Making Sense

by Lila Rose

  I had enjoyed his time during the game and dinner.

  “Sure, why not. As long as the boys know it’s only as friends.”

  He grinned. “They will. Only it’ll have to be next week. Rick is with me this week, and I like to spend as much time with him as I can.”

  “You’ve got my number,” Den said. I had because Drew asked for it to plan a playdate with Rick. “So call me, and we’ll make a plan from then.”

  “Deal.”

  Chapter

  Six

  Drew and I stood outside Molly and Clint’s apartment ringing the bell. We rang it a few more times when no one answered, which was strange because she was expecting us since it was her idea to take Drew to the arcade game place for some fun. She also liked to kick butt at the games she played against the teen boys who, if weren’t totally in awe of her, would probably cry because they lost to an older woman.

  “Mom, why are you dancing like that?” Drew asked.

  Sighing, I found myself wishing I’d listened to my mom more when I was younger. She’d always said before leaving the house, even when I was young, to go to the bathroom. Usually I did, but I hadn’t, and I was on the verge of peeing myself.

  “I need to visit the restroom, my boy.”

  He started laughing. “Are you going to pee yourself again?”

  The little twerp.

  “That was only one time—”

  “Three,” he chirped.

  I groaned. “Fine, cheeky, three times, and they were all because I got a fright when I was already busting to go.”

  He cackled like a madman, probably remembering the first time I peed myself. We’d been out at the park, and I hated, with a passion, using public facilities. Since Drew was having fun playing on the playground, I left it until I was desperate to use the bathroom and called him over. It was lucky we hadn’t lived far from that park. We made it home, and I was just about nearing the bathroom when John showed up in the doorway scaring the heck out of me. I screamed. Drew came running to see if I was okay and he also got to witness the puddle I made on the ground.

  The second time, Drew hadn’t been around. However, John enjoyed telling our son the story just to see him lose himself in laughter. John and I had been out to lunch while Drew was at school. Again, I left things too late to tell John how I needed to pee because he would have insisted on me using the restaurant bathroom. He’d thought my issue with public restrooms was stupid. So when we’d gotten home, I ran to the front door first, jumping from one foot to another and yelling at John to hurry. Of course he was laughing and pretending to throw the keys at me to catch. Each time he did, I thought he’d end up losing the keys. I didn’t actually believe it would happen; however, as his arm came out ready to throw, I screamed and peed when I saw a bird swoop low toward John’s head. He dropped the keys, and they landed lost in the bush.

  The third time, and last—I hoped—I had stupidly gone out trick-or-treating with Drew, and we were at the last house for the night. I would have been fine if Mr. Dangelo hadn’t jumped out of nowhere yelling in my face. At that moment I hadn’t known who it was, so I screamed my lungs out, picked Drew up, placed him under my arm like a football, and ran for the life of me. All the way home a trickle of pee ran down my legs.

  Finally, the door opened and Molly appeared. “What are you doing down here?” I yelled, causing her to freeze halfway out the doorway. “You should have buzzed us up. I need to pee.” I grabbed her keys, slipped through the door, and started for the stairs.

  “Adalyn,” Molly called.

  “One second and we’ll go.”

  “Adalyn,” she yelled with a bit more urgency in her voice. I had no choice but to ignore it; my bladder was just about ready to explode. I ran down her hallway, and while cupping my sex, I managed to get her key in and unlocked it. Swinging the door open, I kicked it shut behind me and ran to the bathroom in the hall.

  The door was closed, and it nearly caused me to lose my wee all over the floor. I fumbled it open, undid my jeans, and with a few hops and wiggles over to the toilet, I pulled my jeans down and flopped onto the seat.

  Sweet, I’d made it to the toilet without an accident.

  I was proud of myself and sighed in relief when my pee gushed forward. I moaned, and lifted my head, opening my eyes, which I hadn’t even noticed I closed.

  Then I screamed.

  I grabbed the first thing, which was a towel in front of me, to cover my lower half. Only the towel I grabbed someone else had been holding it.

  Someone else had been using it.

  To dry themselves.

  Oh dear God.

  I had grabbed it, throwing it over me, which in turn gave me a view of everything.

  As in everything.

  “You have a penis,” I yelled as I stared at the item in front of me. I hadn’t seen one in the flesh in over two years.

  Mr. Salvatore placed his hands on his hips and said, “It happens when you’re a man.”

  “What… how… why?” I asked his penis.

  “Miss Wallis.”

  “You….” I blinked.

  Holy gosh darn. He was big.

  And getting bigger. How was that possible? A whimper fell from my dry lips.

  “Miss Wallis.”

  “I think….” What did I think? I liked it, that was for sure. I liked his penis. Could a woman not like the man but his penis instead? Well, obviously she could because I was doing it.

  Two years without seeing one and all I wanted to do was touch it, stroke it, and maybe even lick it.

  It was wrong on so many levels.

  Mr. Salvatore bent. I scrunched lower to keep my eyes on his penis, but he stopped me with his finger under my chin. “Adalyn,” he growled out low.

  “Hmm?”

  Bring back the penis, I wanted to demand on a yell, but I was suddenly lost in his eyes.

  Then the realization came back to me. I was sitting on the bloody toilet while my boss stood naked in front of me, and my eyes wanted to make out with his penis.

  Oh. My. God darn it.

  I peed in front of my boss.

  “I peed,” I squeaked, my face heating. No, it wasn’t heating it was burning.

  He smirked. “Everyone does it.”

  Leaning forward, I whispered, “I did it in front of you.”

  He thinned his lips, only I was sure it was to hide the smile that was wanting out, if his twitching lips were anything to go by. He nodded. “You did.”

  Groaning, I slapped my hands over my face and demanded, “You need to get out.”

  “I think, due to the fact you’ve finished, it’s you who needs to leave so I can finish drying myself.”

  My head snapped up. He was now standing with a hand over his junk. A disappointed sigh took hold of me before I shook my head and said, “Yes. I should go.” But I couldn’t move because it was then I took in all of his naked glory. He was buff, very buff, his six-pack was talking to me, and his muscular arms were crying for attention from my eyes as well.

  “Can I have the towel?” he asked.

  Nodding, I whispered, “Could you turn around first?” My eyes widened. “Not that I want to take a look at your bottom. I don’t, but, I um, I have to do up my pants.”

  His brows rose. “You don’t think it fair I get an eyeful since you did?”

  “No,” I yipped. “I’ll close my eyes,” I added.

  He sighed, ran a hand over his face, then he gestured with his free hand. Closing my eyes, I heard him shuffle around. Of course I peeked, I wasn’t a saint after all, and got a nice view of a grabbable butt. However, I didn’t have time to take a good look. Instead, I quickly wiped, stood, and flushed before tucking the towel under my chin to hold it in place in front of me and pulled up my jeans. After washing my hands, I made my way to the door, folding the towel between my hands, worried I would soon be losing my job because I saw the boss naked.

  “Adalyn,” Mr. Salvatore called, just as I was closing the door.


  “Yes?”

  “The towel.”

  I thrust the towel back into the space. He took it, and I quickly slammed the door shut before making a mad dash for the front door. Molly needed more than one towel in the spare bathroom, not that I would tell her because there wasn’t a chance I’d be saying I saw her brother naked. Or the fact I peed in front of him.

  Heck, I never peed or did other things in front of John, and we’d been together a long time. The first time I farted, and he happened to be around, I was mortified. So was he. I made sure he was in another room if I had the need to let one go. Some people could do it in front of others. I couldn’t.

  My face was glowing. I knew it was when I stepped outside and Molly saw me. She took one look and threw her head back, laughing.

  “Not one word.”

  “Did you pee yourself, Mom?” Drew yelled, just as an elderly woman was walking by.

  “Drew,” I scolded. “No, I didn’t.”

  Drew shrugged. “Can we go now?”

  “Lead the way, my man,” Molly said, as she stepped to my side and threw her arm around my shoulders. Drew started off down the road, and Molly whispered, “What happened?”

  “Nothing,” I bit out coldly.

  “Come on, you were like a lobster coming out. You have to tell me.”

  “No.”

  “Adalyn,” she whined.

  “What was he doing in your apartment, Molly?” I hissed.

  She cackled. “He’d just been looking after Grayson’s kids. As he was leaving, Makala threw up all over him. He thought he could put up with smelling like vomit on the drive home, but he couldn’t. I’m close to Grayson’s, so he stopped in, asked for a change of Clint’s clothes and a shower.”

  It was nice of him to be looking after children. Still, I could have done without that whole episode. Again, I groaned and palmed my face. I peed in front of Mr. Salvatore.

  Mr. Sophisticated himself.

  “Was he still in the shower when you got in there?”

  “No.” I shook my head.

  “Then where?”

  “All my attention was on not peeing my pants. I didn’t see him in there. I didn’t see the steam or feel the warm room. I was busting.”

  She snorted, then giggled. “You didn’t?”

  “I did. I ran into the bathroom without seeing him, pulled down my pants and peed.”

  Another giggle. “Oh God. You had a piss in front of Vice.”

  Moaning, I shushed her, and stated, “You are not to mention this to Clinton. Do you hear me?”

  “He won’t say—”

  “He’s like my brother, I’ll never hear the end of it.”

  “Okay, Addy. Relax, my girl. I won’t say a thing.”

  Rolling my eyes, I knew she was lying. She told Clint everything, and I meant everything. Like the time we talked about our periods and how I craved cheese balls every time I was PMSing. One time I was at their place when Clinton got home and guess what I was eating? He’d walked in, took one look at me and paused. Molly had been in their room changing the sheets. He’d looked from me to the hall and then back to me. “Do I need to hide the knives since you’re on your rag? Molly gets stabby when she’s bleeding.”

  Glaring, I’d replied, “How do you know I have my period?”

  He’d glanced down to the cheese balls and then looked back up with a smirk.

  Mumbling under my breath about killing my friend, I’d yelled, “Is nothing sacred between you two?”

  “Nope,” he’d muttered.

  When we arrived at the arcade place, Molly disappeared with Drew, no doubt to teach him how to make others cry, and I took a spot in the cafeteria area, wallowing in embarrassment while drinking my Dr. Pepper.

  Of course, my mind wouldn’t jump past the fact I saw Mr. Salvatore’s penis, or body for the matter. He obviously took very good care of himself. It kind of made me want to visit a gym… and then I laughed myself silly. Walking was my friend, anything else wasn’t since I was clumsy half of the time. Sometimes I even fell over my own two feet. Leaning back in my seat, I wondered when I would stop making a fool of myself in front of Mr. Salvatore. I also wondered why in my head I kept calling him Mr. Salvatore?

  Vice.

  His name was Vice.

  It felt naughty saying his name in my head.

  God. I was losing my mind.

  A shadow fell over the table. I glanced up and closed my eyes. “God,” I groaned.

  “No. Just Vice.”

  Opening my eyes, I noticed he wore casual clothes instead of the suits I’d seen him in, and dang it all, he looked amazing in casual as well. The jeans hugged him in all the right places, and the black tee showed off his upper body well. Bloody heck, I had to stop running my gaze over him. Sighing, I asked, “What are you doing here? You shouldn’t be here after what happened… not that we’re talking about what happened, because we’re not, ever. It shouldn’t have happened.” I needed to shut my mouth. “Do you by any chance have a time machine?”

  His lips twitched. “Not on me, no.”

  “Darn,” I muttered. He suddenly pulled out the chair opposite me and sat down, all serious once again. My eyes widened. “What are you doing?”

  “Sitting.”

  “Why?”

  Please, just go.

  “I don’t want you working in my store,” he stated, his eyes dipping into a glare.

  My jaw dropped. “You have got to be kidding me? You hunted me down to fire me?” Leaning forward, I asked, “Is this because you saw me pee or because I saw you naked?”

  “You didn’t tell me you saw him naked,” Molly screeched behind me, causing me to jump. Twisting around, I saw, thankfully, Drew wasn’t with her. Before I even asked, she pointed to the left, and I saw my son at the basketball game. “He’s fine. So, you saw my brother naked?”

  Sighing, long and loud, I thumped my head onto the table. “Yes,” I mumbled into the wood. “And now he’s here to fire me.”

  Chapter

  Seven

  “You’re here to fire her?” Molly screeched.

  “Inside voice, Molly,” Vice clipped.

  “If I had known that was why you wanted to come here, I wouldn’t have told you where we were. This isn’t fair, Vice. You can’t fire her because she saw your tiny, wittle peeny and you’re ashamed.”

  Turning my head, I saw Molly standing over me with her hands on her hips scowling down at her brother.

  “Jesus.” Vice—who would be forever Vice in my head since he didn’t deserve my respect of Mr. Salvatore because he was firing me—cursed again, then ran a hand over his face. His eyes met mine as I managed to place my elbows on the table and my hands up to hold my head since I was suddenly drained. Mentally.

  He cleared his throat and stared at me. Was he waiting for me to defend his manhood because I’d seen it wasn’t tiny? Well, he’d be waiting forever.

  “Nothing to say?” he asked.

  “Nope,” I replied, making the p pop. “Well, not about that department anyway. What I would like to know is why you’ve come here, on a Sunday, God’s day, to fire me.”

  “I’d like to know also,” Molly huffed.

  “It’s not a place for a mother to work.”

  My eyes bulged. I glanced at Molly and asked, “Did you hear that?”

  “I sure did,” she replied and shook her head.

  “First, it’s a job to help bring in money. I know it’s not a forever job, but it’s one for now, and it’s also a job I don’t tell my son about. One I hope he never finds out about. Still, if that happened, I would deal with it. You can’t fire me over the fact I’m a mother.” I wasn’t sure what I said was understandable. I had so many things rushing through my mind. Like how I wanted to kick Vice once again.

  “I can, and I am. Besides, I’ve another job for you.”

  “I don’t want it. I like where I’m at, and like I said, it won’t be my forever job. I have my own business. Once th
at’s 100 percent profitable, I’ll be working on that as my forever job.” It also wouldn’t lead me to jerkwads like yourself.

  “What is it?” he asked.

  “Does it matter?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why?” I snapped.

  “Just tell me,” he ordered.

  I growled under my breath, and his lips twitched. “Fine. I make jewelry and sell it online.”

  “Right then, until you reach where you need to, you’ll have another job in my company.”

  I coughed, and then blurted, “I’m not getting into porn. That’s worse than selling sex toys.”

  Molly choked as the arcade attendant, a guy in his twenties who looked like he still lived in his mother’s basement, arrived at the table with another Dr. Pepper just in time to hear what I said.

  My cheeks heated. I lifted my gaze and stumbled through, “Oh, um, I, you didn’t hear that, and…” I pointed to the drink. “I didn’t order another one.”

  He winked. “I know. It’s on the house.”

  “Leave now,” Vice barked.

  The guy gulped, nodded, and quickly disappeared. All of which Molly thought was hilarious. Vice then shifted the drink from in front of me to his sister.

  “I’m not talking about the adult industry. I do have other businesses. However, the job I’m offering is the assistant position while mine is on maternity leave.”

  “Do you want to live?”

  His head jerked back at my sudden question. “Yes.”

  “Having us in the same building all day long will not work out. One of us would end up dead.” Clearly, he hadn’t really thought it through.

  “I’m sure we could handle it for the short amount of time.”

  “Thank you, but no thanks. I’ll stay where I am.”

  “No.”

  Through clenched teeth, I asked, “What do you mean no?”

  “You’re no longer employed for that store. I’ve already informed them.”

  He’d already… he… I couldn’t believe my ears.

  “Molly?”

  “His mom always told me he was dropped on the head a few times.”