Hot Tub Love Machine
By Redsliver
Chapter 24
* * *“Now, my darling,” Ryan said, as he stepped towards Iggy. Ray winced. I’d feel so bad later when I saw the bruise I had left on her knuckles. “Lucas needs—”
“Mom, shut him up,” I said, pleadingly.
Mom didn’t need a magic phrase or mind control to come to my rescue. She was my mom. I wasn’t loved because of magic only.
I wasn’t my father.
Mom made my stomach fall out. She stepped straight into Ryan’s line of sight and grabbed his head. With her stilettos, Mom was millimeters shorter than Ryan. His words petered out and she shoved her tongue in their place to dam the tide.
Ray needed to use her other hand to break my grip. I moved like the loss of touch was a starting pistol. I grabbed Iggy around the hips. She was glass-eyed and insensate. I kissed her neck and whispered. “Walk with me, and then to the door. Be safe. Until I say so, don’t listen to anyone else.”
I moved her out of the fray. Dawn, Emi, and Anna filled in Iggy, Ray, and my abandoned phalanx. Ray was rushing to Vonnie.
The doors to the kitchen opened. Janine was pushing a cart with a big steel domed serving tray and utensils on the white cloth. Her head popped up and she locked her eyes on Iggy’s.
“She can’t go over there!” Janine said, abandoning her job.
“Anna!” I hissed. She was on the left. She also had the longest legs to intercept. My blonde girl went off like a shot for the scrambled up waitress.
Ryan broke the kiss with mom, smiling he pushed her back.
“Ry~an…” Mari, his date, the gorgeous early twenties redhead was looking at my mother as sharply as any of the steak knives in reach. My fingers twitched. I could rush him—
He only needed a word and Mom could end up on my knifepoint while he got away with my girls as revenge. I didn’t move.
“Kate. You have to let me deal with our boy,” Ryan said.
“Ryan, you promised that Lucas would be mine to love and raise,” she said.
“Well why don’t you go and raise your son somewhere else, you old hooker!” Mari said. “Ryan, I have a lot to talk to you about. Now, I don’t care that your a father but I will not be someone’s side girl and—”
“Mari, you’ll shut your mouth and obey like you’ve been trained to,” Mom said.
Mari stood still. The scowl on her face turned upward into a sublime smile. Ryan rubbed her shoulder absently.
“You do great work, Kate,” he said. “With women. Lucas is a man. And I think it’s time he learned that being my son is a responsibility as much as it is a privilege.”
Dawn flinched back from the thumb pressed on her chin. I ground my teeth. I nearly lunged for a knife. I squeezed Iggy’s hips.
“She can’t go over there!” Janine pushed against Anna. “I have to—”
“Janine Alexandra Pinkman!”
Dammit! Anna had stopped the waitress but no one in the restaurant had missed it. Especially not Ryan. Anna’s harsh whispers rattled off rapidly. Ray and Vonnie closed on me and Iggy. Ryan’s attention was on Janine. He pushed my mom. Not a shove, she easily gave ground with a step back, but laying hands on her, on Dawn, and using Iggy’s trigger. I was seeing red and snorting steam.
“I have her,” Ray said, rubbing my back.
“I’ll keep Kate safe for you,” Vonnie said, walking by us to join the confrontation.
The chef was coming out of the back. The man who’d served me the steak when I had met with Ryan. The one who’d let me drink. The owner. Shit, I didn’t want the cops here. That’d be a pain in the ass and a delay.
There was no way for me to handle a man…
I grabbed Vonnie’s elbow. She looked at me.
“Don’t tell me what you need to do with Mom, but keep that man out of our business,” I said.
She touched my cheek.
“I’m not your mom,” she said. “I promise to talk us out of this.”
I felt the weight in my stomach boil away as Vonnie headed over. Ray hugged Iggy and frowned. She poked me in the back.
“You locked her brain up,” Ray said.
“Ray’s words are as good as mine,” I said, quickly into Iggy’s ear.
I didn’t look to see what happened but I rushed over towards Anna and Ryan.
“What did she say to you!?” Ryan said, smugly. Janine seemed locked in her flats as she slouched in mind controlled bliss.
“Nothing, I swear—” Anna said.
“First she told me to stop concerning myself with Iggy. Then she told me that Iggy was the goofy brunette teenager who wasn’t living up to the dress and comportment codes of the restaurant. Then she pointed her out to differentiate her from the darker one over there.”
“I am so glad Iggy’s dead to the world to hear that,” Emi said, crossing her arms as the other brunette who wasn’t living up to the dress code.
“Kate, the boys need to have a chat,” Vonnie said, grabbing Mom’s elbow. “Let’s make sure they have their privacy.”
“Ladies, gentleman,” the chef nodded to me. “And Ryan. Can I help with whatever’s upsetting everyone?”
“You are just the man we are looking for!” When Mom turned on the charm, the room lit up with her. She and Vonnie walked up to the chef. He was putty to be led away.
Janine was reciting Anna’s commands.
“I was to make it very quick so you wouldn’t speak before I was done,” Janine’s words hit me. Anna wasn’t red-faced at all. She was stark white. Whiter than Dawn, and Dawn was practically a redhead. Anna was darker inside than I could’ve imagined. For the bubbly, quick to blush, good, obedient, hyper-achieving cheerleader, it just made me love her more. Was it wrong to get excited by that kind of resolve?
I stepped back towards Emi, put my lips to her ear. Ryan was stone-faced. I did my best to whisper. The room was quiet but for Janine’s low voice and Mom’s flirtatious giggling. I put my hand on Emi’s opposite hip and whispered.
“Her name is Maribel Elizabeth…”
“...Donovan.” Ray finished for me, even nailing the cadence so Emi would be ready. I squeezed Emi’s butt, kissed her cheek. And headed over towards Anna.
“They’re mine, Ryan,” I said. “All mine. Not yours to fuck with when you’re feeling slighted and prickly.”
“You’re mine,” he said, turning away. There was a smirk on his face. “I can’t believe we’ve never limited violence in our slaves. It’s never come up. No, it has. You are like me.”
“In that I don’t share,” I said. “You never let the name Isabel Cherry Day come out of your mouth again.”
“I don’t want your high school crushes, Lucas,” he said. “But Kate is my Iggy. And if you commit to this tug of war, I will end up with them all.”
“You tug, I’ll go to war,” I said.
“Fine, Lucas Ry—”
I didn’t even see Vonnie come over. The swift kick from behind and up between Ryan’s legs rocked the sneer off his face and the food from his guts. He wiped his spitty hands on the cloth of the serving cart. He turned and glared at Vonnie.
“I gotta stop Kate from doing something you’d both hate,” Vonnie said. “Act like men, Ryan. He’s your son, not your slut.”
Vonnie turned on her foot and stalked off. Janine had stopped rattling off Anna’s instructions. Ryan took a long deep breath and composed himself. He glared at Vonnie’s retreating backside.
“She knows how costly that was,” Ryan turned to me, “and she still did it, because she was right. We should be family. I—”
His voice cut out harshly. I turned to look at what he was looking at. Dawn was so close behind me I retreated a step, startled, and bumped into the cart, clanking the flatware and serving trays about. Dawn gave me a quick smile and grabbed my right arm. Holding me back from acting.
I put the carving knife down.
“Another one?” Ryan said. Seeing Emi shaking by the shoulders. Ryan stepped forward, but wobbled. “Emi, Mari get over here!”
Mari flowed. Her hips wagged hypnotically, even from the front, as she crossed her ankles with every step. And she managed to run while doing it. She was a masterpiece and a nobody. One look at Dawn, I saw all of the character and conviction my girls brought to the table.
I didn’t want a string of anonymous slaves.
I wanted my girls.
I sure as shit didn’t want Ryan’s filthy anonymous hands on what was mine.
Dawn leaned her cheek on my shoulder. I quieted.
Emi came behind Mari. Emi had always been the indomitable one, a force of nature. Her shoulders were slumped. She smeared her mascara with the back of her hand. Her thick black hair fell limp over her face as she trudged toward us.
“Lucas, I’m sor—”
“Mari, what did this one say to you!”
Anna joined Dawn, grabbing my other side. Ryan pulled Emi up by her hair. Her overly made-up raccooned eyes were smeared with polluted tears. Dawn dug her fingernails into my arm muscle.
I looked at Dawn. I saw her anger matched mine. I got aroused. I turned to Anna, she was watching Emi and Ryan. I watched as well.
“I didn’t do anything!” Emi shouted over Mari’s quiet timbre.
“Say again,” Ryan said.
“She almost said my name,” Mari answered. “Then her voice got all crackly and she covered her face. I think she said ‘I’m sorry, I can’t.’”
“You can’t?” I asked. Emi looked at me with shaking lips. She tried to smile.
“I only knew one way to stop him like you wanted,” Emi said. “Just like Anna said. And—And how would I be able to look Mom in the eye if I could do that? I’m not a bad person! I couldn’t!”
I pulled out of Anna’s arm, she let me. I had to shake Dawn off. I rushed over and grabbed Emi in a hug.
“This has gone too far Lucas,” Ryan said. “For god’s sake. I should’ve made this your graduation gift, not your 18th birthday. You’ll be gone next September. This town isn’t big enough for the two of us.”
“Then leave,” I said. I felt like I should be shouting. The words came out in a low rumbling seethe. “Go off to Thailand again. Bounce around Brazil or whatever the fuck you did. You don’t have to be here.”
“No, you can’t make me go,” he said, childishly. “I can make those rounds whenever I want. Your mother’s been on a dozen business trips in the last three years. I am making a whole world for myself. I decide where I am! I decide where home is. For me and for you.”
“Fuck you,” I said. “You abandoned any chance of having any decisions in my life. You were an asshole. You get shit.”
“You’re the second, Lucas,” he said. I forced myself to look in his eyes. If I didn’t see it. I wasn’t distracted. He was focused on me. “Second to Kate. Second for everything. I shared incredible power with you, but I’ve always been able to pack it up and put you back.”
“Then try it,” I said.
“Kate was… Kate is special,” he said. “I was wrong to think that’d mean you’d be too.” He frowned, he was turning. Anna and Dawn exploded in a sprint over to Emi and me. They piled on a hug from our left. Ryan turned back.
“I have this much trouble with one kid, Anna,” he said. “I’ll have nothing to do with your brothers.”
“Thank you,” Anna said. I squeezed her. She ironed up her face.
“We don’t have to stay,” Emi said to me. “We can be a family anywhere. We could change schools. We could leave well enough alone.”
“And I can be the hand that motivates your mothers to allow it,” Ryan said.
“I’m not leaving Mom to you,” I said.
“Stubborn little bastard,” Ryan hissed through clenched teeth. “Lucas Ryan Greentree.”
“Now!” Dawn shouted, and whispered, “Know I’d do anything for you Lucas.”
I guess that’s why I stood there, but I didn’t black out. Mari pressed herself against Ryan’s back and reached over his shoulder. He flinched, shook, and rose up on his toes. Her left hand had just rammed a huge two-pronged fork up and under his ribcage right next to his spine. Ryan’s neck opened with the big serrated tug of the carving knife in Mari’s right hand.
Screams. Not Ryan’s, he could only bubble. I recognized Ray’s and Mom’s. There were other guests too. There were staff besides Janine and the chef. Vonnie was running over to us. She slipped her black shoe in Ryan’s blood.
“Catch her.”
I think Emi said. I had Vonnie in my arms. I collapsed to my knees over the gasping thrashing body of my father.
I don’t know if he was dead then. I know he was dead by the time the police arrived. Vonnie whispered in my ear. A game, not quite telephone, not quite one those 5-ball Newtonian steel pendulums.
It was like I was paused and the world was playing on fast forward in front of my eyes. When I did wake up, I was talking to a police officer.
“Mom and Dad got in a fight over his new girlfriend. She tried to make him jealous with the chef, they’re friends, but well, I guess Dad’s girlfriend got jealous instead.” I had woken up in the middle of the word chef. The detective in the ugly suit was a thirty-something and fairly attractive woman.
“I always thought it was gonna be a jealous husband who got him,” she said. I had the feeling that if I knew her full name, she’d be mine.
I was sitting on the front stairs of the restaurant. There were six cop cars in the parking lot. My pants were gone, and my shoes. I almost remembered the forensic tech who had taken them.
“Where’re my friends? Is everyone OK?” Out of the fugue, I pushed myself up on my hands. My eyes flitted around the parking lot. Mom pushed me down. I hadn’t even noticed her next to me until her arms were around my shoulders.
She had been crying. And was about to be again.
“I’m sorry, Mom,” I said.
“Shh…” she warned. “Detective. If you have anymore. We have a lawyer.”
The detective turned and so did I. I saw Anna, being hugged by her father. Another woman, attractive like the detective, but far better dressed was talking to an older detective.
“No, we’ve got the cameras. We’ve got witnesses. Ms Donovan has been very up front with what happened as well,” she said. Mom took the detective’s card. Detective Sarah Forsey. I watched her walk away.
Iggy rushed over. Her father wouldn’t let go of his daughter’s hand. It made the Iggy hug off center.
“Kate, you alright?”
“Thanks, Gavin,” Mom said. She stood up and accepted the hug. “It’s been a nightmare.”
“I can imagine,” he said. Gavin, Iggy’s father, looked me up and down. Iggy wasn’t letting go. Ray and Vonnie were coming over. Vonnie had put on junky old sneakers. She had slipped in the blood so I guess the forensics guys took her shoes as well. Ray piled on the hug. Vonnie joined Gavin and Mom.
“When Ig first told me what she wanted to do with Lucas and her friends,” Gavin said. “I knew it was gonna end up in a murder.”
“You just thought Iggy was gonna kill Dawn?” Mom said.
“Emi, actually,” Gavin laughed. “My daughter really loves you Lucas.”
“Dad!” Iggy said, grinning and blushing.
“I don’t know why you’re holding her back.” Emi crashed into me, Ray, and Iggy as Emi’s mother spoke. “You can’t keep them apart for long anyways. Just let her go, Jesse.”
“Never. Again.”
“I’m 18, you can’t hold me prisoner like this!” Dawn struggled in her father’s hug.
“You’re coming home, we’ll have your room set up and—”
“She’s 18, Jesse,” Mom said, standing up and walking over. She put her hand on his shoulder. “She went through a lot. She wants Lucas to comfort her. We could all use a little comfort tonight.”
“That’s not gonna work a second time,” he said, turning his shoulder out of Mom’s grasp.
“It shouldn’t have worked the first,” Mom said, snappily. “Dawn’s worth a lot more than that.”
“You—”
Dorothy stopped Jesse with a look. Dorothy turned to Mom. We watched on, cuddled up, and stayed quiet. Anna sat down on the ground in front of my knees and leaned back. Her mom, dad, and lawyer hovered over.
“We’re not keeping you prisoner, Dawn,” Dorothy said. “But sometimes us older people do know what’s best. You should come home.”
“Should isn’t must,” Mom said. “I feel better having her around to look after Lucas.”
“If that’s what she has to do to earn her stay, then I don’t see why I should be paying rent and board,” Jesse said, nose in the air.
“Dad!” Dawn said, she pushed off his chest again, but she was still bearhugged.
“You’re playing with fire, Jesse,” Emi’s mom, Francesca, said.
“What do you know about this?” Jesse sneered. “Emi’s always been a mess.”
“Not lately she hasn’t!” Dawn growled.
“Strangely, Dawn’s right,” Francesca sighed. “And then, because she needed to be someone who could contribute to this strange polygamy thing they’re doing, my Emi dropped out of school and took up two jobs.” Francesca looked up at Jesse. It was quite a ways up. “Do you think Dawn has less resolve than my Emi? If she had to pay for rent to stay with her boyfriend, would she give in and slink back home or quit school and start working?”
The air was cold. It was clear what everyone knew the answer to be. Slowly, Jesse’s arms loosened. Dawn looked at Mom. The squeeze Dawn gave her father before letting go herself: I think it was a lie.
Dawn raced over to us and barrelled over Anna to get a proper hug and straddle my lap. The girls all piled onto Dawn. The smells of blood and death, that may have been imaginary, were overpowered by girl’s skin, shampoo, and sex. Someone was aroused. Dawn ground herself against me. That mystery was not difficult to solve.
“You know what the strangest thing is?” Gavin said. “Despite all of the Theo, Ray, and Anna drama we’ve seen for years. This. What Lucas is doing. What Iggy is doing. This might just work out.”
“Jealous?” Belle, Iggy’s mother, asked.
“Incredibly!” Gavin said. “If you came with a redhead and an Asian woman? I’d be the happiest man in the world.”
“No redhead,” Belle said. “And the Asian girl better be Indian and a cook.”
Iggy almost spoke up, maybe about to offer. I squeezed her knee. Let’s not start getting crazy.
“Yeah, I can see it working all of the way through high school,” Matt, Anna’s dad, said. “Cheerleading, grades, and volunteer work. My Anna’s made all of the right choices, when it didn’t come to boys.”
“Hey!” Anna shouted.
“You kissed a lot of frogs when your prince was right there,” Sheryl, Anna’s mother, confirmed.
Iggy ribbited. Emi and Ray followed suit. Dawn turned and did it really loud, eyes locked on Sheryl’s. Anna moved around us, because hiding her face in her hands wasn’t nearly enough to hide her from attention.
Jesse scoffed. Gavin laughed. Belle rolled her eyes. Francesca sighed. Mom shook her head.
“Be that as it may,” Matt continued. The way he spoke made me recognize why everyone was focused on us and our relationship. Shock. Talk about anything but not the murder. I suddenly wanted everyone to talk at once, like my girls most of the time. Matt had the floor and everyone let him say his piece. “Once high school’s done, then what? Anna’s on track to Harvard. You think they’re gonna take a second from our school? As smart as Dawn and Lucas are, they’re not salutatorians.”
“You didn’t mention Iggy,” Gavin frowned.
“Or Ray,” Sheryl said.
“They can hear you,” Vonnie said.
“It’s OK! I’m going to be a kept woman!” Iggy said. “I’ve got to bring up my P.E. grade, but I’ve got the math and language skills I need to make that a career.”
“For high school’s enough,” Gavin said, to end the silence his daughter caused. “Honey, kiss your boyfriend goodnight. You can go over and play tomorrow.”
“Play.” Francesca scoffed. “Emi. You too. C’mon.”
Anna got up too. Matt didn’t have to say anything. I got pecks on my lips after a splash of Iggy tongue. Ray squeezed my shoulders from behind, not kissing me in front of everyone. I guess it was possible people knew. The way the school talked about us, I couldn’t count on any secrets.
“We’ll be by later tonight, Kate,” Vonnie said.
“Call me when you get in, Dawn,” Dorothy said. She had to lead Jesse away.
The cops watched or escorted everyone to their cars. Mom made it clear with a look that I should ride in front and Dawn should sit alone in the back. I didn’t want that, but I was in no condition to fight.
“What happened?” I asked, once the restaurant was far and gone out of the rearview window. “Emi didn’t even get Mari’s name out.”
“I talked to her,” Dawn said. I twisted in my seat to look at her. She had red-ringed eyes and pale lips. She tugged idly at the hem of her skirt.
“You heard from Ray and I when I told Emi,” I said. “Thank you. I wish it could’ve went the other way, I guess, maybe.”
“What other way?”
“We were gonna set him up for rape,” Dawn said. “Find the right girls to trigger that could get kitted for the evidence. Maybe pick a few of the juniors and sophomores to bolster things. Anna’s mom. You. Vonnie.”
“Oh my god…” Kate said.
“Yeah,” I said. “After seeing the lawyer and the cop though. I think that might’ve just pissed him off.” I looked at Dawn. “Emi was the only one who seemed strong enough. That’s why we all agreed to trust her with the backup plan.”
“She was,” Dawn said. “At least before you fixed her. She’s fragile on the seams now.”
“You OK? I can’t imagine it was easy,” I said.
“Then you can’t imagine at all,” Dawn said.
“What?”
“I felt right stopping your Dad and sending that stranger to prison,” Dawn said, sitting as tall as she could in her seatbelt. “I’d take out anyone who got between us. I’d be just as proud.” Her eyes fell. “I, um, if I thought you could love me afterwards. I’d have used Emi as the weapon. I’d be busy finding a way to get rid of Anna, Iggy, and Ray.”
“They love you,” I said. “We love you. I love you.”
“I love you,” she said. “I want to be enough for you…”
“You’re not,” Mom said, harshly.
“Mom!” I said, shocked. Truth was, any of my girls could’ve been if this love potion hadn’t existed. But it did, and Mom was right. Dawn wasn’t enough for me.
“She’s right, Lucas,” Dawn understood. “If you let her, Vonnie’s gonna help me get over things.”
“You sure?” I said. “I want you to be happy. But I want Dawn. Not some robot who used to be Dawn.”
“I won’t let Vonnie break her,” Mom said. She reached over and squeezed my shoulder. “Dawn?”
“Yes, Kate?”
“I’m trusting you with Lucas,” Mom said. “I’m not gonna let him lose his attack dog.”
“I’ll be his bottom bitch,” Dawn said, smiling brightly.
“Good,” Mom flashed me a smile and looked back to the road. We had whatever journey we wanted to take ahead of us.
* * *