Uncle's Hands

TRACKING MACHINE

I was sixteen years old when I was first attracted to Uncle Levi. It was the little things at first. The way he ran his fingers through his hair, they would disappear into his thick, soft curls, and when he took his fingers out, I felt like running my fingers through it, see what it felt like.

Two days. I fought the urge for two days and one day, while he was hunched over his computer, eyes focused on the code he was working on, I couldn’t resist. His fingers ran through the curls a few seconds ago. And I did it.

The contact left me breathless, butterflies fanning in my belle. It was like a light bulb was turned on inside of me. I felt warm and glow-y. His curls were as soft as I imagined them.

“Okay, what do you want?” he asked with a sigh, thinking I wanted something, my nothing-goes-for-nothing lifestyle preceding me. I got all I wanted, but it was embarrassing for some reason, so I asked him for fifty bucks. And like my father always complained, he gave it to me.

“She never does anything for free,” my father interjects, coming out of his room with a yawn, his hair sticking up in different places. Uncle Levi was never like that, he was always very well-kept. But he also doesn’t look like men his age, he looked better. My friends always argued he was not my father’s age.

“Really?” Kate says, blinking at me, her eyes wide as she took in this new information. Then she claps, again, it was her thing, clapping.

“You can think of it as a summer job. What do you say to twenty bucks per hour?”

De ja vu.

I looked straight at my uncle, hoping he would remember when I said,

“Fifty. I will do it for fifty bucks an hour.”

Her eyes widened as she looked from my father to me, her mouth pressed her lips into a thin line, unsure of what to say.

“You said it’s worth a billion, my time is precious too.”

She nods, “Sure, of course. Fifty is fine, and whatever it is you need in the meantime, I will be happy to provide.”

Her smile wobbled, and she said she was trying to be my friend. It was obvious she was displeased with my price, like it was coming out of her pocket. She was lucky I didn’t want more. Well, I did, just her husband and for one night.

“And alone time.” At my final request, her husband finally snapped up to look at me, but I was looking at his wife, my expression neutral.

“What?”

I shrugged casually, letting my hair slide away from the side of my neck that faced Uncle Levi. I was showing him all of my cards like he taught me, he could refuse me here and now, expose me for what I was really after, end all of it before it even started.

“We used to be alone at that time, I would be photographing something, and he would be coding away. It might give us a different result if the flow is interrupted.”

That was mostly true.

“We should discuss this first Kate.”

Oh. That hurt more than I expected it to. What did he want to discuss? Was this his way of subtly letting me down?

“What is there to discuss Levi? This is the solution we have been looking for.”

Was it just me or did she seem to eager to pass her husband to someone else? Or did she think of me as just a kid? Either way, it was my gain.

“I will give you some time to think about it. In the mean time, it seems the news of my arrival has circulated, and my fans are seeking my presence,” I say casually, waving my phone for emphasis.

“Are those the same people? The ones you used to hang out with??” My father’s voice was tinged with masked anger.

“Yes, why?” I dared him to say something, meeting his eyes. I watched as the corner of his mouth lifted in a sneer.

“Tamara?” Levi rushes to my rescue again. I liked it and hated it at the same time. Being the referee between us every time was a constant reminder of the kid he took care of.

“Yes, Tamara, Janice and Hunter as well.” I threw in the last part for Levi’s benefit.

Hunter was a frequent visitor to the house, and anyone with eyes must know how he feels for me. He was an on-and-off boyfriend.

It worked; a muscle in his jaw jumped. I gave him a small smirk. He wanted to talk with his wife. I could talk to whom I wanted.

I didn’t wait for any more comments, I knew his eyes were on me, so I made a show of walking out of the house. The thought of his eyes following me, the feeling of it, made me dizzy with want.

Tamara had texted me earlier, and I was going to ignore her text. She was part of the life I left behind before moving away, but teasing was part of the package if I wanted it to go the way I imagined.

“Just blonde highlights? Man, I could have made gas money,” Janice says as soon as the car pulled into the driveway. She had a huge smile on her face, the s**t eating kind that told me she was on something.

My chest swelled. I never realized how much I missed them until I saw Tamara’s face, the very one my father disapproved of. She had two eyebrow piercings on her right brow, a cheek piercing, a tongue piercing, and a nose ring. Her black-painted lips stretched into a smile.

“Called it, one simple highlight.”

I went around the driver’s side and gave her a high five. She grinned at me, she had questions about why I cut her off so suddenly, but in her eyes I could see understanding.

“Where are we celebrating?” I said, climbing into her beat-up truck.

That’s when I face the other person in the truck. Hunter's baby blue eyes stop me in my tracks, they are open and full of emotions that threaten to pull me under.

“Hi Hunter.”

He swallows, then blinks, struggling for words and coming up short.

“Hunter’s bar.”

The truck pushed forward, the familiar groan of the engine made me laugh. Tamara was always proud of the sound, it was noisy, reckless, and everything our youth was.

“Hunter has a bar?” I say looking away from his eyes and between the girls in front.

“Who would have thought right? I thought it would be Janice or you, but it ended up being him.”

Janice snorts, her words slow, “He probably did it for her, he knows she can never say no to a good drink.”

They laugh and tease Hunter. He rolled his eyes, but didn’t speak directly to me again. He was hurt by my actions. That was my favorite thing to do, it seems, run away from anything that was good for me, straight into the arms of anything that was out to ruin me.

“I see you are back at Mr. Wright’s,” Tamara says once we are inside Hunter’s bar. He had gone to the back to get our special order.

Tamara has been my best friend. She knew my thoughts as they passed through my head, and she knew it the second I started to steal glances at Uncle Levi. She didn’t judge, she even thought I was cool.

“It just so happens so.” I sigh.

“So what, are you still a virgin?” she asked, her brows almost touching from curiosity.

I shrug, “Boys at college don’t compare.”

“You still think Hunter would be attractive in that way after you’ve f****d Mr. Wright?”

I steal a glance at Hunter. He was strong, fit, almost muscular. We kissed a lot, he was a good kisser, even felt him up, but my mind kept making comparisons. And I hadn’t even kissed Levi then.

“We’ll know after a few days.”

She quirked a brow, her hand supporting Janice’s slumped form straightened as she leaned forward.

“You have a plan when he is married? What makes you think he wants it?”

I always ran towards the wrong things, even if they were named Wright.

Hunter reappears with our drinks, and an apology for taking too long. The smell wakes Janice, and she sits upright, first to down a shot.

“I am glad you came back.” Hunter finally speaks to me. His words are warm and kind, they make me smile.

Just like that, we were transported to the old days, all of us downing shots, laughing and dancing, my abrupt disappearance a fog in the distance.

Like a Levi tracking machine, I turned around just as he entered Hunter’s bar. His eyes find me, and suddenly everything else blurs. His expression was neutral, his handsome face betrayed nothing.

In three quick strides, he had reached our table. He leaned down to whisper in my ear, so only I could hear,

“I thought I told you, you weren’t allowed to wear these clothes around other men?”