We came to a place that was very dear to me, a place where my family had always found hours of enjoyment. One I’d never shared with anyone else outside my family or our few close friends.
“This is where our sons and daughters are gonna play one day.” I guess she was getting used to hearing me talk about our future since she didn’t so much as bat a lash at that one. “You built this?”
“My grandfather did, for my dad and his friends, then when we got old enough to play in it, dad, Chad and I remodeled it and added on the extra room.” It had once been a tree house but had since been turned into a fort. I’d spent quite a lot of time here. Some of my best life decisions had been mulled over here. “Let’s go up, don’t worry it’s sturdy.”
I helped her up the stairs to the room that was outfitted with chairs and floor cushions. It looked like someone had been keeping the place clean because the dust was at a minimum. “Wow this is amazing. How many girls did you bring up here hotshot?”
“Not one, this is a very special place, only the best of the best get to trespass here. Have a seat.” I helped her down onto one of the cushions and took the seat next to her. I had to think before I spoke because as much as my mind was already made up, she was right, it was a little crazy the way this whole thing was unfolding.
“Have you ever been in love before Traci?” It burned a hole in my gut to ask but I had to. I didn’t want anything between us, no old hang-ups no misconceptions. “No, I’ve always been too busy with school or my mom’s illness.”
“Your mom’s sick?”
“Not anymore, she kicked the cancer when I was in the eight grade and it hasn’t been back since. For a long time it was touch and go and my dad and I were always afraid you know. That was the scariest time of my life, it taught me a lot. It made me realize that the future isn’t promised, so you have to make the best of life.”
I could see her then, my little Traci trying to be brave for her mom. I listened as she told me about her life back then, her fear of losing the woman she loved so much. The fear she felt when her dad would cry at night and she didn’t know how to help as she laid in her own bed fighting the same demons.
She had a pretty good childhood otherwise from what she said and I was glad of that. I guess being in love with someone makes you want to protect them even from their past. Because all I could see in my mind’s eye was a much younger Traci dealing with a killer that had destroyed so many, and it made me ache for her.
She seemed to have overcome it though, there was no lingering tinge of sadness in her as she told of her mom’s remission and the way things had progressed after the death sentence had been lifted.
“So what made you decide to be a lawyer?”
“I’ve always been fascinated I guess. When mom was recuperating she used to watch a lot of those true crime shows. Since I spent every free moment with her back then the seed was planted and I’ve just worked towards it ever since.”
“What about your dad what does he do?”
“My dad’s a contractor, we lost the family business when he had to cut back to take care of mom. He tried getting back into the swing of things after but then the recession hit not long after that and well…”
“Where’s your family?”
“They’re in Nebraska, that’s where I’m from.”
“And the reason you didn’t go home for the holidays?” She got really quiet and looked away from me as if ashamed of what she was about to say. I braced myself for the worst.
“I couldn’t afford it this time, plus my boss wouldn’t give me the time off.”
“Your boss, you work?”
“Yeah, I’m an intern at a law office downtown.”
“So you’re really serious about being a lawyer huh? Ever think about having kids, a family?”
“Honestly, no, I’ve just always been focused on my career goals.”
“Why not do both?” She shrugged her shoulders and picked at her clothes, the way she does when she gets nervous.
“I’ll be straight up with you, I want kids, lots of them in fact. Until last night I couldn’t see the woman that was going to walk beside me forever, I could always see ten steps ahead when it came to my life, but that one thing always eluded me. Until I saw you, and after talking to my dad today I know I’m on the right path.”
“Your dad, what did he say?” I looked at her so she could see the sincerity of what I was about to tell her. “He said that when he first saw ma he knew, kinda like what I’m feeling now. I won’t lie to you. You seem to need time but I can’t give it to you. The way my life is I’m always on the road. I’m going to be gone in another couple of weeks. But I don’t want to leave here with things unsettled between us.”
“Wyatt do you know how crazy this all sounds? We just met not even twenty-four hours ago and already you’re talking kids. This is all new to me. I have no experience with this kind of thing.”
“Are your parents happy together?”
“Yes very. Why what does that have to do with anything?”
“So are mine, it has to do with you saying that you have no experience but you do. You have your parents and the love they have for each other. That means you have a pretty good idea of what happily ever after looks like and trust me, I wouldn’t risk my happiness for anything less than a sure thing. I don’t go around feeding women a line of bull. I’ve had plenty of encounters but not once have I ever came even remotely close to wanting to give my all to anyone.”
“I don’t care that it’s too soon, don’t care that you’re scared and unsure. I’m sure enough for both of us and I know in my gut that this is going to be something beautiful. Like I said, I can’t give you the time you seem to need, so you’re gonna have to take this next week and get to know all you need to. In the meantime I’m calling dibs. When you’re not working or studying your time is mine. It’s the best way to get to know each other right? Let’s get back before ma sends out a search party.”
***
Traci
***
He seems so sure, so final about this, like he truly does know. He makes me want to believe. It’s not like I’m not attracted to him, what’s not to be attracted to? But I can’t make a life decision based on my attraction to this man, or can I?
Cris had said that there were tons of women who would kill to be in my shoes, that’s another thing. “What about other women?” I held my breath as I awaited his answer. Somehow I expected him to tell me the truth; he didn’t give me the impression that he was ever anything but honest.
“What about them?”
“The girls looked you up and in almost all the pictures you were with a sexy blonde.”
“Smoke screen. Some of them I never saw after the one time and no I didn’t sleep with all of them. Sometimes it’s easier to have someone on your arm than to be fighting off women at every event. Sometimes me, and some of the models or starlets I was often paired with were helping each other out. They wanted a stress free evening and so did I, so our agents or managers would hook us up. It also made for good press.”
“So you were never serious about any of them? That seems hard to believe, they’re all gorgeous.”
“And yet none of them can hold a candle to you. Do you have any idea how fucking gorgeous you are? Damn babe, I had to fight off two men for you last night. I’ll probably spend the rest of my life fucking people’s shit up for trying to steal my girl.”
***
Wyatt
***
The day turned out even better than I could’ve imagined. By dessert she was more relaxed, and the way ma and dad involved her in the conversation seemed to remove some of her angst. Her girls kept giving her the thumbs up when they thought I wasn’t looking, but my eyes were always on her in some way.
I hated when the night came in and I knew I would have to take her back. I couldn’t come up with a good enough reason to get her to stay, so in the end I buckled her into the car and took her home after the long goodbyes
. Ma locked her into coming back the next evening to trim the tree and she accepted.
All the way back to her place I kept thinking of ways to keep her with me but nothing gelled. I could always sleep on her couch again, but I wanted her home with me, in my bed. I was so preoccupied when I took her up to her place that I didn’t do my walkthrough.
“I have to go to the restroom, be right back.” It was cute the way she still blushed as she said that before turning to leave the room. I was about to walk to the windows looking out over the woods but she came tearing out of her room white as a sheet.
“Hey-hey-hey what’s going on?” She had run right into my arms and I could feel the vibrations of her shaking. I looked around for the danger but nothing looked out of place. “Talk to me baby; what scared you?”
“In my room…” She pointed back down the hallway with her face buried in my chest.
I pulled her along behind me as I headed in the direction of her room. Leaving her at the door I looked around inside but again found nothing that would put that type of fear in someone. “What am I looking for?” It didn’t matter that I couldn’t see it she’d seen it so it was real.
“On my bed.” She gestured towards the bed where a laptop had been left open.
“You didn’t put that there?”
“No, I left it on the desk over there.”
“Does anyone else have a key to this place?”
“No-no one.” I walked back to her and took her in my arms but she pulled away and headed for the laptop. “Look.”
She turned the screen towards me and I couldn’t quite make sense of what I was supposed to be looking at. On the screen there appeared to be a picture of her asleep in bed. “What the fuck, is that here?” I looked around the room and saw that it was.
“Yes, but how did he get it?”
“Grab some stuff you’re not staying here.” She’d refused to spend the night at my house and I’d respected her wishes, but this shit just changed the game.
“You know where this asshole lives?”
“I think he used to stay in the dorms but I heard he moved so no I don’t know.”
I’ll get Jace on that later but for now my only interest was in getting her out of there. She was going to have a fit but once we walked through that door she wasn’t coming back, fuck that. She might want to take things slow but life was throwing a monkey wrench in that shit.
“Move baby, grab some stuff that you’re gonna need for the next few days you’re not staying here.”
“I can call Cris or…”
“No, I don’t think your friend would appreciate having me under foot and after this shit there’s no way I’m letting you out of my sight. I don’t want you here any longer than you have to be so grab some stuff and let’s go.”
I kept my voice and my face calm, but inside I was anything but. This was serious shit. What if I hadn’t been here, what if I’d let her hardheaded ass walk up alone as she’d wanted?
She moved to her closet and started throwing shit in a bag before shutting down the computer and putting that in the bag. Next she moved over to the nightstand where her phone was flashing. ‘You have thirty new messages. New message, Thursday, ten twenty-eight am-‘Hi beautiful just calling to wish you a happy holiday, sorry we couldn’t be together this year, but maybe next year huh.”
Thursday ten thirty-two am-‘Hi it’s me again, where are you? I know you didn’t go home are you at one of your friends?’ Each call came within five minutes of each other until about noon then they spread out to about every half an hour. With each, he escalated until the last few he was demanding to know where she was-and who she was with.
“Is there a tape in there?”
“No it’s saved in the phone.”
“Bring it.” I didn’t want to scare her any more than she already was, but this fucker was off his fucking nut. Even if she thought in the past that she could handle this shit on her own, I was here now and there was no way that shit was gonna happen.
She was taking way too fucking long to get her shit together so I just grabbed her hand took the bag from her and headed for the door. I had no idea where this guy was, for all I know he could be watching the place. In one of the messages he’d mentioned me, not by name, I was the guy from the bar. The guy from the bar was going to break his foot off in his ass.
Outside I looked around before taking her back to my ride and buckling her in. I looked towards the woods, which was probably the best place for a predator to hide if he was indeed out there. She was still pale as she looked around as if expecting him to jump out at her.
Talk Wyatt get her mind off this shit. “You work tomorrow?”
“Uh yeah, nine o’clock, you can just take me to Cris’ I’ll be fine there.”
“Sweetheart, I think I’m falling head over ass in love with you, but shut up. You’re going home with me and that’s final. And after seeing and hearing this shit, you’re not staying in a guestroom either you’re staying with me so I can be sure you’re okay. So, get that settled in your mind.” Good, that ought to take her mind off of it.
I drove like a bat out of hell to get her back to safety. Because of the holiday and being so wrapped up in her, I hadn’t had a chance to look into this guy, my mistake. There had to be a way to put his ass away for harassment, and that shit with the pictures in her bedroom, oh fuck no. He’d be lucky if the cops have anything left when I was through with him.
I took her in and up to my room since my parents had turned in for the night. Ma would be tired from all the running around the last few days and dad would be in bed reading. Those two were never far from each other. In all the years I can remember, my parents were always pretty much in each other’s pocket, a tradition I think I was going to carry on.
“The shower is through there or you can take a bath if you’d like. Yeah that might be better, a nice hot bath to relax you.” I didn’t wait around for her okay just headed in there and got it started while she stood in the middle of my room looking lost.
I’d been trying to get her up here all day, but she kept outsmarting me, too bad it took something like this to get me what I want. With her bath running I walked back into the room and took her face in my hands. She was still shaken up and her eyes were teary.
“You’re okay baby he can’t get to you here and I promise you with everything that is in me, he never will.” She didn’t seem capable of speech or even moving so I started to remove her top. That broke her out of her haze fast enough. “I can do it thanks.”
“Fine I added some bath salts to the water already and made sure it wasn’t too hot go soak and relax. Should I get you a glass of wine?”
“No, thank you, I think I had more than enough at dinner.” She walked away and headed for her bath leaving me there with way too much on my mind. I wanted to go hunt the fucker down and beat him to within an inch of his life for scaring her, but I couldn’t leave her alone. Tomorrow while she was at work I’ll go dig his ass up from whatever hole he was in and put the fear of hell in him, coward.
I paced my room like a caged animal until I got a better idea. “Jace I need you to go over to Traci’s place, that asshole was in there tonight.”
“How do you know he was in there?”
“He left her laptop on her bed opened to pictures he took of her while she was asleep.”
“I’ll call it in, let me speak to Traci.”
“Why?”
“I need her permission to go in.”
“I just gave you permission.”
“Er Wyatt, you don’t live there and you’re not her spouse.”
“But you know and I know that she’s mine, what more do you need?”
“It doesn’t work that way, we have laws.”
“What kinda fuck stupid law is that, a man can’t protect his own woman?”
“Tell it to the judge when some shyster defense attorney questions how long you and the young lady have been together. Trust me they’ll dig into all o
f that. Things like this you have to dot every I and cross every t.”
“Fine, I hope your asshole laws are just as fucked up when I break this fuck’s neck.”
“I can’t hear you, how many times must I tell you as an officer of the law I can’t hear certain things.”
“Not my problem bro, you need to see a doctor about your hearing problems.”
“Let me talk to Traci you ass.”
“I can’t she’s in the tub.”
“This is the twenty-first century, you have a cordless take it in there.”
“I don’t want you talking to her while she’s in the tub bro uh-uh.”
“Bro, your cave us showing take the damn phone to her so I can get started on this thing.”
I fumed but did as he asked. “Traci I’m coming in, don’t freak just hide under the bubbles.” I tried to avert my eyes when I got in there, hardest thing I ever did because all I wanted to do was look. “Jace wants to talk to you.”
I passed her the phone while she looked at me with bewilderment. I followed along on her end of the conversation, which was going just fine until she started laughing. What the fuck? “What’s so funny?” She looked up at me with a twinkle in her eye.
“Yes he is.” She broke into even louder laughter than before “You’ll have to come get it I don’t think he’ll let me.”
“Come get what, what won’t I let you? Give me that.” I snatched the phone and gave her the look before tearing into Jace the damn thief. “What were you saying to her to make her laugh?”
“Can’t tell you bro it’s privileged information.”
“I’ll privilege my foot in your ass you fuck, what do you need to come get, the laptop?”
“Yeah, did you touch it, never mind we can eliminate your prints. I have to tell you though, I doubt this guy was dumb enough to leave anything of himself behind. These assholes are getting more and more sophisticated with their shit.”
“Damn, I have to leave in the next few weeks you telling me you’re not gonna have this hump in a cage before then?”
“It doesn’t work that way Wyatt, just let me call it in and I’ll come grab the laptop. Guess I’m not getting that day off like I dreamed of.”
The Champ: Bad Boys Book 5 (The Bad Boys) Page 7