Bailey felt like a whole new person, she really did. She had new clothes, a few pairs of new shoes and she just got a hair cut. She now had bangs and a short bob, her hair barely passing her jaw line. She sighed and smiled as Cody drove to the grocery store.
“So why are we going to the grocery store again?” she asked.
“We’re going for food, why else would we go? We’re short now that you’re staying there. Why you so….joyful?” he smirked.
She laughed, “I don’t know? I feel like a new person, to be honest. I know that must sound strange considering I practically have a new life but now it kind of feels like it now, like its finally hitting me.” she smiled to herself.
“You got all that from new clothes and a hair cut?” he laughed.
“Yes,” she sighed as she turned her body towards him.
“I like the new look by the way,” he turned his head towards her and flashed a smile.
Bailey thought he had the most breathe taking smile ever. What was a guy like him still single for? Or was he single? She looked at his left hand and didn’t see a ring, so he wasn’t married. Maybe he had a girlfriend?
“Do you have a girlfriend?” she sudden asked, she couldn’t believe it to. She usually kept things to herself, well lately she has.
“No,” he softly laughed, then sighed as his smiled disappeared.
“Why’s that?” she was curious as to why this good looking guy didn’t have a special person at home.
“I rather not say. Why you curious all of a sudden?” he looked at her and studied her as she answered.
“I’m not sure actually.”
Cody could tell she was telling the truth, she wasn’t lying. Maybe she was just curious, only it felt like much more. Was she remembering him, little by little? He hoped not, he didn’t want her to remember how he treated her that last day he saw her, the day he broke things off.
After doing that and going to boot camp, he realized what a huge mistake he made. He wrote her during his time in boot camp and received nothing in return. He waited till he finished and when he came back he went to go and see her, he would have begged to be with her but she wasn’t there anymore, she moved and he had no idea as to where.
He had no idea where to look and her friends gave nothing to him, they hated him and he knew why, he broke her heart. After serving two years he decided he wanted to become a SEAL and that’s where he met up with Blake, on base. He was amazed that they talked so easily, he was shocked that Blake didn’t hold a grudge on him for what he did to Bailey. He told him that she was graduating high school in two weeks, what she has been up to for the past two years and what she was doing after she graduated.
He couldn’t believe it when Blake told him she was going to join the Army. Cody was pissed, he knew what kind of life that meant and he knew the danger now that they were considering woman on the front line in battle. She could have died, she did die then they brought her back though and now she has no memory, no memory of them even being together or all her training she did in the Army, no memory of her brother or her parents and other things as well.
Now Bailey could pretty much be anything she wanted, she could go back to school, get a career, live a different life then she would have if she were still in the Army. Instead she chose to be stripper, of all the things she could have set her mind to and she picked that, he had no idea why.
“I have a question,” he pointed out as he parked the car in front of the grocery store.
“Ok,” she said nervously, she had no idea what he wanted to ask, it’s not like she knew anything.
“You could have been anything, why did you choose to be a stripper?” he had to know, he wanted to now why she would chose that, it was like lowering herself only she had nothing to lower from.
Bailey didn’t expect that question and her response to that was going to be an honest one.
“It was late at night and I was walking past the club, I heard loud cheers coming from inside and I was curious. So I went inside and saw the strippers, I watched and was amazed by how graceful they looked on the pole. This wasn’t your usually topless club, there was some sort of high class when you walked into there and it showed in the strippers. I found it interesting and wanted to try it, it also looked like fun to be honest,” she told him with a sort of pride in her voice.
Cody couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
“Anyways so I took private classes everyday for two hours at some stripper school, I did that for a month and a half before trying to apply there, I wasn’t a stripper at first. I bartended and then sort of fell into stripping, I still bartend from time to time.”
“Blake is ok with this?” that was all he could say.
Bailey snorted, “Of course not,” she laughed. “You think he would be okay with that?”
“Apparently the answer is yes since your still stripping.” He was angry and he didn’t know why.
“The answer is no, but he sees how much it makes me happy and free to do what I want, I didn’t have that before, I know I didn’t. You don’t get to do what you want when you’re in the Army. I’m able now and though Blake might not agree with it he still allows it, I know he did some sort of background check on everybody and he checks on me from time to time.” She laughed, she couldn’t help it, the look on his face, “Don’t worry, it’s just for fun. It’s not a permant thing; I think I want to go to school.”
He let out a sigh of relief, he hated that she worked there, he hated that men looked at her, hated that they had dirty thoughts about her. He couldn’t say anything though because she wasn’t his, he had no right.
“Go to school for what?” he asked as he did a sweep of the parking lot.
“I’m not sure yet, haven’t decided but I’m sure it will come to me. Now are we going to sit here and talk or are we actually going to go get groceries?
“Are you still a smart ass?” he asked.
Bailey laughed, “Not sure about that one, you’d have to tell me.”
Bailey unbuckled her seat belt and was about to unlock her door and open it until Cody gripped her arm and stopped her.
“You don’t ever step out of this truck unless I say so, do you understand?” he softly told her.
Bailey forgot with the normal conversations and day she had so far that she was still in danger. “I’m sorry, I forgot.”
She moved her gaze from his grip up to his face; they were so close, the way he leaned over her, their faces inches apart, Bailey felt the stirring again as she moved her gaze down to his lips. She wanted to kiss him, she knew it, felt the need to feel them against hers and she had no idea where the need was coming from. She felt like kissing Matty sometimes at random times but this was totally different, the need was too much.
Bailey moved her face closer and angled her head to kiss him only he let go of her arm and was now opening his door. Her chest tightened, it hurt that he didn’t wan to kiss her and she didn’t know why, why did this rejection hurt so much?
She watched him as he walked around the front end of his truck; Bailey noticed he looked angry, his jaw drawn tight. Was it because she wanted to kiss him?
“Hurry up and get out,” he told her.
Bailey didn’t bother looking at him as he helped her ease off the seat. He was angry and Bailey was sure now, but she still wanted him. But he wanted her she thought, she saw that yesterday in the morning and this morning when they got up, the way he touched her when they woke up, so why was he doing this? She’d ignore it for now, maybe because of the situation? That must be it, she thought.
She sighed, “What are we getting exactly?” she walked in step with him as they walked to the sliding doors.
“What ever you want Bay.”
Bailey noticed his tone was different, was he no longer mad? Bailey felt his hand on her lower back as he guided her to the shopping carts, maybe not if he was back to touching her.
Cody noticed a lot of guys looking at Bailey, even the ones with their woman by their side and he didn’t like it one bit. He wanted to move his hand from her lower back to her waist but he didn’t, he shouldn’t even be touching her now. She already wanted to kiss him he didn’t want her to want more then that.
In the truck though, he could tell just how bad she wanted to put her mouth on his. He wanted just as bad, he wanted to feel those soft full lips against his once more; he wanted that kiss she denied him long ago. Cody knew if he didn’t keep his distance from now on then they’d end up doing something she’d regret.
“Bay, get more food.” He noticed she really wasn’t putting anything in the cart as they walked down the aisles and they only had three left to walk through. “This better not be about money,” as they kept walking he started pulling things off the shelves, things he remembered she liked, hopefully she still liked those things.
Bailey watched as he placed things in the cart, things she still love to eat. How did he know all this? They were more then what he said in high school. There was no way he would know all this stuff unless they were more.
Bailey looked past his body and saw a stupid blond looking at Cody as she sudden decided she wanted to walk down the aisle they were currently walking across. Typical, just wait Cody liked, she thought. What? Where did that come from? She sudden thought. She didn’t know what he liked but a blond came to her mind and she didn’t know why.
Bailey watched as the blond walked closer, Cody didn’t seem to notice. She didn’t know why, the woman was wearing a low cut top, her breasts were practically falling out of her shirt and the jeans were tight, only complementing her nice figure and Cody still wasn’t looking as she stopped near him and pretended to look at something on the shelf.
The blond took a glance at Bailey and smiled, then turned her attention to Cody once more. What the fuck? Bailey couldn’t believe what she was seeing, she clearly sees her there and can tell their clearly shopping together and she’s going to hit on him? Bailey wanted to beat the crap out of her but she had no reason to because she and Cody were nothing.
“Hey baby, you want some of these for dinner?” Cody turned and asked her, with a smirk on his face.
Baby? Since when did he call her that? Bailey glanced at the blond and kept a straight face the best way she knew how and smiled back at Cody.
“Sure, honey.” Bailey watched as the blond pouted and gave Bailey a dirty look.
The blond then gripped the cart and started walking away, Bailey looked back at Cody and arched her brow, only Cody wasn’t looking at her, he was looking past her and his jaw was drawn tight.
Bailey turned around as saw a guy behind her but he wasn’t looking at her. So why was he acting like this?
Then she felt a hand on her waist, she looked up and saw Cody. She wasn’t prepared for what happened next but she loved it. Cody kissed her as he brought her close to his body, the way his lips felt against hers felt amazing and that stirring was back and it was a more powerful feeling then before. Bailey cupped his nape, bringing him closer and let out a soft moan as he cupped her butt.
She heard a heavy sigh and that’s when Cody pulled away from her and looked behind her once more. He kissed her because of the guy? He used her?
Cody knew he shouldn’t have done that but he couldn’t help it, every guy in the store was looking at her and they weren’t going to look anymore, not if he could help it. In some way Bailey was his and he wasn’t going to let other men look at her or there were going to be problems.
“Are you done?” he suddenly asked her as he started to push the cart.
“I…..yeah I guess,” Bailey said, she was too upset to comprehend what he just did. How could he do that? She was sure he knew how much she wanted that, yet he used her. She was so upset she felt like crying right then and there. What was wrong with her, why was she so upset about this? It didn’t make sense? Though the way his lips felt against hers felt so familiar.
Bailey started walking as she followed along Cody to the check out area.
On the ride home she kept quit as she looked outside her window. Why would he do that? It felt too familiar, that kiss. She was starting to get frustrated as she tried to remember but nothing was coming up, what she wouldn’t give for just a glimpse, a glimpse that would tell her something about Cody.
Cody noticed Bailey was being awfully quit. He knew it was the kiss, he shouldn’t have done that. She must be confused right now, maybe she remembered something and that’s why she was quit?
He wasn’t sure, he wondered if he would find out. He looked at her as she sighed, no, he wouldn’t find out, at least not right now. If she remembered though, she would manage to keep it to herself for a bit but after that it would be too much to keep inside and then she’d let it out. She’d remembered how he treated her.
The rest of the time home he kept watched and kept an eye on the black truck behind them, Stiles was following and Cody knew how pissed he was for messing up. He was going to have to prove himself to Blake again; if he didn’t then he was off the team. Cody knew how good he was, he just didn’t know what happened that night, what distracted him from watching Bailey.
Cody still hasn’t heard anything on those two cars that followed Bailey and he probably wasn’t until Blake came back. So like Blake to with hold information from him, he was going to keep him in the dark, that’s how Blake liked to play sometimes, that way you’d be on alert at all times, and he was, he was constantly checking, always on alert.
Bailey noticed the black truck behind them; it was following them since they left the grocery store. She came to the conclusion that they were one of Blake’s since Cody wasn’t trying to out run them.
She took a quick glance at him and noticed the seriousness of his face, he looked displeased and Bailey had no idea why. She didn’t care, she told herself, and she shouldn’t care.
Her heart raced as he pulled into his garage, she didn’t know why exactly. Maybe she was hoping for an explanation? Bailey took another quick glance at him and saw him pull out his gun.
“Stay inside the truck, I’ll be right back. Give me less then five.” Cody unlocked his door and quickly closed it.
She didn’t expect that, though she should by now. Bailey watched as Cody disappeared through the door. She sighed as she looked around his garage. It was pretty much empty except for the rack of tools on one side of the wall.
Why did he live this way? Bailey thought. His garage was empty, plain, like nobody lived here or someone had moved out and just left that on the wall. His bedroom was the same way, plain, one bed and one dresser, like he hadn’t fully moved in. The kitchen cabinets were empty as well except for the eating utensils and a few bowls, cups and plates and a few cleaning supplies. The living room just had two couches and a coffee table, there wasn’t even a television in there, and come to think of it there wasn’t one in the bedroom either. What did he do with his time?
Bailey jumped as she heard knocking on her passenger’s side window; she looked up and saw Cody standing there with his brow arched. Could he blame her? She was in deep thought and then heard knocking on her window, talk about scary.
Bailey sighed and unlocked the door. She didn’t have to open the door; Cody did it for her and helped her out of the truck. Bailey stood next to him as he opened the back and handed her, her shopping bags.
“Go ahead and put them upstairs in the walk in closet.” He didn’t even bother looking at her as he started grabbing groceries.
What was up with him? Whatever, Bailey didn’t want to bother with him either.
Bailey carried her stuff inside and walked up the stairs and into his bedroom. When she opened the walk in closet she was amazed, this was the first time she’s actually looked inside of it and saw everything.
She saw a rack and walked up to it and started putting her clothing on hangers and started hanging. She had lots of new clothes, she couldn’t believe Cody bought her all this. She really couldn’t she didn’t even know why he did, he wouldn’t even let her pay him back, which was strange, since he was acting strange, like he didn’t want to be around her.
After finishing she looked around, and saw a few small brown boxes above on the shelf. One was marked HS, she didn’t know what that stood for. There was also four numbers, maybe a year? She couldn’t tell it was really faded.
Bailey looked around and took a peek outside the bedroom and heard Cody still down stairs, she closed the bedroom door and went into the walk in closet and closed that door as well.
She stared at the box, wondering if HS stood for High School, and then the year would be the year he graduated. She walked closer and got on her tip toes and barely reached it, she tried getting it down, little by little it was working but her feet were starting to hurt her along with her arms.
Bailey finally got the box down and then sat down and crossed her legs. She opened it up and pulled the box closer to her. There were all kinds of things in there, medals, pictures, books. They looked like year books; there were only three for some reason, shouldn’t he have four?
Bailey took those out and laid them next to her and dug deeper. She came across tickets, prom, home coming and movies tickets. She didn’t bother looking at them, so she put them aside and continued looking.
Bailey came across a thick envelope, she wondered what was in there, it wasn’t marked, just a plain white envelope. She looked in the box and didn’t find anything else that interested her so she decided to open the white envelope.
She flipped it over and rolled her eyes, there was a piece of tape that closed it off. How was she supposed to look now? She couldn’t just take it off, he would notice, well maybe if he looked in this box.
She stared the envelope a couple of more minutes and decided what the hell. She could replace the tape, he would never know, its not like he goes through this box, she looked at it and noticed what dust was on there, he defiantly didn’t look inside this box. She could replace the tape and the envelope later tonight or some other time.
She slowly opened the envelope and managed not to completely ruin it, she would just replace the tape, she smiled to herself. God, what was she doing? She shouldn’t be doing this, she suddenly thought. No, Cody was keeping something from her and maybe the answer was in this envelope? That was a poor excuse for looking in there but she was so curious now.
She peeked inside and saw a whole stack of, pictures? There were also other things, maybe tickets? They were small, she pulled them out and was right they were movie tickets and there was a whole stack, it was pretty thick. She set those aside and took out the pictures; Bailey almost dropped them as she saw the first one.
It was her and Cody together, she steadied her hand as she took off the rubber band that kept them together. She set the band down as she stared at the picture, what was this?
Where they actually more then what he said, like she thought all along. She put the picture behind the stack and looked at the next one. Another one of them together, she was on his back as he carried her, it looked like they were laughing. She flipped to the next one and her chest tightened, he was cupping her face as he was kissing her.
They were together, why would he not tell her? Why would he lie and say that they didn’t know each other in high school, they clearly knew each other. Why weren’t they together now? She flipped the next one, it was just her in a bathing suit, looking at the camera and trying to block it from taking a picture of her as she smiled.
She flipped through them and continued seeing pictures of them together. There must be at least a hundred pictures, she finally turned one over and noticed there was a date written on the back and there was a number of months.
Eight months? She turned the stack and flipped through them, they were all in order by date as well as month and the last month was eight. That’s how long they dated? Almost a year they were together? Why did it end at eight months?
Oh my god, is this why she’s so bothered about him? She couldn’t remember, but the emotions were there, that must be the reason there was no other explanation. Bailey heard a squeak and knew it was from the stairs; she quickly put the pictures back in the envelope and put the rest of the stuff in the box.
She heard the bedroom door open and panicked. Shit! Shit! Shit! She got up and managed to get the brown box back on the shelf right before she heard the knock on the closet door.
“Bay?” he softly asked.
Cody didn’t know if she was still in there, it’s been about forty minutes since she’s been up stairs. He didn’t think it took that long to put away clothes but what would he know everything was in fast pace for him, showers, getting dress, eating and he wasn’t a woman.
“I’ll be out in a minute,” Bailey yelled back.
She stood there, feet away from the door trying to compose her self. She wasn’t going to tell him, she couldn’t not right now. She was going to have to wait, well try and wait she didn’t know how long she could mask this.
She took a deep breath and opened the door, she didn’t smile, she was already upset when she came up here so she could still play upset. She still was because of what she found out but not for the reason he thought, he probably thought it was from earlier.
Bailey looked up at his and saw his concerned face, why did he care?
“Dinner is ready.” He told her as he studied her, something else was wrong. He could sense it, what would have caused her to sadden even more?
“If you don’t mind, I’d like to eat alone,” she averted her gaze, she felt like she was under a microscope, the way he was looking at her.
Bailey didn’t wait for him to answer, she walked passed him and closed the bedroom door behind her and started walking down the hall.
Cody stood there looking at the door, she wanted to eat alone? Not something he expected.
What was she doing in the closet? He walked in and looked around, noticed her stuff now hanging. He also noticed that his box was not how he left it.
Fuck! God, tell me she didn’t look in there. Cody grabbed it and looked inside and immediately noticed the white envelope wasn’t at the bottom how he left it, he took it out and let out a low curse, she looked inside, the tape was gone.
He didn’t bother looking; he put the box back up on the shelf, that’s why she was acting that way. She looked, doesn’t mean she remembered, he told himself. So she knows they were together, that he could deal with.
Bailey laid there in bed, alone. She couldn’t sleep, she had too much on her mind and Cody wasn’t in bed with her. He was in the other room or down stairs, she didn’t know and she shouldn’t care but she did she couldn’t help herself. Despite her knowing and being upset with him she still wanted him in bed. She wanted him holding her.
She sighed as she turned on to her side once again, she looked at the digital clock that was next to the bed, she’s been in bed for an hour, tossing and turning. She realized she probably wouldn’t get any sleep unless he came over and slept with her. She was actually afraid to sleep; when she slept with Cody she noticed she didn’t have any nightmares.
God, don’t do it Bailey, you’ll fall asleep evidentially, she told herself. Only she didn’t listen she was already up and walking towards the bedroom door.
She opened the door and peeked outside into the hall, noting that it was quite and dark. Where would he be? She’d check downstairs first, she slowly walked down the stairs and saw him lying on the couch with his chest bare; he was just in sweat pants with the gun on the coffee table.
“What do you need Bailey?” he softly asked.
Bailey stopped; she only had two more steps. She should just go back up stairs, he actually sounded annoyed, not what she wanted to hear, her chest tightened a bit. Was he annoyed with her?
“Never mine,” she whispered as she turned around and started walking back up the stairs.
“Bay, what do you need?” he asked again.
“Nothing,” she murmured. She was almost to the bedroom door when she heard Cody running up the stairs, she then felt his hand on her arm, sliding down, he turned her and gently pushed her chin up.
“What do you need Bailey?” he whispered as he looked her in her eyes.
Bailey averted her gaze; she didn’t want to ask him now.
“Nothing,” she whispered.
“Bailey.”
Bailey sighed; she never heard that tone before. “I was going to ask you to sleep…with….me.”
“Then why didn’t you?” he asked as he opened the bedroom door and pulled her along as he walked in.
He closed the door behind him, “Get in bed,” he told her. He let go of her hand and went into the bathroom.
Bailey didn’t wait, she walked over to the bed and got back under the covers and waited for him.
He wasn’t gone long and was already getting into the bed as Bailey settled herself.
“Come here,” Cody whispered as he pulled her to his chest and felt her settle against him.
Bailey didn’t want to sleep now, though she was tired she wanted something else from him. She still wanted him, even now.
She moved her hand and started trailing her finger over, between, and down the ridges of his stomach. Lightly feathering her finger back and forth, she felt his muscles tightening beneath her finger.
“Bailey, enough.”
He was still using that tone with her. She wondered, why?
“Why don’t you want me?” she managed to ask. “Am I that ugly to you?”
“God, no, Bailey you have no idea of how bad I want you. I can’t though baby, for many reasons, it just wouldn’t be fair.” He whispered against her hair right before he kissed her head.
“But I want to, so why do those reasons matter? I take it, it has something to do with our past, I won’t remember so why does it matter?”
“It matters Bay, why do think I haven’t had you yet? I don’t want to hurt you, leave it alone.” He softly told her.
She didn’t want to leave it alone; she kissed his chest and then flicked her tongue against his nipple.
Bailey felt him cup the side of her face, a little too tight. “Leave it alone Bailey,” he told her through clenched teeth.
“Let go of me,” she softly demanded.
Cody let go out her and she continued to kiss his chest, planting soft gentle kisses as her hand moved down, searching and coming up with what she wanted. She heard his soft groan as she gently began to stroke him.
She managed to prop herself up on her elbow and look at him, he was gazing at her, gazing at her lips. She wanted his as well. She leaned down and kissed him, she felt his hand in her hair, gripping the short strands she had as they moaned and deepened the kiss.