by Ethan Egorov
“Yeah but I bet you wanted to do more.” She giggles.
I blush at the memory alone. “Yeah, I did. But it just didn’t feel right for both of us.” I say. All last night I kept replaying that kiss and his hands on my bare skin, I almost hardly slept.
“I get that. What about your dad?” she leans forward.
“I don’t know, honestly. I can’t read him, sometimes I think I could tell him the truth and other times I just don’t want to risk it. I don’t know if we’ll even be worth fighting with my dad. I guess I won’t know until…”
“Until you leave for school?” she finishes.
“Yep.” I forgo telling her about what Spencer said because I don’t know what to make of it yet. I don’t know if I should take his word for it so soon. I want to, but I also don’t want to get hurt over nothing.
“Do you think you guys will… tonight?” she wiggles her brow and I wave her off.
“Anna, leave me be.” I giggle.
She still pesters me about it until I leave but I feel half better about the date, more excited than before. Spencer makes me way too happy, way too soon. But there doesn’t seem to be anything I can do about it now.
11
Spencer
I get home to Roland questioning me about where I was. Which pisses me off, because we agreed he wouldn’t bother me if I lived here. But I have enough cash saved up to finally get out of here soon, I just need to find a place.
“Where have you been?” he walks into the kitchen in his boxers.
“I wasn’t out getting laid like you.” I chuckle, grabbing a flavored drink from the fridge.
“Fuck off.” He turns on the light and sits on the counter. “Tank keep you late?”
I shake my head, “Nah. I did drive Jeannine back to the shop though. That’s where I was.” I tell him.
He gives the same crazy look that Logan did.
“Wow.”
“She cleared it with her dad, don’t worry about me.”
“I’m not. We agreed I wouldn’t helicopter you.” He laughs.
I drink from the bottle and give him a funny look. “Why are you waiting up for me anyway?” I ask.
“I wanted to finish our conversation.”
“There is no conversation.”
“That’s what I wanted to tell you—”
“Look, I know you’ve been telling the other guys about me. I’d appreciate if you didn’t.” I tell him.
He nods in response and doesn’t bother arguing.
“Good night.” I sing, walking back up to my room.
When I’m alone, my permanent state of being half hard thinking about Jeannine comes back. I strip and get in the shower; cold water doesn’t even help. Kissing her feels better than sex, and for me that’s a first. All I want to do is kiss her, explore her body anyway I can. She’s so damned sexy it doesn’t make any sense, in that cute and unseeming way. She tries to hide it, but she has to know how beautiful she is, it doesn’t make sense. That long curly hair of hers, round ass and hips—it’s fucking torture. Her sweet lips and soft body run through my mind as I stroke myself in the shower until I come, thinking of her the whole time. It took everything I had not to keep going in that car. I didn’t stop because I didn’t want to, but because I just felt like she was better than doing it in the back seat of her car. I’m not sure how tonight will go, but I am almost certain we were on the same page.
I think about texting her before I go to sleep, but I don’t know if that seems clingy. I don’t want to freak her out and push her away, acting like a crazy dude. But I want her to know how I feel about her, I’m pretty sure I told her, but that could still be here nor there.
Fuck, I’m in trouble.
The next morning I wake up and go for a run, getting my frustration out on the pavement and such. I wake up thinking about Jeannine and it’s not the best thing, because I just want to see her and have half a mind to go to her house, everyone knows where Tank lives. But I don’t do that, I can’t do that.
So I run and then lift spare weights in the garage until I am all but spent. I don’t expect a call from Tank when I get it, so my mind runs off to the worst possible scenarios.
“Spencer.” I answer the phone, sitting on the steps of the garage.
“Can you go by the shop today? We have a shipment coming in.” He asks, and I breathe a sigh of relief at that being the reason he called.
“Uh… sure.” I scratch behind my head. I was hoping to meet with Jeannine earlier, but I can’t really do that since the shop closes at four.
“Thanks.”
I stay on the line because he doesn’t sound like he is finished. The two of us don’t really talk much, not directly. In fact the only one he talks to more is my brother, his vice pres. The fact that he is calling me is way out of the ordinary and why I assumed the worst. But I guess that comes from doing something I’m technically not supposed to be doing. With Jeannine.
“You were with my daughter last night.”
I swallow hard. I guess since I don’t know what she might have told him, but I doubt she told him the truth. She would have warned me. I hope.
“I was.” I laugh once, what I usually do, I don’t want to start acting weird. The other few times we spoke, I was making jokes when I wasn’t supposed to. He told me to be more serious about the club, so I toned it down.
But that’s just how I am, playful, jokes for days. Most of the time it works but he doesn’t sound all that happy.
“I don’t let just anyone be alone with her, you know that right?” his voice is stern.
“Well I’m pretty new around here so I guess I don’t know.” Which is mostly true, it’s not like he told me himself. Hearing things through the grapevine can get messed up. Who knows?
“Now you do. She’s going to be helping out at the shop while she is here, so I’m counting on you to look out for her.”
I frown, “Look out for her? From what?” he really must have no idea, which is good, considering how bad it might be if he does.
“From bad shit. That happens around here. You’re good at keeping an eye out for things, so I’ve heard.”
I internally curse Roland for telling people my business like that but there is nothing I can do about it now.
“Uh… sure thing Tank.” I rub at my eyes, I feel like I’m lying, but I already planned on keeping an eye out for her anyway. Problem is he is trusting me with something now, asking for my help, and if he finds out what I have really been doing it would be like betraying his trust. Which is a no go at the club.
Damn. As if things could get any harder.
“Good.” he says and hangs up right after.
I swallow hard, staring at my phone like it did me wrong. Back in the house, I eat and shower and force myself not to do what I did last time. When I first got her number and then didn’t call because I remembered who her dad is. Now he trusts me with something and I don’t want to fuck my place up at the club, because now I am deliberately going behind his back.
It takes until the afternoon when I get my nerve back, and how I feel about Jeannine wins. I call her up and think she is about to miss the call.
“Hello?” she eventually answers, sounding like she is panting. I smile at hearing her voice, imagining it in a different light.
“Why are you breathing like that?” I ask her, smiling. I change the channel to a reality tv show. Roland always dogs me for watching them, calls me a chick, but I don’t care, the drama is entertaining.
“Um, I was with my dad when the phone rang.” I hear her smiling on the other end and picture it in my head. I love when she smiles, when she’s happy. I want her to stay that way and the fact that I play a role in it makes me happy too. A little worried, but happy, nonetheless.
“Oh shit. Sorry.” I freak out. He called me hours ago, but I had to wait a while. Now I am just trying not to tell her that he called. I don’t want her to possibly cancel the date out of fear, and I’m prepared to do everyth
ing to ensure that she doesn’t.
She giggles her soft laugh, “That’s okay. I’m… glad you called.”
I grin and laugh, “Yeah, me too. Sorry I called so late, I don’t really wake up early.” It’s partially true, but in this case, I was just being a jerk. I tell myself now that I am going to text her every morning, so that I’m the first thing on her mind, because she is the first thing on mine.
“I can understand that. What are you doing?” she perks her voice up, I hear the smile in it again and I’m glad she is happy just to be talking to me.
“I’m eating cold pizza on the couch.” I tell her, dropping the crust back onto the box. We seem to always have leftover pizza in the fridge.
“Ew.” She giggles.
“It’s better cold, I promise. And watching trash tv.” I grin.
“That’s the best tv. I just had breakfast. A real one.” She teases me.
“I was going to sit around all day until Tank called me and said I have to go in to the shop for a while.” I sigh, finding it hard to keep the rest of that conversation at bay.
“Oh, that sucks.” She says, not sounding like she really means it.
“Yeah, not really, it’s something to do. But I was hoping to pick you up around six.” I tell her.
“That sounds great. Except…”
“Or maybe we can meet up.” I curse under my breath, I hadn’t even thought of that. Maybe it will be easier anyway, with us both working at the club and Tank asking me to look out for her. Maybe it can work out for us, but I would rather tell her in person.
“Yeah, that sounds good.” She sighs, and it sounds like the sad kind which I don’t like at all.
“I can’t wait to see you.” I tell her. Maybe next time I can plan on picking her up when her dad is gone or something but we’ll just have to figure that out.
“Me too.” She says.
Roland walks in the front door, slamming it, “I’ve been told you’re a babysitter now.”
I swat at him and tell Jeannine I have to go before she hears anything.
He walks around and sits next to me on the couch, in his cut and jeans that tell me he was at the club. He grabs a slice of pizza and talks with his mouth full.
“What the fuck are you talking about man?” I half ignore him and watch the fake fight playing out on tv, chicks are ruthless.
“Tank told me he asked you to look out for Jeannine. I told him I’d make sure that you would.”
I roll my eyes and grow angry. “Great.”
“You sound upset.”
I frown at him, partially because I can’t tell him what has been going on. I don’t want to ask him to lie to Tank, that wouldn’t be fair.
“Yeah, I am. The way he packs people around her like she’s a porcelain doll. She’s a person, you know.” I lash out, I wish I could have said it to Tank to his face but for obvious reasons I couldn’t. Roland will just have to do.
“Wow, someone’s involved.”
“I’m not—” I calm down. “I’m not involved. It’s just unfair is all I’m saying. But don’t worry, I’ll watch her. Like a fucking hawk.” I fake a smile that he sees right through. He nudges my arm and shakes his head.
“Thanks.”
I know he just doesn’t want to actually tell me not to make him look bad and I don’t make him.
He pesters me on the couch for a while, I guess it’s not so much a pester as him just sitting there but still. I’m pissed at him for telling my life story to everyone.
When he finally leaves me alone though, and I get back from the shop, I start getting ready for my date. I just hope she likes where I plan on taking her. I’ve gotten into the habit of wearing my cut everywhere, so I put that over a shirt that buttons up—a rarity for me, and jeans that don’t have any wear or tear in them. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten dressed up for a girl before, let alone go on a date.
I text her to meet me at the shop, it seems like a reasonable spot that is easy to explain if we are seen there. I get there before her, parking my bike in the back like I told her to. After a few minutes, I see her pull up and I smile instantly.
She gets out, waving to me, and I lean against my bike watching her like I don’t know how to look anywhere else.
She has on a pair of jeans that wraps her legs up perfectly, a top with thin straps that’s all frilly, like her. I like how her curly hair is out and free, not tied back at all. Under the setting sun, she looks unreal.
“Hi,” she steps up to me, I push off the bike and close the gap, inhaling her sweet scent. She has pink gloss lightly on her lips, and I don’t know enough to know if she wears makeup or not but her skin always looks smooth, her cheeks blushed and rosy.
“Hey angel, you look amazing.” I slide my hands around her waist and pull her in close, grinning at her.
She smiles back at me and I kiss her lightly, tasting her mint and gloss.
“Thanks.” She says once I break the kiss. “You clean up nice.” She presses her hands to my chest, her warmth against my chest feels nice.
“I try. You ready to go?” I take her hand, kissing her wrist.
“Yeah. Where are we going?”
“It’s a surprise.”
I put her helmet on for her and then we get on the bike. The place I’m taking her to isn’t far, but it is far enough that people in town may not recognize us. My bike won’t draw suspicion in a place like this. It’s more of a college town, so there are curious creatures around anyway.
“This place looks fancy.” She says, when we start walking in the place.
“It’s just a front.” I tell her, which is partially true. I only know about this place because I googled it—I really googled a good place to take her, I’m so far deep it isn’t even funny.
The hostess seats us, and I hold her hand the whole way there, feeling fully seated in the date role now. We got a booth, which she seems happy about.
“You like booths?” I ask her.
She slides in and adjusts the strap of her shirt, tossing her hair over her shoulder.
“Yeah, they’re the only way to sit and eat in a restaurant.” She giggles.
I smile at how cute she is.
“I’m starving.” She lifts the menu and starts looking it over.
“You seem to always be hungry.” I chuckle.
I glance over the menu, probably going to get a steak or something simple.
The server comes, a chick who seems like she’s in college here, and who can’t stop staring at me, to get our drink orders. I get a beer and Jeannine gets lemonade.
“Is that your favorite drink or something?” I ask.
“Yeah pretty much.”
“So you don’t drink?” I ask her.
She giggles, “Well I’m not twenty-one.”
I lean forward, “Wait, how old are you?” I realize I don’t really know, I mean I took a guess.
“Twenty. You?”
“Thirty.” I lie, chuckling.
She shakes her head at me and laughs. “Well obviously you’re old enough to drink. Legally.”
“Twenty-two. Prime age.”
“It is. How much older is your brother?” she asks.
“Five years.” I sigh. He was like the dad sometimes, which I know he hates, but it was true.
We order, I get the steak like I suspected and she gets a seafood thing. That’s what the place is actually known for, since we aren’t that far from the coast.
“So um,” I start carefully, watching her sip her lemonade. “Your dad called me this morning.” I say.
She coughs up her drink and stares at me wide eyed, I laugh at the way she just freaked out but I am still nervous about it. I take her hand and trace the inside of her wrist with my fingers.
“Why?” she wipes the corners of her mouth and leans in.
I half smile. “He um… he asked me to look out for you.”
“Look out for me? What the hell?” she giggles in shock.
“Um that’s
what I thought. He said since we work at the shop together sometimes that I could.”
“Holy crap…” she rests her head on her hand.
“Yeah. He started with being all weird about us leaving together last night. At first I thought you told him something.”
She laughs, “God no. I’d never tell—I mean that I wouldn’t say anything unless you knew I was.” She corrects.
I nod once. “Uh huh.”
“Sorry.” She chews the inside of her cheek and I watch her silently freak out.
“It’s fine. Except I told him that I would, and now I feel like I’m directly lying to him. Which I know isn’t your problem but—I’m not saying I don’t want to do this I’m just saying… that’s how much I want to. And I hope you know that.”
She beams, smiling wide and I feel better immediately.
“I know that.”
Our food arrives and we talk as we eat. I ask her about school and stuff, she tells me more about growing up in two places and stuff, and a crazy best friend who lent her that outfit. It looks amazing on her, and the fact that she wanted to look special for me makes me feel great, like I have some sort of responsibility.
“You don’t want dessert?” I ask her. She cleaned her plate but I never know if she is still hungry.
“No, I’m officially full. That was amazing. I didn’t even know this place was here and I’ve lived here forever.”
My knee nudges hers on purpose. “I searched it up on the internet.”
She beams again, her cheeks blushing that bright color again.
“I can’t believe you searched up a place for us. That’s so sweet.”
“I’m a sweet guy, don’t sound so surprised.” I chuckle.
“I’m not… thank you. No one has ever done something like that for me before.” She says, and I’m left wondering why every other guy she has met is a total asshole.
“I’m happy to do it. You ready for part two?” I paid the bill and did math in my head for the tip.
“Part two?” she grabs her purse and we get up. I lead her with my hand at her waist and we walk outside.
“Yep, the second part.” I chuckle, leaving her in the dark. She purses her lips at me, I kiss her before we get on the bike and she grins at me widely.
