Page 6 of Erase Me
“No one you had to call?Or no one who gets upset if you and I have sex.”
“Yes to both.I’m not into relationships.”
“Why not?”
“I move around too much.”
“You don’t have sex?”
“Oh, I have sex.And I’m good at it.We were talking about relationships and commitment.”
There was a time in my life when a statement like that would have prompted a thousand and one more questions from me.But not anymore.Not in this situation.He already had me hooked.
“That settles it.”I lifted myself on my toes and kissed him, hot enough, thoroughly enough that the front of his jeans pressing against me told me I had his attention.
“Fuck lunch,” he breathed.“Let’s go.”
We were one group away from getting a table.“How about food?”
“I’ll feed you after.”He took my hand, and we pulled out of line.
“Where are we going?”I asked.
“Where are you staying?”
“Renting a house a couple of blocks over, on Avenida Victoria.”
“Lead the way.”
“No.Any of my girlfriends could get in today.This morning, in fact.I’m not into explaining us.Where are you staying?”
“The same street, actually.”
“Your place it is, then.”
Half a block up crowded Delmar, we took a right and into an open parking area connecting two blocks.The lot was a chaotic mix of parked cars, surfboards strapped to roof racks, and families loading their finds from the farmer’s market.
“Please tell me you have nobody who will pop in unannounced,” I teased, trying to match my steps to his long strides.
“No roommates, no neighbors that I’ve met yet.You’re my first and only friend in San Clemente.”
“I can’t remember the last time I was first at something.”
“We’ll see if we can fix that right now.”
I don’t know which one of us first saw the man squatting next to his pile of belongings at the end of the parking lot.He was directly in our path.We both reacted and tried to go around him.But the disheveled stranger suddenly sprang to his feet, blocking our way.He wore worn, grimy clothing that clung to a thin frame.His unwashed hair hung in greasy tangles, partly obscuring his eyes, which flickered with intensity as he stared at us.
Reed’s fingers tightened around my hand.
The stranger’s face was etched with scars, a roadmap of past battles, and his eyes darted about, constantly surveying the surroundings nervously.From where we stood, a couple of steps away, the musty odor of the man’s clothing clashed starkly with the lunchtime aroma wafting from the surrounding restaurants.
Reed pulled my hand and we tried to move around him, but the stranger continued to block our path.
“You.”He pointed a gnarled and dirty finger at Reed, his voice a jarring mixture of anger and desperation.“I’ve seen you before.”
My eyes flicked to Reed.A mixture of wariness and confusion marked his expression.
“I doubt it.”
