Reye's Gold by Ruthie Robinson Read Free Book Online Page A

after-school program, but had morphed into surgeons prepping for a major life-saving operation. “Shondra has to perform the surgery,” Reye said, looking over at Shondra, who by now had recognized her error. “Let me get my doctor’s bag,” she said, demonstrating her superb acting skills as she pretended to remove a dart and cleanse the wound.
    “What do we do now?” Reye asked.
    Shondra looked at Shane. “I’m sorry for the dart.”
    “What do you say, Shane?” Reye asked encouragingly. “It’s okay,” he said, smiling in pleasure at all of the attention.
    “ Thank you, skilled surgeons, your work here is done,” Reye said, also smiling, ushering them back to the cleanup, beyond pleased with their understanding.
    * * *
     
    Stephen looked around The Garden, the restaurant and bar where most of his friends from school hung out. It was also the place where the soccer teams came after their weekend games. The Garden had been an old hole in the wall that had been refurbished about ten years ago. Wood floors and wood walls gave it the appearance of an old down-on-its-luck hunting lodge with a college themed décor. National college and university banners dangled from the ceiling, most worn out years ago. The university’s banner was the only relatively clean one, dis played prominently above the front door, religiously replaced every year. Wooden picnic tables sat close to each other to achieve maximum occupancy. The food, standard American fare, was inexpensive, a necessity for college students.
    Stephen sat at one of the tables waiting for a waitress to take his order. He was tired and restless. With the demands of law school, soccer, and monster study ses sions, he should have been exhausted, but instead he was fidgety. It has been almost two weeks since he’d met Reye at his fraternity’s party. He’d call her relentlessly at first to reconsider going out with him, but to no avail. The answer was always the same. No. So getting a yes now had moved from more that just a desire to a personal mission.
    R eye was always friendly when he called. Annoyingly polite, she even thanked him for calling and asked about school, but her answer was always the same: no. No, I won’t meet you for coffee. No, I won’t meet you at the library. No, I wouldn’t like to go to a movie. Hey, he didn’t have time for any of the above anyway, but it irri tated him that she’d not given him another chance, wouldn’t even consider it. It wasn’t even his fault. He hadn’t said any of those things to her.
    Who needed this kind of aggravation? He knew plenty of women who would welcome his attention, and why he was still pursuing this one he’d yet to understand. It was the possibility of sex with her that was making him twitch. It was sex, plain and simple. He’d created this super fantasy in his mind of what it would be like with her. And it was this unusual desire that had been created from that one night at the party. He’d sampled enough to drive him crazy. He was sure that if he could only follow through, take it to its nat ural conclusion, he could exorcise her from his mind. Take tonight, for example. He’d just played a hard, competitive game against the Cobras, a fairly good soccer team in the A division of the intramural league. Not the best, but not recreational league, either. He should be exhausted, but not so. He labeled Reye as the source of his unusual moodiness.
    He sat waiting for Henri to arrive for their usual rou tine following a game, rehashing and celebrating their win and planning strategy for the next match. He’d looked up to find Henri and Joe approaching. What the hell was he doing here? He hadn’t spoken to Joe since the night of the party. Both Henri and Joe played on his t eam. They sauntered over to the table, plopping down next to him. The waitress, a perky blonde who seemed available for more than taking orders, came over.
    “What would you like?”
    “I’ll have a cheeseburger,”