Lucy
I FROWNED AS Dad ushered Bam out to the grill. My body still thrummed with desire from our earlier make-out session. Good lord, the man’s body was better than ever.
My mother’s hand appeared in front of me as she snapped her fingers. “Luce!”
“What?” I asked, leaning my head away.
“Thinking back to the sex tape?”
“What? No,” I ground out. “Ew.”
“Ew?”
“Yes, ‘ew.’ Melody’s a skinny ho bag.”
Mom chuckled. “She is a bit skinny, I agree. But Bam—”
“Stop.” I raised my hand. “Do not tell me you’ve seen the video.”
“Have you?” she asked.
“I… it’s a bit before my time, wouldn’t you say?”
“That’s not an answer, Lucy.”
“Nope, you’re right, it’s not.” I grabbed a bottle of wine and busied myself opening it.
“I’ll show you mine if you show me yours,” Mom teased.
I wrinkled my nose.
“Same time. Yes or no,” she continued. “On three.”
I sighed. “Fine.”
“One, two, three…”
“Yes,” I said, as she said, “Hell, yeah.”
I groaned. “Ohmigod, Mom, you watched it?”
She got a weird grin on her face. “More than once.”
I stuck my fingers in my ears and chanted, “La, la, la, I’m not listening.”
She shrugged and poured us each a glass of wine.
“You watched it, honey,” she pointed out. “You can’t judge me for doing the same.”
“You’re married.”
“Dad knew what I was doing. He even glanced at it… sort of.”
I gasped. “That’s even worse.”
“Full disclosure,” she corrected. “He wasn’t that interested. He doesn’t find Melody all that pretty and he wasn’t interested in seeing ‘another man’s dick.’ His loss I say.”
I groaned. “No, Mom. Just… no.”
“Well, Bam has a very nice penis. You’ll have fun with that.”
“Mom!” I squealed. “Stop talking.”
“Nice, tight sac.”
“For the love of God, Mother, do not say another word.”
“I really like a man with a tight sac,” she continued. “I was never a big fan of saggy balls.”
I rushed to the sink and pretended to be vomiting into it.
Mom laughed so hard she bent over at the waist and I straightened, crossing my arms and waiting for her to laugh herself out… or choke. Choking would be good right about now.
“You should see your face,” she said, still laughing.
“Are you done?” I asked.
“Nope.” She held her hands out in cupped fashion. “Balls should be smaller than this… and Bam’s are perfect.”
“Stop.” I rolled my eyes. “Ohmigod, there is something seriously wrong with you.”
“You got rubbers?” she asked. “You’ll need the extra-large ones… maybe ribbed for her pleasure.”
“This is child abuse.”
“Would you rather I not discuss this openly, honestly, and lovingly with you?”
“Yes, yes, I would.”
“Too bad,” she retorted, and her laughing began again.
“You know I get to decide what kind of home you end up in, right?” I reminded her just as Bam and Dad walked back into the kitchen. I felt the heat burn uncomfortably on my face and busied myself in the fridge. I wasn’t looking for anything, but it helped cool me down.
“Everything okay, Rox?” Dad asked.
“Oh, everything’s great, baby,” she said. “I was simply helping Lucy out with a personal issue.”
“And now she’s done,” I said, closing the fridge a little harder than I meant to. “Right, Mom?”
Mom snorted, but managed to nod. “Yep. We’re all good.”
“Great. I’ll grab the steaks, you grab the potato salad, yeah?” Dad said.
Mom nodded and followed him back out the way they came, leaving me alone with Bam, still crimson and feeling way too insecure for my liking.
“You okay?” Bam asked.
“Nope.”
He frowned. “What’s wrong?”
“Oh, nothing.”
“When your mom said personal issue, I—”
“Nothing to worry about.” I shook my head. “She was being obnoxious at my expense.”
“Don’t like that, baby.”
I sighed. “I don’t really either, but it wasn’t malicious. Just her weird way of looking out for me.”
He closed the distance between us and stroked my cheek. “You want to share?”
“Maybe when we know each other a little bit better, okay?”
He chuckled. “Okay, baby. I get it.” He kissed me gently, which didn’t really help me calm down. “I’m starving.”
I nodded. “Me too.”
We grabbed drinks and a couple of sides, and headed out to where my parents were setting up. Mom and Dad were laughing and I had a feeling Mom had just added to my personal hell and shared everything with Dad.
“How do you like your steak, Bam?” Dad asked.
“Medium rare is great,” he answered.
Dad turned to my mom. “How about you, baby? Do you still like your meat high and tight?”
“State geriatric ward for both of you,” I snapped. “Not one single frill, I swear to God.”
* * *
Bam
My phone buzzed right as I took my last bite of food. It was Mack. “Excuse me,” I said to the family. “I need to take this.”
“Go ahead,” Lucy said, and I walked toward the water and answered the call.
“Hey, Bam, do you have some time to talk?” Mack sounded concerned.
“Sure thing,” I answered. I suppose I should have been anticipating Mack’s call since the Dogs of Fire were babysitting Chas for me. “Everything okay with Chas? Were you able to find anything out?”
“That’s sorta why I’m calling,” Mack said. “You asked me to poke around for any information about your money.” He paused. “Good news, bad news on that. The good news is that I reached out to a contact in the FBI named Jaxon Quinn, and he knows where some of it is. The bad news is you’ll have to go through the FBI to get it as it’s now evidence in an ongoing FBI investigation.”
“Fuck me. You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“Sorry, brother, I wish I was. Apparently, Chas Chambers has been in business with some Dixie Mafia members for some time now. The FBI wants him because he’s got intimate knowledge of their accounting system and has been stealing from them… exactly like he was from you. Once Jaxon knew we had Chas it was game over. The feds came and grabbed Chas and I wasn’t about to jam up Jaxon by letting our guys stand in the way.”
“I get it,” I said. “I don’t even give a shit about the money right now I just want that prick to pay.”
“Don’t worry, brother, he will. As for getting even, let me assure you that Chas will walk with a limp for the rest of his life—a life that will likely be lived out in the witness protection, once the feds extract every piece of cheese they can from that rat. At best, he’ll live out the rest of his days in some Cleveland suburb under the name Larry Butts.”
“Thanks, man.” I chuckled. “Keep me posted.”
“Will do, but that’s not all I’m calling about,” Mack said, the concern returning to his voice. “When Jaxon was digging around for clues on the whereabouts of your money he stumbled upon your mother’s murder case. He became interested when he saw that it was unsolved, and even more so when he noticed local law enforcement had done virtually nothing to solve it.”
“What?” I asked stunned.
“He said that it looked like the case ran cold quickly and was shelved as soon as it possibly could be even though very little investigating had ever been done. He’d like to meet with you in Elwood as soon as possible to talk about the case.”
“I’m still in Seattle, Mack. I don’t even know when I’m going back to Alabama. Besides, I haven’t been back to Elwood in years.”
“Well you’d better get there… preferably by Friday. Jaxon wants to start interviewing potential witnesses right away.”
“Why would he want to do that? Why the hell would this guy care so much about my mother’s unsolved murder case? “
“No clue. He just asked me to relay the message and to give you his number. Call him, Bam, Jaxon’s a good guy. The Dogs trust him and I trust him.”
Mack texted me the contact information for Special Agent Jaxon Quinn of the FBI.
Who the fuck spells Jaxon with an X? You already have a Q in your name, are you working the triple word score here?
“Thanks again, Mack, for everything. I’ll give this guy call.”
We hung up and I instantly hit Hadley’s icon on my phone. Apparently, I was going to need a plane ticket home and I wasn’t even quite sure why yet. The past few days with Lucy had been so amazing I hadn’t even thought much about when I’d be leaving to go back to Alabama and now I was going back to Elwood of all places?
Lucy.
How was I going to tell Lucy I was leaving? Wait. How was I actually going to leave her?
* * *
Lucy
Bam took his phone call and then seemed to shut down. When I reached over and squeezed his thigh, he moved away from my touch and I was left wondering what the hell happened during his phone call.
Bam excused himself early and headed into the guest house, which meant I either had to tell my parents I was staying or head back to my apartment. Dad escaped to his “den,” while Mom and I took care of the dishes.
“You okay?” Mom asked.
“Yep.”
She raised an eyebrow but didn’t press. “Are you going to stay?”
“I wasn’t, but I don’t want to make Sully come back,” I said. “So, yes, if you don’t mind, I’ll stay.”
Mom rolled her eyes. “If I could get you to move back home, I’d be ecstatic, baby girl, so I don’t mind at all.”
I smiled. “You’re ridiculous.”
She pulled me in for a hug. “Just love my girl.”
“Love you too, Mama.”
“I’m going to find your dad. Lock up, okay?”
“I will,” I promised, and took a couple of the kitchen towels into the laundry. The laundry room was at the back of the house and gave me a direct line of sight to the guest house. It looked as though the great room light was on, and I debated heading over. I desperately wanted to see Bam, but with his coldness toward me earlier, I wasn’t sure it would be a good idea.
But… I’d had a couple glasses of wine, so I decided it was enough liquid courage to find out what the hell was going on. After setting the alarm, I locked up and walked to the guest house.
Knocking on the door, I was forced to wait for several minutes, and actually almost left before the door was pulled open with surprising force.
“Yeah, Had, that’d be great,” Bam said, and waved me in. “Nothin’ yet. Just gotta sort that shit out first. Yeah, we can talk then. Okay. Yep. Yep. Thanks.”
He hung up and faced me. “You okay?”
I nodded. “I’m kind of wondering the same thing about you.”
“Just sorting out some band business. I have to head back to Alabama tomorrow.”
“I thought you were going to stick around a bit.”
“Can’t. Gotta get home.” He headed toward the kitchen and I followed.
“What’s going on, Bam?”
“Just got shit to deal with.”
“Can I help?”
He grabbed a bottled water out of the fridge and faced me again. “No.”
“What’s going on?”
He took a sip of water but didn’t answer my question.
“Bam.”
“It’s all good, Lucy. Don’t worry about it.”
“You’re shutting me out.”
“Can’t shut you out when it doesn’t have anything to do with you.”
Direct hit.
I shoved my emotions deep down and nodded. “Got it. I’ll see you whenever.”
I stalked toward the front door, but before I reached the foyer, I found myself pushed up against the wall and kissed like I was Bam’s lifeline.
“Fuck!” he snapped as he broke the kiss.
“Last chance to tell me what’s going on, buddy,” I warned.
He dragged his hands down his face.
“I’m leaving.”
He grabbed my arm gently. “Wait.”
“Why?”
“Baby, I don’t want any of this shit to touch you.”
“Too late.” I crossed my arms. “If we’re entering into a relationship, you need to fill me in on what’s going on. I’m not the kind of girl who’s okay with being kept in the dark.”
“And I’m not the kind of man who’ll let drama touch my woman.”
“Well, I’m not truly your woman if you’re not willing to share the good and the bad.”
He shook his head. “Baby, this isn’t something you share with the woman you want to keep. I tell you all this shit and you’ll fuckin’ run.”
This statement filled in another piece of the puzzle that was Beau “Bam” Nelson and I wrapped my arms around him. “Did you kill someone?”
“No.”
“Did you hurt someone? Cheat on someone, rape someone, steal from someone?”
“What the hell? No, baby. Nothing like that.”
“Okay, then I’m not going to run.”
“I don’t want to burden you.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m asking you to. You don’t have to face all of this alone anymore.”
“I honestly don’t know all of the information. Just that the FBI has been digging into my mom’s murder.”
“Why would they do that?”
“No clue, but I have to be back in Elwood by Friday.”
“Wow,” I whispered. “Are you okay?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“This is going to hit you hard when you get home.”
“Probably.”
“Do you want me to come with you?”
“There’s nothin’ I’d like more,” he said. “But I really don’t want this to touch you. I’ll deal with it.”
I hugged him tight. “If you need me, I’ll come.”
“Thanks, baby. I appreciate it.”
“When’s your flight?”
“Seven a.m.”
I met his eyes. “There wasn’t anything later?”
“Not direct, no.”
“You could take the band jet.”
“There’s a band jet?”
I nodded. “I can talk to Dad—”
“No.”
“He won’t mind—”
“No,” he interrupted again. “I need to deal with this without getting your dad involved, Luce.”
“More alpha male philosophies?”
He chuckled without mirth. “Sure. We’ll go with that.”
“Let me have Sully drive you to the airport.”
“I’ll grab a cab or an Uber.”
“Or I can have Sully drive you. And if you don’t mind, I’ll ride with you.”
Bam smiled… finally. “I’d like that.”
“I’ll let you go,” I said. “You should probably try to sleep.”
“Or you could stay.”
“I could. This is true,” I said, smiling up at him. “And if I stay, what will we do?”
“Anything you want.”
“Really? Anything?”
“Yeah, baby, anything.”
“I kind of want to get naked.”
“Yeah?”
I nodded, heat creeping up my neck. I had never been this forward in my life. “Will you think less of me?”
“Why the hell would I think less of you?”
“Because we’ve barely met and I’m standing here offering myself up to you.”
He dropped his head back and laughed. “Holy shit, you’re adorable.”
I frowned. “Excuse me?”
“Let me fill you in on a little secret.” He took my hand and led me to the overstuffed chair facing the fireplace, tugging me onto his lap. “Unlike my band mates, I don’t get off fucking every woman who offers herself to me.”
“Um…” I squirmed, very uncomfortable with this conversation. I wasn’t really interested in hearing how many women had offered themselves up to Bam. I was pretty sure it was millions.
“Stay with me, Lucy. Just hear me out, okay?”
I sighed, but nodded.
“I’m a one woman kind of guy. I only sleep with women I’m in a relationship with. I don’t cheat and I don’t lie. My last relationship was with Melody and you can understand why it’s been a while since I’ve been with anyone.”
“Well, since I don’t really know why you broke up, I don’t know that I can understand.”
“It was in all the tabloids.”
“I don’t read the tabloids, Bam. It’s gossip and I hate gossip.”
“I like that about you.” He stroked my face and kissed me gently. “It was a messy break up. She cheated with her ex, Jason Maxx.”
“The country singer?”
“Yeah. They’ve been off and on since she was sixteen. He’s got a hold on her that she can’t seem to shake and I got caught in the middle of their drama.”
“I’m sorry, Bam.”
“It’s so not a problem,” he said. “I was committed to her, but I was never really in love with her, so it didn’t hurt nearly as much as the media made it out.”
“So you’re over her.”
“So fucking over her, Luce. I was over her before we were even over if that makes sense.”
“When did you guys make the sex tape?”
“Fuck me, have you seen it?”
I nodded. “So have my parents.”
He dropped his head back with a groan. “Shit.”
I giggled. “It’s nothing for you to be embarrassed about.”
“It is what it is,” he said, although his tone was somewhat irritated. “We made it together, so I couldn’t say I didn’t know I was being filmed, but we’d talked about deleting it after watching it. Melody felt she needed a way to kill her squeaky clean image and “leaked” it. I was pissed. It was the final nail in the coffin of our shitty relationship.”
“Can we make a pact never to make a sex tape?”
Bam chuckled. “Yeah, baby. No problem.”
“I’d really like to have sex, though,” I whispered.
“I can make that happen,” he whispered back. “But…”
“But, what?”
“We do this, and we’re in it. You’re mine. I’m yours. We work our shit out.”
“Fair warning, I can be a little jealous.”
“Same, baby. But I don’t cheat.”
“Neither do I,” I said. “I’d either dump you or kill you and hide your body before I’d ever cheat.”
He chuckled. “Good to know.”
I kissed him and he stood, lifting me with him, and carried me toward the bedroom. My heart raced knowing this was finally going to happen.