“You know it,” she said. “People come for the music and the food. That means I need a stage that won’t cave in and a clean place to cook.”
“Well. I do like the new barstools,” Trent added quietly.
“Oh honey. What’s going on? You think I don’t know when my son is down?” Mama asked one of her kitchen assistants to take over her orders while she sat with him at a large island used for prepping food. “I’ve been crazy about you ever since Miles first started begging me to let him bring you here at night. He said he couldn’t stand to leave you home with a pack of ramen noodles and bologna for dinner anymore. Even threatened to take his band elsewhere if I didn’t.”
Trent smiled. He never knew that information.
“He brought you here that first night and you looked around at all these black folks and I thought you were gonna mess your pants.” Mama laughed, reaching up and brushing some hair behind his ear. “But I just wrapped you in my arms and hugged you. Held you like that for so long until you finally hugged me back.”
“I didn’t know what the hell I was supposed to do. I was fourteen and I’d never had a hug,” Trent confessed.
“I know,” Mama said affectionately. “That’s why I gave you one every chance I got.”
“And food… a lot of food.” Trent added, reclining on the stool feeling as if he was too stuffed to stay upright.
“And the food is still right here. All you had to do was come home to get it.”
“I wish everyone had been here when I came home,” Trent mumbled, finally getting to the point of how he’d ended up here.
“I had a feeling that’s what all this melancholy was about. You’re still upset at Miles for leaving the way he did,” Mama responded, never one to beat around the bush. “And you want answers.”
“Yes.”
“Unfortunately it’s not a fascinating tale, and it’s not a long one. It’s the classic case of a man falling in love with a woman and her kid. He falls out of love with the woman… but falls even harder for the kid.”
Trent could already feel the emotion building. Miles had been the father he really wanted. The father he’d deserved for all the hell his mom had put him through with dealing with loser after loser boyfriend. Why couldn’t she have let him have Miles?
“It was like the only time you didn’t get into trouble with that hardheaded Bishop was when Miles wasn’t on tour. But he struggled with being there for you and keeping up with the demands of his band. It nearly killed him, Trent, when he came back that last time and your mother had let them take you to juvenile detention at sixteen without so much as a why.”
“I’d messed up again, fighting, angry as usual,” Trent remembered. Remembered how lonely he’d been when Miles was gone and the lashing out because of it.
“Let me tell you something,” Mama said sternly. “Miles meant a lot to me—he was like another son. If anyone had the talent to make it all the way, it was him. But he lost his drive when he realized he had to let you go. He left the music circuit and went to San Diego after his mother had a stroke and never returned. He told me he left you his heart. The only inheritance he had to give you.”
“His music.” Trent answered her unspoken question, thinking of the hundreds of rare, collectible albums he had at home.
Mama nodded regrettably as if she understood. “He fought for you tooth and nail, but your mom refused to let him adopt you without—”
“Without what?” Trent prompted after she stopped and turned away. He needed to know. “He wanted to adopt me at sixteen. Why didn’t she let him? She didn’t give a damn about me or my fucked-up life!”
“Watch your mouth in my kitchen, Trent,” Mama told him giving him that eye.
“I apologize.” Trent settled back onto the stool. “Without what?”
“Without money,” Mama said sadly. “It’s not right. I know and I’m sorry to have to be the one to tell you, but you came here wanting answers, and I think you’re old enough that you deserve them. Your mother wanted ten thousand dollars, Trent. And Miles had scraped together every penny he could. We even held a fundraiser here at the club to help him raise money for his lawyer fees. We all pitched in. But it just hadn’t been enough.”
“How… so she…” Trent’s hands began to shake, and he suddenly felt light-headed as if the ground was shifting under his feet. “My mom tried to…”
Mama was in his face. “Easy now.”
Trent shook his aching head, his gravy and butter rolls feeling as if they were about to make a violent reappearance. “My own mom tried to sell me?” Trent felt his legs give out just as Mama’s panicked shout reached his ears. But before his ass hit the floor, strong arms gripped him from behind.
“I got you, son,” Mike said, holding him tightly while Trent fell apart. “You may not have got the father you wanted, but you got me, Trent. Always.”
Chapter Fifty
Wood
Wood had been standing in front of the living room window ever since Mike called a hour ago to say he’d found Trent and they were on their way home. He inhaled sharply when he saw a large black truck turn onto their street. He was surprised that Mike had ended up driving Trent home. Was he drunk? If he was, it was Wood’s fault.
Trent trudged up the driveway as if this was the last place he wanted to be. Wood left the door unlocked, and the second Trent’s foot crossed the threshold, he yanked him into his chest and slammed the door close behind him.
Trent dug his fingers into the muscles in his back, a wounded sound escaping his throat. “I did it again.”
Wood held Trent in his arms, feeling too much at once now that he was home safe.
“I never turned my ringer back on when we got out of church.” Trent gazed up at him through red-rimmed eyes. “You called seventeen times… and again I didn’t answer.”
“Baby.” Wood swallowed thickly, hugging him close. “We had a fight. It happens. And it’ll most likely happen again. We didn’t exactly go into this relationship conventionally, Trent. We’re gonna hit some bumps along the way the more we get to know each other.”
Trent nodded slowly.
“I’m not mad because you didn’t answer the phone. I’m upset that you left in the first place.” Wood held Trent tightly behind his neck. “That you thought I was walking out on you, as if what we have means nothing to me.”
Trent’s spirit appeared beaten, broken, and Wood forgot about the strong words he’d planned to have when Trent got home. Now none of those words seemed important, not anymore. He knew the confession he’d made to Mike was the truth because all he wanted to do at that moment was put his partner’s mind at ease.
“Look at me,” Wood said, his throat feeling dry and achy. He could only imagine how he sounded. “Adam is in my past. I paid my debt to society, I apologized to him, now I owe him nothing. You are my future.”
Trent choked as if he was struggling to breathe, and Wood gently touched the side of his heated cheek. “It’s been all about you from the moment I got here. And it’ll stay that way. You’re mine, Trent, understand that. So that there’s no more freakin’ misunderstandings,” Wood stressed. He closed his eyes and pressed his forehead against Trent’s.