Her Dirty Doms [The Men of Treasure Cove 13] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Rebecca Joyce

  “Alex is right,” Peter Castillo interjected. “I also know Tristan. His family vacationed with mine in Colorado every summer. When Tristan wants something, he his highly motivated and will stop at nothing to attain it. He can be selfish and a bastard sometimes, but he does know right from wrong.”

  “So we just need to motivate him, then,” J.D Kincaid said, smiling. “I can do that.”

  “No!” several men said at once.

  “Why don’t we just get Garret and Zac to fine his ass?” Braxton asked.

  “Because so far he’s done nothing wrong,” Matthew said. “Look, guys, there is more to this than Mr. Summerfield buying up the land and drilling. Apparently many years ago, one of the founding families swindled the other families out of the mineral rights. When that person died, he failed to entrust them to his descendants, making the mineral rights free gain to whomever buys them. I looked and looked and can’t find any documents on record about the sale after 1912.”

  “You wouldn’t, either,” Caleb Hicks said, speaking for the first time. “In 1912, the town suffered a severe drought. A lot of the structures in town caught fire. Most of the original documents regarding the town were destroyed. The charter and its documents were saved because our ancestors chose to hand off the documents between the families every year, that way no one would know who had the document and it would remain safe.”

  “How do you know this?” Matthew asked, seriously.

  “I found them when I was snooping around in my dad’s closet. He found me and told me,” Caleb replied.

  “You never told me,” his brother Jeff said.

  “Dad made me promise not to say nothing.” Caleb shrugged.

  “We need to find out who had the documents in 1912.”

  “There’s no way to know. The families decided no one was to know. When the year was up, the documents would be mailed anonymously to the next family. The only person who would know who had them would be the one sending them and when the next year came, they would be mailed again. Thus ensuring the documents’ safety.”

  “Well, this is just great,” Tate Quinn said. “So we don’t know shit.”

  As the men started arguing amongst themselves, Miguel noticed that the Kincaid brothers sat silently, looking at the floor. Something wasn’t right, and Miguel would bet his life savings that those three knew something but were too afraid to say anything. Nudging Julio with his elbow, Miguel motioned with his head toward the Kincaid brothers. When Julio nodded, Miguel spoke up, staring directly at the Kincaid brothers, “Everything all right, boys? You look a little green around the gills. Is there something you want to add to this conversation?”

  When Jack Daniel, Brannon, and Conner all looked up at him, Miguel knew whatever they were about to say was not going to be received well by the group.

  “It was our family,” Brannon whispered.

  “Your family what?” Matthew asked, moving closer to them.

  “It was our great-great something ancestors who had the documents around the time you’re asking about. During that time, our ancestors had this stupid bright idea, and talked the rest of the families into signing over the mineral right to their land. Well, instead of following through, our ancestors kept it. We have the document you are looking for,” Brannon informed them all.

  “You mean to tell me that you three numskulls have known all along what your family had done and you said nothing?” Travis insinuated furiously.

  “We didn’t want to bring up the past. Besides, we had more pressing matters at the time to deal with. We needed to take care of Ma,” JD said, coming to the defense of his brother. “We had planned to tell y’all but then the charter became null and void. We thought that was it. Everyone got their own land back and everyone was happy.”

  “It doesn’t work that way, JD!” Jeff shouted. “If we had known about the mineral rights before we dissolved the charter, we could have purchased them, then we wouldn’t be in the position we’re in now.”

  “Damn,” Orin McDaniel muttered. “And they bitch at me for some of my plans.”

  “Don’t start, stupid,” Tucker quipped.

  “Don’t call our brother stupid!” Davis and Jacks stood immediately.

  “Well then tell him to keep his stupid comments to himself,” Tucker replied, getting to his feet. And just like that, the meeting turned into a shouting match. Longtime friends began shouting and cursing others for their failures and those who were to blame accused the others for their lack of compassion, insinuating that it wasn’t their fault, because they weren’t even born yet. The meeting had turned into a disaster and the Sanchez brothers stood quietly in the back, absorbing everything.

  “This whole mess started when Emma came back to town!” JD barked. “We we’re all doing fine until we found out about the damn charter.”

  Tate slowly stood and seethed. “I know you are not blaming my wife for this mess.”

  “If she hadn’t come back, then Matthew would have never showed up. We would have never known about the stupid charter,” JD replied, firmly holding his ground.

  “You mother fucker!” Travis shouted as he flung himself across the conference table right at JD Kincaid. The Quinn brothers started fighting with the Kincaid brothers as the others still argued.

  “I told y’all you should have listened to me a long time ago. I may not have the best plans but at least I come up with something,” Orin said as Steven and Neil rounded on him.

  “You stupid fucker!” Steven shouted. “Your plans were what caused us hell. I ought to beat your ass for that alone.”

  “Bring it, bitch.” Orin smiled. “It’s not my fault you can’t keep your dick in your pants!”

  “I didn’t fuck that stripper!” Steven roared as he, too, flung himself at Orin.

  “Nobody listens to anyone,” Caleb said to his brother, Jeff.

  “Got that right. If everyone respected each other’s wishes, then we wouldn’t be in this mess.”

  “Are you saying that because I didn’t listen to you?” Gabriel asked seriously.

  “Face it, Gabe, if you had listened to us then our sister wouldn’t be living in a BDSM club raising our niece.”

  “Why should we listen to you? You are not the know all of everything,” Alex asked, standing next to his brother. “You don’t know what our wife wants.”

  “Gabriel promised to stay away from her and when we turned our backs, he stole her from us,” Caleb fumed.

  “I didn’t steal shit!” Gabriel argued. “She chose me!”

  “You pursued her like you did all your other women.”

  “You asshole!” Gabriel thundered as he hauled off and punched Caleb.

  “This is getting out of hand,” Miguel whispered to Julio.

  “Agreed,” Julio replied, then looked over at Peter, Carter, Brice, Micah, and Daniel. “You boys feel like cleaning house with us before someone gets hurt?”

  Peter grinned as Carter and Brice stepped off the wall. “We’ll take the stupid planner and the Conner brothers.”

  “We’ve got the Quinns and Kincaids,” Micah and Daniel said.

  “And we’ll take boss man and the Hicks,” Julio said, as all of them scattered throughout the room to intercept the brawling groups. It took a few minutes, but the Sanchez brothers along with Vanessa’s men and Micah and Daniel had the room under control. Though the original families were still mad as hell, they were all sitting and behaving.

  “Now, I know I’m not from this area, but my brothers and I want to call Treasure Cove home. Our mother and sister live here, and for the last few years, they’ve gone on and on about how this community is different. How everyone helps each other. If this is how you all help, then I want no part of it. My brothers and I have seen enough fighting in our time, and we sure as hell don’t want to see anymore.”

  “Agreed,” Micah O’Brian concurred, standing behind Steven and Neil Conner. “Julio is right. Instead of fighting each other, you should be working to figure ou
t a way to get this Mr. Summerfield to listen. Have any of you, beside Alex and Peter, gotten to know the man? Have you gone out to where he is and asked him what he is planning to do?”

  When the room remained silent, Miguel cursed. “You mean to tell me you about killed each other over things that have already happened, without even knowing what the man is actually going to do?”

  “You all need to get your shit together and come up with a plan,” Micah said. “Because from where I stand, Mr. Summerfield is winning.” Orin McDaniel went to raise his hand, and Micah smacked it away. “We don’t need to hear what you’ve come up with.”

  Just then, the conference room shook, shaking pictures on the wall. Glasses rattled as the room vibrated.

  “What the hell was that?” Matthew asked, holding onto the table.

  Gabriel Sexton moved to the window and looked out over the town. “Oh, God.”

  Miguel turned as the group of men all ran over to the window. From his point of view, Miguel could see a large plume of smoke moving over the town. Before anyone could say anything, the town’s emergency alarm went off.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Everything was utter chaos as the Sanchez Brothers and the rest of the men from the meeting arrived in town. They were concerned about everyone, but mainly they wanted to find River and make sure she was okay. None of them could tell where the damage came from, or what caused it. All they knew was that some buildings were severely damaged and from what it looked like, they were…sinking?

  The further they went into town, the worse the damage was. As they passed their sister’s store or what they thought was left of her store, they realized that all that was left standing was the roof of her building. Looking across the street, Macie’s Diner was gone, as if it was never there. Up ahead, where River’s crew should have been working on the new library, was nothing except for a very large crater.

  “River!” Victor shouted as he ran toward the destruction. Julio and Miguel followed until they couldn’t anymore, as they stood on the precipice of the large hole.

  “River!” Miguel yelled.

  “Stop,” Julio ordered. “We need to get help. Standing here and yelling for her isn’t going to find her any faster. We’ve done this before, brothers, we know the drill. Victor, go find Garret and Zac and have them contact the Montana National Guard, we’re going to need their rescue searchers. I’m going round up as many men as I can and have them make sure everyone is accounted for. Miguel, you need to go see Mr. Summerfield. He’s got equipment we’re going to need if people are alive down there. Don’t come back without his equipment, understood?”

  “Got it,” Miguel said, before running off to find the elusive Mr. Tristan Summerfield.

  * * * *

  River hurt everywhere. She couldn’t explain why, but just opening her eyes hurt. She couldn’t see anything in the darkness and smoke. Coughing, she tried to take a deep breath, but only inhaled dust and dirt. Slowly moving, she was happy to find out that all of her arms and legs were in working order. With that information, she gently sat up. She could see the sun above her but the mist of dust and dirt made it hard. Looking around, she couldn’t describe what she was seeing. Everywhere she looked, she saw two by fours and building materials broken in half almost as if they were matchsticks.

  Wiping her forehead with the back of her hand, she tried to remember what happened. Her head hurt, and when she felt the back of her head, she noticed a sizable bump. “Well, that’s just great,” she muttered.

  The last thing she remembered was walking out of the company trailer. She saw Vanessa and Colby leaving Macie’s Diner and waved to them just as the earth dropped out from under her. Then everything went black.

  “Oh, Goddess,” River gasped as she started looking around. Rubble and debris lay everywhere as she tried cautiously moving around. Scared and unsure what to do, she moved toward what she thought was the direction of Macie’s Diner and tripped. Falling flat, she cursed herself. As she tried to get up, a hand grabbed her and River screamed.

  “It’s okay, boss. It’s just me.”

  Shaking off the feeling of dread, River shouted, “Oh, Goddess, Sam!”

  “I’m all right,” he coughed, but River knew better. Samuel Jones was one of her best friends and one of the first employees she and her sisters hired on. A reliable and honest man, Sam never missed a single day of work, even coming in sick on occasion. Though he never complained about anything, he was a hard worker and River liked him a lot. Yet, now that she looked at him, she knew Sam was anything but fine. Lying flat on his back, his leg was twisted at an odd angle. If that was all she had to worry about she’d be happy, but she didn’t know what to do about the large sliver of wood protruding from his abdomen. “Oh Sam, don’t you worry. Help will be here soon, and Doc Jenkins is gonna fix you right up, I promise.”

  “You don’t have to do that, River. I know what I look like. I already saw it.”

  “It doesn’t matter. You’re gonna be fine. You have to believe that,” she cried as tears started flowing down her face. She couldn’t lose Sam. She needed him, trusted him, depended on him. He was there for her when she things got tough.

  “Sweetheart, I can’t feel anything. It doesn’t hurt.” He smiled up at her. “Do me a favor, River.”

  “Anything,” she whispered.

  “Look after Lake for me. She’s been real lonely lately.”

  “Lake?”

  “Yeah. I’ve kinda loved her from the moment I laid eyes on her, but knew I wasn’t the man she needed. She spends too much time alone, River. Promise me you’ll help bring her out of her shell. She’s a beautiful woman, and needs someone to take care of her.”

  “I will, Sam.” River sobbed. “I promise.”

  “Good. I always knew you were a good…”

  “Sam!”

  * * * *

  Vanessa woke to the sounds of screams and cries for help. Her back was killing her and she had a massive headache, but she was alive. She didn’t have to open her eyes to know that something horrible happened, she could feel it like she did all those years ago back in Afghanistan, only this was different. The area around her was in total chaos. It has been so long since she’d seen such death and destruction. It shocked her to the core. She should have been numb to it, but for some reason this was different. It was because she knew these people. They were her friends, her neighbors, her townsfolk. Someone had come into her town and caused this. She was pissed. Slowly getting to her feet, she spotted a small backpack. She knew who it belonged to…Colby.

  Frantically looking around, she couldn’t find him anywhere. Sifting through the debris, she kept digging, as she looked for the young boy. “Colby!” she shouted, her voice echoing off the walls of the hole. “Colby, where are you?”

  A soft childlike whimper grabbed her attention, as she locked onto the location it came from. Moving carefully, she crawled over to the sound, when she heard, “Van?”

  “Oh God, Colby. Hang on, buddy, I’m coming!”

  Colby was stuck under a pile of metal and wood. His little hand reaching out through a small gap. Vanessa grabbed onto it and asked, “Baby, are you all right?”

  “I’m fine, but I cut my arm.”

  “How bad is it?”

  “It’s not bad, but there is more blood than when I stepped on that nail last year.”

  “Does it hurt?”

  “Naw, it’s just a scratch, Vanessa.”

  “Okay,” Vanessa said, looking around. She had to get him out of there. If he was bleeding she knew she needed to stem the blood and try to bandage it. If not, infection could set in and Colby could be in real trouble then. “Hang on, baby, I’m gonna try and get you out of there, okay?”

  “Okay,” his sweet innocent voice replied, a little shaky. She knew he was trying to be brave for her and she appreciated that, but right now, she didn’t care if he cried his eyes out because she felt like doing the same thing. Lifting with all her might, Vanessa tried to lif
t the large piece of metal off Colby, but she couldn’t.

  “Let me help,” she heard and turned to see Tomas hobbling over to her. His leg was bleeding, but other than that he looked fine.

  “Oh, thank God you’re alive, Tomas. Who else was in the diner?” she asked, making room for him.

  “Just me. Macie went to pick up the boys. You and little Colby were my last customers before the evening rush.”

  “I’m not little,” Colby said, a little disgruntled, from under the rubble.

  Tomas chuckled. “Sorry, Colby, but anyone smaller than me is little.”

  “Guess that means you’re little to Vanessa.” Colby laughed.

  Smiling, Vanessa replied, “I guess so.”

  “All right, Van, on the count of three, okay?”

  Vanessa nodded as Tomas started counting, “One…two…three.”

  * * * *

  Moving around her destroyed trailer, Lake crawled out of it just in time to hear her sister River scream Sam’s name. Sighing that she was okay, Lake made her way toward River and cringed when she had to crawl over a body. She tried not to look at the person, but couldn’t help herself. She knew him. He was one of their workers, Phillip. A hard worker, Phillip was a family man with four children, two he was trying to put through college. Lake had met his wife a couple of times, and Jane was a sweet woman who kept their home running. She didn’t want to know what Philip’s death was going to do to her. Lake dreaded telling her.

  As Lake crawled over the wreckage, she noticed her foot was hurting. Stopping, she sat up and looked at it, and sighed. “Well ain’t that a kick in the head.” She knew she shouldn’t have worn heals to the worksite today, but did she listen to her intuition, no. Now she had a broken ankle. She knew it was broke thanks to the small piece of bone sticking out of it. Looking around her, she knew she was going to have to splint it the best she could, or the damage would get worse. She found two slivers of wood and placed then on either side of her foot. Taking the scarf she used as a ribbon for her hair this morning, she wrapped it tightly around the wood, stifling her cries as she tied the knot. It wasn’t her best job, but it would work.