Bender (11 page)

“I’m going to ask you again, Blue, did he ask you out?” The bass of his voice shook in my chest.

I blinked once, twice, three times before I nodded slightly. Camden made another move in my direction, and by instinct, I took a step back. He narrowed his eyes at me, silently daring me to move again. I knew he wouldn’t hurt me, but my fight or flight instinct was kicking in, and I wanted to step out from under his penetrating glare. His anger was somehow turning me on, and I could feel the dampness in my panties. Camden was only a few feet away from me and inching closer.

“I need to shower!” I suddenly blurted out.

His mouth tipped up into a half smile. “Did you say yes?”

Bastard, he wasn’t going to let this go. Why was it such a big deal? Better yet, why was it such a big deal to
him
? I cleared my throat then responded, “I gave him my number.”

I was backing away toward the steps, and he moved with me. We seemed to be in some sort of dance. “What did I tell you about my gym not being a place to pick someone up?”

I perked up. “I didn’t pick anyone up, I gave him my number. He asked for it. What’s the big deal?”

He ran his hands through his spiky brown hair. “The big deal is you broke one of the rules I gave you. It’s not a place for a meet and greet. You go in, work your ass off, and you get out. It’s that simple.”

“And again, I didn’t go searching for Luke, he came up to me. What I’m failing to see here though is it’s not like anybody was making out or jumping each other’s bones, Camden. He was a nice guy, he asked me out, and then we went on our merry way. But exactly what part of that concerns you?”

Now he was really moving toward me. I turned and picked up my speed toward the stairs. I came to an abrupt halt when his voice boomed, “Stop,” through the apartment, and he was less than a foot away. I could hear his breathing. It was ragged and sounded edgy. We stood that way for several moments; the only sound in the apartment was our breathing. When he finally spoke I tensed. He had stepped in, lightly brushing me from behind. My nostrils flared, and I could smell that soapy clean scent of him.

“When I give you rules to follow, you follow them. If my rules are ever broken, there are consequences. There are
always
consequences. I said don’t pick anybody up, and yet you somehow did.” I wanted to bristle at his choice of wording ‘somehow’, but chose better of it and kept my mouth shut. “I’m going to let this go for now, but here’s how it’s going to play out. You ever come back in my gym, and he’s there, you ignore him.” His breath blew across the outside of my ear, and I nearly moaned in pleasure. “If pretty boy so much as winks in your direction, I’ll terminate his membership and kick both of you out.” I felt his presence step away from me, and I glanced over my shoulder. He was walking backwards toward the door. It felt like his eyes were burning into me. “Rules, Keegan. Break them again, there’ll be consequences.”

I wanted to turn around and lash out, then beg him to fuck me. He nearly had me in a puddle of mush on the floor. His hand was on the door leading outside when he called over his shoulder. “And feel free to share what I said to
Luke
,” Camden sneered with an emphasis on his name, then slammed the door behind him.

My body gave out, and I flopped down on the bottom step. I felt more exhausted now than I had when I got back from the gym. Camden was being such a hard ass, and he somehow seemed to take great pleasure in fighting with me. How was it possible that a man who showed his clear distaste for me was completely adverse to me exchanging numbers with someone? It shouldn’t even matter to him. And what was worse? None of that was what was truly bothering me at the moment. It was even more disturbing than his stupid rules. It was that with one look, one snap of his fingers, one menacing step in my direction, my body became needy for him. Camden made me feel desire unlike anything I’d ever experienced before. I was angry with myself for every single ounce of it. I’d come to realize that I wanted him to touch me, and I wanted more than just his eyes to penetrate me. It was unacceptable.

Sitting here in the quiet apartment, the only sounds were of the AC units outside humming. My long wavy blond hair was draped around me, covering me like a blanket. It felt cold and bereft without Camden’s presence. I gritted my teeth and tried to pull myself together. Standing up I marched up the steps and climbed into an icy shower. While the water beat down on my sore muscles, I decided that I was going to go back to the gym. I would face seeing Camden on a daily basis. I’d deal with the fact that I was physically attracted to him, but I would ignore it. I hoped that I would run into Luke, and we could work something out and possibly go do something. I hadn’t been on a date in a long time, and I was long overdue for one. My bossy roommate was going to have to deal with
me
and my non-compliance to his stupid rules. I smiled to myself, almost giddy at my determination of defiance. Take your rules and shove them up your perfectly carved ass, Camden. I had other things in mind.

T
HREE
WEEKS
HAVE
PASSED
since Camden’s threat. I have pretty much continued my daily routine. I went to school, work, came home, and went to the gym. Yes, the gym. Despite my concern of body parts falling off, I liked how I felt after a good workout. I saw Camden almost every time I went. The first few days I showed he had a smug little smirk across his face. I seriously wanted to beat his face in with a dumbbell. I refrained, because it didn’t seem very nice, and frankly I wasn’t sure if I could get blood out of my clothes. It aggravated me to no end. It was as if he got his way, and he somehow was the person to convince me to get in shape. There was a time after my second trip to The Dugout that I had thought about adding a laxative to his protein powder. It would have given me great satisfaction to see him running to the bathroom. He was lucky I wasn’t a vindictive person. Around my fourth time coming in, he stopped with his shit eating grin and went about his business like I was any other paying customer. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. For starters, I wasn’t paying a thing to be a member there. It made me feel a twinge of guilt, because I was already paying so little for the apartment, and now I was taking advantage of his facilities. This was his livelihood. But then his words ‘the chubby one’ replayed through my head, and I shrugged it off. He owed me.

Sarah has been over at least a dozen times. She seemed to be adjusting well to the change, and she loved coming here. As long as she was happy, I was happy. There was one particular day when Dodger was around that he asked her if she had a boyfriend. She blushed and said, “Yes.” My eyes nearly bugged out of my head. But what entertained me was Dodger’s response. At some point since meeting her, he’d taken on a protector role with her. He gave her a level stare after grilling her about this boy’s name, age, how tall he was, if he had any prior felonies…? To which she replied in a very Sarah like fashion, “He’s eight. What’s he gonna get arrested for, stealing Spiderman underwear?” He explained that with boys you never know, and then he proceeded to tell her that she was not allowed to kiss anybody until she was married. Dodge said, “You’re the best kind of girl out there, Sarah. You make sure you find a boyfriend that cherishes every single one of your smiles and laughs, treats you like a princess, and gives you everything you could ever want.” Then he followed it up with, “Things like diamonds, a castle, and a Ferrari, so I can drive it and make sure it’s safe
.” I laughed at him. Sarah smacked him on the arm and said kissing was gross then returned to playing with her dolls. Dodger was sweet to take her under his wing. She lacked a male role model in her life. He was good to her, and I approved of the time they spent together.

Luke and I have gone out a couple of times since he asked me for my number. I remembered walking through campus while eating some Whoppers when my cell phone rang, and I saw Luke’s name flashing on my screen. I inhaled my chocolate ball whole and started choking. Thank God for passersby who knew the Heimlich maneuver. What a sad, and yet wonderful, way to die…death by candy. Anyway, after my near death experience, I got the courage to call him back. He asked if I wanted to go grab a bite to eat and see a movie. I said yes, and now here we are.

He’s been very nice, and I was certainly attracted to him. Luke has this carefree look about him. He had longer blond hair that was tasseled like he’d just gotten out of the ocean and let it air dry. His arms were very tan, and I could only assume that the rest of him was just as dark. Luke’s body was long and lean. Not like Camden’s bulky muscled look, but one that showed clear lines and ridges of abs and arms without it being too much. My favorite part of Luke, though, was his smile. It was so easy and warm. His perfectly straight and white teeth stood out each time his face lit up at something I’d say. I found myself on numerous occasions leaning into him when he directed his grin at me. Yeah, I was definitely attracted.

My cell was vibrating and dancing across the table I’d set it on. I was at the library studying for my next A&P test. I’d managed to pull off a B on the last pop quiz, but again, it wasn’t enough. I had to push harder if I stood a chance at making it into the nursing program.

Picking up my cell, I propped it between my ear and shoulder while I shuffled some books around. “Hello?”

“Hey beautiful, what’re you doing?” Luke’s pleasant voice traveled through the phone.

I couldn’t help the smile that spread across my face. “I’m at the library studying. How about yourself?”

“I was just at the grocery store picking up some things for the house. Those guys eat at least twenty-five pounds of food a day.” I giggled. “If you think I’m joking, you should come watch them sometime. If there’s food in the house, they are all like a bunch of bloodhounds sniffing out their next meal. If I was like this at all when I hit puberty, I totally owe my mom for keeping me well-fed.” I could hear the lighthearted tone in his voice. Luke lived in the same frat house that Dodger had invited me to for the Halloween party.

“Sounds pretty typical. Aren’t y’all still growing boys?”

His voice deepened. “Depends on what you’re referring to that’s growing.” I bit my lip, and I could hear his throaty chuckle. “I swear I can practically
hear
you blushing through the phone.”

“Shut up,” was all I retorted with.

“Alright, alright, well I’m calling because I wanted to see if you would like to come out to the park with me. I could pack us a picnic and bring a Frisbee or a kite. What do ya say?”

He sounded so hopeful. It still amazed me that I was seeing someone like Luke. People like him never happened to people like me. I must have been quiet, because he said my name. “Oh sorry, I got distracted. Yes, I’d love to, that sounds fun. What time?”

“I’ll be there around six.”

“Sounds good, see ya then.”

We both hung up, and I gathered all of my things, looking at the time. Crap, I had two hours to get ready. I still needed to head home to take a shower and pick out what to wear. Slinging my bag over my shoulder I headed to the elevators.

When I got to the apartment, Camden was sitting on the couch. I wasn’t expecting him to be home so soon. He was always at the gym, working until at least seven. It still made me slightly nervous to be alone with him in the same space. Shrugging it off, I came in, took my shoes off, and set my bag on the loveseat.

“Hey, you’re home early,” I stated simply.

He looked over at me from the television. He was watching some show about muscle cars, figures. “Yeah, I was teaching a class to the seniors when one of the granny’s started to go down. I thought she was having a heart attack but turned out she just can’t seem to lift the free weights and step up on the platforms.” He sighed. “I ended up pulling my quad trying to get to her before she hit the floor.”

I looked down, and that was when I noticed the ice pack resting on his leg. I instinctively went toward him to check on it but stopped short. He was eyeing me like he was wondering what I was doing. Instead I walked in front of the couch and around to the back. I was certain I looked like a crazy person walking random circles in the living room, but I couldn’t play off that I made a move in his direction.