“Now!”
A moment later he obliged, the two of them squeezing each other like they were holding a life raft in the middle of frigid waters. Still coupled, they kept kissing, milking every last drop until complete exhaustion overtook them.
She glanced at the red numbers on the bed-stand clock: straight-up twelve. She thought to herself: Happy birthday to me.
Vicks’s ringtone. They’d been dozing on and off for the last hour. As she lay in his arms, his fingers absently stroking her hair, he looked to see who was calling. At one in the morning, it had to be either his mom or his dad.
“I’m fine, Dad,” he whispered. “I’m with Ro. We’re talking.”
His dad was shouting, “You can talk at the house. You still have school tomorrow.”
“Dad, I’ve been on my own for the last three months. I stay out late all the time, only you don’t know about it and Grandma and Grandpa don’t care. Stop worrying.”
“Well, when are you coming home?” his dad asked.
“I’ll be home in an hour.” Ro hit his chest and gave him the V-sign. “Two hours maybe. I’m fine. Go to bed . . . no, I’m not going to wake you . . . I love you too.” He hung up and went back to playing with Ro’s hair.
“Wowzers,” she told him. “Are you okay?”
“Never been better.”
“How’s your back?” When he turned over, Ro grimaced. The skin was streaked with red lines, some of it bleeding, some of it swollen. “It’s pretty nasty. Sorry.”
“Next time I’ll wear Kevlar.”
“Will there be a next time?”
“Well, we’re both here and we’re both up. Wanna do it again?”
“I do . . . especially now that I finally understand what the big deal is.”
“You are . . . phenomenal. Kiss me.”
“Not to ruin the moment, but I probably have bad breath.”
“Then your bad breath will kiss my bad breath.” Ben sighed. “I don’t want the night to end and it’s going to end. And then I’ll be empty.”
“It doesn’t have to be that way, Ben.” When he didn’t answer, Ro tried to cover her tracks. “Maybe we should just end it on a high note because I’m sure we can never repeat this.”
“Probably not but I’d like to try a couple more times. It ain’t morning yet.”
“Maybe I should go back to JD and cheat on him with you. That would be kinda sexy, huh?”
“Really sexy.” He shifted to his side and looked at her. “Unfortunately, I don’t operate that way.”
“You’re a throwback to when it was cool to be a nice guy.”
“Nah, nice was never cool. Even then they had Marlon Brandos and James Deans. It’s just biology, Dorothy. Girls get off on bad boys and boys get off on sluts.”
“Am I a slut?”
He smiled. “Only in the best sort of way.”
She hit him. “Vicks, if I go back to JD, the physical stuff stops here. As much as I love you, I am not good at juggling two guys.”
“Yeah, I always knew that JD’s sharing idea was crack-ass.”
“Why’d you agree to it?”
“I dunno really. Since we were little, JD was always able to talk me into doing stupid stuff.”
“You were friendly with him once?”
“I told you we grew up together. I was a dumb ass and he was persuasive.” He turned to her. “You’ve got like three months here before you’re gone. I want you to have fun and we both know JD’s a fun guy. Go back to him and be a princess again.”
Ro sulked. “You just want me out of your hair.”
“No, I want you out of harm’s way. If you’re with him, I won’t be worrying about you.”
“And we can stay friends?” She propped herself up on her pillow. “No jealousy?”
“Of course I’ll be jealous,” Vicks told her. “Every time I see you two together, I’ll be enraged. I’ll curse him, but I’ll curse myself more.” A pause. “Maybe that’s what I need . . . to feel mean again. Anything’s better than depression.” He lifted her chin and kissed her hard on the mouth. “I want you. Like now!”
She hopped out of bed and searched the shelf on top of the minibar. “Aha.” She held up a toothbrush kit. “No need for either of us to suffer. I’m going first.” She made her mouth minty fresh and passed the brush on to him. Afterward, they both hopped back into bed. She said, “Guess what I found?” She showed him a condom.
His face registered panic. “I thought you said you’re on birth—”
“Calm down. I’m still on the pill, okay. This is for your protection, not mine. I owe you one, Vicks. I want to give you something that I’ll never, ever give JD or probably anyone else . . . well, maybe my husband.” She got down on all fours and looked over her shoulder. “Unless you aren’t interested.”
“Oh!” His eyes went wide and wild. “I’m interested.” A pause. “Wow. Are you sure?”
“No, I’m not sure. We’ve never done it. But for you, I’m willing to try. I trust you, Vicks.”
“That may be a mistake.” He pulled her upright until they were both on their knees. “Kiss me first, Dorothy. I just love it when you kiss me.”
They kissed and then they kissed again, making love every which way until the sun came up.
Chapter 18
Off shift at eleven, Ro was about to call Vicks when Pearl came up with a panicked look. “I have an emergency. My mother’s in the hospital.”
“God, I’m so sorry,” Ro said. “What happened?”
“She passed out behind the wheel and hit a tree. The airbag like blew up, so she’s okay, but she’s banged up.” Tears started streaming down Pearl’s cheeks. “She drinks, Gretchen. Sometimes way too much. I don’t know whether to kill her or hug her.”
“Hug her,” Ro told her. “Go, I’ll be fine.”
“Gretchen, you are a doll.”
“Oh please. It’s nothing. I just need to make a quick pit stop.”
“Yeah, sure.”
Five minutes later, she was behind the desk. Pearl’s problems had morphed into her good luck. But first, a quick call to Vicks. “I’m going to be an hour late. The girl behind the desk had an emergency. I have to wait for the night guy, Gary the Ghoul.”
“When does he come in?”
“Midnight. Are you outside?”
“Yep.”
“Then go home, Vicks.”
“You know I’m not going to do that.” A pause. “Can I come in? It’s cold.”
“Absolutely not!”
“Dorothy—”
“No. Go to Kiki’s if you want to pass the time. Just don’t come in. I’ll be out at twelve.” She hung up the phone. In actuality, she didn’t care if Vicks saw her, but she didn’t want him to know what she was doing. After dealing with Pearl’s odds and ends, she was finally able to steal a few minutes alone and in the back room.
She had managed to download and print out the entire guest list for the last five years, but had yet to go through it because it was so extensive. There was one more thing she needed to do before saying good-bye to the Jackson Lodge.
She picked up the phone. A moment later a perky woman was on the other end of the line.