“Toomey,” I moved closer, gun in hand, and repositioned myself for a better angle.
It served to put a solid brick wall at Toomey’s back, meaning if I had to shoot, the bullet wouldn’t get launched into the rest of the school once it passed through Toomey.
But, hopefully, that wouldn’t be happening.
Except, in the next few seconds, I realized how stupid that was of me to think. Toomey wasn’t rational.
Toomey was completely and utterly irrational.
His eyes were not focused on outward threat. They were only focused on Slone with a single-minded focused that bordered on scary.
A trained professional he was not. Not anymore, anyway.
“She’s mine,” Toomey repeated. “My name might not be on the birth certificate, but anyone with a head can see that she’s mine.”
Slone was crying now.
Big, heart-wrenching sobs.
He cocked the gun he was holding, then walked up and began to place the barrel against Slone’s forehead.
That’s when I shot.
I didn’t feel, in my professional opinion, that Toomey was going to stop.
Maybe I should’ve done things differently.
Maybe I should’ve tried to disarm him.
But then he might’ve shot the baby.
Or Slone.
And I just couldn’t live with that on my conscience.
The bullet ripped through Toomey’s upper arm, tearing through flesh and spraying blood against the white walls seconds later.
Toomey fell to the ground, the gun still in his hand, and stared at me in shock.
He no longer was blind to me.
He saw me most clearly, now.
“I was supposed to help Bailey,” he murmured. “He wanted me to give him a gun. Give him a ride to the airport. But I was just… so fucking mad. Now I’m all she has. And I want her.”
Well, that was never going to happen.
Not ever.
Something in which he read in my eyes.
“She’s not yours,” I said. “She’s his.”
“She’s mine, you stupid goddamn moron!” Slone said. “My name’s on the birth certificate. I’m raising her. Abilene literally called me to the hospital the day she was born, said that she was mine, and that she would stay that way. And do you really think that this was the way to go about this?” he asked honestly. “Because if you’d really felt like there was a question, you could’ve taken this to court.”
Toomey laughed at him, picking his gun hand up to aim once again at Slone.
“You think they would’ve taken that baby away from you?” he snorted. “That baby was yours in every legal sense of the word. And I was just the stupid fuck that slept with a high school student. That’s statutory rape, man. But I loved her.”
And before either of us could say a word, the gun was now pointed at Toomey’s head.
“Don’t do it,” I said, my gun dropping slightly.
“It’s funny. I never really thought I’d go out this way.”
Then he pulled the trigger.
Pieces of his brain matter and gore sprayed all over Slone.
Luckily the baby was still covered by Slone’s body.
Otherwise she would’ve been wearing it, too.
Seconds later, Slone rolled over and sat up, his face a mask of shock and horror.
He was looking at Toomey with a gray tint to his face.
“Back up,” I ordered Slone.
Slone didn’t move.
So I moved him by catching him by the shirt and tugging him backward so the blood didn’t start seeping into the kid’s pants.
Still Slone stared.
But the words that came out of his mouth made me feel for him.
“I… there are things that never added up with Abilene,” he murmured. “I just… things never added up. And now they never will.” He looked at me then. “What if he was right?”
For some reason I couldn’t stop myself from reassuring him.
I looked Slone dead in the eyes and said, “She’s yours, man. You can tell by the dimples. Neither Toomey nor Abilene had them. Dimples are hereditary.”
I didn’t know if that was true.
Hell, I only knew that I didn’t want to see that look on Slone’s face anymore.
“Abilene was raped.”
I blinked. “What?”
“That’s what he said. He was sleeping with Abilene. He told me before you came in the door. Said that she and him had a thing, but something happened and he had to back off. When he went to pursue her again, she’d started hanging with me. I knew that she was fucked up… knew it the second that she asked for me to fu…make love to her. I don’t know why I did it. I just… shit. I felt terrible. So I did. And look where it got me.”
I held my hand out for Slone to take, then gestured to Ares’ office.
I couldn’t stand not being out there anymore. I had to know.
Had to…
“Hayes.”
The moment I heard her voice coming from behind me, my entire body went taut.
Whirling around, baby still in hand, I came face to face with my girl.
And about half of the SWAT team, as well as Downy.
“What happened?” Ares breathed, looking at the very dead Toomey.
Downy looked down at Toomey dispassionately.
Booth walked to Toomey and pressed his fingers to Toomey’s pulse point.
I could’ve told him that it was futile, but I didn’t blame him for checking.
The funny thing was, even though he was very dead, he still kicked the gun out of reach…just in case.
I passed the baby off to Downy, who took her with a grin.
Slone was still staring blankly at the blood on his hands.
“Toomey was holding Slone at gunpoint…” I explained the rest, the hunch I had, and why I’d come in at all.
Thank God that I had.
With the school evacuated like it was, there was no telling when all this would’ve been found.
“Come on, kid,” Downy ordered, grabbing Slone by the shoulder and guiding him into Ares’ office. “Tell me everything that happened.”
Slone said something so quietly that I couldn’t hear it, but whatever it was made Downy chuckle.
I allowed Ares to go, but only just far enough so I could look into her eyes.
“How?”
She didn’t need more of an explanation.
“Bailey is a dumbass,” Bourne muttered.
“He rigged the building to blow, but he forgot to use something that would make his bomb explode. Ares was just biding her time until the dumbass exposed himself before calmly elbowing him in the throat, stepping away from him, and announcing that he didn’t do what he thought he was doing,” Malachi said. “Bailey tried to follow her and Louis shot him in the hand, forcing him to drop the knife. He’s currently in a KPD police car with federal escorts.”
I breathed a sigh of relief.
Then brought Ares up to my body again and plastered her to my side.
“Next time, you’re staying with me,” I told her.
Ares’ laughter was like a balm to my fired-up soul.
“There won’t be a next time, Hayes,” she whispered.
Thank God for that.
My phone rang, and absently, I picked it up and placed it to my ear.
“Hey, man,” Ryan said. “Do you think you can babysit tonight? I have something to do.”
I hung up without giving my brother a reply.
Chapter 20
Not in the moooooood.
-Cow print coffee cup
Ares
Hayes was currently occupying my bed as he stared blankly at the ceiling. Trigger was on the ground, but his head was resting on the bed, and Hayes’ hand was absently rubbing one ear.
“Any word yet on Bailey?” I asked curiously, wrapping the towel slow
ly around myself and staring at my man with not a little amount of worry on my face.
Hayes’ eyes turned to meet mine.
“He’s refusing to confess,” Hayes said. “Easton is currently working him hard, though. They already have enough evidence to tie him to Abilene’s murder. It’s only all the others that we’re waiting for confirmation from him on.”
“Ford and Ashe went home?” I asked quietly.
Hayes nodded.
Ashe had been escorted over to our place by a very annoyed looking Ford.
According to Hayes, the only girl that they hadn’t been able to link with the ‘teenage mother’ link had been Ashe’s friend. And, according to Ashe, she had disappeared for a few months during the middle of the year, but she couldn’t confirm that there’d been a pregnancy.
But Ashe did say, now that she thought about it, that her weirdness the year before she died could’ve been explained by a pregnancy.
The FBI had been dispatched to find out more from her parents, and Ashe had hugged the absolute hell out of Hayes for ‘solving’ the case.
A twinge of jealousy had speared through me at that, and I’d had to go get in the shower to keep from decking my friend.
Which led to now, standing beside the bed naked, staring at Hayes who was so entirely focused on the ceiling that he wasn’t even noticing how very hot and naked I was. And that the towel was slowly slipping down to reveal my nipples.
Thinking that he could use a distraction, I let the towel slip all the way down, revealing my naked body.
Still he didn’t look.
But I didn’t need him to.
Instead, I moved until I was standing directly beside the bed, then straddled his body.
Which then got his attention.
My hot pussy pressed against his bare belly, causing me to squirm.
His eyes, hot now and fully aimed at me, slowly roamed the length of me, starting with my face and going all the way to where I was pressed against him.
His hands moved to my hips and he stared at my breasts for a long second before moving quickly and shoving down his sweats.
I felt his thick cock thwack against my back, the resounding slap making me smile.
I definitely had his attention now.
Which was more than obvious in the next second when he lifted my hips and positioned himself at my entrance.
Before I could fully seat myself, though, he reversed our positions and slammed himself home, making a silent scream take over my face.
“Fuck yes,” he whispered, his mouth now peppering my face with kisses.
My eyes nearly rolled into the back of my head when he started to move his hips, slowly at first, until he’d worked himself up to a fast, punishing rhythm.
I didn’t complain in the least.
Couldn’t, really.
I had nothing to complain about.
And, fifteen minutes later, when we were both spent, and Hayes’ entire body weight was pinning me to the bed, I really had nothing to complain about.
I’d never felt anything like I’d just felt with him in my life.
“We didn’t use a condom.” I panted, mostly because I couldn’t draw in a complete breath with his full body weight pinning me down.
But I was sure it also had to do with my breathlessness due to the three amazing orgasms he’d given me in the last fifteen minutes.
The man was a God.
I didn’t think it was normal to have this kind of sex life.
I mean, how would one survive?
He moved then, rolling until I was on top of him instead of the other way around, and squeezed me lightly around the waist.
“We’re making a mess on the bed,” I breathed against his chest.
I felt like a boneless pile of euphoria.
It was a surreal feeling.
Still, he didn’t say anything.
I sighed and kept quiet, my eyes closing, and my muscles relaxing after a long day.
And soon, I didn’t think of anything at all because I was asleep, protected in my man’s arms.
Hours later, I woke up to Hayes’ rumbling.
There was a pause in the rumbling, and then it started up again.
I went up onto an elbow planted in his chest and stared blearily at Hayes who was talking quietly into the phone.
Not quiet enough, apparently.
Glancing at the clock, I realized it was now six in the evening.
I’d slept on top of Hayes for over an hour and a half. And he’d held me there, throwing a blanket over me at some point.
When I sat up all the way, it pinned his hard cock in between us.
I started to undulate my hips, causing his mouth to twitch.
I didn’t know who was on the phone, but I did know that I liked the way it felt, me grinding down onto him.
I liked it so much that when his cock met my entrance, I purposefully shifted backward so that he slipped inside of me instead of against me.
His words hitched as he spoke to whoever he was speaking to, but I didn’t stop.
Instead, I grinned wickedly down at him and rode him slowly.
“Yes,” he said.
I wasn’t sure if that ‘yes’ was to me or to whoever he was speaking to.
I ran my hand down the length of my body, stopping at my nipples for a few seconds to pluck at them and make them a bit harder.
Then moved down to my pussy where I spread my lips so I could see what I was doing to him.
I looked obscene where I was stretched around the wide width of his cock, and it made my pussy throb in excitement.
“Yes, sir,” Hayes said.
That one obviously wasn’t for me.
I moved harder and faster, squeezing my pussy tight in hopes to get him off the phone.
I didn’t know who he was talking to, but I did know that it was feeling really, really good.
So good, in fact, that I was on the verge of coming.
Then an idea hit me, and I pulled up and off of his cock, only to twist around and impale myself on him, this time from the opposite direction.
This way would afford him a really good look at where he was entering me. And also a view of other, more taboo things.
“Yes, sir.”
This time there was a crack in the ‘sir.’
It made me snicker, which also caused me to tighten around him.
I reached forward and placed my hands right above his knees, which was about the time that I saw the diamond engagement ring sparkling on my finger.
I froze, his cock half in, half out of me, and stared.
“Yes, sir,” Hayes rumbled.
I looked at him over my shoulder, then raised my hand in a silent ‘what is this.’
He grinned at me unrepentantly.
Well…two could play that game.
I slammed myself down harder, then reached backward and gathered some of the wetness off of where we were connected, and drug it backward along a different, more taboo hole, making sure to use the finger that had the ring on it for added effect.
Hayes’ hand tightened so hard on my ass that I knew I would have a bruise there in the morning.
“Listen, Chief.” Hayes swallowed when I breached the exit with the finger, dipping just barely past the ring of muscle. “I need to go. But I’ll be there in just a few to sign the paperwork.”
I sank my finger in deeper and ground myself into him.
It felt weird.
Different and something not altogether comfortable.
But it also felt exhilarating, and even more exciting when I knew Hayes was watching my every move.
And my orgasm was right there.
I could feel it just on the edge, seconds away from pulling me under.
“Thanks, bye.”
Hayes practically threw his phone onto the night table beside the bed.
It hit the slick surface, then slid off beside
the bed.
But Hayes didn’t even notice.
What he did notice was my orgasm that started to hit right around the time that he took over.
He grunted, slamming up inside of me hard, and then I lost track of time because the orgasm was so intense that I zoned out.
Apparently long enough to come to lying backward on Hayes’ chest with him still deep inside of me, thrusting up inside of me so fast and hard that it ached.
In a good way, though.
And when he followed me over seconds later, he did it with my name as a curse on his lips.
***
“Grandma,” Hayes said. “I didn’t want your ring. You’ve been divorced eight times. It’s cursed.”
“Well,” Hayes’ grandmother said. “That’s just silly. It’s a good ring. And it would’ve been free.”
My lips twitched.
I really liked Hayes’ grandmother.
We were out to dinner with my family and his, as well as Luke, Easton the FBI guy who apparently had become friends with Hayes over the last couple of weeks during their investigation, and Louis.
“I don’t care,” Hayes said. “I wanted to get Ares what I knew that she wanted.”
He’d done a really good job.
I idly wondered when he would’ve found time to get me the ring.
“He’s actually not even asked yet,” I said to his grandmother.
My father and his snorted.
Brows raised, I looked at them. “What?”
“Why would he bother asking you when he knows your answer?” Dad asked. “You just literally ordered his entire meal, and not once did I hear you ask him what he wanted.”
I opened my mouth and then closed it.
“But I knew what he wanted,” I replied lamely.
And only once it was out of my mouth did I realize what I’d said.
I rolled my eyes as there were a round of chuckles at the table.
When my brother smirked at me, I wanted to punch him in the throat.
I flipped him off instead.
Ryan, who’d been very quiet until now, looked at me with sad eyes.
I looked at him, only realizing just then how awkward it would be at family dinners from now on. I’d dated one brother, only to marry the other.
It was weird… wasn’t it?
But I didn’t care.
And neither did Hayes.
Hell, there were times that I didn’t even think they realized they were brothers—or step-brothers.
Ask Me If I Care Page 19
