Alley was a damn ball buster, but everyone knew she had a heart of gold and her bark was worse than her bite. Besides, she was a hoot to rile up.
I gave Lake a quick kiss and took a step back, throwing my hands up in surrender like the others. As we all three backed away, the ladies laughed and Alley had a smug-smirk on her face.
“Love you, babe, see you in the morning,” I called out, halfway across the yard.
“Love you too!” she called back.
When I reached my car, I looked back at the house. All the ladies were back safely inside and the door was firmly shut. I said goodbye to the guys and hopped back in my vehicle. I was on duty but on a break and spending those moments with Lake was the best thing I could have done.
My phone dinged when I was back behind the wheel.
Lake:Thanks for the kiss, sexy. I’m not sure it will tide me over until morning, but at least I have your shirt. And my sexy panties.
I groaned as my groin tightened behind my zipper.
Me:You’re gonna pay for that.
Lake:Promises, promises.
I’d promise her the world if it was feasible.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
LAKE
This was nuts.
The doorbell rang and Alley moved into position to answer it. All the others creeped in behind her, having her back. It was quite the posse. She scanned the lineup of bats next to the door and I almost peed my pants laughing as she pondered and put so much thought into which she was going to pick up.
I’d finally gotten to see her famous collection. And by god there were a lot of them. It seemed every color was there along with rainbow, neon, glow-in-the-dark, and more. She’d already scared some of our men away with one, but she had enough to take out an army with a different bat on anybody she felt needed it.
Finally making an executive decision, she grabbed a purple one with sparkles all over it. It was as if the bat had been bedazzled.
A hard knock sounded on the door, causing us to jump. Well maybe all of us, but Alley, she just gripped her bat tighter in her hands. Then a deep voice echoed through to our ears. “It’s your official bodyguards, open the door ladies.”
I was pretty sure it was Lyric’s voice that rumbled through the solid wood. Alley seemed confident and she released the lockand pulled the door open without relinquishing the bat from her other hand.
When my eyes landed on the scene outside, I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or be mortified. There stood a young man, maybe eighteen or nineteen, holding a brown paper bag with what I knew held multiple pregnancy tests. Lyric and Kace stood behind him, arms crossed over their muscled chests and scowls on their faces.
My face burned with embarrassment, but I’m not sure it compared to what the delivery driver’s looked like. And then it dawned on me.Holy guacamole, the dude had to personally pick each test up one by one.
Lyric scanned all our faces before settling on Alley who was front and center. “What are you ladies doing ordering stuff to the house without telling us?”
Alley took a step forward and I saw the kid who’d been stiff as a board finally move as he retreated backward a few steps. Only, that had him bumping right into Kace.
“It’s a secret,” my friend said, moving again and snagging the bag from the dude’s hand.
“Hey, I didn’t check that yet,” Lyric said, moving around the guy to take it back from Alley but she was faster and held it away from him. “What part of its secret don’t you understand, you big lug?”
Turning her body to shield the view, she peeked in the bag, a huge smile crossing her face and then rolled the top back down. “It’s fine, all checked, now as I said earlier, shoo.”
“Y-You m-mean I can g-go?” the terror-stricken and most likely scarred-for-life kid asked.
He not only had to pick up and pay for pregnancy tests, but he had two linebacker looking dudes trying to accost him outside for just doing his job.
And then Alley added to it in the next second. Stepping forward again, she snagged the guy's jacket sleeve and dragged him right over the threshold into the house. I thought he might pee his pants.
“Not yet, I’m going to pay you extra for going to get us food,” she told him. “And those guys,” she pointed at Lyric and Kace with the bat again, “they won’t harass you.”
