by Zoey Marcel
But harsh reality came barreling back to the forefront of his mind. A familiar voice transformed into the crafty hiss of his tormentor. He mentally forced the door to his past shut.
“Doc, get your hand off my leg.” His hard tone sounded stern even to him.
Doc hesitated before going along with his command. He got up and sniffled on his way toward the door.
Holy shit, was Doc actually crying? Jade must really mean something to him if he wanted her to stay so badly.
“Doc, are you crying?”
Doc paused at the door before leaving. “Good night, Stetson.”
Stetson rolled over, trying not to think about how nice it would be if Jade was a man so he could pummel her for trying to rob him of his best friend. He hugged his pillow and closed his eyes, but sleep eluded him. His heart was troubled and his mind couldn’t seem to find the damned lock on the door to his past.
It was dark in his room. He liked sleeping in the dark, but with his back exposed as he lay alone in the still darkness he felt lonely and vulnerable. It was a shitty feeling he never used to have. He rarely felt this way, but whenever Doc inadvertently touched him, the gentle awakening seemed to bring ancient demons to life from the past.
Now they reared their ugly fucking heads and reminded him of voices from long ago.
“You like that, don’t you, fucker?”
Stetson shuddered and threw the covers off of himself. Well, he couldn’t sleep anyway. He might as well go talk the brat into staying. It was for her own damned good anyway, though he could care less. He couldn’t stand to see Doc so miserable, though. For his sake he should try to convince Jade not to leave.
Stetson put on some pants and wandered down the hall. He saw from underneath the door that the bathroom light was on. He went into Jade’s room and found her bed unmade and that she wasn’t there. She must be the one in the bathroom.
Oh hell, what was he doing? The dark-haired beauty pissed him off immensely. Why the fuck did he want to sit down and pretend he cared whether or not she stayed or left? He didn’t, damn it. Screw her for fucking with Kellan’s head and Doc’s heart.
Still, he had to get her to stay, and Stetson had a pretty good idea of how to keep her ass planted right where it was. He rummaged through her purse and pulled out her debit card and all her credit cards and cash. That ought to keep her there.
He started to leave, freezing when he heard the bathroom door open. Oh crap, she’s coming back!
He crammed her cards and money into his pockets and dropped to the floor. He army-crawled under her bed and watched her come back into the bedroom. She closed the door and got into bed. He waited a few minutes, hoping she’d fallen asleep.
She sniffled and made tiny sobbing noises.
Ah shit, she’s crying. What the hell am I supposed to do about that? If you don’t want to leave, then fucking stay. God, why are women so damned complicated?
He belly-crawled out from under the bed slowly and lifted his head. He couldn’t see her. Was her back to him? If it was, he could stand. What if she was lying with her face toward the door? There was no good explanation for him to be in there.
It would be better to simply wait until she fell asleep, but he didn’t want to listen to her weepy sounds. It made him uncomfortable. Besides, what if she stayed awake all night? That would suck.
He decided his best bet would be to stay down and simply slither out of the room like a sneaky little snake. He used his arms to propel himself forward as he maneuvered his hips and made his awkward way to the door.
A shrill scream nearly made his ears bleed, and he cringed.
Shit, she saw me.
“Burglar!”
Stetson got up, surprised and slightly amused that she ran at him with a pillow and started to beat him with it. He wasn’t sure if that was incredibly brave of her or incredibly foolish. To his knowledge nobody ever got beaten to death with a pillow.
The bedroom door flew open as his brother, his half-blood sibling, and his best friend all barged in. Someone flipped the light on, and Stetson had to squint so his eyes could adjust to the unexpected brightness.
Jade’s jaw dropped and she got all bug-eyed when she saw that it was him. “Stetson?”
“What the hell is going on?” Sawyer demanded. “Some of us are trying to sleep.”
Jade looked shocked. “What are you doing in my room?”
“What do you think I was doing in your room?” Stetson returned. It wasn’t like him to lose his wit, but he hadn’t been expecting to be caught in her room red-handed.
Sawyer sounded like he was grinning. “I bet I know what he was doing in here. I think Adam realized how lonely it was in the garden and figured he’d go looking for a little Eve action.”
Stetson rolled his eyes. “I didn’t come in here to fuck Jade.”
“Well, good,” she snapped. “I don’t want to fuck you either.”
Kellan smirked. “Oh my God, you do want him. I can smell your cream, baby girl. This wolf thing is pretty nifty. Let me see who else is aroused in this room.”
Jade’s cheeks flushed to a light shade of pink. “Shut up! I do not!”
“Nobody’s aroused by anybody,” Stetson barked. “I was sleepwalking.”
Kellan sounded surprised. “You sleepwalk?”
“Yes, and what of it?”
“Geez, sorry. I didn’t know.”
Sawyer’s obnoxious enthusiasm rang out. “Well, you closet sex maniac, you walked into the right room. Too bad you woke her. Sleep fucking would be hot. I wonder if it’s possible for two people to fuck each other in their sleep.”
“Shut up,” Stetson growled.
Kellan sounded confused. “I’m surprised you didn’t smell him in here.”
Jade sniffled. “I did a little, but my nose is congested. I figured I was just imagining things.”
Sawyer looked concerned by her red eyes. “You all right?”
She nodded.
Stetson turned to her. Why the hell did she have to sleep in such skimpy pj’s? It was winter, for Christ’s sake. “Put some fucking clothes on.”
She blinked at him in surprise. “Excuse me? What difference does it make to you what I sleep in?”
“I bet it makes all the difference in his pants,” Sawyer teased.
Stetson wanted to knock the fucker’s head off. Thank God he didn’t actually have an erection right now since he was trying to think fast to keep his real motives for being in Jade’s room from being discovered.
“What part of ‘shut up’ grazed your pea-sized brain?” he asked. “And why are you running around in your fucking underwear again? Don’t you own any fucking shirts? This isn’t La Push.”
Sawyer laughed. “I’m not even gonna ask how you know the werewolves in that movie didn’t wear shirts. Besides, Doc ain’t wearing a shirt either.”
Stetson’s eyes flickered over to Doc, who stood there in his black boxers. He looked thinner than he normally did with his clothes on, but his body was strangely breathtaking. Stetson met Doc’s gaze and suddenly felt exposed and vulnerable when he saw the depth he hoped he only imagined in the man’s beautiful pale-green eyes.
Stetson averted his eyes and made his tone gruff when he glanced over at Jade one more time before storming out. “Jesus, Jade, what’s wrong with you? Go back to sleep.”
He left without looking back, but he heard Sawyer say, “What the fuck was that all about?”
* * * *
Jade packed her suitcase early the next morning. It had been in Bane’s car and he’d given it back to her before he left. It seemed like she had just unpacked, and now here she was loading the thing up again.
She hoped to slip out before anyone woke up, mainly Kellan since she didn’t want to hurt him with her good-bye or have him see her weep over the knowledge that she would never see him again.
He was meant for her, but it didn’t matter. Bane didn’t want to share her, and she really couldn’t blame him. Still, fate wa
s a mean old bastard for showing her that it intended for her to belong to five different men, four of which she could never have.
She loved Kellan and she would miss him terribly after she was gone.
She didn’t know Sawyer very well, but he was a hottie and he cracked her up. She could see herself falling for him if she stayed long enough.
Stetson was a peculiar douche bag. He was a cold bastard with an eccentric side apparently. What the hell had he been doing in her room last night? He said he’d been sleepwalking. Well, that bullshit was all fine and dandy except for the part where he’d been slithering around on the floor like a frigging snake rather than walking. She’d never heard of sleep belly-crawling and figured he was lying. Why, though? What had he been up to?
Her mind drifted to Doc. Him she loved, and it pained her to know that he thought she only wanted him because he was dying. Sure she felt sorry for him because his time was running out, but it wasn’t why she loved him.
She sneaked out of the house, losing her breath at the gorgeous rays of sun. It was that time just after dawn when the colors had started to fade, but there was still an early morning glow and a slight chill in the air. Arizona was stunning, particularly around sunset and sunrise. She would definitely miss it.
“Where do you think you’re going, missy?”
Jade turned to see an even more striking sight. Sawyer approached her wearing only cowboy boots and jeans. He carried a saddle over his shoulder and his shaggy, sandy hair and stubbly beard and mustache made him look rugged and virile. He had dust on his bare chest, which stuck a bit because of the sweat. The sight of the ripped cowboy looking sweaty and dirty sent her mind to places that were oh so bad.
“I was leaving,” she said, trying to get her bearings.
“Is that a fact?”
“Yeah, it is actually.” She felt warm at the way he smirked at her.
“How far do you think you’ll get with no car?”
She shrugged. “I can walk and find some means of public transportation later in town. It’s not that big of a deal. I have money.”
“No, you don’t,” a masculine voice contradicted from behind her.
She recognized Stetson’s scent and turned to look behind her when she heard footsteps and saw him standing a few feet away from her. “What do you mean I don’t have money? Bane gave me some before he left, and if it’s not enough then I have a debit card and credit cards.”
“No, you don’t. I took them away from you last night,” he told her, not appearing at all ashamed of himself like he should be.
“Excuse me? What the hell were you doing in my purse?”
“Trying to keep you from making a big-ass mistake by leaving this morning.” Stetson folded his arms, and even through the light-blue-and-white flannel shirt she could picture those muscles she’d seen when she saw him shirtless that one time. “Not that you staying isn’t a mistake either, but at least you won’t get killed that way.”
Doc came running out of the house toward them. “Jade! Don’t go!”
She’d really been hoping she could slip away without him noticing. How was she supposed to look a man she cared about so deeply in his eyes and then walk away from him? But she must. She was in way over her head here, lingering with all the mates Bane forbade her to claim.
“Stay out of this, Doc,” she said.
Stetson’s brown eyes narrowed. “Don’t you talk to him that way. Doc deserves respect, and you’ll give it to him if you know what’s good for you.”
His audacity outraged her. “Excuse me?”
Doc was huffing and puffing and he started hacking violently. Her heart bled when he turned his head, probably so they wouldn’t see him coughing up blood.
Sawyer looked over at him, appearing concerned. “Son of a bitch, Doc. You all right?”
Doc nodded, keeping his back to them.
Kellan walked toward the house and then changed directions so he carried his armful of wood toward them. Jade couldn’t imagine anyone in Arizona ever needing to burn wood for any reason, but it did get cold at night, so maybe they enjoyed the occasional fire.
“What’s going on here?” Kellan asked.
“Your brother is an ass,” she informed him as she stared Stetson down.
Kellan grinned, flashing her his pearly whites. “Which one?”
Stetson’s glare was intimidating, but she couldn’t show him that. She was strong, damn it, but lord did the man make her feel uncomfortable and vanquished. Apparently his dominant personality had a way of commanding her respect even though she’d rather not give it to him. It didn’t matter, though. Against her will he had her respect. Infuriating man.
“I think she means smiley over there,” Sawyer joked.
“What did he do?” Kellan asked.
“He took my debit card and money,” Jade snapped, folding her arms to make herself look tougher.
The way Stetson’s lips twitched ever so slightly when he saw her crossed arms made her want to hit him. Apparently the idea of her trying to act tough was hilarious to him.
“I took your credit cards, too,” he reminded her shamelessly with a look that said, “what ya gonna do about that, girly?”
She screeched at him, becoming irritated at the humor in his eyes, though he hid his smile well. “You ornery dick! You give me back my stuff! It’s mine, and you had no right to take it.”
“Why’d you take her stuff?” Kellan wanted to know.
Stetson didn’t answer him directly. “You’re not going anywhere, Jade.”
Kellan looked concerned. “Whoa, wait a minute. Were you leaving, honey?”
Stetson continued to stare her down as he scolded his younger brother. “She’s not your honey, you idiot. She’s engaged to another man.”
“If I fucked it, it’s mine,” Kellan argued.
Sawyer laughed.
“I love Jade, and that makes her my honey,” Kellan said firmly.
“You don’t love her,” Stetson countered. “It’s the stupid animal hormones fucking with your brain.”
“It is not. This kitty’s mine.”
Sawyer grinned. “Now, Stet, quit being such a hard ass and leave Pepé alone to woo his kitten.”
Stetson’s hard stare lifted briefly to shoot a warning look over at Sawyer, who stood behind Jade. “Not a word out of you. And why the hell are you doing your chores without a damned shirt?”
Sawyer chuckled. “Ain’t it better than me running around without any pants on?”
“Touché,” Stetson agreed. His focus seemed to shift to her. “You made Bane a promise.”
Jade rolled her eyes. She was really getting fed up with the crabby rancher referring to her as a whore all the time. She’d only slept with Doc, Sawyer, and Kellan once since Bane left, and he gave her permission to for crying out loud. They were her mates, too, damn it.
“Yeah, I know. You think I’m a whore. I get it.”
“I mean he told you to stay put here for your own safety, and you agreed to,” Stetson reminded her.
“Yeah, but it’s not like I gave him my word or anything.”
“You said you would stay. That means you gave him your word.”
“Yeah, but I didn’t promise him.”
Stetson looked disgusted with her. “I don’t give a shit whether you said the words ‘I promise’ or not. You led him to believe that you’d wait here for him for your protection, and I’m not going to let you go back on your word.”
She stared at him, feeling her jaw slack and her face contort with disbelief. “What are you, some kind of old-fashioned basket case? I said I would, but things didn’t work out. I tried, but it’s not my fault this isn’t working.”
Stetson shook his head with obvious repulsion. “It’s that sort of shitty attitude that will fail your marriage.”
“Excuse me?” She unfolded her arms and ran at him, but someone strong held her back.
“Whoa, easy there, spitfire.” Sawyer held her easily with one
hand while still carrying the saddle over his shoulder with the other. His strength made her hot and bothered, but at the same time it was downright irritating the way he kept her from hitting his older brother.
“Let me at him!” she demanded, swinging her fists.
Stetson smirked at this. The bastard actually smirked at her.
Sawyer laughed. “I like this one. Thanks for bringing her here, bright eyes.”
Kellan grinned. “No problem. I like her, too.”
Doc finally turned to look at them. Without even glancing at him she could feel the weight of his sorrow bearing down on her. He wanted her to stay. What the hell for? So he could get in a few more good fucks before dying and not really giving a shit about her?
“Fine. I don’t need money. I’ll walk to Bane if I have to. What do you think of that, cowboy?” she taunted.
Stetson wasn’t impressed. “I think you’re a fucktard.”
“What?” she shrieked, trying to lunge at him again. Damn Sawyer for holding her back.
Doc spoke up. “Jade is helping me cross off my bucket list.”
Sawyer sounded like he was grinning from behind her. “I’ll bet she is.”
Kellan’s face lit up with enthusiasm. “That’s a great idea. I want a bucket list, too. Jade, baby, you can help me cross it off.”
Stetson scowled. “Wonderful. Let’s all make bucket lists and hold hands.”
“Now what do you want to go and make a bucket list for, crab cakes?” Sawyer teased. “They say the ornery ones live forever, so you got nothing to worry about.”
Jade tried not to laugh at this and the way Stetson’s eyes narrowed when they fell on Sawyer.
Doc sounded desperate. “You made a promise to me, too, Jade. You said you’d be there to help me cross those things off my list.”
Her eyes stung and her chest hurt. “I said I’d help you. I never gave my word.”
Stetson shook his head. “You’ve got a shitty sense of honor.”
“Yeah, well, fuck you,” she retorted. “You give me back my things, asshole.”