Misty Reigenborn Romance Boxed Set (117 page)

A strange look passed briefly over his face but all he said was "It's up to you Tor.  Sometimes they can take a month or more to be really effective.  Do you want to chance it?"

She thought she would do it with him without a condom in his front yard if he asked her to.  She licked her lips.  "Yeah."

He grinned, and pulled her with him down the street.  He dropped his keys twice before he got them in the door though she'd taken the food containers from him.  She breathed a sigh of relief when they finally made it into the house. 

He put the food in a nearly empty fridge.  She was already in the bedroom, starting to get undressed when he came in.  He looked at the messy room, a look of disgust in his eyes.  "Do you want me to see if I can find a clean set of sheets?"

"Don't worry about it.  We can put them on later.  I wouldn't mind if you turned the heater on a little though.”

"No problem." He hurried out of the room to the thermostat.

The fan had already clicked on by the time he'd returned.  She was standing beside the bed; nude, waiting for him. 

"You are so beautiful." He took her into his arms. 

"I love you Tony," she said after he'd pulled back, tossing his clothes onto a pile on the floor.

"I love you too, baby."

There were no more words as he led her to the bed.  Laying in his arms afterward, pleasantly exhausted from sex that could only be described as truly awesome she said softly "So I guess we need to talk now huh?"

"Yeah, guess so.  Let me see if I can find a pack of smokes and some sheets for the bed.  I'll be right back okay?"

She nodded, watching him walk out of the room.  Looking at Tony, she wondered how she could have ever thought Jude was sexy.  He was good looking she thought, but there were men that could do things to a woman that no man had any right to.  This man could probably make a nun forget her vows she thought. 

She was half asleep when Tony came back and had no idea how much time had passed.  He’d come up with a pack of cigarettes and a clean pair of sheets and a tiger striped comforter.

She raised an eyebrow, pointing at the comforter. 

"Yeah, yeah, I know.  It was my roommate’s.  He thought it turned the girls on."

She shook her head, and got up off of the bed and helped him put on the sheets.  Then she climbed back into bed with him, leaning against the headboard. 

"Where should we start?"

"Tony, I um.  .  ."

"Tor before you start, I have a couple confessions of my own.  First of all, I lied to you when I said I hadn't gotten laid while we weren't together.  But she never meant a damn thing to me and the sex wasn't that great.  We only did it three times.  But I thought I should tell you about it, since she is someone you know."

Whoa she thought.  It couldn't be Molli could it?  It couldn't possibly be. 

"Um okay."

"I think she's one of your teachers so.  .  ."

"One of my teachers Tony?"

"Sheretha Belmont.  She is one of your teachers right?"

Tory's mouth dropped open.  "You're kidding.  I thought she was gay.  And her name is Sheretha?"

"She may be bi but she's sure as hell not gay.  She came over when I was messed up to buy some weed and one thing led to another.  I haven't been in my right mind lately Tor."

"Wow."  Tory sat back.

Tony sleeping with Belmont?  She'd never look at that woman in the same light again she thought. 

"It's your turn Tor.  I know about you and Jude, though I think the story that prick gave me was a load of crap."

"Um, about Jude.  I don't know what he told you, but I didn't go to him.  He came to me and gave me this line of bull about breaking up with Molli after graduation and practically begged me to have sex with him.  I was curious.  So I did it, and believe me, he doesn't hold a candle to you in any way shape or form Tony."

Tony gave her a cocky grin, but it soon faded.  "Here's what we're gonna do, Tor.  We are both going to be honest about what we want from this relationship from now on.  No more screwing around, no more hard drugs, not even coke.  And you know how much I love my coke.  We're gonna get through this shit together okay?"

"Okay."

"I'll call my uncle in the morning; see if that guy's still got the car.  If he does I'll drive you home and play nice with your mom and stepdad.  If you'll come back here with me for new years at Carl's place."

“Sure, that sounds great Tony."

She couldn't stop smiling all of a sudden.  She knew it was going to be hell for Tony to go through the withdrawals from the drugs, especially since he couldn't get around having them in the house.  But they'd get through it.  She'd lived with Lindsey for 17 years.  He'd gone through his dad dying and his mom losing her mind.  This should be a piece of cake she thought.

“Will you let me sleep now Tor?  It's been like a damn week since I got a decent night's sleep."

"Of course."

"We'll sort through this hell hole in the morning.  I need to get my damn phone bill paid, and make sure my cash is still safe.  I'm too tired to do it now."

"Do you want me to check on your money?"

"Nah darlin'.  The door is locked now and I’m pretty sure that prick got what he wanted.  And if it's gone what the hell can we do about it tonight?"

"We'll think of a good way to get back at him that won't land you behind bars."

"Sure.”  His eyes were already drifting closed.  She snuggled next to him, at peace for the time being. 

Chapter 11

They woke around ten the next morning. 

Tony sat up, stretched and reached for a cigarette.  "I'm gonna go check on my money.  Then I'll call my uncle and see if he can get in touch with that guy about the car."

Tory nodded, yawning as she reached for a cigarette of her own.  It was fifteen minutes or so later when he returned, carrying a beat up old lock box. 

"I figured he probably knew exactly what he wanted and wanted to get in and out of here.  How he figured out where I kept my product I don't know."  He shook his head.  "Unless I was sloppy or opened my mouth.  Dude was here a couple days ago, day before yesterday I think.  To buy a rock for his girlfriend.  He has the most beautiful wife at home, too.  I don't get it.  But he didn't get my cash.  'Course who would figure that you'd find cash in the garage?"

"You keep your money in the garage?" 

"Like I said, who'd think to look for it there, and nobody could get into my dad's old lock box." 

He got a funny look in his eyes when he talked about his dad she thought 

"So that was your dad's huh?"

"Yeah, there's not much of him left.  A few old pictures, his class ring.  My mom shredded most of his clothes.  When the house got foreclosed on my uncle took what he could, but there wasn't much left by that point."

"That really sucks." She squeezed his hand. 

"Tell me about it.  I gotta stop in and see her for a few minutes on the way out of town, wish her a merry Christmas like a good son.  Not that she recognizes me anymore, she's so drugged up.  But the worst part is when she thinks I'm my dad.  It fucks her up worse thinking that he's come back to her.  Then I have to let her down and walk away from her.  Luckily that's only happened twice.  The first time, they told me not to come back since it upset her so much.  But her doctor
called a couple weeks later and told me that it's important to her recovery for me to visit."  He sighed.  "She's never going to recover.  She's going to die in that damn place, trying to figure out why my dad left her.  That's the only time I think about God and heaven, is thinking about my mom dying, finally getting her peace because she's reunited with my dad."

"That's so sad.” 

"Yeah.  I talked to my uncle.  The dude's still got the car.  He told me that no one wants to buy it because the old lady croaked in it getting back from the grocery store."

"You're kidding."

"No.  She had a heart attack behind the wheel.  She opened her door to get out and never made it." 

"And doesn't that give you the creeps?"

"Nah.  I really doubt the ghost of old Mrs.  Evans is haunting her car.  And it's cheap.  The guy's lowered the price twice since no one wants the thing.  Right now cheap definitely suits me.  I've been smoking and shooting up all my profit the last few weeks.  It's a good thing I still have all that money saved.  Shit, I've been saving twice as much since I met you.  I figured I was going to have to knock your socks off to steal you away from Jude.  Then you showed up on my door step teary eyed and all it took was some cheap booze and dirt weed to get you into my bed."

"Hey.”

"I'm glad that asshole was stupid enough to let you go.  Let's get this place cleaned up.  We gotta meet the dude at Carl's place at two thirty.  You can meet Carl's girlfriend.  Turns out she really grew up since the last time he saw her.  He came over here to borrow the last of my condoms last night she was so hot to get down his pants."

"Wow."

"Yeah.  Where should we start?"

"I don't know.  Your whole house is a disaster area."

"I know.  You wanna start in the living room?  I gotta clean the shit out of my car.  My uncle's got some guy coming over to pick it up around noon.  Gonna give me a couple hundred bucks for the parts." 

"That's not too bad.  How much did you pay for that thing?"

"I didn't pay shit for the car.  Well, I lost some profit.  This dude came over a couple years back for a couple hundred bucks worth of coke.  He's digging in his pants for his wallet and he can't find it.  So I was like give me my shit back.  But he's all messed up, and needs his high.  So he said ‘I'll leave you my car keys and the title to my car for collateral.  I'll make a call, be right back with the cash’.  I look outside.  The car was a piecer even then and I'm thinking who carries around the title to their car?  I'm like hell no, and he's starting to panic.  The coke's in his hand and he's thinking of doing something stupid, I can see it.  So I said what the hell.  I was without a car at the time, borrowing the jeep when I had to do my drug runs.  I said give me the keys, and the title.  You write me a bill of sale and we'll tear it up when you get back.  The dude never showed up, so the car was mine."

"Crazy."

"Yep.  Well we better get to this shit, or it'll be next week before we're done.  Cleaning supplies are under the kitchen sink.  I think there's still some laundry detergent if you want to start a load.  Please don't throw away my porn.  I'll deal with the shit in the bedroom."

"Okay.”

He leaned down and gave her a quick kiss.  "Thank you for being here with me Tor."

"Don't thank me until you've been put through the ringer by Lindsey and Langston."

He laughed.  "I've dealt with plenty of parents in my day."

"You've never met anyone quite like my mother.  And Langston-I'm not sure he has a personality."

"Who needs a personality when you've got millions in the bank right?"

“Yeah.”. 

"If you don't want to mess your clothes up you can wear one of my old t-shirts."

"You're going to go outside like that?"

"I'm too lazy to go dig out a shirt for myself.  Are you afraid that some gorgeous woman is going to come walking by and steal me away from you?"

"No one's going to steal you away from me." 

She pulled him to her for a steamy kiss.

He patted her on the ass, and then he slipped his feet into a beat up pair of bedroom slippers that were sitting by the front door and went outside.  She looked around the room for a minute, wondering where to begin cleaning and then just got started.  He came in half an hour later with his arms full of the stuff that had come out of his car.

He threw it all onto the kitchen table and held up a bra.  "This look familiar?"

She looked up from the pile of laundry she was sorting.  "It does.  But how did that get in your car?"

"We put that back seat to good use a couple of times."

"It was just once wasn't it?  And I know I left with all my clothes that time."

"Don't tell me you don't remember the FIRST time we did it in the backseat." There was a look of fake pain on his face. 

"I guess I don’t." 

Then it dawned on her.  He'd been driving her back to school.  They hadn't had sex that day, just sat around watching movies with Carl because she hadn't really been in the mood to screw.  They'd gotten stoned right before they left, so not smart in so many ways she thought.  But driving back, they were both pretty high.  Tony had said something perverted.  She'd laughed at first but then they'd both ended up really horny.  They'd pulled over and had sex in the backseat. 

She couldn't believe she'd forgotten.  They'd been sitting up in the backseat getting dressed.  Tony had his pants on, but she was still in her panties, struggling to get her bra hooked when a light had shined on the car.  She'd given up with the bra and tossed it on the floor, putting her t-shirt on.  It was a damn good thing that it had only been Tony's uncle she thought. 

He thought it was a kick.  Tony busted out too, but Tory had been mortified.  He hadn't caught Tony screwing a girl in his car since high school.  They had a big laugh about it while Tory was scrambling to get her clothes on.  She supposed she could have used that excuse for not going to his uncle's for thanksgiving since he'd probably seen her half naked but it hadn't dawned on her at the time. 

"I remember now.  Does your uncle?" 

He laughed.  "Yeah, he still gives me shit about it every once in a while.  But he's a good guy.  They took me in until I finished high school, helped me get this place with the little bit of money that was left over from my dad's insurance from work that my mom had started to spend and then forgotten about; since there was no way in hell they could pay their mortgage and keep up with the payments on our place, too.  Not that at the time anyone thought I'd end up dealing."

He handed her a cigarette, and sat down on the couch.  "Have a smoke with me.  Then I'll start on the bedroom and the bathroom.  I should be able to get the bedroom mostly done before dude gets here for the car."

She sat down on the couch, leaned against his chest, and lit her cigarette.  "So where'd you find my bra?  Was it still in the backseat?"

He chuckled.  "It was in the trunk of all places." 

"O-kay."

He shrugged.  "I don't know either."  He looked around the room.  "Hey, you're doing a great job.  This place is starting to look livable again."

"I don't know if I'd say that." She looked around at the huge pile of clothes in front on the washer and the growing pile of magazines and video games on the coffee table.  "But at least it looks better than it did."

He put his cigarette out.  "I'll get to work in the bedroom.  Let me know when it gets close to noon."

"No problem."

Her phone rang at around 11:45.  She glanced at the caller ID noticing that it was her mother.  Great, what did she want Tory thought? 

"Tony, it’s eleven forty-five."

"Thanks babe.  I'll be out in a minute."

She opened her phone just before it switched over to voice mail.  "Hello."

"Hello Tory."

"Hi Mom.  What's up?"

"When are you coming home?"

"I told you, probably Friday.  Look Mom, I sort of had a change in plans.  A friend's going to drive me home.  So if you could wire me the money for gas instead of buying the bus ticket, I'd really appreciate it."

"Do you know how expensive it is to wire money Tory?" 

She rolled her eyes as Tony came out of the bedroom, pointed to the phone and mouthed 'it's my mother'. 

He dropped a quick kiss on the top of her head and car keys and title in hand, headed for the door. 

"Then send the amount you were going to spend on the bus ticket minus the fees for wiring the money Mom."

"Is your friend someone I've met?  It's not that boy you're going with is it?  That Jude?"

"I told you that we broke up.  This friend is my new boyfriend.  His name is Tony."

"I see.  I assume he comes from a better family than Jude."

"Will you get over yourself?  It's not like you or dad was born with a silver spoon in mouth.  His family is fine.  His uncle's a cop."

Lindsey sighed.  Tory could hear the click of a lighter as she lit a cigarette.  "I thought you quit smoking Mom.  Langston hates it when you smoke."

"Your stepfather hasn't been home at all in the past two weeks so what do I care?  He's off on some business trip.  I wasn't good enough to go with him.  He doesn't think that I'd live up to the standards of some stuffy businessmen."

Tory held back a laugh.  Langston was probably afraid that Lindsey might meet someone with more money than him, and end up divorcing him.  It was only a matter of time before Lindsey met some mega millionaire who was about to croak with no family to leave his money to.  Then she could have money and not have to be tied down to a husband. 

"If you'll send the money we'll head out Friday morning or early afternoon.  We’ll be there by Friday evening at the latest.  When's Langston getting back?"

"Tomorrow night."

"Oh."

Her mother didn't seem too happy about it she thought.  Was there trouble in paradise yet again?  Of course she fought with Langston.  It never took long for the husband of the moment to start bitching at Lindsey about the money she was spending, but otherwise they'd seemed all right.  Especially since she'd heard them having sex several times over the summer.  Now that was just gross. 

"So your new friend goes to school in town?"

"Um, no he doesn't.  He's not in high school."

"Ah, a college boy then."

"He's not in college either."

"How old is this boy?" 

There was a trace of suspicion in her voice.  She must still be sober or she wouldn't bother to act like she gave a shit Tory thought. 

"He's twenty."  Well close enough Tory thought.  Twenty just sounded better than twenty-one, and it's not like Lindsey would ever remember later. 

"Hmm." Tory could hear ice cubes clicking in a glass.  "So he's twenty years old and he's not in college.  You didn't hook up with some loser that has no bigger aspirations that being the assistant manager of a fast food restaurant did you?"

"No Mom, he's um, a song writer.  And he does odd jobs to make money on the side."

Tony had once told her that he'd written songs in high school right she thought? 

"I see.”  By the tone of her voice Tory knew that she might as well have told her mother that he was a fry cook.  "You're not expecting to sleep with him under my roof are you?"