This Time Around (6 page)

Climbing into my car, I try and digest this information. “I will see you later, Ade.”

“Okay, please drive safe. Give him a chance if he offers one, and I think he will stand by his parting statement.” He closes my door and I start the car up. I put the car in gear and go to drive off, but something catches my eye and I turn my head to see Liam leaning against the port wall, feet crossed at the ankles, dirty cloth in his hands. His eyes zoned on me, causing my skin to heat up and my core to clench.

Damn that man.

I give him a small timid wave and Liam returns it with a raised hand and a beautiful smile on his handsome face. I blow out the breath I was holding and I drive away from my best friend’s garage, well my best friend’s and my one-night stand’s garage. God, help me.

How am I supposed to survive living in the same town at Liam Bradley?

That evening after my brief encounter with Liam, I text Rachel and ask her to meet me at home. Connie is staying over at a friend’s house so we can have girl time, and I don’t have to act like an adult tonight. I am not due back to work until next week, so I am going to enjoy the rest of my days off. I have music blaring through our home sound system and it helps me to get all the stress out of my body. Dancing around the kitchen I sing along with One Republic’s ‘Counting Stars. Shaking my arse and swinging my arms in the air. Letting all the day’s stresses go and feeling free for the first time in the last few weeks. Being away from home and Connie was harder than I thought, even though I was doing a good thing over there. No parent wants to leave their child if they don’t have to. Losing myself in the music, I don’t hear Rach come in and I scream when I feel her touch my shoulder. Spinning around to face her, I bring my hands up to defend myself.

“You bitch. You gave me a freaking heart attack. A little warning next time, would go a long way,” I pant out. I see Claire standing next to her wiping the tears away from her eyes as she laughs at my reaction. “And you,” I say, pointing at Claire. “I thought you loved me. Why would you let her try to put me into an early grave?” Both girls crack up laughing again. Bitches.

“That was too good to pass up, Rocky. Besides, we did call out to you a few times but you couldn’t hear us over the music and your singing. Sexy moves by the way. Snapchat anyone?” Claire laughs, shaking her phone at me.

“You didn’t?” I ask, horrified that they would do that.

“I did.” She bounces her perfect eyebrows at me.

“Again. Bitch.” I reach for my phone and load up the app and see that yes, they did in-fucking-deed upload a video of me shaking my arse and singing in my living room. Bitches.

They both follow me into the kitchen and sit at the small table I have in here. Opening the fridge I take out a beer for Rach and me, and I hand over the bottle of wine for Claire. Claire is the more conservative one of our little group. Her and Adrian are the complete opposite of each other. He is a full grease-monkey, while Claire is from a very religious family. They were not very happy when she got pregnant out of wedlock, but that didn’t stop her love for one of my best friends. I lean back against the worktop and take a long drink from my beer bottle. They both turn their heads to face me with wicked smiles on their faces. The face that tells me that big-mouth Adrian has told them about Liam.

“Jesus. He has a mouth of the freaking south,” I say, shaking my head. He can never just shut his mouth.

“He was worried about you, Pen. Do I have to remind you what happened after the last time you and Liam came face, to face?” Rachel asks, and I shake my head no.

“I know. That will not happen this time. I have Connie to think of and from what Ade told me, Liam has a son. There are children involved now, so feelings can’t get in the way. Simple,” I state, trying like hell to keep my voice steady.

“Oh that is bollocks and you know it. You can’t keep using Connie as an excuse not to go out and see men. Pen, you are young and fucking beautiful. You can get any man you want, and I can see already that you still want Liam, so why not take him.” Rachel states. I play with the label on my bottle, avoiding their gazes. I know what she is saying is true, but it is hard to think about bringing a man into Connie’s life. We are settled. I like the way things are now. I lift my head and see my two best friends staring at me. Rachel has that look in her eyes that tells me I know I’m not going to like what she has to say next. Taking a deep breath, she speaks, proving my thoughts right.

“Jodi wouldn’t want this for you. For Connie,” her voices crack with emotion. “You know it and I know it. Shit, we all know it. She wanted the world for you both and now it is up to you to take the bull by the horns or in this case, take the sexy as sin mechanic out for a drink and shag the fuck out of him,” she winks at me. The mouthful of lager I just had in my mouth, sprays all over the space between the girls and me. I choke on her words while the bitches just laugh at me. Calming my coughing down, I place my bottle behind me on the kitchen unit. I wipe my mouth and chin with the back of my hand. Very classy I know.

“Shit,”

“Oh. My. God. That was some funny shit.” Claire doubles over laughing. Bitch.

“I really fucking hate you right now. I am not going to go out with Liam and sleep with him again. I have standards, you know,” I say, but I don’t believe my own words. Shit, I would shag that man in a heartbeat. But I have to think with my head and not the pulse that is between my legs. It happens every bloody time I think of Liam and our night together.

“Listen, I…” my phone ringing stops my next sentence. Reaching over for my phone, I see the number isn’t one I know. I frown at the screen.

“Who is it?” Claire asks.

“No, clue. I don’t recognise the number.” I shrug and slide my finger across the screen to answer it. “Hello?”

“Bambi?” My hearts skips a beat at the nickname and I stand up a little straighter. This grabs the girls attentions.

“Hi,”

“So, today was a bit of a surprise, huh?”

“Umm, yeah it was.” I have no idea what to say to him. Rachel mouths ‘Who is it?”

I mouth ‘Liam’ and they both smile like I have just told them that James McAvoy was on the phone.

“Listen, I was hoping that we could meet up and have a coffee or something,” he asks, hope coating his voice. I walk into the living room so the girls can’t eavesdrop on my conversation with Liam. My heart’s still beating wildly in my chest. I place my hand on my forehead and walk over to the patio doors that look out onto the water.

“Why, Liam? We haven’t seen each other in ten years.”

“I know. But, I would like to see you. See what you have been up to,” he says.

“I don’t think that it is a good idea. I knew back then that it was only a one-time deal, but it still hurt when I woke up the next morning and you were gone. No goodbye or anything,” I tell him. I know that I can’t unleash my full pain on him because he never made me any promises. It was just my stupid heart that made me feel the way I did. Seeing my parents in a love bubble all my life, I just thought that is how my life would be. I knew I wasn’t made for one-night stands, but Liam was so tempting that my body caved. My body and head over ruled my heart that night.

“I know, Bambi, shit, give me a chance to explain, please? Will you meet me down at the Pier Cafe tomorrow at two o’clock? I can make sure that Kn… umm I can make sure everything is taken care of by then.” I notice that he stops himself from telling me about his son. Does he not want me knowing about him? I take a deep breath and turn to face the girls again who are not so subtly watching me. I shake my head at them and answer his question.

“Fine. I will meet you tomorrow. Goodnight, Liam,”

“Goodnight, Bambi. See you tomorrow.” I hang up before he does, and I drop my phone on the couch as I walk past. My body zings with excitement and nerves at the thought of seeing Liam up close and personal again. Joining the girls at the kitchen table, we talk and laugh the night away.

Seeing Penny, my Bambi girl yesterday, was a shock to the fucking system. But a good shock. I hated how things happened all those years ago but shit, I needed to split. I wasn’t in a good place and I was sure as shit that I wasn’t going to drag her down with me. From the second I laid my eyes on her I saw the innocence oozing from her. But like the dickhead that I am, I needed to taste her, feel her around my cock.

Seeing her yesterday, standing there next to my new business partner Adrian, shocked the shit out of me. But my cock twitched in my jeans at the sight of my beautiful Bambi. She doesn’t know it yet, but she will be mine. There hasn’t been a day that I haven’t thought of her; even when I was fucking other girls on the road or back home. Shit, even when I was sleeping with Shelly, Knox’s mother. That was a very fucked up time in my life. I was at a low point and I messed up by not wearing a condom.

One. Fucking. Time

I left her after I caught her cheating on me with another roadie. I would say that it hurt but it didn’t, I knew that we wouldn’t last. Shelly was only with me to get close to the band I was touring with. A few months after I dumped her, she turned up with a baby bump claiming the baby was mine. I refused to hand over any money, until I knew that the baby was in fact mine. Well as it turned out, he was in fact mine. The day Knox was born was the day I finally cleaned my act up. There in the little hospital crib laid a tiny human that would depend on me. Little did I know that over night, Shelly would decide that she didn’t want to be a mother. When I turned up at the hospital the following morning with a big arse blue teddy bear and blue balloons, she was already packed and ready to leave. She simply said ‘It cried all fucking night. I don’t want it. You can keep the thing.’ She threw her bag over her shoulder and left the room; the tiny baby sleeping peacefully in the crib. The nurse informed me that the baby was healthy and that I could take him home.

So here I was at twenty-one with a new baby and having no clue what to do. So I did the only thing I knew. I left the hospital with the baby and drove to my grandad’s house. He brought me up from a young lad. My parents were killed when I was a toddler in a car accident. Grandpa Ted took me in without hesitation. It was Grandpa Ted that showed me how to be the best dad to Knox. And I have to say that I did a pretty good job. Knox is my entire world. He is eight going on eighteen. He is a cocky little shit when he wants to be, smiling and winking at girls double his age; follows his dad in that department. But he is always sweet and caring. He won’t let anyone push him around and he won’t stand for bullying either. He looks just like me, with his black hair and grey eyes.

The bell above the door jingles, bringing me back to the now.
To the present where I see the woman that has
played the main character in my dreams for nearly ten years. Yesterday she was wearing jeans and a checked shirt. But today she is wearing a dress and white canvas shoes and looking beautiful.

I stand and smile at her and she makes her way over to me. “Hey. How are you?” I ask as she reaches the table. I lean in and kiss her cheek, letting my lips linger just a little longer than deems appropriate for this meeting.

“Hi. I’m good. How are you? How is the garage going?” She offers me a smile. Taking the seat across the table from me, I wave the waiter down so we can order.

“Good afternoon, and welcome to Pier Cafe. Would you like some drinks while you look over the menu?”

“Yes. Can I have a tea, please?” Penny asks.

“Can I have a glass of coke with ice, please?”

“Of course, I will be right back with them.” He walks away and I swing my gaze back to Penny who is watching me with interest. I smile at her and she looks out the window we are sitting by. She smiles when she sees a young family walk past the window and it makes my heart swell. No clue where that feeling came from.

“You like kids?” I ask her, bringing her out of her dreamy daze.

“Um, yeah. I do. What about you?” she asks, I note a little hint of challenge in her voice. I smirk at her and answer her question.

“I do love kids. They make the world go round,” I smile at her.