by Meadow Rayne
Twice The Trouble Three Times The Fun
Stepbrother Romance
By: Meadow Rayne
Copyright/Disclaimer
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
©Copyright 2015 by Meadow Rayne - All rights reserved.
In no way is it legal to reproduce, duplicate, or transmit any part of this document in either electronic means or in printed format. Recording of this publication is strictly prohibited and any storage of this document is not allowed unless with written permission from the publisher. All rights reserved.
Respective authors own all copyrights not held by the publisher.
Dedication:
To my readers, you allow me to live my dream every day and I am forever grateful for that.
WARNING: This eBook contains sexually explicit scenes and adult language. It may be considered offensive to some readers. This eBook is for sale to adults ONLY
Please ensure this eBook is stored somewhere that cannot be accessed by underage readers.
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Table of Contents
Twice The Trouble Three Times The Fun
Do You Love To Read Sizzling Hot Romance?
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
About The Author
Bonus Offer
Chapter 1
The sun rose high over the California highway, shedding its merciless light over the black top. Waves of sweltering heat erupted from the asphalt and the Mustang purred through them as it neared its destination. Rose Theroux was at the wheel. She pressed the gas pedal to the floor with a foot formed of lead.
Mere moments ago, she had received a phone call that had sent her rocketing toward Stockton, California. The call had been from her mother, Dixie Mason, and it concerned the welfare of her step-brother, Ty. Ty had sustained injuries from a vicious beating and was now hospitalized at St. Luke’s General. Dixie was there to see him as was Ty’s twin brother, Tab. The only one missing from the family reunion was Rose.
The speedometer needle climbed steadily but she paid it little heed. She was focused on the gut wrenching feeling she would experience if anything happened to Ty.
Rose shook her head and began to grind her teeth. She had warned Ty years ago that the life he had chosen was a dangerous one and that he should get out as soon as he could. Apparently, her warning hadn’t come soon enough.
A large curve loomed in the road ahead of her. Rose let up on the gas but, as she exited the bend, she accelerated again.
An unwelcome siren blare caused her to jump in her seat. She hadn’t seen the cruiser when she had passed the side road, but he had apparently seen her. Cursing under her breath, she switched to the brake pedal and brought the car to a rolling stop at the side of the highway.
The California Highway Patrolman opened his car door and approached the car, gravel crunching under his boots. Rose dug through her purse and withdrew the necessary identification.
The CHiP made a “roll down the window motion” and she did so with the touch of a button. The Mustang’s power window slowly dropped.
“If I show you my boobs, will you let me off with a warning?” she asked, grinning up into the man’s face.
The patrolman removed his sunglasses and grinned back. “I thought that was you, Rose. What’s the hurry?”
“My step-brother is in the hospital, Chris. I have to get there as soon as possible.”
“Ty or Tab?”
“Ty. Mom says he was beaten pretty bad. She didn’t tell me anything else.”
“Is he still with the Jesters?”
“Yes. Wish I could say he wasn’t.”
Chris shook his head. “What a waste. That guy could have been a rocket scientist. Tab still with him?”
“When are twins ever apart?”
“They’re going to get themselves killed one day.”
“I know.” She bit her lip.
Chris waved a finger at her. “I’ll let your infraction go this time, but you had better keep it under seventy all the way into town. If I catch you again, I’ll cite you.”
“Thanks, Chris,” she said. “Are you coming in this week?”
“I can’t. Apparently, it’s unbecoming for Highway Patrolman to frequent a topless bar.”
“Daisy will be disappointed.”
“You think so?”
“I know so.”
“Damn.”
“I’ll let her know you were thinking about her. Maybe she’ll work something out.”
“Yeah. Do that. And, remember to keep it under seventy.” He strode back to his cruiser.
Rose replaced her I.D. and waited until Chris drove away. Then she pulled back onto the road. Chris had gone in the opposite direction and didn’t see her when the needle touched eighty-five.
Chapter 2
Rose chewed her nails as the elevator carried her to the ninth floor where the ICU unit was located. When the doors opened, her mother stood outside them. Her eyes widened at the sight of her daughter and she quickly embraced her.
A lump formed in Rose’s throat and she pushed it down. Dixie’s face was drawn and haggard. She looked twenty years older than her forty-five years.
“Oh, Rose,” she cried. “I’ve never seen him so bad.”
Rose held her mother as Tab stood off to the side, his back toward her. Her step-brother wore dust-covered jeans, motorcycle boots and a T-shirt, as well as the Kutte which displayed his colors. Emblazoned across the back was a large and intimidating skull sporting a fiendish grin and a fool’s cap. There was nothing foolish about the Jesters, however. They were as deadly as any biker gang out there.
“What happened, Mom?”
“He was attacked in an elevator at Archie Silverman’s office. He hasn’t come to yet, so we’re not really sure of the details.
“We know some things,” Tab interjected. He turned to face Rose. His eyes were deep green under his shaggy brown hair. “We know that Ty got one of them. He’s lying in a bed down the hall with a crushed scrotum.”
“Not crushed, ruptured.”
“Same dif, Dixie.”
Rose’s heart rate ratcheted up a notch. “Who is he?”
“He didn’t have any I.D. on him and he wasn’t wearing colors,” Tab said. “He was dressed in a suit.”
“Can he talk? Have the cops questioned him?”
“He’s in a coma. Dead to the world…or he soon will be. Me and some of the boys got there before the cops did.”
“Shh, Tab,” Dixie peered down the hall. “Not so loud. There are cops all over. You’re bringing enough attention over here by wearing your colors.”
“Did he tell you anything?”
“He didn’t have a chance to.”
“Well, that wasn’t very smart. We could’ve found out why he did this.”
Tab’s eyes flashed. “You’d have done the same as me, Rose. If you had seen him lying on the floor in his own blood.”
She held her tongue and looked down at the floor. Tab was right. When it came to Ty, they were both on the same page.
“Can I see him?” she asked.
“They’re only allowing ten minute visits right now. We have forty minutes until the next one.”
“I’ll wait here then.”
“Tab and I were going down to the commissary. You should come with us.”
Rose shook her head. “No, you two go ahead. I couldn’t eat anyway.”
Dixie patted her on the shoulder. “Are you still coming, Tab?”
“I’ll stay with Rose.”
Dixie got into the elevator and vanished behind the doors.
Tab motioned her toward the waiting room. Like his brother, he was tall and powerfully built. Both walked with the lithe grace of a panther and had a temper to match. Rose followed him into the little room and took a seat beside him.
“Tell me what happened,” she said. “I want to know everything.”
“There’s not much to tell. Ty went to Archie’s law office this morning to talk to him about getting Rex out of county.”
“Rex is in county again? What did he do this time?”
“The same thing as always. Assault. Archie said he’d try to get bail set up on him and then Ty left. They must have jumped him in the elevator because that’s where I found him and the ball-less bastard. Archie called the ambulance.”
Unshed tears burned in her eyes and she gasped trying to push them back. She leaned over, clutching her head in her hands.
“I warned him something like this would happen. He’s got to get out. Both of you do.”
“That’s like asking the James Brothers to quit riding,” he said. “It’s too late to stop now.”
“It’s never too late, if you have the right incentive.”
A man entered the waiting room. He wore wire-framed glasses and a name tag that identified him as Dr. Juan Alvarez.
“Mr. Mason,” he said. “Your brother is awake.”
Rose hurried to Ty’s room while Tab hurried to the commissary to fetch Dixie. The acrid and heady smell of oxygen assailed her nostrils when she entered the room and dizziness edged in on her. It worsened when she saw Ty on the bed.
His face was barely recognizable beneath all of the bruises. A green eye peered at her, while the other one remained swollen shut. He beckoned her closer with the fingers of his left hand. The right was cast, as was the arm it belonged to.
She approached, her knees weak, and clutched his hand. The tears she had fought so hard to contain suddenly broke loose like a summer storm.
“Hey,” he croaked. “Enough.” He squeezed her hand. There was unexpected strength in his fingers.
“What is your pain level, Mr. Mason? On a scale of one to ten, with ten being—“
“About a five,” Ty interrupted.
“I’ll get something for that.” He turned to Rose. “Ten minutes. No more.”
“How long?” Ty asked after the doctor had gone.
“I can stay for ten minutes.”
“No…how long have I been here?”
“Since this morning.”
“Elevator.” His eye took on a fierce light. “They tried to kill me.”
“Shh, now. Take it easy.”
“Two men. Didn’t know them. Where’s Tab?”
“He went to get Mom. Just rest a minute. They should be here soon.”
“Glad you came.”
She squeezed his hand. “Try and keep me away.”
Her mother rushed into the room and she reluctantly released him.
“Don’t go anywhere,” Tab said to her as she started out of the room. “We need to talk.” Rose nodded and stepped into the hallway.
Chapter 3
The doors to all the rooms, save one, were closed. Rose walked toward it.
Inside, a nurse stood beside the bed of her patient, checking his vitals. The man had been intubated and a tube stretched from his mouth to the machine beside the bed. His face was a grotesque mass of bruises.
“Step away from the door, please.” The Stockton cop said as he stepped into view. He had been hidden behind the door.
Rose backed away and retraced her steps. Tab waited outside the door to Ty’s room.
“That’s him,” Tab whispered as she moved up beside him.
“I should have known that was your handiwork,” she said.
“Not all mine. Bear got a few shots in before I did.”
“I’m surprised he’s not here.”
“I told the guys to stay away. Too many cops. Might be a bad thing if that guy ever wakes up.”
“I hope he wakes up. I want to know who did this to Ty.”
Tab nodded, looking at the floor. “Where you going to stay tonight?”
“I thought I’d stay with Mom.”
“Dixie’s staying here tonight. You want to crash at my place?”
“I should stay here.”
“They’re only allowing one member of the family to stay at a time. When he gets moved out of the ICU, you can stay. Come to my place. I don’t bite…much.”
Rose grinned. “As I remember, you bit me a lot when we were kids.”
“You didn’t fight fair.”
“And neither did you. You played dirty until I got boobs, then you were all hands.”
“Speaking of boobs, you still working at the Stiletto Club?”
“Yeah. It pays the bills.”
“Dixie says you’re going to school during the day.”
“That’s right. I’m going to be a veterinarian.”
“Well that fits. You are the black sheep of the family.”
“Ha, ha. Very funny.”
“Are you coming or not?”
“Did you bring your bike?”
“No, brought the truck. Too many—“
“I know. Too many cops. Alright, I’ll go home with you, just this once.”
Dixie joined them at that moment and Rose looked into Ty’s room to say goodbye. A nurse was hanging a new bag on the metal tree. Ty gave her a “thumbs up” and she waved at him.
“We’ll see you in the morning, Dixie,” Tab said.
“You take care.”
“I will.”
Rose gave her mother a hug, then followed Tab out of the hospital.
Chapter 4
Tab lived in a trailer within the confines of Sweet Cedars trailer park. The park was somewhat run down but, because the owner was more interested in money than his clientele, it was a perfect place for Jesters to live. Tab was one of twenty members who called Sweet Cedars home.
She followed him as he pulled his 2013 Chevy S-10 into the weed-choked driveway and parked. The trailer was rusted in several spots and the screen door was on its last legs. An old school Harley Davidson chopper stood outside. The chrome gleamed in the dying sunlight.
“I thought you would have a brand new bike by now,” she called out as she opened her car door.
“The new bikes are shit compared to these. You’ll never see me or Ty on one of those.”
“You two. You’re still like your dad in a lot of ways.” She sighed. “Wolf was a good man.”
“He was the original Jester. And if it weren’t for the Devil’s, he’d still be here.”
Rose fell silent. She didn’t want to open that can of worms again.
Tab led her into the trailer. The interior was surprisingly clean, but due to the lack of air conditioning, very hot. Tab kept the front door open and began opening windows.
“Am I sleeping on the couch?” she asked. There were stains on the upholstery and she shivered at the thought of what they might be.
“I’ll sleep on the couch,” he said as he entered the living room.
“I hope you have some clean sheets.�
�
“What’s happened to you? You never used to care about dirty sheets. You too good for them now that you’re a college girl?”
“No, I just know where your body has been.”
“Not all of it.” His eyes twinkled.
“Maybe not, but I can guess. You liked them pretty skanky before I moved to Sacramento.”
“That’s because you never gave me a chance.”
“I’m your step-sister. You were never going to get a chance.”
“You’d give Ty one.”
The flush burned her skin as it crept across her face. “No, I wouldn’t.”
“Lying doesn’t look good on you, Rose. It never did.”
“Let’s talk about something else.”
“No, we’re going to have this out. Tell me what it is about him that has your panties in a wad. We walk the same, talk the same, look the same…well, I look a little better now.”
Tears welled in her eyes.
“Bad joke. Sorry.”
She shook her head. “It’s all right.”
“Just tell me what makes us different in your eyes and I’ll quit. Is it because I’m left-handed and he’s right-handed?”
“I don’t know,” she said softly. “His heart maybe.”
There was pain behind the green eyes, but it was quickly masked.
“It’s not that you don’t—oh, I don’t know.”
“For every good twin, there must be an evil one. I get you.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“Enough said. Want a beer?”
“Please.”
He entered the kitchenette and returned with two bottles. When opened, they steamed cool. Rose took a swig and the amber-colored nectar flowed smoothly down her throat.
“Now that’s the Rose I know. Never one to sip.”
“I haven’t had one of these in a while.” She licked her lips. “I have to keep up my figure you know.”
“You’ve done well.” His look was appreciative.
“I’ve been wondering something. How come you guys have never come by the Stiletto? It’s a neutral turf and everybody is welcome.”
