At Peace (31 page)

He sat up suddenly, taking her with him and
planting her astride him then he slid his hands over her ass and
changed the subject.

“Not gonna get your garage door fixed hangin’
on my couch.”

She put her hands to his neck and studied his
face. Then her thumb came out and stroked the underside of his
jaw.

“Yeah,” she said softly, letting it go and he
decided he liked that, Vi reading his face and knowing she should
let it go then she asked, “But could I ask you a favor?”

“Shoot.”

“Will you talk to Sam?”

He felt his body get tight and his hands
flexed into the flesh of her ass.

He did not want to talk to her brother.

She was working her way under his skin. Every
day, she got in deeper, even when she wasn’t with him. He’d be
working a job, sitting in a meeting and he’d wonder what she was
doing, if she was working, what she was wearing, where her kids
were, if they were safe. He wondered if Dane was keeping his
fucking teenage kid’s hands off Kate and thinking he’d break his
neck if he wasn’t. He wondered if Keira was friendly to everyone
like she was friendly to him and hoping to Christ she didn’t strike
up a conversation with some sick fuck pedophile whose neck he’d
also have to break if he fucked with Keira.

These were not Cal’s usual trains of
thought.

And it was worse at night, trying to get
to sleep, he thought of Vi in other ways, her hands, her mouth, her
smell. Christ, some nights, she was so real in his thoughts, he
could smell her hair on his pillow, feel her ass in his hands like
it was right then, hear her saying his name, feel her body heavy in
sleep against his side.

When he heard Keira’s far away scream and
Kate’s yell and the fear in Vi’s voice, he’d nearly come out of his
skin being so far away and powerless to step in if something was
going down. And he couldn’t remember the last time he was as pissed
as when he heard it was Kenzie doing the hang ups, shit in his life
affecting hers and, again, he was so far away, on the fucking phone
and she was dealing with it with Colt.

He didn’t like this, any of this.

His life was steady before Vi. He liked
that.

“Joe,” she called when he didn’t answer and
he focused on her. “Forget I said anything. You don’t have to.”

He didn’t want to but he knew he was going
to.

And that was the fuck of it.

“What do you want me to talk to him
about?”

“
It’s just that…” she started to move from
him and muttered, “forget it, it’s no big thing.”

His hands went from her ass, lifted, crossed
and slid around so he could lock her in his arms.

“What do you want?”

“I…” she started then stopped, looking away
and biting her lip.

“Baby, for fuck’s sake –”

Her eyes snapped back to his and she said,
“He’s snoopin’ around Hart.”

Cal’s arms convulsed as a very bad feeling
soured his gut.

“What?”

“Sam, he’s snoopin’ around Hart. I don’t know
what he’s doing but he was close to Tim and he’s close to me and
what happened to Tim and after to me hit him hard. He’s –”

Cal cut her off. “That’s whacked.”

Her body jerked then she said, “I know, but
–”

“It’s not only whacked, it’s stupid.”

This time her body tightened in his arms and
her eyes narrowed.

“He’s not stupid, he’s my brother and he’s
–”

“Stickin’ his nose in shit he shouldn’t.
Jesus, Vi, Hart’ll chew him up and spit him out.”

He fucked up, he knew it the second her face
twisted with pain and her body wrenched, her hands going from his
neck to his chest to push away.

He let her go but twisted so she landed on
her back and he landed on her.

“Buddy –”

“
I know that, Joe,” she interrupted on a
whisper. “I know
exactly
what
Hart will do.”

“I know you do,” Cal whispered back.

“That’s why I want you to talk to Sam. That’s
the favor. I want you to tell him to stop, explain things to him.
Get him to let the cops deal with it.”

“He’s here, you set up the meet, I’ll have a
word,” Cal said immediately.

Her chin jerked then she blinked.

“What?”

“When he’s here, you set it up, I’ll have a
word.”

She stared at him a second as if she’d never
seen him before.

Then she breathed, “Really?”

“Yeah.”

He felt her body relax under him and her
arm slid around him, her other hand gliding up his neck and into
his hair as her leg moved from under him to wrap around his
thigh.

“Thanks, Joe.”

He knew it the minute she spoke. He knew that
was all he needed, those two soft words with her limbs wrapped
around him and, God help him, he’d do anything for her.

Jesus, he was fucked.

“Need to see to your garage,” he told
her.

He was leaving her arms after he fucked her
on his couch and listened to her sharing her life with him so he
could fix her garage door opener.

Yes, fucked.

“Okay,” she whispered.

He lifted up, pulling her up with him. He
waited until she yanked up her shorts and retied her ponytail and
together they walked over to her house, Vi going to her yard, Cal
going to her garage.

Twenty minutes later, he was in his truck
heading to the hardware store, buying her a new garage door
opener.

* * * * *

Cal watched the Fiesta pull into the
drive.

Kate had barely come to a stop when Keira was
out the door and running at him, her hair flying, her arms wheeling
like she’d run to her mother at Colt and Feb’s barbeque.

“Joe!” she screeched.

He was on a ladder in Vi’s garage, installing
the new garage door opener and he looked down at Vi’s daughter
who’d come to a halt by the ladder and was smiling up at him. Doing
this, he was thinking the only sound better than hearing Vi say his
name was hearing Keira say it.

“Hey girl.”

“I’m gettin’ a dog!” she announced.

Cal dropped his arms and asked, “What
kind?”

“American husky.”

“Good breed,” Cal said even though he had no
clue whether that was true or not.

“I know!” she yelled as if he wasn’t right
there in front of him. “I’ve been looking them up on the internet.”
She got up on her toes and whispered loudly, “Though, it says they
bark a lot. I haven’t told Mom that part yet.”

“Hey Joe,” Kate said, joining their
party.

“Kate.”

Her eyes were on the opening to the garage
then they came to him and she remarked, “You got the door
open.”

Cal didn’t respond as the door was open so he
didn’t think she needed an answer.

“When we moved here, Mom spent, like, forever
tryin’ to get that door open,” Kate told him.

“Yeah?” Cal asked, lifting his arms, tipping
his head back and going back to the opener.

“What’re you doin’?” Keira asked and Cal
looked through his arms to Keira.

“Installin’ a new garage door opener.”

Keira and Kate looked at each other. Keira
grinned big. Kate’s eyes came back to him and she looked
thoughtful.

“
That’s cool, Joe,” she said softly, her
eyes going to the ceiling then she looked at him and finished,
“thanks.”

“Please tell me you left enough clothes and
shoes at the mall for the rest of the population of Indianapolis to
buy so people aren’t walkin’ around in tatty, non-designer clothes
they got at Goodwill,” Vi joked, walking up to them and Cal dropped
his arms again.

“We’re doin’ our part to help out the
economy,” Keira said to her mother.

Vi came to a stop and looked at her daughter.
“What’d you buy?”

“
A pair of shorts you will just
love
and a new pair of flip-flops
that are
awesome
and
there was a buy two get one free at that accessories place so I
bought four and got two free, a bunch of bracelets and necklaces.
They’re sah-
weet.
You can
borrow them,” Keira answered.

Vi stared at her youngest a moment then
looked to her oldest. “What’d you buy?”

“
Nothin’,” Kate grinned, “I’m gonna borrow
Keira’s stuff.”

“
You are not,” Keira snapped. “Mom can
borrow it but
you
can’t.”

Vi’s eyes went to Cal and she shook her head
then they went back to Keira. “You two fightin’?”

“No,” Keira said.

“Yes,” Kate said.

Vi knew instantly who was lying and who
wasn’t so she looked at the one who’d be honest with her and asked
Kate, “Why?”

“She and Heather want to go to that party at
Jody’s house with me and Dane,” Kate answered.

Vi’s gaze went to Keira. “I thought we talked
about that.”

“Mom,” Keira whined.

“You aren’t goin’, that’s for juniors and
seniors.”

“Kate’s a sophomore,” Keira returned.

“Kate’s a junior now, school’s over,” Vi
retorted.

“I’m old for my age,” Keira shot back.

“
Honey, you’re fourteen goin’ on twelve.
You’ll be forty-five goin’ on twelve. You’re locked in girldom.
You’ll be livin’ in a house with daisies on the walls and wearing
pink wellingtons when you’re married and have six kids,” Vi
replied.

“I’m not havin’ six kids,” Keira snapped, not
stupid enough to deny she was all girl and would be until the day
she died.

“And you’re not goin’ to that party,” Vi said
softly but firmly, using a voice that, from the look on Keira’s
face, she knew that was the end of the discussion but Vi wasn’t
going to leave it bad so she told them both, “Guess who’s comin’ to
town next weekend?”

“Uncle Sam!” Keira shouted, guessing
immediately and also immediately losing her attitude.

Vi smiled. “And Melissa.”

“
That’s
awesome!
” Kate yelled.

Vi turned to Kate. “Baby, can you bunk with
Keira on her futon so Sam and Mel can have your room?”

“Sure,” Kate agreed instantly, her face
bright, her mouth smiling, obviously loving her uncle like her
mother loved her brother if she’d give up her space.

“
This is
so cool!
” Keira announced.

Vi slid an arm along Keira’s waist and gave
her a squeeze before letting her go and saying, “It certainly is,
honey. Now go get your bags, take ‘em into the house and leave Joe
alone, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Keira grinned at her Mom then at him
and said, “Later Joe.”

“Later,” Cal replied.

Keira took off and Kate moved toward the
house but she was looking at Cal. “You want a Coke or somethin’,
Joe?” she asked.

“Sounds good,” Cal answered, ignoring the
fact that his brain was trying to decide if he liked quiet Kate
calling him Joe better than loud Keira.

“I’ll get it,” Kate muttered and walked
away.

Cal looked from Kate to Vi and she was
staring at the ceiling.

“How much did that cost?” she asked the
garage door opener.

“You, tonight in my bed with your hand
between your legs,” Cal answered quietly and her eyes shot to
his.

“What?” she whispered.

“You heard me.”

She looked to the drive to see Keira down at
the end carrying her bags and waving across the street at Feb who
had Jack at her hip and she was talking to Myrtle in her front
yard. Then Vi looked at him and got close to the ladder.

“You want sexual favors for a garage door
opener?” she asked sounding slightly pissed but more
disbelieving.

Cal turned his attention to the opener. “I do
the work, I decide the payback.”

“I’m your booty call, Joe, not your
prostitute.”

At her words, unexpected words, words that
pissed him right the fuck off, Cal turned his attention back to
Vi.

“My booty call?” he asked quietly.

“Yeah.”

“Booty call?” he repeated.

“Yeah,” she repeated too and he saw she was
pissed as well but he reckoned she wasn’t as pissed as he was.

He put the screwdriver he had in his hand on
the top of the ladder, climbed down and got close to her. She
didn’t retreat then again she never did either because her attitude
made her stupid or because she had a backbone. He figured it was
both.

“Booty call?” he asked again, hoping she’d
cotton on to the tone of his voice.

She didn’t.

“Yeah,” she repeated yet again.

He studied her then, he had no idea why, but
just to piss her off further, he stated, “You aren’t pissed that’s
what I want, you’re pissed you want it so bad you can’t wait to
give it to me.”

He succeeded in his effort at pissing her off
more, her eyes narrowed and she leaned closer to him and hissed, “I
can’t believe you.”

“You been thinkin’ about it since I said it
on the phone.”

Her eyes got wide then he watched her clench
her teeth as she fought for control but he was too angry to give
her the time.

Instead, he bent at the waist to get into her
face and informed her, “Buddy, what we got is what it is. It might
not be what you want but you gotta admit, what it is, is good. What
it isn’t is a booty call and it pisses me off you’d say that and it
pisses me off you’d think I’m on a fuckin’ ladder in your goddamned
garage, installin’ a fuckin’ door opener so I could buy a fuckin’
session with you.”

“That’s what you said,” she accused.

“And that’s what I want as payback, I told
you, straight out. I also told you, I do somethin’ for you, we talk
payback. I’m doin’ somethin’ for you so that’s what I did. You
didn’t like that idea, it made you uncomfortable, all you gotta do
is say.”

“So every time you do something for me, it’ll
require payback?”