Heather's Challenge [Cattleman's Club 4] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Jenny Penn

  “Nobody has wronged you.” Konor sighed in exasperation. Reaching out to grab Alex’s elbow, he started to force them through the door as he grumbled to himself. “But I will leave you, so you better keep moving.”

  “Then leave,” Alex shot back as he jerked hard enough on his arm to break free of Konor’s hold. He stumbled over his own feet, turning green before Konor’s eyes as he swayed dangerously toward him. “Oh... Oh, no...I think I’m going to be sick.”

  “Oh, for God’s sake,” Konor muttered to himself as he all but shoved Alex through the door, managing to direct him toward the side of the parking lot before his friend began to heave. Whatever Alex had had to drink, he’d certainly had a lot of it, more than Riley should have served him.

  One thing was for sure, he wasn’t putting Alex in the cab of his truck. Instead Konor hustled Alex into the bed and tied him down, assuring the idiot didn’t do something stupid like jump out while the damn truck was moving. Not that that was a big risk.

  After upending the contents of his stomach all over the sparse patch of grass lining Riley’s front sidewalk, Alex seemed to lose his will to fight, along with his interest in doing anything other than complaining. He moaned and groaned, carrying on about how this was all Konor’s fault even as Konor all but carried him to the truck.

  That didn’t change the fact that he’d betrayed Alex, and so had Heather. Worse, neither of them had the decency to apologize, and if that wasn’t insulted enough, both of them were acting like Alex was the one who had done something wrong. As if he were to blame!

  Alex worked himself into a fine state as Konor strapped him down, but, thankfully, he’d finally passed out by the time they got home, leaving Konor with only two options—to carry Alex to bed or to let him sleep it off in the truck. Deciding not to risk the injury or the possibility of being vomited on, Konor left him alone, not even bothering to undo the ropes until the following morning when he finally returned to turn the water hose on him.

  The rain of cold water had an instant effect, rousing Alex from his deep snores and sending him scrambling from the truck with a holler that ended with him tripping over his own legs and face-planting into the grass beside the drive.

  And did he thank Konor for parking close enough so that he didn’t end up eating cement instead?

  Nope.

  Far from grateful, Alex came up sputtering and cussing, his outraged aimed at only one person.

  “What the hell, man?” Sober enough now to be coherent but still green around the edges, Alex held on to the side of Konor’s truck as he pulled himself off of the ground, glancing around in confusion. “What the fuck is going on? Why the hell are we outside? What Goddamn time is it?”

  “It’s time to get up,” Konor answered, eyeing Alex as he silently went over the plan he’d spent all night working on.

  It was solid, even if it was desperate. It was the best he had given Konor didn’t have much time. Hell, he wasn’t even sure he had enough time to make Alex presentable, much less agreeable, but he had no choice but to try.

  “Shower, shave, dress in a pair of dark sweats and white T-shirt. You got one hour, so stop whining and start moving,” Konor ordered, knowing his commands would not be obeyed. Not instantly.

  “Oh, go fuck yourself,” Alex muttered not budging an inch. Neither had he managed to make it completely upright yet. Instead, he hunched over looking just as he said he felt. “I feel like hell here.”

  Konor didn’t doubt it, but that didn’t mean he felt any sympathy. “And you have nobody to blame but yourself.”

  “I got you,” Alex retorted, shooting Konor a sullen look. “After all, you are the reason I was drinking in the first place.”

  “Bullshit!” Konor grunted, not about to let Alex blame him for this disaster. “You drink because, like most drunks, you are too much of a coward to face the truth.”

  “Yeah? And what truth is that?” Alex demanded to know, finding the strength to stiffen up and square off against Konor, though, Konor suspected Alex’s sudden show of stamina was more bluster than a true rallying of his spirits.

  After all, his complexion was still sallow, though his cheeks were starting to glow a little red. Konor knew just how to make that fire rage.

  “You’re afraid of Heather rejecting you again.”

  “That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard,” Alex muttered as he shoved away from the truck to start stumbling up the front path, trying to escape wasn’t going to let him go that easily.

  “You know I talked to GD, don’t you?” Konor asked as he followed after Alex, not about to give up. “I know the truth about your bet with him. You didn’t bet him that you could seduce Heather—you bet him that you couldn’t.”

  “So?” Alex shot back as he moved faster with every step. He was all but running, and his words were coming just as quick. “Now you know the truth about why I turned Heather down. It didn’t have anything to do with love.”

  “Bullshit.” Konor didn’t even hesitate to shoot down that flimsy excuse. He’d done a lot of thinking about what GD had to say and come to a startling conclusion. “If that were the case you’d have told her, or at least let GD when he wanted to, but no. You don’t want Heather to know the truth, and why is that?”

  “I don’t know what you are talking about,” Alex dismissed, his denial sounding as desperate as his fumbling with the front doorknob appeared.

  “It’s because you’re a coward. The whole thing, it’s all to hide the truth.” Konor had a point to make but he didn’t get a chance to get to before Alex cut it off.

  “Truth?” Alex slammed open the front door before turning to confront Konor. “The truth is she betrayed me.”

  “No,” Konor shook his head. “She didn’t. You betrayed her.”

  “What?” Alex snarled, his muscles flexing as he took a menacing step forward. “What did you just say?”

  “You blame Heather without giving her a chance to know the truth because you don’t want her to apologize, because you’re afraid of falling in love with her again.”

  “You’re insane.”

  “And you’re an idiot.” Konor hollered after him as Alex turned and stormed into the house. Konor followed, not about to be dismissed so easily. “Otherwise, you’d realize you never fell out of love with the damn woman.

  “You think that matters?” Alex swung around, and the angry tension gripping his features couldn’t mask the pain clearly reflected in his eyes. “She slept with Hugh, and that isn’t something that is easily forgiven.”

  “And the fact that you can’t forgive her, now thirteen years later, just goes to prove how much you care.” Konor knew he was right. Alex gave away that truth as his fingers curled into white-knuckled fists but in the end he simple snapped and growled at Konor, not yet recovered enough from his bender to take things any further.

  “Fuck you, Konor,” Alex shot back. “I don’t have to stand here and listen to your bullshit, so just leave me alone.”

  With that grand declaration, he turned to storm off down the hall, but Konor yelled after him, refusing to quit and knowing just how to bait the hook. “Of course, the same could be said of Heather, too.”

  Konor didn’t say another word but waited, silently counting the seconds. He got fifty-three before Alex reappeared, coming to linger at the hall’s threshold as he eyed Konor with a cautious expression that couldn’t disguise the hope that lingered in his tone just as his words rolled reluctantly off his lips.

  “And just what is that supposed to mean?”

  “Just what I said. Heather is in love with you.” Konor shrugged as if he didn’t recognize the magnitude of his own revelation or its effect on Alex.

  Alex just stared at Konor blankly, looking more than just amazed. He also looked bemused by the very idea behind his words.

  “You’re crazy.” Alex finally shook his head, appearing to throw off the smile that had started to curl around the edges of his lips. “There is no way that Heather is
in love with me.”

  “Wanna bet?”

  “Oh, you are so wrong for that,” Alex breathed out, his gaze narrowing on Konor. “And Heather thinks you’re the good one.”

  “That’s because I am,” Konor assured him. “And that’s why you’re going to take me up on my offer.”

  “I am?” Alex lifted a brow at that clearly intending to be difficult even if it was just as obvious that he had every intention of giving Konor exactly what he wanted. “And just what are you offering?”

  “A way out of this... nightmare? I believe that’s what you called it,” Konor reminded him. “And all is going to cost you is the kiss.”

  “A kiss?” Alex snorted at that suggestion. “You want me to kiss Heather? So she can...? What? Slap the shit out of me? Claw my eyes out? Or, maybe, she will just rip my balls clean off. That’s all it’s really going to cost me, right?”

  “Well if she does that, then we’ll know that I was wrong,” Konor pointed out, unable to keep the snicker out of his tone. A fact that Alex did not appreciate.

  “And just what am I going to get for risking my manhood?”

  “I told you, out of this nightmare.”

  “And that means what, exactly?”

  “That means I find somebody else to amuse myself with and she doesn’t end up making a winner out of anybody else. GD will ensure that.”

  Alex eyed him distrustfully, clearly hesitant and, no doubt, looking for Konor’s loophole. He admitted, he normally had one, but this time Konor was flying without a net. Of course, Alex didn’t know that.

  “And why don’t I believe you?”

  “Because I’m smiling?” Konor suggested.

  “That might have something to do with it.” Alex nodded in agreement.

  “You think I’m setting you up, don’t you?” Konor smirked and shook his head. “But maybe I’m just smiling because I know that she is going to kiss you back, and then you’re going to—”

  “Die from the shock,” Alex finished for him dourly.

  “And just think of how guilty Heather will feel,” Konor pointed out without a missing a beat. “Even better, everybody will be sure to blame her. You’ll finally have your ultimate victory.”

  “Yeah but I’ll be dead, so what’s the point?”

  “You will be dead one day, one way or another. So you might as well live today, right?” Konor asked him, turning back on Alex one of his more favored sayings. That fact wasn’t lost on Alex, who shot him a dirty look.

  “You know, you’re not funny when I’m hung over,” Alex complained as he turned to trudge back down the hall, leaving Konor shout out after him.

  “One hour,” Konor reminded him, certain that Alex would be ready by then even if he got no response.

  Chapter 13

  Heather smothered a yawn as the sign for Camp D finally came into view. While she was bleary-eyed and propped up on several cups of coffee, Taylor fairly vibrated with the energy that only youth could maintain. Then again, today was a big day for him.

  The obstacle course she’d come to watch him compete on represented weeks’ worth of work and study. Every day after school for the past couple of months, Taylor had come out to Camp D to learn about the Middle Ages as he helped build an obstacle course pulled straight from that time. The program had been intense, helping to teach him not only history but a good deal of math and basic engineering skills.

  More than that, it gotten him off the couch.

  “You got to go right, Mom, right!” Taylor hollered, all but bouncing in his seat as he pointed to the carved sign that directed all incoming combatants to the manor’s main gate.

  “I’m going, I’m going,” Heather assured him as she turned the old hatchback beneath a massive arbor dripping with vines covered in large, lush-looking flowers.

  It arched over the entrance to a hidden parking lot that turned out to be several interconnected lots. Unfortunately, almost all of them were filled. That fact did not go unnoticed by Taylor, who had been anxious all morning about Heather’s less-than warp speed.

  “I told you we were going to be late,” Taylor huffed, scowling over her as if she’d burnt his toast.

  “We’re not late,” Heather repeated for about the millionth time that morning, not that Taylor paid her any mind. He was already leaning out his window to call out greeting to his friends as Heather carefully navigated her way through the throng of men and boys milling about the parking lot.

  “Park over there.” Taylor pulled his head in to wave her toward a large, brick building tucked into a garden of trees. “That’s the dining hall.”

  “There are no spots,” Heather pointed out, though she instantly regretted that impulse when Taylor pointed out to her that that was because they were late. “Yes, I know. I tell you what, we’ll just park here.”

  “It’s not a spot,” Taylor complained, sounding on the verge of panicking, though she didn’t know why he would.

  “It’s good enough.”

  And was close enough to the dining hall for her to unload the cookies and other assorted sweets she brought along for the buffet that all the contestants would get to enjoy at the end of the obstacle course.

  That was what the day was all about—squires turning into knights…or something like that. Heather hadn’t actually paid much attention to the story behind the obstacle course. She just knew that Taylor and the rest of the boys had spent the past three months researching and building the course that they would now all compete on. Heather also knew she hadn’t seen her son so excited about anything other than his video games in a long time. That joy alone was worth a little sleep deprivation.

  This was going to be a good day. She could feel it.

  Feeling a sudden lift of optimism fill her spirit, Heather pulled into the tight gap between an oversized pickup and the sidewalk’s curb, thankful for a change that she had such a small car. There was even room to open the doors and just enough of a gap for her to turn sideways and squeak out between the two vehicles without having to suck her stomach in too tight.

  “Hey, Taylor!” A boy with a mop of red curls and round, ruddy cheeks rushed up, his words panting out of him in a hurried rush as he stumbled to a stop. “I didn’t think you were going to make it. Everybody is already in costume! You need to hurry, or you’re going to be late!”

  “I knew it!”

  Taylor shot Heather a look that was no doubt supposed to make her feel guilty as he leapt out of the car. Thankfully, he was too much in a rush to bother to nag her again. Instead, he turned to assure his friend that he could change quickly before telling him to hurry up as Taylor took off down the sidewalk, leaving Heather to handle the cookies on her own.

  She didn’t bother to yell after him, but shared a smile with his out-of-breath friend before the kid took off, trailing after Taylor as he tried desperately to keep up. There was something too cute about the two of them together, something that made her both smile with a contentment that warmed her to her soul while at the same time had her fighting to blink back tears as an aching sadness gripped her heart.

  Heather blamed Konor for that ache. Him and all his stupid talk about the future and wanting a family had awakened long-buried dreams that Heather would never have admitted to clinging on to. Dreams of finding Mister Right and building a happy life full of kids and no worries about money. Dreams of passion and nights and days full of laughter and joy. Dreams of Konor…and Alex.

  Flinching away from those thoughts, Heather took a steadying breath and glanced around, taking in her surroundings and discovering that she really had wandered into some Alice in Wonderland kind of garden.

  Paved with cobblestones, the sidewalk twisted through a thick carpet of colorful plants that was hedged by a wall of thick foliage that was both lush and seductive as it drew a traveler further down the path. Toward what? That was the question. Heather eyed the wooden structures peeking out from what could only be a field hidden within the gardens.

  It was then
that it dawned on her that she might have deluded herself into thinking the obstacle course was some small, simplistic endeavor simply because she knew her twelve-year-old son had helped build it. She re-evaluated that opinion as she took in the magnitude of the catapults erected several hundred feet away from the course in the parking lot itself.

  They were loaded down with water balloons, the sight of which sparked a distant memory of Taylor mentioning the Reign Of Water, or something like that. He’d left her with the impression that everybody would be getting wet, but now she understood what he’d really meant.

  They’d be bombing the contestants with water balloons as they tried to navigate the course, not lobbing them softly as Heather had assumed. Considering the size of the catapults, she had to wonder if Taylor wouldn’t end up getting knocked on his ass. He’d probably love that.

  “Well now, what do we have here?”

  Like a smooth curl of a lazy shadow, that slow drawl drew Heather’s attention from the course to the man lingering in the bright splay of flowers cascading down from the arbor that that led toward the dining hall. The darkness painted his features in graceful lines that the light couldn’t dispel as he stepped forward, causing tiny purple blossoms to rain down into the raven locks of his hair.

  Those silky tresses fell forward over his brow, veiling the glittering jewels of his eyes for a moment before he reached up and shoved the wayward strands back in a motion that was as sexy as it was careless, but Heather’s heart didn’t flutter. Neither did her breath catch as he pinned her with a sultry look that probably had most women melting in their shoes.

  Heather, on the other hand, could only stare in awe, captivated by the light show of swirling fragments in his eyes. Turquoise and blue shards kaleidoscoped into green and gray ones, with even an occasional crystal of ice forming. His gaze was spectacular, and the clue to just who he was—Nick Dickles.

  The man was legendary for more than just his unusual eyes, but Heather wasn’t seduced by his physical beauty or the long, slow look he ran down her length. He took his time, knowing she was watching and, no doubt, expecting her to respond in kind, but she didn’t take him up on the offer. Not that he appeared ready to concede defeat.