Trying to move, my shoulder cramps up painfully. I can’t move enough to get it out of the position it has been in for weeks, and I think it’s possible it’s been dislocated. The ache is so familiar; now I barely notice it.
A sound.
Footsteps in the sand off to my right. I turn my blindfolded head towards the distraction, and open my mouth as foul-tasting water is poured into it.
Disoriented, sweaty, and confused, I woke with my head on a soft stomach and feminine scent all around me. My head was pounding, but there was some comfort in the small hand running over the top of my head. I recognized the scene immediately.
“Lia,” I mumbled as I tucked my head against her.
Her body went a little tense, and her hand stopped moving. I realized how pissed off at me she must be and tightened my grip on her.
“I’m sorry I left like that. I didn’t want to.” I tried to turn and look at her, but the throbbing inside my temples forced my eyes closed and sent me back to unconsciousness.
“What the fuck?”
I hear the sound of a woman’s laugh all around me.
“I’ve always wanted to try this. You were in the military – it’s just like the quarter test on the bed after you’ve made it up.
“What, on my ass?”
“Exactly!”
The giggles are back, and they join my own laughter as Lia flings a quarter at my ass over and over again. Every time she misses, it clangs on the floor.
“I can’t find it!” she calls out.
I roll over to help her look, but the wooden floor of the cabin has turned to sand. As my hand reaches into the dry grains, I feel the round, metal object but can’t quite reach it with my fingers. I push to the side of the bed but lose my balance and fall. Sand fills my mouth…
When I woke, I really had no idea how long I had been out – only that Bridgett was still there with me. I recognized her scent immediately and found it comforting. I didn’t even bother to open my eyes. My fingers twitched slightly against her side, and I pushed my nose into the skin of her neck.
Her soft voice curled into my ears. The sound was far away, muted and windy-sounding. After a minute or so, the words took form and began to make sense.
“I can’t really do that…I would have to wake him up…”
My eyes opened a crack to see her with one of those cheap flip-phones held to her ear. Her expression was worried, and her fingers tensed minutely against the device as she spoke softly into it.
“You’ll have to take my word for it,” she continued. There was tightness around the edge of her mouth. “I don’t know if…no, Mel, he’s just sleeping…he’s been using me pretty hard.”
She shifted a little, and her hand came up to the back of my head. Her fingers moved through my hair.
“No, I can’t. I really don’t think he wants people knowing where he lives…”
I ran a hand up the side of her body as I stretched and yawned. For the first time in a long time, my head was not pounding so hard that I couldn’t hear anything in my ears outside of my own heartbeat.
“Is that your pimp?” I mumbled against her skin.
Bridgett’s head turned to look at me, her eyes widened, and she nodded once. Her teeth bit into her lower lip as she watched me. I held out my hand, palm up, but she just continued to look at me and not move.
“Give me the phone,” I eventually said. I could still hear the pimp’s muffled voice coming from the phone in her hand.
“Okay, Mel,” she said quietly, “he’s awake, and he says he wants to talk to you.”
She moved the phone away from her head and out towards me as her teeth continued to try to pierce her lip. With an exaggerated sigh, I took it from her and held it close, but not too close, to my mouth.
“What’s the asshole’s name?” I asked loud enough for him to hear through the speaker.
“Um…” Bridgett cleared her throat. “Mel…um…Melvin.”