Page 25 of Professional Consult
The door to my bedroom opens and out steps Lexi in a pair of my brother’s old sweats from around puberty.
He’s always been tall, so the pants are bunched up at her ankles, and the shirt seems to hang off of her. It’s cute and strangely intimate.
She holds up a poster and unrolls it. “Did your brother really have this on his wall?”
When I see what’s on it, I nearly double over as I burst out in laughter. I’d forgotten all about the poster Clint had of Lexi on his wall.
“He did.”
“Do you have a pen? So I can autograph it?”
I grab a sharpie and hand it to her.
“Let’s see…how does,‘To Clint, my biggest fan. With love, Lexi Dash’sound?”
“Too good to be true. Would you mind taking a picture with it so I can send it to him?”
“Not at all.”
Lexi finishes signing, then holds the poster up with a smirk that’s smug as hell and the perfect taunt for my brother. I snap a picture, insert it into Clint’s text box, and hit SEND.
“Now what?” she chirps, standing way too close to me for me to think straight. Her skin is laced with the scent of my soap, but underneath it, there’s her. A soft, floral, feminine odor that threatens to turn my brain to jelly.
“Now, I get dressed and we drive into the station.”
“Do you work alone during your shift?”
“Our dispatchers are set up to work from home because one’s wheelchair-bound and it got to be a lot for her to come in each day. Barb shares the shift with me, but one of us is always out on patrol.”
“What if something big happens?”
“There ain’t a one of us that wouldn’t drop what we’re doing in a heartbeat to help out, and if shit really goes down, other towns would rally to support us. It’s what we do around here.”
“That sounds…nice.”
“I’ll be back in a few. I need to get ready.”
The bathroom is…different. Bottles are moved, my soap is damp, and my floss is on the opposite side of the sink.
I hold the soap, imagining Lexi running it across her neck, over her breasts, to the junction between her thighs. I wonder what a bar of soap that’s been pressed against Lexi’s pussy would sell for on eBay. It’s got to be a fortune, not that I could ever part with it.
Fuck,what’s wrong with me?
Getting ready takes longer because I’m a little disoriented by the change up. I try not to let the invasion of my personal space get to me, but the truth is, I’m not upset at all. A small part of me is almost pleased about sharing my place with a woman. I want to make it more presentable for her so that she’s comfortable and her needs are met.
But somehow I doubt Lexi Dash will be comfortable in anything less than five-star accommodations. This has got to be akin to camping for her.
But some women like camping. It makes them primal with lustful need…or is that just my imagination?
What am I even thinking? I’ve been lonely for too fucking long.
I used to think I’d find someone to share my life with, pass the time, grow my family, but I’ve long since given up that dream. The pool of single women in Pond Spring is small, and most are already taken.
I’d tried online dating for a time and even flew a few women out to see me. Things seemed to go great, and I honestly think they liked me. But in the end, not a single one of them wanted to relocate to Pond Spring. And how could I blame them?
I’ve thought about leaving, but where would I go? Pond Spring is all I’ve ever known, and I’m not like Clint. I’ve never had his luck, and there isn’t any particular place I’d like to be. I know I’m not cut out for the city, and moving to another small town could put me in the same situation I’m in right now.
It’s better to live with hard truths than to keep hoping for something you aren’t meant for.
