21. Go Get Her, Tiger!
Go Get Her, Tiger!
Vedder
I groaned as my phone vibrated on the dresser. I reached over, slapping around the nightstand for it. Without looking, and without even knowing if I held it right side up, I swiped the screen and put it to my ear.
“Hmm?”
“Rise and shine, son.” Braun’s voice drawled. I blinked my eyes open, my blurry vision clearing just as the scent of honeysuckle invaded my senses. “I had a meeting with Old Man Smithy this morning to get more on what he saw, but I can’t make the appointment. I’ll need you there as my proxy.”
“What time?” I groaned, feeling the ends of Melody’s wavy hair grazing my cheek as memories of last night came flooding in.
He gave me a time and an address. Unfortunately, I’d have to get up and shower now to make it. I wrapped my arms around Melody, squeezing her back into my bare chest as I kissed her soft shoulder. “Darlin’?”
She moaned, and the sound went straight to my junk, activating that good ol’ morning wood.
But damn it, this was not the time.
“Sweetheart, can I take your truck?” I whispered into her ear. “I wanna get my tools so I can build you a new deck.”
And do all the other repairs this place needed. Maybe I’d get Marcus to help. Miriam too, if she was interested in this sort of thing. I didn’t discriminate.
“Mm-hmm,” she whispered. “Key’s on the hook.”
“Where’s the hook?”
“By the door.”
I assumed she meant the front door.
“I’ll leave the SUV keys in its place, so you’re not stuck without a vehicle, alright?
” I placed a kiss on her temple, but she was already asleep again, and she slept like the dead.
Maybe she was exhausted. I got the feeling she hadn’t slept well in a very, very long time. She was due for some rest.
I didn’t have a change of clothes here, so I slid out of bed and tried to walk as quietly as I could over the noisy floorboards. Noticing the baseboards could use a new coat of paint, I added the task to my mental list, as well.
On a receipt from last night’s takeout, I wrote down the situation with the keys and put it on her nightstand before calling Chief Riley to let him know I was leaving Melody’s place.
I asked him to bring breakfast for her and the kids, and he agreed to do so once he got his daughter Annie up and fed.
The eerie house was still, and for about the fourth time, I noticed the one face-down frame on the mantle. I walked over and picked it up. It was Luke holding a big fish. He stared straight into the camera with a shit-eating grin.
I turned the picture back down. I’d watched her clean yesterday, but this was the one thing she didn’t fix. It was intentional; she didn’t want to see it. And my suspicions as to why…weren’t great.
I drove back to the farm down the road, walked into the barn, shed my clothes, and showered.
On my never-ending list of shit to do was putting in a real shower and bath.
If Top ever wanted to get renters in here, they’d want the shower to at least have a curtain.
Or something tiled with a sliding door. Anything was better than the hole in the ground that led to a drain—strangely reminiscent of the many black sites I’d been through.
The towel was around my waist as I opened the door and walked out, shower shoes clacking as I readied to climb up the ladder to my apartment when I let out a yelp. “What in the hell are you three doing here?”
Trinity, clad in jeans and her black riding leathers, Daria in her skinny jeans and stilettos, and Goose in his Hawaiian shirt and slicked-back long hair, all sat on my long red toolbox. With their legs crossed and hands on their knees, they posed like three of the worst Rockettes who ever existed.
They stared and batted their eyelashes.
Particularly disturbing, with Goose doing it, too.
“So…you spent the night, huh?” Daria asked, lifting one penciled brow.
“Who the hell told you that?” I held onto my towel for dear life, because I did not want to be bare-assed in front of this particular group.
“I did,” Goose said. “Or did you forget I was there while you insisted on playing nurse overnight?”
“And, of course, you ran straight to these two to tell them all about it.” Of-fucking-course. Fucking gossip.
“Don’t blame him,” Trinity said. “Goose is just playing daddy. Aren’t you, Goose?”
He gave her two pistol fingers.
“I heard he was so eager to take the little-girl-next-door home that he didn’t even make a security plan!” Daria clicked her tongue in reprimand. “I mean, how careless can you be?”
She put her hand over her heart in mock disdain.
“Imagine!” Trinity leaned forward so she could talk around Goose to her Ukrainian best friend. “His sweet little damsel gets attacked twice in a week, and he didn’t put security on her and her little children?”
Now she was mocking my accent.
“So you decide to ambush me while I’m in the shower?” I turned, tied off my towel, and started climbing up to my apartment. “I asked you to set the cameras, Taz! What else did you want me to do?”
“Please. We waited for you to finish showering. We’re not animals!” Trinity laughed.
“Fact!” Goose agreed.
And, of course, they followed me up one by one, like annoying lemmings.
I opened the hatch to my loft and went in, heading straight for the closet because I’d obviously have to change in there if I didn’t want them seeing my tackle out.
From inside the closet, I yelled out, “I didn’t leave her without security. I was with her all night, and I’d have been there if anything happened. Right now, Chief Riley is gonna stick with them. Make sure Melody’s okay.”
“That’s not security!” Daria replied through the door.
“Have you forgotten that you live with some of the most organized, lethal people in the country?” Trinity said. “And you chose a fireman as her protection?”
I scoffed. “Please, you think I didn’t see you guys watching her house from the wood line?”
I’d seen them when I’d grabbed the food from the deliverymen. Taz was good at concealing herself, but she had a distinctive shape. Tall and skinny, but with wide shoulders; she was built like an inverted triangle. I’d recognized her from her silhouette alone.
“She had plenty of security last night. And lemme guess. Griff is still out there?” I asked.
“So’s Lottie,” Goose said. “We worked out a security plan so you’ll have two extras watching the house.”
I walked out of the closet and combed my hair back with my fingers, pulling the tie from my wrist.
“Daria and I have been manning them from here.” Taz’s voice was muffled by the war. “You’re welcome.”
Their particular brand of ribbing while looking out for me felt…nostalgic. Like we were back in the old team room.
Before things went to hell with us.
Warmth grew in my chest. A mix of unexpressed gratitude and relief that, despite who I was and what I had done, they were here. Still looking out for me, even before I asked them to.
“We’re gonna need to work on this whole thing,” Daria said, pointing at me and my clothes. “Put a little effort into the courtship, please.”
The feel-good moment ended.
“She doesn’t care what I wear,” I grumbled.
“Sure,” Trinity said. “But she might get sick of the whole…lumberjack…thing.”
I rolled my eyes. “What, you want me to start wearing Hawaiian shirts with dogs on them?”
“Hey!” Goose said, looking to Daria and Taz for support. “I wear cats, too!”
“Listen.” I pinched the high bridge of my nose, shutting my eyes. “I’m begging you guys, please…”
I would have gotten down on my knees if I had thought it would have helped.
“Please, just be nice to her. Don’t scare her.” I dragged my hand over my face against the sudden tension coming on. “I like her. She’s one of the few really good things I’ve got going on. So…just don’t…you know…be…you.”
When I opened my eyes again, Daria, the weird-ass fucking freak of an assassin she was, had snuck up to me, pinning her hazel-blue eyes on me as she fixed my collar.
She smiled widely; her heart-shaped, pale face and bright eyes were full of mischief.
“I like her,” she said, her thick, plosive accent making the statement sound both threatening and complimentary. “I haven’t known you long, but I like you too. And I’m stupid romantic, and I like the idea of courtship.”
Then she lightly slapped me on the cheek.
“Go get her, tiger.” She winked and disappeared down the ladder, leaving me standing there confused and weirded out, but also a little…flattered? Confused and flattered.
“Don’t knock the Hawaiian shirts.” Goose got up and clapped me on the back. “Remember, I got the girl—and two kids—being the dingus I am.”
I swallowed, not wanting to say anything. Not wanting to mention his loss. His family’s loss. Our loss, too. Sandy was a good woman. That tragedy was one none of us would forget anytime soon.
Then he disappeared, and Taz was up next.
“Everyone deserves a second chance,” Taz said, grabbing my sleeve and fixing the buttons on my cuffs. I fucking hated them buttoned and usually opted to fold them up my forearms, but it was too frosty today, and the rain was pouring once again.
Another dreary day in upstate.
“We’re not just our pasts.” She tugged my sleeves down, took a step back, and gave me a once-over before pursing her lips to the side.
“Buy yourself a comb, VD.” She headed to the hatch, but before her head disappeared down the ladder, she added, “And shave your beard!”
“Never!” I called down.
I ran a hand over the scraggly thing I hadn’t shaved in weeks.
I didn’t want to shave it off, but maybe I could trim it?
I was a little worried that if I took it off, I’d end up with a tan line over my jaw.
I’d had the beard for a while. At first, because not being clean shaven was a big middle finger to Army life.
Then, I didn’t want to get new razors all the time, and I was pretty stingy about water.
Maybe when I watched her walk down the aisle to me in a white dress and a smile. In front of a judge or a congregation. Whatever she wanted, she would have, if I could have her.