Page 41 of Delayed Penalty

“Are you sure?”

Hayes rolls his eyes. “I’m sure. I can hear your stomach growling over there. Eat.”

I don’t understand him. Just earlier, he was bitching at me for being careless, and now he’s feeding me for the second time. I need this guy to decide whether he’s going to be a jerk or not.

“Thanks,” I mutter, accepting the pizza. It’s cold by now, but I don’t care. I’m too hungry to care. I bite into it and should be embarrassed by the noise that leaves me, but I’m not. It’s the best thing I’ve had to eat in days. “Oh god. This is so good.” I close my eyes on a moan, the pepperoni and mushroom flavor exploding over my tongue. It’s not even close to my favorite kind of pizza, but right now, it tastes just like heaven.

When I drag my eyes back open, Fox and Lawson are already heading for my spare bedroom to get started in there.

Not Hayes though. No. He’s staring right at me, his eyes narrowed just a bit and his nostrils flaring.

“What?” I sigh. “Is there a problem with the way I’m eating my pizza now?”

He doesn’t say anything, just turns on his heel and marches out of the room.

Okay, weirdo.

I finish off my slice, then toss the napkin in the trash and sort through the rest of my clothes as the guys carry box after box from the spare bedroom. I used some of the money I earned from selling my furniture to rent a cheap storage unit for my things until I can figure out what else to do with them. I think it’s going to be a lot fuller than I anticipated.

When I finally have the last of my wardrobe packed away—along with two massive heaps of things to be donated—I wander into the other bedroom to see how it’s going.

“Holy crap,” I say, taking in the nearly empty space. “You guys really cleared this place out.”

“Yep. Almost finished,” Lawson says, walking past me carrying two boxes.

“We’ll be out of your hair in no time, ma’am.” Fox’s arms are just as loaded down as he makes his way from the bedroom.

“Would have been done even sooner if we didn’t have to keep repacking boxes because you’re not filling them enough.” Hayes grabs a box labeledBooks, then shakes it. “Like this. It’s practically empty. We can add more.”

The events of last night slam into me—me walkingaround my apartment packing up all my most embarrassing items and stuffing them into boxes so the movers wouldn’t see anything I didn’t want them to. My heart is no longer in my chest. It’s in my throat. It’s in my ears. It’s making my head throb as Hayes pulls back the cardboard flaps.

“No! Stop!”

I rush forward, falling to my knees just inches away from him, but it’s too late.I’mtoo late. The box is open, and he’s looking down into it.

Right at my sex toys.

Time stands still and so do we, neither of us moving or saying a word. I hold my breath, waiting for him to do something,saysomething—anything! But he doesn’t.

He swallows once, then grabs a stack ofactualbooks and sets them on top before quickly closing the box back up and rising to his feet. I stay there, on my knees, watching him go with all my special toys right in his hands. I can’t quite decide what’s worse—the fact that he didn’t say anything or the fact that I definitely saw the outline of his cock.

And he was hard.

CHAPTER 9

HAYES

She has a box of sex toys.

A box!

Not one or two, but a whole fucking variety pack of them—one for each day of the week and then some.

I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it the entire day—not when we closed the door on the rental truck, nor when we unloaded more boxes into her storage unit than at the donation center. Not even when Fox and Lawson helped me get her stuff moved into my house and then left me there alone with just her, as Flora is out with Hutch and Auden for the day. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it all, and I wish to fuck I could.

Especially the part where my dick got hard. It’s not my fault, though. I saw them, and my mindimmediately went to sex, something I haven’t had in months, which isn’t the norm for me. Truthfully, though, until today, I haven’t given my newfound abstinence much thought. I’ve been far too busy trying to be a functional adult for Flora to even worry about the next time I’m getting laid. Given my history, I’m sure most people agree that isn’t a bad thing.

Now that the thought has crossed my mind, it’s right at the forefront, and it’s all thanks to Quinn and her damn box of sex toys. I wouldn’t mind taking them for a spin. Does she use them regularly? Where does she use them? In her bed, her hand tucked under the blankets and hidden like she’s doing something naughty? Or does she spread her thighs without a care in the world? Is she loud, or does she moan softly? Does she?—

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