“Lori,” Ryan whispered.
They crept closer.
The soft-bodied young man lay flat on his back, in front of the snake altar, his pants hooked around his ankles. His head was turned away from them, his arms stretched out wide.
Lori was riding him, her own legs spread apart, the bells of her high red boots clicking on the polished wooden floor. Her head was thrown back and her long blond hair almost reached the thrusting cleft of her buttocks. Her hands were on Joshua Mote’s chest, nails digging crimson furrows in his skin.
She was naked apart from her boots. Even in the dim light inside the temple, Ryan could clearly see that the girl’s nipples were hard with her own driving passion.
“Bit longer, Josh One time more Don’t stop now don’t Come on, baby, come on”
“Now,” Ryan shouted his loud voice bursting into the coupling.
“Who the fuck!” Joshua exclaimed, trying to sit up and see around the girl’s body.
Lori ceased her pleasuring but didn’t bother to turn around.
“Got the old dribbling fucker with you, Ryan?” she asked. “Guess you have had. Now he can see how many a real man could get on fucking. Can’t you, Doc? Can’t you, Doc?”
“Come with us, child,” Doc urged, his voice quiet and controlled. “You deserve better than this imbecile, Lori.”
Joshua pushed her off, fumbling as he tried to pull his pants up over his suddenly limp penis. His face was flushed with anger. “Who’re you calling names? You’re dead, old man. Dead. Nobody does this to Joshua Mote and lives.”
“Shut up, boy,” Ryan ordered. “Talk’s cheap. Action costs. Get dressed, Lori.”
“Why?”
“Just do it. I’m not here to argue. Get your clothes on, or I’ll drag you naked down Main Street. Come on, girl.”
There was an icy tautness in Ryan’s voice that convinced Lori to do as she was told. She stood, deliberately not bothering to hide herself from either man.
“Quickly,” Ryan snapped.
“I’ll wait outside,” Doc said quietly. “I need some fresh air. It’s stuffy in here.”
For a moment it seemed as though Lori were going to make some smart-ass crack at the old man, but she caught Ryan’s eye and kept silent.
“I’m going to my father,” Joshua spit, feeling more confident now that he had his pants on. “He’ll see to you, outlander.”
“I’m shaking in my boots, boy. Just go on home, now.”
The door slammed and Ryan was left alone with Lori. She’d nearly finished dressing, and her mouth was set in a stubborn, angry line.
“You don’t understand, Ryan.” Her voice was pitched so low that it scarcely reached him.
“You’re wrong, Lori. I understand. We all do. Even Doc does.”
“It’s just that I don’t want to be hurt him. He’s being very kind to me, Ryan.”
“Hell, I know that. But he’s got a lot of goodness in him, Lori. He’s generous and brave. Braver than you could ever know. You shouldn’t have treated him like that.”
“Guess not. Maybe he and me can pick some times to speak with it. After. When we leave the ville.”
“You won’t stay with Joshua Mote?”
She smiled, and Ryan saw how very beautiful the girl was. And how young she still seemed. “No. Double-big cock. Double-small brain.”
“Often the way, so I hear,” he replied as they walked out.
Joshua Mote yelled a parting shot as the three friends walked toward the Rentaroom.
“Going back to grandpa, you gaudy slut?” he bellowed. “You fucking wait! We got the power in this ville, you useless, dry bitch. We’ll give you to the snakes.”
” Your snakes!” Lori screamed, wildly provoked. “We’ll chill them all like we chilled your fucking big Azrael!”
There was a brief moment of utter stillness after the revelation.
Chapter Thirty-One
“NONE OF THEM tried to draw on you?” Krysty asked.
Ryan shook his head in remembered disbelief. “No. Thought that was going to be it. Had my blaster half out its holster.”
“I believe that they were too surprised to do anything,” Doc offered. “There was a great dropping of jaws.”
“I’m real sorry, people,” Lori said from where she sat on the bed. “But he didn’t should have called me them names. The dirty hot-cocked bastard pig!”