“Hello,” he said. “You’re here for Benson?”
I nodded. “I am.”
“He’s all fixed up. You don’t have a thing to worry about,” he told me gently.
I grinned. “That’s good to know. I need him in fighting shape.”
The doctor winked, and that was when I realized how that’d come off.
Shit.
My face flamed as the doctor strolled toward me.
Hastily, I moved out of the way and kept my gaze on my feet as he passed.
“I’ll send a nurse in with your discharge paperwork.” The doctor snickered. “Have a good day, y’all.”
Once he was gone, I looked up to find Bayou staring at me.
I swallowed hard as I saw the stitches above his eye. “How many of those did you end up getting?”
“Eight,” he answered. “What are you doing here?”
I felt my belly drop.
“I wanted to make sure that you were okay,” I answered. “I tried calling, but you didn’t answer.”
“Turned my phone on silent,” he admitted. “I had a few calls from Ilsa.”
My stomach knotted. “Isa’s mother? Really? What did she want?”
“Based on the first and only call that I took from her, she wants Isa back,” he rumbled. “She ‘needs her mother’ she said. She’s worried about her well-being. Now that she’s been bailed out of jail, she feels that she should be able to have her.”
I felt my stomach drop. “I thought it was decided that while whatever played out, you’d keep Isa.”
“That was my impression, also.” He paused. “Though I never talked to her. I guess I should’ve seen that coming. She’s not the type of person to just let it go. And honestly, I’m sure that it chaps her ass that I have Isa when she was likely hell bent on me never knowing that I even had a kid.”
I growled. I hated the woman, and I’d never even met her.
“I guess giving me three days was good, though.” Bayou sounded tired. “But I haven’t had a chance to meet with my lawyer yet. That happens tomorrow. As a result, I don’t know the legalities. Technically, she gave Isa to me of her own free will. Nothing was ever decided through the court. I’m not sure what legal leg I have to stand on.”
I thought about that for a long moment.
“Well, tonight there’s nothing else we can do,” I admitted. “Everything is closed or closing. What time is your appointment tomorrow?”
“Ten in the morning,” he answered.
“Then tonight we will just be cautious. Do you think she knows where you live?” I questioned.
“It wouldn’t surprise me if she did,” he muttered. “The woman is scary good. When all that shit went down with her and me, I had no clue what kind of opponent that I’d be up against. Now I do, and I don’t want to underestimate her.”
I blew out a frustrated breath. “Then, for now, let’s just get you two fed. Do you have an extra shirt you can change in to?”
He frowned. “Why?”
“If we hurry, I’m sure we can go eat,” I told him. “Are you up to eating?”
He looked down at me with a curious glint to his eyes. “You’re not embarrassed to take me around your family?”
My mouth opened and closed, at a loss for words as I tried to process what he’d just said.
“You think that you embarrass me?” I asked carefully.
He shrugged. “Why else would you not invite me?”
“I did,” I told him. “Well, I tried your office today, but you were never in there. I didn’t have your cell number, so I walked over when I got home and left a message at your house. I tried to leave a note, but Brielle took the note off the door as I was walking down the driveway. She told me she’d relay the message, but I have no doubt that she didn’t.”
The nurse came in before he could answer and held out his discharge paperwork. “Have a nice night, Mr. Beauregard.”
Bayou nodded and stood, Isa back in his arms.
We were walking down the hallway and heading into the main lobby of the ER when he answered.
“She didn’t,” Bayou muttered darkly, holding the front door open for me to pass through.
“And since I didn’t have your cell phone number—I got that from Hoax, by the way—I couldn’t call you. I was tempted to go up to your office after my shift was finished and tell you, but I had to work Phantom today. I then thought I’d call my sister to tell you to come when you went to pick up Isa. But then I got to my dad’s and saw that Phantom’s mew was torn up. Some predator tried to get in it last night. Anyway, long story short, I had to fix that and forgot to call my sister. Paired with Brielle…I thought you’d get the message.”
“Is Phantom okay?” he asked, stopping on the path right outside the ER entrance.
“Yes,” I answered, loving the concern in his voice. “Perfectly. I had to repair the damage, though. And it took me longer than I’d intended.”
Isa leaned over and captured a lock of my hair, rubbing it between her two fingers while allowing us to still converse.
She was just a sweet little girl.
“All right.” I nodded once. “I’m going to need to work on it again tomorrow, though. Dad and Mom are going out of town, and I don’t really like to ask anyone else to help. So that means don’t call me if Diane doesn’t show up for work again.”
His lips quirked up at the side, and I had the urge to kiss the quirk.
On that thought, I did.
Leaning up on my tiptoes, I got up as far as I could and waited until he brought his mouth down far enough for me to place a single kiss on the corner of his mouth.
When I pulled away, he was smiling.
“I’ll come help you,” he said. “I took the day off. I have to meet with the lawyer, and then I’m all yours. Though, if we have time, I might steal you away and take you to the dealership with me. I need a new truck so I can give your dad’s back.”
I waved him away. “He doesn’t drive that one. He has four, including the car I refuse to drive, and that one is his work truck. But I have no problem going to the dealership with you. I’ve been meaning to look at them myself. Now that I can afford a vehicle on my paycheck, I think I should probably be investing in something that is a little newer.”
His eyes moved to my truck. “I don’t know. The frame on those trucks are solid, and you’re so high off the ground that if you hit something, like another car, they don’t really have a chance of damaging you…though, if you hit a tree, you’d hit the windshield and then…yeah, you should probably look into a new truck.” He paused. “What do you mean he has a car you refuse to drive?”
I scrunched up my nose. “He bought me this new Ford Taurus a while ago. I didn’t drive it and he traded it in on a new vehicle.”
I saw the shudder move through him, and I couldn’t stop the grin from kicking up my mouth.
He cared.
“Do you want to go eat?” I asked.
He thought about it. “Yeah. Do you want to ride with me? I can bring you back in the morning. The dealership is right there.”
He pointed down the road where the dealership’s lights were illuminating the area about a half mile from where we were standing. The dealership he was referring to was actually a rather large one for the area. It had all brands of trucks from Ford to Dodge to Chevrolet. It was definitely a one-stop shop, and I loved that they’d combined all of them so you didn’t have to drive everywhere.
“That sounds perfect,” I admitted. “I’m tired of driving anyway…though, now I feel bad because I should maybe offer to drive you due to your blood loss.”
He snorted. “The day that a little blood loss keeps me from driving is the day I should hang up my hat.”
I snickered and walked out around to my side of the truck, but before I could reach for the door handle, Bayou was there, holding it open for me. “After you,” came his rumbled reply.
&nbs
p; I bit my lip and got in, batting my eyes at him as I did.
He winked and slammed my door closed before opening the rear door and getting Isa situated. Once we were both settled in, he walked around to the front driver’s side and got in, immediately starting it up and rolling down every window there was.
He even rolled open the moonroof.
“I swear it feels like I can’t breathe when I close the doors,” he muttered, tugging on his already loosened collar.
I reached for the hand that was doing the tugging and pulled it into my lap.
“Onward, driver,” I told him. “If we hurry, I might still be able to eat the food I ordered hot…which reminds me. Hoax tells me you don’t like Mexican food…what the hell? That’s so weird.”
“Out of all the things that you could think was weird about me, the fact that I don’t like chips and hot sauce, as well as rice and beans and tortillas, makes you think I’m weird?”
I nodded once. “Yes.”
He laughed halfway to the restaurant.
Chapter 15
My favorite time of year is when the bugs start to die.
-Bayou to Phoebe
Bayou
We arrived at my house two hours later. Isa was asleep in the back seat, so I looked over at Fancy and said, “Come inside with me. Once I get her to bed, I’ll walk you to your place.”
She nodded once, taking a look behind her at the sleeping girl.
Right around the same time as the doors opened, another call from my cell phone came through, making my pocket buzz, and a harsh ringing sound fill the air.
“Her again?” she asked.
I was sure it was.
Throughout dinner, Ilsa had called no less than ten times. If my lawyer hadn’t suggested letting her call and fill my voicemail up with all the nasty messages, I’d have blocked her ass hours ago.
As it was, I already had a nearly full inbox of both text messages and voicemails, all of which got progressively more and more snotty.
“Yes,” I answered. “I wish I could turn the phone off. I can’t, though. I have to be available for the volunteer fire department texts that come through our app, as well as any problems that might arise at the prison.”
She held her hand out for my phone. “I think there’s a way to only silence her calls. If not, we can block her.”
“The lawyer said to allow her to call so he could see the progression,” I explained. “He wanted her to dig her own grave, so to speak.”
“Well, you still can with what she’s done so far. If I can’t silence it, I’m sure,” she opened up my phone and started to search, “that thirty-two calls in the last hour and a half alone will suffice. Not to mention the text messages she’s sending between those calls. The ones that are getting progressively worse the more she sends, and the more you ignore.” She raised her head up. “Do you think we have to worry about Isla finding your place?”
I shrugged. “She doesn’t know my address, no. But it wouldn’t surprise me if she found me anyway. I’m listed in the phone book, not to mention she found me before when I didn’t have a listed address. The girl has connections.”
Phoebe grimaced. “I hate her.”
I snorted and gestured for Fancy to go inside. “Will you take my keys and open it up? The code for the alarm is seven-one-seven-six.”
Her eyes went wide at me. “You trust me with your alarm code?”
I grinned. “I trust you with my alarm code, as well as my kid and my heart…I trust you to take care of them all.”
Her eyes went wide, and she looked stunned speechless.
“Your heart?” she whispered.
“Yeah, my heart.”
She licked her lips and looked ready to cry. “That’s so freakin’ sweet. I trust you with mine, too.”
I reached for her and ran the palm of my hand down her hair. “I know. Who do you think showed me how to open mine?”
A tear formed on Phoebe’s eyelid and spilled over.
I caught it before it could run halfway down her cheek.
“Are you saying what I think you’re saying?” she asked.
I backed away and reached for the back door of the truck, opening it while also keeping my eyes on her. “Yes.”
“Are you sure?” she asked. “Because this is soon. I mean, we only decided that we were ‘together’ just yesterday. Plus, I’m fairly sure that you’re my boss. I can’t have you treating me differently because you love me while I’m at work.”
I laughed lightly as I reached inside and started unbuckling the multitude of straps that held Isa in.
Once I had her disentangled, I picked her up and brought her into my chest.
This little girl was another thing that I loved.
I had no idea how it happened, but she’d wormed her way into my heart faster than Phoebe had.
One second, she was just a kid, and the next she was mine, and I loved her.
I’d protect her with everything I had to give.
Was that supposed to happen? Because I was fairly sure that I’d tear anyone apart that hurt her.
Once I had the door closed, I hit the lock button on the door handle and then looped my arm around Phoebe, who was still staring at me in stunned silence.
I hadn’t answered her earlier statement but didn’t think I needed to, either.
“You were supposed to disarm the alarm and open the door,” I teased her.
“I forgot the code after you told me you loved me,” she muttered.
I snorted.
“I didn’t actually say those words exactly,” I teased, taking the keys from her hand and opening the door.
Moments later I was shutting off the alarm, and Phoebe was still standing there staring at me like she’d never seen me before.
“What is it?” I asked. “Still reeling?”
She shrugged. “Yes and no. I mean, it’s not every day that the person you’ve been in love with since you were fifteen tells you that he loves you. I’m still processing, okay?”
I brought her close to my body and pressed my mouth to hers so gently that she pressed in harder just to feel more.
When I pulled away, she was swaying on her feet. “Have a seat. While I’m putting her to bed, you can look at all the text messages since I know you want to.”
Her laughter followed me into the room that I’d started putting Isa in.
I looked around the half-empty, half-full space.
The only real thing that I had for Isa was a couple of stuffed animals that the guys had brought over at various times over the last three days. She was sleeping on a futon that I’d gotten when I first moved into the house and slept on while I waited for my furniture to come in. The moment that my bed had arrived, I’d banished the futon to the spare guest room where Brielle and Hoax had slept on it throughout the years.
The rest of the room was filled with boxes I still hadn’t unpacked since I’d moved into the place over five years ago.
Which reminded me, I wanted to go get a jungle gym for the backyard.
Laying Isa down on thoughts of things that she would need if she was going to stay here—and she would—I tugged off her shoes and then pulled the blanket over her that I’d stolen from Hoax yesterday.
I literally didn’t have anything extra for a kid, having only gotten Isa the basics of basics, and I was in serious need of a trip to the store for the rest.
I was lucky Isa was potty-trained, otherwise, I’d be struggling a whole lot more than I was.
After taking one last glance at my girl—God, she looked so beautiful—I turned out the lights and walked out the door.
It wasn’t until I was in the kitchen and talking to Phoebe that I realized she wasn’t there any longer.
I turned in a slow circle, finally finding her on the ground by the front window.
“What are you doing?” I questioned.
She looked up from where she was crouch
ed, looking out through the blinds. “Brielle is here.”
I snorted. “Did she knock?”
She shook her head. “No. She’s just sitting out in her car glaring at the house.”
I laughed. “Well, if she knocks, I’ll talk to her. If she doesn’t, then oh well.”
Phoebe crawled away from her perch toward me, and I felt my dick stir in my pants.
“What’s that look for?” she asked as she got close.
I swallowed hard. “Seeing you down there is making me want to unzip my pants.”
Her eyes practically sparkled as she said, “I’m not stopping you.”
My dick hardened even further, going from semi-hard to full on hard in less than a second.
It was amazing how the penis worked. One second it was limp and pliable, and the next…
Phoebe started to unbuckle my belt, followed shortly by unbuttoning and unzipping.
“Take off that dirty shirt,” she ordered. “Please.”
I shucked the undershirt faster than she could say ‘please.’
Her eyes were lit with humor as she slowly worked my pants down over my hips.
At this point, my hard cock was the only thing holding them up.
The moment that they made it over and my cock sprung free, my pants fell to the ground, carelessly discarded.
My balls drew up tight as her hand closed around me, and all rational thought fled as she leaned forward and placed her lips against the head.
Everything froze in that second as I concentrated solely on Phoebe’s mouth as she rubbed my cock head against her lips.
Her lips felt like silk as they traveled around and around, and when a drop of precum leaked from me, dotting those perfect ruby lips, I nearly came.
“God, please suck it,” I breathed so low under my breath that she didn’t hear.
Her tongue poked out from between those lips and licked it away, causing my belly to clench.
“Suck it,” I said a little more loudly this time.
She did, just the tip. Just a small bit of suction, but it was enough to nearly bring me to my knees.
Her next suck went a little farther, encompassing the entire head, and soon her hand joined in on the action. One curled tighter around my shaft as she started to jack me in time with her mouth while the other came up to cup my balls.
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