Page 24 of Claiming Ours (Anchor Bay #2)

Back in the waiting room, I paused in the middle, facing the large window, watching the people hurrying past, when an older, bald man stormed down the walkway speaking animatedly to the guy beside him, who looked pissed as hell.

“Ready?”

I jumped in surprise, a curse slipping out at Liam’s deep voice directly behind me. “Fuck, you’re quiet for someone your size.”

I swore his lips twitched in an almost smile before his normal deadly expression settled on his face, aimed directly at me. “Remember that about me, because if you do anything to hurt Baylee, and I mean any-fucking-thing, you’ll never see me coming.”

I swallowed hard and nodded. Holy shit, the guy was intense. I figured that after watching him and her the last couple of days, but it was worse this close to him.

We didn’t say another word as we left the clinic, him holding the door open for an older woman who carried a cat carrier with a yowling animal inside.

It wasn’t until we were several buildings away that he spoke again.

“I can tell she cares about you still, which is why I’m not asking you to leave Anchor Bay immediately and never come back.”

“I don’t think I could even if you told me to leave.

I didn’t realize how much I missed Baylee, having her in my life in any capacity, until I saw her picture online.

I wasn’t exaggerating in there. She, Dean, and I were always together.

Where they went, I was there too.” Which sucked because I had a front-row seat to their make-out sessions, only tapping out when it became too much for me, not them asking me to leave. “I miss her.”

He shot me a strange glance out of the corner of his eye. “I can understand that. If something were to pull Baylee and me apart, I’d miss that woman every day of my life until I could find my way back to her. Tell me the truth. Are you here for her, to take my Baylee away from me?”

Even if I was, I sure as hell wouldn’t tell this silverback gorilla of a man that. Fuck, did he know how that tone and question almost made me shit my pants?

I eyed him, taking in the smirk he tried to hide. The fucker absolutely knew.

Asshole.

My fingers reached out for Elvis, needing his comfort, but they only danced in the air. “I’m not here to take her from anyone, so please don’t kill me.”

He barked out a laugh and shook his head like he wasn’t just imagining tossing my lifeless body in the bay for the fish to take care of.

“I can see you make her happy,” I continued. “She’s been through enough shit in her life. I’m not going to do anything to add to that pile by taking her away from the people and friends who make her smile, who help her forget for even just a second who she lost.”

With a clipped nod, Liam ripped open the hardware store door and stepped inside, chuckling when he released the door so it almost smacked me in the face.

He grabbed a plastic handbasket and shoved it against my chest before turning on his heels and marching down the aisle.

I rubbed my chest and eyed the now-cracked basket.

“So, what now?” I grumbled to his back. “I’m supposed to just follow you around and hold your shit?”

“Yep.” He rounded the end cap to stroll down the next aisle, stopping in front of the small selection of hinges. “Tell me, will any of the shit from home follow you here?”

I furrowed my brow until it registered what he was referring to and why he asked the question.

“Nah. First, that was over two years ago. I don’t know those people anymore.

Second, I’m in fucking Alaska. No one has a grudge against me that fucking big to come to basically Russia.

” Liam snorted as he inspected the different door hinges in each hand. “And I know what you’re thinking?—”

“Fucking doubt it,” he mused, “or you’d be running home right about now.”

Not sure why, but I felt like the constant death threats meant he liked me.

“You’re terrifying, you know that?” I nervously joked. “Fucking hell, man, stop coming up with ways to murder me or get me to run. I’m not here to take your girl.”

Liam just nodded, not looking away from the display.

“You’re an unknown. You two have a history, one I don’t have.

There’s also the fact that you remind her of Dean, who she still grieves daily.

Your presence, those memories you stir up, have the potential to add to her grief.

” He pursed his lips. “Or help. I can’t watch her slip back into more bad days where she couldn’t even eat because she was so damn sad rather than the good where she could see the hope of happiness. ”

“I don’t want that either,” I stated, wishing like hell he believed me. “I’m not here to cause her pain, I fucking swear. If I did, I’d run away like my ass was on fire to prevent that from happening.”

With a confirming nod, he tossed three identical hinges into the basket. “Good. Then we agree. Where are you staying while you’re here?”

Walking past the rope section, I paused to feel the different textures.

“The Nest,” I said to where Liam stood beside me, watching like he was trying to figure out a puzzle.

Dropping the nylon rope, I gestured with the basket for us to keep moving.

“It’s a bit too fancy for me and Elvis, but it was the best option.

The resort isn’t too bad if you don’t account for their douche general manager. ”

Liam’s booming laugh rumbled through the store.

A few people turned our way, eyeing him, not that he seemed to care.

With his size, it appeared he was used to people watching him everywhere he went.

It was that size and the way he moved, all thick and powerful muscles, that spoke to how capable he?—

Um, what the actual hell, Memphis?

“I fucking swear I’m straight,” I muttered to myself while rubbing a hand down my face. “Right?”

Liam snorted and shook his head. “How the fuck should I know if you don’t?” At the next aisle, he turned to me with an arched brow, scanning my face and studying my tattoos. “I’m fairly certain that’s your decision and not something someone else should choose for you.”

“Right. Damnit, I did not mean to say that out loud.” I gestured between us with the basket, making Liam jump back with a curse when I almost clipped his balls. “I was thinking about you and?—”

He pressed a palm to my chest, forcing me back a step.

“I really don’t need an explanation, but if that is something you’re into, that’s fine, just not the way I swing.

” He shoved both hands into the pockets of his jeans.

“You’ll find that the community Baylee and I live in, that encompasses the employees of Uplift Adventure and Rescue, doesn’t view relationships as traditionally as most. So you do you, and don’t be afraid of what Baylee or any of us will think, because they’re the most accepting group of assholes you’ll ever meet. ”

Heat flickered in my veins as I remembered what I’d seen and heard yesterday in the bar.

“About that,” I said, clearing my throat.

His gray eyes cut my way before focusing back on the packaged door handle in his hand.

“I noticed those interesting relationship dynamics last night when I was at the bar and also overheard some of the women’s conversations about their boyfriends, as in plural. ”

His massive shoulders rose and fell in a shrug, like living in a poly community was a run-of-the-mill occurrence. “Yep, it’s what we do, and everyone accepts everyone for what they want. We’re all consenting adults.”

“Agreed, just different. How did it come about? I’ve never heard of a poly community, and the fact that it’s in a random small town in Alaska….”

The basket shifted in my hand when the heavy door handle in its thick plastic packaging landed on the bottom.

“ That would be our owner and his two partners’ doing.

They were tired of being judged and the negative comments people made to Amy, so they started their own community.

It started as a well-run, family-centered company and turned into what it is now.

We work hard to keep it that way too. We pull our own weight, and not just in our respective jobs with clients.

We help anywhere needed around the compound to keep it thriving and everyone happy. ”

Longing swelled in my chest at the idea of that kind of utopia. “It seems too good to be true,” I mused, following him to the front of the store. A few women scanning the shelves blatantly checked him out, but a guy two aisles over glared at Liam like he wanted him to die a horrible death.

“Hey, who’s that guy two rows down, and what did you do to make him that mad?”

Liam didn’t even look up, apparently already knowing exactly who I meant.

“That would be Jasper Cain. You might have seen him around town or at Sips, where he works. I’m sure he’s still fucking pissed that I tackled his scrawny ass and hog-tied him with his own belt.

” A surprised laugh snuck free, making Liam smirk.

“Yeah, pretty sure that’s what the death glare is for, not that he can do anything about it.

” His features turned contemplative. “Actually, I wish he would. I’d love a reason to knock that fucker out. ”

Um, okay. Baylee’s boyfriend was fucking intense.

And why do I like it so much?

“Did he deserve it?”

His cocky smirk fell when he pressed his lips into a tight line.

“Yeah, he did. I caught him in our friend’s cabin.

” He snatched the basket out of my hand to set it on the counter for the cashier to ring up.

“We’re all on edge.” Credit card in hand, he swiped it through the reader and took the full plastic bag from the young woman’s outstretched fingers.

Tipping his hat in thanks, he strode to the door with me hot on his heels.

“Food, then back to the clinic. You okay to go into Dave’s again, or do you need to wait outside? ”