by Jenny Rose
I walked from the shed to find that Lance had met me at the bottom of the stairs with his roller blades in his hands.
“Hold up a sec, I’m coming with you.” He placed his socked feet into the wheeled boots, clamped them down securely and stood up, slightly wobbling.
“Nobody roller blades anymore, you know.” I said. He pushed off with confidence and rolled past me, stuck out his neck and sang his reply of,
“Only old ladies ride banana seat bikes.”
He was right, I did need a new bike but it served its purpose of getting me up and down the seawall and it’s saved me more than once from having to drive drunk. Leaving the myriad assortment of restaurants and bars, all I would have to do is cross the street and I’d be on the paved sidewalk of the seawall and if I continued far enough, I’d reach the cutoff to the cove where the summer home was located.
I watched my shirtless, tanned and toned stepbrother skate ahead as the two of us crossed Main Street and made our way to the sidewalk that lined the beach. Down below, I saw that families played, couples cuddled and teenagers were already hanging out under the pier, undoubtedly sneaking cigarettes or even toking some pot. Under the pier was where I got my first kiss from a boy named Chris, who happened to be Scott’s best friend at the time. Things didn’t work out between Chris and myself and when I returned the next summer, he had moved and Scott was more than happy to spend his summer in an attempt to woo me. I finally gave in at the end of August that year, right before we were due to return home and I lost my virginity to the sexy surfer with amazing abs and pearly white smile. It was awkward and neither of us knew what we were doing at the age of sixteen; both virgins with more ambition than skill or knowledge.
The summer of my seventeenth year, we’d both had a bit more experience and decided to give it another try and found that we’d both learned so much to teach the other and we ended up spending the entire summer together either renting motel rooms or sneaking around any time mom and Jason would be out of the house. Scott’s mother worked nights at the Stop and Shop but she usually had a boyfriend or some other type of overnight guest, so his place was usually out of the question.
Scott and I had managed to get together and screw like rabbits every year since our first peculiar experience and even though we’d gotten excellent at what was once terrifying and strange, we just didn’t have the feelings for each other that people had when they wanted love, commitment and a relationship from that person. Our relationship would never change because we were friends. Scott was possibly my best friend if you looked at it in terms of length and loyalty. He’d never lied to me and said that my outfit was cute if it wasn’t and I’ve known him since I was twelve, making him the only person in my life that has known me almost as long as my mother. She moved around so much when I was young that I never kept many friends and she moved us to Galveston island right before I turned nine. The only person in my class who didn’t pick on me for being the new kid was an awkward boy named Scott. We lived on the island for about a year before she met Jason and after a few years of dating him on and off, they decided to make it official and get married and move us to Dallas. I hated the city and was pleased beyond all words could express when Jason said that he was buying a home on the cove. He would do anything to make Hannah happy and he knew that her flamboyant lifestyle and free spirit needed the water as much as I did.
“I’d move us to California for the summers if she’d let me but she loves that town.” Jason had said on more than one occasion about my mother and she’d once replied with,
“No matter how hard they get hit, they still keep coming back stronger. I like that.” She viewed the world through her own kaleidoscope and I had to admire her for that. What made it even better was that now I could spend my summers with Scott but we came to realize after graduation that we were just headed in two different directions and we wouldn’t even think about “making it work” but as long as we were unattached, we would bang together like cymbals every chance we got. Last summer, he had a girlfriend with dread locks and an aversion to shaving her armpits but the two of them seemed to get along so well that I didn’t even try to sneak a quickie or flirt with him at all.
I was snapped out of my thoughts when I saw the reaction of a group of girls as Lance skated past them and I wanted to laugh as they all turned their heads to check out his chiseled backside. Knowing that he couldn’t hear me because of the music being pumped into his head, as I rolled by, I said,
“And he fucks like a rabid jackrabbit on crack, too.” Managing not to burst into laughter, I heard one of them gasp, one shriek, “Oh, my god!” and the other one yelled, “You hold on to him girl or I’m stealing that!”
I thought of stopping and telling them that he was also ludicrously rich but that just seemed too good to be true and they’d think I was lying about something. There’s no way that men who look like Lance are single, rich, amazing in bed and built like Greek gods. Men like that just didn’t exist but there I was, following behind one on our way to buy basic essentials. I had to remind myself that he was Lance a couple times because I definitely saw what had made the group of girls gawk at him. His ass looked as if it had been hand sculpted by God, Himself and his muscular legs suggested that he was excellent at stand-up sex, possibly holding a girl of my stature firmly against his waist as he banged her against a wall.
What? No. Wait.
I looked at my stepbrother and shook my head, telling myself, “He had horrible acne until he was nineteen and he often whimpers in his sleep. It’s Lance, asshole. Stop. Just stop.” Sure, I couldn’t deny that he was gorgeous but there was no way that I could allow myself to have those types of feelings for him, even if I didn’t share them. He was my stepbrother. Period.
He pressed the button indicating that he wished to cross the street and I pulled up beside him. He pulled the earbuds from his ear and looked to me with a stone face and said,
“Rabid jackrabbit on crack? Come on, now. That makes me sound spastic.” He placed the music back into his ear and waited for the light to turn into a walking man instead of the red figure who stood so still.
Chapter Five
With a few groceries in the house, we did the only logical thing: went out to eat lunch. Neither of us wanted to cook so we ended up at a local seafood joint and stuffed ourselves with crab legs and oysters. Of course, he had to tell me that oysters increased not only his libido but his stamina, as well, and he was pretty sure that he could get the waitress to come home with him.
“I bet that the crabs on your plate aren’t the only ones she’ll give you, either.” I sipped my light beer and he nodded with a sage look on his face.
“Too wise, you are. Yes, yes, you speak truth.” He raised his beer to me and I met his with a light clink. “I still bet I could do it.” I turned and looked at her and sized her up in my mind then with a scowl, replied,
“Surely, you don’t mean Trailer Park Tammy over there?” I don’t know why I was putting the girl down because she wasn’t an unattractive woman but something in me wanted him to see her as not good enough for him. Was I becoming a hater? Oh, my god. I was a hater.
“She’s not so bad. Her ass is kind of cute and I bet she’s a squealer.” He placed a half-shell to his lips and slurped the oyster into his mouth and down his throat as he raised his eyebrows up and down.
“You’re disgusting. At least try and keep it down a little. That one from last night needed a damn muzzle.” I took another sip of my beer then placed it on the table and turned my head to find the waitress to indicate that I wanted another.
“I’ve had louder, I promise.” He grinned and gave me a sly wink and I rolled my eyes and tossed a French fry at his face.
“You know when my check clears, I’m enrolling you into charm school, right?” I flipped him off and belched, rubbed my stomach then said,
“Ahh. Good brewski.” I usually had good manners but he was just asking for the belch and since there were only two other p
atrons in the restaurant, I figured I could get away with the uncouth move with little to no harm.
“Charming, Ray. It’s a wonder nobody’s snatched you up yet.” I shook my head slowly and looked at him like he’d just said the most ignorant thing ever.
“You got that one wrong, mister. I don’t want to be snatched up, for your information. I like my life just the way it is and that includes not having some man to answer to or ask where I’m going or what’s on my mind twenty four hours a day.” I got the waitress’s attention and motioned to our empty bottles and she nodded in affirmation.
“Wow. You are such a guy.” He raised his eyebrow and tilted his head. “You haven’t switched teams on me now, have you?” I tossed another fry, this time connecting with his forehead. “Hey, watch it. I’m rich now, I can afford the best lawyers to sue your ass.” I let out an audible chuckle and said,
“Go right ahead. I think I’m good for about thirty thousand in student debt and the rusty Nissan but go right ahead if it makes you happy but before your lawyers can help you, I’ll kick your arrogant ass all the way back to the house.” Sticking out my tongue at him, I crossed my legs and folded my arms across my chest with a wink. Our waitress promptly returned with two new beers and I looked at him and said,
“Seriously, though. Do you think you will still be “Lance who eats raw oysters and drinks beer at the hole-in-the-wall” once your paperwork is finalized?” He grinned and replied,
“If I turn into “Lance who snubs those who eat at the hole-in-the-wall” you have my permission to beat the shit out of me with my own golf clubs.” He sipped his beer and I laughed.
“You golf?” He shrugged and replied,
“I own clubs. I don’t think you can actually call what I do on the course actual golf. It’s more like a grown man chasing a ball around an empty field all day with no end result. I’m horrible but I look pretty sweet behind the wheel of those carts, man. The chicks: they dig the plaid pants.” I rolled my eyes and sipped my beer, thinking how grateful that I was for Lance. He was the perfect friend for me and was more than what I thought a brother should be which is why my attraction to his sweaty and muscular form struck me as a bit odd. I’d never thought of him in a sexual way even though I had always appreciated his looks. He just came back from school in a lot better shape than he got there this year, that’s all. Lance was definitely a late bloomer, having been scrawny and gawky during his high school years and filling out his masculine form after leaving the bosom of Hannah’s nearly vegetarian household. Red meat definitely did his body a world of good and I had to avert my gaze to keep him from catching me sneak a peek.
“You about ready to go after this one?” He asked as he raised his beer to his lips. I nodded and took a few long pulls on my beer and noticed that he, too, was seeming to finish his beer, so I raised my bottle a bit, as did he. He was watching me out of the corner of his eye and I winked to him as I finished the last swallow and placed my empty bottle on the table.
“You still drink like a girl.” He finished the last of his beer and gasped as he took the bottle from his lips and shook his head.
“No. You just got a head start, that’s all.” I couldn’t help but chuckle as I fished into my pocket for a tip for the waitress and he slapped my wrist. “What the hell? Billions. Hello?”
Shaking my head and rolling my eyes to him, I stuffed the bills back into my shorts and said,
“Fine, don’t forget to get her number while you’re at it.” He only smiled and said,
“I’m one step ahead of you. She’s coming over tonight when she gets off work and we are going out, somewhere where she’s not going to need all those clothes.” Somewhat surprised by his behavior, I shrugged it off as his first few nights back and blowing off a little bit of steam before he was bombarded with more money than he knew what to do with and that was going to be the real test of character. Granted, Lance was already wealthy beyond most people’s expectations and I’d say that before the sale, he was already worth a few million but the merger of his company and sale of his interactive technology was going to put him on the Forbes top ten list and I wasn’t sure how that kind of inflated ego was going to affect the young at heart playboy.
“Try not to hit this one in the tonsils from the bottom this time.” He gave a hearty chuckle and said,
“I make no promises. None, at all.”
The ride back to the house was filled with small talk and chit chat but what I was actually thinking about was if I should call Scott or not but I was leaning more towards a night alone with nothing but the sounds of crashing waves to keep me company and possibly a late night skinny dip. Luckily for me, I was used to the single life and time by myself and more than likely, I’d end up in the kitchen with a bottle of wine and a few ingredients, just experimenting and seeing what I could come up with and to me, this was the true definition of culinary arts. Creation in its truest form, with no structure or recipe and nothing except instinct, intuition and the intense desire to come up with something original was one of the main reasons that I chose to cook. Not to mention that I loved the reactions people give when they enjoy something that is truly delicious. Men who smile when they chew and women who close their eyes with an orgasmic expression on their face when biting into a juicy morsel were my reason for living.
Chapter Six
I decided against creativity and went for ease, choosing pasta with steamed vegetables and a splash of olive oil then took it on the deck with a bottle of wine. Lance had been long gone and in his absence, I strutted around the house topless in my boy-short cut panties. Normally, I wouldn’t have even given him a second thought before parading around in my underwear and I’d even let him come in my room while I was changing before, but he wasn’t as gorgeous and I was just a tomboy kid then. Something had changed about the way I looked at Lance and I couldn’t help but think it was all because of the way he made the stripper moan. Sure, I’d heard him having sex before but it was never erotic or even slightly entertaining unless you considered it comical. It seemed as if I had to make a conscious effort not to think naughty thoughts about my stepbrother and it was making me tense.
I loved the feeling of knowing that we had a private beach behind the house and no neighbors and sitting on the back porch in the moonlight was something that I could do without fear of passersby or prying eyes. I could see down the beach far enough to know if someone approached, which was unlikely since it was off the beaten path and those who would be this way knew the property was private. I stood and walked down the steps and placed my toes in the sand, closed my eyes and stretched out my arms as I raised my face towards the heavens. I took a running start towards the water and once I was in knee deep water, I dove head first into the next wave that rushed ashore. Waves at night were rather calm and more like swells that slightly broke as they fell to land but it was enough to shoot through the water and come out the other side, arch my back slightly so that I could pull my feet underneath and get my footing before standing and wiping my hair out of my face then sliding my palms from my forehead to my chin to rid my face of any seawater. I turned back toward the house and enjoyed the night breeze as it tickled my back as I walked back to the house to sit back in my lounger on the deck. I placed my hands over my head and reclined the seat back so I could gaze at the moon and inhale the ocean breeze. Letting the night creep over my body made me feel as if I didn’t have a care in the world and the fresh air that filled my lungs escaped them in a long, slow exhale that seemed to take my stress away with it. Being away from school was what I needed more than anything because it seemed as if I had gotten to the point that I was ready to be done with it all. Forgoing college after high school was a decision that I often regretted but the life experience I gained in those years beats anything that I learned in the CB Kitchen. Luckily, I only had to prove that I knew everything I’d been taught and next semester would be the last time I had to step foot on campus.
I reached over and picked up my s
wimsuit cover and slid it down my taut arms and let it fall to my waist before lying back on the lounge chair to stare at the stars. The breeze was cool as it rolled in with the rising tide and I allowed my thoughts to wander as I gently ran my fingertips across my abdomen, sending shivers throughout my body. My mind quickly ran to Scott and the thought of calling him for a quickie ran through my mind but I decided against it. I wasn’t really one for casual sex but it never felt like that with him, more like a standardized greeting or staple of our friendship. Sex was just that with Scott: sex. I didn’t expect love or commitment, nor did he and neither of us even thought about falling in love with the other. We did have a love between us but it wasn’t the “marry you, have your babies and live happily ever after” kind of love. What we had was more like a brother and sister type relationship that happened to involve sex, kind of what it would be like if I were to sleep with Lance. My mind drifted to his tall frame and the definition of his muscles and I wondered what it would be like to be held in his loving embrace. I sat up in my seat and shook my head.
“Stop it, you weirdo.” I said the words aloud and was glad that there was nobody around to catch me talking to myself because I was, in fact, being a damn weirdo. Deciding to go inside, I took the half empty bottle of wine from the patio table and walked back into the house, locking the door behind myself. Putting the bottle to my lips, I took a long swig as I walked to my bedroom, through the open floor to the double French doors that opened up to my balcony, which contained a small table and two chairs. Allowing the breeze to enter the room, I plopped onto the bed and grabbed the remote to the television which had been lying on top of the pillow. I leaned against the headboard as I turned the station to a classic movie channel and sipped on the wine before placing it on the nightstand.
