by Jenny Penn
Brick didn’t respond to that but slid in behind the wheel. That didn’t mean that Tex didn’t know the big man wasn’t disagreeing with him. That was just sort of Brick’s way. He spoke in silence. Most people didn’t get that about him, but Tex had been raised with Brick and knew all his looks and moods. Right then, the big man wasn’t pleased.
“Okay, fine.” Tex shut the door. “If you want to do things the long, hard, Big-Bob way then you can play Romeo to the little mouse in there.”
Brick glanced over at Tex.
“Oh, don’t give me that look,” Tex muttered as he snapped his seat belt in.
Brick turned over the loud engine. It roared to life and then rumbled down to a dangerous purr that fit the man behind the wheel.
“I thought she was kind of cute.” Brick finally spoke as he eased the massive car away from the curb.
“Yeah, maybe if she didn’t dress like a grand mom,” Tex muttered as he glanced out the window.
Janie’s mom was a delight. A sweet, older lady with a quick smile and a kind word at all turns, she fit right in with the tailored street she lived on. This was old person lane. The houses smaller, well kept and quiet, a natural place for retirees to congregate close to town and all the amenities it offered.
Sadly enough, Janie fit in as well, though she was clearly nowhere near retirement. Tex was guessing she hadn’t even broken thirty yet, but that hadn’t stopped her from wearing a floral dress that hung on her frame in unattractive lumps. Neither did her hair do her any service. Pulled back and corralled into a tight bun, the hairstyle had matched the severity of her attitude.
The woman was quiet, but that didn’t mean Tex couldn’t sense the disapproval smoldering within her as she’d sat there on her mother’s plastic-wrapped loveseat. Despite the size of Janie’s well-endowed ass, she’d managed not to squeak once on the plastic. That was impressive, given Tex had been making it fart all over the place.
“I didn’t mind the way she was dressed.”
Brick wouldn’t. He liked stuck-up broads. He thought they were classy. Tex wasn’t into classy, given he had no class himself. A fact he was proud of. He liked his women trashy. Trashy and easy and definitely not clingy…like Melinda. There was a woman who knew how to dress. All thoughts of Melinda and her love of spandex were forgotten in the next instant as he spied a scrawny-looking guy that matched the picture Helena had given them of Ken.
“Hey, isn’t that the twerp we’re looking for?”
“We’re not looking for him.”
“Whatever.” Tex rolled his eyes. “Pull over. Let’s settle this now.”
Brick sighed, but did as Tex directed, easing the massive car over toward the curb. Tex didn’t wait for him to come to a complete stop before he jumped out onto the strip of grass that lined the sidewalk.
“Hey, you,” he hollered out as he sauntered over toward where Ken sputtered to a stop and glanced back at him. “Yeah, you. I want a word with you.”
The geeky little man blinked and shoved his glasses farther up his short, pug nose and frowned over at Tex. “I’m sorry. Do I know you?”
“No, but you’re about to. My name is Tex.” Tex introduced himself as he stepped up into the man’s personal space and lorded over him. “I’m the man who is screwing Janie Scott, and you’re the asshole that’s screwing with her.”
Again Ken blinked, looking neither offended nor perturbed by Tex’s bold statement. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Yeah, right.” Tex snickered and snatched the flowers out of Ken’s hands. He tore the bouquet in two and dropped both halves to the ground. “Stay away from my girl or the next time it’s not going to be flowers lying in pieces on the ground. Got me?”
Tex didn’t wait for an answer as he turned and pointed down the street in the opposite direction of the Scott house. “Not get the hell out of here and don’t come back!”
Ken hesitated. Then the weird little dude smiled and nodded. Without a word, he walked away. Tex watched him go until the little prick had turned the corner. Only then did he allow himself to smile. Brick didn’t share it with him but stood there beside the still idling Malibu, staring at the corner Ken had disappeared around.
“Problem solved,” Tex concluded as he sauntered back up to his side of the car. “Let’s go get ourselves a real case.”
Brick didn’t respond to that but simply, slowly turned his gaze back on Tex. Tex could read the doubt and disapproval in his cousin’s eyes just as easily as he’d read it in Janie’s. The two of them, they may actually fit, but that didn’t make either one right.
“Problem solved,” Tex repeated, firmer this time as he wrenched open his door. “And you can pout all day if you want, but this case is closed.”
Chapter Two
Brick was halfway through Bull Mountain when his phone rang, pulling back from the pages of the book he held in his hands. He glanced over at the clock as his cell continued to buzz away. It was ten, and no good news ever rang after eight. With a sigh and a sense of impending dread, Brick answered the phone.
“We got a problem,” Big Bob declared before Brick could even offer up a greeting.
“Where is she?” Brick asked, not needing to ask what Big Bob was talking about.
He already knew this was about Janie. He also knew that Tex was an ass.
“In the hospital,” Big Bob shot back. “She’s out cold. Her car’s wrecked.”
Brick sighed, silently cursing Tex as he shoved back the covers and reached for the jeans he’d thrown over the back of his clothes tree. “I’m on my way.”
With that, he disconnected, knowing Big Bob had more things to say but not really wanting to hear them. His uncle could go yell at his cousin because, as far as Brick was concerned, this was Tex’s mess…though, he couldn’t deny he hadn’t helped. He’d known when he’d seen Ken that the guy was slimy.
Slimy and cowardly and would be coming back. He should have followed that instinct, but the truth was that he hadn’t expected to walk into the scene that greeted him when he finally made it down to the county hospital. The rush and roar of doctors, nurses and deputies told him before anybody else could that the situation was bad.
“Brick!” Deputy Wentworth called out his name, separating from the crowd surrounding the sheriff as he came jogging up. “Big Bob said you were on your way.”
“Yep.” But it looked as if he was a little late to do much good.
“I tell you what, man, this shit’s a mess.” Wentworth sighed and shook his head. “Five car pileup, six people seriously injured, and we still don’t know what the hell happened.”
“Check Janie Scott’s car.” Brick was betting something had been tampered with.
“Oh, yeah, your client…she’s not in good shape, my friend.” Wentworth glanced back down the hall toward a room Brick was betting was Janie’s. “I feel bad for her mom. She ain’t stopped crying yet.”
“Great.” Brick really was going to pound on Tex.
Whatever the other man thought about Janie, he couldn’t say a bad word about her mom. Helena Scott was a sweet woman. She’d offered Brick cookies and smiled at him, despite the fact that most women her age crossed the street to avoid him.
“I’ll tell you this, too. Big Bob hasn’t stopped scowling.” Wentworth shot Brick a pitying look as he shook his head. “In fact, he looks ready to hurt somebody…and we don’t need that kind of mayhem. So, do me a favor and go calm him down.”
“Huh.” Brick wasn’t sure he’d be much good at that. He didn’t feel exactly calm right then. As if on cue, the source of his frustration hollered out his name.
“Brick!” Tex came in through the automatic double doors that led into the emergency room lobby and made a beeline for Brick. “What the hell is going on, man? I got a call from Big Bob, and he–”
That was as far as he got before Brick turned and Tex jogged right into the fist plowed into his cousin’s gut. Tex gagged and stumbled back, be
nding over as he tried not to fall down. It didn’t work. He tripped over his own feet and slapped his ass into the linoleum floor. It all happened so fast nobody seemed to catch on to the fact that Tex had just gotten slugged.
Nobody but Wentworth, who just stared and sighed. “I see. I’m going to assume he deserved that.”
“He did,” Brick answered, finally giving the deputy more than a one-word response.
Tex actually deserved more, but Brick didn’t bother to waste his time trying to teach his cousin a lesson right then. Instead, he brushed past the deputy and left Tex gasping for breath as he headed for the room Wentworth had glanced back to. Sure enough, as he shoved through the door, he was greeted by the quiet sounds of sniffling and the heavy huffs of Big Bob’s heaving breaths.
“You!” Big Bob came storming at him, pointing out the door. “I want a word. Now.”
Brick nodded, his gaze sweeping past his uncle to spy the woman lying, looking pale as death, in the bed behind Big Bob. In that quick glance, Brick took everything in. The bandage on her head, the IVs coming out of her arm, and the frail-looking mother clinging to a lifeless hand. The sight made his heart clench as he felt the rush of an anger that normally didn’t brush his emotions almost consume them.
Somebody was going to pay for this.
Right then that somebody was him. Bowing his head to his uncle, Brick turned and headed back out the door, almost running right into Tex, who stumbled quickly back and held his hands up.
“Please don’t hit me again. That shit hurt, man.”
Brick grunted at that and stepped to the side to reveal Big Bob’s frown as he followed Brick into the hall. The big man didn’t wait to light into them.
“Okay, you two, you want to tell me how it is that this afternoon you’re telling me the situation is handled and this evening I’m standing over a hospital bed?”
“It’s all Brick’s fault.” Tex pointed a finger at him. “If he’d backed my move, there is no way–”
“Oh, shut up, Tex!” Big Bob snapped as Brick glared over at his cousin. Tex was getting hit for that one. Possibly by Big Bob this time. “Don’t even try to bullshit me. If you’d stuck to my plan and the girl, then this wouldn’t be happening!”
“Do we even know how this happened?” Brick asked, cutting into the conversation. Blame wouldn’t get them anywhere. Not right then. “The deputies didn’t seem to have any answers yet. Maybe this was just an accident.”
Big Bob turned his narrowed gaze on Brick and just glared.
“Or maybe it wasn’t.”
“Witnesses are saying she plowed into a stopped car at almost full speed. You met the girl, you think that sounds like her?” Big Bob shot back, knowing it didn’t.
Janie wasn’t the type not to pay attention. That had been real clear that morning.
“You think somebody cut a brake line?” Tex sobered up, going in an instant from a sulk to a frown as he digested that bit of information.
“I got Logan and Bruce looking into it, and you two are sitting on this girl.” Big Bob paused to shoot a pointed look at Tex. “And you’re not blinking. Not for one second.”
“Not for one second,” Tex swore, but Big Bob must have known that was a lie.
Brick knew it. He knew his cousin well enough to know Tex’s mind was churning with one thought—revenge. That was just the way Tex was.
“I mean it, Tex,” Big Bob pressed. “You already taunted this fucker once and look what happened.”
Tex couldn’t argue that point. He didn’t even try, though it was clear that he wanted to. “So…we just sit on her?”
“No, we do as I told you to do,” Big Bob spat. “You’re going to show the girl off around town, take her home, and let her sleep in your bed while you hump the couch and then, in a week, take her out to the cabin. That should lure this little fucker out into the wilderness.”
In the wilderness, they’d have the advantage. Brick liked this plan.
“And I’m putting Logan and Bruce on the case. They’re backing your play,” Big Bob added, though Brick suspected that they were really there to report back to Big Bob if Tex decided to go off-script again.
“Cool.” Tex smiled. “The more the merrier, and don’t worry…we’ll nip this problem in the bud.”
* * * *
Janie woke up to the glare of lights and a pounding in her head that made every part of her body hurt. She blinked her eyes groggily, fighting against both the pain and the unforgiving restlessness that had her rousing from the numbing abyss of sleep. It would have been nice to go back there, but she couldn’t seem to force herself to.
So, instead, Janie blinked back against the bright light antagonizing her and took in her surroundings. She didn’t need to look around to know she was in a hospital. The feel of the IV inserted into the back of her hand and the steady beep of the heart monitor clamped to her finger, along with the throbbing pain echoing through her body, told Janie all she needed to know about her current situation. What the sight of the acoustic-tiled ceiling and plastic bags swinging overhead didn’t tell her was how she’d gotten there.
Remembering was too hard and hurt too much, but Janie could take a few guesses, especially when she spied Brick sitting in the chair by her bed. He watched with a steady gaze that held a strange warmth. Then he smiled, and Janie felt her heart flutter.
Something special, something deep, passed between them in that moment. It didn’t require words to be recognized, which was good because Brick didn’t say anything. He didn’t have to. Him just being there made Janie feel weirdly better.
Then her mother made her feel worse.
“Oh, honey, you’re awake.” Her mother hopped out of the chair she’d pulled up to the other side of Janie’s bed and wrapped her arms around her daughter, squeezing and making Janie groan.
“Oh, oh, I’m sorry.” Helena released her instantly, stepping back as Brick rose up and headed for the door.
Janie watched him go, not wanting him to leave. He made her feel safe in a way that left her panicked at the idea of him not being there, but she didn’t know what to say to stop him. She didn’t have the chance with her mother fluttering all around her, chatting away excitedly.
“But don’t worry, honey, you’re going to be all right. The doctors have already said so…and Big Bob has sworn to me that he’s putting two men on your case. There is not going to be a repeat of what happened last night.”
“What did happen?” Janie finally managed to ask, her words croaking out of her as she tried to swallow and clear her throat.
“You were in a car accident,” her mother answered succinctly as she poured some ice water out of a cheap-looking pitcher into a plastic cup. She passed it over to Janie as Janie frowned.
“I was…I don’t remember.”
“That’s because you hit your head,” Helena informed her with full authority. “The doctors said you must have knocked your noggin against the steering wheel and you probably wouldn’t remember anything, but don’t worry. The police and Big Bob are looking into the matter.”
“They are?” Janie sipped at the water, finding it cool and refreshing. “Why?”
“Because you plowed into a stopped car at almost full speed.”
Janie’s eyes widened at that, a cold trickle of fear snaking up her spine. “I did? Was anybody else hurt?”
Yes. She could see that truth in the look that passed through her mother’s eyes before Helena forced another smile. “Don’t you worry about that, honey. You just focus on getting better and let the experts do their work.”
Experts? Hadn’t they already failed? Janie didn’t give voice to those doubts, not wanting to burst her mother’s bubble of hope. It didn’t matter anyway. What would be would be. That was just the way life went. Right then, Janie felt too tired and sore to fight that truth, especially not when Brick reappeared with a doctor in tow.
The next half-hour felt like torture as the nurses came and went and the doctor prodded her
with all sorts of questions. After declaring that Janie would need to stay with them for another day or two, the doctor left, and the deputies entered. They had their own questions, but Janie didn’t have any answers. By the time they accepted that fact and left, Janie was exhausted, and she passed back out.
The next time she woke, Tex had replaced Brick, and her mother was nowhere to be seen. Janie felt a little uncomfortable with the way the bodyguard was staring at her, and his words only made her all the more aware of the natural tension filling the air.
“You look like hell,” Tex declared with a heavy sigh. “And I guess that’s my fault.”
Janie didn’t know what he meant by that but didn’t object to him taking the blame. There was only really one thing she wanted to know in that moment.
“Where’s my mom?” Janie asked around a grimace as she slowly shoved herself up.
Tex’s gaze narrowed on her, and she could sense him growing a little angry, though she didn’t get any hint that his annoyance was directed at her. “I sent her home…Brick, too. They needed sleep, and we need to talk.”
“About?”
“You and me.”
“You and me?” It hurt to even think of what he meant, but it was easy to see the flaw in what he said. “There is no you and me.”
“There is now,” Tex declared. “As far as everybody is concerned, we’re caught up in a whirlwind romance and you’ve decided to move in with me.”
“I have?” That didn’t sound like Janie at all.
“Yep.” Tex nodded. “We’re going to paint this town red, and in two weeks, we’ll be taking a romantic vacation. Hopefully, that will cause your ex to make a move, and we’ll take him down.”
Janie blinked at that, not at all comfortable with his comments, especially the part about taking Ken down. Tex’s tone held a dark, ominous note that had her feeling as if things were getting out of hand.
