by K. F. Breene
She caught the message, and nodded once. That was it. A simple nod.
Adam’s eyes went soft, his heart spilling over. If we weren’t in the room, I had no doubt he would cross that space and whisk her up into his arms. Instead, he smiled a promise for later, and went back to the conversation, catching me watching the two of them.
I smirked at him, my turn to be all-knowing, and sidled closer to William.
It was New Year’s eve and we found ourselves at a recently opened club with all the usual characters. There had been nothing exciting in the Lump/Adam front. They looked at each other often, Lump admitting that she couldn’t get that Christmas kiss out of her head, but neither was making the longer term move. When the four of us got together we had the best time ever, everyone laughing and having fun. There were always a few pauses for Lump and Adam to stare into each other’s eyes, but the moment would pass and the conversation resumed.
All the guys in our party, most of which were single, went in together to rent the VIP room for the night. William and I were huddled in the corner, enjoying some sober time alone before everything went berserk. We were kissing and petting each other, cuddled up and talking nonsense.
“It’ll happen tonight,” William said, interrupting a lengthy kiss.
“What will?”
“Adam will make his move tonight.”
“Oh my God, how do you know?”
“Adam is a patient man, more patient than the rest of us, but every man has his breaking point.”
“Why hasn’t he made the move before now?”
“I don’t know for sure, but he said a couple days ago that Lump was as ‘frusteratin’ as a stubborn mule.’”
“Yeah, she’s pretty laid back.”
“Lump is pretty laid back?”
“When it comes to making decisions and sticking to ‘em, yeah. She kinda just tries all the options until one is nailed down, often by someone else.”
William shook his head. “I’m glad birds of a feather don’t stick that closely together.”
“Nice one, Davies.”
“Hey, I got an ‘A’ in poetry in grade school.”
“I wouldn’t hold onto that victory if I were you.”
He laughed and started kissing and touching me again. I could feel his fingers slowly moving up the inside of my thigh. I was starting to get hot and bothered when Adam said from across the room: “Alright, kids. Y'all are startin' to gross me out."
"Gross you out or make you jealous?" I retorted, coming up for air.
"Poor Lump," William said. "She's gonna get a whirlwind of pent up...energy."
"If anyone can handle it, it's her. I walked in on her in the act once, and girlfriend is wild!"
"I didn't need to hear that."
"Oh. Sorry."
William gave me one last, deep kiss and spun me around to face the table. He gently pushed me off in that direction with a pat on my butt. When I turned around he was heading toward the waitress with a smile on his face.
“What’s up, hommies?” I asked as I slid in the booth.
Adam was sitting next to Lump, his attention definitely on her, and hers definitely on him, but neither one of them leaning into it. By Lump’s body language and subtle movements, I could tell she wanted him something fierce. But she was waiting, like I told her to that one time at the ranch. She didn’t want to choose, she wanted to be chosen. She said it was good advice that just felt right.
I told her she was an idiot. Then Gladis tried to hit her with a wadded up paper plate. Neither helped move it along.
I sat next to Jasmine, who gave me a warm smile.
"Hi Jazz. Where are all your girls?"
"I didn't want to bring them because all these guys are just looking for a one night stand."
"You didn't want to bring the chum to the shark feed, huh?" I asked.
She smiled at me and nodded. She was a sweet girl mostly, but she did have a mean streak. Which Lump and I exploited just so we could hang out with her. You had to really get to know her to see it. It was her saving grace. Goodie-goodies made my butt twitch. In a bad way.
Within a minute William came back and slid in next to me. He put his arm around my shoulders.
"Hey Jess?" Lump said across the table.
I looked at her, waiting for her to go on as my hand inched up William's thigh toward that delicious bulge.
“Stop it,” Lump said with a sigh.
“Stop what?”
“Stop feeling Willie up. Focus for a minute.”
“What is this, an anti-love party?” I stopped short of my mark.
“You can have sex on the dance floor later, I just need you to focus for one minute.” Lump paused and looked at me. After I stared at her, then scowled at Adam when a smirk crawled up his irritating mug, Lump went on, “I was thinking--there isn't much in the way of martial arts in this city. I was thinking about doing some studies on the demand and possible market."
Adam and William both perked up at the idea of a new business venture.
"So...I was thinking about maybe opening up my own place. Weekends and evenings at first, see if I can pay the bills."
Adam and William where giving their approval, not realizing there was more to come. Lump was not set enough on this venture, which meant she still needed direction. She was bringing it up to me, which meant in her head I was involved somehow. Lump's ideas often worried me because I usually had to do all the work or clean up. Or both.
"I was wondering, Jess. Could you help me with the bookkeeping side? The accounting?"
All eyes on me. "Do you have a business plan? Have you looked into spaces for the class? Have you looked into all the incurred costs? Like, but not limited to, rent, utilities, insurance, equipment, cleaning? Have you thought of lesson plans or your target audience? Have you thought about marketing? How about contingency plans if you are sick or hurt?"
I was rapid firing these questions at her, knowing full well that she had thought about none of this.
Adam and William were staring at me with wide eyes, apparently not realizing someone besides people with money knew something about business. I didn’t have the inclination to shove it in their faces. If I didn’t dissuade Lump, I’d land myself in a lot of thankless work.
"Okay," Lump said with resignation. "If I do that whole...lis, will you do the books then?"
"No problem. I don't work for free, though."
Adam looked at me with scorn. William was still in his own world, thoughtful. He was lining up work for me, I had no doubt. Sometimes it sucked dating the boss.
"I want borrowing rights without asking,” I began, ready to negotiate. “I want one fly coupon per four-hour work day in any circumstance unless drunk. I want one bar pass per 4 hour day. And when you start making money, I want to renegotiate the terms. Any extra work above and beyond finance is also subject to negotiation."
William popped back into reality as Adam titled his head, confusion replacing scorn.
"Continuous borrowing of my closet without restriction? No way. You can borrow without asking once per assigned work day. Fly coupon, fine, but in a ten mile limit. Bar pass, fine, except if my guy goes for me it counts. And the assigned hour work day for all of the above should be ten hours." Lump crossed her arms.
“What’s a fly—“
“William, don’t interrupt; we are negotiating. Ten hours?! You are dreaming, girl! Doing favors for you take longer than they should because of your extreme lack of organization. I'll go to five, no less.”
Lump’s jaw clenched.
“Seriously,” I went on, “I’m constantly involved in your schemes, and they never work out because you get bored and give up. I am not in a hurry to do this. And you will get your lazy ass to the bar by your own two feet, and fly, to pick up food,” I looked at William, “by your own car or feet, crawling if need be. Your guy, which you have yet to cement, isn't the one needing a favor. No dice, Betsy. Go bark up another tree."
The bo
ys' faces were now worried.
"All the times I have helped you, Jessica Lynn. All the times I’ve got you out of fixes. All the men I have beat off you, or the women I have tripped to make you look good, and you can't bend your free time a tiny bit? Eight hours. I'll ask for eight hours, which is a normal day’s work. Don't even tell me you are going to work as hard on my stuff as you do your job! And my guy might not count, but heralding a waitress should. That is an irritating thing to do."
"You are still under the impression I haven't forgotten about the smoothie shop, Betsy Anne. I am not going past six hours. Not an hour past. And fuck you—your ass to the bar, or you can lick my twat." I started to get up. My face was getting red, I was shaking, I was almost foaming at the mouth.
Lump knew me, though. She stood up, too, anger crossing her face and her fists balling. "You are a worthless friend, Jessica. A dirty worthless friend! I’ll kick your twat if you think I am going to side-step a waitress to go to the bar and go down past seven."
William and Adam got up in a hurry, arms ready to come between us. They were the only ones ready to intercede. The rest of the guys in the area, which had gathered around to watch the fireworks, had smiles a plenty. They were hoping to see a cat fight.
"A dirty worthless friend that isn't going up from six, a proper waitress flag and order, or your worthless lazy ass walking to the bar. Throw down if you want, but I'll get at least one eye and have you lookin' like a pirate, eye patch and all." I leaned in to her, ready to do battle.
She tensed all her muscles, staring at me with hate.
Then her face broke and she started chuckling.
"Bitch," she said, sitting back down. "You always get the better end of the deal. And a pirate?"
I laughed. "You only say that because you don't have to work for yourself. I am more kind-hearted then you give me credit for!"
"Willie, relax," Lump said with humor, sipping her drink. "We were just negotiating. She is a damned tight ass—you have to threaten her to get anything!"
“Them girls is crazy!” someone muttered as he wandered away.
William looked back and forth between Lump and I with candor. "Are you fooling?"
"Willie, don't put it past 'em. Your lady there can argue the teats off a nursin' goat," Adam said, sitting down and going back to his beer.
"Ew," I remarked. "I hate goats."
William just sat down and shook his head. "Paul’s right, women are crazy."
"You got that right, man!" Moose said from down the table.
All the girls got in an uproar and started talking at once. We fell back into laughing and joking.
After the alcohol had been liberally consumed the steady stream of women started. Our crew of girls were back and forth between the dance floor and our table, and every time we returned there was a new selection of women in our area. None of them talked to us, and we didn’t bother noticing them.
As the night train thundered toward mid-night, the guys in our area became less conscious of those that were acceptable to hit on, and turned to our crew of girlfriends. It was one time when Lump, Candace and I were on our way back from the dance floor that we were stopped by two guys that were in the VIP group, but that we didn’t know.
Candace squeaked past quickly, but Lump and I weren’t paying enough attention until it was too late.
“Hey ladies.”
“Hey,” Lump shot back, feigning disinterest and looking around. It was habit for hers, and unfortunately usually made men try harder to secure her attention.
“How y’all doin’ tonight? Saw y’all on the dance floor. Looking good.” The sandy haired guy took a step toward Lump. The other guy, slightly taller but the same mediocre appearance, walked around me, eyeing my body.
It just got crowded fast. These guys were a little too drunk, and a little too used to women throwing themselves at them tonight. VIP status was going right to their heads.
“Guys, we’re residents. Step off,” I said firmly, though still in a friendly way. It was talent.
“Residents, huh?” the guy circling me said, much too close. He was starting to piss me off. Also, make me nervous. I was no longer all that great with strange guys in my personal space, thank you Dusty.
“Yeah, residents, as in I’m Willie Davies’s girlfriend. This is my friend. Seriously, step off.” I dropped the friendly.
“You’re Davies’s girlfriend?” the jack-off close to me said as he thankfully took a step back. “Oh shit, you’re that gal that got that bull. I saw that lil’ rascal not long ago. Feisty fucker. Nice work.”
The other guy was looking at me with disinterest, turning back to Lump. “She might be taken, but what’s your story, darlin’? Wanna take a ride?”
“She’s off limits.” Adam stepped behind Lump, whisking her hair over her shoulder to put his hand softly on the back of her neck. I could see goose-pimples break out over her skin as she leaned back into his body. Adam moved his hand to her shoulder to allow the increased bodily contact.
“Says who, you Dunn?” The guy wasn’t backing down.
“Yeah, says me. And says the lady leanin’ up against me.”
The guy did, in fact, notice that Lump was overly content with the contact. The move had been made, and Lump was proving she was happy with the outcome.
“There a problem?” Alas, my knight in shining armor had arrived.
“We got a pissing contest here, boys?” Came Ty behind him, in good humor, as always.
William snaked his arm around my waist. Ty stepped up next to him, nodding to the guy that had already backed off.
“Hey Davies. Nah man, there’s no problem,” the guy that backed off me said, “We didn’t know they were with y’all until a couple minutes ago. Can’t blame a guy for wantin’ a shot with the prettiest girls in here.”
“No worries, man.” William blew it off. “You gonna head out to the practice bulls any time soon?”
“Ah, don’t know. Haven’t been on a bull in a while. Good to meet the gal that fooled that ol’ coot, though.”
William gave me a squeeze. “Yeah, she kept my competitors from claiming ‘im.”
As they kept talking about the bull, I noticed the other guy had wandered off, leaving Adam and Lump in their own world.
Lump’s whole body leaned back into Adam, her head leaned back to rest on his collar bone. He ran a large hand along her stomach, his other arm across her chest, bringing her in closer.
Lump responded with eyes closed, angling her face toward his neck, her hands reaching back, along his thighs, to bring his lower half harder against her backside. She softly nuzzled his neck, kissing him gently, ready to make the plunge. As Adam turned her body slowly, she lifted her chin, eyes hooded, lips seeking.
“Next time I would like to say you’re taken. If you don’t mind,” Adam said softly. He ran his fingers down the side of her face in a soft caress. His hand continued, down her neck, over her shoulder, then lightly across her cleavage.
Lump smiled, her ardor rising, her eyes fluttering at the contact. She nodded slowly, tracing up his chest with her palms.
A ghost of a smile crossed his lips as he leaned down, pulling her up slightly, touching his lips to hers in a teasing kiss.
“Told you so. Now quit peeping,” William said next to my ear.
“Just fodder for my inner romance novel,” I responded as I felt myself turn red and snuggled into him. He led me back to the table, leaving Adam and Lump kissing, now slightly more eager.
Sometime later the countdown began. Our table stood, looking out over the dance floor below. There was a Times Square ball that was dipping toward the New Year.
“Happy New Year!” we all shouted, William lifting me merrily and kissing me soundly.
Moose leaned in to give me a quick kiss as William kissed Jasmine. Ty was next, Candace got a hug. As I was turning to find Lump, I was whisked up and turned haphazardly into Adam’s arms. With a smile at my confused face, he gave me a big smack on t
he lips and hugged me tightly, my legs dangling.
Next he bear-hugged William, breaking apart to clap him on the back like the happiest man alive. Lump was equally so, but a titch more refined about it.
We all laughed and cuddled into our partners as the dance floor got moving again.
Chapter Five
“It’s time, Jess,” William said as he beside me with a cup of coffee.
It was a balmy Saturday morning in mid-April. We had a lot of nothing to do, him deciding to take a whole weekend away from any kind of work.
He’d also just finished telling me that he’d be gone for the next three weeks, getting a new branch up and running. Which I took with a nod and a sigh. I figured—there’d been talk.
I looked out the window, thinking outside was definitely a good idea, but not excited about the prospects of getting dressed. I decided to stall.
“Time for?”
“You to move in.”
My heart fluttered and butterflies filled my stomach. I also felt a little sick.
This conversation again. Not again.
I wanted to live with him. I loved him. I never wanted to leave him.
There were just two glaring problems holding me back. One, Gladis’s health was starting to decline. She tried to hide it, but she wasn’t doing a bang-up job. Plus, Lady was beside herself worried, which meant she mothered Gladis more.
If lived elsewhere, not even at the cottage three nights a week, something might happen and I wouldn’t be there. My dad had died in a darkened hospital room between my visits. I wouldn’t lose another person like that. I wouldn’t.
The other problem was the skew in compromise. It was William’s house I’d move to, which was bought and paid for. All his stuff filled the rooms, and his routine was practical and concise, putting his keys “where keys go” and his shoes “where shoes go.” There wasn’t a lot of room to start a new life together when I was joining his already established residence. We wouldn’t even remotely be on equal footing.
Plus, we spent every night together, anyway. I had a wardrobe for his house, and one for mine. We had a dog bed in each, our favorite wines or whatever doubled. It didn’t matter which house we chose to sleep in, our stuff was already there. What was the big deal in consolidating?