Folding Hearts (4 page)

Miranda came out of the bathroom smelling like heaven. She wore a tight tank top that pushed up her already large breasts and low rise skinny jeans. She did a spin in front of me. “How do I look? I still feel like I am so fat.”

We had become pretty good friend
s
in the past few months. I think sometimes I freaked her out always asking about Izzy and even giving her my own nickname, but she still called every now and again to catch up or vent about her douche bag boyfriend.

I had to admit, this
was the first time I had really looked at her as a woman and not a family member. I couldn’t take my eyes off of her, especially her tits. He
r
curves were perfect and I imagined how fucking awesome it would feel to bend her over something.

I needed to shake that feeling.

It didn’t help that she was blonde, which was so sexy to me. Van was the only brunette I had ever been attracted to. Today Miranda had curled the bottom of her hair. It flowed down her back. She could have been the sexiest Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader. I pictured her in that little outfit they wear and got a big smile on my face.

I tried to hide my expression, so th
at she couldn’t tell I was mind-
fucking her. The idea of doing that to her just seemed wro
ng, but I couldn’t stop
.
Having a baby had caused the girl to have never ending curves.
“Uh, you look fine.”

That was all I could say.

She turned around again and ran her hand over her ass. “
I was hoping I looked better than just fine
. T
hese jeans are new. Are you sure they don’t make my ass look fat? They are so tight
, but I need to be sexy
.
Tonight is important.
”

I kept my smile to a minimum.
Did every woman ask that question?
“Are you going for a sweet relaxing good time, or more of a ‘I want to get laid’ look?”

She turned around and rolled her eyes at me. “
Seriously Ty
,
I wanted your opinion. You have been with a lot of people, you know what guys like.
Do I look sexy enough? How are the boobs?
”

A lot of people?

The idea of her being with that little dickhead made my skin crawl.
She obviously wanted to fuck him tonight. I wasn’t going to help her do it.
“
We are related. I am not answering that.
”

She turned around to face me, leaned over and put her hands on my knees
, teasing me with those breasts
.

Close your eyes..do not lick your lips.

“We are not really related. Look at me and be honest.
So…….I need to know if I look hot? Do you think he will want me?”

If he doesn’t than he is a fool.

She was too close. I could smell whatever she had put on her body and it smelled delicious. I wanted to lick her skin. Her t
its were pressed together in her
shirt and
I had to
put my hands into fists to keep from reaching up and trying to touch them. I couldn’t do this, for so many reasons. She was something I could never want and never have. I stopped staring at her tits and looked straight into those beautiful blue eyes
.

Oh God that was just as bad.
“We are family. I can’t answer that.”

She
stood up and
put her hands on her hips. “Picture me as someone else then. If I had a bag over my head and you didn’t know it was me would you want to hit it?”

I laughed out loud.

God, her use of words were killing me.
“Mir
anda you look really hot. I am s
ure you will have a fantastic night.” I smiled and tried not to look at her rocking body anymore. It was wrong to look at her the way I was. She was
just so
beautiful
.
No wonder Van felt threatened, even when she was pregnant. Now we were such good friends. In fact, I knew too much about her to look at her like I was.

“Tonig
ht has to work,” s
he said as she looked down at her chest and adjusted them once more, in front of me.

“What do you mean?” I was curious.

“He won’t take our future serious
ly
. All Tucker wants to do is run around with his friends and get into trouble. I need him to be here for Bella and I.”

“What exactly di
d he do to get into trouble?” It was more like what hadn’t he done.

She looked at her fingernails and avoided eye contact. “He stole metal from scrap yards and then took it back in for cash the next day. He would do it at different places and eventually they
caught
on to his scheme.”

“Sounds like it isn’t a big deal.”

“Do you have any idea how much copper is worth? Some of the yards give almost three dollars a pound f
or clean
copper. Some days he was makin’
over a grand. I think that is how they caught him. They recognized the copper. Large amounts of it are easy to spot.”

“Sounds stupid.”

She gave me a dirty look. “Everyone makes mistakes Ty.”

“You are right. Sorry. I just can’t see having a baby at home and risking it all for a few bucks. Has he ever just looked at her and saw how perfect she is?”
I could see it and she wasn’t even my kid.

I overstepped my place, but it wa
s obvious I was crazy about that
kid. I had held her
mother’s
hand in the back of that car and let her head rest on my lap as she pushed. I had brushed away her tears when she cried in pain and been the one to tell her she would be okay. Izzy’s birth was so special to me.

Obviously I made her mad. She shook her head and wouldn’t answer.

“Good luck
,
” I said looking down and noticing that Izzy was crawling away. I jumped down and followed her acting like a dog. She crawled faster and made excited coos as she tried to get away.

“I guess I will see you in the morning?” She asked.

“Sounds good.” I grabbed Izzy and held her up to face her mother. “Tell Mommy you love her
,
” I said against her cheek.

Miranda leaned in and took a kiss from her daughter. Her face was so close to mine that I breathed in her sweet scent again.
“You smell nice.” I said as she walked away.

I couldn’t help watching her leave. That there was the finest ass I had ever seen.
Tucker was a fucking fool. I’d lost the love of my life and I would never get her back, I knew it, but damn he had a family. How could he ignore that?

She really did look totally hot and she didn’t need a paper bag over her head for me to see it. I shook off the urge to chase after her and instead spent the rest of the evening with my favorite little girl.

Sometime
later Lucy came in to check on us, but I had already changed Izzy and given her a bottle. The old woman gave me a raised eyebrow and took a second look at the sleeping baby on my chest. She walked away shaking her head claiming she would be back down to check on us later. I got myself
comfortable
and made sure both of my arms were securely wrapped around her before closing my eyes for a short nap myself.

Chapter 5

Miranda

It was already dark when I left to head to Charlie
’s
house. He lived in a small trailer in the middle of nowhere. It had become the local party house on weekends because the cops would never get called. I was so nervous about seeing Tucker. I had missed him so much.

After spending almost an hour getting ready and seeing the look on Ty’s face when I leaned over, I knew I looked hot enough to prove my point tonight. My friends always said ‘if you got it flaunt it’, well that is what I planned to do tonight.

When I pulled up into the driveway, I noticed the slew of cars already parked in the driveway. After checking myself in the rearview mirror one last time I climbed out of the car. I knew for a fact I would be totally overdressed, but that was the point.

The commotion of the party was coming from the backyard, so I headed in that direction. I couldn’t help but notice half of the voices were female. Tucker had told me it was just the guys tonight. My cheeks instantly flushed with anger. This
wasn’t
the first time he had lied to me about being around other women. As I made the turn around the back of the trailer I started looking for Tucker. I heard whistles and realized they could see my figure, but didn’t notice who I was yet. I kept walking toward the crowd. Charlie and Nick, Tucker
’
s two best friends stood up and headed in my direction.

“Miranda? What are you doin’ here?” Nick asked, almost preventing me from looking past them.

“What do you think I am doin’ here? I want to have a good time. Where is my man?”

Charlie was giving me a once over and lickin
g
his lips. I waved my hand in front of his face. “Hello? Up here.”

“Sorry, you just…well you look hot Miranda. I guess I haven’t seen you in a while.
You sure do look different,
” Charlie stuttered out.

“Thanks
,
but I am here to see Tucker. Where is he? I saw his car out front.”

I pushed past them and they followed trying to say something, but I ignored them. He clearly wasn’t outside so I headed for the trailer.

“Miranda..WAIT!” Charlie yelled behind me. He ran up in front of me. “He isn’t inside.”

Just as I started to believe him, the back door flew open. Tucker was laughing with his beer in one hand and a redhead’s ass in his other.

“What the hell?” I yelled as I ran toward them. “Tucker?”

His hand quickly moved away from the little ginger. “Miranda, I can explain.”

I started walking away and knew he was followin
g
. “I don’t see how you are goin
g
to talk me out of what I think I just saw Tucker. Is this why you didn’t invite me?”

He grabbed both of my arms. “She means nothin’ to me babe. We were just messin’ around. I was tellin’ her about you.”

I pulled away from his grasp. “Do you really expect me to believe that lame ass excuse? Did you sleep with her?”

“Hell no!”

I folded my hands across my chest. “Really? Why don’t I go find her and ask myself then.”

Adrenaline filled my veins and I knew it was much better than him seeing me cry. I wanted answers and I wanted them now.

“She likes me, but I never returned the feelins. Let’s go somewhere and be alone. We can talk this through.”

“No! I am a mother of a beautiful little girl and I will be damned if I let her daddy walk all over me.”

I turned and started walking away. There was no way that I was going to let him see me crying.

“Mira
nda wait! I will go with you,” h
e offered by grabbing my arm.

I yanked myself out of his
strong
grip. “Get the fuck off of me! I can’t even look at your
lyin
’
ass right now. Do not follow me. Go back to that little whore and have a great night, you son of a bitch.”

He backed away and st
ood there watching as I skidded
down the driveway. I couldn’t catch my breath for at least ten minutes. My car sat at the end of the road until I could stop crying enough to be able to see out of my tear filled eyes.

How could he just pretend that we didn’t exist? How could he ignore his responsibilities the way he was? How was I going to do all of this without him?

All of those questions made me cry even more. Every time I saw headlights in the rearview mirror, I thought it would be Tucker coming to apologize, but he never did.

When an hour had passed, I had become so angry that I decided to go back and give him a real piece of my mind. Part of me wanted to call my brother, but I knew he would beat the living shit out of Tucker and end up in jail over it. I
wasn’t
willing to risk my brother getting into trouble.

I pulled in across from Charlie’s trailer and climbed out of my car without being seen. Just like last time, I could hear the laughter coming from the backyard.  I walked around the opposite side of the house and peeked around it slowly so I wouldn’t be spotted.

My heart dropped when I spotted the same redhead, sitting on Tucker’s lap, with her tongue in his mouth. I closed my eyes and put my hand over my mouth to keep from crying out. Unable to accept what I had just witnessed, I looked again.  This time the re
d
head was wrapping her legs around his waist and his hands were on her ass. She leaned back and his face went against her nec
k. Before I could make a move, h
e stood up with her still attached to his hips, and carried her toward the house.