Page 40 of Givin' Me Fitz!
I sipped my coffee and thought about Fitz. His laugh. His cutting wit. His sexy swagger. The way his hands felt when he touched me the one night we’d been together. I couldn’t get him out of my head, no matter how hard I tried.
“What kind of change, prez?”
I turned to Hobie. “Don’t worry about it. I got stuff to do. See ya.”
Hopping on my bike, I drove to the CVS near my rental house. I went inside and walked down the Halloween aisle, seeing cute little candy bags and stuffed pumpkins. I couldn’t imagine any of it would be appealing to Fitz.
In the gift aisle, I found a stuffed skeleton with a red heart in its chest cavity. I picked it up and carried it to the candy aisle. I tried like hell to remember if he’d ever mentioned any kind of favorite candy. I couldn’t.
I grabbed a bag of peanut butter cups, a bag of chocolate coconut mints, and a bag of dark chocolate ghosts. There was a plastic pumpkin, and a bag of strawberry licorice. Everyone liked that stuff, didn’t they?
After I paid for everything, I drove to the parking lot of a gas station and put the gift together. I took the little card that came with the pumpkin and drew a heart. I signed itSawyerand added my phone number in case he’d deleted it when I was being an asshole.
After I had everything together, I put the pumpkin in my saddlebag and drove to the house on Windmill. Fitz wasn’t home, so I put the plastic pumpkin behind a cactus by the garage entrance. He would see it when he walked out of the garage, but none of the little kids roaming the neighborhood could see it from the street.
Instead of going back to the clubhouse, I drove to a bar not far from the Windmill house. If Fitz called me, I wanted to be able to get back to the house quickly before he changed his mind.
I pulled into the parking lot of The Mountain Lodge, which was just up the block from the rental where he lived. I parked my bike and went in through the side door, helmet in hand. What I didn’t expect to see was Fitz at the bar playing video poker.
I slid next to him and placed my helmet on the bar with a loudthunk. When he glanced my way, I grinned. “What a happy coincidence.”
Fitz chuckled before he sipped his draft beer. “Happy Halloween, Sawyer.”
“Were you saving this seat for someone?” I hoped to fuck not.
Sawyer turned his warm smile toward me. “No. Not at all.”
I sat down and slid a hundred into the video poker machine. I pickedJacks or Betterand played max on a quarter game. I never won at video poker or slots, but it was worth it to sit next to Fitz.
The bartender approached with a smile. “What can I get you?”
I was reminded of our one and only date, and I smirked. “I’ll have what he’s having.”
“So, what brings you here? This isn’t close to Pahrump.” Fitz pushed the button on the video poker machine to deal the cards again.
“I was in the neighborhood and in no rush to get back to the clubhouse. They’re having a Halloween party for the kids, and Gilly wanted to create a haunted house at our restaurant. How about you? What brings you out tonight?”
Fitz turned his chair to face me. “It’s a shitty thing to say, but I hate this holiday. I didn’t buy any candy, and I didn’t want the kids egging my house because they know I’m home and not giving out anything.”
I was taking a drink of my draft, and when he said he wasn’t a fan of Halloween, I spit beer all over my poker machine before I started hacking up a lung. How ironic was it that I’d stewed over what to put in a plastic pumpkin for him when he hated the damn holiday?
Fitz banged on my back while I tried to recover. “You okay there, cowboy?”
I nodded as I continued to cough. Once I finally got control of myself and cleaned off the poker machine with the wet towel the bartender handed me, I swiveled my chair to face Fitz. “Ignore the plastic pumpkin behind the cactus next to the garage. I have no idea where it came from.”
Of course I was teasing, but when his cheeks turned a little pink, I was pleasantly surprised. He was so fucking handsome I nearly swallowed my tongue.
“Excuse me while I pull my big foot out of my mouth. I don’t hate candy and presents—just the expectation that I’m going to give them to kids who don’t even say hi to me when they see me putting my trash can out by the curb.” He winked at me as he ordered two more beers for us since I’d inhaled and spewed most of mine.
“Well, don’t get your hopes up. It’s a peace offering for my asshole behavior. I’m praying you’ll forgive me for being a dick.” That was the most truthful thing I’d said in a long time.
Fitz put his hand out and squeezed my right bicep. “Forgiven. I needed to talk to you about something anyway.”
“Sure. What’s wrong? Something with the house?”
“No. The house is great. It’s about TJ Middleton. How’s he doing?”
I was caught off guard. “TJ? What about TJ? Did he get arrested again?”
