27. You Can Do That?
You Can Do That?
Luke
"Wait, wait, wait! They expected you to divide up fish. Fish!" Erin squeals as she begins to cackle.
I nod as I take a drink of my beer. "Oh yeah, and that’s not even the weirdest thing I've had happen to me." I drop an arm over the back of Dani’s chair, and she leans into me. She has been slowly inching closer and I’m going to take any closeness I can get from her.
"What was the weirdest thing that's happened to you?" Erin leans her elbow on the table, dropping her chin on her palm.
"Fuck. The weirdest one has to be…" I have to think about this because there have been many.
"What about that woman who wanted to pay you in porcelain dolls ?" Carrie chimes in.
"I forgot about Mrs. Archibald. I hate dolls, they have dead eyes and steal souls." I shiver.
"Sounds like you," Carrie says.
"It does not. I don't have dead eyes." They all start laughing and I join in.
Dani turn against my arm. "Are you laughing?" she questions, tilting her head. All that honey blonde hair falls over her bare shoulder and all I can picture is all that hair fanned over my pillows, in my bed.
"Yeah," I answer.
"You can do that?" Dani questions.
Carrie snorts and Elle spits her Rum and Coke all over the table before they both break out in fits of laughter.
Tangling a hand in her hair, I lean in and say, "I'm a man of many talents. In and outside the bedroom." My lips brush the shell of her ear as I speak.
Her breathtaking eyes lock with mine and a slow smile grows on my lips.
"Dimples." Dani whispers.
"I want to see the dimples!" Erin yells, bouncing in her seat.
I turn and flash Erin a smile. Her face goes red and she ducks her head.
"Damn, dude." Jake says. "This is the first time I've seen my wife embarrassed by dimples."
Erin backhands Jake's chest. "Shut up. I'm not embarrassed."
"Then why is your face red?" Dani asks with a grin.
"Because I'm a redhead with pale skin who happens to be drunk and my face is showing it." Erin replies.
"But it didn't get that way until after Luke smiled at you." Elle points out.
Erin mock cries, crossing her arms on the table and dropping her head on them. "Why are you all picking on me!"
The girls burst out laughing, while Jake meets my eye and winks.
Dani's hand wraps around my forearm and squeezes as she tries to catch her breath. She leans her head against my shoulder and I drop a kiss on the top of her head.
"Erin, you're a horrible liar." Dani wheezes.
Erin whips her head up. "Am not. I am an excellent liar." Erin nudges Jake's arm. "I had him believing I was sweet and innocent for a good six months before the truth came out."
"I knew you were lying," Jake says with a grin. "Innocent girls do not do what you did the first time we had sex."
Erin's face turned a deeper shade of red. "I don't know what you're talking about."
Dani's hand shoots in the air. "I do! I do!"
"Don't you dare!" Erin yells.
"We want to know." Carrie says, flicking her hand between her and Elle.
Dani leans forwards, resting her forearm on the table. "Let's just say Erin is extremely flexible. You should see how high she can get her leg."
"Daniella Lynne, you shut your mouth!" Erin shrieks.
"She can kiss her knee," Dani tells us.
"While she's standing, I might add." Jake chimes in.
Erin punches Jake's arm, almost knocking him off his chair. "How did this turn into tell everyone Erin's dirty secrets."
"Because my dimples made you blush." I say.
Once again, the girls burst out laughing, Erin huffs and slumps down in her chair and Jake rubs his arm. I'm glad Carrie guilted me into coming over. This has been one of the best nights I've had in a long time.
Dani leans back against me and I toss my arm over the back of her chair. She curls into me and sighs.
"Do you always smell this good." Dani says.
"Only when I shower." I answer.
She giggles and moves closer. "Can I hitch a ride home with you? I don't want to be locked in Erin's SUV when she's mad. She's scary."
I kiss her forehead. "Of course."
Dani
We leave shortly after one in the morning. The drive is quiet, his hand resting on my thigh, his thumb caressing my skin. Luke pulls up behind my hunk of junk and walks me inside the house—that’s full of fucking kids!
"Mason!" I scream from the bottom of the stairs. He’s in so much fucking trouble. He said he was at Clay's.
"Damn, Ms. C," Axe swaggers his way over and drops a heavy arm over my shoulders. "You look fine as hell." He dips his head quickly and I slap a hand over his mouth before his lips touched mine.
"Axton Charles! What—" Axe is yanked away from me before I have a chance to finish.
Luke has Axe by the front of his shirt, lifting him until he's eye level. "Why would you think it's okay to force yourself on Daniella?"
Axe's toes roll on the floor as he tries to find his footing. "I-I-I-I…"
Luke makes a buzzer noise. "Wrong answer. Try again."
Axe looks at me, his eyes pleading with me to help him. Instead of jumping in, I'm frozen in place. I'm used to doing everything on my own, this is all new to me.
"This is what's going to happen," Luke says, pulling Axe's attention back to him. "You're going to apologise to Daniella, then you're going to start cleaning up the mess you and all your friends made. You feel me?"
"Y-y-yes, sir." Axe stutters.
"Good man." Luke lets go of Axe's shirt and spins him to face me.
"I'm sorry, Ms. C."
"Th—thank you, Axe." I stammer.
Luke puts his fingers in his mouth and lets loose a shrill whistle. The house goes silent. "I'm going to give you all two choices," he says. "You can either help clean up the fucking mess you made or I can call your parents and you can explain to them why you trashed Ms. Carter's home while she was out."
I stand in the middle of my living room and watch thirty kids scramble to find garbage bags and cleaner. However, there's one kid missing and it's mine.
"Mason Christopher!" I scream and hear him curse. He comes barreling down the stairs, in his boxers with his hair a mess and what looks like a hickey on his chest.
I point to the kitchen. "You've got some explaining to do."
I follow behind him while Luke blocks the front door and makes sure the kids clean up.
"What in the fuck were you thinking!" I demand the minute Mason sits.
Mason stiffens in his chair.
"You said you were crashing at Clay’s."
"Clay's grandmother showed up for a surprise visit and I couldn't stay over anymore." He explains.
"So you chose to throw a party instead. Why would you think that was a good idea?"
He shrugs. "I don't know."
"You don't know. Were you dared to throw a party?"
"No."
"Were you threatened?"
He shakes his head.
"Then how did a night at Clay's turn into a party with thirty kids?"
"Me and Axe came back here and we invited Spencer over, who was already hanging out with Kyra, Chase, Mack and Skye, who then invited a couple more people over—"
A soft feminine voice speaks up from the entryway to the kitchen, cutting Mason off.
"M, are you coming back to bed?"
My eyes widen and I turn around, finding a rainbow haired girl with a septum ring, wrapped in Mason's blanket standing in the doorway of the kitchen.
"Excuse me?"
She looks me over, cocks her hip out and says, "I wasn't talking to you."
"I don't care who you're talking to. Did you just ask my son to come back to bed?"
"Yeah, I did and it's none of your business."
Oh, the attitude on this little girl.
I close my eyes and take a deep breath. "Well, he's not coming back to bed."
"You don't speak for him." She snaps back.
This little girl is trying my patience.
"Sweetheart," Luke calls. "Do you have two more helpers in the kitchen with you?"
I smile to myself. "In fact, I do."
"Send them my way. Their friends could use some help."
I look between Mason and this girl. "You heard the man, get moving."
I grab Mason's arm on his way out. "We're not finished talking about this. Back in here once you're finished."
He nods and heads towards the rest of his friends, grabbing a garbage bag on his way. I drop onto his vacant chair and rub my forehead. This was not how I pictured my night ending. I was hoping to come home and go to bed. Instead, I have Luke blocking my front door like a guard dog, making sure the kids who trashed my house, clean up my house.
I'm not used to this. I'm usually the one doing the cleaning. Mason cleans his room, does his laundry and the dishes but I do the rest. I stand and walk into the living room, finding it partly cleaned.
"You're halfway there," Luke announces to the kids. "Keep it up and you'll be out of here in the next twenty minutes."
Luke walks over to me and I wrap my arms around his waist. "Thank you."
He kisses the top of my head. "Anything for you, Sweetheart."
I press my head against his chest and listen to the steady thump of his heart. He watches while the kids clean, catching a few who try to sneak out, including Axe. By quarter to two, my place is spotless—well, cleaner than what it was.
"All right kids, you are free to go." Luke says.
A collective sigh comes from the group.
"However, before you go," Luke grabs my hand and walks us back over to the door, "you are all going to apologise to Ms. Carter for thrashing her home as you leave."
One by one, Mason's friends apologised as they walked out. Including the little girl with the attitude who is now dressed in her own clothes. When the last kid walked out, Luke closed the door and locked it. Mason stands at the bottom of the stairs, looking down at his feet and waiting for us to finish our conversation. However, I don't have the energy to deal with it anymore.
"We'll finish our talk tomorrow. Time for bed."
Mason nods, kissing my cheek. "Night, Ma."
"Night, Bubba. Love you."
Mason takes the stairs two at a time and disappears into his room. His door clicks closed and I let out a breath. I knew as Mason got older, he'd have parties while I'm out. What teenager doesn't. I did it. Erin did it. Even sweet, shy Aurora did it. Although me and Erin had a hand in convincing her. I also knew he'd start getting more physical with girls. Something I really didn't need to know about, but it happened.
I face Luke, my hand still wrapped in his. "Thank you. For everything. I was dreading having to do it in the morning."
"I wasn't going to let you deal with this by yourself." His thumb rubs against the back of my hand and he leans down, pressing his lips against mine for a brief kiss. "Are you free for dinner tomorrow?" he asks after he breaks away.
"I am."
"How does eight work for you?"
"It's perfect." I smile up at him.
"Wonderful," he walks to the door with me in tow. "Goodnight, Sweetheart. Lock the door behind me."
"I will. Goodnight, Dimples."
Luke steps out and I close the door, throwing the deadbolt. I watch from the small window next to the door as Luke climbs into his truck, honks twice and drives away.