Chapter 18
Chapter Eighteen
MICAH
Walking into the station Monday morning, I felt better than I had in months.
Now that Dalton was sticking to Charlie’s back like a leech, I could rest easier knowing she was safe.
And after weeks of walking around in a near-constant state of arousal, all because of a certain redhead, that nagging ache in my gut—and groin—had been alleviated . . . at least temporarily.
I was counting down the minutes until I could slide back inside Hayden, but the pressure building inside me was no longer at risk of erupting at any moment.
I moved through the bullpen, not noticing that the noise all around me had dropped to a lull until I reached my desk.
Leo was already at his, leaned back in his chair with his feet kicked up, grinning like the cat that caught the canary.
I glanced over at the desk clump beside ours and noticed Hayes and Trick were watching me as well, both wearing expressions similar to my partner’s.
“What’s goin’ on?” I asked, my voice coated with suspicion.
“Nothin’,” Hayes replied, bringing his arms up to lace his fingers together behind his head, the picture of relaxation. “Just thinkin’ of all the shit I’m gonna buy with my half of your paycheck.”
My chin jerked back into my neck. “What the hell are you talkin’ about?”
“The bet, asshole,” Trick answered, looking way too pleased with himself. “We told you you’d find a woman one day and go ass over elbow for her. Your cocky ass was so sure that wouldn’t happen, you bet your paycheck.”
Goddamn it. I’d forgotten about that. “If I remember correctly, that bet was about getting married.” I collapsed into my chair and sucked back a big gulp of coffee that I’d gotten earlier at Muffin Top. “And that’s not on the table, so you guys can fuck off.”
“It may not be on the table yet,” Hayes said.
“Did you forget we were there Saturday? We all saw how you acted when you thought Cormack was encroaching. You just quit runnin’ in the middle of a play!
Cost us the game and everything. All so you could whip your dick out and piss a circle around your woman. ”
“Jesus, man,” Trick jumped in. “I thought for a second, if you’d had your gun on you, you’d have shot him.”
Chances were, if I’d had my gun, I might have at least stopped to consider it. Especially knowing what I knew. I shared a quick, private look with Leo where he silently communicated he’d have considered the same damn thing.
“And we were also there when you two came back more than half an hour later, lookin’ way too damn pleased with yourselves, and you couldn’t keep your hands off her the rest of the night,” Hayes added.
“Well, it’s not an issue anymore.” Not that it ever was. As far as I cared, Hayden had been mine since that night in Richmond. “Not like that asshole stood a chance.” And soon it would be moot, because Leo and I were going to make goddamn sure that prick never breathed free air again.
Leo glanced at something past my shoulder, and whatever it was had him fighting back a grin. “Looks like word about you and Hayden’s PDA fest the other night made its way through the whole town.” He stopped fighting it and grinned full on as he turned his focus back to me. “Someone’s pissed.”
I turned to peer over my shoulder and saw Cormack was standing with a couple other uniforms at the entrance to the bullpen. They might have been engaged in conversation, but his focus was on me, and he was not happy. I didn’t have it in me to give a single fuck.
“I gave him fair warning she was mine and he needed to back the hell off. Not my fault he didn’t listen.”
If it was the last thing I ever did, I’d make sure he never got anywhere near Hayden Young ever again.
Hayden
The trail of sweat starting at my scalp leading to the waistband of my fitted yoga pants probably looked about as sexy as I felt sliding down the pole. As soon as my butt hit the ground, I collapsed, my arms and legs spread wide as I desperately sucked in air.
McKenna’s sleek blonde hair hung around her face as she stood over me. “You alive down there?”
“Barely,” I wheezed. “I’ve got one foot in the grave right now, and it’s all your fault.”
“Well, if it makes you feel any better, you actually did pretty good today,” she said on a laugh.
I peeled myself off the cool tile and sat up, taking the water bottle she was holding out for me and chugging half of it down in a few gulps. “It doesn’t, but thanks anyway.”
She sat down on the floor beside me and took a drink from her own bottle.
Today was my first pole dance lesson with McKenna, and the woman was the devil in a pair of boy shorts and a sports bra.
Several times throughout the hour, I loudly questioned our friendship, but she didn’t seem to care, laughing it off each time.
“Does that mean you aren’t coming back for a second lesson?” she asked, looking far too pleased with herself.
I shot her a killing scowl. “Right now I’m more concerned that you may have broken my body, so I’m not really thinking that far in advance.”
She rolled her eyes at my dramatics. “Oh, you’ll be fine. Just go home and soak in a hot bath. Or, maybe you can ask a certain next door neighbor to massage away all your aches and pains.”
“You’ve been waiting all afternoon for me to set you up like that, haven’t you?”
She spun on the floor to face me full-on, tucking her criss-crossed legs in close to her body. “You know it. And now that it’s out there, it’s time to spill. What’s going on between you guys? I want to know everything.”
Honestly, I was surprised it had taken her this long to bring it up.
It had been two days since the cookout. Two days since Micah and I had angry sex against my bedroom wall.
Two days since he went all over-protective-dude on poor little Raleigh.
And two days since we rejoined the party and he spent the rest of the time touching me in some way, whether it was holding my hand, casually draping his arm around my waist, or grabbing my hips in order to pull me against him whenever he felt like it.
As it turned out, Micah didn’t shy away from public displays, and it surprised me—pleasantly—to discover he was such a tactile person.
But as the evening wore on, I began to notice an unusual amount of attention coming our way.
At first I attributed it to the fact that we’d entered my house only a few steps away from being enemies, then came out a while later as a couple.
I assumed it wouldn’t take long for the interest to wear off and everyone to adjust, but the more he touched me, the more fascinating we seemed to become.
“What’s the deal with everyone being so interested in what’s going on with Micah and me? Is it a small town thing or something? I don’t get it.”
“More like it’s a Micah Langford thing.”
My head canted to the side in confusion. “What does that mean?”
“Oh, it’s nothing bad,” she said quickly. “In fact, it’s actually pretty great. We’re just not used to seeing Micah being so touchy-feely is all.”
“So, he’s kind of private?”
“Not really. I mean, when he’s interested in a woman he has no problem showing it, but that hardly ever lasts longer than a night. Micah’s not really known around here for being the relationship type. He’s had too much fun being single, if you know what I mean.”
I could tell by her tone that she was only teasing, but there was no stopping that sinking sensation in the pit of my stomach. It was like swallowing a brick. “So, what you’re saying is he’s a player.”
Her eyes lit with understanding as she looked at me.
Giving a slow shake of her head, she replied, “No. I wouldn’t say a player.
He just liked the bachelor lifestyle. But, Hayden, no one has ever seen him with a woman how he was with you Saturday.
Not in all the years he’s lived here. Micah Langford doesn’t hold hands.
I watched him with you. It was like he couldn’t touch you enough.
Any time you started to drift out of his reach, he was quick to pull you back. ”
“That doesn’t necessarily mean anything. It could’ve been the after-effect of really amazing sex,” I insisted.
She made a face that screamed girl please. “An after-effect that lasted six hours?”
“It was really amazing sex.”
“Then maybe that’s part of what makes you the exception for him, instead of the rule.”
“What if I’m not ready to be anyone’s exception?
” I asked on a whisper. Most women in my shoes would’ve been giddy with excitement at having landed a man like Micah.
But after everything that happened with Alex, I had a built-in defense mechanism that wouldn’t let me spiral too far into hope like that. I had to remain realistic.
“Mac, my marriage only just ended. A few months ago, I was with the man I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life with. I spent years thinking Alex was the love of my life. I’m barely over the shockwaves of my whole life crashing down around my feet, then bam!
I meet this guy, like a minute after my world implodes, and the connection to him is so intense it scares the living hell out of me.
What will people think if I jump headfirst into something else that fast? ”
“Who gives a shit what anyone else thinks?” she exclaimed passionately.
“Babe, I hate to break it to you, but your friends back in the city were a bunch of stuck-up assholes, and from what you’ve told me, your snobby-ass family isn’t much better.
The people who truly care about you just want you to be happy, however that comes about.
Let those dickheads from your previous life stand in their glass houses throwing stones.
You be happy and leave them to their miserable existences.
Karma comes around for people like that in her own time. Trust me.”
The knot of tension that had begun to form in my shoulders slowly started to loosen. But I wasn’t quite ready to throw in the towel just yet. “It’s not only me I have to take into consideration, Mac. I’ve got a little girl who has to live with the consequences of every decision I make.”
Her head jerked back and her brows furrowed incredulously.
“You act as if you’ve made one bad decision after another.
You haven’t done anything wrong, Hay. Your marriage ended because of him, not you.
Stop shouldering the blame for that. You’re a fantastic mother.
And as far as I can see, you can do no wrong in that little girl’s eyes.
She sees your strength and resilience, and she’s wild and crazy and jumps head first into every single day because she knows without a shadow of a doubt, that her mom’ll be right there to catch her if needed. ”
Leaning forward, she placed her hand on top of mine and gave it a squeeze.
“I know you got knocked down in a really big way, but that doesn’t mean you have to stay down.
And if you’re waiting for the ‘right time’ to put yourself out there, I’m telling you now, there’s no such thing.
So if Micah makes you feel good, I say go for it. ”
Flipping my hand over, I wrapped my fingers around hers and held tight. “You’re really smart. You know that?”
She shrugged, the apples of her cheeks growing pink at my compliment. “I’ve been where you are. I’d been knocked down so much I did like you and pushed a good man away when all he was trying to do was help me get back up again.”
My heart clenched at the thought of this magnificent woman hurting in any way. “So what did you do?”
“Well, it took me a while, but I finally pulled my head out of my ass and saw what was standing right in front of me.” She smiled so big and bright it lit up her entire face. “Then I dragged him down the aisle and made that shit official so he could never get away.”
At that, I threw my head back on a deep laugh.
I’d seen her with Bruce on multiple occasions now, and every single time, he looked at his wife like she was the very thing that gave him a reason to get out of bed each day and keep breathing.
She didn’t need to drag him anywhere. He probably charged down that aisle himself, body-checking anything that stood in his way.
“You know, I didn’t know what it meant to have real girlfriends until I met you guys,” I informed her once my laughter had tapered off. “I’m so glad I met you, Mac.”
She fell into me, wrapping her arms and my shoulders and giving me a big hug. “Feeling’s mutual, babe.”
“But I’m still not sure I’m willing to attempt a second pole lesson.”