Page 37 of Fighting a Riot

“Gonna work my fist in your face you don’t cut that shit out, Yak.”

Yak shook his head. “Whatever. You gotta lighten up. Besides, didn’t you take shop class in high school? Any conversation around here is rife with double entendres. Wood, drilled, screws, getting nailed. Come on, man.”

Lisa nodded. “He’s got you there, Rage. Though he forgot one. Bent. ’Cause I’m really gonna need that wood to bend if it’s going to look like a dragon-headed pirate ship holding a hammock.”

Rage shook his head. “She builds this thing, how the hell are you gonna get it to your upstairs bedroom in that old house?”

Yak smiled. “Very carefully. I don’t fuckin’ know. Cross that bridge when we get there.”

Lisa chuckled. “Cross that bridge… on your dragony pirate ship.”

Yak asked, “Where’s Trixie and Roll?”

Lisa shook her head. “Trixie had to take someone to an appointment, which means Roll has Jasmine and Rafferty.”

Yak nodded, trying to ignore how much he wished he were taking Nora to that appointment. “Right. It’s after eleven. I gotta split. Catch y’all later.”

The next morning, Yak drove home after his shift at Platinum’s rather than hide from Nora. He stood at his kitchen sink sipping a beer and watching her shove flattened cardboard boxes into the recycle bin. She wore high-heels and a sexy little cobalt blue dress that flared at her waist. He groaned when she went up on her toes and stooped over the edge of the bin. His teeth sunk into his bottom lip as he imagined her shoving that ass out toward him in his bedroom. He tightened his grip on the beer bottle, forcing the image out of his mind.

It would be so easy to go out there, let her know that Tuesday was recycle day, and ease into a conversation about how her appointments went. Find out if she had plans later tonight, since it was his night off.

He tossed the dregs of his beer into the sink. “Not doin’ that shit,” he muttered and he went upstairs to read before getting some sleep.

After he flipped on his fan and shut his eyes, the vision of Nora bent over assaulted him. He rolled to his side and fluffed up the pillow he held. Her picture-perfect body wouldn’t leave him alone. It had been a long damn time since a woman fucked with his head like this.

Sleeping during the day was difficult enough for him, so any time he had trouble getting to sleep he nipped it in the bud with a nighttime painkiller. He stalked to the bathroom and took a pill, and drank some water. It wasn’t the healthiest move, but he refused to jack off while thinking about Nora again.

He wanted her, but he didn’t want her in this life.

It made him feel like a hypocrite to think that, but everything about her said picket fences and two-point-five kids. There were no kids in his future.

Not a chance.

The foster system cured him of that so-called dream.

Hell, it had surprised the fuck out of him when Cal became so adamant to knock up his woman, Mallory. Yak had thought Cal was of the same mindset as him since both of them were in the foster system as teenagers. Now Cal had a daughter and from what he’d said recently, he wanted Mallory to have a second, he just had to convince her. Cal made a fantastic dad, but Yak didn’t have that in him.

No matter what Nora said about her recent bad news making her leery of commitment, he knew better. She probably saw him as a ‘walk on the wild side,’ and years ago he’d have been down with that. With a woman like her now though, not so much.

From kissing her alone, he wasn’t sure he’d ever get his fill. Finger fucking her had been more satisfying than he’d expected, which told him sinking his dick into her would only make things worse for both of them.

That would make him a total bastard. Take her time –if not waste her time– and lead her on in the process.

No.

She definitely deserved better.

On that thought, he closed his eyes and fell asleep.

At a quarter after four that afternoon, Yak opened the side door of the house to Nora.

She fidgeted with nerves, but looked him in the eye. “I’m here about… possibly two things.”

“Possibly?”

She nodded. “Yeah. The first thing is that my mom will be here in a couple weeks for my lumpectomy. I suggested she get a hotel, but whether she does or not, she’ll have to be able to get in and out of the driveway with her rental car. I didn’t want you to be caught off-guard when you see another vehicle here.”

His head tilted a fraction. “Why can’t she just drive your car?”

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