Lone Star Christmas

by Delores Fossen

  “Say, did you really buy that body piercing kit from Ted’s?” Nico asked.

  Well, maybe Nico’s mind wasn’t where Callen had thought it would be.

  It took Callen a moment to realize that Nico had meant that question for him and another moment to realize what he was talking about. “Yeah.” And because both Kace and Judd looked back at him, Callen felt the need to explain, “It was part of a group of things I bought. I didn’t specifically buy a body piercing kit.”

  “Does that mean you don’t have plans for it?” Nico pressed.

  “That would be a no. I don’t have plans,” Callen assured him. “Why?”

  “Because I wanted to buy it as a Christmas gift for Havana. I thought she’d get a kick out of it and we could try it out on each other.”

  There were so many things wrong with that answer that Callen wasn’t sure where to start.

  Nico laughed before Callen could say anything. “Just kidding about the trying-out part, but she would get a kick out of it.”

  She probably would, and while Callen didn’t especially like having the image in his head of his brother and trusted assistant, it was better that than making a mental list of all the things that could go wrong with this meeting.

  “Ted sent the gifts to my room at the inn,” Callen said. “Drop by and I’ll give you the kit.” While Nico was there, he could also give him the Christmas gift he’d bought for him.

  “Thanks. Ted said you nearly cleaned out his inventory,” Nico added.

  “There’s still plenty of junk in that store,” Judd grumbled.

  Nico made a sound of agreement. “Yeah, but he was boxing stuff up when I was over there about an hour ago. He said he was closing up shop for good and was going to sell the rest of his inventory to some vendor in San Antonio.”

  It made Callen actually feel a little guilty for being part of making that happen. Ted’s was a fixture on Main Street. Still, Ted was getting on in years and couldn’t run the business forever. But it made Callen wonder again what would happen to the place. He didn’t dwell on it for long, though, because Kace pulled into the parking lot of the motel.

  “Avis is here,” Callen said, tipping his head to the man’s truck. “He’s in room 116. I keep a PI on retainer,” he added when his brothers glanced at him. “He made some calls along with running a background check on Avis. He’s forty-two with an address on the south side of San Antonio. No arrests since he got out of prison. Twice divorced, no kids. Currently unemployed.”

  Which probably explained why he was trying to hit Callen up for money.

  “You should have gotten the size of his asshole because that’s where my boot’s going,” Judd grumbled.

  And that was why Callen had wanted to do this alone.

  “Keep your boots on the ground,” Kace said, sounding not like a big brother but Judd’s boss. “You, too. And you,” he said to Nico when he shifted his glance to him.

  “He didn’t say anything about fists,” Callen muttered, causing Nico to chuckle and give him an elbow jab. That, in turn, caused Kace to shoot them a glare.

  They all got out, and Kace took his phone from the dash and slipped it into his coat pocket. Probably to have it ready in case something went wrong. Of course, Kace wouldn’t need to call the cops since he was one and had a very pissed-off deputy by his side.

  Together, they went to the door, but Kace moved ahead of them, and he was the one who knocked. Judd and he automatically moved to the side. Cops’ stances in case someone shot at them through the door. But no shots. Avis opened the door.

  And he smiled.

  “Whew,” Nico said, waving his hand in front of his own face. “Two words of advice. Breath mints.”

  Avis quit smiling, and confused, he looked at Nico as if that had been the last thing he’d been expecting. On this one point, they were on the same page. Callen hadn’t expected it, either. Nico’s “advice” was a little too lighthearted considering there was nothing light about this.

  The confusion on Avis’s bruised face didn’t last long, and he shifted his attention to Callen. “I see you brought your get-out-of-jail-free cards with you. Two of them with their shiny badges. But that don’t matter none. Your girlfriend’s still gonna answer for what she done to me.”

  Nico groaned, tsked. “More words of advice. Grammar lessons. Good grammar matters when you’re trying to make a point.”

  Avis’s teeth came together. “You wiseass brat.”

  “Now see, that’s much better. No double negative that time.” Nico grinned the way a teacher would at a prize student.

  It was effective at getting Avis to take a quick step toward Nico. A step that got interrupted when Judd slapped his hand on Avis’s chest.

  “Two words of advice,” Judd warned him, the words sharp as razors and as mean as a snake. “Don’t.”

  No one pointed out that Judd had only used one word instead of two. And probably because Judd looked ready to tear off multiple body parts, Avis took that “don’t” to heart and didn’t take another step.

  Hell in a handbasket, Callen hadn’t needed any proof that Judd was a badass, but that was a prime example of it.

  “I understand you paid Callen two visits,” Kace said to Avis. While Kace’s voice was lacking that whole snake-meanness, there was an edge, simmering and hot just beneath the surface.

  “Yeah, I went to see him,” Avis admitted. “And on the second visit, his batshit crazy girlfriend assaulted me.”

  Kace slid his gaze over Avis. “A woman a foot shorter and a hundred and fifty pounds lighter assaulted you?” Kace asked. “With what?”

  As expected, Avis seemed uncomfortable. “She got the jump on me when I wasn’t looking.”

  “You mean when you were trespassing on her family’s land,” Kace amended. “Did she tell you to leave first?”

  Avis’s forehead bunched up. “Well, yeah. But that don’t matter none.”

  “Yes, it does,” Kace argued. “A big guy like you comes onto her property. A convicted felon at that, and she has a right to defend what belongs to her family. If there was no weapon involved, she didn’t use excessive force. She asked you to leave, and you didn’t. In fact, she could file charges against you for trespassing. I’d be happy to make that arrest. In fact, I’m going to read you your rights in anticipation of those charges she’ll file.”

  As Kace did indeed recite the Miranda warning, the anger flared in Avis’s eyes and his face went red. It wasn’t a flattering combination with the purple bruises on his face and his swollen nose.

  “I see what you’re doing,” Avis snarled. “You’re throwing your weight around.”

  “You know a lot about that, don’t you?” Callen snapped. He was feeling a new dose of anger, too.

  “Yeah, I do.” Still red, still flaring anger right and left, Avis’s attention settled on Callen. “My business is with you, not your brothers. There’s no law against showing up at the inn day after tomorrow. It’s a public place.”

  “And what will you do at the inn?” Kace calmly asked.

  Now Avis smiled. “Just look around, talk to people. Visit. And Callen here knows what he needs to do to make me change those plans.”

  Callen opened his mouth, but Kace spoke before he could. “How much money did you want my brother to pay you to back off?”

  Avis’s smile widened. “It’s up to seventy-five grand now ’cause I’m a mite pissed at what his girlfriend did.”

  “Seventy-five grand?” Kace, again, and again he spoke before Callen could. “And if he pays it, you go away?”

  “That’s right.”

  Kace took out his phone, showed it to Judd. “Did you record that confession, too?” he asked Judd.

  Judd tapped his pocket, nodded. Nico did a pocket tap as well, indicating that he also had a recording. Callen didn’t huff, but he felt
stupid. He refrained, however, from telling Kace to send out a memo the next time they confronted an asshole and needed recordings.

  Avis made a feral sound, and he lunged. Not at Kace, Judd and Callen. But at Nico—his favorite target.

  Judd reached for the man. Kace, too. But it was Callen who got to him first. He waited a split second until Avis took the first swing, which Callen dodged. Then Callen unleashed hell on the man. He put all the anger, all the pain into the fist that he slammed into Avis’s face.

  Avis staggered back, and Callen went after him again. He landed the next blow in his gut, and Callen would have just kept punching and punching if he hadn’t felt the hand on his arm.

  “It’s enough, Cal.”

  It was hard for Callen to hear over the thundering rush of blood in his ears. Everything inside him was primed to beat this snake into dust. But the “it’s enough” had come from Nico.

  Callen reined it in, barely, just enough to let Nico pull him back.

  “You’re better than he is,” Nico added. “A whole lot better. But I figured you needed to do that.”

  He had needed it, and Callen hated that it still hadn’t tamped down the anger and the pain. It still hadn’t erased the past.

  Once Nico had Callen outside, Judd stepped into the room. “You dickhead asshole,” he snarled right in Avis’s face.

  Even though Avis was still woozy, he took a swing at Judd. Judd didn’t dodge it. He let it connect with his jaw. Then he smiled through the blood that was now on his teeth. “Assaulting a police officer. You really are a dickhead.”

  And then, as if he didn’t have that rattlesnake temper and a bloody mouth, Judd calmly strolled out.

  “So many charges,” Kace said, still in the doorway. He showed Avis the video he’d just taken of Avis punching Judd. “Trespassing. Attempted extortion. Attempted assault on the person you were trying to extort. Assault on a police officer. That all adds up to lots and lots of jail time for someone like you. And I’ll file these charges if and when you’re stupid enough to come after me, my family or anyone connected to my family or my town. Understand?”

  Avis glared at him.

  “Understand?” Kace repeated, and this time the badass came out.

  “Yeah, I understand.” Avis tried to sound badass, too, but it wasn’t effective because he whimpered in pain when he rubbed the spot on his gut where Callen had punched him.

  The four of them walked away, and Callen purposely didn’t look back. It might spur him to go after the man again. That couldn’t happen because it would only make things worse. Now he needed to convince himself of that.

  “I want to see Shelby. Now.”

  Callen hadn’t even known he’d said it aloud until Nico flicked a glance back at him. “I’m sensing a lot of unresolved anger in you. With the mood you’re in, you think that’s wise?” Nico asked.

  No. It wasn’t wise. But Callen was going to pay her a visit anyway.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  SHELBY RAN OUT the door the moment she spotted Callen’s truck pull up in front of her house. As she ran, she looked for any bruises she was certain would be there.

  There wasn’t a mark on him.

  Well, no injuries, anyway. But she could see the dark emotion in his eyes. Emotion that didn’t mesh with the perky pink wrapped presents he had tucked under his arm.

  “Ginger called and said you and your brothers had all left the police station together,” she blurted out. “Are you okay? Are your brothers okay?”

  “We’re fine.” He looped his free arm around her shoulders, snuggling her against him, and he brushed a kiss on the top of her head. “Ginger told you, huh?”

  “Well, Ginger and three others who called to say they’d seen all of the Laramie brothers driving eastbound in a cruiser.”

  The corner of his mouth lifted, but she couldn’t tell if that was from the dry humor of the fast-speeding gossip train or if there truly was something to smile about.

  “According to reports, departure times varied,” she added, hoping to test the reason for the smile. “But the general consensus was that somebody was about to be on the receiving end of a butt-whipping. Was there a butt-whipping?” she asked when he didn’t say anything.

  He still didn’t answer until they were inside. “I punched Avis a couple of times.” Without looking at her, he closed the door, set the packages on the coffee table and took off his coat.

  “You wanted to punch him more than just a couple of times.” Shelby sighed. “You wanted to hurt him, bad. And he would have deserved it, too, but you held back because hurting him wouldn’t have changed the past.”

  Callen pulled her back into the crook of his arm and gave her another kiss on the head. “And that’s why I wanted to come and see you.”

  Like his half smile, that was a little bit cryptic, but just the fact he was here was enough for now. “Are your brothers okay?”

  “Yeah.” While he stood there holding her, he stayed quiet a moment. “Judd’s scary as shit—you know that?”

  Now she smiled because there was some humor in his tone. “Yes, indeed. Judd puts the hard in hard-ass. But he’s a good cop, so I’m guessing he didn’t throw any punches.”

  “No. But he took one...for the Laramie team, I guess you could say. He baited Avis, and Avis slugged him. That and the attempted extortion will be enough to make Avis go back to his rat hole.”

  Good. None of them needed a thug like that around. “I figured he’d try to press charges against me.”

  Another long pause. “No.” He lifted her hand, softly cursed at the bruised knuckles and gently kissed them. “I’m so sorry, Shelby.”

  “Hey, you shouldn’t be apologizing. It’s not your fault that a-hole showed up.” She caught onto his face, turned his head to make eye contact. “And just know if you need another a-hole beaten up, then I’m your woman.”

  Oh, there it was. The real-deal smile. But it didn’t last. He groaned. “What about the Millhouse family? Are they running for the hills after what they must have seen and heard from the Avis mess?”

  “Not running,” she assured him. And she was about 95 percent sure that was true. They had looked a little shaken, though, but that could have been because of the sugar overload from Rosy’s cookies. “Lucy and Mateo are going to visit them tomorrow, and then the Millhouses will be at the wedding. I think it’d be nice if all sides made a decision about the placement by Christmas.”

  Nice but it would also be somewhat of a miracle since that was only three days away. And that was a reminder that the wedding was only the day after tomorrow.

  She tipped her head to the presents he’d brought in. “Gifts for Rosy and Buck?” she asked.

  “Uh, no. They’re actually Christmas presents for you. I didn’t know the person who wrapped them would use pink paper.”

  Well, now. That lifted away any trace of a dark mood. “You didn’t have to get me anything.” But what fun that he had. “Can I open them now, or should I wait until Christmas?”

  The moment she included that “wait until Christmas” part, Shelby knew she’d screwed up. Because it was a reminder that Callen might not even be around on Christmas Day.

  “Whenever you want,” he said. “They’re nothing big. Just tokens.”

  “Even so, there are two, so two tokens make a near gift. Not bad for December 22. I’ll open them now.” Shelby sank down on the sofa, picked up one of the boxes and shook it. “You probably don’t know this about me, but I’m somewhat of an expert when it comes to gift rattling. This sounds like a book to me. Or maybe a small life raft.”

  She tore into the paper as he sat next to her and took out the gift. It was indeed a book. Cooking for Dummies.

  “Say, isn’t that the cookbook that’s been in Ted’s for the past twenty years?” she asked. “The one that sat next to the nunchucks an
d the body piercing kit?”

  “Yes,” he admitted. “I bought the contents of the entire shelf.” He held up his index finger. “But before you get your hopes up, I gave the body piercing kit to Nico. He had his heart set on it.” He handed her the other gift. “But here are the nunchucks.”

  “Awww.” She stretched that out a bit, opened the package and yep—nunchucks. “You are so good to me.”

  “Anything for the woman who kicks ass as well as you do.” He kissed her, not on the head this time but on the mouth. It was a lingering one that Shelby knew could lead to other things.

  Like straight to the bed.

  First, though, she wanted to do something. “I have a gift for you, too.” She leaped off the sofa and hurried to the still-to-be-fully-decorated tree, and she took out his present that she’d put underneath.

  She’d surprised him. Shelby saw that right away. Maybe made him a little uneasy, too, that this might be something more than just a token.

  “Don’t worry,” she said. “I didn’t get you an engagement ring or anything else that comes with strings attached.” She put the gift on his lap. “And note that I used real Christmas paper.”

  “Nice.” He ran his hand over the green sparkly wrap and the gold bow. Unlike her, he took his time opening it, and then gave her a puzzled look when he took the gift from the box. “It’s a rearview mirror.”

  She made a dinging sound as if he’d got a question right on a game show, but she caught onto his hand when he reached to pull back the strip of green paper she’d used to cover the actual mirror.

  “I know I’m always bringing up that mirror-gate incident where you didn’t look back at me,” Shelby explained. “So, I thought you’d want to know what you missed seeing.”

  She let go of his hand so he could peel back the paper, and she got the exact reaction she wanted.

  He laughed when he saw the picture of herself that she had inserted there. It was one she’d got Lucy to take of Shelby grinning and waving.

  “There’s another layer,” she instructed.

  Callen peeled off the smiling shot to reveal one of Shelby in an exaggerated sob. She had even fisted her hands as if rubbing them against her eyes. Copious amounts of mascara ran down her cheeks.