by Thia Finn
“Does she work at all?” Ryan asked in a negative tone.
“Yeah, she does. Works over at The Bar. You’ve seen her before. AD was all there with Carter and me, too. I pulled her aside to talk with her. You probably don’t remember.”
“You mean the little reddish blonde that refused to wait on us when we were all sitting back at the pool tables?” Ryan started laughing. “We scared her so badly, she couldn’t even talk.” He continued laughing at his own comments.
“Yeah that’s her, and apparently we did. She didn’t even want to talk to me when I got her alone.”
“So what’s going on with the two of you now?”
“Nothing so far. She’s fucking gun shy at this point. I think she’s still living in survival mode.”
“That’s understandable. What can you do to help her then?” He seemed genuinely interested in her plight, something normal for my whole extended family. The band had been my family for years now, and I knew I could always count on them. They rescued me at every turn when I was too young to know better about life. Now someone else needed that same opportunity, and I had no doubt they would provide it. All I had to do was ask.
I gave it a few days hoping she’d text, but naturally the stubborn woman didn’t. So I pulled out my phone while I waited for Crew to get out of practice.
Me: Working tonight?
Timbre: No, it’s my night off
Me: Mine, too. Want to meet up?
Timbre: I don’t know. I’m exhausted and only one day off this week
Me: One day?
Timbre: I’m taking all the shifts I can. Don’t want to be homeless much longer
Me: Right. What if I brought you dinner?
Timbre: Too much trouble
Me: Never too much trouble to see a pretty girl
Timbre: Oh, I see how it is. Not wanting me for my brains
Me: Brains are good too
Timbre: Come get me for dessert then :)
Damn, that’s an invitation. I knew how I wanted to respond, but we might be on two different pages. After the flirting from the other night, my mind spent a considerable amount of time thinking about her. I hoped she did the same.
Me: OK dessert it is. I know the perfect thing.
Timbre: What time?
Me: 7:30
Timbre: I’ll be here
Dessert sounded like a great first date. Simple, easy, not too long. I had to get back home to Crew anyway. Balancing his schedule with mine hadn’t been a problem especially with Peri and Ryan around. Throwing a date in now and then had never caused an issue. Seeing someone full-time presented more problems. I’d need to talk to Crew if we decided to see each other more often. I had a feeling this might turn into a more than a sometime thing. Guess I would think about it more after seeing how tonight went.
The truck door opened, and a wet-headed kid jumped into the front and one in the back. I turned to see a red-faced Tucker there.
“Hey, guys. Hard practice today?” Both of them looked beat.
“Yeah, Hayden. The coach tried to kill us after our bad game last week,” Tucker admitted.
“Your faces have a red glow.”
“We ran a lot today, Pops. Then hit a lot, then fell a lot. I thought it was never going to end.”
“It’s the price you pay playing football in Texas in the fall, son.” I grinned as I backed out of the parking lot.
“I’m starving. I hope Mom has something good waiting on me.” Tucker laid his head back against the rest.
“Yeah, Pops, what are we having? I might choose to stay at Tuck’s for dinner.” He rolled his head toward me waiting on a response.
“I’m grilling hamburgers, so it won’t be ready when we get home.”
“That’s okay. I can get my homework out of the way. Not too much today. Then I can talk to Kenzie.”
“Kenzie? I thought her name was Reign.”
“So last week, Pops. Keep up.” He turned fist-bumping Tucker over the seat grinning like a fool.
“Oh, so that’s how it is? A new one each week?” I remembered middle school. Relationships lasted about as long as it took to walk around a corner and spot another beautiful girl. Right now, I found that comforting. Couldn’t get into too much trouble in a week especially since they only saw each other at school.
“I don’t know, but Reign was ugh.”
“Ugh isn’t a description, son. Try again.”
“She wanted me to be with her all day long. I have other things to do with my friends. She didn’t like it, so I told her ‘see ya.’”
“Just like that, huh?” I liked ‘see ya’ at twelve.
“Right. This phone is perfect. Three letters and it’s done. C. Y-A.” He spelled it out.
“Crew, that’s just wrong. At least man up and tell her face-to-face.”
“No way, Pops. It’s not like in the old days when you were in middle school. Now, it’s just a text away. Right, Tuck?”
“Right, dude. These girls would be like crying and all mushy. I’m not made for that shit.”
My eyes shot up into the mirror so I could see his face. I knew the language was coming, but I wasn’t exactly ready for it. He didn’t seem like it was a slip-up on his part. He had his phone out staring at the screen. I’d have to ask Ryan about this. Damn these kids not coming with a manual.
“Is that right? Well, you both better get ready for it because girls, especially in middle school, can be regular drama queens when it comes to tears.”
“Yeah, we see it all the time. You just look at some of them wrong, and they start crying. What’s up with that, Pops?”
“It’s called hormones, guys. Hormones make them do all kinds of weird things and one of these days you’ll be all moody, too.”
“No way. You’d never catch me crying ‘cause some girl said something to me.” I knew I had their attention from the looks on their faces. Good opportunity to share some parental knowledge.
“Yeah, you might not cry, but you’ll get mad over nothing and want to take your anger out in other ways. The thing to do right now is to learn to control your temper. Screaming, yelling, hitting something, throwing things won’t help the situation even if you feel like it.”
“Then again you might cry, too. Some of the guys get so mad if they cry after a bad game,” Crew added.
“Yeah, that’ll happen. And there’s nothing wrong with crying if the moment becomes too much to handle. It’s just one way to get those emotions out and deal with them.” I thought back to my days at their age. I’d have died before I cried in public.
“Have you cried before since you’ve been a man, Uncle Hayden?” He looked at the rearview mirror to see my face.
“Yes, I have. I cried when my grandpa died. He was the best man ever. I cried when ol’ Crew-man over here was born because he was a miracle.” A moment of sadness passed over me thinking of my grandpa.
“You cried when I was born? Were you mad about it?” Crew looked confused.
“No, son. I cried because seeing you lying there all pink and scrunched-faced in that taco-rolled blue blanket and little stocking cap, was too much. I was overwhelmed.”
“Awe, Pops, I never knew.” He patted me on my shoulder like he needed to comfort me. I started laughing to lighten the moment. I had no intentions of ever telling him the hell his mom put Ryan and me through when he came along. He had no idea and never would know, how much I cried holding him those first few weeks, when the bitch confessed how she tricked me. Knowing he would never see his mom because she didn’t want him was a secret we’d all carry to the grave. The bitch could rot in hell for what she did.
“Of course, if I’d known how much a pain-in-the-ass you were gonna be, I might have cried for different reasons.” This caused Tucker and him to both cackle.
I walked to the doorway at 7:20 p.m. I didn’t want Hayden to get out of his truck to get me. The last thing I wanted him to do involved him walking through that door. I didn’t think they’d let him i
n anyway.
He pulled up, and I pushed past the door. “Hey,” I called to him since he stepped from the truck.
“Hey, yourself.” He pulled me in for a hug, and his soapy fragrance smelled woodsy and clean. The assault it had on my senses sent a little shock of desire through me. I knew the evening held a lot of possibilities under the right circumstances.
He closed the door behind me, rounded the truck, and climbed in. As he backed out, he looked over at me. “You look beautiful.” The lightweight purple sweater brought out the green in my eyes, and I always received compliments when I wore it.
“Thank you. You look pretty great yourself.” Of course, he could be wearing basketball shorts and a tank and look hot. He wore a soft-looking gray t-shirt that stretched perfectly over his chest and biceps. His tattoos covered most of this forearms but didn’t quite form sleeves. Some colors shot through the black that took up the majority of his ink. I noticed the black peeking up from the band around his neck. Patterns and words adorned his neck. My mind drifted to the idea of studying it up close or maybe running my tongue over those when I kissed his neck. Okay, stop, Timbre.
“You like my ink?” he asked. My eyes shot up, and I knew from the heat, my face lit up like a Christmas tree. He’d busted me staring.
“Yeah. Yeah, I do,” I stuttered causing him to smile that panty-dropping smile at me.
“Don’t do that,” I said loudly.
“Do what?” His voice said innocence, but I knew he did it on purpose.
“Look at me with that smile.” I felt like I was scolding him.
“It’s the only smile I have.” Again the innocent tone.
“No, it’s not. I’ve seen several different ones, and I think you do that one on purpose,” I said with a perfectly straight face.
“No way, Timbre. It’s just my smile.” He turned back to look at the road with a smirk this time.
“Yeah, yeah. I bet you save it for the right moment with all the girls.”
He laughed this time. “All the girls, huh? I think right now all the girls you speak of includes only one.”
“No way. I’m sure you get the pick of the women, especially when you’re out with the band.”
“Yeah, never happens. When those guys were single, they got the pick of the women. I got the leftovers if there were any. I’m sure since you’ve followed AD’s music, you know their reputations.”
“I might have read a thing or two, but I’m sure most of it was made up by the groupies.”
“I wouldn’t bet on it. Those guys used to be the worst man-whores I’d ever seen. Then their forever females came along and changed the band, one man at a time.” He reached over and took my hand. “I never really had the following they had.”
“How old were you when you started working with them?” I knew nothing about the man currently driving me somewhere.
“I’d just turned eighteen when I came to Austin looking for Ryan. He’s my cousin, but I’d never met him until I came out here. I wanted to make it in the music business, so I came here looking for something or someone to connect with.”
“It was brave of you to come to Austin on your own like that so young and not even know anyone.” Not really all that different from my story.
“Yeah, now that I think about it. I was stupid for doing that, but the determination to succeed helped win the battle. I found him where my mom said he’d be. Hell, he could’ve been on tour for four months. Guess I’d be living on the streets by then for sure.”
We pulled into a parking lot of a place I’d never seen before. “What is this place?”
“This is the new Voodoo Doughnuts. They recently opened one.” I was opening my door when he got there.
“Oops, sorry.” I’d embarrassed myself again with him. I loved that he’d been taught excellent manners. I’d never had a guy open my door like this before unless it was convenient.
He held out his hand. “Come on. I think you’ll like this.”
I’d never seen anything looking quite like these things. They weren’t just doughnuts. They were massive round sweet doughnuts with every topping imaginable on them.
“Hayden, I can’t eat a whole one of those things. Look at it. Even the voodoo doll is huge.” He laughed at me.
“How about we share one?” he suggested. He bought the voodoo doll, and we sat around a patio table eating the enormous sweet confection.
I had icing on my fingers mingled with the fruity center. Not wanting to miss a single drop of the lusciousness, I stuck my finger in my mouth. He stared at me as I licked my index finger clean of the decedent chocolate and ripe strawberry gooeyness. I popped it from my lips thinking about other things that might pop from my mouth at some point. Before I could start on the next finger, he pulled my hand to his mouth and sucked my finger into the warmth, passing his lips. He slid it deeply inside wrapping his tongue almost around my finger.
The act itself shot fire straight to my core as I watched him slide my finger in and out a few times licking it from top to base. My view drifted from his mouth to his eyes, and I watched the deep brown as golden rays seemed to shoot out from the centers. He never took his eyes off mine as he moved to my ring finger and repeated the motion paying close attention to the tip when he drew it in all the way. Damn, I melted a little more with each touch of his warm tongue.
“That’s damn good chocolate, Timbre,” he managed to say in a deep voice filled with much more than a compliment to sugar. With his hand behind my neck, he pulled me to him to kiss my lips causing the fountain to flow from inside the lips down below. It happened in a slow, sweet melting as our lips and tongues started a duel that would never be won sitting in a public place. When he broke the kiss, he pressed our foreheads together. We breathed a sigh of relief that one of us had the good sense to stop before someone called the police to arrest for public indecency.
“Babe, I think we need to end this party or move it somewhere else.”
My voice came out in a breathy whisper. “Yeah, probably a good idea.”
“Agreed.” He stood and pulled me up from the bench. He picked up the recognizable pink box as we walked to his truck without another word between us. Words weren’t needed as much as actions at this point. My senses struggled with the high alert he set them on when he warmed me up.
I stepped up into the truck, and he made his way to the front of it. After putting the box in the back seat, he climbed in. I noticed it took him forever to get in the truck.
“Everything okay?” I asked looking at him to judge his answer.
“Nothing.” He smiled at me. “Not a damn thing.” He reached for my hand and put it on his thigh as he backed out and headed back to my home.
He didn’t speak as we drove. His thumb ran over the back of my hand in little short, smooth movements like he might be rolling the wheel on a lighter. The sparks we ignited at the table never had a chance to burn out with the tiny action he continued. If anything, they shot a fire line straight to me. I never remembered feeling something this hot with another guy I’d dated, especially so fast.
The truck came to a stop away from the door of the center. No light from the center’s parking lot shined into the cab. He put it in park and turned to me.
“Timbre. As much as I want to pursue where we were headed back there, I’m not wild about it happening in a public place. I’d never consider doing anything to put us in a position that would cause a problem.” He brought my hand to his mouth and kissed the palm before he raised his eyes back to mine. “You’re a smart, beautiful woman, and it seems like fate keeps putting us together, so I’d like to see where it’s going to take us. How about you?”
“Yeah, yeah, I think that’s a good plan. Is there something else I need to know? I mean, I can’t ever invite you in here, but I hope to be out soon. I’m saving every penny I can to get a deposit together.”
“Right. I understand, and I admire your hard work.” He kissed my palm again. Damn he needed to stop. Thinki
ng with him this close and looking like sin had my mind going crazy, but putting warm kisses on my palm made it impossible. When he moved up to pulse point at my wrist, I thought about melting on the spot. “Here’s the thing.”
“Uh, oh. Are you blowing me off?”
“What? No, the opposite. Why would you think that?”
“Usually ‘here’s the thing’ is never followed by something good.” I sat back and turned my face to him.
“No, it’s not like that at all. I need you to know some things about my life that make us seeing each other somewhat difficult.”
“Like what?” He had me guessing all kinds of things.
Was he married?
Oh, my God.
That was it!
He’s married.
“I have a twelve-year-old son who is and will always be my number one priority. I purposely haven’t had any relationships since he came along because I’m all he has. Well, me and the band.” I guessed he thought I was going to freak out on him or something.
“And why’s that a problem? It’s not for me,” I told him taking him by surprise if the look on his face indicated that.
“Uh. It’s not a problem. I’ve never brought a woman home before.”
“Never in twelve years? That’s unbelievable, Hayden. Why not?” His admission shocked me. Twelve years without a girlfriend?
“He’s always been the first on my mind. His mom didn’t want him, and she tricked me into becoming a dad. I mean, I don’t blame her for everything because I’m responsible for my own actions, but it was a fucked-up situation. When she walked out the door and never looked back, I made up my mind I would always be there for my son.”
“And you should be. Parenting is a full-time job, Hayden. I get that but didn’t he expect, at some point, you would want a girlfriend or wife.”
“Yeah, he wanted a mom for a long time, but I was afraid to put him through that. What if I found someone and it didn’t work out? What kind of damage would that do to him? I didn’t want to risk it with him. Can you understand that?” I saw how strongly he let this affect him. He obviously loved his son, and it only made me like him even more. Everything about Hayden told me his priorities were in the right direction. He loved his kid, cared for others when he’d done them wrong—like me—and put the situation out there right up front, so we knew where we were going. So far, I think I’d struck the jackpot. If this was a gamble, I decided right then to be all in.