Wheels of Steel, Book 1 (32 page)

“Jason I don’t get it! She’s like…got a mojo on me!”

“Hmmm. Maybe you are tired of finding love in those vacant top-heavy bitches that you always screw. Maybe…it’s about being friends.”

There was a long pause. “Shut the fuck up. I’m not in love! This is nothing about love! I just…she just likes my dick a whole lot. It’s like it’s not even connected to me.”

“What about you? Why do you keep going back?”

“Because she likes my dick,” he said as if that was reason enough. “I gotta go!” The phone went dead and Jason laughed, almost falling out of his chair. He checked the clock and saw that it was closing in on seven so he went to the bathroom and brushed his teeth. He had already changed clothes, a necessity since he’d jerked off while sitting in his chair. Masturbation was best while in bed and with a jerk-off wash cloth to catch everything.

Robin arrived promptly at seven and he was happy because he’d already stood up and was leaning on his crutches. He moved gracelessly to the door and opened it.

Her bright smile froze as her eyes met his. “Jason…” He knew she’d like it. Her reaction was well worth the sweat that was running down his face. Walking was hard when you could barely move your legs. He moved aside, trying not to look like he was ready to stroke out, so that she could come in.

“Hi Sweetheart.”

She smiled shyly. “Hi. Where did you get those?” She pointed to the crutches while closing the door.

“My crutches? Amberly had them at her place. Now kiss me quickly so I can sit down.”

She had been waiting for this all evening. She moved in close to him and placed her lips lightly onto his.” He smiled happily.

“Thank you.”

“Okay, so let me see you walk.” She asked excitedly.

“Okay…” He walked slowly to the couch and when he reached it he collapsed onto it. Robin applauded like he’d just walked a tight rope at the circus. She came over quickly and sat next to him. She could tell that it had been hard, sometimes his legs did not come forward enough and he would keep straining forward until they were under him before he could move the crutches forward.

“I used to be pretty good at this.”

“You’ll be good again.” She said honestly.

He stared at her, then leaned in. She met him halfway, and they kissed. It seemed that everything that they had said and done since she had arrived was leading up to this; they had taken care of all of the niceties, and now it was time to just get to what they both wanted to do; kiss.

His hands moved to the back of her head where her springy, short curls were lose; being held back only by a band. He found his fingers exploring her thick mass of hair as his lips and tongue explored and tried to rediscover her mouth.

Robin took a cue and moved her hand up his chest. He shuddered involuntarily, but her hand continued upward to stroke his unruly locks of fiery red hair. They did this; kissing and running their hands through the others hair until Robin finally pulled back.

“Are we going to kiss through my entire shift?”

“Well…I thought we’d stop to eat. But other than that…yeah.”

Reluctantly she untangled her limbs from his. Somehow one leg had made its way up onto Jason’s lap and she stood with a sigh. She moved to get his chair but he shook his head and picked up the crutches. He pulled himself up to his feet.

“Let’s go check out what we have.” She followed him into the kitchen. She wanted to walk behind him in case he fell. He pretty much dragged himself and looked fairly shaky. But he made it without incident. There were chicken breast fillets in the freezer.

“How about fried chicken?”

“Sounds good.” She placed some of the fillets in a bowl of water to thaw. He went back out to the living room and sat in his chair. Then he wheeled to his computer to finish up his homework. “Robin? You want to listen to some music?”

“Sure.” She yelled from the kitchen. She had found rice and was deciding on which vegetable to make. She heard Miles Davis. She knew Miles because her Mom and Dad used to spend hours listening to various forms of jazz. She smiled and after she had the water simmering for the rice she came out to stand alongside of him.

“You do like jazz?” He asked while looking up from his studies.

“Yes I do! I was just listening to some Jazz a few weeks ago; Jazzmatazz-”

“By Guru; volumes 1, 2, 3 and 4.” He added.

“Oh my god…” She said in surprise. How did he know that?! She hadn’t even known about Jazzmatazz until she saw it on YouTube while searching for some old Bob James song. “How in the hell do you know that?! How do you know…?”

He chuckled. “I love Guru and he just died so I listened to all of his songs right after that happened.” He pulled up YouTube. “Let me play you this. Volume 1 is the best in my opinion.” He played Loungin, then Le Bien. He continued with his homework while Robin moved back and forth from the kitchen to check the progress of the dinner that she was preparing and to check on Jason. When she was in the kitchen she danced and hummed and then she returned to the living room appearing ultra professional.

After listening to Jazzmatazz Volume 1 she asked him to play Volume 4’s State of Clarity. “I like that one.” He said and then proceeded to ‘school’ her in the ways of Guru. “First of all, let me just say that Guru is one of my all time heroes. I have several but he ranks high up there. Guru and Gangstarr helped form the foundation of Hip Hop. And then if you think about how we all go digging for beats, finding old jazz and turning that into hip hop. Well Guru had the idea of actually recording with those Jazz greats; Sanborn, Bob James, and creating a new type of fusion. I mean if you want to make music you want to listen to Guru.” Jason went on excitedly talking about Guru and his brilliance.

“Wow. You really are a fan.”

“Yeah I am. But that’s how I know about Jazzmatazz.” She was still amazed. It seemed that she might really have a hard time finding something that this young man hadn’t already discovered for himself. She finished up dinner and placed it on the table. She cut up his chicken breast. In addition to that and the rice was a can of green beans that she doctored up. Robin knew that she was a good cook even if she seldom had a chance to do it. Even something as simple as fried chicken, rice and green beans was transformed into a feast.

“Come and eat.” She called out from the kitchen. Jason felt all warm and fuzzy when he wheeled to the table and saw the meal. Robin was pouring juice into a sipper cup for him.

“This looks good, Robin.”

“Thank you.” She beamed. They sat down together eating the delicious meal with no conversation. Unfortunately Jason and fried chicken did not go well together as he gagged several times. But he eventually got more down his throat then on his clothes. And he actually did enjoy it, although by all outward appearance he didn’t.

“Is it too dry?” She asked worried.

“No. Fried food is just hard for me to swallow. But it’s good.” She placed that information into her memory banks. After dinner, before she could move to do dishes, he wheeled to the sink and began running dishwater. He washed while she dried and wiped off the counters. It was nine o’clock when he asked her if she wanted to go for a walk to the pond.

“Okay.” Jason picked up the crutches. “Are you sure about this?” She asked.

“I’ll need to practice to get better.”

“True.”

“Kiss me first.” She did, relaxing a bit. While they walked they talked about school and being a caregiver.

“So what made you want to be caregiver?” He was very curious about this.

“I…nothing. I didn’t want to do this. I just needed the money.”

He paused a moment to catch his breath and to look at her. “You don’t have any kids, you’re not married…why do you work so many hours?”

She shrugged. He didn’t have to work for a living, he was a student. She had to make ends meet. “Well, it’s what I need to do to cover my expenses.” He watched her curiously. What did she have; some type of drug addiction? She worked a lot of hours.

When the silence continued she looked away and crossed her arms over her chest. “My father bought me that car when I graduated from high school. The plan was for me to go to college; paid for by a nice college fund my parent’s created for me; the one that they dangled over my head for fifteen years. Then I told them that I didn’t want to go to college and they snatched it back. They were going to take my car…” It was a thirty-eight thousand, fully loaded Volvo and she absolutely loved it. She explained about her offer to take over the payments and how her parent’s told her that she couldn’t afford it. But she lived at home and had no expenses except the car…so they gave in.

She then explained about her Daddy dying and how he had been her buffer between Mama’s total control and her own sanity. And she moved out and that is why she was in this predicament. She looked at Jason again.

“I worked two jobs to pay for a car that I can’t afford. My…my car is my last connection to my Dad and that’s all there is to it.” Jason didn’t respond for a moment.

“When did your father die?”

“It will be two years in October.”

“I’m so sorry, Robin. It must be horrible losing a father. I…my Dad is alive, but he isn’t around. I can’t quite say that I’ve lost anything, though.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.” She missed her Dad so much that she couldn’t understand choosing not to have a relationship with your own father.

“I don’t care about him. When he was around he thought I was stupid. I could never do anything right for him. Once, I heard him and Mom arguing and he said ‘Nobody in my family has bad genes. It’s your fault! That’s your son and it’s your fault!’” A bitter look had crossed his face. Robin stopped walking and then he did as well.

“Jason…there is nothing stupid about you. You are the smartest person I know.” He looked down. “Jason.” He looked at her.

“I know I’m not stupid. It’s him that doesn’t know it. That’s the problem.”

She placed her hand on his shoulder.

It took an hour to get back to the apartment. Once they reached the lake they sat for a while to rest, holding hands on the wooden bench and watching the reflection of the moon across the water. Back at the apartment Jason collapsed onto the couch in exhaustion while Robin got them bottled water. Even though he was so tired that his legs muscles quivered, he felt a sense of accomplishment that he’d done it.

He took a deep breath and dived into what he needed to say. He didn’t think it would be easy for her, but it had to be faced. “I have to go to the bathroom now.”

Robin got his chair and wheeled it to the couch. He slid into it without standing and then looked at her. “I’m going to need help.”

“Oh, ok.” She wheeled him to the bathroom door. He stopped the chair before it could enter.

“I need to evacuate my bowels. That part I don’t need help with. You can stay out here. What I’ll do is flush; a courtesy flush, which will help carry away the flow of smell.” He watched her, waiting for her to flush and turn red—maybe even to have a panic attack. But she just watched him blandly. She was doing a good job of masking her discomfort—or else she really wasn’t all that uncomfortable with it. He continued, being as clinical as he could. “After I flush you’ll come in and I’ll be leaning forward. I think you know what to do from there, right?”

She nodded and offered him a slight smile. “Right.” He squinted at her. It seemed that she was trying to ease his own discomfort.

Jason wheeled into the bathroom, turned and shut the door. Robin hurried into the living room and picked up her purse. She rummaged around until she found the small, individual dispenser of baby wipes and then she hurried back to the hallway to wait for the sound of the flushing toilet.

After another moment she heard the sound that she had been waiting for and she opened the door and Jason was indeed leaning forward, holding a freshly lit match. He immediately blew out the flame and placed the smoldering match on the counter.

Robin hid a grin. “Thanks for lighting a match.”

“Well it’s the least I can do.”

She grabbed toilet paper and cleaned his bottom. Then she used two of the wipes and swabbed him clean.

He gave her an appreciative look. “Nice touch; baby wipes.”

She crouched down. “I use them myself. Put your arms around me and we’ll get you standing.” He liked the way she took control. And if wiping his ass had bothered her, she sure didn’t show it. Though having to face cleaning the smegma from some old guy’s dick probably made wiping his bum a minor inconvenience.