by Nicole Fox
I sighed. Wanda first. That would be easier.
I dialed Wanda’s cell phone number and waited while it rang. She always took forever to answer her phone, and I stood there, foot tapping lightly until she answered.
“Hello?”
“Wanda?”
“Ember!?”
She sounded surprised to hear me, but not angry. That was a good thing.
“Hey, girl. What’s up?”
“What’s up? Ember, where have you been? Have you been watching the news at all? What the hell happened at the festival? And why is that creep Jameson saying that you had something to do with it? I don’t understand.”
I sighed.
“It’s a long, long story, and I can’t really get into all the details right now, but I had nothing to do with that fire, Wanda. You have to believe me.”
“Of course I believe you. Why the hell would you do something as crazy as that?” She sighed. “Still. What are you going to do? I mean, like—” she paused. “They’re really, really out in full force wanting to pin this on you and those biker boys,” she whispered.
“Yeah, I know. But I’m going to figure it out, okay? Don’t worry about it. I got it.”
“Okay, but Ember, where are you staying? Do you have a phone? Money? I’ve tried calling your cell phone and there’s been nothing from it. I’ve tried everything! How are you taking care of yourself? Let me come get you wherever you are—”
“No.”
She was quiet.
“No?”
“No. Listen, Wanda. You’ve done so much for me, and as much as I want to see a friendly, familiar face right now, I don’t want you getting into trouble over me, all right?”
“But you didn’t do anything!”
I laughed. “Tell that to the people that are looking for me because Jameson Mathers decided he was going to be a bigger asshole than he already was.” I sighed. “Listen, Wanda, I know it’s not ideal and I can’t tell you everything, but I’m safe, okay?”
“Are you? Like actually safe? You’re not just telling me what you think I wanna hear to get me off your ass, are you? Because I’ll hunt you down wherever you are and I’ll kick your ass. You know I will.”
I smiled.
“Yeah, I know you will.”
Wanda sighed again, resigned to the fact that this was my plan and it was the one that we were going with.
“Fine, fine, fine. Do whatever you want. Try to keep me posted, okay? Lord knows that the last thing I need is to keep worrying what nasty ditch you’ve fallen into. If anything happens, is there a way to contact you?”
I chewed on my lip. I wasn’t supposed to give details out about where I was staying. Or with who.
“I’ll let you know the next time I call, okay?”
“Promise?”
“Promise.”
“All right … I’ll take that for now. Listen, I need to go, okay? We’re sorting shit out on our end. Tried telling the cops you’re not an arsonist and they laughed, talking about some bullshit over how that’s rich, you play with fire for a living. Whatever. Anyway, basically they’re wanting to make sure we’re not arsonists, too.”
“Are you going to be all right?” I was concerned.
“Girl, you know I’m fine. You look after yourself, okay? Don’t forget to call your mother; she’s probably worried about you if she hasn’t been able to get ahold of you after all this time.”
“Don’t worry. That’s what I was getting ready to do.”
“Sweet. Love ya, girl.”
“Love ya too, Wanda.”
I hung up and slotted another quarter into the payphone. I dialed my mother’s number this time, and I waited less time than I did for Wanda.
“Angela Amor.” My mother sounded tired and worn down—I couldn’t help but wonder if it was partly my fault.
“Mama?”
There was a bit of silence and if it hadn’t been for the fact that there wasn’t a click, I would have thought that my mother had hung up on me.
“Em—Ember? Baby, is that you?”
“Yeah, Mama it’s me.”
“Oh, thank God.” My mother breathed a sigh of relief and I could imagine her holding her chest, sitting down before that relief got the better of her. “Oh Ember, I’ve been worried sick. You weren’t answering your phone; you hadn’t shown up. All those things they’re saying about you on the news—”
“They’re not true, Mama.”
“Oh honey, I know. I know. I know you would never do something bad like that. Why do you think they did?”
“Honestly, I don’t know. Jameson Mathers is an asshole and a disgusting pig; he probably thinks it’s funny, trying to slot the blame onto me.”
“And then that news with the bikers involved too? And the drugs? I shudder to think how anyone would associate you with any of that.” She sighed again. “Honey, where are you? Are you safe? Do you need anything?”
“I’m fine, Mama, shockingly,” I said. “I—I’m staying with a friend right now, under the radar until we figure out what to do about this situation.”
“A friend?” she asked. “What kind of friend? Are they safe?”
Safe? Pft. Questionable.
“Yes, Mama, they’re safe.”
“Boy or a girl?”
“Mama, does it matter?”
“It matters to me. Is it a boyfriend? Is he going to take care of you, honey?”
“It’s not a boyfriend, but I am being taken care of, Mama, I promise, okay?”
She sighed.
“I guess I’ll have to take that for now, won’t I?”
“For now, yeah.”
“Please, please be careful, honey, okay? Where are you calling from? Is there a number I can get?”
“I’m calling from a payphone right now, but I’ll keep you updated as much as I can, all right?”
“All right, Ember. I love you, all right? I’ll tell your brothers that you’re doing all right. Please, please stay out of trouble. You’ll worry me into a grave.”
“I love you too, Mama. And I will.”
The line went dead.
I breathed in a deep breath and hung up the payphone. Well. That was two important calls down and no more than I needed or wanted to make right now. Wanda and my mother knew, roughly, how I was doing, and neither of them were trying to urge me to go to the police, so that was good. I went back out to the main bar area. Wheeler had already ordered us some drinks.
“Oh thank God, I need one of these,” I said. He’d gotten me a beer and I eagerly drank down a huge gulp of it, apparently to Wheeler’s surprise.
“Damn girl, you can drink,” he said, eyeing the glass of beer now half empty before me. I laughed.
“I can drink like this when it’s necessary. What, you don’t think girls can put back their alcohol?”
“You don’t look like a girl that puts back alcohol, that’s all.”
I rolled my eyes and took another—smaller—drink. I stuck my tongue out at him when I was done and he reach over, ruffling my hair up.
“You’re such a little shit. I’m convinced you dragged me out here just to pick on me.”
“You like it.”
“I’m not complaining. So, how’d your calls go?” he asked.
I shrugged.
“About as good as they could go, but my mother and Wanda know that I’m all right, so there’s that. I just wanted to make sure that they knew that I wasn’t dead or involved in this bullshit that Jameson says that I am. Other than that, I guess we just gotta wait and see. That’s where I am right now.”
“I’m sorry that that’s the position that you have to be in.”
“Oh, come on now.” I waved at him. “Don’t get all … serious with me. We’re supposed to be loosening up from the shit storm that’s about to happen, aren’t we?” I asked. “So let’s just forget about this for a little, okay?”
Wheeler smiled.
“All right. We can do that.”
It
wasn’t typical of me to run away from my problems or even ignore them temporarily. But this was something that was a little different than bucking up and taking responsibility to help my family, or making choices about what college to go to, or trying to figure out how I was going to pay off my school debt. This kind of problem was out of my element—I didn’t deal with the law like this, and I certainly didn’t deal with false accusations leveled at me by bigwig executives in lofty places in life. Just. I didn’t.
So in this situation I was totally content to pretend like nothing bad was happening, at least in the small amount of space that I was sharing with Wheeler.
“Hey, you wanna dance?”
I seemed to have caught him off guard with my question.
“What?”
“You deaf? I said: you wanna dance? Come on, it’ll be good for the both of us.”
I didn’t give him a chance to protest or tell me no. I stood up and took his hand, tugging him up with me.
“You’re in a mood tonight, I see.”
“I’m always in a mood, Wheeler.”
He laughed at that and we went to the dance floor. There were other people dancing and grinding on each other. I was quick to move Wheeler’s hands to my hips as I turned around, moving my body against him. He was surprised by that at first, not doing much, until his hands became sure, confident grips at my sides and he started moving with me.
It was an odd notion, but even though we had already had an impulse fuck, this was more intimate, somehow. Dancing was more personal than a one-night stand—it was what made fire dancing so erotic and alluring without ever touching another person. It was what made passions and desires boil without ever going anywhere but watching. Observing.
I loved the way Wheeler felt pressed against me. We were separated by clothes and public decency, but there was something oh so good about having his face pressed into my neck and out bodies flush to each other. It was divine.
We moved together and I got lost in the undulation of our bodies. I was a little surprised at how well he danced.
“You got a lot of rhythm for a biker boy,” I teased him. He laughed.
“Biker boys don’t have rhythm now?”
“Not that I’ve ever known,” I said. I laughed. “But it’s okay, I like it.”
He tightened his hold on me and made it so I was jerked close to him, making me gasp. He mouthed against my neck.
“I’m beginning to think that you have ulterior motives—”
“Heey.”
The scent of alcohol wafted up with the approach of a man. He had clearly been drinking and was sloppy as all hell. Wheeler and I stopped moving, but Wheeler kept his hold on me, an obvious indicator that the man’s presence wasn’t welcome.
“Heey, pretty girl,” he slurred. “You—hic—are really hot.”
“Hey, beat it, asshole.”
“Hey, hey, lemme talk to the lady.” He stumbled forward and tried to touch me but Wheeler backed us up before the man could put his hands on me. He looked disappointed at that, but I honestly didn’t care about it.
“I’d rather not,” I said. I narrowed my eyes at him to drive home the message that I wasn’t having any of his shit.
“Oh, come on, come on, I know you, we—hic—know each other, don’t we?” He smiled at me, revealing a bunch of nasty, unbrushed teeth. My stomach flopped over.
“No, I don’t think we do.”
“Come on, asshole, scram.” Wheeler bulked behind me, tensed. His muscles seemed to swell, and I knew that he was ready for a fight. I didn’t want that, so I nodded along with Wheeler.
“Yeah … come on, leave me alone, I don’t know you.”
“Sure, sure. E—ember. Fire Girl!” The man laughed as though that was the funniest thing he had ever said in his entire life. I grimaced; how did he know my name?
Wait …
“Fire Girl, yeah, I know you, the one that—”
The man had started toward me again, hands out like he was going to touch me again. Before he could, Wheeler was in front of me and decked the guy. The group of people that had started to stare at the exchange continued to look on, laughing a little at the drunk man on the floor, knocked out cold by Wheeler’s hit. But Wheeler and I didn’t stick around long enough to enjoy the attention.
“Come on.”
Wheeler took my hand and we left the bar.
“I guess going out in public right now isn’t a great idea.”
“I didn’t even think about it. I should have known better.”
“No, it’s not your fault.” I stopped in my tracks, making Wheeler stop as well when he tugged my hand and I wouldn’t budge. He looked down to me.
“What?”
“Listen. I totally blame your biker buddies, because they were the ones setting shit on fire. And Jameson—he’s the one that lied about my involvement. But you’re the one that’s tried to help me this entire time. Besides, I’m the one that said we should go out when I’m the one with her face plastered all over every news and social media outlet. Don’t worry about it. Besides, we had fun while it lasted, didn’t we?”
He smiled.
“Okay … Fair point.”
I patted him.
“It’s not just your issue … burden … whatever. Come on. Let’s get out of here.”
Chapter Nine Ember
Back on the road, wrapped around Wheeler, it felt good. I was worried about the man who had recognized me, but if he was as much of the drunk as he seemed to be, I couldn’t imagine that he would be believed if he actually came forward about the fact that he had seen me in public.
We zipped through the town, but I was confused when, upon coming upon the clubhouse, Wheeler passed it entirely.
“Hey!” I shouted. “Where are we going?”
“I was thinking,” Wheeler hollered back. “About all this. I think there’s a chapter in San Diego that could help us with all of this shit. Satan won’t contact them. They had a little bit of a … falling out; we’ll call it. But they have resources that might solve this problem of ours, and I think we should explore it. Especially if there are gonna be incidents like this one where you can’t even go out in public without being recognized and everything.”
“You just now decided to do that? Now?”
Wheeler shrugged. “I can be impulsive when I want.” He turned his head and I caught a grin. “You up for a road trip?”
The logical answer was no. That was crazy! But I couldn’t deny my curiosity …
“I’ll go wherever you want me to go.”
“Excellent.
The weather, of course, had other things in mind for us. About halfway to San Diego, it started to rain. Hard. One minute the sky was totally clear and the next it opened up in a huge rain. We were soaked before Wheeler could pull off the road.
“Shit, this sucks,” Wheeler said, slowing down and coming off the road. We were lucky enough to be on a part of the road where there were trees to stand under. Wheeler parked and we got off. I leaned back against the tree. Some of the rain still poured through; Wheeler leaned over me to shield me a little from the rest of the water.
“You’re going to get wet,” I said.
He shrugged.
“It’s nothing worse than I’ve ever experienced before. You’re skimpier than me; you’ll catch a cold or something.”
I raised a brow at him.
“That’s the excuse you’re gonna go for?”
He grinned.
“You gonna complain about it?”
“Nah. It’s actually kinda nice.” I looked around. “All this rain. It smells nice. It’s pretty. And then we’re out here in all of it. It’s almost like that scene from The Notebook —”
“ The Notebook ?”
“You’ve never seen it?”
“Um, that’s a no.”
I laughed.
“It’s a romance. About these two people in circumstances that keep them apart. There’s one scene in it when the guy is confe
ssing his love for the girl. They’re out in the rain; they’re soaked. They have hot, passionate sex after.”
