Chapter 2
“Wow,” Alex breathed, attention riveted to the edge of my driveway.
Wow freaking indeed.
In front of the hedge separating my property from my neighbors, three men stood in a formidable line. They were dressed similarly in basketball shorts and those muscle shirts I thought should be illegal for men with muscles like that to wear, making my mouth go dry. Oh, look at those tattoos…
“I said,” the man with the coffee-colored skin in the middle repeated. He moved, flanked by his friends. “Is there a problem here?”
My vision swam, and Alex clamped a hand on my wrist, squeezing just the way she knew I needed. I prayed she wouldn’t be, well…herself. Guess who was doomed to disappointment?
“As a matter of fact,” she announced with a gleam in her eye. “There is!”
“Alex!” I warned, keeping my voice low. I tried to focus on the feel of her hand squeezing my wrist at regular intervals.
I knew my best friend, and embarrassing the hell out of me wasn’t exactly a limit for her if it meant she could fuck someone over, uncaring if it did the thing I hated most: draw attention to me.
This was why I was a writer. Writing meant I could hide away for days on end, or as much as possible when you were a parent, and not have to handle people. Even if they were gorgeous people.
She continued, waving her free hand grandly at Jeremy and Layla, “My friend’s defective starter husband and his walking reason condoms should always be used are harassing us and won’t leave. I’m worried we’ll end up on an episode of Dateline. Will you tell Keith my smile lit up a room?”
It was hard to tell, but I thought I saw the leader’s lips twitch, and heard a chuckle that was covered by a cough coming from one of the men beside him.
I snorted, my vision slowly clearing as her humor started to ground me at the same time Layla and Jeremy erupted.
“Shut your stupid mouth, Alex!” Jeremy growled, his round face, which showed the extra thirty pounds he’d gained, turning red.
So apparently Jeremy’s whole “I need to pretend not to be an asshole in public” thing was over. Good to know.
“How could you say that about a pregnant—” Layla sniffled, pretending like she was crying.
“ENOUGH!” The man who was furthest from me snapped, striding forward. His friends rearranged themselves to flank him. “Get the hell off the lady’s property. Now.”
Everything in my head quieted at the sound of that voice.
That voice. It was rough, like a diesel engine just when it started up.
It was a sound that slid along my skin and down my spine to settle in places I thought had no life left in them.
My fingers stilled. My simple cotton bra suddenly was rough on my nipples, which hardened in response to that voice.
I was grateful to be wearing a thick bra, or things were going to be less than PG quickly.
My eyes found his, and I could no longer feel Alex’s hand on my wrist or the creaky boards beneath my sock-covered feet. I wasn’t even sure there was air around me, which explained why I was feeling lightheaded as I fell into those eyes.
They weren’t brown or gold. They were a rich amber color, making me think of the finest brandy Alex and I had had on our trip to France. Amber eyes. And those eyes were flashing fire as they shifted to Jeremy and Layla.
“You can’t tell me what to do!” Jeremy huffed, sizing the men up, deciding that he, in his fancy suit with his expensive Lexus, was somehow superior to the men in their “casual clothes.”
“Actually,” a voice drawled as a man appeared around the hedge, moving leisurely with a kind of arrogant gait that said he could handle himself. “I can.” He flipped his hand around, and that was when the glint of gold caught my eye. A badge.
He surveyed us, taking in every detail in the way only a cop could, settling finally on me. “Ma’am, do you want these people to leave?”
“We aren’t finished,” Jeremy argued, the papers in his hand crunching as he fisted them.
Amber Eyes’ gaze settled on me, and something bloomed in my chest. With more strength than I knew I possessed, I said, “I want them both gone.”
“You heard the lady.” The officer came up my porch steps, Amber Eyes moving with him. “Failing to leave a property after being asked by the owner is criminal trespassing in Georgia. I suggest you save yourselves the charges and the night in jail.”
“You heard him!” Alex waved at them, still keeping hold of my wrist, a shit-eating grin plastered on her face, loving this even if I wasn’t. “Get lost. Move along. Eat a bag of rancid dicks with Ex-Lax sauce.”
I really hoped Lachlan hadn’t heard any of this. And that no one else did.
“Alex!” I whipped my head around to glare at her.
The men all laughed. I didn’t.
Giving me an innocent look I knew she spent weeks perfecting in the mirror, she shrugged. “What?”
“Fine!” Jeremy snapped, shoving the papers at me, scratching my forearm with them. “Take these.”
I pulled my arm out of the way at the sharp sting, followed by blood welling fast and hot along the thin slice in my skin. “Ouch!”
A low snarl sounded as the cop said, “Chill, dude.” His hand was on his friend’s chest, but he didn’t take his eyes off Jeremy. “I’ll take those.”
Amber Eyes’ jaw snapped closed so hard I wondered if he broke a tooth.
“Here!” Alex plucked the papers out of Jeremy’s hand. My hand instinctively covered the wound, forcing Alex to let me go. Tearing them up with a flourish, she stuck her tongue out in a dare. “Time for you to follow your receding hairline and disappear.”
“Let go, Wade.” Amber Eyes spoke so softly I should have missed it. “I’m good.”
That voice seemed to have an amplifier that went straight to my ear. My stomach tumbled at the intensity on his face, and at the rippling of ink that swirled and dipped, creating an intricate Celtic pattern down his arm to wrap around his wrist.
Wade considered him, dropping his hand, ensuring Layla and Jeremy were firmly in his sights. “Let’s go, folks.”
Jeremy stomped off, leaving Layla behind.
“This isn’t over.” Her voice was devoid of warmth, sounding almost inhuman.
Silently, we watched them until they were in their car, Jeremy pulling away from the curb.
In the passenger seat, Layla looked back at me.
Her eyes were nearly black and full of malice.
Fear filled me. There was just something about the look on her face that warned me she might be more dangerous than I’d previously thought.
Beside me, Alex shivered, and not in her usual dramatic way. When she cast a look in my direction, I knew we were having the same thought.
“Are you okay, ma’am?” the officer—Wade? — asked once Jeremy and Layla turned the corner, their taillights no longer visible.
“I’m fine.” I tried for a smile, feeling the all-too-familiar tension in my shoulders and neck take hold. Now that Jeremy and Layla were gone, all eyes were back on me, and I shifted restlessly, the boards creaking beneath my feet.
Alex narrowed her eyes at me, concern twisting her mouth. “What about me?” she exclaimed, shooting Wade a mock glare. “I could have ended up on Dateline!”
Wade chuckled. “My apologies, ma’am. Are you okay?” He directed his attention to Alex, who had moved just slightly closer to me, her hip bumping mine to stop my shifting.
The move had me adjusting, and I found myself ensnared by Amber Eyes again.
He was focused on me, a nerve ticking so fiercely in his jaw I could see it beneath his neatly trimmed beard.
I hyper-focused on that beard. The way the short hairs rippled, the auburn highlights that only appeared when it caught the sun.
It looked soft, and my fingers rubbed together again, wanting to find out if I was right.
Wade and Alex said more, and maybe the others joined in, but all I could see was that beard. I wished I was wearing my glasses, so I could make out the individual strands better…
“MOM! I’M HUNGRY!” Lachlan’s demand made me jump, ripping me out of my trance.
My gaze flew to Amber Eyes and found him giving me a slightly bemused smirk that did funny things to a part of my anatomy that should be dead. Especially right now.
I fought the need to press my lips together, giving what I hoped looked like a smile. “Well, we should get back in…inside. Thank you for your help.”
Escape. Escape. Escape.
Wade reassured me, “It was no trouble. I don’t think they’ll be back tonight, but if they are, just call the station and we’ll come back.”
We’ll come back? So, they were all cops?
“Oh! She will!” Alex’s eyes ate up the men in front of her. She leaned more fully into me so I couldn’t shift without stumbling.
“MOM!”
“I’m coming!” I hollered back, snapping back into myself. On my own I may be a mess, but as a mom, I was all kinds of put together. “Thank you again, officers.”
“What’s taking so—” Lachlan appeared in the doorway before I made it back inside, his indignance transforming into suspicion. “I’m not sharing my pizza.” He crossed his arms over his chest, taking in the four men.
I closed my eyes. Only my kid.
He wasn’t done there. “Strangers aren’t allowed to come into the house,” he repeated the rule I’d drilled into him.
Behind me, the men snickered as Alex prodded, “What if they have the pizza?”
“Then they leave it and themselves at the door,” Lachlan declared with a firm nod. Sizing them up, he frowned at his aunt. “Where’s the pizza?!”
“You’re being rude!” I admonished Lachlan, smiling bashfully. My heart started to hammer, making my vision blurry. Sometimes being me really sucked. “Sorry, gentlemen. Thank you again for your assistance, but we should—”
“By all means,” Wade said, his eyes crinkling. “We can’t have our citizens starving. You all have a good night.”
“Thank you,” I repeated, ushering Lachlan back in the door, knowing Alex would be right behind me.
With the door firmly closed and Lachlan reassured pizza was the most urgent priority for us, he took off back upstairs.
Leaning heavily against the door, I sank down, knowing my knees wouldn’t hold me much longer.
“Well, I may have to break a few laws on my way out of town if that was a sample of the police—ah, hell.” Alex sank down beside me, pulling my head into her lap.
She started to play with my hair while everything crashed over me, reciting ancient Egyptian facts in a well-practiced move.
Sadly, she’d had a lot of practice since high school.
By the time the world wasn’t spinning, the pizza came.
Later that night, I got a text from her telling me she’d been pulled over for speeding before she’d hit the town line. Oh, and that sample of the police was just as tasty as the one we’d been served earlier.