Wheels of Steel, Book 3 (4 page)

Peter’s eyes got big but he didn’t say a word. Belinda looked at Jason who shook his head quickly, willing her not to say anything. Robin caught the strange exchange.

“Sorry.” She finally said. Peter still had the bottled water and pills so he gave them to Belinda and kissed her after she took them.

“Good girl. Come on guys, let’s let her get some sleep. She hasn’t slept since she got here.” They left the bedroom promising to visit her later and she waved at them drowsily, peering at them beneath half hooded eyes.

“How’s she doing?” Robin asked him once they were in the living room and the bedroom door was shut.

“The hysterectomy is really painful, and plus she was already weak. And then she’s depressed because she won’t ever be able to have a baby.” Everyone was quiet for a while. “She’s getting healthier, though.”

“How are you?” She asked him. He sighed. “Okay. I just wish that I had done this a long time ago. Then everything would be so different.”

Robin paused. “She told me that she would have done this even if things were good between you. She wanted to finish school because she didn’t want to be like her mother. She wanted to do this for herself before she brought a baby in to it.”

“That’s what she told me, but I still wonder…if I hadn’t royally fucked it if it would have been different.”

None of them would ever forget that conversation and even years later they would each ask themselves that same question.

***

Robin was making dinner when Jason’s phone rang. He had one more exam to study for before his last day of classes Friday. It was Link, he answered quickly.

“Yep?”

“James just called me. He wants us to set up a skype webcam. He and Tom want to talk to us.”

Robin turned the fire down to simmer on the hamburger steak and gravy that she was cooking. “What’s going on?” She asked as she joined him in the living room.

“I don’t know.” Jason quickly logged into skype and then he received a request for a group chat which he immediately accepted. Robin sat down on the couch out of the view of the computer camera.

“Top, Link can you both hear us?” Mr. Edelson was sitting next to Akita Tom. So he had flown back to Japan. Good riddance, Robin thought. He was nice enough but she didn’t want some guy that freely offered narcotics to her to be anywhere around Jason or Peter. Period.

“Loud and clear James. Hi Tom.” Jason said.

“Is everything okay?” Peter asked.

“Hey guys.” Came Akita Tom’s response. “Everything is great. I finished the song…or songs. We cut it up into two parts. It was actually better than I ever anticipated. I want to put it on my next album.”

Jason leaned back and beamed happily. He turned to Robin and gave her a thumbs up. She couldn’t keep the smile from her face. Her boyfriend was going to be on the album of a famous musician!

“Guys, what I really want to do is to record an entire album with you two. I want you to come out to Japan. You’ll be on holiday and we can get most of it knocked out then. How’s that sound?”

Peter’s screaming response could be heard as testament to his feelings on the proposal. Jason was a lot more dignified as he just kept saying repeatedly ‘Fuck yeah.’ Over and over.

Robin sat on the couch hyperventilating. Jason rolled over and patted her on the back pressing her head down until it was between her knees. “Oh my god, I want to have sex with you so bad.” He whispered before wheeling back to the camera.

“So we’re in agreement? Yes?” Tom said looking like Santa Clause that had just given the greatest gift of creation. Peter was gone.

“Where’s Peter?” Tom asked.

He came wheeling back into the room with Belinda on his lap. She was half asleep but beaming gleefully. “Sir, did you just offer to make an entire album with my boyfriend?”

“I sure did Lovely Pink-Look-A-Like.”

Belinda blushed. “Damn, well my Christmas present won’t be nearly as good.” Everybody laughed.

Robin hurried into the kitchen, remembering that dinner was still on the stove. The fellows talked about contracts and logistics and then when the call finally ended, Robin was setting the table.

“I gotta call my Mom!” He announced and talked to her excitedly while he ate, choking and spilling food as he did so. Robin couldn’t help but to grin at his excitement, despite the mess he was making. The phone rang again and it was Peter and the two of them talked for a while longer. When he was finished talking he turned the phone completely off and returned to the kitchen with an excited gleam in his eye. Robin had just finished the dishes and had put away the leftovers.

“Come here, sexy!” He grabbed her from behind and swatted her ass before she dropped unceremoniously into his lap. She kissed him and he gently pushed her away until she was standing. “To the couch and I want you stripped down naked!” With a surprised look she went to the living room and stripped out of her clothes. Jason pulled himself from his chair and to the couch and stripped down naked as well.

With a grin she moved to straddle him and she rode him fast and hard as he spanked her ass and then massaged her stinging flesh. She liked being spanked. She climbed off of him and made him lay across her lap. Surprised at the request he did as she asked and then Robin spanked him hard. He liked it, too!

We’re true freaks! She thought as she spanked Jason’s bottom while he squirmed and moaned beneath her.

They were in bed with fingers intertwined and talking softly some hours later. “I bet Japan is going to be so beautiful. I hate that I have to miss it.” Robin said. Jason stiffened. He sat up suddenly and turned on the light. And then he stared at her.

“Miss it? What are you talking about? Robin I need you there with me.”

She gave him a surprised look, her eyes big. “Jason…I’m going to the Bahamas.”

“But, I’m going to Japan. I can’t go to Japan without my caregiver. I mean, you’re my legs, you’re my hands and my voice.”

She sat up too. “But I already made plans to go to the Bahamas.”

Jason just stared at her in disbelief. “Sweetheart…that’s just a vacation. This is different! This is my life! You can go on vacation with your Mom anytime!”

Robin got quiet and stared at the covers. “It’s not just a vacation.” She tried to think past Jason’s expectations and her wants. She looked at him. “This is the first time that my Mom and I have had to repair our relationship. It’s the first time that she’s shown signs of wanting to do something outside of her normal routine since my Daddy died. And she’s really looking forward to it…and so am I.”

Jason watched her, his face a mask of confusion. “I can’t believe that you’re even considering not going with me. Robin, you’re my caregiver. This is what you get paid to do! I can’t-- CAN NOT do this without you! I can’t go to a different country without you!”

“Well…Link will be there-”

“We’re both in freaking wheelchairs!”

“Don’t yell at me!”

He calmed. “I’m sorry. I just want you to understand how important this is.” She didn’t speak. She got out of bed and searched for her clothes. “Where are you going? Robin?”

“I’m going to go home.”

He sighed and looked disgusted. “You can’t be serious.” He threw back the covers angrily and moved to his chair. “Robin. I’m going to need your birth certificate so that they can fast track our passports. A carrier is coming tomorrow to pick them up! We don’t have time for this!”

She paused in pulling on her bra to look at him. “I’m not going to disappoint my mother. We made these plans long ago and she’ll lose several thousand dollars by me canceling! Why can’t you just ask him to push back the recording?”

“Because this is the best time to do it without me missing any school. You know that!”

She nodded. “I know.” She sighed and buried her hands in her hair forlornly. She would either hurt her Mom or hurt him…what was she going to do? She looked up where he was watching her expectantly.

“What about your Mother? Can’t she do it?”

He didn’t say anything for a long time and then he rolled his eyes. “My mom has all of these Christmas benefits that she’s in charge of for the library. Robin…you know what, I’ll handle it. Just go to the Bahamas. I’ll take care of it.” He climbed back into bed and turned his back to her angrily. Robin slowly finished dressing and then left without another word.

The next morning when Robin returned Jason was on the phone. He gave her the briefest look but didn’t hang up and continued talking in soft tones. She had no idea who he was talking to or what it was about.

She started the coffee and made scrambled eggs and toast. She was just spooning the food onto plates when he wheeled into the room humming happily. He never hummed.

“Hi, Robin.”

“Hi Jason.”

“I got an Aid for Japan.” He forked eggs into his mouth.

She sighed in relief. Thank god. “Who did you get?”

“Amberly.” Robin stared at him waiting for the punchline. He looked at her. “So, don’t worry about it. It’s all covered.”

“Amberly.”

“Yep.” He sipped his coffee and she continued to stare at him.

“Are you kidding me?”

“What? Amberly knows my CP, she even knows Wheels of Steel. I couldn’t ask for a more perfect caregiver.” That stung.

“And who’s going to wipe your ass?”

He rolled his eyes. “Don’t be crass, Robin. She knows how to wipe an ass.”

“Jason. I thought you and I had an understanding about Amberly.”

He dropped his fork onto the plate and glared at her. “Okay, you don’t want to go with me and now you don’t want me to take Amberly to help me. Guess what? She WANTS to go. She WANTS to be there! You don’t get to chose who goes to Japan with me if you aren’t going to do the job!”

“So…this is your way of trying to force my hand, Jason?”

“It’s just the best solution and she already has a passport.”

“After everything that we’ve been through with her, you actually can’t see why this is so wrong?”

“Do you want me to cancel my Japan trip for you?”

“No. I’m not asking you to do that-”

“Do you want me to go without an Aid?”

“I’m not saying that either-”

“I found a perfect solution, and considering the short notice and that I have little alternative, this is the best solution for me.”

Robin stood up and collected the breakfast dishes even though neither of them had finished eating. She was in turmoil. Maybe she should cancel…no she couldn’t do that! Jason said to trust him, but Amberly’s the one he runs to when things are tough. Did he even consider any other alternatives? She did the dishes as Jason finished preparing for school. Robin wished that Belinda was going with them but there was no way that would happen, she just had a hysterectomy, she could barely sit up on her own without excruciating pain.

They drove to school silently and went about the day with very little words. At lunch everyone had somehow gotten word of Jason and Peter’s trip to Japan and the table was more crowded than ever with bodies. Amberly was excitedly exclaiming that she had to go shopping and get her haircut and bounding around like a livewire. Robin was so jealous that it made her physically ill. Amberly was running through a list of all of the things that she would need to do from arranging the flights with James Edelson and making sure that they had transportation to and from. She even had a little notebook in which she used to jot down her thoughts.

Peter touched Robin’s arm and she looked at him sharply. He leaned toward her and whispered. “You okay, Sweetheart?”

She took a deep breath. “Can you take Jason home?”

Peter’s mouth fell open. Jason turned to look at her. Robin moved her chair back and ran out of the room.

The phone was ringing as she drove and cried. Of course it was ringing. She silenced it and headed for Peter’s apartment. She knocked on the door, forcing the poor sick lady inside to get up and shamble to answer it. When Belinda finally opened it, it was to the sight of Robin’s angry, tear streaked face.

“I’m breaking up with Jason!”

“Oh shit. You found out about the pool stuff. Sweetheart, they were drunk and they stopped before anything happened.” Robin stared at the floor. Stopped…they stopped…