by Ally Prince
“I have one slightly inebriated Kayla sitting on a stool in my bar.”
“Why’d you let her drink so much?” I was already on my feet and heading to the truck.
“Trust me, I didn’t. I would’ve talked her down, but fucking Travis thought it was funny. Dude lost his job, too.” He sounded pissed. “I know what she’s been through, I wouldn’t have let her get like that. But I needed to call someone, and she mentioned the word handsome. Which is fucking lame by the way, Fairchild.” He snorted, and I turned the truck over and threw it into drive.
“Give me ten. Thanks, Harry.”
My grip on the steering wheel was knuckle-white the whole way into town.
Walkers was all but deserted at three p.m. on a Thursday. Except for one pale-haired pixie slumped at one end of the bar with Harry standing close by.
“Sorry, man. I feel like shit. When I walked in, I wanted to murder Travis. But no harm was done. She might be a bit fragile tomorrow that’s all.” I nodded because inside I was raging. If he’d planned to take advantage of her, I was going to kill him.
“You ready to go home, Kitten?” She hummed something which had both Harry and I raising a brow. “I’ll sort her car out tomorrow.”
“No worries, I’ve got the keys. If Mason pops in, I might be able to get it out to you. If not, I’ll move it around back out of sight until you grab it.”
“Come on, Kitten.” I snuck an arm around her shoulders and one under her knees and hoisted her up. She was a dead weight, not helping one little bit. Her head lulled back, and her arms flopped. She was toast.
Harry helped me with the doors, and once she was in my truck, she fell until her head was on the console and closed her eyes.
“Thanks, man. I’ll take care of her.”
“I wouldn’t have rung if I didn’t think you would. I’d have taken to the back room and let her sleep it off while I watched over her. Girl needs a solid figure in her life. I figured it was about time to see if that might be you.” Harry’s dark eyes met mine for a moment, the warning there clear. If I fucked this up he wouldn’t be happy, and I might have to find another watering hole.
***
I’d tucked Kayla in bed and left her to finish up some work. I couldn’t really afford to sit around all day hoping she’d wake up. As much as I wanted her, now was not the time. We would get there though, and when we did it was going to last all fucking day.
“Nickolas,” Kevin called as he pushed through my office door. I looked up to see the elderly man walk in, his dark eyes appearing not at all impressed by something. He was also the only person who got away with calling me Nickolas, considering it wasn’t my name. Thankfully my parents were simple and called me Nick. “Pretty sure the game wardens just drove through the gate.”
“Fuck.” Just what I didn’t need. Not that I had anything to hide. And anyone who had a permit on my property was aware of my one strike system. I got up from my desk and left the replies I had yet to email and headed outside to see who was coming. One of the few places on the ranch that had surveillance was the entry gate, I needed it for permits, to ensure the cars listed were the same ones that were coming and going.
We walked over to the large open bay workshop where there was a tractor pulled down waiting on parts. If Mark or Terry were on, this could go well. If it was Dion, today would turn to shit real quick. Kevin excused himself, pussy, and went back to work while I waited for the black truck to come into sight. It wasn’t until it had parked, and the wardens were getting out, I realized my day was going down the toilet fast.
“Nick Fairchild,” Dion Masters stated or questioned, I could never tell with the man.
“Afternoon, sir.” I had manners, it depended on who you were as to whether I would use them.
“Nick, how you going?” Terry rounded the other side of the truck, and I was relieved—a little.
“Good, thanks. What brings you fellas out here?” In the pit of my stomach I had a niggling as to what it was, and I knew who had made the phone call to have them here today. I glanced quickly over at the shed, and was pleased to see most of the work trucks were out and about so, if there was a broken fence they would be fixing it and I would have known by now.
“We had reports of an unsecured hunting range.” I fucking knew it.
“Well, you’re welcome to have a look, but I think your reports are way off.” I eyed Dion letting him know I was not fucking impressed.
“I don’t think that’s—” Terry was cut off.
“I think we’ll do that. Any permits out today?”
“I wouldn’t allow you out there if there was.” And he knew that, asshole. “Can I ask where this so-called breach is?”
“It’s close to the new sub—” Again, Terry was cut off.
“We’re not at liberty to say,” Dion remarked, eyes scanning my ranch—the fucking idiot. But I’d already heard enough. This had Summer written all over it.
“Well, have at it. Make sure you shut the gates behind you, I will send you a bill if we have to hustle up deer out of the longhorn pastures.” I smiled and Terry laughed tipping his hat. But not Dion, no, he just stood there staring at me. I could tell his eyes were narrowed even though he had sunglasses on because his forehead was scrunched.
If this was Summer’s pitch at getting me to let go of his daughter he didn’t know me well at all. I loved a good chase but what I loved more was winning, and this was a war I would win because Summer used untrustworthy people who were out for some quick cash. I knew some very talented people, and Summer’s bitten off way more than he could chew.
That asshole was going down, and his daughter was fucking mine.
Chapter 5
Kayla
Once a month, on a Friday, Mom and I tried to go out for lunch. I stress the word ‘tried.’ If my father didn’t intervene, Mom wasn’t feeling up to it or I was meant to be doing something for my father. But today we were going out.
I will be the first to admit that my mother looked like crap. She had let the gray in her hair overtake the once nice brown coloring. I had nothing against gray hair, but she looked worn. Her previously manicured fingers were bitten down to the quick, and she had lost way too much weight. Her jeans hung loosely on her hips—I hoped she was wearing a belt because honestly, they looked like gravity would take over any second.
But I pasted on a smile and tried not to think about what my father had done to such a sweet lady and we headed into town. We always went to Mae’s, it was the town’s best diner. The country club was way too stuffy and I wanted fries and fat and milkshakes, not salad and sparkling water. The reason I wanted fries could possibly be because I was sporting a hangover, but it was nowhere near as bad as I suspected it would be. I’d slept a solid fifteen hours in Nick’s bed, with Nick. I woke alone this morning and left him a note. I was about to call a cab when I spotted my car out front. I know for sure I didn’t drive it, and I was certain Nick brought me here in his truck. I could have been wrong, though.
Mom slumped a little in the booth opposite me and my worry worsened. What if she wasn’t telling me she was ill? There were a million scenarios which played through my mind and each one seemed to become remarkably worse.
“I think I’m having a burger, a donut and a chocolate milkshake. It’s that kind of day.” I wanted Mom to agree. I wanted her to eat that much as well, she needed it.
“I might just have coffee.” Her reply was weak, and she dropped the laminated menu to the table and turned toward the window.
“Coffee is not lunch. You always eat.” I shot her a glare she didn’t see and turned my eyes back to the menu. When our waitress came by, I ordered two of everything and we’d sit here all day if it meant she would eat.
“So, tell me about the new drapes.” I pretended to be excited. Mom once had a passion for haberdashery and all things material-like.
“They’re green.” She shrugged and kept her eyes out the window. What? I had to swallow a lump in my throat.
Where had her zest for life gone?
“They’re green?” I repeated, she slowly turned toward me and nodded. That was it, a nod.
“Walker offered me a space to do my furniture.” Now that was something I was excited about and she used to support my passion.
“That’s nice.” She sighed heavily like she didn’t want to be here. Perhaps she didn’t.
“Do you want me to take you home? Because I can. If you have better things to do,” I snapped but once again all she did was shrug. “Oh, for fuck’s sake, Mom. Talk to me. Clearly, something’s going on. And as your daughter, I have a right to know.” I may have raised my voice a little because when Ruth sat our meals down, she mumbled, “Inside voices.”
“You haven’t been out of the house since the last time I took you out. You look like hell. You’re not eating obviously, and you look at me like you want to be anywhere else but here with me. Something is off, and I want to talk about it.” I shoved a few fries in my mouth and stared across the table at my mother. Her once gleaming brown eyes now dull and tired.
“He’s leaving me,” she stated. Her lip began to wobble a little, but it was the tears that caught me off guard. Wasn’t this a good thing? Would being rid of him make her life better? I watched my mother somewhat mourn for a man who had never said a nice word to her, and I hated her a little for showing him that love and compassion he simply didn’t fucking deserve.
“You should have left years ago.”
She reeled back from my words, her hand going to her heart like I had stabbed her. Those brown eyes now filled with pain—pain from my words but not for an abusive husband. Was this really my life?
“It’s not that simple. I made a promise years ago and I need to keep it, and I can’t if he leaves me.” Desperation oozed from her words. For the first time today, real emotion and determination leaked from her.
“To who?” I asked cautiously, but all she did was shake her head.
“I’m so close, just need a little while longer.” Real tears fell, and her face twisted in grief.
Holy shit. What the hell did I do now? “Do you need me to help you stay?”
“Yes, I really do. I can explain later but I have to stay. Just a little longer.”
“Then we need to get you to a hairdresser, go shopping, and cover those fucking fingernails up.” I tried to smile, but it was wobbly. “You need to look your best, Mom, and this…” I waved at what she had going on, “… this is not it.”
“I know.” She looked down at herself. “I let him get to me, and now I can’t get out of the slump I’m in. But I need to. Help me, please?” Her slender hand reached across the table and gripped mine. Her skin was paper thin and her grip a little weak, but she was strong enough for a few more months, surely.
“I will help you, but… when it, whatever it is, is done… you will leave him. You will help me in my shop and we will be free of that man.” Her smile was watery, but I got a nod, and I would hold her to that nod. “Now, please eat, you have lost way too much weight.”
Thankfully my mother ate. She inhaled her donut like she’d never had one before, and who knows maybe she hadn’t. She slowly grew a smile that I remembered from my childhood, and she relaxed and cheered up a little. I walked toward my car with a sense of relief, finally. She joked about her full belly, patting it like she was pregnant.
It was then that shit went downhill, so fucking fast.
Mae’s Diner sat at the end of Main Street. Next door was a bank, and then there were other shops that filled the street. On the other side was an empty lot used for parking and then Sam’s Garage. It was across the road where the problem arose at this point in time. There sat a newly opened day spa by a woman I’d never heard of. In a small town that was not necessarily a good thing. People around here liked familiarity.
We watched a man strut out of the day spa with a scowl on his face, it was my father. He was quickly followed by a short woman who had to be years, decades younger than him. They had a heated discussion, one we couldn’t hear, but we could see the way she touched his arm. Familiarity. They knew each other well. He rubbed at his balding head and threw his hands in the air, it was when he spun to leave, and she turned to the side that the wind was sucked out of both my mother and me.
She was pregnant.
What the fuck had my father done?
“I best get that manicure, but I don’t want to go in there.”
I laughed at my mother because if I didn’t laugh I was going to cry, then I was going to hunt him down and murder his cheating, lying ass.
Nick
I got the shock of my life when a shiny silver car drove into my open workshop. When she’d been here the other day I let her stay in the office because I didn’t want her to be embarrassed to be seen with me. Not that I was sure she would be, but we were two very different people.
Her long jean-clad leg slowly slipped out followed by that tight body I wanted to see naked and in my bed. She had left a note saying she needed to go into town and she would be back later. I took it as a brush off. Figured she woken up regretting everything and ran. But this woman was turning out to be quite unpredictable, and I fucking liked it.
“Can I leave that piece of shit here somewhere? I don’t want anything to do with it. I might need a lift to town, though. Sam has a cheap Tacoma for sale, I want to check out.” She glared at her car before turning to me. Those blue eyes, slightly red-rimmed, but she looked fucking stunning. Always did without even trying.
“What’s going on, Kitten?” I had no idea what had her hackles up.
I watched her take a deep breath, she tilted her head up to the blue sky and inhaled again. I stepped into her space wrapping my arms around her and pulling her in close. When she looked at me, my heart fucking skipped, I kid you not. I was a goner and I barely even knew her.
“Sorry, I left a note.” Her pink lips tilted up in the corners and I couldn’t help myself. I leaned forward and pressed my lips to hers. She sighed into my mouth, her hands moving up my chest until they settled on my shoulders. I slipped my hands over her waist and down onto her ass, tugging her closer making her aware of what she did to me.
“You came back.” That was the main thing here.
“Of course.” Her brows creased a little like she was hurt that I doubted her. She had every right to be, but we didn’t really know each other very well. That would change very soon.
“Well, are you goin’ to tell me what’s got you all worked up?”
“Ugh.” She sagged forward her head hitting my breastbone, fuck she was small. “My father has a mistress and I’m pretty sure she is pregnant.” I froze for a moment. I shouldn’t have thought it, but the first thought I had was that this was the best news I could hear. This could be the fucker’s undoing.
“You sure?”
“Mom and I saw with our own eyes. If we’ve seen it, surely others have, too.” I didn’t think it was a question, so I sort of hummed a reply. My mind going to who I could ask to do some digging that didn’t lead right back to me. “You have any luck with Sanderson?”
“Don’t you worry about that, Kitten.” She didn’t need to be caught up in this shit, the less I told her the better for her sake.
“I know a guy.” She leaned back then let my arms take her weight, I cocked a brow. “I do. This guy is great at surveillance and stuff.” This earned her a chuckle. “I’m serious.” Her frown was fucking cute, so I leaned down to sample her lips a little more. She opened straight away for me and let me take control. Her tongue snuck out to meet mine and the groan she let out reminded me of our phone sex the other night. Fuck that was hot.
“Maybe we should take this conversation inside.” I ground my dick into her belly and she laughed.
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea.” Her lids fluttered.
“You think you’re safe out here? Oh, Kitten… you have so much to learn. Nothing is stopping me from taking you right now.” The apple of her cheek pinked, and I watch
ed her slender neck as she swallowed. What I would give to see that covered with my cum.
“We need to talk about stuff. I know my dad is trying to get your land, Walkers too. He’s doing shit to make you want to sell, and now he has a pregnant mistress. I see where this is going but Mom needs to stay, it’s important to her for just for a little longer.” Okay, that was more than I expected.
“Okay, first things first. Your dad will never own my land or Walkers. He will get caught and I’m trying to figure out a way to do just that. As for your mom, Kitten. If he’s in so much mess, she might be better off going.” Her nose wrinkled and then she looked down her fingers tugging at the buttons on my shirt.
“Why do you make sense?”
“I’m a sensible guy.”
“You’re something, Nick Fairchild.” Yeah, this girl wasn’t going anywhere.
“Anyway, tell me about this guy you think you know.”
“Um, well, I found out he’s my friend’s, boyfriend’s cousin.” I narrowed my eyes a little, and she shook her head trying to hide a smile. “Easton Mansfield.”
Now that was a name I had heard around. Not sure if I liked the fact she knew him. He’d always seemed harmless when he spent his summers here years ago, but something was a little harder in Easton, he liked to walk on the edge of the law and so far, he’d gotten away with it.
“You think he could help?”
“Sure. He does surveillance. He helped out Logan and Lucy and he’s done stuff for Mason, too.” I nodded because she was right. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t Easton who was the muscle, it was the people he dealt with who seemed to all owe him something and when he called in a favor, you better not be his target.
“Okay, I will check it out. Now, how about we go inside?” I nudged her again and her blush deepened.
“Boss, we have, um… sorry to interrupt.” Tyler had rounded the corner of the shed not seeing the little pixie in my arms.
“Hi.” Kayla’s finger waved at him and the kid blushed. He was fresh out of high school this summer.