by Casey Elliot
“Well, with you being knocked up and all, this is all Jax’s,” Jimmy said, his large gut swelling the longer they looked at him. It was like she could physically see him getting fatter as he continued to stuff his face; one roll after another, after another. All of them smothered in butter.
“Forgive me,” she said, in the most polite voice that she could muster despite the fact that it was clear that they were being buttholes about something. “But, I’m not sure I understanding what you’re talking about?”
“Well, in our dad’s will, it says the first person to spawn a child gets all this.” Jonathan gestured around the room, but she knew he meant way more than just the dining area. He meant the whole estate.
“That’s why he’s keeping you around, Darlin’. Jax isn’t the committing type. If he’s holdin onto you, it’s because he’s wantin’ something from ya.” Jimmy added.
She wanted to yell out a resounding, “are you kidding me!?” along with a swift punch to the pair of nuts these two obviously shared, but realized that would have been too undignified for the current setting that they were in. So instead, she placed the edge of her napkin at the corner of her mouth and cleared her throat. “If you’ll excuse me, gentlemen…” She stood up quietly and softly, making sure to stay as dignified as humanly possible.
They stood as she pulled her chair away to stand, as if they were all of a sudden taking on the roles of gentlemen. She wanted to flip them off, to tell them to screw off, but three could play the game that they were playing. She was a woman. She was used to cattiness behind bitches backs. So, in perfect womanly fashion, she nodded politely in their direction. “Thank you,” she added sweetly just before pushing her chair in.
Was that really the entire reason he was buttering her up? Was that why he was being so great about all of this? Why he was pretending like he gave a crap? Because she was carrying his child? The ticket to over a billion dollars in assets?
“Are you okay?” he asked as soon as she rounded the corner after leaving the dining area. He must have caught on to the fact that had finally let the tears fall when she got out of view from everyone else, but instead of responding, she balled up a fist and launched it directly into his jaw.
“Why didn’t you tell me!?” she screamed.
He clenched his jaw and looked at her, ignoring the pain. “What the heck are you talking about?!”
“Your brothers just told me the whole dang reason you’re doing all of this! It isn’t because you actually care! It’s for the money! For this place! You’re keeping me and the baby around to make yourself rich!” And with that, she ran away, ignoring him as she pounded toward the stairs.
She had heard what he said. He had said, “The ranch never meant anything to me! It didn’t seem like the right time to talk about it because it wasn’t when you first showed up, and beyond that, I told Jimmy and John that they could have it!” But, she couldn’t listen to anymore.
She was tapped out for the night… done.
She just wanted to get some sleep.
Chapter Seven
A knock on the door woke her up from her sleep and, before she could even think about telling them to either come in or go away, the door creaked open. Her eyes were puffy and sore, as she opened her eyes, and she knew it was because she’d fallen asleep crying.
She wasn’t sure if she’d overreacted the night before or not, but she knew that she hadn’t answered any of Jax’s calls throughout the night or any of his texts.
Call it hormones, call it being pissed off beyond belief that his brothers were buttholes, and not just buttholes, but buttholes that made her feel like crap about herself for the first time since she’d been back in Texas. Was that really all she was to him?
“Brianne?” a tiny voice called from the door. It was Janie.
Brianne smiled. “Come in, Sweetie…”
“Mom said to come in and check on you. You’ve been asleep for a really long time.” The little girl walked hesitantly at first toward the bed, and immediately, Brianne’s head snapped to look at the clock just beside her large king-sized bed: 4 P.M.
“Holy crap, have I really slept that long?”
“I’m so sorry!” She breathed, feeling guilty for sleeping in so late.
“What’s it like being pregnant?” the little girl asked, ignoring her apology. Brianne knew that she didn’t care how long she stayed asleep; neither did Julie for that matter.
The bed shifted as the girl jumped up and snuggled close. “Well, it’s something I can’t really explain,” Brianne whispered.
“It’s going to be a mini Jax,” Janie giggled.
Brianne smirked. She wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or bad thing, at first. She wasn’t sure if she wanted it to be. That is, until she really thought about it.
“Jax is my favorite brother…” Janie sounded off again, almost tearing a hole in Brianne’s heart. “He’s the good one.”
“Oh really, how’s that?” Brianne asked, making sure not to tip the girl off to the fact that she was angry at her brother.
“Jimmy and John only care about the money. Jax works the hardest and doesn’t care about any of that. He just loves us and loves this place,” she said, but as she talked, Brianne felt the baby kick.
“Wow!” she gasped, holding her tummy. “Here, feel here!” She grabbed Janie’s small hand and placed it over her belly and laughed as the little girl’s eyes widened in surprise.
“That’s it!” she asked, her face brightening more and more by the second.
Brianne nodded. “That’s it!”
Janie smiled widely, “I can’t wait to be an aunt.”
And that settled it, Brianne wasn’t wrong about Jax this whole time. If a child as wonderful as Janie thought that he was something, he had to be. He had to be worth it, and darn it all, she was going to make sure he knew that he was worth it.
He was distraught by the fact that Brianne wouldn’t talk to him the night before. He hated it, and he hated his brothers for making her feel that the only dang reason he was with her was for the money. They should have known better. They should have known him better than that.
After he found out that they’d talked to her, he didn’t know why, but he went to them. And, although he was ready to pop them both square in the face, he made them a deal. He told them that he’d make his own provision; that they’d all share the estate equally… all four of the kids, including Janie.
The bull-pen’s gate swung open and the beast exploded into the center. The monster led with his head and shoulders, throwing them left, and then right, all the while kicking his rear with every single inch he progressed.
He whooped each and every time the bull landed and he stayed on. He heard people cheering from the crowd, hooting and hollering for him to “hang on!”, as if he wasn’t already doing that.
The bull had thrown his head to the left again with a power that Jax uncharacteristically underestimated, his mind still reeling about Brianne and last night. His grip faltered and the bull jumped straight forward three or four times; whichever it was. All he knew was that on the last jump, he flew off, and with an astounding force, smashed onto the ground below.
Only it wasn’t over. In an instant, he felt a powerful wall crush his chest, and then his ribs and his legs over and over.
He knew right then that it might very well be over. He might never be a dad, he might never see Brianne again.
He knew right then that the bull was stomping and tearing at him.
His ears rang out, and all he saw was blurriness, until eventually, he saw nothing at all except white.
An ambulance’s lights blared from the distance as she drove one of the rancher’s trucks toward the rodeo grounds. She leaned over the steering wheel, hoping to get a better look. Did one of the bull rider’s get hurt?
The wheels rolled and crackled beneath the truck as she rode up the gravel path. She hoped that whoever it was was okay, and she hoped that she’d be able to find Jax
through all the chaos as she pulled up into the parking lot.
She grabbed hold of the door handle and slung the door open. Jumping out, her curiosity got the better of her as her sight was set forward of the emergency vehicle. The lights whirled as the medics raced toward the back of the vehicle, clearly already having loaded the person onto the stretcher.
Craning her neck, she finally saw who it was.
And when she saw him stretched across a gurney that way, her stomach lurched and her head went light. She grabbed a hold of the driver’s-side door to steady herself as she bellowed out his name, “Jax!”
Tears were flinging out of her, and she felt her entire body shake with fear and pain. “Jax!” she repeated, as if he’d somehow jump up off the gurney and come catch her before she fell. And, she did fall. Her body crumpled to the ground, her knees too weak to support her weight.
In fact, she wasn’t entirely sure how she’d gotten to the hospital; if she’d driven or if someone had driven her there. All she knew was that she was there holding his hand firmly, tears streaming down her face as she sat in the chair beside his hospital bed. “I’m so sorry… I should have listened to you… I should have believed that you cared…”
And, she wasn’t going anywhere.
Chapter Eight
He grunted and cringed at the pain as he pulled himself out of Brianne’s car. He took a deep breath, relishing in the crisp air of the ranch. He loved that smell; fresh hay, horses, cattle… he loved it all. He hadn’t even realized just how much he’d loved it until he was away from it.
He was still battered and bruised and felt like complete crap, but he was glad to be out of the hospital. He had to admit though, having Brianne right beside him in the hospital the entire time, at his beck and call, catering to every need and want that he had was nice.
More than nice, actually, it was amazing.
And, it made him sure of one thing. It made him sure that this – him and her, and their future child – was what he wanted more than anything in the world. The family life was for him. His father’s legacy was what he wanted; not for greedy reasons, not because he wanted the money, but because he wanted to be just like the man that had raised him. He wanted to be honorable and kind and loving and strong. He wanted to be a father and a husband. He wanted to be Brianne’s forever and vice versa.
A creaking sound rang out from the porch, and his head snapped up to see who it was. It was Julie, his mother. He smirked as she walked to the edge of the porch, tears of happiness present in her eyes. He wondered if it was because he was finally out of the hospital or if it was what he’d texted her about earlier, before he and Brianne left the hospital. “How was the drive?!” she yelled out.
Brianne smiled just before slamming the driver’s-side door and jogging around to the passenger’s side to link arms with Jax. “It was good! Hardly any traffic!” she yelled back to his mom.
“Honey, that thing you asked me for is up here!” He laughed, and leaned into Brianne’s shoulder as she closed the passenger’s-side door. His mom was never the best at being smooth, but that moment seemed like as good of a time as any.
He winked at his mom and knew that she was watching as he pulled his body off of Brianne and wobbled to steady himself. When she reached out to grab him, he shook his head. “No, honey… hold on,” he said, planting one foot firmly in the dirt as he struggled to fall onto one knee.
He watched as Brianne held her breath, and he felt his heart almost burst from his chest as soon as his mother’s footsteps could be heard and felt from behind him. Her hand was clasped around a blue velvet box as she reached over his shoulder to hand it to him from behind.
He smiled and pulled it open, presenting a ring that had belonged to his great great-grandmother – and his mother, too, for that matter – as it glistened with the excellence of over a hundred years.
He didn’t take his eyes off of her the entire time. He wanted to live in the moment, hold dear every single instance of it. Her eyes swelled with tears and she scrunched her mouth, as if she was doing her best not to cry.
“Brianne, I love you… so much. I need you in my life; whether it’s here in Texas or off in New York. No matter where it is, no matter what we do, I just want it to be with you. Will you marry me?”
It took her a minute to say anything. Her lips only quivered, and tears streamed down her face. His breath caught in his throat, feeling his own tears begin to well up at the brim of his eyes. His chest clenched and the moment seemed to last a lifetime before a single, “Yes…” fell from her lips.
The End
Bonus - Gage Clean Romance
Gage
I was so drunk that I didn't even know his last hit had been a good one until I tasted the blood in my mouth. I grinned at him and spat the coppery liquid onto the parking lot pavement, squaring up for another round.
"You just don't quit," he snarled.
I just kept grinning, which must have really thrown him off because his next hit was sloppy as heck. I ducked it easily, slamming a fist into his gut with a force that I'm sure he didn't expect from the guy who had been drunk enough to hit on his girl.
Little did he know that I didn't have to be intoxicated at all to seduce another man's woman. If she was hot, she was fair game. Plus, she was free to make up her own mind about the damn thing; equality, and all that.
I was disappointed when my opponent keeled over and put a hand up in surrender; so was the crowd.
I spat again, and then pulled up my t-shirt to wipe my face on it. A girl in the crowd whistled, and I looked up at her; blonde, perky, and legs for days. It looked like that fight hadn't been a disappointment after all.
*****
"Matthews," Sergeant Buchanan said lowly. "That's the third fight you've gotten in this week."
"That's a new record," I remarked smugly.
After pulling me into his office at an unholy time in the morning, I suspected Buchanan was ready to blow a fuse. Having never seen him actually lose it, I was curious to see how that played out.
"God Damn it, Matthews!"
Oh, I was very, very close.
Much to my dismay, he took a moment to compose himself. He put his face in his hands, and then ran his fingers through his close-cropped gray hair.
"Gage," he said.
Oh no — his tone was almost gentle now.
"I know that you've been through a lot recently."
"This isn't about that," I protested.
Buchanan looked up and fixed me with a grim smile. "Sure it isn't."
I rolled my eyes and leaned back in my chair. Better let the old man say what he pulled me in here to say.
"I want you to take some time off," he said.
That hadn't been what I was expecting.
"Time off?" I looked at him like he'd just told me that the force was taking up knitting as a training exercise. "I don't need any time off. I don't want any time off."
Buchanan sighed. "That's the problem, Gage. Most guys, after —" I shot him a glare before he could say the words. "Uh... going through what you went through, they take a little time. You hopped right back in with both feet."
"Because I'm a good soldier."
"Because you're too good a soldier."
"That doesn't make any sense."
"You're so good a soldier that you brought the fight with you all the way back to the U.S. of A, Gage," he said. "I need you to take some time and get some perspective. Maybe... talk to someone about what happened."
I bristled and straightened in my chair.
"I'm fine," I growled. "I just need to work."
He shook his head. "Not a request, Matthews."
He was going to order me to take a vacation? Had the old man gone soft? Still, a soldier to the bone, I wouldn't defy an order.
"Fine," I spat. "I'll go to Disneyland or something."
He looked at me flatly. "Whatever, Matthews, just take your vacation weeks for the year and get the hell out of my hair."
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I took that as my dismissal, and exited the room. He wanted me to take a vacation, and a vacation, I would take.
Once I was home, I hastily stuffed a bag full of clothes and tossed it in the saddlebag of my Harley. Next item on the to-do list was to find a little trouble.
With the engine rumbling beneath me, I peeled off against the setting sun.
Hayley
"God Damn it, Herb," I cursed, snatching a dirty towel from the back bar. I began to clean up his spilled beer, as he leered at me.
"My bad, princess," he slurred. "Guess I got a little too excited."
I rolled my eyes and swiped the last bits of beer from the bar top. I threw the rag in one of the bins to go to the back, and began to pour the geezer another pint.
"Is there a discount for beers that I didn't get to drink?"
I snorted. "Herb, the only discount you'll be getting around here is the senior's discount from the Denny's next door."
I slammed the new beer down on the bar top and gave him a warning glare. "Spill this one and you'll be feeling like chopped liver — not eating it."
He laughed, which turned his face even more red. I wasn't sure how that was possible.
I went down the bar, seeing to the other two patrons seated at it. They were a young couple, and by the looks of their clothes, I presumed they had wound up in the wrong place. Still, I was friendly and polite to them. I was fine with judging the book by its cover, as long as you didn't act on that judgment until you'd read a few pages.
There weren't many other people around that night. Being that it was a Tuesday, that didn’t surprise me much. Still, it would have been nice to have a couple more customers to help the time pass.
I liked being a bartender; I liked the stories. Working in a biker bar had its perks, and one of them was that I got to see people coming from all over the country — sometimes even from Canada. And, they all had a helluva tale to tell.