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“Riggs!” Lay calls out when I step inside, her bright grey eyes and messy black hair coming around the corner from the living room. “Hey, baby! How was work?”
Handing Lay her coffee, I bend down to give her a quick peck before undoing my boots. “It was okay. They’re pushing hard to get our current project done quickly so it means not much downtime or breaks, but it makes the time go fast. How did it go today with the brewery?”
Lay lights up from head to toe at my question, her enthusiasm so breathtakingly beautiful I stop mid-way through taking my boots off just to watch her closely. Opening a bar and brewery is probably the last thing I thought she would want to do after that fucking asshole burnt down her old bar. From the passionate way she’s talking about it, though, I can see it’s a dream of hers, and having it start to come true is bringing out that excited, open side to her that’s been hiding for so long.
“Our girl is going to have the most popular bar in the area,” Rhys says, coming up behind Lay and pulling her into him. “You should get her to show you the pictures she took when she was there. This place is incredible.”
Smiling at both of them, I nod, finishing taking off my boots and coming fully in the house. “Absolutely I want to see them. You can tell me exactly how you picture it all. Just let me shower and get the grime off of me, then we can spend the afternoon going through things together. Maybe we’ll order dinner in tonight as well. How does that sound?”
“Sounds perfect,” Lay responds, her cheeks flushed and rosy. The exhaustion in her eyes is alarming me a little, but everything else about her looks perfectly healthy. I’ll have to trust she’s just tired. “I’ll go finish up one last call I have to make to a potential contractor; that way it’s out of the way when you’re done.”
Kissing her softly on the cheek, I watch her walk back to the living room, her ass mesmerizing in those tight black jeans. Rhys turns to look at me, both of us chuckling softly at how easily we’re entranced by her.
“You ready for your interview, man?” I ask, moving towards the kitchen to drop off my lunch bag. “It’s a big step walking away from the police department all together.”
“I’m ready.” Rhys follows, fixing up his button down shirt as he sits at the island. “There’s no joy in being on the force anymore for me. The amount of bullshit politics and rug-swept corruption is just too hard to deal with now. I’m one month away from turning thirty years old, I don’t want to deal with back-handed drama and shit. Plus, with Lay here now, I don’t want to put my life on the line like that anymore. Putting myself in danger like that after everything she’s already lost, it’s not fair to her or our relationship.”
“I get it,” I mumble, resting my arms on the counter and sighing deeply. “If I were in your shoes I’d probably make the same decision. All I can do is think about how best to protect her and how to keep her from ever getting hurt again. It’s consuming my thoughts every waking moment of the day. I’m terrified of what could happen to her or even to one of us and what that would do to her. It’s driving me insane.”
Rhys looks at me with concern, tilting his head to one side with a furrowed brow. “Have you considered talking to your doctor or maybe a therapist about this? I’m worried about Alayna too, but what you’re describing sounds extreme. You may want to bring it up with someone that can help because it sounds like you may have something else going on.”
Grunting under my breath, I try not to take what he’s saying as an insult. He’s worried about me, and I guess I can kind of understand why, but at the same time, isn’t it normal to worry? Lay is being actively stalked. She’s been through so much pain and abuse in her life. It would make sense that I’m worried about her. I worry this deeply about everyone in my life. Being prepared for the worst case scenario is how you keep everyone safe. Isn’t it?
“I’ll think about it,” I finally answer, pushing back from the counter. “I’m going to go shower quickly. Oh! By the way, Mom wants us all to come over for a BBQ tomorrow. You in?”
Rhys nods, standing up from the stool. “Of course, man. I’ll send a quick text to Adam while you shower and make sure he’s good. I’m guessing you’ll want to ask Lay yourself?”
“Yeah, I’ll do that once I’m out in case she has any questions about Mom’s house or what to expect.”
Rhys throws me a thumbs up, already pulling out his phone to message Adam. Heading into my room, I strip down, happy to be getting out of my work clothes for the day. Rushing through my shower, I make sure to scrub my hands and face to get all the dirt and grime from work off of my skin. Welding makes my skin look almost black by the time I’m done, which makes showering after work a necessity.
Once I’m out, I dry myself down, rubbing some lotion on my arms and face and slicking my hair back so it’s out of my face. Since it’ll be a quiet, relaxing Friday night at home, I put on some navy blue sweat pants and a whiteA Day To Rememberband shirt. Tossing some wooden tunnels in my ear, I head out to the living room to see my girl.
Lay is on the phone when I get out there, and she holds up one finger to let me know she’s almost done. Rhys pats me on the shoulder as he heads to the door, and he holds up his phone, motioning that he texted me so we don’t interrupt Lay’s call. Nodding, I pull it out and see that Rhys is going to grab dinner on his way home tonight and Adam is in for tomorrow.
Sitting on the couch beside Lay, I close my eyes, dozing a bit while she finishes up talking to the contractor about the quote for the work she wants done. Her voice is soothing to me, almost putting me to sleep. When she says goodbye, I open my eyes, smiling when I see her looking at me.
“Hi,” I mumble, grabbing her hand and tugging her into my arms. She comes willingly, snuggling into me and tucking her head under my chin.
“Hi. I missed you,” she hums. Placing my hands on her back, I lift her up to me, kissing her deeply.
“I missed you too,” I say against her lips, loving the way she fits against me. “Wanna show me those pictures now? I can’t wait to see what you’ve been cooking up.”
Chapter Eighteen
Alayna
Going to a BBQ at Riggs’ mom’s house should not be this nerve-wracking. In the grand scheme of things going on in my life right now, a simple get-together like this is nothing. Still, I am freaking the fuck out. My hands are twisting together in my lap, not even the happy chatter from the guys is calming me down.
This is Riggs’ mom. He loves her so much and he values her opinion, so what if she doesn’t like me? It’s not like I’m a fantastic people-person who just excels at socializing! Before the guys and Juliette, I was a loner, like the absolute definition of a loner. I don’t do people.
“You’re going to be fine, Lay. If you keep twisting your fingers together like that, they’re going to fall off,” Adam teases, forcing his hand between my own to stop me from fidgeting.
Sticking my tongue out at him like a mature fucking adult, I slump back into the seat and squeeze the living shit out of Adam’s hand. “What if I fuck this up? I don’t know how to talk to parents. Especially not the parent of one of the men I’m dating!”
“She’s basically the mom to all of us, not just one of us.” Adam so unhelpfully adds, bumping into my shoulder with his.
“Adam, shut up.” Rhys shakes his head, turning to look at me from the front passenger seat. “You’ll love Dot, she’s wonderful. You have nothing to worry about. She’s going to just take you under her wing like she did all of us.”
