Help Wanted (22 page)

“Sweetheart, this place looks amazing.” Keira walked around
Choppers
taking in how the new shelves on the wall, stainless steel sinks, new floors and desk in the far corner enhanced the wall color she’d help paint with Jim.

“
Choppers
will be the hottest motorcycle shop in town. Do you know where you want to set up the display for the clothes? Have you thought about what you are going to put on that far wall yet? I see that it’s still bare.”

“I have a couple of items running through my head, but I haven’t committed to anything yet. I want it to be perfect because I don’t want to paint over any design I might grow to hate later,” Jim said as he walked closer to her pulling her into his arms.

“Are you going to show it to me before it goes up on the wall?” Keira asked circling her arms around his neck.

Sliding his hand under her ass, he lifted Keira up so she could wrap her legs around his waist. “No, I want you to be as surprised as everyone else when I reveal it at the grand opening.”  He walked over to the desk and sat Keira on top of it. “Now, you might be able to persuade me into giving you some kind of hint.”

“I don’t know if I have that kind of ability,” she replied easing her hands up the back of his shirt. Keira ran her nails down his back making his cock leap to life with the flirty touch.

“I think you have more power over me than you will ever know,” Jim said before he lifted Keira’s shirt and pulled it over her head tossing it somewhere behind them on the floor. Long, calloused fingers suddenly made quick work of her bra and added to her shirt somewhere on the floor.

“I swear you have the most beautiful breasts in the world. I know that I’ll never get tired of seeing these. They are so big, brown and creamy…so mouth-watering.”

His words were blunt and honest…words that made her feel and know how much Jim loved her body.

“Are you going to show me how much you love them?”

Taking a nipple between his forefinger and thumb, he worked it until the nipple became pebble hard and a low moan eased between her lips.

“Hmmmm…that feels so wonderful.” Keira arched her back pressing her breasts more into Jim’s touch.

“Sweetheart, you are so responsive.” Lowering his head he took the raised nipple into his mouth and gave it a slow heated lick with his tongue.

Jim lifted his head and was about to suck Keira’s other nipple when the ringing of his phone stopped him. Closing his eyes, he rested his head against a smooth brown shoulder and slowly counted to ten. He had to answer this call. The only person who called him this time of day was Trevor.

“Baby, I have to get this. It’s Trevor.” He reached over and grabbed Keira’s clothes off the floor and handed them to her before answering the call.

“Trevor, what’s wrong?”

“Dad, I’m at the mall with mom. Can you come and pick me up? I’ll be outside waiting for you. I told mom I was calling you and she didn’t care,” Trevor said.

“Son, this is your week to spend with your mother. Are you sure that she doesn’t care that you want to spend it with me instead?” Jim didn’t want to agree to get Trevor and then have him act out when Keira was over at his house. She was as much a part of his life as his son was.

“Dad, she really doesn’t care. Will you come to get me?” His son asked again.

“Yes, I’ll be right there. Make sure that you stay inside the mall at the area around the arcade games.”

“I promise,” Trevor said. “I’ll be there waiting for you. “

“You better.” Jim hung up the phone then slid it back into the front pocket of his blue jeans.  “Do you care if I drop you off at my house first before I go and pick up Trevor?  He’s having problems with Kathy.”

“No…I don’t mind at all,” Keira answered. “Let’s hit the road. I can fix my famous chicken pot pie for dinner.”

“If you keep this up you’re going to make me fatter than a Thanksgiving turkey.” Jim grinned.

“I thought I heard the way to a man’s heart was through his stomach.”

“Keira, you already have my heart so you don’t need to do anything else to gain any more of my love.”

Joy bubbled in her laughter as Keira shook her head at Jim. He presented her with relentless enjoyment with his sweet talking way. Who knew a big bad biker was such a hidden romantic?  “Come on silver tongue…let’s go and pick up Trevor.”

“Maybe after Trevor is asleep tonight maybe I can find other ways to keep you entertained with my silver tongue,” he suggested in a low, sensual voice.

“Maybe…maybe not,” Keira teased as she moved towards the exit sign. “You won’t know until after Trevor has a visit from the sand man.”

Chapter Forty-Five

I’m trying my best to get along
with Trevor, but he’s making it so hard for me
. Jim left Trevor with her while he went to the store to get milk for Trevor’s supper.  Ever since Jim had walked out the door his son hadn’t been listening to a word she told him.

“Trevor, do you want to put that video game down and help me with supper?” Keira asked as she spread the pre-made pie crust into the pie pan.  Seconds tickled by, but Trevor didn’t raise his head from the video game. In fact, Trevor pulled his baseball cap even further down on his head like he was doing his best to block out the sound of her voice.

That was it
, her mind thought. Trevor isn’t going to ignore me  like I’m not even here.

Keira flung the dishrag on the island and marched over to Trevor. She snatched the baseball cap off his forehead and pitched it on the table. She was surprised he could even see out of it as far down over his eyes as it was.

“Hey! Give that back to me!” Trevor yelled reaching for the black cap. “I need that.”

“Not until we have a talk.”

Trevor turned sideways in his chair forcing her to talk to one side of his face. “I don’t want to say anything to you. It’s not like we’re ever going to be friends or anything. My dad will go back to my mom. He’s just mad at her right now.”

Whoa! Did Jim know that Trevor still thought there might be a reconciliation between him and his mother? God, she was clueless what to do about this. Taking a deep breath, Keira moved around the table and stared down into Trevor’s face when something by the side of his eye caught her attention.

“What is this?” Keira touched the side of his cheek and moved his face so she could get a better look. A dark bruise was forming at the side of Trevor’s eye like someone had either slapped or punched him.

Anger she’d never experienced before swelled in the middle of her chest making her blood pump faster through her veins. Who in the hell hit Trevor? There was no way in hell that Jim had seen this because he would have hit the roof by now.

“Who hit you?” she asked, touching the side of his face.

“Nobody,” Trevor yelled as he jerked his head away from her.

“Sweetheart, you can tell me. I promise that your father won’t be mad at you.”

Trevor snatched his baseball cap off the table and placed it back on his head fixing it so it covered most of his face. “You better not tell my dad about this or you’ll wish you hadn’t. I hate you! I wish you’d never come into my dad’s life.”

Keira shook off Trevor’s outburst. She was more concerned if Jim was going to send his son back into an abusive situation. She had to tell Jim about this. She wasn’t about to keep it a secret.

“Trevor, we can tell your dad together and he will protect you from whoever hit you.” She reached to touch his face again, but Trevor slapped her hand away.

“Don’t touch me!” he screamed.

“What is going on here?” Jim demanded as he came into the kitchen carrying Trevor’s back pack and a grocery bag. “Why are you yelling at Keira?”

“Jim, you need to…” Keira tried to tell Jim about Trevor’s face, but didn’t get the chance because of his son.

“I hate being here! I want to go back to my mom’s.” Trevor threw his video game down on the table and raced from the room back outside.

Jim stared after Trevor in utter shock before he glanced over at her. “What did I walk in on? Why is he acting like this?” he asked placing the backpack and grocery bag on the table. “Trevor is usually so calm.”

Right at the moment, Keira decided it might be for the best if she didn’t tell Jim about the bruise while Trevor was so distraught. She would pull him to the side and tell him about it later when Trevor wasn’t around.

“He’s mad because I asked him to help me with supper,” she lied hoping she was making the right decision.

“Trevor knows better than to act like that.  I haven’t raised him that away.” Jim sighed running his fingers through his hair. “I have to get him away from Kathy. I have another appointment with my lawyer this week and I’m going to tell him to speed up the court hearing.”

“I think you’re right about wanting to get full custody.”

“Thanks for your support, sweetheart,” Jim said. “You don’t know how much it means to me. I came in here to tell you something, but hearing Trevor hollering at you almost made me forget.  While I was outside Clinton called me and invited us over for a barbeque. Are you interested in going?  I know you were going to cook, but under the circumstances I thought going over there might be a better idea.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” Keira said. “Why don’t you go outside and check on Trevor while I get the kitchen cleaned up. Talk to him. Maybe you can pull out of him why he’s so mad all of the sudden.”

“Baby, you’re the greatest. Even after my son threw a tantrum on you for no reason you’re concerned about his welfare. Damn, I love you.” Jim kissed her on the cheek and left her alone in the kitchen.

Keira started cleaning up the kitchen and putting the ingredients for the chicken pot pie into the refrigerator praying that Trevor would be the one who told Jim about his black eye instead of her because she didn’t know how to break the news to Jim that someone was hitting his child.

* * * *

 “I guess it‘s okay for me now to believe you and Jim are officially a couple?” Jenisha asked as she stood next to Keira watching Jim playing with Kevan, Evan and Trevor in the playroom off at the side from the living room.

“Yes, we’re a couple and I’ve never been so happy in my life.” Keira grinned.

“I knew the two of you would hit it off,” Charisma chimed in. “Dave was concerned Jim might not be able to open up after having such a horrible marriage, but I knew you were the woman who could do it.”

“Stop bragging.” Dave laughed as he came up to his wife and kissed her on the cheek.

“I thought the four of you were outside staring at the grill,” Jenisha said to her husband as Clinton grabbed a potato chip from the bowl on the table

“We knew that our women were missing us, so we came in here to see you.” Hayward wrapped his arms around True.

“I guess I can let you believe that’s the real reason you came back inside.” True placed her hands on top of her husband’s arm. “I checked on the babies and they’re sound asleep. I’m glad they’re sleeping better now.”

“I need to stop hanging around all of you before the love bugs bites me,” Dante laughed as he joined in on the conversation with the people around him. “I’m not interested in walking down the aisle anytime soon.”

“I remember being like you until I saw Charisma and after that all I could think about was babies and marriage. Ask Jim. He’s a step away from proposing to Keira.”

“Don’t put Jim into something he hasn’t even mentioned to me. We’re dating, but the talk of marriage has never come up. I really believe Jim is against the whole marriage idea.” Keira had to correct the way everyone’s mind seemed to be going.

“I’m willing to bet if you brought up getting married to Jim, he wouldn’t totally blow you off,” Dante said.

At Dante’s statement, Keira begin to acknowledge her own needs and a surprising realization washed over her. She did want to get married to Jim. It seemed like when they first met they had disagreed about anything and everything, but their arguing was hiding something so much deeper and meaningful. 

Looking back, she knew she sensed Jim could be the man for her yet she’d fought it at every turn like he had. They were more like each other than either one of them ever wanted to admit back then.

The more she thought about it the better she loved the idea of being married to Jim, but she quickly banished the thought from her mind. There’d be time for such thoughts later.

“I’ll let everyone know when and if Jim asks me to marry him. Until then I’m just going to take each day as it comes.”

“Okay, we’ll leave it alone.” True sighed. “However, when you need help picking out baby names let me know because I hate to brag, but I think I’m pretty good at it.”

 “True, stop messing with Keira. Give her time to get used to being with Jim instead of adding in babies,” Hayward gently scolded before Kevan ran across the room up to him.

“Daddy, can Evan and I go outside to play?”

“Do you promise to stay in the yard and not go into the street?”

“Yes, we’ll stay in the yard,” Kevan promised and turned away running for the door. “Come on, Evan and Trevor!”

“Keira, see all of the fun you have to look forward to,” Dante teased.

“I see it.”

Keira’s eyes swung over to Jim. She hadn’t let the idea of them having kids with Jim enter her mind in a long time. Jim had his hands full with Trevor. Would he even let the idea of having another child come into his thoughts? 

* * * *

 “Dad, can I go outside too?” Trevor asked the second Evan left him and ran after his big brother.

“Sure, but be sure not to let Kevan and Evan go in the street,” Jim said. “They’re younger than you and I expect you to watch over them.”

“I will.” Trevor turned away from Jim at the same time he reached out to pull the baseball cap up further on his son’s head so he could see better, but instead Jim accidentally knocked it off Trevor’s head.

Jim noticed the bruise by his son’s eye the instant the baseball cap hit the floor. Anger he never felt before formed in the pit of his stomach and worked through his body drowning out the conversation from the other people going on around him.  He wasn’t sure why he hadn’t spotted it before, but he saw it now and Trevor was going to tell him how in the hell it got there.