Lumberjack Weekend [Divine Creek Ranch 21] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Heather Rainier

  “You don’t have to explain, baby,” Lucas said as he twirled one of her curls around his thumb. “We’re not worried we’ve unleashed some kind of nymphomaniac impulse hidden inside you. We just want to be the ones you unleash those nymphomaniac impulses on in private once we get home.”

  Violet gaped at him and then started laughing. “Well, all right then. But if you think I’m gonna shack up with you or jump into a relationship without some clear understandings, you’re crazy. Speaking of home, I need to check my phone. I left it in my room, and I haven’t checked it at all, all weekend. I feel guilty.”

  Speaking of feeling guilty…

  She paused and looked between them. “What? What is it?”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Violet hefted her suitcase into the trunk of her vehicle before the valet could help her, and she thanked him and handed him a tip as she climbed into the driver’s seat. She was in a hurry to be gone before Josh and Lucas, and that buttinsky Joseph knew she was leaving.

  “I can’t believe they didn’t tell me. Jackasses,” she muttered to herself. The Emporium was everything to her, practically her whole life, and Tex, well, Tex was an integral part of the Emporium experience…and her baby. She was willing to bet he’d been in the window when it was shattered. Poor lazy boy. He always sunned himself on the low table there when he wasn’t greeting shoppers and glomming affection. She’d tried to call Hank but had gotten voicemail, and even though her employees’ messages had been reassuring, she needed to see everything for herself anyway.

  Her anger dampened as she spotted Josh and Lucas running out onto the pavement in front of the entrance in her rearview mirror. She couldn’t see their faces but their body language told her they weren’t happy with her speedy exit.

  They’d meant well, she knew. But she was still mad at them for keeping the incident a secret. Her phone chirped with a text message, but she ignored it. She never handled her phone while driving. Maybe her next vehicle would have Bluetooth, but it was better to be safe on the road. And if it was Josh or Lucas texting her, she’d just as soon make them wait, like they’d made Tex and her Emporium wait.

  “Big buttheads.”

  She thought about pulling over and calling Joseph to ball him out, but the memory of him getting told off by that feisty little redhead stopped her. He’d felt the lash of a woman’s tongue already, and there was some part of her that knew he didn’t need it twice in one night.

  Rolling down the window, she smiled when the gust of fresh air ruffled the violet wreath and bunny ears on her head, reminding her of good things that had come from the weekend. She was certainly more comfortable with her body, but it was unlikely she’d ever be comfortable flaunting her nakedness around strangers. The weekend had been a one-time deal. Fantasies always came to an end eventually, she thought as she removed the wreath and the bunny ears and laid them on the seat beside her.

  Josh and Lucas had claimed they’d wanted her even after the weekend was over and they were back to their normal lives. She bit her lip. People said things in the heat of the moment, and she’d done a lot to tease them in the hour leading up to the revelation about the store. Judging by the rock-solid bulges in their huntsman breeches they might’ve been willing to say anything to get much-needed relief.

  But she’d also been disappointed. It was likely the men had planned a hot scene for after they’d gotten her back upstairs, and she’d spoiled it, leaving so suddenly.

  She sighed, wondering once again if she could turn around and go back as she drove into Divine.

  “The guys were right. The situation probably would’ve kept until tomorrow afternoon.”

  But then she remembered about Tex. Hank had told them he wouldn’t come out of her office, where he’d hidden behind her filing cabinet. If he was in distress—had been in distress for hours—then he might need to be seen by the vet. She resisted the urge to step on the gas as she entered downtown.

  “Oh boy,” she murmured as she passed the front of the store and saw the boarded-up windows. Her beautiful Emporium looked like a crime scene, but then again, so did several other businesses on the route around the block, including A Divine Retreat and Divine Ink. She pulled around to the back and groaned in dismay when she recognized Bodie Cox’s big Dodge truck parked in the lot behind the building. Hank’s SUV was positioned beside him, and the two were standing nearby, talking. Hank looked more than a little suspicious of him. This was the last thing she needed right now.

  “Shoot.”

  She pulled into her spot and smiled at Hank when he came around and opened her door for her. He blinked a couple of times as she stepped out of the car but then grinned as if amused. “Sorry your weekend off got derailed, Violet.”

  “Is everything all right?”

  He nodded. “I think so. I was driving by to check on the place and spotted him back here sitting on the stoop. Do you know him?”

  “Yes, I do.”

  “I never could get old Tex to come out from your office,” he said apologetically. “Want me to come in with you to inspect the damage from inside?”

  “I’d appreciate it,” she replied as Bodie joined them, a sheepish smile on his face as he gave her a half-hearted wave. He studied her with an odd look on his face as well. “Bodie, would you mind waiting out here?’

  He shoved his hands in his pockets and nodded. “Sure.”

  After unlocking the back door and disabling the alarm, she flipped on the lights, and Hank shut the door.

  “Is he a friend of yours?” he asked as they walked to the front, his gaze swinging in a wide arc through the now deserted store, ever vigilant. She liked that about him.

  “Yes, he’s someone from my past.”

  He turned curious eyes to her. “I’ve seen him in that vehicle around town before.”

  She nodded, not surprised he would be aware of the comings and goings in Divine. “He’s an ex.”

  “Ah. You’d tell me if there was a reason for me to be concerned, right?”

  “Of course. I’m not looking forward to talking to him, but there’s nothing for you to be worried about, Hank. It’s just a little…awkward.”

  He nodded and didn’t ask any more questions as they made their way to the front of the store. The plywood looked horrendous in the windows, so raw and bare, blocking the illumination from the streetlights out front.

  “Luckily, there were no customers standing at the counter. Lizzy was at the register and got cut by flying glass, needed a few stitches, but at least she didn’t get hit with one of these,” he said, offering her an object.

  She took it in her hand and squinted at it. “What is this?” It was heavy, gray, and marked with faint symbols she couldn’t make out. She could imagine the way the old glass in the front windows had shattered on impact.

  “It’s a ceramic insulator from a power line. Easy enough for someone to come by if they broke into the electrical cooperative’s supply yard. The same thing was used on all the other businesses that were hit.”

  “Did you find the culprits?”

  Hank sighed as he took off his hat and ran his fingers through his silver hair. “Yeah, we got a tip. A group of thug teenagers who are new to the area. They were boasting about it, and when one of their local buddies found out they’d hit his aunt’s business, he got pissed off…after finding out there was a reward for their arrest. Don’t worry about them. I’ll handle it and let you know what needs to be done. Looks like your crew took care of things in here for you.”

  She took a closer look at the displays, counters, and nearby shelving and had to agree. Although she could tell things had been moved around a little, there was no sign of glass, broken fixtures, or disarray of any kind.

  Turning back to him, she said, “I expected to come back here to clean up a big mess and deal with all the fallout. Everyone went home?”

  “Yeah, at closing time. I overheard them talking while I was inspecting the damage and taking pictures for the police report.
They divided up the tasks, and once they got permission from me, half of them went to work cleaning up the mess while the other half took care of business. You should be proud, Violet. You’ve got a good, dedicated crew working here.”

  “No doubt about it.” She looked around and let out a sigh of relief. “This isn’t what I imagined I was coming back to at all. They had it all under control.”

  “Sorry you cut your weekend short. You were out at Joseph’s place?”

  She nodded. Hank could be trusted. He’d been one of the first people to welcome her to the community and was her self-defense instructor and among her group of close friends as well. “I was out there for Joseph’s fantasy weekend…with Josh and Lucas Abbott.”

  A wide smile spread across his face and made his eyes twinkle as he nodded. “I wondered if there wasn’t something between the three of you.”

  “Yeah, and I just found out about all this an hour ago,” she said, gesturing around the tidy interior of the Emporium. “From Josh and Lucas. They didn’t want to spoil the evening for me and decided to keep the information to themselves, as nothing was really pressing, in their estimation.”

  Hank smirked a little. “You gave them a piece of your mind, did you?”

  “Maybe a little. Okay, maybe a lot. But you know how it is, Hank. Divine is your baby. This is my baby.”

  “I understand, but now you know Violet’s Emporium is in good hands when you treat yourself to a weekend away. You’ve earned it, judging from what I saw today.”

  “I cut the weekend short. I—”

  Her words were interrupted by the most mournful feline howl she’d ever heard. Tex went on for several seconds as Hank shook his head.

  “I did my best trying to get to him, but he wedged himself back there pretty good. There’s no blood, and Lizzy said she saw him run past on all four feet. I think he’s just scared. I probably should’ve done more to see to him…”

  Violet stopped Hank with a hand on his forearm. “You had several other similar disturbances to see to. I’m sure I can handle whatever is wrong with him.”

  “I can call Wyatt’s brother if you need him. Got him on speed dial.”

  “Me, too,” she replied with a chuckle. Tex had gotten himself into a brawl with another even larger tomcat earlier in the winter and needed a vet’s attention. After that, she’d put his number in her phone contacts.

  Tex loosed another series of pathetic, doleful howls as they entered her office in the rear of the store, behind where the original bookshop had been. The overlarge ginger feline sounded as if his world was at an end as she whispered to him and made kissy noises to coax him out.

  Hank pointed to the boxes silently, and she nodded to him. One by one he moved them out of the way, and although Tex kept up his caterwauling, he didn’t sound as though he was agitated or in pain, just loud.

  She bit her lip to keep from laughing, and Hank gave her a quizzical look as he slid the file cabinet, and all the debris piled haphazardly on top of it, away from the wall, revealing her cat lying stretched out on his back, all four paws stuck in the air.

  “What is all of that?” Hank asked as he stroked a tentative fingertip along Tex’s tail, which was coated—along with the rest of his body—in a grayish-green dust. “Is he sick?”

  She choked her laughter back as she lightly took Tex by his back legs and his tail and slid him out of his wedged position. He looked up at her and blinked his crossed green eyes.

  “Rowrorrorrorrorr,” he pronounced balefully, and then his head flopped back on the floor.

  “It’s catnip. He’s not sick or injured. He’s stoned.”

  Hank snorted as she rubbed Tex’s belly and he began to purr loud as a Harley. “Stoned?”

  “I keep a bag of catnip on top of the file cabinet. He must’ve jumped up there when he hightailed it in here after the windows were broken. I keep it put up because he’s a bit of a junkie.”

  Hank frowned and rubbed at the cat’s head as she lifted Tex into her arms, pungent catnip dust and all. “What’s the matter with his face?” he asked, holding back his laughter.

  Tex looked up at her with glazed eyes and rubbed at her face with his jaw and swollen mouth, and she said, “This is what he does when he gets in the catnip. He rubs his face in it until his mouth, nose, and gums get irritated and swell up. The first time it happened I called the vet, thinking he was dying. He asked if I let him have the stuff and suggested I keep the catnip put up because my cat doesn’t know how to stop. Poor, poor baby.”

  Hank chuckled as he scratched Tex’s head. “I have to share that story with Veronica. It’ll probably inspire her. You know, this cat reminds me a little of one I’ve seen hanging out at the Divine Creek Ranch…or was it out at the Rockin’ C Ranch. Heck, maybe it was both.”

  “He gets around, judging by the number of other ginger tabby cats I’ve seen around town. That’s why I had him neutered last winter.” Since then he’d been spending most of his days lazing in the sunshine in her display window or making the rounds for affection from her customers.

  “So, he’s okay?”

  “Oh yeah. I just need to sweep up this mess and lock him out of the office for a day or two until he sobers up.”

  “Rowrorrorrorrorr,” Tex moaned before snuggling up to her and dozing off.

  “He looks like he weighs a ton.”

  She nodded. “He weighed twenty-five pounds at the last vet visit. He’s a great mouser, and the employees keep bringing him treats.” Since he’d stopped roaming around looking for girl cats to nail, he’d put on a pound or two.

  Hank followed her out of the office and waited while she put Tex in the cushy bed Lizzy had given him for Christmas. While she was turning off all the lights in the front of the store, he said, “When I realized you were out at Joseph’s, I hesitated about calling but figured I’d better after your employees told me they couldn’t reach you but had left messages. You needed to hear from me as well.”

  “It’s fine. If I’d known, I would’ve worried until I saw for myself. I feel better knowing everything was handled and that Tex is all right,” she added with a giggle. “I probably should’ve guessed what had happened to him.”

  Hank halted at the door, grinned, and turned back to her. “Curiosity is getting the better of me. What’s with the false eyelashes and makeup?”

  She put her hands up to her face, mortified, and then started laughing. “No wonder you and Bodie both gave me odd looks when I got here. I left in a hurry.” At least they couldn’t see the rest of her. And they’d missed out on her fluffy bunny tail as well. Boy, times had changed.

  “Role play?” he asked.

  “Sort of,” she replied through more giggles. “It was pretty great, actually,” she said as a sense of euphoria from the laughter swept over her. “It was an unbelievable weekend, in a good way, until I cut it short. I wish I could take this makeup off before I talk to Bodie.”

  He glanced over at her security monitor. “I don’t think you have that kind of time, Violet. Looks like Josh and Lucas have tracked you down.”

  “Uh-oh.”

  Josh and Bodie were having a heated conversation while Lucas was trying to step between them.

  Hank stopped her from going out the door. “Let me break this up before you get involved, okay?”

  Hank opened the back door while she turned out the rest of the lights and reset the alarm. The argument filtered in from the loading dock before Hank interceded and got the men separated.

  “I think that’s up to Violet to determine!” Bodie yelled back at Josh, flexing his fists as if he wanted to throw a punch. He settled down when he realized it was the sheriff trying to hold him off.

  More decisions. Bodie’s poor timing only complicated things between her and the Abbott brothers.

  Chapter Sixteen

  It was time to march out there and have some difficult conversations. She hoped Josh and Lucas wouldn’t misunderstand what she would be asking of them. She ha
d to talk to Bodie first, and they wouldn’t appreciate being put off.

  No longer worried whether she was still in makeup or not, she stepped out, belatedly praying they didn’t draw further attention from the neighborhood.

  Hank had separated Bodie from Josh and Lucas and nodded at her.

  “Josh, Lucas? Could I talk to you privately for a minute?”

  Josh frowned, but he nodded as they backed up toward Josh’s truck, parked a few yards away.

  He stroked her shoulders as they came to a stop on the other side of the truck, out of view and earshot. “Are you okay, baby girl? Did that guy have something to do with what happened earlier today?”

  She shook her head vigorously. “No, he just happened to be here when Hank checked on my shop. I think he’s here to talk to me.”

  Lucas grasped her shoulders a little more firmly and turned her so she looked directly at him. “Baby, you already know why he’s here. He told us he’s your boyfriend.”

  That explained why their discussion had grown heated.

  “He’s not. You know that. I broke off…whatever it was we were doing the last time I talked to him. That’s all behind me now, obviously. Otherwise, I never would’ve gone on the weekend or played…you know.”

  “You’re a big girl, and you know your own mind, but he’s here to see if he can get into your pants. You know that, right?” Lucas asked, his voice tinged with anxiety.

  She touched his cheek. “I do. I think he’s already figuring out it’s really over, but I need to talk with him in private. I owe him that much.”

  Lucas shook his head. “Baby, don’t let him charm you. I know we didn’t have a chance to take care of you this evening and work everything out, but we can give you so much more than—”

  “Violet?” Hank called out. “I’ve got to go. Dispatch just called me. Are you okay?”