by Marla Monroe
“Is this all there is?” Scope asked after they’d unloaded the last box.
“Yep. Tommy said the furniture came with the house except for the rocking chair we brought. That’s part of what I want to talk to you about later. Cool it for now.” He whispered the last part as Tommy skipped into the room.
“Can I go see if Mom is awake? I’ll be really quiet in case she isn’t,” the young boy said.
“Go ahead. You can let me know if she needs anything. I’m sure she will be happy to see you’re back. She missed you,” Scope told him.
Once Tommy had hurried off in search of his mom, Gunner sighed and jabbed his hands into his pockets. He’d volunteered to go pack up Darla’s house because he’d needed to keep busy. With Tommy along, he’d had to think about something other than what they’d found out about Darla’s injuries. Dwelling on the details was a sure way to work himself up into a rage. He and Scope could talk it out and he’d deal with it better.
Tommy walked into the kitchen while he and Scope were working on cooking something to eat. He didn’t say anything, just sat down at the table and watched them for a while. Finally Scope turned around, looked at him, and spoke up.
“What’s on your mind, Tommy?”
“Mom was asleep, so I didn’t wake her up. I know she needs the rest.”
Scope continued to watch him like he knew the kid had more to say. Gunner didn’t know how his friend was able to read the kid like that, but he could. A few seconds later, Tommy spoke again.
“If I was real good and didn’t cause any trouble, would you let us stay with you and take care of my mom? She really needs the help. I try not to be a lot of trouble and help as much as I can, but I’m not very big yet and she needs help now. I promise I won’t be any trouble. I’ll keep my room picked up and take out the garbage and help wash dishes. I can’t cut the grass yet, but I can help rake it up.”
Gunner’s chest grew tight enough he thought he’d suffocate as the kid fought back tears. It was obvious that he loved his mom more than anything. Hell, the kid considered himself part of the problem. He couldn’t let him keep thinking that.
“Son, you are no trouble at all. Don’t ever think that. Okay?” Gunner said, squatting down to look him in the eyes. “You and your mom are welcome here for as long as you want to stay. We are going to do everything we can to make you both comfortable here. All you need to do is help us with your mom so she gets well as soon as possible. We want her back on her feet and happy. Okay?”
The little boy smiled shyly and nodded. “Thanks, Gunner. I promise I’ll take care of her.”
“Well don’t do it all so we can’t spoil her a little, too,” Scope said as he stirred something in a post on the stove.
“I really like you and Scope. You’ve been really nice to Mom and me. I’ve never gotten to play ball so much before. I hated asking Mom because I knew she’d take me even if she was worn out from work,” he said.
Gunner could see how much admitting that had cost him. Tommy felt guilty for enjoying the time they’d given him when his mom couldn’t.
“Tommy, you don’t know how much we appreciated that you spent time with us,” Scope told him.
Gunner took over stirring what looked like a cross between chili and spaghetti sauce so Scope could talk to him.
“We’ve done nothing but work on the house for almost a month now. It was great to get out and stretch in the fresh air for a change. Besides, we just like spending time with you. You’re a smart little boy for being only eight years old.” Scope straddled a chair across from him.
“You have a really neat house, too!” Tommy gushed. “I’ve never seen a TV as big as the one in your living room, then there’s the one downstairs with the really cool seats. It’s just like at the movies.”
Scope chuckled as Gunner watched them. They chatted for a few more minutes before Scope took back over the cooking.
“It’s almost ready. Why don’t you go get sleepy head up and help her downstairs to eat,” Scope suggested.
“Not until you tell me what that is. I’m not subjecting her to anything that might kill her,” Gunner scowled.
“It’s not going to kill her. It’s like Manwich that you buy in the store only we always called it Sloppy Joes. You eat it over toasted buns or like a barbeque sandwich. Now stop complaining and go help her down. I’ll have the buns toasted in five minutes.”
* * * *
“It was good, wasn’t it?” Scope asked after they’d tucked Tommy in for the night and helped Darla back into bed.
“What? Having dinner with Darla and Tommy? Yeah. I like it,” Gunner said with a grunt.
“No, idiot. The Sloppy Joes. You liked them.”
“They were okay, I guess. Nothing to crow about,” he said without looking at his friend.
“Oh, hell no. You ate three of them bastards with a double handful of Fritos to boot. You can’t tell me they were just okay.” Scope shoved him toward the French doors leading out to the deck.
“Grab a couple of beers,” Gunner told the other man as he walked outside.
He didn’t hear what Scope said, but he saw the double birdie the other man gave him through the glass. It felt good to let down the tight control he’d been clinging to all day. He’d wanted to make sure while he’d been with Tommy that the anger from Darla’s injuries didn’t bleed over and scare the boy.
Now all he wanted to do was find the bastards and show them how it was done. It had been a while since he’d let his anger sizzle and boil just beneath his skin. Part of him didn’t like it one bit, but another part of him felt like there was a time and place sometimes.
“Catch, asshole.” Scope tossed a bottle to him as he stepped out onto the deck.
They both twisted off the tops and took a long pull of the ice-cold liquid before settling on the steps leading to the yard below. He could tell Scope was giving him a few minutes to unwind and gather his thoughts. He had to hand it to the man. Scope knew how to work him and settle him down when he needed it. Unfortunately it meant he also knew how to push his buttons to get a rise out of him when no one else could.
“Sitting here, waiting on you to talk, man. Spill it and let’s deal,” Scope finally said as he leaned back against the railing.
“Fuck! I don’t know how in the hell I’ve been able to keep it all inside after what that deputy sheriff friend of yours told us. They fucking tortured her to get her to open a damn safe she didn’t have the combination for.” Gunner gripped the now empty bottle tight enough he was sure it was going to break soon. “They laughed when they broke her hand, Scope. What kind of human laughs while they break a woman’s hand?”
“We saw that and a lot worse across the ocean, Gunner,” Scope reminded him in a soft voice.
“But this is America! It’s the motherfucking country we fought for, nearly died for several times. What the fuck are we doing over there trying to change their shitty lives when it’s going on right here in our own cities and towns?”
“I know. We send people and money to other countries to help them with famine and fighting and human rights violations when it’s needed right here in our own backyard. Nothing we did over there helped anyone over here. Yeah, we showed our good will and willingness to hold out our hand in the name of democracy, but looking around me right now, I wonder how it helped us.”
“They broke her hand, Scope. They held her hand down on the counter and hit it not once, but twice, with a bat.”
Gunner felt the burning in his eyes before it actually registered that there were tears blurring his sight. He hadn’t cried since he’d been six years old and had been beaten up by a fourteen-year-old for the fun of it. After that, he’d never cried again—until now. He knew in that moment that he was willing not just to die for her, but to kill for her. It scared him that he was that deep into her.
When he looked over to where Scope was sitting, he didn’t try to hide the tears that clung stubbornly to his eyelashes as if trying not to fall. Let the fucking t
hings fall, he’d cry a river for her if it would take away the pain she’d suffered.
“I know,” Scope said quietly.
“You know if I find out their names…” he started saying before Scope stopped him.
“Shut the fuck up, Gunner. You’re not going to do anything. She needs you, and not sitting in a damn jail cell.”
“She doesn’t need both of us. You can take care of her and make sure she has everything she needs. After this, I’d be on edge for the rest of her life, afraid something else will happen to her. I’ll make her friends nervous and go ape shit if another man even looks at her wrong. Hell! I’ll scare Tommy half to death the first time he sees me go off on someone for cutting in front of her in line at the fucking Starbucks,” he said.
“We don’t have a Starbucks in Perkins City,” Scope said with a ghost of a smile.
Gunner narrowed his eyes at him, wishing he didn’t love the man so damn much. He’d sure like to plant a fist in his face right at that moment.
“This isn’t something to joke about, Scope. I’m serious,” Gunner told him. “The last time I felt this out of control was when I saw you lying on the ground with blood coming out of your ears and mouth. I was sure you were dead and for a second there, I was ready to get up and go take them all by myself.”
“You wouldn’t have gotten ten feet with all that metal sticking out of you. You still set off the metal detectors at the airport. Are you carrying around that card that says ‘in case of emergency no MRIs’?” Scope asked him. “They said the magnet in that thing would pull all that shrapnel right out of your body, but not in a good way.”
Gunner sighed. There was no being serious around Scope when he was really being serious. His friend knew that the only way to settle him down and reason with him was to treat him like an idiot and pretend that Gunner couldn’t kick his ass. It usually worked, but usually it wasn’t as serious as this was.
“Look, Gunner. I know it’s riding you hard right now, but you’ve got to stay in control and rein in that need for vengeance you’re wearing like a hard-on. She’s going to be fine and she got the best of them. You should be damn proud of her instead of acting like she didn’t do anything to take care of herself. That’s what you’re doing when you make plans like you’re making.” Scope leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. “You go and get your own revenge to make yourself feel better and you’re telling her that what she did for herself hadn’t meant anything.”
Gunner jumped to his feet and stomped around the back yard in a tight circle. “Bastard! You know just what to do and say to piss me off, don’t you?”
He glared at Scope while he paced, hating that the other man could turn all of his well-thought-out plans into worthless pipedreams. All of the pent-up rage he’d been holding back threatened to take over again.
“She’s really amazing, Gunner. Despite having two guys almost a foot taller than her yelling and threatening her, she stayed calm and followed what she’d been taught to do in case she was ever robbed. While she emptied the cash register into a bag she managed to push the alarm without them realizing it. That took guts and determination,” Scope said.
Gunner ground his teeth, tightening his jaw to keep from yelling at him to shut up. He didn’t want to hear about it again. Once had been more than enough for him.
“Then when they told her to open the safe, she calmly told them she didn’t have the combination, only the manager and the owner had it. Even when they started yelling at her and jerking her around, she just repeated that over and over without raising her voice. It was all there on the security camera.”
“I know,” Gunner told him through his clenched teeth. “I saw it, too.”
“Did you forget how when they had already broken her hand with the bat that she still managed to grab the bat the guy had left on the counter and hit a home run with the bastard’s balls? That was poetic justice if you ask me,” Scope said with a soft smile.
Gunner stopped pacing and just stood there, watching the other man lean back against the railing again. All of the rage had bled away. Scope was right. Darla had been amazing despite the pain she’d been in. All he would accomplish if he took his revenge was to appease himself and belittle the bravery and spunk their woman had shown.
“I figure that if the police hadn’t shown up right then, she’d have swung again and taken the other bastard’s head off.” Scope stood up. “She knows we’re Doms, Gunner. She knows that we want more from her than moving her and Tommy in with us.”
“You told her?” Gunner felt the adrenaline that had seeped away only moments before begin to rise again. “We agreed that we would ease her into it once she’d had time to recover. What the fuck were you thinking?”
“I didn’t tell her, Gunner. She figured it out on her own from the way we are around her. She’s lived in this town all her life and even if she’s never experimented in the lifestyle, she’s been around enough of her friends who have.”
“Hell, what did she say? She didn’t act like she knew anything at dinner tonight.”
“She’s thinking about it. Once she’s seen the specialist and we know more about what her recovery is going to be like, I promised her we’d talk some more, but not until then. She’s been through too much to add more to her already heavy load.” Scope stuck his hands in his pockets and watched Gunner.
“Okay,” he sighed, and looked up at the dim stars that were too far away to fight with the outside lights they had in place for security purposes. “Until then we act like nothing has changed.”
“That’s right. Well, almost anyway.” Scope turned and walked toward the French doors.
“What do you mean almost?”
Scope stopped and turned to look at him as he reached for the doorknob. “We’re still going to ease her into some physical areas of what living with us would be like. I’m all for giving her an orgasm or two after another day of rest. I’m dying to taste her sweet pussy. What about you?”
“Aw, hell.”
Chapter Fifteen
If she had to lie around on the couch one more day, she was going to scream bloody murder. It had been over two days since the robbery. Her head didn’t hurt anymore other than if she accidently touched it and her hand only throbbed when she forgot to keep it elevated. There was no reason she couldn’t get up and walk around the house or maybe even sit out on the back deck she’d seen.
“Scope!” she yelled as loud as she could.
“Coming, sweet pea.” Why did he call her that? If it wasn’t sweet pea it was sweetness.
“I’m not asking you, Scope, I’m telling you that I’ve had enough of this damn couch. I’m going to get up and go sit outside in the sunshine for a while.” She smiled sweetly at him and waited for him to disagree with her.
“That sounds like a great idea, Darla. I’ll carry you out and fix you some iced tea. Do you want a pillow or a towel to sit on?” he asked.
“Stop it!” she fussed with a scowl. “I don’t need you to carry me. I can walk. Nothing happened to my legs. No more treating me like a broken doll. I’m fine.”
“I know, sweetness. I like taking care of you. Gunner and I fight over which one of us gets to stay home with you every day.”
“You just don’t want to spend the day inside a hot shop elbow deep in grease and oil. I know better,” she said, smirking up at him.
He chuckled. “You got us there. Are you ready to go out now?”
“Yeah, but on my own two feet,” she insisted.
“Fine, but I’m coming with you in case you get dizzy or tired before you make it to a chair.”
“Fine.”
Darla started to jump to her feet, but thought better of it. She’d had a head injury so that might not be such a great idea. Nice and easy was the way to go or she’d give Scope exactly what he thought would happen if she got up by herself. She’d get dizzy and fall. Nope. She was going to go nice and slow.
It worked just fine, and she made it all t
he way outside to the patio table and chairs before she nearly passed out from the effort. How had she gotten so weak after only two days? Sitting around would only make it worse. She needed to get up and walk around at least three or four times twice a day.
“How do you feel?” Scope asked her, his forehead crinkled in lines. He even had them at the corners of his mouth.
“Good. I’ll admit it took a little out of me to walk out here, but I need to walk so I don’t get any weaker. Besides, the sunshine and fresh air will work wonders to help me recover.”
“Will you be all right for a while so I can start dinner?” he asked.
“Of course. I’m just sitting here soaking up the sun.”
“I’ll bring you a glass of iced tea before I get started.”
“Are you sure Tommy isn’t going to be a bother to Gunner at work? He’s a good boy, but kids make mistakes without realizing it all the time. I imagine it can be dangerous around those big trucks.” She hadn’t protested too much when Gunner had asked if he could take Tommy with him. It had taken her by surprise and she’d said yes without really thinking it through.
“He’s fine. Gunner has been texting me every little while to tell me what they are doing. Tommy is helping by wiping down the tools when they finish using them then putting them back where they belong.” Scope grinned and bent down to kiss her lightly on the lips before jogging back to the French doors.
Less than a minute later he was back with a large glass of iced tea and a couple of magazines. He didn’t say anything, just disappeared back into the kitchen to work on dinner. When she looked at the magazines he’d left, she’d been pleasantly surprised that instead of cars, electronics, or fitness magazines, he’d left her a Good Housekeeping and two different women’s magazines for her to browse through. They were even current ones. They must have just bought them for her.
Somehow knowing that they were going out of their way to make her feel at home and comfortable in their house only upset her. They were treating her like spun glass and hiding their true selves from her. She didn’t want all the flowers and gushing they were pouring out on her as if it were rain water. Darla wanted them just like they were and without their best behavior. It was the only way she’d ever know for sure that she would be happy with them for the rest of her life.