PowerShift: Skid Row Kings Series, #2 (16 page)

“Well, whatever it is, they both need to work it out and move the fuck on.” Mitch took a long pull from his beer and set it on the window. “Now it’s my turn to ask a question.”

“Oh Lord, I better drink this whole thing,” I mumbled.

“Nope,” Mitch said walking over to me. He plucked the beer out of my hands and set it on the counter. “Why the hell did you stay so long?”

“Um, stay where?”

“With your ex, Scarlett.”

“Boy, you go straight for the kill, don’t you?” I prayed for the pizza delivery guy to knock on the door but there was no such luck.

“I don’t understand how the girl I see in front of me, was in a relationship like that for so many years.” Mitch’s eyes studied my face, and he stepped forward and rested his hands on my thighs.

“Well, the girl you see now didn’t have a chance to come out until I left Snellville.”

“And where is Snellville?”

“Um, Washington. I um, grew up there and that’s where I met Manny.” I wiped my hands on my jeans and picked at the seam of my pocket. Talking about Manny was something I wished I never had to do.

“And when did you meet Manny?” His voice was soft as he brushed my hair out of my face and I leaned my head back.

“When I was sixteen. I was with him for nine years.” I swallowed hard, realizing I had wasted nine years of my life on that man. “I never should have talked to him, but he had that whole bad boy appeal, and I was young and stupid.”

“I’m probably going to sound like a complete dick, Scar, but why the hell did you stay with him after the first time he hit you?”

It was an entirely legitimate question, one that I would ask if I were him. “He didn’t actually hit me till I was pregnant. It was like everything changed when I told Manny about Levi. Don’t get me wrong, he was always a bit of an ass, but he never laid a finger on me.”

“He fucking hit you when you were pregnant?” Mitch growled.

I ducked my head and felt the shame hit me. “I know I shouldn’t have stayed, but I didn’t have anywhere else to go, and as soon as he did it, he apologized up and down and swore it would never happen again.”

“Except he fucking lied.”

“Yeah. Well, he didn’t hit me anymore when I was pregnant at least. It was two weeks after I had Levi that he hit me again. Levi was a horrible baby. All he did was cry and sleep. Except we could never get him to sleep because he was crying so much. I could tell that Manny was at his wits end, and I told him maybe he should go out and get a drink.”

“I’m not sure I wanna fucking hear this, Scar,” he mumbled.

I had already started, so I figured I might as well finish telling Mitch about my horrible choices. “He came stumbling in after midnight, and I had just gotten Levi to fall asleep. Manny woke Levi up when he had slammed the door. He went into a rage about Levi crying all of the time. Blaming me for it. Telling me I was a horrible mother because I couldn't control my own kid.” I wiped the tears from my eyes and remembered that night like it was yesterday. “I had gone into the kitchen to make a bottle for Levi. Manny thought that I had turned my back to him, and he went crazy. He grabbed me by my hair, yanking me off of my feet and reared back with his fist.”

“Jesus fucking Christ,” Mitch growled. He wrapped me up in his arms, and I buried my face in his neck. “Stop.”

“He broke my jaw in two places that time. I had to tell the doctor and nurse that I tripped and fell on the coffee table. That wasn’t the first time I told that lie,” I whispered.

Mitch held me, rocking me gently in his arms. “Is he looking for you?”

Was Manny looking for me? I really had no idea if he was. He always called me useless and never spent any time with Levi, so I had to believe that he really didn’t care where I was. “I don’t think so. But if he is, he would never think to look here. Hell. I didn’t even know this place existed until I hit the Illinois border and grabbed a newspaper looking for an apartment.”

“Well, I guess that’s one good thing.” Mitch leaned back and wiped the tears off of my cheeks. “He didn’t hurt Levi, did he?”

“No,” I said shaking my head. “That last time he hit me, I saw something change in his eyes. I always used to tell myself that things would get better, that Manny would change, and we’d be one big happy family.” I laughed. It was hard not to laugh at that once naive girl. “I knew the next time he got mad, he was going to do something I could never come back from.”

He leaned forward and pressed a kiss to my forehead. “He didn’t hurt you in any other way, did he, baby?” He rested his forehead against mine and our eyes connected.

“That’s why I left. I knew what was next,” I whispered.

He closed his eyes and sighed. “Thank fuck.”

“Can we stop talking about him?”

“Yeah. If I never hear his name again, it’ll be too soon.” Mitch had that right. I hoped that was the last time I would ever have to relive that. “You wanna watch a movie now?”

“Slight problem,” I pointed over his shoulder into the living room. “I don’t have a TV or a couch.”

“That might be a slight problem, Sparky,” he laughed.

“I do have a portable DVD player we can watch.”

“OK. We can work with that. Maybe throw a bunch of blankets on the floor to lay on while we eat.”

“Um, I can bring the air mattress in here, or we can eat in my room if you want.”

“Scarlett, you still don’t have a bed?”

“Um,” I mumbled, looking away. “It’s on my list of things I need to buy.”

“What else is on this list?” He asked.

“Um, well, a couch, a small TV, a bed for Levi and possibly a small kitchen table with two chairs.”

“Anything else,” he asked.

“Um, probably some pots and pans.”

“Why don’t we pick up Levi tomorrow and we can check a couple of things off of your list?”

“Nope,” I said pulling out of his arms. I grabbed my beer and hopped off of the counter. “No way, no how, am I going to let you buy me all of that stuff, Mitch. What Levi and I have may not be a lot, but it’s more than what some people have. One day I’ll be able to buy all of that stuff. Tomorrow is not that day.”

“Alright, alright.” He held his hands up in surrender, but there was a smirk on his lips.

I wandered into the living room and looked out the window. “I may not have everything right now, Mitch, but someday soon I’ll have everything I could want.”

“I have no doubt about that, Sparky. You’ve made it this far.”

“I have, haven’t I,” I mumbled. I turned around and looked at Mitch, who was standing in the middle of my tiny living room, his beer dangling from his fingertips. “Although it would have been a lot harder if I hadn’t met you.”

“I don’t know about that. I just did what my mom always taught me.”

“And what is that?”

“Treat others how you want to be treated.”

“Your mom is a smart woman,” I smiled and took a sip of my beer. “Now tell me, have you always been a saint, Mitch Jensen?”

Mitch ran his hand over his head and laughed. “Do most saints do a stint in jail?”

“Jail?” I gasped. That was the absolute last thing I thought Mitch would say.

“Yeah, there was a time in my life where I forgot everything my mom had ever taught me and decided to raise a little hell.”

“Jail sounds like more than a little bit of hell.” Looking at Mitch he had a rough look to him, but I never would have guessed that he was in trouble growing up. “How old were you?”

“Twenty. You seem more intrigued by this than worried, Scar.”

“What can I say?” I shrugged my shoulders and walked over to him. “I guess it makes you more human in my book. You always seemed liked a saint.”

“I am far from a saint. I was dumb and thought stealing a car would impress Luke.”

I gasped. “You stole a car!”

“Yeah, not my brightest moment. The hell of it is, I was halfway to the shop and realized I had fucked up. I thought if I would just return the car, no one would ever know.”

“Then how the hell did you end up in jail?”

“Because as soon as I pulled up to the house I had stolen it from, the guy who owned the car walked out, saw me in it and called the cops. I thankfully got off with basically a slap on the wrist and a little time behind bars.”

“Mitch Jensen, grand theft auto.” I shook my head and dodged his grasp as he reached out to grab me around the waist.

“You think you’re funny, huh, Sparky?”

I held up two fingers, holding them an inch apart and squinted. “Just a smidge.”

Mitch lunged at me, but I managed to sidestep around him and headed down the hallway. “I’ll show you a smidge,” he hollered. He grabbed me by the arm before I managed to make it to Levi’s room and he spun me around. “You can’t get away from me that easily.” He delved his fingers through my hair and tilted my head back.

“What if I don’t want to get away from you?”

“Then I’d say it’s about damn time to accept what is going on.”

“And what is going on?” I whispered.

“This.” His lips covered my mouth, kissing me softly and my body trembled at his touch. He had been kissing me all week, but this was different. I knew that we were headed to a place that both of us had been waiting for. “I’ve been craving you all week.”

I moaned at his words, never knowing what it felt like to be needed like this. His hands were everywhere as his mouth assaulted my neck, kissing and licking. “Mitch,” I gasped when his hands grabbed my ass and pressed my body flush against his chest.

“Fuck,” he growled against my skin. “First Levi and now a damn pizza.”

“Huh?” I asked, confused. I was in bliss with his hands and lips all over me, and he was talking about Levi and pizza.

“I gotta get the door.”

Oh, shit. I had completely forgotten about the pizza. There was a loud banging on the door that made me jump and grip his arms. “Just the pizza guy, Sparky. I think he’s knocked three times already.” Mitch stepped back, his arms steadying me. I leaned against the wall, fearful my legs wouldn’t hold me while Mitch went to the door.

“You gonna come eat or hang out in the hallway all night?” Mitch asked, looking down the hallway with the pizza in his hands. He walked into the kitchen, set the pizza on the counter and grabbed a slice, all the while he looked down the hallway at me.

Pull it together, Scarlett.

“You better come eat. I plan on keeping you up all night.”

I felt my cheeks blush, and I felt goosebumps raise on my skin. Tonight was going to be a good night.

______________

Chapter 24

Mitch

I was trying to be good. I swear to Christ, I was trying. But every time Scarlett’s little pink tongue licked her lips, I was ready to throw her against the wall and show her what I really wanted to do.

We were standing at the kitchen counter, finishing up eating and Scarlett was licking her lips as she gazed at the last two pieces of pizza. “That was the best pizza I’ve had.”

“Big L’s makes a good pizza.” I shut the lid on the box and chugged the rest of my beer.

‘Hey,” she protested. “What if I wanted another piece?”

“You can have some later.” I couldn’t wait any longer. I had to know what Scarlett’s soft, warm body felt like under me.

She huffed under her breath but didn’t say anymore. She turned around, leaning against the counter. I watched her profile as she raised her beer to her lips and felt my resistance break.

She turned her head to look at me, and I did the only thing I could. I grabbed her beer out of her hand, slammed it down on the counter and pulled her body to me. “I need you.”

She wrapped her arms around my neck, her mouth opening on a gasp as my hands circled her waist and grabbed her plump ass. I lifted her up and her legs wrapped around my waist. “Once we start, I don’t think I’ll be able to stop,” I warned.

“I don’t want you to stop,” she breathed out. Her lips went to my neck, kissing and nibbling on my ear as I walked down the short hallway, kicked open her door and turned on the light. “That’s really an air mattress?” I asked eyeing up her bed. She had it piled up with blankets and pillows that you couldn’t tell it wasn’t a normal bed. She had thankfully sprung for a more expensive one that was higher off of the ground.

“You ever jumped on it before?” I asked.

“Um, I haven’t.” She looked over her shoulder at the bed and shrugged. “Levi has, though.”

“It’s time to find out how sturdy your bed is, Sparky.”

She looked back at me, her mouth opened to talk when I threw her on the bed, and she bounced up and down. I waited for the bed to spring a leak, but it surprisingly didn’t. “If you break my bed, Mitch, you’re going to buy me a new one.”

Little did she know I planned on buying her a new bed even if I didn’t manage to pop this one. Although, I was going to try my hardest to pop this fucker tonight.

I pulled my shirt over my head and tossed it on the floor.

“Stop,” she said, putting her hand up.

Oh shit.

______________

Scarlett

I didn’t want this to stop, I just wanted to slow down. It had been a while since the last time I had sex, and I wanted to remember this.

Mitch stood in front of me, his chiseled body, naked body on display before me. “Stop?” he asked.

“Um, more like slow down.”

“I don’t know how to go any slower. I’ve wanted you since the day I saw you.”

“I was a hot mess the day you met me. My face was one big bruise, and I was wearing clothes that were two sizes too big.”

“I knew.”

“You knew what?” I asked, laughing.

“I knew you were it. I knew you were going to be the one who would bring me to my knees but raise me up at the same time.”

My breath caught at his words and his eyes melted into a liquid passion. “Mitch, you can’t… I mean, we’ve only known-”

“Stop. I’m just telling you how I feel. You don’t need to say anything.”

“But I want to say something.” His arms dangled at his sides, and he flexed his hands. “I shouldn’t be here. I should be running for the hills, afraid of all of the things you’re making me feel.”

“If you run, Scar, I’ll follow.”