How It Rolls (21 page)

             
“What the hell Reed?  If you wanted to see me naked, you certainly didn’t need to sneak in to accomplish it.” 

             
“Nope, now I have you cornered.  You have to answer questions.”

             
“Ugh, fine.  Ask away.”  I slid back down into the water.

             
“Why don’t you pay yourself?”  She didn’t waste any time.

             
“Well, I used to.  But a little after I turned eighteen, I don’t know, things started getting more expensive, the staff demanded raises, so I compensated by cutting my salary.”

             
“Do they know?” She wouldn’t tell them, so I just told her.

             
“No, they have no idea, any of them.  I haven’t gotten paid in almost two years from the restaurant and I’ve never been paid by the bookstore.  Owen and Nellie are still starting out.  They have student loans and Owen depends on university grants to pay his salary—and now with the baby…”

             
“Ok, then what do you live off of?  I mean, not that it’s any of my business, but I’m just curious.” All of the sudden she was very interested in picking the lint off of the towel in front of her and twisted her beloved rosebud earring. 

             
“Of course it’s your business.  And you can ask me anything you want.  Well, when I was making money for those couple of years, I invested it.  I played the stock market a little under my dad’s name and then put it all in high interest accounts.  I still do that.  I was the kid who saved his birthday and Christmas money and my brothers would come borrow from me like I was a damned bank.”

             
“Can you show me how to do that?  I mean, I’m not spending all of that money.  I probably won’t even use half.”  She was so damn cute when she got excited about something.

             
“Yeah, of course.  You can be my little apprentice.  You have any more questions ‘cause this water stopped being cold about twenty minutes ago.”

             
“I’ve got one, but I’ll let you get out.” She put the towel on the counter as she left out.  I threw on some boxers and a pair of shorts and walked out.  She unpacked and folded clothes from a few bags.  She yawned mid fold and turned to smile at me. 

             
“Come on homeowner, let’s get you to bed.”  We crawled into bed, taking the same sides we had shared for weeks.   She snuggled into my chest and I pulled up the covers over us. 

             
“You forgot to ask me the other question,” She wiggled closer to me.

             
“I just wanted to know if you wanted your key back—to the apartment.”

             
“No, why?”

             
“Just wondering,” She took one big breath and then fell asleep. 

              Everyone should be awoken by the smells of pancakes, bacon, maple syrup and coffee—everyone.  I threw the covers off and brushed my teeth before I padded into the kitchen.  There were stacks of steaming pancakes and crunchy bacon and a huge mess.  She turned to look at me and I must’ve shown some distress on my face. 

             
“I know, it’s a mess.  I don’t care.  I wanted to use my new pans on my stove in my own kitchen making breakfast for a hot guy.”

             
“Well, he better hurry up before I eat it all.”  She swung her hips back and forth which accompanied a “Ha ha ha’ from her mouth. 

             
I checked my watch.  I hadn’t realized how late I slept.  “It’s almost nine; I have to leave in about thirty minutes.”

             
She pouted her plump bottom lip out while she handed me a cup of coffee.  I took the cup and put it on the counter and pinned her against the island.  “Do you know what it does to me when you pout your lip out like that?”

             
“Show me,” She breathily said and stuck it out further.

             
I picked her up and her long legs wrapped around my waist like they knew the drill.  She held onto my neck and my hands got their fill of her butt as I propped her up on the counter.  She bent down and whisper soft placed her lips against mine and I moaned in pleasure and protest.  Her paper thin shirt wasn’t helping me keep myself under control.  I could feel the dip of her spine, the curve of her waist. I ran my hands up and fully intended for them to find her shoulder blades until my thumbs grazed the sides of her bra.  She gasped against my mouth and opened her eyes.  I moved my hands downward, “I’m sorry,” I whispered, my mouth still against hers.  “I’m not,” she said in response.  I moved my lips to her neck and helped myself to the taste and smell of apples that made their home in the nook between her

neck
and her earlobe.  She shuddered beneath my hands as I ran my tongue over her earlobe and the whimper which came from her mouth signaled that I had found a spot that could make her melt. 

             
“You’re gonna be late Falcon,” She sang it in my ear and then contradicted it by sucking on my earlobe. 

             
I broke away from her hold before it was too late and pecked her one last time right on her sternum.  I grabbed one pancake and stuffed three pieces of bacon in it, rolled it up and ran to get dressed, stuffing it in my mouth as I walked.  I came out minutes later, jeans and t shirt clad but not anywhere near wanting to go to school.

             
Reed hunched over the counter perfectly content with her breakfast and probably a little coy after what she did to me. 

             
“I’m leaving.  Do you need anything?” She didn’t answer and I looked at her, cocking her eyebrow in a very taunting manner.

             
“Oh, one hot make-out session and I’ve ruined you.  You’re gonna be insatiable now, aren’t you?”

             
“Pretty much.  You’re coming back here tonight, right?”

             
“Yeah, I need to get some more clothes but I’ll be back.”

             
“Or, you don’t have to get any clothes.” She giggled, it was all a game now.

             
“Ugh—ok, I’m really leaving now.  And one more thing,” I stalked over to her and held her face to mine as I gave her a taste of her own medicine in the form of my mouth covering hers.  “I love you, dirty thoughts and all.”

             
“I love you too Falcon.  Oh, and I called Maddox this morning.  He only goes to school a half day today, so he’s going to go with me to get a dresser and something to sit on.”

             
“Have fun, Maddox likes to shop, be careful.” 

             
“That’s what he said.  I will.” 

             
I went to school and listened again to the boring antics of Dr. Glusman.  After that and Lit class, I went into the bookstore.  As I walked into my office, Nellie sat at my desk. 

             
“You don’t love me anymore.”  She proclaimed and proceeded to bang her forehead on the desk in front of her. 

             
I snorted and shook my head, “You’re ridiculous and I’m not gonna say what else.  You’re my best friend, of course I love you.”

             
“You don’t.  You don’t talk to me anymore.  You won’t even tell me where your secret date is.”  This wasn’t the Nellie I knew but I wasn’t stupid enough to tell her that she sounded like a whiny goon. 

             
“I just want to go away with my girl on a trip.  That’s all.  And I just talked to you yesterday morning.”

             
She raised her head and violently grabbed a tissue out of a box she was already holding.  I felt so bad for her.

             
“I know, and I know you love me.  I’m just so damn weepy lately.  It’s like I’m a girl or something.”  I laughed but was quickly quieted by her glare.

             
“You are a girl, that’s why you’re pregnant.  And I think that’s why you’re weepy as you call it.  Take it easy.” I walked over to her and she threw herself at me and began a new wave of tears. 

             
I sat in my chair and she almost choked me, crying on my shoulder.

             
“Oh, man, I knew I heard blubbering.  Come here honey, you’re drowning my brother.”  Owen came in and took her from me, still crying.  Hormones were wicked things and she was proof of it.

             
The rest of the week flew by.  Saturday night we gathered along the rails and Nellie huffed and puffed, pacing back and forth with her clip-board.  When Reed entered the rink she had a new team shirt, complete with her new Derby name, Serial Keela, on it.  She made sure she had my attention and curtsied towards me with a black skirt on, so short she had to wear little shorts underneath.  But damn did it do her justice. 

             
The other team entered, and it looked like they were trying too hard.  They had their tongues out and flipped the entire audience the bird.  Reed turned to face the other way and I knew by her posture that she was laughing.  This time next weekend, she and I would be alone on Avery Island.  I itched for the next week to pass quicker. 

             
Sometime after the fourth or fifth jam, Nellie pulled Reed to the side and told her something that made her nod like a bobblehead.  Nellie then signaled the pivot jammer and suddenly my girl was blocking, as in the dangerous position of blocker.  My chest tightened at the thought of it.  She was a damned good blocker though.  The thick girl next to her thought she had it made but she didn’t know that even though Reed resembled a matchstick in stature, she could quickly catch fire like one too.  They rounded the curve and Reed held her own until the Texas Toast beast implanted her elbow into Reed’s stomach.  I grabbed my stomach in turn, somehow feeling the pain as she went down.  Nellie ran over to her and I tried to but my six foot something, sasquatch of a brother, grabbed the back of my collar and wouldn’t let go. 

             
“Easy bro, she’s fine.  She’s getting up—chill the F out.”

             
I saw her get up, arms wrapped around her waist, getting a roar of applause from the audience.  She skated around until she was in front of me.  “You’re looking a little green, Hawkeye.”  She winked and then skated off—the little sapsucker. 

             
She went back to the jammer position, which was more than fine with me, and really started to show off.  She must’ve hit her head when she went down.  She came out of the pack, scoring four points, again, and ended the jam by slapping her palms against her hips.  Then she did this move where she twisted a hundred and eighty degrees and landed on her toe stops.  Then she turned to me and using her pointer fingers and thumbs, lifted the sides of her skirt and curtsied directly at me. 
Buy—stock—in—derby—store.
  Also think about pants with more—um—compression. 

             
My girl’s team won by one point and after their victory rounds and high fives to everyone in the crowd, it was my turn.  She skated directly towards me, threw off her helmet, grabbed my shirt front and nearly pulled me over the railing kissing the crap out of me. 

             
We got jeers and other perverse rooting on from the crowd around us.  This was her revenge, though from where I stood, it didn’t feel like revenge at all. 

             
She opted out of dinner with the team and went straight for the shower when we got home, her house, whatever.  I took the opportunity to look around the house, checking out her new purchases.  The first, and most obvious, was a loud red couch in the living room and a coffee table that looked like it was made from an old door.  Maddox had helped her hang a new flat screen TV on the opposite wall.  It was quirky and funky, just like her.  In her bedroom was some kind of odd black iron bed and the headboard had vines and flowers twisted out of the iron.  And on the side, a plum colored dresser and the fronts of the drawers were covered in collages of magazine pictures
.  I give her ten thousand dollars and she buys her furniture at garage sales. 
It made me smile.  She was who she was and no amount of money would change that. 

             
The next Friday I waited at the backdoor of the bookstore, right next to the time punch.  She was doing this on purpose.  She was supposed to have left work fifteen minutes ago and she was just teasing me now.  Especially since she had passed by the hallway several times, purposefully throwing her hips out a little more than necessary for walking.  And if she didn’t quit, we weren’t going to make it to Avery Island. 

             
She came around the corner, back hunched and placing her feet heel to toe in super slow motion trying her hardest not to laugh.

             
“Well, I’m glad we’re not walking there—damn woman.”

             
She giggled but continued to creep along. “I don’t know, you might have to light a fire under my ass.”  I knew where this was headed.  And who in their right mind would deny her what I knew she wanted.  And didn’t it just puff up my male ego that she wanted it from me.