Keep Me (35 page)

“Bullshit!” Beck cursed at the television. “Pettitte, you fucking blow! Take him the fuck out of there already!”

I threw a fist into his gut. “Watch your fucking mouth.”

“Nice, Marcus.” Tessa eyeballed me, the faintest hint of an adorable smirk forming on her lips. I couldn’t wait to get her alone again later. Suddenly I wished the Yankees would just lose the damn game and let it be over. Time for everyone to go home.

But apparently I was the only one on that page. “Beck, can you help me grab a few more beers in the kitchen?” Tessa said, handing Luca to me. I was left completely baffled.

“I’ll get the beers for you, babe.” I started to stand, but she shoved me back down.

“Just sit.” Her gaze bore into me and it left me to wonder if her wanting to be alone with Beck had anything to do with why my sister was acting like a bipolar patient off her meds.

“Okay.” I said, skeptically. “Whatever you say, boss.”

She leaned down and planted a soft kiss on my lips, then she withdrew, leaving me wanting more before I even had time to enjoy it.

Beck followed her into the kitchen like a sullen little boy about to get his ass handed to him. He raked one hand through his hair and the other was tucked into the back pocket of his faded jeans. Everyone was tiptoeing around
something.
Was I in the Twilight Zone?

When my best girl and my best friend were out of sight, I turned to my sister, bouncing Luca on my knee. “Am I missing something here? Because all of a sudden, I feel like shit just got weird.”

“Just leave it alone, Marcus.” She stared blankly at the game, her focus obviously on something other than the home run that just went soaring into left field.

“Leave
what
alone?”

“Please, can you just trust me on this one? Don’t worry, Tessa’s not making any moves on Beck and he’s already in over his head with his relationship issues so…”

“What do
you
know about Beck and his relationship issues? You his marriage counselor or something?”

“
Hardly
,” she muttered and then shot me a condescending look. “You know, if you weren’t so busy with your head up Tessa’s ass, all preoccupied in your own drama, you would have noticed that your best friend could use someone to talk to right now.”

“Oh and
my
girlfriend is that person all of a sudden?”

“NO! God, you’re so clueless sometimes. He does have other people he can count on. Beck and I…” she huffed, about to blurt something out then taking a moment to think it through. “I’ve known him a long time too, Marcus. I consider him a friend and I’ve hung around him enough to feel free to give my advice when he needs it. Marissa’s giving him a hard time about the break-up. That’s all. Can we just leave it alone now?” Her glare went back to the television, where the Yankees were finally up at bat and rallying for a comeback.

Way to go, Yanks
! Shit, I
was
easily distracted. Maybe Riley was right. Was I that bad of a friend lately that I couldn’t see that my buddy was hurting? It didn’t matter, though, because even if I had noticed, I didn’t have the foggiest idea how to handle shit like this. Tessa was my first girlfriend and Marissa was Beck’s… neither of us had ever been down this road before. He was better off with whatever Tessa was telling him in that kitchen. The best advice
I
could give him was to ditch the bitch and move on.

“You women make shit so complicated for no reason.”

“Yeah, that’s what all you
men
think. But truth is, you’re worse than us. Most times you have no idea what the hell you want, even when it’s staring you right in the face.”

Cryptic Riley strikes again. “Whatever you say, Ry.” She was talking gibberish, but it couldn’t have been about me. I knew exactly what I wanted and she was walking out of the kitchen holding it—an ice-cold beer for me and a warm bottle of milk for her son.

For the rest of the night I paid close attention to the three amigos, trying to figure out if it was just a matter of Beck being broken hearted or if there was more to it. A couple times I caught Riley and Beck a little chummier than usual, but I chalked it up to what she told me. Riley was always around me with my buddies, especially Beck. They were bound to form their own friendship at some point, in fact, I was surprised it hadn’t happened sooner. And besides, being of the female species she had firsthand knowledge of how to deal with the whole Marissa thing. Let her deal with his woes for now. I was happy and in love… didn’t need him dragging me—
yeah, that was fucked up
. Dude was there for me whenever I needed him. Even when I was all screwed up and tied in knots about Tessa in the beginning. I owed him some one-on-one time.

“Babe,” I leaned closer to Tessa, nuzzling into her neck. “Luca looks like he’s dozing off. Why don’t you take him up?”

Sitting up, she looked at her watch. “Crap! I didn’t realize how late it was. Let me get him washed up and down for the night.”

“Tess?”

“Mmhhmm?”

I pulled her down to me by her arm so her ear was close to my mouth. “Number one, I love you.” She giggled. “Number two, take Riley with you? I want to talk to Beck for a minute.”

She straightened up and stared down at me, stone-faced. “Why?”

He seemed distracted enough by the stupid Geico commercial, but I didn’t want to say too much with him right there. “Riley told me about Marissa. He’s hurting. Let me talk to him alone?” I whispered, making sure neither of them heard me.

She blinked a few times, staring off into some far off place. When she came back, her beautiful eyes did the smiling. “Okay,” she finally conceded, scooping Luca up from his playpen. “Hey, Ry. Come help me with Luca? I should show you his routine so you can babysit. Payback for doubting me and my man.” Tessa winked in my direction and Riley stood, sticking her tongue out at me, but then followed Tessa like a good little soldier.

I turned my attention back to the game when I knew they were on their way upstairs. “Shit! They’re all tied up. How’d they do that?”

“Jeter homered and brought in two runs. Reminds me of the playoff days. I hope they make it this year. We could catch a post-season game together—bleacher seats, of course.” He seemed enthusiastic, but also distant. Huh. Look at me noticing shit like that.

“You alright, dude? Riley told me about Marissa. I’m sorry I’ve been a shitty friend. Wanna tell me what’s going on?”

With his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands, Beck finally looked up at me with a pained expression. “There’s someone else.”

“Who? Marissa’s fucking around on you?” Bitch. She always rubbed me the wrong way.

“No!
I’ve
met someone else.”

“Whoa! Wait.
Really?
I didn’t see this one coming. You were about to ask Marissa to move in with you, no? How’d this happen?”

He scrubbed his hands down his face, standing up. He paced as he spoke choppy, incoherent sentences. “I don’t know how the fuck it happened. How did you and Tessa happen? Shit like this, sometimes… it just…
happens
.”

“Okaaaayy. Well are you sure you want to leave Marissa for this girl? I mean, is it serious or just a cold feet kinda thing?”

“No, dude. I’m all fucked up. I really like this girl. It’s different and unexpected, but I can’t pass this up. So, I did the right thing. I ended it with Marissa, came forward and told her the truth, but… I don’t know… just sucks because she’s a good person and she doesn’t deserve this. I hate that I’ve hurt her, but…”

“Listen,” I butted in. Beck looked like he was ready to hurl. I hated seeing him so flustered over a girl…
or two
… but I understood now. “You have to go with your gut, man. You can’t stay with someone just because you want to be the nice guy. I may be late to the love fest, but I get it now. Everyone deserves to be happy—in love—with that special someone and if Marissa isn’t that girl, maybe new girl is.”

“It’s complicated,” he huffed out, collapsing back down on the couch.

“Oh, I don’t know complicated? Complications mean shit. If she’s worth it, you look past all that and fight for what
you
want.” Hey, maybe I wasn’t half bad at dishing out the wisdom. Sure I was a newbie when it came to relationships, but I felt proud, accomplished, and the refreshed look on Beck’s face told me I did my deed as an advice-slinging friend.

“You good?”

“Better.” He nodded.

“Good because I think you left your balls in the kitchen with Tessa.”

“Shut the fuck up, dick. Here I was thinking you actually grew a heart and you’re just the same old douche hiding behind an amazing girl.”

He was right about one thing—Tessa was the cream of the fucking crop when it came to girlfriends, but he was also wrong. “Nah, the douche is gone for good. I’m hanging that hat and donning this new one—there’s something really fucking incredible about finding someone you want to spend the rest of your life with. Don’t you think?”

“Jesus, Mary and Joseph.” Beck got down on his knees, his hands clasped together as if he were praying. “I’ve just witnessed a goddamn miracle and I ain’t talking about the Yankees’ comeback.”

“Dick! Get up!”

And just like that, for the next few months, all was right with the world and things were back to normal—well the new normal. Instead of hanging around at a bar scoping out the next hook up, or eyeing up one of Riley’s new friends for an easy one night stand I spent most of my Friday and Saturday nights at Tessa’s with her and Luca man. Sunday was reserved for supper with Dad. Tessa and Luca came along most of the time—my father loved her, and the way she transformed me, or at least that’s how he put it. But as happy as everyone seemed, there was a new problem on the horizon. One that was niggling at me—yes, I said niggling—keeping me up at night, making me anxious and giddy and just plain out of my fucking bird.

The more time I spent with Tessa the more I fell in love with her and the more I fell in love with her the more I knew I had to make her mine… forever. It didn’t matter that we were only dating, seriously, a few months. I knew she was the one. She was the
only
one. Other than tattooing her name across my chest, I could only think of one other way to make things permanent.

“Cutesy or predictable?” Luca’s Halloween themed birthday was coming up—he needed the
best
costume. I stood amidst racks and racks of costumes, holding up both an adorable lion outfit, complete with mane and tail, and a cowboy get-up that brought back fond memories of the man standing before me.

When Marcus rolled his eyes at me, I sighed, “I want the birthday boy’s costume to stand out and be memorable, not something
generic
. Come on. Help me decide already!”

Marcus shook his head, frustrated. “You’ve been searching for this damn thing since Labor Day. You’d think you’d have your mind made up by
now
. His party’s in two weeks. Get your act together, Mommy.” I razzed the almost-birthday-boy on the cheek and laughed at his squirmy reaction. “What are we going to do with her, Luca?”

Luca grabbed Marcus’s nose, giggling at the silly expression on his face. Those two had bonded in a way I could never have imagined in the last few months. It was priceless. But the double teaming thing—nope, I wasn’t having it. Not now and especially not when Luca would be able to talk back and mimic his smart-ass role model.

“Why don’t
you
make the decision since he’s obviously
your
number one fan?” I hung the two costumes back on their racks, pouting.

“Aw, what’s that? Mommy’s a little jealous, Luca man. Sounds like a cry for help if you ask me. Not getting enough one-on-one time with your devastatingly handsome boyfriend, huh?” He joked and it did the trick in making me laugh, but there was actual truth behind his words.

My usual sitter, Trish, was having family issues so she hadn’t been free to babysit for the last few weekends and Riley… God, she was a mess. Things with her and Beck were
still
up in the air, and
still
top secret which meant that most of the time she was a raging bitch on wheels. But I was dying for a night
alone
with Marcus and I needed a break from the stress of planning Luca’s first birthday, too.

“God, Marcus,” I whined. “I mean, no offense to Luca, but I could really use a night out. We’re becoming those old boring homebody types, watching our kid’s every fart as if it’s the most amazing thing in the world.”

Marcus’s eyes went wide and I couldn’t help but wonder what warranted such an unexpected reaction. Was it that I said
fart
? Was that a turn off? “What? What did I say?”

“It’s nothing.” He beamed—his face totally lit up, but he was holding back by bringing his attention back to a Buzz Lightyear ensemble.

With my hand on my hip I chastised him. “Marcus Grayson I’ve known you—and that thing you do with your nose when you’re hiding something—long enough to know that it’s not
nothing
. Spill.”

In one fluid motion he kissed Luca on his cheek, swiveled toward me, and then planted a soft, lingering kiss on my lips. Luca wriggled between us, squeezed by the sandwich we created around him. When Marcus pulled back, I stared into his eyes. They were glowing—with pride, with happiness, with love. “You said
our kid
,” he beamed.