Tommy and Marie returned to the hotel Thursday morning. Connie eyed them anxiously from her station behind the registration desk, as they walked in holding hands. Her anxious look was replaced by a relieved smile, when Marie gave her a surreptitious thumbs-up.
"Welcome back you two. Did you have a good time?" Connie asked.
Marie left the telling to Tommy, and took off to make her morning rounds of the hotel. Tommy eagerly told Connie about his visit to Bayou Laveau.
"Guess what?" Tommy asked excitedly.
Without waiting for Connie's reply, he answered his own question.
"Marie helped me throw all of Old Tommy's bad thoughts into the bayou. Now they are gone, just like Old Tommy's money. I sure hope he didn't leave anything else for me to take care of, because I want to be done with him forever."
Connie smiled, leaned across the counter and planted a quick kiss on his cheek.
"That's wonderful, Honey. I have some good news for you too, because the Houston Police found your truck. A bunch of parts were stolen off it, but it was still worth saving. Ben and Ramon picked it up yesterday, and will have it fixed in a week or so."
Tommy thought finding his truck was great news, because he was certain he'd never see it again. Connie took advantage of his cheery mood.
"So listen, Tommy, I need to head back to Houston to take care of something. Will you be alright here until I come back for you Sunday?"
The 'something' Connie needed to take care of in Houston was Roger Taylor, the drug dealer who slipped Tommy the LSD. Paloma was going to take her to a few places Taylor frequented on Saturday nights, and Connie would take it from there. Surprisingly, peace loving earth mother Paloma was all for Connie extracting some cowgirl revenge. And Connie had some serious revenge in mind for that weasel.
"Sure I will, Connie. I met some new friends at Cousin Boudreau's bar, so I'll go there and dance with Miss Desiree and eat gumbo," Tommy replied.
Salmarie, who had been standing behind the registration desk yakking with Connie when Tommy and Marie walked in, jerked her head up at the mention of her cousin Desiree.
"You danced with Desiree Laveau?" Salmarie asked incredulously.
"Sure I did," Tommy replied. "She likes me, so we danced a couple of times. She even asked me to come back and see her again. Maybe someone will take me back there Friday night, since Connie will be gone."
Connie looked confused for a minute, then snapped her fingers. It took her a minute to associate names and faces, because she hadn't been around Lafayette in almost six years. But before that, she and her husband had been frequent visitors. Her husband, Beau Baumgartner's grandmother, had been a Laveau, so Marie and Boudreau were his kissing cousins. As a matter of fact, his grandmother's stories about the Marie Laveaus were Beau's inspiration for the movie Voodoo She-Devil that he'd filmed on location around the hotel Arcenaux and the Bayou Laveau. They had even filmed a scene at Boudreau's bar.
"Desiree is Boudreau's oldest daughter, right? Last time I saw her she was only thirteen or fourteen, but I remember she was a big girl and fully developed," Connie said.
Salmarie nodded that Connie's recollection was correct, and then turned to Tommy.
"Rudy Landry and I are going to Boudreau's Friday night, and you are welcome to come with us," she offered.
Tommy accepted the offer before wandering off to help Pierre work around the outside of the hotel. Once he was out of earshot, Salmarie filled Connie in on her cousin.
"Desi is a very sweet girl most of the time, but she has a really bad temper. She has had bad luck with men and usually ignores them, so it's nice that she seems to like Tommy. If she gets mad at him, though, she will beat him up worse than those guys did in Houston."
Connie gave Salmarie a reassuring smile and said, "Oh, don't worry about her getting mad at Tommy. He is too polite and will treat her too well for that to happen. Now I wish I didn't have to go back to Houston, so I could go with you all. I remember how much fun Boudreau's place was."
After supper that night, Connie took Tommy up to the Honeymoon Suite and let him show her how much he'd missed her. Even though she'd spent a couple of entertaining nights with Michelle, and was planning on seducing Paloma when she hit Houston, nothing compared to spending time in Tommy's arms.
It took him a couple of hours and three tries, but he finally reduced her to a puddle of endorphins, too deliciously sated to move. Lying there snuggled up with her head on his chest, Connie was surer than ever about how much she loved him. He was kind, gentle and caring out of the bed, and a tiger in it. And with Tommy being uniquely how he was, she didn't have to worry about him playing games. Connie knew men, she'd used them for her amusement and gain since she was twelve, but she understood Tommy. He was so open and sincere, any woman who took the time could do the same thing.
She knew Tommy thought it was perfectly natural to be in love with more than one woman at a time. Understanding that about Tommy kept her from being jealous of the other women in his life. In fact, she'd discovered that having Tommy in common with another woman brought her and the other woman closer. It had worked out that way with Ruth, and she was positive it would happen with Paloma.
Ruth said that Tommy gravitated towards women who were out of the norm, because he was so different. And as Connie thought about it, she realized Ruth was exactly right. Tommy seemed to be attracted to slightly damaged women who had big streaks of independence, and they to him. Tommy complemented the lives of those women instead of dominating them. He did not demand their attention all the time, so they could have a life that wasn't centered on him. She could have her acting, Ruth could have her library, Marie could have her hotel and Paloma could have her causes. Because the women had so much in common, it was easy for them to become friends ... and more.
It was a great way to have a relationship, except that society frowned on the notion. Then again, the women concerned had never been ones to let what society thought bother them. Tommy didn't see a problem and knew he was doing the right thing, so he didn't care either; he just wanted to be there for them.
All of this led her back to the reason for her trip to Houston. Tommy was a rare and special person, and that son-of-a-bitch Taylor had almost destroyed him. Without Tommy, there would be some very unhappy people, chief among them Conchita Delgado and his other women. Taylor had hurt their man badly, and it was up to her to make him pay. Connie Delgado had grown up in the Ozarks where feuding was second nature, so she wasn't interested in justice, she wanted revenge.
Connie departed for Houston the next morning, right after a late breakfast with Marie. Tommy had been up for hours by then, working hard with Pierre, planting flowers in the little park behind the hotel. Tommy knew Marie loved the little garden, so he was happy to help. Connie tracked him down and gave him a kiss.
"I'll see you Sunday baby. Stay out of trouble until then, okay?" she admonished.
That night, Tommy's feet had barely touched the gravel parking lot of Boudreaux and Charlene's Bar and Grill, when Desi came hurtling out of nowhere and slammed him against the side of Rudy's brand new Grand Torino.
"TOMMY!" she squealed, then she attached her lips to his and proceeded to suck what little air he had left from his lungs.
When she finally let up the pressure enough for him to catch his breath, Tommy held her at arms length, took an exaggerated look up and down her body, and whistled.
"Wow, Desi, you look fantastic. I don't know how you expect me to keep my hands to myself when you look like this," he said.
Tommy was his usual truthful self, because even Salmarie was amazed by how good Desi looked. Desiree was wearing a knee length red skirt and a white blouse that exposed a hint of her ample bosom. Her wavy ink black hair was caught up in a red ribbon that matched her skirt. At the other end of her body, oxblood Bass Weejun loafers adorned her size eleven feet.
Desi looked Tommy dead in the eye and replied, "Cherie, I will be disappointed if at the end of the evening there is a place on me you haven't touched."
Desi gave speechless Salmarie a hug and nodded hello to Rudy. It took Salmarie seeing Desi all over Tommy to believe his story. For his part, Rudy always tried to keep Salmarie between him and her cousin. Rudy had a healthy and well-earned fear of Desiree Laveau that he developed after the first time he'd seen her lose her temper and kick the shit out of some fresh mouthed bayou coonass. A lot of men felt that way about Desi; her imposing size, well documented temper and meanness in a fight were enough to scare anyone.
Tommy and Desi led the way into the bar. Desi had both her hands wrapped around Tommy's left arm, as if she expected him to try to escape as they walked through the door. Tommy said hello to a few of the people he'd met last time, and Desi introduced him to some other folks that hadn't been there the other night. Charlene gave Tommy and Salmarie big hugs before showing them to a table. Even when they were seated, Desi kept a possessive grip on Tommy's arm.
The special in the restaurant that night was a spicy Jambalaya that teetered on the edge of being too hot. Tommy loved it and burned through two bowls in a hurry. After peach cobbler for dessert, Tommy was ready to dance. Desiree had more on her mind than dancing, but for appearance sake, she took Tommy up on his polite offer. As soon as they hit the floor, Desiree was on him like Superman's tights. Tommy had not one problem with her being plastered against him, despite her size.
Desiree had an hour glass figure of the extra large variety, with wide hips and shoulders and a surprisingly small pinched in waist. Her breasts were large and her butt stuck out prominently. She also had fairly muscular legs and arms that were in proportion to her build. Because she was so uniquely different, Tommy felt for Desi the same strong attraction he felt towards Connie, Ruth, Paloma and Marie.
Desi obviously felt the same attraction, and that worried Salmarie. So like her mother had on Wednesday night, Salmarie took Desi into the ladies room to discuss it.
"Desi, Tommy is a good guy, but you know he has other women, including my mother, right? I know you like him, but I don't want you to get hurt."
Desi's answer was a surprise.
"That's all fine with me Sal, your mother explained all that when she told me about him Wednesday night. I don't need a full time man anyway. Not while I'm in college, and maybe even not after that. You know how I am, I like living alone after sharing a house with six brothers and a sister for so many years."
Salmarie gave a sigh of relief as they went back to join their men. She had dreaded the thought of a heartbroken Desiree Laveau running amok.
Desiree made it to the first break in the music before she grabbed Tommy's arm and pulled him to his feet.
"I'll bring him home in a day or two," she tossed over her shoulder to Salmarie, as she dragged Tommy towards the door.
Desiree didn't care that every eye in the place was fixed on them as they made their exit. She was burning with passion she didn't know existed until tonight, and she needed Tommy now. She gave her parents a wave as she and Tommy ducked through the door.
With a firm grip on Tommy's hand, Desi stalked around the building that housed the bar and grill and headed up the driveway to her family's home. Boudreau's moonshine money had built the family a big rambling ranch on a rare piece of high and dry bayou land. When Desi was sixteen, Boudreaux had built a detached three car garage to house his speed boat and souped up 64 Plymouth hemi powered, full sized sedan. Both vehicles were pleasant hobbies that were well adapted for running shine. Above the garage he'd built a nice little apartment for Desiree.
Boudreau and Charlene loved Desi to death, but worried that she'd gotten too much of the wrong kind of Laveau blood, because of the strange way she acted some times. The apartment let her have her freedom and privacy while keeping her near the family.
The couple had only taken a few steps up the slightly inclined driveway, before Tommy suddenly jerked them to a halt. Desi gave him a vexed look until he pulled her into his arms and kissed her passionately. When he broke the kiss, he leaned back and looked into her eyes.
"Where are you taking me, Desi?" he asked.
"To my apartment so we can make love," Desi replied.
Tommy continued to look her in the eye.
"I'd like that, Desi, but you don't have to for us to be friends," Tommy said.
Desi squirmed out of his grasp and grabbed his hand again.
"We are going to be much more than friends, silly man," she said firmly as she pulled him up the hill.
The first fifteen minutes Tommy and Desi spent in her apartment looked like a heavy weight professional wrestling match, as Desi was in a hurry to get down to business and Tommy tried to slow her down so she'd enjoy it more.
In the end, Tommy finally got his way, but it had been a close thing, as Desiree was almost as strong as he was. By the thirty minute mark, Desi was very happy she gave in, because Tommy was doing things to her she didn't know could be done. Tommy seemed to instinctively know where every responsive place was on her body, regardless of how small.
Tommy thought the way she responded to him was very cool, as the normally loud and assertive young woman cooed and sweetly moaned out her pleasure. She seemed to enjoy every place he touched her. Tommy also thought her body was fantastic. Sure she was big, but that just meant there was more for him to love. She wasn't flabby at all, instead, she was firm and smooth, and her breasts, although about twice the size of Connie's substantial pair, stood up proudly from her chest with only a slight sag to the side.
Desiree decided she really liked this slow and languid love making technique, because it stretched out her pleasure, and at the pace Tommy was setting, she could enjoy this all night long. As Tommy brought her to another wonderful climax, she decided her flip comment about bringing Tommy home in a day or two was on the short side of being correct.
While Tommy was being held a prisoner of love by the delightful Desiree, Connie Delgado had her hands full with the insatiable Paloma. The tall, slender young woman turned Connie everyway but loose for three solid hours. Yet she still seemed as fresh as a daisy when Connie called it quits. Connie knew the next time she took on Paloma, she was going to have some help. She shivered at the thought of double-teaming Paloma with Tommy, or better yet, Ruthie, when the little minx was in one of her dominant moods.
Connie slept in the next morning, then huddled up with Paloma to work on her disguise for that night. Although Roger Taylor didn't know her, she wanted to make sure the description he gave of her was off the mark. Being an actress would help in that regard, as she could alter how she acted and spoke. Paloma really helped the cause when she dug out a high quality, long blond wig. The preparations included a trip to a nice boutique that catered to mod college women.
Connie put on the blond wig and drove to the Holiday Inn, where she rented a room for the night, using a fake name, address and tag number. The male desk clerk was so busy staring at her, he didn't ask her to verify any of the information she gave. She took her new clothes and her make-up to the room and transformed herself into Lorelei, a southern belle visiting from Alabama. Paloma picked her up at seven-thirty when it was fully dark.
At eight-thirty that night, Paloma spotted Roger's new Dodge van in the parking lot of a hippie hang out named the Red Rooster Club. She pulled her Karmann Ghia convertible around the corner and dropped Connie off.
Roger Taylor did a double take when the beautiful stacked blond sauntered into the Rooster and coolly looked around. He continued to watch her as she shrugged, walked to the bar and draped herself onto a stool.
Connie was wearing a dark green and black tartan miniskirt and a medium weight dark green sweater. She was braless under the sweater, but her amazing breasts proudly stood up and out on their own. Her long legs were bare and she wore tall, high-heeled black boots. The long blond wig hung loosely down her back. Her makeup was flawless, but barely detectible, making her appear ten years younger than she was.
Roger was smoothly beside her before the bartender arrived.
"Hello Gorgeous, can I buy you a drink?" he asked.
Connie was thrilled he had taken the bait so fast, even though Paloma had informed her Roger was quite the ladies man. Connie deliberately flicked her eyes up and down him before giving him a dazzling smile.
"Thank you kind sir, yes you may, a rum and coke, please," she replied in a sexy southern drawl as she extended her manicured hand. "My name is Lorelei, by the way."
Roger was a handsome and self-assured seducer of impressionable young college women, but he was light years out of his league in dealing with someone like Conchita Delgado. Within fifteen minutes, Connie had him half way in love and totally wrapped around her finger. He completely bought her story about her boyfriend dumping her out of his car over some silly argument, and eagerly agreed that he was just the guy she could use to teach the errant boyfriend a lesson.
Thirty minutes and one drink later, the couple was in his tricked out van with the love bead curtains and three quarter sized bed. Connie gave him a scorching kiss to get his attention, then coyly suggested her motel room would be more comfortable than his van. AJ Foyt couldn't have made it to the Holiday Inn any faster than Roger.
Roger grabbed her as soon as they were in the door of the room and kissed her again. She returned the kiss and endured a few seconds of him pawing her breast, before she broke from his grip and danced away from him.
"Slow down, lover," she said with a girlish giggle. "We have all night."
She grabbed the ice bucket off the dresser and handed it to him.
"I've got some rum, so get us some ice and a couple of cokes, and we'll party," she said.
Roger had a boat load of recreational pharmaceuticals in his van, but she'd declined his offer of anything she wanted. So he figured if this goddess got off on rum, he wasn't going to argue about it. He took the bucket and dashed out the door.
As soon as he was gone, Connie opened the pint bottle of Bacardi and splashed some into two of the motel room's cheap plastic glasses. Then she fished a small brown medicine bottle out of her purse and poured about half the contents into one of the glasses. Marie said the potion would knock him out for at least an hour.
Connie let things proceed normally, to allay Roger's suspicions while she waited for the knock out drops Marie had given her to work. So when he finally passed out, she was perched in his lap, wearing nothing but a pair of French-cut pink panties.
Connie pulled the unconscious man onto the bed and efficiently stripped him naked, then she tied him spread-eagled to the sturdy motel room bed frame. After double checking her knots, she turned on the television and sat in the room's easy chair to wait for him to wake up.
Roger came around an hour and a half later, just as the opening credits of her movie Rock and Roll Frankenstein appeared on the television. Connie hadn't seen the movie in ages, but it was one of her favorites, because she played the singer in a rock and roll band and actually performed the songs that she and Beau wrote. She reluctantly turned off the TV and stood by the bed as Roger groaned and tugged against his bonds. When he saw her looming over him still almost naked, he relaxed somewhat.
"I'm not into this kinky shit," he snarled menacingly.
Connie smiled and stepped out of her panties. When Roger gaped at her (thanks to Paloma) newly-shaven nether region, she stuffed the panties into his mouth. She took his belt and looped it around his head a couple of times to keep the gag in place, then took a bag off the dresser and put it on the bed.
"That's too bad," she said sweetly, "because if that's true, you probably aren't going to enjoy this much."
Connie made a production out of reaching into the bag and pulling out a piece of surgical tubing about eighteen inches long.
Roger kept looking back and forth between Connie's face and the tubing in her hand, as she sat astride his knees and looped the tubing twice around his scrotum and penis. Any hope that Roger had about this being some kind of kinky sex act was dashed when Connie leaned forward and looked him dead in the eye as she pulled on the ends of the tubing, stretching it tight around the base of his scrotum. When the tubing was as tight as she could make it, she tied it in a neat square knot and sat back with a smile.
"This is the way my granddaddy use to castrate pigs, only he used strips of rubber he cut from old car tire inner tubes. Of course, granddaddy never tied up their dicks too, but I figure it must be about the same principle. After a surprisingly short time, the lack of blood flow starts killing the tissue on the other side of the rubber band. I figure in a few hours, these things aren't going to be of use to you anymore. But then again, you probably won't need them in prison anyway."
Connie climbed of Roger as he started to fight against his bonds. She smiled when she saw he was only pulling the knots tighter. She unhurriedly dressed in an outfit of her own clothing and then collected all of her props from the evening; Lorelei's clothes, the pint of rum, the cokes and even the glasses went into her shopping bag. She checked the room twice before she was satisfied that she'd sterilized it, then she took a sheet of the motel stationary and wrote a note in big block letters.
I AM A DRUG PUSHER FOR PROOF LOOK IN MY VAN
She stuck the note in between the dresser mirror and its frame, threw the pen into her shopping bag and strode out of the room without a backwards glance. She disposed of the shopping bag in a dumpster about a mile from the motel, and drove back to Paloma's house.
Connie slipped into Paloma's spare bedroom at two in the morning; she was tired but satisfied with her night. She figured the maid would find Roger sometime after check out, so she didn't think Roger's dick and balls would actually have time to fall off, but the thought that they might, brought her more satisfaction than the idea of him going to prison for the drugs in his van. Connie's only regret was that she couldn't tell Roger why she was doing what she did, but to identify Tommy would have pointed suspicion towards her, and she couldn't risk that. Nevertheless, she'd extracted her revenge, and that's what counted.
Connie arrived back in Lafayette around two in the afternoon on Sunday.
A serenely smiling Desi brought Tommy back at three-thirty. Tommy insisted that Desi come in and meet Connie. Desi still remembered her cousin by marriage. She'd been star struck by the exotically beautiful woman when she was a young teen, so there was no friction between Desi and Connie. Instead, they greeted each other as if they were sisters, which because of Tommy, in a way they were. Connie was very happy when Desiree said she was coming to spend some time with them in Brantley as soon as the college semester ended.
Connie and Tommy loaded their bags in the cavernous truck of the Eldorado and were rocketing back towards Houston by five. Tommy didn't feel bad about saying goodbye to Marie or Desi, because both women made it clear he'd be seeing them again soon.
For once, Caroline didn't have plans for the evening when Tommy and Connie arrived at Paloma's. Caroline was incredibly relieved to see that Tommy was back to his usual self. She felt largely responsible for what happened to Tommy, because of how she had avoided being near him. And in her heart of hearts, she was envious and jealous of the time that Paloma spent with him. Tommy's other women were part of the reason her head kept her heart from having its way.
Connie saw immediately how conflicted Caroline was, and privately told Tommy to take the girl for a walk so she could talk to him in private.
Caroline didn't protest a peep when Tommy took her hand and started strolling around the block. She took the opportunity to immediately apologize to him for the way she acted. Tommy's reaction was not what she expected.
"You don't need to apologize to me, Caroline. I wasn't expecting you to act any different than you did. Heck, I know you are only talking to me now because you feel sorry for me for what happened. I know how you feel about me, and I'm okay with that. You want someone who I can never be, but regardless, you are family and I'll always be here for you."
Caroline was taken aback that he summed up the situation so completely. She tried to muster a counter argument, but it really did all boil down to her stubborn pride and unrealistic expectations. She loved him; she just couldn't accept him the way he was.
Connie would have loved to spend the night with Tommy and Paloma both, but the situation wasn't right, and Tommy nixed the idea when they retired to Paloma's guest room. When she crawled out of bed the next morning, Tommy was already dressed and sitting in the kitchen, drinking coffee and perusing the sports section of the paper. Paloma was across from him with her nose buried in the local news section. Tommy saw Connie shamble in, and jumped up to fix her a cup of coffee as she slid into an empty chair. Paloma shot her a smile as she sat down. Paloma knew Connie wasn't a morning person like Tommy, and she couldn't resist teasing her.
"Good morning, Sunshine," Paloma chirped good-naturedly.
"What's good about it?" Connie grumped.
Paloma smiled wider, folded the newspaper in half and slid it across the table.
"This!" she said, tapping an article with her forefinger.
Connie's eyebrows went up as she picked up the paper and read the title of the article. Narcotics Arrest Made at Local Motel, it read. Connie quickly scanned through the two inch column.
A suspicious activity call from the Holiday Inn on Central Avenue led to the arrest of Roger Thorne Taylor, a student at Baylor University and a native of Camden, New Jersey. Houston Police charged Taylor with multiple counts of possession of illegal narcotics, after finding a large assortment of drugs in his vehicle.
Witnesses at the scene related that a hotel maid found Taylor bound and gagged shortly after eleven AM, Sunday morning. Officers responding to the call transported Taylor to Houston General Hospital for treatment of unspecified injuries. Sergeant Gann of the Houston PD vice squad speculated that Taylor was the victim of retaliation for a drug deal gone awry.
Connie smiled, in spite of the early hour. She had hoped that the details of Roger's predicament would make the paper, but the Chronicle had taken the high road and omitted the salacious details. She knew though, that stories like this were hard to suppress, and it wouldn't be long before Roger's plight was public knowledge.
Tommy's appointment with Doctor Raeburn was short and sweet. Raeburn was pleased that one member of the seemingly endless stream of damaged veterans passing through his ward came out alright, and happily sent Tommy home after only fifteen minutes. Raeburn did not have the luxury of being curious about Tommy's miraculous recovery, because he had six new admissions from over the weekend, three of them homeless Vietnam Vets.
Connie had them back in Brantley by four that afternoon. Tommy was elated about being home, and insisted Connie drive him around so he could thank all his friends for the help they'd given him while he was away. Jose Luna and his brother had tended his goats, Bucky Grimes had pitched in extra hours at the feed store, and Ben and Ramon were fixing his truck.
Connie and Tommy made it home a few minutes after Ruth. It was a toss up as to who was happier to see Tommy, Ruth or Rex. After hugs and kisses with Ruth, Tommy hustled out back to tend his goats, with Rex right on his heels. As was his habit, Tommy talked to his amazing yellow dog as they herded the goats toward the barn.
"You know, Rex, Houston is a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there."