When it was over, she clung weakly to him, saying, "That was the best, ever. Thank you."
"What?" he roared. "What do you mean? I'm the first! I won't have any daughter of mine turning into a slut!"
She turned surprised eyes to him. He stood, zipped his pants and walked from the room, a curious dignity about him. Fawn realized she had blown the entire aura of his fantasy world. She'd brought him down to the realization he'd fucked a girl, a girl who only said she was his daughter to please him.
Jack came bounding into the room, a smile cutting his face virtually ear to ear. "You were great, darling! He bought it!"
"Oh, no, Jack! I goofed! I botched it at the end!" She clutched at him, salty tears staining his shirt.
"That's okay. It's all right. Just be cool. He bought the whole nine yards, I tell you. There, there. I'll make it right."
And he began to strip off his clothes.
They made love till daybreak.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Fawn dragged through classes the entire day. She simply wasn't used to being up all night and having Jack up all night, too.
As she came into Jack's history class – the last of the day – he told her, "Fawn, I've got to talk with you after class. Don't run off. This is important."
"Sure, uh, Mr. Harris." She'd almost slipped and called him Jack. With that gossip Phyllis standing beside her, it was a good thing she'd remembered in time.
As it was, Phyllis said, "Boy, are you ever getting chummy with him. A real teacher's pet."
"What do you mean, Phyl?"
"Hell, anyone can see the look in your eye when you gaze on our oh-so-muscular history teacher. Got a thing going with him? Is putting out the only way you could pass the course?"
"Don't be gross," Fawn snapped. She stalked off and sat in her desk. It had come very close to home. The girl wondered how many others in the room guessed what was going on between her and Jack.
For most of them, they wouldn't have cared one iota. But Phyllis – she was a gossip and loved to be the one to start rumors.
In this case it wouldn't be a rumor. It would be the truth.
Fawn settled down into her seat and slumped, waiting for the hour to be over. Whatever it was that Jack wanted to talk to her about sounded important. She just hoped that Ears Logan wasn't coming around hounding him for money again.
She thought about the small bookie. Try as the girl might, she couldn't simply dismiss Ears as an evil man. There was something about him that was more dignified than a mere bookie. He had the carriage of a man of some means, yet insisted on acting like something that had crawled out of the gutter.
Fawn didn't understand him. Not at all.
Finally, the class was over and she almost ran to Jack. He held her at arm's length until the last of the students had left.
Then, he said, "I'm glad you'd see me. It had me worried."
"Worried? Why, darling? Because of the other night? You think that did something to break us up? How can you be so wrong? Wasn't it just great between us when I left?"
"I thought you'd had the chance to realize what you'd done," he said lamely. "I'm glad you don't hold it against me." The cunning look had crept back into his eyes.
"What do you want, Jack? I can tell when you take that tone. You aren't in debt to Ears again, are you?"
"Not exactly, but I do need to get some money ahead. But, this time, darling, it'll be for us. I intend to spend it all on a surprise for you."
"What do you want me to do?" Her tone was chilly. There was something about asking her to go out and earn the money for her very own present that irritated the girl.
"Don't be mad at me, Fawn," he pleaded. "I've got almost all the money I need for, well, I'll tell you. It's a brand new car. Just for you. A sports car."
"Green! Is it green, Jack?" she squealed. She'd been wanting a car but her parents had forbidden it. They said she was too young, that she could wait another couple years.
A couple years seemed like an eternity to the fifteen-year-old. Now here was her lover offering her the very thing she wanted more than anything else in the whole wide world!
"Green, sure it's green," he said.
"Oh, Jack, how can I thank you – and forgive you. I thought you'd been betting again. I should have known. What do you want me to do?"
She was momentarily aghast when he told, her, then she brightened and realized that this was for both of them.
***
"What do you think, Red?" the black man asked his red-haired friend.
"I think I like the scenery just fine, Fred. And I'll just bet you do, too."
Fawn felt like a side of beef going up for auction. The two men weren't unattractive. In fact, the redhead was sort of cute. But the idea of both of them having her at the same time repulsed her. She wished she had told Jack to forget it. There were any number of ways of getting the rest of the money together for a car besides charging these two for the privilege of balling her.