“There are subtle pauses, but they could be explained by you listening to the woman on the other end talking, Noxx. Whoever spliced this together knew what they were doing, but the person who taped our conversations can only be one person,” Nixx said, his face drawn with outrage.
“Dad,” the three of us said at the same time.
“Why would your dad secretly gather your private conversations then splice snippets together just to set up Noxx?” Mallory asked the million-dollar question. Lucky for her I had the answer, and a million dollars.
“To get rid of Makena out of my life, finding out she was pregnant when she left was the icing on the cake. His mind must have been warped with hatred to do such a thing, the stupid rivalry with your dad, Mal, the bone of contention that urged him to pull the ultimate card.”
Even as I said it, my stomach threatened to heave the small meal I’d had with Daxx when we got back to the farm. Fenixx had already fed him earlier, but Daxx woke up in the car on the way back from seeing Makena, the only way to settle him was to give him a small serving of spaghetti. I, of course, had to partake in his favourite food to appease him and to get him to go to bed. My boy did not like to admit sleeping in his bed was a necessity of life. Why I didn’t know, he slept like the dead when he finally gave in and stopped fighting.
There was still a lot to sort through, who did the splicing, my guess being the same person who doctored the photo of me. If my hunch was correct, it was Buchanan; I needed to get legal advice on the legalities of Dad’s professionally drawn up threats. My thinking was not a snowball’s chance in hell. He had no authority over HBC, so our company was safe, but we needed to find out if Mum had anything to lose before I confronted my investigator, knocked his teeth out then fired his arse.
“Okay, so why the loan then?” Mallory asked still curious, “why would you father make a loan to mine? And how did it end up in HBC’s hands if it was the Triple H that made the deal?”
“When Dad died, and we started HBC the Triple H became ours,” Fenixx explained, “we simply merged the two financially so everything went through the company’s accounts system. That is how Hubble most likely came across your father’s debt, as to why our father dealt with yours … we have to accept we may never know the reason. That died with the two men who created this mess,” Fenixx concluded but it was a shallow victory at best. Knowing how was one thing but the why was going to eat at me for a long time to come.
“This is some Jerry Springer shit, our fathers would have rated through the roof on the show,” Mallory hummed, her attempt at humour appreciated, but I really wasn’t in the mood. My marriage and my life were taken from me because of jealousy. I didn’t get to witness the birth of my son because my father hated my wife. I lost four years of Makena because someone tricked her.
Now, after hearing the tape, I couldn’t blame Makena for her reactions to either piece of evidence. After seeing the photo, then most likely distressed when she listened to the recording, no way would she have heard the pauses or the minute differences in each voice. Any other time, in different circumstances, being less emotional, Makena would have been the first to pick my voice from the other two. That much I was convinced of fully.
“I’m going back to the hospital,” I announced, “I promised Makena I would be there when she wakes up. Mal, you right with Daxx?” I didn’t want to leave Daxx, not after he got so upset with me going to Melbourne, but he needed to sleep after his traumatic day. Fatherhood, I was quickly discovering, was a whirlpool of emotions. Being responsible for two people’s hearts … fuck! I was up for the job, no doubt, nothing and nobody, could stop me from making sure my son and my wife were safe and happy.
“Yeah, I got him. I think a night of cuddling in his tiny uncomfortable bed is just what I need to get over the dramas of today,” she said, coming over to me to give me a kiss on the cheek.
“Now, you go and lay down the law with my stubborn sister, tell her you love her, and live happily ever after.”
I laughed at Mal’s stern comical voice, but somehow I knew she was serious.
“In that order?” I smirked at her. Mallory had always been a firecracker, having her as my sister-in-law was never going to be dull or boring.
“Yes! Now get going, so I can get to teasing Drixxie about his little girlfriend before I pass out.”
Not needing any further encouragement, or any desire to hang around and watch my brother squirm under the scrutiny of a Rogers’ sister, as entertaining as that sounded, I grabbed my keys off the table then as an afterthought I picked up the envelope and handed it to Fenixx.
“Can you do me a favour when you go back to the Triple H, can you scan this and send it to Alec? He will be able to confirm what I already know,” I said, relinquishing the photo I hated with a passion.
“Can do, what do you want me to do with it afterwards?”
I looked at it, the one thing that kept me from being happy, the reason behind my distrust.
“Burn the fucking thing; I never want to see it again.”
“You got it, Noxx,” Fenixx replied happily.
At some point, my brothers and I were going to have to chat about our father’s bitter betrayal, but another chat was in order before that one.
Three words from Makena is what I needed to hear first, three heart-warming dream words. Three words I longed to hear from my wife.
I trust you.
I knew she loved me; I saw it in her eyes, felt it in her kisses and touch.
Just this once, trust trumped love. Just this once.
MAKENA
My hand tickled. It was a good tickle, goosebumps, and warmth and … my god, was I aroused? The drugs in my IV must be awesome because I felt no pain in my arm, but between my legs … yeah, there was definitely something going on down there.
Moaning, I wiggled my legs together in an attempt to chase the building sensations; maybe if I squeezed my thighs a few times, perhaps a few Kegels might help get me there—a deep, quiet moan startled me. My eyes flew open, seeing my husband looking ragged, his hair a mess, the dark blond scruff on his face past due for a shave, but it was the raging desire burning in his eyes that caught the breath in my throat.
“Baby, please don’t. You are in no shape for us to get kinky, and if you do what I think you are about to do, I won’t be able to stop myself from joining in.” His voice held a warning, one I was tempted to disobey.
“Hey you, you’re back,” I rasped, my lips dry my mouth drier.
“Here, baby.” Noxx reached over to the small beside-table, he produced a tacky plastic cup with a bendy straw.
“Just a sip, okay? The doctors haven’t said if you can drink yet, but a little shouldn’t hurt.” Lifting the cup to my mouth, Noxx held the straw to my lips. The cool liquid trickled down my throat instantly soothing the dry burn.
“I promised I would be here when you woke up Makena, don’t you know by now I will always keep my promises to you?” Noxx held my gaze, the intensity radiating from his eyes, took my breath away. He wasn’t talking just about his promise today; he was talking about the promises he’d made when we first got together, the promises in our wedding vows. The promises I should have believed and trusted.
Swallowing, I let go of the straw, shaking my head when he held it up silently asking, if I wanted more.
“How is Daxx?”
Yes, I was deflecting. Was I ready to talk about our walls? No, I wasn’t. Was I going to anyway? Probably, most likely.
Damn it.
Noxx smirked knowingly. “He is fine. After a can of spaghetti, I finally got him into bed, two stories later he was out like a light, spread-eagled across the bed and snoring adorably.”
“Mal?”
“Ah, your sister is home giving Hendrixx shit about Blake. Not before she read me the riot act to get my arse into gear and set down some rules with you.”
“Rules! What bloody rules?” I spluttered, suddenly on the defensive. No way was I going to follow
any rules, Mal had Buckley’s and none of that happening.
“Settle down, Makena,” Noxx hushed me, his smile blindingly bright.
“Explain,” I demanded, shaking my finger at him, wincing when I felt a pull at my incision.
“Well one, you are to take it easy—”
“But—”
“Just until you recover, then I want you to think about giving up the dangerous work, like fixing balers and harvesters. You have a son, Makena, he needs you around for a long time, and it’s time you started thinking about how you getting hurt affects our son. I mean it, baby, this wasn’t a scrape with some barbwire, we came very close to losing you today.”
Noxx spoke softly, his face close to mine, his eyes shining with tears. But he wasn’t done rocking my world.
“I don’t know about you, baby, but I can’t see myself living in a world where you don’t exist. I tried it once; I didn’t like it. I didn’t like the man I became without you. Daxx and I need you, Makena, simple as that.”
My throat clogged, the lump so big I feared I would choke on the emotions his words produced.
Nodding, I silently agreed. Noxx was right; today could have so easily my last day on this earth. Daxx saw something no child should ever see.
“And two?”
“Well, the list is long, but let’s skip a few and get to the most important one.” Noxx took my good hand and brought it to his lips.
“I love you Makena, I have loved you since the very first time I saw you. That has never changed.” Noxx kissed my knuckles hungrily, his tears now falling freely.
“I can get over all the bullshit, baby, forget it. But in order for us to move on, I need to know you trust me; without trust, we will always only have a half relationship. I didn’t cheat on you, and we have the proof so you can set your mind at ease—”
“I don’t need the proof,” I rushed to interrupt him, “I should have trusted you, it will always be my biggest regret and shame not trusting us … you.”
“I was coming back to you Noxx, I knew I had to give you a chance to explain, but I was coming back but something—”
“Not something, my father happened. We know what you did, what you sacrificed for Hendrixx, Fenixx, me and our mum, baby. It explains why you didn’t want to go to the Triple H or Melbourne with me,” Noxx whispered painfully, quickly rising to his feet and carefully leaned over me, bringing his lips down onto mine letting them hoover.
“Do me a favour, baby, and don’t do that again. I lost you once; I don’t plan on it ever happening again. I love you so much; I’m not me without you.”
Reaching out, I cupped my handsome cowboy’s cheek, the soft roughness a delight under my palm.
I loved him, loved him more than I could ever put into words, but he knew that. He didn’t need to hear that from me now; he needed three different words from me first.
Closing the distance between us, I pressed my lips softly to his warm ones. A feeling of completion settling throughout my body. This was where I belonged, anywhere, as long as it was with Noxx and Daxx.
“I trust you,” I whispered, smiling at his gasp of surprise, then took advantage of it and gave him my tongue.
All my pain drained away, not because of the drugs, because of the pure love Noxx and I had. A love that survived the worst of times, and a love that would continue until God saw fit to take him from me. Until then, Lenoxx Hott was definitely well and truly taken.
***
“Makena Hott, where the fuck do you think you are going?”
My husband yelled from the opened door of the stables I was currently hiding in. Glancing at him, I pretended that his tight, worn wranglers that showed off his powerful long thighs like a dream didn’t affect me, or the way his cream hat sat low on his forehead, or that his half-buttoned shirt wasn’t making my pussy clench with need.
Nope, I was on a mission, and my target was my husband.
Four weeks ago, Noxx and I had our moment in the small hospital room, our time apart officially coming to an end. When I say that, I don’t mean our physical time apart because we had resumed that already; I meant the emotional, the love, and the trust we’d lost.
Now, we were back to where we left off four years ago as if nothing had torn us apart. We both recognised the need for closure, to get that explanation of why, but once we sat down and talked it out in depth, we both agreed to leave it where it belonged. Outside of our marriage. We vowed to each other never to bring it up in anger, never use it against the other when our agreements got heated, and we’d certainly had a few of those in the last month.
Noxx brought me home from the hospital five days after my accident, back to my family’s farm and began a month of frustrating over-protectiveness, even Mal decided was too much. And considering it was her that planted the seed, she couldn’t help but feel sorry for me. No riding or fencing was one thing and quite acceptable considering my injury, but not being able to walk from our bedroom to the kitchen or go to the loo on my own was completely over the top. I loved Noxx with a fierceness, but peeing in front of him was something I wasn’t ever going to get used to.
On top of my not fair list was his ban on sex. He refused to make love to me until my arm was completely healed, and while it wasn’t exactly back to form for working on the farm, holding his cock in my hand while I deep-throated him, I was pretty sure I could manage.
And that’s what brought me out to the stables. If he wanted me off Banjo, then he was going to have to compromise and give me what I wanted.
Him.
Grabbing a bridle off the hook, I walked to Banjo’s stall.
“What does it look like cowboy? I am going riding, Daxx is with your mum, the farm manager has everything under control. So, what better time to go look at the new breeding stock,” I answered flippantly.
“Is that right? Well, honey, I have one word for you, and I bet you can guess what that is,” he growled, stalking towards me, my mouth watering as I watched him with hooded eyes.
My god, the man was gorgeous. I was sure drool was pooling at the corners of my mouth, Noxx constantly had me in a state of desire.
“Oh, yeah,” I threw back at him, sassily, “and I have one word for you, buddy.”
Reaching me, Noxx took the bridle from my hand, placing it back on the hook, then shifted his hands to his sexy hips and glared at me.
“What word, Makena?” A frown still on his face. Biting the inside of my cheek to hide my smile, I feigned my best innocent look.
“I want you to put a baby inside me. Daxx needs a sibling, and I really, really want to be pregnant with your baby again, maybe we will get a girl this time … arhhggg, Noxx!” I laughed when I suddenly found myself thrown up over his shoulder, his fine denim-clad arse filling my vision.
His large hand swatted my arse; the other one reached around and grabbed mine, then brought it to his front and placed it on his rather large bulge.
“You minx, now you are going to get exactly what you have been craving. And by the way, that was more than one word … just saying.”
Grinning like a loon, I squeezed my fingers firmly around his rapidly growing hard-on.
“Whatever gets the job done, cowboy.”
LENOXX
“That’s it, I’m going back to the Triple H,” Hendrixx announced loudly as he came crashing out of the back door of the house.
“What’s wrong, brother? Can’t take one small pregnant woman?”
Hendrixx glared at me, his face ragged.
“That woman in there is possessed by the devil himself. I’m better taking my chances with Blake, at least she hits me and doesn’t burst into tears because I took the last chocolate-covered marshmallow,” he huffed as he stomped to his ute.
Laughing at my brother’s antics, I went back to reading my favourite book. What to expect when you are expecting was my constant companion for the last seven months. I devoured every page and every word, doing everything I could to learn about pregnancy. This wasn�
�t going to be our last kid, I fully intended on filling the farmhouse with lots of little cowboys and cowgirls, and in less than two months our first little cowgirl would be with us.
To say I was anxious to meet our baby girl was an understatement, but I did secretly want Makena pregnant as long as possible. I loved watching her grow, experiencing cravings, and hiding from her mood swings. Missing out on that with Daxx, I was now soaking up every single day.
My son now had his rightful last name. Makena surprised me not only with the news of her pregnancy but with a new certificate with the name Daxx Maxwell Hott. My wife loved one-upping me whenever she could, and to be honest; I hoped she never stopped surprising me.
Makena and I made a pact not to dwell on what we missed and focused on what was coming instead. Our marriage was solid; our love stronger than ever.
My brothers and I still struggled with what our father did, the lengths he went to, just for his own personal gain, but we were good. Mum still didn’t know, and she would never find out. Drixx, Nixx and I agreed wholeheartedly; it was the best way to go forward.
Her life was complete now; she was a nana of one and one on the way, we didn’t see any need to add any upheaval to her plate.
I moved my office from Melbourne to the farm, Makena’s family farm. I went back to the city once a month for board meetings and such, but I always took Makena and Daxx with me. Daxx loved the trips in his copter as he liked to call it, his love of flying and interest in the pilot’s job may very well lead to something. Maybe he was going to grow up to be a cowboy who rides a metal horse, it didn’t matter to me as long as he is happy, then I am.
The tell-tale squeak of the screen door alerted me that my wife was coming out to see if it was safe. We fixed up the old farmhouse, completely gutted the bitch added on a couple of rooms and my favourite parts, a whole new modern kitchen and bathrooms.
Hott and Taken (The Hott Brothers Book 1) Page 23
