by R B Hilliard
When we exited the car, Gage took my hand and said in a reassuring tone. “The guards are at the gate only when Dooley is entertaining. He is a collector of sorts and worries about someone getting sticky fingers.” He pointed to one of the buildings that we had driven past. “That is where he keeps his vast collection of cars and motorcycles. And that,” he pointed to the one next to it, “is where we stay if we have to spend the night.”
“Does that happen a lot?” I asked. The thought of Gage spending the night here bothered me.
“Not too often. Lester and Zeke live here but the rest of us have our own places.” My eyes widened when he said this and he chuckled. “Princess, he’s a very important man with a shit pile of money.”
“Oh,” I mouthed.
We walked around the side of what I assumed was the main house, through a large gate and onto a natural stone walkway. I gaped at the lush green grass and brightly colored flowers of all shapes and sizes that endlessly stretched in front of us. The walkway split and Gage directed me to the left toward a large pool that looked like it came straight out of the jungle, waterfalls and all. The stone pathway extended around the pool and opened up to a patio. It wasn’t until we got closer that I spotted the so-called bonfire. Holy shit that’s big!
A massive outdoor fireplace consumed most of an entire wall of the house. People were milling around the patio drinking fancy drinks and talking in the flickering light thrown off by dancing flames within the stone enclosure.
Gage leaned in close. “What do you think?”
“In North Carolina they would call that a fire wall, not a bonfire.”
“I agree,” a voice said behind us.
Dooley.
His eyes moved over my body and slightly paused on my legs before heading back up to my face. I managed to hold my smile when what I really wanted to do was kick him in the jollys.
Gage cleared his throat. “Hey man, how’s it going? You remember my girl, Piper, don’t you?” I thought I heard a hint of possessiveness but wasn’t sure.
Dooley stepped forward and kissed me on the cheek. I did not miss the fact that his lips lingered longer than appropriate. My eyes shot to Gage and his eyes were narrowed on Dooley. Apparently Gage shared some of my discomfort with Dooley’s kiss. What is with this guy?
Stepping back, Dooley said, “Good to see you again, Piper. Glad you could finally make it.” I waited for Gage to say something but he just laughed it off.
Really?
I was thinking that Gage needed a good jolly kick, when a man approached us with news that Dooley was needed elsewhere. I had never been so glad to see the backside of someone in my whole life. I cut my eyes to Gage. “That was seriously uncomfortable.”
“Awww Princess, that’s just Dooley. Pay him no mind.”
I opened my mouth to disagree but changed my mind at the last second. I didn’t want to fight with Gage. For better or worse, this was his boss and I was going to have to learn how to suck it up and deal.
The next hour Gage introduced me to his co-workers and their wives or girlfriends. A few may have had both. They mostly seemed like nice people who obviously cared about Gage. Maybe I have this all wrong. Maybe Dooley isn’t a complete douchebag.
The second I asked Gage if he wanted to inspect the waterfalls, among other things, Lester appeared.
Ugh.
“Piper, good to see you again,” he said. Then he turned to Gage. “Can I talk business with you for a few? Promise I won’t take you away from your girl for long.”
Gage glanced over to me and I nodded for him to go ahead. I really wanted to get a look at the waterfalls. I watched him follow Lester inside and decided to see if I could find Susannah or Reyn. After ten minutes of searching I gave up and headed over to the falls. Of course Dooley would have to be there.
A door slammed somewhere in the house and woke me from a surprisingly deep sleep. For a second I had no clue where I was. Then it all came back. Benny…and Lester! Gak! My throat constricted and I had that tight feeling in my chest again. I have to get out of this.
Before I could map out a plan, there was a knock at the door.
“Piper, you awake?” Twon asked from the other side of the door.
“Yeah, come in!” I yelled, rubbing my hand over my chest.
The door opened but he didn’t enter. “Time to go down,” he announced.
I sighed. “I’ll head down after I brush my teeth and pull up my hair.”
He nodded and disappeared.
I made my way downstairs after dressing. The once noisy room went silent when I hit the bottom step. I knew that Max and Kurt would probably be there but wasn’t sure who else Benny had called in. Taking a deep a breath I rounded the corner and froze.
“Holy shit,” I whispered. As far as my eyes could see were…hot men. Benny sat in one large leather chair. Max sat in the other with Kurt leaning against the wall next to him. Twon and Tut lounged on chairs close to Benny. Dillon and Ellie’s dad, Sam, sat on each end of Benny’s large leather sofa. My heart started to race. Garrett leaned against the wall behind Benny’s chair and Harry, Kurt’s cousin, stood frenetically opening and closing cabinet doors in the kitchen.
My eyes narrowed on Benny. “You said Max and Kurt.”
Benny started to reply but Max beat him to it. “You were supposed to meet Joss back at the house last night. When you failed to show and answer your phone, Kurt called and asked if you had stopped off at our house.”
“When Max said he hadn’t seen you, I called D and asked if he walked you out to your car,” Kurt added.
“I drove back by Dragonfly, found your phone smashed on the ground and reported back to Kurt,” Dillon said.
“By the time Kurt called me back Benny had already called and told me what had gone down,” Max said. “Joss got your text right as we were hanging up.”
My eyes drifted to Sam.
“I was having dinner with Max and Ellie when Kurt called looking for you. I had to stay until I knew you were safe.”
I blinked back the tears and glanced behind Benny to Garrett, who held up both of his hands in mock surrender. “Max thought you might need my help.”
“And I just want a ride on your carpet of love,” Harry volunteered from the kitchen.
All eyes shot to him. I had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing when every guy in the room scowled…in unison. I couldn’t have choreographed it better if I’d tried.
“Piper.” Dillon said, cutting through my amusement, “Come have a seat, so we can talk about what has been happening with you.”
My chest tightened and my stomach started to churn. Slowly, I made my way over to the sofa and sat down. “This really isn’t necessary,” I told them.
“I think you need to know that before Twon came up to get you this morning, I told everyone about what happened in the closet at the wedding,” Dillon confessed.
Panic was starting to creep from my chest into my throat. I stared down at my feet long enough to get it under control. Wiping all expression from my face, I looked up and said, “Nothing happened in the closet at the wedding. I wasn’t feeling well and thought it was a bathroom. I am fine and I had Lester perfectly under control last night.” Dillon scowled and I tried not to let it affect me.
“Are you in so deep that you actually believe the shit you dish?” Benny questioned from across the room.
Closing my eyes for a second, I imagined the relief I would feel if I told them everything. Then I remembered Dooley’s warning.
You have no idea the resources that I have at my disposal. I will have you, Piper O’Connell and if I have to go through your friends to get to you, so be it.
“Piper,” Max said, pulling me back to the present. “Did you or did you not steal a car?”
“I borrowed a car, Max. I always intended to return it.”
“Lester kept talking about some cat named Doody last night,” Tut told Max.
Shit! I simultaneously felt the urge to laugh a
nd slap the tattoo off his bald head.
When Gage and I got together he mentioned that his cousin, Skeeter, worked for a guy named Jack at a garage called MMG. It later came to light that when Max had entered into witness protection he changed his name to Jack. This was the same Jack that had bought the garage in Austin from Dooley and that Gage had spoken of months ago. Tut just outed me to the one guy who had the knowledge to put it all together.
“Who is Lester?” Dillon asked.
Max’s eyes widened. “Do you mean Dooley?” he asked.
“Doody, Dooley, they both sound the same to me,” Tut shrugged.
Max turned to me. “As in Dooley Shane?”
I nodded my head.
Max turned to Dillon. “Lester worked with Gage and Zip in Texas before they quit. Dooley was their boss. Is that Dooley’s car out there?” I nodded my head and his eyes narrowed. “Why?”
“Because I found myself in a precarious position and needed a way out,” I hesitantly replied.
His eyebrows hit the top of his hairline. “So you stole his fucking car?” The tone of his voice made me flinch.
“Does Gage have something to do with this?” Kurt asked.
I told him what I told Joss when she asked that same question. “Inadvertently, yes.”
He looked puzzled. “Care to explain?”
Not really. “Uh, Gage introduced me to Dooley.”
“So now you admit that you and Gage were involved,” Dillon stated.
Crap! I may have been heartbroken over what happened with Gage, but I loved him and that would never change. Right or wrong, I would always protect him.
Max came off the chair and my chest seized. “Son of a bitch! Was Gage the one who beat you?” His face was masked in rage and I could see why people did not mess with him.
Tut tensed. “What do you mean beat her?”
Benny rolled his eyes at Tut. “Down boy. This happened months ago while you were down in Georgia. As you can see, she is fine and as feisty as ever.”
“That may be, but where I come from, no man lays angry hands on a woman,” Tut replied.
“And we all agree with you. That’s why we’re all here trying to figure this out” Benny shot back at him. Tut eased back down in his chair.
Whew! Crisis averted.
“Pi, was it Gage who beat you?” Dillon quietly asked.
I looked over at him and then back to Max before answering honestly. “No. Gage did not beat me. In fact, Gage wasn’t anywhere around when it happened.” What I did not tell them was that Gage was the reason it happened to begin with.
“You’ve got to give us more, Piper,” Max said. I knew that if I wanted them to take what I was dishing, I had to give them something. I paused briefly in order to carefully choose my words.
“As Max probably knows, Dooley’s parties can get a little wild. I was there one night and things got out of hand. I didn’t see a way out so I borrowed one of his cars.”
“Which one?” Max interrupted.
“Uhhhh.”
“Maserati Sport,” Benny said and Max’s eyes bulged.
“I was hurt pretty badly and I didn’t want to go to the hospital. The car was just sitting there so I borrowed it. When I felt better, I called Ellie to see if I could stay with her and Benny to see if I could store the car at his place. I had every intention of returning it later.”
“That all sounds well and good,” Twon said, “but you forget that we were outside last night watching a man three times your size hold a gun to your head while talking about your golden snatch and kidnapping you. It was far from nothing.” My shoulders slumped.
Damn, Max will never let this one slide.
The room went electric. “Kidnapping?” Kurt choked out. His red face reflected his anger. I guess Max didn’t pass that part along.
“That’s what he said,” Tut confirmed.
I needed to do serious damage control here. “Look, Lester is all talk. Dooley is angry about his car and sent Lester here to retrieve it. What you heard was me giving Lester a lot of lip and him finally getting tired of it. He would never have actually pulled the trigger or kidnapped me.”
“So what you’re saying is that if we turn Lester loose, he’ll take the car back to Dooley and all is forgiven?” Sam dryly remarked.
I hesitated for a second and Max jumped. “Piper, it’s not what you are saying that has me worried. It’s what you’re not saying. You showed up in Charlotte months ago beaten and bruised with a “borrowed” car you hid from everyone. Then you have a thug hold you at gun point and threaten to kidnap you to get this so-called “borrowed” car back. And, you refuse to tell us how this ties to Gage Blackwell and Dooley Shane. Babe…seriously?”
“I’m calling bullshit,” Kurt said.
“Let’s not forget that you told Ellison months ago that if you talked, people would get hurt,” Max added.
Damn Ellie and her big mouth!
When I first arrived in Charlotte, I was hurt and extremely vulnerable. One night Ellie and I were drinking while watching television and, in a very weak moment, I talked. I had discovered that Gage was in North Carolina. In fact, I had seen him at Dragonfly a few nights before and panicked. When Ellie asked me about it, I told her that I fell hard for someone and he had really scary friends; friends that would hurt me and my friends if I talked. Apparently she told Max what I had said.
As if reading my mind, Harry decided to interject his thoughts. “Oh, and don’t think that I didn’t notice you running from Gage at Dragonfly the night that you pretended to feel sick and made Garrett drive you home.”
My eyes bugged and I mentally scrambled for an explanation. “Look, I just need to get the car back to Dooley and then all will be okay.” Max was the one I needed to convince, so I focused mostly on him. “Can you please help me do that? That’s all that Lester was trying to do last night. Gage had nothing to do with any of this. We dated for a while and it didn’t work out. Please, just leave it alone. I appreciate you all coming over, but I’m good. I just need to get the car back, that’s all.” I knew no one was buying this, but that’s all I had. No way in hell was I jeopardizing any of my friends. No. Way. In. Hell.
Max nodded his head at Twon. “Go get Lester.”
No!
Lester was a complete wild card. If he knew what was good for him he would keep his mouth shut and, at the first opportunity, get the car and go back to Texas. Lester, however, had a horrible temper. The fact that I had bested him twice was a serious hit to his pride. From the look on Max’s face, this is what he was hoping for. I watched Twon and Tut disappear out the back door to retrieve Lester and wanted to scream.
“Piper, I know you don’t know me very well, but my business is to protect people,” Garrett said. “It’s hard to do that when I’m not being given all of the information.”
Garrett Lanier was in the protection business. He and Max met when Max had to relocate to Kentucky and they became friends. Before Max came back for Ellie, he hired Garrett to keep an eye on her. Garrett did more than that. He was hired at Dragonfly and wiggled his way into Ellie’s inner circle. When it came to light that he was hired to be her friend, Ellie was hurt. I knew all about Garrett Lanier. Why are they making this so hard? Why won’t they just take my word for it and let it go?
I opened my mouth to repeat that there was nothing to tell when a loud banging noise came from outside. In the blink of an eye, the room emptied out to the back yard. I dropped down to a squat, placed my head between my knees and sucked in a deep breath. When I pulled back up and peered out the window I saw Tut and Twon gesturing to Max and Benny. Garrett, Kurt, and Dillon were headed for the barn. Sam and Harry watched on the sidelines. A few minutes passed before Garret came out of the barn holding something in his hand and shaking his head. Kurt and Dillon appeared right after him, but…no Lester. I managed to get my breathing back under control right as they rolled back in.
When everyone was settled, Max stated, “Lester’s go
ne.”
My eyes shot to the barn and then back to Max. “What do you mean Lester’s gone?”
“Apparently he’s got more skill than we gave him credit for. Not only did he get out of the ropes, he busted out of the barn with the car and is probably on his way back to Texas by now,” Benny informed.
Twon smiled. “After the work over that Tut gave him last night, the boy has got to be hurtin’ something bad.”
Max chuckled. “Let him limp back to Dooley with his tail between his legs.”
“I certainly gave him something to think about,” Tut said. “No one messes with our girl.”
I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. The car wasn’t the only thing that Dooley Shane wanted from me. This may stall him, but there’s no way in hell that it would stop him. The man was certifiable and he had me in his cross hairs.
After thanking everyone for coming to my rescue, the hot boy brigade disbanded. Max insisted on driving me home….in my car. I didn’t dare ask why. He did not look happy and an unhappy Max was scary.
“We both know that there is a hell of a lot that you are not saying, Piper. What I want to know is why? What went down at Dooley Shane’s house that would make you steal his car to get away? Why aren’t you giving me the full story, babe? You gotta know that I would protect you. Every guy in that house today would.”
It’s not me who needs protecting.
“You know how Dooley’s bonfire parties can get, Max. Things got crazy. I was scared, I had no car and I needed to get out.”
He pulled into the driveway, turned off the car and looked over at me. “Someone beat the hell out of you and, I’m not sure if anyone has told you, but I just took on Gage as a partner in the garage. If Gage was the one who hurt you, then I need to rescind that offer. I have a finite amount of time to do this. If I should not take Gage into the fold for any reason, you need to let me know right now. You don’t even have to tell me why.” He grabbed my hand and squeezed it. “You are the closest thing Ellison will ever have to a sister and that makes you mine as well. You are also the godmother to our unborn child. I would never do anything to hurt you. Please know this.”