What the Hail Page 17

  “I bet he didn’t appreciate you, either.” He started to run his hands up my back, underneath my shirt, and along my spine. “I bet he just fucked you and left you. Never let you feel a goddamn thing.”

  I nodded. “He didn’t.”

  “You don’t miss him. You don’t even care about him. You never have.”

  I gasped when he pulled all the way out, then slowly sank himself back inside.

  “Me? I care about you,” he rasped. “I care that you feel like goddam silk against my bare cock. I fucking care that you enjoy waking up to me in your bed every morning.” He hesitated halfway in, halfway out. “When you cry out my name? That’s the best goddamn feeling in the entire world.”

  I moaned. “Baylor.”

  He growled right back at me.

  “That?” he said. “That’s fucking awesome.”

  I nodded my head.

  It so was.

  “One day,” he said, pushing in.

  So goddamn slow.

  “One day I’m going to fill this belly with my baby,” he promised. “I’m going to love every goddamn second of having it filled. I’m going to worship your body. I’m going to shower you with love. I’m going to make sure it’s the best thing ever, all because I want it. I want you. I can’t fucking wait…but I’m going to enjoy just you and me for a little bit.”

  I wanted to cry.

  I wanted that, too.

  “Baby.”

  The conversation stopped after that.

  He pulled my hair, causing me to look up at him, and held my eyes.

  He slowly fucked me.

  So freakin’ slow.

  There was no noise. Not anything but the panting of our breaths.

  My house was burning to the ground. There were people outside in the living room, speaking low. There were half a dozen cops and volunteer firefighters outside, working to make sure that the fire didn’t spread.

  But inside…with Baylor inside of me…we didn’t care about anything.

  Just this. Now.

  I watched him. Watched the muscles in his jaw flex when he’d hit a good spot inside of me, causing me to tighten around him.

  His eyes were blazing with pure love, and I felt so warm…so wanted…that I could hardly catch a breath.

  His thrusts were so slow—so deliciously slow—that my orgasm snuck up on me.

  I hadn’t realized it was coming until it was already taking me over.

  My mouth fell open, and my eyes glazed over.

  His breath caught as he felt it take me, and not once did I lose eye contact with him.

  He swallowed, and I watched his Adam’s apple twitch, but he kept his eyes on mine.

  And when there was nothing else to wring out of me, he planted himself to the root and came, too.

  I felt him pulse inside of me. Felt him fill me up to overflowing.

  Our breathing was heavy, and the mirror started to fog with my breaths.

  I hadn’t realized my face was plastered against it until I could no longer see him.

  His hands released me—the one in my hair falling to my hip for a short second before he reached for some toilet paper.

  Once he had more than enough, he bunched it up and placed it in my hand as he pulled away.

  I immediately moved it to catch our combined release and turned.

  My mouth found his for a few short seconds as I showed him what the previous few minutes had meant to me.

  “Get cleaned up, baby,” he ordered, reaching for some toilet paper of his own.

  He was much more adept at cleaning himself than I was because he was done in a matter of moments and tucking himself back inside his briefs.

  I sat down on the toilet and threw the paper into the bowl before reaching for some more.

  He watched me unrepentantly, causing me to blush.

  “What?” he asked.

  “It’s weird that you’re watching me do this.” I shrugged.

  “I just had my cock inside of you. How could this be any more embarrassing than that?”

  He had me there. “I don’t know.”

  He chuckled as he leaned against the door.

  I rolled my eyes and did my business.

  Once I was finished, I finally saw the streaks of dirt on his chest.

  “Why are you so dirty?”

  He started to laugh.

  “You don’t want to know.”

  “Actually…I do.”

  Turns out, I didn’t.

  Especially when he told me he’d recently been covered in shit and had only had the chance to wash off with a water hose.

  At least he’d washed his hands thoroughly before he’d touched me.

  Gross.

  Apparently, it had to do with cow shit, a stuck car, and having to crawl under a car.

  Chapter 24

  Ex: Why do you always wear black?

  Lark: Just in case you die. I want to be prepared.

  -Lark to her ex-husband

  Lark

  It was my second week at the vet clinic, and my first day without having any other jobs to worry about going to when I first saw him.

  I was filling out my college application that would hopefully get me into an online veterinary school and talking with Dr. Castleberry about how I would have to actually go somewhere to perform the hands-on testing that was required with the school, when the door jingled, signaling that a client had walked in.

  I continued to do what I was doing since I was on my lunchbreak and I cursed my luck when I looked up and saw him standing there. He was acting for all the world like he was meant to be there and that he was happy to see me.

  “Rita, honey.”

  Two words, four syllables, nine letters.

  They were words that made me hurt down to my soul.

  “I’m sorry,” Marissa apologized. “We don’t have a Rita here. Is there something I can help you with?”

  Marissa fluttered her eyelashes at Sal, and I wanted to snatch her around by her hair and tell her to run.

  I didn’t, though.

  That would be an acknowledgment.

  I didn’t want to acknowledge him.

  I did, however, text my man.

  He’d made me promise, on more than one occasion, that if I saw Sal, I’d text or call immediately. So that’s what I did.

  I didn’t so much as look at him while I continued to fill out my application.

  I ignored the conversation.

  I didn’t even twitch when Sal said my name again and pointed at me, I suppose explaining to Dr. Castleberry who I was…and who he was to me.

  I stayed right where I was, filled out my real—now married—name, and put down my new address—Baylor’s house.

  “She’s on her lunch break,” Dr. Castleberry said. “You’ll have to come back after she gets off. That’s around five.”

  I nearly snorted.

  I didn’t get off at five. I got off at four. Sometimes three if the day went smoothly.

  Five, everything in the entire place would be silent except for the dogs and kitties staying the night in our boarding kennel.

  A caretaker—not me thanks to Baylor putting his foot down—came in around eleven at night and stayed with the dogs so they wouldn’t be completely alone. That same person also came in earlier if she was needed for a patient that required around the clock care—which didn’t happen all that often.

  “I’ll wait.”

  I wanted to bang my head on the desk, and maybe shove the pen that was in my shaking fingers through Sal’s throat.

  But other than that, I was cool as a cucumber…until Baylor walked in.

  Then I was anything but cool.

  “Hey, Baylor. You come to see your woman?”

  Dr. Castleberry hadn’t left, even though he’d been properly dismissed by Sal—who was waiting by the door in the most uncomfortable chair that we owned.

  I lo
oked up at my man, who’d stopped within four feet of my ex, and smiled.

  His eyes were all for me, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t aware of the man that he’d come down here to deal with.

  I looked at my watch and realized that it was lunchtime for him, too. Which explained how he got here so quickly.

  Baylor wasn’t an office kind of guy, so when he wasn’t home or eating, he was out doing something. Normally that meant picking up the slack where he was needed, letting Travis spend more time in the office doing what he needed to be doing and not picking up repos that nobody else wanted—like when they had to repossess a little old lady’s car or go and deal with Harold.

  Which was something that nobody wanted to do.

  Not anymore.

  I had a feeling that Harold was about to be shit out of luck when it came to his repossessions. There wasn’t anyone in six counties that would touch them at this point, thanks to Travis spreading word that we were phasing out Hostel Bank and Trust.

  Starting the beginning of next month, Harold would be on his own, and he knew it.

  “You ready for lunch?”

  My mouth dropped open a little bit.

  “It looks like you started without me,” I pointed out, trying to stay calm.

  He grinned, then looked down at his shirt. “It was a snack.”

  I snorted.

  “Uh-huh.” I started toward him, looking at Dr. Castleberry. “I’ll be back in an hour, okay?”

  The old doc winked at me. “Yes, ma’am.”

  I shook my head and rounded the counter, walking up to Baylor’s side.

  He immediately enfolded me under his arm and brought me close to his chest, offering me silent support.

  I could’ve told him that I was actually okay, but I kind of liked where I was. I liked that he was so protective. I loved that he was here.

  I knew he would be. Which, in all honestly, was the most special feeling in the world. To know that you had someone who would always be there for you, not to control you but to support you, was quite exhilarating.

  Sal didn’t say a word as we passed, but I felt him when he got up and followed us out the door.

  He continued to follow us to the parking lot, but in his desire to follow us, he’d had to hurry to his car to follow since Baylor had pulled over near the front door.

  We were halfway down the street before he’d pulled out into the road to follow.

  “You okay?” he asked.

  I bit my lip and nodded. “Surprisingly…yes, I am.”

  His smile was fierce. “I fucking love you. I’ll never let anything happen to you.”

  I looked down at my hands. “I was going to try to eat a little healthier today, but I’m craving tacos.”

  He winked. “I love those curves, anyway. I think I’d cry if they went away.”

  I snorted.

  Then we walked hand-in-hand to the Taco Shop.

  We ate. We studiously ignored the man who followed us inside and was sitting in the corner. The man who was clearly a cyborg because not once did he touch the chips and salsa in front of him.

  We ignored. We talked. We enjoyed our meal and each other’s company.

  I overcame.

  Fifteen minutes into my gorging of chips and hot sauce, I finally caught on that Baylor was doing something that he wasn’t supposed to be doing.

  He’d been playing on his phone on and off, texting with Tate and Travis, keeping them updated on what he was doing. Then Tate had said something to him that caused him to furiously start playing with his phone as if he was on a mission.

  “What are you doing?” I asked.

  Baylor grinned. “Tate got a new thing from Amazon for his wife, and he let me connect to it to help set it up.”

  I blinked. “Okay, but what are you doing to it right now?”

  He pressed a few buttons, then leaned over so he could show me.

  “Playing with the music. He fucking hates rap…guess what I just found? The most gangster rap station on Pandora.”

  I started to shake my head, then grinned when I saw Hennessy walk in the door.

  She saw us immediately and came to sit down with us, sighing. “Please, save me from stupid people.”

  “What happened?” Baylor asked, biting his lip between his teeth and pressing more buttons.

  “I have a new patient that’s…let’s just say…colorful.” She snorted. “Seriously, colorful is about all I can come up with for him. He hates me.”

  “Think Tate hated you a little bit, too,” Baylor pointed out, still not looking up. “You got him to like you.”

  Hennessy snorted and her eyes fell on our chips and salsa. “Can I have some of that?”

  I nodded. “You can.”

  Then I pushed the basket toward her. “If I eat anymore, I’m not going to finish my lunch.”

  She snorted. “You never know how little self-control you have until chips and salsa are set down in front of you. Lord help me if there’s queso.”

  That was the truth.

  “What is he doing?”

  Hennessy indicated Baylor with her head, but before I could answer, her phone rang.

  “Hello?” she answered. “Slow down, Tate! Do not, under any circumstances, shoot my Alexa! I love her!”

  Heads turned at that.

  “No, I don’t know why it’s playing gangster rap, but I swear to God. I will kill you if you do anything to my favorite new toy.”

  Baylor started to laugh at that, and I joined right along with him.

  Whatever Baylor had been trying to accomplish by making me laugh, he’d done it.

  When my head turned in Sal’s direction once I’d regained my composure, it was to find him glaring at all of us with equal amounts of hate.

  Fuck. Yeah.

  ***

  I ended up not going back to work, and Dr. Castleberry was completely understanding about it when Baylor and I ran by to gather my college application papers and to give my excuse.

  With Sal following our every move, Baylor didn’t feel comfortable leaving me alone.

  So, I’d gone back to work with him.

  Now, I was sitting in his truck, watching everything.

  I loved sunglasses. Why, you ask?

  Because I could look at Baylor without anyone knowing.

  I could stare at his ass, his tight jeans with the long column of his cock down the front of his jeans…or I could stare at the tree. Nobody would ever know.

  At least I thought they wouldn’t.

  I should’ve known that Baylor would know.

  “Swear to Christ,” Baylor hissed. “If you keep looking at my dick like that, we’re going to go visit the fucking truck.”

  My eyes widened.

  “H-how…”

  “You’re licking your lips and staring at my dick. Those sunglasses don’t hide things as well as you think they do.”

  Chapter 25

  Resting bitch face saves me from having conversations.

  -Lark to Baylor

  Lark

  They liked me! They really liked me!

  It sucked.

  Really, no joking, it sucked.

  It was like they were forcing me out of my shell, and I didn’t want to be forced out.

  I was like a turtle—I needed my shell to survive.

  But they weren’t thinking that as they pulled me into their loving arms.

  And God, how many loving arms there were.

  It was like a fucking plague. One hugged, they all fucking hugged.

  Travis. Evander. Fucking Tate Casey.

  They all hugged me each time I saw them, and it was starting to creep me out.

  Hannah hugged. Hennessy. God, would it ever end?

  “You look mighty uncomfortable,” Rafe said, sounding amused.

  I looked up from where I was hunched into as small of a ball as I could get while still being comfortable, and s
hrugged.

  “This is a huggy lot,” I informed him. “It gives me heartburn.”

  We were at yet another company function. Travis said something about it being ‘team building.’

  I called bullshit. This was an excuse to drink beer and nothing more.

  But I couldn’t complain.

  Every last one of them had taken turns watching over me the last week since Sal had finally shown his face, and they deserved to let loose.

  Rafe started to chuckle and took a seat in the chair that I was currently sitting on the ground beside.

  I was positioned between two large chairs with a bonfire blazing in front of me, making it difficult for anyone to see me.

  It was hot. God, I was so hot.

  But it was either sweat my proverbial balls off or have to deal with more hugging.

  Hannah, Hennessy, and the rest of them were all great, don’t get me wrong. But Jesus, they acted like they never got to see each other, whereas it was every day that they spent this much time together. I didn’t even like seeing myself that much, why would I want to see them?

  “They mean well,” he said. “But it’s like when you’re invited into their fold, they feel the need to make sure you’re okay.”

  “I’m okay,” I muttered.

  He snorted.

  “I am.”

  He didn’t sound sure. He sounded like he thought I was lying, but he didn’t want to call me on it.

  That would be one of them that didn’t try to pry my feelings out of me.

  They thought since I was married to Baylor, that I was one of them.

  And I wasn’t.

  I’d never be one of them.

  These people, although nice, made me want to cut my arm off so they wouldn’t try to shake my hand.

  They were nice, caring and loving.

  I was appreciative of that…but I was a homebody. I didn’t like big parties—I’d had enough of being forced to those in my lifetime. I didn’t like being in huge crowds, and although the one I was currently in was intimate with only the people of the club and the Recovery employees, it wasn’t a small gathering. I estimated about fifty people in attendance.

  We sat in silence after that comment, and I realized rather quickly that Rafe was just as uncomfortable here as I was.

  I didn’t point that out to him, though.

  Instead, I continued to stay huddled against the huge pine that I was leaning against, tucked nicely between Rafe’s big body and the empty chair.