by Jenny Penn
“We should have known she wouldn’t listen.” Collin glanced from Maryanne to Jason and pinned his cousin with a hard look. “And we would have thought of it if we hadn’t been so focused on besting each other.”
That had Jason stilling as he studied Collin for a long moment. “What are you trying to say?”
“I’m saying, maybe we ought to stop fighting each other and start waging the real battle.” That battle was keeping Maryanne out of trouble and out of the hospital. Of course Jason wasn’t following along with that reasonable logic. Instead, he jumped to the wrong conclusion.
“You saying you going to back down?”
“I’m saying I’m stepping up.” Collin took a deep breath as he accepted his fate. “You can’t control Maryanne all by yourself.”
“Don’t you get it? Nobody controls Maryanne,” Jason shot back, causing Collin to find another small smile.
“Then we’ll just sit on her. She can’t get into any trouble that way.”
Chapter Eight
The next three days felt as if they lasted three weeks. Maryanne knew she wasn’t a good patient. She never liked being sick and tended to try to just bulldoze through the misery, but this time, Jason and Collin wouldn’t let her. After they’d checked her out of the hospital, they’d driven her home, and she’d tried to get rid of them at the door. That plan had backfired when Collin had swooped her up into his arms and carried her straight to bed.
She was going to rest, and they were going to make sure of it. Maryanne had played along with them, closing her eyes and pretending to pass out until she actually did. When she woke up, she was tied to the bed. Her ankles leashed to the footboard, a strap across her belly, and her good arm cuffed to the headboard, she wasn’t going anywhere except to the bathroom. Jason and Collin had lorded over her as they’d explained those terms.
There was no amount of pleading, cussing, or threatening that moved them to do anything but stare down at her until Maryanne had worn herself out. She was trapped, held hostage in her own house, and the indignity was more than she could stand. It took a while for her to get over her irritation and figure out that this wasn’t about pride. It wasn’t about domination. It wasn’t even about revenge.
Jason and Collin were doing this to her because they cared.
That was the most frightening revelation of all. They cared. She cared. Things were getting out of hand. That made Maryanne itchy, grumpy, and altogether unpleasant. It didn’t matter, though. Jason and Collin weren’t going anywhere. They made that clear, though neither man made a single pass at her. That wasn’t what they were there for. They were there to make sure she rested.
By the third day Maryanne was so rested she was ready to scream. Then she did scream. Screamed and threatened, this time to hurt herself. That finally got a response. Jason and Collin finally relented and allowed her to at least move around the house. They still didn’t let her do much, leaving Maryanne with the option of sitting on the couch, sitting on the porch, or lying in bed.
She spent most of her time on the porch until finally on the fifth day they loaded her back into Jason’s SUV and drove her down to the hospital for her doctor’s appointment, where she was finally declared fit enough to return to regular activity…as long as she didn’t pull the stitches out of her arm.
“Can you do me a favor?” Maryanne asked the smiling doctor, who lifted a brow in silent inquiry. “Can you turn around and tell those two men that I don’t need nannies anymore?”
That got a quick laugh from the doctor, but he did as she requested. “Your girl is all healed up.”
“And ready for work,” Maryanne pressed.
“And ready for work,” the doctor repeated before adding on his own qualifier. “Though she should still take it easy until those stitches come out.”
“Oh, come on, Doc,” Maryanne groaned. “You were so close to being my new best friend.”
“I’m not here to be your friend, Ms. Horton,” the doctor informed her, still smiling. “I’m here to make sure you don’t pull out your stitches.”
“Don’t worry, Doctor. We’ll take over that duty,” Collin assured him with a grimness that had Maryanne looking toward the heavens for some kind of salvation. None came as the doctor left, leaving her once again at the mercy of two newly appointed protectors.
“Don’t even think about tying me back to the bed,” Maryanne warned them. “Because I’ll take you both out, put you in beds for a week.”
“Hey, honey, any time you want to tie me to a bed, I’m all yours.” Jason waggled his brows at her as Collin snorted.
“I’ve got better idea,” Collin offered, a wicked smile pulling at his lips.
“Really? And what’s that?” Like Maryanne didn’t already know. She could easily read the perverted thoughts running through his dirty mind, but Collin surprised her with his answer.
“I say we head over to The Pit and grab some ribs and fries to celebrate your recovery.”
“Now that is a excellent suggestion.” Maryanne hopped off the exam table where she’d sat at the doctor’s request. “Let’s go.”
* * * *
Jason looked down the tables that had been lined up for all his cousins and had to smile. Whether Maryanne knew it or not, she’d been accepted. She was family now. Everybody had shown up, even Big Bob, to celebrate her being cleared to go back to work. They were chowing down on ribs and big baskets of fries as jokes and laughter filled the small pit-fired barbecue joint.
In the middle of the feast sat Maryanne, looking as beautiful as ever. She’d pulled her hair back that morning and tied it up in a tight bun that allowed the delicate features of her face to shine all on their own. She was so small, so dainty, wearing a big double-dimpled grin as Tex teased her about being too slow to dodge bullets. She all but glowed when she laughed, making Jason’s heart ache as his smile faded away with the memory of just how close that grin had come to being snuffed out.
He’d almost lost her. That thought was untenable, leading to the next fear that he still could lose her. After all, Maryanne was about to be back on the job, and with that, she had another opportunity to get hurt. Another chance to feel as if he’d failed because Jason was pretty sure he had. He’d known Maryanne for years and knew that she’d never once taken a hit working on her own. Not until he and Collin had screwed up. They couldn’t make those kinds of mistakes again. They couldn’t risk her life a second time. That was easier said than done, especially when Big Bob cleared his throat and called the table to order.
“Okay,” Big Bob began as every eye down the long table turned toward him. “We’ve had our fun, and now it’s time to get back to work…and I’ve been saving this just for you, Maryanne.”
Jason didn’t like the sound of that and eyed the file Big Bob pulled out to pass down to Maryanne as if it were a snake about to bite her. His daddy hadn’t told him anything about having saved a case for Maryanne, and they’d talked. More accurately, Jason had talked and made himself clear with Big Bob that he didn’t want Maryanne rushed back into anything. Obviously, his daddy hadn’t listened.
It took every ounce of Jason’s self-control not to snatch the file out of Tex’s hands as he finally passed it over to Maryanne. He wasn’t the only one fighting that battle. Beside him, Collin stiffen and grew tense. His cousin wasn’t any happier than Jason, which just went to prove how much Collin cared.
As if that hadn’t already been made clear over the past few days. The competition that they had waged over the last few weeks had been called off in the wake of Maryanne’s accident and the revelation that it was going to take more than just one man to keep her safe. Hell, it might take more than two, but Jason wasn’t sharing Maryanne with anybody other than Collin.
Nobody that was but maybe a kid or two or three or more. Even as that thought struck, Jason realized he might have just found the solution to all his problems. Big Bob might not think anything about throwing Maryanne back into the ring, but he wouldn’t be so willing if she were c
arrying his grandbaby. More importantly, Maryanne wouldn’t exactly have the time or be in any condition to go chasing down assholes if she were nine months pregnant…or back at home raising the young. That thought put the smile back on Jason’s face as he watched Maryanne open the file.
“The name is Burgess, Ken Burgess,” Big Bob announced to the table, his gaze locked on Jason and Collin. “He’s wanted for two counts of sexual assault on a minor, five counts of rape, and a couple armed robberies in the mix. He escaped from prison out west about two weeks ago and has got family in the area, but we don’t want his kind in this area. So do me a favor, Maryanne, pick up the trash.”
The trash? The man sounded more like a threat, and this was just the kind of case Jason hadn’t wanted Maryanne on and his dad knew it. Hell, everybody there knew it. That was why they were all watching Jason and Collin, waiting to see just how they reacted about Maryanne’s new case.
Jason didn’t say anything. He knew the futility of arguing with his daddy, let alone trying to convince Maryanne she should take it easy on her first day back. There was no point to it. If he and Collin wanted to keep Maryanne safe, they’d have to come up with their own plan.
Of course the real problem was that Maryanne was already making her own plans.
* * * *
“No! Absolutely not!” Collin raged as he stormed around the small break room back at the bond’s office. “That is the stupidest fucking idea I’ve ever heard.”
Maryanne sighed. She’d been expecting resistance, but not this amount of egotism with it. Obviously the past few days had given Jason and Collin a misconception about how things were going to be done in the future. They thought they were the bosses of her now, but they were in for a rude awakening because Maryanne didn’t take orders. She gave them, though she tried one more time to reason with the unreasonable.
“It’s the best plan,” Maryanne insisted. “Pat says Ken has been coming into the bar almost every night. The best way to lure him out is with bait.”
“Let me get this right.” Jason paused to take a deep breath, looking as though he was ready to shit bricks. “You want to dress up like a hooker, go into a dive bar, and proposition a known rapist…that’s your plan, right?”
“It will be the easiest way to get him out of the bar,” Maryanne stated calmly, refusing to give in to the temptation of telling both Collin and Jason that she had no intention of luring Ken out.
Far from it. She was planning on taking him down herself and proving to all the knuckleheads that worked for Big Bob that she was more than capable of handling herself. She knew what they were all thinking. Her little accident had cemented in every single man’s mind there that she was the weak woman, incapable of even managing a simple takedown.
Maybe they had a point. She had made a mistake. She’d rushed. She’d been panicked. She’d been afraid that either, or both, Jason and Collin had gotten themselves shot, which just went to prove the dangers of taking on partners. Sometimes it was just easier and safer to do things on her own.
Maryanne knew that Jason and Collin wouldn’t agree, which was just why she didn’t tell them what she really planned. After all, she could tell they were making plans of their own. Jason’s and Collin’s sudden silence gave them away. When they finally agreed, she knew she was in trouble.
“Tonight, then.” Maryanne rose up from the table and smiled. “If we’re all agreed, then you can meet me at my place around eight. Okay?”
There was a moment of brewing silence before Collin finally nodded. “Whatever you say, boss.”
He was lying. She could see it in his eyes. They reflected the same smoldering annoyance that filled Jason’s as he followed his cousin’s lead and nodded.
“Eight o’clock it is.”
“Good.” Maryanne played along with their game and even managed to smile at them. “So why don’t you two go get a workout in, and I’ll go get a nap.”
None of them believed that lie, but they all pretended, even though they all knew that Jason and Collin weren’t about to go work out and she wasn’t headed home. That didn’t mean Maryanne knew what they were planning, but she did know she didn’t have a lot of time, which was just why she headed out to her car and turned in the direction of The Bar.
What she hadn’t told Jason or Collin was that Ken was already there. Ready to be picked up and dragged down to the station house.
* * * *
Collin watched Maryanne sashay out of the break room and knew the woman was up to no good. Of course, he’d known that from the moment Big Bob had passed over Ken’s file to her. That was just when he’d started plotting. Maryanne was not going to get hurt again. Collin had already seen to that…or, technically, Tex had. His cousin came whistling down the hall, looking very pleased with himself.
“So?” Jason lifted a brow as Tex sauntered into the break room. “Is it done?”
“It’s done.” Tex smirked. “Of course, I wouldn’t want to be in your shoes when Maryanne finds out you had me put a ping pong ball into her gas tank.”
A ball in the gas tank was an old trick. It would float until she hit the accelerator too hard. Then the ball would get sucked into the intake and clog it, cutting off the engine and leaving Maryanne stranded on the side of the road. That was a hell of a lot better place than where she was heading, but Collin wouldn’t put it past her to grab another ride or walk the rest of the way.
The clock was ticking.
“Come on,” Collin nodded toward Jason. “Let’s get out to The Bar before Maryanne realizes what’s going on.”
And what was going on was that Pat had already called them. A couple hundred-dollar bills had bought his loyalty. That and the fact that Collin suspected the other man didn’t want to see Maryanne get hurt anymore than they did. While that benefitted him and Jason right now, the other man’s affection for their woman could become a problem later.
Collin would deal with that right after they brought Ken in.
Chapter Nine
Maryanne was livid, and she was looking to draw blood. She couldn’t believe that Jason and Collin had sunk low enough to stick a damn ball in her gas tank. That was going to cost her money, and they were going to pay. How? She hadn’t figured that out yet.
What she did know was that it was going to hurt. Hurt badly.
That Maryanne swore as she putted up to The Bar just in time to see Jason’s SUV driving away. She didn’t have to wonder what he was up to anymore than she didn’t doubt that he had sabotaged her car. Maryanne had played enough tricks on people over the years. She knew about the ball in the gas tank and knew to how tell if she had one. Not being able to go over thirty miles per hour was a pretty big clue.
That hadn’t stopped her from making it to The Bar, but it did keep her from chasing down Jason. There was no point. Besides, she had a different bone to pick right then because Jason and Collin had had help. She knew Collin was in on this, too. The only question was which one had been the mastermind. Maryanne was guessing both. Not that it mattered. They were both going to pay. So was Pat if he’d had anything to do with this.
Maryanne eased her car into The Bar’s parking lot and took the first available space. There were lots of spaces at this time of the day. Hell, there were always lots of spaces. Still, it was a little emptier than usual when she finally made her way into the shack she’d helped build out of recycled lumber. Most of The Bar was recycled. Almost everything but the beer, though even that normally ended up making a re-appearance somewhere on the dirt floor. That, after all, was why it was a dirt floor.
That was also why Maryanne watched where she stepped as she entered The Bar. Pat noticed her immediately, and she noticed that he started to move in the opposite direction. That spoke volumes about his guilt, but she still wanted to hear it out of his own mouth. So Maryanne tracked him all the way to the end of the bar and then back as Pat kept his head down and tried once again to avoid her. She didn’t say a word as she followed him around like a shadow, w
aiting to be recognized. When it got almost ridiculous, Pat finally looked up and came to a stop.
“Okay. Okay.” Pat held his hands up in surrender. “You know what I did, and now you’re pissed. I can tell.”
Maryanne didn’t respond to that, just glared at Pat until he squirmed and spoke again.
“It was the right thing to do.”
She didn’t even blink that one in.
“Come on, you know it was,” Pat pleaded desperately, but Maryanne remained unmoved as she silently stood there. It didn’t take more than a second for Pat to go from contrite to defensive. “Damn it, Maryanne! You take too many risks, and those boys were just trying to keep you safe.”
“I don’t need to be kept by anyone,” Maryanne shot back with enough venom to make Pat cringe, but he didn’t back down.
“Yes, you do. You got shot!”
“It’s a flesh wound!” Maryanne snapped, irritated to have that thrown in her face. “And I wouldn’t have been if it hadn’t been for those boys you decided to betray me to today.”
“They didn’t shoot you, Maryanne,” Pat stated grimly. “You did that to yourself by rushing into a situation that you shouldn’t have put yourself in…and why did you rush? You never rush.”
Maryanne didn’t have an answer for that. At least, not one she wanted to give, but that seemed to be all the answer Pat needed. His tensed features relaxed as his eyes widened and his mouth formed a perfect circle.
“Oh…I get it. You rushed in to save them because you were worried they were going to get shot.”
“Shut up, Pat,” Maryanne muttered, though she knew there was no stopping him now.
“You care.” Pat stumbled back as if that realization almost felled him. “Oh my God. You’re in love with them.”
“I am not!” But the lie was there on her face as she blushed and grumbled.
“Uh-huh.” Pat nodded, not looking as if he believed her at all.
