Looks like Trouble to Me (Bad Boys Need Love, Too #1)

by Calinda B

“Give what?” He stroked Marni’s damp curls with his calloused hand, still not following the conversation. You’re such a sweet little girl. Your mama isn’t doing you any favors by being strung out all the time. When she started to whimper again he gave her his finger.

  Marni looked up at him, her lashes wet. She studied him intently with her green eyes as she sucked.

  His heart melted as he witnessed the bewildered heartbreak in her eyes. Neither one of us asked for this, did we?

  “You know, rights. You don’t give exclusive rights unless you want them. It has to be your choice. Number one rule.”

  “What’s that again?” He looked at Lila.

  “Aren’t you listening to me? I said, it has to be your choice to be with a guy exclusively. That’s the number one rule of the hookup culture.” Lila twirled a strand of her long brown hair around her finger.

  “I thought the number one rule of the hookup culture is to get laid as often as you can with as many partners as you can. And, to think that you’re falling in love but instead you’re confused a lot.” Jace winked at her. “But you’re too young to know that.”

  “I’m almost sixteen,” Lila said insistently.

  “My apologies.” Jace made his way to one of the yellow-back chairs and sat down, jiggling Marni on his shoulder. The phrase “exclusive rights” wisped through his brain, accompanied with thoughts of Zoé. The image he’d conjured in the bar of her naked, lying in the sand, popped into his head. With you on top, he thought. Your breasts hanging ripe in my palms. Camera time’s over, baby.

  “You got Marni to go to sleep. You’re good with her.”

  “What?”

  “You’re not listening to me!” Lila huffed. “I said, you’re good with her.”

  “I don’t know about that,” he said, blinking. “I honestly don’t have a clue how to raise a baby. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have taken off like I did tonight.”

  “That’s what my mom said when she came over to help me.”

  Jace arched an eyebrow. “I think this baby girl deserves better than what my sister’s giving her and I mean to do my best until we can make other arrangements.”

  “Like what?” Lila said, sitting next to Jace at the kitchen table.

  “Not sure. Adoption, maybe. Not my favorite choice. Or maybe, God willing, my sister will get some help and resume her role as mother.”

  “You don’t want to keep her?”

  “Not sure I’m set up to be an insta-dad. It doesn’t really fit with my life right now. I tend to be gone a lot.” Or, here…having sex.

  “This is sure a funny old table.” Lila walked her fingers across the yellow tabletop.

  “What, you don’t like the chrome dinette? I love this table.”

  “Where’d you get it?”

  “eBay, where else? I bid on it and won.” He laughed.

  “Why don’t you have a girlfriend, Jace?”

  Because I suddenly have a baby. Fuck. “What are you, a member of the inquisition? Sent here to interrogate, posing as my neighbor and part-time babysitter?”

  “No,” she said, smiling. “I just wondered. All my friends think you’re cute.”

  “And you don’t?” he said with a wink. “I’m hurt.”

  “No, I…I didn’t mean…” Her face turned a crimson flush.

  “I’m kidding, Lila. We’re friends. Friends are better than boyfriend and girlfriend.”

  “That’s not what my mom says. She wants you to meet a girlfriend and settle down. She says you need to put your past behind you.”

  Jace’s face darkened. “Did she, now?” Shit. This town is so small. What he did and who he did it with was his business, not his young friend Lila’s nosy mom. His phone vibrated in his pocket. He withdrew it, looked at the screen, slid the answer button to the right, held it to his ear and said, “Yeah? What is it?”

  “Dude, you should be here right now,” Billy slurred into the phone. “The girls are taking body shots off of each other and it’s fucking hot.”

  His cock twitched, screaming and yelling the way Marni did when he walked in tonight. “Yeah, well, didn’t you read the word ‘emergency’ on my phone? Besides the fact that I’m hours away? Besides the fact I said no before I even got the text?”

  “No, really. This is an emergency. I need back up.”

  A clatter sounded like Billy had dropped the phone. Female laughter could be heard as well.

  “Oh, fuck,” Billy said faintly.

  “Put the phone away, Billy,” one of the girls said. “Wait. Is that Jace?”

  “Bye-bye,” Jace said, tapping the phone off. He tossed it on the table. When it rang again, he ignored it.

  “Was that Billy?” Lila asked. “I don’t like him.”

  “Sometimes I don’t either.”

  “Why do you hang out with him then?”

  “Good question. He works at the same place as me. His money helps keep your dad’s boat business alive and well. I guess I feel like I owe it to your dad to keep hanging out with him. Your dad’s done me more than a few favors over the years.”

  “That doesn’t give him rights to you. Remember the hookup culture - you don’t grant exclusive rights to anyone unless you want to.”

  Jace smirked. “I’m not dating Billy.”

  “Yeah, but the principles are the same. He gives me the creeps sometimes.”

  “How so?”

  “The way he…the way he looks at me.”

  Jace stiffened. “Looks at you how?”

  “I don’t know. In a weird way like he…” Her voice trailed off.

  “Lila, Billy can be a total dipshit. If he ever makes you uncomfortable or touches you in any way you don’t like, you come and get me, yeah? You find me, you find your dad, find one of us.”

  “Yeah, okay.” She pushed her fingers nervously back and forth across the table.

  Jace lifted her chin with two fingers. “I mean it, Lila. I’ve got your back. Has he ever touched you?”

  “Well, one time he brushed against me. I was sorting some parts that came in and he came up behind me and well…he got a little too close. He pressed up against my back and he…you know.”

  “No, I don’t know.” Jace wanted to pound Billy’s face to a pulp.

  “It felt like he was…like…you know.” Her face turned bright red.

  Jace felt the rage burning inside him. Damn trustifarian prick. “Don’t ever let him get that close, Lila. I mean it. He’s a snake with a face.”

  Lila looked up at him, biting her lip. “Okay, Jace. Thanks. Well, I’ve gotta go. I told mom I’d be home as soon as you got here. Good luck with Marni. Looks like she’ll sleep okay. I’ll babysit whenever I can. I need the money.”

  “Saving for something?”

  “Not really,” Lila said, standing. She grabbed her coat from one of the hooks next to his motorcycle jacket. “It’s just nice to have a little cash.”

  After she left, Jace got up from the kitchen table and traipsed into his bedroom where he’d set up the crib. He gently placed Marni on the mattress, pulling the blanket over her, tucking it around her small body. This puts a definite damper on getting laid. Tomorrow he’d head to the store and buy supplies like pacifiers. He and Lila’s dad had boxed up whatever meager supplies his sister had before bringing the baby to his house last week. He was still getting the swing of this whole goddamned baby-care thing. He patted her plump tummy before peeling off his own clothes, dropping them on the floor and climbing in bed, wondering how he could see Zoé again and get between her legs.

  Chapter 4

  “Jace, I need to move you off the Selene and have you work on a rush job today,” Lila’s dad Neil said, as he entered the boat shop employee area.

  “Okay, what is it?” Jace asked. He opened his weathered gray metal locker, put his wallet and keys inside, reached for his well-worn blue cotton coveralls and pulled them over his jean-clad legs.

  “Old Rival 32 came in last night. Exterior has blisters. Owner�
��s heading down to Mexico in a month. He bought the boat on the contingency that we can fix them.” He removed the ball-cap from his head, ran his hand through his slightly graying blond hair, and placed the blue hat, emblazoned with Jenson’s Yacht Service, back on top. “You’re going to have to remove the entire gelcoat bottom. Once that’s done we’ll prepare the hull for a new top coat.”

  “Okay, I can do that. What’s Billy on?”

  “He hasn’t come in yet this morning.” Neil scowled, his weathered face forming deep creases. “I can’t exactly fire him but we sure need him today. We’ve got the Sea Dreamer to finish, and we need to get started on Martin’s Folly.” Neil glared at his clipboard. “Now that summer’s coming to a close, everyone’s bringing their boats in for tune-ups so they can take one last spin around the sea. Then it’s winter maintenance time. That should help us survive another year.” He tapped the clipboard on the round plastic dining table. “How’s the situation at home?”

  “You’re still keeping it on the down-low, right? I don’t want anyone to know about this.” Especially the ladies.

  “You know it. Even the wife is keeping it to close to her chest if you can believe that.”

  “Good.” Jace nodded. “I’m doing the best I can.” He grimaced. “I’m not used to waking up to a toddler staring at me. This morning I woke up far too early to see her standing in her crib, gripping the rails saying ‘Unca. Unca. Unca.’ Smiling at me as if I were her favorite toy.” He smiled. “More like the food bag. Dropped the little one off at Aunt Molly’s this morning. She took care of Marni a lot for my sister. Apparently Jayna inherited no child-rearing skills. My goddamned sister. No-one knows where she is.”

  “Can’t believe she snuck out of the emergency room, that’s pretty damn bad. File a missing person’s report?”

  “Yeah. But one of her friends said he saw her a couple days ago at Discovery Bay marina so she’s not exactly missing. Said she was getting on a boat. I think he knew more than that but he wasn’t saying.” Jace sighed. “Her friends tend to be pretty closed mouth.”

  “Protecting their interests, no doubt,” Neil said. “Do you know who the father is? No sign of him?”

  “I know who he is, yeah,” Jace said, his mouth pressing into a hard line. “He’s around but out of the picture.”

  “A man’s got to assume responsibility when he brings new life into the world,” Neil said.

  “That would require a responsible man. I wouldn’t let that loser get near Marni, even if he begged. He’s the reason my sister’s so messed up.”

  Neil looked at him with kind eyes. “He may have been the end but he wasn’t the means, son, you know that.”

  Jace scowled. “Yeah, all right. I’ll give you that. She was messed up before she took up with him. He just helped her dig in deeper.” He bit the inside of his cheek. “Anyway, enough with the gloomy thoughts. I’ll head out to the shipyard and get started on that boat.”

  “Good. You know I’ll help you out any way I can, right?” Neil said.

  “Yeah, I know that. But I’ve got to deal with this one on my own. Can’t have you always being the one to get me out of a scrap.”

  Neil patted Jace’s shoulder. “I’d do it again, in a heartbeat. You’re like a son to me, Jace.”

  A lump formed in Jace’s throat and he quickly looked away. “Yeah, thanks, Neil. That means a lot to me.” He stared at the gray metal of his locker. “Beats my bible thumping parents back in Minneapolis.” He’d left home at age sixteen, tired of the tyranny of his mom and dad trying to interject “the good Lord’s mercy” into his life with leather straps inflicted on his backside and bible school. He’d moved out west, ended up here in Port Townsend. His sister soon followed. Where was this goddamned good Lord and his mercy when he’d needed it, hefting his unconscious sister in his arms, willing her to stay alive?

  A couple hours later, he removed the respirator from his face, pushed the safety glasses on top of his head, set the sander down, and stretched his back.

  Billy slunk around the front of the boat like a naughty schoolboy. “Hey, Savage, Neil know I’m late?”

  “What do you think?” Jace said.

  “Shit. My old man’s going to kill me if he finds out I’m late again.”

  “Daddy going to take away your allowance?” Jace smirked.

  Billy glared at him. “You don’t know what it’s like. You’ve got to cover for me. Say I’ve been out here the whole time.”

  “Nope. You can dig yourself out.”

  “Come on, man! You owe me. I got you a good woman last night.”

  Jace rolled his eyes. “You didn’t see me between her legs did you? She wasn’t my type. I don’t owe you a thing. You look like hell, by the way.” Jace eyed Billy’s pale, yellowish-green complexion and the dark circles bruising his sculpted face. Even his dark blond hair looked hung over, hanging listlessly in his blue-gray eyes.

  “I feel like dog shit. Got about two hours sleep. But man, oh, man.” He chuckled. “Those two were hot. Girl on girl, girls on me, it was intense.”

  Jace groaned inwardly. “Good for you. Now why don’t you grab your tools and help me? This is a rush job.”

  “Yeah, I’ll get them. I’m not going to be much use to you, though. I feel like dog shit.”

  “You already said that.” Jace pulled the safety glasses over his eyes. “Did you ever remember how you know Zoé?”

  “Who’s that?” Billy asked.

  “The waitress at Chica Ríos.”

  “Oh, her. Yeah, I think I balled her a couple times. She looked familiar. I didn’t want to let on to Jasmine, though. I kind of like her.”

  “You kind of like your girlfriend?” Jace shook his head.

  “She knows how to get freaky, what can I say?” Billy scratched his head. “Fuck. I need aspirin, a cigarette and coffee, big time. So why’d you ask about Zoé? You like her?”

  “She seemed interesting.” Can’t stop thinking about her, more like it.

  “Huh,” Billy said. “You could do better. She’s no Kate.”

  And that’s a problem, why? “That’s for me to decide. Have her number?”

  “I don’t know. I tend to delete the ones I put on the back burner. They always try to contact me again so…” He drifted off, looking thoughtful. “You know where she works, what else do you need? Man, I feel like dog shit,” he said for the third time. “I think I’m still drunk. Or high. Maybe both. I’m going to call in sick and hope that no-one saw me. Even if they did…” He glanced around. “I’ve gotta sleep this one off.” Without another word, he slouched away, leaving Jace standing with his mouth open.

  “What a prick. Only thinks of himself,” Jace muttered. But he’s right about one thing. I do know where Zoé works. I might have to make another trip to Seattle without Billy.

  At lunchtime, he decided to head over to Aunt Molly’s and check on Marni. As he traipsed to his motorcycle, he spotted Kate in the parking lot, walking straight toward him, stylishly dressed, as usual. His heart went into deep freeze. “Hi, Kate,” he said in a monotone voice.

  “Hi.” She looked at him with a mixture of sorrow, longing, and pain.

  “What are you doing here?” he asked. He studied her impassively. Her silky hair, lithe body and drop dead gorgeous face used to excite him to no end. Too many bad experiences left him cold.

  “I heard about your sister. That’s rough.”

  “Yeah,” he said stiffly. “I’m trying to keep it quiet but everyone seems to know. To what do I owe the visit? You didn’t come here to talk about my sister.”

  “No,” she said, taking a step closer.

  He stiffened. “Then, what?”

  “I, um…I got another job.”

  “Oh, yeah? Good for you.” He took a step backward.

  “Yeah. I think it will be good for both of us. We have to see each other too much in this town.”

  He nodded, his lips pressed tightly together, his heart forming a glacier in
his chest. Each time he saw her he had to re-live the breakup all over again.

  “It’s in California.”

  Jace’s shoulders fell away from his ears. Thank God. “The job?”

  “Yeah. At a museum. I’ll be setting up new exhibits.”

  “That’s great, Kate. You’ll be good at that. I’m happy for you.”

  “I’m really sorry for the way things turned out between us,” she said, her eyes locking with his.

  “If you’re hoping to find signs of a connection,” he said, “you can stop the search. I’m over it.”

  Her eyes grew teary. She nodded. “I understand.” She stroked the polished black alloy of the Deus with her fingertips. “I haven’t used for months. Ever since we split up. I’m clean.”

  “It’s about time,” he said. “You’re too good for that shit.”

  “I know. I went through a hard time, that’s all.”

  “It’s not all and you know it. I could have stood by you while you cleaned up your act. But you had to fuck Billy.” He clenched and unclenched his hands.

  “I know. It was stupid. I’ve re-lived that moment a thousand times, wishing I could change it, wishing I could erase it. I was in love with you, Jace. I thought you were the one.”

  “Don’t start with this shit again, Kate. I’ve heard it a thousand times.” He ran his hand wearily through his messy hair, then picked up his helmet off the black leather seat.

  “We could…I could…we could try again, you know. I could show you that I’ve changed.”

  “From two states away? Right.”

  “Well, I haven’t started the job yet. I could say something came up in Washington and I couldn’t accept it.”

  Jace studied her beautiful heart-shaped face, the delicate, light blond hair framing her cheeks. He’d once been completely addicted to Kate Bethlehem. She was his moon, his muse. He photographed her in exotic places around the world. He loved her under star-kissed skies and sun-lit beaches. He could never get enough of her. She’d been his drug. But me? I’d been her means to get high. “I don’t think my heart could take it, Kate,” he finally said. “You shattered it, first when you became an addict and then when you took up with Billy.”