Page 5 of Protected

Kitchen right as you walked in, the living room with a TV, couch, and recliner next, then my bed and two dressers until you got to the wall. On the other side of that was the bathroom.

I guess it was technically called a studio, but it was just home for me.

Tommy settled in front of his bowl and lapped up his late dinner.

I normally turned on the TV and tried to decompress before going to bed, but I knew the TV wasn’t going to be able to hold my attention.

Not after the excitement downstairs.

“He was hot, Tommy,” I pondered out loud. “The kind of hot you see in the movies, not in a rundown bar in a small town.” I walked through the living room and face planted straight onto my bed. “Why was he so hot?” I muttered into the comforter. I rolled over onto my back and stared up at the ceiling. “And he smelled good,” I whined. “Why?” I cried.

Hail was the exact opposite of what I needed in my life right now.

All I needed was to work as much as I could and keep my head down until all my debts were paid.

I scoffed and tossed my arm over my eyes.

They weren’t even my debts to begin with, but when my dad died, his debts landed squarely on me.

Thanks, Dad.

I didn’t even want to think about all the crap Dad had left me to deal with.

I loved the man, but boy, did he not make the best decisions when he was alive.

Tommy hopped onto the bed and sprawled out next to me.

“I’m going to have to figure out how to teleport into the apartment after work tomorrow night, Tommy. Hail said I could run away tonight, but something tells me I’m not going to be so lucky tomorrow.”

Anyone could tell that Hail was not the type of guy who would let you run when he wanted you.

“Lord,” I laughed, “as if that fine man actually wants me. Sexy probably just comes out of his mouth naturally.” I wasn’t anything special to him. He probably collected girls like they were bottle tops. Where there was one, there was twenty more.

“Yup, that’s it,” I called. “We are not going to think about Hail anymore, Tommy. Not one second more.” I rolled off the bed and quickly got ready to sleep. Sleep was good because my brain would shut off.

I turned off the lights and snuggled under the covers with Tommy.

I wasn’t going to think about Hail, but I sure as hell dreamed about him all night.

Good lord.

Chapter Three

Hail

“Am I the only one feeling déjà vu?”

“What?” Crank asked.

Tiger pointed at me. “Last night, Hail sat on that same stool with his eyes trained on the door until some hot chick walked in.”

My eyes were trained on the door. They had been for the past two months, and that wasn’t going to change tonight.

Not after I had actually talked to her and found out her name.

Mary Jay.

The name suited her. It was traditional with a twist.

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