She mimed zipping her lips. "Deal."
Chapter Eight
Since Faith's talk sounded like approval, we all piled into Violet's room for the night. Then, the four of us talked it out and simply fell asleep. There was no wild and kinky sex. We didn't hash out all the details. We weren't even naked, and yet it was still nice. It finally felt right. The next morning started much too early, though.
Faith banged on Violet's door asking if her dad was in there. Luke yelled back that he was, and she reminded him that she had school. That was enough to convince all of us to get out of bed. When we came downstairs, however, Faith was sitting at the bar, swinging her feet under her, and grinning like we'd been busted.
Then she caught my eye. Not her dad's, not Violet's, but mine. The little brat smiled, rocked her head in a nod, then hopped off the chair and announced that she was going to miss her bus if she didn't hurry. That was it, but when the door closed behind her, it felt a lot like acceptance. I'd finally been forgiven. Completely, totally, and without a doubt forgiven for falling in love with Violet because I was also in love with her father.
In that moment, I didn't care about the threat on the door or the fact that we'd all have to bust our asses to clean up this place again. I'd do this a million times, because this was home. These people were my family. It was where I'd learned I could be me, and now Faith was learning that she could be herself. That we could be a "we."
"We're going to need money," I announced before taking a sip of my coffee.
That had their full attention. "For what?" Violet asked. "Where did your mind just go, Ash?"
"Southwind," I assured her. "Look, do any of us doubt that Simmons was involved in ripping down the gate and spray-painting the door?"
"No, not really," Luke admitted.
"This is exactly the sort of thing he'd do," Cy said.
I nodded. "Exactly. Now, Simmons has money. He has influence. He has everything we do; the difference is that he also has seniority. He's been a part of this town for so long that he's a fixture."
"And people around here are allergic to change," Luke realized. "Yeah, I see where you're going with this. So, how do we make it better?"
"We have to make this place beautiful and perfect," I told them. "Nothing to complain - " My words paused as the door to the guest room opened.
Darnell walked out in his boxers with his hair bent like he'd slept on it weird. The four of us looked, but he was scoping the room. Thrusting out his lower lip, the man nodded and then headed straight for the coffee maker. Cy just chuckled and pulled down another cup.
"Sorry we woke you," Violet told him.
"I heard Southwind," Darnell admitted. "I was also up and taking a piss, so you didn't wake me."
"Did not need to know that," she teased.
Cy passed over a cup as soon as the coffee maker sputtered in completion. "We need to finish that dog yard today. Faith is going to get shit on at school, and this was what we promised her."
"Fuck," Luke groaned. "Yeah, I'm sure the whole town knows about me by now."
"You ok with that?" I asked, worried that this might send him into a tailspin.
He shrugged. "I picked my side, Ash. I have to be ok with it."
"No," Darnell said as he poured a whole lot of cream into his cup, then reached for the sugar bowl. "See, I think that's the problem. It's become sides. Our side and theirs. I mean, we may not be like this town, but Gran and Bea made it work. How?"
Violet moved to claim the chair Faith had used earlier. "They mingled. They became a part of the town and acted like nothing but normal small-town ladies who just wanted to help the kids." She paused, running her tongue over her teeth. "We can't."
"Why not?" Cy countered.
I scoffed at that because the answer was so obvious. "It's a really long list, Cy. Because we're fucking? Because Violet's on the town's only billboard? Because Darnell's Black and Luke's just been outed? Because Simmons hates us?"
"Bingo," Darnell said, pointing at me. "Because Simmons said so. Now, I don't live here. I just show up for a hot piece of ass." He turned to grin at Cy. "If anyone asks, I'm saying it's yours." Then he looked back at all of us. "But you know what I keep seeing? When push comes to shove, ain't no one shoving at us but Simmons. How many people you think that's true for?"
"Wait, what?" Luke asked.
But I'd followed his line of thinking. "How many others does Simmons threaten when he doesn't get his way?" I asked, rephrasing for Darnell. "Not everyone is after us, though. I mean, Pastor David made a point of helping. Bev jumped in when we needed it. Sure, they're one family, but we have other examples, right?"
"Mike," Luke breathed. "The guy's been my friend since I was in high school. Fuck, he took my position on the team when I had to quit. I came out to him yesterday." He laughed once. "First time I've ever done that, and it was hard as hell, but he said he already knew. Said he'd been waiting for it, pushing me to open up by trying to give me shit about my girlfriend."
