Off Beat (Forgotten Flounders Series Book 1)

by J. C. Hannigan

“A cheeseburger and a chocolate milk shake for me, please,” Asher told her, grinning. “Hold the onions, though.”

  “Cheeseburger for you, too, bud? Strawberry shake?” Raina asked, glancing up at Nik, who nodded. She scribbled the order down on the pad and shifted her focus to Cal. “And for you?”

  “I think cheeseburgers and milkshakes for all of us sounds good,” Cal said, looking to me for confirmation, and I nodded. “The works on mine, hold the tomato on hers, another chocolate shake, and one strawberry shake, please.”

  I was surprised he’d remembered my little quirk; although I loved tomatoes, I didn’t like them on my burger or in my sandwiches. They always made it taste soggy. Raina nodded, jotting the rest of the order down.

  “I’ll be right back with your drinks,” she said, eyes sweeping from me to Cal and the kids before she walked away. I slipped into the booth, my knee bumping against Cal’s as I adjusted. He shot me a smile, his eyes resting on my lips a moment before he looked back at the kids.

  “So, Nik. When did you start drawing comics?” he asked, leaning back in the booth and watching Asher’s friend with interest.

  “When I was six, I think.” Nik shrugged, making a tower out of the creamers.

  “He’s really good,” Asher confirmed, nudging Nik’s elbow with his own, knocking over part of the tower. “You should show him your sketch book.”

  “Nah.” Nik shook his head, uncomfortable with the attention.

  “You don’t have to show me,” Calum assured him with an easy smile. “I don’t like to show off my drawings, either.”

  “You draw?” Nik asked, looking up from the tower.

  “Not as much as I write music and play it. But it’s a hobby of mine.” Calum’s hand found my thigh, sliding down to my knee. He gave it a gentle squeeze, leaving his hand there while he continued talking to the boys about drawing.

  I let my mind wander while I observed the diner. More than half the patrons were watching, conversation buzzing lowly around us.

  Raina was one of the watchers—she stood behind the counter, making the milkshakes with a miffed expression. When she realized I was watching her, she quickly looked away and finished the shakes, placing them all on the tray she balanced in her hand.

  Once all four shakes were in place, she flitted around the counter and carried them over. By the time she reached us, she’d found a smile—although her shoulders were tense, and the smile didn’t quite reach her eyes.

  She placed the shakes down in front of us—strawberry for Cal and Nik, chocolate for Asher and me. Raina stared at the strawberry milkshakes for a beat before drifting over to another table to take their order.

  Throughout the meal, Raina watched from afar with a perplexed and guarded expression. She came back twice—once to bring our burgers, and once to check on us, but otherwise floated around the diner, taking orders and bringing food and drinks, weaving around the busboy and ignoring rude remarks from the owner and manager. He was quick to criticize but slow to help his employees out. Raina handled it all in stride.

  “Let me,” Cal insisted, covering my hand when I reached for the bill. His eyes pinned mine, and I could see how much he ached to take care of this—of everything, really. To make up for the time he’d lost, the opportunities he didn’t get to do so. I smiled, nodding my permission, and he seemed to relax. He leaned closer to me, reaching into his back pocket for his wallet. I caught a whiff of his cologne, and my blood pressure rose. Even the smell of him got to me—his natural scent coiling with the cologne to create a heady, intoxicating scent that stroked the embers of my desire for him.

  He was gone a second later, his hands moving too quickly to track as he tucked cash in the black leather check holder and closed it. “Well, Nik. It was really great meeting you.”

  “You too,” Nik said, sliding out of the booth so Asher could get out and grabbed his coat and bag from the lower hook.

  “Bye, Raina!” I waved, making eye contact with her as she stood at another customers table with the credit machine. She nodded and lifted her chin in farewell, distracted and guarded—purposely keeping her distance.

  “See you tomorrow,” I heard Asher tell Nik, and the three of us started to the door while Nik moved to the counter so the busboy could wipe down our table.

  Calum pressed his palm to the small of my back, and we made our way out of the diner and back to the bookstore, where his Jeep was parked. Ellery’s car was gone, the lights in her apartment off, and darkness cloaking the store.

  The welcomed pressure of his hand disappeared as Cal stepped around me to open the doors for us. Asher hopped in the back, climbing into his booster with ease and tugging the belt over his chest.

  “Can we play Minecraft when we get home?” he pleaded as I climbed into the passenger seat. Calum closed the door behind me, taking his time to walk around the front.

  “Maybe,” I considered, twisting to look at him. “Do you have any homework?”

  “Already did it during homework club.” He shrugged.

  “Okay, you can play for twenty minutes, but then it’s bedtime.” He groaned in protest, and I smiled sympathetically. “We’ve had a lot of late nights recently. We need to catch up on sleep. You have a recital coming up, not to mention your birthday party.”

  “That’s true,” Asher nodded solemnly, seeing the need for concern the moment I mentioned his party. During our conversation, Calum slipped behind the wheel and started the vehicle. He was listening to us. His lips turned upward in a small smile. “I accept these terms.”

  The drive didn’t take long, and Calum was pulling in beside my car less than five minutes later. Asher unbuckled his seat belt the moment the ignition shut off and leaned forward, holding his hand open for the keys. I handed them to him, and he flew out. “I’ll get the game set up!” he called out, closing the door behind him and charging up the steps.

  Chuckling, I unbuckled my seat belt and stepped out. Calum grinned at me over the top of his Jeep, his eyes holding a connection with mine until he joined me at the bottom of the porch.

  I climbed them first, feeling the heat of his body against my back. Asher had already hung up his jacket and set aside his boots. He’d brought his backpack into the kitchen, placing it on the island and was rummaging through it for his lunch bag.

  Sliding on socked feet over to the freezer, he placed his cooler pack inside it and dumped the crust from his sandwich container in the trash before leaving it in the sink. Racing full speed to the living room, I heard the telltale signs of him turning the Xbox on—all before either Cal or I could even take off our boots.

  That meant we were left momentarily alone in the mud room. Calum tugged me aside, pressing me against the wall that separated the kitchen and mudroom. He tugged my coat zipper down, his hands sliding along my torso, wrapping around my hips.

  He stole a kiss—but he made every second of it count. The thud of Asher’s footsteps had him pulling away and casually toeing off his boots and slipping out of his jacket while I struggled to find oxygen. “All set up?”

  “Yup!” Asher grinned, holding out a remote to Cal. He took it, sending me a look that held a lot of promise as he passed by me and entered the kitchen, following Asher to the living room.

  Hanging my jacket on a hook, I bent forward and took off my boots, my eyes tracking their movements until Cal disappeared around the corner, into the living room.

  Grabbing my phone from my purse on the bench, I padded into the kitchen, listening while I puttered about. They spoke to each other with a familiarity and comfort, absorbing new details about one another with quiet acceptance.

  I’d always known they were a lot alike, in so many more ways than appearance. It’s why I was never able to hate Cal for what he did. How could I ever hate him when I loved his son so completely? When he’d given me that very gift?

  Calum

  Harper hesitated before a black canopy bed, her hand wrapping around the thick black ebony post, and instantly I knew
that this was the bed she was going to choose.

  We’d been furniture shopping for a couple of hours. The first thing we settled on was bedroom furniture for Asher—that was easy. I gave him the reigns and let him pick. He hemmed and hawed a bit, before settling on a rich charcoal grey double bed that had drawers underneath. He picked out a new mattress to go with it. The bed was a part of set, with a desk, a matching dresser and side shelf compartments with drawers. I told the salesperson we’d take it all.

  Next, we found a couch—a chunky, comfortable sectional so dark grey, it was almost black. End tables, a coffee table, and a matching TV stand came next, with the store’s best seventy-two-inch screen soon to follow.

  By the time we reached this particular bed—the bed that would be ours—Asher was yawning audibly. Harper glanced over her shoulder, her hand still clasped around the post and looked at him with a concerned downward tilt of her lips. “Are you tired, bud?”

  “A little.” He admitted, looking guiltily at me, as if he felt bad about it.

  “It’s okay, I think we got the essentials.” I winked, gesturing to the salesperson who was assisting us to come over. Her silver nameplate said Rita, and her frizzy blonde hair bounced in its ponytail as she flounced towards us with her tablet.

  “Can you add this bed and the rest of its set to my bill? And your best medium soft pillow top mattress. King-sized.”

  “Absolutely!” Rita grinned, attention dropping to the tablet. Rita and I had an arrangement—she wasn’t to utter the total of my bill aloud.

  “Is it possible to get everything delivered Monday?” I asked, and she nodded earnestly, her finger sliding across the table as she input my order.

  “Delivery will be between nine and eleven a.m. Address please?” She peered up at me expectantly. I relayed it, eyes sliding over to Harper and Asher.

  Asher was splayed out on the mattress, feet dangling off the edge, and Harper was running her finger along the sheer curtains around the bed.

  When I looked back at Rita, she was holding the tablet out to me with a warm smile. “You have a beautiful family.”

  I glanced back, nodding with agreement. I used the dangling stylus to sign before passing it back.

  “And that’s that,” Rita said, clicking something. “I’ll be right back with your receipt—it’s printing right now. An electronic one was just sent by email as well.”

  “Thanks,” I nodded, attention wandering again to the two halves of my heart, immediately distracted by them. No wondered I’d felt so divided the last nine years. I should never have left.

  I knew it wasn’t going to be easy, to be us again. I could see the hesitation in Harper’s eyes sometimes; hear the caution in her voice. I hurt her once, and that’s always going to be a fact between us, but maybe it didn’t have to define us.

  I’d spend the rest of our days together, showing her that I’m not the same guy I was even a week ago.

  Moving toward them, I caught the tail end of Asher’s joke. “What do cows like to do on a Friday night?”

  “I don’t know. What?”

  “Go to the moovies.”

  Harper

  I twisted to look at Asher as he slept, his head against the window, lips parted slightly. He snored gently with every inhale. 2

  “He’s out cold,” Cal remarked, glancing at him in the rearview mirror.

  “I know,” I laughed, facing forward and inclining my head to him. “He’s had a few late nights the last week. I guess they’ve caught up to him.”

  Stealing a peek at me, he bit his lip, like he had a question he was hesitant to ask and was weighing the pros and cons of it.

  “What is it?” I pressed, subconsciously leaning closer.

  He kept one hand on the steering wheel and ran the other through his hair, a fidgeting move that he often did when he was uncomfortable. “It’s nothing serious. We’ve got plenty of time to talk about it.” His eyes darted to the rearview mirror for a moment before returning to the road.

  “Talk about what?” Dread filled my belly, and I hated it.

  Cal glanced at me again, catching the look that filtered across my face. His eyes softened.

  “My mom and Connor are looking forward to meeting Asher and seeing you again. Connor goes back to school Sunday night, and I wondered if we could arrange something before then?”

  “Oh,” I sat back in the seat, unable to completely relax. I wondered if they hated me for keeping my distance. “Yeah, that would be all right. Will…will your dad be there too?”

  Calum’s expression hardened, and he sighed. “I’m not sure if I’ll want him there…” he trailed off, shrugging, his jaw tense. He looked at me again, his eyes and lips softening. “I more or less told him I wouldn’t have him around us if he didn’t play nice.”

  “Is he? Playing nice?” The leather of his jacket squeaked when he lifted it in a shrug.

  “I’m sleeping on Dare’s mom’s couch,” he pointed out.

  I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding. “I’d kind of rather just face your mom and Connor first, to be honest.” The prospect of facing Michael again wasn’t exactly alluring.

  I’d always struggled to like and understand the man; how he treated Calum made my stomach tighten with anxiety. I was thankful he’d had spoken up about it; I didn’t want Asher around that any more than he did. It was another one of the reasons I’d kept away.

  It was a hard decision, as I would have had the majority of Calum’s family’s support, but Michael would have used it as a weapon to hurt his son—and I could never do that to Cal.

  “Okay, just Mom and Connor then. We’ll nail down the when and where later.” He smiled at me, reaching for my hand. Our fingers tangled, and my stomach tightened as it always did whenever he gave me that look.

  On we drove, Cal’s hand still holding mine, until Mahone Bay came into view. He turned onto my street, driving for a moment before slowing and pulling into my driveway.

  Asher still snored in the back seat, and Calum looked to me. “I can carry him in.”

  “Okay,” I whispered—my heart thrumming in my chest. I could tell by the way he focused on my lips before raising his eyes to mine that he wanted to kiss me. He licked his lips before leaning to me—leather creaking, his scent invading my senses—and pressed a chaste kiss to the side of my mouth before stepping out of the Jeep.

  I blinked, drawing in a breath as Calum opened the door and unbuckled Asher, picking him up as if he weighed less than a gram of sugar. It had been a good year or two since I’d been able to lug that kid around without breaking my spine in the process.

  Stepping out of the vehicle, I jogged up the steps to unlock the door. Calum strolled along after me, his long strides catching up in no time at all. He stood behind me, off to the side a little bit. His hand slipped inside my jacket, resting on my right hip as I worked to unlock the door.

  I exchanged a small smile with him before stepping into the mudroom, his hand falling away so he could pull the door shut behind us. Pulling off my boots, I watched as Cal toed his off with minimal effort, despite the fifty-seven pounds in his arms.

  Asher’s head rested on his left shoulder, turned toward his neck. The streetlamp in front of our neighbour’s house illuminated the mud room enough for me to marvel at the sight of them together—to feel the sting of time lost.

  But I didn’t have time to reflect upon the ache in my chest, though. I stepped in front of them, gently tugging off Asher’s boots before I removed his coat—luckily, his dislike of actually zipping it up made the process a whole lot easier than it could have been.

  I lingered a little, focusing on removing the jacket and not meeting Cal’s heavy gaze. I was practically asphyxiating as it were. I didn’t need to meet its full force directly.

  Leading the way through the kitchen and living room; up the stairs and into Asher’s room. I pulled down his covers, and Cal gently laid him down. I removed his socks and jeans, and tugged the blankets u
p to his chin, pressing a kiss to his forehead.

  He snored throughout the whole thing, completely oblivious. I backed up, accidentally bumping into Cal’s hard body. He brought his hands up to grip my shoulders, gently steadying me.

  I led the way out of Asher’s bedroom. Cal closed the door behind us; his attention focused on me. My core thrummed with anticipation, my nipples tightening against the white lace of my bra at his hungry scrutiny.

  Not a word was spoken; but we stepped toward each other, colliding silently, each touch desperate but hushed. His lips pressed against mine, his tongue sweeping along the edge of my lips; seeking, searching, frenzied.

  Cal’s hands gripped my ass, and he hoisted me up. Locking my thighs around his hips, I pushed my fingers through his hair, my nails scraping gently against his scalp while I hungrily took what he had to offer me.

  His passion ignited mine—he knew exactly what I needed, what I wanted. He walked toward my bedroom, his erection straining against his jeans, rubbing against my covered core as I moved wantonly against him, eager.

  Once we’d made it into my bedroom, he let me slide until my feet hit the carpeted floor. Griping a handful of my ass, he broke the kiss, stepping away long enough to quietly shut my bedroom door.

  While his back was turned, I began to strip. Tugging my shirt over my hand, letting it fall to the ground with a whisper. He turned when he heard the material rustling, watching as I slowly wiggled out of my tights, tugging my socks off along with it.

  Standing in just my bra and panties, I waited for him.

  Calum stalked toward me purposely, his eyes drinking in the sight of me. He ripped his shirt off, the muscles beneath his inked skin moving in alluring, spellbinding ways while he bent to remove his pants.

  His black boxer briefs did little to hide how turned on he was, his thick, hard length jutting forward proudly, stretching the material, making my mouth water.

  He came to a stop in front of me. He took another moment to appraise me before slanting his lips against mine. His right hand cupping my face devotedly, his left hand sliding against my hips, around the side of my back, trailing up my spine until he’d expertly unbuckled my bra, letting it fall in a heap to the ground between us.