Though, like me, he also had a volatile temper. Just a few more sharp, targeted words out of Kelley’s mouth, and I might very well snap. My dad’s reassuring hold on my neck or not.
“I’m sorry, but am I not allowed to announce my pregnancy?” I asked tartly. “I wasn’t aware that was against the rules.”
It wasn’t.
In fact, the worst thing I’d said on social media in the last month was that I was gassy.
“I think,” I heard a menacingly, tightly controlled voice say from behind me. “That you’ll either back the fuck off of my girl, or I’ll make you.”
My heart started to pound, and all it took was one look over my shoulder to see the man standing behind me to send it into overdrive.
Holy. Shit.
Hoax stood behind me, but this wasn’t the same Hoax that’d left.
This one was darker, angrier, and hotter.
And, he had less control of the beard that was covering his face.
Plus, the t-shirt he was wearing with the black tactical pants made him look divine.
And, oh my, he was wearing a gun.
Looking straight at him, he had an angry red line across the length of his outer bicep that peeked out from beneath his tight t-shirt. It was stitched with black threads that clearly led me to believe he’d sustained a very nasty cut.
Lastly, he looked pissed off enough that he could happily kill the man boasting in front of me and not give a single shit.
“I’m sorry, but who are you?” Kelley asked snottily.
Kelley knew exactly who Hoax was if he’d been stalking my Facebook page looking at my posts. He knew that Hoax was my baby daddy seeing as they’d met once or twice in the hospital throughout the time that we’d been dating in the beginning.
There was no mistaking the ‘mine’ vibes that was rolling off of Hoax in waves.
Without giving it much thought at all, I was turning and throwing myself at Hoax.
He didn’t miss a beat.
One second he was five feet behind me, and the next he’d taken one giant step and caught me before I could gather up too much momentum.
I buried my face in his chest, and then, blissfully, his arms closed around me and everything was all of a sudden perfect again.
His arm curved around my waist, pulling me in tighter than tight, and I took in a deep, gulping breath of air.
He smelled like everything I never realized I missed. All manly and yummy.
“You’re here,” I breathed.
He squeezed me once more, and then released me.
It felt like a piece of my soul was now missing.
I whimpered at him letting me go and wished that he’d pull me back in, but then I realized that we were still standing in the middle of the parking lot and the world hadn’t stopped spinning while I’d been in Hoax’s arms.
Kelley was glaring at Hoax, and my dad was grinning.
So, my dad was happy Hoax was back.
Well, I was, too.
Only, likely for a much different reason.
“I’m the father, and the fiancé,” Hoax supplied, answering Kelley’s earlier snotty question.
Fiancé?
What?
Not that I was upset about it or anything.
“Fiancé?” Kelley sounded like he’d choked on the words as they’d poured from his lips.
“Fiancé,” Hoax confirmed. “Actually, I just got permission from her dad. I’ve yet to officially ask her yet, but I have no doubt that she’ll say yes.”
I snorted.
Hoax turned slightly and winked at me.
I’d have to be dumb to ever say no to him. These last months that he’d been gone had been torturous. There really wasn’t a way that it could’ve been easier, yet, impossibly, knowing he was mine might’ve made it just a smidge better.
“I’ll say yes,” I told him bluntly. “In fact, let’s act like that was your marriage proposal…where’s the ring?”
He snickered. “You’re not taking that away from me. Hold your horses.”
I sighed and turned back to my dad. “I guess you weren’t needed.”
Dad winked. “Still gotta get your mama. Not sure she’d care too much for riding double on a bike.”
“Brought my truck,” Hoax interjected. “She’s not getting back on my bike until she’s given me my babies.”
I shivered deliciously at that.
Given me my babies.
“Three and a half more months…at most,” I whispered.
He turned to look at me once more. “Gonna be a long four months, but I’ll do my best to make sure you don’t get too bored riding in my truck.”
“As fun as this is, I’m going to go,” Kelley supplied.
We all ignored him.
At least, my father and I did. Hoax turned his gaze once again to Kelley.
“I realize you think you got away with it,” Hoax said quietly. “But you sure the fuck didn’t. I heard every single word that you said, and trust me when I say, I’m not going to forget.”
There was no voiced threat there, but there didn’t need to be either. We all knew what he left unsaid.
Hurt me again, and Hoax was going to do worse than kill him.
Likely, he was going to show him the meaning of pain.
And I wasn’t sure that I really cared.
I probably should, but as I thought about that day that was still something that worried me on a daily basis, remembering how scared I’d been, I couldn’t find it in me to care.
“Have a nice fucking day,” Hoax called to Kelley’s retreating back.
Kelley’s shoulders stiffened, but he didn’t turn around.
It was more than obvious, though, that he wanted to.
I didn’t care.
I only cared about one thing right then, and he was currently staring at me with a small smile on his face as if he was waiting for something.
I practically threw myself back into his arms.
“I leave you alone for a little over five months and look what you’ve done to yourself,” he whispered against my hair.
That was it.
There was nothing else I could do.
I had no other choice in the matter.
I cried.
Chapter 19
Why can’t a bicycle stand up by itself? Because it’s two-tired.
-Text from Hoax to Pru
Hoax
She was still crying as I carried her into her home. Big, bone-wracking sobs that hurt my fuckin’ heart.
After saying goodbye to Sam, and promising that we’d be attending the family dinner at the Mexican food joint they loved later that night, we’d left.
I was tired as hell.
After a thirty-eight-hour flight, two layovers, and waiting in the parking lot in the hot as hell heat for an hour with Sam, I wanted nothing more than to take a shower and go to bed.
But I also wanted to do all that with Pru.
I did not want to go out to eat.
I did not want to leave the house.
I wanted to stay in her place, for the next three days, and get reacquainted with her new body.
God, when I’d seen her in real life, walking toward me, I’d wanted nothing more than to shove her into my truck and drive like a bat out of hell to her place.
Instead, Kelley had shown his hand, and let’s just say he lost.
He didn’t know it yet, though.
He thought he was still in the clear. He thought that he was invincible.
Well, I was about to let him know very quickly that he wasn’t.
“What’s that look for?” Pru asked, running her nose along my neck.
“I had all these grand plans,” I said. “After talking with your father, and asking for permission to marry you, I was going to get down on one knee and ask you right there in the parking lot,” I told her. “But then he was waiting on you and ruined everything. I want to kick his ass so bad it’s not even funny.”
She pressed her hand against the opposite side of my throat from where her mouth was resting against my pulse. “Seeing you standing there? That was the happiest I’ve been since you left me in the airport,” she said softly. “And the way you asked me—if that could be declared as a proposal—was perfect. Having you claim me as yours in front of everyone? That was perfect. It may not be the storybook proposal, but it’s us. It’s real. It’s what I wanted.”
“I’m sorry, but am I not allowed to announce my pregnancy?” I asked tartly. “I wasn’t aware that was against the rules.”
It wasn’t.
In fact, the worst thing I’d said on social media in the last month was that I was gassy.
“I think,” I heard a menacingly, tightly controlled voice say from behind me. “That you’ll either back the fuck off of my girl, or I’ll make you.”
My heart started to pound, and all it took was one look over my shoulder to see the man standing behind me to send it into overdrive.
Holy. Shit.
Hoax stood behind me, but this wasn’t the same Hoax that’d left.
This one was darker, angrier, and hotter.
And, he had less control of the beard that was covering his face.
Plus, the t-shirt he was wearing with the black tactical pants made him look divine.
And, oh my, he was wearing a gun.
Looking straight at him, he had an angry red line across the length of his outer bicep that peeked out from beneath his tight t-shirt. It was stitched with black threads that clearly led me to believe he’d sustained a very nasty cut.
Lastly, he looked pissed off enough that he could happily kill the man boasting in front of me and not give a single shit.
“I’m sorry, but who are you?” Kelley asked snottily.
Kelley knew exactly who Hoax was if he’d been stalking my Facebook page looking at my posts. He knew that Hoax was my baby daddy seeing as they’d met once or twice in the hospital throughout the time that we’d been dating in the beginning.
There was no mistaking the ‘mine’ vibes that was rolling off of Hoax in waves.
Without giving it much thought at all, I was turning and throwing myself at Hoax.
He didn’t miss a beat.
One second he was five feet behind me, and the next he’d taken one giant step and caught me before I could gather up too much momentum.
I buried my face in his chest, and then, blissfully, his arms closed around me and everything was all of a sudden perfect again.
His arm curved around my waist, pulling me in tighter than tight, and I took in a deep, gulping breath of air.
He smelled like everything I never realized I missed. All manly and yummy.
“You’re here,” I breathed.
He squeezed me once more, and then released me.
It felt like a piece of my soul was now missing.
I whimpered at him letting me go and wished that he’d pull me back in, but then I realized that we were still standing in the middle of the parking lot and the world hadn’t stopped spinning while I’d been in Hoax’s arms.
Kelley was glaring at Hoax, and my dad was grinning.
So, my dad was happy Hoax was back.
Well, I was, too.
Only, likely for a much different reason.
“I’m the father, and the fiancé,” Hoax supplied, answering Kelley’s earlier snotty question.
Fiancé?
What?
Not that I was upset about it or anything.
“Fiancé?” Kelley sounded like he’d choked on the words as they’d poured from his lips.
“Fiancé,” Hoax confirmed. “Actually, I just got permission from her dad. I’ve yet to officially ask her yet, but I have no doubt that she’ll say yes.”
I snorted.
Hoax turned slightly and winked at me.
I’d have to be dumb to ever say no to him. These last months that he’d been gone had been torturous. There really wasn’t a way that it could’ve been easier, yet, impossibly, knowing he was mine might’ve made it just a smidge better.
“I’ll say yes,” I told him bluntly. “In fact, let’s act like that was your marriage proposal…where’s the ring?”
He snickered. “You’re not taking that away from me. Hold your horses.”
I sighed and turned back to my dad. “I guess you weren’t needed.”
Dad winked. “Still gotta get your mama. Not sure she’d care too much for riding double on a bike.”
“Brought my truck,” Hoax interjected. “She’s not getting back on my bike until she’s given me my babies.”
I shivered deliciously at that.
Given me my babies.
“Three and a half more months…at most,” I whispered.
He turned to look at me once more. “Gonna be a long four months, but I’ll do my best to make sure you don’t get too bored riding in my truck.”
“As fun as this is, I’m going to go,” Kelley supplied.
We all ignored him.
At least, my father and I did. Hoax turned his gaze once again to Kelley.
“I realize you think you got away with it,” Hoax said quietly. “But you sure the fuck didn’t. I heard every single word that you said, and trust me when I say, I’m not going to forget.”
There was no voiced threat there, but there didn’t need to be either. We all knew what he left unsaid.
Hurt me again, and Hoax was going to do worse than kill him.
Likely, he was going to show him the meaning of pain.
And I wasn’t sure that I really cared.
I probably should, but as I thought about that day that was still something that worried me on a daily basis, remembering how scared I’d been, I couldn’t find it in me to care.
“Have a nice fucking day,” Hoax called to Kelley’s retreating back.
Kelley’s shoulders stiffened, but he didn’t turn around.
It was more than obvious, though, that he wanted to.
I didn’t care.
I only cared about one thing right then, and he was currently staring at me with a small smile on his face as if he was waiting for something.
I practically threw myself back into his arms.
“I leave you alone for a little over five months and look what you’ve done to yourself,” he whispered against my hair.
That was it.
There was nothing else I could do.
I had no other choice in the matter.
I cried.
Chapter 19
Why can’t a bicycle stand up by itself? Because it’s two-tired.
-Text from Hoax to Pru
Hoax
She was still crying as I carried her into her home. Big, bone-wracking sobs that hurt my fuckin’ heart.
After saying goodbye to Sam, and promising that we’d be attending the family dinner at the Mexican food joint they loved later that night, we’d left.
I was tired as hell.
After a thirty-eight-hour flight, two layovers, and waiting in the parking lot in the hot as hell heat for an hour with Sam, I wanted nothing more than to take a shower and go to bed.
But I also wanted to do all that with Pru.
I did not want to go out to eat.
I did not want to leave the house.
I wanted to stay in her place, for the next three days, and get reacquainted with her new body.
God, when I’d seen her in real life, walking toward me, I’d wanted nothing more than to shove her into my truck and drive like a bat out of hell to her place.
Instead, Kelley had shown his hand, and let’s just say he lost.
He didn’t know it yet, though.
He thought he was still in the clear. He thought that he was invincible.
Well, I was about to let him know very quickly that he wasn’t.
“What’s that look for?” Pru asked, running her nose along my neck.
“I had all these grand plans,” I said. “After talking with your father, and asking for permission to marry you, I was going to get down on one knee and ask you right there in the parking lot,” I told her. “But then he was waiting on you and ruined everything. I want to kick his ass so bad it’s not even funny.”
She pressed her hand against the opposite side of my throat from where her mouth was resting against my pulse. “Seeing you standing there? That was the happiest I’ve been since you left me in the airport,” she said softly. “And the way you asked me—if that could be declared as a proposal—was perfect. Having you claim me as yours in front of everyone? That was perfect. It may not be the storybook proposal, but it’s us. It’s real. It’s what I wanted.”
