Her eyes went to his cheek then back to his. “Yes.”

“Bonnie gave them to me. So high, her head was in the clouds but it wasn’t a good trip. She got pissed at somethin’, I don’t even know what, she came at me. Got me with her nails.”

“Joe,” she whispered, her fingers curling tight around his thigh.

“She got like that a lot. When she was pissed, she’d scream the fuckin’ house down and it wasn’t unusual she came after me. She only marked my face and, you probably don’t know this, buddy, but you gotta come hard and dig deep to make marks like these with your nails.”

“I… I don’t know what to say,” Vi muttered.

“Not tellin’ you for you to say anything. I’m tellin’ you because now it’s happening. You’re with me and you’ll find this shit out about me. I look in the mirror every day and remember her marking me then I remember what else she did to me. Now you see it, right on my fuckin’ face, you’ll think about it too. Maybe it won’t come to you every time you see it, but it’ll come to you and, I know you, you’ll feel it.”

“Joe –”

His face got closer and he whispered, “That’s what I was savin’ you from, baby.”

“It’s you,” she said incomprehensibly.

“What?” he asked.

“I didn’t know she did it. Before you told me what you just told me, those scars were just you.”

“Now you know.”

“Those scars are still just you.”

“Vi –”

“They are.”

Fuck, was she serious?

“Vi –”

“Maybe you’re right and I’ll think about it sometimes. But most of the time, I don’t even see them. They’re just a part of you.”

Cal had no response to that except the urge to kiss her.

So he did and he kept doing it until he heard the thud of a beer bottle hitting the table.

His mouth left Vi’s and he turned to see Elaine putting Violet’s drink in front of her.

“Bud, diet. Enjoy. Shout for a refill,” Elaine said, her mouth curled up at the ends and then she walked away.

Cal turned to Violet who’d grabbed her drink and was sucking on the straw. It reminded him of her at J&J’s, her elbow on the bar, her head in her hand, her straw between her lips, her eyes on him and half his concentration had been on her, the rest of it trying to stop his dick getting hard.

He hoped Frank hurried with their goddamned food.

Violet’s eyes came to him. “We should probably not make out in Frank’s restaurant.”

“Why not?”

“’Cause it’s mostly full.”

“So?”

“Rumors fly.”

“Buddy, my truck’s in your drive and my tees are in your drawer.”

Her eyes slid to the side then back to him then she put her straw to her mouth and muttered, “Right,” then she sucked on her straw.

“It’s a small town, we’ll be the talk of it for about a week then someone else will.”

“Okay,” she whispered and put her glass down.

When she released her glass, he took her hand. Linking his fingers with hers, he brought their hands to his thigh.

“What else is in there?”

Her eyes lifted to his. “What?”

“In your head that we have to get sorted out?”

She laughed softly then replied, “You don’t wanna know.”

“Wouldn’t ask, I didn’t wanna know.”

She leaned into him. “Joe, there’s so much in my head, it’d take a year to get it sorted out.”

“All right, break it down. What’s priority?”

Her face set to confused. “Priority?”

Christ, she was cute.

“The most important, baby,” he explained quietly.

“Um… all of it.”

“First thing,” he said.

“First thing?”

“Right now, first thing that comes to you, what is it?”

“Mel.”

His brows drew together. “Mel?”

“She’s… I know what she’s feeling, Joe, I’ve been there and I’m worried about her.”

His hand squeezed hers. “Buddy –”

“And she doesn’t even have kids to make it easier.”

“Then give them to her,” Cal said and a surprised laugh came from her.

“I can’t give her kids, Joe, it’s anatomically impossible,” she teased.

“You got two with phones and you got a car, honey.”

Her face turned startled and she whispered, “You’re right.”

“Helps both ways. The girls and you call her regular, you get her regular. Go up to see her, get her to come down here.”

“I don’t think I can go up there, Joe, not by myself.”

“Didn’t say you’re goin’ by yourself, wouldn’t let you go by yourself.”

Her hands spasmed in his and she whispered, “Joe –”

“What else you got?”

“Joe –”

He leaned in again. “What else’s in your head, baby?”

She tugged her hand from his, lifted it and curled her fingers around his neck.

“Thank you,” she whispered and he saw tears trembling at the bottoms of her eyes.

“For what?” he asked softly, his eyes glued to her tears and her hand gave him a squeeze as he watched one slide down her face.

Before he could do a thing about it her head came forward and veered to his left.

In his ear, she whispered, “For not wastin’ time showin’ me I made the right decision.”

There it was. Vi didn’t make him work at it long, it took less than thirty minutes.

Cal felt a twinge pierce the left side of his chest and he lifted his hand to her neck too, sliding it back and up into her hair, he bent his neck in order to kiss hers and she turned her head and kissed the hinge of his jaw.

He’d never had a sweeter kiss. Not in his life.

His hand fisted in her hair and he lifted his head, positioning hers so he could kiss her.

“Burger!” Elaine announced, a plate crashed to the table and Vi jumped as Cal lifted his head. “Reuben!” she went on as Cal twisted his neck to look up at her, leaving his hand in Vi’s hair. “You got cheddar. Surprise,” she told Cal, smiled huge and walked away.

Vi giggled.

Cal let his woman go and turned to his food.

Vi squirted ketchup in a pile by her fries and noted, “One good thing about you movin’ in…”

Cal left his burger suspended halfway to his mouth and looked at Violet, brows raised when she didn’t finish.

“Don’t think Dane’ll have any ideas, you’re in the house.”

“He gets ‘em, I break his neck,” Cal muttered and took a bite of his burger then looked back at Vi to see now she had a fry loaded with ketchup suspended halfway to her mouth, her eyes wide, her face back to pale. He chewed, swallowed then assured her, “Relax, baby, I wouldn’t actually do it.”

“Don’t threaten it either. You’ll scare the shit out of him.”

“Scare him enough not to get ideas?”

“Joe!” she snapped.

He grinned at her and repeated, “Relax.”

“You can’t go around threatening everyone.”

“Sure I can.”

“Joe!”

He put his burger down, turned to her and said seriously, “Baby, relax.”

“Telling me to relax doesn’t actually mean I’ll relax, Joe.”

“It should.”

“Why?”

He turned and hooked a hand around her neck, pulled her to him and up to his face.

“Because the time when your head is filled with shit and you gotta worry about everything and everyone is over. The time when you can relax is now. So, I’ll say it one last time, buddy, relax.”

Her eyes moved over his face then he saw them change. In fact, her whole face changed. That look settled on her features that he’d seen once before when she was on his couch talking to Sam. Affection, plain as day, love shining in her eyes, all of it focused on him and he felt his left chest contract so powerfully, the feeling radiated throughout his frame and his hand tightened on her neck.

Before he could process this, she leaned up, touched her mouth to his, moved slightly back and whispered, “Eat, Joe.”

Then she pulled away and turned to her plate.

Cal took his hand from her neck and turned to his.

He’d been ambivalent about the concept of God his young life, something that sent Aunt Theresa into a tizzy. But you lose your Mom at a young age that shit’s bound to happen.

He lost his ambivalence when he lost his Dad who was a shit Dad but Cal knew he’d once been a good one, a great husband and a decent man and he lost his son the same day.

Now he reckoned, Vi moving in next door, maybe finally someone was looking out for him.

Or his luck had changed.

Whatever, he was grateful.

Sitting next to Violet in a booth in a damn fine greasy spoon, Joe Callahan lifted Frank’s Indiana-wide famous burger to his mouth and took a bite.

* * *

“Joe,” I breathed, my head arched back.

“In my mouth, buddy.”

My head tipped forward, my hands went to his jaws, I rode him harder because I couldn’t help it. His strong fingers were digging into my hips, pulling me up and pounding me down.

“Joe,” I whispered into his mouth as I felt it coming.

His hand lifted to my hair, fisting, twisting and he growled, “Say it.”

“I’m coming, baby,” I whispered.

“Say it,” he demanded.

My fingers went back and clenched in his hair. “I belong to you.”

Then I came, slamming down, my back bowing, my moan escaping my mouth to be absorbed by his.

I was astride Joe but he was sitting up which made it easier for him, mid-orgasm, to flip me to my back and drive in harder which he did until he came right in the middle of giving me a deep, brutal kiss.

When he was done, his mouth left mine and slid to my neck and, as his cock glided in and out of me, my fingers moved through his hair.

We kept doing this awhile before his tongue ran the length of my jaw and then he pulled out, rolled off, leaned down, yanked the covers over us and settled me into his side.

Joe was silent, as usual.

I couldn’t be silent, as usual.

“School starts soon,” I whispered.

Joe didn’t respond.

“Back to school clothes,” I went on.

The tips of Joe’s fingers slid randomly around my hip and ass but he didn’t speak.

“You goin’ to the mall with us when we go shoppin’?”

Finally, Joe spoke.

“Hell no.”

I smiled into his shoulder then my smile died.

“What should we tell them?” I whispered.

“The truth,” he answered, knowing I meant the girls.

“That being?”

“I’m here now.”

I gave his waist a squeeze and informed him, “It’s not that easy.”

“Only hard you make it hard.”

“Joe –”

“Vi, I told you, I walked outta your room and the girls didn’t blink.”

“They were probably tired and they’re emotional.”

“They know the way it is between us.”

His words shocked me so much I lifted my head and looked at him. “They have no clue.”

“Buddy, Keira invited me to the mall and Kate brought me a Coke while I fixed our garage door opener and offered me a sandwich and that was before the scene when your Dad and Mom came callin’. They know.”

“They don’t.”

“They aren’t dumb.”

“I know that.”

“Okay, they don’t know we’re fuckin’, but they know we mean something to each other.”

He was right, they knew this, I knew they did with the way they acted the second time Joe turned.

Still, I stared at him and asked, “Do you think?”

He grinned at me. “Baby, clue in, the whole block knows.”

“That’s probably because Tina’s big mouth.”

“It’s because I installed your system at no charge, I fixed your garage and your daughters used to come over daily to talk to me. Been livin’ here a long time, buddy, my whole life and haven’t done that kinda shit for anyone and no one came by to talk to me, ‘specially not two teenage girls.”

I stared then asked, “They came over daily?”

“Yeah, right before I fucked you over the second time.”

I didn’t know that Kate and Keira did that.

But I liked it.

“Oh,” I whispered.

“So they get home, I take Dane out, you sit ‘em down, tell ‘em I’m here now. Ask ‘em if they got questions, answer them. Done.”

He thought it was that easy?

Obviously, he hadn’t lived with the likes of Keira.

However, by all accounts (including my own experience with her) Bonnie was far more unpleasant.

“What if they don’t like it?” I asked.

“We deal.”

“How do we deal?” I pushed.

His hand flattened on my ass. “How ‘bout we find out if they don’t like it before we get wound up about it?” he suggested.