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“I am? I mean, I am,” she said, trying to look as if she meant it. “I’m considering it.”
“Great. Scotty tells me you even have a song for us.” Tammy seemed delighted by the whole idea.
“I um… I do,” she said, but I could tell she was reluctant until she said, “Scotty’s going to harmonize with me… if I do it.”
“Doll… it’s only for us girls with guitars.”
“Oh, okay. It’s just that I can’t do it without him.”
Tammy hesitated for a couple of beats, and I knew she was busy weighing things out in her head. “Okay, doll, but just for your song. Getting that cowboy up on stage has been my goal ever since he started working here. If he’ll do it for you, I’ll break my rule.”
“Thanks. That’s the only way I’ll consider doing this,” CindyLou told her.
Tammy put out her hand. “Once you shake my hand, I’ll have your word that you’re serious about this. Which means I’ll need an answer one way or the other by tomorrow night. You can’t ghost me, or I won’t ever give you the chance again. That’s another one of my rules, and this one, I won’t break.”
CindyLou stared down at Tammy’s hand for a moment, as if she was about to make a deal with the devil.
I held my breath… willing her to take Tammy’s hand.
And in my next breath, CindyLou took her hand, and with that single act, I had a feeling that not only was she signing up for a gig onstage, but CindyLou was signing up for a whole new way of life.
Scotty 12
Colt only called a meeting when one of us had already fucked something up, and he wanted to give us a way to make it right. The other times he’d call a meeting usually had to do with a woman one of us wanted, and another one of us also wanted. Those situations had never gone well, no matter how we tried to talk it out. In the end, the woman would dump us both… every single time.
“Okay, we need to talk about CindyLou,” he began, and my breath caught in my throat. I knew his feelings for her were growing, but I also knew that mine were growing as well. I didn’t want to end up getting dumped… not this time… not with CindyLou.
We were sitting in Mickey’s kitchen, around his counter. After the long day we’d had, if we sat in the living room, we’d probably all fall asleep. This way, sitting on hard stools, with beers in our hands, we might stay awake. Still, it didn’t help that it was going on three thirty in the morning.
I let out a yawn, and my eyes watered. Damn, but I felt spent. I could only hope this thing would get resolved quickly, but the fact we were going to talk about CindyLou didn’t make that short conversation a certainty.
“What about her?” Mickey asked, looking a bit miffed. “She and I already had our first talk, and I told her I want to be in Darci’s life. If you want details, I can’t give you any. I have no idea what this is going to look like. All I know is I’m all in. Can we go to bed now? I’m wiped.”
“That’s all good, but that’s not why I called this meeting. How you and she handle the whole daddy thing is between you two… not us,” Colt said, looking sincere and concerned at the same time.
“Then why…” Mickey started, but Colt shut him down.
“Because we’ve all had sex with CindyLou, and I think it’s safe to say we’ve all fallen for her. Some of us harder than others,” Colt declared, stunning both Mickey and me. How the hell did he know about me having sex with CindyLou. Did the man have a sixth sense or what?
“Wait a minute… you and Scotty have… when did this happen?” Mickey asked. “And was it a one-on-one or did you two have sex with her at the same time? Because if you did, you know those always end up bad for us. CindyLou is one woman I don’t want to lose anytime soon. You’re right about us all having feelings for her, Colt, that’s for damn sure.”
If I hadn’t seen Mickey say those words, I would never have believed him. I just stared at him as if he might be lying, trying my best to make him uncomfortable. I wanted to make sure he was telling us the truth.
He said, “Stop looking at me like that, Scotty. I’m being honest here, which is a whole new thing for me. Cut me a little slack.”
“That’s why I’m staring,” I told him. “I can’t believe those words came out of your mouth. So, does this mean you have honest feelings for her? Like more than just a passing emotion? Cause if that’s true, I’m stunned.”
I took another long pull on my beer, wanting to clear my dry throat. The whole discussion made me anxious. I mean, he’d said something about his feelings for her to her face, but I hadn’t put much stock in it. We could barely share a bathroom without arguing over who left the towels on the floor or toothpaste in the sink, let alone sharing CindyLou, who I was falling so hard and fast for, I didn’t want either one of these idiots to hurt her. Especially Mickey whose reputation with women deserved even more punches from Daryl. And as soon as Daryl’s name flashed in my thoughts, I knew we had a big, nasty, punching problem. “Shit… Daryl… what the hell are we going to do about Daryl?”
Colt’s eyes went wide, and Mickey nearly choked on the beer he was guzzling.
“I forgot all about that old cowboy,” Colt said. “He might be a problem in all of this.”
“Ya think?” Mickey asked, once he stopped coughing. He still had remnants of a black eye courtesy of Daryl’s left hook. My shiner wasn’t much better, but at least mine was an accident. His was a direct hit.
“One of us dating CindyLou is one thing, but all three of us? He’ll huff and puff and knock our house down,” I told them. “He’s too mighty of a force for us to reckon with.”
“If we come up with a plan, I think we’ll be okay,” Colt said, trying to reassure us.
