PowerShift: Skid Row Kings Series, #2 (12 page)

“I’ll save you, mama,” Levi hollered. I looked over Mitch’s shoulder and saw Levi running as fast as his little feet would move with a huge grin on his face. My heart hurt. I had never seen Levi ever look this happy before. What the hell had I been thinking to stay with Manny for so long? I had figured I was staying to make Levi’s life easier, but when in fact, I was actually hurting him. Levi deserved to be happy, and for once I couldn’t help but think that I deserved that too.

“Leave your putter, bud,” Mitch called as he sprinted past the little office out front.

Levi swung his putter, smacking the side of the building, surprising the hell out of the surly teenager who was leaning against the counter. “Where are we going, Mitch?” Levi asked as he caught up to us. I thought Mitch would set me down, but he carried me the whole way to the truck, setting me down so he could pull the keys out of his pocket.

“I thought maybe we could get some dinner, have a picnic at the park and then you could play at the playground for a bit.” Mitch beeped open the locks on the truck and opened Levi’s door.

“Can we get pizza?” Levi asked as he climbed up.

“How about we let your mama pick where we eat? That’s the gentlemanly thing to do.” Mitch winked over his shoulder at me then buckled up Levi.

“But I want pizza,” Levi pouted.

“I think you’re gonna turn into a pizza one day,” Mitch teased, tickling Levi.

“Pizza, pizza,” Levi chanted as Mitch stepped back and closed his door.

Mitch looked over at me, and I felt my heart melt a bit more. “We’ll eat wherever you want, Sparky.”

“Pizza is good. I like it just as much as Levi does.”

Mitch nodded his head but didn’t move to get in the truck. “You have no idea how badly I want to kiss you right now.”

My cheeks flamed at his words, and I had to agree I really wanted him to kiss me too. “There’s always later,” I said coyly.

“Damn straight there’s always later. Get in the truck, Sparky.” Mitch winked, trailed his arm around my waist and rounded the truck. I stood there by the door, trying to get a grasp on what I was feeling. I looked through the window and watched Mitch hop into the truck, and he put the key in the ignition. He looked out the window at me, a goofy smile on his face.

“You getting in, mama?” Levi called as Mitch rolled down the window. Mitch laughed, his eyes full of laughter, shining back at me and I did the only thing I could. I got in the truck.

______________

Chapter 17

Mitch

“We can head back to the shop and watch a movie if you want,” I said as we sat in the parking lot of the park, the truck idling.

“Hmm, I think Levi is going to need to go to bed soon.” Scarlett glanced in the backseat to see Levi smiling back at her, but I could tell he was fading fast. We had a busy day, and I think it was finally catching up to him.

“Can we please go to Mitch’s, mama? He has the new Transformer movie I want to see. I promise I won’t fall asleep. Please, mama.” He clasped his hands in front of him as he begged.

“Please, mama,” I mimicked, giving Scarlett my best puppy eyes.

“You’re both evil,” she said pointing at us.

“Does that mean we get to go to Mitch’s?” Levi said earnestly.

“Yes, but only for a little bit.” Levi cheered from the back seat, and I shifted the truck into drive and headed in the direction of the shop.

After we had picked up pizza, we headed to a park that I had always driven by but never stopped at. Levi had managed to eat only one slice of pizza before he had taken off like a bat out of hell to climb on the huge playground equipment. He had only played by himself for a couple minutes before he called Scarlett and me over to play with him. I had to say I was even exhausted after our date of mini golf and running around the playground. It was unlike any date I had ever been on before, but I wouldn’t have changed a thing about it.

“Are you sure it’s OK we come over? I don’t want to intrude on Luke and Violet.”

“Luke and Violet probably aren’t even there. They had mentioned yesterday that they were going to take Frankie to the movies with her new boyfriend.” Frankie’s new boyfriend was a sore subject for Luke and I. We both still saw her as the little sister who followed us around wherever we went. This whole dating thing was something we were all trying to get used to. Frankie’s only saving grace was Violet, who had talked Luke into taking them to the movies. It was only going on eight o’clock, and I knew they weren’t back yet.

“I can’t imagine Luke being a chaperone,” Scarlett laughed.

“Yeah, it is rather strange.”

“Frankie’s poor date is probably so intimidated by him. I’m intimidated by him, and I barely know him,” she laughed.

I shrugged my shoulders, “Luke isn’t that bad. He’s just got a lot on his plate. If you think he is intimidating now, you should have seen him before he got together with Violet, talk about a hardass.” I turned into the driveway of the shop and killed the engine.

“Yes! Do you think I could see Kurt’s car again?” Levi asked. He frantically grabbed at the buckles on the car seat to get out.

“Hold on, big man,” Scarlett laughed as she got out of the truck. She quickly unbuckled him, and he flew into the office.

“You think he likes cars?” I asked jokingly.

“No, not at all,” Scarlett smirked.

We headed into the shop to see Levi sitting on Kurt’s lap who was sitting on a stool in front of the computer. “This right here is one of the fastest cars in the world.” Kurt pointed to the screen and Levi’s jaw dropped.

“Wow, but I bet it’s not as fast as your Bumblebee and Mitch’s car.”

“As much as I wish that were true, bud, my Camaro isn’t going to beat a Bugatti.”

“I bet it would. Hey, Mitch,” Levi called. “Your car could beat a Ba… Baguette… Baguette, right?”

Kurt busted out laughing, and I couldn’t help but smirk. “Naw. A Bugatti is one car I don’t think I could beat.”

“You ready to head up and watch a movie?” Scarlett asked.

“Yeah!” Levi jumped down from Kurt’s lap and raced over to the stairs. “Hey, Kurt, you wanna watch with us?” Levi asked as he put one foot on the step.

“Maybe next time, bud. I was headed out when you came running in.” Kurt grabbed his keys off the counter and tossed them up in the air. “Next time you come over I’ll give you a ride in the Camaro, too,” Kurt promised.

“Best night ever!” Levi yelled as he pumped his fist in the air and ran up the stairs.

“I better go rein him in before he goes crazy up there. Is it OK if I go up there?” Scarlett asked, looking up at me.

“Yeah, I’ll be up in a minute.” Scarlett nodded her head and headed up the stairs.

I hadn’t seen Kurt since he took off the other night and I had something I needed to say to him. “You over whatever the fuck crawled up your ass?”

Kurt shook his head and ran his fingers through his hair. “Leelee still work here?”

“She ain’t going anywhere, Kurt.”

“Then maybe it’s time I went somewhere.”

Fuck. I know Luke had said the same thing before, but I knew he didn’t mean it. “Maybe you should tell me what the hell your problem is with Leelee for starters.”

“Ain’t nothing fucking to tell.”

“That’s bullshit, Kurt. What the hell is your problem with Leelee?”

“Like I said before, ain’t nothing to fucking tell. I’ll see ya later.”

“I ain’t done talking to you,” I called to his retreating back. He flipped me off, opened the door and slammed it shut behind him.

“Son of a bitch.” I slammed my hand down on the counter and didn’t know what the hell to do when it came to Kurt. Something had to have happened between him and Leelee before she came to work here, but I didn’t know what the hell it was.

“Mitch?” Scarlett called down the stairs.

“I’m coming right up, Sparky.” I turned off all the lights, flipped the lock on the door and headed up the stairs.

I would worry about Kurt and Leelee later. Right now I had Levi and Scarlett waiting on me, and I didn’t want to be away from them any longer than I had to be.

______________

Scarlett

“Do you think you can carry him to the truck without waking him up?” Levi was sprawled out on the couch and Mitch and I were looking down at him. The movie had just ended, and we were trying to figure out how to get Levi to the truck.

“I don’t think I can move him without waking him up.”

“Crap.”

“Why don’t you guys just stay the night and I’ll take you home in the morning.”

“I really don’t think we should, Mitch.”

“Why the hell not?” He asked. “I’ll grab some pillows and blankets, and you can camp out on the couch with Levi.”

“And where are you going to sleep?”

“In my room.”

Oh, duh. “Are you sure it’s OK that we stay?”

“If I didn’t want you to stay, Scar, I wouldn’t have asked you to.” He threaded his fingers through mine and tugged me down the hallway. “Blankets are in the hall closet.”

Mitch opened the closet, pulled out three blankets and headed further down the hall. “I’ll grab a couple of pillows off of my bed.” Mitch flipped on the light in his room and pulled me over to the bed.

“I feel getting pillows was just an excuse to get me in your room,” I mumbled looking around. Mitch’s room was surprisingly sparse but still felt warm. Three of the walls were painted a warm chocolate brown, and the fourth was painted a light brown. He had no pictures or anything hanging on the wall beside a huge TV that was on the wall opposite of the bed.

The comforter on the bed was brown and blue plaid that matched the walls perfectly. He had four big pillows at the head of the bed, and Mitch grabbed two of them. “Just here for pillows, Sparky, swear. Although I do like the way you think.” He tossed the pillows and blankets on the bed and wrapped his arms around me. “Did you have a good night tonight?” He asked.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and leaned back. “How crazy would it sound if I say that was one of the best nights I’ve ever had?”

“I would say that we better do it again.” He leaned in and pressed a kiss to the side of my neck. “And again.” His hands rubbed my back, and I tilted my head to the right to give him better access.

His lips skimmed over my neck, and I gasped as his teeth grazed my earlobe. “Mitch,” I gasped. My hands traveled down his arms, grazing over the tattoos that peeked out from under each sleeve.

“I can’t keep my hands off of you, Scar.”

“I don’t want you to,” I gasped as his hands pulled up the hem of my shirt.

“We shouldn’t be doing this, Scarlett. At least not tonight.”

I whimpered under his touch, wanting more. “I know, but I don’t want to stop.”

“I’ll get Frankie to babysit next Saturday night. Levi can spend the night here.” Mitch stepped back and his hands went to the hem of his shirt, and he pulled it over his head. My eyes instantly went to tattoos all over his body. I didn’t know where to look first so I tried to take it all in at once.

“Um,” I said dumbly. Before I could get my wits about me, my fingers traced over the words that were on his chest. “What does it say?”

“‘If you’re in control, you’re not going fast enough.’ “

“Racing really is everything to you, isn’t it?”

“It’s something I love, and I get to do it with my family.”

Two things I always wondered what it would feel like to have. I loved Levi with my whole heart, but I didn’t love anything else. I knew leaving Manny that I wasn’t going to have a family ever. Levi was all that I had. The fact that Mitch had something he loved so passionately and he got to share that with his family made me jealous. “I wish I had something like that.”

His fingers brushed my chin and tilted my head back. “There has to be something you love to do.”

“I don’t have time to do anything other than work and take care of Levi.”

“That’s not what I asked. What would you love to do? If you didn’t have to work and Levi was with a babysitter, what would you do?”

Sleep would have been my first answer, but I knew that wasn’t what Mitch was asking. “Um, I used to love to write when I was in high school.”

He brushed my hair back from my face and tucked it behind my ear. “What kind of writing?”

“Um, just short stories and a couple of books.” Why was I telling him this?

“Just a couple of books? Scarlett, that’s amazing. I don’t even think I could write a paragraph without ripping it up ten times and throwing it away.”

“It’s not really that big of a deal.” I crossed my arms over my chest. I didn’t like talking about myself. Hell, the last time we had talked about me I had ended up a blubbering mess.

“Do you want to start writing again?”

“I just told you, Mitch. I barely have time to shower, let alone sit down and write.”

“What if I helped you to make time?”

“I would think you are being way too nice to me again.”

“This is going to be a constant argument between us, isn’t it? Me wanting to help and you insisting you don’t need it.”

I wrapped my arms around his waist and rested my head on his chest. “I feel like all you are doing is giving, and I have nothing to give back.”

“Sparky, I don’t need anything from you.”

I doubted Mitch would ever need anything from me. Hell, I didn’t even know what I had to offer. “I should probably try to get to sleep.” I pulled out of Mitch’s arms and grabbed the two pillows off of the bed.

“Scarlett,” Mitch grabbed my arm and stopped me, “what just happened?”

“Nothing.”

“That wasn’t nothing. We were talking and you suddenly just shut off.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Mitch. I’m tired, and Levi wakes up at the butt crack of dawn.”

“Scarlett, I just-”

“No,” I twisted my arm out of his grasp and took a step towards the door. “Just stop, please,” I pleaded.

“Fine.” Mitch ran his hand over his head, and I ran down the hallway like the coward I was.

I didn’t know what the hell I was doing here. Even if Mitch had come from where I was, he was still better than me. He was something I would never deserve. He made it out, and I was still there.