All the while I felt the watchful eye of a woman who most likely hated my guts.
Why, when I hadn’t done anything to her, I didn’t know. But, oh well. Wouldn’t be the first woman that disliked me and definitely wouldn’t be the last.
By the time I got home, twenty minutes later, the two hellions in the backseat were knocked smooth out, and I was thinking that they used to be a lot easier to get inside and tucked into bed when they were smaller.
Pulling in and shutting my truck off, I got out and motioned one of the men over that was outside tinkering on his bike over.
“What’s up?” James asked as he walked over.
I pointed to the two sleeping girls in the backseat.
“Grab one, would you?” I asked quietly.
James placed his beer on the side of my truck and scooped the girl closest to him up while I got the other.
“You want them both in Reagan’s bed?” James asked me as I held the front door open for him and Reagan.
“Yeah, that’s fine,” I said, following behind him.
Neither one of us bothered to turn any lights on, both knowing our way just as we all did throughout everyone’s house.
James was on the SWAT team with me, and he also lived in the same little compound as I did.
I’d moved into my sister’s old place when I’d gotten out of the Navy, happy to have a safe place among friends and family.
The compound was founded by Sam Mackenzie, and he had made a place where his entire unit could stay on the same piece of property.
They used to all live in separate duplexes, but over the last few years, they’d all built their own houses interspersed across the property.
I had taken over the duplex that Payton and Max had occupied, although I hadn’t planned on making it permanent by any means. However, it worked for us.
I was called out often to come in for SWAT related calls, or at times to cover a shift if needed. It was always nice to have family around at the drop of a hat that could watch Reagan for me while I was working.
And I’d do the same for Payton, Max, or any of the men that lived there. Kind of like James.
We were a tight knit family and I counted myself lucky to be there.
“Hey, I tried calling you a few minutes ago. I need to go out tomorrow and pick up a new gun. Do you want to come?” James asked once he laid his charge down.
James and I didn’t keep our conversation down.
The two girls were heavy sleepers. They had to be with all the activity that paraded around them on a daily basis. All of the ‘Free Kids’, as I liked to call them, were close in age. And it wasn’t unheard of to have them all running in and out of your door at any moment in time.
It was a distraction, yes, but I enjoyed it.
“You tried to call me?” I asked, patting my pockets for my phone.
Then I groaned, remembering exactly where my phone was. As well as my pager.
“Mother fucker,” I growled. “Can you watch them while…”
James’ pager went off and I growled in frustration. “Never mind. Looks like you can’t. And it’s a good thing I was with you.”
***
Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.
“What is that?” Paxton asked, looking around the room for the foreign sound.
I, on the other hand, was busy searching through the various pockets in the windbreaker I’d taken from cantankerous man who couldn’t control his kids.
He did make some cute kids, too. His wife was a lucky woman.
Because, fuck if Bennett wasn’t hotter than hell.
He’d probably be a beast in the bedroom, too.
But then he’d open his mouth and it’d lost all appeal when his caveman, me man you woman, act started to spew out.
“Check inside,” Melissa said, gesturing to my coat.
I did, and finally found the pocket that he’d hidden his things in.
Cell phone, a set of keys and a pager.
Pager?
I wasn’t aware they even made those anymore.
Holy shit.
I had all of his things, and if the way his phone was going crazy right now, I needed to get it back to him, pronto.
Or would have if the phone hadn’t been locked.
Pressing the home button, I smiled at the same little girl he’d had with him earlier stood on the hood of a truck with her arms raised.
Bennett stood in front of it, holding his hands up in order to catch her, and he had a huge smile on his face.
Then the picture disappeared when his phone started to ring once again.
James, the display read.
No picture or anything, only the name.
Knowing that the only way I would get this phone back to him was to answer it, I did just that.
“Hello?” I answered cheerily.
“You have my phone,” that familiar growl rolled through me like warm honey.
“Uh, yeah. I sure do. We’re still eating if you want to come back and get them,” I supplied helpfully, picking up a fry and tossing it into my mouth.
He growled again, and I couldn’t help the smile that spread over my face at his annoyance with me.
With anyone else, I would’ve felt bad.
But with the way he was being an ass, like the other day, I couldn’t find it in me to give a shit.
“I got a SWAT call. You bring it to me when you’re done,” he insisted.
“I don’t know where you live. And I’m tipsy. I’d planned on calling a cab,” I lied.
There went that growl again, making my hoo-ha do funny things.
“Well, have the cab drop you off at the station, and I’ll have someone take you home,” he tried.
I smiled. “I only have like five dollars. It’s just enough to get me home three blocks from here.”
He hissed, and I had to cover my mouth with my hand to keep the laughter from boiling out.
“Fine,” he said calmly. “I’ll just have to come get it from you.”
I squeaked. “No, you can’t do that!”
“Why not?” He asked, something rustling around in the background. Then a door slammed, followed quickly by the sound of someone moving fast through a hallway or something.
“Because I don’t want you to know where I live!” I yelled a little shrilly.
Melissa and Paxton started to laugh at my clearly uncomfortable state.
There were only two people, aside from family, who knew where I lived, and I was sitting with them right this second.
I didn’t want some guy that clearly didn’t like me knowing where I lived!
“You do know, right, that I’m a cop? Whether you tell me where you live or not, I can come get it. And what about that cab driver that’s taking you home? He’ll know where you live,” he said slowly.
Almost as if he was talking to someone slow who couldn’t quite comprehend the words that were coming out of his mouth.
“So? I’ll bring it to you,” I snapped.
“Too late. I’m coming to you. Later,” he said laughingly, then hung up without waiting for my reply.
“You know,” Paxton said a few minutes of silence later. “You had that coming. You shouldn’t have goaded him.”
“I couldn’t help it!” I seethed. “The man infuriates me. You saw what he did when I stitched him up. And what he said. I’m not some little girl that needs his directions. I’m a grown woman who has opinions and makes her own decisions.”
Paxton nodded. “You’re a maverick, and other mavericks recognize likeness. Just let what he says roll off your shoulders and let it go.”
I sneered at him. “Whatever.”
Forty five minutes later, sober as the day I was born, I got into my car and drove to my house, wondering if what Bennett had said about him coming over was true.
Surprisingly, it didn’t bother me that he’d know where I lived. In fact, it actually felt just fine.
When my first boyfriend had found out where I lived, and showed up randomly one day, I’d moved forty eight hours later. Once I was moved, I then broke up with him.
See, I had boundaries.