Page 54 of Side Hustle
He shook his finger at me. “Now that’s funny.”
I smiled back at him. Little did he know I meant it. He’d figure it out soon enough.
Paul the Peacock strolled in front of my truck, strutting like he had every reason to be so far from Charlie and Finnie’s property, where he called home. Both our heads swiveled to take him in.
The chief muttered something about the “cock-ups in this here town” and Paul froze mid step, his neck turning toward us like out of a horror movie. He pinned us with a stare that didn’t bode well for our future safety. Titus had told me all about how this peacock was a nut kicker. The chief better watch out.
I reached out the window to pull the chief into my truck, which on reflection, wouldn’t have worked out so well given his waist circumference and the height of my window, but the intent was good.
Instead, the chief whirled on the peacock and lunged at him with a speed that shouldn’t have been possible.
“Scat!” he hollered so fiercely I almost put my own truck into gear to get the hell out of there.
Paul jumped three feet in the air and took off running like the old Road Runner cartoons I’d watched on a particularly boring day a few years ago. I shook my head in disbelief. Exactly what I thought. The chief just oozed authority. Even prideful peacocks with a penchant for punching understood it.
Chief tipped his hat in my direction and then walked to his cruiser, calm as you please.
Yep, definitely making that guy my unofficial adult father figure.
Bad. Ass.
* * *
“Are you ready?”
I took the scarf from around Hazel’s eyes and let her see the dinner I prepared for her and me. After my chat with the chief last night, I knew I needed to go all in with Hazel. I wanted to keep speaking the truth and the blunt truth of the matter was that I loved her. She was everything I wanted in a partner in life and starting today I was going to step up. I planned to say those three little words we’d danced around previously.
“Oh! It looks amazing!” Hazel bobbed up and down on her toes, her happy squeals reminding me to surprise her more often since she loved it so much.
I’d gotten takeout from five different restaurants from two different towns. Bought a new tablecloth, runner, placemats, and a set of dinnerware not from a big box chain bargain shelf. Lit candles. Put flowers in a vase. Had soft music coming from a new Bluetooth speaker hidden in the corner of the room.
I stepped around her and held her chair out. She gave me a blinding smile and sat down, clapping her hands over the dishes I’d ordered. I’d had a chat with Yedda, writing down all of Hazel’s favorites while her cats climbed all over me. I’d pulled out all the stops. Now I just had to lay it all on the line and tell her how I felt.
We both dug in and I may have had some trouble swallowing each time Hazel let out a little moan of pleasure tasting each dish. She’d worn bright red lipstick tonight and just watching those lips take a bite of food and then squeeze her eyes shut and moan…well, it was trying my commitment to my well-thought-out plan. I was already hard under the tablecloth and we hadn’t even gotten to dessert. My dick didn’t seem to understand that tonight wasn’t about him. It was about our feelings. My balls seized up at that thought, but I coaxed them back down by telling them that talking about our feelings would probably lead to sex, so they didn’t need to leave town.
Hazel was busy polishing off the sweet potato fries, without a single apology for eating them all. It actually made me smile to see her so happy, and if fries did it for her, I didn’t actually need to eat any of them.
“I, uh, wanted to clear the air a bit. I know we haven’t really talked about junior year and I’d really like to keep moving forward with you without that hanging over our heads.”
Hazel swallowed hard and put her hands in her lap. Her eyes went wide, but she nodded for me to continue.
“After we kissed that night, I thought we were a couple. And I realize now that assuming anything, was stupid on my part. If I wanted to be exclusive, I should have talked to you about that before assuming. So, when I saw you talking to Jake in the hallway before class, and Titus told me you said yes when he asked you to prom that morning, I was devastated.”
Hazel gasped and her hand came up to cover her lips.
Her chair scraped back and she jumped up. “No! That’s not what happened. I mean, yeah, I said yes to Jake that morning, but only because I saw you kissing Lindie.”
I jerked my head back and stood too. “You saw that?”
Hazel’s hands went to her hips like she was getting mad all over again. “Yes. I saw you.”
I shook my head, coming around the table. “Amelia dared her to kiss me to shake me up a bit. You know Amelia. I pushed Lindie off me and went to go yell at Amelia, who didn’t know you and I had kissed the night before, so I know it wasn’t her fault.” I took her hand in mine and she hesitantly let me. “This whole time I thought you didn’t think anything special happened that night between us. Hazel, I promise you. I treasured the moment we had and I would have never kissed another girl the next morning.”
Hazel bit her lip, eyes shinier than my gut could stand. I tugged her into my chest, and this time she went willingly. “I only said yes to Jake because I had just seen you kiss Lindie. I figured I’d get involved with Jake so what you’d done wouldn’t hurt so much.”
I wrapped my arms around her and held her tight. “I can’t believe we’ve hated each other all these years over a stupid misunderstanding. I’m surprised you gave me another chance.”
Hazel pulled back enough to look me in the eye. “It was more loathing than hating. And I’m surprised you gavemeanother chance.”
