Unbroken (Fighter Erotic Romance #4) (12 page)

As if in shock, I stood with the knife in my hand, wondering just what was had happening.

Oh, shit. It’s got to be Ripp and Vee. I gave them a remote to the garage.

Instead of the many other options I had to try to resolve the issue, I ran toward the other side of the garage to the wall mounted remote. Frantically, I pushed the
down
button.

“Shane, I’m tied fucking up!” Kace screamed as she pulled against the ropes.

The garage door continued the upward cycle.

With the garage door now completely opened, I stood naked and stared out into the driveway.

The unmistakable front of Vee’s SUV filled the drive in front of me. Her face covered in horror, and Ripp’s smeared with a huge smile, they stared through the windshield as Vee tossed the vehicle in reverse and screeched the tires. As she backed out of the drive, Ripp rolled down his window and screamed.

“Just come get Casey when you’re done, bro.”

I stood naked, with the knife in my hand, and waved.

When I’m done?

I’m never going to be done.

SHANE.
“Your dad said you’d be here. What the fuck are you doing, Ripp?” I asked.

Ripp sat on the edge of the little merry-go-round and swung his feet like a child. Seeing him sit on the edge of the ride made him look like a giant, and the ride a toy. I looked around the park, and sat down beside him.

“Make her go, Dekk,” he smiled over his right shoulder.

“You alright?” I asked as I pressed my feet into the dirt below.

He looked over his shoulder again, “Yep. I’m good, bro.”

“Your pop said you used to come here when you were a kid,” I said as the ride gained a little speed.

“Yep, used to run up here before my bath, naked. I hated taking a bath. I thought it was wasted time. Never understood what sittin’ in the tub of water provided. They’d get me naked and walk out of the bathroom, and I’d put on my Chuck’s and run up here and play. This ride’s been here for twenty five years or better. Just thinkin’ I want it to be here for twenty five more,” he said.

“Well, maybe it will. So what’s going on?” I asked.

“Nothin’, just relaxin’,” he responded as the ride slowed down.

I pressed my feet into the dirt again and shifted my weight to the side, causing us to go the other direction.

When I was a child, I used to beg my grandfather to take me to the beach. My father never really wanted to spend time there, and all but refused to take me. When I visited my grandfather, on the other hand, it was a much different story. He enjoyed time at the beach and sometimes even volunteered to take me there.

Once, when I was probably around ten years old, we went to the beach with a small surfboard. He told me he was going to teach me to surf. On the trip to the beach, I was excited at the thought of him showing me how to surf. I expected him having spent his entire life in southern California would have made him an avid surfer, and he’d teach me the tricks of the trade. When we got to the beach, I learned the awful truth.

“How do you make it go,” I asked.

“You don’t. The waves do,” he told me.

“How do I hold it up?” I asked as I looked down at the wooden board.

“You don’t,” he responded, “the waves do.”

“What do I do?” I asked.

“You enjoy yourself. Become one with the sea,” he responded.

“Have you ever done it?” I asked.

“No son, I haven’t,” he smiled.

“How are you going to teach me?” I asked.

“I’m not, Shane. I can’t teach you to find peace, but I can point you in the right direction. I know it exists, and it exists right here,” he pointed out toward the breakers.

“There’s magic out there, son. Go find some.”

“But…” I began to hesitate, wondering just what to do.

“But nothing. Grab the board and do what they’re doing,” he said, pointing to all of the other surfers on the beach.

The people surfing on that particular day ranged in age from around six years old to about seventy. In watching them, it looked easy. I carried the board to the beach, looking over my shoulder at my grandfather as I walked closer to the water’s edge.

Each time I looked back, he waved. I carried the board to the water and waded out until I was in waist deep. As I climbed up onto the board, I began to feel free. Although I was laying down on my stomach and paddling out into the ocean, I felt as if nothing else mattered. Without indicating my lack of experience, I watched the boy beside me, and did what he did. I have no idea of the length of time it typically took someone to learn to surf, or how many tries it took most of the surfers to finally get up on a board, but I knew how many it took me.

One.

Shaky legged, I rode my first wave onto the beach and into my grandfather’s applause. Quickly, I returned to the water, and repeated the process. After an afternoon of surfing, I felt as if I had really accomplished something. The ocean provided me a form of confidence, relaxation and comfort. As my grandfather said,
there’s magic out there
.

And I had found it.

As I grew older, I found the same magic in riding a motorcycle. Something about being on the road with a motorcycle between my legs was refreshing. Confidence, relaxation, and comfort were commonly found with each small trip I took. After my first year of riding, it was difficult to get me into any form of a conventional vehicle. It really never rains in southern California, but when it did, I never stopped riding. To me, riding in the rain was as relaxing as a bath.

Both surfing and riding provided me a deep relaxation.

“What you thinkin’ about, Dekk?” Ripp speaking brought me out of the dream like state I was in.

“Nothing, just relaxing,” I responded.

Ripp flipped his legs from side-to-side and forced the merry-go-round into a spin. As we turned around in circles, I watched the park pass by with each rotation. I propped my feet on the edge of the metal disc and raised my hands in the air. As the ride spun in circles, I closed my eyes and once again found magic – from a child’s toy in the park.

As the ride spun in circles, I opened my eyes slightly and looked through the slits at the blurry trees and swing sets as they passed. For a moment, I became a child again. With my eyes still closed and my hands raised high in the air, I said all I could think to say.

“Faster….faster…”

SHANE.
Having friends is one thing. Having friends and actually enjoying spend time around them is another. I’ve often asked myself, who wouldn’t enjoy an afternoon at the bar with Mike Ripton? He’s a one-of-a-kind individual, and I wouldn’t trade him for the world.

Standing beside the table, Ripp stood with a beer in one hand, and the other acting as if he were pushing a swing, “So, I push the swing forward, and he just farts like a fucking elephant.”

“And I step back, because the swing is stirring this funk up and swinging it into my face. And Vee screams,
Michael, don’t abandon him there
,” he said as he waved his free hand in front of his nose.

“So, I step back into the war zone and pull his stinking little ass from the swing. Now, I’m a pretty god damned good babysitter if I do say so myself. So I lay this little fucker down, and I…”

“I have a question,” A-Train interrupted as he raised his hand in the air.

“What ya got, bro?” Ripp asked.

“Do you cuss like this in front of the kids?” A-Train laughed.

“Oh, hell no. So, let me see. Yeah, I lay this little fucker down, and I pull down his diaper in the back and look down in there. And
nothing
! He didn’t shit, he didn’t shart, he didn’t piss, nothing. He just farted. Could have cleared the stadium at the football game, I guarantee ya,” he said as he raised his beer and took another drink.

“Well, I’m sure Jessie’s farts stink like hell,” I laughed.

“Nope. Can’t even smell ‘em. I tell you what, that little girl has an ass smells like roses,” Ripp nodded his head as he spoke.

“You puked hot dogs on her because she smelled so bad,” A-Train shouted.

“When she was little. Now that she’s grown up she doesn’t. Not like that fuckin’ Casey,” Ripp chuckled.

“Hey…” I said.

Ripp nodded his head again, “It’s true.”

“And grown up? She isn’t grown up, she’s eight months old,” I shook my head and rolled my eyes as I reached for my glass of water.

“Well, she’s sort of grown up,” Ripp smiled.

“I suppose,” I agreed.

“Okay, so there’s more,” Ripp paused and placed his beer bottle on the table in front of where he stood.

“Ripp…” I pleaded.

“Shut up, Dekk. I got this,” he laughed.

“Okay, you listenin’ Train?” Ripp asked.

A-Train nodded his head, “Both ears.”

“Okay, so we get done at the park, and we load up the kids. Vee and I stop at the liquor store and get a bottle of wine because we’re going to
get our fuck on
later in the night. You know – like married folk do – when the kids are in bed asleep,” he turned toward me and raised one eyebrow.

“So I get the wine and toss it in the back, and we take off for Dekk’s place to drop off the stinkin’ kid,” he paused and reached for his beer.

“And we pull up in the drive and Vee pushes the door opener Dekk gave us. The door starts opening, and I see socks. Nothin’ but white god damned socks,” he tipped his beer and took a sip.

A-Train turned toward me momentarily, as if wondering what was next.

Ripp lowered his bottle and began the story again, excitedly, “So the door keeps coming up, and I see ass. White ass. And then I see white ass running. And then, I see it all. A naked assed Shane Dekkar, running for the garage door opener, with a fucking knife in his hand,” Ripp paused for effect.

“Naked?” A-Train asked.

“As the day he was fuckin’ born. Plus socks,” Ripp nodded.

A-Train turned toward me, “With a knife in his hand?”

“Yep, a big fucker,” Ripp responded.

A-Train shook his head and turned toward Ripp, “Please continue.”

“Well, so then he just turns around. Mr. World Champion isn’t scared of shit with his fifty million dollars and I ain’t never got to work again so fuck the world and every poor no money havin’ ass in it. He turns the fuck around,” Ripp hesitated and thrust his hips in the air and held them there.

“So now,” Ripp looked down at his crotch.

“I got Shane Dekkar naked with about ten inches of half-hard cock swinging between his legs,” Ripp looked up from his crotch and raised both eyebrows.

“Oh shit, say it ain’t so,” A-Train laughed.

“It’s so, brother. Wait it gets even better,” Ripp chuckled.

“So Vee screams. Like she’s been shot. Screams and covers her eyes. But she’s driving, ‘cause we got the kids, and they’re too young for the Chevelle. So she opens ‘em. And Dekk just walks across the garage. And that’s when I see it,” Ripp raised his beer to his mouth again and finished what was left in the bottle.

“Well, what was it? Was he skinnin’ a deer?” A-Train laughed, “Naked?”

“Nope. It was Kace. She’s in the back of the truck. In the fuckin’ bed, naked as fuck. Arms and legs tied up. All strung out. Tits and twat and ass everywhere. All spread eagle and shit,” Ripp turned to face me and shook his head as he spread his arms as wide as he could.

A-Train turned to face me, “What the fuck, Brother?”

“It wasn’t like that,” I said, shaking my head.

“Well?” he asked.

“Ripp and Vee got the kids, and Kace and I fucked in the garage. Eventually, we ended up in the bed of the truck and I tied her up, I was getting ready to cut her loose and the door opened. There wasn’t anything I could do,” I shrugged.

“Hmmm,” A-Train said as he rubbed his chin with his hand.

“Explains the knife, I suppose. Why the socks?” he asked.

I shrugged again, “Not really sure. Kace wanted me to wear them.”

“Okay. And if you got an empty house, why were you fucking in the bed of your truck?”

I shrugged again, “Not sure. It just happened.”

“Everything I said is true, A-Train. Naked assed motherfucker had a knife in his hand and stood there with his cock swinging in the breeze,” Ripp said as he waved to the waitress.

“Oh, I believe you. I’m just trying to find out
why
,” A-Train said as he continued to rub his chin and stare at me.

“Hard sayin, A-Train. Rich fuckers do weird shit,” Ripp responded as the waitress dropped off our beers.

“Here you go, Mr. Ripton,” the waitress said.

Ripp nodded his head and smiled at the waitress.

As I looked up at the new sign dangling from the upper canopy, I smiled. Ripp has never had anything in his life. Always struggling to get by, and barely making ends meet. It seemed only fitting, considering the amount of time and money he spent here.

The sign was simple. I glanced up at it again.

“
Ripp’s
”

A-Train caught my eye, and glanced up toward the sign as well.

“They damn sure do,” he nodded.

They damn sure do.