“Experience,” I said, and then laughed. “Don’t move around too much yet. You don’t want to let it slip back. Now when you were hurting, you probably felt yourself stiffen up. This is called ‘splinting.’ Your body wants to keep an injury immobile, so it tenses muscles around it. This can be a problem if the muscles aren’t relaxed afterwards because they want to pull you back into the hurt shape. Does that make sense?”
“You REALLY sound like you know what you’re doing. I’m impressed.”
“So what I’m going to do is give you a back massage that will loosen the rest of those muscles. Then you should be fine.”
“Do you really have to?”
“You don’t want to hurt yourself again once I leave do you?”
“Oh … all right. If you must.”
For the next five minutes I gave a massage like I had gotten plenty of times when I was hurt. At first Mrs. Branch was tense. Then she relaxed and even said, “That feels so good” or “Yes, right there” a few times.
I finished with, “There, Mrs. Branch. You really do have a beautiful body. I’m glad you take care of it.”
“I don’t know how to thank you, Mike. Now I can get that dance recital back on track.”
I don’t know if being with Auntie Lee gave me more confidence, or really wanting to break up with Lori made me think I had nothing to lose, but on the last rub across Mrs. Branch’s back, I slid my hands forward, near her armpits. She immediately clamped her arms down, trapping my hands.
“What are you doing, young man?”
“I want to feel your breasts. I told you before I’d like to feel your tits. Your 36 C’s, full C. I want to know what they feel like in my hands.”
“How dare you. We’re done here.”
Her arms clamped harder.
I wracked my brain to remember some of the complaints Lori had shared about what her mother thought about being alone after her dad died.
“You can’t tell me you haven’t wanted to be appreciated, touched by a man. In all these years. Don’t you want to know what a male touch would feel like again. If only for a minute. I think you have a body that should be treated with admiration. When I was massaging your back, I couldn’t help think how attractive you are. You’re so toned and muscular.”
I tried to move my hands, but they were still stuck.
“That may have a ring of truth in it, but you are far from the person I would want that kind of attention from.”
“And how long are you going to wait or hope for that attention. I’m right here, right now. I’m probably the only one who’s given you this attention for years.” Mrs Branch had a great body, but she had a face that could scare off many a guy. I was betting what I was saying was close to the truth.
“You have no right to talk to me like that.”
I tried to move my hands forward. “Lift your arms. I want to feel your breasts now.”
“No.”
‘Lift your arms. I want to cup them. I want to feel your nipples—how hard they can get.”
“Stop. Stop talking like that.”
“I just made you well. My hands did that. They were all over your body. Now I want my hands to know what your breasts feel like. Bring that same touch that healed you to another part of that beautiful body of yours.” I’m betting she didn’t hear the word “beautiful” too often as it applied to her.