“Huh,” he said. “We’re going to have to figure something out. Changing sheets every time we fuck is going to be a pain in the ass.”
I smiled at his words, then closed my eyes as I asked what I asked every morning.
“Jackson leaving you be?” I hesitated.
“He’s ultimately left me alone,” Pace said. “It’s been quite nice. Pleasant, even.”
That was good news. Very good news.
“What time do you have to be at work?” I buried my face into his pillow.
“Eleven,” he answered, his chest rumbling with his words. “I have two hours. I’m going to go run…do you want to go with me?”
The idea of having to run with him was laughable. I’d done it quite a few times since we’d expressed our interests in running again, but within two runs he was already surpassing me so laughably that it was disheartening.
But Pace was in much better shape than me, so it was understandable.
“Come on.” He squeezed my ass. “You know you want to.”
I did want to.
I just didn’t like running when all I could see was his ass from a very long way away.
I needed some running buddies that I wouldn’t hold back.
I had nothing to say to that but to laugh.
He pressed his mouth to my ass cheek and shuffled out of the bed, stopping only long enough to slip on his sleeves, then situate his prosthetics into place.
I watched him go from my position on my knees, and closed my eyes, thinking that maybe I’d just rest my eyes for just a little bit longer.
Eventually I got tired and rolled to the non-wet spot on the bed, and from there, I fell asleep.
I didn’t wake up until Pace was gone.
But I did see a Post-It note stuck to the pillow beside my face.
“Had to go to work. Love you. See you tonight.”
I smiled as I read the note aloud.
Then pressed it to my heart before getting up and tacking it to the mirror in the bathroom.
From there, I got into the shower, washed and dried my hair, and then headed out for my old place.
It was time to finish getting the last few boxes.
***
I opened the garage door and got out of my Jeep, slamming the door shut as I did.
I was lost in my own thoughts when a slam and a crack had me freezing in place.
I froze with my body half rounding the car, and stared at the box that was open when I’d for sure left it closed the day before.
My eyes took in the rest of the boxes in my garage, which were also open.
Hell, even my trash bags were emptied out onto the garage floor.
I started backing away and reached for my phone.
I didn’t bother calling 911, though.
Maybe I should have.
Maybe if I had, things wouldn’t have turned out the way that they did.
Maybe if I had, life would’ve been different.
Much, much different.Chapter 18All these youngins’ nowadays are only going to know Billy Ray by Old Town Road. It breaks my Achy Breaky Heart.
-Meme
Pace
“Pace?” Oakley said in a shaky voice. “I think there was someone at my house when I opened the garage door. I heard a bang and a crash before I saw the back door close to the garage. And all of my boxes are open.”
I felt something in the vicinity of my heart give a hard thump.
“Go back outside and wait for me,” I ordered. “I’ll call it in.”
“I’m still outside,” she said. “By my Jeep.”
“Get into the Jeep and back it down by the end of the road. I’ll be there in three minutes, tops,” I said.
I heard her moving, and seconds later, her Jeep starting up.
“Okay,” she said. “I’m down the street.”
I got on my bike and started it up. “I’ll be there in a minute. Hold tight.”
Lachlan Downy Junior, aka Lock, my partner for the day, looked over at me with curiosity.
“Everything okay?” he asked.
I shook my head. “Oakley thinks that someone broke into her old house and started to steal her stuff. She also might’ve spooked the burglar. She heard a bang and saw the door to the back of the garage shut.”
“Fuck,” Lock said as he started his own motorcycle. “Lead the way. I’ll call it in.”
So that was exactly what I did, I drove and he followed.
I heard his page go over the radio, and I also heard that Jackson was closest to the area.
But he didn’t respond.
Not that I expected him to.
After hearing my name as well as my girl’s over the radio, there was no doubt in my mind that he’d stay away.
Or at least that was what I thought when I got there to see Jackson disappearing into my woman’s house.
“Fuck,” I said as I got off my bike once we’d pulled over.
“It was fun while it lasted,” Lock said, very aware of the situation that had gotten me put into the same department that he was in.