Road to Absolution

by Piper Davenport

  “No, it’s okay,” I rushed to say. “I’ve got stuff at my desk.”

  Week-old Ritz crackers and oatmeal, but beggars can’t be choosers.

  “Who would steal someone’s lunch?” Tom asked, disgusted.

  “It happens all the time around here,” Janie informed him.

  I gaped at her. She was just a wealth of information today.

  “What do you say, Cassidy?” Tom asked. “Can I take you to lunch? It’ll have to be quick because I have a meeting in two hours.”

  That was a quick lunch? Good lord, to be an executive.

  “No, really, it’s okay,” I said.

  “I insist. You’ve got to eat, after all, and I’m starving.” He smiled. “We’ll just head to the deli across the street.”

  I was hungry and it was just lunch. Besides, since the deli was within walking distance, it’s not like I was getting in a car with him, so it’s not like it was a date or anything.

  “Okay, sure. That sounds great,” I said.

  Gah! Why did I feel like I was cheating?

  “Shall we?” he asked.

  “I’ll just grab my purse.”

  “No, it’s on me. We won’t be long.”

  “You kids have fun,” Janie said, and I followed Tom to the elevators.

  * * *

  Ace slid out from under the sixty-seven Mustang he was working on and smiled at Maverick who was sitting relatively quietly on a chair by one of the tool cabinets. His face was focused on Ace’s iPad, probably because he’d loaded a bunch of games on there for him.

  “Ace,” Booker called, his voice echoing through the shop.

  “Here, brother.” Ace rose to his feet and wiped his hands on his rag… not that it helped much. He probably should have worn gloves, but what he was doing was delicate and he needed to feel his way with limited visibility.

  “Got somethin’ on that number you sent me.”

  “Mav, let’s go hang inside for a bit,” Ace said, and waited for him to follow him.

  Once Maverick was settled safe within sight, but out of earshot, Ace took the pages that Booker handed him. “The fucker called Cassidy on her cell phone?”

  “Yeah. I did more digging and Tom Dale has more than one cell. He has a company one and a private one. He called her from his private one.” Booker pointed to page two. “The guy left New York under suspicious circumstances, but nothing’s in writing and no one’s talking. Mack’s got a P.I. looking into it in person. For someone who’s made it so far up the chain so young, there’s no chatter about him. Not one fuckin’ thing, and that doesn’t sit well with me. There’s nothing positive or negative about him.”

  Carter skimmed through the information. “Yeah, you’d think he’d have a hell of a lot more out there than this. It reads like a scripted professional biography. Even his social media seems vague.”

  “Any clue on what he wants with Cassidy?”

  “He wants her,” Ace said. “But she thinks he’s a nice guy with no ulterior motives.”

  Booker sighed. “And she’s not listenin’ to your warnings.”

  “Nope. Fuck me, this guy’s not right.”

  “Got your back, brother.”

  “’Preciate it, Book.”

  Carter grabbed Maverick and they headed back into the shop to work on the car some more. He tried to put the pit in his gut aside, but the more he thought about the asshole sniffin’ after Cassidy, the more concerned he became.

  * * *

  Lunch with Tom was surprisingly relaxed and, dare I say, kind of fun. He was funny and sweet, and as Janie had said, a gentleman. He paid for the meal, which I appreciated since I hadn’t budgeted for a lunch out that week. I quite liked the man, although, maybe not the same way he seemed to like me.

  I was willing to admit that Carter might have been right, but I was confident I could handle the situation… and do it without Carter’s Neanderthal interference.

  I saw Tom again as I was leaving, but just a wave goodbye, then I was on my way home. I was feeling pretty confident in myself as I walked into my apartment. Even if I wasn’t interested in Tom, it was flattering to have such a successful and good-looking man interested in me.

  “Hey, babe,” Carter called from the kitchen.

  “Hi, honey.” I dropped my purse on the sofa and made my way to him, raising up on tiptoes to kiss him. “How was your day?”

  “Good. Yours?”

  I smiled. “Well, other than someone stealing my lunch from the fridge, it was good.”

  “Hi, Mom!” Maverick said, as he wrapped his arms around my waist. “I helped Carter fix a Mustang.”

  “You did? That’s awesome, buddy. What else did you guys do?”

  “We ate lunch with the brothers. They were so cool, Mom! But they kind of swear a lot.”

  I wrinkled my nose. “Well, that’s what some adults do, honey, but they’re allowed to because they’re adults. As long as you don’t start copying them, it’s all good.”

  “I won’t, Mom.” He lowered his voice. “But just so you know, when I make Lily my old lady, I might say ‘fuck.’”

  “Maverick!”

  “Sorry, Mom.”

  I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing… or washing his mouth out with soap. I was conflicted on which way to go, so I dropped my shaking head onto Carter’s arm.

  “Go wash up, Mav. Dinner’s almost ready,” Carter said.

  He rushed off to do what he was told and I dissolved into giggles while Carter wrapped an arm around me. “What are you men teaching my child?”

  Carter chuckled. “You’d be surprised by how little they actually swear around him. They’re used to watching their tongues with the other kids, but sometimes shit filters out.”

  “I was wondering more about the whole “old lady” thing. Good lord, are you creating a pint-sized biker badass under my nose?”

  He grinned and took a swig of beer. “He’s gonna see it with us, so he’s gonna have to figure out which way to go when he’s older.”

  “Hmm-mm,” I grumbled.

  “Did you figure out who stole your lunch?”

  I shook my head. “No. I ended up having lunch with…” My plans to filter had just gone horribly wrong, so I grabbed a soda out of the fridge and opened it.

  Carter crossed his arms and leaned against the counter. “You ended up having lunch with…?”

  I sighed. “You can’t get mad.”

  “Fuck me,” he ground out. “You had lunch with that dipshit Tom guy?”

  “It’s not like it was planned. He was in the kitchen and Janie told him someone stole my lunch. He was being nice!”

  “He was probably the one who fuckin’ stole it, Cassidy!”

  I gasped. “He wouldn’t.”

  “And you’re fuckin’ naïve if you really believe that.”

  “Don’t talk to me like I’m an idiot, Carter.”

  “Babe, I don’t think you’re an idiot. Far from it. And I know why he’d do something like that. If I were him, I’d probably do the same thing.”

  “You’d steal my lunch,” I countered.

  “To get you to go out with me? Hell, yeah I would. Did you know there was nothing wrong with your tires?”

  “What does that have to do with anything?”

  “Someone let the air out of your tires, Cassidy. There were no holes, no nails, nothin’. They were just flat. Tires don’t typically just go flat.”

  “What are you saying?”

  “It’s very possible Tom let the air out in an effort to get you to get in his car.”

  “Ohmigod, you’re being ridiculous! Why would he do that? He’s handsome and British, Carter, he doesn’t need to let the air out of someone’s tires to get a date.”

  “You fuckin’ think he’s handsome?” Carter bellowed.

  “In a general sense,” I admitted. “Honey, you need to calm down. That little vein on your temple is twitching. I’d rather your head not explode.”

  “Fuc
k me, Cassidy. At some point, you need to take this seriously.”

  “Take what seriously? He hasn’t done anything!”

  Carter dragged his hands down his face. “What the hell is this fucker up to?”

  “Nothing,” I argued again. “He knows about you. He knows I’m not interested in him. I’ve been very clear and you hit him for Pete’s sake! Pretty sure he got the picture.”

  “Guys like that don’t listen, Cassidy.”

  “Guys like you,” I observed

  “He and I are nothing alike.”

  I rolled my eyes. “I think you and he are more similar than you’d like to admit. You’re both strong, successful men, who know what they want and go after it. I certainly never had a chance with you, and can you honestly say that if I decided you and I were over, you wouldn’t wage an all out war to get me back?”

  “Is that what you want? Us to be over?” His tone was one of anger and panic.

  “No! Of course not. I love you. I’m not going anywhere. I’m just simply trying to get you to see it from another side.” I slid my hands up his chest and looped them behind his neck. “I think I can handle a man who isn’t nearly as sexy and delicious as you are. I think I kind of already have.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Okay, don’t get mad.”

  “Don’t fuckin’ tell me not to get mad, Cassidy.”

  I frowned. “Well, then I’m not going to tell you.”

  “Mom!” Maverick called. “I’m wet.”

  “Cassidy,” Carter growled.

  “We’ll talk about it later,” I said, and headed to the bathroom. Maverick had managed to soak the entire front of himself while washing his hands. “Oh my gosh, buddy, what happened?”

  He lowered his eyes.

  “Maverick Carter Dennis, what did you do?”

  “I’m sorry, Mom, I just wanted to see how far the water would shoot.”

  I groaned and grabbed a towel from the towel rack. “Strip.”

  He removed his clothes and I wrapped the towel around him. “Now, go get in your pajamas, we can skip a shower tonight.”

  “Yes,” he hissed, and jogged off to his room.

  “You okay?” Carter stood in the doorway and frowned.

  “Yes,” I said with a sigh. “Our kid just decided to have a water gun fight without an actual water gun… or a target.”

  Carter grinned from ear-to-ear as he grabbed another towel and began to help me sop up the water.

  “What?” I asked as I stood.

  “You just said, ‘our kid.’”

  I smiled. “Did I?”

  “Yeah, baby, you did.”

  “Well, he is, right?”

  “Damn right he is,” Carter said, and kissed me. “I love you, you know that right?”

  “Yes.” I sighed and shook my head. “I love you too.”

  We finished cleaning up the mess and then sat down to eat.

  “Maverick, next time you make a mess like that, you’ll need to clean it up, got it?” Carter said.

  Maverick dropped his eyes to his lap. “Okay.”

  “And no using language like that, even if you’re making a joke, yeah? At least, not around your mom.”

  “Not around anybody,” I countered.

  Maverick gave Carter a little grin, but nodded when I narrowed my eyes at him.

  “Okay,” Maverick said.

  “Apologize to your mom, please,” Carter added.

  “Sorry, Mom.”

  I smiled. “I forgive you, buddy.”

  Carter rustled his hair and we dug into the food. Again, Carter outdid himself with the chili he’d started that morning in the crock pot. I admitted that if he was willing to shop and cook for us, I’d do dishes and laundry, and he’d never hear me complain. The deal was struck and the roses confession was forgotten.

  WEDNESDAYS WERE TYPICALLY my night to cook or grab take-out since the club attended “church.” I’m relatively certain that several local fast-food joints had a slight pick-up in business on my nights to cook, but this week Carter made more of his crack-n-cheese as I’d dubbed it. Seriously, I was going to gain a million pounds if I didn’t watch it. Of course, I thought all of this while shoveling my third helping of said crack into my mouth.

  Maverick was in the shower and I was opening a bottle of wine when my cell phone rang. Assuming it was Carter, I answered it. It wasn’t him.

  “Hi, Cassidy, how are you?” Tom asked.

  “Um, I’m good. How are you?”

  “Excellent. I’m just waiting at the airport. Heading to London for the week, then Paris the following week.”

  “Oh, that’s nice.” I frowned and shook my head, totally unclear as to why I needed to know this. “Sorry, Tom, this isn’t really a good time for me.”

  “Oh, right. Sorry, love. You’re probably getting your son ready for bed.”

  “Well, have a nice trip.”

  “’Bye, sweetheart.”

  I hung up and groaned. Crap! This was getting out of hand. Monday, I’d found more flowers on my desk, which I promptly returned. I was glad he wasn’t in his office at the time. Yesterday he’d stopped by my desk to say hello and see how I was, again trying to convince me to keep the flowers.

  Today I hadn’t seen him, so I had hoped he’d gotten the message, but apparently not. I was not looking forward to the conversation I was going to have with Carter. I knew I needed to tell him everything, but I also knew he was going to overreact.

  Once Maverick was in bed, I sat down in front of the television with a glass of wine (and, yes, more crack-n-cheese, don’t judge me). I heard the key in the lock an hour later and my man walked in looking hotter than normal in his tight black T-shirt, cut, and jeans.

  “Hey, baby,” he said, and leaned down to kiss me.

  I smiled. “Hi. How was church?”

  “Busy,” he said, and flopped down next to me. “A lot of shit to cover.”

  “Good stuff?” He shook his head and I sighed. “Right. Club business.”

  He smiled. “Yeah.”

  “Want me to heat up some crack and get you a beer?”

  He chuckled. “That’d be great, babe, thanks.”

  I headed to the kitchen and grabbed everything.

  “How was your day?” Carter asked. I didn’t answer right away, not entirely sure where to start. “Babe?”

  “I have to talk to you about something,” I said, as I walked back into the living room and set his dinner in front of him.

  He frowned up at me. “Okay.”

  “I think I’ve made an already weird situation worse.”

  “Honey, sit down and talk to me. Can’t fix it if you don’t tell me.”

  “I don’t want you to fix it, Carter. I just think you should have full disclosure.” I sat beside him, crossing my legs in front of me.

  “Tell me.”

  I sighed. “Tom’s not really taking ‘no’ for an answer.”

  “How so?” he said carefully, and set his beer back on the coffee table.

  Uh-oh.

  I swallowed. “Well…”

  I filled him in on the flowers, the phone calls, the office visits, everything, and found myself scooting back at the rage pouring off of him. Without comment, he knifed off the sofa and grabbed his phone, leaving the apartment, his food sitting untouched on the table.

  * * *

  “Yo, Ace,” Booker answered.

  Carter sat in his truck, the only place he could get complete privacy. “The fucker’s messin’ with her. He called her again today… I thought you blocked her number.”

  “I did. We’ve been watching his phone. Hold on, let me see if there’s anything new.”

  Booker did whatever the fuck Booker did and Carter forced down his desire to break something. Booker could find anyone anywhere and no one questioned if his information came legally or not. He was the club’s computer guy and had a knack for hacking pretty much any system, so Carter had to trust that he’d be able to fig
ure out (at least on the cyber side) what the bastard was up to.

  “Burner and he’s pinging it off different satellites. Don’t know if he’s doin’ it or someone’s doin’ it for him, but I’d get Cassidy a new phone, brother. Keep the phone she has, but have one that the guy doesn’t know about.”

  “Fuck!” he breathed out. “That’s what I was afraid of. Cassidy said he’s off to Paris and I have a feeling he’s up to something.”

  “How much does he know about her?”

  “Knowing Cass, not much. She’s always been pretty tight-lipped when it came to her private life. He knows about me though, and I’d imagine he knows who Maverick is, but outside of that, I have no fuckin’ clue.”

  “So, he doesn’t know that Maverick’s father’s in Paris?”

  “Who the fuck knows? Cass left the father box on the birth certificate blank. Mack’s workin’ on the adoption paperwork, but it all fuckin’ takes time.”

  “Okay, brother, we’ll figure it out,” Booker promised. “If the asshole’s out of the country for a little while, it’ll give us some time. My guy’s callin’ me tomorrow with an update.”

  Carter sighed. “I fuckin’ hate this, Book.”

  “Yeah, I get it.”

  “Call me if you find anything, even if it’s the middle of the night.”

  “I will, brother.”

  Carter hung up and climbed out of the truck. He’d kill anyone who got in his way and he knew that scared Cassidy so he had to stow it.

  * * *

  Carter returned close to thirty minutes later and I watched him as he locked the door and took off his boots. The dog met him at the door just as excited as the first time he came in, so he gave her some love. I could tell he was trying to calm himself down. “I’m reheating your dinner, honey.”

  “Thanks,” he said, and headed my way. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close, kissing my hair. “I’m gonna fuckin’ kill him.”

  I squeezed him tight. “Don’t, honey. I’m going to HR tomorrow to make a formal complaint. Either he’ll be dealt with or I’ll be fired, but either way, it’ll be sorted.”

  “Why the fuck would they fire you?” he demanded.

  I smiled up at him. “Because he’s an executive and I’m a worker bee. Everyone knows HR’s only there to cover the company’s ass.”

  “Then just fuckin’ quit!”