RECKLESS — Bad Boy Criminal Romance (27 page)

“Don’t forget to check the clock and remember the time,” she says.  “If it happens at all.”

“We’re going to be home before you and Eddie get back to his place,” I retort.  “Any chance you had is over by giving me this head start.”  I smile and notice a disconcerted look on her face before I walk away.

On the ride to Britney’s apartment, neither of us says much.  The happiness and relief over the success of the party is replaced by nerves by what’s expected to happen next.  Britney breathes a little faster and becomes jittery in the passenger seat.

As we park in front of her apartment, she turns to me and says, “I’m pretty nervous.  But I’m excited.”

I smile and say, “I’m excited too.”

Inside we walk into her bedroom.  I take off my costume.  Wearing a white cotton undershirt and mesh shorts, I sit with her on the bed.  We kiss slowly for a couple minutes.  I pull back for a second and notice Britney is breathing even faster.  I look at her face and she is perspiring slightly, an anxious look in her eyes.

I chuckle.

She giggles too, acknowledging the tension.

“Let’s take the pressure off this whole situation,” I say to her.  “Relax, okay?  Lay on your stomach.  I’m going to give you a massage.”

She complies.  To begin I massage her shoulders and upper back.  I use firm pressure and her shoulders relax and the knots in her back start to dissipate.  Her eyes are closed and she sighs lightly.

“Take off your costume,” I tell her.

She stands up and unties her rope belt.  Her silk blue robe falls to the floor, though she still wears her underwear.  After she lies back on her stomach I kiss her neck, then focus on her lower back.  I have my index fingers on her hips and my thumbs massage right above her ass.

A quiver runs from her waist and up her body.

I momentarily remove my right hand from her to remove my own shirt.  My hands move down her lower back onto her ass.  She trembles more, enjoying herself, her eyes still shut.

“Flip over,” I tell her.

Britney opens her eyes and flips over.

“Take the rest of your clothes off.”

She hesitates, glancing downward.  “I don’t know.”

We’re both silent a moment and I rub her leg.  “Let me go down on you.”

She looks at me and I make piercing eye contact back at her.

“Trust me.  I’m going to make you feel good.”

She removes her bra and panties.  I kiss her a couple times, then kiss her stomach, before moving below her waist.  Her body tenses again and she holds my hand.  Warming back up, progressively, she moans lightly and squeezes my hand tighter.  “Oh god,” she says, repeatedly, each time growing louder, as she now closes her eyes and breathes heavily.

“Hey, take your clothes off,” she says to me.  I look up at her and she smiles, a glisten of perspiration on her face.  “I want to feel you.”

I stand and remove the rest of my clothes and get into bed with her.

“That kind of feels good,” she tells me.  I start slow and watch her expression.  Each time her face contorts she reassures me saying, “It feels good.”

              As we build momentum Britney does seem to be experiencing pleasure amidst some pain.  I stare into her eyes and say, “I want you tell to me how you feel about me.”

              “I really like you,” she says.

              “That’s not what I’m looking for.”

              “I want you.  I want to be with you.”

              “What else?”

“You mean everything to me.”

              “And what?”

              She hesitates, then says, “I love you.”  Immediately after saying this, overwhelmed by emotion, tears stream from the edges of Britney’s eyes as we finish.

Afterward I sit beside her in bed and she rubs her eyes.  I put my arm around her and say, “You okay?”

              “Yeah.”  She sniffles.  “I don’t why I’m so emotional.  It’s embarrassing.”

              “You just got caught up in everything.  You’re a passionate person and it just all came pouring out.”

              She giggles and nods.  “Yeah, maybe that’s true.”  She glances at me and says, “Can we just lie here together a minute?”

              “Sure.”

              We lie together and I hold her close.

“I feel a little bit guilty,” she says.

“Why?”

“I wasn’t supposed to do that.  I’m supposed to be married.”

“Did you like it?”

“Yeah … It was intense.  It was amazing to feel that with you.”

“Don’t regret it then.”

“Even though we technically weren’t supposed to, I think it might be okay because we love each other,” she says.  “And they say God is love.”

I sleep over at her apartment that night and wake up a little after eight o’clock the next morning.  Britney is still asleep and I get dressed and sit on the bed beside her and lightly wake her.

“Why don’t you stay here in bed with me?” she asks sleepily, cracking her eyes open.

“I’ll call you.  Last night was amazing.  I have to go but I want to see you again as soon as I can.”

She sits up and hugs me and we share a quick kiss and then I leave. 

Back at my mother’s house Angela sits at the kitchen table.  My mother, now in the shower, has cooked breakfast and Angela munches on piece of French toast.  I pour myself a glass of orange juice and sit across the table from her.

“Twelve forty-one,” I say.

“What?”

“That was the time.  When Britney and I started.”

Angela nods and doesn’t say anything.

I study her face but she only eats her breakfast, expressionless.  “No way you and Eddie got started earlier than that … did you?”

She recounts what happened between Eddie and her after Britney and I left the church:

Nervous about losing the bet since Britney and I leave first, Angela waits for Eddie to return from Reverend Boyd’s office.  She begins mentally calculating how long it will take Eddie and her to get back to his apartment.  She wonders how long it’ll take me to get Britney into bed.  By the time Eddie meets back up with her in the convention room, it’s been almost twenty minutes since I left.  Angela is anxious to make something happen fast.

“So what do you want to do?”  Eddie asks her.

“Come with me for a second.”  She takes him by the hand and leads him to the storage room in which we stored all the tables and chairs from the party.  Once inside the room she closes the door and starts to kiss him.

Surprised, he kisses her back but pulls away after a few seconds.  He smiles at her and asks, “What brought this on?”

“Oh, I don’t know.  I was just watching you tonight and I couldn’t wait to get some private time with you.”

“Cool.  Do you want to go somewhere or do anything?”

Angela rubs her hand down his arm.  “Why don’t we just stay in here for a second?”  She sits him down on a chair and she sits on his lap, facing him, and they make out some more.

“Should we slow down?” Eddie asks her.

“No, I’m okay.  Are you?”

Nervously Eddie says, “Yeah, I just wanted to make sure you were.”

She smiles and starts unbuttoning his shirt.  “I’ve been thinking a lot about you since we were out last.”

Eddie is silent, struck both by lust and anxiety.

“Do you want me?” she asks.

He nods.

“Take off my shirt.”

He helps her take off the top of her police uniform.

Wearing only a bra and her tight police shorts, she presses into him.  She kisses him and grinds onto his lap.

“Maybe we should take our time more.”

“No, c’mon,” she insists.  “Show me how much you want me.”

Eddie seems uneasy, unsure of what to do.

“I got so turned on watching you tonight, I couldn’t wait for this.”  She kisses his neck and ear, grinding into him harder and harder.

Eddie’s breaths are shallow and beads of sweat form on his forehead.

She runs her hand down his chest and abdomen and begins unbuckling his belt.  She reaches into his pants and whispers into his ear, “I want you to fuck me right here on this chair.”

His body spasms and he climaxes the moment she touches him.  He excuses himself and quickly leaves the room.

Stunned, Angela sits alone in the storage room a few moments before putting the top of her police uniform back on.  She walks into the church lobby and behind the front desk finds a phone and a phone directory and calls a taxi.  Before going outside she finds the men’s restroom and cracks open the door.

“Eddie?  I’m going home now, okay?”

“Okay,” he says, his casual tone trying to mask his embarrassment.  “Do you have a ride?”

“Yeah.  I’ll talk to you later.”

After Angela tells me this story I stare at her.  “Well, as far as me winning the bet, I told you so.  But I do have to give you points for even trying to do it at the church.  I mean, just the attempt itself earns my respect.”

She giggles.  “Yeah, I guess I may need to go to confession for that.”

“Even if God doesn’t like you anymore, I still do.”

At school on a Saturday morning, both Ariel and I took the SAT.  Weeks later in the mail we received our test results.  I took the sealed envelope addressed to me and opened it.  Out of 1600, I scored a 1380.  I took the envelope addressed to Ariel.  I ripped it open and looked at her results.  She scored a 1520.

Ariel was at Terrell’s house.  I walked over and stepped inside the living room.  Terrell was back in his bedroom.  His grandmother sat in her chair watching TV.  Ariel kept an eye on her.

I told Ariel her SAT score.

“Did I do better than you?” she asked.

“Yeah.”

“I knew I was smarter than you.”

“I don’t think I slept any the night before the test.”

“Yeah, right.”

“You need to pick some colleges to apply to.”

“I could never afford it.”

“Some college will give you a full scholarship.  You make nearly straight A’s.  Combined with this score, you could go somewhere for free.”

Terrell’s grandmother scooted to the edge of her chair, steadying herself to stand up.

“Can I help you with something?” Ariel asked her.

“Where’s, um …” she trailed off.

“Terrell?” Ariel asked.

“No, that’s not who I was thinking of,” she said, “Where’s my husband?”

Ariel said gently, “I’m sorry.  He passed away years ago.”

She thought about it and said, “That’s right.  I knew that.  Who’s in the house right now?”

“Just us and Terrell in the back.”

“I’m sorry, but who are you again?”

“My name’s Ariel.  I’m your grandson’s girlfriend.”

“That’s good.”  She smiled.  “I always hoped Terrell would find a nice, sweet girl like you.”  She scooted back into her chair and continued watching TV contently.

Terrell walked into the living room and saw me.  “What’s up?”

“I just came over to Ariel she did well on the SAT.”

“Cool,” Terrell said.  “Let’s go out and celebrate.”

“It’s really no big deal,” Ariel said.

“I’ve been cooped up in the house too much lately.  I need an excuse to go out anyway.”  Terrell put his hand on his grandmother’s shoulder.  “Will you be okay if we go out for a little while?”

“I’m fine,” she said.

“Try not to be getting up and moving around too much, okay?”

“You don’t have to be worrying about me like that.  After all you’re my …” She trailed off and then asked, “How are you and me related again?”

Terrell appeared stunned by the question.  “You don’t know who I am?”

She squinted at him, closely examining his features.  “You’re … Terrell.  Of course I know my own grandson.”

He looked relieved but still perturbed, and he became very quiet.

“It’s okay, baby.”  Ariel wrapped her arms around Terrell’s torso.  “She was just confused for a second.”

We left the house and got into his pickup truck.  Terrell drove, Ariel sat beside him in the middle, and I sat in the passenger seat by the window.  We pulled into a gas station to fill up.  Ariel and I stayed in the truck while Terrell pumped the gas.

I gazed toward the mini-mart and coming out the door into the parking lot was Terrell’s ex-girlfriend Tameka.  Ariel didn’t notice her at first, but Tameka spotted the truck and yelled something indistinguishable at Terrell.  He only glanced over, then turned his back and tried to ignore her.

“Don’t turn your back on me, motherfucker!”  Tameka walked in front of the truck.

“I can’t talk,” Terrell announced calmly, still pumping gas.

“The fuck you so busy with?”  Tameka looked into the truck and saw Ariel sitting inside.  “Is this the bitch you fucking with now?!”