Page 36 of Road Trip
Chapter Ten
Abra
Lord, God in Heaven, how had this happened to me? I had pretty much lost all hope that I would ever find anyone I wanted to commit to, to share my life with. Here he was being all perfect…what the hell did I have to offer a guy like Kelly? He didn’t even have a clue how fucked up my life could be. He was falling for the shiny happy Abra, not the dark, brooding Abra. I hadn’t even told him about my family responsibilities yet. Talk about a boner-killer.
And that call. I knew deep down it had to do with Mom. No one called me, like actually called me, except Gran. Everyone else texted me. Sure, it could have been another call for Kelly, but I just knew. Had there been another incident? I didn’t want to even take a chance of letting that possibility invade my happy space right now.I climbed off his lap. “I’m going to shower. I’ll see you in a bit?” I closed the door behind me and leaned back against it.
What the hell had I gotten myself into? Why did I go and open my big mouth and ask him to run away with me? I was having so much fun with him, I was afraid of how much I felt for this guy, especially that I was keeping things from him.
I took a shower, making sure to groom appropriately. Getting all dolled up always made me feel more confident and positive about life. I put on sunscreen and opted for a red sundress with black and white skulls on it and bows on the shoulders. I took extra time with my hair, blowing it, using my hot rollers to make big curls, then spraying the shit out of it. I donned some thick, black eyeliner and mascara and did my lips red to match the dress. I stepped back and looked at myself in the full-length mirror. My eyes looked bright and there was a glow to my cheeks I didn’t attribute totally to the sun yesterday. I’d just finished slipping on my Chucks when Kelly came in all sweaty from his run. He took one look at me and collapsed onto the bed.
I curtsied. “You like?”
“That’s an understatement. Come here.” He tried to pull me to him, but I batted away his sweaty hands.
“You need to shower, babe. I’m ready to go see Sunny! The parks opened an hour ago.”
He grinned up at me. “I like it when you call me babe.”
I leaned down and brushed noses with him. “Yeah, well, it fits. I don’t know. Farm Boy was cute, but we’ve moved past that, haven’t we?” I pulled back and said, “Now go shower before you get me all sweaty!”
He got up with a groan and pulled his shirt off on the way to the bathroom. His back was such a work of art. I’d never seen anything so breathtaking, not even in a magazine! It made me wonder where all of those muscles came from. It seemed like he’d done more than just hang at the gym.
“Hey, Kelly? Did you play any sports?”
He slid his shorts off in the doorway and tossed them over in his pile. I swallowed hard.
“I played baseball all the way through college. Mostly I played that long for the scholarship money. I’ve mainly done weightlifting since then.” That was so awesome.
“What position?”
He turned and looked at me with a grin. “You’re keeping me from my shower, doll. You’ll just have to save that question for our walk over to the park.”
He shut the door to the bathroom and it was my turn to collapse on the bed. Wow. He was incredibly beautiful. It was a tad unsettling watching him parade around nearly naked when we hadn’t even had intercourse yet. I’d spent an awful lot of time naked around him, and yet he seemed so in control. I thought to myself,that’s it. You’ve lost your touch, Abe. You can’t keep a young guy like him interested anymore.-But then I remembered how he felt underneath me in the chair. He’d been rock hard and his trembling hadn’t gone unnoticed either. I had to take him at his word that he really wanted me. It was going to be tough.
Kelly was ready to go in less than fifteen minutes. He’d put on a clean pair of tan cargo shorts and a navy blue tank. Today he’d opted for the flip-flops.
I frowned. “Are you going to be okay to walk in those all day?”
He shrugged. “I’m a barefoot kinda guy and those boots do not breathe. I’ll be fine. If not, I think I read that there’re some shops nearby. I’ll probably need some more clothes at some point…” He frowned a little.
“The CHP dude called,” I blurted out, hoping he wouldn’t be angry. “I didn’t want to wake you last night and, well, this morning...he wants you to call as soon as possible. I’m sorry. I’m not good at being your secretary. We might need to get you a new phone sooner—”
“I made a couple of calls from the lobby before I came back up here. My insurance is taking care of the car stuff and I think I know what he was calling about. My insurance guy said that my car was found about twenty miles from the rest stop on a back road somewhere. Those guys had torched it. It’s totaled and I’ll be getting a nice check when I get back to buy a new car. My lieutenant already took care of all the work items that were in the car. I called in and she said she’d have new gear for me when I got back, that the police department insurance would cover it. I just hope they catch those guys.”
“I’m glad you got that taken care of,” I said, though I was concerned over how chipper he was given the news. I was still waiting for him to fall apart. Way too many stressful situations were on his plate, but he seemed determined to keep moving forward. “That has to have you breathing a little easier.”
He smiled and nodded. “Now let’s go PLAY! I want to go PLAY,” he whined.
I laughed with him and let him drag me to the door. “Oh! Wait!” I took my lipstick out of my purse and my cards. I started to stick them in my bra, and then looked at his many-pocketed shorts. “I don’t want to carry my purse.”
He held out his hand. “Let me. I can take your phone, too.”
I had it tucked in my bra and just the corner was sticking out.
“That’s okay,” I said hurriedly. I didn’t want to take the chance he might see a text, or God forbid, another phone call from home. He gave me a confused look and then shrugged. I should have known he might get suspicious. I tried to play it off by bouncing over to him, giving him a kiss on his chin. “Let’s go play!”
Once we were out of the room we were like kids. We ran to the elevator, bounced on our feet trying to hurry the car down to the lobby, and then we dashed over to the concierge.
