The Call

by B. A. Cubbage

  “Never a dull moment.” Abraham sneers at me. “What? Oh come on, you’ve got to have some type of a sense of humor about all of this. I’ll go crazy if I don’t. So don’t look at me like that, Stone.” He rolls his eyes.

  Kate and Mickey settle in the kitchen. “Let’s have a pre-dinner snack, shall we?” I laugh at Kate’s ever-growing appetite.

  We all go about getting food ready for dinner, and getting Kate a snack while she waits. Honestly, this whole Chris thing is just getting fucking annoying. It just needs to be over.

  Chapter Eleven

  Abraham

  “Yeah, I’ll see you in the morning Joe.” That man is here more than he is in his chambers at the courthouse. I grab my leather jacket off of the back of my chair. I’m really happy I didn’t have to be in court today. I love the days I can come into work dressed down enough to be comfortable riding my bike in.

  “You’re cutting out early. You got a hot date?”

  I smile. “I sure do. And I’m taking her out dancing tonight.”

  He laughs and shakes his head. “Send Reagan my best.”

  “Will do.” I grab my helmet and head for the elevator.

  When I’m about halfway home, I call her.

  “Hey, stud. How is work?”

  “It was long. I cut it short since I have to go in tomorrow anyway. Are you at home yet?”

  “I knew you were going to do that.” She laughs. “Kate and I are over at Mickey’s place…well, I guess that it’s Mickey’s and Kate’s place. Anyways, Mickey, Thing One, and Thing Two are waiting at our house for you.”

  “So I don’t even get to see you before we go to the club?”

  “Don’t sulk. Kate, Sara, Sam, and I all wanted to get ready together and meet you guys there. By the way, I plan on taking the bike.”

  “Seriously? So then you’re not going to get drunk tonight?”

  She scoffs at me. “I don’t get drunk and drive. But that’s a good point.” Her voice gets farther away from the phone. “Kate? Do you think you’ll want to drive? Kate says that she will drive us if we get too drunk to function.”

  I just laugh and shake my head. “So bikes, or not?”

  “Bikes. I don’t think I’ll be drinking too much. Since Kate can’t at all. But your sister apparently says she can give us a run for our money.”

  “What if, I rode with one of your brothers and drove your bike home with you on the back?”

  I can practically hear the Cheshire smile on her lips. “I anticipated as much.”

  “Do I want to know what that smile is about?”

  “You’ll just have to wait and see, stud. Go get your ass in that garage and get all ‘Abraham’d up’ for me.”

  I turn my head toward Mickey’s house a few houses down and across the street, take my helmet off, and smile at her standing on his front porch. Cupping my hands around my mouth, I yell, “I know you’re up to something! Whatever it is, you had better make up for it tonight!”

  I watch as she licks her lips and then blows me a kiss. “Love you!”

  “You’re an evil woman! I love you too!” I dismount, grab the mail, and roll my bike into the garage.

  When I walk through the door, the guys are all laughing and have beers in their hands while lounging in my living room. “Hey, Abraham. ‘Bout time your happy ass showed up.”

  “Well Damon, some of us have jobs that can’t be put off.” I laugh and he and Mickey throw out ‘whoas’ and ‘hey nows’ while I walk to the fridge and grab a beer. “I see you guys are all dressed and ready to go.”

  Mickey laughs. “The girls didn’t give us much of a choice. These two had to drive Sara and Sam to my house and I got kicked out. I’m telling you what, pregnancy has made Kate at least five times scarier.”

  We all laugh and I plop down on one of the leather couches. “Yeah, but I bet it’s worth it?”

  His face lights up. “It is. She’s going to pop in less than three months. I’m so excited to hold my son for the first time.”

  I smile at him and clink my beer bottle to his. “I’m happy for you, man. Let’s just hope that he gets Kate’s looks.”

  He chucks a beer cap at me while Dev and Damon join in on my laughter. Mickey points his bottle at us. “You laugh now, it won’t be long until you three are having kids. You remember how we were when we were teenagers? God help any of us that have daughters.”

  Our laughter cuts off as we all exchange glances. “Hey, I’ve got guns. You just make sure to let your little boy know that before he gets any ideas about any girls that Reagan pops out.”

  Devon looks at him. “And just think, if you and Kate have a girl, and the two of them have boys…well, their kids won’t be related to yours. Just think about that for a moment.”

  The three of us laugh as his face morphs into worry. “Don’t worry, Mickey. Any boys that I have will be raised with a respect for women. Do you really think that Reagan would let any son of hers turn into a womanizing prick like we all once were?”

  “Fuck, I hope you’re right. I wouldn’t want to have to drown your boy in the pool out back.”

  “Ha, ha, let’s play some COD while we wait till it’s time to go. We’ve got what, two hours till eight? That’s enough for at least eight games.” We all move to the game room.

  »»•««

  We are all grabbing our stuff and stepping out into my open garage when I see the reason for Reagan’s shit-eating grin earlier. She’s in the road at the foot of our drive…on my bike. She smiles triumphantly before sliding her visor down. Fuck my life. My eyes get huge as she starts it and peels out down our street.

  I'm pretty sure my jaw is on the floor. The rest of the girls are loaded in Devon’s truck and take off behind Reagan only after Sam snaps a picture of our faces.

  “You know that that was all your girl’s idea, right?” Devon says when he faces me.

  “You can’t blame me for the way your sister’s brain works. Well, looks like we’re taking your truck, Mickey.” I grab my helmet, put the passkey in to shut the garage, and we all head down the street to Mickey’s.

  By the time we pull into the lot at Club Blue, the girls are already inside. It doesn’t surprise me with how they were driving. I throw my helmet in the back of Devon’s truck that sits next to my bike before we head in.

  When we walk in, it’s packed, as it usually is for a Friday night. It just means I’m sure the girls will be drinking a little more than anticipated, to compensate for all the noise and to get up on the dance floor. I’m glad I’m driving home.

  I hear a loud piercing whistle coming from the bar. A smile spreads across my face when I spot Reagan sitting on the bar with two fingers in her mouth. She raises a shot glass into the air, licks salt off of the rim, then downs the contents—only taking her eyes off of mine when she tips the liquid into her mouth.

  Her eyes find mine once more and she traces a slice of lime from one side of her lips to the other, and then puts it into her mouth. I watch from across the bar as her cheeks hollow around the slice of fruit. “Ouch!” I turn and punch Damon’s arm. “Not my fault, dude.”

  We all start toward the bar, but Reagan hops down and disappears into the crowd. Looks like we’re playing chase. I’m down. When we get to the bar, the girls are gone. Devon raises his voice above the crowd and music. “Let’s get a drink. Then we’ll go hunting.”

  I nod and a beer is set in front of each of us. I look at the bartender, confused, and he leans in and yells over the noise, “A pack of girls told me to give these to the four tattooed tall men that were making their way to the bar. The tall one said to tell Abraham to, and I quote ‘Suck it, down it, and come find me.’ ”

  I take the beers and hand them out. “The girls want us to come to them. Let’s down ’em and go.” We knock our bottles together and then throw them back. Once the contents are down my throat, we fan out, all of us headed in different directions with the same destination, the dance floor.

  When my
eyes land on Reagan, I stop and watch her. She’s hard to miss, even if I wasn’t looking for her. I can tell she’s had more than just a couple of shots, just by the sway of her hips. She’s dancing like she was that first night I took her home and bedded her down.

  I walk up behind her the same way I did that night. When my hands grasp her hips she freezes for the slightest moment. She takes a deep breath in, I’m sure catching a whiff of my cologne, and relaxes her back into my front. The song changes to ‘Don’t Tell ‘Em’ and her hips slid right into the rhythm.

  She leans the back of her head against my chest and grinds back into me. Her neck looks so fucking delicious. I don’t know what it is about her throat, but fuck. I dip my head and sink my teeth into her flesh. She moans as my tongue glides over the imprint my teeth just put on her neck.

  If I wasn’t hard before I sure as hell am now. I was at least smart and wore underwear. It would be ridiculously uncomfortable right now if my hard-on was pressed against the zipper of my jeans.

  She doesn’t notice when her twin and my sister get close enough to see us. That or she just doesn’t care. I can’t say that I care either.

  When the song changes to ‘Get Low’, she does that floor touch thing. My fingers dig into her hips and pull her ass as close as humanly possible into my groin. She flips her body back up and doesn’t waste any time before she shimmies down my body.

  I’m straining. Hard. I take one of her wrists, spin her to face me, and pull her to me by her hips. She pulls all of her hair over one shoulder. Guiding her, we shimmy to the floor and then back up again.

  S&M comes through the speakers and the base makes the floor thump beneath our feet. Grabbing the back of her neck, I pull her lips to mine. Her teeth draw my bottom lip between them, causing me to tighten my hold on her.

  She releases my lip and yells into my ear, “I want you. I want you bad. But we can’t leave this early. Let’s go get another drink.” When I nod, she grabs my hand and I lead her to the bar.

  The bartender points to the top level where Kate, Mickey, Sara, and Dev are sitting. “Thanks!” We head to them with beers in hand.

  “Hey guys. What happened, Dev? Thought you wanted to ‘dance your ass off’ tonight.”

  Sara smiles. “He will. I just need a few more drinks in me to get out on that dance floor.” What is with these women?

  “I don’t get you girls. I’ve seen all of you dance. You don’t need to be drunk to do it well.”

  Reagan laughs. “Have you ever seen us dance sober?”

  “I have. Well, I’ve seen you dance sober at least.”

  She scrunches her nose at me. “When have you ever?”

  I laugh and look at Dev. I lean in so he can’t hear me. “Once when I dropped Dev off at your old house when Kathy still lived there. I stopped to watch you when I saw you through the window dancing to some girl power song.”

  She blushes profusely as she thinks about what night it could have been. Truth is it happened on more than one occasion. I’ll never forget the first time though.

  I was dropping Dev off after a late night at work, and Reagan was home for the weekend from college. Once he was in the house, I went to put my old Silverado into gear when I caught a glimpse of movement in the window on the second level of the house. Reagan was bouncing around her room, singing into a hair brush, and jumping on the bed.

  I’m not ashamed to admit that I climbed their tree to watch her for a bit. She was so into the music. All I know is that the song was sung by an all-girl band and was something about ‘what she really, really wanted’. A laugh escapes me at the memory.

  She jumped into the air, off of her bed, and when she landed on the floor as the song ended, she let herself fall backward onto the mattress, heaving for breath.

  “Hey. Hey! Secrets don’t make friends.” It’s Kate that says it.

  When I open my mouth like I’m going to tell her, Reagan slaps her hand over my lips. “I’ll tell you later, Kate. Promise.”

  Almost an hour later, all of us are out on the dance floor. Kate is even getting in on it. Granted, she’s not dancing as provocatively as she normally does, but she’s still dancing. It doesn’t look like Mickey really notices the difference between five months ago and now.

  Reagan and I are keeping it PG because her brothers are within close proximity. Well…we were. But when the song ‘Hey Mama’ comes on, all bets are off. And I’m not even sorry about it.

  Reagan is just drunk enough to shake her ass with no holds barred. Fuck. I’ll be lucky to make it the ride home. When she starts to come back up from her shimmy to the floor, she grabs my cock over my jeans. Yup, time to go.

  My hand makes its way to the base of her throat causing her to close her eyes and her lips to part. I lean into her ear. “We need to go. Now.”

  She leans back and nods her agreement. We tell her brothers and my sister goodbye and wave to Kate and Mickey, who have moved upstairs. Once we’re out in the parking lot, she slams my back into the side of Dev’s truck and melds her mouth to mine. I groan and lift her up to me by her ass.

  “Get your helmet on and get your ass on that bike before I take you right here, up against your brothers’ truck.”

  “Mm. Whatever you say, stud. Better make it a quick ride.” We’re on the bike and peeling out of the lot in less than a minute.

  »»•««

  Reagan

  I stretch out my limbs and my hand hits a piece of paper. Poking my head out from under the blankets, I see that Abraham is gone already and has left me a note with a stem of snapdragons, from the backyard, laid across it.

  I love you, sweet girl. I didn’t want to wake you this morning. The coffee pot is ready to go whenever you’re ready for it. I also grabbed you a cinnamon roll on my run. It’s in the microwave. I will meet you at Uncle Peter’s. I can’t wait to taste you tonight. Loving you always, your, Abraham.

  Xoxo

  After taking a shower, I send a picture to Abraham with me in just a towel. My wet hair is down and messy, and I’m smiling with the flowers in my hand pressed against my cheek. I head into the closet and get dressed.

  Duchess hops in when I’m tying up the laces to my Converse. “You ready for your salad, miss highness? Come on then.” My phone rings as I’m setting the bowl down for her.

  “Hello, Adonis. How’s work?”

  “It would be better if you were here. Love the outfit by the way.”

  “As you should, Bed Bath and Beyond has a fabulous line of clothes this year.”

  “Smartass.” He chuckles.

  “You started it.”

  “I did. I thought you would have left already?”

  “Well see, this hot roommate of mine decided to let me sleep in this morning and skip our morning exercise routine. So I actually just got out of the shower and got dressed. I’m going to have a cup of coffee, eat my cinnamon roll, and then head to Peter’s. What time are you going to get off today?”

  “I should be at the house at ten thirty.”

  I look over at the clock and laugh. “That’s in five minutes.”

  “My bad. Maybe ten twenty-seven, if I speed.”

  “You’re such a smartass. Are you actually on your way home?”

  “Can you hear the garage door opening?”

  I open the door to the garage in time to see him pull up the drive. I push the end button on my phone and walk over to the driver side of his black Camaro.

  When he opens the door and stands with his briefcase, he looks at me. “Did you just hang up on me?”

  “I did.” Standing up on my tiptoes, I kiss his cheek, turn around, and smile while throwing over my shoulder, “What are you going to do about it, Abraham?”

  I don’t wait for his answer. Nor do I stick around long enough to watch his briefcase hit the floor. I take off like a shot into the house and up the stairs. “You’re fast.” Shit, he’s right on my heels. I squeal as he lifts me into the air. “But not fast enough.”

  He
brings me into our bedroom and spins me around while I laugh. When he sets me down, he kisses the tip of my nose. “Looks like your nose ring is all healed up.”

  “It is. Thank God. It sucks to sneeze when you know it’s going to hurt like a bitch. How’d you get off so early? I thought that you’d be in court until at least noon.”

  He heads into the closet to change. “I wanted to get out to Uncle Peter’s. I missed my ‘hot roommate.’” He pokes his head out and smiles at me.

  “Smartass.” His balled-up tie hits my face. “Hey, punk. I will hurt you.”

  “Normally, I would make you prove that. However, I told Uncle Peter that I got off early and we would pick up some pizza and sugar on the way out.” When he comes back into the bedroom and sees that I’m grossed out, he elaborates. “The sugar is for lemonade. Not the pizza.” I relax and he laughs.

  “Well then you owe me when we get home.”

  His brows rise. “Oh I do, do I?”

  “Yes. I would like a swim in the stars with my Adonis tonight.”

  He stands in front of me and circles his arms around my waist. “Hmm. I think I might be able to make that happen. If you don’t get worn out helping out today.”

  “Ha. That’s comical. You just watch and learn, stud. I’ll learn ya how to do some real work. Not that paper pushing shit that you do.”

  He smacks my ass. “We shall see. Come now, angel. We’ve got work to do.”

  »»•««

  Abraham

  At Uncle Peter’s house, everyone is helping out. Even Kate is handing out lemonade. She tried to help lift some of the wood and other supplies, but we all jumped her ass for it.

  Reagan is the sexiest fucking creature that’s ever walked this earth. She’s in a pair of short-ass cut offs and a white beater. She has her hair in the cinnabun thing again, with a red bandana tied in true pin-up girl style.

  She’s working just as hard as us men, if not harder. She’s got a coat of sweat making her skin gleam—that, coupled with the dirt that now calls her skin home… Sexiest. Creature. Ever.

  I’m barely getting any work done. It’s hard to do manual labor that involves bending and lifting heavy objects when you’ve got a rock-hard hard-on. And hiding it from everyone in here is getting increasingly hard. No pun intended.