Freedom Ride, page 11
Marty made his way over to Jonas and sat his butt next to him. He sniffed Jonas’ ear, then licked his face in one swipe.
“Come on, man. I was putting the moves on your mom,” Jonas grumbled. He splashed water on his face, and Marty laid his head on his shoulder.
“I think your hot tub fantasy might be ruined.” Doc moved next to me but then swam to the other side of the hot tub.
“If I would have known you guys liked water, I would have kept you in the house,” he grumbled. He patted Marty on the head and smiled.
“They’re golden retrievers, Jonas. I think it’s in their DNA to love water.” That was true for Doc and Marty, at least. They had been water babies since the day I got them, and that hadn’t changed.
Marty’s tongue lolled out the side of his mouth, and he lovingly stared at Jonas.
“I think they like you,” I laughed.
“I’m sure seven days in dog years is like twenty days,” he laughed.
“You’re part of their pack now,” I smirked.
Marty jumped out of the hot tub and got the zoomies around the patio.
“You going with him, Doc?” I laughed. Doc moved to the side of the hot tub and watched Marty run around like his tail was on fire.
“I like this, Lennox,” Jonas murmured. He cupped my cheek and trailed his thumb over my skin. “I like you and me.”
“And Doc and Marty?” I giggled.
“Well, most of the time,” he grunted. “They did cockblock me.”
“Because it’s not like we’ve had sex so much that I’ve lost track of time.” I rolled my eyes and sighed. “I promise I’ll make it up to you later.”
“Oh yeah?” He pressed a kiss to my lips and tightened his arms around me. “How about we make later now?” He rose up from the water with me in his arms, and Doc let out a loud bark.
“We have to dry the boys off first,” I laughed. “They’re going to get everything soaked if we don’t.”
“Fine,” Jonas grumbled. “But as soon as their butts are dry, they’re getting a bone, and then so are you.” He wiggled his eyebrows and set me on my feet outside of the water. “Towels are over in that ottoman.”
I grabbed four towels and dried myself off while Jonas shut off the jets and pulled the cover over the hot tub.
“You take one, and I’ll take the other.” I tossed a towel at Jonas, and he managed to grab Doc as he zoomed by.
Marty barreled into me, and I rubbed the towel all over him.
I tossed the wet towel on the back of the chair, and I pushed my hair out of my face. “So, what were you saying about giving me a bone?”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Snapper
“Eleven.”
I poured cereal into my bowl and grabbed a spoon from the drawer. “Eleven what?” I asked.
“There are eleven days left until I need to pay my rent and bills.”
“Okay,” I drawled.
“Do you know what happens after I pay those bills?” she asked.
Lennox pulled the milk from the fridge and filled my bowl until the cereal started floating. “I have no clue.”
“I have no more money, Jonas. I told you I had a month before I would be out of money, and that month is coming up pretty fast.” She filled her coffee cup and leaned against the counter. “We’re living in a fantasy world right now, Jonas. I need to get back to Iowa and figure out what I’m going to do.”
“Back to Iowa?” I shook my head. “The only reason you’re going back to Iowa is to pack your stuff up and bring it here.” And I would be going with her.
“My life is in Iowa, Jonas. I can’t just move here on a whim.”
“A whim?” I scoffed. “And your life is wherever you want it to be.”
“Yes, a whim, Jonas. We have zero plans, and you just want me to move here. What will I do here?”
I shoveled a spoonful into my mouth and shrugged. “Whatever you want. It’s not like you’ll have to pay rent or anything. I live here, and so will you.” She was making this way harder than it needed to be.
“I can’t live here. I’m not a part of the club.”
I threw her a wink. “No, but you’re sleeping with a member of the club, which is pretty much the same thing as being a part of the club.”
“Do I get to know club business?” she laughed.
I rolled my eyes. “Club business is pretty much working at the body shop, strip club, or pole dancing place. All the crazy shit the club used to get into is gone, finally.” Things had considerably calmed down while I had been in prison. I guess the universe figured the club had been through enough shit and decided to go easy on us.
“What if I can’t find a job here, Jonas? I can’t just live here rent-free and mooch off you and the club.”
“Did you not just hear the three places I listed that you can work at? You can bartend with Luna at the club.”
“The strip club?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“Do bartenders make a lot of money? Doc and Marty aren’t exactly cheap.”
I leveled my gaze on her. “They make more than you did at the tanning salon but not as much as the dancers.”
She opened her mouth, but I shook my head.
“Hell no. Frost may be fine watching his woman shake her ass for people, but I’m not. The only person you shake your ass for is me,” I thundered.
“I probably wouldn’t even make that much anyway,” she sighed.
“You’d rake in the fucking money, Lennox, but isn’t like we will find out because you will not step foot on that stage.” No fucking way. I’ve been one of those idiots ogling chicks on stage, and I was a dog when I did it. Lennox was not going to shake her ass on stage to buy dog food.
“That seems kind of controlling.”
I dropped my spoon and wiped my mouth. “Would you be cool with me putting on a banana hammock and shaking my junk for money?”
She tipped her head to the side and cringed. “Uh, well, if that was what you wanted to do,” she mumbled. “I would be fine with it.”
“Liar,” I laughed. “There is no way in hell you would be okay with me stripping.”
“Show me,” she insisted.
“Show you what?”
“Show me what you would do when stripping, and I’ll decide if I can put my feelings aside and be able to just count your money till I feel better.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out a quarter. “This is all I have.”
“You gonna stick that in my crack like a vending machine?”
“Jonas,” she struggled not to laugh. “I am being serious. Let me see you strip, and we can decide if you will be the one taking the stage or not.”
“You should go put your Sass and Ass shirt on, babe. You’re in rare form right now.” I grabbed my spoon and stirred around the cereal.
“Strip,” she ordered.
“Whoa,” King called. “Why is it I always happen to walk in when weird shit is going on?” he asked. “Rigid’s blue pubes, and now this. I was just coming over for a cup of coffee.”
I nodded to the full pot. “Have at it. Lennox was just telling me she is going to move to Wisconsin and become one of the dancers over at the club.”
King grabbed a cup and filled it to the brim. “Give your application to Luna. She’ll get you in.”
I threw my spoon in the air and pushed back from the table. “You gotta be shitting me. Like you would be cool with Meg stripping over at the club.”
King chuckled and shrugged. “If she wanted to.” A smile spread across his lips. “Can you imagine what she would wear and what song she would dance to?”
“No, no!” Now I knew how Hero felt last week when Luna and Greta were talking about Cyn and Rigid. “I do not want to even think about Meg getting on stage, let alone what she would wear.”
“Dude, it would more than likely be one of those onesies that has a tail, and she would try to shake it to Macarena.” King leaned against the counter and laughed. “Guys would pay her to get off the stage so the real strippers could come out. She’d make a killing.”
“See,” Lennox called, “King is fine with Meg dancing.”
“You’re killing me, King,” I growled.
He held up his hand. “But on the flip side, the instant that tail of hers twerked a little too much, it would be over.”
“Thank you,” I sighed.
“But if she wanted to try it, she could,” King added.
“You are not helping,” I growled.
“Dude, I’m going to clue you into women for a second. I would bet you five hundred dollars Lennox doesn’t want to be a stripper but would do it because you’re telling her she can’t.” King nodded at Lennox. “Am I right?”
She held up her pointer finger and thumb a little bit apart. “A smidge.”
King smiled wide. “She’s also not going to tell me I am right, but that is a whole other can of worms I don’t feel like getting into.”
This was too much. “Are you going to be a stripper at Sultry Knights?” I asked Lennox.
She shrugged. “I mean, I’d like to have the option to, but as of right now, I don’t think that will be the new career path I go down.”
“See,” King chuckled. “She just needs the option to be on the table, doesn’t mean she is going to take it.”
Meg walked into the clubhouse and held up her arms. “Who wants to go shopping?”
“No,” King and I called in unison.
“I’m game,” Lennox replied. “I might be needing some new clothes for a new career path.”
“You just said–.” I started, but Lennox pressed a finger to my lips.
She leaned close and dropped her finger. “Options, handsome. I just want options.” She pressed a kiss to my lips and grabbed her phone off the counter. “I’m going shopping with Meg, okay?”
My eyes connected with hers, and they sparked with sass. “Maybe you should put your Sass and Ass shirt on so you give people a warning.”
“I did!” Meg pointed out. “Which gives me an idea of making a shirt that says should have come with a warning.” She pulled a piece of paper out of her bag and scribbled on it. “Though I don’t know when we are going to make shirts because everyone already has their own jobs going on,” she muttered. “I need a shirtmaker to magically pop into my life.” She shoved the paper back in her purse and snapped her fingers. “Let’s get a move on it, Lenny. I’ve got the truck running, and the bed is ready to be filled.”
“Coming,” Lennox called. She pressed a kiss to my cheek and whispered, “How much is she planning on buying if she’s filling the back of the truck?”
I shrugged but knew exactly where Meg was going.
It was time for her monthly trip to the bulk superstore, and she always filled the bed of the pickup truck.
“You’ll see, babe. I don’t want to ruin your option of going with her.”
Lennox laughed and slapped my shoulder. “I don’t think that even makes sense, Jonas.”
I shrugged and picked up my spoon. Maybe I might be able to actually finish my breakfast now without Lennox telling me she wanted to be a stripper.
“We gotta go,” Meg called. “I don’t want to miss breakfast at the drive-thru. They only serve it until ten-thirty, and Mama Meg wants a biscuit and sausage sandwich or two.”
“Behave,” King called after Meg.
She raised her hand over her head and opened the door. “Don’t I always?”
“No,” King and I shouted.
She rolled her eyes and motioned for Lennox to go. “Let’s go, Lenny. It’s time for you to see what being an ol’ lady is really like.” She flitted her fingers at us. “Later, grumpy asses.” She slammed the door behind her, and I couldn’t help but feel a little worried.
Lennox had been experiencing what my life was like, but she was really going to see firsthand what it would be like if she moved her. Life with Meg around moved a hell of a lot faster.
She was either going to love it or run for the hills.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Lennox
“You know how to drive a forklift?”
I managed to steer the overflowing cart around the corner and skidded to a stop next to Meg. “A forklift?” I asked. “Uh, no. Why do we need a forklift?” Meg was all over the place when she talked, so I wasn’t super surprised by the random question.
Meg tipped her head back and pointed at a pallet of macaroni and cheese that was twenty feet up in the air. “Because my grandbabies love the box mac and cheese even though I make way better homemade, and we are all out of the boxed stuff at the clubhouse.”
Over an hour ago, Meg and I had pulled up to that bulk grocery store everyone loved. This hadn’t been the type of shopping I thought she meant when she asked me to come, but it was still a good time. We each had a cart that was stacked to the top and still have four more aisles to go down.
“Uh, maybe they have it somewhere else?” I suggested.
Meg shook her head and pointed to the empty pallet on the floor in front of us. “Negative, ghost whisperer.”
I was pretty sure it was supposed to be ghost rider, but I had learned over the past couple of weeks that whatever Meg said was what she meant, even if it wasn’t exactly right.
She parked her cart to the side and pulled her hair up into a ponytail. “I’m going to need you to cover me.”
“Cover you?” I gasped. “What are you going to do? Climb the racking?”
Meg scoffed and shook her head. “What do I look like to you, Spiderman?” She nodded behind me. “I’m going to get on that pretty baby, and you’re going to spot me. It’s pretty tight in here, and I’m a little rusty driving one of those.”
“Those what?” I asked. I turned and saw a funny-looking machine that had forks on the front.
“What is that?”
“Well, in laymen's terms, it’s a forklift. In the warehouse world I used to thrive in, we called it a Crown. You sit sideways, control the speed with one of the handles, and the other moves the forks up and down. And you gotta have your feet on the pedals; otherwise, it won’t move.” She pushed my cart back and jogged over to the Crown. “Did I tell you about the time I was working and I lost control? Almost took my damn foot off.” She hopped up in the machine and laughed. “Feels like home.”
I blinked rapidly and panicked. She was about to steal a forklift to get a pallet of mac and cheese down, and in the midst of possibly committing a misdemeanor, she tells me she almost killed herself on one before. What in the what?!
“Meg,” I hissed. “We shouldn’t be doing this.”
She turned in the seat and looked down at me. “The only reason I wouldn’t be doing this is if the keys weren’t here.” She lifted her hand and jingled a set of keys. “Billy Bob Forklift should have known to take the keys out.” She stuck the keys in the ignition and turn the lift on.
This was not a good idea.
This had the potential to end very, very badly.
She nudged one of the handles forward, and the forks jerkily raised. “Oh, yeah, now I remember.” She smiled over her shoulder at me. “Cover me.”
“Just how exactly am I supposed to cover you?” I hissed. She was riding around on a machine that could easily run both of us over. Cover her?
She backed up and raised her feet. The machine stopped instantly and rocked back and forth. “One night I was cruising at about twenty, ready to go home, and I went to turn, but my glove got caught. I got all squirrelly and headed straight for a brick wall. At the last minute, I remembered to lift my foot to stop, but I had too much momentum behind me to stop instantly. Me, being the sometimes dumbass that I am, stuck my foot out to stop this heavy ass machine.”
My eyes widened, and I dropped my chin to my chest.
“Yeah, not my best moment. I was also wearing steel toes which pretty much saved me from being One Foot Meg for the rest of my life. Also, the maintenance guy was pretty pissed when I called him down to the warehouse and had to explain how the electric box got smashed.” She slowly moved forward and turned down the aisle with the mac and cheese. “Looking back, it’s pretty funny, but at the time, I was sure I was going to lose my job. Remy was barely seven, and I was hardly making it paycheck to paycheck.” She started to turn and raised her forks. “Oh, yeah, this is totally like riding a bicycle. I used to do this in my sleep,” she bragged. She stopped until the forks were way up in the air, and she scooted right under the pallet.
“Like a glove,” she cried. She raised the pallet up until it wasn’t touching the racking and slowly backed up. “Easy, baby,” she whispered.
The pallet rocked precariously in the air, and she slowly lowered it.
“Ma’am!” someone called.
“Oh shit,” Meg muttered. She slammed the handle down to set the pallet down, and a loud crack and crunch of wood sounded. “I used to do that at work all the time. It’s just the pallet I banged up.”
I stepped to the side of the forklift and watched a sea of noodles cascade onto the floor. “Uh, well, you might be a little rustier than you thought.”
Meg hopped off the forklift and cringed at all the noodles on the floor. “Want to know something you are going to need to know if you move to Rockton?” she asked me.
Two men were rushing towards us, and it felt like my heart was about to beat out of my chest. “What?”
“RUN!” Meg took off down the aisle, and I looked around frantically. I dove over a pallet of rice behind me and landed with a thud in the next aisle.
“Stop!” a man called.
I scrambled to get to my feet and turned to run. I made it two feet before I smacked right into another store employee stocking shelves. “Grab her, Richard!”
“No, Richard, don’t grab me,” I shouted.
Richard didn’t listen to me. Richard obviously wanted to keep his job and not help some strange woman he didn’t know.
Richard escorted me to some office on the other side of the store and sat me down.
Oh, boy. This was not good. I barely had enough money to pay my bills, and now Meg had destroyed a pallet of mac and cheese.
