Mace: Conner Brothers Construction, Book 3 (CBC)

by Cee Bowerman

  “Yes - I’ll be right outside the door while she’s with patients and right beside her when she isn’t.”

  “Okay.” I blew out a breath. “Has Sonny found out if her brother is even here?”

  Jace looked down into his coffee and then glanced toward Reba’s bedroom and I knew the answer.

  “Where did he find him?”

  “Sitting across the street from her aunt and uncle’s house.”

  “Damn.”

  “They’re out of town at their daughter’s house right now, and it looks like they’re going to stay there for a while now.”

  “Did he approach him?”

  “Nah,” Jace shook his head. “Sonny didn’t actually see him. One of the neighbors saw him sitting outside and called Tink. They took a picture, sent it to Sonny, and he confirmed it was her brother.”

  “He was just sitting there watching their house?”

  “For hours. The neighbors called the cops and said he looked suspicious. He played them and said he was just there to surprise his aunt and uncle and they let him go on his way. Sonny was pissed that he didn’t get there first.”

  “What would he have done?”

  “Convinced him to go away?” Jace suggested innocently.

  Rason chuckled before he hid his smile with his coffee mug.

  “Probably would have invited him to bowling night, huh?” I said with a raised brow. I knew some of the Texas Kings, a motorcycle club here in town. My brothers and I had known the Forresters and even Reba’s cousin Sonny for years. I’d even had a few classes with some of them in high school, but we ran in different circles and never became friends.

  A few months ago, one of the Forresters and some of the Kings had helped us find Lena after she’d been kidnapped by her stepmother and a psycho she had worked with before she came to work for us. The man who’d kidnapped her was dead and we were waiting on her stepmother’s trial. It was a kind of tension and excitement our family wasn’t used to and here we were back in the same intense situation.

  I was out of my element, but I’d stay there for Reba. There was just something about her that I couldn’t pull away from, even if things got dangerous.

  “You still with us, man?” Rason nudged my shoulder as he laughed. “Just zoned out there for a second.”

  “Sorry.” I shook my head. “What did I miss?”

  “We know that Reba’s worried about her kids, so we were thinking she might like to go see them today. Maybe this evening?”

  “She’d like that, I’m sure.”

  “I’ll call Grunt this morning and see what they have planned and we’ll come up with a way for her to visit them,” Jace explained. “I’ll text you and let you know the plan.”

  “Okay.” I nodded. “I’ve got to get to work. I’ll take the bags she packed for the kids with me now and either have one of my brothers take them to the kids or we can give them to Grunt when we visit.”

  “Okay.” Jace nodded. “I’m going to see if I can get a few more hours of sleep until Reba wakes up.”

  “I’m probably going to nap all day, so I’ll just stay up.” Rason chuckled.

  “Kiss my ass,” Jace grumbled as he put his coffee mug in the sink.

  “Yeah, what he said,” I flipped Rason off and took another sip of my coffee before I dumped it in the sink and put my mug next to Jace’s. “Asshole.”

  ◆◆◆

  “Okay, so he’s crazy and he’s going to come after her and her kids for money?” Angus, my twin brother, had listened to me tell him and our other brothers about Reba’s situation, and he was ready to weigh in. “What the fuck kind of family is she from anyway?”

  “Dad left, mom’s a drunk, brother’s a nut.” I shrugged. “She’s got an aunt and uncle in town that she’s close to and a bunch of cousins. She trusts and depends on that support system. At least she’s got that. They’re friends with the Forresters, and Lena is too.”

  “That’s all well and good, but you’ve been on one date with her and now you’re moving in to be a bodyguard?” Angus didn’t mince words, and I tried to remember that before I snapped and punched him in the mouth.

  “What Angus is so eloquently trying to ask is are you sure that you’re ready for this level of commitment?” Finn, our oldest brother, asked from across the long table in the conference room where we held our daily meetings.

  “Well, I don’t know,” I said sarcastically. “I didn’t hold her hand and introduce her to my family after five minutes, and I haven’t been with her a month yet, so I can’t invite her entire family to move into one of our houses. I’m in unchartered territory here, guys.”

  “Wait just a fucking minute,” Angus growled at my dig at his relationship with Violet as he slammed his hands on the table. I noticed Finn didn’t speak up at all.

  “No, you wait just a fucking minute.” I stood up so fast, my chair flew back and hit the wall behind me. Angus stood up at the same time and his chair went flying too.

  “Guys!” Finn was between us in a heartbeat and put a hand on each of our chests to keep us separated. “As much as you two love to pound on each other, I don’t think there’s any reason for violence just yet.”

  “You want to bring Violet into this?” Angus yelled, his face red and angry.

  “I wasn’t talking about Violet, dumbass! I was talking about you!”

  “Fuck you!”

  “We all love her, asshole, but you’re not really one who has any room to fucking talk about moving fast, are you?” I yelled as I tried to reach around Finn to grab my twin. “You want to jump up and be a dick, I’ll put you down.”

  “Come on then.” Angus pushed at Finn and took a swing at me. Finn threw himself into Angus and his punch missed my face by mere inches. Suddenly, both of my arms were held in an iron grip. I wasn’t sure which one of my brothers was restraining me, but I saw that Ronan was now holding Angus and not having an easy time of it.

  “What in the hell is going on?” Lena yelled from the door of the conference room. I didn’t even glance at her and neither did Finn, but the second we heard one of the babies start to cry, every head in the room turned her direction.

  Lena stood in the doorway, one baby in a sling on her chest and the other held against her shoulder. Dylan was in the sling with his face scrunched up. Bellamy was the baby against her shoulder and she was straight pissed. Her little face was red and she was screaming loud enough to shake the windows.

  Lena’s attention, along with ours, focused on the babies. Tavin jumped up from the chair he was sitting in and took Bella out of Lena’s arms. He started bouncing her on his shoulder as he rubbed his hand over her back. Lena adjusted Dill so that she could comfort him. Once he was settled and Lena saw that Bella was calming down, her glare shot to me and Angus.

  “I’d appreciate it if you’d take your bullshit outside from now on. It would keep the people in this office who have working brains in their head a little calmer.” Lena reached out and took Bella out of Tavin’s arms and then marched out of the conference room, pulling the door shut behind her with a click.

  “Fuck.” Finn blew out a breath. “She was already pissed. Now she’s going to rain down hell.”

  “I wasn’t saying anything against Violet and Lena,” I explained now that the first surge of anger had passed. “I love those ladies, you know I do. I was trying to make a point and I did it badly.”

  “Sure as fuck did,” Angus snarled.

  “Are we taking this outside?” I growled right back.

  “Both of you sit down and shut the fuck up.” Royal picked up Angus’ chair and then scooted mine until it bumped the back of my legs. “Jesus, you’re acting like fucking children.”

  “We’ve established that Mace doesn’t have a problem with Vi or Lena,” Ronan said as he sat back down in his chair. “Now we need to work on what we can do to help Mace’s girl with her problem.”

  “Yes,” Chess agreed as he put his arms on the table and leaned in. “When do we g
et to meet her and what can we do?”

  ◆◆◆

  REBA

  “Are you okay?” Lena’s worried voice came through the phone line before I’d had a chance to say a word.

  “Yes,” I said slowly. “Why?”

  “Well, I overheard the guys talking in their meeting this morning. Mace told them what’s going on and said your kids are staying at a friend’s house.”

  “They are.” I dropped down into a chair in the breakroom and leaned my head back to stare at the ceiling. “I have an older brother. I’m not sure if I ever told you that.”

  “You mentioned it, but I assumed he lived with your mother. He was in prison?”

  “He tried to kill my mom and I. I come from crazy.” I gave Lena the high points of why my brother went to prison and then listened as she tried to reassure me that everything was going to be okay.

  “Oh, honey. We’ve all got a little crazy in our family trees. From the way the men were acting this morning, I’m realizing that every damn one of them has a pretty healthy dose. They just keep it hidden most of the time.”

  “What happened?”

  “Mace and Angus almost got into a fistfight in the conference room.”

  “Why? Because of me?”

  “No, not because of you. Because they’re both stubborn asses who’d rather grumble and growl than just talk about their feelings. All of the damn Conners are that way, really, except maybe Finn.”

  “You’re just saying that because you love him.”

  “Yeah, maybe.” Lena laughed. “Okay, definitely.”

  “I don’t want to cause any problems between Mace and his brothers.”

  “You didn’t, Reba. They worked everything out. Apparently Mace was trying to make a point and he did it badly by bringing mine and Finn’s relationship and Violet and Angus’s relationship into the discussion.”

  “Oh, no. Why would he do that?” I whispered.

  “I’m not sure, and even if I did know, I think I might have already said too much. I’m not sure where the boundaries lay as far as my loyalty to Finn and his family and my need to talk to you. It’s an odd position to be in.”

  “I’ll see if Mace says anything. I won’t let him know we talked about it.”

  “Thank you,” Lena said sincerely. “He’s going to be staying with you for a while? He said he’s not coming back out here for meetings or anything for now. He’s going to go straight to the job site and just call in and talk to everyone on speaker.”

  “Yeah, he said something about that. He doesn’t want my brother to set his sights on any of your family.”

  “Oh, honey,” Lena whispered. “I’m so sorry you’re going through this. Are you okay?”

  “Yeah,” I choked out, but I knew Lena didn’t believe me. I was trying so hard to hold it together, but I was terrified. I knew Lena well enough to know she’d understand, but I just couldn’t form the words without tearing up. I had three more hours of work ahead of me and couldn’t let go just yet.

  “I know you’re lying but I’ll let it go for now.”

  “Okay. I’m at work and I just can’t…”

  “I understand, but I want you to call me when you can talk, okay? I’m here for you. Maybe we should get together…”

  “No!” I barked out. “I’ll see you when you come in for an appointment, but I don’t want my brother to figure out that you’re important to me. He’ll find a way to use it against me.”

  “My leg hurts,” Lena lied. “When’s your next open spot?”

  “You have an appointment tomorrow,” I chuckled.

  “I mean right now. Are you busy this afternoon? I’ll come up there and be a patient for an hour so we can talk. I’ll even let you do your voodoo shit on my leg while I’m there.”

  “No, I’m booked for the afternoon,” I laughed for a second, amazed that Lena could take me out of my funk so quickly. “I’ll try and call you tonight. If I don’t have a chance, I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow.”

  “Maybe we can skip the voodoo witchcraft and just talk?”

  “Not a chance, Lena.” I laughed as she tried to weasel her way out of physical therapy. “We can talk while you work.”

  “Even though I love you and I’m worried about you, I still think you’re the devil.”

  “I know you do.” I laughed again. “Thank you for making me laugh, Lena. You’re the best, but my next patient should be here. I need to let you go. I promise to call tonight.”

  “You better, Satan.”

  I snapped the phone closed and dropped it into the pocket of my scrubs as I walked toward the door of the breakroom. Just as I pushed through the door, one of the receptionists came around the corner and headed straight for me.

  “Look at these!” Stevie exclaimed. “Someone sent you flowers!”

  “Me?” I smiled, thinking about Mace. “He shouldn’t have!”

  “You’ve got a new beau?”

  “Yeah.” I smiled. “I do.”

  “I want to hear all about it, but I need to go back up to the front. The new girl is up there alone!” I watched Stevie rush away before I turned to take the flowers into my therapy room. They were just the thing I needed to brighten my day and I couldn’t wait to reward Mace for his thoughtfulness. Once I set the flowers on the cabinet beside my computer, I pulled out the little card that was nestled between the blooms.

  As soon as I got it out of the envelope, I dropped the card onto the counter and took a step back.

  I could see the wording clearly even though I had moved away.

  Little Sister was printed in a bold font and handwritten underneath that was the message, ‘It’s been too long. Can’t wait to catch up with you.’

  Darryl hadn’t signed the card, but it couldn’t be anyone else.

  I put one hand on my chest and the other onto the edge of the cabinet as I tried to catch my breath. He was really here and he knew how to find me. I’d tried to deny it hoping that Travis had been wrong, but now I knew for sure.

  Darryl had his crazy sights set on me, probably to try and finish what he had started years ago.

  16.

  “That’s not your forever, son. If she was, I’d be able to see it written all over your face.”

  Mrs. Conner

  REBA

  “Thank you for meeting me here,” I told the detective that had been assigned to my case. I knew that Uncle Tink’s friend had something to do with how serious they were taking Darryl’s appearance in town, but I wouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth. If the police were aware of what was going on, then I was one step closer to safety. “Did you find out anything about my brother’s case?”

  “I spoke to his parole officer and one of the stipulations of his release was that he has no contact with you.” Detective Amerson pushed a piece of paper across the table toward me and I glanced down at it. “That summarizes what’s going on. If there’s ever an occasion where the police are called, you can show them this and they’ll give me a call. He’s not to have any contact with you or be within 500 feet of you or your mother.”

  “I don’t even know where our mother is now,” I told him honestly. “I haven’t talked to her since I turned 18.”

  “I found her contact information from her last arrest and have a police officer in that town looking for her right now. I thought it best to give her a heads up that he’s out. In a perfect world, they would have let you know, but I realize they didn’t do that.”

  “Not a word.” I laughed darkly. “Although I didn’t exactly leave a forwarding address when I left my hometown.”

  “Either way, his PO explained that he doesn’t have permission to travel outside of the county where he was released. The flower delivery clearly shows he knows where you are and his intention to see you, but I won’t have proof that he actually made the purchase until I speak to the clerk at the flower shop. I guess he’s smart enough to realize signing the card would be a dumb move, but tormenting his victim and violating h
is parole orders isn’t a great plan either.”

  “Yeah,” I nodded. “He’s smart in an evil way, not in a let’s follow the rules so I can stay out of prison way.”

  “Unfortunately, not a lot of them are.”

  “So what you’re saying is to just live my life and see if he shows up?”

  “I understand that you have someone sticking close to you even when you’re at work.”

  “Yes and he comes to my house.” I affirmed. “My, well, the man I’m seeing insists he needs to stay with me too.”

  I honestly didn’t know what to call Mace. Boyfriend sounded a little juvenile, and I didn’t even know if that’s where we were. He insisted he was sticking around to figure out what this was between us, and I wanted to believe he meant that.

  I’d been let down by the men in my life enough to have a healthy skepticism when it came to a man’s word. This situation with Mace wasn’t any different. I’d believe it by the actions, not his words.

  I hated the fact that part of me didn’t trust Mace, but we’d only known each other a short time. What was it Sandra Bullock said in that movie? Relationships that start under intense circumstances never last, or something like that.

  “Ms. Lane?” I glanced up and saw that Detective Amerson was staring at me curiously.

  “I’m sorry.” I shook my head and grimaced. “My thoughts were wandering. What did you say?”

  “I told you that I need you to be aware of your surroundings.” Detective Amerson laughed at the irony. “Glad you were paying attention to my advice.”

  “Shit,” I whispered. “I will, it’s just a lot to take in right now.”

  “And you have children? How will you make sure they’re safe?”

  “They are,” I assured him and hoped I sounded more convinced than I felt.

  “Are they at home?”

  “No.”

  “Where are they?”

  “They’re safe.” I could tell that Detective Amerson was waiting for me to tell him where the kids were, but I wasn’t going to tell anyone. The more people that knew, the greater the chance of Darryl finding out. I wasn’t willing to risk it.