For the Love of Beard

by Lani Lynn Vale

  “Hmm,” Tobias hummed. “Let’s try your dad’s, then. Then we’ll try your mom’s if they’re not there.”

  I wondered what the little girl’s situation was, but that was none of my business. I’d also be damned if I acted interested in Tobias’ life.

  There was nothing good to come of that.

  No way, no how.

  But did those thoughts keep me from spending time with them? No.

  He’d been at my house two days in a row, and both times I hadn’t hesitated to go with him.

  What was wrong with me?

  I walked out the door with them thirty minutes later—after Tobias adorably held baby Gianna like she was the most precious thing in the world—but we won’t talk about what that did to my ovaries.

  “So where to?” I asked once I buckled myself into the front of Tobias’ truck.

  He slammed the door shut and started the truck then turned and watched as Leida buckled herself into her booster seat. Once she was in, he put the truck into drive and then started down the street. Only to stop less than four houses later and pull into a driveway.

  “This is it?” I asked.

  He nodded. “Then why did you make us buckle up?”

  “Because Uncle Tobias is an officer with the Highway Patrol, and Daddy says he has a stick up his butt when it comes to traffic laws,” Leida ever so helpfully supplied.

  My lips twitched when ‘Uncle Tobias’ growled.

  “Is that so?” I asked. “Imagine that.”

  I hadn’t known he was a police officer. I’d, of course, suspected. My brother was a police officer for three years. There was just something about his demeanor and appearance that screamed ‘officer.’

  I’d only allowed myself to know that he was a member of the Dixie Wardens. I hadn’t actually spent the time while we were together gathering information about him.

  The more information I knew, the more I liked him. And that was a huge problem.

  After a cursory search through the house for the extra boxes, and a very good discussion on where would be best to sell said cookies, Tobias came out empty-handed.

  “They’re at my mom’s, I guess,” Leida said softly.

  Then she sighed, as if her entire world was now ruined.

  “It’ll be okay, baby doll,” Tobias put the truck into gear. “Promise.”

  I wanted to ask more questions. In fact, the words were right on the tip of my tongue, burning me with their intensity as I held them back.

  But I held strong and true, and didn’t say a thing for the entire five-and-a-half-minute drive—yes, I counted the minutes instead of talking—to the mom’s house.

  I blinked when I saw a woman standing in the yard, staring at us as we pulled up.

  “Stay in the car, darlin’,” Tobias ordered as he got out. Then he looked directly at me. “Don’t get out of this car, okay?”

  My brows rose.

  Then I nodded.

  He blew out a breath and then headed in the direction of the woman.

  “My mommy doesn’t like Uncle Toby.”

  That was a cute name.

  It was even cuter that Tobias could be an ‘Uncle Toby’ to this little girl, who looked like she was scared of her own freakin’ shadow.

  I gave the girl a smile, one that I hoped reassured her, and turned to face the window where I could see the two people that were standing out in the front yard.

  Tobias said something, and then the woman gestured at him with a flick of her cigarette.

  I bit my lip when the ashes flew onto Tobias’ clothes.

  He didn’t even bother to flick them off, only stared at her.

  She said something, and then flicked her cigarette again.

  This time, Tobias calmly lifted his hand, extracted the cigarette out of the woman’s hands, and dropped it to the ground where he promptly dug his booted toe into the ground, extinguishing it.

  I barely contained the urge to laugh.

  The woman’s expression was comical.

  Though she was pretty enough— thick, blonde hair that was braided into a tight tail down her back. Long legs topped with a pair of shorts that were so worn and old looking that I wasn’t sure if they were actually old, or just made to look that way.

  Her tank top said “CHEER” on it, and her eyes were a dull shade of green that would make her blend in if she didn’t have the most perfect body this side of the Alabama line.

  The woman even had a kid, and she had the body that I’d kill for.

  I looked down at myself.

  My thighs were large. I’d never be the type of woman that had a thigh gap.

  My hair was long and brown, but I had to work at it to make it look halfway decent. If I didn’t straighten it, it would be this wavy, scraggly mess.

  My eyes were a warm, rich green.

  Then there were my boobs.

  Those were just weird.

  One had always been bigger than the other. Always.

  And if it was that time of the month, it was almost perceptible by people other than me.

  I mean, if I noticed it, then other people could, too, right?

  None of the men I’d been friends with had though, and I intended to keep it that way.

  Though, for a man to notice, he’d have to get close enough, and I was damn good at keeping them at arm’s length. At least in the last seven years, that was.

  Or that had been the case until Tobias.

  I apparently did not have the willpower or strength to keep that man away.

  I didn’t want to get to know him. I didn’t want to like that he included me in things that I had no idea I wanted to be included in. I didn’t want to like it when he paid attention to me, and I really didn’t like it that I did like it so much.

  Because, if I were being honest, I’d say that I did like those things. A whole fucking lot.

  “Uh-oh,” I heard Leida say.

  I turned to her. “What?”

  “Mom’s upset,” she whispered so softly that I barely heard her.

  I turned back around and stared at the two.

  “How do you know?”

  “She’s turning red,” she replied, stating the obvious.

  I studied the woman.

  She was, indeed, turning red.

  The red started at her chest, the angry blush was slowly creeping up her chest and over her neck.

  But before it could detour into ‘oh shit’ territory, the woman pointed to the house.

  Tobias started in that direction and disappeared into the house without looking back.

  I watched in fascination as the woman pulled a phone out of her pocket, dialed and then placed it to her ear while she walked away. She moved straight down the driveway, not even bothering to glance into Tobias’ truck, because if she had, I was sure she wouldn’t have continued doing the stupid thing she was doing.

  But she didn’t look up as she made her way past the truck and then across the street to the neighbor’s house.

  “Huh,” I said softly. “Do you live with your mom, sweetheart?”

  She shook her head. “Not much anymore,” she admitted. “When my daddy’s on his hitch down South, I’m either at Grandma’s or in Texas with the rest of the Hails.”

  “Where in Texas?” I asked. “And what about school?”

  “Jefferson,” she answered. “And that’s where the rest of my family is. As for school, I’m homeschooled. My mom’s mom used to be a schoolteacher. She’s really smart.”

  My lips curved up into a smile.

  “That sounds like fun,” I said, movement catching my eye.

  I looked up just as Tobias came out with the first box of cookies.

  Pushing the door open, I slid out and moved around the open truck door. “How many more are there?”

  He grunted and then handed the box over to me. “Eight.”

  “In the back it is,” I said. “If you’ll dro
p them off at the porch steps, I’ll get them from there.”

  He grunted in reply and I moved back to the truck.

  Placing the box on the floor next to the back tire, I walked back to the house just in time for not only Tobias to arrive with another box, but for the police to arrive, sirens screeching.

  “Down on the ground!”

  I froze in the process of taking the box from Tobias and stared at her.

  “What the hell?”

  He sighed.

  “Put the box down and raise your hands,” he ordered. “She called the cops. The fucking bitch.”

  I did as he said and placed the box down at my feet before raising my hands and turning to face the police car that was parked sideways in the road. The officer that came out of the car had her gun out and pointed at the ground, staring at both of us with anger clearly etched all over her face.

  “I said get down!”

  “My name is Tobias Hail, and I’m with the Alabama Highway Patrol. My badge is on the dashboard of my truck.”

  The cop’s eyes widened slightly.

  “I had a call saying you were stealing. Care to explain that?” she asked, a little less angry this time as she moved toward the driver’s side door.

  She didn’t even bother opening the door.

  Hell, I could see it from all the way over here. It was a bright golden sheen in the dashboard of his truck, and it was nearly blinding me, even from twenty feet away, when I looked at it.

  The cop pulled her microphone away from her shoulder and spoke into it.

  But she kept her gun out while she did, eyeing us warily.

  Tobias waited until she was off the mic before explaining.

  “My niece’s Girl Scout cookies were delivered here by accident, and I’m here to pick them up so we can go sell them. This is her mother’s house; I was just speaking with Trisha. I got permission before entering her residence. She even told me where they were.”

  I snorted.

  “Well, it’s obvious she doesn’t want you taking them. Maybe you should just go.”

  “We’re selling them, though,” I rushed out. “She literally has three more days to sell them, and then she’ll have to return them.”

  The cop’s eyes went from Tobias to me, and then back to Tobias. She obviously thought I was the lesser threat here and decided to keep her eyes on the man who was clearly more of a danger.

  “We’re getting the boxes,” Tobias disagreed with her. “When we have them, then we’ll leave. Audrey, honey, go grab them, and we’ll go.”

  I took a step back, then another, and another until I was at the porch steps.

  “I think not!” a woman screeched.

  I took off, searching the house for the boxes.

  It took me three rooms before I found them in the kitchen, stacked up next to the garage.

  Using my Hulk strength, I grabbed two boxes, clearly knowing when a situation was about to deteriorate, and manhandled them to the front door.

  I placed them on the ground, right on the top steps, and dashed back for the next two.

  I did that two more times, and was exhausted by the time I arrived back at the porch steps.

  The boxes were gone.

  I saw, clearly, Tobias’ back as he loaded them into the back of the truck, all the while the cop and the screechy woman yelled at his back. Sometimes at him and sometimes at each other.

  “Oh, boy,” I said as I took the steps.

  The first box started to fall, but before it could, both boxes were easily taken from my hands and I saw a big, strong, muscular male back as he took the boxes, turned and headed back towards his truck.

  Instead of going to the passenger side, I went to the back driver’s side, and got in, clearly not wanting to get mixed up in the shit that was brewing on the other side.

  And that’s when I saw the little girl crying.

  Not knowing what else to do, I clapped my hands, bringing her eyes to me.

  “Now,” I said. “This is what we’re going to do.”

  ***

  Four hours later, I walked with Leida and her little red wagon, into the police station.

  “Now,” I said. “What you’re going to want to do is give them the sob act. You have forty more boxes to go. You can do this. I believe in you.”

  She’d done well. I felt like fucking Yoda with the way I was doling out advice on selling these cookies. I’d tell her something, and she’d follow the act perfectly.

  She looked up at me warily, and I heard that low amused chuckle directly behind me.

  I’d been hearing it for hours now, and it was still sending powerful shivers straight down my spine.

  I looked at the annoyance at my back and lifted my lip up at him in a silent snarl.

  He raised his hands in acquiescence.

  “Can you…will you…can you…”

  I snorted and touched the top of her head. She’d done this each time we’d gone some place new. The grocery store. The gym. The freakin’ medical plaza. I’d taken lead, shown her how it was done, and she’d followed suit with the next target.

  “Watch and learn, honey.”

  And then I walked away, much less confidently than I would’ve done all those years ago when I’d been selling Girl Scout cookies of my own.

  The fear was a constant throb at the back of my skull.

  Even though, logically, I knew that these men wouldn’t hurt me in any way, I couldn’t turn my brain off.

  I saw threats everywhere.

  These men were police officers, for God’s sake.

  Did that matter to my fear-filled brain? Hell no. It didn’t. Not even a little bit.

  Everywhere I looked I saw men.

  Men who were at least six-to-eight inches taller than me. Men with strong, bulging biceps. Men who had weapons that they could use against me in order to garner my cooperation. Men who saw way too much.

  Luckily, I saw the one person that I knew that I could trust and made a beeline for him.

  “Hello, Big Papa!” I called out, my heart still hammering.

  Big Papa’s bright green eyes turned to me, and he grinned. “Hey, girl. Give me one sec, would you?”

  I nodded and stopped directly next to his desk, pulling the red wagon up alongside me before taking a seat in the cushioned chair to the right of his desk.

  He looked at me, taking me in, while he continued to speak about some case he had that was pending. He grinned when I pulled up a box of cookies and shook it at him.

  He held his hand out for the box, made a ‘two more’ sign with his hand, and I grinned.

  Taking out two more of the same kind, I handed those to him as well and watched with laughter in my eyes as he leaned over and withdrew his wallet from his back pocket.

  He fished out a twenty-dollar bill, and then handed it to me.

  I took the money, pocketed it, and then fished out a five from the wad of money that was in my pocket.

  He took it, and threw it on the desk.

  With my transaction complete, I waved at him and made a gesture sign to where Tobias and Leida were standing at the front door watching me expectantly.

  Leida’s eyes were wide with awe, and she was bouncing from foot to foot.

  I circled the wagon around as I got up and then started back toward the two of them, not bothering to stop when someone called out for me to ‘hold up.’

  Once I reached Leida, I handed her the wagon. “Go get ‘em, Tiger!”

  She grinned nervously at me. “Where should I start?”

  I looked around the large room where multiple desks were perched. “Start with the man who tried to stop me as I passed him. From there, use those big puppy dog eyes and hit up the rest of the ones at their desks.”

  She grinned at me. “Okay, wish me luck.”

  Then she was off.

  “I feel like a proud mama bear watching her go off into the world,” I said a
bsently to the man standing beside me.

  He started to chuckle.

  “You’re good at this,” he said.

  I blushed at the feeling of encouragement that roared through me.

  He made me better. He didn’t know it, but just his presence at my back was enough for me to do things I normally wouldn’t have been able to do. Especially not with the room full of men.

  “You give me a lot of confidence,” I said. “It must be the strong, silent aggression wafting off of you at my back.”

  His eyebrows rose in question.

  “I don’t normally get out like I did today,” I said absently when Leida went up to the man who’d tried to flag me down. “I get nervous in large crowds, and if the majority of the crowd are male, I freak out a little bit.”

  Before he could reply to that, somebody caught his attention.

  I turned to find a large, mocha-skinned black man who was one of the sexiest beings I’d ever had the privilege of laying eyes on barreling down on us.

  Without thinking about it, I shifted to put myself in a better position to gawk while still allowing me to move if I needed to.

  The move didn’t go unnoticed, either.

  Not by the yummy man I’d never met before and not by the other beautiful man who was already at my side.

  In response to my move, Tobias moved until he was standing slightly in front of me.

  “Hey, Hail. You going on the cruise?”

  I turned to eye the man, who was keeping his distance from me.

  “It was offered to me.” I heard him say. “But I don’t have anyone to go with.”

  Nelson, according to the name stitched along his left breast pocket, glanced at me over Tobias’ shoulder.

  “Is that right?”

  Tobias grunted. “Audrey, this man is Nelson. Nelson, this is Audrey Morrison. Ghost’s sister.”

  Nelson paused and looked at me in a new light.

  “You’re Ghost’s sister?”

  I nodded questioningly. “Yeah, why?”

  He shook his head. “I don’t know. You’re so small and pretty compared to that big, ugly bastard.”

  Before I could get aggravated, Big Papa also entered the conversation. “Watch it. Audrey loves her big brother and won’t have a problem telling you like it is.”

  Nelson winked at me.