She didn’t say anything for a minute but she did sink her teeth into her bottom lip and I wanted to tackle her to the ground and replace her teeth with my own. She tilted her head to the side and asked, “How long has it been since you’ve done this?”
I shrugged. “Sometimes when we have a barbecue the guys will toss the ball around with me, but Rule had a twin brother that passed away and he was a jock, a quarterback, so I don’t think tossing the ball around has the same kind of good memories for them as it does for me. You’re the only girl that I ever played with.” And I wasn’t talking about sex. She was the first girl to ever show me what a good time outside of the bedroom could be like and while I was greatful for that I was ready to add something far more adult and naked to the mix now.
She bent down to take Jimbo off his lead and I groaned out loud as the denim tightened enticingly across her backside. She was going to be the death of any kind of restraint I might’ve had.
The dog yipped and pranced around as she turned and jogged several yards away. Jimbo jumped around her knees and had her laughing as she chucked the ball in my direction like a pro. The dog chased it through the air as I caught it with one hand. There was a little sting behind it as it connected with my palm. She did have a pretty good arm still.
I tossed the ball back at her far more gently than I would have if I was playing for real and laughed at the silly puppy as he zoomed back between us, barking his little head off and trying to jump in the air to catch the ball with each pass. It was like a giant game of keep away.
“I remember when you told me you were going to try out for the team.” She huffed a little because I purposely tossed the ball a little over her head so I could watch all her best parts bounce and her shirt ride up on her toned tummy. “You sounded so sad about it.”
I had to run to the side as she retaliated and I almost tripped over the dog as he got right under my feet. I scowled at her as she laughed and put a little more heat behind the next toss.
“I didn’t want to. I was just tall and big for my age. Everyone kept telling me I needed to. Your dad asked Poppy to mention it to me and the next thing I know I’m signing up for the junior varsity team and then starting on varsity a couple of months later. I never even thought about being an athlete before then. No one was as surprised as I was that I was good at it.”
She chucked the ball back at me and it hit me right in the gut. I grunted a little and bent down to pet the dog as he lay at my feet.
“You were the best. Everyone said so.” She sounded wistful about it.
I lobbed the ball back to her halfheartedly. “Maybe, but being the best at something you don’t love makes it a chore and no fun. Plus it still wasn’t enough to get me what I thought I wanted.”
“My sister.”
I wasn’t going to lie to her, so I nodded. “I don’t think I had a clue what I was fucking doing back then.”
She sighed. “Me either. I knew I had to leave, had to get away from my dad, but I didn’t really plan past that. The guy I left Loveless with left me in Phoenix after taking all my money and my cell phone. I ended up almost homeless and totally broke.”
I swore at her revelation and fell back a step as she really heaved the ball at me in her resurrected anger.
“I got a job waitressing, slept on the couch of this girl I met at the restaurant until her creep of a boyfriend tried to come on to me and she caught him in the act. Of course she blamed me and put me out on my ass, so I had to scramble again. I took a job at a strip club because it was the only work I could find on such short notice.”
I dropped the ball and gaped at her in surprise as she smiled sadly at me.
“A girl had to do what she had to do in order to survive, Rowdy. I’m not proud of it but I did dance for about six months. While I was there I met this guy that ran a burlesque club in Reno. He offered me a job with more clothes and better pay, so I took him up on it. He told me my looks were going to make me a hit and he was right.” She shook her head a little ruefully.
I didn’t know what to say, so I tossed her back the ball and she hopped around to make the catch because I was way off the mark after listening to her recount her days after she left me.
“I was in Reno for less than a month when I got asked to be in a hot-rod magazine photo shoot. I said yes and then next thing I knew I was getting all kinds of offers to model—tattoo magazines, trade shows, conventions, and retro-clothing websites. I just had to look pretty and I got paid pretty well for it, and I got to keep my clothes on for the most part. It was fun. I traveled, met cool people, but it wasn’t enough. Being a pretty face can’t last forever and I wanted something to be proud of, something I could put my name on.”