Sierra’s eyes widened. “She said that? To you?”
Hailey stood and cleared off the counter, a spring in her step. “Hell, yeah. She said it to any woman who’d listen. After all she was with the Austin Montgomery.”
“He’s a the?” She could see that. No. No she couldn’t. Damn it, that man needed to get out of her fantasies.
Hailey looked over her shoulder and smirked. “Oh, honey, he’s the the.”
An uncomfortable wash of envy…or something much worse filled her. “Did you and he ever…”
Hailey threw her head back and laughed. “Oh, God no. I wouldn’t say he’s like a brother to me, not like he is with Callie or his three sisters, but he’s like a first cousin or something. So not on my radar like that.” An odd look crossed her face, and Sierra perked up.
“Is someone else on your radar that I should know about?” Hailey was notoriously single and quiet about it. Sierra just wanted her friend happy. After all, one of them should be.
Hailey shook her head, stopped, and then shrugged. “Maybe. It doesn’t matter anyway.” Her gaze went to the closed door between the shop and Taboo, and Sierra’s interest sparked.
So, it was someone at Montgomery Ink that had captured Hailey’s heart. It if wasn’t Austin, it could be any one of the other artists or apprentices there. Sierra wouldn’t push and pry. At least not then. Maybe when they were liquored up, she’d pry it out of her.
“Also, we were talking about sexy Austin,” Hailey said, her eyes too bright, her smile too wide. Yes, there was something there, something that Sierra would do her best to help with when she could.
“Sexy Austin?” That bad-boy biker look had been in her past, and she’d thought she’d gotten over it. Apparently she hadn’t. Not by far.
“Don’t tell me you don’t see it. I saw your eyes light up even when you called him an oaf. But I digress. Back to Shannon. The two of them broke up, and I thought everything was fine. Shannon, from what I can tell, doesn’t like to let anything go. She probably went along with the breakup because she thought she could find someone with deeper pockets or a bigger cock. It looks like she didn’t find it.”
Sierra’s mouth hung open at the description then laughed with Hailey. “Well then. That’s good to know.”
“Is it?” Hailey teased.
Blushing, Sierra stood up and left money on the counter. “Shut up. And take the money, Hailey. You can’t keep forcing me to keep my money and not pay for my meal.”
Hailey curled her lip in a snarl. “If I want my friends to eat for free in my own shop, then I should be able to. You need the money for Eden anyway.”
True, but that wasn’t the point. “You need the money for Taboo as well. Just come over and buy a sexy bra and panty set when we open.”
Hailey raised a brow. “It seems to me that’s quite a bit more than a sandwich.”
“Then I guess I’ll have to buy a few more sandwiches. Now I’m off to the store to work on a few last-minute displays before I go into inventory again. Thanks for talking to me and for the food.”
“We really didn’t talk about anything, Sierra.” Hailey met her gaze, and Sierra saw the concern there.
“I know, but it’s exactly what I needed. I’m going to work my tail off for the next few days to make Eden ready for the best opening ever. Then I will go back into Montgomery Ink—Austin Montgomery or no—and get my tattoo.”
“That’s the spirit. And when you do get yours, let me know, and I’ll hold your hand. You’re not alone, Sierra.”
Sierra nodded then left on her way to Eden. Hailey might be in her corner, but Sierra knew the other woman was wrong.
She was alone.
And that was the way it was meant to be.
Chapter Three
I want to suck your cock. That big, meaty dick that filled me up so much I couldn’t walk for days. I miss the sound of your voice as you come inside me. I miss the feel of your silky, white cum in my engorged pussy.
So not the message he needed to be reading during the Montgomery family outdoor barbecue. Engorged? Can we say hell, no?
Austin deleted Shannon’s text and groaned. That woman just wouldn’t take a hint and leave him the hell alone. He thought they’d broken up because they were bored with each other. Apparently he was wrong. No matter how many times he told her they were over—something he was pretty sure had been her idea in the first place—she kept coming on to him. She texted him shit he certainly didn’t want to see or read, came by his house and shop, and was on the verge of stalking him in every sense of the word.
He wasn’t worried she’d hurt him, or anyone else around him; that wasn’t her style, but he was getting tired of it. Plus, if he wanted to actually move on and date another person, well, he didn’t want to think about what she’d do about that. She’d always been jealous when it came to his past. He hadn’t thought about how she’d react to his future.
That would teach him to try to have a good time rather than settle down.
He closed his eyes as he put his phone back in his pocket. Settle down? Was that what he wanted to do? The idea held merit considering the way Shep smiled and laughed every time he was near his Shea, but Austin also saw the strain of marriage on two of his siblings. Sure, his parents made it look effortless, but Alex’s and Miranda’s respective marriages never made it look like it was something he wanted to do.
Though he didn’t know the whole story, he never saw either of them as an incentive to getting married in the first place.
He was getting old. He’d thought he’d be married by now with a couple kids. That hadn’t happened, and as forty quickly approached, he was afraid he’d lost his chance at that forever.
Images of honey-brown hair and big green eyes filled his mind, and he had to swallow hard. Sierra might not be his usual type, but she wouldn’t leave his mind alone. That didn’t mean he wanted her. Not like that. She wasn’t the answer to whatever marriage questions he had on his mind. She was just a woman who might want a tattoo and probably thought he was some dirty biker tattoo artist.
That was fine with him.
“Why do you look like you just smelled something rank?” Wes, his brother closest in age, asked him. Wes might have been only three minutes older than Storm, but he’d used that small time frame like no other for the past three or so decades.
“One word. Shannon.”
Wes raised a brow and tucked his hands in his dress pants. Though they were at their parents’ house in Westminster, Wes hadn’t changed into jeans and a T-shirt like the rest of the family. He still wore a long-sleeved button-down and his work attire, but he’d at least taken off the tie. Wes was a contractor and head of Montgomery Ink. Yes, his twin, Storm, also ran the company with him, but Wes was the idea man. Storm liked to hide in the background. If anyone asked the two of them, they’d say their administrative assistant, Tabitha, was the glue that held them together, but that was another story altogether.
“Did someone say Shannon?” Storm asked as he walked up to the two of them, three beers in his hands. He handed them off and took a sip of his own. Wes and Storm were identical twins. Years and personalities had made them easy to tell apart. Storm had the rugged look down pat with his long hair, never-quite-shaved face, worn jeans, and bulkier frame. Both men were strong as hell to do their jobs, but Storm had filled out more over time. It didn’t matter that he was the architect of Montgomery Inc. He used his hands more often than not.
“Yeah. She keeps texting me and shit,” Austin explained after he took a sip of his beer. Storm had brought Fat Tire to the party, and Austin couldn’t have been more grateful. Nothing like a Colorado beer to make him feel better.
“I told you she’d be trouble,” Wes said sagely.
Austin flipped him off then leaned against the side of the house, his back aching from a six-hour session on his client’s back piece. Maybe he’d get a massage from the spa down the street. He’d long since given up on the idea it was sissy. They wor
ked wonders on his back—and nothing else, unlike what his brothers teased him about—so he could work long days and do what he loved.
Maybe if he was lucky, he’d find a woman to massage him at home as well.
He closed his eyes, cursing himself. Dating just for the moment was what got him into this mess with Shannon. He needed to keep a tighter rein on his dick it seemed. Maybe he’d head to the club with Decker and find a sub to help. That might relieve the tension. But even as he thought it, he knew it wouldn’t be good enough. He wanted long-term, though he’d never admit that out loud at this stage. Helping a sub for only a night or two wouldn’t be enough for him.
“You never said Shannon would be trouble,” Storm argued. “You said she would wrap Austin around her little finger and fuck him over.” His brother grinned at Austin. “Well, maybe that means trouble after all.”
“You’re a laugh riot. Both of you. Now I’m going to go and bug Meghan about the tattoo she wanted, and still hasn’t gotten, and leave the two of you to your own devices. God help us all.”
Sasha, Meghan’s daughter, squealed as her brother, Cliff, chased her around the backyard. Maya followed them both with her friend Jake trailing behind her. Between the eight siblings, extended family, various friends, spouses, children, and neighbors, the barbecue was in full swing and loud as hell. He loved it. This was his family, his home. Sure, he was about fifteen minutes away from his real home, but this was where he’d grown up, where he knew he’d always have a place to return to even after living away for twenty years.
The six-bedroom house was a two-story dream for anyone with a large family. Since there were more kids than rooms, everyone, at one point or another, had shared a room with someone. It was just the way it was, and despite the fact they complained and yelled as kids do, it hadn’t killed them. His dad had built on to the house as time passed, expanding the kitchen and living areas and giving his mother the deck of her dreams. Well, that wasn’t exactly right. She’d done some of the building as well. She might have started out as Montgomery Inc.’s administrative assistant, but she learned to use a hammer and nails like the rest of them. The basic structure had remained the same, and it was perfect for them. They were on the end of a cul-de-sac but were far enough away from the actual street that they, like Austin, had plenty of land around them—something coveted in the suburbs.
Austin grinned and left his two knucklehead brothers talking to each other—most likely about him—and found Meghan in a quiet argument with her husband, Richard. Sadly, this was not the first time he’d seen it, and he knew it wouldn’t be the last. She wouldn’t like him to interfere, but that would be her problem. His little sister, the eldest of three Montgomery daughters, was his blood, and that meant he had the right to protect her from the world. Even if the world included herself.
“Hey, little sister,” he said as he wrapped an arm around her stiff shoulders. “I’ve missed seeing you around these things. You’ve been missing a few.” Subtle, Austin.
Meghan gave him a look that would have felled most men, but he was not most men. Seeming to catch herself from showing too much, she gave him a fake smile and leaned into him for a hug. She was the tallest of the M&Ms—the nickname their father had given his three daughters, Meghan, Maya, and Miranda—but still didn’t come up to his nose.
“Cliff’s soccer practices and Richard’s business parties have happened to be running at the same time as the folk’s barbecues. So we’ve been missing a few, but we’re here now.” She gave her husband a pointed look that didn’t seem to help the situation.
Richard smiled coolly at his wife before nodding toward Austin. “Yes. We’re here at the Montgomery clan barbecue. As you have enough of them, I assumed it would be fine to miss a few. Plus, we’re Warrens now. It’s okay to not show up to all of them.”
Austin clenched his teeth at his brother-in-law’s words. The bastard had been married to Meghan for eight years, and yet Austin never learned to like the man. What was there to like? A smile too fixed, hair too gelled, a look of disdain that never quite went away. In fact, Richard blatantly looked down on tattoos, blue-collar workers, and anything that remotely resembled honest manual labor.
Not that Austin would give the other man a piece of his mind. He was the father of his niece and nephew, and husband to one of the women in his life Austin loved more than anything. It wouldn’t do any good to beat the shit out of him.
It might help Austin’s mood, so he’d put that off as a maybe for later.
“Once a Montgomery, always a Montgomery,” Austin shot back with a bite.
Meghan elbowed him in the gut, and Austin let out an oof. She was stronger than her slender frame implied.
“Can you give Richard and me a moment, Austin? We were just finishing up a discussion.” Her eyes pleaded with him, and he leaned down to brush a kiss over her brow.
“Anything for you, Meghan. Remember that.”
He glared at Richard as he left and nodded at Maya and her friend Jake on his way over to Griffin and Alex. Griffin was the quietest one of the Montgomery clan, but since he was a Montgomery, he wasn’t all that quiet. Alex had recently been giving Griffin a run for his money in the quiet department. Austin didn’t know how to fix that. As the oldest Montgomery sibling, Austin felt it was his duty to take care of and protect his brothers and sisters—no matter the cost.
“What are you two doing on the sidelines of all the action?” he asked in greeting.
Alex just shrugged, his gaze off in the distance, a tumbler of whiskey in his hand rather than a beer. It was just shy of five o’clock, but considering the day his brother could have had with his job as a photographer and his wife, who hadn’t even bothered to show up, Austin wasn’t going to judge. Yet.
“We’re just watching the action,” Griffin responded, taking a drink of his own beer.
“Where’s Jessica?” Austin asked, speaking of Alex’s wife.
Alex’s jaw tightened, but he still didn’t turn to meet Austin’s gaze. “Not here. As you can see.”
Austin raised a brow, and Griffin just shook his head slightly. Well, hell. Austin didn’t know how to fix this—whatever this was—but he knew if he had a chance, he’d try. He didn’t like to see this cold version of his brother, the only one who looked alone in a sea of people, which, when she was there, included his wife and high school sweetheart.
“Well, look who just showed up,” Griffin said with a smile.
Austin turned to see their friend—Griffin’s best friend in fact—Decker stroll into the backyard. His beat up leather jacket looked like it had seen better days, and his hair brushed his collar. He wasn’t a Montgomery by birth, but he was one by heart.
“Decker!” Marie Montgomery ran across the backyard and jumped into Decker’s arms.
Decker’s face broke into a smile and caught her with ease.
Austin couldn’t hear what they said to one another, but Austin knew it was only for the two of them. His mother loved Decker like one of her own, and when Decker’s father had been in prison, he stayed with the Montgomerys more often than not. Sure, Decker’s mother was still alive—barely, it seemed, after Decker’s father got through with her—but she hadn’t been strong enough to raise a boy on her own. The Montgomerys had taken him in when the law allowed, and if they could have, Austin was sure they’d have adopted him to make nine instead of eight.
“Did someone say Decker?” the youngest sibling, Miranda, asked as she came up to Austin’s side.
Austin automatically lifted his arm so she sank into his side like they’d done since she could stand. Even before then, he’d placed her on his hip and taken her around the house, the age gap between them creating a stronger bond.
“Mom found him, so don’t worry, he’ll have food in his belly soon,” Griffin teased.
“He works for Montgomery Inc. so I don’t know why you’re acting like you haven’t seen him in ages,” Alex grunted.
Miranda stuck her tongue out at Alex,
acting like they were children again rather than grown and out of the house. “He’s been out of town for six weeks working on that satellite project for Wes. Now he’s back. Plus, I’m finally back from school and starting my new job, so it will be nice to have him around.”
Something about the way she said that made the hair on the back of Austin’s neck stand on end, but he didn’t have a chance to think about it too hard, as his mother let out a sharp whistle that made his teeth ache.
Well, she had to do something to wrangle eight rowdy children.
“Now that we’re all here, I want to make sure you all enjoy your food, drink, and conversation,” his mother boomed, her hand firmly in their father’s hand. “Stay as long as you’d like, eat as much as you can, and live life. Now, for my own children, we’re having a family meeting at the end, so you don’t get to go. You know I love you, so stay.” She gave them a bright—almost too bright—smile then lifted her drink. The others around them lifted their drinks in unison then began talking again—albeit a little nervously.
Austin frowned. There was something in the way she spoke that put him on alert. He looked at their father and let his gaze trace the lines on the large man’s face. Something was up, and Austin didn’t like it. He wanted these other people to leave so he could find out exactly what this family meeting was about. It wasn’t unusual to have one at these things, as it was the one time they were all in one place other than a holiday. Since it was the first one where they were all together in a long while, he hoped it was just a family meeting to reconnect, but he had a feeling it was something more. He met his siblings’ gazes one by one and knew they were feeling the same thing.
Something was off, and he didn’t know what.
It took less than two hours for people to leave, yet Austin felt like it had been years. He hadn’t been able to pry anything out of either parent, no matter how hard he tried.
He found himself wedged between Meghan and Decker on one of the couches in the living room. The rest of the family sprawled on the various other pieces of furniture while Miranda and Maya sat on the floor together, their hands firmly clasped as if they, too, knew something was wrong. It didn’t surprise Austin to find Decker within the group as he was as much a Montgomery as anyone, just as it didn’t surprise him that Richard had left with the children. Richard made it clear he wasn’t a Montgomery, but the children were Montgomerys by blood. Sure, maybe the kids didn’t need to be there for a family meeting for other reasons, but this seemed different.
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