Caught up, p.10
Caught Up, page 10
“Sick?” I asked in disbelief. She nodded.
“Withdrawal, Aaron. You’re on some powerful medication. I’ll give you a paper, explaining how to wean yourself off of the medication. I’m not a fan of the drugs you’re on anyways, so even if your tests came back showing you fit the classification for Bipolar, I would seriously tweak your medication regimen,” she said, crossing her arms and sniffing. She shook her head. Standing, she rifled through a filing cabinet until she came up with a purple sheet of paper. She handed it to me. It was a list of instructions, like she mentioned. I folded it and put it into my pocket.
“Well. That’s the past. You’re on the right path now. But you’re sort of involved with Chloe. Does she want children?” she asked. Back to the children shit again.
“It’s not like that. I mean, we are pretty... I don’t even know what we are. I think it’s way too soon to even be thinking about that, if at all,” I said quickly. She smiled to herself and it made me feel like a huge idiot. She leaned forward.
“Is she a good lover?” she asked.
“Lover? Who the hell even uses that term anymore? I mean, it sounds like something out of a 1970’s version of the Joy of Sex! She is my friend and we have sex. Believe me, I wish I could stop. I don’t know if I want this, her,” I stated. She laughed loudly. I wanted to strangle her. She was treating me like I was a child.
“Oh my! I just love your honesty! I wish all of my clients were as brutally honest as you are!” she exclaimed. “Okay. Let me rephrase. Do you have feelings for her? And if you do, are they purely sexual?”
“Yeah. I have feelings for her,” I said gruffly. She nodded, like she was giving me permission to go on.
“Have you told her?” she asked, batting her long eyelashes at me.
“Uh...no. No, I haven’t,” I replied and leaned back against the couch.
“I think maybe you should tell her,” she said softly, no laughter, no smile. She was serious.
“I think I’m afraid to,” I replied and then coughed uncomfortably.
“It’s okay to talk about feelings, Aaron,” she said, placing her hand on mine.
“I’m not built like that, Willa. Sorry. I mean, I want to tell her. I just don’t want to make her run screaming you know? Besides, everyone I get involved with gets hurt. It’s just too soon,” I muttered. She sat back as if I had slapped her. She frowned and then took a deep breath.
“I think, and this is just me thinking out loud here, but if she is willing to come find you, pack your stuff, put you on your feet and then involve herself with you, then she is feeling some pretty strong things for you as well. It can’t hurt to find out,” she replied. Her eyes were wide and her cheeks were flushed. She acted like the fate of the world rested on whether or not I told Willa how I felt.
“I guess. Going to hell anyway,” I said. She gave me a confused smile.
“What do you mean you’re going to hell?!” she asked. I sighed.
“All the shit that happened with my family. The stupid jail time and everything, I’m damaged goods. No good for anyone,” I replied. She punched my arm, making me yell out and glare at her.
“What the hell!” I yelled loudly. She was frowning and she looked kind of pretty when she did it. I was confident that a therapist wasn’t supposed to hit their clients, just a thought really.
“Just because you did some stupid shit, as you put it, when you were younger does not mean you’re going to hell!” she yelled, standing up. I shook my head. She was off her fucking rocker!
“Next visit, next time I see you, we will do the tests I talked about,” she said as her chest heaved with anger. She smoothed her hair and attempted to get herself under control. She showed me out and I regarded her with a wary look.
***
Axel met me in my bay. He had his hands in the back pockets of his jeans and he looked nervous.
“Uh, Dad?” he asked.
“Yeah, son, what’s up?” I asked. He sighed.
“Uncle Tangler showed up here while you were at your appointment and I really think that you need to talk to him,” he replied. I turned to look at my son. He was fiddling with his lip ring and he looked weird as shit. Well, more than normal.
“What the fuck is going on, Axel?” I asked. He threw his hands up and groaned.
“He came in looking like someone set him on fire. I have him in the shop office. He’s just staring off into space and keeps shaking his head. He looks fucking messed up,” he replied, looking over his shoulder at the shop. I followed his gaze and sighed.
“Set on fire?” I asked. Axel nodded.
“You’re not being overdramatic?” I asked him. He gave me a dirty look and shook his head.
“Let me see what this bastard did now,” I muttered as I followed my son back into his shop.
Tangler was sitting behind the desk, looking at the wall. He looked like a fucking maniac and he smelled like a campfire. Axel was not making it up, not one bit.
“Tangler?” I said softly. He snapped out of whatever trance he was in and cleared his throat.
“Yeah, mate?” he said softly. He looked up at me and smiled all weak and shit.
“What in the name of fuck happened to you?” I asked. He frowned and his face crumpled. He dropped his head in his hands and his shoulders shook with silent sobs. Axel’s jaw dropped and his eyebrows shot up. I swore under my breath and ran a hand through my hair.
“Tangler?” Nothing, no response.
“Tangler, fucking look at me and tell me what in the hell happened!” I demanded. He lifted his head out of his hands and wiped at his eyes.
“Dude, man the fuck up and tell me what happened before I haul your ass to the hospital and have you checked out,” I growled. He nodded.
“Your sister set my clothes on fire,” he muttered. Axel choked back a laugh and I shot him a look. He turned the laugh into a cough and smacked the middle of his chest.
“She did what?” I asked. Tangler nodded.
“She took all of my clothes and set them on fire on the front lawn,” he replied. Now it was my turn to bite back a laugh.
“Why in the world would she do that?” I asked. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He looked at Axel and then at me.
“If either of you fuckers tell anyone what I’m about to tell you, I’ll kill you myself,” he says.
“Pretty damn hard to keep anything a secret, Uncle Tangler when you look like you just escaped from a burning building,” replied Axel. Tangler groaned. I shot a look at Axel and he attempted to look innocent. I wasn’t buying it for a minute. Tangler was in pain, Axel didn’t need to be a smart ass right now.
“Just keep your trap zipped,” he replied to my son. He nodded grimly and toyed with his lip ring. Whatever it took to keep him quiet long enough so that I could find out what was going on with Tangler. I tapped Tangler on the shoulder and he looked up at me like a lost puppy dog.
“The reason why you smell like a campfire?” I asked. He nodded.
“She found my cock ring in the dishwasher a couple days ago,” he said. Axel lost it, laughing hard. I put my own head in my hands and started to laugh.
“Glad you lot think its bloody funny,” Tangler said.
“You... put your... cock ring... in the dishwasher?” cried Axel as he laughed. Tangler nodded.
“Yeah. It has a sanitize function on it, like for baby bottles. I figured I could use it to sanitize the cock ring,” he replied. Axel at this point was bent over struggling to breathe through his laughs. I was not doing any better.
“Axel, gather the rest of the staff and pull them into the back for a meeting, I think Tangler needs to have less of an audience.” Axel bitches under his breath, but he moves through the shop quickly gathering the rest of the staff. “Meeting, now—break room, everyone!” he hollers as he passes.
“Continue, Tangler. So... she found... the cock ring...” I whisper as I wipe at my eyes, trying to regain some composure.
“Well, that’s not all... see, tomorrow is our anniversary but she has to work. So last night, I thought I would get a sitter, plan a romantic dinner and just have a night, the two of us. I’m in the shower when I hear her crashing about in the house. I grab a towel, walk out of the bathroom and see her carrying my clothes out of the house. She lit the stuff on fire. This, what I’m wearing now, is the only thing that’s left. She called me every name in the book and wouldn’t listen when I tried to talk to her,” he told us. Axel was shaking his head and would burst out in laughter every few seconds, it sounded like machine gun fire because he kept trying to turn his laughter into coughs. I gave him a withering look and looked back to Tangler.
“You got a sitter. Had dinner planned... what else?” I asked.
“I went and bought her some sexy lingerie and draped it over the banister of the stairs. The table was set for dinner with candles and all that fancy shit. I had music playing... wine chilling, the whole lot you know? I just thought I would pop in the shower quick before she got home,” he replied. The light bulb went off in my head and I groaned. He raised an eyebrow in confusion. I heard Axel gasp behind me and I knew that my son had connected the dots too.
“You jack ass! In your messed up head you had the perfect evening planned out. In my sister’s paranoid, hormonal head, it looked like you had just fucked someone and were taking a shower!” I replied. He looked confused for a bit and then it registered on his face. He paled and his jaw dropped.
“The lingerie on the stairs...” he moaned. I nodded.
“Looked like whoever you were banging had left it there on the way to your bedroom,” said Axel. Tangler groaned again.
“And add in finding the cock ring in the dishwasher a few days ago and looked like you were trying to get rid of the evidence,” I pointed out and laughed. Tangler looked up at me and flipped me off.
“What the hell are you pissed at me for, Tangler? And who the hell puts a cock ring in the dishwasher?” I asked with a grimace.
“I was trying to sanitize it,” he whined. I couldn’t hold the laugh in on that one and I laughed loud. Tangler put his head in his hands again and cursed. He looked up at me and I tried to reign in my laughter.
“Sorry,” I muttered. He nodded grimly.
“What the fuck am I going to do?” he asked. I put a hand on his shoulder.
“You can crash with Chloe and me tonight. I’ll talk to my sister and try to explain everything. My advice is don’t surprise her like that again,” I told him. He nodded in agreement.
“I’m going to head off to the shops. Grab some clothes,” he muttered.
“Good idea. I think the smoke alarms are about to go off in here,” I joked and rubbed at my face to hide my grin.
“You’re a right bastard,” Tangler shot at me. He stood up and we all walked out together.
***
“Nice glitter,” said Skeeter with a smirk as I walked out to the garage after the whole Tangler incident. I grabbed a clean t-shirt from my truck and slipped it on, but there was still some glitter in my hair. I shot him a look. Trailing behind him was a cute, very curvy girl with chin length, curly, blonde hair that was partially covered with a red bandanna. She was wearing denim coveralls and black, worn steel toe boots. She looked like one of those Rosie the Riveter posters. She looked at me and smirked.
“It’s a long story, Skeeter, and no I don’t want to talk about it. Let’s just say it was against my will,” I said. He nodded nervously and looked to his companion.
“This is Mandy. Mandy, this is Aaron. He is my right hand man. Any questions? Ask him,” he said, introducing us. I shook her hand and grimaced when some of the glitter rubbed off onto her. She snickered and brushed it off onto the ground.
“Hey,” she replied. I nodded.
“For now, Mandy, I’m just going to have you do oil changes. Like I said, if you have any questions, ask Aaron,” he told her as he walked away. She stood there for a minute, looking lost.
“The bay next to me is all yours. Get yourself familiar with it. There are a bunch of people with appointments for an oil change and sometimes we get walk-ins. You will be plenty busy today,” I told her. She nodded again and walked over to her bay. She swung a hot pink toolbox onto the work station and began to unpack.
***
“Cock ring in the dishwasher?” asked a shocked Chloe. We sat in the kitchen after work. I was waiting a bit before I went over to talk to my sister. I nodded and took a pull on my bottle of beer.
“Yeah, Almeida has a bit of a temper. But the way he laid everything out it just made it look all sorts of wrong,” I replied. Chloe chuckled.
“Is it alright if he crashes here tonight?” I asked. She nodded and smiled.
“Absolutely. We have the extra bedroom. You didn’t even have to ask!” she said sweetly. I kissed her. Her cheeks turned pink and I instantly felt my cock twitch, thinking about making another set of cheeks pink with my hands.
“You’re amazing,” I told her. She grinned.
“Why thank you, kind sir,” she teased. She got up and I followed her into the living room. Grabbing my cell phone to call my sister, I watched as Chloe picked up her Kindle and turned it on. Soon, she was immersed in a book. My call went straight to my sister’s voice mail. I would have to go over there tomorrow after work, which pissed me off. I couldn’t keep going into work late or leaving early, I needed the money. I definitely wasn’t a fucking millionaire.
“Any luck with your sister?” she asked, looking at me over shoulder. She hit a button on the side of her Kindle and placed it on her chest.
“Nah. Went right to voicemail. I’ll try and catch up with her tomorrow either on lunch or after work. She is crazed right now and I’m hoping she will see through her bullshit and talk to me,” I replied. She nodded and turned her Kindle back on, looking at the screen. Leaning down, I kissed the top of her head and walked to the bathroom to go jump in the shower. What a fucking day!
***
Ignoring the looks I got walking into the hospital, I walked up the elevators, pushed the button and waited. I got in, pushed the button for the fifth floor. When the elevator doors opened, I got off and walked over to the desk. Almeida was talking to another nurse and she smiled when saw me.
“Hey, big brother! To what do I owe this visit?” she asked. She was not fooling me.
“Uh...is there someplace we can talk? In private?” I asked her. She looked at me and nodded. She led the way to a small conference room after telling the nurse at the desk she would be right back. She opened the door and turned on the light. I walked in and shut the door behind me.
“Can you please explain to me why you fucking had a bonfire on your front lawn two days ago?” I asked. Her face paled and she patted the bun at the nape of her neck nervously. Little Miss Perfect obviously wasn’t prepared for me to question her type of crazy.
“Well?” I asked as I grew impatient. She looked everywhere but at me.
“You...uh, heard about that?” she asked. I rolled my eyes.
“Come on! Your husband showed up at the shop smelling like a fucking cook out yesterday, Almeida!” I bellowed. She flinched and then recovered her composure. She regarded me coolly, her eyes narrowed slits.
“I found his cock ring in the dishwasher. Then the other night he had a fancy dinner on the table. Oh and let’s not forget the sexy ass lingerie on the stairs!” she hissed. I groaned in frustration and put my hands on her shoulders. She looked down at my hands with a frown and I could tell her cool exterior was beginning to slip.
“What was yesterday?” I asked her. She looked up at the ceiling, mentally figuring it out.
“Uh... Thursday?” she replied in a voice that suggested that I was an idiot.
“Anything else?” I asked. She thought for a minute, biting her bottom lip and then her jaw dropped.
“My anniversary,” she rasped, her hand going to her mouth. Her hand shook and her face was pale. I nodded slowly.
“And did you or did you not have to work yesterday?” I asked. She nodded slowly, her eyes wide.
“Guess what? All of that was for you, jack ass?” I replied, my face inches from hers. I could smell her perfume, all flowery and shit.
“Me?” she asked shakily. She used the desk next to her to brace herself.
“Yep, genius, all for you. And you set the man’s clothes on fire and kicked him out, you hormonal freak! When was the last time you had a babysitter?” I asked. She shook her head.
“I... I don’t know,” she responded. She sat in a chair and groaned, dropping her head in her hands.
“You feel like shit yet? Because I have a man at my house who watched Lifetime movies all night and played friggin’ sad ass music on his cell phone because of you,”I yelled. She shook her head and cried. Big, wobbly tears coursed down her face. She was the queen of ugly crying and it made me want to laugh.
“I’m such a bitch!” she cried. I was not going to argue with her there. She looked up at me, her mascara running down her cheeks along with her tears. I handed her a tissue and she nodded in thanks.
“What do I do, Aaron? Can I even fix this?” she asked, sniffling and wiping at her eyes with a handkerchief. I sat down beside her and put my arm around her. She nuzzled up to me, still sniffling.
“You can fix it, little sister,” I said softly. I kissed the top of her head and she sighed, shaking her head.
“How?” she asked, looking at me as she wiped her face again. I grinned and figured I would lighten the mood.
“Blow jobs. Lots and lots of blow jobs and maybe even anal,” I replied with a laugh. She smacked my arm and grinned.
“Saturday, I’ll babysit overnight and you take him to a hotel and give him...” I stopped and looked at her, one eyebrow raised as if asking a question. She nodded with a grin and short laugh.
“Lots and lots of blow jobs. And possibly anal?” she asked with a laugh. She hugged me and sighed happily.
“Call your man and tell him to come home. Please?” I said to her. She laughed and promised to do just that.
***
Chloe walked over in between clients and leaned against the pillar separating the bays. Mandy was under a truck, changing the oil; her feet tapping a rhythm on the concrete floor.
