The Champ: Bad Boys Book 5 (The Bad Boys) (10 page)

“Wait, I can’t let you do this, I can’t have you disrupting your lives for me like this. It’s…”

“Ignore her she’s stuck on the ‘it’s too new’ crap again.”

“Let the men do what they have to Traci, this is how it’s supposed to be, family coming together to help.” Ma smiled and patted her free hand but I could see that she was worried too and it pissed me off.

“But I’m not family.” She sounded so lost and alone and I hated that shit.

“Of course you are, otherwise you wouldn’t be sitting at my breakfast table after spending the night. Now you kids get on with it you have work. Jace you sit here and have some of these pancakes get some food in you before you go deal with the crazies.”

I had to go up and get dressed for the day so I left her with my parents. While I was up there I emptied some drawers to make room for the rest of her shit. There was more than enough space in the walk-in closet for her suits and shit to hang with mine so no problem.

“Now I just have to tell her stubborn ass that she isn’t going back to that place.” Downstairs I found her in hushed conversation with ma, which could either be a good or bad thing. “What’re you two up to?”

“Nothing, nothing at all.” Ma gave her a look of secrecy before humming her way across the room to the sink. “Huh.” Not sure what that was about but I was as giddy as a cheerleader at try-outs that my two girls were getting along so well together.

“You ready or you two got more plotting to do?” I really didn’t want her to go anywhere today, but I didn’t want to just come out and say you’re not leaving the house until this asshole has been arrested. I figured I’d leave the argument for when I told her she wasn’t leaving…ever.

“I’m ready, see you later Miss. Marie.” When she walked across the room and hugged my mom I felt the final lock click into place. I was as good as hitched. She didn’t seem too bothered by the whole stalker thing as we headed to my car, but I soon realized that it was all a front for ma.

As soon as I seated her and buckled her in and moved around to the driver’s side, she released the breath she’d been holding and the hand wringing started. I noticed she did that whenever she was nervous or afraid and didn’t like her being either. “You okay?”

“I don’t know, I mean all this stuff seems so surreal and I have no reference for it you know. I’ve never been the object of anyone’s obsession before, but that’s exactly what this is beginning to feel like. I don’t want to have to look over my shoulder everywhere I go, and I can’t lock myself away in my place until it passes.”

“You won’t have to. Give me your key, today while you’re at work I’ll go to the condo and move your stuff to my place, you’re not going back there.” I said it in a way that left no room for argument, or at least I tried to. Forgot whom I was dealing with. Half the female population would jump at the chance to bed me, I know, I have the fan mail to prove it. I had to fall ass over heels for this hardheaded one that gives me shit.

“Wyatt don’t be crazy, you can’t just move me into your parents’ house and besides we just met, what would people think?” See? She’s fuck outta luck though because this was one argument she didn’t stand a snowball’s chance in hell of winning.

“First off, that’s not just my parents’ home, that’s our family home. It’s always been a given that my brother and I will be raising our families there and maybe Lisa too according to what idiot she gets to put up with her ass. You’re the only woman who’s ever slept there and you’re going to be the last. So it doesn’t matter if it’s tonight or a hundred nights from now, that’s going to be home.”

“The bottom line, you’re not going back there where he’s already invaded your space. You’re not staying in a hotel because we don’t know how long it’s gonna take for them to find this hump, and I’m not sleeping on Cris’ couch so I can keep an eye on you. That leaves my bed.”

***

Traci

***

He says these things as if they’re the most natural, as if I didn’t just turn his life upside down. Why wasn’t he running hard in the opposite direction? If he had any sense he would. “How can you be so sure of everything? Why do you keep insisting that we’re meant to be together?” I couldn’t resist asking one last time. Each time I convince myself that maybe he’s right, maybe I should just go with it, that fear creeps in and threatens to choke me.

“One of us has to have our head on straight. Look let’s get this shit over with once and for all so you don’t have to keep asking me the same thing, because the answer’s not going to change. You don’t strike me as the type to sleep around and make no mistake about it we’re fucking.”

“Ah, I can’t believe you just said that.”

“It’s the truth and since playing nice doesn’t seem to get through to you, I’m giving it to you straight. As I was saying, I took one look at you and knew. If you need more time to think so be it, but you’ll be doing that thinking from my home, my bed.”

“I’m not really into self depravation, and I can’t see me going out hunting down pussy elsewhere when the future mother of my children is already in my life. You get where I’m coming from?”

Not really, but was there really any point in arguing? His mom had already warned me about the men in the family and their penchant for going after what they want, letting nothing stand in their way. I kinda know what she meant, because this one was part bulldozer it seems.

“This is too much, try to understand where I’m coming from. Like you said, I don’t sleep around, and I’m not in the habit of picking up strange men in bars…” He interrupted me before I could go on with my growing list of fears and uncertainties.

“You didn’t pick me sweetheart, I chose you. Tell me honestly now, are you not even a little bit attracted? And before you answer, remember what happened in our bed not too long ago.”

My face went up in flames as it has been doing ever since I met him. He sure knows how to get under my skin. If it’s not with a look, then it’s his mouth or just his closeness.

“I didn’t say I wasn’t attracted, but you don’t just run off and marry everyone you find yourself attracted to. What if it doesn’t work out, what then, what if there’s all this build up in your mind and the reality is something else entirely?”

“You have a tail or something hidden under there?” He looked down at me lap making me blush.

“Don’t be silly, of course not.”

“Well what deep dark secrets are you hiding?”

“I’m not hiding anything I’m just saying.”

“Look, I might’ve given you a break up until you came alive under me this morning. Before that I had already been hooked, but the way you reacted to me-baby, you cannot give a man that much of yourself and try holding back after. Not gonna work, not with me anyway. We’re here, give me the key.”

He held his hand out while I sat there in a quandary. Was this real, could this really be happening? When mom was ill one of the things she kept telling me over and over was to grab hold of happiness because life was so fleeting.

She and dad had shared a beautiful love story, one that she dreamed of for her only daughter. Something had happened, maybe it was watching her suffer, watching my dad go through what he did, I don’t know what? But somewhere along the way I had stopped believing in fairytales. For the first time in forever, I wanted to, because he made it seem so possible.

“Let go baby, you don’t have to do anything I’ll do it all. If we fail it’s on me, but I have no intentions on failing. I know with every fiber in my being that you’re going to be next to me when I’m ninety.” Not even a hint of doubt in that voice, and his eyes when I look at him, so full of love and promise and something more. That heat that I’d felt this morning under him, would I ever find that with anyone else? I doubt it.

“Promise me Wyatt.” My heart was racing out of my chest. I think I’d known from the moment he pulled me down on his lap. As unorthodox as it was, I had shared more with this man in the last two days than I had with anyone else ever. I know what my heart wanted it wanted him. He asked if I was attracted, that didn’t even begin to describe what I felt for him, it was so much more. But logic said it was too fast.

It was the knowledge that he wouldn’t stop that made up my mind. The way he seemed willing to move all obstacles to get what he wants-and what he wants is me. This was nothing like Carl, his attention I did want. Did it really make sense to keep fighting it because of some old fashioned ideal of what falling in love should be?

I didn’t have much to go on just what he’d shown me of himself thus far. I rewound the last two days in my head and could find no fault in him whatsoever, and though that in itself should be reason for pause, I wanted so badly to give in. It was time to stop thinking about everything else but what I felt, what I wanted, and I think I knew what that was, had known since that first kiss on that dance floor.

“Promise me Wyatt.”

“What baby, anything.”

“Promise me that you won’t break my heart.” The words came out in a broken whisper because I was a little embarrassed by what I’d said. But his reaction more than made up for it. He unhooked both our seatbelts and pulled me into his arms. “Never, I’ll never give you reason to doubt my love for you.”

He pulled back and looked into my eyes, and I might be being a bit fanciful but I could’ve sworn his weren’t as dry as they had been. “I’m going to make you so fucking happy baby you wait and see.” I could only nod my head, too choked up for words.

I didn’t try to stop him from kissing me right there in a parked car in front of my stalwart boss’ building. Instead I gave in to the passion, enjoyed the feel of his powerful arms as they held me like they’d never let go. This was love, if not what was? What more could I feel that I wasn’t now, or hadn’t felt in the last few days and nights with him?

He finally let me up for air and my eyes went straight to his lap where I could feel his hardness poking into the side of my leg. “Don’t look at him baby, he’s having a hard enough time behaving with you being so near.” I’m sure my face was the color of flames but the grin I gave him came from my heart. This felt right.

I started to get out the car when a sudden thought hit. “Wait, I just remembered, I have a lease I can’t break it.” Now I was the one feeling disappointed.

“Yes you can, you’re not going back there, is your landlord on site?”

“Yes his name is Jim Magee, he’s very strict about these things though.”

“Leave it to me, how much longer do you have on your lease?”

“Six months.”

“I’ll buy it out if I have to but we shouldn’t have to.”

“I can’t let you do that.”

“Forget it.”

He didn’t even let me finish my argument, just climbed out his side and came around to mine to let me out after stealing one last kiss as he leaned in the open door. By the time he lifted his head away from mine I was almost tempted to tell him turn us around and go back so we could finish what we started earlier in his bed. Only the lingering vestiges of my upbringing kept me from uttering the scandalous suggestion.

Wyatt

***

I took her into the building after she gave me the keys to her place. She’d given me a look at the end there before I helped her out of the car, that if my interpretation was right, meant I wasn’t going to have to wait much longer to get inside her. Not that there was ever any danger of that, not after the way she’d come alive under me. “Soon.” Her blush told me I was right.

There were two other people there but the judge was running late so I didn’t get the chance to tell him about taking it easy on my woman from now on. I signed some shit for her colleagues who knew me from TV and wouldn’t stop going on and on about my last fight. Now they were looking at my girl in wonder. I bet they were wondering how she’d landed me, little did they know, I was the one who’d lucked out there.

I looked the place over and when I was sure it was safe I kissed her goodbye so I could get on with the business of moving her shit to my place. “Call me if you need me. You took all that shit out your purse like I told you.”

“Leave my purse alone you lunatic, now get out of here, I have to get to work.”

“Fine, I’ll see you for lunch.”

I left her and headed straight for her place after picking up some boxes and swinging by to but her the biggest can of pepper spray I could find. Who’d have thought when I touched down three days ago that this was in my future? If I was like her I’d probably put the brakes on out of fear of it being too soon, but patience has never been my forte.

I kept my senses open and looked around as I climbed out the car, but there was no one around. Upstairs in her place I did a walk through. I could see where the cops had dusted for prints and was glad she wouldn’t be coming back here. She didn’t need this shit in her life.

“What the fuck does one little girl need with all these shoes?” I guess I knew where most of my paycheck was gonna go. I started throwing shit into boxes. I got as much as would hold in my truck with plans to come get the rest another time. It took me five trips to the truck before I headed down to the maintenance office.

I knocked on the door and the lone man in there looked away from the TV he had mounted on the wall with some morning news special streaming by. “Can I help you? We don’t have any vacancies at this time, take a card and check back in a couple months.” He barely spared me a glance as he went back to what he was doing.

“Not so fast, the condo in building four just opened up.” I stood just inside the door and looked around at the not so neat room.

“The hell you say.” He put on his glasses and rifled through some folders in his desk drawer. “Nope, it says right here that that place is rented through the summer.” He threw it back in the desk dismissively.

I didn’t really want to tell him too much about what was going on, but knew I might have to share a little. I tried to remind myself that this guy had a job to do and he wasn’t really trying to be the asshole that he appeared to be. I took another stab at it while holding onto my patience.

“The occupant is getting married and won’t be needing the place any longer.” That ought to do it, what the fuck do I know about rentals, I’ve never had to rent anything but a hotel room in my life.

“That’s not the way it works boy, she has to pay her way out or stay out the time, otherwise we take her to court.”

“Listen, there’s something else going on here, there was a break-in at her place the other night.” He looks part human the thought of a young woman alone in that situation ought to get his protective juices flowing. It wasn’t the money I could easily pay that no problem. It was the damn principle of the thing.

“That’s for the police to handle.”

This motherfucker is outta his mind. “It was a little more than that, she’s being stalked and the person knows how to get to her here.” By now I was beyond my give a fuck meter. I guess it’s just me but I don’t think anyone should have to be locked into anything if their fucking life is in danger.

The situation that had started out so smoothly had fast become anything but, maybe because of his brash attitude, or the way he seemed ready to brush off anything I said. Is this what she would’ve had to face if she’d come to him seeking help?

Not one fucking dime for this hump, and if he fucks with her I’ll string him up by his balls. No wonder she was so gun shy when it comes to men. If all she had to deal with were stalkers and assholes, it was a miracle she hung around.

He opened his mouth to say some dumb shit to me but I was already over his ass. “You give me a hard time on this, I will call every local news reporter and tell them that a young woman’s life is in danger and all you can think about is the bottom line. Then I’m gonna come back here and knock the fuck outta you for being stupid.”

Now I was in his face so he’d know this wasn’t a little five foot two woman he was dealing with but a grown ass man who had no problem wringing his fucking neck. “Who did you say you were again?”

“The name’s Hunter, Wyatt Hunter.”

“The Wyatt Hunter?” His eyes opened wide and he looked me up and down with a whole new attitude. He came around the shabby desk with his hand outstretched. Now he was a fan girl at a One Direction concert.

“Oh man this is so-I’m your biggest fan.” I just glared at him and ignored the hand, not my kind of people this one. “I’ll take care of it, you tell your friend she has nothing to worry about.”

I waited for him to call somebody about the paperwork and gave him the number to fax it to since I had no intention on seeing his face again lest I break it.

With that squared away I called Jace for an update but he had fuckall to tell me so I rode around a little trying to catch sight of this guy. I only met him that one time but was sure I’d know him anywhere.

That was a lesson in futility, so I headed to the house to drop off her shit and answer ma’s hundred and one questions. “I don’t like it not one bit.” She ranted her way around the kitchen lighting into me like I’d given the asshole lessons in how to be a fuckwit.

“I know ma, we’re taking care of it.”

“Well how are you supposed to do that if you don’t even know where he is?”

“Jace is working on it.” She mumbled some shit under her breath but stopped harassing me. I called Traci to see how she was doing before hitting the home gym for some much needed relief.

It was almost time for lunch by the time I was done so I snuck out the house to go get her before ma got her hooks into me again.

I took her to eat at one of my favorite places and was reminded of what a circus my life is. In a small town like ours everybody pretty much knows each other unless you’re an outsider. So I spent most of the hour fielding questions and accepting congratulations.

“And who’s this?” Joe the owner of the bistro came over to our table when the hoopla died down. I took her hand in mine and kissed her knuckles. “This is my fiancée.” She almost fell out the damn chair but I squeezed her hand to keep her quiet.

Joe’s is like the local gossip mill. I’m not stupid I chose this place for a reason. I was locking her in. By the time we left everyone knew she was mine and I was pretty sure they would all look out for her from now on. She was hard to miss, five-two and a head full of red hair.

My eyes were glued to her ass on the way out and she caught me. I couldn’t resist patting that plump flesh as we crossed the door. “Quit it Wyatt, people are watching.”

“So? It’s mine isn’t it? I can touch it if I want.” I sounded like a two-year old brat but whatever.

***

Traci

***

Oh he’s good. He thinks I don’t know what he’s up to but I’m onto him. I would tell him that he could stop now, that I am well and truly caught but it was fun watching him try to corner me. His fiancée, the man has no shame. The butterflies in my stomach weren’t as busy as they were just this morning. I’d had some time to think while away from him, and now instead of the sickening fear of what could go wrong, I felt a new joy for things to come.

Since I’d always locked myself away from the whole relationship game I had nothing to measure this up against, though I was pretty sure this wasn’t the norm, but it looked like it was ours. His mom had whispered to me quite giddily that she’d never seen him react this way to anyone, and she too seemed pretty sure that this was it. If I wasn’t mistaken she was already picking out wedding patterns. The whole family is nuts.

True to his word he hung around my work place for the rest of the afternoon after having some kind of powwow behind closed doors with the judge. I was more than a little surprised when the man I knew to be a brusque no nonsense semi tyrant called me into his office afterwards.

It was like night and day. “Congratulations on your engagement.” His eyes went immediately to my finger, which was obviously bare. “You make that young man buy you the biggest rock you can find, you deserve it. Now, you’re one of the brightest interns to ever come through these doors, I have high hopes for you if you don’t get bogged down with babies and whatnot, and if I know Marie you’d be knee deep in kids before you can blink.”

“Now on to this other mess. Why haven’t you ever told me that you were being harassed by some idiot? I expected better from you young lady. Now I’ve called my detail and given them a heads-up. Wyatt has promised that he will take care of you after hours and I’m sure he can. I’ll stay on top of it on my end, but no more secrets.”

“Yes sir.” I left as fast as I entered more than a little confused by the change. “What did you do to him?” I whispered to Wyatt who had taken up residence at my desk. “Are you really going to stay here all day?”

“Yep, as to what I told the old man, nothing more than that you’re my girl and he better be treating you right.” He pretty much dismissed me after that and went back to reading the magazine he’d been pawing through.

I tried to ignore him as best I could while I did my thing but it wasn’t easy. Coming onto end of day the tension in the air grew heavy. It was a feeling I wasn’t familiar with, like anticipation mixed with trepidation. It could be a direct response to the covert looks he kept throwing my way when he thought I wasn’t looking. Or the way he would secretly run his finger down my arm or along my thigh.

By the time he walked me out to his car I was a nervous wreck. The day had finally caught up to me. I had just moved in with this guy, into his bed. He had told about twenty people that we were engaged, and the night was coming.

The shakes were back in full force, but that was no longer because of any lingering doubt, and more because of the unknown. What if I disappointed him? He was so male, so forceful in everything he did. How could I hope to match that, or to keep up?

***

Wyatt

***

She’s nervous as fuck and there’s no need for me to guess why. All day I’ve kept her on the edge, small touches here and there, secret looks. The anticipation was rising as the clock ticked. I was sure of what the night would bring, my mind was already made up. But I can only imagine what was going through that head of hers.

I kept conversation to a minimum; this was as much new territory for me as it was for her. Maybe it was because I was the one who was sure of us that I wasn’t freaking the hell out, but I figured it was up to me to lead her along until we were on the same page.

Ma was like a kid in a candy store when we got in. I’m gonna have to keep an eye on her she seems to have a hell of a lot for my girl to be doing, cock blocker. I did notice that it seemed to relax her when ma dragged her off to do who knows what, gave me time to get in a workout and take a shower.

I put a call into Jace, it was my third or fourth of the day. “Still nothing?”

“Nah, he went under somewhere I guess, and there’s no next of kin listed for him at his job or at the school, but not to worry, we’re staying on top of it.”

“You think he went home?”

“Not sure and if he did we don’t have the manpower to monitor. I can put in a call to someone down there and see. I think those boys still got a hard on for him.”

“Fine, you do that and let me know.”

I hung up and went in search of her after leaving the gym. She wasn’t downstairs so I took the stairs two at a time with my heart in my lungs. I guess I was going to have this sickening fear whenever she was out of my sight, at least until he was behind bars.

I heard the water running in the shower and barely restrained myself from going in. Good, she was settling in. I went to the guest bathroom and took a quick shower to get the stink off before joining her in the bedroom.

I had decided not to tell her what Jace had said; as far as I was concerned her part in this thing was done. Walking over to her I wrapped my arms around her from behind. In all the bullshit I had all but forgotten what had caught me in the first place. Her ass.

“I love your ass baby.” I rubbed myself against her while nibbling on her neck and holding her close. “Are you afraid?” She shook her head no but her body was telling me different, she was as stiff as a board again, but I knew it was up to me to relax her for what was coming.

“Let’s go down dinner will be ready soon.” I looked around the room trying to think of what I could do to make it special for her. I wanted to give her something; she deserved soft music and candlelight. I knew fuck all about this shit though, and I’ll be damned if I’m gonna ask ma. She’d probably try to oversee the shit.