Skid Row Kings Complete Series

by Winter Travers

  As P!nk crooned about trying and not giving up, I stared at a blank piece of paper. Thinking about writing was much easier than actually writing. I had written when I was in high school, but that was when I was young, and naive, thinking that true love was real.

  So, instead, I wrote about what I knew now.

  By the time, there was a knock on the door I had over four pages written, and my hand was cramping up. I glanced at the clock on the stove and saw that it was already five after six. I hadn’t even started dinner for Levi and me.

  “Coming,” I mumbled when there was another knock on the door. I pulled open the door to Mitch and Levi standing there, both holding an orange Gerber daisy.

  “Mama!” Levi launched himself at me, wrapping his arm around my leg and held up the flower to me. “We got you your favorite color flower.”

  “I see that, baby.” I took the flower out of his hand and held it up to my nose, smelling it. “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome. It was Mitch’s idea. He said you deserved flowers as pretty as you are.”

  I leaned down, pressed a kiss to Levi’s cheek which he promptly wiped off and ran down the hall to his room.

  “He’s wrong. I wanted to find flowers as pretty as you, but I couldn’t. I don’t think they exist.” He held out the flower in his hand, and I hesitantly grabbed it.

  “Thank you,” I whispered.

  “No need to thank me, Sparky. Just the truth.” I knew I should invite him in, but I couldn’t get the words out. “You work at ten tomorrow, right?” I nodded my head yes dumbly. “I’ll pick Levi up at nine then. ‘Night, Scar.” He disappeared down the stairs, and I heard the door shut behind him.

  I closed the door, leaned against it and held the flower he had given me to my chest. That was not at all how I had thought Mitch dropping off Levi would have gone. I had fully expected Mitch to insist on staying and trying to convince me to change my mind.

  “Mama, you need to put your flowers in water. That’s what the lady at the flower shop said.” Levi jumped up, trying to reach the cabinet the glasses were in.

  “OK, I’m coming, bud.”

  After I had put the flowers in a makeshift vase, I cooked a dinner of grilled cheese and tomato soup for Levi and I while he told me everything he had done with Mitch today. He finally passed out curled up in his bed with a goofy smile on his face.

  Levi had one of the best days of his life, and I had Mitch to thank for it. Every day would be that way for him if I would let Mitch stay.

  I guess it all came down to if I let Mitch in all of the way, would he stay? I knew I needed to know I could live on my own, but I was also afraid that Levi and I wouldn’t be enough for Mitch.

  Now, I just had to figure that out and then maybe I could let Mitch in.

  Maybe.

  ______________

  Chapter 31

  Mitch

  “You know what your mama’s favorite type of ice cream is?” Levi and I were in my truck, headed back to the shop and I was planning day two of getting Scarlett back.

  “Hmm,” Levi tapped his chin thinking. “The one with the road in it.”

  “What?”

  “Something with a road. I can’t remember what it’s called. Mama loves that stuff. Me, I love the blue ice cream.”

  “Oh, you mean Rocky Road, bud?”

  “Yup. Rocky Road. Are we getting mama ice cream today?”

  “Yup. I figure on the way back to your place this afternoon, we’d stop and get dessert for you guys tonight.”

  “You think we could get some of that blue ice cream for me, too?”

  “Well, I guess since you’re helping me out we could get you some of that, too.”

  “Yes.” Levi pumped his fist in the air and did a little dance in his seat. “You think tomorrow we could get Mama a puppy?”

  I busted out laughing. “I think we need to work our way up to a puppy.”

  “OK. We’ll get her a puppy Friday.”

  By Friday, I had hoped that Scarlett would be begging me to stay, but I wasn’t quite sure of that yet. Although, I still had a few surprises up my sleeve.

  ______________

  Scarlett

  I was in heaven, and I had Mitch to thank for it. Levi was in his bedroom winding down watching one of his Transformer movies, and I was in the kitchen, leaning against the counter while I ate a huge bowl of Rocky Road ice cream.

  When Mitch had handed me the plastic grocery bag, I couldn’t help but be a little excited to see what was inside. He gave it to me saying it was something I loved, and he was gone before I could even thank him.

  He was trying to worm his way into my heart while still keeping his distance and I had to say he was doing a damn good job. He had even included a pint of Blue Moon for Levi to have after dinner.

  Mitch Jensen was giving me the distance I needed but wasn’t letting me forget about him.

  Smart man.

  ---

  Tuesday

  “Hi, Mama. Bye Mama.” Levi ran past me and headed straight to his room without a backward glance at me.

  “I got him a new Transformer movie, and he’s been dying to watch it,” Mitch explained. He was standing in front of me balancing a pizza box in one hand and holding a two-liter of soda in the other. “We stopped and got dinner for you, too.” He held up the pizza, and I grabbed it from him. “I figured Levi would be glued to his TV all night and thought you might like a break from cooking.”

  “Um, thank you.” This was actually perfect. Before Mitch and Levi had shown up, I had stared in the fridge for ten minutes trying to figure out what to make for dinner. “Did you want to stay and eat with us?”

  “No, I actually have plans tonight, and I need to get going.”

  “Oh. Um, sorry to keep you.” I grabbed the soda from his hand and set it on the floor.

  “I’ll be by same time tomorrow, OK?” I nodded my head, suddenly unable to talk. He gave me one last look and then he disappeared down the stairs.

  I closed the door, pressed my back against it and closed my eyes. “This is what you wanted, Scarlett,” I said out loud. At least I thought it was.

  ---

  Wednesday

  “No. Take it back.”

  “I can’t.”

  “Why the hell not?”

  “Because I can’t remember where I bought it from.” Mitch was standing at my kitchen counter, hunched over a laptop.

  “How do you not remember where you bought a computer from?”

  “Because I bought it five years ago. This is my old computer. I thought you could use it to write on. It has all of the basic writing programs you need. You don’t have the internet so it’s only good for writing.”

  “Mitch, you can’t give me a computer.”

  “I’m not. I’m just loaning you this one until you can afford to buy a new one.”

  “That would be never.” This was crazy. Beyond crazy. “I’ve been writing on paper, Mitch. That’s been working just fine.”

  “So, you’ve been writing. How’s it going?”

  “It’s fine.” I crossed my arms over my chest. Mitch hit a couple keys on the computer then turned it around to me. “You’re good to go. Like I said, it’s nothing fancy, but it’ll help you with your writing.”

  “I’m not going to use it, Mitch.”

  Mitch shrugged his shoulders and headed to the door. “Do what you want, Scar. It’s yours if you want it.” He pulled his keys out of his pocket and twirled them around his finger. “I’ll be here same time tomorrow.” He slipped out the door just like he had the past four days and I was left alone again.

  I was alone just like I had wanted, but now I wasn’t sure I liked it as much. What the hell was wrong with me?

  ---

  Thursday

  Chocolate. My favorite.

  At this point I knew Mitch had to be talking to Levi, trying to figure out everything I loved.

  My son was a traitor.

  ---

/>   Friday

  “It’s a puppy?” Mitch was holding one of the largest stuffed dogs I had ever seen, and all I could do was laugh.

  “Um, yeah.”

  “That’s interesting.” I grabbed it out of his hands and held it to my chest. “Levi has wanted a dog for the past year. I guess you can’t rely on all the intel from a four-year-old.”

  “Yeah.” Mitch ran his hand over his head and shrugged his shoulders. “I figured you didn’t really want a dog, but Levi has been bugging me for a couple of days. How bad can a three-foot dog be for him?”

  “I’m not sure, I’ll let you know.” I juggled the dog in my arms and took a step back. “Are you racing tonight?”

  “Naw. The rain isn’t letting up so it was canceled for this week.”

  “Oh, that sucks. Is this going to mess up the rankings or whatever?”

  “No. It’ll just be one less race. It might get made up at the end or not. But, I gotta get going. You have off tomorrow, right?”

  “Yeah.”

  “OK, I’ll see you Sunday at ten, then?” I nodded my head, and he disappeared down the stairs.

  I shut the door, looking down at the huge ass dog in my arms and I laughed. My son may be a traitor, but he definitely had his own priorities.

  ---

  Saturday

  I wrote. I wrote a lot.

  It ended up raining all day and Levi had come down with a cold. He was a whiney, runny nosed mess when he was awake, but when he slept, there was peace and quiet.

  After I had gotten some cold medicine in him and laid down in his bed with him, he had drifted off to sleep, and I was able to sit in front of the computer. After I had transcribed everything I had hand written, I was able to keep going.

  That was the first time in a long time that I had been able to do something for myself, and I had Mitch to thank for that. He wasn’t even around, but he was still helping to make my life better.

  Damn him for making me think of him all the time. His plan was working. Sort of.

  ______________

  Chapter 32

  Mitch

  I hadn’t seen her yesterday, and it was hard as hell not to go over to her apartment and bang on her door until she let me in. This morning she had answered the door half asleep rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

  Levi had launched himself into my arms, shouting that he missed me yesterday. Scarlett had waved us out the door, and we were off to set the next step of my plan into motion. Levi had told me that Scar was writing a lot, and I knew just what the next thing was that I needed to do.

  “You think you can talk your mama into going out for pizza tonight?” Levi and I were sitting in the kitchen devouring a plate of pizza rolls.

  “You can just take me out to pizza, we don’t need to take Mama.”

  “I think taking your mama out would be a good idea. Maybe give her a break from cooking dinner all of the time?”

  Levi shrugged his shoulders and popped a pizza roll into his mouth. “I guess.” I ruffled his hair and grabbed the last pizza roll and popped it into my mouth. I may be twenty-seven years old, but I still loved pizza rolls.

  “So, you think you can talk her into going out with us tonight?”

  “You’re a boy, Mitch. Just pick her up and put her in the truck.”

  “Now that is the one thing I don’t think your mama will like. We might have to go with a different plan.”

  Levi shrugged his shoulders and hopped down. “OK, but if that doesn’t work, I’ll help you pick her up.”

  All I could do was laugh. I guess it was a good idea to have a backup plan.

  ______________

  Scarlett

  “Mama! Can we go out to dinner with Mitch?” Levi came blazing into the apartment and ran straight into me. “He said we can go for pizza.”

  “Um.” I looked at the clock in the kitchen, realizing it was past six, and I had again forgotten to make anything for dinner. Mitch still insisted on keeping Levi for a couple of extra hours every night, and I had been using those hours to write. Which then led me to lose track of time and normally I ended up making sandwiches for dinner. “I thought I could make grilled cheese for dinner.”

  “No, we had that Friday. I want pizza, please.” He looked up at me, a huge grin on his face.

  “Do you think maybe we could order in pizza here?” I didn’t really have the money to order in, but if it got me out of having to be in the same vehicle as Mitch, I would do it. My resistance to him was waning and any time I spent with him made me want to be with him.

  “No.” He shook his head and waved his finger at me. “We need to go otherwise we have to do Plan B, and Mitch said you won’t like Plan B.”

  “Whose idea was this?” I propped my hands on my hips and put on my best stern-mom face. I could only imagine what plan B would be.

  “Mine. And Mitch. Well, mostly Mitch.” Levi clasped his hands in front of him. “Pleeeaaase, Mama. I need to have pizza.”

  “You’re conspiring against me, Levi.”

  “I have no idea what that means, Mama.”

  I crouched down eye to eye with Levi. “It means you and Mitch are making plans for Mama without mama knowing.”

  “Yup. That’s what we’re doing. Mitch said we need to get you to fall in love with him.”

  My heart stopped at his words. I had thought all along that Mitch was trying to get me to start dating him again, but fall in love with him? And Levi knew that was what he was trying to do.

  “You think Mama needs to fall in love with Mitch?” I whispered.

  “I think it would be cool. Mitch has an awesome car and his truck is huge.”

  “So, Mama should love Mitch because his truck is big?” I laughed.

  “Yeah.”

  “You know if Mama loves Mitch, then he’d be around all the time and maybe one day he might move in with us.”

  “Yeah, he can be my new dad.”

  I closed my eyes and tilted my head back.

  Levi wanted a dad. All this time I had been thinking about Mitch coming into our lives and then leaving, but I never thought about what would happen if Mitch stayed in our lives. A dad for Levi, and someone to share our life with.

  “Scarlett?” I looked up and saw Mitch standing in the open doorway.

  “You want me to love you?” I whispered.

  He shrugged his shoulders and leaned against the doorway. “Maybe someday. I figured I would try getting you to at least want to be around me again.”

  “You wanna go to your room quick and let Mama talk to Mitch for a second?” I asked Levi.

  “We still get to go for pizza, right?”

  “Yes, I promise.”

  “Yes.” He pumped his fist in the air and ran down the hallway.

  Mitch walked in and shut the door behind him. I fell down to my knees and looked up at Mitch. “You couldn’t just let me be, could you?”

  “I did.”

  “No, you didn’t. You brought me flowers, chocolates, a computer, and a damn puppy. All I did was think about you this past week when I was trying to get over you. No matter how hard I tried not to think about you, you were there.”

  “I don’t want you to get over me, Scar. I want you to think about me as much as I think about you. Four weeks ago you walked into the shop and my life and since then, you’re all I’ve been able to think about. I didn’t see you coming, but now that you’re here, I’ll be damned if I let you go.”

  “It’s too soon, Mitch. I’m crazy for even thinking about you and I being together.”

  Mitch knelt down in front of me and grabbed my hands. “Who says it’s too soon?

  “I do. Hell, the whole world probably does, too. If we were in one of those romance novels, we’d have everyone throwing their Kindles and cussing us out for insta-love.”

  “Scar, I have no idea what the hell that means.”

  “It means we’re absolutely crazy.”

  He reached up and cupped my cheek. “As long as I
’m crazy with you I’m good with that.”

  “Do you have any idea what you’re signing up for here, Mitch? Levi thinks you’re going to be his dad. You don’t get just me in this, you get Levi, too.”

  “I was kind of hoping that would happen. You raised one hell of a kid, Scar, and if one day he decides to call me dad, I’d die a happy man knowing I not only had you but him also.”

  I closed my eyes and leaned into Mitch’s hand. “Damn if you don’t know just the right things to say.”

  “I’m flying by the seat of my pants here, Scar. I have to admit, I thought it was going to take a hell of a lot longer to get you to be with me.”

  “Oh man,” I laughed. “And I have to admit it took all of my willpower not to cave sooner.”

  “Well, thank God for that,” he mumbled. He leaned in his lips a breath away from my mouth. “I need to kiss you, Scar. I’ve missed you.”

  “Who’s stopping you?”

  “Fucking no one,” he growled. His lips devoured mine, and his hands delved into my hair. “You’re mine,” he mumbled in between kisses. His tongue invaded my mouth, licking and tasting. I wound my arms around his neck and held on.

  “Mama, can I come out now?” Levi shouted from his room.

  “Shit,” Mitch mumbled. He stopped kissing me and rested his forehead against mine. “The only drawback, I can’t kiss you whenever I want.”

  “You can, you just can’t take my clothes off whenever you want. Kissing is fine.” I pressed a kiss to his lips and ran my hands over his head. “I now see why you wanted to buy Levi his own bed. Sleepovers.”

  “Lots and lots of sleepovers.” Mitch buried his face in my neck, and he ran his hands over my body, tickling me. I fell onto my back, trying to bat Mitch’s hands away.

  “Let’s get him, Mama!” Levi yelled, running down the hallway. He jumped on Mitch’s back, wrapping his arms around his neck and started tickling Mitch.