Free B00BSH8JUC EBOK by Celia Cohen Page B

even though there was something in them that said her trust had been misplaced more than once. She seemed like someone who could handle the disappointment. I liked her, although of course I liked any friend of Randie’s.
    Big Holly put us at a favored table she had saved for the occasion—in a corner by one of the candle-lit windows. Randie and Jaws drank beer, and Julie had Evian. I got the eye from Randie and drank Coke, even though I had learned to drink beer with the softball team last summer and Jaws and I had been sharing a bottle or two during our steamy sessions in her Mustang. Jaws took a long swallow, then leaned over and kissed me, and I loved the forbidden taste of it on her fervent lips. I had never kissed anyone in public before—Randie walking in on Shamrock and me didn’t count—and I felt the stirrings deep inside. Jaws and I danced close and slow, but then Randie took Jaws aside and spoke earnestly to her, and it looked as though their talk would go on for a long time, so I danced affectionately with Julie. I did not know what Randie and Jaws discussed, and I never asked. It didn’t matter, because I was sure nothing would go wrong.
    Later we went back into the kitchen to meet Little Holly, and then Randie and Julie danced together, as electric as new lovers. In the course of the evening, it became natural to call Randie by her name, and another threshold was crossed.
    The Hollies became very important in my life. Jaws and I went there a lot to dance and make the most of its dark and secret corners. Big Holly, who was the generous one, invited us to go into an unused room now and then, without charging us for it, and Little Holly, who had the business sense, didn’t make a fuss.
    That was the way things went into the spring, when I finally had the showdown with Wendell and Lynn about not going to college and fled the house. It was so irrevocably grave that Randie didn’t even try to talk me into going back. Instead, she got the Hollies to take me in, giving me work in exchange for room and board and tips. Randie lent me money to buy a car and arranged for me to enroll in the criminal justice curriculum at the community college, starting in the summer session after I finished high school. I was on my way to being a cop.
    Jaws graduated from Hillsboro College and went off to try out for the Olympic softball team. I was too busy to be lonely, and anyway, there were a lot of pretty women who made their way to the Hollies.
    The next summer, when I was at Randie’s and Julie’s house, we watched the Olympics on television and saw that Jaws had, indeed, made the team. So had Shamrock. In fact, they were the winning battery—Shamrock pitching, Jaws catching—in the gold-medal game, won by the USA in a taut thriller, 1-0.
    Afterwards, Randie chuckled. “You know what, Kotter?” she said. “I bet there isn’t anyone on this earth who got laid by the Olympic team more than you.”

Chapter Six
     
    Julie was pouring coffee. “I’ll say this for you, Kotter, you sure have a knack for romancing world-class athletes. First Shamrock, then Jaws and now Alie de Ville.”
    “Who said anything about romancing Alie de Ville?” I protested.
    Randie chuckled. “Come on, Kotter. Who do you think you’re trying to kid?”
    “How do you figure it, Randie?” Julie said. “What is it about Kotter that has them dying to get her in the sack?”
    “Well, it sure isn’t her good looks and personality,” Randie needled. She gave me a once-over so searching it could have taken X-rays. “It’s got to be that damn cocksure attitude. Those athletes have such an ego, they feel challenged, and they want to get her in bed and make her submit. You do submit, don’t you, Kotter?”
    “For Christ’s sake, Randie!” I yelped.
    The telephone rang. Randie glanced at the Caller ID. “Oh hell, it’s the desk sergeant. This can’t be good news.” She picked up the receiver. “Hello?…Yes, Mac, what’s up?...All