Colorado 03 Lady Luck (47 page)

His gaze again locked with mine, he told me
gently, “Missed you, baby.”

I swallowed again and my arms and legs
tightened around him. “Me too.”

“Do not ever leave me like that again,” he
ordered.

I decided not to remind him he told me
to.

Instead, I said softly, “Okay.”

He stared at me. Then he said softly back,
“Okay.”

Then he bent his head, touched his mouth to
mine, pulled gently out and then he reached out a long arm, tagged
my underwear, shifted his lower half and pulled my panties up my
legs. Then he rolled off me and got to his feet, righting his jeans
as he moved. I lifted up, my torso turning and twisting to keep him
in my sights as he walked to the kitchen. Then I watched, my chin
on my arm resting on the back of the couch, as he tagged a manila
envelope from the counter, walked to the junk drawer at the side,
dug through it and found what he wanted. Then I watched him walk to
the kitchen sink. He dug out a bunch of dishes and put them on the
counter (at a glance, it was very clear Ty was not tidy, so I kept
it solely at a glance).

Then my breath stopped as I watched him
strike a match and light the envelope on fire. He twisted and
turned it until it was a sheet of flame in his hand.

Then he dropped it in the sink and watched
it burn out. He tossed the matches on the counter and started
directly back to me.

“Divorce papers,” he stated.

I stared at him in shock.

Then I watched my man and his big, beautiful
body with its equally beautiful tats walking back to me.

Then I grinned.

He grinned back.

Then I couldn’t help it, I burst out
laughing.

* * * * *

Ty

“All’s well that ends well, my man,” Julius
said in his ear.

“All’s well that ends well, my ass, Champ.
Jesus fuckin’ Christ, are you insane?” Walker shot back and he felt
his wife’s body shift.

He looked down at her. He had a fuckload of
her toss pillows shoved behind his back on the armrest of the couch
so he was only partially reclined. She had one hip in the back of
the couch, the rest of her soft body was on his, his arm curled
around her back, hand up his tee she was wearing, his fingers
trailing the bare skin of her rounded ass. He was talking on the
phone. She was watching her finger tracing his tat and she was
doing this like she was committing it to memory. She was wearing
his tee and nothing else. He was wearing his jeans and nothing
else; he hadn’t even bothered to button but two of the buttons
mainly because he wasn’t done with her.

“She there?” Julius asked in his ear.

“Yeah,” Walker replied.

“She stayin’?” Julius went on and Walker’s
pulse spiked.

“Yeah,” Walker repeated.

“She naked?” Julius kept going and Walker
clamped his mouth shut.

Julius chuckled, assuming mostly wrongly.
Lexie was in his tee but still, by no means was access
hindered.

Then Julius spoke again. “You give this
time, you’ll stop bein’ pissed and thank me. Now, seein’ as you two
are reuniting and I ain’t sleepin’ on no couch, Anana and me have
checked into Carnal Hotel. My woman, for some fuckin’ reason, right
now is sittin’ in reception playin’ fuckin’ Harry Potter fuckin’
Clue with the proprietors. I’m gonna leave her to that shit ‘cause,
you know me, brother, I got no interest in fuckin’ Clue. Colonel
Mustard did it,
however
the
motherfucker did it, his ass is in the hole. Don’t need a reminder
a’ that shit. So I’m gonna get my trunks on and take a dip. We’ll
all go out and celebrate tomorrow ‘cause the next day, Anana and me
gotta get our asses home. You’re buyin’. That Rooster place. And
you’re buyin’ ‘cause, no matter how pissed you are right now, you
know you owe me.”

Before Walker could reply, Julius gave him
dead air.

He flipped his phone shut, tossed it on
Lexie’s jeans on the floor and scowled at it.

“We need a coffee table,” she noted quietly
and his eyes moved from his phone to his woman.

She’d stopped tracing his tat and her eyes
were on him. They were still slightly swollen from crying but they
were also still beautiful.

The most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.

We need a coffee table.

Fuck.

Fuck!

His mama was home.

She was home and those fucking divorce
papers were ashes in his sink.

That something inside him, that thing she
gave him, that thing that had been gone since she was, making him
feel hollow, empty, came back, filling him up. It shifted and again
started settling.

She’d been there now for hours. After he
burned the papers, he went back to her and took his time welcoming
her home and he didn’t do it with words. The first time was urgent,
desperate, the same feelings for both of them but for different
reasons.

The second time was not.

When he was done with her, she got on her
phone. She got on her phone because, no matter he’d fucked up and
hurt her, people who cared about him were worried.

First up was Honey. The easy one. Walker
listened to Lexie dealing with surprised relief and then tears.

That done, next up was Ella. Same drill at
first, surprised relief then tears. Then, this surprising Walker,
guilt. Guilt that Ella didn’t give it up to Lexie that Ty had come
looking for her. Guilt that she’d kept information from Ty about
where Lexie was. Guilt that her protective instinct was less
protective and more misguided and stubborn mingled with sadness
that she’d cost them time that didn’t end in tragedy but she’d
lived with that possibility for over eleven hours so the ghost of
that was there all the same. Then more tears.

Lexie handled that, next up was Bess. Again,
surprising Walker because Bess could be one hard bitch and she’d
taken on taking care of Lexie so he figured she’d hold one serious
fucking grudge, it was the same drill at first, surprised relief
then tears. Then what he expected came, but the angry emotion was
not directed at him and he knew this because he listened to Lexie
dealing with Bess threatening murderous intent to Julius.

Lexie handled that, tossed her phone to the
floor and turned to him.

That was when he learned that Bess had
rescued her from Shift. In fact, Bessie had called him while on her
way to rescue Lexie from Shift.

And Lex told him what Shift wanted, or, more
accurately, intended to take but he blocked that shit out. He had
to. He already took their future in his hands once, leaving the
state in order to perpetrate a felony against that piece of shit,
he didn’t need a real manslaughter charge on his hands.

The minute Bess got her; they went to Ella,
made plans and took off.

The beach, where Lexie thought she could
find some peace.

Bess went because, another surprise to
Walker because she might be a hard bitch but she also seemed one
who had it going on, she didn’t have it going on. She was screwing
her boss who was married, stringing her along and had been for
years. She was also between apartments and staying with a friend
who had a cat she did not like and a tendency to play whale song
for relaxation purposes, something else Bessie did not like. And
she was between apartments because she kept thinking her married
boss was going to stop stringing her along. Watching Lexie’s drama,
Bess got her head out of her ass and realized it was time to quit
pissing away her life and make a change.

So they took off to start new lives.

And they had the money to take off because,
a couple of days before, without anything else of value to get her
what she needed, his wife sold her fucking Charger.

He didn’t say it when she admitted it but
he’d be rectifying that fucking situation the next fucking day.
That ride was sweet and his wife loved it, doted on that fucking
thing, called it “her baby”.

So she’d be getting a new one.

And, lastly, Walker learned that by the time
Julius made his entirely fucked up but inarguably successful play,
she was still in that fleabag motel, spending her days in her head
at the beach and the proof of this was the very sweet, honeyed tan
that kissed nearly every inch of her skin. Bess was working in a
kid’s arcade in order that they didn’t piss away all their money
while Lexie pulled herself together and they figured out their next
move.

After she got done giving, Walker had called
Julius.

And now she was there, eyes on him, body on
him.

“You gave, mama, now you take,” he whispered
and felt her hand flatten on his chest.

“What are you gonna give me?” she asked when
he said no more.

“Everything,” he answered immediately,
watched her lips part and more fucking tears fill her eyes then his
arm tightened around her back and he slid her up his body so they
were face to face. “But first,” he went on quietly, “you give me
one more thing.”

“What?” she whispered.

“Tell me where your rings are so I can go
get ‘em and put ‘em back on your fuckin’ finger.”

She stared at him and he watched one tear
slide over and glide down her cheek. He lifted a hand and, with his
thumb, he swept it away. When he did, she got a handle on it.

Then she said, “They’re in my purse.”

“Where’s your purse?”

She looked adorably confused for a moment,
like she forgot what a purse was, then she focused and said, “In
your Cruiser.”

He nodded, slid out from under her and moved
to the stairs to the garage, buttoning enough buttons on his jeans
to keep them on his hips.

Julius had played him too, saying he was in
town to deal with something that came up with Walker’s shit, an
angle Julius kept working even though Walker told him that angle
was dead and he was working with Tate and hoping Peña was out there
seeing to shit. That said, Walker didn’t try too hard to discourage
his friend from this mission, mainly because Julius’s angle was
giving them shit they could use.

Julius brought Anana because Julius said
Anana wanted to meet him. He’d given them the Cruiser to deal with
their business because Julius had lied again and said they were
having trouble with their car, a two-seater, when that was bullshit
and they needed a backseat to put Lexie in.

He didn’t like his brother’s tactics,
Julius’s play was extreme and he could not imagine thinking for
eleven hours that his wife was on the verge of dying, but when he
went to the Cruiser and saw then grabbed her purse from the
backseat then saw and grabbed her bag from the back, he couldn’t
help but think that regardless of how extreme the play, Julius was
right. All’s well that ends well. And Julius’s play had ended
spectacularly well and Walker’s errand was conclusive evidence of
that fact.

He carried them both upstairs, left her bag
by the railing, took her purse to the island, dug through and found
she had all the boxes in her purse. She didn’t check them, had them
close all the time. Definitely a smart decision. Probably also an
emotional one.

He found the one he was looking for, opened
it, pulled out the jewelry box inside, flipped it open and saw both
rings embedded there. He tagged them and moved directly back to his
wife, resuming the exact same position but with her torso more on
his so her left arm was not caught between his body and the
couch.

Then he positioned the rings and slid them
on her finger.

Lexie didn’t give him the chance to do what
he intended to do and that was put his lips to them. She did a face
plant in his chest and he felt her body rear and her breath catch
on more tears.

He let her hand go and wrapped both of his
arms around her as she slid her face up and pressed it into his
neck.

Then he waited. This jag didn’t last as
long, she got a handle on it and he listened to her pull in
steadying breaths. Then she lifted a hand and swiped at her face.
Then she settled cheek to his shoulder. That was when he lifted a
hand and slid her hair away from her face and off her neck, feeling
its softness fall and glide down his shoulder and arm.

He missed that. He knew he missed it but
having it back he realized he
missed it.

Then he wrapped his arm around her
again.

“Now, baby, tell me what you wanna take,” he
said gently and heard her pull in another breath.

Then she asked, “Are you okay?”

His answer was immediate and he tightened
his arms on her when he gave it. “Fuck yeah.”

He felt her smile against his skin before
she lifted up and gave the smile to him visibly.

Then it faded slowly and she said, “I don’t
mean now, honey, I mean with everything that’s going on.”

His head tilted slightly on the pillows.
“Everything that’s going on?”

She bit her lip, hesitant, unsure and, fuck
him, scared.

Fuck.

He gave her another squeeze and asked,
“Baby, what the fuck?”

“With Tate,” she stated quickly and he got
it. She was bringing up what bought her his anger and caused him to
act like one serious dumb fuck, breaking her and nearly destroying
them.

“
Do not hesitate with that shit, mama,” he
told her. “With me, do not hesitate with
any
shit.”

“Ty –” she said quietly, still unsure.

“Lex, do you think, six weeks without you, I
didn’t learn my fuckin’ lesson?”

She blinked.

He kept going. “I learned, baby. Lived raw
for six fuckin’ weeks, wasting my own goddamned life
and
yours. Downloading on-line
divorce papers…” He shook his head, not going back there, not
fucking there, doing that shit cost him too much, he couldn’t go
back there. So he finished, “Fuck yeah, I learned.”

“Lived raw?” she whispered and he felt his
brows draw together.