Wheels of Steel, Book 1

by Pepper Pace

  “Too late.” Link piped up. “Wheels of Steel is officially no more.”

  Robin gave Jason a curious look. Wheels of Steel was no more…What? He just shrugged. “We decided to ‘unofficially’ disband. But it’s a secret.”

  “We’re not going to make any new music as a group. We’re just going to do our own thing.” Link added.

  “Oh ok…I hate to hear that. You guys were really good.”

  Amberly eyed her. “Did you like the videos?”

  “Yes. I thought they were great!” Robin replied. She was still standing in the middle of the room as if she needed an invitation to enter so she quickly sat down in the arm chair.

  “Patty and I did the videos.”

  “They were really good. Oh, some guys were outside wanting to hear you all jam. So I told them about the party tonight-”

  “It’s only for college students.” Amberly said. “So I hope they don’t show up; because without a college I.D. they’ll be turned away at the door.”

  Oh shit…those guys will probably be pissed, too. And she didn’t have a college i.d. She hoped they wouldn’t give her any problems entering.

  “Come on let’s finish jamming.” Jason wheeled back to the computer.

  “Oh Sweetheart!” Patty said. “You should have heard the shit they just laid down! Do you know the movie Beat Street?”

  Robin shook her head.

  “Oh…wow…Jason, you’re going to have to school your girl.” Link said playfully. “Check out the TV. Beat Street is THE most important event to occur in hip hop culture. A film shot from the perspective of the people that revolutionized…no, that CREATED hip hop. Without this movie white kids like me would still be playing John Denver!”

  “So you’re saying that Beat Street started a nation of Wiggers?” Amberly asked.

  “No. But it took it from Brooklyn and the Bronx and brought it to…people in the Midwest; to the farmland.”

  “Boy!” Patty said dismissively. “You ain’t never been on a farm in your life!” Robin looked at the movie that was playing on television. It looked like an 80’s B movie but there was some good beats in it.

  Jason started a beat going and like a well oiled machine Link joined in with the scratching. Robin began to relax a little in her chair as she watched him from across the room. Amberly went into the kitchen and returned with bottled water. She handed one to Robin who thanked her politely and then passed one each to her friends, placing Links and Jason’s on the table that the computer sat on. She stared at what Jason was doing.

  “Oooo…let me try Top.”

  He looked up at her. “You want to?”

  “Yeah!”

  “Okay, come on.” Amberly bounced on her tiptoes happily and then sat on Jason’s lap. She mimicked what she’d seen him doing, pressing the buttons in the same sequence that he had and she created a very nice beat. Link followed her every move with a responsive scratch sound. Amberly laughed happily.

  Robin felt a little tense. She came over to join them and watched Amberly bouncing up and down on her boyfriends lap. She couldn’t lie that she didn’t like it. But she’d seen it before and figured it was ‘acceptable’ in their circle.

  Amberly flubbed a little but even so, it still sounded good. Jason guided her to the correct buttons to press and gave her encouraging squeezes when she did good. Patty was mimicking some break dancers from the movie. Wow…she was more than good. Robin wished that she could be as comfortable as they were. Why did things always come so much harder for her?

  “Come over here, Sweetheart. I’m going to show you how to scratch.”

  “Oh…I don’t know…I don’t think I can-” But there was a part of her that wanted to be like Amberly, to not be afraid, to be comfortable.

  “Yeah. It’s easy. Come here.” She went over to him and stood awkwardly watching him scratch. “Now do this.” He did a simple scratch.

  “Okay.” She reached for the controls. “Sit here.” He patted his lap. Her face felt hot but she did as he asked. Then she reached for the controls again. She had seen Jason making beats before but had not seen him scratching with controls. But she did exactly what Link did and when it sounded over the speakers she grinned proudly.

  Link clapped. “That’s it! Good job, Sweetheart!”

  He let her freestyle and she and Amberly were playing together! It wouldn’t be a hit on YouTube or anything but it was all hers. She looked over at Jason in excitement. He smiled at her but as soon as her attention turned back to the studio he glared at Link. He couldn’t stop thinking about Link’s dick being separated from Robin by just a few layers of cloth.

  His teeth clenched. “Okay, Amberly. Good job.” He urged her off his lap. “We need to get practicing.” Link glanced at him. “Pshawww, son. We don’t need to overkill on the practice. Hey, me and Sweetheart battle you.”

  Link placed his hands over hers and together they began scratching. “Keep doing that.” Then he moved his hands and began spinning his vinyl. Robin understood what she needed to do to compliment his scratches with hers.

  “Damn.” Patty said. They didn’t sound bad. Amberly watched quietly. Jason just seemed to pout more. Almost angrily he threw out a beat and the three of them played together for a few minutes. It was good, very good in fact.

  By the time Robin had removed herself from Link’s lap Jason was almost redfaced. He couldn’t even think straight! All he could see was Robin’s nude body from earlier and Link with his over used dick only inches from her. He knew he was wrong for wanting to smash his fist into Link’s face but why was his hand’s so comfortably on her hips?! And if he was fucking Patty then why wasn’t SHE sitting on his lap?!

  Robin made to walk past but Jason’s hand snaked out quickly and gripped her wrist. “Come here, Sweetheart. Sit with me.” She did and put her arm around his shoulder and snuggled with him while Link and Patty went awww and made smoochie noises even though they weren’t kissing. Amberly just stood there quietly with a look of misery on her face.

  Chapter 29

  They crowded into the van a while later. Robin wanted to take her own car but Jason insisted that they all ride together. He reached out and held her hand and felt that it was moist. He peeked at her and small beads of sweat had formed on her forehead. He gave her hand a reassuring squeeze and she smiled.

  When they got to Omicron house, Patty helped some of the frat brothers to unload the van so Robin pitched in too. It helped her to feel good to be doing something when she walked into the crowded house. Dance music was coming loudly from the opened door and people were milling around the yard. Once inside she understood why; it was hot, smoky and crowded! Someone brushed against her and she almost dropped the heavy crate of albums that she was holding. Why she had grabbed this instead of a speaker, she wasn’t sure. The guys got busy getting the equipment set up and Patty grabbed her wrist.

  “Let’s get a drink.” She glanced over to Jason but he was preoccupied with running wires, so she followed Patty to the open bar. Several people were already shouting WHEELS OF STEEL even though none of their music was playing.

  “What do you want to drink?” Patty yelled over the loud music. Robin’s eyes scanned the bar seeing bottles of liquor, not knowing the difference from one to the other since she wasn’t a drinker.

  “What are you drinking?”

  “Hennessey.”

  “Oh. I’ll just have a beer.” Patty passed her a can of beer from a cooler. Robin thanked her and looked around.

  “So…this is a college party.”

  “Your first?”

  “Yes.”

  Robin cracked open the beer and took a small drink. She wasn’t a beer drinker but the cool liquid felt good going down her dry throat. She took a larger swallow.

  “Jason’s a real good guy.” Patty said while bouncing slightly to the techno house beat that was currently playing.

  Robin nodded quickly. “He is.” She smiled shyly. “He’s a real good guy.”

&n
bsp; “Sometimes he comes off a little rough.” Patty said. “But that’s only because he’s been hurt bad.”

  Robin frowned. “How do you know Jason?”

  “I met him through Amberly. We share classes and since he hung with her and I hung with her…we sorta just hung together. And we all liked music; hip hop so we gravitated together.

  “Cool.”

  A black guy came up to her. “Want to dance, beautiful?”

  She shook her head quickly. “No thanks.” She looked down at her beer.

  “Aww come on.” He took hold of her wrist and she gave him a surprised look.

  “No. Really…I don’t want to dance.”

  The guy flashed her a bright smile. “Why don’t you give me your number-?”

  “Fucker. Leave.” Patty said calmly. The guy, who plainly had too much to drink, gave her a dismissive look.

  “Not talking to you dyke.” Robin just turned and walked away. She heard some noise behind her; something like a smack or a crack and then something heavy hitting the floor. But she just kept walking until she was back in the room where Jason and Link were setting up the equipment. She held her beer in both hands tightly, almost strangling the can. Jason glanced up and met her eyes, giving her a wink. Her heartbeat stopped racing and she smiled back.

  Patty joined her a few moments later with a fresh drink. Robin gave her an apologetic smile. “Sorry, I’m not good in crowds.”

  “No worry.”

  Amberly came over, she was holding a bottled water. She gave Robin an appraising look. “I like your jeans.”

  “Thanks. I like yours too.”

  “Do you want to dance?”

  Robin swallowed and looked around. “Okay.” She didn’t want to but if she said no, Amberly might think she was just trying to be stuck up. They danced; Robin doing nothing much more than a two step while periodically moving her shoulders. She sipped her beer just to have something to do but soon it was empty. Amberly was dancing, swinging her long hair and looking comfortable even if she didn’t quite look like she was dancing, more like she was spasaming. Patty actually looked good dancing but she wasn’t doing anything as wild as break dancing; just grooving to the beat.

  Suddenly the sound of scratching could be heard and the music stopped. Link said; “Testing…Testing. One two, one two, on the mic is Link and my main man Top. We’re going to do our own thing up here. Y’all cool with that?!” The crowd roared. “Y’all ready for a little Ol’ Skool?!” Again there was madness. Robin felt her heart drum in anticipation. Link sure was good at getting the crowd going!

  “IT’S WORKING! IT’S WORKING…PARTY PEOPLE IF YOU’RE READY TO ROCK LET ME HEAR YOU SCREAM!” And they did just that. The crowd knew that the routine Jason and Link went through was from the movie BEAT STREET because they began chanting Beat Street, Beat Street over and over. A bunch of white kids knew more about this hip hop movie than she did. She was going to definitely check it out.

  Robin watched Jason, mesmerized as he seemed transformed when he was performing. He was completely lost in his actions. She became lost in it as well as her body began to react to the music. Patty placed a fresh beer in her hands and she gave the girl a grateful smile. The beer helped to loosen her up and soon she was moving in ways that she never knew she could.

  Jason’s eyes would meet hers and he’d give her a wink and she felt like she was flying on cloud nine. She up-ended the beer can to her lips but it was empty. How did that happen? Did she drink it all? She danced her way out of the room and into the next room where the open bar was located. She looked around wondering why she had ever been so nervous. No one cared about her and they were all just trying to have fun!

  She picked up the bottle of Hennessey wondering what it tasted like.

  Jason thought that being a DJ was the way to go. It felt awesome being up here with his best friend and hearing the crowd out there cheering for them; dancing and feeling what they were doing. And then seeing Robin out there with Amberly and Patty, dancing and enjoying herself was the icing on the cake. And by the way…he was getting paid for this!

  He glanced up and searched for Robin. He saw Patty and Amberly but not her. She was probably in the bathroom. Jason and Link moved from Old Skool to techno; which was Link’s thing but he was feeling it as well. He glanced up again, and still didn’t see her. He felt a bit uneasy. He tried to catch Amberly or Patty’s eyes but both were grooving too hard. He cursed under his breath and continued to play.

  A few minutes later when he still hadn’t seen her, Jason leaned in to Link. “Let a song play out.” Link nodded his okay. He put on a long dub step that would end in a hard drum solo. It would give him about twenty minutes. He wheeled from behind the table and several people immediately converged on him.

  “Top that was hot!”

  “Top you gotta upload that to YouTube!”

  “Top you are the greatest…”

  He tried to politely acknowledge them but it was soon apparent that his wheelchair was not getting through the thick crowd of people. He felt panicked and anxious. How could he find Robin if he couldn’t move ten feet in front of himself?!

  “Patty! Amberly!” They looked over at him and came to him with all smiles. “Where’s Robin?”

  Patty blinked. “Dancing…” She looked around. “She was dancing.”

  “I haven’t seen her for over half an hour.” He said urgently.

  “She’s a big girl, Jason.” Amberly said with a stony look in her eyes.

  “Well she’s not used to crowds. Look, can you check to see if she’s in the bathroom?”

  Amberly sighed but did as he asked.

  “I’ll check to see if she’s in the other room. She had a couple of beers.” Patty said while hurrying away.

  “Top!” A drunken girl slithered up to him and sat in his lap. She wrapped her arms around his neck and her drink went down the back of his shirt…she’d evidently forgotten that she was holding one.

  “Shit.” He gently nudged her away and she pouted and called him something unintelligible. He tried to look through the throng of people but couldn’t see two feet in front of him. They were dancing wildly in front and in back of him. He was basically trapped.

  His teeth clenched in a panic. Why hadn’t he told her the rules of a college party; stay with your friends, don’t take any drinks from anyone you didn’t know, don’t leave your drink unattended, and for gods sake—don’t go off with someone you don’t know…

  Chapter 30

  Amberly returned an impossibly long time later. “Jason, I checked all of the restrooms, she wasn’t in any of them.” Link whistled shrilly and Jason swung around to him. He gestured for him to get back on stage. The dubstep was at the end of the drumbeat solo. Jason felt numb. He sat there indecisively.

  Jason made a rolling signal with his fists and Link gave him a surprised look. Essentially he was saying; go on without me. He turned away, not able to think about Link right now when Robin was lost…gone…disappeared…kidnapped—he had no idea.

  Patty returned with a look of concern on her face. She knelt down beside Jason so that he could hear her. “She’s not in the other room. I’m going to ask around.” Jason suddenly felt afraid and helpless as he watched his friend push through the crowd of people. He should have brought his crutches, but what good would that have been? One unintentional shove and he’d be sprawled on the floor. He wasn’t the most patient person but all he could do was sit there and wait.