Ask Me If I Care (SWAT Generation 2.0 4)

He sighed. “Errin’s persistent.”

That was all he said.

Raj latched onto one of my curls, and I gently disentangled it from his fingers before saying, “So was Kelly.”

His eyes came down to meet mine just as we made it to the checkout lane.

The only lane that was open this late at night.

That was when Hayes cursed some more.

“Son of a bitch,” Hayes muttered darkly upon seeing a woman lean forward to wave at him.

I looked at him and frowned, wondering if Raj had done something to him.

Leaning in close, I looked at him with a frown and said, “What’s your problem?”

His eyes flicked up to the woman that’d leaned forward to see him, then moved back down to mine.

My hair slid forward and draped over his arm, and his hand flashed out and he twirled one of my curls around one large finger.

I knew it was automatic. As if him doing it had been an accident. Something that he couldn’t even comprehend why he’d done it.

“Who is that?”

Hayes’ mouth tightened into a frown.

“Come on, who is she?” I asked, smiling brightly at the man.

He scowled harder.

“That would be the woman that I slept with when I first moved here, and was unaware that she had misunderstood what, exactly, it was that I wanted from her,” he admitted.

His admission made my heart throb.

I didn’t like the idea of him being with another woman. Even if the ‘being with’ part had happened way before he knew me.

Not like him knowing me now would change anything. I mean, we weren’t even dating.

I barely knew the man.

But that didn’t mean that the thought of him with someone else didn’t sting.

“How long ago was this?” I asked curiously. “Because she’s acting like it was just yesterday.”

He snorted. “About six months now.”

A sharp inhale let me know that I’d finally been spotted with him.

I turned my head, but Hayes hadn’t let go of my hair, so when I did, I stayed quite close to him when I got my first good look at the girl checking us out.

“Ummm,” I hesitated, unsure what to say.

Hayes groaned underneath his breath, his face a mask of annoyance.

Then I replayed his explanation about the girl that worked here, and why he no longer shopped at this particular supermarket.

So this was the girl that he’d slept with when he first arrived. The one that didn’t get the right idea.

The one that was beautiful and dressed like she was stepping off of a runway even while she was working the night shift, while I on the other hand looked like I’d just crawled out of the dumpster.

Awesome.

I put my box of tampons down and started to load the stuff in the cart around it.

All the while, I tried not to make eye contact with the woman that was staring me down as if I’d been the one to steal her man.

“Bindy,” Hayes said softly. “How’s it going?”

Apparently, that wasn’t the right thing to say, because Bindy got pissed.

She started to scan Hayes’ shit faster than I could get it onto the belt, and before I could stop her, she scanned my tampons, too.

When I opened my mouth to say something, Hayes’ hand once again went to my hair as he dug his fingers into the slow-drying curls. “Shhh.”

I snapped my mouth shut so fast that my teeth clicked.

“You have a child?” the brunette hissed. “And a wife?”

My brows rose and I looked at Hayes, wondering how she’d gotten that from how close we weren’t standing.

But, like the funny girl I am, I played my part perfectly.

“Whatever is she talking about, lover?” I placed my hand over my chest, playing as if I was wounded.

Hayes shot me a glare, still holding onto my hair.

It looked like he had a possessive hold. Not that he was mad, but that he was just trying to keep me close.

“Shut up,” he whispered into my ear.

I felt his hot breath on my skin, and my nether regions tightened in response.

That was, of course, when Raj chose to throw up.

All down the front of my shirt.

I stepped back, but he still soaked the front of my sweatshirt, and I could feel the wetness seeping to the tank top underneath.

Hayes started to curse, trying to get Raj away from me but not succeeding since we were in the small space between the check-out lanes.

Bindy, of course, started to laugh.

Which pissed me off.

“Let me have him,” I said softly. “You deal with this.”

Hayes didn’t respond as I took Raj, who looked rather pitiful now that he’d barfed.

I caught up the box of diapers, my box of tampons, and headed out to my vehicle, not stopping until I got to the back hatch area.

Opening it up, I placed Raj onto the rubber mat that my dad had bought me to go onto my floorboard to protect my carpet—I’d never been happier to see it.