My faith in men was questioned before I moved next door to Lee. My angry neighbor weaved his way into my life and though he’s not perfect, he’s managed to restore my faith in men. With his unconventional ways and loyal convictions, he’s showed me there are broken people in the world that are still good and worthy of a second chance. He’s taught me that appearances aren’t always what they seem and sometimes we have to dig deeper, down to the core of a person to truly understand who they are.
All Lee’s truths left me at odds, making a choice I was sure would change my life drastically. It would also change his life and the lives of my children. There were five people in the equation. Five precious lives and five fragile hearts.
The decision was easier than I anticipated it would be.
Truth, no matter how vicious it can be it also opens your eyes. It makes you see things clearer. It prevails against your doubts and we all have different truths. The ugly ones we’re ashamed of and the beautiful ones we don’t realize we possess.
The truth is, Lee is a dangerous man who knows sin better than he knows redemption.
He has a beautiful heart, a heart that lost its rhythm.
The truth is, Lee is a man who believes in loyalty. He chooses who he allows into his life and decides they’re his family.
There isn’t anything Lee wouldn’t do for his family.
It’s those values that he holds dear that I hope my son grows to have.
The truth is, Lee is a man who treats my children with respect. A man who respects my children is a good man in my book. A man who understands my children are my whole heart and only asks for a piece of it, is the man you choose in truth.
Beyond a shadow of a doubt, he is a man you know has lots of love buried inside of him.
Love that needs to be placed and trusted in people who will cherish that gift, knowing it’s taken him a long time to give his whole heart away.
Truth is knowing he’s chosen me.
It’s knowing that out of everyone he chose me and my children.
Now my truth is him.
However, Lee and I didn’t get much of a chance to celebrate that truth. Lexi woke up with a belly ache and I switched from lover to mother in an instant. Luckily, it turned out she had just eaten too much junk and upset her stomach, but by the time we figured that out Lee had already excused himself.
I lay in bed wanting him more than ever. Not because I was horny as hell but I wanted him next to me. I miss that comfort of having someone beside me when I sleep and I want to experience that again. I want to experience everything with Lee.
This morning when I woke, I thought of him too and how it might be to wake up with him every day. That got me thinking about morning routines with the kids and how Lee would fit right into our lives.
My thoughts were interrupted when Lexi came into my room asking what was for breakfast. Collectively, as a family we decided to cook together, but as I reached for the pancake mix, I realized there was something missing from my kitchen. The kids noticed too and Jenna suggested we surprise Lee.
So now here we are, our arms loaded with groceries, frying pans and eating utensils. We took everything but the kitchen sink to Lee’s front porch.
“Ring the bell again,” I order, trying to juggle the toaster and the coffee pot.
“This is ridiculous,” Tommy complains. “He doesn’t have one of these?” he asks, lifting the frying pan in the air. Before I can point out the man doesn’t have a coffee pot, Lee opens the door. Wearing the jeans he wore last night and nothing else, I watch in appreciation as he rubs the sleep from his eyes and blinks at us.
“What’s all this?” he questions.
“This is breakfast,” Lexi explains, shoving the bag of groceries against his stomach. “Do you have a television?”
“Of course,” he mutters, watching as she storms into his house like she owns it.
“That you have but forks you don’t?” Tommy quips.
“Take-out sends forks,” Pipe defends, turning to me. “What’s going on here, killer?”
“We were about to cook breakfast and decided you should be part of it,” I explain, watching as Tommy and Jenna carry some of our belongings into the house.
“Wouldn’t it have been easier to ask me over than to bring everything here?” he questions, staring at the portable kitchen exploding in my arms. “Is that a toaster?”
“No, it’s a rocket ship,” I mutter, rolling my eyes as I brush past him. Another truth, Lee is fucking sexy in the morning. Glancing over my shoulder, my eyes take another sweep over him. Knowing he’s wearing nothing under those jeans drives me mad and I can picture him rolling out of bed naked, pulling those pants on to answer the door. I bet he cursed as he buttoned them.
“You should probably invest in a pair of pajamas,” I tell him, lifting my gaze away from his crotch.
“Yeah? Why’s that?”
“You’re too tempting in jeans,” I answer as we head for the kitchen. Before I can walk in, he leans over my shoulder and whispers in my ear.
“Pajamas are for pussies.”
“When you start sleeping in my bed—”
“I’ll be just as naked as I was the day I was born and so will you. That’s what locks are for, Layla,” he rasps against my ear as he slaps my ass and walks past me. In the kitchen, Lee starts to unload the groceries while Lexi inspects the kitchen.
“Is this place as old as you, Lee?” she asks.
“Watch it, kid,” he grunts.
“Damn, Lee, this milk expired a week ago,” Tommy exclaims. Pinching his nose, he removes the carton of spoiled milk from the fridge and dumps it down the sink.
“That’s what smelt funny,” Lee comments thoughtfully.
“Does this radio work?” Jenna asks, smacking the top of the little radio on the counter.
“Hell if I know,” Lee answers, turning his attention to the radio. The way he stares at it makes me think he had no idea it was there. He walks over to Jenna and the two of them start fiddling with the radio trying to get it to work.
With everyone preoccupied I unload my arms and look around the dated kitchen. It’s clean for the most part but definitely needs a facelift. Lexi wasn’t exaggerating, the cabinets might just be as old as Lee and the floor…orange floral linoleum. It’s got to go.
“Can I help make the pancakes?” Lexi asks, reminding me I’m not here to decorate Lee’s house.
“You sure can, baby,” I tell her, grabbing one of the kitchen chairs. Making sure it’s sturdy enough to hold her, I pull it up to the counter and instruct her to climb on top of it.
“Lee, do you like chocolate chips in your pancakes?” Lexi asks, holding up a bag of semi-sweet chips.
Before you say it, I know what you’re thinking—she said she’d never do that again. But is it really such a bad thing to do something nice for someone who appreciates the little things and doesn’t expect them? For all the good Lee has done for me and my kids, I think he deserves the chocolate chip pancakes.
However, I assure you I still believe men should not be put on a pedestal and all the golden dicks in the world won’t change my stand on that.
“Sure, kid,” he calls over his shoulder as he and Jenna still try to figure out how to work the radio.
“You might want to try plugging the thing in if you want it to work,” Tommy points out as he washes his hands. Lee lifts his eyes to my son and I watch as he smacks him upside the head. Tommy shrugs his shoulders and leans over him, plugging the loose power cord into the socket.
“Well shit,” Lee mutters.
A laugh bursts from my lips as I start mixing the pancake batter and Jenna browses through the radio stations. Finally settling on one, I recognize the familiar music.
“It’s Mommy’s song,” Lexi exclaims as Jenna turns the volume all the way up.
Suddenly the dance parties that have been non-existent are reinvented in Lee’s kitchen. Tommy grabs two wooden spoons from my bag of utensils and uses them as drumsticks, tapping them to the beat of Whitesnake’s ‘Here I Go Again’. Jenna shakes her hair out and starts dancing around the kitchen while Lexi pulls the spatula out of the batter and uses it as microphone to sing the opening chords of the song.
“I don’t know where I’m going,” she sings off key and at the top of her lungs.
“But I sure know where I’ve been,” Tommy joins.
My smile is so big it actually hurts my cheeks and it isn’t long before I’m singing along with them. Poor Lee looks confused as all hell but he goes along with it, watching intently as we make a mess and have a blast. Amused, his lips quirk as I dance around him.
“I’ve made up my mind, I ain’t wasting no more time,” Jenna and I sing, serenading Lee. The chorus plays and we’re all too preoccupied dancing and singing at the top of our lungs to notice there is another man other than Lee standing in the kitchen watching us. Lee notices though and the playful smile falls from his lips.
Curiously, I turn around and stare into the dark eyes of a man I’ve never met but one whose mugshot I’ve seen on the front page of several newspapers, making him a household name to many.
Jack Parrish.
The man.
The legend.
The president of the Satan’s Knights.
“Shit,” I hiss. Catching myself, I cover my mouth. “I’m sorry.”
He shakes his head, glancing around at all of us.
Turning the radio off, Lee comes up beside me and stares back at Jack. I can sense the tension in the air, noting most of it radiates from Lee. In fact, Jack doesn’t appear as intimidating as I thought he would. He stares at each of my children long and hard, almost as if he’s committing them to memory before his eyes settle on me.
“It’s a great song,” Jack says with a smile and extends his hand. “Jack,” he introduces himself.
Wiping my hands on the front of my pajamas, I shake his hand.
“Layla, Jack. Jack, Layla,” Pipe says roughly, before turning to my kids. “And these are her children, Tommy, Jenna and Lexi.”
“Nice to meet you all,” Jack says, releasing my hand.
“You’ve got a leather vest like Lee,” Lexi points out.
“Lee,” Jack repeats, turning to look at him. “Yeah, but you want to know a secret?” he asks my daughter. “I had it first,” Jack reveals, winking at Lexi before turning back to Lee.
“Don’t recall leaving the door open,” he replies.
“You didn’t. I let myself in.”
“What’re you doing here, Jack?” Lee asks roughly, forcing the two of them to engage in some silent stare off. I get lost and caught up in the exchange wondering who will blink first. Finally snapping out of it, I remember the reason my kids and I are here to begin with. Deciding to alleviate some of the tension, I turn to Jack and smile.
“Jack, we were just about to get started making breakfast. Will you join us?”
“Layla,” Lee snarls under his breath.
Paying him no mind, Jack grins widely.
“I’d love to, sweetheart,” he croons wickedly.
And there it is.
The sinister smile of a man who the newspapers have reported calls himself the Bulldog.
The man I just invited to breakfast.
Bravely, I turn and meet Lee’s glare. Shrugging, I smile innocently.
“Gives you two time to catch up,” I say sweetly.
If looks could kill, I’d be dead.
“That sounds perfect,” Jack adds, menacingly.
Rest in peace, Layla.