Under the Cornerstone (37 page)

We eat and drink at the reception and then everyone steps outside for a smoke. Noe’s drink is empty, so I step to the bar and get her a refill, and then join my crew. I hand her the drink and turn towards the conversation so I don’t have to see her reaction. It might not be the one I want.

I’m quiet as the boys talk shit to each other. Roxy joins in and fucks with Jimmy. The woman has bigger balls than most men I know. I catch Jimmy looking at her like a starving man, and smile as I think the big guy might fall sooner rather than later.

And then Jim does something that surprises the shit out of me. Roxy rubs her hands down her arms because she’s cold, and he immediately shrugs out of his jacket and places it on her shoulders. I watch something pass between them as they look at each other. I turn away since it’s meant to be private, a moment that should only exist between them.

But damn if there is hope for Jimmy Crawford, there has to be hope for me.

I catch Noe looking at them and then she looks at me and we share a knowing smile. She shakes her head and tries to hold in her laughter. She comes to stand beside me.

“I think I lost my date,” she says.

“Nah, he won’t ditch you,” I reply.

“If there was ever a woman that could bring Jimmy to his knees, I believe it’s Roxy,” she says.

“I agree. I can’t wait to see how this plays out.”

“Let’s dance motherfuckers,” Jimmy announces.

We go back inside and join the party. We drink and dance like hell.

Two hours in and the party is starting to wind down. Frank Sinatra’s
One For My Baby
starts to play and I look over at Noe, knowing how much she loves to hear him sing. Her eyes find mine, and I smile as extend my hand out to her. She smiles and takes it.

I pull her into me, and press my face against hers. My left hand grabs her right and I place them on my chest. Her left hand wraps around my neck and my right hand rests on her lower back. We dance slowly to the music. Her hair smells amazing, and her perfume is new. It fits her, so feminine and spicy. I could do this all night long with her.

Sinatra turns into a song called
How Long Will I Love You
. I keep dancing and wait for her to pull away, but she doesn’t. I hold her a little tighter. The song changes into a James Morrison song. She still doesn’t pull away, and I squeeze her hand to silently thank her. I’m not ready to let go.

Then our theme song,
New York, New York
blasts through the speakers. I push her out and spin her around. She laughs at me, and we dance with the tempo of the song. I continue to spin her out and then pull her back to me. Right now, we’re Noe and Johnny. We sing along at the top of our lungs and laugh with each other.

Noe and Johnny.

Jimmy’s drunk ass bumps into us towards the end of the song and the rest of our friends join as we scream out the last words of the song.

We leave after we’ve thrown bird seed on the couple and they leave for their honeymoon. Noe is standing beside me and I notice her arms are cold, so I take my jacket off and drape it over her shoulders. She smiles up at me and I have to look away before I lean down and kiss her.

“There’s a party Roxy!” Jimmy slurs.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. In my pants. You have an exclusive invitation to join me.”

I laugh.

“I can’t do a damn thing with whiskey dick, Crawford,” Roxy replies.

“Have you seen my cock?” Jimmy asks her.

“I can’t say that I have actually seen it,” Roxy raises an eyebrow.

“I’m a shower, not a grower. That means even if I did have whiskey dick, which has never happened to me before, then you could still mount me and ride to your naughty little heart’s desire.”

“Okay then,” Noe says. “Let’s get you home Jimmy.”

“Why? The party isn’t over,” he frowns.

“You’re hammered. If you don’t go home and pass out the night will end with you fucking or fighting. We’re taking your ass home,” Rich tells him.

“Fine. Roxy, you wanna fuck?” Jimmy asks.

“And they say chivalry is dead,” she deadpans. “Let’s get you home Crawford.”

Jimmy is his usual loud self as we walk him to his apartment. Noe is quiet, so I’m quiet. Once we get him inside, make him chug water, and give him some pain relievers, Noe tucks him in bed.

“You were a shitty date,” she teases him.

“I’m an easy date,” he slurs in response. “Climb up on Jimmy and I’ll show you.”

“I don’t think we should leave him alone. If his big ass gets out of the bed, he’ll end up in jail,” I say.

“I’m not staying with him,” Roxy immediately responds. “He might try to show me his shower can be a grower.”

I laugh, “I’ll stay. Rich, can you make sure Noe gets home okay?”

“Got her,” Rich responds.

“You got Roxy, Ryan?” I ask.

“Got her,” he says.

I tell them all good night and avoid hugs so I don’t have to face possible rejection from Noe.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

I wake up to a giggling woman in Jimmy’s apartment.

“Jimmy!” she squeals in delight.

I do not want to hear this shit. I haven’t had sex since Noe.

“Damn girl,” Jimmy’s deep voice comes through the walls.

“Oh Jimmy.”

This is so fucked up. I wake up with raging morning wood and Jimmy’s making his own fucking porn in his room. Fuck it, I’m jacking off. I go into his bathroom and think of being inside Noely. I think of the way she sounds when she comes and the way her breath tickles my ear when she moans into it. I think about the way her pussy tastes on my tongue and the way it feels to be inside her tight little cunt. I imagine pulling up that black dress she had on last night and slipping inside of her. I’d press her against a wall and fuck her with all four months of pent up longing and aching. It doesn’t take long before I’m blowing my load in the toilet. I lean back, sigh, and finally get my shit together.

After I wash my hands and find some shit to eat in his refrigerator, Jimmy and his friend join me.

“Morning,” he says.

“You aren’t looking worse for the wear,” I comment.

“My liver bounces back quickly,” he smiles.

“Jenny meet Johnny. Johnny, Jenny,” he moves his hands between us as he introduces us.

“Nice to meet you,” I grumble over my cereal bowl.

“You ready?” she looks back over at Jimmy.

“Let’s do it,” he says and pulls out a chair at the dining room table.

He props his leg up on another chair while Jenny disappears into the kitchen.

I eat my cereal and think about how I could possibly get Noe to hang out with me today.

“Okay, put your foot in my lap,” Jenny directs.

Jimmy picks his leg up and allows her to sit before he places it in her lap.

“Jenny works for a clinic over in the Bronx,” Jimmy tells.

I don’t care.

I grunt as a response.

I look over and watch her open a package and then put the contents in the water. She wraps Jimmy’s leg in cotton and then starts to unroll shit onto his leg.

“What the fuck are you doing?” I ask.

“I broke my leg,” he replies.

“What?” I’m confused.

“I broke my fucking leg,” he says like that clears it all up.

“No you didn’t.”

“Dude, what is she doing right now?” he asks.

“It looks like she’s putting a fucking cast on your leg,” I answer.

“Because I broke my fucking leg!” he raises his voice like I’m an idiot.

“No you didn’t. I just watched you walk in here after I had to listen to you fuck her!” I point my spoon at Jenny.

“You can fuck with a broken leg. Jenny promised,” he smirks at me.

“Your leg isn’t broken.”

“What’s on my leg, Johnny?”

“Motherfucker, I know she’s putting a cast on your leg, but that shit isn’t broken.”

“Says you,” Jimmy quirks his eyebrows.

“Yeah, says me. The cat who just watched you walk in here, on
both
of your legs. You weren’t hobbling or crying out in pain. You’re not in pain now. Your shit isn’t broken.”

“I woke up this morning and had myself an epiphany,” he says.

“Fucking great. This is going to end up with me bailing you out of jail again.”

“Nah. Nothing illegal. Anyhow, I was thinking about how much fun we all had last night. The crew was finally together again, and it made me really fucking happy.”

“That’s fucking great, Jim.”

“So I broke my leg.”

I drop the spoon into the bowl and look at him.

“Are you tripping on acid again?”

“No. Why?” he asks.

“Did you take something you shouldn’t have?”

“No.”

I look over at the blonde woman wrapping Jimmy’s leg in a cast like she’s done this a time or two, “Why are you putting a cast on his leg?”

Maybe she’ll make sense.

“He asked me to,” she replies.

I must still be asleep. I’m living in a world where nothing makes sense.

“Why did he ask you to?” I ask her.

“He said he broke his leg,” she answers.

I lean over and bang my head into the table several times. I look up to see she’s still wrapping his leg so I bang my head against the wood a few more times. Maybe I’ll wake up.

Her squeaky voice asks, “Are you okay?”

“Am I okay?”

“Yes. They bring crazy people in the clinic all the time. Some of them have helmets on so they won’t cause brain damage from banging their heads into the wall,” she says dead ass serious.

“You think
I’m
crazy?”

She shrugs her shoulders, “I’m not judging or anything. My mom had this brother who served in some war. Maybe like World War I or the American Revolution or something like that, and it made him crazy. So, anyhow, he stayed in my grandmother’s basement until she died and then they had to put him in a home where other people could take care of him…”

“Right,” I interrupt her. “Does his leg look broken to you?”

She stops wrapping his leg in what I’m assuming is plaster and looks up at me like I just asked the dumbest question in the world, “He said it was broken.”

I open my mouth to say something, but there are no words. I look over at Jimmy, who’s smiling like a cat who just ate the canary.

“What the fuck are you up to?” I ask him.

“Epiphany, brother,” he answers and taps on his head.

“I don’t want anything to do with this,” I announce and stand to wash my bowl out.

“How much longer are you going to be?” he asks her.

“Ten minutes. It’ll be hard as a rock, just like you were earlier,” she giggles.

I roll my eyes and stay in the kitchen.

I pull out my phone to waste time until the rocket scientist leaves. I scroll through Facebook and see Noely’s posted pictures from last night. Someone tagged us both in several pictures of us dancing. I zoom in and look at us. I held her in my arms for a little while last night. Fuck, it felt good. I click through the other pictures we are both tagged in and find a series where we were dancing to the last song of the night. Someone snapped a picture at the perfect moment, where her head is leaning back and a huge smile is on her face, and I’m looking down at her like she’s my entire fucking world.

I don’t care about the consequences. I crop the picture and make it my profile pic. Then I pull it back up and stare at her.

“Jenny’s gone,” Jimmy rounds the corner on crutches.

“Good, I’m out,” I say and give him discerning look.

“You can’t leave yet,” he smiles.

“Why not?”

He just smiles as he pulls out his phone, drops the smile, puts a pitiful look on, and then places the phone to his ear.

“Noe?” he asks.

What the fuck is he doing?

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you,” he says and sounds like his entire family was just fucking murdered.

Pathetic.

“I broke my leg Noe. This shit hurts so fucking bad,” he presses his lips together like he’s actually grimacing in pain.

Who knew he was such a great actor?

“No. No. Calm down. I’m okay,” he sounds woeful.

I watch him make facial expressions that match his pitiful ass voice.

“Yeah, that would be great… No, I would just feel better if you were here… I’ll tell you everything when you get here… Love you, Noely baby.”

He hangs up and gives me a shit-eating grin.

“I’m fucking amazing,” he says and then extends his fist for a fist bump.

I look at his fist and then back at his face, “What. Did. You. Just. Do?”

“Epiphany,” he says again.

“Would you care to explain this epiphany?” I ask.

“I can’t tell you.”

“Then why am I still here?”

“Noe’s coming over. You gotta help me make this shit look real.”

“I’m not lying to Noely.”

“Man, you should be nicer. I broke my fucking leg.”

Jesus Christ, I think he actually believes he broke his leg.

He disappears around the corner and returns with crutches, “I got crutches too. Jenny is dumb as a box of rocks, but she’s resourceful as hell.”

“You don’t say.”

“Say what?”

“Jenny is dumb as a… Never mind.”

I really don’t want to stick around and end up getting fucked in this scheme, but Noe is coming over and I want to see her.

“She is pretty fucking dumb. You can tell that girl anything and she’ll believe you,” he shrugs his shoulders. “But she lets me fuck her in the ass whenever I want, so I overlook some of her flaws.”

“Jesus Christ,” I blink at him. “You fucked her in the ass and then got her to put a cast on your leg?”

“Yeah. Got the crutches too,” he puffs his chest out like he’s proud of himself.

A few minutes later, a knock comes at the door.

“Can you get that, while I try to get comfortable on the couch?” he asks like he really just broke his leg.

“Your leg isn’t broken,” I reiterate.

“It is. I have the cast and crutches to prove it,” he says.

I open the door to find a worried Noely. Her hair is piled on top of her head in a messy bun, and she’s wearing sweats, UGG’s, and a Blood Feather shirt. She looks like she literally just rolled out of the bed, and yet she’s fucking gorgeous.

She walks past me to find Jimmy on the couch. She kneels down beside him quickly.