She didn’t.
After another long hard look, she turned and yelled.
I frowned, watching as her throat moved, and realized that she was probably calling for me.
I took off like a bat out of hell hoping that she wouldn’t see me moving through the woods like a possessed dumbass with his cock hanging out.
I was just tucking myself back into my pants and zipping up when she came out of the bathroom with the towel wrapped around her torso.
“Oh!” she said. “I thought you weren’t inside. You weren’t answering.”
I swallowed. “I was outside checking out the window in the back.”
Not too much of a lie. But close.
“Oh.” She paused. “Was there something wrong with it?”
I gestured for her to follow me over, then told her what was wrong with the window, and why it needed to be replaced.
“Oh,” she said. “Okay. How do we do that?”
I couldn’t think with her this close to me.
I could smell her fruity body wash and practically feel the heat from her shower coming off of her skin.
“I’ll have to go buy a new windowpane tomorrow,” I answered. “And that should fix it. But, just sayin’, the entire place needs a little TLC. The windows being one of them.”
She grimaced and stepped away, gesturing at the shower door.
“I left the shower on for you,” she whispered.
I nodded once and headed that way, stripping my shirt off as I went.
I could’ve sworn that I heard her deep inhale as I closed the door.
Once it was closed, I leaned against the wall and blew out a deep breath.
Shit, this was about to get really tough.
I was expected to sleep in a bed next to her the entire night? Sober?
I fairly flew through my shower.
The dust and grime of the day was wiped away amongst girly smelling shampoo, a bra drying on the towel rack, and a pair of panties that’d been kicked off sometime between when I’d come in earlier to pee and Waylynn showering.
I scrubbed my face extra hard to try and forget about the fuckin’ raging hard-on that was going on down below my navel.
Jesus Christ, even after fucking coming like a pervert outside, I still could go again.
What the hell was wrong with me?
I hadn’t been this strung out on a girl in a long fucking time.
Never, if I thought about it.
I’d had one ‘real’ love interest in my life. One that I’d allowed to get close… and she’d shit on it.
She’d taken my heart, made it hers, and then ripped it in half.
And it’d all begun and ended with my brothers.
At first, I hadn’t been aware that Riella was someone that my brother had asked to be my friend. Or that, when it came to my well-being after we were together, Riella would report to my brothers that I was doing ‘good’ or ‘bad’ instead of staying loyal to me.
That’d honestly been why I wasn’t a very good friend to any of the women that I slept with.
Why make friends, honestly? My brothers had strong personalities. If they wanted you to do something, or talk to them, they’d convince you to.
I…
A knock sounded on the door, followed by Waylynn screaming, “I’m going to bed, motherfucker. If you don’t hurry up, you’re sleeping on the couch!”
Waylynn wasn’t going to be easily swayed by my brothers.
I didn’t have to keep her at a distance… did I?
I shut the water off and got out, grabbing the only towel that was there—the one that Waylynn had wrapped around her body from earlier.
She must’ve hung it up at some point during my shower.
When had that happened?
“I’m almost done, keep your pants on!” I yelled. “Is this going to be a thing? You yelling at me to hurry up? I’m fairly sure that your shower was twice as long as mine.”
“I had to shave my legs and my armpits,” she countered, sounding as if she was yelling from the next room. “What was your excuse?”
That was true.
I’d only been standing there under the spray.
I ripped open the door and found my bag on the floor right outside the bathroom.
Dragging it back in, I pulled out a pair of underwear, and even considered putting on a pair of jeans, but fuck it, it was hot in this house. And I honestly hadn’t had to sleep in clothes in a very long time. Underwear was pushing it.
So, in underwear only, I walked out into the living room, grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge, and chugged it.
Seconds later, I tossed it into the trash, gave myself a small pep talk, then headed into the bedroom, flipping off lights as I moved.
When I arrived, it was to find every single light off.
“Care if I turn on the light so I don’t trip over everything on your floor?” I asked. “I have no idea where the bed is at.”
“You can turn on your phone light,” she offered.
Grinning, I did as she suggested, keeping my finger over half of the light as I moved.
I stepped over shoes, discarded clothes, purses, and a puzzle all on my way to her bed.
I found her sleeping nearest the wall, and I was thankful.
I didn’t want to have to kick her out and there was no way in hell she was sleeping on the side closest to the door.
“What’s the puzzle of?” I asked as I plugged my phone in beside her bed.
I wasn’t sure if this was my charger or hers, but I was using it.
“It’s a one-thousand-piece puzzle of a cat,” she said. “I found it at the dollar store. It was five dollars.”
I snorted.
“Dollar Store or Dollar General?” I asked. “One’s actually a dollar. The other place is not.”
“The one that isn’t,” she answered around a yawn. “The one that’s the closest walk from here. They have a good selection of food, too. I’ve been living off of their frozen food section for a week now.”
I got into bed beside her, being extremely careful not to touch her in any way, and laid there, stiff as a motherfuckin’ board.
“I can take you to the store tomorrow after I pick you up from work,” I offered. “I need to contribute here anyway. Buying groceries won’t be that bad.”
“Yes, it will,” she said. “You’ll have a lot to do to make this place livable. I’m not even joking. It’s a shit hole.”
I knew that.
The place was far from perfect, but there was hot water, a roof over my head, and there weren’t any mice skittering across the floor.
We were doing pretty well so far.
I’d lived in worse, of course.
When I’d first been shipped out of Kilgore, all of us had been separated as we found a permanent home to live in. My temporary home had been a glorified shotgun house with cockroaches skittering over the floor every time you walked in the room, food that you had to fight over, and a pallet of blankets near the wall to sleep on.
I remember waking up that first night with cockroaches on my face. Crawling up my legs and under my shirt.
“It’s not too bad,” I found myself saying into the darkness. “It definitely could be worse.”
“It could,” she agreed. “I’ve lived in some pretty sketchy places. But this one takes the cake. I can’t believe my dad just bought this and left. That’s so like him, though.”
Her dad was a good guy.
Just flighty.
“I remember one time,” I said into the darkness. “My brother had to rush home, and since I didn’t know how to drive at the time with a trailer, he hitched it up and took off. It was literally freezing. We were set to get a snowstorm, and I was to be in the arena the next day. I was sleeping in my truck when your dad came by and saw me. He got me out and took me back to his camper where… the heater wasn’t working either.”
&nbs
p; Waylynn burst out laughing.
“He didn’t know it wasn’t working at the time of pulling me out. But he had this tiny little space heater he said he used when you’d stay. He’d put it out by you just in case it got too cold. So he turns it on, closes the door to his bedroom, and lets me stay in there while he went and found some chick to shack up with for the night,” I continued, remembering the story fondly. “It didn’t get too warm, but with all the blankets, I was warm enough. There was this soft pink one that was particularly—”
“That was mine,” she interrupted. “I’d left it there the weekend before.”
“Well, that one wrapped around my head like a scarf the entire night,” I admitted. “Smelled like…”
“Baby powder and strawberries,” she offered.
“Baby powder and strawberries,” I confirmed. “You know that smell?”
She moved until her hand was in front of my face. That was when I smelled the baby powder.
Then she moved some more, and her wet hair was dangling over my body. Almost like it would if…
“Strawberry shampoo and conditioner,” she said. “Baby powder scented lotion.”
It made sense now.
Also, my dick was now as hard as a pike, and there wouldn’t be any sleeping for me tonight.
Not without some relief.
Relief that I likely wouldn’t find with the walls as thin as they were, and the bathroom only a few short feet away from where we were currently lying.
“He gave that pink blanket to one of his chicks the next day,” she said. “It was my favorite blanket. It was soft and had clouds on it or something. I think maybe rainbows, too. I got it from one of my grandparents. I lost my shit on my dad that next week because of it.”
I frowned. “Why’d he give it to her?”
“Because she said it was soft and it was cute,” she answered. “Literally. That’s it. She said it was cute, and he said, ‘you should take it.’” I felt the bed shake. “That’s it. And he didn’t even know her all that well.”
I couldn’t help myself from replying.
“Your dad doesn’t seem to know any woman all that well,” I admitted. “But that doesn’t stop him from dating her and almost marrying every last one of them.”
She sighed. “It’s like his disease. Meet girl. Fall in love. Make her your fiancée. Break up. Meet girl. Etc.”
I snorted.
“This one, though?” she said. “This one is different. He wouldn’t have given me this house if he’d known that it was going to be something long-lasting, at least on his part. He may be impulsive and fall in love easily, but he’s also practical. He knows that eventually the girl will wise up and leave. Then on to the next chick that’ll hold his heart for however long she’s willing to keep it.”
I moved until my hands were resting underneath my head.
“Did he say ‘have this?’” I asked curiously. “Like it’s for sure yours?”
She moved until she was facing me.
I could feel her hot breath on my armpit.
I was tempted to move my arm down, but then I’d feel it on my arm, and I wasn’t sure if that was worse.
“He said in a text message that he might deed the ‘shit’ over to me,” she answered. “Kilgore isn’t on his radar anymore, apparently. New Braunfels is. He’s already started looking for land down there. He said that the paperwork should arrive on Monday, and I’m allowed to sell it if I really want to.”
I tried not to be bitter over the fact that she had the land that I wanted.
I wasn’t sure why I wanted it.
I’d seen the place as the shithole that it was, but I also saw it as my ticket to freedom. My ticket to my brothers finally seeing me as my own person. But also not moving too far away from them in case they needed me.
“You gonna sell?” I asked, wishing I had the money to straight out buy it from her.
“No,” she said. “I kind of like it here. I just hope that I can find a job utilizing my degree.”
I thought about that for a second and then thought about how Candy’s father, Rob, had offered me a job working for him after finding out that I was graduating with my degree in architecture.
After turning him down, he’d actually seemed kind of sad because he’d been looking for someone to join his team for a long time.
It wasn’t every day that you could find an architect fresh out of school that’d be willing to work for the kind of pay that Rob was able to pay.
But Waylynn had been in the program with me.
She’d also be more than capable of doing the things that Rob needed done.
Making a mental note to call him tomorrow, I felt a yawn creep up.
“You need to go to sleep,” she said softly. “You’re going to be tired as hell tomorrow.”
That was the truth.
Especially since I still had to get up and work tomorrow as well as shovel the goddamn stables at my brothers’ place all before they woke up.
Hiding from them was exhausting.
“Yeah,” I agreed. “I do.”
“I’ll stop talking,” she lied.
I didn’t want her to stop talking.
In fact, I wanted to keep talking to her. I’m not sure I wanted to examine that thought too closely.
Chapter 9
If you want it tight, you should’ve brought a bigger dick.
-Text from Darby to GQ
Darby
“Thanks for the ride,” she said. “What time do you have to be at work today?”
I looked at my watch and said, “I teach my first class at twelve.”
She grinned. “Do you care if I watch?”
I shook my head. “No. Not really. Today is more of an intro day, anyway.”
My phone rang, and she paused, half in, half out of my truck, her eyes on me as I answered my phone.
“Ummm,” a hesitant voice said. “So I don’t know you, but I’ve heard of you. I got your name from a friend. I’m fifteen. And my dad got a horse off of some guy. Except he has no clue how to take care of a horse. In the meantime, it’s tied to a tree and I’m fairly sure that we’re going to kill it. I can see all of its ribs.”
I scrubbed my face.
“All you have to do is put out some water and some hay for him,” I said. “Do you have a back yard?”
“No,” he answered immediately. “We saved it from a glue factory, he said. But he really has no idea how to handle an animal, man. I need you to come get it. He barely remembers he has a kid.”
I scratched my head with blunt fingernails.
“I can’t just take the horse. It has to be given to me. By the owner,” I admitted.
“I’m a junior. My father’s the senior. Technically, I am John Handy,” he replied hopefully. “And I’ll dress all official and shit. You won’t even know that I’m not the owner. I swear.”
I rolled my eyes. “Where do you live, kid?”
After getting his address, I put the phone in my cup holder.
“I have to go get this horse,” I said. “You’ll be all right even though Gibson’s not here?”
I looked at the darkening sky and the woman that I was supposed to pick back up in two and a half hours anyway so that we could go grocery shopping after my class.
“How about you just go with me?” I suggested before she could reply.
Waylynn grinned at me.
“You took the words right out of my mouth,” she said. “Let’s go.”
So we did after she hopped back into my truck.
“I have to go by my brothers’ to get the trailer,” I said. “Fuck, if he’d called earlier, I would’ve grabbed it while I was there.”
“You go hook it up,” she suggested as we pulled into the drive of my brothers’ place. “I’ll go distract them if they come out to talk to you.”
I grinned at her and did just that.
And when Ace moseyed
up, eyes hot and pissed, Waylynn walked up to him and distracted him in the short amount of time it took me to hitch up the trailer.
Just as I was done, Waylynn broke off from my brother and hauled ass toward the truck.
She jumped in the back seat just as Ace broke into a run to come after me.
But I was already all the way down the driveway before he’d even taken three steps in my direction.
“You’re gonna have to go drop this off by yourself,” I said. “I’ll get the horse up and you unhitch the trailer. Then we go to my class.”
She nodded once. “Sounds perfect.”
It wasn’t perfect at all.
Because when we got there, the horse was in much worse shape than I imagined.
I wasn’t sure what kind of state he’d been in when he got here, but he hadn’t done much better after arriving at his new home.
“Help me get this horse in here, kid,” I said to the young man that was all of five feet. “And let’s hustle.”
It was thirty full minutes later when my phone rang again, this time with someone that I did not want to speak to.
When I spoke to him, things always ended up not going in my favor.
“Hello?” I answered, out of breath from trying to catch a goddamn horse.
I was also sweaty as fuck and could seriously use a shower before I went to the college to teach a class, but the head teacher in charge knew who I was. Knew what she was getting. And a clean-shaven pretty boy teacher wasn’t it.
In fact, I’d told them more often than not that I’d be showing up to class in jeans and a t-shirt. I just hadn’t expected to actually be so dirty on my first day.
“Oh, thank God,” Paul Grisham, the event coordinator for the Houston Rodeo, said. “I need you.”
I looked at my watch.
“What for?” I asked.
“Shit’s hit the fan. Everyone is sick. Like literally everyone. I need you,” he begged.
I ran a hand through my sweaty hair and then cursed when I realized my hat was missing.
I looked around for it as I said, “No can do. I don’t have anywhere to stay when I go down there, and I’m saving for a house.”
“Your brother will be here,” he suggested.
“My brother has a new girl and he won’t want to share his trailer with me,” I disagreed. “Sorry.”
Get Bucked (The Valentine Boys Book 4) Page 8