Chapter 33
“ H e’s got a lot of anger and doubt now, but he’ll figure things out,” I told Lainey that evening and captured a curl that fell as she put her long, wild hair up in a high ponytail.
“And you think he’ll continue working for you?” she asked, clearly concerned for the youngest and newest member of my team.
I nodded as I thought back to the meeting that morning.
Evans had been with me yesterday when Wells had shown at the office, so he’d thought it was some twisted joke when I’d mentioned his dad this morning...until I’d shown him the security footage from my building.
“Do you talk to your parents about Shadow?” I’d asked him, trying to keep my tone even. “Do you tell them about any of us—our lives? Like that I have custody of Kaia.”
“What are you saying?” he’d snapped back, his disbelief quickly morphing to betrayal and anger.
“I think you unknowingly gave your dad information that he was feeding to the ? —”
Evans had swung at me before I could finish.
“Unknowingly,” I’d repeated through clenched teeth as I’d forced him back into his chair.
“No one’s looking at you or blaming you, Evans,” Rush had hurried to add, trying to placate Evans.
“He’s your dad,” I’d gone on, trying to sound understanding even though I was the least understanding person when it came to parents. “I wouldn’t blame you for just talking to him about what’s going on in your life—like your job. I wouldn’t blame you for answering questions he might ask about it. But that doesn’t change this .” I’d pushed the tablet in front of him again. “That doesn’t change what the Wreckers somehow know. He’s using you.”
Evans had furiously shaken his head as if forcing away even the thought. “That’s my—that’s my dad ,” he’d ground out. “He’s a—” He’d leveled a dark look at me as he’d shoved out of his chair. “He wouldn’t be involved with this.”
“He’ll be back,” I told Lainey. “When he finds out for himself that it’s true, he’ll realize he was never mad at me.” I roughed a hand through my beard as I took in the handful of people walking through Huntley Square, where we sat, enjoying time alone since Ada was watching Kaia. “I’m worried about how he’ll be once the weight of it settles.”
“What do you mean?” Lainey asked as she slipped a hand into mine.
“With the way he grew up, the views and moral code he’s always lived by because of his family...this is gonna destroy all that.” I met her attentive stare and said, “After this, he won’t be the same guy you met this morning.”
She made a face that showed her worry for Evans. “At least he’ll still have all of you.” She squeezed my hand. “What if he’d become a cop and found out then? He would’ve had no one to turn to because he wouldn’t have known who he could trust.”
My head dipped in acknowledgment, but I needed to get my mind off Evans and the hurt he’d directed my way as he’d stormed out of Ada’s, so I asked, “What are you gonna do about your parents?”
“Ah, right...that,” Lainey murmured before releasing a weighted breath. She looked out over the square as she seemed to think over everything that’d happened that afternoon. Her pain and worry apparent, even when she glanced at me with her nose scrunched up adorably, making her look wholly unconvinced when she said, “Hope they come around?”
From everything I’d heard and the short interaction I’d had with her dad, I doubted that would happen. But again...I wasn’t one to have faith in parents.
“You think they’ll give Wren a chance?”
“No,” she said after a moment as if she wished she could give a different answer. “For the sake of the business, they need to. But they’ve never paid attention to her when it comes to the business, so they don’t have any confidence in her.”
Turning even closer into me, she lowered her voice like she was worried the few people wandering around would overhear. “Wren said she was thinking of moving out and getting a different job.” At the lift of my eyebrows, Lainey’s shoulders sagged. “I know. I can’t tell if she’s doing it because I am, because she’s that hurt by my parents—even though she acts like she isn’t—or because she’s hoping my parents will realize they need her once she’s gone.
“But once Wren decides to do something, there’s no stopping her.” Lainey lifted a hand, gesturing aimlessly. “She’ll probably have found an apartment and be moved in before I’m fully moved in with Chloe.”
“What do you wanna do?” I asked because she clearly felt like she needed to help in some way.
“Nothing,” Lainey said after a while. “I tried talking her out of it because I think it’s a bad idea for so many reasons...starting with how reckless she is.” She gave me a smile that was as amused as it was exhausted. “If you got frustrated with me for not having a purse that closed, you would hate going anywhere with Wren because she’s never met a stranger, and she’s way too trusting. But again, there’s no stopping her.”
It took maybe a second to figure out how to help, but I took nearly a minute to weigh the possibility of pulling it off and if it would upset Lainey before finally suggesting, “I could put someone near her.”
Lainey’s eyebrows drew close in confusion. Before she could ask, I shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal and explained, “Evans has been living in an apartment. If Wren moves into one, we can get Evans into the unit next to her. That way someone’s got an eye on her.”
Lainey had started shaking her head long before I finished, but the nos didn’t start until the end. “You’re not gonna use your team to watch my sister.”
“Why not?”
“Because that’s...” She forced out a frustrated breath. “That’s ridiculous. Y’all have actual work you need to do. You don’t need to be wasting time babysitting my sister, or anyone in my family, for that matter. Besides, you have more important things to worry about with Beau right now, like if he’ll even come back to work.”
“He’ll be back,” I said confidently. “And he’ll need something to take his mind off everything when he does. An extra assignment will be good.”
A laugh left Lainey as she swatted at me with the hand that wasn’t wrapped up in mine. “My sister isn’t an assignment, and leave Beau alone.” A teasing glint shone in her eyes when she added, “First me, now my sister. You have to let us go.”
Amusement hummed in my chest as I pulled her even closer. “And what happens when I do?”
Her features shifted into something pure and tender and so beautiful that I would’ve given anything to capture Lainey like this . Leaning forward, she stole a soft, unhurried kiss. “You’ll finally see that I’m not going anywhere.”
“Magic,” I muttered late that night from where I was watching Lainey put Kaia back to bed.
Her head whipped my way as if I’d surprised her, but a muted laugh just left her as she set the little starfish in the pop-up crib I’d bought yesterday. “Not,” she maintained as she made her way to me, then fell against my chest where I leaned against the doorframe and sighed deeply when my arms automatically curled around her.
“Tired?”
“So tired,” she whispered against my chest. “These last few days have been long.”
An acknowledging grunt left me as I pulled her away from the room, shutting the door most of the way as I did.
And even though we’d been talking on the couch when Kaia woke, I started leading Lainey toward the room just down the hall. A small smile tugged at my mouth when a grateful sound rose in her throat.
As if already eagerly anticipating going to sleep, she reached for the tie in her hair and let her wild curls fall to her waist.
“You could’ve told me you wanted to go to bed a long time ago.”
She lifted her head to look at me, her eyes narrowed in what I was sure was meant to be a rebuking glare even though she was clearly struggling to keep her eyes open. “And miss this time with you?”
I didn’t answer because I wasn’t sure I knew how.
That didn’t mean I didn’t feel the same.
Once she moved into Chloe’s, and I took Kaia back to my apartment until I could decide if Huntley was the best place for me—for us—I knew I wouldn’t get time like this with Lainey again. Not for a long time.
With a pass of my lips across her forehead, I pointedly glanced at the room I’d just stopped in front of. “Get ready for bed.”
Shock and hurt flared through her exhaustion when I stepped back, but she just anxiously whispered, “Good night?”
Reclaiming the step I’d just taken, I wove my hand through her hair and pulled her close so my forehead was nearly pressed to hers. “I’ll be back.”
I didn’t wait to see her reaction before stealing down the thin, carpeted hall to where I’d been keeping my bag. I didn’t let myself think about how bad of an idea this was as I got ready because this was such a bad idea.
That girl was dangerous; I’d known it from the first moment I’d told her to go with it and kissed her.
But I’d do anything to have this night and the next last a little longer.
By the time I slipped into the room she was staying in, she was standing just outside the attached bathroom. Dressed in shorts so short I was sure I wouldn’t have seen them if she hadn’t been nervously gripping the bottom of the baggy shirt she was wearing.
“We’re sleeping,” I told her firmly, even though everything inside me was raging against the notion.
Her head bobbed in a quick, subtle nod.
“I’m serious, Lainey. I can’t—I won’t do that to you, and I can’t risk that.”
Realization lit in her eyes as she started closing the distance between us. “If you think I’d try to trap you or something?—”
“Your dad would kill me,” I informed her. “He already thought we were sleeping together and that I’d lied to you about Kaia—he was sure she was mine. But more than that, Wyatt only married Kaia’s mom because she got pregnant. I can still remember my parents arguing about how my mom forced my dad into marrying her when she got pregnant with me before he finally disappeared before Peyton was ever born, and I refuse to be like them. So, until you’re mine, we’re just sleeping.”
Admiration and understanding and even a whisper of relief settled over her features as she stopped just in front of me. “I am yours,” she whispered.
Even though the words were a gentle reminder and in no way said like she was trying to change my mind, I still moved my head in faint shakes as I cradled her face in my hands. “Until you’re mine,” I repeated slowly, meaningfully, “we’re just sleeping.”
“Then let’s go to sleep,” she said as if it were the most natural thing in the world and took one of my hands from her face to lead me toward the bed.
And with Lainey, it kind of felt like it.
Then again, everything that had always felt so unnatural to me felt natural with her.
But once I had the light off and was slipping into the bed behind her, I wished I’d stayed in the living room. Because this also felt natural with her...the way her slender body fit perfectly against mine...the way my heart tripped up when a contented sigh fell from her lips as she settled deeper against my chest...
And I wanted more.
But protecting Lainey would always be my priority, and not turning into my family was just as much a protection for her as it was for me.
“Thank you,” she breathed as she reached behind her to lightly trail the tips of her fingers through my beard. “This is everything.”
I tilted my head to press my mouth to her palm. “I could spend an eternity with you just like this, and it still wouldn’t be enough.”
“Goodness, the things you say,” she said reverently before twisting in my arms just enough to look at me, her smile soft and breathtaking in the dark. “Honestly, Mr. Briggs? You should tell me you love me more often.”
I waited for it . . .
For the memories. For the icy fingers to trail down my spine.
But there was only the wild pounding of my heart as I looked at this girl who had become my entire world in such a short time. This girl who pushed me to be better. This girl who understood me in a way no one ever had—me included.
Pressing my forehead to her temple, I let my eyelids briefly shut and breathed her in. “What happens if I do?”
An exhausted, knowing hum left her as she shifted to her original position. “You let me help you.”
“With what?”
“Me loving you.”
I pulled her closer as her words played in my head again and again. Each time, I expected the traumatic memories to burst forward. Each time, I only saw a future I’d never wanted for myself and now craved like my next breath.
Lainey and me in a house in this small town. Raising Kaia together. Raising a family .
“Buying you a ring,” I murmured as my eyelids shut again and heard her lethargic hum of amusement. “Asking you to raise Kaia with me. Asking you to spend the rest of your life with me.”
That’s what’s about to happen.