Revved Up Soul: A MC Romance (18 page)

Kayla had such a great, silly laugh. Even when it was directed at him. He wanted to marry that girl someday – Uncle Allen had always caught the two of them in the closet when they were just kids, playing all sorts of games and telling stories. He couldn’t help but look at her chest, especially now as his bones felt so heavy and his head felt all spinny.

Robert downed another beer; he was the crown champ at Summer Beer-a-thon. He could knock ten down before Luke could finish four. He drank another sip of his beer, looking at the same kinds ah places on Kayla that Luke was.

Of course Kayla had told Luke as such that she never had any interest in his brother. Luke wondered if there was something wrong with his younger brother Able then, with the way that Kayla was glancing over at him. He remembered fondly the hours that the girl would spend in her dungeon of records and CD’s and keyboards, crafting audio and all sorts of music with her computer.

Luke smiled, looking over at the lake – the crickets chirping and the adults howling far and away back at the ranch. He had an idea, “Hey,” he announced, grabbing only the partial interest of the group, “we should take a dip.”

Able nodded in agreement, but his brows furrowed, “We ain’t got no trunks Lord Luke. Don’t exactly feel like going in my boxers here.”

Kayla perked up, smirking, “We don’t need ‘em,” she declared, “let’s get our skinny on,” she whooped, keeping her butt firmly planted in the chair. Nobody seemed to want to be the first to undress. Her eyes went over to Able and she batted her lashes playfully, why did she keep doing that? The awkward, tense moment continued for what seemed like ten minutes – but in reality, was probably closer to fifteen seconds of nervous shifting and shuffling.

Robert was the first to break the silence, he grinned from ear to ear, “Yeah yeah,” he said in agreement, “and whoevers got the biggest balls, you’ll suck em later.”

Kayla’s face went beet red while the boys all laughed, a second later she stood up defiantly. “Fine,” she said, “maybe I will! Too bad none of you actually have any!”

There was only a couple of heartbeats that denoted the silence between the moments, everyone a little unsure as to if what was said had actually happened.

Robert was the first to drop trough, “Take a picture it’ll last longer,” he boasted, pursing his lips together and making a couple of kissing noises. He then finished his beer and placed it back on the table, striking the most ridiculous superman pose.

The boys looked away and laughed, while Kayla put a hand to her mouth and giggled, giving a quick judgement before looking away; Robert then sprang backwards, whooping mid-air before hitting the water.

Able was next as Robert’s head came back up – Luke knew that any elation that the man might have had would quickly be snuffed. If Robert’s stones were golf, Able’s were bowling.

Kalya howled with laughter, “Oh my god,” she nursed the remains of her beer – eyes lingering for much, much longer than they had for Robert. “Put it away!”

Luke’s brother cannonballed into the dark blue, splashing fingers of water against Robert’s face – he spat in return and wiped his face.

All eyes turned on Luke and the world seemed just a bit heavier, the air thicker and harder to breathe – his bones felt alien, like they were the wrong size and had been secretly planning an escape all those long years.

Still wading in the darkness, Robert was the first to call out and encourage him, “Come on,” he said, “show us the loch ness!”

Able gave a dry chuckle and Kayla agreed in so many words. Luke knew that it didn’t matter all that much at this point, his brother was always going to win at a game like this – and even though she had no way of knowing, there was a part of him that wondered if there was a greater game at play between the three.

Robert called out again, “Don’t be a big P bro.” Wasn’t that the whole point of this, though? Or at least to have big B’s. Blood rushed to his head, and with pinpricks of nervousness devouring him, he stripped himself of his clothes and only remained on the dock but a moment before jumping off into the blue.

Splashing, Luke reemerged from the water and turned around, “C’mon Kayla!” He cried, the other boys backing him up. She had her finger against her teeth, unsure as to if she should go through with it. She was wearing just a simple white tank, but even that seemed to hug her curves perfectly – something stirred below his waist.

Kayla laughed and shook her head, “Sorry, I just wanted to see you boys naked – I’m gonna score some ribs,” she waved playfully, “buh-bye.”

The boys came together in a chorus of complaints, Robert smacking the water with his hand, “Tease! You can’t just reneg like that.”

Rolling her head, Kayla said “Alrighttt,” she paused, “you virgins ready?” She teased, lifting off her tank to reveal her plain white bra.

Wading the blue, Robert protested, “Some of us have gotten some,” he paused a moment, “and you know what? I think Luke seriously won that one.”

“No way,” Able said.

Kayla’s brows raised a half an inch, her face screwing up.

“Yeah,” Robert continued, “It takes
real
stones to bust your balls when ‘ya know your bro got you beat,” he argued, hard to disagree with that.

Able just laughed.

Kayla shook her head and peeled off her jeans, looking between the three boys as she freed her long, spindly legs. Luke swore to himself that they stretched for miles. “I hate to say it,” she said, undoing her bra and revealing her chest, “but I think Robbie’s got a point.” She stripped off her white cotton panties, letting them pool against the wood of the dock, and then jackknifed into the water, making a big splash.

It all happened in one big, naked, sexy blur to Luke – the moment not lasting nearly long enough. Even in the cool of the water he could still feel a heat pulsing through his body. The moon glittered across the lake, fat and full and bright; stars painted along that black canvas like burning jewels scattered about lazily.

At the thunders whoops of excitement and applause, Kayla waded over to Luke with an inebriated smile stretched along her face, “Guess it’s you and me, Tiger,” Kayla purred.

Smirking, Luke waded closer: Robert had done him a solid he’d never forget.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Jasmine

Nothing good will come of this, Jasmine told herself. Corey White, Dean of Medicine, had requested her presence in his office to discuss ‘something’ and this was not elaborated on, simply telling her that it was something to be talked about face-to-face. That meant one thing: Jessica snitched. Thoughts spiraled and spiraled some more in her mind, if that was truly what was going on, she’d have to come up with something. Damn her.

Fluorescent white light poured from the circular fixtures above while sunshine came in from the windows. Jasmine sauntered down the long hall, passing by the glass walls of the Diagnostics department. The floor was made of linoleum, wavy black and white swirls played against one another in intricate patterns.

Eventually she got up to the Dean’s office, pulling on the black handle of the glass double doors – moving into the vestibule. Inside were twin, dark brown benches on either side, padded with dark cushions and a small end table of magazines at the room’s corners. The carpet was soft and a creamy coffee like color; walls rich and dark, alit only by the quaint rectangular fixtures above the door. Jasmine gave the wooden double doors, which matched the walls, three solid knocks.

A manly, middle-aged voice came from the inside, “Come in,” it beckoned.

Jasmine opened the doors and then promptly shut them behind her, seeing Corey sitting at his desk with his hands pressed into one another, and Jessica sitting in a blue sofa chair looking back at her.

The room itself was extravagant. The carpet that same creamy, coffee color; the wood paneling rich and bright compared to the vestibule, sunlight from a series of block windows graced the whole chamber. To one side, there was a dark coffee table with a flamboyant orange couch on one end of it, a series of chairs on the other. The dean’s desk itself was large and housed his laptop, along with several dockets and an in/out bin – the ‘in’ bin was noticeably full. Behind the man, there were silver filing cabinets; on the other end of the room, a mini-fridge and a door leading to the bathroom.

Corey’s features were mute, giving nothing away. “Have a seat, if you would please,” his voice was low and sonorous, even though it did not come off in tone as a command – Jasmine knew that it definitely was. The man himself was quite handsome for his middle age, his nose short and pointed, his brows fine and angled in such a way that he, well, he kind of looked angry all of the time. But there was something appealing and unique about that. His hair was sleek, short and blonde, that was parted firmly to one side. He had intimidating, dark brown eyes.

“What seems to be the trouble, if you don’t mind me asking Mr.White,” Jasmine questioned, taking a seat in the neighboring blue sofa chair. Jessica’s nose wrinkled.

“Of course,” the Dean replied. “Your resident here told me that a certain doctor has been using something that he—“Corey closed his eyes briefly and shook his head, rolling his eyes after opening them. “Most definitely should
not
be using.”

Time seemed to pass painfully slow. She had to stall somehow. Jasmine had to fight the urge to lash out at the woman sitting beside of her. Instead, she plastered on a big, fake smile. “Mr. White, would it be okay if we talked about this in private?” I have to come up with a game plan. Jasmine’s eyes shifted over to Jessica for a brief moment; you’re not going to torch his career, I won’t let you.

“Anything you wish to say can be said with Ms. Parks here,” he declared. Come on.

Jasmine sucked in a breath through her teeth, “I would really be more comfortable if we didn’t do it that way.”

“Why?” She considered her next words carefully, reminding herself to remain calm above all else. A seed began to take form.

“For personal and professional reasons.”

Corey shook his head, “Sorry but I want to hear what both of you have to say.”

Jasmine sighed, “Okay. Well, I apologize in advance,” she said, looking over to Jessica, “I really didn’t want to hurt such a promising career for the girl.”

Jessica moved her head back, “Uh, what? What are you talking about?” Getting warmer.

The Dean of Medicine put up a hand, “Let her speak.”

Continuing, Jasmine brought her focus back to Corey, never letting her fake veneer drop, “You see I know Augustus very well, not as well as you – but he tells me things, like, I thought it was a little weird the way that Jessica would talk to me about him.”

Jessica scoffed, “Not once did I talk to you about him.”

Looking over to her, Jasmine batted her eyes oh so sweetly, “Honey, there’s no need to lie – it’s all going to be out on the table soon enough.”

The woman just shook her head and crossed her arms.

Jasmine continued, “As I was saying. I picked up on how she would always hover close to him when he was instructing them during rounds, and of course the private lunches . . . it all makes sense in retrospect. When Doctor Lark told her in no uncertain terms that he wasn’t interested in her, she just seemed to be really moody and distant and to put it bluntly, sir, bitchy.”

Corey raised his brows incredulously as Jessica aggressively refuted the lies that Jasmine spun. “So you’re saying she wanted to have relations with Augustus?”

“That is what I’m getting at, sir,” Jasmine nodded, brushing back a strand of her thick, curly raven hair. “So, personally as horrible as it sounds, I think she’s trying to get him fired – I mean really, if he was using cocaine—“

“Heroin is what Ms. Parks told me,” Corey interrupted.

Jessica was looking visibly flustered at this point, the red in her cheeks becoming brighter and brighter still. She stared daggers at Jasmine now, shooting up from her chair. “You’re crazy, why the hell are you doing this,” she accused, her voice so loud that if one was outside of the Dean’s office they could likely hear. Now things were starting to roll in the direction that Jasmine wanted.

The Dean of medicine gestured for the girl to take a seat, “Keep your voice down, Ms. Parks.”

Ignoring Jessica in totality, Jasmine continued, “Oh? Well, whatever lie she told you – whatever he was supposedly using, do you really think that somebody wouldn’t notice? I mean, more than us. And for god’s sake! As a doctor I find it sick to know what else she was doing, but I hoped – for my own safety as well – that she would stop after I talked to her.”

Corey turned in his chair, “What are you getting at?”

“Well,” Jasmine said with a strained tone, looking away from the Dean.

“Whatever it is, you know I’ll find it out eventually, Miss Giuseppe.”

“I-I know, it’s just embarrassing,” Jasmine brushed back her hair one more time, clearing her throat. “I found out from one of our pharmacists, not to name any names, but someone used my prescription pad to fill out a bottle of Oxycodone.”

“You’re full of shit!” Jessica decried, gripping the ends of her chair.

Corey gave the woman a stern look before bringing his gaze back to Jasmine. “Really,” he was incredulous, but she knew that it would be easy to strong arm Janet into following Jasmine’s version of events – unless she wanted to be disbarred and or imprisoned.