Watching Trin by Freya Barker
Chapter 23
Bodhi
This is not how I envisioned this day going.
I’m lying back with my arms folded behind my head as I listen to Trin in the bathroom.
I should be exhausted but instead find myself wide awake.
Trin tried to convince me all day to get some rest, which I waved off. No way was I going to be able to sleep with all the activity in the house.
About the time Paco was done installing cameras this morning, VanDyken and Wapi returned. The police lab had already been backlogged, so Wapi opted to pay for a private lab to process the swab faster. I can’t blame him, by all accounts he’s been eager for answers surrounding his sister’s disappearance long enough already.
VanDyken had a few questions for Tucker, wondering if perhaps the threat—the one with the rock and this new one dropped off on the step—was directed at the boy rather than Trin. My initial thought when I heard about this morning’s note was perhaps someone was pissed off at Trin going around asking questions but as Jay pointed out, she started doing that after her Jeep was vandalized and not before.
With a bit of prompting Tuck finally admitted a couple of kids at school—friends of the boy he punched a while back—have gotten up in his face from time to time. It made my blood boil listening to some of the racial slurs they were throwing at him. I’m not a particularly violent person but hearing that made me want to lay out those little racist punks.
Apparently, it didn’t sit well with the detective either, who took his leave with the assurances to an equally upset Trin he’d be looking into it.
While Tuck took Wapi out back to show him the dirt bike, Paco explained the workings of the security system and installed an app on Trin and Vic’s phones. I asked him to install it on mine as well, since it allows you to monitor the security camera’s video feed on the go.
When they were gone, Vic proposed Trin move into their father’s old bedroom upstairs. Trin balked, wanting Vic to take the master, but her sister assured her she likes her room right where it is. Everyone finally agreed it would probably be the best for all of them to be sleeping on the same floor and have the study become a place everyone could use.
It took all afternoon to pack up Bruce’s things in boxes, and after dinner—pizza delivery—we slapped on a fresh coat of paint we found in the garage.
For tonight, Trin is still on the twin bed in the study, and I’m holding vigil on the couch.
I hear the water turn off in the downstairs bathroom and wait for Trin’s footsteps to return to the study, but they come this way instead.
Pushing up on my elbows I glance over the backrest. She’s cast in shadows as she approaches, rounding the couch before sitting down by my hip. I instinctively scoot over and pull her down in my arms.
We barely fit, front to front, our noses almost touching.
“This day went to hell in a handbasket in a hurry,” I whisper in an echo of my earlier thought.
She snuggles even closer so our bodies are pressed tightly together.
“I know, I’m sorry.”
“You have nothing to be sorry for.”
I press a kiss to her forehead and let my lips rest there.
* * *
Trin
Not sure what time it is when I wake up, but it’s dark and the house is completely silent.
At some time during the night we slightly shifted position. Bodhi is mostly on his back and I’m half draped on top of him, my cheek pressed against his chest, rising and falling with his deep, even breaths. I only wanted to say good night and fully intended to sleep in my own bed, but Bodhi’s arms felt safe and I ended up dozing off.
Trying not to wake him, I lift my head, but the moment I push up he moans and his hold on me tightens.
“Stay.”
His voice is raspy with sleep but the hand that slides down the slope of my ass is firm. His dark brown eyes shimmer from under the heavy lids. The air feels thick with need.
I automatically tilt my hips up when he dips his fingers in the back of my panties, dragging them down. Pulling one leg free, I’m able to straddle his hips and bend down to touch my lips to his. He cups the back of my head, tilts his for a better angle, and takes the kiss to a level that has my toes curl and my nails dig into his shoulders.
“Let me see you,” he whispers against my lips, moving both hands to my hips.
I sit up, hissing as the hard ridge of his cock hits me just right, and pull my nightshirt over my head. His eyes caress my body until I’m flushed and buzzing with arousal, reaching down to free him from his boxer briefs.
Then his fingers dig into my hips, lift me, and let me sink down on his shaft.
* * *
“Hustle, kiddo. Bus’ll be here in three minutes.”
Tuck shoves the remaining half of the waffle Bodhi made for breakfast in his mouth, dumps his plate in the sink, and runs up the stairs. A minute later he comes barreling down again.
“Mom! That biker is back!” he yells on his way out the door.
I hustle to the door and pull it open to see my son running up to Wapi, who’s standing by his bike at the curb. When he spots me, he says something to Tuck before he heads my way.
“Something wrong?” I ask when he’s close enough.
“Nah. One of us’ll be here in the morning and at school in the afternoon to make sure no one bugs him.”
“That’s too much. You guys have already gone above and beyond.”
My eyes sting and I’m suddenly ashamed for all the times I’d look at a biker with apprehension.
Wapi shrugs. “It’s what we do. Just until things settle down.”
He turns on his heel and I watch as he heads back to his bike. He swings a casual leg over the seat at the same time the bus comes down the street.
“Was that Wapi?”
I push the door shut and turn to find Bodhi at the bottom of the stairs. He mentioned something about putting a second coat on the walls before having a shower. He added in a whisper he liked smelling me on his skin, making me blush.
“He’s making sure Tuck gets to school okay. Says someone from the club will escort him to and from.”
“They’re good people,” he says, shrugging much like Wapi did earlier, as if it’s the most normal thing in the world. “Besides, it’ll do wonders for his street cred.”
Guess I can’t argue that, showing up with a biker is a lot cooler than having your mom or aunt drop you off, which he adamantly refused.
Bodhi follows me into the kitchen where Vic—fresh from the shower—is pouring herself a coffee.
“Any left?”
She holds up the pot for me, which is still half full, and I grab the mugs Bodhi and I were using earlier for her to fill.
“When did you want to hit up Walmart?” she asks.
We’re supposed to get some new linen for the king-sized bed. All Pops’s sheets are well-worn and ratty, and I never owned a king. Luckily, his mattress was a fairly recent purchase Vic kept protected with a plastic sheet.
“I guess the sooner we get that over with the better. I’d love to get that bedroom done and the study ready for Hayden. She’s flying in on Friday morning, by the way.”
It’ll give me a couple of days to work on my article, and hopefully, I’ll have something more to go on when Wapi’s DNA results come back in the next day or so.
“Not that it necessarily has any bearing, but I was about to head out. I have to swing by the trailer and grab some clean clothes, and then I have to hit my old apartment and empty it out.”
“I’m happy to help with that.”
He’s done so much for me already, it’s the least I can do.
He smiles, brushing a strand of hair behind my ear.
“Looks to me you’ve got your hands full already. Don’t worry, my dad offered to give me a hand. He made some room in the garage where I can store it until I take possession of the new place.”
I realize that’ll be a little over a week. Shit, we also have Tucker’s birthday coming up on Saturday. I have to think of something to do for that. Birthdays used to be easy, but he’s turning fifteen and I doubt pizza and a round of bowling is going to do the trick.
He’s right, I do have my hands full, so instead of arguing the point, I concede it. I’ll have to find other ways to show my gratitude, but I’m sure I can come up with something. I have a good imagination.
“Okay.”
He must’ve caught the smirk I’m trying to hide because one of his eyebrows pulls up.
“Love to know what’s putting that color on your cheeks,” he says in a low, silky voice.
“All right, guys, the pheromones are so thick they’re drowning out the paint fumes,” Vic grumbles.
Ignoring my sister, I voice an idea that suddenly pops in my head.
“You know, you could just grab what you need and stay here until you get the keys,” I blurt out, instantly regretting it when I see the shocked look on Bodhi’s face. “I mean, it’s easier than shuttling back and forth. That is, if you planned to spend nights here anyway. Not that I’m assuming you are, I just thought…I mean, most of the time you’ll be at the firehouse anyway so we’re only talking a handful. If you wanted to, of course. I’m just saying you’re welcome to.”
I blow out a large breath after the long ramble, and I feel my cheeks heat when I see a slow grin form on his well-shaped lips. Now would be a good time for lightning to strike or a sinkhole to open under my feet.
“And where would he sleep?” my wicked sister doesn’t hesitate to add to my discomfort. “With Hayden in the study next weekend, he’d have to take the couch, or are you suggesting he bunk with you?”
My face flaming I snap my head around to her.
“You know what? Forget I said anything.”
With a huff for good measure and with my head high, but my insides shriveling, I stalk down the hallway, followed by my sister’s cackle. I swear one of these days I’ll get her back.
Heading into the study I fling the door shut behind me, but I don’t hear the satisfying slam. Instead it closes with a soft click and I swing around to find Bodhi right behind me, still wearing that shit-eating grin.
Great.
“Come here,” he says, already reaching for me.
I don’t resist when he pulls me in his arms, dipping his head to kiss me so thoroughly I almost forget about my embarrassing bout of verbal diarrhea in the kitchen.
“I should head out. I plan to make dinner tonight so I won’t be too late. Keep your eyes open out there.”
He brushes another light kiss on my lips before he lets me go. I watch him reach for the door and realize he hasn’t really responded to my suggestion. It stings a little.
“By the way,” he adds over his shoulder. “I prefer the side closest to the door.”
Before I have a chance to process what he’s saying he’s already out the front door.
* * *
“Gray is a bit of a manly color, isn’t it?”
I grind my teeth.
My sister has been poking at me for the past hour and I’m about to lose it on her. Now it’s the sheets I just dropped in the shopping cart. Before that she made a smart comment about some new underwear and a nightie I picked out.
I try not to react—it’s what she is aiming for—but she’s getting under my skin. Determinedly I push the cart to the checkout line. Shopping isn’t my favorite thing anyway, but doing it with my sister when she’s being an annoying brat is definitely worse.
“One seventy-four thirty-three, please,” the cashier announces after scanning the contents of my cart.
Yikes, that adds up quickly, doesn’t it?
I pull my credit card from my wallet and hand it to her, when Vic walks up behind me and tosses a plusOne personal massager on the checkout counter. I’m too dumbfounded to say anything, but my cheeks flame. The cashier looks from her to me and back again, looking for direction.
“Vic,” I finally manage to force through my tight throat. “For Christ’s sake.”
“Lighten up, Trin. In case you haven’t noticed, I don’t get regular servicing by someone with an actual heartbeat.”
I glance surreptitiously at the cashier whose ears are now visibly twitching, as is her mouth.
“Shut up,” I grind out between clenched teeth, but my sister isn’t done yet.
“Figure if I have to be around you two for a week, you at least owe me that.”
I’m almost running out of the store, after the snickering cashier rings me out, hoping to leave my sister far behind when I suddenly hear her yell my name.
“Watch out!”
I stop and turn my head only to catch a glimpse of a rusty grill of a truck coming at me. The next moment something hits me and I’m flying forward, hitting the pavement hard.