Second Chance Love (Heaven Hill Book 6) (7 page)

Within moments the group had moved into the small room off the main one and were all talking a mile a minute. Neither Roni nor Christine could keep up since they hadn’t been in the car on the way to the shop. Instead of trying to follow along, both of them just smiled and nodded, cracking each other up when they realized they were both doing the same thing.

These two things were what Roni had needed—to get out of her own head and to be around friends and family.

“What do you think?” Christine asked an hour and a half later as she used the round brush for the final time on Roni’s hair.

She turned Roni around so that she faced the mirror and then waited, holding her breath, to see what the other woman would say.

“Holy shit,” Roni mumbled, a smile immediately coming to her face. Gone was the boring, dark hair that reminded her so much of her brother. That was a major reason she’d decided to go ahead and make a change. She’d realized, working with him day in and day out, that she looked like him, only with boobs. Now, the person staring back at her was undeniably feminine. Christine had given her layers and bangs; her hair looked like she had extensions it was so full looking. The drab dark color was still there, but it was played up by chunks of red, mahogany, and what looked to be a honey-colored blonde. It gave it depth and dimension. She looked like a brand new person.

“Wow, you are looking hot,” Denise told her as she came up behind her. “Rooster won’t know what hit him.”

Leave it to Denise to get right to the point.

“I didn’t do this for Rooster.”

“And I don’t shave my bikini line for Jagger,” B piped up. “We’re women here; we can be honest with one another. You have a thing for him.”

Roni didn’t want to get into this. She couldn’t explain to people how she felt about him, most of the time she couldn’t explain it to herself. “I do, but…” She trailed off.

“But what?” Jessica encouraged her. “Anyone that has seen the two of you together can feel sparks. It’s not blatant, but it’s there, lying under the surface”.

“And I know you’ve hung out with him,” Christine said softly. “I’ve seen him at your apartment while I’ve been in Steele’s cave.”

Meredith cut her eyes over at the other woman. “What else are you watching in Steele’s cave? Where all does he have cameras?” Her expression was panicked and the ladies laughed.

“Not in the bedroom if that’s what you’re asking,” she giggled. “Mostly entrances and exits to homes, unless the occupants of the home have agreed to more.”

“Sorry,” Meredith apologized. “Didn’t mean to fly off the handle there, but as they were saying there
is
something there. It’s not blatant and the two of you are very respectful to Liam, but after I heard about the fling the two of you had when he was a teenager, I can definitely see it now.”

How did she explain her feelings to these people? They were her friends, but she never knew herself exactly how she felt about Rooster once the damage had been done. It was much easier when he was a sheriff and there was something keeping him away. Now that the obstacle was gone, she found herself at odds.

“He kissed me the other night,” she blurted out, not able to keep it in any longer.

“What kinda kiss we talkin’ here?” B asked, her full attention on Roni. “Nice peck on the cheek, or the kind of all-consuming one that says he wants to own you?”

“What does it matter?” Roni tried to play it off.

“Oh, it matters.” Meredith nodded. “Matters big time. In one swipe of the lips, you can tell if a man wants to just know you’re there or if he wants to drag you off to the garages and have his way with you while there’s a club dinner going on.”

The cackles in the room were at an all-time high. “Sounds like you have some experience with that,” Jessica snorted. “I need to interview you for my next romance.”

“I’m with Tyler motherfucking Blackfoot; I think you’d all be lying to me if you told me you don’t think he’s hot.”

There was no argument in the room.

“Back to the question at hand.” Denise pinned her gaze on her sister-in-law. “What kind of kiss was it?”

“I guess he wanted to own me. I was pressed up against the door of a car.” She couldn’t help but smirk.

The squeals in the room were deafening. And questions were being thrown at her left and right. She wasn’t sure how to answer them, only knew that it felt good to be in this place, with these women. The door opened and all eyes went to the doorway.

“This is a private party.” Christine raised her eyebrow at the men standing in the entrance, one of them being Travis.

“He needs a haircut.” Tyler pushed Rooster forward. “He’s going to start working at the school next week when it goes back in session, as a security guard.”

Christine picked that moment to turn Roni around so that she was facing the rest of the shop. Roni’s eyes found Rooster’s and she gauged his reaction carefully, excited to know what he would think about her new look. His eyes widened, and then she watched as his gaze took in the whole picture that she must have made, a slow smile building across his face.

“What do y’all think?” Christine asked. There was a cocky tone to her voice; she knew she’d done a good job.

“Wow!” Liam said as he caught a glimpse of his sister. “I wouldn’t have recognized you if I didn’t know who you were.”

It was like everyone in the shop was waiting to see what Rooster would say. Everyone stared at him, and there wasn’t much breathing going on. “Gorgeous.” He said it so low, he wasn’t sure that she could hear, but when he saw the look on her face, he knew without a doubt that she had.

Chapter Eight

W
as this what first-date jitters felt like? Because Roni had never actually been on an official date. It was odd. Most men that came into her life came because of something to do with Liam, and then when their need for Liam left, their need for her left. Boyfriends weren’t something she ever did after Rooster. If she didn’t let someone get close to her, then there was no one for William to use against her. Life was easier that way, but that life was lonely.

She glanced over, still surprised to find her hand encased in Rooster’s. After he had gotten his haircut for his trip back to high school, the rest of the members of the club had gone their separate ways and Rooster had shyly asked her if she wanted to grab dinner at one of the places on the town square. She had been hesitant, but knew that this was the first step in what would be a new life for her. It was time to stop hanging on to the sins of her father and to do what she’d wanted to do all those years ago.

“It feels weird…doesn’t it?” Rooster glanced over at her, a shy smile on his face.

“Being like this in public?”

When he nodded, she did too. “It does. I’m almost worried that someone will see it and report it to my dad, but then I realize that he no longer matters. He hasn’t mattered in a long time and now he doesn’t have the ammunition to hurt us.”

“It’s been a long time coming hasn’t it?”

Roni breathed deeply. “It has and I wasn’t ready to give into those feelings until right at this moment. I’m not sure why it finally clicked, but it has and I’m thankful. I’ve been living with the weight of that for a long time.”

She was also living with the weight of what she’d done to their unborn child, but knew that would have to come in time. She wasn’t sure that she could tell him that yet. In fact, she knew she couldn’t tell him that yet, she needed to get a better feel of what was going on in their lives. Roni needed to know, without a doubt, that he was in whatever this was with her.

“You wanna eat here?” he asked, holding up their hands as he pointed at a local historical restaurant. It had once been located in an older home, but it had relocated to be closer to the action at the minor league ballpark. She hadn’t eaten at it since that had happened.

“Sounds great,” she told him as they walked inside.

It felt as if every eye in the place was on them. Everyone in Bowling Green, Kentucky knew who they were, knew their past, and probably were wondering what the fuck they were doing out together. Roni purposely didn’t make eye contact with anyone as they were taken to the bar and put into a back booth by Rooster’s request.

“It used to not be this hard to talk to you,” Rooster joked, as he reached over and grabbed a lock of her hair. “This looks great on you. It gives you your personality back.”

“Now, I’m not sure that I ever had a personality.”

“You did,” he said as he pulled his hand back over to his own side of the table and read the menu. “You kept it hidden well, because every time you’d let a little of it through, William would knock it back down, but you had one. I’ve missed it.”

The words were said softly, and she wasn’t sure that she’d heard him correctly, but she wanted to respond. The old Roni would have responded, and she was trying desperately to get that Roni back. “I missed you too.”

His eyes were impossibly clear as his gaze met hers and she watched as he swallowed roughly. “Can we get it back?” he asked her.

“Do we want to?” she countered. That time in their lives had been tumultuous and hard. She wasn’t sure she could live through it again.

“I want to. What about you?”

That was the million dollar question. It all seemed to ride on her shoulders. What did she want? Everything, but wasn’t sure she could trust it. “I want it too,” she finally admitted, her shoulders sagging.

“Why do you sound so defeated?” he asked, getting up from his side of the booth and coming to sit next to her.

They were interrupted as someone came to take their drink order. To prevent another interruption, they went ahead and quickly ordered meals that sounded halfway decent.

“Talk to me.” He impulsively grabbed her hand and used the tip of his index finger to draw circles there. “If you don’t talk to me, we’re never going to get anywhere.”

She knew that he was right. The talking part wouldn’t be easy, but it was going to have to be done. If it didn’t get done, they would never be able to move on and that’s what she wanted more than anything. “I feel like the other shoe’s going to drop. Brandon,” she used his given name—something she hadn’t done in a very long time, “I can’t take it again.”

He knew what she meant. When he had been sent away, it had been ugly. They’d yelled and screamed at each other. He and Liam had gotten into a fist fight and more charges had almost been added onto their sentence. William had been in the middle, cursing him to hell. The tears in her eyes killed him. “Hell.” His voice was rough. “Come here.” He pulled her into his arms, hugging her as best he could in the booth.

Roni needed that hug; she’d needed it for years. It felt like she had come home as she gripped her fingers in his shirt, pulling him tighter against her. Her face fit into the crook of his neck and she inhaled deeply. He still smelled the exact same that he had the last time they’d hugged like this. It brought tears to her eyes and she let them come. He held her for a long time. For how long, she wasn’t sure. All she knew was that he held her, comforted her. She concentrated on the soothing tone of his voice, the hand that lightly stroked up and down her back. Those two things brought her to the other side of the breakdown she was having. Finally, the tears stopped and she pulled back from him.