I smile. “There’s only two of you. How are you going to take his bike back to wherever you came from?”
“Is that a yes?”
“Yes, but you don’t have to sleep outside. I have a barn.”
Having one man in my house felt okay, but two? No, that’s not going to happen, especially with Cutter looking at me like I’m his next plaything.
“Thank you. I appreciate it.”
“Think you could help out around the ranch?” I blurt out.
Kyle grins, and where Sean’s smile turned my stomach to butterflies, his makes me feel safe with no flutters.
“I don’t know much about being on a ranch, but I can follow direction. You tell me what and how you need something done, and Cutter and I will do it.”
I glance at Cutter outside on his cell. “He feels dangerous.”
Kyle smiles. “Smart woman, he is. But I’ll keep him on a short leash.”
Mavis returns with two burgers and two sides of chicken wings.
“Tell me, honey, what can I get you two to drink?”
“Cokes are fine, ma’am.”
“Ma’am? Ma’am is my mother. My name, handsome, is Mavis.” Mavis winks down at him, and I feel my face begin to burn. “Now, tell me… is there anything else I can get you?”
“No, ma’am, I mean Mavis. This is good.”
“Best burgers in the county,” replies Mavis as she walks away.
“I think she likes me.”
I smile widely at Kyle. “Oh, you got that right. Mavis is a terrible flirt. Always has been.”
Cutter comes back in, anger twisting his features. He slides into the booth next to Kyle. “Can I talk in front of her?” he asks.
Kyle eyeballs me for a second, then nods.
“Both their cells are dead. They’ve dropped off the map.” Cutter shakes his head. “I don’t like this, Prez. We should have bought more men. You’re too exposed here. We don’t know what we’re dealing with.”
Kyle nods and looks at me. “Is it still cool if we stay at your place?”
“Kyle, did you hear what I said?”
Kyle holds up a hand. “I heard. Beth, is it okay if we stay?”
Cutter lets out a growl as Kyle ignores him and continues to stare at me.
“Yes, it’s fine,” I reply quietly.
Kyle nods and holds up a hand in Cutter’s direction. “Eat your food.” Cutter picks up his burger and takes a bite, all the while scowling at me. “We’ll eat, then follow you home. Do we need to pick anything up for dinner?”
The change in conversation throws me for a second. “Ahh, no… maybe a loaf of bread. I have a freezer full of meat.”
“Beer?” asks Cutter.
Kyle scowls at him. “Eat your meal, then go buy the lady a loaf of bread.”
Cutter stands, burger in his hand. “I can eat while I go get the bread.”
Kyle leans back in the seat and looks up at him. “Good to see you can do two things at once.” Then he takes a bite of his food as Cutter storms out of the diner. “Don’t mind him, he’s worried is all. I should have at least a half dozen men with me for protection. Traveling across the country, going through other MCs’ territories without permission, it’s dangerous. If I get killed, it’ll look bad on him. Cutter is worried about Cutter and me to a certain extent.” Kyle smiles to himself and continues to eat.
“Why would you get killed?”
Kyle sighs. “I’m President of my MC. We aren’t a big group. There’s always a bigger faction wanting to take over our turf. And I didn’t ask permission from anyone to cross through their territories. Some won’t care, but some, if they find out I passed through without asking, well, they could get… upset. It’s why I didn’t come out with more men. Smaller numbers make it easy to go from place to place without too much fuss.”
“Are you bringing danger to my doorstep?”
“No, ma’am. All I want is my brother back safe and sound.”
“I want that, too.”
Kyle quirks an eyebrow. “You like him.” It’s not a question but a statement.
“Yeah, but he doesn’t like me.”
“You keep saying that.” Kyle takes another bite of his burger. “But you aren’t the sisterly type. I know my brother, he’s my best friend, and there’s no way he thinks of you as a sister. You don’t even look like Heather.”
I take a sip of my Coke and blurt out, “Sean said he killed a man.”
Kyle puts down his burger, stares me in the eyes, wipes his mouth with a napkin, and leans over the table. “Did he now?” I nod, words failing me under his scrutiny. “He must trust you. The guy he killed was a bad man. He didn’t deserve to live. You can’t tell anyone about this, Beth. No one but the family knows what happened. Sean would go away for a long time, might even get the death penalty. Do you believe me when I tell you that?”
I nod. I have questions, but I don’t want to voice them here. “You about done?”
Kyle pushes his plate away. “Yeah.”
“Come on, then, follow me home.” I stand, and so does he. Like his brother, he’s taller than me. “Kyle, can I trust you?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
I chuckle. “Sean said the same thing before he disappeared. And I’ll tell you what I told him, I own a lot of guns, and I’m a good shot, so I’ll shoot your ass if you two try anything.”
Mavis laughs. “She’s not messing around, sonny. And for the record, if you hurt our Bethy here, I’ll shoot you myself.”
Sean smiles. “I can assure you both I’m only here to find my brother and bring him home. I give you my word… Beth is safe.”
Mavis pulls out her cell and takes a picture of Kyle. “Just in case, handsome.” Mavis smiles at me. “You going, Bethy?”
“Yeah, Mavis. I’ll be back in town on Friday morning.”
“Good, I’ll see you then. As for you, Kyle, you take care of our Bethy.” Mavis touches his upper arm. “Or… we’ll take care of you.” She winks at him and walks away.
I follow Kyle out onto the sidewalk, and he’s grinning.
“What?”
“She scares me more than a little. Is she always like that?”
I shake my head. “No, but I wouldn’t mess with her either.”
Kyle climbs on his bike, and I point at my truck. “That’s me.”
Kyle does a two-fingered salute and nods at Mavis. “Lead the way.”
“What about Cutter?”
He points behind me. “He’s coming.”
I look over my shoulder, and sure enough, Cutter is strolling back up the street.
“Okay then, see you at home.”
When Cutter gets closer, he tosses the loaf of bread at me. “See you on the flip side.” He smirks as he wanders past.
Kyle
We follow Beth home, and she waits for us on the porch steps of her house. I dismount and stand at the bottom of her stairs. Cutter goes to follow Beth, and I place a hand firmly on his chest.
“You go ahead, Beth. We’ll be along in a minute.”
She frowns but nods and heads inside.
I wait until I can’t hear her footsteps, and then I turn to Cutter. “What do we know?”
“They’re hiding. I put the word out, but it’s going to cost us to find them.”
“How much?”
“Not sure.” Cutter runs a hand up and down the back of his neck. “We don’t even know if they’re alive.”
“We’d know. Whoever is hunting my brother wants the world to know he’s dead, and we don’t know that yet, so let’s assume he’s alive.” I move away from the house. “Sean told her about Lamond.”
Cutter stumbles. “Wh-What?”
“You heard me.”
“Can she be trusted?” I nod my head and purse my lips. “Sean trusted her, and it’s good enough for me, but no club talk in front of her. Beth’s not one of us, so we need to be careful.”
“How careful?” asks Cutter as his hand drifts to the knife
I know he’s got hidden beneath his T-shirt.
I shake my head. “Gave her my word she’d be safe. I might not like that Sean shared his secret, but we have to have faith in him.” I walk back to my bike and remove my duffle. “Get your stuff. We’re staying in the barn. You’ll keep away from her, yeah?”
Cutter can be unpredictable, but he always has the club’s best interests at heart, and as a rule, he does follow orders. It’s the reason I bought him along—he’s loyal—Cutter always puts the club first.
“Is she Sean’s?”
I nod even though I don’t know. “Yeah.”
Cutter nods and grabs his swag. “Cool.”
We both walk up the stairs to her home, and Beth comes out to meet us. She has a note in her hands and holds it out for me. It’s Sean’s handwriting and tells me nothing I don’t already know.
“Thanks.”
She points to the barn. “There’s a loft above the stalls, you’ll find an old wooden chest up there, it’s got blankets and pillows inside. The straw in the loft is clean, so it’ll make a comfortable mattress. I hope you like the smell of mother nature.”
“We’ll be fine.”
“What time is dinner?” asks Cutter.
“Six. Feel free to come up before then if you get bored.”
Cutter grins at Beth and gives her the once over.
I don’t like it.
“We’ll see you at six. Don’t go to too much trouble. Come on, Cutter, let’s see where we’ll be sleeping for the next few days.”
Beth smiles at me, I nod and gently push Cutter back down the stairs.
When we are far enough away from her, I ask, “What the fuck was that?”
“I’m only playing with her,” replies Cutter with a grin.
“I’m not going to repeat this again… Back. The. Fuck. Off.”
The grin drops off his face, and he nods. “Got it, Prez.”
“Make fucking sure you do.”
The next day, I mount the stairs to Beth’s home two at a time. There’s a sapling near her front steps, and it has a piece of red plastic tied to it which is blowing in the wind. I knock on her front door, it’s early, but I’m sure she’s up. While I wait for her to answer, I check around. There’s a letter on her doormat, so I bend to pick it up, and the door above me explodes—splinters of wood fly everywhere. I fling open her door and dive inside, kicking it shut behind me.
“Beth, wherever you are, get the fuck down and stay away from the windows,” I yell.
Crawling into her kitchen, I make my way to a safer position, then sit with my back up against the cupboards.
My cell is in my pocket, and I dial Cutter.
“I’m coming, Prez.”
“Someone tried to shoot me. You stay the fuck where you are.”
“What direction?”
“I don’t know. I was facing the door, I bent over, and the shot went through the top half of it, right where my fucking head was.”
“I’ve got cover. I could go look unless you’ve got a better suggestion?”
“Do it! But be careful, brother.”
The line goes dead.
“Beth!” I yell. “Beth,” I repeat louder.
“Yes. What’s going on?”
“Someone took a shot at me. Where are you?”
“Upstairs in the hall.”
“Stay there until I tell you it’s safe to come down.”
“I’m going to get my gun. I’ve got a rifle in my bedroom.”
“Okay, but keep low and stay away from the windows.”
I listen to her movements and for more gunfire, but it doesn’t come.
“Beth, do you have any guns down here?”
“Under the kitchen sink.”
Opening the cupboard, I find a shotgun with a box of shells, and I thank the gods Beth lives on a ranch and knows how to shoot and protect herself.
“Kyle, what are we going to do?”
“For the moment, we wait.”
I should have known she wouldn’t be one to follow orders. The sound of her running down the stairs has me up and moving in her direction. I get to Beth as she hits the bottom of the stairs, then pull her close and away from the front room, but not before she sees the hole in the door.
“Oh my God,” whispers Beth.
I drag her into the kitchen, but Beth keeps moving out into a mudroom. She puts the rifle down, sits, and pulls boots on.
“Now, the question is… are they after you? Does this have something to do with my father? Or are they after Sean?”
“That’s more than one question.”
With a scowl, Beth stands. “Don’t be an asshole.” She slings the rifle over her shoulder. “You ready to go out the back?”
“How do we know there aren’t more of them?”
Her scowl turns into a frown. “Shit.”
“Yeah.”
“Who do you think it is?” Beth asks as she chews on her bottom lip.
“No one knows I’m here. I only have Cutter with me, so I could slip away with no fuss.” I scrub a hand over my face and continue, “Your dad? He was murdered?” Beth nods. “Doesn’t make sense they’d fire at me because of him.”
“That leaves Sean. With your cut, and from behind, you could be him.”
This worries me. Knowing what I know about Sean’s old unit, these fuckers could be here to end him.
Which means they don’t know where he is.
And if they don’t know where he is, he’s safe.
“Cutter is doing some recon. We need to sit tight.”
“Judging by the hole in the door, the shot came from up in the hills, directly in front of my house. There’s no way Cutter can get up there without being seen. You need to call him back.”
I can see why Sean likes her. Beth is smart and pretty.
I nod. “Let’s give it five more minutes, then I’ll call him. Cutter is industrious, and you’d be surprised at some of the shit that man has pulled off. He’s also deadly.”
Beth nods and leans against the wall. “I’m not good at waiting.”
Grinning at her, I nod. “No, shit. Stay put means stay put. You could have been shot.”
With a shake of her dark curly hair, she answers, “They aren’t after me. Did you call the sheriff?”
“No. I wanted to see what Cutter found out first.”
“Call the sheriff, Kyle. We don’t get much trouble out here. He’ll be out here in no time.”
I hand her my cell and watch as she makes the call.
“Hey, Lucy, this is Beth Trent. Someone shot a hole through my front door.” Beth nods. “Thanks, Lucy. I’m downstairs near the back door with my rifle, so make sure the sheriff tells me who he is or I might shoot him.” A small smile plays on her lips, and I get the impression that shooting the sheriff is something she might want to do. Beth ends the call and hands me back the cell.
“They’re on their way. Call Cutter.”
I nod, press some numbers, and put the cell to my ear.
“Yeah, Prez?”
“Anything?”
“Nah. Found a nest… no shell casings, no footprints. I did find tire tracks from a vehicle, though. Whoever it was is long gone.”
The tension between my shoulder blades eases. I lock eyes with Beth and nod at her. “Come back. Be careful. We don’t know if it’s more than one person.”
“Will do.”
The line goes dead, and I slip the cell into my jeans pocket.
“Whoever it was is long gone.”
“Think we should go outside?”
I shake my head. “Not until your sheriff arrives.”
Beth
The sound of a car coming up my drive has me moving toward the front room. Looking through the hole in the front door, I see three police cruisers tearing up my driveway toward the house. With the rifle barrel pointing down, I open the door to move outside.
Kyle slams the door shut and looks at me with annoyance.
“It’s t
he sheriff,” I state and try the door again, but he puts his weight against it.
“We don’t know if it’s safe.”
“Kyle, your man said the person was long gone. We’re okay. Now, let me go outside and greet the sheriff before he comes in here, guns a blazing, and shoots your ass because he doesn’t know you.”
With a huff, Kyle moves away from the door and puts the shotgun on the dining room table. I open the door as one of the sheriff’s deputies comes bounding up the stairs.
“Slow down there, Cody.”
“You okay, Beth?” he asks with his gun drawn and pointed at Kyle.
“Cody, put the gun away. This is Kyle. He’s a friend.”
Sheepishly, Cody lowers his gun, but he doesn’t house his weapon.
Sheriff Rory Holt climbs out of his cruiser and ambles toward me. There’s no hurry in his step. He’s looking around, taking everything in. When the sheriff gets to the bottom of my stairs, a tree next to them seems to have his attention.
I walk to the top of the stairs with Kyle next to me. “Thanks for coming, Sheriff.”
He nods, pulls an evidence bag out of his pants, and takes something off the tree.
Without looking at me, he says, “This was a professional hit. Someone wants you dead, Beth. What have you done?”
“It wasn’t me they took a shot at.”
The sheriff eyeballs me and quirks an eyebrow. “Who then?”
“I think they were shooting at Kyle here, but I think they thought he was Sean.”
The sheriff walks up the stairs and locks eyes with Kyle. “Who the hell is Sean, and who the hell are you?”
“Sheriff, he’s—”
“I’m Kyle MacKenny. Sean is my brother. He’s been working for Beth.”
Sheriff Holt nods and moves his gaze to me. “Heard you had a new ranch hand. Where is he?”
I glance at Kyle, who shrugs. “He left a week ago. Kyle looks like him.”
Kyle scoffs, and the sheriff’s head quickly turns back to him.
“You got something to say?”
“As I’m his older brother, Sheriff, he’d look like me not the other way around.”
The barest of a smile plays across Sheriff Holt’s face. “Hmm…” Then he nods and moves around both of us to look at my front door. “How’d he miss you?”
Spark of Vengeance: MacKenny Brothers Series Book 2: An MC/Band of Brothers Romance Page 8