Page 79 of Covert Affections (Shadow Agents/PSI-Ops #5)

Chapter Fifty-Nine

Lindy

Two days later…

Lindy tossed a load of hand towels into the washing machine and glanced up as dust fell free from the floorboards above her. The bar’s basement wasn’t finished. It managed to be in rougher shape than the bar, which was hard to do.

The pulse of music coming from above matched the throb behind Lindy’s eyes.

She wasn’t getting the amount of sleep she needed.

Too much had happened in the last week, all of which was weighing heavily on her.

And she had yet to have the big talk Jesse promised her.

Each time they tried, they ended up naked, and nothing was talked about then.

She chuckled softly. It was a good problem to have.

Jesse had left for the rescue early in the morning, but unlike the last two days, he’d not texted at all or called to check in. Since Lindy was on the phone with Charley and Charley hadn’t mentioned anything bad happening to Jesse, she didn’t panic.

“You’re extra quiet suddenly,” said Charley. “Are you seducing a poor unsuspecting man?”

Lindy snorted. “Totally. What about you? Fondle any naked guy’s junk lately?”

“I’m so glad my plight is amusing you,” said Charley.

Shortly after Lindy had managed to sneak away to the basement to get some laundry done, Charley had called, informing her that she’d found a naked, injured dude in her horse barn. Naturally, Lindy had thought it was a joke.

Nope.

It was real.

Not only had Charley found a naked dude in her barn, but she had also set him up in one of her guest bedrooms and was treating his injuries, all before leaving him alone in her house and going out in the dark to look for the missing horse that had trashed her truck nearly a week ago.

“I’m struggling to get my mind wrapped around the fact that you not only found a naked dude but brought him into your house. It’s like I don’t know you at all,” said Lindy.

Evidently, the man had been found in the barn she used for new arrivals at her rescue.

He’d been in the stall she’d been using to care for a massive wild horse who had plowed into her truck, knocking it off the road and into the ditch.

Only Charley would take care of the very thing that caused all the trouble to start with.

Who am I kidding? I totally healed a wild mountain lion with my bare hands and brought him home with me.

Lindy had yet to divulge that information to Charley or the fact she’d had sex with one of Charley’s ranch hands, who just so happened to be more than human, and who also was one of the men who rescued them from a lab twenty-seven years ago.

It never seemed to be the right time.

Charley had enough to deal with at the rescue as it was.

For the past week, Charley had been dealing with a wrecked truck and losing access to her mobile vet trailer.

She’d had an injured horse that was added to the mix along with the other animals that were already at the rescue.

And now she had a naked guy to contend with.

It didn’t help that confessing everything to do with Jesse would mean also telling Charley the truth about being a succubus—a monster who had literally drained the life out of a man Charley saw as a good friend.

Robert.

Would Charley look at her like she was dangerous?

She was.

She wouldn’t blame her.

“He could totally be a serial killer,” said Lindy, as she added a scoop of powder laundry detergent to the washer before trying to start the old thing.

She twisted the washing machine’s dials, which may have been manufactured when dinosaurs walked the earth.

She then kneed the machine so hard it made a loud thud.

Reluctantly, it finally turned on.

“He’s not a serial killer, Lindy,” said Charley with a partial laugh.

“Are you sure?” asked Lindy, mentally running over the bar’s profit margins for the month, hoping she could possibly eek out enough money to buy a new washer and dryer.

Charley huffed. “Yes. I’m positive.”

“Well, did you ask him if he’s one?” demanded Lindy, wondering if she should go over to Charley’s to be sure she didn’t end in a body bag or something.

“What?” demanded Charley, disbelief in her voice, acting like the question was crazy, not the fact she’d brought a naked, strange man into her home.

“Don’t pretend I’m the problem here, CJ. You heard me. Did you ask him if he’s a serial killer?”

“Yes, as a matter of fact, I did ask him,” she shot back defensively.

“He could be lying.”

Charley groaned. “Plus, he has character witnesses who are legit. Okay, mostly legit.”

“What does that even mean? What kind of character witnesses? People or animals? I swear to all that is holy if you tell me a bird or some random raccoon going through your trash vouched for him, I’m going to lose my shit.”

“I shouldn’t have told you he was even here,” said Charley, irritation evident.

Lindy’s phone pinged and she glanced at the screen, part of her hoping it was Jesse. It wasn’t. It was Robert checking in on her and letting her know he was still in Denver. She smiled when his next text came through, wanting her to confirm if she had kicked the “asshole” to the curb yet.

Her thoughts returned to Charley and her current predicament —a naked stranger in her guest bedroom.

Lindy didn’t have a lot of room to talk since she’d had an injured mountain lion sleeping in her bed last week.

But Lindy and Charley weren’t the same. Lindy was a succubus.

She could, in theory, defend herself. Charley’s gifts extended to being able to communicate with animals.

At last check, they wouldn’t do much to stop a homicidal maniac.

Lindy didn’t like thinking anything could happen to her best friend. “That’s it. I’m coming over. I’ll help keep an eye on him. I can sit outside the guest room door or something. I’ll bring Teresa’s bat. It’s about time you and I started adding names to it.”

“You’re being ridiculous,” said Charley. “I don’t need you sitting here all night on guard duty. He’s not a threat to me.”

“How do you know? Did your humps-a-lot goat tell you that?” Lindy asked,

“Worry about the bar,” said Charley, her voice bringing Lindy a sense of peace.

“Ever since you brought in that mechanical bull, you’ve had nothing but trouble.

Honestly, that mud wrestling thing you tried two months ago had less issues, and how many people ended up in knock-down-drag-out fights over that? ”

Mac and Car were regulars, along with Teddy and a few others. They seemed to take it personally when anyone got too rowdy in the bar. Earlier in the night, Mac and Car had been joking with Lindy and Waverly, trying to convince them to sneak away and bang like bunnies.

It was an offer Lindy would have accepted a week ago, pre-Jesse.

Post Jesse, she found herself laughing, thanking them for the offer, but declining.

The twins had taken the rejection well but had stared at her chest for about fifteen minutes.

Bill had shown up then and given them a lecture on how to treat a lady right before he offered to let them use his girlie mags to choke their chickens.

Shortly thereafter, the twins and Bill had left for about an hour before coming back, laughing and joking about Ace-in-the-Hole, whoever or whatever that was.

“Remind me later to tell you about what happened tonight. It involved one of your weird ranch hands. Hilarious.” Lindy grabbed a sleeve of napkins from the overstock area still worried about Charley’s bright idea of bringing a stranger inside her home to nurse his wounds.

Charley was a vet, not a people doctor. She was also stubborn as a mule and wouldn’t listen to reason.

“Stop it. My helpers are not weird,” protested Charley, even though they both knew Bill and Gus were anything but normal. “They’re unique, like you and like me. Think of them as fellow misfits. And they do grow on you. Plus, you think one of them is hot and want in his pants.”

Lindy closed her eyes for a moment, her emotions washing over her at the mention of Jesse. Charley didn’t know what had happened between them, and for now, it would remain that way.

“I just worry about you. That’s all. With everything that has been happening around the rescue with those Mother Flockers and their lawyers and then the stuff Robert has been dealing with lately—” Lindy let out a frustrated breath. “I care about you and love you like a sister. Sue me.”

“I seem to recall you not being so worried about my safety when you posted on social media for single hot guys to work for me at the rescue,” said Charley. “And don’t think I didn’t find out you included a photograph of me in a swimsuit along with the post.”

Since Lindy knew she’d deleted the photograph during the man-meat market and Charley had the tech skills of a gnat, someone must have shown it to her or told her about it. “All right, who told you about it? Was it Waverly? I bet it was her. No. Teresa. She did it, didn’t she?”

“Don’t worry about how I found out about the picture,” said Charley, and Lindy knew her well enough to know her friend was fighting a laugh.

“Worry about the fact that any one of the men who showed up could have been dangerous, but that didn’t stop you from trying to make me take three of them home with me.

What did you say again? It would fix my problems?

Me needing help around here and me needing to get laid. ”

“Hey, I’m not wrong. It would have totally fixed that.”

In an effort to keep her emotions in check, Lindy changed the subject. “Tell me more about the naked barn dude.”

“He’s still out cold,” said Charley, her voice lowering as she did. “What I gave him will probably have him out until morning.”

Lindy’s eyes widened. “What do you mean by that? Did you drug him? Oh my God, CJ, I stand by my earlier statement. I really don’t know you at all. He should be in a hospital, not your spare bedroom. You’re a vet. Not a people doctor.”

“The wildlife officers told me he’s safer here than with them right now and that he couldn’t be taken to the hospital,” stressed Charley. “I trust what the wildlife guys said. Plus, my ranch hand and the wildlife guys claim to know the guy.”

“CJ, what is it about this guy?” asked Lindy, the pain returning. She rode it out.

“I can’t explain why I’m willing to go to this length for someone I don’t know,” answered Charley. “I just got a vibe, that’s all. Aren’t you always telling me to trust my vibes?”

“Yes. I am always telling you that. I kind of thought you’d start smaller than bringing an injured naked stranger into your house.

But, hey, we all have to start trusting our vibes somewhere, right?

” Lindy touched her chest, a tightness starting to form as thoughts of Jesse came over her.

“Hey, any news on the missing wild horse yet? I know you’ve been worried about him. ”

“No. I haven’t been able to find Buttercup. Engelbert Humper-Goat and William swear he’s fine. Not to worry, but I can’t help but be concerned,” said Charley, sadness filling her voice.

“Hey, he was improving a lot. You told me so yourself,” Lindy offered, wanting to cheer up her friend.

“Yes, he was doing better, but he wasn’t perfect, and he certainly wasn’t ready to be let loose. What if flies get in his wounds? What if he runs into that pack of coyotes again? And what if he had a run-in with that mountain lion from last week?” asked Charley.

Lindy cringed, wondering if the mountain lion in question was Fluffy. “I’m sure Buttercup is fine."

"After I was done getting Naked Guy patched up, I took one of the other horses out and searched for Buttercup for a couple of hours. I couldn’t find any signs of him.”

“Hon, you helped him heal,” said Lindy softly.

“Maybe he just wanted to go back to the wild. I’m sure he’s fine.

I, on the other hand, am over here freaking out about you being alone with a naked dude who may or may not be a serial killer, and now I’m going to be thinking about the fact there is a pack of aggressive coyotes near the rescue. ”

“Lindy, stop. I only told you about the mountain lion and the coyotes because Robert ran his mouth to you. Stop worrying about everything. I’m not. I’m only worried about Buttercup.”

That wasn’t entirely true, and Lindy knew as much. Still, she didn’t push.

“I’ll resume the search for Buttercup at first light,” said Charley.

Lindy made her way to the stairs and paused. “While you were out looking for Buttercup, you didn’t see any sign of where the naked dude might have come from or what happened to him?”

“No. I don’t know what happened to the man or how he ended up in the barn stall naked. Can we move past all that?” she asked. “I’m actually sorry I told you how I found him.” There was a bite to her voice.

“CJ, I get you’re tired. You’ve been searching for the missing horse and caring for the naked guy, but don’t be upset with me for worrying about you. That’s what friends do. Now, fill me in on Naked Guy. I want the juicy details, like how is his body? And most importantly, does he have a big cock?”

“Lindy, get your mind out of the gutter. The man needed my help, not me checking out his junk,” Charley shot back, making Lindy laugh.

“Did you just call the guy’s cock junk?”

“Yes. I said junk. Leave me alone. All of us can’t openly embrace calling it that .” It was easy to picture Charley blushing.

“Ha! Say it with me. We’ll do it together. You’ll be fine. Ready, set”

Charley huffed. “No. I’m not going to say cock. Damn you. You got me to say it.”

Lindy laughed loudly. “I win! But for real, give me details. Is he hot?”

“Why does what he looks like matter?” asked Charley before grunting. “Fine. Yes, he’s hot. Super hot. Happy?”

“I’d be happier if I knew you were okay and that he wasn’t a threat to you. I should come over. That way, I can check on you and check out his junk. I’ll let you know if it’s big or not since you seem adverse to checking yourself.”

“No,” said Charley fast. “You cannot come out here and see his junk for yourself. Besides, he’s in sweatpants now.”

Lindy smiled widely as she headed upstairs to the main bar area once again. “Best invention ever, right? It’s a totally new kink of mine. One I don’t think I’ll outgrow.”

She held back on telling her how sexy Jesse was in them too. Instead, she texted Jesse, telling him she couldn’t wait to see him in or out of gray sweats soon.