Safe With Him (34 page)

Bree let everything he said sit inside her for a moment, then asked the first thing that popped into her mind. “You really haven’t told anyone? Not even Minga?”

“No, nobody. If things would have turned out different, you not being you and you did some dumb shit like follow in your mother’s footsteps, then yeah, would have told every fuckin’ body, but seeing as you are you, and you’re a pretty damned great you, didn’t see where it was anyone’s concern unless you made it theirs. But seeing as I do know, like I said, you need some extra ears or someone at your back, then you got one more option.”

Bree turned her head toward the fire, searching out Draco. “Dra was right,” she mumbled, still not quite believing it herself. As soon as she spotted him she realized that he had been watching her the whole time and when they made eye contact he smiled at her.

“Dra?” She heard Lee question.

She smiled, then turned back to Lee. “Draco said you were a good cop, like him. He was right, but he never said how great a friend you are to him.” She shrugged her shoulders. “Well, I guess maybe he did, just not in so many words. I don’t know how much he has told you, but from what you just said I’d guess you know right much of his past, where he came from and yet you not just call him a friend but show it as well. So thank you for looking out for him.” She looked back at Draco, smiled, and said mostly for her own benefit, “He really is one of the good guys.”

She heard Lee clear his throat. “Yeah, well, I don’t get you back to him real quick like, he’s not gonna be good much longer.” Bree laughed as she started walking back toward Draco.

She had only taken a few steps when she heard Lee’s soft, “Bree?”

She turned back to him. “Yeah?”

“You’re one of the good ones too.”

She looked right in his eyes. “Not according to Draco.”

Lee scrunched his eyes at her. “What?” Confusion was written all over his face.

She tilted her head. “He said I was…wicked.” She grinned as she watched Lee bust out laughing.

“I don’t even want to know.” He flung his arm over her shoulders and started walking them both back toward everyone else.

“No, you probably don’t,” she agreed around her giggling.

Draco stood talking with Kade and Marco, but never took his eyes off of Bree. He had known Lee wanted to speak with Bree alone, and Draco reluctantly agreed as long as she was not out of his sight. It wasn’t that Draco didn’t trust Lee. Hell, he was his partner, his friend, and he trusted his life to the man. But he also knew Bree wasn’t totally comfortable with cops, so he wanted to keep her in his sights in order to judge her level of comfort. When he saw her put her hands on her hips, and could see that her sexy mouth was going a mile a minute, he knew he had nothing to worry about because his Breezie could hold her own. That didn’t mean he didn’t continue to watch. It just meant he relaxed a little more while he was doing so.

Draco heard Lee bust out laughing and watched as he threw his arm over her shoulder, and he relaxed even more. These people were more than just his friends, they were like family, and he wanted Bree not only to get to know them but to like them as much as he did. Lee knew this, understood this, and it was one of the reasons Lee had asked for a little one-on-one with Bree, which was why Draco had agreed.

Draco watched as they started making their way back, and he started off to meet them halfway. “You done interrogating my woman?” he grumbled good-naturedly and reached out to pull Bree out of Lee’s hold.

“More like the other way around.” Lee chuckled and continued on past them as Draco had stepped in front of Bree, stopping her in her tracks.

Looking down at her, he searched her face, her eyes, for even a hint of discomfort, but found none. Needing to be completely sure, he asked, “You okay?”

“You were right.” She looked up at him, and he watched that gorgeous smile appear.

“Yeah? ‘Bout what?”

“Lee. He seems like a good man, but I also think he’s a very good friend to have.”

“Yeah, he is,” Draco agreed and leaned into her, kissing her lightly at first. When he felt her hands slide into his hair he deepened the kiss, until he heard the cat-calls and whistles coming from behind him. “Rethinkin’ that ‘good’ part,” he grumbled as he turned them both and walked back over to his friends, with his Breezie tucked to his side.

“Bree!” He heard Minga call when they were almost back to the bonfire. She was standing at the down tailgate of Lee’s truck along with Ellie and Krista. The guys were on the other side of the fire by Kade’s truck. He walked Bree over to Lee’s truck and heard the girly greetings as though she had been gone for years instead of just minutes.

“Want a margarita?” Minga asked. “They’re mango/strawberry, and they are delicious.” Minga leaned into them and staged whispered, “I use sugar, not salt,” like it was a national secret.

He pulled her back against his chest, wrapped his arms around her middle, giving a light squeeze of reassurance. “Bree doesn’t drink.”

“You don’t?” Ellie practically gasped.

Draco felt Bree take a breath before she spoke, “No. My mother was an addict, so I just…uh…don’t.” He kissed the top of her head, feeling so proud that she was giving herself and his friends a real chance.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t know. If it bothers you, we don’t have to—” Minga started as she reached to take the cup from Ellie, which had already started to hand back to Minga.

“No, no, you can, it’s fine. It’s not like I can’t be around it.” Bree insisted.

“You sure? Because really, we don’t have to,” Minga asked, and Bree smiled.

“It’s okay, really. After all, I am a bartender.”

“You are?” Krista’s eyes widened slightly in surprise.

“She’s a damn good one. Best I’ve ever seen,” Draco stated with pride.

“You do realize that you’re the only guy in our little group?” Ellie asked Draco with a grin.

“Yeah, the boys are over there.” Krista pointed over toward Kade’s truck.

“Don’t worry. We won’t corrupt her…too much.” Minga gave a wicked little smirk.

“You sure ‘bout that, sweet and spicy?” Draco teased Minga.

“How much trouble can we cause, with y’all hovering from just a few feet away?” Krista added.

With y’all? Ain’t no damn tellin’
, Draco thought, but didn’t express it. Instead, he leaned into Bree, giving her cheek a quick kiss before whispering in her ear, “You all right with that?” He didn’t want her to feel like he was abandoning her around people she didn’t know very well. Hell, if he was being honest, he didn’t want her out of his arms.

She turned into him, rose up on her tip toes, and kissed his cheek. “I like your friends. I’ll be fine.” She dropped back on her feet and smiled up at him.

Like he could just walk away from that smile. He bent and kissed her lips lightly once more. “I’ll be close.” Reluctantly, he walked toward the guys, who had been watching him.

“So, about this mud run?” He heard Bree ask before he was completely out of hearing range.

Bree was looking at Krista as she asked, but Ellie was the one who answered first, “Kade changed his mind about that.” She giggled. Bree watched as Krista moved her hand over her belly. She had seen her do that a few times now.

“Irish thinks it could be too dangerous,” Krista stated with a smile as she rubbed her hand over her stomach. That was when Bree also noticed the orange juice in her other hand.

“You’re pregnant!” Bree squealed before she caught herself.

“Can you tell already?” Krista sighed, again rubbing her belly.

“No.” Bree shook her head. She wouldn’t mention the ‘slight’ bump that was just a little obvious. “Not like you’re thinking, anyway. Your actions. You touch your stomach when you’re thinking of anything that could harm your baby.” She smiled,
like a mamma who wants to protect her child,
she thought, happy that there were mothers like that in this world.

Draco stood with Kade, Lee, and Marco as they continued to discuss the case and Marcus Warwick. He paid attention to everything being said and argued over, but at the same time he never lost sight of where Bree was or what she was doing. He heard the music, saw her swaying that sexy little body just a bit as the women talked and giggled among themselves. And every time he heard them laugh loud enough for him to hear, he couldn’t help but smile to himself.

He might not have lost sight of her, but he wasn’t watching her like a hawk either, as he was in the middle of telling Kade about what was in the files he had read so far. “Ay, Dios mío, mi esposa es muy buena,” Lee all of a sudden growled and stopped Draco mid-sentence.

“Whata I say ‘bout that Spanish shit?” Draco complained as he turned to Lee. “You know I can’t understand a word of it.”

“He said his wife is hot.” Kade volunteered.

“She’s fuckin’ smokin’! Your woman teach her that shit?” Lee questioned but never looked at him, instead kept his eyes glued to the women across from them.

When Draco turned all his attention to the women, he watched as they were dancing to The Lacs’
Shake It,
with Bree leading the way. Even though all the women were dancing, he couldn’t peel his eyes from Bree’s ass that was facing him and doing things that was driving him in-fuckin’-sane.

“What the fuck is my wife doin’?” Kade growled, and forced Draco’s attention away from Bree.

Draco laughed. “Think that’s twerkin’, or some shit like that.”

Kade and Lee both looked at him. “How the fuck you know twerkin’?” Lee demanded.

“My woman likes to dance for me.” Draco grinned at the thought of Bree
dancing
for him.

“Yeah, well, my wife can fuckin’
not
be dancin’ like
that
with our baby inside her,” Kade growled again before he barked, “Krista!” and started stalking toward her.

Draco watched as Bree whipped around at the tone of Kade’s voice and moved to stand in front of Krista, right before she saw Krista grinning and blew Kade a kiss. Bree turned back to see Kade smiling and shaking his head. Bree moved her eyes past Kade to Draco, who smiled back at her. He watched her tense body relax as she blew out a breath. Then he went to her.

Bree was having fun dancing and talking and laughing with these people. Besides Ellie, they were people she’d just met, but yet treated her as though they had been best friends all their lives. She’d discovered that Krista had only been living in Mt. Eve less than a year and had only met Minga a few months ago. Seeing them interact you would think they had known each other forever. She thought of Skylar…they had become fast friends. How many times had Bree crashed at Skylar’s house after work only to stay up talking, watching movies and just having fun until morning, then to spend the rest of the day with her son, Caleb? How quick did she fall in love with that sweet little boy? It made her heart melt, knowing how lucky he was to have a mom who loved him and would do anything and everything for him.

She looked at Minga, then Krista, and finally Ellie. Yeah, she could so easily become fast friends with these women. She turned to see Draco standing on the other side of the truck with Lee, Kade, and Marco. Marco, she thought was a complete sweetheart from the moment she first met him and Ellie at the video store. He had been nothing but nice to her. Lee, she’d discovered, was a tad harsh on the surface but underneath hid a big heart. Kade…well, Kade she wasn’t quite sure about. He was a big man, he spoke roughly, and he used the F-word more than Draco did. But all Krista had to do was smile at him and his whole face would go soft. Bree had seen it a few times since the moment the man barked Krista’s name. After interrupting their dancing, coming after her like he was going to hurt her, only to have Krista blow him a kiss and smile. So she was guessing that Kade was like the rest of them. They were all big men with big soft hearts.
Good to know there really are good men in this world.
She smiled at that thought.

“Lee said you were attacked?” Minga asked, drawing her attention back to them.

“Uh…what?” Bree blinked in surprise.

Krista smiled at her. “You don’t have to talk about if you don’t want. But I was kinda in a situation like yours and…well, if you wanted to talk about it,” she shrugged her shoulders, “we get it, and if you don’t, we get that too.”

“I wasn’t trying to pry. It’s just that Lee had said you were attacked in your parking lot.” Minga explained.

“Oh, well, yes, but it wasn’t that big a deal.” She began by telling them what had happened before at Stripped, and Draco kissing her, and why she wasn’t paying attention as much as she should have been, all the way up to when Marcus had grabbed her out of the car, and backhanded her. She lowered her voice to mimic his. “You lied to me, bitch, seen you with that f-en cop. Now—”

“What the hell did you just say?” Draco barked as he grabbed Bree by the arm and spun her around to face him.

“What?” she asked a pissed off looking Draco.

He pulled her away from the rest of them, over by Kade’s truck, and leaned into her. “What the fuck did you just say, Bree?”

“I was just telling them about what happened.”

“Yeah, ‘bout Warwick seeing you with a cop?”