Chapter Fifteen
Jax
The guys had been really good to me since my mom passed; they even offered to carry her casket. They kept their comments to themselves about how wasted away she’d looked at the wake and they covered my customers for a while so I could get some things in order.
I knew Marty had been trying to get in touch with me, banging down my door and blowing up my phone. But how the hell was I supposed to give her what she wanted and do all this shit on my end? Hell, the woman I’d only reconnected with for five days told me she loved me, for Christ’s sake.
I didn’t need all that damn drama. Yeah, she was a good lay, but I had real life shit to deal with.
Like the fact that I had suddenly become an orphan.
“Hey, look who’s back!” Chip said.
Wiping his greasy hands on a rag, Mitch asked, “How are you doing?”
“Lay off, guys,” Jake said, “let the man breathe.”
I took my stuff to the back room and changed into some work clothes. I shoved my leather jacket into the locker, reaching for a stick of gum from its pocket and pulled a ratty t-shirt over my head. Damnit, Marty. Ever since we hooked up, I’ve had cravings coming out of my ears. I’ve chewed more fucking gum in the past two months than I have in the past ten years.
I headed back out the garage to get started on a car that needed some basic maintenance, and that’s when Jake finally stuck his foot in his mouth.
It was really only a matter of time before he did, anyway.
“Didn’t see Marty at the funeral.”
I felt the garage go silent before all eyes were on me, and I reached for a wrench before I got down on a creeper and rolled underneath a car.
“Didn’t invite her,” I said.
“Wait a second. Marty? As in, high school wouldn’t-stop-talking-about-her-for-years Marty?” Chip asked.
“Why the fuck would Marty have been at the funeral?” Mitch asked.
“They were on a date one night,” Jake said, “I figured they rekindled stuff or something.”
“Want me to tell everyone where we were?” I yelled from underneath the car.
“Too late, dude. They already know I’m only working there to help support my kid that’s on the way. And here I thought Maggie was too old to get pregnant.”
“No shit... Makes a lot more sense now, I guess,” I admitted. “Well, since I’m not working at the club anymore, you’ll be the only guy left to rag on around here.”
Chip furrowed his brow, “Wait, you’re not?”
“Don’t have to with a dead mom.”
“Cut the shit, Weatherspoon,” Jake spat.
But I couldn’t fire back at Jake before a familiar tune began wafting over the speakers of the radio in the garage, and it caused me to roll myself out from underneath the car.
“Turn it up,” I said.
“What?” Chip asked.
“Turn up the damn radio, Chip!”
Mitch headed over and cranked it up, and the riff I’d written blasted through the speakers. My voice filled the garage with its gravelly tones, and the guys slowly panned their eyes to me before Chip started laughing.
“Fuck me, dude,” Chip guffawed, “is that…you?”
“That’s what you’ve been doing besides dancing? Singing pussy-ass songs about broken hearts and shit?” Mitch chuckled.
“You mean you can understand the lyrics, asshole?”
The song came to a stop after the last chord was played, and I swallowed hard as I thought about how I’d treated Marty. I couldn’t have gotten around leaving her in the hotel room—I mean, that had been my mom calling, telling me she was about to be rushed to the hospital. I wasn’t about to ditch my dying mother for some pussy, but I could’ve taken her calls. I could’ve opened the door when she came knocking.
Hell, I could’ve not run away from her when I saw her in the city.
“What the fuck are you doing pushing Marty away, anyway?” Mitch asked.
“And why the fuck do you care?” I fired back.
“Look, man, I fell in love in high school, too, except it wasn’t her parents that fucked shit up, it was just me. That girl was perfect: nice set of tits, could do devilish things with her mouth, and would’ve fucking given me the world if she could’ve. You’ve got a second chance with this one; why the hell aren’t you taking it?”
“Seriously. I saw how she looked at you that night, man,” Jake pointed out. “She was as good as yours.”
I thought back to that night and how it had played out, remembering how pissed she was at her friends for recommending The Love Shack, and how I finally convinced her to give it a try. I thought about how funny it was when she noticed the dancer above us, and how hard she laughed over that for the rest of the night.
And then during the boat ride, how it was so easy to let my guard down and talk to her about my mom and my music. I remembered how proud I was of her and her career, and how deep down inside, I always knew she’d make it.
I thought about that first kiss we shared after all those years. How perfectly her soft curves melded to my body. How sweet her lips tasted on mine.
How sweet her juices tasted on my tongue.
I’d fucked up royally. There was a hell of a lot I’d done wrong, starting with not telling her what had happened to my mom. I know she would’ve come to the funeral if she’d known.
I didn’t even know if she would forgive me. But I knew I had to track her down and find out.
“Where are you going?” Chip yelled out.
“Can you guys hold it down for a couple more days?” I asked.
“If you’ve got a good enough excuse, yeah,” Mitch smirked before he folded his arms over his chest.
“There’s a woman out there who’s owed an apology.”
And the guys turned towards me before they all smiled brightly.
“Well, get the hell out of here,” Chip shouted. “Go have some make-up sex so you can quit moping around like a little bitch.”
I laughed as I made my way outside into the bright morning sun, and I thought back to the night the two of us shared at the hotel. Her body caved to me, trusted me with its pleasure, even as she fought it.
She wasn’t the girl I’d banged in high school to test my limits. No, she’d grown into a strong woman with her own wants and desires, and I wanted to explore all of them with her. I wanted to mark her entire body with my teeth so that she’d be forced to wear long sleeves and pants to work for days. I wanted to smack her ass and revel in the print it left behind before making her body quiver around me. I wanted to spend an entire lifetime letting her know exactly who she belonged to before I promised her the world on a silver platter.
I needed Marty back in my life, and there wasn’t anything I wouldn’t do to make that happen.
So, I ripped open my car door and threw myself down onto the seat before I grabbed my phone and scrolled to the last time she had ever called me.
And I simply hit the redial button.