by Sable Hunter
But he wanted more. He wanted to make her life easy. Her little house was good, but nothing was the right height for her. Bowie had watched her cope, seen her strain to reach something. She was making do, when she should have been taken care of. Her world needed to accommodate her. She shouldn’t have to merely make-do. He found himself wanting to create a world for her where she would be safe, happy and at ease.
Everything about her enchanted him. Her lips were mesmerizing. Driving down the road to Austin, here he was day-dreaming about how soft and sweet her kiss would be.
There was only one problem. At the end of the evening, when he’d asked if he could see her again, she had said ‘yes’. But there was a condition.
She just wanted to be ‘friends’.
The thought had hit Bowie Travis in the gut. Oh yes, he could be her friend. He needed to be her friend. But he also wanted to be her lover. His body was fully engaged and onboard with the idea. As they’d sat and talked, he’d memorized her smile, the way her eyes lit up, the dimple in her cheek. He’d also seen the way her nipples hardened when she’d become excited. And he had excited her, he could tell. Several times, he had touched her, casually, or looked into her eyes, or winked at her. And he watched the blush rise on her chest, till it swept up her cheeks. And he could see her breasts swell, they wanted to be touched as much as he needed to get his hands on her.
So, when she’d turned those big eyes up to him and told him she couldn’t date him, he was confused, so he’d pressed. Maybe he shouldn’t have. God, he’d never meant to make her cry, but this was important. He covered his mouth, worrying the scruff on his jaw he could never seem to keep trimmed down. What she’d said to him would haunt him all of his days. He’d pushed. Why? Why don’t you want to have dinner with me? We get along. We enjoy one another’s company.
“Bowie, please,” she’d implored him.
“I don’t understand.”
“I’m broken,” she’d finally said, hanging her head. “I can be a good friend, but that’s all I’m good for. Can’t you see?” As he watched, she’d spread her little hands, showing herself to him as if he’d somehow missed the fact she was in that damn chair. In her mind, she was less. Stunned, he’d gone to his knees at her feet, making his case.
“I don’t believe that. Please, let me show you.”
God, his heart had ached when he’d seen fear in her eyes. Oh, she wasn’t afraid of him. She was afraid of how he made her feel, he’d bet his life on it. “I can’t. I’ve tried.”
What had she meant?
And then it hit him—she meant sex. Cassie was afraid she couldn’t be what he needed in a woman.
Well, to hell with that.
It became his mission in life to prove her wrong.
The wheels of his truck ate up the miles. Jacob had called him and the baby was scheduled to have surgery. And he was going to be right there to support him. All of the McCoys were his friends, but Jacob and this baby were family.
Now, he’d found someone else he wanted to welcome into his world. Cassie. And he would. He wanted her too much. There wasn’t any room for failure.
As the scenery passed by, Bowie saw it, but he didn’t. His mind was racing with the possibilities. Could she have an orgasm? Surely she could have sex? His heart pounded with questions. One thing for sure, he wasn’t about to let this go. He’d ask, subtle questions. He’d woo her. She might thing they were friends, but he intended to court his friend, seduce her and make her fall in love with him. Bowie intended to do his homework. He’d learn everything he could about her condition and then he’d set about proving to her that she was not broken. She was a woman. His woman.
***
Breckenridge Hospital – Austin, TX
“Help me pray, help me pray.” Jessie buried her face in her husband’s chest. He was solid. He was her rock.
“I’ve put in my petition, Jess. The Lord isn’t going to let me down.” Jacob’s faith was riding high. His son would be okay. Just hours ago, he had stood at the bassinet and let BT wrap his baby hand around his forefinger. He’d smiled at the little boy’s strong grip. The operation was going to be tedious, but their doctor was a good one and the family had rallied again. The waiting room was full of McCoys. His head was spinning, there was so much going on. The news they’d received that Aron was alive, and in need of their help, galvanized the brothers into action. True, they’d had to stop to be here together for Little Bowie, but as soon as he pulled through with flying colors, they’d take care of business for Aron.
Jessie nestled into his arms. She was still a little weak. “You wanna sit down? I could hold you.” She nodded her head and he picked her up, heading to a corner of the waiting room. Cady and Joseph scooted down one so Jacob would have plenty of room. He had never been so grateful for his armful. After finding out about Aron and thinking how lost Libby had been, Jacob had vowed to count his blessings every day. He squeezed her tighter. Her soft breasts nestled into his chest. Lord in heaven, he couldn’t wait to get his family home. He needed Jessie, in every way.
“How are plans for the wedding?” He tried to get his mind settled. Waiting was agony.
Joseph gave him a knowing look. “Everything is set. Tricia and Avery have everything handled. It’s going to be amazing!” He winked at Avery and then smiled at Jacob. Joseph wasn’t known for his subtlety. Since they’d been thinking about the rescue operation, everything they talked about had to be veiled.
“I’ve tried to keep it small,” Cady confessed. “But the guest list keeps growing. We’ve invited the cousins, my family, and Joseph and Harley.” A smug smile came on her face. “Why, you never know.” Her voice took on a mysterious quality. “There may even be a surprise guest or two.”
Hmmmm, Jacob thought. Cady and that sixth sense of hers! He didn’t know for certain, and he wasn’t about to ask, but he wouldn’t put it past this woman figuring the whole thing out. Honestly, he didn’t know how long they could hide big news like this from any of the women. He’d thought about just telling Libby, but he was so afraid something would go wrong, and the time frame would surely frustrate her. It was frustrating them. Because it wasn’t something they could rush into, they had to be ready and getting ready took time.
“How’s Tina, Nathan?” Noah asked.
Nathan was sitting between Isaac and Avery, he’d been working at trying to convince the Badass to teach him to ride a motorcycle. So far, he hadn’t had any luck. “She’s getting out of rehab in a week or ten days. I’m hoping she’s home by Christmas.” There was a secret he was going to have to tell his family sometimes. But it wasn’t going to be easy. If Aron was here, he wouldn’t be so nervous. But he wasn’t. “Do you think she could visit soon?”
“Of course,” Libby spoke up. She was sitting on the other side of Avery. “We’d love to have her, Nathan. You know that.” She had leaned up to look at Aron’s youngest brother when one of the babies gave a well-placed kick on her bladder. Libby jumped.
“What happened?” Avery laughed, putting a hand on her shoulder.
“One of these rowdy McCoy’s letting me know he’s awake.” She rubbed her tummy, which was getting quite round. Seeing an opportunity, she took it. “Avery, I want to ask you something.”
“Of course.” Avery turned in her chair. “Anything. Do you need something?”
“No, no.” Libby shook her head. “I just wanted to talk to you about your writing.”
Avery’s smirked. “Sable Hunter? Oh, that girl is trouble!”
“I want to write something.” Libby confessed, lowly.
“Great!” Avery grinned. “I’ll help you. I have connections. You write it and I’ll get it published, we’ll do some promoting, I’ll help you choose a cover. What’s the title?”
“Wait.” Libby grabbed her arm. “I don’t want to sell the book, I want to write about Aron and me and our love story. I want to preserve the memories.”
“You’re not giving up. are you?” Avery was shocked
.
“No, no.” Libby shook her head. “I’m not, I never will. But I have to hold on to something, and maybe this will help me.”
“Sure, I understand.” Avery held her hand. “What do you want to know?”
“Well, just how to go about it. I don’t know where to start.”
Just looking at Libby’s face made Avery’s heart ache. “Well, if I was going to do it, Sable style, I’d start by writing about Aron and who he is, his family, show some of his personality. And then I’d do the same for you. I’d tell about how you met and relate every memory I could. Make it real with dialogue and put into words all the love and tenderness you’ve felt for each other. Write your love story. And when you come to the end, don’t let it end, put a big TO BE CONTINUED on it.”
Libby chocked back a small sob. “Okay. I’ll try. I have to do something. I have all of this love in me for him, and it’s got to go somewhere.”
Avery put her arm around Libby. “It will be beautiful. Aron is going to enjoy reading every word.”
“I hope so.”
“Jacob.” A voice at the door got their attention. Jacob carefully put Jessie down and jumped up. “Malone, I’m so glad you’re here.” He hugged his friend.
“Where else would I be?” Bowie Travis greeted Jessie with a kiss and spoke to the rest of the family. “What’s the word?”
“We’re waiting on the doctor to come out and tell us something,” Jessie said, tremulously. “He’s so little, Bowie. It just breaks my heart.”
Cady came over to where Jessie was standing by Bowie and Jacob, putting an arm around her. “Come sit by me. There’s something I want to tell you.” Jessie followed Joseph’s fiancé over to the other side of the waiting room. They sat down.
“What is it?” She studied Cady’s face, carefully. “Do you know something?” Everyone knew Cady was psychic. She came from a family of unusual powers. Lately thought, her powers had seemed to be stifled by her pregnancy.
“No, not in the normal way.” She grinned. Normal for her wasn’t normal for everyone else. “But I had a dream.”
“A prophetical dream?” Jessie was listening intently.
Cady smiled. “Well, I don’t know for sure, I guess we’ll see. But I have been known to have dreams which did come true.” She looked at Joseph McCoy. He was proof of that. “Last night, I saw a vision of Christmas Day.”
Jessie’s breath hitched in her throat. “Tell me.”
“We were all there. Joseph and I were married. You were holding little Bowie and he was dressed in a light blue outfit which looked like a small snowsuit and you had wrapped him in a white blanket with blue snowball tassels.”
“Wow.” Jessie’s eyes filled with tears. “I bought that outfit for him yesterday. No one has seen it but me.”
“There, you have it.” Cady smiled confidently. “So, now you know. Bowie is going to be just fine.”
“What else did you dream?” She wanted more.
“Well,” Cady leaned over and whispered to her, conspiratorially. “Aron was there.”
Jessie let out a little squeal. “Are you going to tell Libby?”
“I don’t know.” Cady shook her head, about to say more. But a voice from the hall drew their attention. It was Kane and Zane with their families. Jessie excused herself to go greet them.
“What were you telling Jessie?” Joseph settled down beside his angel.
“I was comforting her.” She laid her head on his shoulder.
“As only you can.” He kissed the top of her head.
Chapter Eleven
Breckenridge Hospital – Austin TX
“Mr. McCoy.”
The doctor’s voice caused everyone in the waiting room to go quiet. Zane placed his hand on Jacob’s shoulder. “It’s good news, Jacob. Look at that smile.”
He stepped toward the doctor, taking Jessie by the hand. “How is he?”
“He’s going to be just fine.” Everyone let out a collective sigh of relief. “The operation was successful. I replaced the valve and it will grow with your son. A procedure to expand it when need be won’t be as invasive as what he’s endured today.”
“When can I see him?” Jessie was tingling with nerves. “I need to make sure he’s okay.”
The doctor patted her arm. “He’s being taken to recovery. Give us a few minutes to get him settled.”
“What’s next, Doc?” Jacob wanted the full picture.
“We’ll keep him in NICU for twenty-four hours and if all is well, we’ll move you all to a private room. Babies are resilient. If he progresses as well as I think he will, you can take him home before Christmas.”
“Praise be.” Jessie threw her arms around Jacob and everyone hugged everyone else. Libby and Skye took Jessie to the restroom to repair her makeup while Avery and Cady escorted Nathan out for a celebratory ice cream cone. Jacob, even though he was ecstatic about his son, pulled Bowie and the Saucier brothers to one side. “Don’t leave for a bit, I couldn’t think straight until I knew my baby was going to be all right. But I have something to tell you and I need your help.”
“You’ve got it, you know that. What’s up?” Kane took his hat off and held it in his hand. The Sheriff of Kerr County was never off-duty, it seemed, but friends and family came first.
“We’ve found Aron.”
“What? He’s here?” Zane almost shouted and Jacob shushed him up. “The girls don’t know yet. We’ve got to get a plan together before we let them know what’s going on.”
“This sounds ominous. What’s going on?” Bowie could read Jacob last a book. “Is he in danger?”
“Yes. He’s being held by a Mexican drug cartel.”
“What do they want? Money? Is that what happened? Was he kidnapped and held for ransom?” Kane had slipped into official mode.
“Let’s move.” Jacob motioned for his brothers to follow them outside. “Hold on.” He saw Jessie and went and told her they were going to grab a cup of coffee and he’d return before it was time to check on the baby. “Ring me if they call us before I finish, and I’ll run right back.”
“Okay.” She smiled at him. He could see the relief on her face. They’d been through so much—her surrogacy, a crazy man who’d tried to kill her—they deserved some happiness.
Turning, he saw his brothers and their friends waiting on him by the exit. “Let’s go to that coffee shop across the street. I need to sit down.” Jacob was amazed at the events of the last twenty-four hours. Now if this thing with Aron would end as happily as BT’s surgery, they would have much to be thankful for.
As soon as they entered the small shop, Isaac led them to a table and ordered a round of coffee. Kane spoke first. “Answer my question. Was all of this about money? Is that what happened to him?”
“Not hardly.” Noah sighed. “Something much more dangerous, Aron was kidnapped for love.”
“Seriously?” Zane couldn’t help but laugh a bit. “Leave it to Aron.”
Jacob motioned for Noah to explain. He told their friends the whole story, then finished by looking at them one by one, right in the eye. “We’re going after him. Are you with us?”
“Hell, yeah.” Kane didn’t even blink an eye. “Remember the Alamo.”
Joseph snorted. “Roscoe is waiting for our call. We’ve got to have a planning session.”
“Brock is supposed to gather as much intel as he can and give us a ring sometimes tonight. But he thinks we could be up against a hundred men, maybe more if they have any inkling they’re being threatened.” Jacob checked his phone to make sure he hadn’t missed any message.
“This is a big deal. Those people don’t mess around. We’re going to have to have every man we can get.”
“I agree,” Noah said. “You should have seen these apes. Mercenaries. AK47’s. We’ll be going up against an armed battalion.”
“Have you called your cousins?” Bowie asked. “They’ll help.”
“Not yet,” Jacob stated. “I had to get throug
h today before I could concentrate. But I plan to. Harley and Beau will come and they’re going to be a major asset.”
“Sure will,” Joseph agreed. “Beau can get us any weapon we need and Harley can blow shit up if we need her to.”
“I thought she defused bombs for a living.” Zane laughed.
“I figure if she can take them apart, she’ll know how to make one.” Joseph was as serious as a heart attack.
“You’re right,” Kane agreed. “I have a couple of contacts down on the border. I’ll give them a call and see what they know.”
“Good.” Jacob was relieved. “We’ve done some wild things in our time, but declaring war on a drug cartel has got to take the cake.”
“Kyle Chancellor is bringing his Equalizer’s. They’re a former SEAL team. He can fly us in and out, plus they’ll be invaluable in the execution of our plan.”
“You know who else would be good?” All eyes turned to Isaac. “Patrick O’Rourke and his buddies. Do you remember? We met them at Beau and Harley’s wedding.”
“How many is that?” Joseph paused to count.
“Twenty-four.”
“Sounds about right,” Isaac drawled. “A hundred of them, twenty-four of us, we’d never want to be accused of not fighting fair.”
***
Graywolf Ranch – near Johnson City, TX
Jacob made calls. Roscoe made calls. They gathered information from Kane on El Duro’s habits and Brock furnished them blue prints courtesy of old man Delgado himself. Noah was relieved to hear Tomas and Alessandra had decided to go to Europe for a week or two. It would get them out of danger. Kyle Chancellor brought all of the Equalizers to Hardbodies to introduce them and Isaac and Jet hit it off instantly. Jet was just another Badass. It amazed everyone to find out he held an MMA title and spent his spare time hunting treasure in the Caribbean. All of the Equalizers had specialties: Jet was a bomb expert and was recruited to help Harley, Micah was former intelligence, Saxon was their computer genius, and Tyson was a helicopter pilot and Destry was a sniper. It turned out Tyson had known Patrick O’Rourke in Afghanistan. Destry, a former clerk for the Supreme Court held the longest sniper kill at 3079 yards, or one and three-quarter miles, with a .50 cal. Barrett M82.