No Refunds No Exchanges: A Hudson Family Series- Book 4- Matt and Ali

by Chontelle Brison

  As John gently extracted me from Baloo, he shook his head as Baloo flopped to the dirt once again, this time greedily lapping at one of his favorite treats, a twelve-inch honey stick that I gave out to him on special days. Pepper smiled as she threw another honey stick to Baloo as she praised him. I sighed, the girl had great instincts with the animals and part of me wished I could let Baloo eat Richard.

  “Ugh, while that would be entertaining to watch, I’d hate to explain to next group of school kids why Baloo is burping up my ex-husband,” I winked at Pepper and was happy to see some of the color return to her face. Deciding to praise Pepper for thinking on her feet, I gave her a proud smile.

  “You did everything right Pepper, you got help instead of trying to take on Richard yourself, and you brought back up,” I told her. Her cheeks blushed, and she looked away. I sighed, realizing the poor kid probably never got complimented on anything she did.

  “Pepper, look at me,” I waited until her ocean blue eyes lifted from the ground to my face. I grunted slightly as I leaned more of my weight on John as my leg was able to hold less and less of it.

  “You did everything right, kiddo,” I repeated wanting to make sure she understood that I was serious. “When you’re done with your time at camp, we’ll talk to your mom and see if you can come and stay with me. As long as you promise to go to the local high school and give me your word that you will always remain vigilant around the animals.” I had about two seconds to brace myself before I was practically knocked to the ground by Pepper throwing her arms around my neck and squeezing with everything she had. Had John not been holding me up, I would have definitely hit the floor but the joy on her face and the happy tears running down her cheeks told me I had made the right decision. Pepper loved animals, she had stayed calm and made good decisions when it mattered most. What she needed was encouragement and stability and while I didn’t have much regarding material things, those two items I felt I could offer.

  “Okay, okay, give Baloo some more honey sticks so he will go with you to his enclosure and make sure you watch his body language. If he looks agitated or refuses to go with you, walk away and come back to the house and wait for Trevor, got it?” I asked as she bounded down the steps happily. She threw her arms around Baloo and nuzzled her face into his neck.

  “I got it, I got it, be safe, be aware, be alive. You’ve taught me well Aunt Ali, I promise!” Pepper waved as she held out another honey stick for Baloo. With a quick glance back at me, he slowly followed Pepper towards the gate the led to the animal habitats.

  “That was an excellent performance Ali, but now we take care of you,” John said in a voice that told me he wasn’t buying my happy smile one bit.

  With Pepper and Baloo out of view, I collapsed into John’s arms and wrapped my arms around his thick neck as he carried me inside the house.

  “What about the idiot? You can press charges, it’s assault you know,” John murmured as he carried me down the hall and waited for me to point him towards my bedroom.

  I sighed and honestly felt so tired that I could probably sleep for a week. “I never did say thank you, John, if you hadn’t shown up, I..I don’t know…” One giant finger against my lips stopped my rambling.

  John kissed my forehead and set me on my queen size bed that I still hadn’t made from this morning. He crouched down so we were eye level and the serious look in his eyes made me pay attention.

  “You never have to say thank you to me, Ali. I know you’re very much aware that my job is dangerous. Even if we don’t talk about. I can’t count the times I’ve come to the cabin with a wound of some kind, and you just happen to show up and bring food, books or just sit on the porch next to me at night and say nothing,” he took a stray lock of my hair and tucked in behind my ear.

  Embarrassed I looked away. It was true I figured that John was a CIA spy or some other type of Government Special Ops guy. There were times he would show up at his cabin and the only reason I would know he was there was his large truck made so much noise coming up the quiet road past the sanctuary that I knew it was him. Each time I would visit I could see the haunted look in his eyes of a man that had seen more than his fair share of terrible. I recognized the same look in my dad’s eyes when he would suddenly zone out and stare off into space, caught in some hellish memory he was reliving. I never knew how to help my dad so I would just sit and hold his hand until he’d snap out of it and then he would proceed to laugh and joke as if it had never happened. So, I did what I could for John when his eyes would glass over, and he would zone out, I’d sit in the rocking chair that sat on his porch and just sit by him until he came back to present. The books, food, and other stuff were just my way of letting him know he wasn’t alone. After all, I knew better than most how hard it was to be alone, even when you were surrounded by people.

  “I guess you’re like the second big brother I never had, I could always use one you know. One that doesn’t just disappear! You don’t get mad when I speak my mind or upset when I’m quiet because I don’t have anything to say. Besides Baloo and Pepper adore you so I guess you’re just stuck with us misfits,” I sniffed as he removed my tennis shoes from my feet.

  “Ya know? All I have are brothers, a sister would be nice. Besides, now I get to go all big brother like on asshole in there! I’m assuming pressing charges is out?” he asked giving me a pointed look when I cringed in pain as he moved my bad leg to remove my socks.

  “No, no charges John. He’s very well respected, and I don’t need that kind of attention. It’s bad enough that some of the residents on Mt. Charleston are trying to get my permit revoked so that I can’t keep the animals. I don’t need any more trouble,” I told him honestly.

  It was true, attention was the last thing I needed. For the past six months, a group of residents that lived on the mountain had been waging a campaign to get the permit I had, taken away. They claimed that with the new housing going in about one mile down the mountain that my animals would put the public in harm’s way if they ever got out. The truth was, it was a legitimate concern. The news was filled with exotic pets that had either killed their owners or had gotten out and hurt innocent people. While I liked to think my relationship with my animals was different, I wasn’t arrogant enough to believe that bad things didn’t happen. You couple that with the odd, threatening letters I had been getting the last several months and Richard’s sudden interest in getting back together and you have a whole lot of coincidences. The only thing was, my father told me there are no coincidences in life, which only left one thought that I was just too hurt and tired to explore, why did someone want me off this mountain so badly?

  “I think I need to shower, I feel dirty, and I just need a to be clean and take a nap, and I’ll be right as rain,” I told him as I stood to do just that.

  Unfortunately, as soon as I stood, the whole room spun. Even with all my weight on my good leg, I could feel my limbs start to feel heavy. Luckily, I was pulled against John’s strong chest before I hit the floor.

  “Yep, right on cue! Looks like you’re crashing from the adrenaline, I’ll get your wounds cleaned up and take out the trash,” he promised as he scooped me up and put me back in bed. My head was so woozy I couldn’t even lift my head to protest.

  Just then a loud moan sounded from the living room. Knowing it was Richard I felt myself stiffen as loud cursing noises, that told me Richard was slamming around my kitchen in a snit, filled my ears.

  “Shit, it is too late to have Baloo eat him?” I slurred as my head began to feel heavy and the room started to blur.

  The last thing I heard before my eyes shut was John chuckle and whisper, “I got this Alison, it’s time Richard learned that my new sister is not alone, and I always take care of family.”

  Matt

  Grabbing a beer from the fridge, I turned and grinned at my brother Dalton who was trying to impress Synclair’s friend from Washington with tales of my brother Reece’s epic journey of finally winning my soon to be si
ster-in-law’s heart.

  Sitting down on the worn leather sofa on the opposite side of Synclair’s friend Taylor I checked my phone for the twentieth time that day.

  “Waiting for an important text?” Taylor asked with a smirk.

  “Yeah, I was hoping absence made the heart grow fonder,” I muttered aloud, realizing that waiting for Jesse to cave and give me Alison’s information was taking longer than I had anticipated. Not that I would’ve had the time on my hands to chase Alison anyways.

  As soon as I had returned to the office in Vegas, Devlin filled me in on how he was able to get Jessie, our spunky receptionist and newly single because her girlfriend left her, to stay with him until she could find a new place. Apparently, he blackmailed her. At first, I was ready to punch the ass in the face, there was no doubt he was hung up on Jessie, despite her apparent interest in women, however when he had shown me pictures of her torn up apartment and her car that had been vandalized, I suddenly approved of his methods. Dev never told me what he had on Jessie, and I really didn’t want to know. Otherwise, I might’ve been tempted to make Devlin back off. Still, he had a very good idea. I still had all of Alison’s notes and her recorder. I wasn’t sure how many interviews were on the recorder, but her bag was filled with notes she had taken when she had researched everything about Gigolos. I also knew she had called the agency to ask if I had possibly turned in her missing bag, so I knew she was looking for it. Jessie had wisely told her that nothing had been brought to her, which I was sure only added to Ali’s frustration.

  “I think, absence only makes the heart grow colder or forgetful, Matthew. Take your pick.” Taylor replied in her no-nonsense tone.

  I smiled. Taylor Duke had met my brother’s fiance back when Synclair volunteered at a woman’s shelter in Las Vegas. I didn’t know the whole story, only that Taylor’s mother had been a missionary who had fallen in love with a man in South America. Unfortunately, the man had a severe gambling problem, and when Taylor’s mother died when she was thirteen, her father had given her to a drug lord that ran the area in exchange for erasing his debts. I wasn’t sure what kind of bastard could do that to his daughter? Probably, the same bastard that would take the exchange and then hand over the young girl to his son as his bride. By the time she had stumbled into Synclair’s shelter, she had been physically and emotionally abused for years.

  Synclair had mentioned her a handful of time since coming to live with us here in Carson City. It was sheer luck that Taylor had come to visit Synclair from Washington right about the time my brother Lucas’s, soon to be wife, Sara, was kidnapped by Travis Donaldson. Travis had been Lucas’s best friend in high school and apparently had drugged and date raped Sara years ago while she was Lucas’s girlfriend. Unfortunately, my oldest brother, who had taken on the responsibility of the family business and looking after my two other brothers, myself and our sister Rachel, had believed Travis when he swore to him that everything he’d done with Sara had been consensual. Yeah, it appeared to be a Hudson family trait that the men in the family seemed to screw up relationships with the love of their lives. So far, both of my brothers had recovered from their stupidity and ended up with the women they loved, and both Sara and Synclair were pregnant!

  It was kind of crazy when I thought about how fast things had changed in the past year. My brother Reece had finally reconnected and captured Synclair Patrick’s heart and after a harrowing ordeal, my brother Lucas had Sara, a son they didn’t even know was his and a new baby on the way. The Hudson family was growing by leaps and bounds!

  That brings me to Taylor, she is a bad ass with her bow and arrow. Apparently, her mother was some world champion archer, and it was a passion that she’d passed down to her feisty daughter. If Taylor hadn’t shot Travis in the hand when he was holding a gun on Synclair, there was no telling how the events would have played out.

  In fact, looking at Taylor reminded me of Alison. They both had long dark hair that tumbled well below their shoulders, but where Taylor’s eyes were large, round and a warm chocolate brown; Alison’s eyes were a beautiful almond shape and so dark they almost had an exotic look to them. There was no doubt that Taylor was stunning, it was evident by the way both my brother Dalton and Michael Donaldson; the mayor of Carson City and the bane of our existence Amber Donaldson’s brother, had both done their best to get the prickly, no-nonsense woman’s attention.

  “Seriously, Taylor I would love for you to teach me how to make a shot like you did with that bow and arrow! Woman, that was outstanding,” My brother Dalton practically purred giving her his famous Dalton Hudson smile.

  Michael Donaldson, on the other hand, didn’t seem as enthralled with Dalton as Taylor was. No, he had sat brooding in the recliner ever since he had taken his pain in the butt sister, Amber, home and had returned to find Dalton making Taylor laugh so hard she had to grab her sides.

  “Wow, down boy! You gotta step off just a little, that is far too many teeth smiling at me,” Taylor teased as she tucked her silky hair behind her ear.

  “Aw come on, the better to eat you with my dear,” Dalton replied without hesitation as he wagged his dark brows up and down suggestively.

  “So, Matt how is Synclair’s cousin doing? The one that came here from Ireland with Synclair’s uncle? I heard she was stunning and had an ass that wouldn’t quit,” Michael said suddenly.

  Michael Donaldson was vicious. Everyone knew that Dalton had tried all of his charming lines on Synclair’s cousin Cami when she’d come to visit her dad, Synclair’s uncle, in the hospital. They had driven up to see Synclair before jetting off to Ireland where Synclair’s uncle had chosen to stay so he could repair his relationship with Cami. Dalton wouldn’t say what happened after he’d carried the cute, firecracker outside over his shoulder, but he did show up about an hour later soaking wet with no explanation as to how he got that way. Apparently, Michael had heard the story and was now kicking my brother in his Achille's heel, namely the spunky girl from Ireland that seemed to be immune to his legendary charms.

  Dalton’s head whipped around to glare at Michael with a look so dark that for a moment I thought they might come to blows. It was clear Michael was as hung up on Taylor Duke as Dalton was on Cami McDougall-Patrick! Okay, this could be fun.

  Settling back on the couch I rubbed my hands down my dark jeans and waited for the entertainment to begin.

  “She’s great, She’s planning Synclair’s wedding in Dublin as we speak and now Synclair had insisted it be a double wedding with Lucas and Sara,” I answered as I stretched my hand along the back of the couch, which also placed my arm behind Taylor’s head.

  She turned to me, and her brown eyes widened then her lips twisted with amusement. “You are a trouble maker aren’t you Matt?” she teased as she watched Dalton and Michael continue to glare at each other.

  Instead of answering I simply cocked my head to the side and grinned. “Well, I’m starving, anyone want to order pizza?” I stood up and tried not to laugh when Taylor jumped up from the sofa and turned to follow me.

  “Let me help. I’m kinda choosy with what I put in my mouth,” she announced as she tossed a throw pillow from the sofa at Michael’s gaping mouth.

  Before Dalton or Michael could comment her, surprisingly strong, hands were gripping my biceps from behind and urging me forward toward the kitchen.

  “Damn woman, you have one helluva grip there!” I commented as I yanked the pizza menu off the fridge. It the was the only place in town that would come all the way out to our ranch. Usually, one of us would just run the five miles into Carson City and grab it but since we were all waiting for Synclair and Sara to come home from their baby doctor appointments no one wanted to leave. Why Amber and Michael had shown up, I wasn’t sure.

  You couldn’t have two more opposite siblings. While they both had blue eyes, blonde hair, good looks and came from a prominent and wealthy family from here in Carson City, Michael had worked hard to be a good mayor and was a completely straight-laced
, stand up guy. He and my older brothers had been friends for years. His sister Amber, on the other hand, was a self-centered, trouble causing witch that had not only tricked Reece into marrying her after he got drunk at a party when he thought he had lost Synclair forever. Then she had confessed a few months later that there was never any baby. If that wasn’t enough to win her bitch of the year, it was her cousin and Lucas’s best friend Travis that had raped poor Sara. It was Amber that showed Lucas pictures of a passed out Sara in compromising positions with Travis that had convinced Lucas that Sara had been unfaithful.

  Still, since Synclair, Sara and Sara and Lucas’s son Logan had been kidnapped and almost killed by her revenge-seeking cousin, Amber had been acting odd. I mean, strange for Amber. In the weeks following the whole Travis ordeal, Amber had been actually waving to Synclair and my brothers when she saw them in town. Her usual stylish clothing style had given way to baggy sweatshirts and leggings. I had asked Michael what was up with his sister, but he had shrugged and complained that he had no idea what was wrong with her. She had filed for divorced from her last husband and was now living full-time at the ranch home she had purchased that was next to the property that Michael owned.

  Michael had confided to me a few weeks ago that the last time he had seen Amber act this way was a few years back when she had suddenly decided she needed time away and had dropped off the face of the earth for almost a year. I remembered that time fondly because it was a long stretch of drama free days without wondering what crap she was going to pull next.

  I remembered when she had suddenly come back to town and had her normally perfectly styled hair pulled back into a ponytail, and she had practically lived in baggy jeans and some brown leather jacket that looked three sizes too big on her, wearing the damn thing even in the heat of summer.

  Whatever had triggered her sudden, meek behavior was okay in my book. Personally, I wouldn’t have let her step foot in our family’s home after all the crap she had pulled, even if she did swear that she actually had thought that Sara had cheated on Lucas with Travis. It was Sara who insisted that whatever drove Amber to behave the way she did must be pretty big and that it was important that we recognize how lucky we were that we all had each other, and all she had was a brother who loved her but barely tolerated her. Synclair on the hand was a little less forgiving, not that Amber deserved any of the gracious forgiveness that Sara was willing to give her, but Synclair had lost fifteen years that she and Reece could have spent together had Amber and her friends not totally screwed her over back in college. Still, even Synclair was trying to be tolerant of the little twit. Maybe it was the pregnancy hormones, I wasn’t sure, but Synclair seemed to regard Amber with a look that made you feel like she knew something about Amber the rest of us didn’t, I just wasn’t sure what.