Some Kind of Wonderful

by Dixie Lynn Dwyer

  “I’m a terrible mother. Terrible,” Elsie cried and shook her head as she held her face in her hands. A quick glance toward a very scared and sad Aiden, and C.C. immediately went into a protective mode.

  “You are not a terrible mother. You’re pushing yourself too much too soon.”

  “It’s been two years, C.C.”

  “No, a year and a few months technically, and your injury was bad. It takes time. You can walk. Doing other things at the same time take time for muscles and coordination to adjust again. You were always a klutz anyway,” C.C. teased. Elsie gasped. C.C. looked at Aiden and winked. As he saw his mom laughing, his frown turned to a smile and he stood back up and wiped the tears from his eyes. “Come on, big guy, help Aunt C.C. will ya?” she said, and Aiden walked to the closet under the sink and pulled out the cleaning spray. He joined her by the mess on the floor, and together they cleaned up the eggs.

  “Now, what are we going to do? I destroyed the eggs.”

  “Not all of them, Mommy. Look, there are three left,” Aiden said.

  “That won’t do at all,” Elsie said.

  “It will do for pancakes, and I do believe there are just enough blueberries left to make them blueberry pancakes. Unless some blueberry monster ate them all again,” C.C. teased Aiden and ruffled his shaggy blonde hair.

  He giggled. “I left some,” he said, teasing her back.

  C.C. smiled. “How about you help me, big guy? Go grab the stuff we need, I’ll grab the griddle,” C.C. said, and Aiden walked over to the pantry as C.C. continued to clean up. She washed her hands and was right next to Elsie by the sink.

  “You’re so good with him. You’re more a mother to him than I ever could be.”

  “Shhh, that isn’t true at all. We’re raising him together. I’m not leaving you, or Aiden. We’ll get through this, and every day you’ll get stronger and soon you’ll be back out there, living your life, going to work, providing for your son.”

  Tears filled Elsie’s eyes. “I want that. So badly I do, I just don’t know. I fear so much.”

  “Understandable. You’ll get stronger. You’ll see.” Aiden came over stacking things onto the counter. “Okay, kiddo, wash your hands and let’s do this.”

  An hour later, cleanup was done, bellies were full, and C.C. cleaned up around the house. She texted Cherise to see how she was feeling, and then she got a text from John, from Finnigan’s bar. He asked if she could work tonight. It was her night off from Harper’s, but Finnigan’s was having some sort of beer fest or something, and the place needed extra bartenders and wait staff. She would be bartending if she accepted.

  “Who is that?” Elsie asked.

  “John. He asked if I can work tonight at Finnigan’s. They’re having that beer fest and some kind of event or something. He needs me in by four.”

  “You’re tired though, and have been working so much.”

  “I know, but the money is good, and you have to grab it while you can. It’s usually not as busy as Harper’s, and more men than women there, so the drinks are basic instead of all those girlie drinks and mixed concoctions. I need a new tire for the car. I need to make that appointment soon.”

  Elsie looked upset. “Elsie, I put the money aside for this, remember? I have separate envelopes for all the different things we might need money for. Repairs is one of them.” C.C. reminded her.

  “And what about Bennet’s dad?” C.C. felt her stomach ache and her heart immediately pound. She hated that man, that family. When everything happened to her sister—which was right after Bennet tried to force C.C. to have sex with his friends—his dad, Cobus, who didn’t want her pressing charges of attempted rape, had paid off some of her sister’s hospital bills. C.C. didn’t want to owe that family anything, so she would send payments to Cobus’s lawyer. Always a check, documented so they couldn’t pull any funny business. Cobus wanted her to marry his son, but Bennet was a batterer and a sexist. Then Cobus realized how screwed up his son was, and he went out of his way to check on her and Elsie, and make sure they didn’t need anything else. She gulped. “I don’t have many payments left to him. I’m going to work for John and Keith today,” she stated and texted back that’s he would be there by four.

  “Seriously I’m not in the mood,” Conan said to Birdie. Birdie chuckled.

  “Like I’m in the mood?”

  “Birdie, you don’t mind crowds and shit. I do. Let’s just chill tonight,” Conan said to him. Axel chuckled as he leaned back on the recliner.

  “It’s a beer fest. The owners of Finnigan’s put on a nice event, and a lot of the guys will be there. We can go for a little while. Ya know, to show face. I think Kenny and Rome may stop in. It would be nice to have a few beers with them. The last month or so has been rough on them,” Birdie said, and Conan nodded.

  “Okay, for a little bit.”

  “Sucker,” Axel chimed in.

  Freddie chuckled. “I’ll stick around with the patient in case he needs help,” Freddie said to them.

  “I don’t need shit. I keep telling you guys that,” Axel replied.

  “Then we should all go. You, too, Axel. Come meet the guys. See Rome and Kenny. It’s been a couple of years. You’ve been here a week,” Birdie stated.

  “Come on, really?” Axel complained.

  It was decided after a bit more teasing that they would all stop by Finnigan’s for a few beers and to see Rome and Kenny.

  “What are you doing working here?” Rome asked C.C. as he stood by the bar with Kenny. He didn’t like being away from Cherise, but she insisted they come by Finnigan’s tonight. Landon and Eric were with her.

  “I sub in on nights off if John and Keith need the extra help. This is pretty wild here tonight. I didn’t expect so many people,” she said to him. C.C. was a very attractive young woman, and Cherise had taken an instant liking to her and a protective role in her life, but C.C. was resistant. He could see the men flirting with her and it was constant, but she held her own.

  “Hey, gorgeous, another Bud Light for me.” Some guy approached and licked his lips as he stared at her top. C.C. smiled and remained her friendly, bubbly self. She placed the bottle down, and the guy gave her the money. She returned with his change, and then John came over to say hello and greet Axel, Conan, Birdie, and Freddie who just approached. Axel gave Rome a hug and slap on his back.

  “How’s the arm?” he asked him.

  “Eh,” Axel replied and then looked at C.C. Rome saw Birdie already giving her a big hello as Conan and Freddie immediately took in the sight of her. Rome snorted to himself. Seemed maybe Cherise was onto something after all.

  “Meet C.C. She’s a good friend of Cherise’s and works at Harper’s.” Rome introduced Axel.

  “Nice to meet you,” she said and reached out her hand for him to shake. Alex did, and she widened her eyes and then pulled her hand back and looked at Rome.

  “How is Cherise feeling? I was supposed to come by this afternoon, but then John asked me to work.”

  “She’s doing better. She mentioned something about you coming by on Sunday,” Kenny said, joining them.

  “That’s the plan, but we’ll see.”

  “You’re working a lot, C.C. When did you start working here, too?” Kenny asked with concern, and Rome noticed that Axel, Freddie, Conan, and Birdie were staring at her. Jesus, the poor woman looked ready to run.

  She gave a soft smile and wiped down the counter then nodded toward Axel’s bottle of beer he’d finished, seeing if he wanted another one. He nodded. She grabbed the beer. “I just cover here and there for special events like tonight if I’m not scheduled to work at Harper’s.”

  They heard a long whistle and then a deep loud voice. “Is that my number one Harper’s girl?” Rome looked to the right and in walked Rogan McCalten and gang. Him and his seven friends, all big guys, all retired military, headed straight for the bar, smiling wide. They said hello to Rome, Kenny, and then nodded at Birdie and the guys before his eyes went to C.C. �
�Sugar, what are you doing here?” he asked.

  “Who the heck cares? She just made my night. Hot damn, you look fine as usual, honey,” Connor said to her.

  “Why thank you, gentlemen, for the compliments. So what can I get ya?” C.C. asked.

  Some drunk guy pushed through and nearly knocked into Birdie. “If she comes in a bottle I’d wrap my lips around it.”

  “Hey.” Birdie reprimanded the guy.

  “What? She’s hot. Has a nice rack on her and her ass—”

  Birdie decked the guy, and he lay out on the floor. “Next round is on me, guys,” Rogan said, as a couple of the guys picked up their friend who was moaning and sporting a black eye. Everyone cheered around them, but Rome looked at C.C. as John placed his arm over her shoulders. She looked scared as Birdie held her gaze.

  “Are you okay?” he asked her as he stretched his fingers.

  She nodded her head as Keith gathered some ice in a rag and handed it over to Birdie. “Nice shot.”

  “He had it coming,” Birdie replied, still looking angry and making C.C. walk away to the other end of the bar.

  Birdie was fuming mad, and his brothers, friends, and his cousin, Axel, all knew not to say a word to him. The nerve of that asshole coming in here and talking about C.C.’s body like that. She was young, sweet, and petite. She wouldn’t stand a chance against a guy like that. Birdie hoped he set that asshole straight and others that were around. That thought shocked him. He was attracted to C.C. Shit, most single men would be. She was gorgeous, with long, thick, blonde hair, amazing hazel-green eyes, and was a true Southern belle, if he accurately identified her Carolina accent. She was sexy as could be, but definitely not too confident when it came to handling aggressive men.

  He felt the nudge to his arm. “You and your team keep staring at her with daggers in your eyes and you’ll never have a chance,” Kenny told him.

  Birdie turned toward Kenny. “What?” he asked, eyes squinted.

  Kenny gave him a stern expression, yet there seemed to be a little smirk on his face. “I know you and your brothers, your cousin, too, are out of practice. Believe me when I tell you, giving the woman daggers won’t give you a chance with her.”

  “Who said we wanted a chance with her?” Kenny chuckled and then looked at Rome, who looked serious.

  “You guys interested in C.C.?” Rome asked.

  “No,” Birdie said, and he glanced at Axel who was still watching C.C. Then at Conan and Freddie who were to the right talking to Rogan and his buddies, but they were looking down the bar at C.C.

  “It hits you out of nowhere, man,” Kenny said.

  “Out of nowhere,” Rome added then took a slug from his bottle of beer.

  From there on out, things felt different. Birdie’s mind started to travel in a thousand directions. He was thirty-five years old. His family was right here. Freddie, Conan, and his cousin Axel. They had been through hell and back several times. Were still doing work for the military on a per project basis and nothing that would bring them back into the middle of shit. He thought it would be easier to not think about this, about C.C. if he were on active duty. Then he could say things were too uncertain, too dangerous to engage in something. He thought about his buddies. Axel was in a fragile state since he just returned and retired last. A forced retirement because of an injury he would need physical therapy for. Freddie and Conan were hardcore. They had their routines, their attitudes, and hell, the four of them were like brothers, and they were three times the size of C.C. Nothing could come of this. It would be a huge mistake.

  C.C. tried to avoid going over by Rome, Kenny, Birdie, Freddie, Conan, and Axel. It was like something changed in the atmosphere over there. She couldn’t believe that Birdie had decked that guy for how he was talking about her body. She was glad he did. So many times guys said things like that. She should be used to it, but she wasn’t. She hated being seen as a sexual object. It made her think about Bennet and his friends, and how they all wanted her in their bed. As Rome and Kenny said good night, she couldn’t help but to think how lucky Cherise was for finding men like them, and Eric and Landon. Their relationship was honest and true. They loved her and she loved them and it worked. C.C. gave up on having some kind of wonderful…anything. Bad luck, long hours working and saving money, and hopefully happiness for Aiden and her cousin.

  She had to walk back over to get the guys more beer as John was caught up talking to his friends.

  “Another round?” she asked, as all four men gathered right there and watched her. She got them their beers, then she looked at Birdie. That light blond hair, the blond beard, and hard expression on his face, and even in those deep blue eyes of his. “How is your hand?” she asked. He wasn’t using the ice, and she could see that his knuckles were a little red. She also noticed the tattoos on his forearm, as well as the chords of muscles.

  “Just fine,” he told her.

  She nodded. “You didn’t need to do that. He was just being an idiot.”

  “No, he needed to do that. The guy was an asshole,” Freddie said to her and looked her over. Those same deep blue eyes as Birdie, but his hair was brown, he had scruff along his chin and cheeks, and it made him look sexy.

  She felt so hot, so aroused, and it shocked her. “Well, thanks.” He nodded, and she looked at Axel, the big, mean-looking guy with a full trimmed beard, dark hair, super large muscles, and tattoos along his arms and one arm in a sling. “What did you do?” she asked and nodded toward the sling.

  “Nothing,” he said to her, and she got that he didn’t want to talk about it.

  “Enjoy the beers,” she said as two other guys approached and asked her for one of the beer specials. As she got them, the two guys hit on her and she couldn’t even pretend to be nice. She could feel Birdie and his brothers’ eyes on her, and it affected her too much for her liking. This wasn’t good at all.

  “She’ll be okay walking out of there later?” Axel barked as they all got into the truck to head back to the ranch.

  “John and Keith will walk her out. I spoke to them a little while ago,” Conan said. Freddie was quiet. He couldn’t believe this. So he wasn’t the only one who was attracted to C.C. Why hadn’t any of them let onto that? Not even when she was at the hospital visiting Cherise, or at the house when they got there, never mind at Harper’s.

  “Not for nothing, but why the hell didn’t any of you say that you were attracted to her before tonight?” Freddie asked.

  No one said a thing. Well, Freddie wasn’t going to start talking about this. Who the hell were they all kidding? The woman was young and sexy as sin. Too sweet for hardcore military commandos like them. Jesus, he probably couldn’t even hold a woman like her without causing injury. Well, if they weren’t talking then he wasn’t talking.

  Chapter 2

  Cobus Conseco looked at the email. C.C. had sent another check. Right on time, every month, to the day. She was insistent on paying back the debt she owed even though Cobus and his son Bennet told her not to. They hadn’t wanted to anger her more. His son was an idiot, but he understood his desire to possess such a beautiful, sexy woman like C.C. Young, impressionable, and head over heels for Bennet when they first started dating, even Cobus was jealous. She had an incredible body, and as Cobus gave her a more prestigious position as a manager, she declined and wanted to continue bartending because she made more money in tips. Foolish woman. She had no idea about status, about needing to obey orders. His son failed at enforcing that authority he should have had over his woman. Instead he tried to force her to have sex with his buddies. Idiot. Why share such a sexual goddess? She could have been trained to obey.

  He had been smarter. Cobus immediately stepped in to assist when her cousin got into trouble. He remained by her side, and she trusted him. He talked to C.C. several times over the last year. Just making a phone call every few months to check on her and of course say she didn’t need to pay any more to him. She declined, but she kept a relationship going with him. Perha
ps she was attracted to him after all, and was hesitant because she had slept with his son and dated Bennet for a year?