Chapter 43

ALLIE TOOK HER SECOND OPPONENT fifteen-five and fifteen-zero. The poor gal didn’t stand a chance. Not only was Allie winning, she was piling up a point spread that would be hard to beat, even if there was a tie. She stayed to watch Lissa and me struggle against our second round opponents from Wisconsin. We won by two points in straight games, but we were plenty worried. It felt like they were on the same wave-length that we were. What great energy. We showered and I fed Lissa a light lunch. Before her first Open match, Melody and I cornered her and molested her until she could hardly breathe. Lissa came out with a two straight victories against a Korean competitor by four and by ten. We kissed Melody and headed for the showers as Melody headed back for our clothing display.

“We have to iron!” Melody exclaimed.

“What? What are you talking about?” I asked.

“I’m talking about the fact that Lissa and I only got seventy-five outfits ironed on Monday and we’re down to twenty on the rack. We need outfits for people to buy tomorrow. We’re increasing sales every day someone wears one of our outfits onto the court—win or lose. We need to iron more.”

“Do we need to have Amy ship us more?” Lissa asked.

“No. I think we have enough stock and it’s okay if we sell out on the last day. Amy and Kate are filling orders at night from our website. We’re selling almost as well online as we are live!” Melody said.

“Well, I know how to iron,” Allison said. “Geez! What a girl will do to get laid!”

“You’re doing enough on the court,” Melody said. “Everyone is reeling from the new Division A Lady from Kansas State. You sell as many outfits as Lissa does.”

“Well, if we need to iron, we’d better get going so we don’t spend all our tease time. It’s my night with Allison!” Lissa crowed.

“Oh god! I just started dripping. I need to go mess someone up on the court, right damn now,” Allie said.

She did mess someone up the next morning. The girl who faced Allie didn’t stand a chance in straight skunks. She never scored a point.

“Fuck, girl. I’m glad you aren’t competing in Open Division,” Lissa said. It was our semi-finals day for Mixed Doubles and we were on our way to meet the top-ranked pair from Ontario. After that match, Lissa would have three hours of recovery time before her quarter-finals round in Women’s Open. Allison sidled up against Lissa outside the locker room before she went in to shower and change.

“You’re the first one I want on Sunday when this is over and we can come,” Allison growled at Lissa. “I want to bury my face in your pussy and eat you until the Ice Queen melts.” She glanced at me. “While you pump my snatch with your cock.”

That was enough to put Lissa and me on edge for our match and we played like one person. We were so in synch that when I hit a spike, Lissa hit the floor before I’d finished my swing. The ball sailed an inch over her head and dribbled onto the floor before the Canadians could react. From that point on, they were on the defensive and never caught us. We won by three and by eight.

I’d just come out of the men’s locker room and was feeling pretty hot. I was semi-erect and couldn’t wait to rub up against Lissa’s pussy before her match. She was taking extra time to cool down and stay limber before her match this evening, so I figured I’d go up and help Melody and Allison in the booth until she was ready for me.

“Tony Ames,” a voice whispered. It came from the alcove where Lissa and I had made out. I spun and looked into the shadows.

“Tony, can I talk to you for just a minute? Please?” There was something about the voice that I recognized. The face was hidden in shadows, but the guy was scrawny. When he reached out his hand toward me, I almost dove back into the locker room. It was like the bony hand of death reaching out to clutch me. “Please.” The voice rasped.

“Yeah,” I said, harshly. “What do you want? Who are you?”

“It’s me, Harold Anderson,” he said. “Melody’s father.”

Shit! The guy was a shadow of the man I met last spring. I thought back to when I saw him in July and realized he’d been thinner than in May, but nowhere near what he was now.

“Mr. Anderson. Are you okay?”

“You’ve got to help me, Tony. Please. You’re my only hope.”

Who am I? Obi-Wan?

“What do you need, Mr. Anderson?”

“I want to ... want to see my daughter. I’ve made such a crock of things. I just want to see my little girl and tell her that it’s all right. I was so stupid, Tony. I’m so sorry,” he said.

“Hey. You know Melody loves you. Come on up to the lobby with me. She’ll be thrilled to see you.”

“Not like this. She won’t even know me. That’s why I need your help. We talk every week or two, but she doesn’t know I look like this.”

“What’s happened, Mr. A?”

“I’m dying, Tony.”

I had too much to process all at once. I was in the middle of a tournament. Lissa was about to face a new challenger in the quarter finals of the Women’s Open. Melody was up in the lobby selling sportswear and Allison had just joined her after the last match. Now here was Melody’s father, telling me he was dying. Fuck!

I had to think fast. There was nothing so important as getting Melody and her father together. I had to come up with something fast.

“All right, listen to me,” I said harshly. “If you are fucking with me, you are going to wish you were only dying. You are here right in the middle of the most significant thing Melody and Lissa and I have done since we met. Our whole business is on the line, not just Lissa’s title. But there is nothing ... do you hear me? ... nothing more important to me than family. My family and my family’s family.”

“I promise, Tony...”

“I don’t need promises. Do you know the coffee shop in the Hilton lobby?” He nodded. “Go there. Just find a table and wait. When you see Melody, make sure she sees you and comes to you. It’s going to take me half an hour. You’ve got that long, don’t you?”

“The doctors say soon, but I should be able to last at least half an hour,” he chuckled. “Tony? I know you don’t like me and I don’t blame you. I’m an ass. But thank you.”

“I hope you can still say thank you after you’ve met with Melody.”

Melody and Allison were selling like crazy. There were no changing rooms, but people were buying the outfits as quickly as Allison could hang them up.

“Hey, Tony!” I spun around. What now?

“Karl? Hey man. How you doing?”

“I’m just preparing to get creamed in the quarter-finals tonight. My first Pro tournament and I’m not going to make the finals. Or even the semis,” he laughed.

“That’s a hell of an attitude,” I said. “Why so certain?”

“Luck of the draw. I’ve got Lauerman in the quarters. Man, he is in a whole different league than you and me.” Karl Higgendorfer included me in the same league as he was! Shit!