F-Bomb - Lani Lynn Vale Page 0,11
didn’t see his tall, dark, forbidding form heading toward me, I’d go back to my paper. It was only when I saw him bobbing in the distance that I’d get up once again and head inside.
Most of the time he was gone after that.
He’d find something to do in town that kept him away all day.
I wondered idly what it was, but other than flat out asking him what he did for a living now that he was no longer in jail, I had to be satisfied with being curious.
And since I didn’t know anybody in this town that I could ask other than Dre, I would have to continue to be curious.
The lawnmower suddenly stopped, and my eyes became more focused on his face rather than his abs.
When they did, I nearly swallowed my tongue when I saw him staring directly at me.
“What are you staring at?” he called over the length of the yard.
I shrugged. “Nothing.”
“You’re staring at me,” he said. “Why?”
I shrugged. “I was admiring your ankle bracelet.
He looked down to where the ankle monitor was on his left ankle, then shook his leg to make the jeans fall back over it completely.
Lies.
They were all lies.
I was staring at your abs!
“I’m expected to have this ankle monitor for six more months. It was a condition of getting paroled early,” he explained.
I didn’t really care.
Was it bad that I found a murderer so attractive?
“I…” I began but was interrupted when a couple of bikes turned onto our quiet street and started heading our way.
I didn’t speak again as the bikes motored our way, pulled over at the end of my driveway, and parked in between my driveway and his. When they were stopped, they extended their kickstands out almost in sequence and dismounted.
All the while I watched the man at my side seem to wait for them to arrive with a resigned expression on his face.
My smile was wide for the first biker.
The second biker, not so much.
My dad walked up to me and pulled me into his chest, squeezing me lightly before letting go.
The other biker went to Slate and offered him his hand.
“Did you make a new friend?” I asked curiously.
Dad looked at the biker that’d ridden in with him for a brief second, then shrugged. “No idea who he is. Just met him about ten minutes ago on the ride through town.”
I nodded my head in understanding.
“And he just so happened to be going almost to the same place that you were?” I guessed.
“Actually,” he said. “I’m not here to talk to you. I’m here to talk to your neighbor.”
I frowned. “What? Why?”
Dad shuffled my hair with the palm of his hand, then gestured to my coffee cup. “You got any more of that?”
I rolled my eyes. “Of course I do.”
“Can you grab me some?” he asked.
I sighed and nodded my head. “Do you want any sugar? Or do you just want it black?”
“Black,” he answered as he turned and started back for the stairs. “Bring it on over when you get it done.”
I gave him a thumb’s up and walked back to my door, cautiously peering over my shoulder at the two men that were now watching me go.
Feeling my heartbeat start to speed up in my chest, I placed a hand to it over my ribs and wondered if I was getting sick.
There was no way in hell that I was going over there to talk to the three of them.
Instead, I made the coffee, put it in a to-go cup with donuts on it, then took it out to the porch once again. I didn’t bother to see if I had their attention. Instead, I walked over to the porch railing and placed the coffee cup there. Once I was satisfied that it wasn’t going to fall off into the bushes, I chanced a look toward my father and was unsurprised to see that I had all three of them staring at me.
Giving a little wave, I gestured at the coffee to my father and said, “I’m going inside to get ready for work. You need anything else?”
Dad shook his head. Slate’s eyes narrowed.
The other man still hadn’t acknowledged me in any way.
Thinking it was for the best, I went to my bedroom and did indeed change and get ready for work.
Sure, it was an hour early, but I had a feeling I was going to be able to convince Dad that we needed to go eat after this. Whatever ‘this’ was.
My