Doin' a Dime

by Vale, Lani Lynn

  Honestly, at first it didn’t look all that great from the outside.

  It was located in a rough area of town. Not one that I would’ve chosen to live in had I been given the choice.

  However, the moment he’d inputted a code to drive my car through the rather large garage doors of the warehouse, the whole thing had been transformed.

  Then he’d parked, led me to an elevator, and then taken me up to this floor which had another keypad to enter.

  My first impression of his place had been awe.

  After he’d put me down inside of his living room, that was. When I’d been in his arms, giddy excitement had thrummed to life inside of me.

  Hell, those excited flutters were still going crazy in my belly.

  The man was sin personified.

  Tall—really fuckin’ tall—with the most gorgeous square jawline that I’d ever had the pleasure of seeing.

  He had brown hair, blue eyes that were partially hidden behind a pair of black-rimmed glasses, and perfectly straight white teeth.

  And, from what he’d told me earlier, he was a computer hacker/nerd guy that didn’t look anything like any nerd that I’d ever seen before.

  This man was built.

  He was tall, muscular, and had these shoulders that just begged to hold himself up while he pumped his hips…

  “This is my office,” he said as he punched in yet another key code to get inside. “You can use it if you want. I don’t mind. Just don’t let anyone else use it. Not your best friend who needs a computer really quick. Not any boyfriends. Nothing.”

  My mouth fell open. “Boyfriends? I’m married.”

  His eyes trained on me, the blue seeming a little more intense than they were before.

  “I don’t want you to be celibate for the four years while I’m gone,” he said carefully. “It would make me an asshole to ask that of you.”

  I waved my hand away. “That’s not happening. Whether you give me permission or not. This marriage is real in my eyes. At least until you dissolve it when you get out. I assume you wanted us to marry so that you could keep all this safe?”

  All this meaning his bat cave of computer equipment.

  Wow, there were a lot of computers. I felt like I was in one of those Navy ships with all the computers everywhere.

  It felt intense, and I wasn’t even doing anything.

  “I married you for a few reasons, actually.” He gestured toward the door and I followed him, shutting the computer room’s door firmly. “I have a housekeeper that comes twice a week. The only room she does not clean is that one right there. I would appreciate you making sure that you clean in there. Please don’t take any food or drinks in there, though. That equipment is extremely expensive.”

  I nodded.

  “Don’t be surprised when shit gets messed with remotely. I’ve been assured by those that I took a plea deal with that I would have access to a computer. That way I can keep all my systems up to date, and things like that. There will be times that I ask you to do a few things related to my computers, though. I have a few trusted friends that I would allow inside, but you’ll have to make a time available ahead of that date that you can be here to allow them entrance.” He stopped at the door to a room and pushed the door open without going inside. “Gym.” He kept going. “Extra bathroom.” He continued. “This is a spare bedroom. You can sleep in here.” He kept walking. “Or you can take my bed. I don’t care. This one has the better view of the lake, however.”

  The lake.

  There was a lake?

  I would’ve walked to the window that looked out, but he kept walking to an empty room. “You can make this into whatever you want. You’re going to school, correct?”

  My brows rose. “You know that?”

  He pointed at himself. “Computer hacker.”

  So he probably knew quite a bit about me. Why did that not surprise me, or outrage me for that matter?

  “Yes,” I confirmed.

  “Good,” he said. “How fast do they think that you’ll be able to finish your nursing program?”

  I rolled my shoulders. “If all goes well, I’m going to get it done in two years. Summer, fall, winter, spring, summer.”

  He nodded once. “I’ve already set it up to have my accounts pay for your schooling. No matter what you take. Assuming you’re still going to Texas University.”

  My mouth all but fell open. “Yes.”

  “Good,” he said. “I have you now set up in their database as Wyett Villin, though. You might want to remember that when you go to sign up for their classes.” He kept walking, going down the opposite side of the hallway this time as he pushed open doors.

  All in all, he had six bedrooms, all of which were unfurnished but the two.

  He led me to his kitchen where there was a stack of papers on his counter.

  “Bank account information.” He pushed it toward me. “Emergency numbers in case you need them. My family knows that I’ll be going to prison, and they know that the property has a caretaker, so they shouldn’t be coming around. Do not let them inside. Please.”

  I nodded mutely.

  “My reasons for marrying you,” he hesitated. “I don’t trust my family at all. I needed someone that could override their greed. They’re good people. Nice. But they fucking suck at managing money. I haven’t given them your name or anything, so they shouldn’t be able to find you. But if they do… please let me know.”

  “H-how?” I asked.

  “Good ol’ fashioned snail mail,” he said as he tapped the packet. “Everything that you need to know about me is in there. My attorney has notarized everything. You have access to my bank accounts. My house. My cars. Anything that you might or might not need.” He paused as he stared into my eyes. “You’re more than welcome to use one of my cars and sell yours. In fact, you can just have one.”

  I swallowed hard. “Okay.”

  “I need to reiterate about my family,” he said. “They’re not really all that nice to new people. And they’re kind of pissed that I allowed someone that wasn’t them to take care of my stuff.”

  “Is that the main reason that you wanted this?” I gestured to the space between him and me.

  His lips quirked.

  “Not really, no,” he admitted. “You intrigued me from the moment that you allowed me to tug on your eyelashes. I looked into you and knew that you’d be perfect for what I had in mind.”

  I wondered just how much he’d looked into me.

  Were we talking about my entire life? Or just the basics?

  I found that I really didn’t want to know.

  Because, whether he did it on purpose or not, he was doing me a huge favor by giving me somewhere to live.

  For the next four years, I wouldn’t have much to worry about.

  I could go to school and focus. I could work. I could get the experience that I needed, then I could go back to school to be a nurse anesthetist like I’d always wanted.

  He was giving me that ability because I knew for a fact that shit was about to get ugly with my aunt.

  Knew it deep down in my heart.

  Which meant soon, despite having money, I wouldn’t have access to it.

  So, despite him ‘looking into me,’ I couldn’t be mad that he’d done it. Sure, it was an invasion of privacy. Sure, he shouldn’t have done it.

  But, saying that, I was getting the better end of the deal here.

  And he’d be gone for a while after this.

  “Do they allow visits?” I found myself asking.

  He blinked. “As far as I know, yes.”

  “What about the dogs?” I asked. “Can I bring dogs to visit?”

  Silo and Bones, his beautiful Dobermans, sat at his feet.

  They’d followed him all the way through the house, one at each side, like they’d done it a hundred times before.

  They looked well attached to him.

  They wouldn’t understand why he wasn’t there anymore.

&
nbsp; He dropped his hands down to the dogs’ heads, almost blindly, and sighed. “I’ve already pushed them quite a bit with my demands. As much as I’d like to say that I could push them into this, they’re going to be pretty non-lenient with me from here on out.”

  I pursed my lips. “If you can ever get them to allow that… I’ll come.”

  His lips twitched. “I’d like that.”

  “What about me?” I asked.

  His eyes seemed to sober. “I’m going to be four hours away. As much as I’d love to have you visit, I can’t ask that of you.”

  With that parting comment, he looked at his watch, and his shoulders seemed to slump. “I’ll see you in hopefully four years, dear.”

  Then he dropped down to his knee, his arms going around each of the dogs.

  “You two be very, very good for your new mom,” he ordered gruffly as he pressed a kiss to each dog’s shiny coat. “I’ll bet she’ll even give you the same treats as I do in the jar on the counter.”

  I would.

  Every freakin’ day.

  “How often?” I asked, feeling a lump form in my throat.

  He grinned and gave each dog one last scratch before standing. “They con me out of them way more than I should admit. Whatever you feel like is enough is good for them.” He tapped the folder. “Any and every question I could think that you’d ask is in there. If you need anything, I have phone calls that I can make, but it’ll have to be on their schedule, not mine.”

  I frowned hard. I was honestly quite upset at this point.

  I felt like I was losing something important. What that importance to me was at this point, I didn’t know. But it was like something in my gut was telling me not to let him go.

  On impulse, I launched myself forward and threw my hands around his waist.

  He froze.

  “Thank you,” I whispered. “I know you have no clue what you’ve saved me from but thank you anyway.”

  His warm palm came down on the back of my neck. “I think I might. And you’re welcome. For what it’s worth, you’re doing me a bigger favor than I’m doing you.”

  I sniffled. “If you say so.”

  CHAPTER 4

  Sometimes it’s only the fear of prison food that stops me from committing another murder and being forced to stay here a few more years.

  -Hunt to Wyett

  WYETT

  Six months later

  I was nervous.

  So nervous.

  In fact, I was about to vomit, and I wasn’t sure why.

  I mean, it wasn’t like I was going to prison myself. I was just going to visit the prison.

  And the very special person inside of it that I couldn’t stop thinking about.

  It’d been six months since he’d left, and in those six months, my life had changed drastically.

  My aunt did, in fact, take me to court over my ‘inheritance.’

  That meant that all access to my accounts had been frozen like I’d thought, and if it wasn’t for Hunt’s generosity, things would look a whole lot different for me right now.

  For instance, I wouldn’t be a quarter of the way through school and working on my second semester. I also wouldn’t be doing so well on my grades, even if I had managed to get myself into school.

  Just as I started to get antsy on my small, attached to the ground plastic stool, the large barred doors clanged open, and in the inmates started walking.

  There were squeals of delight, screams of excitement, and overall, a general enthusiasm from both the prisoners getting the visits, and the visitors themselves.

  All but one single man.

  Hunt had been tall and sexy before.

  But now? Holy shit.

  He was all tall, bearded badass with glasses.

  I’d never, not ever, thought I would have a thing for a felon.

  But there I was, lusting after the man.

  I could no longer see his beautiful square jaw… but I didn’t think that mattered.

  I now had a thing for beards.

  It’d appeared in about two point five seconds as Hunt walked into the room, looking confused.

  Then his eyes landed on me, and though the blank expression on his face didn’t disappear, the confusion did.

  He walked to me and sat down, his eyes dark and haunted.

  “Wyett.”

  I licked my lips.

  “Hunt,” I said softly. “It’s good to see you.”

  His head tilted slightly, as if he couldn’t agree with me.

  “What brings you here?” he asked, sounding distant.

  He also felt different. As if the man that had gone into this place wasn’t the same man that’d come to me now.

  My eyes trailed over his face, his eyes, then down his neck. It paused on a scar on his throat, and my eyes lowered.

  He cleared that throat where the scar hung, causing my eyes to come up to his.

  “I wanted to give you a little update,” I said softly.

  His head tilted.

  “Last week somebody came by and did a few things in your office,” she said. “But since he was on your approved list of people that could come in, I allowed it.”

  He nodded. “Fellow hacker and the man that taught me everything I know. Everything was good?”

  I nodded too. “I guess? He didn’t cry out in alarm or anything. He was in and out in about two hours. The dogs didn’t like him, though.”

  That got a flash of a smile from the man’s lips.

  The man that was very quick to smile before, wasn’t so quick now.

  I really wanted to know why.

  “Anyway,” I continued. “The dogs are doing well. I took them to their six-month checkup last month like you specified in the paperwork. Though, I have to admit, they’re both depressed.”

  Hunt’s shoulders fell slightly, but he didn’t say anything to my announcement.

  I wouldn’t know what to say either.

  I continued to fill him in on everything that had happened since he’d been gone, and when I finally got done, he’d said no more than five words.

  After I was out of things to talk about, I couldn’t stand it anymore.

  I reached over and touched his throat.

  “What happened?” I asked softly.

  “No touching,” a guard barked, making me jump.

  Hunt’s jaw tensed in annoyance at the guard’s rude growl behind me.

  He didn’t have to do all that barking. I’d already put my hand down by the time he’d even said anything.

  Only when the guard had gone back to wherever he’d come from did Hunt reply with, “Shiv.”

  I blinked. “What?”

  “A shiv,” he said. “They tried to cut my throat the first week I was in here.”

  My mouth all but fell onto the floor.

  “They what?” I gasped in outrage.

  “Shiv. First week I was in here,” he repeated, as if that was what I was really asking.

  It wasn’t.

  He knew it.

  I knew it.

  “How… why?” I stiffened.

  His lips formed into a small smile. “Because they could. There doesn’t have to be a reason. I was new. Big. Intimidating. They didn’t want me to think that I was big man on the totem pole because of my size, so they made sure to let me know.”

  Anger rooted itself inside of me.

  How could they?

  “Are you safe now?” I asked, horror written all over my face.

  His lips twitched. “Let’s just say I updated my will. If anything happens to me in here, you’re my sole inheritor.”

  That didn’t make me feel better about the situation.

  Not one fucking bit.

  “I don’t like that,” I admitted.

  His lips turned into a cruel smile. “Neither do I.”

  • • •

  Eight months later

  He looked rougher than he had before.

  After my first visit, I’d made it a m
ission of mine to go see him once a month. Sometimes even more than that if I could hack it.

  Except, I’d gotten sick last month and had missed our visit.

  So sick, in fact, that I was still trying to regain my strength.

  Apparently, I’d caught my first casualty of war—pneumonia—from nursing school.

  I’d missed almost an entire week of school because I’d been hospitalized—thank God for the health insurance that Hunt paid for. The week that I was hospitalized had included the day that I usually visited Hunt.

  And I’d seriously been looking forward to my visit. Even sick and out of my mind from a fever, he’d been all that I could think about. Even now, I was so excited about the visit that I could barely think straight.

  I wasn’t sure if he was as bummed as I had been, but for sure I knew that I was pretty freakin’ sad about missing it.

  I’d come to really rely on those dates.

  He may not say much when I was there, but I got to be in his presence.

  And his presence made me feel like I was on top of the world.

  I wasn’t sure what it was about the man that caused it, but seriously, I enjoyed the hell out of being with him, even if it was just talking in the visitation room for a short while.

  I would’ve been there, sooner, too. However, the last two times that I’d tried to come, the prison had been shut down to outside visitors due to riots.

  Fucking riots!

  What the hell?

  Needless to say, as I sat there in my sweatpants and t-shirt—nice clothes for coming to visit a hot guy, I knew, but I seriously couldn’t fit into any of my other clothes because of all the weight I’d lost over the last month—I was super nervous.

  I knew Hunt would notice my weight loss, too.

  There was no way he couldn’t.

  The doors clanged open, and again my eyes started searching for the man that was quickly becoming a very important person to me.

  One visit at a time, I was getting to know him.

  And I was really, really liking him.

  Something in which I knew I shouldn’t be doing, but couldn’t stop myself from feeling it anyway.

  And then there he was, eyes hard, searching around the room for me.

  Except, I wasn’t in my usual attire.