A Wild Ride (Jessica Brodie Diaries #3) (7 page)

Since I’d bought into the outcome, I was now using my acting skills to sell it. I could be sneaky, too. It was actually kind of fun. I had a feeling that if it worked out with William in the extreme long run, Elaine would get me into a
lot
of trouble!

Determination on his face, and now an opening to defend himself, Adam was in hot pursuit, bringing William slowly on his heels, who did not wanting any part of this.

I pulled Lump along ahead of him, the carrot to the donkey, sneaking a glance at the rest of the family, who were engrossed in a conversation with Gladis.

Elaine made it to the kitchen first, waited for me to drag Lump into position, then said, “Jess, I think you should give Adam a chance to defend himself...”

Lump stood dumbly, right where I left her, waiting for someone to explain why she was being dragged around the house and made the center of a bunch of drama she had no interest in. She could be too easy-going for her own good.

Adam stepped into the doorway beside her, half shielding her from Elaine and I. He flashed me an utterly betrayed look, which twisted my heart. It was like telling a kid there was no Santa Claus.

“Adam,” I said, not wanting him to admit whatever it was he thought I knew, “Why don’t you man up and tell Lump...” I sighed, “why you didn’t refill any of our drinks.”

Adam opened his mouth to protest, then stopped, eyes dipping to my empty wine glass.

“And then, Adam,” Elaine added, “you can tell her why she isn’t pretty enough to kiss, even though you are standing under mistletoe!”

Understanding dawned. Confusion cleared, replaced by an exasperated grin. “I would expect this from her,” he pointed at Elaine, “but Jessie,
you?”

I giggled. “Well? I needed a drink. I am really put out about it. And you are still standing there—isn’t she pretty enough?”

“Jess,” Lump whined, obviously worried Adam didn’t actually want to, and she would look a fool.

Adam heard the tone. His body turned to her fully, the rest of the room dropping away. “You are more than merely
pretty,
Betz,” he said quietly, bringing his hand to her face slowly, then behind her head as he brought his body closer to her.

Her chin lifted, willing herself to hide her anticipation and desire, but failing miserably. Adam saw it, making him hesitate long enough for his grin to morph into a soft smile, before he leant the rest of the way, meeting her lips with his.

The contact unleashed something animalistic in Lump; she sprung to action. Her hands slid up his chest to his face, increasing the fervency of the kiss. She brought her body closer, willing his strong arms to hold her tighter. He complied eagerly, hugging her tight, his tongue entering her mouth.

I smiled at Elaine, a happiness in my heart I couldn’t put into words.

After another few seconds the scene was interrupted with a manly throat clear. William had had enough.

Lump, apparently regaining her body, pushed Adam away harshly. Her face was beat red.

“Sorry,” she said in a hushed voice, backing up against the door. “Got a little carried away on that one. Apologize to your girlfriend, Adam.”

“Broke up.” Adam’s eyes were dazed with wonder as they looked down on her, not wanting space.

His body was suddenly pushed into the kitchen, his spot taken over by a grinning William. He grabbed for Lump, intending to kiss her or put her in a head-lock—we never found out, because twenty-odd years of muscle memory kicked in and Lump punched him in the kidney, used his momentum to spin his body around, and had him staggering into the kitchen before he knew what the heck was going on.

William clutched the island and his gut at the same time.

“Sorry,” he wheezed, doubled over. “Forgot you tend to do that when surprised.”

“Oh my God, Willie! I’m so sorry—I just reacted! I didn’t mean to!” She was rubbing his back and looking up at me for help.

I couldn’t help at all—I was too busy laughing hysterically.

“That’ll learn ya, Davies! I’ll sick my—the woman on ya!” Adam laughed.

Elaine was looking at us all with wide eyes. “What just happened?”

I explained about Lump’s background, who was still worriedly rubbing William’s back to make it better. William straightened up with a grin. Fast as lightning, and faster than Lump, he grabbed her and put her in a headlock, giving her a nuggie. Lump then twisted and turned to escape, laughing all the while.

Finally William stopped, straightened up a red faced Lump, and planted a big wet kiss on her cheek. “Merry Christmas, Lumpy
!”
He laughed and walked toward me.

“You had me going, Jess!” Adam pointed an accusatory finger at me. “You really did. I should have known, teamed with
that
one!” The finger switched to Elaine. “But you seemed so genuine. I was trying to remember if I killed someone or something!”

Lump’s eyes were glued to Adam’s face, seeing him for the first time with a different lens. She roved over his body, noticing each detail, before landing on his face again, entranced.

Adam noticed, then caught her gaze and held it. His eyes told her plainly that she was what he wanted. What he’d
always
wanted.

She caught the message, and nodded once. That was it. A simple nod.

Adam’s eyes went soft, his heart spilling over. If we weren’t in the room, I had no doubt he would cross that space and whisk her up into his arms. Instead, he smiled a promise for later, and went back to the conversation, catching me watching the two of them.

I smirked at him, my turn to be all-knowing, and sidled closer to William.

It was New Year’s eve and we found ourselves at a recently opened club with all the usual characters. There had been nothing exciting in the Lump/Adam front. They looked at each other often, Lump admitting that she couldn’t get that Christmas kiss out of her head, but neither was making the longer term move. When the four of us got together we had the best time ever, everyone laughing and having fun. There were always a few pauses for Lump and Adam to stare into each other’s eyes, but the moment would pass and the conversation resumed.

All the guys in our party, most of which were single, went in together to rent the VIP room for the night. William and I were huddled in the corner, enjoying some sober time alone before everything went berserk. We were kissing and petting each other, cuddled up and talking nonsense.

“
It’ll happen tonight,” William said, interrupting a lengthy kiss.

“What will?”

“Adam will make his move tonight.”

“Oh my God, how do you know?”

“Adam is a patient man, more patient than the rest of us, but every man has his breaking point.”

“Why hasn’t he made the move before now?”

“I don’t know for sure, but he said a couple days ago that Lump was as ‘frusteratin’ as a stubborn mule.’”

“Yeah, she’s pretty laid back.”

“
Lump
is pretty laid back?”

“When it comes to making decisions and sticking to ‘em, yeah. She kinda just tries all the options until one is nailed down, often by someone else.”

William shook his head. “I’m glad birds of a feather don’t stick that closely together.”

“Nice one, Davies.”

“Hey, I got an ‘A’ in poetry in grade school.”

“I wouldn’t hold onto that victory if I were you.”

He laughed and started kissing and touching me again. I could feel his fingers slowly moving up the inside of my thigh. I was starting to get hot and bothered when Adam said from across the room: “
Alright, kids. Y'all are startin' to gross me out."

"Gross you out or make you jealous?" I retorted, coming up for air.

"Poor Lump," William said. "She's gonna get a whirlwind of pent up...energy."

"If anyone can handle it, it's her. I walked in on her in the act once, and girlfriend is wild!"

"I didn't need to hear that."

"Oh. Sorry."

William gave me one last, deep kiss and spun me around to face the table. He gently pushed me off in that direction with a pat on my butt. When I turned around he was heading toward the waitress with a smile on his face.

“What’s up, hommies?” I asked as I slid in the booth.

Adam was sitting next to Lump, his attention definitely on her, and hers definitely on him, but neither one of them leaning into it. By Lump’s body language and subtle movements, I could tell she wanted him something fierce. But she was waiting, like I told her to that one time at the ranch. She didn’t want to choose, she wanted to be chosen. She said it was good advice that just felt right.

I told her she was an idiot. Then Gladis tried to hit her with a wadded up paper plate. Neither helped move it along.

I sat next to Jasmine, who gave me a warm smile.

"Hi Jazz. Where are all your girls?"

"I didn't want to bring them because all these guys are just looking for a one night stand."

"You didn't want to bring the chum to the shark feed, huh?" I asked.

She smiled at me and nodded. She was a sweet girl mostly, but she did have a mean streak. Which Lump and I exploited just so we could hang out with her. You had to really get to know her to see it. It was her saving grace. Goodie-goodies made my butt twitch. In a bad way.

Within a minute William came back and slid in next to me. He put his arm around my shoulders.

"Hey Jess?" Lump said across the table.

I looked at her, waiting for her to go on as my hand inched up William's thigh toward that delicious bulge.

“Stop it,” Lump said with a sigh.

“Stop what?”

“Stop feeling Willie up. Focus for a minute.”

“What is this, an anti-love party?” I stopped short of my mark.

“You can have sex on the dance floor later, I just need you to focus for one minute.” Lump paused and looked at me. After I stared at her, then scowled at Adam when a smirk crawled up his irritating mug, Lump went on, “I was thinking--there isn't much in the way of martial arts in this city. I was thinking about doing some studies on the demand and possible market."

Adam and William both perked up at the idea of a new business venture.

"So...I was thinking about maybe opening up my own place. Weekends and evenings at first, see if I can pay the bills."

Adam and William where giving their approval, not realizing there was more to come. Lump was not set enough on this venture, which meant she still needed direction. She was bringing it up to me, which meant in her head I was involved somehow. Lump's ideas often worried me because I usually had to do all the work or clean up. Or both.

 "I was wondering, Jess. Could you help me with the bookkeeping side? The accounting?" 

All eyes on me. "Do you have a business plan? Have you looked into spaces for the class? Have you looked into all the incurred costs? Like, but not limited to, rent, utilities, insurance, equipment, cleaning? Have you thought of lesson plans or your target audience? Have you thought about marketing? How about contingency plans if you are sick or hurt?"

 I was rapid firing these questions at her, knowing full well that she had thought about none of this.

Adam and William were staring at me with wide eyes, apparently not realizing someone besides people with money knew something about business. I didn’t have the inclination to shove it in their faces. If I didn’t dissuade Lump, I’d land myself in a lot of thankless work.

"Okay," Lump said with resignation. "If I do that whole...lis, will you do the books then?"

"No problem. I don't work for free, though."

Adam looked at me with scorn. William was still in his own world, thoughtful. He was lining up work for me, I had no doubt. Sometimes it sucked dating the boss.

"I want borrowing rights without asking,” I began, ready to negotiate. “I want one fly coupon per four-hour work day in any circumstance unless drunk. I want one bar pass per 4 hour day. And when you start making money, I want to renegotiate the terms. Any extra work above and beyond finance is also subject to negotiation."

William popped back into reality as Adam titled his head, confusion replacing scorn.

"Continuous borrowing of my closet without restriction? No way. You can borrow without asking once per assigned work day. Fly coupon, fine, but in a ten mile limit. Bar pass, fine, except if my guy goes for me it counts. And the assigned hour work day for all of the above should be ten hours." Lump crossed her arms.

“What’s a fly—“

“William, don’t interrupt; we are negotiating. Ten hours?! You are dreaming, girl! Doing favors for you take longer than they should because of your extreme lack of organization. I'll go to five, no less.”

Lump’s jaw clenched.

“Seriously,” I went on, “I’m constantly involved in your schemes, and they never work out because you get bored and give up. I am not in a hurry to do this. And you will get your lazy ass to the bar by your own two feet,
and
fly, to pick up food,” I looked at William, “by your own car or feet, crawling if need be. Your guy, which you have yet to cement, isn't the one needing a favor. No dice, Betsy. Go bark up another tree."

The boys' faces were now worried.

"All the times I have helped you, Jessica Lynn. All the times I’ve got you out of fixes. All the men I have beat off you, or the women I have tripped to make you look good, and you can't bend your free time a tiny bit? Eight hours. I'll ask for eight hours, which is a normal day’s work. Don't even tell me you are going to work as hard on my stuff as you do your job! And my guy might not count, but heralding a waitress should. That is an irritating thing to do."

"You are still under the impression I haven't forgotten about the smoothie shop, Betsy
Anne
. I am not going past six hours. Not an hour past. And fuck you—your ass to the bar, or you can lick my twat." I started to get up. My face was getting red, I was shaking, I was almost foaming at the mouth.