The Gamble

by Kristen Ashley

  “All right, then we’ll talk about your father.”

  “No, since I never talk about him.”

  “Nina.”

  “Max.”

  “Did I stay away long enough?” Mindy called, Max twisted, I got up on tiptoe to look over his shoulder and Mindy halted at the counter. “Whoops, see I didn’t.”

  “You did,” I said quickly.

  “I can come back.”

  I pushed against Max’s stomach again, he released me and moved to my side as I said, “You’re fine.”

  “Sure?” she asked.

  “Definitely,” I replied.

  Her eyes hit the stove and she observed, “Bacon’s all greasy, Max.”

  “I’ll sort it out,” Max told her.

  She skip-danced around the counter, throwing him a cheerful smile and I marveled this girl was raped three weeks ago. Marveled at the same time that the knowledge hit my stomach like a rotten pit.

  “I’ll do it,” she offered and I saw she was in one of Max’s t-shirts and obviously her own jeans for they fit perfectly.

  “You need a shirt?” I asked and she looked at me as she pulled paper towel off a holder.

  “Uh, last night, I kinda got beer on –” she started but Max cut her off.

  “Damon doused you with beer,” he stated and Mindy’s eyes flitted to him.

  “Damon?” I asked, grabbing my bowl.

  “Her dickhead boyfriend,” Max muttered, pulling down a plate and handing it to Mindy.

  “He’s just –” Mindy began but Max interrupted her again.

  “A dickhead,” Max declared.

  Her face fell and she arranged paper towel on the plate.

  I decided to wade in. “Why did he, um… I mean how did he get beer on you?”

  “He threw it at her,” Max answered and Mindy ducked her head and pulled bacon out of the skillet.

  “He threw a beer at you?” I asked Mindy, not comprehending these words, at least not in recent Nina Land with Niles who didn’t even drink beer just occasionally gin and tonics or wine with dinner and he wouldn’t begin to imagine dousing anyone with any liquid.

  Older Nina Land was the land where there were dickheads who might (though they didn’t) douse women with beer. Though, maybe not women who’d recently been violated.

  “He’s, not, really… coping… uh –” Mindy stammered.

  Max’s hand went to the back of her neck and he said quietly, “She knows, Mins, I told her.”

  Mindy nodded but didn’t lift her head from her bacon task and I squelched a new desire to throw my bowl at Max for he may not be okay with me being a bitch to Mindy but he certainly wasn’t handling this very well.

  “He’s not coping with what happened to you,” I said to her and she nodded and took the last piece of bacon out of the skillet when I went on. “Men are idiots, mostly. Anyway,” I changed the subject. “Upstairs, my suitcase is on the armchair in Max’s loft. You can go through it, grab whatever top you want.”

  Her head twisted to me and her eyes slid along my robe.

  The she began, “I couldn’t –”

  “Why not? You can’t wear that.” I dipped my head to Max’s t-shirt. “It’s huge on you.” And it was, she was swimming in it like I had but I’d worn his t-shirts to bed which was acceptable.

  I pretty girl who’d just been raped? No.

  She needed to remember she could look pretty and it was okay.

  “But, your clothes are really nice. Becca said –”

  I spooned up more fruit, yogurt and granola and smiled at her before asking, “You have a flesh-eating virus or something?”

  She grinned at me and replied, “No.”

  “Then go and pick something.”

  Her eyes moved to the ceiling then to me and she said, “Anything off limits?”

  “No.”

  “You sure?”

  “Yes.”

  “You sure you’re sure?”

  I shook my head but smiled and promised, “I’m sure I’m sure.”

  “Cool!” she cried, dropped the bacon fork and skip-danced out of the kitchen.

  I spooned breakfast in my mouth. Max’s eyes followed Mindy but since I was in the back recess I couldn’t see her. I knew when she was out of sight though because Max’s eyes came to me.

  Then he came to me.

  Since I was already against the counter, I had nowhere to retreat.

  He got super close again, took the bowl out of my hand, the spoon out of the other, dropped the spoon in the bowl and set it on the counter.

  I swallowed my food and demanded, “Would you quit taking that away? I’m trying to eat breakfast.”

  I said this as I looked at the bowl. I should have kept my eyes on him. For, when my head twisted back, his hand came to my neck and his mouth came down on mine.

  I really tried not to respond this time. I knew how good it could be so I thought I could steel myself against it.

  I was wrong.

  His tongue touched my lips, my mouth opened like it had a mind of its own and then I was in his arms. Max deepened the kiss and my hands slid around his neck, my fingers going into his hair. I went up on my toes, pressed into his body and he pushed me back into the counter.

  It was as good as it was yesterday, just as good, which meant it might always be that good.

  Which was bad.

  His mouth broke from mine but he didn’t move far away. His hand came back to my neck, curling around, his forehead rested on mine and our heavy breathing mingled.

  “Tried to wake you up last night when I got to bed, you were out like usual, didn’t have the heart in the end,” he whispered.

  “Okay,” I whispered back, not really thinking because my mind was on my nipples which had gotten hard and were tingling and my stomach which had somehow disappeared and between my legs which was tingling even more.

  “Mindy was on the couch,” he went on.

  “Oh.”

  “No Mindy tonight,” he finished and I found that my stomach hadn’t disappeared because it spasmed in a way I really, really liked.

  “Oh,” I breathed this time and I watched his eyes smile.

  His thumb slid along my jaw. “You kiss like that, honey, lookin’ forward to findin’ out what else you can do.”

  I kissed like that? It was Max who was a good kisser.

  I didn’t tell him this, instead, I shivered.

  Then I muttered, “Um…”

  He interrupted me with, “Men are idiots?”

  “Mostly,” I answered on a whisper and I heard and felt him chuckle.

  “Hey! I know!” Mindy shouted from somewhere not exactly close but in Max’s house nowhere was exactly far.

  Max closed his eyes, rolled his forehead to the side and his body unfortunately followed it

  I hastily grabbed my bowl.

  “What?” I asked when Mindy hit the kitchen.

  “You and me and Becca can go shopping in town this afternoon then later we’ll take you to dinner.”

  “That’s a great idea,” I told her.

  “We got plans,” Max said from beside me and I watched as Mindy’s face fell.

  Then I looked at Max and widened my eyes at him. He caught my hint, looked at Mindy then he sighed.

  Then he said, “You bring her home, safe and sound, we can push ‘em to later.”

  “Cool!” Mindy exclaimed.

  “Doesn’t anyone around here work?” I asked.

  “I work at The Dog with Becca so we work nights,” Mindy said, walking to the cold bacon and picking up a slice. “I’m off tonight, Becca’s gotta work but that isn’t until later.” Then she bit off some bacon and chewed.

  I noticed that Max didn’t answer my question.

  “You’re good to stay with Bec?” Max asked and Mindy nodded. “And we’re movin’ your shit there this mornin’?” Max went on, Mindy took another bite of bacon and nodded. “You’re gonna stick with this break with Damon?”

  “A we
ek, Max,” she said. “That was the deal we decided last night.”

  “You stick with a week,” Max returned, sounding exactly like an older brother though, I couldn’t know, I didn’t have an older brother, just a dead younger one, but I was guessing since, even younger, Charlie used to sound like that a lot.

  She looked at me and rolled her eyes.

  Yes, definitely an older brother.

  “Mindy,” Max’s voice was a warning.

  All right, maybe a somewhat scary older brother. Charlie had never been scary.

  “I’ll stick with the week,” she answered.

  “You make Damon stick with it too,” Max pushed.

  “Oh… kay,” she replied impatiently and I looked at Max to see he was grinning which, when I looked back at Mindy, I noted she found annoying.

  “I love that top on you,” I butted in. “You should keep it.”

  Mindy’s annoyed face disappeared and her eyes hit me. “I couldn’t.”

  “You can.”

  “But –”

  “I’ll replace it in town this afternoon. There looked like there were some great shops.”

  “They’re awesome!” Mindy cried. “I can’t wait to show you.”

  “Me either,” I replied, spooned up more of my breakfast and when I was shoving it into my mouth, Max’s arm hooked around my neck and he pulled me into his side.

  “Make me some eggs and toast to go with that bacon, Mins,” Max ordered, she rolled her eyes but headed to the toaster, I tested his arm around my neck and found it didn’t budge. “Hand me my coffee, Duchess,” he ordered me, I caught Mindy’s eye, rolled mine back, she giggled then I reached forward, his arm still around my neck, grabbed his mug and handed it to him.

  So, in the end, I finished my breakfast pressed to Max’s side, his arm around my neck, watching Mindy make eggs and toast while Max sipped cold coffee.

  And I not only didn’t tell him we weren’t going to explore our situation, I let him kiss me again, told him about Charlie and made a date to spend the afternoon and have dinner with, essentially, his baby sister who’d been raped only weeks before.

  Yes, I was officially in trouble.

  * * * * *

  I took a shower in Max’s downstairs bathroom, hauling all my stuff down there to do it. There, I got ready while Max took a shower upstairs and Mindy sat on the toilet seat chatting animatedly to me like a girl who’d never experienced anything but extreme happiness while living in a land of golden rainfalls, fairies that granted wishes and dancing leprechauns that showered treasure on you.

  When I was done getting ready which, if Max’s impatient yet amused demeanor was anything to go by took way too long, we all climbed into the Cherokee and went to Mindy’s apartment where we packed up a lot of her stuff. In fact, as far as I could tell since she and this Damon person didn’t have much, outside of dishes and furniture, it seemed like most everything she owned.

  On a trip to the Cherokee with a box, I caught Max who was heading back in.

  “Isn’t this, um…” I asked quietly, in case Mindy could hear, “a lot of stuff for one week?”

  Max put his finger to his lips, winked at me then took the box from me and headed back to the Jeep.

  When we were done packing up, we drove across town and then Becca helped us carry it up the two flights of stairs to her third story condo.

  After we had Mindy safely ensconced in her new lodgings, Max took us out for lunch at a little rustic but lovely café by the river. We had a booth by the window and Max sat by me. Mindy and Becca did most of the talking, so much I didn’t have time to think much less room to speak. Though I did manage to think it felt nice the way Max lounged beside me, his arm across the booth at my back, his bearing laid back but possessive. And I also managed to remind myself I shouldn’t be thinking that way, even though I couldn’t stop myself from doing it.

  The sun was shining and the cold snap had completely disappeared. It had to be twenty, maybe even thirty degrees warmer that day and the snow was melting so fast the gutters in the streets had turned to streams. The sun glistening off the water and the snow made the clear day so much brighter it was cheerful, like the town had its own brand of magic.

  Experiencing it, I couldn’t help but wonder if maybe Mindy had, indeed, lived an enchanted life prior, of course, to being raped.

  When we walked out of the café, Mindy proclaimed, “All right, girl time! No boys allowed.”

  “Like I’d wanna go shoppin’,” Max muttered, his arm sliding around my shoulders, pulling me into his side.

  “Right, so, skedaddle,” Becca ordered.

  Max grinned and said, “She’ll be right back.”

  Then he walked me to the Jeep, shoved me into it with a hand in my belly, followed me in, slid his fingers in my hair, an arm low at my waist and then he made out with me right there on the street, in town, in broad daylight.

  Yes, made out with me. Tongues and all.

  I did not fight this mainly because I was focused on fighting my body’s reaction to his hands on me and his tongue in my mouth and, unfortunately, losing.

  When his head lifted, I noted vaguely he didn’t let me go.

  “You gonna be all right with the terrible twosome?” he asked and I found it unfair he seemed capable of breathing and standing erect. My knees had gone weak and my breath had gone funny.

  “I think so.”

  “Don’t let them get you into trouble.”

  “Okay.”

  His face came a few centimeters closer and he whispered, “Look out for her, yeah? She has…” he hesitated, “bad moments.”

  At this open evidence of his concern for Mindy, something I liked a lot, my hand, moving of its own accord, slid from his hair to cup his jaw.

  “I’ll look out for her,” I promised.

  His beautiful eyes looked into mine for seconds that felt like minutes then he touched his mouth to mine in one of his sweet, swift kisses and he pulled me from the truck.

  “I’ll see you at home later,” he said.“Okay.”

  He chucked me under the chin and started to walk around the Cherokee.

  I made a massive effort to pull myself together so I didn’t watch him like a love-struck idiot and headed back to Mindy and Becca. He tooted his horn as he drove passed us and I lifted my hand in a wave, hoping my wave didn’t make me look like a love-struck idiot.

  “I think he likes you,” Becca said then she looked at Mindy who was watching me and they both giggled.

  “I need to spend money,” I muttered.

  “Yeah, me too,” Mindy said, linking her arm with mine and we took off.

  There weren’t some great shops in town, there were some really great shops and considering I didn’t have to pay for a wedding anymore and I’d been saving since Niles asked me over a year ago, I went crazy. I bought so much stuff both Becca and Mindy had to help me carry my bags. I also found Sarah’s earrings and feeling generous I bought all three of us a pair even though they were more expensive than I was expecting mainly because they were heavy with silver and beautifully crafted. Becca and Mindy tried to protest but I wouldn’t let them. A girl who’d been raped and her friend who was looking out for her needed new, expensive, heavy, silver, beautifully crafted earrings. It should be a law.

  We ran into practically everyone the girls knew it seemed since we were constantly stopped in shops and on the boardwalk. There were a lot of introductions and gabbing. I was a curiosity since some had heard of me already and it was evident Max was a popular person and anyone associated with him was automatically an object of fascination most especially an outsider with an English accent. Others, Becca and Mindy freely told, “Nina’s with Max” which then made me an object of fascination.

  After the curiosity about me wore off, most of the talk was about Curtis Dodd and who might have done the deed. Most of this was liberally interspersed with open comments about how no one was really going to miss him. Some of it was catty talk about Shauna who,
it was evident, was not a popular person. There were a lot of careful looks at Mindy who seemed to have trouble dealing with these indicated by the pink that would tinge her cheeks. When that happened either Becca or I would get close. Sometimes, if Mindy started shuffling her feet or chewing at her cuticles, I’d grab her hand. When I did this she held on tight and I’d feel the sting of tears behind my eyes but I just held her right back.

  We walked by a photography shop that printed digital photos and I asked the girls if we could go in because I was dying to see the photo Cotton took printed out rather than small on the screen at the back of the camera. When we entered it appeared to be a Shrine to Jimmy Cotton, the walls were wallpapered with his pictures. We hung out while the photos were printing halfheartedly looking at photography stuff we had no interest in. When they were done, I paid for the photos and we stood a few feet from the counter looking through them.

  I came upon Cotton’s photo and stared, stunned at what the man could do with a digital camera. The framing was magnificent, he managed to make the bluff, river and mountains most of the photo, Max and me at the side.

  But regardless of the beauty of the vista, it was Max and me that took my full attention.

  Not surprisingly, Max was incredibly photogenic, smiling natural and casual into the camera.

  Surprisingly, even with his supreme male beauty, I looked natural and casual, smiling at his side. My cream cap, blonde hair and pale, wind-kissed skin was an attractive foil to his dark handsomeness. I liked the look of us together, maybe a bit too much.

  And we didn’t look like we’d just met and barely knew each other. We looked like we’d known each other forever, comfortable in our close hold.

  We looked even like we belonged together.

  I hadn’t realized I’d put my hand to his stomach, my arm around his back and I noticed that I fitted into his side like God created me specifically to slot right there. And his hand curled at my neck, gloved fingers barely visible through the strands of my hair, had the weird look like he was claiming me. I was, just simply, his.

  “I freaking love that picture!” Mindy cried, standing close, staring at the photo and Becca got close too.

  “Wow, awesome shot,” she breathed. “Max is hot and you’ve got the prettiest eyes I’ve ever seen.”