Redemption Road (Vicious Cycle #2)(55)

Bringing her hands to her hips, Willow said, “Well, it needs a name.”

“Probably something unisex since we don’t know what it is,” I mused.

Annabel cocked her head. “How about Poe?”

“Like ‘Poe a deer’ instead of ‘Doe a deer’?” I questioned with a teasing smile.

“I’m not even going to ask how you know a song from The Sound of Music.”

I laughed and jerked my chin at Willow. “Ask Miss Show Tunes over there.”

“I meant for Edgar Allen Poe.”

With a wink, I said, “I figured as much.”

“So it’s Poe?” Willow asked.

I glanced down at the deer. “Yep, Mr. or Miss Poe.”

“A very distinguished name,” Alexandra said with a grin.

“Now that Poe has a name, we need to work on getting some food into him or her.” Annabel turned to me. “I’m going to need some things from a pet store. I can make you a list.”

“I’ll be happy to go get them for you. Especially a pen.”

“Oh, but I planned on letting it sleep with me,” Annabel teased.

“Think again.”

Her smile once again reached her eyes, and in that moment, I would’ve let the damn deer sleep with her if I could see that much happiness on her face again. I had thought she was beautiful before, but when she truly smiled, she was breathtaking. And while I welcomed her newfound joy, I also knew I was in deep, deep trouble.

FOURTEEN

REV

ONE MONTH LATER

I had thought initially that having Annabel living with me would mean that my life would drastically change. But once we learned the pattern of each other’s days and nights, everything fell into place. She rose before I had to leave for work and made coffee and cooked breakfast. She even brought me a home-cooked lunch at my job at the Raiders-owned pawnshop next to the clubhouse. She hadn’t been exaggerating when she’d said she knew how to cook. I had already gained five pounds since she had come to live with me. Thankfully, she had regained some of the weight she’d lost as well.

While I was at work, she sometimes went over to Mama Beth’s and helped her cook dinner. The two were growing very attached to each other. I could tell Mama Beth was everything in a mother that Annabel had never had yet had longed for. In turn, Mama Beth had always wanted daughters, especially those who wanted to help her with the things she loved, like cooking. While I loved that they got along so well, I knew it was only going to cause pain in the long run for both of them when Annabel left. But I kept my mouth shut.

Physically, she seemed to heal almost overnight. You could attribute it to her age and her resiliency to overcome what she had been through. Breakneck would come by often to check on her. As he had directed, she spent a lot of time off her feet and resting.

It was her emotional state that worried me. She still refused to let her parents know her location. She did call them once she got to my house, and once again she used a disposable phone. Although I didn’t totally agree with it, I didn’t press her about it. It did slightly alarm me when she started researching the veterinary program at the University of Georgia. She seemed hell-bent on never returning to Virginia, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.

She grew more and more dependent on me. After I had spent several nights on the lumpy couch, she finally talked me into sleeping in my bed with her. It wasn’t uncharted territory, since we had spent the night in the same bed before. But at the same time, there was an illicit feeling about it. I felt like a teenager sneaking off to do something I shouldn’t, which was not something I had felt for a very long time. While I didn’t want to think about Annabel in any sexual way, it was hard not to when she came to bed in pajama shorts that revealed her legs or thin tops that showed off her cleavage. I knew better than to say anything to her about it, lest I’d look like some pervert who had been getting off on her.

There was also the fact that waking up with a beautiful woman wrapped around me did nothing to stop my morning wood. If Annabel ever noticed, she didn’t say anything. I also hoped she didn’t notice my longer-than-normal cold showers to eradicate said morning wood. Again, if she knew, she never said anything. I could have easily taken out my frustrations with one of the club whores. Even though I had come home with a woman, it hadn’t deterred some of them from their interest in me. Before, just a flash of a pair of tits would have had me hard as a rock and raring to f*ck whatever was closest to me. But after Annabel, it didn’t have the same allure. It seemed my dick had allegiance to only one woman, and painfully, it was the one who was off-limits.

Of course, any inappropriate thoughts easily fled when she woke up, screaming and thrashing, from nightmares at least two to three times a week. Since I was no stranger to those types of wake-up calls, I would merely reach through the sheets to bring her body closer to mine. “It’s okay, Annabel. You’re okay,” was usually all I would have to say. She would spend a few minutes steadying her breathing in the dark, as if she was trying to believe that she was really with me in Georgia and not back in Mexico with Mendoza. Finally, after a small eternity, she would calm down and go back to sleep. I wondered what it would be like for her if I weren’t in bed beside her. Would she be able to calm down, or would she suffer a lot of sleepless nights like I had in the past?

While I was helping Annabel, it didn’t escape my mind how much I enjoyed her presence, either. I wanted her to be well, and to not need me, but her presence was a comfort, too. One I expected I would miss when she left.