“Anyway,” Dick said, ignoring Ashlie’s words like we always did every time she said something she wasn’t supposed to—something Will told me was to be expected upon meeting them. “They built this place out of an old whorehouse.” He continued, waiting for any extra commentary, but was rewarded with silence. “They decorated the entire place up real nice, but in the end, there were a shit ton of rooms. This place looks way better now. Breaking up all the rooms added so much space. And light. Only a few of the rooms had windows, and it was such a dark place. But now I feel like I can breathe.”

  “Dad was a cop, too,” Will explained, tugging me so close that there wasn’t a single sliver of space between us. “He doesn’t like when he can’t see.”

  That made sense.

  Now, I didn’t like when I couldn’t see, either.

  It sucked.

  Even worse, I didn’t like when I could see, and saw danger, and my panic attacks started to kick in.

  “What’s with that look on your face, ma’am?”

  I blinked, looking across the table at Petra.

  “Sorry?” I asked.

  Petra pointed at her eyes. “Your eyes had this faraway look to them. Are you mad?”

  I thought about that for a moment.

  Mad wasn’t quite the right word.

  Antsy. Perturbed. Worried.

  But not mad.

  “Um, no.” I paused. “I was thinking about something. Oh, look. They brought rolls. I love rolls.”

  I was a roll addict.

  Actually, more accurately, I was a carb addict.

  I loved me some carbs.

  Sweets and breads were my two main vices.

  They’d been something that I couldn’t have for over a year. A year of no sweets had been one of the worst things that I could think of.

  Even worse, the moment I was able to have a sweet again after that, it’d hurt my stomach so bad that I couldn’t gorge myself like I’d wanted.

  “I like rolls.” Petra hesitated. “But I only like it when those rolls have lots of butter.”

  I snorted. “Who can eat a roll without butter?”

  “Amen,” Dick concurred, pulling his butter knife out and ready to dig in the moment that the waitress set the rolls in front of us.

  Dick started to spread butter on his roll before anyone else had even reached for a roll themselves.

  I was just about to peel mine in half when an achingly familiar voice assaulted my ears.

  “One big happy family,” Brianna narrowed her eyes at us. “Didn’t think you wanted kids, Cannel?”

  I tilted my head. “Where would you have learned that from?”

  I hadn’t told her I wanted or didn’t want kids. I had barely spoken to her.

  In fact, if I was so against kids, I wouldn’t have had unprotected sex so many times without first being positive that I was for sure covered.

  Something in which she didn’t know.

  But, at one point, I hadn’t wanted kids.

  And the only person to know that would be…

  “Have you been talking to my ex-fiancé?” I asked casually.

  Brianna’s eyes gleamed. “Maybe.”

  My lips twitched at that. “Beau was the type of person you didn’t have kids with,” I told her point blank. “The type that didn’t want kids, and you agree with that person because you love them. I’ve always wanted kids, but not with a person that doesn’t want them.”

  Brianna’s mouth opened, but it was Will’s hand on the inside of my thigh that had me glancing his way.

  “You sure that you want kids?”

  The questioned sounded like it’d been forced out of him. “Yes.”

  He blew out a breath that I hadn’t realized he was holding.

  “I didn’t think that was a game changer until…” he gestured at Brianna. “I want them.”

  I leaned into him and said, “Beau scared me with how selfish he was. I didn’t realize just how selfish until after but… yeah. There was a reason I didn’t want any with him.”

  A throat cleared, and it was only then that I realized Brianna hadn’t left.

  Will tore his gaze from me and returned it to Brianna. “Is there a reason you always have to pick a fight?”

  Brianna smirked and jerked her chin in the direction of a middle-aged man that was sitting at a table by himself. He waved when he saw us looking at him, causing Will to sigh.

  “You do realize, correct, that he has a brand-new baby and a wife that’ll literally slaughter you if you give her a chance?” Will murmured.

  Brianna scoffed. “It’s just a business meeting.”

  “Business meeting my ass,” Dick grumbled.

  I tended to agree with the man.

  That was no business meeting. Especially when you looked at the way that poor guy’s face was turning redder and redder the more we stared.

  Before much more staring could occur, the guy abruptly got up and left, leaving Brianna to stare with narrowed eyes, and the rest of us to rejoice.

  “Well that’s unfortunate,” I said, staring at the way the man hoofed it across the restaurant. “You’ll have to eat all alone.”

  Luckily, we were at max capacity for our table, and there was no way she was fitting her scrawny ass into our table.

  Even luckier was our drinks coming out, and the waitress shouldering Brianna out of the way without even realizing what she was doing.

  “Whoooooa,” Ashlie said. “Uncle Will, can we get one of those?”

  I followed Ashlie’s line of sight and blinked. “Yeah, Uncle Will. Can we get one of those?”

  It was a stack of onion rings that looked at least two feet high.

  Will’s gaze followed my own and his eyes widened. “Do you know how many fucking calories even one of those would be? Hell, the whole plate is probably a week’s worth of calories.”

  I looked at him like the fun sucker he was. “Nobody likes a butthead, Will.”

  Will’s lips twitched, and Ashlie started to laugh.

  And all of a sudden, Brianna was all but forgotten, causing her to growl in frustration.

  I continued to ignore her as the waitress set our drinks down in front of us.

  Chocolate milk for the girls and me—because when I heard them order I knew that was what I had to have, too—and half sweet, half unsweet for the parentals, and a boring old water for Will.

  I took my glass of milk and scooted it closer before all but snatching my straw out of Will’s hand and carefully tearing the paper for prime shooting capability.

  Putting the plastic straw to my lips, I blew it at Will, causing him to blink and turn very slowly to face me.

  Ashlie and Petra started to giggle.

  “Ohh, show me how to do that!” Petra begged at the same time Ashlie started to tear into her straw.

  “Nope,” I teased as I stilled her hand and reached for Will’s straw, which he never used, and showed her how to tear the paper perfectly to get the maximum shooting power.

  She reached for the one I’d half torn into and finished it, all before aiming at Will, too.

  Only, it went wide and shot Brianna straight in the forehead.

  Petra followed suit, and instead of aiming for Will, she aimed for her grandmother.

  It went wide and shot her grandfather directly in the mouth.

  We all had a good laugh at that, and when I turned back to find Will staring at me, it was with something I couldn’t quite decipher in his eyes.

  Before I could question him on it, the girls were asking for Dick and Jane’s straws.

  “No,” Will ordered. “Only one straw. Yours. And you can’t reload.”

  “Bummer,” I snickered as I stuck my straw into my milk and took a hefty swallow.

  “Mmmm,” I moaned, taking another gulp.

  “You know you have to pay for each one of those, right?” Ashlie asked. “Uncle Will limits us to two, so he says we have to have water, too, if we’re going to drink like that.”

  I turned serious eyes to the girls and said, “One day, when you’re making your own money, a man won’t be able to make those decisions for you. Like me. I’m a grown-ass adult, and if I want to drink my milk fast, and have four of them, then I’ll drink my milk fast and have four of them.”

  “Amen,” the waitress said as she hitched her hand on her hip. “Y’all getting’ the mile-high onion rings? Or are you ready to order?”

  I grinned at her. “We’re getting the mile-high onion rings. And make sure to put them on my tab. With my four chocolate milks.”

  “I can’t wait to have my own money,” Ashlie sighed. “I’m going to buy that pony I always wanted.”

  “Since when do you want a pony?” Will asked, leaning back and placing his hand on my thigh once again.

  Brianna huffed and stormed off, tired of being ignored.

  I grinned and widened my legs, causing Will’s fingers to momentarily drop between my thighs a little farther than he intended.

  He froze, allowing his fingers to stay there for a few long seconds before he moved them to a more respectable position.

  I felt butterflies tingle inside of my belly for a few short seconds before I returned my attention to the table.

  “She was lovely,” Jane said. “What exactly does she do with you?”

  “She helped train me for Paris PD,” Will explained, watching with amusement as I all but siphoned up my chocolate milk. “She’s known as the department shark because she literally fucks everything that has a relationship.”

  Dick snorted. “We had a couple of those. There was this one lady that slept with all the department married men, and single men alike. Your mother hated her guts.”

  “I can imagine.” I shook my head. “Hell, Will and I aren’t even in the ‘labels’ stage and I already hate that chick’s guts.”

  Will froze beside me. “Labels?”

  I looked over at him and said, “You know. The ‘boyfriend’ or ‘girlfriend’ stage.”

  His eyes narrowed. “I’m your man, and you’re my woman, and if you don’t understand that, I think that maybe I need to have a serious discussion with you.”

  My mouth went a little dry at his words.

  “I…” I paused, unsure what to say.

  “You’re mine,” he declared, right there in front of the entire table. Hell, even the waitress was still hanging around, waiting for us to tell her what all we wanted. He turned to her then, dismissing me. “Yes, we’ll have the onion rings. And some more bread.” He tilted his head. “And all of her stuff will go on my ticket.”

  I felt my face flush. “You will…”

  “Sir, yes, sir.” The waitress winked and left before I could finish my sentence.

  I growled under my breath just as Petra said, “I’m just going to get a man and have him pay for all of my stuff. Working sounds like it sucks.”

  There was a long moment of silence and then, “Working does suck.”

  That came from Jane.

  I sighed and leaned farther into Will, willing to admit when I’d been beat.

  We spoke for a short time about what was next for the Schultz crew, and it was decided that it was best for everyone to cut the vacation short.

  Not only had Dick’s truck been maimed, but there was supposedly something that had gone wrong with their pipes in their house, and Will had been doing his level best to keep it together without them there to take charge.

  After hearing about her house, Jane decided that she needed to be here where she could help redecorate.

  Dick went along for the ride, and Ashlie and Petra were secretly happy to be home.

  And I had a feeling that had a lot to do with me being in the picture now, and not because of their uncle.

  “Do you ever do your nails?” Petra’s eyes gleamed as she asked the question.

  Just as I was about to answer, our food was brought over on the largest tray I’d ever seen.

  The waitress looked as if she did orders that large every day, and didn’t spill a single drop.

  Once the food was set in front of us, Jane said grace, and like I did every single time I was going to eat, I mentally told myself that the food I was about to eat was something that O’Ryan would’ve hated. And he would’ve berated me for even wanting it. And I was really fuckin’ happy that I could give a mental finger to the woman he’d turned me into for a year.

  Reaching for the onion ring, I saturated half of it in ranch dressing before I shoved the whole thing in my mouth.

  “Oh, God,” I moaned as I closed my eyes.

  Flavor burst on my tongue, and it was amazing.

  I couldn’t wait to have another one.

  “You gonna share any of those?” Will teased.

  I handed one to Ashlie, who was digging into her mac ‘n cheese, then one over to Petra, who promptly saturated it in barbeque sauce from her ribs.

  Both said a ‘thank you’ with their mouths half full, then allowed me to go back to my orgasmic onion rings.

  I was just about to shove a fourth into my mouth when Will’s phone rang.

  I didn’t even have to guess who it would be.

  I knew.

  Brianna was so unoriginal.

  And, of course, with Will’s loud ass phone announcing to the world everything that was said, I heard the words, “Sally is waiting on your front porch for you to come home.”

  Will cursed. “Shit.”

  When he hung up, he looked at me pleadingly, but with an annoyance so great I couldn’t explain the feelings that started to roll through me. I looked at him with anger in my eyes.

  “Who the heck is Sally?”

  Will groaned guiltily.

  “Sally is my nieces’ dog. Promise, not what you were thinking,” he explained, sounding tired all of a sudden.

  “What?” I faltered. “How did I not know you had a dog?”

  “’Cause half the time she’s not at home,” Ashlie said. “Are you leaving, Uncle Will?”

  “I probably should,” he grumbled as he popped one of my fries into his mouth.

  I narrowed my eyes at him. “I’m willing to share just about anything with you, but not my food. I can’t share that. It’s too…important.”

  Something must’ve come off as desperate to me because he quickly offered me a green bean off of his plate.

  “Uh, no.” I shook my head. “Thanks for that, though. It was a nice gesture.”

  He chuckled as he popped it into his mouth, then ate his grilled chicken salad in about half the time it would take a normal person.

  “Mom,” he said around a bite of lettuce. “Can you take…”

  “I have the kids and your girl, honey,” she said. “Go get that dog in.”

  With a sigh he downed half his glass of water, gave me a quick peck on the lips, then was gone.

  “Get to pay after all!” I teased the moment he was gone.

  Dick snorted. “Doubtful.”

  I found out what he meant five minutes later when I asked for the check.

  Turned out, Will had enough time to drop her his credit card before he left, leaving me nothing to pay for.

  Not even the tip.

  CHAPTER 18

  Yes, I’m smiling. But you are not the reason.

  -text from Shine to Cannel

  CANNEL

  Five minutes into our drive to my car, Will sent me a text begging me to run by his house to look for his dog.

  Before I could ask, he’d said something had come up at work and that he hadn’t even had the chance to go home before he’d been ordered to the station.

  Which was why I was at his house, walking up to Will’s front porch and staring at the keypad.

  He’d given me the key code to his alarm system and begged me to go look for his dog.

  His dog that I didn’t even know he had.

  How did one know someone for weeks, date them, have sex with them, and not know that he had a dog? Even when you were sleeping over at their place?

  Whatever the reason I didn’t know about Sally, something about the fact niggled at me.

  Like… why?

  That would be something that would come up in regular everyday conversation.

  But, then I had to admit, the only reason I was really worrying about the dog at all was the text message I’d gotten about two minutes after Will had left.

  Unknown: How much do you even know him? What makes you think he’s actually going to work? He could very well be going out to see someone that’s not you.

  Logically, I knew that they were trying to instill doubt.

  Logically, and illogically, I was not the same person.

  I hadn’t been since I’d been taken and turned into a simpering idiot who couldn’t take a poop without first being given permission to do it. Or hell, just the fact of having to ask to do it changed me.

  There were a lot of dark days that I could remember with O’Ryan. Habits that I’d formed to keep myself safe. Habits that were really hard to break.

  I had to stop myself from doing a lot of stupid things. Like changing my scent. Or getting close to running out of toilet paper. With O’Ryan, we always had to have at most and at least six rolls in the cabinet, or it took up too much space. And God forbid I think about adding more or less.

  I was so lost in thought, thinking of everything that I used to be, that at first I didn’t see the Doberman practically sprawled out in the window box planter that hung off the front porch until I was nearly beside it.

  “Oh!” I cried out, surprised by the lazy sprawl. “Hello, big girl.”

  Sally looked at me with doe-brown eyes and leaned forward to press her cold nose to my forearm.

  I quickly put the numbers into the keypad, and then threw the front door open wide before saying, “Come on, girl.”

  Sally looked at me like I was crazy.

  Like I was a moron who had smoked something really good before coming over to get her.

  But I’d also come prepared. Because I was not a moron. And I didn’t do the exercise thing, so chasing her around the neighborhood wasn’t for me.

 

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