Chapter 18
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Hunter
“How’s it going?”
“Same as yesterday, Mom. The house is still standing and we haven’t set ourselves on fire yet.”
“Very funny.”
“We’re at the lake. I can’t talk long.”
“Alright. Me either. Ronnie and I are picking up Landon’s sister at the airport.”
“Did Landon get ahold of Mabel yet?”
“They talked yesterday. But there’s another call scheduled for today. She wants her daughters to hear his proposal.”
“Is she all there?”
“Hunter!”
“What? It’s a valid question. She’s ninety.”
“She’s really hard of hearing. Otherwise she sounded perfectly lucid. One of the daughters lives with her and had to do the talking, because the mother got frustrated.”
“Does he think she’s going to sell?”
“He’s hoping. There’s a chance.”
Bing hits my arm and lifts his chin in the direction of the two bikini wearing, hot as fuck, older girls walking our way. They have to be twenty-five at least, and they are looking right at us.
“Got to go, Mom.”
Think she said bye, but I may have disconnected a second too soon. I’ll call later.
“Attention Walmart shoppers,” Bing says. “Tits and ass alert. Aisle seven.” Then in lower tones, “I call the blonde with the cameltoe.”
“Let’s just see how it plays out.”
“Too late, dude. Called it already.”
As they approach, it is obvious we were in their sights too. A guy can tell when he’s being looked at in that way. The brunette is biting her lip with embarrassment. Standing in front of us, the tan blonde speaks first.
“Hi. We saw you taking the paddle board out. Thought we’d say hi.”
“You’re looking good, ladies.”
Shit. Bing sounds like he’s forty. I have a smoother approach.
“Hi. I’m Hunter.”
“I’m Kylie and this is M.”
“Em?”
“No. M the letter.”
I make room on the towel. “Here.”
Bing follows my lead, but directs the invitation specifically to Kylie, by locking eyes with her and patting the place next to him. It’s a spider and the fly kind of thing.
“I’m Bing. We’re brothers,” he says, not looking my way.
Why he threw that in, I don’t know.
“Hot brothers,” Kylie says. “Don’t you think, M?” She taps her friend’s long legs.
“Like your name,” M says, looking directly at me.
But it’s with a sort of innocent expression that contradicts her mouth.
It looks like a pouty pornstar’s. Bet she was a Catholic schoolgirl.
Every one I have ever met was on the wild side.
Sex in a uniform. There is something appealing about a girl who can’t be tamed by a religion.
“What does the the M stand for?”
A strange look passes between the girls, like they know a secret.
“Guess,” M says.
“Um, Meagan?”
“No. That’s not it,” she says chuckling. “I’ll tell you when we get to know each other better. Where you staying? The cabins?”
Bing points to the path winding down the hill. “We have a house. Right up there.” He wears a smug look of pride, like he actually owns the place. “The light grey one with the overhang.”
The girls are impressed. They bought it, I can tell. Technically, it is our house. This week anyway.
“That’s so cool! Summer rental? Or is it your parents?” Kylie asks Bing.
Nothing throws the guy. He’s fast on his feet, and I can rely on him to bullshit his way out of any situation. To make a cake out of a crouton.
“We are considering buying the place. For investments purposes. We’re here for a week. Just to get a feel for the place, the neighborhood.”
Oh God. Are they that gullible? I am staying silent. Not sure I could add anything to his creativity.
“How old are you two?” Kylie asks, taking another look at us.
“I’m twenty-five and Hunter’s twenty-three.”
Of course he made me the little bro.
“I see the resemblance. Definitely.”
There are zero things about our faces that look alike. Nothing. But it doesn’t matter.
“Are you guys models?”
Is she serious?
“Bing’s done some, but not me.”
God, it’s catchy.
“You’re good looking enough,” M says, smiling sweetly.
Everybody’s happy. Egos are stroked. Bullshit accepted. Bing has his wish granted when the cameltoe blonde makes certain he notices the upper half too.
“We are so sick of the sun. I need to shower off this sticky sunblock and have something to drink.”
The path her hand takes, over her shoulder and chest, is with purpose. She knows what she’s doing. So what? Bing gets a look on his face I recognize. His dick is being highjacked. The player’s being played and he likes the game. There’s no going back now.
“We have a big shower at the house. You girls could use it if you want, right, Hunter?”
“Kylie and I shower together, so we’d be in and out in no time.”
He will murder me in my sleep if I say any other word but ‘yes’. Why would I? No one will ever know.
“Yeah. We’ll make something to eat afterwards. There’s not much in the refrigerator, but we can put something together.”
“Great!” Kylie says, jumping up. “I’m really starved.”
“Do you have anything to drink there? Like tequila? That’s my fav,” M says.
Oh oh. The red flag warning waves in my brain for a fraction of a second, before I bury the motherfucker.
“Maybe. I’ll look when we get there. The people who own the place have boxes all around, so we don’t know what’s there or not. They’re packing for the move to their new place.”
That was pretty good.
“Well, you can always buy some,” M says. “If you wanted.”
Bing sends me a message with his eyes that says to abort that idea. We can’t show our ID’s to anyone. Shit.
Kylie digs in her bag and brings out a flask.
“Worst comes to worst, I have a little something.”
“ALexome!” Bing says.
“I’m sure we will find something at the house. The owner said we could use whatever we need,” I add like a big shot.
Crap. I’m getting in deeper. M must like the plan, because she leans over and kisses me on the cheek. A firm nipple poking through the bikini top brushes against my arm. Damn.
“What are we waiting for, ladies? Let’s go!”
Bing and I are up and grabbing stuff before the girls change their minds. This will go down as a night we never forget. I feel it. It’s gonna be epic. Nothing to be worried about. Nothing at all.
“Hunter! Wake up, dude!”
A hand rocks my shoulder, as I try to open my eyes. They are so heavy and seem to be glued together. The corner of my mouth has caked up drool. What the fuck? My neck. Shit. It feels like it has been in this kinked position forever.
“Wake up!” Bing’s graveled voice lands like a shock to my system.
“What…wait…what’s happening…”
“We’ve been roofied! Fucking cunts! Here, drink this.”
My brain is in a fog, and my mouth is so dry. Someone lifts my head and a water bottle touches my lips.
Water trickles down my throat and my neck.
“Stop, dude!”
My lids open and I see Bing’s concerned face relax. He looks like shit on a stick.
“There you are. Fuck, man, you worried me. We got rolled.”
“What does that mean? Give me that,” I say, taking the bottle and chugging a drink.
“Those fucking bitches robbed us!”
The pain in my head grows to a pounding beat, as the realization of the situation becomes clearer in my mind. My heart starts beating like a jackhammer.
“Are you fucking kidding?”
Now I begin to focus. It isn’t a pretty sight. We are on the couch, looking like two beached whales who landed on shore after a bender. My legs are spread and my head is cocked to the side. I try to straighten.
“Shit!” I grab the back of my neck.
“I know. I’m fucked up too! Look at this place, Hunter!”
“I don’t want to,” I say, scanning the room.
“We are so fucked,” Bing’s sad whine states the obvious.
No words come, as I take in the scope of things. Boxes are cut open, unwanted contents thrown to the side. And it doesn’t stop in this room. I see the tops of boxes on the kitchen counter, opened and looked through in the same way.
“Oh shit!”
Bing has made his way to the upright position. It takes me a minute to follow his lead.
“Where’s my iPad?” There’s panic in his voice. “I always leave it here! My phone was in my pocket. Oh shit!”
I pat my pocket, and it is flat as a pancake. “Mine’s gone too!”
“What are we going to do?”
My friend looks helpless and I have nothing to offer.
“I don’t know! Join witness protection? Crap!”
“Shit! I don’t know how we will get out of this one,” he says, rubbing the back of his neck.
“Are you okay? Do we need to see someone? Like a doctor?”
The other member of the clueless club answers my valid question.
“Are you fucking crazy? We’re okay. I’ll Google what to do. Wait. I’m not thinking straight. We have no phone or iPad. I don’t know how to get out of this one, dude.”
He throws up his hands and tears well in his eyes. It shocks the shit out of me.
“Well don’t start crying, asshole.”
“I’m not crying, fucker! And don’t you ever tell anybody I did! I’m serious, Hunter.”
“You think I want people to know about this?”
He wipes his cheek and gives me a look of false courage.
“I can’t even remember what happened,” I say, standing on weak legs.
“I’ll tell you what happened. We were blinded by the pussy.”
I have no comeback. It’s true.
Bing continues. “And we didn’t even get any.”
“That’s the least of our problems.”
We begin walking the room, taking in the scope of things.
“The tequila must have been spiked. They planned it all. Coming on to us, the shower story, the cameltoe. All of it.”
“The cameltoe was planned?”
“Obviously! You were hypnotized, weren’t you?
“You were too!”
“I never said I wasn’t!”
He makes like he’s got a huge hook in his mouth and it’s being pulled.
We burst out laughing at our own stupidity. It dies a quick death, because reality butts in and reminds us we are screwed.
“Let’s go look at the extent of this. We need to know what we are dealing with.”
We look through some of the rubble. I move to the staircase and he follows.
“Pray they stopped down here,” I say, suddenly realizing things could get much worse.
“They may have made a quick job of it. You know, in and out before we could catch them in the act.”