Holding On

by Jill Sanders

  Montana or Seattle, the fact was, she didn’t care either way. And she didn’t have the energy to argue.

  She rested her head against the glass. Her brother had dragged her around for the past few years, so what was once more? She drifted off to sleep as she thought about a new future in Montana. The possibility of working one job instead of three lifted so much weight off her shoulders that, for the first time in years, she slept like a baby.

  * * *

  Thurston McGowan the third, Trey to his family and friends and pretty much everyone else in the world, was drunk. And why not? He was celebrating the birth of his first nephew, Timothy Jack McGowan. A good name for a beautiful baby.

  He’d spent the morning at the hospital with his brother Tyler and his wife, Kristen, along with the rest of his family. After everyone had been kicked out so that the new family could have some quiet time, he and his other brother, Trent, had hit the local bars along with several of their buddies.

  One bar had turned into two, which had snowballed into hitting every single bar in the small town of Haven, Montana, before closing time, which was less than three hours away. They still had the biggest hole-in-the-wall bar, Carrie Ann’s, to go.

  The place was full of the lowest of the low. Trey and his brothers hardly ever stepped foot in the place, unless they were looking for a fight. But tonight, Trey could honestly say he wasn’t. He doubted anything could get him off the high he was on.

  He’d lived in Haven all of his life, except when he’d taken off to Miami for a year shortly after graduation. He’d rushed home after his father passed away suddenly.

  If he had to be honest with himself, he’d hated Miami. It had been too hot and full of too many people. He’d felt like he would suffocate if he stayed any longer.

  Losing his dad had been tragic, but the family had bounced back after learning to lean on and rely on one another. It had taken some time for the three brothers to get the hang of running the family business, but in the end, McGowan Enterprises had flourished.

  “I’m buying this round,” one of the guys called out as they walked into Carrie Ann’s. Trey wobbled his way across the sticky dance floor and made his way down the short hallway towards the bathroom. He was thankful Mason, one of his buddies, had been picked as designated driver that night. Usually, they drew straws, but tonight Mason had volunteered since he was trying to cut down on the calories and drop some weight for his girlfriend.

  Swinging the door wide open, he almost toppled over a muscular guy standing just inside the door. The man looked familiar, but that wasn’t surprising; Trey knew everyone in Haven.

  “Sorry,” he mumbled. He moved past the guy, heading for a urinal.

  “Jackass,” the man said to his back.

  Trey smiled. “Sure, buddy.” He finished doing his business and turned around to face the guy, who was still glaring in his direction.

  “You’ve got a problem,” the man said, taking a step closer to him.

  Trey took in the guy’s size and quickly shook his head. “Don’t think so.” He smiled. “Just had to piss.” The man easily outweighed him by at least thirty pounds, and Trey bet most of it was muscle.

  Moving slowly, Trey walked over to the sink. His mother had taught him right, so he proceeded to wash his hands thoroughly.

  The man continued to hover just inside the doorway. Trey turned towards him and the door, but the guy moved slightly and blocked it. The man still looked familiar, but since Trey was too far into the festivities of the evening to place where he’d seen the guy before.

  “Do I know you?” Trey asked, trying to get his eyes to focus.

  “You won’t forget my fist…” The man lifted his arm at the same time the bathroom door swung open, causing him to fall off balance. Trey took that moment to make a quick escape. He chuckled about the entire ordeal as he crossed the room to find his buddies.

  He was halfway across the dance floor when he bumped into someone else. This someone, however, was a lot softer and a hell of a lot prettier than the man lurking in the bathroom.

  “Scuse me,” he said, reaching out to steady the woman. His hands gripped her shoulders to make sure she wouldn’t fall over. Upon seeing the sexy raven-haired beauty, his fingers tightened slightly. “Well, hello there.” His smile turned from apologetic to one of his well-practiced flirty smiles.

  Her dark eyes narrowed slightly. “Excuse me, I have to find someone.” Her eyes traveled past his shoulders and he saw heat and anger take over.

  She pushed past him, and he turned to watch her walk away. The fact that she was wearing tight black leather shorts in the dead of winter in Montana made him smile. Then his foggy brain registered the long sexy legs that she used to make her way across the dance floor. He watched her hips sway and was almost hypnotized by the motion.

  He must have stood there in the middle of the dance floor grinning like a fool in her direction for several seconds before he finally registered what was going on. The raven-haired beauty was arguing with angry bathroom man. His feet were rooted to the spot on the dance floor as he watched the couple arguing. The woman moved her hands and arms around as if she was trying to make a point. The man, for his part, looked at her with the same look he’d given Trey moments ago in the bathroom.

  Trey was just about to turn around and go find his buddies when bathroom man reached out and pushed the woman. Trey was across the floor in a flash, his fists swinging, before he remembered that the guy outweighed him. His first blow caught the man off guard, thankfully, sending him flailing back towards the wall. He didn’t think he’d try for another swing, but the man came at him, knocking the pair of them to the dance floor.

  Trey’s face was pushed up against the sticky floor. He bucked and kicked until the man’s grip on him finally loosened. He swung his elbow out, catching the man under the chin. The next blow went to angry bathroom man, who clocked Trey in the left eye, sending his head backward and knocking it into the hard dance floor.

  The guy had just set up residence above him, and Trey had braced for the repetitive blows that he knew were coming when the man was yanked from him.

  Ethan and Mason held the man back as Trey pulled himself off the floor. His two friends were equal matches for the other man. Both men worked for him, Mason as a motorhand and Ethan as a derrick worker. Both jobs required strong muscles.

  “Are you okay?” Trey turned to the pretty raven-haired beauty, just as several other people stepped into the mix.

  Trey groaned when he saw two of Haven’s finest police, Tom and Dale rush over to them. He wiped the blood from his lip and held his hands out.

  “Everything’s okay,” he tried.

  “Trey McGowan.” Tom shook his head. “You know better than this.”

  Trey smiled but turned when the raven-haired beauty gasped. Her eyes got bigger as she looked him up and down. He felt a little nervous as she assessed him. What did she see? He thought about it and groaned inwardly. He was probably a mess at this point. His T-shirt was hanging half off his shoulders since the man had ripped it in the fall. He knew he had blood dripping down his lip and would probably have a fat lip and a black eye soon. He was drunk, disorderly, and for some reason, for the first time in his life, he felt ashamed for it.

  “We’ll have to haul you both in,” Dale said, taking the other man from Ethan and Mason. The man jerked his arm, causing both Ethan and Mason to grip him tighter.

  “Just try it, buddy,” Mason added.

  “Trey didn’t do…” Ethan started, earning him a stern look from Tom. His friend wasn’t dumb and shut his mouth quickly.

  “We’ll take them both in,” Tom repeated. He turned to the other man and narrowed his eyes. “We aren’t going to have a problem, are we?”

  The other man grunted and rolled his eyes.

  “No, he won’t cause any more problems.” Everyone turned towards the beauty as she stepped forward. Trey’s eyes moved down to her legs one last time.

  Hell, he did
n’t know how long he’d be in the drunk tank and the memory of those legs would help him through the next few hours.

  The woman turned to the other man and glared at him. “Go.”

  Trey was ushered outside, while the other man was cuffed. Dale opened the back door and Trey slid into the back seat and rested his head against the leather. His head was spinning slightly, and he could feel his lip and eye start stinging.

  The other man was put in the seat beside him, his hands cuffed behind his back. When the doors were shut, he glanced at the bar as they drove away. The raven-haired beauty was standing outside in the fresh snow, her arms wrapped around herself, biting her bottom lip with worry as she watched them drive away.

  “Lucky,” Trey said under his breath.

  “What?” the man sitting next to him asked. Trey gave him his full attention and turned towards him.

  “I said you’re lucky to have someone like that. You don’t deserve her,” he said clearly.

  The man frowned at him. “She’s a pain in the ass,” he grunted in response, and Trey thought about punching the man again.

  Chapter 2

  Dylan watched the police cruiser drive away and cursed under her breath. Her brother had assaulted Trey McGowan. Trey McGowan! The man was their last hope in getting a decent job in this town.

  Shivering, she turned back towards the building and thought about packing up her small bag and leaving her brother to rot in the jail cell. But then a pair of piercing blue eyes popped into her mind.

  The man was so different than his brothers. Different, but the same in many ways. She’d seen his brothers around the small town. How could she not? After all, it wasn’t as if Haven, Montana, was the sprawling metropolis her brother had led her to believe.

  Upon arrival, they had taken up residence in a small hotel that was equivalent to their last apartment. Her brother had had an interview with the McGowans the first week and, no surprise to her, he’d come back empty-handed.

  That was when he’d told her that he’d been misinformed about the secretary job she was supposed to apply for. Since they were down to their last few dollars, she’d taken the first job she could find.

  Dressing for the job in short skirts, high heels, and busty tops was nothing new—it all went to making her a bigger tip in the end. What was different was the number and amount of tips she got. She’d been shocked at how much more she made here than she had in the big city.

  Angie, one of the other waitresses, had told her that oil money ran free and that if she gave the men what they wanted, she could be sitting pretty and possibly buying her own place in a year. Angie herself had just paid off her little house in downtown Haven after working at the bar for only ten years.

  Ten years. Dylan thought she’d go mad before then if she hadn’t killed her brother and gone to jail for it. Walking to the back office, she knocked on Ricky’s door. Ricky had, at one point, been married to Carrie Ann, who’d died a few years back of cancer. The man was nice enough to work for. He wasn’t handsy like some of the bosses she’d had. Plus, he’d agreed to pay her first paycheck in advance, since they had needed to pay for their hotel room up front.

  “Come in,” he called out.

  “Ricky, I need the rest of the night off.” She shut the door behind her and leaned against the frame.

  “What for?” He frowned up at her.

  “My…” she started, then sighed. “Woman issues,” she lied.

  The man’s eyes narrowed. “You’ll have to work a double shift tomorrow,” he warned. “We’re supposed to have bands playing all day.”

  “Fine.” She held in a groan.

  When she parked in front of the police station, she sat in the car for a few minutes, debating how to handle the lack of funds to spring her brother.

  She felt like banging her head on the steering wheel. Instead, she pulled herself together and stepped out of the truck. Her boots sank in the snow, and she shivered at the cold as she made her way into the building. Even her thick jacket couldn’t keep the cold from reaching her bones.

  “Can I help you?” the woman behind the counter asked immediately when she stepped inside. The place was pretty much empty, which surprised her.

  Walking over to the desk, she straightened her shoulders. “Yes, my brother was just brought in. I need to post bail for him.” She held in her emotions and tried to fight back the tears that stung behind her eyes.

  The woman tilted her head and instead of looking down at the computer or paperwork asked, “Brent McCaw?”

  “Yes.”

  “He’s in holding. If you want, I can call you when he’s ready, so you don’t have to stick around here and wait.”

  Dylan swallowed slowly. “Um, that would be okay.”

  “What’s your number?” The woman took out a sticky note pad and wrote down the number at the hotel.

  “My name is Carol. I’ll give you a call. It should be around eight.”

  “In the morning?” she asked, glancing at the clock on the wall. Five hours from now. Dylan doubted she could wait that long to know how much Brent had cost this time.

  “Yeah, we want to make sure they’re sober before we let them out.” Carol smiled at her. “Go get some rest, sweetie. I’ll call you when we open the gates and let them out.” The woman chuckled.

  Driving back to the hotel without her brother was both rewarding and nerve-wracking.

  The room was quiet, too quiet. She decided on a long hot bath to try to shut off her mind.

  Closing her eyes, she rested back and cleared her mind of her troubles. She wasn’t surprised when a pair of blue eyes surfaced in her mind. Blonde curly hair, a sexy chin full of stubble, and lips that she imagined would feel perfectly wonderful rubbing up against any part of her body. Trey McGowan was the opposite of her type of man, and she couldn’t understand why her body had instantly reacted to his gaze. He’d run those sexy blue eyes up and down her like he knew what she was wearing under her shorts and tank top.

  Her type leaned towards beefcake bad boys in all leather, muscle-bound men who in the end revealed their true inner jerk. She had fallen for four of them so far in her life.

  Her first long-term boyfriend, Jax, had been a tattoo artist. Her many tattoos, which she loved, were the only good things to come out of that relationship. Then there had been Chet. What had made her date a man named Chet was beyond rational thinking. That relationship had only lasted two weeks. She’d called it off when the bromance between Chet and Brent had grown stronger than their relationship. Lee had been a blip on her radar. She’d worked with him and for almost three months they had been friends with benefits. That was until she found out that he had similar arrangements with several other women.

  Corey, the last man who’d gotten her interest, had taught her a valuable lesson and had, she hoped, turned her completely away from the muscular type. She had a fresh scar along her hairline to prove that men with bulging muscles were not a good idea. Even her brother should have proven that to her, but she was still allowing him to drive their lives forward. Living in a shit-hole hotel and working one of the most humiliating jobs around were just a couple of the products of her brother’s handling of their lives.

  Still, she had to admit, working one job was a lot better than three. And the money was good. She even found herself liking the little town and dreaming about what it would be like to have a little house somewhere in the hills. She’d driven by the school once and had imagined dropping her kids off, making sure they had their lunches before they raced through the snow towards class.

  Still, they were just dreams. Unless Brent suddenly got his shit together, Dylan was doomed.

  When the hotel phone finally rang, she had drifted off to sleep. The shrill ring woke her up and startled her.

  Carol was just as nice over the phone as she had been in person.

  “We’re getting ready to release your brother. He’ll be ready for pickup in half an hour.”

  “Thank you.” She
had hung up without asking how much his bail was going to cost. She would find out soon enough.

  Driving her brother’s truck through town, she was surprised at how many people were out already. The sun was at least an hour from rising and yet the town of Haven was awake. People were out shoveling the fresh snow from the sidewalks and driveways.

  The grocery store was open, and the parking lot was slowly filling. When she pulled into the police station, the parking lot was almost full.

  This time when she walked in, the lobby was packed, no doubt with people waiting for their loved ones to be released. She approached Carol as she was opening a box of donuts. When the smell of the baked goods hit Dylan, she felt her stomach growl loudly.

  “Morning.” Carol smiled at her. “Want one?” She held out the box for Dylan. Dylan paused a moment, then grabbed up a glazed donut and held it. Coveted it, drooled over it.

  “I need to post bail for my brother.” She felt her stomach roll and decided that she probably wouldn’t be able to stomach the donut after she found out how much it was going to cost her.

  “Oh, sweetie, your brother was just put in the drunk tank,” Carol answered.

  “Oh?” She waited. “So, what does that mean?”

  “Well, since Trey didn’t press charges, once we open up the doors, he’s free to go.”

  “He’s…” She almost dropped her donut. “You mean… I don’t have to…” She swallowed the sour taste in her throat.

  Carol smiled and shook her head. “No charge.” She leaned forward. “This time.”

  Dylan nodded, as the reality sunk in.

  “Why don’t you go have a seat. Tony should be in in a few minutes. He’ll open up the tank and let everyone go.”

  Dylan went over to stand by the front door with the rest of the group, the donut almost forgotten until her stomach growled again.

  How had she lucked out this time? Then Carol’s words hit her. Trey hadn’t pressed charges. Her brother was free to go, and it was all thanks to the man who had come to her defense.