Operation Ginger Avenger [Divine Creek Ranch 24] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Heather Rainier

  She was like a limp, beautiful flower between them, completely boneless and spent in her passion. Tank lay there, his eyelids closed, catching his breath, the beginning of a smile on his face, and she reached back, presumably to stroke his cheek, and wound up whacking him in the ear. He chuckled, and she got tickled, and soon all three of them were laughing, which made her pussy muscles contract until they begged her for mercy.

  “That was incredible, guys. Now I know why all of my friends get that dreamy look in their eyes when they talk about the intimacy of being in a ménage. It felt…”

  “Good, I hope?” Troy said, nuzzling the fragrant spot between her breasts.

  “Better than good, Troy. More than that. I know it sounds silly, but I felt connected to your souls there for a moment. It was beautiful,” she added, lifting a hand to brush under her eye.

  Tank squeezed her and kissed her temple. “You liked it?”

  “Are you kidding? I loved it.”

  “Good, because I want to do that again,” Troy said, gently pulling out when a muscle in his thigh began to cramp up.

  “But not tonight, I hope,” she said with a giggle, and then she looked between them. “Have the two of you shared in the past? Had either of you ever done that before?”

  Tank shook his head, and so did Troy. “That was a first for all three of us. I was plain vanilla until you turned me kinky, baby.”

  Thanks to the levity, and how oily they all were, and her position above him, Tank nearly dropped her as he eased his cock from her ass. “I’ve never laughed so much during sex before.”

  “Loving you is fun. Maybe that’s why I laugh so much. That’s a gift you’ve given me I didn’t expect,” she warbled, brushing under her eye again.

  The urge to laugh further left Troy, and he saw it drain from Tank’s face, as well. They closed her in between them and took turns kissing her, caressing her.

  Troy whispered, “We feel like we’re the ones who received a precious gift, baby.”

  Tank nodded. “He’s right, Jess. When you, and Bella, came into our lives, that was all the gift we could ever want, ever again.”

  * * * *

  Jessica stirred between her men during the night, drawn awake from a sound sleep. Trying not to move too much and risk waking them, she took inventory of her surroundings. She slept deeper between them than she ever had alone. She was bleary-headed at first.

  The moon shone through the drapes on the right side of the bed, and in the pale light, she could make out the silhouette of Tank’s bulky bicep as he lay on his side. She listened to him breathe. He snored at night, and even though he didn’t want to do it, she thought she’d just about convinced him to have a sleep study done. He complained that he’d seen CPAP masks before, and that was just not the sexy way to start off in their ménage. She laughed and told him there were all kinds and she was more worried about him getting a good night’s sleep than whether the world thought a CPAP mask was sexy or not. Rested was sexy. Breathing well at night was sexy, too. As she listened, his breathing was peaceful for the moment.

  Her back side, on Troy’s side of the bed, was cool. He must’ve gotten up at some point. She looked over and noticed a tiny sliver of light around the bathroom doorframe. After a minute had passed and there was no noise, she eased out of bed, careful to not wake Tank, and went to the door and tapped.

  “Troy? You okay?”

  The light flipped off, and the door eased open. “You can come in. Sorry if I disturbed you.” He was sitting on the floor, and in the moonlight, she could see he was holding something in his hand.

  “What’s wrong? Are you sick?” she asked as she crouched in front of him. She put her hand up to his forehead, but he shook his head.

  “No. Nightmare. I woke up in a...” He let out a sigh.

  “The dream made you panic?” Kneeling in front of him, she put her hands on her knees and said, “Do you know that I once woke up in my closet? Yep, with Bella in my arms, too.”

  He looked up at her, although she couldn’t see his eyes in the shadows.

  “Yes, that was when I finally took Emma’s advice and started seeing a doctor friend she recommended to me.”

  “I used to see a doctor, too. I’ve done so well, especially once the doctor turned me on to the weighted blankets, but every so often…”

  “Something will just set one off? I think last night definitely qualified as triggering circumstances. All the screaming at the auction? I wondered how you were handling that. And then later on? Sheesh. I’m surprised I didn’t wake up screaming.”

  He nudged her shoulder. “You were hoggin’ the blanket, that’s why.”

  “Was not. What’s this?” she asked as she tapped the metallic object he was fiddling with.

  He took her hand and placed her fingertips over a bumpy metallic circle. “It’s my family crest. My father gave it to me when I came back from Iraq the last time. He’d been doing some family history research.”

  “Are those letters around the outside? What’s it say?”

  “Virescit vulnere virtus. It’s Latin. The English translation is Courage Grows Strong at a Wound. The crest shows the hand of a gardener pruning a grapevine, to help it produce better fruit.”

  “Wow. That’s your family crest?”

  “Yeah, Burnett. He knew, or at least had a pretty good idea, that I was struggling when I came home. He got this for me, thought it might help me. A reminder or like a talisman that I could keep with me. Works well on my plaid, too,” he added with chuckle. “Hey, it’s chilly in the house. Let’s get you back to bed.”

  She took the brooch from him and followed him back to bed.

  Tank rolled over, and in a husky voice, he said, “Nightmare?”

  “Yeah, go back to sleep. Sorry if we woke you.”

  “You didn’t. My back warmer was missing.” He chuckled—until she put her ice-cold hand on his still toasty hot butt. “Hey, woman! Not nice. I was having sweet sexy dreams until I got cold, and you’re showing no mercy at all.”

  “Poor baby. I’ll make it up to you.”

  “That’s right. You’re gonna have to cuddle up to me and help me go back to sleep.”

  She got comfortable between them and turned the brooch over in her hand, watching it glimmer in the moonlight before handing it back to Troy.

  Tank said, “Was it bad?”

  Troy grunted. “I just needed a few minutes. I’m fine.” He put the brooch back on the bedside table where it’d been earlier.

  “We’ve got each other now.”

  They both turned to her, and a feeling of completion enveloped her as they put their arms around her.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  The next morning, Troy and Tank took Jessica and Bella into Divine. They had errands to run and a few stops to make. Top priority was checking on Brian Dornan.

  Jessica had been unsure if she’d be able to get any information, but on a call to the hospital first thing in the morning, they learned that Brian had told his EMTs that she was his family. He’d come through surgery satisfactorily and, because of the nature of the abdominal wound, was being monitored for complications. His recovery would be slow, but he was cleared for visitors.

  Troy eased off of the accelerator as he approached the main hospital parking lot entrance. A sheriff’s patrol SUV was parked under the covered main entry.

  “Huh,” he said, pointing. “Maybe they’re picking up what’s-his-face.”

  Tank frowned as he leaned forward in the passenger seat. “It would make more sense for them to take him out a service entrance or at least a back entrance.”

  Two sheriff’s deputies stood at the entrance of the hospital, talking to Hank Stinson. The situation didn’t seem to warrant caution, but he didn’t want to expose Jessica or Bella to Four Bits, so he gestured to Tank to make a call.

  Tank took out his phone and sent a quick text. Hank replied a few moments later.

  “It’s all clear,” Tank said as he unbuckled hi
s seat belt, climbed out, and removed Bella from her car seat. “Come on, Belly-blooper. Want to take a piggyback ride?”

  “Sure!” she piped up, giggling when he turned so she could climb onto his back from her car seat.

  Troy smiled as he climbed out from the driver’s side. Tank was placing his body between Bella and any danger that might exist. She just thought it was cool to ride the horsey.

  He opened Jessica’s door and held his hand out to her as she climbed down. Her gaze was warm as she slid in close and put her arm around his waist. Thanks to her, he’d fallen back to sleep the night before and stayed that way until his internal alarm clock woke him at the usual time. He’d made breakfast for him and Bella since she was an early bird, too.

  “Wonder what’s going on,” she said as they walked toward the main entrance.

  Hank met them at the door. “Brian Dornan is one lucky man.” He nodded to Tank and said, “It’s all clear. Gutierrez can’t hurt anyone else,” he added.

  “What happened?”

  “I woke up early this morning. It was the strangest thing. I knew I needed to take a statement from Brian about what happened last night but also whatever he could remember about what Gutierrez told him before he came to Divine, regarding owing a debt to Trevor Dornan. There were some serious charges pending on Gutierrez, but I wanted to know about the connection with Trevor Dornan, and if he was behind what happened last night, to Brian, to Justin and the others. I popped wide-awake and didn’t even feel like having a cup of coffee first. I take work seriously, but I don’t usually miss that first cup of coffee, you know?”

  “Are Justin, Val, and Ransome all right?”

  “Oh, yeah. I got a call a little while ago from the fire investigation team, and they found timing devices at the fires that were set and also under the hood of Justin’s vehicle. They’re lucky to be alive and whole because the explosive device wasn’t wired properly. The connection with Val and Ransome is an obvious one since they were the ones who liberated you from Trevor Dornan, but the others were probably set as distractions. He must’ve counted on the structures being allowed to burn, along with any evidence, since they were both derelict, but the timing and the circumstances were odd. The chief investigator has fingerprint evidence. Not that it matters now.”

  Tank shifted Bella into the crook of his arm and said, “What do you mean?”

  “That’s part of the oddity of this morning. Remember I said I felt compelled to come in early to see Brian?”

  They all nodded, even Bella, although she was talking to herself and smiling, making kissie faces to some imaginary friend.

  “I was in his room, talking to him, while the nurses were coming in and out. He seemed distracted, and then he reached out and grabbed me by the arm. The man’s got a powerful grip. He looked me square in the eye, serious as a heart attack, and said, “You need to get these nurses out of here and to safety. Right now. I know I sound crazy, but they are all in danger.”

  “I swear a chill ran up my spine, and I believed him. One hundred percent. I trust in what I see, but there’s times when you have to trust your gut. And my gut was telling me that he was telling the truth.”

  “What happened?”

  “I didn’t have a deputy with me, so I gathered all the nurses on duty and had them lock themselves in all the occupied patient rooms and had everyone who was ambulatory move into the bathrooms.”

  “Holy moly,” Jessica said, clinging to Troy a little closer.

  “Once the doors were all closed and I was satisfied the department was as buttoned up as it could get, I went back to Dornan’s room. Just as I got there, I heard the bell on the elevator.”

  Goosebumps rippled on Troy’s skin.

  “It was Gutierrez?” Troy asked. “How’d he get loose?”

  “They had to operate on his leg. When Rose Marie roped him and dislocated his knee, it tore his ACL and did some vascular damage. A big guy like that, with his knees roped together giving him a lower center of gravity, that was the only way someone smaller than him could’ve taken him down. Anyway, he hit his head when he fell, so they elected to do the surgical repair with a local nerve block and anesthetic. He must’ve waited until the staff and the officers keeping an eye on him were distracted and somehow got hold of a scalpel. He used it to saw through the zip ties.”

  “After surgery?”

  “He wasn’t feeling any pain. He overpowered the officer on duty and stole scrubs and a crutch.”

  “And came after Brian?”

  “Yeah. Brian said later that Gutierrez made a point, several times, of saying he always repays a debt. Anyway, we couldn’t move Brian because of his wounds, and he insisted he stay where he was since his room had an observation window. I stayed out of sight until Gutierrez got into the room and pulled the weapon out. He refused to obey when I told him to drop it and…” Hank glanced at Bella and then at them. He widened his eyes and nodded, indicating nonverbally that the next logical thing happened.

  “Gutierrez is dispatched permanently?” Jessica asked.

  “Yeah,” Hank said with a nod. “I had to discharge a weapon in a hospital. That’s not nearly as easy as you might think. That’s why the investigation. Officers are talking to Brian right now, but they should be done soon. Nurses probably won’t let you stay long, but I imagine Brian will be happy to see the four of you. The guy is tough. He took a knife to the gut last night, could’ve been…you know…this morning, and he’s already pestering the doctors to let him go home.”

  “Well, I’m glad you listened to your gut, Hank,” Jessica said and surprised him and Tank when she stepped closer to the sheriff and opened her arms. “You look like you need a hug.”

  Hank’s face transformed and softened, and he gave her a sheepish smile. “Actually, yeah, I could. It was the oddest thing, y’all.” He closed his arms around her, and she gave him a tight hug.

  Hank might’ve had an inkling that Jessica wasn’t given to hugging just out of habit. She wasn’t as standoffish anymore, but she still kept to herself with most everyone.

  “Thank you,” Hank said as he released her.

  “I love you, too,” Bella murmured, but it was hard to tell if she was talking to herself, to Hank, or to some imaginary friend. “Bye-bye.”

  “Okay,” Hank said with a deep sigh. “Y’all can go on up to see Brian if you’re ready. For what it’s worth, Brian’s welcome in my town if he wants to stay.”

  “We’ll tell him,” Tank said as he shifted Bella to his other arm.

  She clapped her hands as they rode in the elevator, singing her childlike rendition of “I’ll Fly Away” and was still singing when they walked into Brian’s patient room. He looked like he’d been ridden hard and put up wet, but the color had returned to his face.

  “Hey, if it’s not my favorite niece…” A wide smile creased his cheeks, and he seemed to get a little misty-eyed when he looked upon Bella, singing to herself. He seemed to be trying to swallow a knot in his throat. “How’s everyone this morning?”

  “We’re fine,” Jessica said as she took the seat by his bedside. “Are you okay?”

  “Mmm-hmm,” he said, clearing his throat as he watched Bella climb into her mama’s lap, still singing softly to herself. “I’m ready to get out of here and get back to the ranch so I can relax and recover. The doctors want me to stay. It’s silly.”

  Tank chuckled. “Stabbed in the gut and he wants to get back to the ranch the next day.”

  “Hey, listen,” Brian said, directing his attention down to his hands in his lap. “I’ve been sitting in this hospital bed and thinking. I like my place in Beaumont. It’s paid for, and all I owe is the lease the land my mobile home is set up on. I got a good job and a good boss, since he let me have this time off. Family emergency leave, he called it. But…I like Divine.”

  “Brother, let me tell you, it likes you, too,” Tank said with a chuckle as he took the other seat. “I can tell you of at least two ranches that’d hire you
on for your mechanical abilities alone. Not to mention the fact that you’re a hero.”

  Brian twisted his face up and shook his head. “Not a hero.”

  “Yeah, a hero,” Jessica said. “You could’ve done any number of things when Four Bits showed up on your doorstep. But you came here, to warn me, and tried to help. Who knows but that you made all the difference in the world? And Bella is certainly attached to you,” she said as she looked down at her daughter and gathered her long hair into a silky tail.

  “Uncle Brian, you gotta stay here in Divine,” Bella blurted out. “Grammy says this is home.”

  Brian blinked at her and then looked at Jessica and Troy and Tank. “Is that so?”

  Bella snorted like it was a ridiculous question. “You’ll be safe here, and we’re fambly.”

  “We’re fambly, huh?” Brian asked in a shaky tone.

  Troy’s heart clenched a little at the toothy but utterly sincere smile Bella gave her uncle. He squatted down beside her and Jessica. “Which Grammy said that?” Neither his mother nor Tank’s had met Bella yet. Jessica’s mother was in Vegas, and Bella’s great-grandmother had passed on years before.

  “Spuhzarkely Grammy,” she said with a giggle, wriggling her fingers in circles. “Can I use the potty?”

  Jessica released her and said, “Sure, baby. Don’t forget to flush and wash your hands.” Once the door closed, Jessica leaned closer to the bed and even reached for one of Brian’s hands. “I need to know, Brian. What’s she talking about? Hank said he felt something odd when you warned him about Four Bits coming this morning.”

  He looked down at their joined hands. “I’m not sure what you mean.”

  “Did your mother, Trevor’s mother…” Her words trailed off, and she seemed to come to a realization because she sat up straighter. “It was her, wasn’t it? She passed on, out at that place, didn’t she? She was watching out for you. She was watching out for me, too, I bet.”

  Brian smiled at her. “Now, you know there’s no such thing as ghosts, Miss Jessica.”

  Jessica shook her head. “I can tell when you’re nervous because you call me Miss Jessica. That’s the spuhzarkely lady Bella has been talking about. That’s how she learned the song, isn’t it?”