Razor The Wild Ones - Jessie Cooke Page 0,24
that much more beautiful. Some of the bare ones gave the appearance of driftwood, twisted in patterns that reminded him of waves. The moss under their feet was soft, and almost kelp-like, thanks to the constant rain in the Volunteer State. But the softest, most beautiful thing in the forest, at least in his opinion, was walking next to him. Kayleigh’s naturally pink lips tugged up in a pretty smile as she watched the squirrels scatter around them. Every so often she’d stop to listen to one of the birds singing in the trees, or to touch the stripped bark and look up at the tall trees with wonder in her eyes. Razor wondered for the first time what she would think of him if she knew what he was running from. Her situation was all created by her boyfriend, and she’d been thrust into it through no real fault of her own. His, on the other hand, was different. He hadn’t done what they were saying he did…but he wasn’t innocent either.
“So why don’t you have an old lady?” Kayleigh asked. For a few seconds Razor froze, wondering if she could read his thoughts. He knew that was stupid. Even being raised in a family with a grandmother who was a voodoo priestess, he’d never much bought into that supernatural stuff.
“Guess I just haven’t found one I wanted to keep yet,” he lied. He’d found her, hiding along the side of the road. But this one, no matter how comfortable she’d made herself at the Iron Order’s clubhouse, was not old lady material. She’d been raised by a cop for one thing, and in an environment that was worlds apart from the one an old lady would have to acclimate to.
She smiled. He loved the way her hazel eyes sparkled when she was feeling playful. “One you wanted to keep,” she said with a chuckle. “You do know they’re not strays like the animals you told me you used to collect?”
He felt his face go hot and he knew it was probably red. Thankful for the dim lighting in the forest he said, “That’s not really what I meant. I just ain’t never been in love, I suppose.”
She sighed then and said, “It’s not all it’s cracked up to be…” They walked in silence for a while longer and then she said, “Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a cynic. What I should have said was that it wasn’t what I thought it would be. I guess maybe part of the problem was that my expectations weren’t realistic.”
“What were they?” he asked. “Your expectations?”
She bent down and picked up a stick off the ground. While they walked, she kept her hands busy, peeling the loose bark off it, and batting low branches out of the way. He thought she wasn’t going to answer his question, but eventually she said, “I imagined being a partner to someone, you know? Sharing everything, being best friends. Bobby and I were never really friends, we were teenage lovers and then we were…I don’t know what to call it, more like roommates with benefits, I guess. I always knew he didn’t tell me everything; of course I only found out how much he wasn’t telling me lately. I also always thought that if you really loved someone, that need for…intimacy wouldn’t ever wane, but with Bobby and me, it did. Or at least it did for him. For a long time, I thought he was having an affair, because he rarely wanted me.”
“Maybe he was crazy,” Razor said.
Kayleigh laughed, stopped, and looked up at him. “Thank you for saying that.”
“I mean it. Seriously, there’d have to be something really wrong with a guy that didn’t want you.”
Kayleigh put her hand on his arm, and he felt it all the way to his core. She still had her pretty eyes locked into his and in almost a whisper she said, “You’re so sweet. The woman who falls in love with you someday will be really lucky, I’m sure.”
He took a deep breath, and let it out, slowly. Starting to walk again, so as not to have to look her in the eyes he said, “Not so much. The last woman that fell in love with me, died for it.” He heard her stop walking again so he took another deep breath and turned to look at her. “About a week before I met you, this woman I was seeing was shot and killed. See, the