Classy AF: Cheap Thrills Series Book 3

by Moore. , Mary B.

  “Absolutely, but there’s one more thing I need to show you before you go. When I show you this, I want you to stay calm, no bullshit. Do I make myself clear?”

  I swear to God I felt my balls drop all the way down the leg of my pants into my boot. “What is it?”

  Holding out the small plastic evidence bag, he reiterated, “Stay calm and no bullshit.”

  Inside it was a small piece of paper with what looked like a child’s writing on it.

  Tell the bitches I’ll be back.

  Confused why this would be an issue for me, I snorted, “What, did we get a visitor from the Terminator?”

  Not even cracking a smile which was rare for DB these days, he shook his head slowly. “No, this was what Chad’s prison pal passed to the guard.”

  And then it all clicked… and I lost my fucking shit.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Rose

  I was reeling, that’s the only way to explain it. I’d been called into Philippa’s office after Garrett and I came back from lunch, and she’d told me that DB had called to request that I be put on day shift until further notice – and she’d agreed. Marta never agreed to anything unless it was her pay rise, but apparently because it revolved around an incident that included me being punched in the face at work, she was doing it. I suspected it also had something to do with the fact that it was DB who’d asked, seeing as how she’d had a huge crush on him and found a reason to be on the floor whenever he was around, though.

  Was I scared that the man who’d hit me in the face was now out of jail? Well, it didn’t fill me with the warm and fuzzies, that’s for sure, but I was more worried for Tana.

  “You good?” Garrett asked, falling into step beside me out of nowhere. “What did she say?”

  “I’m on day shift until further notice,” I muttered, pulling my phone out of my pocket. I never carried my phone with me when I was at work, but things were definitely changing in that respect. “And before you think she has a human bone in her body, it’s more than likely only because DB asked her to do it, not because she gives a shit about my wellbeing.”

  Pulling up my messages, I sent an update to Raoul to let him know, adding what I’d just said to his brother about my boss.

  Shoving his hands in his pockets, he shyly looked away from where a group of nurses were smiling at him. “That’s still good, isn’t it? At least you’ll always have someone around,” he shrugged, groaning when one of the younger nurses called Missy started walking toward us. “Hide me, hide me, hide me.”

  This was something I’d found out about Captain Evans earlier today, he was shy. The guy hated the attention he was getting from the women in the building, and if I was honest, I don’t think he knew how to handle it. Missy was the youngest out of us all, having just left college. Unlucky for him, she was also the most ballsy out of everyone, and was well known for not being picky when it came to men.

  “Come on,” I whispered out of the corner of my mouth. “She can’t be that bad.”

  Grabbing my arm, he tugged me into the staff room. “She’s worse than bad,” he hissed. “She’s like an octopus.”

  “Did you know that the box jellyfish has sixty anuses?” A voice asked behind him. “So if you get stung by one, you’ll end up with a scar with one of them on it for the rest of their life.”

  Slowly turning around, Garrett took in the woman who was sitting eating celery like it was her worst enemy. “Are you for real?”

  Tearing off another mouthful with her teeth and making a face as she chewed it, the woman shrugged. “Eh, I saw it on a meme, so I’m not sure if it’s true or not.”

  “I was stung by a box jellyfish four years ago when I was on vacation in Indonesia,” he told her, leaning down to pull up the leg of his jeans. “It burns and goes red when I eat shellfish and seafood.”

  Leaning around the chairs, she looked at the scar, still chewing. Swallowing awkwardly and throwing it on the table, she got up and squatted down next to him, examining it more closely. “Huh, and I thought people who got butt holes tattooed on them were weird,” she drawled, reaching out a finger to touch the scar. “Do you think that’s an ass there? It looks different to the other ones.”

  The conversation was so strange and both of them were so engrossed in his leg, that I backed up against the door. “Do y’all want me to leave you alone, or…?”

  Almost as if he’d forgotten I existed, Garrett stood up straight, looking over his shoulder at me. “You don’t leave my sight, hear me?”

  Saluting him, I smiled at the woman who was standing up from her crouch. “Hey, I’m Rose Beauregard. I don’t think I know you?”

  Grinning widely, she held her hand out to me. “Digging the last name. I’m Zuri Valentine and I just started yesterday.”

  I released her hand and gave Garrett a nudge forward. “This is Garrett Evans. Garrett say hello to the lovely Zuri.”

  “Hello,” he mumbled, taking in the new woman like she was a complete unknown to him. “Thanks for pointing out the ass on my leg.”

  Bursting out laughing, she walked back to the celery and threw it in the trash. “I love random facts, so if you ever want to win a quiz, shout me.”

  And just like that, I had a feeling that having Garrett with me at work wasn’t going to suck as badly as I thought it would.

  * * *

  Four hours later…

  I’d changed my mind – having Garrett around was a total pain in the ass. I’d been elbowed in the tit by Missy, pushed out of the way by a woman - who wasn’t trying to get to her injured husband, but instead wanted to get closer to the Evans beast - narrowly missed being hit by a cart being pushed by a male nurse who couldn’t take his eyes off him, and almost had pee tipped on me by another one who thought he was a patient and wanted him first. That didn’t bother me as much as what was happening right now, though.

  “You can’t follow me into the bathroom,” I hissed, trying to shut the door on his foot. “There are boundaries, boyo, and this is crossing that line.”

  “It’s really very simple,” he replied sounding bored, and leaning against the door so I couldn’t shut it. “I’m here to make sure you’re safe, so I don’t see what the issue with me coming in and waiting for you is? You’d let my brother do it.”

  Giving up on trying to close it, I huffed, “That’s because I have a different relationship with him. Now will you let me pee in peace?” I begged, desperate to do just that.

  I’d waited an hour over when I first got the ‘pee scream’ in my bladder, and now I was really treading a fine line on exactly how strong it could be. And on that thought, I spun on my heel and sprinted for the cubicle in front of me. Hearing the door opening and closing, I growled, “You’ve gone too far, Evans. When I’m finished, I’m kicking your ass.”

  Not hearing anything back, I nibbled on my bottom lip. No one wants to be the person who’s threatening an empty room, right? And if he wasn’t replying, there was a possibility that he hadn’t come into the room. There was also the possibility that someone else had come in and I’d just threatened one of my colleagues, and if that was the case I’d be even more embarrassed.

  So, I did what any person would do - I started humming a song, making what I’d just said into the chorus. It was dumb, and as soon as I did it I realized exactly how dumb it was, but once you start something like that you’re committed… so I sang.

  When I was finally done peeing, I cleaned up, flushed the toilet and said loudly, “Man, I love that song.”

  Like. A. Total. Dork.

  Opening the door, I almost screamed when I did indeed come face-to-face with an Evans man, just not the one I’d expected. No, this one had a white shirt and jeans on, with his badge clipped to his waistband as he leaned against the sinks with a big shit-eating grin on his face.

  “What is it with you guys and boundaries?” I screeched, going to cover my face with my hands, and thinking better of it when I remembered I needed to wash them. “Can’t
a bitch pee in peace?”

  Moving to the side so I could use the sink he’d been blocking, he started laughing hard. “Can you sing the song again for me? Please?”

  Scrubbing my hands with more force than was necessary, I did everything I could to not look up at him. “Piss off!”

  Turning off the water, I turned to walk to the dryer, and ended up walking into a wall of laughing Raoul instead. “Baby,” he wheezed, “you made up a song about my brother and kicking his ass.”

  Placing my wet hands on his white shirt, hoping it would leave wet patches, I countered, “How do you know it was about him and not you?”

  With a huge grin on his face, he leaned down until our lips were just touching, and said against my mouth, “Because I made you come last night, with my mouth, my hands, and my cock.” Each time he named part of his body, he’d punctuate it with a kiss, until the last one when he flicked my top lip with his tongue. “You like me as much as I like you, which is a whole hell of a lot.”

  I didn’t care that I was in the bathrooms. I didn’t care that I was at work. Hell, I didn’t even care that there was a behemoth who’d punched me in the face on the run. I wanted him here and now.

  Just as I went to pull his head back down to kiss him, Garrett opened the door to the bathrooms, sticking his head around it to where I was standing. “Uh, just so you know, everyone out here can hear y’all,” he announced. “There’s also four women needing to use it and one that won’t stop touching me. Are you done?”

  Turning away from his brother, Raoul kissed the tip of my nose. “We’ll finish this later.”

  And just like that, my pissy mood (no pun intended) turned upside down. That was until Garrett shared some news to kill the goodness I was feeling. “By the way, your brother’s looking for you. He asked you to call him and also warned that your parents were in your house.”

  “Shit,” I muttered, staring at the buttons on Raoul’s shirt.

  “You can say that again,” he agreed. “I left my shorts on the floor of your bedroom.”

  Oh, shit it to hell!

  Chapter Fourteen

  Raoul

  I’d done a circuit of our area, checking to make sure I didn’t see Chad anywhere, before I turned back and headed home. Garrett was with Rose at her house and from the text messages I’d received, Hogan and Rissa were pissed about what was going on – not that I could blame them, I was, too. He’d also imparted that they’d found the shorts I’d left on her floor, and that Hogan wasn’t pleased. In my defense, I’d fully intended on going back to pick them up before we left, but I’d forgotten after DB had text to ask me to meet him in forty-five minutes. Plus, it’s not like I could put them back on, they were dirty ass underwear. If I’d known her parents were just going to show up, though, I would have shoved them in my pocket the second I put my pants on, but I didn’t have that superpower.

  Pulling into my drive, I cut the engine and leaned my head back against the headrest in frustration. I hated that I didn’t know where the guy was. I hated that he obviously had a vendetta against Rose and Tana. I hated right now that we lived in a small town so it wouldn’t be hard for him to find her. I hated that I couldn’t eliminate the risk before she’d found out. And I hated that I’d had to call Tana at her new place and warn her, no doubt taking away the first feelings of peace and security that she’d felt in a long time.

  Getting out the car and slamming the door with more force than necessary, I walked up to my door to let Ranger out. Garrett would definitely have done it when he and Rose got home, but he liked time with me and we hadn’t been for our run this morning, so I was going to make up for it. Sure enough, the second I opened the front door he shot out, jumping up like he hadn’t seen me in years.

  Crouching down to rub his ears, I waited for the deep groan of happiness he always gave, smiling when he tried to lick my face. Keeping my left hand on his ear, I used the right on to scratch his back, deliberately aiming for the area that made his leg start kicking.

  When he’d been a puppy, he’d kept me up all night for three days straight crying. It took a lot of time and a lot of focus, but eventually we’d bonded over tummy rubs and kicky spot tickles and he never cried again. Dogs never failed to amaze me, with the love and loyalty they gave to their owners, and the bond that formed between them. We’d never had one growing up, so the second I felt like my life was stable enough to have one, I’d gone and gotten Ranger and I loved the dog to death.

  With one final rub, I stood up and wiped my hands off on my jeans. “Right, bud, go pee.”

  The boy shot off like he had a rocket up his ass, rubbing his face on the fake grass, before moving over to one of the plants that Rose had planted and lifting a leg. “I don’t think so,” I called. “You take that shit onto the grass so I can hose it off,” I ordered, and then realized what I’d done.

  The guy who hated plants, and who’d gone out of his way to prank his beautiful neighbor with the ones she had, had just stopped his dog from taking a leak on the ones she’d pranked him back with. Well, shit!

  Making the most of his time out of the house, Ranger continued running back and forth after he’d relieved himself, giving me time to think out how to explain shit to Hogan and Rissa. I was approaching it like I would with my parents if it was Catalina who was in this predicament, so the key was to reassure them that we were doing everything we could and that we’d catch the guy.

  What bothered me about this plan was that words were words, what we needed were actual actions and proof and the asshole behind bars. There was one consolation in all of this – with Chad not complying with the conditions of his bail, a warrant had been issued for his arrest. Breach of bail on top of his other charges meant a longer custodial sentence. That was good, but we had to find him to charge him with it.

  Before I’d left today, DB had updated me with what was going on. His dad Alex was moving through this weekend instead of ‘at some point’, and the other two guys, Carter and Alejandro, would be joining us in the next three weeks. After another discussion with the mayor, it had also been agreed that Garrett would join us, too, once he was deemed healed from his injuries.

  Because of his background in the Army, the mayor had decided that it wasn’t necessary for him to go through the training and shit that someone with no experience went through, so after some ‘in house training’ he’d be one of us. In house training meant procedures, policies, making sure he knew the legalities – it was a pain in the ass, but I’d even done it when I’d moved to Piersville. You needed to know your shit!

  Plus, every area had different laws, with the perfect example being pot. Here, cannabis was illegal for recreational use, and if you were caught carrying up to two ounces of it, it was a class B misdemeanor. You could use it medicinally, but it was low-THC cannabis oil, and you needed to know the allowable percentage, too, because people tried to sneak it past you. Garrett had a lot of studying ahead of him, but he’d dealt with similar shit in the military – although, maybe not cannabis laws – so I wasn’t worried about him being able to do it.

  Just then, a voice called out my name, snapping me out of my thoughts. “Raoul, are you staying out here all night?”

  It hadn’t been that long since I’d seen her but it felt like it, and I suddenly hated the narrow road that separated our houses. It had been useful before when it was all about the pranks, but now it felt like it stretched a mile instead of roughly fifteen feet as I walked across it to get to her. The whole time I was scanning over her to make sure she still looked the way she had when I’d seen her at the hospital, stopping on the area where only I knew the piercings were.

  Closing the distance between us, I felt the worry release the nearer I got to her until I was standing right in front of her. “Hey, baby,” I murmured, leaning down to kiss her quickly. With Hogan inside, I couldn’t kiss her the way I wanted to – at least, not if I wanted to survive – so I kept it brief. “You look beautiful.”

  Snorting, sh
e looked down at her scrub top and tugged the bottom of it. “I’m wearing the same thing I was wearing earlier because I haven’t had time to change. And these things are hardly attractive.”

  She was wrong, seriously fucking wrong. She looked hot as hell in her scrubs, but she could be wearing a Moo-Moo, and I’d still think she was beautiful. “You’re always beautiful, sweetheart,” I whispered as quietly as I could so her dad wouldn’t hear. Lifting my head, I checked behind her, and when I didn’t see anyone there, I tugged the bottom of her scrub top and added, “And these are seriously fucking hot.”

  “Is he coming in, or what?” Hogan yelled from the living room, effectively killing the moment.

  Turning her head toward the living room, she yelled back, “In a second, Dad.”

  “Hurry up, your mom says we’re not ordering ‘til he’s here. I don’t know why…” he trailed off, muttering something else.

  Looking back at me and rolling her eyes, she stood back to let me past. “By the way, you’ve got an animal between your legs.”

  At the same time that Hogan roared, “What?” I looked down and saw that Ranger had taken up his normal spot, forehead on my ass with his nose between my legs. I knew it was an innocent comment, she knew it was innocent, but admittedly it didn’t sound good if you were a parent and it was your daughter saying it.

  Deciding that showing Hogan was better than just telling him, I leaned back and grabbed his collar. “Is he allowed in?”

  Not even looking at me, she patted her thighs. “Want a treat, Ranger?”

  It wasn’t until I heard the low growl and hiss coming from the kitchen that I remembered the size of her cat. Fucking awesome!

  * * *

  Seventeen minutes later…

  Standing with a Great Dane’s nose between your legs while you were talking to the father of your woman wasn’t awkward at all. Not a bit.