“What do you mean, see what?”
“His trusty steeds, pile of bullshit, that’s what. He just wants to bang you and skip town. Penny Lane, you don’t even know this guy. Who knows, he might even have a wife and kids back in N.Y.C. I never pegged you for a home wrecker, my love. You tart!” He said in an overly shocked tone that made her scoff. “He probably does this shit all the time, fly’s into town, seduces an innocent, sexy as fuck single mother and then skips out, headed back to the big city and the beautiful wife.”
"You do know, not everyone, wants to bang me, right?”
“Lies, that’s complete bullshit, I mean, unless they’re batting for the same team if ya know what I mean. Cole informed with the raise of his brow.
“Not lies! I’ll have you know, some people, actually like me as a person, and they want to spend time with me because they find me charming and captivating." She tried to enlighten, with a smirk.
"I already know that. I try to tell you that same shit, all the time but you never wanna let me spend any time with you. How's that fair?"
"Because dear boy, I have spent too much time with you and besides, you, I now for a fact wants to bang me." She informed, popping the lid back on the ice cream, before snagging it as she headed for the freezer.
Quickly, Cole darted out of his chair to make his way behind her until he was close enough to wrap his arm around her waist, pulling her back into his body.
"Yes, but that's not all I want from you, and you know it.” Cole’s voice almost sounded believable, even a little offended that she would imply that that was all he wanted from her. “I can't help it if I find you so damn irresistible, though." He purred the words into her ear as she shut the freezer door.
"Irresistible, huh?" she whispered while he nuzzled his nose into her neck, searching for that spot he knew she liked. She allowed him to play for a bit as she made her way down the hall. He kept up with her, step by step, still holding her in his arms. When she finally reached her bedroom door she slowly spun around in his embrace, looking up into his ‘fuck me green’ eyes. His hands were rubbing goosebumps up and down her skin as they traveled her body, each touch, sending a shiver right to her core.
Leaning up on her tip toes she allowed her trembling lip to just barely brush against his as she whispered the words:
"Go home, Cole," before letting herself slide back down his body until she was once again flat footed, standing before him.
"My love, you’re killing me here. I hope you know that” Cole groaned, releasing her body with a pained sounding sigh.
“You’re killing yourself, Cole. that’s how it’s always been. Night, night,” she winked, turning to head into her room.
Chapter 7
A s soon as Cole cleared the top steps of Penny’s apartment building, his heart skipped a beat, panic filling him. Smoke was seeping out from under Penny's door into the hall. He didn’t bother knocking, instead, he just pulled out his keys from his pocket and jammed them into the lock . His hands were shaking as a million terrible outcomes rushed through his mind.
He knew at some point the key would come in handy. When Penny first moved in he had snagged T.J.’s set to have a spare made for himself. He did that every time the girl picked up and ventured to a new location. He could ask her for a set but he doubted she would be down for that. She was always going, on and on, about personal space and that it wasn't right for him to just walk in, any time he liked, all willie nilly. Whatever the hell that was supposed to mean.
It was during one of her little ‘you can’t come and go as you please, around here’ rants that she hit him with this, ‘What if I have company over, like a guy for instance and you just walk in? You never know, we could be buck naked, going at it on the couch, like a couple of porn stars. You wouldn't want to see that, now would you?’ He had given her a pointed look and made some sideways remark about that fact that nobody dislikes free porn, but the truth was, what she had said, irked him in the worst possible way. He didn't like the idea of some random dude up in her apartment. He didn't think it was right for her to bring strangers back to where T.J., also lived. The kid didn’t need every Tom, Dick, and Jackass that she went on a date with, to be paraded in front of him. It wasn't safe, who knows what kind of tool she might end up bringing home. Cole had stuck with that argument for her sake, stayed saying it was all about T.J.’s safety, as to why she shouldn’t be bringing guys over, but there were so many other reasons he had, as well. Just none he cared to mention. Not that she wanted to hear them, anyway.
So far, he’d been lucky, never catching her in any compromising positions. Which was a good thing, because, he would just hate to have to snap a mother fuckers neck for climbing up on his girl.
Pushing open the door, he found the apartment filled with smoke.
"Oh thank God, you're here, fix it!" T.J. shouted as he ran over to yank the bags of food out of Cole’s hands before pushing him in the direction of the stove, which currently held a pan that was bellowing both smoke and flames. Penny had a hand towel trying to swat the small blaze down but that didn’t appear to be helping in the least.
"Get back, before you burn yourself, woman!" Cole ordered, snatching the rag from her and using it to grab the handle of the pan.
"Too late," she informed with a pout.
Tossing the singed pan into the sink he quickly turned on the water, making large clouds of steam and smoke, puff into the air.
"T.J., get the windows!" Cole called out just as the boy was placing the bags onto the table.
“I’m on it!” T.J. nodded hard, before making his way around the small apartment to open each of the windows, nice and wide.
Glancing over at Penny, Cole found her gripping one of her hands in the other, her face twisted up in pain.
"Let me see," he requested, reaching for her wounded paw.
"No, you're just gonna yell at me!" She pouted, holding her hand closer to her body.
"Now, would I ever do that to you, my love?" Cole cooed, a smile on his lips that told her that he was probably going to do, just that.
Penny narrowed her brow and pursed her lip’s as she allowed him her hand for inspection.
"That’s not too bad, at all. I think you might just live. T.J., grab me a stick of butter, buddy."
With butter in hand Cole went to greasing her burn.
"There, is that better?”
“A little,” she said in a pouty tone, giving a sheepish little nod.
"Now,”
“Oh here it comes,” she sighed out, knowing a lecture was upon her.
“Yes, here it comes. What in the hell were you doing, my love? You know you can’t cook." He scolded, his green eyes searching hers for answers.
"I told her not to, I even offered to do it for her, but she was all like ‘I can do it, I'm grown, been cookin’ since before you was born’.” T.J. mocked, in a snarky tone as he mimicked his mother's voice.
"I don’t sound like that!" Penny shrieked, giving her only son a nasty look.
"Darlin’, that’s exactly how you sound. Besides, you should have listened to him, he, can Cook. He's a great cook, actually. I taught him myself.” Cole said with a note of pride in his tone, as he winked over to T.J., who smiled and nodded back.
"I hate you both," she informed, in her spoiled tone.
"Hate us all you want, but, that doesn't change the fact that you should never be allowed near a stove. T.J. did I ever tell you about the time your mother burned down our first appart…," Cole started but the look Penny sent his way had him stopping, mid-sentence. "Maybe another time," he offered throwing T.J. a smirk.
"Don’t mind her man, she's been weird all morning. She woke up smiling, it freaked me out. Then she was singing and dancing around the kitchen, it was creepy. I think she's finally lost it. Can I come live with you?" T.J. announced, making his way back over to the kitchen table.
“Anytime, buddy," Cole noted, not missing a beat. “You can come too, sexy Mama.” He th
rew in, smiling over at Penny who just snarled her lip.
“Awesome, you got my favorite!" The boy noted, with a starved, excited, look on his features as he began pulling out containers of food, from the bags Cole had brought along with him.
"You know it, double waffles, stuffed with strawberries, and cream cheese. I got you extra syrup too, and not that cheap shit from the dinner, either. I stopped by that little store down on 12th
and got you a bottle of maple syrup, the real shit."
"That's why you're my favorite, dude" T.J. praised, taking his seat before diving into the delicious looking food.
"I got you your favorite too, steak, mozzarella cheese, and green bean omelet. Does that mean I’m your favorite, as well?” He questioned Penny, as he brought the back of her hand up to his lips for a kiss.
“You couldn’t handle being my favorite, or don’t you remember?” She whispered, before jerking her hand away and starting toward the table. “Hey, wait a minute, how did you get in here?" She turned to question, raising an accusing brow.
Cole quickly pushed passed her, grabbing her food container off the table before darting back to the fridge with it, in hand.
"Don’t try to change the subject. We’re talking about you right now and why it is you’re being all weird and shit.”
“Why does it seem like we’re always talking about me? Why aren’t we ever talking about you and all the weird shit, you do, for no good reason. Like how about we talk about that new mattress I found in my room last night?”
“I’ll have you know, I always have very good reasons for the weird shit I do, great ones even. And as for the bed, you’re welcome! Let me know if you need any help testing it out.” Cole teased, humping the fridge door.
“Oh Jeez, you’re just as bad as Sal.” Penny accused with the rolled her eyes.
“Again, this isn’t about me or poor Sal for that matter. This is about you, and finding out who blew sunshine and daisies up your ass.” He informed, pulling the sour cream and salsa out of the fridge, before grabbing a spoon to plop piles of each beside her omelet.
"No one did; can't I just be having a good morning, for once?" She defended with a cheeky smile, looking everywhere but at him.
"NO!" The boys both said in unison, making Penny groan as Cole pushed her toward the table. Pulling out her chair with one hand he sat down her food with the other. After scooting her in, he took his seat beside her.
Most people have four seats sitting around their table but Penny only ever had the three. She was like that, she only ever kept what she needed. He guessed with all the moving, she liked to keep it simple. He was just happy, that after all these years and all the ups and downs that the third chair was still even around. It was his chair, he had been the only one to ever sit in it and before he had started coming around, there had only been two, one for her, and one for T.J.. He tried not to let the chair thing get to his head, but it had to mean something, didn’t it?
Penny interrupted his thoughts, letting out a loud moan around her fork. Her reaction brought a happy grin to Cole's face, but he knew she was avoiding the conversation at hand. Leaning back, he gave her chair leg a little kick with this cowboy boot.
“So?"
"So what?" She mumbled, staring a hole through her food.
Cole glanced over at T.J., who in turn, jerked his head toward his mother's cell phone, where it set between them on the table. Penny caught the sneaky little gestures but before she could make a move for her phone, Cole with his ninja fast moves, had it in his grip.
"Cole, no!" She warned, spitting food as she tried to snag it back, He wasn’t having that, though. "It's locked anyway, so you can’t even get in!" She added, still trying to snag back her precious lifeline. They were both out of their chairs now, Penny trying to grab as Cole, bobbed and weaved, holding the phone, just out of her reach.
"Please woman, you’ve used the same password for the past ten years, I got this shit!" He informed with a smirk as he pressed in T.J.’s birth date, into the phone.
“People change, passwords too, you dick!” Penny scoffed, still not able to reach her phone as Cole held it out above his head.
“People do change but not you, my love.” Cole reminded, eyeing the phones screen. “BOOM, I’m already in, and would you look at that!” He taunted, his smile quickly fading as he caught sight of her most recent messages.
"Oh, Holden, I had such a good time, last night. " He mocked her voice, reading off the message.
"Cole, you give it back, right this second!" She ordered, just before leaping onto his back and wrapping her arms and legs around his body.
Cole never even flinched, under the added weight, instead he skipped around the room with her on his back as he continued to read.
"Me either? I still can't believe that panting we found, I think I'm gonna swing by there tomorrow and pick it up. Street artists are the shit!" Cole spoke with an emo, stoner, poet mix of a tone as he rolled his eyes, reading Ables’ message aloud.
"Oh God, he's hipster, isn’t he? That’s so lame!" T.J. announced, snatching the phone out of Cole’s hand.
"T.J., give it!" Penny ordered, attempting to weasel her way off Cole’s back. She had no luck with her dismount, though. His meaty mitts, gripping her thighs, made sure of that.
"You totally should! It was an amazing piece. I've never seen anything like it before." T.J. continued to read where Cole left off, sounding too high pitched as he mocked his mother's tone. "Oh God, what a sucker! Cole, dude, listen to this cheesy line he fed Mom.” T.J. cleared his throat then started up again, using the same tone Cole had while reading Penny’s received message. “So are you…, beautiful that is, and pretty damn amazing too. You’re a piece of art, you know that? I could have stared at you all night just trying to figure you out.” T.J. stopped to make a nasty gagging noise with the back of his throat. “I think I'm gonna puke!" He announced with a disappointed shake of his head.
"T.J., give it back, right, now! I'm not kidding, young man!" Penny threatened, still unable to release herself from Coles back as he bucked her up and down like a wild stallion.
"Sure thing, Mom," T.J. scoffed before handing the phone back over to Cole.
"Trent Jonathan!!" She shrieked as Cole finally released her legs, making her almost fall on her ass.
"What, you said to give it back, you didn't say to who." T.J. laughed.
Penny righted herself with a growl before taking off for Cole, once again. Cole, who quickly ninja’d himself so that he was balancing on the very top of the couch, high above her.
“Oh shit, one just came in!" He announced in a school girl shriek as Penny stood below him swatting at his jean covered legs.
“Cole, this isn’t funny. Give it back!"
“Two against one, my love. T.J. and I happen to think it’s very funny. Majority rules, so, we shall proceed!” Cole declared with a smirk sent T.J.’s way before his greens locked back onto her phone. “Are we still on for today?"
The message kicked Cole in the gut as he read it out loud, distracting him just long enough for Penny to grab a hold of his booted ankles, giving them a hard tug and sending him crashing down to the couch cushions below. Quicker than a snake bites, she grabbed her kidnapped phone out of his hand.
“Asshole,” she called over her shoulder, making her way back over to the table.
Cole sucked in a deep breath, crossing his boots, as he rested them on the arm of the couch before folding his arms in back of his head as a makeshift pillow. His greens stayed locked on the ceiling as he tried to process the situation at hand.
"So…, are you?" He questioned, hating that he couldn't keep the bitter tinge out of his voice.
"Not that it's any business of yours, but yes, we are." Penny informed in a curt tone, taking her seat back at the table.
Another deep breath escaped Coles' chest. He chewed his lip, the very same way Penny was, as she stared through the container of food that set in front of her.
&
nbsp; T.J. could feel the tension growing between the pair. It was getting thick in the air as the minutes passed by in silence. He hated when it got like this between them.
"So… you're not gonna be home, again today?" He questioned, trying to put on a sad face.
Glancing up, Penny took in her son's expression before narrowing her brows. T.J. never cared, when she was or wasn't home. The truth was, he was more roommate than child. He practically, pushed her out of the door most days, just so that he could have the house to himself. She guessed that was because he wanted to be able to play on his phone freely. Yes, she knew all about the phone that Cole had smuggled him in. The one that she had said he wasn't allowed to have when Cole had brought up the idea. And the very same phone that had cost more than her car had. She just let the boys think they had one over on her. T.J. was a good kid, he deserved a phone but she had had her reason for not getting him one herself, and that was besides, just a lack of money. It was the same reason they didn’t have a TV in the living room, and why they had never gone to the movies. Not that it helped, really. T.J. had figured out a long time ago who Cole was, a celebrity, so honestly, she didn't know why she was still sticking with the no TV/ movie rule, except that maybe it was for her own sake and not her sons.
She would hate to have a T.V. only to turn it on and find Cole’s face, staring back at her. She wanted nothing to do with his success or his career. She spent, every second that she was around him, trying to forget that, that part of his life, even existed. To her, he was just Cole and she had wanted him to be, just Cole, to T.J. as well but with as much time as they spent together, it was bound to happen that a fan would approach for an autograph or a picture with the star. T.J. knew, but she refused to allow Coles fame to impact their lives any more than it absolutely had to. It had already cost her way too much already, she wouldn’t allow it to take anything else from her, not that she had much left to give, anyway.
Sitting back down her fork, Penny’s eyes darted from the back of the couch where Cole was still laying then back to her sneaky little son.
Between a Rock and a Hard Place Page 10
