Best Man

"Where do I begin to look?" came Caroline's inquiry as she sat in bed with Mike; their legs tangled under the sheets and his left hand linked with her right one.

Leaning into his side, she looked up at his profile just as he looked down at her to place a kiss on the tip of her nose.

She smiled. "I mean...have you ever bothered to find out who your birth parents were?"

"Of course I have, but I got to the point where I just didn't care anymore," he replied simply, looking forward at the closed bedroom door. "All I know is that my mother was a teen addicted to drugs. And she gave me away. So, I guess I owe her some thanks for not raising me in that kind of atmosphere. My childhood woulda been more fucked up than it already was. But, I'd also like to punch her in the face sometimes because doctors have said the reason for my heart problems was because of the conditions surrounding my birth. Born to a drug addict."

Caroline frowned as she turned her body more into his and wrapped her left arm around his waist and then trailed her hand up to make circles in his chest hair with her index finger. Kissing his chest briefly, she let out a sigh.

"Do you know anything more about your birth parents aside from them leaving you in a dumpster?"

"Nope," she muttered. "All my mom and dad ever told me was that when they adopted me, they went through Baker Victory Services which is in the town of Lackawanna, just outside Buffalo. Which is where I was found. In Lackawanna. It's not the best of suburbs, if you can call it that. Some good Samaritan or whatever was walking by when he heard this crying and found me in the dumpster and ran with me down the road to the hospital just there. OLV. Our Lady of Victory. They couldn't find my birth mother. So I have no clue as to why I was given away like that."

"Well, we'll look into it, okay? You're the one that was adopted. You have the right to have your files opened. We can find out who exactly handled the adoption, maybe the name of the guy that found you. Do some searching. Hell, we'll hire a private investigator if we have to."

With that comment, Caroline winced and pulled back from Mike a little.

"What's wrong?"

"That's what Tre said. Hire a private investigator."

"Well...it was a good suggestion, you gotta admit."

"Yeah, I know...I just...I dunno."

Silence fell over the couple as they continued to just sit there in bed together; hands nonchalantly grazing skin out of content and comfort. Listening to each other's breathing as their chests rose and fell. Sitting there, thinking.

Biting her bottom lip, Caroline sat up a bit more and shifted her weight so that she had climbed up onto Mike's lap and could wrap her arms around his neck while rest her head down just under his chin. Wrapping his arms around her back, he placed his chin on the top of her head and felt his heart grow about ten sizes.

"I'm glad we're talking again."

"Like civilized people, right?" she laughed.

"Yeah."

After a pause, Caroline muttered, "Sorry about throwing shit at you last week."

Mike gave an aloof shrug of his shoulders. "S'okay. All's forgiven and forgotten."

"The bruise I gave you from chucking the cordless phone at your arm isn't gone, so that's not forgotten," she pointed out, moving her lips to his right arm to kiss the small bruise below the stars of his 'Estelle' tattoo.

"But it's forgiven." Lifting a hand, Mike cupped one side of her face and made her look at him as he brushed some hair out of her eyes with that same hand. "It's why I love you so goddamn much. You're passionate and fiery. And I'm the masochist that loves how you got me on fire."

"You aren't gonna, by any chance, break out into that Johnny Cash song, are ya?"

"Only if you want me to."

Caroline's only response was a short giggle as she shook her head. "Nah, I like the quiet."

"In other words, you hate my singing," he assumed. "It's just as well, because this is why I insisted that Billie become the singer for the band way back when."

"I didn't say I hate your singing. I enjoy it, in fact. It's all...quirky and seductive," she responded. "Does that make any sense at all?"

"Yep."

Once again, silence fell upon them as Caroline leaned back down to rest her head under his chin and just hold tightly onto him.

"Mike?"

"Hmm?" Eyes closed, his fingers subconsciously snaked into her dark hair as he pressed his lips against the top of her head.

"Could you teach me to play the bass?"



As October rolled around Caroline was taking bass lessons with Mike, her fiance.

No joke.

They spent about four hours, every day, in their basement studio, with him teaching her all he knew in a sort of crash course because she wanted to learn all she could as soon as possible without sounding like an amateur either.

She was determined to help mend the hole her band had.

And that's when she told Dave and Nef her idea of not going ahead with finding a new bassist, because she would be the new bassist.

Instead of being a foursome, they'd be a threesome.

After all, if Green Day could do it, so could The Sinners.

So, the two remaining guys of the younger band also began to practice with Caroline, taking the time to vent the frustration they still harbored for Nick's decision to quit the group by talking about him behind his back; since he was no longer there to defend himself.

Nick had already sold the home he kept in San Francisco and bought one back in Buffalo and was now in the process of moving back east.

Meanwhile, Dave, Nef and Caroline joked about how Nick wasn't even that great of a bass player anyway. That they'd have been better off if Mike had played on their entire first record and that they'd simply gotten a tour bassist for on the road. But now there was a sense of better bonding between the three. The new direction they were taking was bringing them closer and they felt their sophomore album would be the better for it.

Dave was discovering new techniques of his own, Nef was discovering what a damn good drummer he could be when he spent more time simply believing he could, and Caroline...well, she was doing pretty well, herself.



"What did you tell my sister to get her out of her funk?" Giselle said as she walked by Tre in the kitchen of his house.

She'd been spending more and more time there that it was more like her residence than Mike and Caroline's.

"Just what she needed to hear."

"Which was?" she pestered, turning to lean against the counter with the small of her back.

"A little of this, a little of that," the seasoned drummer replied vaguely with a smirk as he advanced on the younger Woods sister.

Tilting his head to the side, he pressed his body up against hers and slowly began to nibble on her earlobe, flicking his tongue out in a way that made her turn to Jell-O beneath him.

Feeling her response, Tre pulled her shirt off over her head and then claimed her lips with his own as he cupped his hands behind her head; his fingers tangling in her curly hair as the two of them ground into one another.

As they began to fool around, they found themselves in a position wherein Giselle ended up pinned against the kitchen wall, with Tre hiking up the peasant skirt she was wearing just as a fleeting memory entered his mind.

Stepping away from the throng of guests, Tre took Caroline by the hand and the two of them moved toward the family room that was void of people. They only stepped into the room enough so that Tre could pin her against the wall and kiss her in private.

She was just so beautiful. And so much fun to talk to. He desperately wanted to get to know her better. In every aspect.

Running his hand up her thigh, he pressed his lips against the nape of her neck and then cupped her ass with his free hand. He smiled at how she moaned into his mouth when she felt his arousal prodding at her inner thigh.

Biting her lip, Caroline pushed him back a little ad then grabbed the pink tie he was wearing, smirked and pulled him back into crush her lips against his. "Not to rush into anything, but..." she trailed off. "Is there anywhere you and I can go?"

Oh, yeah. He definitely liked her a lot.

"Yeah," he muttered against her swollen lips. "Rob has some guest rooms upstairs. If we're subtle," he began. "We can make it upstairs without anyone asking any questions."

Caroline bit his bottom lip this time and smiled. "Good," she replied. "Lead the way, Mr. Wright."

"Very well, Miss Woods."

Tre wasn't sure why he'd suddenly thought back to New Years 2006. The night he and Caroline had made love for the first time.

Maybe it was because this appeared like it was about to be the first time he made love to her sister, Giselle, because, yes, Giselle hadn't given it up so easily.

They'd been building to this point in their relationship. Had been more friends with benefits, but they'd clearly moved into couple status.

And now here they were, at the next step, with Tre greatly excited to be with her, but then another thought came to his head.

That Mike had been with Giselle once.

It angered him a little, but it also made him laugh a little to himself at the fact that both men had both women. Like...girlfriend swap.

"I'm ready," Giselle whispered, breaking her way into his daydream.

Looking her into the eye, he nodded...and began to make love to her right there in the kitchen, against the wall.