Tap'd Out

by Harley Stone

  She leveled a glare at me. “Maybe I should, but I’m asking you.”

  I’ve faced off with a lot of hardened criminals over the years, but I hadn’t ever been confronted with the likes of Doris’s mean mug. Sitting a little taller, I reminded myself that I was an officer of the law who’d been trained for conflict de-escalation and resolution. Surely I could hold my own against the glare of one angry mother. “Tap’s done a lot for me and he values his secrets. I won’t betray his confidence. Not even to his mother. I’m sorry.”

  Something that looked like admiration sparkled in her eyes as she nodded. “Do you know how long you’ll be staying?”

  “No. That’s up to Tap as well.”

  She frowned and still managed to look beautiful. I needed to find out what kind of anti-aging serum she was using and buy stock in it.

  “Have you been upstairs?”

  I shook my head. “I don’t know the code to the door.”

  Her eyebrows rose. “Oh. Sounds like I need to have a discussion with my son.” The determination in her eyes made me pity the fool who dared challenge her. If she was going after Tap with that look, I hope he knew how to dodge and run. “Will you at least tell me what happened to you?” She gestured at my face and the visible bruises on my legs and arms.

  Doris seemed frustrated about being left in the dark, and with a son like Tap, who could blame her? As much as I wanted to shine a light on what had happened, it wasn’t my place. If Tap hadn’t told her my story, I wouldn’t either. “I can’t. It’s better if you don’t know. I’m sorry.”

  She sighed. “You sound just like him. Can I get you anything? Water? Lunch?”

  I picked up my empty glass from beside the sofa and held it up. “More water would be amazing.”

  She took my glass and disappeared through the door, only to return moments later with a refill.

  I thanked her and she left again.

  I went to the restroom to brush my teeth and evaluate my appearance. My eye was no longer swollen, but today it looked like a tie-dye design of olive green, mustard yellow, and shit brown. Not my best colors. The bruising on my jaw had mostly faded, but my arms and legs still looked like someone had taken a meat tenderizer to me. I rotated my shoulder a few times, happy that the pain was practically gone.

  Since I didn’t know whether or not I should get my stitches wet, I hadn’t bothered with a shower yesterday. Today, I felt grimy and gross, so I said, ‘to hell with it’ and undressed. The shower head had a massage setting, so I turned the water as hot as I could handle and let it work the soreness and tension out of my body.

  I’d grabbed a towel and started drying off when there was a knock on the bathroom door. Wrapping myself up, I called out, “Come in.”

  Tap entered, holding a clean pair of shorts and T-shirt. “Hey. How you feelin’?” I could have been imagining it, but I swear his gaze kept trying to drop down to check out my body.

  “Much better, thanks.”

  “I’m glad.” He set the clothes on the counter. “I’ll just leave these here and wait for you in the other room.”

  I thought about dropping my towel and seeing what happened, but he was trying to be a gentleman, and I didn’t want to add to his struggle. At least, not yet. I should probably give my body another day or so to heal, first. He walked out, and I dressed. When I emerged from the bathroom, Tap was sitting on the sofa.

  He gave me a sheepish smile and said, “I came to get you and take you upstairs.”

  “Into your house? I thought that was forbidden.” I wondered just how bad of a beatdown Doris had given him. Tap and I were making progress and I really liked the guy. I didn’t want to shove him out of his comfort zone and make him resent me. “You don’t have to do this. I know you have your secrets, and I’m perfectly fine down here. In fact, if you can get me a couple of books to read and maybe a pen and paper to organize my thoughts, I’ll be all set. In fact, now that I can walk, I can leave if that makes this easier.”

  He tensed, his expression darkening. “That’s not gonna happen, Sasha. You need to heal before you go back to him.”

  Was he jealous? Of Breaker? “You mean back to the girls. They’re my mission. Breaker is a means to an end, and I hope to take his ass down along the way.”

  He sucked down a breath and his shoulders relaxed a little. “I know, I’m sorry. I… Mama insists I take you upstairs. She says it’s rude to keep women in my basement.”

  Wondering if Doris had given him the same stare-down she’d given me, I bit my lip to keep from smiling. “I have heard that locking women up in general is frowned upon.”

  “Some would consider a mom snooping in her grown son’s basement where she doesn’t belong as equally rude.”

  “You told her that?” I asked, somewhere between appalled and impressed.

  “Hell no! Think I’d still be alive if I had?” He smiled and my heart flipped in my chest. Tap had the kind of smile that made women want to do stupid shit. You’d think after all I’d been through that I’d be immune, but I’d drop my pants the second he showed interest. Hell, I was tempted to try it now.

  “No. Your mother would have kicked your ass from here to Portland if you talked to her like that.”

  “You know that’s right.” He chuckled. “Sorry about locking you down here. In hindsight, it was kind of a dick move. But for the record, I would have known if you needed something.” He slid a baby monitor out from under the sofa and showed it to me.

  Shocked, I stared at the intrusive device in his hand. “You baby monitored me?”

  He took in my expression and his eyes widened. “Just in case you needed me.”

  “Uh…” I had to remind myself that monitoring people was Tap’s job. He wasn’t doing this to be creepy, he was doing it to keep everyone safe. It was kind of sweet in a really freaking weird way. “Maybe next time… warn a girl?”

  “Next time? Do you think this is a common occurrence for me?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t know your life.”

  “Good point. Well, for starters, I don’t lock random women in my basement, and social niceties aren’t really my thing.”

  “Good to know, and no, they aren’t. But you are the nicest veteran-biker-stripper I’ve ever met. You didn’t hear me snore or anything embarrassing like that, did you?”

  Shaking his head, he chuckled. “No. I had it on low and the sofa muffled most sounds. You were asleep when I brought it down here the first night or I would have told you. Then I forgot about it until I went to bed last night.”

  He let out a breath and his expression grew somber again. There was something he wanted to tell me, but he was holding back. He seemed even more sketched out about me seeing his house than he’d been about watching Havoc stitch up my leg.

  “So… what am I gonna encounter up there?” I let my gaze drift to the ceiling. “There’s no dead bodies or rabid beasts or anything, right?”

  “No.” He sucked in a breath. “But I do have a daughter.”

  That was unexpected. It knocked the wind right out of me. “A daughter?” I asked after I recovered. “How old is she?”

  “Three, and fair warning, she asks a lot of questions.”

  “I hear that about three-year-olds. I also hear their questions don’t stop until they become moody teenagers who barely talk to their parents at all. Will her mom be up there as well?” Even asking that made my stomach tie in knots. I didn’t want Tap to have a baby-mama. I wanted to be Tap’s baby-mama. Maybe that was irrational considering I’d only known the guy for a couple of days, but it was true. Everything about him made my ovaries hum and my lady parts tingle.

  “No.” He gave me a funny look like he was surprised I’d even asked the question. “If I was in a relationship, I wouldn’t have spent all day yesterday down here with you. I’m not much of a people person, and I don’t generally do shit like that. But it was fun, and I’m glad I got the chance to hang out with you.”

  Well, that made me feel
all warm and fuzzy inside.

  “I mean, you kind of suck at killing blows, but you’re fun to chill with. And carrying your ass was a nice challenge.”

  He was baiting me to keep things light, and I jumped right into his trap. “Carrying my ass? Pretty sure I had a better kill streak than you did on several of those matches. It’s a good thing your mom and daughter are upstairs, or I’d challenge you to another death match.”

  “Whoa, tiger. Calm down.” He held up his hands in surrender. “Retract those claws, I was only messing with you.” He dropped his hands and grew serious again. “Hailey’s mom has been out of the picture for years.”

  I couldn’t tell if ‘out of the picture’ meant gone or gone. “But you said she’s only three?”

  He nodded.

  Damn. As I wrapped my mind around that, I took my purse into the bathroom and dabbed on enough concealer to hide the majority of my bruises. I wasn’t trying to impress anyone, but I didn’t want my appearance to scare Tap’s daughter, either. I darkened my eyes and glossed up my lips to distract from what I couldn’t hide and brushed out my hair again.

  “You almost ready in there? If lunch gets cold, I’m telling Mama it’s your fault. She’s already mad at me for leaving you down here. One more misstep today, and she’s liable to yank my ear off.”

  The visualization made me laugh. I gave myself one last glance in the mirror before spinning around. “Ready.”

  Tap stared at me. Something that looked a lot like hunger flickered in his eyes as the air between us charged with tension. “You look… much better. I can hardly see the bruises. Mama will be impressed.”

  “Thank you. I take it she’s your makeup pro?”

  “Yep, but don’t tell Julia. She was super impressed with my work, and I don’t want to disappoint her.”

  Right, because Julia was so fooled. Playing along, I pretended to zip my mouth closed. “My lips are sealed.”

  “Speaking of which, thanks for not telling Mama anything. I’m still not sure how you got away with that, but she admires you for holding your ground and not rolling over on me. That’s… thank you.”

  His praise made me stand a little straighter. If I was a cat, I would have arched my back and rubbed it against him. “Your secrets are safe with me. Besides, I’m a quick study, and I’m not afraid of no mean mug.”

  He arched an eyebrow at me.

  Changing my tune really quick, I added, “Please don’t tell her I said that. I’m actually terrified. My knees were trembling and I thought she was gonna pull some sort of Jedi mind trick on me.”

  He chuckled. “That’s what I thought.” He led me upstairs and down a hallway. The carpet felt soft and plush beneath my bare feet, making me realize I was missing something. “I wonder what happened to the shoes I wore to Danielle’s party,” I said. “I really liked those heels.”

  “Kind of a strange thing to be worried about, considering everything else you have going on.”

  “Clearly you’ve never had to search for comfortable heels before.”

  He waggled his eyebrows at me. “Are you sure?”

  “You’re just full of surprises, aren’t you?”

  It was weird how much I enjoyed Tap’s company. At the academy, one of my instructors had warned the class about the chance of a victim developing a crush on their rescuer. Assuming I—as an officer of the law—would be the rescuer in the situation, I’d planned out how I’d behave if it ever happened. I’d distance myself from the victim and make sure not to send any mixed signals or accept any gifts.

  I never expected to be the victim.

  But this didn’t feel like a crush on my rescuer. It wasn’t the fact that he’d removed me from danger that attracted me to Tap. It wasn’t even his delicious physique or panty-melting smile. It was the moments he was real with me. It was the times when he pulled back the curtain and let me see the man beneath. And it was these easy, flirty conversations that really drew me in and made me want to explore the possibility of a future with him.

  Eventually.

  After the bad guys were taken down and the girls were freed. I had my priorities.

  We were both smiling when we rounded the corner and the house opened up to a high-ceilinged kitchen, dining, and living room area. The colors were neutral, the appliances all matched, and the furniture was in excellent shape. Tap and his family clearly weren’t struggling for money. I would have cracked a borderline inappropriate joke about how lucrative stripping must be, but Doris was standing in the middle of the kitchen watching us approach.

  “Thought I was gonna have to come down after you two,” she said, her gaze taking in the way I was leaning against him.

  I could walk just fine without Tap’s help now, but we still seemed to gravitate toward one another. Feeling like I’d been caught doing something wrong, I dropped my hand from his forearm and stood on my own. “Sorry about that. I was trying to hide my battle wounds, so I don’t frighten Hailey.” I took a deep breath in through my nose. “Something smells delicious.”

  Doris smiled at the compliment as she waved me off. “It’s nothing fancy. I just whipped up chicken noodle soup and grilled cheese sandwiches since our girl isn’t feeling well.”

  “Hailey’s sick?” I asked. Tap hadn’t mentioned anything about his daughter being ill.

  “She’s been up since about three a.m. with a stomach ache and a fever. Seems to be letting up now, but she’s lying on the couch, milkin’ it for all it’s worth. I didn’t tell her we had a visitor, so you two should go surprise her.”

  Hailey was a sleepy little thing with a head of dark curls and skin that was a few shades lighter than Tap’s. She also had his eyes, his lips, and his jawline.

  “She’s like a younger, feminine version of you,” I whispered. “She’s adorable.”

  He beamed me a smile heavy with pride and admiration. “Yeah. I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life, but she’s one thing I did right. She’s my world.”

  And he was introducing her to me. Knowing how difficult that must be for a man as private and secretive as Tap, I stayed back as he brushed a curl away from her cheek and woke her up.

  “Hey, princess, we have company.” He felt her forehead. “You still feel a little warm.” He glanced at his watch. “It’s almost time for more medicine.”

  Hailey wasn’t looking at her dad, though. Her gaze was glued to me. “You’we weawing my daddy’s clothes,” she finally said. Before Tap or I could respond to that, her eyes widened, and her face lit up. “Awe you my mom?”

  Tap

  OUT OF ALL the random, bizarre questions I’d expected Hailey to ask Sasha, “Are you my mom?” wasn’t even on my radar. Now that it was out in the universe, my toddler’s inquiry made sense because of the promise I’d made to tell her about her mom after she came home from the lodge. Of course, her mind would go there at the sight of the only woman I’d ever brought home, who also happened to be wearing my clothes.

  Sasha stood a few feet away, her eyes wide and her mouth agape. She was just as flabbergasted as I was, only she was an innocent bystander, and this was my mess to fix.

  Awkward silence charged the air as Hailey’s hopeful little face stared up at Sasha, waiting for an answer. I didn’t want to crush my daughter, but I also didn’t want her to be confused. Time to nip this in the bud before it could bloom. Struggling for the right words to say, I patted Hailey’s arm. “No, baby girl. This is my friend, Sasha. She’s just visiting us for a while.”

  “But you said you’d tell me about my mom.”

  I nodded. “I did, and I will, but not today. Today, we have company, and we don’t wanna be rude.”

  Mama snorted from the kitchen, muttering something under her breath that sounded a lot like, “No, your dad’s already got rude covered.” I ignored her and kept my attention on my daughter.

  “I want my mom.”

  This was a new and interesting demand, and not something I was prepared to deal with. Hell, I couldn’t even d
eal with my mom right now. As I was still trying to figure out an acceptable response, Sasha kneeled beside me and put her hand on my arm.

  “Hi, Hailey. I’m not your mom, but I love to play with dolls and ponies and Popsicle sticks. If you’ll let me be your friend, we can have a lot of fun together.”

  Hailey seemed to consider the idea for a moment before asking, “Do you wike Incwedibues?” She looked at the television.

  Sasha followed her gaze. “The Incredibles? Are you kidding me right now? I love them. How can I not? They’re innnncredible.”

  Hailey giggled. “Wiw you watch ’em wif me?”

  “I’d love to, sweet girl,” Sasha replied.

  “After lunch,” I cut in. “Mama made some special soup to help you feel better.” I held out my arms to Hailey. “Come on.”

  She ignored me. “I want Sasa to cawwy me.”

  Sasha looked to me for permission. Her eyes were bright, and her smile was infectious. I knew I shouldn’t allow some woman I’d known for such a short time to cozy up to my daughter, but I didn’t know how to avoid it.

  I shrugged and stepped back.

  Hailey practically jumped into Sasha’s arms, eliciting a grunt of pain.

  “Be careful, baby girl. Sasha has some owies on her stomach.”

  “You do?” Hailey asked, her eyebrows furrowing in an almost comical level of concern.

  “Yes, but holding you makes me feel better. You’re basically medicine, kiddo.”

  “Medithine is gwoss.”

  “She wasn’t impressed with the Pepto I gave her,” Mama added.

  Sasha chuckled. “Yes, it is, but you’re not.”

  Hailey grinned and snuggled against her.

  As we approached the table, Mama watched us, looking a little too curious for my comfort. I tried to ignore her attention as I pulled out Sasha’s chair and tried to take Hailey. My traitor of a daughter still wouldn’t come to me.