Levi
“That’s a foul,” I shouted, pushing back aggressively against the sweaty arm holding me off from taking a shot. The older guy barked profanities at me, his face red and slick with sweat. I tucked and rolled around him, releasing the ball as my leg gave out under me. The fitness prosthetic took some getting used to, at first. I wore it for daily runs, but I hadn’t played ball this exuberantly in years. Wayne had been gently encouraging me to come to the gym, but I hadn’t wanted to. I just didn’t want to listen to a bunch of guys bitchin’ about their experiences. I’d come a long way from where I’d been, and while I understood their situations, I couldn’t handle the pain I’d relive by listening to them. I likened it to Alcoholics Anonymous. Some people can’t handle the AA meetings because the sob stories made them want to drink. I was better off alone, but today Wayne insisted.
“Quit being a pussy, and play,” Wayne barked from the bench. He’d been telling me for a year about VetGym and the things the organization did for veterans. I didn’t believe him. When I returned home, there were grand promises of support for assimilation back into society, because life abroad, fighting overseas, was different than going to a job nine-to-five every day. Those promises were broken instantly. I floundered on my own for a while, recklessly rambling the southern Atlantic states before settling on Chicago and earning a college degree. Even that hadn’t been easy at first. Returning to school was a pain in the ass. The schedule, the studies, the girls. I might have dropped out if it weren’t for Wayne and Anne. I wasn’t into the co-ed thing, so I hung my head, went to class, and partied at night with the older set like me. Lot of good that did me.
“Levi, you’re out.” Another guy with two fitness legs went in for me as point guard, a position I’d played in high school and typically in the makeshift courts of the desert. I threw myself on the bench and took a hearty drink of water, squeezing the refreshing liquid in a stream into my parched mouth. Swallowing hard, I turned my head to place the bottle behind me when something, no, someone, caught the corner of my eye. A short-haired brunette, caramel-colored and curvy stood next to a familiar blonde. Their fingers flapped and twisted, before halting to peer back in the gym. Blue eyes found me across the noise of squeaking sneakers and clanging metal.
She smiled weakly and flipped a hand in a subtle wave.
“What the hell?” I turned to Wayne Erickson. “Is that Katie Carter?”
“Appears to be.” Wayne didn’t even turn in her direction.
“Holy shit.” I lifted the hem of my tee and swiped across my forehead.
“Got something against the girl?”
“No,” I snorted, releasing my shirt, my eyes drifting sideways to see her still standing in the doorway, watching the game.
“Don’t mind if she’s against me then, would you?”
“Eew. Shut the fuck up, old man.” Wayne was too old for Katie. Instantly my hackles rose. I’d kick his ass if he tried to touch her.
“Huh. That’s what I thought.” Wayne’s mouth curled and his jaw-clenched with the gum he chomped. His eyes didn’t look at me as he spoke, but followed the stream of men running for the opposite hoop. A man shot and scored, landing on his feet to pump his arms in excitement. Katie and the woman beside her laughed, and the man leaned forward to double high-five each of them.
“Maybe he’ll ask her out.” Wayne spoke while his eyes followed the men returning down the court toward the opposite basket.
“I’d kick his ass,” I growled, watching the man Wayne implied. He looked like a putz. His hair grown-out and curled into one of those man-buns. His arm heavily tattooed with the Marine insignia. I turned back for the door, but Katie was gone.
“Missed your opportunity.”
“What?” I snorted, looking at my professor turned tormentor.
“I think she was waiting for a sign from you, but you didn’t even acknowledge her.”
“What do you mean?” Suddenly he was Mr. Romance.
“Gotta wave back when a pretty girl waves at you, or you miss your chance.” What the fuck? I twisted at the waist to see an older man sitting behind me, a much older man, with weathered skin and a twinkle to his liquid-filled eyes. He wore a ball cap with his ship assignment stitched against the navy-blue lapel. “I’d marry that girl myself, if she’d have me.”
“You have a wife, Vic,” Wayne chuckled before he barked directions at one of the players on my team.
“Yes, well, there’s that detail as well,” the old man scoffed behind me. “But she’s not one to pass on. Doesn’t hurt to look, if you know what I mean?” The tease in his tone made me twist again to be met by two thick, white eyebrows dancing over blue eyes. If he wasn’t an old guy, I’d want to throat punch him for being a dirty old man. I knew exactly what he meant about looking, and if he knew the truth of Katie Carter, the feel of her body, cardiac arrest would end his days. I shifted on the bench and stared at the space vacated by Katie. She might cause my heart to kill me, because I couldn’t stop thinking about her. That kiss at the museum and her orgasm on me. That kiss in my apartment, letting me take advantage of her in my time of need. I’d done nothing but push her away, while at the same time, pulling her toward me. I’d been the one to call her. I’d been the one to follow. Every turn I took, my past stood there facing me, and while I didn’t want to face it, there was something correct in what the old man said. When a pretty girl waves at you, for the second time, you don’t pass on the chance.
* * *
“Hey.” I’d wandered the corridor of the old school until I found the classroom with Katie inside. She was picking up some books and stacking them on a table when I entered.
“Hi.” She continued to straighten the books before turning to fully look at me.
“So you work here?” I smiled weakly, feeling nervous for some reason. I probably stunk after the game, but I couldn’t leave knowing she was in the same building. I didn’t want to miss my second opportunity.
“I volunteer.” Her short answer surprised me, her tone sharp and quick like her words. Nodding slowly, I sensed talking to her was going to be harder than I thought. We hadn’t spoken directly since I called her to my apartment. My stomach growled, but I ignored my hunger.
“Don’t let me keep you,” she huffed, teasingly, evidently hearing my belly. She turned away again to reach for her bag on an orange cushion. When she bent at the waist, I got a full shot of her heart-shaped ass and my body woke at the curve of perfection facing me.
“What do you do here?” I asked, ignoring her brush off. To solidify my question, I sat in a plush chair. For a moment, I felt like a student—Katie the teacher—and my heart sensed there were things I could learn from her.
“I teach ASL—American sign language. I work with some of the team members to practice and perfect their vocabulary.” I stared at her in wonder. How the hell did she know these things, and better question, why? As if reading my mind, she continued.
“I learned it when I was a child. When my family thought I wouldn’t ever speak again. I told you…” Her words drifted and she looked over my head at the door. Her bag rested on her shoulder and she clenched a fist around the strap. “Anyway, it’s good for me to keep up the skill, as well.”
I continued to stare at her, wondering about her life. She’d told me about her mother leaving her and her silence. She’d been brave, though she took it as weakness. It’s hard to hold my tongue when I have things that need to be said. It made me argumentative at times, belligerent at others, like with Wayne and him pestering me to come to the gym. It also resulted in a couple scuffles with my father until my older brother, Trent, stepped in. The thought of Trent brought me full circle. Elk Rapids seeped through my mind, like a whisper in one ear, slithering to escape the other. Standing before me, I realized Katie Carter might have her own whispering demons from our home town.
“This is why you said you could help me.” I watched her face fall. Her shoulder shrugged.
“Among other things, yes.” I wanted to ask for explanation of those other reasons, but I didn’t and the silence swirled around us like her moving fingers in the gym door. She stepped forward. “I need to—“
“Today’s the first time I’ve come here.” I interrupted her movement, standing quickly. “Wayne’s been asking me for over a year to give it a try, but I didn’t really want to. I’m sort of stubborn like that. Always thinking I don’t need help, need others.” I shook my leg from where it stretched away from me. Katie’s eyes drifted to the metal apparatus.
“Want to tell me what happened?”
“Not really.” It wasn’t that I didn’t want her to know the details. The long and short was I lost my leg below my knee. The real issue was I didn’t want to turn the moment into a pity party of memory. Her chin tipped as her eyes remained on my leg.
“Is it related to what happened the other day?” She didn’t need to clarify. She meant my drunken stupor in my apartment. The day I allowed myself to let the survivor’s guilt consume me and drown in excessive alcohol to rid the remembrance of living. I nodded once.
“Want to tell me about that?”
“Not really,” I said again with a weak smile. Her face fell again and she shifted the strap of her bag.
“Well, this is a great place to hang. Full of some awesome people who can help you.”
“You think I need help?” I snapped, sharper than I intended and I scratched at the scruff under my chin.
“I didn’t say that.” She sighed. “I meant this is a good place to find whatever you’re looking for.” She exhaled and took a step toward me, but her intention was the door. I shuffled left to block her exit.
“I think you might be right.” My eyes roamed over her body, hoping she’d take my hint. Innocent blue eyes blinked up at me as I stood inches taller than her. “This place might have just what I’m looking for.” My eyes didn’t leave hers while her lip twisted and she bit the corner. My thumb rose and tugged on her chin to loosen that tender lip from the hard grasp of her teeth. My head came forward, my mouth drawn to hers, and her breath hitched. A hand on my chest and the sound of my name in echo stopped me. Katie’s sweet sound mixed with a male voice behind me.
“Professor Erickson?” Katie stepped back, now hostage in the room she tried to escape.
“Hello, Ms. Carter.” Wayne’s dark eyes smiled at her behind his glasses. A momentary flash of Katie pressed against Wayne crossed my vision and I swore softly. Katie’s saucer-sized stare turned on me and she took another step back, misunderstanding my meaning.
“Levi, you almost ready to leave? Jayne has AJ.” Wayne’s adult daughter said she’d babysit for me, so I could come to the gym today. Wayne’s wife had died years ago, and his thirty-three year old daughter lived nearby. Wayne tried to set us up once, but I turned him down, saying I didn’t want to mix my academics with the professor’s daughter. He thought that was funny.
“I’ll be there in a second.” I heard Wayne walk away behind me. Katie hadn’t spoken again. Her face flushed that sweet pink color, and her eyes dropped submissively. A smile curled my lips.
“So you came by the gym today,” I prompted. “Do you watch the games often?”
“Nope, but Carmela wanted to show me something.”
“Really?” My eyebrow rose. “Did you like what you saw?”
She shook her head and chuckled. “I’ll let you know when I do.” She moved to step around me, but I stepped wide to block her again. I wasn’t going to touch her. That would only lead to my mouth wanting to kiss her, which I almost did. I don’t know what came over me. The way she looked at me—hopeful and promising, it made me feel funny inside. Not ha-ha, but like my stomach rumbling with hunger, only deeper. I was starving for that look and it made my lips want to devour her.
“Katie?” I paused, more nervous than I’d ever been. “Would you like to go out with me?”
Her expression fell completely. Her eyes lowered, but not in that seductive, submission stance, more like shock. This wasn’t the reaction I expected.
“I’d like to take you out,” I rephrased.
“Like to dinner?”
“Sure. Or anywhere. Just out. On a date.”
“A date.” Her head came forward, a hard nod emphasizing the question in her voice. What was happening here? Did I misread the signs? I’d been known to do that, just look at Alicia and me. I mean, Katie and I had kissed. We had chemistry. Slowly, it dawned on me. Usually, kissing came after the date, in Katie Carter’s romantic world philosophy. Passionate kissing clandestinely in the basement of a museum wasn’t a date, nor was the groping I gave her in my apartment. Katie needed something a little more solid. A little more involved. A little more romantic, and I had just the idea.
“Yes, a date. Tonight.”