Keeping Faith (16 page)

“I can’t believe you took that job! What are you trying to prove?” Faith asked angrily.

“Me? I’m just making a little money.” Reece replied innocently.

“Oh, suddenly you’re wanting for money?”

Reece stood up. “No, but maybe I want some extra to buy you a present.”

Faith stood too. “Bullshit! You’re being spiteful. Don’t give me that shit.”

Reece stood silently. Was she? She had to be. She had no interest in making more money. Not ready to admit it, she stayed quiet.

The bed between them they just looked at each other. It was uncomfortable and Reece didn’t know how to handle it.

Faith watched in frustration as Reece began gathering clothes. “Where are you going?”

“You heard your mother, I stink. I need a shower.”

“We’re not done yet!”

“I gotta go.”

Faith growled and threw herself on the bed. Angry at Reece, she threw her wife’s pillows on the floor and stared at them. “Stupid! You’re being stupid!” she yelled into the bathroom. Reece closed the door and turned on the shower. Faith sighed and rolled over. Her mother was downstairs, no sense in screaming.

Reece let the hot water run over her head. She stood there a long time, not moving, just letting the water run over her ears, her eyes, blocking out sound, blocking out sight. She wanted to stay like that forever, the water drowning out reality. She bent her head, breathing through her mouth, she reached out and leaned both hands on the wall in front of her; her head hung lower. Spite. It was spite. Faith was right. Why else would she set herself up to work with half naked women, she had to touch. After the tirade Faith threw at first mention of the job prospect, it was clear as day she didn’t want Reece to do it. Why? Reece felt like an ass. Again.
Why do I keep doing this? I don’t want to fight with Faith. I don’t like how it feels when she’s really mad at me. And she is mad. Fuck.

Faith opened the bathroom door silently and looked in. Reece’s posture told the story of her thoughts. She knows she’s wrong. Maybe she didn’t realize it when she did it, or she wouldn’t look so… defeated. Faith silently left the room and went back to the bed. She sat there and thought about her wife and how she reacts to things. Reece was acting out, she always acts out. Would it be so bad to let her do this training? Reece would never do anything to lose Faith’s trust. That was a given. It would also allow Reece the opportunity to feel a sense of satisfaction for herself if she’s letting Faith do her thing. Maybe Faith can accept that if she’s going to be simulating actual sex with Alicia Alvarez, Reece can train a few women. Fair is fair after all. Isn’t it?

When Reece finally emerged from her shower she looked sad. She was surprised to see Faith sitting on the bed. “You’re still here?”

Faith smiled. “Come here, sit down.”

Reece complied. “Faith, listen, I’m being stupid. I probably did do this out of spite. I don’t have to do it. I can call…”

Faith shushed her wife. “No need, baby. You do this. I think you need it. Besides, I’ll be gone all the time and you’re right. A hobby is a hobby.”

Reece’s jaw dropped. “What just happened when I was in the shower? You were so mad?”

“I thought some.” Faith climbed onto her wife’s lap and faced her. “I trust you. I was also being selfish. If I’m going to be doing that thing we can’t talk about, then why can’t you earn a few dollars and get me a present.” Faith kissed Reece’s nose.

Reece pulled a face. “What’s going on?”

Faith laughed softly. “I don’t want to fight. Not with you. Not over this.”

Reece’s face was the picture of relief. “Me neither. I don’t want to fight with you.”

“The next little while is going to be so stressful for both of us, with me gone more than not, and making the movie. You’re going to be home obsessing over it. It’s going to be hard on us. We need to do things together, not against each other.”

Reece’s heart burst. “You just said what I was thinking. Are you sure you want me to work at the gym? I don’t have to.”

“It’s fine.” Faith kissed Reece’s lips. “I have trust and you won’t hurt me.”

“I try.” Reece grinned and looked down. “I can see your tits.”

Faith looked down too. “I should put on clothes now that mom’s here. Your shirt doesn’t cut it.”

Reece wrapped her arm tightly around Faith. “Or you can take that off and we can have make-up sex.”

Faith leaned in for a kiss that lasted a long time. She hummed in delight, pressing her body against Reece, letting her weight lean into her. “Tempting, but mom is here.”

“I’ll be quiet.” Reece countered, kissing Faith again, sensuously, convincingly. She held her wife’s bottom lip in her teeth and growled playfully.

Faith melted. Groaning, she pushed Reece down onto the bed and resumed the kiss, hard and hot. She felt her libido rising fast. “Mmm, we have to stop. God.”

Reece smirked. “To be continued?”

“Oh, you bet your ass.” Faith replied, swatting said body part as she got off of her wife. “I need to shower too. Keep mom busy?”

“Thanks a lot.” Reece said with a frown.

“I love you baby.”

Reece pursed her lips and started to get dressed.

When Faith finished her shower she came downstairs to find Reece sitting on the couch with Smudge. “I suggest you go look in on mom.” She pointed to the kitchen.

Faith, curious, went to do just that. Her eyes bugged out of her head. “Mother! Where did you get that?”

Marsha looked down at her cookie and took a sip of tea. “I was in the mood for a sweet and found these. You know, they’re quite good with a cup of tea.”

Faith watched as her mother brought the breast shaped cookie with the pierced nipple to her mouth and cringed. “This is wrong on so many levels.”

Reece laughed from the living room. “She likes them Faith.”

“Shut up you.”

Reece appeared in the kitchen and opened the box of cookies. She took one out and licked it. “Mmm, sweet.”

Faith walked out of the kitchen in a huff, as Reece and Marsha laughed.

Reece bit into the cookie and chewed. “You’re right, not bad at all.”

Mrs. Ashford got up to top off her tea. “Would you like some dear?”

Reece stood, “No, thanks, I have coffee on.”

“Sit, I’ll make it for you.”

Reece sat. “Thank you.”

“So, Theresa, what’s really going on with you?”

“What do you mean?”

Mrs. Ashford gave Reece the coffee. “With this movie thing.”

Reece sighed. “Faith is an actress, she has a right to do whatever she wants in a movie. I am simply here for support.”

“Bullshit. That sounds rehearsed. I know you, young lady.”

Reece raised both eyebrows at the older woman’s outburst. “Mrs. A, it’s not going to be easy for me, but I have to accept it. We fight if I don’t.”

“A little fight never killed anyone.”

Reece slumped in her chair. “I don’t want to fight any more. I can’t tell her not to. It’s her decision.”

Mrs. Ashford sighed. “I suppose. She’ll only resent you if you force her not to.” She sipped her tea and thought. “But sex, on the big screen…. How will I survive that?”

“Tell me about it.” Reece agreed.

“My husband will have a stroke. I can’t tell him this. He’ll just die on the spot.”

Reece snorted.

“No, Theresa, what will I do?”

Reece shrugged. “I have no idea. Let Faith tell him.”

M
RS. ASHFORD DECIDED that the girls just don't eat right and decided to cook dinner. She drove Reece crazy until she agreed, reluctantly, to take her to the grocery store. While there, Reece pushed the cart while the older woman picked over vegetables.

Reece sighed and shifted from one foot to the other. Shopping wasn't her thing. It never was. Pushing the wagon was torture.

"What do you think about this cucumber?" Marsha waved the vegetable in the air in front of Reece.

The club owner smirked evilly.
I can't tell you what I think about that cucumber,
she thought. "It's okay." She replied, straight faced.

"Good, you girls don't eat enough vegetables. In my day, you ate three square meals, all the food groups were involved. Nowadays, you drive through and buy a burrito to eat while you drive. So unhealthy."

"Mrs. A, we do eat well. I'm always on Faith's case about food."

"Really?" Marsha looked shocked.

"Yeah. I have to eat well to maintain my body weight."

"About that, dear." Mrs. A looked Reece over. "Don't you think you have gone overboard a little bit with the muscles? I mean, it's so butch."

Reece rolled her eyes. "I like it. Faith loves it."

Mrs. Ashford, not wanting to know any more than that, shook her head. "Tell me something, why would Faith want to do this movie?"

Reece shrugged. "She just wants to."

"I don't understand. It's bad enough the whole world knows her business. Every time you or she is on the cover of a magazine, Quinn is miserable for a week. The men at the lodge stopped talking about it, but he knows what they think. You know, he defends you."

Reece dipped her head in acknowledgement. "That's pretty cool of him."

"You aren't kidding! I never thought he'd come around. But he did, and now this. This is going to push him over the edge. His little girl, doing those things in a movie. Oh dear, I can't even think about it."

The club owner felt very sympathetic. After all, she didn't want to think about it either. She despised the whole idea, but for Faith's sake, tried to show a different outlook. She wished the whole movie would go away. She felt awful when Faith told her they accepted her changes. She secretly wished they turned her down and Faith would scrap the whole thing. Life would be so much easier. Reece tried very hard to seem supportive and she really was, to an extent. She supported Faith's career, even though it put both of them in a very large spotlight on occasion. She wanted her wife to succeed at fulfilling her dreams. It made Faith so happy when she got her first acting job. Reece couldn't love her more when she gushed about it. Now, she almost regretted getting her that first job. Almost. She couldn't regret it entirely.

"Dear?"

"I'm sorry Mrs. A, I was daydreaming."

"I can imagine what you were thinking. Theresa, honey, can't we talk Faith out of this?"

Reece wished she could. "Nope. I tried. I really tried, but she's very interested in the script as a whole. Besides, she'll hate me if I tell her not to do it."

"But she'll listen if you do."

"Yeah, she will. That's where it gets complicated. I can't forbid her, you just can't do that to a woman like Faith. It'll make her do it even more. Look, Mrs. A, I hate it. I hate it more than anything, but I won't tell Faith how much. Let her do it and get it over with. Then we can forget it."

"Someone still has to tell Quinn. Will you?"

Reece screeched to a halt. "No way!"