Harleigh?
She didn’t freeze.
She went wild.
She dove and rolled behind Slate in her haste to get behind the nurses’ station, but only managed to get mostly behind Slate and nowhere near the nurses’ station because her roll went wild due to a cart that Andy shoved forward.
The cart hit Harleigh in the side, causing her to squeak in pain, and Castiel and Wade finally managed to get into a position with their guns drawn.
“Drop it,” Wade said, his weapon aimed right at Andy’s chest.
Andy’s eyes went wild.
“No.” He shook his head. “I will not.”
“You’ve already committed a felony for assaulting a healthcare worker.” Wade gestured with his chin to Harleigh, who was now fully behind the cart and no longer behind Slate. Slate, however, was guarding that goddamn cart with his life. He looked like an avenging angel holding a sword at the ready to defend, yet the sword he held was actually an IV stand, and he didn’t look angelic as much as devilish. “And resisting arrest as well as whatever else we can pin on you. Don’t make this worse than it has to be.”
Castiel tensed, and that was when I saw that Andy had moved his gun to his sister.
“I told you this was a bad idea,” he hissed at her. “That you should’ve stayed home and left well enough alone.”
“She’s alive,” Tara said in a near monotone voice, no inflection whatsoever. “And she has Linnie.”
Andy rolled his eyes. “Who fucking cares? What is your obsession? If you’d just left well enough alone, I wouldn’t be here on Dad’s request.”
Oh, this just got better and better.
“Then maybe you should stop being Dad’s little bitch,” Tara suggested.
Andy burst out laughing but stopped just as quickly when he saw a security guard creeping up behind him and swung the gun around. “No.”
Castiel’s finger started to waver, lightly feathering the trigger, and I wondered if I was going to see another person shot today besides me.
The security guard got the message and backed up without a word, but not far enough, because I could still see him in my line of sight from the doorway, where we were all crowded around.
“And.” Andy swung his gun back, aimed once again at his sister. A sister that didn’t look scared in the least. “I’m not Dad’s little bitch, you are, which is why I’m fucking here instead of doing other important shit like…” He trailed off when he seemed to realize that his conversation he was having was fairly public.
“Put the gun down,” Wade ordered.
“Can’t,” Andy said. “I’m under strict orders to bring her home or…”
“Or what?” Tara laughed, this time with a little bit of her crazy leaking out in the manic state of her eyes. “Come on, tell us. Or what?”
Andy looked at her sadly. “I’m tired of handling you anyway, Tara. You’re exhausting.”
“I’m exhausting,” she agreed. “But I’m Daddy’s baby. I’m Daddy’s one and only girl. I’m Daddy’s ticket.”
“Maybe,” he agreed. “But honestly, so is Theo. If you’re not here, then it all goes to Theo.”
It all goes to Theo.
What in the fresh hell was going on?
Tara went absolutely…wild.
There was no other description for it. “Don’t say that!” she screeched.
The bed tipped over. The officer that’d been guarding her tried to catch it, but all it did was take them both out instead of leaving him standing.
Which was how both the officer and Tara ended up getting shot.
Andy shot two off before anybody could react.
The officer took one to the foot, and Tara took one to the head.
Andy took a near three-hundred-pound Slate to the chest.
***
“Give me her address or I’ll beat it out of you,” I grumbled.
Hoax rolled his eyes and pulled out a GPS. “Just take this. The last GPS coordinate is the one you need.”
With that he left me with the device, knowing I’d find her if it took me a year to do it.
But I couldn’t allow Theo to go on thinking that I was hurt too badly.
Since Tara had interrupted the explanation I’d been giving, I’d been forced to hang up despite not being able to explain fully.
She did know that I was all right, however. There was that.
But I knew that she had to be freaking out. So I’d be going to see her…and possibly staying.
Who the fuck knew?
I mean, I’d been shot. I had to recuperate. That could take months.
Chapter 21
Whoever created a 5-day work week and a 2-day weekend was a real piece of shit.
-Theo’s mumbled thoughts
Theo
Needless to say, after the commotion of that phone call that had disconnected Liner and me last night, the very last place that I wanted to be was at work answering calls and making collection calls.
Yet, there I was, working my ass off, wishing I was anywhere but where I was.
“I have to go get some copies made,” I said as I stood up from my chair and placed my company phone into ‘sleep’ mode. “Then I’m going to take my fifteen-minute break. Do you want me to grab you anything?”
Jennie had taken her fifteen-minute break an hour ago and was already looking fairly ragged.
“My twins wouldn’t sleep last night,” she sighed. “Both are teething I think,” she explained when I looked at her like she could use a cup of coffee. “My husband is on some maneuver exercise, too, and I haven’t seen him in two days.”
Her husband was military and worked at the base that wasn’t far from town. She’d also told me he’d just gotten a promotion and had taken on quite a bit more responsibility than he was used to.
“So coffee?” I asked teasingly.
At least, I tried for teasingly.
I really wasn’t in the greatest of moods myself.
“Sure,” she sounded relieved. “Thank you.”
I nodded my head and grabbed my personal phone, even though I knew that it wouldn’t ring.
I’d gotten one single text from an unknown number last night.
It’d read: He’s okay.
That was it.
Then, after about two minutes, even the message had disappeared from my phone.
It was then I realized that I wasn’t going to get to find out anything more. I’d have to pay attention to the media just like everyone else.
Upset now all over again, I kicked a can that was in the parking lot as I walked to the food truck that was just down the street from the electric company that I worked at.
The little building we were in was part of about ten such office buildings ranging from our electric company to a hair salon.
At any given time, the food truck had at least one lady in line with foil in her hair.
Then there were the teenagers that worked at the hardware store two down from my building. They were too young to know what exhaustion was, but there they were getting their own coffee along with pastries.
Fifteen minutes later on the dot, when I arrived back with two coffees, a chocolate chip muffin, and a cinnamon scone, Jennie looked to be much more alert.
“What has you looking all perky?” I asked as I held out her coffee.
She took it and placed it on the corner of her desk as her eyes went down the hall to where the big boss kept his office.
“While you were gone, the big boss showed up,” she whispered.
My heart started to pound.
“You mean the one that was hurt yesterday?” I asked.
She nodded her head. “That one! And he doesn’t look hurt! He looks just fine!”
I licked my lips and tried to decide whether I should run down the hall and see for myself if it was really Liner, but I forced myself to sit in my office chair, unmute my phone, then start delicately
eating my scone.
It was when I was two bites into my muffin, scone demolished in a nervous ‘I didn’t taste it at all’ devour, that they finally came out of the office.
I didn’t have to see the rest of the body.
All I needed to see was that familiar pair of scuffed up motorcycle boots to know it was him.
My heart started to pound, and moments after his body emerged, his eyes moved to meet mine.
It took paramount control to keep me in my seat as he made his way toward me.
His face didn’t betray a single thought or feeling, meanwhile I was sure that my smile was going to burst free of my face.
And don’t even get me started on the man that followed him.
I liked my boss and all, thought he was great, but with Liner in the room, he didn’t even get a single glance.
“Great news!” my boss, Eric, said. “We’re going to go get some lunch with a few of the crew members. Y’all are coming since we won’t have any crew members to dispatch. We’ll be gone for an hour or so. We’re going to set the phones as away while we’re gone.”
Eric might’ve been looking at me. He might not have.
I didn’t really know.
Liner’s eyes were sparkling, though, as if he read my mind.
“Oh, sorry, darlin’,” Eric jumped. “Mr. Paldecki, this is our newest employee, Wren. Wren, this is the company’s owner, Mr. Paldecki. You were on break when I introduced him to Jennie.”
I found myself standing up and holding out my hand almost on auto-pilot.
Liner’s hand was already extended toward me, and it took a massive amount of control not to just pull Liner toward me as he pretend shook my hand.
“Nice to meet you,” he said softly, eyes boring holes into mine.
I licked my lips. “It’s nice to meet you, too.”
Lies. All lies.
“Jennie, can you get the phones set up?” he paused. “It’s kind of a long process. So Wren, if you want to take Mr. Paldecki and show him around for a bit, I’ll get the crew called and have them meet us at Deck’s for lunch.”
Wren. My name was Wren now.
I was nodding my head even though I hadn’t heard a word he’d said.
“Yes, sir,” I said softly. “I can do that.”
Eric nodded his head and walked away, and Jennie went to work setting something up that I had no idea what was required to do it.
I should probably be paying attention since eventually I’d be doing that sort of thing myself at some point, but my heart was pounding, and I wanted nothing more than to throw myself at the man standing in front of me expectantly.
“Where to first?” he asked.
Then his hand was on the small of my back and I was leading him down a side hallway that led to the outside forecourt area where I sometimes took breaks.
It was a little covered patio-like area where Eric took his smoke breaks. It was outside but huddled in between the buildings so not much could be seen other than a little bit of sunlight filtering through the roof and the very tall wall.
The moment that the door closed behind us, I whirled and found myself pressed up against Liner’s body.
Seconds after that, I was being thrown against the building and Liner’s mouth was coming down onto mine.
My hands automatically went to his biceps to steady myself, and he broke the kiss off just as abruptly as it’d started, only this time with a curse.
I immediately let go of his arms, worried.
“Grip me a little higher,” he ordered roughly.
My head was swimming, and I couldn’t understand even the most simplest of comments.
Like move your freakin’ hand.
But he gently pried my hand away from his bicep with his other hand, then pushed it up until it was resting on his shoulder instead of his bicep.
“That’s where she shot me,” he explained.
I opened my mouth to tell him to put me down. To let me see. But then his mouth was once again on mine, and I was forgetting that he was injured. I was also forgetting the fact that I was at work, and he was supposed to be my boss and not my…Liner.
My Liner.
He wasn’t my Liner. He was Josiah Paldecki. The owner of Ampere Electric.
Visiting. Just visiting.
I was supposed to be showing him around, not letting him see what was underneath my skirt.
And thank God for skirts, because it made this easier.
My legs wrapped around his waist, holding on so tight that it was hard for him to move or reposition me, which apparently was what he was trying to do.
But God, I’d missed him. Missed having him in my arms. Missed having the taste of him in my mouth. The feel of him between my legs.
“You gotta let me go or I’m going to fuck you,” he gasped, pulling back with a ragged moan.
I couldn’t see the problem with that at this point.
“You have to,” I said urgently. “If you don’t…”
He didn’t need any more encouragement than that.
With one twist and yank, my panties were just gone. Seconds later, his belt was undone, and his cock was being pulled out of his pants and notching at my entrance. Seconds after that? Well, let’s just say that we were both very, very focused.
I hadn’t had him in what felt like forever. Weeks and weeks of pent up frustration was simmering at a low boil inside of me, and when his cock finally forced its way home—exactly where he should’ve been—I went off like a bottle rocket.
There was no build up. No thrust other than his initial shove all the way inside of me. Just a single, hard, forceful push all the way inside of me and I was gone.
My eyes closed, my head hit the building behind me, and I was fairly certain that I’d screamed.
Or at least tried to. Liner’s mouth had come back down onto mine before he’d thrust, and his mouth caught my wail of completion.
My pussy started to ripple around him, tightening so hard that my abs clenched, and my body tried to bow. But his big body was right there, pinning me to the wall, causing me to be unable to do anything but take him and what he had to give me.
My vision blurred as everything felt like it broke inside of me.
There were two things that were working right then—my vagina, and whatever made the juices that secreted from my vagina.
Suddenly I was wet. Very wet. And that was what set Liner off.
He grunted hard, pulling away from my body just far enough that he could brace his hands on the cement wall behind me, then I felt him twitching inside of me as his cock jumped with his release.
Long seconds later, my legs screamed at me to either let go or pay the consequences—i.e., not be able to walk straight when I had to leave later.
“Fuck,” he breathed, his hands going to my legs as if he could tell that they were tired. The instant relief of him holding onto them was enough for me to want to stay right there, like that, forever. “I missed the hell out of you.”
I pressed my forehead to his chin, ignored the way his beard tickled my nose and felt tears start to burn the backs of my eyes.
“This has been the worst and best months of my life,” I told him. “You showed me what it was like to live, then took it away. I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do. I was happy and sad, heartbroken and happy all rolled into one. I had everything I ever dreamed of…after I found you. Then you were gone.”
His arms went around me, and he pulled me up until I was face to face with him. Which inevitably caused his cock to mostly pull out of my pussy. Which then caused a chain reaction of me clamping down on what was left of him.
“Careful,” he said as he looked into my eyes. “I doubt that we have much more time out here before they come looking. But I’m more than willing to give it a chance.”
I smiled at him and tightened my muscles all over again, causing him to curse and pull away, leaving a trail of wetness down
the length of my thigh that followed in his absence.
He used the panties that I wasn’t aware he was still holding onto to help clean me up, then seemed to be undecided what to do with them.
“Throw them away,” I suggested, pointing to a trash can.
Instead, he folded them in on themselves, being careful not to get any of his or my juices all over him, then stuffed them into his pocket.
I just shook my head with amusement written all over my face.
“That’s going to smell here in a little bit,” I told him.
He shrugged. “It’s only until I can get to the truck and stash them. I don’t want to throw them away.”
I didn’t either.
I quite liked the idea of my panties being in his pocket.
“Okay,” I said softly.
But before I could do anything more but straighten my skirt, he was back in front of me, pressing me back into the wall.
With my feet on the ground we were at much different heights, but that didn’t stop him from dropping his mouth down until it rested against my ear.
“I’ve never in my life needed a woman,” he said, holding my gaze. “I’ve never needed anything. I’ve lived my life the way I wanted to live it. Then came little old you, and the desire to do anything that didn’t include you lost any and all appeal.” He pressed his mouth to mine. “This has been the hardest time of my life, being without you. And I can’t find it in me to care that I was shot. Not when it brought me back to you.”
My eyes started to water, and the ‘I love you’ was on the tip of my lips.
But before either one of us could say so much as an ‘I love you’ he was backing away and putting distance in between us.
That was when I heard the door to the patio opening and a chipper ‘all ready’ from my boss.
Liner’s eyes still held mine, though.
And I could tell with just one single look that he didn’t need to say I love you. I could read it in his eyes.
***
I was practically squirming in my seat.
It took everything I had not to throw myself into the man’s arms and hug the crap out of him.
But, he was probably hurting horribly.
And, ultimately, if he’d wanted me to act like I knew him, he would’ve introduced himself as an old friend and not as ‘Josiah Paldecki, nice to meet you.’
Snitches Get Stitches Page 17
