Triple K Set

by Beck, J. L.

  Jet opened his mouth to rib him.

  “DON’T YOU DO IT!” Mable cut him off before he could. She shook her head. “No. They aren’t the guests.”

  “We are!” Came a woman’s voice from the far side of the room.

  The entire Kincade, Plush and Monroe group swiveled their gazes over.

  Standing there were two women. Identical twins in fact. Both red headed, curvy and—smiling at both of the Kincade twins.

  Brea looked from them to Cole’s paling face.

  Maggie did the same with Jet.

  Jet looked like he’d seen a ghost as he gulped and his eyes rounded like silver dollars.

  “Valeen and Victoria Noble,” Mable introduced them to the group, though her eyes suddenly narrowed at her twin cowboy sons. “They’re the wedding planners.”

  Daisy smiled at them. “Oh, Mable you got me the best!”

  The two women came into the room, all smiles and laughter.

  The Kincade twin cowboys glanced at each other, panic written all over their handsome faces as the two bubbly women headed to their side of the room.

  One of the women grabbed Jet up and the other grabbed Cole. They both squealed then placed their arms around the men’s necks and kissed the surprised cowboys smack on the lips.

  “Oh, crap on a Ritz cracker!” Kanda breathed out in panic. “I was right! There is gonna be a throw down!” She stared at Brea and Maggie’s stunned faces. “But we might have to call it a hoe down.” She bit at her lip and whispered to Wade, “I wonder how mad Mable is gonna be when they all break her best china?”

  Wade looked uncomfortable as he shrugged.

  Maggie stared at the women as they practically climbed up onto the twin cowboys. She swung her gaze over to Brea.

  Brea’s cheeks had gone fiery red and tears filled her eyes.

  Maggie felt rage boiling at the hurt look on her sister’s face. “Okay, that’s enough! What the hell do you two think you’re doing?” she shouted.

  The women kept busy, kissing the men on their cheeks and hugging them tightly.

  “Hey, you two…Twin Peaks!” she raised her voice.

  Both women paused and stared over at her.

  “What the hell do you think this is…a cowboy buffet?” she snapped.

  They both looked surprised at her loud remark.

  One of them started to laugh as she still had her arms around Cole’s neck.

  “You aren’t going to be laughing long when your teeth are scattered all over the floor,” Maggie seethed while she clenched her fists.

  “Who is this woman—girl?” the one hugging Jet spoke up as she batted her eyes repeatedly while staring back at Maggie.

  Cole pulled at the arms of his kissing guest. “Now, Valeen, you need to—”

  She hung on, despite his polite efforts as she nearly pawed him.

  Jet was trying to also disengage himself from the clingy redhead up against him.

  Maggie placed her hands on her hips and glared at the woman who was woman-handling her sister’s man. She didn’t trust herself to watch Jet and his redheaded amazon, as she now came to think of both these women. She stepped forward and grabbed the woman’s long red curls. “I said step off!”

  “Oww!” the woman cried out.

  Maggie dragged her over to the table by her hair. “IF you are that hungry…THIS is where the edibles are.”

  The woman swung her arms around trying to punch her but Maggie was so much shorter—she missed her head by inches.

  “Maggie!” Daisy shouted.

  Letting go and ignoring her mother, Maggie marched back over to the other amazon.

  Victoria stepped back from Jet and raised her hands, palms out in submission.

  Maggie narrowed her eyes. “You can do whatever you wish with this Stetson playboy, but your sister better lay off of Cole.”

  Jet looked upset by her statement and then he narrowed his eyes back at her.

  “We didn’t mean no harm,” Valeen spoke up from over by the table. “But the men should have told their current booty calls about us coming.”

  At the insult, Maggie sucked in her breath and stared at Brea.

  “Booty…?” Brea’s face went pale now.

  Cole was moving closer to Brea while trying to take her arm and she avoided him by stepping away.

  Maggie swung her enraged gaze over to Valeen. “Well, get ready to get your sorry booty kicked!”

  Jet grabbed Maggie up before she could move. “Whoa up, Maggie!”

  “Let me go! I’m gonna decorate this room with a bunch of dyed red hair!”

  “That’s enough!” Mable shouted.

  Everyone stared over at her.

  “Valeen would you mind explaining how my sons were supposed to know about your visit?” Mable asked.

  The tall, curvy Valeen looked over at both men. “You mean they didn’t tell anyone?”

  “Oh, God,” Cole muttered while looking entirely pale now.

  “What?” Brea asked staring at his face. “Tell us what?”

  “You can’t be serious about that, Valeen!” Jet spoke up now.

  “Serious about what?” Brea shouted with frustration.

  “Oh, you two are bad boys, all right,” Valeen scoffed as she shook her head with apparent disgust.

  “Yeah and one of them is badder than the other,” Victoria piped in and gave Jet a playful wink.

  “Oh, like that’s news!” Daisy added her two cents. “The man would raid a chicken coop even if his mouth was stuffed with eggs!”

  Rand and Wade were full out laughing at this point in the twin feud.

  Victoria stepped back from the two couples and looked insulted. “The year is up. In fact, it is up in three days!”

  “What year?” Mable shook her head.

  Kanda stepped closer to the table. “I think we all need to sit down and try to—”

  “I want an answer!” Brea spoke up as she turned to Cole. “Right the hell now.”

  He sighed and combed his fingers through his hair. “It’s sorta—well, I plumb forgot…I mean—I didn’t take it seriously in the first place.”

  “What?” Valeen interjected. “After all we’ve been through? You forgot?”

  “Forgot what?” Brea was screeching now as she stomped her foot.

  “The Vegas pact,” Victoria answered her.

  “Vegas…?” Maggie replied with confusion.

  “Wait a minute here. You aren’t here to organize my wedding?” Daisy now jumped in.

  “Your wedding?” Valeen shouted. “Hell no! We aren’t gonna take this crap, we got rights!”

  Everyone started talking at once and loudly.

  Maggie kept yelling about slutty amazon women as she tussled with Victoria.

  Then Valeen yelled, “Oh, hell to the NO!” While she rushed across the room to defend her sister.

  Brea jumped in and grabbed Valeen before she could get there. Telling her to lay off or she was gonna fix her little red choo-choo permanently.

  Jet tugged at Maggie’s arm and she was stomping on his boot while yelling for him to, stuff it into his dirty two-timing Stetson.

  Wade, who now tried to hide his grin grabbed Kanda’s arm just as she stepped forward and kept her by his side.

  Kanda started telling him how the Kincades always stick up for each other, no matter how stupid and dimwitted the male Kincades were.

  Rand started chuckling from next to Daisy and she gave him a glare. Then she rushed across the room and tried to step in between Brea and Valeen, shouting for Valeen to back off.

  Cole was yelling Brea’s name and trying to reach her, though Daisy stood in the way.

  Jet was holding Maggie around her waist while she kept swinging her fists at anything near.

  Brea grabbed Jet’s arm while yelling about her shotgun and his unmarked grave.

  The twin girls were screeching about promises and how they were gonna sue.

  The sounds in the dining room grew to ear splittin
g proportions.

  Mable calmly picked up a large pitcher of ice tea and walked over, tossing the tea sideways onto the group.

  The women screeched with surprise while the men shouted, then all eyes turned to the Kincade matriarch.

  “SIT. THE. HELL. DOWN,” Mable spat out slowly, then turned away and headed back to her seat.

  Frozen in place while sweet tea splattered their clothes and hair, the group seemed to calm. Seemed being a temporary state at best.

  Mable strode back to the table and stood by her chair. “NOW!”

  With sighs and scuffling of boots, the group all moved to the table.

  Valeen tried to sit next to Cole and Brea stepped up to glare at her.

  “Valeen and Victoria, you need to come and sit by Daisy and I,” Mable cut in.

  “Yeah, it may be safer too,” Kanda joked.

  Both Wade and Rand chuckled.

  Cole pulled out Brea’s chair and she sat while refusing to even look at him.

  Jet, who like his brother did not look amused, pulled out a chair for Maggie.

  Glaring at him, she hesitated.

  “SIT!” Mable called out to seemingly everyone. The entire group promptly sat with a simultaneous sliding of chairs.

  “Now, first we eat. The food is getting’ cold. No, outbursts! Then after we have eht, ya’ll will get a chance to speak…one squirrely nutcase at a time.”

  CHAPTER NINE

  Gravy & Mashed Potatoes

  MAGGIE

  Dinner became even tenser as the minutes ticked by. Only the sounds of silverware and the grandfather clock ticking from the corner of the room could be heard.

  Brea pushed her food around on her plate, while Cole tried his best to get her attention.

  Maggie felt like she could kill and in fact, she kept envisioning all sorts of harm to some of the guests gathered at the table. In her mind, Jet was already tarred and feathered while running around in circles like a headless chicken. The Noble twins were shaved bald while looking beaten black and blue as they sat rocking and weeping. Maggie almost smiled as the satisfying fantasies played out in her head.

  Jet sat and stared at Maggie with a perplexed expression on his face as he just lounged in his seat and swirled the tea in his glass.

  Mable, being her usual sassy self, led the heretofore-meager conversation to try to avoid any more fights. “So, ya’ll know that Daisy here is finally gonna marry her man.”

  Daisy beamed at her.

  Nodding her head, Mable looked over at Rand. “And, the groom may not be from Texas, but he sure punches like a cowboy,” she teased. Then her gaze swung over to Wade. “Then it turns out that he is Maggie’s and Wade’s father.” She laughed. “Who woulda’ thunk it?”

  Kanda smiled at her and then at Wade.

  The Noble twins ate quietly and seemed to listen while taking sneak peeks at the glum looking cowboy twins.

  “Then, ya’ll’s brother Quinn, works right here at the Triple K,” she stated as she glanced over at the Noble sisters

  Jet gave a grunt as if he disapproved of this particular subject.

  For the first time ever, Maggie swung her curious gaze over to him.

  He shrugged and gave her a half smile.

  Maggie harrumphed and swung her glittery gaze back over to Mable who was still making small talk.

  Mable nodded her head at the twin girls. “How’s your dad by the way?”

  Valeen, as usual spoke up first, “He’s bullheaded as always and still insists on breaking the new horses himself.”

  Mable laughed. “Yep, don’t ‘spect Jared would change all that much.”

  “Well, isn’t it true that um…you and him had a thing in high school?” Victoria joined in.

  Mable’s eyes rounded. “He tell you that?”

  “Nah, she found an old picture of you two while she was snooping,” Valeen answered for her sister.

  “What?” Kanda piped in as she swung her shocked gaze over at her mother. “You dated Jared Noble?”

  “Now, don’t go gettin’ your panties into a twist, Kandy girl. It was a long time ago,” her mother retorted.

  Wade chuckled.

  Kandy Girl swung her gaze to his face. “What?”

  He shook his head. “Well, they say that Australians have odd expressions, but twisted panties?”

  Rand joined his chuckling. “Like whatever smokes your shorts?”

  “Exactly!” Wade laughed.

  Daisy giggled as she turned her happy gaze to Rand. “I don’t know about that, ‘cause you all have some doozies. The Aussie translation would be…” She rolled her eyes up as if she were contemplating it. “Don’t get your knickers in a…knot? ’Cause it’s better than a poke in the eye with a stick!”

  Wade and Rand were chuckling.

  Daisy grinned as lifted up her glass and winked at Rand. “And I ain’t pissing in your pocket, mate!”

  The two men started to howl with laughter.

  Mable, Kanda and the Noble girls joined in.

  “Well, the wildest notion I ever heard of is how all the men got together there and made up their own holiday, because women kept pushing Valentine’s Day,” Kanda interjected.

  Rand abruptly stopped laughing with a surprised expression on his face. Then he stared over at his son while his eyes rounded.

  Kanda nodded her head knowingly while wearing a smirk.

  Wade went pink in the face. “Now Kandy, that is not—”

  “You mean you told her about that outrageous holiday?” Daisy’s expression looked animated. “Steak and a—”

  Rand placed his hand over her mouth. “Not at the dinner table Daze!”

  “Well, what I would like to know is why men would demand a steak day anyhow,” Mable cut in, “I mean don’t they feed you big, ole strappin’ Aussies enough beef in that wild country of yours?”

  Kanda briefly stared at her mother, as though she could not believe what she just said, then tossed her head back and laughed uproariously.

  “What is so dammed funny Kanda Kincade?” Mable demanded.

  Wade groaned with embarrassment as he stared down at his plate.

  “Well, actually Mable, it’s the woman who gets the beef on that particular day,” Daisy explained in an all too serious tone.

  Rand almost choked on his drink while he gasped loudly.

  Kanda halted and stared at her then at Rand’s shocked expression. Almost snorting with amusement her laughter grew to nearly hysterical again.

  Wade put his hands over his face with another loud groan.

  “Yep, you sly dingo…you!” Daisy teased him.

  At the other end of the table—there was no laughter or any talking at all.

  The laughing guests at the north end suddenly seemed to realize that the amusement certainly wasn’t shared by the south end and they all shifted uncomfortably in their seats, grabbing up a glass or napkin as the laughter died out.

  Mable shook her head in bemusement as she sat her fork down and gently wiped her mouth with her fancy Triple K brand monogramed napkin. “Okay…We will now get to the subject at hand.” She gazed intently all around the table. “But you all better stay in your seats. Until we get this—well, whatever tangle it is ironed out.” She pursed her lips. “Valeen, since you made the odd announcement. You can speak first.”

  Valeen Noble looked taken aback as she gazed around at the guests her bright green eyes wide. “Um, well—it ain’t really for polite company, Ms. Mable.”

  “Oh, come on girl!” Mable replied, “You participated in a hair pullin, butt kickin’ Jerry Springer episode just now, this ain’t polite company. Just spit it out girl.”

  Valeen set her napkin down, as she looked uneasy.

  At the south end, Jet and Cole seemed to shift anxiously in their seats.

  Jet spoke up, “Ma—?”

  Mable placed her hand up. “It ain’t your turn son and if you keep this up, I aim to cancel your birth certificate!”

  He an
grily swiped his lips with his napkin, tossed it on the table and leaned back in his seat.

  The curvy outspoken redhead sat for a long minute while staring at both of the Kincade men. “Well, like I said, it’s been a year and we all had an agreement. The men here promised to keep with what we agreed on.”

  Mable blinked her eyes at her. “A year since what?”

  It was Cole, who now attempted to stop this particular conversation as he stood up. “Ma, I really think this would be better said in private.”

  Mable glared at her usually well behaved son. “This here is private. These are all family members or about to be family and didn’t I tell you all to sit the hell down once already?”

  Cole bit at his lip.

  “Is it really that bad Cole?” Kanda asked in a pained voice.

  He sighed and sat back down. “All depends on…” He halted and swung his gaze over to Brea. “…Who you are.”

  Brea stared at him with glimmering eyes as she fiddled anxiously with her napkin.

  Mable cleared her throat loudly and nodded at Valeen to proceed.

  “Well, Victoria and I went to Vegas last year and we ran into…” She swung her eyes up and over to Jet. “…The Kincade boys. It got wild and we were all drinkin’ and whatnot. “

  Brea sat stone still as her face went white.

  Maggie wondered what the so-called whatnot was, but then again, she didn’t really want to know. She reached over, grabbed her sister’s hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

  Mable looked livid as she stared at her sons. “And…?”

  “It was so much fun!” Valeen’s sister cut in, “Everywhere we went, everybody thought they were seeing double.” Victoria laughed. “Can you imagine? I think we sobered up some drunks that particular night!”

  Valeen nodded her head at her sister and she giggled a bit too.

  Mable cleared her throat loudly and pointedly stared at Valeen.

  Her smiled instantly dropped. “Well, one bar led to another and we all got—well…”

  “We got married!” Victoria finished for her.

  Many gasps echoed around the table.

  Horrified, Brea stood up from her chair and gaped at Cole. “You’re married already?”

  Cole stood up too, and tried to grab her hands. “It wasn’t like that, sweetie.”