by Ivy Layne
Being with Lucas was worth the pain.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHARLIE
Lucas stuck by my side for the next three weeks. If you'd asked me, I would have guessed that at a point, it would get annoying. Maybe it did for Lucas.
For me, it was like a dream. We worked out a decent system that let him keep an eye on me without hovering. As soon as we finished the woodwork in the living room and prepped it for staining, we set up the card table and chairs in there, giving Lucas a place to work.
Days passed in easy harmony. We'd eat breakfast, Lucas grumbling about my yogurt and granola, and I'd go to work on stripping paint. Sometimes, Lucas would help me, and sometimes, he'd be on his laptop.
I didn't bother to ask what he was doing, knowing his work was confidential. He'd said enough to give me the impression he was some kind of good guy hacker. Good guy meaning he wasn't going to get arrested for most of what he was doing. That was all I knew.
He had an amazing ability to focus. Despite the noise, he never got distracted. And it was seriously noisy in Casa de Charlie.
I'd switched up the renovation schedule, trading my master bath for the kitchen. I don't know what I'd been thinking when I started the project. I could do without a luxurious bathroom. Not so much without a kitchen.
The first floor of my house was chaos, but it never seemed to bother Lucas. I figured if it got bad enough, he could suggest moving over to his place, but he never did.
In all this time, I'd never seen the inside of his house, even though it was just next door.
Weird, I know.
Not seeing a guy's house was usually a good indication he was married or was cheating on someone, but I knew that wasn't the case. I also knew his house was in much better shape than my own, and I would've bet his bed was far more comfortable than my futon.
Day by day, we rubbed along like an old married couple, bickering about little things, enjoying comfortable silences, then fucking like crazy all night.
Okay, maybe not like an old married couple. Maybe more like newlyweds.
I thought I understood about his house. As long as he never brought me next door, he could compartmentalize. I was there to protect and to fuck. If I got comfortable in his house, we'd start a quick slide into relationship territory.
I got it, but it still bugged me.
His house beckoned from across the narrow strip of lawn between our driveways, mysterious, the source of all things Lucas. Everything he kept from me. Everything he wouldn't share.
I didn't say anything about it. What was there to say? It made sense to stay at my house, practically speaking. It was convenient if less comfortable.
Lucas never complained. Neither did I.
I would take him however I could get him, for however long he was willing to stay.
Yep, that's what I was reduced to. I'd agreed to this whole fuck buddies/friends with benefits thing thinking it would be no big deal. It never occurred to me that Lucas would insinuate himself into every aspect of my life. Without meaning to, he'd become essential to my happiness.
I was totally screwed. Well, yes, I was totally screwed. I liked that part of it. Sex with Lucas only got better the more we did it. I knew things now. That spot on the inside of his thighs that was so sensitive I just had to blow on it and his cock would surge in my hand.
Lucas was the same with me. At this point, all it took was a certain look, slanted from beneath his dark lashes, and I was instantly wet, instantly ready to be his.
Yep, totally screwed. For him, it was about our bodies and hanging out and keeping me safe. I had no illusions that I'd made a place for myself in his heart, the way he'd taken residence in mine.
Lucas had been watching over me, nonstop, for three weeks, and other than progress on my house and a lot of sex, nothing had happened. We still didn't know if my stalker was Bruce Hayward or someone working for him, but either way, they were leaving me alone.
Both Aiden and Lucas thought that Lucas's constant presence had scared them off. If that were true, it left us in a bind. As long as Lucas was never more than a few feet away, the stalker wouldn't make another move, and we'd never have the chance to catch him.
Since I wasn't eager to give Lucas the perfect excuse to leave me and I wasn't interested in being bait for another violent attack, I let things stay as they were. I didn't want to do anything to rock the boat—a problem, since I had a question to ask Lucas. One that had been bothering me for weeks. There was a benefit tomorrow night and I had to go.
And if I was going, so was Lucas. I'd put off mentioning it for weeks, at first because going to a benefit with me was a boyfriend thing, not a fuck buddy thing. I wasn't going to ask just to hear him turn me down. Once Lucas became my bodyguard, he'd have to come with me if he was going to keep me safe.
Still, I hadn't said anything. Now, I was out of time.
I wasn't ready to find out how much of our relationship was a job and how much was about us. It didn't help that he'd been irritated with me all day.
Apparently, Lucas was not on board with my plan to trade my sedan for a used pick-up truck. I don't know what his deal was. He drove a pick-up, though his was new and much nicer than the trucks I planned to look at.
My car came to a stop, startling me out of my reverie. Lucas turned to look at me, a scowl marring his handsome face, and said, "Are you absolutely sure you want to do this?"
"I told you I was," I said irritably. "I don't know why you're making such a big deal of it."
"You should get something nicer."
"I don't want to spend that much money," I said for what felt like the fiftieth time that day. "I don't need a car payment right now and I don't want to drain my savings."
"At least get something new," he said. "Your brother would give you the money if you asked."
"You know, for someone who got all offended when he was offered money to be my bodyguard, you're pretty cavalier about expecting me to take a handout."
"It's not the same. It's your family."
"It's exactly the same," I said, exasperated.
I didn't know what the big deal was. I was trading in my sedan for a used truck. People traded in their cars every day. When I told Lucas I was getting a new car, he must have envisioned me picking up a new version of the car I was trading in.
When it was new, the sedan Aiden had given me when I turned sixteen was pretty sweet. Expensive. Eight years later, it wasn't worth that much. I sure as hell wasn't trading it for a massive car payment on a vehicle I'd be afraid to drive to the home improvement store.
I didn't need a luxury sedan. I needed a truck.
Lucas called me Princess all the time.
Mostly, I took it as an endearment.
Sometimes, it felt like an accusation.
I was more than my family, more than my upbringing. He'd spent his entire life working to separate himself from who he'd been growing up and he'd succeeded brilliantly.
Why couldn't I do the same?
Because I was a Winters, living in Atlanta. Maybe if I'd moved away, it would've been easier to just be me. The next time I saw Annalise, I'd have to ask her.
Apparently finished grumbling at me, Lucas got out of my sedan and came around to open my door. A salesman greeted us the second my feet hit the lot.
I set him to work appraising my car for trade while Lucas dragged me around to inspect every used truck they had, treating me to a rundown of everything that was wrong with them.
Finally, I settled on one I liked that I thought was in my price range. It wasn't pretty and it didn't have any of the bells and whistles a new vehicle would, but it didn't have too many miles and was in good condition.
It was also a good size, not a toy truck, but not as big as Lucas's. I needed a truck, but I wasn't entirely confident about transitioning from my normal-size sedan to such a big vehicle. This truck was perfect.
Lucas crossed his arms over his chest, planted his feet, and shook his head.
/> "Not this one."
I threw my hands in the air and said, "What? What's wrong with this one? I like this one. It's in good shape.”
"It's only got thirty or forty thousand miles before the transmission falls out. These trucks are only good to a hundred thousand miles."
"That's fine," I insisted. "It'll be years before I hit a hundred thousand. I don't drive that much. Maybe by then, I'll be able to afford something new. I don't even know if I'm going to like driving a truck. I don't want to spend a lot of money."
"Fine. Then I'll buy you a truck."
I stared at him, dumbstruck.
What did he mean, he would buy me a truck?
He hadn't even let me see the inside of his house, and he was going to buy me a truck?
And he'd accused my family of throwing money at our problems. Lucas seemed to realize he'd gone too far. He looked away and shoved his hands in his pockets, studying the truck's tires.
"You're not buying me a truck," I said. "I'm getting this one. And I don't want to fight about it anymore. This is stupid. It's just a truck."
"Fine," he said.
"Fine." We both knew it wasn't just a truck. It was Lucas thinking that I really was a princess, too good to drive a truck—especially a used one—despite all he knew of me.
It shouldn't bother me. It wasn't like we were long-term anyway. What did it matter if he thought I was a spoiled little rich girl? Why did I even care?
I bit the inside of my lip to force back the prickle of tears in my eyes and flashed a smile at the salesman when he came back. I opened my mouth to greet him when Lucas stepped in front of me.
With a quick look over his shoulder, he said in an undertone, "Let me, okay? Please?"
I nodded and stepped back. I didn't want to fight with Lucas anymore. While I was perfectly capable of negotiating the sale, I was sure Lucas could handle it. He definitely knew more about trucks than I did.
I sat back and let him take care of everything, hiding a grin of triumph as he negotiated my trade-in up and the sale price down. I ended up writing a check for my new truck, but it was a smaller one than I'd expected.
Score.
I decided I wasn't that annoyed with Lucas anymore.
Lucas didn’t argue much when I insisted on taking the wheel on the way home, though I drove a lot slower than usual. I liked my new truck, but it was definitely bigger than my sedan, blocky and harder to turn.
To be completely honest, I was a little bit nervous driving it. Not so much through the main roads, but once we got into the Highlands, the roads were narrower and I found myself slowing down.
I was so careful to avoid sideswiping the cars as I passed them that I missed it until I was parked in my driveway. Then, when I finally looked up, I was so shocked my brain couldn't register anything.
Spray-painted graffiti was all over the front of my house. Mostly squiggly lines, but here and there, I could make out the words bitch and cunt. In places, bright swathes of red paint stained the siding and covered the windows, as if someone had opened a can of paint and tossed the contents at the side of the house. I stared at the pointless destruction, heart pounding in my chest.
The clink of metal sounded beside me and I jumped. Lucas swung open my door and said roughly, "Get out. I already called Brennan. He's on his way. I've got Sinclair pulling up the video feeds. Must've happened while the crew was at lunch."
Lucas pulled me from the driver seat, barely giving me time to grab my purse before he wrapped an arm around me, angling me into his chest so that I couldn't see the front of my house, and hustled me across my driveway, over the strip of lawn separating our houses, and up onto his front porch.
He had his door unlocked and was ushering me inside before I got my bearings.
I'd finally reached the inner sanctum and I was too shocked to care. I closed my eyes, seeing the front of my house in my mind. The siding had been prepped for paint, the windows brand new.
I didn't get it. Obviously, it was meant to make me angry or scared. Probably both. But why bother? I'd already turned in all of my evidence to the FBI. Threats wouldn't stop me. There was nothing to stop. My part in Hayward's prosecution was done. Why waste time harassing me?
Lucas sat me in a chair and crouched in front of me. He slid a knuckle beneath my chin, raising my face to his.
"Hang in there, Princess. We’re going to figure this out. Brennan and Evers are on their way. We'll take a look at the cameras and see what happened. When they get here, I'm going next door to get your stuff."
"Why?" I asked, too heartsick to keep up.
"You're moving in with me."
Detective Brennan and Evers arrived within a few minutes, Aiden close behind. I sat in Lucas's big leather chair, staring blindly at the black screen of his giant television, unable to take anything in.
After three weeks of relative peace, the graffiti was a shock. In the big picture, it wasn't that big a deal. No one got hurt. The damage could be repaired, though it was going to cost a lot.
Lucas, Evers, Brennan, and Aiden shouted over my head, gesturing angrily and swearing when they pulled up the video feeds on Lucas's laptop. Brennan muttered under his breath, "Got him. It's a teenager."
"I guarantee when you pick him up, he'll say he was paid for the job," Evers said.
Lucas grunted in agreement. "Another dead end. Goddammit."
Aiden sent a careful look my way and said, "Sweetheart, why don't you think about coming home for a while?" He glanced at Lucas, then back at me.
Lucas sent him a dark scowl, his green eyes hot and angry.
"She's staying with me," he said. "I may not have a wall around my house, but I can goddamn guarantee you no one will get to her here. If I thought she'd be safer with you, I'd fucking deliver her myself."
Aiden and Evers exchanged a look. Evers sent him the tiniest of nods and Aiden relaxed slightly. "Would you rather stay with Lucas?" he asked me gently.
I nodded. I didn't know what was going on with Lucas, but he made me feel safe. And more than that, I had this growing fear that if I walked away, so would he.
I knew I'd lose him eventually. He'd made it clear he didn't want me forever. I'd have to live with that.
But for now, I'd take what I could get.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
LUCAS
I couldn't seem to shake the knot in my chest.
Was it anger? Fear?
Fuck that. I don't get scared.
There was no denying we'd all been lulled into a false sense of security over the last few weeks. Charlie's stalker had backed off and we were all relieved. Me, most of all.
This thing with Charlie would run its course, likely sooner than later. As long as the stalker was out there, I had an excuse to stick close.
We'd moved way beyond friends with benefits. I didn’t know what we were, but whatever it was, I liked it.
I liked being with Charlie.
Not just in bed, though that was fucking spectacular. Before Charlie, I'd never been a guy to go back for seconds. Honestly, I'd expected the whole thing with her would be over before it started.
In a million years, I never would've imagined she'd be this good. It wasn't that she was skilled. I'd been with women who had way more experience.
For the first time, sex wasn't about experience. It wasn't about tricks and skills. It was all about Charlie. Not the way her pussy gripped my cock or how well she used her hot mouth. All of that would've been enough.
No, it was her. The way she smelled underneath her lotions and sprays, her natural musky sweetness. The silk of her hair. The way she never took my shit or let me boss her around.
It was everything. I was totally fucked. I knew it. Everyone who saw us knew it. As soon as we caught the stalker and she was safe, I'd be out of excuses.
I was turning down work every day. I picked up a few small jobs I could do from my laptop, but I turned down everything that would take me out of town.
Leaving Charlie unpr
otected was out of the question.
Never mind that Sinclair would have a guy on her the second I stepped away. No one could keep her safe the way I could.
No one.
Sinclair Security only hired the best. I didn't doubt that whoever they assigned to Charlie would be technically proficient. Considering that they thought of her as family, whoever it was wouldn't just be proficient, they'd be exceptional. But no one knew her like I did.
To them, she'd be just another client. They wouldn't get that she was precious. And it wasn't just about keeping her safe, it was about making sure she wasn't afraid. That she never had to be afraid again.
Fuck.
The look on her face when I ripped open the door to her shit heap of a truck left me sick with rage. Her ocean blue eyes had been wide with shock, her skin blue-white it was so pale.
She'd been so fucking proud of her front porch, the new planking, the patches on the siding. It looked like a mess, but anyone who'd renovated a house could see the progress. Now, some asshole had destroyed it and stolen her peace.
When we finally managed to pin this on Hayward, I was going to fucking kill him.
Aiden had called a family meeting for dinner even though Holden and Tate were out of town at a gaming conference. After announcing the dinner, he left, taking Charlie with him. Letting Evers lead her out to the car, he stopped at the door to say to me, "You'll move her stuff over? And be at dinner tonight?"
I nodded. Aiden lifted his chin in goodbye and left. I kept waiting for him, for any of them, to object to Charlie sleeping with me.
The Winters clan was surprisingly laid-back. I didn't get it, because they were bossy as hell with every other aspect of Charlie's life. Aiden had fucking fired her from a job she excelled at because he didn't think she was happy, but they didn't mind her shacking up with me.
If I had a little sister, I sure as hell wouldn't want her shacked up with a guy like me.
Shaking it off, I locked my house and headed next door to get Charlie's things. I went in through the back door, winding my way through the crew working on her kitchen. It would be a while, but the room was starting to take shape.
