Dirty Maverick (The Maxwell Family)

by Alycia Taylor

  Those three months flew by. Between rehearsals and all the aftercare appointments, I was busy all the time. When I wasn’t busy and Elly was, I’d spend time at the beach, jogging or just walking along the shoreline. The day before we were supposed to leave to go on tour, I was lying on the bed watching Elly get dressed while I had all of these thoughts. We’d been having sex all morning. I told Elly there were positions we hadn’t tried yet and she hadn’t believed me, so I showed her several of them. She wouldn’t doubt me again. She had on a pink tank top and a pair of pink boy shorts that fit her round little ass just perfect. If we hadn’t just gone a couple of rounds, I’d have been all over her again.

  “Should we go get the stuff from your apartment before we go on tour?” she said as she shuffled through her closet looking for something to wear. “You’ll at least need your clothes and stuff, right?”

  Fuck, just when things seemed to be going so well. Elly still had no idea that I got kicked out of my apartment. I planned on telling her at first, and then I didn’t, and the longer it went on, the more awkward it got…so I just never did. I know I was being a chicken-shit but it wasn’t like it really mattered right then, anyways. She had already said I could stay here.

  I sat up and said, “You need to finish packing your stuff today, right? I’ll go get mine while you’re doing that. I’m just going to grab clothes and shoes…stuff like that. You don’t have to go.”

  “Okay, I don’t mind helping though; I’m almost finished packing mine. Well, I still have to get the rest of this stuff ready for storage but….” Damn she was fine. I was thinking about packing hers again myself…and I don’t mean her suitcase.

  I got up all the way off the bed and went over to her. I needed to go right then before she got dressed or she would insist on helping me and I didn’t want her to find out like that. She was so hard to resist though, and my cock was straining in her direction all on his own. When Elly was around, especially when she was almost naked like she was right then, it was like my cock constantly stood at attention.

  I walked over and grabbed her and pulled her into my naked chest. He breasts crushed against me and I squeezed her hot little ass with both hands while I kissed her. When I broke the kiss I ran my lips across her ear and said, “You wanna go another round before I go?”

  She giggled and pushed me back. “No, we really have too much to do. It’s already almost noon and we haven’t got anything done but sex.”

  “Sounds like my kind of productive day….”

  “Tristan! I don’t want to have to rush in the morning. If we get our stuff finished we can go a few more rounds tonight,” she told me with a smile. She was trying to pacify me and it worked. I had to get that other shit done anyways.

  I grinned at her and said, “Alright, I’m going.”

  I bypassed the shower and pulled on my jeans and a t-shirt. If I took the time to shower, that might give her time to get ready to go. I didn’t want to be put on the spot and have to tell her about losing the apartment. I wanted to tell her in my own way, on my own time. There’s no way she wouldn’t figure it out if she went with me. I know, I sound like a paranoid tweaker. I guess I should have just told her, but I really didn’t want to.

  “Okay, I’m going to run over there now. I won’t be long.”

  “Can you get everything you need on the bike? You really should wait for me and we’ll take my car.”

  “Like I said, I’m just getting my clothes. I can carry a duffel bag just fine.”

  She shook her head at what she thought was my stubbornness and stepped closer and gave me a kiss. I grabbed her ass again and tried to slip my tongue into the seam of her lips. She pushed me back, and giggling again, she said, “You’re hopeless; get out of here.”

  “I’m going, jeez, baby! Crack that whip.”

  She made a silly whip sound. She was such a dork sometimes. It was part of what I really liked about her.

  I got on the bike and rode through the city. The weather was changing into fall and the breeze was nice and cool. We don’t really have autumn in L.A. in the classic sense. It stays pretty warm until late October most years and then the leaves usually blow off of the trees in the Santa Ana winds before they have a chance to change colors. If they are tough enough to cling on, they’ll turn a light yellow or brown more often than they will orange or red. I used to love the traveling during the fall when I was a kid. We’d pass through one of the Midwest towns and the trees would be so bright with orange and red leaves that they looked like they were on fire. I also liked it when we’d go back east or to Canada and it would be close to Christmas time and there would be a blanket of snow all over everything. I loved California—the oceans, the weather—but sometimes it was nice just to see and experience something different. When I was younger, I liked the travel because I didn’t have to be in town with my parents. The only time my life was good back then was when I was on the road or onstage. I had a whole fantasy life built up in my head, and when I was out on the road, I could almost believe in it myself.

  I got on I-101. I didn’t need to go that way, I could have gone straight through town, but I was taking the long way around. I needed my ocean right then. I loved the feel of the cool ocean breeze that blew across the city that time of year. Sometimes I think I like the ocean so much that I should have learned to surf or fish…something. None of that was conducive to my childhood, though, and by the time I was grown, I was wasted all the time. I couldn’t work up much motivation to learn anything new. Besides, it was hard to picture myself fitting in with the men who sat on the docks with their poles or the surfer’s with their bleached hair and sunburnt noses.

  I was enjoying the early afternoon ride along the ocean, but mostly I was stalling. I wasn’t really looking forward to going back to the old apartment, with or without Elly. I just didn’t want to run into Buck. Besides the fact that it was embarrassing that he’d evicted me, I knew I still owed him three month’s rent. Buck might let it go for a while, but he had business partners and they were professional slum lords. They owned properties all over east and south L.A. and had lawyers on speed dial. I didn’t need that shit right then. I guess I shouldn’t have worried so much about it. It wasn’t like I had anything for them to take if they sued me. You can’t take shit from someone who doesn’t have it.

  Still, when I finally got there an hour after I left Elly’s, I parked the bike around back so that Buck wouldn’t see it and I snuck in the back stairwell where I knew the lock on the door had been broken for over a year. I made my way up to the second floor and then used the opposite stairwell that landed right next to the storage closets where the rest of my shit was stored. So far, I got lucky, no sign of anyone. As soon as I had that thought, I saw Mrs. Petrillo, the old woman who saw me naked the day I chased Elly out in the hall. That was months ago, but I could tell by the way her eyes widened when she looked at me that she hadn’t forgotten.

  “Hello Mrs. Petrillo,” I said with a smile.

  “Tristan,” she said, disapprovingly. I kept smiling until she was past me and then I finished heading down the stairs. When I got to the bottom, the storage doors were on my right. I unlocked the door to mine and went inside. I started going through my clothes and realized I needed some new clothes. During the show, they gave us a clothing allowance. Everything I had at Elly’s came from that. This shit was all years old and probably wasn’t worth taking. I needed to take something with me though, or Elly would get suspicious. I picked up a duffel bag and stuffed as much into it as I could. The only thing I took other than my clothes were the notebooks I used to write down my music; some of it was drug-addled crap, but some of it was salvageable. And I took a big shoebox of some really old stuff I’d kept from when I was in the band and touring. I didn’t need it, it was just sentimental shit, but who knew if my stuff was still going to be there in nine months? I doubted it. They’d sell it all or throw it away by then. I didn’t really care; by then I’d be able to buy new shit—better s
hit.

  I threw the bag over my shoulder and was stepping out of the closet when I came face to face with Buck. He was standing there waiting for me with a pile of paperwork in his hand. I didn’t doubt that Mrs. Petrillo called him as soon as she hauled her fat, old ass up the stairs to her apartment. Fuck! I couldn’t catch a fucking break.

  “Hey, Tristan.”

  I swallowed my attitude and said, “Hey, Buck! How the hell are you?”

  “I saw you win that show, congratulations. You’re going to be a star again.”

  “Thanks, cool shit, huh?”

  “Yeah, very cool shit,” he said. Buck rarely cursed. When he did, it sounded like a bad line out of a crappy movie. I had to wonder if he was somebody’s brother-in-law or cousin at the management company. That had to be the only way he got this job. He was in no way comfortable enough with being an asshole to work for these guys. “I have some paperwork for you, Tristan.”

  Shit! He held it out and I wondered what he’d do if I refused to take it. It didn’t matter either way. I took it and at a glance I could see that it was legal stuff. “Maybe you can pay what you owe from what you won on the show, huh?”

  “Yeah, for sure. I won’t get it until I get back from being on tour….”

  He looked uncomfortable again as he said, “Oh…that sucks. They’re going to take you to court if you don’t pay it in thirty days.”

  Fuck. “Alright man, I’ll see what I can do.”

  “They added interest.”

  Of course they did. It didn’t make any fucking difference what they added or subtracted. I didn’t have it either way. “Okay, Buck, thanks.”

  “Hey, Tristan,” he said when I turned away to leave.

  “Yeah?”

  “I’m pulling for you, man. I think you’ve got a lot of talent.”

  Shit! The guilt trip…. “Thanks, Buck. I’ll see you around.”

  “Yeah, take care,” he said. I’m sure he was thinking, ‘I’ll see you in court.’

  I took the long way around again on the way back to Elly’s place. I took the I-10 and got off on the exit for Malibu. I rode my bike and parked it down near the pier. I was feeling anxious again. I was going to have to tell Elly if they took me to court. There was no way I’d be able to keep hiding that from her. I guessed if she threw me out during the tour, it wouldn’t really matter; I’d still be put up in a hotel on the show’s dime. The problem was that I was getting attached…to Elly.

  When looking for just a pier without the hubbub of a ferris wheel or the line that constantly seems to be snaking out of Bubba Gump's on the Santa Monica pier…Malibu is where it’s at. It’s just pure beauty and relaxation. No noise, no crowds; if you want to hear your thoughts, you can. I wasn’t interested in hearing mine right then…I just wanted to find a sense of peace. Since I stopped using, I’d only been able to do that two ways: with Elly or on the beach. Elly could work wonders on my anxiety but she’d also ask questions, none of which I wanted to answer right then. So instead, I stood against the guard rail and looked out over the ocean. I blocked all the shit out of my mind and listened to the water crash against the rocks and the cry of the seagulls fighting over food off in the distance.

  I don’t know how long I stayed on the beach. I wandered up and down the pier for a while and watched the old fisherman reel in their paltry catches, then I took off my shoes and walked on the beach for a while. I finally convinced myself that I couldn’t stall forever and headed back. When I got back to the apartment, I let myself in with the key Elly had made for me. I could hear her and Susie in the bedroom talking about girl stuff and giggling. Susie already had a temporary roommate lined up for while Elly was gone. She couldn’t afford to pay for the place alone and Elly didn’t want to have to worry about it while she was gone for almost a year. So, she was packing all of her personal stuff to store until she got back so the new roommate could use her room.

  I dropped my stuff down next to the couch and sank down into it. I thought about going in there and telling her about the apartment…I really did. I just had a feeling that I should. But I talked myself out of it again. I didn’t want to do it in front of smart-ass, nosey Susie. In her defense, I was a smart-ass to her, too. Still, I didn’t like people to know my business.

  I sat there for a long time, almost an hour, and I don’t think they even knew I was there. I could have been the fucking Son of Sam and slipped in there and killed them before they knew anything was going on. They were talking the whole time. How do women find so much to talk about? I finally pulled myself up to go in and kick Susie out so I could talk to Elly. As I stood up, my phone vibrated in my pocket. It was Ethan, the runner up from the show. He said the tour contestants were going out to dinner and he wanted to know if I wanted to meet up with them. I figured it wouldn’t hurt…besides, it gave me an excuse to put off telling Elly about my living situation, again.

  Chapter Two

  Elly

  It was after four in the afternoon and I was still packing. I didn’t even realize I had so much crap. I didn’t want to leave any of my stuff out, though. I wasn’t overly possessive, but Susie’s friend that would be staying with her was a guy. I doubted he wanted frilly stuff in his room.

  “So where do you guys start out?” Susie asked. She was sitting on my bed…supposedly helping. Mostly, she was just getting in the way.

  “Las Vegas—MGM Grand,” I said with a smile. I’d never been to Las Vegas I was excited about it like a kid on Christmas.

  “Cool,” Susie said. I love Las Vegas. Will you guys have time to do anything while you’re there?”

  “Not a lot,” I told her. “I think we stay one night and then move on.”

  “And then you just keep going east?”

  “Yeah, we go east and then south, I think. I know we have a show in Texas and one in Florida, too. I’m hoping while we’re in Florida we can go to Disney World.”

  “Cool. I haven’t been there since I was a kid. You got really lucky getting this job,” she said.

  “Especially considering they fired me,” I told her with a smile.

  “Yeah, I’ve been meaning to ask you….you think that hot executive Jake guy wants to fuck you?”

  “Susie!”

  “I’m just saying…he hired you back after the other producer fired you and he’s kind of had his eye on you from the start…don’t you think? It seems like he’s trying hard to get close to you. Isn’t that unusual for an executive and an intern?”

  “I guess it’s not the norm, but it happens. Are you saying that you don’t think it’s possible for me to just be really good at what I do?” I knew it was silly, but I was kind of hurt. It was as if she was saying I couldn’t possibly be so good at my job that he was genuinely impressed with me.

  “Of course not. That’s not what I’m saying at all,” she said. “I know how awesome you are. I just know how men are. They think with their dicks. Usually when you think they’re doing something nice it’s because they expect something in return.”

  Susie was very cynical for a twenty-two year old. She’d been in more than one bad relationship. She was attracted to older guys, and more than one of them had turned out to be married. Susie dumped them as soon as she found out, but it left scars. She wasn’t nearly as trusting as she used to be.

  “I don’t think they’re all like that,” I told her. I liked to not judge any one person by my past experiences with others. “Jake hasn’t been anything but professional and a gentleman. I might be tooting my own horn here, but I think he really likes my work. Even when all the crap was going on with Tristan and me sneaking around, I think I stayed pretty focused. The other girls get all ga-ga when he walks in the room, but I’ve never even flirted with him. Maybe he finds that refreshing. I think if he was going to give someone the job just to get a piece of ass out of it, it would have been one of those girls.”

  “Or, maybe he finds it hot…maybe he thinks you’re hotter than those other girls,” she said with a
grin.

  “Shut up!” I threw a pillow at her, “I want to believe I got the job on my merits.”

  Turning serious she said, “I’m sure you did. I’m just being cynical because I hate men right now.”

  “Boo!”

  Susie and I both screamed. Tristan had stuck his head around the doorframe and yelled at us. I hadn’t even heard him come in.

  “And I rest my case!” Susie said, holding her heart. “Hey, jerk! You nearly gave me a heart attack.”

  Tristan shot back, “If you haven’t had one yet looking at that face in the mirror by now, I think you’re safe.”

  “Fuck you!”

  “Okay, you two knock it off.” Sometimes I felt like I was the mother of two adolescents…maybe even pre-adolescents. They bickered like children, always trying to one up each other in the insult department. The funny part was I thought they really did like each other. It was how they showed it.

  “Are you still packing?” Tristan asked. It was a rhetorical question, I’m sure. One look around the room and it was obvious that I was still packing.

  “You don’t even try to sound smart, do you?” Susie said. She liked to tease him about being dumb and he teased her about being ugly. He wasn’t dumb and she wasn’t ugly, but for some reason that was the relationship they’d settled on.

  Tristan ignored her that time and said, “I’ve been here for an hour, listening to you talk about me.” I tried to remember what we’d been talking about and then I saw him grinning and knew he was full of shit. He told me then, “Ethan texted me, he said that he and the other contestants are going over to Sal’s for dinner. You want to go?”