Mrs. Cortland grabbed onto Antonia. “My goodness, I didn’t even see them coming and couldn’t get out of the way fast enough.” She gave a small smile, but when she went to get up, she gasped.
“Lay still, Mrs. Cortland. I think you may have broken it.”
“Oh, God, I hope not.”
“What in God’s name happened? You knocked our mom over this time? You need to watch where you’re going.”
Antonia looked up to see the two men she’d bumped into earlier. Had the one with the tattoos referred to Mrs. Cortland as their mom? These were Cesar’s other brothers? She couldn’t speak. Her mouth gaped open, and Mrs. Cortland looked at her and then at them.
“She didn’t knock into me, sons. It wasn’t anyone’s fault.”
Antonia gave him a dirty look, but one look at the guy with the tattoos and his brother, and she immediately looked down and away from them. Men like that scared her. Hell, all men did, as did what they were capable of. By the looks and sizes of these two, she didn’t need to even be this close to them.
“Shoot, Mom, it looks bad, and it’s swelling fast.”
“I’ll be okay, Fox.”
So the one with the tattoos was Fox. Who was the other one?
“Let’s help you up and get you over to Nevin’s office,” the other one said.
“Let me see if I can walk,” Mrs. Cortland stated.
“Mom, what happened?”
Antonia was shocked to see the chief arrive so quickly. He glanced at her and then his brothers as he bent down to see his mom’s ankle.
She couldn’t believe the thoughts running through her head or the emotions she felt. They were so loving and caring for their mom. It was a shocker. She and Brooklyn hadn’t grown up with that for long. Once their dad passed away, Mom changed, and then Owen had arrived on the scene. She tightened up, and when she glanced up, Cesar had his eyes locked on her.
“Antonia, what happened?” he asked her as Fox and the other brother helped their mom up. Antonia explained what she’d seen, and as she got up, Cesar reached his hand out to help her.
Fox held his mom in his arms.
“Antonia? Brooklyn’s sister?” the other brother asked.
“Gino, meet Antonia. Antonia, this is my brother Gino. I forgot that you guys have never met before now.”
Antonia looked at Fox. He seemed angry at her still. She should have felt terrified by a man his size and with such tattoos and muscles, but her eyes landed on his mom and the compassionate way he held her close in his arms.
The way their mom looked at Antonia and then her sons made Antonia uneasy.
“Let us get you to Nevin’s office, Mom,” Fox said but held Antonia’s gaze.
“Antonia, could you grab my purse and the dry cleaning, please?” she called after them as Fox started walking ahead along with Gino and Cesar.
Antonia saw the owner of the hardware store, and he was disciplining the kids for riding along the sidewalks, which they weren’t supposed to be doing.
“You three caused this?” Cesar asked, looking so firm and sounding so angry that even Antonia shuddered.
He started to talk to them about following the rules of town and about causing someone to get hurt and how much more serious it could have been if they’d gotten hit by a car or caused a car to swerve and avoid them and hit someone else. Their recklessness was unacceptable. Antonia was more than intimidated by Cesar, despite knowing how caring he was. It was his mom who had gotten hurt, so maybe he was over sensitive to the situation. Either way she needed to get out of here before the Cortland men gave her a heart attack.
She grabbed his mother’s things and quickly headed over to the doctor’s office. She would just drop them off and leave. This was a family situation, and she didn’t need to involve herself any longer than necessary.
* * * *
Fox stared at Antonia as she placed his mom’s things on the chair in the examining room and then asked if she was in pain and if she needed anything else. He couldn’t help but notice how young Antonia was. He’d never gotten to meet her, despite the trouble her sister, Brooklyn, had gotten in to. Right after Brooklyn had been found, he and Gino had headed out on another assignment.
“You’re so sweet, dear. I’ll be just fine,” his mom said to Antonia.
“Let me take a look, Pearl, before I set you up with x-rays,” said their cousin, Dr. Nevin Cortland, and Fox watched Antonia begin to slide toward the door to leave. The door opened, and his fathers arrived, along with Cesar.
“Pearl, my God, honey, what the heck happened?” their father, Rourke, asked.
He, Paul, and Thomas, his other dads, all gathered around their wife. They took her hands and looked concerned over their wife’s injury. A glance toward Antonia again and he saw her staring at the scene and what looked like tears in her eyes before Cesar scared her by placing his hands on her shoulders. Antonia jerked and immediately stepped away from him.
“I’m going to head out. I hope your mom will be okay. She looks like she’s in great hands.”
Cesar squinted at her and placed his hand on her hip. Her eyes widened fearfully as she looked up into his brother’s eyes. He didn’t know what the heck was up with that. He thought his brother might have feelings for Antonia from what Damon had mentioned. Fox and Gino had been away the last several weeks on another job. Apparently they’d missed some things.
“Thank you, Antonia, for the help,” Pearl called out to her.
Antonia gave a weak smile. “No problem. I hope you’ll be okay.” She pressed toward the door and away from Cesar.
“I’ll be right back,” Cesar said and guided Antonia out the door.
Fox looked at Gino. Gino shrugged his shoulders. Their mom gasped, and tears filled her yes.
“Sorry, Aunt Pearl, but I think it may be fractured. Let me get an x-ray, and we’ll take it from there.” Nevin gave his aunt a sympathetic smile. He exited the room, and their mom explained to their dads what had happened.
“Well, thank goodness Antonia was there to help you. What a sweet young woman,” Paul said, and he leaned down to give his wife a kiss to her cheek.
“Cesar seems to think so, too. What about you two?” their mom asked them.
Fox wasn’t surprised. Their mom had been pushing for them to settle down and to spend more time with the family. Their jobs didn’t allow for that luxury, although lately they’d discussed taking on less work.
Gino crossed his arms and gave his mom that look he gave when she was asking a question he wasn’t going to answer. All the men in the room towered over their mother, who was a petite woman, just like Antonia. He was surprised by his instant comparison. Their fathers were very protective of their wife, just as her sons were of their mom.
“She’s very nice, shy, but considering the trouble from her past, that’s expected,” their mom whispered.
“Trouble?” Fox asked.
“You should ask Cesar and your cousin. When she first got into town, she had to see Nevin. She needed stitches,” their mom said softly.
Nevin entered the room and gave a small smile. “Okay, the nurse is coming in with a wheelchair to get you into the other room.”
“Nonsense. We got our woman.” Thomas scooped her up into his arms, smiling down at Mom and stealing a kiss as she wrapped her arms around his neck, smiling.
Nevin chuckled. “Okay, Uncle Thomas, right this way.”
Fox felt an odd sensation in his gut. It was like a longing, a need inside that never felt fulfilled. No matter what he accomplished in the service, in his job, in the relationships and friendships in his life, that empty feeling remained. As he watched his fathers carry and accompany their mother out of the room, something stirred deep inside of him. The old idea surfaced of wanting a companion, a lover, a woman they could trust, confide in, and protect and provide for like their dads did for their mom. He hadn’t thought about any of this for years. Why now? Why at the sight of Antonia, the sweet, too young, petite woman who
they’d just met and who seemed to have trouble attached to her as well? Why was he wondering what trouble she was in, and why did he decide to give Cesar the third degree on her as soon as possible?
Jesus. I don’t need this. I’ve got nothing to offer her, anyway. Not with the scars I have. I’m too much of a selfish bastard now, anyway.
* * * *
Cesar could feel Antonia shaking, but he wouldn’t remove his hand from her waist as he guided her from the doctor’s office. As much as he wanted to deny these feelings he had, the sight of her compelled him to be close, to touch her, and inhale her shampoo. She was feminine and looked both sweet and sexy today in her flared skirt and form-fitting cream top that accentuated her large breasts. There was no deep V with cleavage showing, but he knew from the few times he’d held her close that she was well-endowed and curvy in all the right places. That protective, possessive feeling seemed to be growing stronger and stronger, and he didn’t know how to handle it. He was nearly ten years older than her. This couldn’t turn into anything more than friendship.
She turned around to face him, but it was also to place some space between them. “Good luck. I hope it isn’t broken badly,” she said in that soft, sexy tone of hers.
Her green eyes held his, and he hadn’t even realized that he was squinting at her so intently. He placed his hands on his hips, one hand resting on his holster. He saw her glance at his hand and his gun, and then she pulled her bottom lip between her teeth and nibbled.
“Thank you for taking care of her until help arrived. Can’t believe those kids were being so reckless.”
“They’re just kids messing around. It was an accident.”
He felt a little anger, or maybe concern, because of her reaction to him yelling at the kids earlier. Those three Willis boys had been making trouble for the past year. If they didn’t get their shit together, he just knew they were going to get into bigger trouble. He felt his chest tighten as he realized Antonia had put him on the defensive about his reaction and his handling of the situation. No one questioned his actions. He was the chief of police and had the entire town to run and every member to protect.
“Those kids have been getting into trouble before today. You wouldn’t know anything about that.” He was a little snappy but couldn’t take back his tone. The way she stepped back from him indicated he’d scared her. Goddamn, why did that piss him off so much?
He stepped closer and when she went to retreat farther, he snagged her upper arm and pulled her close and against the wall by the building. A few locals passed by, but he didn’t care about that. He only cared about making Antonia look at him and smile, not look at him as though he could hurt her.
“Let go of my arm please,” she whispered, voice cracking.
He squinted at her as she swallowed hard but he held his ground. She’d put him on the defensive, gotten under his skin, and it irritated him. Yet, being this close to her, inhaling her scent, made his cock harden, and he pressed closer.
He stared down into those gorgeous green eyes of hers, immediately seeing the fear, but as he licked his lips, she stared at his mouth, and damn it to all hell, he wanted to kiss her.
“Don’t look at me like I could hurt you, Antonia. You should know me by now and that I’m not the kind of man to ever hurt a woman. I’m sorry if I scared you by raising my voice at those boys. What you don’t know is that those boys have been getting in and out of trouble for a while now, and the path they’re headed on isn’t a good one. I’m in charge of this town, responsible for the safety of each member. That includes my own family and you, too.” He eased his hand on her arm and caressed her skin. He couldn’t help but to smooth his palm along her shoulder and then under her hair and against her neck. She swallowed hard.
“I like you, Antonia. I want you to feel safe in my town, in my presence.” He looked at her lips. He longed to taste her, to pull her close and take all her fears away. It was wrong of him to feel this attraction. She was too damn young. He didn’t even know who’d hurt her and made her this fearful.
She looked away from him.
“I need to go.” She pulled back. His hand dropped, and he placed it onto his holster again to lean on.
“Thank you again for taking care of my mom. I’ll see you later tonight at work.”
She nodded but looked at him with that same fearful expression. Goddamn did that piss him off so much. He watched her go, his eyes glued to her sexy body as she made her way quickly to her beat-up car, the sound of the muffler loud, and instantly, he was concerned over the vehicle she drove.
He ran his fingers through his hair and exhaled. Jesus, he was becoming obsessed with her. He didn’t have the right to worry about whether her car was safe or if she might break down at night somewhere alone on a highway, but he did, damn it.
“Anything you want to tell me about?”
He swung around to see Fox standing there with his arms crossed. How long had he been standing there? What had he seen?
He gave his brother the once-over. Fox stood about an inch taller than him.
“Not a thing. How is Mom?”
Fox gave him that look. His brothers Fox and Gino had such dark eyes and expressions that made them appear like killers, men without emotions. It was disconcerting even for him, a man who’d served in the military and was now in law enforcement.
“She has a slight fracture. Enough to be soft casted for now, and she isn’t very happy about it.”
Cesar snorted low. “I bet she isn’t.”
“She likes Antonia, just like you seem to.”
He held his brother’s gaze.
“Who wouldn’t like her? She’s shy, sweet, and very kind. She didn’t have to stay and help Mom, and she even brought along Mom’s things.”
“She’s beyond shy. She’s fearful.” Cesar’s chest tightened. He licked his lower lip and then looked at Fox.
“You noticed?”
“Who wouldn’t?”
“Well, she’s been through a lot. The guy who was after Brooklyn did break into her house. That was only two months ago.”
“It’s more than that. Mom mentioned she had to get stitches when she first got into town.”
Cesar felt his anger immediately. He looked away and exhaled.
“You like her, and she’s got trouble written all over her. Not too smart, you being the chief of police and all.”
Cesar glanced back at him. “That’s my business. I’ve got it covered.”
“Then how come you don’t know the details? Anyone else and you’d have demanded by now to know their story, their trouble, and what precautions needed to be taken.”
“You think I’m not doing my job with her?”
He shrugged his shoulders. “You tell me.”
Cesar’s radio went off, and he was actually thankful for the interruption. He didn’t want to explain what he was feeling to Fox of all people. His brothers were harder than him, more determined to keep to themselves and just keep working.
“I need to take this. Let Mom know I’ll call later.”
Chapter 2
Antonia told Brooklyn about what had happened in town with Cesar’s mom and how his brothers first thought she had knocked her down. Brooklyn laughed.
“That must have been intense. I don’t recall meeting them, but they supposedly helped to find me.” Brooklyn got that upset look in her eyes. She was still having nightmares and spending more nights at the Cartwright men’s house than here at their small home. Antonia was getting accustomed to being alone at night. Aero and Jesse had helped to install a small security system, and she still kept the baseball bat by her bed, as well. She didn’t want to tell Brooklyn about her own nightmares. What Brooklyn had gone through was traumatic, and she’d nearly died.
“I’m sorry to bring them up, or bring anything up that reminds you of the abduction.”
“Don’t be silly. It doesn’t take much, but Aero said with time it will get better. When I’m with them, it definitely is a
lot better. I feel safe. I guess because they never stopped and they were the ones to find me.”
“It’s also because they love you. By the way, I think you need to accept their invitation and desire for you to move in with them, Brooklyn. It’s time.”
Brooklyn’s eyes widened, and a spark of happiness, hope, appeared in her eyes, and then she looked away.
“There’s no rush. We’re working it out fine, and I like our little house.”
“Brooklyn, you’re staying here because of me, and it isn’t necessary anymore. I can handle it. I’ve got the security system, and I’m working a few nights a week at the Filling Station. I’m even driving around town and totally doing my own thing. I even have plans Saturday to go out with Carina.”
“Carina? Where?” Brooklyn asked.
“She’s been wanting to go to this shopping mall a few towns over. I was going to drop her off after we maybe stopped for an early dinner.”
“Are you sure you’re up for that? You’ve been worried to even consider going out of Repose.”
Antonia exhaled. “Wasn’t it you who has been telling me to move on with my life and not live in fear that Ray will come looking for me? I mean, if he hasn’t by now, in six months, then why would he? It just confirms that he never cared and was using me.”
“You sound disappointed.”
Antonia wasn’t shocked. She’d thought she loved Ray and he loved her. She’d given him her virginity, and that was sacred, especially because she fought so hard to keep it and not taint that, too. He’d made her feel like shit, like used goods and a body to just do as he pleased with, as if he owned her. Yet, it was taking some serious self-control and strength not to feel weak and incapable without him. She’d given him so much power and control over her. He made her feel as though she couldn’t function without him.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.” Brooklyn walked closer and took Antonia’s hand.
Antonia gave a soft smile and felt tears fill her eyes. She wished she had half the strength her sister had.
The Battlefield Series 2: Scars Run Deep (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 2