Sticks (Black Addiction #2)

by T Gephart

  I willed myself to pee quicker so I could leave the confines of my bathroom prison and find out what the hell was going on.

  “Fuck off, King Kong, I’m not interested in what you think.” Joey’s aggravation rose, as did his voice.

  “Do yourself a favor, take a walk and chill out. I’m not looking to hurt you.” Dom was keeping his cool despite being justified in losing it. Joey wasn’t exactly being complimentary.

  “Do you know who I am?”

  “As in a dick who plays for Black Addiction? Yeah, I think I’ve heard of you.”

  I quickly finished on the toilet, opening the faucet a crack so I would still be able to hear the conversation over the water, trying to speed up the hand washing process. My wet hands forwent the towel as they rubbed the front of my jeans in an effort to hurry up and get to the front door.

  “I didn’t mean like that, asshole. I mean, that Kenzie is carrying my kid.”

  My heart stopped. There is no explanation why I didn’t at that point go to the door with a big ta-dah reveal. Hi, it’s me. The girl you wanted to see. But part of me was so shocked that Joey had apparently lost his damn mind, while another part genuinely didn’t want to see him acting like that.

  “She’s mentioned, doesn’t change anything as far as I’m concerned.” Dom refused to budge, his large body blocking the door as I walked from the bathroom back down the hall.

  “Doesn’t change anything? Is your Godzilla brain really that small? You really want to mess with that?”

  My heart started to thump louder as I got closer, my feet moving slower than they should.

  “Bud, lay off the insults. They aren’t helping you right now.”

  “All I’m hearing is wa wa wa, Big Foot. For a big motherfucker, you really are a pussy.”

  Something inside me snapped. It was like I’d woken from whatever trance-like state I had been in when I walked out the bathroom and finally my brain had kicked into gear. And thank God it had or I was pretty sure Dom would quickly run out of patience.

  “What the hell, Joey? What are you doing here?” I slipped into the spot between Dom and the door, most of my body being obscured by his monstrous frame.

  “Taking a walk, randomly knocking on doors and seeing if I can find any freaks of nature. Oh look, I found one,” Joey spat back, his eyes mixed with emotions I couldn’t read.

  “You want me to get rid of him?” Dom turned to me, completely ignoring the madman on his doorstep.

  “No, it’s fine, I’ll talk to him.” I nodded, signaling he could open the door a little more. Whatever was bugging Joey, I doubted he would ever hurt me.

  “I’m right here,” he said to me but didn’t take his eyes off Joey, slowly backing away from the doorway to give us some room. No doubt sticking close by in case he was needed.

  “Joey, what the hell has gotten into you?” I moved into the now-vacant space but stopped short of inviting him in.

  “I read the message. Let’s make the magic happen. I thought we had an agreement?”

  Oh.

  And then it all made sense.

  The day of the phone swap, Dom had sent me a message saying he liked the suggestions I emailed him and that he was anxious to get started. I suppose out of context it didn’t sound great, but it wasn’t a smoking gun. In any case, he had no right to come to Dom’s house and start throwing around accusations. Especially when Dom had been nothing but supportive and was providing me a much-needed opportunity.

  “You think I’m sleeping with Dom?” I almost exploded, wondering how the hell Joey of all people decided it was okay to be judgmental. Oh, and also he was calling me a whore in a roundabout way. And not in a joking you’re-a-whore-I’m-a-whore way.

  “No, I know you’re not sleeping with him. You said you wouldn’t and I believe you,” he fired back, shocking the hell out of me.

  He didn’t think I was sleeping with him, but he was here acting like a jealous boyfriend. Yeah, because that makes all the sense in the world.

  “Then why the hell are you acting crazy right now?”

  “Because you’re working with him, yet you won’t even consider working with me.”

  The true motivation for his visit was revealed. He was pissed because I was working with another musician? It was my job—I wouldn’t get upset if he suddenly started working with someone else.

  “Joey, you’re not a song writer. It’s not personal.”

  “You think because I’m a drummer I can’t write? Sure, Angie and Rus do the heavy lifting but I’m in there too.” And past the anger I saw some of the hurt, possibly rejection, having dismissed the opportunity to work together so easily days before. Ironically on the same day as the phone swap. That day was just awesome all round it seemed.

  “I thought you were joking. You’re a drummer. We’re both guitarists; I just didn’t think you were serious.”

  “When I saw that message initially, Kenz, I thought maybe he was an ex-boyfriend trying to hook up. You gave me your word and I knew you wouldn’t go back on that. But even though it made no sense, it pissed me off some asshole would just call you for a booty call.” He lowered his voice as he tried to explain; on his face the look of defeat.

  “You mean like you tried to so many times before we actually did it?” I reminded, though his text messages hadn’t been so innocent.

  “That was before I really knew you. Look, I was a dick I’ll admit that, but if you are going to be with a guy then he better treat you right. So I did some digging. Found out who he was and then heard through the grapevine you guys were working together.”

  Like when I had first spoken to Dom about Joey, the industry was a gossip pit, and it wouldn’t have been hard for him to find out about me working with him. It wasn’t like I was trying to hide.

  He took a breath. “You blew me off. Wouldn’t even give me a fucking chance. And it’s more than just about the music. How the hell is that going to work when we are having a baby together? You just going to assume I’m a fucking loser who can only drum? That I can’t contribute because I’m stupid.”

  “I didn’t—” I stopped midsentence, the words getting stuck in my throat.

  I guess when it came to Joey, I often joked about his intelligence level or his lack of college education. Not because he was stupid but because it was easy. We made fun of each other, that’s what we did. I’d never meant it to be hurtful.

  “I’m sorry. I don’t think you’re stupid. I never thought that.”

  “Ah, fuck. I’m sorry. I have no idea what is going through my head right now, but it’s a mess. I guess I feel sort of left out like, you’re calling all the shots. And I get it, I totally understand but I just need to be a part of this.”

  He did it again.

  Completely flooring me with his kind, sensitive side very few people saw. The man who would be an amazing father.

  I swallowed.

  Hard.

  “You’re part of this. I promise. I won’t freeze you out.”

  “That’s all I’m asking.” He reached out and squeezed my hand.

  “You guys want to come inside or you happy to stand in the doorway some more? Pretty sure every single one of my neighbors is looking out their window right now.” Dom appeared back at my side, obviously hearing the whole conversation. Not that he seemed overly annoyed we had commandeered his stoop to get talk-show crazy. All we needed was the paternity test results, and it could have been an episode of Maury.

  “Hey.” Joey tipped his chin hello, about twenty thousand levels calmer than when he’d met Dom a few minutes earlier. “I think I’m just going to take off. We can talk about this later.”

  “Can I call you later?” I didn’t want him to leave, but asking him to stay didn’t seem like a good idea either.

  “Of course you can call me, you know my number.” He gave me a nod and then turned around, walking down the stairs onto the sidewalk before he turned a corner and was gone.

  I could have gone after him but
I didn’t.

  “You need anything?” Dom put his arm around me and pulled me into his side.

  “Yeah, a lobotomy.” I tried to force a grin.

  “Hey, can I come in?”

  I could count the number of times Kenzie had ever come to Max and my place. There had been a few parties but that’s about it, so seeing her on the other side of my security door wasn’t what I expected. Especially not three hours after our last encounter. Not my finest hour.

  “I thought you said you were going to call?” I opened the door and stepped to the side. “Come on in.”

  I didn’t give a fuck what people thought of me. None. And I really didn’t give a shit if people thought I was stupid, I knew different. And I didn’t live my life with something to prove. But now with Kenzie—it fucking mattered.

  We wandered through to the living room, my hand gesturing for her to take a seat.

  “I hate how we left things.” She paced nervously, declining the offer of the couch.

  “You’re right. It was bullshit. I should never have come down there and spoken to you like that. That was a bad call.”

  There were better ways to have handled it; unfortunately I didn’t choose the other options. Pissed, not because she was blowing me off, but blowing me off because she didn’t think I was good enough. Which is why I acted like a sixteen-year-old girl.

  “No, you were hurt. I get it. I think you’re great.” She continued to pace, her hands twitchy at her side.

  Awesome. Now she was nervous to be around me too. Just another layer of BS to an already shitastic day.

  “Can you sit down, you’re making me edgy.” I eased up to her and ran my hands along her arms, moving her closer to the couch.

  “Okay.” She smiled, her ass lowering onto the two seater.

  Not much better. Her hands locked into place in her lap as she took her seat and waited for me to do the same on the opposite armchair.

  Silence.

  Fucking great.

  “I don’t like seeing you like this.” I leaned forward, knowing we had to somehow fix this shitty situation.

  “Like what?” She shrugged, like she had no idea how uptight she was.

  “Nervous around me. Quiet. It’s not you.”

  “I’m not nervous. You want me to be loud?” she asked with a slight look of confusion.

  “Yes, it will make me feel better. Feel free to get crazy,” I offered, hoping it would tease us from this no man’s land we were currently in.

  “Fine.” She slowly rose to her feet and started to stomp around dramatically. “Fuck,” she screamed out randomly and picked up a pillow and threw it across the room. “Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.” The later ones slightly louder than the first.

  “That’s you being loud? You need more bass behind the fucks if you are going to get serious. And one pillow? Really?”

  “FUCK.” My voice boomed, echoing off the walls, as I grabbed the stash of Sports Illustrated chilling on my coffee table and pitched them against the wall. The flap of pages rained through the air before falling into a messy heap.

  “Impressive.” She smiled. “I can probably do better.” She looked around for something to throw, her eyes falling to the television remote.

  “Not that.” I warned and pointed to the shitty thrift store lamp that sat on the end table beside her. “That.”

  “Are you sure?” She looked between the lamp and me like she was convinced I meant something else.

  “As a heart attack.” I smiled and watched her unplug the piece of shit lamp and grasped it in her palm.

  “FUCK.” The lamp catapulted through the air with a satisfying smash as it hit the wall, the globe shattering on impact.

  “What the fuck?” Max stormed into the living room. The front door left wide open, his keys still in his hand. “What the hell is going on in here?”

  I assumed the question was directed at both of us even though he was looking squarely at me. The bastard assuming I was the reason furniture was being thrown. And in this instance, he would be correct.

  “Kenz wants to moonlight as a quarterback.” I nodded toward Kenzie, her hand still raised in the air from the arc of the throw. “She’s got a great right arm, wouldn’t you say?” I gave her a big smile.

  “Yeah, because I believe that.” Max’s face all I-wasn’t-born-yesterday as he eyed us both for an explanation.

  “It’s true.” Kenz played along trying not to laugh. “It’s always been a fantasy of mine.” Her hand lowered to her side as she smiled, nodding to me in a show of support.

  “You both are full of shit.” Max shook his head, disappearing momentarily to take care of our still open front door. “I’m going to go hang in my bedroom away from the crazy that’s happening in here.” He waved his hand dramatically in the air. “If you could not destroy any more of the living room, that sure would be nice too. Peace.” He gave us a wave before taking off down the hall.

  “Wow, I would have expected more questions. If that had been Sara, I would have had to give a three-page account with a PowerPoint display.” She looked skeptically at the hall like Max might reappear any minute and demand more info.

  “Yeah, Max doesn’t give a shit. I’m sure once he realized they weren’t angry fucks and we weren’t trying to kill each other, he lost interest pretty quickly.” I moved from my place across the room so that I was directly in front of her.

  “Hey.” She smiled, her eyes meeting mine.

  “Hey.” I grinned back, the urge to touch her too great as I gave in and pulled her in for a hug.

  “We can do better.” She didn’t fight my hold, if anything moving closer against my chest.

  “I agree.” My mouth unconsciously brushed against her forehead and gave her a kiss. And fuck me, the contact was not nearly enough. “You want to do something? We could go see a movie?”

  “Like a date?” She pulled back slightly so she could get a better look at me. “We’ve never dated before.”

  “Sure, Date Joey is so much fun. You’ve completely been missing out.” My hands lowered a little, settling on her waist.

  Hmm. That felt really fucking nice, exactly where I wanted them and her. The rise and fall of her chest caught my attention as I tried to regulate my own breathing. Had we been this close before without having sex? Not to flirt, but just to touch each other? It pissed me off that I couldn’t recall, the curve of her hips absolutely perfect for my hands.

  “I don’t know, Joey.” Her fingers played with the fabric of my T-shirt and if I wasn’t so sure she’d freak the fuck out, I would have kissed her.

  God, I wanted too. Kiss away any hard feelings; hold her close to my chest.

  I wanted her.

  Not just to take to my bed, I wanted something else as well.

  More.

  Whatever more was.

  And just like she got a brain scan of what I was thinking, she pulled away a little further. My hands slipped from her body as she gave us more distance, the silence threatening to come back.

  “Or we could fuck. You know I’m good at that.” I slipped back into the Joey she remembered, hopefully lightening the mood. Praying to God she didn’t think I was a jerk off and was actually suggesting we fuck.

  She jabbed me in the ribs with her elbow. “You had to go ruin it.” She rewarded me with the laugh that I had wanted.

  “I’m just keeping it real, babe.”

  ***

  You would think we hadn’t played in years with the amount of practice Angie had scheduled. It was like we were recording again, days spent holed up in a room. At least we had the convenience of her makeshift home studio this time, her new house boasting a soundproof basement. I guess it beat spending hours at my own home twiddling my thumbs.

  “Just a head’s up.” Max loaded his bass and amp into the back of his car. “I’m doing a stop-and-drop at home and then heading out. I’ll probably have company tonight.”

  “Whatever, dude. I might go see Kenzie, it’s been a few d
ays.” I lifted the last of my kit into the back of my truck.

  My plans for the night had already been set regardless of Max’s agenda. Him and company just made the choice a lot easier, giving the dude some extra room while getting what I wanted. Everyone won.

  “Yeah, you do that.” The bastard laughed as he finished packing up his ride.

  There was no need to pretend. Max had known me so long, half the time he knew me better than I knew myself. And while I was still wading my way through what it all meant, my interest in Kenz was no longer purely as the mother of my child.

  In what I can only describe as sick twisted perversion—that I would never repeat, not even to Max—I was glad I’d knocked her up. Pleased beyond measure it was my kid that was inside of her. And since we’d gotten those ever-important paternity test results that confirmed it, I was strutting around like I’d just been given a key to the city. As far as I was concerned, getting her pregnant was the best thing I ever did.

  Of course shit was still in a weird sort of limbo between us, but she’d finally caved and went out on a date like I asked. I had been the perfect gentleman, keeping my hands and my dick to myself the entire time. Not even a sly brush of the ass when I put my hand around her waist. Nope, my mitts were above the belt the entire time much to my dick’s disgust.

  And because I’d been good and hadn’t so much as kissed her, we’d done it again a couple more times. Sure, we weren’t doing anything super exciting; keeping the outings pretty PG, but it was cool just to relax with her. And that laugh of hers was making my world go round.

  The hard-ons weren’t as much fun. My balls ached like no other and I was jerking off so much I was sure I was going to be rocking epic chafing. Not like I had an alternative, at this point I doubt I could have fucked anyone else even if it were an option. Which was another thing.

  Since I’d taken a hiatus from the ladies, I had more pussy thrown at me than ever. No shit. Pussy for fucking days. I’m talking random pussy just turned up when I least expected it, for no good reason. It was like the big man upstairs was testing me, seeing if I would crack and I wasn’t even breaking a sweat.