by Zoey Marcel
Stetson shed his jacket and handed it to Doc. His best friend was always so helpful and thoughtful, unlike his younger brother and half brother. “It was fine. Where’s the whore, Sawyer?”
“Ah, crap,” Kellan muttered.
Stetson threw a reviling glance of shock over at him and then at Sawyer. If that bastard shared just one more woman with his little brother—
“The whore’s name is Jade.” Jade came out from down the same hall just then. “And FYI, I’m not a whore.”
“Oh, good, you’re still here. I was worried your fiancé had come back for you,” Stetson retorted facetiously.
Her blue eyes narrowed. “It won’t be long now.”
“Are you going to make use of yourself and cook while you’re here, or would that be degrading to your feminist ideals?” Stetson quipped. He didn’t even have to look up from his mail to know that the comment had probably pissed her off.
“I’ll cook for you,” she said with faux sweetness. “In fact I’ll put something special in your dish.”
“Then again, with your amnesia you probably don’t even remember how to cook,” he guessed.
“I can cook,” she insisted, sounding annoyed.
“You’d better get in there, angel face. When it’s Stetson’s turn to cook it turns into Hell’s Kitchen,” Sawyer warned.
“Oh, don’t worry. I have something special in mind for tonight,” Jade said in irritation.
Stetson felt her eyes on him, and he glanced over in her direction. Her hair was slightly mussed, and he had a pretty good idea that Sawyer and Kellan had been up to no good again. Doc must not have known what they’d been up to or he would have put an end to it. He was a good man. Doc was no pervert like Sawyer and no player like Kellan.
Sawyer chuckled. “Better order pizza or the firecracker just might poison Chef Ramsay tonight.”
“I’ll go pick some up,” Kellan offered, and Stetson heard him walk toward the door.
“Bring back some Coke in glass bottles,” Doc requested. “I like those. They’re old fashioned, and it always tastes better that way.”
“Yeah, and be sure to buy some more special cookies while you’re at it,” Sawyer added, sounding a bit mischievous.
“We have a whole drawer of cookies,” Stetson reminded them. He’d heard Sawyer and Kellan mention special cookies before and had a feeling it was a code for something bad.
“Yeah, but these are a special kind of cookies,” Sawyer implied with a wiggle of his eyebrows.
“That had better not be a euphemism for crack or porn,” Stetson warned, ready to knock the fucker’s head off if he’d introduced his baby brother to those things.
Sawyer looked surprised and then died laughing. “That’s right. It’s crack porn. Bring a whole bunch of it home, bright eyes.”
Kellan chuckled. “Will do. You could come with me if you want.”
“Hell, no.” Sawyer shook his head. “I know where you get those glass Coke bottles from, and I ain’t walking into that trap.”
“Where does he get them from?” Jade asked.
“Ike’s Market,” Doc replied.
She looked puzzled. “What’s wrong with Ike’s Market?”
Sawyer shook his head. “Nothing except for the part where Poe’s raven tries to read my palm every fucking time I go in there. He’s always spouting some sort of ‘nevermore’ doom-and-gloom shit. He once told me I was going to die. Well, no shit. Aren’t we all?”
“Yeah, he kind of spooked me, too,” she agreed. “I’ll go with you, Kellan, to keep you company.”
“No,” Stetson countered. “Jade, if you expect to stay here while Bane’s away and be paid, then you have to clean like a maid. You can clean the kitchen counters. I’m sure Sawyer spilled beer somewhere.”
Sawyer grinned at him and then winked at Jade. “You’d better hope that’s all I spilled in there, cowboy.”
Stetson glared at him. “You fuck whores on my counter and you’re out of here. Doc, go with Kellan. He needs supervision after dark.”
Kellan scowled. “Oh, for shit’s sake. I do not.”
“Of course you do, binky-sucker,” Sawyer joked. “There are all sorts of vampires and whores from hell waiting to crawl up from the grave and fuck you to death. Ain’t that right, Stetson?”
“I changed my mind. Doc, stay here. Sawyer, you go with Kellan,” Stetson ordered.
Sawyer laughed. “Now is that ’cause you’re trying to get me out of your hair or because you’re hoping some ghoul eats me and I don’t come back?”
“Whatever works. Drive safe.”
“Aw, I’m touched.”
Stetson headed toward the kitchen. “I was talking to Kellan.”
Sawyer chuckled, and it sounded like he was walking away. “Well, I love you, too, Cain.”
“Put a fucking shirt on, Sawyer,” Stetson hollered.
He heard Sawyer chuckle. “All right then.”
Jade and Doc followed Stetson into the kitchen. She got the cleaner from under the sink and a sponge, but Doc stopped her.
“You should put some gloves on,” he suggested.
“Why? It won’t take me long,” she replied.
Doc’s tone dropped. “Because there are chemicals in the spray and I don’t want you to get cancer.”
Stetson glanced up and saw that Jade looked choked up. She put on the gloves, and Doc watched her solemnly for a moment. Now the skank was out to seduce Doc? She already fucked Kellan and probably Sawyer. Surely Doc had a better head on his shoulders than to fall for the slut.
Stetson felt sad and suddenly protective over Doc. He’d almost been separated from his best friend permanently when Doc got engaged years ago and moved to Phoenix. Stetson had missed him immensely, but after his own marriage fell apart, Doc’s engagement ended almost immediately afterward. He came back to the Brookses’ ranch to live with them again as he had since his mother dumped him off with them and abandoned him when Doc was fifteen.
Stetson had been seventeen when Doc came to live with them and they’d been best friends ever since. While Stetson would be happy for Doc if he ever met the right woman, there was some selfish part of Stetson that never wanted his friend to leave. They’d been together through the best and worst of times and had gotten each other through it all. He’d never known a truer friend or a closer relationship, not even with his wife back when they were still married.
Stetson hoped Bane returned soon and took Jade away. He didn’t like the idea of her seducing Doc. Stetson didn’t know why, but it irritated him.
It also frustrated him the way he couldn’t take his eyes off the dark-haired looker. She was gorgeous, despite his dislike of her. He’d seen her kind before in the beguiling blue eyes of another woman. A woman who married him for his money and then ripped his heart out in more ways than he cared to remember.
Women like Jade and his ex-wife were nothing but trouble and best avoided. Stetson knew better, but his stupid little brother didn’t.
Sawyer on the other hand was simply a perverted fucktard who seemed drawn to such women. Dirtbag. He deserved them.
Jade seemed sweet, though, despite her sleazy appetites. Then again that was probably just a facade. The woman, like his ex, was likely a whore disguised as an angel. He wouldn’t fall into that pit ever again.
Still, there was no harm in looking. He was far more discreet about his subtle glances than his brothers were. Jade probably didn’t even realize how attracted he was to her and, to his own astonishment, how utterly fascinated he was by her.
Doc went into the other room to open his letter and Stetson pretended to read his own mail while he watched Jade wipe up the counter. Her ass filled out those jeans nicely and her black hair and purple streaks really did look freakish and great. She was a trailblazer. He liked that, but was she pliable enough to get down on her knees and take orders? What sort of things did she like in bed?
He snapped himself out of the erotic haze and grimaced when he realized his confounded coc
k was growing in his pants. Damn her womanly allure.
She’s a whore. She’s a whore.
But oddly that word running through his mind only made his dick thicken to a painful bulge. He moved one hand down to his lap, hoping to conceal the throbbing lump even more. Christ, his hand felt amazing there. How much better would her hand feel on his crotch?
Read your fucking mail, you idiot. Women like that are nothing but trouble.
“Is the counter cleaned to your liking?” she asked in a saucy tone.
His penis sprang to attention at her sass and he wanted to take a paddle or a flogger and beat the disrespect out of her. Then he wanted to fuck her into being faithful to him and him alone. He would teach the brat to mind him. Her body would know who her real Master was.
What the fuck is wrong with me? She belongs to Bane Kennedy and she’s a tramp.
Stetson got up and walked over, trying to discreetly use the newspaper as a shield for his obviously aroused groin.
“See? Nice shiny marble,” Jade quipped impatiently.
“Not bad.” Her summer fragrance wafted up his nose, and he leaned forward ever so slightly to get closer to her.
“Wow. Is that a compliment?” she sassed, turning to face him.
Something of the ardor he felt must have been etched into his face, because her lips parted and his intense stare seemed to unnerve her. His gaze rotated between her hair and her eyes before settling on the moist lips he wanted plastered against his. The skin around her mouth was red and puffy like it had been roughed up with a lot of hard kissing…or cock sucking.
His penis bulged with happiness, and it was so ready to party. He thought for sure he must be dreaming when he actually leaned forward to kiss the slut. Maybe he could do it without rekindling the nightmares of long ago.
Before he closed in, his tented pants brushed her hip. Her eyes widened, and he caught her chin quickly and held it still before she could steal a glance at the erection she’d felt. He didn’t want her to know how much he wanted her.
“Jade,” he whispered, trying to think of something unromantic to say to distract her. His voice returned to a normal volume when it came to him. “You should run a comb through your hair. It’s a fucking mess.”
He moved the newspaper to a more decent location than midair and hurried out of the kitchen, hoping it shielded his crotch long enough for him to turn his back on her and leave.
Bane Kennedy, wherever the hell you are you’d better get your wolf ass back here and take your fiancée away before I end up doing something really stupid with her.
* * * *
Ivy Covington stared apprehensively out the car window. Brutus had been driving almost nonstop. At times he turned the radio on or tried to make random small talk with her, which seemed unnatural and a tad creepy with the way he’d kidnapped her. Then there were times when they would ride in deafening silence and she felt violated by his invasive leering.
What really scared her was when he stopped driving and pulled into an empty gas station. Should she try to escape? She knew he was incredibly strong and he was undoubtedly very fast as well. Would it be worse to be defiled by him if she stayed or to be pulverized by him for trying to flee?
He looked at her seriously after parking the car and shutting the engine off. “I am going to fill the internal vessel of this vehicle with the oil that was imported from the Middle East.”
She stared at him, too afraid to laugh, and merely nodded.
He ogled her with a lecherous sweep over her body with his gawking eyes. “I have been a patient man with you, tiny female. Can I trust you to sit here and behave yourself while I fuel this means of transportation?”
She nodded, flinching when he brushed the tip of her breast with the back of his finger through her shirt.
“I wish to hear your angelic vocals,” he told her.
“Yes, Sir.”
He stared hungrily down at the tit he wanted before moving his hand to run his fingers through her hair. The way his eyes greedily devoured her heaving chest and the helpless fear she likely showed made her worry he would change his mind about waiting until they got home to ravish her.
Fortunately he got out of the car and started to fill the tank with gas. She couldn’t stay. Despite the obvious risk of attempting to escape, the ramifications of staying were far worse.
Ivy took a deep breath and glanced at him at the pump, pleased that his back was to her.
It’s now or never. I may not get another chance after this.
She forced the lock up, pushed the car door open, and bolted into the twilight. Her heart pounded violently in her chest and blood roared in her ears as her adrenaline seemed to kick in full throttle. Where to go from here? They were surrounded by endless desert. Was he following her?
The heavy sound of combat boots making swift contact with the hard, dry earth filled her ears, but that could have been her paranoia simply distorting the light sound of her tennis shoes hitting the dusty ground.
Before she knew what was happening, a large, powerful hand grabbed her by the arm and whirled her around. She was too afraid to scream. The only sound that came out of her mouth was a horrified gasp as she was forced to look up into the pissed-off face of her captor.
Brutus clenched her arm with a startling degree of force as he walked her back to the side of the building at the gas station and slammed her up against the wall. Why was it so dark and secluded? She wished someone would come for gas. Preferably a truckload of armed men from the military or a bunch of cops with firearms.
Brutus glared down at her. “You lied to me, Ivy Covington. You made a promise to me and you broke it.”
“I’m sorry,” she squeaked, hoping he wouldn’t hit or strip her.
“You are too human for your own good. Am I correct in understanding that to break one’s promise releases the other party of their own sworn obligations to the offender?”
She panicked and struggled. “No, Brutus. That’s not how it works at all. You see, you’re supposed to forgive me and give me another chance to prove to you how trustworthy I really am.”
“I assure you, little one, I know precisely to what extent I can trust you,” he murmured darkly as his fingers coursed through her long strands of hair. “You promised to behave to gain my trust and then you broke it when your treacherous intellect determined that the conditions were suitable to escape in.”
“That was wrong of me. I’m so sorry,” she pleaded, cringing when he forced her hand over his bulging crotch.
“It is a shame that we can no longer trust each other, is it not?”
“I trust you, Brutus,” she lied, hoping it bought his cooperation.
His lips curved slightly upward before straightening again as his eyes narrowed dangerously. “You trust me to harm you, little virgin.”
She swallowed, trying in vain to remove the hand groping her boob.
“And unlike you I am unwilling to break that trust.”
Ivy shrieked in terror when he spun her around and rammed the front of her body up against the wall suddenly. She screamed and struggled when she felt his hard dick pressing into her back through his pants. His hand went over her mouth to silence her while his other hand worked her pants open.
Why the hell did he have to be so strong and fast?
An unfamiliar voice yelled out to them. “Hey, you prick! What the hell do you think you’re doing to the poor girl?”
Brutus let go of her and calmly approached the meddling man.
Ivy fumbled to get her jeans closed. “Run!”
The startled man looked caught off guard as he backed away with the speed of a snail on vacation. Brutus grabbed him by the throat and started strangling him.
“Brutus, stop!” Ivy yelled at him, sorely tempted to run but unwilling to leave her rescuer in peril.
A cop car pulled into the gas station and she ran toward him.
“Officer, help us! Get your gun!”
She turned in time to see
Brutus drop the man. The way the guy landed on the pavement told her he was dead. A sick feeling of nausea churned in her stomach at the sight of him lying there and the cold, determined way Brutus stalked toward her.
The officer had his gun pointed at him. “Hold it right there!”
Brutus continued to close the gap between them, not seeming the least bit intimidated by the weapon. He changed directions when he saw Ivy bolt, but the cop shot him before he could grab her.
Ivy ran for the car, pleased that the pump was no longer attached. The keys were on the seat now, and she jammed them into the ignition, gave them a turn, and sped away.
She heard a man scream and glanced back in the rearview mirror to see the officer grab his dangling arm just before Brutus opened fire on him. Ivy nearly lost control of the vehicle, but she swerved and tried to get a hold of herself as she accelerated.
This was all her fault. None of this would be happening if not for her. The realization made her ill. Years ago Brutus had seemed like a good idea, but now she realized that she had created a monster.
Chapter Five
Doc lay in bed in the dark, thinking about Jade and Stetson. He tried not to, but lying in the still darkness made it damn near impossible to avoid. Dwelling on thoughts of them proved to be bittersweet. He would always treasure the time he shared with both of them, but knowing that he was dying made his chest hurt.
Of course that was partly from his defeated lungs, but he knew his heart suffered from the disease as well, just on a different level. A deeper level that brought him greater suffering than the pain of being sick.
He heard a faint knock at the door and figured it must be Jade. Any of the Brooks brothers would have knocked much harder. “Come in.”
Sure enough Jade entered, seeming timid as she closed the door behind her. There wasn’t a bashful bone in her body, and her sudden coyness had him curious.
“Did I wake you up?” she asked.
“No. I was awake. Is there something on your mind, darlin’?”
Her shyness was accompanied by sadness. “Can I sleep with you?”
His belly flip-flopped and his groin awoke from its dormant slumber. “And just how do you mean that question, my dear?”
