It took me a minute, but once I could form words again, I said, “I’ve been scared before, Hatch. Fear I can handle. But this time,youterrified me. Your actions had me more frightened than I’ve ever been in my entire life.”
Hatch wrapped his arms around me, holding me close as I cried and it didn’t take long before he gave me a squeeze and breathed out, “I’m sorry, baby. I’m so fuckin’ sorry. I get it now. I will never scare you like that again.”
“Never again.”
“I will never go anywhere to get my ass beat unless you have full disclosure beforehand. How about that?”
“Oh, you’re never going anywhere without a goddamned leash.”
“You’ve already chipped us, what more doyou need?”
I bit my lip and fiddled with his zipper pull on his jacket. “Well, about that…”
“Whatnow?”
“B-12 shots.”
His body stiffened. “What the fuck?”
“Katie had to give you a tetanus shot at the clinic, and it gave me an idea. I mean, some of the guys got actual tetanus shots, because they were alarmingly out of date, but you got a B-12 one.”
“Is that why my piss smelled weird?”
I shrugged. “Maybe.”
“Your ability to evade, lie, and generally pull one over on a group of people astounds me, Sunshine.”
I tugged on his beard. “I learned from the best.”
“I love you.” Hatch ran a thumb gently down my cheek. “I’m sorry I hurt you. I will work to earn your trust back and we’ll figure out a way to communicate differently in the future, so this doesn’t happen again.”
I grabbed Hatch’s phone from the side table and sent a quick text, then focused back on him.
“What was that?” he asked.
I buried my face in his neck, drawing in his scent. “Just calling off the hit I’d put out on you.”
He laughed. “With my phone?”
“Well, I don’t know any hit men.”
“Good point.”
I kissed his neck again. “I was letting Dani know I’m gonna need some uninterrupted time for my husband to apologize some more.”
He chuckled. “Is that what you need?”
“Yes.” I kissed his neck. “So, get to it.”
He squeezed my bum and eased me off his lap. “Lead the way, beautiful.”
I took his hand and led him down to the bedroom.
Katie
WAVERLY, MELODY, AND I were in the living room of our condo, I had just opened a bottle of wine, and Melody was handing out glasses when a knock at the door came.
“I’ll get it,” Waverly said, heading that way. “What the hell are you doing here?”
