“Maybe you won’t, but I don’t want you to get hurt. Let’s get outta here.”
But she’s not listening the way she should. She digs her heels into the concrete, and refuses to move. “I’m not ready to go home, I want to stay here. All these men like me.” She gestures around.
There’s no doubt they do. A few of them could be fucking foaming at the mouth, but I’m not about to leave her here with them. Clearing my throat, I lean down so that we’re at eye-level with one another. “I like you too.”
“Do you?” She asks, tilting her head to the side. “Because sometimes I don’t know. You seem...irritated with me.”
“I’m not irritated, right now I’m worried about you.” I try to get the shirt back over her head.
“No, no, no! Don’t try to cover me up. If I wanted to spend my life covered up, I’d have stayed with him.” I look to the ceiling, counting to ten, when she throws her shirt into the crowd, and then turns to me, pushing her tits out. “Don’t you wanna look at ‘em, Levi? Aren’t they enough to turn you on?”
Groaning, I slide my jacket off, and then bring it around her shoulders. Bending down so that my lips are at her ear, I growl. “They’re enough. You’re enough, Magnolia Grace. You’ve always been enough. Now will you help me get you outta here?”
Her blue eyes crash into my dark ones. “No one calls me Magnolia Grace, except for you.”
That’s what she took out of that? “I’m about to call you by your full government name, and smack the hell outta that ass if you don’t turn around and march out of here.” I point to the exit. “Go.”
Those eyes of hers darken when I threaten to smack her ass, and if I weren’t on duty, I might be tempted to figure out why she seems so interested. Finally, she pulls my jacket tightly around her, and walks out, wobbling on the heeled boots she’s wearing.
Once we get outside, I direct her to my SUV.
“Want me to call Molly? You can probably stay with her tonight.”
“No,” she says, her voice monotone. “My best friend is sick of my shit right now.”
Eyebrows arching together, I pull a face. “Molly isn’t sick of your shit, I’m sure. Y’all have been best friends for years.”
She laughs, but it’s humorless. “Levi, you have absolutely no idea what my life has been like for the last year. Most everyone I’ve been leaning on is sick of my shit.”
We’ve gotten to my SUV, and she turns so that her back is resting against the passenger-side door. She’s looking everywhere but at me, so I reach down and grab her chin, tugging on it so that we’re looking at one another. “Where do you want to go? I’m not letting you go home by yourself.”
“You don’t understand, do you? There’s no fucking place for me to go that feels like home,” she whispers the last part, and her chin quivers as she pulls her bottom lip in between her teeth.
“I don’t get it,” I admit.
The truth is, I haven’t paid as much attention to Magnolia as I used to. It was driving me crazy, seeing her with her husband when I had a huge crush on her. When I joined Fish and Wildlife two years ago, this kind of became my personality, and I started branching out with new friendships.
“Fuck off, Levi. Just take me to my house.” She flings the passenger-side door open, but then looks at me when she realizes there’s no place for her to sit.
“You’re gonna have to go in the back, sorry.”
She rolls her eyes, and moves to the back. “Open the door, please.”
I do as she asks, reaching over to buckle her in. When I lean over her waist, I do my best not to look at her chest. Although she’s breathing hard, and it’s killing me not to. The way she’s sitting and I’m situated, I’m right at the level where I could reach forward and take a nipple in my mouth.
“Levi, either do it, or shut the damn door.”
To save my sanity, I shut the damn door, and then I pull my cell phone out of my pocket, and call my sister. She picks up on the second ring.
“Levi, are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.” At least she’s worried about me when I call later at night. “I’m calling about Magnolia.”
“Oh shit,” she groans. “What did she do?”
“Got kicked out of The Laurel Lean-To, I just picked her up. What’s going on with her?”
She sighs heavily, and I hear her put her hand over the phone, speaking to someone in the background. There’s a lot of rustling, and then I hear her speaking again. “She and her asshole husband are getting divorced, and she’s having some fun.”
