Igniting the Wild Sparks (36 page)

“Yeah.”

“Why don’t you call him? Try to smooth things over with him before you go home.”

“I will. I owe you a dance first.” The next song comes on, a faster one, and I swivel my hips, causing the rest of my body to follow suit. Rod catches up with me, and I dive my head at him, in which he follows my move. We stomp one foot and then alternate with the other, like we’re square dancing, almost. Twisting around, we dive and stomp again. Though we always make up the dances on the fly, we’re always so in tune with each other, picking up changes fast. I stand to shimmy and shake around Rod, while he hops forward and back before spinning around. Vaguely, I notice our audience as the entire cleaning crew, which instantly unnerves me. Josie even has her phone out, recording us.
Holy shit!
How embarrassing!

Rod grabs my hand and we swing and dance over the scuffed, wooden floor. Pulling me so my back is against his chest, he rapidly sings over each of my shoulders, making me giggle. I know he wants to do more substantial dance moves, but I just can’t. The aching is spreading across my abdomen from doing what I’m doing now.

He twirls me again as the song ends to applause and whistles.

“You kids are fabulous!” Amy squeals. “Greg, remember how I used to dance with you and the girls? You’ve improved so much since then!”

Rod offhandedly shrugs and smirks. “A little.”

Her eyes grow even wider than I thought was humanly possible as her hands go to her cheeks.
“A little?
That was marvelous! Unbelievable!” Damn. We’re not contestants on
So You Think You Can Dance.

Josie jumps up and down. “I got it all on video for Eden! She’ll love it!”

Amy suddenly dances over to Rod. “Come on, Greg. Let’s groove like old times!”

Colt oddly dodges out of the room. Ten seconds later, The Divinyls’ “I Touch Myself” fills the bar. Rod looks panicked and nauseous as Amy sways around him.

Colt caterwauls and circles his hips mockingly. “Move, Greggie! Sway those sexy hips! Woo!”

“Go, Greg!” Tabby cheers. Josie continues to film, but I’m sure it’ll be shaky from her laughing.

Amy bumps her hips against Rod’s leg, while he stands stock-still. He finally puts his hands up in defeat. “I can’t do this.”

“Oh, yes you will! Move what Lizette gave you, Gregory!” Amy swings her butt near Rod’s crotch and he jumps back with a horrified grimace.

“Could you
please
?” he sourly gripes. Amy rolls her arms and throws them out as she gyrates in front of Rod. I try not to laugh, but I can’t help it. Damn, it’s funny. I giggle until tears fill my eyes and I begin snorting at the ultra-uncomfortable look on his face. I’m such a bitch.

“Greg, dance or you and Colt will be locked in a room to hug it out!” Definitely not wanting that, Rod shoots her a dirty look, but begins to sway his hips unenthusiastically. Those dancing Santa Clauses at Christmas have more swagger than he does right now. Amy shimmies against him, and grabs his hand, swinging their arms together. Amy’s dull clothes greatly contrast Rod’s dark blue jeans and the gray
Take That
shirt he’s wearing, loosely tucked in at places and displaying his shiny silver belt buckle. Despite Rod being an odd duck and the randomly strange T-shirts he wears, he always manages to look cool. I don’t even think he tries. He just is; however, I would never tell him I think this. No wonder Rhonda has the hots for him.

He glances to the door in vain desperation. “Aunt Amy, I think I’m done.”

She shouts over the music, “No, you’re not, Greg! Dance!” I laugh, watching her march around more than she dances. Rod gawks at her like he’s witnessing a murder. When he takes a step back, she unwaveringly follows him. She whirls around and puts her back up against him like I did earlier, but this time, he looks like he’d sooner kiss Morgan. Amy reaches behind her, grabbing Rod’s hips, forcing him to move faster. He bites his lip and his cringe deepens.

I think seeing fashionable and foulmouthed Greg Rodwell being manipulated by his short, overzealous aunt is the funniest thing I’ve ever seen.

Amy spins away and overstatedly swings her hips around in a circle, making us laugh, except for her partner. Poor Rod. He may have learned to like dancing from his aunt, but he had to have learned his moves from his stepsister.

When the song is over, he throws his hands into his hair and breathes a huge sigh of relief. With the exception of Rod, we all laugh and clap as Amy takes a gracious curtsy.

I leave the room giggling. When I return to my bucket, I pick up the rag to resume washing when someone says, “How ‘bout
I
give you a whirl?”

Since I had a weird feeling Colt would follow me, I’m not startled. Without turning around I reply, “Um, no thanks. I need to get finish cleaning.”

“Oh, come on! I’m better than my cuz here in a
lot
of ways.” Eww. I doubt that.

I diffidently face him. “What?”

“We should go see a movie. Or we could skip a movie and do something else.” He raises a smug eyebrow and creepily eyes me. My skin begins to bristle, not from fear, but from his smarminess.

From nowhere, Rod is blocking me again, jolting his cousin away from me, his eyes flashing with anger. “Colt, I told you to leave her the fuck alone.”

Colt throws a hand up, pointing at me. “What, cuz? I thought you told me you two were just friends. So it’s okay if I ask her out, ain’t it?”

Rod growls, “No.”

Colt goads him, “Why? She’s not yours.”

Rod steps up to him, eye-to-eye and he snarls, “I lied. She’s mine. Now
back off
.”

Receding from Rod, Colt derisively claps his hands. “Oh, so Greggie Poo finally has a girlfriend? And it’s
her
? I think she needs a huge upgrade!”

Crossing my arms, I incredulously laugh. “And it’s
you
? Ha!”

Colt keeps talking as if I’m not even here. “She could do so much better.” He laughs and Rod sucks his bottom lip in and clenches his fists. I’ve never seen Rod get physical with anyone. I don’t think he would’ve even fought Sparks, not that he could beat Finn.

Rod irritably sneers, “Fuck you,
cuz.”

Moving to stand beside Rod, I put my hand on his shoulder, pushing him back before things get way out of hand.
I say to Rod
,
“Okay. That’s enough. Your sisters are here. Watch your mouth.” I then turn to Colt. “You. I’m not interested, so please, stop with the gross come-ons and the disgusting stares.”

He nods at Rod with a dubious scowl. “I can’t believe you’re dating
him.
”

“Like I would date
you
? That’s even funnier.”

A conceited smirk lifts his lips. “I bet he can’t make you happy, if you know what I mean.”

Putting my hands on my hips, I haughtily retort, “Are you serious? You saw us dancing. Yes. He’s
that
good. He does things to me that you can’t even possibly imagine. Over and over again. So, yeah. I’m
extremely
happy. Therefore, why don’t you take your lame ass over to the bar where you’re supposed to be cleaning, instead of harassing me and my boyfriend?”

Colt’s eyes pop open and he unscrupulously grins. “Whew! You’re a
hot
one!”

“You better believe I am.” Where in the hell is this coming from? I didn’t know I even had it in me!

Amy crows from behind the bar, “Colt! Get your dumb ass in here and finish spacklin’! Quit being a ding-dong and wastin’ my time! Damn it! I’m sick of your shit!” Her face turns redder as she points at him and yells, “You make me so mad I could spit nails into a brick wall!” She pounds her fist on the bar and I put my own fist over my mouth to stifle my laughter.

Colt ultimately relents, moping to the kitchen, where his mother waits for him in the doorway. When he passes her, Amy smacks him on the back of the head. He protests, but she roughly shoves him forward before he can actually say anything.

As soon as he’s gone, Rod lets loose his laughter. “Oh, God!” We both laugh uncontrollably, gasping for air. He says, “I’m gonna croak from laughing! Son of a bitch! That was fucking awesome, Hadders! I can’t believe you said that shit!”

I giggle. “I can’t either. Not sure where it even came from. I didn’t like him picking on you. That was uncalled for.”

“He’s always been like that. I’m used to it. I don’t like him hitting on you, though. Your boyfriend would’ve pounded his face in.”

“Which boyfriend?” I laugh as he shakes his head and snorts.

After finishing up at the bar, we go to Rod’s parents’ house and have dinner with his family. Sherry is wickedly funny, too, and I can see her influence on Rod. Ashley kept playing with my ponytail, obliging Rod to whisper in my ear that his little sister has a crush on me. That comment won him a blow to the arm, which I’m sure didn’t bother him in the least. He was too busy laughing his ass off anyway.

Rod’s dad stayed with Eden that night after dinner. She seemed to tolerate him being there since he didn’t come home early. In the morning, he reported that Eden is still holding steady, but isn’t out of the woods yet, regardless of her bold attitude and mouth. Good for her. She needs to stay strong.

Sitting on the guest bed, I call Finn. I’ve been dreading it all day, knowing that I’m most likely going to encounter another fight. However, I don’t encounter anything at all since he doesn’t answer. I call three more times, but still no Finn. I leave him a quick message to call me back and that I love him. I’m concerned that he’s ignoring me or drowning his sorrows in a bottle of Jack and is too wasted to pick up his phone. I’d go home, but then his jealousy wins. He’ll continue to think he can act like this when I’m with Rod or any other guy friend, which there aren’t any. Just Rod. Is he going to get jealous about Shane, or me talking to Ivan now? Crick? Grant? Would he get mad if he saw me talking to Ricky? No. Ricky’s different. He trusts Ricky implicitly. It’s
me
he doesn’t seem to trust, although he’s the one risking his life and keeping it a secret from me.

This has got to stop.

I again cry myself to sleep, missing Sparks and worrying about what is next for us.

CHA
PTER 17

Thursday afternoon, Rod and I sit across from each other at Amy’s bar, taking a break from cleaning. Tab told us Colt was at work, so that headache wasn’t looming over us, thank God. He’s a different level of creepy.

We had just
returned from visiting Eden, but didn’t actually get to visit with her since she was asleep. I reminded a worried Rod that sleep for her is good so she can get better and go home.

Taking a break, Rod and I sit in a now-clean booth. I lean forward and say,
“This is just like my dream. You sat across from me just like you are now, but you were wearing a Care Bears shirt, not a Marky Mark shirt.”

He morosely frowns. “A Care Bears shirt? Hilarious, Hadders. Give me some fucking credit.”

“I’m only stating a fact, which isn’t really a fact since it was a dream. Well, more of a nightmare.”

“Why was it a nightmare?
I
was in it.” He teasingly smirks with a nod.

“Because Finn was kissing two sluts in it.”

He drops his smile and sucks in air through his teeth. “Ooh. Not good. Did you knee him in the balls?”

“No. I couldn’t move from the
booth. All I could do was watch him tongue and grope two other women.”

“
Wow. That’s one threesome I’d still watch, but I’d hate it the whole time.”

Leaning back, I cross my arms and scowl.
“Bite one, Rodwell.”

Rod
snorts as Meredith Brooks’ “Bitch” starts blaring out of nowhere. He shifts to reach into his pocket, removing his offending phone. “Morticia. Why’s she callin’ me?”

“
Oh. Probably because I don’t have my phone. I forgot it on the bed.”

He taps the screen
before putting the phone up to his ear. “What in the hell do you want, evil woman?” He grins, but the smile rapidly fades as he listens.

“What? No. You’re kiddin’?
Okay. I will. Thanks.”

As he hangs up and speedily plays with his phone,
I ask, “What’s wrong?”

Rod fleetingly glances up at me. “Wilder worked today.”

Utterly confused, I stare at his fingers moving over his phone. “Oh. I thought he was off since he was supposed to be in Kentucky with me.”

“Nope. Apparently
, he worked the Nooner today. Morgasm wants us to watch him online since his broadcast is done.” As he works his phone, I get up so I can sit next to him.

“What’s the big deal if he worked?”

“She said he did something.” My stomach knots tightly with a foreboding dread.

“Good or bad?”

His fingers stop moving as he turns to look at me. “Not good.”

“Oh, no.”
Ice fills my blood before I even know what he did.

Rod holds his phone up for me to see.
“Here it is.”

I look at the small screen. “It’s Drake, not Finn.”

“Just watch.”

He fast-forwards through Drake’s recap of sports scores and highlights
. As he does, I nervously play with my key. Rod lets the video play as Finn appears on the screen in a small box. Drake talks to Finn, who’s on location, interviewing some white water rafting enthusiast. Sparks looks so handsome in a dark blue polo with the station’s logo, but the blue makes the circles under his eyes more prominent. I guess Pam didn’t make much of an effort today. His hair is tousled and gently blowing in the breeze.

The screen now changes to Finn’s interview. Rod and I impatiently watch it, not caring about the technicalities of stupidly taking on choppy waters, but not wanting to miss anything Finn says.
When the non-revealing interview is finally over, Finn turns to the camera, gifting it with his winning smile.

“I want to remind everyone planning on attending the Fayetteville Bridge Day Festival on the New River Gorge Bridge that registration for BASE jumps begins July 3. So, don’t forget to get registered prior to the festival.”

Drake asks Finn,
“Hey, Finn. You haven’t jumped in the past few years. Are we ever going to get to see you do it again?”

Finn’s jaw tightens and he glances away from the camera before he looks back and says,
“Yeah. As a matter of fact, I am doing it this year.”

Not expecting that answer, Drake says,
“You are? That’s great!”

He
nods and hugely grins.
“Yep. I am.
I can’t wait. It’s been way too long.”

“Did someone dare you to
jump?”

“You could say that.”

“Can you tell us who?”

Finn holds his smile
steady.
“Uh, I’d rather not this time.”

When the camera returns to Drake, he says,
“You heard it here, folks. Our very own Finn Wilder is back in the saddle and will be BASE jumping off the New River Gorge Bridge in Fayetteville, WV in October. I’m surprised he stayed away for so long.”
Drake turns to the anchor and they discuss why Finn hasn’t jumped in the past two years, but the audio blurs as I numbly stare at the table.

“Holy fuck,” Rod utters.

Trembling, I scoot out of the booth and run to the restroom before I hurl onto the newly cleaned floor. Getting to the toilet in time, I heave until I’m empty, which the feeling is not inclusive to just my stomach, but to my whole body. I’m hollow. How could he publicly slap me in the face like that? Did he fall out of love with me because I’m helping a friend? Because I ruined his surprise?

Completely spent,
I flush the toilet and sit down against the orange, metal stall, folding my arms over my bruised stomach. Just as my retching did, the sound of my crying echoes off the tiled walls, making me feel even more isolated from my own life.

The
restroom’s door creaks open and blue high tops appear at the bottom of the stall’s door. “Hadders, Morticia wants to talk to you.”

I shriek, “Rod! What are you doing in the women’s
bathroom?”

Unaffected,
he replies, “It’s just you. I wanted to see if you’re okay.”

“No, I’m
not
okay!”

“
Here.” Squatting, he reaches under the stall door to hand me the phone, and I have to laugh at his absurdity.

R
eluctantly, I snatch it out of his outstretched hand and grumble, “Hello?”

Morgan urgently asks,
“Did you watch the video?” I hear the door open again as Rod leaves me alone.

I try to sound casual, but succeed in doing the opposite.
“Yeah.”

“Oh my fucking God, Hadley! What the hell? Why did he do that to you?”

“He’s mad at me for coming down here. He had a trip planned for us and I ruined it.”

“That’s no excuse! He knows how you feel about that fucking bridge! He’s going to do that to you now?”

“Morgan, I don’t feel like talking about it right now.” I feel another round churning in my stomach.

“Well, you don’t have to.
I
will.”

“I’ll deal with it.”

“How about I deal with it this time? That dickhead is on my last nerve.”

“No! You’ll only make
things worse! Just leave it alone. I’ll deal with Finn when I get home.”

“You shouldn’t propose to him now. You should kick his ass out of your apartment and forget about him once and for all.”

I tearfully say, “I still love him. We’re having a fight. We’ll work through it.” Can we? Should we?

“I’m tired of him treating you like shit! I’ll kick his ass myself!”
I know she’d make good on that threat.

“No, you won’t! I should be home Saturday for our game.
I’ll talk to him before then.”

“Is he going to let you play?”

“He’d better. He said he wouldn’t be there because of his trip, but since he’s not going anywhere, I’m sure he’ll be at the game now, if not just to keep me away from shortstop.”

“What a dick.”

“He’s just looking out for me.” As I say that, the words I said to him about his safety ring loud in my head. Why is he allowed to care about my well-being, but my concern for his is jackshit?

“I’m telling you, Hadley. His attitude makes me want to rip his goddamn head off.”

“Maybe it’s the pregnancy hormones.” She sighs hard and I take the chance to avert her attention from Finn. “We can go out Saturday night. You and me. I feel bad I haven’t thrown you a bachelorette party.”

“Tonya won’t be able to come in until the rehearsal. We can do dinner.”

“I’ll let you know the time.”

“
Yeah. Okay. That sounds so good. Just kicking back with my girl.”

I smile and grab some toilet paper to dry my face, but when
I hang up with her, my sobs begin again.

Rod’s expensive sneakers
rematerialize at my door. “Hadders, come on. Open the door.”

“No.”

“I want to take you somewhere.”

I bury my face into my bent legs. Muffled, I say,
“Please say it’s a tall bridge so I can fling myself from it. Finn Wilder would be so proud. Well, maybe not. It might be rookie shit.”

“I’m getting you out of here.
Open the door or I will take it off the hinges. I know how to work a screw.” I hear a quiet giggle and I roll my eyes.

I slowly stand and
open the door. Giving me a sympathetic smile, Rod takes my hand and walks me out of the bathroom.

I tighten my arms over my aching stomach. Not only is it the bruise hurting, but now my insides are sore from puking so much. I childishly grouse, “I don’t feel like getting out.”

Rod holds onto the passenger door and gently coaxes, “Come on, Hadders.”

I shake my head, which makes it throb. “No. I’m not leaving this truck.”

“Yeah you are.” Reaching across my lap, he unbuckles my seatbelt and picks me up, which shocks the hell out of me.

“Rod
!”

“Hadders!”
He mockingly whines as he carries me to the close berm of grass and sets me down on the sandy and rocky shore. I dully watch as he pulls off his shoes and then peels off his socks, swiftly rolling up the legs of his jeans. When he stands, he nods at me.

I
grouchily scowl. “What?”

“Do it.”

I peer at the body of water in front of us. “I’m not walking in that water.”

“It’s fine. It’s shallow on the ledge. Come on.”

“You want me to walk across a creek?”

“Around here it’s a
crick
.” He rapidly snaps his fingers at me. “Let’s go, Hadders!”

Looking over to the water again, I mumble,
“I might drown.”

“You won’t drown. I promise.”

Still searching for a way out, I say, “Someone might take our shoes.”

“No one will take our shoes.”

“I might get bitten by a fish.”

He gestures to the creek. “In here? Maybe a snake, but not a fish.”

I jump back and maniacally dance in place while crazily shaking my hands. “Oh, holy shit! There’s no way!”

Between his snorting, he
tries to soothe me. “I’m kiddin’! Sort of. There ain’t any snakes here. The water’s too fast and they don’t like the waterfall. I’m stupid for teasin’ you.
Come on!
”

I point at him.
“If I drown, watch out.” I steal his sister’s words, “I will fucking haunt your ass.”

He raises a baffled eyebrow at me
with an unsure smile. “Um, okay.”

“What’s the purpose of this?” I petulantly yank my shoes and socks off,
stuffing my socks into my shoes so no small rodent or reptile can crawl into them.

Rod
impatiently hops in place. “It’s good, clean fun!” I roll my eyes at his repetitive and preposterous statement.