Monroe, Melody S. - Lydia's Passion [Pleasure, Montana 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Melody Snow Monroe

When Destiny didn’t exit, she figured the witness was spending the night. Damn it. Her fingers gripped the wheel tight and her throat closed up at the betrayal.

  Without turning on her headlights, she turned around. For a good half mile, she eased down the road toward the station, wiping the tears from her face. How had she been so stupid? She’d believed Tom. She wondered if Justin knew of the duplicity, and that’s why he never told her that Tom had called.

  Chapter Ten

  When she finally stepped inside the station, Justin was pacing. This was a surprise. It was only ten.

  He rushed up to her and grabbed by the shoulders. “Where were you?”

  She couldn’t tell if he was mad or just in a panic because his protection detail had broken down. “I had an errand to run in Bozeman.”

  “Why didn’t you tell someone? I’ve been worried.”

  He was? At least someone cared for her, or was he upset something could have happened to her? It was his job to protect her. “I told Connie. Didn’t she tell you?”

  “No.” The pressure on her arms lifted. He stepped away.

  “I’m sorry, but you’ve been gone so much, I didn’t want to call and disturb you.” Not that she had his number, but she could have asked Cole or Connie to get in touch with him.

  He moved close again and gathered her in his arms. “I would never consider a call from you a disturbance.”

  She wanted to believe him, but her faith in these men had been less than solid of late. “Thanks.”

  He lifted her chin and smiled. “I have good news.”

  He better not say Tom was back in town. That wasn’t news. “What?”

  “Snake’s in jail up in Deer Lake.”

  She expected the relief to weaken her legs, but instead she huffed out a breath. “That’s good. I guess I can go home now.” Her attempt at a smile failed.

  “Hey, what’s wrong? I thought you’d be happy.”

  “I am. I’m just tired.”

  He kissed her forehead. “You’ve had a long day, I bet. Stay the night. You can go home tomorrow. The house cleaning service called and said the place is almost as good as new.”

  “Thanks.” She wondered how much the home repair was going to cost her. “Well, good night.”

  She walked away, her heart too heavy to muster much enthusiasm for anything. Needing a shower, she stepped into the small bathroom and locked the door. While she loved Justin, even his touch wasn’t welcome tonight. She needed to think about what she really wanted, and how much heartache she was willing to endure to get it.

  Once under the water, she worked the plug out of her butt. While the thought of taking Tom in her ass had thrilled her, now she had no interest. He’d found someone else, and she hoped he’d be happy.

  Her sleep came in fitful spurts, but at least Justin had the sense to keep his distance. She wasn’t sure how she was going to get through the next few days, especially if Tom came to Mountain View and acted his usual cheerful self.

  When the sun speared through the window, she cracked open an eye. Justin was gone, thank goodness, or else he hadn’t slept in the room at all. It didn’t matter. This was her last night anyway.

  After brushing her teeth and dressing, she gathered her clothes and put them in the trunk of her car before going to work. Fortunately, the other server didn’t ask any questions when she told him she’d appreciate it if he waited on the sheriff and the deputy should they come in.

  “They’re good tippers. I’m happy to wait on them.”

  That was one thing she liked about the kid. He didn’t ask questions. He just did as he was told. As it turned out, neither man showed up. At 4:00 p.m., her cell rang. It was Sherry Alexander, the nurse from Alex’s home.

  “Hi.”

  “Alex managed to get away again.”

  “Did you find him?”

  “Not yet, but I wanted to let you know.”

  Damn. “Do his roommates have a clue where he might have gone?”

  “They said he was playing a video game and got mad that he kept losing. They said he was still up when they went to bed.”

  She filled in the blanks. “And in the morning he was gone.”

  “Yes.”

  “Do you need me to come up there?”

  “If we find him, I’ll give you a call.”

  “Thanks.”

  The rest of her shift seemed to go in slow motion. Fortunately, neither Justin nor Tom came into the café. While she needed them more than ever, she didn’t want to be a burden on them, especially if they didn’t want her.

  Right before her shift ended, her cell rang again. It was Sherry’s number. “Yes?”

  “We found him.”

  From the relief in her tone, Alex was okay. “Where was he?”

  “At the bus station. He had no money and wasn’t sure how to buy a ticket. Apparently, he shoved someone and tried to take their wallet.”

  “Oh, my God. Was anyone hurt?”

  “No, thank goodness, and the person isn’t going to press charges.”

  “Do you know why he was there?” Probably to see me.

  “Yes. He was able to tell me he wanted to see you and your mother.” She hesitated. “I had to put him on the bus. I hope you don’t mind.”

  “When will he get in?”

  “He should be there in about forty-five minutes.”

  “I really appreciate your patience with him. We’ll figure something out.”

  Now she’d have to confront her mom about what to do with Alex. If only she could figure out why now he decided that after all these years, he had to be with them.

  The other server must have seen the panic on her face and trotted over. “Problem?”

  “I have to leave a few minutes early.”

  “I’ll cover. No problema.” He smiled and for a second she wished he were eight years older.

  “Thanks.”

  She didn’t have time to go to her house and get ready, but she did stop at the store and pick up supplies. If Alex didn’t have his special treats and some movies to watch, he could be quite a handful.

  The bus arrived a few minutes early. She’d barely parked when Alex got off the bus. She rushed up to him. “Hey.”

  He looked around, almost as if he expected to see someone else. “Lyd.”

  “Is that all your luggage?” It was a small case that probably didn’t hold more than one or two changes of clothes.

  “Uh-huh.”

  “Well, get in the car. I’m taking you home.”

  He smiled, and only then did she realize he might expect to see Mom.

  * * * *

  Tom paced in front of his desk. “Where the hell is she?”

  “Will you stop? I’m just as worried.” Justin was as edgy as he was, but his partner didn’t show his emotions as much. “She packed her suitcase this morning, so she’s not coming back here.”

  “I figured, but I already looked next door. Her shift wasn’t supposed to get over until 5:00 p.m. today, yet when I finally got over there a few minutes earlier, she was gone.” In his heart, he knew something was wrong. Lydia had been so good about watching where she went.

  “What did her bosses say?”

  “They didn’t know anything about it. Lydia was there one minute, gone the next.” He’d even asked a few other customers, but none had been there long.

  “Did you call her?”

  “Don’t have her number.”

  “I do.” Justin pulled out his phone and punched a few buttons. His feet were planted far apart and his jaw tight. “Come on, Lydia.” After about thirty seconds, he slammed the phone closed. “It went to voice mail.”

  “Shit. Is she ignoring us?”

  Justin’s hand stilled for a moment. “She came back last night all in a funk. I wanted to talk to her, but she wasn’t in the mood. I figured it was a woman thing.”

  He tried to find the silver lining. “Maybe she was missing me too much. I was gone close to a week. I know I thought of her
every minute of every day.”

  “Maybe, but I did keep her occupied when I was here.”

  Justin didn’t have to gloat about it. “I’m going to drive by her house.” He grabbed his keys.

  “I’ll come with you. We need to figure out what we’re going to do going forward.”

  “Shit. I don’t have a car.” Justin quirked a brow. “Remember, I was driving Destiny’s car while she was gone. Now that she’s back, I have to move out of the house and give back her car. Which reminds me, can I bunk at your house for a while until I get another place of my own?”

  “Sure. When is Destiny kicking you out?”

  “She said I could stay as long as I needed to, but I want to move as soon as possible. It won’t look good for a substitute grade school teacher to have someone rooming with her. Won’t matter if I sleep on the couch.”

  They hopped in the cruiser and headed toward Lydia’s house. He grasped at the reason Lydia had been in a funk. “Since you’ve been working long hours, maybe she thinks we don’t care about her anymore.”

  Justin quirked a brow. “You think? When we talked, she seemed to understand how demanding this job could be sometimes.”

  “Bottom line, we have to make sure she understands how much we care about her, and that we aren’t with her just for the short term.”

  Justin shot him a glance, probably because they’d never broached the topic before. His muscles tensed. “I think she’s the one, but if she drops off the face of the earth because we’re doing our jobs, then she doesn’t really love us. You know my background story. I want a woman I can count on to be there.”

  He understood. As they approached Lydia’s street, Justin slowed and turned right down Oregon Street. Her car was in the drive.

  Before Justin got close enough to park, her front door opened and a large, burly man, a good six feet four, strode outside. Justin pulled to the side. A cruiser wasn’t an easy car to disguise.

  Tom didn’t want to draw any conclusions, but his heart didn’t listen. His pulse was beating way too fast. The man was partway down the steps when Lydia rushed out. The sight of her stirred him. She was dressed in jeans and a long-sleeve shirt. She charged after the man, took his arm, and turned him around. From this distance, Tom couldn’t tell if she was angry or afraid. His blood boiled. What was a man doing in her house? “What the fuck is going on?”

  “I wish I knew. Whatever the reason, I don’t like it.”

  Lydia threw her arms around the man, took his hand and led him back into the house. The moment the door closed, Justin did a U-turn and raced back the way they came. Silence filled the car for a good two minutes as his head nearly exploded.

  “Why?” Justin asked. “We gave her everything. She knew we cared. Why didn’t she have the decency to tell us to our faces she wasn’t interested?” He slapped the wheel. “When I told her to think of you as I inserted the butt plug, she moaned in delight as I wiggled it in.”

  His balls tightened imagining her sweet ass. “When we had her at your house, she wanted us bad. She wouldn’t have laughed at us trying to help her to shoot if we weren’t the ones for her.”

  Justin told him about the kittens. “You should have seen her. She was amazing with the animals.”

  “So what are we going to do? We can’t give up.”

  “Hell no. Let’s give her a few days. We’ll plan something special to convince her how much we want her.”

  Tom leaned his head back. Some solace flowed through him knowing they just might win.

  * * * *

  Lydia had never been more miserable in her life. Alex refused to go back to the group home until he saw their mom, and Mom refused to meet with him. Justin had called once, but she’d been trying to control Alex and couldn’t take the call. Tom hadn’t even tried to contact her. He was probably too busy screwing Destiny to worry about her.

  While it wasn’t right, she’d driven by his house a few times over the next couple of days. She saw Destiny in the kitchen and Tom’s car in front. It looked like she’d driven him to work then taken the car so she could get settled—in his house!

  That still left Justin, but she had a feeling they liked to keep their relationship a threesome. Maybe if Justin hadn’t saved Tom’s life, those two wouldn’t have grown so close.

  She didn’t know the teacher well, since she’d no reason to visit Phillips Elementary School, but from what the townsfolk said, she was sweet and highly ethical. Witnessing a murder and having to hide for close to two years could change a person, though. She knew that firsthand. Snake, along with a lot of self-examination, made her turn her life around. At least she had two upstanding heroes as her lighthouse. But change could go the other way, too.

  “Come on, Alex. We’re going to drop in on Mom.” Whether she wants to see her son or not.

  “Mom?”

  “Yeah, Mom.”

  Her heart broke knowing the reception he might receive. Mom might not even admit he was her son. That could put him in an irreversible tailspin. Though knowing Alex, if she took him to get ice cream afterward, he might forget the incident in a matter of minutes.

  “Here we are.” She attempted to infuse cheer into her tone.

  He’d never lived in the rather dilapidated duplex, so he wouldn’t have had any bad or good memories here. She scurried out from the driver side and pulled open his door. Taking his hand, she led him up the walkway and knocked.

  To her surprise her mom answered with a cigarette in her hand. Her hair was in curlers, but she had on a clean pair of slacks and wore a nice sweater. She looked better than she had in years.

  “Hi, Mom.” She needed to act like bringing her dead son was an everyday occurrence. “Alex wants to see you.” After sixteen years.

  The staredown took a good thirty seconds. “Come in.”

  Chapter Eleven

  The meeting with Alex and Mom couldn’t have gone better. While Alex mostly busied himself thumbing through the magazines on her table, Mom seemed to glow. Mind you, she didn’t volunteer to take care of him since taking care of herself was enough of an issue, but she hadn’t booted him out either. Besides, with Alex’s appetite, she’d have to get a job just to feed him.

  Her mom actually acted as if Alex was her son. It was nice to see something unexpected come from the woman who never doted on anyone. At the end of the visit, Alex stood and said he wanted to go back to his house. That worked for her. His ticket was open-ended, so she drove him to the station and put him on the bus with the promise she’d visit him more often. Sherry said she’d meet Alex on the other end.

  With her brother’s issues resolved for the moment, her appetite picked up a bit. This past week had been hard. Depression made her life extra sucky.

  During the next week, she’d seen both her loves, but her teen server, the dear boy, had hurried to take their order. Tom had motioned she come over and talk to him, but he’d asked her some stupid question about the name of the coffee she’d brought over to the station. She’d acted as distant as she possibly could to stop the addition of more hurt. That night, she’d gone home and cried.

  * * * *

  “This is so fucked up.” Tom filled out the domestic disturbance report but kept making mistakes. His mind was on Lydia. Why had she given up on him so soon?

  Connie swiveled in her chair and glanced back at him. “Sorry?”

  “Nothing.” Christ. Lydia had reduced him to talking to himself.

  Justin came out of his office and walked over to the coffee machine. “I went over to the Mountain View for lunch today, and Lydia wouldn’t even look at me. The kid took my order instead.”

  “You find out who her new man is?” Gossip was rich in a small town.

  “Not exactly. I talked to Walter, her neighbor, and he said there was something strange about the guy.”

  He put his pen down. “Meaning?”

  “Don’t know. He didn’t elaborate.” Justin stirred in a packet of sugar.

  His friend was up
set. Justin never used sugar. He motioned they take this conversation in his closed office.

  Connie seemed to be engrossed in typing something, but knowing her, she was glued to what they were saying. He shoved back his chair and followed his boss into the glass-enclosed room. Justin pulled the blinds.

  “We have to get to the bottom of this.”

  Tom sat. “I know I’m dying here, but Lydia doesn’t seem to care.” He stretched out his legs. His mind worked better that way. “How about we waylay her as she’s leaving work? We can take her to the house and have a heart-to-heart.”

  Justin tapped the stapler, making it click and clack. It drove him crazy. “You’ve been back two weeks. She’s had plenty of time to come to us.”

  “Lydia’s not the type to come begging. She’s been hurt too many times. She might act like she’s self-confident, but she could have all sorts of stuff going on in her head. If you were her, would you walk in here and ask us what’s wrong?”

  Justin sipped his steaming coffee. “Maybe not.”

  “Look, if we want her, we have to talk to her. Hell, what kind of relationship do we have if we can’t be honest?”

  Justin shrugged. “Might as well try. I don’t think my heart can break anymore. I swear she was the one for us.”

  “She is. I know it. Lydia responded to us like no other woman, and don’t say it’s because she’s experienced. She’s no virgin, but she also hasn’t had as many men as we’ve been led to believe.”

  Justin stared off and continued to stir his thoroughly mixed coffee. At least he stopped making a racket with the stapler. “I talked to the reverend. I figured he’d know something.”

  “And?”

  “He wouldn’t say a word.”

  “Great. So now what? You willing to give a try to make things better?”

  “Hell, yes.”

  Tom returned to his desk and finished the report he’d been poring over. The next hour went by too slowly. A few minutes before 5:00 p.m., Justin emerged from his office. Connie still had an hour left on her shift.

  Justin walked over to her. “Tom and I have some business to take care of. We won’t be back before you leave.”