by M. Merin
Gritting my teeth, I pull myself back up. Just like I always have.
Turning to her, I grab my cuffs and quickly get them on her, no longer entertaining any fantasies as I concentrate on putting weight on my weak leg. I pick up her purse before escorting her to the back of my truck. Thankfully, she’s quiet for a couple minutes, allowing me to push aside the pain and pray for patience.
When I start the truck and make a U-turn, she starts talking again so I blast the local country station. Five minutes later, I’m knocking on Jake’s door.
Tabitha
It’s pointless to try to talk to this barbarian, so I sit in the back and glare at him, catching his eyes on me in the rearview mirror every few minutes or so. I know we’re in the Wild West but I can’t believe a Sheriff goes around with shoulder length hair and a tattoo that goes from his wrist straight up into his sleeve. Hair even darker than mine, his face seems to be carved from stone, and his eyes…
I groan and close my eyes, remembering the pain I saw in them when he stood up after I kicked him. I know I didn’t kick him that hard, so I can only imagine he has an injury of some sort. I should have apologized, but before I could think he was towering over me while fastening the handcuffs. And just like that, I almost leaned into him for a kiss.
Who knew handcuffs and an overbearing man would do it for me? The last man I dated bordered on meek.
Moments later, the Sheriff’s pulling up to Jake’s house and I try to talk louder than the music. This is the last place I want to be right now. But he’s out of the truck even before he reaches over to turn it off, slamming his door. I’m surrounded by silence.
A couple minutes go by before I see Jake and almost immediately the two of them seem to have a wrestling match over the door staying open. The Sheriff’s body language relaxes just a moment before I see that treacherous bitch who married my brother. Next thing Jake and Charlie are both leaning around the Sheriff’s bulk and making eye contact with me.
Not one of my better days.
Almost immediately, the Sheriff approaches his truck with Charlie steps behind him. Jake and Connal are side by side on the porch, eyes trained on her. Charlie’s face looks shocked at something the Sheriff says to her, I can’t make out their words but my brother starts down the steps at her expression.
After the four of them talk, the Sheriff opens the passenger door, slamming it almost instantly when I start to tell him off again.
He waits, looking at me with narrowed eyes. I manage to keep my mouth shut when he reopens the door and gently tugs me out.
“Ah, ah, ah,” he puts his thumb over my lips when I open my mouth. “One word and I’m pressing charges. Nod or shake your head to answer me. Last time I’m asking. Do you need medical attention?”
My hands are still cuffed so I shake my head, wanting out of this ludicrous situation as soon as possible.
“Good, now, let me…” he reaches his arm down my back and releases the cuffs, hoarsely whispering in my ear, “Be careful about your state of mind anytime you get behind the wheel, Princess.”
“Tabby, come inside?” Jake immediately commands and without a word, I grab my purse from the Sheriff and refusing to acknowledge Charlie, I clip her shoulder on my way into the house.
“Y’all have a good day now,” the Sheriff calls, his voice laced with sarcasm.
Jake turns to me as soon as I get inside.
“What the fuck, Tabs? I told you to wait for me here.”
“If you saw what I did, you wouldn’t be in the same zip code as those two, Jake,” I reach out for him. “You’ve got to kick her ass to the curb. Now.”
Connal and Charlie enter behind me. They’re even fucking holding hands! Without saying a word, Jake walks past me and kisses Charlie.
While she’s still clutching Connal’s hand?! My jaw drops.
Connal shifts to stand behind her and she arches her neck to the side, giving him access to start nibbling down to her collar bone. As soon as Jake pulls back from her mouth and kisses his way down her neck, Connal turns her head to kiss her lips. I feel like I’m watching a porno.
Charlie’s eyes fly open, and she somehow blushes when her eyes flick to me. If this is common, I can’t imagine she has any shame.
“Baby?” Jake draws back from her. “Why don’t you and Connal go get the SUV towed and I’ll talk to Tabby.”
“I love you,” she whispers while caressing his face.
After they leave, Jake stays rooted in place. I know he’s waiting for my reaction but this is a lot to process.
“How long have they?” I don’t know how to finish. “Are you two really married?”
“Charlie is legally my wife, but she’s Connal’s Ol’ Lady also,” he shrugs, going to get a beer. “Don’t put this on her. This is what we wanted, what we approached her with.”
“Do you have someplace I can rest, maybe shower?” I ask, absolutely at a loss about his relationship. Is it relationship or relationships? It’s been a long few days.
He nods, grabbing some towels for me as he leads me back to a bedroom in silence. Closing the door behind him, I head to the bathroom for a shower before I try to nap.
Chapter 3
Tabitha
Finally giving up on any rest after the day’s revelations, I head back out to the living room. Watching Connal as he sits on the couch, staring off into space. He’s nearly as tall as my brother but leaner compared to Jake’s muscular build.
I can’t help but wonder what a guy this good looking gets out of a relationship like this. He’s handsome, has his own business, and I’m sure considered a catch around here. Of course, he’s missing the polish of the men from my world who are always perfectly groomed and well-mannered, at least at black tie events. I know what most of them are like when they think no one’s looking.
“Where’s my truck?” I ask, startling him.
“At my garage. Charlie grabbed that bag for you,” he says, indicating an overnight bag near the door. “You really hit the Sheriff?”
“He deserved it,” I answer, ignoring his smile and pleased that Charlie thought to get some things for me. I open my mouth to ask if he and Jake are lovers but the obvious sound of Jake yelling out his release with Charlie’s soft moans following his, stops me in my tracks. Blushing, I turn back trying to figure out what to ask.
“Do you ask any of your other siblings for details?” Connal cuts me off and my blush deepens. “This works for us.”
“Gramps found out didn’t he?” I ask instead. “He was furious when I announced where I was moving. Up until Blaine’s wedding, I still wasn’t sure if I’d take a position in San Francisco, Denver, or Rowansville. But I really liked Charlie and the hospital here was still waiting on an answer.”
“Your grandfather doesn’t want word to get out, the all-important family name and all. Want a beer?” he asks.
“Have anything stronger?” I laugh and he points me to a cabinet.
“Tabby,” Charlie’s tentative voice comes from the hallway.
“I’m still processing this, Charlie,” I quickly cut her off. Connal moves to stand in front of her as Jake wraps an arm around her, cradling her stomach in his palm. A motion I’ve seen a thousand times…from expectant fathers.
“HOLY SHIT!” I yell without thought. “Is she pregnant?”
“Weren’t telling anyone yet,” Jake acknowledges it with his lazy grin. “Guess you’ll be her doctor now, in any case?”
I shoot back my drink and pour another one.
“Are there any other bombshells any of you want to drop on me? Just fucking get it over with now!” I explode, staring at each of them in turn as the silence stretches.
“I was the one who broke the vase when we were kids. I always felt bad that you got blamed,” Jake says smirking at me.
“You? I was sure it was one of the maids,” I frown at him. “That’s why I stopped insisting it wasn’t me.”
“Sorry, Tabs,” he shrugs at me. I appreciate th
e distraction he threw out and, slowly, the tension starts to ease out of me.
“Do you have any idea whose child it is?” I finally address Charlie.
After a moment, she nods and I don’t miss the confused glance that Jake and Connal share.
“Theirs,” Charlie firmly replies. Connal smiles and places his hand below Jake’s.
“Ours,” Jake and Connal say in unison.
Michaels
Exhausted and feeling older than my years, I shake off the happenings of the past twenty-four hours and walk into Roy’s Diner to find it nearly deserted.
“You ever go home, Margie?” I call out to get her attention and she waves to indicate the coffee machine is brewing fresh liquid bliss. The diner is empty except for young Joe Madda, wearing his Northern Grizzlie’s Probie patch, down at the end of the counter.
“Hey, Sheriff,” he nods to me.
“Still going ahead with that?” I shake my head at him. Heard he did well on his GED exam so I picked him up a couple months ago. I talked to him about trade schools, community college, or the Military as options. That I’d help him, however I could.
“Yes, sir,” Joe replies, looking back down to his meal. I handed him over to Flint, so I can’t help thinking that anything that happens to, or because of him, will be on me.
Taking a seat in the booth furthest from him, I wait on Margie.
“I put your usual order in, Sheriff,” she addresses me as she pours my coffee.
“You see any newcomers in here today?” I ask her, getting an appraising glance in return.
“Guessing you’re talking about Jake’s little sister since I don’t imagine you care about Dorothy’s Aunt Bea.” She rolls her eyes at me. “Any reason, you never just ask me straight out?”
“Just making sure you’re staying sharp,” I laugh at getting busted again.
“She’s taking over Will’s practice,” my sometimes-spy informs me, surprising the shit out of me.
“She’s a doctor?”
“Here just in time, too, from the glow I saw on Charlie’s face the other day,” Margie adds, shaking her head, and again, I feel like I’m missing something when it comes to Jake and Charlie. “Emma’s about half-way through…” Margie rattles on, listing the pregnant women in town.
“She’s a pretty little thing, isn’t she?” Marge asks me suddenly and I nod, remembering the fire in Tabitha’s eyes when she slapped me. I had it coming, checking her out like I was. But man, I never saw HER coming. Margie walks off grinning and I can only hope she’ll keep her thoughts to herself.
From Tabatha’s license, I only know the basics. That and that she’s an absolute spitfire, a bit of a talker, sure, but I have an idea of how to get her to stop talking. Every inch of her rounded hips and thighs were highlighted in those jeans she had on. Fucking jeans that probably cost more than all of mine combined.
I groan into my coffee, mulling over even trying for a relationship. I haven’t done those since my college ‘sweetheart’ dumped me when she realized that any shot at a football career was over for me.
The new semester had started by the time my physical therapy was complete and the coach sat me down to tell me they wouldn’t take the chance on me playing for them anymore. It also disqualified me from serving in the Navy. They explained about different desk jobs I could have if that was something I wanted, as long as I could pass physical qualifications. I went on a bender for three days and when I snapped out of it my girlfriend used it as an excuse to dump me. She was in a linebacker’s bed a couple days later.
Moving back here after the police academy was a different kind of nightmare, though I had never considered women a problem before. Single and taken women—from seniors in high school to some of my old friends’ moms—were hitting on me left and right. I may play up the dumb jock image, but I earned straight A’s and I knew right away that if I wanted to make a go of this, I couldn’t touch a woman in the county.
Now, I’m pretty happy I didn’t.
There’ll be problems, though. Doctor or not, Tabitha brother’s ties to the MC will mean trouble and I have to figure out pretty quick if she’s worth it—if she’s more than just a princess with a luscious body and fiery spirit.
Finishing my meal, I throw the cost of it and twenty percent on the table. More people have wandered in while I’ve been lost in thought, but it’s the sight of Eric Sorenson that surprises me. He’s a cop himself, a couple towns over. He’s not in uniform but I’m still curious about his presence.
“How ya doing?” I ask, moving next to his table, across the room from where I was.
“Good, good,” he shrugs. “I must have missed you in here.”
I look him in the eye, not buying his lame excuse. This place is too small for that. This Sorenson is one piece of a puzzle I want to figure out. His bastard son, now the Grizzlies’ Sergeant at Arms, was raised by Eric’s mother and somehow became Eileen Riley’s pet project; long before Gunner married her eighteen-year-old granddaughter.
“You in touch with your son now-a-days?” I ask, trying to figure out why he’s in town.
“No, we don’t talk,” he can’t meet my eyes, but I don’t miss his glance quickly shifting to the wall behind me.
“You have a case over this way?” I push.
“Naw, just having a meal,” his eyes finally flash up to mine and I can see the lie in them. I smirk because I want him to know he doesn’t fucking fool me.
“Sit down?” Eric finally offers. So I do, just looking at him, not saying a word. “I want to talk to Gunner, I was hoping to catch him at that store. I thought I’d come by here because it looks like they frequent the place.” His eyes shift back up to the newspaper clipping Marge framed and hung.
“I couldn’t claim him, not when his mother gave birth to him. I was paying her on the side, from time to time,” he looks like he’s talking about a book he once read. “Then he was dropped on my mother’s porch and there was no more hiding. I could stay with my wife and daughters or I could be his father. My wife couldn’t stand to see him. She stayed with me but hated that I had a son that looked exactly like me since we had stopped trying after our third daughter was born.”
“And now?” I ask, not caring about his shit excuse for stepping out on his wife with a high school girl.
“Now, I got a woman in my town asking about her niece. The niece was a club whore, or a Girlie, whatever the Grizzlies call them.” The cop in him notices my back stiffening and quickly continues. “No official reports, mind you. The woman’s niece definitely had drug issues but Debbie had been staying with her a lot the past few months. A couple years ago, she told her aunt she was Gunner’s woman. Thing is, to hear it, he never looked twice at anyone but Riley Maddock.”
“Have you ever seen him and Riley together?” I wonder out loud.
“Twice. Once from a distance at a mall, the second time when they were leaving the wedding party Eileen Riley threw for them. I heard about the time Riley was kidnapped, also. That your patrolman was suspected but never turned up after the fact.”
“My patrolman will never turn up. I don’t have one fucking piece of evidence or I’d go after your son,” I tell him honestly. “Just, I saw how he was with her after the kidnapping and I’ve seen them enough since then to know that Gunner adores his wife. And, I think we both know: he is not a man to be fucked with.”
“No. He’s not,” Eric tries to keep a straight face but I hear a note of pride in his voice.
“Coffee, Sheriff?” Marge comes over. I shake my head as she’s tossing Sorenson’s check at him, no offer of more coffee for him.
“She doesn’t like you much, huh?” I laugh over her behavior.
“Gunner fell into her good graces when he and Riley got together. Margie’s fiercely protective of that girl,” he looks at me out of the corner of his eyes. “Shit, everyone but her parents seem to be.”
Chapter 4
Tabitha
Waking slowly the next morning,
I look around trying to remember where I am. After a week on the road, the comfort of the bed is what jars me into reality.
I’m in Jake’s home. The home that he shares with his wife and wife’s lover, or maybe his lover, also. FUCK. I know I have to leave this room eventually but I groan at the thought of catching Charlie and Connal together again.
And I’m basically stranded here now, I think as I pull myself out of bed and grabbing my robe. I head out in search of coffee and word on my Tahoe.
Charlie and Jake are sitting at the counter, feeding each other bites of pancakes and laughing about something. Their heads whip around when they notice me.
“Coffee?” I bark.
Jake smiles and points me to the K-cup machine. Grabbing a pod of something called CAF, I pop it in and wait. After I consume the first cup and am waiting on the second one to brew, I turn on them.
“So, you all fuck each other and pretend that’s normal?”
“Charlie, Baby? Can you give us a minute?” Jake cups her cheek.
“No.”
Charlie hasn’t moved from her seat but there’s a hardness to her face I haven’t seen before.
“What we do or don’t do isn’t any of your business. I love Jake, no more or less, than I love Connal. They came to me as a package deal and I will love them every day of my life,” she takes a deep breath. “You and I got along when we met. I’m that same person. If you want to be a part of our life, then I welcome it. If you don’t, let’s be civil until you find a place to live.”
I stand still, watching her over the rim of my mug. She’s strong, I’ll give her that. I have nearly ten years on her but she doesn’t waver as she waits for me to respond.
She isn’t wrong. It truly isn’t any of my business. Jake is, by far, my favorite sibling but the thought of him being in a relationship that could blow up as spectacularly as this is painful for me to consider.
“There are more pancakes warming in the oven if you’re hungry?” Charlie offers when I don’t say anything else.
