“Answer the oaf, Jeanette,” Ty said. “Though I have to say, the longer we’re debating this, the slimmer the chances of there being any cookies left for you. Susie made a fresh batch, and I know Ren must have had half of them already.”
“Fuck that.”
Josh looked utterly outraged, and Jeanette couldn’t suppress an involuntary giggle, when the huge guy stuck his bottom lip out in a pout that wouldn’t have looked amiss on a schoolboy.
“See, what we have to put up with, girl. First Ren won’t share, now Ty won’t, and they’re keeping the food goodies away from me, too. It’s not fair. Please tell me you make cookies.”
Jeanette shook her head, and another giggle escaped her, when Josh sighed in rather overdramatic fashion, and put his hands over his heart.
“Oh, you wound me. So, if you don’t cook, what can you do, apart from dance that is?” Clearly judging her surprised expression accurately, he nodded at Ty behind her.
“Ace filled me in on the performance she gave in her audition. He said it was spunk fodder for ages.”
Ty growled his seeming annoyance behind her, and pulled her closer to him, while splaying his large hand possessively over her midriff. The tips of his fingers brushed the underside of her breasts, and Jeanette gasped. She was far too aware of him as it was. Great sex appeared to turn you into a raving nymphomaniac. Then again the feel of his cock hardening against her ass might also have something to do with her thoughts immediately turning to sex. She gave a little wiggle, and Ty groaned and pulled her closer, still. It made her feel much better about her wayward thoughts, as did the way Josh winked at her. It took some of the sting out of what he was saying.
“You can tell Ace from me to find some other material to rub off to.”
Josh laughed and started to walk toward to the kitchen.
“Tell him yourself, Ty. I’m not doing your dirty work for you.”
“Neither should you.” Ren’s deep voice put a dampener on Jeanette’s mood. Standing in the entrance to the doorway, he blocked the way in, and he looked far from happy.
“You haven’t answered the question, girl. What are you going to bring to the house, other than fucking trouble, and a few convenient holes for Ty to use? And I gotta tell you, dancing is not going to cut it. We can get that at the club.”
Chapter Eleven
Jeanette tensed in his arms, and Ty groaned under his breath. Despite his earlier talk with Ren, the man seemed determined to disrespect Jeanette. Ty really didn’t want to start a fight with his best mate, but they were fast heading that way.
“Don’t be such an ass, Ren,” he said, instead of acting on the impulse to rearrange the man’s face with his fists.
“I’ll stop being an ass, when you start thinking with your head instead of your dick, Ty. You can’t trust her.”
Something sounding like a growl erupted from the woman in Ty’s arms, and before he could say anything, she’d shaken off his hold on her, and advanced on a bemused looking Ren. Ty shook his head at Josh, who looked ready to grab her as she stormed past him in the narrow hallway. She stopped inches apart from Ren, and taking a full swing slapped him hard around the face with so much force she left a red handprint behind. Susie gasped behind Ren, and the head of the Cleaners stopped the next slap aimed at his face with ease. Grasping her wrists, he twisted Jeanette around until she faced Ty and yanked her arms up in a way designed to hurt. Sure enough tears sprang into her eyes, but she fought against the hold anyway.
“One slap is all you get, girl. Tell your woman to behave, Ty, or she’ll live to regret it.” Ren gave Jeanette a shove which sent her flying past an uncomfortable looking Josh, and into Ty. Before she could spin back round to have another go at Ren, Ty repeated the move Ren had used on her.
“Stop it, titch, I don’t want to hurt you.”
His grumbled words at last got through to her, and she stopped struggling. If looks could kill, however, Ren would be six feet under for sure, because she continued to glare at him.
“Let me go, Sir.”
Ren quirked an eyebrow at hearing Jeanette address Ty so, and Josh whistled through his teeth, whereas Ty was hard pushed not to high five the air in triumph. As that would have been highly inappropriate he hid his smile in his girl’s shoulder, and added for her ears only.
“Good girl.” Pulling back slightly he raised his voice. “Only if you promise to behave yourself, titch. Assaulting any of the inhabitants of this house is not permitted.”
“I wouldn’t, just him. And I slapped him. Hardly made a dent in his thick hide. If you want to see assault, however, I shall gladly comply with your request … Sir.”
Jeanette’s sassy reply made Josh laugh, and even Ren’s dark eyes twinkled in amusement.
“I should fucking kill him for what he did to my sister.”
Ren’s amusement dissipated instantly, and Jeanette pushed back into Ty’s body as though she was seeking his protection. While he inwardly rejoiced at her instinctive reaction, his gut twisted seeing the quiet fury on his friend’s face. Ren stopped inches away from Jeanette, and while she yanked her head up to look at him, Ty didn’t miss the tiny tremors shaking her frame.
“Let go of her, Ty, and let’s see if she actually has the guts to try that.”
“Sir, please.” Susie’s plea made Ren tense further, and the redhead flinched at his sharp reply.
“Stay out of this, Susie.”
Josh grumbled something under his breath, crossed his arms over his massive chest, and glared at a spot at the opposite wall. Out of all of them Josh had the biggest soft spot for Susie, and it always irked him tenfold when Ren upset her.
“No, I won’t stay out of it, Ren.” Susie’s trembling words must have caught her dearly, and Ren swung ‘round to glare her instead. Ty had a hard time processing hearing Susie address Ren by anything other than “Sir”, himself. Even Jeanette gasped softly, clearly recognizing the enormity of this moment. “Myrtle was her sister, and regardless of what we all thought of her, she is entitled to be upset over her death. Just let her say her piece and then we can all move on. I’m sure she wouldn’t really want to kill you, right, Jeanette?”
Arms crossed under her chest, Susie glared at the trembling woman in Ty’s arms, and he released his hold on her when she slumped against him and shook her head.
“No, I should, but lord help me, I couldn’t do that. Not now.” Her whispered words tore a strip of Ty’s heart, because there was a wealth of unshed tears behind them. Raw grief, which he recognized only too well, and the desperate need to make sense of it all.
Ren sighed, ran a hand through his silver hair, and facing Jeanette again, grasped her chin to study her expression.
Something like fleeting remorse crossed his ragged features, and he flicked a glance up at Ty and nodded.
“She had to die, girl, and I’m not sorry I killed her, but I am sorry she was your sister.” Jeanette and Susie both gasped at those murmured words.
“I can only imagine how much it must hurt to lose a sibling.” Ren paused, and a quiet look of understanding passed between him and Ty. Ren had no siblings, but he’d been there for Ty, when Ty’s brother had been blown to smithereens, had witnessed Ty falling apart, and he was clearly drawing on those times right now to offer the olive branch to Jeanette.
“Were you close to your sister?” he asked.
He stepped back whilst speaking, and Susie scrambled into his outstretched arms with a small squeal. Ren pulled her close and kissed the top of her head, his harsh features and tense stature relaxing with every second he held his girl in his arms.
“Not, really, but … if I had been then … damn it.” All the remaining fight went out of Jeanette, and when Ty grasped her shoulders and gently turned her to face him, he wasn’t at all surprised to see the tears clinging to her eyelashes.
“You couldn’t have stopped her, even then, baby,” Ty said.
Jeanette shook her head.
“Listen to Ty, g
irl,” Ren said. “He’s right. Myrtle was a law onto herself. She enjoyed the dancing and the whoring she did.” Jeanette flinched at those words, and Ty glared at his friend over her head. A small smile played around Ren’s lips at Ty’s reaction, and he flipped him the finger.
“It’s the truth, Ty, and you know it. She was never a victim in this. That bi—your sister,” Ren corrected himself at the last minute with a wry grin at Ty, “knew exactly what she was doing, and far more importantly she knew the consequences for her actions, yet she chose to betray the trust Huntly had placed in her anyway. I wouldn’t want to even hazard a guess as to what drove her. Greed, I suspect, and a complete and utter disregard for the feelings of others, let alone the danger she placed anyone else at the club under by her actions. By all means mourn the sister you remember, the sister who inspired such loyalty in you that you came to the club, determined to seek your revenge, as misguided as those actions were. Don’t mourn the bitch we threw in the canal, however. She deserved everything she got and more, and any guilt you might feel about not being there for her, dismiss that right now. It’s not worth your life, and believe me, were it not for Ty here, you wouldn’t be standing there right now, so I suggest you’ll be nice to him and let this go. I have no wish to have more blood on my hands. We’ve got enough to do with the fucking turf war to expend energy on fighting among ourselves, and as much as I don’t like the idea, Ty’s claimed you, which makes you one of us. So, obey the rules, and we’ll all get along just fine.”
Susie lifted her head to look across at Ty and Jeanette, and she smiled when she saw Jeanette nod. It was the slightest of movements, but a veritable weight lifted off Ty’s shoulders anyway, and Ren relaxed further.
“We need to hear the words, titch.” Ty grimaced at the hoarse quality of his voice, and Josh smirked at him. Yeah, talk about wearing your fucking feelings on your sleeve. Had it not been for Ren and Susie, Ty knew he would have been the butt of jokes in the house for months. Probably still would be, until the next one of the Cleaners fell hard, and Ty couldn’t shake the feeling that they all would sooner or later. Nothing quite like having a happy couple in your midst to make a man reevaluate his life, after all, not that Jeanette and he could be classed as such, but he hoped in time they would be. She sure as fuck couldn’t leave their protection, so one way or the other she was stuck with him.
“I’ll try, that’s all I can promise.”
Jeanette’s whispered words carried in the stillness of the hallway, and not caring about their audience, Ty fisted his hand in the loose ponytail at her neck, tipped her head up and kissed her. The fact that she immediately opened to him on a soft whimper, and pressed herself closer into his solid frame, every soft curve a perfect counterfoil against him meant he took the kiss much deeper than he’d first intended. When they eventually broke apart, it was to catcalls and whistles from the Synn brothers.
“Get a room, for fuck’s sake. You’ll make us bring up our breakfasts.”
Alex and James wore identical smirks on their faces, and ignoring them Ty pulled Jeanette past them and into the kitchen.
She hesitated at the entrance seeing Ren sitting at the table with Susie by his feet, resting her head on his thigh, but at Ty’s gentle nudge she adopted a similar position by Ty’s feet when he sat down. Wordlessly Josh slid two coffee cups across the table, and when Ty handed Jeanette one, she accepted it with trembling fingers. After a moment of hesitation she inhaled deeply, closed her eyes, and then proceeded to sip the fragrant brew slowly. Ty froze halfway to drinking his own cup, and his dick punched forward with a speed that made him glad he was sitting down. Fuck him, if Jeanette didn’t make the simple act of drinking coffee look as though she was making love to the cup. She seemed utterly unaware of the effect she had on the assembled males in the room. Alex and James readjusted themselves with a groan, Josh swore under his breath, and even Ren seemed transfixed by the sight of Jeanette’s full lips wrapped around the rim of the cup.
A slight blush spread across Jeanette’s features, when she opened her eyes to find everyone staring at them, and then Ace’s mocking voice broke the moment.
“Well, isn’t this fucking cozy? Haven’t you bunch of assholes got jobs to get on with? Huntly wants your woman at the club, Ty, and the rest of you, I’ve got a tip-off that shipment’s going down this afternoon. We can’t go in en masse but I need a few of you guys.”
Jeanette blinked, Susie paled, and Ren fisted the air.
“Finally, Ty has babysitting duties.” He smirked in Ty’s direction, as he said that. “I’ve got a meeting with Huntly, after I dropped Susie off at work, but then I’m all yours.”
Josh and the twins added their agreement, and they all filed out of the kitchen to discuss strategies out of earshot of Jeanette and Susie, who never liked to hear the particulars.
Having lost the use of her Sir’s thighs, Susie stood and took another batch of biscuits out of the oven. The aroma that filled the kitchen made Ty’s stomach rumble loudly, and laughing the redhead plated the few remaining ones of the earlier batch she’d made and placed them on the table in front of Ty, before she sat down on the chair Ren had just vacated.
“There, that’s all that’s left, I’m afraid. Give it five to let those ones cool down, and you can demolish them.” She hitched her thumb over her shoulder, and addressing Jeanette patted the seat of the stool next to her.
“Come sit at the table to eat. That’s all right with you, Ty, yes?”
Ty didn’t miss the unspoken challenge in Susie’s voice, and he smiled. Little Susie was submissive through and through, but she had spirit in spades, and it seemed she had decided to take Jeanette under her wings. Sure enough her next words confirmed that. “We got off on the wrong foot you and I, but if you’re staying here, I’d like us to be friends. I sure could do with another woman in the house to keep these domly types in check, I tell you.”
Ty laughed, just as his phone started to vibrate in his trouser pocket. Pulling it out he frowned at the display, and stood.
“I’ve got to take this. Go and eat something, titch.”
****
The tone of his voice gave Jeanette pause as Ty shot to his feet and left the kitchen. Not being able to lean on his legs also left her feeling strangely bereft, which made no sense at all, as she struggled to her feet and looked after him with a frown.
“Here sit, and let’s talk.” Susie’s calm voice meant Jeanette did just that. She shook her head at the plate Susie nudged toward her.
“No, thank you, I’m not really one for biscuits. I’ll have some more coffee though. No, don’t get up. I’ll get it myself.” She tried to stop the other woman, but Susie shook her head, and did it anyway.
“It’s no bother, you sit there. You’ve a lot to take in, after all.”
Susie getting up, and refilling her cup, gave Jeanette a few precious minutes to gather her thoughts. Ty’s deep rumble carried up the hallway. She couldn’t hear what he was saying, but he didn’t sound happy, and her heart squeezed painfully in her chest at that thought.
She took the fresh brew Susie placed in front of her, as Ty’s voice grew more distant.
“Who do you think is on the phone? He doesn’t sound happy, does he?”
The minute the words were out of her mouth Jeanette frowned. What did it matter if he was happy or not?
“It’s confusing isn’t it?” The quiet understanding in Susie’s voice further rattled Jeanette, and instead of answering her, she shrugged and took another sip of coffee.
A not entirely comfortable silence fell between them, and eventually Jeanette had to say something.
“I don’t understand any of it. I should hate him, yet … fuck.”
Susie’s giggle seemed utterly inappropriate under the circumstances, but it also put Jeanette at ease.
“I know, yet you can’t help but love him, can you?”
Jeanette’s immediate denial hovered on her lips, but the knowing look in Susie’s eyes stopp
ed her.
“I can tell you’re not ready to admit that to yourself, and that’s okay. There’s no need to say it, when your feelings are there for all to see.”
“I’m not sure I know what you mean.”
Even to her own ears that protest sounded hollow, and sure enough, Susie simply smiled.
“You’ve come a long way in the last week or so, Jeanette. You wouldn’t have accepted Sir’s apology, which, by the way, I’m still amazed he made, at all a week ago. Probably would have kneed him in the balls I reckon, or at least tried.”
A grudging smile formed on Jeanette’s lips at that mental image.
“I still might,” she said, but she knew deep down that she wouldn’t. Not least because she dreaded to think how sore her ass would be if she pulled a stunt like that, but because it would hurt too much to see the disappointment in Ty’s eyes. “Dammit, I should hate them all.”
“But you don’t.” The quietly utterly statement held such conviction that Jeanette let it sit in the room. There was no point in arguing the truth.
“They killed my sister. They’re all criminals, for fuck’s sake.”
Susie stretched across the table to put her hand over Jeanette’s. The simple comfort made her want to cry again.
“They are, but they’re also good guys in their own right.”
Jeanette snorted in answer, and Susie squeezed her hand and leaned back in her chair.
“They are, and believe me I know how much of a mind-fuck that is to admit, especially to yourself, and especially with what happened to your sister, but Sir is right. The sister you knew and the one we met, are not the same. Not by a long shot. No offense but Myrtle was a royal bitch.” Jeanette flinched hearing those words, but she didn’t contradict Susie either. What was the point? She was right, after all.
“That raid they’re planning tonight…”
Susie’s voice broke, and when Jeanette looked up, it was her turn to reach out to the other woman, because she looked utterly terrified.
His to Punish (The Cleaners Book 2) Page 12
