by Sam Crescent
“I have a feeling when I’m around the pair of you, I’m going to spend a lot of time in the shower,” she grumbled.
“You’ll always be clean.” He removed the plug and handed it to Markus.
Pulling out of her tight warmth was hard. The moment he left her, he felt lost.
Picking her up in his arms, Brant carried her through to the bathroom. He saw his brother washing the plug in the sink. There was anti-bacterial wash as well.
He didn’t give her chance to argue. Brant followed her inside while Markus finished up in the sink.
“Tessie, will you be eating with us at the diner?” Markus asked.
“No, I only eat lunch there. I can’t eat their breakfasts and then work after.”
When she made a grab for his cock, Brant dodged her and wrapped her up in his arms.
“Stop teasing me.” He kissed her neck, stopping her from trying again.
“I’ll go and make you some toast.”
Markus left them alone to finish washing. Her uniform was hung up in the wardrobe. Brant had finished washing it from the other day. He didn’t like the thought of her working, after the incident with the car. If someone was out there then they were looking for Tessie.
His brother’s hunches had never been wrong. In fact, considering Brant had the business degree, Markus had asked him to put some stock in an organics firm. He’d refused, but Markus wouldn’t let it slide. Brant invested a small amount of money and was shocked by the profit that came back. When he’d asked Markus why he invested the money, his brother merely called it a hunch.
He really needed to believe in his hunches more often.
Brant finished washing her hair and then grabbed a towel. When Tessie saw the time, she didn’t try to get frisky with him again. He couldn’t help but laugh at her insatiable appetite when it came to sex. She always wanted to do it, and there was no stopping her. Not only that, but Brant didn’t want to stop her.
By the time they got downstairs, Tessie was curling her wet hair up on her head and Markus held out a plate filled with toast. They headed out to the truck. Brant climbed in beside Tessie as she was eating her toast. He went to nick a slice, but Tessie slapped his hand away.
“This is my breakfast. I’m going to be serving you soon. Wait.”
He chuckled and rested his arm along the back of her chair. The drive was relatively quiet, apart from the crunching of toast coming from Tessie.
“I’m going to have to see my mom this afternoon. She gets off work around six. I was thinking I could stop by after my shift at the diner. I finish at five. I really need to talk to her about you guys and everything.”
Brant looked toward Markus. His brother mouthed the word “Donald” and Brant’s mind eased. He didn’t like the other man, but Donald would keep their woman safe.
Chapter Eleven
After Tessie served breakfast to her men, she watched them leave the shop. The rest of the morning was spent smiling as customers offered her congratulations and a few of the tourists frowned at her. On the way out of the diner, Markus and Brant had both kissed her good-bye. She imagined it was weird for the people who didn’t live in Stone Valley to see more than one guy kiss a woman.
She was used to it and found one guy loving one woman strange. Her parents had been the only exception. Her mother had loved her father dearly. There was never going to be another man for her mother. She hoped Donald could be the person to bring her mother out of her shell.
The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. Glancing around, she didn’t see anyone she recognized. Shaking off the feeling of being watched, Tessie made her way to the counter at the front of the store. Tate and Darla were stood filling up the salt and pepper pots.
They both smiled and nudged each other.
At their smiles, she remembered this morning and couldn’t help but laugh. Markus and Brant had forgotten the butt plug. She was sure they’d fine some other reason to torture her.
“What are you smiling at?” she asked, taking a seat at the counter.
“You’ve got that just-fucked look. I bet the Stone brothers are real monsters in bed,” Tate said, nudging Darla. The other waitress blushed. “You lost your v-card, then?”
“How did you know I was still a virgin?” Tessie asked, shocked.
“Honey, you spent most of your time frustrated. The only answer to that was you’d never had a decent orgasm by a good man.” Tate passed her the salt to put back on the tables. The diner was empty. They would all eat lunch before the real rush began. It was a Wednesday, and Darla was able to work on Wednesdays.
“Does your mom have your son?” Tessie asked, trying to change the subject.
“Yeah. She’s got Nathan for me. It’s the only day she’s willing to have him.” Darla had never confessed the identity of the father of her child. Nathan must be the only son in Stone Valley who doesn’t know his father.
“Is she still nagging you to give a name to the father?” Tate asked.
“Yeah, she thinks it will do Nathan and myself good to finally come clean about who the father is.”
Darla shrugged and moved away, carrying a load of bottles with her.
“Poor girl. She got pregnant at eighteen. I don’t know how she copes.”
“Nathan should be in school next year, right?” Tessie asked. She liked Darla. The girl was only twenty-two and had been handed some hard luck over the years. Her mother was as supportive as she could be, but Janet Rose was really sick. Everyone tried to help out at the diner. Bessie and Jake had even tried to get regulations in for a crèche or something. There was not much anyone could do other than wait with bated breath for the father to make his presence known.
The door to the diner went off and in walked Luke Willis, the oldest of all three brothers.
“Here comes trouble. I think he’s trying to get on a date with Darla.” Tate slapped her arm, pointing at the scene about to unfold.
Glancing over her shoulder, she watched as Luke tapped Darla’s arm. The waitress didn’t smile. From the look of it, Darla was arguing quietly with Luke.
“You two girls shouldn’t be watching them fight. Turn around and get back to work,” Bessie said. Their boss had her hands on her hips and was glaring at the scene between Luke and Darla.
“That man is stupid.”
After Luke left, the hours passed slowly. A couple of tourists came in, but nothing too busy. The heat was making everyone eat out of the diner or prefer snacks to large food. When she couldn’t handle the hunger anymore, she grabbed one of Jake’s famous burgers and sat with Darla and Tate.
Darla would leave after the lunch rush. Since Luke had left, Darla had been withdrawn.
Tessie grabbed her burger and took a large bite out of it. After all the sex, she was famished.
“I hate men. They should be wiped out of the face of the planet and their dicks chopped off and stuck up their own ass,” Darla said. The look on her face was frightening. Darla was such a timid person by nature that Tessie glanced at Tate, wondering what to do.
“I take it you’re talking about the lovely Luke Willis’s cock?” Tate asked.
Tate was the only one Tessie knew who could defuse any situation.
“Yeah, he’s a real fucking creep.”
Sharing a look with Tessie, she waited for Darla to change her mind.
“No, he’s not a creep. He’s a giant jerk who talks out of his ass. I hate him and I hate all men.” Darla shoved a couple of fries into her mouth. “Apart from Nathan. He’s a good boy, and my baby. He doesn’t come into the equation. All the other men can go.”
“What did Luke say to you?” Tessie asked.
“He was a giant ass.” They ate in silence for several minutes. Tessie didn’t know what to say and kept eating. “He wants to know who the father of my baby is. Luke doesn’t think he can get past the paternity of my baby.”
“Why would he care?” Tessie asked.
Tate kicked her under the table.
> “Ouch, what? What did I miss?”
“The Willis’s have a thing for Darla. She’s important to them.” Tate’s eyes were wide.
“Oh, oh. That sucks.” Tessie finished off her burger.
“Yeah, according to Luke, Jon and Ryan wouldn’t be able to move on without knowing, either. The only problem is the other two have already told me they don’t care. It’s only Luke that cares.”
“But you need all three of them to agree. The Willis brothers are known to share their women,” Tessie said.
“I hate men.”
The rest of their lunch went by, uneventful.
* * * *
Markus pulled into his driveway and was shocked to see Donald waiting inside his car. Not only that, there was another guy waiting for him.
“Great, now what?” Brant asked.
Ignoring his brother, he climbed out of the truck and walked toward the other. Donald and the mystery man vacated the car.
“You didn’t give us a call,” Markus said, folding his arms over his chest.
The other man whispered against Donald’s ear.
Donald cleared his throat. “I think we should take this inside.”
He noticed the way Donald looked around him as he did.
“Okay, come on.” Markus led the way into the house. All men followed and the guy with Donald pulled out some tracking device.
“Before we talk, give him a moment.”
The mystery guy walked around the whole house and came back, nodding his head. “All clear. We’re good to talk.” He turned toward them. “I’m David Coulter. I’m the private investigator. There’s no need to give you a history of who I am or what I’ve done. Let me just say I’m good at my job and I’ve found everything we need to know.”
Markus looked at Donald. “Is he safe?”
“He’s the safest man I know, and I can guarantee to you he’ll keep Tessie safe, and Lillian.”
Glancing between the two men Markus saw the connection. “You’re best friends and you share women.”
“There is a lot of history between us. I wouldn’t trust anyone else with my safety or the safety of my woman. David is a friend, a Dom, and prepared to do whatever is necessary to stop the hits that have been put out on both women.”
Donald’s last words gained both his and Brant’s attention.
“Hits?” Brant asked, looking worried.
“Don’t worry, they’re bogus hits in order to scare you guys and us into backing off,” David said, gaining their attention.
Markus watched as the other man pulled out a file from his pocket. “What do you mean? If there are hits out on Tessie and her mother then we need to do something.” He felt the panic rising up inside him. He felt like he couldn’t breathe because of it. No one could hurt Tessie. They’d finally found the woman for them and it was all going to be taken away from him. He wouldn’t let that happen. There was no way he could let it happen.
“Have either of you heard of the criminal Marshall Rake?” David asked.
A picture was pulled out of the file. It was a newspaper clipping of a middle-aged, good-looking man. Markus recognized him from the news he watched when he got a few minutes to spare.
“What about him?”
“He’s one of the most wanted men and yet no one can get anything on him. Whenever he’s checked out he comes back clean. We all know he deals with drugs, trafficking, and gun crime, but we can’t find anything on him. Then a little deal about five years back to get coke into rural areas went south. It was the only glitch some operatives could find. Since then, Marshall has been on the straight-and-narrow. At least, it appears that way.” David walked into the kitchen. All the men followed him. Markus felt like his gut was being kicked and he wasn’t going to like the outcome.
David spread out the file into pieces. The newspaper came first, and then the headline of the suspected coke operation. Markus glanced at the paperwork. Some of it was on printed paper while others were old headline adds.
“When Donald asked me to search Frank Holland, along with the name of the person who was on the deeds at the time of the sale of the house, everything came back to this place here. It’s an investment firm known as the Never Ending Holdings. Want to know why?” David asked.
All three men shook their heads.
“The Never Ending Holdings is a firm that invests in nothing. There is nothing on the books and no money being handed out, but there’s money coming back in. Frank Holland’s house was given to this firm and in turn, this firm has been making a shitload of cash.”
“How? Tessie’s house has been vacant for years. Nothing is going on there,” Brant said.
“Okay, I’m going to give it all to you in a simplified, and easy way to understand. Watch.” David pointed at the picture of Marshall. “He owns the firm that has possession of Holland’s house. The firm is packed away in so much legal crap no one knows who is investing in it. There have been a lot of coke-related deaths outside of Stone Valley, but within easy access of this town. Frank Holland was murdered for what he knew and not only that, the Deputy has been in on it from the start. To narrow this down for you all, Tessie Holland’s house is owned by Marshall, and he’s running an operation of selling drugs from it. It’s a halfway house. Frank lives on the outskirts of Stone Valley. He’s got the perfect plot of land that is far enough away from town to never be considered a threat. The house is owned by Marshall and no one will try to buy it. It’s a piece of shit rundown ranch. No one wants it.”
“Frank died knowing what was going on?” Markus asked.
“Frank died protecting his women. He knew about the operation going on, but he stumbled upon it. My guess is one of his workers started selling and then Marshall saw the potential and swooped in. Frank Holland wasn’t part of smuggling drugs to the neighboring towns and cities. He was a guy in the way and trying to protect his family.”
Markus took a seat. He didn’t know what to say or do.
“So there is a setup at the ranch? Where drugs are transported to and from? It’s a distribution place?” Brant asked. “Tessie would be so angry to know someone was abusing her house in such a way. Her memories of growing up and her father are there.”
“Look, we can stop this. With this evidence and what I know about the next collection, there will be more than enough evidence to put Marshall away.”
“What do you mean?” Markus asked.
“For the last five years, this operation has profited millions of dollars. Marshall has more money than he can even pass off with his legal businesses. He’s starting to come under the radar. He’s meeting some clients about handling that problem by investing money into something else. Marshall will be in Stone Valley by the end of the month to negotiate a deal for the coke and the trafficking of women.”
* * * *
Brant sat back in his chair. It was too much to digest. Tessie’s father being murdered and no one knowing about it for so long felt so sad. Five years was a long time to think your father died of a heart attack. He didn’t know what he was going to tell Tessie. She didn’t even suspect anything was amiss with her father. If he and Markus hadn’t been wanting to buy her ranch back, they wouldn’t have known anything was amiss.
“So what’s stopping you?” Markus asked, pulling him back into the conversation.
“The Deputy. He’s the problem. I need to talk to the Sheriff without his second man becoming suspicious. Also, there’s a guy who knows your every move. You’re going to have to keep this to yourselves. I wasn’t going to tell you, but Donald demanded that I share this information. I’m sorry about Tessie and the accident. They’re trying to scare everyone away.”
Brant glanced at Donald. “Is that why you’ve started staying at Lillian’s house?”
“We need to show these people that we’ve backed off. I’m going to pursue Lillian like I always planned to. The only difference is you’ll be seeing a lot more of David. He’ll be moving in as a permanent Dom, and we’ll both
be pursuing Lillian.”
Rubbing a hand down his face, Brant tried to clear his thoughts. “We’re to keep this to ourselves? We’re not to tell Tessie anything?”
“The more people who know about this, the greater the risk of exposure and the chance Marshall will back out. This is a chance to get him out of the picture for good. He’s killed thousands of people through drugs alone. If we start on his gun crime and trafficking, we’re talking higher numbers.” David gathered up the file. “The Deputy is one set of eyes. There is another in town. They organized the car incident too quickly for it to be anything else.”
“We have to keep this to ourselves and include the Sheriff. Any more people, and we risk ruining everything. David has told me several government agencies have been working on this for a lot longer. We can’t jeopardize that because of our women,” Donald said.
Brant stood and stared at all the men. “I can’t believe we’re talking about this. Stone Valley is a good town, a quiet town.”
“And that’s why it was such a prime mark for someone like Marshall. No one would ever suspect. Admit it, Mr. Stone, you wouldn’t have known anything was happening.”
Brant bit down on his lip. The man was right. If it wasn’t for their intended wedding gift to Tessie, he and Markus would have been blind like the rest of the town.
“So we now need to organize a meeting with the Sheriff?” Brant asked. He didn’t see any point in arguing with the men. They would tell Tessie as soon as the moment was right.
“Yes, I was thinking I could talk with him in two weeks’ time during the annual summer fair Stone Valley likes to give,” David said.
Brant frowned and looked at his brother. “That’s in two weeks?”
The fair was a celebration of Stone Valley’s existence. He and Markus had to go around shaking hands and offering thanks for their local people. Brant hated doing it, but the money raised went into the hospital they’d been trying to get started up. He didn’t like the fact they had to drive away from town to get some good care. They had a local practice and a doctor who knew how to handle most of the problems with the people, but a hospital was really needed.