Bekah
I’m still drunk, oh my God how much did I drink? I sat up holding my head and then thought hard about the events that lead to right here and right now. Although it hurt to smile, I did, and I covered my face and fell backward onto my pillow. I remembered dancing with Zandor Steel. I remember every erotic move he made that caused me to go off in the middle of a packed dance floor.
I rolled over and was hit with something plastic. “Oh my God!”
I held my head because screaming made it scream back at me but I didn’t care.
I was gonna kill Tiffany, kill her that bitch.
“Tiffany!”
“Out here.” She didn’t sound any better than I felt.
“Seriously! You come in my room after I have to hear you getting laid all night and place Edward on my pillow!” I walked out, waving him in the air.
“Um, Bekah, now is really not a good…”
“Stay out of Cullen manner!” I snapped pointing at her with Edward. “Just because you have no boundaries doesn’t mean I don’t!”
She started giggling, the little twit, and I wanted to bop her on the head with Edward but that….
“Wow, life with you around just keeps getting better.” A very hot towel-wearing Zandor Steel walked out of my bathroom toweling off his hair.
I was mortified and needed to retaliate. “Nice pink towel!”
He looked at me utterly entertained. “Nice pink cock.”
He walked by me and smacked me on the ass. “You might wanna stop waving that thing around, Kitten.”
“Nah, let her go.” I heard another male voice.
I shoved it up my shirt and Xavier walked around in front of me. “Now if you push your tits together right around it and…”
“Oh. My. God!”
I walked to my room and Zandor was standing there butt-ass naked with his back to me.
“Do you mind?”
“No not at all.” He turned around and grabbed his jeans.
I covered my eyes quickly.
“You may wanna hop in the shower or you’ll be late heading out.” He grabbed my hand and dragged me to the window. “We got snow last night.”
I pulled my hand away. “Will you put some clothes on?”
“I was, when you rudely barged in on me.” He pulled his jeans on. “There, better?”
Not really. “Yes. I’m going to shower.”
“I’ll be waiting.”
I turned back around and looked at him. “For what?”
“We’re friends, Kitten.” He rolled his eyes. “I showed you mine, now you gotta…”
I laughed and I didn’t even mean to. But what are you supposed to do after what the hell just went on in here? None of these people adhered to any rules or boundaries. They crossed lines left and right and I---loved it. I was free here.
“Hey,” he snapped and I turned back around. “You forgot something.”
He held up Edward.
“You’re an ass.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know, I haven’t had time to figure it out.” My head was still cloudy.
“Well if you’re ashamed that you’re a very sexual person then…”
“Boundaries much?”
“Oh I see, I’m embarrassing you. Okay fine I’ll even the score.” I had no idea what he was talking about. “Hey everyone, I rubbed one off in the shower!”
I heard Tiffany and Xavier cracking up and I just looked at him. He smiled at me and it made everything better.
~
I had my bags packed. “You’re going for two days and you need all that stuff?”
“Girls need stuff, Zandor.”
“How many different dresses do you really need for two days?”
“Well it depends I guess.”
“I’ve never seen you in a dress. Skirts with leggings, but not a dress.”
“Ladies wear dresses.” I huffed.
“Oh, I see.”
He grabbed my bag. “I’ll carry it down. Let’s get you on the road.”
“I’m not ready. I have to grab my makeup and hair stuff and…what are you doing?”
“Helping a friend.”
He was throwing everything in a bag.
“What? I wouldn’t want you to be late.” He smiled and winked one of those light brown eyes and I sat and let him pack.
“Dryer, flat iron, make-up. Do you need your body soap and shampoo from the shower?”
“No that’s good.”
“Alright then, let’s roll.”
He had both bags and was opening the front door before I even walked out of my room. “Bye Tiff.”
I didn’t wait for a reply because she and Xavier were back in the bedroom and I was more than sure she didn’t hear me.
~
I walked around the corner of the building and saw a flashy new black vehicle sitting next to my Bitch. Zandor was beaming.
“I wonder whose that is.” I pushed the unlock on my remote and didn’t hear a beep.
“Something wrong?”
He was walking around the black beauty and paying no attention to me.
“Apparently the remote doesn’t work anymore.” I opened the lock the old fashion way and sat in to start the car up.
It was cold and it wasn’t starting so I tried again and nothing.
“FUCK!” I yelled and held my pounding head.
“Ladies don’t…”
“And Bitch cars don’t start!”
He eyes brightened and I wasn’t finding humor in it at all.
“I’m gonna be late and he will be pissed.”
“Pop the hood, let me check it out.”
I did as he asked. “Okay try it now.”
Nothing, not even a click.
“Well, that doesn’t sound good.” he shut the hood.
“He’s gonna…” I stopped when I heard the SUV next to me start.
“I’ll give you a ride.” he smiled as he lifted the back hatch and deposited my bags.
“To North Carolina?”
“Sure, why not? I’ll get to break her in.” I started to object. “Tick Tock, Kitten.”
He opened the door and I didn’t move. “Slow today, huh? Shouldn’t be driving anyway, you’re still lit up.”
He lifted me and set me in. “Can you manage the seat belt or should I?”
He didn’t wait for an answer, he reached around and buckled me and shut the door He jumped in and grabbed his phone, turned on the car, and immediately threw it in reverse.
“Hey Xavier, I know you’re busy but Bekah’s car won’t start again. I checked it out but didn’t see shit. If you wouldn’t mind peeking under the hood I… we would appreciate it. If you don’t see anything call Justice and tell him to fix it or I’ll erase his fucking tattoo. Oh and another thing, I’ll be gone for…” he looked over at me waiting for an answer and when I didn’t give him one. “Bekah, speak.”
“Two nights?”
“Three days. Take care of shit, I’m off work but still pop in. Talk to you soon.”
He hung up the phone and looked over at me, “Go to sleep, I’ll wake you when I need directions.”
~
I was definitely still drunk. I really needed to make adjustments to my diet. No tequila.
“Reach to the side and see if you can lay the seats back.”
I had so many things I could say to him right now but I didn’t. I reached down and adjusted the very comfortable seat and drifted off to sleep.
When I woke we were already on I-95 south ready to exit into Richmond. I looked down and he had covered me up with his coat. I hated feeling this way. I hated feeling like I was that same stupid girl I was six months ago believing that a guy cared. I had my heart broken too many times to let it happen again.
“Hey there, you’re awake.” He reached over and messed up my hair.
I sat up and really felt like I was going to cry.
“Bekah, what’s up girl?” He pulled off the exit and into the first gas station he found.
I couldn’t talk or I’d cry so I just smiled and shook my head no.
He threw the SUV in park and lifted the console. He turned in his seat and faced me, “Talk Bekah, spill it, whatever it is just let it out.”
“I’m just hung over.”
His eyes narrowed as he was searching mine. “Try again.”
I started to turn away and he grabbed my shoulders holding them in place. “Just let it out.”
“I don’t want you to…You don’t know me.” A tear escaped, and I felt it roll down my face. His thumb gently wiped it away.
“Are you a serial killer?” He cocked his head to the side and I shook my head no. “A man? A puppy kicker?”
I shook my head no and let it fly. “I’m a slut!”
I covered my face not wanting him to see me cry. I felt him shaking a little, I looked up and his lips were sucked in and his eyes wide. The asshole was trying not to laugh.
I pulled away and wiped my face and tried to open the door.
He grabbed me laughing, “Where do you think you’re going?”
“Away from you!”
“No way.” He pulled me against him and held me.
The harder I fought the harder he did, bastard.
“Bekah, I had sex for the first time when I was fifteen, in the school auditorium.”
“I don’t care!”
“Okay, well I also had sex every week for a year in that same auditorium.” He loosened his grip and leaned back. “Never with the same girl.”
“Your point?” I smacked the tears away and he held my hands.
If anyone looked in this vehicle right now, Zandor Steel would be in cuffs. His leg was wrapped around the front of me, one arm was restraining my hands and the other was wiping my face.
“You’re not a slut, Bekah.”
“I had sex with three guys in one year.”
“Your point?” He was trying not to smile.
“I’ve had a lot of sex, they told me I was a slut and I am.” I was pissed and embarrassed. “So that’s my fucking point!”
“Ladies…”
“I’m not a Fuckin…”
His hand now covered my mouth and I bit him. Yep, I bit his hand. And what did the smug bastard do? He groaned.
“Please don’t do that again, Bekah.”
I stopped and sat back.
“You don’t have to tell me anything.”
“Oh you’ll hear it, and if you don’t you’ll be able to tell that’s what he’s thinking.”
“Your father?”
“Oh yes the colonel.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I slept with a lot of people.” I looked out the window.
“You’re tired, emotional, and hung over. You need to fucking eat something. You need to realize that anyone who loves you shouldn’t say shit like that to you.”
“I’m sure you probably never gave your family reason to…”
He pulled back onto the road.
“Look I’m gonna tell you something only five people know. Then you’re gonna shut the hell up about your sexual past.” He let out a breath. “I had inappropriate relations with a household appliance and got caught.”
I looked over and his face was red and I wanted to laugh, “Why are you telling me this?”
“Because, damn it. Because you shouldn’t feel like shit about being a sexual creature.”
I covered my mouth and let it go and he smiled.
He pulled into the next restaurant we came to. “I’m starving, let’s eat some bad shit.”
I got out and followed him in.
We sat down in a booth and a waitress came over. “Coffee?”
“Please, black for me and for you, Bekah?”
“Same thing please.” I looked up and the waitress was smiling at him.
He winked, she blushed and walked away.
“What?” he sat back and pulled up the sleeves to his black sweater.
I gave him an exaggerated wink and he rolled his eyes and looked at the menu.
I grabbed for the other. “No way, I’m ordering.”
The waitress set the coffee down and nudged him with her hip. “What can I get for y’all, hun?”
“Well I will have grits, steak, eggs, and home fries. The Mrs. will have pancakes, fresh fruit, and home fries.”
He handed her the menus and leaned forward. “That alright with you, my sexy little kitten.”
The waitress walked away without a wink this time.
“You just broke her heart, you know.”
“She’ll get over it.”
“I’m not eating all that.” I raised my eyebrow.
“You’re celebrating Thanksgiving right.”
“Sure.” I rolled my eyes.
“Fuck the diet, Bekah.”
I looked up at him and he winked. “Fuck it all. I’ve just decided you don’t give a shit what anyone says about you.”
“You’ve decided, have you?”
“I have, so it’s real, because what I say goes understand?”
“Hmm. So which appliance did you fornicate with?”
He grinned. “Ms. Hoover of course.”
“And you think it’s funny?”
“Hell yeah, I was like ten. Don’t sit in judgment what was its name…Edward?”
I looked up in the air and nodded.
“That’s not a good name, I think he should be Zandor.”
“Why’s that?”
“Good name. Strong, sexy, guaranteed to please you.”
“You’re full of yourself.”
“You should try it. Hey, I’ve never had a female friend before, and this is kind of cool. So I was thinking, you should name…” the waitress set down the food and he thanked her with a wink. “Your vibrator should be Zandor, and I can name my masturbatory hand after you.”
I looked up at the waitress and she gasped and walked away.
“You’re a jackass.”
“Why?” he cut up his steak and took a huge bite, chewed and swallowed. “She wants to fuck me, Bekah, now she knows she can’t. That’s why you’re the Mrs. and I masturbate with a hand named after you.”
“Do you think every woman wants you?”
He looked at me confused as he chewed yet another monster bite of steak. “Until one proves me otherwise, yeah I do. Only one chick…well now two, have ever said no.” He smiled and grabbed a forkful of home fries. “Open.”
I did and it was good.
He smiled as if he was proud of himself.
He started to cut up the pancakes. “I can do it.”
“If you don’t eat, I’m gonna force feed you.”
I looked up into his warm, enticing, sandy-brown beaches, and I felt okay. And for a few moments I allowed myself to bask in them, shamelessly and without reservation.
~
We’re in the SUV getting ready to get back on the interstate when he asks me to pick out some music.
“Is there a plug in for my phone?” I looked around.
“I have no idea, just got her.Look in the glove box for a manual.”
“Yeah, how did that happen?”
“She was delivered a few days ago. I put my Baby up for the winter.”
“Okay, so it just shows up?”
“It should, damn thing cost enough.”
“You make that kind of money at the shop?”
“Nah, I have another job, too.”
“Oh, when do you have time for it, you’re always at the shop.”
“Vacation time.”
“And you choose to spend it working?”
“It’s not work to me. I love that place.”
“Piercing make it more enjoyable?”
“It’s art, I think we’ve talked about this before. Self-growth, self-expression, self…”
“Self-serve bar.” I laughed.
“What do you mean?” he smirked and pulled his sunglasses off the dash.
“They come in asking for you, Zandor.”
“Oh, the women?”
“Yeah the women!”
“Well the job does have some benefits.”
“Can I ask you a question?”
“Shoot.”
“Why married women?”
He let out a breath and slouched, “If I tell you, you can’t laugh.”
“I won’t,” I really hoped I wouldn’t.
“We moved around a lot when I was younger. No attachments or relationships were formed. When we moved to the shore, things were a bit crazy. A couple people I knew had some real shit things happen to them in the relationship department so I avoided it at all costs. However, I really liked to fuck. I didn’t wanna bang the girls I saw every day. Didn’t want the drama. I played baseball, traveled to other schools. Sniffed around them a lot. Met some cool friends, so I scratched in other neighborhoods.”
“Like married women?”
“No, Bekah, girls my age or a little older. I didn’t start fucking around with married women until I was about eighteen.”
“That’s young.”
“Yep,” he smirked.
“Okay so why, don’t you think it’s wrong?”
“Sure, but their husbands were always cheating fucks.” He looked over at me, “You promised not to laugh.”
“Well it’s kind of funny.”
“Nothing funny about cheating.”
“But you banged them knowing they were married so that makes you as bad.”
“Sure I feel that way now but back then I was like…I don’t know, the Robin Hood of pussy,” he chuckled.
“The Robin Hood of pussy, huh?”
“Yep, I gave them back what was stolen from them by their asshole husbands.”
“And what’s that?”
He cocked his head in that little cocky way. “The feeling of being desired. The feeling of being empowered. The feeling that someone gave a shit enough to get them off. I gave them back their swag.”
“The Robin Hood of pussy.”
“What are you laughing at? You’re like the Gandhi of cock.”
I snickered and he smiled his big beautiful bright smile. I wished I could see his eyes.
I sat back and looked at my phone. “Blue tooth compatible.”
“Nice.” He leaned forward and gave the dash a rub.
I had three new emails and I smiled when I saw the subject line.
-Steel Inc.-
“You gonna play some beats, Bekah?”
“After I check my email.”
“Good stuff?” he asked and looked over at my phone.
“Steel Inc.” I giggled “Is that you?”
“What’s it about?”
“I applied for an internship.”
“Oh yeah, you go to school?”
“I did, was considering finishing, but looks like that’s not gonna happen.”
“Why not?” He sounded annoyed.
“They have filled all internships.”
“So we find another!” He darted into a rest area. “I have to use the bathroom.”
He threw it in park and stormed into the bathrooms.
The next email was from a company called S. Lettos. An international holding company was fronting the money to redesign a club it had acquired in the Jersey shore area. They had found my profile in Linked In. They were asking me to not only redesign the club, but take on the entire project. If I accepted this paid internship they would immediately deposit sixty nine hundred dollars a month as compensation for the next four months. If the project was completed in a timely manner, I would receive a bonus.
I was shaking I was so happy. I have to pee, oh my God, oh my good God! I jumped out of the SUV and walked quickly toward the bathroom as I re-read the message. Zandor grabbed my arm as I whizzed by him.
“Hey there slow down.”
I smiled up at him, I couldn’t help it. I was so excited I hugged him as tight as I could and he laughed. “What has gotten into you?”
“I have to pee.” I really had to, bad. “Read this!”
I ran into the bathroom.
He was standing against his SUV when I walked out. Glasses on, smirking at the phone, he looked beautiful with the warm afternoon sun shining down on him. I would stare at him all day. He looked up at me and that nipped that idea in the bud.
“You look happy, Bekah, like really fucking happy.” He grabbed me and swung me in a circle.
I lifted my arms in the sky in celebration. He pulled me down against his hard strong body and gave me a very sweet soft kiss on…my cheek.
I laughed and he huffed and my feet hit the ground again, grrr!
I got in the SUV and re-read the email.
“You may want to flag that.”
“What?”
“Mark it as a VIP message or flag it.” He reached over and took it.
“Oh shit!”
“What?”
“Damn, Bekah, I deleted it. I’m sorry…”
I snatched it out of his hand and looked. He smirked and started the vehicle. “Just fucking with you.”
“Ass,” I mumbled.
“What about my ass, Kitten? It’s nice right?”
I nodded as he pulled back onto the interstate.
“You good?”
“I’m real good. When my father gets all twisted and superior I can smile knowing I did this by myself. No help from him….or anyone else for that matter. I own this and I am going to do the best job I can possibly do.”
“What about the shop?”
I almost gave myself whiplash when I turned to look at him. I didn’t know what I should do. I mean I did but, “Fuck!”
“Ladies don’t talk like that, Bekah. Especially professionals.” There was humor in his voice but a little less twinkle in his eye.
“I can do both.”
“I know you can, but do you want to?” he glanced quickly over at me.
“Yes, actually I do.” I do. Yesterday was great and seeing him every day; even though I couldn’t have him, even though he made me believe stupid stuff again, it didn’t matter. He and I were friends.
“Good.” He was quiet for a minute, “Now turn on some beats, girl!”
I was trying to figure it out but couldn’t and I didn’t want to hurt anything.
He turned on the radio and hit search.
Sara Bareilles Brave.
He huffed and went to change the station.
I swatted his hand off and he shook his head and left it alone.
I love this song!