Chapter Four
ODIN
“What the fuck was that?”
I stood there with my hands on my hips, watching as Harmony drove that beat-up piece of shit down Main Street until finally it disappeared when she rounded the corner.
Jesus Christ.
Never in my life had I felt so affected by a woman like I did in that moment.
Not ever.
When I saw that rusted bucket she called a truck smack into my sled through the diner window, I’d gone from hungry to homicidal in zero point six seconds flat.
My chair scraped against the cheap linoleum floor as I shoved away from the table, ready to tear into someone.
I’d barely contained myself getting it off the ground.
Then Harmony lifted her head and hit me with those blue eyes, and all the rage I’d felt just disappeared.
Poof.
Gone.
In all my thirty-seven years, I’d never seen anyone with eyes like hers.
They were big and blue, like those anime characters Reid watched on TV.
And that hair.
My god. I wanted to wrap my hands in all that long, thick, dark hair.
She reminded me of Jessica Lowndes, but hotter.
I adjusted my cock. Fuck me. I was in so much trouble.
Someone cleared their throat behind me, and I glanced back.
Dash, Danger, and Tyson were standing in front of the diner door.
Dash and Danger smirked like the assholes they were while Tyson’s expression slid into a frown.
“What?”
His head slanted as he rubbed at the back of his neck. “I hate to be the bearer of bad news, P, but that one ain’t for you.”
My eyes narrowed to slits. “The fuck does that mean?” There wasn’t a soul on this earth that got to tell me where I could or couldn’t stick my dick.
Dash shifted his gaze to Tyson, his lips turning down. “She got a man?”
Tyson shook his head. “No. But she is the sheriff’s ex-wife.”
“Well, shit.” I grimaced. That was a problem.
Harmony Dane.
The name Harmony should have registered when she’d given me her name, but I was too busy trying not to grab her by the hair and drag her into my arms so I could taste those pouty pink lips.
I’d heard her name a lot in the last few days.
Well, not exactly her name, but the last name Dane.
Why?
Because over the last two days, Shine had torn through every laptop, phone, tablet, burner, and hidden hard drive Moody had, and what he found was enough to turn all our stomachs.
Moody hadn’t just been working with the cartel.
He was knee-deep in selling women and kids to sick motherfuckers all over the US.
And Sheriff Reggie Dane knew every last disgusting detail.
The vile son of a bitch was looking the other way for a payoff.
My mouth flattened.
I knew it was only a matter of time before the sheriff came sniffing around, wanting to know where his cash cow had gone.
Not that he’d ever get an answer.
Moody and the degenerates who followed him blindly were pushing daisies out in the middle of nowhere.
My thoughts drifted back to Harmony, and I wondered if she’d be upset if I offed her ex.
It’s not like he was a good dude or anything. He honestly deserved a cruel death. He’d taken an oath to serve and protect, and then turned a blind eye for fucking money.
“What do you know about the woman?”
Tyson shifted uncomfortably. “You did hear what I just said, right?”
Dash snorted. “Oh, he heard you. He just doesn’t give a fuck. You just waved a red flag in his face, and now he won’t let it go until that woman is his.”
Dash jerked his chin at me. “The second you told him she was off limits, you put a target on her back.”
“I didn’t say she was—” Tyson started as Danger barked out a laugh.
“That woman is as good as his.”
My lips twitched despite myself.
He wasn’t wrong.
Dash waved a hand in my direction as if reading my thoughts. “See?”
“Jesus Christ,” Tyson muttered, shaking his head.
Smiling at the thought of making Harmony mine, I turned to go back inside the diner to finish my food.
Let the chase begin.
Six hours later, I was leaning against the long counter in the clubhouse kitchen with a beer in my hand, listening as Ma fussed over how expensive produce was at the grocery store.
The woman rolled into Devils Cove two days ago, took one look around the big industrial kitchen in the clubhouse, and declared she would be cooking for the masses from now on.
Not that anyone was complaining.
She’d been cooking up a storm. I don’t think the men who’d been here before we arrived had ever eaten so good.
“You’re not stirring that enough,” Ma snapped without looking up from the sink.
I glanced down at the baked beans coming to a slow boil in the pot. “I’m stirring it.”
“You’re poking it.”
“There a difference?”
She gave me a look over her shoulder. “Are you new here?”
“Oh, you got jokes.”I snorted, taking another pull of my beer.
Jekyll insisted on cooking up some of his famous BBQ for everyone, and Ma was quick to jump on board, offering to make all the sides.
We had potato salad, pasta salad with pepperoni in it, mac-n-cheese, and some other shit that smelled amazing.
Wiping her hands on a dish towel, Ma looked around the kitchen with satisfaction. “I still can’t believe how big this place is.”
“Pretty big,” I agreed.
“That’s what she said,” Dash mumbled from the fridge.
Ma snapped her towel, making him jerk back. “Get out of there. Supper is almost ready.”
She’d adjusted better than I had expected.
Better than Reid, that was for sure.
He’d been slinking around, moaning and bitching about everything. It was too hot, there was nothing to do, it was too quiet. There was no making him happy.
Like he’d been summoned by my thoughts, the back door banged open, and in stalked my spawn with his signature frown. “This town sucks.”
“It’s not that bad,” I said, eyeing his hair that was two weeks overdue for a cut.
He threw his hands up. “Dad. Seriously. There’s nothing to do here, and everyone sucks.”
Ma hid her smile as she continued to mash the potatoes.
“Everyone doesn’t suck.”
Seriously? Was every sixteen year old boy as overdramatic as mine?
“You know what I mean.”
I did, but I didn’t care.
He let out a dramatic sigh. “Boston is better than this place.”
I told him the same thing I’d been saying for two days. “We ain’t in Boston anymore, Toto.”
I didn’t know how much clearer I could be. We weren’t going back to Boston. This was our home now, and we all had to make the best of it. Including him.
“You know,” I started, setting my beer down to cross my arms over my chest. “If you’re so bored, you can go to the house and finish putting away all your shit.”
Reid groaned. “Dad—”
“Then stop bitching.” I was tired of hearing it.
He muttered something under his breath, which was probably him cussing me out, then snatched up his backpack and stomped out the door.
“Jesus,” I groaned. “He do that shit all the time with you?”
Ma shrugged like she was used to it. “He’s just like you were at that age.”
I snorted. “I was never that bad.”
She snorted. “You were worse.”
“That sounds made up.”
“It’s not.”
The kitchen door opened again, and in stepped Jekyll, carrying a tray stacked with barbecue that smelled fucking amazing.
My stomach rumbled in agreement.
“Food’s ready,” he said, setting the tray on the counter before glancing at me. “And, there’s a woman in the common room asking for you.”
“What woman?”
Jekyll shrugged. “Dunno’, but she’s hot.”
Well, in that case.
I pushed off the counter and headed for the common room. Reid, of course, chose that moment to reappear and fall in step behind me like the nosy little shit he was. “Thought you were going home?”
“Hell no. I’m hungry.”
“Food’s that way.” I thumbed over my shoulder.
He shoved my shoulder and we both laughed.
As much as he drove me crazy, I loved my boy.
“Who’s here to see you?” he asked as we turned the corner into the common room.
“Fuck if I know—” the words died on my lips.
Well, shit.
Twice in one day.
I wasn't sure what I’d done to deserve the tasty treat standing in front of the big leather couches, but I wasn’t a man to look a gift horse in the mouth.
I watched as Harmony turned in a slow circle, looking around the room.
Goddamn if she wasn’t even more beautiful than I remembered.
Her dark hair was now braided over one shoulder, and she’d changed into a little sundress with brown cowboy boots that showed off those tan legs I was imagining wrapped around my ears.
Jesus.
“Hey, trouble.”
Harmony spun around, and those gorgeous blue eyes hit mine.
“I—” she started, lifting a foil-covered pan with both hands like that said it all.
“You?” I teased.
“I made you some of my bread.”
Why the hell did I find that absolutely adorable?
“Is that right?” I asked, letting my fingers brush hers on purpose as I took it. “You didn’t have to do that.”
Her cheeks tinted pink. “I hit your motorcycle.”
Reid, whose eyes had been bouncing between us like ping pong balls, widened comically. “You hit his sled? Holy fuck.”
“I—” Harmony started, looking mortified.
“Jesus, Boy!” I growled. That damn mouth was getting out of control.
His eyes went to Harmony and he grimaced, realizing what he’d done. “Shit. Sorry.”
Shaking my head, I peeled the foil back to peek inside, and the warm scent of cinnamon and sugar assaulted my senses. “Damn, baby. This smells really good.”
My son, apparently raised in a fucking barn, reached over my shoulder, pinched off a piece, and tossed it into his mouth.
His eyes widened when he shoved it in his mouth. “Damn. That shit’s good.”
I looked at him sharply. “What did I tell you about cussin’, kid?”
He rolled his eyes. “I said it was good.”
Sighing, I turned back to our guest. “Harmony, this heathen is my son, Reid. Boy, this is Harmony.”
Her eyes twinkled as they went from me to my son. “Hi, Reid.”
He shoved his hands in his pockets and gave her a half nod, trying to be cool. “Hey.”
Ma and Jekyll came out of the kitchen carrying pans of food and the second Harmony saw all of it, her eyes widened.
“That’s a lot of food.”
It was. “A lot of mouths to feed.”
My mother, because she’d never met a stranger in her life, shifted the dish in her hands and smiled right at her. “Well, aren’t you just adorable.”
Harmony blinked. “Uh—”
“I’m Caroline,” Ma said, setting down the pan and moving closer. “Wade’s mother.”
Harmony glanced at me, asking, “Wade?”
“Uh, yeah. That’d be me.” Nobody but my mother called me Wade, but I had to admit, I kinda liked the way it rolled off Harmony’s tongue.
“Ah,” she replied, turning her attention back to my mom.“It’s nice to meet you, Caroline.”
Ma took one look at the bread in my hands and the flush in Harmony’s cheeks and must have gotten an idea in that brilliant head of hers because the next thing out of her mouth was, “You must stay for dinner.”
“Oh, I couldn’t—” Harmony stuttered, her cheeks going crimson.
“You absolutely can,” Ma insisted.
If there was one thing to be said about Caroline Sheppard, it was that she was as stubborn as the day was long. Once she had her mind made up, that was it.
Harmony raised her hands, almost pleading. “No, really, I couldn’t impose. I just came to drop off the bread.”
“And now you can sit yourself down in one of those chairs and join us for a meal.” Ma smiled sweetly. “I won’t take no for an answer, honey.”
Harmony looked at me for a lifeline.
Not on her life.
I was willing to do anything to keep her around so I could get to know her better.
My palms turned up. “Sorry, baby. You heard the woman.”