Tall, Tatted and Tempting (The Reed Brothers 1)

He holds his hand up to his mouth and spreads his fingers like someone throwing up. I draw my head back. But I keep on playing.

Why does he want me to sing? He can’t hear it. But I start to sing softly, anyway. He smiles and nods. And then he laughs when he sees the words of the song on my lips. He shakes his head and motions for me to continue.

I forgot he can read lips. I can talk to him, but he can’t talk back. I play all the way to the end of the song, and some people have now stopped to listen. Maybe I should sing every time.

He writes something on the board. But I flip it over and lay it on the concrete. I don’t want to talk to him. I wish he would go away.

His brows furrow and he throws up his hands, but not in an “I’m going to knock you out” sort of way. In a “what am I going to do with you” way. He motions for me to keep playing. His fingers rest on my guitar, like he’s feeling the vibrations of it. But what he’s concentrating on most is my mouth. It’s almost unnerving.

A cop stops beside us and clears his throat. I scramble to gather my money and drop it in my pocket. I’ve made about thirty two dollars. That’s more than the nickel I had when I started. I pack up my guitar, and Blue Eyes scowls. He looks kind of like someone just took his favorite toy.

He starts to scribble on the board and holds it up but I’m already walking away.

He follows after me, tugging on my arm. I have all my worldly possessions in a canvas bag over my right shoulder and my guitar case in my left hand, so when he tugs me, it almost topples me over. But he steadies me, slides the bag off my shoulder in one quick move and puts it on his own. I hold fiercely to it, and he pries my fingers off the strap with a grimace. What the heck?

“Give me my bag,” I say, and I plant my feet. I’m ready to hit him again if that’s what it takes. But he smiles, shakes his head and starts to walk away. I follow him, but getting him to stop is like stopping a boulder from rolling downhill once it gets started.

He keeps walking with me hanging on to his arm like I’m a Velcro monkey. But then he stops, and he walks into a diner in the middle of the city. I follow him, and he slides into a booth, putting my bag on the bench on the inside, beside him. He motions to the other side of the bench. He wants me to sit? I punched him in the nose two days ago and now he wants to have a meal with me? Maybe he just wants his $20 back. I reach in my pocket and pull it out, feeling its loss as I slap it down on the table. He presses his lips together and hands it back to me, pointing again to the seat opposite him.

The smell of the grill hits me and I realize I haven’t eaten today. Not once. My stomach growls out loud. Thank God he can’t hear it. He motions toward the bench again and takes my guitar from my hand, sliding it under the table.

I sit down and he looks at the menu. He passes one to me and I shake my head. He raises a brow at me. The waitress stops and says, “What can I get you?”

He points to the menu, and she nods. “You got it, Logan,” she says, with a wink. He grins back at her. His name is Logan?

“Who’s your friend?” she asks of him.

He shrugs.

She eyes the bandages across his nose. “What happened?” she asks.

He points to me, and punches a fist toward his face, but he’s grinning when he does it. She laughs. I don’t think she believes it.

“What can I get for you?” she asks me.

“What’s good?” I reply.

“Everything.” She cracks her gum when she’s talking to me. She didn’t do that when she talked to Logan.

“What did you get?” I ask Logan. He looks up at the waitress and bats those thick lashes that veil his blue eyes.

“Burger and fries,” she tells me.

Thank God. “I’ll have the same.” I point to him. “And he’s buying.” I smile at her. She doesn’t look amused. “And a root beer,” I add at the last minute.

He holds up two fingers when I say root beer. She nods and scribbles it down.

“Separate checks?” she asks Logan.

He points a finger at his chest, and she nods as she walks away.

“They know you here?” I ask.

He nods. Silence would be an easy thing to get used to with this guy, I think.

The waitress returns with two root beers, two straws and a bowl of chips and salsa. “On the house,” she says as she plops them down.

I dive for them like I’ve never seen food before. Now that I think about it, I can’t remember if I ate yesterday, either. Sometimes it’s like that. I get so busy surviving that I forget to eat. Or I can’t afford it.

“How’s your brother doing?” the waitress asks quietly.

He scribbles something on the board and shows it to her.

“Chemo can be tough,” she says. “Tell him we’re praying for him, will you?” she asks. He nods and she squeezes his shoulder before she walks away.

“Your brother has cancer?” I ask, none too gently. I don’t realize it until the words hang there in the air. His face scrunches up and he nods.

“Is he going to be all right?” I ask. I stop eating and watch his face.

He shrugs.

“Oh,” I say. “I’m sorry.”

He nods.

“Is it the brother I met? A the tattoo parlor?”

He shakes his head.

“How many brothers do you have?”

He holds up four fingers.

“Older? Or younger?”

He raises his hand above his head and shows me two fingers. Then lowers it like someone is shorter than he is and makes two fingers.