Chapter 11
Hank
“Well, that was a disaster,”Chastity declares to me, blowing her bangs out of her eyes as we sit outside her house watching Josiah toss a football around.
Now that we’re just friends, not even fake dating, she’s been keeping me up to speed on her dating adventures. She also had no problem with me meeting her son. She said she wants him to see healthy adult friendships.
If she had any idea the thoughts running through my head on a regular basis, she’d see there is nothing healthy about it whatsoever.
But I’m determined to be a friend to a woman who could use a few more folks in her corner, so I’m sitting on a plastic chair and listening to her lament the failure of her date with Chad. Fucking Chad.
“It was just coffee and forty-five minutes of your life. How bad could it have been?” I ask, trying to be supportive and not act like I’m thrilled the date went poorly. Which I am. I swear that motherfucker looked off in his picture, and I’d bet a grand that dog isn’t really his. It was a prop dog, designed to melt women’s hearts with its adorable-ass sweater. Chads don’t have Yorkies, I’m telling you.
“It was bad. He spent the whole time telling me how everyone he’s met on dating apps is a psycho bitch.”
My eyebrows shoot up, and I laugh a little. “To a woman he’s met on a dating app. Charming guy. Guess old Chad doesn’t realize the common denominator is actually him.”
“I guess not. Ugh, I feel like I need a shower after sitting across from him. And you were right about the dog.” Chastity pulls her hair up off of her shoulders and ties it with a band that was around her wrist. “He gleefully admitted he stole the dog from his ex when they broke up. He said it was to hit her where it hurts.”
“Damn. Now that’s just disgusting. Pets shouldn’t be breakup pawns.” I really hate Chad now. “I hope you blocked him.”
“Oh, I didn’t think about that.” Chastity pulls her phone out and starts swiping on it. “I’ll do that now.”
Josiah, who was vaguely interested in me when we were introduced, but mostly not, comes running over to us. “Did you see that?” he asks Chastity.
“Of course, baby, that was so good!”
I know she has no idea what he’s talking about, but she loves to encourage him.
“Can I play football with a team?”
Her face falls. “We’ll have to see, baby. I’ll see when it starts.”
Out of nowhere, he holds his hand up to me for a high-five, so I give him one, and he runs back into the front yard. That little hand connecting with mine does things to my insides. He’s a really cute kid, all smiles and big energy. It’s obvious he’s felt nothing but love from his mother.
Which makes me feel all kinds of things for Chastity too.
Chastity makes a strangled sound in the back of her throat.
“What?” I ask. “What’s wrong? Are you scared he’ll get hurt playing? It’s just pee wee, Chas. Sure, he might fall down a couple hundred times, but he’s doing that now anyway.”
Case in point, he’s rolling in the grass right now.
“Well, sure I’m afraid he’ll get hurt. But I know I have to get over that and let him experience sports. I don’t know if I can afford it,” she admits. “God, I hate money. It’s stupid.” Then she makes a face. “There’s that word again. Stupid.”
“You’re allowed to use stupid when it comes to bills. Money is stupid.” I want to offer to pay for Josiah’s football fees, but I don’t want to insult her either. Chastity thinks she needs to do everything herself.
But that’s exactly why I need to do this for her. Because she’s worked her ass off, and she deserves a helping hand.
“How much is it?” I ask her.
“How much is what?”
“Football. Let me help you.”
“Hank, you don’t have to do that,” she says immediately.
“No, I don’t have to. I want to.”
“But you told me you’ve put everything you have into your restaurant.”
“I have money for pee wee football.” I’ve put a lot into Conviction, but I wouldn’t have taken the risk if I thought it would fail. I have backup savings. I also have something she doesn’t—a family who has my back no matter what.
I’ve been inside Chastity’s apartment briefly. It’s bare bones. Thrifted furniture and only the essentials. She’s so capable that I forget sometimes she’s only twenty-three.
“I don’t want you to feel sorry for me.”
“I don’t. I want to help because you’re an amazing mother. And playing a sport is great for a kid. I was the quarterback, and look how awesome I turned out,” I tell her with a grin. “Friends help friends.”
Her face softens. She reaches over and squeezes my hand. “You’re a good friend, Hank. Thank you.”
I want to be more than her friend. And for once in my life, I’m not talking about sex.
But if this is what she wants right now—us to be just friends—I’ll take what she’s willing to give. Because I like Chastity as a person, and being her friend is filling a void in my life I didn’t even know existed.
“You’re a good friend, too,” I tell her. “The best.”
The look on her face is sweet, appreciative. She’s beautiful, inside and out. I want to kiss her. I want to tell her that I want her to date me, not random Chads and Brads. But that‘s an impulse move. This is too important to just blurt out something she will probably perceive as me trying to get in her pants.
So I keep my mouth shut.
Because I’m as mature as fuck these days. A whole grown-ass man opening a business and willing to be patient to get what I want until the timing is right.
I can’t tell what she’s thinking. I can’t tell if she is just grateful for my friendship or if she wishes it were more too.
It makes me stand up so I don’t say anything else. “Josiah, why don’t you throw the ball to me?” I call out.
“Okay!” He lobs the ball in my general direction, and it goes about two feet.
I jog over and squat down next to him. “Do you have a favorite football player?”
He thinks about it, but then just shrugs. “I don’t know.”
“My favorite player is my brother, Cash.” I pull my phone out and find Cash’s team pic. “This is him. He plays in Nashville.”
“He’s big,” Josiah says. “Like a bear.”
That makes me laugh. “He is like a bear. And just as hairy.” Which isn’t true at all, but it makes Josiah laugh riotously, and the sound of this kid’s giggle is like unearthing gold. He’s a great kid, and that’s all thanks to Chastity.
“Come on, I’m going to show you some tricks for throwing the ball.”
We go through some basic moves, and I try to make it fun and silly and casual. I chase him. He chases me. I let him tackle me.
It’s when I’m on the ground, thirty-five pounds of preschooler crushing my lungs as I tickle him, that I glance over and see Chastity. She’s smiling.
That’s some fucking gold right there too.
Josiah bounces on me. “I got you!”
“Oof,” I tell him as his palms press into me like he’s doing chest compressions. This kid has some power behind his push for being four. “You’ve definitely got me.”
Both him and his mama.
She’s got me wrapped tighter around her finger than she even knows.