Shamus (Welcome to Spartan Book 3)

by Ashley Lyn

  I burst into tears, again.

  He pulls me into his arms and starts laughing.

  “Stop laughing at me, you asshat.”

  “You always cry at the drop of a hat?”

  “Yes. I cried the other day when I was at the grocery store, and they were out of my favorite brand of cottage cheese.”

  He laughs, but holds me closer, and kisses me on the forehead. Once we’re settled in, he soon falls asleep, and I use my good foot to grab the clicker for the television.

  Turning it on, I turn the volume way down and open Netflix, and start watching Charmed.

  I’ve watched four episodes, and the man is still asleep, snoring like crazy. My eyes are drooping, and I don’t think I can stay awake any longer. I sit up, and as I do, Shamus wakes up. Blurry eyed, he looks around.

  “What time is it?”

  “After ten.” One second my eyes are closed and I’m stretching, and the next, I’m in his arms, and he’s taking me to my bedroom.

  “Do you need to use the bathroom?” he asks, and my cheeks pink up. Taking me to the bathroom door, I hobble in and shut the door. Taking care of my business quickly, I pop some more aspirin and head back to my bedroom. Holy Moses, Shamus is sound asleep in my bed, in nothing but a pair of athletic shorts. If I weren't worried he would catch me, I would do a little happy dance.

  I hop over and slide into bed and snuggle into his side. His arms come around me and sleep finds me quickly.

  I’m sitting on my kitchen counter, watching porn, which is also known as Shamus doing push-ups. My head cocks to the side when he switches it up and starts doing sit-ups. If I squint, I can almost see up his shorts.

  “Quit trying to look up my shorts, Savannah,” he admonishes me. I smile at him and continue with my perving.

  He sits up and puts his arms on his knees, and I look at his smiling face. “Don’t you have to go to work?”

  Sliding off the counter, I snag the crutches and go over and kiss his sweaty cheek before grabbing my purse. “Dad dropped their extra car off this morning while you were out running. Keys are on the side table; don’t call me if you get lost because I’ll probably just make it worse. I put Dad’s phone number in your phone just in case.”

  “Wait, didn’t you say we were doing something tonight?”

  “Oh, we’re totally doing something. We’re going out on a Savannah date.”

  “Do I even want to know?”

  “Nope. Just be ready to go when I get off at four. Takes me about twenty minutes to get here after work, and maybe ten to get ready.”

  He rolls his eyes. “Ten minutes to get ready? I’ll believe it when I see it.”

  I blow him a raspberry and hop in my mini cooper and head to work. My drive is short and sweet, and the bonus is that I didn’t have to flip anyone off.

  Whipping into my spot, I hobble my broken ass up the walkway. I get inside and the smile dips from my face. I cock my head to the side when the yelling registers.

  “You are such a dick, Tristan!”

  “Keep your voice down, Tiff.”

  “Fuck you, you giant fucking bastard.”

  I’m trying to be quiet as I make my way down the hallway, but these crutches are loud as fuck. My head just clears the corner when I’m almost taken out by a five foot nothing bottle blonde in the tightest dress I have ever seen. How she’s upright and breathing is beyond me.

  “Get out of my way, slut!” An outraged gasp escapes, and I almost smack her with my crutches.

  “Don’t talk to my secretary like that, Tiff,” Tristan bellows, stomping his way down the hall.

  “Secretary, my ass. I know you’re fucking her.”

  I make a getaway for the kitchen, seeing as it’s close enough to be able to listen in, and far enough away that I’m not in the line of fire.

  He herds the cow to the front, and I’m disappointed because I can no longer hear them. I’m busy making my coffee when I feel Tristan come into the kitchen.

  “I’m sorry about that, Savannah. Tiff, she…she’s a bitch. There really aren’t any other words to describe her.” I’m leaning against the counter, blowing on my coffee, waiting for him to fill in the blanks.

  He just leans against the doorjamb and crosses his arms. “What did you do to yourself now, by the way?”

  “Who is she?” He warned me about the heels, just like my mom did. He raises an eyebrow, and I raise him one right back. He smiles and shakes his beautiful blond head.

  “My ex-wife.” He winks before exiting. I feel like he should drop a mic.

  Bombshell.

  He stops and turns back around. “I told you, you shouldn’t have worn those death traps yesterday.” The lumbering jackass makes his way to his office, and I flip him off.

  “Don’t flip me off, Savannah.”

  “How do you even know I did?”

  He just laughs before closing his office door.

  I curse when I realize that trying to make my way to my desk with crutches and a cup of coffee is a dumb idea. Deciding to leave my coffee on the counter to cool for a bit, I bribe one of the guys to bring it to me, then make my way to my desk. Settling in, I start going through the emails.

  Ten minutes later, Carter Michelson comes in with his usual greeting.

  “How are things, Savannah?”

  “Things are things, Carter. Interesting things, things like Tristan’s ex-wife came in this morning. Also, I left my coffee on the counter in the kitchen. Any way you could bring it to me?”

  Both his eyebrows go up, and he whistles.

  “How was the Tiff experience? And I’m pretty sure you can get your own coffee, Savannah, I’m not your errand boy.”

  “The experience was terrifying and enlightening.” I bat my eyelashes at him a bit, buttering him up. “I sprained my ankle yesterday, and trying to get my coffee to my desk with crutches was just unsafe.”

  He shakes his head at me before turning and walking away.

  God help me. I turn around and look at his ass. There’s not a woman alive, old or young, who wouldn’t, trust me. He isn’t a tall man, at maybe five nine. He has pitch black hair he keeps tied back, and crystal fucking blue eyes rimmed with midnight black lashes, that would make any woman jealous. He has a lean swimmer’s body, that is defined and fine as fuck.

  “Quit checking out my ass, Savannah!”

  “Never!”

  Work was a drag. After the fireworks of this morning, the rest of the day was boring as hell. I’m racing home for my first date with Shamus. I’m taking him out to Boondocks. When I told him about it, he’d said it sounded like fun, and I can’t wait. Sucks I’m on fucking crutches, though. I pout on the way home, because I was looking forward to schooling his ass in laser tag.

  Pulling into my driveway, I give a panicked cry when I see the minivans in my driveway.

  The sisters have arrived.

  Slamming the car into park, I scramble out of my car and speed crutch my way into the house. My mouth drops open in horror. My kitchen counters are covered in yuppie grocery bags from Whole Foods.

  The second oldest pain in my ass sister, Elise, is sitting on my couch, tits out, breastfeeding. The oldest, Daisy, is putting away the yuppie groceries. Starla and Maxine are cleaning, and Stephanie is folding my fucking laundry.

  “What the fuck!”

  “Language, Savvy!” Daisy yells at me from the kitchen.

  Stephanie is folding my sexiest panties, panties that have been cruising the bottom of my drawer for months. When she sees me watching her, she winks at me, the ho.

  I look at poor Shamus, who’s sitting in the recliner, staring at the ceiling with a shit-eating grin on his face. I jerk the panties out of Steph’s hand, ball them up and throw them in her face. Shamus gets up and grabs my shoulders and steers me to the bedroom. I flop face-first in the middle of the bed and groan.

  “How long have the Witches of Eastwick been here?”

  “They started trickling in about an hour ago. It w
as fine till your sister whipped out her boob. Got nothing against breastfeeding, just thought I would see your boobs first, and not your sister’s. Then, your other sister started folding your laundry. Pretty sure I saw her empty out all your underwear from the dresser.”

  I roll over, and his smiling face is there. Reaching up, I touch his beard, and he leans down and kisses me. Things are just getting good when I hear little voices coming from my closet.

  “That’s nasty. Aunty Sav is kissing that man with her tongue,” someone whispers from my closet.

  I look over to my left and see my nephews, Jonathan and Jackson, whose Oreo covered faces are peeking out of my closet.

  “Your mom is going to blow a gasket when she finds out you’re eating cookies,” I whisper back, smiling as their eyes light up.

  They give me chocolate smiles, and I get up and usher them into the bathroom and clean them up. Opening my bedroom door, I’m greeted with five ears, attached to all five of my sisters.

  “Shameful, all of you!”

  Daisy finally notices the boys. “Jonathan and Jackson Dawson, what are you doing in there?”

  “We were just saying howdy to Aunty Sav.” They saunter by like they weren’t gorging themselves on contraband cookies in my closet, giving each other a low five as they walk away.

  Giggling, I look at Daisy and her eyes are narrowed. I just shrug my shoulders.

  “All right, clear out! I have to get ready for my date, so get out, all of you!”

  There are five outraged gasps.

  “You’re going on a date when you have a perfectly good man right there?” Elise asks.

  “My date is with Shamus. Now, get out!”

  They all smile and start pushing their way into my room, presumably to help me choose an outfit. I close the door and just point my finger at the front door. Reluctantly, the sisters all file out. Daisy starts to open her mouth, but I hold up my hand.

  “Daisy, please, for once, just let me be. Thank you for the food. I already went shopping, but thank you anyway.”

  Daisy throws her hands in the air. “Savannah, frozen taquitos, hot pockets, and pizza rolls are not food.”

  “Don’t knock my food choices, Daisy May.”

  We both hear the shower turn on and listen carefully. “Savannah!” Shamus hollers. “Can you come wash my back?” I literally slam the door on Daisy’s shocked face and limp to the bathroom, only to find Shamus sitting on the counter. He leans over and turns off the shower.

  “I’m disappointed,” I tell him with my best pouty face. He laughs. Smiling at him, I kiss him and make my way to my closet. Epic date number one in T-Minus ten minutes!

  Pulling my go kart in, Savannah is next to me in the double cart since she couldn’t drive one herself. She’s wiping her tears of laughter away. The smile on her face when I passed that punk kid who kept putting us on the wall was beautiful.

  I help her out of the kart and over to her crutches before making our way inside.

  “Hey, Chip! How are you?” Savannah asks the kid working behind the food counter.

  Chip can’t be older than sixteen, and looks totally dumbfounded that Savannah is talking to him. He opens his mouth, and nothing but a squeak comes out. Clearing his throat, he tries again.

  “Everything is stellar, Savannah.”

  She smiles at him and orders a large pepperoni pizza and two large cokes. Settling into the booth, I look over at the kids running around, laughing and playing, and my chest pinches. Savannah slides in across from me, hands me my drink, and sips her own while watching me.

  “I’m scared, Sav. Scared that I won’t be the father they deserve. That I’m going to mess up when I get them back. I refuse to even entertain the idea that they’ll not be coming home with me. I was scared when Jenny told me she was pregnant, and terrified when she told me with twins, but we had each other, we were in it together, and now I have to do this alone.”

  “You won’t, though. I’ll be there in any capacity you need, friend or girlfriend. If you need a shoulder or just a minute alone, whatever. You have everyone in Spartan. I don’t think you’ve ever mentioned your parents, or Jenny’s.”

  I feel a bit guilty about this. “I actually haven’t told my parents or Jenny’s mom. My parents took losing Jenny and the kids hard; they loved Jenny. Her mom? Most difficult thing I ever had to do was tell her what happened. I broke, but that woman shattered. It had just been her and Jenny forever. When I get the call that they’re safe and sound, and out of harm's way, I’ll call them. I have no clue how Jenny’s mom Maxine will react. She started drinking a lot and graduated to drugs not long after Jenny died. She got clean about a year ago. My mom is going to beat me when she finds out I didn’t tell her when I first found out, and heaven help the town if she ever does move to Spartan. She makes Margo and Cleo look like amateurs.”

  “It’ll all work out, Shamus. Everyone’s going to be so ecstatic that they’re safe, happy, and healthy. You’re going to be a kick-ass dad, and you know why? Because you want to be. Because you’re worried about it tells me that you care. The only way you’ll fail is if you don’t try, and I don’t think you have it in you to not try. You put your whole self into everything, putting every ounce of determination and strength you had into finding them. You’ve done a major one-eighty in getting not only the house ready, but you. You reached out for help from a counselor who could help you get through this and come to peace with what happened. You will never fail them; you simply don’t have it in you.”

  We both fall into silence, eating our pizza. The manager and other employees keep coming up to Savannah to say hi, and ask her how she is, and it makes me wonder.

  “Savannah, how often do you come here?”

  She blushes. “Remember I told you I used to work here all through high school? I developed an addiction, one might say. I come here, usually a couple times a month, sometimes more.” It’s cute that she’s embarrassed.

  “You come alone, or with a bunch of friends?”

  “Just me, usually. I didn’t have very many friends growing up. The ones I do have all scattered after graduation, and I keep in touch with Facebook and phone calls. I like the go karts, and laser tag is fun, but can be exhausting and brutal. Some of those kids are vicious assholes.” Picking up a slice of pizza, she puts it on her plate. Licking the grease rolling down her fingers, she then stacks another piece on top.

  “What about you? Did you keep in touch with friends from school? What do you like to do for fun?” she asks, then proceeds to devour her pizza sandwich, making me grin.

  “No, and thank God. They were all cocksuckers. The school we went to had a high population of snobby rich kids. Jenny and I both transferred to that school the same year. The area of town that we lived in was on the edge of the wrong side of the tracks. Back then, I had no muscle to back up my threats, but those rich fuckers would get in Jenny’s face, and you bet your ass I would throw down. I got into so much trouble fighting, my mother, bless her heart, never gave me much shit about it, but I’m sure she got tired of coming down to the school all the time.” She’s trying to grab some napkins out of the dispenser because her fingers are literally dripping with pizza grease. I pull some out and hand them to her.

  “For fun? I like to fish and read. It’s been years since I’ve been out on a lake or river, though. I blame my mother for the reading, and you have to promise not to laugh. I like to read romance novels. Not like the frou-frou ones, but the paranormal ones. I haven’t read much over the past few years, but that’s my guilty pleasure.”

  I can tell she’s trying hard to not laugh; she has her head tipped back and is breathing deeply.

  “Just laugh, Savannah, it’s okay. Jenny gave me massive amounts of shit about it all the time.”

  She bursts into laughter, and I just smile at her. I love seeing her laugh because she does it with every bit of her soul. It’s loud, and her entire body gets into the action.

  “All right, giggles, let go play
some skee ball since you can’t play laser tag on crutches.”

  She slides out of the booth, still giggling, then I smack her ass, making her squeak. I needed this night more than I thought, to just let loose and remember to have fun in life.

  Shamus is following me into work today. Apparently, Tristan wants to go over things with Shamus, and I can tell he’s nervous. The relaxed state he came home in last night is all but nonexistent today.

  His shoulders look like they’re up around his ears. Grabbing my breakfast and to-go coffee, I turn, and he’s sitting on the couch, staring off into space.

  “Shamus, are you okay?”

  He takes a deep breath and blows it out. “I’m fine. My mom called this morning, and it just threw me off. She was talking about coming down to see me in Spartan, and I told her that I had a lead and I was in Denver. I really hate lying to her, but I just can’t get her hopes up for them all to come crashing down.”

  I straddle his lap and give him a kiss. He pulls back and rests his forehead on my chest. “It will all work out, Shamus, I promise. If it bothers you this much to not tell your mother, maybe you should think about telling her. See what Tristan has to say, and take a couple days and think about it.”

  He lifts his head and looks at me. He’s wearing his emotions plain as day on his face, so raw and open, and filled with pain. I run my fingers from his forehead, down his nose. Leaning down, I kiss him gently and slide off his lap.

  He gets up and hugs me before resolutely marching out the front door.

  Traffic sucks a giant hairy nut sack today, and my poor middle finger is exhausted by the time I make it into the parking lot. Shamus pulls up next to me and has a shell-shocked look on his face.

  Throwing my hands up in the air, I head into the office. I’m an asshole driver—I know that and I’m sorry—but I have major pet peeves about merge lanes and lane changing etiquette.

  I’m sitting at my desk when Shamus comes in. I peek up at him and see his smiling face. “Okay, I’m an asshole driver.”

  He cracks up laughing, and Tristan comes walking up the back hallway, followed by the rest of the panty droppers. Tristan looks at Shamus laughing, then at me.