Loose Lips Sink Ships
By: Katrina LaCroix
This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to any actual person, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Smashwords Edition
Copyright 2011 Katrina LaCroix
Chapter 1
Carter Thomson rolled over to find a young woman with a large birthmark on her cheekbone sleeping next to him. He stared at it for a minute, that dark thumbprint on her face with little mice hairs poking through. Cringing, he stuck his tongue out when he imagined the only possible explanation. She must have bumped her head something awful on the way out.
Why was he sleeping with random girls who had huge birthmarks on their faces? What happened to his standards, his integrity, his manhood? It was ridiculous for him to be lying next to some woman he’d just met in a shabby downtown hotel room. Carter was hung-over, unable to think clearly. Didn’t he have a girlfriend? Oh, right…scratch that.
Looking her over, she appeared to be sweet enough even though the birthmark made her look like she was going to a football game. Her lips moved a bit. She was starting to stir. He could already tell she had the kind temperament of a girl who could truly and deeply care about him. That’s what Carter desired above all else. She groaned and put her hand to her forehead. When she removed it to brush away some of her blonde hair, her innocent blue eyes caught him.
“Can you hurry up and pay me? I’ve got to get out of here. It’s seventy-five dollars.”
“Wait, what? Pay you? What are you talking about?” Carter coughed, choking on the sudden lump in his throat. The girl widened her eyes, taking on a puppy dog sweetness he found irresistible.
“I was good, wasn’t I? Didn’t you enjoy it? I feel like I can barely walk.”
“Of course you were good,” he replied, happy to supply the right answer to comfort her. He rolled onto his elbow and smiled.
“Good! Then pay me my seventy-five dollars!” she demanded. Carter’s jaw dropped, completely lost to any speck of comprehension over what was going on. His hesitation didn’t please her. “That’s it! I’m calling my dad. Where’s my phone?”
Pulling the comforter tight over her neck, she reached to the floor and fumbled through her clothes. She grabbed something and started to put it on under the sheets.
“Your dad, why?” he winced, bewildered.
“Because he’ll have something to say about it when he learns you’ve stiffed us,” she snarled. “If there’s one thing he hates more than deadbeats, it’s his daughter giving out freebies.”
“Your dad is your pimp? That’s insane! Wait, wait, wait,” he jabbered, because the girl looked like she was about to go off on an angry tirade. “This was a consensual thing. We met in a bar, had a few drinks, and decided to grab a room. We don’t need to involve anybody else. It was romantic.”
Carter feigned another smile, hoping to salvage some scrap of the lovely night out he’d imagined. The girl pursed her lips and gazed at him for a moment, contemplating something.
“What’s my name?”
Shutting his eyes, he silently kicked himself. He had no idea what her name was.
“Dee, Dee, Dina, Denise? No, Diana!”
Groaning loudly, she grimaced as though she would spit on him but instead hopped out of bed in her bra and panties and went to her bag slumped against one of the overturned chairs.
“Was I wrong?” Carter wondered.
He slid out of bed wearing only a pair of Pokemon boxers, but he grabbed his gray t-shirt and pulled it over his black hair and muscular back. The fabric fit tightly around his stomach, hinting at the abs it concealed underneath.
“If you don’t know my name, that makes the charge one-hundred dollars. Every girl knows that rule: it’s one-hundred bucks if he doesn’t know your name the morning after,” she said, crossing her arms.
She turned to face him, her face full of scorn. She had on her skirt and red, revealing top from the night before. Her messy hair was the only clue she wasn’t about to go right back to the club, or street corner, or wherever she was from.
“I don’t know anything about any rules!” he sniped, starting to get defensive. “I was just looking for a night out with a special girl. I didn’t realize I’d have someone shaking me down as soon as I woke up!”
The girl chuckled, grabbed her bag, and tiptoed toward him. He stood by the end of the bed when she came close enough to kiss him. She fluttered her eyelids and ran her finger across his chest.
“I poked a pinhole in the condom while you were taking a whiz. I shouldn’t get my period for a couple days, so I’d say you have a fifty-fifty chance of getting a call from me in about nine months. This hundred dollars is going to be the least of your worries.”
She brushed by him and went for the door. Carter turned to watch her go, a sickly revulsion wreaking havoc inside. The girl exited the dirty hotel room, leaving the door open. Drained, Carter collapsed onto the bed and hid his face in his hands. She didn’t appear to have any trouble walking at all.
*
Two beautiful young women marched into the hotel lobby, ignoring the smiling doorman who facilitated their entrance. In the lead, a thin brunette wore heels, a short skirt, and a top that looked as though it was meant to be a nightgown. She had the determined, sly look of a trickster, one who was always calculating and always in control. The name of this girl was Avery Leigh.
A top-heavy black girl trailed close behind. Strong and quick, she wore a blue dress with a matching cap. Her thumbs constantly pressed the buttons on her phone, her attention focused intently on her texting. When Avery arrived at the front desk, Kendra settled in at her side, glanced up, and frowned at the clerk.
“Is there something I can help you with?” the gentleman behind the desk asked. He seemed to be in his mid-twenties and the only one working the counter. Avery, already irritated, sighed and put her hands on her hips.
“Tell me what room Carter Thomson is staying in,” she insisted, only to receive a strange look from the clerk. “I said please!” she added.
“I don’t believe we have anyone here by that name,” he replied, shaking his head as though he really regretted it. Avery shot her friend a look.
“Damn it. Maybe he checked in under his drunken alter ego,” she considered, turning back to the attendant. “Do you have anyone named Fabio Lipsmackerdoodle staying here?”
“I was trying to be polite. I can’t tell you the names or room numbers of any of our guests,” he explained, suddenly taking on a strange grin and raising his eyebrows. “But, you know, I have a room, if you’re interested. Never too early for a fifteen minute break, right?”
He chuckled and revealed a silver room key in his hand. It was fancier than the others, so it must’ve been a good room, but Avery lowered her eyes at him and clenched her fists.
“I wouldn’t let you near me if I carved my vagina out with an ice-cream scoop and replaced it with a wood-chipper!” she shouted at him, bursting from the desk and storming toward one of the hallways. “My body is for my boyfriend only!”
Once she encountered the long hall and the identical doors lining each side, she slowed and put her hand to her chin. The hotel only had two long floors, but she still had no idea where Carter was.
“Are you sure this is the right way?”
“No, Kendra, I’m not sure. But I know he has the good sense at least to get a non-smoking room. I’m sure he didn’t get a newspaper either, since he can barely read,” Avery replied, tiptoeing along.
Cleaning carts already dotted the hallway, and a few doors were left open. Avery chewed her lip as they peeked in each room. Near the end, one of the cleaning ladies put on a pair of rubber gloves, strapped on goggles, and grabbed a big bottle of bleach.
“No, no! Quick! She’ll contaminate the scene!”
They shuffled to the last room and cut off the attendant, smiling meekly as they slipped in ahead of her. Taking one look at the colossal mess, there was a chance this was the room they were looking for.
“We decided not to check out. Bye!” Kendra said, shutting the door in the cleaning lady’s face. Immediately, the stink of lovemaking made them gag.
“There’s got to be some kind of proof he was here. I have to know if he’s ditched me for some STD-ridden skank who’s hungrier for sex than a World of Warcraft dork,” Avery moaned, stepping over empty bottles and looking at the disheveled bed. Maybe he’d forgotten something from his wallet. Perhaps she would recognize a piece of his clothing. There had to be some trace of him left in this wrecked hotel room.
“What happened between you and Carter anyway? And why don’t you just call him?” Kendra asked, staring at her phone and texting furiously. Avery turned to her and pointed her finger.
“That’s none of your business! And he’s not answering my calls. Can you just help me look for one minute? I promise we’ll get you some fried chicken and watermelon after,” Avery jabbed. Kendra bit her lip but reluctantly started to scan the room.
“I’m not seeing anything. Just overturned furniture, beer stains in the rug, and a bed that looks like it was the scene of a World War II reenactment.”
Avery had started to give up hope this was the right room. She flipped on the bathroom light and stared into the mirror. Putting her hands on each side of the sink, she remembered it hadn’t been that long since Carter had taken her to trashy hotel rooms like this. She missed having her face smushed up against the glass as he unloaded his sub on her from behind. Her heart sank at the fond memories.
Sulking, she put her head down and saw something that made her gasp. Suddenly delighted, she knelt next to a used, crusty condom that had just missed the trash bin. She beamed at it, letting her fingers drift closer and slowly pick it up.
“Look what I found!” she shouted to Kendra when she entered the other room, proudly presenting the flaccid piece of latex. Kendra was sitting in a chair she had turned right side up, her legs crossed and her fingers on her phone. She cringed when she finally looked at what Avery had brought out.
“You must’ve been a blast in second grade show-and-tell,” Kendra responded, annoying Avery.
“Just shut up. This is all the proof we need! We’ll be able to tell exactly whether or not he was here,” she said. “Look, there’s a pinhole in the bottom. Bitches have no dignity anymore.”
“What are you doing with that thing?” Kendra asked. An agonized sigh escaped Avery’s lips, and she dropped her shoulders.
“Gimme a break, ok? This is the only way to know if he was here.”
She brushed her finger against it and then brought it to her mouth.
“It’s salty, a little bitter, and with the distinct flavor of Cool Ranch Doritos! It’s him!” Avery cheered, putting her hands in the air and flashing a very white smile.
“Yay,” Kendra muttered. “So we went through all that when he’s obviously not here anymore. What are we supposed to do now?”
Avery flung the condom at the window, where it stuck, and put her fist to her chin to think. She needed to find him as soon as possible. He had to know how she felt. She’d planned on getting to him before he went to work, but there was no longer any chance of that.
“We’ll have to put the drop on him when he shows up at his job,” she said, heading for the door. Sighing, Kendra got up and waded through the messy room.
Exiting the hotel, the two women marched into the packed parking lot. Avery came to a red sports car, letting her finger drag across the back end. Smiling, she came around to the driver’s side door. The inside was clean, had custom leather seating, and the speedometer went up past two hundred. She could see her reflection in the glass, and it made her feel warm inside. Casually, she slipped her fingers around the door handle, only to be interrupted from her reverie when Kendra called to her.
“Girl, what you doing? Your car’s over here!”
Deflated, Avery pulled her fingers off, and stepped backward from the car. Kendra stood a few spaces over at the passenger door of an old station wagon. Dragging her heels against the pavement, Avery approached her dirty, bulky vehicle. Despite having an air mattress and blankets in the back and honeybees pasted onto the windows, the whole thing was still a great embarrassment.
“Come on. Let’s just go,” she grumbled, pulling open the driver’s side door.
Chapter 2
Nero’s Neapolitan Pizzeria was crammed between the back end of a department store and a government office building. Carter had told Avery all about the dorks he worked with and the truck drivers and paper shufflers who patronized the place. It had been enough to ensure she’d never go there, until now. This was the only place she could be sure to find him today.
Her station wagon lurched down the small access road winding around the department store. Pulling into the pizzeria’s parking lot, Avery sighed and put her hand to her head when she looked at Kendra.
“Just stay here and play with your phone. It’ll be a good alibi for when the police pick you up later.”
Kendra ignored her, and Avery slid out of the car and approached the small, orange building. A chime went off when she opened the front door. Looking up at the counter, a red-haired, pimple-faced geek was already gawking at her. Avery rolled her eyes and immediately regretted coming in here. The guy’s lips were twitching, and she could tell his brain was frying from the effort of trying to come up with something to say.
“Ok, let’s get this over with. Gimme your best shot,” she said, crossing her arms. The young man, whose nametag read Michael, continued to twitch until he sputtered out a few words.
“I’ve got a spud gun that can fire a potato at over sixty miles an hour.”
“That’s what you say when you’re trying to hit on a girl? Oh my God! I hate to break this to you, but you’re probably going to die a virgin.”
Avery shook her head, drained of all enthusiasm. Michael actually seemed to relax now that the pressure of impressing her had faded.
“Look, I’m trying to find Carter. Is he back there?” she asked, peeking around him to the kitchen, where a couple of boys were playing with homoerotic-looking action figures on rolled out pizza dough.
“No, Carter’s not here,” Michael replied.
“Did he tell you to say that? Is he in the back somewhere? Don’t fuck around with me, dickwad. I have to see him!” she said, putting her hands on the counter.
“He’s not here, alright?” the boy whined. “In fact, you just missed him. He came in here at the beginning of his shift to quit. He went on this foaming rant telling us we could all go fuck ourselves, that he didn’t need this job anymore because of all his money, and that he’d been splooging in our freebie pies for years.”
Avery had to stop and think. It wasn’t like Carter to just spontaneously quit his job or tell people off. Something had hit him hard, and it made her shudder to think she may have been the cause.
“Which is strange because I always thought he was into making us free pies. They always tasted like Cool Ranch Doritos. Now I don’t know if he was grinding up the chips or if he had a bottle of the seasoning, but we always loved it when he’d make pizzas for us. We’re pretty broken up about it,” the boy rambled. An outburst of cheering came from the gaming nerds behind him.
Avery stepped away from the counter to think. If Carter wasn’t here, he could be anywhere. They could sit outside of his house, but he was much too popular to be home. The entire day was starting to seem like a big waste, and the longing in her heart intensified into a dull thudding that shot through her with every beat.
“If you want I could get you a slice,” Michael offered. When she looked at him, he was squeezing a pimple.
“No, I’ve eaten enough semen for today,” Avery replied, rejecting his attempt to cheer her up. She motioned to leave, but the sound of him clearing his throat brought her back. He had that dumbstruck gaze, and she knew he was going to make another pass.
“Now that Carter’s gone, we do have an opening. I could put in a good word for you.”
“Me? Making pizza? I’d never degrade myself like that! I’d sooner work in a Mexican whorehouse. At least then I’d get to travel.”
Anxious to get away, Avery slipped out the door and slid into her car. She leaned back in her seat and stared at the concrete wall facing her. The urge came to bash her head against it, but instead she just sulked and slumped back.
“How’d it go?” Kendra asked when she finally noticed Avery had returned.
“Not only is he not here, he quit!” Avery groaned. “This is turning into a nightmare. I’ll never find him.”
“Well, you can bet he’s probably going out tonight. When was the last time the boy stayed in? It’s just a matter of which club he’s going to.”
Kendra had a point, and sadly it was all Avery could scrape together. Just yesterday they were a happy couple who did everything together, and now she couldn’t even find him when she desperately wanted to. How had it spiraled out of control so quickly? The horror of it made her groan.
“Where could Carter possibly be?”
*
A cell phone rang in a duffel bag beside an outdoor basketball court. It harmonized with the steady noise of the ball banging against the floor.
“Just ignore it,” Carter advised his friends, who were in the middle of a two-on-two game. He squared off against a stringy black man named Daniel, whose shorts were so low they almost touched his shoes. Dribbling furiously, Carter swerved around him, leapt into the air, and sunk an easy lay-up.
“Alright, white boy. That’s the last time I let you drive it up my backside and dump it in the hole like that.”
“Maybe if you pulled your shorts up over your ass cheeks you might be able to catch me.”
Carter returned the ball to the top of the circle and prepared to put the ball in play when his phone started ringing again.
“Are you going to get that or are we gonna play every point to the tune of ‘Party in the U.S.A.’?” Daniel jabbed.
“I’m not answering it. She’s the last person on the face of the Earth I want to talk to,” Carter scowled.
“What the hell happened anyway?” his teammate Paul asked.
Not only did he not want to talk to Avery, he didn’t even want to think about her. But his friends deserved some sort of an explanation, and so he passed the ball away and grumbled as he thought about the best way to say it.
“There are just some things you can’t ever do to someone, and she did one of them. Now we’re through, and she can choke to death on her vibrator for all I care.”
“Sisters’ll do that to you,” Daniel sympathized. “It’s a shame we gotta live with ‘em at all. The world would be a better place if there was just dudes running around everywhere.”
Carter jogged off the court, reached into his duffel bag, and shut his phone off. The only reason he’d ever left it on was because Avery would scream at him when he didn’t, but he could do whatever he wanted now that he wasn’t talking to her. He’d hungered for that freedom before, but after this morning’s incident he wondered if it was worth it. Now he told himself he didn’t really need anything when his friends were around. Except, that wasn’t true.
“Why is it so hard to find a good girl?” he mused to his friends, who had dissolved their game and started to just shoot around. “Seems like as soon as you think you have one the crazy starts to leak out and she tries to rip your heart out through your asshole.”
Paul passed Carter the ball and jogged up next to him as he took a shot. His shirt was drenched in sweat while everyone else’s was dry. Some of the moisture sprayed Carter and distracted him.
“Don’t I know it, man,” Paul wheezed. “Just the other day this girl I was seeing turned out to be an illegal immigrant. I guess that’s what you get for picking up the smart girl in Spanish class. She got deported and now it’s like a part of me is gone forever.”
“She’ll probably just be back in a few days,” Daniel said, catching the ball as it fell through the hoop.
“That’s not exactly what I mean,” Carter corrected. “Hasn’t it ever occurred to you that girls are just deep down treacherous and manipulative?”
“Course, dude, all the time. But that’s everybody. The thing is that you have to wait for them to grow out of it. Give ‘em fifteen or twenty years and all of a sudden they forget they used to take pictures of their boobs and post them on the Internet,” Paul smiled.
“Fifteen or twenty years?” Carter moaned. “I don’t want to wait that long for someone who appreciates me for who I am, listens to what I have to say, and…”
“…has a pussy like a McDonald’s drive-thru,” Daniel interjected.
“You don’t have to wait. Women like that are already here,” Paul insisted. “I’ll tell you, when I was fourteen there was this secretary who worked at my dad’s dentist office. She knew how to take care of a boy like you wouldn’t believe. Plus she used to jam that little air hose they use to clean your teeth up my ass while we were doing it. You have no idea how good that feels! I just feel sorry for the people who came in for a cleaning afterward.”
“Older women, huh?” Carter contemplated, scratching his neck. He held the basketball against his side, and Daniel came up behind him and stole it. Carter immediately started chasing after him.
“You both got it dead wrong,” Daniel explained, dribbling around the court. “Younger women, older women, it makes no difference. It’s easy to get them to care about you, but it’s so much harder having your bros care about you.”
Daniel twisted around and drove for the hoop, making Carter backpedal to try and defend. Leaping into the air, Daniel dunked the ball and hung on the rim, his thighs landing on Carter’s shoulders.
“How’s it taste?” Daniel laughed.
“Ahh!” Carter hollered, his face buried.
He finally managed to wriggle out and take a few gasping breaths as he trotted away. His face looked like he’d just been on a roller coaster. Staggering toward his bag, he grabbed a towel to wipe himself off. His phone was right there, showing another message from Avery. He reached for it but checked himself. Feeling a quick flash of anger, he turned back to his friends.
“So where are we going tonight? I can’t wait to get hammered!”
“As long as we don’t go to another one of those fruity little clubs,” Daniel added. “I’m talking about a bar with bottles on the shelf, a DJ bumping, and plenty of meat in the jeans.”
“I guess that means we’ll be headed uptown to the Pirate’s Cove,” Paul declared.
“The Pirate’s Cove it is!” Carter agreed.
Chapter 3
Driving by the Pirate’s Cove, they noticed that the bar looked packed. There were flashing disco lights inside, people stumbling in and out, and a mean-looking bouncer keeping watch over the door. Avery and Kendra had spent an hour that night driving up and down the street of bars. Carter had to be in one of them, and Avery wouldn’t stop until she found him. Finally, a flash of silver caught her eye.
“Look! There’s his Porche in the parking lot. He’s got to be here!”
Finding a parking spot proved to be a problem, leaving Avery with no choice but to pull her station wagon in way up the street. They climbed out of the car and began walking back toward Pirate’s Cove. Avery had changed into sparkly slippers and a white dress, while Kendra wore jeans, a black button-up blouse, and big shiny earrings.
“Eri doesn’t think we’ll ever be able to get in here,” Kendra said, staring at her phone. “Carter has a fake ID after all.”
“We’re going to get in. Just trust me.”
It was a cool night. The streetlights momentarily illuminated people passing in the opposite direction. The two girls followed a small group heading toward the row of bars, and Avery hoped she would be able to slip in amongst them. But the group crossed the street to head somewhere else, and suddenly Avery had an unobstructed view of the massive black bouncer standing in the way of her love.
Keeping her head down, she attempted to plow right through the open entrance, but a hand caught her on the shoulder that was big enough to palm her skull. She looked up at him and his stern face.
“How old are you?” he asked.
“Old enough to party,” she said, and his face seemed to harden even more.
“Alright, I’m going to need to see some ID.”
Avery felt Kendra poke her in the back, but she waved her off and reached for her wallet. Sighing, she played up her frustration at this inconvenience.
“Fine. Here’s my license,” she said.
“This is a learner’s permit!” he gasped, cocking his head and dropping his mouth open.“So?” Avery groaned, putting her hands on her hips.
“You’re only sixteen! You have to be twenty-one to get in!” the bouncer explained, flipping the permit back to her.
“You don’t understand. I have to get in there!” Avery pleaded, getting in his face. “My boyfriend is inside, and if I don’t talk to him right now, my life will fall apart forever!”
She looked up at him, putting her hand on his arm, but the bouncer was unmoved. He nonchalantly waved in a few noticeably older looking people.
“The law’s the law,” he shrugged.
“Come on, Avery. Just give it up. There’s no way we’ll be able to get him in there,” Kendra lamented.
Avery hung her head and put her hand on her forehead. She had to figure out a way to make this man let her in.
“I’ll tell you what,” she said, looking him square in the eye. “If you let me in, I’ll let you take my friend Kendra here into the back alley for five minutes.”
A glimmer flickered in the bouncer’s eyes as her proposal registered. He started looking over Kendra, his sights settling on her exposed cleavage. His lips started to pucker and a broad grin revealed sparkling white teeth. The bulge in his pants looked like it could karate-chop a brick. Kendra looked up from her phone, her face slack and her eyes wide with astonishment.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me, Avery! He’ll dislocate my hip!” she wailed, but Avery was already walking into the dimly lit and crowded bar. Glancing over her shoulder, Avery happened to see a big arm wrap around Kendra’s waist and lift her off the ground.
Maneuvering through the crowd, Avery scanned each face for the sharp jaw line and tanned skin of her Carter. Between the loud music, flashing lights, and constant bustling, it was difficult to get a good look at anyone. As confident as she was, Avery felt small and alone.
To put herself in the right frame of mind, she decided a drink would do just the trick. It was hard to even see the bar for all the people around, but she elbowed her way forward and squeezed in between a few patrons. Shoving one out of the way, the man turned to her suddenly, worrying Avery that she’d inadvertently picked a fight.
“You wanna have a little fun tonight?” the man asked, smiling and offering a few pills in his hand.
“No, thanks. I don’t take any drugs I don’t make myself,” she countered, looking down the long counter for one of the bartenders. She waved her arm out and shouted, but her words disappeared within the noise. When a bartender finally came through, she grabbed him by the arm and gave him a yank.
“Give me a jack and coke, light on the coke.”
It took him a while to get around to making her drink, and in the meantime she huddled against the edge of the bar, looking down each end for Carter. She had seen his car; he had to be here somewhere. Receiving the glass and its dark contents, Avery slammed it down in one gulp, feeling the familiar burn wash down her throat. It was time to get down to business.
Facing the dance floor, she hadn’t taken a single step before an unsavory and thuggish male accosted her. Despite missing one of his front teeth, he grinned, glaring at her. His jean shorts were unbuttoned and unzipped. Sweat dripped from his hair and skin, and even amongst all these people he had a noticeable odor.
“How ‘bout you and me do a little dancing?” he drawled, bringing his arms up to perform a dance move reminiscent of Rock’em Sock’em Robots.
“I don’t think so,” she said, turning on the spot to head in a different direction. Weaving around a few people sipping drinks or waiting to get to the bar, she thought she’d lost him until she doubled back for the dance floor and saw him right there behind her.
“Just one dance, sugar plum,” he begged, looking none too humble about it.
“Stop following me. I’m on my way to the bathroom!” she covered, continuing away from the dance floor and toward the entrance. The bathrooms were off to the right, a long line of men and women waiting to get into each one. Avery brushed past them, disregarding their cries, and ducked into the ladies’ room.
The bathroom was even more packed than the bar, and Avery snuck along the wall, only stopping when she noticed a spot smeared with fecal matter. Hoping her nuisance would leave her alone if she just hid for a few minutes, she pulled out her phone to diddle away the time. She had a single message from Kendra that read simply, “Help!”
Rolling her eyes, she put her phone away and decided the coast must be clear. Pushing the door open and returning to the bar’s main interior, she groaned when she saw the hick yokel standing right there in front of her.
“Leave me alone!” she hollered, but this only seemed to upset him.
“Why you gotta be such a bitch!” he spat, reaching out for her arm.
“No one calls me that!” she growled. Curling in her toes, she kicked him in the shin with the front of her slippers. Agony flickered over his face, giving Avery enough time to push him back into the line of men waiting beside the bathroom. Instantly, shouting erupted and someone threw a punch at the bothersome hick. They piled on him, and soon the area was flooded with people trying to watch or join the fight. Slipping away, Avery returned to the bar and the dance floor, which now seemed so spacious.
“Where’s the bouncer!” one of the bartenders yelled, leaving his post and allowing a few drunks to grab bottles behind the counter. As much as stealing booze enticed Avery, she had more important work to do, and after her recent brush with sleeze she was more determined to do it than ever.
Finally reaching the dance floor, she was more hopeful than ever that she would find Carter and put this whole mess to bed. It had gone on way too long, and she was anxious to just forget about it. Weaving amongst dancers, she glanced frantically at everyone. Moving with the rhythm, she tried to at least give the impression she wasn’t there stalking someone.
The bass rung in her ears and pounded against her chest. The song was sexy and fast, and she felt her desires bloom. There were plenty of good-looking guys around, but only one could make her heart flutter.
And then she saw him. Carter was in the middle of the floor, lost within a crowd of people, dancing away with some slut who looked like she’d just washed up on the beach. But it wasn’t dancing though, it was more like dry humping. The girl had her ass pressed up again his crotch, and the two were just pounding away as if they were in a Holiday Inn elevator. He had a big smile on his face, as happy as can be.
A sick feeling swept over Avery, and she lost all energy to move. Watching him there with another girl felt like getting kicked in the stomach. Her mouth felt gritty and she became a little lightheaded. Closing her eyes, she just needed a moment to think about what to do. She had to do something, but all of these people bumping into her weren’t helping her decide. At the very least, she could tell he didn’t know she was there yet.
Taking a deep breath, she circled around behind Carter and the caboose he was grinding against. Raising her foot, Avery booted her in the backside right before the two could collide again. The girl went sprawling forward, knocking into another couple and falling to the floor. Carter twisted his neck to look back, and when he saw Avery his shocked face went pale.
“What, what, what are you doing?” he stammered.
“We have to talk!” Avery shouted, reaching for his forearm, but Carter recoiled and started distancing himself from her.
“We’re through, Avery! There’s nothing more to talk about!”
“No, wait!” she begged, but Carter had already slipped into the crowd. Biting her lip, she knew she couldn’t let him go until he heard her out. She went after him, and he moved for the exit even faster. In disbelief that he would actually run away from her, she swallowed the embarrassment and chased him.
Carter slipped out the entrance and broke right toward his car. Avery pushed another girl out of the way and spilled outside where Kendra was waiting for her. She stood plainly, looking a bit confused. The bouncer was nowhere to be found.
“He just cried and told me to hold him,” she said.
“Did you see Carter? We’ve got to hurry!” Avery jabbered, sprinting by her. Kendra was a much faster runner, and she quickly caught Avery just a little ways up the sidewalk. They both stopped dead as Carter’s Porche pulled out from the parking lot right in front of them and entered the street. He had an angry grimace on his face, which only further incited Avery.
“I’m not letting him get away!” she said, jogging past the vacant driveway toward her station wagon up the road. Mercifully, he got caught at a red light, and she kept her eyes on the shiny silver car the entire time she ran. Kendra was already climbing in when Avery made it around to the driver’s side door. She threw herself in and jammed the key in the ignition.
“Come on, you piece of shit!” she howled. The engine sputtered, turning over once and then twice before coming to life. “Thank God!”
The light changed and Carter and his Porche took off down the road. Avery pulled out and followed him, cutting off another car. Though her foot was on the floor, she still couldn’t keep up. They traveled away from the bars, entering a section of town that had little life in it at this late hour.
Carter cruised under a yellow light, and Avery smacked the wheel as it turned red. Clenching her teeth, she kept her foot on the gas and sailed through the red light. Kendra braced herself against the dashboard. A car horn blasted, but Avery didn’t look back. Worried she would lose him, she wondered what she would do if he got away.
But the streetlights were working in her favor. Carter raced toward a red light, but instead of stopping he turned into a McDonald’s parking lot. Avery’s eyes grew wide and she took a quivering breath. This was her chance. She jerked the car to the side of the road, leaned over to push open the door, and shoved Kendra out.
“I think I saw a cotton field!”
“That’s really degrading!” Kendra yelped, but Avery had already driven off, the passenger side door hanging open. Pulling into the McDonald’s drive-thru, she entered via the exit, a thin road curving around the building to an empty parking lot in the back. Carter was turning his vehicle around when Avery popped out. They both slammed on the breaks, their cars stopping just inches apart. She’d blocked him.
Chapter 4
Avery could see him reaching for the shifter. He looked over his shoulder to the entrance, the only possible way out. It had to be here. It had to be now. She threw open the door and leapt out, shouting to him as he started in reverse.
“Please stop avoiding me! Can’t we talk for one minute?” she cried at the top of her lungs. The car continued to recede, and he swung the wheel to turn himself around. She could clearly see his face because the convertible top was down. He could hear her, but he was ignoring her even now.
“Carter Thomson, be a man and come talk to me!” she screeched. A look of disgust contorted his face. His brake lights came on and the car stopped. His lips moved, and she was glad she couldn’t hear how he cursed her. The driver’s door swung wide open and Carter got to his feet. Seething mad, he pointed at her and stalked forward.
“We’ve got nothing to talk about! You messed up big time, Avery Leigh. I’m done listening to your excuses. I won’t hear any more of your lies. I’m through with all of it!” he snarled.
His tone shook Avery, who felt both nervous and inflamed. Carter had always been passionate, but it felt weird to see his ire brought so strongly against her. They’d fought before, but they’d never been at such a crucial crossroads. Avery took a deep breath, the oxygen filling in her lungs and seeming to stretch all the way into her toes and fingers. She felt confident, because if there was one thing she loved to do, it was fight.
“Don’t you dare give me that! I’ve treated you like a god, and then as soon as I make one tiny slip-up you’re ready to bury me? I don’t even know what the problem is. That’s not fair and you know it. Now how about you grow a pair of balls, we accept that we sometimes make mistakes, and let’s move on and put this behind us.”
Incensed, Carter set his hand on his face. No matter how angry he got, it didn’t make him any less attractive. He had on a pair of jeans and a polo shirt, and altogether he looked like something out of a magazine ad.
“A tiny slip-up? You’re such a bitch,” he snapped.
“You know better than to call me that, you fucking asshole!” she spat.
“You’re flatter than a pancake!”
“If your dick were a month it’d be February! Shorter than the rest and over before you know it!” she screeched, suddenly freezing up and becoming self-conscious. She’d lost control for a moment. “No, no, I didn’t mean that. It’s average. Really.” She curled her hand under her chin and tried to think of how to recover.
“Look at what you just did. That’s what I’m talking about!” Carter said, though he’d lost some of his anger too. He sounded more thoughtful and contemplative all of a sudden. “I don’t think you’re right for me, Avery. Maybe you never were. So why don’t we just accept that and part ways?”
It hurt Avery to hear him speak so evenly about breaking up. She could see that to him it was already a foregone conclusion, and it made her feel like she was falling. Grasping at straws, she had to find a way to bring him back from the brink.
“But that’s not true. We belong together. I love you, Carter. Don’t forget about how we like to plant condoms in toy stores or steal tokens from kids at the arcade. It’s all those sweet memories that make me care about you so much.”
But Carter shook his head, blocking out her arguments.
“It wasn’t all like that. You’re leaving a lot out. I guess you never realized how embarrassing it was for you to talk to your friends about me. I never get a chance to do my homework because you’re always distracting me. If you cared about me so much, how come you do everything you can to have such a negative impact on my life?”
Avery opened her mouth, but no words would come out.
“That’s why I need to find a good girl, one who will actually try to help me with things. There’s got to be someone out there who’s innocent, maybe a bit naïve, but always has the best of intentions. You’re jaded and cynical, and it makes me sad to think some of that’s rubbed off on me. It’s time for a fresh start with someone who doesn’t know about all the bad parts of the world,” he mused.
Taking a step closer, Avery looked him in the eyes and carefully reached for his arm. He didn’t pull away, and she felt that connection that always sent a soft warmth through her cheeks. It was like she was speaking with his soul.
“Carter, the kind of girl you’re looking for doesn’t exist. We all want some kind of perfect angel, but we’re down here on the ground where we have to make choices and deal with reality. Every girl does something you won’t like, shoot heroin before math class, cheat on her…taxes, or shave her armpits. So really, there’s nothing wrong with me at all. We can be happy together again just as soon as you realize that.”
A sour look dawned on his face, and he flinched away from her. She didn’t know what she said to make him have such a reaction, but it wasn’t what she intended. Maybe she’d finally convinced him to come back to her. He threw his arm down, scaring her with a sudden glare of icy malice. There was only one card for him to play with a look like that.
“Nothing wrong with you? You said you were glad my mother died so I could use the inheritance money to buy you breast implants for your birthday!”
“Now, come on. I never—”
“I heard you!” he shouted into her face. “When you were lying next to me talking on your phone, I wasn’t asleep.”
“Look, I’m sorry. Ok? It just slipped out. Sometimes I say things I don’t mean. You know that. I can’t be held responsible for every little thing I happen to say. I say things all the time! I never meant to hurt you.”
Carter didn’t appear satisfied, and his angry scowl remained. If she hadn’t known any better, Avery would’ve thought that he hated her. As it was, she hoped he was only conflicted.
“You’re only as good as your word, Avery,” he said, his bitterness subsiding. “What am I supposed to go on if not what you say?”
“Go on what I do then, Carter. I sat next to you at your mother’s funeral. I cried when you gave your eulogy about her fight with cancer. I’ve faked it a lot in my life, but I wasn’t faking that.”
Sighing, Avery wished she could hold him. He didn’t want to argue like this. She blamed the grieving process for making him latch onto her one little comment and blow it out of proportion. Shaking his head, Carter crossed his arms in front of his chest.
“I can’t forgive you for what you said. It just doesn’t make any sense to me. What kind of a person would say that? Deep down, you’re just a nasty person with an evil spirit who doesn’t care about anyone but yourself. It makes me sorry I ever loved you.”
Avery felt like a puppet on a string. One moment, she felt hopeful she was getting through to him, and the next she wanted to stab him in the chest with a knife.
“Really? Is that what you really think?” she glowered, standing up to him. She was tired of taking all the blame. “Considering how you reacted, I don’t think I was out of line at all. What did you do the very same day you cashed that inheritance check? You bought this fancy car. What did you do after that? You fight with your girlfriend so you can justify sleeping around with fleabag whores in sleazy hotel rooms. Oh yeah, what a way to honor your dead mother.”
Gritting his teeth, Carter reached back his hand. He looked ready to slap her, but then he closed his fist and held it to his chest. He sniffled, looking ashamed and cowering before Avery’s unwavering gaze.
“Give me a break, ok? My mom just died. I don’t know what I’m doing. When something catastrophic like this happens, people act out to compensate for the loss. It’s a defense mechanism to protect me from the pain,” he quibbled.
“That’s not how it works,” Avery pressed. “If you’re able to understand your behavior, you’re capable of changing it. Don’t hide behind an explanation you found in a psychology textbook. Take some control and do what you know you need to. Let’s just get through this together.”
They stood in silence for a time, looking into each other’s eyes one moment and letting them wander around the dark, empty McDonald’s parking lot the next. The sound of a car racing up the street echoed around them. Glowing light from the restaurant’s menu board bathed them. Finally, Avery thought she had him back.
“Come on, the Honey Wagon is right here waiting for us. The air mattress is full. There are blankets. We don’t even have to go anywhere tonight.”
She smiled at him, brushing back her hair and then extending her hand. For a moment he looked like he might take it, but then he shivered visibly and retreated back to his car.
“I can’t forgive you. You’re just not the right kind of girl for me. Goodbye,” he stated, pulling open the door and sliding into the driver’s seat. As if her heart were tethered to the car, she felt it rip out when he drove away. Suddenly alone, she put her hand to her head and racked her brain to figure out what just happened. A few moments later, the mannequin next to the McDonald’s menu board emitted a static-ridden voice.
“Boy, that wasn’t what you wanted at all,” an adolescent male voice crackled.
“I hate my life.”
Chapter 5
On the way home, Avery barely touched the gas, letting her station wagon roll down the empty streets in the middle of the night. Her neighborhood was anything but affluent. Modest one and two story homes lined the roads, some with chipped paint or junk on the lawn. A few other cars were parked here and there. They were ugly enough to make Avery’s look good by comparison.
Pulling into her driveway, she heard a loud crunching sound. Sure another hassle would kill her, she got out to find she’d run over her little sister’s small pink bicycle with tassels streaming from the handlebars. There was nothing she could do about it now, so she trudged inside her dirty two-story home, desperate to get some sleep.
The ground floor was dark and quiet, smelling of PineSol even though the place wasn’t close to being clean. It depressed her to pass a torn couch and a broken window. She also noticed light slipping under the closed door under the stairs. Avery’s mother spent her night’s typing her pipe dreams into an old word processor, sure her days of being a famous author were just around the corner. Avery had learned long ago which creaky steps she would need to avoid to get upstairs unnoticed.
A sound disturbed her ears as she snuck to her room, and it wasn’t the sound of clacking on a keyboard. Muffled cries of passion leaked through the walls, which was unusual for this house unless she was the one making them. Reaching the top, the moaning and grunting unmistakably came from her room, and she threw open the door and switched the light on to find some of her friends, three guys and two girls, engaged in unspeakable sexual acts on her bed. All five of them turned their shocked eyes to Avery, who released a throaty groan of her own.
“Oh, come on, guys! This isn’t my fourteenth birthday party! Get out of here!” she demanded.
The glum group disengaged from each other and quickly went about grabbing their clothes and scampering out the door. One by one, mostly naked bodies whizzed by Avery, including one young man who looked as though he hadn’t gotten any presents on Christmas morning.
“But I didn’t cum yet,” he whined.
“Then go find an empty 2-liter Coke bottle, you stumpy little prick!” she howled, booting him out the door. The room smelled of sex, and there were lubricant stains on her sheets. Disgusted, Avery went back out into the hallway. “Who let you in anyways? Mom!”
Stomping on every step, Avery descended the stairs. Some rustling came from within the tiny room underneath, but she continued into the living room and collapsed onto their big, cheap couch. If she hadn’t felt so frustrated and dejected, she could’ve fallen asleep right there.
The door underneath the stairs dragged against the floor as it opened. Avery’s mother, Candice, latched onto the wall as she stumbled through the living room’s entranceway. Her hand groped along until she found the light switch. She recoiled at the sudden illumination, trying to block it from shining onto her bloodshot, wandering eyes. The woman’s greasy blonde hair was a mess, and her thong underwear rode up onto the sides of her bare midriff.
“Are you high again, mom?” Avery groaned, as her mother teetered over and fell onto the other side of the couch.
“A bitty bit, dear. It helps my writing,” Candice muttered, nearly incoherent. She tried to smile, but her stained teeth disgusted Avery.
“No, it doesn’t! Every time you write when you’re high, you always churn out this gibberish nonsense about how dad ruined your life, destroyed your body with two kids, and always fell asleep too quick after sex. Correct me if I’m wrong, but nobody wants to read about that stuff.”
Candice rolled her head against her shoulder and stuck her pinky in her ear until it almost vanished inside.
“Did I ever tell you ‘bout how you were conceived?” she asked, her eyelids sagging.
“I don’t want to know. I wish you hadn’t let my friends in. I feel like I need some time to think.”
“I was getting’ out of the shower, clothes off, naked as a Sp-Ed kid. Reached for a towel to dry myself off, went to the mirror, but slipped and fell to the ground like a ton of bricks. Seems your old man—Leon, that drunk bastard—lost track of his seed after a wank-session not too long before. Came right down on top of it and got a bruise this big around. He wouldn’t touch my ass for a week, saying it looked ‘bout to fall off, but that wasn’t the only surprise. Just goes to show, even the hardest falls can bring an unexpected miracle,” Candice babbled, smiling and reaching out for Avery, who slapped her hand away.
“That’s great, mom. Just what I wanted to hear.”
Scolded, Candice’s eyes started to mist up. She clutched her smacked hand to her breast and gazed solemnly at her oldest daughter.
“Why, you right, baby doll. No need to bring up bad memories. You gotta be depressed as hell. Ain’t nothin’ worse than getting’ dumped by a no-good man.”
Astonished, Avery turned her eyes to her mother. If she couldn’t even keep up the lie that she and Carter were still together to her mom, there was no one left who would believe it.
“How’d you hear about that? Did my friends tell you?” she sniped, shaking her head. Candice took a deep breath and nodded.
“Mom, listen to me. You’ve got to stop hanging out with my friends. They’re going to be a bad influence on you.”
“Oh, come now,” Candice mumbled.
“No, I’m serious! You’ve got to clean yourself up. Find a job. I’ve seen the stacks of bills hidden next to the vibrators in your dresser. They’re going to evict us any day now. I can’t live on the street. We need money. I just don’t know what to do!” Avery cried, bringing her hands to her face.
“It’s only money,” Candice shrugged. “What’s really bothering you?”
Before Avery could even shut out the question, she peeked through her fingers to her mother and the healthy C-cup she filled out. Some of her cleavage showed, and jealousy raged through Avery to glance at it.
“Why didn’t you give me your boobs?” she asked, and Candice chuckled, though it hadn’t been a joke at all.
“I’m sorry, baby doll. I did the best I could. But there’s more important things to a woman than that, like how well she can attract a man with some money, what she has that puts other gals to shame, and how round her bottom is.”
“That’s easy for you to say,” Avery grumbled. “You don’t know what it’s like to be the only girl on the beach as flat as the surfboards. I like to hang out with third graders now just to make myself feel better about it.”
“You don’t have any trouble getting attention from boys though. Obviously there’s more to it than just what you carry around up top,” Candice argued.
“Yeah, but I don’t seem to do a very good job keeping them. Do you have any idea what I could do with your boobs? I’d be invincible!”
Candice sighed, looking down and admiring herself.
“Well, I don’t know what to tell you, dear. You wanna go grab a knife?”
“Alright!” Avery agreed, jumping up onto her feet and turning to the kitchen. But she sank back down just as quickly. “No, that won’t solve anything. I’ll just have to go on living this way and hope Carter’ll take me back even though he could swipe me like a credit card.”
Glancing over, she noticed her mother’s eyes were closed and her mouth was open. Avery silently got up to slip away to her room, but Candice still managed to wake. Her sudden outburst made Avery flinch.
“I don’t know why you’re in such a hurry to find a steady guy anyway. At your age, you should just be having fun and experimenting. That’s what I did! Leastways your sister seems to have the right idea about it, or she did. Hoo boy!”
“What do you mean by that?” Avery jerked back, wide-eyed. Her heart must’ve skipped three beats. Nothing scared Avery more than the thought of something happening to her sister.
“Didn’t you hear? Little Lori’s knocked up! She’s got guts. I’ll give her that,” Candice chuckled.
“You can’t be serious! And you’re happy about this? She’s only twelve years old! She’s got such an awful memory. It’s pull out and pray. You can’t forget the second half!”
Her mother stared at her strangely, and Avery realized there was nothing left for her to do but confront her latest torture. She went to the stairs, fuming over the thought of her little sister pregnant. It broke her heart to see Lori become something just like herself, all despite her best efforts to protect her from the cold and bitter world.
Lori’s door had a poster of some pre-pubescent male pop-singers on it. Twisting the handle, Avery threw it open and flicked on the light. There were dolls, dollhouses, and old Nalgene bottles on the floor. More posters of boys spotted the walls. Her sister slept on a single bed under a pink, unicorn-print comforter. Shoulder-length brown hair, just a bit curlier than Avery’s, fanned out around her head on the pillow.
“Wake up, Lori! I guess I’m lucky I found you alone!” Avery growled, pulling off the comforter and revealing her sister’s pink pajamas.
“Ahh!” Lori squealed, writhing and rubbing her eyes. “What’s going on? Did Dad come back again?”
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