Kinda Don't Care

by Lani Lynn Vale

  Rafe really did.

  Though most of his hair was still jet black, a few bright and shiny strands at his temple and top of his head were coming out. His beard, though? Yeah, that thing was rocking the gray beard hairs like crazy.

  It was hot as hell, I had to admit.

  And there was something to be said for an older man seeing as Rafe knew exactly what to do…

  “Older men are better, in my opinion,” Sawyer, my grandfather’s wife, said with a smile, echoing my thoughts. “They know how to do stuff more…efficiently.”

  “Grosssssss,” my stepmother, Shiloh, cried. “I do not want to hear how efficient my father is!”

  Everyone burst out laughing, as they always did when this came up.

  “I agree,” Sebastian came up to Baylee’s back and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, pinning her to his body. “Where’s this Rafe character? I feel like he’s been gone too long. We didn’t scare him off, did we?”

  I pointed in the direction I’d seen him go and then saw Sebastian’s eyes narrow.

  “What’s he doing back there?”

  “Bathroom?” I suggested teasingly.

  “Hmm,” Sebastian grunted. “Guess we’ll have to check on him to make sure he didn’t fall in.”

  Then he started to walk away while calling out for Torren in the next moment.

  I sighed and started to follow, shaking my head at the two of them as they moved.

  “Sometimes I wonder if y’all are actually grown men,” I called to their backs.

  Torren threw a grin over his shoulder at me.

  Then all words were halted when we arrived in the hallway to hear a little girl’s laughter, followed by Rafe’s deep worded reply to that laughter.

  “What the fuck?”

  Torren sped up and came to an abrupt halt at what he saw in the room.

  Sebastian stopped shoulder to shoulder with him, and I had to squeeze through shoulders and arms to see, too.

  And what I saw was quite honestly amazing.

  Rafe was showing the little girl a few things with the piano. A note. I wasn’t sure because I had no clue what all that gibberish was about.

  “Wow,” the girl breathed. “Can you play faster?”

  Rafe grinned at the young girl. “Can I play faster?”

  He put his fingers on the piano, and then he started to play.

  The first notes of the song started, and I found myself smiling wide.

  Sebastian threw his arm around my shoulder and pulled me into his big, warm body.

  I laid my head against his chest and watched as my man taught a little girl how to play Great Balls of Fire on the piano. You know, if she could actually see it. His fingers were moving so fast that I wasn’t sure she was really even watching.

  More like admiring.

  Hell, we all were admiring.

  “Where in the hell did that come from?” Torren, Ashe’s father, said as he watched his daughter admire the way Rafe was playing. “I need him to teach her every week. I think this is the first time I’ve ever seen her sit there without fidgeting in some way.”

  “Or complaining,” Tru muttered from behind me. “God that girl. She was the one who wanted to play, too. It’s not like we forced her. We bought the piano…then she decided she’d rather play soccer instead.”

  I shook my head.

  “You can’t have him. We have him,” came my father’s reply.

  I rolled my eyes again.

  Were they seriously fighting over a man?

  “I only need him once a week for about an hour and a half. That’s it.”

  “You haven’t seen his computer skills, then.” Uncle Sam’s reply came from the back of the room. “Or the way he can find out information like Silas once did.”

  Jesus, the entire hallway was filled with people!

  “Like Silas still does, you mean,” Torren countered.

  I rolled my eyes.

  “Fifteen years of piano lessons,” Rafe said as he stood up and turned. “I sometimes play when I want to get rid of some of my frustration.”

  I blinked.

  “You never told me you could play the piano!”

  I grinned at my sister Rebel’s outburst.

  “He didn’t tell anyone, apparently,” I drawled.

  Rafe rolled his eyes.

  “Whatever.”

  “Play something else,” I ordered.

  “You’ll have to get a few beers in me, first,” he said. “Playing makes me think about old times, and old times aren’t always good times.”

  I knew what he meant exactly.

  And immediately grimaced at remembering just some of what he’d explained during the course of our relationship.

  Chapter 21

  I’m not always right, but you’re more not right. Like WAY more.

  -Janie to Rafe

  Rafe

  “How are the dogs?” A man called out, changing the subject.

  The man with the multicolor eyes.

  He’d obviously read the tension in my shoulders and was offering a change of subject so this wouldn’t get any worse than it already was.

  “They’re great, Trance.” Janie smiled. “Rafe’s been really awesome about helping train them. Not to mention it’s awesome since I don’t have to send them away for that to happen.”

  Trance’s brows went up. “You train dogs?”

  I nodded. “Yeah.” Then paused. “When I first started out as an independent contractor, I went in as a dog trainer. ‘Helping’ other military members learn how to work with their K-9 partners. To do that, I had to have a base knowledge of training, handling, things like that. I went through about six months of training with a certified trainer, and then went in and started with the military while simultaneously looking for a member of that team that was stealing the dogs and giving them to our enemies.”

  Trance’s jaw tightened. “Please tell me you caught them.”

  I nodded. “Sure did. Found out that he’d stolen four dogs like that, then handed them right on over.”

  “And what happened to the dogs?” Janie asked.

  I grinned at her and her soft heart.

  “Three of the dogs wouldn’t perform for them since they didn’t know the commands. Those dogs were never recovered. Best guess, they killed them when they wouldn’t. But we have no solid evidence to say that they made it. However, one did survive, but only because she was being beaten and forced to perform. They’d learned by the fourth dog. They were able to get the dog back, but she wasn’t the same…they did, however, let the old handler take her home.”

  “Who was the old handler?” Janie asked, excitement in her voice.

  “You know him. Parker.”

  The room went wired at the mention of that name, and it was all centered on the man that hadn’t said much to me since we’d arrived.

  His name was Loki. I’d gotten that much out of him.

  But not much more.

  “Is she okay now? Does she function well with the handler?” Trance asked, ignoring the obvious tension in his friend and fellow club member.

  Trance’s curiosity about the dog was too much and overrode his friend’s obvious annoyance about something that I was missing.

  “The dog is definitely different. More volatile. She doesn’t work well with other dogs, so any time that she goes out, he has to put a muzzle on her. Women are a no go for her, too. The main abuser must’ve been a woman because Carmen freaks out if a woman is anywhere near her. So, vet visits are not fun for her, but overall, she’s doing well. Watchful, always broody, but she loves Parker. Parker just won’t ever be able to date or bring a female home without Carmen going all Cujo on her.”

  “That would suck,” Johnny, Sebastian’s son, said. “Never getting any in your own bed.”

  Baylee, Johnny’s mother, slapped him upside the back of the head. “Go away.”

  Johnny laughed as h
e walked away, causing the rest of the group to join in.

  Everyone, that was, but Dark and Broody with the throat slash.

  But, without straight up asking him what his problem was, I wouldn’t be finding out anytime soon what the fuck his issue was.

  Luckily, once the subject changed, throat slash chilled.

  He even participated somewhat in our conversation.

  We ate. We drank.

  And overall, I had a really good time.

  Until about four hours into the night and the discussion of which branch of the military we were all in started up. And what we’d originally wanted to be.

  “I always wanted to be a doctor in the Army,” I admitted to the room as a whole. “When I was a young kid, that was always my go-to-answer. Then I grew up and found out that I loved computers. From there, I added it to my newly discovered list of skills and kept right on truckin’.”

  Torren grunted.

  “I have a cousin in the Army right now. He’s a doctor. Layton’s always said that he doesn’t like it,” Torren murmured. “Something about having to work on soldiers that don’t take care of themselves. Then again, Layton’s a complete douchebag, so there’s really no telling if what he says should be taken as true or just his bullshit spilling out.”

  “Layton Trammel?” Janie asked, a frown forming on her face.

  My heart skipped a beat at hearing that name.

  “Actually, yes. That’s my cousin,” Torren said. “Why?”

  Janie’s eyes met mine.

  “Because that’s the man that cost ol’ Uniball his errr…ball,” Sam offered.

  Janie hissed at her uncle. “Stop calling him that, or I’ll kick your ass.”

  Sam held up his hands in surrender. “Down girl. I was just sayin’.”

  “Well just say it nicer next time,” Janie ordered.

  I wrapped my arm around Janie’s waist and pulled her down into my lap.

  “What did I tell you?” I whispered into her ear. “It’s okay.”

  She turned to me. “It’s not.”

  “It is,” I confirmed.

  “Well, I guess we’ll just have to agree to disagree.”

  We spent the rest of the night like that, blissfully unaware that our lives would change in just twelve short hours.

  Chapter 22

  You can tell a lot about a person whether they bring their mouth to the banana, or the banana to their mouth.

  -Janie to Kayla

  Janie

  My eyes took in the road outside Rafe’s house. There were cars lining the entire road on each side. The house catty corner to his had a shit ton of people milling about, and the mailbox had about thirty balloons—pink ones. Pink ones that said, ‘It’s a girl!’

  Smiling at Rafe’s neighbors’ pure happiness about having a little girl, I walked up the front steps of his porch.

  While I did, I wondered if Rafe would want to stay in Hostel.

  It was just far enough away from my family that they couldn’t pop in, and close enough that I could drive back home in case of emergency.

  I could totally see myself living in a place like this. Wholly and completely. It was small, but not too small. It had a taco shop, a bank, a school, and even an ice cream shop. What else could a girl like me want?

  Not to mention the place Rafe had for himself was adorably cute. It wasn’t anything like what I would’ve expected from him.

  For some reason, I envisioned a minimalistic house with little fanfare. Something with clean lines, nice grass, but not much else.

  The house he had for himself was the exact opposite. It was a three-bedroom farmhouse style. It was painted white with red shutters. Even the windows had planter boxes with actual real live flowers in it. Real live flowers that Rafe got up every single morning and watered shirtless while he drank a cup of coffee.

  While he did this, the neighborhood ladies watched. Seriously, there were no less than six women from four different houses on Rafe’s block that were always out on their porch. It was completely by coincidence, of course.

  Kind of like why I always made sure to watch him from his bedroom window.

  A bedroom window that had blinds and curtains.

  Seriously, the man had his shit together.

  He even had complete sets of cutleries in the kitchen. Nice furniture. There were even decorative hand towels in the bathroom.

  And none of it was due to his sister coming in and fixing his house up. It was all his decorating skills. Though, his explanation was that he wanted people to think that he was planning to be there for a while. As a cover, he had to make it look “good.”

  I agreed, but he hadn’t had to go to that level of “lived in.”

  But I liked it.

  The porch would look good on a Christmas card. Me and him. A baby or two.

  I smiled as I inserted my key and pushed open the door.

  My first indication that things weren’t right were my dogs’ reactions.

  They yipped and started to growl, causing me to look back at them with a frown.

  I walked in and froze when I saw the clothes on the floor.

  Not Rafe’s. And certainly not mine. That bra on the floor wouldn’t have even fit me in my teenage years when I was a normal boob size.

  It certainly wouldn’t fit me now.

  Those panties that were next to the bra wouldn’t fit either.

  I stepped inside and saw the jeans and skimpy top next. And I knew exactly who they belonged to.

  I walked over the clothes and followed my senses to Rafe’s room.

  And saw red.

  Elspeth lay seemingly sated on the bed, and I could hear the shower running in the bathroom.

  I walked calmly to the bed, then snatched Elspeth up by the hair.

  Now, normally I wasn’t a violent person. Really, I wasn’t.

  But something switched inside me. Some dark, hidden compulsion washed over me, and suddenly my rage was all consuming.

  I was just so. Fucking. Mad.

  Which was why I went all Hulk on her and lifted her fabricated sleeping ass right out of my man’s bed.

  “You manipulating whore,” I said. “What the hell is it going to take to get it through your head?”

  Elspeth “woke up” with a surprised shriek.

  “Owwww!” she screamed. “Let go!”

  Yeah freakin’ right. I wasn’t letting her go until she was out of the house.

  And, as I led her through the house to the front door, I said, “You better grab your clothes as you pass them. Because otherwise, you’ll be giving the neighbors a free show. Not to mention they’re having a party across the street. You’ll stick out like a sore thumb.”

  I didn’t slow down even a little as I dragged her out with me toward the door.

  And, surprisingly, she even managed to grab her jeans, purse, and bra.

  Highly impressed, I opened the door, then gave a satisfying tug on her hair.

  She went flying onto the porch, and I glared at her when she picked herself up. She turned around and started to come at me.

  She froze, but that might also be because I got my concealed carry out to point at her.

  “I’m literally to the point right now where I’ll shoot you and deal with the repercussions later,” I said. “I’m fairly positive I could thrive in prison.”

  I heard a snort from behind me but didn’t give Elspeth the chance to do anything by turning around. Instead, I kept my serious eyes on her.

  “Go.”

  Elspeth stood up, and that’s when the neighbors across the street started to squeal. Not because of Elspeth’s naked ass, but because of something else—a dog maybe.

  I didn’t pull my eyes away from Elspeth as she started to rush down the stairs.

  In fact, I waited until she was in her car completely before I backed out of the doorway, closed the door, and turned my glare on the man behind me.
r />   He didn’t look pleased.

  In fact, I would go as far as to say he was pissed.

  But not at me.

  At her.

  Which only got me angrier.

  I wasn’t mad that I’d found that witch in his bed while he was in the shower. I knew they hadn’t done anything. I also knew that he never would. Rafe just wasn’t that type of man.

  I was mad that he’d let someone into his house while he was vulnerable. He had no clue she was there, and that made me angry.

  “What were you thinking?” I bellowed.

  Rafe’s brows went up.

  “Nothing happened,” he said. “I didn’t even know she was here!”

  “I know that, moron,” I snarled. “You could’ve gotten killed! Don’t you know how to lock your doors? Because I’m pretty sure if you did, you wouldn’t have riff-raff coming in without your knowledge!”

  He tilted his head. “I wasn’t going to be killed.”

  “You were in the shower with literally nothing to protect yourself! You even left your gun on the bed!”

  “Let me get this straight. You’re mad at me not because I have a woman in my bed. Naked. But because she could’ve killed me while I wasn’t paying attention.”

  I nodded, throat thick with my anger and a whole lot of worry.

  “If you’re going to do this to me all the fucking time, then I might as well leave now. It’s like you don’t even care about your life at all.”

  Rafe’s eyes narrowed. “I’m a grown ass adult, Janie. In fact, I’m even more of an adult than you are. I’m forty-one years old. Swear to Christ, you don’t even pay attention to that fact.”

  I wanted to scream at him for his nonchalance.

  It was as if he didn’t care that a good fright could kill him. As if he didn’t have his days already numbered. I mean, he could possibly die at any moment thanks to a brain aneurysm—and he just didn’t care.

  It literally made me sick to my stomach to think about.

  “I’m a grown man,” Rafe repeated. “A grown ass man that has been taking care of himself for far longer than anyone can imagine. She was a slip of a girl. She was also naked and vulnerable. There is no way in hell she could overpower me. None.”