Rotten (5 page)

I kept my distance and remained quiet because it made him happy to be liked…to be accepted. At least one of us should get to know what it was like.

He walked up behind me and gently pulled me against his chest, holding my shoulders as he leaned down over me. It was intimate without being sexual, familiar and affectionate.

“I will come back and get you. Just call me when you’re ready. I’m gonna go call Nichele and see how the club is doing. If they need anything, I will run and get it while you’re visiting, okay?”

Reaching up my hand to rest over the one on my shoulder, I gently squeezed and nodded. “Okay.”

I continued to talk to my daddy while combing his hair and trimming his moustache, hoping that through this darkness, my voice would reach him and let him know I was there. The television was tuned to the news, which I knew he hated, so I just turned it off and set the radio on a low volume. The nurses made their rotations with looks of gratitude. With a hospital so busy, they could only do so much. One in particular had rounds on his floor and came back in between patients to talk. Nurse Julie had a seasoned demeanor for such delicate times, but it was not forced.

“I know people have their opinions, but he can hear you. His spirit knows you’re here.”

Looking up at her as she read the monitors and machines, I asked how she was so certain.

“He’s started to fight again. Before you came last night, he was just holding on. His vitals have improved and his levels are stable. Just in the short time you have been here, there has been a difference.”

I felt skeptical, and she must have known, because she wheeled the laptop she was working on over to me and showed me the variance in peaks. Several of the machines gave a condensed view of his vitals. She was able to go back through the past twenty-four hours and showed me with my own eyes how I was having an effect on him.

“‘Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen.’ Sometimes God knows we need a little proof, though; we’re only human.”

Looking up at her ID badge, I saw that it was covered in angel stickers and had one rhinestone angel at the top. After checking one more machine, she turned and winked at me before walking out of the room.

The rest of the evening passed quietly. The lights were turned low when David gently nudged my shoulder to wake me.

“Come on. Let’s get you into bed so I can shut things down.”

Giving my dad a kiss on the cheek, I moved slowly out the door and into the bright hallway. David followed next to me as we walked towards the elevator. Once we were inside, everything fell apart. Curling myself into his chest, grasping his shirt, I couldn’t stop from wailing in grief. I could feel his chest jerk with restrained sobs. The elevator opened to the main floor, yet we remained still in each other’s embrace as the doors closed and we ascended to another floor. When we were back on the main level again, his arms gently guided me through the lobby and out the main doors.

Holding my door open as I slid into the GT, I was thankful not to be headed to a hotel alone. As I rested my head against the door, my eyes would open briefly with the flashes of soft, tangerine glow coming of the highway lamps. David gently picked me up out of the car and carried me inside like a tired child after a long day at the carnival. With my arms cradled around his neck, I was beginning to think he enjoyed playing hero. Pulling back the sheets on the bed, I could smell the laundry detergent and air freshener plugged in the corner. The cotton felt a bit crisp on my skin from being dried in the sunshine, but it was clean.

“Your room smells like a candle store.”

Sitting next to me on the bed, he looked at the white, plastic device plugged into the wall with concern. “I thought chicks like this stuff, there’s an aisle of it at the store.”

“Most chicks like this stuff. I am not most chicks. I like how you smell, that’s all.”

After rolling over, ready to fall into oblivion, I felt him lean over and bury his nose in my hair.

“I like how you smell, too…”

I couldn’t stop my knees from shaking. Listening to the girls at school, they always seemed so confident, like it was no big deal. What was wrong with me? Why couldn’t I calm down? His large hands rested on my thighs as his chest nudged my legs apart. Leaning over me, his eyes were glazed over in a way I’d never seen before. Leaning back on his heels, David lazily placed kisses along my rib cage, down towards my navel.

Breathe. Breathe.

With gentle nips to my prominent hipbones, he effortlessly slid my cotton panties down my legs with ease. The cool night air hit the exposed skin, causing me to shake even harder. Gasping as I felt his index finger run slowly along my center, I tried to snap my legs shut, but they stopped on his shoulders.

“Toni, I need you to let me do this. Relax, you will like it.”

His head dropped down and his tongue began short rapid flicks across the soft crest of delicate skin packed with nerves. Backing away, I couldn’t help squirming.

“I don’t like it, David. It tickles, but it hurts. Why do you need to do this?”

Holding my knees pried open, his soft lips kissed the inside of both thighs. “Toni, you’re a virgin. I need to make you come so it doesn’t hurt as bad.”

Suddenly flinching, I could tell he was concerned. I knew it would hurt. I was seventeen and the last virgin at school. Everyone thought I was a lesbian, except David, but he never did anything to change their opinion. Once his voice dropped and the size of his cock got out, I no longer existed. Even during the rides to his hockey practice, he and Daddy bantered back and forth about chasing tail as if I weren’t in the car. But that was just it. Nothing was different. No one looked at me that way. If they did, I wasn’t aware of it.

His mouth dipped again and started slow, gentle sweeps with the pad of his tongue. This felt much better. The small stings of pain were gone and the blood in my veins grew warm. Every hair on my body started to tingle as his tongue made my body feel electric in a way that even my own fingers were unable to achieve.

“Davvvv, oh God, don’t stop…”

Arching my hips towards the agile muscle, his fingers pressed deeper into my hips to hold me down. The ache in my core grew stronger and pulled tight within. I could start to feel myself ready to come. Two slick fingers began to trail up and down along the folds, gently pressing against the piece of tissue preserving my innocence. Gripping the sides of the sheets beside me, I let myself fall apart.

I did not scream, nor moan loudly. I held my breath and rode out the sensation as long as possible. Beginning to sense this was just a dream, I could feel the weight of the bed drop slightly by my feet.

Oh fuck.

With one cracked eye, David was sitting on the edge of the bed, holding a cup of coffee and wearing a shit eating grin.

“Feel better? I’ve never seen a chick get off in her sleep, but I guess there’s a first time for everything. I’m kind of disappointed it happened in my bed without me in it, though.”

Completely mortified, I rolled over with a groan.

“Get up, shithead, I made you breakfast. Better take a picture, too, because this is a rare occasion.”

The orneriness he brought out in me woke me up much faster than I did. “Go ahead. I need to finish rubbing one out before I start the day. No pictures, though.”

He choked on his coffee and spit it across the floor. Slapping his hand on his knee, he looked at me in disbelief. “You did not just say that.”

Taking my index finger and placing it in my mouth, I slowly licked the top and sides before running my hand across my stomach and into my panties without breaking eye contact. Rolling my head back, I closed my eyes. “Get out.”

“Uh, uh, no way.” He stood motionless as he leaned against the dresser, his eyes fixed on the hand between my legs.

Giving an indignant sigh, I removed my hand, rolled out of bed and walked over to him. Running my index finger across my lips, inhaling the heady scent, I smiled lazily as his breathing increased. Without a word I dipped my finger into his coffee mug and swirled it around a few times before giving it a shake and licking off the excess.

Batting my eyelashes, I smiled innocently. “I noticed yesterday you were low on sugar. You’re welcome.”

Something changed in David. As I guided the tow truck driver around the property to show what he could take to the scrap yard, David’s eyes never left me. Rather than turning away when I caught his gaze, he simply stared until I turned away first. It was rather unnerving, yet exciting at the same time. More than once I had to remind myself,
I am a married woman.

It didn’t mean I couldn’t enjoy it, yet becoming fond of those glances only taunted the beast within. I likened myself to a kitty in heat, and judging by his eyes, he knew it. The day went on with little conversation. Daddy was getting better each day, but his brain still refused to allow him to wake up. Thinking about what the nurse told me, I knew it was true that comatose patients are aware when someone is there. He did know I was there, even if he couldn’t quite yet respond.

“Shit!”

The searing burn across my leg ripped me away from my thoughts. Dark crimson liquid started to flow from the cut to my shin. Looking around, I saw the culprit. A piece of rusted sheet metal, collected for God knows what reason, was sticking out haphazardly from the clutter in the garage I was attempting to clear. I knew my daddy didn’t have any type of first aid items in the house, or I would have run across them. Screaming his name loudly, I hoped that David could hear me over the music we had playing. The cut was bad; I could see the blood gushing, and it hurt like hell.

Sliding out of my green tank top, I twisted the thin material to form a tourniquet over the wound and hopped towards the front door. I had to crawl up the steps because there was no railing. Still calling for David, I concluded that he was probably taking a shit and thought it could wait. Daddy had a bottle of vodka in the freezer; the ice cold liquid both burned and provided relief at the same time. I hopped up on the counter and put my legs in the sink to keep from making a mess. It allowed me to take a closer look and within seconds, I knew I needed both stitches and a tetanus shot.

“Fuck!”

I continued to pour vodka slowly over the wound for another minute and yelled even louder for David. He finally came around the corner, looking irritated, then became pale as a ghost.

“What the fuck happened?” Rushing over, he gently picked up my leg to inspect the cut. Looking up at me for a second, he realized I was no longer wearing a shirt and started to grin before looking back at my leg.

“Looks like your daddy is getting an early visit. Let me find something to cover this and the car. You can’t be getting blood all over my ride.”

“Oh, of course not. Heaven forbid I soil your precious Mustang with my injury. I could only imagine what you would do if I were pregnant and my water broke.”

He stopped tying for a second and looked far away in thought. Shaking his head, he gently scooped me up and carried me to the car. “You can’t be showing up like that, and I might not make it unless you cover yourself up. Let me see if there’s a shirt or something in your old room. I’ll be right back.”

It was sweet how he was concerned, but I was curious what made him pause while he was tending to me. For as juvenile as he came across sometimes, I knew he possessed both depth and intelligence; he just hid it well. With him being the typical jock growing up through high school, you would think he would be the denser of the two of us, but many of his nights were spent helping me learn algebra or chemistry. Although we rarely associated at school, he still came to the house after practice to eat supper before heading home or out on a date. He treated me like a sister; he never knew I was in love with him. These memories were as dangerous as the piece of metal that cut my leg. I needed to clear them out before they caused damage.

Returning a few minutes later with an old tank top, he held it out and smiled.

“I gave you this, remember? It was from my junior league. We had just won a really important game, and you couldn’t go, so I brought this back for you.”