“Why are you being so nice to me?” I asked, and she gave me a shocked look.
“I just made you come like ten times, Kiri, and you’re asking why I’m being nice? What is your definition of nice?” She slicked my hair back from my face so it lay flat on my head.
I let my hands rest on her hips, pulling her closer. One of the best parts of this house was the huge walk-in shower that had room enough for several people to be comfortable.
“I don’t know. It’s just a lot to adjust to. Tonight has been a lot,” I said.
It really had been. So much, so fast.
“Well, I figured it was now or never because we have to get on a plane on Thursday and then we’ll be in competition mode and I have to go back to pretending to dislike you in public.”
I put one hand up.
“Hold on. You were pretending to dislike me? You were just acting?” This revelation was breaking my brain.
“I mean, sure, I definitely had a little bit of irritation over how everything went down with us, but that was more irritation at myself for being such a dick. I messed with you because I love winding you up. You get so cute and huffy.”
I opened my mouth and gaped at her. It was as if she’d turned the entire world upside down.
“I’m so confused right now. I thought you were just an asshole,” I said.
Echo lifted one shoulder. “I mean, I’m still kind of an asshole.”
“A hot asshole.”
“You’re hot,” she said with a smile, planting a hot kiss on my lips. That led to us making out in the shower so long that the hot water ran out and we yelped to get out and dry ourselves off with towels.
“Since it’s like, almost morning and I’m not an asshole, you’re absolutely welcome to stay. Or I could call you a car to take you home. I’m chivalrous like that.”
Echo used the towel to wring out her long hair.
“Oh, are you now? I think I’ll stay. Your bed is nicer than mine and I have the day off,” she said.
I had no idea where she lived, or what the place looked like. There was still so much that I didn’t know about Echo Rosenthal.
I didn’t know if I was going to have a chance to find out. Everything about the two of us was unknown, except for what was happening in the present moment and, right now, I needed some fucking sleep.
“I can lend you some clothes, but I think you might break my shirts,” I said.
“That’s okay, I don’t want to Hulk your clothes.”
That image was unbearably funny for some reason and I couldn't stop laughing.
“You need to get to bed, you’re silly from the sex,” Echo said, pushing me toward the bed. In the end, we both got under the covers naked, because it seemed rude to wear pajamas when she didn’t have any with her.
“Did you set an alarm?” Echo asked as my eyes drifted closed. I was so tired, I didn’t even know if I could fall asleep. Too much work.
“Uh huh,” I said, reaching for my phone on the nightstand and then turning on a few alarms.
“Good,” she said with a sigh. “Goodnight?”
I opened one eye and looked at her. “Why did that sound like a question?”
“Because it’s not really night anymore.” The light had changed during our carnal activities and now the room was filled with that soft blue-gray light that heralded the coming of the sun. The next few days were going to be rough, but I didn’t have any regrets.
Yet.
“Well, what do you want to say? Goodalmostmorning?”
“Sounds good,” she said. “Goodalmostmorning, Kiri.” She kissed my forehead and I puckered my lips to ask for a mouth kiss. Echo gave me one and I was asleep mere seconds later.
Twelve
My alarm went off far too soon.
“No,” I moaned as I turned it off for the third time.
“Also no,” Echo said in a scratchy voice.
I opened my eyes and turned on my side to find a very naked Echo stretching her arms above her head, the covers all the way down to her waist, revealing her luscious body. Okay, so that made things a tiny bit better. Only a tiny bit though.
Our night of debauchery was over and it was back to reality, and Echo was back to being the complicated woman I had fucked. Again.
“Enjoying the view?” she asked and then shimmied her shoulders a little bit to give me a show.
“You’re very good at that, you should charge money.”
She grinned at me with her hair spread out on my pillows.
“I’ve taken a burlesque class or two in my day,” she said, and then sat up, careless about her nudity. We were comfortable around each other in a way that I didn’t expect and wasn’t sure how to process.
“Oh, have you? I’d like to see some of those moves. But later, because I am so hungry I could eat my pillow.” The snacks we’d had hadn’t been enough.
“Same,” she said. “But you don’t have to feed me. I can grab something later.”
I gasped dramatically, as if she’d offended me. “You think that I would bang you into oblivion and then send you off without a hearty breakfast? Do you know me at all?”
Her smile was soft and guarded as she reached up and dragged one finger down my cheek.
“I don’t really know you, Kiri, but I want to,” she said.
Things were getting a little too intense this early, so I escaped from the bed to the kitchen, taking a moment to don a robe so I didn’t burn myself. Naked cooking was only sexy in the abstract.
I made pancakes and bacon and poured us each a glass of orange juice. The tray from last night’s snacks came in handy again and I made a note to thank Dom for it. I just couldn’t tell him what occasion I’d used it for.
He was going to murder me for sleeping with Echo, but what was done was done.
“Breakfast in bed,” I said to her, setting the tray down. She’d been messing around on her phone and had draped the other robe around herself, much to my disappointment.
“I’m so spoiled,” she said, sitting cross-legged and reaching for the tray to help me.
“Hold on, I just have to get the syrup.” I raced back to the kitchen to fetch condiments and butter and silverware.
Echo and I lay in bed together and ate, feeding each other bacon and pancakes from each other’s plates as if we’d done this same thing hundreds of times.
“This freaks me out,” I admitted, as she pierced the last bite of pancake with her fork and ate it. Typical.
“What does?” she asked after she chewed and swallowed. I’d noted that she drenched her pancakes in both butter and syrup. Echo enjoyed excess.
“Being here like this with you. Less than a day ago I would have said that I’d have a better chance of fucking Kristen Stewart than you, and now things are . . . blurry.”
Echo set her fork down and sipped her orange juice. Everything she did was sexy, and this simple gesture was no exception.
“Things don’t have to be blurry. Cheer is going to be over in a few days, and then . . .” she trailed off and shrugged one shoulder.
“We’re still going to be rivals next year. And I still literally don’t even know your middle name.”
That made her laugh. “It’s Marie, in case you were wondering. What’s yours?”
Middle names weren’t the point, but I told her anyway. “Anna.”
“Kiri Anna Kentwood. It’s a really nice name.”
“Thank you, I did not get to pick it myself, but my parents did a good job.”
“I think so.”
Silence fell between us and I realized that we had a lot to do today and should get moving. I had to take Kiri back to her car, I had to pack, and I had to just . . . get my mind right.
“This doesn’t change anything that’s going to happen on the mat,” I said as I got dressed in new clothes and Echo put on the same outfit from last night.
“I know,” she said. “It doesn’t have to. We’re still going to kick your ass.” With that, she smack
ed my ass and I tried not to moan at the memory of her doing that last night as I begged her for more.
“That’s what you think,” I said, zipping my jeans and then brushing my hair with some water to style it. I didn’t think anyone was going to be at the school to see me drop off Echo to get her car, but I didn’t want to take a chance, so I ended up cramming a baseball cap on my head and wearing the most aggressive sunglasses I had. So much for styling my hair.
“You look like a celebrity trying to avoid detection as you get your morning coffee,” Echo said when she saw my ensemble.
“Do you want anyone to know about this? Because I don’t. Can you imagine?” I shuddered to think about it. I didn’t need my cheer squad to know about my sex life, thank you very much.
“Fair enough,” she said with a sigh. We both got into my car and I burned rubber to get her to the school.
“I’ll see you later, bye,” I said, almost shoving her out the door.
“No kiss?” she asked, and then pouted. “I gave you a kiss last night when you wanted one.”
My eyes darted around to make sure that no one was going to see us. It was a school day and the parking lot was full. At any moment, the bell could ring and students from my squad could walk outside and see us.
“If I kiss you, will you leave?” I whispered, as if someone was listening in.
“Yup,” she said, puckering.
“Fine,” I leaned forward and gave her a peck and she sat back with a frown.
“That wasn’t good enough.”
“Oh my god, Echo, this is ridiculous, we’re going to get caught.”
“Kiss me like you mean it and I’ll go.”
This time I pressed my lips against hers like I had last night, and added tongue for good measure. Her mouth opened and, after a few seconds, I forgot that we were in the Corsica High School parking lot. I was just Kiri, making out with Echo, the hottest girl I’d ever seen.
Echo pulled away first and my vision swam. Blurry again.
“That’s more like it,” she said, tapping my nose with one finger. “I’ll see you later, Kiri.”
She got out of my car and I sat there for a second getting myself under control. She drove away before I did, but eventually, I put my car into drive and headed back home to pack for Nationals.
The team dinner at the VFW hall was so much fun that I couldn’t stop laughing until I cried. And then I got emotional and cried. It was a mélange of emotions.
Dom had made a slideshow of some of our sillier moments and goofy videos and it all was almost too much for me. I had so much riding on my shoulders this year. The team had been used to winning, and then I’d come and had sunk the ship for a few years, but I guess I was making up for it now. We needed to do well. I needed them to do well, or else I didn’t know how much longer I could coach them in good conscience.
The cheer parents were amazing, and I gorged myself on spaghetti and was a good sport when I got a little roasted by some of the kids. It was all in good fun. Cam even came and made a little speech about the spirit of the Tigers and I definitely cried about that. She didn’t get to come with us to Orlando, but I wished she could have.
“What happened to you last night?” Dom asked, his tone one of innocent concern, but I knew the truth.
“Nothing,” I said, slapping another piece of cake on my plate for dessert. Carbs. I needed carbs.
“You did something, and I'm going to find out what it is tomorrow. You’re stuck with me on a bus and then a plane.” Ugh, I didn’t want to think about that. Too stressful. Herding all these teens onto a plane was going to make me lose it, even though I had help. I had my anxiety meds on standby.
“I’m not going to ask you right now, so you can have until tomorrow to come up with your story.” He grinned at me and went to sit back at the table.
Great. I hoped he wouldn’t judge me too harshly for my night with Echo. Honestly, I didn’t care if he did. It was awesome, and I wasn’t sorry about it.
Echo texted me later that night.
How was your party?
I bit my lip to keep from smiling, even though no one could see me but the cats.
Good. I ate my weight in spaghetti and meatballs, as one does. You?
It was nice. My kids are pumped. I hope you’re ready, she said.
I am ready. Ready to kick your asses.
BRING IT, she said, and I laughed.
We messaged back and forth about silly things, our favorite gay movies, whether or not ravioli is a sandwich, our best birthday presents ever. The conversation meandered around and found myself telling her things that I would only tell my parents or my very closest friends. Echo was easy to talk to, when I wasn’t intent on hating or being annoyed by her. The talk went well into the night and I realized that I needed to get some sleep. I also needed to pack.
I guess I’ll see you in Orlando, I said. That was strange to think about. In less than five days, it would all be over and I’d have to see what was going to happen with Echo going forward. So much of what happened in the next days would determine which path we’d take. I hated not knowing what the future held. Hated it.
Have a safe flight, Kiri.
Even though I’d tried to sleep, I hadn’t, and I was tired as I stood on the bus and called out everyone’s names to make sure they were present, and made sure all the chaperones were accounted for as well. It was a full house, and I got things a little fired up as we headed out, and the parents not coming with us waved and honked and cheered in the parking lot. Even Mack and her mom were with us for support; Mack’s cast signed by the whole team in red and blue.
It wasn’t until we were underway that Dom came and sat next to me in the front seat. I was going to let the parents manage to strike fear into the hearts of the teenagers for now. If things got rowdy, I could always crack the whip.
“What did you do the other night.” It wasn’t a question, more of an accusation.
“Listen, Dominic,” I said, using his full name that he hated, “you’re not my dad, and I’m not accountable to you. I can do what I want. I’m an adult, you know.”
Our eyes met and he sighed and looked at the ceiling of the bus.
“You’re right, you’re right. I shouldn’t meddle. Heath says it’s one of my biggest flaws.” That was true.
I put my arms around him. “Sometimes it’s good when you meddle. And I may have made a bad decision, but it was kind of inevitable.” Echo sure felt inevitable when we were together.
“Okay, I just have one question,” he said, his eyes twinkling, “was it good?”
“It was so good,” I said, shivering with the memories.
“You should see the look on your face right now,” he said.
“What do you mean?” I felt pretty safe having this conversation under cover of the bus noise. The teens were wild and the bus was none too quiet as it rumbled over the potholes on the Maine roads.
“You look like you’ve been fucked just right.” He only mouthed the word at me.
I touched my face. “Is it that obvious?”
“Just to someone who really really knows you. You’re fine. I’m sure everyone else will just chalk it up to excitement about traveling.”
Good. I was usually a nervous flyer, but I was too worn out from all the sex to get too worked up. I probably should have gotten some more sleep last night, but I hoped that I could catch a few hours on the plane. We were flying out of Portland on a direct flight, which was a blessing. I couldn’t imagine trying to get this entire crew through an airport to rush and make a connecting flight.
The Bulldogs had flown out earlier than us, since the airport in Portland was so small that they couldn’t accommodate two entire cheer teams on one flight.
I wondered where Echo was in the sky, and if she would let me know when she landed. I wondered what it was going to be like to see her after everything.
We got on the plane with no incident, even though the kids were totally hyped up. They got a lot
of nasty looks from some older travelers, but at least they knew not to take their fucking shoes off and wander up and down the aisles like some people.
The flight went well, and Dom took charge of them so I could catch some makeup sleep.
I had a text from Echo when we landed that she was in the hotel and the team had gotten here safely. If I said I hadn’t breathed a sigh of relief, I would have been lying.
“Stop sexting,” Dom said in my ear.
“I’m not,” I said, but maybe I would be later when I was alone in my room. Somehow both Dom and I had gotten our own rooms, free of cheerleaders. I wasn’t going to have much time to enjoy it because the second we got to the hotel near the conference center, my nerves kicked in.
“I'm freaking out a little bit,” I said to Dom as we checked everyone into the hotel and distributed room keys, and we registered for the competition.
“You’re going to be fine,” he said. “We’ve got this. I’ve been here before, even if you haven’t. I’ll show you the ropes.”
I nodded, but the sick feeling in the pit of my stomach didn’t go anywhere. It just kept getting worse as I sent the kids to their rooms to drop off their bags and then made them convene in an empty ballroom to do run through of the routine, with music, without stunts. I wanted to keep it so fresh in their mind that they didn’t even have to think about the counts and their muscle memory would take over.
After a few jitters, we had a good practice and went to dinner. The hotel was crammed with dozens and dozens of cheerleaders. It made me miss my youth a little bit, but also I was happy that my kids got to be part of this. They didn’t know how lucky they were.
Dinner was organized chaos, and it was a full-time job just keeping track and making sure we had everyone. This was when those matching outfits would have come in handy. Each team member did have a Corsica High jacket, but they weren’t wearing them inside in Florida.
“Next year,” I said to Dom as I wolfed down my second slice of pizza, “we’re getting multiple matching outfits.” We had one set that had finally come in for tomorrow, but that was it. I still needed to distribute them since I didn’t trust the team to remember to pack them. I’d flown down here with an entire bin full of backup shit including poms and uniforms and bows. Our team didn’t even use poms in the routine (they could be hazardous), but I’d brought them for the parents to wave in the audience.
Bring Her On Page 12
