He waited a beat before answering. “Not that we can tell but everyone is on high alert.”
“She’s not going, Cross but we’ll head back tomorrow night.” Rocky needed more time away from the stress of the city so tomorrow night would give her more time and allow us the cover of night to roll into town.
Another fucking pause. I rolled my eyes and continued making sandwiches with the phone tucked under my ear. I packed a cooler with the sandwiches, some water and fruit while I waited for Cross to figure out some diplomatic way to say whatever was working its way through his brain.
Finally he came back to me with, “Are you sure she can’t do this one job?”
He was like a fucking broken record. I took a deep breath and held it for a second, then let it out, filled with all the things I wouldn’t say to him because there would be no going back. I tried my best to keep my voice even. “No, Cross, she can’t and I can’t even believe you’d fucking ask me that. She would hate that I’m telling you this and I’m only doing this so you can fucking see why.”
I told him about the asshole giving her coke for her friends and then charging her for it so he could get her to work it off.
“What do you think she would’ve been doing if she hadn’t happened to have this unique skill? Jesus, would you have asked Lauren to do that?”
He growled into the phone and I could just imagine the anger coursing through him. “Never. But Lauren never would have dated that asshole.”
I wanted to throw the phone at the wall. Or worse. But I just said, “You
mean she never would have gotten with the head of a criminal organization?” It was an asshole move to get sarcastic about it, but he was being a dick. “Right. Of course she wouldn’t.”
“Fuck you, Lasso.”
“No, fuck you, Cross! She’s carrying my kid and you just want me to hand her over to a psychopath? Yeah, fuck you too.”
I ended the call and squeezed the phone so tight it came close to cracking.
“That sounded like it went well.”
I turned to glare at Rocky, but she’d changed into a flimsy little dress that made her tits look like a dream. “We’re going fishing.”
She frowned and then smiled. “Are you serious?” When I nodded she squealed, clapped and turned, running back up the stairs. I could hear the patter of her feet and I smiled. It was nice to see her smiling again. For a minute she looked like the girl I met on the beach in San Diego.
Within minutes she was back, chirping, “Okay I’m ready.”
She stood there wearing a giddy grin and the same dress but a floppy hat now covered her head and she held a straw bag under her arm.
“Come on, I’ve got lunch.”
“Good because someone ruined my breakfast.”
Her lips twitched when I looked over my shoulder at her while I locked the door. “Thank you,” she moaned when I reached into the cooler on the way to the lake and handed her a sausage and egg sandwich. She tore into it and moaned even louder with the first bite.
“I wasn’t trying to ruin your breakfast Rocky, but it’s shitty for you to keep saying you’re alone when you’ve got me.”
She stopped in the dirt path and turned to me. “I know you feel responsible for me because of the baby, Lasso, but I can’t help but feel guilty about dragging you into my shit show. It’s not about diminishing your importance here.” She sighed, frustrated and marched toward the dock with her shoulders hanging low.
The bass boat was where it always was and in a few minutes, I had helped her into a seat. I took the seat opposite her and fired up the motor and before we knew it we were in the middle of the small lake.
“Have you ever fished?” I asked?
“A few times with my dad but I was about eight or nine.” She looked around at the scenery with the willows and thick green grass along the overgrown plots of land before she turned back to me. She grabbed the hem of her dress and pulled it over her head to reveal a pink bikini with white daisies. I tried to keep my gaze on the water, but we were alone and Rocky was lathering her arms, legs, chest and back with sunscreen.
“Take off your shirt,” she ordered.
I looked over at her, a mix of adorable and sexy in her barely there bikini, pregnant belly and windblown hair.
“Sure thing, sweetheart, but maybe wait until we anchor down someplace,” I bit back a grin at the sexy scowl that shot straight to my cock and then my shirt was crawling up my body. “I like it when you’re feisty.”
“You have mental issues. We’ll have to enroll the baby in therapy right away.”