by Jim Goforth
All five of them were wearing leather clothing, short skirts or pants with jackets and each item of clothing was decorated with a plethora of silver jangly things, chains and safety pins.
Some of them had tattoos visible on exposed skin, others had multiple body piercings and it was fair to say at least three of them were armed with knives.
They were a bunch of very angry looking Gothic girls marching straight up to the trio of lads with intentions as yet unknown.
"Hi," said Corey cautiously, sounding much braver than he felt.
Sure the newcomers were all women, some of them remarkably attractive, but they didn’t look like hair pulling, nail scratching girly girls, they looked more like punching, kicking head butting hellcats.
None of the group deigned to reply to Corey's cursory greeting.
Instead in response the gangs leader, a tall very beautiful girl with a long wild shock of black hair, a black star tattooed around her left eye and a septum ring, unclasped a catch on a leather sheath on her belt and withdrew a wicked looking hunting knife, its shiny blade gleaming bright in the moonlight.
"What the fuck are you guys doing with our boats?” She demanded, holding the knife out, pointed blade extended towards them.
Even Tim looked a bit taken aback, the lecherous smile dropping off his face.
He was a big guy, six foot with broad shoulders and muscled physique, but as imposing as he was, he wasn’t the one carrying a knife.
"Ah, well we were just gonna borrow one and sit out on the lake having a bit of a smoke and a drink you know. No harm intended. We were gonna bring it back." Tim explained feeling a fraction unnerved by the blade wielding girl and her steely glare.
"Really?" She replied scornfully.
"Yeah. Really. We weren't gonna steal it, or wreck it or anything."
"You were just going to 'borrow' it?"
"Yeah."
"Without our permission?"
"You weren't here to ask for permission."
"Isn't that the same as stealing it?"
"No," Tim said though Corey's mumbled statement of "I guess" tended to contradict his friends reply.
"I disagree." Knife girl said. "Give me one good reason I shouldn’t run this blade through your throat."
"Because I'm cute." Tim finally managed, after a long pause in which Corey felt his heart rate increase tenfold as he silently prayed for the fearsome woman to put the knife away.
"I suppose that's true," one of the other girls piped up, a short woman with shoulder length hair a strange mixture of pink and blue in colour. "You are all pretty cute. For thieves."
"We weren't gonna steal it, we were gonna bring it back." Lee declared.
He'd been planning on telling them how he and Corey were trying to talk Tim out of hijacking the craft, but the time for that seemed to have passed, it was probably better for them to stick with the one story.
The lead girl snorted, but didn't speak or put her knife away.
"You say you had weed?” Another girl asked, this one with a stunningly attractive face, long red hair in a plait and an abundance of earrings in each ear. "I can smell it anyway."
Tim glanced at Lee as if seeking approval prior to announcing anything.
Lee nodded, his dreadlocks falling in his eyes as he did.
"Yeah we got weed," Tim said. "Lots of it. And bourbon too. You girls feel like partying?"
Corey stared intently at the faces of the girls, trying to scrutinise them, trying to gauge their responses.
After a while all of them, but for the leader and another, a dark skinned girl with long black locks, broke into smiles and Corey felt relief club him in the chest like a giant closed fist.
"The magical, mystical herb,” Tim grinned. "We got the goods."
The knife wielding gang leader shot a venomous look in Tim’s direction.
She looked like the type of person who didn’t suffer fools lightly and as Tim had the tendency to play the fool and act the goat, if he wasn't careful he might find himself on her wrong side rather quickly.
"I wouldn't mind a toke,” the red-haired girl spoke up, a murmur of assent coming from most of the others.
"Okay," the lead girl said at length, and only now did she withdraw the hunting knife and return it to its leather sheath, though Corey was quick to observe that she did not refasten the clasp over the haft.
"Yeah, that's the spirit," Tim said. "No need to be waving knives around."
"Not yet anyway," the dark girl replied ominously.
"What do you mean? We're all friends here."
"I don't know about that."
"Well we will be." Tim announced. "You wait and see."
"Sure, whatever." The dark girl said. "We ready to go?"
"Go? Where? Aren't we smoking here?"
"No, it isn't safe here. We'll go back to our place."
The three boys exchanged curious glances.
The statement had Corey's paranoid ruminations mulling over in a big way, had him wondering why it wasn't safe right here.
In what way wasn't it safe?
Tim on the other hand looked as though he'd only heard the second sentence of the short declaration, the invitation as it were to return to the girls' place to commence smoking the illicit herb.
He cast a sly glance in Lee's direction, giving his friend a wink.
Lee however seemed to be entertaining similar thoughts to Corey, for the expression he wore was a cautious if not simply apprehensive one.
"Why do you say it isn't safe here?" Lee addressed the head woman. "How's it not safe? From whom? What?"
"Yeah," Corey added, thankful Lee had been first to voice concerns. "How do we know we're safe with you lot anyway, running around waving knives in our faces. We don't know you people."
"Shit!" Tim exclaimed. "What is the matter with you guys? Chill, the pair of you. What's your problem? The lovely ladies just wanta carry on the party at their joint. I understand, they gotta feel comfortable."
Redhead gave a snort of laughter, quickly stifled when the Star-eyed Knife Boss flung a dark gaze at her.
"Yeah that's right," she said vaguely. "Cops come round here all the time."
"Round here?" Questioned Corey in a disbelieving tone. "Why would they bother?"
"A lotta shit goes on at the lake." The woman with the pink and blue hair chose to add to the conversation.
"Like what?"
"Are we going to smoke or stand here playing fucking twenty questions all goddamn night?"
"Hell, we're gonna smoke!" Tim declared. "Pay no attention to these two clowns. They don't know how to party."
"Who's got the weed Tim?" Lee asked him, wiping the smug smile right off his cohorts face.
"Okay, okay, point taken," said Tim throwing up his hands in a placating gesture. "Let me rephrase that. These two dudes are rather cautious and untrusting which they may well be in their rights to be. Since it is Lee's pot after all, you best be nice to him."
There was a chorus of scornful laughter then the one girl who hadn't yet uttered a single word stepped forward, pointing from Tim to Lee, then to Corey.
"Okay let me get this straight. You're Tim, he's Lee, and he is...?"
"My name's Corey," Corey introduced himself, gazing intently at the querying woman.
She was, in Corey’s opinion, one of the finest examples of the female human Corey had ever laid eyes on.
The tall knife wielding gang leader was a towering Amazonian beauty no doubt but in Corey’s eyes even she paled into insignificance alongside her shorter quieter friend.
This girl was a buxom babe, her hair long and as black as night, her eyes a deep soulful set in chocolate brown, her lips a perfect Cupids bow.
She was dressed in a short leather skirt, festively adorned with safety pins, dangling chains and other silver gadgetry, a black jacket open over a navy top and a pair of boots which came halfway up her thighs.
Her tight leather clothing accentuated her heavenly curves su
perbly and just gazing slyly upon her gorgeous face and that sensational body made Corey’s heart ache in a way he'd never felt before.
He had to make a concentrated effort to tear his bulging eyes away from the smooth planes of her bare legs before he made himself look too obvious and received a smack up alongside his head for his troubles.
"Pleased to meet you Corey," his dream girl said to him, even extending a small perfect hand tipped with black fingernails to shake with him. "I'm Desiree."
Her hand felt smooth and cool in his sweaty palm, her touch seemed to ignite every solitary nerve ending in his body. He let go long before he wanted to, before suspicions were aroused as to why he was hanging on to her hand for such a while.
"Oh, how remiss of me," the leader said in a sarcastic kind of voice. "Allow me to introduce ourselves. I'm Melissa, that's Desiree obviously, this is Raven," She indicated the dark girl then pointed to the redhead who she identified as Blaise, then lastly the pink and blue haired woman.
"This is Rachel."
"Cool." Tim nodded. "And now for the dummies in the class. I'm Tim, Weed boy is Lee and long-haired beanie boy is Corey."
Self consciously Corey raised a hand to his beanie, yanking it down just a little lower over his brow. He glanced at Desiree to see if she was still staring at him, but she was speaking to Blaise in a low tone he couldn't over hear. He wondered ridiculously if she was talking about him and then seriously doubted she was.
"Okay intros done, we all know who is who, let’s get these fucking boats on the water." Melissa ordered and her troupe began to get mobile.
"Your joint across the lake then is it?" Tim asked the bleeding obvious and Raven flung a scathing look in his direction.
"No, not at all," she snorted sardonically. "It's up in the trees. What do you think smart guy?"
"How do you row the..." Lee let his own question trail off and die as he witnessed Rachel and Desiree hauling four oars out from underneath a pile of brush further up the bank than the boats themselves.
"That's how." Corey muttered in an undertone to his mate who nodded.
When the girls had both crafts free of their moorings and Rachel and Desiree stood beside them holding two oars apiece, the assemblage congregated around the boats.
Melissa stabbed a black nailed finger pointedly at Tim and Lee.
"You and you, you'll come with me and Rachel."
Tim cast a lecherous look at the remaining girls.
"Can't I go in the other boat and you can take Corey?"
"No!" Melissa snapped. "You'll be with me so I can keep an eye on you. Any funny business and I'll slit your throat, capice?"
"Shit," Tim muttered, still gazing at the other women, the lascivious expression plastered on his visage. "You're no fun."
Though Tim was undoubtedly including all of the girls in his lustful designs, for some reason Corey thought his friends gaze lingered just a bit longer on Desiree's exquisite form and that thought sent a bomb blast of jealousy coursing through him.
Suddenly he had the violent irrational urge to run up to Tim and punch him right in the teeth.
He was relieved to see that Melissa stood her ground in refusing to let Tim take his place in the other boat which included Desiree.
Obviously Tim's charm, charisma and good looks were having zero effect on Melissa which pleased Corey a fraction.
At high school Tim had been the stud, the big handsome devil all the ladies wanted a piece of while his two sidekicks Corey and Lee were the weird kids, the longhaired fringe dwellers who ended up with the scraps.
It never bothered Lee, he was happily stoned the majority of the time, but Corey had resented the fact that Tim got all the play and that girls he longed for always preferred Tim.
If that particular pattern began to appear tonight Corey got the feeling he might commandeer Melissa's knife and slit Tim's throat himself.
"Okay cowboys and cowgirls, let's saddle up!" Melissa called and her and Rachel began hauling their craft down to the waters edge.
"Hey Corey!" Lee called and flung a couple of tightly wrapped joints to him. "Here you go bro!"
Corey caught one with all the grace of a lumbering rhino and dropped the other on the bank.
Raven lunged for it, but Desiree was faster.
Stooping agilely she scooped up the joint and returned it to Corey as Ravens fingers closed on a big handful of air.
"Thanks,' Corey said gratefully, staring deep into Desiree's soulful eyes for a long eternity. "You want me to row the boat?"
"You?” Raven snorted derisively. "Do you have half a clue where we're going? I think not. Dickhead."
"Leave him alone Raven." Desiree said. "He's just trying to be nice."
"Well tell him not to try so hard. I'm rowing anyway."
Corey had a tangle of emotions stirring inside him, thumping his heart inside his chest.
He couldn’t care less that the dark girl insulted him, all he cared about was the fact that Desiree had acknowledged his attempts to help out and instantly rushed to defend him.
His paranoia and ill feelings about the evening totally vanished, washed away by good sensations and anticipation.
He was surprised to realise that he was now quite looking forward to spending some time with these gorgeous gothic girls, even if their motivations weren't quite clear.
He didn't even mind that Tim and Lee got to ride together whilst he was the odd one out left to travel with the other girls.
Had Desiree not been in his boat things might have been different, but she was and he was fairly soaring with excitement.
The other boat containing Tim, Lee, Melissa and Rachel had already cast off and was slicing through the water, the two girls rowing with an oar each.
Corey could see the red coal of Lee's joint still burning as the craft cruised to parts unknown.
CHAPTER 3
Standing on the bank in a daydream, Corey didn't realise that his party also now had their boat in the water and were all in bar him and Raven.
"Go on, jump in numbnuts," Raven chided him. "And if you capsize it, I'll capsize your ass."
"Give it a rest Raven," Desiree suggested as Corey clambered in, trying not to get too wet in the process. "The tough girl act impresses nobody."
"Do you want to get slapped?" Raven directed at Desiree.
"Try it bitch." Desiree retorted, smiling placidly. "You know for a fact who'll be the one getting bitch-slapped. Bitch."
Scowling, Raven trudged through ankle deep water, pushing the boat further out and then jumped in.
Sitting next to the bewitching redhead Blaise, Corey ruminated on his first impressions of the group.
He'd taken the trash talking, dark girl Raven to be Melissa's second in charge, but now he had a bit of an idea that Desiree may have been a little higher up the chain of command than Raven.
That fact, if it were indeed true, pleased Corey.
If Desiree was one of the alpha ladies she sure seemed to be on his side and as far as he was concerned that could only be a good thing.
Abruptly an arm dropped down over his shoulders and turning his head in surprise, he saw that Blaise was snuggled up very close to him, smiling and winking at him.
"So," she said. "You gonna spark up one of those blunts now?"
"Get off him Blaise," Raven warned from the other end of the boat where she sat rowing with Desiree. "He's Desi's. She's made that abundantly clear."
Desiree's cheeks coloured slightly and a faint smile tugged at the corner of her shapely lips, but she didn't comment nor did Blaise heed Raven's advice and remove her arm from Corey.
"So?" Blaise pressed, squeezing Corey tighter until he felt a breast against his arm. He pretended not to notice and fumbled with his other hand in the pocket he'd placed the joints for safekeeping.
"Good man," declared Blaise as he lit one up, puffed on it and then handed it to her.
"I'm serious," said the rowing Raven. "Desi will scalp you if you don't take y
our mitts off her boy."
"Hey," Blaise replied, exhaling a thin plume of smoke. "Share and share alike. There's only three of them and five of us, not counting the rest at camp so there's gonna be some sharing. I dunno about you, but I don't fancy any lesbo action."
Desiree shook her head in disbelief, still smiling slightly and took the offered joint, placing it to her lips.
Blaise's words had Corey's heart thundering in his chest. Just what the hell had she meant by that?
Were these girls planning some giant group sex orgy with him and his two partners?
"Ignore her Corey," Desiree said. "She's just a slut."
Corey sort of nodded and gazed out over the water. He didn't quite know what to say, but he didn't really want to ignore what Blaise said.
He wondered if there was any truth in it and knew if so, Tim's dreams were going to be fulfilled far beyond his wildest expectations.
His head was spinning crazily like an out of control top.
Five minutes ago he was in a paranoid state of apprehension, wanting nothing to do with these wild girls, fearing the knife waving Melissa was going to slash he and his cronies to ribbons for tampering with their boats.
Now he was in a furiously confused state of excitement and anticipation wondering if instead of getting slayed he was going to be getting laid with maybe more than one of the ladies.
He would have hopped into the sack with any given one of them in the blink of an eye, but given a choice he would take Desiree.
She only had to glance at him to instigate trip hammers in his heart and make his mouth go as dry as the Sahara desert.
He wouldn’t deny that he'd fallen into instant infatuation with her as soon as she'd stepped out from behind Melissa to introduce herself.
He didn't really want to partake in any more of the joint as it was doing its rounds for his head was foggy enough as it was with all these insane ideas thundering through it, but it found its way back to him anyhow.
Taking a tiny little drag he passed it back to Blaise.
"You know what?" Raven said to him, seemingly having forgotten his name. "Dude? Whatever your name is."
"What?" Corey asked bluntly, refusing to supply his name again.
