“Well, I need to get to bed. I’ll leave you two to sort this out. But, for what it’s worth, whatever it is you two are doing, I’m good with it.” Mom dropped her cup in the sink, reached up to pat Tor on the cheek, then shuffled down the hallway to her room.
Tor chuckled and leaned against the counter. “You can breathe now, Babe.”
“Tor,” I hissed. “You spent the night and my mom knows!” If that wasn’t the most mortifying moment of my life, then I didn’t want to know what would be.
“Stella, you’re acting like she caught us naked and rolling around on the floor while Mason watched.”
My cheeks heated and I dropped my eyes to the floor. “You can’t say things like that,” I whispered.
“Why the hell not?” he challenged. “It’s going to happen. Well, Mason isn’t going to be there, but you get what I mean.”
“Can we just please not talk about this?” Everything was happening so fast and I didn’t have a chance to process any of it. Tor needed to get the hell out of here so I could take a deep breath and figure out what had just happened in the past twelve hours.
“I’m normally not much of a talker, but I have a feeling as soon as I walk out that door, you’re going to fill your head with all sorts of reasons why you and I won’t work.”
I was going to do exactly that. Now, if he would just leave, I could carry on with freakin out and over rationalizing everything. “I’m not going to do that.”
He set his cup down and moved in front of me. He grabbed my hand and pulled me out of my chair. “I gotta head home, shower, and get to work, but I need to say something. Something you need to think about while I’m gone.”
I nodded my head and relaxed into his hold. It really was nice to be this close to Tor. Way better than I had ever imagined.
“I was never with Lexi. One time. That was all she had with me. She may have filled your head with a bunch of shit about me and her, but there was never anything more between us than Mason.”
“Tor, I-.”
“No,” he cut me off. “Whatever you are trying to say is wrong. I told you I would never take back me and her because then I wouldn’t have Mason, but just know if there was a way for me to go back, and put you in her place, I would do it in a heartbeat. Lexi and I were a mistake that somehow made something beautiful. She’s gone, and as horrible as it is for me to say, Mason is better off now than he was when she was here.”
“She was still his mom, Tor.” Lexi may have tormented me, and not been the nicest person, but I had to believe that maybe she would have turned over a new leaf had she not overdosed.
“Yeah, Stella, she was, and she chose to go out and kill herself with every drug she could find.”
Well, that was rather harsh. “I don’t know why we’re talking about this before I’ve had enough coffee to sink a submarine.”
Tor ignored my joke that I thought was cute. “Because you need to get it through your head in the next eight hours that I never wanted Lexi. I wanted you the second I saw you. It’s always been you, Stella.” He cupped my cheek and tilted back my head. “Now kiss me so I can go to work.”
“You make it sound so simple.”
“That’s because loving you is the simplest of things. It just happens.” He pressed his lips to mine, a soft touch, but I felt everything he had just said. “Be good, Stella.”
Tor grabbed his coat off the back of the couch, shrugged it on, and pulled his keys out of his pocket. “Tell Mason I love him.” A small smile touched his lips. “While you’re at it, make sure you tell yourself that too. I’ll see you around six.” He disappeared out the door, and I was still standing next to the dining room table wondering what in the hell just happened.
Mom walked into the kitchen with Mason on her hip and a smile on her face. “Tor Kestrel loves you, Stella. What are you going to do about it?”
What was I going to do about it?
*
Chapter Seven
Tor
“Dude, you sure about this?”
I looked down at the appointment book. “Yeah. This should work perfectly.”
“Okay, I’ll blast it all over social media and start rescheduling these few appointments you have next week.” Mabel grabbed the appointment book and paged to next week. “What do you want me to do if they don’t want to reschedule?”
“Give ‘em to Imogen or Axel.” I had just flipped my work schedule completely on its head and I had no idea if I was actually going to have customers anymore. I had been lucky to be able to work during the day but now I had just changed my days off, and went from coming to work at ten o’clock, to not coming in until four o’clock some days.
“Pfft,” Imogen scoffed. “You know all of those people you are about to call are going to do whatever they need to do to keep their appointment with Tor.” Imogen leaned against the front desk and grabbed the appointment book. She pointed at each name, “Skull, portrait, skull, skull, cross with skull. None of these fuckers are going to reschedule.” She pushed the book back and crossed her arms over her chest.
“Go ahead, ask.” No one had asked me all morning why I was flipping everything on its head.
“Either you’re starting an underground drug ring, and you need the days to run your empire, or something finally happened with the mysterious Stella.”
“She’s got an internship and can’t watch Mason during the day a few days.”
Axel spun around on his chair in his booth. “But does she know you want your dong in her woman cave?”
“Woman cave?” Mabel cringed. Mabel had just started working at Iron Lotus a couple of months ago, and she was still getting used to things around the shop. One of those things being the good-looking yet brash, Axel.
“Vagina?” he called.
Mabel scoffed and wrinkled her nose. “If I never hear the word vagina come out of your mouth again it’ll be too soon.”
“Vagina,” Axel enunciated slowly.
Imogen elbowed me. “You finally locked her down?” Imogen and I were used to Axel being a crude ass, so him saying woman cave wasn’t shocking. He had said much worse in the three years he had worked at the shop. The fact he was a hell of a tattoo artist was the only thing we cared about.
“Uh, if you mean locked down by her being shocked speechless, then yeah, totally locked her down.”
Imogen shook her head. “What did you do? Tell her you love her without even taking her out to dinner first?”
I ran my fingers through my hair and shrugged.
“Holy hell,” Imogen gasped. “You did exactly that.”
“I am taking her out tonight though.”
“I bet he didn’t even find a babysitter for Mason.” Axel called.
Imogen quirked an eyebrow. “Lordy, boy. You better not be going on your first date with Mason in tow.”
“Stella loves Mason.”
Imogen scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Of course she does. That’s part of the reason you fell in love with her because she loves your kid. But don’t you think just maybe for your first date it should just be the two of you.”
“I… uh… I don’t have anyone else to watch Mason.” I had figured we would go out to eat, head to the park to tire out Mason, and then head back to my place. Not exactly the most romantic first date, but as long as I was with Stella, I didn’t think I could go wrong.
“Bring him over. He can hang out with me for the night.” Mabel closed the appointment book and smiled. “I babysit my nieces and nephews all of the time.”
Imogen shrugged. “There ya go. Problem solved.”
“I’d totally let Mabel babysit me.” Axel wiggled his eyebrows and blew a kiss to Mabel.
Mabel pointed her finger at him and drawled, “No.” She looked at me. “But I’m serious about watching Mason. He’s hung out with me a couple of times while you finished up a tattoo on the weekend and we got along awesome.”
She had watched him for me a couple of times, but that was when I was ten
feet away. I had only ever left Mason alone with Stella. “Uh…”
“Have her watch him. I’ll go over there too and we can have like a slumber party.” Imogen sat down in the chair in her booth. “Does that make you feel better?”
Imogen was like a sister to me. I had been tattooing at Iron Lotus for five years and she had been with me every day. I did trust her with my life, and her volunteering to hang out with Mabel and Mason made me feel better about leaving him with someone who wasn’t Stella. “Totally.”
Axel cleared his throat. “I, uh, hate to interrupt this heartfelt moment, but I’m going to need video proof of this slumber party, and that proof better include sexy lingerie and a pillow fight. Pictures or it didn’t happen.”
“Will I get fired if I punch him?” Mabel asked.
Imogen shrugged. “I’m running out to get lunch, so I didn’t see anything.” She pushed her sunglasses on her face and walked out the door.
Axel stood up slowly and pleaded with me, “Come on, Tor. Us guys have to stick together, right?”
I shook my head and hitched my thumb toward the door. “I was gonna run out to get a coffee.”
“What? No!” he shouted.
Mabel darted out from behind the front counter as I stepped out the front door. She let out a warrior cry as the door shut and I shook my head. Axel was so screwed. Though maybe this would teach him he couldn’t say whatever came to mind all of the time.
I jogged across the street, thankful the coffee shop was not even a block away.
While I waited in line, I pulled out my phone and sent a quick message to Stella.
Thinking of me?
Shouldn’t you be working?
I’m grabbing a coffee. You didn’t answer my question.
I’m watching Sesame Street with Mason.
So, you were totally thinking about me.
I moved to the front of the line and placed my usual order of a black coffee and blueberry muffin.
Did you just text me to bug me?
No.
Then why did you text me?
I forked over my money and stood off to the side to wait for my coffee.
I got a sitter for Mason tonight, and I have some good news.
Oh, really? I thought he was coming with us.
Stella did love Mason, and I knew she wouldn’t mind him coming with us. Hell, one day soon she was going to be his mom if things went the way I wanted them to.
Figured our first date should be you and I. Mabel and Imogen are going to watch him.
Oh.
I knew her mind was swirling with all sorts of crazy ideas of who Imogen and Mabel were.
They work with me. I can hear you thinking all the way across town.
I wasn’t thinking anything.
I didn’t want to have this conversation over the phone.
I gotta get back to work. I’ll pick you and Mason up at six, and then you can meet Imogen and Mabel.
Fine.
I shoved my phone in my pocket and grabbed my coffee and muffin from the counter.
Stella was still very much in her head about what her and I were going to be.
That was all going to change tonight.
*
Chapter Eight
Stella
“Do I look okay?” I did a twirl in front of Mason’s playpen and looked down at the black jeans and white long sleeve shirt I was wearing. “I really am boring,” I mumbled.
“Dada, dada!” Mason banged on the side of the playpen with his hands and a huge smile on his face.
“You think Dada will like this?” Who better to ask if Tor would like what I was wearing than his kid? Though, I doubted Mason even knew what I was asking.
A knock sounded on the door, and I knew any thought of changing my clothes was gone. “Let’s go see, Dada.” I lifted Mason out of his playpen and his hands instantly went to my hair. “No, no,” I laughed. I had wanted to look a little bit special for my first date with Tor, so I had left my hair down. I should have kept it up until we dropped Mason off.
I put my hand on the door handle but didn’t turn it. “Tor?” I called.
“Yeah, Babe. It’s me.”
“Do you still want to go out with me tonight.”
“Among other things, yeah,” he laughed.
Well, that was good he hadn’t changed his mind. “I’m gonna open the door.”
“Okay.”
I was such a dork. I had seen Tor almost every day for the past year, but now it was like he was finally seeing me, and I was terrified of what he was going to see. I pulled open the door and closed my eyes.
“Babe, what the hell are you doing?” His tone was light, and I could tell that he was smiling.
Mason yanked on my hair and laughed. “Dada.”
“Ow, you little bugger.” I opened my eyes, avoiding Tor, and reached for Mason’s little hand.
“You like Stella’s hair just like dada?” Tor asked him. Mason reached out his arms for Tor and launched himself toward him.
Tor lifted him in his arms and wrapped him up in a hug. “You ready for your first sleepover?” he asked.
Mason was. I wasn’t. “Uh, I think I packed everything he’ll need. Let me just grab the bags from the kitchen.”
“Bags?” For asked.
I grabbed the two duffel bags and a bag from the fridge. “Yeah, I wasn’t all that sure of what Imogen and Mabel had so I packed everything Mason could possibly need.” I hitched the two bags over my shoulders and turned off the light with the hand that didn’t have anything in it.
“Holy shit, Stella. He’s only gonna be there for one night, not the whole year.”
I rolled my eyes and turned off the living room lights. “I’m cautious.”
“Obviously,” Tor muttered to Mason. “And a little crazy.”
“Hey,” I protested. “This is a big deal.” I stood in front of Tor and Mason loaded down with the overabundance of clothes, toys, diapers, wipes, and food.
Tor grabbed Mason’s coat from by the door and pulled it on. “It’s a very big deal if it requires three bags.”
I rolled my eyes, dropped the bags, and grabbed my coat off the couch. “I’ll be able to sleep better tonight knowing that Mason has everything he needs.”
“I’m surprised she let me take you home every night,” he said to Mason.
“Those first few weeks I was a little worried, but you pleasantly surprised me each morning you brought him back to me.”
Tor reached for one of the duffle bags, and I grabbed the other one and bag with food. “Your faith in me is astounding,” he chuckled.
“You did surprise me,” I laughed.
Tor grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the house, and I tugged the door shut behind me. “I’m hoping to surprise you a bit more tonight. Let’s get the boy to Mabel’s and then we can get on with my plans for you tonight.”
Tor strapped Mason into his car seat, and I loaded the bags into the trunk.
After a ten minute drive to Mabel’s place, I was pleasantly surprised to see she lived in a duplex in the ritzy Mitchell Manor neighborhood. “Wow, Tor.”
“Yeah, Babe. I’m even surprised.” He put the car in park and looked over at me. “I gotta say, I was a bit nervous coming over here, but now that we’re here I don’t think Mason is going to want to come home.”
I had to agree. I was wondering if Mabel would want to babysit me.
Tor grabbed the bags out the trunk while I unbuckled Mason. “You ready to have some fun, Mason?” I asked.
His hands instantly went to my hair, and he yanked his hand up and down excitedly. “Dada!”
“We really need you to start saying some other words,” Tor laughed.
A car pulled up to the curb, and a woman got out. A drop dead gorgeous woman who looked exactly like the type of woman Tor should be with. Fierce, stunningly beautiful, and a gorgeous array of tattoos on her arms and legs.
“You really went through with it. I honestly d
idn’t know if you were going to let me and Mabel hang out with the little guy tonight.” She walked around the back of her car, and up the driveway toward us.
“Once I saw how much Stella packed, I knew you guys would be fine.”
“Hey, I’m Imogen.” She held her hand out to me, and I gently shook it.
“Uh, Stella.”
She looked over at Tor. “I can now understand why you kept her to yourself.”
“Yeah,” Tor agreed.
Wait, what? What in the hell did that mean?
The front door opened and a short, perky looking brunette with heavily tattooed arms stood there. “Woo! You actually came.”
“You weren’t the only one hesitant about having someone else watch Mason,” Tor mumbled to me. “I changed my mind after I got back to the shop from grabbing a coffee and saw Mabel had hogtied Axel in the backroom.”
I gasped and looked the perky looking brunette up and down. “I think she can handle Mason then.” I had no idea who Axel was, but I had to assume he was a grown man, and if Mabel was able to takedown him then Mason shouldn’t be a problem for her.
“That’s exactly what I told him,” Imogen said as she walked by. “Anyone who can get a hold of Axel I’d trust with my life.”
Mason begged to go to Mabel as soon as we walked through the door, and each second I spent watching her with him I relaxed. Mason technically wasn’t my kid, but I spent more time with him than some actual parents spent with their kids.
“We’ll be by around noon to pick him up.”
“Noon?” I asked. I may be okay with Mason spending the night with Mabel and Imogen now, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to miss him.
Imogen laughed and plopped down on the couch. “You could pick him up Monday if it meant I get to stay in this fancy ass house until then.”
Mabel rolled her eyes and bounced Mason on her hip. “I like living alone. Except for the occasional little visitor,” she cooed to Mason.
We watched Mason crawl between Imogen and Mabel for ten minutes before Tor finally managed to pull me out of the house.
Daddin' Ain't Easy: A DILF Mania Collaboration Page 4
