“Oh my God, Bridger, what am I going to do? How could he get out this early? You know as well as I do that anything less than a year is a joke, and three months of probation with anger management classes? That’s a crock of shit.” My words are coming out garbled, and tears are staining my cheeks.
“Fuck,” Bridger grumbles before he pulls me up in his arms, lifting me as if I’m a child. My legs wrap around his firm waist. One hand is under my ass, the other is in my hair as he holds me to the crook of his neck, and I hold on as I let it all out. Every emotion I have is coming out: anger, sadness, fear, and did I mention anger? Bridger holds me the entire time, even while he walks us to the truck. He never sets me down, not even when he opens the driver door, moves the seat back, and slides inside.
“Let it out, Kellie,” he coos softly, and I do exactly that in the arms of the man I know I’m already halfway in love with.
Four
Bridger
The rightness of Kellie in my arms is more than I could ever explain. Sure, I’m the jokester of the group, always turning nothing into something of a prank. In the last few months, something inside me has changed. I’m still that fun-loving guy, but when it comes to Kellie and the situation she’s in, there’s nothing funny or easy about that.
When she snuggles in deeper toward my body, I know she’s not ready to talk or face me. In fact, if I know anything about Kellie, embarrassment for breaking down and leaning on me will be written all over her face when she does decide to leave the safety of my neck. All I can do is hold her tighter while she gets it out.
“Everything’s going to be okay,” I promise her while kissing the top of her head.
That’s when she finally decides to show me those beautiful eyes of hers. Sure, her face is red and blotchy from crying, her eyes a watery mess, I see past all of that though.
“I’m not so sure of that, Bridger.” She tips her head down, just now realizing her skirt is yanked up to the tops of her thighs. She moves her skirt down, more focused on that than the discussion we just had with Travis. As tantalizing as the view was, my sole focus is on the issue that’s reared its ugly head.
“Yeah, it will be, sunshine. What do you say I take you home and feed you some dinner? We can talk or be couch potatoes.” I want her to know I’m not leaving her after all we learned this week, and I know for a fact today was a killer for her.
“You don’t have any plans?” she responds, but I hear the hopefulness in her voice.
“Nope, Slade and Drake can deal with whatever is needed today. It’s just you and me today, sunshine.” My fingers find her silky strands, placing them behind her ear. I want her to feel safe, especially with her world tilted on its axis. Kellie goes away once a month, only for a weekend. It’s something that she started as soon as she was settled in not only her job but also in her life.
She would come back more relaxed as time went on, even if she didn’t know that I knew exactly where she was at all times of the day. One of the perks of giving her a work phone, but even without it, if she didn’t, I’d always have some kind of eyes on her.
Slade and Drake knew she was going to be mine from the moment I laid eyes on her. Slade smirked. Drake laughed as if I didn’t have a chance in hell.
Slowly, Kellie came out of her shell. She was still apprehensive around men, but her personality shined little by little each day.
“That would be awesome. I could really go for some comfort food and a movie. As bad as this sounds, I’m not sure being alone right now is a good idea. Every scrape, footstep, or noise might set me on edge.”
“Let’s get you in your seat. We can go get your car later on, or one of the guys will drop it off on their way home.” Her mouth forms into the shape of an O.
“I like you here, Kellie, more than you know, but I can’t drive with you on my lap, and I’d never endanger your life.” I smirk to lighten the mood. That’s when I see the flush on her chest appear.
“You’re right.” She moves and climbs over the center console, unaware of the view she’s giving me while she maneuvers her body. It takes everything I have not to glide my hands up the back of her thighs, feeling what I know is nothing but skin as soft as silk. I’d spread her legs apart, lick a path up her thigh until my mouth was on her pussy, even with the lace that I got a hint of a view of. It might seem like a hinderance, but I bet it would heighten her experience to feel my mouth through it.
“Kellie,” I groan. The look she gives over her shoulder tells me everything I need to know.
“What?” This is what I’m talking about. Her personality shines given the right time.
“I think you know what has me all but moaning your name,” I reply as she scoots into the seat and puts on her seatbelt.
“Hmm. I have no idea what you’re talking about.” The coy look she sends my way lets me see her playful side.
“Sure.” I put my seatbelt on, start up the truck, and we head to Kellie’s place. I’d much rather head to my house, but something tells me she’s not ready for that yet. Though, if things get worse like I suspect they will, it’ll be my place where she lays her head down.
Slade, Drake, even Easton, and I all have the top-of-the-line equipment when it comes to home security. Each of us had a price on our head at one time or another, Travis probably more than any of us. He’s adamant about not needing anything, no matter what we offer. He thinks because his and Raelynn’s house is out on twenty acres means they’re okay. Now that they have Max though, they may change their minds. That’s probably something we should bring up to him again. I swear Nighthawk has been overtaken by children and siblings. Not to mention my own damn younger sisters. My parents had their hands full when it came to Peyton, Aspen, Rowan, and myself. That was part of the reason I joined the Marines right out of high school.
Our parents did the best they could, raised us right, but there was no way they could afford to send us all to college. Not to mention, I knew that wasn’t something I really wanted out of life. My sisters, on the other hand, had the brains and willpower to go through with it. Little did they know I sent money back home to our parents to offset what their scholarships didn’t pay. It’s not like when I was overseas I had too much to pay for. The hazard money that we received kept me well in the black, along with some smart investing, so when Slade thought up Nighthawk, we all banded together, and it’s been nothing but up since then.
We make the trek to Kellie’s home. It’s right down the road from the office. The cute white-painted house is a two-bedroom, one-bathroom small bungalow-inspired house. I know the original homeowners who are renting this place to Kellie. Of course, when you grow up in this small of a town, everyone knows everyone.
We make the turn to go through our small downtown area that gives way to the residential area of Lodgeview until we make it to her place. I pull into her driveway and place the vehicle in park before saying, “Hand me your keys. I’ll check the place out, then come back and get you.”
She doesn’t even question me, just grabs her keys and places them in the palm of my upturned hand.
“Don’t let out Legend.” I do a double-take before I get out of the truck.