by Mj Fields
Kat: No he hasn’t
Why the hell do I push send? I scold myself.
@rider1: Good thing. There may still be hope for you.
Kat: Meaning?
@rider1: Me.
Kat: What happened to, “Done.”
@rider1: Goodnight Kat.
Kat: Goodnight
I walk up the stairs to grab a pillow and a blanket. I don’t want Darby to wake up down here alone, and I’m not sure how she’d feel if I climbed into bed when Ricco comes to take Nat home.
As I’m walking back down I decide to see if Rob has messaged and he hasn’t.
I look at the time, it’s only nine thirty so I decide to call him, hell, why not?
He answers in a sexy sleepy voice. “Hey babe, you home?”
“Yep and I’m bored.”
“I have a cure for boredom.”
God he sounds hot. “Is that so.”
“Yeah, get up here and I’ll show you.”
“Um, I’m not sure I can.”
“Kids are asleep right?”
I look in my room. “Yeah but how did you know that?”
“I put them to bed, wore ‘em out. They missed their dad. Their dad missed their mom, so get your ass up here and give me something.”
“Rob?”
“Very funny,” he chuckles.
“What’s funny?”
“Oh, you wanna role play. I’ll be Rob, you be, oh I don’t know how about a cat.”
Oh. My. Gawd. This motherfucker is an actual mother fucker.
“This is Kat, asshole.”
“Wait, what?”
“You are a piece of shit, you know that?”
“Wait, Kat, no I was fucking with you,” he tries to play it off as a joke.
“No dickstain, you weren’t and I can promise you never will.”
I hang up and toss the phone on the couch and grab the bottle of wine.
What a joke this is.
What an idiot I am.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Fuck it Friday
I wake up when I hear a knock at the door. I drag my ass off the couch and walk over, looking through the peephole I see Ricco standing outside with his head hung low.
I open it up and he shakes his head. “Not sure what to say.”
I step back. “It’s raining, figure it out inside.”
“Were you sleeping?” he asks catching the towel I toss to him.
“Did you ride your bike?”
“My One and Only,” he corrects as he towels off his hair, then takes of his black leather biker jacket.
“Right whatever, she can’t ride that thing, especially not in the rain.”
He looks up and his eyebrow raises. “You telling me how to parent?”
“Me? No, I don’t even like kids.”
“Right.” He kicks off his boots and walks in as I follow him.
“But you don’t have a booster seat? That’s illegal.” He turns around and looks at me, eyebrow cocked. I stop and cross my arms. “What? It is.”
“No room for a booster seat on my ride, Kat.”
“Then maybe she shouldn’t-” He holds up his finger and I stop talking.
“Not that I have to ever defend my parenting abilities to anyone, but the truck’s in the shop. She has a damn seat in it. I’m not fucking stupid, got it?”
I shrug and stick my nose in the air. “I asked her if she had one and she had no clue what one was.”
He shakes his head. “She also thinks you’re a cat because that’s your name. She’s fucking three. It’s her ride.”
“What’s her ride?”
“The booster, she calls it her ride.”
“Is it a high back booster?”
He scowls at me and try not to smile, he rolls his eyes. “We done?”
“Where’s her mom?”
“Apparently we’re not done.” He shakes his head, walks over to the sink, grabs a cup out of the drainer and fills it up.
“I was just wondering,” I say grabbing the bottle of wine and pouring myself a glass.
“How is it that we’ve known each other for nearly four years and you’re clueless about everyone around you.” He walks over, grabs a strand of my hair and tugs. “Is it really blonde under here?”
I swat his hand away. “Ha. Ha.”
“It’s a legit question,” he shrugs.
“Why bother? I mean life is so much simpler if you just ignore everything around you.”
“Right, the badass Kat, but the badass Kat isn’t so badass when she’s around her friends, her mom, and her sister now is she?”
“They get me.” I shrug and down a glass of wine.
I have no desire to have this conversation, none whatsoever.
“Cause you let them get you. Me, the Steel family, those two guys who work at the shop, they get you too.”
“I really don’t hold much in now do I?”
He reaches over and tugs on my shirtsleeve. “Do you have any clue what last Thursday’s conversation was like at the shop before you got there?”
“Because I dress different at home than work?” I laugh.
“You don’t just dress different, you act different. Less,” he pauses, “homicidal.”
“Whatever," I say. “We may not be viewed as professional, but my art is important to me.”
“Deep,” he nods.
“Personal,” I respond.
“And yet you keep a wall around you?” he asks lifting the cup he grabbed and drinks down the water.
I smirk and he scowls. “What?”
“You love peen?”
“What kind of question is that?”
“Your cup says,” I stop when he turns it around and looks at it.
He shrugs. “I love mine and you seem to love plastic cock.”
I shake my head and smile. “That was-” I stop because I don’t know what that was and then I shrug.
“A whole new facet of Kat.”
“Did you think I didn’t like dick, that I was a lesbian or something?”
“No, Kat, I didn’t think you were a lesbian.” There was something different in his gravelly voice.
He straightens his stance. “Where’s my Nat?”
“She’s in my room, asleep. It’s right over there,” I point.
“I know where it is,” he nods.
“Right.” I walk over and look out the window. “Still raining, you should wait it out.”
“Planned on it.” He walks over, lays the towel on the couch and sits.
“The remote-”
“Don’t need it, you and I are gonna chat.”
“About?” I ask walking over and sitting on the other side of the couch, because again like last time, he’s in my spot.
“This pending partnership,” he says looking at me. “I heard you were reluctant.”
“I don’t really care for responsibility.”
“Heard that, but it’s not seen or felt.”
“I really wasn’t given a choice. I mean how wrong is it that she didn’t even ask for payment. I don’t feel like it’s mine. It was like a fucking man giving his wife sexy lingerie for her birthday when it’s more for him.”
He tilts his head and leans in. “That makes no damn sense. What does fucking have to do with having a business handed down to you from people who view you as family?”
“You know what I mean.” I shake my head and wave him off.
“No. But while we’re on the subject of men, women, and fucking, what the hell are you doing on that dating app thing?”
“Zack has a big damn mouth,” I huff.
“No, Kat, the thing’s in your hand all the damn time.”
“Is not,” I defend.
“Fine, whatever, but it’s a shit place to meet someone to have a relationship with.”
“Maybe I’m not looking to meet someone, maybe I’m just looking to fuck.”
His eyes widen and his jaw drops but he snaps it shut.
“Oh
please, like you aren’t out doing the same damn thing.” I lean back against the couch and cross my arms over my chest. “The difference is, I have a vagina and not a dick.”
“What exactly do you think it is I’m out there doing, Kat?”
“It’s not what I think, it’s what I know,” I laugh. “Is Mr. Ricco Martinez available? You get served paternity paperwork at least once a month. So clearly you’re out there fucking.” He starts to interrupt me but I talk over him. “And, you don’t know how to wrap it.”
He leans forward and looks at me. “I know how to wrap it.”
“I’m sure you all do, I mean who didn’t get the banana in health class demonstration. But, Ricco, why the hell don’t you?”
He stands up and takes my empty glass, walks over and fills it up. He comes back, hands it to me and sits down. “I do.”
“You said-”
“No, Kat, you assume. You assume and I’m not gonna argue with you. You seem to like being pissed about… everything. Hell, I even think it amuses you.”
“Right. So what, they break?” I laugh. “Or do they fall off?”
“Are we really going to sit here and talk about my cock?”
“Sure, why not,” I smile.
“You smile a hell of a lot more here than at the shop too.”
“Yeah well, let’s not talk about me, let’s talk about you.”
He leans forward and grabs my phone, types something in and hits the Match Up app. “How the hell do you know my phone password?” I try to snatch it and he pulls it back.
“Just tried the one you set on the computer at work. FUCKOFF, not real original.”
“Give me my phone,” I say reaching again.
His big paw wraps around my wrist and yanks me closer. “Let’s talk about this distraction.”
“Let’s talk about all your issues and leave mine be.”
“Two.”
“Two what?” I ask looking over at him flipping through the app.
“Paternity tests. Neither kid was mine.”
“Whatever, I really don’t care.”
“The others are Nat’s mom trying to haul me to court for visitation or child support.”
“She doesn’t see her mom?”
“Not if I have anything to say about it,” he grumbles.
“So why does she get support?”
“How the fuck am I supposed to know?”
“Um well, you do go to court. I’m pretty sure you find out there.”
He sighs and looks at me. “Nat’s mom is incarcerated. Sold drugs, stole shit, shot a convenience store clerk. She got eight years, she’s on year three. Some dumb ass judge still allows her to collect support. No idea why. Can’t get a straight answer. I fight the increase, usually win, but it doesn’t go away.”
“I don’t understand, why doesn’t your lawyer-”
“Don’t want a lawyer.”
“Ricco, that’s insane-”
“No. I get a lawyer I waste more money, then I have less to take care of Nat.”
“Nat’s three,” I say trying to figure out the time line.
“Yeah, she was born in Bedford. Not something I ever want her to know.”
“Of course not,” I say looking down.
“Enough talk about me, let’s talk about you and your asinine idea that this shit is safe.” He scrolls. “Who’s this?”
He holds out the phone and I tell him the truth behind the app. “It started as a promise to help the Mom-ster. I agreed to try it out. Then my girls thought it was fun to set me up on dates.”
“You like dates?” he asks.
“No,” I answer honestly.
“I’m not a stupid man, Kat, but I’m at a loss here.”
You and me both, I think as I take a drink.
“I’m happy with my life. The online thing was a means to an end.”
“With Carrie,” he states.
“Yeah, but…” I stop and shake my head.
“But what?”
“I don’t know, things happened. I learned some shit, I guess it wasn’t all that bad.”
A text message pops up on my phone and he hits it
Rob: Okay fine, I am married but it’s not a good marriage, okay?
“You’re seeing a married man?”
“Hell no, I mean, I went out with him, I didn’t know he was married. It’s done.”
“You’re not someone’s side piece, a secret, a—”
“I know,” I groan as I roll my eyes. He smiles and shakes his head. “What?”
“Nat does that shit already. I was hoping she’d grow out of it. Apparently you females never do.”
The phone dings again.
Rob: Kat, I know you’re on that site. I also know you said you don’t know what you’re looking for. Stop looking. I’m right here. I have a couple more years and then this is all yours.
“This guy needs his ass kicked,” Ricco’s jaw clenches.
“Don’t they all.” I finish my wine and set it down.
The phone dings again and Ricco’s eyes just about pop out of his head and then his face turns red.
“What?”
“This motherfucker sent a dick pic.”
“Let me see,” I laugh.
“No, fuck that. It’s not cool.” He stands and holds the phone away from me. “Christ, the poor bastard.”
“Now you feel sorry for him?” I laugh.
“Yeah, I kind of do.”
“That bad?” I ask and climb on the couch to get high enough to reach the phone.
“The fuck are you doing?”
“Getting my fucking phone,” I jump, he grabs me and slams me down on the couch.
“Fuck,” I say and he looks at me.
“What the hell was that, Kat?”
“What asshole?” I sit up.
“That fucking noise you just made.”
The way he’s looking at me, all the dick talk, and four glasses of wine have me feeling… off.
“What noise?” I ask looking away.
He sets my phone down and grabs my chin. “The fucking growl.”
I shrug and turn to pull my face away and he holds it tighter.
“You liked that.”
“Liked what?” I ask, still not pulling away.
“You like to be thrown around.”
I force myself to laugh and then push his hand off my face. “No.”
His eyes still have mine, I can’t look away, he won’t look away.
“I call bullshit.”
“So what if I do? So fucking what,” I laugh and start to turn to walk away.
His hand snakes around my waist and he pulls me hard against him. I groan again, but this time I’m aware of it.
This shit can’t happen. No, no it can’t.
“You better hope I never hear of a man laying his hands on you like that.”
“I promise not to fuck and tell,” I say pulling forward.
“Is that a fact?” He pulls me back harder.
I look over my shoulder as he’s licking his lips. “Don’t look at me like that.”
“I’m not looking at you any damn differently than you are me.”
“You started it,” I say trying to sound angry and not turned on.
“No, Kat, on my bike the other night, you started it.”
“I was drunk and cold.”
“You were rubbing up and down my stomach and your little nips were sticking out.”
Can’t deny that.
“Drunk and cold,” I repeat.
“Hot and bothered,” he says closer to my ear.
It dawns on me right then. “That’s why you’ve been a dick.”
“Not a dick, just trying to ignore the fact that ever since that night, I have wondered what your pussy tastes like.”
My eyes go back to his expecting something totally different than I get. It isn’t a joke. There is no hidden camera in the room. It is him and it is me. Chills run down my spine and I swallow hard.
> I close my eyes seeking an escape from the inferno inside me and wrapped around me.
“You’re my friend, my co-worker, my—”
“You trust me,” he says, not asks.
“I don’t want a relationship and—”
“Not seeking one myself. Not for a long damn time. Too much shit to deal with.”
“I can’t do that. Not with you.”
“But you can a complete stranger?”
“Ricco,” I sigh.
“A married man, a stranger, a fucking high school kid?”
My eyes spring up and I glare at him. “I didn’t fuck that kid.”
“Didn’t say you did, but fact is, the next dick inside you needs to be one that’s of age, unmarried, and skilled. I got all that pressing right up against you now.”
I arch my back instinctively.
“That’s it babe, the only problem is, I’m not sure how good a fit I’ll be.”
I look up again and he’s smirking. From the feel of his erection against my back, his smirk isn’t one caused by a joke, he sees it as a challenge.
God his eyes get more green and less brown when he’s turned on. I look at his lips, red, wet, full. I remember his abs under my hands and the ‘V’ I saw when he took his sweatshirt off for me. Ricco, my co-worker, my friend, is fucking hot.
I pull away. “This changes nothing between us at work. You’ve had a rough day. I understand.”
“Kat.” He takes one Ricco size step towards me.
“No. Just stop, okay? We,” I point between the two of us, “can’t happen.”
He shakes his head no. “It’s gonna happen.”
“No, it’s not.”
“We both want it.”
“So what, it’s wrong.”
He takes two steps and I am pulled in the air, face-to-face, eye-to-eye with him. “Didn’t even try to deny it.”
I try to come up with an excuse. Say something in defense of how I am acting, how my body is responding and what pops out of my mouth? “So what, I like dick.”
“Then you’re gonna love my cock.”
One arm is around my waist holding me up. The other hand is on the back of my neck pushing me towards his lips that I know are going to fuck up my happy, single existence. Fuck up my nights spent with plastic and batteries, my clean damn sheets, and my simple easy life.
“This, can’t happen,” I say as his paw grips my hair and pulls my head back.
His teeth scrape down the side of my neck, “I need to fuck. You need to fuck. Now where are we doing this?”