“I’ll see you soon, tootsie baby.”
I removed my keys from my pocket while making my way to the front door. As I inserted the key, I chanced a quick glance over my shoulder to see that Range was waiting until I entered all the way into the house before he walked away. I gave him a quick smile as I closed the door behind me then placed my hand on my chest to try and calm my erratic breathing. I had no doubt in my mind I would see Range again. He didn’t seem like the type of man to give up easily. I realized I was in serious trouble.
Range
Two Weeks later
Clover thought she could get rid of me that easily by making it seem like she was this boring recluse. Little did she know I was more determined than ever to get to know her. Every day for the past two weeks, starting that first Friday afternoon, I showed up like clockwork to drive her home. She refused the ride and insisted on walking. At first, I thought it was because she was truly afraid of me and thought I was a serial killer, but later, I got the feeling she enjoyed the walking and talking as much as I did.
I started this evening like I did every other by offering the ride in my truck and waiting for her refusal. Once she said no, I quickly grabbed her hand and began our slow trek to her home. She always smelled like tootsie rolls, and I found it difficult to hold myself back from leaning over and sniffing her like some sort of pervert.
Clover was definitely not like any of the women I would normally deal with. I was stretched so thin with running the junkyard and the laundromat that most of the time I would just pick up some stray tail in a bar or something, just to get my dick wet for the night. I certainly wouldn’t take time out of my busy schedule to walk her home in the evening. If she didn’t want what I was offering, I would simply move to the next one. They were a dime a dozen, all of them just like Marci, up for anything with no commitments. It worked out well for everyone, but after seeing Marci that last time, fucking Maxwell, it had left a sour taste in my mouth. I had a sick vision of Clover coming out of his room with her hair messed up and makeup smeared all over her face, and it made me sick to even think about that.
I wanted something more, someone I could call my own. I didn’t want to be the guy who took revenge on his former classmates by fucking them, then humiliating them before making them leave. I wanted someone sweet who wouldn’t be caught dead leaving someone’s room, looking like a whore who just got paid for her services. I wanted Clover, and I was going to have her come hell or high water.
Clover was quieter than usual on the walk today, so I stopped on the sidewalk and looked into her eyes to see her brows pushed together while she was biting her thumbnail on her other hand.
“What’s wrong, tootsie baby? You seem kind of quiet tonight.” She took a deep breath, seemingly attempting to figure out how to ask me whatever was plaguing her thoughts. She dropped her thumb from her mouth and looked up at me with her beautiful, sad eyes and quietly asked, “How come you haven’t tried to kiss me yet?”
I took in her sad eyes and her sorrowful expression and just wanted to wrap her up in my arms and keep her there forever. She actually thought I hadn’t tried to kiss her because I didn’t want her. That this was some sort of joke I was playing before I dumped her off on the side of the road like yesterday’s garbage.
She confessed to me on our previous walks that she knew she was not the prettiest one in her family, while her sisters were beautiful and could be models. I told her if that was the case, then I had to meet these girls, because she was the most beautiful woman I had ever met in my life. Of course she didn’t believe me, which was probably the reason why she’d asked this question. The truth of the matter was, I knew that once I kissed her, she would be all mine, and I wanted her to know the real me before that happened. Obviously, I needed to make that clear so she could stop worrying I was going to leave her in the dust.
“I haven’t kissed you yet, tootsie baby, ‘cause once I start, I won’t stop until I have you under me, in my bed, while I’m fucking you nice and slow.”
“Really? I just thought….”
“I know what you thought and you can get that shit right out of your mind right now. I wasn’t clear before, but let me make myself clear now. I want all of you, Clover. In any way that a man can have a woman, I want you. Is that clear enough for you?”
“Yes, Range, it’s clear.”
“Good, now tell me more about this car you want to buy with the money you’re saving from working at Fosters’.”
Clover told me all about her father’s retirement from working as a chef in one of the top restaurants in New York and how he didn’t really do much outside of the house. I thought she was bullshitting me when she told me how old her father was. I mean, who the fuck had a kid at almost sixty years old? Her mother, who was much younger, had run out of steam from running the other two sisters around all their lives and refused to play taxi to Clover. Her words, not mine. Clover was the only sister in the family working for something instead of sitting around on her ass and mooching off her parents. I admired that quality about her and was determined to do something about it. She was mine, and I took care of my own.
“Since tomorrow is Saturday, why don’t you come by the junkyard and check things out? We could rent one of those old movies you like, and I’ll even order takeout.” She had a shocked look on her face, like she was about to bolt any minute, lowering her head and looking at her feet. She was afraid. I could see it in her posture.
“Are you asking me out on a date, Range?”
“Yeah, tootsie baby, I’m asking you out on a date. But only if you want to spend more time with me.”
“Ok.”
She said it so quietly I almost didn’t hear her. I reached down and lifted her chin with my finger to get a good look at her eyes. Damn, she was beautiful and scared to fucking death. I took my thumb and ran it across her cheek, smearing the ever-present left-over chocolate and sucking it into my mouth. When she gasped in surprise, I lowered my head and took her mouth in a soul-searing kiss. Tasting her natural flavor mixed with the chocolate on my tongue was like being zapped with a stun gun right to my balls. I reached around her back and bought her body closer, so that she could feel just how badly I wanted her. The two of us stood on that sidewalk, kissing like I was a soldier going off to war and this might be the last time either one of us would see each other. She felt so good in my arms, it was like she was made just for me. I didn’t want to stop, but I knew if we kept going, I would drag her back to my truck and fuck her within an inch of her life.
Pulling back slowly from her intoxicating mouth, I gave her a quick nip on her bottom lip and placed my forehead against hers in an attempt to calm my rapid heartbeat and the steel rod hard-on I had in my pants. She was so goddamn sexy at that moment of our first kiss, I could only imagine what she would look like the first time I made her come in my mouth. This train of thought was doing nothing to stop my hard-on, and as I looked into her beautiful eyes, I could tell she was thinking the same thing I was. She wanted me just as badly as I wanted her, if her dreamy look and flushed face were anything to go by.
“I’ll pick you up at two. I’m afraid it’s a little too far for us to walk, but don’t worry. I promise to take care of you. Wear something comfortable. The junkyard can be dirty.”
“Ok, Range. I’ll bring the movie, since I have some on DVD. Is that ok?”
“It’s perfect, just like you, tootsie baby.” I reached down and took her hand in mine, then placed a quick kiss on the back of her knuckles, causing her to blush the perfect shade of pink. I gave her a light shove toward her door, and she fetched out her keys and entered her house, giving me a quick look over her shoulder. Then she closed the door.
I couldn’t wait until tomorrow so I could show her my other pride and joy. Buck’s junkyard was such a big part of my life that I wanted to share it with her. I had the feeling Clover would love it just as much as I did.
Clover
I thought of Range and that magical kiss till the wee hours of the morning. The way he commanded my body was as if I had no choice but to mold against his and take what he was giving. Not that I was complaining or anything, but I swore that kiss was one for the record books. I’d been kissed plenty of times in my life, but that was more than I ever could have imagined. I felt like Scarlett O’Hara when Rhett Butler kissed her soundly and declared, “You should be kissed and often and by someone that knows how.” Well, Range Reardon certainly knew how.
Deciding it was time to stop fantasizing and get my day started before Range arrived to take me to the junkyard, I trotted down to the kitchen in my pajamas in search of breakfast. Once again, I could hear my mother and sisters talking excitedly about whatever the topic of discussion was this morning. Whether it was fashion or the latest date one of them had last night. Oh boy, this was going to be fun.
Peeking around the corner, I spotted Denny in his usual spot on the couch, reading his newspaper, so I decided to forgo my morning greeting. When I stepped into the kitchen, their conversation seemed to stop once they all noticed I was standing there. They were sitting at the kitchen table with their heads down, speaking to each other like they just discovered where Jimmy Hoffa was buried. My sister Shelly was the first to speak after clearing her throat.
“Morning, M&M, glad you decided to join us this morning.”
I looked at the clock and noticed it was a little after eleven. I guessed I was running later than usual, but nothing out of the ordinary I would say. I was trying to figure out if her statement had a double meaning or something when she decided to let me off the hook.
“Couldn’t help but notice that fine hunk of a man that’s been walking you home for the past two weeks. I was on my way out when I was assaulted by that killer lip lock he put on you right before you came in. I must say, I was really surprised.”
Ashley and my mom were looking at me expectantly, as if I were ever going to share anything with them. I shrugged my shoulders and headed for the coffee pot, not willing to give them any information on my relationship with Range. He was special to me, and I certainly didn’t want them to start making fun of me right before our first date. They could tease me all they wanted about anything else, but not about him. He was off-limits when it came to their cruel and hateful words.
“Look, we just want to know who he is, just in case we need to check him out or something. He could be some sort of serial killer or something.”
I had to laugh at that one, considering I had thought the same thing. But Range was nothing of the sort. He was kind and gentle and determined to make his own way. He worked hard every single day at that junkyard and wouldn’t accept praise for his efforts. My refusal to ride in his truck was initially because I didn’t know him well enough, but now that I did, I preferred our walks in the evening with the cool breeze blowing in our faces and time alone to the quick drop-off and the confines of a truck cab. I’d learned more about Range during these walks than I ever thought possible, and in turn he had learned about me. My likes and dislikes, my penchant for old movies, my time spent alone and lonely. He never judged my preference to being alone instead of going out and was not put off by my mediocre existence.
The one thing I didn’t want was for them to get the wrong idea about Range. I didn’t know why, but their perception of him was important to me, and I planned to protect it.
“Look, he’s not a serial killer, ok? His name is Range and he’s coming this afternoon to take me out on a date. Before you start with the jokes, just save it, because I don’t want to hear it.” Shelly perked up from her seat at the kitchen table, clapping her hands like a fool. I had no idea what was going on with her.
“Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God! I only know of one Range and that’s Range Reardon. Please tell me that fine piece of ass I saw you with is him.”
“Watch your mouth, Shelly, you know I hate that kind of talk in my house.” My mother was not in the mood either judging by the way she scolded my sister and swatted her with a dishtowel. Shelly was rubbing her arm in protest and started to address me again.
“Alright mom, take it easy with that thing. Clover, you need to spill right now, girl, and tell me that your Range is the Range I hope he is.” I could not for the life of me understand her excitement over this whole thing. It wasn’t like they ever gave a shit about me, or whom I went out with. The two of them usually huddled together, whispering their bullshit secrets, not bothering to include me in any of it. If they were so concerned about my feelings getting hurt, they would stop calling me M&M and start treating me like I’m a part of this family. Something I’d learned from Range these past two weeks was that he cared about my opinion and didn’t make fun of me like it was a national pastime. I turned my back to them and began to make my morning coffee as usual. “Yes, Shelly, it’s Range Reardon. Happy now?”
This time the clapping came from Ashley before she reached over and gave Shelly a high five and a fist bump. These two must have been smoking something this morning with their breakfast, ‘cause they were acting crazy as hell right now.
“I told you it was him! Holy shit, Clove, you hit the mother lode with that one. Remember my friend Janice from Hooters?” She had to be kidding me with this shit right now. What did her job at Hooters have to do with Range? I gave her one of my hardest eye rolls to date, and believe me, there were plenty to compare it to.
“Oh, you mean the job you worked at for two days and quit? Yeah, I remember it. Why?”
“Well, Janice used to talk about this guy Range she went to high school with all the time, or at least for the two days I worked there. She would go on and on about wishing she had another chance to fu…I mean sleep with him again and how he was the best she ever had.”
Her quick correction didn’t save her from getting her own rag slap from my mother. She was lucky it was just a rag she got hit with, ‘cause I wanted to knock her over the head with the coffee pot. Range was the handsomest guy I had ever met, so I never thought he was a virgin, but for Christ sake, I didn’t want to hear about his sexual exploits from some bitch that worked at Hooters of all things. How could she possibly still be obsessed over something that happened years ago, and in high school no less? This conversation was quickly going into a direction I didn’t want to take it in.