North

by Vanessa Vale

  He slid it across the counter to me. I took it, removed the cap and took a pull. My throat was dry from making North come hard around my dick.

  “Grab one for me,” East said as he came in from the mud room, setting the bottle of whiskey on the counter. It wasn’t even half empty, meaning they weren’t drunk.

  West followed, carrying the guns. He tipped his chin in my direction as he veered out of the room, probably to stow the weapons.

  I’d seen pictures of the Wainright men in my files, but they were bigger in person. East had said he’d played football in high school and college. He’d have been big then, especially to get a scholarship for it, but he was probably even bigger now. I pegged him at six-four, two hundred twenty pounds. I’d watched him devour a sub sandwich at his father’s wake and imagined he needed lots of calories to fuel his tank.

  South was shorter and leaner. Had more of a runner’s build, but could hold his own, I had no doubt.

  West came back minus the shotguns. East had grabbed a beer for him and passed it off. They all had various shades of brown hair, but none looked much alike. None looked like North.

  They were all staring at me, the center island the size of my kitchen, between us.

  I had to wonder how guys this big couldn’t deal with Macon and protect their sister.

  “You and North, huh?” West asked, looking me over.

  Three brothers could be hard to win over, but I had a feeling they might be easier than North herself.

  “Me and North,” I replied, not giving them anything more. I knew what I wanted from North—everything, especially after what we’d just done—but she wasn’t there yet. “My condolences about your father.”

  They glanced at each other and laughed, took swigs of beer. “Yeah, thanks,” South offered, but he didn’t seem all that torn up. None of them did.

  “Didn’t see you at the wake,” I commented, looking at South and West.

  “North had it handled,” West said.

  “You sure about that?” I asked. Having to deal with snoopy townsfolk solo didn’t seem fair. Or fun.

  “We were on our way but East texted and said North shot up the place and shut the thing down. No one’s going to fuck with our sister.”

  “Yeah, you don’t know our sister,” West added.

  I didn’t, but I was starting to. If her brothers were giving her a hard time, I’d set them straight. I didn’t care that they looked like part of a national rugby team and could shoot a flea off a squirrel’s back.

  “Do you?” I countered.

  South bristled, his shoulders rolling back, his eyes narrowing. “What the fuck’s your problem? You come waltzing in here like you know what’s going on around here.”

  “You’re her brothers. It’s your job to watch out for her.”

  “You mean hug her while she cries about our father dying?” West asked. “She won’t shed a tear for him. None of us will. We’re all glad to see him in the ground.”

  East held up a hand and his brothers quieted. “I don’t think that’s what he means.” He glanced at his brothers who flanked him, then back at me. “What do you know that we don’t? North never tells us shit. You’re here and talking like someone’s fucking with her.”

  West’s back went straight. “What? Who? A visit from the three of us should get any guy to back off and shit his pants.”

  I agreed with that.

  “I’d start with your dad,” I said simply, although I was pleased to hear West was protective of North.

  They went still, as if they’d been hit with a stun gun. Their jaws clenched and their eyes narrowed, but that’s all.

  “What did he do?” South asked finally, his voice low. Even. Too even.

  I shrugged, although I had a pretty good idea. If I was correct, her brothers deserved to know. “Not sure yet. She told me someone had to follow in her father’s footsteps. I’m thinking she didn’t have much choice.”

  South looked down at the floor, swore under his breath. “That girl, so fucking stubborn. And a liar. No one had to take over the business. It can fold for all I care.”

  “Except the… what, thousand or more employees who are out of work in central Montana?” I countered.

  He clenched his jaw, catching on to the extent of North’s burdens. “You think he hurt her and she didn’t tell us about it?”

  “What is she to you?” East asked, ignoring South and homing in on me. “Heard you came to the wake for your boss.”

  I had no idea how he’d picked that up, but it didn’t surprise me.

  West raised a brow in question and East added, “John Marshall.”

  When they turned their gazes on me this time, it was clear they knew the kind of man Marshall was. Which meant they probably thought the same of me. Birds of a feather and all that.

  “It’s your job to protect North because you’re her brothers,” I said, leaving Marshall out of this. “It’s my job to protect her because she’s mine. If anyone’s going to spank her ass for putting herself in danger, that’ll be me.”

  After what we’d just done in that tiny room, there was no going back.

  “She know that?” West asked.

  “Getting there,” I replied, then looked to South. “Like you said, she’s stubborn.”

  “Marshall’s an asshole. Why should we trust a guy who works for him?” South asked.

  “Because I’m starting to,” North said, coming into the room. Her feet were bare, so she’d been silent. If she’d had on her heels, we wouldn’t have missed her approach.

  Her brothers weren’t going to welcome me into the family anytime soon. I didn’t give a shit because I was into North, not them. I’d warm her bed and keep her safe, hear her secrets. Carry her burdens. I could do all that when they returned to their lives… elsewhere.

  She wore a pair of yoga pants the color of an eggplant and a long-sleeved t-shirt that went below her perfect hips and ass. She was covered from neck to ankle but her soft curves were showcased. I was thankful for the counter to hide my hard on.

  “I’m getting through Macon’s deals at the office. I had Julian put the Marshall at the top of the pile and I went through it earlier.” She stared at me with her shrewd blue eyes. She hadn’t found anything damning, either for me or the deal, in what she’d read. No way would she have let me touch her if she had. She’d had a shotgun in her hand for the second time and I wasn’t dead yet.

  “And?” West asked.

  North went to the warming drawer, which was directly beneath the double ovens. Taking a dishtowel that hung from the handle, she used it to lift the dish of enchiladas and set them on the butcher block.

  “Marshall bought two thousand acres up near Provost. Macon’s buying it from him,” she said.

  That was the basis of the deal. It was completely true, in two sentences.

  “Why? What makes that parcel special?” South asked as North pulled plates from a cabinet. When she raised her arms to grab them, her shirt rode up and I got a good look at her ass in those snug pants. I’d had my hands on it just a little while ago and I was ready to peel them off her. With my teeth.

  “Wainright Holdings purchases land seen as potentially vulnerable. We buy it to protect whatever’s there, endangered wildlife or threatened forests. Some we keep, some we donate to be kept wild for future generations.” She spoke as she worked collecting napkins and silverware, not looking at any of her brothers. It sounded like she was giving her brothers a sales pitch.

  “That doesn’t sound like Macon,” West scoffed.

  “Yeah,” South agreed, grabbing a spatula from a crock by the stove and began scooping enchiladas onto plates, forcing North to move out of the way.

  “It sounds like me,” she said.

  Her brothers turned to her.

  She shrugged. “It’s what I handle at the office. It’s what’s important to me. What was important to Mom.”

  For perhaps the first time—except when I’d been inside her—I hea
rd softness in North’s voice. This was her passion, what she was meant to do. I’d known about her role as head of philanthropy, but never heard her speak of it. How she felt about it. This was the real North talking to her brothers. I got to see it and it made me question if she knew what was planned for that land next. I’d swear she had no idea, not in her bare feet and holding a plate of enchiladas.

  But my boss wouldn’t take that as evidence. If the land deal went through, it only made her more of a suspect. Since Marshall hadn’t called me, I figured it hadn’t.

  “Macon didn’t give a shit about Mom,” East said, taking a filled plate from South. He’d been two or three when she’d died and I doubt he remembered the woman, but I was sure Macon had shared his feelings.

  South looked to me, tipped his head toward the fridge. “Grab the guac and sour cream.”

  I retrieved them, then set the toppings beside the tray. East immediately scooped guac and put it on top of his food, like whipped cream on a sundae.

  “That’s why I work there. I’ve kept Macon in line all this time and now that I’m CEO, I can steer the company where Mom always wanted it to go,” she said. It was the same thing she told me.

  “You’ve kept Macon in line?” South asked, setting a filled plate on the counter in front of North.

  North stilled as she reached for the sour cream, looked up at her brother. “Yeah, I have.”

  She hadn’t kept Macon from all his shady business dealings. She either knew about them, and let them slide. Or she’d been kept in the dark and she was referencing something else entirely.

  “Is that why you stayed in this house? Worked with him day in and day out? To keep him in line?” West asked around a mouthful of Mexican food.

  It was impressive the way North put on a shield of protection like anyone else would a coat. Her brothers didn’t seem to notice, but the ice princess was back. West’s question had her walls going up. I’d been right in my thinking. She’d made some kind of deal… or deals with her father to protect her brothers. He might not have beaten her or touched her inappropriately, but he’d used her nonetheless. She’d sold herself for her brothers’ happiness.

  “I didn’t do a very good job, did I?” she asked, her voice soft but laced with steel.

  East looked to me, as if our little chat before she’d come downstairs had been an awakening for him. “What did he do to you?”

  “Nothing,” she replied, stabbing her enchilada with a fork.

  East dropped his plate onto the counter with a clatter. North startled.

  He rested his palms on the marble, leaned in and glared at her. “We’re your brothers. Tell us what he fucking did.”

  A flush crept up North’s cheeks, but she stayed silent.

  East tossed up his hands in frustration. “Fuck, North. Do I look like I can’t handle Macon?” He glanced at South and West. “That they can’t either?”

  “You have no idea,” she whispered.

  “Then tell us!” he shouted.

  She jumped. Her hand shook and she set her fork down.

  I grabbed her, pulled her into my arms, her back to my front. Since she was barefoot, I was able to set my chin on the top of her head. It was the closest I could come to wrapping her up, holding her as close to me as I could.

  I wanted to tell East to lay off, but it was clear he had no clue what had been going on. He’d earned his anger because I felt the same fury at Macon Wainright, and I wasn’t even Macon’s kid. I hadn’t grown up in this house.

  But North needed comfort, to know she was safe as her brothers raged. That whatever happened hadn’t been her fault. Tipping my head down, I murmured in her ear. “Tell them, princess. What you did for them.”

  I wasn’t sure of my words, but I said them anyway. A bluff. To get her to think I knew, that it wasn’t a secret any longer. She was safe with me. With her brothers.

  No one talked. No one moved. The guys waited. I held my breath, hoped she finally, finally unburden.

  “I let you go to college,” she said, her voice soft, as if it was hard to get out.

  “What do you mean let you?” South asked. His plate was untouched on the counter.

  She looked up, met her brothers’ gazes across the kitchen island. “Macon wasn’t going to let you go. Any of you.”

  “Why?” East asked, frowning.

  “Because he was an asshole,” she said. She was shaking and I held her even closer.

  “You went,” East stated.

  She nodded. “Yeah, to the school he wanted. The major he wanted.”

  “It was South’s turn the next year. What did you do?” East added.

  “I made a deal. Deals.”

  She exhaled. I felt the secret literally deflate her.

  I’d been right and I’d been angry in my thoughts. But she validated them, and it made it all so much worse.

  “You made a deal with Macon so I could go to college?” South asked. “I was eighteen. I could have just left. Walked away from it all.”

  I shifted slightly so I could see North’s profile, watched as she licked her lips. “You wanted to go to art school. You know how he thought about that. He was going to destroy you. Somehow.”

  South’s eyes widened. “How the fuck was he going to do that?”

  “I don’t know. He didn’t say. Whatever it took to push you away from it.” The words came easier for her now.

  “And me?” East asked. “He got me kicked off the football team and I almost lost my scholarship. You got him to change his mind?”

  She nodded. “He was going to have your leg broken so you couldn’t get the scholarship.”

  East spun on his heel, walked away.

  Holy fuck. The man was going to have his kid’s leg broken?

  “And me?” West asked, his teeth clenched.

  “Does it matter?”

  West’s nostrils flared. “To me it does! So we got college and what did he get in return?” West asked.

  North shook her head and she was almost brittle in my arms. “I can’t tell you that. You know the truth and that’s enough. I did what I had to do to get you out of here. To protect you. To make your dreams come true.”

  “What about your dreams?” South asked. Now he wasn’t angry but devastated.

  I loosened my hold when she tried to turn. She faced me, set her forehead on my chest. I sighed, pleased that she sought comfort from me, from my arms around her.

  Fuck me, this woman. She was killing me.

  I didn’t know all of it, like what she’d bargained away. I had a feeling she’d done a hell of a lot more of it than just for her brothers. Like with Jock, too.

  This was a start. I bent down so we were eye to eye. “You did good.”

  “I’m… I’m not hungry,” she murmured. The fire was gone from her eyes. No ice either. Just… weariness. “I’m going to go to bed. See you around.”

  See you around? Fuck that.

  I kissed her forehead, then released her. She headed out of the kitchen, but South went around the island to stop her. He tugged her into his arms, gave her a fierce hug. East and West joined him, one stroking her head, the other taking her hand. Then they let her go.

  They didn’t say anything for a bit, perhaps to let North work her way through the big house. West grabbed the whiskey bottle and fiercely unscrewed the lid. Took a huge swallow.

  “She turned to you,” he said.

  I nodded. “I may have shown up at the wake for Marshall, but I’m here for North.”

  “Get the truth from her,” West ordered. Obviously, he’d seen the way she turned to me. “If there’s anyone alive who was involved in these deals, I want to know. We’re ending them.”

  South and East nodded, flanking their brother. They were united now, not just in hatred for Macon, but as protectors of North.

  I didn’t even give a shit they just told an FBI agent they were considering premeditated murder. Because I might be the one to give them the bullets.

 
8

  NORTH

  * * *

  I flopped down on my bed and stared up at the ceiling. Maybe it had been the whiskey that had gotten the secrets out of me. Maybe it was the orgasm in the telephone room. I could still feel the throb of Jed being inside me. The soreness of being taken so hard, so thoroughly.

  The emotions bombarding me were too much. Amazing sex. Sex where there was an actual connection, where it had been too hot, too intense I’d lost my mind. I’d screamed when I came. Thank God for sturdy, vintage house construction.

  It had been the best sex of my life, with a guy who drove me crazy. He was as bossy as me. Worse, because he got his way. That wasn’t the reason why I wanted to climb him like a tree and shoot him at the same time. It was because I liked it when he told me what to do.

  That was scary as shit because Macon had ordered me around and I’d had to give in. There’d been no winning with him. Compromise, perhaps. Maybe in-the-moment success, but in the long run, I’d always lost.

  Why was I falling for Jed? Did I have a Daddy complex? I groaned because that was just ridiculous and a completely scary thought. I flopped over onto my stomach.

  It didn’t matter. Jed was probably halfway back to his place by now. He’d gotten what he’d wanted. In my pants. Well, beneath my dress. He’d gotten off and I’d trusted him while he’d done it.

  The end.

  I rolled over, stared at the ceiling some more.

  I’d have to face my brothers again. Eventually. They had even more reason to hate their father. It didn’t matter because he was dead. It was over. Macon’s hold over all of us was over.

  Was it though? I’d looked through the files Julian had collected for me. After Jed left this morning, I’d spent my time between meetings reading through what my father had been up to. Outstanding deals Macon had been working on. Some I’d known about; others were new to me.

  I’d pored over his deal with Marshall. The original owner of the land wouldn’t sell to Macon, probably because he’d burned a bridge with the man. But he’d sold to Marshall. Macon was going to buy it from him. I was now expected to buy it from Marshall, which was why Jed had come around in the first place.