by Ray, Marika
“Lucy? You okay?” Bain called to me from a million miles away.
“Hush. I’m consulting my body.” I still had my eyes shut and refused to open them until I had a definitive answer.
“Okaaaay. You let me know when you’re ready to continue our conversation. I’ll just be over here dying a slow death,” Bain answered dryly.
His humor flowed over me, mixing with what I was beginning to identify as excitement. Maybe even elation. Perhaps euphoria. In fact, I felt exactly like the moment after that goat brushed against me and I spoke the bald truth for the first time. Except better.
Holy shit.
I loved him back.
I burst out laughing and opened my eyes to see Bain looking all pale. A bead of sweat dripped down the side of his forehead.
“Mom’s going to kill me,” I said inanely. “And I just can’t seem to scrounge up a single fuck.”
He frowned, squeezing my hands again, which seemed to pull me out of my head and back into the conversation.
“I’m sorry. What I meant to say is that I just may love you back.” My voice trembled over the truth, shaking with the huge leap I’d just made.
“May?”
I quirked an eyebrow. “Did you really expect me to acquiesce so easily?”
Bain’s worried face morphed into a huge smile and he crushed me to him, the gearshift digging painfully into my leg.
“Say it again,” he ordered.
I scoffed even as I left a line of kisses along his neck. “Always ordering me around…”
He poked my ribs and I squeaked. His scent surrounded me and I melted into him.
“I love you, Bain,” I whispered in his ear.
“I love you too, Lucy,” he whispered back.
* * *
“Will you introduce me to your mom next time she’s in town?” Bain asked me, his hand fidgeting with the ends of my hair.
We were cuddling in his bed, enjoying a lazy Sunday morning to sleep in with absolutely nothing on the calendar we had to get to. My head lay on his chest, where I could hear his heart thundering away. He was like a heat rock, making me want to kick off the soft covers. Considering he hadn’t shown me a new position since the middle of the night when the moonlight cast a bright glow about the room, I couldn’t understand why he was so worked up.
Mentioning my mom got me all worked up. My stomach bottomed out even as my brain reminded me I should have seen this coming. Should have prepared myself for the violent intersection of us dating and the man-hating venom of my mom. I took too long to answer and Bain sat up, dislodging my head and pulling me up with him. He leaned against the wood headboard and gazed down at my face, his eyes no doubt taking in the reluctance.
“What is it?” Bain pulled his arm back as if touching me would suddenly be a problem. It was a small retreat that added guilt to my fear. A grown woman shouldn’t be ashamed to have a boyfriend and I hated that I’d made him feel not good enough to meet my family such as it was.
I ran a hand through my hair, the T-shirt of his I borrowed last night slipping off my shoulder.
“It’s not what you think. I want you to meet my mom and my sister eventually, but you have to realize how Mom is. She’s—how do I put this?”
“A blue alien who sucks out the brains of hot wardens?” Bain interrupted me, that cocky twinkle back in his eye.
I slapped his belly, and then rubbed the spot as if to apologize, but really I just wanted to feel up the six-pack. “No! She’s Northern California’s Man-Haters Chapter president.” I blew out a huge breath, like a boulder the size of the gold nugget next to the Welcome to Auburn Hills sign had lifted off my shoulders. “Boom! There, I said it.”
Bain froze. He didn’t even blink.
“Well? You gonna say something?” I quit fondling him to poke him in the stomach.
He spoke but still looked like a deer in headlights. “I’m trying to figure out if you’re being serious or just pulling my leg.”
“Oh, you’d know if I was pulling your leg, baby.” I winked with one eye and then the other, making sure he caught my innuendo.
“Lucy, this isn’t a time to talk about your insatiable appetite. Be serious.”
I spread my hands out. “I am being serious. She’s the prez. You’re screwed, face it.”
His face scrunched together and I found it comical. “Seriously? The president of a man-haters club? That’s some messed-up shit.” He ran both hands through his hair. “See? This is why I don’t date. I mean, I’m dating you, but damn, what bad luck is it that the first time I get serious with a girl I gotta face this shit?”
“First of all, I’m all woman, baby.” I waggled my eyebrows, pleased as punch with my flirting skills. I’d really come a long way in a few short months.
“Lucy!” he admonished me, climbing out of bed and propping his hands on his hips.
Before I could admire him in his still-too-small boxers, he spun around and grabbed the pants folded nicely on the one and only chair in his sparse bedroom.
“Ohh…” I clapped my hands, light as a feather and hornier than I had any right to considering the frequency with which I got in Bain’s pants. “You’re going to show me something with the cuffs?”
I’d been waiting for this day patiently, wondering when he’d break out his prison-issued handcuffs and show me some of the kinkier stuff I’d heard about, but of course, had never experienced.
“Jesus Christ…” he muttered as he shoved first one leg and then the other in his pants.
I frowned. “What are you doing?” I needed him less clothed, not more clothed.
“Making us breakfast and wrapping my brain around how to get in your mom’s good graces. I need fuel for that.” He pulled out the top drawer of his dresser and whipped a shirt over his head.
“Goodbye,” I whispered wistfully to his abs. For a while there, I’d had my hands on those precious bumps.
Bain looked back at me, one thick eyebrow raised. “You can come with me to the kitchen, you know.”
I pushed my lower lip out. “I wasn’t saying goodbye to you, Warden.”
He shook his head, coming back over to the side of the bed. “You’re really weird, Lucille Eureka.” He leaned over and kissed my forehead. “But I really like you.”
I scoffed, despite my insides melting at his kiss and sweet words. “I sure hope you do since you told me you loved me last night.”
He smiled against my forehead. “Liking and loving are two different things, and lucky for you, I feel both.” Then he was off to the kitchen, leaving me alone in his bed, warmed by his words just as much as his body when he held me all night long.
I loved to tease that man. Even more so, I loved when we both put down the gloves and let the sweet flow between us. My phone vibrated on the nightstand, bouncing with each silent ring. I ignored it, thinking it was probably Mom checking in on me again. I stretched instead, enjoying the way my muscles ached deliciously from all the work they’d been getting riding the warden. As long as I was alive and kicking, he’d never have to enter Wanktown again. I had him covered in that department.
My phone buzzed again, the sound insistent in the quiet room. I heard something bang in the kitchen and then Bain curse. I smiled, wondering if the eggs would be edible this time. Bain was many things, but a cook was not one of them. More than likely we’d be heading to Coffee soon to pick up bagels and coffee.
For the third time, my phone buzzed. Frowning, I reached over and picked it up. No one called first thing on a Saturday morning unless it was an emergency. Three texts waited for me. Opening up my Hell Raisers text string, I saw the first one from Amelia.
Amelia: Lucille…call me ASAP. A pretty woman checked into the hotel around midnight last night. She just left after talking all about her business with Bain Sutter. Girl, something’s not right.
Amelia: Lucille?? Call me!
Lenora: What do you mean “not right”?
I hustled out of bed, nearly tripping ov
er the covers half lying on the hardwood floor.
“Bain?” I called, heading to the kitchen as fast as my legs would carry me.
“Almost ready,” he called back.
I skidded to a stop and entered the kitchen, my heart beating hard and fast. His back was to me at the stove, stirring eggs in a pan, his broad back stretching his shirt. A sense of foreboding hit me like a gale force wind. Something wasn’t right, because of course it wasn’t. I’d been expecting Bain to break things off, but maybe it was someone else who’d drive the wedge between us. Didn’t know how I knew, but I’d felt it down deep in my gut since the beginning.
Our time is limited.
“Amelia texted me—”
The doorbell rang, cutting me off. My eyes widened and I thought I might puke right there on the spot. My imagination was in overdrive.
Bain tossed over his shoulder, “Would you get that?”
I spun on my bare foot, my stunned brain latching on to the brilliant idea of heading off danger at the pass. Tell whoever was here to go away before they popped my happy bubble. Hold off the inevitable for just another day. One more day to savor every second with Bain. Just give me one more day.
I swung the front door open, the only barrier between me and the end of everything I held dear an oversized T-shirt of Bain’s that still held his scent. In front of me stood a woman, a girl really, at least ten years younger than me. Her dress was tight and short, the smile sunnier than a summer day at the beach.
“Hi! I’m here to see Bain.”
Her voice was high-pitched, the tone confident, like she knew Bain intimately and knew she’d be welcome here. Tiny needles prickled up the skin on my back.
“And you are?” I pulled myself up as tall as possible, feeling the need to be the adult here. Maybe just telling her Bain didn’t live here would get her to go away.
“I’m Addi. Addi Townsend. A friend of Bain’s.” She nodded and looked behind me, as if she’d already dismissed me.
A rush of anger had me answering more firmly than I anticipated. “He doesn’t live here. Sorry, wrong house.”
I went to close the door, but not before I felt heat at my back.
“What’s going on?” Bain’s deep voice caused my eyes to close.
Shit.
“Bain!” Addi pushed past me and threw her arms around my boyfriend’s neck, pressing herself against the torso I’d fondled just minutes before.
I folded my arms, the closest I could get to hugging myself. I could use the reinforcements right about then.
“What the hell?” Bain pulled her arms off his neck and tried to push her away from him.
The girl was like a damn octopus, arms showing up out of nowhere and lacing around his body. I cleared my throat, riding the red-hot wave of anger, refusing to just disappear into the woodwork. Sure, I knew the end was coming, but now that it was here, I found I wasn’t going away without a fight. There was nothing this Addi Townsend-boyfriend-stealing-extraordinaire could say to drive me away from Bain.
“It’s Addi, remember?” The girl stood there, a lovesick grin on her face that turned my stomach.
Bain kept glancing from her to me like he didn’t know where to look. He snatched my arm and dragged me over to stand next to him. His arm snuck around my waist like a steel band. Nope, definitely not going anywhere.
“Vaguely. What can I help you with?” Bain had his warden voice on, the one that demanded answers and brooked no silliness.
Her smile faltered for a quick second, clearing almost immediately as she spread her arms out wide, jazz hands included.
“Surprise! I’m pregnant.”
24
Bain
My entire body buzzed with the excitement of knowing Lucy and I were on the same page. We were in love. We were dating publicly. I still had a job. Sure, things could have been better on that last front, but it didn’t even matter. Not when I had Lucy.
If I’d known being in love would satisfy like the first sip of the frostiest, biggest mug of beer after a hot day of inmates bitching at everything under the sun, I would have given over a lot sooner. I had a feeling being in love wouldn’t be as perfect, though, if I hadn’t found Lucy.
She got under my skin in the best way. She kept me on my toes, kept me guessing, kept me walking the straight and narrow line of adulthood, doing the right thing and having a shit ton of fun while doing it. I was used to women letting me order them around and I hadn’t even known I did that. It took Lucy and her smart mouth getting in my face to make me truly see myself. And when she was by my side, I liked what I saw in the mirror.
Which was why I was scrambling eggs again, determined to feed my woman and keep her happy. She could have any man she wanted and, secretly, I was afraid her blossoming confidence would show her that same truth. She could do so much better than a loser warden on the cliff of being unemployed, barking orders at her and letting her be robbed at gunpoint because I was too pigheaded to see that she was right in the first place.
I was also not a nice guy because I’d do anything to make sure she stayed with me even as I knew she’d be better off with a better man. If I wouldn’t let her find that better man, I’d become the better man myself. Starting with not burning her eggs for once.
“Can you grab that?” I asked Lucy over my shoulder.
If I took my eyes off the damn pan on the stove, the whole house might go up in flames. I wasn’t expecting anyone, but small towns were weird. I’d had more than a handful of neighbors stop by unannounced to drop off food to welcome me to the neighborhood. Given the current shaky egg situation, I wouldn’t turn down food delivery.
I flipped the burner off and plated the eggs, pleased to see not one flake of black stuff nor anything running off the sides of the plate. I felt like beating my chest and roaring out loud in the small kitchen. Lucy was going to be so happy to finally be able to eat without leaving the house.
Speaking of Lucy, where was she?
I wandered out of the kitchen and then hustled faster when I saw her back stiffen. That was a classic Lucy tell. Trust me, she’d done it often enough when sparring with me. Some girl shouted my name and my brain sort of just skidded to a halt.
“What the hell?”
Before I could blink, the girl was hugging me, her curves hitting me all wrong. I pulled her off me, my brain clicking into gear enough to warn me to back off. I loved Lucy. I had no intention of hugging this girl I didn’t seem to know.
“It’s Addi, remember?”
My brain scrambled again, rolling through a rolodex of people I knew, girls I went to school with, women I’d slept with. I came up empty. Not one bubbly twenty-year-old with long blonde hair, red lipstick, and an insane gleeful look in her eye. I mean, she looked familiar, but that’s about as far as I got down memory lane.
“Vaguely. What can I help you with?” Dumbly, I thought maybe this had to do with someone who’d come through my prison in the city. I grabbed Lucy and pulled her into me, feeling better the second her body aligned with mine.
“Surprise! I’m pregnant.”
I nodded. “Congratulations.” I rubbed the back of my neck with my free hand, trying to ward off the chill that remained there. “I’m sorry, who are you again?”
Her smile slid right off her face, and to my horror, her eyes filled with tears. “You don’t remember me?”
I shook my head, trying to clear the cobwebs. “No. Am I supposed to?”
The girl’s jaw dropped. “Baby,” she whined, “we slept together two months ago. Remember that night at the Hilton?”
Lucy sagged into my body and I focused on that, wondering what her issue was. I tightened my arm around her, wondering if maybe her blood sugar was low. I had to get this girl out of here so Lucy could eat her eggs.
“Well, good luck to you. Congrats on the baby.” I let go of Lucy long enough to usher the girl out onto the porch and shut the door in her face.
Lucy had a hand over her mouth, her eyes wide, st
aring at the back of the door.
“Lucy? You okay? Come on, let’s get you fed.”
I put a hand on her back, wanting to help her to the kitchen so she could eat before the eggs got cold. She pulled away from me, turning those wide eyes to me instead.
“Don’ pouf me,” she said behind her hand.
I reached up and gently pried her hand away from her mouth. “What’s that, love?”
She ripped her hand out of mine, stepping back again. “Don’t touch me! And don’t call me love!”
I froze, wondering what parallel universe I just stepped into. She backed away farther, nearly halfway into the living room now.
“How can you be so blasé about this?” she whispered, looking at me like she’d never seen me before.
I screwed up my face. “What are you talking about? I don’t know that girl. Probably a neighbor or something welcoming me to the ’hood. Congratulations and all that, but you looked like you needed to eat.”
Lucy dropped the hand that had been frozen in midair, smacking her thigh. “How can you say that? She’s not a neighbor, Bain! I’ve never seen her in my life and I know everyone in Auburn Hill. Maybe not their names. But I know faces!”
“Okay?” I didn’t know what to say, what she was getting at, or why she looked afraid of me all of a sudden.
“No, not okay. Not even remotely close to okay.” She jabbed her finger in the air and I flinched, like she actually made contact with my chest. “You got that girl pregnant!”
Her words hit me like that one time when I was a rookie and a prisoner got out of his cuffs, delivering a cheap blow to the side of my head when I least expected it. It jarred me, making my vision tunnel. All I heard over and over were the words “you got that girl pregnant” until I felt motion sick and ready to vomit on my bare feet.
I swayed, my shoulder hitting the wall and just barely keeping me standing. “That’s not possible. I don’t know her.”
Lucy’s eyebrows shot up her forehead. “She sure seemed to know you!”