Page 2 of Ink

But then I fucked up like usual on more than one occasion. I met her parents with my tongue down her throat and was chased away with a shotgun. Then the next screw-up, I found out she had a daughter and didn’t even acknowledge her because she never introduced me. Not even in passing when I saw her at Christmas at Rayleighn’s house. I figured if she couldn’t even introduce me in passing as a friend or even tell me herself that she had a daughter, then I wasn’t important enough to be in her life. Plus, I know nothing about kids and I’m sure whomever the father is wouldn’t want some tatted-up, ex-con, who’s in a motorcycle club being in his daughter’s life. That was one less headache I needed. But damn, I couldn’t get Carmen out of my mind so anytime her name was mentioned my ears perked up and I listened to get any morsel of information I could on her.

Maybe my mind manifested her because here she is sitting in the cab of the tow truck filling my senses with her perfume. She smells like warm cinnamon with a hint of vanilla and when I chance a glance at her I can see that she’s quietly chewing gum. I would bet my next paycheck it’s cinnamon; I could taste it on her that first night and the smell fills the cab and floods my senses. It also makes my dick twitch in my jeans. I shift uncomfortably in my seat trying to tame my dick.

It’s quiet in the tow truck, the Metallica I was listening to long forgotten and turned down low. I had hope that she would talk on the drive but so far she’s been silent, looking out the dark passenger window. Before I can stop myself, I clear my throat and ask her a question I’ve wanted to know since Christmas. “How old’s your daughter?”

Her face jerks from the window and I can see her looking at me. I keep my eyes on the road but gesture towards the car seat she’s got resting on the seat between us. She waits so long to respond, I start to think she’s going to ignore me all together.

“Lucia is almost four.”

I test out her name and when I picture the miniature version of Carmen that was running around the Christmas tree that day, the name suits her. “I’m sorry that we haven’t talked more since Christmas.”

She snorts out a derisive laugh. “Are you? I figured that’s why you completely ghosted me after that day. I guess seeing Lucia threw a bucket of ice water on that fire.”

I shake my head in disbelief. Is that why she’s been distant since then? I check the review mirror and jerk the truck over to the side of the road, being mindful that I’m towing her car behind us. I shut the truck off and shift my body to be able to fully look at her.

She looks at me with wide eyes, a shocked expression on her face. “Ink! What the hell are you doing? Why are we stopping?”

“I think I need to set the record straight. I didn’t ghost you, Carmen. I chose to stay away and give you space because when I found out you had a daughter—which you failed to ever mention to me—I assumed you didn’t want me becoming involved in her life which in turn meant me not being in your life.”

I give her a second to say something but when she presses her lips into a firm line, I just keep going. “I like you, Carmen. I've liked you since that first night we met at the bar. I stayed away because I thought that was something you wanted. Communication goes both ways sweetheart and I never heard from you, either. I thought I was respecting your wishes but trust me when I say I have been starved for any information about you these last few months and when I see you somewhere it gets harder and harder to keep my hands to myself. And the fact that you have a daughter doesn’t stop those feelings in the least.”

She turns her face away from me to look back out the window, but not before I can see her bite down on that plump bottom lip of hers to keep from letting a smile go across her lips.

“I am sorry that you’ve thought that for months, but you should have called me out on that shit if that’s what you really thought. Again, for the record, it doesn’t bother me one bit that you have a daughter. In fact, it only makes me admire you more for how hard you work and everything that you do to provide. I hear things and I know you’ve been working hard since the new year in school. That takes a lot of work and a lot of guts Carmen, and you have both in spades.”

In the silence, she finally turns away from the window, her face going through a myriad of emotions as she processes everything. It’s dark in the cabin of the truck, but her eyes are bright as they scan my face, seeking out the truth of what I’ve said. She must settle on a decision, happy with what she finds, because after a long moment she smiles and I feel like I can breathe again.

“Thank you,” She mumbles. I can tell that she’s still processing my words because she’s quiet and one thing I learned early on with Carmen is that she’s never quiet.

“Think about what I said, sweetheart. I meant all of it.” I turn the key in the ignition and get the truck back on the road. Without asking or telling her, I drive across town toward her house. She looks tired from a long day and the stress of her car breaking down. I don’t want to force her to have to wait at the garage while I unhook her and get it into one of the bays. I’ll save her that time and let her spend it relaxing. She deserves some downtime. As I get closer to her house and not the garage she sits further up in her seat and starts looking out the windows more.

“You didn’t have to bring me home. I would have gone with you to the garage.”

I shake my head. “I thought I’d let you get some rest. It’s getting late and I’m sure you’ve got things to do. I’ll get it into the garage and do a diagnostics test. I’ll let you know in the morning what the verdict is.”

“Ok.”

Her voice sounds small and defeated and I know without even asking her she’s worried about the cost of what it’ll take to fix her car. I want to tell her not to worry about it, that I’ll take care of it for her, but I don’t think that would go over well right now, so I keep that information to myself. As we get closer to her house that she shares with her parents and daughter my ass instinctively clenches. Her father and I didn’t meet on the best of terms and I’m hoping to avoid him tonight. I’d rather not have a shotgun pointed at me again or be screamed at in Spanish.

As I turn the corner of her block, I can see her house lit up. The porch light is on and light spills into the streets from the windows. Thankfully, I don’t see her father or anyone outside waiting on her. On one hand, it pisses me off that no one comes outside to help her with her things but on the other, I’m happy to avoid her parents tonight. I must have let go of the breath I didn’t know I was holding because I hear a snort shoot out of Carmen’s mouth.

“You should see your face right now. You look like someone just told you they’re about to stun gun you.”

I cringe at the thought. “Well, I have been tasered before if you must know.”

She rolls her eyes. “Why am I not surprised? Should I even ask what you were doing to have that happen?”

I laugh in spite of myself. “Yeah, you probably don’t want to know. I was young and dumb. I wasn’t listening to the officer’s commands when they stopped me for a stop sign violation. He thought I was reaching for something in my pocket when we were talking and boom, the next thing I knew he was instantly electrocuting my ass. Literally. It was like an inch from my ass.”

Her laugh fills the truck and I wish I could bottle it up and keep it. I know once she’s out of my sight it’ll be a long and lonely night by myself. I’ve missed talking to her. We used to text a lot and then it just stopped after Christmas. Now I understand why she was silent and avoidant.

I pull up to the curb in front of her house. As she begins to gather her things I hop out of the truck and go around to her side to open the door. I grab the car seat and carry it up to the front steps, sitting it by the door. I quickly jog back down to the truck to see if there’s anything else she needs help carrying. She hauls her purse over her shoulder and pulls a backpack on her back. I stand there torn between walking her to the door and telling her goodnight right here at the curb.

It's as if I’ve spoken my thoughts when she speaks. “I think everyone is probably asleep. Either way, my dad isn’t about to chase you off once he hears how you rescued me on the side of the road.”

I quirk one side of my mouth up in a lopsided grin. I’m sure we are both picturing her dad chasing me with that shotgun after catching us making out on his front porch. “I’ve returned to the scene of the crime,” I say sarcastically.

She laughs again but quickly looks around to see if anyone is watching us. When she’s satisfied with what she sees she looks back at me and our eyes meet. “Ink, I really do appreciate you helping me out tonight.”

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