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“Dalton, I can’t believe you volunteered for shopping detail,” Enos comments. “How did you even know what kind of shit to get?” All eyes turn on Dalton, who’s shoveling food in faster than should be humanly possible. He pauses to chew, before grabbing a napkin to wipe his mouth before answering.
“You forget,” Dalton comments, taking a sip of his beer. “I have three younger sisters. I had to look after them while mom was working.” He shrugs his shoulders. “It wasn’t that difficult.”
“How did you know what size stuff to get her?” Bo asks. “I mean it’s not like I pay attention to what size clothes the women I take out wear. I can tell differences in size by how their bodiesfeel in my hands and under me, but I don’t check out their tags to know this one is a small and this one is a large.” Bo looks so utterly consumed with knowing Dalton’s secrets. Dalton laughs at Bo as he spouts out all his stupid shit. I, too, am curious how he knew. I wouldn’t have the first clue where to begin.
“I went by her house and looked at what was left.” He shrugs his shoulders, turning back to his food as if it was a no-brainer.
“You went to her house?” I demand, a million questions coming to mind. “Were the cops still there?”
“Yeah, Det. Atwood said he’ll call you later,” Dalton answers before taking another bite. I watch him chew and swallow, waiting for more details. “Those fucks really did a number on her stuff.” He glances at me, and I nod my agreement. I can still see all her things shredded and strewn around her home. I know it hurt her not only losing her things, but the violation of someone being in her home, touching her personal things. “I did the best I could to take note of the types of clothes she had and colors. Although I got a few things that might be out of her comfort zone.” He chuckles and blushes slightly.
“What the fuck did you do?” I ask not sure if I really want to know the answer. My eyes bore into him. He looks over at me with a smirk.
“Man you should have seen her undergarments.” He leans back taking another long drink of his beer. Anger flares in me that he looked at or touched her underwear.
“The fuck!” I exclaim. Bo, Enos, Rosco, and Kelvin are laughing and punching each other on the shoulder. “Tell me you didn’t touch her underwear!” I demand. Dalton’s face pales a little as he can tell I’m seriously pissed.
“I had to man,” Dalton explains. “How else was I going to know what size she wears? I wasn’t being a perv.” He huffs in frustration. “But, dude, she wears granny panties and bras. A woman as young and hot as she is shouldn’t be wearing shit like that, so I got her something better.” I can’t believe I’m hearinghim say this shit. It’s true Marley is gorgeous. I honestly hadn’t given thought to what she’s wearing under her clothes. I’ve been more focused on getting her out of them all together. However, I don’t like the thought he’s been imagining her in what he bought.
“Don’t be thinking about her like that,” I growl angrily. “She deserves better than to drooled over like a piece of meat.” All eyes turn on me with accusation.
“Luke, you’re being a little possessive there, brother,” Rosco scolds me. “Last I checked, we’re all red-blooded American men, picturing a beautiful woman naked is just what we do. It’s like second nature.”
“Not her!” I know I’m acting out of character for me. I’ve never been this way about a woman before. I’ve never been possessive of a woman, but Marley is mine, not temporarily, but forever.How do I know this?I don’t know, but I feel it in my heart and in my head. She is meant to be mine, my woman, and I don’t want any of these fuckers to think about her the way I’ve been thinking about her.
“Sorry, man.” Dalton reenters the conversation. “I swear I wasn’t thinking of her like that, not for myself. It’s just she shouldn’t be wearing shit like that. I swear I don’t want her in my bed. It’s not like that at all with her.” I feel minimally better. It still chaps my ass to think of any man thinking of Marley naked, doing all the dirty things I want to do to her.
“Sorry.” I relent. “It’s just…Marley is kind and thoughtful. We can’t be treating her like that.” The mood shifts at the table. All eyes are on me, once again. I need to explain myself, but I’m not ready. Hell, I don’t even know what this is myself. I want her, but does she want me? She’s in a difficult time in her life, right now. I can’t take advantage of her when she isn’t thinking clearly.
“We get it,” Enos says. I turn to look at him with a frown. I’m glad he gets it, because I sure as hell don’t. “You like her, maybe even more than like her. She’s off limits. We’ll all respect that and we’ll take care of her like she’s family.” The other men nod theiragreement. It feels good knowing these men, my brothers by birth and my brothers by choice, are willing to watch over her for me.
“Thanks, guys.” I blow out a breath before continuing, “I honestly don’t know what it is about Marley that’s making me act like a crazy man, but I care for her. I feel like there’s the potential for it to be something, but I have no clue where her mind is at, and now isn’t the time to be trying to begin a relationship with her. She’s going through a lot, and I don’t need to add to it.”
The men seem to agree with me. My phone ringing draws us out of the heavy conversation. I pull the phone from my pocket. “Robertson, you’re on speaker,” I answer as I wait the reply.
“Hey Luke, Atwood here,” Mark Atwood replies. “I realize it’s getting late, but I was hoping I could come by to interview the victim?” I frown as I look at the time. I don’t want her to have to relive all of it tonight. She’s had a bad enough day as it is without having to repeat everything to Atwood.
“You’re right, Atwood.” My reply a little gruffer than it should be. “It is late. She’s had a rough day and has already turned in for the night. Can’t this wait until morning?” The man doesn’t answer right away.
“Yeah,” he relents. “I suppose it can wait. Bring her to the station at nine in the morning.”
“Sure thing.” I concede. “Did you find out anything?” I know he likely won’t tell me anything, but it doesn’t hurt to ask.
“You know I can’t discuss an ongoing investigation,” Atwood argues. “You’ll just have to wait for my official report.” He thinks he can keep me in the dark, but he relies on my company for information gathering, and I’m not about to let him forget it.
“So,” I begin, knowing he’s cursing me already. “I guess that’ll be my reply next time you need some dark web information that your by-the-books tech geeks can’t get you.” A few colorfully strung together curse words come over the line, causing my brothers to chuckle.
“We lifted some prints, but I honestly don’t expect them to be helpful,” Atwood answers. “I’m figuring whoever it was wore gloves. The back door lock had fresh scratch marks on it, maybe from being picked. I don’t know for sure. I don’t believe this was some random burglar, Luke. Whoever did this didn’t take anything but made sure to destroy anything of value. It was personal. It has the vibe of a professional job, but I’ve run the girl. I didn’t find anything at all suspicious. Who is this girl, Luke? How well do you know her?”
“She’s a nobody,” I return. “I don’t mean that badly, but literally, she’s a waitress at The Bistro…well she was until that prick of an owner fired her today. Look I don’t know what exactly is going on, but someone is out to hurt this woman. There have been a lot of other incidents leading up to what happened today. I’m going to be digging into it, but I haven’t had time to get into it, yet. Give me a few days and I’ll bring you up to speed.”
“I know better than to demand anything more.” Atwood chuckles as he prepares to end our call. “I’ll see you at nine.” He ends the call, and I pocket my phone. I look up to see the guys all giving me a weird look.
“What?” I ask, already knowing I’m not going to like their response.
“Dude, you are head over heels and don’t even know it yet,” Bo laughs. The others nodding their agreement.
“I am not,” I deny but realize they know me better than that. “I don’t know about head over heels…I do care about her, as I said before. I’d actually been working up to asking her out before all this shit happened. Now I can’t go there with her. At least, not until we find out who is out to hurt her and get her life back on track. She isn’t in a good place. I won’t take advantage of her. She deserves so much better than that.” The guys nod their agreement. I realize she’s been gone for quite a while. Did she turn in? I decide I’m going to check on her, make sure she’s okay. “Are any of you staying?” I ask the table at large.
