I frowned and turned toward the door. “Well, I’m going to go get changed. I have to be at work in a little bit, and I think I might go over to my sister’s and get some snuggles before I head home.”
Bayou frowned. Brielle looked gleeful.
“Have a good day!” Brielle chirped, sounding so falsely cheerful that I laughed on the way out the door.
That laugh fell away the moment Bayou didn’t make a move to follow me.
Was I fooling myself here? Was I thinking more into this than there actually was?
Maybe Bayou’s definition of ‘boyfriend and girlfriend’ wasn’t what mine was. Maybe he’d never defend me against Brielle. If that was the case, I’d seriously have to rethink this.
Brielle wasn’t going away. That I knew.
Hell, Hoax had still had quite a bit to do with her despite Brielle being openly hostile to his now-wife, then girlfriend.
Pru had to deal with Brielle stalking her.
Stalking.
Stalking was a bad thing, no matter who did it.
Slamming the door a little harder than necessary, I crossed the street and walked over to my sister’s place, smiling widely when I saw Hoax out there watering the lawn…and the pig.
“Bacon’s getting dirty,” I told him as I walked up the walkway.
Hoax’s eyes flicked to me and then narrowed. “Why do you look like you’re about to murder someone?”
I opened my mouth to tell him exactly why, and then closed it.
He didn’t need to know that I had my doubts when it came to Brielle. I’d tell my sister sometime when Hoax wasn’t around so we could commiserate about her awfulness without anyone there to hear us whine.
“Nothing,” I lied.
I didn’t turn around and glare at the house like I wanted to, either.
Instead, I just stood there while Bacon rolled around in the dirt while Hoax continued to spray him down.
“Are you watering the flowers or the pig?” I asked curiously after a few long minutes of silence.
“Both.” He paused. “Once Pru got too pregnant to maneuver herself over even ground without a little bit of help, I made it a rule that Bacon couldn’t get into the shower with her. Now I do this, and it seems to be a good enough substitute.”
I frowned.
“He looks at you,” Hoax said, surprising me from my contemplative mood.
I frowned. “What?”
“He looks at you. He looks at you and doesn’t look away like he does with the rest of us. It’s not anything anyone but me notices, really. He’s been doing it so long to me that I don’t really even notice it. But with you? He can’t take his eyes off of you.”
I felt my heart swell in my chest at his words.
“You don’t have anything to worry about with Brielle and him,” Hoax continued. “Brielle is like a broken little doll to him that he has to protect from more harm. You’re not a broken doll. You’re like that bird in the sky that he’s so captivated by that he wants nothing more than to reach out and keep you.”
Out of everything he could’ve compared me to, comparing me to a bird was the one thing that actually penetrated the nerves.
Chapter 13
Snow in November happens because people prematurely decorate for Christmas.
-T-shirt
Bayou
I slammed my hand down hard, straight into the inmate’s chest, and bellowed at him. “Stop!”
What in the absolute fuck was going on?
I’d had more fights and almost-riots in the last month than I had in my entire career at the prison.
The man that I had pinned down with my hand planted firmly in his chest growled low in his throat. “Fuck you!”
He struggled to sit back up, and that was when I decided that I was done playing nice. Pulling out the taser, I took him down with a four-second jolt straight to the neck.
He stopped moving and went limp.
The next person I took out was the inmate struggling underneath Rome, who was having to use his considerable strength to hold the man down and also try not to hurt him.
Normally we wouldn’t give one flying fuck about whether we were hurting them or not, but in the next couple days, the state was coming to inspect the prison and we didn’t really want any roughed-up inmates telling stories to the state department that would make them stay any longer than they needed to.
It was audit time, and I was not looking forward to it.
Not with the way the prison had been on pins and needles lately as things went from bad to worse when it came to the infighting.
The man underneath stopped struggling within seconds of me pressing the taser to his neck. Then he was out just like the other guy.
I stood up and re-holstered my taser, giving the remaining men glares. “Go back to your cells.”
They did with the utmost reluctance, not stopping once like I thought they might.
I turned to Rome. “Help me get them to their cells and spread the word. We’re in lockdown for the rest of the day.”
“Gonna be unhappy about that,” Rome admitted.
I didn’t really care.
Not when I could feel the blood running down my face, and the black eye forming already.
That was exactly what the state department needed to see, a banged-up prison warden that didn’t look like he could control his prison.
Just fucking wonderful.
By the time I got my inmate into his cell and a guard closed it behind me, I was a fucking mess.
I needed to go change my clothes, and I was ten minutes late in leaving for the day.
Normally I wouldn’t be too upset about leaving late, but I’d told Pru I would be there at a certain time so that she could go out to eat with her family.
Which had been another deciding factor in my mood today.
Fancy hadn’t asked me to come. In fact, she’d never even mentioned it to me.
Why? Did she not want me there? Was I too weird to be around her family?
Those thoughts and questions had swirled around my brain all day long, and by the time I’d walked into the fight between the inmates that the guards had been trying to stop, I’d been in no mood to be lenient.
In fact, I would say that I was beyond that point and had been for quite some time.
There was no more leniency in my repertoire. Not today, anyway.
“You going to get Diane to look at that?” Rome gestured toward my eye.
I grabbed the towel he’d tossed my way and pressed it to my face.
“No. I’m going to pick up my kid, and then go to the ER, I guess.” I paused. “Or that new hospital clinic. That one maybe. I’m not sure.”
“Why not just get it done before you go?” he suggested. “Watching a kid while you get something like that done isn’t going to be very easy.”
I looked at him. “I’ve been away from her all day. Pru has been watching her since this morning. Plus, she has to be somewhere, and I only have twenty minutes to get there so she can leave. I’m not leaving her there.”
Rome lifted his hands. “I’ll watch her.”
I was shaking my head before the offer even left his mouth. “Sorry, but no. She can sit there with me while I get it fixed up.”
Knowing better than to argue with me when I had my mind made up, he allowed me to leave. I walked out of the prison’s front doors and didn’t look back.
My mood had only deteriorated when I arrived at the truck that I still hadn’t returned to Phoebe’s father.
I needed to go buy my own.
It’d been three days now, and I realized rather quickly that this was my new reality.
I felt like I couldn’t breathe in the cab, and despite having every single window down, I arrived at my house in a horrid mood. Seeing Brielle’s car in my driveway didn’t help matters.
Stalking over to Pru’s house, I rang the doorbell and waited.
Pru opened the door with a smile on her face that quickly fell when she saw the way I looked.
“Oh, no. What happened?” she asked.
I frowned. “Nothing. Can I pick Isa up?”
Her frown made me pause, thinking that I’d offended her in some way, but then she shrugged.
Pru opened her door wide and gestured me through. “That’s not nothing, but if you don’t want to talk about it, that’s fine.”
I opened my mouth to tell her that it wasn’t that I didn’t want to talk about it, but because I was bleeding, but then shut it. I doubted she’d care.
Hoax might, but Pru? I had no relation to her, so she’d likely not have the same obligatory caring that Hoax would.
“She did really good today,” Pru said as she led me farther into the house. “I was honestly impressed with how well. At first, I thought she was going to be standoffish, but she really liked the twins. Plus, it didn’t hurt that Phoebe, who seems to be Isa’s superstar, stopped by before and after work.”
It was on the tip of my tongue to ask Pru if Phoebe had said anything about me, or possibly explained why she’d left so abruptly this morning, but I curbed the gut reaction.
I didn’t want to involve Phoebe’s sister in our relationship. Granted, I knew that it was probably foolhardy to think that Pru wouldn’t be in our life, but I also liked to think that maybe they’d stay out of our business long enough for us to figure our shit out first.
A trickle of blood that ran from my head down my chest had me remembering exactly why I should be hurrying.
“She’s right here,” Pru said.
I walked around the corner to find Hoax on the couch, fast asleep. Isa was sitting on the couch next to him, head resting on Hoax’s bicep, sound asleep. The twins were in a bassinet directly in front of Hoax, both sound asleep, too.
“Magic,” I murmured softly.
Pru snickered. “Hoax was actually outside running around with the pig, the dog, and Isa. They’re all tuckered out. The twins are never awake. I’m fairly sure that they’re going to sleep forever.”
I grinned and walked over to Isa, picking her up with both hands as quickly as I could. The moment she was in my arms, I put the towel back on my head.
“At least let me give you a new towel,” Pru offered.
I looked at her, giving her my full attention. “Fine. Thanks.”
Pru’s lips twitched. “Does Phoebe know that you’re hurt?”
I shrugged. “Not unless she’s somehow psychic.”
“Are you wondering where she is?” Pru asked.
“Not particularly.” I paused. “Unless she’s not where I assume she is, then maybe I’m wondering.”
“Where do you think she is?” Pru grinned as she walked away and headed for a towel.
I followed her, walking to the trash can to deposit the towel that was saturated in my blood into it.
Pru handed me a brown bath towel. “This is softer. That looks awful. You’re going to the hospital?”
I nodded. “Yes. And I think she’s at your dad’s place exercising her bird…right?”
Pru nodded. “Yes. Then she’s meeting us for dinner afterward.”
“Us?” I asked.
Pru gestured to where Hoax was still asleep in the living room.
“Us,” she said. “We do a family dinner every week. Sometimes all of us can show. Sometimes they can’t. But we keep it going. Are you coming?”
I started walking to the door and opened it before saying, “I wasn’t invited. Thank you, Pru.”
Then I was gone, not bothering to look back.
Chapter 14
If no one told you you’re beautiful today, keep moving. It won’t start here, little ugly.
-Phoebe to Pru
Phoebe
I arrived at the diner with a frown on my face.
“What’s with the frown?” my dad asked.
I didn’t want to talk about it.
Seeing Brielle at Bayou’s house had seriously made my mood plummet.
I’d been intending to ask him out to eat with us but seeing her there had derailed those plans.
Add into the fact that he never answered my calls on his work phone, and I just wasn’t in a good mood.
“Is it because Bayou got hurt?” Pru asked as she took the seat to my left. “It looked bad, but I doubt he had a concussion. His eye is going to be black and blue tomorrow, though.”
I slowly turned my head to face her.
“He what?”
“He got hurt at work,” Pru repeated. “He had blood all over him and a towel pressed to his face. Isa didn’t care a single bit, either. Granted, she was asleep when she was picked up, but she woke up as he was getting her into the truck.”
I felt my heart start to pound.
“How long ago was this?” I asked carefully, trying not to betray my inner worry.
“About half an hour ago?” Pru shrugged. “Not long. Literally just before we left. I almost thought I was going to have to bring Isa with us. Why didn’t you invite him?”
At this point, Dad had stopped eating his hot sauce and chips and was solely focused on us. In addition, so was my grandfather.
My grandfather’s wife had as well, and she was listening just as unabashedly as the two men.
“You didn’t invite Bayou?” Dad asked. “Why?”
I growled in frustration. “I was going to, but his sister was at his house when I went over there. I left him a message with her to call me. But…I don’t have his cell phone number.”
“That makes sense.” Pru shuddered. “I can’t stand that woman.”
“You could’ve asked me,” Hoax suggested. “I’d have given you his number.”
I stood up. “You can do that now.”
“Where are you going?” my mother asked.
Hoax had pulled out his phone and was sifting through his contacts as I answered my mother. “Bayou was hurt.”
She nodded once. “Oh. Okay.”
Swiping one last chip, I looked at my sister. “Can you order my order times two and bring it home with you? Also, don’t forget to ask for hot sauce and chips.”
“Bayou doesn’t like anything from Mexican restaurants but the carne asada. He doesn’t even eat chips and hot sauce,” Hoax said before taking a bite of a tortilla. “I’ll order for him. Oh, and I forwarded his contact to your cell.”
I gave him a thumb up. “Thank you.”
After giving my mom, dad, and grandfather a kiss on the cheek, I walked out while also sifting through the text messages I’d gotten. Pulling up the one from Hoax, I clicked on it and took even faster strides out of the room.
It rang five times before going to voicemail.
Dammit!
Knowing that he’d probably avoid the hospitals because that was just his way, I hit up the free-standing emergency rooms and clinics, one after the other, until I finally spotted the familiar red truck in the parking lot of the one closest to his—our—home.
Pulling into the open spot beside him, I got out and started inside, smiling brightly at the woman manning the front desk.
“May I help you?” she smiled.
“My fiancé is here getting stitches. He’s not answering his phone. Can you take me back to him?” I asked, trying to look convincing.
The woman smiled. “What’s his name, honey?”
“Benson Beauregard,” I answered, hoping that was the name he’d given them.
The woman smiled. “The big guy with the little girl?”
I nodded once. “That’s them!”
“Come on, I’ll show you to his room.” She gestured to me to follow her. “We put them in the kid wing since it’s easier for the child to be entertained while the parent is seen to. She’s just a doll. You’re a lucky woman.”
I felt my heart swell in my chest.
I was a lucky woman, but not for the reason she’d been thinking. She wasn’t
my daughter, but she was my boyfriend’s. And I was beginning to care for her just as much as her father.
Very much so.
Isa’s daddy had already had my heart, but I had a feeling Isa wasn’t far behind.
I heard Bayou’s voice before I saw him, and a shiver tingled down my spine.
“…two more stitches,” Bayou said.
The woman rounded the corner of an open exam room and gestured for me to go inside. I did, smiling thankfully at the woman.
Bayou’s eyes were closed, and he was lying on the hospital exam table with his arms crossed over his chest. The uniform shirt he was wearing was covered in dried blood, as were his pants. He had his booted feet crossed over each other, and he was lying there as if he didn’t have a care in the world.
Isa was up by his head, sitting there, phone in hand. Her eyes weren’t on the phone, though. They were on what the doctor was doing to her father’s head.
The woman patted me on the shoulder and walked away, leaving me in the doorway staring as the doctor pulled the needle through a now almost-closed wound on his forehead, right above his eyebrow.
“One more,” the doctor continued.
It was then I realized that he was speaking to Isa, and not Bayou.
“One,” Isa said softly.
I smiled.
I loved how Bayou treated her, as if she was an adult that could comprehend everything that was said. Which, maybe she might. Maybe she knew exactly what was going on and benefitted greatly by the way Bayou was raising her.
“All done.” The doctor rolled back and snapped off his gloves, tossing them into the trash can at his feet. “I’ll get some antibiotics called in for that. Probably just the standard take a pill twice a day for ten days kind. Any objections to that?”
Bayou shook his head and sat up, somehow bringing Isa with him. Isa let him, not saying a word as she was brought up almost parallel with the floor over Bayou’s shoulder. When he was all the way up, he swung her up and around to place her on the exam table between his thighs before his eyes met mine.
“No,” he said to the doctor but kept his eyes on me. “That’s fine.”
“Okay.” The doctor stood and turned, finally spying me in the doorway.
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