• Twenty-Eight •
“Maybe I should have just gone with the kidnapping angle.”
Briar
To say it was overwhelming might be an understatement. The long dining room table at Maeme’s was filled with people. At least four different conversations were going on at one time. Talking from the kitchen filtered in, where there were even more members of the family having breakfast.
This was my first Sunday morning experience at Maeme’s.
Storm sat to my right with his hand resting on my thigh while he was involved in a conversation with his father, King, Monte, and Stellan. From what I could gather, it was about an upcoming race and having Zephyr ready to enter. Stellan was against it so soon, but King and Storm disagreed.
“It’s a lot, isn’t it?” Rumor said, smiling at me across the table.
I’d finally gotten to meet her when we arrived today. King had done the introductions while Storm’s hand was clasping mine firmly, as if he thought I needed support. I’d learned from Storm that her abuse hadn’t ended with Roger; she’d married a man who beat her. She had been able to escape when her husband had wronged the family, and they’d gone into his home and shot him.
I nodded my head. “That it is,” I agreed.
“It’s much tamer now than it once was,” Annette said, leaning toward us. She was seated on the other side of Rumor. “When Barrett and the others were younger men, we had more than one brawl during breakfast. You wouldn’t know it now, but Ronan and Roland used to be hotheads. Stellan was forever breaking fights up.” She cut her eyes at Barrett, then grinned back at us. “And Barrett was no help at all. He just egged them on.”
“When Stellan couldn’t stop the fights, Maeme always did,” Luella said with a chuckle.
“Remember that summer that she pulled her pistol out and threatened the next one who spilled their iced tea,” Annette said, pressing her lips together to hold in a laugh.
Rumor looked at me, wide-eyed. “Seems we missed some action back in the day.”
“You have no idea,” Maeme said from the end of the table. “I was fit to be tied more times than not when Sunday breakfast was over. Thank the good Lord they started reproducing because babies seemed to be the only thing that calmed the bunch down.”
Nailyah came walking into the dining room from the kitchen with her hands on her hips. “Momma, didn’t you say I could move in with Lela this fall?”
Annette glanced at Barrett, then back at her daughter. “I think that depends heavily on your sister. Let’s not discuss that over breakfast.”
“But Teller doesn’t believe me,” she whined. “And you did say I could.”
Annette waved a hand at her. “Go on back to the kitchen. This is not the time.”
Nailyah sighed dramatically and spun around to leave.
“Have you spoken to Thatcher?” Stellan then asked, his gaze directed at King.
King shook his head.
“He wasn’t in his room this morning,” Sebastian said. “Not in the big house or the stables.”
Stellan scowled. “Do you know where he went last night?”
“Does anyone ever know where he goes?” Sebastian replied.
Birdie came running into the dining room, directly to her momma. “If Nailyah gets to move to Atlanta, I do too!” she announced loudly.
“I’ll get you all packed up as soon as we get home,” Jupiter informed her.
“You can’t go to Atlanta,” King told his little sister. “Who is gonna babysit Cosi?”
Birdie frowned, as if she hadn’t thought of that. “Oh. I guess I don’t want to move away from Cosi.”
“But you can move away from me?” her mother asked her.
Birdie shrugged. “I gotta grow up sometime.”
“Why don’t we wait until you’re at least ten to discuss that?” Jupiter told her.
A door slammed, and the room quieted. Everyone turned their heads toward the sound, and Storm’s hand tightened its grip on my thigh.
“Go check that out,” Stellan told King, who was closest to the door.
King pushed his chair back and stood just as Thatcher appeared in the doorway. His clothing looked like he’d slept in it as he strode inside. He didn’t make eye contact with anyone, but walked over beside where King had been sitting and leaned across the table to get a waffle from the platter.
“You smell like a bar.” Stellan’s tone sounded annoyed.
“Thanks,” Thatcher replied, standing back up.
“Where have you been?” his father then asked.
Thatcher leaned back against the wall and smirked. “Here and there.”
Stellan’s disapproving glare darkened. “You don’t come into Maeme’s for Sunday breakfast late and reeking. You’re a grown-ass man.”
Thatcher cocked an eyebrow, then took a bite of the waffle he was holding.
“Let it be, Stellan,” Maeme said sternly.
Stellan swung his gaze to Maeme, who gave him a warning look. I wasn’t sure if Maeme was afraid of what Thatcher would do if pushed or if she simply didn’t want a scene at her breakfast table.
Thatcher’s gaze found mine. “Finally brought you to breakfast.”
I nodded.
He shoved off the wall and sauntered into the kitchen.
Annette cleared her throat and reached for her glass of water while everyone else began eating again instead of watching to see what Thatcher was going to do.
“He’s got some sh—stuff going on,” Sebastian said in a low voice as he looked over at his father.
“I’ve noticed he’s been more on edge lately,” Stellan agreed.
“Last two, uh, jobs we handled were more violent than necessary,” Storm said, shifting his gaze from Stellan to King.
“Yeah,” King agreed. “Something is off. I mean, more so than his regular crazy.”
Ronan looked at King. “Find out what it is. You’re the closest one to him.”
King didn’t look so sure about that. “No one is close to him.”
“He’s too much like my father,” Mandilyn said, shaking her head with an exasperated look.
Storm rubbed his chin as he studied Sebastian for a moment. Sebastian nodded at him, and then Storm turned to look at Stellan.
“It might have something—”
“If you’re gonna talk about me, at least wait until I’m back in the room so I can join in,” Thatcher drawled as he stepped back into the dining room, holding a cup of coffee.
Storm swung his gaze over to Thatcher, and I shifted in my seat as the tension in the room began to get thicker. No one seemed comfortable with Thatcher.
Thatcher pointed his cup at Storm. “Go on. Please share with us what’s wrong with me. We’ve all be dying to know for years.”
Storm shook his head and picked up his glass of juice.
“That’s enough. It’s Sunday morning breakfast, and we are family. No need to pick on Thatcher,” Maeme said. “Eat. Talk. Visit.”
Thatcher let out a deep, sadistic chuckle. “It’s not like I’m the only unhinged one anymore. Storm’s the fucking stalker.”
I bit my bottom lip, trying not to smile as everyone looked our way.
Storm was glaring at Thatcher, and I could tell King had tensed up. This needed to be defused. The two of them did not need to get into a fight in Maeme’s dining room.
“It did work out okay for him in the end,” I said, speaking up.
Storm shifted his gaze to me, and it softened immediately.
I shrugged. “I’m here, aren’t I?”
There was more than one amused laugh around the table, and Storm’s entire body relaxed.
“See now, that’s a much better conversation,” Maeme said approvingly.
Luella leaned forward and looked down the table at me. “Did he really have someone shoot at you?” she asked.
Storm’s grip on my leg tightened again.
I covered it with my hand. “Yes, he really did.”
She shook her head, wide-eyed.
“Don’t judge the boy. It’s not like some of the others haven’t done stupid things for love,” Maeme said over the rim of her coffee cup.
“Please don’t, Mother,” Ronan said with a warning look.
Jupiter grinned and turned to look up at her husband. “What? You don’t want to talk about how you put holes all in the condom just to knock me up?”
Ronan frowned. “Not really.”
“I wasn’t even gonna bring that up,” Maeme said. “I was actually thinking of the time Stellan kidnapped Mandilyn.”
“I did not kidnap her,” Stellan corrected.
Maeme gave him a pointed look. “Is that so?”
“You broke into my parents’ home in the middle of the night, gagged me, tied my hands together, and threw me over your shoulder, then took me to the lake cabin, where you kept me for three days,” Mandilyn said with an amused gleam in her eye.
“You wanted to be there,” Stellan said.
She laughed. “Maybe after a while. But, no, sir, I did not want to be there. I had a date with Kizer Horton the next day.”
Stellan scowled. “Kizer Horton is a pussy. Was then and is now. You should still be thanking me for that.”
Storm leaned down to my ear. “Maybe I should have just gone with the kidnapping angle.”
I turned to look up at him as a smile tugged at my lips. “I don’t know. Yours had a bit of danger to it. More exciting.”
He pressed a kiss to my lips. “Let’s go home.”
I nodded, and Storm started to push his seat back.
“Let’s just hope whatever is going on with Thatcher has nothing to do with a female,” Mandilyn said as she glanced at her husband.
Storm’s eyes locked with Sebastian’s again. They seemed to be worried about something. Was it a woman? I couldn’t imagine Thatcher getting serious with any female. I’d seen him at the party.
“What do you two know?” Wells asked, shifting his gaze from Storm to Sebastian.
Sebastian shook his head. “Nothing.”
“Bullshit,” Wells replied.
“Language,” Maeme scolded him.
He gave her an apologetic look, then turned back to Storm. “Y’all know something. Why was I left out? I wanna know too.”
“It’s nothing,” Storm said, standing up and holding his hand out for me to join him.
“If there is something the two of you know about Thatcher, I need to be told,” Stellan said, his brows drawn together.
“It’s nothing, Dad. At least, I think it’s nothing,” Sebastian told him. “But just to be clear, JB quit, right? I mean, you spoke to him. He didn’t just stop showing up to work?”
“The stablehand?” Stellan asked.
Sebastian nodded. “Yeah.”
Stellan shrugged. “I don’t know. You’d have to check with Miller.”
Sebastian glanced at Storm again, and I stood up beside him.
“Do I need to check into this?” Stellan asked his younger son.
Sebastian shook his head. “No, it’s fine. I’ll stop by the office when I get to the stables and speak with Miller.”
“Is there a reason I should be concerned that Thatcher has killed a man?”
“Technically, he’s killed hundreds,” Wells piped up.
Stellan ignored him and swung his gaze to Storm. “Is there?”
Storm sighed. “Let’s hope not.”