Chapter Thirty-Two
MASON
WHEN WE finally get back to the house, all I can think of is getting to Sloane to make sure she’s okay. We tried to find her brother, but something must have tipped him off because he was nowhere to be found. We were able to locate and eliminate the rest of the outfit in our area.
No one fucks with my family. Sloane doesn’t know it yet, but she is family, and I will do whatever it takes to keep her, and our baby, safe.
Making a pit stop in the kitchen to grab a bottle of water, I walk in on Gray, he’s standing in front of the open door of the refrigerator.
He looks like he rolled out of bed and threw sweats on and didn’t bother with socks, he may not have been in the service, but he has the build of a man who works a ranch day in and day out.
“It’s the middle of the night, what are you doing down here?”
His short hair is standing on end like he has been running his hands through it and the purple circles under his hazel eyes are making them look more brown than green. “Can’t sleep, did you take care of them?” He reaches into the fridge and grabs a beer.
Before he closes the refrigerator door, I reach in to grab my water and then lean against the counter. Twisting the cap off, I say, “You know I did.” After I take a long drink, I lower the bottle, “But we can’t find her brother, little fuckers hiding somewhere.”
He rubs his hand down his face, “I’m sure he’ll show up eventually.”
I watch him scrub his fingers through his hair, scratching his scalp, “You look like shit, what else is bothering you?”
Rolling his head from one shoulder to the other, the popping of his neck fills the silence in the kitchen, “Aside from someone shooting at my house and putting my daughter’s life in danger, I got another letter from that company yesterday.
They are sending some guy named Ellyot with a fucked-up spelling, to have a face-to-face meeting and, I assume, another offer. ”
All the muscles in my shoulders twist and I take a deep breath to try and loosen them, “When?”
He leans against the counter and tucks one hand under his armpit, “It has a date in late January.”
“What I don’t get is that every correspondence has been ignored, but they just keep up this one-sided conversation. I’ve been so wrapped up in the bullshit that has been following Sloane that I haven’t asked Callum for an update on the company in a week or so.”
His eyebrows move to the middle of his forehead, “You’ve got Callum looking into it?”
“Well, Spits is doing all the looking, but yeah. So far, I know that the company sending the letters is part of a shell company and the real interest is in the springs on our land. They want to build some kind of fancy spa retreat and use the natural springs as the advertising pull.”
His gaze drifts to the water bottle in my hands as he mulls over what I just said. His gaze moves back up, “What company is behind all of it?”
“Company called Royce, Inc., Spits was looking into that when I asked him to investigate the traffickers in the area. I’ll ask him if he knows anything else.”
He nods his head, “Don’t forget that you need to be here, we need to show a united front with Dad.”
It’s my turn to nod, “I know, I’ll let Callum know what’s going on so he knows I may be on a short home leash. I’ll be living here full-time again with Sloane except when I’m on a job with the team.”
He takes a long pull off his beer, “How’s Sloane?”
Tilting my head a bit, I cock my brow, “You mean aside from having the shit beat out of her and almost shipped to the Gulf?”
One of his eye’s squeezes closed, and he winces, “Yeah, that.”
“She was sleeping when I left, after I brought her home from the Day Center, I asked Marley to keep an eye on her. She sent a text around dinnertime to tell me she looked better and was smiling.”
He turns even more serious. “When are you going to make an honest woman of her?” He lifts his bottle and tilts his head back, but his eyes are still on me.
Just like Dad. “I don’t have an exact time, but I have a plan.”
He smirks and takes another drink of his beer, “That morning you came home and acted like you didn’t know who she was, you already knew her didn’t you?”
Tilting my head to look at the floor, I slowly nod, “Guilty.” With a smile I lift my hand when I look back up to indicate I’m not done, “I just didn’t want you to get all pissy because I had spent the night with her the night before, neither one of us knew who the other was.”
He snorts and looks at the wall across from him, “So that was you that gave her the hickey?” He takes another pull from his beer.
I snort back, “Yep.”
A smile pulls across his face and his beer bottle is frozen in front of his lips, “I was already up when she snuck in with a smile on her face and a hickey on her neck. I enjoyed my five seconds of hassling her before she took off to her room to cover it up.”
I remember putting that hickey on her neck and my cock jumps in my tactical pants. “On that note, I’m going to check on her.”
He gives me a beer bottle air salute as I leave the kitchen.
Taking the steps two at a time, I realize that I’ve never had a woman in my bed in my family home before and I sure as fuck haven’t taken the stairs two at a time to get to a woman. I also realize that I’m smiling, I can’t wait to shower and slide into bed beside her.
I knew when I saw her in that bar that she was different, I just didn’t know why or how.
My first indication was that I’ve never felt that kind of pull to a woman before and I felt that as soon as I saw her.
The second was that when I woke up and she was gone, I was already planning to find out who she was.
Dim light from the hall shines across my bed. Sloane is bundled under the covers on the side that I usually sleep on, her back to me and her dark hair splayed across the pillow.
Trying to be as quiet as I can, I shower the day off and slide into the bed behind her. She has the giant brace on her leg and a pillow between her knees. I bury my nose in her hair and inhale the soft, floral vanilla scent as I pull her back to my front and settle in.
Her fingers thread between mine and pulls my hand to her chest, “Did you take care of what you needed to?” Her voice is nearly a whisper.
“All except for one,” I whisper back and brush my lips on the spot under her ear that usually makes her shiver, but this time her whole body stiffens. Even though the only light is the little bit of moonlight shining through the blinds, I lift my head to see the shadow of her profile. “What?”
“Which one?”
Oh, she’s worried about the one she stabbed, “You don’t need to worry about him, darlin’, I took care of him first when you were at the hospital.”
Her body relaxes and melts into me, the gesture is small, but it means a lot. She trusts me and I have to make sure I never give her a reason to doubt.
Silence stretches for minutes before she says, “I don’t think I want to know what you mean when you say you took care of him.”
“Then I won’t tell you. Just as long as you know I’ll always be between you and any threat.” This time when I kiss her neck, I get the shiver I was looking for.
“I’m not sure I want to know, but who is the one?”
Taking a deep breath and letting it out, I say, “He’s the one I want to get ahold of most, but of all the threats, he is the smallest. We can’t find your brother; we think he may have been tipped off and skipped town.”
She is quiet for the longest time before she seems to shrink from me, “I think I may have been the one who tipped him off.”
Tightening my hold on her, I bring her flush to me again. I won’t have her pulling away from me every time she’s unsure of how I’m going to react. “Don’t pull away from me, darlin’, I’m on your side. Tell me what you think you did.”
“Well, when I walked to the car after I got that note, he was there and after we drove away, he told me that he killed our parents to get Daddy’s money.
I was so mad and hurt that I told him you would be looking for me, I was just trying to scare him, but he made fun and said you were just a bunch of cattle wranglers,” she sighs before she continues, “I told him that you were special forces and he said, ‘then we’re both as good as dead’.
He probably went into hiding after his business was done with those men. ”
What she thinks is a misstep on her part, only makes me swell with pride, “Darlin’, everyone should know that if they mess with you, they’re gonna get the horns.
You didn’t do anything wrong.” I softly squeeze her fingers that are still linked with mine, “And yes, unless you tell me different, he’s as good as dead. ”
For the longest time, all I hear is her breathing and I start to think she may be drifting into sleep.
When I hear a sniffle, I lift my head again to see if she’s crying before she quietly says, “He’s not anyone special to me, he took everything I had in the world.
” She sniffles again, “He did it so easily, too. I’ve been alone for almost four years because of him, I haven’t celebrated my birthday or Christmas. ”
My heart breaks for her and I realize how much I take my own family for granted. Setting my chin on her arm, I kiss the soft, smooth skin, “I can promise you won’t be alone anymore.” I’m not good at expressing emotions, but I will make sure that every birthday and holiday is celebrated from now on.
Knowing that she needs more from me, I prop myself up on my elbow behind her and gently palm her cheek so she will turn her head toward me.
I can feel the wetness from her temple on my fingers, “You’ve got a lifetime of planning holidays and birthdays ahead of you, and me and my whole family will be there for every one. ”
She lightly grasps my wrist with her good hand, her fingers soft and warm, “I’ve been working here for seven months, and I didn’t even know what you look like.”
The jab is warranted and deserved, “I’m not sure what’s going through that pretty little head, darlin’, but I plan to be around.
I’m moving back here and, it’s true, I may be gone for a few weeks at a time when I’m working, but I will be coming back here.
To you,” I move my hand to her stomach and my palm spans across her hips, “and for this little guy, or gal.”
I can’t see her smile in the darkness, but I can feel it, “Marley says it’s a boy, says she can feel it in her bones.”
“Not that I’m comparing you to a horse, but she is usually dead on when she guesses the new foals.
But I don’t care as long as it’s healthy and happy.
” I slide my arm behind her pillow and wrap her up so I can nuzzle her neck which gets me a butt wiggle against my cock. “No.” I mumble into her hair.
The doctor said she needed bed rest for the next week and was firm when he said no sexual activities so her body can rest.
The huff she blows out of her nose is the cutest huff of derision I’ve ever heard, “Fine.”
I chuckle in her ear as she pulls my hand back up to her chest with her good hand. I kiss her ear and whisper, “Go to sleep.”