by Larkin Rose
Sellars got in and closed the door as Lacy revved the engine. She wanted to add some comments. First, to tell Lacy to chill out with the gas pedal. Second, to tell her how sexy she looked behind the wheel.
Neither comment would end without a tongue lashing so she kept them to herself and enjoyed the drive to the city. She never actually got to view it from the passenger window. The buildings loomed in the distance. Sexy. Even the city was sexy.
Not to mention, everyone was gearing up for the playoffs. Flags bearing the Steelers logo were already adorning poles in various businesses as well as residents’ yards. Soon, the hype would be all around them. Every Sunday, the city was filled with crowds looking to watch the game from their favorite restaurants, or joining the line of traffic backed up to get across the bridge for the field.
What did Lacy do on Sundays from across the map where the weather never required hoodies? Did she hang with friends at some local sports club? Maybe watch the game from her TV with a significant other? Did she even have someone special in her life? It was a question she hadn’t thought about until now. Billy had never mentioned anyone other than Lacy. Never Lacy along with someone else.
“What do you do for fun in LA?” Sellars asked before she could stop herself.
“Depends on your definition of fun.” Lacy moved down the off-ramp and merged into the city traffic.
“I need to decipher the definition of fun?” Sellars snickered. “Well, that answers my next question.”
“Which is?” Lacy stopped at the red light and turned her gaze on Sellars.
Another mistake. Looking at Sellars. She was downright casual and sexy as fucking sin.
“If there was a girlfriend in the picture.”
“And because my idea of fun and your idea of fun may be two different ideas, you assume I don’t have a girlfriend?” Lacy turned to look at the light only because those eyes were luring her into dirty thoughts again. If they had ever stopped.
She needed sex like a drug addict needed her next fix. She was almost desperate for relief. Tonight, she would go after that itch scratcher. There was no other choice if she was going to survive the next few days of hanging with Sellars.
“You have taken away all assumptions. I know you don’t,” Sellars said.
Lacy chuckled. “True. I don’t have a girlfriend. By choice.” She pushed the clutch in and shifted the gear into drive as the light changed to green. “Not that it’s any of your business.”
“It’s not.”
“Exactly.” Lacy continued to the next red light.
“Exactly.”
“Were you worried that some jealous girlfriend was going to come stomp your ass?” Lacy tapped her finger on the steering wheel, clearly agitated.
“I never worry about anything.”
“Clearly.”
“Clearly.”
“Shouldn’t you? Worry?”
“Worry about what?” Sellars looked into the sky at the building tops, trying to appear nonchalant.
“A fucking mean ass girlfriend.”
“You shouldn’t stay with a mean ass girlfriend.”
“I don’t have a mean…” Lacy huffed. “I don’t have a girlfriend. At all!”
“Clearly.”
“Oh my God. Just shut the hell up, Sellars.”
“No problem.”
“Seriously. Just zip it.”
“Zipped.”
Lacy was fuming by the time they pulled into the soup kitchen parking lot. So much for always needing to have the last word. She was so mad she couldn’t even think of words. Actually, there were no words. Just actions. Actions like climbing into Sellars’s lap and grinding until an orgasm ripped through her body. Actions like dropping her chair back, hiking her legs around her face, and pumping against her mouth.
That mouth. Oh, she wanted that mouth clamped around her clit nursing and sucking, making her arch and bow and scream.
The light turned green.
Flustered with her heated thoughts, Lacy popped the clutch and the car died.
“Fuck!” She quickly cranked the car and steadily pulled forward as to not embarrass herself for a second time.
Sex. She needed sex. Fast and in a fucking hurry.
Finally, they arrived at the soup kitchen. Neither of them spoke as they stepped inside the building.
“Lacy!” Annabelle yelled as she made her way around the buffet counter. “It’s so great to see your pretty face.”
Sellars watched them hug, wondering if this was yet another woman Lacy had fucked on one of her yearly vacations to Pittsburgh.
A jealous seed planted itself in her gut as the hug continued.
Lacy finally pulled away and turned to Sellars. “This is our delinquent.”
Annabelle gave Lacy a scoff and stuck her hand out to Sellars. She gripped the woman’s hand just a little tighter than necessary.
Lacy was starting to push her nerves. Every one of them. Especially the ones that connected her common sense to her sexual desire. Yes. That one. That one Lacy was tromping on. Right now, with Lacy watching her with that mischievous look in her eye, she wasn’t sure any other nerves existed anymore.
“Sellars, thank you so much for joining us today. It means a lot.” Annabelle smiled.
If she’d fucked Lacy, it didn’t show in her expression like it had with Aggie.
“As much as I would love the credit for being honorable, this wasn’t my decision. It’s my punishment.” Sellars finally dragged her sights away from Lacy.
“Trust me, these people don’t care.” Annabelle clapped Sellars on the back and walked them toward the kitchen. “You could be a serial killer and they’d be grateful. We’re all heroes to them.”
Sellars considered her words as Annabelle explained how the assembly line would work, to mingle among everyone, check glasses, ask if they needed anything else, to smile and relax because they were all harmless, and if she found herself locked in a conversation, to consider herself lucky because most of them didn’t offer much about their life.
“Well, except for Miss Lacy here. They seem to think she is one of their own. They tell her their whole life story.” Annabelle said with a smile.
Lacy shrugged. “What can I say? They think I’m their therapist.”
An hour later, Lacy was standing near the back of the room, camera trained on Sellars as she refilled drinks at one of the tables. The lens couldn’t hide the fact that Sellars was out of her element. Her expression showed it. This wasn’t her cup of tea. Probably due to her upbringing. The silver spoon baby who was no doubt taught that the homeless were dangerous, to stand back, walk around them, don’t make eye contact.
Hopefully, the photos wouldn’t display her comfort level. Her fans, or the ones that could possibly be lured back, a process she’d already started with the first round of photos she had posted, would see right through the staged bullshit. Mr. Reynolds might have meant well when he arranged this little photo op, but if he thought spooning food onto a plate for a line of homeless people was going to win back some hearts, he was sadly mistaken.
It would take more than a little fake compassion to undo the damage Sellars had done to herself.
At least she was being a good sport. Lacy had captured a few smiles, a few deep conversations, about what, she wasn’t sure, and she captured Sellars actually sitting down beside someone.
That action said a lot about her character. Most of the volunteers never sat with them. Never struck up a conversation. Not like Lacy had. Not like Sellars had.
If she had to confess to herself, she was proud of Sellars for going through with the day.
“Lacy, I have all the food packed up and ready for you.” Annabelle sidled up next to Lacy. “And your girl, she did good. She even got ole Henry to talk.”
Lacy continued to snap the pictures as Sellars laughed at something someone said. “She probably promised him a seat at a race that she won’t be at come the new season.”
“I’ve seen
worse people come back from the grave.”
Lacy didn’t comment. Sellars was a dead man walking and everyone knew it. Even if Lacy found a way to keep her out of trouble for the next three weeks, there were many more after that. She’d surely fall right back into her old habits once the green flag was back in motion. It was her motto.
But in the meantime, Lacy was going to keep going like her future wasn’t riding on the hopes that Sellars could pull off the impossible. Her project depended on it. Homeless men and women depended on it. Somehow, she had to make it to the finish line so Sellars could make it to the start line. After that, she could crash and burn for all Lacy cared.
“Speaking of grave, have you seen Ralph?”
“Actually, I haven’t. But you know how he is about crowds.” Annabelle patted her arm and scurried away to check on another table.
Sellars worked her way toward Lacy. She wasn’t uncomfortable, per se, but she definitely couldn’t wait to call this a day. It was rather sad to see how many people were truly only looking for a meal. No one had asked her for money or a hand out. They just wanted someone to see them. To talk to them. To hear what they had to say.
That was sad. They had nothing. No one. This building, with food from donations and volunteers, could be the only comfort in their world.
“Have you snapped enough pictures?” Sellars asked as Lacy lowered the camera.
“Are you being a smartass?”
“According to you, that’s my normal behavior. Wouldn’t want to let you down,” Sellars added a wink.
Lacy shifted to ease the sudden burn. Sex. That nightclub. Very soon. It was a must.
“I have one more job for you.” Lacy took a step forward and pursed her lips.
Sellars took a step forward as well, erasing the single foot between, angling her sights down over Lacy. “Will my hands get dirty?”
Lacy smiled and let her gaze slip to Sellars’s lips. She’d kissed those lips. She couldn’t stand the person attached to them. “No. But those knees, however, can’t say the same for them.”
She angled the camera up between them and snapped the picture. She had no idea what kind of image she had just frozen in time, but she needed sound, something, anything, to erase that look of lust and need from Sellars’s face.
The sound did nothing to erase that penetrating stare.
Sellars leaned down, her lips only inches from Lacy’s. “It’s where I do my best work. When someone can get me there, that is.”
Finally, Sellars moved back, her expression serious and calculated.
Maybe Lacy had gone too far. Flirting. She hadn’t meant to. Or had she? She wasn’t sure anymore. But what she was sure of, the people in this room depended on her to keep Sellars out of trouble, and if it took a little teasing to achieve that goal, then she would. Again and again and again.
To end the spell, she wrapped the strap of the camera around her neck. “Good. I was hoping you would say that. Let’s go.”
Sellars’s insides tightened as Lacy moved around her. If only they weren’t in public, she would have taken that little teasing monster and proven that she wasn’t one to be toyed with. Lacy would be the one sinking to her knees. She had the exact spot for that poisonous tongue.
She watched Lacy walk away, feeling like a puppet on strings, eager to see what the next mission held for her. Besides, she wanted to get outside in the sunshine, away from these lonely faces with their sad stories of life, hardships, and loss. She wanted to walk on the sidewalk and remind herself that she was fortunate.
But fortunate how? In her life? Sarah didn’t have a life. Sellars had made sure of that.
“Get out of your own head and grab these bags,” Lacy said, pulling Sellars out of her thoughts only to realize she was still standing in the same spot where Lacy had left her.
She straightened, cleared her throat, cleared her mind, grabbed boxes from Annabelle, and followed Lacy out into the sunshine.
Instead of going to the car, Lacy started down the sidewalk, bags dangling from her fingertips.
“You gonna share where we’re headed?” Sellars asked. “Or tell me what’s in these boxes and bags?”
“To the alley. And food.”
“What in the world for?”
Lacy continued her hurried steps. “Because you like alleys.” She stopped at the entrance between two buildings and nodded down the alley. “And they need food.”
Sellars followed her gaze. Dumpsters and trash and stacks of pallets littered the aisle. But at the very end, where she assumed linked to another street, she could make out cardboard boxes propped against the brick.
Without waiting, Lacy started down the alley, dodging broken bottles and paper cups, rotten food and dead rats.
Sellars hesitantly followed, curling her nose at the aroma of urine and rot.
Lacy didn’t seem bothered by it. She kept walking like she had designed the layout herself.
When Sellars followed her around the corner, she almost gasped in surprise as the area opened up into a back alley parking lot filled with makeshift tents made from worn tarps, blankets, some even erected out of tattered clothing and rope.
Several barrels blazing with fire decorated the center, and she was shocked at how clear the asphalt was compared to the wreckage they had just walked through.
At least twelve, maybe thirteen people stood around the fire, talking and laughing with each other as if they were hanging out in some local bar, catching up on life.
“Phillip!” Lacy squealed.
A man turned from the group, and his dirty cheeks lifted in a smile to expose yellow teeth. He wore a pair of sandals that once held a logo long erased by excessive wear and tear.
Phillip jogged toward Lacy and wrapped her in a bear hug. “I knew it wouldn’t be long before we saw your pretty face. How have you been, sweetheart?” He let her go and glanced at Sellars. “Who’s your special friend? I say special with the utmost respect since you’ve never brought a living soul down into our domain.”
Lacy turned to look at Sellars and considered her response. “Up. I brought her up into your domain. She needed to see some light.”
Light was exactly what she saw.
The way Lacy sat down on aged and broken chairs to eat with them like a holiday gathering.
For an hour, she listened to their conversation about each other, how Candy’s sister had found her and taken her home, how they were all so excited for her. How Carlisle had eaten something bad and had to be rushed to the hospital for food poisoning. How a group of punk boys had beat up one of the newbies, left him for dead, and he’d gone back to live with his parents.
The stories continued. All in innocent conversation. Each story shedding more light on the hell they had to endure just to survive, with Lacy snapping occasional pictures.
By the time Lacy led Sellars back to the Point, this time to the fountain, where the three rivers merged to create the Ohio, her heart was heavy with knowledge.
These people were pitiful. They needed help. More help than Lacy could give by opening a McDonald’s account for them when or if they needed a little something more than the free meal at the soup kitchen could provide. More than the soup kitchen could offer on a daily basis.
She wasn’t sure what more could be done, but it left a mark on her thoughts as Lacy sat on the edge of the fountain and dangled her feet in the water.
Sellars sat beside her, taking in the smooth autumn colors of the water. Just last month, the fountain had been dyed pink. Next month, it would alternate between green, red, and blue for Christmas. Another thing she loved about the city. How festive they were.
“Thank you for being cool today,” Lacy said as she stared across the river at Heinz Field.
“Am I not always cool?” Sellars said. She wasn’t sure how to respond. Did Lacy not think she was cool? Had she not already proven otherwise?
Of course she had. She’d proven that and more thanks to her need to self-destruct.
“How many rivers are here?” Lacy asked.
“Umm. Is this a trick question?”
“No. I’m just curious if you know the answer.”
“Three? Isn’t that why the old stadium was named Three Rivers?”
Lacy splashed a lazy stream of water with her red-tipped toes. “So you do pay attention.” She smiled and circled those toes in the water. “But there are actually four rivers. An underground aquifer, nicknamed the fourth river, built naturally by glaciers and sheets of ice that left sand and gravel behind to choke off the riverbed. You are looking at it.” She nodded toward the fountain.
Sellars looked up at the water shooting high in the sky. “Never heard that one before. I think you may be full of crap.”
“When you’re not too busy getting yourself into trouble, look it up. Google doesn’t lie.” Lacy turned serious eyes on her. “Just do it after I leave. I have a promise to keep.”
“What promise is that?” Sellars admired those gorgeous eyes, the fact that Lacy loved this city so much, and that beneath that spiteful mouth, she adored her family.
Lacy shrugged and glanced back to the water.
Sellars had so many things she wanted to ask Lacy, but only one came to the surface.
“Why did you run, Lacy?” Sellars blurted the question before she could change her mind.
She watched Lacy’s lips tighten and knew she’d crossed a line. Expected Lacy to scream that it was none of her fucking business. Exact words.
Lacy had made it clear that she had no desire to talk about her demons.
Without a word, Lacy slowly stood and grabbed her shoes from the edge. “Time to go. We have a busy day tomorrow.”
Sellars wanted to pull her back, to say she was sorry, to tell her she didn’t need the answer or to even talk at all. Instead, she followed Lacy, silently cursing her need to get to know a little more of her.
The drive back to Billy’s was spent in silence when all Sellars truly wanted to do was pull over, pull Lacy into her lap, and fuck her.
The need was getting so strong it was making her ache in places she didn’t think could ache anymore.
