Tattooed Dots (The Halo Series Book 1)

by Kimberly Knight

  I texted Nicole and told her about the appointment and that I was going to New York instead of waiting until Friday. Easton and Nicole didn’t want me driving, but I didn’t want to wait two more days until I could see Easton again. Those two days would be torturous given the fact that I would be sitting around alone in my apartment.

  After I’d packed a few more bags of my things, I paid rent for the following month and took off for New York—my new home.

  Six weeks of radiation? Fuck that was a lot. And five days a week? If she was having treatments five days a week and Cheyenne had games every Saturday, plus practices, my time with Brooke was going to be minimal. I had already gotten it into my head that Brooke was going to be with me while she recovered and when her doctor told her about needing either chemo or radiation, I didn’t expect her to tell me that it would be for six weeks.

  There had to be a solution.

  But I didn’t have time to think about a solution. Peanut had practice and then I had to cover a shift for Bethy.

  During practice, some of the girls were being little bitches towards Cheyenne and I didn’t know why. At first, it started out with a few girls turning Cheyenne down to warm up with her. Then I saw one of the girls bump into her and finally, towards the end of practice, another one of the girls started giving her a hard time, calling her Cryanne instead of Cheyenne. I started to say something, but before I could, Courtney told them to shut up and Phil stepped in.

  “Are you okay, Peanut?” I asked when we got into my car.

  “Yeah,” she responded curtly.

  “Want to talk about it?”

  “No.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes. Please just drop it.”

  My heart was hurting. I didn’t know why the girls were mean to her. Maybe something had happened at school, but since she wasn’t talking to me, I didn’t know what.

  “I’m sorry I have to go to work tonight, Peanut.”

  “It’s okay. I’m used to it.”

  Ouch, that stung.

  “Would you rather hang out with Uncle A tonight instead of Grandma and Grandpa?”

  Avery always had a way of cheering Cheyenne up. It was probably because he acted like a kid her age around her. I’ve tried, but she just sees me as her father—which I understood.

  “Is he going to be on the phone with his girlfriend the whole time?”

  I laughed. If it weren’t for Cheyenne, I would be on the phone with Brooke whenever I had a free moment, so it was understandable that Avery always had Nicole on the phone. He and Nicole were waiting until Nicole told Brooke that she was pregnant and she was moving to New York. I wanted them to hold off. I didn’t want Brooke going through radiation alone and I couldn’t be there every day—but it wasn’t my choice. “No, I’ll make sure of it.” I smiled at her. She still had the sad look on her face and it was killing me.

  I’d texted Avery before I put the car in drive. He needed to come over to my house to watch Cheyenne and I knew he didn’t have plans—his plan was to talk to Nicole all night and have phone sex … possibly Skype or Facetime sex.

  When we pulled up to the house, Avery was waiting inside. Cheyenne barely muttered a hello and stormed off to her room.

  “What’s wrong with her?”

  “I don’t know. Some girls were giving her a hard time at practice and I think she’s pissed off.”

  “Why?”

  “I have no idea. Just make her laugh and try to stay off the phone with Nicole until Cheyenne is asleep.”

  “All right. Have fun working,” he said with a smirk.

  “Fuck you. You work tomorrow night, fucker.”

  “Oh, yeah … I can’t wait until this doesn’t happen anymore.”

  “Me too. We should hire two more managers. A day one and a floater.”

  “Yeah, we should.”

  “Let’s talk about it later. I need to call Ma still and get there to relieve Bethy.”

  I’d called my mom before I started to drive to Halo. She understood about Cheyenne, but I could tell she was a little disappointed. I explained to her that Avery had a way of teasing Cheyenne just the right way to make her laugh. She couldn’t do that and neither could my dad or me. She looked at all of us as her parent—not her goofy Uncle A.

  “What time do you get off?”

  Ahh, this line again?

  I was seriously getting tired of hearing chicks ask me that question. Ever since I laid eyes on Brooke, I didn’t want to be with anyone else. Especially a chick from the bar where I didn’t know where she had been. I just wanted my Superwoman. My Superwoman, who doesn’t have cancer and who isn’t going to leave me like Dana did.

  I wonder if I had a wedding ring on if that would turn these broads off?

  Probably not.

  “Sorry, babe, I have plans.” That was starting to be my usual line and I was getting tired of hearing it come out of my mouth. I should get a shirt printed that says, “I have plans tonight and it doesn’t involve you. Move it along!”

  “Are you sure?”

  What? Of course I’m sure!

  “Yeah …” I started to explain to the broad that I had a girlfriend and just as I started, my dick grew hard and I turned, looking at the door, meeting the green eyes that I dreamt about nightly. I smiled as Brooke walked over to me and the annoying broad.

  “Hey,” Brooke said as she wedged herself between the broad and some ugly dude. “Can I get a shot of Patron? I’ve been told tequila makes my clothes come off.”

  “Does it now?” I asked.

  “Yeah, you want to find out? I’m sure my boyfriend won’t mind,” she said with a straight face.

  “Is that so?” I asked, not moving to get her the shot or AB (Annoying Broad) hers … What did she order again?

  “Yeah, watch. Get me a few shots and I’ll prove it to you.” Brooke turned to the AB. “I heard that this guy here,” she said waving her hand at me, “used to be quite the ladies’ man but some hot chick snatched him up and he’s off the market now.”

  “I’ve been trying to get him to go to my car with me, but he won’t budge. He said he has plans tonight—probably with his girlfriend,” AB said.

  “Is that so? I heard his girlfriend doesn’t live in New York—yet.”

  “I don’t know, but I’m trying. Want to see who can get him to leave with them first?” AB asked.

  “That’s tempting. What do you want to bet?”

  “How about one-hundred dollars?” AB suggested.

  I was trying not to laugh, and I was also relieved that Brooke was being a good sport about the whole flirting situation.

  “That sounds fair.” Brooke turned to AB and shook her hand.

  I walked over and handed Brooke two shots and AB her Cosmo. “Can I get you ladies anything else?” I asked.

  “Where does your girlfriend live?” AB asked.

  “Boston.”

  “So she’s not here in New York now?” Brooke asked and gave me a look.

  Yeah, baby, I’ll play along.

  “No … she’s not supposed to be here until Friday night,” I said.

  “So what’s the problem?” AB asked.

  “Well …”

  “Your girlfriend isn’t here and you have two hot girls who want you,” AB said, cutting me off.

  “Well, every guy does want to be with two women,” I said.

  “But I bet just one is all you need,” Brooke said. She leaned over and whispered in AB’s ear.

  “Oh right,” AB replied. “Only one of us can rock your world.”

  “Hmm …” I said. “Hold that thought while I help other people. I’ll be back.”

  I stepped over and started taking more orders. Even though it was a Wednesday, the bar was busy. I glanced at Brooke a few times; she was talking to AB and staring at me while biting her bottom lip. There was no telling what she was planning—but I liked it.

  “Can I get you something else to drink?” I asked Brooke.

&nb
sp; “No, but I’ll take your number.”

  “My girl wouldn’t like that.”

  “What she doesn’t know won’t hurt her,” AB said and unbuttoned a few buttons of her shirt.

  “I think you need to convince me why I should,” I said.

  “What if I tie a cherry stem in a knot with my tongue? Does that earn your number?” Brooke asked.

  My dick was at full mast just thinking about Brooke’s tongue and what she can do with it. “That will earn you more than my number, honey.”

  “Is that so?” Brooke asked, raising an eyebrow.

  “But I don’t know how to do that,” AB said.

  “A bet’s a bet,” Brooke said to her.

  She reached over and plucked a cherry from the container in front of her. I needed to go help other customers, but I wanted to see her tie the stem. She leaned her head back slightly, touching the cherry to her lips and the sucked the juice off the red fruit as she watched me out of the corner of her eye. Fuck, I was so hard.

  She plucked the fruit from the stem with her teeth and chewed the juicy fruit. I couldn’t move. After she’d chewed the cherry, she sucked the stem and then stuck it in her mouth. My cock was screaming at me. It was confused why she wasn’t sucking him like she was the sucking the cherry.

  Don’t worry, she’ll be sucking you once she wins the bet.

  “What if I show you my tits?” AB asked.

  “No, I’m watching this,” I said, my eyes never leaving Brooke’s.

  About a minute later, Brooke reached with her fingers and pulled the stem from her mouth. The whole stem formed a knot. She reached her hand out to me and I reached for it as she placed it in my hand.

  “Pay the lady,” I said to AB.

  “Fuck. Are you serious? She won because of that?”

  “Damn straight,” I groaned.

  “The man wants who he wants.” Brooke waited with her hand out as AB reached in her purse. AB stuck a wad of money in Brooke’s hand and she counted it. “Now where should we go so I can do that to your cock?”

  “Right this way, gorgeous.” I started to walk towards my office.

  AB groaned and stomped off.

  “I think I just came up with how I’m going to make money since I’m moving to New York,” Brooke said.

  “You’re … You’re moving here?” Easton asked, stopping mid-stride up the stairs to his office.

  “Well, I thought my boyfriend wanted me to, but …”

  “No—your boyfriend definitely wants you moving here. I can vouch for him,” he said with a huge smile.

  “Good, because I’m having radiation here in a few weeks and I need a place to live.”

  “Here?”

  “Yeah, figured I would since I was moving here.”

  “Do you know how much I love you?”

  “Do I need to bet because I only have a hundred bucks?”

  “No, you don’t need to bet, but I can show you.”

  “Oh yeah?” I bit my lower lip.

  “Fuck, I need to show you after I get off work. Go to my house—Avery and Chey are there and they’ll let you in.”

  “Okay, but hurry!”

  “Trust me, I’ll be shooing these fuckers out the door as soon as we close,” he said and leaned down and kissed me—finally.

  I knocked softly on the door when I arrived at Easton’s. I didn’t want to wake Cheyenne by ringing the doorbell if she was sleeping. After a few seconds of Avery not answering, I knocked again, but a little louder. A few seconds later, he answered with his phone glued to his ear.

  “I’ve been waiting for you.” He stepped aside so I could enter. “Nic said you were coming. I was starting to worry.”

  “I went to Halo first.”

  “I was sure you would have wanted to wait naked in E’s bed.”

  “Shit, why didn’t I think of that?” I asked and we laughed.

  “Baby, I’ll call you back,” he said into the phone. “I’m not … Yeah, Saturday … I’ll call you back … Fine, I’ll talk to you tomorrow … I love you, too … Night.”

  “What’s happening Saturday?” I asked, going into the kitchen to grab some water.

  “Noth … Oh, um, Nic’s coming.”

  “Oh? I thought she was coming Friday?”

  “Right, Friday. I must have misspoken,” he said, looking down at his feet.

  “Okay … Anyway, so, I went to Halo first and made a hundred bucks.”

  “Easton made you work?”

  “No.” I laughed. “I bet some chick with bleached blonde hair that I could get Easton to leave with me.”

  “Holy shit, really?”

  “Yeah, it was hilarious!”

  “I bet it was. Let’s not make it a habit because word will get out that we’re taking advantage of our customers.”

  “Yes, boss. Geez, way to ruin the fun.” I took a swig of the water from a bottle.

  “Sorry, but—”

  “I know, you’re right. Anyway, Cheyenne’s in bed?”

  “Yeah, I finally talked her off her cliff.”

  “What do you mean?” I sat in the chair across from him at the dining room table.

  “Some bitches were making fun of her at practice. She was really upset.”

  “I bet. Do you know why?”

  “No, she wouldn’t tell me.”

  “Then how did you talk her off a cliff?”

  “We prank called them.”

  “Shut up! You did?”

  “Yeah. Courtney came over, too. It was funny.”

  “That’s awesome and wrong.”

  “Well, it worked.” He leaned back in his chair.

  “I wonder why they were mean to her?”

  “Maybe she’ll tell you.”

  “Doubt it. We barely know each other.”

  “She talks about you all the time.”

  “She does?” I asked, almost choking on my water.

  “Yeah, she thinks you’re some Olympic softball player.”

  “Oh God, I’m going to disappoint her once I can actually throw a ball again.”

  “I doubt that. Just blame it on your shoulder.”

  Avery and I talked more about my shoulder. I filled him in on the radiation, but he already knew most of it because of Nicole. I tried to get him to go home, but we decided that it was probably best that he stay in case Cheyenne woke up. We didn’t want to confuse her, and she hadn’t actually seen me stay over at Easton’s before.

  I took a shower and crawled into Easton’s bed—naked.

  I stayed with Cheyenne Friday night while Easton worked. We ate pizza and watched shitty movies on Lifetime. She was finally warming up to me and even leaned on me and fell asleep. I could really get used to being a part of their family. I loved them both so much.

  I couldn’t even imagine my life if I hadn’t met Easton. I probably would have forgiven Jared, believed that Tramp Tarah was just a friend, and went through my medical issues with just Nicole by my side.

  I was a lucky girl.

  The following morning, Easton and I cooked breakfast for everyone. Usually, he would go to Jimmy and Jane’s, but I wanted to do something for them. I wanted to show them that I was getting better each day. My body was healing and I was starting to feel like the old Brooke.

  Once we finished eating, we went to Cheyenne’s game. We were still on edge about what had happened at practice on Wednesday, but we didn’t bring it up to Cheyenne and she never told any of us why those girls were mean to her.

  Halfway through the game, I heard one of the girls call her Cryanne. I wanted to run up to the girl and yell at her. I hated bullies, and I wasn’t going to let Cheyenne be bullied, but before I could stand, Phil took the girl aside and made her sit on the bench the rest of the game.

  Cheyenne did awesome. She got on base each time and stopped all the balls that came to her. She didn’t necessarily get the runner out, but she didn’t let the ball go through her legs and that was the main thing.

  Light
ning ended up losing—which was their first loss. All the girls were sad, but you couldn’t win them all. They had to learn the hard way—you win some and you lose some.

  Jimmy and Jane went home after the game and Nicole and Avery followed us to Easton’s. We were going to barbecue burgers and hot dogs. Both Easton and Avery had the night off and we were in the celebrating mood—despite Cheyenne’s loss.

  “Cheyenne won’t come out of her room,” Easton said, walking out in the backyard where we were all sitting.

  “Want me to go talk to her?” Avery asked.

  “I’ll go,” I said. “Maybe it’s a girl thing.”

  “Oh God,” Easton groaned.

  “I’m just kidding. She’s ten, baby.” I stood on my tip-toes to kiss him. He swatted my butt as I walked into the house.

  “Chey, can I come in?” I asked, knocking on her bedroom door.

  “No.”

  “Please? I want to talk about the game. You did awesome!”

  “I don’t want to talk about the game.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because I just don’t.”

  “You know your daddy doesn’t like you mad. Can you please tell me why you’re mad? Maybe I can help.”

  “No, I don’t want him to know!” she said, yanking open her door.

  “Okay, I won’t tell him, but will you tell me?”

  “Fine, but you have to promise not to tell him.”

  “I pinky swear,” I said and stuck out my pinky.

  Our pinky’s shook and then she closed the bedroom door behind me. “I know why the girls are mean to me.”

  “Why?” I asked, sitting on her bed next to her.

  “Because I get to play since my dad is the coach.”

  “What? That’s not true.”

  “Yeah, it is. Me and Courtney get to play the whole game and the other girls have to switch off.”

  “Honey, you don’t play the whole game because your dad is the coach.”

  “Yes, I do.”

  “I’m pretty sure that’s not true.”

  “Why isn’t it?” she asked, finally looking up at me.

  “Who else plays first base like Courtney?”

  “No one.”