Better Man

Caroline stayed true to her word.

When she wasn't busy recording or writing new songs with 'her boys,' she was either spending time with Tre or shopping for items with Mike to go in Estelle's new room. They even went to Home Depot to find the right paint color, avoiding the catastrophe of looking at wallpaper selections.

They usually spent weekend mornings doing a little here and a little there, and the Sunday before the 4th of July, the two of them were painting the nine-year-old's room a sunny shade of yellow, after first painting the walls white with primer the day before.

Mike was hunched over a pan filled with the yellow paint, holding a paint roller in his right hand, wearing a pair of loose fitting jeans covered in paint splotches and an old, white beater. And even his bare arms were covered in paint splotches.

"I think we should leave our mark, discreetly in the room," came Caroline's voice.

Turning his head in her direction, Mike stood up straight. "What do you mean?"

"Well, all this hard, excruciating work we're putting into this," she began with a smirk. "Deserves our signature."

"Our signature?"

"Yeah. Is there any primer left?"

"Over there," Mike pointed to the spot near the bedroom door where the bucket sat. "What are you plannin' to do?"

"Okay, well, this side of the wall near the door is already dry, right?" she questioned, rhetorically. "And, well...it's yellow. So I figure we put one of our hands into the white primer and then place it on the corner of this wall, right behind the door, that way when the door is open it's not obvious, but when it's closed it's still visible without being right in your face."

Mike studied her as she made the gestures of how she thought they could do the 'signature,' smiling down at her. "I think that's a cool idea."

"Really?" she asked, looking up at him from where she was crouched closer to the floor and the can of primer.

"Yeah." Mike set his paint roller back down its pan and walked over to Caroline as he crouched down beside her and took the lid off the can. The fumes of the primer came wafting right out and the two of them scrunched their noses. "Alright..."

As Mike stuck his right hand in he felt how cool and gooey the primer felt. Pulling it back out, he let it drip for a bit before he brought it out of the can and leaned toward the wall, positioning his hand on a spot in the lower corner behind the door. When he wasn't sure if he was putting it in a good spot, Caroline grabbed his wrist and pushed his hand against the wall, making the decision for him.

The bassist looked at her, a little shyly at first, but then smiled. "Your turn," he commented.

Grinning, Caroline did the same, placing her hand in the primer and let it drip for a bit until she pulled it out to place her hand print beside his larger one. And, like she'd done to him, Mike grabbed her wrist and pushed her hand onto the wall. As they looked at one another, there was an awkward moment of silence, while Mike's heartbeat quickened a little.

He was so tempted to lean in and kiss her, Tre be damned. And from the looks of it, so was Caroline. But as their faces neared each other, reality came back to them and they pulled back and laughed nervously.

"Uh...the, um...see? Signature," she muttered shyly.

Mike pulled his gaze off of Caroline to look at the wall and smiled. "Yeah. It looks great. Good idea," he complimented.

Caroline nodded her thanks as they both began to stand up to head back to painting, but as she took a step to the side, she slipped a little on the plastic covering the carpet on the floor and began to stumble backwards. However, Mike was quick to react.

Reaching out to her with both hands, he grabbed her right hand with his left hand, and with his right hand he held onto her waist, his fingers resting on the top of her ass and pulling her up so that she could get her footing again.

And then there was another moment.

And, again, it passed.

"Thank you," she said graciously.

"You're welcome," he replied, while in his head, his mind was screaming: You're touching her ass!

* * *

That evening, Caroline pulled up to Tre's house in the car she'd put a down payment on. If the album sold enough copies, she'd be able to pay off the vehicle in one shot. As she walked up the driveway, she walked right in, using the key Tre had given her a copy of.

She was still covered in paint from the day's earlier activities as she noticed Tre sitting in the living room with Frankito beside him. The two of them were watching something on the Disney channel together and it was rather adorable. Sticking her head into the room, she smiled.

"Hey there," she said, announcing her presence.

Tre lifted his eyes over to his girlfriend and returned the smile, but not as wholeheartedly as the one she'd given him. "Hey."

"I'm gonna go take a shower and change, okay? Then we can go out like you wanted to," she said, giving him a wink.

As she turned to head out of the room and toward the rounded stairwell in the front hall, Tre's blue eyes glanced at her behind, taking note of the white hand print on the left ass cheek of her black jeans. His face immediately soured as he excused himself from his son's presence.

"You wanna explain that?" Tre asked, seriously, walking up to the top floor, only a few feet behind her.

As soon as she was inside his bedroom, she turned her head and looked at him in confusion. Tre closed the bedroom door behind them and put his hands on his narrow hips.

"What are you talking about? Explain what?"

Tre stepped forward, reached his right arm around her and cupped her ass, his face only about two inches from hers. "This," he answered. Pulling his hand away he stared at her, wanting an answer while a large, white hand print was on her ass. A hand print he knew didn't belong to her, nor him.

Caroline furrowed her brow as she walked over to the mirror and turned slightly to look at her backside, then taking in the sight of the hand print and it all came back to her.

"Oh..."

"'Oh' doesn't explain why someone had their hand on your ass, Care. In fact, that's not just any hand, is it? You've been helping Mike fix Estelle's room. Painting it." Tre was starting to feel a little hot under the collar. "Is there something I should know, Caroline, before I invest any further into this relationship? Or are you planning to help fix Mike's other problems and keep me in the dark?"

"Tre," she began, shaking her head, starting to come to her defense. "I'm not---"

"You sure enjoy spending time with Mike lately." Tre gave her a tightlipped expression as his usually bright blue eyes shaded with anger.

"'Cause he's my friend, Frank," she snipped at him, emphasizing his name. "I'm allowed to spend time with my friends."

"Especially those friends who can, you know, lay an extra coat of primer."

"What the fuck are you insinuating?"

"I dunno. What do you think I'm insinuating?"

"You tell me," Caroline egged him on, not backing down from this argument.

"I think you and my best friend may be doing more than decorating. In fact, I'm starting to think there's some stuffing going on."

Caroline scowled and slapped Tre hard across the face without any warning. It took him a few seconds to let the sting subside because he was seriously caught off guard by that gesture.

"I am not cheating on you and for you to assume I am, makes me think you have no trust in me whatsoever. And I will not invest myself into this relationship any further either unless I have that trust."

Caroline stared at him, awaiting some sort of reply when her cell phone began to ring. Turning her attention away from Tre, she pulled the device out of her front pocket and flipped it open.

"What?" she snapped. But then her face softened. "Wait, what? What happened?"

Tre rubbed his face where he'd been slapped. Damn, she packed some heat. The spot still stung. He watched as her face began to fall, and his own anger began to subside as he grew concerned about what had suddenly worried her.

"Is he okay? I-I mean...when did it...how..." she trailed. "He's gonna be okay, right?" She placed her hand on her chest and gave a sigh of relief but she wasn't completely satisfied with whatever she'd been told. "Yeah...yeah, okay, I'll be right there. Thanks for letting me know, Dave."

Caroline closed her phone and repocketed it as she brushed by Tre, grabbing her purse up off the dresser beside him.

"Care, what happened?" he inquired.

"Nick," she answered simply. "He was in a car accident."

Tre's face fell, just as hers had. "Is he alright?"

"He's alive," Caroline replied, opening the bedroom door. "I gotta go to the hospital."

"I'll come with you," Tre offered.

"Aren't you watching Frankito?"

"Well, yeah, but he's my son. So, it's not necessarily watching him so much as it staying at home with my son. And I can bring him with me. I'll call Claudia's phone and let her know where we went in case she wonders."

Caroline and Tre held each other's gaze for a moment until she nodded. "Yeah, okay."

* * *

About thirty minutes later, they were at the hospital. Caroline walked side by side with Tre, who had his five-year-old son on his hip. Stepping into Nick's hospital room first, Caroline took in the sight of Dave and Nef standing with Nick's girlfriend Christina, whose face was red and puffy from crying. Meanwhile, Nick was lying in bed, a cast on his right arm and a bandage around his head.

"Oh God," Caroline muttered.

Nef came up to her and patted her arm as she smiled and walked over to Nick and touched his shoulder, then placed a kiss on his cheek.

"Hey, Care," Nick smiled.

"How you feelin'?" she asked.

"Better."

"Now, what exactly happened?"

"Christina and Nick had just left the apartment to go out to dinner when another car drove through a red light and nailed Nick's side of the car," Nef explained.

"I should've been driving. It was my car," Christina muttered, still teary-eyed.

"It wasn't your fault, babe," Nick assured.

"He hit his head on the steering wheel before it even deployed, and the driver's side door was all crunched in. It broke his left arm pretty severely," The Sinners' drummer continued. "The doctor told us he'd have to wear that cast for at least four weeks and then at least two months of proper therapy before it can get back up to speed."

"Alright, well, as long as you didn't lose anything and you're still alive, that's all that matters," Caroline spoke, with a nod of her head.

"Yeah, but that means I can't play on the rest of the album," Nick frowned. "Our first major album and I can't even play the rest of it."

"It's okay, dude," Dave insisted. "We can wait until you're at 100 percent before you lay down the bass lines. Just add them in."

"No. That's gay," Nick shook his head. "We shouldn't have to put anything on hold just 'cause I can't play. I mean, I can dictate how I want something played as long as there's someone to actually play."

"I'll do it, Buddy. I'll pull double time."

"No, that won't work if you're trying to practice as a group. You need an extra person."

"Yeah, but who?" Caroline wondered. "Nick, we can wait---"

"What about Mike?" Tre piped up, setting his son on the ground and stepping closer to the group.

"What?" Caroline questioned, giving her boyfriend a sideways glance.

"Mike's the best bassist I know," Tre continued, then looked to Nick, apologetically. "No offense, man."

"None taken. I agree. No one can hold a flame to the almighty Dirntmeister," Nick smirked.

They all let out a short laugh, looking toward Tre again.

"I mean, my band, we're not doing anything right now. Not even working on another album, so we got a lot of free time on our hands," Tre informed. "I doubt Mike would say no, if you asked him."

Caroline looked at Tre and walked over to him, giving him a light smile and squeezing his hand. "This your way of apologizing for before?" she asked in a whisper.

He gave a guilty smirk and shrugged. "I suppose."

She studied his face and then shook her head. "That's good enough for me," she replied, placing a kiss on his cheek, then wrapping her arm around his back and hooking her hand on his right hip, leaning into him.

"So, what's the verdict?" Nef wondered. "We ask 'The' Mike Dirnt to lend a hand on recording this album or do we postpone Nick's parts?"

The members of The Sinners looked from one to another as they went around, giving their votes.

"I say Mike's our best bet right now," Nick insisted.

"I agree. I'm going with Mike," Dave said.

Nef nodded. "Mike." He then looked at Caroline, followed by everyone else. "Care? What do you think?"

She released a small breath and smiled. "Mike it is."