by Tess Oliver
“He’s out signing autographs.” Duff picked up a glass of champagne. He held it up. “To some much needed downtime.” We clinked glasses and drank.
Brick swallowed his back. “Now if you women won’t miss us too much, Duff and I have the two sweetest little groupies waiting in my dressing room.”
“No details,” Mandy and I said in unison. We clinked glasses instead of saying jinx.
I rested back with my champagne. “Tonight, I might just fill a bathtub and sit in it until they find me pruned and freezing in the morning.”
“Here, here.” Mandy sat back with me. “I’ve got one night off before heading back home to relieve the husband of kid duty. I’m looking forward to braiding hair and making pancakes shaped like hearts again. It’ll be a nice break from the road. What about you, Lennie? Any plans for the next three weeks before you guys get back to rehearsing?”
I thought about the stretch of time I had in front of me. Mandy thought the communal mansion should only be used during work weeks. She insisted we all take a break from each other in between. Which we all agreed with enthusiastically.
I sipped some champagne. “Not sure yet. I’ve got some offers to travel with friends, but nothing is firmed up yet.”
Mandy turned to face me on the couch. “Care for some sisterly advice? Notice I didn’t use the word motherly because I’m not quite that old.”
“Considering I have no family, sisterly advice sounds pretty darn good to me.”
“You should do something about this.” She pointed to the corner of my mouth. “It’s always turned down just a little. Even when you’re singing or smiling, I can still see a hint of a frown. I don’t know all the details, but I know you met someone a few months back. Duff is sort of my informant.” She touched my arm. “But don’t be mad at him. He was just concerned too—about the permanently lost look you wear when you think no one is looking your direction. Maybe it’s time to do something about it.” She sat back confidently. “There. That’s the end of my sisterly advice. Do with it what you will. I don’t claim to be any kind of an expert on life, love or romance. But I do know sadness when I see it.”
I looked over at the side of her face. She was one of those lucky women with flawless skin and sparkling eyes that needed no makeup. “It’s taken me twenty-three years to find a sister, and it’s been well worth the wait.” I leaned over and kissed her cheek. “Thanks for the advice, sis.”
Chapter 34
Dawson
I folded my hand of cards and leaned back to watch Tommy and the guy who had been winning our money all night call each other’s bluff with another round. I knew Tommy well enough to be sure that he had a good hand, even with the grim poker face he was wearing. He didn’t fool me. It was the reason I folded with my crappy pair of fours. Bob, the guy with the stack of chips in front of him, had come in to avoid the winter storm blowing outside. He was on his way through Bluefield to the city, but his truck’s tires were just bald enough to make the light snow outside as treacherous as black ice. Unfortunately, he’d decided to take refuge in The Hole. He’d managed to sweet talk the bar’s owner, Scott Lowe, into letting him join the poker game. There might have been a little intimidation mixed in with the sweet talk because the guy looked like a fucking linebacker who had been injecting a steady stream of steroids since high school. We’d been short a player, and at the time, it seemed like a good idea just to fill the table. Only the guy had brought lady luck and some fucking good poker skills with him. I’d been having shitty luck all night. I didn’t see anything changing anytime soon.
Kellan got up from the table. “I’m going out to the bar to see how much snow is falling. My tires aren’t exactly new, and I didn’t think to bring chains along.”
“How fucking long have you been living at the bottom of those mountains, Kellan?” I asked. “You’re so starry eyed with wedding plans, you can’t even remember to bring chains out on a winter night.”
“Fuck you too, buddy,” Kellan said as he walked out of the poker room.
Late summer had quickly exploded into the colors of fall. Now winter was rearing its beautiful white, mean teeth. Still, those late summer days in California stuck around hard in my head as if they’d been glued there with cement.
Tommy and our slick newcomer showed their hands. Lucky Bob had a flush that beat the full house in Tommy’s hand. Then it happened. It was just the quickest gleam of shiny plastic, the white corner of a card sticking out from the guy’s sleeve.
“You fucking cheater.” I reached for the dude’s arm. He swung at me, but it wasn’t in defense. It was his clumsy attempt at disposing of the incriminating evidence. His chair cracked back against the wall. Tommy and I jumped to our feet.
Bob’s nostrils flared with rage. He reached down and shoved the table hard. The chips went flying across the cement floor. The table edge caught me on the shin. I shoved it aside with my foot and lunged at the guy.
His beefy fist caught me on the side of the face. There was just enough metal skull ring in his punch to carve a nice slice out of my chin. Blood dripped on my arm as I grabbed the front of his shirt.
Tommy came up behind ready to slam the guy if he made any more moves against us.
“I’m feeling generous tonight, Bob, even though you just split open my chin. I could hand you over to my friend here, and he’d put you out for the winter like a fat, hibernating bear with one right hook. But I’ve got a better offer. You leave here with nothing, and we won’t carve the word cheater into that fat forehead with a butter knife.”
The door opened. It was Scott. His eyes rounded and his face reddened as he looked at the mess of chips on the floor. He was just about to lecture us, but Tommy stopped him.
“He had cards in his sleeve. We thought he was just really good at poker. Turns out he’s just really good at cheating.” Tommy looked at Bob. “Although, maybe not all that good.”
Scott shook his head at the newcomer. “Get out. Don’t even stop at the bar to pay your tab. Just leave and don’t come back.”
“But the snow?” Bob had the nerve to ask.
Scott lifted a brow at him to assure him he didn’t care about the snow or his lack of tire rubber.
“Maybe you could just toboggan on that big stomach of yours like a penguin,” I suggested.
Bob stormed out without another word. Scott stepped aside to let the giant pass and then scowled down at the mess on the floor.
“Yeah, yeah,” I said, wiping at the blood on my chin with the back of my hand, “we’ll clean it up.”
“You better. But that wasn’t why I was coming in here. There’s some chick out there looking for you, Dawz.”
“Huh. Maybe this night won’t be a total loss then.” Tommy and I righted the table.
“Kind of strange,” Scott added. “Doesn’t really look like your type. She’s wearing a red scarf, a beanie and holding a skateboard. She said her name was Pixie.”
“Can’t fucking be.” I pushed past Scott and into the crowded bar. People were hovering together in circles sipping hot drinks, trying not to freeze in the drafty room. Standing at the end of the bar counter with a beanie pulled low over her red bangs, a scarf covering the lips that I’d been seeing in my dreams and a skateboard leaning against her leg was the girl who I’d thought about every day since she’d tossed her shoe at me in the airport.
Lenix pushed the scarf down from her mouth and her smile lit up the room. She pointed to her chin. “You’ve got some blood there. Somehow I’m not surprised.”
I stepped closer, but not near enough to touch her yet. I worried that if I reached out, she’d vanish like a mirage. “You’re here. In Bluefield.”
Lenix held out her arms. “It appears that I am.” She unwrapped her scarf and pulled off her beanie.
A few people had taken notice of the stranger, but it was Kellan who saw me standing in the center of the room looking like a man who’d just walked into a dream, who was the first to figure out what was happ
ening. His gaze shot toward Lenix and back to me. Others followed. Soon people were gathering around and murmuring her name.
“No fucking way,” Hal, one of the coal car loaders, snorted from the barstool where he sat. “Sullivan really did spend his vacation with Lenix Harlow.”
“How did you get here?” I looked past to see if there was a limo parked out front. “I’m going to assume you didn’t ride a skateboard here from New York.”
“Nope, this was just a nostalgic prop. I do have a driver’s license and a car, an all wheel drive one, luckily enough.”
Tommy and Kellan walked out of the crowd. Lenix smiled at them and stuck out her hand. “I’m going to take a wild guess that you are Tommy and Kellan. I’ve heard a lot about you.”
My two friends shook her hand and stared like star struck gawkers. Kellan turned back to me. “Dawz, you going to buy her a drink, or what?”
I looked around at the sea of faces closing in on us. I looked back at Lenix. To me, she wasn’t the mega star. She was the girl I’d been thinking about for months.
“Hell no. I’m not sharing her with anyone tonight.” I pushed past Kellan and Tommy and past the line of open mouthed stares. I took hold of the skateboard, grabbed Lenix’s hand and led her toward the door.
A series of disappointed grumbles followed us through the bar.
“Guess you won’t need me to give you a ride home then,” Tommy called.
I didn’t look back. I pushed open the door and led Lenix out to the snowy parking lot.
“Looked sort of fun in there, in The Hole. Love the name, by the—”
I dropped the skateboard on the ground, pulled her into my arms and kissed her. A roaring cheer went up inside the bar. It seemed all faces were now pressed against the tinted windows of the bar.
All the feelings I had for Lenix came flooding back. In fact, I was sure they’d never left. I’d just kept them tamped down inside the pit of my stomach.
It took all of my will to part from her lips. “Can’t believe you’re standing here in front of me.”
“Then you’re glad to see me?” she asked with that crooked grin that I’d missed every day for the last three months.
“Glad isn’t a good word. Fucking ecstatic is better. I’ve got a shithole of a cabin a few miles from here.”
“The one with the lumpy bed that would look awesome with me lying naked in the middle of it?”
“That’s the one.”
She tossed me her keys. “You drive.”
Chapter 35
Lenix
I had trouble keeping my hands off of Dawson. It had started innocently enough with me pulling a napkin out of my console and setting myself the task of wiping the blood off his chin as he drove us to his cabin. “Do you always leave The Hole with less blood than when you went in, or was this a special night? I know you mentioned you fight for money.”
“This was a fight and it involved money, but not in a fight ring. An unfortunate tourist stopped in for a game of poker and decided to cheat.”
I unbuckled my seatbelt and leaned over the console. Some of the blood on his chin had dried. I blotted at it with the napkin, staring at his handsome profile and trying to figure out how I’d ever let him leave me. I continued my first aid with the unconventional hand rub along his thigh and over the bulge in his jeans. “I think my patient has rallied.”
His chest lifted with a deep breath. “Damn, did I miss you, Pixie. Where the hell have you been and how the hell did you expect me to survive without you?”
“Same way I was surviving without you. Barely.”
The car tires chirped as he turned onto an unpaved road. A little rustic cabin set in the middle of nowhere winked at us from a snow dusted hill. Snow was piling up on its tin roof, giving it a sort of fairy tale look.
He pulled the car up in front of the cabin and parked. “Home sweet home.”
“I love it! I can’t wait to try the lumpy bed. Take me inside quick, coal miner, before I start ripping my clothes off right here in the front seat.”
“Not that I find any problem with you stripping right here, but it’s sort of cold tonight.” We climbed out.
I circled around to the front of the car and grabbed his hand. “I know we’re not married, but I want the threshold carrying treatment. It’s my first time at your place.” I put my arm around his neck and he lifted me into his arms. “Plus, I get really turned on when you carry me. Kind of weird, I know.”
With some effort, Dawson unlocked the door while still holding me. He pushed it open with his foot and carried me inside. He lowered my feet to the ground and turned around to flick on a light. I wandered into the small front room where the main decor was a worn couch, video game controllers and a collection of empty beer cans.
Dawson walked up behind me. While I looked around the place, he busied himself undressing me, starting with my scarf and coat. He slid the unwieldy winter coat off my arms as I looked at some of the pictures on the wall. “Is that your sister, Andi?”
“Yep.”
I leaned closer to look at another picture that had been framed. “Oh my gosh, is that you with your leg in traction in the hospital?”
“Yep,” he answered as he worked on lifting my sweater up and off my head. He spun me around to face him and started on my jeans.
“Who took the picture?”
“What picture?” He slid my pants down and found an obstacle at my boots. He stooped down in front of me, took hold of my hands and placed them on his shoulders. I used him to balance as he lifted each foot to take off the boot.
“The picture in the hospital. Who took it? It’s obviously not a selfie because you look kind of miserable.”
“Andi took it.” My pants came off. He straightened and gazed down at my nearly naked body.
“You’re not going to have any sort of conversation until you fuck me, am I right?”
“Right.” He lifted me up and carried me down the hallway to his bedroom. He dropped me in the middle of the bed. Laughter shot from my mouth.
“Holy shit, I thought you were kidding about it being lumpy. What the hell have you been doing in this bed?” I put up my hand. “Never mind. Don’t want to know.”
I leaned back on the pillows as Dawson got undressed.
“All of it was real,” I sighed. “You’re real. That time in California was such a crazy, hot mess that I almost wondered if I’d just imagined you. Somehow, you were right where I needed you to be on that beach. You were exactly who I need you to be. Real. Rugged. Authentic. Nothing fake. And, I might add, damn sexy.”
Dawson lowered himself over me and settled between my legs, his cock pressing urgently against me. He took my face in his hands and kissed me lightly. “Never thought I’d ever have you in my arms again, Lennie. I’ve been torn up inside thinking that I’d never taste these lips again.” He kissed me again. Then he lowered his hand down beneath me, cupping my ass to lift my pussy higher. He kissed me as he pushed his cock inside of me.
I opened my eyes and smiled up at him. “Still a perfect fit, coal miner.”
Dawson’s hand gripped me harder. I reached around his neck to hold him as he rocked hard and fast against me as if it had been too long. It had been way too long.
Chapter 36
Dawson
I stood shirtless in the kitchen drinking the coffee I’d just poured myself. The snowfall had ended and the sun was trying its hardest to break through and melt the white carpet on the ground. The snow was still fresh enough that the permanently lingering float dust from the mine hadn’t peppered it gray yet.
I heard Lenix’s small feet in the hallway. I turned around as she stepped into the kitchen. She was swimming in my t-shirt. She held her arms out and gazed down at it. “It comes to my knees and the shoulders are a little draggy, but I think it works.”
“You standing in my kitchen in my t-shirt. Best damn sight in the world.”
She wrapped herself around me. “Are you always an early ris
er on Sunday?”
I gazed down at her. “It depends on Saturday night.”
She pressed her lips against my shoulder. “Are you saying that I didn’t wear you out enough last night? I think we better get back to work then. But first, I need food.”
Lenix walked to the refrigerator and had a good laugh at the contents. “How on earth does a man your size stay alive on a package of ham, a bunch of brown bananas and beer?”
“What? You’ve never heard of the ham and banana diet?” I reached into the kitchen cupboard and pulled out a box of powdered sugar donuts. She closed the fridge and nodded at the donuts.
“Now we’re talking.” She poured herself a cup of coffee and sat at the table. I sat across from her.
“What have you been up to? I mean, besides hanging out in middle earth?” She sat forward, stopping suddenly short of taking a bite of donut. “Are you seeing someone? I didn’t even think to ask? Should I not have come?”
“I’m not seeing anyone. No one steady, if that’s what you mean. Still a free agent.”
She relaxed back against the chair. “Me too. Free agent, that is.”
“Yeah? Thought I saw you at some award show with that actor from television, whatever the fuck his name is.”
She pointed at me with the powdery donut. “He’s just a friend. I didn’t want to go alone. The man who I really wanted to escort me around town didn’t want to hang out with me on the road.”
I smiled and shook my head to assure her I wasn’t believing any of it.
“Really. He was this hunky coal miner, and he turned me down for his hometown and friends.”
“I saw you got back on stage. No more anxiety?”
“After I released my story, it sort of took a weight off of me. Plus, we’ve got this new manager. She is the best. I feel like she’s a friend who I can count on. And that helps a lot.”
