Shock Advised (Kilgore Fire #1) (9 page)

“They’re not stretchy, if that’s what you’re thinking. They’re fitted,” I said defensively with a narrowing of my eyes.

He chuckled, and I felt the rumble of his chest against mine.

“You ready to go?” He asked. “I know you have to be tired.”

I closed my eyes and thought about that.

Was I tired?

Yes.

Did I want to go?

Yes.

Did I want him to leave me?

No.

And that was exactly what would happen if I said that yes, I was ready to go.

“No. Not yet,” I said instead of the truth.

This was the most normal I’d felt in ages, and I didn’t want him to let me go.

He did, though, thirty minutes later as the last call was announced over the bar’s speakers.

“Let’s go, pretty girl,” Tai ordered, standing me up from where I’d been leaning against his chest for the last 30 minutes.

We walked out with the same group that we’d arrived with.

Although Sam had acquired a drop-dead, gorgeous blonde woman who was apparently his wife.

She was wrapped around Sam’s chest, laughing into his side as Sam spoke about something obviously very funny to the woman.

Downy was on his phone talking to who I assumed was his wife since he was talking about his ‘shit head kids’ to nearly the entire bar.

Tai was silent at my side, his arms down by his own sides as he walked.

I missed his body heat.

I wrapped my hands around my chest and looked down at the gravel beneath my feet as my Crocs dug into the loose rocks.

They made crunchy squish sounds as I walked…right into Tai.

“Shit!” I cried, startled.

I looked up at his face to see him staring at a man across the parking lot that was leaning against his truck.

The man was making out with a woman who he had pressed against the gleaming red paint.

“What. The. Fuck.”

It was then I saw the man had his hands up the woman’s skirt, and he was furiously working his digits.

“Wow,” I said. “Classy much?”

“Slutty, if you ask me,” Tai grumbled, walking forward until he stopped at the passenger side door.

He opened it up and helped me in, like he’d done each time I’d gotten in, and slammed it shut.

When the couple still didn’t move, he got into his side, then started the motor.

He revved it up for good measure, rocking the truck as he’d done earlier in the night.

I laughed out loud when I saw the couple scream and scramble away from the truck.

It really was
that
loud.

And we’d gathered the attention of Sam, his wife, and Downy, as they, too, laughed.

The man that was using Tai’s truck as an object to screw his woman against, glared at Tai. It was a promise that some sort of retribution would be served.

“Do you know him?” I asked once he pulled out of his parking spot.

“Yeah. Know the woman better, though,” he answered evasively.

“Oh?” I asked. “How?”

“Used to date her,” he mumbled, his voice sounding clipped.

“Oh,” I said.

That made sense.

I realized he wasn’t a monk. I also realized that he was an incredibly good-looking man. It wasn’t surprising that he would be able to get a woman that was that pretty.

And, boy, had that woman been pretty.

Slutty, yes, but still pretty.

Then again, if Tai had been doing that to me, I don’t know that I would’ve cared where we’d have done it, either.

Instead of dropping me off at home, he drove to the parking lot where I’d left my car and pulled up directly behind it.

I was disappointed.

Him dropping me at my car meant he really was just dropping me off. If he’d dropped me off at my house, it would have meant that I’d been carless, and then he might feel responsible in getting me to my car in the morning, or later in the day, seeing as it was now nearly three in the morning.

I opened the door and slid out of the truck, my feet landing on the asphalt with a soft crunch.

I turned around to look up at Tai, seeing him smiling down at me from inside the truck.

“Hope you had a good night,” he said. “Let me know if you or your mom needs anything, okay?”

I nodded, wondering what’d caused the huge change in his demeanor from the man in the bar that allowed me to lean against him, to this man, the one that was distant and acted like he didn’t really want to be anywhere near me anymore.

“Sounds good,” I lied as I forced a smile at him and slammed his truck door closed.

I was nearly to my car when I heard his truck door open up.

I hurried faster, clicking the unlock buttons on my car door and dropped inside.

Well…almost.

Tai caught me by the arm before I could fully descend and pulled me back up.

“Ack,” I said, turning to look at him.

His beautiful green eyes stared down into mine, boring straight into my soul.

Leaning into me so close that the only thing that separated us was our clothes.

He was hard…
everywhere
.

“Come to dinner with me tomorrow night at Jack’s?” He asked.

I swallowed.

“I can do that,” I said breathlessly.

He grinned and stepped back, and I felt the loss of body heat like a physical blow.

“Be careful,” he said.

I dropped into my car, looked up at his face, then started it up.

Tai closed my door, and I refused to look into my rearview mirror until I was far enough away that he wouldn’t know I was looking.

But he was already gone.

You’re a bitch. Your face is probably ugly, and you suck.

-Mia’s secret thoughts to bitchy customer service reps

Mia

“Come on, come on,” I said. “What’s taking so long?”

“Ma’am,” the secretary said through obviously clenched teeth. “I’ve already told you, we’re waiting for the home warranty company to get back to us. We can’t move forward until we get the precise amount that we’re allowed to spend.”

“My warranty place said they faxed the paperwork over this morning,” I explained.

The woman sighed.

“So now I’m sure you’re going to pull the ‘my son’s an infant and needs air’ card, aren’t you? I bet you don’t even have a son,” the vile woman said. “Not to mention it’s seventy-five degrees out. I’m sure it’s not even hot in your house. Just open a window, and I’ll get back to you as soon as I know.”

My eyes nearly crossed.

Closing my eyes, I tried to compose myself.

It didn’t work.

“Just as an FYI,” I said. “My son died two months ago. So no, I don’t have to worry about him being hot anymore,” my voice broke. “But thank you for reminding me of that. I appreciate it.”

“Well, that’s unfortunate,” the woman said. “But I still don’t have the answer you need yet. Give me a few more days.”

I calmly hung the phone up, barely letting my finger hover over the red ‘end’ button.

Then I gasped for air.

“Who was that you were talking to?” Tai’s calm voice said from behind me.

I jumped, startled.

Whipping around, I stared at Tai.

He was every bit as easy going as he’d looked the day before… as long as you didn’t look at his eyes.

I looked down at the clock, noting the time, and winced.

I’d been on hold or talking to that vile woman for over an hour and a half.

Which was the norm for me every time I called that woman lately…but still…I was in my fucking underwear for crying out loud.

“Oh!” I said, jumping up and turning the computer chair so the back was concealing my near nakedness. “It was someone from an air conditioning company.”

He scowled deeply.

“What company?” He asked.

Alarm bells started to go off in my brain.

“Jenner’s Heating and Air,” I said. “Why?”

He shook his head. “Nothing…I can see that you’re not ready… are you going to take much longer or do I need to come back?”

I shook my head and came out from behind my chair, forgetting, once again, that I was nearly naked.

His eyes automatically lowered to my exposed thighs, and he had the decency to look away.

“Sorry for just barging in,” he said. “But I heard you raise your voice, and I came in thinking something was wrong.”

Something
was
wrong. With my heart and my belly.

When he looked at me, he had the ability to make my heart skip beats and race.

I bit my lip and pointed at the couch.

“Have a seat. I’ll go get changed, and we can go. It won’t take me more than ten minutes, tops,” I promised.

He looked at me skeptically, purposefully keeping his eyes on my face rather than straying down.

“I’ll believe that when I see it,” he declared.

I stopped and turned until I was more fully facing him.

“You don’t think I can get ready in ten minutes?” I asked in surprise.

He shook his head.

“No woman I know is ever anywhere near the time she estimates she’ll be. But I’ll sit and wait like a good little boy,” he teased.

I narrowed my eyes.

“Put a timer on,” I said, pointing at him.

He raised a brow, but called my bluff as he pulled his phone out and pulled up the timer app.

“Go.”

I went.

Seven and a half minutes later I was exiting my room with my shoes in my hand and my socks half way on.

He looked at me in surprise, then looked down at his phone.

“Impressive,” he said.

I grinned.

“I’m a mom…was a mom.” I corrected. “I haven’t gone full out for a very long time. What you see is what you get,” I teased.

He frowned.

“You’ll always be a mom, honey,” he said softly.

My throat started to tighten.

“I know…thank you. It’s just…easier if I say I
was
a mom. Then they don’t ask questions about my son…it’s just easier,” I rambled, repeating it over and over again hoping that he would understand what I was trying to say.

“My sister was pregnant when she died,” he said softly.

I blinked and halted with one shoe on, and one shoe off.

“What?” I asked.

He nodded.

“She was pregnant. About six weeks or so…,” he said softly. “She’d have been such a good mom.”

I frowned.

“I wish I would’ve met her. Seems like you loved her a whole lot.”

“I did,” he confirmed. “You ready?”

I slipped on the other shoe in silence, picked up a present that’d been sitting on my desk for over a month, and walked to the door.

“Ready,” I said softly.

“What’s that?” He asked as he made his way around some boxes.

“Something my mom and I made for Jack,” I explained.

“Oh,” he said. “How is your mom?”

I headed down the walkway to Tai’s large truck and waited as he followed behind a little slower.

He opened my door and I placed the present on the console, then squeaked when Tai picked me straight up off my feet and set me down on the seat.

Last night he’d only helped me with a steady hand…today he’d full out picked me the hell up.

I wasn’t a light woman.

In fact, I was on the heavier side ever since I’d had Colt.

Not fat, per se, but definitely not thin anymore.

A little more curvy than not.

I had wide hips, fairly nice sized boobs, and thighs that definitely had no ‘thigh gap.’ I had lost weight since my baby had died, but I was still a handful.

Tai, though, didn’t even look like he was affected by picking me up, causing me to smile.

“She’s good,” I said once he took his seat. “The doctor saw nothing that worried him on her tests this morning. He’s having her take a stress test on Monday, and once she does that, she’ll be released to go home.”

Tai nodded. “That’s good. Very good.”

He pulled around, but slammed on his breaks when a car that’d been parked directly in front of us pulled out and cut him off.

“What the fuck?” Tai growled.

The car sped off, and Tai started forward once again.

“People are crazy,” I said by way of explanation.

He grunted.

“You should see what stupid things people do when the lights and sirens of an ambulance or a firetruck go on,” he grumbled.

I could imagine.

People got stupid when they saw the lights.

“Where does your brother live?” I asked.

“He lives off of Old Highway 42. The Free compound that everyone talks about in town,” he explained almost automatically.

“Ahh,” I said. “I’ve heard about that place.”

The Free Compound as everyone called it was formed by a group of men a couple of years ago. They had a custom bike shop in the front of the land, and they’d built their houses behind it.

It was a compound of sorts with fortress-like security to protect their families, and the talk around the community was that the place was impenetrable.

I didn’t doubt it.

The men that I’d met so far were badasses.

“Awesome,” I said a tad bit excitedly.

He grinned.

“You wanted to go in there, didn’t you?”

I nodded.

He sighed.

“Everybody does.”

I was in awe.

I kept looking around like I was in The White House rather than the Free Compound.

Although, technically speaking, The White House had nothing on the place I was at.

“What…how…where…why…” I said, my eyes lighting on everything all at once.

Tai chuckled.

I’d never been to a place quite like this.

Children ran free, this way and that. Men worked on bikes. Women flittered in and out of their houses. Some chased after smaller kids, others were doing housework.

There were people everywhere…literally.

“Don’t they have a lot of kids?” I asked.

Tai grunted.

“They don’t know how to control themselves,” Tai explained. “Luckily, Jack stopped at two. The two he has are handfuls. I don’t think I could babysit more than the two of them,” he hesitated. “And even two is a stretch for me at times.”

I giggled.

“Colt was the world’s best baby for everyone but me. When my mom had him, he slept through the night. Ate everything she put in front of him. Played without wanting to be held all day.” I smiled through the memories. “Then he’d come home and demand that I hold him until bed time. Wouldn’t eat a damn thing. Then he’d be up all night from dusk until dawn.”