by M. Merin
My jaw drops and for a moment, I just watch this whirlwind in front of me. “I’m sorry, clothes yes, but I can’t release any other information, I mean, are you family?”
“We’re all family, Doctor. Don’t you ever doubt that.” Flint gives me a hard look.
Bree
I start planning and moving. I have to do something and Flint understands that.
He’s seen me with his grandchildren as well as my nieces and nephews. One night we talked straight into the morning hours, about his kids when they were young and the ache inside of me at not being able to have my own child. He let me cry, which I hadn’t done since I was in the arms of my first husband.
Before I leave to get Betsy some of her things from their place, a red-faced Russian sticks his head out of the door. He immediately walks towards us and enfolds us in a hug.
“They gave her something, she’s resting,” his voice catches. “We didn’t plan it be she wanted my baby so fucking bad. I didn’t understand. I didn’t understand until, fuck. I kept smelling the blood in there, Jesus fucking Christ. Betsy kept apologizing to me and I just wanted her, her to be alright.”
Flint pulls him closer, until Russian stiffens up and passes a hand up over his face and through his hair. “Sorry.”
“Let it out with me, Brother. Bree’s going to go get some things for Betsy, when she’s released you two are coming to our house,” Flint waves a hand out when Russian starts to speak. “Betsy can’t handle the stairs right now and we’re heading out for our trip in a couple days so you’ll have privacy.”
“Thank you, Bree,” Russian nods to me. I squeeze his arm tightly before I head out to get Betsy’s clothes.
At their apartment, I cry softly to myself as I move the boxes of baby gear into the walk-in closet as I pack for her. I drive home first to prepare the guest room and let Ragnar out before securing him in our room.
Goddamn it. Betsy didn’t deserve this.
But no one fucking does.
Chapter 22
Michaels
Getting a chance to run home, I stop off to grab Tabby’s laundry. I can get it done at my place then leave it there. Finally catching up on my own housework, my phone rings.
“Hi, Princess,” I answer.
“Mike, were you at my house? My laundry basket…”
“Yeah, I’m at home. I grabbed it to get it done with my own.”
“Okay, and my lingerie drawer seems to be empty?”
“It’s not empty, it’s just in a different location,” I smile at the exchange.
“Anywhere in particular?” she sounds annoyed.
“In my dresser.”
“I’m not sure they’re your size,” she snaps back. Yep, she’s annoyed.
“I didn’t want to do this over the phone,” I sigh. “I want you with me, in my home.”
“Technically, this is your home. We’re so, I mean what are we? It’s so new and I think it’s too early to consider living together.”
“Can I come over?” I ask.
“Sure, but bring my laundry with you.”
“How about my letterman jacket instead, Princess?”
“You haven’t even asked me to go steady yet!” She sasses before disconnecting the call, leaving me grinning at the phone like an idiot.
It’s on my way to see her that a friend in the Boise PD calls to give me a heads up. The Maddocks are dead. An apparent murder/suicide.
The part of the story that really throws me for a loop? It was Ann who murdered Bill. My buddy has to repeat his request to me twice before I really hear it. He asks me to notify the next of kin. So I start making calls.
“Go,” Gunner answers his phone.
“I need you to get Riley and meet me at her grandmother’s house.”
“No can do, one of ours is in the hospital. We’re needed here.” He growls back.
“I’m not fucking asking you. Get your wife to Mrs. Riley’s, right fucking now. Keep her away from the news.” I snap then hang up to place my next calls: Rogers to stay with Mrs. Riley and Tabby.
“Princess? I need to stop to make a notification before I can get there.”
“What’s wrong?” she sounds worried.
“I’ll tell you when I can get there. Hey, did you happen to see any Grizzlies at the hospital today? I heard someone is there but there was nothing on my scanner?”
“I can’t discuss it, but it was one of the Ol’ Ladies. She should be released by the morning.” She gives me what she can.
“Huh. I’m sorry about this, Tabby.” Disconnecting with her as I pull up to Mrs. Riley’s home. Rogers immediately opens the door and steps outside.
“What’s going on? I called her physician to have him on stand-by.”
“It looks like Ann attacked Bill and then took a handful of pills. They were found an hour or so ago by their attorney.”
“Are they sure that Ann killed him though?” Rogers shows surprise for the first time since I’ve known him.
“He was in handcuffs with a ball gag. His dick was cut off with a surgical knife. Looks like she pulled a chair up next to the bed and watched him bleed out. Prescription drugs and cocaine were found at the scene. Toxicology will take a couple days.”
His jaw drops before his eyes focus over my shoulder, I turn to see Gunner getting Riley out of his truck. “Let’s not go into details today, please?” he asks. “Let them register the news first.”
“This better be fucking good,” Gunner growls at me.
“Gunner! Rogers, is Gram alright?” Riley pushes forward to ask.
“She is. Michaels has some news and she’ll need you here, Riley.” Rogers’ formal mask has slid back into place as he moves to usher us into Mrs. Riley.
Ten minutes later, the silence from my announcement stretches on.
Finally, Riley stands and crosses to her grandmother’s chair, kneeling at her feet and putting her head in her lap. “Are you alright, Gram?”
“God help me,” Mrs. Riley looks down at her granddaughter. “God forgive me. I’m relieved. For the first time in twenty years, it feels like I can breathe again.”
“Sweetheart?” Gunner’s low voice catches her attention. “I’ll go back a bag for us. We’ll stay here for a few days. Gram, anything I can get you while I’m out?”
He walks across to give them each a kiss on the forehead before he leaves the house.
“I’ll have to know the details eventually, Sheriff,” Mrs. Riley speaks up. “I’m sure Rogers twisted your arm into waiting but I want to know.”
“Tomorrow will be soon enough, Gram,” Riley speaks up, saving me from replying.
“Once the autopsies are done, they may need to interview you both. Then they’ll release the bodies for burial. The officer who called me, he told me there might be a civil suit from the accident Mrs. Maddock was just in. And, of course, the press will have a field day with this.”
Mrs. Riley lets out a sigh. “Rogers, call your man at the local paper. Give him the information so he’ll be respectful going forward. Tomorrow, I’ll reach out to the Archdiocese of Boise. I assume they’ll be satisfied with me offering a settlement to both of the nuns.
“There will be no burial. They can be cremated in Boise and left there, unless you object, Riley?” her granddaughter quickly shakes her head. “I don’t want either of them in my family plot and Bill doesn’t have any other family left.”
I stand to leave, holding on to my hat. “I understand there’s not much love lost, Mrs. Riley, but please accept my condolences.”
“Sheriff, it’s I who offer you my condolences. I understand your niece’s time is near. Your dedication to her has been beyond admirable. I had thought of donating something in her name but then I thought of her age. What I would like to do, if it is alright with you, is add some benches to the playground in the square. All with a dedication in her name?”
My eyes are suddenly moist and I’m unable to speak. I nod my head and repeating Gunner’s earlier gesture, I kiss her fo
rehead before leaving her home.
Chapter 23
Tabitha
When Mike makes it to my place, we don’t get further than the couch. He sheds his clothing in the doorway and yanks my robe off. Pushing him down, I kneel between his legs. Looking up at him, his eyes on my face and hands fisted on his thighs. He makes me feel like the sexiest woman on the planet.
For so much of my life, I felt that people looked at me and saw everything I wasn’t.
I’m not tall, thin, and fair, like my sisters.
I talk too much.
I act without thinking, sometimes.
I wanted to be a doctor more than anything and didn’t mind giving up a social life to have it.
But when Mike looks at me, I know, without a shadow of a doubt that everything I’ve come to see as a flaw all add up to perfection in his eyes.
Giving him a wink, I twirl my tongue around his semi-hard cock before I take it all in.
My name is ripped from his lips in a loud cry and I shift my head back enough so I can make eye contact with him again. Gasping in some oxygen, I quickly take him back down to my throat. The bend in his cock makes this harder than I thought and I’m soon focusing on his mushroomed head again.
Mike’s hands pull me back and without a word, he tugs me up and sheaths himself inside me. Leaning forward to suck one of my nipples into his mouth, he holds my hands behind my back.
“Ride me,” he orders. Smirking at him, I tug one arm loose and reach over to the end of the couch to grab his Stetson. After donning that, I put my arm back where he had it and ride him hard.
Mike secures both of my wrists in one of his hands, grabbing my hip in his free hand. He shifts back, his eyes fixed on my large, bouncing tits – an appreciative smile on his face.
“I can’t, I can’t, please,” I hiss out as my orgasm is nearly upon me.
He releases my hands, shifting his finger down to my clit; he pinches and soothes that nub until I’m sobbing and I feel his seed deep inside of me. Sliding forward, he grips my ass in his hands and carries us to the bathroom. I don’t have time to think, I just wrap my arms around his shoulders and sigh, contently.
Finally comfortable within his arms.
After our shower, we settle in for our evening chat before one of us starts to drift off. Mike starts to speak but I blurt out, “I love you.”
His eyes widen and he wraps his hand around the back of my neck, pressing his forehead to mine. “I’ve been practicing that, you know?”
“Practicing?” my whole body is tense, trying to understand what he means.
“It’s been twenty years since I said that to a woman. I was rusty, so I’ve practicing. Saying it to you after you fall asleep. When you’re laying here curled into me,” he lowers his lips to mine and kisses me as tenderly as he ever has. “I love you, Tabitha. I can’t imagine not having you in my life.”
“I love you, too,” I say, exhaling the nervous energy that started to build in my body.
“I was waiting for the perfect time to say that to you. I’m sorry I waited too long.”
“You’re forgiven,” I lick the sensitive spot below his earlobe and hook my leg over his hip. We lay there gently kissing and repeating those three amazing words back to each other.
Too soon, we slip back to talking about the day and he tells me about the Maddocks as we’re still lying intertwined. I can’t help but to feel sorry for Mrs. Riley and relieved she has her granddaughter to comfort her.
“What will this mean for the town?” I ask. Mike rolls onto his back, pulling me in with one arm and squeezing the top of his nose with his other hand.
“Not a lot directly. Maddock’s death might make things easier for the MCs in this state – for a little while at least. The issue I didn’t think about until Gunner and Riley got married? Not including the resorts, let’s say that the MC owns, property-wise or investment in businesses, close to a third of this town. Independently, Flint owns about ten to fifteen percent.” he pauses.
“How much does Riley’s grandmother own?” I immediately understand his concern.
“A third, easily. More if you count land outside the town itself. Her family and her late husband’s family were something like cattle barons. I don’t know the history, but their marriage brought a lot of money and land under one roof.”
“And, I’m sorry – you do or you don’t trust Gunner?” I sit up in bed, suddenly worried for this young woman.
“It isn’t about trusting him. His military record speaks for itself. His grandmother raised him right, by all accounts. But besides his sheer-fucking-size, not to mention position in the MC, there’s something about him…he’s just a fucking wildcard. If it was a few years ago? I’d be calling every government agency I could for help.
“But how that he and Riley are together? Jesus, Tabitha, don’t ever fucking repeat this,” he looks into my eyes and I see how serious he is. “No matter what kind of oath he’s taken to the MC? I actually believe he’d put what’s best for her first, and defend her to the death. If it ever came down to that, this town would explode.”
“He’s so much older, and, I mean, come on – different than her in so many ways.” My back is still straight as a lance, trying to comprehend what Mike means about MC oaths and where my brother would stand in any hypothetical blow up.
“Tabby, I give you my word. Backgrounds aside, Riley is more important to Gunner than oxygen. I’ve seen dozens of women in controlling or abusive relationships. Hand on the bible? I believe that woman’s happy, I mean I’ve seen him fucking lift her over puddles!”
“That doesn’t mean she’s happy, Mike,” I insist halfheartedly. In fairness, I realize I’m just playing devil’s advocate at this point.
“Then nose around with your sister-in-law, she probably knows them best.” Squeezing me again, he kisses me softly. “Princess, I really need some sleep. I can’t see tomorrow getting much better.”
Chapter 24
Michaels
The town’s gossip mill had its biggest boost ever after the Maddocks’ deaths. No tears were shed, nor any masses said for them. Eventually, word of Bill Maddock’s cause of death got out and that’s when the residents of Rowansville stopped discussing the matter. For all the years they speculated about Riley, they now tried their hardest to protect her.
Two weeks after that, I brought my niece’s body home to be buried next to her mother. Tabitha and my cousins worked together to pull me out of the bottle I had started to dive into following sweet April’s death.
Mrs. Riley sent me the kindest letter and confirmation that Gunner would have six benches bearing April’s name prepared for placement around the park the following spring. Leave it to that woman to have them placed during the month of April.
Tabitha showed up at my cabin after one of her late shifts, she didn’t have any sheets or towels left at the house she was still technically renting from me, damn stubborn woman. My princess told me off something fierce, but the make-up sex was well worth her lecture.
She stopped paying me rent and moved her furniture in a week later. Not being a fool, I immediately started working on plans to expand the cabin. We had Jake, Connal, and Charlie over for Thanksgiving and somehow, that wasn’t nearly as awkward as I expected.
We’ve nearly made it to Christmas when I come in from a night shift to find Tabby up making lists.
“I think it’s too late to write Santa, Princess,” I nibble on her earlobe. “Why aren’t you keeping that bed warm for me?”
“I got up to go to the bathroom and saw an email from Charlie,” she leans into me as she continues to scribble. “Her grandparents have rented a home and are planning to stay January first until the end of March!”
“Huh. Wonder if they’re the ones who rented my old home?”
“What?” she shrieks. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t think anything of it. I moved my furniture from here over there. And well, anyway Amy emailed me earlier
about the rental.” I shrug.
“Furnished, that has to be them. They want to be here when the baby is born. Charlie’s totally freaking out, I mean she’s only seen them a few times and now they’ll be here for three months.”
“Come to bed, you have to be up in four hours and I can’t sleep without you.” I slip my hand down to her pussy, trying to distract her.
It works. I thoroughly distract her and then hold her tight as she drifts off to sleep.
My brilliant OB/GYN hasn’t admitted it to herself yet, or maybe she has had too much on her mind lately, Tabby’s period should have happened last week. Her pill pack sits next to her toothbrush, she’s careful about her routines.
*
The next morning, Jake grunts as he sits across from me. Margie is coming by with his coffee and the plate of bacon I ordered to get me started. Bastard takes a piece.
“What?” he raises an eyebrow.
“I love your sister,” I tell him after drinking most of my coffee.
“That’s why you’re still breathing,” he looks across his cup at me.
“I want to marry her.”
“Fuck.”
“I know.” Shifting my head towards Margie approaching with more coffee, so he’ll know not to say anything.
Getting our orders in, we sit in silence for several minutes.
“Look, I appreciate you talking to me. You’re good to her and she’s happy out here,” He pauses. “Asking me for any kind of permission is something from the world I walked away from but, you haven’t actually asked have you?”
“She’d kill me if I did. Your sister’s her own woman.” I grin at him. “I’ll always be good to her. It’s the position with you and your immediate family that I don’t want to get messed up. I won’t ever put myself in a spot where I could get arrested for helping you out. If she accepts…”
“I hear you. We’ll be a family and just try like hell not to drag each other down.” Margie shows up with our food so we speak to her instead of each other.
“You know, first time I ever talked to Charlie was right over there? I knew I wanted her, Connal came through the door a couple minutes later and I saw it in his face, too. Isn’t it weird as fuck, how that shit happens?”
