Chapter Seven
“Shit, bro. Do you know how many times I had to jack off last night?” Drew said as he walked into the kitchen. He grabbed a cup, filled it with coffee, and sat across from his brother, scowling at the smug smile on his face.
“Yeah, sorry about that.”
Drew snorted before lifting the cup to his mouth. “No, you’re not, asshole.”
Adam chuckled. “Just think, you’ll be able to do that...”
“Do what?” Hailey asked as she rushed into the kitchen.
“Just talking about the ranch, love.”
Hailey turned with her cup of coffee and narrowed her eyes at the innocent looks on their faces. Something was going on, and she’d eventually find out what it was. “I have to go into town.”
“What for?” Adam asked.
Hailey leaned against the counter, crossed one leg over the other, and blew on her coffee as she stared at first one man, then the other.
“Flash drive, and I want to see if they have the software I need. I should go to the grocery store while I’m there.”
With their attention on each other, Hailey rolled her eyes when the men glanced at each other with twin looks of alarm. She knew exactly what was going to happen.
“I’ll go in with you,” Drew said as he stood to refill his cup.
Hailey grinned and shook her head. “It’s not necessary. I go to town by myself a lot.”
“Yeah, and I’ve never really liked it. I just haven’t expressed how much it worries me.”
“Because you’re a smart man,” she commented. “We’ve had a few rounds already about it.”
Drew stood and placed his cup in the sink before grabbing hers.
“Well, we haven’t, baby,” he said as he bent and cupped her chin. “And I can guarantee, I’m going to be harder to get around than my brother. I see how you have Adam wrapped around your little finger. Don’t expect that with me.”
One of Hailey’s eyebrows rose up, and she grinned. “Oh, I wouldn’t count on that if I were you,” she said, and swept out of the kitchen. “I’m getting my purse, and then we can go,” she called over her shoulder.
“I thought you told me she was submissive?” Drew spat out as he watched her backside until it was out of sight.
“Oh, she is when she wants to be, which, thankfully, is most of the time.”
Drew shuddered when he heard her laugh when she got to her office.
“Jesus, I just felt my balls draw up in fright.”
“If you’re a smart man, you’d keep them there,” Adam said, then chuckled and walked out of the kitchen.
The trip to town was pleasant. They talked about everyday stuff and just relaxed around each other. She was surprised at how enjoyable it was to be with him.
****
“Joey, you need to let go,” Hailey whispered urgently, and tried to push the man back who had her cornered against the shelving in the store.
“I just want to talk to you, and you won’t stay still. Your husband’s not here, so maybe we can go have lunch.”
“And I’ve told you...”
A feral growl caught their attention. “No, she didn’t bring her husband, but she brought me, you little fucker,” Drew growled, and gripped the man around the neck and lifted him. “Don’t you ever touch her again.” He shook the man.
“Drew! Don’t do that. He’s harmless, a pitiful excuse for a man. Please stop.”
Hailey was hanging off Drew’s arm, trying to get him to lower his arm and release the man before he killed him. She was amazed that it didn’t seem to faze him that he was lifting two people with one arm.
“Drew, stop, he’s turning blue.” She released his arm and wrapped her arms around his waist. “Drew! Please, look at me,” she begged in a broken, fear-filled voice.
Drew glanced down at Hailey clinging to him, pleading out loud and silently with her eyes. He took a shuddering breath and released the man, to have him drop on his ass to the floor and grab onto his own neck while he gagged and gasped for breath.
Hailey tightened her arms when she realized he was still fighting the anger that coursed through his body and tried to calm down. Her hands roamed up and down his back in a soothing motion and softly whispered to him. “He’s no one. He’s just a nuisance I’ve had to deal with. He’s harmless.”
Drew took a shuddering breath and pulled her against his chest, propping his chin on top of her head.
“I hate that you have to deal with that crap. You’re never coming to town by yourself again. What’s Adam done to fix this problem, because it’s not working?”
Hailey stiffened.
“Hailey?” He pushed her away enough to see her face. His eyes narrowed at the guilty look she tried to hide from him. “He doesn’t know, does he?”
Hailey bit her lip, looked down at the ground, and shook her head. She pressed her fingers of one hand to her temple, where a tension headache started to grow.
“No, and I’d appreciate it if you didn’t tell him,” she pleaded.
Drew watched dispassionately as the man picked himself off the floor and hastily raced from the store before Drew turned his attention back to Hailey.
“You know I’ll tell him. I can’t keep this from him. The man had his hands on you, and you were telling him to stop. I actually should have killed the fucker.”
Hailey laid her hand on his chest. A trickle of sweat snaked down her spine at the thought of Adam knowing about it. It was going to cause so many problems. “No, he’s not worth you going to prison for.”
“Who is he?”
“His name is Joey. His father owns the bank in town.”
“And why did he have his hands on you?”
She swept her hair out of her face, shaky and agitated.
“Since I came to town, he’s... I don’t know what to call it. Fixated on me for some reason?” She shrugged. “I can usually just ignore him.”
“And the reason you didn’t tell Adam?”
Hailey held her hands out in a plea for him to understand. “Because he does all his business with the father. I don’t want him to have a hassle with the father. He doesn’t have time, and I’m not afraid of Joey. So, I’ve stayed quiet.”
“Do you know how badly you’re going to get punished?” he growled at her.
Hailey sighed and then nodded.
“Is there a problem here, honey?”
Drew’s head whipped around to stare at the man in the uniform who stood several feet away with his hand on the butt of his revolver in the holster. “Who the hell are you?”
Hailey raced in front of Drew and pushed at his chest when he took a menacing step towards the deputy.
“Stop, Drew. This is Deputy Stevens. He works for the Madison sheriff.”
Drew cupped her shoulders and glowered down at her. “Why in the hell is he calling you honey?”
The deputy’s eyebrows raised at the possessive way the man was acting.
“He’s just a friend of Adam’s. He knows he calls me honey.”
“I doubt he likes it...”
“If I might,” the deputy interrupted as he held up a hand. “You all can argue later. I had Joey stop me on the street and tell me you tried to kill him?” The deputy waited silently with a raised brow.
Hailey tried to take a step toward him but was stopped by the arm Drew wrapped around her middle. She scowled at Drew over her shoulder, then turned back to the other man and held out her hands and shook her head. “No, Brett. Drew was just trying to h—”
“Hush,” Drew growled and squeezed her a bit. He turned to the other man. “The guy had his hands on her, and she was telling him to stop, but he didn’t.”
The deputy’s mouth twitched. “So, you weren’t trying to kill him?”
“I never said that,” Drew burst out. “I probably would have if she hadn’t stopped me.”
The deputy looked from the massive man to the tiny woman and wondered exactly how he thought she could have stopped him.
“Holy shit, if it isn’t G.I. Joe.”
Drew's head whipped up. His expression softened, and he chuckled.
“And if it isn’t Barney Fife. I thought you’d be on the other side of the bars by now, Daniel.”
Both men laughed.
Hailey slid to the side and watched the sheriff walk around the end of the store aisle and slap Drew on the back. Both she and the deputy stared as the other men laughed and pounded on each other as they asked each other questions.
“So how long are you in town, or are you back for good?”
“I’m back.”
Daniel gripped Drew’s shoulder with one hand. “I’m glad you made it back. I worried ... a lot of people worried.”
“It’s good to be home,” he said, and pulled her against his side.
The sheriff looked back and forth, surprised, and then broke into a grin. “So that’s the way of it?”
Drew looked down at her and chuckled. “Yeah, it is.”
“What are you talking about?” she asked, puzzled.
Daniel shook his head and chuckled.
“We’ll talk later,” Drew said against her ear.
She snapped her teeth together.
“I always knew you guys would end up...”
Hailey jerked her head up when the sheriff stopped suddenly. She had just barely caught the subtle shake of Drew’s head and scowl. She tried to take a step away from Drew, only to be brought up in front of him and pulled back tightly against his chest.
Hailey could feel a blush shading her cheeks at the look on the other two men’s faces. Drew’s friend, Daniel, grinned, but the other one looked as confused as she felt.
“There have been a lot of changes since you were back last,” Daniel said.
Drew nodded. “Yeah, Adam has told me about the group of military guys that settled in the area and the club a few of them started.”
“Things have definitely livened up in the last year,” Daniel told him.
“Sheriff, what would you like me to do about Joey?” the deputy asked.
Daniel shook his head toward his man.
“Nothing. I can bet Adam will be in town in the next couple of days to talk with his father. I’ll let them hash it out. Why don’t you head back to the station? I’ll be there in a bit.”
“Sure,” he said, and raised his hand. “Bye, hon... Hailey.”
“Bye, Brett,” Hailey said and raised her hand, ignoring the rumbling growl that came from Drew.
Daniel laughed.
“This is going to be fun watching the two of you deal with her.”
“Hey! Deal with me? What does that mean?” Hailey asked in anger.
“You look so sweet until something, or someone, pisses you off. Hell, even I stand out of the way.” He turned toward Drew.
“I caught her once trying to help a cat that two big dogs were trying their best to kill. She got between them with a stick. Hell, the sound she made scared me. Both dogs ran off before I could get to her. When Hailey turned around, the cat had escaped, too. Which I’ve got to say I was happy about because I knew she’d try to take care of it, but the damn thing is feral and a mean son-of-a-bitch.
Then there was the time a father smacked his little boy.
She walked up and bashed his head with her purse.
He went down. By the time I got there, the man was cowering, and the boy was clinging to her leg.
It was hell trying to separate the two. She wanted to take him home with her. ”
Daniel chuckled at the look on Hailey’s face.
“It ended with me promising to keep my eye on the family. I also found out she’d stopped there a few times to check on things. The guy’s terrified of her, so as far as I know, hasn’t laid a hand on the boy since.”
Hailey gritted her teeth. “I need to get home,” she told Drew, ignoring the sheriff as he chuckled again.
“All right.” Drew moved her to the side but took her hand and held his other out to Daniel. “We’ll get together soon.”
“Yeah, maybe beers one night? I’ve got so many more stories of her to tell you,” Daniel said, then raised his hand after shaking Drew’s and walked off. The last thing Hailey and Drew heard was the sheriff’s howling laughter before the door closed behind him.
Drew stared down at Hailey for a moment before he shook his head. “Come on, baby. Let’s get you home. Jesus, how did my brother do it on his own?” he mumbled under his breath.
“What are you talking about?” Hailey asked as she ran to keep up with long strides or get dragged.
Drew just shook his head, opened the truck door, and lifted her in. He made sure she was buckled before heading out of town.
She wasn’t looking forward to the confrontation with her husband, and she knew there would be one.