Love Bank: Jobs From Hell #1

by Ray, Marika

  “Just spill it, dude. I know you’re not here for a social visit.”

  He looked down at his feet and then back up at me. “I think Addi’s baby might be mine.”

  I choked on my sip of coffee, sputtering and sloshing the hot liquid on my hand as I tried to set it down on the counter. I ran to the sink and turned on the cold water, dousing my hand and giving myself a second to keep up with the change in conversation. I was stunned.

  When I texted Jayden about what was going on earlier in the week, he hadn’t said much in response. Just urged me to get a paternity test done as soon as possible.

  I narrowed my eyes. “When I told you I didn’t remember even sleeping with her you didn’t respond. Did you sleep with her?”

  He lifted an eyebrow. “That’s normally how babies are made.”

  “Don’t be a smart-ass,” I shot back.

  We were talking about a situation that caused me to postpone proposing to Lucy. This was my life we were talking about. If I wasn’t the father, I wanted to know that information now.

  Jayden rubbed the back of his neck, looking more unsure of himself than I’d seen since we were kids.

  “I think I was conned.” When I scoffed, he held his hands out. “Hear me out, man. I’m serious. She hit on me first that night we were out celebrating your promotion, remember?”

  I nodded, recalling the night we’d gone out to this new bar in San Jose, my brother having come up north to help me pack up my moving truck. My last night there, we went out to celebrate and, quite honestly, the events following the first few drinks were a little hazy.

  Jayden continued. “You finally left and Addi turned her attention solely on me. We danced, had a few more drinks, and then I took her back to my hotel. Everything was good. Fucking great, in fact. That girl is a freak in the sack. But then she got weird. Asking questions about you and where you were moving to. I didn’t even ask for her number before she left for fear she only wanted it to get your number. I never saw her again, so I didn’t think anything of it.”

  “She’s obsessed with my man?” Lucy stormed into the kitchen, my T-shirt barely covering her ass. Lord, she was beautiful when she was pissed. Her eyes sparkled above the pink cheeks, looking like they’d spit fire if need be.

  Jayden, the bastard, ran his gaze up and down her fine form before settling on her face and I nearly killed him. I snagged Lucy with an arm around her waist and pulled her against me. I liked the way she called me her man, but if Jayden looked at her bare legs one more time, I might have to kick him out of our house and interrupt our morning visit.

  “How about you put some clothes on, love, and I’ll make us all some breakfast?” I whispered in her ear.

  She startled in my arms, like she’d forgotten she had nothing on under my shirt. In different circumstances, I would have taken advantage of all that bare skin available for my hands. Probably wouldn’t have even let her get out of the kitchen before I’d bent her over the counter, given her sausage for breakfast, and had her screaming my name.

  Jayden looked away, like the smart man he was on occasion. “Hi, I’m Jayden. Bain’s younger brother,” he told the stove.

  Lucy blushed bright red and shuffled toward the door to the kitchen. “Nice to meet you too, Jayden. I’ll be right back.” Then she whirled around and hightailed it out of there.

  Jayden turned away from the stove and smirked. “She’s pretty.”

  “She’s mine.” The bite in my tone was probably unnecessary, but I couldn’t help myself.

  He held up his hands, choking back his laughter. “Yeah, I got that. Don’t worry. Even if I didn’t respect the hell out of you and would therefore never trespass, I’ve got a situation on my hands with Addi that requires my whole focus.”

  “Yeah, you do.” I thought of my stolen sperm sample and wondered if I’d be dealing with lots of “situations” in the near or distant future.

  Lucy came back in the kitchen and we got busy making breakfast together. I filled her in on the details she hadn’t shamelessly overheard and we both seemed to walk with a bounce in our step. Addi might not be carrying my baby after all. Despite my brother’s uncertain future, I loved sharing my new life with him and seeing him interact with the woman I planned to spend the rest of my days with.

  * * *

  The wind whistled through the palm fronds. I could practically feel the sea spray flying through the thick air to coat my skin and hair, the salty brine invading my senses and relaxing my shoulders. The fire crackled and popped, the flames keeping everyone warm despite the sun having faded into the ocean an hour ago. There was no rhyme or reason to the scheduling of the group beach bonfires. Maybe everyone felt a magnetic pull to get back to the ocean after a few days, needing the beach environment just as much as socializing with friends.

  Jayden had gone back to LA this morning after meeting with Addi and demanding a paternity test. After a fairly tense confrontation, she’d cracked. She’d wanted me that night and was irate when I wouldn’t give her the attention she craved. I felt bad for Jayden. Pretty harsh to possibly be pregnant with his baby but also admitting to wanting someone else.

  Most of the town accepted the story that I wasn’t the father, though I’m sure some wouldn’t believe it until the results were in. Quite frankly, it was none of their business. What was my business was Lucy. I had an appointment with a jewelry shop two towns over tomorrow after work. No more baby drama meant I could put my proposal plans in place.

  “Ooh! Looks like Bain and Lucille are back, huh?” Hazel singsonged, despite the fact I knew Lucy and the girls had spent over an hour on the phone hashing everything out. I was learning there wasn’t much best girlfriends wouldn’t share with each other.

  The small group of friends cheered and Lucy blushed. I pulled her into my chest tighter and laid a sloppy kiss on her while she giggled and slapped my arms.

  “We need to give you a couple name,” Lenora added when Lucy succeeded in fending me off. “How about Bainille?”

  “Nope. Rhymes with anal. Not gonna work,” Lucy immediately responded.

  Amelia whooped and I tried not to laugh at how quickly she turned that down. Guess that was one position Lucy didn’t want to try.

  “Okay, how about Lucin?” Lenora continued.

  “How about just Bain and Lucy?” Lucy offered.

  Amelia staggered back from the fire. “Wait! We can call you Lucy now? Since when?”

  My girl giggled and I couldn’t think of a happier sound. “Since Bain forced it on me and I realized I quite liked it. Less stuffy, you know?”

  The conversation continued around us. Tiny sparks flew in the air as someone tossed on a fresh log. I pulled Lucy in tighter, needing her closer still, needing to know this was real. That life really could be this good. My chest felt ready to burst from contentment. From belonging. I never wanted this night to end, yet I couldn’t wait to live the rest of my life with this woman by my side as my equal in every way.

  “While you’re being less stuffy, wanna go in a sea cave with me?” I whispered in her ear.

  She swiveled her head sharply, her wide eyes nearly dancing. My girl had gotten adventurous, that was for sure.

  I took a step back and she came with me willingly. We inched back from the ring of light around the fire pit. Once we were cloaked in darkness, I grabbed her hand and we ran off to the nearest sea cave gauged out of the hill. Right at the entrance, I paused to pull one of the calla lilies Auburn Hill was known for and handed it to her.

  The wildflower reminded me perfectly of Lucy. A tall, statuesque beauty, growing pure white petals in the wild that spoke of purity and rebirth. She’d come to me under the oddest of circumstances, but she’d given me a whole new reason for living. I’d come to Hell to live a simple life by myself, a city boy turned hermit at the age of thirty. Instead, I’d found my partner. The one who made this world come alive in bright colors and quirky sayings and weird animal encounters.

  Lucy held the flowe
r, looking at me like I’d hung the moon out there, the one giving off just enough light to see each other in the small cave. I walked to her slowly, taking in every detail of her hair, her eyes, the curve of her little ears, the way her chest expanded and fell faster the closer I got. When I stood right in front of her, I gently pulled the flower out of her hands and set it on one of the rocks by her feet.

  With steady hands, sure of everything as long as Lucy was with me, I took the hem of her jean skirt and shimmied it up to her waist, exposing her white lacy underwear.

  “You like these panties?” I asked her gruffly.

  She shook her head slowly, that familiar sparkle in her eye obvious despite the low light.

  I reached out and gripped both sides of the lace, yanking hard. The ripping sound echoed off the rocks, then got drowned out by our heavy breathing. I cupped her sex, feeling her heat and knowing she was ready for me despite the speedy and public nature of this encounter.

  I let go to fumble with the button and zipper on my jeans, shoving them down with my boxers, needing to be inside Lucy more than I’d needed anything before. She jumped. I caught her and wasted no time notching myself against her opening. She buried her head in my neck, her arms around my shoulders, and bit my neck. I slammed into her, letting the weight of her help slide her all the way down my length.

  I paused, needing a second to revel in her heat, the way she fit around me, the little noise she made when I filled her. Perfection.

  Then Lucy was sliding my flannel off my shoulders, chanting “off” and making a general nuisance of herself. If she wasn’t careful, she’d knock me off balance.

  “Put it on the rock. Hurry,” she mumbled into my neck.

  I blinked, realizing what she wanted after a few seconds of blissed-out confusion. One arm at a time, I got out of the flannel while still holding her up and staying inside her, a feat I’d be particularly proud of at a later date. I flung it down, half of it actually making it onto the rock, and had a seat.

  Lucy wasted no time, her legs around my waist and her heels dug into the dirt behind me. She rode me like she was Paul Revere warning the citizens of Auburn Hill of incoming soldiers. I didn’t even feel the jagged rock beneath me, only Lucy all around me, filling me with all the love she had to give, transforming me with each slide of her hips. She was wild, out of control, and had never been more beautiful taking what she wanted while giving me everything.

  The orgasm took me by surprise, sliding down my spine and tightening every muscle I knew I’d feel the next day. I grunted, spilling into her yet trying to pull back, wanting her to find her bliss before me. She whispered my name over and over in my ear, her words becoming the voice I heard in my head like it was my own. We’d found our bliss together.

  The earth began to shake. I squeezed her tighter and held on, not in the least surprised that she’d shaken me to my core.

  “Bain. Bain, honey.” The fear in Lucy’s voice had me looking up and blinking back to reality. The whole cave was shaking.

  “I think it’s an earthquake!” Lucy scrambled to get off my lap, shoving her skirt down and grabbing my hand.

  We ran out of the cave together, but I let go to zip up my pants and get decent before we got back to the bonfire. The shaking stopped, but we didn’t quit running until we came to our group of friends, all huddled around the fire with wide eyes.

  The silence was only cut by the crash of the waves, undeterred by a small earthquake. We all looked around at each other, seeing that none of us were injured.

  “Um…”

  “Did y’all just have sex in that cave?” Amelia screeched.

  “Holy shit!”

  “The legend…” Rip trailed off, the silence stretching out again as everyone digested that little tidbit.

  “Oh come on, guys. We didn’t cause an earthquake.” I pulled Lucy into me, immensely grateful the earthquake had been small and tumbling rocks on the hillside hadn’t been an issue.

  Lucy turned her head, eyes wide and her cheeks still pink from exertion. “I don’t know, Bain. Stranger things have happened to me recently. Maybe it’s not the animals. Maybe it’s me.”

  I kissed her forehead. “Maybe you’re right. You’ve certainly been magic in my life. You can rock my love bank any day, sweetheart.”

  “Same goes for you, my Warden of Wanktown.”

  And then my girl kissed me and nothing else mattered, not even an earthquake in some weird small-town legend.

  Epilogue

  Three months later

  “Lucy? You almost ready to go?” I slid around the doorway, my flip-flops slicker than snot on a doorknob on these new hardwood floors we’d put in.

  My heart squeezed seeing her sitting on the floor, a box of photographs surrounding her. She’d gotten melancholy lately, talking about the past and revisiting memories with each photo album she opened. Her hand trembled as she held the photo. The one of her mom, just barely pregnant and holding hands with an unidentified man. Unfortunately, the photo was ripped in two, the hand the only part of Lucy’s father she’d ever seen.

  “I just don’t understand, Bain. Why won’t my mother tell me? Why didn’t my father want anything to do with me?” She looked up, tears welling in her eyes and I wanted to know who her father was too, just so I could shoot him on the spot. “I love our little peanut so much already. I can’t imagine ever walking away.”

  I crouched down beside her and ran a hand down her back, stopping to knead the muscles on either side of her spine. Her back had been the only hassle so far in her pregnancy. No morning sickness, nothing. We wouldn’t have even known she was pregnant except she missed her period not long after that evening at the beach. What were the chances she’d get pregnant the first time we had sex without protection?

  I’d spent every waking moment since seeing those double blue lines with a sense of pride so big it felt like it would burst right out of my chest. My proposal plans had been put on halt. Lucy had been so ecstatic about a baby she’d been out of her mind. She already gutted one of the bedrooms and bought baby furniture, having it delivered with gift wrapping so none of the neighbors or delivery guy would have any idea what was going on in this house. The small-town gossip grapevine was a real and tangible thing. I figured I’d let her get the first burst of baby energy out of her system and then I’d slide right in with a ring and a quick wedding to make us an official family unit before the big arrival.

  “I don’t know the answer to those questions, but I do know as a father-to-be, you’d have to drag me away with wild horses to abandon my baby. Some people just aren’t cut out to be parents, but luckily your mom was, which meant you were loved and cared for. It was probably a blessing he didn’t stick around. A man who abandons his own child doesn’t have the skill set or the heart to raise one.”

  Lucy nodded and then rested her head on my shoulder. “You’re right. I know you are. Maybe one day I can drop the questions and just be grateful.”

  I smoothed her hair back and kissed the crown of her head. “If that’s what you want. But in the meantime, we have a bonfire to get to, my love. Let’s go.”

  “You and those orders…”

  She mumbled like she didn’t like it, but the smirk on her lips and the fact she let me help her to her feet told a different story.

  The whole crew had agreed to meet down by the water to kick off summer with a bonfire. It was still light out, but that didn’t stop us from getting together. We hadn’t told anyone about the baby yet. Only Lucy’s mom and my parents. I was hoping for a double reveal tonight. The ring was burning a hole in my pocket and the baby news was a quick slip from coming out my mouth. We needed to announce things before I let the cat out of the bag.

  I’d never been more proud of the little family we were building and I wanted to shout it from the hilltops. I crossed my fingers tonight was the night.

  * * *

  The calla lily gave off a fragrant flowery smell that reminded me of the night we made this ba
by. I’d picked another one on the hike down the hillside, handing it over to Lucy with a heated smile. We both remembered what came after that white flower fell from her hands.

  Our friends were all gathered around the bonfire, the flames nice and low while the warm sun was still in the sky. The beach this far north never got sweltering hot even in the middle of summer, but the beginning of summer didn’t call for a blazing fire either.

  I handed a six-pack of beer off to Rip, pulling one out that I’d doctored just for Lucy. I’d been doing this for two months now as we kept our little secret. Everyone thought Lucy wasn’t much of a drinker—which she wasn’t—but the one beer she nursed all night long was actually filled with water. Somehow, someway, we’d kept our secret from everyone.

  The group chatted animatedly about Clyde’s shenanigans yesterday. Apparently, he’d had one too many beers at Hell’s Tavern before he got a call. Just outside Auburn Hill limits, one of the ladies from the Pentecostal church one town over got a flat and needed assistance. When Clyde showed up, he accidentally backed his truck through the fence line just off the road, which was a good thing considering he could have backed into her car instead. But the cows residing there didn’t care much for a truck in their pasture and they’d stampeded. Clyde and the overcome church lady were caught in an intimate embrace to avoid being crushed, Clyde swearing up a storm and the woman hollering hysterically in some holy tongue.

  “Hey, you ever find your swimmers?” Titus said loudly across the fire. That was one way to get everyone’s attention.

  “Nope. No leads, and other than Addi, there hasn’t been any baby accusations.” I shrugged, hoping nothing more serious would come of the theft three months ago.

  “So, it’s true, then? Addi’s baby is your brother’s?” Hazel asked.

  I nodded. “Yep. He got the paternity test results a few days ago. The little boy is his.”