I Pick You

by Jettie Woodruff

  I sat up and dragged her toward me by her hips, easily sliding into her. “Ohhh, fuck, baby,” I hissed as I sank into her as deep as I could go.

  Her hand tried to shove me away, but I held her there, rocking her hips into my cock. “Get a condom, Brantley.”

  “I can’t, hmmm, damn you feel amazing,” I voiced, shoving my dick into her over and over. I wasn’t lying. I couldn’t have stopped at that moment had my life depended on it.

  “Do you want another Bay? Jesus, Brantley.”

  “I’ll pull out,” I promised, eyes pointed down to my thumb massaging her clit back to life, once again. As soon as she whimpered and arched her back, I pulled her hands and she straddled me. “Oh, yeah, ride it baby.”

  Either I was drunk or Kit had taken on a different kind of beauty. Her creamy white skin glowed as her body slid up and down my shaft. A soft light casted over her as she raised her sandy-blonde hair with two hands and moaned, picking up speed, going deeper and deeper every time her hips ground into mine.

  “Yeah, just like that. Hmm, yeah, baby.”

  Kit’s hair dropped with her hands, her lips parted, and she let out a soft cry, stopping all movement with me deep inside her.

  I helped her fall back with my lips around her nipple, a light shove to move her to her back. Her body felt so soft and delicate below mine, and her kiss was more than sex. Whatever that meant. I moved in and out of her a few more times, exploring her skin and lips with mine until I, too, was complete. I pulled out of her, pumping myself in a fist, leaving my load on her chest and stomach.

  “Where did you go?”

  “To a bar right down the road. Thanks. I needed that,” I mumbled, head already on my pillow.

  Kit blew out a puff of air and got up.

  “Whereare you going? Lay down with me.”

  “I have to clean up—again.”

  “And then you’ll come back?”

  “Why?”

  “Because I want you to.”

  I don’t know why I told her I wanted her to. It wasn’t like I even knew she was there. One minute her backside was nestled into my front, and the next I was in a coma. Dead to the world.

  When I woke, Kit was gone, and I had one hell of a headache. Gah, why did I keep doing this to myself? After dragging myself out of bed, and dry swallowing two pain pills, I showered, recalling the thoughts from the night before. I lusted over Rydell and took it out on Kit. I was probably going to hell for that one. Hot water stung my skin, steam filled my lungs, and dirty girl Miss Brinkley flashed through my mind, long legs dancing on a bar, cowboy boots, and an ass that wouldn’t quit. Smoking hot.

  “Hey, you about done?”

  Yup, I was no doubt going to hell. I blinked away Rydell, hearing Kit from behind the door, and called back. “Yes, I’ll be out in a minute.”

  I scrubbed up, washing the remnants of Rydell down the drain, returning to real life. Almost. I did think about her sending pics of my ass to Wendi, and once again while I dressed in jeans. I couldn’t help but wonder what happened with her last relationship, but then I opened the door to my life.

  “Why is she naked?”

  “Hey, thought you were going to sleep all day.”

  I frowned, Bay staring up at me with that ratty looking dinosaur dangling from her hand, and looked back to Kit, folding little clothes on my island. “No coffee? Where’s her clothes?”

  “Who knows? I’ve put them on her three times. I give up.”

  “Come on, Bay Berry Jandt. Let’s find you some pants.”

  Bay let me take her hand, but Kit was right. I couldn’t find her clothes anywhere, and I had no clue how that happened. The house was virtually empty. Lots of open spaces, yet she found somewhere to hide them. Either that or Kit was full of shit. I chose puffy white undies, and an outfit already matched in her drawer, pink shorts with a daisy print shirt. She sure was a cute little shit.

  “Pick your feet up, monkey,” I said, when Bay’s attention went from the pink shorts at her feet to the silver guitar pick around my neck.

  “Baya at a neck,” she said, as her little hand went around her throat.

  I smiled and unhooked the thin chain from the back, fastened it and slid it over her head. “There, I pick you.” I had to stop her to keep her from running off, excited to show her mommy. “Wait, put your shorts on. You better not lose that. Daddy’s had that since he was a little boy. Okay?” I have no idea what she said after that, but I was sure it wasn’t what it sounded like. Surely she didn’t say she wanted to climb Mount Rushmore in a moon tank. That’s what I got out of it.

  “I thought maybe we would take Bay to see an alligator.”

  I frowned toward Kit, and double-checked the lock on the door to the pool when Bay muttered something about women, tugging on her shirt and pulling the handle. “Where? Why?”

  “Because she would love it, and she’s young. You have to stimulate her mind, Brantley. I don’t want you sitting her in front of the TV all the time.”

  “You do,” I accused.

  “Only when I need to do something. She finds plenty to do without watching television.”

  “Whatever. I’m hungry. What are we doing?”

  “Are you serious right now? You come home drunk and use me for your pleasure, and now you’re going to be a dick to me?”

  Her voice was like nails on a chalkboard, and did absolutely nothing for the pounding behind my eyes. “I’m pretty sure you were pleasured, too. Four times to be exact.”

  “Three, the last one was fake to get you to hurry up.”

  “Yeah, okay, sure,” I said with a cocky tone, calling her bluff. I didn’t care what she said, that wasn’t fake.

  “Do you want to go or not? There’s an alligator farm not far from here. Bay can ride a turtle.”

  “Yeah, because that’s exciting. Sorry, sorry. Yes, that sounds like a great time. I just have to get a ride to my car.”

  “Do you drink a lot?”

  I didn’t answer her pompous ass question. I growled like a grizzly bear, a deep grumble from the bottom of my throat, and walked out the door. The Florida heat hit me smack dab in the face, reminding me how much I hated it. My first thought was to take off walking, but the oven temperatures kept my ass in the garage. I dicked off on my phone while I waited, seeing that Nashville was getting this heat, too. Ninety-one. I would have been complaining had I been there, too.

  As shitty as my morning started, Bay made it impossible to stay that way. She was so intuitive and didn’t miss a thing. Too smart for her own good. She loved the turtle ride. As soon as her ride was over she’d run back to the end of the line and wait again, holding a crisp five dollar bill every time.

  I groaned the third time. “Come on, Bay. We’re going to go see the butterflies.”

  Bay whined and pulled away from the grip I held around her wrist. “O ig erkle.”

  “She won’t stop until you pick her up and make her.”

  My eyes grew wide at the same time I tossed my arms into the air, silently telling her to do something. “Why do I have to do it?”

  “Because I don’t want to make her cry.”

  “Oh, thanks. Thanks a lot.”

  “Sorry.”

  I squatted to Bay’s level and she stepped away, afraid of it being the end of her turtle riding. “You can go one more time and that’s it. Okay?

  “O ig erkle.”

  “Fine, go ride erkle, but this is the last time.”

  I crossed my arms and smiled toward Kit. “That’s how it’s done.”

  Her face was dead serious, but the sarcasm was heard loud and clear. “Humph…Who’d have thought?”

  Of course, I didn’t get to say, I told you so. Criminy. Bay reminded me of a crack-head on a power trip. Just like the cop shows on TV, her body thrashed and her voice rose to an off the charts high pitch, one long note. “Bay, stop it. People are watching you. Look. Look at all these people looking at you.”

  Bay stopped screaming, her
body stopped convulsing, and she looked all around at the people trying to ignore us as we walked past them. All but the kids. They didn’t care. They stared even after their parents nudged them, giving them that look. The mom look with so many meanings. That silent order to stop staring look.

  “You shouldn’t do that. We can’t expect to see butterflies if you spend your life on a turtle. Don’t you want to see the pretty butterflies flying around?”

  Bay loved the butterflies, too. Enough so that she cried for them as well when we had to go. “She’s tired. Let’s go so she can take a nap.”

  I was cool with that, but I wasn’t cool with her making me walk through the grocery store with Bay sound asleep in my arms. It made more sense for me to stay in the car with Bay and let her sleep, but no, Kit insisted I tag along. All of this was in the stupid notebook, I didn’t need to tag along.

  “She loves grapes, but you have to cut them in half so she doesn’t suck them down her throat. She could choke. I always put fruit on her plate. Fresh fruit.”

  “What about cherry-coke?”

  “Please tell me you’re joking.”

  I smiled at her cold face, but didn’t answer. “I’m a teacher. I can handle it.”

  “Yeah, I still don’t know how that happened. I just don’t want you feeding her all that processed stuff.”

  “I’m a very good cook. I’ll show you because you know my cooking usually ends in forking. Rydell, hi. Um, how are you?”

  I hadn’t even seen her standing there. It was the oddest thing ever, awkward silence and a chain of glances from me, to Bay, to Kit, all while she stood frozen. Her mouth closed and I watched a swallow slide down her throat.

  Kit sensed the tension as much as I did and stepped out. “I’m just going to grab some juice.”

  Speaking through a clenched jaw, a quiet tone, and angry eyes, Rydell judged me, yet again. “You’re a dick. You’re married? You have a baby? I swear all men are exactly alike. Have a nice day, B.J.”

  Forget the fact that her response to me being in a grocery store with a family told me she felt the same connection that I felt, but I didn’t hear that, not at first. I wondered why she was referring to me by my initials. “B.J?”

  “Yeah, blowjob, and stay out of my bar.”

  “I’m not married, Rydell. She’s leaving this evening. She doesn’t live here.”

  “I don’t care.”

  “Ry,” I called to her back.

  “Stop calling me that. Stop calling me anything.”

  “You just called me blowjob. Okay, okay, sorry, but seriously. I’m not with her. We’re not together.”

  “Swear on the Bible that you’re not doing that girl.”

  “Doing what?”

  “Bye.”

  I stared after Rydell’s backside, wondering how the hell to convince her I wasn’t with Kit. Of all times to run into her outside of school. I knew she’d see me with Bay. I intended to use the single daddy card to my advantage, but now I was back to square one.

  I thought about how upset she was while I drove us home, Bay still sound asleep in the back and Kit staring quietly out the window. She wouldn’t have been so pissed if she didn’t like me. She felt the chemistry. She had to.

  “Brantley.”

  “Huh?”

  “If something happens to me, promise me you’ll keep her.”

  I frowned at Kit, forgetting all about Rydell. “What do you mean? Why would you say that? Nothing is going to happen.”

  Kit wiped a tear quickly with the back of her hand. “But if it does, Brantley. Promise me you wouldn’t leave her.”

  “Kit, stop putting that shit out there. Shut the hell up. Nothing is going to happen. You’re going to be fine, Bay’s going to be fine, and you’ll be here picking her up before you know it,” I assured her, hoping like hell that was the case. Girls needed their mommies, not their daddies.

  “What the hell am I doing? I can’t do this.”

  “Yes, you can. Don’t start that again. You’re following the plan. You’re going to put Bay to bed, call a cab, and get on a plane. We’ll talk to you in three days, once you are in your hotel room, ready to film an award-winning documentary.”

  “I’m going to miss Christmas and her birthday.”

  “No, you’re not. I already told you we’d do all that stuff through Skype. You’re not going to miss anything. Now stop with all this sad stuff and have fun for the rest of the day. Leave happy.”

  Kit took a deep breath, straightened her posture, and wiped away her tears. “You’re right. Let’s go to the beach again. Bay loves that.”

  “I promise to spend lots of time on the beach with Bay.”

  Kit smiled and released an audible breath, tears still threatening to fall from her glassy eyes. “She’ll like that.”

  Jesus, this girl was a piece of work, an exasperating, emotional time bomb waiting to explode.

  “So who’s the girl?”

  “What girl?”

  The look was for me to stop being stupid. “The one that had your tongue falling out of your mouth.”

  “You’re crazy. She’s a teacher, the other second grade teacher.”

  “You like her.”

  I wasn’t sure if that was a question or a statement, but I didn’t care. I wasn’t about to discuss my hard-on for Rydell with Kit. Luckily, my sister called and I talked to her the rest of the ride home, agreeing to let her come and meet her niece the following weekend. The idea may have been a little selfish on my part, knowing Bridgett being at my house would allow me another night or two to see Rydell outside of school. UGH, school. Every time I thought about that happening in one more day, I got the same adrenaline rush I had gotten when I thought about Bay coming. One more day, and hopefully the nervous energy would finally subside. I was really beginning to wonder if it ever would.

  Kit was a trooper and did as well as could be expected under the circumstances. She still cried, but she laughed and played with Bay just as much. I let her take her to the beach and I stayed back, grilling burgers and roasted garlic potatoes on the grill. Kit bitched about not serving a vegetable and I told her like it was. I didn’t like green things either. Why would I make Bay eat something I hated?

  Kit bathed her around eight, and I sat outside with a beer I had sworn off the night before, staring out to a dark sky, lit by only the moon, no stars. I glanced to the upstairs light being switched on to the right of me, remembering that I had to see Gabriella Pierce the next morning. How the hell was I supposed to look at her face after watching her husband spank her bare ass and give it to her anyway he wanted? Maybe they were getting ready to do it again. Maybe Kit would watch one more time, and then—.”

  “Here you go.”

  My fantasy was squashed by a clean smelling baby, dumped in my lap by Kit.

  “Phil.”

  Kit walked back inside for Phil and Bay looked up to me.

  “Hi,” I smiled. I couldn’t help it. She was too cute.

  Bay smiled back and repeated me, clear as a whistle. “Hi.”

  “Here, you go, baby. I’m going to jump in the shower before I head out.”

  She just left. Dropped Phil to Bay’s lap and disappeared.

  “Women.”

  I laughed, knowing Bay’s comment wasn’t about her mom like it had sounded, it was a request to go swimming. “No more swimming today. We have to go to school tomorrow, remember? You get to go play with other kids and have fun, and Daddy gets to go to school and pretend like he knows what he’s doing. What do you think of that?”

  “Women.”

  “No, how about a song? Let’s go sing Bay a song.”

  Bay was so smart. She slid off my lap, ran to the door and right to my room where she knew my guitar sat, propped in a corner. I gave her butt a shove, helping her climb onto my bed, laughing while she pulled on the covers and settled into my bed like she owned the place.

  “I tried to tell your mom you didn’t need a bed.”

 
“Hushabay.”

  I couldn’t help it. I smiled from ear to ear at her request and sat on the edge of the bed. With one down strum and my fingers on the G cord, I sang. “Hush little Bay Berry. Don’t say a word, Daddy needs a drink of Sherry cause this is absurd. Hush little Bay Berry don’t say a word, Daddy’s going to buy you a new dinosaur, and if that dinosaur doesn’t look like Phil. You can call him Gary, but not until your four.”

  “She really loves that,” Kit said, dressed and ready to go. She plopped to the bed and pulled Bay close to her chest, and I continued to make up words to the only kid song I could think of. At least, the tune of it anyway. “I just called for a cab.”

  My fingers kept moving as I pondered what she’d just said. “Why? I thought you wanted to put her to bed.”

  “Hushabay.”

  “Wait a second, Bay. Kit?” I questioned with a frown, that rush surging my veins once again.

  “I can’t. I’m going to walk out the door like I’m going to work while you keep making up words and singing to her. She’s ready to fall asleep now. I’ll call and check on her before I hit the clouds.”

  That’s it. That’s how Kit left her. One quick squeeze, a kiss to her wet hair, and a glance to me. Kit stood and walked out of my room. Just like that. She was gone.

  “Hushabay.”

  “Hush little Bay Berry, don’t you cry, Daddy’s going to try like hell to keep you alive.”

  I carried Bay to her own bedroom ten minutes later, dead weight, her little body drooping toward the floor without a flinch. Just like Kit had told me to do, I turned on the baby monitor and carried the other one with me. One more beer and a shower myself, I tried to let it all sink in. Kit was gone, I was the sole provider of a little person, and I was about to be a role model for a bunch of seven-year-olds. Me, country music singer, Brantley Jandt, nothing more than a father, and a civilian flowing with the rest of society. Something I swore I would never do.

  Chapter Twelve

  I made sure I allowed myself time to not only take care of me, but Bay, as well. Or so I thought anyway. Bay was a hard-one to wake up. I dressed her while she laid lifeless, making it even more awkward for me. She didn’t stir until I sat her in her car-seat and that was due to Phil. Not me. I sprinted back to her room for Phil and then back to Bay driving in my seat. I made a mental note not to do that again. That could have been bad. All the doors were locked with the keys inside. Thank God the back door was still open.