Free Rose of Betrayal by Elizabeth Lowe Page A

each other
regaining their strength, like the children they were, they peppered one
another with happy kisses, giggling and cuddling.   A spell broken when Cindy whispered, “Nothing
I have ever experienced has been quite like this, Happy Birthday, Brad.”

 
    They never returned to
the party.   Brad never blew out his
candles.   The remainder of the night was
spent riding together each, different, longer, shameless, leaving no exploration
uncovered, taking them to foreign places, where they’d long to go again but
never would.   With innocence and youth,
left behind they entered the adult world.   From that evening on, they would never look at a barn or stack of hay
without remembering the ecstasy of the night.

 
    It was unbelievable,
Brad mused, how those memories occasionally resurfaced, each time as vibrant as
it was then, bringing on a rush, a need.   He remembered few birthdays after that, few women, nothing since quite
measured up to the thrill of discovering a woman’s gifts for the first
time.  
               
    At first, Brad was
furious with Ted's callous treatment of Cindy, his true feelings buried deep by
the close bonds cultivated over the years.   Young and confused, he did not know whether to hate Ted or be grateful.   Learning Ted ended his relationship with
Cindy the following day became the first crack in a widening gap between
friends.

 
                In
the beginning feeling used, then rejected, later Cindy reasoned her
relationship with Ted would never be the same.   She had explored an erotic new world with the best, a kind, and caring,
nurturing young man.   Ted did not possess
the credentials to measure up to Brad sadly, as years passed no other man would
ever come close.  

 
                All
three avoided one another during the remaining years of high school.   For both of their sakes, considering their
ravenous appetites that evening, Brad was relieved Cindy did not become
pregnant.   Ted, as usual, lectured his convincing
theory women were put on earth to satisfy men and regardless life would go
on.  
      In the years that followed, sharing female
friends was acceptable behavior until now.   Brad's appetite for one-night stands was over.

 
                Spontaneously,
visions of Sam lying naked on the hay flashed before Brad making him wonder
what it would be like to take her the same way, if he’d remember her like
Cindy.   Now older and wiser something
told him he would not be able to walk away from Sam, that beautiful face, that
body.    She was refreshing, wholesome,
untainted, sweetness all wrapped up in a china doll, an orbit away from the
hard, uncaring, overpowering, arrogant women he had known.   The loud ticking of the clock behind him was
warning that the time had come to end his torment go home and settle down.

 
                Gnawing
questions interrupted his reflections, was Sam another play toy for Ted, or was
he serious?   Would she become another one
of his victims or, was it possible Ted was getting tired of the whoring as
well?   Known to be realistic, before
warning Sam, he would have to get to know her better and feel out Ted's
intentions.  

 
                  Uneasiness assailed him as he pondered the
idea of her living with them.   How would
he survive the torment, enough you fool, he rallied?    She is not your problem.   She is just another of Ted’s conquests. Pull
yourself together, get to work and you will be fine.   He left unobtrusively for the office.

 
 
    CHAPTER 9

 
 
    “JUNE 2011”

 
                Positioned
outside the hospital waiting room, two men in blue uniform’s perused Brad and
Ralph settled in adjoining chairs each staring adamantly at an unknown
object.   The emotional state manifested
on the men's faces made each officer reluctant to perform their duty.

 
                They
were investigating the