Chapter 9 #2
Havoc brushed his fingers off on his pants and extended his hand. “Hi, how you doing? I’m Havoc.”
“Hi, Havoc. I’m Charlie.”
“Be nice to my cousin or I’ll hunt you down and cut out your heart,” Havoc said.
“Jesus, Havoc! Go away!”
“What are you doing?” Annalise said, as she and Harley walked up to the table.
“I’m visiting, baby. Look! I found Daisy and Charlie.”
Analise smiled beautifully at Charlie. “Hi, Charlie. It’s so nice to meet you. I’ve heard all about you and your fabulously talented son.”
“Thank you. It’s nice to meet you as well.”
“I’m Harley. This is my mom, and this is my dad,” she said pointing at them each as she introduced them.
“Hello, Harley. You have a super cool name,” Charlie said.
“I know,” she said, grinning ear-to-ear. “My daddy named me.”
The pager in Analise’s hand started vibrating and she held it up. “Our table is ready!”
“Good, I’m so hungry!” Harley said.
“You ate a bag of chips on the way over,” Havoc said.
“It was a little bag, Daddy,” Harley complained.
“Your boy is what? Six, seven?” Havoc asked.
“Just turned seven,” Charlie said.
“You should bring him over, he and Harley could play while we visit for a while,” Havoc said.
“No! I’d rather he stay around a while, Havoc. I do not need you scaring him off!” Daisy exclaimed.
“I bet Carson would like that. He’s a little quiet, but he could use a new friend,” Charlie said.
“Why is nobody listening to me?” Daisy asked no one in particular.
“Good! Here,” Havoc said, fishing a crumpled business card out of his wallet and tossing it on the table. “Give me a call and we’ll set something up.”
“Let’s go, Daddy! You said we were going out to eat, and I’m still not eating!” Harley whined.
“You go with Mommy. I’ll be there in a minute. I gotta go to the bathroom.”
“You already went to the bathroom,” Analise said.
“I didn’t make it yet. I saw Daisy and felt the need to say hello,” Havoc said. He looked at Charlie. “Your boy ain't afraid of big orange iguanas is he? ‘Cause Harley’s best friend is a big orange iguana.”
“I don’t know,” Charlie said truthfully.
“We’ll find out,” Havoc said. “Glad you got to meet me. I’ll be seeing you soon!” he leaned over and kissed Daisy on the cheek, then swaggered off toward the restroom.
Analise sighed. “He’s a great male. Wonderful husband and father.
But he has no boundaries. If you’re his anything, he’s all involved with or without an invitation.
He saw Daisy with you and obviously decided he needed to insert himself.
I hope you don’t allow him to determine if you’ll see her again.
Daisy is wonderful, and she deserves someone who sees it. ”
“I love that she has family that cares enough to be involved. One little overprotective cousin isn’t going to scare me off.”
“Good. Because if he invited you to our house, he likes you. If he didn’t, you’d already be in your car on your way home,” Analise said.
“Mommy!” Harley said, pulling on her hand.
“Alright! Let’s go find out where our table is,” Analise said. She quickly kissed Daisy’s cheek, too, then shook Charlie’s hand. “It’s nice to meet you. Hope we see you soon.”
Charlie watched as they walked away. “I like your family. He’s a lot like your dad.”
“Actually, he’s a lot like his dad, but you have no idea. He’s not the only one. I’ve got dozens of family that will be all up in your face until they feel they know all there is to know.”
“Looking forward to it,” Charlie said.
“You poor misguided man,” Daisy said, as they shared a laugh.
“It’s getting kind of dark out there. We’ve been here all day,” Daisy said, as she glanced outside.
“You ready to go?” Charlie asked.
“I think so.”
“How about dessert, or would you prefer a strawberry shake on the way home?”
“Ohhh, you know how to tempt me.”
He lifted his hand to signal the waiter.
“I’m going to run to the restroom. I won’t be but a second,” Daisy said.
“I’ll be right here,” Charlie promised.
~~~
Hellen shrieked with laughter as Lucien grabbed her hand and spun her in a circle before dipping her so low her hair brushed the dance floor.
Lucien laughed wholeheartedly, and most of the women in Vince’s sighed and watched enviously. He stood Hellen back up and held her face in his hands as he kissed her slowly, looking deeply into her eyes.
“If I didn’t know better, I’d think you might kinda like me, sir,” Hellen teased.
“Maybe. I’m still trying to decide,” Lucien answered with a wicked waggle of his eyebrows.
“Really? Well, if it ends up being a negative, may I just point out that you’re a little too late, considering you already mated me,” Hellen said.
“I thought it was you that mated me,” Lucien said.
“Well, if I’m being honest, we mated each other.”
“Repeatedly,” Lucien said. “Best decision I ever made.”
“Same,” Hellen said.
“Want another drink?” Lucien asked.
“Of course!”
“Come along, female, follow where I lead,” he teased, pulling her along behind him as he made his way back to their spot at the bar.
“You know I’m not real good at following. I’m more the run right in with blinders on and see how things fall as I go.”
Lucien laughed again.
Hellen looked around the bar and grill and shook her head. “I swear you do that shit on purpose.”
“What shit?”
“That laugh.”
“I cannot help that females like my laugh. It’s how I laugh. I’ve always laughed like that. It’s not a conscious thing.”
“Good thing I trust you,” she said, accepting the shot of whiskey he held out to her with one hand as he poured his own with the other hand.
“I’d trust him, too,” Daisy said. “He adores you.”
“You see? Daisy trusts me,” Lucien said.
“Daisy trusts everyone,” Hellen countered, shooting back her whiskey, then turning to embrace Daisy in an almost smothering hug.
Daisy hugged her back, then hugged Lucien, kissing his cheek as well, when he presented it.
“Y’all, this is Charlie. Charlie, this is my cousin, Hellen and Lucien,” Daisy said.
“Hi, Charlie. Nice to meet you,” Hellen said.
“You, too,” Charlie said.
“Want a drink?” Lucien asked, picking up the bottle to pour both himself and Hellen another shot.
“No, thank you. Appreciate it, though. We just stopped by for a strawberry shake on our way home,” Charlie explained.
“You have a drink and stay a while,” Lucien said.
“Yeah, you should. We’re celebrating!” Hellen declared.
“What are you celebrating?” Daisy asked.
“Being together,” Lucien said happily.
“Oh, it’s your anniversary?” Charlie asked.
“No. We’ve only been official for a few months. But anytime I get to wake up beside this woman is a day to celebrate.”
Hellen shook her head. “He’s a little dramatic, but if we drank every time we woke up together, we’d be drunk every day.”
“They’re married,” Daisy said.
“It’s good to see a couple still so in love after the wedding,” Charlie said.
“You know, cher, maybe we should do that. Make it legal and everything,” Lucien said. “Want to do that? Be my wife?”
“I am your wife. A piece of paper doesn’t mean a thing. We’re already bound heart and soul.”
“True, but I kind of want to announce it to everybody else,” Lucien said.
“Well, most people gauge whether or not people are taken by the fact they wear wedding rings or not. We could get some pretty new rings.”
“I’m game. Would you wear my ring, my mate?”
“Every single day!” she exclaimed, falling into his arms when he leaned close to her to kiss her again.
“Ignore them. They’re still in the honeymoon phase and deliriously in love.”
“I’m actually kind of jealous,” Charlie said.
“You going to stay and dance with us?” Hellen asked.
“Probably not. Carson, Charlie’s little boy is at home with my parents. We have to be getting back,” Daisy said.
“Fine, kids come first. I get it,” Hellen said.
“You look familiar,” Charlie said to Hellen.
“Really? I don’t think we’ve ever met before.”
“She’s Havoc’s twin sister,” Daisy explained.
“Of course. I see it now,” Charlie said.
“You met Havoc?” Lucien asked with his eye wide to indicate it must have been a stressful event.
Charlie huffed a laugh. “I did.”
“And you’re still here? You must really care about Daisy,” Lucien said.
Charlie looked adoringly at Daisy, then nodded with a soft smile on his face. “I do. Very much. Even a crazy cousin can’t scare me away.”
Daisy blushed.
Charlie remembered suddenly that he was being watched by two more of her cousins, one of which was a twin of the one he just called crazy and quickly looked right at Hellen. “Not that I meant that in a bad way or anything. No offense meant.”
Hellen laughed. “Not a problem. He is kind of crazy. In a good way. But I’m not.”
“She’s actually the most normal of all of them. Well, one of the normal ones. Analise isn’t all that crazy either,” Daisy said.
“Hey! Look what the cat dragged in!” Vince called out as he walked down to the end of the bar and pretended he’d just noticed them.
“Uncle Vince!” Daisy said.
“Hey, baby! I’m so glad to see you in here during the party hours. Been a long time since you came in here for more than a quick few minutes.”
“What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be home during the party hours?”
“Got a bartender out with a stomach bug. Guess who’s here to cover the shift?”
“Who else would it be? Just doesn’t feel right when you're not here,” Daisy said.
“You need to come in more yourself! It’s been a long, long time!”
“Not that long. I was in here with everybody when Brandt and Tempest were still circling each other!”
“That was a long time ago. And even longer before that, like a year or something!” Vince said.
“At least,” Daisy said, beginning to get nervous. She really didn’t want to delve too deeply into the whys of her not being much of a public person since coming home from college.
Hellen sensed her shutting down and grabbed her by the hand. “I gotta pee. Come with me!” she said, pulling Daisy with her. “We’ll be back!” she said to anybody who was listening over her shoulder.