Runaround

by Jay Crownover

  I tilted my head to the side and started picking through all the bits and pieces of information laid out in front of me. “So Wyatt might have mentioned to Rodie you were coming back, and Rodie could have passed that info along to anyone who asked.” I grimaced. “That’s not good.”

  Webb grunted. “I also told my mother. She reached out asking for some cash, and I told her I was on the move. She asked where I was going. I told her I was headed to a ranch in Wyoming. Jesus. What if the guy tracked her down? He could have pretended to be me and she wouldn’t even have known the difference. I haven’t seen her in years. We’re practically strangers. He could have lied to her so easily.”

  His words pierced my heart. I wondered if he knew how sad he sounded when he mentioned his mom. “That’s probably the most likely scenario. Maybe he tracked her down first and was just as surprised as you to find out he had an exact double out there in the world.” I frowned at him. “You need to touch base with your mother and ask her about it. Wouldn’t hurt to ask about a twin either. If we can get her to give Gordon a statement, it would get him off your back for a little bit, if not for good.”

  Webb sighed heavily and lifted a hand to his forehead. He dragged his palm down the center of his face, and I noticed he suddenly looked exhausted. He blinked at me slowly and shook his head like he was trying to clear it. A stray lock of gold hair flopped loose and dangled in front of one of his eyes. I felt my heart stumble and my fingers literally itched to reach out and push it back where it belonged. I fought and refrained. I had a sinking feeling if I ever put my hands on Webb, he wouldn’t be able to pry them loose. I wasn’t going to be one of the people who passed in and out of his life, borrowing him. No. If he ever let me, I would own him. I’d keep him. I’d force him to stay still, and those thoughts absolutely terrified me. I’d never wanted someone like this before, not Cy, not Gage, no one.

  “Wyatt’s been trying to get ahold of her since I was taken into custody. She’s not a normal mom, Ten. She doesn’t know what the word means. She runs from us the same way she runs from the law, and whomever she’s done wrong that particular month. Getting answers from her won’t be as easy as it seems.” He sounded both frustrated and defeated at the same time. I didn’t need to know him inside and out to see Webb was at his limit.

  I snatched the bill from in front of him. Sure enough, there was a phone number scrawled in big, loopy handwriting across the bottom of it. I scrawled my name and room number to take care of the bill before he could protest, and possibly before he could catch sight of the phone number. Nope. Not jealous at all. “We have to start somewhere. Get some rest. We can work on a game plan in the morning.”

  He nodded slowly. “Thanks for dinner.”

  I climbed to my feet, pausing next to his chair, forcing him to look up at me. Despite knowing better, I reached out and pushed that rebellious lock of hair off his forehead. I heard his breath catch as I felt mine still. “I’m glad I’m here, too, Webb.”

  There was no other place I wanted to be until I knew he was no longer neck-deep in trouble, even if I could see things were about to go totally sideways for me.

  Webb

  I didn’t sleep well.

  It had nothing to do with the knowledge I had a brother I’d never met, a twin no less, one who was out there committing serious felonies and angling to get me locked up. It wasn’t because the brother I did know about was snoring like a locomotive in the bed across from mine. My restlessness didn’t stem from the fact I’d turned down the pretty waitress from the bar when she immediately slipped into the chair Ten vacated. The young woman was pretty, flirty, obviously interested in keeping me company for a couple of sweaty, fun hours, but I couldn’t say yes. More than that, I didn’t want to take her up on her offer. No, the reason I couldn’t sleep had everything to do with the way Ten stopped and pushed my hair out of my eyes before leaving me alone in the bar.

  It was the first time she’d ever touched me simply because she wanted to. I wasn’t bleeding to death, or falling on my face as I tried to navigate my way around the uneven terrain of the ranch. She wasn’t helping me. She’d put her hands on me willingly, and the tiny, soft brush of her fingers burned all the way through my body. I felt the heat in places which had nothing to do with my forehead. The immediate, intense reaction would have been embarrassing if she’d stuck around long enough to notice the effect she had on me. I was no saint or shy virgin. Actually, the furthest thing from either of those. I’d learned very early on in my youth how to use my looks and my charm to score a free meal and a warm place to sleep. For the most part, the women who moved in and out of my life were a means to an end. And I always tried to let them know up front they were there because they responded to me and were willing to meet whatever need I currently had. I wasn’t made to be anyone’s hero or the answer to anyone’s prayers. I was there for a good time and a few hours of normal in a world filled with the opposite, nothing more and nothing less. I wasn’t the one who ended up discombobulated. I wasn’t the one left longing, wanting, waiting. Tennyson McKenna didn’t play by my rules. Of course, I’m not sure why I ever expected her to.

  When she told me point blank she would have doubted my innocence if I hadn’t been attached to her hip during one of the robberies, I was surprised how much the admission hurt. She’d never gone out of her way to pretend or play like she found me anything but annoying. I didn’t think she was twisted up in knots over me the way I was over her, but hearing how she believed I could actually pull a weapon on a room full of innocent people stabbed at one of the few soft spots I still had. I wasn’t a good man by anyone’s standard, but the only person I’d ever purposely hurt was myself. I grew up watching my mother give zero shits about anyone but herself, and those hard lessons had burned a few holes of humanity into my soul. I might blow through life with little regard for the people and places I left behind, but I was careful not to involve anyone else in my ongoing dance with disaster.

  Sure, I had a rap sheet, a criminal record as thick as a damn Bible. There were times I did things I regretted in order to survive, but I’d always done my best to make sure my crimes were victimless. I’d been picked up for a variety of things in my teens: solicitation, assault, shoplifting, possession. I’d been a lot better about not getting caught when I got older, and the last time I’d had a run in with the law was when I was busted running an illegal poker game for a guy out of Vegas. I was the one who took the fall, and since I wouldn’t give over the name of the man in charge, I sat behind bars for a couple of months until Wyatt finagled some kind of deal and managed to get me out. No, I wasn’t a good guy, but I wasn’t a bad one either. I hated that Ten believed the worst, but then she touched me like I was something special, and it sent all the anger and resentment building inside of me flying into a million pieces. She messed me up in a way no one ever had. Sometimes I felt like she was playing me. Since I was the master of game, it pissed me off that I couldn’t figure out what moves to make to get ahead of her next diversion. Game or no, I wasn’t accustomed to losing.

  Since I was already up, I hopped in the shower before Wyatt stopped snoring. While the warm water worked some of the tension out of my shoulders, it did nothing to lessen the way my cock throbbed and pulled tight. I’d been under lock and key for close to a week. There hadn’t been an opportunity to take care of business under the watchful eye of Ten’s ex, and I wasn’t about to let this opportunity slip through my fingers, both literally and figuratively. Knowing my brother was a fairly light sleeper, I clamped my bottom lip between my teeth and slicked my hand around the heavy length of my cock.

  It was so easy to close my eyes and remember the way Ten’s fingers felt brushing across my forehead. I felt like I’d been waiting for her to touch me all my life. I was dying to feel her hand on me, her mouth equally as much. I’d been in this position before, my hand wrapped around my cock, Ten on my mind, as I pictured all the dirty, sexy things we could do with one another. That was one of the reasons
I was undeniably attracted to the tall blonde. She was just so . . . capable. Tough as nails, fearless, and strong, she held her own in any situation, and I couldn’t remember ever being as impressed as I was around her. She was the type of person who gave as good as she got, and I wanted her to unleash everything she had on me. I knew she would go just as hard as whomever she ended up in bed with, and for months in my fantasies, that man was me.

  It was me who had Ten’s long ass legs wrapped around my waist as she writhed and panted underneath me. I was the one with his hands in her long, pale hair. I was the man she watched with those jade-colored eyes. I got to have my fill of her perfectly milky and unblemished skin. I got to drown in the taste of her. I was sure it was a mixture of sunshine and something sweet. I would try not to die from utter pleasure the first time my body slid inside hers. I knew she would be hotter than an inferno and so fucking soft. Ten was a strong woman, her body tight and fit. I would offer up a limb to feel all those lean muscles straining and pushing against mine. I would give up everything to watch her come apart in my hands. She was so structured, severe even. All I wanted was to see her unravel bit by bit because of me.

  Behind my eyelids the scene played out, picking up speed and heat. At one point in my imagination, Ten was on her knees in front of me, and my dick was so deep in her mouth I could practically see the outline in her throat. It was filthy and so good, my hand squeezed around the base of my erection so I didn’t shoot before I was ready. I wanted a couple more minutes to play with the tip, imagining Ten’s tongue sliding against the leaking slit and tracing the long line that ran underneath. It was the vision of her brushing her hands softly over my balls, the same way she’d touched my forehead, that made it impossible to hold back my orgasm.

  It was good. It always was when I thought about her. I let my head drop under the water and sucked in a breath to get my breathing under control. It took a few seconds to remember I was supposed to be in the shower getting clean. I rushed through the rest of washing up and groaned when I heard Wyatt moving around on the other side of the door. I was pretty sure I’d forgotten to be quiet there at the end, but I was well past the point of being embarrassed. Wyatt knew I was harboring something which felt so much bigger than a youthful crush on the pretty forest ranger. He’d mentioned more than once he didn’t think I had a chance with her. I was determined to prove him wrong.

  I exited the bathroom dressed in jeans and nothing else. I was rubbing a towel over my wet hair, so I didn’t realize someone else was in the room until I heard Ten’s voice.

  “I called Rodie last night. I asked him if someone called around to see if Webb had been in Sheridan recently. He told me no one called him directly, but he said he would ask the rest of the deputies to see if any of them had heard anything. He also told me he would keep an eye out for anyone who looks like Webb hanging around.” She made a noise as I dropped the towel to my shoulders. “Maybe you should get a tattoo or something, so it’ll be easier to tell the two of you apart.”

  Wyatt was dressed in a pair of cargo pants and a black thermal shirt. He sat on his bed, and there was a tall cup of coffee in his hand and a box of doughnuts in front of him. Ten was sitting on the edge of my bed. She had a pastry in her hand, but it seemed forgotten as her gaze roved over my bare chest and low-slung jeans. I quirked an eyebrow in her direction and watched as she swallowed hard, turning her attention to her doughnut. Trying to subtly recover from her ogling, she mentioned, “I forgot about the scar from the gunshot. I’ll call Rodie and tell him you have a scar on your right shoulder if he needs something to determine identity.”

  Liar. She was paying attention to the way I looked without my shirt on. I hid my smile as I moved deeper into the room.

  Wyatt yawned and sleepily grumbled, “Your sheriff is an idiot.”

  Ten bristled and pointed at my brother with her doughnut. “Rodie was a Recon Marine. He isn’t just some backwoods, small-town sheriff. He cares about his town and the people in it. I’ve worked in law enforcement, Wyatt. I know not everyone with a badge operates that way.”

  Wyatt grunted but looked away. “Thank you for bringing breakfast. You and Webb were both up early.”

  I turned my back on both of them so I could find one of the shirts Wyatt brought for me. I tugged the dark gray Henley over my head and pushed my fingers through my damp hair. I knew it was going to dry sticking up all over the place, but I had bigger things to worry about.

  I plopped down on the end of Wyatt’s bed and dug through the box of doughnuts. I took a cardboard cup from Ten and inhaled the addictive aroma.

  Ten cleared her throat. “I didn’t sleep well last night. I hate it when there’s a puzzle I can’t figure out.”

  I lifted my eyes to her and cocked my head as we silently regarded each other. She had faint, dark smudges under her eyes, and she looked a shade paler than she normally did. I wondered if she’d been up thinking about me the way I’d tossed and turned thinking about her.

  The tiny frown lines between her eyebrows had me think she was wondering if I’d left the bar alone. It was on the tip of my tongue to assure her it had been me and Wyatt in this room, but something held the words back. I didn’t want her to think the worst of me when I’d never given her a reason to. I owned the mistakes from my past, and I would own the ones I was bound to make going forward.

  “If we don’t have anything to go on in Wyoming, our best bet is to head to Texas and try and track down Jolene, or at least that motorcycle club she was hanging around last I heard.” Wyatt sounded like he would rather eat glass. He hadn’t seen our mother since the day she left home when he was right around sixteen or seventeen. I knew it went against everything inside of him to actively track down Jolene Bryant.

  I reached out and clapped a hand on his shoulder. “You don’t have to do anything else, Wyatt. I can go to Loveless and trace Mom’s steps. You’ve done enough, and I’m not talking about right now. My entire life you’ve always been there making sure I never fell too far, protecting me from everything and everyone. Let me protect you from Mom.” I felt him stiffen under my hand, but he wasn’t quick enough to hide the flare of relief that sparked to life in his eyes. “Besides, you don’t need to miss any more work or hurt your reputation by being tied to a federal bank robbery investigation. I've got this. Trust me.”

  He was going to protest. I could see it before he got the words out. Luckily, I had reinforcements. “I’m going to go with him, Wyatt. I’ll see this through till the end. I’m not going to let Gage Gordon bully another innocent man into a conviction. I don’t have a place to start with the twin, but I bet I can track down your mother with a solid lead. It’s what I do.”

  “I don’t need a babysitter.” I scowled at both of them.

  In unison, they both fired back, “Yes, you do.”

  “What about your job? How can you take off for an undetermined amount of time?” My brother used his cop voice on Ten, but she appeared to be immune.

  “I have a ton of vacation and sick days saved up. And right now things are slowing down before the summer vacationers start to show up. Plus, I helped break up a nationwide sex trafficking ring a couple months ago. My boss isn’t going to hassle me for taking a few personal days. He always tells me he’s so glad I came back and how overqualified I am to find lost hikers and monitor fire dangers.” She grinned. “He knows he’s lucky to have me.”

  I could see Wyatt struggling to relinquish control. He’d been the one watching my back for so long, it couldn’t be easy for him to hand that task over to someone else, someone who wasn’t blood-related. I squeezed his shoulder harder and forced him to look me directly in the eye.

  “You don’t have to see her. I don’t want you anywhere near her. Let me shield you for once.” He was practically vibrating under my hand, but I could see he was going to cave. Our mother tried to destroy him, and if she got another chance, who was to say she wouldn’t succeed?

  “You have to keep me updated every ste
p of the way. And you have to promise to call me if you get in trouble, any kind of trouble.” Wyatt’s voice was gruff, and there was a faint tremor buried inside of it.

  I nodded. “I promise. I’m not going off half-cocked. I have to figure this out. The only person who gets to fuck my life up is me. Not some cheap imitation of me.”

  He laughed like I intended. We simultaneously turned to look at Ten. She was regarding us both with curious eyes.

  I lifted an eyebrow in her direction. “We doing this?”

  After a minute she dipped her chin in agreement. “We’re doing it.”

  Holy shit. We were really going to do this. I was about to dive headfirst into the nightmare of my childhood, and I was taking the woman I was certain might define my future with me.

  What could possibly go wrong?

  Ten

  I was practically bent in half. My head was down, if my hair hadn’t been pulled up in a messy knot on the top of my head, the ends would’ve brushed the floor of the airplane. My eyes were pinched shut, and the friendly, male flight attendant kept coming by to see if I needed another drink. At least that was his pretense. I was pretty sure the reason he was focused so intently on our aisle was because of the man sitting next to me. It seemed both sexes were putty in the blond man’s hands. I had no idea how Webb schmoozed both of us into the first class cabin, but I was eternally grateful.

  I wasn’t a good flier. I hated the confined space and the feeling of people stacked on top of more people. I felt like I couldn’t breathe from takeoff to landing. The freak-out started as soon as I got through security and usually lasted until I reached my destination. Webb must have noticed something was wrong, because he’d started working to get us upgraded when we checked in. The drinks in first class helped some. What really made a huge difference was the warm hand on the center of my back rubbing slow circles and the deep voice uttering quiet reassurances every couple of minutes. I figured he would tease me. I was supposed to be fearless and brave. I wasn’t supposed to fall apart and turn into a quivering mess over something as simple as flying.