Convict: A Bad Boy Romance (66 page)

W
hen Houston woke up
, he was still on top of the covers, both arms over his head, sunlight streaming in.

He was also hungover as
fuck
and still a little drunk, but despite all that, he grinned, remembering the night before. Then Jack stirred, next to him, pulling his head out from under his pillow to look at Houston.

Houston frowned.

“Where’s Kirsten?” he asked.

“Probably in the bathroom or something,” Jack said, plopping his head back down on the pillow, blinking slowly.

“I feel like hell,” he admitted.

“I’m paying for it,” said Houston.

Jack took a deep breath and pushed himself up, looking over his shoulder at the door to the next room.

“Kirsten,” he called. “Come back to bed.”

No answer. Jack and Houston frowned at each other, and Houston felt a small germ of worry start, deep in his chest.

“Kirsten?” he called.

Nothing.

Houston heaved himself up, ignoring the pounding in his head and the roiling in his stomach. He walked naked into the next room.

No Kirsten.

He checked the suite’s two bathrooms, but they were both open and empty, and he stood in the middle of the living room, hands pressed over his eyes, trying to reason it out through his remarkable hangover.

She went to get coffee or something
, he thought.
She’s coming back. She’s here somewhere, just hiding, and she’s going to jump out and prank us, and it will all be fine.

He knew he hadn’t given much thought to what was going to happen today, or tomorrow, or how the hell they were going to navigate this. He just knew that he
wanted
to.

“Her stuff is gone,” said Jack from the bedroom. “Her dress and her shoes and everything.”

Houston stumbled back in. The only thing left on the floor was a clip-in veil, and his stomach lurched.

“We didn’t get her number,” he said, the horror slowly sinking in. “I don’t know her last name, or where she lives, or anything.”

“She signed the marriage certificate,” said Jack. “Right?”

“I thought she’d be here,” said Houston, rubbing his temples. “I thought... I don’t know. I thought we’d do that today.”

Jack just nodded, a hollow look on his face.

“She could be anywhere,” he said.

Houston took a deep breath and tried to think, wading back through the night before: Kirsten between them, riding him. His thumb in her mouth as he talked dirty.

Before that
.
Come on
.

The limo. Elvis. Not riding the bull, karaoke, the club.

Seeing her for the first time, walking up to the bar, and her turning them down.

“The place with the Eiffel Tower,” he said, suddenly. “I think she’s staying there.”

Without another word, they both pulled on t-shirts and jeans, then ran down fourteen flights of stairs, not bothering to wait for the elevator.

* * *

T
he other casino
wasn’t far, but by the time they’d gotten there, Houston was covered in sweat and very seriously thought that he might throw up. He waved Jack in, the other man sweaty and pale, as he stood right outside, trying not to dry-heave.

Puke or don’t, just get it over with and find her
, he told himself.

Another deep breath, and he walked in through the doors. Jack paced back and forth, his eyes combing through everyone on the casino floor.

“Okay, we need to do this right,” said Houston, his head swimming. “One of us should stay by the elevators, and the other should patrol the doors and the checkout desk,” he said.

“What if she already left?” Jack asked.

“Then we find out what the last possible checkout time is, then go find our marriage license,” said Houston. He thumbed his wedding ring with an ache deep down. Having a backup plan always helped him feel better.

What if she doesn’t want you to find her
? he thought.
What if she thought this was all a joke, and now she’s somewhere with her girlfriends, laughing about these two guys who she got to marry her?

He didn’t think it was true, but he couldn’t keep himself from spinning out the worst possible scenario.

“I’ll do the elevators,” said Jack, and he jogged off, leaving Houston to pace from the doors to the checkout desk and back, each step more and more nerve wracking.

* * *

A
fter five full circuits
, Houston thought hotel security was starting to get suspicious, so he changed it up and went to the elevators, where Jack was pacing back and forth, fiddling with his ring.

Jack just shook his head when Houston walked over.

“What if it wasn’t real?” he asked, sounding despondent.

“It was real,” Houston whispered, taking Jack’s hand. A couple of people shot them nasty looks, but Houston couldn’t have cared less.

Jack just sighed, and over his shoulder, Houston looked up at the elevator banks. A group of women rounded the corner into a hallway, one of them short and curvy, her long honey-colored hair in a ponytail.

Houston ran.

He dodged around other patrons, getting dirty looks from families. Security shouted after him, but he kept running.

“KIRSTEN!” he shouted.

She turned, her eyes wide, and he came up to her, stopping short, Jack two steps behind him.

The other three girls
also
turned and stared, mouths open.

“There you are,” Houston said, warmth flooding through him. Objectively, she looked awful: a shower hadn’t gotten all her eyeliner off, and she had rings under her eyes, her hand clutching an enormous cup of coffee.

She was still the most beautiful thing Houston had ever seen.

She seemed surprised to see them.

“Hi, guys,” she said.

They just stared at each other for a moment, before one of her friends spoke up.

“So...” the girl said. “Our reservation is in five minutes.”

“I’ll catch up with you guys later,” Kirsten said, turning and nodding her head at them. “I’m, gonna, um, take a minute.”

The other three nodded and walked off, looking over their shoulders every couple of feet, and Kirsten led them to an empty bank of slot machines, slumping against the side of one.

“I’m so fucking hungover,” she said.

Houston and Jack just nodded.

“I’m sorry about last night,” she said, quickly. She wouldn’t look at them, just at the floor. “Listen, it was really fun, but we were
really
drunk and getting married was probably dumb, so it’s totally fine with me if we just get it annulled and sort of pretend this all never happened, right?”

Houston was dumb struck, and next to him, Jack was standing with his mouth open.

“What?” Jack finally said.

“We got married by Elvis?” Kirsten asked, her voice hushed.

“I know,” said Jack.

“I don’t even know your last names,” she said.

Houston pointed at himself. “Twist,” he said, and pointed at Jack. “Marr.”

Kirsten didn’t seem to know what to do with that.

“Don’t annul it,” Jack finally said. “Please.”

“What are you
talking
about?” Kirsten said, tears starting in her eyes. “People don’t just get drunk married and then have it work out. This is a crazy thing you can tell your grandkids someday, not the start of something real.”

“Why?” said Houston. A tear fell from Kirsten’s eye, and without thinking, he reached over and wiped it off.

“Fuck
,” she whispered.

“Why can’t we tell our grandkids about how we met?” he asked.

“I’m the one who got divorced,” Kirsten said suddenly, her wide eyes looking from Houston to Jack. “I didn’t want to tell you, because — oh, god, I don’t know why. But it was me. It became final Friday.”

Houston looked over at Jack, and Jack looked back, his eyes narrowing.

“That actually makes a lot more sense,” Jack admitted. “You seemed to know a lot of intimate details about Katie.”

“Katie’s the dog,” Kirsten said, miserably.

“The dog he took?”

She nodded.

“I don’t care if you’re divorced,” Houston said, stepping closer to her, moving a strand of hair out of her face. “I don’t care if you had a party for it. That’s all just... things that happened before us.”

“What did you do before?” Kirsten asked, her eyes big and shiny.

Jack and Houston exchanged a look. Houston had known they’d have to tell her, that it was totally unfair not to. But he’d hoped to do it on a couch, somewhere nice, not as she was crying by the slot machines.

“We slept with a few hundred women,” Jack said.

Kirsten blinked.

“
Hundred?
” she said. She almost sounded impressed that anyone could do that.

“Hundred,” Houston confirmed.

She didn’t answer for a moment, simply looking baffled.

“Like with two zeros,” she said.

Houston and Jack just nodded.

“Wow,” she said, staring at them for a long time before she spoke up again. “How do you even do that?”

“Never sleep with anyone twice,” Jack said, shrugging. “Go out of town, meet girls. We can be pretty charming.”

“That’s what you were doing when we met,” Kirsten said, as if the realization was finally dawning on her. “With those other girls.”

“Usually insisting that we buy someone a drink works,” said Houston. “But then,
you
had to show up, and we had to track you down at a dumb nightclub because you wouldn’t give us your number.”

“I was starting to think you weren’t gonna show up,” said Jack. “We were there for
hours
.”

Kirsten frowned.

“You were?” she said.

Jack nodded, then looked at Houston. Houston laughed awkwardly.

“We went over there right after you left the bar,” he said. “It didn’t even open for two more hours, so we hung around.”

“I didn’t think you’d be there,” she said, half-smiling. “I was really surprised when you showed up.”

“I’m not gonna lie to you,” Jack said. “The night before last, there was a girl. And a girl the night before that, and the night before that, I think.”

He looked up at Houston, and Houston shrugged. He didn’t really remember, either.

“But you’re it,” Jack said. “You’re all the girls. Every night. We’re done, whether you stay with us or not.”

Kirsten sighed.

“I don’t care if you banged a lot of women. Everyone’s done stuff,” she said. Then she blushed. “I mean, you were suspiciously good in bed.”

“You
did
keep pressing us for details,” Jack murmured.

She turned bright red and couldn’t look him in the eye.

“Sorry,” she said.

Jack just laughed.

“Don’t be sorry,” he said. “Not even a little.”

Houston remembered her for a split second, riding him slow, saying that she wanted them both, and he swallowed hard.

“Give us your number,” he said, trying to get them back on track. “We don’t have to be married at first. We’ll take it slow, date like regular people. Reno’s not that far from Rustvale. It’ll work out.”

“I have a job interview Thursday,” she said. “In Granite Valley. I wanted to move away from my ex.”

Houston’s heart leapt. Granite Valley was right next to Rustvale.

It’s fate, it has to be
, he thought.

“Thursday night,” he said. “Dinner in Rustvale. Please?”

Kirsten finally cracked a smile and nodded.

“Okay,” she said. “Give me your phone, I’ll put my number in.”

As Houston handed it over, he could see Kirsten’s eyes on his ring, but she didn’t say anything, punching her number in, then calling it so she had his.

“There,” she said, looking from one to the other, like she wasn’t quite sure what to say next.

“You guys, I’m so fucking hungover right now,” Kirsten said, closing her eyes. “I was still drunk when I got up. I was afraid I’d puke if I even looked at brunch.”

“Let’s get coffee,” said Jack. “Normal coffee. Like people on a date.”

Kirsten smiled.

“I’d like that,” she said.

I
n the deep
shadows behind a toolshed, on the outskirts of a suburban housing development, Jack and Houston disrobed, carefully stashing their clothes in a dark nook.

“Ready?” asked Houston, his skin puckering slightly in the cool air.

“3614 Sandstone,” said Jack. “Let’s go.”

They shifted, the ground rushing up. Jack stood there for a moment, sniffing the wind and listening, taking in all the information that he understood best as a wolf. A couple dogs in the neighborhood, mostly friendly and neutered. The house to the left had just gotten pizza delivered. About a mile away, someone had forgotten to take off the parking brake before leaving their driveway, and the scent lingered in the air.

Then Houston grabbed the leash in his mouth, and the two of them trotted off, sticking to the shadows. They’d memorized the map as humans, and soon, they stood behind the yard they were looking for: some grass, some dirt. A deck off the back, and a doghouse.

Jack sniffed again.

She was in there.

Houston deposited the leash at the darkest part of the fence, and they went to work quickly and quietly.

Seconds later, a golden retriever came charging out of the doghouse, barking at top volume, and Jack and Houston froze. Then Jack put his nose to the fence and wagged his tail.

“SHADDUP!” came a voice from inside the house. Houston watched the back door, tensely, as the golden retriever sniffed Jack curiously. Then she paced back and forth a couple of times, seemingly undecided.

We’re friendly
, thought Jack.
We’re so, so friendly. Look at this! Tail wagging, ears upright, everything.

The golden retriever sat down, tongue lolling, and watched them.

It was hard work, but after several minutes, they had a hole just big enough for a wolf to fit under. Jack went first, squeezing underneath, and then Houston followed, the leash in his mouth. The golden retriever growled at first, even as she backed up, and Houston deposited the leash on the ground. Both the wolves backed away and lay down submissively.

I can’t believe I’m submitting to a dog
, Jack thought, head on paws.
I could tear her throat out in one second flat.

The dog came forward and sniffed the leash. Then she sniffed it harder, and then she walked around it, still sniffing, wagging her tail harder and harder until she was wagging her whole body, doing happy little hops in the air.

They’d gotten the leash from Kirsten’s house.

The dog yipped, and Jack and Houston exchanged a glance. This was going to be the tricky part.

Jack went behind the doghouse and shifted back to human. He was in the shadows, but he needed to hurry, since he didn’t really want Kirsten’s ex finding him naked in his back yard.

Not that he couldn’t handle the problem, but it was best not to have a problem in the first place.

“Katie,” he said, getting the dog’s attention. “C’mere, girl.”

Katie looked up, tongue lolling.

“Come on.”

She cocked her head, and Jack sighed.

Houston went up to her, and though she was a little skittish at first, Houston rolled over, pawing at her and showing his belly in the universal canine language of
let’s be friends
.

Katie sniffed him a couple of times, and then sat. Houston rolled back over and took the leash over to Jack.

As he did, a shadow passed over the backyard as a human form moved in front of the sliding glass door, and all of them froze. The shadow passed again.

Then nothing for a long time.

“Katie,” Jack called one more time, holding up the leash, and this time she trotted over, letting him fasten it to her collar.

“Good girl,” he said, and shifted.

Katie didn’t like that, shying away, but Houston had already grabbed her leash in his teeth and was heading for the hole in the fence. Both wolves squirmed under it, but Katie stayed there, looking nervous.

Jack put his nose back to the fence, and then did some leaping around the grass behind her fence.

Come on!
he thought.
Look at all the fun dog stuff out here!

Katie looked over her shoulder at the house.

Then she wagged her tail and scooted under the fence, and Jack heaved a sigh of relief. Keeping a close hold on her leash, they trotted her back to the shed. Jack shifted first, dressing quickly, and then grabbed her leash.

“You are such a good girl,” he whispered, rubbing her ears. “
Such
a good girl.”

“You’re a natural,” Houston said, pulling his shirt on.

“It’s in my blood,” said Jack, letting Katie lick his face.

Then they emerged and headed for the sidewalk, just two men walking their dog.

* * *

T
he moving pods
were outside Kirsten’s house, doors shut for the night. As much as Jack couldn’t wait for Kirsten to come live with them — he still couldn’t believe that she’d agreed to it — he wasn’t really looking forward to filling those pods with all her stuff.

“Sit,” said Houston as they stood outside the door to her small rental house.

Katie looked up at him, wagging her tail.

“
Sit
,” he said again.

Nothing.

Houston sighed and knocked.

“It’s open,” Kirsten’s voice called, but Houston looked down at the dog and knocked again.

A few seconds later, Kirsten swung the door open.

“It’s un— KATIE!”

Instantly, Kirsten was on her knees, her arms around the dog. Katie knocked her backwards with boundless enthusiasm, licking her face and wagging her whole body, letting out little yips of sheer delight and Kirsten laughed and laughed, flat on her back now.

“How did you get her?” Kirsten gasped, grabbing Katie’s ears and rubbing them.

Jack and Houston exchanged a glance.

“She escaped,” Jack said. “Dug a hole clear under the fence.”

Kirsten grabbed Katie’s ears again, wiggling them from side to side.

“Are you an escape artist?” she asked the dog, who licked her face. “Or did they do something illegal?”

Jack laughed, and the two of them stepped inside, closing the door behind them. Her living room had nothing in it but boxes, stacked floor to ceiling, and now Katie bounded back and forth, racing from the wall to Kirsten and back again, like she simply had no idea what to do with all her joy.

That’s the happiest dog I’ve ever seen
, Jack thought.

Finally, Kirsten sat up and scooted to sit against a wall, her face glowing, and wiped her hands on her jeans.

Something glinted on her left hand.

“Thank you,” she said.

Jack grinned.

“Not a problem,” he said. He sat down on the floor next to her and lifted her left hand, letting the silver band shine in the ugly overhead light.

“You’re wearing it,” he said, simply.

“Yeah,” Kirsten said softly.

Houston sat on the floor on her other side.

“This mean we’re married again?” Jack asked. He flipped her hand over and kissed it.

“We were always married,” Kirsten said, leaning back against the wall. Houston put an arm around her.

“I never took my ring off,” Jack teased her.

“Well, we can’t all be perfect,” she said, lacing her fingers through Jack’s.

“It looks good,” said Houston. “I like it there.”

Katie came over and began investigating Jack and Houston. She didn’t quite seem one hundred percent sold on them yet, but she wagged her tail as she sniffed them, and Houston rubbed her ears.

“Can I make one rule?” he asked.

“Maybe,” said Kirsten. “What’s the rule?”

“No dogs on the bed,” he said.

Katie ran off and did a couple of excited laps around the living room, and Kirsten looked up at him, a wicked grin on her face.

“What about dogs
in
the bed?” she asked.

“Uh oh,” said Jack. Over Kirsten’s head, he could see Houston’s eyebrows go up, the start of a devilish smile around his eyes.

“Did you just call me a dog?” Houston asked, narrowing his eyes in mock anger.

Kirsten leaned her head back against his arm and traced her finger in a circle on Houston’s jeans.

“Well, you’re both canines, right?” she said.

Jack leaned over her, putting his face against her hair, and grinned at Houston.

“I think she wants us to show her the difference between dogs and wolves,” he said.

“I don’t think she’s given us a choice,” said Houston.

Kirsten giggled quietly between the two of them.

“Worse, she knows
exactly
what she’s doing,” said Jack, grinning.

In a flash, he was on his feet, pulling Kirsten up and then lifting her over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry to the bedroom. Houston and Katie both followed, but Houston closed the door before the dog could come in. Then he leaned against it, watching for a moment.

Jack tossed Kirsten on the bed, listening to her laugh, then knelt behind her, pulling her up in front of him, both kneeling and facing the end of the bed. He bent his head and nipped her on the neck as Houston sauntered over.

Kirsten grabbed Houston by the belt, letting one thumb wander over the dark trail of hair leading from his navel downward, getting a quiet growl from him.

“What’s the difference, then?” she asked. “Dogs do as they’re told?”

It had been five days since they’d seen her, and Jack could feel his control slipping away with every moment that their bodies were pressed together, every fiber of his being aching with pure
need
.

“The difference is,” Jack said, his lips against Kirsten’s ear, “wolves will make you howl.”