Chapter Twenty-Five
Oakley
W e make love two more times before Waylon says no more and starts eating me to orgasm instead. He says my pussy was starting to look too red, and he was worried about hurting me. I drift off in his arms only to be awakened early in the morning by his phone ringing.
“Hello.” Damn, his voice is sexy first thing in the morning. “No shit.”
Whatever the other person is saying has him sitting up and me coming more fully awake. What is going on? I move and realize echoes of what we did yesterday are making themselves known all throughout my body.
“No freakin’ way. Yeah, I’m coming.”
He turns to look at me as he sits on the side of the bed.
“You should rest, baby.”
“Is everything alright?”
He doesn’t say anything for a while, and then he turns so he can face me more fully. “I…You know your friend, Lucy?”
Not sure how good a friend she is, telling everyone I broke into my own home, but I nod for him.
“She’s not who you think she is?”
“What?” Now I’m sitting all the way up.
“I checked her out when she gave you shit. I didn’t like the way she made you feel or the way she made you question what we have together, so I had some of the guys look into her. Turns out Lucy Jennings is not Lucy Jennings.”
“She’s not?” What the hell? This is like some movie shit.
“She’s not twenty either.”
“Wait! What?”
“She’s twenty-eight. And her fingerprints from a stalking case up north match the ones found on the tape that was used to stick the picture of us to our door.”
“She…? Did she break into my apartment too?”
Maybe I was wrong. Maybe a woman can be mad enough to flip out and destroy my stuff.
He shakes his head. “No, sweetheart. That was a man.”
“How do you know?”
“Just trust me. It was male DNA.”
“Oh.”
“Come on. You can come to the station with me and watch as she’s questioned. They’ve already picked her up.”
He helps me dress before we walk out of the door and down the stairs. Tires squealing stop both of us as we look over at Tommy’s truck pulling up in front of the house. He drove up on the sidewalk; he was in such a hurry. Waylon turns to me and presses the keys into my hand.
“Go inside, sweetheart.”
Tommy gets out of the truck, half falling out. He stumbles to the little white gate and starts yelling.
“You ruined my life, you faithless bitch! You destroyed my life!”
I grab onto Waylon to keep him from going after him.
“He keeps a knife on him.”
“You cheating whore! I could have given you everything you could need! I could have been the one who broke you in, but no! You wanted him!”
Waylon bends down in front of me, and I see the glint of metal as he takes out his backup gun.
“And then that stupid cow…she’s a god damned fruit loop and got herself caught. It isn’t going to take too long before she gives me up.”
“Lucy?” Why is he talking about Lucy?
“Yeah, Lucy!” The way he says the name, it might as well be poison dripping out of his mouth. “She was a horrible lay. I thought crazy chicks were supposed to be firecrackers in bed, but she just laid there and talked about him.”
“Waylon?”
He nods and almost throws himself off balance.
“You slept with Lucy?”
“We thought it would make the two of you jealous. Thought it would bring you back once you realized what you were missing out on, but you never even knew, did you? You never even fucking cared to find out who I was fucking! I destroyed your fucking home, and you didn’t even slow down. You just moved in with him!”
“You!”
“I even burned your stupid bear!”
No, he didn’t. Waylon brought Bumble back to me two days ago.
He had it cleaned so it didn’t smell like smoke.
I’d had the bear since I was two. It was one of the only things I had left of my dad.
When he brought it back to me, I gave him a big kiss and kept hugging him.
It was the day he told me I didn't have to worry about going through the apartment because he called my mom and had her do it for me.
“Did that stop you?! No! You just hopped on his fucking dick faster than a fucking twister! She’s going to tell on me! I shouldn’t have let her help me, knowing she was head over heels for you!” He glares at Waylon. “But before they come take me away…I’m going to make you sorry.”
He points at me with dark eyes bent on causing harm. Sure enough, he pulls out a knife and takes a step through the gate.
“I’m going to teach you what it feels like to lose everything.” I grab onto Waylon’s shirt, knowing he’s going to try to hurt him. That would be the only thing that would represent me losing everything.
Before he can take another step, a shot goes off, the knife goes flying through the air, and Tommy starts yelling and crying, grabbing his hand.
“You fucking shot me! You fucking shot my hand off!”
“If you ever come back around my wife and the mother of my kids, I’ll shoot a lot lower next time and I’ll make sure no one calls for help, mother fucker.”
Sirens fill the air, and lights break the pre-dawn silence. Several men hop out once all the cars stop, and they pounce on Tommy.
I’m turned so that my face is buried in Waylon’s chest.
“It’s alright, baby. It’s alright, sweet girl. I wouldn’t let anything hurt you.” I open my eyes only to realize tears are streaming down my face.
“I was so worried about you. That would be how he could take everything away from me, if he took you from me.”
“Fuck, I love you!”
“I love you too!”
“You guys got this? I need to make sure my girl is alright!” He loudly proclaims I’m his and I can’t help but laugh and grin like an idiot.
“We got it, Abernathy. You go ahead and take care of your girl!” Someone yells back at him, but he’s already got me swept up into his arms, and I’m leaning forward to open the door.
All either of us can think about is getting into solidifying our love for one another and cherishing what we’ve found.
A love that is so much bigger than us, and hot enough it could start a fire no one could ever put out! Our very own heatwave!