Sweat dried on my skin. I lay back on the disturbed hay, body languorous and loose. Now I understood all the fuss about this sex thing. Oh, did I understand!

Cherri lay beside me, her foot touching mine, her arm against my arm, both of us naked but I remained at ease, comfortable with her closeness, still excited by her but no longer afraid. Brian walked to the edge of the platform, stood leaning against the thick upright holding an even thicker cross beam which held a rusted pulley. He stood tall and lean, still naked, and the sunlight caught his hair, glowed through the down covering his arms and legs. Jack wandered over to stand beside him, casually placing an arm around Brian's shoulder as he leaned over to discover what Brian was looking at.

Brian pointed. "Look at the size of that fish!"

Jack nodded. "Twenty pounds, gotta be."

"Wish I'd brought some gear."

"Aren't they beautiful?"

"They are." I nodded, straw rustling beneath my head. Late sunlight outlined the two men, highlighting their profiles. Jack's hand remained on Brian's shoulder. Brian's arm circled Jack's narrow waist. They seemed totally at ease in each other's company, despite their nakedness, and a weird jealous pang touched me as I wondered about that closeness. Then Cherri's fingers twisted through mine and I smiled inwardly, because this cut both ways. The afternoon had shifted something major inside me. I'd lost the last of my girlhood, moved into being a full adult, discovered I enjoyed sex and wanted more. A lot more. I was no longer afraid of the feelings for Cherri that had plagued my summer. What I'd just experienced with Jack pushed those childish longings deep into the background.

The boys talked softly, leaning against each other and Cherri said, "They're really turning me on, Dan. D'you think they do it?"

I could've pretended ignorance but understood exactly what Cherri meant. "How would you feel if they did?"

She laughed softly. "Fuck. I'd pay to watch that. How about you?"

I hummed, trying to make up my mind. "I dunno..."

"Oh yeah definitely. Imagine that, Dan, two guys doing each other. Or two guys doing you at the same time, or me. You ever had two at once?"

I laughed, the sound causing Jack to turn back to find out what was going on. "God, Cherri, I've barely had one. I'm not getting greedy."

"I'd do aem both," Cherri said. Her eyes sparked with that wicked gleam I'd come to recognize so well.

"Really?" No surprise in my voice, only curiosity.

"Sure."

"How would that work? You know, who does what... and where?"

Cherri burst out laughing and rolled toward me, her small breast pressing against my arm, my nipples responding instantly and Cherri would see my reaction but lethargy consumed me, the same willing acceptance at what was happening in the barn filling me.

"Tell the truth, Dan, I'm not quite sure. But it'd be fun to find out."

"You think?"

Cherri leaned close, a leg wrapping over my thigh, mouth close to mine and I let my hand rest on her hip.

"I know you're curious."

"What are you two plotting?" Brian's voice interrupted us, filled with soft amusement. We looked away from each other, some spell breaking. While Cherri and I had been wrapped up in each other they'd turned back to us, still touching, their arms around each other's waists and both their cocks had grown heavy, swaying between their legs, half risen. Brian casually reached down and stroked himself, his cock rising from the touch.

"Only saying how good you both look," Cherri said.

"Not as good as you two. Fuck, Cherri, d'you know how hot you two are lying like that?" He stroked himself again, took a step forward, Jack's arm dropping loose from his waist.

"Ready for more?" Cherri asked.

Brian nodded and took another step.

"How about you, Jack?"

He spread his arms. "What d'you think?"

"Come here then," Cherri said, but when she spoke she stared at Jack, not Brian, and my stomach gave a flip.

Jack frowned, staying on the platform. Cherri glanced at Brian and raised an eyebrow. "If it's okay with you?"

Brian nodded. "Sure." His eyes darted to me, a hunger in them that excited me knowing what was about to happen, and on that enchanted afternoon I became a willing participant.

Chapter 20.

The next morning events in the barn had faded to a dream, something unreal I might have created as a fantasy. Cherri made no mention of what happened between us all, and over breakfast Jack and Brian were the same as ever. The difference seemed to be all mine. As I ate and talked my voice sounded natural but my head replayed scenes from the barn. Brian entering me from behind as I knelt on a bale of straw and watched Cherri try to force Jack's cock deeper into her mouth. And later, when I thought I couldn't climax one more time Cherri and I had knelt head to head, our arms around each other's shoulders while the boys changed places once more. As my body began to spasm I turned and kissed Cherri on her neck and she did the same to me and I jerked and yelped as Jack emptied himself in the rubber and Brian leaned over Cherri's back, lifted my face and kissed me. How the hell were they not changed by all that? How did they manage to act so goddamn normal over breakfast?

Breakfast, though, was the last time all four of us would be together this way. Our last happy time.

Late afternoon I walked with Jack to the photography classroom, a foot between us because we still needed to pay lip service to the non-fraternization rules.

"What's going on?" Jack's voice drew me from inside my own head and I glanced up to see Sara and Greg Hanson standing on the step with Chrissy Simmons. Some kind of heated discussion was going on and as we drew closer their voices carried.

"...absolutely sure about this, Sara?" Chrissy said.

Sara nodded. "Of course I'm sure, Mrs Simmons. Of course I am."

"These are serious allegations you're making."

"Sara told me after Jack took them," Greg said, and my stomach sank. He'd been ignoring me since our run in on this same spot a month before; ignored but obviously not forgotten.

A strange atmosphere came off the three of them, something out of kilter. And then realization struck. Chrissy wasn't in charge anymore. The way Brian stood broadcasted him as the dominant figure. He and Sara. Chrissy acted as she always did, but diminished in their presence, nothing she did so much as the way Greg and Sara acted, as though they owned the world.

Chrissy Simmons caught sight of us. "We'll find out then, won't we?" She gave a glance at Sara and Greg as though to say she was still uncertain, said, "Dani, Jack, I need to search the classroom."

I made an effort to appear casual. "Sure." I didn't dare look at Jack. I was pretty sure the secret panel behind the cabinet wouldn't be discovered easily. I rummaged in my pants and pulled out the key, but Chrissy was already using her master key, swinging the door open and waiting for us to enter.

Greg led the way, eager, wanting to prove his allegations and I started to wonder exactly how much he knew. I glanced at Jack but he was looking the other way, deliberately ignoring the cabinet beside the small storeroom. I glanced over and a chill ran through me. The cabinet was slightly off center, not square with the back wall where it usually sat.

Chrissy Simmons started opening cupboards, went to open a box of photographic paper and I said, probably too fast, "No!"

She stopped, eyes narrowing. "No? Why not, Dani, something in here you don't want me to see?"

I shook my head. "It's photo paper, Chrissy. Light sensitive. If you open the lid it'll be ruined."

Her mouth was set in a tight line and I saw she didn't believe me. She opened the top and found a black plastic wrapper. Her eyes glanced up at mine and I saw a glint of something in them... satisfaction? She pulled the plastic from the box and untucked the edge, tipped the sheets of white photographic paper onto the bench. She pushed them around, searching for something incriminating. When she found nothing but glossy white paper, already spoiled, she looked at me again.

"I told you. That pack's ruined now."

She didn't care, pulling out another box. "This is a great way to hide something."

"Please, don't." My voice sounded pathetic and I turned away, unable to watch the waste. I hadn't been following Sara or Greg and as I spun away I found Greg pushing at the cabinet by the storeroom. No way he was doing that accidentally. All of this was a set-up by him and Sara. I glanced across at Jack and raised an eyebrow and he gave a shrug. He'd shown Sara where he hid his pictures. Idiot.

"Mrs Simmons, I think there's something behind here," Greg said, and I saw him trying to hide a triumphant grin. He was a lousy actor, but Chrissy Simmons had hit her stride now and failed to notice his smirk.

"What have you got, Greg?" She left a second discarded and ruined box of paper and strode across.

"I found a loose board." Greg was on his knees, fingertips tugging at the secret panel. It resisted his efforts, but only because he didn't know the trick. Push up, across then down and it popped out into your hand. Even the hard way finally gave to Greg's fingers and the panel fell with a clatter to the floor.

Greg reached in with his hand but Chrissy Simmons pushed him aside. "I'll do this, thank you, Greg." She knelt beside him, her sweatshirt riding up as she reached into the dark gap and I gazed idly at the red band of a thong and my mind buzzed back to the times Cherri and I had spied on her.

Nothing any of us could do now but wait for the storm to break. I perched on a stool and glanced at Jack, who was watching Chrissy with a dazed expression. She rummaged around in the gap then her fingers must have found something because she went still and the corner of her mouth lifted.

She withdrew her hand, holding the brown folder Jack had hidden. She rose and carried it to the nearest bench.

"What's this, Dani?"

I shook my head. "I've no idea. Probably been there years."

Her smile twitched. "I'm sure you're right. Let's find out, shall we?" She unsnapped the bands and let the contents spill across the bench. Images of Sara in various stages of undress spread out. Chrissy fanned them, her expression hardening again, but also a flush climbing her neck.

She stopped, her fingertip resting on a black and white ten by eight.

"What exactly do we have here, Dani?"

I shook my head violently. "I told you, I don't know." I was shaking, sure my guilt would show. I didn't want to implicate Jack, but I didn't want to take the blame either. We were gone anyway, both of us, and a sense of inevitability settled over me.

"I took them." Jack pushed off the stool and walked across to Chrissy and the pictures. He touched one gently, as though reminding himself of Sara's skin beneath his fingers. "Dani knows nothing about this. These are all down to me, Chrissy, only me." He stared down at the photographs, never once looking in my direction.

I should have protested, taken some of the blame, but I didn't. Jack had taken the pictures. Any blame was mostly his. But I'd known about them, seen them, came here and studied them in private, allowing myself to grow aroused at the site of a beautiful young women posing for the camera.

"I don't believe you," Chrissy said to Jack. "Dani must have known what you were doing. Where are the others, Jack?"

"Others?"

"I hear you've taken others. Pictures of..." Her voice caught and her flush rose higher as my stomach sank, not knowing what evil Sara and Greg had been spreading. "Pictures of children, Jack. Where are the pictures of the children!"

"No way!" Jack protested. "These are all of them, I swear on my mother's life, these are everything."

"I heard different. We'll take this classroom apart piece by piece if we have to. Where are they, Jack?"

"I told you, these are the only ones!"

"He's lying." Greg came closer to our group. "He told Sara he did this all the time. I bet he's got pictures of Dani and Cherri as well. He told Sara he can't help himself. He said he's taken pictures of some of the girls. Boys too."

"Fucking liar!" Jack roared and launched himself at Greg. Greg was heavier than Jack and three inches taller, but at that moment he could have been twice Jack's size and it wouldn't have made any difference. Greg fell back under Jack's anger. Jack's fist caught him on the shoulder, glancing off. He swung again but Greg recovered and threw a punch back which caught Jack on the side of the head, snapping him around, slowing his progress for a moment before he launched himself again.

"Sara, go and fetch Jeff, quickly!" Chrissy Simmons gasped.

Sara ran from the room and I went the other way, grabbed Jack's arm and pulled him back. His muscle moved under my palm and he jerked away. I grabbed him again, trying to wrap my arms around him to stop him hitting Greg again. Greg took the opportunity and swung at Jack again, or I thought he was swinging at Jack but at the last moment his fist seemed to deflect and before I reacted a stunning pain exploded in my head and everything went dark.

When I came round I was lying in my own bed, Cherri sitting beside me holding a wet towel to my cheek.

"Hey, Dan, you're back. You had me worried for a while."

"What..."

"Easy, honey, you're okay now." She pressed the towel against my cheek, a swelling beneath the cool cotton. Movement beyond her drew my gaze and I saw Chrissy and Jeff Simmons standing in the room. Beyond them a huddle of girls stared in.

"How are you, Dani?" Jeff Simmons stepped forward, crowding the small room "Okay, I guess."

"We're going to take you into town, have Doc Peterson check you over."

"I'm fine," I repeated.

"I think the doctor should check you out," Jeff said.

"Go, Dan," Cherri added. "To be safe."

My cheek ached, but my head seemed to have stopped spinning. However, I had to go along. "Where's Jack?"

Jeff Simmons' sympathetic expression drained away. "Jack's packing. He'll be coming into town with us, but he won't be coming back."

I started to nod until discovering movement made the pain worse. I wasn't surprised Jack was leaving.

"I'm coming with you," Cherri said.

"I don't think it's a good idea for too many people to-"

"Jack's going to be in the jeep with you," Cherri said.

"Of course."

"Then I don't want Dani alone with Jack. So I'm coming too."

Jeff Simmons, having been outflanked, nodded. "Sure, of course. Good idea, Cheryl."