Turning on the coffeemaker, she turned and studied her son. At twenty-seven, he was the spitting image of his father, which had always made it difficult for her to deny him anything in the past. She did not speak as the coffee began to sputter and drip into the pot.
As she watched the liquid life flow into the glass pot, she thought back to where she and Eric had been when they were Ryan’s age. They had been married, with a child, a mountain of debt, and a very tight budget, but never would they have even considered doing what Ryan was doing. Her biggest problem with his request was that they both knew he would never repay the so-called loan.
Taking a deep breath, she was about to explain why she would not give him the money when the door to her bedroom opened. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched Silver step into view with Max on his heels. The two men had pulled on their jeans, thank goodness. But they remained barefoot, bare-chested, and looked like they had just spent the night doing exactly what they had been doing. Not the image she wanted to present to her son so early on a Sunday morning.
“What the fuck?” Ryan said when the two men joined them in the kitchen.
“Good morning. Who are you?” Silver asked after dropping a kiss on Annie’s lips.
Max did not speak, but followed his Master’s lead and gave Annie a quick kiss and soft, “Good morning.”
“Who am I? Who the fuck are you two?”
“Language, boy,” Silver growled as he moved to stand between Annie and her son.
“Mom? Who are they?” Ryan looked from Silver to Max to her. He studied her for several long seconds before his expression twisted in disgust. “You’re sleeping with them? With both of them? When did you become such a slut?”
Annie grabbed Silver’s arm when he took a half step forward. She pulled him back at the same time she maneuvered around his bigger body to put herself between the two men. She knew Silver, being older, wiser, and military trained, could take her son apart if he wanted, but a brawl in her kitchen was the last thing she needed.
Silver gave a growl as he frowned down at her, looking more like a grumpy bear than she was comfortable with. If shape-shifters were a reality, she half expected the man to shift into one. A glance at Max told her the slimmer, less volatile man was not a happy camper either.
She needed to do something to diffuse this situation before they came to blows.
Turning back to Silver, she said in as firm a voice as she could muster, “You need to leave for an hour while I deal with this.”
“No,” Silver grunted.
She was surprised when Max stepped in. Easing her out of the way, he moved to stand in front of his partner. Grabbing Silver’s head, he turned it so they were nose to nose, pulling his attention away from Ryan. “Yes, Silver, we do. Annie needs to talk to her son. Our staying will just make things more difficult for her.”
Annie did not take an easy breath until Silver turned and stormed back into the bedroom. Max followed the bigger man. Annie could hear them speaking, but the words were too low for her to understand.
A few minutes later, Silver emerged, still enraged, but this time he was fully dressed in boots, shirt, and his leather jacket in addition to the jeans. Again, Max followed. Silver did not speak, did not even look at her as he passed, and stomped down the hall and out to the garage.
Max paused long enough to kiss her cheek and whisper, “We’ll be back in an hour. Call if you need us sooner.”
Annie nodded. “Take care of him.”
By the time Max closed the garage door behind him, Annie heard Silver’s motorcycle engine rumbled to life. Just as the sound doubled, Silver’s engine sounds grew louder, then she tracked the sound as it rumbled down her driveway and out onto the street. A moment later, Max followed, then the sound of motorcycle engines slowly died away as the two men rode off. Annie only hoped they would, indeed, come back to her.
In that instant, she realized she loved them. Both of them. And she would do whatever it took to keep them. Which, in this moment, meant dealing with her son.
Taking a deep breath, she went to the coffeemaker and poured two cups. Carrying them both to the table, she looked at her son. “We need to talk.”
* * * *
Racing down the road, Max tried to catch up with Silver. It would be a challenge to catch the man who was trying to outrun his anger, so his goal would be to just keep the man in sight as Silver revved his engine and raced down the ramp onto the highway through town.
He was halfway down the ramp when Silver’s bike wobbled. He watched in horror as Silver threw himself off the bike toward the grassy roadside as the bike flipped end over end. Max said a quick thank-you that there were currently no cars on the road as the bike landed and skidded across the two lanes to end up in the median.
Max eased off the gas and pulled over when he reached the spot where Silver landed. He had watched the man roll as he hit the ground, doing several somersaults before stilling. He now lay eerily still as he lay in the grass.
Setting his kickstand, Max tore off his helmet and was off the bike before the engine went silent. He ran to Silver and knelt, afraid to touch the man for fear of doing more damage. At least Silver’s helmet and jacket were still in place, so maybe things would not be too bad.
“Silver, wake up. Please, Master, open your eyes.”
Max reached for his phone. But it wasn’t in his pocket. He slapped his head, remembering that it was still in the charger station back at Annie’s house.
“Hey, you need some help?” a man called from a pickup truck parked behind his motorcycle.
“Yes, please. Call nine-one-one. I don’t have my phone, and I’m afraid to move him,” Max said, wiping at the tears that streamed down his cheeks.
“Sure thing, man.” The man pulled out his phone and made the call. Then he joined Max, carrying a gray wool blanket. “Here, let’s cover him with this.”
Together they covered Silver and waited. It was only a couple of minutes before the sounds of sirens grew. A moment later, a fire truck and an ambulance came down the same ramp they had just driven while two police cars came from the other direction and crossed over the median.
Max was then pushed away from his place beside Silver by two EMTs. A policeman began questioning him as Silver was loaded on a backboard and then a gurney. He watched helplessly as his partner disappeared into the back of an ambulance. He was stuck by the side of the road for another ten minutes, answering questions, showing the officer his driver’s license and military retired ID card as he explained his relationship to Silver.
“How do I get to the hospital?” he asked once they finished asking nosy and intrusive questions.
* * * *
Twenty minutes after her men roared away, Annie watched through the curtains as her son’s tires squealed out of her driveway. The talk had gone exactly as she figured it would. Not good.
“So, where did you pick up those two?” Ryan said, attacking her sex life in order to keep her off-balance.
But Annie knew all his tricks to manipulate her into doing what he wanted. Instead of reacting, she took a slow deep breath. Releasing it just as slowly, she said “Frankly, my dear, my sex life is none of your business. And if you ever act like that in front of my guests again, you will no longer be welcome in my home.”
“What the fuck? I’m your son,” Ryan yelled. He stared at her as if she had grown a second head.
“Yes, you are my son, which means I am your mother. I deserve respect for raising you and not drowning you when you were a teenager like your father suggested on more than one occasion.” Annie took a sip of her coffee before returning to the kitchen.
She was hungry, but knew whatever she fixed, Ryan would be eating at least half of. As she made toast, she hoped Ryan was processing what she had said and not just stewing because her sex life was kinkier than his.
He did not respond until she returned to the table with two slices of buttered toast. “Fine. I’m sorry for what I said to them. But
since Dad’s died, you’ve never…”
“That you know of,” Annie said. “But not everyone feels the need to tell the world, or in this case child, about their private business.”
She did not comment when he took the second slice of toast and consumed it in three bites.
As he was chewing the last bite, he said, “Can you write me a check now? I can deposit it on my way home so the money’s there when my car goes to the shop on Tuesday.”
Thinking of all the money she had “loaned” him in the years since Eric’s death that he had never attempted to repay, Annie decided it was time for some tough love. Hardening her heart, she sucked another deep breath before she said, “No.”
“Huh? What do you mean no?” Rayan looked stunned.
“I mean no, nope, nein, not gonna happen,” Annie said, keeping her words level and firm with just enough power she felt like she was channeling Silver.
Ryan sat staring at her for a long moment before he exploded out of his chair and began to pace back and forth across the room. “Why the fuck not? Don’t tell me you don’t have it. You have plenty of money. Or did those two assholes that we’re not going to discuss scam you out of it all? You have to loan me the money. I have to have those tires.”
Having mentally drawn the line in the sand where she was making her stand, Annie visualized pouring cement over it. She vaguely remembered giving him money for new tires just the year before, which only added to her determination to teach the boy to grow the fuck up.
“Silver and Max would never try to scam me. They saved my life the other night when everyone else I tried to contact ignored my texts and calls. Now, I’d like you to leave so I can get dressed. I need to go find them and apologize for my selfish son who, for some reason, has not grown up and taken responsibility for his own life yet.”
That sent Ryan into the stratosphere, and in less than three minutes he was out of the house, in his car, and gone.
Annie waited until his car was out of sight before fist pumping and doing a little victory dance. She knew it would be a week or two of silence before Ryan would, eventually, stop by again. Maybe next time she would introduce him to the new men in her life. And hopefully when she did, they would all be fully clothed.
“Now to find my sirs and bring them home,” she said as she danced her way to her bedroom.
Chapter Thirteen
By dinnertime, Annie was in tears. It seemed as though Silver and Max had disappeared. Or left town. Or were so mad at her they were ignoring her calls. When she called Max’s cell, she heard it ring in the house. Tracking it down, she found the phone sitting on the charger in the kitchen. Calling Silver’s phone, she was only a little surprised to hear it go directly to voicemail.
Silver was not a fan of phones and usually only had it turned on when he was making a call or checking his texts and emails. Even if it was on, she doubted he would answer if he was on his bike. She would have to wait for him to arrive to wherever they were heading and check his phone. Covering all her bases, she sent a text asking him to call as soon as he could.
When noon bled into afternoon, and there was still no contact with the men, Annie climbed into her Jeep and drove across town to their motel. It was straight out of the stalker’s handbook, but she did not know what else to do. Rolling through the motel parking lot, she did not see their motorcycles and could only assume they were not here.
Without a clue where else to look, Annie returned home and turned on the classic movie channel that was running a marathon of sappy romantic movies. Then she raided the pantry for comfort foods and settled on the couch for a good, long cry, her emotions pinging around inside her like a drop of water jumping on a hot skillet.
She almost did not answer when the phone rang. But after the second ring, she decided it was better to talk to whoever was calling than to wallow in the sadness that her son may have scared away the men she was falling in love with.
“Hello?” she said after swiping the phone to answer.
“Annie? Can you come? We need you.” Max sounded distraught and near tears.
“Of course, Max. Where are you?”
“The hospital emergency room,” Max said, now sounding almost apologetic. “Can you bring my wallet and phone with you? And maybe something to eat?”
“Of course. I’ll be there as soon as I can,” Annie said.
Max’s sigh sounded like a boulder had just been lifted from his shoulders. “Thank you, sweetie.”
Annie found herself shifting into caretaker persona. “Do you need anything else?”
“A double shot with a beer back would be nice, but I don’t think hospitals allow you to drink.”
“I’ll see what I can do,” Annie said, only half joking.
She began hurrying around the house gathering the things Max had asked for. She also picked up the books that Max and Silver had been reading the evening before. She then added her latest knitting project and tablet to the pile.
It took another moment to find the flask in the junk drawer. Eric had used the camouflage flask to take his favorite whiskey to the club since they had not stocked it. She filled it from the bottle of Jack Daniel’s before adding it to the pile along with several cans of soda from the refrigerator.
Once she had everything gathered together, she went to her closet, and after changing into comfortable but hospital-appropriate clothing, she grabbed an oversized carryall. It took another minute to pack everything, including her purse and phone. Tossing the bag into the passenger’s seat, she headed out.
After a run through her favorite chicken restaurant, Annie raced to the hospital and the men who were coming to mean so much more to her than they could ever know.
* * * *
Silver woke up, wondering why his mind felt disconnected from his body. Opening his eyes, he looked around, but did not recognize his surroundings. There was a light on in the next room, and from its dim illumination of his surroundings, he saw he was in what he could only assume was a hospital room.
What the hell was he doing here?
Where the hell was Max?
His boy would never leave his side if he had been injured.
Shifting his shoulders and arms, he found his body slowly woke up and answered his demands. Everything hurt except for his left leg. Not only did the limb not respond to his trying to move it, he could not feel it.
“What the hell?” he whispered through a mouth and throat that felt coated with sand and gravel. He struggled to sit up, but before he could get too far, two heads popped up from where they had been resting on the mattress next to his hips.
“Don’t move, Silver,” Max ordered softly as he stood and leaned over so all Silver could see was his face.
“What? Where? How?” Silver managed to croak before licking his lips.
As Max eased back, keeping a hand on his shoulder, Annie moved in, bringing a spoon to his lips. He parted them, and cold, wet, ice chips slipped into his mouth. He moaned in gratitude as the cold wetness eased the dryness in his mouth. After swallowing it, he opened his mouth in a silent request for more. It took another two spoonsful before the fire in his throat finally eased.
His body felt like he had been in a bar brawl, or six, and his head pounded with every beat of his heart. Swallowing hard, he whispered, “What happened?”
“You were in an accident,” Max said simply. “Thankfully you weren’t hurt worse than you are.”
“Bike?”
Max leaned in and kissed him gently before answering. “It’s a little dented, but nothing that can’t be fixed while you’re healing.”
Silver took a breath and closed his eyes as the pain slowly increased. “Hurt,” he grunted as he tried to shift and get more comfortable, which caused every muscle in his body to object.
Annie picked up a handset and pushed a red button. Leaning in, she got nose to nose with Silver. Tears filled her eyes as she stared deep into his. “If you ever race off like that again after we disagree about some
thing, we’re going to have a problem. I love you and need you safe and well, not broken and lying in a hospital.”
She closed the distance and kissed him. He tried to kiss her back, but felt himself drifting off to sleep as the pain in his body eased. “Love you, both,” he murmured.
* * * *
Max watched the interaction with a grin. Once Silver was asleep and snoring softly, he reached across the man’s body and took Annie’s hand. “I love you, too,” he said.
Annie squeezed his hand and smiled back, though there was worry in her eyes. “I love you, too. Do you think it’s too soon? Are we rushing things? I mean, we barely know one another.”
Max smiled and leaned over the bed, pleased when she did the same. He kissed her gently before saying, “I believe at our age, we need to grab every minute of happiness we can. And, Annie, you make us both very, very happy. I’m sure there will be challenges along the way, but as long as we communicate I believe we’ll be fine.”
Annie blinked, and the hesitation in her eyes eased. “That makes sense.”
Looking down at the man on the bed between them, she took in the cast that covered his right leg from toes to midthigh. “So what now?” she asked.
“Now we get him home and healed. While that happens we talk about everything, and share all of ourselves, and maybe I’ll even teach you to drive a motorcycle. And, if you’re interested, we’ll teach you the rules of our household.”
Annie giggled as relief loosened all the muscles of her body. “I think I know those. Silver’s in charge and what Silver wants, Silver gets.”
Max nodded. “Something like that. I will warn you that while he’s healing he’ll get grouchy because he won’t be able to do everything he’ll want to.”
“Well, between us, I think we’ll be able to handle him. And if he gets too bad, we’ll put him in the guest room and take away his crutches.”
Silver’s Triad Page 9