She sighed and rolled her eyes as if she were eating a delectable cream puff. “Against the door? That is so fucking hot.”
“It was.” My inner walls clenched as if remembering, too.
“No wonder they couldn’t get in.” Lucy wrapped her arms around her middle and laughed with glee. “They were trying to break down the door. Couldn’t you hear them pounding?”
“Um, I was distracted.”
“By something else pounding?” She waggled her eyebrows like a clown, and it was my turn to laugh.
“Something like that.” I put my hand over my eyes. We were not having this discussion. This was a weird mushroom trip, a dream. Someone had slipped something into my water bottle at work.
“Details. How big? How hard? What did he say? Did he smell good? Was he gentle? Was it him or the beast? How big?”
I arched a brow. “You already asked that.”
“Well… how big?”
“Beast big.”
Her mouth fell open as if imagining, but when I didn’t offer up more information, she started using her hands as visual aids.
I answered her questions, one by one until she was satisfied, but left out the special stuff. Because while it had been hot as hell and totally wild, it had been special. At least to me.
“Now what?” she finally asked me.
“Now?” I grabbed one of Emma’s stuffed animals off the back of the couch and hugged it. “Now I sit here with you and chat. Then I get a shower…” I looked at the clock on the kitchen wall and popped up from the couch. “Shit, I have to hurry. You sure you don’t mind staying a little longer. I’ll only be gone about an hour.”
“Delivering meals to the elderly?”
I bit my lip. Lying to my BFF sucked, but I had no choice. She was my only babysitter, and I’d needed her to watch the kids on the previous drops. I wasn’t getting her involved in my mess. Sure, I’d tell her I had sex with an Atlan beast behind a closed door on live TV, but I couldn’t endanger her life by knowing the truth about my drug runs for Jimmy Steel. The less she knew, the better.
I was a terrible liar. At the beginning, when Jimmy had first confronted me a week after Jimmy’s death, I’d been expected to do his dirty work during the day and my story had been plausible. Now, late at night, not so much.
I only nodded and turned toward the bathroom.
“You can tell me, you know.” Lucy wasn’t dumb, and I was sure she had some idea about what I was up to, or at least that it wasn’t good.
I faced her. Shook my head. “Thanks for being here,” I said, wishing I could tell her the truth.
Plausible deniability was on her side. Besides, if I got caught and went to jail, I needed Lucy to watch the kids. I had no one else.
“What are you going to do about Wulf?” she asked, thankfully changing the subject. Although Wulf wasn’t something I wanted to talk about either.
“Nothing,” I said, feeling silly standing there. I had to hurry, I had to answer her questions first. I grabbed a plastic dinosaur off the floor and put it in the toy box in the corner. “I sneaked out.”
“Yeah, it was on TV. Wulf lost his shit. Again. They shot him with tranquilizer darts like he was an elephant or something.”
My eyes widened. “Shit. They did not.” I’d heard him bellow, stuff crashing. But no. Just no.
“Oh, they did. Took three to take him down. They had to cut the broadcast with a pile of alien hotties piling on top of him and that living mannequin, Chet Bosworth, promising to keep everyone updated in the next episode.”
I frowned and turned to face her. “That was the finale. There is no next episode.”
She shrugged. “Sweetie, you started it all back up again. Now it’s all about the Beauty and the Beast.”
“You’ve got to be kidding,” I said, grabbing a few little cars and putting them away. “Beauty? Me? You’ve seen Genevieve and Willow.”
She stood and went around the coffee table, grabbing her sweatshirt. “You always do this, talk yourself down. You’re wonderful and it’s clear a hot Atlan sees it, even if you can’t see it for yourself.”
I glanced down at myself.
“Not all guys like to fuck a twig,” she snapped. “Meat on your bones is healthy.”
As if what I had was meat. I had meat and potatoes and an apple pie. Right on my hips and ass.
“It’s not going to happen,” I said with a sigh. “I have Tanner and Emma. You know I tried to get tested, but I have dependents. I can’t leave them on Earth. Before you say it, I can’t take them with me. It’s not allowed. They aren’t old enough to decide for themselves, so they have to stay unless I already have a mate.”
“That’s a stupid rule,” she muttered.
I only shrugged because I didn’t make the rules. It would have been great though, to get away from Jimmy Steel. Tonight was it, the last drug run; then Greg’s debt was paid off. I could then start saving for the kids’ college funds. Hell, for groceries. Moving out of town was one thing, but moving to a different planet would definitely get the jerk off my back. This was the end of it. One of Jimmy’s goons had left the package in my garage—their usual drop-off spot—sometime the night before and had left a note as to the wheres and whens of this last drop.
Soon enough, I’d be free.
“Ant Wivvy!” Tanner came running down the hall and hugged me as if he were a monkey climbing a tree. At four he was independent, but he still liked to hug and love on me. I knew it wouldn’t last, so I loved every single snuggle. Leaning down, I wrapped my arms around his little body, currently covered by cute dinosaur pj’s. He looked so much like his father that it made my heart hurt.
“I thought you were asleep, peanut.”
“I’m thirsty.”
“Of course, you are,” I replied, kissing the top of his head. “Where’s your sister? Is she asleep?”
“Yep. She’s just a baby.” Which was true. Emma wasn’t even two yet, and she slept like a log. Tanner, on the other hand, would wake to the sound of bare feet on carpet. I wondered if that was natural for him, or if it was because he’d always been listening, waiting for his dad to come home late at night. I’d never know, and neither of his parents were ever coming home again.
I squeezed him a little too tight, and he wiggled free in protest.
“He’s going to show up, you know,” Lucy said, her voice soft.
My head whipped in her direction.
“What?” She didn’t know about Jimmy Steel, and her words freaked me out.
“Wulf. When he wakes up, he’ll be at the door.”
My heart slowed, then picked right back up again at the idea of Wulf showing up here, at our little house. Angry? Hurt? I didn’t know.
“A woof’s coming here?” Tanner asked, looking excited about the idea.
“He will not,” I told both of them.
She gave me a fierce hug. “He will. You’re his mate and you ran off. He’s going to find you. Come on, squirt, let’s get you back to bed.”
“Yay! We’re getting a woof!” Tanner cheered, running down the hall to his bedroom, clearly forgetting he’d wanted a drink. It seemed he wanted a pet Atlan more.