by Naomi Niles
“I just didn't feel like it at that time. The urge only hit me now, Chance. Don't you know I'm a spontaneous person? I do whatever fun things pop into my head at the time they pop into my head. And this, this is the fun thing that popped into my head right now. Skinny dipping as the sun sets! It's perfect for this afternoon.”
“Well, I ain't joining you. You wanna skinny dip? All right, you go on ahead and do it by yourself.”
I turned away from her, got my beer, and started sipping on it. I heard her digging around in her bag near me, and figured she was coming to her senses and putting her clothes back on.
That was when she jumped, totally naked, onto my lap.
She was literally right on top of me. I turned my head away from her, determined not to look at her. “What the hell are you doing, Tina?” I snapped. “Get off me!”
A light flashed to the side of my face, and I instinctively turned to see what it was – and there she was, holding her phone up in front of her. She had just taken a picture, with her naked on my lap. That did it – I grabbed her shoulders and threw her off me.
“What in God's name are you doing?” I snapped.
“Just having a bit of fun,” she said with a devilish grin. She started tapping on her phone, obviously doing something with the photo she had just taken.
“You'd better delete that damn picture,” I growled. “I'm serious, Tina, you delete that picture now!”
“Relax, Chance, I'm not doing anything with it.”
“You just did! I saw you, damn it! And shit, put your damn clothes on! I don't wanna talk to you like this. Put 'em on!”
“But I'm so comfortable like this, Chance, I—”
“I said, put the damn clothes on, Tina. I'm serious. You wanna keep your job at my station? Then put your clothes on, now.”
She rolled her eyes at me, but the threat worked. She went over to her clothes and put them on again.
“You're such a bore, Chance,” she said. “I just wanted to go skinny dipping.”
“Well then why in the hell did you get on top of me? I'm getting' real tired of this, Tina, real tired of it.”
“You're no fun.”
“I'm not your boyfriend, and I won't be your boyfriend, ever. I ain't supposed to be fun with you, don't you understand that?”
“Psh, whatever.”
“Now tell me what you've done with that damn photo.”
“I didn't do nothin' with it,” she insisted.
“Give me your phone.”
“No! You can't look at it; it's private!”
“You just took a damn naked picture of yourself with me in it! I'd say that gives me the right to look at it. Now I don't give a crap about what else is on that phone a' yours, but I wanna see that you've deleted that picture. So come over here, open that pic, and show me that you're deleting it. You don't do that, I swear to God, you're off the air at the station – permanently.”
She shook her head. “You've got a serious attitude problem, Chance. You—”
“And you're gonna have a serious unemployment problem unless I see you delete that photo right now.”
She could tell by the tone of my voice that I was deadly serious, so reluctantly she got out her phone and walked up to me. She stood next to me and opened the photo on the screen.
“There? See?”
“All right, now delete it.”
She tapped the screen a few times until the 'delete' icon came up. She hit it, and a message came up saying 'pic permanently deleted'.
“There, you happy now?” she asked.
“Yeah. But you better tell me, did you put that pic anywhere? Did you send it to anyone?”
“No, why would I do that?”
Something in the tone of her voice told me that she wasn't telling the truth. I got out my phone, intending to check Facebook – but I saw that at some stage, my battery had died and that the phone was dead.
“I need to go up to the house to see if Terry's got a charger that'll work in my phone,” I said to her.
“And you're gonna leave me here all by myself?”
I sighed and rolled my eyes. “You can come up to the house if you want, I never said you couldn't.”
“I don't know if I want to,” she said, her face suddenly cold and hard. “Not with you, anyway.”
I threw my hands up into the air. “Jesus, you've got some damn attitude tonight, Tina. Whatever, you stay here by yourself. I'm going up to the house.”
I got up off my chair and walked up to the house, doing my best to walk straight and not stumble. I could hold my liquor fairly well, even though I wasn't much of a drinker these days, but even for me all those tequila shots were starting to hit pretty hard, and I did find myself swaying on my feet a little.
I got to the house and found Terry and Belinda making out in the kitchen. I knocked on the door and they parted, looking embarrassed.
“Sorry to, uh, interrupt ya’ll,” I said, “but do either of you have an iPhone charger? Mine's outta battery and there's, uh, there's something important I need to check on this phone.”
“Sorry man, both Belinda and I use Samsung,” said Terry. “Can't help you out with that. But you can use my phone if you need to call someone.”
“Actually, I just need to check Facebook. I'm, uh, I'm expecting an important message.”
“Oh all right. Well why don't you come do that on my computer?”
“Thanks, I'd appreciate that,” I told him.
Terry turned to Belinda. “You all right handling the food on your own for a bit honey? I just wanna help Chance out for a bit.”
“Sure thing, lover,” she said with a wink and a smile. “You boys go mess around on the computer. I'll be just fine here.”
We headed over to Terry's study, and he booted up the computer for me. Just in case Tina had done something with the photo, I didn't want him to see it.
“Uh, Terry, it's kind of a private message,” I said, “so, uh, could I have a bit a' privacy?”
“Sure thing, man. I'll be downstairs in the kitchen. Just make sure you log out when you're done.”
“I'll do that, buddy. Thanks so much.”
As soon as he left, I opened up Facebook, and was horrified to see that Tina had tagged me in a picture. And, of course, it turned out to be the naked selfie she had just taken.
“Shit!” I cussed loudly. “Shit, shit, shit!”
I untagged myself immediately. The photo didn't have any 'likes' yet, but that didn't mean that nobody hadn’t seen it. All I could do now was report it for violating standards, so that's what I did – even though none of Tina's bits were visible. I got a message about a few hours later saying that the pic had been taken down. Man, was I mad though. She'd lied to me, and she'd put the pic up for everyone to see. What the hell was that crazy bitch thinking by doing that? What if Mackenzie saw it? Good God, I hoped she hadn't. She could get totally the wrong idea about what I was doing there with Tina. Hell, anyone who saw that pic would've gotten totally the wrong idea about me and Tina. Damn, I couldn't deny that I wanted to kill her right now.
And now I had no way of knowing if she had seen the pic or not. I had been wanting to talk to her all evening, of course. Just with all the drinking and socializing, I hadn't had the chance to do that. Well, I couldn't put it off any longer, not with what had just happened. I needed to clear things up, just in case she had seen the pic – and I really prayed that she hadn't. I sent her a message on Facebook, asking how the show went and telling her that I missed her. I waited impatiently for a few minutes, but there was no notification showing that she'd seen the message.
Damn, this wasn't good. A storm could be brewing, for all I knew. Damn that Tina and her damn stupidity! I had a good mind to fire her right now. I seriously didn't want to see her face again.
And now my phone was dead and there was no charger. I was really stuck here with regards to communicating with Mackenzie. And I couldn't just use Terry's phone to call her because I didn't know h
er number by heart.
I could, however, use Terry's phone to call Andy and have him come get me. I was too drunk to drive, or I would have left on my own. Plus, with the recent concussion, I didn't want to take any risks. I mostly felt fine, but I had had a few dizzy spells, and when that was combined with booze, the results could be deadly.
I headed downstairs and found Terry. “Buddy, it's been great, but I have to go.”
The disappointment on his face was obvious to see. “Aw, man, are you serious? We're only getting started. Why do you wanna go now?”
“It's the concussion, man,” I lied. “I'm starting to feel dizzy and nauseous.”
“Oh shit, well that ain't good. But you can just lie down in the spare room and sleep here. No need to go rushin' off into the night.”
“I uh, there are some pills I was supposed to take,” I said, extending the lie. “I left 'em at my house. It's pretty important that I take 'em, ya know, doctor's orders an' everything.”
He nodded. I could see that he was sad that I was going, but he understood.
“All right then. But how are you gonna get back? Ain't none of us are in a state to drive.”
“I'm gonna give Andy a call – if I can use your cellphone.”
“Sure thing.” He handed me his phone. “Here you go, man, dial away.”
I dialed Andy, and he picked up after a few rings. His voice sounded uncertain as he answered the phone, as he didn't recognize the number.
“Hello, who's this?” Andy asked.
“Andy, it's me.”
“Oh, hey there, son, what's up? You checkin' up on Cassie? If so, she's fast asleep.”
“Good. Look man, I'm in a bit of a situation. Can you come pick me up? I'm at Terry's ranch.”
“Can do. I’ll call Jess to come sit with Cassie. But are you gonna just leave your truck there?”
“Shit, I didn't think about that.”
“Hmm,” Andy said, thinking about the situation. “How about this: I'll ride one of the dirt bikes over there. Then we'll load it up onto the back of your truck, and I'll drive us back in the truck.”
“Perfect! Problem solved. You always were a great problem solver, Andy.”
“No problem kid. I'll fire up a bike as soon as Jess gets here and will see you in thirty minutes or so.”
“Thanks, man,” I said.
I went downstairs and waited with Terry and Belinda. I didn't bother going down to the water to say anything to Tina. I didn't want to see her, not after what she had just done. True to his word, Andy showed up thirty minutes later, riding the dirt bike hard, like a much younger man. He pulled up to the porch and took his helmet off, and we all chuckled at his grin.
“You should've been a motocross racer or something,” I chuckled.
“Maybe,” he said, “but I like horses and cattle better than bikes. You ready to go?”
“Sure am. Let's get this bike loaded up and then we'll hit the road,” I offered.
Terry helped us load the bike onto the back of the truck, and then Andy drove me back to the ranch. As soon as I got in, I hurried to plug my phone into the charger. And when it came back on, I saw that there was a message and a number of missed calls from Mackenzie.
“Shit,” I cussed under my breath. “Shit.”
I tried to call her back, but it seemed that her phone was now off. This wasn't looking good.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Mackenzie
Jake grinned devilishly at me.
“I knew you'd come around,” he said. “They always do. Sure as shit, they always do. What do you wanna start with? Shooters or what?”
“Sure. You pick 'em,” I gave him the go ahead.
“I'll be right back, you gorgeous thing! Don't you go anywhere, y' hear?”
As he left, I took out my phone again and opened Facebook. I scrolled through my newsfeed for a while, but the picture with Chance and that whore Tina was gone. I went to her profile and looked at it – she had it set to public, so even though I wasn't friends with her, I could still see everything – and saw that the pic had disappeared. Someone had taken it down, and I suspected that it hadn't been Tina. After all, why put up a pic and then take it down just a few minutes later? I guessed that Chance had been the one who’d had it removed somehow. He had obviously wanted to hide the evidence of what he'd been doing. And what the hell had he been doing? How had he ended up with Tina naked on his lap? I knew they worked together, but this wasn't at the radio station. Hell, the background looked almost like his ranch!
I felt like I was going to be sick. I couldn't go through this again, I just couldn't. The whole thing with Brad had almost killed me. And if I had to go through that again... well, maybe it would.
I didn't know what to do. I couldn't get hold of Chance, and now I didn't really want to. But I needed to know how the hell that picture had even happened, and what the hell he was doing with that slut naked on his lap.
All I knew was for the moment, right now, it was too much of a shock to handle. I needed a drink, and I needed a distraction, and Jake happened to be the perfect person to take care of both.
He returned with a waitress following him. She was carrying a platter of shooters.
“Time to get the party started!” he exclaimed with a grin. “Check it out, all the colors of the rainbow!”
“Wow, that's quite a spread. I don't wanna do them too quickly, though,” I said.
“Sure, don't worry, we ain't gonna slam 'em all in ten seconds. Maybe, uh, twenty!”
His facial expressions were priceless. I couldn't help but laugh. Despite his enormously off-putting arrogance, he was entertaining and already had me laughing.
“I don't mean that, Jake. Now come on, I'm a lady, not some cheap bar skank. Don't treat me like one. We're gonna do these shots like civilized folk, got it?” I announced.
“All right, all right. Well, go on then with your civilized self. Pick which one you want first.”
“What are they?” I asked, looking them over.
He cackled maniacally and rubbed his hands together like he was a villain on a TV show. “That's for me to know and you to find out. Just pick a color, and we'll hit it.”
“All right. Let's start with . . . yellow?” I said with a lot of uncertainty.
He grinned and picked the two yellow shooters off the tray slowly, taking one for himself and handing me the other.
“You ready for this?” he asked.
“As ready as I'll ever be.”
“Excellent. Well, in that case, three, two, one... go!”
He threw back his shot and then roared with triumph. I drank mine and felt it burn mightily all the way down my throat, and I couldn't help but cough as it went down.
“Jesus Jake, what the heck was in that thing?” I asked.
“Oh boy, wouldn't you like to know? But I ain't gonna tell ya, I'm afraid. These here shots are all my own secret concoctions. Maybe if you ask me nicely... and I mean real nicely... you'll eventually find out the secret recipe. Until then, though, you're just gonna have to enjoy 'em with all the mystery that comes with them.”
“You're a tease, Jake.”
“So are you, Mackenzie Shay. So, if you don't mind me asking, how old are you anyway?”
“Older than you,” I declared.
“Bullshit! I'm a damn monkey's uncle if you're a day over twenty-three.”
“I hope your nephew likes bananas then.”
“What? Seriously, you're older than twenty-three?” his eyebrows raised.
I nodded. I could feel the warmth of the alcohol spreading slowly through my body now.
“Twenty-eight, to be exact.”
“Well then, we must have been born the same year.”
“Maybe we were, Jake, maybe we were. But I'm not here to talk about our life stories,” I said. “Now, are we gonna do another one of these shooters or what?”
He flashed me a cheeky grin.
“You're enjoying this lil' drinkin' sessi
on, ain't ya? All right, like before, pick a color.”
“Let's try the green one, how about that?”
“Excellent choice. Green it is. Bombs away!”
He handed me one of the green shooters and then grabbed one himself, knocking it back with as much speed and ease as he had the first one. I drank mine with a bit more caution this time, but even so it burned on the way down. I didn't know what was in these shots, but they sure were strong.
“Whew, another kick from a horse!” I exclaimed. “You ain't playin' around, Jake.”
“I always play around... but I never play around,” he said, and a look of intensity entered his eyes.
I felt a sudden and sharp stab of guilt rip through my stomach. What was I doing here? Yeah, I was mad at Chance, but I didn't even know what had happened between him and Tina. Maybe it had been like the time before when I had totally misread the situation. After all, if what I’d seen on that video was any indication, Tina was a conniving little slut at that.
But that was in public and fully clothed. And in hindsight, it was understandable how it had happened. But this, with her naked on his lap? Whatever had happened, if he’d wanted to stop it, he should have way before all of her clothes came off. This was way different and more than coincidence. It had to be.
I forced the guilt out of my mind, replacing it with anger. Anger motivated me to keep on drinking. I didn't want to lead Jake on, though. As much of a douche as he was – well, was according to rumors, anyway – I didn't want to play his game. I wasn’t that kind of person.
“Look, Jake, I’m a smart girl. I know you're wanting to take this to a certain level,” I began.
“And I'm pretty damn sure that you want it to get to that level yourself,” he interjected. “I can see it in your eyes. I can feel it, I can feel the heat of your blood rushing through your veins – that's the heat of desire, Mackenzie. Raw, animal desire. You can see how bad I want you – and I know you're feeling the same thing for me. I know it. Don't try deny it.”
I shook my head. “No, Jake... that's your desires talking. Don't presume to speak for me or understand what I'm thinking or what I want. You have a lot to learn about women.” I grinned at him. “And I'm telling you straight up, nothing is gonna happen between us. Not one thing. I want to have some drinks, have some laughs, and have some fun – and that's the end of it. You aren't gonna lay a single finger on me. So get that through your head, playboy.”
