Julie said, “That was crazy, right? I’m glad you are ok too. When I saw the house explode I knew your car should not get left there.”
“Yeah. I’m wondering about going back for it.”
Julie said, “When I saw you forgot to lock the car door, I had Markus hot-wire it for me. He took his car and I drove yours. I waited until I saw you drive away with Kyle. I’ll get it back to you tomorrow.”
“So, things with Markus didn’t work out?”
“Oh, it was a bit … awkward. I’ll tell you about it later.” She pushed the topic away. “Whooo! I feel like such a criminal driving a hot-wired car.”
Amanda thought not the criminal that she felt – a ruddy dirty grime crawled along her skin thinking of the dead girl by the pool. An accomplice as a get-away driver and one who did not even try to help the dead girl. “Thanks, Julie.” Amanda tossed her phone onto the seat between her legs. She put the car in gear and drove back along the road. They exited the dirt road onto the larger paved roads. Amanda remained silent the whole drive, but her mind skidded with conflicting thoughts ranging through scenes from the party, hints she picked up from Kyle and certainly his sketchy brother Sardis. She drove until she saw the lights of the house where she stayed. She eased the car to the shoulder.
Amanda turned and looked at Kyle, “This is where I get out. You can drive now?”
Kyle nodded.
The breeze blew from Kyle’s window toward her. Under the stink of the party, her nose found his musky fragrance. The smell thrust images of his touch and his kisses. His shoulders and torso that shown bare by the flickering flames of the bonfire. Her body wanted him, wanted to follow that smell on the breeze like a cartoon character floating after a freshly baked apple-cinnamon pie. “I can’t believe we ran. We ran from a crime scene. We’re going to hell.”
Sardis said, “You want to be in jail? You would not be an innocent bystander. You’d get dragged along with anyone else left at the party.”
Amanda gripped the steering wheel, “Or dragged along in the rest of your crazy life. A life more risky than I imagined.”
Kyle said, “Hey, forgetting the party, we’re just getting started. It’s a struggle with the band but we have talent. We just need a bit of luck.”
Amanda said, “Sardis, you should turn yourself in, you’re the one that killed that girl.”
Kyle asked, “Why didn't you do anything, Amanda? You knew being detained would be bad. You ran too.”
“I freaked out! We should go and tell the police what happened. Maybe they will think it was all an accident.”
Sardis leaned forward in his seat, his mouth close to Amanda’s ear, growling in low tones filled with drunken anger, “Look, you better not talk to any police.”
Amanda knew the house waited for her. All she had to do was get out of the car and go inside. She knew the high quality of life that Zack and Claire enjoyed and shared with her for being a nanny to their kids. They loved and cared for each other and did not have any of the madness that surrounded Kyle and Sardis. Her body riled against her but her mind retained control, except for her shaking fingers that she hid by sliding them under her thighs. She paused for several seconds that floated for what seemed like hours. “Kyle, I'm done. I cannot be mixed up with anything like this. Don’t call me.” Amanda pushed the car door open and marched to the house. A hot line burned between her shoulder blades from Kyle’s stare but she unlocked the door and never looked back at Kyle or Sardis or even their car as Kyle drove away.
Amanda floated through the house. She stripped off her clothes and flopped down across her bed wearing only her panties and bra. She could not believe how her heart ached for him already, but she knew she was done. She must be done with him. The tears did not agree, or they swam in the soup of all that had happened. She cried into the bedspread and finally fell asleep.
Chapter 7
Kyle slid under the steering wheel and bumped the seat back. He watched Amanda march up the steps to the house and twist her key in the knob. The curve of her body and the sheen of her hair faded into the interior. Kyle struck his fist along the top of the steering wheel.
Sardis leaned forward and put his hand on Kyle’s shoulder, “Forget her. She’s not worth it.”
Kyle cranked the shifter into gear, “She’s worth it. We’re just not up to her worth.”
Sardis shrugged and leaned back in his seat as the car motioned down the road. “There is a pile of ass out there to be had.”
“When was the last time you had a girlfriend?”
“Last week.”
“No. You had a chick from the bar for a night and she was gone the next day. I mean a girlfriend.”
Sardis kicked Kyle’s seat, “That’s the best kind of girlfriend!” He laughed, “One who is gone the next day so you don’t have to get in fights over nonsense about calls or anniversaries or birthdays or all that shit about communication. I leave whenever I hear those fighting words.”
“You are such a charmer. One day your charm won’t work so well at the bar.”
“Switch over to the side of quantity rather than pining for quality and you’ll do better.” Sardis looked out the window, “Shit. You can be hung-over and still get ten times the girls I do. Cruel world to play that game.”
“Clean up your language and you would find more girls interested.”
“More of those grabbing girls looking for meaning in the relationship and demanding general drama and mayhem. What I do is simple. The girls I find want it simple. The ones who understand it ring me up.”
“On my phone. I know it’s not exactly a busy call center.”
“It might ring more if we had a regular place with a shower and a bed.” Sardis scrubbed his scalp with his fingers. “Let’s find an unattended swimming pool. That new subdivision is about half-vacant with foreclosures. The still occupied ones should have something.”
“Shouldn’t we just go to the truck stop?”
“That’s a pit filled with stinky long haul pits. It’s ten miles out and ten back. We’d burn all our fuel.” Sardis tapped the seat, “That dirt road over there is the truck entrance. Just follow along it.”
“What are you doing?”
“Keep driving.” Sardis knocked his shoes and socks off.
“Whew. Put those back on.”
“If we had more regular cash I’d get some foot cream.”
Kyle knew Sardis would keep his thoughts off Amanda. Sardis had a way of consuming his and everyone’s attention with his antics. “I’d go without tomorrow’s sandwich if we could guarantee fixing that shitty dead skunk odor.”
Sardis pulled himself out the window and climbed on top of the roof. “Drive slow and I can look over the fences into the back yards and see if any clear pools remain unguarded.”
Kyle slowed the car. Sardis stood up, his moist feet gripping the smooth lacquer.
Sardis knocked on the roof and Kyle pulled the car off the dirt road and tight against the slat fence.
“Sardis! We should look first.” Kyle whispered, seeing the top of his brother’s head disappear over the wood wall. Kyle rummaged in the backpack on the floor and pulled out a cake of white soap stored in a wrinkled plastic bag. He looked both ways along the road and then slid to the car roof and dangled over the wall. He dropped to the ground and scooted close to Sardis to crouch behind a tiny forest of trees that came up to their eyes. Not much better than a hedge.
Sardis said, “I don’t see any lights in the house. The houses on both sides are closed up and their pools are swamps, abandoned for a long time.”
Kyle said, “I’m going to look in the house to make sure no one is here.”
“You do that. I am going to check out the pool. Give me the soap.”
Kyle gave Sardis the bag with the soap and he moved toward the house. Kyle peered through several windows and saw a place furnished in a contemporary design. Maybe they were in the middle of moving or just left behind what did not fit in their van. No ev
idence of a dog or a homeowner with a handgun.
Sardis slipped into the pool and scrubbed his head with the soap. Kyle dropped his jeans by the edge of the pool and waded down the steps. They both knew to keep their splashing and talking quiet.
“Hey boys. Can I come over to play?”
Kyle and Sardis spun around at the voice.
“Hello, Haley.” Sardis scrubbed his finger in his ear, wincing his eyes.
Kyle whispered, “Where did you come from?”
“Over yonder,” she giggled. Her face washed in the aqua light reflected from the pool. “I left my ride in the field, it broke down, and so I am walking home. Then I recognized your car and climbed up to see what’s up.” A smile curled her lip. “Oh … nice. I do see what’s up.” She climbed over the fence and stood before the two brothers. “You look like twelve year olds seeing their first naked boobs.”
Sardis said, “Your top got caught in the fan motor?”
“No, you ass.” Haley pushed down the rest of her bikini and walked to the water’s edge. She looked down at the two of them surveying her body. She stepped forward and dropped smoothly into the water. She came up, used an elbow to steady herself at the edge of the pool, and swept her hair back from her face.
Kyle said, “Your face is cut.”
“No shit.” She wiped away a spot of blood that appeared after the water softened the scab. “It stings a little in this water.”
Sardis swam closer to Haley, “Were you stalking us? Following us since the party?”
“You saw my body out of the water. Do you think I need to stalk anyone? That’s a nice hair cut Kyle.” She swam away from Sardis and Kyle. “This water feels good.”
Kyle reached up to the side of the pool and poked the bar of soap into the plastic bag. The water sucked the plastic flat to the cement and he had to dig at it with his thumb. He dipped below the water and ruffled the soap out of his hair. He bobbed up and squeezed the water from around his eyes. When he opened his eyes, Haley was only a dozen inches from him. Her eyes followed his. The underwater lights outlined the swells of her breasts. He could feel the heat from her body swirling in the small currents her hands stirred in the water. He also saw discoloration along her arms and shoulder. “What are those bruises?”
Haley kicked away from Kyle, arching her back and floating away, her nipples spiked toward the sky. “Nothing you two would care about.” She asked, “Kyle, why aren’t you with the body shot girl?”
Sardis said, “We dropped her off at her house.”
“Too much excitement for little miss perfect?”
Kyle put his hands on the edge of the pool and vaulted out of the water. He spun and sat on the cement so his legs dangled in the water. He leaned back, supported by his hands on the cement.
Haley curled like an otter below the water’s surface and crested near Kyle’s knee. “You do that much better.”
Kyle asked, “Do what?”
“Sit at the edge of the pool.” She put a hand against Kyle’s knee and rubbed her fingers closer to his body. Kyle’s body awoke to her touch. He moved his leg away and slid back into the water. Haley pulled herself closer to him using the pool edge and then a hand against his neck, her lips found his. Haley’s tongue slithered into his mouth. His body wanted her. The water moved between them and his manhood bobbed free as driftwood. Haley’s hand slid down over his stomach and lower, stroking along his body as she maneuvered her hips against him. Kyle moved his arms and slid deeper into the water. He surfaced a few feet away.
“You don’t want this?” She pushed her nipple above the water line.
Kyle said, “Not tonight.” He swam to the side of the pool that had steps and walked out of the water. He watched Haley’s eyes trace his every move as he slopped along the edge of the pool, the water running from him in rivulets and leaving wet prints behind. He picked up his clothes and put his pants on without underwear, having forgotten to get a clean pair out of the plastic grocery bag bundle he had from their last laundromat trip. He jumped against the fence so his fingers reached the top and he pulled himself up. With a swing of his leg over the top, he was on the car. Kyle looked over the fence and saw Haley had already floated to Sardis.
Haley whipped her head around, “You might want to turn the radio on, Kyle. I get loud.”
Sardis looked at Kyle and shrugged. A grin spreading across his teeth.
Kyle waved his hand in dismissal, but turned back, “I’m taking the car. You can meet me at the usual spot. It’s a short walk from here, across the citrus farm.”
Haley asked, “The tree?” She paused, and then covered with, “The trees at the park? I bet you two sleep at the park.”
Sardis pulled Haley to him and kissed her neck. Haley giggled and her hand waved a cute goodbye to Kyle like a kindergartner on her first day of school. Kyle slid through the window into the car. He dug his keys out of his pocket. The car started and he punched in the radio that blared someone’s mournful song of forgotten loves they wished they had loved more before they were gone forever.
Why am I so hung up on this girl Amanda? I would have taken Haley’s offering without hesitation before. Now? What is it about Amanda that causes me to want to be a better man?
Chapter 8
“You were at the party,” said a voice near Amanda, in a volume that carried across the tasting room.
Amanda tried to keep her startled shock from showing when she looked up from washing a glass. Haley tipped her sunglasses into her slicked back hair with its swooping curl at its end that hung over her neck. She wore a thin sheath dress that clung to her athletic body, only dangling from her shoulders by thin spaghetti straps that better revealed her wild tattoo artwork over her body. She also displayed herself with a molded ultra-lift bra and no pantie lines. Amanda guessed she wore no panties underneath rather than another device. Dressed with armor sufficient to ruthlessly battle in any king’s court.
Julie came around the corner with a tray of appetizers. She saw Haley and spun around to hide in the kitchenette before Haley saw her. Haley winked after Julie and said, “Hello.”
Amanda said, “I was there briefly. I left.” Why are you here? What are you trying to do?
Haley said, “You were there until the end of the party.” Haley looked around the bar and the interior of the tasting room. “It’s very nice here. Have you worked here long?”
“No. Just the summer. Where do you work?” Amanda did not really care, but her reflexive conversational tone came out. She had learned that everyone liked to talk more about themselves than listen to others. Perhaps she could get Haley to leave without any eruptions. At least she knew from Haley’s clothes she could not be carrying a pistol or a knife. Why did that pop into her head? A further result of this risky life mixing with Kyle and Sardis?
“Sometimes I pour at a bar downtown. I get better tips at restaurants that take walk-in help. I don’t like to get lashed into a regular everyday thing, you know?”
“Can I pour you a taste of our latest release?”
“No, thank you. I just came to see what this place is. I’ve heard so much from our favorite brothers after they must have dropped you off.” Haley smiled the look of a talented fencer with a rapier about to plunge under the guard of her opponent.
“You mean Sardis?”
“Sardis, but also Kyle. Separate and … together.” Haley leaned in close, twisting her head as if she cared about ensuring that no eve-droppers stood nearby. However, her voice remained clear enough that Julie likely heard her in the kitchenette, “I met them at the pool, and we all went skinny dipping.” She gave a dramatic sigh and put her hand above her chest, “Touching Kyle was absolutely magical.” She held a little smile on her lips, her feet taking a bracing stance if Amanda came at her with more than sharp words.
Amanda set the glass in her hand down and slid it slowly across the bar’s granite top. The base ground on the stone because she pressed her fingers so hard against the flange. The sound
traveled up the stem and amplified out the goblet’s open top. “He can do what he wants.”
Haley sucked on her index finger before pulling it out to say, “Kyle and I were really into each other.”
Amanda released her grip on the glass before she shattered it against the bar. “That’s good for you. I’m happy he found someone, to take the sting of rebound away.” Amanda looked into Haley’s eyes. “I told him we were done. He can do what, and who, he wants.” Amanda kept her eyes steely but her heart fractured like violent lava shooting through jagged cracks and came apart in a sickening rumble.
“A tasty man with a rocking eager body.” She drew her breath, “I might have found The One.” Haley turned away to walk from the winery, but paused a few steps away, “Thanks for warming him up for me.” She flicked her sunglasses across her face and strutted away, her heels echoing through the nearly empty tasting room. Amanda watched Haley cross the wine tasting room and exit through the gift shop. One of the gift shop staff asked, “Can I help you find anything?”
“No, I took care of my business meeting already. Have a nice day.” Haley pushed through the glittery gift shop doors to the parking area.
Amanda’s heart continued tearing apart. Her soul charred at the edges with the sadness of burning a love letter amid mourning violins. I am pathetic. Amanda flipped up the work schedule calendar. She looked ahead and saw Kyle and his band would play the next night she worked. Maybe Julie or one of the other staff members can switch hours with her. If not she would take a sick day. She expected actual sickness anyway from all that ice cream and raw cookie dough she would buy on the way home. What was it about that man that did this to me? Any sane woman would avoid him. If he actually got involved with Haley … Did he? Would he tell her even if he had banged Haley? Haley was certainly pretty and smart and determined to get her way in everything. Amanda could see how Haley might be something even a smart guy would get involved with, at least those already loaded up with not caring about risk less than the danger already in their lives. If the guy were not too crazy and open to manipulation.
Crushing (The Southern California Wine Country Series) Page 7