DANCE OR DIE: Two Guys, One Girl. No Voice. No Choice.

by A. E. Murphy

  He gapes at me, lips parted, light eyes shining with interest.

  “I look hot, right?” I say, grinning and giving him a little twirl.

  “You have no fucking idea.” He pushes on his groin and I laugh when I see a prominent bulge.

  “Is that for me?” I tease, tapping him on the end of his nose.

  “It can be,” he whispers, placing his hand against the wall so I can’t pass. “I know how to use it.”

  He leans in and I’m too enraptured by his eyes on mine to realize that he’s about to kiss me and I also kind of want him to.

  Stanley saves the day by clearing his throat and we separate.

  “You ready?” he asks Presley who nods but still lets his eyes linger on me.

  Lane rubs my arm with her hand. “You look beautiful, Scandal.”

  It has been a week since I got grounded and thankfully both of them seem to have forgotten about it. Although they never did tell me a length of time, so maybe my grounding is over. I probably should have discussed this with them.

  “Thanks.” I almost chew on my lip but then I remember my lipstick. “Where are you going?”

  “To see Momma,” Paisley replies and then twirls. “Do you like my new dress?”

  I nod and crouch down to her level, lightly touching the pink and white lace. “I love it so much. Do you think it’ll fit me?”

  “No, and don’t try. You’ll stwetch it.”

  We giggle and I dig my fingers into her side until she pulls away.

  “Have fun on your date,” Stanley says and Presley’s face twists with a glare.

  “You’re meeting Carter?”

  I nod unapologetically. “I’m going to meet his parents.”

  Stanley looks between Presley and me and raises a brow.

  “Ooooh, that’s exciting, why didn’t you tell me?” Lane asks, brows furrowed with frustration. “I would have baked something for you to take.”

  “Lane, if I eat any more of your incredible cooking, poor Stanley is going to have to buy me an entire new wardrobe full of clothes.”

  She flaps a hand at me. “Still… it’s getting serious? It must be if you’re meeting his parents.”

  I open my mouth to reply—

  “Can I talk to you?” Presley asks, gripping my bicep in his hand. “I won’t take long, Mr. Oaks.”

  “Uh-huh,” Stanley mutters, sounding amused.

  I’m dragged out of the house and around it so we’re out of sight of the car. Curlyfry jumps up at the window and starts barking at us until I snap at him to get down.

  I love that dog.

  “You’re dating Carter now?”

  I pull my arm free of his grasp. “I don’t see how that’s any of your business. You know where we stand.”

  “Do I?” he laughs humorlessly. “Do you? Because the way I see it is, if you really like Carter as much as you think you do, you wouldn’t want to kiss me every time you see me.”

  “Who says I do?”

  “Your eyes, your body language, the way you smile at me when I enter a room or turn a corner and you’re there.” He backs me into the wall and cages me in with his strong arms, his head dips and our eyes meet. I refuse to acknowledge what he’s saying, even as lust coils in my belly like a forgotten snake waking up from a deep slumber. “Stop leading him on when we both know he’s not what you want.”

  “You have no idea what I want.”

  “I know what you want better than you do,” he hisses, so close now I can feel his breath against my lips.

  I gasp when he kicks my ankle to the side, forcing me to part my legs. My entire body clenches as his hand disappears up my skirt. I don’t tell him to stop, I don’t even try.

  I let him touch me, I let him pull my panties down my thighs enough for him to get to me without clothing, knowing Stanley or Lane could walk around the corner at any moment. Yet the latter, the getting caught is what makes this feel even more deliriously erotic.

  He glides a finger over the seam of my sex and softly pushes it inside.

  I cry out, letting my head fall back as I clench around him.

  “See?” he whispers arrogantly in my ear. “You’re not that wet for Carter.” He rolls his finger over my sensitive clit and then back down again, exploring me with the experience of a man who has probably done this a lot. My legs are shaking. My feet are burning. I can’t think straight.

  He removes his hand, ignoring my whimper of protest, and I watch without breathing as he sucks me from his finger.

  “Well, if I can’t kiss you here.” He taps that same finger against the lips of my face and then grins triumphantly. “At least I can taste you there.”

  Fuck me.

  “End it with Carter. We both know he’s not what you want.”

  Then he walks away, leaving me to catch my breath and pull up my panties.

  He is so wrong though; I do want Carter. Carter does make me feel this way. Oh boy does he make me feel this way.

  “What am I doing?” I whisper and hear Stanley’s car leave, then another pulls in not long later.

  I round the house and Carter gets out of the car to greet me. He looks incredible in a white button-up and dark jeans with faded patches on the legs.

  I pull his face to mine before he can say a thing and kiss the life right out of him, smearing my lipstick across both of our mouths.

  That pulsing feeling aches in my womb, the same as before with Presley. I claw at him, desperately needing him to touch me, to put himself inside of me.

  Or perhaps I’m just a hussy desperate for the feel of any man. It wouldn’t surprise me. I’m mentally fucked up from the years of abuse I suffered at the hands of men.

  “What’s gotten into you?” he asks softly and I pull him towards the house. “Hey…”

  “House is empty,” I whisper, dragging him along behind me. “How much time do we have?”

  “Not enough,” he breathes, eyes wide with excitement. “Wait… wait.” I stop and look at him over my shoulder, assessing his brown eyes for excitement and something akin to adoration. It makes me feel warm and fuzzy all over. “As much as I want this, and you know I do… Mom’s nearly done with dinner and Dad’s taken an hour off work for this.” Then he admits sheepishly, “You’re the first girl I’ve taken home to meet them, so they’re making it into a huge deal.”

  “Right,” I mumble and calm myself down. “We’ve got plenty of time to look at your penis.”

  He throws his head back and laughs at the sky. It’s contagious.

  I meet Carter’s parents who are so sweet, if not a bit flippant. His dad leaves in the middle of dinner and his mom leaves right at the end. But they’re busy people. They seemed to like me which is great and Carter looks really happy about that.

  We decide to clean the dishes and table together so his mom doesn’t come home to a mess, and I start to get nervous because the house is empty and what’s about to follow is basically my first time having consensual sex.

  As I’m finishing washing the final plate, Carter who cleared the table comes up behind me and pulls my hair to the side so as to kiss my neck. I giggle and squirm as the ticklish tingles flood my system. Though when his hands cup my breasts, I soon forget all about that.

  “You’re so beautiful,” he reminds me as he often does.

  I turn away from the sink, my hands wet, but I push them through his hair anyway and massage his scalp with my fingertips. He groans and his eyes roll to the back of his head. I kiss his neck and suck on the skin below his ear. His entire body jerks against mine and his hands grab my ass, pulling my hips tight against his.

  “You wanna see my room?” he asks, whispering like somebody can hear us which they obviously can’t. Or at least I hope they can’t.

  “Yes,” I blurt eagerly and he takes my hand.

  My phone on the tabletop rings as I pass. It’s Lane.

  “Ignore it,” I say but then his phone rings in his pocket, it’s Stanley. “Since when did he get your
number?”

  “He fixed my car, remember?” he explains and looks at the screen.

  My phone starts ringing again and this time it’s Presley.

  “Something must be going down,” I say with a frown and finally answer the call.

  “Did you know?” Presley spits at me, his tone distraught and angry.

  “Did I know what?”

  “That Stanley and Lane were going to take Paisley from me?”

  I blink rapidly and my hand squeezes the phone. “What?”

  “DID YOU KNOW?”

  “No!” I reply. “I mean… I suggested they take you in… take her in but I didn’t…” I shake my head to clear it and try and get some rational thought back. “What’s going on?”

  “Mom’s signed over parental rights to the Oakses until she gets better or…” He lets his words trail off, the meaning clear, and chokes on a sob. “She won’t let me keep her. She said she wants me to go to college and have a future. And I… I don’t want to lose her.”

  “Oh my God,” I breathe. “Where are you?”

  “I’m walking, I left the hospital. I couldn’t stay there and listen. It’s not fair. It’s not fucking fair.”

  “Come home, okay? We’ll all sit down and figure this out. I’m sure Lane and Stanley are just trying to do the right thing.”

  “They’re stealing my sister!” he shouts. “Please don’t take their side, Scandal. Please.”

  “Okay.” I look at Carter who is on the phone to Stanley. I don’t know what they’re saying and I don’t have time to figure it out. “I’m on your side. I promise. But I need to know everything. So stay where you are, we’ll come and get you and then we’ll go and talk to Lane and Stanley. Okay?”

  He breathes heavily into the receiver and then grunts, “Forget it. What’s the point?”

  The line goes dead and I stare at my phone for the longest time. “Can you take me home?”

  “Sure.” Carter jumps into action, he doesn’t complain, he just gets us to where we need to be.

  The house is lit up in the dark as we pull down the drive. Neither of us have spoken beyond Carter agreeing to go looking for Presley while I figure out what’s going on with Lane and Stanley.

  I kiss him over the console, whisper a thank you, and climb from his SUV. Then I head inside and announce my arrival.

  “In here,” Lane calls from the kitchen.

  “Why did Presley just call me in hysterics?” I ask, looking at them both and then around the room. “And where’s Paisley?”

  “In her room playing with her new doll,” Stanley answers as I fold my arms over my chest.

  “Explain.” Pulling myself up onto the breakfast bar, I stare them both down and place my phone beside me just in case I hear from Presley.

  “You know I’ve been taking Paisley to see her mom, Rebecca, every day.”

  “Yeah. It’s all Paisley talks about.”

  Lane smiles warmly at that. “Well, Officer Myers…”

  “Ex-officer,” I point out.

  “He’s checked into rehab for alcoholism and anger issues. He’s going to be there for some months. There’s a chance he may never come back.”

  My lips part and my heart breaks for Presley. “Did he even say goodbye?”

  “His cigarette started the fire. Fortunately, the insurance and house are in Rebecca’s name, so they are going to pay out and there’s no genuine way they can prove that a cigarette started it. There was faulty wiring in the walls that nobody could have known about. Insurance will pay purely to keep it out of court and it won’t look good on them denying a dying woman her money. Meaning the kids will get the value of that house in cash. Rebecca is going to split it between them and put it in trust funds until they’re old enough to spend it.” Stanley rubs his face with his hands. “She wants Presley to use his for college, lodgings, and to settle down somewhere or even travel when he graduates. She knows he can’t do this with Paisley.”

  “So we had a few long talks with Rebecca and we all decided that what is best for Paisley is that we become her fulltime guardians until Rebecca gets well enough to go home, or Myers proves he’s a fit parent.”

  When I open my mouth to argue, Stanley raises his hand and continues, “He would be welcome to stay until he leaves for college. I offered him my old trailer if he wants his own space. He can visit his sister whenever; however he likes. We are not taking her away from him. We do not want to separate them.”

  “You promise?”

  “On my life,” Stanley tells me. “There are things you don’t know about the choices we have made. Paisley feels like our second chance.” Lane reaches over and takes his hand and they both smile sadly at each other. Meanwhile, my palms are sweaty and his words resonate somewhere deep inside. “You were right when you said we could step up for her. It was a great idea. We’re proud of you and we love you, Scandal.”

  I hop down from the counter and put my phone back in my purse. “I’ll try and speak to him. Okay?”

  “He might listen to you.”

  “Be gentle,” Stanley adds with a sad smile. “He doesn’t know it yet but that boy is ass over head in love with you.”

  Lane snorts and nods her agreement, sending her hair tumbling over her face. She’s normally so well-kempt but her hair twist must have come loose during all the drama.

  “Don’t say that,” I groan and scowl at them, then I make my way towards the door before turning back and asking flatly, “Does this mean I have to leave?”

  Stanley laughs as though I’m hilarious and gathers me into his arms. “You’re not going anywhere, kid. Not even when you leave college. Your home will always be with me.”

  I smile against his squishy chest and hug him just as tight. “Why couldn’t you guys have been my parents? It feels unfair that fate gave me what I had while giving you guys nothing. You know what I mean?”

  He squeezes me even harder and kisses my head.

  Lane starts to sob but I figure it’s because I said I want her to be my mom.

  Stanley opens his arm to her but she shakes her head and walks away.

  “Go deal with the emotional wreck,” I whisper.

  “I heard that!” Lane yells back and I flee the house, giggling as I go.

  “Wait,” Stanley yells after me.

  He tosses me a set of two keys which I catch with my pinkie. Pure luck of course. “Just in case he doesn’t want to come back tonight, those are the keys for the trailer.” Scratching the scruff of his chin, he continues with a heavy breath, “I don’t want him staying on the streets all night. It’s clean enough. Might be a bit dusty.”

  “Thanks, Stanley.”

  “Be back by eleven, kid.”

  “Midnight.”

  “Eleven.”

  I continue on, laughing under my breath.

  As my feet hit the gravel drive, I call Presley but he doesn’t answer. So I call Carter who does.

  “He’s at the junkyard.”

  “On my way.”

  “It’s dark, I’ll come get you.”

  “And risk you losing him? Not a chance.”

  I bike there in the dark, blurring beneath streetlamps as I pass the stores, watching my shadow stretch, shrink, and vanish. It takes me about ten minutes as I’m still not the most poised on two wheels but I am getting faster.

  I pass Carter’s SUV, it’s empty. I scale the fence to the junkyard where there’s a break in the barbs. I can hear Carter shouting for Presley to come down and talk to him.

  “Hey,” I say, surprising Carter. I place my hand on his shoulder.

  He pulls me into his side and nods to the top of the six-stack. Even higher than the one we climbed last time.

  “Presley?” I call and watch him throw something at another something in the distance. There’s a clang when it hits its target. “Should I come up? Or are you gonna come down?”

  He throws another thing at another thing and there’s another clang.

  “I guess I’m
coming up, then,” I move to the lower stack, ready to pull myself up when he stands and starts to climb down.

  When he does, he walks straight into my body, arms by his sides and I hug him and stroke his back. I love that he seeks my comfort. I love that he can get that from me and he’s not afraid to take it.

  “It’s for the best, you know that. They’ll love her. They’re good people.”

  “It’s not fair. I should get a choice.”

  “I know, but your mom knows best. She wouldn’t take Paisley from you if she didn’t think it was best for the both of you.” I grab his hair and pull on it until he’s looking at me with those sad, bright eyes. “Paisley is happy, she’s allowed to make noise, she’s constantly supervised, she’s going to have the kind of childhood that kids like us dream of.”

  He sniffs and looks at the stars in the sky, letting tears slip from his eyes. “I never cried before… until the fire and now I can never stop.”

  “If you need to cry, cry.”

  He wipes his tears away and growls, looking hollow and defeated. “Do you think she’s scared that I’m going to be like my dad?”

  “Your mom?”

  He nods grimly.

  “No,” I assure him, cupping his cheeks. “I don’t think that at all. I think she just doesn’t want you tied down when you should be living your life. I think she wants you to do all the things that she never got to do and be a role model to your baby sister who adores you.”

  “I’m so angry. I feel like they’ve all been going behind my back.”

  “They aren’t. They want you to stay until you graduate, but Stanley said he suggested the trailer if you want your own space.” I try to smile at him. “It’s all working out. You’ve got a job, a place to live, your dad isn’t controlling you anymore, Paisley is loved and protected by really good people, and you have—” I stop myself before I say the wrong thing.

  “I have what?”

  “You have us,” I finish, pointing to Carter who is standing awkwardly off to the side. “We love you.”