Loaded (Reckless MC Opey Texas Chapter Book 4)

by KB Winters

  I froze for a moment, but Annabelle sucked in a breath and moaned before she let out a long, low groan. “Holy fuck. That was hot.” Then she passed out for real, her even breathing telling me better than any words could, just how satisfied and spent she was.

  I let myself stay and revel in the feel of her body still next to me for a long time, listening to her even breathing and watching the way the moon spilled into the room, highlighting a body I knew all too well. An hour, maybe more had passed and her scent was glued to my skin, stuck in my nose, and I felt my eyelids growing heavy.

  Then I sat up, took one last look at Annabelle sleeping with a tiny smile curling her lips, and got the fuck out of there before I did something really stupid like fall asleep beside her. With my arms wrapped around her.

  Chapter Eight

  Annabelle

  “You okay, Dr. Keyes?” Tish’s concerned voice pulled me from an intense session of staring at my tablet until my vision blurred. Her dark brows dipped into a concerned vee and I knew then, I’d done a shit job of keeping my mind off everything but work.

  “Yes, Tish, I’m good. Just distracted I guess.” There was no guessing about it. Three days had passed since Wheeler made me feel so good that I slept an hour past my alarm and couldn’t even find it in myself to give a damn. Three days where all I could do was think about those big blue eyes and that gorgeous face, the way he stared down at me as I took his dick in my mouth and made him growl my name. The way he’d come to me in the middle of the night and fucked me so dirty, so deliciously wicked that even now my nipples hardened at the thought of it.

  “What’s up, Tish?”

  “Not much,” she said, keeping her voice light even if she did a piss poor job of hiding her worry. “It’s quiet for now. Why don’t you go rest in your office for a few minutes? I’ll page you when we need you.”

  Everything in me rebelled at the idea of going to rest while the nurses kept on working, but I was too distracted to be of any use to them now.

  “Thanks, Tish. I’ll be back in fifteen if you don’t call,” I told her, pointing a finger that made her laugh.

  “All right, Dr. Keyes. I promise.”

  With a nod, I made my way down the hall to the shoebox office assigned to me by the hospital administrator. It wasn’t meant to be comfortable because I didn’t spend much time in here, completing most of my charting between patients or out at the nurse’s station. The ER didn’t slow down, not even in a small town like Opey, which served a dozen small towns in the area, most of them ranchers and cowboys. Staying out front helped keep me sharp and fresh, in the thick of the action.

  But now, in the quiet of my office I couldn’t help but let my thoughts wander, again, to Wheeler. He hadn’t been in yet for the painkillers, and he hadn’t stopped by again in search of them. I wasn’t foolish enough to believe that it meant his pain and nightmares were gone.

  I knew for damn sure he hadn’t confided in his brother about either issue. No matter how often I told myself that I shouldn’t give a damn about him or his pain, I knew it was bullshit. Not because there was anything special about Wheeler, other than his almost beautiful features, but because I couldn’t stand to see anyone hurting without wanting to help.

  It was a curse but it was also a blessing that had allowed me to help thousands of people in my career. That was what I tried to remember when I thought of Wheeler, that I’d helped the people I could, those who wanted help instead of temporary relief.

  A knock on the door pulled me from my thoughts, and I stood, wrapping my white coat around me with a smile. “That was fast, Tish.” Fifteen minutes had gone by way too fast, and I was just about to tell her that when I opened the door, only it wasn’t Tish.

  “Can I help you?” My hand clutched the doorknob tight at the sight of the unfamiliar man with nondescript features.

  “Uh, yeah, I hope so. Dr. Keyes, right?” He flashed a friendly smile, but the strain around the edges painted it as phony, I took in his features. He was tall, over six feet but not quite as tall as Wheeler, with short cropped brown hair and brown eyes even plainer than my own. He wore a black t-shirt underneath a fitted black zippered sweater, black jeans and scuffed black boots.

  I didn’t see private patients, hadn’t since I returned to Texas. I could think of no reason he should be looking for me. All follow up patients were examined in the rooms, not the offices. Not to mention that I hadn’t treated him. Ever. “Yes. What can I do for you?” I kept my tone firm but professional just in case the man was a patient, or the family member of a patient.

  “I’m looking for someone, and I’m hoping you can help me out.”

  That put me on edge even further. “I’m sorry, but we don’t give out any information on our patients. There are laws to protect everyone’s privacy.”

  He smiled again, but not before I caught the way his jaw clenched in annoyance. “My mistake. It’s not a patient I’m looking for, at least I don’t think she’s a patient. She’s an old friend of mine, Peaches Foster. Do you know her?”

  My first instinct was to confirm that I knew her, but with all the unexplained injuries on Hardtail Ranch lately—bullet and knife wounds, bruised knuckles and the like—I hesitated. I didn’t know what was going on over there, and I didn’t ask, but now I wish I had. “I know Peaches.” That was the only answer I was prepared to give him.

  His smile rang fake again, and he leaned into my space, giving me a whiff of cigarette smoke.

  “Great! You’re just the person I’m looking for then. Peaches and I are old friends, thanks to some government work we did together a while back. She told me if I was ever in the area I should look her up.” He smiled again and I waited for more information. “Stupid me, I thought a ranch would be easy to find, but it turns out this place is chock full of them.”

  The man had a smile that put me on edge and everything about his words rang false, making me wonder if he wasn’t some disgruntled ex-lover. Peaches had only ever mentioned one person she considered a friend, Vivi who lived in Las Vegas.

  “This is Texas, cowboy country,” I said.

  “Right,” he said. From the tight line of his brows, I could tell he was impatient to get the answers he wanted, but he was willing to shoot the breeze to get it. A lot like the police officers and detectives I’d met while working in the ER.

  “Can you give me directions to the ranch where she lives?”

  That wasn’t happening, but I gave a friendly nod since I was alone with a strange man asking vague questions about my closest friend. “If you want to give me your information—”

  Thankfully, an overhead page cut off my words. “Dr. Keyes to Trauma Room 4. Dr. Keyes, Trauma Room 4.”

  I nodded and flashed an apologetic smile that was as phony as his had been. “Sorry, but that’s me. Gotta go.” I wasn’t sorry at all and the disbelieving look he gave me said as much.

  “Wait, those directions?” He had an air of desperation about him now that I didn’t like.

  Tish paged me again, and I made a mental note to buy a bottle of her favorite perfume for the save.

  “Leave your contact info with the front desk, and I’ll make sure Peaches gets it, now really, I have to go.” After grabbing my tablet and closing the door behind me, I skirted around the man and made my way to Trauma Room No. 4.

  When I arrived, I found a six year old who’d lost a battle with a tractor and suddenly, I wished I was still back with the strange man who claimed to know Peaches. But I had to put him and Wheeler out of my mind and got busy trying to save the hand of the little boy.

  Chapter Nine

  Wheeler

  “You look less like shit than you usually do.” Holden’s gruff words made me smile because he was a grouchy son of a bitch and that was as close to a compliment as he would ever get.

  “Thanks Holden, you look pretty, too.” The truth was I did feel good because that one night with Annabelle had given me nearly a full week of decent sleep. The first night I s
lept like a fucking baby, dreamlessly happy with the blank darkness of a deep sleep. Each night since the sleep came a little harder and lasted a shorter time than I wanted, but the nightmares stayed away and for that I was damn grateful.

  “I’m glad to see you’re doing better. Maybe now we can get some damn work done.” His tone was gruff but none of us took it personally because that’s just how Holden was, especially when it came to the ranching part of the MC operation. It was his baby, and he didn’t tolerate any half-assing.

  “I’m here and ready to work.” I had plenty of energy and without the nightmares, I wasn’t a total bastard. “Where are we going, anyway?”

  He turned to me with a scowl that made me stand up straight. It was his worried scowl, not his run of the mill pissed off look. “To the back pasture. I picked up a downed calf on the security footage.”

  “Shit. Wolves again?” It was, I was learning, part of being a ranch owner.

  “Don’t know, but I guess we’re about to find out.” He killed the ignition on the Gator and we both lumbered out, making our way toward the sweet brown calf bawling her pain to the world. “Ah, fuck.”

  I felt exactly the same way looking at the animal writhing on the ground. “Hey girl, what’s the matter?” She looked up at the sound of my voice and gave another ‘moo’ of distress while Holden crept around to check out the damage.

  “Well?”

  “Hind quarter is nearly split wide open. Definitely a fucking predator but at least it can be repaired.”

  A call to the vet and the calf would be fixed up good as new. “So there’s a breach in the fence somewhere?”

  Holden stood and nodded, staring off in the distance. “I checked the damn fence before breakfast. Twice and there’s nothing I can see.” His anger and frustration was palpable.

  “What do you think it is and don’t say nothing because I can hear it in your voice.” I said. It was a good thing to know the other men so well, made it easier to trust them.

  Holden sighed and turned to me. “I’m thinking that the fence was cut somewhere, on purpose, and that some lucky wolf strolled in at the most inopportune time for a late night snack. What I don’t know is if it was a competing ranch or someone else.” Arms crossed over his massive chest, Holden looked like a man with too much on his mind. I knew because it was an expression I’d worn often in the Army. Probably still did but I didn’t spend much time in the mirror these days.

  “Shit,” I finally said, breaking the silence. “Who’s gonna tell Gunnar?”

  Holden’s stoic expression transformed into a devious smile as he cut a look over at me. “You are, Vice Prez.”

  Dammit, he had me there. It was my responsibility, and since I accepted it and had done a damn good job as Gunnar’s number two so far, it was up to me. But still, “Fucker.”

  Holden let out a loud belly laugh that I’d only witnessed twice in the years I’d known him. “Oh, I fuckin’ plan to, as soon as we find the cut in the fence.” It took two hours in the hot blazing sun before we found it, and we’d both missed it two times before. That’s how good the intruder had been. “Could be a bolt cutter.”

  It could but the cuts were so fine and straight, cut with such precision that it was likely more advanced than what I’d get at the hardware store. “Maybe even a laser. Either way, human not animal.” We spent fifteen minutes mending the fence and made our way, slowly and damned reluctantly, back to the main house.

  To Gunnar.

  “Ready for this?” Holden killed the engine and turned to me, a serious expression on his face.

  “Fuck no, but this is part of being a Bastard, right?” I snorted. “Wouldn’t say no to a beer though.”

  Holden laughed. “Amen, brother.”

  We found Gunnar on the back porch with Peaches on his lap, the two of them making out like horny teenagers. If I had a dollar for every time I caught those two going at it, I could leave the ranch, the MC, and the club behind and live my life on an island somewhere, doing whatever people did who knew how to relax and enjoy life. “Get a room,” I said when we were close enough to startle them.

  Peaches froze and slowly turned with a mischievous smile on her face. “Hey guys, what’s up?” At the expression on my face or Holden’s her grin dimmed and she was on her feet. “Seriously. What’s up?”

  I appreciated that about Peaches, that she didn’t pretend MC business wasn’t serious as fuck. She was always willing to help however she could. Hell, she was more of a badass than most men I knew and served with.

  I sucked in a breath and held Gunnar’s gaze while I told them about the calf and the fence. “It was definitely precision work, nothing sloppy at all. And we weren’t meant to find it.”

  “I’ll check the security footage,” Peaches said, bare feet already on the move into the house.

  When she was gone, Gunnar let out a string of curses. “Farnsworth. Has to be.” His fist landed on the wooden railing with a crack that could have been the wood or his hand. “Goddammit, this shit is never ending!”

  He was right about that. It turns out that being in a MC was a lot like being in the Army. Enemies were everywhere and just when you defeated one, another motherfucker was right around the corner.

  “Hell, yeah. I bet it’s him,” I agreed. It was the only thing that made sense. “Has Peaches said anything to you?”

  “You think she’s keepin’ secrets?” His glare and the way his hands balled into angry fists said he was spoiling for a fight.

  Not today. “Calm the fuck down, man. I’m asking if he’s reached out, left messages or any shit like that. Anything to say he’s close by.” If she was my girl, I’d be pissed too and ready to take on the world. That’s why he had me to keep his ass in line.

  “No.” His shoulders fell, and I knew the silence was more bothersome than the cut fence. “Not a goddamn thing.”

  “So what are we gonna do?” It was the first time Holden had spoken, his deep voice and southern twang bringing it back to what was important.

  “Protect Peaches.” Gunnar and I said at the same time, making Holden grin.

  “Protect Peaches from what?” sounded from behind me.

  “Damn woman, you move around like a fucking ninja.”

  Peaches had reappeared silently, not even the squeaky ass door made a sound, which meant she’d been eavesdropping. “Didn’t you hear?”

  “Not everything,” she said with a saucy grin. “That’s why I’m asking.” Armed with her sturdy black laptop, she looked fierce and ready to do battle.

  Gunnar grabbed her by the arm before she could sit down. He tugged her to the other end of the porch that wrapped three quarters around the house, but not far enough away that we couldn’t read their body language. Or hear the harshly spoken whispers neither of them did a damn thing to hide. Gunnar told her he put her under increased protection whether she wanted it or not, and Peaches with her scowl and the way she clutched the laptop, had threatened him with either bodily harm or a lack of sex. Or both. Finally, she stepped back and shook her head.

  “Stubborn ass men,” she growled and marched back to Holden and me without giving us a glance. She dropped down in the chair she’d just shared with Gunnar and flipped open her laptop.

  “I’m not some goddamned princess in a tower. In case you’ve forgotten, I wired this whole damn place with top of the line electronic surveillance.”

  Her fingers flew over the keyboard, and I watched, as I always did, in awe of her skills.

  “Motherfucker! Look.” She pointed at the screen, and we all crowded around her.

  I looked at the black screen but only saw the moving time counter. “I don’t see anything,” I said.

  “Exactly. And it’s just for twelve minutes. This black screen means they didn’t just cut the wires. See?” She fast forwarded the video and sure enough, twelve minutes later the picture returned and the clock kept spinning.

  Gunnar started at the video and said, “What the fuck could he possib
ly have done in twelve minutes? He couldn’t even get to the main house on foot in that time.” Gunnar wasn’t looking for an answer, he was scared for Peaches.

  But problem-solving was what I did best. “Recon,” I told him easily, ignoring the glare he sent my way because he didn’t want a fucking answer. Too damn bad. “It’s what I’d do. Come in and get a layout of the land so I’d be prepared when I came back. The problem is, we don’t know what he’s planning.”

  Did he want to kill Peaches or all of the Reckless Bastards? Did she have something he wanted? “Whatever it is, we need to be prepared.”

  Gunnar added, “You’re right. We need to come up with a schedule so there are eyes on Peaches at all times.”

  “Gunnar, babe, please.” Peaches stood and shoved the laptop at Holden who took it cautiously, like he thought the damn thing might bite him. “We can’t have the guys exhausted and unfocused. Farnsworth, if this was him, won’t strike with a lot of people around unless he absolutely has to. Fewer loose ends to tie up that way.”

  “We’ll talk about this later,” Gunnar told her firmly, as if that would do anything to quiet the woman.

  “We can talk about it now.”

  I was just about to tell them that was a fight for another time, when the sound of Maisie’s laughter grew closer. The little girl had the uncanny ability to calm even the most shit-tastic of situations.

  “Look who I found!” she said in high-pitched voice, full of joy when she came into view. She was holding on to Annabelle like they were best friends, laughing and smiling brightly.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked her. The growl and the dick-ish tone weren’t necessary, but I wasn’t prepared to see her just yet. Not after…everything.

  Annabelle frowned, looking pretty as fuck in black slacks and a silky red blouse that did an excellent job of hiding the differences between us, and then turned her gaze to Peaches, effectively dismissing me. “Can we talk for a minute?”