David and Brie were enjoying breakfast on the veranda to their hotel room. David was on the phone with the real estate agent telling her that they were interested in smaller houses that were more suited for two. Brie swore that there were times when Hebrew and Yiddish were easier for him to speak than English because they seemed to come so naturally to him. Little did she know, he thought the same thing about her. As she sat and listened to him speaking in Hebrew, she felt her cell phone vibrate in her pocket a moment before it started to play ‘The Infection’- Jake’s ringtone on her phone. She pulled it out of her pocket and answered it softly. “Hello?”
“Hey Mom. It’s Jake. Why are you whispering?”
“Your father’s on the phone with our agent over here. We’ve decided to look at smaller houses and just fly back to the states to see you kids every Hanukkah. What’s up?”
“I really need you and Dad to hear something that’s very important.”
“Is everything ok, Jacob?”
“No. You’re youngest daughter is on my shit list right now.”
“Oh? And why might that be?”
“That’s what I need you and Dad to hear. I don’t mean to ruin your vacation, but this is an emergency. The kind of emergency that if I don’t tell you and Dad, especially Dad, someone’s going to end up in the emergency room.”
“Sounds serious. Hold on. Let me get your father’s attention.” She looked in David’s direction and waved. “We’re both needed, baby”, she whispered.
He nodded and finished his conversation in Hebrew. Once he hung up, he looked at his wife. “Ok. What’s going on?” he asked.
She put her phone on speaker and spoke again. “Ok, Jake. We’re both here. Tell us what’s going on.”
“Dad? Let me hear that you’re there. Not that I don’t trust Mom. I want to make sure that you’re listening.”
“I’m here, Jacob”, David said. “Speak, son. What’s going on?”
“Did either of you know that Jessi was dating?”
David’s eyes grew wide. “Um… no. Is she?”
“Oh, I’m afraid it’s a little more serious than dating, Dad. Apparently, he’s already rounded home with your baby girl and he’s been bragging about it.”
“Hold on”, Brie said. “Bragging that he’s had sex with his girlfriend or that he’s had sex with David Draiman’s youngest daughter?”
“The latter, Mom.”
She looked at her husband and saw he starting to turn red. He was getting pissed. “Calm down, David. I’m sure we don’t have the whole story.”
“Oh, it gets worse, Dad”, Jake said.
“I honestly don’t see how, Jacob”, David said through his teeth.
“He’s the front man for an aspiring punk band and he thinks that boning your baby will get him street cred and a record deal. He fancies himself a new version of you.”
David’s voice was low and careful when next he spoke. “Put my daughter on the phone, now, Jacob.”
Jake’s voice was quiet as he pulled the phone away from his ear to hand it to Jessi. “Dad wants to talk to you and he’s not very happy.”
Jessi’s voice came next. “Yes, sir?” she said sheepishly.
“What is this little punk’s name, Jessykah?” David’s hands were shaking, but it didn’t show in his voice. His voice was steady and dangerous.
“Jeremy Caldwell.”
“You are not to see him again until I find out if this shit is true. I realize that you’re nineteen years old, but if you value my sanity, you will do as I say. Do I make myself perfectly fucking crystal clear, Jessykah Danyelle Draiman?”
He heard his daughter take a deep, shaking breath in. “Yes, sir.”
“Good. Now, put Jake back on the phone.”
Jake’s voice came back after a soft thud. “I’m back, Dad. Jessi just ran up the stairs crying.”
“I’m not sorry. I hope she’s thoroughly scared because she’s going to see, if these accusations are true, just how easy it is to be taken advantage of because your last name is the same as a rock star.”
“Any special orders, Dad?”
“Yeah. Keep as close an eye on her as you boys can until I get back. If you have to barricade her in her room, do it. I don’t want her seeing him until I get back and find if this shit is true or not.”
“Understood. We’ll make it happen, Cap’n.”
“Good. Now, you’re mother and I need to get ready to go meet a friend of mine in a different part of country so that we can go diving to take our minds off of this shit. Make sure that everyone behaves themselves until we get back, Jacob.”
“Yes, sir. Will do.”
“Good. Good bye.” He hit the end call button.
“You need to calm down, David”, Brie said softly, taking his hands in hers.
“I’m trying, love. But, hearing that some dumb little peckerwood is taking advantage of my baby pisses me off.”
“I realize that, sugar, but you also have to realize that this boy and Marc never got along in school. Marc could be just saying this shit to get Jessi to leave the guy alone.”
“None of our children would do that. They’ve all been taught what a lie can do.”
“Well, we’ll have to wait until we get back to the states to deal with that. Right now, there’s nothing we can do other than hope for the best and be prepared for the worst.” She brought his hands up to press a kiss to the backs of them.
He smiled softly at her. “Where would I be without you?”
“On the first plane back to the US to kill some little boy who wants to be you.”
With that, he couldn’t argue.
---------------
They took a small plane into Egypt for their diving trip. Brie was excited to see a camel up close and personal for the first time. “While we’re here, we’re going to have to go for a camel ride. You do realize that, right?” she laughed.
“Oh, I figured as much. I know you. You’re a sucker for fun little shit like that.”
“Well, of course. You’ve gotten to do it. I never have. I want to ride a camel.”
“And we will, baby. Don’t worry. Like I could deny you that.”
“Good. Because if you had tried, I might have just had to get creative in my persuasion.”
“Oh? Then we’re not going. No camel ride unless you can convince me that you deserve it.”
“Are we going directly from here to the beach?”
“No, I figured we’d get settled into a hotel first.”
“What time are we supposed to meet Joe?”
He checked his watch. It was still early. “Not for a while.”
“Then I have plenty of time to try to convince you to take me on a camel ride before we leave the country to go back to Israel.”
“I’m planning on us being here for a couple of days. It gives me time to clear my head a little bit before we go back to house hunting.”
“That’s fine. Let’s just get to our hotel and get settled in so that I can convince you that I’ve been a good girl and that I should get to go on a camel ride.”
“You can start trying to convince me as soon as you like.”
“Oh, David, you should NOT have said that to me.” She leaned into him and traced the tip of her tongue along his earlobe and listened to him take a deep breath and let it out slowly.
As he started to take his neck breath, she started to trace the inside of his ear. His breathing caught. “Ok, stop for now, please. I don’t want to cause an international incident in the back seat of an Egyptian cab”, he asked in a shaky voice.
“Say yes to the camel ride”, she whispered in a husky voice.
“Never.”
She continued to let her tongue play along his ear and listened to his responses. His breathing was labored. Even though he was taking deep breaths, he was letting them out rather quickly after catching what breath. “Say yes, David”, she whispered again.
“No.” There was less conviction there. She knew she was getting through his guard. He never could keep his guard up for very long around her. She stopped for the remainder of their ride to the hotel they were going to stay at. And he was relieved. If she’d kept up what she was doing, he was going to cause an international incident and take her right there in the back seat of that taxi. Once they’d stopped at their hotel and were safely inside in the lobby, she started messing with him again. One hand slid under the back of his t-shirt so that she could run nail softly along the skin of his back. He let out a shudder as they stood in line and waited to check in. His eyes closed and he swallowed. “Are you trying to torment me?”
“I’m going to do whatever it takes to get you to say yes to that camel ride I want to take. Surrender and this will all stop.”
“But, what if I don’t want it to stop?”
She pulled her hand back and stuck the both in her pockets. “Fine. If you want it to continue, you’ll say yes.”
He looked at her out of the corner of his eye. “You’re evil. Fine. You’ll get to take a camel ride before we leave Egypt”, he laughed.
She slipped her hand back under his shirt to continue the torture as he checked them into their suite, and the entire trip up to the room in the elevator. Once they were on the other side of the door and the bell boy had left, he took over. He pinned her to the door and crushed his lips against hers. Her tiny hands pushed his shirt up so that she could touch the skin of his stomach as his big hands unfastened her jeans. He’d endured all he could of her torture. He was going to get even with her for what she put him through during the cab ride and in the hotel lobby.
Their clothes hit the floor and he laid her on the bed. Her legs hung off the edge. He stood long enough to pull her hips to the edge then dropped to his knees. He kissed up her thigh on one side, then the other. He was going to torment her the way she’d tormented him. He wanted to take his time; even if it meant that they didn’t go diving that day. There was always tomorrow. Those were his thoughts as he lowered his mouth to her core and tormented her with his tongue.
---------------
“I wonder what my parents are doing right this moment”, Jeremiah mused as he and Jona lay in bed that night.
“Why?” she asked with a giggle.
“Because their last vacation was all mysterious and shit. I’m just curious. Where are they? What are they doing?”
“That sounds more like a Jake concern than a ‘Miah concern”, she teased.
He laughed. “It takes my mind off of the shit with Jessi and the loser she’s been dating.”
“What’s going on with that?”
“Dad’s not happy, but he’s saving his investigation until he gets home.”
“Figures your Dad would want to wait until he gets home to look into that.”
“It’s probably Mom’s idea.”
She shrugged, then let out a sigh of content. “Let’s change the subject, shall we?”
“Sure, what do you want to talk about?”
“Your mother’s obsession over our wedding.”
“She’s doing what she thinks is best, baby. You’ll have to forgive her for obsessing. She doesn’t really have anything else to do now that she’s retired.”
“But, I’m not picky.”
“Neither am I. Just let her have fun. It will all be over soon.”
“Are you sure?”
“Oh yeah. Mom will calm down once your Dad walks you down the aisle and we’re both standing before the Reverend and God becoming man and wife.”
“Will your Mom cry?”
“Is the sky blue?”
“Did your Dad cry when Jake or Malachai got married?”
“Nope.”
“What about Maddie?”
“Like a baby. He didn’t want to let his little princess go. He wasn’t ready for her to become someone else’s queen.”
“I think that’s how my Dad’s going to be. I don’t know if he’ll cry, but I’m sure he’s not going to be ready to let me go.”
“Well, at least he can take comfort in the fact that though, you’re becoming my queen, that you’ll be more like a duchess in the family dynamic.” He chuckled a little bit.
She couldn’t help but smile. “I’m not interested in becoming royalty, ‘Miah. I just want to be yours forever.”
“And as soon as your Daddy walks you down that aisle and we say ‘I do’, you will be, beautiful. Hell as far as I’m concerned, you already are. Wedding band or no wedding band. And, I’ve been thinking, once we’ve said our vows, we should look into getting a place of our own.”
“Where?”
“Around here somewhere. It will be nice to have our own space again and not have to worry about people being nosy all the time. Don’t get me wrong, I love my brothers and sisters but I’m to the point where I can’t take this shit of Jake asking my how things are going anymore. He’s officially struck my last nerve.”
“Well, there is a nice little house about a block away from the clinic. We could always look at that after we get back from our honeymoon.”
“Where are we going for our honeymoon, anyway?”
“I don’t know. Let me think on that and I’ll get back to you. How does that sound?”
“That’s fine by me. We still have a couple of months to think about it.”
-----------------
After the marathon, David and Brie managed to get up and move around so that they could go meet Joe at the docks so that they could go diving. When they approached the boat, Joe couldn’t help but laugh. “Moving a little stiffly today, are we?”
“It’s not a crime to use creative persuasion to convince your significant other to let you do something that you have your heart set on”, Brie responded. David just gave him the finger.
Joe laughed harder. “Creative persuasion, Brie? It looks like you two had each other in positions that are only legal in India.”
“Would you believe that we didn’t?”
“No, not really.”
“Oh well, then. I don’t have to convince you of anything. I know what happened before we got here.”
“My question is, are you two in any condition to dive?”
“We can dive”, David said. “We just need to get the blood flowing in certain extremities.”
“Like your legs?”
“Something like that. Do we have full tanks?”
“No, David, they’re empty. The gauges just read that their full”, Joe answered sarcastically.
David gave him the finger again with a big sarcastic grin. “Well, let’s get the fuck out of here then.”
“You do realize that here in Egypt, you have to have a permit for things like this, right?”
“We do have a permit to dive. I have a life time permit here.”
“Lucky bastard”, Joe mumbled under his breath. “Well, come on you two; let’s get you out on the water so that you can go under.”
Carefully, David got onboard first, then helped Brie. Once they had their life jackets on and were seated, Joe started the boat and took them out into the middle of the sea.
As the boat skipped across the water, they both smiled. Neither knew what the other was thinking, but that was ok. They didn’t need to know because they were thinking the same thing. God, I’m the luckiest person alive. I’ve got my soul mate sitting next to me. What more could I ever ask for?
