by Holly Hood
That was it. I burst into tears. “I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t let you die because of of this mess. A mess I made.” It was true.
He shook his head. “That’s not true.”
“How is it not, Dad?” I asked. I’d did nothing but fail them. But still I didn’t feel bad about loving Slade. I probably should have but I didn’t.
“Nobody is to blame.” He wouldn’t look at me. I knew he blamed himself and he didn’t want to say so. “This has nothing to do with me or you. This is beyond our control.”
He wasn’t kidding. We were in the mess because of Kenny. Not to mention Hutch. If I ever saw him again I was going to punch him in the face for everything he did.
I leand back and brought my legs up wrapping my arms around them and sighed. I hadn’t slept in a really long time.
“So what happens next?” Dad said.
I looked up. I still had that same sense of relief when I looked at him. “Dad. If you knew the wrong thing was about to happen, what would you do?”
He scratched his head. “I would fix it the best that I could, if I could.”
I dropped my feet to the floor and opened the door. “You’re right.” Before I shut the door I looked at him. “I’ll be right back.”
I didn’t know what I was doing, I was making it up as I went. I got past the bouncer and inside the strip club. My knees were shaking. I didn’t see Slade or Kenny, just a lot of flesh and money stuffed into G-strings.
And then someone hit me. I hit the ground before I knew what was going on. I wasn’t sure how long I’d been face down on the floor but it took every muscle in my body to pull myself back up.
I threw the table off of me and stood up. There were people crouching in corners. Tables overturned and broken glass underneath my feet. I pulled something from my hair. I still didn’t know what was happening. Or why my ears were humming.
The music slipped back into the moment like someone hit play. And people scrambled for the exit. And as soon as I saw the giant beast bounding toward me like some rabid bull I knew why. I threw myself against the wall before he plowed me over. He went out the front door.
Slade grabbed my arm before I could go after him to see where he was headed next.
“What are you doing in here?” Slade moved my hair from my shoulders looking me over, every inch of me. He did a really great job of making sure I was okay. It was cute.
“I was going to stop you.” I admitted, touching his face. “I know, it’s for the best. But it feels so wrong.”
He shook his head. He was tough, he’d been through a lot but the one thing I knew every time I looked into his eyes, Slade wasn’t as dark as he pretended to be. He cared and had feelings like I did. And he didn’t have to tell me it bothered him for me to know it did.
“Let’s get out of here,” Slade said. He took my hand and we wove through the overturned chairs to get to the door. Kenny was out in the parking. I hated to think we had to put up with him all the way to Cherry. But I kept the comments to myself and climbed in the back seat.
“My guys barely got him in the trunk,” Kenny said.
Slade didn’t respond he just stood there next to the driver side door and waiting. For what I wasn’t sure.
“I’m a man of my word.” Kenny handed over the keys. “You did your part. Get the hell out of here.”
Dad and I looked at each other. Relief started to slip through my veins. Glorious joy turned my inside into butterflies and formed a smile on my lips. We were leaving.
I climbed over the seat and took the passenger spot. “That’s it we can go?”
Slade grinned, looking into the car at me. “I guess so.”
Kenny leaned down, his grin on display as he looked at me. “I’ll take things from here.”
“Promise this is the last we will see you?” I said.
“Of course, I got bigger things to destroy now,” he said. It was a bit morbid.
“Promise now that we did what you wanted you leave us out of this?” I asked. I really want to know it was the end of Kenny and anyone else in his family.
Slade interrupted him before he could answer and climbed into the driver’s side. “Let’s go home.”
I wasn’t about to argue because going home was the one thing I’d been looking forward to for almost a week now.
The welcome mats suck
The ride home was long and silent. We all were quiet for various reasons I was sure. Dad slept the majority of the ride home. Missing out on the rest stops and the poor gas station coffee Slade inhaled every chance he got to stay awake.
I didn’t ask him why he didn’t cast some spell to keep himself awake. To me it would have been a lot easier and less toxic on his insides.
With Jersey behind us and California in our sights I was mixed with a bit of fear and happiness to be back. I wanted to smell the salty aquatic smell that slipped past my nose when I was on the boardwalk.
And the seagulls, they were from another world. No matter what time of day, they were always in distress even when they were gracefully gliding through the air.
I looked over at Slade. “You look sexy when you drive.” I grabbed his hand holding on to it for dear life. We had been through the ringer and to feel him and see him sitting next to me was a relief.
I took in the clouds, the different shades of grey hardly gave me what I wanted which was the sunshine on my skin when my feet hit the ground. But I settled for the dreary homecoming because my mind was just as clouded and dark.
I was down because I knew what was about to happen. Nona would want answers the minute she saw us. And I couldn’t imagine what Elliot and Easton would say the second they were able to unleash their teenage mood on us. Part of me didn’t blame them if they were mad because a week was a long time to be away.
They weren’t babies anymore but they still needed Dad around just like I did when I was heading into sweet sixteen territory.
When Dad opened his eyes and sat up in the backseat I was filled with questions I knew only he could answer. So I asked.
“What are we going to tell them?” Maybe getting the boys to let things go would be easy but we both knew Nona was a totally different story and she would never settle for a simple answer.
“I’ve been thinking about that,” Dad said. “And I think the best thing to do is be as vague as possible.”
Slade and I looked at each other. Slade didn’t offer any suggestions he just turned back to the road and kept right on driving.
“I can’t see that working,” I told him. “Nona is going to want answers.”
Dad sighed. “I’m a grown man. I don’t have to give my mother answers. I don’t have to tell her anything if I don’t want to. But I will tell her something.”
I tossed every ridiculous idea around in my head, until it finally hit me. “You and I went to visit Griffin.”
Dad shook his head. “Your mother would be the first place she called if we went missing.” Dad took in the ocean as we neared our street. “We’ll tell her I was having a hard time and needed to get away.”
Slade came to a stop in front of our house. He turned the car off and undid his seatbelt. “I think your dad is right. She’ll believe that.”
I crossed my arms. I wasn’t so sure. “And where were we all this time?”
Slade tilted his head thinking about it. “I took you to meet my family. She’ll eat that shit up.” He slapped a hand down on my thigh and hopped out of the car.
I wished he would let me meet his family. So I could get a closer look at what created someone like him. While I was busy worrying about Nona he walked around like life hadn’t changed drastically, like we hadn’t went up against death and survived. But maybe it was normal for him—he had been there a few times before.
I shut the door to the car and headed up the steps following behind Slade and my dad. Dad checked the door before he looked at me for a key. I shrugged, because in all the chaos I hadn’t remembered to grab a single thing
from our house.
“Nona has an extra set,” I told him hating the idea of going to her house. I wasn’t ready to explain anything.
Slade tapped on the door, and when nobody answered he hopped the railing and went to my bedroom window. He pressed both palms on the glass and sure enough it slid open.
Dad shook his head. “It doesn’t surprise me that window would be open.”
Images of the morning when Dad busted into my room came to mind and I hated to think about my dad knowing anything about what my sex life looked like. He had seen it all. Every inch of Slade’s sculpted body.
Slade opened the door driving away my embarrassment and post traumatic sex flashback.
“I don’t think anyone is here,” he said. “House seems like it’s been empty for a while.” He let me go in first. He was right, food dishes were still in the sink and the mail was in the same spot on the table from where I left it.
Dad sat down at the kitchen table and let out a small sigh of relief. Like me, I was sure he was glad to not have the boys or Nona jumping down his throat the moment he walked through the door.
I started setting up the coffee pot.
“We will have some coffee and then we will go down to Nona’s,” I told him.
That’s when Slade stood up. “While you’re doing that I will run home and tell everyone I’m back.”
I stuck out my lip pouting. “You mean you don’t want to be there when shit hits the fan?”
He rubbed the back of his neck, his muscle in his arm straining against the fabric of his t-shirt. It was hot and making me less angry at him for taking off. “It will be alright. Just keep it simple and she will forget anything even happened.”
I wasn’t so sure. “The entire town probably knows what happened. What do I say if she knows more than we think?” I started chewing on my lip something I hadn’t done in some time. But my nerves were starting to get the best of me.
“Keep it simple.” He moved in kissing me on the lips. “When you’re done I have something I want to show you.”
I squeezed his arm, trailing my fingers down his tattoos. “Are you keeping things from me, Slade Andrews?”
“Some things are worth the deception.” He bit down on his lip ring. “Now take care of Nona and make sure he gets some sleep. Call me in a little bit.”
I watched him walk away enjoying the view.
“Well, Dad.” I turned around. “Let’s get this over with.”
***
Nervous wasn’t a fitting word to describe how I felt standing at the door of Nona’s house. I wasn’t sure what I felt. I knew I wanted it to go away and for everything to be normal again. I didn’t think that was too much to ask for.
Dad looked at me. “Ready to do this?”
I shook my head sucking in a breath of air. “No I’m not but there’s nothing I can do about that.”
We went inside. I reminded myself I was the queen of smoothing things out between Dad and Nona. So if things went bad I knew what I would do. At least I thought I did.
Dad looked around. “Anybody home?” We both waited.
“Maybe they aren’t here,” I said, ready to run out the door.
“The car was outside.” Dad rounded the fancy table in the middle of the entrance. “Mother!”
The clicking of her high heels raised the hair on my arms. And my heart started pounding in my chest filling my ears with miserable racket.
“Where the hell have you been?” Nona demanded. She tossed down
the magazine in her hand and glared at the both of us. “It has been six days.”
Dad nodded that he knew how many days it had been and straightened up. “I needed to get away. I apologize, I know it was insensitive and probably caused a lot of concern but I’m back and it won’t happen again.”
“It was more than insensitive.” Nona sighed, moving around the table. “Those boys are worse than you were at this age, and there are two of them. Do you know how many bowls of cereal and filthy skater shoes have been lying all over my house?”
I held back the urge to laugh because I knew she was being serious.
“Mom, I’m sorry. I needed some time to gather my thoughts. It’s been a rough year.” Dad sighed and dropped his head.
Nona studied him, clearly trying to figure out what the hell was going on. She looked at me. “And what about you?”
I raised an eyebrow, she raised one back.
Shit.
I swallowed throwing out the first thing that came to mind. “Slade wanted me to meet his family.”
“Oh how lovely a prison vacation,” she said. “Why the hell would he want to do that?”
I shrugged. “That’s what happens when people get serious, Nona. I’m sorry we left like that.”
I opened my arms waiting for her to give in, but she just shook her head and lifted her magazine. “The boys are in the guest bedroom. And before you take them home you remind them I want my tub scrubbed to standards before they leave.”
I nodded happy to be off the hook.
“And tell them to take those lousy skateboards with them before I fall and break a hip.” She gave a warning glare and turned on her heels. “So happy to have the both of you back.”
“So glad to be back.” I laid it on thick.
“And Neil, maybe instead of running away from your failed relationships, you should take your children on vacation. I always say boozing and cruising is the best way to mend a broken anything,” Nona said as she walked away.
Five houses down
The grit of the sand between my toes told me exactly where I was even if I couldn’t see a thing because Slade’s hands were covering my eyes.
When he said surprise he really meant it. And I was dying to know what it was. I never saw him so enthused about anything before.
“Can I look?” I asked again letting him steer me over the sand. I held on to his shirt afraid I would fall. I could hear the sea doos behind us and planes flying overhead.
“A few more feet,” he said.
“What is this?”
“It’s a secret, and you’re starting to ruin it. Just shut up and go with it or I’ll never do this again,” he said laughing at me.
I shut my mouth. He was even sexier when he ordered me around.
The sand was beginning to burn a hole in my feet so I hoped he would hurry.
“Okay.” He removed his hands. “Take a look.”
I blinked a few times, my eyes settling on a beach house. It wasn’t the best, it was in bad shape like ours when we first moved to Cherry. I looked at Slade. He moved in, throwing an arm around me. “What do you think?”
“I think I can see my house from here,” I said looking at my own house. “What is this?”
He led me to the gate, the yard was overrun with weeds and debris. “This is my new place.”
I raised an eyebrow. “You’re joking.”
Slade shook his head letting me go in first. “I kid you not. I signed the papers today. No more Rv. No more Henry Park.”
I could see it in his eyes the last part bothered him. “There’s always Henry Park.” I wrapped my arms around him. “And this is great.”
He kissed my forehead taking it in with me. “It’s a piece of shit. But Kidd and Oz promised they would help me fix it up. And they’re shutting Henry Park down.”
“What?” I pulled away to get a good look at him. “How could that even be possible?”
He shrugged. “Thank the church for that one.”
My heart ached for him and his dreams. He loved singing there. Henry Park was just as much a part of Slade as his tattoos and bad boy attitude.
“No worries. We have a few ideas to keep singing,” he told me. He worked the lock carefully with his key and I stayed still so I didn’t plunge through the porch. The place was a mess.
After a few shoves to the door with his shoulder we were inside staring at old furniture and outdated kitchen appliances.
“This has a lot o
f potential.” I smiled. “I really mean it.”
Slade smirked. “You and I have a lot of potential.”
I was weak in the knees. I did my best to hide what I really wanted to do and settled for kissing him on the lips. He still made me feel like a groupie.
He started blowing dust off of the lamps the previous owners left behind.
“Are you good at pulling weeds?” Slade asked. His brows knitted together as he looked at me.
“I’m from Georgia, of course I am.”
“I knew there was a reason I saved you instead of letting the crowd trample you.” He grinned.
I rolled my eyes.
We spent the next hour washing down walls and sweeping the floors. Slade removed every dust cover and old curtain. He fixed the only ceiling fan in his house and swept the windows before opening them to let some fresh air in.
“Looks better already,” he said pulling his shirt over his head. He was sweaty and a bit filthy but still hot.
I agreed giving him a peck on the lips. I brushed some hair from my eyes and dropped the sponge in the bucket of dirty water. “I’m hot.”
He nodded. “You are. But be careful throwing that around all the time someone might think you’re conceited.” He walked across the room and took my hands in his. “I might have another surprise.”
I searched his eyes. “What now?”
“Lift up your shirt,” he said.
I laughed, looking down at my black bathing suit top. Before I could check out my bottoms he slid a hand along the waist of my shorts and worked them down. They were black too.
“I like it,” I said.
“Remember the first time we got in the water together?” His arms wrapped around me. A million butterflies swarmed my stomach all at once.
“Yes I do,” I said, stroking his arm. I touched his face. “It was the first time we were together. And you were incredible.”
“You weren’t so bad yourself.” He made my heart skip a few beats. He still knew how to make me feel like the best thing in the entire world.
