Angie's Destiny [Cattleman's Club 7] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Jenny Penn

  “Chase was the same way. Too afraid he wouldn’t be able to stop once he got started.”

  “I am not afraid,” Mike spat. “And I can start and stop whenever I want.”

  “Mmm-hmm.”

  “You want proof? I’ll give you proof.”

  “Don’t be doing anything on my account.” Slade held his hands up in surrender, but the laughter was still there, lurking in his gaze. “I don’t want to get blamed for you being an ass.”

  “I am not an ass!”

  “Mmm-hmm.”

  “You’re the ass,” Mike muttered as he sulked back into his seat.

  * * * *

  Mike was not an ass, he assured himself. He was the victim. After all, he was the one so damn drunk last night he couldn’t remember what the hell had happened. He suspected Brett was right and the answer was nothing, mostly because he’d been way too drunk. How he’d gotten that way, he wasn’t sure but knew Angie was to blame.

  She’s turned the tables on him and used his own damn party to lead him astray when Mike had meant to spend the night flirting with every other woman and maybe doing a little more just to make sure Angie got the message. Well, now he was the one who had gotten it.

  This war.

  If he had any doubts about that, Angie cleared them up as she came storming back into the kitchen dressed like a hooker ready to go pick up johns on the street corner. Mike’s eyes weren’t the only ones damn near bugging out of his head as she strutted past wearing white thigh-highs along with six-inch, fuck-me-now stilettos. She had a skirt on that barely covered her ass and a shirt that molded itself like second skin to the breasts that were damn near falling out of the top.

  Turning her ass on all three men at the table, she bent over and shook it at them. “See? Panties.”

  “Is that what you call that scrap of lace.” Brett snorted. “Strippers wear more than that.”

  Angie shot him a middle finger salute and turned to pin Mike with a pointed look, clearly awaiting his response. She was at it again, taunting him, but this time he wasn’t going to let her get to him. He had a point to prove, and he was still intent upon it.

  Aware of all the eyes tracking his progress as he shoved out of his seat and came around the table, he stepped up to confront Angie directly. The tension in the room thickened with anticipation. Mike knew not a single one of them, not even his brother, could guess at what he planned to do next. He certainly caught Angie off guard as he swept her up into a passionate kiss.

  Unfortunately, she was not the only one caught by surprise.

  The heat and lust that had been simmering beneath the surface now for twenty-four hours exploded into a raging boil as the sweet taste of her flooded his senses. Angie needed no prodding and offered no resistance as his lips broke over her softer ones, forcing them open so that he could plunder the deep, heady depths of her kiss.

  It was too much, a voice shrieked through his head. He was drowning, and if he didn’t flee now, he’d be caught forever in her web. Still, Mike didn’t have the strength to pull back as Angie fitted her curves perfectly against him and started to grind with the skill of temptress who knew she had her prey cornered.

  With the expert precision of a snake, Angie struck, clamping her lips around his tongue and sucking him deep as she pumped her hips against the painfully hard and throbbing length of his erection. He was going down, fast and hard.

  It was time to abort, and there was no way to do that smoothly or retain his dignity. Mike just had to shove her back before he took her to the floor right then and there in front of Slade and his brother. That is probably what he should have done. At least then they wouldn’t have laughed at him.

  That Mike could handle, but Angie’s smile… Something had to be done about that. That and her smug attitude.

  “You okay there, stud? You look a little shaky.”

  Mike growled, curling his fingers into fists in a pointed attempt to stop them from trembling. The gesture and the reason behind it weren’t lost on Angie, who boldly strutted past him with a seductive suggestion.

  “Don’t worry, stud. We can work on that tonight.”

  “I have a date.”

  That had everybody in the room pausing, but if he had expected that to dent Angie’s confidence, Mike was sadly mistaken. Her smile just grew, and the mischievous twinkle in her eyes assured him she’d seen through his lie. Now he was in real trouble, but at least, he wasn’t an ass.

  “I look forward to meeting her,” Angie assured him as she opened the door, causing Slade to hop out of his seat.

  “Hold up, Angie,” Slade hailed her as he darted across the kitchen. “I’ll give you a lift out to the club.”

  “And one home?”

  “I got ya,” Brett offered. “I’ll be out there later to meet GD.”

  All eyes turned toward Mike, and he shrugged. “I’ve got other plans.”

  Angie snorted at that, and there was no disguising the laughter in the sound or just what she thought about his “other plans.”

  “Sure thing, stud. You’ve got a date to go find.”

  Mike snarled, about to become the ass that he was trying to avoid being, but Slade moved quickly to head off disaster. Hustling Angie out the door, he slammed it before Mike could do anything stupider than he’d already done. As if he didn’t know that he’d totally screwed everything up, he had a brother to remind.

  “Now what you going to do…stud?”

  Chapter 8

  Angie took a deep breath, forcing her nerves to settle as Slade jogged around the front of his pickup to climb into the driver’s seat. It had taken an extreme force of self-control not to melt into a puddle at Mike’s feet. The man really knew how to kiss.

  He’d left her shaken and weak. Her only consolation was he hadn’t been in any better shape. Thankfully, everybody had been focused on him. Nobody noticed that she’d had a hell of time recovering. It wasn’t until Slade started to ease his truck away from the curb that she realized she’d forgotten to even greet him.

  That was how off the mark she was, but it was way too late to back up and say hello. That would only draw attention to the fact that she was as off her game as Mike. So, instead, Angie let out her breath slowly and continued on as she had started, with attitude to spare.

  “This is a nice ride and all, Slade, but we both know you didn’t come all the way into town to play taxi out of the goodness of your heart. So what’s up?” Angie asked, certain something was.

  “Patton.”

  “I can’t help you there,” Angie cut in, taking a guess at which direction this conversation was headed. “Whatever happened with Lana, it’s between you and her…and her.”

  “I’m not talking about that,” Slade shot back, a hint of annoyance in his tone.

  “No?” That surprised Angie, and she couldn’t help but cast him a questioning look. “Then what?”

  “Patton…wants your job.” Slade sounded as though he’d tasted something foul, and he looked as if he’d smelled it. Angie, on the other hand, couldn’t help but laugh.

  “Yeah, I know. She told me last night, and I’ll tell you what I told her. She can have it. I’ve got other things I can do, like get back to work.”

  “Like we’re going to unleash Patton unsupervised on the club.” Slade snorted. “And the club accounts for ninety percent of your sales, so this is your work.”

  Angie felt her amusement sour as she figured out just what was coming next. She should have known, not that knowing would have any effect on her answer.

  “Oh no.”

  “Yes.”

  “No.” Angie shook her head. “I am not being responsible for whatever she decides to do, and I’m not ratting her out to you whenever she decides to do something. No.”

  “Yes.”

  “You can say yes all you want. The answer is still no.”

  “Please?” Slade batted his lashes at her, and Angie had to admit that the man had some enviable lashes.

  He
had enviable everything. Tall and hard, with eyes that sparkled in the daylight, the man was a walking sex dream, just like his other two brothers. Yet, he did nothing for Angie. That wasn’t to say she hadn’t enjoyed his attention in the past, but he didn’t make her heart race or her knees go weak, which was a good thing because Patton would have killed her if he did.

  She didn’t want to be at war with Patton over anything. Not even the club.

  “No.”

  “Fine,” Slade huffed, heaving an aggrieved sigh. “How much is it going to cost me?”

  “You think my loyalty is for sale?” Angie asked, shocked and more than a little offended that he thought so little of her.

  “I think you might need some help with those two idiots back there.” Slade hit on the one thing she couldn’t deny.

  “Help?” Angie eyed him, tempted despite herself. “What kind of help?”

  * * * *

  Brett couldn’t help laughing as he headed toward the Pittsview’s town center. Mike could be a real idiot sometimes, but Angie turned him into a complete dumbass. Only love could do that to a man. Even Mike had to see the truth now. He was in love.

  In love and pissed off about it. Worse, Mike seemed intent on following through on his stupid plans to try and harass Angie into abandoning him. Why? Brett still didn’t get it.

  That was because it didn’t make any sense. Mike was afraid of getting his heart broken, so he was breaking it? He was afraid of hurting Angie, so he was hurting her? Brett had made those points to Mike right after Angie and Slade had left, but his brother hadn’t been in the mood to listen.

  So Brett had taken off to go pick on two men who had no choice but to listen to him. Cole and Kyle had broken his sister’s spirit. Now, he was going to break them. That put a smile on Brett’s face as he drove into town.

  Hailey didn’t answer to any man, especially not Kyle Harding. That ass had been a complete prick to her all through high school. Back then he hadn’t dared to cross the line, and Brett had barely spared him a moment’s notice. Now, though, the man had gone too far. Now he was sleeping with Brett’s sister.

  He wasn’t the only one.

  That was reason enough to hate Kyle Harding as far as Brett was concerned. There was no reason that he could see not to visit that hate upon the man. That was just what he planned on doing as he pulled into the parking lot of Cole and Kyle’s garage.

  It didn’t matter to him that the two idiots had managed to build their own successful business, or that they clearly weren’t frugal about spending their money on Hailey. That was clear from the rock they’d bought her and the home they were restoring for her. None of that changed Brett’s opinion of either of them.

  He hopped out of his truck and headed in through the open bay, intent on causing trouble. Brett could hear one of Cole’s cousins complaining loudly as all the men clustered around an RV some sick mind had turned into what looked like a big pile of poo. It looked completely out of place next to the classic cars that the garage was known for restoring, but Brett didn’t care.

  He didn’t even wonder what the hell was going on. All that mattered was that he could hear both Kyle and Cole teasing Cole’s cousins. They were on the other side of the RV, and the phone was across from Brett, which gave him an idea. Snapping his cell out of the holder clasped to his waistband, he flipped open his phone and dialed up the shop and then waited against the side of the RV as he listened to Cole’s laughter ring closer and closer.

  Just as the asshole came past the bumper of the RV, Brett stuck his foot out and tripped the idiot, sending him stumbling forward before crashing down onto the cement floor.

  “Shit!” Cole cursed, proving he had absolutely no manners and was way too low class for Brett’s sister.

  “You all right, man?” Kyle came jogging around the corner of the RV just in time for Brett to trip him, too, sending him crashing right down on top of Cole and earning Brett another obscenity.

  “Son of a bitch! Get off me!” Cole shoved Kyle back, who quickly scrambled to his feet and turned to confront Brett.

  “Oh, it’s you.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Brett nodded. “And I’d curb the impulse to swing that fist, lady, because you know how Hailey feels about us fighting.”

  Of course, Hailey wasn’t there. She was busy right then back at the house, where she kept her studio in the garage. He’d kissed her on the cheek before he’d left her to her work not but ten minutes ago.

  “What do you want, asswipe?” Cole demanded to know as he pushed himself off the floor and rose up to take a stand with Kyle. “Other than stinking up my shop, I mean.”

  “Very good, little girl,” Brett shot back. “I’m so insulted I might cry.”

  “And I’m so amused I might call the cops and have you arrested for assault,” Cole retorted.

  “Watch it now, sweetheart, or I might just have to go find your sister and see if she feels like playing a round or two of cow to my boy.”

  “My sister’s married.”

  “You think that would stop me?”

  It would, but Cole didn’t know that, and he took the bait like the moron he was and surged forward. Brett would have enjoyed beating him back down, but Kyle got in the way, placing a hand on Cole’s chest and shoving him back.

  “Don’t take the bait, man.” Kyle smiled slightly. “There are other ways to deal with bullies like him.”

  “Really, Nancy?” Brett lifted a brow. “What you going to do?”

  “Aaron? Jacob?” Kyle called out.

  “Four against one?” Brett snorted, not intimidated by those odds at all. “Because I can take you of all just—”

  His words got cut off by a foghorn that actually blew stink along with its steamy blast. Almost instantly, an odor so foul filled the garage that Brett was left gagging and stumbling for the open garage door as his eyes began to tear. Kyle and Cole followed him, laughing and smirking as they enjoyed their momentary victory.

  “Jesus.” Brett sucked in a deep breath of fresh air and tried to throw off the smell that felt as if it was permeating his very skin. “What the hell was that?”

  He hadn’t asked that question of anybody in particular, but Cole answered nonetheless.

  “The world’s biggest stink bomb.” He smirked as if that was some kind of prize to brag about.

  “And it doesn’t get to you?”

  “We’ve burnt out our ability to smell long ago.” Kyle shrugged. “Now, Nancy, what the hell are you doing here?”

  Brett drew himself up at that and narrowed his gaze on Kyle. He’d be getting his revenge, but pounding on him was just too damn easy. He’d have to think of something special. Until then, he had a few words to share with the obnoxious twits snickering at him.

  “I heard a rumor that you weren’t allowing my sister to do certain things, like fix her friend’s motorcycle.” Brett paused, giving them a chance to deny it, but neither man responded. “I don’t like hearing that. My sister does what my sister wants, or I’ll be doing what I want. Got me?”

  “Your sister negotiated a truce,” Cole informed him with a smile that left no doubt about how those negotiations had gone. “In the end, she got some things she wanted, and we got some things we wanted. The rest of the details ain’t none of your business.”

  “Everything about Hailey is my business,” Brett assured him. “And I take my business seriously.”

  “And we take keeping your sister happy seriously,” Kyle shot back.

  “Which is why we decided to issue you a challenge even Hailey can’t object to.”

  “Yeah?” Brett cocked a brow in Cole’s direction. “And what’s that, Sally?”

  Kyle’s gaze narrowed, his grin tightening, but he didn’t take the bait, proving that he was serious about keeping Hailey happy. Brett still didn’t like him, though.

  “It involves us humiliating you on an obstacle course,” Kyle suggested, pausing until it became obvious he wasn’t going any further without some kind
of response from Brett.

  “You’ve got my ear.”

  * * * *

  Angie stared down into her glass and told herself she deserved this. Her day had been that difficult. Patton had been that difficult. She really was as crazy as everybody said. Angie didn’t know how she’d missed it.

  Patton wanted to open up the Harem as a day spa, wanted to expand the club to include couples, thought adding a golf course would only add to its appeal as a resort, and, of course, wanted to set up a small retail boutique for her lingerie line and possibly cosmetics and lotions and other sexual aids that the ladies could take with them when they left the club.

  Some of her ideas had a little merit. Others were just outside any realm of logic or reason, but the worst part hadn’t come until the end of the day. That was when Patton had let it slip that she’d copied every file from the club’s membership onto a flash drive back a few weeks ago. She’d given it to somebody for safekeeping, and hopefully, she could get it back. Angie sure as hell didn’t want to be around if Patton couldn’t because God only knew what Chase’s response would be.

  Just the thought of it had sent Angie to the bar, where she had ordered up her favorite and most forbidden treat, a triple-decker milkshake made of coffee, vanilla, and chocolate, topped with whipped cream and toffee crunch. It had to be the most fattening creation the club had ever whipped up. Normally it was shared, but that afternoon, Angie was miserable enough to tackle the thing alone.

  “Oh, man!” Brett slid into the seat beside her, eyeing her dessert instead of her breasts for the first time ever. The gleam of excitement glinting in his eyes, though, was strangely the same. “That looks good.”

  “I’m not sharing,” Angie informed him, protectively pulling her glass closer as she shot him a dirty look that warned the big man not to even try to sneak a taste.

  “Please.” Brett snorted. “I want my own. Yo, barkeep!” he hollered out, drawing the man’s attention toward them as he pointed at Angie’s glass. “I want one.”

  The man scowled and nodded, clearly not pleased with Brett’s less-than-sophisticated behavior. Not that Brett seemed to mind or care as he turned a big goofy smile on Angie.