Chapter 20

author proof reader DLAussie

There might be something to worry about. What with Tasha sleeping with the same women I had slept with. Since I am no shrink. I didn’t care. I just did my morning twenty miles. It went okay, but I did miss my road bike. If Tasha rode with me, even semi regularly, I would have to buy another bike of own. That is assuming her father didn’t buy her a Pirelli. In which case, I got my Walmart special road bike returned.

I thought about that all during the ride. When I pulled into the parking lot, I noticed that Tonya’s car was gone and Tasha was nowhere to be seen. I found out why when I got to my front door.

She was sitting on my front deck, with a cup of McDonald’s coffee and a pissed off expression on her face. At least she waited until I got close before she went off on me.

“Why the fuck didn’t you wait for me,” she asked.

“I thought you were busy,” I said. “How was I to know.”

“Okay, but from now we honor the five minute rule?” she asked.

“Okay we each wait five minutes past our set time, then we just fuck off. No harm no foul,” I proposed.

“Done, do you have any of your special coffee this coffee is shit,” she replied with a disgusted sound.

“Do you want to ride this afternoon?” I proposed.

“What time?” she answered my question with a question.

“How about 6PM. It is still light enough,” I suggested.

“Cool,” was her only answer.

After our coffee I went in for my morning shower. I left her on the porch, but you guessed it, half way through she was behind me. She was teasing me, and I didn’t mind one bit. After about a minute, it was shower as usual, except I was allowed to soap her various parts. I had been much more intimate with her, but had never gotten as good a look as I got that morning.

Tasha was coming off our victory and her evening with Tonya, so she was still high. She was able to take the quick shower and move on. As a matter of fact, she left for home with her biking jersey, and her untied shorts. She laughed all the way to her back door while carrying her underwear items. Yes I watched her.

I dressed for the day before I unlocked the scooter. I almost had it started when Tasha showed up dressed in skinny jeans and a white tee shirt. She was standing in her parking lot waving me over.

“What,” I asked from twenty or so feet away.

“It’s my turn to buy breakfast,” she informed me. “How about biscuits by that dried up creek bed in the town’s park.”

Naturally I knew the one she meant. There were only two city parks. One had been built around any old railroad caboose, and the other around a creek that stayed dry most of the summer.

“Okay creek bed it is. Should I ride with you, or meet you there?” I asked.

“Come with,” she declared.

“Have gone all Brit on me?” I questioned her.

“Sure why not, I’m a citizen of the world,” she suggested.

“Now you are quoting Humphrey Bogart at me. You are really a weird chick,” I informed her.

“But you love it, you dirty old man,” she said with a giggle. Then she asked, “I want to run something by you.”

“Okay, go for it,” I replied.

“I am going to need a washer and dryer set up. If I put it in the men’s bathroom, I will have to pay for it again when I move it upstairs.”

“Lets talk it out,” I suggested. “There is no bathroom at all up stairs. The space also has no heating and air conditioning. So you should do the heating and air at the same time as the plumbing. They can also add a little extra wiring for the dryer. It should be 220.

You need to do a rough in plumbing job at least. Then a full hookup for the washer and dryer is possible. At that point you could stop for a while and rethink what to do next.”

“See that is why I bought your breakfast. I’ll call Thomas,” she demanded.

“Did you get his number?” I asked.

“Of course I did. I also got the numbers of our builder and our cleaning lady as well,” She explained with a innocent smile.

While I sat in Tasha’s car and stared at the trickle of water running through the creek, she got a call on her cell. She listened and grunted now and then. Finally she said “Okay I’ll pass it on.”

I didn’t think that I needed to ask. I knew Tasha would tell me, if the call involved me. Of course she did tell me, but she waited long enough to prevent me from taking my anger out of her personally.

“So,” she began. That was not a good sign, I thought. “how would you feel about doing a public service spot for the SJL.”

“You are kidding, those assholes want to use me already,” I said with a laugh.

“At least you laughed, Lucy would have cursed for an hour,” Tasha said. “Then called and told Mr Mason to kiss her ass at high noon on the mall in Washington. Then she would consider doing it.”

“Yeah that’s Lucy alright. Tell Mason I don’t do TV,” I said. “The next time he asks me something that stupid, I walk away.”

Tasha dropped me in the parking lot of the lock shop, then went god only know where. I went inside to watch the TV shows I had missed while in Lumberton. after which I just wanted to be left alone to nap. Although I would have considered napping with Tasha again.

I must not have slept well the night before, because I drifted off to sleep without any calming down time at all. I had slept four hours when I heard the knock on the door. I struggled out of bed in a pretty good mood. It was short lived.

“What the fuck is up with you?” Tonya asked.

“What do you mean?” I asked her right back. I really was lost.

“You bring that devil Tasha here.” Suddenly Tonya burst into tears.

I ushered her into the house, while looking to be sure I wasn’t being watched. “Now what is going on?”

“She called me from Lumberton and asked me to come see her. I said no. She called again when she arrived in town late last night. Since the kid was with her grandmother, I drove over. I thought she wanted to talk about you. I swear Ray she pretty much raped me. I have never been so humiliated in my life.”

“So humiliated that you stayed till 5AM?” I asked.

She moved her gaze to the floor. “Okay I enjoyed being with a strong woman. I just didn’t like the things she made me do.”

“You didn’t like the fact that she showed you who you are. Trust me you will get used to it,” I replied shortly.

“I am not gay,” Tonya said.

“Those terms don’t apply any more. You are just open to new things,” I said.

“And are you?” she asked.

“What did Tasha say,” I asked as an answer.

“She said to ask you, so I am,” Tonya demanded.

“I have done things for, and with those two I never thought I would,” I replied. “If anyone finds out about where you were last night, it will be because you tell them. Tasha and I won’t be telling anyone, I can assure you. Truth is. No one we know would care, none of them know you.”

“I guess that should make me feel better,” Tonya suggested.

“Yes it should. It’s just a matter of you coming to grips with whatever it was. No one is going to give you any grief about it,” I promised.

“But you know. You could cause me huge problems.” Tonya proclaimed.

“I just told you that I wouldn’t do that. Why would I lie to you about that?” I wondered out loud.

“Because I treated you so badly,” Tonya admitted.

“I can’t deny that I felt like that for a while, but now I’m over it. To be honest, it seemed like you didn’t want me to know your little girl. Maybe because you were planning, all along to dump me. You were just waiting until you had a better offer.’

“That isn’t true. I just didn’t want her to get attached to you. People who date, don’t always go on to get married. I was just trying to protect her,” Tonya explained.

“Well I promise, I’ll protect her from your new secret,” I said.

“You know that if you had fucked me after I broke up with Carl, I wouldn’t be susceptible to Tasha’s advances,” Tonya tried to convince me.

“Pardon me, but bullshit. Tasha is a force to be reckoned with. You are a sweetheart, but you are no match for her,” I explained. Tonya began to cry while I watched. She and Tasha obviously had a power relationship going on.

Tasha obviously held the power, and Tonya obviously was the submissive. Tonya was the one who hadn’t come to grips with it yet. As far as I was concerned she either would fight against being submissive, or give in to it to some degree. I couldn’t make those choices for her. I didn’t even pretend to know the answer.

“Well hon, I think you have to decide if you want to see Tasha again. Then you need to stick to your decision until you can’t stand being that version of you. Then try another version of you. I sure as hell am not an expert on relationships,” I admitted.

“I have to go, the kid will be home soon. That summer camp ends early, and I need to pick her up at mom’s place,” Tonya said. “Ray, thanks for listening to me. It’s nice to have a friend who doesn’t judge me. Maybe we can get back to the other someday. Even it is just a buddy fuck,” she suggested with a fake smile.

“I guess all things are possible,” I agreed.

Tasha and I rode every morning. It was Tasha who suggested we swap bikes. She felt like she needed the extra bulk and harder workout of the mountain bike. I was thankful, but didn’t admit it.

Thomas showed up two day’s after my talk with Tonya. It was on the same day that I recovered my road bike. Everything seemed to be right with the world on the day he started work. He arrived to work after my shower and before my breakfast.

Tasha walked down the slight rise between our lots almost naked. She wore a white shirt, like the ones I wore on occasion, but hers was much smaller. Her hair was wet and hanging in strings and of course she had a pair of tiny little green gym shorts. The only way I can describe her look was totally seductive.

“Thomas called and said he was on the way. Would you go meet him and explain what I want. Then get him started on the work.” she almost demanded.

“Sure we are agreed, he is going to rough in your kitchen, and do a full install of the washer and dryer,” I explained.

“Yes, do we need the electrician first?” she asked.

“No, he can come anytime,” I said.

Thomas took all day, but when he left the loft had pipes for the kitchen and bathroom in place. Thomas ran the water lines and the drain lines exposed above the floor. I made sure they were close enough together to build a cover for them. That was in case Tasha decided she didn’t like the industrial look after all. Thomas also cut the hole, through the back wall, for the clothes dryer vent.

Obviously it wasn’t a cheap job. Thomas had a couple of his tattooed friends helping him. One of them got out of line with Tasha. She almost broke his hand.

“You bitch,” he said. I happened to be standing in on the same floor. I hurried as fast as my gimpy legs would carry me. I was a little too late to prevent Tasha from breaking his nose.

“He assaulted me. It is self defense,” she explained.

“Is that true?” I asked the laborer.

“It was an accident, but she is right, it was my fault,” he said when he gave his version.

“You are lucky she didn’t kill you,” I advised the East European jerk.

I packed his nose, with cotton wads then ran some tape over it. I also suggested he go to the emergency room. Then they finished their work.

“Don’t call me again either of you,” Thomas demanded as he got in his truck to leave.

“Works for me,” I said.

“As for you,” I said to Tasha. “You have to learn not to overreact. At least not so violently.”

“I did nothing to encourage that kind of treatment,” she said.

“Look how you are dressed and then rethink that statement,” I advised her.

Tasha and I got the washer and dryer up the outside stairs. We needed the help of my winch, and a hand truck rented from the home depot. I was amazed how sexy Tasha looked for a young woman with such small boobs and a flat ass. She had the body of a stereotypical lesbian. But she sure as hell didn’t act like one. She loved to flirt with men and women.

After Thomas got the washer and dryer finished Tasha wanted the bathroom finished quicker than I thought advisable. She wanted to move upstairs, bet she could do just fine downstairs. If she insisted, it was her money to waste.

After a couple of more days of discussions, we decided on the wall finishes and the floor finishes. I convinced her that she needed to do it while the space was empty. I wanted to give her time to get tired of Siler City. It had to be boring for her, there was no night life at all. Instead of being bored she found things to do. I was pretty sure Tonya was pointing her in other directions.

I did see Tonya’s car in Tasha’s back parking lot at 5:15 in the morning a couple of times. I didn’t ask Tasha, and she didn’t try to explain it. We all agreed that it was none of my business.

“Okay Sarge, it is time to get moving on my loft damn it,” Tasha informed me during a break from the ride. We were at the county’s high school when she further informed me, “Tonya gave me the name of a painter. We need to meet with him this afternoon. He agreed to stop by today as a favor to her. So we go get lunch, bring it home and wait in my place.”

“Tasha, I’m not your fucking subbie, but I don’t have anything else to do this afternoon, so okay. But you are fucking buying my lunch.” I insisted.

That was what she did at noon. I waited at her place for the painter. My lunch was her choice, so it ended up being Hot Dogs from Chris’s drive in. She had gotten his name from Tonya no doubt, but I didn’t mention that.

I had finished the two hot dogs and French fries long before Raphael showed up. He walked around then gave us his estimate for cleaning and sealing the bricks. His estimate wasn’t cheap. He came up with a $600 price for cleaning and treating the upstairs walls only.