Folding Hearts (29 page)

“You don’t understand Colt.” I leaned up against the counter and tried to think of what to say to my cousin. “Damn
,
this is bullshit. Why is it so hard to believe that I love her?”

“Her mother will never let you
be together.”
His hand was on my chest, keeping me from moving.

“It’s not her decision. Miranda is a grown woman.”  I flung his arm away from me. “Nobody can ever take her from me.”

He started laughing, like my words were a joke. “And why is that?”

I held my hands up in the air. “Because she is my wife.”

Colt’s smile disappeared. “What did you just say?”

“You heard me.”

He ran his hands through his hair and started pacing around. I wasn’t sure whether he was going to beat my ass, or drag me outside and let Conner do it.
Or both.

He shook his head and huffed and puffed.
“
When did this happen?”

“A couple weeks ago.”

“Married?”

“Married.”

He slammed his fist into the
wooden stall. “What the fuck w
ere you thinkin’?”

“I was thinking that I loved her and I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her.”

He shook his head and put his hand on my shoulder. “You are my family, actually
,
you are both my family, so this is how things are goin’ to happen. You and Miranda are goin’ to go home tonight and
keep up the charade that nothin’ is goin’ on. I won’t let you ruin this for Van.
I can’t believe you did this shit.
”

“That’s it?”

“Well, I would like to hit you, but then I would have to explain why I did it.”

I held out my hand and shook Colt’s. “I swear to you that this isn’t some kind of game. I can’t live without her man.”

“Time will tell Cuz.
I am promising you though, if you hurt her, you have to answer to me.
”

Colt left me standing in the men’s room.  Miranda and I couldn’t have anymore close calls. I wondered how long it would take Colt to tell Van about my being married. She was going to flip her lid.

I headed back out to try and locate Miranda.
My petite little wife couldn’t handle her alcohol. Neither of us really drank a lot anymore. We were so happy that we didn’t ever need to.  When I approached her, Van gave her a little push. “How much did she drink?”

I laughed. “Maybe two beers and one or two shots.”

“For the past ten minutes she hasn’t shut up about how amazing you are at…..nevermind, I can’t even say it out loud.”

I busted out laughing. I knew one thing she thought I was amazing at and it was something I barely ever did to Van. She rolled her eyes and walked away.

“Am I in trouble?”
She asked.

“You were bragging about my skills, why would I be mad about that?” I teased. “Come dance off the alcohol baby.”

Miranda wasn’t physically acting like she was drunk. She walked fine and even danced normal, it was just the way she was talking. If I could keep her mouth shut, everything would be okay.

Fo
r the rest of the night, she
behaved herself.  We danced like we were friends and I even got a nod from Conner at one point. After about an hour, Miranda finally was calm enough to get back to just pretending I was her annoying babysitter. Colt and Van relaxed and we all had a good time.

The limo ride on the way home was hard. With the exception of Brina, who somehow was finding another way back to the ranch, the two other couples in the car were steady making out.  I played with Miranda’s fingers again, just imagining how I was going to rip the dress off of her later.

Conner caught me whispering in her ear, but I told him I was talking shit about Brina and he laughed it off.

Instead of going h
ome, Colt and V
an invited everyone back to their place. The limo dropped us all off and we went inside.  We were all having a good time, but it was so hard pretending that she meant nothing to me. Love was in the air and I wanted her in my arms.

Chapter 27

Miranda

I thought Ty would have been the
one to get us caught, but no, i
t was all me. I couldn’t help it. I couldn’t be that close to him, touching his skin.  Thank goodness Colt and Van stepped in when they did. I was pretty sure that Ty wouldn’t have been able to stop me
himself
.

The after party at Colt
’s was nice, but I kept catching
Ty’s gazes and I knew he wanted to be alone.  Ty went to the bathroom and I waited a few minutes before heading in that direction. Everyone pees, so they couldn’t think it was a secret meeting plan.

I walked into the bathroom and felt his lips on mine. His hand slid right in
to
my dress and caressed one of my breasts. He pressed me up against the wa
ll and I threw my head back as
he buried his face into my neck.

“This is so hard
,
”
h
e whispered.

“Don’t stop Ty.”

He didn’t need my permission. Ty lifted me up and pushed the dress around my waist. In two short moves he had opened up his pants and pushed my panties aside. He carried
me over to the sink and sat
me over it. I felt the cold porcelain a
gainst my ass as
he thrusted inside of me
right away
. His mouth never left mine and his rough kisses sent chills through
out
my whole body.

I knew they were all right down the hall. We shouldn’t
have been
doing this, but I couldn’t stop.

It started to feel so good that little cries were coming out of my mouth with each thrust. Ty covered my mouth with his hand and he pushed into me harder.
I dug my nails into his ass, holding him as tight as I could. I leaned my head back against the mirror and pulled my dress away from each of my
breasts. Ty got one look and closed his eyes as his body tensed up. It was like my breasts had magical powers.

As soon as he
st
arted to relax
against my body
, we heard my brother talking and the sound was moving toward the bathroom
. He
pulled away and buttoned up his pants while
he pointed towards the toilet. Ty
crouched down behind me, just as the door swung open.

“What’s goin’ on?” Conner asked.

“I don’t know man. I was taking a piss and she came running in here, throwing up. I have already flushed the toilet twice. She can’t have much left in her.”
I started gagging like I was puking. Ty held my hair out of the way.

I made a few more spit sounds and reached for the toilet paper. When I turned around, my brother looked concerned. “Jesus your face is blood red. She needs to go home
and lay down
.”

I was shaking so bad. I
t
couldn’t have looked anymore genuine.

He put his arm around me and led me out of the bathroom. I couldn’t look at Ty on account of my possible busting into laughter.
My husband was brilliant.

Instead
of trying to argue about staying, I let my brother lead me out of the house and ge
t me
seated
on the golf cart. “Hold on.”

He didn’t say a word as he drove me to the main ho
use. I climbed off
and started walking towar
d the door.

“You okay?”
He hopped off and started to approach me.

“I’m fine Conner.
Not that you really care. In fact, all you care about is giving me a hard time. Why is it so important for you to know my business? Why do you have to threaten every guy I am friends with?
”

“You’re drunk. Just go to bed.”

“No! Screw you Conner. I’m not drunk. I’m pissed.” I should have let it go, but he needed to cut his shit out.

“What is this about Miranda? Is this about Ty? Did you fucking sleep with him
In North Carolina? I will kill him.”

Not only did it happen in North Carolina, but also about ten minutes ago…

“This is what I mean. I never even mentioned Ty.”

It has everything to do with him.

“Tell me the truth Miranda. Has he ever hit on you? I need to know. I never wanted you going out there to stay. I can’t believe mom sent you to live with that man whore.”

“Stop it. He has never been anything but nice to me and Bella. This is exactly what I’m talking about. I am a grown woman. If I decided to pick some guy up at a bar, it is my choice, not yours. Why do I have to have a damn babysitter? Do you think Ty wanted to hang out with me all night when he could have been having a good time himself? Do you ever think about anyone else?”

I had to pat myself on the back
for the Ty part. I am pretty sur
e he was exactly where he wanted to be.

“It is my job to protect you.”

“Just leave me alone. If that is your idea of protectin’ me then I would rather be in danger. If it was your choice I would be alone forever.”

“You don’t need to be
puttin’ yourself out there. Do you think about your daughter?”

I smacked my brother
right in the face. He turned his
face back to me and looked pissed. I didn’t care.

“Screw you! Why don’t you go fuck your little slut beauty queen and stay the hell out of my life.”

“Miranda, wait!”

I kept walking. There was nothing else I wanted to say to him. I loved my brother, but I hated him just as much.

When I got into the house
,
I straightened up my clothes and ran up to my old room. I grabbed my phone and sure enough I already had
a message
.

Close call baby. –Ty

Sorry. – M

Make sure the kitchen door is unlocked. I will come over when everyone goes to bed.- Ty

Okay. –M

We are doing a horrible job staying away from each other. – Ty

It makes me want you more. I can’t help it. – M

Love you c u soon – Ty

After changing into a t-shirt and shorts,
I ran downstairs and unlocked the door for Ty to be able to get inside the house. My aunt and Lucy were already in bed and with people coming and going, nobody would make a big deal out of Ty being in the house. He was family.

I felt like it took forever, but as I started falling asleep, my mattress moved and his strong arms wrapped around me. “Is Izzy at your mom’s?”

“Yeah.”

He kissed my neck. “I checked her room and she wasn’t in there.”

“Sorry.”

I turned around to face Ty.. I ran my fingers over his cheek. “What’s wrong?”

He shrugged and looked sad. “This is the first night since you guys moved in that I didn’t get to tell her goodnight. Even when she stays at my parents I get to see her.”

“You saw her earlier babe. She knows you love her.”

“
I know.” He pressed soft kisses over my lips. “
I love it when you call me babe and when you wear my rings.
”
He slipped my wedding rings back on my finger.

I wrapped my arms around him and cuddled my bod
y into his. “You’re such a good husband and
daddy.”

“Goodnight baby.”

Since I hadn’t been living at the house in a long time, I didn’t have any alarms set. Ty and I both woke up to voices in the house
, and they were getting closer
.
The sun was shining through my bedroom window. It was obvious that we had overslept.
“Is the door locked?” I was panicking.

“Of course it is. Can you calm down and tell me good morning before you start freaking out.”

I leaned in to kiss Ty and heard someone at my bedroom door.

“Tell Mommy to wake up.”
My mother voice sent my heart racing.

“Mommy.”
Bella was beating on the door.

Ty and I looked at each other. He jumped up and ran into my closet. I wanted to laugh, but I was too upset about it all. “Mommy is coming.”

I opened the door and saw Bella and my mother. “Hey baby.”

I had immediately started to worry when I realized that my closet had sliding doors and there was no way Ty could close them without making a sliding noise. I had to keep my mother from walking all the way into my room.

My daughter
grabbed my legs
and tried to climb up them. “Mommy.” Bella
then
went walking in my bedroom. She was looking around. I knew exactly who she was looking for.