My Bad- Lani Lynn Vale

by Vale, Lani Lynn

  I clenched my teeth, and in my annoyance, I stood up and inadvertently revealed myself to the woman.

  She saw me, her eyes narrowed, and then recognition dawned.

  “What the fuck is she doing here?” Brielle snarled.

  Obviously, she didn’t forget me any more than I forgot her.

  Good.

  I didn’t want her to forget the woman that almost knocked her ass out.

  If her brother hadn’t saved her…

  “She’s here because we’re about to go out on a date,” Hoax replied. “Here, help us dry the truck off.”

  Hoax reached for the towel in my hands. Immediately after getting it, he tossed it at Brielle over the cab of the truck. It hit her in the face because she hadn’t been expecting the order.

  Brielle peeled it away from her and stared at Hoax incredulously.

  “I’m sorry, but what?”

  Hoax laughed, as did Bayou. “Dry it off, Brie. You know, like this.”

  I watched with amusement as Hoax demonstrated how to dry off the truck.

  “I’m not dumb, Hoax. I’m just trying to figure out why you want me to dry it.” She tossed the towel onto the ground—the still wet ground—and glared.

  Hoax sighed.

  Bayou shuffled his hand through Brielle’s hair and then nudged her to the side. “Move if you’re not going to help.”

  Brielle glared at me, then at Bayou. “Whatever. I’ll be inside. When you’re done, come get me.”

  Then she walked inside, leaving me to wonder what made her think her shit didn’t stink.

  After the door shut behind her with a loud, resounding boom, I looked over to find Hoax staring at me.

  He wanted to know why Brielle hated me so much.

  I glanced at Bayou, who’d moved down to the backside of the truck near the tailgate and shook my head. Hoax seemed to understand that and nodded his head once.

  However, I wasn’t fooled. I knew that he’d ask about this again the first chance he got.

  At one point, he moved closer to me until my body was practically pressed to his truck as he reached above my head and dried the roof that was too high for me to reach. I felt him from shoulder blades to ass and knew that he’d done it on purpose.

  “You’ll tell me, right?” he asked as he pushed impossibly closer.

  I nodded. “When we’re no longer being glared at by Bayou.”

  My whisper was almost imperceptible, but somehow he heard me.

  “I’ll make sure I get it out of you,” he promised me.

  Which he did moments later when there was a loud crash followed by an enraged scream.

  I shifted, staring at the house in surprise.

  “What the fuck was that?” I asked in horror.

  Bayou sighed, tossing his towel on the hood of the truck, and walked inside. “I’ll deal with it.”

  When he left, I was left standing there, unsure what to do.

  “Should I go in there and check to make sure she’s all right?” I wondered.

  “No.” Hoax ignored whatever it was that had happened. “Now tell me why Bayou looks at you like you’re annoying, and refuses to talk to you.”

  I felt my lips twitch. “Maybe I am annoying. Has that ever crossed your mind?”

  “There’s no doubt in my mind that you’re annoying.” Before I could get pissed, he continued. “Annoyingly intelligent. Annoyingly beautiful. Annoyingly evasive…I could go on.”

  I bit my tongue to keep from grinning.

  I liked that he thought that about me.

  “No, my head’s big enough right now already,” I told him honestly. Then my gaze sharpened. “Why do I feel like I know you?”

  He stopped drying the truck—which was almost done now—and stared at me. “I don’t know.”

  I sighed and threw my now-wet towel onto the banister that led up to Bayou’s porch.

  “Now talk to me,” he ordered as I turned away.

  I fidgeted with the towel, making sure that it was laid out smoothly for optimal drying ability, and then turned to take a seat on the first step that led up to Bayou’s porch.

  I told him about Brielle and what had happened at a club party, not sparing a single detail.

  He got this weird look on his face.

  “I was there,” he told me. “Dixie is our grandfather. Dixie’s daughters are our mothers. I know exactly when you are talking about, too. I was fresh out of AIT—advanced individual training—and home for a week leave before I was assigned to my new base.”

  “That might be why we feel like we know each other,” I pointed out.

  Honestly, there’d been so many freakin’ kids at those parties that I couldn’t remember specifically if he had been there or not. We’d gone to quite a few, and still did, but the extended family of not just the Free members, but the Dixie Wardens members, had grown exponentially. There was no way that I’d ever be able to remember.

  “Probably saw each other in passing,” he agreed, walking over to me and dropping his towel unceremoniously over mine, causing me to roll my eyes.

  While my eyes were distracted by the way he’d thrown the fabric, Hoax was busy sitting down next to me, shrugging his t-shirt on, and scooting in close. I hadn’t realized how close until I turned my face only to have Hoax’s lips brush mine.

  Another shriek from the house had me jumping, and I looked over my shoulder to see the blinds now parted, and Bayou standing in the window, his back to us, staring at who I guessed was Brielle making a spectacle of some sort.

  “So she really hates me,” I told him. “And it might or might not have been you I was staring at that night…”

  He shrugged.

  “Brielle is…difficult.” He paused. “She’s jealous. Angry. Petty. I could go on.”

  I didn’t need him to, so I waved my hand in the air.

  “She also has a mental condition, which I think is why Bayou puts up with her bullshit since she’s kind of like him. When she came into our lives, she was eight years old. Her father and Bayou’s father had been friends from a young age, and when Brielle’s father died, Donald adopted her. She latches onto people and obsesses over them. She gets super clingy, and angry, when someone gets near who she considers ‘hers.’” He sighed. “And since she can’t help it, we deal with it…even though sometimes it’d be easier to tell her to leave us the fuck alone.”

  I blinked. “So, she has Asperger’s?”

  He shook his head. “No, Bayou was diagnosed with that as a teenager. But he’d always been different, like Brielle. Brielle was diagnosed with schizophrenia—though it’s controlled by medication. They bonded over their differences.”

  “And he’s protective over her because he sees himself in her,” I guessed.

  Hoax nodded. “Exactly. Bayou has such a stranglehold on his disorder that if I hadn’t known him from the time he was a kid, I wouldn’t even know he has anything wrong with him. Honestly, he just comes off as unapproachable. I’m honestly not convinced there’s anything ‘really’ wrong with him seeing as he’s exactly like most of the human population. Brielle, though? She’s definitely got a few screws loose. I’m not convinced that she doesn’t have other things wrong with her. But, saying that, she’s my cousin—ish—and I’ll continue to care for her even when she’s acting stupid.”

  I leaned my head onto his shoulder. “She doesn’t like me.”

  He wrapped his arm around my back and pulled me in until we were touching from hip to shoulder. “She doesn’t get a choice in who I date, though. She never has, and never will.”

  I blew out a breath. “Military men scare the hell out of me.”

  He let my shoulder go and reached his hand up to snag a fallen curl that was resting on my shoulder, then started twirling it around his finger. “Tell me about these men that hurt you.”

  I started with Jagger.

  “That should’ve been your first clue,” he told me whe
n he heard his name.

  “Why?” I asked curiously.

  “Because his name is bullshit.” Hoax laughed.

  My brows rose. “His name is bullshit? Do you realize that your name is just as odd?”

  He shrugged. “Maybe. But what did you think was going to happen with someone named Jagger? Now, continue. I’m sorry for interrupting.”

  I snorted and went back to my story.

  “We dated my senior year of high school. He graduated early and then went into the Army like a month after that. I waited for him all the way through basic training. Went to his graduation a couple months later, and then found out that his other girlfriend went, too. One that he met at the recruitment office.”

  Hoax growled. “Bastard.”

  “He had this elaborate lie. I wasn’t supposed to know when his Army graduation was, but I’d asked my father who called around and found out. I’d definitely surprised him, that’s for sure.” I swallowed. “Funny enough, I’m still friends with the girl that he met at the recruitment office. We both rode to the hotel together as we left base. She’s a nice girl, and was played just like I was.”

  His hand stopped playing with the curl and moved up to scratch my head.

  “Who’s next?” he asked, sounding calm.

  This next one he wasn’t going to like.

  “It took me a year or two to date again, and by this time I was in my second year of college working on my basics. There was an Army recruiter that used to come to the college a lot.” I shivered. “We met when he tried to recruit me. My sister and I fell for his lines—though we hadn’t realized that we fell for his lines together. I really wasn’t sure how he accomplished convincing us to stay quiet, we’re twins after all and keep almost nothing from each other. Anyway, he started dating us both.”

  “Fuck,” Hoax muttered.

  “Yeah, it ends about how you’d expect it to,” I continued. “One day I walked in on Piper talking on the phone—to him—and heard her say his name and goodbye.”

  “I notice that you haven’t said his name yet,” he said.

  “That’s because he’s still in the Army, and he’s still here, and I don’t want you to go kill him,” I told him honestly. “I have enough problems trying to keep my dad from doing it. I don’t need to add you to the list, too.”

  He grunted out a reply that sounded like ‘whatever.’

  “Would you like me to continue?” I questioned.

  “Yeah,” he muttered.

  I smiled and moved my arm so that I was resting it on the length of his thigh that was closest to me.

  “Needless to say, we had it out, and then got pissed off that he’d played us,” I continued. “We were never mad at each other, and luckily both of us were quite busy with school to really get too involved with him. You should’ve seen the look on his face when Piper went in after nursing school graduation to enlist. It was the best thing ever.” I giggled.

  “Your sister’s in the Army?” he asked.

  I nodded. “Yep. She’s a nurse. Been in about three or so years now. She’s only signed up for five years, and she doesn’t think she’s going to reenlist. She’s not fond of the places she’s been stationed.”

  He snorted. “I’m not sure anyone but a lucky few ever really enjoy where they’re stationed.”

  “Do you like where you’re stationed?” I asked innocently.

  I had my suspicions, but maybe I was wrong.

  “I didn’t like my first station,” he admitted. “Do you want to go get dinner?”

  A nicely avoided evasion if I’d ever heard one.

  My suspicions that he was Delta Force only started to solidify more.

  “Sure,” I said. “Would you like to change first?”

  I looked down at his semi-wet t-shirt that was plastered to an impressive set of abs, and licked my lips.

  He snorted. “Yeah. You wearing that?”

  I looked down at my clothes and shrugged. “Yeah, I don’t care what I wear.”

  I wasn’t going to change who I was. An oversized t-shirt and old jeans was who I was on my days off. Though I did sometimes get dressed up and wear actual new jeans on the days I was looking to impress, most of the time I was more in the mood to be comfortable.

  “Fine with me,” he said. “You want to ride on my bike?”

  I nodded, feeling a tad bit giddy at the thought of being on the back of his bike. “Sure.”

  “I’ll bring my spare helmet,” he said.

  Then he disappeared inside, and I walked over to my house and retrieved my keys and phone.

  When I got back outside it was to hear Brielle yell, “That’s my helmet!”

  Oh, boy.

  ***

  Later that night, I called Phoebe to finish telling her about my day.

  “So what happened after I left?” she whispered excitedly.

  I sat down on the couch and then crossed my feet underneath me one by one before telling her.

  “Brielle came,” I paused. “And get this. She’s not Bayou’s biological sister. She’s a friend of the family’s daughter. When the dad died, Bayou’s mom and dad adopted her. Hoax said that she has schizophrenia, as well as obsessive tendencies and that obsessiveness extends to Hoax and Bayou.”

  “So she’s adopted?” Phoebe asked. “That’s good news. I always thought it was weird that she was always watching Bayou in that way.”

  I frowned. “You act like you know Bayou. Why do I not know him? I mean, other than the obvious of when he yelled at me.”

  “He was always standing in the shadows,” she explained. “I think you were too busy trying to do the same to notice someone in the shadows with you.”

  That was true. I wasn’t the best at crowds and never had been. I was a very social person other than that, but crowds seemed to mess with my mind.

  “Huh,” I said. “Did you know Hoax?”

  She grunted out a sound. “No. I think my mind was a little preoccupied with Bayou to ever notice anyone else.”

  “You sound like you like him,” I told her honestly. “Do you have a crush?”

  She paused. “Maybe…I’ve never stopped thinking about him.”

  An idea started to form in my mind. “I have the best idea ever!”

  She hung up on me before I could tell her.

  Chapter 7

  Have you ever met someone and imagine holding their head under water? Oh, yeah, me neither.

  -Hoax to Pru

  Hoax

  I showed up at her work with a bag of takeout, waiting patiently for her to get off work.

  While I was waiting, I flexed and stretched my hand and thought about the doctor appointment I had next week with the Army doc in Fort Hood to ascertain my readiness to return to work.

  I’d pass it. There was no doubt about that.

  What scared me, though, was that I wanted more time.

  I didn’t want to leave now that I’d just found Pru. We may not have gotten that far into our relationship—hell, if we could even call it a relationship at this point—but I knew what I wanted. And that was her.

  I wanted her bad enough to think about quitting my passion for the first time in years.

  I’d always wanted to be career Army. I wanted to get to the top and stay at the top. I wanted to be that man that all the new little recruits saw, and their eyes widened into terrified little saucers.

  But, then I’d found Delta, and I’d realized that there was more in the world than just respect.

  “You can’t park there,” I heard said, pulling me out of my thoughts.

  I turned my head up and outward to see a security guard standing there that looked older than dirt.

  It was laughable, really, that anyone would think that this man could protect the doctors and nurses inside. I mean, in his prime he might very well have been a badass, but now? He was old and didn’t even carry a gun. Having a will of steel didn’t stop bullets
from flying.

  “I’m waiting for my girl, Pru, to get off work. She should be here any minute,” I told him, hoping he’d let it go.

  The old man smiled so wide that I saw his false teeth start to slide out before he caught them.

  “You’re Pru’s man?” he practically cheered, sounding overly happy. “I’ve heard a lot about you!”

  “You have?” Was that hope in my voice?

  He nodded and showed me his arm, lifting up his baggy white sleeve to reveal a tattoo that looked like it’d been there since the beginning of time.

  “Army Airborne. 1962,” he said proudly. “I was in for eight years before a bad jump hurt my spine. She told me a lot about your accident. I’m glad that you’re okay.” He looked at me a little more sharply now. “She also mentioned you were leaving soon.”

  My belly clenched for a few seconds before releasing. “Soon, yes. They want me back next week.”

  I had nine days.

  Nine.

  That wasn’t enough time.

  He nodded once. “She told me you were going back soon. You’ll be okay. She seems like she’s really happy that you’re well enough to go back. I’d make sure to give her some extra attention before you go. My girl Greta always cried when I left. Hell, she cried when I got back. I’m not sure she ever stopped in between.”

  The thought of his ‘girl’ crying for months at a time made my lips twitch. It was possible, of course, but likely she had courage enough to stop and get on with her life while he was away.

  Most Army wives did. They were a different breed.

  Luckily, I wouldn’t be leaving a wife and child behind like some of my friends did each time we were sent out.

  Yet, my brain replied silkily.

  Talking had us both turning toward the entrance, and I grinned when I saw Conleigh making her way out. She was speaking with Pru’s sister, Phoebe, and gesturing wildly with her hands.

  They both saw me at the same time and grinned like loons.

  “Well hello there, Hoax,” Phoebe drawled. “What brings you here?”

  I patted my saddlebags. “Brought your sister some dinner, and I’m hoping she’ll invite me to her place.”