It was like a train wreck, honestly.
She was smart, beautiful, witty, and determined.
That first day that I’d seen her all those years ago…
• • •
“What the fuck are you doing, man?” Bruce, a fellow drill sergeant, asked.
“Had a buddy call and ask me to check on his girl. I’m headed that way.” I gestured with my chin.
Bruce fell into step beside me, his eyes taking in the scene in front of them.
They were doing push-ups in the dirt, and the majority of the ladies in front of me looked like they were exhausted.
All except for one.
My target in this endgame.
Our eyes connected over the length of the field separating us, and I all but felt my heart stall in my chest.
Motherfucker.
Outwardly, I was cool, calm, and composed.
Inwardly, however?
Yeah, my fuckin’ heart was rocketing out of control in my chest.
And I knew that, no matter what, I would watch out for this girl a whole lot more than necessary.
And not because her daddy asked me to.
But because I fuckin’ wanted to.
Holy hell, she took my breath away.
• • •
“Earth to Sin.”
I blinked at Sebastian.
“Sorry, what?” I asked.
He was watching me curiously.
“I have that look when I stare at my wife,” he murmured quietly.
I focused back on him, a feeling of curiosity passing through me now.
“Jesus, just let me go already,” I heard my girl order harshly.
I allowed my gaze to leave her father and focus on her.
Johnny had her in his arms and he was hugging her so that her feet didn’t touch the ground.
“What if I don’t wanna, baby sister?” Johnny taunted her.
“Then I’m gonna kick you in your nuts like Daddy taught me and not feel bad for it,” she growled.
Sebastian started to laugh. “I didn’t teach her that. Her mother taught her that. In fact, if we’re being honest, I taught her not to do that. Because, even if it fuckin’ sucked, I didn’t want her to use that on her brother since I knew it hurt.”
I focused once again on him to see him staring at his girl as if she was his world.
And she was.
But she was also beginning to be mine, too.
“I’ll never hurt her,” I promised.
Sebastian’s eyes focused on me. “No, you sure the fuck won’t.”
Then he was striding toward the group, leaving me standing there.
Not for long, though.
Blaise finally broke free over threats, then made her way toward me.
She didn’t stop until she was pressed up against me.
“I’m so sorry,” she admitted quietly.
I moved until she was wrapped up in my arms, her body curled into mine so completely that I could practically wrap my hands around her and touch my own shoulders.
Her head was tucked neatly underneath my chin, and I could feel her heartbeat thrumming wildly against my chest.
“Nothing that I didn’t expect,” I told her honestly. “Though, I thought that they were at least going to get a lick or two in.”
A lick or two being a punch straight to my face.
“They would never do that because they know I’d kick their asses,” she admitted. “Now, do you know everyone here, or should I introduce you?”
I didn’t know most of these guys.
But I wasn’t ready to let her go right then, so instead of doing what she expected, which was let her go, I pulled her tighter into my arms and whispered into her ear.
“I need to get you one of those,” I said, seeing her mom walk over to her dad and he wrapped her up in almost the same embrace that I was giving to their daughter. “Nothing would turn me on more than to see my name tattooed across your shoulder blades. But if you’re not willing to do that, then I’ll have to settle for my name embroidered on a leather cut that you wear at all times. Something you put on the moment you wake up in the morning.”
She pulled away from me slightly, which was exactly not what I wanted, and turned to look in the direction my gaze was pointed. She narrowed her eye skeptically when she saw what I was looking at.
“Do you know how hot those things are? There’s no way in hell I’d be able to wear it all the time. But I promise, if you get me one, I’ll wear it every time we go out on the town or we’re on your bike.” Guessing what it was that I was looking at.
She, of course, was right.
“All of this is so new to me.” I gestured to the world around me, indicating the big biker party that was being thrown in honor of her father’s birthday. “This whole MC thing on our end? It’s a huge lie. Like, none of us are really good bikers. We weren’t raised in this life like you were. I think Zach is the only one that consistently knows what the hell he’s doing. But I want to learn. I want to live this life. Because for the first time in a long time, I finally feel like I belong.”
“Don’t worry,” she teased. “I’ll help you along the way.”
And that was exactly what I wanted.
“You will?” I rumbled, turning her way slightly so that the flames of the fire finally lit my face up for her to see. “You’ll help me make sure that I don’t fuck up too bad?”
She leaned forward and bit me on the pectoral muscle.
I pulled back with a surprised jerk. “Ow.”
“You’re crazy enough to be one,” she mused. “What the hell were you thinking, getting naked?”
I grinned then. “I was thinking that I wanted them to not kick my ass because I didn’t want you to have to drive yourself home tonight on my bike. I was also thinking that it would suck really fuckin’ bad not to be able to fuck you.”
She sighed long and loud. “That’s whacked.”
“That’s me.” I shrugged.
CHAPTER 15
K.
-Female Text Translation: by ‘K’ I mean ‘fuck you.’
BLAISE
“I’m turning in my two weeks’ notice,” I said, licking my lips with a frown.
The man behind the desk, the warden, didn’t move or say anything at all.
“I’m really sorry,” I continued. “It’s just that my man is terrified that I’m working here while pregnant, and he’d like for me to find something less dangerous to do while I’m gestating.”
That got a reaction out of him. “Do you really blame him?”
I looked at the man, Bayou, and shrugged. “I could get my ass kicked at the grocery store because of my mouth. I’m fairly sure that it’s just as safe here as it would be for me anywhere else.”
Bayou grinned then.
“You’re possibly right.” He shrugged. “But I’m glad that you made the choice. Do you want to work the full two weeks, or just head out now?”
Honestly, I wanted to work the two weeks.
But I knew that if Bayou happened to mention to anyone that I knew that he’d given me that out, it would somehow make its way back to my man, and he wouldn’t like it that I didn’t take it.
So that was what I did.
I took it even though I’d rather work.
Fifteen minutes later, I found myself walking out of the prison and to Sin’s truck that I’d commandeered.
My car had been ‘fixed’ since I’d gotten it back from my father over ten days ago.
Only, I decided not to drive it because there was a perfectly good truck that Sin didn’t utilize in the driveway, and Sin didn’t care that I drove it.
And anything was better than what I had, seeing as that car would likely kill me way before working at a prison would.
Walking up to Sin’s truck, I stuck my hand in the door handle and the damn thing automatically unlocked, making me shake my head at the new technology.
My car also possessed the technology. Do you want
to know if my car unlocked for me when I did the same thing?
With an exasperated shake of my head, I climbed into the truck and slammed the door, then started out of the parking lot toward home.
The drive took less than twenty minutes, and I was pulling into my driveway just as my phone started to ring.
Instead of killing the truck, I answered the call as I hung out at the end of the driveway, ready to get out and check the mail when the mail lady finally arrived at my place.
She’d been delivering Sin’s as I’d driven past, and I knew she’d be here any minute.
All of my stuff had been moved from my place to the haunted mansion, but I’d yet to move the mail over.
That took time, effort and energy that I didn’t have just yet. Going up to the post office was one of my least favorite things to do. Mostly because I didn’t like standing in lines, and I knew that would be required of me if I went to the one in Souls Chapel.
When I’d gone up there a couple of weeks ago to have my mail forwarded to my new address, I’d had to stand in line for quite some time because the mail attendant loved to talk.
And when I say loved to talk, I meant he loved to talk. Young, old, female, male. It didn’t make a difference.
The man spoke to everyone as if they were his long-lost friend, and I had never really understood the point of making small talk.
Which meant that by the time I’d arrived at the counter, the man had pissed me off so badly that I’d been short with him.
The two other times that I’d gone to drop off packages, he’d been manning the front counter as well, and didn’t quite take the hint that I wasn’t interested in talking to him for long lengths of time.
“Hello?” I answered, shaking my head at the thought of doing anything that would require me to go anywhere near that place.
“How did it go?”
I grinned at Beckham’s words.
“I am now officially unemployed,” I drawled.
“Actually, you’re not. You’re officially employed here as of twenty minutes ago,” she said. “I made an executive decision to have you at my office and not at the office with your man. I decided he got to see you during the mornings and evenings. I’ll get you during the day.”
I grinned.
“I’ll let you duke that out with him, then,” I said as I watched the mail lady slowly putz down the road toward my box.
She’d pulled over halfway to check something on her phone, then started to slowly creep toward me while her eyes continued to stay on her phone.
“I actually already told him this morning,” Beckham said. “I seriously think he was disappointed. He looked at me as if I was stealing his candy.”
I snickered. “Maybe you are.”
She groaned. “I don’t know about this side of you, Blaise. You’ve turned into a sex monster.”
I gasped. “I have not.”
“Well, what the hell else would you mean by that?” she asked.
I sighed. “I have to go get my mail. Stay on the line. I have a bone to pick with you.”
She giggled and did as I asked.
When the mail lady finally got to my mailbox, she overshot it because again she was still mostly looking at her phone and not where she was going.
When she finally did notice, she slammed on her brakes and cursed up a blue streak.
I waited patiently by the box for her to get her shit together.
Once she’d backed up, she could now see me standing beside the box.
She froze, staring at me in surprise.
I wasn’t sure if it was because she was surprised to see me standing there, or if it was because she recognized me.
“Mackenzie,” she glowered.
I crossed my arms over my chest and glowered right back.
“Drill Sergeant Ames,” I replied.
Her eye twitched. “I’m not a drill sergeant anymore. I’m a humble mail carrier.”
Humble my ass.
She also sucked at it.
I held out my hand and waited for her to do her job, which, apparently, she didn’t feel like doing all that quickly.
Sadly, she felt like talking.
“When did you move here?” she asked curiously, all but unbuckling her belt and turning in her seat so that she could stare at me.
“I’ve been here for about two months now.” I narrowed my eyes. “Why?”
She crossed her arms over her chest and stared.
“I just would’ve thought that you wouldn’t be in our town, that’s all.” She shrugged.
I was almost scared to ask.
“Our town?” I felt my fingers clench into fists.
I was beginning to think that I wasn’t going to like her answer.
“You didn’t know?” She grinned then, looking as if she was the cat that finally caught the canary. “My husband and I made this our hometown three years ago.”
A sinking feeling started to fill my stomach at her words.
“Your husband?” I repeated.
She looked almost giddy when she said, “Jaycen Brees and I got married after Absinthe Solomon tried to break him. We’ve been happily married now for the last four and a half years. We even have a little girl.”
My stomach soured at the thought.
If anyone on the planet deserved not to be a parent, it was Jaycen Brees.
That poor, poor kid.
“Fascinating,” I said, “but my best friend is on the line with me in my truck, and I’d really like my mail now. I’ve been waiting for a package all week.”
I hadn’t.
I just wanted her to give me my shit so I could fucking go.
Goddammit, this was a nightmare.
Out of all the places, how the hell would they wind up here?
Shit, Sin was going to flip his fucking lid.
He only thought that he didn’t like me working at the prison because it was dangerous.
But having Jaycen Brees anywhere near me?
That was going to really, really piss Sin off.
And my father.
Oh, and my grandfather, too.
Shit, shit, shit.
“Sure thing,” she smiled as she pulled some mail from the holder beside her. “No package today, though. I’m sorry. I’ll give you a call if it comes in before I head out today.”
Wonderful.
Not.
Now there were two fucking people at the post office that were creepy as hell.
“Thanks,” I murmured. “Have a good day.”
Hope you fall off a cliff and accidentally die.
During my time in bootcamp, I hadn’t realized how much Drill Sergeant Ames had ‘egged’ Brees on until I was able to look back at it with a clearer head.
Meaning, when I wasn’t in the middle of the torture.
And only then had I realized that she’d made it possible for Brees to do all the things he’d done.
I mean, it was obvious how hard she’d gone out of her way to invite Brees to ‘teach us lessons.’
Walking woodenly on too stiff legs, I got into my truck and waited until not only the door was closed, but my heartbeat had righted itself, before saying, “Beckham?”
“Yeah?” she asked, sounding distracted.
“I’m gonna have to call you back,” I murmured.
“Sure thing. Call me ASAP. Or, even better, come meet me at my office with lunch. Wait. Our office. It’s going to be so much fun not to be by myself anymore. Hurry.” Then she hung up before I could reply.
I licked my lips, then dialed the one and only person that I could in that instant.
Except, he didn’t freakin’ answer.
I narrowed my eyes when I heard Sin’s sexy voice say ‘leave a message’ and that was it.
Taking a half a second to consider what I’d do next, I backed out of my driveway and headed toward the one thing that I knew would be able to calm me down.
Seeing as Sin was busy—he had to be or he would’ve answered
—I drove to Sin’s place and parked his truck in the usual spot in the driveway.
Once arriving inside, I played with Sarge and texted Beckham that something came up, then took the longest, hottest shower that I physically could handle before heading for the only other thing that would help right now.
Sin’s bed.
I’d been sleeping in it beside him for three days now, and I found, when the afternoon got too much for me and the exhaustion hit, being surrounded by Sin’s scent while I took a nap was the next best thing to having him actually be there.
With a full belly and nothing else to do this afternoon, I didn’t bother getting dressed mostly because I knew that I wouldn’t have to get up at a certain time.
That, and Sin promised to bring dinner home tonight, so there wasn’t even that incentive to get up and moving.
Which meant the moment I hit the bed, it was with a certainty that I’d be there for a while. Then the cat had curled up in front of me, and I’d really settled in.
At least until I had to pee, anyway.
For a baby the size of a golf ball—Sin downloaded a tracker on his phone that explained to him in ‘man terms’ what our baby was sized like—I sure did have to pee a whole bunch.
The moment my face hit Sin’s pillow, that ugly knot of dread trailed off to a small tug of worry.
Honestly, the only thing saving me from all out fear at this point was knowing that Brees—Jaycen as Linda Ames had called him—was paralyzed and broken and wouldn’t be able to hurt me like he had previously.
A thought occurred to me then, and I reached for my phone to text Sin.
Blaise: So I had something weird happen today. I’m okay. I called you to talk it out, but now I’m going to take a nap instead. Just sayin’, but if I don’t answer my phone—I put it on silent—I’m okay. Also, make sure that you bring dessert with whatever you bring home for dinner tonight. I’m going to need it.
Grinning at what he would think when he saw that text, I dropped it back down onto the bed beside me, then rethought my original thought and picked it back up.
I then went into the group chat that my brother and father hated, then texted them all.
Blaise: I’m taking a nap. So help me God, if you wake me up from it with a call or a text, I might very well maim you in your sleep. Night. Love you.
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