by Bella Drake
“I took the scissors from the nurse and cut it off myself and for some reason, it's my good luck charm. I am never without it. I was in such a rush I forgot to grab it. Fuck!”
“Have you checked everything you brought?”
“Yeah, I checked and double-checked. I don’t have it. I think I know where it is.”
“Where?”
“When I was rushing to get out of my place I remember changing my pants and I think I left it on the bathroom floor of my apartment.”
“You can't go back there, Matt.”
“I have to.” Resolved, he wiped the last few tears from his face.
“Matt, listen. I know it's important, but you can't risk it. It's not worth it.” Matt looked at me and something changed in his expression…in his eyes. It was as if I had just told him his daughter wasn’t significant. “Matt, I didn’t mean it like that.”
“Why don’t you just go home, Lucy?”
“Matt, please.”
“Just go,” he said, turning and walking away.
I started to walk away and was almost to my car. “No!” I yelled suddenly. I turned around and rushed over to Matt. “Look, I care about you and I am sorry if I sound heartless. I just don’t know what I would do if you got hurt and I promised you wouldn’t.” My eyes pooled with tears at the thought of losing him.
“What do you mean, you promised?” He looked at me with red eyes.
“Yeah, I promised Cassie,” I said carefully, almost a whisper.
“You promised Cassie, my Cassie? What did you promise her?” Matt said, walking closer to me.
“Well, I promised her I would take care of you and keep you safe. I thanked her for bringing you here and, well... to me,” I said, now crying.
“Oh God, Lucy. I’m sorry. I had no idea.”
“No, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have pried into your business.”
“Lucy. Lucy, look at me,” Matt said, grabbing my hands and forcing me to give him eye contact.
“What?” I said, looking up and sniffling.
“Thank you. Thank you,” he hugged me tightly.
“I just don’t want you to get hurt and I didn’t want to break my promise.” I sobbed.
“Listen to me. Nobody is going to get hurt. But, you need to understand that I need that wristband. I need to go back. I have to get it back.”
“I understand, but how? They will see you.”
“Either way, I’m going back.”
“Well, not without me,” I said.
“Oh no, you're not going with me.”
“I’m going with you and if you try to stop me no more Texas Twist,” I said, wiping tears from my eyes.
Matt looked at me, paused, then chuckled. “Oh yeah? Well if you go, no more Dragon Tail.”
“In that case, I don’t need to go.” We both laughed, tears still in our eyes. He grabbed me and kissed me as if it might be the last time.
He looked deep into my eyes. “Don’t worry, Lucy. I'll be fine. I'll just go in and out like a ghost.”
“I’ll drive you. You can't take your van, they’ll know it’s you. Think about it. If we take my Rover, they won’t expect you to be in a car like that.”
Matt rubbed his chin in thought. I kept silent until he finished mulling it over. “Okay, this will work, but you're not going near my place. I can't have you caught up in this.”
“Okay, I won't. I’ll just get you close enough and you can do the rest.”
“Come to think of it, there is some open land behind my place and we can park on the other side. I’ll hike across and go in the back way. They won’t see me coming if someone from the club is watching. One problem though.”
“What?”
“If they got to my landlord they most likely threatened her to tell them if she sees me.”
“Would they do that to an old lady?” Matt looked at me like I was stupid. “Oh, right,” I said. These guys were capable of murder and framing an innocent man for it.
“I'll go on Sunday while she’s at church.”
“She goes to church?”
“Mrs. Kay never misses her church. She lives for gossiping with the other church hens. Okay, so that's it. We're going back into the lion’s den.” Matt looked at me as if it was a suicide mission.
“Okay, now I’m scared.”
“You’ll be fine. Nobody will even see you, but you have to promise me...”
“Promise what?” I interrupted.
“You promise me that if I don’t come back to the car, no matter what, you don’t come looking for me.” I didn’t say anything. “Lucy, you need to promise me.”
“I can’t, I won’t.”
“That’s the only way I’ll let you help me.”
I looked at him knowing I was about to lie to him. It pained me to do it, but I had already made a promise to Cassie. With my best poker face, I looked at Matt. “I promise.”
“We’ll head out as soon as my sister leaves.”
“But tomorrow is Saturday.”
“It’s a six-hour drive from Portland and If we want to make it there for Mrs. Kay’s eight a.m. mass, we need to leave tomorrow night.”
“All this covert spy stuff is kind of turning me on.”
“Oh God, no,” Matt laughed.
“What?!”
“Sorry, it's just that I’m... well, a bit sore and I don’t think I could come out to play even if I wanted to.”
“Oh, I like that,” I said.
“What?” Matt said.
“You said 'play'. I like how that sounds.”
“You mean, you don’t like fuck or hump?”
“God no,” I said laughing.
“Then you’ll like Jay's term for it.”
“What’s that?” I said.
“Hide the pig.”
“Ugh, no! Say it isn’t so.” I held my stomach as if I was going to puke.
“Yep.” I have actually heard him say that to a woman and she didn’t run away.
“That’s a classy chick.”
“She was pretty decent looking and had almost all of her teeth.” We both erupted in laughter.
“Would you like to sleep over?”
“I kind’ a need to keep cleaning up around here.”
“It’s too dark to see out here. Let’s go back to my place and make a fire and sip some beers? Tomorrow morning we’ll come back early, and I’ll help you clean. I promise, no playing tonight.”
“Hey, I’m just happy my cock hurts from too much sex instead of something else,” Matt said laughing.
“Yeah, me too.”
“Alright, I’ll grab my toothbrush.”
I waited for Matt in the car and took a couple of deep breaths in through my nose and out through my mouth. I closed my eyes and I promised Cassie again that I would make sure her father would be okay. I had to lie to him. If he didn’t come back from his mission, I would surely go after him no matter what.
Matt jumped in and I started the car. “Let’s do it,” I said, looking over at him. “Uh, or don’t do it,” I said, laughing.
“Yeah, closed for repair,” he laughed back as he covered his crotch with his hands.
We cuddled and caressed late into the night massaging each other’s sore muscles from our extensive “playing.” We did our best to not get too carried away because we knew that there would be no turning back. We talked about memories and crazy and funny stories that life had given both of us. Matt talked about Cassie and little by little, he opened up to me as I did to him. We graduated from the physical and began connecting on an emotional level. We both talked about how we didn’t want a serious relationship even though we knew it had already become very serious. It’s a game people play and we were no different. There were no promises made verbally but our eyes made many promises that night. Our hearts were dancing and glowing as one.
Chapter 17
Matt
“Lucy!” I shouted from downstairs. I had woken up before the dawn and sat watching the
sun rise over the trees. I made Cassie’s favorite: banana pancakes. “Lucy!” I yelled again.
“What?!” She hollered back, snapping at me.
“C’mon, let's get a move on.”
“Oh God, you are crazy. It's like seven a.m.!” she yelled. “What’s that smell?”
“Banana pancakes!”
“Banana pancakes?!” Her tone changed.
“Yep!”
I heard her rustling around upstairs before descending down to the kitchen.
She sniffed the air. “It smells amazing. I love Banana pancakes.”
“Well, sit down and I'll get you some.”
“Okay.” she sat down at the island counter in the kitchen just like a little kid waiting to get a treat. She looked up at me impatiently. “What? I told you I love banana pancakes.”
“Yeah, I can see that.”
“Well, you're in good company. I made these for Cassie all the time. They were her favorite.”
“If you cook pancakes as good as you cook chicken they will be delish!”
“Well I don’t know about that, but at least they’ll be edible.”
“Good, I’m famished,” Lucy grabbed a fork before she even had a plate in front of her.
I laughed to myself. “Man, you are hungry.”
“I know, it must have been all that not-playing we did last night.”
“Must be.” I put a plate of pancakes in front of Lucy and her eyes got big. “Syrup?” I asked.
“Nope, just butter.”
“Really?!”
“Yeah, why?” she said, noticing the curious look on my face.
“Nothing, just weird.”
“Weird that I don’t like syrup on my pancakes?” Lucy caressed each pancake with butter.
“Well yeah, it's not every day you see someone who doesn’t like syrup on their pancakes.”
“I guess. It’s too sweet with syrup.”
“That’s what Cassie always said.”
“What, with pancakes?” Lucy said.
“Yeah, she ate hers with butter only.”
“Your Cassie, I am learning, had excellent taste,” Lucy said, smiling at me as she shoveled an entire pancake in her mouth. “It's good,” she said with a muffled full mouth.
I laughed. It made me happy watching her eat pancakes like Cassie used to. Little things like that made my life worth living. Moments where I was convinced Cassie was sending me messages with things like now, Lucy’s love of banana pancakes with butter only. Lucy pretty much gorged herself and so did I. We laughed and acted silly, making pancake faces. There was even a pancake juggling act that went horribly wrong.
Lucy helped me straighten up the cabin and we were down by the dock talking when I heard a car pull up. “That must be my sister,” I said as I grabbed Lucy’s hand and started towards the cabin. Lucy stopped. “What’s up?” I said, turning around to face her.
“I’m nervous.”
“Why? My sister’s cool.”
“What if she doesn’t like me?”
“Well then I'll kick you to the curb, so no worries.”
“Ugh, asshole,” she said, slapping my arm.
“Ouch! I’m joking. Trust me, she will love you.”
“Okay, but I don’t think we should hold hands right off. It might freak her out.”
“Uh okay, whatever.”
“Okay go,” Lucy said, pushing me ahead of her a few steps.
“You are a strange one,” I said laughing.
“Yeah, I know.”
“Hey, sis!” I said, as I walked around the front and startled her by getting out of the car.
“Oh shit, you scared me.”
I hugged her, picked her up and spun her around.
“What’s gotten into you?” she said as I put her down.
“Oh, never mind,” she said as she saw Lucy walking up. “Who’s your friend?”
“Hi, I’m Lucy.”
“Hello, Lucy. I’m Laura, Matt's sister,” Laura shook Lucy’s hand and then looked at me confused.
“It's so nice to finally meet you. I’ve heard so much about you.”
“Really. Well, it's nice to meet you... you who I didn’t even know existed until this moment. How did you guys meet?” Laura asked.
“Lucy is your neighbor,” I interjected.
“My neighbor?”
“Yeah, across the lake.”
“What? I don’t have a neighbor.”
“Oh right, you haven’t seen the cabin across the lake,” I said.
“Oh. Well no, I haven’t. There’s a cabin across the lake?”
“Yeah, weird right? I thought this place was abandoned and now we're neighbors,” Lucy cut in, in a nervous voice.
“So, this cabin is yours?” Laura asked her.
“Yes. My husband, well my ex-husband, built it a year ago and it's mine now. He’s a total douchebag,” Lucy said, offering up random information about how she feels about Jeremy.
I looked over at Lucy and gave her a look as if to say: “Relax.”
“Wow, okay. Where is this cabin across the lake?” Laura asked.
I motioned toward the back of the house so Laura could see Lucy’s cabin. The three of us followed the path down to the dock.
“The siding looks great,” Laura said, looking over her cabin.
“Big improvement, right?” I asked.
“Yeah, it really looks nice Matt.”
“Matt is a great contractor,” Lucy said.
“Uh yeah, I know,” Laura said while looking at me and crossing her eyes, saying: “What’s up with this chick?” I smiled back at her. We continued to the dock where you could see across the lake. I could tell when my sister saw Lucy’s monstrous cabin because she froze in her tracks.
“Pretty nice place, hey sis?”
“Are you fucking kidding me?!” Laura shouted. “Are you kidding me, that is your cabin? That fucking palace?” Laura asked, looking at Lucy.
Lucy was shaken by Laura’s reaction to seeing her cabin and took a couple of steps back.
“Woah, woah. What’s the problem, sis?”
“Seriously, you're asking me that? Seriously? Fuck!” She yelled as she looked over at Lucy’s giant cabin again. She then turned and hurried back up the path.
“Hey, hey, Hey! Sis!” I said, stopping her. “What gives?” My sister turned at and looked at me.
“Greg is going to freak!”
“What, why!?”
“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” she shouted, now walking in circles. I looked back at Lucy and she was close to jumping in the lake, swimming across to her place and locking the door. “Fuck, this is all my fault,” Laura said.
“What’s your fault?”
“The fucking mansion across the lake. I should have just let him buy the stupid lot,” she said to herself.
“Hey sis, talk to me,” I said, stopping her by holding her shoulder.
“I think I better go,” Lucy said, talking over us and walking past us quickly.
“Lucy no, don’t go,” I told her.
“No, I need to get some things done,” she said as she rushed off.
“Fuck,” I said. “Sis, would you please explain to me what the fuck is going on?”
“Greg. Greg wanted to buy that lot. The only lot on this lake that could ever be built on and I said no. He told me that one day someone would buy it and build a giant house on it and would ruin the lake. I said, 'Who would want to spend all that money way up here?' Well, I guess I was wrong. Great. Now I get to tell my husband that I was wrong and that there is a fucking monstrous mansion across the lake. He is going to fucking freak.”
“Hey, hey. Calm down. C’mon sis, please.”
“Matt, you don’t understand. This is a disaster.” Laura started crying.
I put my arms around her and squeezed her. She shook in my arms, crying hard. “It's not that big of a deal to get this upset over.”
“Fuck, Matt. We fought for a week over this. Why didn’t I listen t
o him? Now this place will always remind him of how wrong I was. And I hate this cabin, so imagine that. Sitting by the fire and looking over at whatever-her-name-is cabin-roasting marshmallows, all the while Greg thinking: If only I had bought that property. It's all ruined and I’m fucking pregnant too.”
“You are? That’s great!”
“Yeah great, real great.”
“Look, Greg is going to be fine. He loves you.”
“Oh God Matt. I can't tell him, I just can’t.”
“Sis, you can, and it will be okay. Plus, you're pregnant. He can't get mad at you.”
My sister looked at me with her over-emotional and pregnant, teary eyes and then started laughing.
“Who would yell at a pregnant lady?” she said laughing.
“No one, see?”
I hugged her again and we laughed.
“I’m sorry. I’m just so emotional,” she said, wiping her tears.
“No, it's okay and it's understandable. It was a pretty big shock.”
“Oh Matt, I chased off your friend. She’s your friend, right?”
“Yeah, it's fine. Lucy is great, don’t worry. She’s a strong girl.”
“Wow, sounds deep. Pretty close friends then, this Lucy.”
“Uh yeah, you could say that.”
“Wow, good for you.”
“Thanks.”
“I really want to apologize to her. I feel awful.”
“She'll be fine, really.”
“No, I’m going over there.”
“Well you know the way, it's across the lake,” I said laughing.
“Oh God, and it is so beautiful.”
“Yeah, it’s a pretty nice place.”
“So, what’s her story?”
“She was dumped by her cheating husband and got the lake house in the separation.”
“Wow, I could only imagine what the other house looks like.”
“Yeah, she’s a little fancy on the outside but really, she came from nothing and she’s finding her way back.”
“Her way back to us simple folk,” Laura laughed.
“Something like that.”
“Well, I want to say sorry. Do you want to come with?”
“No, you go ahead. I'll see you back here.”
I let sis go on over to Lucy’s. I figured if they hit it off it would be good and me being there might get in the way of a potential womanly bond. I can’t believe Laura is Pregnant. I’m going to be an uncle, I thought to myself. I thought of Cassie. Cassie, you're going to be a cousin.