Risking Fate (Mitchell Family #4)(32)
Author: Jennifer Foor

At the time, Conner was still going through some withdrawals and had a terrible time sleeping. He would stay awake, getting sick every couple of hours. We thought we knew how bad his habit was until he actually went without it. I was proud of him for staying determined.

Brina kept him company when we weren’t around. Van had warned her of his condition and she seemed to care enough to help him through it. I still didn’t trust the bitch and wished Conner had never hit it.

At any rate, Conner met Amy on one of his bad nights. Of course she was a crying mess, while he was sick as shit, running to the toilet several times. Miranda stayed up for as long as she could, but she was in her first trimester and very exhausted. Amy finally calmed down enough to agree to sit with Conner in case he needed anything.

By the next morning, she was all Conner talked about. The weird thing was that she had left before we woke up. Miranda was worried something had happened, like Conner was being an ass**le, or maybe he tried something. Once she went into work, Amy acted like nothing happened between them, so Miranda dropped it.

In the past few months, Conner had seen Amy at our house quite a few times. Her husband was an alcoholic. He’d been married three times and I have no idea how they ever got together. She was a nice girl, with a good head on her shoulders. She cared more about other people than she did herself. She was older than us, probably in her early thirties, maybe late twenties. Her hair was always a different color, but this week it happened to be a red. She had a cute body, but compared to Miranda, nobody was ever that pretty to me.

For some reason, Conner seemed interested in the lady. I don’t know if Miranda got it, until he went in for that haircut. He looked like a f**king moron, walking in there and standing behind Amy as she bent over to dust up some hair on the floor. He waited until she turned around to speak. “Hey, Beautiful, you think I could get my hair trimmed?”

After her initial shock of him standing there, she put her hands on her hips and cocked her eyebrow. “Your sister is fully capable of cutting that head.”

He sat down in her seat anyway and turned it to face her. “I reckon I’d rather have you do it.” He removed his hat and smiled, showing off his dimples like he was trying to charm his way into her pants.

I let out a low chuckle just watching him fail. Miranda put her hands over her stomach and took Iz into the back to clean up the ice cream mess on her face.

“I don’t have time to cut it.”

Conner looked around the shop. It was closed for lunch and he already knew it. “It won’t take long.” He shot me a look reminding me that I was staring. I turned around and faced my wife’s station, focusing on her hot picture that displayed her license. I loved seeing Miranda’s name listed followed by the name Mitchell. Making her mine was one of the happiest days of my life.

I leaned my head back in the chair and tried to relax, while my fool brother in law continued to basically beg for a haircut.

“Come on, Beautiful, just a quick trim. I don’t bite, well at least not unless you ask me to.”

I could tell he was on her last nerve, but I stayed out of it. “You’re a pig, Conner Healy. Stop calling me beautiful.”

“Why? It’s the truth. I think you’re sexy as hell.”

Shoot me now! He was about to get the shit slapped out of him.

“Well, let me remind you that I’m married.” I didn’t have to look behind me to see she was probably standing in front of him with her hands on her hips.

“You’re so pretty when you get all roused up. It’s just a haircut, Sweetness. Surely you’ve cut other sexy men’s hair before.”

Did he ever give up?

“Fine one haircut, but you’re paying double for getting on my nerves,” she teased.

I watched in the mirror as she approached Conner. He was laughing at his higher cost for a haircut. Amy shook her head and ran her hands through his hair. He stared at her face, waiting for a reaction. “I bet you imagined runnin’ your hands through it, haven’t you?”

Damn! I would have gotten smacked by now.

She took a huge chunk in her hand and jerked his head back. “If you don’t cut it out, I’m going to shave it all off.”

Conner quickly reached his arms around her and pulled her up against his body. She stood there, not letting go of his head. “When are you goin’ to stop fightin’ this?”

“There is no this!” She took her hands and moved them from him then back to her.

I couldn’t see Amy’s face, but Conner licked his lips and didn’t let go of her. He stood up, causing her to back up. He leaned in toward her ear. “Maybe next time then.”

Conner nodded to me with a big grin on his face as he walked out of the salon. I turned to look at Amy, once he was gone and she shook her head and walked into the backroom. Miranda came out a few moments later, just as the door signaled someone was walking in. We both turned to see if it was Conner, and my heart dropped.

Heather came walking into the salon. She was dressed like her normal slutty self. Of course, her stare was on me, and I knew Miranda recognized her immediately. “I’m here for my one o’clock. Is Amy around?”

I looked toward Miranda and pulled Izzy into my arms. She never took her eyes off of Heather. “Amy, your appointment is here.”

Heather approached me and didn’t stop until she was close enough to touch Izzy. “Hi, what’s your name cutie?”

“Isabella Mitchell, but my daddy calls me Izzy.”

Heather looked from Izzy to me. She purposely looked at me for a longer amount of time. “What a pretty name. I bet you love your daddy.”

“He’s my best friend besides Noah, but he’s my cousin and we can’t get married.”

“Is that right. Well, I think I know Noah’s Mommy. Is her name Van?” I hated that she was doing this and I was ready for Miranda to pounce. I needed to get them away from this bitch, but pissing her off could cause a real issue with my wife.

“She’s my aunt. She’s real pretty.”

Heather stood up straight again and looked right at Miranda. “It’s funny running into you today of all days.”

Miranda put her hands on her hips. “And why is that?”

Heather looked down at her nails while she spoke. “Well, wasn’t today the big appointment?”

And there it was….the sound of my wife’s heart breaking all over the tile floor.

Miranda turned blood red and looked from me to Heather. “How would she know that Ty?”