“Do you have a ride over?” he asked.
Once my emotions were under complete control, I leaned back from Ian and separated. “It’s a ten minute walk. Their house is just up on Amarillo Drive.” Uphill into a nicer area of town.
“What about to the courthouse?”
“Uh...” Shit. I drove Daddy’s truck last time, and without it, I didn’t have a way to reach the courthouse twenty miles away.
“As luck would have it, my schedule is clear Monday.”
Ian probably had some sexy girlfriend waiting for him at home. Most of the town, including me, didn’t know much about his personal life. And any attempts to wheedle information out of Betty resulted in absolute failure. He struck me as a private individual with a big heart, and ever since our evening ritual began, he’d never once hit on me in the car. Never made a pass at me.
Of course not, I thought, suddenly irritated with myself. Ian was a real gentleman, the kind of guy idealized in time period romances depicting the south. Once I reminded myself his interest in me was purely charitable, I suppressed the urge to do anything more than lean across the truck’s center console for a hug. I threw both arms around Ian, catching him off guard with the ferocity of my embrace.
“Thank you, Ian. Thank you.”
“It was my pleasure, Leigh. I...” He squeezed me a little tighter, imparting a sense of safety I’d missed. Why was the second hug better than the first? “Maybe it’s wrong to ask now, but I wondered if you’d like to join me for dinner Monday somewhere. Alone and without Gram.”
My heart stuttered and missed a beat. “Dinner?”
“Yeah, an evening out.”
I swallowed nervously, fearing I misread a friendly celebration offer. “Like a date?” I whispered.
“Like a date. We could catch a movie after your hearing, unless they let you take Sophia home with you right off. We’ll just swing dinner somewhere kid-friendly then.”
As if to compensate for seeming to stop, my heart slammed wildly in my chest, pulsing so hard I could barely hear him above the rushing sound filling my ears. “A date?”
“I do believe that’s what the cool kids call it these days.”
“Yes. Yes. I want to.” I really wanted to, so much I was afraid I’d ruin the moment by speaking something foolish out loud. To spare myself any embarrassment, I turned my face toward his cheek and brushed my lips against his skin. “My hearing is at nine forty-five.” I leaned back to look at him.
“I’ll be here by eight o’clock.”
I stepped out of the SUV then gently lifted Petunia from the rear seat. Ian waited for us to get inside the house and close the door before he drove away.
Between his advance bonus and my first couple paychecks, Daddy’s old house looked like a home again. Ian had helped me paint and seal the ugly cement floors a week ago. The marbleized appearance gleamed with a smooth finish beneath a few tidy floor rugs. I couldn’t show him enough gratitude for taking me to the store.
My roof no longer leaked. He and his friend Russ spent one sunny autumn afternoon on the ladders and did the repairs without charging me until I forced them to accept the cost of supplies.
“I can’t wait to bring Sophia home.” I had outlet covers, a secondhand crib, and everything needed to welcome her. Betty was eager to meet my child and swore up and down Sophia was welcome to attend my work duties with me every day. As Ian didn’t have children, she looked forward to having a baby in her company.
My life was really taking a turn for the better, and I owed it all to one stubborn man named Ian MacArthur. Grinning, I kicked off my shoes and locked the door behind me. I was on cloud nine.
As part of my recovery, I’d become a creature of habit and took comfort in following the same routine each night. Following my shower, I fetched a yogurt cup from the fridge and settled cross-legged on the couch to watch the local news. As I toweled my hair dry, the weather forecast was interrupted by a Breaking News report.
“Ferguson Unit is under a prison lockdown following a riot that took place this evening. Correctional officers were forced to deploy chemical agents to regain control of the recreation facilities and report no officers were harmed during the events. Numerous injuries and three fatalities are reported at this time among the inmate population. TDCJ has not released any names, pending notification of the families.”
My brow creased as the news carried on without any further elaboration.
Although I had no true reason to worry about him, I laid down in bed hoping Dennis hadn’t been one of those inmates on the recreation yard. By morning, I was in better spirits and able to enjoy the brisk stroll to the James residence. The couple who could have once been my in-laws lived in a quaint, cottage-style home on the south side of the main road.
They’d given Dennis everything, so I couldn’t imagine what led him to dealing drugs. His father answered the door as usual, looking worn and unkempt. I’d seen him this way before after a night of beers with his friends.
“Good morning, Mr. Ja—”
He cut me off before I finished my greeting. “We’re not up for supervising your visit today, Leigh. Go home.”
“What do you mean I can’t see her? It’s my day. I get four hours today,” I argued.
“Not today, Leigh.”
“Why not?” I demanded hotly. His hangover had nothing to do with my child and me.
“Dennis is dead, and we’d like to mourn him in peace, without you here to remind us why he was in prison in the first place.”
The fire and anger dimmed in an instant. “What? But no one called. No one told me.”
“Our son was killed in a riot last night, or don’t you care?”
“I...” He’d torn the rug out from under me. My eyes filled with unshed tears and I stared at him, wordlessly opening and closing my mouth. Dennis was dead. Killed and gone in the blink of an eye. My child was without a father.
“Go on now, Leigh. You’re not welcome here.”
Sour acid burned up my throat, but I swallowed back the urge to throw up. I didn’t recall much of the walk home. Sharp pain radiated through my chest and consumed my very soul. All I could think about was Sophia, and what this meant for her. Dennis had been condemned to twenty-five years, but he would have managed a mediocre presence. Now she had no father. Not even a deadbeat to flit through her childhood like a passing shadow in the night.
~Ian~
“Hey, do you remember when this asshole promised we’d all go on an escort to Iran without even asking if we were interested?” Russ asked.
“Who doesn’t?” Sasha replied.
“You got paid for it,” I grumbled. “I couldn’t help it was an all or nothin’ deal.”
“He’s still at it. Guess who got roped into an afternoon of roof repairs a couple weeks back?” Russ pointed a thumb at himself. “Ian’s turned into a true angel of benevolence since retiring. I expect he’ll open his own soup kitchen for the homeless by Christmas.”
Russ quieted down once he found himself on the receiving end of a dirty look.
Since my retirement, the group of us met at least once a month to unwind and play catch-up on each other’s lives. My house was preferred for the pool I’d had built last year, unless we hung out at Sasha’s penthouse in Houston. The youngest member of our team, a marine named Nadir, remained in active duty and was missing from our get-together.
Taylor’s feline instincts let him hone in on my discomfort. Like a true jackass, he picked up where Russ left off. “So, what’s happening with the hot girl?”
Playing dumb, I shrugged and raised my beer to my lips for another swig. “What hot girl?” They’d never let me live it down if they knew my eagle had responded to a girl less than half my age.
“The blonde with the booty,” Taylor replied, gesturing with his hands for emphasis. “The one taking care of your grandmother.”
“Ooh, spill it, Ian.” Sasha flicked a bottle cap into the trash. Her lazy sprawl on the lawn chair was re
miniscent of her lioness form, relaxed but deceptively alert. She twisted a lock of golden hair around her finger and grinned.
“Looks like the cat’s out of the bag now, man. You may as well spill it,” Taylor said with an unapologetic shrug. Russ must have told him everything, because I sure hadn’t.
“Thanks, Russ. Really.”
“You’re welcome.”
“It’s us, Ian,” Juni chimed in. The tiniest and quietest member of our squad gazed at me with a reassuring smile on her face. The wind kicked a few strands of dark hair into her almond shaped eyes.
“Her name’s Leigh,” I began after a sigh. I laid out the entire story, beginning with our chance meeting at church and ending with my decision to help her regain complete custody of her child. By the end, I’d prepared myself for laughter and merciless teasing for my gullible actions. Who gave so much money and time to a stranger they barely knew?
No one laughed.
“Well?”
Sasha shook her head. “You’re a great guy, Ian. She’s lucky.”
“That makes you and Russ now. Funny, I always imagined ladies-man Taylor would get snagged up first.” Juni passed fresh beers around the circle while Russ checked the smoked meat on the grill.
Sasha grunted and went inside. I guess she was still sore from letting go of her relationship with Taylor. We all knew why it had to happen, but it didn’t ease the tender feelings on either side.
She was a lion, he was a cougar — interbreeding between our shifter species never worked out, and once the call of nature ran its course, our children were the ones to suffer most. If they survived. None of us could resist mating once we had a treasured spouse. I was already beginning to feel the tug toward Leigh, a desperate and raw urgency I denied each time we were in close proximity.
“Just you watch,” Taylor said, trying to move past the awkward silence. “You’ll be next, Junebug.”
“Doubtful. Male rabbits are kind of pussies.” Her lighthearted statement was meant to amuse us, but I heard the undercurrent of disappointment.
My phone’s ringtone sang out to alert me to an incoming call then Leigh’s name popped up in the caller ID window. “Hang on a sec, guys. I’ll be right back.”
Leaving them to laugh and make fun of male bunny shifters, I stepped aside out of shifter hearing range and answered the call. “Hi, Leigh.”
“Dennis is dead. Someone stabbed him to death last night at the prison in a riot.”
If anything, I’d expected to hear a heartwarming story about holding her baby again, or good news about mending the damaged relationship between her and the grandparents. She stunned me. “A prison riot? Shit. I’m sorry, hon.”
“I don’t even know why it’s bothering me. It’s not like... like we were together anymore.”
“Sweetheart, it’s natural to mourn him. He was a part of your life for a long while. You had a child with him.”
“And now they won’t let me see her,” she sniffled over the line. “I mean... I sorta get why, but it’s still hard, ya know? Anyway, I didn’t mean to ruin your Saturday.”
“You didn’t ruin anything. Would you be happier if I came over?”
“No, it’s all right. I’m sorry, Ian. I’m sorry.”
“Stop apologizing. I did say if you ever need to talk, I’m here for you.”
Leigh sniffled. “Yeah. Anyway, enjoy your Saturday, Ian. I’ll see you tomorrow morning at church.”
I told her goodbye and ended the call, but I returned to the deck to find four sets of eyes watching me.
“That sounded serious,” Juni spoke up tentatively. She bit her lower lip and dropped her shoulders a little. She hadn’t meant to eavesdrop, but her sharp hearing picked up everything. “Are things okay?”
“Remember the ex I told you about in prison? Yeah well, somebody shanked him last night. Dead. His folks denied Leigh her scheduled visitation with her kid.”
“Sounds like she needs a friend then,” Russ commented. “Why are you still here?”
“She said she didn’t need me to come over and would see me at church.”
“Don’t be daft, Ian.” Sasha rolled her eyes and shook her head. “When we women tell you to stay away, we actually want you to come.”
“What the fuck kind of mind game is that?” Taylor asked. “Why can’t you just tell us you want us around?”
“Because then you whine about us being needy,” Sasha fired back.
“Okay, okay. Before this devolves into the usual, I guess I’ll head out and check on her. Sorry, guys.”
“We’ll be here when you get back. Not like we’re driving anywhere,” Taylor said. He shrugged.
“We’ll hold down the fort. Here.” Juni jumped up and plucked the first two steaks off the grill. We had one extra T-bone because Russ had forgotten she didn’t eat meat. Within minutes, she prepared a tidy to-go package, including some of the cobbler Dani sent over with Russ.
With our meals and a bottle of merlot in my possession, I drove over to Leigh’s house and knocked on the door. The neighbors watched me from their porch, filled with curiosity.
“Sup, MacArthur. Sure see you around here often. Y’all datin’ now or something?” the guy asked.
Given the chance to stake my claim, I ran with it and nodded. “Yup. She’s all mine now.” I knocked again. “Steak delivery for Leigh Denton,” I called, hoping to lure her from inside.
“Heard ‘bout what happened to Dennis. Can’t say it surprised me much.”
“Yeah? I thought the prison system was safe these days.”
“About as safe as a prison can be if you keep your mouth shut.”
I didn’t get a chance to inquire further. The door slowly creaked open to reveal Leigh. Her puffy face and red eyes confirmed my suspicions, proving no matter how much she claimed to be okay on the phone, she really wasn’t fine at all.
“Ian? I told you not to come.”
“I brought you dinner, sweetheart. You can kick me out after you take it.”
After she stepped aside to let me in, I set Juni’s care package on the kitchen counter and turned around just in time to receive an armful of woman. I ran my fingers through her fair hair and eventually coaxed her to sit with me on the couch. I held her until the worst of her sobs subsided and she removed her cheek from my soaked shoulder.
“I’m s—”
“Apologize one more time and I’m gonna go and take my steaks with me.”
Leigh’s sniffles dwindled to weak giggles.
“When I say I’m here for you, Leigh, I mean it. You can talk as much as you want or just be quiet. It won’t bother me a bit.” I settled back into the couch arm and watched her. Uncertain, cloud-grey eyes studied me in return.
“I hate him so much for what he did to us,” she whispered once the initial silence ended. “I used to blame him for my relapses, making up excuses all the time.”
“And now you don’t,” I encouraged her.
Leigh nodded. “Not anymore. I spent the first month after they took Sophia thinking, ‘If he didn’t supply me, I could have kicked it. It’s his fault.’ Then I realized I was looking at it all wrong. He didn’t put the pills in my mouth. I did.”
In another time and place, I might have judged her too for her shitty decisions. Poor choices may have hurt her child, but the law was putting her through a mother’s nightmare to get her back.
“Everything just went to hell when my dad got sick. I just feel so lost right now.”
“Well, I’m pretty sure a full belly and a good movie will help a little.”
With a little effort, I managed to get Leigh to eat a filling meal. The solemn mood gradually tapered off over the course of a made for TV movie. We dug into peach cobbler and took turns swigging from the merlot bottle once I assured her no one would barge in to point fingers for her decision to have a sip. A pain killer addiction didn’t make her an alcoholic.
“I feel weird drinking straight out of the bottle,” she murmured. “Wish I
had glasses.”
“It’s okay, hon. There’s nobody here to see us drinking like a pair of classless lushes,” I reminded her. “It’s only us, and I’m not telling. Unless the judge is hiding in the bushes outside your window, we’re good.”
Afterward, when we were both stuffed and she was clearly tipsy, she leaned against me and kissed my cheek. Her palm slipped over my chest, idly trailing up and down my torso. “Hey, Ian?”
“Hm?” God, she smelled sweet. As much as I wanted to kiss her and submit to the needs of my feral half, the man in me said to wait. Now wasn’t the time to put the moves on her. Not when she was mourning and not when there was a gorgeous wine flush on her cheeks. My stiffening cock provoked a slew of lustful thoughts, imagining Leigh beneath me with her head thrown back. I wanted to feel her nails against my shoulders and tight body milking my release.
I couldn’t deny my eagle much longer.
“Thanks for coming.”
“It’s nothin’, sweetheart. Hey, instead of meeting at church tomorrow would you like to come meet some friends of mine who are in town right now?”
“You mean skip?”
“Exactly. I’m pretty sure the big man upstairs will understand, as upset as you are. You can come join us all for a big brunch since they’re staying at my house tonight.”
Leigh leaned back to look at me with guilt in her large, gray eyes. “Oh, Ian, you had friends over and you abandoned them to come see me? I couldn’t intrude—”
“Psshaw. They’ll love you. Besides, Dani will be glad to have some non-military company there. She tends to bug out and just send over treats if it’s only us.” I guided her back over to me with one arm around her. She came over willingly and nestled close.
“Dani?”
“Russel’s girlfriend. You met him, you know, the guy who helped me out with your roof repairs.”
Let Us Prey: BBW Military Paranormal Romance (Wild Operatives, #2) Page 4
