25. Big Bear
BIG BEAR
Jordyn
Despite enjoying the potato scones Nan had made, I was surprised she’d ordered Rory, Lachlan, and Leith to the store for more groceries. She probably would’ve made Little Brody go too—as if she didn’t favor any of her sons—but the eldest had disappeared a little while ago.
Nan said, “No telling when Jamie will return, but I’ll make him a feast. Will you sit, talk to me, as I cook, yeah?”
I glanced at my hands, feeling as useless as ever. “You ever need a sous chef?”
Her eyes widened, blinking. “No one ever asks me that. As my grans always say, ‘let’s do this.’?” Her mouth corked. “Can you do more than peel tatties?”
I chuckled. “I wasn’t offering to secure brownie points.”
“Sorry. You’ve no meat on your bones. Had to ask.”
I was almost one-fifty-five. Not skinny, but if I kept sitting down twiddling my fingers, I might get up there. I almost smiled, wondering if Jamie would still love me because I had the feeling that, unlike in the past, I would still love me.
Shaking my head, I laughed, saying, “I suspect you intimidated anyone from asking.” You could take the girl out of the Manolos and white-diamond nail polish, but you couldn’t take the clap back out of her.
Nan chuckled all the way to a cabinet and pulled out two tumblers and a crystal decanter of an exotic amber liquid. She poured both drinks, sliding one across the table.
I grabbed the glass before it could sail off the surface and crash onto the ground. That was test number one.
Test two came when I tossed back the whisky instead of taking a cutesy sip.
Despite Nan’s sealed lips, mischief sparkled in her eyes. She walked to the pantry and retrieved a briefcase.
“?’Ello, Old friend.” She ran a hand across the alligator leather.
Were we cooking or about to conduct business?
She opened the briefcase, and my eyes bugged. Didn’t expect that.
Knives. Lots of them. Shiny, sharp, every size and use.
The air in the kitchen went from pleasant to scorching, even with snow feathering the ground right outside.
“I’ve got another set at home.” Nan ran her fingertip over a blade, pursed her lips, and then picked up the diamond-brushed knife sharpener.
“But I’ve not seen this dear set in ages. When I prepare a feast, I use these.”
“I bet you do.” I chuckled. Those feel-good bubbles that flutter in your veins after drinking alcohol crept over me. “Okay, so these are the reason nobody wants to party with you in the kitchen.”
She chuckled too. “Now, let’s see what you can do.”
“I’ve made Jamie salmon.” I shrugged a shoulder as if nonchalant, though I secretly wanted those brownie points.
“ Och . Jordyn, no need to tell me all you’ve done for my son. One look in his eyes, and I can tell he’s a happy man. So, I’ll teach you a few more family recipes. On one condition?”
“Yes.”
“You have his bairns .”
“Did you just ask me to have your sons’ babies?”
“Don’t give me that look, lass. I’m all for women’s rights, and if he ever pissed you off, tell me. But you’ll have to give him as many as he wants if we are to agree.”
“Okay, sure.” A laugh, carefree and unfamiliar, escaped my lips.
We’d already seasoned beef when Rory came into the kitchen—bagless—while Lachlan and Leith carried all the groceries.
Rory was already live on TikTok with two million watchers, telling them that I was his new girlfriend.
He kissed my cheek, and in less than three seconds, the steady stream of comments exploded, and he was out of the room again.
Dang , so I guess I wouldn’t be getting 10 percent for suggesting he get a job.
My laughter died, and my heart skipped a beat. Would Aleksandr see me? Hopefully not ? Probably not . Romeo had hardly shown me, keeping the focus on his adorable face.
Lachlan shook his head and asked if we needed any help.
Nan shooed him and Leith from the kitchen, and then we peeled an entire bag of potatoes that would help round off a haggis dish.
Had I ever enjoyed the company of another woman?
Nope . The girls I lived with were catty.
They coveted the best room at Aleksandr’s or the token chance he’d take them on a vacation.
No , wait . I had one friend. My palm went to my forehead.
I’d never told Jamie about Aston Martin. “Nan, I?—”
The doorbell rang.
“One of you get the door,” she ordered when none of the men arose from the couch.
A football game held Big Brody, Camdyn, and Leith’s attention. Leith, eyes on the flatscreen, reached over and softly kicked his younger brother’s shin. “Get the door.”
Even though Lachlan had to be in his mid-to late twenties, he grumbled, got up, and flicked Leith’s earlobe. Men . Yep. They were kids in disguise.
“What’s that, sweety?” Nan wiped her hands on a dishrag.
Before I could speak, I heard the door opening from my position in the kitchen. The extended cabinetry prevented me from setting eyes on the person who allowed himself in. But the voice sounded familiar. The oldest MacKenzie boy? Little— so not little—Brody.
“I found my key.” His deep brogue carried into the kitchen. “And I brought comp?—”
“Company my …” Lachlan’s retort snapped through the air.
My breath hitched. The room tilted.
Razors of fear clawed down my throat as I whispered the name. “Rocket?” Had he said Rocket ?
I thought Nan hadn’t heard me. Breathing heavily, I stumbled backward, one step at a time.
Nan retrieved the meat tenderizer she’d told me was for special , special occasions when we marinated the beef. Hand fisted like a hammer, she said, “Don’t be afraid, deary. Remember, I just said I’m all for women’s rights. Let’s go say hello to Rocket. I take it you know each other?”
Eyes on the tenderizer she wielded like Thor’s hammer, my head hardly bobbed.
“Then we will say hello.” Despite her unreadable expression, a small smile touched her lips.
From the moment I saw Nan MacKenzie, I trusted her. Had that been a mistake?
With every step, razors scraped at my throat.
Those invisible blades seized my voice. Left me as speechless as I was when twenty-year-old Rocket smacked my nose like a foolish puppy for a laundry mistake after we’d made love on the dryer.
No, that wasn’t love. It was … a teenage girl happy to no longer be owned by someone who she’d rather call grandpa while fishing with him instead of Governor in bed.
I took another step.
Just hours ago, I relished my time in Big Bear, my fingers threading through Jamie’s hair while we kissed.
His arms made me feel safe. A haven. The world around us had washed away before the doorbell rang.
Our connection ran deeper than I’d had with any other, and we hadn’t even been physical yet.
Now, the doorbell had rung again. And his protective presence was gone. Where was he?
Who had he gone to see?
Did his status as a Marine matter more than us?
I took another step. Though out of my line of vision, Rocket laughed.
Brody’s large frame, with his massive shoulders and muscles, concealed Rocket as the Scotsman escorted him to the living room.
Lachlan led, but instead of walking with them and laughing at something his brother said, he appeared preoccupied with returning to the couch. He paused, looking at me.
Lachlan’s head tilted. The confident smirk faded. His concerned eyes seemed to question, Are you okay?
Brody stopped joking and stepped aside.
The air vanished in my clamped throat.
Rocket, no taller than five-foot-six, wore a different septum piercing. The brow piercing was new, and so were some of the tattoos that practically darkened his tanned skin at his muscular forearms where a Henley was pulled up. He clutched a puffer jacket in one hand.
Brody eyed his mom’s weapon that she held low at her side. He retrieved a gold Magnum from beneath his leather jacket and aimed it at Rocket’s head.
As if annoyed by the display, Lachlan pulled out a baseball, tossed it in the air, and caught it. Lazily, he continued to toss and catch it while muttering, “I’m missing training for this? Just to see my big brother, and he isn’t even here.”
“What are all of you doing?” Rocket’s voice broke, high-pitched.
All ?
I glanced behind me. Leith and Big Brody were no longer glued to the television.
They trained guns past me at his chest. Only Leith leaned a shoulder against the wall, similar to Lachlan.
He seemed bored by the standoff. And Rory had finally gotten off social media.
While the MacKenzie’s resident Romeo didn’t hold a gun, the smile on his face had vanished.
Arms folded, making Rory’s thick biceps more prominent. He fisted his cell phone in his hand.
Rocket held his hands up. Different sized rings adorned his fingers.
He really was a peculiar individual. An oxymoron.
Small yet unforgivingly muscular, like he downed creatine and Popeye’s spinach so that his shoulders were as broad as he was tall.
“You said they’d hear me out, Brody.” His cold brown eyes cut to the man who’d just joked with him. “This looks like a friggen ambush.”
“Looks can be deceiving, frien’. And these”—Brody pushed the barrel of the .357 against his friend’s nose—“help my clan hear you a wee bit better when you apologize to Jamie’s lassie.”
“Apologize?” I found my voice in a room of armed Scots and a hotheaded drug dealer. “To me?”
“Yep.” Brody’s revolver gave Rocket’s nose another nudge.
“That’s why he’s here. Back in July, Leith explained why I needed to keep this stubborn numpty occupied.
So that he didn’t…” Brody’s eyes flicked to his mom as if mentioning my purchase was too disrespectful to utter aloud. “Well, y’know. Hop to it, Rocket.”
“Jordyn,” Rocket spat. “I’m sorry.”
“Maybe I chose the wrong words.” Brody shook his head.
“ When I said the guns help us hear you, I meant feel you. Understand you. I blame it all on Justice, though. She’s turned me into this touchy, feely numpty .
So, make me agree with your apology. The girl has to agree too. ” Brody glanced at me. “Do you agree?”
I folded my arms. “It lacks the compassion I’ve felt from Rocket when he was squeezing his hands around my throat. It’s a start, though.”
That got a rise out of Nan. She tapped the meat tenderizer in her hand.
In one hard thrust, Brody snapped his foot forward and swiped the back of Rocket’s legs. My second owner fell to his knees.
“Jordyn, I-I was surfing the dark web to offload a few weapons. Saw a picture of you.” He babbled. “Tried to buy you back to give you your freedom. I apologize, baby, from the bottom of my heart for what I’ve put you through in the past. I apologize.”
“You wanted to give me my freedom?” Like Jamie ? Before Jamie reappeared, I’d never have imagined that to be true of any man.
“Yes. Yes.” His head bobbed. Snot and tears coated his mouth and chin. It was hard to look at him. I … believed him. Through mangled sobs, he said, “I treated you like crap.”
“Worse than a dog!”
A … dog ? Rebel. Where was my girl, Rebel? She’d been out in the cold for too long.