In Hot Water Pt. 04

Behind the doors, two familiar people swim in an Olympic sized room of chlorine and white tile. The man who wore the wrinkled blue shirt carves his way freestyle down the length of the pool. The woman who stood in front of him in line treads water by herself. Her platinum blonde hair coils itself into a thick serpent atop her head, not a drop of water on it.

I lead us to the empty square hot tub.

My sister stands at the edge of the water, facing the indoor pool, and its two patrons. She unzips her fleece sweater, folds it, and places it on the wood bench affixed to the wall. Her shirt goes on the fleece, leaving a black lace bra around her chest. Her jeans go next to the shirt. She keeps her underwear on, and descends into the frothing cauldron, leaving her shoulders poking out of the water. My sister looks up at me.

I pile my clothes on the bench next to hers, and follow her into the scalding bubbles. I give the swimmers less of a show than my sister did, taking my blue plaid boxers below the waterline. Before I've rested my weight on the tile seat, my sister climbs against my side, floating her legs over my lap. She touches her lips to my ear, but speaks in kisses instead of words.

The man in the pool continues his laps. His arms rise above the tiled edge with each stroke. The woman sits on the steps at the far end of the water.

My hand finds my sister's leg under the turbulent waters, and I feel the edge of the black fabric.

Her scrape begins with a single finger on my back, then grows to five. My sister is an artist, and she paints me in shivers. Bubbles lap at the black lace on her chest.

The woman in the pool watches us. She stands, then climbs the steps out of the water.

I turn my head, interrupting the flood of kisses, and pull my sister's lips to mine.

The scraping on my back stops, and she pulls my hair into a wet fist. I touch her inside the black fabric under the water and begin to rub. Her fingers tighten their grip on my head. The more I rub, the tighter she holds me.

She breaks from our kiss, but her eyes stay pinched shut. She breathes wine against my face.

The woman across the pool dries her legs, then drapes the towel over her shoulder. The man has quit swimming, and stands next to her. They're trying to look like they're ignoring us.

I turn my attention back to my sister, and watch her face as I touch her.

I stretch two fingers inside, then bring them out and rub my sister's clit with her own wetness. It's gone immediately, so I repeat. Again, and again. The vice clamped to my scalp informs me that I'm making progress.

Each time I go in she squirms in my lap, and I'm glad I'm hidden below the waist.

I reach around with my other arm, and take over the rubbing. I work her inside and out. She scrunches her nose up and whimpers.

The man across the pool room lays the towel over his shoulder, matching the woman. She says something to him, but the hum from the hot tub is too loud, and I can't hear.

My sister lets go of my hair, draping her arm around my neck. I hook her inside, and rub her, while she grinds her hips into me. She pulls in quick, short breaths, and presses her forehead against my cheek.

The girl in my lap tenses. She clamps on my fingers, then goes limp against my chest. I take my hands away from the black lace.

My sister opens her eyes. She lays her head on my neck and sucks in a breath.

The man and the woman walk past us between the hot tub and the pool.

My sister raises her hand out of the bubbling water and offers a dripping wave. The woman waves back and smiles, as the two go on their way.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

CHAPTER 20

Robyn shakes a box of Pop-Tarts over her head, and says, "Whoever owns these, I will champion their cause for a day, if they let me have one."

"Anything I want?" I'm standing next to her, digging through a bag of groceries.

She stares at me behind her black cat eye glasses. "Class C felony or higher requires approval."

A flash of my stepmother's red hair. "Help yourself."

Robyn tears open one of the foil-wrapped packets, and pushes past me toward the bedrooms, chewing as she walks. "Thanks, kid."

"Did my cereal make it inside?" Jessica appears behind me.

I lift a box of shredded wheat out of the paper bag, and set it in front of her. My sister opens the cupboard, and reaches for a bowl at the top, stretching up on her bare toes. The counter has us blocked from view, so as she pours rectangles out of the box, I squeeze in behind her and cup my hand against the warmth between her legs. She bolts upright, and drops the box on the counter. Jessica turns, mouth wide open, and looks at me. A mischievous smile grows on her lips, as she returns her focus to her breakfast.

"Later," Jessica whispers, as she tops off her bowl. She rubs against my hand.

Stomps from down the hall, and I take my hand off my sister. Kevin appears, wearing only a pair of sweatpants. His blond hair sticks straight up over one ear, and slants down to a flattened mat on the other side, making the top of his head a lopsided triangle. He squints at my sister and me. "What's for breakfast?"

"Billy says they're at the diner now." Jane's voice belts in from the other room.

Kevin spins around on his heels. "Already?"

I lean against the counter, while Jessica stands in front of the sink and eats cereal.

"Get dressed, Babe. Let's go."

Kevin groans and stomps back the way he'd come.

Jessica chews a bite, then abruptly stops. "You're a fucking tease, you know that?" She goes back to chewing.

"Has she said anything else?"

"No."

"I guess we're going to some diner?"

"Yes." Jessica swallows. "Can you go grab my coat and the black flats I had on last night?"

We ride with Kevin and Jane, though it's Jane driving this morning. Kevin sits back with me, and changes between shades of green, as his girlfriend careens around the coast highway corners. It's funny until I realize he might throw up on me, but I'm sure he doesn't want to soil his Audi. Jane screeches us to a halt in an angle spot, next to an old red muscle car. We gaze at a small building on top of a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Four square windows peer inside, cut into thin yellow and orange vertical stripes under a faded flat roof. Sand and wind have blasted this place for years. It's like someone melted a McDonald's into a mold for diners. Kevin turns a new shade of green when he sees the building.

Just inside the front door, a stout man wearing a blue t-shirt sits by himself, working his way through a plate of bacon and eggs. Across his shirt, a black bird in silhouette crouches in front of three dark horizontal lines.

The four of us join Robyn, Garrett, and two others inside the restaurant around the only table capable of seating eight. My sister and I sit across the long table from two strangers, one big and clean-shaven, and one small and bearded. The clean shaven guy sits on his chair like a sumo wrestler, his long dark hair slicked back in a ponytail. Tattoo sleeves run down the smaller guy's arms, and his chin extends in a neatly shaped wedge of brown beard. The beard falls most of the way to his belt, and ends in a flat edge, like a knife blade.

Garrett does the introductions.

"Finish that story." Matt's beard wobbles when he talks.

"There's quite a bit of money involved," says Garrett. "Government requested accounting records on some Corvis payroll accounting."

"Accounting?" says Billy.

"This was a secure request. I got the gig. It's several dozen accounts, and they're each over a hundred thousand dollars, so we're talking well into seven figures."

"Lucky you," says Matt. "We'll help you drink your work sorrows away. Who won last night?" He points his finger across the six of us, as if he's waiting for it to select someone. In the middle of the ink on Matt's arm, crouches a hyper realistic depiction of Anubis, the black jackal-headed god of death. He looks not to his side, like he's usually shown, but instead stares straight ahead, his eyes burning at me in deep red.

"The Oaf," says Jane, rubbing Kevin's shoulder. He holds up a finger to accept the award.

A waitress appears behind me, and everybody orders food, except for Jessica and Robyn, who just want coffee. I end up with some exotic salmon omelet, based on the waitress' suggestion. Kevin gets the same thing, and I'm hoping I don't have to play splatter shield to keep Jessica out of harm's way, since I'm sitting between them. Once Kevin has some food in him his color changes, and the waitress can't keep anything in his mug.

I say, "You drink more coffee than I do."

Then Matt gestures from the other end of the table, and the jackal's glowing eyes move about. They're the same red as the tablecloth and the picnic basket, and now I'm thinking about red candy.

"Tonight is round two, man." Kevin slaps my shoulder.

Pain rockets down my arm, and I grit my teeth.

"What's wrong?"

Twizzlers, Life Savers, Swedish Fish.

Garrett snickers. "You didn't tell Kevin about your feat of strength at work?"

"It hasn't come up."

"Alex tried to turn white collar work into a full contact sport by challenging a forklift to a fight. It all ended in the hallway in cube city. They didn't make it to the octagon."

I pull back the sleeve of my shirt, and show off the sickly yellow and purple bruise. I figure we've already eaten, and Kevin can take it.

"Chicks dig scars," says Matt.

"Everyone does," says Billy, saluting with his coffee mug.

"That's pretty gnarly," says Kevin, inspecting my bruise. "Just don't go showing it to that cheating girl."

"Didn't you say you had another one in mind?" Garrett begins making a neat stack of dishes on the table.

SweeTarts, Almond Joy, Hershey's Kisses.

"Kind of. It's still in the works."

Garrett piles silverware on top of the plates, then retrieves his phone from a coat pocket. "Son of a fucking what? You're kidding me." He scowls at the screen through black glasses, and taps slowly, moving the phone in his hand with each hard finger press. Undecipherable mutterings come out of his mouth.

Robyn touches his arm, and the finger tapping softens, but the curses continue. She doesn't say anything. She just watches him.

"I have to go pull more records. Today. Like, right now." He looks at Robyn. "I know you'd love to go back and be bored with me, but really you should stay here with these nice folks."

"I can't handle any more fun, and they've put up with me long enough." Robyn turns to Jane. "Can you drop the keys off by Monday if we leave?"

The waitress splits the check, and we queue in front of a cash register that's either yellow, or has become yellow. I pick up the end of the line, with Jessica in front of me. When it's her turn to pay, she hands the woman her card, and the machine beeps in a different way than it had for everyone else.

"Says insufficient funds," says the waitress, now cashier.

"What? Try it again."

The machine makes the same beep, and the waitress hands the card back with a limp wrist.

Jessica lets out a slow, measured breath, and turns to me. "Can you get this?"

"Yeah." I hand the woman my card, and ask her to cover my sister's tab.

The ancient box makes the same irritated beep. The woman behind it looks at us.

"Is your machine dying?" asks Jessica.

"This thing is solid. Just had it serviced."

I dig through my wallet, and hand her a couple bills.

"You guys use the same bank?" asks Garrett, holding open the front door.

"Yeah, why?"

"Maybe their system is down or has a problem."

My sister and I follow everyone outside. Jessica has her nose in her phone. As soon as I'm clear of the doorway, a giant drop of freezing water lands on top of my head. An unremarkable light grey blankets us directly above, but the cover grows dark and ominous to the west.

"Fuck, I'm overdrawn," says Jessica. "Dad's last check didn't clear. Fucking hell." She scowls and taps.

Drops grow on the windshield, and by the time we're back at the beach house it's starting to rain. Garrett and Robyn depart right away, and Matt pulls in his boat of a muscle car into the empty space. The idle concusses my chest, as it sits in the driveway a few feet from me.

"So I have to ask," I say.

"Olds 442." Matt cuts the engine, and the EDM bass drum in my chest goes quiet. He pulls a grey duffel bag out of the back seat.

"How long you had it?"

"A while," says Billy from the passenger side. He glances at the sky to the west. "It's a weekend car. Doesn't really like the wet though. Back end tends to kick around."

"You don't have to be anywhere today." Kevin pulls open the front door of the house. "And I feel good again. You boys were bringing beer, right?" He spins around on his heels in the entryway linoleum, as if he's testing the slickness of the floor.

"Several cases in the trunk," says Matt, "Where do we bunk?"

"You guys get Garrett and Robyn's room, since Wonder Twins are sharing." Kevin waves his hand at Jessica and me, as we hit the top of the steps. "I don't know how they do it. I'd just get in a fight with my sister if we roomed."

"You mean your sister would kick your ass," says Jane, "and make you sleep on the floor."

"Hey, she only did that once, and I was asleep when she started that fight. We're a more fucked up family than most. Certainly than these two." He waves his hand at us again, then looks at Matt. "Might want to wash the sheets in your room, though. Who knows what filth happened in there last night."

Matt and Billy make themselves at home, while Jane pours rum drinks on the kitchen side of the tall counter. Kevin hops back and forth in some kind of pre-drink ritual dance, then opens several beers lined up in a row. He squishes two empty cans in his fists, before I'm past him into the living room.

Jessica sits on the couch, staring at her phone, and I take the seat next to her.

"Did you check yours yet?" asks my sister.

"Not yet." I log into the banking app, and I'm not overdrawn, but there's some notice that my account is locked. I call the 800 number, and after a long hold, a woman says there's a pending investigation and they can't tell me anything else.

"They can't tell you about your own account?" My sister seems angrier than I am.

"That's what they said."

"There's money though?"

"Yeah, from my work paycheck. But the account is locked."

"It's Dad," says my sister. She leans back on the couch. "His checks did something. Or came from something."

"Do you want to ask him about it?"

"He'll just spit out lies." Jessica locks her phone and tosses it beside us on the couch. "Justify it somehow. Or make himself the victim."

"Probably," I say, "but this is fucking with my work pay. I'm going to see what he says."

"Something wrong with the checks you sent? My bank just locked my account, and I told them it was your fault."

I hold the message out for Jessica, and she laughs.

"He won't like you blaming him."

"How long do you think it will take him to respond?"

"Hard to say. He's not always on his phone. He may just ignore you too."

Billy thumps into the room holding an unopened can of shitty light beer in each hand. "We're starting this Saturday right. You two want in?" He sets down a can on the table in front of each of us. "There's plenty more."

"You sure you brought enough?" I ask.

"There's never enough." Billy points to the can in front of my sister. "That fixes bank problems, Jess."

Jessica cracks a polite smile. "Thanks."

"Don't be so down. We've all had shit happen."

"I know." She pulls a long silver nail file out of a clear plastic sleeve in her purse.

Billy stomps his way back into the party in the kitchen.

"So what do you think it is?" I open Billy's offering, and take a sip. It's shitty light beer. "The charity?"

"It's a fucking scheme, whatever it is. And now we're involved." Jessica's scowl bores a hole in the coffee table in front of us.

"The paper checks, and that weird account."

"Yes, he's trying to hide it. Clearly, it didn't work." She runs the file over the ends of her nails in an arcing motion.

"What if he knows about us?" I say, "And he stopped payment or whatever. Kirsten told him after you told him off at dinner."

"That would explain my account." Jessica presses her lips together. "But they wouldn't have locked yours for that, would they? And then there's the Red Haired Lady's text."

"Have you said anything back yet?"

"No, I don't even like looking at it."

"What if, after you threatened him, Dad just went all in and told her about us to discredit us ahead of time."

"Now that does sound like him."

"Yeah." I lean back next to my sister. "What can we do though?"

"Other than the text you just sent, not much right now." A thud comes from the kitchen, followed by Kevin's boisterous cackling, and a laugh from either Billy or Matt. I can't tell who.

Jessica stops filing, and crosses her arms.

"Hey," says my sister. "What did you tell the boys?"

"Tell the boys?"

"What Garrett said about a girl 'still in the works'. What was that all about?"

"Oh. That was from that party at Jane's place. When you were all outside, Rachel texted me."

Jessica looks at me and tilts her head.

Getting to know my jealous sister.

"I think that was the last time. She was fishing for attention, and I didn't respond. Garrett and Kevin were standing right there, and asked about it. I said I had something else in mind."

"Me? You told them about me?"

"That's all I said. They left it. Guys don't talk about that stuff much."

I turn to lift the beer off the table, leaving my sister's green stare burning a hole in the side of my head. I take a pull from the can, but it does nothing to extinguish the fire. She finally breaks off the look, and begins working the file on her other hand, no doubt for use on me later. Something thumps on the roof, and it takes me a second to realize it's rain, and not from the other room.

"Sorry, that wasn't fair. I just... Everything sucks right now, and I don't know what to do or think. Can you open this, please?" Jessica holds up her can of beer.

I crack the can and hand it back, then I glance down the hallway past my sister. Shouting floods in from the other room, but it doesn't seem to be changing location. I kiss her cheek and sit back. "What do you want to do?"

"I guess we just hang out for now. I have to fix my bank account when I get back."

"Yeah, and I don't know what to do about mine."

Jessica gently rakes her nails up my thigh, then makes a quick fist around my belt and lets go. "I'll keep you company today. We'll figure this out. Dad respond yet?"

I look at my phone. "No."

My sister stands and takes a deep drink of her beer, and coughs. "Ugh. I'm getting rum. Come with me?"

The rest of the day consists of me trying to distract myself from current events by stealing touches of my sister when people aren't looking. At one point when we're standing behind the hooked counter in the kitchen, I grab my sister's ass, and Jane walks around us. She gives me a look, but I can't tell if it means something, or if it's just my imagination. The drunker we get, the clumsier I become, but the less observant everyone else is.

The beer and the booze don't last the night, in large part due to Kevin, though Garrett left with the bottle of poisonous brown earlier that morning. The hum of the evening rises more and more, then eventually the energy begins to fall. Billy and Matt's thirst for beer is unlike anything I've seen, but it doesn't seem to affect them. They retire to their room entirely composed. Kevin passes out on the floor in the hallway outside the bedrooms, and Jane falls asleep on the couch, with her striped stocking feet sticking up over the armrest. She cradles a glass of something clear that definitely isn't water. Jessica pries the drink out of her grip and sets it on the coffee table.