Road to Redemption

by Piper Davenport

  Once I’d applied my makeup and dried my hair, I set it in hot curls while I pulled out my second favorite little black dress. The stretchy material formed a fitted bodice and flared skirt that stopped just above my knees, while a sheer mesh decolletage sculpted a sweetheart silhouette. The open back had crisscrossing straps which tied in a pretty bow at the center which made me feel feminine and fun at the same time.

  I did own a sexier dress, but I wasn’t really looking for attention, wanted or otherwise, tonight. I just wanted to hang with my girls.

  This thought brought Alex to mind and I shook my head. The pull of a night out on his boat was definitely tempting, but I didn’t bail on my friends and I certainly didn’t ask ‘how high?’ when a man said ‘jump.’ It just wasn’t me. Even if the man was sexy as hell.

  After completing my ensemble with my very favorite four-inch pair of cherry red Jimmy Choos (a major splurge on my part), I grabbed my purse, bag, and coat, and headed upstairs. The house was still pretty much dark, so I knew my parents weren’t home. Setting the alarm, I let myself out and locked the door.

  “Fuck me, babe, you take forever to get ready.”

  I squeaked and dropped my stuff, turning to find Alex sitting on my front porch. “Ohmigod, Hawk, you can’t keep doing that to me.”

  He chuckled as he stood and picked up my discarded items. “You look beautiful, Payton.”

  “Thank you. What are you doing here?” I demanded, ignoring the little flutter of delight that was spreading through my body. He looked delicious, his jeans painted on, a black thermal and leather jacket that made me want to peel his clothes off of him.

  “Taking you to girls’ night.”

  “Come again?” I shivered, having underestimated just how cold it was outside.

  “Why aren’t your wearing your coat?”

  “I never do when I’m driving. It’s too constricting.”

  He took my coat still draped over my arm and helped me into it. “Well, now I’m driving, so you can stay warm.”

  “You can’t take me to girls’ night, Hawk.”

  “Yeah I can.”

  “Hawk, I don’t hear from you for days and now you expect me to go with you because you show up here?” I studied him. “Who does that?”

  He shook his head. “Babe, I was a dick.”

  “Ya think?” I retorted.

  “Let me make it up to you.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “How exactly?”

  “I’ll drive you wherever you want to go. Pick you up. You can drink all night and I’ll make sure you’re safe. If you’re wasted, I’ll bring you home if you want, take you back to the club or get a hotel room.”

  “So you’re trying to get me drunk and into bed?”

  He cocked his head. “Now you’re just being ornery.”

  I bit back a giggle. He was right. I was being ornery. “I’m staying at Macey’s tonight, so I have to drive or I’ll have no way to get home tomorrow.”

  “I’ll pick you up tomorrow and we can spend the day together, or I can drive you home if you have other plans.”

  “Alex,” I whispered.

  “There she is,” he said, and slid his hand to my neck.

  “What?”

  “You call me Hawk when you’re irritated, handsome when you’re beyond pissed, and Alex when you’re back to liking me.”

  “I do?”

  He chuckled. “You do, babe.”

  “I have a tell?” I let out a mock huff. “Damn it!”

  Alex laughed and I couldn’t help but smile. “I’m your driver for the night, baby, yeah?”

  “What about Lily?”

  “She’s with Kayla.”

  “She’s okay with that?”

  “Baby, I’ve had a shit week, Lily’s been sick and I took some time off, which meant I’ve been behind. Kay was happy to do this for me because I needed to see you.”

  “So that’s why you didn’t call?”

  “Yeah,” he said. “I probably picked up my phone a hundred times, but baby girl took all my attention. Will you let me make it up to you?”

  “You really don’t mind?”

  He dropped his forehead to mine. “I really don’t mind.”

  I smiled. “Okay. Thank you.”

  This is when he kissed me and it was good. So good, I didn’t want it to end, so I wrapped my arms around his waist and up his back. Finally! God, I’d missed this. He took his time and I didn’t want it to end. However, the lights of my dad’s car pulling into the driveway had me pushing Alex away like an errant teen. “Damn it! Let’s go.”

  “I take it this is your dad?”

  “Yep.” I grabbed my purse from his hand and slung it over his shoulder. “I’ll meet you at your truck.”

  He shook his head. “Ah, no.”

  “What?” I frowned, trying to push him from the porch. “Go.”

  “Baby, I’m not running from your dad like we’re kids doin’ somethin’ we’re not supposed to be doing.”

  “Then what do you propose?”

  “Oh, I don’t know,” Alex droned. “How about I meet him like a man?”

  The garage door raised and I heard my dad drive inside. Maybe he’d just go into the house… maybe he didn’t even notice us.

  “No. Absolutely not. I had this all planned for Thanksgiving. You were going to meet him and everyone then.” I yanked my coat closer to my body. “You’re not meeting him on the darkened front porch just as I’m scurrying away.”

  “Baby, you’re not scurrying anywhere.” He frowned. “You fuckin’ ashamed of me?”

  “What? No.” I shook my head. “No. Alex, I’m sorry. This isn’t what this is about.”

  “Pay?” my dad called as he locked his car. “That you?”

  Or maybe not.

  “Yeah, Dad. I’m just heading out the door to meet Macey. Alex came to pick me up.” My dad appeared before us and I smiled. “How was your day?”

  He looked Alex up and down, but not in a judgy way, just in my Dad sizing up my man-friend kind of way. “It was good, honey. How about yours?”

  “Good. Um, Dad, this is Alex. Alex, Dad.”

  My dad reached out his hand and Alex took it. “Nice to meet you.”

  “Nice to meet you too, son.” Dad glanced back at the street. “Is that your truck?”

  “Yeah.”

  “It’s a good truck. Safe. Just how I want my daughter to be.”

  Alex grinned, his hand settling at the base of my spine. “Couldn’t agree more.”

  “You staying at Macey’s tonight?” my dad asked me.

  “Yep. Brock and Dallas are gone, so Bailey’s staying too.”

  Dad nodded. “Good deal. You need me, you call.”

  “I will, Dad,” I said, and kissed his cheek. “Thanks.”

  He hugged me and then smiled at Alex. “I think we understand each other.”

  Alex nodded. “Yeah.”

  Dad let himself into the house as Alex grabbed my stuff and guided me to his truck. “Your dad’s pretty laid back.”

  I giggled as I settled myself in the truck and saw the front curtain flutter. “Yeah, sort of. He’s got my cell phone tracked as we speak and he’s watching from the front window.”

  Alex laughed. “Good to know.”

  He threw my stuff in the back and then climbed up beside me and started the truck.

  “So, what happened with Lily?” I asked as he pulled away from the curb.

  “Croup. I was worried it was whooping cough, but she was immunized, so the doctor said she’d just be uncomfortable until the virus left her system. A couple nights sitting in a steamy bathroom seemed to do the trick.”

  “Still scary though.”

  He nodded. “She went back to school today and really wanted to spend time with her aunt, so I used the distraction.”

  “You had to take time off work?”

  “Yeah, three days. Kayla took Monday for me, so I could at least get a little work done. But unless Lily was
sleeping, she was attached to me. It’s gonna take me a week to just get caught up. I love her, but man, I was ready for a break.”

  I giggled. “I get it. My nieces are the same way with my brothers-in-law. Something about little girls and their daddies.”

  “And you? Were you a daddy’s girl?”

  “Oh, hell, yes. When I was sick, all I wanted was my dad.” I smiled. “He used to give me M&Ms and tell me they were magical medicine.”

  “I haven’t tried that.”

  “It worked every time, until I figured out that if I “played” sick, I’d get M&Ms. Mom shut that down pretty quick.”

  Alex laughed. “Fuckin’ A, the emotional blackmail girls can dish out.”

  “Quit paying the ransom and maybe we’ll stop.”

  “Never gonna happen.” He linked his fingers with mine. “It’s way too much fun.”

  I grinned, my heart light as we drove into Portland. “Did you ever visit Booker?”

  “Not at his place, no.”

  “But you know where he lives.”

  “Yeah, babe.”

  “Are you guys friends outside of the club?” I asked.

  He let out a weird sound. Chuckle? No, maybe snort. Chortle? Yes, it was definitely a chortle.

  I squeezed his hand. “What?”

  “Booker was one of the kids my parents’ took in to foster. He and I have a complicated past.”

  “I didn’t realize he was a foster child,” I said sadly.

  “He had a shit life, baby. It’s why he works so hard to make his current one good.”

  “Why is your relationship complicated? Are you not friends?”

  “We’re gettin’ there,” Alex said. “My dad molested most of the girls who came through our house. I didn’t know about it until Annie. She made a formal complaint through CPS, but it got lost or buried, or something. Not sure. Booker hacked into the computers and found it. It set in motion a series of events that sent my dad to prison for a very long time.”

  “And you blame Booker for that?”

  “Fuck, no. I hated my dad, but as a kid, I didn’t know just how much of a bastard he was. He used to smack my mom around and me too, ’til I got big enough to defend myself, but I still didn’t know the depths of evil in him. Booker nailed him to the wall. I was thankful for it.”

  “So, why the tension?”

  “The issue came when Annie got pregnant by some douchebag in high school and had an abortion that went bad. Booker thought I’d knocked her up, so he’s hated me for years. We’re cool now, but can’t say we’re gonna share our feelings anytime soon.”

  I smiled. “No, that’ll probably take some time.”

  “Where am I parking?”

  I looked out the windshield to see we were almost at our destination. “I have Macey’s code, so we can park in her extra space.”

  He nodded and guided the truck into the underground parking structure and I directed him to the space. I pulled out my phone. “I just have to check with Macey and make sure she’s comfortable with you coming up.”

  “I don’t bite.”

  “No, I know. It’s not that.” I wasn’t sure what to say at this point. It’s not as though Macey’s life was a secret, but I also didn’t want to drag her shit out onto the street so to speak.

  He sighed. “It’s fine, babe. I’m a lot to take.”

  “She was raped.”

  “Fuck,” he rasped.

  I grimaced. “It’s been almost three years since it happened and for the most part, it’s done, but she gets nervous around men she doesn’t know and it’s why we rally around her when Dallas is gone. Usually Bailey or I stay with her so she doesn’t have to be alone. The guy broke into her old apartment, so she doesn’t always feel safe when she’s by herself.”

  “Understandable.”

  I nodded.

  “I don’t have to come up, Payton. I can wait in the lobby, or here in the truck. Whatever she feels comfortable with. I can even hang at Booker’s place until you’re ready.”

  “Thank you. I’ll see how she feels and go from there.” I texted Macey to let her know what was happening and she responded immediately. “She said that Dani and Booker are already there, so she’s fine with you coming up.”

  “It’s a party, apparently.”

  I giggled. “I wouldn’t be surprised if Bailey and Brock are also there already. I’m usually late, so Brock said he’d take Bailey.” I checked my phone. “I’m only twenty-two minutes late tonight, and I probably would have been on time if a certain badass biker dude didn’t delay me.”

  Alex laughed. “Next time I’ll make the wait a little more enjoyable.”

  “Good lord, the thought of you ever making anything more enjoyable might kill me.”

  Having released his seatbelt, he leaned forward and kissed me. I was still locked in, but not for long. Still holding my lips hostage, he freed me from my belt and pulled me onto his lap. I slipped my fingers into his hair and slid my tongue into his mouth, deepening the kiss.

  Alex held me close, but I couldn’t get close enough and groaned in frustration as I cupped his face.

  “Baby,” he said between kisses, “I’m not fuckin’ you in the truck in a parking garage. You need to quit with those noises.”

  I leaned back and frowned. “What noises?”

  Alex cocked his head. “You don’t know?”

  “I groaned because I was frustrated… obviously not helping the situation,” I said.

  “No, babe, before that. Never mind.”

  “What?” I said and gripped his shoulders. “Tell me.”

  He chuckled. “I just thought you were gonna come.”

  I slapped his arm. “I do not sound like I’m going to come when I’m kissing someone, Hawk. That’s disgusting.”

  He cupped my bottom and gave it a gentle squeeze. “You do when you’re kissin’ me.”

  “I do not.” My face flamed. “Let me go.”

  “No.”

  “Hawk,” I warned, and tried to shift off his lap.

  “Payton, settle,” he said. “Don’t be embarrassed baby. Nothin’ about what we’re doin’ should embarrass you.

  “You just said I sound like I’m having an orgasm while I’m kissing someone. Now I’m thinking back to all of the other men I’ve kissed and wondered how many times I’ve done that without knowing.”

  Alex’s body stiffened. “How many guys have you kissed?”

  “Several.”

  “Fuck me, Payton.”

  “Well, you asked! I’ve kissed a lot of guys, Hawk. But I’ve only slept with two. And they were two men I loved very much once upon a time, and with whom I’m still friends. Neither of them mentioned noises when I kissed them… I barely made noises when we had sex, so I’m sorry if this is taking me a bit by surprise.”

  He looked at me like I was an alien. “You didn’t make noise when you came? Ever?”

  I pushed at his shoulders again. “I’m not having this conversation with you.”

  “Babe, tell me.”

  “No. I don’t kiss and tell, Hawk. I like to keep my past my past.”

  “Payton?”

  “What?”

  “Did they make you come?”

  I gasped. “What? That’s none of your business.”

  He frowned. “They didn’t make you come.”

  “I’m not taking the bait, Hawk. It’s none of your business.”

  “Okay, baby, we’ll leave it there for now.”

  “Forever,” I said.

  “For now.” He patted my bottom. “How do I get Alex back?”

  “Stop being such a jerk.” My phone buzzed but I ignored it.

  “Okay, baby.” He smiled, and honestly I had no idea why he was so smug. “I’ll stop being a jerk.”

  “What are you up to?” I asked, narrowing my eyes at him.

  He laughed. “God, you’re gorgeous, Payton.”

  My phone buzzed again. “Stop being sweet and tell me what you’re
up to.”

  “I’m not up to anything, babe. Promise.” He picked up my phone that was sitting on the seat beside us. “We should get upstairs.”

  Just to drive home his point, my phone buzzed again. I snatched it from him and checked my texts, still sitting in his lap, mind you. I liked sitting here. Gah! I was insane.

  “Let’s go,” I said, still looking at my phone, but he held firm. “What?”

  “Hey,” he whispered. “Look at me.”

  I met his eyes and bit my lip.

  “I like everything about you, baby, yeah? Don’t ever feel self-conscious or embarrassed about your responses to me. We’re new. We’re figurin’ shit out.” He stroked my cheek. “You’re beautiful, Payton.”

  I sighed. “And you’re back to being sweet.”

  Alex chuckled. “Come here.”

  He drew my head down for another delicious kiss, but this time I made sure I didn’t make any noise whatsoever.

  “Don’t like that, baby,” he said, and broke the kiss.

  I scowled. “Now I’m not kissing right?”

  “You’re kissin’s fine, baby. It’s you all locked up and stiff.”

  “You could tell?”

  “Yeah, Payton I could tell.” He smiled. “I want you to let go. Just let it happen, yeah?”

  “I’ll think about it. But right now, we have to get upstairs.” I scooted off his lap and was relieved when he let me.

  I CLIMBED OUT of the truck before he could make it to my side and waited for him to grab my stuff from the back. Once he had my bag, he took my hand and we headed to the elevator and up to the lobby.

  There was a new doorman, apparently, so we went through the normal process of signing in and getting permission to ride up to Macey’s floor, but we did it without the friendly banter that I normally had with the other doormen. I was glad, however, this new person was as diligent as the others.

  I knocked on my old apartment door and my brother pulled it open. “Nice of you to join us, sissy,” he said, and pulled me in for a hug.

  “Shouldn’t you be gone by now?” I asked.

  He chuckled. “Soon.”

  I felt Alex’s hand on my lower back and pulled away from my brother. “Brock, this is Alex.”

  My brother eyed him up and then shook his hand. “We’ve met.”