Crazy Heifer

by Vale, Lani Lynn

  “I bought a set of hangers there for a dollar,” she said, leaning up so that she could look up at me. “I returned them because every single one of them was broken when I got them home.”

  “You wasted more in gas to get them back there than you did in the money you received by returning them,” I admitted.

  She shrugged. “It’s the principle of the matter, though. If I buy something, it should last. Kind of the same that goes with the kid toys.”

  I chuckled, loving the way the grin lit her face.

  The only light that was on in the entire room was the television, and the colors were playing over the features of her face like a kaleidoscope.

  I lifted my fingers and started to play with her hair almost absently, and when I finally realized what I was doing, I didn’t want to stop.

  She had really soft hair, and it felt like silk between my work-roughened fingers.

  “That feels good,” she whispered. “Nobody’s played with my hair like this since I was a kid.”

  “Who used to do it for you?” I asked softly.

  “My mom or my sister. My dad did it upon occasion, but that was when he was forced to by my mom. And not play with it per se, but brush it and stuff. I’ve always liked my hair played with,” she whispered.

  “You don’t talk about your parents,” I said. “Why?”

  She sighed, sounding like she was worn out. And when her eyes closed, I regretted the question immediately.

  She reopened them and turned so that she was lying on my lap, her head almost laying on top of my dick.

  I mentally berated myself and told my inner sexual deviant to chill the fuck out.

  “You told me not to talk about him anymore,” she teased, the smile that breached her mouth taking my breath away.

  I tugged lightly on the strand of hair that was still in my fingers.

  “Tell me, woman,” I ordered.

  “My parents never really liked Mal,” she admitted. “But we’d had a lot of problems before that. Mal was just the last straw. My sister stayed with them. She’s the golden child.”

  I frowned. “What happened with your parents?”

  She blew out a frustrated breath, causing the hair on her face to go flying in disarray all around her head.

  “I never really conformed to what my mother wanted me to be,” she admitted. “My mom and dad were society snobs. They wanted the best of the best.”

  “Then they should’ve liked Mal,” I found myself saying.

  “They did… at first,” she said. “But let me back up. When I was younger, I never really dated because I wasn’t part of the in-crowd. I was that weird band geek that played the tuba, read books in her spare time, and mostly stayed to herself. When I went to college, I decided to go to a two-year college instead of wasting my time at a four-year college, which pissed my mother off, seeing as I was supposed to go to Penn State.”

  I ran my finger down the line of her jaw, causing her breath to hitch.

  “That was just the beginning of the end. Then, I met Mal.” She snickered. “It’s funny, but my parents had already been well past trying to get me to do anything that they wanted me to do. They’d written me off and pretty much stomached me being there up until the wedding that they refused to pay for. Mal told them to go fuck themselves, and I’ve only spoken to them on the rare holiday here and there ever since.”

  I blinked.

  “That… is sucky,” I admitted. “My mom was the best person in the world.”

  Her face went soft. “I’ve heard stories about her.”

  “She was a great lady,” I admitted. “Everyone in town loved the hell out of her.”

  “And I heard that she loved the hell out of her kids… especially her boys,” Desi whispered. “Malloy tells me such good things about her. How she doted on y’all. Baseball practice. Football practice. Martial arts practice. Wrestling practice. Roping practice. Her boys named it off, and their momma took them to it.”

  I grinned then.

  “There was one point that I was doing like ten practices a week. Five sports and or extracurricular activities.” He laughed. “Banks was doing just as many. As was Darby and Ace.”

  “Did Georgia not do anything like that?” Desi asked.

  I shook my head. “Georgia was all about Nico. She did a few extra-curricular activities, but not much. By that point, she was into boys.”

  Desi grinned. “I’ve seen her and Nico around town. They seem like they were meant to be together.”

  “They were.” I paused. “Nico taught her how to get out of zip ties.”

  Desi frowned.

  “Okay?” she drawled.

  “My dad zip tied us all up,” he said. “That day. He shot us, had us tied to our chairs, and then set the place on fire. If it wasn’t for her knowing how to get out of them… things might not be the same.”

  She shivered.

  “Life works in mysterious ways,” she said softly. “When I was eighteen, I was driving home. I came upon an accident scene, and I ended up saving their lives.”

  I squeezed her neck, and she turned her head to look at me.

  “I wasn’t supposed to go that way,” she said. “I usually went a different way home. A car pulled out in front of me, and I got pissed and went around it, but in doing so, I missed my turn. When I turned onto the next road, I had to pay attention to where I was at because I’d never been on that particular road before.”

  I waited for her to continue, knowing that what she had to say next would be chilling.

  And I was right.

  It was downright freaky.

  “A young child, two years old, ran out in front of me,” she said. “I almost hit her.”

  I sifted my hand through a strand of her hair.

  “She was bloody and confused. She just stood there in front of the lights of my car and stared.” She shook her head, causing it to rub suggestively against my semi-hard cock.

  I ignored it and hoped that she didn’t notice.

  “You know those old urban legends that say not to stop for kids? That sometimes gangs used them to help lure car occupants into abandoning their vehicle?”

  I thought about that for a second, then nodded. “Like the legend where they stop, get out to check on the kid, then get mugged and their car stolen?”

  “Yes.” She grinned quickly. “I kept thinking that was about to happen. I mean, I was on an unfamiliar road in the middle of a part of town that I’d never been in before. So I decided to call the cops. I was on the phone with 911 when I stepped out of the car and walked to the kid. She was like a deer in the headlights. When I finally got to her side, that was when I started hearing the parents screaming. They were in a car down a steep incline. You couldn’t see their car from the road at all.”

  “Holy shit,” I said. “What happened next?”

  “The parents were in bad shape. The mom was eight months pregnant with twins. She was in labor—which apparently was what caused her to wreck in the first place. The sister, who was also pregnant, was trapped. Mom couldn’t move. The baby got out of the car. God, when I walked up, the mother started crying saying thank you over and over again. It was scary and awful.”

  “Did everyone make it?” I asked.

  “Yes.” She smiled. “In fact, the twins were the first birthday cakes that I made and got paid to do it. Two cute little smash cakes. I’ve gone to their birthday parties ever since.”

  “That’s really sweet,” I said. “And yes, funny how fate leads you to where you were meant to be.”

  Her eyes came to mine.

  “Is that what is happening here?”

  I thought about lying. Thought about denying the attraction that I could feel taking over my every waking thought, then decided that I wasn’t about that life.

  I didn’t lie.

  I didn’t beat around the bush.

  And I definitely didn’t deny feelings when I h
ad them for someone.

  Not that I’d ever felt like I was feeling before.

  There was something about Desi that made my heart beat just a little bit faster.

  “I have no clue what’s happening here,” I told her honestly. “All I know is that I want to keep experiencing it.”

  Her smile was small, but there.

  “I’m not opposed to spending time with you, but we should probably move slow,” she murmured softly. “I don’t think that you’d do me the same as Mal did me, but I’m still recovering from what he put me through.”

  I touched the tip of her nose with my pointer finger.

  “We’ll move as fast or as slow as you want to, D.”

  Her smile was wide.

  “You’re missing your show,” I teased.

  She held my eyes for just a few seconds longer, then turned over in my lap and focused once again on the television.

  I felt like my life had just been changed, all with one single glance.

  I wasn’t sure when it happened. One second, we were watching the show, and the next I woke up and my brother was standing over me grinning like a fool.

  “Take her to your bed,” he ordered.

  I would’ve sat up, but she was practically all the way on top of me.

  Not that I minded or anything. Honestly, it was a great feeling, and I loved having her weight on me.

  “Can’t,” I mumbled sleepily. “My ankle hurts like a motherfucker. I’d drop her ass and follow her down if I tried.”

  “Want me to do it?” Banks asked.

  I thought about that for a second, then nodded.

  The position I was in wasn’t the best, or even the most comfortable. But having her in my bed, where I could stretch out, and so could she, sounded like the better plan.

  Not to mention, I had a fuck ton of pillows in there that I could use.

  “Yeah,” I murmured.

  I didn’t want to wake her, mostly because I didn’t want for her to leave. I knew that if I said ‘come to bed’ she’d put the brakes on. And I didn’t want her to put the brakes on. I liked her exactly where she was. In my arms. In my house. And eventually in my bed.

  Banks moved then, gathering Desi up easily in his arms.

  “She’s all soft and warm,” he murmured teasingly.

  I flipped him off and stood up, only noticing then how full my bladder was.

  I hadn’t gotten up since I’d gotten home from taking the damn ass back and it was now pushing three in the morning. Not to mention, I’d downed plenty of water as well as forty-four ounces of Dr. Pepper.

  “Take her to my room and I’ll be there in a minute,” I murmured, reaching for the crutches.

  “Take some more Motrin,” he ordered as I hobbled away.

  “Yes, Mommy,” I replied as I moved.

  He snorted and went back to what he was doing, which was carrying my woman to my room.

  My woman.

  Shit, I liked the sound of that.

  I’d have liked it even more if I could’ve been the one to carry her.

  Unfortunately, that day wasn’t today. Nor did tomorrow look good, either.

  “’Night, bro!” I heard called through the bathroom door two minutes later.

  I took that to mean that he’d gotten her into my bed, and hobbled my way through the rest of my nightly routine before using the crutches to take me to my bedroom.

  I wasn’t prepared for what the sight of her wrapped in my sheets would do to me.

  It’d only been a few damn days of knowing her, but goddamn if the sight of her in my bed didn’t look absolutely right.

  As if her ass was meant to be poked up slightly in the air. As if my pillow was made to go underneath that beautiful face. As if her beautiful red hair was made to be spread out and shining in the moonlight.

  “Fuck,” I said, wondering how in the hell I was going to go to bed and not want to do other things to her.

  But, when I took a step in her direction, my ankle reminded me exactly why I wouldn’t be doing things like that tonight.

  Which was probably a good thing.

  That way had a sign that said ‘can’t be good’ plastered all over it.

  And with her saying that she wanted to take things slow? Well, me thinking inappropriate thoughts wasn’t how that would be accomplished.

  So, like the big boy that I was, I walked to my bed—painfully, might I add—and made sure to be as quiet as I could be.

  But, with the old wood of the house creaking underneath my feet, and the loudness of the stupid crutches holding up my weight, I was honestly surprised that she didn’t wake up.

  Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on how you looked at it, I got to the bed without waking her.

  I got in the bed, under the covers, foot situated on the pillows, and hands behind my head with a pillow wedged in behind it, before I realized that I’d have to take off my pants.

  I could sleep with my shirt on. I could not sleep with my pants on.

  They were too constricting at the best of times. But today, with the band of the sweats around my ankle, I could practically feel it throbbing with each beat of my heart.

  In fact, after moving around and doing my nightly routine, it hurt even worse than when I’d been sitting there with Desi all evening.

  I was so engrossed in the pain, and thinking for real that the pants needed to come off, that I didn’t realize I was so tight and uncomfortable until Desi rolled over and looked at me.

  “Are you okay?” she asked, sounding sleepy and looking beautiful.

  I swallowed hard.

  “Fuckin’ hurts,” I admitted. “Go back to sleep.”

  She snorted and went up onto her elbows, frowning. “How did I get here?”

  “My brother carried you,” I answered honestly.

  She blushed.

  “He shouldn’t have done that. I could’ve walked,” she admitted.

  “Would you have walked if I’d woken you?” I pushed.

  Her mouth turned up into a smile. “Yeah, to my car.”

  I grinned despite the pain. “Exactly why I had Banks carry you.”

  She shook her head and touched my chest, taking my mind momentarily away from the pain.

  “Did you take some ibuprofen?” she asked.

  I nodded.

  “When?” she pushed.

  “About six minutes ago.”

  She rolled her eyes and got out of the bed.

  “What about the ice pack?” she asked.

  “Still on the couch where I left it,” I admitted.

  “Let me go get it,” she said. “I’ll be right back.”

  Then, before I could tell her where to go, she was gone.

  I could hear her moving through the house. First the squeak of the door, then into the loudly creaking floor of the living room. She moved back much more quickly, pausing slightly in the kitchen to, I guess, return our dishes from dinner.

  “Okay,” she said as she arrived. “I stopped and got you a drink of water. And if you tell anyone that I gave you drugs, I’ll deny it to my last dying breath. But I have some Vicodin in my purse. I tore a ligament in my knee a couple of years ago, and every once in a while the pain flares up. So I take some. You okay with taking my meds?”

  I laughed. “Give the goods here, woman.”

  And with that, she plopped a pill in my hand.

  I took it without even questioning her.

  “Thanks,” I said as I swallowed the pill down with a healthy gulp of water.

  “You’re welcome,” she said just as quietly.

  “I need to take my pants off,” I announced when she started to crawl back into the bed.

  She paused, mid crawl, then got back onto her feet and walked to the side of the bed as if she was waiting there to help me.

  “Well?” she asked when I just looked at her.

  I threw off the sheet and started to
lift my hips as I also pushed my pants down.

  She watched me until I got them down to my calves, then helped me the rest of the way.

  She was methodical, no-nonsense, and looked as if she gave zero fucks.

  That was until she finished taking them off my bad ankle and carefully folded the pants and laid them on my bedside table.

  “If you weren’t hurt,” she said softly as she touched my abdomen. “I might forget my ‘let’s move slow’ comment earlier.”

  I blinked.

  And before I could say a word, she was once again beside me.

  I laid there, unsure of what I wanted to say to that comment, wondering if I even should say anything.

  In the end, I decided ‘fuck it.’

  “I’m not hurt that bad,” I told her.

  There was a long, silent pause, then she moved until she was cuddled into my side.

  “If you say that again in the morning…”

  Chapter 10

  100 % that bitch.

  -Coffee Cup

  Desi

  “If you say that again in the morning…”

  Those words came back to haunt me.

  “I’m not hurt that bad,” I heard said about an hour after I’d woken up.

  I’d woken earlier, had to pee in the worst way, and had disappeared into the hallway bathroom before crawling back into bed beside the sleeping man.

  I had no idea when he woke.

  I’d been lying there for thirty minutes, contemplating whether or not I should go home and start on the cake that I had due tomorrow morning for a one-year-old’s first birthday, or if I should continue to lie in the bed.

  Continuing to lie in the bed had won out… so far.

  I was also contemplating waking the sleeping giant next to me and asking him if he wanted to go to the gym with me, followed by my new workspace in town to check it out, when the words I’d uttered to him last night came back to haunt me.

  “Um, what?” I said, feeling things start to flutter to life inside of me.

  I’d already been feeling those things, of course.

  In fact, at some point in the night, I’d also lost my pants. Which was something I was known to do seeing as sleeping in anything constrictive tended to make me uncomfortable as hell.