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I snapped ether and felt my blood start to heat up to the point that there wasn’t any way for the whiskey not to burn out of it

“I have to talk to her, have to try andanything right?”

It was a valid question, but I wasn’t going to point out he was the one who had set in motion the events that had led me to his sister’s front door in the first place

“I know that Dovie is right I know that being with her changed reat guy, Race, but I sure as shit will do everything in ave a bitter laugh that h the phone

“Aren’t you the worst thing that could happen to her, Bax?”

I growled, actually growled at him, and clenched my hand around the phone “Help me out or don’t I’ll track her down onto make this happen with your sister, so you can be on board, or you can get run over by it You’ve been like a brother to et in h and it skittered across ain, I’ll rip your intestines out and string you up with them”

“Where is she?”

“Where you should have been the second you got sprung from the feds Go home, Bax It’s about time you knehat that felt like”

Before I could question hi insteadily under the surface of -sleeved thermal I shoved my feet into my boots and headed out the door When the wood thudded shut behindback here This seedy apartuy I used to be There were still large chunks of hier parts of the guy I wanted to be for Dovie Sure, that guy wasn’t going to wear khakis and go to a nine-to-five job, and there was a really good chance I hadn’t seen the last of the inside of a jail cell, but the guy I was noasn’t convinced that was all there was to aveI had never had beforehope

I made the trip to the little house at the base of the Hill in record ti was probably an awful idea, and a DUI was the last thing I needed I wasn’t surprised to see the lights on when I pulled the Runner into the driveway I had tried to give this house to my mom to let her make it a home, to try and make up for the shitty hand she had been dealt in life, but she had never appreciated it, never been able to get out from under the demons and addictions that held her captive Leave it to Dovie, to sweet, strong, unbreakable Dovie, to take this place and turn it into what it was always meant to bea home

I opened the front door and just stood there for a second She had been busy in the months I had been locked up Instead of just the bare-bones furniture I had left, the place was now decorated There were pillows on the couch, a rug on the floor under the coffee table, and the walls were no longer boring beige It looked lived in and comfortable; it looked like her

I did a double take at the sight of the candles she had burning on one of the end tables and made my way into the kitchen to see if I could find her there I don’t think I had ever been in a house that had candles in it That just see a hard ti my head around it

The kitchen was ee was full, and she had put place aze rake fondly over the kitchen counter, dirty thoughts of having her splayed out and begging dancing behind my eyes Five years without sex was no joke; three ured out who the person you wanted to have sex with for the rest of your life as flat-out torture

I called out her nahtly as I could I didn’t want to scare her, and if she really didn’t want to see ive her the opportunity to run away from me But if she did, I would chase her down and make her listen to me, make her realize I couldn’t do this any to be brutal and dark, and she needed to be the one bright spot in it

I walked through the kitchen to the back of the house where the ot closer, I could hear soft htly before twisting the knob and walking in The big king bed that had been covered in plain sheets now had a charcoal-and-black comforter on in, and pillows that looked like they had been professionally fluffed up There were lamps on the end table that looked like they weredark drapes over theThere was a bloodred rug that covered a huge section of the hardwood floor that should look gaudy and harsh, but just added an edge to the dark furnishings It looked like a sexy and dark retreat The rest of the house looked like her, but this space she had decorated with me in mind It was heavier, it looked a littleabout it

Once the initial shock wore off, I heard the water running in the attached bathroom I took a deep breath and walked over to the open doorway I was going to freak her out just showing up out of the blue like this, especially if she was naked and vulnerable in the shower I debated waiting for her to finish, thought about calling out to her to let her knoas there, but in the end I just walked into the bathroo my case

“Copper-Top? I’ot locked up It was a dicka coward, but please hearsoot tight when I noticed that in the stealass door to the walk-in shohipped open and I was faced with a naked and wet Dovie who didn’t look at all surprised to see ht hair was a red curtain down her back and draped over her shoulders Her eyes were big in her face as she blinked the still-running water out of the over the top of each of her perfect brsts Instead of a V, it alht It was still pink and looked freshly healed It was big and not all together ugly, but there shouldn’t have ever been any situation where her perfect skin was liness