Page 31 of Sour Brew Face

“I don’t know about all that.” She deflects, but I won’t let her.

“I do. I will work every day to prove to you that I am a good man, that I am the right man for you.”

With surprising quickness, she straddles my hips, cupping my cheeks with her delicate hands. “Langston, I already know that you are a good man. You were dealt a bad hand for too many years. But you’re trading it in for a better one, for the one you should have had all along. My heart…” Her glassy eyes dart to the ceiling for a second before pinning me in place with the intensity of emotion that swirls in their butterscotch depths. “My heart knows you are the right man for me, but my head, my brain is having a hard time letting go of the hurt. It’s gonna take me some time, Langston, I’m not saying it will never happen, I’m saying I need time.”

I nod, fully understanding where she’s coming from. Placing my hands gently on her face, I pull her down to press a soft kiss to her forehead, lingering for just a moment to savor the privilege of touching her like this again. I don’t care how long it takes; we belong to one another. When I pull back, I see her eyes closed and a small smile curving her sensual lips. I fist pump internally knowing I still affect her.

Getting out of bed, we take turns in the shower, but I need to stop at my house to change clothes. I left my phone in the living room. It’s been on Do Not Disturb since Friday when I met with my brother and dad. Only Jesse and Carmine could get ahold of me if there was an emergency, but I haven’t heard from them. While she’s in the shower, I open my phone and immediately wish I hadn’t. I have 20 missed calls from my mom and as many text messages. Jesse did text me last night to let me know my mom came to the bar demanding to know where I was, but he didn’t tell her anything. I should give him a raise.

I have a text from my dad asking if I saw Mo and what’s going on. They are dying to meet her and want us to come for a visit as soon as possible. Small arms wrap around my waist from behind and I place my hand over hers when they rest on my stomach.

“You up for a road trip?” I ask without thinking, but as soon as the words are out of my mouth, I know this is a great idea.

“I suppose, where are we going?” She steps around me and under my arms, so we are face to face.

“To meet the Reynolds.” I say with a cheesy smile. She eyes me cautiously and I watch as her thoughts play out behind her eyes. Finally, she nods and returns my smile.

“As long as no one is going to ask me to milk them, I’m game.”

Mo 27.

“Ok, last one…Who wrote Sinead O’Connor’s hit song,Nothing Compares 2 U?” I ask, shifting again in the front seat of his vehicle to face him fully. His mouth twitches in a wry grin.

“So…not Sinead O’Connor, then?” I mimic zipping my lips and throwing away the key, snickering at his adorable attempt to get a hint. We’ve been in the car for about an hour, and to keep both of us distracted, I’ve been asking him trivia questions from my phone. I needed the time to get a handle on everything that’s happened in the last 14 hours, to process the massive info dump, and my feelings for the man next to me, currently tapping his lips with his fingers as he thinks.

In his car, feeling his warmth, smelling his scent, listening to the cadence of his voice, touching him with little signs of affection…its natural and despite my brain’s protests, not something I want to stop. He is my equilibrium…my homeostasis.

“Babyface?” He answers, and its honestly not a bad guess, but I make the buzzer sound anyway for an incorrect answer.

“Prince.” I give him the answer and he offers me a surprised expression before directing his focus back to the road.

“Never would have guessed. Huh.” I put my phone away and figure now is as good a time as any to talk things through with him, get a feel for where his head is at.

“Is there any possible outcome where you see yourself having a relationship with your mother?” His breath hitches at my random question but he answers immediately without hesitation.

“No.”

Playing devil’s advocate, I ask, “She is still your mother, Langston, don’t you—”

“I think that she gave up that right the moment she started manipulating everyone around her, moving us like pawns on a chessboard to suit her needs and wants. She didn’t give one shit about any of us, what we might need as growing boys, what we might want. And she certainly didn’t care about our father and what taking us away from him would do, threatening to ruin him with false accusations.”

“What do you want to do about the bar?”

He glances at me out of the corner of his eye and asks, “What do you mean?”

“Do you want to keep it? Move closer to your family? Change the name?”

I’m glad he doesn’t respond right away, giving proper thought to my questions. “I don’t want to sell it, I wouldn’t mind having a manager, maybe Jesse, take over so I can be there less, but I actually really love my bar, my staff, my customers. If I have someone in place I can trust, then I would be able to visit my family more, spend more time with you.” I ignore the thrill I get from his words. “I wouldn’t mind changing the name, however, that’s a lot of legal shit that I don’t think I want to deal with. And it would be costly to rebrand.”

“You stay, continue the bar, let’s say you are able to get your mom off the loan…what do you want to do about your mom?” I can tell he isn’t sure what I mean by the furrow of his brow. “Do you honestly think that you can just walk away from your mother without her fighting back? Chasing you? Harassing you?”

“I guess not. I hadn’t really thought much past never wanting to see her again for fear I’d try to strangle her.” I put a comforting hand on his tensed forearm.

“No strangling, I don’t want to visit you in prison, plus, it would probably hurt your hands, think of the inevitable cramping.” He barks out a surprised laugh, dropping his hand from the steering wheel and grabbing mine.

“Thank you for looking out for my wellbeing.” I smile at him, all toothy and goofy.

“Always.” His smile drops, his jaw clenching.

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