Wrong Side of the Tracks by Ashley Zakrzewski

ChapterFourteen

Sissy fought the urge to sulk as Cole led her through his house. He showed her where the bathroom was and led her into a spartan bedroom where he dropped her clothes on the bed. Clothes he had refused to let her pay for. She was still pissed about that. He turned and watched her for only a few seconds before he swept her into his arms and the kiss he pressed to her lips burned away the rest of her anger.

She loved what she did to him, and what he did to her. Even pissed she didn’t want to resist a kiss like this one. She stared up at him a moment after he pulled away.

“How about I finish showing you around. You can make yourself at home while I unload the truck, shower, roam around, do whatever you like, then maybe you’ll model your new underwear for me.” He gave her a look that let her know he’d been imagining her in that underwear since she’d added it to the cart.

“We’ll see. Finish showing me around first.” Sissy shook her head and followed him through the house. He’d said he hadn’t been home in quite a while, she’d expected a thick layer of dust, or maybe worse, but the place was clean. “I thought we’d have some chores to do after being empty for a while. How long did you say you were gone again?”

“A long time. A couple years.”

“And this place sat empty the whole time?”

“It did. At least as far as I know.” Cole pulled his phone from the inside pocket of the vest he’d put on this morning before they’d left the clubhouse. She didn’t know where it had come from but from the fit and the way he seemed to expect it to be there, it was obviously his. Even if she hadn’t seen it for the whole trip from Mobile, then again, they’d been in the truck nearly the whole time.

She watched as he sent a message then put the phone back in his pocket. She couldn’t help but wonder who he’d messaged. He’d said there was no woman in his life, but if he’d been gone so long, who had cleaned?

“Do you have a cleaning service come in?” She didn’t think he would, but it had been ten years so who knew what he might do now.

“I used to but didn’t see the point when I didn’t know how long I was going to be gone.” He ended the tour in the kitchen. “The backyard is through there.” He motioned to the door of the kitchen that led to the back of the house. “I suspect it’s a jungle. I’m not ready to even look at it yet. Feel free to make yourself at home. You’re welcome to move in here or stay until you’re ready to move on. Make a list of anything you want or need, and we’ll either go grocery shopping or order them delivered.”

“Are you going to make me your kept woman?” Sissy propped her hands on her hips as she turned to face him.

“What do you mean?” His brow creased, and he shook his head as he waited for her to answer.

“You bought my clothes. You will order or buy food. What do I get to pay for? When do I get to support myself.”

“Christ woman.” He rolled his eyes, stalked over to her, grabbed her hips, and lifted. She started to squeal as he picked her up and set her on top of the kitchen island as if she was a child. “I told you. You can start using your cards in a couple days. I want to make sure we’re settled in, you’re comfortable and we’ve got a bit of a rhythm going before we alert your daddy or that shithead you’ve been seeing where you are.” He took a deep breath, and she wasn’t sure if he was trying to force himself to calm down or waiting for her temper to cool before he spoke again. “Can you live with that?”

She watched his face for several seconds before taking a breath and nodding. “I can. I do miss my phone though. Is there any chance I can get a new one? A real phone not the cheap pre-paid I used to call you.”

“Yes, we can get you a phone.” He pulled the phone from his vest pocket again. “I want the phone on a new number though. Are you on your dad’s plan or your own?”

“Mine.”

“Good. Then we can just get your number changed. What kind of phone do you prefer? Android or iPhone?”

“Android, why?”

“Do you have a preference for brand?”

“I was running a Note 10, but you can’t get them anymore.”

“I’ll let Gizmo know. He’ll get you a new phone. We should be able to have it by later today.”

Cole had sent several messages to different people, judging by what little she could see of his screen and what he was doing. It had buzzed several times, as he’d questioned her, she didn’t know if the questions were from him or someone else.

“And one of my brothers got some of the club wives to come in and clean. That answers why it wasn’t such a mess.”

“But it also means we could have slept here last night.”

Cole looked up as if that hadn’t occurred to him.

“You’re right.” One corner of his mouth curled upward. “I’m kind of glad we didn’t know last night though. If we had, you would have spent the night in the guest room, and I wouldn’t have had nearly as good of morning.”

Sissy’s face heated and she looked away a moment before turning back to him. “Didn’t you say something about unloading and getting settled in?”

Cole stared at her for a several seconds. The look on his face made her want to take back her words. She wasn’t sure why, but something about the way he watched her set her on edge. It wasn’t that she was afraid of him, more that she was hyperaware of his attention.

“Are you trying to get rid of me?” he asked after a moment.

“Only a little.” She decided to be honest. “It’s not that I want you to go away, not really. But aside from the few minutes I’ve spent in the shower, I’ve not had any time to myself for the last three days. I need a little time to unwind and be.”

He watched her a few seconds longer as if trying to decide if she was hiding something or not, then shoved his phone back into his vest pocket, closed in on her and with a hand to the back of her head, tugged her close and dropped a soft kiss to her forehead.

“Good enough. You’re right. I need to unload the truck and start getting things put away, so I’ll let you be. If you need anything you know where to find me.”

Sissy nodded, waited for him to step back then pushed herself off the countertop to land on her feet, then headed for the bedroom. As much as she wanted to turn, run back to him, and wrap her arms around him, she forced herself to continue to the bedroom he’d given her. Her emotions were on edge, and she needed to figure out what she was feeling. Both about being here with Cole, whether it be in the spare bedroom or sharing his. Was she ready to jump into another relationship after what had happened with Troy?

A voice in the back of her head told her she was jumping from the frying pan into the fire, but she knew Cole wasn’t like Troy. Everything he’d done over the last few days had proven that.

But she hadn’t seen him in ten years. Ten years could change a lot of things, all you had to do was look at him to know that.

She unloaded the bags onto the bed and stripped tags while she argued with herself, wondering if Cole was really interested in a relationship or if he was just helping out an old friend and taking all the benefits he could get while he was at it.

Sissy didn’t know if she’d been with Troy too long or if she was always this uncertain. She didn’t remember being this hesitant. She pushed the thoughts out of her mind as she sat on the edge of the bed, then laid back and stared at the ceiling.

Troy and Daddy would come after her. What would she do when they did?