Chapter 17

I’m with stupid.

-T-shirt

Freya

“Hi,” I said as I walked into the kitchen the next afternoon to find Apple sitting at the kitchen table.

Apple smiled at me, but behind that smile was a little calculation as well.

“Yo,” he answered, standing up and making his way to the sink where he placed his mug.

I took in his attire.

He was wearing brown slacks that fit him well and a tan long sleeved shirt. He had on a black tie with a white cowboy hat on his head, and my eyebrows furrowed.

Ridley came in short moments later, in much the same attire, only his shirt was short sleeved rather than long sleeved like Apple’s.

His hair was a mess, and his beard was trimmed today, coming to a stop closer to his face than it had been yesterday.

He moved stiffly, and I hid a smile as I saw him move carefully, being sure to keep his back away from accidentally being touched.

My nipple piercing felt pretty raw, too.

Which was why I wasn’t wearing a bra.

I’d put a sweatshirt on over my shirt, though, in hopes that I wouldn’t show everyone in the house my new accessories.

Ridley took his gun out of his holster, followed by his nightstick, and placed them both on the table in the middle of the room before he walked to the fridge and opened it, scanning its contents.

“Have you eaten yet?” he asked.

I shook my head.

“No,” I answered, walking further into the room. “I’m just getting up.”

He grunted.

“Must be nice,” he said. “I’ve yet to go to sleep.”

He said it as an accusation as he stared at me over the fridge door.

I shrugged. “You could’ve called and achieved the same effect.”

He growled in frustration, but Apple laughed, drawing his ire.

“What are you still doing here?” he asked. “Don’t you have some innocent duck hunter to harass?”

“I came home for lunch, just like you did,” he answered calmly. “What’s it to you?”

Ahh, he was a game warden.

That made sense.

His badge didn’t look like the usual law enforcement badge.

The patch looked a lot more familiar now, too.

“How’s my niece?” he asked. “I haven’t seen her in a couple of days.”

“She’s teething. Kitt’s tired as hell,” Apple answered. “And Kitt’s mad that you keep posting people outside of our house when you or I’m not here.”

“She can suck it up,” Ridley shrugged.

My brows furrowed. “Don’t you have this place monitored 24/7?”

Ridley turned to me.

“Yeah,” he responded.

“And what’s the point of having a man outside and the place wired?” I asked. “You have the feed monitored by a live person, from what she told me last night when we got in.”

“I do, and what happens if something happens to her, and there’s no one close enough to do anything to help her?” Ridley asked. “I’ve been doing this for a long time. I know what she needs.”

“That’s what 9-1-1 is for, brother,” Kitt breezed into the room, her baby in her arms.

My eyes went to the little bundle of pink, and my heart lurched when Ridley walked up to her and ran his finger down the baby’s cheek.

“You forget,” Ridley muttered. “That I’ve had to witness what happens to you during one of your seizures. I’ve had to do things to you that most brothers should never have…”

Kitt held her hand up. “I thought we decided that we’d never discuss what you’ve had to do? Because I don’t like to think about it, either.”

My eyes went back and forth between the two, enraptured.

“Give me my kid if y’all are gonna duke it out,” Apple snapped.

Ridley ignored him and picked Emily up out of her blanket, disturbing her warmth, and then her sleep, as he did.

Ridley smiled when she started to cry.

“That’s what I like to hear,” he said happily.

I snorted, bringing Ridley’s eyes to mine and he grinned.

“My brother likes to wake her up after she’s had her bottle because he likes to hear her cry,” Kitt said dryly. “And he’s mean about it, too.”

“That’s kind of…morbid,” I finally got out, looking at Ridley with a frown.

Ridley shrugged. “Everyone likes the sleeping babies. The screaming, though, makes me feel alive.”

“That’s strangely metaphoric,” I finally settled for. “You want babies of your own?”

It was an idle question, but the vehement shake of Ridley’s head and his, “Hell fucking no, I don’t want kids,” had me reeling back in surprise.

How could someone that loved kids—and I could tell that he loved them—not want kids of his own?

Ridley’s radio squawked, interrupting anymore talk of kids or his niece.

“Deputy Walker,” a woman’s voice called, sounding slightly distorted through the small radio at Ridley’s shoulder. But I didn’t miss the worry in her voice. “There’s a couple of feds here to see you. They’re waiting in your office, and I haven’t been able to get a hold of the Chief.”

“Fuck,” Ridley sighed. “I’ll be right in, Joanna.”

With that, he passed Emily off to her father, then took his leave with a wave in my direction.

I raised my brow at that.

I didn’t really know what I’d expected, but a hug or something was at least on the list.

I got a freakin’ nod of his head and a wave.

Impressive.

“Give him time,” Kitt said softly. “He’s breaking all his rules for you.”

“What?” I asked in confusion.

Kitt nodded. “He is. Rule one is to not date, ever. Two is to never bring a woman home. Three is to make no attachments. Four is to run far and wide if he smells a commitment.”

I blinked.

“What?” I asked. “Who has rules like that?”

“Your man does, that’s who,” Apple declared.

“How do you know, Apple?” I asked, turning more fully towards him so I could get his perspective.

“Core,” he said. “Can’t have you calling me Apple, too. Then everyone else will want to do it.”

I blinked. “Okay,” I conceded. “But you didn’t answer my question.”

“Because everyone who lost something has to protect themselves somehow,” he answered evasively.

“What are you talking about?” I wondered aloud. “Who did he lose?”

Kitt’s brows lowered down in a frown.

“His wife, that’s who,” Kitt informed me. “Hasn’t he told you yet?”

No. Because had he told me, I wouldn’t have been playing the part of the confused girlfriend.

Or was I a girlfriend?

Was I just a girl that he was worried about?

He hadn’t been interested in getting me home until he found out that Hanson Coller had made his presence known there.

How convenient is it that he shows up the day that Hanson makes an appearance?

Too big of one, that’s what.

One would think that after all this time we’d been talking, nearly three whole months, that the subject of once having a wife would have come up.

But it hadn’t.

And I was left wondering why.