Deception [The Masters Series 1] (Siren Publishing LoveEdge)

by Rebecca Joyce

  Turning the radio down, he chose to ignore what was obviously fate laughing her pretty little head off at him. He knew coming home was going to take every ounce of strength and patience he had left in his body. All he had to do was figure out what Zac had gotten himself into, fix it, figure out what in the hell Momma Love was thinking in making Tack a partner, and hightail it back to Chicago before Mary Jane put two and two together. Oh, and pray he still had a job to go home to.

  Garret turned off the Interstate 40 and headed down State Road 231. The long drive was almost over and in less than two hours, he would be home. He smiled at the thought of seeing Momma again.

  He missed her.

  She was the one good thing in his life that he could honestly smile about. All warm and loving, Momma Love opened her arms and had taken him into her heart when the world wanted to wash their hands of him. If it weren’t for the kindness and love of Momma, he would probably be in some prison right now, doing five to ten for some stupid crime. Instead, Momma Love never gave up on him, even when he knew she should have. She had given up so much over the years for him and the other boys she took into her home, and not once did she ever complain. She was strong as an ox, but gentle as a lamb. She loved with her whole heart and could bring the fires from hell raining down when she was mad, and through all the heartache and disappointment, she never gave up on him…she loved him.

  Garret turned off the radio as he turned left onto Highway 70.

  An hour to go.

  Thousands of stars in the night sky illuminated the secondary road as he drove deeper into the heart of the Tennessee hills. Heading toward the Appalachian Mountains, the moon was bright as it lit his way home. If he didn’t know any better he would say the moon was guiding him home. Far off in the distance, he could just make out the tips of the Smoky Mountains. Grinning, he could almost see Marvin, with his last two teeth, smiling as he hummed “Proud Mary” while checking the mix on his still, Luther with his shotgun by his side as he sat in his rocking chair on his front porch, whittling as he told his tall tales of the mountain lion that got away from him. Then there were Ruby and Opal Darling, who loved nothing better than to sit in the corner booth at Good Vittles, gossiping with the old man Vernon. He could hear the jukebox out at the Thirsty Turtle jamming away as Dew and Dale Morris served watered-down drinks to unsuspecting customers. His brothers, the ones who’d stayed, were probably out at the waterfall, down by the old rail yard, partying and trying their damndest to hook up with some young innocent girl, whose only ambition in life was to get married and have a litter of babies.

  Oh yeah, he knew everything was just as he’d left it in Simple. Change was only good for those who wanted it, but for the folks of Simple, they preferred their lives…well, simple.

  Skirting the town, he avoided the main road, taking the shortcut past the old flour mill and the Simple Chronicle, and over the railroad tracks. He cringed as his truck drove down the old dirt road, hitting every pothole known to man. Slowing down, he saw the turnoff for the farm and sighed. There was no turning back now. He was sure the watchers of the town had already gotten on the horn and put the word out that a stranger was in town. Wouldn’t they be shocked to find out it was him?

  He slowed even further as the large Civil War plantation house loomed in the distance. The Hatfield House had been in Momma Love’s family since before the Civil War. A true Southern plantation, the Hatfield farm started with tobacco and cotton in the early days, but after the North won the war, the Hatfield family decided to make a change when a cousin visiting from South Carolina smuggled several of his horses out of the state. After that, farming was out, and horses were in. Today, the Hatfield farm raised some of the purest Tennessee Walking Horses around, and for the life of him, Garret never could warm up the volatile creatures.

  Oh, they were beautiful to look at and he was amazed at what they could do, but going near them, working with them, or even riding them, was a no-go in his book. Ask him to shovel shit any day, and he would gladly do it, but ask him to sit atop one of those beasts and he would fight anyone tooth and nail.

  Pulling in front of the house, he wasn’t surprised to see the lights on. Momma always insisted that the front porch light and the living room lights stayed on, that way anyone who showed up would feel welcome. She never locked the door, which drove him crazy, but as Momma explained it, if someone wanted to steal from her then they needed it more than she did.

  “Pandora, we’re here,” he whispered, gently rubbing her arms. When she yawned and smiled up at him, Garret’s heart about exploded. He didn’t deserve her.

  Grabbing their bags out of the backseat, they walked up the front steps and opened the screen door. He held open the front door for her, letting her lead the way, only to stop short as they both stared at the scene before them.

  Chapter Four

  Zac was drunk. There was no other way to describe it. He had just spent the evening out at the Thirsty Turtle drinking everything in sight and livin’ it up with his brothers. When Dew and Dale Morris told him it was time to head home, he did just that, but not before leaning over the counter and grabbing a bottle of Marvin’s moonshine to go. Of course, he knew better than to drive home, so he biked it. Yep, he hopped on the ten-speed Momma had gotten him one Christmas and peddled his drunken ass home.

  He knew it was wrong to drink and peddle, but it was the only thing left to him. Oh, he could have hitched a ride home with Tic and Tack, but those two knuckleheads had hooked up with some hottie and skedaddled before he could talk to either of them. He didn’t feel like calling Bucky because he was still pissed about that little scratch on his squad car that he had apparently accidently put there three days ago. Zac tried telling Bucky that it was a ten-point buck sharpening its antlers, but the sheriff wasn’t hearing it. That little accident cost him a night in county lockup with a four hundred dollar fine. After that, Zac biked himself everywhere he needed to go.

  It was easier, and easy was what he needed at the moment.

  Trying to forget what happened when he’d last talked with Garret was starting to take a toll on him. When he got the call from Braxton Connelly over in Treasure Cove, needing help, Zac figured, why not? Maybe someone would finally put him out of his misery. He liked the area and the people. Plus he wanted to see if that sheriff over in Celestial went naked during the winter. That was when he’d spotted her.

  He tried to get to her, but like always, she disappeared, and he hadn’t seen or heard from her since. Then to add insult to injury, he had called his brother Garret up in Chicago, wanting to come for a visit, and the ingrate said he was too busy to sit and gossip with him, that he should just forget about coming and to move on with his life. And if that wasn’t cruel enough, Garret informed him that the love of his life had shown up and she wanted nothing to do with him, ever again.

  After that, he crawled home to Simple and tried to forget about everything and everyone. It was all working, too, with the help of Marvin’s moonshine. Nevertheless, for some reason, he couldn’t get either one of them out of his head, which brought him to the present, standing naked in the middle of Momma’s living room, dancing to Peaches and Herb’s “Shake Your Groove Thing” stone-cold drunk.

  It was safe to say that he never heard the front door open or saw the two people standing there trying to control their shock as he shimmied and shook his body parts for the whole world to see. However, when someone cleared their throat and shouted, “Have you lost your ever-lovin’ mind!” well, Zac definitely heard that.

  Turning around quickly, Zac lost his balance and fell ceremoniously on the floor in a heap of tangled limbs. When he saw his mason jar of moonshine soaking into Momma Love’s special carpet that she’d gotten at the Dump over in Nashville on sale for under a hundred bucks, he knew his ass was grass. “Damn,” he slurred. “Momma’s gonna be pissed I messed up her purdy carpet.”

  “Get the hell up, you redneck, and get some damn clothes on!” the angry voice shouted. Zac
knew that voice. He hated that voice. That voice was the main cause of all his problems. That was the voice that wanted nothing to do with him, and had taken his one true love. Just like every time before, the moment he thought of her, his cock stood up at attention, ready for action. “Not now, little junior, she doesn’t want us, remember,” he whispered to his straining cock. “Now be a good boy and go back to sleep.”

  Of course, when his cock didn’t listen and got harder, Zac grumbled and lay down on the rug, sprawled out like some pagan ready for worship, praying that this nightmare would end.

  A soft gasp permeated the room and Zac stilled. He didn’t think it was possible, but his cock stiffened even more and began to pulse. Something inside him roared, and before he could put two and two together, he quickly sat up, hitting his head on the underside of Momma’s coffee table.

  Moaning, Zac rubbed his head.

  He stopped when he felt a hand so soft it felt like flower petals.

  “Zac, are you all right?” the gentle voice whispered.

  He couldn’t breathe. The room narrowed, the world stilled as he opened his eyes and stared into the prettiest pair of sapphire eyes and said, “What the fuck are you doing here?”

  * * * *

  Mary Jane Delany looked at the man who had held her heart captive since she was eighteen years old. He was also the man who had broken her heart. She couldn’t believe that he was sitting before her, or understand why he was furious with her.

  He was the one who had chosen to move on.

  If she had known he would react this way, she would have stayed home in Chicago and waited for Garret’s return. As it was right now, she was stuck. Grabbing the afghan from the back of the couch, she wrapped Zac’s naked body, and she wished he would get that stupid look of shock off his face. When he just sat there, she knew she wasn’t getting any help from him. “Excuse me?”

  “I said, what the fuck are you doin’ here?” Zac said angrily.

  “I’m here with Garret, of course,” she whispered.

  “Fucking figures. Gotta rub my nose in the salt wound,” he slurred. “Guess that ought to finish me off good,” he muttered.

  “Zac, do you need help getting up?” she asked.

  “Not from you!” he shouted. “You left me, remember…in Celestial? I was there. I saw you and you saw me, then you ran away to him!” Mary Jane followed the pointed finger toward Garret, who was leaning against the doorjamb, shaking his head in disgust.

  Mary Jane closed her eyes and prayed for help. How could she explain to him why she’d done what she had, when she herself really didn’t understand anymore?

  Their story began over twelve years ago in this very town. She had been twenty-one, and Zac and Garret were twenty-four. The boys had returned home from college with their degrees and were waiting to hear from the U.S. Marshal Service. Mary Jane had been volunteering her time over at Momma Love’s Tennessee Walking Horse stables, when she caught a glimpse of Zac and Garret. Since that moment, she had been hopelessly in love with the both of them.

  At first, they hung out together, fishing, camping, riding horses, and going to the movies, but when the boys got their first assignment, Mary Jane knew that they would leave and probably never come back. She couldn’t blame them. Simple was just a simple town, but the thought of never seeing them again broke her heart. She could tell that they were falling for her too, but she chose to let fate work in her own way, unlike some of the other girls who would plan to trap a man. Mary Jane wasn’t like that and decided if they loved her, they would come back.

  The only problem was that they never did.

  Of course, if she had shown herself after that night so long ago, instead of hiding out, they would have found her the next morning, but fate was fickle, and circumstances out of her control had her hidden from sight. By the time she was able to get free, they were gone, and she was alone.

  She waited around for three months after they left, and when no phone calls, letters, or e-mails came, she packed what she could in her backpack and left home. There was no way she could stay in Simple. Too many people knew her history, and the talk had already started. With nowhere else to go, she’d headed out into the world with just two hundred dollars to her name and never looked back. Regardless, she never forgot about the brothers or the time they’d spent together.

  When they found her in Celestial the first time, a little over a year ago, she couldn’t believe it. At first, she was so happy. It wasn’t until she met them in their room that night, that she realized they had changed. Older and more handsome, the brothers were harder, manlier than she remembered. She wasn’t scared of them, she never could be, but there was something darker in them, especially Garret. She couldn’t put her finger on it. It was more of a feeling. Going against her better judgment, she stayed the night and rekindled that fire that once burned deep within her. Though they’d broken her heart all those years ago, she knew too much time had passed and the best thing for all of them was to let them go again.

  Only this time, she walked away.

  There were too many deceptions and lies, and she was told as long as she stayed away from them, that none of the past would come to fruition. She had kept her promise, until she couldn’t run anymore, and that was when Zac found her for the last time. She had only returned to Celestial at the request of her longtime friend Moon Goddess, and when she found out that Zac was over in Treasure Cove, she hid herself amongst the townsfolk, knowing they would help, and they did, until the Cosmic Comic Carnival. Dressed like everyone else, she blended well, until the Federal Agents started picking people off the streets and arresting them. She tried to run, knowing she needed to hide, only she wasn’t quick enough, and one of the agents grabbed her. She was one of the lucky ones, because if it weren’t for Apollo, she would have never gotten free. It was then that she spotted Zac, and he her.

  That night, she fled Celestial and hadn’t returned since. She made her way across the country working odd jobs to pay bus fare to get her to the next town. When she landed in Chicago, she never thought for one second that Garret would be there, nor would he be the one waiting at the bus depot to arrest a fugitive. That was when he found her, and she had been with him ever since. She was tired of running and hiding. She was tired of leaving everyone she loved behind, so when Garret found her, she made a decision at that moment, that if he wanted her, she was going to allow herself to be caught.

  Opening her eyes from the memories, she saw the anger, hurt, and disappointment in Zac’s eyes. She also saw a deep longing, and as much as she knew he wouldn’t do anything about it, she wished he would. She wanted him to yell and scream, to get angry and shout at her, but that was not Zac’s way. Zac hid his pain, his anger, and said nothing.

  “I know,” she replied. “I wish I could give you the answers you need, but I can’t.”

  “Can’t or won’t?” Zac asked, his face seething with anger. She couldn’t fault him. He had every right to be mad at her.

  She looked to Garret for help, and when he barely shook his head no, she lowered her eyes. “Won’t.”

  “Zac, leave her alone and go sleep it off. You’re drunk and in no condition to have a logical conversation,” Garret said lowly, coming to stand behind her. Grateful for his assistance, she didn’t know how much more she could take before she broke down and told Zac that she was sorry for everything, and begged him to forgive her.

  She placed her hand on his chest, and Zac immediately stood and stepped back as if her touch had scalded him. Sighing, she looked down at his bare feet and whispered, “Please, Zac. Go get some sleep.”

  Zac grinned evilly. “You get out of my house. You are the one who doesn’t belong here. You are the one ruining everyone’s life you run into. Why don’t you just disappear? You’re very good at doing that.”

  Mary Jane swiftly looked up at him. It hurt her to hear him talk to her that way, but she couldn’t fault him. He didn’t know, and what he did know, he was within his right to
react the way he just had. This whole mess was disheartening. All she wanted to do was wrap her arms around him and tell him how much she loved him and how sorry she was for everything. Because of one night, their lives had changed forever, and the only way to protect him was to stay away. However, as much as she tried not to let his words hurt, they had. To make matters worse, he continued. “I don’t know what the hell is going on or why you’re here with my brother, but I will be damned to hell before I let you hurt him again. You are a deserter. You will never stay. So whatever hold you have on him, trust me when I say, I will find out, and God help you when I do,” he said fiercely, and left the room.

  When she heard a bedroom door shut, she turned and hugged Garret, silently crying into his chest. “He’s never going to forgive me, is he?” When Garret sighed, she looked up at him and asked, “What is it?”

  Garret let her go and paced the room. His tense shoulders were rigid as she watched him try to figure out how to say what it was he apparently needed to get off his chest. “Garret, you can tell me. What is it?”

  He turned, planted his feet, and clearly said, “I lied.”

  Chapter Five

  “Excuse me?” Her voice squeaked, as all the color drained from her face. “Lied about what?”

  Garret knew this time was eventually going to come. He had just hoped he’d have more time with her. Once she found out the extent of his deception, he was pretty damn sure she would not want anything to do with him ever again. From the way her eyes searched his and the posture of her body, she looked ready to bolt any second, and for once, he wasn’t going to blame her. He’d known what he was doing when he did it. He knew it was wrong, but he did it anyway.