Starting Over

by Dixie Lynn Dwyer

  “I was looking for Adalee. She didn’t show up to PT.”

  “Yeah, she was pretty tired this morning. I checked on her an hour ago, and she’s resting still.”

  “Is she sick?” he asked with concern.

  “No, just tired. I’m sure she’ll text you back or call you when she’s better,” Layla said.

  “So she’s home?” he asked her.

  “Yes.”

  “I’ll go up and check on her.”

  “There’s a key in the flower box by the front door on the right side if she doesn’t answer,” Layla said.

  “Okay. Thanks,” he replied, and his mom gave him a look, like a sad expression, or maybe a look that his gut said something else was going on here. So as he headed out and around the building, he caught sight of Rhett.

  “Hey, is Adalee in there?”

  “No, she is in bed, not feeling well or something.”

  “What?” Rhett asked with concern.

  “I don’t know. Something fishy is going on. She didn’t go to PT, and her mom and ours are acting strange.”

  “Something is wrong. Come on,” Rhett said, and they walked up together.

  No one answered the door, so they used the key. Rhett called out her name several times so she would know it was them in the house. When they got to the last bedroom in the back of the house, they slowly opened the door, and she was curled up in bed, crying.

  “Adalee,” Everett said and hurried to the bed. Rhett did, too.

  “I’m okay. It’s okay. I need this,” she said and continued to cry and then wiped her eyes.

  Everett looked at Rhett. He didn’t think twice. Everett climbed up onto the bed with her and pulled her into his arms. She hugged him tight and started crying more. Rhett texted his brothers, and then he climbed up into bed behind her also, so she was sandwiched between them.

  “What’s this all about?”

  “Closure. Getting the time to mourn when I couldn’t. Having an anxiety episode this morning because of the dark, and then learning a secret I never knew. I needed to do this alone.”

  “You don’t need to do anything alone. We’re your men, your guardians now, baby,” Rhett told her and kissed her shoulder.

  Everett locked gazes with Rhett. “Are you sure that you’re okay? You said an anxiety attack, was it bad?”

  “I’m fine. I already spoke to Kane. I’m meeting a friend of his sister’s tomorrow to talk. I don’t want you guys to worry.”

  “You scared us this morning. Not answering your texts or calls, and not calling us the moment you felt better so we could get here sooner,” Rhett reprimanded.

  She turned to look at him as Everett slid his palm along her taut belly. She looked so damn sexy in her panties and T-shirt and no bra.

  “I’m sorry, Rhett.”

  “You should be, and you have a lot to learn about the order of authority in this family. I’m at the top. I help to make sure every member is feeling happy, loved, protected, and taken care of at all times.”

  She reached up and stroked his jaw. “I’m living with my mom. It’s bad enough I walked in on her and John and Keith last night.”

  “See, you need to move in with us.”

  “You sound like Coda.”

  “Coda and Jeb are on their way, and they will say the same thing. So pack a bag, grab what you need for a few days, and stay with us. We’ll hold you at night, help talk you through things, and give you the support you need,” Rhett told her.

  “I told you and Coda that it’s too soon to be so serious.”

  Rhett cupped her cheek and jaw. “Baby, taking you together, filling every hole in your body with cock multiple times, is pretty damn serious stuff. We want you, adore you, and would love to spend even more time with you as we strengthen this relationship.”

  She licked her lips, and Everett slid his palm up under her shirt and squeezed her breast.

  “Maybe she needs convincing, tag team style,” he suggested, and then lowered down and began to suckle her breast.

  “Oh God, we can’t. Not here, my mom might show up.”

  “Holy fuck, now those are words I haven’t heard in a long fucking time,” Jeb said, joining them and standing in the doorway with Coda. They all laughed.

  “This is what we get for robbing the fucking cradle,” Coda said and walked into the small bedroom.

  “What’s going on in here? Why haven’t you been answering our texts and calls?” Jeb asked.

  “She’ll explain at our place. We’re going to help her pack. She’s sleeping over for the week,” Rhett said.

  “Tonight,” she corrected.

  “The week,” Everett said and then lowered his mouth to her lips and kissed her until she was soft in his arms and moaning into his mouth.

  “Be sure to pack some of those panties you’re wearing. I like those,” Rhett teased.

  “She won’t need panties—she’ll be too busy naked and spread out on our bed to feast upon.”

  “Nice, Coda,” she said to him, and as she eased up and Everett helped her, she teetered.

  “Whoa,” Everett said.

  She laid her head against his chest. “Maybe I should stay right here.”

  He ran his palm along her ass and caressed the back of her head. “You’ll come home with us, and we’ll take care of you, Adalee. As your guardians, your men, it’s our job and our honor.”

  “You need to make your way out of that town,” Judge Haylas Floren said to Miller Smith over the phone.

  “You wanted this job done. I can get close enough to take out your insurance guy, as well as the two dick Texas Rangers. In fact, I’m working on a different angle.”

  “You’re going to blow this. We’ll get caught. I won’t give you the money or your freedom.”

  “I’m not free and will never be free until I do these hits. I’ll be by to pick up the money in three days. You be sure to have it in the safety-deposit box at that location an hour from here.”

  “Fuck, you better pull this off. If you don’t, my career is over. I’ll go to federal prison. A judge like me won’t survive that. Not with all the dirtbags I put behind bars.”

  “You came to me, Judge Floren. I’ll kill the insurance guy. The other two are my own sweet revenge for busting me and putting me in jail. Revenge is sweet.” He ended the call and watched Texas Ranger Jeb Perkins walk to the patrol car along with his brothers and a woman they were fucking. Gorgeous, sexy thing with long black hair, big tits, and a limp she was getting physical therapy for. It’s funny how he caught sight of her in Central Valley and thought she would make a nice little bedmate for a bit of time. Fate that she turned out to be Ranger Perkins’s bitch. He would have grabbed her today if she showed up at that appointment in town, but instead this worked out better. That insurance guy got home late. He would kill him, make it look like a robbery, and then hold out to grab the woman. Then he would take her with him as he went by the gym Ranger Felix Fords worked out at and kill him. He always came out late at night and didn’t even look around him. He would be an easy target.

  He licked his lips and imagined his reward afterward. One hot, sexy bitch to slap around and relieve all the stress, but not until the money was in his hands. Patience always paid off, and this would be no different.

  Adalee gasped when Coda thrust into her asshole harder, deeper. The feel of his hands on her hips as he pulled her back as he thrust forward made her lose her breath. They had been relentless since arriving at their home this afternoon. Night was drawing near, and she felt so exhausted she could barely stand, but she loved it. Kept begging for more. Now here she was, they just got out of the showers twenty minutes ago, and Coda was taking her again.

  “Oh God, Coda, please. Oh I need more,” she said, and Jeb appeared.

  “Lift up,” he said and slid underneath her on the bed. She immediately lowered her pussy over his cock and moaned and then started to move. “That’s it. Oh God, I missed you, and I missed this body,” Jeb told her a
s she leaned down and kissed him and then gasped as Coda slapped her ass.

  “Coda!” she reprimanded when she released Jeb’s lips.

  “Mine. All mine!” he exclaimed and grunted as he came in her ass. The second he pulled out, Jeb rolled her to her back, spread her thighs wider, and thrust into her over and over again.

  “Jeb!” she cried out and came.

  He followed, lowered against her chest, and hugged her tight. He slowly pulled from her body as he rolled her to her side. Rhett was there with a washcloth and Everett with a towel. Both men leaned down to kiss her skin, her breast and then her inner thighs.

  “Is this your idea of making me so tired that I pass out?” she asked.

  “No passing out, we have dinner almost ready,” Everett said. He and Rhett had gone down earlier to start cooking.

  “Thank God because I’m starving. I haven’t eaten anything today,” she said as she rolled to her belly and exhaled with her cheek against the sheets.

  “What?” Coda asked.

  She didn’t answer and then felt the slap to her ass.

  Smack.

  “Hey,” she said in a gasp and looked at him as she lifted up.

  “Nothing? No food all day?” he asked.

  “That’s partially your fault, so don’t get mad at me.”

  “My fault?” he asked.

  “Yes, since you got me here you’ve been forcing me to talk about my feelings, my anxiety, and in between filling me up with cock, so who is to blame for forgetting about food?” she asked.

  “Jesus,” Jeb said as Coda grabbed her ankle, pulled her down to the edge of the bed, and then pressed between her legs and raised her arms above her head, restraining her.

  “Can you blame a man when his woman is as hot and sexy as you?” he asked, and she smiled.

  “Or that our woman loves getting fucked in the ass over and over again,” Everett said.

  “Oh,” she gasped but couldn’t move because Coda restrained her.

  “And enjoys teasing her men going from cock to cock tasting, sucking, and then arousing us until we’re about to lose our minds?” Rhett added.

  “Okay, so maybe I’m slightly at fault,” she said. He lowered down and nipped her nipple. “Coda.”

  He chuckled and then lifted up, released her arms, and kissed her. When he was done, he got up and pulled her along with him.

  “Food for our wild sex-craved woman, then back to bed.”

  Smack. He spanked her ass and then led her to the bathroom and the shower once again.

  Before they got into the shower, she wrapped her arms around Coda’s shoulders and hugged him tight.

  “What’s this for?” he asked, caressing her ass and her back.

  “For caring, for talking, for sharing some of your own personal issues, and making me see that it’s okay to be weak, to feel vulnerable and to need help. I’m so glad I came to Cherry Hill and met you guys.”

  “We’re glad you showed up, too.” He kissed her again, and then they got into the shower before heading downstairs for dinner.

  Chapter 6

  Jeb was talking to Felix about the investigation a few days later. “So this Agent Feller contacted me. He says there’s an internal investigation going on, and it involves a judge,” Jeb told Felix.

  “What?”

  “Yeah, it’s complicated but you know how you heard about some kind of corruption connected to a murder and someone in authority was involved? Well, fingers are pointing toward this judge. Who just so happens to be the judge that got Miller Smith out of jail on bogus paperwork errors that suddenly appeared in his file. Anyway, he contacted me, to talk to you and me about how we busted Miller Smith years ago on the rape and murder charges and how they found evidence leading them to believe Miller wants something more from this judge or could be going after someone else. Agent Feller wasn’t giving much info as it’s an ongoing investigation, but he would appreciate our investigative skills to try to locate Miller. Hence why I called my friend, who has family in town and is a federal agent I trust.”

  “Are you kidding me? We don’t even do that kind of work anymore, and we’ve been searching for this dick. For all we know, he could be gone from here by now and on route to Dallas or somewhere.”

  “It’s what this federal agent is saying. I think we should go over his file again and look for anything that could lead us to a location he might hide out in or be heading toward.

  “I’ll work on things on this end. I have some time today in the office anyway and other paperwork to do. I want to call a few of the guys at the prison he was held in. Maybe one of the corrections officers caught wind of something?” Jeb said.

  “That’s a great idea. If you need me to, I can drive out there tomorrow morning in person to talk to anyone who might have something for us.”

  “Okay, I’ll keep you posted. Not sure what else we could do from here. Seems to me it’s now a federal investigation, and they’ll have access to more resources than us to locate Miller Smith. For all we know he’s long gone.”

  “Exactly. Keep me posted, Jeb. Oh, and enjoy time with your woman, you lucky bastard. Word is traveling fast that she’s off the market.”

  “Thanks, Felix. Talk to you soon.” He ended the call and looked at his cell phone.

  Adalee was probably coming out of PT about now, and then heading to her mom’s boutique and lunch with her. He couldn’t help but to smile just thinking about how much he loved her. How she instantly became part of their family, and how much she changed each of them for the better. She was tough, determined, and had been struggling like his brothers had and especially like Everett had struggled. Together they were helping one another through their emotions, their anxieties, and ultimately healing them. Jeb worried about her still. Well, maybe he was a bit jealous thinking about other men hitting on her and fearing she could leave them for younger men closer to her age. She was so damn gorgeous. Everything about her was perfection, and she fit them. Hell, she completed them.

  As he smiled to himself, he heard the alert and then the call come into the barracks. “Lieutenant, it’s an incident in Cherry Hill. Bailey Montgomery was attacked.”

  Adalee was talking to Bailey in the back office of the PT building. She was locking up, and they were discussing going to lunch one day or hanging out at Harper’s, which Adalee had yet to see.

  “You’ll love it. There’s really hot guys, great dancing, and the drinks are awesome. I’m supposed to meet some friends there Friday night. Could you go then?”

  “Hmm, hot guys? Not sure Everett and his brothers will like that,” she teased and winked.

  “Oh my God, so you and Everett and his brothers are a thing?” Bailey asked, smiling wide as she grabbed her bag, and they headed out of the back door, locking up.

  “That would be a yes.”

  “I knew it. Totally saw the way Everett’s eyes lit up the second you walked into the office your first day. He couldn’t take his eyes off of you. Then again neither could Donny.”

  Adalee chuckled. “Donny is a character.”