After we had picked up pizza, we headed to a park that I had always driven by but never stopped at. Levi had managed to eat only one slice of pizza before he had taken off like a bat out of hell to climb on the huge playground equipment. He had only played by himself for a couple minutes before he called Scarlett and me over to play with him. I had to say I was even exhausted after our date of mini golf and running around the playground. It was unlike any date I had ever been on before, but I wouldn’t have changed a thing about it.
“Are you sure it’s OK we come over? I don’t want to intrude on Luke and Violet.”
“Luke and Violet probably aren’t even there. They had mentioned yesterday that they were going to take Frankie to the movies with her new boyfriend.” Frankie’s new boyfriend was a sore subject for Luke and I. We both still saw her as the little sister who followed us around wherever we went. This whole dating thing was something we were all trying to get used to. Frankie’s only saving grace was Violet, who had talked Luke into taking them to the movies. It was only going on eight o’clock, and I knew they weren’t back yet.
“I can’t imagine Luke being a chaperone,” Scarlett laughed.
“Yeah, it is rather strange.”
“Frankie’s poor date is probably so intimidated by him. I’m intimidated by him, and I barely know him,” she laughed.
I shrugged my shoulders, “Luke isn’t that bad. He’s just got a lot on his plate. If you think he is intimidating now, you should have seen him before he got together with Violet, talk about a hardass.” I turned into the driveway of the shop and killed the engine.
“Yes! Do you think I could see Kurt’s car again?” Levi asked. He frantically grabbed at the buckles on the car seat to get out.
“Hold on, big man,” Scarlett laughed as she got out of the truck. She quickly unbuckled him, and he flew into the office.
“You think he likes cars?” I asked jokingly.
“No, not at all,” Scarlett smirked.
We headed into the shop to see Levi sitting on Kurt’s lap who was sitting on a stool in front of the computer. “This right here is one of the fastest cars in the world.” Kurt pointed to the screen and Levi’s jaw dropped.
“Wow, but I bet it’s not as fast as your Bumblebee and Mitch’s car.”
“As much as I wish that were true, bud, my Camaro isn’t going to beat a Bugatti.”
“I bet it would. Hey, Mitch,” Levi called. “Your car could beat a Ba… Baguette… Baguette, right?”
Kurt busted out laughing, and I couldn’t help but smirk. “Naw. A Bugatti is one car I don’t think I could beat.”
“You ready to head up and watch a movie?” Scarlett asked.
“Yeah!” Levi jumped down from Kurt’s lap and raced over to the stairs. “Hey, Kurt, you wanna watch with us?” Levi asked as he put one foot on the step.
“Maybe next time, bud. I was headed out when you came running in.” Kurt grabbed his keys off the counter and tossed them up in the air. “Next time you come over I’ll give you a ride in the Camaro, too,” Kurt promised.
“Best night ever!” Levi yelled as he pumped his fist in the air and ran up the stairs.
“I better go rein him in before he goes crazy up there. Is it OK if I go up there?” Scarlett asked, looking up at me.
“Yeah, I’ll be up in a minute.” Scarlett nodded her head and headed up the stairs.
I hadn’t seen Kurt since he took off the other night and I had something I needed to say to him. “You over whatever the fuck crawled up your ass?”
Kurt shook his head and ran his fingers through his hair. “Leelee still work here?”
“She ain’t going anywhere, Kurt.”
“Then maybe it’s time I went somewhere.”
Fuck. I know Luke had said the same thing before, but I knew he didn’t mean it. “Maybe you should tell me what the hell your problem is with Leelee for starters.”
“Ain’t nothing fucking to tell.”
“That’s bullshit, Kurt. What the hell is your problem with Leelee?”
“Like I said before, ain’t nothing to fucking tell. I’ll see ya later.”
“I ain’t done talking to you,” I called to his retreating back. He flipped me off, opened the door and slammed it shut behind him.
“Son of a bitch.” I slammed my hand down on the counter and didn’t know what the hell to do when it came to Kurt. Something had to have happened between him and Leelee before she came to work here, but I didn’t know what the hell it was.
“Mitch?” Scarlett called down the stairs.
“I’m coming right up, Sparky.” I turned off all the lights, flipped the lock on the door and headed up the stairs.
I would worry about Kurt and Leelee later. Right now I had Levi and Scarlett waiting on me, and I didn’t want to be away from them any longer than I had to be.
______________
Scarlett
“Do you think you can carry him to the truck without waking him up?” Levi was sprawled out on the couch and Mitch and I were looking down at him. The movie had just ended, and we were trying to figure out how to get Levi to the truck.
“I don’t think I can move him without waking him up.”
“Crap.”
“Why don’t you guys just stay the night and I’ll take you home in the morning.”
“I really don’t think we should, Mitch.”
“Why the hell not?” He asked. “I’ll grab some pillows and blankets, and you can camp out on the couch with Levi.”
“And where are you going to sleep?”
“In my room.”
Oh, duh. “Are you sure it’s OK that we stay?”
“If I didn’t want you to stay, Scar, I wouldn’t have asked you to.” He threaded his fingers through mine and tugged me down the hallway. “Blankets are in the hall closet.”
Mitch opened the closet, pulled out three blankets and headed further down the hall. “I’ll grab a couple of pillows off of my bed.” Mitch flipped on the light in his room and pulled me over to the bed.
“I feel getting pillows was just an excuse to get me in your room,” I mumbled looking around. Mitch’s room was surprisingly sparse but still felt warm. Three of the walls were painted a warm chocolate brown, and the fourth was painted a light brown. He had no pictures or anything hanging on the wall beside a huge TV that was on the wall opposite of the bed.
The comforter on the bed was brown and blue plaid that matched the walls perfectly. He had four big pillows at the head of the bed, and Mitch grabbed two of them. “Just here for pillows, Sparky, swear. Although I do like the way you think.” He tossed the pillows and blankets on the bed and wrapped his arms around me. “Did you have a good night tonight?” He asked.
I wrapped my arms around his neck and leaned back. “How crazy would it sound if I say that was one of the best nights I’ve ever had?”
“I would say that we better do it again.” He leaned in and pressed a kiss to the side of my neck. “And again.” His hands rubbed my back, and I tilted my head to the right to give him better access.
His lips skimmed over my neck, and I gasped as his teeth grazed my earlobe. “Mitch,” I gasped. My hands traveled down his arms, grazing over the tattoos that peeked out from under each sleeve.
“I can’t keep my hands off of you, Scar.”
“I don’t want you to,” I gasped as his hands pulled up the hem of my shirt.
“We shouldn’t be doing this, Scarlett. At least not tonight.”
I whimpered under his touch, wanting more. “I know, but I don’t want to stop.”
“I’ll get Frankie to babysit next Saturday night. Levi can spend the night here.” Mitch stepped back and his hands went to the hem of his shirt, and he pulled it over his head. My eyes instantly went to tattoos all over his body. I didn’t know where to look first so I tried to take it all in at once.
“Um,” I said dumbly. Before I could get my wi
ts about me, my fingers traced over the words that were on his chest. “What does it say?”
“‘If you’re in control, you’re not going fast enough.’ “
“Racing really is everything to you, isn’t it?”
“It’s something I love, and I get to do it with my family.”
Two things I always wondered what it would feel like to have. I loved Levi with my whole heart, but I didn’t love anything else. I knew leaving Manny that I wasn’t going to have a family ever. Levi was all that I had. The fact that Mitch had something he loved so passionately and he got to share that with his family made me jealous. “I wish I had something like that.”
His fingers brushed my chin and tilted my head back. “There has to be something you love to do.”
“I don’t have time to do anything other than work and take care of Levi.”
“That’s not what I asked. What would you love to do? If you didn’t have to work and Levi was with a babysitter, what would you do?”
Sleep would have been my first answer, but I knew that wasn’t what Mitch was asking. “Um, I used to love to write when I was in high school.”
He brushed my hair back from my face and tucked it behind my ear. “What kind of writing?”
“Um, just short stories and a couple of books.” Why was I telling him this?
“Just a couple of books? Scarlett, that’s amazing. I don’t even think I could write a paragraph without ripping it up ten times and throwing it away.”
“It’s not really that big of a deal.” I crossed my arms over my chest. I didn’t like talking about myself. Hell, the last time we had talked about me I had ended up a blubbering mess.
“Do you want to start writing again?”
“I just told you, Mitch. I barely have time to shower, let alone sit down and write.”
“What if I helped you to make time?”
“I would think you are being way too nice to me again.”
“This is going to be a constant argument between us, isn’t it? Me wanting to help and you insisting you don’t need it.”
I wrapped my arms around his waist and rested my head on his chest. “I feel like all you are doing is giving, and I have nothing to give back.”
“Sparky, I don’t need anything from you.”
I doubted Mitch would ever need anything from me. Hell, I didn’t even know what I had to offer. “I should probably try to get to sleep.” I pulled out of Mitch’s arms and grabbed the two pillows off of the bed.
“Scarlett,” Mitch grabbed my arm and stopped me, “what just happened?”
“Nothing.”
“That wasn’t nothing. We were talking and you suddenly just shut off.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Mitch. I’m tired, and Levi wakes up at the butt crack of dawn.”
“Scarlett, I just-”
“No,” I twisted my arm out of his grasp and took a step towards the door. “Just stop, please,” I pleaded.
“Fine.” Mitch ran his hand over his head, and I ran down the hallway like the coward I was.
I didn’t know what the hell I was doing here. Even if Mitch had come from where I was, he was still better than me. He was something I would never deserve. He made it out, and I was still there.
How long would we last before he would get sick of always having to rescue me? For one split second, I thought that things could work between Mitch and me, but I was wrong.
I wasn’t made for happily ever after. At least not with Mitch.
______________
Chapter 18
Mitch
“Mitch, psst, Mitch.” I cracked open one eye and was face to face with Levi. “I wanna make mama breakfast before she wakes up, but I can’t reach the toaster, and I don’t know how to turn on the stove.”
Both of my eyes popped open, and I was wide awake. “Stove?”
“Yeah, mama loves French toast.”
“Um, OK if I help you?” Levi, a stove and French toast did not sound like a good combination.
“Yeah, that’s why I came in here. Hurry up before mama wakes up.” Levi ran out the door, turned right around and ran back over to the bed. “We need to be quiet,” he whispered pressing his finger to his lips.
I reached up, ruffling his hair and then he dashed out of the room again. I grabbed a pair of sweatpants out of the drawer and headed into the kitchen. I glanced at the clock on the stove and realized Scarlett was right. Levi did wake up at the butt-crack of dawn. It was only six forty-five.
“Do you know how to make French toast?” Levi asked. I reached into the lower cabinet and pulled out a huge griddle. I figured Luke and Violet weren’t here, but I knew if Kurt and Frankie were going to eat, I needed to cook a ton of French toast.
“I sure do, bud. Out of Luke, Myself, and Kurt, I am definitely the better cook.”
“Awesome. Mama likes fruit on her French toast, and I like tons of syrup.” I had no doubt that Levi liked syrup. What kid didn’t?
I plugged in the griddle, turned it to medium high heat and put my hands on my hips. “Alright. I think now we must assemble our French toast. Grab the bread out of the pantry,” I told Levi, and then I turned to the fridge to grab eggs, milk, and butter. I held the fridge open with my foot and managed to juggle the strawberries into my arms.
After I cracked the eggs and poured a healthy splash of milk into the eggs, I handed Levi the whisk and let him go to town. After splashing in some vanilla and some cinnamon, we were ready to get cooking.
“You think mama will let me spend the night again tonight?”
I dunked the first couple slices of bread into the egg mixture and placed them on the griddle where they immediately started sizzling. “Probably not tonight, bud. How about next Friday? Maybe you and Frankie could have a sleepover here while I take your mama to the movies.”
“I wanna go to the movies!” Levi shouted.
I glanced in the living room making sure Scarlett was still sleeping. “Well, I thought it would be just your mama and me. Like a date.”
“But we went on a date last night, and I got to come with you.”
“I know, but I thought maybe I could just go with your mama this time and then Saturday we could all go to the zoo.”
“The zoo!” Levi shouted again. The way this was going, Scarlett was going to be awake before the French toast would be made.
“Shh, keep it down, bud.”
“You really mean we’ll go to the zoo?” Levi pulled a stool over by the griddle and climbed up.
“Yup, I promise. You let me take your mama out Friday and then we’ll spend all day Saturday at the zoo.”
“Deal.” Levi held his hand out to shake.
“Do I wanna know why you two are shaking hands over a griddle full of French toast at seven o’clock in the morning?” Scarlett asked as she stood behind the couch rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.
“We’re plotting, mama, and you’re supposed to be sleeping.” Levi crossed his arms over his chest and stuck his bottom lip out.
“And what exactly are you plotting?” She asked as she walked over and wrapped Levi up in a hug.
“Mitch wants to date you and then take me to the zoo.”
“Oh, does he now?” Scarlett laughed.
“Yup. I’m staying the night with Frankie, and you are going to see a movie with Mitch. You think Frankie will let me have ice cream and stay up late?”
“We’ll have to see,” Scarlett said. “Why don’t you use the bathroom and wash your hands for breakfast, big guy.” Levi hopped down from the stool and ran down the hallway.
“Levi said-”
“Why the hell would you do that?”
Scarlett looked pissed off, and I had no idea how to tread. “Last night I said I would get Frankie to watch Levi Friday.”
“I never agreed to that,” she hissed.
“Well, you didn’t say no.”
She
grabbed the spatula out of my hand and started flipping the French toast. “I also didn’t say yes. We can’t do this, Mitch.”
“I think it’s too late for that, Sparky. We’re already doing it.” I could tell she was still stuck on whatever upset her last night. After she had run out of my room with the pillows, I brought out the blankets to her, and she barely looked at me. After trying to talk to her for the third time, I decided I just needed to leave her alone for a bit. Obviously, I should have waited longer.
“No, we’re not.” She looked over her shoulder down the hallway. “This,” she said turning back around and motioned between us with the spatula, “can’t work.”
“I think it’s working just fine.” I slid my arms around her waist and pulled her to me.
“No, Mitch,” she insisted, as she pulled out of my arms. “We can’t work.”
“Scarlett, you really need to knock this shit off and stop thinking.”
“I’m thinking just fine, Mitch. Our relationship is entirely one-sided. All I need is help, and all you do is give.” She slid a piece of French toast off the griddle and looked around. “I need a plate or something.” I reached up in the cabinet and handed her a plate. “See, I needed something again, and you gave it to me.”
“Scar, it’s a plate.”
“No, Mitch, it’s way more than a plate, and you damn well know it. I don’t want to play the damsel in distress that you always need to come and rescue.” She flipped all of the French toast onto the plate and started dipping more bread into the egg mixture. “I will not be some charity case you think you need to save.” She slapped the bread into the egg, splashing it all over the counter.
I grabbed the bowl and bread away from her and turned her around. I pressed her against the counter and caged her in with her arms. “You act like I’ve been saving you all your life. I’ve only known you a month, and yeah, in that time I’ve been helping you, but I think it’s about damn time someone did help you.”
“I don’t want help,” she bit off.
“It’s not about what you want, it’s about what you need.”
PowerShift: Skid Row Kings Series, #2 Page 10
