Donuts were a hit.
Creed was a hit too because he brought them, at least he was for the kids. He was also a hit because he was huge and badass. It was my experience the only people who didn’t tread cautiously with badasses were kids. They adored badasses and had no qualms approaching or engaging them in conversation. Badasses were kid magnets and if the badass was a true badass, he had no qualms about this either.
Creed had proved that morning he was a true badass.
He was good with kids.
Not a surprise, he had them, he had experience, he would be. It didn’t mean I liked watching it.
I didn’t let on and behaved as usual.
The kids ate donuts, drank milk and they did this while Creed and I looked after them and Charlene got ready for work. Then Creed helped Adam while I dealt with Leslie and Theo. Creed and Adam were done first, Charlene was out of the bathroom so they went down there to look at the faucet. Charlene got done getting ready and found me.
This brought us to now.
“Can I help you fix it?” Adam cried loudly and excitedly, jumping up and down twice.
“Need a part, pal,” Creed’s deep, smooth voice with the rough edge sounded down the hall. “But I’ll get it, come back tonight and you can help me then.”
Great.
“I can help!” Adam shouted, jumped again and Creed’s smile got bigger, brighter, sexier and, fuck me, sweeter.
I pulled away from the door and turned to Charlene who was examining me.
“You give him that bite mark?” she asked quietly.
“Um… yes,” I answered.
“The bruise on his cheekbone?” she went on.
“Things got outta hand,” I whispered.
“How out of hand?” she whispered back.
“He pissed me off. I attacked him. Got a bite and punch in. He defended himself. Things got heated in a different way. He gave me an orgasm after introducing me to bewilderingly good head and rough, hard sex, during which he carried me partway across a room still inside me and shortly after, I returned the favor. With the orgasm, I mean, I didn’t carry him across a room.”
Her eyes went huge and she muttered, “Holy crap.”
I would use different words but I still agreed with an, “Unh-hunh.”
Her face changed, her eyes going warm and worried before she said quietly, “I know it’s him, Sylvie.”
Unlike Knight, I’d told Charlene his name.
She kept talking. “Knew it was him yesterday when he came over and introduced himself. I played it cool though I have no clue how since I was,” she leaned in and hissed, “freaking out. Are you okay?”
I nodded and moved further into the kitchen, murmuring, “I’m cool.”
“Sylvie –”
I turned to her. “He has to matter for it to matter and, babe, he quit mattering a long time ago.”
This was the conclusion I’d come to the night before. I was off my game because I was letting him get to me, like he meant something when he didn’t, not anymore.
So I had to let that go and when I did that, I would get a partner who knew what he was doing. I would work with him to make Knight’s troubles go away. In the meantime, I could jump a hot guy whenever I felt like it.
This was not a bad deal.
The rest was done and had been a long time.
I just had to get over the shock of it and I’d done that over bourbon and pool with a bunch of gay guys and drag queens which was the best way to go about that. Or one of them.
“Sylvie, when you told me –” Charlene started.
I stepped close to her. “When I told you it was my birthday. That was our day. That was the day. And I was drunk. Being over it doesn’t mean being over it. Shit like that,” I shrugged, “you never get over. But you can deal. I’m gonna deal. He lives in Arizona, has kids and a life down there and he’s a fucking great lay. You know me. I don’t get involved but I do have fun. So I won’t get involved but I will have fun.”
“The guys you pick up, honey, they aren’t Tucker Creed.”
I shrugged again. “They aren’t anyone. Neither is he. A memory come back to life, who’ll eventually become another memory. Might as well make it a good one this time.”
She bit her lip looking doubtful before she let it go to whisper, “Be careful.”
I grinned. “Careful’s my middle name.”
She rolled her eyes at my blatant lie then shook her head and, doing so, caught sight of the microwave.
“Crap!” she snapped. “Right!” she called loudly to the house at large. “Car! School! We gotta go!”
She moved into the dining room where Theo was chewing on something, diapered ass to the floor. I moved there, straight to Leslie who was sitting on a booster seat at the dining room table, coloring. Creed and Adam appeared in the kitchen as we were heading out.
We got the kids in the car and I was still being a goof with Leslie when I heard Creed ask Charlene, “Sylvie got a set of keys to your house?”