Chapter 7

Sensing this was a test, he kissed her, hard, on the mouth. She’d swallowed, he could tell, but there was still a slight taste of semen, which did nothing to calm his passion at the moment.

Leaning against the shower wall, he looked down and watched as the water carried his semen toward the drain, his breathing slowing down now that he’d erupted into her mouth, at least in his fantasy.

He felt a tinge of regret in using her this way, almost as if he felt he needed her permission first to do so, permission he knew he would never ask her for real.

Laying down later in bed, he thought of her and how nice it had felt to just hold her in his arms.

Later on, he dreamed of her, standing at his doorway, dressed to kill, no hobo in sight, with her saying “You might be the man that my mama warned me about.”

Rob sat back, sipping a beer from the bottle out by the pool, silently musing about the past few weeks with Carrie. His friend, Bill, a deputy sheriff, sat there with him, also with a beer in hand. They’d stopped at Chuffer’s and picked up a large, extra cheese pizza with bacon and mild sausage, and each of them got a sub too.

Rob had ordered a naked Reuben, while Bill went for the Texas Tenderloin. Both had finished off their subs and then devoured two large slices of pizza, plus a beer. This was beer number two for each.

“So,” Bill said, looking casually at his beer bottle as if examining the label for the first time in his life, “your lady friend is pretty good-looking for a mutt like you, Coop.”

Rob laughed. Bill served too; they spent a couple of years at Ft. Bragg together under JSOC, the Joint Special Operations Command. Both were doing classified work, though through different units. Rob was “just a Ranger” according to Bill, who Rob later found out was part of Seal Team Six. They’d stayed in touch after serving and when a deputy position opened up, Rob made the call.

“Hey, be careful now or I’ll get you some work where your talents would really shine, like cleaning my pool.”

They both laughed and clinked bottles, then sipped.

“Yeah, she is good-looking. Nice gal, too. And no, she doesn’t have a sister for you.”

“So, you getting serious?” Rob saw that while Bill was looking around casually, he was studying Rob, circling, sorta’ like a great white shark with a sea lion.

“That depends upon your definition of serious, bud,” was the non-committal reply.

Bill looked at his best friend and then took another sip. “You haven’t slept with her yet.” It wasn’t a question, noted Rob. He remained non-committal.

“I’ve heard the whisperings, the gossip. You’re taking your time to show her respect.” He took another sip and finished off beer number two, then reached for a third from the ice chest, and got one for Rob too.

“Good man.”

Rob smiled a bit and just nodded, not trusting his voice due to the butterflies he felt in his stomach when thinking of her and him, together.

The rest of the evening included discussions about major league baseball, the Spencerville baseball team, and whether the new librarian was someone that Bill should pursue.

Rob had enjoyed the past few weeks. He took Carrie to The Little Kozy on Third Street where they’d laughed over meatloaf with mashed potatoes, her asking if Levi’s mom was in the back cooking the “smashed potatoes”. After dinner, they went into Lima and saw Guardians of the Galaxy II. He was skeptical about it, but she really wanted to go, so he relented.

He’d asked her bowling a couple of days later so they went to Lyn-Lee Lanes where he’d shown her his bowling prowess. She came close to beating him, much to his chagrin. Then later in the week, they went to mini-golf just outside Van Wert.

He won, but he wondered whether or not she missed that last critical putt on purpose. She claimed she didn’t and he didn’t press the issue.

After golf, they walked into the nearby arcade and she did beat him in skeeball and air hockey. He did take it easy on her in air hockey, and then she scored some quick goals and he started to fight back but it was too late. He didn’t care. As long as she continued to go out with him, he’d let her win at everything.