Road to Absolution

by Piper Davenport

  Carter didn’t get a chance to argue with me since Aidan arrived with the tow truck.

  “You got anything you need in your car?” Carter asked.

  “No, I’m good.”

  “Go get in the truck, then.”

  I frowned up at him. “Are you mad at me?”

  Carter sighed. “No, babe. Just go get in the truck, yeah?”

  Aidan climbed out of the truck and took in the car. “You okay, Cass?”

  “I’m fine, Aidan.”

  “Truck, Cass.” Carter handed me his keys and made his way to Aidan.

  I slid into the driver’s seat of Carter’s truck and tried to shake off his sudden change in mood. Maverick was bouncing in his seat as I tried to give him a hug. “Hey, honey.”

  “Hi, Mom. Can I ride in the tow truck?”

  “Not tonight.” I smiled and stroked the dog’s head. “But let me move Carter’s truck real quick and then you can watch them hook up my car, okay?”

  Maverick gave a little fist pump with his, “Yeah!” and I moved Carter’s truck.

  * * *

  Knowing that Cassidy (or more accurately, Maverick) wouldn’t stay in the truck, Ace took a second to make a phone call before either of them could hear him.

  “Yo, Ace,” Booker answered.

  “Hey, Booker, I need you to check someone out for me.”

  “Okay, who?”

  Ace gave Booker everything he knew on this Tom Dale asshole and hung up just as Cassidy and Maverick made his way to him.

  “Mav wanted to see the tow truck,” Cassidy said. “Who were you talking to?”

  “No one,” he lied. “Hey, Mav, you want to help hook the car up?”

  Maverick looked up at Cassidy. “Can I, Mom, please?”

  “Of course, honey. Just do what Carter tells you to do, okay?”

  Cassidy watched them as Maverick helped Ace and Aidan hook up the car. Ace knew she was worried about his mood, but he was too busy trying to stuff down the intense desire to kill Tom Dale, that he had no energy to talk shit out with her. She didn’t have a fuckin’ clue the man was sniffin’ where he didn’t belong. But Ace did. And he was gonna make sure the dipshit wasn’t an issue.

  “We’ll get you all sorted tomorrow, Cassidy,” Aidan said. “And someone’ll bring your car back when it’s done.”

  “Thanks a lot, Aidan. I really appreciate it.”

  Aidan hugged her and then took off to the shop.

  “Are you going to tell me what’s bothering you?” Cassidy asked as Ace led her and Maverick back to the truck.

  “No.”

  “You are infuriating sometimes.”

  “Just drop it, babe.”

  Cassidy scowled, but did as he asked and climbed into the truck after Maverick.

  Ace lifted the dog into the bed, then made his way to the driver’s side and drove out of the parking lot. “Do you have to dance tonight?”

  “Um, yes, I have to dance tonight,” Cassidy snapped. “Just drop me off and I’ll get Kevin to drive me home.”

  “No.”

  “Okay, Tarzan, what do you propose?”

  His lips twitched slightly at her irritation. “Mav and I’ll drop you off and go find something to eat, then we’ll meet you back at the studio.”

  “Sounds great,” she ground out.

  “Great.”

  “Great,” she repeated, and he tried not to laugh. God, she was cute when she was pissed.

  The dance studio was in downtown Vancouver, so he found a spot with a meter and parked. She kissed Maverick and moved to get out of the truck, but Ace stopped her. “We’ll walk you in.”

  “You don’t need to do that, Carter.”

  “I want to meet Kevin.”

  “It’s fine,” Cassidy pressed. “You can meet him later.”

  “I’ll meet him now.” Carter turned off the truck and climbed out, walking around the hood to help her and Maverick out.

  She climbed down and frowned up at him. “You’re a pain in the butt, you realize that, right?”

  He grinned and kissed her quickly. “Yep.”

  “Come on, Mav,” she said. “We’ll be quick and then you and Carter can go eat.”

  “Okay, Mom,” he said, and unbuckled himself.

  She grabbed her bag and they followed her into the dance the studio. Ace didn’t like what he saw. Kevin was a bulk of man, barely an inch shorter than him and almost as muscular. He didn’t look like what he assumed a male ballet dancer would look like… he was far more masculine than Ace had counted on. Fuck!

  “Kevin!” Maverick shouted, and ran for the man.

  Kevin laughed and grabbed him, throwing him up into the air. “Hey, buddy, how are you?” he asked, and set him on his feet.

  “Good. Uncle Carter and me are going to get food.”

  “That sounds great.”

  Ace wrapped an arm possessively around Cassidy, but she pulled away and hugged Kevin. “Hey. Sorry I’m late. I had some car trouble.”

  “I only beat you by ten minutes,” Kevin said. “It’s all good.”

  Cassidy pulled away from Kevin and waved her hand toward Carter. “Kevin, this is Carter.”

  Kevin reached his hand out and Carter took it with a chin lift.

  “Well, you boys have fun,” Cassidy said, and kissed Maverick.

  “Want us to pick you up anything, babe?” Ace asked.

  She gave him a sickeningly sweet smile and shook her head. “No, I’m good, hon, thanks.”

  He raised an eyebrow and leaned down to kiss her, but she gave him her cheek, so he slid his hand to her neck and guided her lips back to his. “Nice try,” he whispered, and covered her mouth with his.

  She pinned her lips shut, so he let her have her hissy fit for the moment, but he made sure she knew they’d finish this later.

  “Let’s go, Mav,” Carter said, and led him out of the studio.

  * * *

  “You okay?” Kevin asked as I returned from changing into my dance gear.

  “Other than wanting to drop kick my boyfriend into next week, yeah, I’m frickin’ fabulous.”

  Kevin chuckled. “I picked up on some tension there. Want to talk about it?”

  “No,” I said, and began my stretch. “I mean, he’s totally all pissed because he thinks this guy at work is interested in me, so he goes all Tarzan on me and barely says a word! God, he’s infuriating!”

  Kevin smiled. “We are a simple people, Cass.”

  “Well, he is a Neanderthal.”

  “The same guy you’ve talked about pretty much nonstop for, I don’t know, years?”

  “Bite me, Kevin,” I retorted. “You were the one who asked me if I wanted to talk about it.”

  He laughed again. “You’re right. My mistake.”

  I couldn’t help but smile. “Let’s just forget about my devastatingly gorgeous but annoying man for the moment and dance, okay?”

  “You got it.”

  Kevin and I got down to the business of ballet, and by the time Carter and Maverick arrived to pick me up; I was feeling a little less irritable. Although, that changed when I caught Carter’s expression and he was looking at Kevin like he might maim him.

  “You’re still shifting your weight, Cass,” Kevin instructed. “You’ll pitch forward if you don’t keep your body centered.”

  “Sorry,” I grumbled and scowled at Carter. I stood in front of Kevin and focused back on the mirror. He held my hands, stretched out to the side and ran one arm down my waist. I kept hold of his fingers as I went up on my toe, went into a spin, and ended with my right leg behind me.

  “Better,” Kevin said. “Do you feel the difference?”

  I nodded.

  “Okay, let’s try the lift again.”

  I gave Carter a pointed look and he raised an eyebrow and sat down, stretching his arms across the two chairs beside him. Like he was all Zen and crap. I had a check in my gut that I should have told Kevin no to the lift, but he needed to know it would wor
k with his partner and I needed to keep up on my skills.

  However, when he lifted me to his shoulders and I swung down, leaving my crotch essentially in his face, I found myself suddenly ripped from Kevin’s arms and transferred to Carter’s, causing me to lose my breath with an “Oomph.”

  “What the fuck are you doin’?” Carter demanded.

  Kevin raised his hands in surrender and stepped back because he was a frickin’ adult and could control his temper. Carter on the other hand, still had his arm wrapped around my waist like a vice grip and I had to pinch his side (hard) to get him to release me.

  “God damn it, Cassidy,” he hissed.

  I stomped away from him and over to Kevin. “I’m so sorry, Kevin.”

  “We can work on this next week, Cass. Don’t worry about it.”

  “You’re not fuckin’ doin’ that again,” Carter warned.

  “Oh, hell yes we are,” I snapped.

  “You said fuck is a bad word, Mom,” Maverick piped in.

  “It is,” I reiterated, glaring at Carter. “Uncle Carter is going on time out as soon as we get home.”

  “Grandpa would ‘tan his hide,’” Maverick mimicked.

  “Well, Grandpa’s not here, so it’s time out for him,” I said, and sat down to remove my ballet slippers. I shoved them in my bag, pulled on my sweats and hoodie and then laced up my sneakers.

  I was so mad, I nearly chucked a shoe at Carter, but alas, it wouldn’t have done enough damage, so I refrained. I rose to my feet and grabbed my bag. “Let’s go.”

  I took the time to hug Kevin really quickly and apologized again before leading Carter and Maverick out to the truck.

  It was times like these that were glaring reminders that I had no support. I couldn’t just drop Maverick off at my parents’ place so that I could murder Carter and chop him into garbage bag sized pieces without my child seeing it. It sucked.

  We drove home in virtual silence. Even Maverick, who could out talk pretty much anyone, figured there was something up and stayed quiet.

  Once we pulled into the parking lot of my building, I grabbed my purse and bag and waited for Maverick to unbuckle. “Say goodnight to Carter, honey.”

  “I’ll walk you up,” Carter said.

  “No, you won’t,” I countered. “We can talk tomorrow… or never.”

  “You never want to talk to Carter?” Maverick asked, his voice concerned.

  “It’s a figure of speech, honey,” I improvised. “And perhaps a little hyperbole.”

  “What’s hyperbole?”

  “Drama, little man,” Carter said. “Women are all about it.”

  “Bite me,” I snapped.

  “You want Carter to bite you?” Maverick asked. “Gross.”

  “I’m walking you up,” Carter continued.

  I groaned and began to envision all the ways I could torture the man. We made it upstairs and into my apartment. “Go shower, Maverick, then it’s time for bed.”

  “Okay, Mom.”

  Without argument (rare for him, but I figured he knew it would not behoove him to squabble with me today), he headed to the shower.

  “We gonna talk?” Carter asked.

  “No.” I slammed my bag onto the sofa.

  “I’m thinkin’ I’m not leavin’ until we do.”

  “Oh, now you want to talk? What’s so special about now, huh?”

  “Cass,” he said with a sigh.

  “What? You’ve been snappy and dickish, not to mention, pounding your chest ever since you picked me up. I get that Tom’s weird, but enough to shut me out? Then you totally embarrassed me in front of a good friend, which was not okay, Carter.” I crossed my arms. “So, no, I don’t want to talk about it right now. I want to soak in a tub and go to bed… or maybe soak and then look up the best way to dispose of your body.”

  “You fuckin’ refused to kiss me, Cassidy.”

  “You shut down long before I refused to kiss you… in front of my friend… in public, again. Why do you feel the need to ram your tongue down my throat at every inopportune moment?”

  “I’m all for opportune moments as well, baby.”

  His lips twitched which just pissed me off even more. “Oh, bite me, Carter.”

  “I won’t apologize for not likin’ that Tom guy, Cass, but I am sorry if I was a dick.” He slid his hand to my neck and squeezed gently. “He’s off, baby, and I didn’t like the way he was lookin’ at you.”

  “He wasn’t looking at me!” I snapped and threw my hands in the air. “He was just being nice.”

  “I’m not arguin’ with you about this.”

  “Oh, okay, then. Drive home safe.” I pulled away and headed to the kitchen. “Or not. Whatever.”

  I’m not really sure how long I stood in the kitchen… I busied myself with opening a bottle of wine and pulling out some leftover mac and cheese that Carter had made the day before… from scratch. In fact, my fridge was full with lots of delicious goodness because he’d gone shopping and filled it, but that didn’t make me any less mad at him.

  “Babe,” Carter said from the doorway. “Can we start over?”

  I shrugged, shoving the mac and cheese into the microwave. He wrapped an arm around my waist from behind and kissed the back of my neck. “I love you, Cassidy, I really am sorry if I was a dick. I will apologize to Kevin if that will make you feel better.”

  “You should apologize to him because what you did was wrong, Carter. Not to make me feel better.”

  “Your pussy was in his fuckin’ face, Cass.”

  “Ohmigod, it was not!” I craned my head to look up at him. “There’s only one face my pussy’s ever been in, thank you very much.”

  Carter smiled but I could tell he was stuffing a laugh. “I will apologize to your friend.”

  I nodded. “Good.”

  “But you can’t refuse to kiss me, babe.”

  “Excuse me?” I elbowed him in the side, not that it did any good. “I am not your chattel, Carter. If I don’t want to kiss you, I don’t have to kiss you!”

  He sighed as the beep of the timer sounded and I tried to pull away, but he held firm.

  “I know you’re not my chattel, Cassidy.”

  “Coulda fooled me,” I snapped.

  “I’m sorry, baby.” He turned me to face him and stroked my cheek. “Will you forgive me?”

  “Yes. But you’re never allowed to come to a dance rehearsal again.”

  He kissed me quickly and then released me. “Even if I promise—”

  “Never again,” I interrupted, and pulled out my dinner.

  “You gonna let me stay tonight?”

  I shrugged and took a bite of cheesy goodness.

  “Gotta drive you to work tomorrow, babe. It’ll be easier to stay here than drive up in the morning.”

  I shrugged again.

  He grinned and pinned me to the counter. “Also kinda want your pussy in my face again. It helps me sleep.”

  I shivered and closed my eyes.

  He slid his hands to my hips and kissed my neck. “How about instead of you taking a bath, we’ll take a shower together, then I massage all your aches and pains away, eat your pussy, and fuck you ’til you come so hard, you can’t stay awake?”

  I swallowed and opened my eyes slowly. “Can I eat first?”

  Carter laughed. “You eat, I’ll get Maverick down, and join you in the shower.”

  I nodded and he rubbed my arms and kissed my forehead. “I love you, baby.”

  “I love you too… sometimes,” I grumbled.

  “Are you guys gonna kiss?” Maverick asked from the doorway.

  I giggled. “Maybe.”

  “Gross.”

  Carter grinned. “Come on, Mav, let’s get you to bed. Mom needs to eat.”

  They left me and I downed my food as fast as I could, grabbed the wine and a glass, and headed to my room. Before jumping in the shower, however, I said goodnight to Maverick and made sure he wasn’t concerned about my argument with Car
ter. All was good in the world of Maverick, so I led Carter to the bathroom.

  OVER THE NEXT few weeks, Carter became a pretty solid fixture at my apartment, as did the dog. I was half expecting a neighbor to rat me out and contact the management, but so far so good. For the most part, we spent weekends at Carter’s place and weekdays at mine, which worked for now, but would probably have to change relatively quickly.

  Most weeks, instead of taking Maverick to daycare, Carter would take him to his place on Friday mornings and hang with him while I went to work and I’d drive to his place in the evening. Maverick loved his one-on-one time with Carter and I loved that I got to sleep in.

  One Thursday morning, I got a phone call from the director of the daycare and it seriously put a wrench in my busy day.

  “Ms. Dennis, would you please come down, ah, we need to discuss your son.”

  My stomach dropped. “Um, sure, is everything okay?”

  “We’ve had an incident, and I think it would be a good idea if we talk about it in person.”

  “I’ll be there as soon as I can.” I hung up, let my boss know there was an emergency, and headed to my car. My mind ran rampant with all the issues it could be.

  “Cassidy?” I turned to find Tom following me into the elevator. “Everything okay?”

  “Something’s happened at my son’s daycare,” I said, and pressed the button to the lobby.

  “Can I drive you? You look upset.”

  “No, I’m okay. I just need to get there as soon as I can.”

  “Let me drive you,” Tom insisted.

  “No, it’s really okay. Thank you, though.” I left Tom standing in the elevator and rushed for my car. I probably broke a few speeding laws, but figured if I got pulled over, the cop would more than likely be sympathetic. I pulled into the parking lot and saw two Harleys parked by the entrance. I recognized Carter’s and frowned. I couldn’t imagine the school would have called him unless they couldn’t get hold of me.

  Walking into the building, I saw Maverick sitting next to Lily on a chair outside of the director’s office. Carter was standing close by.

  “Mom!” Maverick called, and rushed to me.

  “Hey, honey. You okay?”

  “Ms. Dennis, if you could join us, please?” Monica leaned out of her office and waved me in.

  I nodded and led Maverick back to his seat. “Just hang for a bit with Lily, okay?”