by Misty Walker
When she notices I’m no longer next to her, she whirls around. The look on her face, not embarrassed or ashamed, floors me. “So, you’re homeless?” I try to ask with as much tact as I can. A question like that is hard to word while also being sensitive, but she just laughs.
“No! We aren’t homeless. We have a travel trailer. We just prefer not to waste money on things like food or clothes when there is so much wasted already.”
I almost gag. Eating from a dumpster is one of the most disgusting things I’ve ever heard of and doing it by choice instead of necessity makes it so much more disturbing.
“You’ll catch a disease. You shouldn’t eat trash.” I don’t want to be rude, but clearly no one has told her about germs and food borne illness from eating spoiled items. Once again, she just laughs.
“I’ve eaten this way my whole life and I’ve never even had a stomach flu. Don’t you worry, Richie Rich, I’ll be fine.” She settles herself on a piece of driftwood and since I can’t seem to peel myself from this girl, I join her.
“Tell me more about your family.” I’m genuinely intrigued and also moderately concerned for them.
“Why don’t you tell me more about yourself instead? I think you’ve heard enough about me for tonight,” she counters. I don’t really want to talk about myself. I especially don’t want to admit my failure of a relationship with Chloe. I haven’t even considered her for the last hour.
“There’s not much to tell. My parents died shortly after I graduated from UNLV. I applied for jobs all over the country, but The Grand Royals Casino offered me the most money and the best perks after graduation, so I accepted their offer. I’ve been in Reno ever since. Not much more to tell.”
“What do you do for fun?” She tilts her head and I take her in. Skin that is flawless and smooth, not even the beginning of a wrinkle anywhere on her. At thirty-two, I have a few crow’s feet in the corners of my eyes and indentations in my forehead from scowling. This woman must be younger than I am.
“How old are you?” Why hadn’t I asked this until now? I’ve seen the majority of her naked body and I’m suddenly very concerned she might not even be legal.
“Don’t worry, Richie Rich. I’m eighteen. You aren’t a pedophile,” she teases and immense relief falls over me for two seconds before I realize I’m almost twice her age. I have no business being here, yet I can’t pull myself away.
“Right. Of course. Fun. Hmm… let me see. Well, I enjoy experimenting with the stock market and I love to discover new restaurants.” I tap my pointer finger on my lower lip, trying to think of what else. “Really, I’m just a workaholic who likes to tidy.”
She full on belly laughs now. The sound is so melodic I laugh too until I realize she’s laughing at me, and then I frown.
“Oh, Law. What are we going to do with you?” She stands up and walks back toward the bonfire. Unable to stop myself, I follow her. Again.
“What do you do for fun that’s so much better?” I ask. She stops in the sand and averts her eyes to the small waves.
“Well, you already know I love to skinny dip.” She steals a quick glance my way, showing me a flirtatious grin. “And I love to dance and sing. I also love to explore and see new areas and new things. I love my family. They’re a trip. I have two brothers and two sisters, all younger than I am. Together, we get into all kinds of trouble. I’m certain our mom’s gray hair comes from our antics alone.” A shiver runs down her, so I reach over and rub her arms up and down. Her eyes scrunch up. She looks down at the movement and then up to me. I drop my hands, sensing her unease.
“Sorry. I was just warming you up,” I say in explanation and a soft smile plays on her lips.
“It’s okay. You did warm me up. Thanks.” She tosses me a wink and my dick hardens once again. This girl is so sexy, yet I’m certain she’s not even trying.
We get closer to the bonfire and I start to head up to my parked car. She looks at me in confusion. I point up the stairs. “My car. It’s up here. I better go.”
“Gotta get your beauty sleep,” she throws out with a wink.
“I suppose.” I pause, gathering the courage to say more. “Thea?” I call after her.
“Hmm?” She gives me her attention once again.
“Can I see you again?” I ask while I move up the stairs.
“Perhaps,” she says cryptically.
“Can I have your number?” I want to kick my own ass for the begging tone in my voice.
“Don’t have one.” She shrugs. “But don’t worry. If we’re meant to see each other again, we will.”
“You don’t have a phone? That’s incredibly dangerous. What if there was an emergency?” Does no one take care of this girl?
“I’d figure it out, Richie Rich. I always do.” She resumes her walk to her family.
I finish climbing the last of the stairs and my feet reach asphalt. I pull the fob from my pants and unlock my car. The streetlights glint off my car and something catches my eye. Four somethings, actually. Or, let me rephrase. It’s the lack of four somethings that has my attention. My tires are gone and my car sits on cement blocks. The emblem from the front of my Porsche is also missing. How the hell did my alarm not go off?
“Motherfucker!”
I smile to myself as I walk back to the bonfire. The man is hot. His deep brown eyes took in more than just the show I was putting on. He made me feel seen. His brown hair is longer on top and closely shaven on the sides, which tells me he must be a professional. It definitely isn’t the haircut of a day laborer like the men in my life who look shaggy even after the haircuts Mom gives them. His muscles strained the arms of his shirt with every movement, and not in a bulky way. He had the long and lean muscles of someone who works out in a gym. Then there’s his mouth. His lower lip is bigger than his upper, making him appear to be pouting, even when he wasn’t.
I hadn’t intended to skinny dip tonight, but after talking to Law for only a short time, I knew he needed his world shaken up. I’m sure other girls would feel disloyal by getting naked in front of another man when they’re engaged, but in my family, women are allowed to show skin and be flirty. It’s when actual touching happens, we’re scorned. It’s why we can dress like we do with bare midriffs, low cut tops, and skirts barely long enough to cover the goods. We can be sexy, we just can’t get sexy. Which is why I was so startled when Law rubbed my arms to warm me up. I’m not used to the touch of a man and his touch especially sent shock waves through my body.
I hear someone yell, “Motherfucker!” as I near where my family has set up for the cookout tonight. It has to be Lawrence. No one else is here.
I turn to my two brothers, instinctively knowing those two assholes had something to do with it. “What’d you do?” They both look guilty as hell. I huff and stomp to the parking lot.
“Thea! Wait!” Leander, my seventeen-year-old brother, yells, catching up to me. “You aren’t going to tell him what we did, are you?”
Freedom, my fifteen-year-old brother, nods in agreement. “Those wheels are worth two thousand dollars!”
“You two are out of control! He is a nice man. That’s so not cool.” I rant and continue to the stairs.
“Oh, that’s rich coming from you,” Leander spouts off. I flip around and get in his face.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I place my hands on my hips.
“It means, you’re the one who taught us how to disable high-end car alarms. You’re the one who taught us how to quickly remove wheels. You, dear sister, are the one who told us we have to be on the lookout for opportunities everywhere we go.” Leander folds his arms together with a stupid smug look on his face I want to slap off.
“I’m sorry if I assumed you had enough common sense to know you shouldn’t steal from someone when you are the only person around to blame! There’s a neon fuckin’ sign above our heads right now that says ‘we did it’ because we, dear brother,” I mock, “are the only fuckin’ ones around for miles!” My face grows hot and my temper
has spiked to all-time high. I can’t help it when I give him a shove so hard, he falls on his ass into the sand. I flip around again and this time, no one stops me.
I get to the parking lot and Lawrence is sitting on the curb next to his car. His car that has no wheels. His phone is in his hand and he’s mashing buttons as if the harder he pushes, the more effective he’ll be. I sit down next to him and put my hand over his. “You won’t have cell service, no matter how hard you jam your fingers into the call button.”
He looks from his phone to me and I wish he hadn’t. He has a vein protruding from his forehead and his face is pinched up tight in anger.
“I’m not sure what else to do. It’s a five-mile walk to the main road and it’s nine thirty at night. My wheels are missing from my most prized possession. Not to mention, my girlfriend, no, my fiancée broke up with me today, and the girl I met tonight, who I considered really cool, was only distracting me so her fucked up family could steal from me.” He takes a couple labored breaths. “Any of that sound okay to you?”
I flinch from the fury in his voice.
“I’m so sorry, Law. My delinquent brothers thought it would be funny to play a joke on you. I’ll go get them and have them put the wheels back on.” I jump from the curb to go find those little twerps, but Lawrence’s voice stops me.
“If it were a joke, my alarm would have gone off long before they removed my wheels. Jokesters don’t know how to disable car alarms,” he mumbles. His head lulls forward on his shoulders and he doesn’t look mad anymore. He looks hurt, and it kills me. I say nothing.
When I get to the top of the stairs, I yell, “Hey, jockstraps. Come fix the mess you’ve made.” I hear a lot of groaning and whining from the pair of them, but they come up. They open up the back of our van and each pull out a set of wheels. My brothers may be younger than me, but they’re both bigger than me. We come from big stock, so it’s not a surprise at all they’re both well over six feet already, and sturdy.
Lawrence backs away from the car and watches as my idiot brothers lie down the tires, go back for tools, and then set to repairing his car. I keep my distance, guessing Lawrence doesn’t want to talk to me anymore. When they finish and back away from the car, I look at them with my hands on my hips and say, “The emblem?” Leander is the one to pull it from his pocket and hand it to Lawrence. It cannot be repaired by dumb and dumber and I’m hit with a fresh wave of guilt.
Before Lawrence can close the door to his car, I approach him. “I really am sorry about all of this.”
“Yeah, whatever.” He shuts the door, but rolls down the window. “I need to go. It’s been a shit day.”
“Sure.” I back away from the car, wrapping my arms around myself. He pulls out of the lot and I watch as his tail lights get smaller and smaller.
Leander and Freedom cautiously approach me. “Sorry, Thea,” they mutter in unison. We walk back to where the family is and I find Mom. I recant the whole story to her, hoping she’ll be a parent for once, but she just laughs. When she sees I’m not joining in, she turns to my brothers, her tone changing to mock irritation.
“You boys should be ashamed of yourselves.” She points a finger at them. Her attempt at discipline makes the boys laugh and I can’t help but join in. Neither of my parents is good at the whole punishment thing, and her even trying is hilarious.
My mood lifts after that and we all go back to having a good time. My big crazy family, singing, dancing, drinking, and laughing. They may drive me up the wall sometimes, but I wouldn’t trade them for anything.
Last night when I got home, I was irritated. Mostly because I still don’t know whether Thea really wanted to spend time with me, or if she was just keeping me busy while her brothers maimed my car. Then I remembered the skinny dipping and my cock grew impossibly hard. I had to angrily stroke out a release just so I could fall asleep, and I still tossed and turned most of the night, waking from dreams of a gypsy girl dancing by firelight.
Now it’s morning. The sun is shining and the birds are singing, but despite the cheery disposition nature is portraying, I’m in a foul mood. Although Chloe didn’t live with me, she stayed over most nights and without her here, it’s lonely. I tried to stay at her small apartment once, but there was laundry all over the floor, dishes in her sink, and there was carpet. Wall-to-wall carpet. This may not sound like an issue, but do you know there can be up to two hundred thousand bacteria per square inch of carpet? I won’t even start on pollen, dust, dirt, and skin flakes.
I didn’t even make it through a night at her place before I was heading back to my sanitized marble tiles and clean fixtures. I don’t know how anyone can relax while surrounded by filth. But today, I would almost welcome that because today, I’m waking up alone. I don’t enjoy solitude. Before Chloe, I was alone quite often. People say I’m not an easy man to get along with and I would argue against that point, but judging by the fact my relationships always end the same way and I’ve never had lasting friends, there may be some validity to their views.
I get out of bed and promptly strip the sheets and place them in the washing machine. I grab a fresh set from the linen closet and make my bed. I don’t think I need to even discuss the amount of skin cells you shed while you’re sleeping. I refuse to get into a bed if there are not fresh sheets on it.
I slept in after my long night, so I can’t even go for a run, only increasing my agitation. I make a cup of coffee and take a shower. By the time I’m dressed and ready to head to work, my mood has not improved. Between Chloe and Thea, I’ve had enough uproar to last a long while.
Fifteen minutes later, I’m pulling into The Royal Casino’s parking lot and making my way to my office. I’m always on the lookout for ways to cut operating costs, so as I walk through the casino, I’m eyeing every employee, every slot machine, and every table, to make sure everything and everyone we employ is valuable.
I enter my office, open all the freshly dusted blinds, and take a seat at my laptop. I have a busy day ahead of me with meetings to go to and reports to type up. Other people might feel daunted at my workload, but I thrive in it. Keeping my mind busy helps to calm my frayed nerves.
I’ve only been at it for three hours before my assistant, Monica, is popping her head through my door.
“Sir, I have a woman out here for you. She says it’s urgent,” she says hesitantly, knowing I don’t enjoy being interrupted.
“Who is it?” I bite out, my eyes not leaving my screen. No one is on my calendar until later today.
“She said her name is Theodora.”
I instantly sit up straighter and my eyes shift across the room to find something to fix, to straighten, anything to make perfect when the world around me isn’t.
“Sir? Should I send her in?”
I jump from my chair and put my suit jacket on, buttoning it up and smoothing the fabric. Today I’m wearing a seven-thousand-dollar, navy Brioni suit. It’s my favorite, and I wore it today to give me a boost from my downtrodden mood.
“Uh, yes, Monica. Th-thank you. S-send her in,” I stutter out. I never stutter. This girl unnerves me to my core.
I stand facing the door with a hip resting on my desk and my arms folding in front of me. Only moments later, a vision of crazy curls in an outfit I can’t figure out fills my doorway. She has on a layering of mixed pattern skirts and a thin white peasant blouse with a leather bustier that sits directly under her tits, propping them up. Her feet are adorned with flat leather sandals and she has a leather crossbody bag on with a long fringe that sways with her movements. She has more jewelry on than I can make sense of, probably five or six hoop earrings going up one ear alone. Long gold chains, along with a leather choker with a medallion, sits at the hollow of her neck. I don’t know where to look first; she’s too busy to take in all at once.
One thing I can see clearly are her nipples that are poking through her sheer blouse. She’s not wearing a bra and if I strain my eyes just right, I can see the color of those dusky nippl
es and my mind goes back to how delicious they looked last night, wet and dripping with lake water. I almost would have ignored the potential of a staph infection, just for a taste. My pants become too tight once again and I have to close my eyes and recall all the operating costs of a new pool we’re installing from my meeting earlier just to get some room in my boxers.
“Hi, Law. I’m sorry to barge in on you. I was hoping we could talk for a minute.”
My eyes snap open and she’s still here. She doesn’t look at me, just starts roaming the office, regarding my artwork and bookshelf. It’s alarming how such a small person can fill an entire room with her presence.
“Thea,” I start. “I didn’t expect to see you here. Actually, how am I seeing you here? I didn’t tell you which department I was in.”
“Oh, right. Sorry. It’s amazing what you can find on the Internet these days.” When our eyes finally meet, warmth takes over my belly. Those bright golden eyes bewitch me.
Uneasy about her wandering around my office, I pull out a chair that sits in front of my desk. “Would you care to take a seat?”
“Nah, I’m good. But thanks.” She pulls out a book and flips through it. The book is The 80/20 Principle by Richard Koch. Definitely not light reading material. I approach her and take it from her hands, closing it and putting it back in place.
“I insist.” I place a hand on the small of her back, at which time my cock twitches. It was a simple touch, but enough to send a spark south. I don’t understand what it is about her. Thankfully, she stops roaming my office and does as I ask, sitting in the proffered chair. I then go around my desk and sit in my ergonomically correct executive chair. “Now, what can I do for you?”
“I’ve been thinking about last night and I feel so bad. I had no idea my brothers would dismantle your car,” she says as she pulls her hair through her fingers. The girl who comes across as confident has a nervous habit.
“You’ve already apologized, and they put them back on. I’m not sure what else can be done.” I rest my elbows on my desk and lean in slightly.
