“Why do you call me that?” I asked as I sat down in the middle of the room. The only thing I had ever been called was Scarlett. Mitch calling me Sparky was strange, to say the least.
“It fits you. Dark, fiery hair and an attitude that sparks out of nowhere.”
Well, I guess that was fitting. Although, I didn’t really think I had an attitude. Maybe. “It seems only fitting that since you have a nickname for me that I should have one for you.”
Mitch took a long drink, draining his glass and set it on the floor next to him. “You’re welcome to call me whatever you want, Sparky.”
I tapped my finger on my chin trying to think of a name, but I came up blank. “I’ll have to get back to you on that one.”
“I’ll be waiting.”
“So, are you actually going to tell me the real reason you came here tonight?”
“I guess I just wanted to see you, and I did want to make sure you were OK.”
“You’re just a regular good guy, aren’t you, Mitch?” I had only known Mitch for a short time, but I knew he was one of the good ones. I just couldn’t figure out what he was doing here with me.
He shrugged his shoulders but didn’t say anything more about it. “You like living here?”
“No, but it’s a roof over our heads. I can’t really ask for much more right now.”
“You should never settle, Scarlett. Always ask for more.”
I looked down in my glass and swirled the wine around. “I know what I deserve, Mitch.”
“And this is what you think you deserve?” He held his hand out, motioning around the apartment.
“I’m doing the best I can do for Levi and me.” I stood up and walked over to the bottle of wine and filled up my glass again.
“I didn’t come over here to judge you, Scarlett.”
“Well, you could have fooled me,” I ranted.
“I just meant to say you’re better than where you come from.”
“And how would you know that, Mitch?” One second he was telling me I was settling and then next he was talking like he knew me.
“Because I’ve fucking been here, Scarlett, and I made it out.”
“Been where?”
“Here, in this damn apartment not knowing where my next meal was coming from.” He stood up and paced the length of the living room as he ran his hands over his head.
“You’re not making any sense. I’ve seen where you work and live, Mitch. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You’ve seen where I live now, Scarlett. But you didn’t see me living in the apartment below this one ten years ago.”
“I highly doubt that.”
“In winter time, if you live in the apartment below this one, the pipes freeze and when they thaw out the apartment floods, and you’re left with soggy carpets for a week. The air doesn’t work in the summer, and the heat barely blows in the winter. As soon as Luke was old enough, he left and started up Skid Row. Now, we’re known as the Skid Row Kings because we made it out of this hell hole.” Mitch stopped pacing and walked over to me. “I know exactly what you’re going through, Scarlett and I wish when we were living here that someone would have come along and offered to make our lives a little easier.”
“So that’s what you’re doing? Just trying to be a knight in shining armor?”
“No. I told myself after I had given you the car that that was it. I couldn’t try to come in and save you and Levi.”
“So then what made you come here tonight?”
“I can’t stay away from you, Scarlett. God help me, I can’t.”
My glass slipped from my fingers and hit the floor, spraying sweet wine all over. “Shit.” I grabbed the paper towel off the counter and tried mopping up the mess as best as I could. “I don’t know what to say to that, Mitch.”
He crouched down next to me and picked up the large pieces of broken glass. “You don’t need to say anything, Scarlett. Just… I don’t know… let me be here. Talk to me. I don’t want anything from you other than to help.”
“I think you’ve helped more than any sane human being would. I mean you gave me a car for crying out loud.” I stood up, dumped the wet paper towel in the garbage and grabbed the last pieces of broken glass off of the floor. Thankfully there was tiled floor in the kitchen, and the mess cleaned up quickly.
“Then just let me be your friend. Nothing else.”
“Friends? You really want me to believe that you just want to be friends?”
“Well, if I’m being honest, no, that’s not all I want, but I think that it’s a good place to start. I don’t know what you’re running from, but I have to believe that it isn’t good.”
“You have no idea what it is, Mitch.”
“You wanna talk about it? That’s what friends do.”
“No. This is all too weird right now. You show up on my doorstep this morning offering cars and babysitting, and now you’re telling me you want to be my friend? This is too much. I think I’m going crazy.” I grabbed the half empty bottle of wine and put it back in the fridge. The buzz that I had been working on was now gone, and all I had was the makings of a headache coming on. “I don’t know what to say. My head tells me that you’re trying to help, and I need to take whatever help I can right now, but I know how life is. I know that good things don’t happen to people like me. I’m treating you like shit, and I know I shouldn’t be. I should be groveling and thanking you up and down, but I can’t. It might be best if you leave before I sound like an even bigger bitch.”
“Not until you agree that we’re friends and Frankie and I can watch Levi while you work.”
“No, I can’t.”
“You don’t have to pay us.”
“It’s not the issue of having to pay.” I ran my fingers through my hair and closed my eyes. “Well, it partly has to do with the money, but it mostly has to do with the fact that you’re doing so much, and I’m doing nothing. It’s not fair.”
“I’m not into fair, Sparky. I’m into making your life easier.”
“And you watching Levi for me is going to do that?”
“To start with, yes.”
I threw my hands up in the air and gave up. “Fine, we’ll be friends, and I’ll call you when I need help. Deal?”
Mitch held his hand out with a smirk on his lips. “Deal, for now.”
“Fine, now I’m ready for bed. I’m beyond exhausted.”
Mitch laughed and set his glass in the sink. “You have off tomorrow, right?” I nodded my head yes and headed to the door. “Text me tomorrow and let me know what your work schedule is for the next week and we’ll see what we can work out.”
“OK.” I opened the door and waited for Mitch to walk through.
He stood in front of me, toe to toe, with a half grin on his face. “You’re going to be OK, Scarlett.”
“Sure,” I whispered. That was something I told myself every day. I would be OK; it just wouldn’t be right now.
He grabbed my hand and pressed a kiss to the back of it and then he was gone. I stood in the hallway until I heard the outside door slam and then I finally went back in the apartment.
I closed the door, slid the three locks into place and leaned against the door. My legs gave out, and I slowly slid down till my ass hit the floor.
I had no idea what just happened, but it felt like I had made a deal with the devil. Although I had never seen a more handsome devil in my life before, it still felt like I had agreed to way more than I thought.
What the hell did I just do?
______________
Chapter 10
Mitch
“You ready to race tonight?”
“About ready as I’m going to be.” It was Friday afternoon, and Kurt and I were putting the final touches on our cars. The ‘Vette had been ready for the past week, but there were always final adjustments to be made. Mostly done out of nerves.
“I thought y
ou said you would be watching Levi?”
“Yeah, I thought so, too.” I had called Scarlett the next day wanting to ask what her work schedule was, and she had told me she had things figured out for the rest of the week. We had only talked for a couple more seconds before she said she had to go. She was running from me, and I had no idea what the hell to do. I slammed the hood shut and leaned against the car. “I don’t know what the fuck to do.” I must really be desperate if I was asking Kurt for advice.
“Find another chick. Make her jealous.”
“Are you shitting me? That is your brilliant advice?” Leelee peeked around the hood of the Chrysler she was working on and rolled her eyes. “If you listen to Kurt you will never talk to Scarlett again.”
“Hey, he was talking to me, not you,” Kurt snapped.
Oh, Lord, here we go again. It had actually been a peaceful day in the garage. After weeks of Kurt going after Leelee about anything, she had decided to keep to herself, and it worked for the most part. Except for now. “I’m pretty sure he was just talking out loud, and I gave him my opinion.”
“Yeah, well, your opinion sucks.”
“Says the man who walks around like he has a stick up his ass and no girlfriend in sight.” Leelee grabbed a rag out of her back pocket and wiped her hands.
“You ain’t doing so well in the dating department either.”
Leelee walked over to Kurt and put her hands on her hips. “You’re right. I’m not dating anyone, but I am a fucking girl so I might be able to help.”
“This is family business.” Kurt stepped forward and looked down his nose at Leelee. Here we go again with the whole ‘family business’ thing. No matter what the argument was between Leelee and Kurt, he always said it was family business, and Leelee had no part in it.
Leelee just rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. “When you want some good advice, Mitch, come and talk to me.” She headed into the office and slammed the door shut behind her.
“Do you think just one day you could be nice to Leelee?”
“Why the hell should I? She doesn’t belong here. I don’t know what the hell Luke was thinking hiring her. I know fifty other guys who were dying to get a job here, and he picks Leelee just because she’s got tits.”
Whoa, this was the first I had ever heard that come out of Kurt’s mouth. “You really think it has nothing to do with the fact that she can work in circles around ninety percent of those guys you know. She’s fucking good, Kurt. That is why she has a job here.”
“You fucking too?” Kurt fumed. “I don’t know what the hell is going on around this shop. Luke has himself wrapped around Violet all the time, you’re chasing some chick that isn’t even worth it, leaving me to run the damn shop with Leelee. This isn’t what I fucking signed up for when I came to work for Luke.”
“And what the hell did you sign up for, Kurt? A free pass to do whatever the hell you want?” I was getting fucking sick of his god damn attitude. We all worked and ran the shop. It wasn’t just him working.
“I sure as hell didn’t sign up to be fucking second to Leelee, that’s for damn sure.” He walked over to the bay door, pressing the button to open the door and stalked to his car. He threw the door open, stabbed the key into the ignition and took off in a cloud of smoke as he squealed his tires out of the shop.
“I never should have come to work here. I knew Kurt doesn’t like me, but I thought he would get over it. I was wrong.” Leelee had the office door cracked and was leaning against the door frame.
“It’s not all you, Leelee. Kurt’s got a bunch of other issues.” Like the fact, he was pissed that Luke was with Violet, and I was trying to be with Scarlett.
She sighed loud and leaned her head back. “I don’t think this job is worth tearing your family apart, Mitch.”
“Leelee, if you even think about quitting, Luke and I will personally hunt you down. Kurt will get over it.”
“And what happens if he doesn’t?”
“Well,” I pushed off the car and closed the garage door. “That would be one of the perks of being only an employee. Luke owns SRK, and he’s going to have to deal with that. Lord knows I wouldn’t want to.” Luke and I both knew that something was going to have to happen with Kurt. The more days that went by, the more it looked like being at SRK wasn’t where he wanted to be.
“You figure out what you’re going to do about Scarlett?”
I ran my hand over my head and shrugged my shoulders. “Not a fucking clue.”
“She’s had a rough life, Mitch. You can see it just by looking at her.”
“And all I want to do is make her life easier, but she doesn’t want me to.”
“You need to give her time, Mitch. You can’t push her.”
“I’m not, Leelee. I’m leaving her alone.”
“You can’t do that either.”
What the hell was I supposed to do then? “Your advice is as good as Kurt’s, useless.”
“Just, be there for her but don’t push her.”
“I just don’t get it.”
“Nobody is going to get it but her. You don’t know what happened to her before she came here. All you know is she’s running from something. What she’s running from shaped her into what she is today. So you know what that means, right?”
“Leelee, I don’t have a fucking clue. Throw me a damn bone and just tell me what I need to do to get Scarlett to spend time with me.” I was ready to hit my knees and beg Leelee to tell me. I was clueless with a capital C.
“Give her what she’s never had before, Mitch.”
“And what the hell is that?”
“Someone to trust, Mitch. You’re gonna have to give her time and let her learn to trust you before you tear down the walls she’s built around her and Levi.” Leelee stepped back into the office and shut the door.
“Time?” Fuck. Why did it feel like if I gave her time I was going to lose her?
“Hey, no Levi today?” Frankie asked as she stepped through the door. She still had her book bag on and looked around.
“Nope.”
“Humph, I was hoping she would bring him by today. I’ve wanted a new pair of shoes, and Luke said he wouldn’t pay for them.”
“Correction,” Luke yelled from the office. “Luke will not pay over one hundred dollars for a pair of shoes. I told you I would pay half, and you would have to cough up the rest.”
“Whatever.”
“You’re just pissy that I remembered to pick you up today and didn’t get to ride home with Jimmy.” Luke stood in the door and crossed his arms over his chest.
“Who the hell is Jimmy?” I asked. Frankie was too young to be dating, let alone getting rides home from boys we hadn’t had the chance to interrogate.
“Nobody. I don’t even know why we’re talking about him. We were talking about babysitting Levi.”
“We were, but now we’re talking about Jimmy.”
“Violet knows him, and there’s nothing to tell. Is Scarlett going to the race tonight?”
“Don’t think I don’t know what the hell you’re doing right now. Stop trying to distract me.”
“Maybe we could drive over there, and I could offer to watch Levi while she goes to the race with you.”
That actually wasn’t a bad idea. I know Leelee had just said I needed to give her time, but couldn’t I give her time while she watched me race? Plus, if I had Frankie with me she wouldn’t have an excuse why she couldn’t come with. The thing would be convincing her to come with. “You sure?” I asked Frankie.
“Heck yes. I want those shoes.”
“Tell you what, if you help me talk Scarlett into coming with me tonight, I’ll buy the damn shoes for you.”
Frankie spun around and stuck her tongue out at Luke. “Hey, sounds like a good idea for me. You leaving my wallet alone is the best thing I’ve heard all day.”
“Go get changed and we’ll ride over to Scarlett’
s. The race starts in two hours. We better leave some time for convincing her.”
Frankie dashed up the stairs, her black hair streaming behind her. “It’s safe to say you’re not listening to the advice I gave you?” Leelee asked. She was sitting behind the counter her eyes glued to the screen of the computer as her fingers flew over the keyboard.
“I’m giving her time, just not tonight.”
Leelee shook her head and laughed. “Good luck.”
I was going to fucking need it.
_____________
Chapter 11
Scarlett
“Levi, I am not going to tell you again. You need to pick up all your toys in the living room and get washed up for dinner.” It was Friday night, and I was ready to pull my hair out.
Levi had been a bear the whole day today, and it seemed like he wasn’t going to improve tonight.
“Levi Michael Whistler, get in here now!” I was done being the cool, calm and collected mom.
Just as I was about to bust out Mean Mom, there was a pounding on the door. “Who the hell can it be now?” I grumbled.
Over the past three days, it had become a game to knock on our door and then run down the stairs before I could see who it was. It was a game I was sick of playing. I marched over to the door, threw it open fully expecting to rip whoever it was a new asshole. “Look here ass-” My words were cut off when my eyes landed on Frankie. “Frankie?” Was she lost? What the heck was she doing here?
“Hey! Mitch is downstairs parking the car. He’s trying to park right in front of your window so he can watch the car. Can I come in?” I stepped back and held the door open because I had no idea what else to do. “This place still looks like I remember.” She looked around with a fond look on her face, almost as if she missed living here. Who in their right mind would miss living here?
“Hey,” Mitch said as he breezed through the door and walked over to the window in the living room.
What in the hell was going on right now? “Do I live here anymore?” I asked, looking around.
“For the time being, Sparky.” Mitch pulled up the blinds on the window and opened it.
PowerShift: Skid Row Kings Series, #2 Page 6