Black Flag (Racing on the Edge)

by Stahl, Shey

  “Swayyyy, how’s my birthdayyyyyy girllllll?” Charlie slurred when I approached the bar.

  He could barely hold himself up; Jimi was doing the honor.

  “Dad, do you really think you should be drinking that much in your condition?”

  “Have you seen my cell phone?” he shouted entirely too loud in my ear.

  “No I haven’t.” I reached out to steady him when he swayed. “Dad seriously...you should stop drinking. This can’t be good for you.”

  “What the fuck do I care what’s good for me? Nothing is good for me.” He said. “Now call my cell phone, goddamn it.”

  And then he was gone. Alley stood beside me drinking from her mini bar. “Where’s Jameson?”

  Now that she mentioned it, I hadn’t seen him since he was on the bar. I glanced around but didn’t see him. When my eyes met with Van’s, he smiled tipping his head toward the dance floor.

  Aiden had returned and was now with Jameson, Tommy and Spencer dancing.

  What was even funnier than watching six grown men dancing around like fools, was watching the women that were literally swarming around them. Usually it’s the other way around but every one of those men was good looking. It wasn’t a surprise.

  “Come on, let’s dance!” Alley screamed swinging me toward the dance floor. Before we could make it all the way, the song changed to Hot in Here and I was starting to get nervous.

  I really didn’t think being four months pregnant I should be shaking my ass out on the dance floor with my little baby bump but poor Alley never got to let loose and just be twenty-five. I decided to take one for the team.

  Before I could make it far, Jameson’s hands were on my hips pulling me toward him on the dance floor. “Come show me that ass,”

  With a quick drag, my ass was pressed to his hips.

  Hot damn.

  We hadn’t danced like this in years. Just as I expected with the way I was pushing myself into him, the dirty heathen camshaft was awakening.

  When I arched my back and kissed up and down his neck, Jameson leaned forward, his chest pressing against my back.

  “You’re playing with fire honey.” I could feel the rapid rise and fall of his chest as well as his hot and heavy breath against the shell of my ear.

  “Oh, I know.” I turned in his arms. His hands immediately went to my ass.

  “Let’s go up to our room for a few minutes.” He suggested hungrily kissing up and down my neck.

  Moments later, we were back in the room and I was testing out my pineapple theory.

  Three minutes later...he was a little worked up from the dance floor and I’m really good at micro polishing.

  “Better?” Jameson warily pulled his shirt back over his head and then fumbled with the hem nervously.

  I giggled. “It was never bad...I just wanted to test out my pineapple theory.” Another giggle escaped me.

  “Does it taste any different?” he whispered buttoning his jeans. I could tell he was a little embarrassed by this, which had me falling in love with him all over again.

  I closed the distance between us, wrapping my arms around his waist, my lips traced along his collarbone. “I’ve always liked the taste...but yes, it’s sweeter.” I smiled.

  He winked. “Let’s go birthday girl.”

  “We’re tied now?”

  His hand came up, rubbed down his jaw and then he smirked playfully but he never said anything just smirked.

  Why do I just feel like he won this round by that smirk?

  “What’s she doing in there again?” I asked Alley who was again drinking something from the mini bar in her purse.

  “Well...” Alley laughed. “Charlie convinced her and Aiden to get married. I’m pretty sure his exact words were “Aiden, take the bull by the horns and marry that girl!” It was entertaining.” She smiled searching her bag.

  She was drunk because sober Alley would never let something like this happen. As much as everyone claimed Aiden was the planner and incredibly indecisive, Alley was too.

  “You didn’t feel the need to stop either one of them?”

  “No...it was funny.” Her eyes light up. “Look, Spencer got me a press on tattoo!” she began to take her shirt off.

  “That’s okay Alley.” My hands quickly stopped her. “No need to show me.”

  “Okay, let’s go back to the bar. I need another one of those delicious lemon things.”

  “They’re called lemon drops.” I slung my arm around her, well tried. Alley was like four inches taller than I was. Walking toward the bar, I voiced my concern. “I wish I could drink.”

  She laughed. “You will be soon and then I won’t be able to again.”

  “What do you mean are you guys going to have another one?”

  Alley smiled. “Yeah, we’ve talked about trying after the first of the year. Lane will be four in April; I think it’s time to have another one.”

  “That’s great Alley.”

  Though I held concern for Spencer parenting another child, I couldn’t really say that because I myself was no better.

  The next hour was spent watching Alley drink entirely too many lemon drops and texting Jameson who was with Tommy and Spencer at Treasure Island again. I hadn’t seen Jimi or Nancy for a while, I assumed they went to bed but I couldn’t be sure.

  Eventually I met up with Jameson again and was surprised to say the least. If that were possible anymore with this family. You’d think at some point nothing would surprise me but that’s not the case at all. Every day it was something new. It was like a surprise party every day.

  “Where are your shoes?” My eyes dropped to his bare feet.

  Jameson shrugged. “Over there.”

  “Over where?” His shrug gave nothing away.

  “Huh?” He asked distracted so I slapped at his shoulder for not paying attention. “That guy,” He pointed toward an older man in the corner. “He wanted to walk in my shoes for a day. I gave him my shoes.”

  Examining the man, he was in fact wearing Jameson’s Puma shoes, or at least trying too. They looked to be about three sizes too big on him.

  And then, I finally noticed Jameson’s attire. He was dressed in a white Elvis costume. I have no idea how this escaped me until now.

  “Where did the costume come from?”

  “That’s what he had that I wanted.” He grinned widely and nodded while holding up his arm of tassels.

  I smiled knowing where this was going. “So you traded?”

  “Yep, pretty cool huh?”

  This was exactly why I say he has the maturity of a seven year old.

  “You gonna sing for me now?”

  And this is why we are maybe sixteen when combined together in age.

  “I’ll sing whatever you want honey.” He whispered pressing me firmly against his Elvis costume.

  I noticed Aiden was acting really strange over by Spencer who was holding him up. It was difficult considering Aiden acting similarly to a jumping bean.

  “What’s wrong with him?” I voiced my concern for Aiden.

  “Don’t know.” Jameson shrugged uninterested in his spotter’s appearance and more on the beer in his hand.

  I ignored Aiden for a few minutes because Jameson was singing Can’t help Falling in Love in my ear until the more Aiden bounced around, the more I realized there was something actually wrong with him. Not only was he acting bizarre but he was also perspiring to the point where his light blue polo shirt was soaked.

  “Seriously, what happened?” Aiden continued bounce. “What’s he on?”

  Aiden reached out to Jameson’s cheek only to be delivered a left-handed pop to his shoulder.

  Not only did Jameson not like being touched, but Aiden was also soaking wet. So you add that and sweat on his skin and he wasn’t pleased.

  “We don’t really know...” Spencer paused for a moment as his hand came across Aiden’s chest to hold him in place and away from Jameson. “He just started acting weird.”

&n
bsp; Moving from Jameson’s lap, I grabbed Aiden’s slick face in my hands; he was burning up. “Aiden, what did you take?” his pupils were dilated to the point where you couldn’t actually see the blue in his eyes any longer.

  “Nothing, it’s getting hot in here, let’s take off all our clothes!” Aiden wailed out his best impression of Hot in Here by Nelly.

  “Oh god,” I covered my head with my hands. “Jameson?”

  “What?”

  “Were you with him?”

  Jameson rubbed the back of his neck a soft chuckled escaped him. “No, I was in the bathroom. Where were you?”

  “With Alley looking for Emma,”

  “Where’s Emma?” Aiden asked. “I haven’t seen her in a while.”

  “Trying on wedding dresses,”

  “What?” Jameson asked laughing.

  Aiden’s eyes got bigger. He was definitely on something.

  “Yeah, um...don’t ask.” Attempting to diffuse his surprise in fear he’d have a heart attack soon, I lightly patted his back.

  “You know,” Aiden spoke up looking toward Spencer. “If you ever needed to hide a body, I’d help you.”

  “We should...get him some water.” Spencer replied looking at Jameson and me.

  “Really I would.” Aiden told him with a straight face—all joking aside. “I would never tell anyone either.”

  Spencer patted his back propping him up in the booth. “I know buddy.”

  I yawned and helped them get Aiden controlled and drinking water.

  “Honey, you should go get some sleep.” Jameson kissed my forehead. “I’ll come with you?”

  “No...that’s okay.” I told him motioning toward Aiden. “You stay with him. I’m worried.”

  “I’m great Sway!” Aiden announced proudly as though he’d just been jump started. “I feel alive!”

  “I know buddy.” I ruffled his blonde sweaty mess of hair.

  “I’ll come with you Sway.” Alley announced removing herself from Spencer’s lap. “I think I’ve had too much to drink.”

  Once inside the hotel room, Alley kept rambling on and on about wanting to do something drastic so I convinced her to cut her hair. Now, when I encouraged her to do this I was envisioning maybe some layers to add bounce to her straight golden blond hair that hung about the middle of her back.

  Alley disappeared into the bathroom for about an hour while I watched reality TV.

  Now that I was in the room, I wasn’t tired. I was also worried about what was happening in the bathroom with a drunk Alley, alone with a pair of scissors and two bottles of hair dye.

  Where the hair dye came from was beyond me.

  When the door opened, I realized leaving her alone was a bad idea. The result was not at all positive. She looked like she lost a paint ball fight with a hairdresser named Shoniqua and a pair of scissors.

  “You look great!” I lied.

  Her hair had been chopped almost as short as Emma’s had and the color, well...that was a little harder to describe. It looked as though she intended to add some black highlights or maybe brown. Now she just looked like a S’mores exploded on her head.

  I kept reassuring her that it looked great. I didn’t know where the lies were coming from but I couldn’t stop myself. Alley scared the shit out of me and telling her the truth did not seem possible. I knew I would need to stop lying at some point and calmly tell her she needed to get this fixed in the morning but I didn’t know how to at that point. Luckily I didn’t have to lie any longer as the next few hours were spent holding S’mores hair as she puked and then fell asleep on the bed with her.

  Engine Block – Jameson

  I was drunk but it was reassuring to know that everyone else around me was worse off. There I sat in the Viva Las Vegas wedding chapel while Emma and Aiden got married. I still had my Elvis costume on because for one, it was fucking awesome, and two, I gave the dude my clothes. I had nothing else to wear.

  Spencer leaned against my shoulder. “Dad is totally going to kill her for this.”

  I just smiled taking another drink of my beer. He was going to kill her but that was the least of my worries right now. Keeping up with Charlie was my main concern. The guy was out of fucking control. He was exhausting to watch.

  Aiden could barely stand on his own two feet as the Elvis impersonator said the vows.

  After Sway snuck away, we figured out Aiden had accidently taken Ecstasy when a girl told him it was a breath mint.

  When Emma and Aiden were officially married, we made our way back to Treasure Island once again where I may or may not have been singing Hound Dog on the bar. I can’t be sure because I really don’t remember. I do remember prying some hooker off poor Charlie when he looked as though he was about to have a heart attack. I distracted him by convincing him to play pool with me, trying to sober him up. It didn’t work. Instead, he decided the pool sticks were entirely too much work and opted to use his hands. One straggler ball got out of hand and hit the wall behind the bouncer’s head, where it stayed.

  We were asked to leave after that.

  At around 3 a.m. Charlie was still going strong and I was moments away from passing out. I had no other choice but to dilute two Tylenol PM’s into his beer. An hour later, he was sound asleep in his room.

  Another hour later and I was curled up next to Sway only to discover Alley curled around her too. I pushed Alley off the bed onto the floor. It didn’t look like Alley but had her long ass legs and the same clothes as before. I decided I was too tired to give a shit.

  Spencer was in charge of Emma and Aiden, neither one of them was in any condition to be left alone, especially Aiden. So I wasn’t surprised when I got a text from him at six in the morning that if I ever wanted to see my spotter make it to the next race alive, I’d come get him right now.

  Apparently, Aiden had woken up and couldn’t decipher where he was at, and ended up peeing on Spencer. I personally thought this was hilarious. Spencer did not.

  In the morning, Emma had some explaining to do and for a reason I did not agree with, she wanted me to do the explaining for her. I wasn’t okay with that for a number of reasons.

  “Jameson please!” she begged. “You have to talk to them for me.”

  “No,” I shook my head. “This is all your doing. You tell them what you did. I don’t want any part of that conversation.”

  And I really didn’t. They still weren’t happy that Spencer and I were present when Emma decided to get the Trash-R-Us token. Wait until the find out we were both present when she decided, on a whim, to get married. I was sure that wasn’t going down well.

  “That’s not fair!” she stomped her foot like a goddamn child in the middle of the casino lobby. “I helped you with the candles the other night.”

  “All right,” I turned to face her; tears streamed down her cheeks, her mascara smeared under her eyes. “That was for Sway...this,” I held up her left hand pointing to the quarter machine ring she was now wearing. “is entirely your fault.”

  “Why didn’t you stop me—you were there?”

  “Yes I was there, but if you remember correctly, I was just as drunk as you, and wearing an Elvis costume. I don’t think I was in any position to help.”

  “Mom and dad are going to kill us.”

  “No, they’re going to kill you, not us.” I pointed out. “At least it’s not a tattoo. Just take the ring off, they’ll never know.”

  “Good point.” She looked down at the plastic ring. “But I don’t want to take it off.”

  “Then don’t.” I shrugged walking toward the espresso bar to get Sway’s mocha. “I don’t really care if you tell them or not.”

  “Jameson, please help me!”

  “Emma, you got married. Big deal, you’re twenty one. Legally you’re old enough to make your own goddamn decisions. Why do you even care?”

  I honestly couldn’t understand why this was a big deal.

  “Yeah but...”

  “But what?” I looked
at the barista tossing some money on the counter. “Can I get a decaf white mocha, please?”

  The young girl behind the counter smiled. “Are you Jameson Riley?”

  Emma giggled knowing where this was going.

  Shooting Emma I glare, I replied with an annoyed. “Last time I checked.”

  The girl, not much bigger than Emma, smiled again handing me an empty cup. “Can you sign this for me and oh, can I get a picture?”

  “Yeah, sure,”

  The instant I said that she practically jumped over the goddamn counter to get to me. Emma snapped a picture with the girl’s phone while I signed her cup.

  “Here you go.” I handed her the cup.

  When I turned around, people surrounded us. I couldn’t fucking move and neither could Emma. Handing Emma Sway’s coffee, I instructed her to take it upstairs and I’d be up in minute.

  Well that minute turned into forty and I was still standing there signing autographs. Word must have got out that I was at the Bellagio. Not that I’m as famous as let’s say Brad Pitt, but apparently these people were NASCAR fans. It was getting out of hand when they had me backed into a corner of the lobby. To my right, I noticed the men’s bathroom so I ducked inside and left the crowd chanting my name. I quickly realized I was trapped in there.

  My positive attitude joined the witness protection program after a good twenty minutes in a stall by myself. This was a disaster. I even tried calling 911, but my cell phone didn’t have any reception. After an hour my positive attitude returned when I heard my savor.

  “All right people.” Van yelled. “Let the poor guy go.”

  Thank fucking god!

  I almost stuck my tongue out at them as I left but I refrained and made my way to the restaurant where we were supposed to be eating breakfast before Sway and I flew to Key West.

  When I arrived with Van, everyone was already seated, so I sat next to Sway. “Sorry I’m late honey. I got attacked.”

  Sway giggled. “I heard some woman screaming about Jameson Riley being in the lobby.”