Inheritance

by Sean Michael

  “Yes, sir. I will. Is….”

  “Not now. Belle, get everyone else in the family room.”

  He opened the front door, eyebrow arched. “Is there a problem?” He left off the “bitch.”

  “Sir, Mrs. Rafferty says you’re trying to take the children out of the state illegally.”

  “Well, we’re taking the family to Texas, yes, but as she knows, we finished our custody hearing. The children are with their legal guardians.”

  They’d had enough. Two hearings—one in front of a judge, one in mediation—and damn, but him and Brad were trying to do right by the kids.

  “I’m afraid I’m going to have to see the papers, sir.”

  That bitch stood behind the cop, a nasty little smile on her face.

  “Surely. I have copies in the office. Sit tight.”

  Before he could close the door and go get the papers, Brad’s car came squealing up the drive, nearly hitting the police car. It had barely stopped when Brad jumped out and came storming up the stairs. “What the hell is going on here?”

  “Your mother’s lost her mind.”

  “Mother, why are the police on my doorstep?” Brad looked like the only reason he wasn’t strangling her was because there was a policeman right there.

  “She’s wasting these poor guys’ time. I’ll get the paperwork. Y’all want a bottle of water or something?”

  “We’ve had a complaint, sir. Mrs. Rafferty says that you’re trying to take the children out of the state illegally.”

  Brad snorted. “We’ve been through all this with the courts. Cash’ll get you the paperwork.” Brad looked at him and nodded, mouth set.

  As he went to the den, he could hear Brad asking, “Why are you doing this, Mother? Are you trying to make us refuse to let you see them? Is that what you want?”

  Yeah. He was beginning to think that was exactly what she wanted. Cash thought that she wanted to push them so hard she wouldn’t ever have to deal with her grandbabies.

  The papers, not even filed yet, were sitting in the right-hand drawer of Brad’s desk. He grabbed them up and headed back out.

  Brad was staring down his mother, the old bitch screaming at him. The cop looked like he was waiting for one of them to take a swing so he could intervene and arrest someone.

  “Here you go, Officer. Legal and everything.” He handed the paperwork over, ignoring the old bitch for all he was worth.

  The man looked the papers over and nodded. “Everything seems to be in order.”

  “It is.” Brad glared at his mother. “Don’t keep doing this, Mother. Can’t you accept that this is what Val wanted?”

  “No. No, I am not going to accept anything!” She lashed out, nails scoring Brad’s face.

  “Mrs. Rafferty!” The cop grabbed her arm even as Brad took a step back.

  “You’re going to force me to get a restraining order, Mother.”

  “Hey. Hey, y’all. Now, you’re family. Honey, you’re hurtin’ and you’re mad, but we can’t let you show this stuff to the kids. Please. Just walk away, huh?”

  “You won’t tell me what to do. Neither of you!”

  “Ma’am, I think you should leave. Now.” The cop nodded toward her car.

  “I’m sorry for the trouble, Officer.” Cash tried to smile, but man, he hated this shit.

  “No, sir. We’re sorry for bothering you.”

  “I am not sorry,” Brad’s mother screeched. “You’d better not be apologizing for me!”

  “I wasn’t, ma’am. Now come along, please. Get in your car and drive away.”

  Brad nodded. “Go away, Mother. Come back if you can be civilized.”

  “Y’all be safe.” Cash nodded to Brad. “Come on, man. We got to feed the beasts and get them packed.” Come on, honey. Walk away. Let me doctor your face.

  “You’ll be sorry, Brad. Mark my words.”

  “I’ve got kids to take care of, Mother.” Brad walked in with him and slammed the door closed. “God fucking dammit.”

  “Breathe. Upstairs. Now.” Come on, love.

  “What about the kids?” Brad looked around a little wildly, drops of blood welling up on his cheek.

  “Ben and Belle have it. You and me, we’re going upstairs.”

  “I hate her, Cash.” Brad followed him up the stairs. “My own mother and I wish she’d disappear into a black hole.”

  “You don’t have to worry about her. We have to clean you up, and then we’ll pack, head to Texas.”

  “I don’t want to come back, Cash. I want to go and stay. I don’t want to do this every week.”

  “Yeah, well. You and I both know the kids have to finish school out. That’s only fair. Besides, we need to arrange to build onto the house while we’re gone, huh?”

  Brad sighed. “I’m going to hit her back one of these times, Cash. I don’t want to, but she’s going to drive me to it.”

  Cash got him in the bathroom, wetted a washrag, and wiped Brad’s face off. “Just let it go, man. Let it go and breathe.”

  “Let it go? When is she going to let it go? Huh? We went to fucking court over this. She’s my fucking mother.”

  “Yeah, I know.” And nothing Cash said would matter because it hurt.

  Brad reached out and tugged him close, head on his shoulder.

  “I got you, man. It’s gonna be okay. She’s got to learn.” She had to. Dammit.

  Brad snorted, holding on tighter. “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.”

  “Well, then. We won’t. We’ll take our family, go to Texas for a week, and then start building on the house.”

  “Yeah, that sounds like a plan, Cash. And we’ve got a credible witness, now, that she’s harassing us. Maybe she did us a favor bringing that cop by.”

  “Hopefully it’ll settle now.” Hell, hopefully by the time she riled herself up again, they’d be home.

  Brad held on for a moment longer, breathing in against the skin of Cash’s neck before kissing him softly and then straightening. “Shit, the kids must be all wound up. She has to stop doing this. It’s not fair to them.”

  “Yeah. Yeah, let’s go order pizza and be excited. They deserve that.”

  “We deserve that too. This is the first big thing we’re doing as a family.”

  He patted Brad’s butt. “You know it. Did you get all your work shit set up to be online?”

  Brad pushed back into his touch. Sensual fucker. “I did. It’s all taken care of. We need to finish packing and we’re good to go.”

  “Yeah. Yeah. Just think, this time tomorrow? We’ll be in the ranch house.”

  “Yeah. A week of new things, and no Mother. Sounds like heaven.” Brad leaned in and pressed their lips together. “I’m looking forward to seeing that bed of yours.”

  “It’s warm and big. Old. Comfy.” Cash’s room was actually pretty damned cool. Looked sort of like an Old West thing.

  “Warm and big, old and comfy. Sounds like you.” Oh, look at that wicked glint in Brad’s eyes.

  “Old? Don’t make me beat you.”

  Brad laughed. That was better. It was. “Gimme a proper kiss, and then we can go down.”

  “Proper as in no tongue and very polite, or proper as in blow your fucking mind?”

  “Blow my fucking mind, Cash. Blow it into next week.”

  Cash pushed right in close, chest slamming into Brad’s, the kiss hard and sudden and sharp. Brad’s groan filled his mouth, their teeth clicking as they devoured each other. He hooked one hand around Brad’s nape, tugged them closer, pushing his tongue into Brad’s mouth.

  Brad pulled Cash’s shirt up out of his jeans, fingers warm over his belly. Now, now. They were supposed to be ordering pizza. Those fingers climbed slowly up toward his nipples, stroking over his skin.

  Cash pulled back, moaning low. “The kids. Baby, we gotta talk to them.”

  Gasping, Brad straightened back up and pushed past him, walking in a little circle. “Yeah. Sorry.” He reached out, grabbed Cash’s hand,
and squeezed. “Come on. Let’s go make our kids happy.”

  Cash leaned in, licked Brad’s lips again. “Yep. Back to work, buddy.”

  Chapter Seven

  BRAD TUCKED Belle in and kissed her forehead. “You have a good day, honey?”

  Belle nodded. “I like it here.”

  “Good. I do too.” He grinned and squeezed her shoulder. “Night, honey.”

  “Night, Uncle Brad.”

  Smiling, he wandered out of the girls’ room, Bethy already dead to the world.

  He met Cash coming out of the baby’s room. “Hey,” he murmured quietly. “I think everyone’s settled in.”

  “Yeah. The twins are crashed out hard.” Ben was already at his friend’s, the boy’s father stopping over before they’d even unpacked their bags.

  “Hopefully they’ll all sleep the night through.” He took Cash’s hand in his. “You look amazingly happy, man.”

  “I’m home.” Cash had been busy as hell—in the barn, in the yard, in the house. Fixing this and tweaking that and setting this up.

  “Well, it looks good on you.” He pulled Cash in close, kissed the side of his mouth.

  “It’s a good place, isn’t it? Do you like it?” Cash snuggled, lips on Brad’s.

  “I do. I love the house. And the room you set up for me.” It made him feel wanted.

  “I think we have room to put in three more bedrooms in a second story, plus another office too.”

  “You sure you don’t mind us changing the house so much? I mean this is your family home, right?”

  “Yeah, but… y’all are my family. This is our home.”

  Oh.

  Oh man.

  He pulled Cash up close and pressed their lips together, taking a hard kiss. He’d been fucking amazed walking up into this wide-open place, the dogs and horses everywhere, the neighbors bringing food. He got all that, and he got Cash.

  “Love you,” he whispered against Cash’s lips, the words bubbling up out of him.

  “Yeah. I know.” Cash grinned, started walking him toward their bedroom.

  “Butthead.” He swatted at Cash’s ass.

  “Yep. But I reckon I’m yours, huh?”

  “Top to bottom and all the great stuff in between.” Brad groped some of that stuff as they closed the door to the bedroom behind them.

  “Well, then. We’re good.” Cash reached back, locked the door.

  “I’d say we’re better than good.” He hauled Cash in.

  Cash hadn’t been lying about his bed—huge and handmade, covered in blankets and pillows, it was as close to heaven as Brad could imagine. Keeping his cowboy close, he walked them over to it, fingers sliding up to undo the buttons on Cash’s shirt. The little wiry hairs tickled his fingertips, brushed his palms as he moved to tug on hard, pale nipples.

  He loved the way Cash felt under his fingertips, the way he smelled, all hot need and pure male. Groaning, he bent to Cash’s nipple, wrapped his lips around it, and pulled.

  “Honey.” Cash eased him onto the bed, crawling into his lap, thighs spread wide.

  “Right here.” Brad tugged open Cash’s jeans and his prick leapt right out. “Fuck, yeah.”

  “W-welcome home. Fuck. Touch me.”

  “Uh-huh.” He sucked on Cash’s lower lip while moving his hand, jacking that hard cock.

  Brad worked his own jeans open with his free hand. Cash’s hand dropped to help, fingers moving on his zipper, sliding it down.

  “Please.” Brad pushed his hips toward Cash.

  “Yeah.” Cash tugged and wiggled and got their cocks together in one strong hand.

  Moaning, Brad pushed Cash’s shirt over his shoulders and latched his mouth onto a bare patch of skin. They found themselves a rhythm—strong and sure—then went to town, humping, crying out against each other’s lips. The pleasure was strong and sure, making him gasp as it gathered in his balls.

  They weren’t wasting any time, Cash’s teeth catching his bottom lip and tugging hard. Brad bucked at that, his whole body going tight as he came with a low groan.

  “Yeah. Yeah, man. I….” Cash’s head snapped back, throat working as he stroked a couple more times.

  Covering Cash’s mouth with his own, Brad grabbed his cowboy’s ass, pulled them tighter together. Heat sprayed over his belly as Cash moaned into his lips, rough as hell. Brad held on, moaning with Cash through an aftershock.

  “Damn. Damn, honey.” Cash looked stunned.

  Brad curled his fingers on Cash’s ass and kept him close. About the time Cash’s cheek landed on his shoulder, Branson’s cry rang out, loud and strong. They looked at each other, grinned.

  Brad sighed softly. “Looks like some things never change.”

  “Uh-huh. Let me grab a washrag and clean up, and I’ll go get him.”

  “I’ll check he didn’t wake the others.”

  They got up together and got to work taking care of their family.

  It felt good.

  It felt like home.

  Somewhere, Brad bet, Jack and Val approved.

  More from Sean Michael

  Firefighter Jason “Jase” Weller and EMT Scott Bronson are living the perfect life. They work together in jobs they love, they live together, and in their downtime, they still can’t get enough of each other. It’s been six amazing years. Then on Christmas Eve, Jase’s former lover Elsa shows up with a six-year-old girl in tow. The strung-out junkie claims Kerry is Jase’s daughter and it’s his turn to care for her, and then she walks out.

  Shocked at both the fact that Elsa is now a junkie and that he has a daughter he never knew about, Jase nonetheless steps up to the plate as her father and Scott offers his full support. Having an instant family comes with plenty of challenges, and the two men work to deal with sweeping changes in their lives and to make things right for Kerry.

  It’s not going to be easy, and their new circumstances test them and their relationship like nothing ever has. They’ll need all the love they have for each other—and the love they discover for their daughter—to keep from breaking apart.

  Who wouldn’t want a do over?

  When Thaine wakes up in the hospital after a bull-riding injury, he immediately asks for his lover, Jerry. He has no idea who this man next to his bed is, despite the fact Drew insists they have been an item for the last five years.

  Thaine’s best friend, Jesse, calls Jerry. He thinks it’s a pretty crappy thing to do to the new boyfriend, but tells himself it’s unlikely Jerry will come after so many years. He also doesn’t get why Thaine would pass up the opportunity to be with Drew since he’s young, optimistic, and hardworking. In short, everything Jesse ever wanted in a man.

  Jerry still carries a torch for his cowboy, so when Thaine asks to go home with him to recover, Jerry agrees. At first they pick up their intense physical relationship right where they left it before the breakup. Jesse, in turn, consoles the now homeless Drew and offers him quite a bit more than a shoulder to cry on. But in the back of all the men’s minds loom Thaine’s lost five years.

  When easygoing Texas artist Dakin McBride makes his way to Ottawa, Canada, for a showing, he meets Jeff Tamrin, the fastidious manager of the Sussex Gallery. Despite coming from different worlds and being opposites in almost every way, the attraction is immediate, and soon Dakin and Jeff negotiate their own brand of diplomatic relations, forgetting all about art or seeing the sights the city has to offer. They get wrapped up in the moment, each of them intrigued by what he feels for the other.

  The more they get to know each other, the more they like what they see. Dakin has a life to go back to in Texas, though, and Jeff has his own in Canada. Is there any way for their budding romance to survive the thousands of miles separating them? The relationship seems doomed, but at the same time, it feels too right to give up without a fight.

  An Iron Eagle Gym Novel

  Lance Packet just got a contract to shoot an erotic BDSM deck of cards; the only problem is finding models. So far everyone he’s
interviewed thinks he’s looking for sex for hire. Then in walk three perfect examples of men: Tide and his friends, Tyrone and Bran.

  Tide Germaine is a model and a Dom. He and his best friend Tyrone opened The Iron Eagle Gym as a place for gay men in the lifestyle to work out, do scenes, and congregate with like-minded men. The modeling is just another job for Tide, but it soon turns into a grand seduction as Tide falls for the shy, self-conscious photographer. The problem is Lance doesn’t believe he’s in Tide’s league, and he’s not at all sure about the Dom and sub thing.

  It’s not going to be easy, but Tide’s going to have to convince Lance he belongs at Tide’s side as both lover and sub.

  Game designer Henry Delloit loves his life, his mountain community, his isolated dream home, and the snow. He also loves that the X-treme Games blow into the area for a month every year, bringing with them hundreds of athletes.

  Ecco Rasmussen loves boarding. He knows he’ll never make it to the big time, but as long as he can get on his board and go, he doesn’t care. If only his manager, Blake Dobbs, would cut Ecco a break. The man’s possessive and mean, and believes he owns Ecco.

  When Henry and Ecco meet at the Branchberry Games, it’s lust at first sight. An injury on Ecco’s qualifying run offers an opportunity to spend quality time together at Henry’s home, away from the crowds and out from under Blake’s thumb.

  At this rate, lust might turn into love, but not if they can’t keep their romance hidden from Blake.

  Best-selling author SEAN MICHAEL is a maple leaf–loving Canadian who spends hours hiding out in used-book stores. With far more ideas than time, Sean keeps several documents open at all times. From romance to fantasy, paranormal and sci-fi, Sean is limited only by the need for sleep—and the periodic Beaver Tail.

  Sean fantasizes about one day retiring on a secluded island populated entirely by horseshoe crabs after inventing a brain-to-computer dictation system. Until then, Sean will continue to write the old-fashioned way.