Page 5 of Fight For Her
Her face fell, but she placed a hand on my chest to steady me. A plan was clearly formulating in her mind.
“I have some back in my hotel room. How about I finish what I started here and then we go back and have some real fun?”
I avoided her gaze by looking up into the flickering light and down at the overused toilet. Anywhere but her face. I had never, ever turned down a blowjob in my life. I was going to hate myself later or give myself a pat on the back. Either way, this situation wasn’t easy.
“Look,” I started, taking her hand off my chest and bringing it back to the side of her body. “I need—”
Someonepounded on the door, and a loud, slurring voice said, “The hell ya doin’ in there? Been waitin’ ten minutes already. I’m gon piss myself.”
“Oh shit,” Red said as she clumsily slid on her jeans and adjusted her top.
Thank you God of drunk hillbillies. I hadn’t known how I was going to get out of this.
As soon as I twisted the lock, the door was wrenched open by a middle-aged white dude in a dirty mining uniform. He stumbled in, pushed us to the side, and we barely made it out the door before he started pissing.
That was my moment to escape. “Hey, why don’t you go check in with your friend, and I’ll meet you outside?”
Red smiled, probably thinking I was a thoughtful guy for remembering she came in with her friend. She nodded, leaned in, and planted a wet kiss on my lips. I knew if I looked in a mirror my mouth would be covered in pink.As soon as she walked toward her friend, I bolted out the door with a quick smirk and nod toward Pete.
I drove down the deserted streets in my rented SUV not knowing if I should be smacking myself or patting my back. Worst of all, I was completely sober from that encounter. My headlights illuminated wooden fences and overgrown grass along the side of the road. It was a warmer than normal fall for Verdant, and the bugs were holding out strong.
Twenty minutes later, I pulled into my childhood home, a squat stick build house built in the seventies. Parked sideways on the lawn’s only patch of grass was my asshole brother Clyde’s brand-new pickup truck. It was his self-declared pride and joy with a car loan that surely cost most of his monthly income.
Nothing had changed in the fifteen years since I’d left. My piece of shit father hadn’t upgraded or fixed a single thing. Between the plumbing issues, boiler that’s original to the house, and the leaky roof, it was a miracle the place was still habitable.
I pushed the anger into the pit of my stomach where it mixed with the looming guilt I had for leaving my mama all those years ago.
Clyde hadn’t been at the house when I left for the Cowboy Club earlier, so that meant Daisy had locked his sorry drunk ass out for the night again. I hoped he went inside and passed out like he did every couple of days since I’d been back. Our mama didn’t need to be woken up by him.
I checked in on her first. She was still sound asleep in her frilly nightgown, curled onto the outer corner of the bed like my father was going to come home from the bar any minute and take up the rest of the space.Old habits die hard.
As I was leaving her bedroom, I knocked my hip against her bureau. “Fuck,” the cuss spilled out and I glanced back to find Mama stirring.
“Jed?” she mumbled. “I’m sorry, I fell asleep. I’ll warm up your supper.” She swung her thin legs to the floor but before she stood I stopped her with a gentle hand on her shoulder.
“Mama, it’s Coby. I’m sorry I woke you. I wanted to check on you before I went to bed. It’s alright, you can go back to sleep.”
“Coby?” she scooted back into bed and covered herself. “I did it again, didn’t I? I forgot.”
She did and every time it happened my heart broke. “It’s okay. Let’s get you comfortable, Mama. It’s late.” I tucked her in tightly, taking in the comforting scent of her cold cream.
Sighing, she took my hand in hers. “Thank you. I thought you’d left. Gone off to find your lady friend, the pretty one from the picture.”
“No, I’m here. I was only in town.” She nodded and gave my hand a squeeze.
“You should go get her, Son. She’s a good one. I can tell.”
Why did I show Mama that picture? I smiled, it was hard not to when she looked at me with so much love, and she pressed her fingertip into my dimple. “I don’t know. She won’t want to see me.” She was a woman you held onto, a keeper. I wasn’t ready for what she needed.
“I may be old and losing my grip, but I know this. There isn’t a woman out there that doesn’t want their lover to fight for them. If she’s the one, show her.”
“Mama, I—”
“Honesty, trust, and love. Be yourself. I know you can do it, Son.”
I nodded, not wanting to go deeper into this discussion. None of those things had worked for me in the past, plus I didn’t know what I wanted with Kendahl. I kissed Mama’s cheek and said goodnight, closing her door behind me.
Breathing a sigh of relief that I was done with our conversation, I got myself ready for another night of sleeping on a musty, lumpy, old couch. I’d have to endure Clyde’s grunting snores from the couch beside me. Too bad the only time he showed up here was to crash instead of showing up to help out like a decent person, but I’d learned long ago that decent wasn’t in Clyde’s vocabulary.
