Molli plugged her phone back into the charger. She didn’t bother to look up when Mellenda came into the room several hours later. Mellenda ignored her as well, and they went back to barely tolerating each other like usual.
Chapter 6
Molli spent one weekend hanging out with Jude, and the next weekend hanging out Seneca and her family, cleaning out a storage unit they had had for years and had gotten tired of paying for. She thought that she enjoyed her weekend with Seneca’s family much more than her weekend with Jude; though she was sore afterwards and muscles she didn’t know she had ached.
On Halloween, Seneca and Grant picked her up behind the old shack. They were both stoned and knew that cops were out all over town because Seneca’s dad had told them to be extra careful since he was out on patrol that night.
Molli helped them smoke the last of their weed and spent the evening walking down the streets of Brentwood side by side with trick-or-treaters. The way the girls were dressed garnered several dirty looks from parents and looks of interest from others. Grant got less dirty looks in his pimp getup except when someone overheard their conversations. He used the word whore in different forms every way he could.
Molli felt a little silly when the night was over, especially after a single father ran her down after he had strapped his kids into the car and gave her his phone number. She tore it up without looking at it, but both Seneca and Grant though that it was funny. She took pictures of herself and sent them to Ricky. He said he was very appreciative and offered to buy her lingerie. She thought that she would like what Ricky picked out for her much more than what Eduardo had bought her previously and told him okay.
Mellenda remarked that she was finally showing her true colors when she got back to their room and seemed to be in an all-around bad mood. Molli didn’t care because she had plans to see Ricky that weekend.
Ricky picked her up Friday evening on the road outside of Crestview. She was delighted when he leaned over and gave her a kiss. She wanted to jump his bones right then and there, but she knew that Jeremy was around. He had asked her if she was off to meet her boyfriend to get more practice when she left. He had winked at her. She had wanted to punch him in the face.
Ricky drove straight to his apartment. There was no talk as he led her to his bedroom. They only removed their shoes and socks but much kissing and touching went on after they entered the bedroom. Molli was feeling very horny and had her hand on Ricky’s zipper when her phone rang. She ignored it but Ricky gently removed her hand and said “Shouldn’t you get that?”
She knew who it was because she’d decided to assign Ricky, Jude and Eduardo unique ring tones; so she saw no reason to answer it. It was Eduardo, and she didn’t want to talk to him, especially after what had happened the last time she’d been with him. He had been so drunk that she’d been disgusted and had no plans on sleeping with him ever again.
“I don’t want to talk to him right now Ricky.” She felt like she was whining but she didn’t care.
“Is it Jude? Don’t you think you’d better answer it? Since you haven’t broken up with him?”
“I don’t see you breaking up with Mellenda either. It’s not Jude.”
“Who is this him then? Is it your father? Why would you not want to talk to your father?”
“It’s not my dad. I don’t want to explain this to you right now Ricky. I want to be with you. It seems like we can never be together. You’re always with her.”
“She is my girlfriend Molli. I will break up with Mellenda when the time is right. I’ll tell her about us and how much I care for you, but now isn’t the right time.”
“When is the right time going to be Ricky?”
“I don’t know Molli. I don’t want to cause her any extra emotional pain. Mellenda is going through a hard time right now, worrying about college.”
“And I’m not? I don’t think I’ll be able to get into college. What is she upset about? Did she get a B?”
“I can’t explain this to you. It’s not my place. If Mellenda wants to speak with you about it, that’s fine. I don’t wish to share things that she told me in confidence.”
Molli sighed. “How can I believe I’m not just sex to you Ricky?”
“How can I believe that I’m not just sex to you Molli? You don’t seem to have any plans of breaking up with Jude and you won’t tell me who is calling you though you admit that it’s another man.”
“This other man is a very complicated story Ricky. I don’t like to think about him anymore, let alone talk about him.”
“I don’t believe that I’m in the mood to make love any longer.” Ricky turned towards his night stand and reached for a cigarette. “Would you like one?”
She sighed again as he handed her a cigarette. He lit it for her and then lit his own. “If I explain this to you, will you promise that you won’t hate me?”
“Hatred is not a healthy emotion. I have felt it of course, but I don’t like to think that anything you could tell me would make me hate you.”
“I don’t know Ricky; this might make you feel totally different about me.”
Her phone rang again. She was tempted to throw it at the wall.
“Answer it please. I can leave the room if you’d like.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’m sorry.”
She picked up her phone and gave Eduardo an abrupt “Hello.”
He laughed. “Damn baby what crawled up your ass and died? I just wanted to say hi. Are you with your other man? I’m not talking about Jude; I’m talking about your college boy with the fancy car. What’s his name? Enrique?”
Molli almost dropped her phone. She turned away from Ricky. “What I do and who I do it with isn’t your business anymore.”
“Oh yeah? What if I tell your pretty roommate that you’re doing the nasty with her boyfriend? Think Mellenda would cry on my shoulder? Maybe sit on big Eddie’s lap and talk about the first thing that comes up?”
“You wouldn’t dare. And she wouldn’t touch you with a ten foot pole.”
“Huh. I got her phone number right here. A pretty little fellow student of yours at Crestview Academy gave it to me after she got done sitting on my face. Said I had the best tongue she’d ever had between her thighs and she’d give me just about any little old thing that I asked for.”
“She was lying to you. She probably never had a guy do that to her before.” She put her cigarette out in the ashtray but still wouldn’t look at Ricky.
“Sorry Mol, but I think you’re wrong. You remember Iris don’t you? She sure remembers you.”
“You do know that she does it with anybody don’t you? She’ll probably give you all the rest of the STDs that Peggy hasn’t.”
“Iris had a lot to say about you Mol. She told me that she gave you the answers to a test in history class.”
“Did she tell you what she made me do to get her to give them to me?”
“Oh, she told me what she wants you to do to her. If I got you two together, I don’t think I’d ever let either of you leave.”
“I don’t swing that way Eddie. It was my understanding that she didn’t either. She was talking shit about Belmont wanting to go down on me. She told me that she’d do what she asked me to herself but Belmont didn’t like her because Mr. Harris had been her boyfriend before Iris started boning him.”
Eduardo chuckled. “Oh, they had a little falling out because neither of them wanted to admit they were okay with sharing Harris, but Belmont likes her plenty. Iris wanted to see if you’d humiliate Tory to see if you’d fit in her with her crowd. Belmont was the one that gave Iris the answers. She would have given them to you too. Do you have any idea how many of your classmates fuck and suck their way through Crestview Academy?”
“That is so disgusting. Why did she want to pick on Tory? Tory never did anything to her.”
“Iris wants to do Tory’s man. She thinks that if Tory’s out of the picture Tony will be all over her.”
“Why does s
he need another man? She already screws her stepbrother and Mr. Harris and probably all her ex stepbrothers too. How much sex can one girl have?”
Eduardo laughed. “You’d be surprised.”
“Yeah. How can girls suck and fuck their way through Crestview when most of the teachers are female?”
She heard Ricky groan behind her.
“I didn’t say they did the teachers. They do the guys behind the scenes that really run things. Though I hear that Harris has plenty of pussy to choose from. He come on to you yet?”
“Like I need another old guy in my life.”
“I am not old. I barely turned thirty. So anyway, what I was saying was that you’re gonna come see me when you get done ballin’ Mellenda’s man or I’m gonna make myself a phone call. I want the whole job. Suck and fuck any way that I want it.”
“You should do phone sex for horny old ladies with the way you talk. I am not interested in having sex with you ever again.”
“Don’t you think that you should discuss this with Enrique first? Maybe he don’t want me to tell Mellenda. Maybe he likes having his cake and eating it too. I know Jude sure does. He likes it when you’re not around. He takes himself a taste of whatever girl will have him for the night then. I heard that he even had himself a taste of your sexy little BFF. I’d like to taste that one myself. I’ll bet she tastes real sweet.”
“Seneca would never do it with Jude. They don’t like each other. I know that he came on to her once and she told him off. She’s in love with Grant.”
“Love, schmove. When you’re hot and wet and want to do it, you’ll take it from anyone you can get it from.”
“Maybe guys like you do that and women like Peggy, but not everyone does. I have to go Eduardo. I have to talk to someone about something.”
Eduardo laughed. “Have fun convincing your college boy that Mellenda needs to hear that you two have been doin’ it behind her back. I’m sure that’ll go over real well.”
“I’m sure it will go over better than you think it will. Goodbye Eduardo. Don’t bother to call me back. Why don’t you lose my number?”
“We’ll see. I’ll see ya when Ricky’s done with you. I never did mind sloppy seconds.”
“Gross.” She could hear him laughing as she hung up the phone.
She turned back to Ricky who had lit another cigarette and was leaning back on the bed. He handed her a cigarette and said “So, are you going to tell me now who this other man is?”
“I wish I didn’t have to. I wish he’d go away and leave me alone.”
“Who is he Molli? You didn’t sound very happy when you were talking to him. Is he the old lover you mentioned that you can’t get rid of? Is he holding something over your head to get you to keep sleeping with him?”
“It’s a long story Ricky. I’m hungry. Can we go out to eat or order something? I don’t want you to have to cook for me. I’ll pay.”
Ricky shook his head. “I’ll pay. What would you like? Sandwiches, Chinese, pizza? Those are the only places that I know off the top of my head that deliver here.”
“Pizza would be good. Actually a calzone would be wonderful. And a slice of strawberry cheesecake if they have it.”
“Of course. Would you like something to drink? I have juice and cocoa. I don’t drink a lot of soda.”
“What you have to drink is fine. Thank you. I’m sorry I spoiled our night Ricky.”
He squeezed her hand. “It’s not spoiled. We’ll talk and then maybe we’ll be able to get back to where we were earlier when we were interrupted.”
“I hope so.”
“What kind of calzone do you want? I believe you can choose your own toppings or they have supreme, or pepperoni.”
“Supreme is fine but without the mushrooms if they include those please.”
“Sure. I’ll be back in a minute.”
“Okay.”
She watched Ricky walk away as she leaned over and put out her cigarette. She thought that she’d much rather be having sex with him than getting ready to try to explain to him about Eduardo. And what was she going to do about his threat to tell Mellenda if she didn’t keep sleeping with him? She had no idea how Ricky was going to feel about that.
Ricky returned a few minutes later with two cold bottles of water. He handed her one and then took his place beside her on the bed. “The food should be here in about forty-five minutes. So, tell me about this man please. I promise I won’t judge you Molli.”
Molli sighed. “His name is Eduardo. He’s thirty and I started sleeping with him right after I started at Crestview. I didn’t know he was married at first and I really thought that he was going to leave his wife when I graduated. He used to be really nice to me but he’s not anymore. He started sleeping with this nasty black woman over the summer. I stayed with Seneca for a while before school started because my parents were on vacation. That’s how I met Jude. I decided that if I got a boyfriend maybe Eduardo would leave me alone. I didn’t want to be with him anymore because this woman, Peggy, she looks like she has AIDS. I didn’t care how careful I was with Eduardo. I didn’t want to do it with him anymore. I didn’t know Jude was still with Tory. Then, when I found that they were still together, Jude promised me he’d break up with her as soon as she got back to Brentwood. He told me that it would be messed up to break up with her over the phone. But he didn’t break up with her. I don’t think he technically broke up with her when she found us together in the woods.”
“Okay. So you’ve tried to break it off with Eduardo and he won’t leave you alone? I don’t think badly of you for sleeping with him Molli. Older men can make girls feel good about themselves. They’re more experienced than teenage boys. They know the right things to say to make a girl want to be with them. I’m sure it was the same with you.”
“Thank you Ricky, but I should have known better. Even if he wasn’t married, he was always too old for me and I knew it.”
She picked up her phone and scrolled through her pictures until she found the only one of Eduardo that she had left. He was shirtless and grinning brazenly at her. She handed her phone to Ricky.
Ricky looked at the picture and then handed the phone back to her. He shrugged. “You said he was thirty? He looks like he could be in his early to mid-twenties. Did he lie to you about his age initially?”
“Well, he told me he was twenty-four, but that was still nine years older than me. But he talked about stuff that was older like he’d been there, so one day I dug in his wallet and looked at his license and found out how old he really was. I was really mad and stopped seeing him for a while, but I went right back to it. It’s been really hard for me since I came to Crestview. None of the girls there seem to like me and I was so lonely. I’d still feel lost if I hadn’t met Seneca. She’s the best friend I’ve ever had.”
“I’m very glad you met her. Everyone needs at least one friend like that in their lives. So, you started dating Jude to try to get away from Eduardo and it didn’t work?”
“I didn’t start dating Jude just to get away from Eduardo, but yeah. I liked him at first. Now he’s annoying and makes me want to be with you even more.”
“Is there something that Eduardo is holding over your head? Has he threatened you or is there some reason that you keep going back to him when you don’t want to?” He paused when there was a knock at the door. “I’ll be right back.”
Ricky returned with their food a few minutes later. She asked him if he cared that they ate on his bed and he said no. She still had some hope that they would end up making love that night.
They ate in silence. When they had finished, Ricky took the leftovers to the kitchen and made them both a cup of cocoa before he came back to the bedroom. He handed her the mug. She took a sip and then set it aside on the night stand.
He said “Go on please.”
Molli sighed. “You asked if Eduardo was holding something over my head or if he’d ever threatened me. He’s never really threatened me; he just tells m
e that we’re not over until he says it’s over. When I first started going out with Jude, whenever I went over to his place I’d tell him about the stuff that I did with Jude to try to make him mad. But he thought it was funny and it seemed to turn him on even more. He’s kind of holding something over my head right now. He knows about us and he’s threatening to tell Mellenda.”
“If he knows, half of the rest of the town of Brentwood must know.”
“I don’t think so. Don’t you think that Mellenda would have called you by now if she knew?”
“I would certainly think so yes. How did he get Mellenda’s number?”
“He was with this other girl that goes to Crestview and she gave it to him. I didn’t think they were friends but iris is popular and so is Mellenda so I guess maybe they are or at least enough that they exchanged numbers. He told me that if I didn’t keep having sex with him, he was going to tell Mellenda.”
“I certainly don’t expect you to do such a thing to protect me. I’ll have to find some way to tell her myself.”
“I think I might have a way to get her number away from him. I’ll go over to his girlfriend’s apartment when he’s drunk and take it out of his phone and search to see if he has it written down somewhere and then tear it up. He might be pissed but I don’t care. And I’ll make sure that Iris never gives it to him again. I’ll tell her that he gave me herpes.”
Ricky looked alarmed. “You don’t really have herpes do you?”
Molli shook her head and tried not to laugh. “Of course not. I’m really surprised that Eduardo doesn’t have it with the way he has sex with so many women but he doesn’t. And I’ve never done it with anyone besides you without a condom. I love the way that it feels when you’re inside of me.”
Ricky cleared his throat. “Yes, I do too. Do you think that Eduardo may be an actual danger to you if you take Mellenda’s number from him?”
“No. He went to jail for hitting his wife once, but he said that she hit him first and they didn’t bother to take her to jail. I don’t know why, but I actually believe him.”
“Domestic violence is a rather delicate issue. Do you think that you can continue to avoid him until you graduate? Do you think that he told Iris about us?”
Misty Reigenborn Romance Boxed Set Page 155