by Holly Hood
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 of 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.
I dusted off my hands on the seat of my shorts. “I have to run home. But I will be back.” I lifted my mouth to his and we kissed. His hands found my waist like they always did and he backed me up until we were pressed against the wall.
I wasn’t fighting any of it because I would rather be doing what we were doing than taking my dog for a walk. I turned, pushing him against the wall.
I unbuckled his belt and tore his pants down. “I want you.” I kissed him hard, taking my time to enjoy the feel of his mouth against mine.
His hands moved down to my ass, and I kissed him harder when he pulled me into him. I loved the familiar feel of him against me.
We moved against each other until
I couldn’t take it anymore. I pulled my shirt over my head and Slade stopped me before I had it all the way off. “You said you were going home.”
I looked at him breathless. “Are you kidding?”
He shook his head. “We have all the time in the world. Go home, we can finish this later.” He yanked me back to him when I tried backing away. “Fuck. What the hell am I saying? I want inside you right now. Fuck time, fuck the world, I just want to get you out of that swimsuit.”
I squealed when he lifted me up, pulling away long enough to ask him something I wanted to know. “Did you want to go for a swim?” Slade shook his head pulling the strings to my bikini top.
“Not anymore,” he said.
The best part of waking up
Waking up and not finding Slade next to me was a little strange. And waking up in a totally different house I wasn’t used to was another issue. But the smell of food coming from the kitchen might have taken the cake, probably because I did all the cooking for quite some time now.
Well sometimes Nona cooked, but when it came to my life and anyone in it on a daily basis, they made sure to let me do all the cooking whether I liked it or not.
I hadn’t had a really good meal since my mother, and that put a little bit of annoyance in my morning now that I was thinking about her.
I dropped my feet to the floor and shuffled across the room to find my shorts. We had a lot more to get done today. I checked the time on my cell phone before I went to the bathroom to scrub the morning breath away and to run a brush through my hair.
I surveyed the marks on my neck and my chest from Slade. Last night was incredible and I had the proof. I powdered my neck with some loose concealer and snapped off the light.
I went down the hallway thinking about decorations and things I could buy him to liven the place up a little, and I wanted to do it. Giving my boyfriend a housewarming gift was normal, finally we had something to concentrate on besides magic and evil.
“Morning beautiful,” Slade said.
My mouth fell slack, I shook my head. “You’re cooking in the nude.”
He moved from the stove to the counter, sliding what looked to be an omelette onto a plate. “It’s my house I can do whatever I want.” He carried both plates from the counter to the table and looked up at me. “Matter of fact you should be naked too.”
I ran a hand through my hair feeling my cheeks warm. I looked at the kitchen door. I could see people not to far away from us on the beach. I could imagine what everyone saw by now if they just looked this way. “I’m okay with my shirt, this is fine.” I touched my shirt and took a seat.
Slade brought over a bottle of ketchup and hot sauce and pulled up a chair beside me. He rested a hand on my leg. “I made breakfast.”
I nodded staring at the food. “And it looks edible.” He did a really good job. I was impressed with his cooking skills. “Maybe even better than my omelettes.” I worked my fork into the omelette and took a bite.
“What you didn’t think I could cook?” He shot me a look, stroking my leg with his free hand as he ate.
I took a drink of the orange juice he poured. “Most men can’t.”
He shrugged. “I’m not most men. I’m the best thing that ever happened to you.”
We exchanged knowing looks. “Oh ,sure you are.”
Slade set his fork down. “Well, I’d like to think one day you might think so.”
I reached out touching his arm. “I do think so, all the time actually.”
He planted his lips on mine mid chew and stood up. “Good.
“Where are you going?” I couldn’t not look at the things I was looking at, parts of his body that made me scream obscenities last night, Slade managed to get me to say things I never thought I would.
“I’m going to get some clothes on. I highly doubt the neighbors would want me cleaning the yard in the nude.” He smirked, walking away.
“I’m sure a lot of them would appreciate it,” I called after him. I finished my omelette and cleaned the dishes for him.
“Thanks for cleaning up my mess,” he said coming up behind me, I could smell his cologne and taste the minty fresh taste of his breath when he kissed me, it was obvious he brushed his teeth.
“No problem.” I replaced the sponge and looked around the kitchen at the boxes in one corner. “What are those?”
Slade nodded at them. “Kidd stopped by earlier with some of my things. And some stuff Lucy was willing to part with.”
“That was nice of her,” I said. “Did you see, Karsen?”
Slade shook his head grabbing two waters out of his refrigerator. “Nope. Kidd did tell me they would be coming back to help with the yard work though. So I’m sure you will be seeing her in a little while.”
I smiled at the thought. I hadn’t been able to talk to Karsen about everything that happened since we got home and I really needed to fill her in. She worried about anything and everything anymore so I needed to put her out of her misery.
***
About an hour into pulling weeds and mowing lawn Karsen and Kidd showed up. I dropped the rake when I saw my best friend hop off the back of Kidd’s four wheeler.
She had the same big grin she always did when she saw me. We hugged and almost cried and finally broke apart. “I can’t believe I am looking at you.”
I nodded in agreement. “I can’t believe it either. But here I am.”
Karsen looked around the yard. “It might not be the best way to hang out, cleaning up your boyfriend’s new house but at least we are together.”
Kidd crashed our reunion throwing an arm around me. It was one of the first times I seen him with so little on. “Did Slade tell you the good news?”
I turned my attention to Slade and shook my head. “No, he hasn’t told me anything.”
Kidd pulled me closer and Karsen grinned. “I’m his new roommate.”
It didn’t shock me to hear Kidd would be moving in with Slade. “So much for naked mornings,” I said to Slade.
Slade shook his head at me. “You don’t think this guy has seen my junk before?”
Kidd agreed. “We’re bandmates. I’ve seen every bit of it. Even in action.”
Karsen and I shook our heads. And we thought we were close.
“Same here buddy. Same here,” Slade said to Kidd. “Before and after the piercings.” He slapped Kidd on the back and went back to the overgrown shrubs in front of the porch.
I looked at Karsen clutching my chest. “You never told me that.”
Karsen shrugged. “Look who you’re dating. I figured both of us were being banged by metal boners.”
We both busted a gut taking off to the porch to catch up on life and all the things that had taken place recently. Like Kenny and Jersey. The main thing I wanted to get out of the way before we could move on with our lives.
