Free Friday Night in Beast House by Richard Laymon Page A

it’d be such a great idea to go in. I think somebody might be in there.’
    ‘What do you mean? Like a night-watchman? A guard?’
    ‘I mean more like somebody who shouldn’t be in there. Maybe even… you know… one of the things .’
    ‘A beast? How cool would that be?’
    ‘Real cool, except it might kill us.’
    ‘Then we could be exhibits.’ She sounded amused.
    ‘I don’t think we should go in.’
    ‘Oh.’
    ‘I really like you a lot and everything. It’d be fantastic to go in the house and explore around with you. I mean, God, I sure don’t want to disappoint you. But I don’t want to get you killed, either.’
    In silence, she nodded a few times. Then she said, ‘You didn’t make it in, did you?’
    ‘Huh?’
    ‘You just figured you’d meet me out here anyway and hope for the best.’
    ‘No, I got in, I did. It’s open.’
    ‘Let’s go see.’
    She turned away. Mark almost grabbed her, but stopped his hand in time.
    She trotted up the porch stairs, opened the screen door and looked around at him. ‘Well, this isn’t locked.
    ‘I know’
    She went in.
    Mark hurried after her. ‘No, wait.’
    She didn’t wait. She walked straight across the porch.
    ‘Alison. Wait up.’
    She stopped and gave the kitchen door a push. It swung open. ‘Hey, she said. She sounded surprised and please.
    ‘I told you.’
    She turned around. ‘You really did it. Good going, Mark. I had a feeling about you.’
    ‘Well…’
    She came toward him, stopped only inches away and put her hands on his sides. She looked into his eyes for a few seconds. When she pulled him forward, his belly pack pushed at her. ‘Let’s get this out of the way,’ she said. She slid it around to his hip, then wrapped her arms around him and tilted back her head.
    They kissed.
    He had often imagined kissing Alison, and now it was happening for real. She seemed to be all smoothness and softness and warmth. She had a taste of peppermint and an outdoors aroma as if she’d taken on some of the scents of the night: the ocean breeze and the fog and the pine trees. She held him so snugly that he could feel each time she took a breath or let it out.
    Though her breasts were muffled under layers of jackets and shirts, he could feel them.
    He started to get hard.
    Uh-oh.
    Afraid it would push against her, he bent forward.
    Alison loosened her hold on him. ‘I’m ready if you are,’ she whispered.

 
    Chapter Sixteen
     
     
    ‘Huh?’ Mark asked.
    ‘Ready?’
    Still holding each other, but loosely with their bodies barely toughing, they spoke in hushed voices.
    ‘Ready for what?’
    ‘To go in.’
    ‘Oh. I really don’t think we should.’
    ‘Sure we should. I’ve been waiting for this for years. It’s gonna be so cool. Come on.’ She lowered her arms, turned toward the kitchen door, then reached back and took hold of Mark’s right hand. ‘Come on.’ She pulled at it.
    He followed her into the kitchen. And stopped. ‘Wait. I have to tell you something.
    She turned toward him. ‘Okay.
    ‘I was down in the cellar. That’s where I hid til closing time.’
    ‘Really?’ She sounded interested.
    ‘Down in the beast hole.’
    ‘My God. Inside i t?’
    ‘Yeah, there’s like a tunnel.’
    ‘Wow.’
    ‘I stayed in there all day.’
    ‘My God. How cool! Weren’t you scared?’
    ‘Sometimes.’
    ‘So how did you return the tape player?’
    ‘I didn’t. I never got one in the first place. I came over really early and jumped the turnstile and hid until they opened the house. Then I just blended into the crowd and pretended to be a tourist til I got into the cellar.’
    ‘Good going.’
    ‘I was pretty lucky. I had a couple of minutes by myself, so I crawled down the hole and stayed.’
    ‘So that’s how it’s done.’
    ‘How I did it, anyway. But the thing is, when I came out of the hole, I took a look around. You know how there’s always a padlock on the Kutch side of the door down there?’
    ‘Sure.’
    ‘It’s