I apparently did not have the willpower or strength to keep that man away.
I didn’t want to get to know him. I didn’t want to like that he included me in things that I had no idea I wanted to be included in. I didn’t want to like it when he paid attention to me, and I really didn’t like it that I did like it so much.
Because, if I were being honest, I’d say that I did like those things. A whole fucking lot.
“Uh-oh,” I heard Leida say.
I turned to her. “What?”
“Mom’s upset,” she whispered so softly that I barely heard her.
I turned back around and stared at the two.
“How do you know?”
“She’s turning red,” she replied, stating the obvious.
I studied the woman.
She was, indeed, turning red.
The red started at her chest, the angry blush was slowly creeping up her chest and over her neck.
But before it could detour into ‘oh shit’ territory, the woman pointed to the house.
Tobias started in that direction and disappeared into the house without looking back.
I watched in fascination as the woman pulled a phone out of her pocket, dialed and then placed it to her ear while she walked away. She moved straight down the driveway, not even bothering to glance into Tobias’ truck, because if she had, I was sure she wouldn’t have continued doing the stupid thing she was doing.
But she didn’t look up as she made her way past the truck and then across the street to the neighbor’s house.
“Huh,” I said softly. “Do you live with your mom, sweetheart?”
She shook her head. “Not much anymore,” she admitted. “When my daddy’s on his hitch down South, I’m either at Grandma’s or in Texas with the rest of the Hails.”
“Where in Texas?” I asked. “And what about school?”
“Jefferson,” she answered. “And that’s where the rest of my family is. As for school, I’m homeschooled. My mom’s mom used to be a schoolteacher. She’s really smart.”
My lips curved up into a smile.
“That sounds like fun,” I said, movement catching my eye.
I looked up just as Tobias came out with the first box of cookies.
Pushing the door open, I slid out and moved around the open truck door. “How many more are there?”
He grunted and then handed the box over to me. “Eight.”
“In the back it is,” I said. “If you’ll drop them off at the porch steps, I’ll get them from there.”
He grunted in reply and I moved back to the truck.
Placing the box on the floor next to the back tire, I walked back to the house just in time for not only Tobias to arrive with another box, but for the police to arrive, sirens screeching.
“Down on the ground!”
I froze in the process of taking the box from Tobias and stared at her.
“What the hell?”
He sighed.
“Put the box down and raise your hands,” he ordered. “She called the cops. The fucking bitch.”
I did as he said and placed the box down at my feet before raising my hands and turning to face the police car that was parked sideways in the road. The officer that came out of the car had her gun out and pointed at the ground, staring at both of us with anger clearly etched all over her face.
“I said get down!”
“My name is Tobias Hail, and I’m with the Alabama Highway Patrol. My badge is on the dashboard of my truck.”
The cop’s eyes widened slightly.
“I had a call saying you were stealing. Care to explain that?” she asked, a little less angry this time as she moved toward the driver’s side door.
She didn’t even bother opening the door.
Hell, I could see it from all the way over here. It was a bright golden sheen in the dashboard of his truck, and it was nearly blinding me, even from twenty feet away, when I looked at it.
The cop pulled her microphone away from her shoulder and spoke into it.
But she kept her gun out while she did, eyeing us warily.
Tobias waited until she was off the mic before explaining.
“My niece’s Girl Scout cookies were delivered here by accident, and I’m here to pick them up so we can go sell them. This is her mother’s house; I was just speaking with Trisha. I got permission before entering her residence. She even told me where they were.”
I snorted.
“Well, it’s obvious she doesn’t want you taking them. Maybe you should just go.”
“We’re selling them, though,” I rushed out. “She literally has three more days to sell them, and then she’ll have to return them.”
The cop’s eyes went from Tobias to me, and then back to Tobias. She obviously thought I was the lesser threat here and decided to keep her eyes on the man who was clearly more of a danger.
“We’re getting the boxes,” Tobias disagreed with her. “When we have them, then we’ll leave. Audrey, honey, go grab them, and we’ll go.”
I took a step back, then another, and another until I was at the porch steps.
“I think not!” a woman screeched.
I took off, searching the house for the boxes.
It took me three rooms before I found them in the kitchen, stacked up next to the garage.
Using my Hulk strength, I grabbed two boxes, clearly knowing when a situation was about to deteriorate, and manhandled them to the front door.
I placed them on the ground, right on the top steps, and dashed back for the next two.
I did that two more times, and was exhausted by the time I arrived back at the porch steps.
The boxes were gone.
I saw, clearly, Tobias’ back as he loaded them into the back of the truck, all the while the cop and the screechy woman yelled at his back. Sometimes at him and sometimes at each other.
“Oh, boy,” I said as I took the steps.
The first box started to fall, but before it could, both boxes were easily taken from my hands and I saw a big, strong, muscular male back as he took the boxes, turned and headed back towards his truck.
Instead of going to the passenger side, I went to the back driver’s side, and got in, clearly not wanting to get mixed up in the shit that was brewing on the other side.
And that’s when I saw the little girl crying.
Not knowing what else to do, I clapped my hands, bringing her eyes to me.
“Now,” I said. “This is what we’re going to do.”
***
Four hours later, I walked with Leida and her little red wagon, into the police station.
“Now,” I said. “What you’re going to want to do is give them the sob act. You have forty more boxes to go. You can do this. I believe in you.”
She’d done well. I felt like fucking Yoda with the way I was doling out advice on selling these cookies. I’d tell her something, and she’d follow the act perfectly.
She looked up at me warily, and I heard that low amused chuckle directly behind me.
I’d been hearing it for hours now, and it was still sending powerful shivers straight down my spine.
I looked at the annoyance at my back and lifted my lip up at him in a silent snarl.
He raised his hands in acquiescence.
“Can you…will you…can you…”