by Nikki Ashton
“Yes, honestly. So, what’s next?”
Dex led me over to a machine, which according to the diagram, was going to work my abductor muscles, whatever they were. He crouched down to adjust the weight and then patted the seat.
“You need to put your legs on either side of those pads,” he said nodding toward them. “And then use your inner thighs to push them together.”
I looked at how far apart the pads were and grimaced. “That’s going to bloody split me in half,” I groaned. “How the hell do I even get my legs either side of the pads?”
I sat down and looked up at Dex who was grinning.
“You won’t think it’s so funny if I break myself down there,” I complained.
“Firstly, we’re not at that point just yet, but when we are, there’s only one way that is going to be broken, and it won’t be by a damn machine.”
I drew in a breath and felt a little flutter – my fanny telling me it was by no means broken. God, I was so ready to be at ‘that point’ with this man. I’d been feeling it more and more, especially after our mammoth snogfest.
“Secondly,” Dex continued bending down to flick a lever, “they go together first so you don’t have to look too undignified.”
“Oh and opening and closing my legs for three lots of twenty doesn’t look undignified. Good job I don’t have the coil fitted,” I muttered.
“And why would that be, Katie Cat?” Dex asked with a grin.
“All that moving around, I might pick up a TV station. Can you imagine it, hearing the ten o’clock news coming from between my legs? I could get on Britain’s Got Talent with that – if only I had a coil.”
Dex gave a deep belly laugh, shaking his head. “Just get your legs over and stop making me laugh.”
His eyes were bright and full of mirth and I loved how much fun we had together. Carl would have stormed off by now, telling me I was wasting his time by pissing about. Feeling thankful once again for the dodgy handle on my bag, I gave a little grunt and shifted my legs either side of the pads. Once I was comfy, Dex moved the lever again.
“Oh shit,” I squawked, as my legs were suddenly split apart.
“A bit of a shock?” Dex asked with a chuckle.
“Hmm, slightly.”
I actually felt a little exposed and was glad I was wearing my long ‘Frankie’ t-shirt and not a crop top – not that I ever would, not with my saggy, stretch-marked stomach. I tugged at my t-shirt, pulling it further down and adjusted my bum.
“Right, I’m ready.”
Dex explained the best technique and suggested that I did two reps of twenty, seeing as my legs hadn’t been that wide for a while. He then ducked out of the way as I tried to slap him.
“Okay, darlin’, off you go.”
I started off well, with Dex giving me encouragement and then at number fifteen of the second rep, the most embarrassing thing in the world happened.
“Thirteen,” Dex counted. “Fourteen, fif-.”
The loudest fart ever erupted from my backside and because I was sitting down, I felt all the wind push its way to freedom, through my fanny. It sounded like a drum solo followed by a trumpeting finale.
As soon as it sounded out, I slapped a hand over my mouth and looked up at Dex, my eyes wide with horror.
Any distant hope I had that he hadn’t heard was dashed when I saw his face. His mouth was open and his eyes were even wider than my own.
“You didn’t?” he gasped.
With my hand still over my mouth, I nodded silently.
“Why’ve you got your hand over your mouth?” he asked, laughing. “That rumble came from your ass, not your voice box.”
“I’m so sorry,” I cried, feeling the heat spring to my cheeks. “I’ve never…I don’t…”
“You don’t what, normally fart?” Dex asked. “Darlin’ how the hell do you not have a damn belly ache all the time?”
“No I do, but not…Oh my God, I’m mortified.”
I dropped my head and closed my eyes, feeling sure Dex would disappear, never to return while I wasn’t looking. However, after a few seconds I was dragged into his arms and pulled against his shaking chest. The bastard was laughing his head off.
“Oh shit, darlin’,” he breathed in between peals of laughter. “You make my life so much more fun, every fucking day. I have no idea what I’d do without you.
And suddenly one trumpeting vart didn’t seem so bad.
Dex
I woke with a start, my heart beating irrationally fast, feeling fearful and anxious. I’d had another dream about Cherry and I had no damn clue why.
Each dream had been different, all involving her. She was either dying in some way or I was searching for her, without success. Tonight, she’d been killed by falling off a tilting building and as she’d fallen, I’d startled awake.
I didn’t know the reason behind the dreams – she’d been dead for almost three years, and it wasn’t as though we’d been together when it happened. Yeah, I’d been full of grief for her passing, but I’d felt a little distant from it all. That was another reason why I hadn’t gone to the funeral; I didn’t really feel as though I knew her any longer. Well, that was what I’d told myself initially, but with time I’d realized it was the guilt I felt about our last conversation, it hadn’t been my finest hour and I had probably been a little hard on her.
We’d had a few drinks and kicked back, but when she started talking about us getting back together I made it pretty clear it wasn’t happening.
“But why, Dex? We were so good together.”
I shook my head. “I’m sorry Cherry, but it ain’t happenin’ and truth be told we weren’t that great.”
“We were. We had something real special,” she pleaded, grabbing hold of my forearm that was resting on the scratched high table in the bar. “If you just come back with me for a little while, you’ll see.”
“Cherry, I never loved you like I shudda, and that won’t change a second time around.”
“But what if things were different? What if you came home with me and saw the sort of life we could have. What if we had a family?” Her fingers tightened around me as her eyes begged for me to agree.
I pulled my arm away slowly and pushed back my chair. “No, I’m sorry. I don’t want a family with you. I don’t wanna be with you, Cherry. I left for a reason, and that reason was because I didn’t love you – not like I should’ve and I never will.”
Tears brimmed at her lashes and her bottom lip trembled as she shook her head. “You’ll never love me, will you?”
“Nope. I’m sorry, Cherry. I was grateful, because you coming along helped me get through my mom’s death, but I’m not even sure I ever did love you.”
She shoved back her chair, almost sending it tumbling and picked up her purse from the floor.
“You’ll never know what you’re missing out on, Dex,” she sniffed. “Never.”
She ran out of the bar and that was the last I ever saw of her. Yeah, I wondered whether she’d killed herself because of the things I’d said, but the only small news piece I found about it, was short and to the point and was quite clear it had been an accident.
I wondered if the dreams were a product of my subconscious – I was real happy with the way things were going with Katie, so maybe it was a little more of that guilt pushing its way through.
I turned onto my back, linking my hands behind my head and looked up at the darkened ceiling. God, what I wouldn’t give for Katie to be in this bed with me, but she wasn’t ready for that and it was a little too soon for sleepovers, just yet.
I still couldn’t get my head around how quick it had all been, going from helping her pick up her shit from the floor to desperately wanting her in my bed. It had only been a couple of weeks, but like the great wide world tells you, ‘when you know, you know’, and I knew I wanted to be all in with her. At forty-six I’d dated a lot of women, lived with one, and knew what I wanted, and that was Katie. Life was short and at my age
I didn’t want to be hanging around waiting to see if anyone better came along – mainly because I knew way down, deep in my gut, they wouldn’t. Katie was amazing in so many ways and though it made me sound like a pussy, I figured she may well be who I’d been waiting for all this time.
Reaching for my cell, I took a look at the time and saw it was almost two a.m. I’d only been asleep for a couple of hours. I’d worked late doing the books for Heaven & Ink, intermitted with texts to and from Katie. She was still embarrassed about what had happened at the gym, and her first text of the night had been a profuse apology for it. Me, well I didn’t give a shit. I found it hilarious, it was just another example of how she made me laugh – how she fucking rocked my world, and that was even before she’d rocked my world – if you know what I meant.
The texts between us had become fun and flirty and I was going to call her, but she told me she was in the cinema with Charlie and Annie watching some action film that Charlie had wanted to see. So, texts it was and I fucking enjoyed the banter between us.
Flicking at my phone, I opened up the string of messages and read through them, smiling like a damn idiot.
Katie:I’ve just lost half a tub of popcorn down my top.
Dex: Lol what happened?
Katie:Charlie knocked my arm just as I was looking down said top for a piece I’d already lost
Katie: God it’s really itchy
Dex:Can’t you scoop it out?
Katie:I’ve tried but the man next to me keeps watching me
I hadn’t replied for a couple of minutes after that one, I was too busy shifting between wanting to go over to the cinema and punch the guy, and wishing I was there to offer a hand. I decided to offer both options.
Dex: Want me to come over and sort the guy out and help you get the popcorn out?
Katie:He’s moved seats. I kept slurping my drink through my straw on purpose and then burping. Popcorn is still a critical situation though. Think I’ll be getting it out of my bra for weeks. Film about to start. Better turn my phone off, someone behind just complained about the light. Must be a Gremlin x
Dex:Enjoy darlin. Text me when you get home safe x
I didn’t receive any more until, as promised, she was home. She texted to say she was off to bed and would speak to me the next day. Yet again, I’d gone to bed with a huge smile on my face, all because of Katie.
With a sigh, I rolled over to put my phone back on my night stand, when it buzzed in my hand. It would be a happy but weird coincidence if that was Katie. I looked at the screen – Isaac. Worried about why he was calling me so late, I clicked on my phone.
“Hey Isaac. What’s wrong? Is everything okay with your mom?”
“Dex, shit, I’m really sorry to call you. I didn’t know who else to ring. Mum and Dad would go mad.”
He sounded a little scared, his voice quaking as he took deep breaths.
“What’s wrong, bud?”
“I’ve been arrested.”
I threw back the covers and dropped my feet to the floor and pushed off the bed.
“What happened?” I asked, rushing over to my closet.
“I got into a fight on my way home from my friend’s house. This guy was pushing his girlfriend around, so I stepped in and things got a bit heated.”
“Fuck,” I muttered, pulling out a pair of sweats and a tee. “How long have you been there?”
“About an hour, they just told me now I should call someone.” Isaac cleared his throat and I knew he was trying to keep it together.
“They pressing charges?”
“No,” he said on a long exhale. “The girl told them what happened. They gave me a caution, but they won’t let me go unless I have a lift home.”
“No problem,” I replied. “I’ll be with you soon. You at the station in the center of town?”
“Yeah. John Street.”
“Okay, I’ll be ten minutes or so, but Isaac.”
“Yeah.”
“I’m gonna call your mom, okay?”
He was silent for a few seconds and all I could hear was his breathing on the other end of the line.
Finally he spoke. “Yep, okay. Thanks Dex, my dad would kill me and I didn’t want to worry Mum, but I understand you should call her.”
We said our goodbyes and I quickly dressed, dialing Katie’s cell number as I left the house.
I looked over at Isaac as we moved through the empty streets in my car. He was leaning his head against the side window and sporting a cut lip, but didn’t seem to have any other injuries. The cop I spoke to said he’d done a good thing stepping in with the guy and his girl, but should have tried to resist the temptation to punch him. I got the feeling they wanted someone to pick Isaac up more for his own safety than anything else. The douche who’d been hitting the girl was safely locked up for the night, sleeping off the booze and whatever else he’d taken, but I guess you never knew if he had any friends out there.
“You feelin’ okay?” I asked. “Not hurt anywhere other than the lip?”
“No. He only got the one good punch in.”
“Your mom wanted to come get you, but I persuaded her not to.”
“Is she really mad?” Isaac groaned, giving me a pained look.
I shook my head. “No, just worried about you.” I continued concentrating on the road, figuring Isaac might not want to talk.
“I’m sorry I called you, but I just couldn’t ring Dad,” he sighed.
“It’s fine, no problem at all, but I’m sure when you told him what happened he’d have understood. Probably would have called you a hero.”
I glanced at him to see him touching his cut lip with a fingertip. He looked a lot like Katie, but I figured the grim determined jut of his chin was most definitely his dad, from what I’d seen of him.
“I don’t know,” Isaac replied. “It seems nothing I do is right where he’s concerned.”
The kid obviously wanted to talk, but I wasn’t sure it was right for it to be with me. I barely knew Carl, but the whole business with Katie’s car hadn’t given me a good impression of the guy. If Isaac asked for my opinion, I might well not say the right thing. But if he trusted me to listen to him I guess I had to trust myself to be a grown-up about his dad.
“I’m sure that’s not the case,” I responded. “It probably comes with being his oldest kid, he just expects a little more from you is all.”
“I think he blames me.” Isaac’s voice broke a little and I knew things were going to get serious.
Without thinking too much about it, I pulled into a parking lot at the bottom of Katie’s road. I should probably have got him home, but a few minutes listening to the kid wouldn’t hurt.
“Okay,” I said, turning off the engine. “Tell me why you think that.”
Isaac turned to look at me and shrugged. “I dunno, just because sometimes I wonder whether they ever actually wanted me.”
Shit this was heavy stuff from the poor kid and from what I knew about Katie, totally unfounded. She adored her kids – yeah they pissed her off from time to time, from what I could gather, but there was no doubt they were her priority.
“I’m pretty sure they did. I don’t know your dad, and me and your mom are really just getting to know each other, but I know for certain that she loves you. She’s so damn proud of you. You should have heard her talking about your drawings the night I met her.”
“Maybe Mum wanted me, but I don’t think Dad did. He left us and started a new life with Sophie bloody Tit Wank.”
I reeled back a little in my seat. “Say what?”
Isaac grinned. “Sorry, it’s what we call her. I know it’s not very respectful of my step-mother, but she’s only a few years older than me and I find it really hard to think of her as my elder.”
I had to admit the name was pretty funny, but he was right – she was his step-mom and he should give her some respect.
“I get that you don’t like her,” I said. “But, that’s a pretty shitty nicknam
e, buddy.”
“It’s not that I don’t like her, but I hate that he left us to start a new family with her. Kind of proves a point that he didn’t want us, but he wanted Jessie.” Isaac rubbed at his temple and grimaced. “Don’t get me wrong, I love Jessie, she’s amazing, but she gets Dad and we don’t.”
“Divorce is never a good thing, Isaac, and unfortunately it’s you kids who get it worse. The two people you love most in the world aren’t together anymore and that’s gotta be pretty hard to take.”
“He couldn’t wait to leave us,” Isaac said, gripping his thighs and rubbing his hands up and down them. “They said it was because they didn’t love each other anymore, but I think he loved being away from us as well – well maybe me.”
“Hey now,” I soothed. “I’m sure that’s not true.”
Isaac looked up at me and shook his head. “Charlie’s his pride and joy because he plays football and likes going Go-Karting with Dad, Annie is his Princess and Jessie is his little baby, but I’m nothing,” he cried, looking at me with pain filled eyes. “He’s never once taken notice of my drawings or asked to see them. I’m just the eldest, the one that he regrets having because if he hadn’t, he could have fucking left Mum as soon as he got bored, which was probably a few months after they got married if I know him.”
He blew out a shaky exhale, and then started to breathe heavily, pushing the heels of his hands against his eyes. Shit, this poor kid was hurting real bad, and what was sad was that he felt he could only talk to a guy he’d known for a few weeks about it. He needed to open up to his parents, or to Katie at least, otherwise all the shit going on in his head would weigh him down and eventually fester from sadness to anger, and who knew what that would result in.
I was sure he had it all wrong, but however misplaced his thoughts were, they were his thoughts and he needed to speak to his parents about how he was feeling, so I placed a hand on his shoulder and gave him a gentle shake.
“Okay, we’re gonna get you home and you’re gonna tell your mom all of this-.”
Isaac dropped his hands to his lap and opened his mouth to speak, but I held a hand up to stop him.