Nico

by J. B. Hartnett

  I went down to the beach and gathered a few choice pieces of driftwood and took them out to my parent’s place. Pop had every known tool, polish, paint, and tarnish under the sun. All that was missing were shells that I bought from one of the tourist shops downtown. I rifled through the garage and found a couple of weathered boards, and all I needed to do was cut them to the right size.

  My pop, among his varied skills, was good with his hands. This meant, not only did he have the right tool for the job, he taught me to use it. I donned protective eyewear and flipped the table saw on, making one even cut through the first then the second piece of wood. Easy. I continued with sanding and drilling holes, staining the wood, and, finally, putting the whole thing together.

  I made sure the words stood out, and, with an extra corny touch I knew my girl would love and Zack would never let me live down, the sign was complete.

  The day spent out at Mom and Pop’s gave me some time alone with my thoughts. It could have been a good thing or a bad thing, but I was impatient to propose to Lark. It didn’t change the fact we were both committed to a future together. After the incident with her ex at the mall, it seemed to propel us to a new part of our relationship. Still, I wanted to see her wear my ring, and giving it to her at the cabin was important to me.

  I drove back to our place. Mom and Ramona had dusted, mopped, and tidied what was already spotless. Pop and Hank sat on my porch, and it occurred to me, I had overlooked a small order of business with Hank Andrews.

  “Hey Pop. Hank.” I greeted.

  “Whatcha got there, Nicolas?” my pop asked.

  “Think you can hang this for me? I need to do something before Lark gets back.”

  Pop winked at me. He seemed to understand I needed a minute alone with Hank. He took the sign and the hardware to hang it and left us alone.

  I decided not to beat around the bush. “I’m gonna marry Lark. I bought a ring. That all right with you?”

  “Jesus, Nicolas. Took you long enough to ask me.” Hhe chuckled.

  “I don’t have a whole lot of experience with this sort of thing.” I smiled, trying to remain cool and confident in the moment.

  “When are you gonna do it? You know, so the wife and I don’t have to go crazy with anticipation.”

  “When I take her away for our trip. I’m taking her up to my cabin. I’ve never taken anyone there before. It’ll make it more special.” I stared out toward the ocean, the afternoon sun giving off that sparkle that made you squint.

  “That sounds like a really good plan, son.” Third time in my life a man called me son, and it hit me in that place, deep down.

  “Thanks, Hank.” I smiled and walked away. God knows what I might have said or done if I stood there a minute longer.

  No sooner had Pop finished hanging the sign did Lark appear with two bags filled with supplies for her new shop.

  She dropped the bags.

  I walked up behind her and wrapped her in my arms while we looked at it together. The front window was arranged by my mom’s expert eye. Right in the middle stood a framed article from the local magazine that had featured Lark as an up-and-coming business woman. A mannequin bust displayed one of her veils, a bouquet of silk flowers was wrapped in one of her signature Cluster Corsets, and silk rose petals were scattered with a white sand dollar and smaller polished shells.

  Above the door hung the sign I’d made, framed in whitewashed driftwood, the distressed planks displayed the words “Beachy Bride” in twisted dark metal. Pop had made that part. But the little bride and groom made from shells was the part Zack would bag me for. I didn’t care.

  She loved it.

  Lark turned in my arms, those big brown eyes already wet with tears, and said, “Thank you so much.”

  “I had help, you know.” I squeezed my hands on her hips. I wanted to kiss her, among other things, but we had an audience.

  “Son, how about you break in all that overpriced barbeque crap you bought.”

  “Good call, Pop.” I lifted her chin and gave her a light kiss. “Wanna go grocery shopping?”

  “Think we can find someplace to make-out? I kind of want my hands all over that gorgeous bod at the moment. You know, to say thanks,” she said and smiled up at me.

  “Babe, I’ll bring a blanket and…”

  “Oh! That reminds me, there’s a meteor shower tonight,” she said. “How about we drive out to the canyon later, after dinner, then you can bring that blanket and let me show you my appreciation for telling me I could do this.” Her tone became serious, then, “You believed in me.”

  “Babe,” I said and leaned in to kiss her again.

  “Jesus, you kids are like rabbits. We’ll order some pizzas instead.” Pop and Hank laughed. Ramona’s face had gone red watching the entire thing not two feet from us, but there was something I hadn’t noticed before. My mom and Ramona were holding hands, and Mom was crying. She was happy, but I could clearly see the tears and emotion on both their faces.

  ***

  We lay in the back of the truck and stared up at the sky. We were actually on Mom and Pop’s property. I knew the area well. It was dark, and we wouldn’t be disturbed. Our eyes had adjusted to the night, and laid out before me was my own personal beauty queen. I couldn’t think of a single woman, actress, model, musician… anyone who rivaled this girl in beauty. She showered and changed after dinner. The night was warm, especially out where my parent’s place was. She wore a white sundress with small buttons at the front, a denim jacket, and cowboy boots. I would have preferred to wear sandals with my tee shirt and cargo shorts, but instead wore Vans. Pop had drilled into me the importance of proper footwear when driving, and now, when I tried to drive in anything else, I got nervous.

  I took off her boots and socks and rubbed her feet in my lap. “It’s beautiful out here,” she said.

  “You should see this in the mountains, Lark. You wouldn’t believe you’re looking at the same sky.”

  “Are you ever going to take me there?” She sat up and, damn, she looked so beautiful, I actually lost my train of thought.

  “Sorry?” I shook my head.

  “I said are we going to go there? Or is it some kind of boys’ only place?”

  I moved her hair behind her ear. “We’re going there soon.”

  She put her feet down and lay against me as I shoved off my shoes and held her. Both of us just listened for the longest time, all the creeks and cracks and sounds that nature made away from traffic and city noise. I laced my fingers through hers when she said, “Nico?”

  “Yeah, babe?”

  “Are you really going to ask me to marry you?”

  “I am,” I said immediately. “Are you gonna say yes?” I teased.

  She sat up and looked at me, “I mean, I believe you, but I believed Shane, too. I promised Dee I would ask you straight, and I am. Is this real?”

  My first reaction was to call that fuckin’ meddling Dee and tell her to butt the fuck out. Instead, I took a deep breath. “Babe?”

  She nodded and looked down at her lap.

  I took her head and held it in my hands. “Look at me.”

  She gave me those big brown eyes and long lashes along with a look of total and utter sadness.

  “Do you remember our first kiss?” I didn’t give her a chance to answer. “I kissed you on the cheek, and I told you I was gonna help you find that girl you lost. She was never gone, babe. She was just protecting herself. Our first real kiss was the day we had coffee downtown. You looked up at me and I was done. From the minute your lips hit mine. In fact, that wasn’t even it. It was the day you came in the studio to drop off that corset for the wedding. You took my breath away, and babe, you’ve had it ever since.”

  “You mean it?”

  “I mean it.”

  “Because I…” she looked down again.

  “Lark, tell me. Whatever it is, just fuckin’ tell me, because, I swear to God, if this is something else that Dee said, I am gonna—”
/>   “I want a baby,” she blurted out.

  “Stop taking the pill,” I stated firmly and pulled off my shirt.

  “Yeah?” She smiled.

  “Fuck. Yeah.” I pushed my cargos and boxers off.

  “You’re sure?” She ran her fingers through my hair while I held myself above her.

  “Lark, I have never been surer about anything in my entire life.” I kissed her soft then began to deepen it, her tongue meeting mine in a dance I was planning on doing as long and as much as possible. I kissed down her neck, bit her nipples through the thin fabric of the dress until I reached her stomach. In what she would later tell me was one of the most tender moments we ever shared, I pulled up her dress and pressed my lips against her belly. Her body shook with tears as I lifted my head and pulled her into me.

  “‘Til the day I die, Lark,” I whispered in her ear. “‘Til the day I die.”

  I laid her back down, our clothes quickly discarded as I moved over her body, her legs open to invite me in. I glided into her ready warmth and let out a long groan. “Perfect,” I said.

  “Oh God,” she gasped as her head lifted from the blanket with the pleasure of each thrust. I held the back of her knee, pushed deep and stayed there as I leaned down to kiss her again. I ground against her and hit that spot deep when I lifted her body to meet mine.

  “Perfect,” I said again as I increased my speed. Her walls tightened around me as I lifted her onto my lap so she could ride me and her orgasm at the same time.

  “I’m gonna come,” she gasped. “I’m gonna come!” She threw her head back, her long tresses in my grip.

  No sooner did she come apart did I pull out and tell her, “Turn around, babe.”

  She got to her knees so we were face to face and asked, “You sure?”

  “‘Til the day I die. Now turn around so I can see that fine ass.” I grinned. “Hold on, babe.”

  Her hands gripped the edge of the truck while I lined myself up behind her. I rubbed the tip around her wet opening until I knew it started to make her crazy with need. “Now!” She urged as I pushed into her, her walls already pulsing around me. I held her hips as she cried out, “Harder, Nico. Harder!”

  I pounded into her, my hand, with a mind of its own, gave her ass a hard slap which made her scream out my name. As I felt her orgasm hit again, I went harder and lifted her body against mine while my balls hit her on each deep thrust. “Fuck!” I yelled out into the night.

  We sat there trying to catch our breath, her small giggle echoing against the foothills when I heard, “You two mind keeping it down now? Son, you know I’m proud you’re a man who can please your woman, but I also have a wife—your mother—who is running around the place turning on every radio and television to full blast because she can’t find her damn headphones.” I heard him chuckle as he walked away, mocking me, “Fuckkkkk,” and laughing his ass off.

  “OhmyGod!OhmyGod!OhmyGod!OhmyGod!” Lark said in a frenzied whisper.

  “Babe.” I laughed. “It’s all right.”

  “All right?!” she snapped.

  “We are gonna look back on this moment and laugh.” I couldn’t help it; I couldn’t stop laughing.

  “Not likely,” she said, as she tried to locate her clothes.

  I just laid back and felt pieces of my clothing hit me as tears rolled down my face.

  “You do realize your mom and dad just heard me yell out, ‘Harder, Nico, harder,’ right?”

  This only made me laugh more.

  “Uh, son?” I heard from a safe distance.

  “Yeah?” I shouted out to him as I tried to get a proper breath.

  “Your mom wants to know if you guys want to come in for some coffee and cobbler.”

  “Sure,” I got out as Lark whacked me across the chest with all her strength. “Ouch!” I said and pulled her into me. “Babe?” I grinned at her as I tried to quell my amusement.

  “I am mortified, Nico. Mor-ti-fied!”

  “Babe,” I said as I moved her hair behind her shoulders and slipped the band from my wrist to hold it there. “This is your family now, too. They’re gonna laugh with you and cry with you and everything in between.” And because I had to make sure I didn’t forget, “I need you to promise me something.”

  “Okay,” she said as she finally calmed down.

  “You need to ask me first, Lark. Always. If you want to know something, you ask me. We’re going to be a family. You and me, we’re already a team, and though I’m happy to have other people on it, we make decisions together. You get what I’m saying?”

  “I get what you’re saying,” she said with a light laugh.

  “How is that funny?” I asked.

  “I like it when you’re bossy,” she said with a wicked grin.

  “You love it,” I joked like the arrogant asshole I still had buried in there somewhere.

  “Do I get to pick my own ring?” Her eyes went wide as she anticipated my answer.

  “No.”

  “Why not?” she asked with mock horror.

  “Babe.” I left it at that, and before she could argue, we heard, “Cobbler. Cobbler. Cob. Cob. Cob. Cobbler!” My pop’s laugh echoed back at us.

  ***

  “Your mom will never look at me the same way again.”

  “Relax, babe. Yes, she will. It was just all fresh in her mind. Give it a couple of days.”

  We pulled to the back of the garage where Zack was pacing back and forth.

  “What the fuck?” I said and threw the truck into park and jumped out.

  “They wouldn’t let me ride with her, Nico.” His entire body shook.

  “What’s going on, man?”

  Lark jumped out of the truck and came right up to Zack’s face. “Look at me, Zack. Where is she?”

  “They took her to St. Jude’s. Becca is on her way to take me there. I told her I’d meet her here.”

  “Teensy?” she asked gently.

  “I was supposed to pick her up from this small gig; paid huge. She was meant to do a demo of different binds with those twins. She didn’t even think to bring B.A.B. The twins were tied up; they watched the whole thing, man… the whole thing.”

  I held my friend up while he cried. He would be pissed later that he showed me that emotion. He would play it off and say he grew a pussy that day or some other phrase to cover it up, but he knew, I would never judge him for it.

  “Arghhhhh!” he yelled out. “Fuck, man. Fuck!”

  Three hours, four detectives, two nurses, and one doctor later, Zack was finally allowed to go see Teensy. Moira came in. I could see she was emotional, too, but she kept it together. Her rape wasn’t the same, but it was still rape, and Moira was not only Teensy’s assistant, she was her best friend.

  As much as I wanted to, there was no way I could take Lark up to the cabin. Zack had covered my ass more times than I could count, and he wasn’t going to leave Teensy’s side. Not now, not ever.

  ***

  It was the middle of summer. Zack came back to work, and this was a special day. The DNA results had helped to convict one of Teensy’s attackers, and with two eyewitness accounts from the twins—I decided not to tell Lark about my previous association with them—they had jailed one of the men who raped Teensy and had also been involved in another attack. They had his DNA, but no identity until this case.

  Teensy changed her business to be a full time dominatrix and taught classes on the art of Japanese binding.

  Zack went everywhere with her.

  He asked me for two favors the day he came back. One, he wanted to hire a new guy named Frodo, like The Hobbit. His driver’s license said Frodo as well as his Social Security card. I didn’t ask him if that was his given name, but the full back tattoo of Gandalf told me that he was a fan. The second favor he asked, “I want you to give Teensy a tattoo, Nico. You know her. I’m not sure how you feel about that, but she wants you to do it. She wants me to hold her hands. Will you do it, man?”

  I pulled my hands
down my face. “Fifty-two.”

  “Huh?”

  “She’s number fifty-two, man.”

  A few days later, we closed early. Frodo had his first shift, and he was the perfect addition to our studio.

  The new blinds were closed as I took Teensy into my arms and kissed her on the cheek. “I’m sorry,” I managed to choke out. She was the culmination of every rape victim I had ever given a tattoo. She was always sure, always strong, and always confident; one thing another client had said to me came back to me in that moment, her power as a woman and as a human being was taken from her, that she felt like an animal, hunted for no other reason than power and pleasure.

  Teensy held Zack’s hands. Their wedding was planned for August, and Lark was working on a backless dress for her. Teensy made that specific request so the world could see her new tattoo, which read “Property of Zack. Fuck Off” with a large heart at the bottom and both their initials across it. It wasn’t everyone’s idea of romance, but it was for them. By far, it was the best tattoo I had ever done.

  Chapter 16

  “Damn, I love the smell of burning flesh. Especially when it’s covered in barbeque sauce.” Zack licked his lips, throwing out hints of his hunger. “As soon as the girls are done, that’s it man, I have to eat. This is like fucking torture.”

  “Dude, how can Teensy stand your constant whining?” I lifted my gloved hand as I finished the last of three giant nautical stars on this guy’s chest: one red, one white and one blue.

  “I have a huge cock, man.” he said and grabbed his junk.

  I dipped my needle into the blue ink. “To match your ego?”

  “Fuck you, man.” He looked out the window. “Frodo’s here, finally. I’m outta here, man.”