Picked

by Jettie Woodruff

  “Cassie, you know I would never do anything like that. I had no intentions of doing that at all. You knew this was me before you ever got involved.”

  “I did. You’re absolutely right, Becker. Go back to your fucking wives, just do me one favor. Leave me the fuck alone. Stay away from me, stay away from this part of town. I live here, not you. If you ever see me out like this again, get in your fucking Buick and leave.”

  “Shhh… calm down, Cass. If that’s how you truly feel, that’s exactly what I’ll do.”

  “Cass? You okay in there?” Justine called with a couple knuckles to the door. Becker jerked the door open, gave me a hateful glare, and left, walked right out of my life.

  After cleaning myself up, I followed Justine out, telling her about the argument, omitting the amazing quickie on the sink. Alana gave me a different look when I emerged. This one was of detestation. Becker pulled her by her hand and led her out. He didn’t look at me.

  “I want to go home, Justine,” I pled.

  “What? You’re joking. Don’t let him ruin your night. We were having fun. Cooper really likes you. He told me while you were in the bathroom feuding over something you shouldn’t have been feuding over. We’re not leaving yet. I like Hunter. He’s taking me to ride go carts tomorrow.”

  “Justine. I’m sick. I want to leave.” Normally, I was the one to follow, to cave and do what Justine wanted. Not this time. I wasn’t lying. I was sick. I needed to lie down.

  “Fine, but if Hunter doesn’t offer to give me a ride, you’re staying, or calling a cab.” Of course Hunter offered her a ride.

  I, however, had to give Cooper a ride. He insisted. He wasn’t about to let me leave alone, and he sure as hell wasn’t letting me drive. Justine and I both forgot about the fact that I was intoxicated. Cooper volunteered to drive me in Justine’s car. Hunter could crash at his place, he offered.

  “I’m sorry about this, Cooper. I guess I over did it. I don’t get out much.”

  “Ah, don’t worry about it. I get it. You were trying to impress me,” he teased. I smiled over at him in the dark car. He was a nice guy and he certainly didn’t deserve this. I was a horrible human being.

  “Thanks, Cooper.”

  “No problem. You up for racing me around the track tomorrow?”

  “You know what? Sure. Why not. I’ve never driven a go cart before, though.”

  “I’ll teach you. There’s nothing to it. It’s fun.”

  I did let Cooper kiss me before getting out of Justine’s car. It wasn’t a real kiss, just a soft, sweet kiss. One that let me know he liked me, and wanted to see me again. It was sweet and I knew I should give him a chance. I liked him. That was saying something. Normally, when I went out with a guy, I couldn’t wait to get the hell away from him. Then again, those were the guys Justine always fixed me up with. I met Cooper all on my own. We had a great story to tell our kids. We met falling down at a skate park. That was a cute story to pass along to our kids, better than telling them we met through an online dating site that your father created. Or how our first meal together was brought to my door by Uncle Mason, and the first time we made love was on the phone. Yeah, I’ll stick with the falling down story from the skating rink.

  Chapter 24

  I almost didn’t go. Swearing off RumChata, I brushed the nasty taste out of my mouth. I hated throwing up, hated it with a passion. I dressed to suit me, not Justine. I was finished with that. We were going to drive around in circles, jean shorts and a tank-top was fine for the occasion. That’s who I was, and this was what I was wearing. Justine rolled her eyes, but I didn’t care. If I learned one thing from Becker, it was to just be me. If I had to pretend and be fake, I wasn’t interested.

  I sucked at racing. The wheel was so stiff around the turns, I either ran into the tires or hit my breaks to make it without crashing. I made it four laps before throwing in the towel. I hated go cart racing, and the going around in circles was doing little to help my hangover. Justine, on the other hand, was having the time of her life. It made me laugh seeing her and Hunter laughing so much. She would take him on the straight stretch and then he would pass her on the turn. She was happy and that made me happy.

  After eating messy chili dogs, we went to The Land of Oz. The abandoned theme park was creepy-amazing, the best exploration I’d hit thus far. Cooper and I set off by ourselves, leaving Hunter and Justine to their own adventure. Cooper had his camera and taught me a lot about taking photos. He captured one of the broken down roller coaster that was breathtaking. Half of it was missing, just at the top where time had decayed the support, sending it to the ground below. The mist just above the tracks felt eerie, and the way Cooper captured the shot was outstanding.

  “This is fun.” Cooper smiled, showing me a shot of a kiddie ride. The pink pigs were faded to more of a peach color with chips and green stains from Mother Nature’s way of aging them.

  I held the camera and snapped a couple shots of Cooper, shooting a gun at the broken down clown target. Laughing at him, I held my hands in the air when he handed me the rotten monkey.

  “Come on. I spent a lot of money winning this thing,” he teased.

  I screamed when he threw the creepy looking thing my way. I was having fun. I was actually having fun with Cooper, not thinking about Becker at all. He grabbed me around the waist, twirled me and kissed me. That part was a little harder. I still had a hard time not comparing that to Becker, but it didn’t last long. Cooper pulled me by the hand and dragged me to the next ride.

  “Oh no. You’re crazy. I’m not getting on that thing. It’ll break,” I protested the creepy swings, dangling from the umbrella top that was sure to fall on our heads.

  “Come on,” he taunted, pulling himself up in one of the swings. “Look, solid as a rock,” he coaxed, bouncing up and down. He closed his eyes when rusty debris fell from the top.

  “Uh-uh,” I still protested, keeping my distance and shooting another picture of him. I was going to watch the Home Shopping Network when I got home. I wanted a camera.

  “If you don’t get on this swing right now, I am going to throw you in that duck pond.”

  Turning, I looked at the green filled pool. I wasn’t going in there, either. “I’m not getting on that thing, Cooper. It’s too dangerous. You suck at this.”

  “Okay, you asked for it.”

  “Okay, okay,” I surrendered. I didn’t know him well enough to know if I would really go swimming in the green concrete pool or not. I wasn’t taking the chance.

  “Wait. Can you just leave my camera over there, just in case this thing does come crashing down.”

  I stopped dead in my tracks and Cooper laughed.

  “I’m kidding. I don’t want you to drop it. I need it for school. It’s not going to fall. I promise.”

  Taking a deep breath with an apprehensive look right at Cooper, I pulled myself up by the cable. It felt pretty sturdy. That was until dumbass grabbed my cable and swung my swing. I felt the rust fall on my bare shoulder and into my hair when I screamed.

  “You idiot!”

  Cooper laughed and scooted to the edge of his swing. “Come on, get it going,” he persuaded, swinging his legs and pulling back on his cables.

  “No. Cooper, Stop. You’re going to make it fall. Ahhh,” I screamed, feeling the stupid thing shake.

  “Swing.”

  “No!”

  “Do it,” he yelled, pumping his feet and gaining momentum with every stride.

  “Oh my god. I hate you,” I said, moving my feet just a little.

  The top of it shook, but I couldn’t look up without getting an eye full of debris. Cooper was determined to make me do it. If I had to admit it, it was fun. It was a freaking blast. We didn’t get a lot of speed, but the thrill of it was just the same.

  By the time we met up with Justine and Hunter, three hours had gone by and they were waiting by the car. Cooper held my hand as we departed and thanked me. He had the time of his life. I was sure I had a ne
w exploring partner if I wanted it. He loved it, and he was a lot more fun to do it with than Justine was. All she ever did was whine and complain, wanting to leave after ten minutes.

  “Jesus. We thought you guys died. Do you have any idea how long you’ve been missing?” Justine chastised with her fist on her cocked hip.

  “We weren’t missing. We were exploring. That’s what you guys were supposed to be doing,” I countered, jumping in the backseat with her.

  “Not for three days. We’re never exploring a place with no cell phone service again.”

  “We saw you looking for us over an hour ago,” Cooper teased. “We were in the window of the haunted house.”

  “You’re a dick,” Justine accused.

  We all laughed, but he wasn’t lying. We were kissing, making out like a couple teenagers when they walked by, calling our names.

  Cooper was exactly what I needed. I hardly thought about Becker at all, except for the couple times I thought about what I had let him do in the bathroom. I still couldn’t believe that happened. I didn’t even know how that happened. It was all a blur, sort of. I guess I remember enough to feel the throb between my legs when I did let myself think about it.

  Cooper drove me to my door. I felt bad for not inviting him in, but I couldn’t. I would have been way too embarrassed. I was cleaning it up. I hated the clutter, the mess, and the chaos it caused. That’s what Becker was going for when he did all that he did for me. He wanted to show me how much my habits caused me to feel unstable. He was right. I didn’t want to live like that anymore. I wanted this. I wanted someone to have fun with, someone to love, to talk to, and to be with.

  And even though I barely knew Cooper, I thought he could be that guy. I would forget about Becker. Cooper would help me do that and he was fun, handsome and full of life. I loved his adventurous side. This could work. I could do this.

  Holding true to my word, I spent most of the night cleaning my house, doing laundry, and cleaning some of the windows. I even shined the silver on all the faucets and the god-awful microwave. Oh my heavens. That thing was the worst. I couldn’t believe I was eating food that came out of there.

  I listened to stupid old time rock and roll while I cleaned and let my mind wonder about all the things I’d tried hard not to think about all day. Matt, the boy in the chair, my mom, my dad, why he lied, why I thought my mom died in September, why Matt didn’t have a last name, why my parents didn’t marry until I was two. I had to find out. Those are the things I thought about after my shower, snuggled in my bed. Every time Becker crept up, I drowned him out with thoughts of the conundrum.

  Cooper picked me up at nine the next morning. He said his parents weren’t home, and we were going to the basement. I was a little leery at first. I wasn’t interested in going to his basement bachelor pad, not yet anyway. I didn’t have sex with a guy this soon, except Becker.

  I smiled when I saw the darkroom.

  “Don’t people just use printers for this stuff now?” I teased, leaning into his chest when he smiled his boyish smile and pulled me toward him.

  “That’s no fun. I like to watch the pictures develop. This part is an art all of its own.”

  Cooper was right. Watching the blank pages transform into old roller coasters, carousels, broken down swings, and the ones we took of each other was magical. I was happy. Cooper stood behind me with his arms around me, placing each photo in their rightful chemical-filled pan. I think I smiled the whole time. And yes, we made out in the darkroom while we waited. It was fun and I felt a sense of being okay. My house was clean, my mind was doing a good job of staying off Becker, and Cooper was great. I could get used to Cooper for sure.

  Cooper made me go upstairs and eat Sunday dinner with his family. That made me like him even more. He had a twelve-year-old brother that I could tell was the light in his eyes. He was a true big brother. I smiled when he showed Damion the shots from our adventurous day at the amusement park. He promised to take him there the next time he came home.

  His mother was very young and pretty. I imagined her to be like my mom had she still been alive. Her homemade meal was divine, and she made me want to be like her. I needed to learn to eat better, to stop eating out of a box. She took pride in providing the home cooked meal for her family. She bled pride, and I could see me in her, feeding my own family and flirting with my husband after all these years. Yeah, I saw that, too. It was cute. I watched Mr. Nash run his hand up the back of her leg when she poured him tea. I wanted that. I wanted a family like his, not one like Becker had. This was a family. This is the way it was meant to be.

  I was actually a little sad when Cooper dropped me off. He helped—a lot. He was less than two hours away, though, and promised he would see me the following Friday night. I did offer to let him come in, but he said he needed to get on the road and back to school. I kissed him that time, all on my own, and we said goodbye.

  “Alone again,” I sighed, speaking to none other than Snowball. Walking straight to my clean kitchen, I laid out a pack of hamburger meat. I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do with it, but I was going to learn. Turning on my laptop that I hadn’t touched in weeks, I audibly exhaled. I was still stuck in the room and my computer wouldn’t do anything. Becker never fixed it from when he hacked it. Afraid that he would know as soon as I turned it on, I closed the lid. I didn’t want him to see me through the camera that I was sure he still had rigged, too. And I surely didn’t want to hear his voice.

  I chose the television instead. Flipping through the cooking channels did little to help. There were plenty of people making delicious suppers, just not anything with hamburger. My phone had to suffice and I found a hamburger with macaroni recipe on Pinterest. I had all the needed ingredients and it actually looked very tasty. I could do this.

  I spent over an hour preparing my home cooked meal. Stirring the pot, I realized one thing. I sucked at cooking. I could never have a family. They would starve to death. Maybe I was supposed to cook the hamburger and macaroni first. This was just gross. I did taste the creation, hoping it tasted better than it looked. It didn’t, and I fed it to the garbage disposal while dialing the number for Chinese. I should take a class.

  ***

  I tried my best to stay focused on what my dad was saying. I knew it was important, and if I was going to be given a shot on a case like this, I had better know what was up. John Lawson was a big time lawyer in Philly. He was always on my television. Accusing him of adultery would be big around the community. I needed to make sure all my peas were in the right pod. I kept looking to Matt with other things on my mind. I know, I thought, perking up and nodding to my dad as he spoke to me.

  “This is ridiculous, Luke. She shouldn’t be on this case.”

  “She’ll be fine. She’s a McClelland.”

  “Yeah, sure she is,” Matt spouted, got up, shoved his chair, and glared at my dad.

  What the hell? Everyone else followed his lead and left the room, too.

  “Why is he mad?” I asked my dad.

  “Don’t worry about it. You just stay focused and lay low. You can’t let anyone see you, not with this guy. We clear?”

  “Yeah, yeah, I got it. Don’t worry,” I assured him. I had it because I was going to recruit Matt to help.

  “Hey, you want to help me out on this one?” I asked, stopping at his desk. He looked up to me with weary wrinkles in the corners of both eyes. He looked tired.

  “No. I want you to go in there and tell Luke Hardheaded McClelland that you don’t want to do this case. You’re going to get hurt. This isn’t something you need to be meddling in. He’s lost his freaking mind,” Matt accused.

  “Well, you could help me.”

  “I may as well. You know why, Small Fry? Because unlike your obstinate father, I’m not about to let you go out there on your own with something like this. This guy isn’t just having a little fling on the side. He’s running a full blown trafficking ring. You’re going to get hurt or better yet, killed.
I tried to tell him that.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked with a frown. “His wife hired us because she thinks he’s cheating.”

  “No, that’s what she thinks. I always check out your cases before you. This one is a lot deeper than that and something big is about to go down. Something you don’t want to be a part of.”

  “Like human trafficking? Here in Philly?” I asked, still perplexed. I was trying to keep up. I just didn’t know how. I wasn’t exactly sure of what he was saying.

  “Yes as in, Mr. Fleming isn’t just practicing law out of that office. He’s running a billion dollar business.”

  “How do you know this?”

  “I’ve been watching him since your dad told me he was giving you this case. Walk away, Cassie. I’m begging you. Go tell him you’re not doing it.”

  “You don’t really tell my dad no. You should know this by now. It wouldn’t matter anyway. If you couldn’t talk him into it, how do you think I will?”

  “Isn’t there something you want out of life? Something more than this? How about that kindergarten teacher thing? You’d be a great teacher.”

  “I don’t think I would be good with kids. I like taking pictures, though.”

  “Pictures?”

  “Yeah, I played around with it some this past weekend. It was fun.”

  “There you go. Go take pictures of babies or something. Get the hell out of here.”

  “Why are you always trying to give me a job with kids? I would be horrible with kids, besides, I can’t yet, but maybe someday. Will you help me or not?”

  Matt shook his head. I knew he was giving in. If what he was saying was true, there was no way he was going to let me go at this alone. I knew him enough to know that, and it would give me a chance to do my own investigating. I could ask him questions while we staked out the place. It was perfect. There was no way I was demanding my father to take me off the case. I needed this case. For now, anyway.

  Matt didn’t really do anything the first day. He spent most of his time on his computer, his phone, and looking at some map. He didn’t include me in any of it and we never left the office. Not what I had in mind at all.