Dane nodded. “I know. I was listening to that boy try to ask you out.”
I smiled.
“He wasn’t trying to ask me out.”
Dane gave me a look.
“Honey, I have a dick. I know what it looks like when a guy’s dick is hard. And his was hard. For you. Trust me,” he said, sitting down on the stool behind the register and turning his eyes to the TV screen that was sitting next to the register.
Rolling my eyes, I rolled the mop into the bathroom and started the tedious job of cleaning up the bathroom.
The girl’s room was never that bad.
It was the men’s room that always got me.
How could grown men miss the toilet like that?
By the time I was done with the men’s bathroom, I felt the need for a hot shower and a beer. Both of which I couldn’t have right then…and since I had somewhere to go later, I wouldn’t be having it for a very long time.
But just the thought of seeing Sterling again made my heart race.
“Your phone’s been ringing the whole time you were in there,” Dane said as he shoved three cheese crackers into his mouth.
I rolled my eyes.
Why wouldn’t it have occurred to him that I needed to answer that call if they called that many times?
I smiled when I saw Lily’s smiling face lighting up the screen of my phone.
“Hello?” Lily answered breathlessly.
“Hey! What’d you need?” I asked.
Lily called once a day regardless of whether she ‘needed’ anything or not.
It was just who we were.
And I’d missed her constantly when I was locked up.
“I have someone who wanted to talk to you before you she went on stage,” she said happily.
I smiled as Lily’s daughter, Toni, got on the phone.
“Aunt Ruthie, guess what!” Toni yelled loudly.
I looked down at my hands and smiled through the pain.
“What, stinker bell?” I asked softly.
“I hit a home run today at Putt-Putt!” She squealed.
I smiled, my pain taking a backseat to the excitement in Toni’s voice.
See, Toni and my daughter, Jade, would’ve been the same age right then.
But my husband had nearly beaten me to death when I was almost eight months pregnant, and I’d lost my baby girl before I’d ever even held her.
Lily had found out she was pregnant the week before I’d lost my little Jade, and it was heart breaking to talk to Toni when I couldn’t talk to my own little girl that would’ve been doing something similar had she been able to live.
“Don’t you mean hole in one?” I asked her, a smile in my voice.
I could practically see her shaking her head when she replied.
“No. I mean, daddy tossed me the ball, and I hit it with my golf club. And I hit the ball into the last hole at the very end of the course,” she corrected me.
I closed my eyes. “Your daddy should know better.”
“See,” Lily said as she came back on the line. “That’s what I said. He’s like a big two year old.”
I smiled at my hands.
Dante was such a good guy.
He started an auto recovery business when he got out of the Air Force and, from what I’d heard, was a pretty successful businessman now.
He had my whole heart, though.
He was such a good man, always there for me if I needed him to be.
He’d come to visit me when Lily made the trip.
He was a good father and a good friend.
Something that I desperately wished I had married instead of the man I had.
“So where are you going?” I asked, ringing up a man’s purchase as I did so.
The man gave me a funny look since I was on the phone, but I ignored him, stuffing things into the bag as I held the phone in between my ear and shoulder.
“Nine fifty seven,” I said.
The man gave me a credit card and I swiped it through the card reader before handing it back to him while listening to Lily tell me about Toni’s recital that was scheduled to take place in twenty minutes.
“You’re late,” I laughed. “Shouldn’t you have left already?”
I handed the man his receipt and he took it with a slight huff of annoyance.
“Yeah, about twenty minute ago. But we were having a meltdown because we couldn’t find the pink shoes, only the blue shoes,” Lily said. “We only found a single pink one, so now we’re wearing one blue and one pink.”
“Well, that works,” I laughed.
And it did.
What little girl wanted to wear blue shoes when she could wear pink?
“Alright, gotta go. I love you,” Lily said as she hung up the phone.
I rolled my eyes and shoved the phone into my back pocket before turning to Dane.
“What’s up with you?” I asked.
Dane smiled.
“Well, I have a prostate exam around four, and I have a colonoscopy next Tuesday that they’re going to make me shit…”
I stopped him.
“That’s enough information, Dane. Thanks, though.”
He shrugged.
“Well, you were the one who asked.”
That I did.
And I would not be asking that question anymore.
***
I walked out of the house that I was renting, into the late afternoon sun, annoyed and unbelievably pissed off.
“What’s that look for?” Sterling asked me.
I handed him the ticket I’d received.
“I got a ticket for a boat parked in front of my house that isn’t even mine,” I told him, walking to the passenger seat and hopping inside without prompting.
My neighbors hated me.
Literally hated me.
I was in a house that I’d rented through the chief of police.
It was nice to have a hookup through my other best friend, Sawyer.
She was currently married to the president of a motorcycle club.
The same club that Sterling belonged to.
Sterling wasn’t wearing his cut, the leather biker vest that he usually wore, which designated him as a member of The Dixie Wardens MC.
But I guessed it probably wasn’t the most comfortable thing to wear when you were outside working out in one hundred degree weather.
“So whose boat is it if it’s not yours?” Sterling asked from my open window.
I pointed at the man across the street sipping his beer with his feet up on the porch railing.
“That man’s,” I pointed at him.
Sterling looked at him, hunching down so he could see through the truck’s open windows, and grimaced.
“Hold on,” he said. “Be right back.”
I shrugged.
I’d already tried talking to the man, but he was a dick, so I just left.
I was planning on going up to the police station tomorrow and talk it out to whomever would listen, but if Sterling wanted to try that for me, then I’d let him.
I had enough on my plate to deal with without something minor like this.
I watched and sipped on my ice water through my Camelback water bottle that cost way too much money for me to own so many.
Sterling topped the man’s front steps and crossed his arms.
I could see his mouth moving, but other than that, I couldn’t make out what was being said.
However, by the tension in the man’s previously loose shoulders, I could tell that whatever was being said wasn’t very nice.
Or appealing to the older man.
“That’s where I’ve always parked my boat!” The man yelled.
Sterling said something calmly to the man, and the man reluctantly took the ticket that Sterling held out to him, ripping it from Sterling’s hands and shoving it down into his pocket.
I blinked, and then blinked some mo
re, as I watched Sterling come down the steps and straight to his truck.
He got into his side, slammed the door shut, and started the engine.
Seconds later, he was driving away from the curb before he explained.
“The man’s going to move the boat tomorrow. And he’s going to go take care of your ticket,” he said without hesitation.
“That’s awesome. I can’t believe he was just going to let me pay it, though. I mean, who does that?” I asked.
He shrugged. “No clue.”
“Not sure why you’d even get a ticket for that. Seems inconsequential seeing as they had two murders in the city last night,” Sterling said, shaking his head.
Not knowing what to say to that, I asked, “Why aren’t you on your bike?”
He grinned as he turned to me, glancing quickly before he turned back to the road.
“It’s hard to carry a bat bag, balls, and plates in your saddle bags,” he said.
Ahh, that made sense.
“Huh,” I said. “So when do you go back?”
I didn’t have to explain what I meant by ‘go back.’
He knew exactly what I meant.
“I have to be back in Belle Chasse in another thirteen days,” he answered as he swung the wheel wide to get out of my neighborhood.
My mouth dropped open. “You’re already going back that quick?”
He nodded. “Yeah, but I’m not getting deployed, at least. I’ll be there for about three months while they decide what to do with us next. Normally we would be heading to California, so I’m lucky they’re allowing us to stay close to home.”
I just shook my head.
I just got him back!
“How often will you come back?” I asked softly.
I was fairly sure I was hiding my sadness well, but he placed his hand on top of mine where it rested between us on the seat.
His big fingers forced themselves in between mine as he said, “I’ll probably be back every weekend. Gotta get my boy ready for baseball. And I have a vested interest in someone special.”
I blinked, suddenly hurt.
He had a ‘vested interest’ in somebody?
What was that supposed to mean?
Was he seeing somebody?
I didn’t get the answer before we pulled into the ball park’s parking lot.
We were playing on the city’s baseball field where the older kids played.
It was a normal sized field for baseball, and it was absolutely massive.
The back fence went about as far out as a regulation major league field, which was a big thing for this little town.
Especially when the only person able to hit it over the center back wall was currently walking beside me onto the field.
“So did you really hit that ball, or was it one of those infield homerun’s because it bounced over the fence?” I teased.
I knew it was really a hit.
I’d watched the YouTube video of it.
It’d been a huge thing for the town, especially since Sterling and his Dixie Youth baseball team had put this small town on the map.
Sterling’s team, The Wildcat’s, had been down by three runs in the bottom of the ninth with Sterling up to bat.
He’d gotten two strikes, three balls, and was in the final pitch when he fouled the ball.
He did that four more times before he finally connected.
And connect he fucking did.
It was amazing.
One of the sweetest hits I’d ever witnessed.
Something you’d never expect from an eighteen year old.
The ball had gone over the fence, dead center, and Sterling had gone around the bases with a look of awe on his face.
The video had ended with the entire team, as well as many of the fans, dog piling Sterling.
Now, seven years later, his name was still plastered at the top of the scoreboard next to all the other boys who went to the World’s that year.
“There was no bounce whatsoever, trust me. I hit that fucker so hard that it reverberated through my body and centered in my heart,” he told me solemnly. “I can still feel the way the bat and ball connected.”
“It was fucking perfection!” Cormac crowed. “I’ve never witnessed something so great in my life!”
The animation in Cormac’s voice had everyone around us laughing, and I smiled at the man at my side.
“Seems you have a fan,” I surmised.
He nodded. “The biggest.”
Cormac grinned and bent down to grab the glove and ball at his feet.
“Let’s play ball!”
Chapter 2
Wrong. Your mother is wrong. Your face is wrong. Everything about you is wrong.
-Ruthie’s secret thoughts
Ruthie
“Oh my God,” I said into my pillow.
“What’s wrong with you?” Sawyer said from the foot of my bed.
I didn't scream like I wanted to.
I knew she was there…well, at least knew she was in my house.
I hadn’t realized she was that close, though.
“I can’t move,” I whispered. “I think I’m paralyzed.”
“You played really awesome, if it’s any consolation,” she said, bouncing on the bed a few times.
I glared over at my cute pregnant friend.
“Why are you here? It’s my day off,” I grumbled, turning over and yanking the blanket over me.
Or would have had it not been partially under Sawyer’s ass.
“You promised me you’d go to help me register for the baby shower,” she told me.
I groaned. “I meant that in a lying kind of way. The kind of thing where you say niceties, yet don’t follow through with them because you know you don’t really want to do it.”
“Well, you said it and I’m not letting you take it back,” she grumbled. “Get up. I’m making eggs.”
“I don’t like eggs,” I muttered to the now empty room.
How did a pregnant woman have so much energy?
Shouldn’t they be tired all the time? Because I hadn’t seen that from Sawyer yet, and she was well into her seventh month.
Rolling out of bed, gingerly, I walked blindly to the bathroom, only opening my eyes a crack to give me an idea of where I was going.
I left the light off as I took care of business, brushed my teeth, and walked out into the main room.
It didn’t even occur to me that there’d be anyone else there, which was why when I finally opened my bleary eyes and saw the tall, sexy man sitting on my couch talking to Sawyer, I froze.
“Uh,” Sawyer said, finally seeing me. “You could’ve put some pants on.”
I could hear the laughter in her voice as she said it, and I wanted to smack that smile off her face.
I flipped her off and turned on my heel, walking back to the bedroom and pulling on a pair of sweatpants from the top of my clean pile.
Being in my panties next to Sawyer really wasn’t that big of a deal.
We’d lost any and all dignity during our time in prison, so it wasn’t a surprise that I’d walk out there with no pants on.
Hell, we’d peed next to each other for eight years.
Vomited. Shit. Saw each other naked.
There was nothing sacred between us.
But she could’ve at least shouted a warning that she’d let someone into my house!
I came back out glaring at the two people on my couch.
“Where’s breakfast?” I mumbled darkly.
Sawyer smiled.
She’d been the morning person.
I’d been the afternoon and night person.
It was incredibly annoying to be paired with that type of person, but I learned to cherish her nonetheless.
“I got sidetracked,” she said, pointing to Sterling.
Sterling grinned at her and stood, reaching into his pocket for something.
I looked at the paper he held out to me like it was a live snake, instead focusing on the fact that he’d called another police officer to my house.
Loki was another member of The Dixie Wardens.
He was the scary one of the bunch.
His blonde hair was cut close to his scalp, and his eyes were hard.
Cop eyes hard.
But the defining factor that made him scarier than the rest was the scar across his throat.
I’d only heard bits and pieces of how he got it, but from what I’d gathered from all of them, it was because of a gang initiation or something.
But it was the way he watched me that made me the most nervous.
Almost as if he could tell I was a bad person.
And I guess most would think I was, but I wasn’t.
I was only protecting myself and my unborn child that, unfortunately, hadn’t made it.
Not that anyone besides me and Sawyer knew about my Jade.
I hadn’t even told Lily about Jade.
Not because I didn’t feel that she would sympathize, but because the fact that I’d lost her still hurt so deeply that I couldn’t talk about it.
Hadn’t talked about it since the day she was taken from me after I spoke to the cops.
“Wonderful,” I muttered, turning on my heel to walk into the kitchen and start a pot of coffee.
But it was already done when I got there, so I guess Sawyer was inching her way off the hook.
I didn’t bother with cream.
This was a straight black kind of day.
I grimaced when I took a drink of the bitter brew, turning to survey Sawyer and Sterling.
They had a good relationship, but Sawyer had that with all of members of The Dixie Wardens.
A perk, I guessed, of being married to the President.
“How do you still not know what you’re having?” Sterling asked my best friend. “Isn’t that something new parents want to know?”
I’d asked the same thing.
How do you have a baby shower if you don’t know what you’re having?
You won’t want to put your kid in yellow for that long, not when there’s way cuter things in blue or pink.
Right To My Wrong (The Heroes of The Dixie Wardens MC Book 8) Page 2
