by Jenny Penn
Truthfully, their arrangement was a little odd. It kind of reminded Angie of another similar deal that had been recently struck. The more she considered the matter, the more Angie realized that there was only one twisted mind that would have come up with either idea.
Patton. Somehow, someway, she was involved. Angie could just sense it, which was just why she called up her dear friend and arranged to meet her at Riley’s for a beer and a heart-felt conversation.
Angie arrived first and settled into a booth in the back with a pitcher and a basket of tater tots covered in chili and cheese. Typical of her nature, Patton was late and came rushing in with a gust of enthusiasm that didn’t allow for Angie to get a word in for the first several minutes.
“Oh, I am so sorry I am so late,” Patton apologized without any real hint of sincerity as she dropped her purse onto her side of the booth and slid into the seat. “But I’ve been working so hard on the details of my club idea. I’ve decided to wait until after Lana comes back from her romantic vacation. I figure even if she doesn’t feel like she owes me, which she will, then, at least, she should be in a better mood. Oh, look a pitcher.”
Patton shot Angie a quick grin as she reached for her glass. “That’s a lot of beer. That must mean we have a lot to talk about, and I can easily imagine what. After all, Hailey has been keeping me abreast of all the details.
“Those two have really whipped into shape, haven’t they? They’re almost becoming the perfect men, aren’t they?” Patton finally paused to pin Angie with an expectant look. “Well? Aren’t they?”
Angie sucked in a slow, deep breath, refusing to allow herself to be sucked into Patton’s gleefulness. She was here for answers and knew how to get them from her friend.
“I know what you did,” Angie confronted Patton, keeping her tone as hard as her glare. “I know you convinced Dean to offer me that deal. Now I want to know why and how much it cost you.”
Patton could have denied it, and probably would have if Angie had shown a second of hesitation, but she didn’t. Finally Patton sighed and shrugged, offering Angie an answer she didn’t expect.
“I felt guilty,” Patton admitted.
“Guilty?” Angie blinked, not understanding that. “For what?”
“Well…” Patton drew that word out as she shifted in her seat. “I kind of set Brett and Mike up to be tested the night that Dean took you home, and that’s why they were late and weren’t there to give you a lift home themselves.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Angie waved Patton to a stop. “Back up. What do you mean you had them tested?”
Angie figured she already knew the answer to that question. Patton’s smile assured her that she did, and so did her words.
“I mean I had a few of the girls hit on them and see if they were likely to stray, which, by the way, they’re not.” Patton offered her that bit of news with an uptick in her tone that sounded more desperate than cheerful. Angie knew why.
“I should kick your ass.”
“Didn’t you tell Brett and Mike that you were leaving them because they had an issue with violence?” Patton instantly countered. “And I only had your best interests at heart, and it wasn’t like I knew you’d get a ride home from Dean, and—”
“Patton!” Angie broke into her long, winding justification. There really was no point in letting Patton go on like that. Not when she’d already forgiven her friend. “It’s all right.”
“It is?”
“Yeah. You didn’t make Mike and Brett go after Dean. Neither could you make them cheat. If you and some of the girls want to waste your time trying…go ahead.”
Angie knew that she wouldn’t have had that confidence two weeks ago, but now she knew how special she was to her two men. Special enough for them to actually write letters and get their shit together. They wouldn’t throw that effort away on some quick screw.
“But I still don’t get how you came up with this second twist or even how you got Dean to go along with it.”
“Dean?” Patton snorted. “I paid him off.”
“Why?” It wasn’t just guilt that had Patton hesitating to answer. “What? What is so bad you don’t want to tell me?”
“Nothing.”
“Patton.”
“It’s just that, you know, you run away from things.” Patton hesitated over her words, cringing backward as if she expected Angie to take offense.
She was too shocked, though, to take offense. “What? What do you mean I run away?”
“Well, I mean, you avoid difficult situations.”
“I do not.”
“Oh no?”
“No!”
“You’ve been faithful to two men who you have barely seen in ten years.” Patton paused as if that said it all, but Angie wasn’t impressed with her reasoning.
“So? You saved yourself for Chase, Slade, and Devin.”
“And I saw them constantly. I had an active relationship with them. You used Brett and Mike to avoid having any relationship with any man,” Patton shot back. “And don’t deny that your first instinct when things got difficult with them was to run away.”
How could she deny it? She had run away. The truth was Angie had never truly felt understood. Her premonitions and intuition had left her feeling alienated. Angie probably would have run farther if Patton hadn’t lassoed her with the deal she’d struck with Dean. Angie wasn’t running anymore, though, and Patton wasn’t apologizing. Far from it.
“Now that you know the truth, you know that you owe me.”
Chapter 21
Tuesday, July 14th
Mike smiled as he glanced around the field and nodded. It was flat, hard land, making it ideal to train on. The lot was large, big enough for Brett and him to build in all the courses they wanted. There was even a barn that, with a great deal of work, could be converted into a sizable indoor gym. Most importantly, they were only a ten-minute walk from town.
“It’s perfect.” Turning to cast a look over at Brett, who stood there taking it all in, Mike pressed his brother for an agreement. “Don’t you think?”
“I think it’s going to be a lot of work,” Brett returned, but he shrugged as if his words didn’t faze him. “But then a boot camp is supposed to be a lot of work, right?”
“That it is,” Mike agreed, not dissuaded from the challenge before them in the slightest. “Though I think starting a business is going to be the harder part.”
Actually, they were getting kind of lucky because they already had investors. The Davis brothers were lending them the cash to buy the land and even putting up the capital to help them get everything built and prepped. Of course they’d demanded a pretty hefty chunk of the company.
There were buy-back plans and liquidation rules that Slade and Mike had hammered out. In the end, Mike was content that they’d gotten a good deal. That confidence wasn’t based completely on arrogance but partly on the fact that they already had guys calling to ask when they’d be taking clients and inquiring on how much membership was going to cost.
Those were all good omens, and Mike wished he could say the same when it came to Angie. Not being able to see her, touch her, to hear the sound of her voice, it was killing him. Mike couldn’t help but wonder if Angie felt the same way.
Hailey thought she did, but Mike wasn’t certain if he could trust her judgment. Hell, he wasn’t even sure he could trust her. Mike knew what Hailey thought, knew she considered him and Brett high-strung. She didn’t want to set them off, no doubt afraid of what they’d do, but they weren’t going to do anything.
Brett and Mike had already talked the matter over. They knew what they needed now. They needed direction, goals to accomplish. More importantly, they needed to work out, to wear out the buildup of frustrations and aggravations. On top of all of that, they needed Angie.
Things just weren’t the same without her around, which was funny because she hadn’t been around all that long. While that might have been the technical truth, the reality was he�
��d been carrying her in his heart a lot longer than he’d ever realized. Thanks to all those letters she’d sent, her words, her voice had wormed its way into his head until he could almost hear her making little comments as he went through his day.
It was as though she was a part of him. That just made the past two weeks all the more aggravating. Being separated from Angie was slowly eating at him, but now he knew how to cope. Mike, quite literally, tried to outrun his pain. He was clearing damn near twenty miles a day now, and that included two workouts with his brother.
Brett was there with him step by step, and his brother was the only one that he was allowed to hit. He and Mike kept their hand-to-hand combat skills sharp, though they wouldn’t be teaching any of those moves to their clients. They just liked to stay sharp, and Mike did like to hit things.
“Maybe we should put in a boxing ring.”
That got a laugh from Brett. “You need to stop adding on, man. We haven’t even bought the property yet.”
“I’m just saying.”
“You don’t even know how to box!”
“Yeah?” That might be true, but Mike did know something. “That won’t stop me from kicking your ass.”
“I’d like to see you try,” Brett shot back and then paused to frown. “Is that GD?”
Mike turned around to watch as a big pickup pulled off the highway and rolled slowly over the red dirt to come to a stop beside his truck. Even if he hadn’t recognized the oversized vehicle, Mike could easily recognize the man behind the wheel. It was hard to mistake GD’s massive bulk for anybody else.
“Yep.”
“Wonder what he wants,” Brett murmured, echoing Mike’s silent thoughts as they both watched the big man hop out of his truck. The massive vehicle swayed slightly as he slammed the door. The smile GD shot at them was a warning all of its own.
“He wants something.”
Mike was certain of that, but he’d give GD a chance to get to that point himself. After all, the man wouldn’t ask for anything that Mike couldn’t give, or wouldn’t. Not only did GD know better, there really wasn’t much Mike wouldn’t do for his friends.
“Hey, man.” He nodded toward GD as he came sauntering up. “How’s the dead bird?”
“Rotten,” GD spat with a disgusted shake of his head. “Thanks for asking. How goes the search for a place to put your gym?”
“Better than rotten,” Mike admitted as he took the hand GD offered him. It was that offer that assured Mike whatever it was that GD wanted was big. Hell, he even shook Brett’s hand.
“Hey, man. How is it going?”
“Not bad.” Brett bobbed his head before pointedly glancing over the lot around them. “We’re thinking this might be the spot to start Mathews’ Gym. What you think?”
“Not bad.” GD echoed Brett’s words as he took everything in. His gaze narrowed on the barn for a moment before his brows lifted and he shot Brett and Mike a curious look. “I take it that’s going to be the gym.”
“Yep.” Mike nodded, all but anticipating the question that came next.
“Then what are you going to do with the rest of this lot?” GD looked across the large dirt field. “Build a really big parking lot?”
“More like an obstacle course,” Mike corrected him, breaking into a smile along with Brett as GD snorted.
“I should have known.”
“The kids love it and so do the adults.” Brett shrugged. “So we’re going to have a boot camp for the hard-core soldier wannabes. Then something a little more punk and alternative to pull in the teenagers who need to burn off energy. It’ll be great.”
“Yeah.” GD nodded, his smile growing as he considered the matter. “It’s not a bad idea, but I’m betting you’re going to need a little help getting all this done.”
“Everybody needs help,” Brett shot back, sharing a look with Mike.
“Why are you worried what we need?” Mike glanced back toward the big man. “You offering to help?”
“Yeah, in a way.” GD took a deep breath, and Mike could tell the big man was bracing himself, but he still had no idea what was about to come out of GD’s mouth. “Rumor is you’re willing to sign over fifty percent of the business for an investor, so I’m here to tell you that I represent an interested party who will take thirty-three percent and an active role in the company.”
The stress on that one word made it clear what he was really offering. What wasn’t clear was whom the big man was talking about. Mike had only one fear.
“This isn’t about Wanda, is it?”
“No.” GD snorted. “It’s about Kitty Anne.”
Relieved to hear that, Mike managed to find a smile as he considered GD’s answer. “What’s wrong, man? You having woman problems, too?”
“It’s not woman problems,” GD corrected him. “It’s an occupational issue.”
Mike busted out laughing at that. Brett joined them as GD flushed and scowled at them both.
“I don’t mean it that way,” GD grumped. “Kitty Anne is smart, determined, and…a woman.”
“Yeah, we got that.” Mike nodded, not certain what GD was getting at. “Noticed it right off, but I’m not sure what that has to do with anything.”
“Nick runs an all-boys camp.”
“And Kitty Anne causes problems.” That Mike could believe.
GD and Nick’s woman was well built and quite attractive. Those could be two detrimental things to a young boy who was trying to focus on his studies and improving his circumstances. Hell, even an ugly woman could be detrimental to those two goals, and the boy didn’t have to be that young. All a man really had to be for women to be distracting was alive and interested.
Unless, of course, they were already distracted by a different woman, which was why neither Mike nor Brett was interested in Kitty Anne. At least, not that way, but she might actually make a good business partner. After all they’d seen the woman kick GD’s ass on the obstacle course. That had been impressive.
Mike shared another look with his brother and got the nod that had him turning back to GD with a smile. “So, why don’t you buy us dinner and let the woman negotiate her own deal?”
* * * *
GD did one better than that. He invited them back to the cabin he shared with Kitty Anne and Nick for a home-cooked meal. Not that any one of the three of them had cooked it. Instead, they’d ordered up a meal from the mess hall down at the camp. Some of those boys could really cook.
Brett had to admit he was impressed. Impressed with the meal and the woman sitting across from him. Kitty Anne had some great ideas. She was certainly enthusiastic and would help expand their client base when it came to women, but if they took her up on the deal she was offering, he and Mike would not only be gaining a business partner but also losing a good chunk of cash.
The Davis brothers, on the other hand, could give them more money and less interference, but they’d be taking more of the profits and offering less help. It was a hard call, which was just why Brett let Mike sort it out. That just what Nick, Kitty Anne, and his brother spent most of the night doing.
Brett and GD, on the other hand, headed down to the game room at the boys’ camp to shoot pool and gossip. That was just what they did. GD told him all about how they were buying a house for Kitty Anne’s mother and that they’d planned to build their own but that Kitty Anne asked if they could spend the money investing in Brett and Mike’s idea.
Apparently, fundraising wasn’t really her thing.
Brett got that. He’d rather be working his ass off, too. He’d also like to ask about Angie but held his cool, waiting for GD to finish complaining about his cousin before he pressed the other man for the details he really wanted.
“So, how are things going out at the club?” Brett finally asked, not even bothering to try and play it cool. There was no point. From the smirk GD shot him, the big man already knew that his curiosity was killing him. So, Brett just gave in. “Angie getting along all right?”
“I guess.” GD shrugged. “I don’t actually see her much, given I don’t really go out there much.”
“Then who is the master?” Brett stepped back as GD circled the pool table to check all the angles.
He shot Brett a quick look and an even faster answer before he bent over to take his shot. “I don’t know.”
Brett waited until after the balls had stopped clacking into each other and didn’t bother to move when GD sank the ball he’d been aiming for. That didn’t mean he stayed quiet.
“So, you haven’t seen Angie…or Dean?”
GD snickered at the clear difficulty Brett had getting that name out without cussing. He shook his head at Brett and took his shot before straightening up and answering.
“I’ve seen Dean. I’ve seen him chasing after some brunette.”
“Really?” Brett perked up at that. “You think maybe you can point that out to Angie?”
“Please, the boy has never stood a chance with her.” GD rolled his eyes. “She’d never let him touch her.”
“Huh.” Brett frowned as he considered that. “So, you don’t think we stand a chance with Angie?”
“What I think is that it is your turn,” GD shot back. “On the other hand, I know that Dean doesn’t stand a chance with Angie. Hell, everybody does. There’s not even a bet in the book because nobody will take the other side. Not even Dean.”
That should have reassured Brett, but for some reason, it bugged him. He kept turning what GD said over and over as he lined up his shot. He missed, but by the time he straightened back up, he had the problem figured out.
“Then why the hell did he make the deal?” Brett pressed, as if GD had any answers.
The big man didn’t. He just shrugged and nailed his shot, along with the next three. By the time GD stopped, he’d won, which was just perfect timing. No sooner had GD straightened up, wearing a smile of victory, than a young guy came running into the room.