“You know, I almost regretted telling Dad just exactly how much of a slut you’d turned into. Now I see I made the right choice and so did he when he kicked you out.” Cheri quaked on the inside at Frankie’s deliberate coolness. She locked her smile in place, dug her nails into Bo’s side for support and prayed her brother couldn’t see how much he’d wounded her.
“Apologize.” Bo’s expression was shrouded with menace. Only an idiot would miss the danger lurking beneath his exterior.
And apparently, Frankie fit the bill. “I don’t know why you made it your mission in life to try to ruin our family name. You know how embarrassed Dad was, having to stand in front of the congregation and preach every Sunday about morals and cleanliness when his own daughter had slept her way through the high school.”
“I won’t tell you again to apologize to your sister.”
Cheri fluttered her lashes and blew Frankie a kiss. “Your friends never complained.”
Not that she’d ever done more than kiss one of them, but why waste her time trying to change anyone’s mind? She’d spent years crafting a persona for this town; it’d served her well.
Frankie flicked a glance at Bo. “You’re Sheriff of the county. You should think about your reputation.”
Bo snapped like a rubber band pulled too tight. One second he was beside her, and the next, Frankie was pinned to the ground with Bo’s hand wrapped around his throat. A vein Cheri never noticed before pulsed in Bo’s temple. “I think your little family reunion is over. I don’t want to see you in my town again. Ever.”
She could see Frankie try to say something as Bo’s fingers flexed, cutting off her brother’s words. Frankie nodded hastily, his face turning purple. Cheri had to fight not to jump up and down and clap her hands in glee. She had the kind of brother Bundy longed for. And although she’d never quite figured out why he hated her, she’d learned to accept it. Just like she had her father’s disgust.
“I’m going to let you up now, and you’re going to walk out the door. Nod if you understand.” Bo said.
Frankie nodded again. “Tell Lamont I’m looking for him.”
Cheri edged closer to Bo’s shoulder. “Told you.”
Bo didn’t even acknowledge her presence; he’d gone full on mouthwateringly sexy warrior. She could practically see his knuckles popping when he released her brother’s throat and stood. Frankie kept his mouth shut, clutched his red neck and walked out the front door.
The instant she felt the breeze from the door snapping shut, Cheri had her arms around Bo’s waist and she was smiling up at him like a fool. Any doubt he felt nothing for her gone.
9
Bo blinked, fighting his way out of the red haze clouding his vision. His heart thundered in his chest, pounding against his sternum like a damn piston. He’d been so fucking distracted by Cheri, he’d allowed another man to walk in the bar without even being aware. On the same night he’d discovered a dead body. Frankie could’ve been a murderer. He could’ve killed them both. Could’ve hurt Cheri.
His failure to maintain control could have been a disaster. Just like before, in Afghanistan, when he’d let his second-in-command sway his decision and walked into an ambush.
Cheri pressed against him staring up at him with wide questioning eyes.
He felt his core temperature drop. How could he have been so stupid? He’d let his desires get in the way of logic; how many times did he have to learn that lesson?
Bo reached behind him, pulled her fingers free and stepped back. “Lock the place up. I’ll walk you to your car.”
He could feel the cold sweat trickling down his back and the tight feeling of claustrophobia setting in.
Cheri’s brows dropped. “What’s wrong? Did I do something wrong?”
The only thing Cheri did wrong was make him want her so bad he’d forgotten what happens when you don’t follow the plan. Never again. “It’s late. I want to make sure your brother does what I told him to do.”
Cheri took a hesitant step toward him. “I don’t care about him. I want to get back to before he interrupted us.”
Bo caught her hand before she could touch his chest. “No. Not tonight.” Not ever. He couldn’t afford a distraction like her.
Cheri froze in place, her expressive features betraying her confusion. Bo steeled himself against any softness. Softness caused problems. Distractions. Death.
He had a murder to solve, reports to file. And a town to restore to order.
She yanked her hand from his grip. “Fine.”
Bo made his way to the doors while Cheri rounded the bar, turning off lights. Her normal seductive hip sway had fallen to hard clomps. She disappeared into the kitchen only to reappear about thirty seconds later with a small red purse slung over her shoulder. She stomped through the debris on the dance floor, past the fallen bear and spilled beer, her attention directed straight ahead. “I don’t need you to wait on me.”
“I don’t trust your brother.” He reached for the door, intending to hold it open for her, but she beat him to the handle.
She stepped around him and out on the front porch, moving her shoulder to the side in an exaggerated shrug so they didn’t touch. “Frankie’s a harmless ass.”
Not the feeling Bo got from her sibling. He’d noticed Frankie’s dirty nails and muddy boots, the frayed hems of his jeans. And when he’d gotten up close, the smell of body odor and desperation. “All the same, I’m following you home.”
“I don’t need a baby sitter.” Cheri spun, her long hair flying out in an arc and crossed her arms. The move should have been all about anger, but all Bo noticed was the sexy flush on her cheeks.
“I beg to differ.”
“Back off, Bo.”
A single dim yellow light hanging over the front door illuminated her expression, highlighting the hurt lingering in her eyes. A hollow dart hit him square in the chest, and he ignored the feeling. He’d rather hurt her feelings now than be the cause of her being physically hurt later. “I’m not leaving you until you are safely home. End of story.”
Bo brushed past her, leading the way down the staircase to the gravel lot below. His SUV police cruiser was the only car visible. Since Cheri was the first one in and last one out, she usually parked below the bar, closer to the river.
“Then you’re gonna have a long night, Sheriff, ’cause I’m headed to the hospital to check on Lamont…and Riser.”
Bo nearly missed the next step. Instant fury took hold of his legs and fired up his gut.
Mine.
He’d told her he didn’t share.
A red haze settled over his vision. The old wooden staircase groaned and creaked as Cheri made her way down. “Excuse me.”
She sidled past and took the last couple of steps, her hip sway back plus some. Fuck.
“You need to go home. You’ve had a long night.” Bo fought to keep his face neutral.
“You can’t make me.” She tossed a long strand of hair over her shoulder, reached into her purse and pulled out a small tube of lip gloss.
Bo ground his teeth together so hard his jaw popped. “You don’t need makeup to see your cousin.”
Cheri undid the lid and took her time swiping gloss over her lips until they looked covered in dew and even sexier. Then she screwed the lid on and slid the gloss back into her purse. “You’re right. I don’t need lip gloss for Lamont.”
But she did for Riser. She might as well have shouted it across the empty parking lot.
Cautiously, Bo took the last couple of steps, physically fighting to dim the fury scorching his veins. This would be for the better. Let her set her sights on Riser. Bo could go back to his normal life of order. So why did the words taste like sawdust in his mouth when he said, “I’ll walk you to your car.”
The challenge in her eyes flickered, but within seconds, her stubborn chin was back up. “Thank you, Sheriff.”
He was beginning to hate the way she said the word sheriff.
10
; “I’m looking for Lamont Boudreaux.”
The nurse behind the checkin desk lowered her glasses and gave Cheri a once over. “And you are?”
“None of your damn business,” Cheri crossed her arms and glared.
“Actually, it is. No one gets past but family.”
From the nurse’s look, she made it obvious she thought Cheri closer to a slut than a sister.
Any patience Cheri might have possessed eroded instantly. “Look,” she glanced at the nurse’s name tag which read Barbra, “Barb, I’ve had it – “
“She’s Lamont Boudreaux’s kin. I’ll vouch for her.” Bo appeared at her side like a knight in not-so-shining-armor.
Nurse Barb turned on a full-wattage too bright smile, immediately forgetting Cheri ever existed. “Of course, Sheriff.”
Cheri fisted her hands at her sides and walked to the double security doors, her anger rising when Barb made her wait a full thirty seconds before buzzing her inside.
Frustration fueled her steps down the hall of the hospital, and she barely nodded a greeting at the few people she recognized on her quest to get to her cousin and find out why the heck Frankie was looking for Lamont.
Her brother was bad news for just about anyone unfortunate enough to know him, a fact Lamont knew personally. Her cousin had stepped between Frankie and Cheri on more than one occasion growing up. He’d physically restrained Frankie from following their father’s pattern and leading by fist instead of example.
She’d thought Lamont held the same level of respect for Frankie as her – which was none. The fact Lamont might be involved with him was enough to shove her straight into panic mode, but as she pulled his door open and eased inside, her panic retreated to the overwhelming protective urge brought on by seeing Lamont lying in a green and white hospital gown, his eyes closed and a bandage covering the right side of his face from hairline to cheek. He looked a lot younger than his twenty-seven years. Almost innocent.
Almost.
“You look like you met the wrong end of a fist.”
Lips twitching, he kept his eyes shut.
“Don’t try to play all hurt and innocent with me. I know you’re not asleep.”
“I’m wounded, chère. I thought you’d have more love for your dear old cousin.” Lamont turned his soulful green eyes on her, offered her a real smile, and immediately winced.
Cheri rushed to his side. She gently smoothed his dark brown hair back from his face. “Does it hurt?”
“It’s nothing.”
“That’s a really big bandage for nothing.”
Lamont took her hand in his. “Quit worrying, they said I’ll be out by tomorrow morning.”
She didn’t bother trying to hide her alarm. “Tomorrow? They need to keep you overnight? Did they say you had a concussion? The witch at the checkin desk wouldn’t tell me anything.”
The door opened and another nurse, this one with a cute blonde ponytail, fluttered to Lamont’s side. “Oh hi, I didn’t realize our patient had a visitor. I’m Beth, his nurse, and you are?”
Cheri plopped down in the one chair next to Lamont. “His cousin.”
Beth’s half smile turned up to full wattage. “Glad you’re here.” Then she turned her smile on Lamont. “How are you feeling?”
“Better now. Thought you’d left me all alone.”
Beth blushed bright red and placed a hand on his forehead. “All you have to do is press the button and I’ll be here.”
Lamont grabbed Beth’s hand and kissed the back. Beth giggled. Cheri rolled her eyes. She should be used to this kind of scene by now. Lamont had the innate ability to turn women into complete ninnies. Even experienced women went all gooey in his presence. Which was why he’d already slept with half the county, and probably half the next. If Cheri didn’t intervene, innocent little Beth who looked all of nineteen would be his next conquest. “I’m surprised Ginger’s not here. Your girlfriend was all over you at the bar.”
Lamont cast her a quick scowl and then turned his attention back to Beth, but she pulled free and backed around the end of the bed to the door, a flush still staining her cheeks. “I-I’ll send Mrs. Dolly in to change your I.V. bags.”
“That’s just mean, chère.”
Cheri shrugged and dipped her lips in a mock frown. “What?”
She had no intention of letting someone like Lamont get his hands on someone like Beth. She might as well take the sheep to the wolf.
“Mrs. Dolly could give Lucifer a run for his money.” Lamont pressed a remote at his right side and the bed tilted up into a sitting position. “And you know me and Ginger aren’t serious.”
Cheri snorted. “Tell that to Ginger.”
“She’s married,” Lamont said defensively.
“So why are you sleeping with her then?”
Lamont snatched a white Styrofoam cup off the small bedside table and tossed a handful of crushed ice in his mouth and shrugged. “She’s willing.”
“And what happens when her husband comes home from the oil rig and finds you in her bed?”
Stan Burnell was a big, mean, roughneck with fists the size of a Mack truck. He could kill Lamont with one punch.
“He won’t. I’m breaking it off with her.” Lamont tossed another handful of ice in his mouth, the loud crunching filling up the small hospital room.
“Thank God. She’s not right for you.”
Lamont’s knowing gaze turned on her. “You’re a fine one to give relationship advice.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You been after Bo for how long now?”
It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him exactly what she and Bo had been doing before they’d been interrupted by Frankie. Which was part of the reason she was here right now. “Why is Frankie here?”
Lamont paused halfway before tossing another handful of ice in his mouth. Then he shrugged, his gaze skirting away to the plastic covered bench seat under the window. “Have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Oh, she recognized his look. It was the same look he had ever since he was old enough to learn how to lie, which had been a very young age. All the Boudreaux’s learned to lie, because even the tiniest infraction caused Father Jeremiah to pull out his belt. However, Lamont had a tell worse than an averted gaze—his ears were blushing—a response he’d never learn to control.
Cheri honed in for the kill. “He came to the bar tonight.”
Lamont’s ears turned a darker shade of red. He frowned, still avoiding her gaze. “Didn’t see him there.”
Another lie. “You might get that fib past your mama, but not me. I’m the one who taught you to lie in the first place, remember?”
Lamont offered her the goofy sideways grin which had gotten him out of more messes than she could keep count of. “You sure did teach me to cover my ass, gotta hand it to you. Remember the time your dad almost caught me sneaking in from the party over on Horn Lake when I was sixteen? I was drunker than Cooter Brown.”
“I still can’t believe you got off scot-free.” Well after their ten o’clock curfew, Cheri had been under her covers, quietly whispering into the phone to her girlfriend about how good a kisser Zachary Brown was when she heard the distinct crumble of tires on the gravel driveway. She’d rushed to the window in time to see Lamont pushing the car up the drive, headlights off. She’d known about the party. Every single person in town got to go except for the Boudreaux kids, who weren’t allowed out of the house on school nights, Saturdays or Sundays.
She’d pulled him in through her bedroom window, chucked his boots in her closet and propped Lamont up on her bed a split second before her father burst into her bedroom. “I can’t believe he actually believed I’d stayed up late at night, tutoring you in math.”
Lamont chuckled, and the tense lines around his mouth eased. “Yeah, we all knew how terrible you were at math.”
“You owe me.” And she would cash in right now.
Lamont gulped and took to staring at the wi
ndow again.
“Why are you meeting with my brother? What does he want?”
“You don’t need to know, chère. Trust me.” He tried to sit up, only to clutch his head and fall back with a groan.
“Stop trying to move!” Cheri rushed to his side. “Just tell me the truth. I have a right to know.”
He covered his eyes with the heels of his palms. “I can’t. Too dangerous.”
A tingle of apprehension pricked her spine. Cheri peeled his hands back and pinned him to the mattress. “Don’t make me call Dolly in here and tell her you need a catheter.”
“You wouldn’t.”
“Try me.” She got within inches of his face.
“I need to get out of this hospital. We don’t have insurance.” Lamont pushed himself up and swung his legs around. He grabbed the edge of the bed and stood, wavering side to side like a drunk.
“Sit down!” She ran around the bed. Lamont stumbled into her and they both went down. Pain slammed through her shoulders where she’d taken the brunt of the fall, the cold tiles dug into her back and hips.
Lamont groaned and tried to push himself off her. “I think I’m going to pass out.”
Cheri tried to lift Lamont’s heavy frame off. ““I swear to God, Lamont, if you don’t tell me what’s going on right now I’m going to call Bo. You’re scaring the crap out of me.”
“I can’t, not without putting you in danger, too.”
The fear returned full force and Cheri stopped trying to push him off her. “What do you mean? Why would I be in danger?”
“I can’t.” Lamont made another weak attempt to lift himself, and managed to shift about an inch over. His head dropped beside hers, his weight crushing the air from her lungs.
Heart pounding furiously in her chest, Cheri looked around wildly for the remote to call for help. It hung off the side of the bed at least six feet away. Shit. “You have five seconds before I scream for Bo and he’s probably right outside the door seeing as how he drove me here.”
Or down the hall making out with the brunette nurse.
“You can’t!” Lamont said.
“Watch me.” Cheri bared her teeth in a feral smile, daring her cousin to doubt her.
Relentless River: Men of Mercy, Book 10 Page 7