CharlieMy heart shot up into my throat when Benji came sliding around the corner at the end of the track. His headlights lit up the stretch of road and the people gathered at the front of the line in a glow of white. I clenched my fists so tight as I threw my hands up in the air, my nails dug right into my palms.“Yes!” I cried.Harley shot me a look, threw her head back and laughed, and then joined me in cheering as Benji maintained the lead down the final stretch. The Lancer he’d started beside rounded the corner not far behind him, but on open road like this with no corners, he had no shot of overtaking the Hellcat.Benji had the victory in the bag.My voice rang out through the crowd as I cried his name when Benji crossed the line. Others joined me in my chant, and by the time the other cars had finished the race and the drivers were opening their doors, the whole crowd echoed my cry.Benji was grinning like a kid on Christmas morning when he stepped out of his car. Mason and Ric
CharlieWe hadn’t been inside the bar for more than fifteen minutes when it started to feel way more crowded. As it turned out, some people from the race had followed us to the bar and filed in after us, and nearly all of them were drawn to Benji. Women glanced at him from the bar, where they tossed their hair over their shoulders and batted their eyelashes in his direction, resembling cartoon characters more than the sexy street racing mavens they were trying to project.He was oblivious to their subtle and not-so-subtle advances.Men were also vying for his attention, but in a different way. They wanted to pass by our group, pat him on the back, and tell him how well he had driven. They wanted to ask him questions, mostly about the Hellcat, and hear all the details of the race.It wasn’t as eventful as one would have thought.Benji had never lost the lead over the course of the race. He had maintained his position in first place from the second he left the line.After a good forty-f
BenjiWhen I got to work on Tuesday morning I was happy to find the place calm and quiet. Monday had been a shit show at the shelter and I needed a slower day. Time to see about typical housekeeping, general operations and business tasks. I also had to try and figure out how the hell I was going to use the money Charlie had raised at the fundraiser.There were priorities, luxuries, and competing interests, being the person to make the decisions brought more pressure than I anticipated. Choosing one thing from the list meant removing another—taking away from someone or something. If I wanted that punching bag for some of the kids to work through their anger, that meant I sacrificed the new sofas for the community room. If I wanted new beds that meant I was packing more kids into each room. If I wanted outdoor activities then we missed out on indoor activities for the kids who’d rather stay inside.Where there was a win there was a loss. And where kids were involved I didn’t like taking
Benji“Come in.”The door opened, but I didn’t look up right away. I kept on typing away before hitting send on the email, then looked up and let my hands rest across my stomach.“Julia,” I said in greeting.Julia gave me a small nod and looked around. “I can go if you’re busy.”“No. I’m not busy. Never too busy for you. What’s new? How’s your friend doing? Is she still crashing on my couch?”Julia shook her head.“No?” I asked, puzzled. “Where is she sleeping?”“In my bed with me.”“Oh.”“Not like that,” Julia said hurriedly.“I wasn’t thinking anything.”She licked her lips as her cheeks turned bright pink. Being a teenage girl seemed like it would be such a nightmare. So many things were inferred, assumed, supposed. All false things in my experience. “She sleeps in my bed because she’s afraid to be in here alone.”I frowned. “You both sleep in a single bed.”She nodded.“That must be cramped.”“We manage.”I pinched the bridge of my nose before rubbing my forehead. “Alright. Do you
CharlieFor a Thursday, Ascension was bumping. It was so busy that we had to close the doors and stop letting people in for a good forty five minutes or so to avoid going over maximum capacity. Once a good chunk of people left for the evening we were able to let more in, which was great, because the turnover meant fresh blood and fresh money for my girls.I’d spent my last two hours as a ‘floater.’ Basically, I was everyone’s bitch for the night. If the bartender needed help I’d slide behind the bar and mix the easy drinks—the ones with no more than four ingredients that involved no shaking or blending. If the servers were falling behind on bringing orders to their tables I’d grab a tray and hop in. I’d do my best to charm the pants off the customers to make sure my girls got good tips.I also ran back and forth between the bar and the red room so I could make sure all my dancers had fresh water at their vanity before and after their set.By the time midnight rolled around I was a not
CharlieThe man who’d been heckling Jasmine stood up. He was tall. Probably a couple inches over six feet. He took a step closer to me, forcing me to crane my neck to look up at him. I knew this move. He was trying to take the power from me by reminding me which one of us was smaller than the other.He was the one making the mistake. I didn’t back down from anyone regardless of their size.“How about you just go get me a drink, sweet lips?”Barf. Sweet lips? Who the fuck said ‘sweet lips’ anymore?People were looking at us now. The music had gotten a little quieter and the only people who weren’t looking at us were those deep in drunken conversations.I maintained my position with my arms crossed. “You have violated one of the very few rules at this establishment. I will not ask you again. Get out of my club.”“Your club?”“You heard me.”He scoffed and looked around. “Oh come on. There’s no way a pretty little thing like you runs a place like this.”“And why’s that?”He leaned in clo
BenjiI had two goals for my date with Charlie later tonight—make her laugh and keep her laughing.In a way I was being selfish because the laughter was for me. Being busy at work over the last week meant I hadn’t seen or heard from her in days and I missed the sound and the way her face lit up when she found something funny. I also missed the way she smelled; like a bouquet of fresh cut summer flowers.Our last date had been terribly fancy and not our speed at all. The waiter and all the other paying customers made us both feel out of place, so I thought it would be more fitting to take her somewhere a little more relaxed for dinner before we moved along to the next portion of the date.I picked her up shortly after six o’clock outside her apartment building.Her hair was up in a ponytail, and it swished back and forth along her back as she jogged down the stairs in front of her building to cross the sidewalk and slide into the passenger seat of my truck. She hadn’t even given me a c
BenjiFeeling a little guilty for making what felt like a wrong choice, I walked Charlie down the lengths of the kiosks to the back of the market where a narrow archway led into a hole in the wall sushi place run by a family of six. A grandmother, her daughter and husband, and their three teenage children. They greeted us with big smiles and gave us a private booth. We were served green tea while we went over the menus, and then we put in our orders and were spoiled with miso soup.Charlie lifted the bowl to her lips and slurped. I hid my smile by lifting my own bowl and doing the same.She licked her bright pink lips and I stared at her tongue. “You’re right. This might be the best miso soup I’ve ever had.”“I’m glad you like it,” I said.The rest of the meal went just as well. Charlie ordered several things from the menu that didn’t have fish in them and, once they arrived, had me try a bite of everything she had on her plate. I was surprised that it was all delicious—especially the