Howie was able to walk, although with a little difficulty, when they got him home. It took both Misty and Cody’s help to get him up the front steps, and he was still leaning on Misty as they went into the house.

“Howie!” his mother just about shrieked at the sight. “What happened to you?”

“He kept Frenchy LeDroit from beating me up,” Misty replied for him. “He got a little hurt himself in the process, but he got me the time to get away.”

“Frenchy LeDroit?” Jim Erikson frowned, even though his eyes were bugging out at the pair of bikini-clad beauties who had brought his younger son home. “It sure seems like that name has been coming up a lot around here recently.”

“Howie, are you hurt badly?” his mother broke in.

“Not real bad,” Jan told her. “I’m a nurse. He’s got a bleeding abrasion on his face, but that should heal quickly. I think he’s suffering a little from adrenaline shock, and he may have a very mild concussion from when he fell down. I wouldn’t worry about it tonight, but if he still has a headache and dizziness tomorrow you probably ought to think about taking him to a doctor.”

“Are you sure, Miss, uh . . . ”

“Just call me Jan.” She turned to Misty and Howie and suggested, “Misty, why don’t you go help Howie sit down? In fact, he probably ought to lie down, maybe on the couch or something.”

“Sure, Jan,” the younger girl in the white bikini smiled. “Come on, Howie.”

“What happened?” Jim asked as Cody came up next to Jan.

“We were on the beach about fifty yards away,” Cody explained. “We saw this red convertible, about a ’94 Mustang with its top down slide to a stop. LeDroit hopped out and started screaming at Misty, something about her brother and that he was going to kick her ass, too. I started that way to try to break things up but was too far to get there in time. Your son got into a yelling match with LeDroit, and it looked to me like he was trying to buy time to let her get away on her bike. Then LeDroit started hitting your son. By that time I was getting close, along with a couple other people, and LeDroit was back in the car and a friend of his drove him away. Your son was very brave in protecting his girlfriend against that young punk.”

“You sound like a police officer,” Jim smiled.

“I am,” Cody smiled. “I went through a police academy last summer. It made me decide I didn’t really want to be a cop full time, but I work part-time at it while I’m pre-law at college.”

Jim looked at the young man, and recognition hit him. “You’re Cody Archer, aren’t you?”

“Yes, sir,” Cody replied respectfully. “I was your paper boy for years.”

“It seems to me that you went on to other things,” Jim smiled.

“Word gets around, sir,” Cody said, realizing that it was all that needed to be said.

“Jan, we’re pleased to meet you, too,” Barb said. “I’m glad you were there to take care of my son.”

“No problem,” she shrugged. “Like I said, I’m a nurse, after all; it’s what I do. I just want to say that your son was very brave in facing down that young punk, who was bigger and older than he is, to protect his girlfriend. I know from personal experience there are a lot of kids who wouldn’t do anything like that, so it’s nice to meet one who will. You can be very proud of your son.”

Barb looked at the tallish girl in the extremely skimpy red bikini, but her mind was on the stories she’d heard around town. Yes, she knew what she was talking about from experience, but she also knew there were people who would step in to protect someone else. People like Cody Archer, to be quite precise. The situation with Howie hadn’t been nearly as bad. Still it was best to just acknowledge that she knew what she was talking about.

“I think Howie got a piece of Frenchy,” Jan added. “He was limping as he went to the car. Maybe a kick to the groin or a kneecap, or something. Anyway, we weren’t sure if Howie was up to getting back here under his own power, so we brought him and Misty.”

“Well, we really appreciate it,” Jim said. “We’ve tried to teach him not to fight, but that there are times it can’t be avoided. It sounds like this was one of them.”

“Like I said, you have reason to be proud of your son,” Jan smiled. “Now, let me go check that dressing real quick, and then Cody and I can be on our way.”

“Sure, no problem,” Barb said. Jan turned to go to the living room; it was only then that both Barb and Jim discovered that the tall young lady had on a thong bikini bottom that covered just about nothing. Jim was speechless as Jan knelt down next to Howie, who was now lying on the sofa with Misty sitting on the floor next to him. It was a pretty spectacular show that went on for a minute or more as Jan talked to Howie and checked him out.

Jan finally got up and walked back to Barb, Jim and Cody. “The dressing looks fine,” she said. “It probably ought to be changed in the morning, it’s just gauze and surgical tape. Feel free to call me if you’d like help.”

“We’re staying with the folks for a few days before we head back to school,” Cody added. “Just for the record, I’ll echo Jan. You have just cause to be very proud of your son. Heroes do not set out to be heroic. They’re just cowards like the rest of us, who do what has to be done when it needs to be done.”

“I think we can take that as a pretty serious compliment from the both of you,” Jim said. “And thank you again.”

“You’re quite welcome, sir,” Cody said. “Come on Jan, we can still get some beach time in. Oh, by the way, I took the kid’s bikes out of the truck, they’re sitting on the lawn. You might want to do something with them.”

“Sure will,” Jim nodded. “Thanks again, and enjoy the rest of your vacation.”

“Oh, I’m sure we will,” Jan giggled. The two of them turned toward the door, and both Jan and Barb got another good view of Jan’s nearly bare backside. She gave them a little wave and a smile as she went out the door, closing it behind her.

Jim let out a long breath. “Holy shit,” he said softly. “I mean, holy shit!”

“You can pop your eyeballs back into your sockets any time now,” Barb chided in a voice low enough that the kids wouldn’t hear. “But I agree, that’s quite a view, and I don’t do girls, at least not like that.”

“And she’s a nurse?” he giggled. “Hospitals would be a hell of a lot more interesting if more nurses dressed like that.”

“Oh, yeah, right,” Barb laughed. “You really want to see some overweight babe in her fifties with drooping breasts and varicose veins dressed like that? ”

“Well, when you put it that way, no,” he laughed softly with her. “It’d be nice to see you wearing something like that sometime though.”

“In your dreams!” she snorted. “I wouldn’t go out of the house dressed like that, let alone to the beach.”

“I wasn’t talking about going out of the house,” he smiled. “But Jesus! A compliment like that, from those two? I guess our kid did good.”

“It sounds like it,” Barb agreed. “But she referred to Misty as Howie’s girlfriend a couple times, and to look at the two of them they’re worse than Jack and Vixen. She’s really fawning over him. When did that happen?”

“Let’s go find out,” he smiled. “I think we need to let our heroic son know we’re not mad at him.”

They headed on into the living room. Howie was still lying on the couch; he seemed to feel better in that position. Misty was sitting on her heels next to the couch, her bikini bottom sitting low enough on her to show quite a bit of butt crack. Jim and Barb could hear them talking in low tones, with the occasional giggle from both of them.

“Well,” Jim said, “it looks like the two of you have had an interesting afternoon. Son, I want to tell you that from what Cody and Jan told us, you did the right thing.”

“Oh, I know he did,” Misty piped up. “Frenchy is crazy, he could have hurt me just because he felt like it. It wasn’t anything like what Jan went through, but Howie still saved me from getting hurt.”

“You know the story about that, then?” Barb asked.

“Probably better than I want to,” she shook her head. “My older sister was going with his older brother when it happened, so I got all the details. She said Cody and Jan don’t talk about it much, and I guess I can understand why.”

“It’s probably better that way,” Barb agreed. “It was still a very ugly thing to have happened.”

“Yeah, but I’m sure Cody did the right thing,” Misty agreed.

“What was that?” Howie asked. “I’m not real sure I know what you’re talking about.”

“Didn’t you know who they were?” Misty asked. “Everybody in town knows about them. That was Cody and Jan Archer.”

“No shit?” Howie said in surprise. “That was them? I’ve heard the stories.” The story Howie had heard was that a few years before Cody had found Jan being beaten and raped by her father and brother. He shot both of them between the eyes with a pistol. Cody had been a high school junior at the time, as had Jan. The shooting had been ruled justifiable homicide, but people still walked a little lightly around the two.

“That was them,” Misty assured him. “I know it’s not quite the same thing, but the spirit was the same and you didn’t even have a gun.”

“Wow,” Howie said. “I never even thought of it like that. I just didn’t want to see that fu . . . er, idiot LeDroit hurting you.”

“I know,” she smiled. “I really owe you a great big kiss for that. Maybe a lot of great big kisses. Now, is there anything I can get for you?”

“Something to drink, I think,” he said, realizing that he felt pretty good while he was lying down. The way that Misty was leaning forward toward him gave him a great view down her cleavage, and a nice view it was. It would be nice to see more of it. Even the ability to think that convinced him that he was feeling better. It had been nice hanging out with Misty earlier, and he didn’t want it to end now.

“I’ll get you something.” Barb offered. “Misty, would you like something?”

“Yes, ma’am, a Diet Coke if you have it,” Misty replied, not taking her eyes off Howie.

“Sounds good to me, Mom,” Howie added.

“I have to ask,” Barb said. “Jan called you Howie’s girlfriend a couple times. When did this start?”

“I think she was just assuming it,” Misty smiled. “Howie and I were just hanging out on the beach for a while when this happened. But I think Howie’s proved that he would make a pretty good boyfriend, so I’d just as soon hang around for a while, if you don’t mind.”

“One more game,” Alan said. “And then maybe we want to stop and order pizza.”

A little to Jack’s surprise, they’d decided to play chess, with Alan taking on all comers in turn while the others looked on and kibitzed. He really was pretty good; he hadn’t been beaten yet, but Vixen had come the closest. “I guess it’s my turn again,” Vixen said, sliding off the couch and onto the floor across from Alan.

Jack had been wondering all afternoon what Summer wanted to talk to him about, and this was probably as good a time for it as they would find. “I think maybe I’ll stretch my legs and get a breath of fresh air,” Jack said, winking at Summer.

She caught the hint. “That sounds like a good idea,” she said as she got to her feet, shaking her head at the embarrassing way Alan had beaten her. She wasn’t that bad at chess! “Jack, I’ll go with you so I have someone to talk to.”

“Don’t be long,” Vixen smiled, knowing that Jack had been looking for the chance to talk to Summer privately. “I don’t think this is going to last long.”

“Not if I can help it,” Alan laughed as he started to set up the board again. “I’m getting hungry.”

“Yeah, I bet, you chess assassin,” Summer grinned as she got to her feet. “I’ll get you one of these days, just wait.”

Jack headed to the door of the patio with Summer trailing behind. She walked through it, and he slid it shut. “OK, Summer, this is probably as private as we’re going to get,” he said. “And we may not have long. What do you want?”

She let out a sigh. “Jack, there’s no easy way to say this,” she started. “But I want those pictures you took of me the other day. The negatives, too.”

“What pictures?” Jack asked, trying to sound innocent.

“You know what pictures,” she said, letting the innocent act rub off. “You took them with your telephoto lens out on the pine barrens Friday.”

“Yeah, sure,” he shrugged. “I almost threw them out anyway. I figured it was nobody’s business but yours. As soon as I figured out what you were doing was something private, I left. But how did you know I’d taken them? I haven’t told anyone about it.”

“I know the photo lab tech down in Camden,” Summer replied conversationally, vastly relieved that Jack had given in so easily. “She happens to be my cousin, and from what she said you took some nice photos of her backside.”

“Can’t keep anything a secret in this town,” Jack wryly shook his head. “I mean, not a damn thing.”

“We, I mean, part of my family, we try pretty hard,” Summer smiled. “You won’t say anything about it, will you?”

“I haven’t even mentioned it to Vixen,” he replied. “The way to keep a secret is to tell nobody, and there was something about that ceremony or whatever it was that told me you wanted to keep it a secret.”

“Thanks, Jack,” she sighed in relief. “This is something very private and very important to the women in my family.”

Even though he’d promised to keep it a secret, Jack was still curious. “I always knew that women ran some sort of secret cabal against men, so I guess that you’d want to keep it a secret.”

“There’s more truth to that than you think,” Summer grinned. “Although I’ll tell you that if Vixen is involved with anything of the sort I don’t know about it. It’s something passed down through the women of a family.”

“Some sort of a Wiccan thing?” Jack hazarded a guess.

Summer looked at him very hard for a moment, while she thought even harder. A secret was supposed to be a secret, and even giving an inkling of it was something that she didn’t want to do. But Jack had given in easily, and she figured he needed a little bit to answer his curiosity. “Yes and no,” she said. “Wicca is actually a fairly modern thing, based on very old beliefs that still exist and have been passed down for thousands of years. I’m sorry, Jack, that’s really all I can tell you. You now know considerably more about it than even my father does.”

“That’s all right, Summer,” he replied. “I don’t need to know, I’m just a little curious is all.”

“Don’t be,” she replied. “It’s nothing that affects you. We have to keep it a secret. Our history tells us that we never know when the burnings might come again.”

“Burnings?” he frowned.

“At the stake,” she shook her head, realizing that she’d just revealed more than she should. “It’s happened to women in my ancestry, but not for hundreds of years. But if some of those bonehead fundamentalist Christians, or worse, bonehead fundamentalist Moslems were to somehow take over, they could start up again.”

Holy shit, Jack thought. She’s really serious about this! It would be nice to know more, but I probably won’t ever hear it. “If they do, they won’t find out from me,” he stated flatly.

“Thanks, Jack,” she replied, giving him a little hug. “I thought I could count on you.”

“Look, I don’t know how to say this,” he said. “Your business is your business, but you can ask a favor of me if you need to.”

“I’ll bear that in mind,” she said. “Is there anything I can do for you?”

“You’re doing it,” he said. “Be a friend to Alan. He needs a friend. I’m not saying girlfriend, that’s up to you, but right now he’s feeling pretty isolated, and he really is a nice guy.”

“Yeah,” she smiled. “I’ve given that a little thought, and I don’t think it’ll be all that difficult.”

“All right,” he said. “I’ll get the pictures to you somehow, maybe when I take you home. I kind of hate to give them up, though.”

“Why’s that?” she said. “Because I’m naked in them? ”

“Yeah,” Jack grinned. “And you look pretty good that way. Besides, those are the first nude photos I’ve ever taken.”

“Jack,” she shook her head, “because you were so easy about this, I’ll let you take nude photos of me sometime, so long as I’m by myself. I don’t want to do it, but I will if you ask, even if you want Vixen there so she’ll know that no funny stuff went on.”

“Thanks for the offer,” he smiled, “but I doubt that I’ll ever take you up on it. Now, maybe we better get inside. Alan is probably pretty close to beating Vixen’s butt by now.”

It was really too hot to lie around on the back porch now, like she liked to do when it was cooler, so Ashley Keilhorn was up in her room. Since her folks were gone to some church thing and wouldn’t be back until late, she’d gotten out of her shorts and T- shirt, and pulled on a frilly, lacy, and transparent teddy that didn’t conceal much of anything. Once again, she found herself dreaming of how much she’d like to have someone take it off of her just prior to some mad, passionate time on the bed, but somehow she didn’t believe it could ever happen. Oh, well, it was fun to think about, even if her middle finger was her most experienced lover.

Ashley was sprawled on her back on the bed, with her legs spread as if she was expecting her dream lover to come and ravish her at any moment, and wanted to be ready for him. But as normal, her hand had her cell phone at the side of her head.

The big news this afternoon was the fracas down on Lakeshore, where Howie Erikson had the balls to face down Frenchy LeDroit. Since both Howie and Misty were sophomores, or at least would be in another few weeks, she didn’t know them well, but Frenchy’s being involved made it newsworthy.

“All I can think of is that he must have been in the mood to kick someone’s ass,” Heather was reporting. “The Erikson kid must have just been in the wrong place at the wrong time, but he sure stood up to Frenchy. He got beat up pretty good, but Frenchy was limping when he got in Matt’s car, so maybe the Erikson kid managed to land one.”

“We can hope,” Ashley grinned. “At least someone landed one on Frenchy, and that’s more than a lot of people have done.”

“Yeah, but the Erikson kid didn’t have anyone holding onto him while Frenchy was hitting him,” Heather snickered. “I guess he wasn’t as easy a target as Frenchy thought he was. That’s kind of what they call a moral victory, I think.”

“Me, too,” Ashley replied. “You say this was over Misty Frankovich? ”

“Yeah, she was involved somehow,” Heather said. “I guess Frenchy must have been pissed off at Rusty for some reason or other and figured she’d make an easy target.”

“Sounds like Frenchy,” Ashley sneered. “Doesn’t like the guy so he attacks his sister. God, what a wonderful man,” she added sarcastically.

“I can’t see what Mary Lou Kempa sees in him myself,” Heather replied. “She must have a hole straight through her head.”

“I don’t know if it goes all the way through,” Ashley grinned with a definite snarky feeling. “But from what I hear, it manages to be big enough for him, anyway.”

“Not now,” Heather laughed. “Bree was telling me that Frenchy hasn’t even gone over to see her since her jaw was wired shut. I guess that makes him feel cut off, and she’s just a little pissed about it.”

“Well, I would be if I was her,” Ashley said. “I’m glad I’m not.” That was only partially the truth. Ashley thought it would be nice to have had a body like Mary Lou’s and was pretty sure that she’d be tempted to use it the same way Mary Lou did. She hoped that she would have had better taste than Mary Lou. What did it taste like, anyway? Maybe someday she’d be lucky enough to find out.

“Yeah, me too,” Heather agreed. “Anyway, to get back to the Erikson kid, guess who patched him up and took him home?”

“Misty, I bet,” Ashley grinned. “The hero gets his reward.”

“Yeah, she went home with him all right, but it was Cody and Jan Archer who took them home.”

“Those two?” Ashley smiled. “Boy, Frenchy better hope that they don’t get pissed at him over this deal.”

“Isn’t that the truth? Anyway, Nancy was saying that Jan had on a thong bikini that almost wasn’t there. It was so hot it would have been considered hot out at the nudist place. God, I don’t know how I could go out in public wearing something like that.”

“It’d draw some attention, that’s for sure,” Ashley smiled, realizing that she had a bikini that came pretty close to fitting that description, but she thought that she wouldn’t mind going out in public dressed like that to see if she could draw some male attention.

Not in Spearfish Lake, though. There were too many gossips. Maybe sometime if she got to Florida by herself or on spring break or something, it might be tempting to give it a try . . .

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