Page 46 of The Auction
“Geesh,” I said. I pulled the ponytail holder out, which was only holding up half my hair, then redid the messy bun on top of my head so all of it was out of my face. “What kind of friends do you have?”
He made a dramatic motion with his head like he was looking around the room for something. “Funny, I don’t see this place crawling with your girlfriends.”
I glared at him. “I blame Herb for that. I’m delightful.”
“So I’ve noticed.”
It pretty much went thatway for the next two nights. I stayed busy out in the fields or in the kitchen while the two friends did their thing.
Creed had taken him into town and had shown him around Riverbend.
Then the two had gotten it in their heads to go hunting. That was a full day of them being gone, only to have Tank return to the house stinking to high heaven of whiskey and shouting about possessed dears.
Creed basically ignored him. And, like he had the past two nights, didn’t come to bed until after Tank was upstairs.
I’d given up being stubborn about sleepingon the floor, so for two nights we’d slept in the same bed. To Creed’s credit, he hadn’t tried to take advantage, either.
Also, not going to lie, there was something reassuring about knowing he was sleeping between me and the door. That sense of knowing nothing was getting past him to get to me.
But like anything, the minute you let your guard down, that’s when the shit happened.
“Sure,”I said, into my pretty new cell phone. “I’ll tell him.”
I’d only given my number out to a few people, but the Talleys were our closest neighbors so it made sense that Mrs. Talley have my number in case of emergencies. I’d run into her at the grocery store a few weeks ago. As always, she asked how I was, but did it with that face like she was ready to bust me out of this marriage if I blinked outhelp mein morse code.
I told her I was fine, (which, really I was), and that Creed had gotten me a phone if she wanted to exchange numbers, to which she’d agreed.
I was pretty proud of myself for not asking if her daughter, April, was still seeing Kevin from the hardware store.
But the truth was, I didn’t much care anymore.
“Who was that?” Creed asked, coming into the kitchen.
“Mrs. Talley said a horse got loose from the barn and took off. She’s calling all the neighbors to ask us to keep a look out. I’m thinking you should take the truck up to the highway so you can look out over the area.”
He looked back toward the living room.
“He’s just watching TV and getting drunk again,” Iwhispered. “I’ll have dinner ready by the time you get back.”
“Pork chops?” he said, looking over my shoulder.
“I’ve already got my algorithm trained for recipes.”
“Not a fucking clue what that means,” he said. He looked back to the living room.
“How long is he staying?” I asked, again under my breath.
“I’m having a talk with him. He’s stayed his last night.”
“Good,” I said, turning back to the pork chops that were just simmering in sauce. “Then I can get my room back.”
“Or not,” Creed said.
He was standing at my back, close enough that I could feel the heat coming off him. Smell the farm that clung to his clothes.
“What do you mean?”
“You could stay in my bed. Let me touch you.” Creed reached his arm around me, his hand on my stomach. Which made it feel kind of warm. This was usually the part where I slapped him away or made an excuse to leave, but his voice was in my ear and his fingers slipped inside my shirt to touch the skin just under my breasts. “I’d get you used to me first. Sucking on your tits, your pussy. Making you come again and again before you had to take my cock. But you should know cock feels good, Jules.”
