by Mia Malone
When he saw Beth, he had to clench his jaw to stop himself from roaring, and he heard Lee pull in air. Beth looked like she’d crumble and fall if someone as much as touched her, and when the women looked at each other across the room, he nudged Lee gently.
“Go to her, baby.”
Lee didn’t hesitate to walk straight past her former family and through a group of men to put her arms around Beth. Gibson went to their side, nodding at the men he knew as he passed them but not stopping. He was there to honor a good man, but mostly he was there for Lee. There was no way he’d leave her side for a second because of the grief she felt, but also since the shitheads in her former family was standing to the side, watching her and Beth.
“Gibson,” a voice said quietly, and he turned to find his former partner standing next to him.
“Joey,” he murmured.
He’d called to let him know they’d be there and they looked at each other in silence. Beth was crying softly, and Lee’s shoulders shook a little, so he assumed she did too. Anger bubbled inside him but he pushed it down and moved a hand gently over Lee’s back. Joey’s hard face softened for a brief moment when he saw it, and Gibson knew he’d conveyed clearly to his former partner exactly what Lee was to him with that unexpected tenderness.
“I loved him,” Beth whispered, and Gibson clamped his jaws together again.
Fuck, how this sucked.
“I know you did,” Lee murmured.
“I don’t know how to do this.”
“Shit,” Joey murmured under his breath.
“You dig in, Bethie, and you keep walking,” Lee murmured. “I am so, so sorry for you, and I hate that this happened, you know that. But you’ll take one step at the time, and you’ll survive this. Women like us, Beth, we’re strong. Even when it hurts like hell, honey, we hold on to that strength and keep moving.”
Beth leaned her forehead on Lee’s shoulder and breathed slowly but remained silent.
“You will survive this,” Lee repeated gently. “We’re here for you if you need us. You’re welcome in Wilhelmine any time.”
Beth took another breath and then she murmured, “Thank you.”
Gibson turned toward Joey but he was watching the Lee with approval, and Gib knew his friend not only knew what Lee was to him but also why. Then Lee’s next words hit them, and her voice was quiet but had an edge to it that was sharp and vicious.
“Gibson will kill the fucker who did this, Bethie. Swear to God he will.”
Beth moved her head to look up at Gibson, and their eyes held when Lee kept talking.
“There will be vengeance, Beth.”
Gibson had to tighten the muscles in his neck to stop himself from nodding, confirming what Lee had just said. He would rid the earth of that scum, but it was something they hadn’t talked about, so he hadn’t expected Lee to know. And he was also in a room full of cops so he couldn’t nod. He’d need an alibi that was well beyond one-hundred percent airtight as it was.
Beth saw it in his eyes, though, and she made her lips form a small, sad smile as she mouthed, “Thank you.”
He smiled a tight smile back at her and watched as she straightened her back, exhaled and squeezed Lee’s shoulder.
“Thank you,” she repeated and walked over to talk to a group of people who had just arrived.
“You okay, baby?” Gibson murmured.
“Yeah,” Lee sighed. “This fucking sucks,” she added.
The rest of the funeral had been as awful as expected, but it had gone smoothly, and Lee had ignored her former family, a courtesy they had returned. Gibson had kept himself between her and them, just in case.
Lee slept the whole plane ride back, and again in the car as he took them home. The next day, they went back to their lives, reclaiming them yet again.
He was jolted out of his thoughts when Lee and Paddy went up in a handstand and he smiled a little. Fucking show-offs, he thought and kept watching as they went through their routine. He felt himself harden as her agile body twisted and turned in front of him, so the second they were rolling their mats up, he walked out on the porch.
“You’re leaving,” he grunted to Paddy.
Paddy started laughing, but he ignored him, took hold of Lee’s hand to pull her inside and toward the stairs.
“Gibson,” she squealed.
“Spent an hour watching your ass in those tights, babe,” he said. “Which means I now have a very hard cock that you need to take care of.”
They were at the top of the stairs, and he heard the door close downstairs which meant Paddy had likely heard what he said, something he didn’t care about in the least.
“Gibson,” Lee repeated, but it was breathy in a way he knew meant she was getting wet.
Yeah, he thought. He liked to be in charge but she fucking loved it too.
“Clothes off,” he said.
She did what he told her, and he closed the door behind him, leaning his shoulders on it.
“Want your mouth,” he murmured.
Her eyes heated, and he slowly unbuttoned his pants, shifted them down a little and watched her eyes widen as he pulled out his cock and started stroking it.
“On your knees babe,” he said.
She did as she was told and looked up at him as he caressed her cheek. Then she took him into his mouth.
“Fucking heaven,” he murmured, and added, “Work yourself, babe. Wanna watch you make yourself come when I’m in your mouth.”
One of her hands went down between her legs, and it didn’t take long for her to start moaning around his cock. He held her head gently as he slid in and out and when it hit her, he watched her eyes get blurry and had to bite his teeth together to stop himself from coming. Then he pulled her up and moved them to the bed, got out of his clothes and fucked his woman hard until she came again, and when she did, he let himself come too.
“What brought that on?” Lee murmured into his neck while they were coming down from their orgasms.
“Fucking unbelievable you have to ask that, baby,” he said with a grin
***
“Hey, am I late?” Gibson said as he walked into Paddy’s living room.
“Mac’s later,” Paddy said sourly.
Gibson grinned at him, knowing how Paddy was when it came to agreed appointments. You either were on time, or you were a fucking moron, the way he saw it, and Mac was usually the same, so it was a bit surprising that he wasn’t there already. Whatever, he thought, sank down in a chair with a sigh and looked at Joke.
“Had a great time last night.”
“Yeah,” Joke agreed with a grin.
They had all gone to a town in the neighboring county and had dinner at a swanky restaurant. Jenny had spent time in the kitchen, wheedling recipes out of the poor chef, which they all agreed boded well for their future because the food had been fantastic. They had moved on to a bar halfway home for drinks and ended the evening at Oak, partying until Tug, the bartender working that night, had kicked them out.
Waking up with a faint hangover had been totally worth it.
“Hey,” Mac said as he walked in and sat down, glaring at Paddy.
“What?” Gibson grunted.
Mac had been with them the night before, and unless he and Paddy had fought on the short way home, he did not understand Mac’s anger.
“Got a call,” Mac snarled. “Zhivko got himself killed late last night. Shot. They found him this morning.”
Gibson straightened and narrowed his eyes. They had been looking for the man, and so had just about every cop across the country, but he’d been gone. Having spent a lifetime being a criminal, Zhivko had contacts, and he’d used them to stay hidden in a way that had frustrated the hell out of Gibson, and even more out of Mac.
The way Mac glared at Paddy conveyed clearly what had gone down, though, and Gibson suddenly knew why Paddy had organized the evening before, with all of them together, in places with lots o
f people they had no ties to, ending it close to home. A well beyond one-hundred percent airtight alibi for them all, including himself.
“You’re gonna have to step outside for a while, Mac,” Paddy said calmly, confirming that he had been involved.
“Fuck it, Paddy. You know my loyalty is to us first. Always was, always will be.”
“I know, Mac, but I also remember how we agreed to keep you as clean as possible, and this is one of the cases when it’s possible,” Paddy said calmly. Mac moved to protest, but Paddy talked over him. “I get you’re curious, so I’ll give this; If I were to guess, Zhivko was done by someone on a motorcycle, quite possibly a member of a club, which means someone provided that club with an incentive to pull the trigger. I’d also guess it happened two states away from here, that the police have neither suspects, nor evidence, and don’t plan on looking very hard for either because the man was a cop-killing cockroach who was going down and would spend the rest of his life on the tax-payers’ dime.”
“Yeah,” Mac said. “That’d be a pretty fucking good guess.”
“You wanna go check my petunias now?” Paddy said with a grin.
“I find it disturbing on so many levels that you even have petunias, but yeah. I’ll go check on them.”
Mac stalked out through the back door and closed it behind him with a little more force than necessary.
“Jesus, Paddy,” Gibson murmured. “It didn’t have to come to this.”
“It was about you potentially getting killed, Gibson, but it was more than that, and you know it,” Paddy retorted immediately, with steel in both his voice and eyes. “They see that we can be fucked with? That we play by the book? Then they move in, and we’ll have a shitstorm starting up again. Fuck with us, and we fuck back. This way it’s known, loud and clear that we still have this county.”
“Fuck it, you’re right,” Joke said.
Paddy was right, and Gibson knew that. He still wished it hadn’t had to involve the clubs.
“Who do I owe a marker?” he asked.
“No one. I do,” Paddy said calmly.
“Paddy,” Gibson said warningly.
“Our Sergeant at Arms owes a marker, it’d be used for a kill. Me – they’re still not sure I have that in me, so the marker will be used to broker a deal somewhere. Maybe someone wants to do a one-off transport through Wilhelmine. Make me braid their fucking beards. Don’t know, and don’t care.”
“Right,” Gibson grunted, and he didn’t like it, but Paddy was right a-fucking-gain.
They’d have used him for a kill, and he would have done it. It would have been a piece of scum going down, but that didn’t mean he would have liked it.
“One request, Padraig,” he said softly. “When they call it, you tell me.”
Paddy nodded slowly.
“Fair enough. It won’t stop what they call it for, but I’ll tell you.”
“I know it won’t, but I’ll have your back.”
“You have my back anyway,” Paddy said with a grin and waved at Mac to come back in.
“Yeah,” Gibson said because he did.
When Mac sat down on the couch, they looked at each other, and the mood slowly changed in the room again.
“Would it have hurt you to give me a damned heads up on Cal’s plans to start working for you, Mac?” Gibson grunted. “Would have saved me a minor stroke over mashed potatoes.”
Callum had called the evening before and shared that he’d signed the contract and would begin working as a deputy in Wilhelmine a month later. Gibson had promised to stay out of it until it was a done deal, so he had, but he was now free to poke at his friend.
“Cal’s a big boy,” Mac grinned. “Will be an asset to us.”
“Cal’s moving here?” Paddy said.
“That’s great,” Joke added. “It’ll cramp your style having him downstairs, but still. Fucking great.”
Gibson grinned and turned to Paddy.
“Have your crew finish off the last parts of the cabin, will you? Cal’s renting it.”
“Sure. Lee knows she’s not going back?” Paddy asked.
“Not exactly,” Gibson said. “She likes my boy but she’ll be good with him in the cabin and her exactly where she already is.”
“You should probably tell her she’s moved in,” Joke chuckled.
“Ask her,” Mac said, and added with a little emphasis, “Ask.”
“Or tell,” Paddy grinned.
Gibson chuckled and shrugged, hoping to God he was right. Lee had moved in with him already, even if she didn’t know it, and she would stay moved in. And like it. He’d just have to find a good way to tell her that.
“I’ll figure something out,” he murmured.
“Don’t mess it up,” Joke said warningly.
Since Gibson was afraid he’d do just that, he was about to get into an argument to blow off some steam, but he was cut off.
“Got half a goddamned pig at my place,” Mac said. “Barbecue tonight?”
“You have half a pig at your place?” Joke echoed.
“Yeah.” Mac shrugged. “Someone was happy with my services.”
“Jesus,” Joke said. “What’s her name and what the hell did you do to get that kind of payback?”
“Ha fucking ha,” Mac snorted. “Her name is Billy, and I helped him rebuild his smoker.”
That moved them into a discussion about what they’d done, and Gib felt his anger melt away. He wouldn’t mess it up with Lee. She loved him for fuck’s sake, so he’d find a way to let her know that she had already moved into his home and would stay there.
“Barbecue sounds good. You still want the headboard?” Gibson asked.
He’d put the headboard he’d built for Lee back in his workshop, but she wasn’t going to need it, and he hoped to God his son didn’t have any plans involving a very sturdy headboard. Or, if he had those kinds of plans, which he probably did, that he’d never share them with his father.
“Yeah,” Mac said.
“Let’s swing by my place, get some beer and load up the thing. Jenny’s there, enough meat for the two of them?”
“Half a pig,” Mac retorted as they moved through the house.
“Right,” Gibson chuckled. “They might pass, though. Lee said something about tequila and girl talk, whatever the fuck that means.”
“It means you’ll get drunk-sex tonight,” Joke muttered.
“I can do that,” Gibson said and grinned at his friends over the hood of his car.
***
Charlene
Jenny and I were in the deck chairs on the back porch, sipping white wine spritzers and watching the mountains. We had planned to have a girls-only night, and that it would involve tequila but after the night before we were still on the fence about it.
“Can I ask you something?” Jenny asked quietly
“Sure,” I said, wondering why she was watching the mountains so intently.
“This is gonna sound really weird, and you can tell me to mind my own business… But what’s going on with you and my brother?”
“Joke?” I asked, although his name unfortunately came out in a small squeak.
“Only brother I have,” she said calmly, but still not watching me.
Their parents had retired down in Arizona and came back every now and then, but it was not frequent, and Jenny had said that they weren’t very close. She was very close to her brother, though.
“What do you mean?” I asked slowly.
God. A thousand words went through my mind, and I wondered what I should share with her. What I could share with her. If it had been any of the other men, I would probably have told her, or at least hinted at it already, but this was Zacharias. Her big brother.
“He’s just, I don’t know… different around you. Freaked way the fuck out when you got shot. More than the others. And he touches you differently. And more than the others do.”
Shit. She
was perceptive, I had to give her that.
“Have the others seen it?” I asked quietly.
“The others, as in the others who are men? No, Lee. People who have dicks don’t notice stuff like that.”
“Okay,” I murmured, trying to find the right words to tell her without having to actually share any details because I was pretty sure she’d find it just as gross as I’d find it embarrassing.
“I know you didn’t fuck him behind Gibson’s back because that’s not who you are,” she said.
My eyes widened, and I straightened.
“Of course not, Jenny. But we might have… played a little.”
That got her attention, and she turned to me, finally.
“Played a little?”
“Yeah, you know,” I said lamely.
“No, I actually don’t know.”
“Do I have to spell it out for you?” I asked and tried again, “Gib and I and, um, Joke, might have played a little.”
Her eyes opened wide, and her brows shot up as understanding hit her, but her mouth slowly widened with a sly smile.
“When you say played, you mean… In a sexual way?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh, God,” she breathed.
“That’s what I said,” I retorted. “Repeatedly.”
She started laughing, and I giggled with her
“I didn’t tell you because, you know. Brother.”
“Was it good?” she asked, and I felt heat warm my cheeks, a little from embarrassment but mostly because of the memory of what we’d done.
“Oh, yeah,” I murmured.
“Shit.”
“You should totally get onboard with this fuck-buddy thing, it’s great,” I shared.
“Lee, really?” she asked, and one of her brows went up.
“I think you should go for Paddy,” I informed her.
“Paddy?”
“He’s cute. Fantastic ass.”
“Too much of a man-whore for me,” she snorted and looked away.
“One of the others?” I prompted.
“Nah, I get my rocks off in other ways when I want it,” she said.
I giggled and punched her lightly in the shoulder.
“This you have not shared with me, girl. Do tell.”