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Cuco looked at the baby in her arms and then up at her. Holding her out, just close enough that Cuco could take her or not but close enough to her that she could snatch her back if Cuco decided to harm the little one. When she reached for the baby, Amy held her breath. It was, she supposed, going to all depend on how much Cuco wanted to be a momma or not.
When she took the baby to her breast, it was all she could do not to stand up and do a little dance. She watched the mother and baby as Cuco fingered the little bow and nursed the baby. After a few minutes, Cuco went to the corner of her enclosure and held the baby tightly to her. Amy stood up and turned to Mr. F. A.
“I’m going to salvage what I can of my equipment and leave here. If you come near me, I will hurt you. I might not be able to kill you, but I will make life difficult for you. You tricked me, and I don’t like to be lied to either. An omission is the same as a lie to me.” She went to the door, and he stood up too. “I’m not shitting you right now. I want you to stay the fuck away from me.”
Her things had been packed up and brought into the office where she had entered. Getting it all picked up was difficult, but she managed it just fine. It had taken her two trips with her wagon to bring her gear in here, but there wasn’t any way that she was going to come back here again, so she was going to do it in one trip or kill herself trying.
By the time she got to her car, she was crying and exhausted. Not that she regretted what she’d done for Cuco, but it was because he’d made her do it. As she was driving to her home, she corrected herself on a couple of things. First of all, she hadn’t been made to do anything. She’d done that all on her own. She was also happy that when she’d left, Cocu was doing well with the little girl. Who knew what was going to happen now.
Pulling into her garage, she left all her equipment in the car in favor of just getting into a place where she could think. That brought her to the second thing she’d been thinking of. Mr. F. A. being her mate. Perhaps he was wrong about that.
“Dumb ass. You didn’t even ask for proof. Nor did you deny it all that much, either. Just telling him no doesn’t make it not wrong.” She thought about talking to herself, too. “I broke that habit long ago and ten minutes with you, and I’m doing it again. Fucker.”
She made herself go into the kitchen and make herself a cup of tea. Amy rarely drank tea, hot or cold, but today seemed like a perfect time to brew her a nice hot cup. That way, she could justify having the cookies that she’d gotten just for herself. Butter cookies were her treat to herself when she was having a shitty day. And today was about the shittiest she’d had in forever.
The salty-sweet taste of the butter cookies soothed her in some ways as she sipped on her tea. She sat at the small table in her kitchen, letting out long sighs as she considered what had happened earlier in the day. It wasn’t fair that someone who seemed like they came from good intentions would end up being such an asshat. But if there was one thing Amy had learned over the past few months, it was that you could never really tell what someone was going to do until they did it.
Amy refused to let anyone take advantage of her ever again. From now on, she would stay vigilant and watch out for herself before anything else.
~*~
“So let me get this straight. You want me to go to your mate’s home to tell her how sorry you are for laughing at her and then talk her into coming with me out to your place for dinner. Is that what you want me to do?” Dallas nodded at his brother and said it was more complicated than that. “I’m sure it is. Because the moment you said you’d found your mate and fucked up, I knew it was complicated. What did you laugh at her about? I mean, it had to be really stupid for you to do it in the first place, I’m thinking. Didn’t you learn anything from doing that same thing when you were in about second grade? You don’t laugh at a woman’s troubles, Dallas. It’s just not considered good form.”
“This was different.” Jayden just stared at him. “Okay. I did tell you that I fucked up. I should have done a lot of things differently when I realized what she was to me. Or what I am to her. Never mind. I should have just told her instead of beating around the bush. But I needed her help with the mother, and she was in the perfect position to do that. I think, no, I’m sure that Cocu understood quicker than Amy did that she was my mate, that Amy is, not Cocu. But she guessed it later and was pissed off. I didn’t understand that part. I’m a good catch, aren’t I?”
“I suppose. I wouldn’t date you, but other women might find you somewhat desirable.” Jayden laughed at him. “You really fucked up, Dallas. Mom and Dad both have forever told us that you need to be honest and upfront with mates. It’s the only way to survive. I don’t see you having a snowball’s chance in hell of coming out of this on top.”
“Gee, thanks.” Jayden sat down at the kitchen table and looked at him. “I don’t know what else to do. Sending you there because, let’s face it, you have had more experience with wooing women than I have.”
“I’d not point that out to anyone if I were you. You’re not helping your cause to tell people that your younger brother is getting laid more than you are.” Dallas asked him if he was. “I don’t keep score between us. But if you’re already fucking up with your mate, I’m reasonably sure that I am. At least I don’t have them telling me that they’re going to murder me if I come around again.”
“Do you think she really meant that?” Jayden just cocked a brow at him. “All right. I think she did, too. Damn it. I was all right with her being my mate, too. She’s pretty, did I tell you that?”
“You did. I hope you can keep that memory alive for a while, that you had a pretty mate at one time until you fucked it all up by laughing. I don’t understand why that was such a big deal to her, though. But then, I know better than to laugh at a woman when she’s emotional. Like she seems to have been.” He said he’d been making a joke. “One that she didn’t appreciate, apparently.”
“No, I guess not.” He asked Jayden if he’d do this for him. “I will. I’m not sure why I’m agreeing to do this for you, but I’ll go and see her. Maybe I can tell her that you were dropped on your head a lot as a kid. Or that you’ve been in a monastery for a long time, and she’s the first—no, that won’t work. You’ve been working with women for a while now. And yet, you’ve still not learned anything from them. Something is seriously wrong with you, Dallas.”
“I agree.” Wiping his hand over his face and then his hair made him look like a crazy person. He could see his reflection in the China cabinet behind his brother. “I just want her to give me a second chance. I know I messed up, and I’m really sorry. But she’s going to have to be a little less sensitive from now on. Don’t you think so? Maybe you can work that in at some point.”
“No. No, I won’t be working in—what the fuck is wrong with you? You want me to woo her back to you and then tell her that she needs to be less sensitive? Nope, not going to happen. What is going to happen if you have any more suggestions like that one is that you’re going to be one lonely silverback for the rest of your life because you don’t know when to keep your thoughts in your head. Christ. I wish Dad could hear you now. Or Mom. They’d be sending you to the shed to get a brick, not a switch. That sounds to me like something you need to be having used on you with your head being that fucking thick.”
“Boys? What is going on in here?” They both stood up when their mom came into the room. “You know how I feel about that sort of language in the house. What if I’d been your grandma Dixon coming up on you? She would have had a kitten.”
“She would have joined them, and you know it. Hello, boys. What’s going on in here that has you two so worked up?” Jayden told their parents that he’d found his mate. “That’s wonderful news.” Dad looked at him with a concerned look. “What did you do wrong, Dallas? I know you well enough to see that you’ve been trying to get…Jayden, what does Dallas want you to do for him concerning this young woman?”
“I messed up.” After telling them the same story that he’d told his brother, he waited for them to say something to him. When all his mom did was sit down at the table, it was Dad that he looked to for answers. “I asked Jayden to go to her house and see if she’d give me a second chance. I’ve been really stupid about this entire thing.” Jayden told them how he’d asked him to tell her not to be so sensitive.
“That’s an understatement if I’ve ever heard one.” Dallas was hurt by what his dad said but waited for him to speak again. “Did you really want him to go there and tell her not to be so sensitive? Christ, Dallas, she must think that we raised an idiot. I can’t imagine what she must think of your mother and me.”
Dallas didn’t understand why they were blaming all this on him. Well, he did just a little, but not enough for his dad to think that he was an idiot. After Dad sat down, too, he put out his hand and asked for her phone number. Or her address if he had it.
“I have her address. The office wouldn’t give me her phone number. Though when I thought about it later, I thought that at least with her number, I’d not be able to see her in person.” Mom told him to be quiet. He wasn’t helping things. “I’m not sure why you think that I’m totally at fault here. She’s the one that told me to stay away, or she’d hurt me—actually said that she’d kill me. Only because I want to point out she said she didn’t think she could kill me.”
“You think that makes this right?” He wisely kept his mouth shut. His mom was looking madder with each ticking of the clock. “Dallas, where on earth did you get the idea in your head that she’s going to be, I don’t know, happy with you lying to her? And you did by playing those little games about you not telling her right off what she was to you. Being honest would have been so much better. Though now that I say that out loud, I do wonder if you ever paid attention to how your father and I talk to each other. Do we play games with important information? No, we don’t. You want to know why? Because it’s important information. Christ. I’m going to go and see her. Just so she’s aware that we didn’t raise you to be like this.”
“Can I go too?” Mom just glared, and Dad shook his head. “She’s my mate, you know. And I didn’t want her more upset with me than she already was.”
“And look how that turned out.” Dad told him to go to the store and buy her some flowers, then he shook his head again. “She probably wouldn’t take them at this point. Dallas, I’ve never said this to anyone in my life, but I’m sort of ashamed of you.”
