Page 34 of Claiming Ours
Well, fuck.Feeling guilty as hell, I reluctantly shook his hand while taking in every detail of the guy.
Trendy haircut, shaved on the sides, exposed tattoos on his scalp and neck. Not as tall as me, maybe six feet even, whichmeant he still towered over Baylee. He had more tattoos on his forearms, down to his hands and even his fingers. And they were good tats, too, making me want to ask who his artist was and how to get a booking.
Movement in my periphery had me sliding my gaze to the dog.
“And this is Elvis.” Memphis ran his hand along the top of the lab’s block-shaped head, which earned him a lick from the panting dog.
I squeezed my eyes shut and groaned at my asshole tendencies when his dog’s name registered.
“The dog kissed you, not him,” I muttered, running a hand down my face. Gripping the top of my cowboy hat, I pulled it off and tossed it onto the exam table.
“Exactly. If you would’ve given me two seconds before going all crazy—” Baylee started.
“To his credit, he walked in, heard his girl scream, and found her alone, behind a closed door, with a guy he didn’t know.” I arched a brow at Memphis, who shrugged. “I would’ve done the same.”
“Unbelievable,” Baylee grumbled while pinching the bridge of her nose. When she looked up, her gaze went to the destroyed door.
I winced. “I’ll have it replaced by the end of the week?—”
“Today,” she corrected, pointing an accusing finger at the door before swinging it to me, then Memphis. “You can work on it while the three of us talk. Like adults, not toddlers fighting over their favorite toy.”
I swallowed my response and simply nodded, feeling completely chastised by the tiny woman who had me by the balls. Aiden was right, I was 100 percent whipped—but ask me if I fucking cared. I’d be anything she wanted me to be as long as I had her.
And the way the Memphis guy kept staring at her… it seemed like I wasn’t the only one who thought that way.
12
MEMPHIS
“Sorry for slamming you against the wall,” the angry fucker I now knew was Liam grumbled as he assessed the damage he did to the door.
“Twice, which fucking hurt like hell. What are you made of? Steel?” My joke, attempting to ease the tension in the room, just earned me a glare over his shoulder. “And no hard feelings. Like I said, I get it.”
He just nodded, letting me know he heard me. “Earlier, you said ‘heardhis girlscream.’ How did you know that?” Liam asked, attention on the doorframe, but I knew he was watching me for my reaction too. The man didn’t trust me, which I somewhat understood since I was a literal stranger.
My lips parted to respond with the truth of my slight stalking when Baylee spoke up, cutting me off.
“Memphis told me he was at the bar last night, which means he saw you carry my drunk ass out.” She shot me a wink. Guess that meant if I wanted to stay on Liam’s good side—if he had one—I shouldn’t tell him about the unannounced or noticed observations from the shadows the last couple of days.“I’ve known him for years. Dean, Memphis, and I all grew up together.”
A wash of sadness engulfed me, making my lungs freeze at the mention of Dean’s name. By the downturn of the corners of Baylee’s lips, it seemed a similar feeling hit her too.
Pursing her lips, she forced the forlorn expression away with a tight grin. “Memphis was Dean’s best friend. The two were inseparable when Dean and I started dating. I felt more like the third wheel with the three of us than Memphis because he was there first, I guess,” she teased. Her light eyes sparkled when they connected with my own. “We did everything together.”
“Well, noteverything,” I added. Longing dipped my tone, which of course Liam picked up on, based on the curious, single eyebrow-raised expression he sent over his shoulder.
Baylee studied me, too, with a furrowed brow before shaking her head as if clearing her thoughts. “Before you burst through the door like a mad bull, Memphis was filling me in on what he’s been up to since I last saw him. Which was, what, that time I came home to visit Dean the summer after year two of veterinary medicine at A&M?”
Lead formed in my stomach, making it drop to my feet. That visit was right before Dean and I had our falling-out. After he distanced himself from me because of that fight, I started hanging out more with a group of so-called friends who led me down the toxic path I wished like hell I’d never taken. It took years for me to find my way back on the right track, sober and holding down a fulfilling job as an EMT.
“That was a long time ago. What brings you here now?” Liam asked, rotating to lean against the wall to face me straight on with an unreadable expression.
Fuck, he was intimidating.
Giving myself a second to work out an answer, I picked up the knife from the floor, which reminded me of how quicklyLiam had disarmed me of the weapon. I eyed the sharp blade, then him. “Where did you learn to do that?” I asked, sliding it into the sheath that was normally covered by my jacket.
“The Army.”
“Liam was a Ranger for years before retiring and coming to Alaska.” Baylee smiled at Liam, whose features softened with her attention on him.
