Page 100 of Ly to Me

“Sleeping.”

“It’s only a few hours past noon,” he said with as much judgement as he usually backed his words with—too fucking much of it.

“Sure is.” The sudden urge to grip his blonde, slicked-back hair and slam it forward into the cabinet became strong as I moved to sit on a barstool to watch him more closely. “I assume that number you had on your phone and the location are no longer on it?”

“Sure can be.” He turned his head over his shoulder, brows lifted in response to what the murderous rage was doing to my facial features. “I’m still not so sure you didn’t force her to marry you.”

My fist curled along the countertop. “You said it yourself—she was savin’ herself for marriage. Pretty sure I told you she might be carrying my child. That should tell you enough.”

“Right.” He snorted and turned back to the cupboard, muttering something about how I’d forced her to do that, too.

I’d lost my shit only a handful of times in my life, red filling my vision, my pulse skyrocketing—the whole nine-yards. Each of those times was over Lyra. It was no surprise to me that comment had been enough to do me in.

One minute I was sitting there, dreamin’ it up, the next, Jamie’s head was cracking the wooden cabinet door. The same door I pulled him from, then closed, just to slam his rotten head into as many times as I could.

I released him when the hazy red of my vision subsided. He laughed as he spat blood on my floor. “You’re psychotic, you know that?”

“And you’re spewin’ words that have no backing,” I countered, dragging the back of my hand over my upper lip. “Get whatever it is you think you own in this kitchen and leave my wife and I alone.”

His chest expanded as he leaned against the counter, wiping the blood from his face with the bottom of his shirt. “The thing aboutyour wifeis…” Jamie’s words trailed off as his attention shot past me.

“What isthe thing about his wife, exactly?” Lyra’s voice was calm as she stepped up beside me and folded her arms over another borrowed t-shirt. The same one she slipped on before I fed her and made her rest. Her not having pants hadn’t bothered me until now.

“This shit ain’t over.” Jamie sneered as he looked her over, his finger bouncing between us. “Y’all are hiding somethin’, and when I find out what it is—”

“You threaten my wife”—I crowded his space, and Jamie—the stupid, smug, son of a bitch he was—grinned, but couldn’t find it in his weak little body to not flinch—“and those will be your last words.”

“You—” Jamie’s face twisted, his shaky fingers ripping through his hair as he homed in on Lyra. “Whatever he said to get you into this mess is on you now. Don’t come cryin’ to me when this all’s finished.”

“Why on earth would Ievercome cryin’ to you, Jamie?” Her tone was sweet and full of that Southern drawl of hers that came out more when she was angry. It was sexy as all hell.

Jamie quickly shifted gears and started grabbing what he could. Fast. “She’s using you. She never had a rental house or movers or probably even a remote job—” I arched a brow ather over my shoulder. Lyra shrugged, her lips kicked up into a faint smile. “She was flirtin’ with Grant that night, and teasing Aubrey, and then, with what happened with Sabrina—”

“Sabrina had no business being in my bar, looking to taunt Lyra, which I gather she got the grand idea to do so from you.” Jamie froze with his back to me, fingers turning pale around a mug. “Took me a hot minute to realize you’d gleaned our date night whereabouts from Leo.”

Leo, who had been out sick that day, had done no such thing. Jamie must’ve been watching the cameras, and had heard me calling my bar, letting the manager on duty know that I’d be making a rare appearance so I didn’t spook anyone thinking I was inspecting their work. But if I mentioned the cameras, then he’d fuck with them. And I had a feeling they’d come in handy with the shady shit he was trying to pull.

“Is there a reason you didn’t want to show up and check on us for yourself?”

Jamie’s head dipped beneath his shaking shoulders. When he turned, he was still laughing, but couldn’t quite hide the level of fear I’d invoked. “What sane man would go into his enemy’s bar?”

“What sane man would make me his enemy?” I flashed a wide grin as I sauntered backward, barely passing Lyra. Her body melted into mine as I wrapped my arms around her waist from behind, the edging doing its job at making her wildly responsive to even the slightest touch.

Jamie’s jaw twitched as my palm flattened over Lyra’s stomach. I hoped he was picturing my baby growing there. “I bet she’ll be gone once the facility is yours. I know it’s all connected, and when I find out how, I’ll—”

“Blackmail me?” My head cocked. “That’s a—what do you call that, again?”

“A felony,” Lyra provided smoothly.

“How right you are, sweetheart.”

She’d been gone when Jamie and I discussed felonies earlier that morning, and unbeknownst to her, it made it seem like we’d talked it out. Like Lyra and I had some kind of civil conversation that we didn’t actually have. Instead, I’d had her tied up in my barn while I fucked her virgin ass, then edged her more in the bathtub.

Jamie’s face turned red as I kissed the top of Lyra’s head. “You won’t be seein’ me go anywhere. So grab whatever it is you came to disturb my husband with and get the fuck out of my house.”

Pride welled deep, my cock thickening instantly, but then I noticed Jamie glancing at her ring finger for the dozenth time and the desire to slam his head back into the cabinet came wriggling back into my head.

“This is all fucked,” Jamie said, raising his voice a little too much for my liking.