Roadside Assistance

by Marie Harte

  Foley drank and watched, determined not to step in unless the fight got out of hand. He was a firm believer in letting people, kids included, fight their own battles.

  “Oh, I’ll bet you’re better. Better at sucking dick.”

  Seriously? Jim had to be in middle school with Vinnie if they were on the same team. Nice mouth for a seventh or eighth grader.

  Then again, Foley had been swearing since losing his first tooth. Who was he to judge?

  Vinnie rolled his eyes. “You’re so homophobic it’s obvious.”

  Jim flushed. “What are you talking about?”

  “It means you might as well come out and accept yourself. Honestly, no one on the team would care.”

  “What?” Jim shoved Vinnie back into the wall. “You calling me gay, you pole-smoker? Seriously?”

  Foley took a step in their direction, still not noticed by the kids too intent on each other to spot him. Time to stop the violence before it turned too physical.

  “See. I don’t even know what that means,” Vinnie said. “Whatever. I’m done.” Vinnie tried to move around him again, but Jim shoved him back even harder.

  Now Vinnie looked both scared and angry.

  “You don’t know anything,” Jim spat. “I’m not gay. I’m dating Kyra Fields, asshole.”

  “You wish.”

  A tall man who looked like Jim exited the restroom. He appeared decent enough, but Foley could read trouble on the guy. The small beady eyes were a dead giveaway. He didn’t seem to notice Foley, focused on his boy and Vinnie. “Problem, Jim?”

  “Yeah. This jerk is calling me a fag.” Jim snickered. “I think Vinnie’s got a crush.”

  The man joined the boys, and Foley decided to give him a chance to make things right with his prick of a kid. “Is that right?” He stared at Vinnie, who appeared visibly nervous. “Is this the boy who took your place on the team? Vinnie Nichols, right?”

  “Yeah,” Jim sneered. “Our ‘star center.’”

  “The kid who couldn’t find his ass if I handed it to him?” Jim’s father asked, aggressive and way too involved in a kid’s fight, especially one his own son had started.

  Jim glanced from Vinnie to his father and took a surprising step back. He seemed suddenly nervous, and Foley didn’t like any of it. “He’s just a dickhead, Dad. I put him in his place. Let’s go back to the movie.”

  Foley walked toward them, still unnoticed.

  “Not yet.” The man put a hand on Vinnie’s shoulder, and Foley saw red.

  He set his soda down on a nearby bench before reaching them. “Problem?”

  Vinnie looked relieved to see him.

  “Not your business. Take off,” the dad said without looking at him.

  “How about we try this again?” In a threatening growl, Foley warned, “Take your goddamn hand off Vinnie’s shoulder before I break it off and shove it up your ass.”

  The man took a hard look at Foley and blinked. He released Vinnie, and Vinnie hurried over to Foley’s side, his eyes wide.

  Foley put a hand on his arm to reassure him. “Why don’t you go join your aunt and brother while I talk to Jim’s dad? Oh, and take my soda with you.” He nodded behind him.

  “Okay.” Vinnie darted away.

  Foley closed the slight distance between himself and Jim’s father and saw Jim take another step back. One large bully and a smaller one in the making.

  To the boy, he said, “Jim, is it?”

  “Yeah,” Jim answered, trying to sound belligerent but coming off as shaky.

  “Instead of giving Vinnie shit because he took your spot on the team, maybe you can try to win back your position next season.” Assuming their season this year had ended. “Vinnie was right. All your anti-gay talk just makes it look like you’re trying to cover for some hidden tendencies. Lay off the hate, kid. Trust me, it won’t help you in the long run.”

  As he spoke, he saw the kid’s dad become angrier. Obviously Jim got his bias honestly—from his father.

  “Who the fuck do you think you are?” Jim’s dad stood toe-to-toe with Foley. A big mistake.

  That extra step closer triggered Foley’s need to attack. Ever since his stint in prison, he’d never let any guy get this close without taking him out. Lesson learned…the hard way.

  Foley was more than ready to plant his fist in the guy’s face. Jim at least had the sense to step far away. “Buddy, you really want to act the fool in front of your kid?” He pushed up his sleeves, doing his best to remember to be civilized. This wasn’t Ray’s or one of Sam’s illegal fights. It was a family theater, for God’s sake.

  “Don’t talk to my son, you piece of shit.” The man put his hand on Foley’s chest, as if to shove him away.

  In seconds, Foley stepped aside and jerked the guy around. He twisted the asshole’s arm behind his back, shoving him face-first against the wall. “You want to take this outside? Let’s go. I got nothing better to do than teach a fuckhead like you some manners. No wonder your kid’s a little jerk. He’s watching you mouth off to eleven-year-old boys.” Foley huffed. “What a man. But you know what? I’m not eleven. So what say you and I go outside, and I pound you into next week?” Foley jerked the guy’s arm, making him cry out.

  “I’m sorry. Okay?” Dickhead’s voice had risen an octave.

  “Yeah, you are. How about you tell Jim the right way to behave?”

  “How about you go to h—”

  Foley jerked his arm again, and Jim’s father hiked up on his toes and screeched.

  “Try again, dickhead.” Any minute now someone would arrive to use the restroom. They needed to take this outside, but Foley wanted to make his point clear.

  “Dad, come on.” Jim sounded close to tears, and Foley would have felt bad about doing this in front of him, but young Jim needed to learn some manners. “I’m sorry, mister. I am.”

  “How about you, Dad?” Foley asked. “You sorry for picking on a sixth grader? For teaching your kid wrong? You sorry about that?” Then, just for fun, he leaned closer and whispered in the guy’s ear, “You know what we do to pussies like you in prison? Got any idea of how much fun it is to make a tough guy like you scream?” He leaned into him with his chest.

  “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, I am.” The guy started pleading, repeating himself and sounding so scared Foley worried he’d piss in his pants.

  Satisfied he’d gotten his point across, he let go and stepped back, on alert in case the jerk found a hidden well of courage and tried to launch a punch. But Jim’s father was all apologies as he hurried to protect his ass. He turned, kept his back to the wall, and cradled his arm, inching away from Foley.

  “Jim won’t come near Vinnie again. No way. I swear. Big mistake. No problem with you, guy. None at all.” He stared at Foley’s tats in horror, no doubt imagining the colorful artwork to be gang- or prison-related. What an idiot.

  “Yeah? Is that right, Jim?” Foley put enough of a threat in his voice to convince both father and son to back off.

  “I’m sorry. I won’t talk to Vinnie ever again.” The boy didn’t bother wiping the tears from his eyes.

  Father and son raced away, and Foley grunted with satisfaction. After he took a quick pee break, he came out and found Vinnie waiting for him with his soda, a wide grin on his face.

  “Why aren’t you inside?”

  “I’ve been waiting for you. I was hiding around the corner.”

  Shit. “You saw all that?”

  “You were awesome.” Vinnie beamed. “Jim is the biggest jerk at school. He’s mean all the time and picks on everyone. I usually avoid him. All my friends do. But then I took the spot he thought was his on the basketball team, and he got worse. Dad said to ignore him until I couldn’t anymore. But you were so much better. I think he cried.”

  Foley tried to feel bad about that but couldn�
�t. The kid had been a prejudiced little creep.

  “Yeah, well, I was only interested in making his dick of a father cry. You have any more problems with him, let me know, would you?”

  “I don’t think Jim will mess with me anymore. And I know his dad won’t.” Vinnie clenched his fist in triumph. “That rocked!”

  Foley had a feeling knocking assholes around was not the way the Nichols family handled conflict. “Um, okay. But don’t tell your aunt. I don’t want her to think I started any trouble.”

  Vinnie turned an invisible key over his lips and pretended to toss it away. Then he handed Foley his drink. Pleased the kid wasn’t suffering from the altercation, Foley ruffled Vinnie’s hair. He and Vinnie returned to their seats.

  “You okay?” Cyn whispered. “You guys took a while.”

  “We’re fine,” Vinnie whispered back. “Foley’s awesome.”

  “Ah, okay.” Cyn gave Foley a questioning look.

  “Just a guy thing.”

  She looked like she wanted to ask him more questions, but then something on the screen blew up and took her attention. They enjoyed the rest of the film.

  All the while, Vinnie kept glancing over at Foley and smiling.

  Chapter 11

  Cyn had no idea what to make of Vinnie’s sudden turnaround in regard to Foley, but she didn’t want to change his mind. Alex, too, seemed to view Foley as his own personal hero, with both boys wanting to sit by Foley in the pizzeria. They chattered nonstop about boy stuff while she watched with amusement.

  Who would have thought Foley would be so good with children?

  He was patient, amused, and tolerant of their endless fart jokes and questions about cars, his tattoos, and what he was like in school at their age.

  She shook her head at the fascinating man. “Why am I not surprised you got into fights in high school?”

  “And after high school. And a few years after that. Oh, and Monday with Sam…” He chuckled. “Hey, I never claimed to be a saint.”

  Her nephews hung onto his every word, eating their pizza as he talked.

  “Where I grew up, you had to be tough. Nobody gave us the ‘Don’t Be a Bully’ talk in school. You had to learn to stand up for yourself. I did.”

  “I see.”

  He shrugged and took a huge bite of pizza. But at least he didn’t talk with his mouth full. She hated that. His mother had obviously drilled manners into the guy.

  “Are the tattoos a way of looking tough?” Or are they to make you supersexy?

  “I got them over the years because I think they’re cool.”

  “They’re so cool,” Vinnie agreed.

  “They really are,” Alex added.

  Foley rolled up his sleeves, showing off his art while she took more notice of his muscle. “Sam’s got a matching skull and snake. Something we did when we were younger.” She noticed some dates beneath the skull and reminded herself to ask him about them later.

  “Do you have a tattoo?” he asked.

  She glanced up to see all three of them staring at her. “Who, me?” She started to tell him he should know, then saw the boys’ interest, as well as the gleam in his eyes. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

  He grinned. “I sure would.”

  Alex screwed up his face. “Ew. You’re not going to kiss or anything, are you? Because seeing that in the movie almost made me throw up.”

  Vinnie sighed. “He’s young. It will pass.”

  “Oh?” Cyn raised a brow. “This sounds interesting. So this aversion to kissing has passed you, has it? Who’s the girl you’re crushing on, Vin?”

  He flushed.

  Foley chuckled. “Come on, Cyn. You can’t ask a guy that.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because it’s private. Hell, even now, when my mom tries to get in my business, I make her work hard for the answer.”

  “But you still tell her.”

  “Well, she’s my mom.”

  Cyn stuck out her tongue at him, having fun. “Momma’s boy.”

  “You don’t want to go there, do you? Because my mother wasn’t grilling you the other day. Aren’t you thirty-four years old, or something?”

  “Oh. That hurt.” Vinnie grinned. “He’s talking about Grandma, Aunt Cyn.”

  “I know that, you monster.” Score one for Foley. “Hey, you want dessert? Hush up. That goes for all of you,” she warned, looking each one of them in the eye.

  Foley smirked. And wham, she wanted him something fierce right then and there.

  He must have seen something in her eyes, because his gaze dropped to her mouth. “Hey guys, want a few quarters for the video games?”

  The boys went gratefully.

  “And stay together,” Foley warned.

  Vinnie nodded, no longer smiling, and made sure to keep in sight.

  “What’s that about?” she asked.

  “Nothing. I just worry about jerks around. We live in a city, you know. You have to be careful with kids.”

  She reached across the table and clutched his hand tightly. “Okay, you big worrywart.” She gave him a tender smile. “You’re good with them. Thanks.”

  He looked uncomfortable. “It’s no big deal. They’re nice kids.”

  She gripped him tighter then let go. “They are. And they’re on their best behavior with you here. What did you do to make them like you? Something when I wasn’t looking.”

  “Yeah, I gave them each a twenty,” he said wryly.

  “Really?”

  “No. It’s my winsome personality. The same one that won you over.” He waited while she laughed at that, then said, seriously, “You’re really good with them yourself. You’re going to make one hell of a mother someday.”

  What a sweet thing to say. “Thanks, Foley.”

  “Even if it’s not my baby currently in that sexy belly.”

  “Shut up.” She blushed. “I’ll pay for that later with my mom, but it was so worth it to see the look on her face…and on yours.” She laughed again.

  “Smart-ass.”

  They left with the boys sometime later, dropping them off at Matt and Nina’s. Cyn and Foley had a short talk with Matt, who didn’t seem surprised to see him there.

  “Glad you guys had a nice night.” Matt nodded. “The last time they went out with one of Cyn’s boyfriends, I think they spiked his drink with hot sauce.”

  Foley glared at her. “Thanks for the warning.” That she hadn’t given him.

  “I didn’t want to prejudice you against them.” Her wide smile didn’t seem to be fooling him. “You had a good time, and they loved you. It’s all good in the end, isn’t it?”

  Matt grinned. “Oh yeah. That’s female logic, all right.”

  “No shit.”

  She frowned at Foley. “No swearing.”

  Vinnie and Alex appeared and pushed past their dad. “Bye, Foley.” Alex shook his hand.

  “Bye, little man.” Foley gave Alex a firm shake and grinned.

  Vinnie surprised the hell out of everyone, Foley especially, it seemed, by giving him a hug before darting away.

  Matt blinked. “I think that’s the first time Vinnie’s hugged anyone not family.” He narrowed his eyes. “What the hell happened tonight?”

  “Nothing exciting.” Foley put his arm around Cyn’s shoulders. “But I did give him some quarters for video games.”

  “Hmm.” Matt watched him with suspicion.

  “You’re welcome, big brother.” Cyn poked Matt in the chest. What an ingrate. “I hope you and Nina enjoyed my babysitting.”

  “You have bony fingers.” Matt winced.

  Foley shifted and pulled her closer. “Be nice to your sister, Matt. She’s my girl now. No picking on her, or you have to deal with me.”

  His deep voice gave her shivers. />
  “Trust me, Foley. She doesn’t need anyone fighting her battles. Girl has a mean streak a mile wide.”

  Cyn’s wicked smile spoke volumes.

  “But hey, you want her? She’s all yours.”

  Cyn didn’t like her brother’s warped sense of humor. “I am not a handoff in some kind of relay race, Mattie.”

  Her brother grimaced. “Matt. I hate when you call me Mattie.”

  On a rant, Cyn continued, “You can’t just turn me over to Foley, because you don’t own me, moron. I’m a person, and I have—Hey.”

  “You can yell at him later.” Foley dragged her by the hand back to the SUV.

  “Thank you, God. And thank you, Foley,” Matt called out before shutting the door.

  Foley reminded her, “He doesn’t own you, because I do. We have a debt to settle, woman.”

  “A debt? I—Oh.” She remembered all too well what he wanted, and she was eager to give it to him. Now what to do with a testosterone-fueled bad boy all her own?

  They made it back to her house in no time and entered in silence. Nerves and excitement tangled inside her, and she wondered if she should make a move. She decided to take it slow, to be smooth about it. Before she could turn to thank him for such a fun evening, he had his lips on hers and shoved her against the back of the door.

  He reached next to her to lock it, then took off her jacket and shrugged out of his while he kept kissing her. He finally let her break for air and kissed his way up and down her neck.

  “Foley.” She ran her fingers through his hair. “In a rush, sexy?” She wasn’t complaining. Far from it.

  “I haven’t had you since Saturday night. I’m dying to get inside you again.”

  They’d made the most of that Saturday, though. “What are you waiting for?”

  He growled something low in his throat, then yanked off her top and bra. He palmed her breasts, teasing and pinching, until she’d drenched her panties.

  “You wet for me, baby?”

  “Yes,” she hissed and yanked him close for another kiss.

  His hand snaked under her jeans and underwear, yet he didn’t move where she needed him most. She tried to grind into him, but the bastard kept playing with her. She tore her mouth from his and nipped his throat.