Pretty Is As Pretty Does

by Gen Griffin

  “But you weren't awake when I came by earlier. Cal told me not to bother you.”

  “Next time Cal tells you not to bother me, tell the bossy SOB to go fuck himself.” Addison put the tea down and held out his hand to Katie. She laced her fingers through his and squeezed them.

  “You scared me, Studmuffin.”

  “I scared me,” Addison admitted reluctantly. “Don't tell anyone this, but I remember laying on the side of the road and realizing that I was going to bleed out before anyone found me.”

  “Oh god.” She squeezed his fingers tightly in hers.

  “It was probably the worst moment of my life. And there have been some pretty shitty moments in my life.” Addison clutched her hand as if it were a life preserver and he was drowning. She made no move to pull away or get loose. Instead, she stood up from the chair and moved over to the edge of his bed.

  Addison tugged her hand. “Would you get mad if I asked you to lay here with me for a little while?”

  “You got shot. You could have died. Why would I get mad at you?” Katie wiggled awkwardly onto the bed. Addy released her hand so that he could put his arm around her waist and pull her too him.

  “I'm trying not to hurt you,” Katie said.

  “You're not going to hurt me,” Addy said. “The bullet hole is on my other shoulder. That's why my right arm is still strapped down and immobilized.”

  Katie carefully tucked herself into the space between the hospital bed railing and Addison's side. Her head tucked nearly into the space between his arm and his chest. She smelled like cinnamon and gardenia. He closed his eyes and laid his cheek against the top of her head.

  “Stay with me?” Addy barely whispered the question. “All night?”

  “Only because you got shot,” Katie whispered back. “And I feel sorry for you.”

  “Ian won't care,” Addison said.

  “It never crossed my mind to wonder if he would,” Katie replied. She gently ran her fingertips down his bare chest, petting him. Her touch felt damn good against his skin.

  Addison sighed and realized he was at peace for the first time in more than 24 hours. Bullet hole in the chest or not, Katie made it better. Katie always made everything better.

  It was a real shame his dumb ass hadn't realized that before she had married one of his good friends.

  Chapter 18

  “We need a better bed.” David shoved open the door of the guest bedroom that Trish hadn't been using, revealing a lumpy looking twin-size daybed.

  “We do. That's not it.” Trish leaned tiredly against his shoulder. His t-shirt was still damp from the rain.

  “Grover's bedroom is probably gross, isn't it?” David shut the door of the guest room without walking into it.

  Trish nodded. “And before you ask, the house only has three bedrooms.”

  “I figured,” David sighed. “Is it hot in here or is it just me?”

  “It's hot. The air conditioner hasn't worked since Grover fell off the porch the other night. I'm kind of wondering if he shot it when he was shooting at the Jehovah's witness.”

  “Possible.” David wiped sweat off his forehead. “I don't know about you, but I'm too damn tired to spend the night sweating my ass off on a mattress on the floor.”

  “Do we have another option?” Trish asked. “Because I didn't think Possum Creek had a hotel.”

  “It doesn't. Go upstairs and get yourself an outfit to wear tomorrow.” David pointed at the staircase. “We're not sleeping here tonight.”

  “Where are we sleeping?” Trish was already headed up the stairs. Truth of the matter was that she didn't care where she was staying, so long as she was sleeping in a bed beside him.

  Five minutes later she found herself looking at a massive king-size bed with thick wooden posts and a comforter that was the same vibrant shade of blue-green as the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. It was heaped high with messy, floppy pillows. A pair of handcuffs were fastened to one of the bed posts. A shotgun was leaning in the corner of the bedroom, nearly hidden by an overflowing laundry hamper. A window air conditioner was working hard to keep the room below 70 degrees.

  “Make yourself comfortable,” David told her as he began stripping off his clothes. He tossed his wet shirt and muddy jeans onto the already overflowing pile of dirty laundry.

  “Okay, I know I said I wanted a bed and air conditioning, but are you sure Addison won't care?”

  “When my place burned down, he told me I could live here full time if I wanted to. It's fine. He won't care.” David walked through the smaller door on his left, revealing a bathroom. “I'm going to get a shower. You can either join me or wait for me.”

  “I'll wait out here.” Trish gestured at the cast on her arm. “I've already taken two showers with this thing and its a pain in butt to keep dry.”

  “Casts are a real pain in the ass. Trish, babe, I'm sorry.”

  “Stop apologizing.” She closed the distance between them and wrapped her good arm around his neck. “My getting hurt was not your fault.”

  “I feel responsible.” He wrapped his arms around her waist. He had the most defined arm and chest muscles that Trish had ever seen in her life.

  She cuddled into him. “Would you think I was crazy if I said I wanted you?”

  “Wanted me as in growing old together or wanted me as in lets defile the bed?”

  “Both. But mostly the bed. Which is probably very immoral of me.” Trish tried to work up the energy to look ashamed but she just couldn't do it. He was standing in front of her in his boxers, all lean muscle and bad boy tattoos. “I just want you. Preferably in me.”

  “All you had to do was ask.” David leaned down and kissed her. His lips tasted like whiskey as he pressed them tightly and forcefully against hers. He guided her backwards towards the bed and then laid her down into the blue-green comforter. A minute later her skirt was bunched up around her hips and he was hard inside her, erasing the memories of the worst day of her life with a promise of plenty of good nights to come.

  Chapter 19

  “Um. I'm going to walk out of the room and walk back in. Do y'all think you could be a little less awkward when I come back?” Cal Walker was leaning in the doorway to Addison's hospital room.

  Addy blinked at him. His chest was burning and aching worse than it had before. He suspected his painkillers had completely worn off. “What are you talking about?”

  Cal crossed his arms over his broad chest and jerked his chin down towards Addison's chest.

  Addy looked down and discovered a nest of vaguely messy honey colored hair laying across his bruised, bandaged chest.

  “She smells like cinnamon.” Addison smiled and reached down to stroke his fingers through Katie's hair. She stirred at his touch.

  “She always smells like cinnamon,” Cal agreed. He rolled his eyes. “Katie. Wake up.”

  “Hmm? Huh?” Katie lifted her head off of Addy's chest. She rubbed her eyes with the palm of her hand and blinked up at Cal. “Are you in my bedroom?”

  “No.” Cal shifted his weight from foot to foot, looking annoyed.

  “Wait. We're in the hospital?” Katie started to sit up and then frowned. She twisted so that she could look at Addison. Her honey colored eyes widened slightly. “Crap. Its morning, isn't it?”

  “Hell if I know,” Addy grumbled. “Cal woke me up too.”

  “I meant to go home before the sun came up.” Katie heaved herself upright. She ran her hands across her bulging stomach. “Whoops. Figures my insomnia would decide to give me a temporary reprieve the one time when I actually wasn't trying to sleep.”

  “You just like sleeping beside me,” Addison teased her. He was only half-kidding. He didn't want her to go.

  “I just needed to make sure you were going to keep breathing.” Katie started to reach for his hand, cast a glance back at Cal and then pulled her hand back. She tucked her fingers into her own pocket.

  “Okay. Like I said when I came in here a minute ago, I'm g
oing to walk back out of this room and then walk back in. I would appreciate it if the two of y'all could be a little more,” Cal hesitated, “appropriate.”

  “Appropriate?” Katie blushed hard. “Cal, we're not. We wouldn't.”

  Cal walked out the door and slammed it shut behind him.

  “That was awkward,” Katie said softly.

  “It's Cal. You know he gets weird when he gets stressed.” Addison rubbed one hand down Katie's spine. “Besides, regardless of wherever Cal's dirty mind has wandered, you and I both know that we're innocent.”

  “Of course we are,” Katie smiled carefully. Her cheeks were still bright red. “But I should go. Cal's probably right in thinking that it doesn't look right for me to be spending the night with you.”

  “It felt right,” Addison said. He laced his fingers through hers. “Katie, when I was laying on the side of the road and I thought I was dying, I thought about-.”

  Cal knocked on the door.

  Katie sucked her breath through her teeth and then took a step back away from Addison. She pulled her hand out of his and then bent down to kiss him briefly on the cheek. “I'm late for work, Studmuffin.”

  “Right. Yeah. Work. That place that got me shot.” Addison reached for Katie again but she'd stepped out of reach. “Come see me tonight when you get off?”

  Katie hesitated and then nodded. “I'll swing by on my way home. You want me to bring you anything?”

  “Real food.” Addison smiled wryly. “You know I hate Jello.”

  “General Tso's chicken?”

  “With Lo Mein?”

  “Always.” Katie winked at him as Cal knocked again.

  Addison rolled his eyes. “You can come in,” he called out.

  Katie was already halfway to the door when Cal opened it. He looked from Katie to Addison and then back to Katie. “I didn't mean you had to leave.”

  “I'm late for work. I um, still need to run home and get freshened up.” Katie waved one hand at Cal and then darted out the door.

  Addison waited until she was gone before he spoke his mind. “She didn't deserve that. You embarrassed her.”

  “She's 9 months pregnant with Ian's baby,” Cal replied. “She should be home in her own bed at night. Not sleeping with her head on your chest.”

  “I asked her to stay with me last night. I didn't want to be alone,” Addison said. “I can't believe you think there's something going on between me and Katie.”

  “I never said I thought something was going on between you and Katie. I'm just trying to protect y'all. Mostly her. I'm trying to protect her.” Cal pulled a 20 oz bottle of orange soda out of his back pocket and passed it to Addison. “I've seen Ian's truck parked at the boat landing right down the road from my house every night for the last week.”

  “So?” Addy frowned at him. “Ian likes fishing.”

  “Truck is still there in the mornings when I'm leaving for work.”

  “Ian's living at his Daddy's old fish camp again.” Addison sighed and took a long swallow of the soda. “Shit. Katie didn't tell me.”

  “She's probably too embarrassed to tell you. I've been meaning to pay Ian a visit for over a week now, but I haven't gotten around to it.” Cal rubbed his hands over his face. His dark hair was disheveled and his t-shirt was wrinkled. He looked as tired as Addy had ever seen him.

  “You ain't got around to it?”

  “No. Between David burning his house down and you getting shot, I haven't made time for Ian's latest woe-is-me pity party.”

  “Ian needs to pull himself together,” Addy said.

  “Agreed,” Cal said. “Honestly, I'm having a damned hard time finding any sympathy to show him at this point. We've all made mistakes. Horrible mistakes. He needs to accept the past and move on with his life.”

  “I thought he had moved on with his life when he married Katie and got hired on with the Sheriff's Department. He was doing damned good for himself. He has a nice life.”

  “He's drowning himself in misery and tequila. Again,” Cal said. “I don't know if I have the patience to try to help pull him out of it. You're better at giving pep talks than I am.”

  “You tell David that Ian's having problems again?”

  “David's got too many problems of his own to worry about Ian. We all have too many problems of our own to worry about Ian. I don't even know what to say to Ian anymore. He's fine for weeks or months at a time and then boom!” Cal clapped his hands together loudly.

  “Clinical depression.”

  “Clinical depression. Anxiety. Alcoholism. Katie and Gracie have been having some pretty serious heart-to-hearts lately.” Cal held out his hands in a shrug. “Katie's taken to coming over to our house to hang out anytime Ian gets drunk. She's been around a lot these last few months.”

  “We should never have hidden Casey's body,” Addison said.

  Cal snorted. “I agree, but I don't think it would have made a difference as far as Ian is concerned.”

  “You don't think he's acting the way he is because of Casey?”

  “Honestly?” Cal pursed his lips thoughtfully. “No. I don't. Ian likes to feel sorry for himself. Casey just gives him an excuse.”

  “Katie hasn't said two words to me about her and Ian having problems.” Addison set the soda down on the tray table beside him.

  “Maybe she doesn't want you to know,” Cal said. “Which is why you need to be careful with her.”

  “Be careful with her?” Addison scowled at Cal. “I'd never hurt Katie.”

  “Not intentionally.” Cal leveled his dark eyes at Addison. “I'm not an idiot, Malone. It doesn't look right for your buddy's wife to spend the night with you. I know the two of y'all are close, but there is such as thing as being too good a friend.”

  “I've never done anything sexual with Katie,” Addy said.

  “Doesn't matter,” Cal replied. “You care about her and everyone in town knows it.”

  “She's my friend.”

  “You've slept with damn near every attractive woman in Callahan County. If people find out that Katie is staying the night with you instead of going home to Ian, they're going to assume that she's cheating on Ian with you.”

  “She's not.”

  “It doesn't matter. They'll start to talk. Katie has enough problems without having to deal with rumors that she's carrying your baby.”

  “No one would be that stupid.” Addison sat up slightly straighter despite the pain in his chest. “I will kill anyone who starts rumors about Katie.”

  Cal sighed. “I love both of y'all, but there is a line somewhere in your relationship that shouldn't be crossed. And y'all keep crossing it. More and more often. The line that shouldn't be crossed is starting to need a crossing guard.”

  “You can't think that Katie and I are screwing around?” Addison said.

  “I think you love her,” Cal said flatly. “I think you've been in love with her for awhile now.”

  Addison felt his own face go pale. He purposely looked away from Cal. “She's married to Ian.”

  “She's unhappily married to Ian,” Cal repeated his words back to him. “And Ian is our friend.”

  “I've never touched her,” Addy snapped.

  “You're flirting with fate. I know you and I know Katie. The two of y'all are good people, but you're also romantics. Smart, impulsive romantics. Who work together all day every day. And who socialize together in the same very small group. Y'all are not a good combination. At least, not with Ian as the meat in your sandwich.”

  “My relationship with Katie is platonic. I have my various girlfriends. She has Ian.” Addison tried to cross his own arms over his chest. The gesture failed because his right arm was still more or less tied to the bed. “We are just friends, Cal. Get that through your thick skull.”

  Cal shook his head and sighed. “Don't ask her to stay the night with you anymore. Please. I don't want to have to deal with the fallout and neither do you.”

  Chapter 20

&nb
sp; Trish woke up slowly in Addison's massive bed. It was surprisingly comfortable if she didn't think about how many women had been in the bed before her. On the bright side, she was pretty sure those other women hadn't woken up beside David.

  Trish really liked waking up beside David. His heartbeat felt good under her cheek. His bare, hot skin felt even better against hers. She sleepily tugged the cover back up around her shoulders, not sure what had woken her up to begin with. She was pretty sure it had been a ringing cell phone, but both of the phones were silent now.

  David stirred beside her, wrapping his arms tightly around her and pulling her even closer to him. The tattoos that covered his chest and shoulders rippled along with his taunt muscle.“I love you.”

  “I love you too,” Trish muttered. “Can we just stay in bed today?”

  “Fine by me.” David kissed the side of her neck. “A day in bed would be fun.”

  David's phone rang.

  He kept kissing Trish's neck. She shivered and snuggled even tighter against him.

  The phone kept ringing. It went to voicemail and then immediately began ringing again. David cursed under his breath and released Trish so he could grab the phone.

  He didn't even look at the display as he answered it. “If you weren't my best friend-.”

  “Who?” Trish mouthed the word without actually speaking. She felt strangely vulnerable as he pulled away from her slightly and sat up in the bed.

  “No. I won't...Well, maybe.... You're not serious....You interrupted my morning sex to ask me to bring you a spicy chicken biscuit because Calvin is being mean and making you eat hospital food?”

  “Addy?” Trish mouthed the name and David nodded. He pulled Trish's head down so that she was laying against his bare stomach.

  “Yes.... I'm having morning sex.... And in the interest of full disclosure, I'm borrowing your house...Yes, that's fair....You had sex in my house dozens of times....I'm returning the favor. Fine. Yes. I'll bring you a biscuit... Goodbye.”

  “We have to take Addison breakfast?” Trish started to roll away from David. He caught her gently and pulled her on top of him.