Room 212 (13 page)

“Sorry, I was looking for toothpaste.” I grabbed the toothpaste and hurried to the bathroom, doubly exposed. I locked the door and quickly turned on the shower. I jumped in quickly, hearing the door jiggle as Seth tried to get in. I had to stop this and stop it now. If little Ms. Vindictive bitch wanted her play toy back, who was ‘slumming it’, she was about to get him back with a big bow. I had let this go on long enough. Even as I thought it, I felt an avalanche in my chest.

I loved Seth. I never wanted to fall in love, it just happened. Maybe it happened for him, too? And if that was the case, what the hell was he doing with a necklace in his bag? I scrubbed my hair and body and got out quickly, pissed all I had was my dress to get back into. I finger brushed my teeth and took a deep breath as I opened the door. He was sitting at the desk chair on the hotel phone, talking to who I assumed was one of his bosses. I brushed past him and quickly got dressed. He was still on the phone when I blew him a kiss at the door. He held his finger up and I opened it anyway, running for the elevator. I heard him call behind me and didn’t bother holding it. No excuse would be good enough. What was he going to do, screw me then go give her a necklace? I made it to my car in record speed. He was faster. His arms were crossed and he was panting heavily.

“Look, about the necklace…”

“Laura starts with an L, Seth. Hey, but Rebecca doesn’t.” I saw his shocked expression and congratulated myself.

“You’re right, it doesn’t. It starts with an R, so does receipt,” he huffed.

“Seth, I’m not dealing with this. My head is pounding and I feel like shit. I know you promised me nothing, don’t bother explaining. I don’t need it.”

“Quit lying to yourself because you sure as hell can’t lie to me.”

“Your arrogance is not sexy this early in the morning.” I rolled my eyes and he pinned me to my door.

“I was taking it back today to pay for the fucking room. It wasn’t a cheap room, Laura. I bought the damn thing the day before Rebecca and I broke up and I thought I might as well make good use of the money. This isn’t something I wanted to have to explain to you.”

I wanted to hand him the gun to shoot me. I had never felt so bad in my life. Seth was not a rich man and had to work for every single thing he had and he was trading in one of her old gifts to spend an amazing night with me. I saw him for the first time as a vulnerable man, trying to impress his girl. I quickly crumbled with every emotion I had felt in the last twenty-four hours.

“I keep crying.”

“Yes, you are a bit of a cry baby.” We laughed together and he held me to him. “We can take it back together if you want, if you don’t believe me, Laura.”

“No, I’m going home, Seth. The night, no matter how hard I tried to screw it up, was still perfect. Thank you.”

“Quit trying to be so tough, baby. You don’t have to do that with me.”

“She will want you back, Seth. I know it.”

He didn’t say a word as I kissed him goodbye.

*****

Later that night, I attended his soccer game as promised. It was the first time he had invited me and I was so involved I jumped to my feet each time he got close to the goal. He had amazing athleticism and I had a horrible time not drooling in front of his friend David’s girlfriend Elle. She sat next to me cheering for David, who was clearly having a rough day with the ball.

“He sucks,” she said in a whisper, laughing at his every move.

“He does not,” I chuckled with her. “Okay, he does a little.”

“Seth looks happy. I don’t know what you’ve done, but he was nothing but a pain in the ass before you two got together.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, he was a moody asshole, and he never smiled. He was always impatient when he played.” She ran her fingers through her shoulder length curly blond hair and laughed as David failed at another attempt to get control of the ball. He passed it to Seth who shot a goal and looked directly at me. I clapped my hands together gleefully and he shook his head laughing at my enthusiasm. Paul was close by, eyeing the interaction between Seth and I. I waved to him just to extend an olive branch. He walked over with Seth to get water and made small talk while Seth talked strategy with David.

“Hey, Laura.”

“Paul, how are you? How’s the band?”

He plopped himself rudely between Elle and me and I gave him a dirty look. “I just need you to rub off on me a little, Laura. It seems like you’re doing wonders for my boy.”

“If you say so.”

“Paul, get the hell away from her.” Seth pulled me to my feet and gave me a quick peck on the lips. I roved his body, his white tee was clinging to his chest and I was hoping my lusty filled gaze would tell him what I couldn’t say in front of everyone else.

“Me too, baby,” he whispered to me, pushing me back down on the ground next to Elle. I chuckled at his manly ploy to put me in my place. Paul shot up, irritated, and joined Seth on the field, glaring at me over his shoulder.

“What the hell is his problem?”

“He likes you, too. Damn, Laura, what have you done to these guys?” Elle’s eyebrows were raised above her bright blue eyes as she downed the last of her Gatorade.

“Nothing”

I watched Seth score another goal and laughed as he spread his cocky banter all over the field. The more I watched him, the hungrier I grew below the waist. I couldn’t wait to get him alone. He lifted his shirt to wipe the sweat from his face and I stifled a moan at the peepshow he was giving without realizing it. I looked at Elle who seemed to be appreciating the same view and smiled at her.

“Whoops,” she laughed at me catching her. I was filled with pride, especially since David was very close to winning the gene lottery along with Seth. David was taller than Seth and had long blond hair and blue eyes. His chest was broad and cut to perfection.

“Hey, David is nothing to dismiss easily.”

“They are all ridiculous, aren’t they?”

“I only see the one. Is that bad?”

“No, it means you’ve got it bad.” She chuckled as she grabbed another Gatorade from the cooler. When the game ended the guys gathered on the field and Seth spent a few minutes with them. I helped Elle pack her car and we made plans to go out together the following week. Seth jogged over to me.

“Let’s go, baby. They’re all going out drinking, but I’m tired. Is that okay?”

I smiled and handed him an ice-cold Gatorade. He drank it down as we made our way to his car. He opened my door for me and popped his trunk to wipe himself down with a towel. I was on fire and I wasn’t going to make it to the house. The sun had just fallen beneath the trees and I flipped on the radio. I turned the air conditioning on and rolled his windows up. When he got into the car I was ready. He fastened his seatbelt and I did the same, a smile playing on my lips.

“What, baby?”

“Nothing, let’s go. I’m so hungry.”

He slid his hands between my knees and rubbed my leg gently.

“I love to watch you play. Me and Elle got along well, and we are going to get drinks next week.”

“Can I come?”

“No, I need a penis free portion of my life.”

“I though you got all you need with Callie.”

“Funny.”

I was like a tiger on the prowl, making conversation with him when I knew everything going on in my mind was far from innocent. As soon as we hit the highway, I knew I only had ten minutes. I double checked the windows, making sure it was safe to dive, the thick tint making my confidence grow. I pushed the buckle on my seat belt and slid my upper half onto the console, licking his ear.

“Baby, I’m driving.”

“Yeah, and don’t wreck.” I stroked him above his soccer shorts and felt him instantly go hard. I dipped my head and pulled his shorts back and shoved him inside my mouth. I felt the car swerve slightly and heard his plea.

“Laura, oh God, stop, please stop…don’t stop, don’t stop.”

I did everything I could think of, every single trick in the book, and took everything he gave me. I felt his fingers in my hair as he gasped out my name. I lifted my head just as he took his exit and laughed at the expression on his face.

“What the hell has gotten into you, woman? That was dangerous, really dangerous.”

I just smiled as he drove the rest of the way to his house, a dazed and satisfied look on his face. When he got out, he took me over his shoulder into the house and I laughed as he swatted my ass in an all-out spanking fit. We showered together and I used my poor cooking skills to boil us water for mac and cheese. We sat on his couch in our t-shirts and underwear eating mac and cheese and laughed about my sexual outbursts in the last two days.

“I’ve created a monster.”

“I’ll behave.”

“No you won’t.”

“Yes I will. Starting tonight, no sex until marriage.” He spit out the noodle he was choking on and gave me a wide eyed stare. “You would get married? Isn’t that a little too conventional for you?”

“Of course I would get married. That’s God’s law, not mans.”

“You are such a strange woman. A hippie, that’s what you are. A damn hippie.”

“And you’re a square.”

He set his bowl on the coffee table and smacked his lips. “Better learn how to cook if you’re going to be a good wife. I need a hippie in my bed, any takers?”

“I’m too tired to fight you. Did you sleep at all last night?”

“No, baby, and I have two out of three jobs to work tomorrow. Do you mind if we crash?” I looked at the clock and saw it was only 9:30.

“I want to make a joke right now but—” His lips were on mine. I cried out in surprise as he grabbed my bowl away from me and tasted all of my mouth. He pulled back to study my reaction.

“I don’t know what I like more, baby. Kissing you or watching your face after I do it.”

“Bed…Sounds…Good.”

He chucked as he grabbed my hand and led me to his room.

“You idiot!”

“Don’t call me an idiot, Seth! I couldn’t hold onto it.”

“Maybe if you got out more and toned up that perfect body of yours you would be able to hold onto a little tube.”

We were standing in the middle of the Guadalupe River arguing about the fact that I had just lost my tube downstream. We still had a solid hour left to float and I was tubeless. Krista and Dave laughed at us as they passed a joint between them and kept floating in their perfectly organized circle consisting of their floats and their spare tube filled with an ice chest and all our beer. I had hit a very small patch of rough water and was the only one of hundreds to lose my tube. I was an idiot, but I wasn’t going to let Seth call me one.

“A little help here, Dave!” I glared at my brother’s response to our little tiff.

“He’s got you, little sister.” Dave smiled at me as his bright red swim trunks disappeared around a tree filled corner.

“Come on, baby, get on my tube with me. It’s not a big deal.”

“You call me an idiot again, Seth, it will be.”

“Sorry, baby.” I was still mad and reluctantly plopped into his lap.

He played with the strings on my yellow bikini. It was our last hurrah before summer ended. Seth had taken a few days off to head to New Braunfels with my brother, Krista and I to float the infamous Guadalupe River. Buses had escorted us up to the beginning of the river with our tubes. I was sun burnt and ravenous and the only thing that could lift my mood had just called me an idiot.

“Don’t even think about pulling those strings loose, jerk.”

“Idiot.”

I turned to him and punched him hard in the arm.

“Wimp.” He was just as aggravated as I was. I knew this wouldn’t end well.

“Do you want me to leave your ass in this river?”

“And where the hell do you think you would go?”

“I will, I’ll leave your ass here.”

“No, you won’t”

I got off the tube and quickly walked to the side of the river and pulled myself out with an overhanging tree limb. Seth cursed under his breath as he swam to me.

“Cut it out, Laura. I’m tired and hungry. Can you please just stop being an ass?”

“I told you not to call me an idiot.”

“I call it like I see it, Laura. You largely resemble one right now.”

“Well, since you’re just slumming it with me, I would expect you not to care about my personality or otherwise.”

“Slumming it?”

“Yeah, Rebecca gave you permission to slum it, right? That’s what you’re doing, slumming it with me!”

“What in the hell are you talking about?”

“I know you, Seth. I know you well now. You want this certain kind of life and I am not the girl who gives it to you. Why are you with me?”

“Can you please get back on the tube?” He looked around and saw people as they passed by on their floats watching us carefully.

“The funny thing is, I’m far from the girl you should slum it with and I know I’m better than that. You are the idiot who doesn’t know. I could have been her. I could still be her, but I chose not to. So she’s a sorority brat, right? She’s going to get a degree? Is that why Rebecca is so perfect and I’m just a slum fling?”

“I have never treated you like a damn fling. I have never treated you like you were less than anyone.”