by Jenny Penn
“Yes, the hell something is wrong!” Tex hollered out from the bed. “It took you guys fucking long enough to show.”
That complaint had Bruce’s gaze darting past Logan and over Janie’s shoulder to widen on the sight of Tex and Brick tied up naked in the bed. Bruce started to break into a grin that nobody shared. In fact, it left Janie wanting to hit him with the skillet, but she held back on the urge as Logan drew her attention once again. He, too, had noticed Brick and Tex’s predicament, but he wasn’t on the verge of laughter, unlike his other cousin.
“What the hell did you do?”
“What I had to,” Janie shot back, her chin raising as she anticipated what came next. “And you’re not going to interfere…and how did you hear them cussing?”
Logan didn’t answer that. Tex did, not that he directed his comments at her.
“Damn it, Logan. It’s getting cold!”
Logan just rolled his eyes and tried to shove past her, but Janie lifted the skillet once again, refusing to move from the doorway.
“I asked you a question. How did you hear…” Janie fell silent as it hit her.
They’d bugged the house.
They’d been listening in all night long.
The implication of that thought had her face flaming as her outrage flared hot enough to sear her cheeks. “You’ve been listening in on us!”
“Of course,” Logan shot back, not ashamed of his actions in the slightest. “How the hell else are we supposed to be covering all your asses?”
Janie didn’t have an answer for that, but that didn’t mean she didn’t have a response. “Get out!”
“No.” Logan dared to take a step closer. “Get out of my way.”
They stared off for a long tense moment that finally broke with a surprise as a new voice spoke up with a quiver of true horrification.
“Four men? Four men!”
That angered roar had Bruce, Logan, and Janie turning startled eyes on the woman standing in the middle of the main room, holding a gun on all three of them. It was Ken’s mother. Janie recognized the woman instantly, even without the benefit of any other light than the soft filtered moonbeams that cut across the floor. It was easy enough because she was so damn short. The woman didn’t even stand over five feet tall.
That didn’t make the gun in her hand any less deadly.
Chapter Ten
Everything that happened next happened in such a rush it all blurred together. Logan roared and lunged at Janie as a loud boom ricocheted through the house, followed quickly by two more that faded into a deathly silence as an abyss of blackness consumed Janie. She’d blacked out. That much became clear the next time she opened her eyes to find a set of florescent lights flickering down at her.
Janie lay there absorbing the sense of déjà vu as it became clear that she’d woke back up in a hospital without any sense of how she’d gotten there. This time, other than a pounding headache, she didn’t have any clue either. Tex, though, was there to fill her in.
“Oh thank God!” Tex’s relieved sigh had Janie turning her head to find him settled down in a chair beside her bed. His head dropped for a moment as he seemed to breathe deeply. Then he snapped out of his chair, looking pissed as shit.
“Don’t you ever, ever, do that again! Do you hear me?”
Janie kind of thought that the people all the way down the hall heard him. Not that she figured Tex cared. He didn’t even wait for her to offer him up a response or ask him what the hell he was talking about. Tex just kept on ranting.
“You could have gotten yourself killed.”
She could have? Janie frowned as it started to come back to her. Ken’s mother with a gun. She’d always known that the woman was a little too obsessed with her son, but somehow, Janie had failed to realize that she also happened to be bat-shit crazy.
“Hell, you got Logan shot!”
She had? Last thing Janie really remembered was Logan tackling her, but she hadn’t shot him. Janie hadn’t even had a gun. That had been Ken’s nutbag of a mother. So, why was Tex blaming her?
It hit Janie then. She remembered just what she’d done.
“And let me tell you something, honey,” Tex all but snarled as he bent down close enough for his breath to fan her cheeks in a hot wash of outrage. “If you ever tie me up again, I’m going to paddle you till you can’t sit straight for a week. Got me?”
“I did what I had to.” Of that, Janie was certain.
Maybe, though, she should have kept that opinion to herself. Tex certainly didn’t like hearing it. He didn’t yell at her, though, and for some reason, Janie thought that could only mean bigger trouble later. So did the promise glinting in his eyes as her mother, followed by Brick and Big Bob, came bustling into the room.
“What’s all the noise?” Big Bob demanded to know, even as Janie’s mom squealed.
“Oh, honey, you’re awake!”
That wasn’t the end of her and Tex’s argument, though, Janie suspected it had only been postponed, not forgotten. It wouldn’t just be a battle between her and Tex, either. From the size of Brick’s frown and the glare in his eyes, Janie could tell he wasn’t happy with her either. She didn’t have time to worry over their foul moods, not with her mother gushing all over her.
It wasn’t long before her mom started to fill in all the missing details of the previous night. Tex, apparently, hadn’t lied. Logan had gotten shot, but the bullet had been meant for her. He’d saved Janie’s life and, thankfully, hadn’t sacrificed his own, receiving only a flesh wound for his efforts.
Ken’s mother, on the other hand, was in critical condition. Bruce had shot her twice in the chest. Answers for what had driven her to stalk after Janie would have to wait, and may never come if Ken’s mother didn’t make it. That was a possibility that had Janie’s thoughts turning to Ken with a sense of sympathy she knew nobody else shared.
It wasn’t his fault his mother was crazy. The fact that the woman was nuts didn’t change the fact that she was Ken’s mother and losing her would, no doubt, be devastating to Ken. Janie wished she could tell him she was sorry, sorry that all of this had happened because, at some level, she felt guilty. She also knew to keep that thought to herself.
Not that anybody asked her for her opinion. Instead, the next several hours were spent answering a long litany of different questions. Was she seeing double? Could she move her head? Could she follow the light with her eyes? On and on, the interrogation went until finally the doctor declared that she’d suffered a concussion and should be watched over for the next several days, but otherwise, she expected Janie to make a full recovery.
With that, they released her from the hospital, which sparked a long argument between her mother and Tex about who would take Janie home with them. Her mother wanted Janie safely tucked in her guest bed. Tex, backed by Brick, wanted to take her home with them. Nobody asked Janie what she wanted, which worked because she didn’t have an answer.
She didn’t really want to go with her mother, but neither did she want to have the argument that waited if she chose Tex and Brick. Janie knew that battle would be unavoidable. That didn’t mean a little bit of time for them to cool off wouldn’t be a good thing. Time she got when her mother won, thanks to Big Bob’s interference.
Of course, Tex and Brick didn’t give in gracefully. Instead, both men declared that they’d be moving in as well. Their determination not to be parted from Janie touched her heart, even if it was going to be a tight squeeze in her mother’s small house.
Things became even more cramped when Tex and Brick insisted on sharing Janie’s tiny childhood bedroom. They had to sleep on the floor because there was no room in her small twin bed for anybody but her. Not that her mother would have allowed them to. In fact, she insisted that Janie’s bedroom door stay open at all times, forcing all three of them to take turns getting dressed in the hallway bathroom. That made mornings interesting and so did Janie’s insistence that she go back to work.
Not that
she could escape the craziness by going to the library. That quickly became clear as the foot traffic increased over the next few days. Everybody seemed to want to come and eye the woman in the middle of the biggest scandal in town in years. Soon enough, Janie was the most checked-out thing there.
It didn’t help that Ken’s mother died. While Tex and Brick and just about everybody else greeted that news with a sense of relief, Janie could only feel bad for Ken. As much as she’d become an instant celebrity, he and his mother had become villains. He didn’t deserve that.
That was how Janie found herself clutching her purse and standing before the door of the home of the woman who had died trying to kill her. She stood there alone, feeling the quiet stillness of the street behind her. Normally death heralded much commotion as family, friends, and neighbors descended on the family of the deceased, but not this time.
That only had Janie swallowing back her doubts and fortifying her nerve as she reached out to ring the doorbell. She heard the familiar chimes echo through the house. The cheery sound faded as the ominous thump of footfalls grew louder. So did Janie’s fear until she all but quivered with it as the door slowly opened to reveal a grim-faced Ken.
His eyes widened slightly at the sight of her, and then they darkened, but not with anger. Janie could see the sadness fill his gaze and felt her heart clench at his dejected expression. They stood there silently for a long, tense second before Janie felt compelled to break the silence.
“I’m sorry about your mom.”
Ken blinked, appearing a little taken aback by that sentiment. It took him a moment to recover and respond with a hesitant tone. “I’m sorry about what she did to you.”
Janie nodded, accepting that as the truth. She didn’t believe that Ken had any idea about how crazy his mother really was or would have encouraged her in any way. That didn’t change the fact that she could think of nothing else to say to him. There was nothing else she really wanted to say. So, with another nod, Janie turned and started back down the cement path that cut across the middle of Ken’s yard.
Her car waited at the curb, but she didn’t make that far before an all-too-familiar SUV came squealing down the road to slam with a hard stop right before her bumper. Tex didn’t even bother to kill the engine. He simply hopped out of the truck and cut a direct path across the sidewalk and yard, straight for her with Brick trailing only two steps behind him.
Hell was about to be paid. Janie could read that in both men’s hard expressions. They were pissed, and she was about to get it. Not that she deserved it. Janie might care about that small detail, but Tex and Brick clearly didn’t. So, of course, she tried to remind them.
“I didn’t do anything wrong,” Janie insisted as both men stormed toward her. “I just wanted to convey my condolences, and I did. There is nothing for either of you to—”
Janie’s explanation ended in a huff as Brick swept her right off her feet, barely pausing his stride. She ended up hanging upside down over his shoulder as he turned to cart her off to her car, but Janie didn’t go quietly.
“Hey! What do you think you are doing?” Janie demanded to know but didn’t pause for the obvious explanation before beginning to slap his ass and kick her legs. “Put me down, now!”
Her command fell on deaf ears, even though Brick obeyed…sort of. He stuffed her right into Tex’s waiting truck, all but dropping her face first on the seat. By the time Janie scrambled to right herself, both cousins had climbed in, caging her between their strength and hardness. They fairly steamed with their outrage, searing her with the heat, but neither man said a word as they slammed their doors.
Tex popped the truck into gear. Then he twisted the wheel with a savage motion and hit the gas, sending the SUV spinning out and around her car. They roared off down the street at well over three times the posted speed limit. Janie didn’t have any intention of sitting there silently while Tex killed them all.
“Slow down!” she snapped as she gripped the edge of the bench seat in her hands. Tex didn’t respond to that command other than to speed up, which had Janie starting to flush with her own anger. “Damn it, Tex! You’re going to get us killed!”
That was probably a poor choice of words. They did get an instant response as Tex stepped down on the brake, bringing the truck to a hard stop right before a yield sign. He all but turned in his seat to glare down at her, and Janie couldn’t help but notice the tic that had appeared in his cheek.
“What did you just say?” he asked, sounding as if he was strangling on each word as they came out. “Get us what? Is that like tying us up naked with a crazy woman running around trying to shoot you? Or is that like you going to her house afterward? What the hell were you thinking?”
Janie tried not to shrink back as Tex’s volume increased to a full-on roar. He looked ready to strike out at somebody, though Janie knew he’d never hit her. That didn’t mean she wasn’t a little overwhelmed by the look in his eyes. So, her response came out sounding more tentative and hesitant than it should have.
“I just wanted to offer my condolences.”
Tex blinked, his expression lightening for a second with a look of pure amazement, and Janie knew she’d surprised him with that revelation. Surprised him, but not in a good way.
“You’re nuts.” Tex shook his head and turned back toward the road, finally pressing on the gas, but at least, this time, he didn’t take off like a mad man.
“No.” Feeling her confidence returned now that Tex wasn’t attempting to burn it out of her with his glare, Janie straightened back up in her seat. “I was being polite. None of this was Ken’s fault, but he’s the one who is suffering the most.”
“Oh for God’s sake,” Tex muttered to himself, heaving a deep, aggrieved-sounding sigh.
“Exactly,” Janie jumped on that obnoxious retort. “It was for God’s sake because He preaches mercy and forgiveness, or don’t you believe in those two things?”
“Not right now,” Tex all but snarled as he shot her a warning look from the corner of his eye.
Janie could tell it was pointless to continue to argue with him, but surely Brick would be more reasonable. So she hoped as she turned toward him to plead her case. “You agree, don’t you? This isn’t Ken’s fault.”
Brick head turned slowly until his dark eyes were pinning her where she sat, and Janie knew he didn’t agree. True to his nature, though, he didn’t say a word. He didn’t need to. His look said it all.
“I’m sorry, okay?” Janie really wasn’t, but it felt like the best thing to say right then. “I shouldn’t have gone there without telling…hey, how did you know I was at Ken’s?”
That question popped out of her, even as it formed in her mind, but before Janie could accuse them of spying on her, Tex explained that it was Ken they had under surveillance.
“Bruce has been watching his house,” Tex shot back, taking another hard turn before aiming the truck in the direction of his house, not her mother’s. “He called us.”
Janie blinked in that information, more confused by it than soothed. “Why?”
“Because his mother died and he could decide to take revenge for that fact,” Tex snapped, making Janie cringe from the sharpness of his tone. He had a way of making her feel stupid. She didn’t like or appreciate that at all.
“Don’t be ridiculous.” Janie all but snorted as she refused to admit that Tex might even have a point. “Ken—”
“Is the son of a psychopath,” Tex cut in. “And not to be trusted, which is why you will never see him again. End of discussion.”
Janie took exception to Tex’s attitude but didn’t argue the point. She knew that he was only upset because he cared. She tried to hold on to that fact as Tex continued on his tirade.
“God, I would have thought you’d learned your lesson at the cabin about dealing with that family. His mother tired to shoot you. You’re just lucky Logan was there, or you might have been the one who got killed.”
Janie knew exactly wher
e he was going, where he’d wanted to go for the past few days. He’d been tense for every single one of them, tense and brooding, stewing, and now Tex was erupting.
“Of course, you wouldn’t have had to be lucky if you hadn’t been so foolish and tied Brick and my hands together. What the hell were you thinking? That you could take down an armed assailant by yourself? With a frying pan?”
When he said it like that, it didn’t sound very smart, but Janie stood by her actions. She just stood by them silently, or tried to, but Tex kept pushing.
“I mean really,” Tex spat. “A frying pan? You could have a least gotten a knife, or my or Brick’s gun. Of course, you probably would have shot yourself with it.”
“Hey!” Janie puckered up instantly at that insult. “I know how to shoot a gun.”
“Do you?” Brick finally broke his silence, turning to stare at her with that unforgivable gaze as he repeated his question. “Do you know how to shoot a gun?”
Janie frowned, not wanting to admit that she’d just lied any more than she dared to press forward with her lie. “Well, I know what part to aim away from myself.”
Brick snorted at that as Tex groaned.
“Besides,” Janie quickly continued on, desperate to win at least one point. “If I had picked up your gun, then I might have shot Logan.”
“He did get shot!”
“But I didn’t shoot him!”
“Really?” Tex gaped at her. “That’s all you have to say for yourself?”
No, it wasn’t, but it was all she dared to say.
* * * *
Brick smirked as Janie fell silent. She, apparently, finally figured out there would be no point to arguing with Tex. Hell, it had taken all of Brick’s considerable influence to keep his cousin from not snapping earlier, but even he had to admit that something had to be done when they’d gotten the call from Bruce that Janie had pulled up in front of Ken’s house.