Sex Piston nodded. “When I was in school, I matured faster than the other girls my age. I was wearing a bra when they were still playing with dolls. It made the girls hate me and the boys notice me. One in particular had all the girls crazy over him, but he would only talk to me, which pissed them off even more.”
“What happened?” Keri asked while Meri listened with lowered eyes.
“They would gang up on me. I had my ass beaten a few times. After I let the boy walk me home from school, they started calling me Sex Piston.”
“I thought the club gave you that nickname?”
Sex Piston gave Meri a wry smile at her comment. “No, those girls gave me that name to hurt me, to try to make me feel bad, which they almost succeeded in doing. Then two things happened to make everything I was going through easier.”
“What?” Keri asked.
“My ma. They finally hurt me bad enough there was no way to keep it a secret anymore. I finally had to tell her what was happening and she laughed at the name the girls gave me. And you know, it was kinda weird, but when she and Pops started calling me Sex Piston, it took the power away from those girls who were using it to hurt me.”
“What was the other thing?” Keri asked.
“Killyama, Crazy Bitch, T.A. and Fat Louise. Killyama were friends with them, and one afternoon they saw the girls going for me. They jumped in and helped me. They whipped those girls’ asses. It was no longer just me against them, but us against them. There is always power in numbers. That’s why the club your father is president over looks up to him because they know that while he is their leader he needs them also. A good leader is someone who uses the power of the members to work together to make what is wrong, right.”
Meri’s eyes watered and a blush filled her cheeks. “I’m sorry, Keri. I should have helped you.”
“Yes, you should have,” Killyama said. Sex Piston smiled at her friend.
“Even if you didn’t want to get involved in the fight, you should have drawn the teacher’s attention to what was going on,” Sex Piston told Meri.
“I should have, but I was afraid that if I did, then they would start picking on me, too.”
“They know that, too. That’s why you work together to make those bitches leave you alone,” Killyama said.
“We will.” The sisters took each other’s hands.
“Good. Now finish your snack. Your dad will be here any minute.”
Sex Piston and Killyama got up from the table, going to the door.
“You know, Dad won’t be happy that you’re cussing in front of us,” Keri said with a threatening gleam in her eye.
Sex Piston gave her a grin. “If you don’t tell him I cussed in front of you, I won’t tell that you almost got your ass whipped.”
“Deal,” Keri said, picking up her sandwich.
Chapter Ten
Stud stared out the window, watching as the sun began to break through the darkness of the night. He had come to dread the morning light as dawn approached. His eyes went to the bed where Sex Piston was lying on her stomach among the tumbled covers. The blanket barely covered the curve of her ass, making him want to return to the warm bed and wake her. The only reason he didn’t was because he knew she would leave. She always left.
In sleep, the gentleness of her face was readily apparent, unmarred by the usual guarded expression she wore when she was awake. Dealing with Sex Piston was like trying to reach a rose among a garden of thorns. Every time he reached out to her, he was nicked by a thorn and would have to start over in a different direction to try to reach her. He was beginning to worry he never would.
His whole life, women had been easily attainable to him, yet Sex Piston remained just beyond his reach. He didn’t know why she affected him the way she did, just that each and every time he had seen her the last few years he had seen something in her green eyes that had drawn him in and tugged at his world weary heart. She had gone passed his defenses, making him want the unattainable prize of her heart. If he hadn’t tricked her into believing that he had fucked her when she was drunk, he knew without a doubt that he would never have gotten to first base with the woman.
Meri had broken down and told him about the fight at school where she hadn’t come to her sister’s defense, and about Sex Piston’s talk with them. A reluctant grin tugged on his lips at her unorthodox talk with his daughters and what it had revealed about her own past. With Sex Piston’s attitude, he would never have imagined that she would have been bullied in school. In fact, he would have assumed the reverse to be true.