Love Under Two Montanans [The Lusty, Texas Collection]

by Cara Covington

  “You think anyone is going to believe that, coming from you?”

  “Have you not been paying attention to the news, lately? All you have to do anymore is accuse someone of sexual misconduct…and then sit back and let public opinion do the rest. Those fucking bastards won’t know what hit them.”

  Liz Maxwell didn’t say anything for a long moment. “It might go over better if we can come up with a young woman who’d be willing to testify against him, says he did her, too. I can pay for that. When the shit hits the fan, you can tell George you have a witness who’ll come forward, unless he stops fighting and gives you everything you want. That would clinch it.”

  “I like the way you think, Liz. It’s just like old times.”

  “I’m not doing this for you, Norah. When this is over, we’ll still be done, you and I. This is for my sweet boys. Maybe I can get them to cop to having been molested by George, too. It might get their sentences shortened.”

  “I’ll say it was so to back you up. Let’s drink to it, shall we?”

  Parker heard the sound of glasses being clinked, and a few seconds later, a glass being set down. He felt the movement, so he pulled his hand back and stopped recording.

  Bare seconds later, Liz Maxwell left, and then, two minutes after that, so did Norah Benedict.

  Parker looked at Dale for a long moment. “Holy fuck, man. I thought our family was shit.”

  “It’s not their whole family that’s shit. It’s just Norah.”

  “Yeah. Let’s give it a few minutes to be sure they’re gone then get our asses home. I want to upload this video and see if it’s as revealing as I think it is.”

  “And then what are we going to do?”

  “The only thing we can do. We’ll call Cord and Jackson down in Texas and give them a heads-up.”

  “Good idea. I’m glad we’ve kept in touch with the two of them over the last couple of years.”

  “Me, too, brother. Me, too.”

  Chapter One

  Jenny Collins’s hips swayed, just slightly, to the beat of Sam Hunt’s “Body Like a Back Road,” streaming from the sound system. She was working the later shift at Angel’s Roadhouse—two in the afternoon until closing, at two a.m.

  Angela Monroe Stone, Jenny’s boss, and her new husband, Ricoh, were still on their honeymoon, and although they were staying someplace in the area, so far, they’d only stopped by once—for lunch last Tuesday with Brittany Phillips, Sean and Noah Kendall, and the men’s folks visiting from Wyoming.

  Monday at the roadhouse was always busy all day, and that suited Jenny just fine. If it was a slow day, the twelve hours of her shift could drag. But that rarely happened at the beginning of the week. So Jenny was busy, happy to be so, and swaying in time with the music. The supper crowd was beginning to morph into the evening date night/dance crowd. The kitchen was open until midnight, which meant there’d still be food ordered and served. But for the most part, and for the rest of this shift, her tray would carry mainly beer, wine, whiskey, and soda.

  Laci finished loading her orders and then set a glass of sweet tea on the tray, too. “That’s for you. You’re past your break time, again.” Her grin took away any sting that might have been hiding in her words.

  Jenny shrugged. “Sometimes, I’m having so much fun here I just forget.” That was nothing but the pure truth.

  “Well, your bff is in the house, and she could use a friendly face right about now.”

  Jenny frowned, her gaze immediately locating Ari Benedict. Laci’s cousin by marriage, Ari had been among the first people to reach out to her when she’d hired on here at Angel’s. Satisfied that there appeared to be no trouble between Ari and her husbands, Cord and Jackson—a situation that was rarer than rare—she turned back to look at Laci.

  The expression on her co-worker’s face said it all.

  “Montana blues?” Jenny knew that Cord and Jackson’s parents were getting divorced and that their mother had been causing trouble for all of them, starting back when Addison, the guy’s sister first came to Lusty. That was before her own arrival here. Ari, Addison, and Charlotta, Ari’s sister-in-law married to the guy’s brothers, had been open about the family drama that often brought them all down or pissed them all off, depending.

  Ari and Addison—and Jenny, too—had all worried about Charlotta last year because she’d been expecting her first baby. Sometimes the Montana drama could be bad. But Patrick Benedict had been born in January with no complications, a healthy baby boy, and they had all relaxed.

  Still, what hurt the Benedict women’s husbands, hurt them. And for Jenny, what hurt her friends, hurt her.

  “Thanks for the heads-up,” she said to Laci. Hefting her tray, she nodded. “I’ll take my break over there, if I’m not interrupting a family discussion.”

  “You won’t be. Want your usual supper delivered?”

  “Yes, please.”

  Jenny carried her tray to the tables that were hers. She set down the ordered drinks along with smiles and a few friendly words, collected cash, and gave change—all in a ballet that felt natural to her. She liked to think of herself as more than just another blonde delivering drinks in a roadhouse. She listened, truly listened, to her customers. Many were repeat guests, and she knew their names and the names of their spouses and kids.

  In the case of the Benedicts and a lot of the other people from the nearby town of Lusty, that was a case of remembering three or four names, as many of the marriages were ménage marriages. One wife with two or sometimes three husbands was a concept she’d thought strange, at first.

  It didn’t take her long, however, to see what a sweet deal it was for not just the women, and the children, but for the men, too.

  Finally, Jenny set her tray back on the bar, took her sweet tea, and made her way over to the back corner—or Benedict Central, as it was sometimes known.

  Ari, who was sitting beside Cord and Jackson, looked up and smiled. She moved a bit closer to Cord, and he and Jackson helped, making room for Jenny. Sitting with Cord, Jackson, and Ari were Laci’s husbands, Trace and Lucas, and their cousins Chase and Brian and their wife, Carrie. Benedicts all, four from Montana and two from Lusty, they were three sets of cousins—the two Montana sets related to each other more directly by the blood.

  Jenny wasn’t surprised not to see Jesse, Barry, and Shar. These days, they stayed home more often than not.

  “Damn, guys. I’m sorry. I don’t know what to say,” Brian Benedict said. He sent a grin to Jenny, and Carrie waved.

  “This is so far out of our wheelhouse,” Chase said. He nodded to Jenny then turned his attention back to Ari and her men. “What the hell are you going to do?”

  Jenny had no idea what they were talking about, and she’d never ask. She figured that she’d either eventually figure it out or they’d tell her.

  Jackson met her gaze. “Our cousins Parker and Dale called a couple of days ago from Billings. Apparently, they were in a restaurant when Norah and her best friend, Liz, came in. The women didn’t even see them. Long story very short, Norah was telling Liz about her new sure-fire plan to, in her words, ‘beggar’ our father. She planned to tell her lawyer that Dad sexually abused four of his six children.”

  Jenny’s mouth dropped. “Oh, my God, that’s a horrible lie to tell! Someone accuses you of that, and you’re innocent, there’s almost no way to escape the fallout!”

  Jackson gave her a small smile, and she realized it was because she hadn’t even questioned their father’s innocence.

  “I’ll second Chase’s question. What are you going to do?” Trace asked. He shook his head. “This is too much, even for Norah.”

  “What we’re going to do is already done,” Cord said. “We had a conference call—Dad, all of us here in Lusty, and Veronica and her husbands over in Divine. Parker had been on the ball and actually got a video of Norah revealing her grand plan, including her admission that it was all a lie, along with Liz offering to find some teenage girl and pay
her to say Dad abused her, too. She even offered up her own sons as past victims.” Cord shook his head. “Parker forwarded the video to us so we’d all be able to see it. After some discussion, we decided to ask Parker to release the video on YouTube.”

  “That was asking a lot of him, and Dale,” Jackson said, “because they’re there, and that would no doubt put them in the middle of a shitstorm they don’t deserve to be in. But they agreed as soon as we asked, no hesitation at all. They said they didn’t care about the fallout. They just wanted to do what was right and to discredit Norah. The video was posted yesterday, and it’s already gone viral.”

  “You’ve mentioned those cousins before, haven’t you?” Jenny said.

  “Likely,” Cord said, “because they’re about the only ones left up there that any of us even speak to.”

  “How are your cousins handling the fallout?” Brian asked.

  Laci came to the table, handed Jenny a plate with a personal-sized pizza cut in four and a green salad. Then she scooted around the table and kissed her own husbands before heading back to work.

  Ari made room for the plate and grinned at Jenny. “You ever eat anything else, girlfriend?”

  “Not while working, no. I can get up and let this sit for a bit if I’m needed, and it’ll be just as good when I get back to it—because I like my pizza cold or hot, my salad cold or warm, no difference.”

  “Jenny Collins, I think you’re the most practical person I know.” Ari shook her head.

  Jenny grinned, used her fork to stab some salad, and returned her attention to the conversation. She smiled down at her plate because this was a comfortable rhythm for them. She couldn’t count the number of times she and Ari had inadvertently—or not—interrupted larger conversations. Tonight, as usual, Carrie snickered, and the guys waited until they were done with their back and forth to continue.

  “They immediately came under fire from just about every damn one in the family.” Cord sounded disgusted. “What we didn’t mention is their older brothers had been riding them, giving them a hard time—being the belligerent asshole bullies they’ve always been. A week or so before their encounter with Norah and her friend concocting conspiracies, Parker and Dale had finally thrown in the towel and quit. They moved off the family ranch and into the city and have been looking for work ever since.”

  “You should have them come down,” Chase said. “We were thinking of hiring a couple more hands to help with the ranch anyway. Who better than family to fill those spots?”

  “We’ve already extended the invitation,” Jackson said. “They’re on their way as we speak. We didn’t mention the possibility of work because we have an idea what their immediate response to that would be.”

  Jenny hadn’t often seen Cord angry, but right then, he looked pissed.

  “Of course, they’re traveling this way, angry as hell.” Cord said. “The guys have friends they were going to board their horses with while they were gone. Parker called this morning. Marcus the Terrible—their oldest brother—wouldn’t let them have their own horses. Claimed they were property of the ranch.”

  “That fucking bastard. I should have punched his fucking lights out years ago,” Trace said.

  Jenny didn’t even blink at the words that tinged the air blue as all the rest of the men weighed in on what they thought of some fuckwad named Marcus the Terrible. She’d never had a horse, but she understood the importance of one to a rancher—to a cowboy. And that was what all these Benedicts here were, to their core. Even Cord and Jackson, who’d left the ranch long enough to play professional football and net themselves a Super Bowl ring or two, were really cowboys at the heart of it all.

  Ari had been comforting her husbands a few minutes before, but there was such a pinched look, such sharp anger on her face. She gazed around the table. “Do you know what I hate the most about this entire mess? That bitch, crying wolf like that to shake down a man for money does unspeakable harm to those of us who’ve actually been abused. No fucking wonder we women are not believed when we finally get up the nerve to tell someone what’s happened to us…it’s because of bitches like her, crying rape and abuse just to be selfish and get their own way.”

  Jenny reached over and laid her hand on Ari’s shoulder and rubbed gently. Cord had his arm around her, and Jackson held her hand, but the men seemed to know this was one time when a woman’s touch was needed, too.

  Jenny didn’t say anything because words weren’t required. Compassion, love, understanding—these were the salves necessary to dress Ari’s wounds. Jenny had them in abundance for her best friend.

  Both of Ari’s men were rightly pissed, and Jenny was glad to see they weren’t feeling guilty. This wasn’t on them, not one whit. This was just on Norah Benedict.

  And how telling that none of her children ever call her mom or mother.

  “I have to believe that Norah will get her just desserts,” Jenny said. “I know I’m naïve. But I cling to the belief that things generally work out the way they’re meant to be, and that just as living right has its own reward, so does the opposite. Holding malice and ill will close to the heart just taints a person, inviting a horrible kind of karma.”

  “From your lips to God’s ears, girlfriend.” Air laid her head on Jenny’s shoulder for just a moment.

  Jenny had told Ari once the reason she was so optimistic. Her life journey had convinced her of blessings just waiting to be gathered.

  You go from being a baby who barely escapes being run over by the drunk driver who orphaned you to being adopted into a good home, and now a wonderful community, you have to figure you’re blessed.

  Jenny Collins had no doubt at all that she was indeed well and truly blessed.

  * * * *

  “You snore worse than my last girlfriend.”

  Parker sat up, stretched as best he could in the passenger seat of Dale’s F150, and then shot his brother the finger.

  “I’m more congenial than your last girlfriend, too.”

  Dale laughed. “Well, you got me there. But that snoring of yours? I’m serious. Dude, maybe you have a deviated septum or something.”

  “I don’t know about a deviated septum, but I think my sacro may have become permanently separated from my iliac. These seats weren’t meant for sleeping in.” Then Parker pitched his voice to sound like a child. “Are we there yet?”

  Dale chuckled again, a sure sign that he was tired. “I think we’re a couple hours out. You didn’t sleep that long.”

  “I slept enough.” Parker had always needed less sleep than his brother. “Do you want me to drive?”

  “No, I’m good, but I could sure use some coffee.”

  “That makes two of us.” He grabbed up the GPS and began the coffee search. “We’re coming into a town called Coleman.” There’d been only farm and ranch land around him when he’d opened his eyes, but he could see town up ahead. “Sit down or drive-thru?”

  “Sit down. I need to stretch my legs a bit—and pee.”

  “Me, too. Yeah. Okay, here’s a restaurant. And it’s just up ahead, about three miles or so, on the right.”

  Dale found it easily enough, and there was curb parking, which was handy. They got out of the truck, stretched, and looked around.

  “It’s hotter here, no question,” Dale said.

  Parker nodded. “Cord said it gets really hot and humid starting…” He looked at his brother and huffed out a breath. “I guess starting about now.” July, as usual, had been pretty warm in Billings—into the high eighties. This felt closer to a hundred, with enough humidity to fill a towel.

  “I didn’t think it would be that much different,” Dale said. “But the longer I stand here, the hotter it seems.”

  He stepped up onto the sidewalk, and they walked into the Texan Diner. It was exactly what Parker had hoped it would be. Dale headed straight to the can, and Parker settled into a booth. It was about two in the afternoon on hump day—Wednesday—and there were only a handful of customers pr
esent.

  A man came out from behind the counter, two menus in hand. “Hey there. You looking for a meal or just some tea?”

  “We’d like some coffee, if you have it.”

  The man grinned and nodded. “Just made it fresh.”

  He left the menus, likely in case they changed their minds, and brought the pot with two mugs. Dale slid into the booth across from him, and the server poured out the brew.

  “Where’re you fellas from?” he asked.

  “Montana. On our way to visit kin.”

  “That’s a drive,” he said. “Y’all still got snow on the ground up there?”

  Parker sensed he was kidding him, or at least he hoped he was. He grinned, deciding to play along. “Naw, it melted just before we left. I guess snowboarding season is over.”

  The man chuckled and left them to their coffee.

  “Did you text Jackson?” Dale asked.

  “Thanks for reminding me.” Parker pulled out his cell phone and sent their cousin an update. They’d been keeping him apprised as to their progress, right after they left the family ranch. Parker shut that thought down because every time he thought about his asshole oldest brother refusing to let them get their horses, he got mad all over again. They’d had a place to take them, folks he knew he could trust to take care of the two until they came back to Montana.

  Truth was he hadn’t trusted his brothers not to take their anger at them out on the horses.

  His cell phone pinged announcing a response to his text. Parker read it and grinned.

  “He said he’ll see us soon, and supper will be practically ready when we get there.” He slid his phone away. “I have to tell you, I never expected the reaction we got from the family to posting that video.”