Wheels of Steel, Book 2 (23 page)

He grinned. “How many guesses do I get?” She laughed again. “Can I open the door?” He was serious now. “I just don’t want you to black out or anything…”

“It’s unlocked.” He felt better once the door was open and then he could go back and work on his homework.

He checked his watch after a few more minutes and then he went into the kitchen, stirred the soup that was still in the microwave and heated it for another minute. “Baby!” He yelled. “Are you still showering?!”

He could hear her laugh again. “Jesus. I’ve only been in here fifteen minutes! I’m shaving my legs.”

“With my razor?”

“No, babe. I found some sandpaper under the sink. I thought I’d rub the hair off my legs with it.” Jason smiled. He loved her sarcasm. He was happy that she was getting used to sharing it with him.

Finally, after nearly half an hour, she left the bathroom and darted into the bedroom to dress. She came out a few minutes later wearing one of Jason’s shirts and panties from her overnight bag. He looked up from his studies and just stared at her.

Damn…she looked amazing. The short curls of her hair glistened with some moisturizer and was still damp from the shampooing she’d given it. The shirt she’d chosen was long enough to cover her bottom and her dark brown legs were perfect; shapely, smooth-looking, and she even had a dimple on each of her knees that he’d never before noticed.

He swallowed and scratched his grimy hair. “Your soup is in the microwave, water on the table. Um…I’m going to take a bath and brush my teeth while you eat. I’ll be right out, okay?”

She padded bare footed into the kitchen. “Okay, Jason.” She opened the microwave and got her soup and while Jason bathed she devoured every delicious drop. She hadn’t eaten all day though she’d had an IV…was that food? Whatever, she was still hungry! She slurped up the soup and sucked down the water, half of it in one drink! Afterwards, she curled up on the couch and listened to the music playing from the playlist; something she didn’t recognize—funky, hiphop, no vocals. After a moment she got a mischievous smile on her face.

“Jason?!” She called.

“What?” He responded faintly from the bathroom.

“What are you doing?” She grinned. “Don’t make me come in there and check on you!”

“I’m painting the perfect picture, I’m composing the perfect song…I’m solving the mysteries of the universe.”

“Okay, well you better hurry up, I’m getting bored!”

“I promise that I won’t be half an hour.”

“Who is this playing, babe?” She was really enjoying the music; it was so mellow.

“9
^th
Wonder.”

“Hmmm…never heard of them.”

“Him. He’s a hiphop producer. J Dilla was my favorite, all time producer. But 9
^th
Wonder is pretty close.” Jason began running down the artists that he’d produced. He loved talking music and he began doing this as he washed.

“Earykah Badu, Luda, Destiny’s Child. He’s all over the place! He samples the oldies like Al Green, Curtis Mayfield.” He finished rinsing his hair and then pulled himself up to the edge of the tub. Then he maneuvered himself onto the towel that he had folded onto the seat.

“Babe?” No answer. He grabbed a second towel and roughly dried his hair while also trying to wheel into the living room. Still naked and wet he stopped short of the couch. Robin was sleeping soundly, curled in a fetal position with her hands folded beneath her head. Her full lips were slightly parted and he would have kissed her if not for the fear of waking her from the well needed rest.

Jason wheeled back into the bedroom and finished drying and then dressed. Robin was still sleeping when he returned to the living room, so he finished up his homework and began digging for breaks, donning studio headphones so as not to wake her. She slept for about four hours before suddenly sitting up. He looked over at her.

“Robin?”

She jumped up and darted to the bathroom. He heard her retching. “Robin!” He rushed to the bathroom. She was kneeling on the floor and vomiting into the toilet. “Shit.” He wheeled into the bathroom, cursing again at his inability to not get close enough without rolling over her feet. He put his hand on the back of her head, lightly stroking her hair.

“What’s wrong?”

“Soup…wouldn’t stay down.” She coughed and gagged and tried not to vomit but it erupted from her again, blood was evident but not as much as before. Jason was worried. They had stopped the bleeding but what if violent vomiting reopened what the Doctor had so painstakingly cauterized? He rubbed her shoulders lightly and after that last she didn’t vomit again.

She looked tired and a little afraid. Her stomach ached a little but the sharp stabbing pains did not return.

“Robin, remember the pamphlet said that your ulcer might cause you to puke after you eat; they said about 3 or 4 hours later, right?” She nodded and dragged herself up to her feet where she rinsed her mouth and brushed her teeth again.

Jason flushed the toilet and when she was finished he pulled her down into his lap. “Poor baby.” He crooned. She smiled slightly and snuggled against him.

“Does it hurt?” Jason asked.

“Just a little soreness.” Jason wheeled them back into the living room and grabbed the remote control. “How about we sit on the couch and get comfortable? Do you want to watch a movie, videos-?”

Makeout. That is what she wanted to do. She moved over to the couch to join Jason thinking that he hadn’t made much of an attempt to makeout with her. Not that she could blame him, with all of the puking she’d done today. She sighed. “You know, I want to watch all of the wheels of Steels videos; the ones you didn’t put on YouTube.”

“How do you know that I have videos that aren’t on YouTube?” He was connecting something from the computer to the big screen.

“Because you’re a perfectionist. So I’m sure you have all kinds of stuff that you don’t want anyone else to see.”

He started pecking on the computer. “Okay, so you do know me.” Suddenly the computer feed began playing through to the television and she saw the Wheels of Steel gang playing around and having fun. Peter and Jason were making beats and Robin laughed. Jason had short hair! She made a wolf whistle as Jason joined her on the couch. He placed his arms around her.

“You like the short hair?” He was surprised. Most people liked it long.

“I think it’s sexy.”

“Do you want me to cut my hair?” She reached up and slid her hands into his curls. His eyes closed and he groaned.

“That feels good.” He leaned forward and kissed her; softly and sensually. He pulled back, not wanting any temptation that he could not act on. She smiled happily, leaning her head against his neck and shoulder; her favorite spot in the entire world.

“I love you, Jason.”

“You said it first!”

“What?”

“I always say it first. And then you say, ‘I love you too.’”

“I do?”

“Yep.” He squeezed her to him.

“I promise to say it first more often.” He nodded. “Jason?”

“What, Sweetheart?”

“I’m going to church tomorrow with my mother. Will come with us?”

“Your Mom is going to hate that.”

“I know.”

“Is the plan for her to like me or hate me?”

Robin sighed. “The plan is for ME to like you. And that plan is already working.”

Later in the evening after having dinner…again, Robin stepped up behind Jason as he worked on the computer. She rubbed his shoulders while he sighed in contentment.

“Jason?”

“Hmmm?” His eyes were closed in pleasure at the feel of her hands on him.

“I want you to do something for me.” She whispered into his ear.

Oh jeez. That statement had made him instantly erect. “Okay.”

“Sing for me baby.”

Jason’s eyes popped open. He turned to look at her. “Robin…I wish I could. But I can’t control my singing voice.”

“I know. That’s why I want you to sing. It will be special. It will be just for me.” He blushed furiously. “Don’t tell me that you’ve never sang before; even in private?”

He shrugged. She had finally done it; she had caused Jason to be at a loss for words.

“You ask me to do things that are hard for me all of the time.” She said earnestly.

“But I only ask you to do things that you are good at. You want me to do something that I suck at.” Robin moved to sit in his lap and she stared into his eyes deeply.

“Don’t be embarrassed to use the voice that god gave you. I love you Jason and I love your voice. Sing for me.” A frown flickered across his brow as he seemed to consider her request. He looked at her and began to sing a song that she had never heard. His voice was almost like the spoken poets that she used to hear doing poetry slams on TV. Of course it was halting and sometimes he stuttered, but he had a rhythm and gait that indicated he’d done this before.

When he finished the entire song he just stared at her.

“Wow.” She hugged him. “That was so beautiful, Jason. What was that?”

“Hurt. The Johnny Cash version, not the Nine Inch Nails version.”

“Johnny Cash.” Again he had surprised her. He listened to Johnny Cash? “Can you play it for me?” She was intrigued. They went to the computer and he pulled it up on YouTube. She listened to it, never having thought of Johnny Cash as someone that she’d ever want to listen to, but as she watched the music video and listened to the lyrics, mixed with his voice, goose pimples began to move up and down her spine.

“Remember when you said you’d sing me 3 songs the next time you saw me?”

She smiled. “Yes.”

“Will you sing me to sleep later tonight?”

“Lullabies?”

“Love songs.”

“Mmm, okay babe.” She kissed him wanting to linger into it, feel his hands on her but after a few moments he reached past her and began pulling up obscure music from groups that she wasn’t familiar with, searching for beats that he liked. After a while she got up and retrieved his laptop from his book bag and began surfing the net for things that she’d wanted to look up and hadn’t had the time to do; perforated ulcers, Baclofen pump, Cerebral Palsy. She signed into her Yahoo Messenger and sent him a message.

~
Hi Top…haven’t talked to you in a while
~

~Sorry, Sweetheart. I met this amazing girl and she’s had all of my attention~

~Aww shucks, because I have a great big crush on you. Sometimes Top, I fantasize about us…I’m doing that right now. I keep thinking about this morning and how close I was—before we were interrupted~

Jason immediately powered down his computer and wheeled his chair to her. He took the laptop out of her hands and placed it on the couch.

“Maybe we should go to bed now.” He said breathlessly.

Robin hid a smirk. She was just learning the power of seduction. Sheesh, she should have done that hours ago! They could have been making love all of this time instead of messing around on the computer! Making love…Robin practically skipped into the bedroom and jumped onto the bed. She noted that Jason could move fast in his wheelchair.

He slipped off his shirt and tossed it into the chair, and then pulled down his pants without unbuttoning them since they were relatively loose. When he was just down to boxers he slid onto the bed and gave Robin a nervous smile.

“Maybe…I don’t want to hurt you.”

“What? You mean because of the ulcer?” He nodded.

She stroked his face as he propped himself up on his elbow and watched her. “While your penis…um dick…is big, it’s not that big. I promise that it won’t touch the ulcer.”

“You know what I mean,” he sighed. “I don’t want to put your body under too much stress.”

Robin threw her head back and laughed. It was a gut busting, belly shaking laugh. She managed to look at him sincerely. “Jason Lane Hamilton, if you don’t fuck me very soon my body will be in very big stress!” Yes, her stomach ached some, but it was not nearly as intense as her desire for him.

Jason didn’t say another word. He just rolled over on her; covering her with his body, most of his weight distributed between her legs as he propped himself up on his elbow.