Sinners are Winners Page 9

  I started to laugh in earnest. “Chill the hell out, Mom. I promise, this is very new…and depending on your answer when I get there and ask, it might very well be not at all.”

  “The answer is yes, then,” she immediately announced. “Whatever the question.”

  “What if I ask to move back in because we’re having a love child together, and I think we can’t raise it on our own?” I wondered.

  “I’d say double yes,” she said. “Your dad, on the other hand? He’d likely lose a couple of screws. According to him, he just got rid of y’all.”

  I snorted.

  “That’s a lie,” I said as I glanced around the parking lot. “I’ve been gone for years.”

  “Yes,” she agreed. “But your sister just moved out last fall.”

  That was true. Ares had been living at home for quite a while. Rune had been gone since she turned eighteen and could legally live on her own without offending my parents.

  “That’s your husband’s fault,” I told her, seeing something in the very back of the parking lot that drew my attention.

  A car. One that looked slightly familiar, but I couldn’t figure out why.

  There was a lone figure sitting inside of it, smoking.

  I could just see the cloud of smoke drifting out of the window with the quickly darkening sky.

  “That was my husband’s fault,” she agreed, sighing. “I’ll see you in a couple of hours. I’m making brownies. You better be here before nine, or there’s no telling how many will be left. Your father is insatiable.”

  I gagged. “Mom, there are just some things that I don’t want to know.”

  My mom laughed.

  “Oh, shut up. You know what I mean.”

  I went back inside after hanging up and taking one more look at the car in the back of the parking lot.

  Unfortunately, there was a storm rolling in and the twilight was quickly losing what little light it had left. Making it almost impossible to see without walking closer.

  And since the object of my desire was inside in the opposite direction, I would be letting this one go.

  But I made a mental note to check before I left, just in case.

  Likely it would no longer be there, but I’d check anyway.

  Arriving inside, it was to find the place in chaos.

  Saylor had set her family to work helping her set up the cake table.

  I was set to work putting up the refreshment table by Justice’s parents.

  And Justice didn’t arrive with his new bride for at least another hour.

  By the time he arrived for the small, intimate reception, it was time for me to leave.

  But I made sure to congratulate him and his new wife.

  Then I looked for Saylor, only to find her surrounded by the Dixie Wardens MC.

  Knowing that I wouldn’t be able to get in there without making an utter fool of myself and announcing to them all that I had a thing for Saylor, I decided to wait.

  Tomorrow, I’d catch her before she left.

  Tonight, though?

  I had a couple other things that I had to do. One of which was going to see my mother and asking her about a job.

  One that would hopefully keep Saylor in Kilgore, Texas long enough for us to explore what burned bright between us.

  Chapter 6

  And for my next trick, I’ll dazzle you with the illusion that I have my shit together.

  -Coffee Cup

  Saylor

  The last of my boxes were packed, and I was staring at my now fully-ready-to-move shit that was piled high along the living room walls.

  I felt a wave of melancholy sweep through me at the sight.

  I didn’t want to leave my apartment.

  I didn’t want to leave this area.

  And after last night, I didn’t want to leave Lock Downy.

  I swallowed hard and looked away, wondering if I could make the hour-plus drive here once a night just so I could see Lock.

  Then I realized that no, without a steady job, I couldn’t make that drive often. Gas was freakin’ expensive.

  Pissy now and thinking that this couldn’t possibly get any worse, I grabbed a box and exited my apartment, heading straight for my car.

  Only I never made it to my car because someone called my name, making me stall in my tracks.

  The last person in the world I expected to see first thing that morning as I was loading my car up was Lock.

  But as I glanced up, there he was.

  He was in uniform, and my breath stalled in my chest.

  “Wow,” I said, taking it all in. “You look, ummm….”

  “If you say I look like an extra out of Chips, I’ll take back everything that I said to you last night about you being beautiful.”

  I started to giggle.

  “That actually hadn’t even crossed my mind.” I looked behind me to see where my parents were in correlation to where I was standing. When I remembered that they had left to get the U-Haul, I turned back. “I was going to say fuckable.”

  Lock’s grin was infectious as he said, “That’s allowed then.”

  My smile was pure feminine satisfaction.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked as I looked at my watch. “It’s not even six in the morning yet.”

  He gestured to his police-issued motorcycle.

  “Working…or about to,” he admitted. “I don’t start for another thirty minutes.”

  “Oh,” I paused. “What are you doing here?”

  He looked at my boxes, then at me.

  “I talked to my mom last night,” he said.

  I blinked. “Okay…”

  “My mom owns her own business,” he continued.

  I stayed silent, wondering where he was going with this.

  “My mom owns an independent imaging company that caters to soon-to-be mothers.” He kept going. “She does sonograms and shit.”

  My lips peeled away from my teeth as I started to laugh.

  “Your mom owns Baby Gaze?” I guessed.

  I’d applied there but hadn’t ever heard back.

  “Yeah,” he nodded. “That one.” He started walking toward me and took the box right out of my hands. Placing it on the hood of my car, he started explaining. “She opened the place up a couple of years ago. Something that she wanted to get started and do on the side while my dad worked. Something that she could do at her own pace, in her own way.”

  I nodded.

  That sounded like heaven.

  “I didn’t realize that you were an ultrasound technician until the day we were making cakes.” He paused. “And it didn’t even occur to me until yesterday, when my mom called bitching about her new hire quitting, that I could get y’all in touch.”

  My heart started to pound.

  “I went to talk to her last night. Told her about you.” He grinned. “And she has no problem hiring someone that junk-punched her date on national television.”

  I burst out laughing.

  I couldn’t help it.

  But then I sobered and wiped my eyes.

  “I can’t,” I said to Lock. “As much as I’d like to, I have to move out of the apartment. They’ve already signed the lease with someone else.”

  He frowned, looking thoughtful for a second.

  “I have a pool house,” he said. “It’s not nice by any means…but it’ll do until you can find yourself another place.”

  That was when my dad pulled up in his truck, hauling a U-Haul behind it.

  Lock’s eyes moved to the moving truck, then back to me.

  “Don’t go,” he said softly.

  I didn’t want to go.

  I wanted to stay.

  “If I stay…will I get to see you a lot? I mean, your mom does work there,” I hedged.

  Will we be able to see each other and spend time with each other? Date?

  He seemed to read between the lines, but he
teased me anyway.

  “I don’t often go over there,” he admitted. “It’s not really a place that single men like me go. There are a bunch of hormonal, pregnant women and their families there. It’s kind of the last place that I’d really want to be.”

  “Are you?” I found myself asking.

  “Am I what?” he wondered.

  “Single.”

  His grin went into a full-blown smile that took my breath away.

  “Not if you don’t want me to be,” he said.

  No, I definitely didn’t want him to be.

  But then I started thinking about living at his place.

  “I don’t know if moving into your place is a great idea,” I admitted. “If I’m working with your mom and living in your pool house…”

  He seemed to read between the lines.

  “Then we’ll wait until you’re moved out,” he suggested.

  Was that all it took?

  Waiting?

  I could wait.

  I could wait if he could.

  An alarm went off on his watch, and he cursed.

  Reaching into his pocket, he produced a set of keys and tossed them my way.

  “Keys to the pool house,” he said. “I have two driveways. Use the second one. Also, you have an interview with my mother at one o’clock…she won’t care what you’re wearing.” He paused. “And before you start saying that you can’t move into a house before you know if you have a job, this is all a formality. She wants to meet you. Get you set up in the system. Paperwork filled out, etc.”

  I looked down at my cut-off jean shorts and boob-revealing pink tank top.

  “Yeah,” I said. “I’m not wearing this.”

  He looked sad. So sad, in fact, that his lip poked out into the smallest of pouts.

  “Damn,” he said, pout disappearing. “I was going to bring lunch, too.”

  Then he was gone, nodding at my father who was still sitting in the parked truck.

  My mother was still in the truck, also. She was too busy shoving a donut into her face to notice Lock leaving.

  My dad, however, didn’t miss a single thing.

  Dad got out just as Lock was riding his motorcycle down the road.

  I watched until I couldn’t see him anymore.

  Mainly because his ass looked like two juicy melons sitting on top of that motorcycle seat.

  When I sat down on a motorcycle seat, my ass formed around the seat. The seat didn’t conform to me—not like Lock’s did.

  And those pants!

  Holy shit.

  The pants, paired with the tight shirt that showed off an impressive chest?

  Yeah, that was definitely something I needed a picture of, you know, for educational purposes later.

  I whipped out my phone, wondering if I could zoom in really fast, when my father finally made it to my side.

  “What are you doing?” he asked.

  I looked at him guiltily.

  “He just offered me a job.” I looked at him shamefacedly. “His mom owns her own imaging company. They cater to pregnant women wanting sonograms and stuff.”

  I was honestly afraid to look at him when the silence went on for so long.

  Finally Lock disappeared from sight, and my photo opportunity was lost.

  I looked over to see my dad staring at me.

  “What?” I asked.

  “You like him,” he said. “You want to stay because of him.”

  I flushed.

  “I want to stay because I like it here,” I admitted. “Him and me talking at the wedding? That was just a huge coincidence. One I want to explore? Yes. But also not all the way why I want to stay. I like…being me here. I like the anonymity of it. I’m not too far from home that I can’t get there fast, but I’m also not working in a city where my father and his club rule with an iron fist.”

  He sighed.

  “So what are we doing with your stuff?” he asked.

  Somehow, I knew he wasn’t going to like this answer, either.

  ***

  One o’clock was quickly approaching, and before I knew it, I was showering in Lock’s pool house and tearing my way through boxes looking for something suitable enough to wear to an interview.

  I finally found a black dress that would suit my needs, slipped it on, and then went about getting ready.

  When I came out of the bathroom, my dad was looking at the pool that wasn’t a pool.

  It was just a rather large hole in the ground that used to once be a pool.

  “This place is weird,” he said.

  It was.

  “Wait until you see the main house,” I told him. “He bought it and totally renovated the inside. But instead of walls, it’s one big open area. Like…only the bathroom has a door around it. The rest is just open.”

  Dad frowned.

  “That’s…odd,” he said. “Was it condemned or something?”

  I went about explaining what Lock had told me, and he shook his head.

  “Lot of work for one person,” he admitted. “Looks like he was about to start working on the pool house, though.”

  I’d noticed that, too.

  There were tools and shit inside, and some of the bathroom had been torn down as if that was where he was starting first.

  “Wonder why they had a pool house, anyway,” he said. “It’s like the size of a postage stamp back here.”

  “All pool and pool house,” I agreed. “I have to admit…having a pool would be really nice. I could totally work on my tan.”

  Dad looked at my already tanned skin.

  “I gave you a permanent tan, you don’t have to work on shit,” he rumbled.

  “Where’s Mom?” I asked.

  “Buying you sheets and curtains,” he murmured. “She asked me to go with her, but I decided that I’d rather shoot myself in the foot than step foot in a home store with her when she’s acting like that.”

  ‘Like that’ meaning she wanted to decorate and buy stuff.

  Dad hated shopping.

  “All right,” I sighed, looking at my watch. “I have to go.”

  Dad pulled me into a one-armed hug.

  I squirmed when his sweaty chest began to hit my face.

  “Ewwww,” I said, pushing him away.

  He grinned and let me go, but not before dropping a kiss onto my forehead.

  “See you when you get back,” he said.

  I felt something akin to panic hit me.

  “Dad,” I said. “You’re not waiting here until Lock gets back.”

  He gave me a droll look.

  “Of course not,” he lied.

  I sighed and stared up at the eaves of the pool house, noticing that the gutters looked in desperate need of repair. Honestly, the whole place did.

  But at least it looked cozy and comfortable. Sure, it could use a few coats of paint, and the insides really should get a makeover from the seventies carpet, but it was definitely livable and the kitchen was about twice the size of my apartment—the entire apartment. Though, very outdated and in need of an update as well.

  I sighed. “I’ll be back.”

  He grunted something out that sounded like ‘I’ll be waiting’ but I didn’t turn around to make sure.

  When I arrived at Baby Gaze moments later—and I do mean moments, it was right around the corner and down a street in a residential house that looked like a farmhouse—I blew out a breath of nerves.

  Those nerves disappeared when a smiling, older woman with beautiful hair and a body to die for opened the door and said, “Come in!”

  I quickly hurried up the path to the house, thinking it would be a great picture for a postcard.

  Something in which I told her moments later when I arrived on the front porch to stand in front of her.

  She laughed.

  “When I bought this place, it was in disrepair.” She held the door open for me to precede her inside.
“Lock and Downy really came through. Even Jonah.”

  “Jonah?” I asked curiously.

  “Jonah is Downy’s brother. Lock’s uncle.” She paused. “He works with him at the police department. He’s actually in the same unit as Lock.”

  I nodded. “I understand. I haven’t heard much about the unit. But I saw what he was wearing this morning and…”

  Memphis burst out laughing.

  “You liked it,” she guessed. “I liked it, too. He looks adorable in it.”

  Adorable wouldn’t have been the word I would’ve used.

  She understood that too by reading the look on my face.

  “I love that.” She smiled. “Come in, come in. Let me show you around.”

  I walked with her through the rooms.

  The first bedroom on the right was where the examinations would take place. The bedrooms in the back were empty but for some supplies. The one in the very back was where the kitchen and break room was.

  “Was this the site of the original kitchen?” I wondered.

  She nodded. “Yes.” She pointed to a wall. “We put that wall up, though. Separated the living room from the kitchen. We also added another bathroom using the laundry room.”

  “That’s really cool,” I admitted. “I’m very unsavvy when it comes to home improvement. My dad and I worked on my mom’s she-shed…and let’s just say that it came out that I wasn’t all that helpful.”

  She started to laugh.

  “I wasn’t either, to be honest,” she said. “I tried. But there was just some manly connection that I couldn’t quite tap into when it came to helping. Every time I tried, I screwed something up. So I ended up being a cheerleader and the food go-getter.”

  I touched the walls.

  “Shiplap,” I said. “I love them.”

  She beamed.

  “They’re the original walls,” she gushed. “I had no idea they were under there, but I told my husband that I wanted shiplap walls after watching Chip and JoAnna Gaines do their remodeling. When we found these underneath the wallpaper, I was so freakin’ ecstatic.”

  I could imagine.

  She gestured for me to follow her.

  “Most of the time, I’ll have this all paid for upfront. They book the appointment and pay online. All of it is done through the computer. It’s a very rare occurrence when they haven’t paid. And that’s only if they come in before the appointment to do it. I had a couple of no-shows that showed me that I didn’t want to be living that life. So I make them pay upfront…that way if they don’t show, it’s on their dime and not mine.”