Chapter 33 Hayden
HAYDEN
Sawyer groaned, as my thumbs dug even deeper into his shoulders. I guided them away from his spine, moving smoothly along the transverse fibers of his trapezius, until his chin dipped all the way to his chest.
“We’re getting married,” he hissed, his voice near liquid with pleasure. “You know that, right?”
I could feel the tension draining away. In its place, euphoria rushed in.
“So, you’re gonna make an honest woman of me?” I teased.
“Sure.”
“Care for me? Provide for me?” I pressed. “Build me a home, and put babies in me?”
“As many babies as you want,” he moaned happily, as my thumbs moved to his neck. “As long as you keep doing this.”
I smiled and dug in even deeper. Sawyer had a thick, well-muscled neck with lots of kinks and knots to work out. Even so, it was no match for my strong hands, and well-trained fingers.
“Wait… who’s putting babies in you?”
Carter walked through the living room fresh from the shower, still drying his hair with a towel. He was heading for the laundry, I knew. But I wondered if that part was just an excuse to walk past me without a shirt on.
“Nobody, hopefully,” I chuckled. “At least as long as my birth control holds up. It’s been working overtime around here. I might even give it a raise.”
My thumb encountered another knot. Sawyer’s moans grew deeper as I worked to smooth it out.
“I just got a marriage proposal though,” I continued casually.
Carter paused. “You did?”
“Yup. Soon as this massage is done, Sawyer and I are getting hitched.”
He let out a low chuckle. “That’s wonderful. Congratulations.”
“Thanks,” I blushed. “We’ve very excited. He promised me a big house, out in the country. Huge garden. Barn. Plenty of chickens…”
“Chickens?” Sawyer murmured dreamily. “We’re getting chickens?”
“Oh yeah,” I went on. “Ameraucanas, Australorps, Rhode Island Reds…” I sighed, lost in my pretend dream. “I want a whole coop of fuzzy, fluffy Silkies. And goats, too. Little ones though — maybe even the fainting kind. You ever see those?”
Sawyer was too deep in his happy place to answer.
Carter was already in the laundry room, and Bodie was still presumably in his office, working on his computer.
For the next minute or so I enjoyed the silence, going over the success of the adoption event in my mind.
My brain tended to tune out the chaos. It focused instead; on the highlights and happy moments.
“You know, your boss Monica thanked me a whole bunch of times,” said Carter, reentering the room with a clean white T-shirt draped over his shoulder.
“She did?”
“Yup,” he nodded. “She seemed happy. I think today was a big hit.”
He poked his head and arms through the garment, then pulled the fabric down over his sculpted body. I watched closely, lamenting the loss of his abs.
“Today was great,” I confirmed, distractedly. “It was one of the best events we’ve ever had.”
“Might be a good time to ask for a raise, then.”
I laughed. “You so know what the word ‘volunteer’ means, right?”
“Are you kidding?” he smirked. “I watched you today. That place would be screwed without you. You pretty much ran the whole show.”
“You guys did pretty alright yourselves,” I shot back. “You set things up, you broke them down, you helped get all the animals in and out of the van…”
“Maybe we should ask for a raise,” Sawyer mumbled.
“Because of you, a whole bunch of dogs and cats are sleeping in brand new homes tonight,” I beamed. “Feels good, doesn’t it?”
“Yeah,” admitted Carter, after a pause. “I guess it does.”
“Hell, Grizz even adopted Gizmo.”
At that, Sawyer’s head nearly spun all the way around. I laughed so hard I nearly fell over, that’s how long I’d been waiting to drop the news.
“Grizz adopted a cat?” Sawyer balked. “Does that man even have a house?”
“Yeah, seriously,” Carter agreed. “I thought he just climbed out of a storm drain every morning.”
“Well, he gave us an address,” I shrugged.
“Might want to check that address,” Carter chuckled. “It’s not like—”
A loud noise from outside stopped him, mid-sentence. It was followed by the sound of a large diesel truck chugging off into the distance.
“What the hell was that?”
Almost immediately, Bodie came bounding in. He drew back the curtain to the front window, and peered outside.
“Your truck is back,” he said, turning to look at Carter.
Carter couldn’t possibly look more confused. He didn’t know what to say.
“That’s good,” Sawyer said hesitantly. “Isn’t it?”
Bodie shook his head slowly. “No. It’s not.”
We rushed outside; to the curb. In the silence of the empty street, all three of them stood with their hands on their hips.
“Well… shit.”
Carter’s truck was definitely back — or at least, a good-sized chunk of it. The doors and windows were gone, as were the tires, the hood, and everything that used to be under it. The entire vehicle was nothing more than a skeletal chassis, dropped unceremoniously in front of the house.
Tacked to the steering wheel, with an icepick no less, was a single sheet of paper. Scrawled across it, was a single, chilling message:
You didn’t really think this was over, did you?”