Hot Laps (11 page)

I was feeling something on the way there. I was anxious believe it or not.

Casten lived about thirty minutes from me and on the way there I got nervous.

“So what’s with this guy Casten?”

“What do you mean?” she looked at me, watching my reaction.

“Who is he?” she turned down a long paved road that was unmarked. Looking at her phone,
she tried to make sure she was going down the right road but had no service. “What
the fuck is this place?”

All around us were overgrown grass and thick trees that came up over the road. The
sun had set and it made it spooky.

“This better not be like that movie
The House On The Left
.”

My eyes shot to hers with panic. “Don’t say shit like that. You know I hate scary
movies.”

Just about the time I was gonna tell her to turn around, I wasn’t wanting to find
out the ending to that particular horror movie, as I was certain I was playing the
leading role now.

As far as I was now concerned, we could go find beer at my place, we came to a security
gate about twelve feet tall. It was mahogany wood with polished steel hinges that
shined against the headlights of Anna’s 4Runner and had stainless checkered flags
crossed in the center. To the left was a black box with a button on it. Surrounding
the property was a stone muddy brown wall just as tall as the gate with well-maintained
landscaping. Even from the street, it was beautiful and visibly something that should
have been on the cover of one of those home and garden magazines.

We sat there waiting. “Is Batman going to come out?” Anna asked, smiling.

“No. Batman stays hidden. Alfred does.”

“Your knowledge of comics scares me sometimes.”

Just as we began to argue, the gate made a buzzing sound and then started to open.

We gave each other an apprehensive glance. “Is this the point of no return?”

“I think we reached that long before.”

Anna pulled forward and the gates closed behind us. “This is like the time we met
up with those hockey players.”

“How so?”

“I don’t know. Just similar.”

She’s referring to the time we were in Charlotte and met up with a few members of
the Carolina Hurricanes and did shots of whiskey with them. Their right wing was one
hell of a good time that night and knew how to do a slap shot.

Ah, the memories.

Anna glanced at me when we pulled up to another long driveway that was marked 9 Victory
Lane and had checkered flags in stone on the entrance.

“Who is this guy again? I know who Noah and Charlie are but how are they related to
this guy?”

“Cousins.” Everywhere I looked, there was beautiful detailed landscaping and trees.
Lots of them. “This is Casten’s dad’s house.”

“That engine builder you work with?”

“Yes, him.”

“Is he hot?”

“Naturally.” I gave her a smile.

When he got to the door, I had to laugh. Earlier today Olivia warned me that ordinarily
Casten walked around half dressed. Now was where I found this statement to be true
for Cole too.

He opened the door before we had the chance to knock. Wearing a pair of khaki shorts,
flips flops and a white CST hat, he was all smiles.

“Hello, pretty ladies.”

Anna stopped, looked at me and then back to Cole. “Please tell me he’s single?” she
slowly looked over at me. “Please! Pretty please?”

“You’d have to ask him that,” I gave Anna a slanting gaze. “I only met him on Tuesday.”

“I’m Cole Riley.” He said reaching for Anna’s hand after shuffling his beer to the
other hand.

“Well, shit on a shingle, you know this guy?” she reached for his hand and refused
to let it go. I wondered if she was going to take a bite out of him or something.
It wouldn’t have surprised me one bit.

“Again, Anna,” I started laughing. “I wouldn’t say I know him, we just met Tuesday.
I work with him.”

Casten appeared at the door wearing no shirt as well. They didn’t wear clothes around
here much.

Not overly muscular, he had just enough to catch my eye. He definitely worked out.

He had a few tattoos, stars on his hips and the numbers 00 across his chest. I could
see he had a nipple ring that I thought was sexy as hell. When he turned to the side,
I could see a checkered flag on his shoulder with a number four and a race car. Below
it was the words
Beast from the East
.

“Hey there, sugar,” he remarked with a smile, mocking our first encounter. “Glad’ya
could make it.”

Anna slapped the side of my head. “If you don’t fuck him, I’ll take him
and
his cousin.”

While I stood there squinting at the pain of just being ear slapped, Cole laughed.

“In that case, by all means, come inside.” Cole said, eagerly eyeing Anna.

She giggled following close beside him as he led her away.

Casten, who was still looking at me, chuckled.

“They seem comfortable?” Just as he spoke the word comfortable, Anna and Cole were
comparing nipple rings. Cole, well, he seemed comfortable I brought a friend with
me.

Tonight should be interesting.

I mingled and I lingered. Close to Casten that was. He was busy entertaining his guests,
which happened to be about thirty people. Most of which I had no idea who they were
but I knew Casten, and then Noah but Charlie wasn’t around. After that, couldn’t tell
you who any of them were and didn’t really give a shit though. I later found out Charlie
was at the hospital having a wrench removed from his hand.

I met Casten’s mom again. Who turned out to be their housekeeper, Rosa.

She cooked the best quesadillas I’ve ever had.

“My kids grew up on these,” she said and then started speaking Spanish. “Tiene hijos?”

“What? Are you Mexican?”

“Yeah, I’m from Ensenada.”

Cole came by resting his chin on Rosa’s shoulder. “None of that is true. She’s from
Charleston. And she doesn’t have any kids.”

“Fuck you, Cole,” Rosa said, throwing cooked Spanish rice at him.

Ever tried to get cooked rice out of your hair? It’s not easy. He was occupied for
quite some time.

Around nine, I found myself doing shots in the kitchen with Cole, who still had rice
in his hair, when Casten found me.

“Hey, there,” he said softly in my ear from behind, his chest pressed against my back
as he examined my drink of choice. “Jack, huh?” I nodded. “Hmm … how about I show
you something even better than this?” Casten reached out with one hand and leaned
against the counter. I glanced down at the large hand wanting to feel it against me.

“Sure,” I was trying to keep my cool but it was hard. “What goes on at these infamous
Rowdy Riley parties? I watched a very interesting YouTube video earlier.”

He threw his head back, laughing. “We’ll get to that later. No one can be sober for
that. The less abstemious witnesses, the better.”

“Fair enough, so what’s this drink of choice?”

“We’ll get to that, too. Let’s start with…” he looked around until he found what he
was looking for. “Beer. I want some honest answers out of you.”

So we played this game, a game he designed, I think, and I’m not so sure I understood
the rules but it seemed fairly certain with just one smirk I would do anything this
boy wanted.

The game was, as I understood, one person asked a question about themselves and the
other guessed the answer. Turns out, I wasn’t very good at following directions. Nothing
new there.

I repeated kindergarten twice. Enough said.

Given my confusion, I went first. “How old am I?”

“Nineteen?” He answered too quickly.

“You cheated!”

“How so?” he challenged playfully. I think he knew I wasn’t going to win this game.

“What’s the winner get out of this game?” I asked arching an eyebrow at his smirky
face.

Please say an engine block examination. I want to check for proper clearness.

Listen to you, one week working with engine builders and you’re talking shop. Be proud
of yourself. It took you eight fucking years to learn three Spanish words.

Casten’s eyes closed briefly before opening with a new hunger in them. I would refer
to this as the lusty face. “The winner gets whatever they want.”

“Game on then.” I slipped another wink in his direction and leaned back in the chair
relaxing. “How did you know my age?”

“My dad told me.”

“Fair enough. How old are you?”

He sighed, closing his eyes. “That’s not how you play. I’m supposed to say, how old
am I?”

“Well, fuck, I don’t want to play this game. It’s too complicated.”

“Alright,” he gave me a lopsided smile and leaned to one side shifting his weight
in the chair. You know that lean that guys do when they sit in a chair that screams,
“I’m relaxed enough that I don’t care, and sure enough in myself that I still don’t
care?”

Yeah, it was that sort of lean.

“Fine. You get ten questions. Ask me anything you want to.” He said running his hand
through his hair before putting his white hat back on and then adjusting it so it
fit correctly. Loose chunks of his rusty hair poked through on each side. The white
hat contradicting against the green in his eyes was beautiful.

“I thought that game was called twenty questions?”

“I wouldn’t want it to be too complicated.”

Glaring, I asked my first question. “How old are you?”

“Eighteen.”

“Girlfriend?”

“Nope,” he winked. “No girlfriend.”

I looked around the kitchen to see people shuffling in and out not paying any mind
to us. “Your house?”

He nodded. “My parents actually.”

“Is this the house that’s on YouTube for that insane party?”

“Yep. A little remodeled now but same house.” He pointed to the pool. “I spent four
months cleaning that damn pool out. And, we’re about to destroy it again when Noah
gets back.”

“How?”

“You’ll see,” he winked.

“Do you frequently talk dirty engine building with girls?”

He tipped his head back and forth, undecided. “I have before. How about that?”

“Fair enough.”

Scrunching my nose, I tried to think of better more remarkable questions for the final
six but didn’t come up with much. “When’s your birthday?”

My god you’re stupid. You could be asking him the results of his sonic testing but
no, you’re asking shit a four-year-old would want to know. Next thing you know you’re
going to ask him to play doctor with you.

Now there’s an idea.

Casten seemed to notice I was a little flustered with myself.

“January eighth.” He took a slow drink of his beer before running his tongue across
his lower lip again. I bet that lip saw a lot of tongue action. “I don’t mind the
personal ones, honey. Ask away. Don’t be shy.”

I got my shit together and rambled off with, “When’s the last time you had sex?”

“I’m a virgin,” he said with a completely straight face.

My mouth made a few opening and closing movements similar to a fish out of water before
he giggled. Fucking giggled.

“I’m just messing with you.” Another bout of laughter rang through the kitchen, seemingly
amused with his lying ass. “Let’s see,” he tapped his forehead lightly with his index
finger, “it was about three weeks ago.”

Recovering after a drink of my beer and kicking him in the shin, I asked. “Girlfriend
… or one night stand?”

“Neither, just a friend,”

“Still friends?”

“Yeah, I would say so. I see her occasionally at various parties and what not.” He
leaned forward resting his elbows on the table. “Last one … make it a good one.”

Drawing in a deep breath, I blurted out. “Do you want to fuck me?”

At that moment, the entire goddamn raucous around us halted and you could have heard
a fucking pin drop, aside from the rushing of blood in my ears.

For the first time since I met this dirty talking engine builder, he flushed slightly
but didn’t lead on. He shifted again and then tipped his head slightly—his eyes searched
mine.

“Come with me.” He immediately led me away from a crowd and into what looked to be
a dark movie room.

Casten backed me against the wall placing one hand beside my head and one against
the wall, leaning to one side relaxed. The other pushed my hair away from my ear,
his head bent forward and he whispered—sexy knee weakening whispering.

“There are a lot of things I want to do to you. Most of which involve you, naked,
in my bed. I wouldn’t exactly say I want to fuck you. It’s more like I want you in
any way I can have you.” His breath blew teasingly across my already heated skin—I
felt drips of sweat roll off me in various locations. My legs shifted moving me just
enough so that our bodies were now pressed together. “I want to feel your soft skin
against mine and taste you in all the places your clothes don’t do your skin justice.
I want you. All of you.” He pulled back to look at me, my entire body trembled and
to be fair, his breathing was rather heavy, his eyes extremely hooded. “Does that
answer your question?”

“Y-y-yes,” I choked out before clearing my throat. “Your turn.”

“Do you want,” he paused letting me wait, “a beer?” He smirked knowing I was thinking
he was going to ask if I wanted him.

“No, I want to get these questions over with.”

“Alright then, boyfriend?”

“No.”

“Girlfriend?”

“No.” I giggled. “I like dick.”

“That’s a good thing.” He smiled back at me, his eyes dropping to my lips. “Did my…engine
terminology turn you on in the shop today?”

“More than you know. My panties were wet for half the goddamn day.”

Casten closed his eyes and groaned. His head fell forward against my shoulder and
he shook it back and forth. He muttered something I couldn’t understand before pressing
me further against the wall.

“Fuck …” he grunted shifting his stance, creating a little space between us. “That’s
hot.”

“Alright buddy, you still have seven questions left.” I ran my hand over his shoulder
and then settled on the back of his neck.