Maid to Fit (18 page)

“Ronnie? I’m scared. Mom’s not home from the hospital yet and I heard a noise. Can
you come back over until she gets here?” Addie asked. “I was going to call her but
I know Grandma needs her right now. I’m trying to be
mature
, but I swear I heard something.”

He could hear the fear in Addie’s voice and he wanted to help but he didn’t want to
make things even worse with Kayla by overstepping his bounds again. Sergeant Buck
whined from the blanket Ronnie had spread out on the floor. With Rusty currently out
of town, he’d taken to sneaking Buck into his apartment at night and attempting to
stay gone most of the day.

“Look, I can’t stay there without your mom’s permission, but I can bring Sergeant
Buck over there, check things out and then leave him there with you overnight. I can
pick him up in the morning when your mom gets home. How does that sound?” he offered.
“Even the biggest creep on earth is no match for a pissed-off Sergeant Buck.”

“I know I’m being a baby, but that would be so great. How long will it take for you
to get here?”

“Ten minutes. Just check the doors and windows and we’ll be there before you know
it,” he replied.

He scrambled up and got dressed and was surprised to find Buck waiting at the door
to the apartment once he managed to pull on his coat and find the keys to the truck.
He banged on Ian’s bedroom door, since Seth had company, and told him he was leaving.
Then they were out and headed to Kayla’s house. It was freezing outside, and he gave
Buck another pat for having found Mary earlier. The older woman would have had little
chance of survival if left out in the elements on this night in her thin clothing.

Pulling into the driveway at Kayla’s, he couldn’t help but snicker. Addie had turned
on every light in the house. That, along with the few holiday decorations in the yard
and around the windows, had the place shining like the North Star. The front door
swung open before he and Buck even made it all the way up the walk.

“What took you so long?” Addie asked when he stepped inside.

“I had to fight off an army of zombies at the end of the street,” he said.

“Very funny,” she said, kneeling to hug Sergeant Buck.

He started his search of the premises upstairs in Addie’s room, and when he didn’t
find anything, he advised her to get in bed, since it was after one o’clock in the
morning. She looked slightly embarrassed, but not enough to keep her from wanting
Buck’s protection.

“Come on, Sergeant Buck,” she said after climbing on her bed and patting the place
beside her.

Buck looked at Ronnie as though pleading his case to avoid this form of punishment.
Ronnie gave the dog a reassuring pat on his head, then pointed at the floor beside
Addie’s bed and said, “Buck, down.”

The dog lay down on Addie’s pink fluffy rug and let out a loud sigh of relief. Then
Ronnie advised Addie that he would make sure everything was secure and would lock
the front door behind him when he left. She seemed reassured, but knowing his sisters’
ridiculousness when they were afraid, he figured he would park up the street for a
bit to make sure she had enough time to either fall asleep or call him
yet again
.

He closed Buck in Addie’s room and then inspected the rest of the house before heading
down the street to park and wait. Relief settled in that Addie had called him rather
than one of her friends…especially Chase. He’d recognized the boy’s interest in Addie,
and some weird protective instinct had kicked in. Ronnie was thankful that there was
still enough kid left in Addie that she chose to tell an adult when she was afraid
rather than looking for adult-type comforts in the arms of some silly boy. Ronnie
would like to see Addie wait a good ten years or so before doing that.
Maybe twenty years.

After an hour passed with no phone call and with the lights still dark, he headed
back to his apartment to try to get a few hours of sleep.

He was awakened a few hours later by a knock on the door. He heard Ian talking and
forced himself out of the bed and into the living room. The landlord. Busted already
and Rusty hadn’t even been gone for two days.

Rusty had given Ronnie a key to his place and told him he could stay there with Buck.
The problem was that all Ronnie’s things were in his room, including his stuff for
school. He had figured he could at least finish out the week at the apartment, since
he had classes. Then he would stay at Rusty’s place next week when there were no classes
because of the holidays. Looked like he needed to make other plans.

After Ian offered to allow the landlord to look around for a dog since there wasn’t
one there, the man left and Ian gave Ronnie a knowing look. Ronnie was going to have
to continue making the trip back and forth between his place and Rusty’s or just pack
a few things and stay over there. By having Buck at the apartment, he not only risked
being evicted himself but also risked Ian and Seth’s ability to stay. That wasn’t
fair.

“I’ll just pack a few things and stay over at Rusty’s. Sorry, man,” he said to Ian.

“Where is Buck, by the way? I was half-asleep and only caught some of what you said
last night,” Ian said, heading into the small kitchen to make some coffee.

“An all-night emergency cheer session?” Seth asked Ronnie with a grin as he exited
his bedroom and closed the door quickly—but not before Ronnie caught a glimpse of
the blonde sleeping within.

“Please tell me that is a bridesmaid from last night’s party and not the bride herself,”
Ian said to Seth. Seth only smiled, obviously proud of his latest triumph.

“Kayla’s mother managed to get out of the nursing home yesterday. I took Buck over
and he was able to track Mary, but she’d been hurt. Kayla went with her to the hospital
and Addie called because she got scared being home alone. I took Buck over and left
him with Addie so she’d settle down and go to bed,” he replied.

Ian and Seth shared a look between them but didn’t say anything. Ronnie had been a
real bitch these past few weeks. He knew it, but couldn’t seem to shake off his bad
mood. Between getting back into the habit of school and missing Kayla and Addie, he’d
been a little out of sorts.

He had hoped upon hope that Kayla would realize she cared about him and call him.
When she hadn’t called he’d gone home for a much needed visit with his family. By
the end of the visit his whole family had figured out that he was licking the wounds
of a heartbreak That had made things even worse, because then his mama had called
in the troops—
his sisters
—who felt the need to share their wisdom regarding women…whether he wanted it or not.

His return to Ohio had been just as bad. Ian or Seth, one of them, had left a cheerleading
movie on his bed, and instead of finding it funny or even humiliating, it had only
reminded him of Addie, which then reminded him of Kayla. Ronnie knew he needed to
snap out of it since the jokes coming from his closest friends stopped after only
a few days. That meant they weren’t getting a response and had decided to give up.

“Glad to hear Buck was able to find the old woman. I guess, like me, he is a dog of
many talents,” Seth said.

Ian rolled his eyes. He handed Ronnie a cup of coffee and sat next to him on the couch.

“I’m sure that was a weight off Kayla’s shoulders, that her mother is safe,” Ian said.

“You guys suck at subtlety,” Ronnie said. “Kayla thanked me, but that’s it. I know
that job brought in good money, but you’re both working other jobs now and I’m still
paying my own way because I was smart and saved my money.”

“It’s not the money, it’s the pouting that is annoying,” Ian said. “You kind of put
me in mind of a teenage girl not making the cheerleading squad.”

“You seriously need new material, man,” Ronnie replied.

“Why don’t you hang at the club? A little rebound action might help. I may be a little
older now but I still got it, and I can hook you up with some prime action,” Seth
said with a smile.

“I appreciate it, but I really just need to pull my head out of my ass and focus on
school. Stop worrying about stupid shit and focus,” he said.

“I’m sure it would be easier if the kid wouldn’t call, but you did the right thing,
man. They can take the soldier out of the army but they can’t take the army out of
the soldier,” Ian replied.

Ian was right. Saying no to Addie when she needed him, regardless of his issues with
Kayla, was as impossible as his sisters butting out of his business. He pulled out
his cell phone and noticed Addie hadn’t called him yet.

“Hang tough, buddy. Things will work out, and until they do, if you change your mind
about a soft, good-smelling shoulder to cry on, let me know.” Seth smiled and headed
back to his room.

“I heard enough of that shit last night so I’m hitting the shower before they go for
rounds four, five and six,” Ian said and headed to the bathroom.

Left alone with his thoughts and cup of coffee, Ronnie decided to call Addie and see
if she was awake. He needed to pick up Buck.

“Hey, Ronnie,” Addie answered a little breathlessly.

“You up? I need to come get Sergeant Buck and get him back over to Rusty’s because
I have things to do today. Your mom home yet?” he asked.

“Um, yeah, she’s at the house. Can you wait about an hour, though?” Addie asked.

“Addie, what are you doing?” The child had yanked his chain enough that he knew when
she was up to something. Right now he wanted no part of it.

“Well, we went for a run and haven’t made it back to the house yet,” she answered.

There was more to this than she was saying. He could smell the bullshit but simply
asking her what she was up to would prove fruitless. Everything in him screamed that
something wasn’t right.

“You left Sergeant Buck with your mama?” he asked.

“Um, no, he’s with me,” she replied hesitantly.

“Don’t overwork him, Addie. He’s no spring chicken, and I don’t want to hear him whining
about his arthritis,” Ronnie said.

“Don’t worry, he’ll be fine. He’s just watching us mostly,” she said. It was then
that he heard whispering in the background.

“Who is ‘us’?” he asked.
More whispering.

“Just a few of us from the squad, trying to stay in shape for competition. You know,
so that when we get a new advisor we’ll be ready to jump back into it,” she said.

“Fine. One hour,” he said.

After hanging up with Addie, his gut still told him that there was more to this than
she was saying. Never one to ignore his instincts, he left for Kayla’s house. Just
as he pulled into the driveway, his cell phone rang and Kayla’s name showed up on
the screen.

“Hi, Ronnie. First, I wanted to say thank you for yesterday. My mom has a broken wrist
and some bruising but she’s going to be okay. Second, I hate to ask, but Tori isn’t
answering so she must be at the office. Would you mind running by the house to check
on Addie? She’s probably still asleep, but she’s been there all night by herself and
I’d just feel better if I was sure. I am waiting to sign some paperwork so that Mom
can be transferred back to the nursing home,” Kayla said.

Son of a bitch
….If that little shit Chase was there when Kayla wasn’t, Ronnie was going to stick
his size-thirteen foot up the boy’s butt.

“I’ll take care of it,” he replied and then hung up the phone.

He hated hanging up with Kayla without saying more, but right now he was seeing red.
He didn’t want to say anything that would make her worry even more. He could handle
the death of one teenaged bastard all by himself. Addie’s breathless reply and hesitant
responses to his questions made more sense now.

Getting out of the truck, Ronnie headed up the walk. When Addie didn’t respond to
his knock on the door he dug around in the flower bed until he found the spare key
then let himself inside. He headed directly to Addie’s room, planning to bust down
the door and drag the boy out by the scruff of his neck if he had to.

He opened the door to find the room empty. Ronnie made his way through the whole house
calling for Addie and realized she really wasn’t home.

What the hell?

His gut was burning now. Something was wrong. He locked up the house, put the key
back and drove around the neighborhood. When he didn’t see her, he headed toward the
high school figuring it was time to call Kayla. Adding to her concerns wasn’t something
he looked forward to doing, but she should know that Addie wasn’t home.

Pulling into the parking lot of the high school building, Ronnie had just pushed the
send button on his cell phone when he noticed Chase’s car parked alongside several
other cars that he also recognized.
One-stop shopping.
He’d just pop in and find out if Chase or any of the boys happened to know where
Addie was and remind them that Ronnie had twelve years of military training. That
training amounted to more than just a can of whoop ass if any of them had less than
honorable intentions where Addie was concerned.

“Hi, Ronnie, is everything okay?” Kayla answered.

He closed his mouth. How had a mere fifteen-year-old slip of a girl left him unsure
of how to proceed?
Was this normal?
Was this what Kayla had to deal with all on her own? No wonder she’d been so mad
at him over not telling her about coaching Addie.

Keeping tabs on the girl was harder than he’d imagined. He’d never really thought
about it before because ultimately Addie was Kayla’s responsibility. He just did what
Kayla told him to do—except for the cheerleading thing. Now that he was solely charged
with Addie’s well-being, even temporarily, he was at a loss.

Hell, less than eight hours ago she’d been snuggled up with his dog at her side in
a picture worthy of Norman Rockwell. Now he was sick with worry and ready to kill
anyone responsible for putting her in harm’s way. Hearing Kayla’s voice had simply
slapped him upside the head with the reason for her anger the day of the competition.
Keeping him a secret from Addie was probably only secondary to Kayla attempting to
keep track of the child.