'Tis the Damn Season

4. Tis the Damn Season

Audrey:

It was four days until I saw Happy again.

Four days of dreaming of him and, embarrassingly, using my memory of his face and voice to get me off in the middle of the night after I'd put Charlie to bed and could let my imagination run freely.

Gemma had surprised me by turning up at my house at nine-a.m and letting me know that she was taking Charlie for the day to give me some 'alone time'. Hadn't asked me if it was okay, just let me know that it's what she was doing and then she ushered my baby outside and into the carseat.

She'd been so quick with her movements that I hadn't even had the common sense to ask her where they were going, what they were doing and why she was kidnapping my child to begin with.

I did have to admit, though, it was nice to have a day to myself for the first time in over a year. I hadn't had anytime away from Charlie since he was born and, as much as I loved him, it was nice to have some me time.

I dug into my bottom drawer and pulled out my hidden packet of cigarettes, ready to grab a single one out.

Then I realised that Charlie was out. Busy. I wasn't going to get interrupted and I didn't have to suck it down within two minutes in case he woke up or needed me.

On the way out to my back porch, I looked at the clock and then grabbed a beer out of my fridge. If I was going to break the rules, I decided I would break them all.

I sunk onto the swing I'd placed on the porch and leant my head back, sucking in a few breaths of nicotine before I blew them out.

"Smoking and drinking before 12? Damn, little girl, are you purposely rebelling?"

I jumped at the sound of Happy's voice and had gotten to my feet, halfway to the door before I realised who was speaking to me and became aware of my surroundings.

The happiness from Happy's voice had disappeared and a large frown made any remanence of it disappear until he was staring at me in confusion. "Audrey? It's just me."

"I'm sorry," I hated how broken my voice sounded and I coughed to play it off. To buy myself some time, I took in another breath of the smoke and blew it out. "You just frightened me. Gemma took Charlie for the day and I wasn't expecting any company- wait, how did you get past my gate?"

Although I couldn't exactly put a six-foot high fence in the front yard and play it off as I wasn't running from anything, I had nothing stopping me from putting it up to surround the backyard.

It stopped nosey neighbours from looking in to see what Charlie and I were up to.

It also stopped me from having panic attacks waiting for my psychotic ex to pop in at any moment.

"Gemma gave me the key," he held my keys up in between his thumb and forefinger. "She wanted to let you know that she's keeping Charlie for the night, Thomas and Abel are having a sleepover at her house so she's going to keep him, as well."

It should have annoyed me that she was dictating what was going on in my life with my child, but I was too focused on Happy who was still looking at me like I was a deer caught in headlights and he was waiting for me to run on my heels. "She couldn't come and tell me herself?"

He smirked, an expression that was quickly becoming my favourite sight. Apart from my son. "I volunteered, baby."

Baby.

I choked on the breath I'd just drawn in and coughed out the smoke. He'd called me baby. "Why would you do that?"

His smirk increased so that it was border lining on a smile and he pulled his sunglasses up to the top of his head so that we could lock gazes.

"Because I wanted to see you smoking a cigarette and drinking beer in nothing but your panties and a Harley Davidson shirt," he deadpanned while his eyes raked down my body.

I blushed with discomfort when I realised that he could quite clearly see the stretch-marks that had made their home on my skin when I'd gotten pregnant with Charlie. They weren't pretty, but they usually didn't bother me.

The fact that Happy was looking at them bothered me.

A lot.

"Don't do that," he muttered and I was surprised to see him directly in front of me, his hand on my cheek bringing me out of my thoughts. "Don't."

"Don't what?" I asked in confusion.

He gripped my chin in his hands and squeezed lightly, tilting my head up so that he was staring into my eyes and, presumably, would take him seriously. "Don't go into your head and get thinking bad of yourself, little girl. I like what I'm looking at and like that I'm the only person looking."

I didn't know how to answer so I sighed in defeat. "What are you doing here, Happy?"

"I'm going to get a beer out of your fridge, and then I'm going to sit on a swing and have a smoke with you. And we're going to talk."

He'd let me go and was almost to the door when I frowned and spun around, cocking a hip out. "Why?"

"Gonna convince you to be my girl." he didn't even bother to turn around, just pulled the screendoor shut behind him and left me in stunned silence.