by Parker, Ali
All in all, there were five of them. Two on five, I liked those odds. Rayce grunted beside me, as if he agreed with the thought I’d just had. It was very possible that was exactly what it was, given that he’d probably had the same one at the same time. Sizing up our opponents came as naturally to both of us as breathing.
“What the fuck?” one of the guys demanded from us, stabbing a finger in our direction. “Who the fuck are you?”
“We’re no one,” Rayce replied quietly, his voice carrying his ominous intent around the room. The stupid assholes who lived in the house didn’t hear it, though.
The one who had spoken first stalked closer to us, making a definite mistake by shoving Rayce’s chest when he got close enough. “Get the fuck out of our house, no one.”
Rayce let the guy shove him, lulling him into a false sense of security before springing into the action. He liked to play with his food sometimes, an apex predator that knew he was going to win and didn’t need to put on a front to prove it.
Our eyes met on a sidelong glance, and we both started moving at the same time. Our movements were almost synchronized. It was like we shared a mind when we fought together. We’d done it so many times that we knew instinctively what the other was going to do and focused on doing something different instead.
We fucked up the guys in less than ten minutes, four of them unconscious on the floor and the fifth leaning against the couch with his palms held up to us in surrender. “Take whatever the fuck you want and leave.”
“This wasn’t about taking anything, you idiotic motherfucker.” My tone of voice matched Rayce’s from earlier, but this time the guy heard the warning in it. “You are going to pack up your shit when your little friends wake up. You have until tomorrow to get the fuck out of this house and if you don’t, I will burn it to the goddamn ground with all of you still in it.”
Rayce grabbed a painted egg-shaped thing and its golden stand from the mantel. “Since you told us we could take whatever the fuck we wanted, I’m taking this.”
I fought the urge to roll my eyes at Rayce’s gloating. He and I both knew the chances that the egg was an actual Fabergé, and was therefore worth something, were slim to none, but he wasn’t taking it because it might have value. He was taking it because he could.
The whimpering bastard in front of me nodded slowly, his voice starting to slur more as his tongue swelled up. “We’ll be out. Okay. Just go.”
“Pleasure doing business with you.” I pulled a lighter out of my pocket and rolled the flint to spark a flame, just letting my warning sink in before I turned around and marched back to my truck.
Rayce slid in at the same time I did, giving me a long look as I buckled up and shoved the key in the ignition. “Is there something I should know about, bro?”
“It’s nothing.” I turned the key and took a last look at the house before I started the engine and took off, allowing myself only a single glance at Heidi’s house as we passed it.
Chapter 12
Heidi
“You’re both assholes.” I glared at Olive and Val sitting behind me on my bed, my gaze fixed on both of theirs in the reflection of my mirror. “I’m not wearing that.”
“Why did you ask us to help you get ready if you weren’t going to listen to our suggestions?” Olive asked, navy blue eyes dancing with amusement.
She was a lot more relaxed tonight than she had been since we’d arrived, her mood probably improved by our neighbors’ impromptu move this morning. While we were watching them haul their shit out of their house earlier, she’d confessed to me that she had been a lot more worried about them than she had let on.
Apparently, she had seen two of them creeping along the side of our house the first night we slept there. Tension had been leaking out of her for days, but now that the guys were gone, there was joy and genuine excitement living in the hole the stress had left behind.
She dragged her long brown hair forward and across her shoulder, braiding the ends together as she grinned at me. “Besides, why wouldn’t you wear that?”
“It’s a shirt, not a dress. There are some lines even I wouldn’t cross.” The shirt in question covered only about half of my ass. I ripped the green fabric over my head and discarded it. “Get real, guys. I’m not walking around our new city with my vagina on display for all to see.”
“So what?” Valerie tipped her head to the side, a small smile playing on the corners of her lips. “Only your date is allowed to see your kitty cat?”
“If you’re going to call it that, you might as well call it a pussy, Val.” Olive interjected, laughing as she turned her back to the bed when Valerie hit her with a pillow. “Quit it. We’re supposed to be helping Heidi get dressed for her date.”
“It’s not a date, and no one is seeing my vagina, pussy, or kitty cat. Whatever you want to call it, it’s staying hidden.” For now, but the girls didn’t need to know that sad body part was eagerly anticipating a day it could be shown to Will. Shit, I was still wet at odd times when that damn dream came whooshing into my brain.
Valerie looked up at the ceiling as though she were praying for the patience to deal with me, but I saw the barely repressed laughter in her eyes and the curve of her lips. “If this guy is as hot as you both say he is, why would you want her to stay hidden? Just wear the damn shirt and get it over with. You walk out wearing that, you’ll be screwing him before we’ve even shut the damn front door.”
Olive chewed her bottom lip, eyes suddenly thoughtful. “She’s right. Maybe you shouldn’t wear it. I don’t want to see other people … making babies. Even if it is you. Sorry, girl. I’m just not into watching.”
Val and I exchanged a horrified look. Olive wasn’t nearly as comfortable as we were about sex, whether talking about—or apparently—having it. “Making babies? Please don’t call it that.”
My voice was strained and thick with laughter, but Valerie’s was an interesting blend of the horror in her gaze and barely contained amusement. “Seriously, Olive? Making babies. How old are you?”
Olive’s cheeks flushed, but she stood her ground. “What? Isn’t that the primary purpose of the act? Procreation?”
“Nope.” Valerie arched an eyebrow. “Pleasure is. At our ages anyway.”
Val turned to me, trying—and failing miserably—to look stern. “Don’t you dare get pregnant tonight, young lady. No procreation for you. I couldn’t handle that.”
Olive nodded, her expression more serious than Val’s. “Definitely couldn’t handle that. Do you know how many diapers newborns go through?”
She shuddered, and I didn’t want to know the answer to what I was going to take as a rhetorical question. “You don’t have to worry about that. Like I said, it’s not a date.”
Since all three of us were now in agreement that the shirt was not going to work as a dress, my friends helped pick an outfit I would actually wear, then waited with me for Will to arrive. Wearing a short denim skirt with a white tank top, silver sandals, and several fine silver necklaces and bracelets, I thought I looked damn good.
I wore a blue bra under the white tank and the skirt was quite short, even if not as short as the dress, so I was satisfied that I still looked edgy and confident. The last thing I wanted was to look like a nervous virgin going out on her first date or something.
I was nervous, though. More so than I wanted to either look or admit to. Will had this cool, confident air about him without being arrogant. A way to burn me up and set me at ease at the same time. I couldn’t remember ever having gone on a date with a man like him before.
Florida was also still very much new to me. We hadn’t gone out of the house much since we’d arrived, choosing to stay around the house and on the beach. The few times we’d been out, we hadn’t ventured very far.
I was out of my element here, but I was trying very hard not to think about it like that. Instead, I was choosing to look at the night for what it was: a good time out with a local guy who could give me a pro
per introduction to his city.
Once I embraced that mantra, my nerves eased. By the time Will arrived, I was ready and excited. A knock at the door had my heart racing, sweat slicking my palms.
I wiped them off on my skirt, tossed my hair back, and opened the door. “Hey. You’re right on time.”
“It’s rude to keep people waiting.” Will smiled, but there was none of the easy tilt of his lips in his eyes. They were all heat as he dragged his gaze down from my eyes, looking all the way to my toes before making its lazy return. “You look gorgeous.”
“You clean up well yourself.” He was wearing jeans again, but these were a darker blue and more fitted. A tight pale-blue T-shirt clung to his arms, stretched across his chest, and showed off a body that promised to be as ripped as it had been in my dream.
“You ready to go?” The sound of his low voice kept me from wondering back to dreamland, reminding me that I wasn’t alone and that now wasn’t the time to work at making that damn dream come true.
I nodded, about to close the door behind me when a red manicured hand caught it and pulled it all the way open again. Valerie crossed her slim arms, giving Will a once-over not unlike the one I’d given him a minute ago.
If it were anyone else looking at him like that with me right there, I would have probably felt a bit jealous. The feeling didn’t come with Val, though. Despite what it looked like, I knew she wasn’t checking him out. She was checking for different bulges than the one I’d dreamed about, searching for any telltale signs of concealed weapons.
I knew she would also be deciding what kind of vibe she got from him, but she must have come to the same conclusion that I had at first, because the next thing I knew, she was grinning. “You must be Will. I’m Valerie. It’s nice to meet you.”
He shook her hand politely but didn’t linger with his skin against hers. Another good sign. Guys who held on to a friend’s hand for too long were always skeevy. It was a little test Val liked to put our dates through, to try and gauge the kinds of people they really were.
Will passed said test with flying colors, releasing her hand quickly and not letting his eyes wander away from hers to any other part of her body. “It’s nice to meet you too.”
“Where are you taking my girl?” Val leaned with her shoulder against the doorframe, her arms crossed again.
He narrowed his eyes at her, shaking his head. It was more of a teasing expression than a serious one, though. “If I told you, I’d have to kill you.”
Val snorted. “Very original.”
“Originality is overrated,” he joked back easily, giving her a playful wink before taking my hand in his and winding our fingers together as if he’d done it a million times before. He hadn’t, though, and the touch of his warm, dry palm to mine made my heart gallop like horses in a cowboy movie.
“So dinner and movie it is then? If you really do think originality is overrated, that is.” Valerie and Will were totally oblivious to my momentary physiological crises, exchanging jokes like they were old friends. Valerie laughed at something Will had said, then pointed at her watch. “You’d better have her home at a decent hour, dude. I’m not kidding about this.”
Will laughed. “Sure thing, mommy dearest.”
Val pretended to gasp and pressed her hand to her chest as though he’d mortally offended her. “I’m not the mommy dearest in this group.”
“You could have fooled me,” Will replied smoothly, waving at Val. “I’ll have her back before you start worrying, okay?”
“Okay,” she said before a gleam I knew all too well appeared in her eye and a shit-eating grin spread on her lips. “And have you ever heard the word ‘condom’ before? You’d better have.”
“Oh my God.” I groaned, tightening my grip on Will’s hand and dragging him down the stairs as I shook with laughter. “I can’t believe she said that. She’s just teasing.”
“She was?” Will opened the door of his red truck for me, also laughing. “If it makes her feel any better, you can text her and tell her that I have, in fact, heard that word before. Safe sex for the win.”
I couldn’t tell if he was joking or not, so I dropped the subject when he glided into the driver’s seat beside me and started his truck. As he backed out of the parking space, I caught a glimpse of the house next door. “Hey, so do you remember those guys from the other night? Our neighbors?”
“Yeah?” He folded his hand over the gear lever, changing them as he drove us out of the only neighborhood I’d really been in Tampa.
“They moved out this morning.”
“That’s a good thing.” He kept his eyes on the road but shot me a quick glance as though trying to get a read on my reaction. “Don’t you think?”
“Definitely,” I agreed, trying not to think what might have happened to us if they had stayed. Jesus, if they’d been creeping around on our first night there, I had no doubt that things would have gotten really bad. Especially after their screaming match with Valerie and my ignoring their come-ons that night.
Not wanting the potential of bad things, which had never actually happened, ruin our night, I changed the subject. “So, where are we going tonight? I’m assuming you won’t have to kill me if you tell me.”
“Nah.” Will’s lips kicked into a smile as he caught my eye in the rearview mirror. “I thought I’d show you around town, you up for that?”
“I was actually kind of hoping you might say something like that.” I leaned back into the buttery-soft leather of his seat, getting comfortable and turning my head so I was facing him. “That sounds perfect.”
Chapter 13
Will
“That’s Busch Gardens over there.” Pointing ahead and slightly to the left of us, I carried on driving Heidi through the city.
“What’s Busch Gardens?” She squinted her eyes in the direction I was pointing, then nearly pressed her nose to the window as if to read all the neon signs. “Is it, like, an amusement park or something?”
“Did you not look Tampa up on the internet at all before you came here?”
Heidi shrugged, tearing her eyes away from the park to look back at me. I liked it when she did that, even if it did mean she totally missed the point of this little personalized city tour. “Not really. I figured we’d find out all about it after we got here.”
“That’s brave.” To say the fucking least. “And yeah, it is an amusement park. An African-themed one. It’s pretty cool.”
“I’ll add it to my list.” She turned back to the window, which sent a weird pang of disappointment through my gut. Shaking it off as being ridiculous, I flipped my indicator and continued the tour of the landmarks in the city.
While they were mostly touristy spots, there was a reason why they were so popular. If Heidi and her friends had moved here permanently, those spots were places that were well worth a visit or two. Hell, even Rayce and I had gone a few times.
“If you guys decide to pay a visit to any of these, let me know. There are some days that anyone with a permanent address in Tampa gets a discounted rate. Sometimes they even have a couple of hours a month where the places are only open to locals. Helps for the crowds.”
“Don’t they lose a lot of money that way?” Heidi didn’t sound particularly concerned, just curious.
I shrugged, even though she wasn’t looking at me. “They make plenty of money. Besides, it’s only a couple of hours. Usually either before or after their normal business hours.”
Heidi nodded, angling her body to face me as she started firing off questions about the city. Mostly about the best routes to take during peak hours and where they could get groceries, whether there were any good markets, and where to find the best nightlife.
I answered her questions while I drove, interspersing them with facts about the city and pointing out more things while we drove. After about thirty more minutes of that, I pulled into a busy parking lot and shut down the engine.
Heidi frowned slightly, taking in the crowds walking be
tween the parking lot, along the promenade and to the pier. The bright lights from the boardwalk reflected on the surface of the water beyond a short stretch of beach, pulsing music filtering into the cab of the truck from the waterfront bars and entertainment.
“I thought you were going to show me local spots. This seems pretty touristy.”
I laughed, opening my door and climbing out of the truck. Before I could reach the passenger side to help her out, Heidi was already standing next to the truck. “It is now, but just give it time.”
The busy boardwalk at this time of night was undoubtedly one of the most touristy spots in the city, but I had a couple of tricks up my sleeve for later. Heidi sighed, then blinked away the slight sheen of disappointment in her eyes before she smiled up at me. “Okay, I trust you. Let’s do this.”
“You trust me? You don’t even really know me.”
Shrugging, she linked her arm with mine and started tugging me along in the same direction as the rest of the crowd walking from the parking lot. “That’s why we’re here, isn’t it? To get to know each other, and the city of course. You’re a local, I’m not. So with showing me around, yes, I do trust you.”
Something tightened in my stomach at her words. There were exactly two people in this world who trusted me: Rayce and Austin. There was a reason for it, too, but I kind of liked the thought of adding Heidi to that list. Even if it was just as her tour guide that she trusted me.
“Where to first?” she asked when we reached the main hub of activity. Restaurants and bars to one side and games and rides to the other.
“Lady’s choice.” I motioned to the games area. “If you’re hungry but you don’t want to wait for a table at one of the restaurants, we can grab food and drinks from one of the food stalls. If you’d prefer to have a seated meal, I guess we go the other way.”