by Jenny Penn
Gwen was dead.
Gwen and Alex had a complicated and very nasty relationship. Everybody knew it. What nobody other than Travis knew was that Alex had been in town last night when Gwen was getting strangled to death. Was he capable of it? Wasn’t every man?
Bryant knew that answer to that last one. He also knew his obligation to the law would mean telling the truth straight up. If Alex was guilty, that was his problem. That was the rational conclusion to come to, but Bryant couldn’t bring himself to say a word. This was his sheriff.
He had a headache. Bryant didn’t know what the fuck to do, so he just sat there and prayed that Alex would do the right thing so that Bryant didn’t have to worry about doing it himself. From the look Travis shot him, he knew the other man was thinking the same thing. It wouldn’t shock them either way it went.
What had shocked them and everybody else was Lana’s confession. She’d been the one to set the Davis brothers’ barn on fire years ago. While nobody had actually gotten hurt in that incident, it seemed to be drawing more interest than Gwen’s death. They had a lobby full of people there to see and talk about Lana, but as of yet, the only relative who had bothered to call or seemed to care that Gwen had been murdered was her cousin, Kristen.
That was really a sad statement on Gwen’s life, and possibly on the people who were supposed to love her, like her parents. Whoever they were, wherever they were, that was all still a mystery. What didn’t remain one was what was going on in the sheriff’s office.
The door finally opened, and Alex stuck his head out to holler out at Bryant and Travis.
“Deputy Black, Grover, get in here!”
This was either going to go very well or very badly. One way or another, there was no avoiding that command. Sharing another grim look with Travis, Bryant shoved out of his seat and followed his buddy right into the lion’s den. While the tension might have been heavy out in the lobby, it was thick enough to musk the air in Alex’s office. Most of the sourness seemed to be radiating out of the DA.
Calvin Tripp had been elected to his office just about the same time Alex had become sheriff. The two worked closely together and were well known as friends. That bond looked like it was taking a strain right then as Cal shot them a curt nod.
“Bryant, Travis. It’s good to see you both again.”
“Likewise.” Bryant returned Cal’s nod with his own super polite one. Travis, on the other hand, was not known for his manners. His bluntness, that was his trademark.
“I’d say the same, but I think it might turn out to be a lie depending on how the next few minutes go.”
Cal smirked slightly at that and sighed. “You might be right about that. Have a seat, you two. Alex and I need to explain a few things to you.”
“‘Bout?” Travis pressed, his brow lifting as he shot a look between Cal and Alex.
It was Alex who answered, his tone grim and strained as he settled down into his seat behind his desk. “How Gwen’s case is going to be run because as you know, as everybody knows, I wasn’t on good terms with her. Cal here is afraid that might color the direction of the investigation.”
Bryant blinked that in, alarmed by the direction Alex was headed. “So you want us two to run the investigation?”
That sounded time consuming and a good way to make enemies. After all, Gwen got around, and the suspect list could be long and full of dangerous people to piss off…like the mayor. He’d been headed into town last night, and Gwen had been found with a really expensive ring in her pocket.
That could definitely add up to something, but Bryant got pulled from his speculations by Alex’s snort.
“Don’t be ridiculous.” Alex snorted and shook his head at Bryant before pointedly correcting him. “Cal is going to run the investigation. You two are going to assist him.”
“Assist?” Bryant wasn’t sure just what that entailed, but Alex made Travis and his position perfectly clear.
“You do what he tells you. You gather the evidence he asks for, do the interviews he wants, and if he suggests that he needs his underwear pressed, you get your iron out. Got me?”
“Yes, sir.”
Bryant and Travis answered as one, Alex having made his position perfectly clear.
“Good.” The sheriff nodded and then took a deep breath. “Then the first thing you’ve got to do is interview me. I saw Gwen last night.”
* * * *
Tara sat in the Bread Box listening to the rumors swarm through the small bakery. Everywhere she looked people chattered away, speculating on either Gwen Howard’s death or some woman named Lana having confessed to setting the Davis brothers’ barn on fire.
Whoever Lana was, Tara had no clue, but she had heard of the Davis brothers. The three of them ran one of the most profitable ranches around. More than that, they were legendary for not only having started the Cattleman’s Club but also for having hooked up with Patton Jones. That was another person Tara had never personally met but knew a lot about thanks to the rumor mill.
Those rumors didn’t concern her much, though the ones swirling about Gwen caught her attention. Gwen had supposedly been involved with everybody from the sheriff to Tara’s own uncle, the mayor. Worse, there were leaks coming out that she’d been found with a sizable ring in her pocket. That news did set Tara on edge as the implications became quite clear.
Her uncle had obviously paid off his lover with her aunt’s jewelry. That was pretty damn low of him and really challenged Tara’s opinion of the man. It was so strange to think of him that way because all of her life he’d been her happy, supportive uncle. Either she had failed to see beyond the façade or something dire had changed him lately.
While the answer might bother her, it didn’t really matter. He was still her uncle, and family was family. So, as far as Tara was concerned, she hadn’t seen or heard anything. For all she knew, her uncle had been in bed last night with his wife. That was her story, and she was sticking to it, not that anybody asked her.
In fact, Tara barely got asked a single question, despite the fact that everybody was gossiping about her family. She figured nobody wanted anything to do with the truth to ruin their good time. It clearly was a good time to most of the locals. They were reveling in having something to talk about, and it continued on all day.
The whispers, the murmurs, the gasps of shock, echoed out of each department and filled the government building with a low hum of gossip being eagerly traded back and forth. By the time Tara left work for the day, she was exhausted from simply having to put with all the commotion. Still, she would have preferred to sit there and endure more than head home to what was, no doubt, going to be another hellish dinner.
Thankfully, she didn’t have to worry about that.
Tara smiled as she came out the back door of the building to find Bryant resting against the bumper of her car wearing a pair of nice-fitting jeans and a T-shirt that clung to his heavily muscled chest. He looked good, good enough to eat, and she was starving. It didn’t even matter that she knew it was a mistake to greet him with anything other than a dismissal. Tara didn’t have that kind of willpower and wasn’t even certain she wanted to.
“Hey, stud.” Sauntering up with a little extra sway in her hips, Tara dared to eye him like the prime piece of meat he was, assuring Bryant knew exactly what she was thinking. “What are you hanging around for?”
“You,” Bryant all but growled, his tone rough and full of dark promise as he shoved off her car. “I got an idea and was thinking you might like to play along.”
“Yeah?” Tara cocked a brow at that, certain she knew just what he was thinking. “I might. I guess it depends on what I’ll be wearing.”
“Nothing.” Bryant paused, his grin taking on a lecherous curl. “Nothing but Travis and me. So what do you say, sunshine? You ready for an adventure?”
“Always.”
That was a lie, but it sounded good. It sounded right. It also set off exhilarating tingles that spider-webbed through her,
leaving her giddy and all too eager to place her hand in his when Bryant extended one toward her.
“Then come along, sunshine. Travis and I have got a surprise planned for all of us,” Bryant informed her cryptically, leading Tara to the truck that sat idling by the curb at the end of the drive.
There was no way her co-workers could miss Travis sitting behind the wheel or not see Bryant helping her up into the truck. She knew that tomorrow her name would probably be included in with all the whispers, but Tara didn’t care. She didn’t even care if her uncle heard about this.
She was taking a stand and dedicating herself to having fun.
That was just what Bryant and Travis brought into her life, some levity. After everything, she deserved to bask in the moment. Worries and gossips be damned.
* * * *
Travis shot Tara a grin before pulling away from the curb. He knew just what everybody would be thinking who saw him and Bryant pick Tara up after work. All their suspicions were not only right, but they’d be proven right tomorrow when he and Bryant dropped her back off at work in the morning.
They were planning on keeping her all night, and they didn’t plan on taking her home. Instead, Travis pointed his truck out of town and toward the Cattleman’s Club, an action that did not go unnoticed by Tara. She glanced out the window with a frown before turning to cast a look in Travis’s direction.
“Where are we headed? To your house?”
“Nope.” Travis shook his head. “We’ve got a better surprise than that for you.”
Keeping one hand on the wheel, he stretched one along the back of the bench seat and let his fingers burrow through her hair to find the nape of her neck. With slow, even motions, he began to work the tension out of her muscles, even as Bryant’s hand dropped to her knee and began to stroke its way beneath her skirt. It was their intention to distract her, and it sort of worked.
“Should I be worried?” Tara asked. Her words came out breathless and full of a sensual anticipation that assured Travis she wasn’t worried in the least.
“Probably,” Bryant answered, his hand now having disappeared all the way up her skirt.
Tara sighed, letting her legs fall wide open and allowing the heated scent of her creaming pussy to fill the cab. It about drove Travis nuts, making him hard and aching in a matter of moments. He was hard-pressed not to pull the truck over and pull her onto his waiting erection, especially as Bryant murmured out a command that had the tips of Tara’s nipples hardening in a rush.
“Why don’t you slide these panties off for me, sunshine? Huh?”
Tara smiled at that, all but giggling as she dared to tease Bryant back. “Why don’t you tell me where we’re headed and we’ll see about the panties.”
Bryant shared a look with Travis, who shrugged. It wasn’t like she wasn’t going to find out the truth in a few minutes. They might as well start trying to convince her to agree to what they had planned. Bryant must have agreed because he turned his smile back on Tara, who sat waiting expectantly.
“The club.”
Bryant paused, and both he and Travis tensed as they waited for Tara’s response. It wasn’t the one either of them had been expecting. Instead of outrage or curiosity or even anger, Tara burst into laughter as she waved off Bryant’s explanation.
“The club?” Tara couldn’t seem to get her words out without giggling over almost each one. “You mean your little boy sex club? What have you got out there that you haven’t got back at home? More toys?”
“More like a waterbed floating in the middle of a pond,” Travis informed her, drawing Tara’s brilliant gaze in his direction.
“Well, that sounds interesting.”
Travis broke into a grin, reading the yes in her eyes. “Then take the panties off, sunshine. Things are about to get real interesting.
* * * *
Things not only got interesting, they stayed that way for the rest of the week. All too soon, Saturday morning arrived, and Tara found herself in the very position she feared. She was spread-eagle and tied into place with a soft bed of flowers cushioning her from beneath. Naked, blindfolded, with her nipples clamped and Travis devouring her cunt, they’d staked out a corner of the Cattleman’s Club’s vast gardens, which was far from private.
Tara didn’t have to wonder if they were being watched. She could hear the murmur of conversations echoing all around her. Mixed into the low hum were gasps and whimpers that assured her she was not the only one getting feasted on that morning. In fact, they were in the middle of a traditional weekend morning competition according to Bryant.
Or so he had explained about a half-hour ago when he’d woken her up with a hard, fast fucking that had left Tara feeling way too good to deny Bryant or Travis anything. That was how they’d gotten her to agree to let them bind her to the ground and accept their challenge to make her scream. That was where the competition came in. The men were all fighting to see who could make their woman scream first, scream the loudest.
It was Tara’s job to make Travis and Bryant work for that honor.
That was just what Tara tried to do. She bit down on her lower lip and fought every inch, but in the end, the only consolation she had was that she was not the first to break. Neither was she near to the loudest. She wanted to be—Travis was that good—but she went hoarse when he traded off with Bryant. She could barely do more than gasp by the time he was done and the two of them were ready to take her for a real ride.
It probably should have embarrassed her to be fucking right there in the middle of the gardens, knowing that they were not only being watched but also cheered on. It didn’t, though. All the shouts and hollers of the other men only fueled the raging fires within Tara, making her come harder and faster than normal. Of course, that was not nearly enough for Bryant and Travis, who now had more to prove than ever.
They wore Tara completely out, fucking her until she blacked out, caught in their arms. When she came to, she was still trapped beneath them with the hot spray of water raining down from the showerhead above them. Tara blinked her eyes open and smiled up at Travis.
He had a washcloth in one hand and a bar of soap in the other. She knew what came next. Bryant and Travis might have used her and ridden her hard, but after every time, they also took care of her, bathing her, massaging her, and proving that they cared enough to look after her. That last part might have been an illusion, but it was one that was easy to believe in as she stood there resting against Bryant’s hard body as Travis meticulously cleaned the front of her before passing the washrag and soap over to Bryant, who worked his way down her back, working every lingering bit of tension out of her muscles.
Tara felt like pudding by the time they were done. Pudding that had to get dressed, walk straight, and drive home without hitting anything. That was what she’d done the past two morning, but this was Saturday, and Bryant and Travis didn’t let her go with a simple “see you later,” which they normally bid her farewell with. Not that morning.
That morning they walked her to her car, kissed her, and told her to be ready when they got off shift that evening. They had plans. There was something about the way they said it that had Tara feeling certain their plans included more than just the erotic delights they’d spent every night introducing her to.
She was aglow with the possibilities, her mind racing and her body humming as she drove home. Tara even whistled as she walked from the driveway around the perfectly manicured gardens and back to the pool house. She didn’t bother to stop by the main house, glad to avoid both her aunt and uncle. They were acting weird, and tension was thicker than normal between them. Tara could imagine why.
The gossip around Gwen was swirling. Everybody might have different ideas about who the killer might be, but almost all had figured it had to be whoever had given Gwen the mysterious ring rumored to have been found on her. Tara had her own ideas but didn’t think for a second her uncle had actually killed Gwen.
He wasn’t the type. If he had, he’d
have taken the ring back. Of that, Tara was certain. Her aunt should have been too, but that wasn’t softening her attitude in the slightest. Not that Tara blamed her. If her husband had gotten her into that kind of mess, she’d have gone straight to the cops and then a divorce lawyer. Of course, minus the cops and the dead mistress, that was what Tara had done when she’d found out about Richard’s tendency to have jewelry made for his women.
He’d never had anything made for her.
He was, however, waiting for her when she pushed open the door to the pool house.
Chapter 11
Richard Cloud sat there at her table, flipping through the stacks of pages she’d printed out from the real estate sight where she’d been looking for homes. Dressed and pressed to impress, he looked as good as always. His blond hair was perfectly cut and combed into a style that suited the sharp, handsome angles of his face. So did his shirt and slacks perfectly mold to his broad, hard body.
Richard was a handsome man with the money to assure that he looked magazine-ready every second of the day. Today was no different. At least, he wasn’t different.
Tara, on the other hand, knew how she looked. She could read it in the way Richard’s green eyes widened. When she’d been married to him and playing the role of the perfect socialite wife, she’d always been as elegantly groomed and dressed as him, but not today. Today her hair had blown dry in the open window of her car. and she knew it had gone to both curl and frizz.
Her clothes were not in any better condition, having been hastily removed last night and left to spend the evening crumpled on the grass near the magical waterbed Travis and Bryant had introduced her to. It floated in the middle of a pond, making things really interesting.
