Just Kidding

by Vale, Lani Lynn

  “I haven’t washed my hands yet,” she said.

  I dropped mine back down to my side.

  “I’ll be back,” she said.

  She disappeared into the bathroom that was right off the office and came out about two minutes later in a pair of yoga pants, a white t-shirt, and socks.

  “Sorry,” she said. “It’s just I can barely fit into those business suits anymore, and my life is a hundred times brighter when I can wear yoga pants.”

  I grinned then.

  “I know exactly what you mean,” I told her.

  She smiled as if we were bonding over our love of yoga pants.

  “What brings you here?” she asked, her eyes going to her husband that was now cleaning off the couch.

  She dropped down onto her knees beside the kid that was on the floor and whipped a diaper out of nowhere and clothed the small boy.

  Seconds later, she was standing back up and giving me her full attention.

  “I’m here to inquire about a job,” I answered. “I’ve just moved back to Kilgore, and I’m looking to practice law here.” I paused. “I’m not looking to open my own practice or anything, so my next step is to inquire if there was any help y’all could use?”

  Swear to God, right before my eyes, hers filled with tears.

  “Oh, sweet Jesus,” she breathed. “Are you really?”

  I blinked. “Am I really what?”

  “A lawyer,” she whispered.

  I nodded slowly.

  “I want you.” She paused. “You’re not a felon or anything, are you?”

  I was already shaking my head.

  “Of course, you’re not,” she answered her own question. “You wouldn’t have gotten into law school if you were.”

  I silently agreed.

  “We’re family law,” she said. “And a few other types when the occasion arises. But mostly family. That’s something that you want to do?”

  That was when she focused on my head.

  I decided to tell her what happened to my hair before she started speculating that I liked my head shaved.

  It was funny that she was just now noticing it after seeing me for at least ten minutes this morning.

  “Well, that just sucks,” Clancy said. “My Jenny just worked a similar case of bullying,” he continued. “Did you hear about it?”

  I turned to study Jenny.

  “It was a favor for a friend,” she admitted. “Since we’re the only lawyers in town. The girl is a police officer’s daughter. You might know her. Avery Flynn?”

  My mouth fell open.

  “Something happened to Avery?” I all but screeched.

  Jenny’s face softened.

  “Yes,” she confirmed. “Something happened to Avery.”

  “It wasn’t too bad at first,” Jenny admitted. “It was just standard bullying. But then it progressed and turned into some really screwy stuff that ended with quite a few of the cheerleaders and football players ganging up on her. Sending her threatening messages on Photochat. Turns out, it was one of her best friends who was mad all because she kept getting recognition and sympathy because both of her parents died. I filed a restraining order against the school, and the judge had to decide whether it was admissible or not. The girl was forced to transfer to another school district and stay at least five hundred feet away from her at all times.”

  My gut churned.

  That sounded so awful it wasn’t even funny.

  And I’d never heard a thing from anybody.

  Not even Avery.

  Granted, I wasn’t super close with Avery, but my dad was the chief of police.

  How had I not heard about this?

  That was when I realized that my dad had probably kept it from me because he didn’t want me to worry when I should be worrying about my exams and passing the Bar exam.

  “That’s… just awful,” I finally said. “I’m glad that you could get her that.”

  Jenny nodded.

  “Me, too,” she said.

  “Your dad is the chief of police?”

  I looked over to see Clancy with his phone out and in his hand, scrolling through it.

  “Yes, sir,” I said.

  “You’re hired.” Jenny clapped. “When can you start?”

  I blinked, flabbergasted.

  “I… Monday?” I ended that with a question.

  Jenny smiled wide. “Perfect! I have a few pending cases that I’ve been putting on the back burner that you can look into this weekend.” She walked over to her desk and pulled out a seriously thick layer of file folders. “Here.”

  She handed me all of them.

  I took them with a small grunt.

  “You can work from home,” she said. “No need to come here. We’re only here half the time anyway. What I would suggest is coming here for anything you need to print off. We’ll have weekly meetings and discussions to see where we’re at. How much do you want to be paid?”

  “Uhhh…”

  ***

  Still on cloud nine that I have gotten my first job as a lawyer, I walked into my parents’ house with my backpack full of case files and my feet hurting from walking around town all day looking at properties.

  It was a good kind of hurt, though.

  “Thanks for the ride,” I told Booth. “My feet thank you, too.”

  Booth only nodded and walked to the living room where I could hear a loud commotion happening.

  Booth was a friend of the family and a SWAT kid.

  His father was Nico, and he had a twin named Bourne.

  I hadn’t realized he was on the police department at all until he’d stopped to pick me up at the end of the street, and told me that he had a meeting with my father.

  After watching him go, because goddamn did they know how to grow them in Kilgore, Texas, I skipped the living room and went straight to the kitchen.

  My mother met me with a frazzled look about her.

  “What’s going on?” I asked.

  “Monthly team bonding meeting,” she answered. “Yes, I need twenty pepperoni pizzas.”

  “And one cheese,” I ordered.

  “And one cheese,” my mom continued.

  “Also, some Cinnastix,” I continued. “And a Dr. Pepper.”

  My mother sighed and relayed the rest of my order.

  When she was done with the order, she looked at me.

  “You look… happy,” she said.

  I grimaced. “I’m happy. If I had hair, I’d be super happy.”

  My mother’s face fell.

  “The meeting?” I changed the subject before she could get started on her rant again.

  “Yeah, monthly meeting,” she said again, sounding tired.

  Since it’d been something that my dad had done since the beginning of time, I hadn’t thought much of it.

  Not only was my dad, at one point in time, the leader of the SWAT team, but he was also the man with the biggest place to hold the meetings.

  Now it was just tradition, since my father hadn’t actually been on the SWAT team for a while.

  The doorbell rang and my mother jerked her chin toward it.

  “Will you go get the door?” she asked.

  I didn’t protest, instead heading in that direction with a little bit of pep in my step. When I opened the door to the next man to arrive for the meeting, I couldn’t help myself.

  I threw myself at him.

  “Louie!” I cried out.

  Louis Spurlock was another one of the kids I’d grown up with.

  Back before we were all grown and out of the house when the meetings were held the kids came along with the wives. While the men had their meetings, the kids would play. And Louis was definitely one of my most favorite of friends growing up. Even if I was a bit older than him.

  “You’ve grown up!” I cried.

  Louis snorted.

  His father, Foster Spurlock, was whipcor
d lean and one of the funniest guys that I knew. Louis, much like his father, was also whipcord lean, but he also had bulk to his upper body that his father just didn’t have.

  “You’ve lost all your hair,” Louis said.

  I rolled my eyes and fell back onto my feet.

  “Yes.” I lifted my nose in a silent snarl.

  Louis studied my face.

  “I was told to never hit a woman,” he said as he studied my bald forehead. “But, if I could ever get past that part of my morals, I would totally beat the shit out of her for you.”

  I grinned then, loving the way that he protected me, even now at our age.

  “Thank you,” I said softly.

  Louis ran his hand over my bald head on his way past, and I was just shutting the door when a motorcycle pulling up to the house caught my eye.

  My eyes became glued to the spot, and I couldn’t have closed the door even if I tried.

  Dax dismounted his bike and hung his helmet from the handlebars. The next thing to go was a leather vest that made him look so badass that it wasn’t even funny.

  Tossing the leather vest onto the seat, the next thing to go was his t-shirt, leaving him in nothing but motorcycle boots and a pair of jeans.

  I watched with avid fascination as he bent over and dug into his saddlebags, the dog tags that he was wearing swinging forward and nearly grazing the seat that his tight ass rested on when he rode.

  Dear, sweet baby Jesus.

  He hadn’t been wearing dog tags the other day.

  Why was he wearing them now? He wasn’t active military.

  He came back out of his bent position with a t-shirt in his hands from his saddlebags.

  My eyes went to the dog tags that rested between an impressive set of pectorals, and I watched in utter fascination as he pulled the t-shirt over his head and settled it into place.

  It was a simple black t-shirt.

  But it had a few holes in it, as if it was so old and worn that he probably should’ve been throwing it away instead of storing it as a spare in his saddlebags.

  I nearly moaned when he looked up then and caught me staring.

  I could do nothing but stand there as he grinned and started toward me.

  “Thanks,” he said as he made his way up the walk. “You’re letting all the cold air out, though.”

  I sure the fuck was.

  I didn’t often do that seeing as we lived in Texas. But today was a fairly mild day compared to our usual.

  “Yeah,” I found myself saying. “But I didn’t want to go sit down only to have to get up a few seconds later.”

  He winked at me, and I tried not to moan.

  Jesus Christ.

  Was there anything hotter than Dax Tremaine winking at you?

  I thought not.

  Hell, there’d been one point in time when Theo had done it and I thought it was adorable.

  There wasn’t a single thing about Dax doing it that was adorable.

  Sexy as fuck? Yes.

  Adorable? Hell no.

  “Everybody here already?” he asked conversationally.

  I shrugged. “Honestly? I have no idea.”

  He eyed my head.

  “You have some peach fuzz,” he said.

  I did.

  “Oh!” He paused with his foot halfway into the entryway. “I found a hat!”

  I watched as he jogged back to his bike then bent over it to retrieve something from his saddlebags.

  I may or may not have watched his ass the entire time.

  I wasn’t admitting to anything.

  He stood up straight moments later with something in his hand.

  I narrowed my eyes and stepped out onto the porch, trying to get a better view, but when I went to look at it, he moved his arm so whatever it was was behind his back.

  “No peeking.” He laughed as he jogged back up the walkway.

  That was when I watched as his pectorals bounced with his movement.

  Jesus Christ on a cracker.

  Was there anything this man could do that wasn’t sexy?

  He stopped directly in front of me, then produced a hat from behind his back.

  That was when I burst out laughing.

  “Ahhh,” I said as I ripped it from his hands and settled it on my head.

  It was a little tight, likely because it was sized for a child, but that didn’t matter.

  It was the best thing ever.

  “How do I look?” I asked as I flipped the braid that was hanging off the back of the hat around so that it was resting on my shoulder. Then I did a little pose for him.

  He grinned.

  “Best yard sale find ever,” he admitted. “It looks cute on you.”

  He tapped the bill of my hat with his finger and I felt my cheeks heating.

  “Oh, man,” I heard said. “That’s rich. You know that Anna is her most favorite Disney character ever, right?”

  I heard my mother’s voice from behind me and turned to see her staring at me with adoration on her face.

  “She used to watch it on repeat even when she was a teenager,” my traitorous mother said.

  Dax’s amused eyes came to me.

  “If you were going to come to the door anyway,” I said, trying not to appear upset. “Then why am I here?”

  She gestured toward the road where a man had pulled up without my knowledge.

  I blinked, surprised to see him halfway up the drive.

  Then turned to Dax who was scowling hard.

  So obviously I hadn’t been the only one that’d been caught up in my own little world.

  One where Dax and Dax alone was the center of it.

  “The pizza delivery guy bringing our pizzas,” she said.

  I blinked, surprised.

  “I know you said twenty pizzas, but that looks like enough pizza for the whole police department!?” I remarked.

  Dax walked down to meet the delivery driver, nodded his head in thanks, then walked back with his own stack from the delivery guy’s car.

  It was obvious that he heard my question, though, because he came to me with a grin on his face.

  “We’re growing boys,” he said to my comment.

  I just shook my head and walked inside, feeling the tail of hair snake down my back.

  I’d always wanted long hair like Anna’s.

  Maybe one day I’d be able to have it.

  Not any day soon, mind you.

  But one day!

  It was hours later when Dax and I were once again reunited for the night.

  I’d done my level best to ignore the living room, not sure that I could handle all the hotness in it.

  Instead, I’d made myself useful in the kitchen on my mother’s laptop.

  I’d looked at furniture on Amazon and started making plans with my mother on some areas to look for a new place.

  Though, plans for my new place also stemmed off what I was able to find in this area. None of the stuff from my old place was coming with me since I had rented it furnished, but I still had some knick-knacks, kitchen items, and clothes in San Antonio.

  My old place that still needed to be dealt with. Sooner rather than later.

  “I can drive down with you in two weekends,” Mom said.

  “Mom,” Derek said as he came into the kitchen, arms loaded down with pizza boxes. “Nobody is going to really get anything out of you being there. No offense, but Dad won’t even let you carry a box up the stairs anymore.”

  That was true.

  A while ago, my mother had been walking up the stairs when she’d nearly tripped and fell straight down them. Granted, it was because she was carrying a laundry basket up them that she’d overbalanced, but that hadn’t mattered to my father.

  From that point forward, he’d made sure that she didn’t need to go upstairs.

  Upstairs was where my brother’s room and Katy’s room had been.

  Der
ek and Katy had been forced to never allow their rooms to get to the point where my mother needed to intervene with anything heavier than a dust mop. If they did, there was a lot of hell to pay.

  “Well, I can offer moral support then,” Mom said.

  The kitchen door pushed open once again and my father and Dax came inside, empty tea jugs in their hands.

  I felt myself respond to Dax’s closeness, even though his eyes were on the ground and not me.

  “No offense, Mom,” Derek said. “But nobody needs moral support when they move. They need muscle.”

  That was when I intervened.

  “I can get it all myself,” I interjected. “I just need to pack it up. Nothing will be too heavy anyway. At most, I’ll need a truck.”

  Derek was already shaking his head.

  “I’m working every weekend for the next month,” Derek said. “It’s my month on.”

  Dad piped in then.

  “I have training the next two weekends that’ve been scheduled for months. I can get off Sunday, though. If we can turn around and make it home by Monday,” Dad said.

  That probably wouldn’t work.

  As much as I wanted it to, I still had a lot of shit that I needed to do there on a workday, and that would likely mean at least a two-day stay. If not more.

  “I could help you move,” Dax offered. “I have a covered horse trailer that I can borrow from my parents. And I’m not doing anything this weekend.” He paused. “And there was something that I was wanting to get in San Antonio anyway.”

  I narrowed my eyes at the man that was suddenly being so very helpful.

  “I can handle it,” I said. “I just need to borrow a truck.”

  “You’re not borrowing my truck, Row,” Derek said. “Sorry. And Dad’s truck is in need of new tires. I highly doubt that he’ll allow you to take it until he can get that done. The car guy already has them on order. They should be here next week sometime.”

  I scrunched up my nose at him.

  “Why are you so selfish?” I asked him.

  “I’m not selfish,” Derek said. “I’m a realist. I don’t want to have to wait for my truck to be repaired after you fuck it up.”

  I gasped in outrage.

  “I wouldn’t fuck it up!” I cried out.

  “You always manage to fuck something up,” he countered. “And wasn’t it just you that ran over a curb in your car and bent the rim so that it had to be replaced?”