Full Court Press Page 6
“Why doesn’t she do it herself?”
“Her husband’s in control of all their accounts. God, I can’t believe he’s such an asshole. Even if Beck deserves to be in there, he’s still his son, you know?”
She nodded. “Yeah, that’s pretty lame. Are you going to post it then?”
He frowned. “I said I was going to, but I mostly just wanted to keep her from having a heart attack. I can’t get a hold of that kind of money.”
“How much is it?” she asked, curiously.
“1500 bucks.”
“Shit, isn’t that kind of steep?”
“I don’t really know what they are charging him with.” He ran a hand through his hair, seeming stressed.
“So Beck’s dad is okay with just letting him sit in jail? He’s going to miss school.”
“Yep.”
“That’s dumb. Hey, you know...I can post his bail.”
“Oh no, you’re not.”
“Um, that would be my choice, not yours. Besides, it would technically be my dad’s money anyway. It’s not a big deal. I’d probably get it back, right?”
“No, because you’re not posting it.”
She rolled her eyes. “I’d get it back when the case is over.”
He shook his head. “Beck would pay you back right away.”
“Cool, just let me make a phone call. We’ll have to go to the bank too.”
“Car—”
“Do you want him to stay in jail or something?”
“No, but he’s not going to be happy about you getting him out.”
“Too bad,” she said and called her dad.
An hour later, they were at the jail, handing over a wad of cash to the cashier behind the counter. The jail was just a local one so it wasn’t very big. Once the bail posted, Beck came from a door in the back. When he saw them, his face went from expressionless to an angry frown.
“Told you.” Anderson nudged her.
Car couldn’t help but smile a little, slightly amused. The officer took Beck’s handcuffs off, giving him his wallet and car keys before leading him to the door to join them in the waiting area.
He didn’t say anything, just glared at her.
Car looked around uncomfortably.
“Hey, man, how was the big house?” Anderson asked, trying to hide a smile.
“What are you doing here?” Beck snapped.
“Uh, posting your bail, duh,” Anderson replied.
“You didn’t post it. She did.”
“Hello, I’m standing right here,” Carmondy said.
Beck ignored her.
“How do you know it wasn’t me?” Anderson asked.
“Because you don’t have 1500 bucks.”
“True.”
“What—” Beck stopped talking as the door to the jail opened and a middle-aged man Car recognized as his father entered and went straight to the front desk without noticing them.
“Good evening, Mr. Nicholson, not here to post bail, I hope?” the woman behind the desk asked.
“No, but I would like to speak with my son for legal purposes. I am representing him in court.”
“Your son’s bail has been posted.”
The man turned red. “What? By who?”
The woman pointed past him, to Anderson. The man whipped around and pinned his son with a glare.
“What the— you got your friends to post your bail? How did you— you only had one phone call.”
“Yeah, which I wasted on you,” Beck pointed out.
The man took a step toward Beck and held up a finger. “You needed to learn a lesson, young man, you can’t just—”
“I told you why I did it,” Beck cut him off.
“The reason doesn’t matter.”
“The fuck it doesn’t.”
“I can’t believe you’d go to your friends to bail you out. Couldn’t handle a little time? What kind of sissy—”
“Shove it.”
“Well, don’t think you are welcome at my house tonight. Just because you got out of jail doesn’t mean you can come home.”
Beck didn’t respond but his face cleared of any emotion.
“Oh, and I had your car impounded,” the man almost teased. “And the impound lot is closed, so I guess you’ll have to wait till tomorrow to get it back.” The man left without another word.
Car looked at Anderson, at a loss for words.
“Uhh, no big deal. Beck, you can stay at my place. You know my couch is...err...not available right now but maybe—”
“You shouldn’t have let her post my bail,” Beck said harshly.
“You woulda missed school, practice, possibly our first game without that practice under your belt.”
“I don’t—”
“Hey, now.” Anderson clapped him on the shoulder. “How about a little gratitude, huh? Let’s try that? She worked very hard to get that money, took her all of ten seconds to convince her dad to hand it over. That’s worth something, right?”
Beck finally addressed Car. “I’ll get you the money tomorrow.”
She shrugged. “No big, I mean I’ll get it—”
“Tomorrow.” He cut her off.
“Okay...but it’s really—”
“Can I get a ride?” he asked Anderson.
“Actually...well, you see, Car was at my house and so I kinda rode here with her.”
Beck’s jaw clenched, and he looked like he wanted to beat someone up again. What the hell was his problem? She had just gotten him out of jail. She didn’t expected gratitude but a little less hate would be nice.
“Do you have a problem or something?” she asked abruptly.
Beck didn’t answer her.
Anderson coughed. “Uh, Car? I don’t—”
“No.” She stopped Anderson before turning to Beck. “I mean, I get it, you didn’t want me to post your bail. And I didn’t do if just for you. Your team needs you at practice and your first game. So get over it. I don’t expect you to like me but you could at least pretend not to hate me for five minutes.”
As soon as she said it, she wished she could take it back. Did she have a death wish?
“Look, if you think that I owe you something...” Beck trailed off.
“What the hell? Are you talking about like sex or something?”
Anderson cracked a laugh.
“If you think this is gonna get me to pretend to be your boyfriend or—”
“Why the hell would I want an asshole like you as my boyfriend? Jesus Christ, conceited much?”
Anderson laughed again.
Beck just glared.
Anderson covered up his laughing with a cough. “Uh, anyway, jails give me the creeps. Can we go now?”
“Let’s.” Car left the jail and the two boys followed. She slid into her Jeep while Anderson climbed into the back, letting Beck have the front seat. The ride back to Anderson’s house was dead silent and extremely awkward.
“Drop me off here,” Beck said suddenly, pointing to a café a few blocks from Anderson’s house.
“Uh, why?”
Beck didn’t answer but she pulled in anyway and Beck got out.
“Where you goin’, man? Don’t you need a place to stay?” Anderson asked.
“I’m gonna get some caffeine then call someone to pick me up,” Beck snarled.
Anderson climbed into the vacated front seat. “Who?”
Beck shrugged carelessly. “Whoever.”
“Ah.” Anderson nodded knowingly. “A girl.”
“Well, yeah, of course a girl. Just because I spent a few hours in jail doesn’t mean I started swinging for the other team.”
“Why don’t you just stay at my place?”
Beck glanced at Car momentarily. “I need a good fuck.”
Anderson nodded slowly. “Okay...well, give me a call if you change your mind.”
Beck nodded and shut the door to the Jeep before heading into the café.
“Did he really think that I bailed him out s
o that he’d pretend to be my boyfriend?” Car turned to Anderson, shocked and appalled
“It’s happened before. A girl did something for him and then tried to blackmail him into being her boyfriend. Hilarious.”
“Did he do it?”
“Ha! Yeah, right. He laughed in her face and told her to go away. He just doesn’t understand why someone he doesn’t know would do something nice for him. His mind doesn’t work that way. Every action has a motive behind it.”
“That’s not true.”
“No, but that’s what his dad has drilled into his head.”
“His dad seems like a real jerk.”
Anderson nodded. “He is. If I were Beck, I probably woulda booked it outta there a long time ago. In his dad’s eyes, if he’s not a lawyer, he’s a failure, simple as that.”
Car shook her head. “I’m glad my parents aren’t like that.” She pulled into Anderson’s driveway and they got out of the car.
“Me too. Say, what do you parents do?”
“My mom is a housewife most of the time, but she helps manage functions and things for my dad’s company. He owns a small power sports chain that operates here in Washington. He used to just operate it from Maine but he opened up a couple new stores so he wanted to be closer.”
They went inside the house and into the kitchen. Anderson sat on the counter while she got the steaks out of the fridge.
“Power sports, huh? Have I heard of it?”
“Hamilton’s Power Sports.” She poked the meat to see if it was still frozen.
“No shit? There’s a store in town. I’ve been there.”
She nodded. “Yep. HQ is up in Molson though, and he goes to Seattle a lot for meetings.”
“Washington is good country for power sports though, a lot of snow and mountains.”
“I noticed.” She fidgeted with her T-shirt. “Okay seriously, this is bothering me. What the hell is Beck’s problem? I mean, I know he doesn’t like me, but I haven’t done anything to get on his bad side, have I? And is he really going to just call up some random girl to have sex with?”
“Um, yes to the last part. No to the bad side part. And I don’t think he has a problem, that’s just Beck. We’ve talked about this. He’s not a nice guy. Why are you so worried about it?”
“I don’t know. It’s just, when I first met him: jerk. When I played ball with him: nice. When he beat someone up: crazy. When I bailed him out: jerk.”
“Looks like ‘jerk’ won the poll.”
“I know but...I just don’t understand.”
Anderson found this all amusing. “You so have the hots for him.”
“I do not!”
“You so do. I get it. Tall, dark and asshole. Lots of girls are attracted to that.”
“Well, I’m not, it’s just...” She wasn’t sure. Did she have the hots for him? “I don’t like him, okay?”
“Sure, sure, you keep telling yourself that, honey. Let me know when you’ve realized the truth.”
* * *
After practice the next day, Car looked outside the back door of the locker room to find the snow still coming down hard. There was a good six inches just in the parking lot. There was definitely no way she was getting home.
She was now sitting with a few of the girls watching the boys’ practice wrap up. She liked watching the boys practice, though she didn’t really have a choice. It would be weird to go to Anderson’s house without him being there.
She had really started to make friends with the girls. Kendall was nice. They always raced during sprints since they were the fastest girls on the team. Torie was very loud and hilarious. She even made the coach laugh during practice.
The girls headed downstairs as the boys left for the locker room. Most of the girls left but a few hung around. Kendall and Torie stayed with her, chatting about their first opponent.
“They were fourth in state last year but they lost three of their starters, so I don’t know how they are going to be now,” Kendall said, leaning her back against the wall.
“Four starters actually, three to graduation but one got knee surgery and hasn’t been the same since. She’s not a threat anymore. But I think I remember them having a lot of fast young players last year,” Torie said.
Kendall agreed. “Yeah, definitely.”
“What about height?” Car asked. “Got anyone like Tor or Syd?”
Kendall looked at Torie. “I dunno. They had some tall girls but I think they might have been some of the ones who graduated.”
Torie nodded. “Their main center did, but last year they had a six-foot freshman. She was all bones though. I’m not sure if she’s playing this year or not. She wasn’t that good but she could have bulked up during the summer.”
Kendall nodded, opened her mouth to speak but then stopped and glared over Car’s shoulder. “Yes?”
“Chill, Ken,” Beck said, standing behind Car.
Car turned around and saw that he was dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt. What a shame, no arm muscles to look at.
“What do you want?” Kendall asked.
“Hamilton, can we talk?” Beck said, looking like he didn’t care either way.
Car glanced around. “Sure.”
Beck leaned down. “In private.”
“Oh, right.” She grabbed her bag off the floor where she had set it and slung it over her shoulder. She shot a look at the two girls as she followed Beck down the hallway, but they just shrugged at her.
Beck stopped once they were around a corner where they couldn’t be seen or heard.
He turned to face her but didn’t say anything, just looked her.
“Uh, is this where you pull out the ax and murder me?” she asked.
“Hardly.” He shrugged his bag off his shoulder and pulled an envelope from it.
“What’s this?” she asked, looking at the thick envelope in her hands.
“Your money.”
She slipped it open and found crisp hundreds. “Oh, okay, thanks.”
He nodded.
She waited a few more seconds. “Was that all, or...?”
“No.” He played with his keys. “Okay, so Anderson told me that you were looking for someone to help you with your post moves.”
“Umm, I sort of said that. He’s helping me out with ball handling skills and he mentioned that he thought I would benefit from learning some post stuff...are you offering?” she asked, confused.
He looked annoyed. “Yes.”
“Uhh...why?”
He jingled his keys a little and looked at the ceiling before meeting her eyes. “I need some help with school work.”
“Uhh...” Whoa, unexpected. “I’m really not a good student. I’m not tutor material...seriously.”
“I don’t need a tutor,” he snapped.
“Uh...okay? But you just said—”
“It’s not that I don’t get the material. I need...help getting it on paper.”
“I don’t understand...you can’t write?”
He was getting tenser by the second. He obviously didn’t want to be asking her this. “I can write.”
She waited for him to continue, but he didn’t. “I’m confused.”
“Will you do it, or not?”
“Do what?” she asked.
He was really getting irritated. “Does it matter right now? Just an hour or so whenever you’re free and I’ll work with you on post moves whenever you want.”
She was a little overwhelmed but he was so on edge, she was afraid to say no. “Okay...yeah, sure.”
The tension went out of him. “Okay, good. Are you busy tonight?”
She was thrown off guard. “Uh...uh, no, I guess not. I mean, I have a little homework but—”
“Bring it with you and come with me to my house now.”
He beckoned her to follow and waited for her by her locker while she got her books. Car almost cracked up but managed to shake her head as she walked out the door. She definitely did not get this guy.
“She’s coming over to my place,” Beck said.
Anderson automatically looked worried. “Uh, why?”
Beck strode quickly to Anderson and whispered something into his ear, but he was done by the time Car reached them.
Anderson looked relieved and nodded. “Ah, okay. What time do you think she’ll be done?”
“Less than an hour.”
“I just don’t want to worry about her getting stuck in a ditch or something with this snow.”
Car shook her head. “Yeah, okay, Dad. I’ll call you if I’m going to be later, okay?”
Anderson nodded. “All righty, see you in a while then.”
Beck and Carmondy got into their cars. She followed him out of the parking lot and the short distance to his house. They pulled into the driveway but instead of parking in the garage or beside the other cars, he drove into a small driveway that led behind the house. He finally stopped in front of what looked like a smaller version of the house they had just driven around, a guesthouse with red bricks and crisp white shutters. She parked beside him and they got out.
“Why’d we park back here?” she asked. The main house was a good fifty yards away.
He looked for a key on his key ring. “You don’t want to be walking through that house, trust me.”
“Don’t you live in there?”
“I live here.” He pointed toward the small house. “Guesthouse.”
“But you’re not a guest. Why don’t you just have a room in the other house?”
He snorted and unlocked his front door but didn’t answer. He flicked the lights on and she saw that the small house was surprisingly clean. It looked like a dorm room though, with big comfortable-looking furniture and a big TV, and not a whole lot in the way of decoration.
“This is cool. You pretty much have your own place.”
He nodded and dropped his bag near a table.
She set her bag next to his. “Do I get a tour?”
He didn’t look overly excited but led her to the back of the house, which seemed to open into a bedroom. There was no door on the extra-wide opening but the layout provided a good amount of privacy. “That’s pretty much it.” He pointed to a couple doors. “Closet, bathroom, washer and dryer.”
She nodded. “I like it, very open.” There was also a large kitchenette in the corner.