blanket of coverage and kept the pool area contained from every angle. The pool itself was empty, and Emma looked down into its depths at the stained and cracked cement. The scene sent chills up her spine. What if he came and just forced himself on her right there? Her anxiety grew by the moment.

At nine o’clock, Jake showed up as planned. He struggled to hoist his excessive body mass over the short wall and walked over to where Emma was sitting. Without uttering a word in greeting, he leaned down and kissed her hard.

She pulled away from him.

“What the fuck!” he snapped. “I thought you were into this.”

“I am, Jake,” Emma replied, faking an innocence she did not feel. “I told you, I’ve never done this before. I’m nervous.”

Jake was clearly pleased to be reminded of her about-to-be-violated virginity. The very thought made her seem more beautiful than ever in his eyes. “Well, let’s go,” he said. “I have a room for us.”

“Can we have a couple of drinks here first, Jake?” Emma pleaded. “I think it would help me to unwind a little. I brought a bottle of whiskey.” She pushed the bottle in his direction.

“Sure, that works for me,” he replied enthusiastically. “I want my little virgin to loosen up. But I don’t want you loosened up everywhere, if you get my drift,” he said, his tone and expression sleazy.

Emma threw him an innocent look. “I think I get your
drift
. God, Jake, don’t be so weird!”

She poured each of them a healthy portion of whiskey in red plastic cups. As he gulped down the contents of his cup, Emma continued to lift hers to her lips, but refrained from actually drinking the whiskey. By the third cup, it was obvious that Jake was getting good and loaded. Emma kept pouring.

“You are one fuckin’ good-looookin’ chick!” he slurred. “I can’t wait to fuck you. Your mother, she’s good-looking. But fuck me—she’s all stretched out and dry from having you kids. You, on da other hand, I fink you’ll be like fuckin’ a greased-up vise. Come
on
, let’s go b’fore my balls esssplode!”

The drunker he got, the more repugnant he became to Emma.

“No, not yet. Just a little more whiskey, Jake!” she cooed. “Besides, I
like
talking to you when you’re like this. It turns me on.”

He gave her a half-cocked smile. “Fine,” he said obligingly, moving over to her lounge chair and collapsing into it beside her. “But I need a little somethin’-somethin’…pull up that skirt and let me see your panties.”

Emma stood and pulled her skirt up just enough to show the elastic at the top of her legs. Jake immediately reached up and slid his fingers under the elastic around her ass. When she sat back down next to him, he leaned over and began kissing her neck. She arched her neck, her head rearing back, pretending to be into it. But what she was really doing was holding her breath so she didn’t have to smell his bitter odor. He grabbed her by the hair and pulled her face to his, sloppily searching till he found her mouth. Licking her mouth like a dog, he finally pushed his tongue through her lips until he had her in a full open-mouthed kiss.

Jake grasped both her breasts hard and started kissing the top of her cleavage at the V neckline of her sweater. Emma pushed him back. Realizing she needed to buy more time with him, she placed her hand on his crotch and rubbed hard. Then she pulled away from him.

“I think we need another drink,” she suggested. “I’m really starting to get turned on. Are you?”

“Are you fuckin’ kiddin’ me?” he shrieked in excitement. “My dick is so hard right now it feels like it’s going to break!”

Emma got up, poured another drink, and walked over to hand it to him. He accepted the whiskey and, still holding it, pulled her onto his lap with his other hand. Then he raised the plastic cup to his lips and chugged down the brown magic. Slamming the cup down, he slid his hands up and down Emma’s inner thighs. Jake was so drunk by then he no longer cared about anything except getting laid. Emma could sense that he wanted to fuck her right there. She moved off his lap and pouted.

“What the fuck’s wrong with you? Ain’t you turned on?” he asked groggily.

“Are you fucking kidding?” Emma said, using his kind of language to hold his interest. “Of course I’m turned on! It’s just that I know you think Gracie is sexier than I am and, well, I’ve always been jealous of how much attention you give her. I feel like you only want me as a second choice.” She tried to sound needy and appealing, suppressing her desire to spit in his face.

“What the fuck!” Jake said. “I don’t like her half as much as I like you! I like how scared she gets, if ya know what I mean? That really fuckin’ makes my dick hard. She’s a little fuckin’ whiner! Ya shoulda heard her a couple of nights ago.” He paused, moving closer to Emma and starting to rub her knee. “’Nuff about her! You’re da one I want. Now come on and give me some of dat!” he exclaimed, moving his hands up her inner thighs.

Emma needed to keep him talking to find out where he had taken Gracie. She leaned down and handed him the bottle of whiskey. He took a long swig and gave it back to Emma, who pretended to drink from the bottle.

“Well,” she began, careful to seem barely interested, “what happened the other night when you took Gracie out for ice cream? Where did she go?”

“Oh, ’nuff of this fuckin’ bullshit!” Jake mumbled. “Fuck it…I don’t wanna talk ’bout her anymore!”

With her irritation and anxiety festering in the pit of her stomach, Emma did the only thing she could do. She started kissing him passionately. He slid his hand up her skirt and put his fingers inside of her. She no longer felt as if her body was her own. She let him finger her for a few minutes as he grew increasingly aroused. He began panting and started to lay her down on the metal chair.

“Wait, Jake,” Emma interrupted. “One more drink and we’ll go to the room.” She handed him a drink as she stood over him. “So tell me what happened to Gracie,” she cajoled. “I need to know that she won’t come back and steal you from me.”

“Fine!” he screamed in frustration. “If that’ll make you shut the fuck up and we can get to this! I put Gracie down in the fuckin’ basement. But I hid her real good! She won’t be a problem. She might even be dead by now! Who the fuck knows?”

He stood up unsteadily and weaved his way toward Emma who was, by now, standing at the edge of the pool.

“What the fuck are you saying, Jake?” she gasped. “Gracie’s in the house?”

“Yeah, she’s in the fuckin’ house!”

“Does my mom know this?” she demanded.

“’Course the stupid bitch knows! Now come on!”

In his drunken stupor, Jake reached for Emma. With the overpowering desire for revenge she now felt toward him and her mother, her natural instincts took over and she shoved him with all her might into the empty pool. The look on his face was priceless as he tumbled into the dark, cement-lined depths. Wracked with fear, Jake flailed his arms in midair, trying desperately to get a hold and clawing at the air in a vain attempt to break his fall. Emma watched without emotion as his fall was broken, twelve feet below her, by a wonderfully resonant crack—the sound of his skull smashing into the pool’s cold cement bottom. She stood for a moment imagining the Grim Reaper collecting Jake’s wicked soul and propelling him to hell.