Matthew: House of Wilkshire ― Paranormal Dragon Shifter Romance

by Kathi S. Barton

  “You talk stupid.” She growled at him, and he laughed at her again. “You ain’t from around here, are you? You’re kind of dumb.”

  “It’s my accent or a twang, I guess. People hear my twang, and they think, my God, that woman is as dumb as a post in a hog pen. It’s a shame, really. I’m pretty smart. Why, I got all the way through high school without nary a lick of trouble from my teachers.” She was laying it on pretty heavily now and didn’t care so long as he was distracted while the police got their thumbs out of their asses and did their job. “I made it without havin’ myself a baby, too. Quite an accomplishment if you ask me. They sure was a lot of them poppin’ out when I was there.”

  “You’re dumb.” She rolled her eyes at him and caught a movement of color out of the corner of her eye. The fucking police were standing there watching the two of them like they were some sort of Broadway play, and they got themselves free tickets. “What are you looking at?”

  As he turned, she yanked hard on the bat. Surprised, he released it but grabbed for it a second time. Ryan popped the man in his twig and berries and had a thought that made her think that he’d not be able to reach himself down there and was more than likely as dirty as the bat he’d been carrying. Hitting him again when he didn’t go down, she watched as he fell to his knees.

  He grabbed her as he went down. Ryan wasn’t sure if he’d been grabbing for her or the bat again, but he knocked her back on her ass. Kicking him in the face, she noticed that the police were still standing there. Kicking fat man in the face again, she lost her hold on the bat.

  “I swear ta Christ, you four need to have your fuckin’ brains examined. Don’t you fuckin’ see that he’s getting’ the better of me?” Like they finally got a clue, the four officers stopped gawking and came to her aid, just as the bat came down on her knee. “Mother fucker, I’ve had enough.”

  Pulling out her gun and her badge, she shot the fat man in the head. The cops jumped back, putting their hands in the air. Fucking idiots thought that she was going to shoot them too. She might anyway, she thought, as she fell back on the hard floor.

  Ryan didn’t move when she was told to. Now, she thought, they figured out that they had a job to do. She handed them her gun as well as her badge and didn’t move again. She could hear them speaking around her, but right now, all she wanted was to assess her body. Which, to her estimation, was in fucking terrible shape. Closing her eyes, she wondered what someone was going to say about all this when they viewed the cameras. If they even worked.

  “Ryan Cord?” Opening one eye, she looked up. It took her until the woman told her that her name was Deb before she knew to answer her. “I asked the police, and they said that you can talk to your sister. I called her like you said. She’s mad. I don’t know who at yet, but I hope it’s you.”

  She didn’t even want to think about why the very woman that she’d just saved from being beat to fuck with a ball bat would hope that she was in trouble. Not in the best of humor, she barked out, “What?” to her sister.

  “You hurt?” She said that she was pretty sure that her leg was busted. “Why? Why the fuck would ya take on a man three times your size? Are ya insane? We just buried our parents, and now you’re wantin’ me to bury you?”

  “Cremate me.” Her sister started sobbing. “I’m sorry, Rylie. I’m so sorry. I hurt, and that’s makin’ me sort of snappish.”

  “You’re always snappish. How are you, really? Don’t tell me that you’re fine when I know you’re not. That woman, Deb—a moron, by the way—is pissed off that ya might get her fired for callin’ the police.” Ryan told her that she was just waiting on a meat wagon to take her in. “That had better be an ambulance, Ryan Cord, or so help me, I’m gonna hurt you when I see you. I’m leavin’ my house right now. I’ll see you at the hospital.”

  The police took her phone when she was finished with it. Not that she cared. In a couple of days, she was going to change it out anyway. It made her feel safe when she had a different phone all the time. She supposed it was because of her previous job. Being an FBI agent, even a retired one, would have people coming out of the woodshed to bag them an agent. She looked at the man standing over her.

  “There is an ambulance coming for you, Agent Cord.” She told him she was retired. It was stamped right on her badge. “Yes, ma’am, I saw that, but I don’t think it makes you any less an agent. At least not today.”

  “Are you their boss? The four over there?” He turned to look at them, then nodded when he looked back at her. “You should fuckin’ fire every last one of them. They didn’t do shit while we were beatin’ the fuck outta each other with that bat you got there. They didn’t even try and detain me when I shot him.”

  “I agree with you, Agent Cord.” She corrected him again. “You and I, we had an interview in a couple of hours. You think you can knock them into shape? The reason I ask is, this is the second time they’ve been afraid of coming up against Jimmy Donald.”

  “Who is that, and why should I care?” He told her it was the dead man beside her. “Bein’ afeared of a big man don’t mean shit if you’re the fuckin’ one with the gun. They know they carry guns, don’t they?”

  “I don’t know, to be honest with you. You’re southern if I don’t miss my bet.” She flipped him off, which brought a hard laugh in her direction. “Yes, ma’am, I think you’re going to make a good impression on these men when you’re better. I’m thinking your leg might be broken in a couple of places. Don’t you worry about the bill. The city will pick it up for you.”

  “I wasn’t worried about it at all. You’d pay or not. No sweat off my balls.” He asked her if she had any—you know, just curious. “What the fuck is wrong with the people in this town? Are you all on fuckin’ hallucinogens? Do I look like I have a pair of balls?”

  She even put her hand over her bits and pieces to make sure that the idiot could see that she wasn’t sporting anything like nuts in a sack like you got at the fair. Ryan knew right then that there wasn’t any way that she was going to be working for this little burg. Like her plan just before their parents had been killed by a drunk driver, it was time she and her sister got on a plane and took off for parts, not in this town.

  When she was loaded up in the ambulance, the medic asked her health questions as well as if she was dating anyone as they tried to keep her bloodied leg from moving. Threatening him only had the man laughing too. Ryan didn’t know what sort of shit they were giving people, but she wanted out of there. The ride to the hospital was punctuated by dirty jokes and placing bets on who some unknown singer was on the television tonight. Ryan hadn’t the slightest idea what that was all about.

  As soon as she was in the emergency room, she saw Rylie. Her sister was dressed up like she was going to a meeting or something. Since she knew that Rylie dressed like that all the time, she didn’t bother asking her where else she was going. Instead, she held her hand while the staff determined that her leg was broken. She sat up to tell the doctor that she fucking knew that. Rylie held her down.

  “Don’t say it, Ryan. Just cooperate. Please?” Nodding, she laid back down. Then when one of the nurses asked if they were related, it was too much. She squeezed Rylie’s hand until she let her go. “Don’t do this today. Please don’t hit anyone, fire anyone, or whatever you do to hurt people when they think they’re bein’ funny. All right? Just let them have their fun, and we’ll do that trip we’ve been talkin’ about forever. All right? Please?”

  “Rylie, I had to kill a man today. Because the police stood there watchin’ him beat the shit out of me, I have a broken leg. Not to mention, the man I was to interview with was one of the people at the bank. I hurt. I miss Mom and Dad, and I just want to go away for a while. A place that doesn’t know us. About the trip—I was thinkin’ about that too on the way in here.” Nodding, Rylie told her all the things they’d do to get ready also that she was going to have Ryan’s thing
s moved to her house. “If you don’t mind, yes, I’d like that. I don’t know how long I’ll be in here. Or what they’ll end up doin’ to me.”

  “I’ll take care of it. It’s no problem. When I was nearly here, the bank called and told me that the deposit had been made. You didn’t do that, did you?” Ryan told her that she didn’t get a chance. “Apparently, the person you helped out, she found it where you put it and made sure that it was deposited for you.” They told them that she was headed to surgery. “I’ll be right there when you wake up. Just cooperate. I know ya can do it. You did it at the funeral home when that idiot wanted to bury our parents in different cemeteries.”

  It made her smile as she was put on the elevator. The pain meds had kicked in while in the ER, so she could think beyond the pain now. She really had held her temper when the director had suggested that they put them in different cemeteries. The reason for that was he thought that since she and Rylie did not live close to each other, they could visit a parent on their end of the United States. Ryan couldn’t begin to tell anyone that story without feeling her blood pressure rise.

  They were prepping her for surgery when she thought of all the reasons that she’d retired. Mostly it was the stress level. It was entirely her fault. Ryan had it in her head that if you shot all the bad guys, there would be a lot less crime in the area. Not one person she knew would agree with her. Ryan also hated her boss. He was a pig headed chauvinistic prick that thought because she was a female, it meant he could and did hit on her. When he hinted to her that she’d be a better agent if she let him fuck her, she decided that she could do better.

  Going to his boss was like crossing the ocean in a blowup boat. There was one fucking wave after another tilting her boat to the point of capsizing. When she finally got to talk to him, he acted like she should have done what her boss wanted and not bothered him about it. Two weeks later, after recording a conversation with her boss, then his boss, they were both fired. It was a good idea; she’d been told to find another avenue of employment.

  She did, by retiring with full benefits, including pay. Not only was Ryan getting her checks each week, but she was also on the Agencies insurance plan, as well as all the other perks that she had enjoyed while being an agent. Except, of course, she could no longer investigate crimes for them, which suited her just fine. She’d had her work cut out for her when she decided that being propositioned in a government office was just too much for her.

  Waking up, she found her sister close to her bed. Looking around, trying to determine the date and the time, she found a nurse at the end of her bed. Asking her the questions, of course, woke up Rylie.

  “It’s Tuesday, Agent.” She told her that she was retired. “You might think that, but the man that was in here earlier said that you worked for him. He’s still around—do you want me to find him for you?”

  “No. Unless he’s the president, then nope, I’m fine without him.” She told her she’d be back. “Rylie, why didn’t you go home? Damn it, woman, what do I have ta do ta you ta make you understand that I’m a big girl?”

  “Not get shot? How ‘bout not tryin’ to detain a man with a baseball bat? I know, why don’t ya quit carryin’ a gun that is bigger than my head? I’m older than you, and I will tie you to a chair if I have ta.” Ryan told her it was only by four minutes. “That still makes me older, even if it was only four seconds. They set your leg, but you’re gonna be off it for a little while. The break was to your tibia. There is bruisin’ to your fibula, but with a lot of rest and doing as you’re told, ya should be out of commission for about six weeks. I told the surgeon that ya’d would be walkin’ in two weeks if he didn’t do something ta keep ya bedridden for that long. I don’t think he believed me.”

  “I love you too. And my gun is not bigger than your head.” Rylie took her hand into hers again. “I’m all right. I promise you. I’ll be good and not murder anyone while I’m here. Also, I know that sayin’ this is just going in one ear and out the other, but ya don’t have to stay here all the time. Nor do ya have to visit me every day. I’m fine being by myself.”

  “You’re right.” She thought that she’d finally gotten it in her head that she was really all right. “It is like ya said—one ear out the other. I’m here. I’m stayin’. Other than our very wonderful brother, we’re all we have. I called Dillon. He said that he’d call me back. That was three hours ago. I think that Sandra, not Sandy, is gettin’ on his nerves too. Dillon said he’d be by tomorrow. I made sure he was comin’ alone.”

  “Good idea.”

  They talked about everything, but really nothing all that earth shattering. Mostly about how much they missed Mom and Dad, and how the funeral had been nice. Ryan was getting meds through some kind of IV set up and was dozing off more than she was paying attention. When Rylie told her that she’d be back after getting something to eat, Ryan let the drugs take her away.

  ~*~

  Rylie was just leaving the floor when a man stopped her. “You’re a difficult woman to get in touch with. I was wondering if we can have a conversation about the bank incident. There are other things too that we need to discuss, but for now, that will ease my mind about things. What do you say?”

  “It wasn’t an incident. Someone was killed. I don’t think ya are looking for me anyway.” She studied his face and thought she knew him. “Who are you? I should know you, but with all the stuff that’s goin’ on lately, I don’t remember where from. Are you a friend of Dillon?”

  “The brother.” She nodded, still unsure how she should know him. “You should know me. At least I hope so. Ryan told me that the two of you were identical, but I didn’t know it would be impossible to tell you apart. My name is Stanley Dunlap.”

  “Very funny. That’s the name of the—” Rylie looked around at the six men that were with him. They were dressed in dark suits, had earphones over their ears, and she could see the guns at their waists. “Ya are the president. Ya called the house too. Not Tanner, like I heard, but Stanley. I don’t remember ya givin’ me a last name, now that I think on it. What do ya want with my sister? She’s not goin’ ta work for you again. You people need ta know boundaries. And when a woman says no, ya had better listen to her. As far as I’m concerned, ya can’t even speak ta her.”

  “You two are a great deal alike in temperament, too, aren’t you, Miss Cord?” Feeling her face heat up, she took his arm when he offered it to her. “Ryan doesn’t have direct contact with me, but I have spoken to her on occasion. She has a bit of a temper, doesn’t she?”

  “What do you want her for?” They were outside her sister’s room now, and she turned to bar it from the man. “Ya have to know that she’s been hurt. Not just today, but by whatever the heck ya call that department that she worked for. They treated her like a pro. And I don’t mean the kind that works on tractors.”

  He stared at her for several seconds, then laughed. She didn’t think she was being funny, and slapped him. All the men surrounding the president drew their guns and pointed them right at her head. Rylie didn’t care. The man wasn’t going to be taking her sister anywhere. Nor was he going to make her do anything. Lifting her chin to him, trying her best to show that she wasn’t frightened of him at all, she glared hard at him.

  “Yes, I think you and your sister are a great deal alike.” The men backed off. Rylie, however, wasn’t going to. “I would like to offer her a job. One that will make it so that she’s in charge of the FBI. I’d very much like for her to run it, but she can say no.”

  “I will, too.” The door opening behind her had her looking at the nurse that was standing there. Ryan was sitting up in her bed. When she spoke again, Rylie went to be with her. “I don’t want to run anythin’. I want to live out my life in peace and quiet. I want nothin’ ta do with the Feds, nor the shit that they do. You’re wasting your breath.”

  “I still would love to talk to you.” Ryan laid back on the bed, an
d Rylie looked at her. There was blood on her sheets as if she’d tried to move around or something. “Ryan, you know as well as I do that the place is corrupt. Someone like you needs to get in there and run it. It’s the only thing between me shutting it down and keeping it operating.”

  “No.” Rylie wanted to point out that he said that he’d not make her do anything. “I’m exhausted, Stanley. My parents just died. I have things I have to deal with with my sister and brother that are takin’ a lot of time and shit from me. I just need some downtime. Somethin’ that I needed well before you talked me into recordin’ the conversations between Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb. Just go away. I need to rest. I need time. My sister and I are going on a much needed trip so that we can mellow out and be human again.”

  “All right. I can deal with that. But when you return, I’m going to be hitting you up again. The country needs you, Ryan.” Rylie snorted at the same time Ryan did. “I think you two should do stand up. You’re about as funny as they come. I’ll be in touch.”

  After he left, leaving behind two of his men to watch over them, Rylie looked at her sister. She looked exhausted. One of the agents stuck his head in the door and asked if they wanted anything to eat. Rylie was ready to tell them no, but Ryan told him that they both wanted double meat subs from Randy’s, and a gallon of their sweet tea. After the man left, leaving Ryan a weapon, Rylie asked her what she had meant by the tweedles, and she told her.

  “My two bosses. He felt they were in violation of some rules and asked me ta take them down. I did, and now he thinks I’m the best thing since Grandma Eddie’s lemon meringue pie. I don’t want ta go work for him, Rylie, but the perks would be great right now. I mean, we still have a lot of shit ta pay off.” Rylie said they’d get it. “Not in our lifetime, and ya know it. Our kids’ kids will be payin’ for shit that happened to their great grandparents. This fuckin’ sucks.”