Skin to Skin

by J. M. Stone

  I walked into Emma’s room to see her sitting up in the bed, nursing the baby. Luke was passed out on the sofa along the window, snoring lightly.

  “Hey!” she said brightly. “I’m so glad you came…I felt so bad last night that you weren’t here with everyone, but I really appreciate you taking care of the dogs for us.”

  I smiled and hugged her, careful not to jostle the baby sucking greedily at her breast. “Don’t worry about it. It’s not a big deal and I’m here now, so…God, Emma, she’s so gorgeous!” I breathed, running a finger lightly down her soft little cheek.

  “She is, isn’t she?” Emma beamed with pride, and then her eyes blinked owlishly as she took in the ginormous bear Brandon was holding. “Where the hell are you gonna put that?” she asked him.

  “It’s for Everly, so hush,” he replied affectionately, walking over and kissing Emma’s forehead and then the top of the baby’s head.

  “Get your lips away from my woman, perv,” a groggy voice called from the other side of the room.

  Brandon, checking to make sure he wouldn’t hit anything or anyone else in the process, chucked the huge bear at his brother, who’d just sat up and was rubbing his eyes. Emma rolled her eyes and we shook our heads.

  “Boys,” she said, “They never grow up.”

  I nodded and laughed when Luke glared at Brandon and then got up and punched him in the shoulder. I guess some things never change, even when you’re grown.

  Emma shifted in the bed, pulling the now sleeping baby away from her chest and pulling her gown back up over her shoulder. She swaddled the infant tighter and held her out to me, asking silently if I wanted to hold her.

  I grinned, excited to hold the little bundle. I took her gently and cradled her in my arms as I walked to the rocking chair in the corner. I rocked and cooed to her as she slept peacefully in my arms.

  “So how happy are Jan and Ben, Emma?” I asked as I stared down at the baby, watching her with the same awe I knew I did when I held Liam, too.

  Emma groaned a little, but then laughed. “They are driving me nuts already, saying they get dibs on first overnight stay and they’re planning it for six weeks from now. Daisy gave them the idea when Allie had Liam; said that if they keep the baby that night, it’ll be okay for Allie and Jacks to get busy and give them another grandchild. Mom and Daisy both are caught up in baby fever…” she cocked her head and eyed Brandon with a smirk. “Don’t think you’re home free, either, buddy. Chloe’s mom was right there with them and she’s got two of them to work on!”

  She cackled with glee and I could see Brandon’s throat work as he swallowed hard before looking at me, worry clouding his gaze. My heart sank but I shook my head slightly at him, telling him it wasn’t the time, just to let it go. No one but he and I knew what the result of the damage was. Not even my mom.

  Brandon walked over to me and took the baby from my arms. My stomach clenched at the sight of him holding the tiny little girl in his hands, but I pushed it away. I glanced sideways and noticed Luke looking at me.

  The shrewdness in his eyes was not lost on me; in that moment, I knew that he’d put two and two together. The corner of my mouth tipped up in a wry smile, which he returned, nodding his head slightly to let me know he understood. He’s a good guy like that.

  “So, Brandon told me he saw your vagina.”

  I clapped a hand over my mouth as my face flushed. I closed my eyes, mortified that that was what had come out of my mouth to break the silence around me. Open mouth-insert foot. Geez Louise.

  All three of them burst out laughing, Brandon’s guffaw so loud it startled the baby still sleeping in his arms. She let out a wail that sounded like a little wildcat and Brandon looked at her, shame at scaring her marring his features. Luke just laughed again and took his daughter from Brandon, cradling her close to his chest and kissing her perfect little bow-shaped lips and her rosy little cheeks.

  We stayed and visited with the happy little family a while longer before Brandon said he wanted to go check in at the shop with T.J. to see how things were going. T.J. had been a lifesaver the past week, taking over the shop and running it almost as if Luke and Brandon had been there the whole time.

  Both Brandon and Luke had commented on how impressed they were by their strong, silent new friend. In a short amount of time, they’d come to trust him implicitly, and he’d become one of us, part of the group. In the back of my mind, though, the thought still floats around that he’s got a story, that one, and I’d love to figure it out.

  We left the hospital and Brandon dropped me off at my brother’s house to spend some time with them while he checked in on the shop. I let myself in with the key they’d given me a while back, hurrying to the alarm pad to key in the code so the alarm wouldn’t go off. The house was strangely silent.

  I walked into the living room and bit my lip to keep from laughing at the sight. Grady was lying on the floor beside the bassinet where the baby was sleeping, his tail thumping softly on the rug, but he didn’t get up to greet me. My mom was curled up in the chair beside the bassinet, reading a book on her Kindle and shushing me quietly with a finger to her lips. Jackson and Allie were on opposite ends of the couch, each sprawled out and sleeping like the dead, mouths open, snoring…it wasn’t pretty.

  My mom sat her kindle down and motioned me into the kitchen with her, so we could talk quietly. We chatted for a while, mostly about the babies, until my phone chimed in my pocket. It was Brandon, letting me know he was getting ready to leave the shop to come get me. I texted him back to let him know that everyone was sleeping and agreed to meet him outside.

  Half an hour later, I was standing in my kitchen, trying to make sense of the chaos…

  Brandon was no help whatsoever. He was standing there laughing uncontrollably.

  My eyes shot daggers as I glared in his direction, my palm itching to smack the grin off his face. I don’t think I would have been so upset, but this was my coffee we were talking about, here…my COFFEE!

  Every single K-Cup I owned, that I pop into my Keurig every morning to make sure I have the necessary caffeine in my veins, was strewn across the kitchen floor. And every single one of them had puncture holes in the tops and sides. Little puncture holes that matched up perfectly to the pearly white canine teeth currently staring at me from the mouth of the blonde puppy sitting across the room, smirking at me. Of course, those pearly whites were suspiciously decorated with tiny black dots, which were identical to the coffee grounds peppering my floor from where they’d been shaken free.

  Doug was nowhere to be found, I’m assuming to make sure the blame was placed directly on the coffee murderer in front of me. Nothing else was disturbed, not the soap, not my shoes, not anything else.

  Just my coffee.

  Oy.

  Chapter 18

  I paused in my efforts to rid my flower beds of weeds, wiping my forehead with the hem of my tank as I looked around. Brandon was mowing the grass, shirtless, so of course I took a moment longer to stare at the smorgasboard of hotness before my eyes. God, he was so hot…and holy mother of toe-curling orgasms, the man had the stamina of a horse. The things he could do with those hands and that mouth…

  He caught my eye and shook his head, smiling at me knowingly, as he turned to make another swipe through the grass. He disappeared beside the garage and I shook my head at my thoughts, smiling as I started pulling weeds again.

  It’d been a month since the babies were born and since everything had settled back to normal. Or at least to the new normal, anyway.

  We’d gotten word from the police that they had a lead on Greg out in Texas. Not sure what he would be doing there, but good riddance. Mom had finally flown home, but she’d decided that she didn’t want to be there when her kids and new grandbaby are here, so she planned to sell the house in California and find something here in Phillus.

  She still gets a kick out of the welcome sign every time she sees that it’s been painted over again. Now the kids are
getting creative; instead of just changing it to Phallus, they’ve started using phrases, the latest being, ‘Phillus Up.’

  Brandon keeps swearing that he’s going to come up with something good to change it to and go do it himself. I just tell him that if he gets arrested and has to spend the night in jail, I’m not bailing his ass out.

  I shifted, leaning forward on my knees to reach a weed that was closer to the bush under the living room window. A glint caught my eye and I moved closer to see what it was. As soon as the object came into focus, I jerked back on a gasp, stumbled to my feet, and looked around fearfully, my heart pounding out of my chest.

  Brandon came back around the side of the house on the mower and, when he caught sight of me, he turned it off and was at my side in an instant. “Chloe, what’s wrong? You’re white as a ghost, baby, talk to me.”

  “He’s been here,” I whispered, my eyes still darting around, scanning the houses around us.

  Brandon grabbed me by the shoulders, shaking me gently until my eyes met his. “What do you mean, he’s been here?”

  I pointed to the bush. “Don’t touch it! We have to call the cops…he’s been here. He’s been watching and he left me something to let me know it. The ring he gave me when he proposed…it’s hanging on the branch there.”

  Brandon moved closer to see and swore when he saw the diamond winking in the sunlight. “C’mon,” he said brusquely, pulling me with him into the house. He strode directly to the counter where he’d left his phone and grabbed it, wasting no time in dealing with the police. No, he went straight to a detective and called Noah, Emma’s brother-in-law.

  “Noah…not good at the moment, man. Listen, I need you to come over here. That fucking bastard has been lurking around the house.” He listened for a minute, grunting and nodding in assent, I’m assuming, to whatever Noah was saying. “Yup. Later.”

  He shoved his phone in his pockets and turned to me. “He’s on his way out here. I’m gonna go put the mower away and clean up the weeds you tossed, but you sit tight.” He kissed my lips briefly and went outside, leaving me standing alone in the kitchen.

  I leaned against the counter and put a hand to my head, realizing belatedly that it was shaking. I took a deep breath and let it out, giving myself a pep talk. ‘Nothing is going to happen, Chloe. Brandon and everybody, they’re all here for you and YOU aren’t that girl anymore. So calm the fuck down.’

  I heard the door slam again and Brandon was back in front of me, pulling me into his arms so that my cheek was pressed to his bare, sweaty chest. I really wouldn’t have minded it, in fact, it felt pretty welcome to me, but he had bits of grass stuck all over him and those didn’t feel very nice sticking to my face.

  I pushed away a little to look up at him and he chuckled, brushing the grass off my face. “Sorry. I forgot.”

  I smiled faintly and shrugged it off. I opened my mouth to say something but didn’t get a chance as someone pounded on the door. Brandon went to the door, checking to make sure it was Noah before he opened it.

  He clapped Noah on the shoulder as he came inside. “Thanks for coming so quick, man. You must have run every light from the precinct to here.”

  Noah chuckled. “It wasn’t too bad. I don’t get to run full out much, so I got to blow my car out a little on the way.” He flashed a smile at me as he said it. “You alright, Chloe?”

  I nodded. “I’m good. Just a little shook up.”

  “Show me what you found, alright?”

  I took him outside, Brandon hovering at my back the whole time. He took pictures of the ring where it hung, the surrounding area, and then used tweezers to pull the ring from the branch and put it in a bag.

  “You and I both know that this is going to come back with his prints on it, especially since you can ID the ring as something you wore once. I’ll do what I can, standard procedure and all, but there’s not much we can do with this unless we knew where he was. We’ve already been looking for him and you’ve got the CPO against him, which he’s already broken.” Noah looked apologetic.

  “It’s okay, Noah. I know that and completely understand. I just wish that he’d be found so I don’t have to keep looking over my shoulder. I don’t know why I started feeling secure…I guess it was when they said they’d had reports of him in Texas.” I shrugged again, feeling helpless about the whole situation.

  “Is this the first time you’ve been out here in a while?” Noah asked me.

  “Since last weekend when we mowed and weed-eated. I didn’t get out here to pull weeds, though, so I couldn’t tell you when he put that there.” I paused, a thought crystalizing in my mind. “You know, that night that Emma went to the hospital when she was in labor with Everly, something happened that night. I mean, not really something, but definitely something. I took the dogs outside after Brandon called to tell me the baby was here. It was maybe, I don’t know, two or three a.m.? I could look on my phone and tell you exactly if I needed to. Anyway, Doug and the pups were here and Doug started acting weird, put his head down and growled at the fence, all the hair on his back up on end. The pups did it, too.”

  That got Brandon’s attention. “And you’re just mentioning this now?” he asked me incredulously.

  “I’m sorry, but it kind of slipped my mind with all the babies and everything.” I turned back to Noah. “I didn’t see anything. It was dark and the fence is six feet high, but…I don’t know. I had shivers go down my spine when the dogs growled because they acted like they knew something was wrong. It felt like something was wrong. I went in and locked everything down, set the alarm again, and checked the windows to see if I saw anything or anyone, but there was nothing.”

  Noah jerked his chin towards the backyard. “Show me where the dogs were going crazy.”

  I took him through the house and the screened in patio, showing him where I was standing and then where the dogs had been when they’d gone off. He checked around a bit and then asked to go around the back of the fence. Brandon took him back there, but he asked me to stay where the dogs were so he could line it up from the other side of the fence.

  I heard their muffled footsteps on the backside of the fence and then the silence was broken by Brandon.

  “Mother fucker!”

  I heard Noah’s voice but I couldn’t make out his words. Then I heard Brandon again.

  “Chloe, come out here, please.”

  I swallowed hard as a frisson of fear sent chills over my skin, even in the summer heat. I unlocked the gate at the side of the house and rounded the fence to the back. The house butted up to a creek about fifty feet back, and then there were a bunch of trees. The neighbors’ yards on either side of the house weren’t fenced in, so there was easy access to the back of my property behind the fence.

  “Yeah?” I asked them, trying to keep calm. My voice only shook a little, which I prided myself on.

  “He was out here, baby,” Brandon said. His words came out on a growl and I could see that he was trying to keep his anger in check.

  I looked at Noah for confirmation, not that I really needed it. “He was?”

  “He was, or someone was, at least. The grass back here is all trampled. You didn’t notice when you mowed the last couple of times?” he asked.

  Brandon answered. “No, she wouldn’t have because I mowed and I didn’t even pay attention. I generally mow first and then weed-eat, and that close to the fence I’m usually more worried about not running into it rather than anything else. Damnit!”

  “Hey, it’s okay, man. You didn’t know. But it looks like the grass is freshly crushed, like he’s been here recently. And that’s not all.” He knelt and pulled up a small square of paper that was half buried in the grass.

  He glanced at me with a worried look, waiting for me to nod at him before he continued. “I’m getting tired of waiting. Let the games begin. I spy with my little eye…something red.” He looked up at me, eyebrows raised in question. “Does that make any sense to you?”

  “No
…I don’t know what he means, unless…I don’t know. Maybe I was wearing a red shirt that night I was standing out here? Or since then, maybe?” I threw my hands up in frustration. “I just want this to be over! Why the hell did they let him out on probation anyway?”

  Brandon grabbed me and hugged me to his chest, murmuring soothingly to me. Noah reached out and patted my shoulder.

  “We’ll figure it out, Chloe. Somehow.” Noah sounded sure, but I could hear the worry behind it. “I’m gonna take this with me and write it all up. I’m also gonna have patrols stepped up around this area, especially around your house. If I can swing it, too, I’m gonna get tech out here to install some hidden cameras behind the fence to see if we can catch him back here, or at least to see where he’s coming from. Okay?”

  Brandon and I both nodded.

  We made our way around front and said our goodbyes, Noah promising to get back with us and let us know something as soon as he could.

  We weren’t sure what he could let us know about, other than whether or not they were going to do the cameras. He pulled away and left us standing in the driveway. Brandon grabbed my arm and pulled me into the house, locking the door and setting the alarm behind us.

  I slouched into the armchair and pulled my legs up, hugging my knees to my chest as I watched Brandon pace back and forth in front of me. He kept rubbing the back of his head with his hand over and over again which, if I didn’t already know that was his tell, would have let me know he was extremely agitated.

  He stopped suddenly, his gaze zeroing in on me and I could see the wheels turning in his mind. He confirmed it when he said, “What if we go away?”

  “What?” I asked him, confused.

  “You and I could just go away for a couple of weeks.”

  He said it decisively, nodding his head like it was a done deal. I shook my head ‘no’ at him. He quirked a brow at me and frowned.

  “What do you mean no?”

  “I mean no because I’m not running from him. I want him caught. He’s here, he’s going to come back around, obviously, because he’s trying to rattle me. He wants to catch me off guard so he can get me back, even though it’s never going to happen. But that means, if I’m here, he’s accessible. I’m not here, he’s not here. No one knows where he’d be. Get me?” I asked it gently.