SEALED with a Kiss (Midnight Delta #4) (3 page)

“Finn, are you hearing me?”

“Yes, Mom.”

“Good, because I want to talk to you about your lack of dates.”

“I go out on plenty of dates.”

“I’m talking about women you respect and would consider a relationship with.”

Fuck!  Time to redirect.

“If you want to talk about dating, I could really use your help.

“Hallelujah.  I thought you would never ask.  Shoot.”  His mom propped her chin on her hand, and looked at him with avid interest.

“You remember Billy, Sophia’s younger brother?  Well, Mase wants me to watch out for him in the upcoming game because he’s worried there might be some retaliation over an unnecessary roughness foul he did on a kid.”

“Didn’t I meet Billy at Clint and Lydia’s engagement party?  He doesn’t strike me as the overly aggressive type of teenage boy.”

Score one for team redirect!

“He’s not, apparently the other kid was an asshole, and had hurt one or two girls at school.  Billy was making a point.  Mase didn’t think Billy would do anything again, but he wanted me to keep an eye out for any retaliation.”

“What does that have to do with dating?”

“Mase told me this in confidence, so I’d understand the whole situation.  Billy found out about this kid’s behavior from a girl Eric had asked out.  This girl is a friend of Billy’s, and Billy wants to ask her out.  Mason thinks Eric will realize how close Billy and the girl are, and will
really
be gunning for Billy.”

“So tell me about the girl.”

“Mase didn’t give me a lot of details.  Like I said, it was in confidence, and wasn’t the real point of the story.  Hell, even if he did, I wouldn’t remember much about a fourteen year old girl.  To tell you the truth, I can’t even remember the first girl I asked for a date.”

“That’s because you never did ask one out.  They started calling you in sixth grade and never stopped.  That’s why Ginger did such a number on you.  Don’t you remember the seventh grade dance?  Your problem was three girls kept calling the house, and you kept begging your dad and me not to answer the phone?”

Finn thought back to Laurie.  She’d been the one who had basically bullied him into going, and he had really wanted to go with Zoe.  It wasn’t until he had been in ninth grade that he had learned how to say no to the girls he didn’t want to date.

“I sure did have it easy when it came to girls.”

“Yes you did,” his mom agreed.  “But is it always easy for you now?”

Finn stopped himself from immediately saying yes.  Hell, it was easy, but it was because it hadn’t mattered.  Evie eyed him. 

Damn, they were getting into dangerous waters.  Time to redirect...again.

Finn looked down at his watch and swore.

He signaled to the waiter for the bill.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got lunch today.  You can pay next time.”  His mother assured him.

“Okay, I love you, Mom,” he said as he got up to leave.  As he passed the waiter, he handed him three bills.  His mom shook her head in exasperation and laughed.  He waved good-bye. 

Finn made good time to the field.  He’d thought ahead and had most of the equipment in his old 1972 El Camino. When he got there, a group of parents nodded in his direction, and toasted him with their coffee cups.  He didn’t have to say a thing to the boys, they were already scrambling away from the field to his car.  Billy was one of the first three boys to arrive.

“Can you men help get the equipment over to the field?” he asked.

A bunch of affirmatives were matched with hands reaching to take the sticks and bags.

Finn reached into the front seat and pulled out his roster.  There were supposed to be five boys at the goalie clinic.  So far there were only four. 

“Hey Billy, I recognize you, Stan and Michael.  Is the other kid over there Hal or Luke?”

“He’s Hal.”  Finn looked at his watch.  They weren’t due to start for another five minutes.  He’d give the other kid ‘til five after, then he’d start whether he showed or not.

“So did they pull you out for just the one game, or are you out for multiple games?” Finn asked.

“Mason talked to you, huh?”

“Yeah.  Nothing bad.  It sounded like the kid probably deserved it.  Still if you pull that shit on the field somebody else could end up with a stick in the face.  You’ve got to be careful.”  Finn watched Billy, and the boy didn’t flinch.

“I was careful.  Nobody else was in the area.  I wanted to make sure it just impacted Eric, the last thing I wanted was an innocent to get harmed.”

Fuck, it was like listening to Mason, Finn thought to himself.

“So this kid had it coming?”

“He ruined one girl’s reputation, and pushed another too far.  Yeah, he deserved it.  He knows I’ll be keeping an eye on him.”

“Just like I’m going to have an eye on you.  This kid sounds like the type who’d pull in others and come after you on the field.  That’s why Mase asked me to keep an eye out, so I will.”

“I suppose something like that is always possible, he’s a bully.  I think he’s just going to lick his wounds and remember my warning.”

Yep, he definitely sounded like Mason.

“Did he mess with a girl who’s important to you?”

Finn watched as Billy’s fists clenched. 

“Nope.”  It made Finn wonder what would have happened if he had.

Finn smiled.  “So there’s a girl?”

“Yeah.”  Billy sighed.  “There is.  She’s pretty great.”

“And this guy didn’t do anything inappropriate with her?”

“No, he didn’t say or do anything to Rebecca.  She was the one who told me when he asked her out.  He asked her the day before I was going to.”  Billy looked across the field at the other players.”

“Then you got worried about her turning you down too, right?”

“You got it.”

Finn nodded. 

“I shouldn’t have waited.  I should have asked her out then and there.  But the more I let it slide the worse it gets, ya know?”

“I hear that.”

“I should never have procrastinated,” Billy said with disgust.

“I don’t know, at least you’re putting together a game plan,” Finn said as he hefted a bag of equipment and started walking towards the field. “I think going in with a plan always beats bursting in and not knowing what to expect.”

“I guess.”

“Plus, you’ve probably laid some groundwork.”  Billy perked up.

“It’s kind of like this, you’re hitting your fundamentals, you’re practicing, and you’re building your foundation.”

“A sports analogy, Finn?” Billy shook his head with a grin.

“I’m a firm believer in sports teaching you a lot of good things for life.  You my boy have probably built a foundation of trust, am I right?”  Billy laughed.

“Yes.”

“Build on that, and you’ll be going to the dance.”  They looked up as another car pulled up and a new boy got out.

“Looks like the clinic can start now,” Finn said.

––––––––

C
lint Archer

“Billy, for the last time.  We wanted you to come with us,” Lydia said as she shelled out for the massive amounts of popcorn, soda, pretzels, and candy.

“Kid, you ask again I’ll be forced to kill you,” Clint growled good naturedly.

“It just seemed too perfect.  I love Mason’s mom, but I really didn’t want to have to stay at the house and listen to them talk about wedding stuff.  I was really impressed Mase was willing to stick around and talk about flowers and what color the tablecloths should be.”

“It’s important to your sister,” Clint said.

“I know, but still.”  He made a face, then bounded ahead of them towards the theater.  Clint smiled to himself when he realized how much food he was carrying.  His smile extended to Lydia as they followed at a slightly more leisurely pace, but his woman was as excited as Billy to get to her seat.  She wasn’t fooling him, she didn’t want to miss one single preview. 

“Speed it up, SEAL-Boy.  I can’t believe you’re moving so slow.”

“It’s because you have me loaded down with enough junk food to feed a small nation.”

“Oh, quit your bitching, you know you’re going to eat most of mine anyway.”  She was right, but still, how in the hell they could drop more money on food at the theater than they could at an expensive dinner was beyond him.

They were the second set of people in the theaters, so Lydia was still using her outside voice.

“Billy, you’re not a talker at the movies, are you?”  It was clear his answer had to be no, and the kid was not stupid.

“No, ma’am.”

“Cut the crap, you know my name is Lydia.” 

“No Lydia, I’m not a talker during the movie.”  Billy grinned.  Like Clint thought, the kid wasn’t stupid.

“Okay, Clint’s in the middle so he can hold my food, and I can be free to enjoy the movie.  Now it’s okay to talk during the previews.  After all we need to give them the thumbs up or thumbs down.  So commentary is practically mandatory.”

They were at the theater with the reclining seats, so Clint watched in fascination as Lydia played around with hers until she had just the setting she wanted.  God, he loved this woman.  He loved it when she was so excited she was bursting at the seams with orders, especially when he knew tonight he would be taking over and she would enjoy every moment of him
giving
the orders.

All three of them agreed on the new James Bond movie.

He was voted against on a new movie with Tom Cruise.  How could they take him seriously as a military man?

It went on and on, and finally the lights were going down.  Lydia leaned over his lap, and whispered to Billy. 

“The one exception to the no talking rule is, ‘he who spots Stan Lee first, gets major points’.”

“Gotchya.”

****

C
lint totally approved of how Billy wanted to spend his ‘major points’. 

“I’m so excited Beth and Jack are going to meet us here,” Lydia enthused.

“I haven’t met, Beth.  She wasn’t at your engagement party,” Billy said.

“Do me a favor kid and never mention that again.  As a matter of fact, I’ll pay for extra laps around the track, if you don’t even bring up the fact Lydia and I are engaged in front of Lydia’s sister.”

Clint pulled his souped-up truck into the K-1 Indoor Racing Center parking lot.

“You got it, Clint,” Billy agreed. 

“I see Jack’s car.” Lydia pointed to a decked out SUV.  “They must already be inside.” 

Clint let her out at the entrance, while he and Billy went to park the truck.

“So what’s the deal?  Why wasn’t Beth at the big surprise engagement party you threw for Lydia?”

“I fucked up.  It’s a long story.  There was a piece of shit out after Beth, and I thought I was protecting her.  She still doesn’t much talk to me.  All I can say, is at least she isn’t a lot like Lydia, otherwise I’d have to sleep with one eye open.”

Billy nodded.  They opened the door to the center, and were met with a draft of cool air, and the scent of gasoline.  Clint went to pay for the tickets, but was met by a big blonde man.

“Clint, it’s already covered.  Thanks for inviting us.  This sounds like a blast.”

“Hi, Jack.  You didn’t have to pay.”

“I know.”  Jack tipped his chin towards the two women who were chatting away while trying to get helmets.  “I love the idea of Beth trying this out.”

“She’s become quite the surprise,” Clint agreed.  “She’ll probably kick all of our asses.”

“Nope, I’m the one who’s going to do that,” Billy piped up.

“Hi.  I’m Jack Preston.  You must be Billy Gault.”  Jack held out his hand.

“Billy Anderson,” Billy corrected.  “I’m Mason’s soon-to-be brother-in-law.  Clint and Lydia have rescued me from the horror of wedding planning.”

The blonde giant grinned.  “Clint’s a good man.”

Clint watched as Billy took out his phone, and frowned.  Then he carefully keyed in a response.  He waited, and then smiled.

“Everything okay?”

“Yeah, I’m just scheduling my next study session on Martin Luther King, Jr. with my social studies partner.”

Jack gave him a sideways glance.  Then they both looked at Billy. 

“That sure was a lot of concentration on a text for just a study session, Billy,” Clint said.  “Is your study partner a girl?”

Billy shook his head resignedly.  “I’m that obvious?”

“Only to another man.” 

“Hey,” Lydia interrupted.  “They don’t have a helmet that fits Beth.  We’re going to go talk to the people up front.”

“Beth, show me the one they end up giving you, okay?” Jack said to the woman who looked so much like Lydia.  Her eyes shined bright as she nodded. 

“We’re also going to go look around.  They said it would take a half hour before we would get to race.  I want to watch some of the other people do their laps,” Beth said.

“We’ll be over there,” Clint said pointing to some tables near the food stalls. 

“Okay.”  Clint watched as Jack brushed a kiss on Beth’s lips.  He loved seeing how tender the big man was with Beth.  She might have come out of her shell with a bang, but in Clint’s opinion she would always need that kind of loving care. 

As the two women walked away, he admired Lydia’s ass.  Now his woman, his woman was almost one hundred percent fire.  There were those rare moments she too needed to be cossetted.  He loved being the man who could put out the fire, and also cherish her when she needed it.  He was a hell of a lucky man.

“Give it up, Billy, he’s admiring Lydia’s attributes,” Jack said.

Clint turned and saw Jack and Billy laughing at him.  He scowled.

“What?”

“We wondered if you wanted to order food.”

“Fuck no, we ate half the menu at the theater.  We’ll eat after the races.”  He walked towards the table.  Billy and Jack were still laughing.  He found it funny too, but he couldn’t let
them
know.

They all sat down, and both men turned towards Billy.

“Your turn, spill it,” Clint said.

“I liked laughing at you better.” Billy laughed at him.  Clint really liked Billy Anderson.  Sophia and Mason had done a great job instilling confidence in him.  Considering he had been in foster care two years ago, and now he was giving shit to two Navy SEALs, it was pretty damned amazing.