I opened the bun and held the bottom out to Luke, who slid a patty onto it. “Just guy stuff,” I replied.
“I told him not to let the bad guys get him and that you didn’t want to lose him.” Levi grabbed both halves of the bun out of my hand, set it on his plate and headed over to the picnic table.
“Um, ah, what?” Scarlett stuttered.
“I’m gonna just head over here, and um, just go over here.” Luke grabbed his beer off the lid of the cooler and followed Levi.
“I never told Levi that. Well, I did say not to let the bad guys get him, but I never mentioned anything about you.” She was blushing ten shades of red and twisting her hands together.
“I know. He just said you watch me like you watch him.”
“I don’t!” she exclaimed.
I cocked my eye at her and smiled. “I saw you watching me, Scar. Just now.”
“No, I was watching Levi making sure he didn’t um, well, spill his plate.”
“I think you’re full of it.”
“I’m not, and I don’t watch you.”
“Scar, why are you getting so mad?” I was just trying to tease her about it, I didn’t want to piss her off.
“I’m not mad, it’s just I didn’t realize that Levi noticed us like that.”
“Like what?” What in the hell was she talking about?
“I guess I never realized that Levi was going to notice you and me together.”
“Well, we’ve been spending a hell of a lot of time together, Scar. He’s a smart kid. He was bound to notice.”
She ran her fingers through her hair and shook her head. “I know, it’s just… I don’t know. I'm not sure if I want my four-year-old noticing things like that.” She was damn near losing her mind.
“What the hell do you think we’re doing here, Scarlett? I kind of thought that you and I were building something here and that thing included me being in your and Levi’s lives.”
“That’s what I thought, too, but I guess I never really thought about what that means.”
“What the hell are you trying to say right now, Scar?”
“I don’t know.” Her eyes darted around the parking lot, and I looked over my shoulder. Everyone had stopped talking and were looking at us. “Can we just talk about this later?” She whispered.
“Tonight, Scar. After Levi goes to bed, you and I are going to get some things straight.” She nodded her head meekly and headed over to the table that Levi and Frankie were sitting.
“Calm down, brother. You’re going to send her running.” Luke moved back over to the grill and lifted the lid and started taking the rest of the burgers off.
“Scaring her off is the last thing I want to do, but fucking hell,” I ran my hand over my head and grabbed my beer from off the cooler.
“Anything I can help with?” He asked.
“No. Hell, I don’t even know what the hell I’m going to do to help.”
“Hang in there. If she’s worth it, everything will work out.” He clapped me on the back, grabbed the plate of burgers and headed over to the table loaded with food.
I chugged half of my beer and wiped my mouth with the back of my hand.
Scarlett was fucking worth it, I just hoped she didn’t run before she realized I was worth it too.
______________
Scarlett
Shit. Hell. Damn. I messed up. Well, at least I think I did.
I was sitting around the picnic table with Leelee and Violet while all of the boys were playing football on the side of the shop. Levi had been eagerly awaiting Kurt returning with the fire pit so he could make smores. After the tenth time of asking when Kurt would be back, Luke and Mitch decided playing football would help distract him.
“Girl, what is going on in that head of yours?” Leelee asked.
“Who, me?” I mumbled, pointing at my chest.
“Yes, you. Ever since you and Mitch had your little lovers spat before dinner, you’ve done nothing but push your food around on your plate and look like your dog just died.”
Crap. I hadn’t realized I looked like that. “It’s nothing.”
“It sure didn’t look like nothing to me. Luke said Levi told Mitch that you watch him all of the time and then you got all weird. What is going on?” Violet reached over to the cooler next to her and pulled out three beers. She popped the top on one and set it in front of me. “Spill,” she ordered.
“It’s stupid, really. I guess I never really figured Levi into Mitch and me.”
“How could you not? Y’all do stuff together all of the time. There doesn’t seem to have to be any figuring that needs to be done. You guys just are.” Violet handed Leelee the other beer and opened her own.
“I just never thought about it before. Now when I stand back and look at everything, I’m scared shitless.” It was as Levi who had said that I didn’t want to lose Mitch, and I realized that Levi probably didn’t want to lose Mitch either. I just felt the pressure fall on me to not mess things up with Mitch because then it would mess things up with Levi and Mitch. “What happens if Mitch and I break up? Not only will he be breaking up with me, but he'll also be breaking up with Levi.”
“Can I ask a dumb question?” Violet asked as she peeled the label off of her beer. I nodded my head and took a sip off of my own beer. “What makes you think that you and Mitch are going to break up?”
“Because nothing ever lasts. People always leave. Whether you want them to or not, they leave.”
“Amen to that, sister.” Leelee reached out and clanked her beer against mine.
“Leelee shut the hell up,” Violet hissed. “You’re not helping.”
“I mean, you’re mostly right. Most people do leave, but there’s at least one person we meet that will stay. I withdraw my first statement.”
“Oh, Lord. Next time leave the pep talks to me, OK?”
“Aye, aye, captain.” Leelee saluted Violet with her beer and downed the whole bottle.
“Leelee’s right, in a very straight to the point way. You have to find the one who is worth sticking around for and from what I’ve known of Mitch, he’s worth sticking around for. He loves you and Levi, and I know as long as he can help it, he’s not going to leave.”
I hung my head and closed my eyes. “I hear what you’re saying but listening and doing are two different things. It’s terrifying thinking of letting go and allowing Mitch into our lives. I thought before that I could do it, but now, when I see that it’s happening, all I want to do is pack up my car and drive as far away from Mitch as fast as I can.”
“Before you run, just think. Think about your life before Mitch. Is that what you want to go back to?” Violet reached across the table and grabbed my hand. “I know you came from something really bad, Scarlett, and I don’t need to know what it was that you overcame, but ask yourself if you left your old life behind to be alone and afraid of starting something new, or if you left to get what you deserve?”
Dammit, Violet was right. I had left Manny to find the life I always wanted, and now that I had found it, I was running scared. “You’re right. I’m just scared. Levi taking notice of Mitch and I just blindsided me.”
“Violet was the same way with Luke. Y’all are like two peas in a pod. You just need to pull your head out of your ass, sweetie, and hold onto that Jensen boy.” Leelee eyed Violet and I up, pointing her finger. “The minute you let those boys go, ten girls will be there trying to be the next Scarlett and Violet.”
“Hey, there’s only one Violet, me,” Violet pointed out.
“I’m just saying, at least two of these boys woke up and found good women. As for Kurt, Lord knows who he’s going to end up with.” Leelee stood up and walked over to the garbage can at the end of the table and tossed her bottle in.
“I still think that girl should be you, Leelee, even though you lost your mind and brought that preppy accountant with you today.” Violet rolled her eyes.
“An accountant, really?” I asked, amazed that s
traight to the point and in your face Leelee was dating an accountant. Now, there was nothing wrong with being an accountant, but that sure didn’t seem who Leelee would date. I saw her more with someone like Kurt, who could take her attitude but also know how to reel her in.
“Greg is safe,” Leelee pointed out.
“Yeah, well, safe and Leelee Perez are not three words that I would put together.”
“You don’t know what I need, Violet.” Leelee crossed her arms over her chest and tapped her foot. “I’ve had unsafe and shit my whole life. Safe looks pretty damn good from where I’m standing.”
“Well, from where I’m standing, Kurt Jensen looks pretty damn good for you.” Oh hell. Here we go. Violet was going straight for the kill. We had all thought that Leelee and Kurt needed to hook up, but we had never said it to either of their faces.
“Kurt Jensen is the last man on this earth that is right for me.”
“I think you’re wrong, Leelee, and you know you are. There’s more to the story about you and Kurt that you aren’t telling anyone.” Violet stood up and looked Leelee in the eye. “I know you act all tough, and I know that’s who you are, but I know that something happened with you and Kurt.”
“You’re wrong, nothing happened with Kurt and me because I messed it up before there could even be an us.” Violet gasped and slapped her hand over her mouth. “Shit,” Leelee cussed. “I hate you. Why the hell did you make me tell you that?” Leelee stalked over to Greg, standing next to him while he talked on the phone ignoring her.
“I knew it,” Violet whispered as she sat back down. “I knew there had to be more to the story then Leelee and Kurt were saying.”
“But what the hell could it be?” I wondered.
“I don’t know, but you can bet your ass I’m going to find out.” Violet clinked her bottle against mine and drank the last of her beer. “Oh hell,” she whispered as she looked over my shoulder.
I turned around and saw Kurt pull into the parking lot and park next to Mitch’s truck. “You think Kurt knows that Leelee has a boyfriend?” I asked as Kurt got out of his car and popped the trunk.
“I’m going to go with a negative on that one,” Violet mumbled.
“Oh hell.” I watched Kurt as he scanned the parking lot, glancing at Luke, Mitch, and Levi, who were still playing football then he nodded his head at Violet and me, but then his jaw tightened, and his fists clenched at his sides when he saw Leelee and Greg.
“Oh, shit.”
______________
Chapter 28
Mitch
“Mitch, throw it to me,” Levi shouted.
I turned around at the sound of tires turning into the parking lot and knew that Kurt was finally back. I tossed the ball to Levi and looked at Luke, who was watching Kurt get out of his car. Neither one of us knew what the hell was going to happen. Kurt swore up and down that he hated Leelee, but this was going to be the test of whether or not that was true.
Kurt walked over to us, his eyes on Leelee the whole time. “Who the fuck is the insurance salesman?” he growled.
“Um, that would be the guy that Leelee is dating,” Luke replied.
“It’s like you guys are one big happy family now,” Kurt fumed.
“Kurt, calm the hell down.”
“Mitch! Catch the ball,” Levi yelled.
“One sec, bud,” I said over my shoulder. “Think about what you’re doing, Kurt.”
“I don’t need to think about anything. It’s all laid out perfectly for me right now. You two have your heads up your girlfriend’s asses, and the bitch who tried to use me to get a job got the job and is acting like my fucking family is hers. From where I’m standing, there’s only one thing to fucking do.” Kurt grabbed his keys out of his pocket, worked the shop key off of his key ring and threw it at Luke’s feet. “I fucking quit.”
Luke grabbed his key off of the ground and chased him over to his car. “Knock it off, Kurt. I know you don’t mean that.”
“I’ve never meant something more in my whole life.” Kurt grabbed the fire pit out of his trunk and threw it on the ground behind my truck “I’m gone, Luke. I’m not going to sit around and be shit on anymore, especially by her.” Kurt pointed at Leelee and slammed his trunk shut. “I’ll text you the address of where to send my last check.”
“Kurt, wait.” I grabbed his arm, but he shrugged me off. “Where the hell are you going to go?”
“You two think you’re the only ones who’ve gotten offers to race somewhere else. All I’ve got are options in front of me, Mitch, and each of them is better than staying here.” He swung open the door, slid into his car and slammed the door shut.
Kurt started up his car, revving the engine. Luke banged on the window. “Open the fucking window, Kurt,” he yelled.
Kurt rolled down his window but revved his engine each time Luke tried to talk.
“I can’t hear you,” Kurt shouted over the roar of his engine. He slammed the car into reverse, and Luke barely got out of the way as Kurt spun the car around, spraying gravel and dust. He rocketed out of the parking lot, leaving in a cloud of dust.
“Fuck!” Luke yelled running his hands over his head.
“Mama,” Levi cried from behind me. I turned around to see Scarlett scoop him up in her arms and hold him close to her chest. He buried his head in her neck as she rubbed his back.
“Luke, you need to go after him,” Violet pleaded running over to us.
“And what the hell am I going to do when I find him, Vi? I don’t know what the hell to do anymore.”
“I don’t know, Luke, but you need to go after him. He’s your brother.”
“Dammit.” He kicked at the ground and pulled his keys out of his pocket. “You coming with?” he asked me.
I glanced back at Scarlett, who was watching me. “Just give me a minute.”
“Hurry the hell up.”
I jogged over to Scarlett, who was comforting a crying Levi. “I need to at least to try and find Kurt.”
“Yeah, go. That’s fine.”
“You’ll stay here until I get back? You and Levi can sleep in my bed if we’re gone for a while.”
“Um, I don’t know Mitch. I thought I could have Leelee give me a ride home. I don’t want to be in the way.”
I reached up and cupped her cheek. “You’re never in the way, Scar. You and Levi are never in the way.” She nodded her head but didn’t say anything. “Just stay, OK?” I pressed a quick kiss to her head and patted Levi on the back. “Wait for me.”
“You better go, Mitch,” she whispered. Something wasn’t right, but I didn’t know what it was, and I couldn’t stay to figure out what it was.
“I’ll be back, Scar. Don’t leave me.”
She bowed her head, snuggling into Levi. “OK,” she whispered.
That’s all I could ask for right now. I jogged over to Luke’s idling truck that he was sitting in, waiting for me and I climbed up and slammed the door shut. I looked one more time at Scarlett and Levi knowing something wasn’t right, and I didn’t know if she would be here when I got back.
Fuck, I hoped she would still be here. But if she wasn’t, I was damn sure going to find her.
______________
Scarlett
I didn’t stay. I couldn’t stay.
I had heard everything Violet and Leelee had told me, but I was still running scared.
After Kurt had taken off and Levi freaked out over all the yelling, I knew the best thing for him was to go home. Whenever Manny and I would yell, he would do the same thing. Leelee and Greg had given us a ride home, and all I could think about the whole way home was Mitch and what he was doing. Well that, and what the hell Leelee was doing with Greg. The conversation was so stilted in the car, that the uncomfortable silence was welcome when Leelee and Greg stopped talking.
Levi had finally fallen asleep twenty minutes ago, and I was getting ready for bed myself. Granted, I would be sleeping on the floor tonight and not the air mattress
. Levi had asked right away where the bed was when he walked into my room, and I had just told him it had popped, and new beds would be coming tomorrow. Thankfully he hadn’t asked how it had popped.
I had just filled my wine glass full of my favorite Boones Farm when there was a knock on the door. I stood there with my glass in hand and just stared at the door.
“Scarlett,” he called. “Open the door.”
I glanced down the hallway, making sure Levi’s door was shut and walked over to the door but didn’t open it. I still didn’t know what I was doing or going to do. I liked Mitch, hell if I was honest with myself, more than liked Mitch, but I still hesitated.
When Levi and I had moved here, I told myself that I was going to make a new life on my own, and I didn’t need anyone besides Levi, but then Mitch came along, blowing all of those plans out of the water.
“Scarlett, please. I’m worried about you.”
I reached out, my hand on the handle, but I still didn’t open it. “I don’t think I can do this, Mitch.”
“Scar, open the door. I don’t want to talk to you through the damn door.”
Shit. I turned the handle and Mitch pushed it open, elbowing his way into my apartment. “You left.”
“Um, yeah.” I closed the door, leaned against it and took a sip of my wine. “Levi needed to go home, and Leelee gave us a ride.”
“I wish you would have stayed, at least tonight. You don’t have a bed to sleep on.”
“I’ll be fine sleeping on the floor for one night, Mitch. I’ve slept in worse places.”
“Scar, please.” He reached out and brushed his finger over my cheek. “Come back to my place. I’ll grab Levi and he can sleep on the couch.”
“Mitch, no.” I stepped out of his reach and walked into the kitchen.
“Scar, what the hell is going on. I know you were upset when I left, but I don’t know why. Is this about Levi knowing about us? He was going to find out eventually.”
“It’s not that, Mitch. Or, well, it is, but it’s more than that.”
“Then tell me what it is, and I’ll make it better.”
Skid Row Kings Complete Series Page 36