The UN Series Complete Box Set

by Shantel Tessier

  “He said he loved me. And that brought memories from the first time he told me that.” She sighs. “I was so afraid that it was never going to work. That I was going to fuck it up.” She gives a little laugh. “Because I always seem to do that. And then I remember feeling I had fucked it up by getting pregnant but instead he was happy.” She shrugs.

  “You thought of all that while you were having sex?” Missy asks with a surprised look on her face. “Isn’t your mind supposed to be…elsewhere?” She waves a hand in the air.

  I laugh at her innocence.

  Courtney nods before she shoves a French fry in her mouth. “Crazy things always pop up in my head when I’m having sex. Anyways, he tried to calm me down, but it was pointless. He held me until I finally cried myself to sleep, and then this morning I cried as I apologized for ruining our sex last night.”

  Missy snickers, and I laugh. “I bet that was the least of his worries, Court.”

  She shrugs. “I still felt bad.” Then she smiles as she looks over to Missy. “What are we doing for your birthday?” she asks, changing the subject.

  Missy frowns, knowing exactly what she just did, but she answers anyway. “I’m having dinner with my family.”

  “Well, we’re family, what about us?” Courtney asks.

  “How about we throw you a party at our house?” I say. “We can play pool or cards, have some drinks, and just relax. Not have to worry about going out to a loud bar or club, and everyone can crash at the house if they need to.” I point a finger at her. “You will be staying for sure.”

  She smiles. “That sounds like a great idea. Thank you.”

  I pull out my phone and navigate to the calendar. “Your birthday is on Wednesday. We leave Friday for Vegas.”

  “How about we do it Thursday. Since she is spending time with her family on Wednesday?” Holly suggests.

  “You guys want to have a party the night before we leave for Vegas?” I ask surprised.

  “I’m good with whatever. I can’t drink.” Courtney sighs but the small smile on her face gives her away. She could care less about drinking.

  “It will be fine.” Holly waves me off. “Plus, our flights aren’t until midday.”

  “I think that sounds great,” Missy says readjusting her glasses.

  “Okay then. Let’s start planning.” I’ve only got a few days to put this party together.

  *****

  The girls and I finish up our lunch before Courtney and I head back to work. Her and I laugh as we talk about what all we need to get to pull off a twenty-first birthday party within two days when Tate enters my mind.

  I reach down and get my phone out of my purse to call him when I hear Courtney speak. “What the fuck?” she says in a hard tone.

  I stand up quickly. “Watch your language.” Geesh, Slade’s use of cuss words has worn off on me but I try not to cuss at work. Management seems to look down on us using colorful language.

  “Jax is here,” she hisses, making my head snap over to the entrance where she is looking. Sure enough the piece of shit is walking straight to my counter.

  “Hello, baby,” he says giving me a slimy grin. His red shirt looks like it is covered in grass stains, and his holey jeans look like he got in a fight with a pair of scissors. It’s almost sickening how much he has gone downhill.

  “What do you want, Jax?” I ask flatly.

  “I heard you upgraded from bar whore to a bank.”

  I roll my eyes. “You can’t keep showing up wherever I’m at.”

  He holds his hand up. “Yes I can,” he responds calmly.

  And I hate that he’s right. We never followed through and got a restraining order on him, because he didn’t show up more than that one time. I’m going to remedy that problem as soon as I leave here. “What do you want?” I snap.

  “I just came to tell you that Slade is not as stupid as he looks.”

  I frown, not knowing how to respond. “What does that mean?”

  Courtney decides to cut into our conversation. “Hello dipshit,” she says in greeting Jax.

  “Hello bitch,” he sneers.

  I gasp, but Courtney just laughs it off. I’m actually surprised her hormones don’t have her crying at that insult. She must hate him that much—even his words can’t hurt her mood.

  “I told you to stay away from me, Jax. I mean that. I’m engaged to Slade. I’m not playing hard to get. Just leave us alone.”

  “Slade is onto you.”

  Courtney and I exchange a confused look.

  He rolls his eyes. “He knows you’re fucking Tate.”

  Courtney bursts out laughing as I stand there staring at him. “I don’t know who the hell you have been talking to but they are lying to you,” I advise. How does he even know Tate? Tate had stayed inside of Larry’s that night we all went up there.

  He gives me an evil grin that reminds me of the Grinch. “I spoke with Slade.”

  “No you didn’t.” Slade would have told me.

  “I spoke with him about a week ago. I went up to his office.”

  I start shaking my head quickly.

  “Oh, it’s true. Need proof? Well, how about that picture he has of you guys at a Rams game? Or the picture of you guys in New York?” My heart starts to pound and I just stand there and stare at him. The smug smile he now wears tells me he’s telling the truth. “Anyway, he also told me that you were cheating on me with Tate. And that he knows you still see Tate. After I gave it some thought, I realized it makes sense. If you fuck around then he has an excuse to as well.”

  “I would never cheat on Slade,” I whisper, afraid to speak any louder since I may start yelling and lose my job.

  His eyes darken, and he takes a step toward my counter. “So, you admit that you cheated on me with Tate then?”

  I shake my head again. “I never did,” I respond truthfully, and he gives me a smile, as if I didn’t have the balls to do that either. “But I should have.” His smile drops off his face and his lips thin.

  “Watch what you say to me,” he barks.

  “Why? What are you going to do, Jax? Shove me again?” I’m baiting him, and we both know it. If he does something to me while I’m at work then I will have witnesses. Hell, there are cameras in here.

  He leans over the counter before he takes a quick look around to see if anyone is watching him. “I might have been gone a while, baby, but I still have friends in high places in this town. You think you are untouchable because your boyfriend is an attorney? Think again.” He looks over at Courtney and gives her a look of disgust then turns around and struts out the front door as if he just withdrew a million dollars. The fucker knows he got to me, and I hate that more than anything.

  “There has to be an explanation,” Courtney says from beside me.

  “He knew too much,” I say more to myself than to her. “It just doesn’t add up.” Slade is going to have a lot of explaining to do, and the more I sit here and think about what just happened, the more pissed off I get.

  “What time is it?” I ask still watching the entrance to the bank.

  “A quarter past two. Why?”

  I grab my purse and start going through it to find the business card of the officer that I need. “Because I need to do something as soon as I get off of work,” I say smiling when I find it. I remember Slade calling him Brad when we sat in his office after I was attacked outside of Larry’s one night. His card reads Bradley Knowles, Crime Investigator.

  I’m filing a restraining order on that sorry bastard.

  *****

  SLADE

  I look down at my watch to check the time. It’s six thirty, Angel should have been home an hour ago. She sometimes stops at Larry’s to visit with Holly, but the girls had plans to meet for lunch today. So I doubt she went to see her after work.

  “Let’s go to the Super Bowl,” Josh says sitting on the couch while we hang out down in the basement at my house.

  “Where is it again?” Tate asks lining up
his pool stick with the cue ball.

  “I think Indianapolis.”

  We all pause when we hear the front door slam shut. Not seconds later Angel is storming down the steps to the basement. She appears livid but from the look of her red rimmed eyes, I can tell that she has been crying. Whatever made her sad has pissed her off because she looks like she wants to rip someone’s head off.

  “What’s wrong?” I ask frowning.

  “Why did you lie?” she screams making Josh jump.

  Guess it’s my head she wants to rip off. No surprise there cause that’s nothing new. “I don’t know...”

  She reaches up and slaps me across the face, the contact making my cheek sting. Josh’s eyes go wide while Tate takes a step back from me.

  “Quit lying,” she shouts.

  I throw down my pool stick and take a step toward her. I look down at her as my temper flares. “What the hell was that about?” I demand.

  “Why are you lying to Jax?” she retorts. “Why are you even talking to him in the first place?”

  I grind my teeth as I see Tate stiffen beside me. Josh lets out a hard laugh. “You really think Slade would talk to that idiot let alone lie to him?”

  I give him a hard look, and his face falls.

  “Oh,” he says in surprise.

  “Don’t deny it, Slade. He knew about the picture of us at the first Rams game being in your office. Along with the picture of us in New York.” She turns and points to Tate. His eyebrows shoot up, concerned with what might come out of her mouth next. “And he knows about you. Want to explain how he knows who you are?” she snaps at him.

  I’ve never seen Tate look so terrified. His eyes go back and forth between her and me a few times. He must be thinking that she’s talking about him being her brother but that can’t be true. As far as I know, no one else in this town knows that information.

  “What are you talking about?” I ask before this gets any worse.

  She narrows her eyes back on me “You told him I was cheating on him with Tate,” she snaps. Tate starts coughing as if he’s choking to death at that statement. “Then you made it sound like I am still sleeping with him. Like you two just pass me back and forth.” She’s almost frantic, her hands waving around in the air. “You know, like a piece of meat,” she spits out.

  “Calm down,” I growl. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. And where did you come up with all this shit?”

  “He showed up at my work today.” She crosses her arms over her chest. “You and Tate have him scared to death.”

  Tate chuckles, and she gives him a death glare.

  “Should he not be?” I ask her. “Do you want him coming around? Because if you want that…” I spread my arms out in front of me leaving the question hang.

  “You are not going to do this.” She stabs a finger into my chest. “You are not going to blame me for something you did.” She throws her hands up in the air. “But just so you know, I’m okay.” She snorts. “He didn’t try to touch me or anything.” She throws her hands out to her side. “Not like you asked, but he just threatened me.”

  I step toward her. “Threatened you with what?” I snap.

  She crosses her arms over her chest and sticks her hip out. “Don’t worry, I took care of it. I filed a restraining order on him.” Then she spins around before she storms off running up the stairs.

  “Man, what the fuck was all that about?” Josh asks. “Why would you be talking to Jax?”

  I run a hand over my hair fucking stressed to the max. He threatened her? Didn’t I tell the motherfucker to stay away from her? “He showed up at my office a while back. And started going on about how she is cheating on me with Tate.” I shrug. “I didn’t deny it.”

  Josh looks over at Tate. “Did you guys have a thing?” Then his eyes flick back to me nervously.

  Tate looks like he wants to puke at that thought and if shit hadn’t just blown up in my face, I would laugh.

  “No, they have never had a thing. Remember you were there when Tate entered the picture,” I remind Josh of when Tate showed up her mother’s house after her death.

  He nods his head as if he’s trying to put the pieces together. “Then why didn’t you deny it?”

  “Because I could care less what the fuck he thinks. Back when he cheated on her, the fucker broke her heart,” I say gritting my teeth. “I didn’t want him to think he actually had that power over her.” I sit back down on the couch and release a sigh. Maybe it’s me who doesn’t want to think he had that power over her. That she could have loved him enough for that.

  “What are we going to do about him?” Tate asks sounding determined to get rid of this fucker.

  “I know some guys who could do me some favors.” I look up at them, my face serious.

  Josh frowns, and Tate looks intrigued. “What?” I ask Josh.

  “Who owes you favors?”

  “I’m a defense attorney.” I wave a hand in the air. “I have let many people walk who deserved to spend their lives in jail.” I shrug. “Call it returning a favor.”

  He gives a fake laugh. “Funny,” he says dryly.

  I wasn’t joking.

  Tate pats me on the shoulder. “Let me do all the dirty work my friend.” Then he points a finger to the stairs. “Just try to stay out of trouble. The last thing we need is you pissing her off and her ending up leaving.”

  “Leave?” Josh arches an eyebrow. “You can’t make her stay.”

  “Yes I can,” I say before taking a drink of my beer.

  “I’m out of here.” Josh sighs.

  “What? We still have another game to play.” I look over to the pool table.

  He shakes his head. “No. Looks like I need to get home and let Courtney know we might be having company.”

  I tilt my head in confusion.

  “Because Sam is either going to come to our house or go to Micah and Holly’s when you two piss her off,” he explains.

  “Makes sense,” Tate concurs, as if that is an option.

  I shake my head. “She’s not leaving this house tonight. Or any night,” I add.

  Josh has a look of pity on his face. “Pick your fights, Slade,” he throws over his shoulder before he walks up the stairs.

  “Another game?” Tate says turning to the pool table.

  “Might as well.” I sure as hell don’t want to go upstairs and deal with her at the moment. “Let’s have a drink with our game,” I suggest, walking over to the small mini bar, and opening the rum to pour us both a rum and Coke. Sometimes a beer just won’t cut it. I hand him his full glass, we clink them together, and we both take a big swig before starting our game.

  Three hours later, after losing count of how many rum and Cokes I’ve had, I find my way up the stairs. Tate follows slowly behind me.

  “Go crash in the spare room,” I offer for the third time.

  He nods his head and heads off down the hallway to our spare bedroom. I stumble to our bedroom and curse when I find the door locked.

  She locked me out.

  I bang on the door a few times trying to wake her up. I know her. She probably took a nice long bubble bath and then passed out. She also probably thought I would try to get a piece of ass tonight. There’s been several times where she has woke with my head between her legs or my dick in her pussy after she went to bed mad at me. I could have easily restrained her and had my way with her, but that would have just ended up pissing her off more.

  I release a sigh as I try the door one last time. I could open it but just don’t really care right now. With my hands fisted down to my side I turn around and walk down the hall into the media room. I pull a blanket off the back of the couch and once I’m naked, I lie down and cover myself up.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  SAMANTHA

  I walk out of the closet dressed and ready for work when I realize I don’t see Slade’s clothes anywhere. I grab my purse and walk out the bedroom. I make my way to the kitchen and see a pair of keys l
ying on the kitchen counter. Picking them up, I notice they belong to Tate’s truck.

  Did he stay the night?

  Once the coffee is started, I make my way down the hall to the bedroom in the back. I slowly open the door to find him snoring on his stomach, still fully clothed.

  I enter. “Tate,” I say loudly. He doesn’t even budge. “Tate,” I call louder and shove him a bit.

  His body rolls over onto his back and a small pill bottle falls out of his jeans pocket. I frown and pick them up. I try to read what it says but the writing on the bottle is worn off. I squint my eyes trying to get a better look when it is snatched out of my hands.

  I jump back with a yelp and a look of surprise on my face as I look into Tate’s dark blue eyes.

  He climbs out of bed, not saying a word, and walks to the bathroom. I try to think of what those could have been for. Tate doesn’t do drugs. Does he? I mean they seemed like they were legit. I roll my eyes at myself. I’m sure druggies keep their illegal drugs in a prescription bottle as one way to not look so obvious.

  I make my way back to the kitchen and sit down at the table waiting for him to come down the hall. As soon as I see him, I sit up straight.

  “We need to talk,” I say deadpan.

  He gives me a look of annoyance. “What I do is none of your business,” he says flatly.

  My eyes drop to his pocket where I can now see the pill bottle taking up the space. Does he always have them? “Drugs?” I ignore him.

  “I don’t do drugs,” he says flatly.

  “I’m sure that’s what all drug addicts say.” I cross my arms over my chest.

  He slams his hand down on the countertop making me jump. “Let’s get this straight. I do not do any illegal drugs. What my doctor prescribes is between him and me. Got it?”

  I hold his stare, trying not to let him intimidate me. His dark blue eyes look bloodshot, and his jaw is hard. His lips in a thin line. I sigh. “I don’t want to fight with you.” I run a hand through my hair. “You’re right. It’s none of my business. I’m just worried about you.”