A Little Faith
Men of Ocean Beach #1
I COULDN’T LEAVE Chance sitting on the kitchen table, so I put his board on the side table in the den. It’s the only place I could think of. I don’t have a mantel to put him on. To think, at our age I have to think where to put my buddy’s ashes, is fucking sad.
Faith kept herself holed up in her room for the rest of the day, only coming out for a bite to eat at dinner. We just made up some sandwiches. I think we all needed some space for a few hours.
Levi hung about for a bit, chatting with me. We played a few games of pool, then he headed off.
I didn’t like hearing Retro at lunch say, his kind of chick.
Which brings us to now.
My brother and I are sitting, waiting for Faith on the couch, side by side, like two school boys waiting for the prom queen to come down the stairs. We are all done up in our button up shirts and jeans. We’re not used to waiting for chicks to be ready.
“Did you have a good workout?”
My brother nods. What do I expect, a conversation? Yeah, I do. It would be a nice change.
We sit in silence.
When she finally comes down the stairs, Faith is looking like an angel. Her blonde hair is off her face in some kind of windswept, up-do creation with a few loose pieces delicately feathering her face. I am as gob smacked as Text.
We both jump up from the couch. There are no words. Text lets out a low whistle.
Tight skinny jeans mold to her hips. She is wearing a silky, black dressy top, and her makeup is working the smoky-eye look.
She looks hot. She looks older.
Shit!
I look over at Text. His face says it all. I click my fingers in front of him to get his attention. “Do you need a bib?”
He gives me a what-the-fuck look. “You’re drooling.”
He actually wipes at his mouth.
“It was a metaphor.”
We are both trying to act like Faith isn’t looking like some woman we would both take home in a heartbeat.
She walks ahead of us and, Lord, if those jeans do not cling to her perfect ass.
Did she just grow four inches? Christ! Killer heels, too.
••O••
It’s nine o’clock on a Friday night, and Joe’s Bar down on Newport Avenue in Ocean Beach is packed. The bar patrons are hitting the beers, playing pool, and checking out the ladies who are there to be noticed. A guy is seated on a stool in the far corner with his acoustic guitar, singing a capella covers. The vibe of the place is very Ocean Beach. While this is where we hang on a Friday night a couple times a month, we like to keep it fresh and check out other bars, too.
We like hanging at Joe’s. We understand and know the area, but I wouldn’t want Faith coming here by herself or walking around the streets at night.
That would be a big NO.
Most of the locals in Ocean Beach know us, know what the boys have been through, and nobody messes with us. They knew Chance, they respected him. When we were all poor, struggling college students, we lived in Ocean Beach. We have now moved on to permanent digs, but Ocean Beach was our home for a few years. We understand it. We know what makes OB tick.
We head over to the semi-circular booths where I tuck Faith in beside Text before I go get some drinks. I watch my brother survey the bar, looking for disturbances. Ever since the island, after we all started going out again, Text has a habit of checking the place we are out at on and off during the night to make sure there are no surprises. But he’s learning to relax a lot more.
I lean towards Faith’s ear. “What you having, Faith?”
She gives me a sweet smile. “Surprise me with something blue in the mocktails, please.”
I point towards the big guy working this side of the u-shaped bar. “I’ll just go say hi to Slade behind the bar and order us a round of drinks.”
Retro, Levi, and Keanu have just walked in with Phoenix, Retro’s sister. Good idea, some female company for Faith. Phoenix is a nice chick. She lives with Retro and every now and then gives Retro a hand in his café. She has her own private investigator business. She knows how to hang with us.
The bar is packed and noisy; as a result, I let out a short whistle to get their attention. Faith should remember Phoenix from back home.
“Slade, how you doing, man?” I shake Slade’s hand. He’s been working this bar the last three years and also doubles as security.
“I’m doing good. Who’s that you walked in with?” Slade is ex-military, and he looks it. He’s muscled and tough and a couple years older than us.
“Chance’s sister, Faith.”
Slade grunts in understanding. He knows we have been waiting for his sister to bring Chance to us. He doesn’t poke his nose in any further; he knows too well what it’s like to lose a friend, a soldier.
“So, what you ordering?”
“One of those blue mocktails for Faith and a round of beers for the booth and a couple cokes. I’ll bring them over.”
“One Virgin Blue Lagoon coming up.” Slade starts making the blue concoction.
I’m waiting at the bar when Phoenix slides up next to me with her cool, ash blonde dreadlocks, just like her twin brother Retro. They both made the decision to go the dreads and see who could stay dedicated to grow them. They both made it. She reminds me of Angelina Jolie from Gone in 60 Seconds. She’s stunning.
Being a friendly chick, she rests her elbow on my shoulder. We have been like this since she moved here.
“How did it all go with Faith?” She has this sexy, husky voice.
“Your brother just exposed himself straight out. Lifted his shirt and put it all on display.”
“Sounds like my brother,” she laughs.
“Keanu left his bionic hand laying around for her to find.” Phoenix raises one beautiful eyebrow. “Bottom line, she wound up fainting.”
She laughs quietly, shaking her head. “Nice one, Keanu.”
“Text is, well, Text. She knows some stuff. We thought it would be good to take a breather and have a relaxing night before we talked some more about all that. We didn’t want to overload her. So here we are.”
Phoenix turns and puts her back to the bar, resting her elbows on it, her chest pushing out in her strapless white top. She has this really cool dream catcher tattoo on her arm.
Phoenix doesn’t normally hang out with us. I don’t think Retro could handle watching his sister get some action. She normally only shows up at barbeques and birthdays.
She looks over to where the booth is, tilting her head towards me. “So, how’s she doing now?”
“Better. Not as fragile. She’s getting there. Her parents think this is what she needs to really move forward in her life.” Slade slides a beer towards Phoenix and places the mocktail on the bar.
Phoenix gives Slade an appreciative, once over. “Thanks, Slade.” She grabs her beer. “I’ll catch you over at the booth.” She picks up Faith’s mocktail. “I‘ll go rescue her from all that testosterone.” Phoenix heads for the booth.
I cock my head to the side, watching Phoenix walk off. She sure is a good looking, fit chick with a great ass. I turn back to Slade. He is glaring at me in a none-too-friendly way, the tray of drinks waiting for me.
Ouch. Did I just ogle somebody’s stomping ground?
I raise one eyebrow and can’t help smirking at Slade. “Something you want to tell me, Slade?”
He grunts, wipes the bar down, and walks off. Interesting.
As I pick up the tray and walk to the booth, Faith is getting up to talk to Phoenix. I put the tray of drinks down just before Levi comes up behind me, tackling me forward. “How’s Faith?”
“Get off me, you fool.” I shove him off me. “She’s great.”
“I’ll say. You planning on playing big daddy by supervising mocktails?”
“Fuck, man. It’s her first night here. If she really wants to try for a beer, then I won’t stop her. It was her idea. I just asked her what she wanted to drink.”
“Just messing with you.”
Keanu comes over, wearing one of his quote t-shirts. It states, DESIGNATED DRIVER on the front and on the back, I’M TAKING ONE FOR THE TEAM.
I have a quiet laugh at Keanu as he turns so I can read the front and back of his t-shirt. “How you boys going with the t-shirt business?”
“Got a business meeting tomorrow afternoon at three with some prospective buyers.” Levi’s eyes light up with excitement.
“It’s going really well. Peeps dig our smart-ass quotes and our quality t-shirts.” I can hear how proud Keanu is of their business venture. “We’re also thinking of branching out into other items.”
“If I didn’t know who Faith was, I would be—”
“Levi! Fuck, man, it’s Faith.”
Levi winks at me. “Don’t tell me you haven’t thought it.”
I look over at Faith. “Drink your beer, Levi. Just drink your beer.” I look sideways at Keanu. “And you can stop thinking it, too.”
Keanu is smiling. “What?”
The guys have been chatting to chicks, nothing unusual for a night out with the boys. Text, on the other hand, has noticeably stayed put in the booth next to Faith. Phoenix has been keeping Faith talking while every now and then Text and Faith’s phones go off. They are having a silent conversation with each other. Such is the life of communicating with my brother.
I’m hoping Faith’s stay will bring with it a miracle, that something clicks with him and he starts talking again.
Chicks don’t seem to have a problem with Text not talking. Once he gets to first base, there’s no need for words. One of us is normally his wingman. If the chick doesn’t already know about Text or the rest of the guys’ situations, we normally are a bit drunk ourselves, so we just make something up. It’s too much of a can of worms to start from the beginning, too many questions to answer.
I think we’ve all gotten complacent with my brother. The other guys understand what happened on the island, whereas I’m just a tourist to their stories. Not that they opened up that much about that night. Some, they don’t remember. Some, they don’t want to share.
Most of the people in the OB area know about the guys. There were the newspaper articles and get well wishes at the time. The boys were of the handful of Americans who came back alive but injured. Magazines wanted to interview them, but they declined. Chance died. It wasn’t something they wanted to talk about. The authorities got the information they could remember. That was enough.
“Levi, when are you going to tell Faith your story?”
Levi is a great guy. He loves women and has a long list of conquests. He never ties himself to one woman. He might have an encore performance with the same chick another night, but it’s always only one more night, never consecutive. No dates. They know what they are signing up for on the night, and it’s never for a relationship. It works in both their favor. He makes that clear. He’s been through a lot; it’s not all about sex. I know he spends time volunteering with kids, his way of giving a little back to the community. He isn’t aware I know, and I’d like to keep it that way until he’s ready to tell us. Emotionally, it would be very hard doing what he does. I take my hat off to him.
Levi takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. “I’m not sure when will be a good time. I will let it ride, and when the opportunity arises or the time feels right, I’ll talk about it.”
Keanu dives in, “I’ve done it. Broke the ice five minutes after she walked in the door, ripped that band-aid straight off.”
Levi is all interested. “How’d you do it?”
“He forgot he left his limb laying around in the bathroom. It wasn’t quite as easy as Keanu’s making out.”
“Bro, how can you forget your arm?”
“I had the doppelganger on.” He shrugs. “It was an honest mistake. I’ll explain later.”
“Levi, there doesn’t really seem a right time. Just handle it better than he did. Retro just came out with it, he’s still holding back some, but that’s not really his fault.”
“Speaking of Faith. Where is she?” Levi’s looking towards the booth.
I’ve been so engrossed in my inner thoughts and talking to Levi and Keanu, I lost track of her. I start looking, too. I can’t see her.
“Text, where’s Faith?” He starts to type on his phone.
I groan in frustration. “Retro, where’s Phoenix?”
“I’ll ask Phoenix. Here she comes carrying a tray of drinks.” Retro gets out of the booth and meets his sister. They talk.
My phone beeps.
Text: Bathroom, I think.
Retro comes back. “She went to the ladies, and then she was going to get her mocktail Phoenix bought her. Slade was keeping an eye on it until she collects it.” Retro slaps me on the shoulder. “Calm down, big guy. Nature calls, that’s all.”
Without Chance around, I feel like I need to protect Faith and keep her safe. I know Chance would have wanted that from me. From all of us. He promised me he would keep my brother safe, and he came back to me; not in the same condition, but he came back alive.
I owe him.
Everybody resumes chatting. Text is texting Phoenix, and I’m waiting patiently.
Five minutes pass.
“How long does a chick take in the bathroom?” I ask Levi.
He pretends to think about my question like the answer is worth cash on a game show.
“Depends. You have to take into account other factors: number of stalls, number of chicks lined up, makeup reapplication, is it a number one or a number two…”
“Levi, too much information.” I’m feeling impatient, agitated. It’s not sitting well with me.
The bar is packed now. It’s hard to see the bar from the booth.
I walk around and come back to Phoenix. “Her mocktail is gone from the bar.”
“She might just be looking around. I’ll help you look.”
“Thanks, babe.”
Joe’s is quite big. There are pool tables in one area, curved booths line two walls in the bar, and there is a small stage and dance floor where a DJ either is set up or a band plays. The bar wraps around to the other side where the guy is playing on the stage, just his guitar and his soulful voice.
I head off towards where he is playing around the corner, and spot Faith listening to him. He’s pretty good. She’s standing next to some guy who is talking in her ear. She is looking straight ahead and nodding.
I casually walk over. When I say casually, trust me, I’m feeling anything but casual. Appearances are everything.
“Hey, Faith. We’re missing you back over at the booth.” See, I can sound casual. No caveman here.
The guy is wearing a baseball cap and his face is hidden in the shadow.
Faith looks relieved to see me. I take that as she needs an exit.
I make some shit up. “Phoenix is looking for you.” That was clever.
“Okay, I was just listening to this guy play for a couple minutes.” I put my hand out for her to grab and she turns, grabbing her drink from behind her on the side wall counter, before taking my hand.
We leave without her giving the guy another look. “Everything all right?”
“Yeah. I heard the guy playing, and I came around the corner to have a quick listen. That guy came up to me and started talking to me. He didn’t really make me feel comfortable. But I didn’t want to be rude, so I just nodded at whatever he was saying to me, and then you came a few minutes later.”
I look over my shoulder, hoping to get another look at the guy, but he’s gone.
“If he comes up to you again, just be rude if you have to.” I stop walking and turn around, taking out my phone. “Have you got your phone on you?”
Faith digs into her handbag and pulls it out. “Here.”
I take her phone and add all the guys and Phoenix’s numbers in.
“You have my brother’s number, you should have text him. He would have come and gotten you. You had my number, too. I know you and the other guys haven’t kept in touch with each other over the years, but you had mine and my brother’s.”
“Sorry, I wasn’t thinking. I was trying to be polite and wait for an opening to come back over. I wasn’t even looking at him. He came and stood beside me while I was concentrating on listening to the guy singing. His face was hidden under his hat, so I didn’t want to acknowledge him too much. He was just talking about the music the guy was playing. I just didn’t feel comfortable with him standing beside me.” As she gives me an apologetic smile, I hand Faith her phone back. “Thanks.”
“Never feel like you have to talk to a guy just because he’s there. If you feel uncomfortable, you get out of there.” Fuck, I’m sounding all big brother now.
We walk back to the booth and Faith slides in next to Text.
Text waves his hand in front of her face, pulls out his phone, and starts tapping away. Faith’s phone is on the table buzzing.
She looks over at Text. He winks at her. She reads her message, looks back at Text, and takes his hand and squeezes it. “Yeah. I’m good. Harley came and got me. It’s all good.”
When my brother raises an eyebrow at me, I simply shake my head slightly. Everybody else is chatting away and drinking.
Text grabs his beer and holds it up. She just looks at it. Then he rolls his eyes and waves her mocktail next to his beer.
“I think he wants to toast you.”
She takes her mocktail from him and clinks it to his bottle. “Happy to be here,” she says and then takes a long drink.
Text smiles back and takes a swig of his beer. He puts it down and takes Faith’s mocktail out of her hand, taking a big drink, then screws his face up.
I laugh out loud. “It’s a mocktail, buddy. No alcohol. Not something you would be accustomed to.”
Phoenix is on her way back. We make eye contact, and I point to Faith. She smiles and comes and stands next to me. “Safe and sound, Harley.”
“Yup, just some dick was chatting to her.”
“Well, there are dicks in this world that like to chat up girls. You can’t stop every one of them doing it. Chance’s parents know you are looking after her while she’s here. But you can’t be accountable for every move she makes, and she wouldn’t want you to, either. You need to take a chill pill, relax, and enjoy the night.” With that, she nudges me into the booth.
I take a long drink of my coke and calm myself down. Retro and Keanu get up to go watch the guy singing around the corner. The guy sure is talented.
My mind drifts away to the last few years and where we have all ended up. I’m proud of us all. Text has his gym that all of us go to. It’s a very successful business. He also loves his photography, something he shares with Faith.
Retro has his café. I think it has brought some peace for him. It’s a groovy place with that new age feel about it. Peace and love and all that shit. It’s a calm, Zen place to hang out.
Keanu is a graphic designer. He’s only been doing it for a few years. It took him a long time with operations and getting well to be ready for work. He loves to sing. He drives us monkey shit sometimes, but he is definitely talented. I know he wants to pick up a guitar again, but he just can’t.
Levi shocked us all with turning to modeling, among all the other things he does to keep himself busy. He has a unique look and spends a lot of time on his body, getting it inked and keeping it maintained. Even if his body is a work of art—he has that much ink—the ink he carries around on him is very personal. Nothing is by chance; it’s all well thought out. He also helps Retro when he is short staffed. The stock market is another thing he likes to dabble in. He’s made some good money. Levi looks after Keanu with their joint business venture. Levi has a big brain; he just doesn’t like to show it off.
Phoenix gets along with us all. She’s a pretty cool chick. She runs her private investigating company together with a forty-eight-year-old ex-detective named Mack and a receptionist named Trinny. Together they are Mack & Cooper Investigations. Nobody expects a chick that looks like her to be a PI. She’s toned from regular martial arts work outs. Where Faith is all peaches and cream, Phoenix is vodka and lime.
“So, what’s going on with these two?” Phoenix invades my thoughts.
My brother and Faith are having a texting marathon back and forth. Every now and then, Faith is giggling like a little girl.
Levi shuffles Phoenix and me out of the booth so he can get up to buy another round. “Faith, what would you like to drink, if you and Text can stop texting each other for a few seconds?”
Faith and Text both lift their heads up with silly looks on their faces. “Urm... anuva one of thossse, pleassse. Surprise meeee.” She waves her finger in the area of her empty mocktail glass.
“I’ll come and help you, Levi.” Phoenix pats Levi on the shoulder, and they walk over to the bar.
What the hell? My brother is looking glassy eyed and silly. The two of them are swaying like palm trees in a strong wind. Faith’s holding her phone when her arm thumps down on the table. Text is trying to text again, but his fingers keep on missing the keys.
“What the hell is wrong with you two?”
Retro and Keanu have come back over and slide in next to Faith. “What’s up, Harley?” Retro is looking between me and Faith.
“Ask these two. They’re acting a bit odd.”
“Hey, sweetheart. You okay?”
“Sweeetheart isss doin’ great.” Faith waves her phone around like she is five beers short of a six pack, her eyes unfocused.
Retro looks at me and points his thumb towards Faith. “What’s she been drinking?”
“Around four mocktails,” I say dryly.
“Some fucking mocktails.” Then he points to Text. “What’s the wordsmith been drinking?”
“This will be about his fourth beer, and I caught him taking a swig of Faith’s mocktail.”
Levi brings the drinks over with Phoenix and starts handing them out then slides a mocktail over to Faith. Text is trying to pick his beer up. Faith’s hand keeps missing her new pink mocktail.
“Watch these two. I’m going to talk to Slade.” I stalk off to the bar and walk straight behind it up to Slade. I know I’m in Slade’s face, but I’m feeling pissed.
“Slade, just a question, what the fuck did you put in those mocktails you made for Faith?” I have steel in my voice, and I don’t give a shit. I dig my finger into his chest, hard. “She is underage, man. No alcohol. I will kick your ass if you gave her alcohol.”
“Settle. Down. Big. Guy.” His words come out clipped, like a command not to be ignored. “Remove your finger from my chest.”
I don’t.
He’s staring me down, pissed, but I’m not backing down. “I didn’t give her any alcohol. I wouldn’t risk my job or do that to her.” He gives my pointy finger a nudge with his hand. A hard, don’t-fuck-with-me nudge. “Stand down. I’m not one for being crowded...”—he pauses—“or threatened.” His voice is menacingly dark.
He really is pissed with my attack on his character, his pupils dilated. A lesser man would have backed down, but I’m not a lesser man.
I run my hand through my hair. “Text had a drink of one of the mocktails, and now the two of them are acting like they’ve had ten rounds of shots.”
Slade turns his head, fists on his hips. “Motherfucker!” he spits out.
I hold my hands up. “Easy, Slade.”
He gives me another dark look. “There’s been some guys putting roofies in drinks around the bar scene. We’ve been told to keep our eyes open. When I get ahold of the fuckers, they will be thinking twice before doing this shit ever again.” He turns to the other bartenders and tells them he has a possible roofie victim he needs to check out, then he shoves me forward. “Let’s go check them out.”
With Slade leading the way, looking as angry as a bull at a Spanish bull fight, the crowd parts like Moses did with the Red Sea.
We get back to the booth and Faith can hardly sit up. Retro has his arm supporting her while Levi is now propping Text up.
“Everybody out of the booth but these two and Levi.” Slade is in command mode.
He slides in next to Faith, catching her before she falls sideways.
“Faith, I need you to listen and focus on my voice, darlin’. I can’t ask Text, the bastard won’t talk.” Text tries to give Slade the bird, his hand just thumps on the table when he tries to raise it. “Did you leave your drink unattended tonight?”
Faith is screwing her face up, which would have looked cute if the situation was different. Slade leans forward, trying to make eye contact with her when suddenly her forehead hits Slade’s with a crack.
“Oooowwch. Slayyyd.” She tries to rub at her face.
Slade doesn’t bat an eyelid. The guy is a man mountain and built as solid as a tank. “Shit, darlin’, you have a hard head. You just won yourself a nice bruise from that hit.” He holds her a little from himself so she won’t hurt herself again. “Now think, darlin’. Can you do that for me?”
Faith nods her head, then shakes her head, and then nods her head again before she almost face plants it onto the booth table. Slade is now holding her by the nape of her neck and tries to get a look at her eyes.
“Nawtt shurrre.” Then she giggles.
Slade turns, looks up at me, and nods his head once.
“Mother. Fucker.” I’m feeling a little feral, myself.
I start prowling around the bar area, looking for the guy in the baseball hat.
Retro joins me. “What you thinking?”
“Look for a guy, barely legal, wearing a baseball hat. I didn’t pay attention to what was on it. It’s black with something written on it in white. That will be the motherfucker who did this to Faith. He was talking to her earlier, and she had her drink behind her on the counter by the dance floor. I bet he has been waiting for her to go to the bathroom or get up and leave.”
We storm the whole bar, but he must have high-tailed it out of there when he knew he was found out.
I get back to the booth to see Faith is turning green, holding her stomach.
“Buwet,” she moans out.
Phoenix has two ice buckets she has whipped off other tables and shoved onto both their laps. “I figure, why wait for the inevitable to come with Text. He can’t exactly hit the keys on his phone straight at the moment.”
Faith starts making moaning noises.
“I suggest getting these two home to your place, and get Doc to come and have a look at them.” Slade helps to slide Faith out of the booth while she tries unsuccessfully to hold the bucket. Her head lolls on her shoulders. The bucket falls to the ground, spilling the remaining ice that was in it.
Levi slams Text’s ice bucket on to the table before pulling Text out. He and Keanu hoist him up between them and start walking him out of the bar.
Slade scoops Faith up in his arms like she weighs nothing and walks towards me. She is poking Slade in the face and banging her head on his shoulder.
“Little lady, could you refrain from poking me in the face.”
Faith’s head drops into Slade’s neck.
Watching big Slade being poked in the face would have been comical on another night. Tonight, I am too fucking angry.
“Retro, can you take Faith to Keanu’s Jeep. He’s bringing it around front. I want to stay back and check the bar’s security footage for the fucker with the hat. You get her home, and someone call Doc so he’s waiting.”
“Roger that. I’m on it.”
Slade hands over Faith to Retro. She has blacked out.
Not fucking good.
I put my hand on Slade’s shoulder. “Slade, man, no hard feelings. Sorry about before.”
Slade glares at me. I think he’s deciding whether he wants to accept my apology, but then he nods once.
“Could we go take a look at that footage now? I know who I’m looking for and the approximate time.”
Slade slams his fist into his palm. “Hell, yeah. Let’s get this fucker.”
Phoenix is by my side. “I’ll come keep you company. I think it’s going to be a long night. Let’s go nab this jerk-wad.”
I kiss her forehead. “Thanks.”
“Retro, make sure the doc takes a look at her and Text. I’ll come as soon as I can. I have full confidence in the security system because it’s one of mine.”
“No worries. I’m on it. Kick him in the nut sack for me when you find him.”
After Phoenix and Slade head off to the back room, I lay my palm on Faith’s forehead. She is starting to sweat. “Get her out of here. I’ll join them once you leave with Faith.”