Chapter 23

Just once I’d like a liar’s pants to actually catch on fire.

-Lark to Baylor

Lark

“Hello?”

“Lark?”

The frantic voice had me sitting straight up in the chair I was lounging in. I was at Baylor’s house, Pongo at my feet half leaning, half sitting, against my legs. I was in the last three chapters of my book, and at one of the best parts—the makeup sex that led to the ‘we’re going to be together forever’ part.

Hannah’s frantic voice, though, had me forgetting all about the cheating whore who was trying to get back with her man and focusing solely on the woman on the phone.

“What’s wrong, Hannah?”

“The baby is running a fever of a hundred and five. I can’t get it to go down, and I’ve tried everything. I’ve given him a cool bath, Tylenol and Motrin. At this point, I need to take him to the hospital. But I can’t take the girls with me. They’re asleep, and both of them have been throwing up since noon. I just know we’re going to be there all night. Can you come over and watch them?”

There was no hesitation whatsoever as I agreed. I stood up and started toward my shoes. “I’ll be there in five minutes.”

“Okay, good.” She sounded so relieved that I felt bad for giving her the indication that I’d ever say no.

She hadn’t thought I’d do it.

Was I that big of a homebody that she really thought I’d tell her no when her baby was sick?

Geez. I really needed to get out more.

“Be there in a few.”

Then I hung up and gestured toward the door. “Want to come with me?”

The dog got up and started toward the door with me, knowing we were heading out before even I did.

Holding it open, he walked to Baylor’s personal truck and waited.

I rolled my eyes.

I never got the choice to take my own car when I took Pongo with me. He didn’t like my car and would refuse to get in it at all. I’d tried.

Multiple times, in fact.

The last time I’d tried to force him in with me, he’d exited out the passenger side door…and it hadn’t been open.

The dog was Smart with a capital S.

Looking longingly at the car I’d just gotten back, the one that was not yet in my new name, I walked to Baylor’s truck and opened the door.

Pongo didn’t hesitate. He jumped in, settled in the seat, and waited.

I rolled my eyes and got in, starting the truck shortly after digging my keys out of the bottom of my purse.

The drive to Hannah’s took less than two minutes, but by the time I got there my entire body felt like it was a livewire.

When I arrived, Hannah was already in her car.

I waved at her and she started backing out before I’d even gotten out of the truck.

My eyes looked around the empty streets, stopping on the sight of my old place.

I hadn’t been there since I’d moved out four days ago, and thanks to Rafe, it was ‘sold’ even though it hadn’t actually been mine.

I’d flat out refused any money, and he’d laughed at me before telling me I wasn’t getting any anyway seeing as it wasn’t mine to begin with.

But as I looked at it now, with the white flowers that Harold had forced me to plant, I realized that the house had never really been mine.

Not like Baylor’s now was.

Heaving myself out of the truck, I held the door open for Pongo and locked it before following him up the concrete path that led to the bright red door. A red door that Harold had apparently written the two of them up for numerous times since it wasn’t on the ‘approved colors list.’

Walking into Travis and Hannah’s quiet house, I locked the door and settled on the couch to finish my book.

Then I cried because the ending was so like my own. I just hoped, once everything was settled in my life, that I didn’t end up without the love of my life like the heroine in my book did.

If Baylor was hurt because of my ex, I would literally tear Sal apart with my bare hands.

***

The first inkling that something was wrong was the light glowing in the living room windows.

Frowning, I walked to the window and barely cracked it open.

After years of trying to spy on Sal, I knew better than to do anything more than that because it was so obvious from the outside when it was dark when someone was looking out.

Though, Sal was the one to tell me that. I guess he wasn’t totally useless.

It took me a few seconds to understand what I was seeing, and by the time I did, I gasped and backed up.

No. No, no, no, no, no.

I heard the knock, thought about answering it but decided if it was anyone that mattered they’d have called first. Plus, seeing as this wasn’t my house, I really didn’t feel the need to answer it.

And, if I was being truthful to myself, I was scared of who was on the other side.

Pongo stood from his lazy sprawl and stared at the door, but didn’t once bark.

Thank God.

My phone rang, and I cursed the loud ringing that filled the quiet room. Had whoever was at the door heard it? Oh, shit!

“Hello?” came my whispered reply.

“Don’t answer the door.”

I looked at the phone, wondering who it was, and put it back to my ear.

“Who is this?” I whispered.

“Tate Casey.”

My brows rose.

“What are you…how do you…”

I couldn’t get my thoughts to complete themselves.

“I’m outside,” he said. “We were taking turns watching over you…in case.”

A tear slipped from my eye.

“Yeah?”

The ‘yeah’ came out so squeaky and breathy that I cleared my throat and said, “Yeah?”

“Yeah,” he confirmed. “Don’t answer the door. Not sure who the guy is, but I just watched him light your house on fire.”

And my suspicions were confirmed.

“Shit.”

“Don’t answer the door,” he repeated. “I can’t do a goddamn thing because my hands are tied with the law. I don’t want to risk it. But the cops have already been called…what’s left of them, anyway.”

I don’t think I was supposed to hear that last part, but I chose to stay silent. “What do I do?” I whispered.

The knocking started again, and I couldn’t help myself. I had to look out the peephole.

And I saw a hand blocking the hole.

Motherfucker!

Pongo pressed into my side, and I backed away and decided to go to check on the girls. But first, I stopped at the back door to make sure it was locked, too.

I’d never been happier to see that they had a solid wood door at the back with absolutely no exposed windows.

If he happened to come back here, he wouldn’t see in.

Thank God.

I knew, from the bottom of my soul, that it was Sal.

I knew it like I knew, instinctively, that Baylor was a good man when I first saw him. It was something I could just feel.

Like I could practically feel the evil wafting off of the man on the other side of the door.

“Where are you?”

I still had the phone pressed to my ear. Imagine that.

“Checking on the girls.”

Since I was further away from the door, I was speaking a little louder, but not much.

Pongo’s silent presence stayed with me the entire way.

“Stay back there,” he said. “The cops are two minutes out…volunteer fire department is probably further…your old place isn’t going to make it. They may get here in time to keep it from spreading to the weasel’s house.”

For some reason, I wasn’t upset about my ‘old place’ not making it. Nor would I be upset about Harold’s place not making it. But on the other side of my old place was a young couple who’d spent their entire life savings to purchase their house…and they didn’t have insurance. Why I knew that, I didn’t know. They’d mentioned it in passing one day, telling me that they couldn’t afford it, and it stuck with me.

Mostly because I hadn’t had insurance on the car I’d been driving, and I knew how it felt.

I knew what it felt like to wonder how you were going to pay your next house payment and which bill you weren’t going to pay that month so you’d at least have Ramen noodles to eat and gas money to get you to work.

It fucking sucked.

And I hoped with all that was in me that they were able to contain the fire.

“I won’t move from the hallway,” I told him. “Does Baylor know?”

“Texted him.” Tate, the man of few words, said. “He said ‘okay.’”

I snorted and poked my head into the room where the girls were sleeping, thankful that they weren’t up and puking like Hannah said they’d been doing all day.

Which then got me wondering about Hannah and TJ.

“Do Hannah and Travis know?”

“I’m sure Baylor informed Travis. Don’t know about Hannah.”

I pulled up the text button on my phone and sent Hannah a quick text telling her what was going on, and not to come home if she was going to—which I doubted. It took a long time to be seen in the ER, but Hannah was a nurse, so it was possible she’d been seen faster because of who she was.

She replied back within moments that she was in with the doctor, and that she wasn’t coming home anytime soon.

Thankful that was the case, I then pulled up Baylor’s name and sent him a text, too.

Lark (12:33 AM): My old house is on fire.

Baylor (12:34 AM): I know. Glad you’re not in it anymore. Did you see anything?

Lark (12:34 AM): No. I was reading. Didn’t see or hear a thing. Tried to look out the peephole, but whoever it was knocking covered the hole and I couldn’t see a thing.

Baylor (12:35 AM): Tate is there.

Lark (12:35 AM): Tate is on the phone with me. He’s a man of few words.

Baylor (12:36 AM): That’s Tate. Stay safe, and listen to everything he’s saying. I’m on my way…don’t freak out when you see me.

Before I could ask what that meant, I heard police sirens and got up, heading to the front door again to look out the peephole.

There was no hand covering it this time, and the distorted view that peepholes gave when you looked out at them made me gasp in surprise at what I saw.

It looked like the whole sky was orange. I could see flames out the right corner, but that was all I could see.

“He’s gone if you’re wondering. Ran when he heard the sirens,” Tate said.

Pongo collapsed at my feet and laid his head on my toes.

“He went to a dark sedan at the end of the block, ran straight past my truck. He’s got a crazy ass wig on. Even in the dark, I could tell that it was fake.”

I sighed.

There went identifying who it was.

“Let me guess, he was in all black, too.”

“Affirmative.”

I sighed.

“Can I come out?”

“No,” Tate denied me. “Stay there until Baylor comes to the door. We’ll stay on the line until then, too.”

I didn’t argue with him. What was the point?

“Fine.” I sat on the couch and waited, counting my breaths, for my husband to come for me.

And he did, five minutes later, scaring the absolute crap out of me when he appeared behind me.

“Lark?”

I screamed.

I screamed so loud that it even hurt my own ears.

“It’s just me!” Baylor bellowed.

I immediately shut up.

“Are you fucking stupid, Hail?”

So, I got mean when I was scared. Sue me.

Baylor’s mouth twitched, and it was then I finally took him in.

“You’re…naked.”

“Not naked,” he said. “I’m in my underwear.”

“You don’t usually wear underwear,” I pointed out.

“They’re not mine.”

If they weren’t his…

“Whose are they?” I raised a brow at him.

“They’re borrowed…from Travis.”

“Was he wearing them at the time that you borrowed them?”

“Sure was,” Travis said. “Sorry we came through the back. Wanted to make sure we weren’t seen coming through the front. And it kind of works out seeing as there are police cars blocking the road.”

“Not to mention you’re both very colorful.”

The only thing Travis was wearing was a raincoat and his jeans.

I just shook my head.

“What happened?”

“Daddy!”

I watched as Travis’s daughter, Alex, came running into the room. Reggie was hot on her heels.

The moment I saw them, my mouth fell open.

“What the fuck happened to her hair?”

That was Travis’s surprised voice.

I winced and looked over my shoulder.

“Apparently, your children want to be hair stylists,” I moaned. “I had no clue…Seriously, they were sleeping like angels when I checked on them a few moments ago.”

“In all reality, it doesn't look too bad,” Baylor supplied. “It looks like they actually tried.”

He was lying. Their hair looked fucking awful. Almost as if they’d cut it as short as they possibly could with the scissors.

“Where did you get scissors from?”

“Mommy’s office,” Reggie answered immediately.

I pinched the bridge of my nose.

“We love it!” Alex informed them all.

Travis snorted. “I’m sure that will comfort Hannah when she sees it.”

I turned to Travis. “Did Hannah tell you why she wasn’t here?”

He sobered and nodded. “TJ was running a fever. These two were puking all day. We were using the scissors on their Popsicles all afternoon. When I was called out for the pick-up, TJ was already running a fever. She’d just given him Tylenol when I left.”

I nodded once, then turned to Baylor, who was still wearing only his underwear. “You think you could go put something on?”

His lips twitched. “Why? Is my body bothering you?”

I looked at the little girls.

“No, but I do think it’s borderline inappropriate to be standing here in nothing but underwear in front of two children.”

He looked down at the couch that was covering him from the room.

“If I get out from behind the couch, then they’ll see. I was standing here, waiting for them to find something else to interest them until I could escape.”

I rolled my eyes.

“Here.” I tossed him a baby blue blanket that was about the size of a napkin. “Go. I’m sure we have to go out there and figure out what’s going on.”

His face darkened. “We’re not going anywhere.”

“Why not?”

“Because it’s dark. There’re a shit ton of people milling about, and I’m not taking that chance.”

Which meant he thought it was my ex as well, otherwise he wouldn’t give a shit if we left or not.

“Do you think it was him?”

Everyone in the room disappeared but Baylor.

And I saw the moment his eyes confirmed my suspicion.

“Yes.”

No bullshitting. No beating around the bush. That was Baylor.

I closed my eyes, and before I could so much as let out the shaky breath I’d been holding, I was in his arms, and he was carrying me to the bathroom—which happened to be the closest room with a door—and slammed the door closed with a resounding thud.

“Listen to me,” he ordered.

I opened my eyes and my lip started to quiver.

He looked so protective and fierce.

“What?”

“It’ll be okay.”

I swallowed and nodded. “I know.”

“Good.”

“But, so help me…if anything happens to you…”

I’d said this all before.

I wasn’t going to be happy. I was going to go freakin’ ape shit. I was going to lose it.

He’d heard it all before.

But I didn’t think he knew how much my sanity depended on him.

“He broke something important inside of me, Baylor,” I told him. “When I came here…when you first met me…I was just existing. I was barely able to breathe.”

Baylor’s warm hands were pressed to my face, but I was back where it all began.

“I was a scared rabbit threatened by everything. I was so scared. I was petrified that one day I’d open my front door and see him standing there, ready to finish making my life a living hell.”

His hands tightened on my hips, but I was so lost in the abyss that I couldn’t figure out how to get out of it.

“My nightmares woke me up every night,” I continued. “When I got up in the morning, I wondered if today would be the day.”

My mind was so immersed in everything that was my ex that it took me a few long seconds to realize that my hands were restrained behind my back and that my pants were lowering down my thighs.

“What are you…”

“Fucking my wife,” he answered simply.

“What?” I gasped. “Why?”

“Because it’s obvious that you need some better memories than the ones he’s given you. I’ve not done my part. But I’ll rectify that. Starting tomorrow, I’ll show you everything you’ve missed about being in a normal marriage. You’ll know that you’re loved. You’ll know that you will wake up and be safe. You’ll know, one day, that this is exactly where you need to be.”

Then he twisted my body, bent me over the sink, and started to probe my entrance.

“We can’t…” I whispered fiercely, staring at him in the mirror.

He grinned.

“We can’t?”

I shook my head. “We’re in your brother’s bathroom. They could hear…”

“Then I suggest you be really quiet.”

Then he sank one thick finger deep inside of me.

I leaned my head against the glass and breathed out.

“Fucking love your pussy,” he vocalized in a low tone into my ear. “So sweet.”

Then he brought that same digit up to his mouth and sucked it clean.

I did a full body shiver.

“So hot.”

He sank it back inside, wetter than he’d left, and pumped twice.

“So fucking tight.”

He pushed two more fingers into me, and slowly pumped the three of them in and out of me.

Then he spread them.

“My cock fucking craves you,” he informed me. “All day. Every day.”

I found myself smiling as I started to move my hips.

Slowly at first as I tried to get him to do my bidding.

Then he went and changed it up by removing his fingers.

My eyes opened and I moved my head up to stare at him in the mirror.

“What are you…”

He grinned at me, making my heart start to pound.

“Can’t be doing this in my brother’s bathroom.”

My mouth dropped open.

“You’re fucking joking.”

He started to chuckle quietly as he pushed the boxer briefs down, and my eyes automatically took him all in.

Baylor had a big cock.

There was no other way to describe it.

It was wide, long and thick.

There were veins on top of veins, and they were like a roadmap for my tongue.

I wanted to lick him, suck him, and make him whimper.

But as I pushed off to do just that, he stilled me by placing one big hand over the small of my back, holding me in place.

“What are you…”

He answered by stepping forward, kicking my legs open even further, and pressing himself against my entrance.

I lost the ability to think.

The only thing I was focused on was his cock and the way he was pushing it inside of me.

I moaned low in my throat when I felt that familiar burn.

“He never made you feel like this, did he?”

I shook my head.

Sal had literally never done anything to please me. He was a shove it in and come kind of guy. I wasn’t even sure what an orgasm was until Baylor came into the picture.

I’d been so flabbergasted our first time that I hadn’t been sure that it’d ever be that good again. However, Baylor never ceased to amaze me. He made sure that each time was better than the last.

I came. Oh, boy did I come.

“No,” I whispered.

I sounded so hoarse that I had to clear my throat and repeat myself. “No.”

He gripped my hips with his hands and continued to push inside. Steady. Completely.

He didn’t stop or pull back until he was buried deep inside.

“I bet he didn’t fill you up like I do, either.”

I shook my head.

I couldn’t speak. Couldn’t think. Could only feel.

“I bet he didn’t appreciate you, either.” He started to run his hands up my back, underneath my shirt, and along my spine. “I bet he just fucked you and left you. Never let you feel a goddamn thing.”

I nodded. “He didn’t.”

“You don’t miss him. You don’t even care about him. You never have.”

I gasped when he pulled all the way out, then slowly sank himself back inside.

“Me? I care about you,” he rasped. “I care that you feel like goddam silk against my bare cock. I fucking care that you enjoy waking up to me in your bed every morning.” He hesitated halfway in, halfway out. “When you cry out my name? That’s the best goddamn feeling in the entire world.”

I moaned. “Baylor.”

He growled right back at me.

“That?” he said. “That’s fucking awesome.”

I nodded my head.

It so was.

“One day,” he said, pushing in.

So goddamn slow.

“One day I’m going to fill this belly with my baby,” he promised. “I’m going to love every goddamn second of having it filled. I’m going to worship your body. I’m going to shower you with love. I’m going to make sure it’s the best thing ever, all because I want it. I want you. I can’t fucking wait…but I’m going to enjoy just you and me for a little bit.”

I wanted to cry.

I wanted that, too.

“Baby.”

The conversation stopped after that.

He pulled my hair, causing me to look up at him, and held my eyes.

He slowly fucked me.

So freakin’ slow.

There was no noise. Not anything but the panting of our breaths.

My house was burning to the ground. There were people outside in the living room, speaking low. There were half a dozen cops and volunteer firefighters outside, working to make sure that the fire didn’t spread.

But inside…with Baylor inside of me…we didn’t care about anything.

Just this. Now.

I watched him. Watched the muscles in his jaw flex when he’d hit a good spot inside of me, causing me to tighten around him.

His eyes were blazing with pure love, and I felt so warm…so wanted…that I could hardly catch a breath.

His thrusts were so slow—so deliciously slow—that my orgasm snuck up on me.

I hadn’t realized it was coming until it was already taking me over.

My mouth fell open, and my eyes glazed over.

His breath caught as he felt it take me, and not once did I lose eye contact with him.

He swallowed, and I watched his Adam’s apple twitch, but he kept his eyes on mine.

And when there was nothing else to wring out of me, he planted himself to the root and came, too.

I felt him pulse inside of me. Felt him fill me up to overflowing.

Our breathing was heavy, and the mirror started to fog with my breaths.

I hadn’t realized my face was plastered against it until I could no longer see him.

His hands released me—the one in my hair falling to my hip for a short second before he reached for some toilet paper.

Once he had more than enough, he bunched it up and placed it in my hand as he pulled away.

I immediately moved it to catch our combined release and turned.

My mouth found his for a few short seconds as I showed him what the previous few minutes had meant to me.

“Get cleaned up, baby,” he ordered, reaching for some toilet paper of his own.

He was much more adept at cleaning himself than I was because he was done in a matter of moments and tucking himself back inside his briefs.

I sat down on the toilet and threw the paper into the bowl before reaching for some more.

He watched me unrepentantly, causing me to blush.

“What?” he asked.

“It’s weird that you’re watching me do this.” I shrugged.

“I just had my cock inside of you. How could this be any more embarrassing than that?”

He had me there. “I don’t know.”

He chuckled as he leaned against the door.

I rolled my eyes and did my business.

Once I was finished, I finally saw the streaks of dirt on his chest.

“Why are you so dirty?”

He started to laugh.

“You don’t want to know.”

“Actually…I do.”

Turns out, I didn’t.

Especially when he told me he’d recently been covered in shit and had only had the chance to wash off with a water hose.

At least he’d washed his hands thoroughly before he’d touched me.

Gross.

Apparently, it had to do with cow shit, a stuck car, and having to crawl under a car.