Games of the Heart

by Kristen Ashley

  Mike didn’t move, not an inch.

  This was because he was completely and totally fucking floored.

  Audrey kept talking. “Mrs. Layne says with her talent and our circumstances there’s a good possibility she’ll be eligible for and get some scholarships but not a full ride. So, uh…if that happens, the scholarships, I mean, then this can be used for her living expenses.”

  “You sold your car and your shit,” Mike whispered.

  She held his eyes and replied quietly, “Yes.”

  “For our daughter, you sold your car and your shit,” Mike repeated.

  Her head shifted in that strange way again and in a rush, she returned, “I know, Mike, that it isn’t me giving her this.” She reached out a hand to tap her fingers on the table to indicate the check. “I know it’s you. I know that car and that stuff you bought, really. So it’s you giving this to Rees. I know that. I know this isn’t a grand gesture from me. But, what Mrs. Layne says, what she’s showed me of Clarisse’s work, it had to be done.”

  Mike sat back in his chair not taking his gaze from her.

  Audrey pulled in a visible breath and continued, “I’m happy if you don’t want to tell her that the money came from me because, really, it didn’t.”

  Mike stared at his ex-wife.

  Then he made a decision.

  “How’s the job?” he asked and watched her blink and her head twitch.

  “What?” she asked back softly.

  “You told me you got a new job and it’s a lot of pressure. How’s that going?”

  She held his eyes but did it licking her lips and her own eyes got bright before she pulled in another visible breath to control the threatening tears and she spoke. “It’s tough but I’m off probation so that’s good. And they know they can call me to do overtime or help out with other lawyers if someone’s sick and they can’t get a temp or something. So, it’s going great, I guess.”

  “Good,” he muttered. “The apartment?”

  “Cuts my commute from forty-five minutes to twenty.”

  “Right,” Mike said.

  “I like it,” she whispered. “It’s roomier and better made so it’s quieter.”

  Mike nodded.

  Then he informed her, “I don’t want Rees at fifteen years old four hours away in Chicago. She and I have talked about it and she doesn’t want to be that far away either. We’re hopin’ for the school in Indianapolis. It’s fifteen hundred dollars less a semester and won’t require settin’ her up in a living situation. I know the Chicago school is better but she’s too young to be that far away. She wants to think of a transfer the year after that or for her senior year, we’ll consider it. But she can’t even drive so that’s not gonna happen this year and she’s happy with that.”

  Audrey nodded and said quietly, “Good because I agree. I was worried about her in Chicago by herself.”

  Fucking shit, who was this woman?

  He didn’t ask that.

  He kept going. “Since she’s in-state for the Indy school, the scholarship opportunities are better. This money,” he tipped his head to the check, “if she gets those scholarships, will go a long way.”

  “Then that’s good,” she replied.

  “What I’m sayin’ is, she gets those scholarships, it’ll cut but it won’t cut deep. You need this money?”

  “It’s your money, Mike,” she reminded him.

  “I know, Audrey. I get that. That isn’t what I asked. You’re you and you’re goin’ from a Mercedes and a closet full of designer shit to…whatever you can afford now. Is this gonna be a problem for you now or down the road? Because if it is, I can cover Clarisse because the way it stands with those scholarships, this check would cover near on two years of tuition.”

  “Then use some of it to buy No a new car,” she returned. “He told me what happened to his and even before those kids did that to it, that car was a disaster.”

  Fucking shit, who the fuck was this woman?

  “Audrey –”

  She leaned forward and cut him off. “This is your money, Mike, you worked hard for it. I told you I was learning some things about myself and I am. And learning about me I’ve looked back and realized some things about you. And that is, you were happy to work hard for our family to give us a good life and to give our children what they need. You always provided that and if you take that check and use it on Clarisse or Jonas or however you want to use it, you’re doing that. It just makes it a lot less hard in the short run.”

  He stared at her and informed her, “I gotta say, Audrey, you’re shockin’ the shit outta me right about now.”

  She leaned back and replied on a murmur, “Well, finally I’m doing it in a way that’s not bad.”

  Mike couldn’t hold it back. He burst out laughing. When he was done she was looking at him and smiling a hesitant smile.

  His amusement faded and he said quietly, “I hope this shit sticks.”

  She pressed her lips together before noting, “I do too.”

  Christ, there it was. There it fucking was. Jesus. She was trying, finally genuinely trying and she hoped just like he did that she didn’t fuck it up.

  Jesus.

  He nodded, reached out and took the check. Then he pulled out his wallet and shoved it inside.

  “Mike?” he heard her call as he was pushing his wallet back into his inside blazer pocket.

  His eyes went to her. “Yeah?”

  “I’ve, uh…been asked out on a date. By an attorney in another firm who was working a case joint with our firm.” When he made no reply she finished, “I thought that, um…you should know just in case something comes of it and I need to tell the kids or introduce them to him.”

  “Pleased for you, Audrey,” Mike said softly and got another hesitant smile.

  “Yeah, he’s kind of cute,” she whispered and Mike smiled back.

  Then he told her, “But he’s a lawyer so he’s probably got some asshole in him. Be careful.”

  “Been working with them long enough, I get that better than you,” she replied her smile still there, still hesitant but less so.

  Mike nodded.

  “You have to go,” she reminded him.

  “Yeah,” he agreed.

  She held his eyes and didn’t move.

  Then she whispered, “I love our kids.”

  “I’m not only glad you finally figured that out, I’m glad you figured out how to show them.”

  Her head tipped to the side, her eyes got soft and she gave him another cautious smile.

  Then she said, “Take care of yourself, Mike.”

  Mike unfolded from the chair on a nod and, “The same to you, Audrey.”

  She nodded back.

  Mike lifted his hand and flicked two fingers at her, turned and walked out of Mimi’s.

  Then he walked down the street, around the side of the Station to the back parking lot and got in his SUV to drive home. Dusty was cooking for his kids and the Riveras.

  He made the drive deciding he’d tell Reesee and No about what their Mom had done. They’d been waiting a long time to have one who gave a shit. Now they had her, they should know.

  He just hoped like fuck this lasted. But even if it didn’t and this was the only gesture she was able to pull off, they should have it.

  And they would.

  * * * * *

  Saturday afternoon…

  Mike and Dusty had just got back from the airport, following the Riveras in their rental there in order to wring the last seconds out of their visit by waving them off through security.

  Now they were walking with Layla across the field, Dusty to hit her wheel, Mike to talk with Fin.

  Dusty was in a quiet mood and Mike read this correctly as the fact that she was going to miss her friends. She’d started bonding with Cheryl, Vi, Rocky, Feb and their crew but it would take years to build anything with them like she had with Jerra and, because of her years with Jerra, it would never be the same. Still, Mike knew all of t
hem were good women, if some of them totally fucking nuts. What she’d eventually build would be good.

  He knew her mood had to do with the Riveras leaving and not anything else because the rest was sorting itself out. He’d told her what they had on McGrath and Debbie and she knew their plans for getting them to back off. He’d also explained what happened with Audrey. And Rhonda had told Della she would prefer it if she was the one who grocery shopped for the boys, made dinner at night and cleaned the house. She’d also taken over feeding and watering Dusty’s horses in the mornings. She had yet to help out with the pottery but she was finally stepping up, paying attention to her home and family.

  So the light at the end of the tunnel wasn’t a train. A week, two, Rhonda kept her shit and they were able to immobilize Debbie and McGrath, life would just be life.

  He was looking forward to it.

  They stopped in the vast area between the farm and the house, she turned and looked up at him.

  “This is me,” she said softly, jerking her head toward the barn and Mike got close, lifted his hand and cupped her jaw.

  “Summer, the kids off school, we’ll go down to Texas.”

  She pressed her jaw into his hand and whispered, “Thanks, gorgeous.”

  He dropped his head, touched his mouth to hers then lifted it and ordered gently, “Get to work.”

  She gave him a grin, he dropped his hand then she moved toward the barn. Layla stood there looking indecisive and Mike lifted a hand and pointed at Dusty’s departing figure so Layla turned and trotted after Mike’s woman.

  He moved to the house. Dusty had texted Fin and he’d told her he was in from the fields to eat lunch. She asked him to stay because Mike wanted a word. When Mike walked in the backdoor, he saw Fin at the sink downing a Coke, waiting for him.

  Fin dropped his hand, his eyes on Mike and muttered, “Yo, Mr. Haines. Everything cool?”

  Mike noted his eyes were alert but his posture relaxed. Rees and No were with their mother that weekend which was one of the few times that every available minute Fin had was not with Mike’s daughter. Still, he had no doubt they communicated profusely during these times as they did any other time they were forced to be apart. So Mike knew that Fin probably knew more about the state of his daughter at that very moment than Mike did.

  “Yeah, everything’s cool. Just need a few words with you,” Mike told him, advancing but stopping four feet away and leaning a hip against the counter. He rested a hand in the counter, locked eyes with Fin and asked quietly, “All going okay with your Mom?”

  Fin nodded. “We woke her shit…uh, I mean, seems the other night we woke her up.”

  Mike let the swearing pass and nodded back, muttering, “Good.” Then he went on, “You should know, been workin’ with some of my boys at the Station as well as a few other friends who are kickin’ in. Seems we may have some leverage on your Aunt Debbie and Bernie McGrath. Things will get hot the next week or two but what we got, it’s lookin’ good the rest of that will cool down.”

  As he spoke, Fin’s alert gaze got heated as well as intense but he simply jerked his chin up when Mike finished and murmured, “Thanks for that, Mr. Haines. Don’t know if I can –”

  “Nothin’ for you to do. Dusty’s my woman which means she’s in the family so you’re in the family. Family steps up for family so if you’re shufflin’ markers you owe in your head, stop. This is life, Fin. You take, later there’ll be a time you give. It’s just the way it is. Let it go.”

  Fin held his eyes then he jerked his chin up again.

  Mike drew in breath.

  Was he going to fucking do this?

  He looked at the boy who was mostly a man in front of him, flashes going through his head of him studying with Mike’s girl, smiling at Mike’s girl, holding her hand, opening the car door for her, leading her into Swank’s with his hand light on the small of her back.

  Fuck, he was going to fucking do this.

  “I know you know that I’ve got a rule about Rees not car dating until she’s sixteen,” Mike stated.

  That peaked Fin’s interest as well as made his body shift in a way that appeared uncomfortable.

  But Fin sucked it up and responded, “Yeah. I know. It’s cool. Things are good as they are.”

  “I’m lifting that rule.”

  Mike watched Fin’s body go solid.

  He wanted it, time alone with Mike’s daughter.

  Fuck.

  Fuck.

  Mike pulled in another breath and, low, he said, “I’m doin’ this because I’ve been watchin’ you with her and I trust you. You’ve given indication you care about her. You’ve stepped up for her. You protected her. You kept your shit in the situation with those kids and caused no more trouble, makin’ a mature decision which is another way of protectin’ her rather than putting her further out there. I’m doin’ this because I know you won’t screw me if I do. And by that, I mean, my daughter is fifteen. It is not lost on me you have some experience. So I’m gonna lay it out for you, Fin. She cares about you, she trusts you but she’s too damned young to go there with you. Not now. Not in two months. Not in ten. Not even after that. I’m lettin’ you both have this because I know you won’t disrespect her and, in doin’ so, disrespect me. And if I find that I’m wrong about that, there’s nothin’ I’ll be able to do to change it. But I’ll be really fuckin’ disappointed.”

  When he was finished, Mike was shocked as shit to see that Finley Holliday wasn’t grateful. He wasn’t embarrassed. He wasn’t uncomfortable.

  He was pissed way the fuck off.

  “We’re talkin’ about Reesee,” he growled and Mike held his eyes.

  “Yeah, Fin,” Mike agreed.

  “You’re a cop. You’re a Dad. You’re a guy. You know,” Fins stated, his voice still low, harsh, pissed.

  “Fin –”

  “You’ve seen me with her and you know you do not have to say that shit to me,” Fin ground out.

  Jesus.

  “I’m her father. It’s my job to be thorough,” Mike returned.

  “Well, you been thorough,” Fin shot back. “So I’ll tell you it means somethin’ to me you trust me with her because you can. You know my Dad. You’re with my aunt. You know the Hollidays so you get me. There are all the other girls then there’s Reesee and bein’ her Dad and all, you know that too.”

  Mike fought back his lips twitching and he replied, “Yeah, I know all that.”

  “Right,” Fin grunted then asked, “What’s her curfew?”

  Mike kept fighting his lips twitching and answered, “Nine on weekdays. Ten weekends but if you got a late movie or something, you let me know.”

  Fin nodded.

  Then he asked, “We done?”

  “Yeah.”

  Fin jerked up his chin and moved past Mike to the backdoor.

  Mike stopped him by calling his name. Hand on the knob, Fin’s neck twisted and his eyes hit Mike.

  “I knew your Dad and you two were tight so I figure you already know this. But I’m gonna say it anyway. The man you’ve become is a man other men will want to know. He would be proud, Fin.”

  Fin stared in his eyes and quietly replied, “He already was. You’re right, he told me. A lot. And that’s why I am what you say I am.”

  Jesus, this kid was sharp.

  “Right,” Mike muttered.

  “But,” Fin went on, “you’re a decent guy, a great Dad so you should also know that means somethin’ comin’ from you.”

  And Jesus, this kid felt deep and had the balls to express it.

  “Right,” Mike repeated on a mutter.

  “Right,” Fin muttered back then kept muttering his, “later,” and he was gone.

  Mike gave him a minute to disappear and then he followed, going out the door and heading to the barn.

  Dusty had music on low, her ass on her stool and was slapping a wad of clay on her wheel but her eyes were on him. Layla jogged up to him and butted him with her nose.

&n
bsp; When he got close she asked, “How’d that go?”

  He had also told her why he wanted to talk to her nephew.

  He stopped, bent and gave his dog a head rub.

  “Better than I expected,” he answered. “A lot better.”

  She grinned up at him and declared, “I love my nephew.”

  Mike grinned back.

  Then he told her, “Goin’ to the gym.”

  She nodded. He bent and gave her a quick kiss. Then he twisted and gave his dog a rubdown.

  Then he ordered, “Stay.”

  Layla didn’t stay. She trotted off deeper into the barn, nose to the ground, discovering.

  Mike’s gaze slid through Dusty, she grinned at him again, he again grinned back then he walked out of the barn, across the field, into his house and up the stairs to change for the gym.

  * * * * *

  The next Friday afternoon…

  “Fuck you, Mike.”

  This was Debbie’s charming greeting.

  Mike leaned back in his desk chair and guessed, “I take it you had your sit down with Mr. Glover.”

  “Fuck…you,” she replied.

  “You droppin’ the suit?” he asked.

  No answer.

  “Debbie,” he prompted.

  “Yes,” she hissed.

  “We gonna have any further problems with you?”

  “Uh…sorry, Mike, that farm is not worth getting disbarred.”

  “Good to know,” Mike returned. “Somethin’ else, that shit is not goin’ away. It’ll stay buried but you fuck with Dusty, Rhonda, those boys, any of that family or that farm in any way you can, it sees the light of day and you face disbarment and jail time. This is not a threat, Debbie. You need to take me seriously because I’m being very serious.”

  “I hear you,” she snapped.

  “And, time goes by, you see that shit you pulled for the shit it was, you give it even more time. You scored some wounds that run deep. Not one single soul who shares your blood whose feet hit Indiana dirt wanna hear from you anytime soon. You give them that, no matter how much you want salvation.”