Road To Me

by Erica Andrews

  Hey, meet us on 58, couple miles before the exit to pick up Kelly’s car.

  Setting my phone in my lap, I sighed not really wanting to point out the obvious to Kasper who’s tapping on the steering wheel. “Are you sure you want Damon there? You know he’s gonna be a bear.”

  Kasper stopped his incessant tapping, and glanced over at me, “I was sure, Damon’s gotta learn he can’t be a dick all the time and think women are just for one thing. Kelly will be good for him.

  Bullshit. “What, Kelly as a female friend?” I scoffed before I could stop myself. “That doesn’t exist for Damon. You and I both know it.”

  Nodding his head like he agreed with me, Kasper said, “None of us have any female friends, not really. I think Kelly will be good for all of us. A female friend.”

  Who was he trying to convince? Confused, I struggled to put this statement with what he had said earlier.

  “Unless she wants it to become more.” Kasper wasn’t through, though. The over-explaining might make him a good teacher, but did he hear himself? “Right now Kelly wants just friends, and we can do that. Like I said, it’ll be good for all of us to have a conversation with someone of the opposite sex without wanting in her pants.”

  Yeah, he must have misunderstood me back at the house. “Oh, I want in her pants, but I get what you’re saying, spend time with her because we enjoy being around her. I get it.”

  “Good, now let’s make sure Damon gets the message.”

  Rolling down my window, I let the cool breeze in. “Oh, I don’t think you have to worry about him getting in her pants, he won’t stay around her long enough to try.”

  “I think you’re wrong, I think he’s gonna have a hard time staying away, just watch.”

  I hated to argue with Kasper so I just kept my trap shut and decided to watch and see what played out.

  Farther along, we came to a gray car parked on the shoulder. Had to be Kelly’s car. Kasper swung a U-turn past it, then parked in front of it.

  “So, this is where it all began, uh? Just what four, five hours ago? Why does it seem longer?”

  Laughing Kasper shut off the engine. “Yeah you should have seen her, she was all out there just swinging her arms wide in the air. I figured she needed help, but I didn’t know till later she was out of gas.”

  “Did she say how she ran out of gas?”

  He slid out of the truck. “No, but I think there’s a story there.”

  Huh. I followed Kasper to the back of the truck. The rumble of a motorcycle’s engine carried on the early afternoon breeze.

  Crossing my arms, I leaned against the side of the truck. “And there’s Damon.”

  With his hands in his pockets, Kasper joined me in waiting against the truck. “How’d you guess?”

  Kicking up dust and gravel, Damon slowed onto the shoulder of the road. Neither of us moved, instead we waited for him to come to us.

  Stopping a few feet shy of us, Damon seemed ready for battle. “Well, are we gonna do this or are we gonna sit here with our hands down our pants?”

  Kasper sighed but pushed off the truck. “You have such a way with words, Damon. Always have. Always will. I guess.”

  Spreading his arms open wide, Damon countered, “Well you know Kasper, that’s just me. Asshole and all.”

  I didn’t know why today, Damon couldn’t just stuff his assholeness down for just a couple of hours. It was like the lock that usually contained his usual dickness had broken, and he was letting it all out for us all to enjoy.

  Coming around from the side of the truck, I opened the tailgate with a loud clang to grab the guys’ attention.

  “Can we quit arguing about who’s got the bigger dick? Because it was gonna be me anyway. Get your asses over here and help me get Kelly’s car hooked up.”

  Grumbling, Damon stalked over to help but that didn’t seem to stop his mouth. “That’s another thing. Why we are doing all this when we could have just brought gas out here and took her, her car?”

  Kasper huffed out a breath as he hooked up the car to the truck. “Because I was hoping you two would work on it, and make sure that’s all that’s wrong with it.”

  Answering before Damon could cut in with a grueling remark, I said. “Yeah we can, but you know you can work on it, too.”

  Kasper had been working on cars just as long as Damon and I had. He just preferred books to cars. When we were done hooking it up, Kasper wiped at the sweat on his face and just barely caught sight of the grease on his fingers. Rubbing his hand on his jeans, he blew out a breath. “Yeah, I will feel better if y’all give it a once over.”

  Before, I could say anything, Damon huffed out, “Yeah we’ll give it a once over, but you’re driving it to her.”

  Kasper cut his gaze to me quickly. “Deal”

  Grumbling something under his breath, Damon headed toward his bike. Without stopping, Damon hopped on his bike. After revving it, he blew out of there like the hounds of hell were on his tail.

  Fuck. Jerking my attention to Kasper who was going over the chains, hooking Kelly’s car to his truck, I shook my head. “Well, I’ll be damned.”

  “I told you. I told you he would.”

  Conceding, I studied him. “Yeah, ya did, but I’ve gotta ask a question?”

  He eyed me. “And what’s that?”

  I spread my hands. “Who’s gonna tell him, though?”

  Five

  Kelly

  1. I wasn’t a singer.

  2. I was a passable dancer.

  3. If alcohol was involved with the first two, it could cause problems.

  Freedom! I didn’t think I’d ever experienced this much freedom. The closest to this feeling was when I moved out of my parents’ house and into my dorm rooms for college. But that was nothing compared to this.

  No Trevor telling me how I should act. No roommates who told me to be quiet because they were studying. It was just me and what I wanted, and what I wanted to do now was dance, and sing loudly—very loudly to the most vulgar and inappropriate music. The kind a lawyer’s wife was not supposed to listen too. That’s why, as I cleaned this house, getting ready for my stuff to be delivered tomorrow, I had Buckcherry Crazy Bitch playing in the background.

  To further celebrate my freedom in my new house, I happened to be pantless and braless which I’d found was most comfortable. Making my way down the hallway as I shook my hips to the beat, I belted out slightly off key. Though I was no Mariah Carey, what did I care? No one was around to hear my singing failure. Yelling at the top of my lungs because I could, I decided to do the Risky Business slide… freedom!!!”

  Sliding from the hallway toward the front door I spun toward—someone was standing in my house. I screamed. “Damon, What the hell!”

  Standing there with his back against my door and arms crossed was the last person I would’ve ever thought would be at my door at this time of night. Or any night for that matter. We didn’t exactly have the warm and fuzzies for each other.

  Trying to salvage what little dignity I had—which at this point was as negligible as my clothes. Because face it, how much can one have sliding down the hallway half naked?

  Avoiding eye contact with the blond giant, I strategically placed my hands on my body, trying to cover my panties and nipples that had seemed to take the time to decide to become hard and jut out like the little attention whores they were. Where the hell were my pants?

  It took a moment, but I found them—in Damon’s hands. I slid my feet sideways in shuffled steps toward him, which was a better choice than facing the ass.

  Once in arm’s reach, I snatched my pants from his hands and then ran behind the kitchen counter because I’d embraced my denial that he’d basically seen everything. After zipping my jeans on, I faced him. “Where did you get those, and exactly how long have you been standing there?”

  With a slight smirk on his face Damon ambled over to the small counter separating us. Leaning over the counter, and bare inches from my face, he
said, “Oh, I think I got here in about time for the twerking and that memorable chorus.”

  Before I could make a smart ass rebuttal. Damon stepped back and proceeded to mimic my exact dance earlier. The only difference was I didn’t think I looked that hot doing it.

  Had I suddenly landed in the Twilight Zone? Only instead of Rod Serling, I got Damon rocking his hips like he was the star attraction in a Magic Mike show. I couldn’t help but follow their motion with my gaze like a starving woman.

  In this case, I guess I was starving for a few things. Or maybe one thing specific. I swore, who knew dickhead could move like that? When his hips halted, I dragged my gaze up to his face. Busted. I’d been caught staring. The blood rushing to my cheeks was a lot like catching on fire. Instead of being mature, I decided to go on the defensive. Placing my hands on my hips, I stared into his eyes with a challenge. No, I didn’t have a problem with him catching me. I was such a liar.

  “You know most guys would have waited outside or come back later. Maybe even rang the doorbell?”

  Walking back toward me in a way that just read danger, I couldn’t seem to move as he walked closer. Tilting his head and bending his knees slightly so he was eye to eye with me, he grabbed a piece of my hair and twirled it around his thick fingers slowly. “I’m not most guys, and I wouldn’t have missed that performance for anything. Just like I’m sure you wouldn’t have wanted to miss mine.” Dropping my hair, he stared at me for another second then turned toward the door.

  “Wait!”

  Turning around, he raised his eyes and asked, “What?”

  I circled the counter and followed him. “Why did you come here? Did you want something?”

  Moving closer, he nudged my chin up with a gentle finger to my chin. “Oh darling, I want a great many things, but I don’t think you want to know them.” Leaving me speechless, he stopped only when he had his hand on the doorknob. “And sugar, next time you might want to lock the door.” With that last parting shot, he left.

  Without hesitation, I raced to the door and turned the lock. Seconds later, his motorcycle roared as he took off. Sliding down the door, I tried to get a grip on my hormones and what had just happened. The music was still playing. It took a moment to penetrate the hormone fueled haze. Sitting still, I listened for what song was on.

  Ironically, Good Girls Bad Guys was playing. Damon was a very bad guy. Or at least bad for me. He just oozed sex appeal like a normal guy would ooze sweat. I bet even his sweat smelled sexy. Though I wasn’t about to find out.

  Trevor would barely sweat, he deemed it “off-putting” and that men only sweated when working out with other men. Bringing myself up on my knees, I checked out the window to make sure Damon was really gone. What little I knew of him, he came across like a guy who would mess with my head. Not seeing a motorcycle, I pulled myself the rest of the way up and sat in one of the few chairs left behind by the previous renters.

  Why had he come? He—didn’t even say why he was there. I meant, wasn’t like he had been overly nice to me at the diner. Judging by his earlier attitude, I believed he found me sorely lacking. Though he was nice enough to help get my car. Though I don’t know how much he wanted to help or was forced to help. But thinking about it, I didn’t think anybody could force Damon to do anything. Then again, why did he come to my place, now? What was up with that?

  Not that I was interested. I meant, I wasn’t interested in any men at all right then. Especially after Trevor the rat. I wanted to find me, and do what I wanted for once. To do that I didn’t need a man. Though, I had to admit having eye candy around could be beneficial.

  Hmmm.

  But after breakfast at the diner, it seemed Kasper was interested and maybe Dean, too. Both of them might have just been being nice. Being married to Trevor for six years, I couldn’t remember what it was like to flirt or just to be decent. How were girls supposed to know, if the guy was just being nice or if he was just flirting?

  So confusing. I couldn’t believe on my first day in now my new town I wanted to call home I met three guys who were hot as sin and I’d induced a no dating policy. Maybe it was for the best since I apparently couldn’t even tell who was flirting and who was being nice.

  I readjusted my ponytail and took a big breath. The sun was down, it was my first night in my new town, my new house, and my new life. I went to the radio and twisted the knob to crank the music louder. Before I lost my courage I proceeded to take my pants back off and returned to my dance. Tomorrow would probably be awkward, and I’d probably drool over all three of them when they got here but for now it was me time.

  My house. My rules. My dance.

  Hell yeah.

  Six

  Damon

  Dammit!

  I jumped on my bike to get away from the girl. To get away from all the talk about the girl. To get away from the girl’s car. To just get away from the girl period. Everything seemed to be about the girl. Just stop with the girl. Yet, somehow that was exactly where I ended up. Or where my bike took me.

  If you were to ask Kasper, he would want to analyze why, out of all the places to go, I chose her place. Hell, he probably already had it in his head that I’d half fallen for her. I’d learned wanting sex didn’t equate to love. It just meant she made my dick hard which was nothing special. But I wasn’t Kasper, and so I wasn’t going to ask why, after fiddling with her car, I somehow ended up coming here of all places.

  I sped up slightly. Trying in vain to get that image of her dancing in barely anything out of my mind. It seemed to be permanently burned in my head. As I stood there at the door and watched her prancing around, I couldn’t tear my gaze away.

  I swore I knocked like three times. I heard the music and worried something might’ve been wrong. What was with the music she had going? The little bit didn’t seem like the type who listened to Buckcherry. What she seemed liked was more Kasper’s type of country girl. Not mine at all. That was the last thing I needed right now.

  A girl who could dance to Buckcherry, albeit badly. A girl who made quips just as fast as I could. A cute caramel-haired girl, who had already earned the interest of my brother and best friend. It hit a little too close to home. I didn’t need this right now. I didn’t even want this right now. I didn’t want to think about the question marks in my head when it came to all these thoughts I had about her.

  My brother or Kasper could have her for all I cared. I ignored the churning in my stomach when I thought of her dancing like that for them. They both seemed fine with both liking her. It was all the assholes talked about when they’d been going over the car. So I guessed the next stop would be for them to start dating. What happened when she decided she didn’t want either? Or worse, she picked one. Sure, she just wanted to be friends now. What about when that wasn’t enough? Were they gonna be able to handle it?

  I wouldn’t. I was man enough to admit it, I didn’t play. None of them were thinking long term. Kasper acted like he was the mature one. But had he thought about six months from then? A year? Could this one little woman, screw up a lifetime of friendship? I barely liked Camille, and she came close. With Kelly, there wouldn’t be close, it would’ve been demolished.

  Twisting and turning, I took the curves as fast as possible. Trying to get the one place I found solace. Growing up here, I knew these curves like the back of my hand. Of course, thinking of curves took me back to Kelly and the way she moved when dancing. I swore it was like I was a hormonal teen who hadn’t gotten any ass in forever. Everything I did brought me back to her.

  Why?

  She wasn’t that special. I meant, I could admire how a little thing like her wasn’t intimated by me. Most men usually were. Picking up speed on my Ducati monster, I headed out past the town limits. I thought back to the restaurant. I bet if she saw me now with my Deadpool jacket and Deadpool helmet, cruising up to ninety on my motorcycle, she wouldn’t have thought I was Pooh Bear. Yeah, she didn’t think I knew what she meant by that smackeral comment, bu
t I had. Maybe I should take her for a ride, see if she would call me Pooh Bear then. The idea made me smile, and the more I thought on it, the more the idea had merit.

  I just hoped she wouldn’t think I was doing it for her. It’d be more for me and my amusement. I didn’t do stuff for girls to make them happy, or to make them feel special. I’d learned. I might’ve once been that guy, until Camille.

  Camille… that bitch got me good. Kasper and Dean didn’t think I realized it, but I’d changed. I was an asshole and girls deserved better. I just couldn’t bring myself to care. Thinking about Kelly and how I’d just danced for her. I realized I hadn’t done that in a long time. Maybe I’d allowed Camille to change me too much. It’d only been in the last few months that I’d gotten back to myself. The me before Camille.

  I had been working on myself those last few months. At my secret solace away from everything, everybody. It was where I was headed now. I loved to sit by the lake alone, to sort through my shit. I didn’t need another woman coming in and screwing up what little progress I’d made. And I had made progress. I just didn’t tell Kasper and Dean, because…

  Hell, I didn’t know why I didn’t tell them. Maybe if I was being honest with myself, I’d say it was because if I failed, only I would’ve known. It was a lot harder to fall when people were watching the descent.

  I would’ve told the guys eventually that there hadn’t been as many one-night stands, so much as drunken hangovers. Most of the times they thought I was headed to the bar, I’d been on the way to the lake. The lake was my escape. At least until I could get my head clear. Somehow, I pictured a lot of future visits to the lake now that Kelly might be a permanent fixture.

  Maybe I could have a conversation with the guys about all this. Maybe when I’d gotten my shit together, and didn’t need a drink or the lake to feel better. Maybe when I didn’t have to worry so much about a stupid girl and her stupid dancing. Maybe when I thought of more than how I’d wished I’d stayed, instead of left. Shaking my head to clear my thoughts, I focused back on the road. At least on the road, the only person I could argue with was myself.