by Jamie Begley
“Where’s Pa?”
The two women looked at each other, remaining silent.
“He’s not here, is he?”
His mother answered his question. “No, he will be here one day, but not now. He has a lot to make up for.”
Dustin nodded. He hadn’t wanted Pa to face the fires of damnation for eternity, but he could deal with it if that earned him a place where his mother and grandmother were.
“Go, Dustin.” His grandmother waved him off.
Dustin paused before leaving. “Who’s she?” He nodded toward the beautiful woman waiting for his ma and grandmother.
His grandmother tilted her head curiously. “Who?”
“The woman behind you.”
His ma and grandmother turned around to stare at the woman, then turned back to him. “There’s no one there. Boy, you gotta go! No wonder Greer was fussing about you jabbering too much.”
Dustin looked at the younger woman again. She gave him a gentle smile before turning around and beginning to walk back to the tree she had come from. Why were they acting like they couldn’t see her? She looked too much like them not to be a relative.
When he looked back toward his ma and grandmother to ask again, they were gone.
“If they were in such damn hurry to get rid of me, the least they could have done was tell me how to get out of here,” he complained out loud. “Which way do I go?”
“Reach out, Dustin, just reach out.” The female voice that answered in his head was the same one he had heard in the circular room. Instinctively, he knew it was the young woman.
Dustin turned, not knowing what to do. Should he go back in the direction he had come or …
When a gossamer thread of gold appeared before him, he did what the voice had told him. He reached out for the thread.
Grasping it, he expected to be thrust back into the dark void. Instead, he found himself flying high toward the blue sky, going so high he could see the clouds coming nearer.
Holding on to the thread, he floated through the clouds, the white mist enveloping him. That was when he felt the little hand in his, and he could hear chanting in his head. The voices were praying for him to heal.
“Let them inside, Dustin, let them inside.”
Her voice was in his head. They had already been in his head, hadn’t they?
As he flew, a gust of power surged through him, stopping the counting he had unconsciously been doing when he had taken the small hand. Trying to think of a way to stop the reflex he developed as a child, he listened to the voices.
“Heal me. Heal me.”
That was when he could hear Ema’s little voice.
“My Dusty. Fix my Dusty.”
“Hold on to him, Ema. You have him. Bring him back down now,” Dustin heard Greer guiding Ema.
“Don’t want to.”
“Ema, come back down. You want to make your ma cry?”
“No.”
“She’ll cry if you don’t come back.”
“Okay.”
Dustin felt as if he was free-falling.
“Slower, Ema, slower. Like you’re swinging and you want to get off.”
“Okay. Dusty fixed.”
“Yes.”
Dustin heard the emotion in Greer’s voice that Ema couldn’t understand, but he could.
“Slow,” Greer coaxed. “Thatta girl. We’re home.”
Dustin floated downward like a feather landing softly. Then he cautiously opened his eyes to see Ema’s face resting on the pillow next to his.
“My Dusty.”
He had to clear his throat before saying, “Your Dusty.” He reached out to touch her sweet face, and when he did, he stared at his hand that had automatically moved at the thought. He hadn’t had to think hard to force it to move. He had moved it easily.
“Sleepy.” Ema closed her eyes, bringing her thumb to her mouth.
“Go to sleep, baby girl,” Dustin said huskily. “Ema?”
The little girl opened her sleepy eyes.
“Thank you.”
She popped her thumb out of her mouth. “Welcome.”
Dustin smiled as the little angel went to sleep, returning her thumb to her mouth.
He turned his head to see his family and friends surrounding his bed, their hands still linking them all together.
His eyes met the man sitting next to him. Dustin reached out to touch the new streak of white hair. His complexion was pale, but Dustin had seen him in worse shape.
“Greer ….” Dustin held his hand out to his brother.
Greer took it, pulling him toward him.
Dustin could never remember hugging his brother, other than a perfunctory congratulations or a bro hug. He hugged Greer now.
“Thank you.”
Dustin felt Greer’s arms go around him. “Baby brother, I told you I wasn’t going to let you die. Whatcha supposed to say?”
“You just couldn’t let me have a minute, could you?” Dustin said, releasing him.
“No. Whatcha supposed say?”
Dustin gave a sigh. He might have been better off dead than what he was going to have to admit.
“You were right, Greer. You’re always right.”
“Didn’t you bring a change of clothes?” Dustin scooted to the side to make room for Jessie. He loved his family, but he was glad to have some alone time with his new wife.
“I’ll change when they move you to your new room.” She snuggled down next him to rest her head on his chest. “I don’t want to let you out of my sight just yet.”
“Is that it?” he teased. “Or you just don’t want to get out of that dress?”
“I need to get your money’s worth out of it. It’s a twelve-thousand-dollar dress.”
“Technically, it’s a five-thousand-dollar dress.”
“It still too expensive to take it off yet. I need to get your money worth’s out of it.”
“Peanut, it was worth every dime I spent when you walked into the room with it on.”
“I do look good in it, don’t I?”
“Yes.” He stroked her breast, trying to taunt her nipple into making an appearance through the silky material. “Damn good. Why don’t you go and lock the door and close that curtain?”
“No. The nurse warned me when she caught us necking after Dr. Price left. She kind of scares me a little. I’m going to fix her up with Asher.”
Dustin knew which one Jessie was talking about. “I think she would be a better fit for Bubba. That way, he wouldn’t hear her bitching.”
“You might be right.”
The woman might be attractive, but she had the personality of Attila the Hun.
Jessie moved his hand away from her breast. “Are you sorry that you married me now that you’re not dying?”
His face turned serious. “You marrying me isn’t a joking matter.”
“It’s not?” She smoothed his frown away.
“No.”
“What’s put you in a grumpy mood all of a sudden?”
“Because I just thought of something, and I think you’re going to ask for a divorce when I tell you.”
“I’m not going to divorce you,” she assured him. “Besides, we’d have to consummate it first. I’d get an annulment.”
“You’re not getting that either,” he said, frowning again.
“I didn’t ask for one,” she reminded him.
“Good, because you’re not getting one.”
“Okay, I’m not asking for one. By the way, why would I?”
“Where are we going to live? I planned to build a house behind Greer and Holly’s but didn’t because I was dying.” He needed to garner her sympathy before he gave his suggestion. “So, we could live with them until our house is built.”
When she didn’t say anything, he grew worried.
“Well?”
“I’m thinking. We could move into my home.”
Dustin paled. The thought of living with Holt and Asher kind of made him wish he wer
e dead.
“We could live at my apartment until we build a house for us.”
“You would rather move back into the apartment building you were kidnapped from than move in with Greer and Holly?”
“What do you think?”
“I think I married a smart woman.” Kissing her, he started playing with her breast again. “Until we have our house built, I’ll even do the laundry.”
“I think that a man who does laundry is sexy.”
“Do you?” Running his tongue across her bottom lip, he took a sip of the sweetness within.
“Yes.” Kissing him back, she ran her hand down his chest. “I think a man who does the vacuuming is even hotter.”
“Isn’t that a coincidence? I love vacuuming.”
“You do?”
“Mmhmm ….” He parted her lips farther so he could deepen the kiss that made him float toward the heavens again. “I’m a vacuuming master. No one does it better than me.” Pulling the sheet at his waist higher, he flipped it so it would cover both of them.
“Dustin, what are you doing?” Giving a shocked gasp, she looked over his shoulder, making sure no one was looking into his room.
“Making sure an annulment is not an option.”
Epilogue
Jessie grimaced at hearing the bottom of her car scraping over another pothole. In the two months they had been married, her husband had promised numerous times to get the driveway paved. Having another bone to pick with him had heightened the anger that forced her to take the rest of the day off to lay down the law on her sneaky husband.
Parking in the driveway, she didn’t go to the front door. Instead, she angrily stomped around to the back of the house toward the new house she and Dustin were building.
When they talked about building their house, they had discussed building it on the land where Greer and Holly had gotten married. It would have given them a decent yard and a bigger house. Better yet, it would have a strand of trees separating her house from Greer’s. She liked Greer, and she loved Holly, but she didn’t want to be within spitting distance of them.
“Dustin, I know damn good and well that phone of yours told you I’m here!” she yelled.
Putting her hands on her hips, she watched her husband come outside of the framed house.
“Peanut, what are you doing here?”
Despite it being freezing cold, her husband was only wearing a long-sleeved Henley shirt.
Steeling herself not to notice the way his faded blue jeans hugged his hips and showed the generous swell in the crotch area, she focused her attention on his guilty eyes.
“J.T. called me.”
At the mention of their contractor, Dustin paused. “I can explain.”
“I don’t want to hear another explanation about why our fourth contractor quit. My lease is up in three months, and at the rate we’re going, I’m going to have to sign another one.”
“No, we won’t. I promise.”
“Just like you promised me that the driveway was going to get done?” Frustrated, Jessie stormed over the frozen ground toward him.
“You can’t blame me for that. The weather has been working against me. Every time I have it scheduled, it snows or rains. And when we get a break in the weather, they have another job scheduled. You see Gabriel every day during the weekdays; you talk to him. Maybe you’ll get it done faster than I can. You told me you would talk to him last week.”
Reaching up to kiss her husband’s cheek, she hoped her red cheeks could be attributed to the cold wind. During the mornings when Gabriel dropped off his kid, she somehow became tongue-tied and ended up telling him to take his time.
“I’ll talk to him in the morning.” She told herself she would be much firmer in dealing with him.
She couldn’t explain why she was so wary of the good-looking man. She had felt the same wariness before her kidnapping, and since then, it had heightened. She didn’t get the creepy, scary feeling from him that he would hurt her. It was the survival instinct that she had developed that helped her live through being dumped off a side of a mountain.
Gabriel walked with the same lethal grace that Shade did. If Gabriel rode a motorcycle, she would swear he was a Last Rider.
Thinking about him, Jessie decided to ask Bliss if she would do the talking for her. “I promise.”
Dustin grinned, hooking an arm around her waist to pull her closer to him. “Still mad?”
“Furious.” She playfully hit his chest and stepped out of his arms to go toward the house they were building.
“Wait!” Dustin tried to stop her.
“Uh-uh. It’s too late. J.T. already told me when he came by the daycare that you fired him.” Going into the house, she saw the two men inside who had been trying to stay out of sight.
“Tate, Greer.”
“I can explain,” Dustin said, rushing to her side.
“Don’t bother. It’s pretty much self-explanatory.”
Jessie stared across the length of the house being built to the framed doorway that showed the inside of Greer and Holly’s house. Not only were they going to be within spitting distance, they would be kissing.
“It’s your fault. I told you not to tell him that our mother learned from yours last night when you invited them over for dinner. It’s your fault,” Dustin repeated lamely.
She narrowed her eyes on Greer. “Close it back up. And Greer, you’re paying for the drywall.”
“Now, Jessie, let’s not be hasty.” Her brother-in-law heaved the sagging toolbelt higher on his hips. “It makes common sense.”
“How would you know? You don’t have any. Close it back up, or I will. I’m not going to have you coming into my kitchen every time I’m cooking.”
“I’d knock first.”
“Definitely not. Close it. And you can forget about those other bright ideas you three have been talking about.” Picking up steam on her rant, she pointed an accusing finger at Tate. “Which I don’t know why you’re giving suggestions. You don’t have any irons in this fire.”
Tate’s lips quirked. “Sorry.”
Jessie rolled her eyes. “We will not—and I’ll repeat this, so all three of you can hear me—we will not be enlarging my kitchen and living room in the front of my house and taking out Holly’s to make a den and mud room. We are not making one big house. We are living in two. I repeat, two houses!”
“Nothing is set in stone yet. Let’s take our time and think about it,” Greer hedged.
“I’ve thought about it since this morning when J.T. told me you fired him because he refused to build that doorway without my permission!”
“He was being a jackass.” Dustin took a hasty step back when she spun toward him. “We’ll go to the store and get the drywall.” He held his hands up in surrender.
“When I come back tomorrow, it had better be back.”
“It will be, I promise.”
“I’m holding you to this, Dustin Dwayne.”
“You know I don’t like my middle name.”
“I know. Now, I’m going to pick Logan up from school, and we’re going Christmas shopping.” Turning, she went back out the way she had come in.
“You could go out my door. It’s quicker.”
Her shoulders stiffened as she turned around to look at Greer.
“Just saying.” He shrugged.
Pressing her lips into a thin line, she walked through her house and into Greer’s, heading toward the front door, when she heard the men’s footsteps behind her.
Jessie looked around when all three of their phones started buzzing.
“We’ve got company,” Tate stated, looking down at his phone. “Looks like it’s more than one.”
When the men started moving, Jessie stayed to the side of the hallway to let them go first to the door.
Curious about who was coming up the driveway, she forgot about her anger as she went onto the porch to wait.
They all looked at each other as three black SUVs pulled int
o the driveway.
Jessie moved closer to Dustin, putting her arm through his. “Who is it?”
“Damned if I know.”
As the SUVs parked, Jessie saw Greer move closer to the steps. Something on his face caught her attention.
Unconsciously, Greer touched one of the white strands in his hair as he moved a half a step closer toward the steps.
As the people in the car got out, she heard the drone of motorcycles coming up the hill, filling in the remaining space on the driveway.
Jessie recognized some of the people getting out of the car. Lily and her sister-in-law Penni, whom she had met when she was visiting Lily and Shade.
Jessie’s mouth hung open. “Is that Kaden Cross?”
“Yes.”
Jessie tore her eyes away from the famous singer who was in the Porter’s front yard at Greer’s hoarse voice.
A woman getting out of an SUV was another face she recognized.
“Genny!” Jessie started to run down the steps when Genny waved at her, but the look on Greer’s poignant expression stopped her. He seemed to be holding his breath as he stared at the men who were taking off their motorcycle helmets.
She recognized several of The Last Riders being in their midst, but there were several she had never seen before. One man caught her eye for no particular reason, other than he was drop-dead gorgeous.
Getting off the bike, he laid his helmet on the seat as his eyes meet Greer’s. The man was striking as he walked across the gravel driveway as the others held back, all of them watching the biker who had pinned Greer in his place on the porch with his gaze.
He stopped before coming up the steps, and Jessie watched as Greer looked at him from head to toe before meeting his eyes again.
“Hey, Cole.”
“Hey, Greer.”
Greer took a step down, then two, and when he went down the last step, Cole held his hand out to shake. Greer didn’t take his hand, searching Cole’s eyes instead.
Cole gave a mocking smile, raising a brow. “Afraid?”
“No,” Greer said, adjusting the toolbelt at his hips. “Just wondering what you’re doing here.”