Repeat Offender

by Vale, Lani Lynn

  Even with me walking up on him shirtless and beating the shit out of someone, or our time in the car, and then today in his office, I’d never seen his bare toes. I’d never seen his bare legs.

  It was… weird.

  He had really nice legs.

  Like, super nice.

  And they were tan. As if he worked outside without pants on.

  The thing was, I just couldn’t picture him doing it.

  “What are you looking at so hard?” he asked.

  I licked my lips. “I was just thinking about how I’ve never seen you so underdressed before,” I shrugged. “It’s weird. You’re always in a suit.”

  He grinned. “Same goes for you, I guess. Kind of. I’ve never seen you completely naked.”

  He did have a point.

  Seconds later he was stalking toward me, looking just as big and intimidating naked as he did being clothed.

  I stepped back, nearly drowning myself, and coughed as I watched him push all the way into the shower.

  The shower itself was big enough for four—comfortably—but the moment he entered it felt like the whole damn place shrunk to the size of a sardine can.

  I licked my lips and stayed under my own shower head as he went to the one opposite of me on the other wall.

  “Is this your side?” I asked curiously, not wanting to step on his toes.

  “No.” He paused. “I don’t necessarily have a side. This is the first time I’ve ever been in this shower. If I had to guess, though, I would take this one right here.” He pointed to the end of the shower he was currently using. “Better dynamics when it comes to fortification. I can easily use this wall as cover. I can see the door if anybody comes in, and I can use the mirror that’s across from me to see as well.”

  I blinked.

  “That’s very… strategic,” I admitted, surprised by his words when he said he’d never been in here before to make a decision up that fast. “I just used this side because it’s closest to the buttons that turn the shower on.”

  His lips twitched. “Then it’s yours.”

  My heart started to pound for an altogether different reason. And to hide my giddy excitement at his words, I of course changed the subject.

  “What are you doing today?” I asked. “Any more meetings? Or, um, Zoom things to do?”

  He chuckled as he leaned his head backward into the spray. The water sluiced downward, starting at his perfect jaw, and continuing on to his strong neck, perfectly defined shoulders, and then further to his torso where he had a wicked set of six-pack abs. Hells bells, now that I was staring at him and watching the water move through the indentations those abs made, I saw that his V that I couldn’t get enough of was actually sort of shaped like a heart.

  A. Heart.

  It was literally a perfectly formed heart.

  How did that happen?

  Did he know he had a heart on his lower belly, the end resulting in an arrow darting straight to the promise land?

  There was no way he would know.

  The bad thing was, I wanted to point it out to him, but I didn’t want to offend him.

  I bit my lip and turned my back on him to reach for the shampoo that was on his shower caddy thing that was built into the wall.

  Shampoo that looked a whole lot like my shampoo—only the better version of it that only salons carried.

  I looked at him over my shoulder, but he was busy lathering up his hair with what looked like 2-in-1 shampoo and conditioner.

  “Did you know that I use this same type of stuff at home?” I asked the man at my back.

  Once I had a generous amount of shampoo in my hand, I slowly lathered my thick hair up until it was foaming and full. Then, I shoved my head underneath the water while I waited for his reply.

  “I had a guy run by your place and do a little recon on what you would need for this morning after he dropped your car off at your place,” he admitted. “He used your key to get inside. I didn’t want to take your stuff, so I had him get replicas of everything. He packed a bag for you as well off of the clothes you had piled on the bed. I can’t promise that they’re going to be good seeing as they were picked out by a man who likely has no clue about matching, but you’ll have clothes.” He paused. “I didn’t have him get your underthings.”

  I grinned at him.

  “Why not?” I asked, acting like it didn’t bother me in the least.

  He didn’t answer for so long that I opened my eyes, only to find him standing almost directly in front of me with his face inches away from mine.

  “Because, last night, whether you know it or not, you became mine,” he said. He didn’t raise his voice. Didn’t deepen it. Didn’t change anything in the way he spoke. Just a matter-of-fact tone that made my insides shiver in pleasure. “No arguments. No takebacks. No ‘I didn’t know what I was doing.’ You’re mine. End of story.”

  I licked my lips.

  I really should object to his high-handed words, but all I wanted to do was melt into a puddle at his feet.

  I wanted to belong to someone.

  It’d been so freakin’ long. I always felt like the world was against me, and for the first time, with Lynn’s eyes on mine, I felt like I now had a man stronger than the world at my back.

  It was… exhilarating. Exciting. A breath of fresh air.

  “What’s that look that keeps flitting through your eyes?” he asked, running his finger down the length of my jaw.

  I licked my lips.

  “I was thinking how it’s kind of nice to belong to someone,” I admitted. What was the point in lying about this?

  I’d never had my heart broken. I’d never had a boyfriend. How could I have my heart broken?

  I didn’t know that I needed to protect myself.

  I probably should have, because a man like Lynn was supernatural, and I was just… me.

  A weird goth-like girl that sometimes crawled out from behind her computer long enough to walk through nature.

  His hand smoothed up the length of my jaw, coming to a stop as he cupped my cheek.

  “That look on your face? I really don’t like it,” he grumbled.

  I snorted. “That’s just my face.”

  “It’s not,” he disagreed. “It’s doubt. Whatever you’re doubting, don’t.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “I was thinking that you’re probably going to dump me later on, and I should be a little wary. But I can’t make myself do that because I feel like you’re trustworthy. And even when you do let me go, it’ll be gently.”

  His eyes flared at that comment.

  “What makes you think I’m going to let you go?” he asked curiously.

  I laughed then, pushing him lightly with my hand.

  “You’re the mayor of a city. I’m a YouTube and Instagram personality. We don’t match.” I paused. “But I’m going into this with that understanding.”

  His eyes studied my face.

  “Your family really did a number on you, didn’t they?” he questioned as he stepped back. “There’s nothing that I can say to convince you of my intentions. So, I’ll just have to show you with time.”

  I wasn’t sure that I liked the sound of that.

  It sounded ominous and threatening. As if he would show me in a way that I might not like.

  “Lynn…” I started.

  He grinned. “Do you want to work out with me?”

  I frowned. “What?”

  “Do you want to work out with me?” he repeated.

  I shook my head. “No. I’m taking a shower. That means that I’m clean for at least a part of the day. Are you working out?”

  He nodded. “I am.”

  “Then why did you get in the shower?”

  His eyes opened wide as he pinned me with his gaze. “Because you were in here.”

  • • •

  “You know,” I said as I looked from Laric to Lynn who was across the room, and back. “You look a lot like Lynn. Not the hair or anything, but the facial
features. The eyes. The style of your hair. Hell, you even have the same build, though you’re a lot bulkier.”

  Laric narrowed his eyes, then looked at where Lynn was busy jumping rope across the room.

  His body was a mass of muscles and sinew, making me nearly moan in surprise as his body shifted to accommodate what Lynn was asking of it.

  “I guess so,” Laric admitted.

  I wondered if either man realized that they looked like each other, or if this was just something only a woman would notice?

  I had no clue.

  “I…” I paused when my phone rang.

  I looked at my phone with disgust, knowing exactly who was calling.

  I reached for the phone like it was a rabid skunk.

  “Hello?” I answered, not bothering to look at the screen.

  “I’ve tried calling you all morning, Ines,” my father growled.

  All morning being once. He’d called me once.

  And, technically, I hadn’t exactly ignored it. It’d been while I was in the shower with Lynn, but I hadn’t called back because there’d been no voicemail, nor any extra calls if it’d been important.

  I gritted my teeth. “I saw one call. But I’ve been working, and you know how I work. I can’t handle disruptions.”

  Well, I could. The only problem was that I couldn’t handle my father’s disruptions. My father was an asshole.

  “I’m at the hospital,” he said.

  I leaned forward in my chair, the man across the room jumping rope all but forgotten for a few short seconds.

  “What happened? Why?” I asked, sounding slightly alarmed.

  “I’ve possibly broken my leg,” my father said. “I’m in the hospital now, getting X-rays.”

  I felt my stomach sink. “How did you break your leg?”

  “I was trying to hang something on the back door, the blinds fell down, and I fell off the step-ladder.” He paused. “I need you to bring me something up here. Some clothes. My charger. My computer and a few other things. I’ll text you an exact list. I was at the cabin. I don’t want you to come inside when you bring me my things, though. You’ll probably embarrass me. Just drop it off with my man that’ll be waiting out front.”

  I’d embarrass him.

  The asshole.

  I pinched the bridge of my nose. “When do you need it?”

  “Now,” he snapped.

  I sighed. “Okay. Let me know what the doctor says about your leg.”

  He grumbled something under his breath and hung up without saying yes or no.

  When I hung up and placed the phone down on the table next to the computer that I hadn’t been working on since Lynn had started jumping rope, the man beside me kicked my chair.

  “What was that about?” he asked.

  I licked my lips.

  “My father fell and possibly broke his leg. He’s unsure right now. We’re waiting to find out. He wants me to bring him something,” I answered.

  “Why do you look like you’d rather punch him in the nuts than talk to him?” Laric asked curiously.

  I sighed. “Because he’s an asshole. He told me not to come inside because he didn’t want to be embarrassed.”

  Laric snorted. “Sounds like a real prize.”

  I rolled my eyes. “He definitely isn’t. He’s a very trying person, and I have to admit, I’ve met nicer strangers on the street than him.”

  “What’s going on?” Lynn asked, coming up to stand beside me dripping sweat.

  “What’s going on is douchebag dad called up to say that he broke his leg, but he doesn’t want her up at the hospital because she’ll embarrass him,” Laric supplied helpfully. “And I was just explaining to your girl that she was better off not bothering with him at all.”

  I sighed. “He’s my father. Whether I like his attitude or not, I can’t pick and choose who my family is. I’ll bring him his clothes, and I won’t go in. It’s not like I want to spend time with him anyway.”

  Laric grunted. “I don’t blame you. What a dick.”

  Lynn remained silent, and it was only when it went on too long that I finally looked up at him.

  He could read the hurt in my eyes, even if I hadn’t put voice to it.

  “I’ll come with you.”

  CHAPTER 16

  Sweatpants are not the devil.

  -Lynn to Six

  LYNN

  “This surprises me,” I admitted as we walked up the front walk.

  “What?” she asked.

  I looked around the woodsy cabin that I never would’ve expected a person like Ivan Broussard to come to, let alone own.

  “Why couldn’t his men come get his shit? Why call you?” I asked. “And your dad said that he’d been calling you all morning. You got one phone call, with no voicemail. If I’ve broken my leg and need help, I’m going to call you until you fuckin’ answer. Which is what most normal people would do. I wouldn’t call and hang up and not call back.”

  She grimaced. “My father’s weird.”

  Her father was proving to be weirder and weirder by the second.

  I wasn’t sure that I liked all the anomalies that kept creeping up.

  “Your father’s an ass,” I countered. “Why was he here? I thought he lived in a big house in Dallas?”

  “He lives out here when he’s not working.” She shrugged. “I don’t know why he’s out here, honestly. I’ve asked him that before. This place is the middle of nowhere, Texas. There’s nothing here but a bakery at the top of the road, a diner just a little farther than that, and that’s it. I’m not sure what the appeal is.”

  I hummed as we made our way down the heavily lined walk toward the front door.

  The moment she used the key to get inside, I frowned.

  “You said he was on a step-ladder fixing something?” I questioned, eyeing the short ceiling that I could likely touch with my hand if I only reached upwards toward it.

  Everything in the small cabin could be reached easily without using a step-ladder. The blinds included.

  “Yep,” she confirmed. “That’s what he said. Something about the blinds at the back door.”

  There were no blinds at the back door. Only inner blinds that wouldn’t require him to be on a step-ladder. Hell, you accessed those blinds by a lever at the bottom of the door.

  While Six was preparing him a bag for the hospital, I chose to walk around the house and study it, my gut churning.

  The cabin itself wasn’t big. Likely about six hundred square feet or so. It was cute, but again, I never would’ve expected this place from Ivan.

  Six, yes. Ivan, hell no.

  “What is this?” Six asked from the bedroom.

  I frowned and walked toward her, pausing in the doorway when I saw her holding up what looked to be a bag strap.

  Only, the bag strap looked like it had a loop at each end, almost as if it was fashioned into a noose.

  That sick feeling grew.

  After what she’d told me the other day about her father being suicidal, this was definitely smacking me in the face as ‘you should probably call the damn cops and tell them he tried to off himself.’

  “Have you, um, seen anything with a note on it or anything?” I wondered.

  She looked at me. “No. Why?”

  I licked my lips and continued my search, opening up drawers and cabinets, going as far as to do the same thing in the bathroom.

  I hit pay dirt when I got to the kitchen.

  There was a hastily wadded-up piece of paper in the trash amongst some coffee grounds.

  I picked it up, worried that it might be what I thought it might be and unfolded it.

  I grimaced at what I saw.

  “There’s no other way. Either I do it, or they kill me for not following the rules. I can’t do this anymore. I could barely do it in the beginning with your life on the line. Now, with these kids, I can’t allow them to use you as leverage to make me do the things that I can’t stomach anymore. I’m slowly dying insid
e each time I have to do it. If I’m not here, they can’t use my city anymore. I wish that I had done this sooner. Way back when you were in grade school and I could’ve actually said no. I’m so sorry, Six. If there was any other way… Dad.”

  I felt my stomach seize.

  Son of a bitch. I needed to talk to Ivan.

  Whirling around, I came face to face with Six.

  “My dad tried to kill himself, didn’t he?” she asked, her eyes going to the note.

  I held it out to her, and she shook her head. “I don’t want to know, Lynn.” She rubbed her face. “I just… fuck, this is what I’ve been living in fear of since as far back as I could remember. I wish he would’ve just…”

  She trailed off, not quite going as far as she could have.

  “He should’ve never put you into that position,” I found myself saying.

  He had the power and the authority to do a lot of things. Giving up was one of those things that I thought he’d taken the coward’s way out on. Especially if he was in trouble. If people were using his town to do things that they shouldn’t be doing.

  The only problem was, I had a feeling I wasn’t going to like the answers that I got when I went to talk to him.

  “Yes, may I speak to the doctor of Ivan Broussard?” Six said.

  I snapped my head up to see her standing there with the phone pressed to her ear.

  Her eyes were closed, and she looked like her heart had just been ripped out of her chest.

  I held my hand out to her, and she latched onto it with such ferocity that I knew that she wasn’t doing as well on the inside as she looked on the outside.

  I waited along with her as the doctor came onto the line.

  I knew what she was going to do.

  She was going to tell them that her father had tried to commit suicide.

  This would cause a chain of reactions.

  One, he’d be held in the hospital until his psych hold expired. Then, if he agreed, he’d be sent to a behavioral hospital. And that wouldn’t stay quiet. Someone would find out that he was the mayor of fuckin’ Dallas. And that someone would tell the news. Ivan would be forced to resign his commission and…

  I took the phone out of her hand.

  She blinked her eyes open and stared at me.

  “What are you…”