We both looked at the water that was leaking out of the ceiling.
“That’s not good,” I said, seeing the leak for what it was.
A money drain.
“No,” she agreed. “Let’s climb up there and spread a tarp so we…”
“Umm, how about no,” I said. “You’re not climbing up there doing anything. And that’s how you die. Do you want to die?”
She gave me a droll look.
“No, but I also don’t want you to have to pay thousands for a costly water repair when we could cover it up,” she countered.
I picked up the box that was closest to the quickly spreading water, placing it on the counter.
“Let’s get these boxes up,” I said. “That way they don’t get wet.”
“You have a bucket?” she asked.
“I have a kiddy pool that I’ll bring inside once we get these boxes up,” I told her.
We worked in companionable silence for a few moments as we moved, and I was thankful that she hadn’t unpacked.
Because with this roof leaking, I could see the damage on the walls…and I somehow knew that it wasn’t going to be as easy as just fixing the roof.
For it to be as bad as it was, it had to have been happening for a while.
Meaning there was likely a lot more damage than I could see behind the walls.
Fuck.
“I can empty a bucket…” She trailed off when I shook my head.
“You’re not staying in here until we figure out what’s going on,” I said. “You’re my guest until then.”
She started to argue, but I held up my hand.
“I know that you think you’ll be fine, and chances are, you probably will…” the power chose that moment to go out. “But you’re not staying here. Not only do I not want you to, but I kind of want you there with me for the rest of the night doing…other things.”
She laughed then.
“Okay,” she breathed, coming up close to me. “We can do other things.”
She pulled away before I could get my hands on her and turned to the fridge.
“With the power out, we can’t cook anything,” she began to say.
“I have a generator,” I said. “It feeds half the house. The air conditioning, about half the lights, and the entirety of the kitchen. We can cook over there.”
I heard her open the fridge and pull stuff out.
“Then come over here and grab my milk,” she ordered. “I’ll make pancakes.”
I went over there and grabbed her milk.
I also made sure to grab her ass.
Chapter 8
-Drink a lot of water.
-Watch how you talk to ladies when they first wake up in the morning.
-Rules to live by
Lock
I pulled the bike to a stop in the carport, hearing Saylor settling herself and getting ready to swing her leg over to dismount.
But my eyes were all for the man that was standing there with his arms crossed, looking pissed.
“I’m sorry I’m late,” I said as I got off the bike. “I caught a call right as I was leaving.”
The man took in my uniform and nodded.
His demeanor instantly changed as I made my way to him.
Holding out my hand, I said, “My name is Lock.”
“Tony,” he grumbled as he turned and headed in the direction of the pool house. “I already took a look. Thanks for the code.”
I nodded and fell into step beside him.
I could feel Saylor hurrying to catch up, and I looked over my shoulder at her to wink.
She smiled at me widely, and I would’ve continued to stare at her like a complete loser yet something on the street caught my eye.
A green car that was driving by.
I slowed to a stop and turned more fully so I could see, but the car didn’t stop or slow down in any way. Just drove past.
And since my street was a common one for people to cut through to get to opposite parts of the city, I decided to shrug it off and catch up to the man that’d started talking to me while I’d fallen behind.
Catching up, I heard him say ‘mold.’
“What kind of mold?” I asked.
“Black mold,” he said. “You have black mold in your walls…but there’s no way for me to tell how bad it is without removing the drywall.” He paused. “The carpet’s gonna have to go, too.”
The carpet wasn’t a concern to me. That was always going to go.
The drywall, though? That was supposed to stay.
Fuck, that was going to be expensive.
And I didn’t have the money right now to fix it.
“Do you have insurance?” Tony asked.
I breathed a quick sigh of relief.
“I do,” I confirmed.
“I also have rental insurance,” Saylor said. “They told me that it would cover almost anything…even the house taking off after a tornado. Can you do double the coverage?”
Tony’s eyes left mine and stopped on Saylor, his entire demeanor softening.
“Yeah,” he paused. “Probably.”
“I can’t know exactly what’s wrong with it until I do a full examination of what’s behind the walls,” he said. “But for now, everything about a foot down at least is going to have to come out because it’s rotted from the continuous rain it gets. I can give you a better idea of the rest once I can get a look behind. For now, I can file it on your insurance and we can go from there.” He looked at me. “I don’t recommend anyone live here until it’s fixed.”
I quickly agreed with him that he should do what needed to be done, promising to give my insurance a call tomorrow, and he left.
Saylor and I were left standing there staring at the hole he’d cut out of the wall to get a look behind it.
“Black mold is bad, isn’t it?” she asked.
“Yeah,” I said. “I’ve heard it is.”
“I’m going to have to move out.” Her shoulders slumped.
I felt my belly tighten.
“Only about fifteen feet,” I told her, making a rash decision. “You can stay with me.”
She opened her mouth to argue, but I shut her up with a quick kiss to the lips.
“No arguments,” I ordered.
She narrowed her eyes.
“But, Lock…”
“No buts,” I said. “I don’t want you to go.”
“But we’ve literally known each other for like two days.”
“A week,” I said. “Officially, anyway. And I know what I want.”
Her eyes narrowed. “And what’s that?”
“I want you to stay,” I said. “I want you to give us a try…and you can’t do that by leaving.”
“I can find a place to stay in town,” she said. “Somewhere.”
“But can you afford it?” I pushed.
The quickness in which she shut her mouth was amusing, to say the least.
“I’m paying you rent,” she countered.
My eyebrows lifted. “How about you buy the groceries?”
She frowned. “That’s not enough…”
“You have no clue how much I spend on groceries a week,” I challenged. “I’m a growing boy.”
She poked me in the chest. “There’s zero fat on you.”
“That’s my Kevlar vest,” I countered.
She poked me on the underside of the chin.
“You’re not wearing a Kevlar vest there,” she countered.
That was true.
“Do this.” She dropped her chin to her chest and then grabbed the fat that resulted in the maneuver.
When she looked back up at me expectantly, I did as she asked, laughing when she scoffed.
“See, zero fat.” She grabbed the muscles of my neck. “You have zero fat.”
“How did we digress to this conversation?” I asked. “I eat.”
“You eat,” she agr
eed. “What?”
“Well, tonight I’m eating poorly,” I amended. “But yes, I usually try to eat healthily. There’s nothing wrong with that.”
“In my freezer, I have chocolate ice cream,” she said. “In my fridge, I have cookie dough that I eat by the hunks every time I pass the fridge.” She paused. “And in my cabinets, I have peanut butter that I eat like it’s going out of style.”
“I eat peanut butter, too,” I countered.
“What do you eat with your peanut butter?” she asked.
I frowned. “Apples?”
She started to laugh. “I eat marshmallows with mine.”
I just shook my head, unable to come up with a comment that wouldn’t offend her in some way.
Instead, I changed the subject.
“Do you want to go out with a few of the guys and their women?” I asked. “We’re supposed to have a team meeting today, and I want you to come.”
Her head tilted. “Royal will be there?”
I nodded. “Royal will be there.”
“Then I’ll come.” She smiled.
Relief coursed through me at her agreement.
“Good,” I said. “Let’s get these boxes into my house.”
***
Saylor
The men of the KPD Motorcycle Patrol were all hot.
Extremely hot.
Even Jonah, Lock’s uncle, was hot.
Though, saying that, he wasn’t like any uncle I’d ever seen before.
I held out my hand to him and smiled.
“Saylor,” I said.
He took it with a grin. “Jonah.”
“Can I call you Uncle Jonah?” I batted my eyelashes at him.
The woman at his side started to snicker.
My eyes flicked to hers just as Jonah said, “Sure.”
“You’re not calling him Uncle Jonah.” Lock hooked his arm around my neck and pulled me into his side. “I don’t even call him that.”
I grinned at the familiar-looking woman standing next to Jonah.
“Why do I know you?” I asked, frowning hard.
Then it hit me.
“Piper!” I said, clapping my hands. “When did you get back? And Jesus, you’re beautiful. When did you get so beautiful?”
Piper started to laugh.
“I lost some weight when I started bootcamp.” She grinned. “It’s nice to see you again, Saylor. And as for when I got back, not too long ago, actually. I’ve been out of the Army officially for a couple of months now.”
I grinned. “It’s like one massive family reunion,” I said as I watched Justice and Royal walk up hand in hand. “Aren’t y’all supposed to be on a honeymoon?”
Justice made a face. “Somebody forgot her passport. We missed our first flight because we had to drive back home. Then the resort canceled our reservations since we didn’t arrive on time…so it just seemed like the best idea to stay at home until we can plan another one.”
I winced, looking at Royal who was looking quite guilty.
“I’m counting it as a win,” she said, waving her hand through the air as if to clear it. “I heard that there were fifteen people murdered in Mexico over the weekend. I’m choosing to think we would’ve been two of them had we gone and fate not intervened.”
My lips twitched.
“Those people were fishing off-shore and their boat capsized,” another newcomer added.
I looked over to see a tall, and extremely hot man in boots, jeans, and a t-shirt walk up with his arm around a brown-headed woman who looked just as beautiful as the man, come to a stop next to Jonah and Piper.
I knew the woman, too, but couldn’t place her like I’d placed Piper.
“We were scheduled to go deep sea fishing.” She shrugged. “I’m not sure if that was the boat we would’ve been on…”
The man grinned.
Lock’s arm tightened around my neck.
“Saylor,” he rumbled. “This is Logan and Katy. Katy, this is Saylor.”
I waved seeing as Lock didn’t let me go to move further into their direction.
“Nice to meet you,” Logan said, his eyes going to Lock then back to me. “Y’all are new?”
I felt my cheeks heat.
“Actually, this is the girl that got me into the motorcycle patrol unit in the first place,” Lock drawled.
“Wait, I thought you were in the unit purposefully,” Logan said. “What the fuck?”
“Umm, definitely not purposefully,” Lock disagreed. “At least, not at first, anyway.”
The rest of his explanation was interrupted when a loud, booming voice interjected into our conversation.
“Nut-puncher!” another newcomer said.
I looked over to find a dark-headed man, one that I now knew well, leading a cousin of mine over.
“Oakley!”
This time I did pull away from Lock, throwing myself at Oakley.
Oakley giggled in my arms.
“You’re looking so good.” I squeezed.
It’d been so long since I’d seen her look so healthy.
A while ago she’d contracted an illness that had destroyed her kidneys. And the man standing beside her, Pace, had been the one to donate his kidney to ensure that Oakley would live.
And the rest, as you could say, was history.
Pace and Oakley’s love knew no bounds, and I couldn’t wait for them to get married in a few months.
“Everybody here?” a gruff sounding man asked as he sidled up to our group.
“Yes, sir,” Logan said sarcastically.
The man flipped him off, then turned to survey me and Oakley who were still hugging.
“Who are you?” he asked.
Since I was the newcomer, I assumed he was talking to me.
“Saylor.”
“Saylor?” he asked. “What kind of name is that?”
“A unique one,” I countered, letting Oakley go. “One that my mamma gave me.”
The man’s lips twitched.
“I’m assuming you belong to this one?” he asked, jerking his thumb at Lock who was standing where I’d left him with his arms crossed over his chest and a smile plastered on his face.
“That one is mine,” I agreed.
The man held out his hand. “Name’s Captain Morgan. You can call me Morgan.”
I took his proffered hand just as Logan said, “You never allow us to call you Morgan.”
“And until you no longer work for me, you won’t get that offer,” he countered.
Chapter 9
Taco Tuesdays send a terrible message. People should feel free to express themselves any which way they want. If they want to eat a taco on a Friday, then they should damn well be able to eat a taco on a fucking Friday.
-Saylor’s secret thoughts
Saylor
I smiled at the woman and her husband.
They looked so happy I was jealous.
“Is this your first time here?” I asked, trying to make small talk while I got the room set up and the machine up and running.
“No,” the mom-to-be smiled. “Jarvis and I came for our first ultrasound at eighteen weeks. We’re so, so excited right now to see his little chubby cheeks. We went last week to our OB appointment, and they did a quick scan to check overall weight and stuff, but it’s nowhere near as exciting to see when they try to rush you out the door.”
I grinned.
She was right, though.
Being rushed wasn’t something a mom-to-be wanted when she was getting a look at her baby.
“Completely understandable,” I agreed. “You ready to get started?”
She nodded enthusiastically and her husband came up to her side and took her hand.
“Is this your first?” I asked as I started spreading the jelly on her belly with the wand.
“No,” she said. “This is our third. We have a two-year-old and a one-year-old at home.”
I shook my head in wonder. “Oh wow! That’s a whole lot of kids under three!”
She grinned. “We’re crazy, we know. But we wanted them all close in age…”
She kept talking, but something disturbing had caught my eye as I’d started.
I moved the wand around again, and again. Only to come up with the same results.
Something heavy and sickening filled my stomach, and I had no clue what to do.
“The machine is acting up,” I said, voice shaking slightly. “I’ll be right back.”
The mom-to-be smiled at me, and I hurried out of the room, going to find Memphis.
I found her in the front office talking to her son.
I wanted to cry.
“Memphis,” I croaked.
She turned, and so did Lock, both of them focusing on me.
Lock took a step forward, but I started talking in hushed whispers before he could touch me.
If he touched me, I’d cry.
I’d lose it.
“What is it, honey?” Memphis asked.
I swallowed hard.
“I can’t find a heartbeat,” I said softly.
Memphis looked at me like she wanted to cry right along with me.
“Oh, honey,” she said, stepping forward. “This exact same thing happened to me, too. I know it’s hard but…”
Only, around that time, someone stepped in through the door with official-looking papers in his hand.
I frowned.
“Memphis Downy?” he rumbled.
She held up her finger at him. “One moment.”
The man didn’t look like the type of man that was used to waiting. Not at all.
But Memphis didn’t give him the option.
“Perform the scan,” she said, sounding sad. “Then, when you’re done, tell them to go see their doctor. Reiterate that it’s important. Don’t allude to anything that’s wrong. I know it’s hard, but sadly we’re not allowed to give any medical advice at all.”
With that, she squeezed my shoulders.
My eyes met Lock’s over his mother’s head, and I saw the devastation and worry in them…for me.
I swallowed hard, then turned around to do my job.
***
I walked out of the office later that day with much less pep in my step than when I’d walked in.
Sinners are Winners (KPD Motorcycle Patrol Book 5) Page 12