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Sweet Pea hadn’t done anything much to be proud of in his life. He barely passed high school and he’d been working different jobs since then just to get by. The only thing he had that he was the proudest of was his son, Jaxon.
He and his best friend Toni had been friends with benefits when they were younger, and at the time, hearing she was pregnant had been the worst thing in the world. His life had shifted from only having to take care of himself (which he was used to) to having Toni and a whole other person.
Toni had always been like his family, so in reality it hadn’t really been much different with her, but despite not being too happy about what their actions had resulted in, he still wanted her and the baby to be safe.
The two got an apartment together and raised Jaxon there for what was a surprisingly happy four years. He and Toni went to just being friends, with him taking the couch so she and the baby could have their own room.
He learned to love being a dad. He’d never been needed, and although it was scary and stressful, it was good. He had a reason to work hard and make sure his son had everything he didn’t.
Jaxon was six now and living with Toni and Cheryl. Toni and Jaxon had moved out of their apartment and in with Cheryl a couple of years ago. It kind of broke his heart at the time, but he wanted Toni to be happy and loved, and he still got to see Jaxon all the time.
Today had been one such day, the two spent the day at the carnival in Greendale then went back to the apartment to have a proper dinner and clean up.
Toni was working like crazy, her photography career really taking off, so a lot of the pickups and dropoffs had been with Cheryl. The two of them got along surprisingly well. When he saw how much she really loved Jaxon and Toni, there really wasn’t anything for Sweet Pea to complain about.
Cheryl was busy too though, so tonight Jaxon was coming to The Wyrm with him before he had to start work, and Cheryl would pick him up there.
The owner didn’t mind if there were kids around before or after hours, he had them himself and a lot of the people who worked there did too. It was a nice little work family on it’s own.
Stepping in with his son, Sweet Pea couldn’t help but smile at the sight of Betty getting set up behind the bar. She had started last week as one of the bartenders, and he had to admit, she was nice to look at when he was stationed at the door and bored with nothing to do.
Being a bouncer paid well and it was only sometimes he had to break up fights. He was working two jobs but it was nice to keep busy.
Betty spotted them and offered a smile as the two men took seats at the bar.
“Well, who is this handsome young man?” she asked.
“I’m Jaxon,” he said, reaching his little hand across the bar to shake Betty’s hand.
Sweet Pea smiled proudly. “This is my son,” he said, running his hand over Jaxon’s smooth dark hair.
“Pleasure to meet you, Jaxon, I’m Betty. What can I get for you two?”
Jaxon ordered a coke and Sweet Pea shook his head, indicating he was fine.
“Did you two have a nice day?” Betty asked, making conversation and it was clear she liked kids. Sweet Pea was glad, because women who didn’t like kids had turned him off ever since he had one.
Jaxon rattled off the events of their day, Sweet Pea’s gaze on Betty and her enthralled expression. She was lovely, and Sweet Pea hadn’t used that term for anyone in the past. She had blonde hair that looked impossibly soft, big green doe eyes and a friendly smile.
It was true he had a thing for blondes. But she was just on another level gorgeous.
His friends had teased him about not trying to get with her yet, but she’d only been there a week, he had to give her a chance to get used to the place first. Plus, he was a little nervous to be honest.
“You know,” Betty said, leaning against the bar. “I have a son around your age too,”
Sweet Pea frowned, he had no idea. “Really? How old is he?” Jaxon asked.
“He’ll be seven next month,”
“Wow, I’m six!”
“See, I was right,”
“Maybe the four of us can hang out sometime,” Sweet Pea chimed in, not even realizing he had so blatantly asked for a date.
Betty’s gaze turned to him and she smiled a little shier. “I’m sure Donte would love a new friend.”
He had a feeling she might need one too. She always looked happy and she worked hard, but he also saw sadness behind the mask.
The front door opening and clicking heels indicated Cheryl had arrived. Their attention turned to her and Jaxon flew off his seat to go meet her in a hug half way.
Sweet Pea smiled at the sight. His son had two mothers now, and really there was nothing to complain about there. He was a lucky kid to have so many people care about him. It’s exactly what Sweet Pea wanted.
Cheryl and Betty shared a nodded hello as Betty went back to setting up and Sweet Pea went over to kiss Cheryl’s cheek hello.
The two talked for a quick minute then he shared a goodbye with his son, watching him walk off with Cheryl and hardly being able to wait until the next time he could see him. Tomorrow couldn’t come soon enough.
He glanced back at Betty, who was working and doing a good job minding her own business.
“You ready for me to open up?” he asked.
Betty nodded her okay and slowly the night began to get busier. It was a typical Saturday, lots of business but thankfully no fights to break up yet. By the time the night was through he knew he’d have to kick out a few people who had too much to drink though.
Sweet Pea had been bouncing at The Wyrm for awhile and he knew all the regulars, even the people who didn’t come in all the time, that’s why, when a new face walked in, he made sure to keep an eye on him.
He was a slender, tall guy around his age, crazy curly dark hair and an even crazier look in his eye. Something about him didn’t sit well with Sweet Pea.
He watched as he went for the bar, refusing the service of Fangs and pointing to Betty instead.
Although he was a little far, he could still see the way Betty’s face turned to panic. The two talked like they obviously knew each other, and soon Betty was making her way out from behind the bar, with the guy following her out of the back.
Sweet Pea didn’t like it. He made his way over to the bar and nodded towards Fangs. “Who was that?” he asked.
Fangs shrugged. “Don’t know, Betty said she was taking a quick break,”
Sweet Pea nodded, taking a glance around to make sure the rest of the bar was okay before heading towards the back exit himself.
He told himself he was only looking out for Betty, which he was, but it was her life and he knew he shouldn’t interfere unless he saw something he didn’t like.
As he approached the back door, he began to hear their voice just on the other side of it. There were a few windows, so he could see them through one, still keeping his distance.
“This is my job, Malachi” Betty all but cried, “please can we not do this here?”
The guy, who’s name he just learned was Malachi, seemed all kinds of irritated, running his hand back through his messy hair and hardly keeping it together.
“Did I ask you to move and get a job?” he asked harshly.
Betty didn’t answer, looking up at him with clear fear. But still Sweet Pea didn’t want to invade her privacy more than he already was. He told himself he was just keeping an eye out, in case she needed help. He knew all too well, from Toni and Cheryl, that they did not like him fighting their battles for him.
He had become quite the feminist with the help of those two.
“Please, you know I…”
“No, Betty,” he said, even more sternly. “Answer the fucking question. Did I tell you to take my son, move in with your bitch mother, more than forty minutes away from our home, and now have to fend for yourself? Huh? Did I?”
There was a moment of silence before she spoke again, this time she was clearly crying. “I told you why I had to go,”
“And I told you not to!” he shot back. “I told you I’d be better but you never give me a fucking chance!”
“I gave you so many chances!” she cried back. “Please, please, just leave us alone,”
“You fucking ungreatful whore,”
The second he saw Malachi grab the top of Betty’s arm, Sweet Pea shot out of the back door, startling them both.
Betty looked terrified and Malachi even crazier than when he came in. Sweet Pea wouldn’t be surprised if he was on something.
“Take your hand off her,” he warned calmly.
The guy may look like a crazy motherfucker, but Sweet Pea had never met anyone he couldn’t take on.
Malachi shoved Betty behind him, letting her arm go. He saw the way Betty held onto it, probably starting to bruise from the firm grip he had it in.
“I don’t know who the hell you think you are but this doesn’t concern you,”
“That’s where you’re very wrong, my friend. I can make tonight go very badly for you… Now, I’ll ask again nicely. Please leave,”
Sweet Pea thought for a second he’d have to fight this guy, but thankfully he wasn’t as stupid as he looked. It was obvious Sweet Pea would win.
Swinging around to Betty, Sweet Pea quickly grabbed his shoulder so he wouldn’t lash out at her again.
“Don’t expect for this to be over. He’s my kid too, and I’m not letting this go without a fight,”
With the final warning, he tore himself away from Sweet Pea’s grip and walked away, around the building to where his car probably was.
“You okay?” he asked Betty.
She looked even smaller than she already was, bravely having wiped her tears away and clearly trying to hold the rest back.
“I’m so sorry, Sweet Pea,”
He shook his head. “God, there’s nothing to be sorry for. Come on, let’s go inside,”
He opened the door for her and told her to wait in the back while he went to get her some napkins and water from the bar. He was also doing it because he knew she probably needed a second alone.
He stood in the back with her, about to ask if she was okay again, when she spoke again.
“Thank you… I’m good to go back to work,”
He frowned. He had a feeling she was just trying to be brave, not wanting to fuck up at her new job so early on. But she didn’t have to worry. The owner knew how hard she worked and the regulars all liked her already.
Before he could tell her she could take all the time she needed, she headed back to work.
He didn’t like it, obviously she wasn’t okay but it wasn’t up to him to tell her what to do, so he kept an eye on her for the rest of the night, and once the night was finally over, he helped with closing.
As a few employees left the parking lot and Sweet Pea and Betty ended up being the last two, he asked, “Do you want me to follow you home?”
She looked at him and he could tell she was still scared. Without a word she nodded, and he smiled, glad he could do this one thing to help.
He followed her into the nice part of town, to a pretty house, and watched as she made her way safely inside.
He sighed, taking a look around to make sure they weren’t followed, before he headed home too. Clearly the crazy guy was her ex, her kid’s father, and he probably knew where she was living (at her “bitch mother’s house” apparently). It rubbed Sweet Pea the wrong way knowing that.
But there wasn’t much he could do.
He hoped he wasn’t stepping out of bounds when he went back to the house the following day to check on her.
Sweet Pea parked in front and made his way up the flowering garden, up onto the large white deck. Clearly Betty’s mother was well off. Sweet Pea was starting to be more comfortable around people with money. After all, Cheryl was rich and now his best friend and son lived in a mason.
He rang the well and waited, greeted by a very attractive and uptight older woman. She was so clearly Betty’s mother.
“Yes?” she asked, eyeing Sweet Pea.
He knew he gave off a bit of a bad boy vibe, what with his tattooed arms, hands and neck, but he tried to prove people wrong. He could be a nice guy, and he liked to believe he was.
“Hello, ma’am. I was wondering if Betty is in?”
The woman’s face changed, not to a better or worse expression, but just a different one.
“What do you want with her?”
“We’re friends, we work together,” he explained. “I’m Sweet Pea,”
He extended his hand to shake hers, but instead she closed the door in his face and he heard her yelling, “Elizabeth!” from behind the door.
He smiled to himself, dropping his hand to his side and waiting, looking at the fresh potted plants that were to his sides. Betty’s mother must be into gardening, he realized. It would explain the beautiful front yard.
He couldn’t help but listen as their voices came through clearly from inside.
“It’s Sweet Pea ,” her mother said. Sweet Pea was used to the mockery of his name. “Are you serious, Elizabeth? You’ve been here a week and-”
“Mom, we just work together. It’s not what you think,”
“Oh yeah, and you just got yourself knocked up last time it wasn’t what I thought,”
Sweet Pea smiled at the banter, although he could tell the tension must have been very high in the house. He felt badly for Betty for having to deal with such scrutiny on probably a daily basis.
“Please, mom, can we not right now?”
He heard footsteps leading away, then stepped back when Betty opened the door and stepped out.
She was in a little sundress, her hair down and wavy. She looked like she hadn’t slept much though, and for that he was sorry. He also noticed she was wearing a dress with sleeves, covering up the part of her arm that he was sure was bruised by now.
“Hi,” he greeted, “I’m sorry. I hope it’s okay I came. I didn’t mean to start anything with you mom,”
Betty smiled, shaking her head. “If it wasn’t you it would be something else, don’t worry. She’s always on my case. I’m not really the daughter she expected me to be,”
He smiled sadly and took her invitation to sit on the patio. She offered him a drink but he said he was fine. He just wanted to check on her.
“I’m really sorry about last night. I don’t know how he found out I was working there,”
He shook his head. “Nothing to be sorry for,” he assured. “He’s your ex?”
Betty sighed and nodded. “You and your ex seem so normal, I’m embarrassed,”
Sweet Pea smiled at her thinking Cheryl was the ex. “Cheryl’s my ex’s girlfriend,” he explained. “But you’re right, as far as our situations go, mine is pretty good,” He even went over for family dinner once a week. He was lucky.
“That’s nice,” she offered.
“I wish it was better for you,”
“Thank you,” she smiled again, but her smile was forced and he could tell she had a lot of stress in her life. “Me too,”
They sat like that for a few seconds before he spoke again. “If you need any help, I’m around,”
She nodded and he could tell it meant a lot. Everyone needed help every once in a while. It seemed she was trying to get out of a bad situation and she took the only option out she could. He could tell her mother’s place probably wasn’t the best, but it was better than where she had been.
“I didn’t…” She took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, I don’t know why I’m burdening you wi-”
He shook his head. “You’re not burdening me.”
She looked at him, considering if he meant it or not, and when she continued he hoped she believed him.
“I didn’t just leave for no reason. It hasn’t been good for me and Donte for awhile… with his dad, I mean,”
“I didn’t think you left for no reason,” he told her. Clearly he saw last night that she had a very real reason for leaving. “You did the right thing, Betty.”
The emotions were clear behind her eyes. No one had told her that yet. No one had told her that despite this being hard, she was doing it, and eventually life would feel normal and safe again.
“Hey,” he said. “I’ve got to pick up Jaxon in a little bit. Do you and Donte maybe want to come with us? We can just have some fun and not think about our worries for the day?”
He could tell she had a lot of worries, and she probably hadn’t had any fun in a long time.
He could tell she wanted to, but she probably felt like a burden again.
“Please,” he said. “The boys will have fun,”
Biting her lip, she finally gave in.
He waited outside while they got ready, Betty’s mom coming out to threaten him away from her daughter. “Betty has a lot of issues, young man, and the last thing she needs is another bad thing in her life,”
“Then a friend will probably help,” he simply answered, offering to help her with her plants while she waited. She had come out with gardening tools so he had been right.
He didn’t know a lot about Betty, but he could tell she didn’t have as many issues as her mother liked to think she did.
After having spent the day with her, he could tell she was a fantastic mother who did everything and anything to make her son smile, she was kind and nice to talk to. She had just gotten herself into a relationship with a crazy person and now was trying to get herself away from that.
She was hard working, she told him how she was trying to get out of her mother’s as soon as possible and that’s why she was taking all the shifts she could to save money. She had left Malachai with nothing, but it had been the best voice she made.
He admired her for making the changes that were needed.
At the end of the night, with the boys over looking at the jukebox, Betty and Sweet Pea sat alone at their table, and he could tell she had something to say.
“I’m ah… I’m not trying to say I think this is what you’re trying to do, but I want to be completely transparent,”
He smiled so she’d know she was free to say what she wanted. He’d never had such a nice time with someone and he was just glad they were able to do this.
“I’m really… I’m not at all in a place where I can be in a new relationship with someone, and if this happened at any other time I’d be a hundred percent interested, but now is just… it’s not good,”
He smiled, because despite her saying nothing could happen right now, he also heard that she was interested.
“It’s okay,” he told her. “We can be just friends,”
Strangely enough he meant it. He had enough relationships that didn’t mean anything, that had been just sex, that he was ready for something more. If all she could do was friends, then he could definitely use a friend.
.
Their friendship blossomed over the next four or so months. The boys were fast friends and Sweet Pea was still trying to get Mrs. Cooper on his side. He could tell she really disliked him, but he didn’t care. He was helping Betty and just seeing the way she was starting to relax and be more confident was amazing.
He was interested, of course, and made comments probably more than he should have. He knew she couldn’t do anything about it right now, she was bettering her life, getting herself and Donte away from her crazy ex and didn’t have the energy for a relationship, but the attraction was there, and maybe one day they could act on it.
When things got worse with Malachi, Sweet Pea offered his apartment to her. Malachi wouldn’t know where she was and it would be safer for her then him showing up at her mother’s whenever he wanted.
Sweet Pea hoped he never saw the fucker again, because he knew he’d probably end up killing him and go to jail if he did. And that just wasn’t an option if he wanted his own kid to have a normal life. Visiting his father in jail wouldn’t be normal.
After a bunch of convincing he got Betty into his place, moving into Toni and Cheryl’s guest room for a while. The girl’s teased him about being in love and he wasn’t so sure they were wrong.
He knew Betty could look after herself, but he liked the fact that he could offer help wherever he was able to. She really was a lovely person and she deserved a lovely life. She’d been living with an abusive asshole for years, afraid to leave, and now she deserved better.
Donte was at his grandmother’s and Sweet Pea wanted to surprise Betty, so with a quick text checking if it was okay to come over, he picked up a pizza and brought over the community college’s fall catalogue.
Betty frowned at him when he handed it to her, having marked the pages with the journalism classes.
“You said,” he began, wondering if he had heard wrong, “you wanted to go, but Donte came along and you were too busy,” He knew it was more like, Malachi didn’t let her, but he’d play along with the lie because he knew it was easier for her than the truth.
“They have classes during week nights. I don’t work on weeknights so I can look after Donte no problem. Plus they have financial aid, so I’m sure that’s not a problem,”
She began crying and he kicked himself for doing this. He was putting more pressure on her than she already had and he should have known better.
“I’m sorry,” he began quickly, “I should have known it was too soon, you can just forget I brought this over, I was-”
She shook her head, looking at him with red watery eyes. “You’re just so amazing,”
That gave him the best feeling he’d ever had. No one told him he was amazing. “Betty,” he sighed.
She flew into his arms, into a huge hug, and he closed his eyes, feeling like they’d known each other forever. He cared about her just as much as he cared about Toni and Cheryl, and it felt good to care about others, to have people in his life.
The hug lasted longer than a hug should, her cry subsiding and the tender moment turning quickly heated. Suddenly he could feel her hands moving over the expanse of his back, feeling his muscles, as his own arms tightened around her waist, holding her closer.
When she pulled back and they shared their first kiss, he didn’t expect it to be as life changing as it was.
In the kiss he found purpose. He wasn’t just going through life for his son now, now he had his own purpose. A person he wanted to share it all with.
They didn’t actually speak again until after he carried her to the bedroom and they made love.
He’d never made love to someone before and in that moment he knew that’s what it was. He was in love with her, and whether she wanted this to happen again or not, he’d always be there to offer whatever help she needed.
When she moaned and shifted from beside him, he turned his head and watched the radiating beauty next to him. His heart could burst at how badly he needed and wanted her now.
“That was… really nice,” she said softly, bringing her gentle hand to his chest and beginning to trace the ink that spilled in every direction.
He placed his hand atop hers, over his loudly beating heart. “So nice you want to do it again?” he teased, loving the way she bit her lip to hide a smile.
He waited on baited breath, because even though he’d respect her decision if she only wanted to be friends still, he still hoped for more.
“My mother’s not going to be happy about this, you know?” she said, making him chuckle with joy. “But she does like all the extra help she gets around the garden, so maybe we’ll get her used to the idea,”
He pulled her in closer, kissing her forehead. “I will carry all the bags of dirt she needs if it’ll prove I’m serious about her daughter,”
She looked up at him contently, and all he wanted to do was tell her it was okay, he’d protect her and Donte and nothing bad would ever happen to them again, but he didn’t want to ruin the moment now and make her think of the past.
“I don’t deserve you,” she finally said.
It broke his heart. She really believed that, but he’d make sure she saw the truth soon enough. She deserved everything good.
He pulled her face in to give her a reassuring kiss. “You deserve only the best, and I promise I’ll try my hardest to be who you deserve,”
This time she kissed him, longer and harder, and as she climbed on top of him, he lost himself in the fantasy that he really could be the man she deserved.