by KL Donn
“Hold your fucking tits, I’m coming!” he yelled as he pulled on a pair of sweats.
Pound, pound, pound.
“Dude, what the fu–?” His words froze in his throat. His vision narrowed, and he could swear he saw a ghost. “Dom?” he finally managed to croak out.
“You smell like a fucking brewery, man,” Dom bitched.
Speechless didn’t begin to cover how he felt. They hadn’t had contact in years; what was he doing here now?
“What do you want?” he gave it right back.
“Really? That’s how you greet your long lost friend?” The bite in his voice signaled his impending anger.
“When they pound relentlessly on my door at a six a.m. You’re lucky I haven’t got a gun out.”
Dom stared him down.
He was weak; he knew it.
Backing down, Casey let Dom into his apartment, closing the door behind them.
“Welcome to my kingdom,” he muttered with little enthusiasm.
His buddy’s face was unreadable, so he wasn’t sure what was going on in his mind, why he was there until he said, “I can’t believe how tragic you’ve become.”
There was no judgment in his voice. In fact, there was nothing at all.
“Ya, well, we can’t all be perfect, can we?” Case snapped on him. Limping to the one recliner, he sat down, removing his prosthesis that he’d forgotten to take off the night before. Or rather, he’d passed out with it left on in a drunken stupor.
Shame washed through him at Dom’s pitying look as he stared at his stump—the bane of his existence. The reason his life fell apart.
“What are you doing, Casey?” The silence finally broken.
He knew his friend wasn’t asking about the lotion he was rubbing on his leg. Not answering because it wouldn’t be anything either of them wanted to hear.
“Is this really what you want? To live in this dump and go to bed drunk every night? Wake up looking like you were hit by a truck? ‘Cause, Case, man, you look like fucking shit dumped twice.”
He was right; it wasn’t what he wanted with his life. He’d been on a downward spiral for years, helpless to end it.
“I’ll give you a choice. Come with me, right now, and I’ll get you out of this shit hole. Help you get your life together. Or you can stay here and waste away, turn into the useless piece of shit your old man always thought you were.”
“Fuck you,” Case snarled at him, not needing the reminder of how much of a failure he’d become.
“No, man, you’re the one who’s fucked.” Dom paused reaching into his pocket for something. “Call me when you decide.” He dropped a card with his number on it. “You’re worth more than all of this, Casey. You just need to realize it.” With that, Dom left him alone.
The click of the door closing was like a nail in his coffin. Was he ready to finally reach out for the help he needed? Could he handle being around Dom—the most self-controlled person he’d ever known—when he was such a mess?
The answer should be simple, only it wasn’t. It was the hardest decision Casey had ever been faced with, so he did what came naturally since his life went to shit…
He grabbed the bottle of Jack on the table in front of him and drank until he passed out.
Five months ago
There was nothing Casey loved more than the peace and quiet of a long drive. It had taken him a long time to get to where he was today; he had been a broken mess after Dom found him over three years ago—telling him to get clean or he was gonna die, basically.
After he’d drunk himself into a two-day hangover, he really looked at himself in the mirror. Knowing it was time to decide if he was going to fight for his life or continue to slowly kill himself.
Thankfully, self-preservation prevailed and a week after Dom found him, Casey had called him back. Practically begging the other man to help him get his life together.
Dom had picked him up the next day. No judgment. Just a brother helping a brother. They’d hated each other growing up but joining the Rangers when they were eighteen was one of the best decisions either of them could have made.
He received the shock of a lifetime when they got back to Dom’s small farm, and there’d been a baby there. He looked identical to Dom right down to the scowl that said don’t fuck with me. Together they became one parental unit for the little boy. Took Dom nearly a week to finally name him, though, so until then, they’d called him mini-D.
The name Jaxson had finally been settled on. Case couldn’t even remember why anymore. Jax had stolen both their hearts, and it turned out the baby boy was great motivation for his recovery and to get his ass in gear. He’d made a ton of regrets over the years, the biggest of which was pushing Dom away.
When his friend showed up at his apartment all those years ago, Case had been bitter and hateful. It hadn’t been until he was living in Dom’s spare room for three months that the man finally confided in him over how Jax came about, and how this girl he was bringing home now—the reason Casey was on his way to the airport—had impacted his frame of mind. She was someone Dom had been protecting since she was a young girl but over the years started to care for. When he found out her father was selling her, he’d gone ballistic, blew his mission, and went on his own downward spiral of recklessness from there.
In all honesty, it made Case feel better about his own flaws knowing that Dom wasn’t perfect and had screwed up an assignment. He felt petty for it, but it was what it was. They both held some bitterness inside from the past.
Dom seemed to be working through his.
Casey was left feeling dead inside.
Finally pulling up to the airport, he watched as Dom and this tiny slip of a woman exited the building. He knew from the start she was different from any other woman in his friend’s life. She had Dom smiling, relaxed even. He was a different man already.
Jealousy threatened to consume him as he observed them. How easy they were with each other. Barely thirty-six hours in each other’s company and you’d think they’d been lovers for years—if Deidre had been older that is.
To most people, her being eighteen and Dom being in his thirties might be weird, but all you had to do was watch them to know they would be that one couple out of hundreds that would be together for life. He didn’t think either of them saw the worship and caring in the other’s eyes as Dom reassured her about something.
Not wanting to witness any more of their mushy love fest, he jumped from the truck. His leg only twinging slightly as he landed and made his presence known.
“Well, it looks like you made it back in one piece.” As soon as Dom turned around, his companion hid behind him making him scowl. So Case decided to play with him.
“Hot damn, who is this?” Trying to keep a straight face when his friend’s scowl deepened.
“Don’t,” Dom warned him.
Casey let his eyes roam up and down Deidre’s body just to fuck with him, saying, “Ho-ho, it’s like that, is it? Ok, ok, I can take a hint, but damn.” He figured he should probably shut up since Dom looked ready to kill him by this point.
When she hid further behind Dom, his own eyes followed her skittish moves. “Casey!” Dom yelled at him. “Eyes up.”
“Yeah, man, sorry. Let’s get your shit and go. Someone’s anxious to see you.”
The confused look on the little lady’s face had him wondering if Dom had told her about Jax. Raising his brow in question, Dom shook his head quickly, and they were off.
Shock permeated the air as soon as Deidre saw Jaxson. Casey almost felt bad for Dom…almost. The jackass should have been up front with the poor girl. Had a woman done that to him, he’d have run for the fucking hills as fast as his handicapped ass could take him.
He felt the pain clearly written across her face as she watched father and son together. After meeting Jaxson and him speaking to her, envy entered her eyes. Casey was amazed that she could so easily want to be a part o
f Dom and Jax’s lives.
She was clearly a better person than he.
Dee went inside following the running boy after Dom tried to grovel but to no avail. He had to know. “Why didn’t you tell her?”
“There wasn’t any time, Case.” He looked as defeated as she did a few minutes before.
“Wasn’t the flight like twelve hours or something?” he pressed.
“Drop it, man,” Dom growled at him. They walked into the house only for Casey to begin squirming as Jax ratted him out for gluing the housekeeper, Angie, to her chair.
What could he say? She taunted him all morning with his favorite cookies and wouldn’t let him have one.
After watching the sickeningly sweet way Dom watched his woman around his son and in his house, Case needed a breather from them. Never before had he thought about having a woman of his own. He’d never cared enough about anyone to consider keeping them.
The envy that ran rampant through his veins as he observed them was so new and foreign that he had to get away before either of them saw it. It was beginning to consume his mind as he sat at the small table in his kitchen staring at the bottle of Jack in front of him. It mocked him. Testing his control. Bending his will.
He kept the bottle around as a reminder of what he used to be. It had been the same bottle he drowned himself in after Dom had come and sobered his ass up. It helped as a way to keep his head straight and never become the Casey Risley he once hated.
He needed to know he was strong enough to resist it, but now? He felt the need to drown out his jealousy in the only way he knew how.
To drink.
Over the next few weeks, they all seemed to settle into some weird routine where Double D, my nickname for Dom’s woman, would cook and take care of Jax while he and Dom tried to figure where her father was and what he wanted with her.
When some fancy lawyer showed up in an attempt to serve Dom with papers about custody for Jax, he’d never laughed so hard in his life when she came out claiming to be Dom Slade. The look on his buddy’s face would have been comical if he hadn’t known the trouble she was going to be in. But it worked. They still hadn’t seen hide nor hair of the baby mama, Brooke, or her lawyers, so Case started to wonder if maybe she was somehow connected to Dee’s father. He sent his own searches in motion for that. Needing to be sure before he approached the couple about his suspicions.
After Raine had gotten out of the barn and through the corral last week, he thought for sure Dom was going to kill the poor horse for charging at Dee and Jax the way he had. But they understood it was fear that motivated the animal more than anything.
Dee had suffered a small concussion from the accident and was in the hospital overnight. He was unsurprised that she protected Jaxson with her own body. She was the most maternal woman he’d ever met. Perfect for them in every way.
She’d become like a little sister to him, and there wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do for her. Which was why he’d found himself taking her to the grocery store a few days later and getting shot. It wasn’t the first time he’d taken a bullet. Hell, the last time, he’d lost a limb. So the burning throughout his body as he waited to be released from the hospital was almost a comfort to him. It meant he was intact. That even though he was injured, he was alive and whole.
When Dom told him that Deidre blamed herself for his injuries and had run, he’d been pissed as fuck and wanted to go hunt her down also. But even Case knew his limitations and wouldn’t have been able to do it without hurting himself further. Instead, he laid in bed stressing and worrying about the two of them for days.
Hearing his room door open, he perked up hoping Angela had come to get him—though she’d probably rather hog-tie him to something and play target practice. “Damn,” he whispered seeing Nurse Ratchet. It wasn’t her actual name, but she was a bitch so he called her that. Seemed fitting for the torture she liked to put him through.
“Mr. Risley, are you ready to go home?”
“That depends.”
She sighed before snapping, “On what?”
“Whether you’re going to wheel me down a flight of stairs or not.” He was only half kidding; she could actually do it.
“Get in the wheelchair, Mr. Risley.”
Knowing he wasn’t getting away from her, he hopped in the chair keeping one eye on her at all times just in case. As soon as they rounded the corner out of his room, a welcoming sight hit him.
“Thank fuck,” he mumbled so Nurse Ratchet didn’t hear him.
“There’s my girl!” he called out. A smile immediately lighting his face.
“Casey,” she sounded happy to see him, at least.
“Watch that sighing shit, Princess,” Dom growled at her, shooting him a dirty look as he stood up and pulled her into his arms.
“Hey, man, we all know she’s smitten with your grouchy ass. I can get one or two of her gorgeous smiles for myself while I’m injured.” He winked at her, further pissing Dom off.
“So glad you’re here to take him off my hands,” Nurse Ratchet commented.
“I was an excellent patient!” Casey countered.
“Yeah, so excellent that all my best nurses refused to deal with your grabby hands.”
“I tried to warn you not to give me that loopy shit. Ain’t my fault you didn’t listen to me.” He smiled sweetly at her.
Dom’s snort was telling; he didn’t believe him.
“Casey?” Dee asked just as Ratchet looked like she might bean him in the head with her clipboard.
“Yeah, Double D?”
“Are you ready to go home now?”
“Is that a proposition?”
Dom cuffed the back of his head with his hand.
“Hey, man! She said it, not me.”
“She wasn’t offering you shit other than not to get creamed by the nice nurse. Now shut your big mouth and let’s go,” Dom cursed out.
“Oh.” He looked between the nurse and Dom, trying to figure out who he’d rather take his chances with. Leaning towards Dee, he whispered not so quietly, “You’ll save me from him, right?” Ducking just as Dom swung to hit his head again.
Laughter rang out behind them as Dom pushed his wheelchair and Dee walked beside them.
Once they were on the road, he could feel the painkillers kicking in as he asked, “So Miss Double D, what have you got to say for yourself leaving us like that?”
“Christ sakes, Case. Shut your damn mouth.” He’d pissed Dom off again.
“No chance, Dom. The girl ran. I wanna know why she broke my heart that way.” Yeah, he was pouting; it wasn’t pretty.
Dom was about to tell him off again when she answered quietly. “You got hurt because of me. Jaxson could have been injured so much worse, and I had no idea what else to do. So yes, Casey, I ran. I ran because people I’ve come to care about more than myself were getting hurt left, right, and center, and I refused to be some sort of catalyst to a major tragedy. I left to protect you all.”
“You’re just a tiny thing; you seen the size of me?” He wasn’t trying to be an ass; he blamed it on the pills. “I don’t need some li’l girl to protect moi!”
“From where I was sitting, yeah, you did,” she told him softly.
The fear in her voice was palpable; she was still feeling it. Casey could see where she was coming from, slowly. His brain was sluggish, but he got it.
It wasn’t much longer, and he could feel himself nodding off.
Cursing woke Case from his not quite sleep, but rather rest. Popping his head up over the seat, he saw Dom getting out of the truck while drawing two guns from his holster and aiming at someone. Exiting the vehicle himself, he stumbled around to the front and stood next to Dom as he said, “Whatcha’ doing here, Bradshaw?” So this was Dee’s dad?
“I came to collect my daughter.” His accent sounded fake.
“Not happening.”
“That was the deal. You bring her to me o
ne time after she turns eighteen, then she’s yours.”
“You’re fucked up, man,” Casey decided to chime in.
Bradshaw ignored him. “Tell her to come out here.”
“She already knows everything. What torment do you need to lay on her now?” Dom demanded to know.
Bradshaw ignored him looking around them into the truck in an attempt at seeing her, shouting, “Come out here now, Deidre Lynne!”
“Not happening,” Dom reiterated.
“He seriously sold her to you? I thought you were shitting me,” Case fake-whispered. “What a tool.”
“You do realize I can hear you?” Bradshaw sneered at them.
“Oh shit! So you can hear? I thought you were just ignoring us.”
“Ignorant Americans,” one of Bradshaw’s bodyguards muttered.
“Here’s the thing, Bradshaw. She’s already mine.” Dom told him smugly. “In every way possible.” His emphasis had Bradshaw’s face going an ugly shade of red. “The deal always was your life for hers. I let your sorry ass live, so she’s mine. Tell me what exactly it is you want and just maybe I’ll let you see her.”
“She’s my child. I’ll do– “
“I am not you stupid, self-righteous son of a bitch! How dare you!”
Here comes the spitfire, Case thought in amusement.
“Young lady! I’ll beg your pardon to not speak to me like that.” His haughty attitude only served to piss Dom’s little she-devil off more.
“Fuck. You!” she snapped at him. “How do you like that for language?”
“Damn, Double D, you fixing to make a sailor blush or what?” Case said smartly, a smile tried to tug at her lips.
“Well, since we’re all uncivilized beings here, I suppose it doesn’t matter if I tell you here or somewhere else.”
“What?” she finally snapped.
“Your mother took something from me, something I needed very much– “
She interrupted him, again. “Oh please! Like you didn’t take everything from her? How dare you come here looking for anything from me!”
“If you would get some manners that I know were beaten into you at that school and let me finish, you would understand what I’m trying to say.”
