Karen
Bang, bang, bang.
My head was pounding along with the door. I stretched my arms wide and blinked repeatedly, surprised to find myself completely naked.
Memories began to flood back. Red. The video. Dewey. My house. Shit. Bottle.
“Bottle!”
I blinked again and looked to my side just as I felt the bed shift. I saw the toned, tattooed man next to me sit up and scratch the back of his head, the movement rippling his chest.
I bit my lip and grinned. There are worse ways to wake up with a headache. And hey, I was doing better than the day before. This time the guy was still here.
“What is it?” shouted Bottle.
“We got him! I’ve found him!” came the ecstatic voice from outside. It was the young guy from yesterday. What was his name. Tease. Time. Tidy. Turner. Twist. That was it.
“No shit? Did you call the boys? I’ll be out in a minute.”
“T-Bone and Gauge are here already.”
I looked at Bottle who now stood naked in the center of the room, glancing up at a clock on the wall. It was 10 a.m. but it felt like six.
“Tell them I’ll be out in a minute.”
He turned to look at me, not bothering to cover himself. I didn’t mind, I could have looked at him all morning long. “You coming?”
I shrugged, feeling a little self-conscious. Why should I have been? I’d slept with the guy for God’s sake. Who the fuck knows how the mind works.
He’d turned around again and was pulling on some clothes. While he was facing away from me I used the opportunity to pull on my underwear and jeans. I had to buy some more, I thought.
Shit, I needed to buy more everything. I let out a sigh.
“What?” asked Bottle.
“Nothing. Everything.” I answered.
He laughed. “I get you.”
He wandered over to me and placed a hand on my bare waist. “Let’s get this fucker today.”
I nodded and began to pull my t-shirt over my head.
He held up the t-shirt with his other hand, and ran his right hand up my belly and slipped it under my bra, squeezing my right breast. I stared at him not knowing how to respond.
He gave me a wink.
“Let’s go.”
A moment later his hand was gone and I stood there bemused for a second, before finishing pulling the t-shirt on.
***
Twist started to speak at a hundred miles an hour, words and spittle flying out of his mouth. “See, I have this friend, see. From school. When I was in school, before I dropped out, see?. And anyway, my friend, Tony, he dropped out too, see? And Tony couldn’t get a—”
Gauge smacked the table hard with the bottom of a bottle of beer causing a loud thunk. “Get to the point.”
Twist gulped. “Gecko’s Motel. Tony said he checked in last night, or at least some weird preppy guy did, and his car is there now, see?”
“Gecko’s? That shithole’s still open? Huh. And Red?” asked Bottle.
“I don’t know, Tony said he doesn’t know. He said the guy has a ‘Do not disturb’ sign up on his door. I told him not to go in.”
“Did you see him?” I asked.
Twist gave me a blank stare, confused, before realization dawned. “Oh, I haven’t been there. I spoke to him on the phone, it’s like twenty miles away, see? I couldn’t get there and back yet.”
Bottle’s chair scraped across the sticky floor. “Alright people, let’s roll the fuck out. Twist, your friend wouldn’t have done anything stupid, would he? Like let on that we were coming?”
Twist shook his head violently. “No way. I told him to stay in the office, see? Told him not to even look. Told him he could be dangerous and I’d handle it.”
“You’d handle it?” asked Bottle.
“Uh. I mean we.”
Bottle shook his head. “Nuh-uh. You stay here. Clean this place up, it’s a shit-hole.”
Twist looked a little dejected but did not complain. “Sure thing. I’ll tidy up here, make it clean as a whistle, see?”
The other men rose, and I did too, though with a little hesitation. Would I be left behind too or was I expected to tag along?
Bottle glanced and me and nodded his head toward the door. “Come on, let’s go.”
I grabbed my cell phone off the table and forced it uncomfortably into the tight pocket of my jeans. T-Bone and Gauge were ahead of us as we walked out the door. Bottle wrapped a comforting arm over my shoulder and gave me a squeeze before we got to his motorcycle. My lips curled up and warmth spread through me again. How did he know I needed that?
He grabbed a helmet for me, and before too long we were rolling down the road, heading for a motel that was not just named after a lizard, but apparently owned by one if the name Gecko’s was anything to go by.