Page 3
Chapter Three
Snipe
How could a single kiss soothe your soul?
I swear, all the anxiety fled my body as soon as our lips touched.
“Gentlemen, is there an issue?” Jason addressed his bandmates as we stepped inside. They were shit at hiding they’d been spying on us.
“None of my business,” Josh mumbled as he plugged in.
“I’d say I’m jealous, but two beasts at once is outside my wheelhouse.” Marley had a way with words, though not very eloquently.
“I’m with Josh on this one,” Nigel said. “Now, can we play some fucking music?”
Though the conversation was paused for now, there was no way Marley’s curiosity wouldn’t rear its nosy head again. Sikes and I had to address this with Fizzbo before the rumor mill did. We respected him too much for him to hear it from anyone but us and as far as I was concerned, we owed him that.
Sikes nudged his shoulder to mine. “Should we just get it over with? We’ll only stew until we do.”
“Good call. They’re deep into rehearsal so nothing to keep an eye on here.” Except to listen to the angelic voice blasting out Chaotic’s soon to be famous lyrics.
Sikes waited until the door closed behind us to pull up Fizzbo’s contact on his phone and call him.
“Sikes, Snipe, don’t tell me there’s an issue already?” Straight to the point with no small talk. Thank fuck for that because neither of us had enough words today for that.
“Not an issue, per se, but something we, uh, need to discuss with you.” Sikes watched me as he spoke.
“Go on.”
“Well, uh…Snipe and I are moving forward with a relationship with one of our principals.”
“I expected this after the Anaheim trip.”
“You did?” I finally found my words and wondered what we missed.
“Your meeting in the bar with Jason.”
“You knew about that?” I was as surprised as Sikes was but damnit, Fizzbo didn’t miss a thing.
“I know everything. I suppose this call is to request a transfer to team Chaotic?”
“Yes, please.”
“Snipe, you’re in agreement?”
“Yes, sir.” Fuck, I hoped we were doing the right thing career wise.
“Understand this must be approved by Masterson Management first so don’t be surprised to get a call from Sal or Easton. Actually, it may be Jeremiah and given he’s in Seattle right now they may very well request a face to face meeting with both of you.”
Great.
“And Jason.”
Fuck.
“Understood.” There were times it was best Sikes replied for both of us. Words weren’t always my friend and generally included a resounding number of fucks.
“Be wise, both of you. Chaotic is new to the Masterson family and I’d hate to see bad choices ruin their chances for success. Jason’s a good man and deserves this.” What did Fizzbo know about Jason that we didn’t? Likely everything given how thorough he was.
“Understood.”
“I’ll be in touch.” Click .
“Now what?”
“We wait, but at least we got the ball rolling.”
Anxiety wasn’t my friend. “We need to tell Jason.”
Sikes readily agreed. “Let’s go back inside. Maybe we can sneak away with him after practice.”
Fingers crossed he wasn’t pissed we notified management without first consulting him. Fuck, Jason thought he’d be shit at this but we were with this whole relationship thing and it’d only just begun.
Sikes and I sat inside stewing and second guessing our choice to tell Fizzbo without Jason’s input, but at least we had great music to listen to. Most of the guards were metal heads so being assigned a Masterson contract was more a blessing than a curse. For the most part all their principals kept themselves in check. The occasional sneaking off without notifying us was the worst any of them did and for that we were thankful.
“Hey, Jason.” Nervously, we approached him after the other guys had taken off. “We need to talk to you.”
“Dumping me already?” Though he said it with a smile, it didn’t reach his eyes.
“Nah, the complete opposite, actually,” Sikes hurriedly corrected. “Can we take you to dinner?”
“I have to get home and feed the kids so Mom can go to work. You’re welcome to join us, though I’m not sure what we’re having yet.”
That broke my heart. I knew Jason had siblings but hadn’t had a chance to check out their living situation. I wondered if this was what Fizzbo had hinted at. Guess we’d find out soon enough.
“We’ll take care of dinner for everyone. What do they like on their pizza?” Sikes had his phone out ready to place the order. “Need your address for the delivery and GPS, too.”
“Pepperoni is good, I’ll text you the address. Easier to copy and paste it into the app that way.” Jason fired it off in our group chat. “I don’t live far from here but it’s good for you to have it in case we get separated along the way.”
Jason locked up and we tailed his vehicle out of the lot.
“I may not know much about the greater Tacoma area, but this side of town doesn’t scream safe to me,” Sikes said what I already thought as we drove past rows of broken down travel trailers and piles of trash.
“Agreed.”
What could we do? This was a new relationship and pushing our way in and telling Jason they were moving wasn’t a choice we could or should make for them. Sure, we could voice our opinions, but carefully and delicately. Sadly, delicacy wasn’t a gift either of us possessed.
Jason waited beside his car for us after he’d parked. “Well, this is home.”
“Lead the way.”
Sikes and I weren’t rich by any means, but Fizzbo paid us well. Basically, we were on call twenty-four-seven and Masterson considered that when negotiating our contracts. We rented an apartment together and hadn’t touched our savings since we retired from the service. We had a nice nest egg and right now, that nest egg screamed to be released in the form of helping Jason’s family.
The boisterous voices inside were heard well before Jason opened the door.
“Jason!” a young boy and girl screamed as soon as they saw him.
“Jason, thank god you’re—” his mother slammed on the brakes as soon as she saw us. “Is there trouble, Officers?”
Sikes smirked. “No, ma’am.”
“Um, Mom. These are Chaotic’s guards, Sikes and Snipe. They’re, um, also my boyfriends.”
Her eyes reminded me of one of those cartoons where they popped out of the character’s skull then got sucked back in. The two little ones began singing, “Jason’s got a boyfriend.” Then it dawned on them that wasn’t right.
“Wait, how would the song go for two boyfriends?” the younger boy asked. The girl shrugged her shoulders and went back to playing with her doll.
“Jase, I never question your judgment but that’s a whole lot of man. Do we have enough food for them?”
“We ordered pizza for everyone, ma’am,” Sikes replied.
“I bet they eat a lot of pizza,” the littlest boy said. Sikes and I grinned at the child’s honesty.
“We do but we ordered more than enough. I’m Hayden and this is Wyatt.” Might as well give them our real names.
“Jase said Sikes and Sniper,” the little boy repeated. Little did he know being a military sniper was how the nickname came to be.
“Sikes and Snipe are our work names. What’s yours?” I knelt beside him to appear less scary.
“I’m Nolan, that’s my sister, Nicole, and our brother, Gabriel, is playing Xbox.”
“Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you both. Now, how can we help Jason and your mom?”
“Umm,” he tapped his bottom lip. “We can clean up our toys and set the table.”
“Good call, Nolan,” Sikes told him. “I bet you’re really smart.”
His head bobbed up and down. “But not as smart as Nicole. She’s the smartest one in our class.”
“Gentlemen, excuse my surprise but Jason’s never brought a date home before, let alone two.” She shook her head at herself. “That didn’t come out the way I intended. Welcome to our home. In case you didn’t guess, I’m Jason and all the other rugrats’ mom, Dana. What can I get you to drink? We have water and juice boxes.”
“We ordered soda with the pizza, ma’am,” Sikes said, “but thank you for asking.”
Throughout this conversation, the older boy, Gabriel, never once stopped playing his game nor bothered to look up and acknowledge anyone.
“Gabe, can you at least say hi?” Jason shook his head at his brother.
“Hey,” he said without turning around. Didn’t have to know the kid to sense the familiar disconnect. If they didn’t nip that in the bud soon there’d be no turning back when the rebellious teen years hit, if they hadn’t already.
“Gabriel, why don’t you show me where the plates are?” This was the one time I hoped my size to a child was enough to shake the attitude from him. Reluctantly, he shut the game off and got up. When he did his eyes widened as they took us in. “Let’s go, bud.” Dana mouthed thank you as we walked past her.
Gabriel said nothing as we pulled plates and silverware out and sat them on the table. Sikes stayed in the living room which wasn’t far away given the small apartment but when I turned around, he had Nicole and Nolan curled up on his lap chatting away like they’d been best friends forever. Before he could protest, I snapped a picture.
“You have got to text that to me,” Jason kissed my cheek. “Thank you, for everything.”
I knew he spoke of Gabriel who was currently getting juice boxes out of the fridge for the kids. While neither Sikes nor I wanted kids of our own, we were adaptable and assessed every situation and need. From there, we jumped in. End of story.
When the knock came, I moved ahead of Jason to answer the door. Yes, it was his home, but it was our job to protect him, and Sikes was currently being used as a human jungle gym.
“Um, pizza for Wyatt?” the nervous pizza guy rattled off.
“Yes,” I took the boxes from him. Sikes already tipped him through the app. “Thanks.”
“Pizza!” the twins yelled and bolted for the kitchen.
“What do you say, kids,” Dana reminded them of their manners.
“Thank you for dinner,” the twins said in unison.
“Thanks,” Gabriel muttered.
“I take it this is a favorite?” Sikes asked.
“Yes, but not one they get often.” No explanation was needed, we understood the difficult challenges the family faced having finally had insight into their lives. “Hoping to change our glamorous life soon,” Jason whispered. It was clear he held the weight of this family on his shoulders. I got the impression he’d been a key financial player and caregiver for most of his life.
And if things went well, Sikes and I would be a part of that change.
The kids sat at the table with Dana while Sikes, Jason and I took our plates into the living room. We were nowhere near alone but had a small bit of privacy.
“What time do we need to leave for the show?” I asked. No clue how close or far we were to the venue.
Jason glanced at his phone. “Pretty soon. It’s not too far from here, close to the airport but if word gets out about Joey and Stoli attending it’ll be packed. Plus, Josh and I still have to get set up.”
“Let us know what needs to be loaded and we’ll grab it.”
“Reagan has cordless mics he keeps charged for the bands. Nothing for me to grab but my backpack.”
“If this is none my business, just say so,” Sikes began, and I seriously hoped this wasn’t bad. “But where do you sleep?”
“You’re sitting on my bed.”
Sikes didn’t bother to look my way. It was far too hard to school our features. Jason was bright, though, and didn’t miss that.
“Happiness is what you make of it. We’ve had times far harder than this and somehow still managed to keep a roof over our heads and food in the fridge. I’m thankful for what we have.”
What a world this would be if everyone saw life through Jason’s eyes.
“Gentlemen, may I borrow my son for a moment?”
“Of course, ma’am.”
“And they’re polite, too. The kids could learn a thing or two from them. We’ll be back in just a moment.” Jason and his mom walked down the hall and into another room I assumed was her bedroom while Sikes and I cleaned up. By the time they came back out everything was put away and the kids were playing.
“Gabriel,” Dana addressed the boy who did his best to ignore her. “Gabriel, I know you can hear me. You know the rules. I’ll be home by ten. Wyatt, Hayden, it was wonderful to meet you and thank you again for dinner.”
“You’re welcome.”
The entire time Gabriel kept his face to the TV screen but as soon as that door shut behind Dana, Sikes had enough.
“Gabriel,” he barked, and the kid jumped and turned to face him.
“Did you hear what your mother said?” Gabriel’s head bobbed up and down. “And what was that?”
“That I know the rules.”
“Recite the rules, please.”
“No one inside, no one outside. Only use the emergency phone for an emergency unless Mom or Jase call, then I answer it.”
“Can we trust you to abide by the rules?” Sikes didn’t relent and that was exactly what this kid needed. Firm structure and rules with consequences. Jason watched the entire exchange and never stepped in. Guess no lines were crossed.
“Yes, sir.”
“Good boy. We’ll be back to check on things.” Gabriel’s head bobbed up and down.
“Bye, Sikes, bye, Mr. Sniper,” the little ones waved.
“Bye, kids. Be good and no fighting,” Jason hugged the little ones and ruffled Gabriel’s hair who huffed but said nothing.
“Ride with us.” Came out as more of a command than a question which wasn’t my intent. “Please.”
Jason smiled and climbed in the back seat. “I can’t thank you guys enough for everything tonight. You’re exactly what Gabriel needs.”
“What about you?” The question came out before my filter engaged.
“We’ve got a way to go but you passed the biggest test I had.” I swear, Jason could deliver bad news with his bright smile and no would know the world had fallen apart around them. Either that or I was so utterly obsessed with this man that I knew no different.
“I know this is none of our business but where’s your dad?” Sikes asked.
“Four kids, three dads. My mom has shit luck with men. As soon as she told them she was pregnant they bailed. We’ve never heard from any of them. Mom’s worked multiple jobs for as long as I can remember. It wasn’t so bad when it was just the two of us and I was saving for an apartment of my own when she got pregnant with the twins. No way I could leave her after that. She’s really a great mom. No drinking or drugs, just bad luck I guess.”
Wonder if it was worth finding the deadbeat dads…