A Wild Ride (Jessica Brodie Diaries #3)(18)

“Nice one, Davies.”

“Hey, I got an ‘A’ in poetry in grade school.”

“I wouldn’t hold onto that victory if I were you.”

He laughed and started kissing and touching me again. I could feel his fingers slowly moving up the inside of my thigh. I was starting to get hot and bothered when Adam said from across the room: “Alright, kids. Y'all are startin' to gross me out."

"Gross you out or make you jealous?" I retorted, coming up for air.

"Poor Lump," William said. "She's gonna get a whirlwind of pent up...energy."

"If anyone can handle it, it's her. I walked in on her in the act once, and girlfriend is wild!"

"I didn't need to hear that."

"Oh. Sorry."

William gave me one last, deep kiss and spun me around to face the table. He gently pushed me off in that direction with a pat on my butt. When I turned around he was heading toward the waitress with a smile on his face.

“What’s up, hommies?” I asked as I slid in the booth.

Adam was sitting next to Lump, his attention definitely on her, and hers definitely on him, but neither one of them leaning into it. By Lump’s body language and subtle movements, I could tell she wanted him something fierce. But she was waiting, like I told her to that one time at the ranch. She didn’t want to choose, she wanted to be chosen. She said it was good advice that just felt right.

I told her she was an idiot. Then Gladis tried to hit her with a wadded up paper plate. Neither helped move it along.

I sat next to Jasmine, who gave me a warm smile.

"Hi Jazz. Where are all your girls?"

"I didn't want to bring them because all these guys are just looking for a one night stand."

"You didn't want to bring the chum to the shark feed, huh?" I asked.

She smiled at me and nodded. She was a sweet girl mostly, but she did have a mean streak. Which Lump and I exploited just so we could hang out with her. You had to really get to know her to see it. It was her saving grace. Goodie-goodies made my butt twitch. In a bad way.

Within a minute William came back and slid in next to me. He put his arm around my shoulders.

"Hey Jess?" Lump said across the table.

I looked at her, waiting for her to go on as my hand inched up William's thigh toward that delicious bulge.

“Stop it,” Lump said with a sigh.

“Stop what?”

“Stop feeling Willie up. Focus for a minute.”

“What is this, an anti-love party?” I stopped short of my mark.

“You can have sex on the dance floor later, I just need you to focus for one minute.” Lump paused and looked at me. After I stared at her, then scowled at Adam when a smirk crawled up his irritating mug, Lump went on, “I was thinking--there isn't much in the way of martial arts in this city. I was thinking about doing some studies on the demand and possible market."

Adam and William both perked up at the idea of a new business venture.

"So...I was thinking about maybe opening up my own place. Weekends and evenings at first, see if I can pay the bills."

Adam and William where giving their approval, not realizing there was more to come. Lump was not set enough on this venture, which meant she still needed direction. She was bringing it up to me, which meant in her head I was involved somehow. Lump's ideas often worried me because I usually had to do all the work or clean up. Or both.

"I was wondering, Jess. Could you help me with the bookkeeping side? The accounting?"

All eyes on me. "Do you have a business plan? Have you looked into spaces for the class? Have you looked into all the incurred costs? Like, but not limited to, rent, utilities, insurance, equipment, cleaning? Have you thought of lesson plans or your target audience? Have you thought about marketing? How about contingency plans if you are sick or hurt?"

I was rapid firing these questions at her, knowing full well that she had thought about none of this.

Adam and William were staring at me with wide eyes, apparently not realizing someone besides people with money knew something about business. I didn’t have the inclination to shove it in their faces. If I didn’t dissuade Lump, I’d land myself in a lot of thankless work.

"Okay," Lump said with resignation. "If I do that whole...lis, will you do the books then?"

"No problem. I don't work for free, though."

Adam looked at me with scorn. William was still in his own world, thoughtful. He was lining up work for me, I had no doubt. Sometimes it sucked dating the boss.

"I want borrowing rights without asking,” I began, ready to negotiate. “I want one fly coupon per four-hour work day in any circumstance unless drunk. I want one bar pass per 4 hour day. And when you start making money, I want to renegotiate the terms. Any extra work above and beyond finance is also subject to negotiation."

William popped back into reality as Adam titled his head, confusion replacing scorn.

"Continuous borrowing of my closet without restriction? No way. You can borrow without asking once per assigned work day. Fly coupon, fine, but in a ten mile limit. Bar pass, fine, except if my guy goes for me it counts. And the assigned hour work day for all of the above should be ten hours." Lump crossed her arms.

“What’s a fly—“