Mace: Conner Brothers Construction, Book 3 (CBC)

by Cee Bowerman

  To be honest, I didn’t know exactly where my children were staying either. I could find out easily, but I didn’t want to know. If Darryl got to me that would be one of the first questions he asked. I knew how he operated and that no matter how strong I was he’d find a way to get it out of me.

  At least if I didn’t know their location, I wouldn’t have any information to give him no matter what he did to me.

  “Okay, I trust you know what you’re doing where they’re concerned. I’m not sure he has any reason to harm them, but there’s no telling how his mind works.”

  “If he has them, he can make me do anything he wants. I want to make sure he never gets near them. I have them as safe as they can possibly be.”

  “Good,” Detective Amerson nodded. “And you’ll call me if you hear from him or see him?”

  “Yes,” I promised. I would probably call him. But if my cousin or his friends happened to find Darryl before the cops did, I would play the Quiet Game better than anyone had before. “I’ll call you.”

  I stood up with Detective Amerson and we walked out into the hall. I wasn’t surprised to see Jace and Mace standing against the wall waiting for us. Once Detective Amerson greeted my protection detail, he went on his way with a wave in my direction.

  “Are you okay?” Mace asked as he pulled me into his arms.

  “I’m fine,” I reassured him. “He didn’t show up, he just let it be known that I’m in his sights.”

  “Let’s get out of here.” Mace kissed me softly and then moved a few steps back so I could gather my things. “We’ll talk about it later.”

  “Nothing to talk about,” I said with a defeated shrug. “He’s here and I’m terrified. End of story.”

  ◆◆◆

  “I don’t think getting a puppy is something I need to do right now, Mace.” I tried to laugh, but it didn’t come out. I was too upset for any humor.

  I missed my kids. I missed my old life where I could come and go as I please. And I was terrified that my brother was lurking somewhere ready to jump out at me.

  “Let’s just look, okay?”

  “Sure.” I tried to smile but just couldn’t summon one up.

  I followed Mace into the front door of the animal shelter that was located outside of town. He held the door open for me and then we walked side by side down a long hall that was covered in pictures of happy people and the pets they’d adopted.

  “This is where Finn and Lena got their dogs. My other brother too,” Mace explained. “I wanted one, but I just haven’t made a love connection.”

  “The kids would love to have a pet, but I’ve already got so much going on. I don’t think I could add another responsibility without losing my damn mind.”

  “Someday we’ll get them a dog or a cat.” Mace smiled down at me. “Maybe one of each?”

  Someday? Mace was already thinking of a someday? I couldn’t think past tomorrow with all of this worry hanging over my head.

  I decided I’d pull a Scarlett and think about that tomorrow. Right now, I just needed to paste a smile on my face, maybe pet a kitten or something, and then go home and have a minor meltdown. Not a major one, just a minor one. I’d save the major for when Darryl actually showed up in person.

  “Mr. Conner!” The young woman at the desk greeted Mace with a smile, and I was shocked that the people here knew him by name. I hadn’t realized he was such an animal lover. “You’ll need to go to the second door on your left.”

  Mace smiled at the young woman and we turned the corner down a short hallway. Mace opened the second door and that’s when I heard them. My kids were inside!

  I shoved past Mace and then stopped abruptly when I saw them. My two kids were sitting in the middle of a kiddie pool full of kittens and puppies. Both of them were smiling and giggling without a care in the world.

  “Mama!” Vada yelled but didn’t get up. “Look at all these kitties!”

  “Mom! You’re here!” Cyrus started to pull kittens off his shirt and set them aside, but I stopped him.

  “No, don’t get up! I’ll come down there with you two.” I knelt beside the pool and reached over and pulled the kids closer to me so I could smell their hair and kiss their foreheads. I held them just a little longer than they were comfortable with and both of them pulled away. “How are my babies?”

  For the next hour, I sat there with my children, marveling over the kittens and puppies they were surrounded with and talking about peacocks, horses, and how careful you had to be when gathering eggs from the chicken coop.

  It took a weight off my heart just to see their smiling faces and be reassured that they were safe and well.

  ◆◆◆

  MACE

  I quietly watched Reba with her kids as I leaned against the cabinet by the door of the room they were in. They were chattering away about the adventures they’d had at their “sleepover” with their new friends and how excited they were for the things the family they were with had planned in the next few days.

  I could see that Reba couldn’t get enough of them. She touched their hair or their hands every chance she got and pulled them each closer to her sides when she finally got into the little pool for some “puppy and kitty time” at Vada’s urging.

  The three of them were a tight knit unit and I was an outsider. I was surprised at how much that hurt. I wanted to be in on the hugs and the laughter. I wanted the kids to light up when they saw me and laugh with me over some inside jokes that only our family understood.

  I wanted it all. One week in and I wanted to put my name on everything I saw in front of me so I could keep it close to me forever.

  I smiled when I thought of what my mom would say about my little revelation.

  When my brothers and I dated in high school and college, she’d tell us, “That’s not your forever, son. If she was, I’d be able to see it written all over your face.”

  My mom would hug me tight and cry if she could see me right now. I was positive I had the same look on my face that I’d seen on my dad’s a million times when he looked at Mom.

  It was early in our relationship yet, and we had many bumps in the road ahead of us. Reba was freaked out enough with all of the drama about her brother and having to let her babies go to protect them. If I blurted out that we were going to spend the rest of our lives together, she’d probably take off screaming.

  I was a patient man, or at least I could be if I put my mind to it. I’d wait.

  For right now, I’d watch the joy on the faces of the little family in front of me and soak it in like sunshine.

  “Mace! Do you really have a brother who looks just like you?” Cyrus asked me curiously. “Grunt said that your family has two of everything.”

  “Sort of.” I laughed. Most of the town saw us as an oddity, especially when we were all out somewhere together. Those that had grown up with us were used to seeing two of each, except for Finn and Bellamy, the only living set of fraternal twins. Our sister Greer was the only ‘single’ child in our family, but only because her twin had died soon after birth. “I have a bunch of brothers and all but Finn has a match.”

  “Because she died,” Vada told Cyrus solemnly. “Mace cried when it happened. I fixed her car.”

  “Actually, sweetheart, that was Greer’s car. She died, but so did our other sister, Bellamy. She was Finn’s twin sister, but they didn’t look a lot alike.”

  “Two sisters died?” Vada blurted out. The look on Reba’s face made me chuckle, but Vada didn’t seem to see how much her mother wanted her to be quiet. “I bet you cried for days and days.”

  “I surely did,” I admitted. “Still do sometimes.”

  “You cry?” Cyrus whispered.

  “Yep,” I nodded my head. “Nothing shameful about it. My heart hurts sometimes and the only way to let the pain leak out is through your eyes. That’s what crying is, and me and all of my brothers have done a lot of it this past year.”

  “I think you need a kitten.” Vada had tear
s streaming down her face as she held out a little gray kitten for me to take. “I don’t like my brother, but I’d cry if he went away.”

  “Oh, sweetie.” Reba pulled her close. “You don’t have to like him to love him, as weird as that sounds.”

  “I don’t like her either, but if she died, I’d cry some,” Cyrus grudgingly admitted. “Maybe even a few times.”

  I laughed at the two kids who were trying so hard to say they loved each other without giving up an inch of ground in whatever feud they were in the middle of right now.

  The kitten I was holding purred as I rubbed its fat belly. I stared down at it for a minute thinking that I just might need a cat at my house. I could see the four of us piled in front of the television with this cat sitting across the way.

  There I go again, I smiled to myself, picturing a forever with these three. I gently put the kitten back down next to Vada before I moved away.

  “When do we get to go home?” Cyrus had finally wound down, his excitement at telling his mom all about the things they’d seen since they left us at the diner was over and he wanted to get to the heart of the matter. “Why can’t we?”

  “It’s not safe right now, baby,” Reba told them honestly. “It’s safer for you to be with Grunt and his family. No one knows where you are, including me, and that’s the way it has to stay for a while. We’ll get to see each other here and there, but for right now, you’re going to keep living with Grunt.”

  “They’re nice,” Cyrus admitted. “And they have this room in the attic that’s always quiet. I can go there to read if I want to.”

  “We’re building a machine for school tomorrow,” Vada explained. “It’s not like regular school. We’re going to use marbles and rocks and a bowling ball to light a fire so we can roast marshmallows for our s’mores after dinner.”

  “Do what?” Reba leaned forward, confused at Vada’s explanation. “A machine to light a fire?”

  “We’ll put the marble on the racetrack and then it’s going to hit the thing and make it roll around and then fall and hit the thing at the bottom and then the bucket will pour the water…” Vada was giving her a step by step and Reba wasn’t putting it together. “You’re not listening to me.”

  “I am, I’m just not following.” Reba laughed.

  “Grunt said that only his kids can ‘Macgyver shit up instead of lighting a goddamn match like normal folk’ and then Shannon punched him in the belly,” Cyrus told his mother solemnly. “I don’t think it hurt him because he laughed and started kissing her neck.”

  I couldn’t help but smile at the look of disgust on Cyrus’s face, and when I glanced at Reba, I saw that her lips were pulled in between her teeth like she was biting back a smile.

  “Language, Cy,” Reba whispered.

  “I didn’t really say it, I just told you what he was saying,” Cyrus defended himself.

  Reba wasn’t buying it and just stared at him until he apologized. I could barely hold in my laughter, so I turned around and walked out into the hall, pulling the door closed softly behind me. I heard voices and turned to see Grunt at the end of the hall sitting behind a desk with his feet propped up on the corner. I walked his direction and he and the woman he was speaking to both stopped talking to watch me as I got closer.

  “Hey, man,” Grunt greeted. “This is Nicole. She runs the animal shelter.”

  “Pleasure to meet you.” I shook her hand with a smile. “Thank you for letting us use your room today.”

  “Not a problem at all.” Nicole smiled. “If anything, it’s helping me out a little bit. We like to give plenty of love to each animal and I know that the ones in there are having a ball and getting lots of scratches and belly rubs right now.”

  “That they are,” I nodded. “Once this excitement wears off, I’m going to come back and see about adopting a pet or two for my house. I’ve been here before and a few of my brothers have adopted dogs from here, but I just never found the one I couldn’t see myself living without.”

  “Come back anytime,” Nicole invited. “We’ll find one that fits you perfectly. I’ll let you two talk. I’ve got some work to do in the back. Holler if you need me.”

  Grunt saluted Nicole with two fingers as she walked past him, and she reached over and tried to muss his hair. Grunt dodged her hand with a frown, and Nicole laughed as she walked out of the room.

  “My old lady’s best friend,” Grunt nodded toward the door Nicole had walked through. “Good woman.”

  “She seems like it,” I said as I sat down in the chair across the desk from Grunt. “How are the kids doing at your place? They seem excited about all the stuff going on.”

  “There’s always stuff happening at my house. Shannon does her best to keep the kids entertained while trying to teach them at the same time. That woman’s got nerves of steel and the patience of a saint.”

  “You guys are making a machine?”

  “Fuck, yeah,” Grunt grumbled. “I wasn’t too keen on it at first, but the kids are excited. They’ve been drawing diagrams for a week and we’ve been all over the place collecting shit they think they’re going to need. Our back patio is going to turn into some weird fucking thing that’s gonna end up lighting the fire pit so we can roast s’mores and it’s all going to start with some dominos or some shit. I don’t know. I’m just along for the ride.”

  “You’re going to enjoy it,” I laughed.

  “Yeah, I probably am,” Grunt admitted. “Vada and Cyrus fit right in, so your girl’s got nothing to worry about. She will anyway because that’s just what women do, but talk to her when she starts to get upset. Reassure her it’s all going to work out.”

  “I will,” I nodded. “He sent her flowers at work today.”

  “I heard about that. Tink’s neighbor spotted him in town too.”

  “Yeah.”

  “If she’s okay with it, I think we should stick to phone calls for a while. We know you guys weren’t followed today, but if we meet at the same place and he realizes it, he’s going to get suspicious.”

  “It is an odd location to meet up,” I said as I looked around. “What made you pick this place? Your wife’s friend?”

  “Yeah, something like that,” Grunt shrugged. “We’ll give it a week and if there’s still nothing, we’ll find another place to meet up. I’ve got a few ideas.”

  “Okay, I’ll let Reba know.”

  “Did she tell you I’ve known her since she was a kid?”

  “She mentioned that.”

  “Girl got shit for parents and a psycho for a brother. Her aunt and uncle tried to keep her here, but that mother of hers always yanked her back. Good to see that she grew into a well-adjusted woman. Her kids adore her and it sounds like she’s a great mom.”

  “I’ve seen her in action,” I nodded. “She is a good one.”

  “We’ll get this shit settled and then she can get back to it.” Grunt put his booted feet on the floor with a thump and sat up straighter in the chair. “I hate to break them up, but I’ve got to get back to the house. Shannon’s got a thing with her oldest two girls, so I’m on dinner duty.”

  “Pizza?”

  “Yep,” Grunt chuckled. “I’m a gourmet like that.”

  “I’ll go tell Reba. Give her five minutes to say goodbye?”

  “Will do,” Grunt nodded. “I’ll come knock in five. I’m going to find Nicole and say goodbye then I’ll be there.”

  “Thanks, man.”

  “No thanks necessary, this is what family does.”

  Grunt walked through the same door that Nicole had gone through earlier and I made my way back to the room where I’d left Reba and the kids. I opened the door and Reba looked up at me with a smile as she listened to Vada. I tapped my wrist as if I was pointing to a watch and Reba’s smile faded.

  “And this is my special bracelet Grunt gave me. Cyrus has one too. We can’t take it off no matter what because it’s a special gift,” Vada explained. “Isn’t it cool?”

 
“Very cool,” Reba smiled as she put her wrist out and showed Vada. “He gave me one too.”

  “I told him boys don’t wear jewelry, but he just laughed at me and said boys can wear whatever they want to.” Cyrus put his wrist out and showed his mom the bracelet. “All of Grunt’s kids have one just like ours.”

  Reba nodded and then reached out and hooked her hand behind Cyrus’s neck. She pulled him closer to her and leaned down and rested her lips on his hair. I saw her take a deep breath before she let him go and did the same thing to Vada.

  “It’s time for me to go.” Reba’s smile was bright but there were tears in her eyes. “You guys need to get back to Grunt’s house.”

  “Can we see you tomorrow?” Cyrus asked Reba, his voice almost frantic.

  “I don’t know, baby,” Reba shook her head. “But I will talk to you on the phone, I promise.”

  “I’ll miss you, Mama.” Vada started to cry and I could see that Cyrus was going to follow suit.

  “I’ll miss you every second, but know that I love you and I’m thinking of you.” Reba pulled both kids in for a hug and I could see that she was on the edge, ready to burst into tears. “Bye, my babies.”

  “Hey, guys.” I knelt down next to the edge of the plastic pool they were still sitting in. “When everything gets back to normal, I think I’m going to come and get a pet for my house. A cat, I think, but I have no idea what the best color to pick would be.”

  “Orange,” Vada blurted.

  “Black,” Cyrus snapped. “Orange is girly.”

  “Is not!” Vada argued.

  While the kids argued and explained the merits of each color, I heard the door behind me open and then close. Grunt’s boots appeared next to me and I glanced back and realized Reba had already left the room.

  “I have a friend who’s old lady has a cat that’s as big as a dog,” Grunt told the kids, taking their attention away from me. “He looks like a gray lion.”

  The kids focused on Grunt and I took that opportunity to slowly get up and leave the room, Grunt’s voice fading behind me as I slowly pulled the door closed.