When a second person showed up in the doorway beside her, I did three things in quick succession.
I screamed at the top of my lungs.
My heart exploded in confetti.
And I dashed across the lawn, forgetting everything else around me until my arms were around my mom.
When my brain started functioning again, I picked up on her patting me comfortingly on the back. Anxiety and dread played hacky-sack with my internal organs as I unwound my arms from her waist.
I was so excited to see her here that pure happiness had blinded me to the fact that she might not even know who I was right then.
“Get in here, honey,” she whispered against my ear and a sob caught in my throat. “In case you haven’t looked at the weather lately, it’s still winter out there. I’m not dressed for this.”
Bliss and shock mixed together, leaving me speechless as she tugged me deeper into a blast from the past. The interior looked exactly like the house we’d had back in Indiana right down to the soft, lilac paint on the walls. Most of the seating was the same, and as she parked me on a sofa in front of the TV, I swear the cushions even held me the same way ours used to.
“How?” I managed on a bare whisper, still looking around the room.
The only differences I could really find were places that had been modernized. There was also only one level, but the house was bigger overall so that pretty much made up any difference there.
Monster was leaning against the wall, speaking softly to the woman I’d blown by in my rush. When he saw me staring at him, he dipped his head towards her. “Josie, this is Marla. Since there’s space for it, I’ve brought her in to be the live-in nurse.”
Live-in nurse, I repeated silently, rolling the words between my lips.
This fucking stubborn man and his schemes. I could only shake my head at him. We both knew there was no way I could complain about any of this, even if I wanted to.
“Nice to meet you,” Marla said, bowing slightly at the waist.
I raised a hand. “Nice to meet you as well. But I promise you don’t need to bow on my account.”
“Of course.” Her smile was sunny and caring. “I’ll give you three a moment. Can I get y’all anything before I go?”
Mom scoffed on my other side. “You already do too much as it is. Relax for a bit. Give that stubborn grandson of yours a call and tell him to get his head out of his ass.”
My cheeks flushed. “Mom!”
“What? Don’t act like you haven’t said worse. You would be surprised by the things I’ve heard when you thought I was asleep.”
I threw my arms around her again. “Why does this place look exactly like our old house?”
“You should ask the silent bruiser over there.”
I glanced at Monster, waiting on him to fill in the details. Sneaky devil.
“It took some doing,” he said. “But I eventually found some closing pictures of when the house sold originally. After having Jason print them out and bring them by, I was able to confirm with Ms. Hamilton—”
“Mom is fine, sweetie,” she said. “Whenever you add the Miss to it, I feel like I should be stealing that cane from you and hobbling around with it. You’re gonna make an honest woman out of my daughter soon anyway.”
My eyes bugged out of my head and I stared at him. This time, it wasn’t just daggers I was throwing his way. I met that ocean-blue gaze with silent conversation.
My look said, “You better not have anything else planned. Like a sudden proposal. Swear to God if you have that much nerve I’ll kick you in the balls while you’re down on one knee.”
Monster blinked, smirked, and dragged his thumb across his lip. “And you would still say yes. But don’t worry. That’s not happening...today, at least.”
“Aww,” Mom cooed. “Look at you two making googly-eyes at each other. Am I going to have stubborn grandchildren to scold soon? Because I’m not sure I’m ready.”
I threw myself sideways and buried my face in my hands.
Mom prodded me with her elbow and started tickling me when that didn’t work. “Don’t be so dramatic,” she said over my giggling. “I haven’t had nearly enough time to embarrass you. When the chance presents itself you can be sure I’m going to make sure it’s well spent.”
From the corner of my eye, I could see Monster shaking his head. It took everything in me to escape from Mom’s clutches. Once I had, I crossed towards him, winding my arms around his neck as I kissed him. Judging by the wolf whistle that pierced the air behind me, the kiss was a bit too deep.
And I did have to pull my tongue from his mouth to the sound of slow clapping.
“Give us a minute?” I whispered, staring up at him.
“This was the last surprise, pussycat.” He captured my chin and brushed his nose against mine. “And like I already said, I’m going to slow down like you asked. Take your time. You know where to find me when you’re done.” He stepped away from me and grabbed his cane, looking over my shoulder. “Y’all don’t get into anything that’s gonna make Marla regret accepting this job.”
Mom stood and clung to me, making me roll my eyes. “No promises,” she said.
Without another word, Monster turned and made his way to the door, carrying my heart right along with him.
There were a lot of things I wanted to ask him still. But as the door closed and the warmth in my chest never faded, I accepted that those questions weren’t going anywhere.
In this moment, I truly had everything I wanted. Mom was right here and well taken care of.
That meant no more sleepless nights wondering if she was being treated properly. I wouldn’t have to spend any more time venturing into the woods to bury money somewhere no one else would find it. No more worrying period, honestly.
I blinked, wetting my lips. “What now?”
“What was that honey?”
Oh. I said that out loud, didn’t I?
I sat her back down and went into the kitchen, bringing us back two glasses of sweet tea. She gulped hers down immediately and started swirling the ice around at the bottom. The sound was horrible and I’d hated it for as long as I could remember.
Today? I was oddly in love with that ridiculous noise.
“I always hoped things would get better one day,” I told her honestly, twisting my glass in my hands without taking so much as a single sip. “That hope kept me going for a really, really long time, but it was a pipe dream. I was one person trying to push an avalanche uphill. For every step forward I got pushed back a dozen more. The possibility of there coming a time where I reached the summit seemed impossible. Except now...here I am. Here we are.”
“You don’t know what to do with your life if you don’t have to fight for everything you have,” she said, pretty much summing up my entire dilemma without any delay.
God, how had I made it as long as I did without being able to turn to her whenever things got rough?
I nodded, drawing in a shaky breath. “Part of me already knew I couldn’t keep it going forever. Even professional fighters don’t stay in the game that long, and they have rules and regulations and legitimate doctors to look after them. But stepping away from it was never going to happen. And now that it has...what do I with my time? Get my GED? Try and go to college? See if there’s a career I might have a talent for?”
Mom put her glass down and rubbed small circles along my lower back. “What do you want to do?”
I scoffed. “None of those things. Not anytime soon, at least. I gave Monster a big speech about slowing down earlier, but I can’t pretend that doesn’t apply to me as well. I haven’t stopped since we lost the house, Mom. I kinda just want to...exist for a while. See what happens.”
“Then what’s stopping you?”
I thought about my answer carefully.
Was there anything stopping me from taking a break for the first time in almost a decade?
Anything other than pride?
Mom turned my face her w
ay. Tears glittered on the ends of her lashes. Unfortunately, the moment was somewhat ruined by her licking her thumb and scrubbing at my cheek.
“Seriously?” I laughed, batting her hand away.
“You had a smudge!”
“I’m a grown woman. I don’t need you to wipe my face for me!”
“Only because you have a man ready to eat your face instead.”
I clapped my hands over my ears. “Nope, nope, extra nope with cherries on top. We are not going there. I’m not talking about any of that with you.”
“Not even how many babies you’re going to—”
“La la la!” I practically hollered, tuning her out. “La la la.”
Mom yanked at my arms then rolled her eyes at her own pitiful effort. I didn’t stop chanting until she raised her hands in the air, surrendering.
“Fine,” she said. “Have it your way. And I mean that. Have your life your way for a change. Do whatever you haven’t been able to do because you were forced to step into the role of a parent while you were a teenager. Don’t let anybody tell you how to spend your time. And if they try, well, I’m sure you know what to do.”
“Mom!” I clutched imaginary pearls, plastering the most scandalized expression on my face I could manage. “Are you telling me to use violence to solve my problems? Shame on you.”
She shrugged, eyes glittering viciously. “If it works it works.”
I blinked at her, mouth agape. “Say what?”
“Hey, you had to get it from somewhere.”
“You fought?” I stressed the word, making sure we were on the same page. “Since when?”
Mom patted my knee and stood.
When she grabbed her glass, she did some kind of twist and tossed it into the air where it spun end over end—none of the ice falling out—before catching it in her other hand.
There was a loud thud that might’ve been my imagination.
It might’ve also been my jaw hitting the floor.
She trailed into the kitchen, tossing a cheeky grin over her shoulder. “You have your secrets. I have mine…”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Monster
One year later
I rolled over with a groan and patted the bed beside me. My wandering hand found sheets holding traces of warmth, but not the soft body I was expecting. Peeking an eye open, I stared at the empty spot for a moment and shook my head.
What is she up to now?
Josie had been the one to scold me about taking things at a slower pace, but the woman couldn’t take her own advice for the life of her. Several days a week, she was a Tasmanian devil straight out of the cartoons, getting into brand new messes just as fast as I could clean them up.
Her getting along so well with Lizzy, Caitlin, and the rest hadn’t helped either. She fit right into their trouble-making group like she’d always been there. Except she was also a hell of a lot wilder than any of the others.
The only thing my woman was afraid of was losing me. Everything else beneath the sun was fair game.
She’d gone skydiving with Kayla.
Learned to knit and craft with Lizzy.
Worked the bar at Genesis side by side with Caitlin.
She had even somewhat taken on Sylvia’s role of being the unanimous defender of all of them. Not that they ran into too many loudmouths.
Creed was a single provocation away from a nuclear explosion on a good day. Watching his woman get bigger and more vulnerable before their healthy baby boy, Roman, finally popped out?
Yeah, the man had been a fucking tsunami of anxious rage just waiting for a target.
But I was getting off track.
I sat up in bed, scrubbing a hand down my face as I threw the sheets to the side and stood. A slight clinking sound caught my ear and I padded to the door, stepping into the hall.
There weren’t any lights on since it was barely five o’clock in the fucking morning, but I didn’t need any either.
Long strides carried me down the stairs. The sound of clanking and things being moved around grew louder. I rounded the corner into the kitchen and discovered why. A smile crept up my face as I folded my arms and leaned against the wall, content to watch.
Josie was a hurricane going through the kitchen cabinets. She would open one, push some things around, close it with a frustrated huff and move on to the next.
Watching her get increasingly annoyed by not finding whatever it was she was looking for made it worth being up this early.
Seeing her standing there in nothing but tiny shorts and one of my t-shirts made my entire life worth it.
She was gorgeous without even trying to be.
Her hair had grown out over the last year, and she’d started wearing it down instead of putting the honey-blonde streaks in a braid all the time. The braid would’ve served her well today, because there were tufts of hair sticking up all over the place and a bird’s nest just waiting for occupants on one side.
Yet even as my cheeks twitched and a smile spread across my face, I couldn’t see a single flaw. Certainly not with those long, tanned legs on display at the bottom of her shorts. The same ones that showed the edges of her ass cheeks when she was at just the right angle…
I found my head tilting to the side when she bent over to look under the sink. A low groan tried to rumble from my chest as my dick stirred, and I was careful to keep it contained. She hadn’t realized I was there yet, and I wanted to keep it that way for a bit longer.
“Where is it?” Josie muttered to herself, slamming another cabinet closed.
She opened the fridge and moved some things.
Even from here, I could see how tight her knuckles were along the handle.
She let the fridge door close and lifted her gaze to the ceiling, staring at the recessed lights like they might hold the secrets to the universe. Silent laughter shook me. And it became not so silent when she lifted her hands in front of her as if she was about to pray.
I clapped a hand over my mouth as the first chuckle slipped out, but it was too late.
Her head swung my direction, eyes narrowing to tiny slits.
Whoops.
She pulled her lip between her teeth. “Way to lurk like a total creeper. How long have you been standing there?”
I strolled casually towards her, hands going to her hips automatically.
There were a thousand places on her body I loved to touch. The dip of her spine where it disappeared beneath the waist of her clothes. The back of her knee when I wanted to pull her towards me in bed. The front of her neck when she was pinned beneath me, surrendering in a way that only happened when I was above her, moving inside her.
Her hips though, those had to be my favorite. They were the anchor by which I could always reel her in. Her features softened as I did just that, and I set my chin on top of her head while I tucked her against me.
“Long enough to see you rummaging like a crazy person,” I said, holding her tighter when she acted like she was going to push away. “Why are you up so early and what the hell are you trying to find?”
While she groaned into my chest, I looked at the counter behind her. There was a carton of eggs sitting out. A loaf of bread. A tub of butter.
“Breakfast,” she supplied right as I pieced it together. “I’ve seriously mastered a half-dozen things in the last year and I still can’t put together more than a peanut butter and banana sandwich to save my fucking life.”
It took everything in me and more to keep from laughing.
Josie was telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
She was good at a surprising number of things. Last I checked, she was learning the ins and outs of auto-repair from Tone and Rain.
But in the kitchen? She had two left hands. Without opposable thumbs. And those hands were also more like feet.
Swear to God, she hadn’t managed to get oatmeal right in all this time.
Oatmeal, for fuck’s sake.
It was basically d
own to adding hot water.
“And,” she continued, leaning back to look around again. She chewed on her lip. “I was well on my way to getting started before you woke up, but I can’t find the metal swooshy thingy.”
“Swooshy thingy?” I repeated, staring down at her.
“You know what I mean. You do like this.” She mimed cracking an egg into a bowl and stirring.
Do not laugh. Do not fucking laugh.
“You mean a whisk?” I asked, laughing loud enough that our neighbors might hear us if we had any.
Her mom didn’t count.
While the guest house was technically on the same piece of property, there were perks to owning an absurd amount of land. She was far enough away that I never had to worry about her hearing all the things I had done and planned on continuing to do with her daughter.
“It’s not funny!” she cried, folding her arms across her chest.
My dick throbbed again, sobering me up quickly. At this angle, I had a great view down the front of her over-sized shirt. The dusky tips of her breasts were easy enough to make out, and their rise and fall with every breath she took was hypnotic.
By now, I was well-acquainted with every inch of this woman. That didn’t stop my throat from going dry as arousal replaced the blood in my veins.
I turned her around and pressed her to the kitchen island, her back to my front. She let out a soft gasp at the suddenness of my movements, but she rocked her hips against me when she felt the length of my dick settle against her ass.
“What am I gonna do with you?” I reached into the drawer beside us, grabbing the metal whisk without needing to look.
“Damn it,” she muttered, half-laughing at herself. “It was right there the whole time?”
“You should’ve looked harder.”
Her comeback ended on a sharp inhale when I pressed the cold metal to the side of her neck and started dragging it down the front of her body.
I kneaded the supple flesh of her hip while I slowly maneuvered the whisk between her breasts, sweeping over one nipple and then the other until they were stiff against the fabric.
Monster: A Seven Sinners Novel Page 25