‘You saw Marta kiss the bracelet.’
Sue frowned. ‘What’re ya talking about?’
‘I’m not Marta. Marta’s still in you. I’m Neal.’
‘Yer nuts.’
A big, wide grin split Marta’s face. ‘Howdy in there, Marta.’
5.
‘Yer Neal?’
‘Yep.’
‘Sure ya are.’
Marta grinned down at Sue and said, ‘The one and only.’
Sue gaped at her. ‘If yer playin some sorta trick on me, Marta . . .’
‘Marta’s in you right now. I’m in her body. I’ve been inside Marta all the time – ever since the shooting.’
‘Ya kissed the bracelet?’
‘Just before I died.’
‘My God,’ Sue murmured.
‘I’ve been everywhere with you two. It’s been . . . a hell of a ride. Marta?’ he said as if speaking to Sue. ‘You’re a terrific host . . . hostess. I hope you don’t mind having me aboard.’
‘It’s really you?’ Sue asked, and dug her fingertips into his thighs.
‘It’s really me.’
‘So . . . yer alive!’
‘Well, something is. My body’s sure as hell dead. But my new one’s just dandy.’ Grinning down at Sue, he took hold of Marta’s breasts. He lifted them a little and gazed down at them. He squeezed them gently. ‘These are beauts.’
‘Up yers,’ Sue told him.
‘I love yours, too. I love everything about you. About both of you. This is all so incredible. And now . . .’ He shook Marta’s head. ‘I was happy just to be alive, you know? To survive the ambush. And I thought it was pretty great to be inside you, Marta. I still think it’s great. And I’m in here with my own kid . . . with our kid. It’s all like some sort of fabulous miracle. The only thing was, I hated being stuck in here without any way to communicate. You’ve both been so sad. I just couldn’t stand it. I had to find a way to get through and tell you I was in here. But I couldn’t. I just couldn’t.’ Tears suddenly filled Marta’s eyes. ‘Nothing worked. Nothing. I prayed for a way. But I figured it was useless. I figured I was trapped in here for the rest of my life – the rest of yours, Marta – which would’ve been fine with me, if only I could find a way to let you know I was here. And then you kissed the bracelet.’
‘Me?’ Sue asked.
‘Marta.’
Sue laughed softly. ‘How’m I s’posed to know if yer talking to me or her?’
A corner of Marta’s mouth curled up. ‘We’ll figure out something. Anyway, Sue, are you going to let me finish my story?’
‘Sure. Let her rip.’
‘When you, Marta, kissed the bracelet and went into you, Sue, it was as if I’d suddenly been left alone in a car. Like the driver had stepped out and left the engine running. And left me at the wheel. All of a sudden, it was as if I owned your body, Marta.’
‘Soon as she left it?’ Sue asked.
‘Yeah.’ Marta’s head nodded, and a very un-Marta-like silly grin appeared on her face.
‘What’d it do, take ya five minutes to figure out how to run her?’
‘Oh, that. The thing is, I was sort of stunned at first. For a while, I didn’t know what was going on. Then the way you were messing around with me . . . I had a hard time thinking about much of anything.’
‘Gotcha goin pretty good, huh?’
‘Yeah. But then I got you.’
‘That’s for sure.’ She patted Marta’s thighs. ‘So, the deal is, yer livin in Marta from now on?’
‘Far as I know.’
‘And any time she goes off on a bracelet ride, yer gonna be left in charge of her body?’
‘Looks that way.’
‘Wow!’
He smiled down at her through Marta’s face, and then the smile changed to a look of solemn tenderness. ‘It’s me.’
‘Marta?’
‘Yep, I’m back.’
‘Isn’t this great?’
‘It’s pretty spectacular. My God. He’s really here. I can’t believe it.’
‘Being crumped, he sure looks a lot like you.’
A smile broke out on Marta’s face. Easing herself down, she kissed Sue gently on the mouth.
Then she whispered, ‘He’s with us.’
‘Yer like all of a sudden two people.’
‘Sort of.’
‘Three, if ya count the kid.’
Marta nodded. ‘And now that I’ve been inside you, I feel as if . . . I don’t know. I liked it in there. A lot. You’re a little bit odd, but . . . nice.’
‘Well, hope ya drop in often.’
‘You can bet on it. I’ll probably be going on a lot of body rides from now on. I didn’t think I’d like it, but . . . it’s pretty neat. I suddenly want to try out everyone. And that’ll free up Neal. I think he’s got some writing to do.’
‘And some other stuff,’ Sue added, grinning.
‘If I leave you two alone together, you have to promise not to damage the bod. I don’t want to come back and find out that you’ve been rough-housing. No scratching or biting . . .’
‘We’ll be good. Won’t we, Neal?’
‘You’re going to start talking to him while I’m here?’
‘Why not? He’s in ya. Yer both of ya.’
Marta stared for a long time into Sue’s eyes. Then she whispered, ‘Life is going to be very strange from now on.’
‘It’s gonna be great! Now, how about givin the bracelet another kiss? C’mon over and jump in me, and we’ll check in with Neal.’
‘Okay. Then I think we should all have a big celebration. Find out what Neal wants to do. I mean, maybe he wants a cheeseburger, or something.’
‘Beer.’
‘Ask.
‘I don’t gotta ask. Ya forgettin he’s inside ya? He knew ya were gonna ask me to ask him that before ya even got around to askin me.’
‘But you don’t know he wants beer.’
‘Betcha a thousand bucks.’
‘That’s pretty steep.’
‘We got us half a million.’
‘Okay, you’re on. A thousand bucks says the thing he wants most isn’t beer.’
‘Yer on.’
Smiling down at Sue, Marta spoke to Neal in her mind. ‘Now we get to see whose side you’re really on. Back me up, here, pal. You’ll be glad you did.’
She kissed the bracelet.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
About the Author
Also in the Richard Laymon
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-One
Chapter Forty-Two
Chapter Forty-Three
Chapter Forty-Four
Chapter Forty-Five
&n
bsp; Chapter Forty-Six
Chapter Forty-Seven
Chapter Forty-Eight
Chapter Forty-Nine
Chapter Fifty
Chapter Fifty-One
Chapter Fifty-Two
Chapter Fifty-Three
Chapter Fifty-Four
Chapter Fifty-Five
Chapter Fifty-Six
Marta And Sue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Later
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5