He laughed. “Bring it home, and I’ll take a look.”
“I’ll just buy a snorkel and goggles. Maybe just drive with my head hanging out the window. I’ll be there in three hours,” I drawled.
Dad snickered.
“I can come up and look at it tomorrow. Have it towed to Johnny’s place. I’ll use his garage,” he mused.
The loud sound of sirens wailed on his end, and I sighed. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Daddy.”
“Tomorrow, baby. Love ya.” Then he was gone, going to do what he loved best.
My father was a forty-year veteran of the Benton Fire Department. He’d started out as a firefighter, then EMT basic and then worked his way all the way up to chief. Now the only time that he got in the back of an ambulance was when they were short four paramedics or there was a big emergency that required all-hands-on-deck.
He loved his job, and I loved him.
I pressed my hand over my still flat belly and wondered if Sin would have the kind of relationship with our child like Johnny and I had with our father.
I sure the hell hoped so, because I knew how much my relationship with my dad meant to me, and I wanted the same for my child. Whether that baby was planned or not.
My next phone call was to a towing company who said that they would be here in ten minutes, leaving me standing on the side of the road with a smoking car and nowhere to go.
Surprisingly, not a single person stopped.
They slowed down, sure.
But stop they did not.
At least until the latest one.
I was in the process of giving my car a lecture when I heard it.
The familiar sound of a motorcycle engine.
It was something that had been ingrained in me since before I’d even been born.
The sound was distinct.
And what made it even more distinct was the fact that I could tell what type it was based solely on the sound of the pipes.
I didn’t bother turning around.
Instead, I did what any sane woman would do.
“Stupid, stupid, stupid,” I grumbled as I kicked the car again. “I swear to God. This is what happens when I try to be the good guy. I get shafted, and not in a good way.”
Just as I heard the motorcycle turn off, I turned to find Sin sauntering toward me with a look of worry on his face.
“What happened?” he asked, looking at the smoking car.
The car that was literally putting out less smoke now than it had been before he’d arrived.
I narrowed my eyes.
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “My car’s a freakin’ lemon. It just… hates me.”
His lips turned up slightly at one corner. “What happened this time, specifically, though?”
I looked at the vehicle that was now no longer smoking at all.
What the absolute hell?
“I pulled over because it was smoking,” I admitted. “It was coming through the air conditioning vents. Then when I pulled over and popped the hood, it started pouring out so fast that I was really worried it was on fire. Now it’s… not.”
It was just sitting there, looking innocent.
What the crap?
His amused eyes turned to me, and my entire body did a full stretch at the sight of him standing there looking so hot.
God.
In the time that he’d gotten out of prison—four weeks to be exact—he’d gotten sexier.
How was that possible?
His moss-green eyes were leveled on me, and he was staring at me like he knew all of my secrets.
I fidgeted.
His eyes warmed as he said, “Do you need a ride somewhere?”
I looked at his bike, then looked at him, and thought, Oh hell no.
“My brother is on his way,” I lied. “And the tow truck driver should be here any second.”
Speaking of, said tow truck driver rolled up moments later and got out, grinning at me.
“Hey, girl,” he said as he got out of the truck. “It givin’ you trouble again?”
I sighed.
I’d been here six weeks, and my car had already needed to be towed three separate times.
“Yes,” I grumbled. “Before he pulled up, my stupid car was billowing smoke like an imitation freight train. Now it’s… not. But I’m not comfortable driving it anyway. Just in case it does happen to blow up while I’m inside it.”
The tow truck driver, his name was Evander, laughed.
Evander was a tow truck driver for Hail Auto Recovery. He’d accidentally been in the right place at the right time last time, and I’d liked him. So I kept calling him even though most of the time he was at least thirty minutes away.
Sin, however, didn’t laugh.
The thought of me blowing up inside of a car obviously didn’t strike him with amusement like I’d intended.
I quickly looked away from his scowling face toward Evander.
“I’d offer you a ride this time,” he said as he started to hook my car up to the truck and load it on. “But I got my kids in there. We were out doing some shopping in between tows while their mother gets her nails done. I’m sorry.”
I waved him off, even though he was supposed to be my ride.
Now I was either going to have to actually call my brother or tell Sin that I didn’t really have a ride.
That, or walk.
Which was sounding even better by the second.
Even if the walk was a good eight miles at least.
Why had I chosen a place that was so far out?
“That’s okay,” I said, sounding a little too chipper. “Just take it to my brother’s house again, okay?”
Evander grinned and did one last thing to my car before waving and heading back to his truck.
It was only as he was climbing inside that I realized my mistake.
“Wait!” I cried out as I started to climb the tow truck. I got about halfway before I felt hands on my hips.
“Let me get whatever you need,” he growled.
I rolled my eyes and would’ve kept climbing but instead of getting any farther, I ended up going down.
Mostly because my feet were no longer touching the truck.
Sin lifted me bodily to the ground then was up and inside my car in a flash.
“You want your purse and your phone?” he asked.
I swallowed hard. “Yeah. And my snack. I have a sandwich on the seat, too.”
He pulled it all out and handed it down to me before he jumped down himself.
After waving to Evander, and the truck pulling away, he turned to me.
“Do you really have a ride?” he asked.
I stayed silent.
“You were planning on getting a ride with the tow truck driver, weren’t you?” he asked.
I shrugged.
His eyes narrowed at my lack of voice.
“You’d rather ride with a tow truck driver than me?” he questioned.
I shrugged. “I don’t want you to think that I’m forcing you to be around me.”
“I was the one who decided to pull over,” he pointed out.
I rubbed the spot just above my nose and between my eyes. “Yeah, but that would make you look like an asshole if you just drove by. I know you stopped out of obligation.”
He sighed. “Come on. I’ll give you a ride home.”
I would rather walk.
But because I was an adult, and I did adult things sometimes, I walked to his bike and reluctantly mounted it behind him.
I made sure to place my purse and sandwich between us because I didn’t want to be any closer to him than required.
Which sucked because I really, really wanted a reason to have my arms around him.
But I held strong and didn’t so much as wrap my arms around him as he drove us the straight shot down the street that led to both of our houses.
When he pulled into my driveway and came to a stop, I all but bailed.
“Thanks for the ride,�
�� I called over my shoulder as I literally ran into the house and slammed the door closed.
Once I had my back against the closed door, I stared at the dog who was standing there looking at me expectantly.
“Don’t look at me like that,” I ordered. “I didn’t do anything wrong.”
The dog snorted out a sneeze and then went back to whatever he was doing before I came inside.
Instead of following him, I sank down to my knees, then onto my ass, and ate my Subway sandwich right there on the floor in the foyer.
Then followed it up with three chocolate chip cookies.
Don’t judge me.
They were on sale three for a dollar.
CHAPTER 8
Be your own daddy. Make your own sugar.
-Sin to Blaise
SIN
I answered the door, not sure who the hell to expect.
Who I found on the other side of the door, though, wouldn’t have been my first guess. Hell, not even my second. Or eighth.
“Blaise,” I said, a feeling of exhilaration rushing through my veins upon seeing her. Then again, maybe that was because I was looking at her in a pair of tight black leggings and an even tighter black racerback tank top. Two things that left very little to the imagination. “Hey.”
She looked at me with worried eyes.
“I need you to drive me to the doctor.”
I looked at her sharply.
“Why?” I asked.
She rolled her eyes but patted her belly as if to say, ‘it’s okay.’
“Because I have a doctor’s appointment. Those come once a month for the first eight months, then once a week for the last four to six weeks depending on how the baby is doing,” she explained. “I just need a ride because my car is currently in the shop… remember? Although, I almost forgot I needed to find a ride until just now.”
I let out a breath I hadn’t been aware I’d been holding. “Yes, I remember now. You scared the shit out of me, though.”
I looked around my empty kitchen.
“We should move in together,” I blurted out. “I have an empty house. You have a week-to-week rental. It doesn’t make sense that we can’t both just… share.”
She looked at me oddly.
“I have a week-to-week rental with my brother,” she whispered. “And if anyone should move out, it’s you. You’re in a haunted house.” She looked behind me as if she didn’t even want to come in the door. “But that’s beside the point. I’m thinking that, since this is the first time that you’ve talked to me in a month, that maybe we should start slow. You know, maybe grab lunch sometime next week.”
My lips twitched. “I was going to call you today anyway.”
I was, too.
After seeing her yesterday, I’d realized that there was no more putting off the mess that I’d found myself in.
Despite her words, she wasn’t going to wait forever.
I had a feeling if I didn’t get my head out of my ass, then she would bolt.
If her actions yesterday were any indication.
Despite her wariness with me and insistence that I needed to take some time to deal with my feelings, this last month was necessary.
I’d had to do a cross-country move with all of my stuff. Catch up with all the family that I’d left behind. Relearn all of my nieces’, nephews’, great-nieces’ and nephews’ names, find a job, move into a house. Get settled in with the other Souls Chapel Revenants. And that wasn’t even taking into account some of the shit that had gone down in the last month with the other members of the MC.
Needless to say, I’d needed the month.
I had enough time at night to fall right into bed, and enough time in the morning to wake up, main line a shot of coffee, and get to my new real job as a private investigator.
See, Lynn already had quite a bit of business for that, and I hadn’t realized just how chaotic it would be until I was thrust right into the middle of it.
I had a million and one things to do today.
I didn’t have time to take her to the doctor.
But I would.
Gesturing her inside, I stepped back and made a beeline for my phone that was on the counter next to my toothbrush I was just using before she’d knocked on the door.
When I turned around to address her, I found her still standing on the front porch.
“You can come in,” I reiterated.
She wrinkled her nose. “I don’t do scary stories.”
I gave her a look, and she sighed.
“Son of a bitch,” she grumbled as she walked into the house, expecting something to smite her the moment she breached the door. “I better not die, or I’ll haunt your ass for the rest of my life.”
I grinned at her and gestured for her to take a seat.
“What time do we need to leave here by to get there on time?” I questioned.
She looked at her watch, which was a cool Luminox.
It was way too big for her hand, and it was old to boot. I had a feeling that it’d been her father’s or grandfather’s at some point. There was no way that something that big and scratched up was hers.
“About twenty minutes or so.” She paused. “I wasn’t actually sure how long it would take to get here, or if you’d be ready by the time that I got here, so I wanted to give you ample time.” She paused. “Unless I could just borrow your truck?”
I gave her a look. “You don’t want me to come?”
Her eyes slid away from me to the sink where she took in where I brushed my teeth.
She curled her lip up in disgust when she saw the toothpaste tube. “That’s disgusting.”
I looked down at where my toothbrush was, and then at the tube that really was disgusting. I wasn’t one of those that kept the toothpaste tube clean, or, for that matter, the lid on.
I was one, in fact, that was a bit messy with it and didn’t really care.
In all other aspects of my life, I was clean and tidy. I gave myself that one out.
“You’re neglecting to answer my question,” I told her.
She turned her disgusted gaze from my toothbrush and toothpaste to me, and the look slid right off her face and became… more.
“I don’t hate you nor do I not want you to come,” she said softly. “It’s just incredibly hard to be near you.”
My brow rose.
“Earlier you asked why I couldn’t move in with you,” she continued. “I don’t think I can share a space with you and keep my hands to myself. I’m sorry.”
I didn’t want her to keep her hands to herself.
In fact, I wanted her hands all over me.
I didn’t say that, though.
“I…”
“Not to mention these pregnancy hormones are a bitch,” she continued, speaking over me. “I’m pretty sure if you were in the same house as me, I’d be forcing my attentions on you at all hours of the night, and I just don’t think that’s a good idea when you’ve been trying your level best to stay as far away from me as you could while still being in the picture.”
I had been doing that.
Honestly, it was the same issue for me.
She didn’t have the utterly unattractive male clothing on anymore that swamped her body.
In fact, she’d been wearing cute as hell sundresses, sexy little shorts and tank tops, and tight ass yoga pants and even tighter shirts.
There was no more wondering what was behind her clothes, because she was showing me.
Torturing me slowly.
Which had been why I was avoiding her.
I couldn’t be around her and not pop a chubby.
It was getting embarrassing.
“I want you to be there,” she said. “I want you to be at every appointment, because I want you to want it for yourself. I don’t want you there because you have to be. Or because you’re just in the vicinity because my car broke down and I can’t drive myself. Does that make sense?”
Her question had me grinning like a l
oser. “Yeah, it makes perfect sense.”
She slumped slightly, as if she hadn’t liked telling me that.
“But what I also know is that I do want to be a part of your life. Our baby’s life. Had it happened a little more normally, I don’t think I would’ve done anything differently. I honestly am kind of terrified of having to tell your father and mother and brother, oh and let’s not forget your really fucking scary grandfather, about the fact that I knocked you up. I also am kind of hesitant to be super excited because after I tell them that, I have a feeling that I’m about to lose my life, or at least the ability to use my legs. Then there’s the fact that I haven’t been around much this last month, and I don’t want to hurt you or possibly make you feel like you’re unwanted. I really did need to get my shit in order. And, just sayin’, but my life is nowhere near in order. But now that you’re here, I think that it would be a good idea for you to stay.”
Her brows rose then, too. “Stay?”
“Stay.” I nodded. “In my life. Because I know what I want, and that’s you.”
She shook her head as if to clear it. As if she thought for sure she was going to wake up and realize that these past few minutes had been a dream.
“Now,” I said. “I need a new shirt because I’m pretty sure this one smells like coffee since I spilled it on myself about five minutes before you came in. Let me go do that. While I am, will you go let the cat out?”
She blinked. “Let the cat out?”
“Yeah.” I pointed at the cat that was by the back door. “She usually goes outside to do her business. Let her in when she’s done. If she’s not done by the time I get back, then she can just stay out there until I get back to let her inside.”
She shook her head, turning to the cat. “It took me two months to get Sarge to always go outside since he was so used to going wherever he wanted after being in a shelter. And you have a fucking cat going outside like a damn dog.”
I snorted. “Don’t give me credit where credit isn’t due. That was actually the previous owner’s doing. The cat was left behind with the house.”
She came to a sudden stop halfway between the back door and me.
I looked at her in surprise. “What?”
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