Chapter 11
SARGE
Once I got the guys settled in the bunkhouse, which was thankfully empty until harvest, I planned out the rest of the day on the drive back to the main house.
I intended to take the hottest, quickest shower of my life, fall into bed, and sleep like a coma patient.
That sounded great in theory, unless you considered that in less than five hours I had to be back out in the field to accept delivery of a truckload of trees that would serve double duty as a windbreak and a cover for the crimes my friends and I had just finished committing.
I pulled into my usual spot and wasn’t surprised to see the kitchen light on. Ma’s internal clock rarely let her sleep past five, and it was approaching that time now. She probably hadn’t slept well anyway, knowing exactly what we’d been doing all night.
I was surprised, however, to find Starla leaning against the counter with a mug of coffee.
She looked just as startled to see me walk in wearing the same clothes I’d worn yesterday.
Concern flashed across her face, then shock, and then that blank, indifferent mask she used like armor.
I’d noticed she slipped into it whenever conversations turned toward a past she didn’t want to revisit.
Now I knew she wore it when the man she liked stayed out all night.
I decided to try to thaw the ice she’d just formed, greeting her pleasantly as if I hadn’t just spent the last seven hours disposing of four bodies in a very disgusting but highly efficient way.
Right on cue, her watch started chiming, but this time I knew it was for a different type of excitement–anger instead of attraction.
“Good morning, gorgeous. Did you sleep well?”
“Would you like some coffee?” she countered.
“Would you like me to tell you where I was all night?”
Starla forced a smile. “I don’t have any right to ask for that information, do I?”
“I’d like to think you know that the only reason I would miss our goodnight kisses is for a damn good reason.”
“I’d like to think so too,” she said, “but it might be easier if I knew what you were doing.”
“I was getting rid of a problem I’d rather not discuss with you.”
“In the middle of the night?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Nothing good happens in the middle of the night, Sarge.”
“For the most part, you’re right. Nothing good happens unless you’re lying in bed beside a gorgeous woman.”
“And that wasn’t what you were doing?” Starla shook her head. “No. I’m not wandering down that path. I’m not that person. At least, I never have been before.”
“What kind of person?”
“The jealous hag who gets all up in a man’s business because she doesn’t trust him.”
“Do you trust me?”
She thought about it for several long seconds. “I do.”
“That makes me feel better. Let me assure you, there will be times I’ll have to be away overnight, but I’ll give you all the details I can beforehand.”
“Do you stay out all night doing nefarious things very often?”
“Not really, but sometimes I get a call from one of my club brothers and I go.”
“Do they all live around here?”
“No. They’re spread out across the states, but a few nearby know they can depend on me.”
“Like needing a place to stay for a little reunion?”
“Exactly like that.”
“Is there someone in Ma’s room?”
“Yes.”
“She didn’t tell me that, but you’re willing to?”
“No, Ma just likes to think she’s mysterious.”
“Ma is loyal to her core. There’s no mystery in that. Someone in there needs help, and for some reason, he’s not able to leave.”
“Correct.”
“Is he hurt?”
“He is, but more than anything, he’s weak. Knowing my friend, though, he’ll be up sooner than is good for him. Hopefully, you’ll meet him then.”
“Why wouldn’t I?”
“Because he’s a shadow. He only shows his face when he wants to. If he doesn’t want you to see him, you won’t.”
“That’s not cryptic at all,” Starla said dryly. “Is he like your other friends?”
“What do you mean?”
I tried to hide a yawn and failed. Starla frowned. “What do you need me to do this morning so you can get some sleep?”
“I can take a few hours, but then there’s something I need to handle.”
“Tell me what it is and I’ll take care of it. That’s part of my job description, you know.”
“I know it is, but this task has to be me. No one else in the family needs to be involved.”
Her frown deepened. “Are you burying a body?”
“Honey, if I were doing something like that, I damn sure wouldn’t tell you the details.”
“You never know, Sarge. I might have some ideas that you haven’t thought of.”
“I wouldn’t doubt it,” I said, taking her mug and setting it on the counter by her hip. “But right now, the last thing I want to think about is committing another felony or two.”
With her hands free and me closer, Starla lifted her hands and rested them on my chest. “What would you rather think about doing?” I leaned forward, wrapped my arms around her waist, and lifted her onto the counter so we were eye-to-eye.
I scooted between her legs to press my body against hers.
When she felt my hard cock against her, she sighed. “That sounds like a wonderful idea.”
“As much as I’d love to sweep you away and do all the things I’ve been dreaming about since I saw you in Rojo, today is not the day.”
“We’ve got a few minutes before Ma wakes up.”
“A few minutes won’t be enough for one of the things I’ve been thinking about. And honey, I’ve got a whole list.”
“A list?” When I nodded, she smiled. “I like lists, and I’d love to help you tackle yours. If today isn’t the day, then when do you suppose that day will be?”
“If it’s not soon, I might have to compromise and sneak into your bedroom before I originally planned.”
“You’ve thought about that?”
“God, yes,” I said, pulling her into a long, fierce kiss. When I finally pulled away, she held onto me–her legs wrapped around my waist, and her arms looped around my neck. “I want to take you out and show the world you’re mine before I claim you like that.”
“Mine? Claim? Sarge, have you been reading romance novels?”
“I don’t need to read someone else’s story. I’ve had one written in my head for years. I was just waiting for the right leading lady to come along and turn fiction into truth.”
“Damn. You’re good.”
“Honey, you have no idea how good I can be when I have the right motivation.”
“What would it take to make you bad?” Starla whispered, her eyes locked on my lips as she ground her hips against my cock.
“How bad do you want me to be?”
Before I could answer, Ma’s door opened, and she cleared her throat loudly to give us fair warning.
“Shit! Ma’s awake,” Starla hissed. She shoved me back, hopped off the counter, smoothed her braid, straightened her shirt, and shoved me again for good measure. Her cheeks were still flushed when she called out, “Mornin’, Ma. Coffee’s ready.”
“I’m not finished with you,” I whispered. “I’ve got a list, remember?”
“We’re finished for now,” she whispered back. “But as soon as we get the chance, I’ll help you cross off quite a few of those ideas.”
“I look forward to it.”
◆◆◆
STARLA
Ma had been gone for more than an hour, and I was finally getting into the groove of my new duties.
Lunch was almost ready; I was just waiting for the bread to finish proofing so I could bake it and serve it with the chicken salad I’d made after Sarge left me in the kitchen this morning.
I’d already assembled the casserole for dinner and planned to serve sliced bread with butter and a broccoli side dish I’d put together right afterward.
With the meals prepped, I moved on to my next daily task: preparing for the afternoon’s preserving activities.
I had just logged into my laptop to check the updated store inventory when I heard a faint sound coming from the back of the house.
Assuming Luna had wandered home without Sarge, I stepped out onto the back porch to let her in, but the stoop was empty.
I looked around the busy farm and smiled when I saw two of Sarge’s nephews dueling with water hoses.
They were soaked and nowhere near surrendering, egged on by three men standing a safely dry distance away.
Ma’s chickens clucked at each other, and birds squawked at the feeder, but none of those sounds matched what I’d heard inside.
I was halfway through the kitchen when I heard it again, but this time it was clearer–clear enough to distinguish a man’s faint voice calling for help.
“Oh, shit!” I whispered, sprinting down the hall to Ma’s suite. As I rounded the corner beneath the stairs, I called out, “I’m coming!”
Ma had ordered me to stay out of her room, but a man calling for help superseded that.
I threw the door open and rushed into her sitting room, only to find it empty.
A sheet covered the couch cushions, and a blanket lay shoved against one armrest with two pillows stacked on the other, but no one was there.
I walked across the sitting room and tapped on the bedroom door. “Are you okay?”
A man coughed. “Get Ma!”
“She’s not here,” I called back as I turned the knob and pushed the door open. The bathroom light glowed through a narrow crack in the door, so I headed that way. “I can help you. What do you need?”
“Well, shit!”
I took that as enough and pushed the door, only for it to hit something solid before it was halfway open. A loud oof followed, and I winced as I leaned through the narrow gap to look around it.
A gaunt man lay on the floor. It took everything in me not to gasp at the deep purple bruises mottling his chest, trailing down beneath the towel wrapped from his hips to his knees, and continuing down his shins to the tops of his feet.
I looked back up at his face. He frowned at me as if I’d just interrupted his morning nap. “Are you okay?”
“I’d be better if I wasn’t naked on the floor,” he muttered, trying to push himself up onto one arm. His elbow slipped on the tile, and he couldn’t catch himself. He hit the floor with another blunt “oof,” followed by a loud groan, then a string of muttered curses.