Page 42 of Like the Season
“It could get your insurance and living expenses paid for the next several months, at the very least,” Caleb said. “Don’t dismiss it out of hand.”
“Especially if you ask for a quick settlement,” Boyd added. “Volunteer to sign an NDA if they’ll pay you what you want and pay it off fast. That way, once you can be independent again, we can move you into Caleb’s apartment and transfer the lease into your name. It’s about the size of your apartment now. And that’ll give you breathing room to find a new job. Or if you still need to live with us even once the lease is up on his place, that’s fine, too.”
She looked from Boyd to Caleb and back again. “You’ll both tag-team me until I agree, won’t you?”
“Yep,” they said in unison.
She rolled her eyes, but Caleb didn’t miss the little smile she wore. “Fine, but how am I supposed to file a lawsuit against the hospital if I’m moving?”
“They have these magical things, honey,” Boyd said. “They’re calledphones.”
“And computers,” Caleb added.
“Yeah, that,” Boyd said.
Her smile widened a little.
“If you think he’s pushy now,” Caleb said, “wait’ll you’re living with us full-time.”
* * * *
Boyd resisted the urge to ask them if they liked each other. Because he had an almost desperate need for them to like each other, so they could be a family.
But asking them that right now…
Yeah, likethat’dbe mature.
From the way Caleb acted, Boyd suspected he liked her. He wasn’t going to try to interpret Ella’s reactions because not only was she not at her best, he couldn’t claim to know her a fraction as well as he knew Caleb.
How fucking sad is that, that I know my fiancé better than my own child. Literally.
It was nearly nine by the time they left the hospital and headed back to Ella’s. Boyd had gone out that morning and purchased moving boxes and arranged for them to pick up the truck tomorrow. He’d spent most of the day packing, including her kitchen stuff and clothes, saving back clothes she’d need in Florida before he arrived with her things. He already had a pile of packed boxes stacked in the corner of her living room, ready to load into the truck.
When they pulled into the parking lot and Caleb got out, he looked around. “Walk me through what happened, Sir,” he quietly said.
The crunched Dumpster had been removed, and another brought out, but it was occupying three parking spaces until the enclosure that usually held it could be repaired.
Boyd pointed. “He came from that direction. Apparently, he’d followed Ella home from work. I was parked three spaces over on this side, right there. Ella had parked on the other side, and she bounced off the front driver’s side quarter panel and ended up between two cars.” He traced Rick’s path. “He crashed there.”
“What did he seriously think he was going to do? Run her over and get away with it?”
“Nobody knows. They didn’t find a note, so they don’t have any idea. I’m sure when the toxicology results come back it’ll turn out he was stinking drunk.”
“He would have had to know they would suspect him first thing, right?”
“You’d think, but then again, apparently he was a serial predator. So…who knows? He’d just been fired, and he knew he wouldn’t get a good reference from them. Maybe he was using a burn-it-all-down approach. We’ll never know.”
Boyd led the way up the walk to her apartment and let them in. When he closed the door behind them and locked it, he grabbed Caleb and slammed him against the door, slanting his lips over Caleb’s in a crushing kiss as Caleb started working on the man’s belt.
“I don’t know if I want to fuck your mouth or your ass, baby,” he rumbled against Caleb’s lips.
Caleb tried to unfasten Boyd’s jeans. “Yes,” he said. “Either. Both.Now, please.”
“I missed you so fucking much.” Boyd stopped what he was doing and pinned Caleb against the door with a hand around his throat. “Tell me what you want.”
“I want to come, Sir.”
“Were you my good boy this week?”
