Chapter Five

 

Pierce

 

Uh oh. As soon as I jumped out of my Suburban, Mama was standing in the garage with Trev, hands on her hips, giving me the death glare.

I threw my hands up in the air, grinning. “I know, I know. I’m in shit, right?”

She started with the finger wag in my face. “Just because you’re some hot shot now you think you can get outta doin’ your fair share of the work? Look at your poor brother. All sweaty and dirty. Probably hungry too.”

I rolled my eyes when Trev tugged his damp T-shirt off and used it to wipe his forehead for effect. He’d probably play the sympathy card and manage to wrangle his favorite dinner and dessert out of Mama after this.

“I’ll take over here,” I said, slapping him on the back. “Pussy,” I whispered as he slipped past.

“I heard that!” Mama bellowed.

Never have to worry about her going deaf. The old girl had the hearing of a bat, but when I told her that, she accused me of calling her an old bat and smacked me upside the head, so I learned to keep my mouth shut.

“You get to sortin’ through those boxes,” she said, pointing at the stack in the corner. “I think most of that stuff is yours anyhow. Old records, trophies, might even find some of your old songs in one of those old binders you used to keep.”

“Really?” Maybe I’d get a reward for doing this job after all.

“I heard you been sniffin’ around Keira again. Why can’t you just leave that poor girl alone after what you did to her?” She shook her head. “Ashamed of you, I am. I raised you better than to cheat on a good girl like that.”

I grabbed a trash bag from the box left on the patio table. “You got it all wrong, Mama. I didn’t cheat on her.”

She narrowed her eyes, trying to gauge whether I was lying, just like when I was a teenager and she’d ask if I was high. “She wouldn’t have said you did if you didn’t. It’s not in Keira to lie like that.”

“She didn’t lie. I did.” That would probably earn me another smack upside the head. Mama didn’t tolerate liars or fools. She said there was too much stupid in the world already and we didn’t need to be addin’ to it.

“You did?” She folded her arms across her ample midsection, probably trying to resist the urge to smack me ‘til she heard my side of the story. “Why would you lie about somethin’ like that? I know you’re not simple, so—”

I laughed as I pulled a stack of old vinyl out of the box. It had belonged to my old man, but I’d enjoyed listening to some of the old country tunes growing up. Waylon, Willie, and Hank did a pretty good job of blocking out the sound of Mama and Daddy fighting over his drinking and carousing.

“You’re too much, Mama.”

“I asked you a question, boy.” She leaned against the wall, the breeze kicking up to blow up the dust and the silver hair off her face. “Why’d you lie to that sweet girl?”

Mama credited Keira with saving me, so as far as she was concerned my ex would always have a place at her table. Me? Depended on her mood. I knew she loved me, but she had a low tolerance for bullshit and I’d dropped more than my fair share in her lap over the years.

“I thought I was doin’ the right thing,” I said, scanning some of the songs on the back of the record jackets. “You remember how much she hated that life. The touring, awards shows, paparazzi. It just wasn’t her thing.” She’d once threatened to castrate a rag reporter who’d snapped a picture of her wearing a bikini on the beach.

“Can you blame her? She’s a sweet small-town girl. She’s not impressed by all that flash.” She rolled her eyes. “Those fancy gowns some of them girls wear to the awards show. You give that money to the church and we could feed a dozen homeless families for a year.”

“You’re probably right, but we do our part to help out too.” A lot of folks in the country music community came from humble roots, same as I did, and we were always looking for ways to pay it forward. “Speaking of helpin’ out. I was wonderin’ if you wanted to put together a benefit concert in the park while we’re here. Thought it might be nice to raise some money for a few military families while we’re in town.”

She gave me that soft smile that let me know without words that she was proud of me. Not gonna lie, I loved that smile.

“Whaddya say?” I asked. “Think you can pull that off?”

“Of course!” she said, clapping her hands together. “I’ll get some of the girls from the church to help me.”

The girls ranged from sixty to eighty, but Mama had been calling them that since they were changing diapers together, so I didn’t bother correcting her. “Cool, we’re here for a few more weeks. So just pick a date and let me know.”

“You know I will. But I want to hear more about why you lied to Keira.”

“I’ll tell you all about it. Just not today, okay?” I gestured to the boxes. “I wanna get this taken care of before my date tonight.” I bit my tongue, wishing I could take those words back. Mama probably would have been out on her evening stroll with the next-door neighbor when Keira passed by, so she wouldn’t have had to know about my plans at all.

“Don’t tell me you’re goin’ out with one those empty headed little pin-ups that are always chasin’ after you? I thought you had better sense than that.”

“I do.” I rolled my tongue in my cheek, waiting for her reaction. “I’m takin’ Keira out.”

She gasped, clutching her chest. “She actually agreed to go out with you? What’d you do, bribe her?”

And people wondered why I was a smartass. I’d learned from the best. “I didn’t have to bribe her.” I shrugged. “I guess she just wanted to spend some time with me. What can I say?” I winked at her. “I’m irresistible, Mama.”

That did earn me a smack in the back of the head and my reaction time must have been getting slower ‘cause I couldn’t duck in time to avoid contact. “Ow!” I rubbed my head. “What the hell was that for?”

“For bein’ smart with your mama. Now you listen to me, boy. I don’t know how you got that girl to agree to go out with you, but you best be hittin’ the ground and givin’ your thanks to the Lord tonight.”

Mama didn’t know this, but I’d talked to the man upstairs more this year than any other time in my life. I wasn’t sure if He listened to guys who’d skirted the edges of morality for as many years as I had, but I wasn’t above asking for help when I needed it.

“Yes, ma’am.”

She gave me the stink eye again, making it tough not to smile.

“I want to hear all about this date of yours tomorrow.”

“I promise to give you the G-rated details over breakfast in the mornin’. French toast, if you don’t mind?” That time I saw it coming and ducked in time.

“Do somethin’ with those old records, you damn fool,” she said, trying to keep a straight face. “This place won’t clean itself.”

 

***

 

Keira

 

I was nervous as all hell about my date with Pierce. If it could be called that. I’d changed clothes three times before finally deciding on a short denim skirt, a black tank with Jake Owen’s sexy mug on the front, and flip-flops. I decided the more casual I looked the more convinced he’d be that I was wasn’t trying to impress him. I’d even opted for a messy bun to complete the ‘I don’t give a shit about impressing you look’.

I knocked on his mama’s screen door before waving to a couple of her neighbors who were out walking their dog. The man frequented Roy’s, so I was pretty sure news that I was on Eason’s front porch would be around town in time for church. Just my luck.

The blessing and curse of life in a small town. Everybody was always up in your business. But when you needed a helping hand, you always had a ready crew to lend it.

“Hey, gorgeous.”

Pierce answered the door with a sexy grin that set the butterflies in my tummy loose. The bastard.

“Hey, your mama home? I’d like to say hi to her.”

“No one’s home. She went out for a walk and Trev went to catch up with some friends. You want to head out now?” He looked up at the sky. “Looks like it’ll be dark soon.”

“Sure.” I didn’t want to step foot in that house again anyhow. I’d lost my virginity in that house when I was eighteen and had slept with him a hundred times since in the back bedroom when his mama was working at a clothing store on Main Street.

He locked up and reached for my hand, almost instinctively it seemed, because he tensed before muttering, “Sorry. I should’ve asked. Is this all right?”

“If it wasn’t, I’d let you know.” I’d never had a problem speaking my mind with Pierce and he knew it.

“You look cute,” he said, grinning. “Why don’t you wear a shirt with my face on it though? And don’t tell me you don’t have one ‘cause we both know you do.”

“How do you know I didn’t burn ‘em all?”

He laughed. “Then I’ll just have to get you some more, won’t I? Now that you can stand the sight of me again.”

“The jury’s still out on that one, big guy.”

He led me to a big black SUV instead of my late model Honda, which was fine since it had more room than my car. It meant that all the neighbors would be buzzing about my car being in his driveway, especially if it wasn’t gone by a decent hour, but I could deal with the gossip if he could.

He opened the car door for me and whispered, “You need me to boost you up?”

“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” I muttered.

“You have no idea how much, babe.”

I shot him a dirty look when I slid into the seat. “You were checkin’ out my ass, weren’t you?”

He held his hands up in surrender. “Hey now, can’t you give a guy a little credit for resistin’ the urge to touch?”

It was too easy for him to make me laugh and that was a bad thing. I felt my resentment slipping away, but I wasn’t ready to let it go yet. I wanted to stay mad at him. I had every right to. Even if he didn’t cheat on me, he’d still screwed everything up and that was reason enough to hate him.

Except I didn’t hate him, I realized, as I watched him walk around the front of the big SUV. I so didn’t hate him.

He smiled as he slipped into the driver’s seat and reversed the truck.

“This yours?” Though I wouldn’t have put it past him to keep a spare vehicle here. It’s not like I’d known him to be reckless with money, but a person could change. Especially over the course of a difficult year. I knew I had.

“Yeah. We drove out. Didn’t feel like flyin’.” He stuck his sunglasses in a compartment between us, brushing my arm with his.

It sent shock waves through me, tempting me to reach for his hand. But I couldn’t. We weren’t a couple anymore, and I didn’t want to give him the impression we could just pick up where we left off before he wrecked my world in that hotel room.

“Couldn’t keep borrowin’ my mama’s truck. Made me feel like I was sixteen again.”

“Except you bought the truck for her this time.”

“How’d you know that?” he said, looking at me out of the corner of his eye. “You been keepin’ tabs on me?”

“You wish.” I reached for my purse on the floor and flipped down the mirror on my visor. I hadn’t bothered with much makeup, so there was nothing to check. I just needed to do something with my hands. “Your mama was tellin’ some of the ladies at church. I happened to overhear, that’s all.”

“Huh.”

“It was sweet,” I said, clenching my teeth. I still wasn’t at the point where compliments flowed freely with him. There was too much resentment buried deep for sweet words to come pouring out of my mouth.

“Least I could do, given all the shit she put up with over the years.” He stopped at a light and turned the radio on, keeping the volume low. “I wanted to buy her a new house—something newer and bigger—but she claims that the old house is just fine for her.”

“You still livin’ in the same house?” It was one he’d bought after we got engaged. We went to look at houses together and I’d fallen in love with the ranch style on eighty acres.

“Of course. You loved that house. I’d never get rid of it.”

I tried to ignore the rush of excitement his words provoked. Pierce always knew the right thing to say to get him out of trouble, but there was no way I was gonna make this easy for him.

“You like livin’ there?” I asked, looking out the passenger’s window. We were nearing the drive-in and I began to question whether I’d made the right choice. Being alone in a vehicle with Pierce—especially in the dark—had always led to trouble.

“It’s kinda lonely.”

“Right.” I tapped my finger on my bare leg when one of my favorite Jason Aldean songs came on. “Like you’re lonely. You probably have a different girl there every night.” I tried to pretend it didn’t bother me, but how could it not? I’d been engaged to this man once, and as much as I liked to pretend I was over him, I wasn’t sure that was even possible.

“I haven’t been with anyone else.”

I gaped at him, but he was rolling his window down and handing some cash to the attendant, who recognized him right away and asked for an autograph.

“You’re lying,” I said, when he rolled the window up and inched forward behind the line of cars in front of us. “You can’t tell me you’ve kept it zipped for a whole year!”

He shrugged. “Believe what you want, babe. It’s the truth.”

I was still chewing on that, trying to decide whether I could believe him when he asked, “How ‘bout you?”

Shit. I didn’t want to answer that question, especially not if he’d abstained. Not that I had any reason to feel guilty. I’d believed he’d cheated on me. The first time was half-drunk revenge sex and the other time was with a guy who lived in a neighboring town. We’d been on half a dozen dates and I wanted to know if any other man could make my toes curl the way Pierce had. The answer was an emphatic no.

He pulled into a spot far away from other cars and asked, “I’m guessing you don’t want to answer that because there have been other guys?”

“Did you expect me to live like a nun?” I snapped. “I believed you’d cheated on me. I was hurt and angry—”

“So, it was revenge sex?” He was staring straight ahead at the blank white screen ahead of us while it gradually grew darker around us.

“The first time.” I slipped my hands under my thighs when he glared at me, barely resisting the urge to squirm. I had nothing to feel bad about. Logically I knew that. So why did I feel like shit, confessing to my ex there had been other men in my life since he broke my heart? “The other time was someone I’d been dating for a while.” If six weeks could qualify as a while.

“There were two?” I could see the muscle jump in his jaw as he clenched his teeth.

“You don’t get to make me feel bad because I didn’t do anything wrong! You were the one who screwed everything up so—”

“You’re right. Believe me, I know that.” He sighed. “And for the record, I’m not mad at you. I’m mad at myself. If I hadn’t been such an idiot, you wouldn’t have had reason to look at anyone else.”

“That’s true,” I said, feeling vindicated. I took my seat belt off and reached into the backseat for the folded plaid flannel blanket he’d left there.

“You cold?”

“Why? You gonna offer to warm me up?” I was feeling a little lighter now that I’d confessed my sins to him and he hadn’t lost his shit. Maybe there was hope for him after all because the guy I used to know would have lost his mind over an announcement like that.

“You know I’d be happy to,” he said, with a sly smile. “But I don’t wanna get smacked again.”

That night in the hotel room came rushing back. That was the only time I’d slapped him, the only time I’d even been tempted to make him hurt the way he’d hurt me.

“Sorry,” he muttered, obviously realizing he’d stirred up bad memories.

“I have a bone to pick with you, by the way.”

“Oh yeah?” He turned the radio station to the one that would allow us to receive the signal for the movie, though it would probably be half an hour before it started. “What’s that?”

“You warned Paul to back off.” I’d called earlier to tell him I wouldn’t be able to go out with him tonight and he informed me he knew the reason why. My ex had paid him a little visit.

“Not in so many words,” he admitted, looking more amused than contrite. “But if that’s what he got from our little chat, I’m okay with that.”

I backhanded him in the chest, trying not to smile at his smugness. “You had no right to do that. He’s a nice guy. I like him.”

“Sure you do.”

“I do!” He was sweet, and cute, and kind, and… dull as hell.

He chuckled. “You’re a terrible liar, sweetheart.”

“Now you sound like Carolyn,” I said, smoothing the blanket over my bare legs. “She’s tellin’ me that all the time.”

“Oh yeah? What else do you try to lie about?”

“My feelings for you.” I slapped my hand over my mouth, my eyes wide when I realized I’d actually said that aloud.

He chuckled as he took his seat belt off and reclined the seat. “You’re cute when you’re busted.”

“I am not!”

“What?” he asked, turning slightly to face me. “Cute or busted?”

I pinched my lips together, refusing to say anymore in case I incriminated myself.

“So, is there anyone else I need to worry about? Aside from this Paul clown?”

“Paul is not a clown. He’s a good guy.”

“Whatever. Answer the question.”

“I don’t have to.”

“No, but you will, ‘cause you’ll want me to answer all your questions.”

Damn. He knew me too well. “Fine, there’s no one else. Happy now?”

“Gettin’ there.” He grinned. “Spendin’ time with you like this goes a long way toward makin’ me happy so thanks for that.”

I couldn’t help but return his smile. He was just so damn sexy. I could resist if he was just another pretty face but he wasn’t. This was the man I’d built my dreams around… and the same man who’d crushed them.