The Woman at the Edge of Town

by Georgett Kaplan

  Eileen nudged Sarah in the ribs, adding an additional note of panic to the drama that was currently unfolding. Had Eileen been looking at what she’d been texting? Sarah looked over at her. Eileen cleared her throat and nodded to the movie screen. The last annoying “turn off your cell phone pretty pretty please” message was playing. The show was about to start.

  Sarah shut off her cell phone. She thought she’d read just about enough anyway.

  They were halfway through the 4:00 showing—a horrible Frankenstein reboot that had gained a franchise by dint of being based on a YA novel—when Nina Rose sat down beside them. She was impeccably dressed in a black pantsuit with a tailored white jacket, but when her eyes roamed Sarah’s clothing, her smile showed she found it acceptable as well.

  “I thought the backs of your heads looked familiar,” Nina said, setting a big tub of popcorn on her lap. “But I never saw the two of you as horror fans.”

  “Oh, I’m not,” Eileen protested. “Sarah just can’t get enough of watching bimbos in tight shirts get taken out by monsters, apparently.”

  Sarah clenched her teeth, unable to believe her mother had thrown her under the bus like that.

  Nina glanced at the screen. “Well, I’m sure everyone has some eclectic tastes. I know I do.”

  “We were just watching a movie,” Sarah finally stammered. Part of her didn’t believe Nina was real. What was her fantasy doing here, watching a movie with her and her mom?

  “Well, I didn’t think you were necking.” Nina smiled. “How about a deal? I’ll share my popcorn if you promise to go get the refill?”

  “Sounds fine to me,” Eileen said, already taking a scoop in her hand.

  Nina’s smile turned on Sarah. “I love making deals with your family.”

  For ten minutes, Nina just sat there like a good little moviegoer, taking dainty bites of her popcorn. Not even chewing loudly. Sarah was sandwiched in between her mother and Nina, the popcorn now in her lap so everyone could have some. Every time Nina reached for it, Sarah thought the hand would grab her breast, her thigh, her hair to pull her into a kiss, but it never did. Nina was a perfect, infuriating gentlewoman.

  Another five minutes and Sarah started to become hyperaware of her own body. It felt different, hotter. As if it was responding to Nina’s very presence. Even the slightest sidelong look from Nina was a caress. When Nina gently, stealthily eased her stocking-clad foot out of its sandal, Sarah wondered for the first time what toes would feel like inside her. Then Nina slid her foot sideways and brushed it against Sarah’s ankle, right above her shoe.

  Sarah moaned. Out loud.

  “Sarah?” Eileen asked, turning. “Are you all right?”

  “Yeah.” Sarah nodded at the screen. “This is just…really scary.”

  They went back to their silence. After a bare second, Nina’s foot ran across Sarah’s. It moved from the tip of Sarah’s shoe to the loop on the back, never touching so much as her sock. Sarah bit her lip and crushed the popcorn in her hand to dust. Nina moved her foot up, up the back of Sarah’s leg. As flexible as Sarah knew Nina to be, she wasn’t a contortionist. That was as far as she could go, sitting where she was. But Christ, it was enough.

  She got so used to the caress of Nina’s foot over the next few minutes that it came as an explosive shock when she felt Nina’s hand on her sex.

  It wasn’t, of course. Nina had just reached down into the popcorn tub, which was now empty, and hit the bottom. But even that contact seemed calculated to make Sarah scream. Which she did. Loudly.

  Fortunately, at that point, a seemingly inert Frankenstein had just opened its eyes to the accompaniment of a musical stinger. Everyone chalked it up to just another jumpy teenage girl.

  “It’s alive, it’s alive!” the latest mad doctor cheered.

  Just then, the main, heroic, handsome Frankenstein blasted it with a bazooka. “Not anymore!”

  Eileen turned, sensing something was amiss. But before she could even start, Nina was holding out the popcorn tub to her.

  “How about that refill now?” Nina asked. “I always like to have some popcorn during the climax.”

  “Sure,” Eileen said, restraining herself to a don’t-embarrass-me look at Sarah.

  She took the tub and left the row. Now Sarah and Nina were alone, no one around them for three rows. And Nina barely waited until Eileen was headed up the aisle to say, “Take off your panties.”

  Sarah winced. Nina had said it low, and that just made it sexier, but if Eileen had heard just one word of that sentence…

  Nina dug her nails into Sarah’s knee. “Take them off.”

  Sarah breathed hard for a few moments, wondering how Nina would punish her if she disobeyed. Wondering how long would it be until they fucked again.

  “There are people here, people I know…right there…”

  “Are you saying we shouldn’t air our dirty laundry in public?”

  Fuck it.

  Working fast, and with Eileen not even out of the auditorium yet, Sarah lifted her hips and wiggled her panties down her legs, handing them to Nina, who just tucked them into her purse like a snack for later.

  “Now spread your legs,” Nina said.

  Now Sarah looked at her, looked at her like Nina had just grown a second head. “Are you crazy?” she hissed quietly.

  “Spread your legs,” Nina said again, looking back at her. Her eyes were dark with lust. “Nice and wide.”

  “My mother is going to be back any—”

  “Judging by the half-empty Big Gulp on the arm of her chair, she’ll need to use the restroom. We have quite a few minutes, so the sooner we start, the more chance we’ll be done before she gets back. Spread your fucking legs.” Nina jeeringly emphasized that word, as if she’d bend Sarah over the row in front of them and simply take her if Sarah gave her any problems.

  Sarah would be a liar if she said that didn’t turn her on.

  She spread her legs.

  “You’re such a good girl,” Nina said, her voice soothing and warm. She moved her hand on Sarah’s knee good-naturedly. And then ran it up her thigh. “Eileen did a good job with you…”

  “Could we not talk about her right now?” Sarah muttered.

  “What should we talk about? The audience?” Nina’s fingers, bastards, began to run back and forth on Sarah’s inner thigh. They couldn’t just keep going; they had to reverse. “Those people you know? All they’d have to do is turn around to see you with your legs open and my finger shoved up inside you—”

  And that was when Nina did shove her finger in there. Sarah gasped. It felt good. Too good. She had to force herself not to moan.

  “And is that Sheriff Carter?” Nina asked, her finger working steadily inside Sarah. Making her shift in her seat, not sure what she wanted, but knowing she wasn’t getting it. “If he saw what I was doing to you, he might slap the handcuffs on both of us. But then, would you enjoy that?”

  “Nina…” Sarah moaned at last, softly enough for only Nina to hear. That was what she thought satisfied Nina—having this all to herself, hers and only hers. That’s what made her add another finger.

  Sarah closed her eyes and prepared to come.

  Then Nina took her hand away.

  “Goddamnit, Nina!” Sarah started to swear, when she saw the usher walking down the aisle, flashlight in hand. She shut up, closing her eyes, and Nina sat with her hands in her lap.

  The usher made his way to the front row, conversed briefly with someone, then left.

  Nina looked at Sarah.

  Sarah spread her legs, and Nina settled in, resting her head on Sarah’s shoulder as she delved into her, two fingers, no waiting.

  “Perhaps we should discuss the movie,” she said, her breath hitting Sarah’s ear.

  On the screen, the heroine had gotten her shirt stuck on a Frankenstein’s neck bolt and had to strip down to her bra to get free. She was, of course, generously endowed.

  “Look at that hot little bitch,” Nina hiss
ed in Sarah’s ear, her fingers speeding up. “Look at her tits. Look at her ass.”

  “I’d rather look at you,” Sarah moaned, then worried she’d been too loud.

  Now the hero had run into the heroine. Since they were probably going to die, of course it seemed like a good time for a sex scene. They kissed. They caressed each other. They gyrated.

  “Ooh, is that what you’d like?” Nina asked. “Maybe a big, hard cock filling you up? I have some at home.”

  “God!”

  “But do you know what’s even bigger?” Nina added another finger, no muss, no fuss, as if she didn’t even realize she’d done it.

  Sarah started grinding down on her seat, working her hips back and forth as if she was trying to get more Nina.

  “A fist. Have you ever been fisted, Sarah?” She waited, then said, “Sarah, I asked you a question.”

  “No!” Sarah said at last, afraid any word she let out of her mouth might be a scream.

  “You feel so full. So…loved. I’m going to do that to you, Sarah. And you’re going to do it to me. We’ll be one big happy family.”

  “Fucking please!” Sarah yelped, just barely cutting herself off before her voice rose.

  “Oh, do you want to come? Do you want this over with? Are you not enjoying this?”

  Sarah closed her eyes and forced herself to stop rocking back and forth. She knew she wouldn’t come unless Nina let her, and she knew that if she moved any more, she’d attract attention. She grabbed the armrests and held on tight, forcing herself to be still as Nina plundered her.

  “So what’s the matter, Sarah?” Nina asked, filling her voice with concern. “Do you not like being fucked in the middle of a theater where anyone could see you?” Her fingers slowed.

  “I love it!” Sarah gasped quickly, opening her eyes to see Nina’s smile. The smile she thought only she got—dark and in control.

  “That’s right,” Nina said as she jammed her fingers deep inside. Far enough to make Sarah’s breath hitch. “You do.”

  She drew her fingers out slowly, and then they started again, back and forth, in and out, circling and rubbing, fucking and fucking.

  “I really enjoyed our bath the other day,” Nina said, her words slick in Sarah’s ear. “I especially loved calling you by a few little pet names.”

  “Me too—” Sarah began, but a wet twist of Nina’s fingers had her biting her words before they became moans.

  “I want you to call me by a nickname. Mistress. Say ‘Mistress’ and I’ll let you come.”

  For no reason Sarah could think of, she decided to dig her heels in. She just…relished being disobedient. Making Nina work to bring her to heel. “No…Nina.”

  “That’s not what you call me,” Nina insisted, her voice hardening with both lust and authority. “When you want to come, you call me Mistress. Say it.”

  “Why? You’re going to make me come either way. You can’t resist me.”

  “No, I think you can’t resist this.” Nina drew her fingers out of Sarah just long enough to give her cunt a brisk slap. Sensation filled Sarah, throwing her body around with the scream she had to keep inside. And then Nina was inside her again, thrusting away, pushing her orgasm to the front of her mind. It was filling her up, crushing everything else inside her, and she had to let it out or she’d explode. “Say Mistress,” Nina taunted. “Say Mistress.”

  “Dontwanna,” Sarah insisted, squeezing her thighs shut on Nina’s hand. That only seemed to make her more aroused.

  “You can say it now or you can say it in bed, when I bend you over the mattress and fuck you so hard you’ll think this was just a bit of light petting, but you are not going to come until you say it.” Nina straightened up, glancing at the screen, brushing a lock of hair out of her eyes, all while ceaselessly working her hand into Sarah’s cunt. “Oh, look. Eileen’s back.”

  Sarah looked over her shoulder. Eileen stood at the back of the auditorium, looking for her and Nina. She had a full tub of popcorn in her hands.

  “Stop it, you gotta—”

  Nina added her thumb to Sarah’s clit. Now Sarah couldn’t have asked her to stop if a bomb were about to go off.

  “Did you have something to say to me?” Nina asked, looking down casually as if she was checking her watch. “Something that starts with M?”

  Eileen saw them. She started down the aisle.

  “Mistress,” Sarah whimpered under her breath.

  “What was that, Sarah dear?” Nina leaned in close. “I couldn’t quite hear.”

  Eileen was almost to them. She paused as she stepped in something sticky.

  “Mistress!” Sarah enunciated with all her might, straining to keep the word clear of feeling as she orgasmed, like what she’d said was a magic word. She clenched in her seat and felt Nina’s hand leave her, and she snapped her legs together like a bear-trap and closed her eyes, the darkness full of colors.

  “What was that, sweetie?” Eileen asked, sitting down beside her. She passed the popcorn into Sarah’s lap, covering up the wet stain on the front of her skirt. “Everything alright?”

  Sarah nodded. “Yeah, I was just getting a little worried. You were taking a long time.”

  “There was a line at the concession stand. Seems like everyone wanted nachos at the same time.” Eileen shook her head. “You look a little pale; are you sure you’re not coming down with something?”

  Nina reached into the popcorn tub—Sarah could see her fingers were gleaming wet—and had herself a bite. “Mmm! This is delicious, Mrs. Kay! What’d you put on it?”

  Eileen shrugged. “Just a little butter.”

  “Well, you must’ve gotten just the right amount. It tastes divine.” Nina dug into the popcorn again and held out a handful for Sarah. “Here, Sarah, try it!”

  Sarah obediently opened her mouth and ate out of Nina’s hand. As her mother watched, Sarah found out exactly what she tasted like.

  Chapter 10

  Being with Nina made Sarah feel as if she wasn’t Sarah. That didn’t make sense to her until she came across a quote by Gore Vidal.

  “Most children tell themselves stories in which they figure as powerful figures, enjoying the pleasures not only of the adult world as they conceive it but of a world of wonders unlike dull reality. Although this sort of Mittyesque daydreaming is supposed to cease in maturity, I suggest that more adults than we suspect are bemusedly wandering about with a full Technicolor extravaganza going on in their heads.”

  And it felt like her dream-self, beautiful and sexual, that was with Nina, while the rest of her lived out her regular life, awkward and plain. As the weeks went by, seeing Nina became a series of prison breaks. Even though she was an adult and didn’t have to report her every move to Eileen, pulling one over on her eagle-eyed mother was almost as much fun as being with Nina.

  Saturday came like the guards’ shift change. Eileen was catching up on her backlog of Scandal episodes, and, like potato chips, she couldn’t stop with just one. Sarah said she was going to the library, knowing Eileen would soon forget she existed.

  Sarah slipped out the window, even though the TV room was nowhere near the stairs, and clambered off the second floor roof to her waiting car. She eased it out of the driveway in neutral before starting the ignition. Maybe Gore was right. Her body really was at the library, studying its little heart out, and this was all a fantasy.

  She decided then and there not to wake up.

  Nina’s manor was as dark and moody as ever, but now Sarah found it comforting; she knew its secret and it knew hers. She took great pleasure in entering Nina’s lair with her very own key.

  As Sarah crept through the house, she thought of disrobing to surprise Nina, but no, she’d seen enough rom-coms to know how that could go wrong. If Nina was with someone, Sarah would lie and say she was here for work. Anyone would believe that when she had clothes on.

  Besides, she was already dressed sexy. Jeans as tight as the skin of a grape. A hoodie with only a spaghetti
-strap tank underneath. Keds for that touch of casualness. She might not have passed muster for a rap video, but she could definitely dance with Taylor Swift.

  She found Nina in her office, her Aeron chair turned away from her desk and pointed at the window. The computer was powered down. The headphones were disconnected. Nina was all hers.

  Sarah slipped out of her sneakers and tip-toed across the floor. She skipped the hardwood floorboards for the white rugs that Nina had arrayed in pleasing symmetry, bare feet sinking into the rich fur. When she reached the desk, like a cat nearing its prey, she pressed herself low to the mahogany. Bringing her knees up onto the desk, she was able to reach around the chair and cover Nina’s eyes. “Guess who?”

  Nina’s face was wet. She turned around, and Sarah saw it was red and puffy as well. Tears had soaked through the wad of tissues she held in her hand. Barnaby was lying at her feet in canine sympathy, trying to soak up the anguish that was spilling out of her.

  “I didn’t hear you come in,” Nina said, in a voice that limped like a wounded animal.

  “You’re crying!” Sarah instantly pulled another ten tissues from the box on the desk and came around to kneel by Nina’s side. She patted Nina’s face with them about a dozen times a second. “What’s wrong? Something’s wrong. Nina…”

  “Nothing,” Nina said, taking Sarah’s hand like a child reaching for a teddy bear. “It’s just that sometimes, when everything’s all right, it makes you remember when everything wasn’t.”

  Sarah tightened her grip on Nina’s hand, welcoming the pressure. “Why are you sad?” she asked, her voice as soft as it had ever been.

  Nina demurred, deploying a fresh wave of moist towelettes to wipe down her face. She pushed aside all Sarah’s attempts to assist her, not stopping until she was as bare as a marble statue, and in her own way, just as imposing.

  Sarah understood. It had been a very personal question.

  “I’m sorry,” Nina said at last, her voice distilled to completely neutral. “Here you are, on your great love affair, with all your dreams of me, and look how I live up to them. Some temptress. Run off, Sarah. Come back another day; I’ll make you swoon and moan and sigh, just as you should.”