Crown and Anchor Series: Book 1-4

by Kerri Ann

  “Risen!” Cassidy admonishes me, making me pause.

  “Her in the room with you? And if there were no verbalizations about age, lifestyle, expectations or otherwise, then that’s on you both. Better?” I check with Cassidy. The last thing I need is being formally reprimanded by her. No way do I want a dive in my kitchen needs.

  Cassidy nods and grins before placing a new plate of sausages in front of me. “Yes. Thank you, Officer.”

  Cathryne steps away from the counter, following Hallette out slowly, like those with monster hangovers do. “She was my ride here. I don’t feel like waiting for Carmon to pick me up.” Kissing China on the cheek, she thanks Cassidy for breakfast with a hand-blown air kiss. “Text me the outcome on the party, CD?”

  China nods, watching Cathryne saunter off down the hall after the shell-shocked Hallette. Deciding to add fuel to the fire, China clips off, “So, Trevor, you know how to clear a room.” Gleefully laughing into her mug of joe, Trevor shrugs, spooning another mouthful of his grits into his gob. I have to admit, it’s nice to see her laughing, even if it is at Trevor’s expense. Who am I kidding? It’s totally better because it’s at his expense and not mine.

  “So party?” It must’ve slipped her mind with all the jaw-dropping orgasms we gave each other.

  “Yeah. I wanted to have a big tadoo, a sendoff. The idea that I won’t be held to the mansion anymore, I’ll have my inheritance, and I can do as I please is something I want to celebrate. Twenty-one to me is more than being able to drink shots of Patron legally, it’s about being independent like Casper and Whiskey.”

  “I get it. You want to show the world you’re you and not them.”

  “Yeah, mostly. Some of it’s that I need to get clear of here. There’s some big boots to fill, and ghosts riding down the halls.”

  Nipping into the sausages in front of me, her comment gives me an idea. “So on that topic. Someone, namely you, Miss China Crown, owes me a race.” I’m looking forward to hitting that blacktop with her beside me, behind me, or even ahead of me by miles. I’ll accept any version of it. It’s been awhile since I raced. I’m giddy about it, if I’m honest with myself.

  Instead of answering, China mumbles ah-hum into her cup, then proceeds to clear her almost full plate to the garburator. Once the noise ends, she too gives Cassidy a peck then saunters off.

  “What just happened?” I ask Trevor.

  “I kinda think that was your fuck up, man.”

  Great.

  “Cassidy, what did I say?”

  Turning from the pot, wiping her hands on the stained towel, she smiles weakly at me. “Remember I told you once there’s a point when you’ll find she breaks?”

  “Yes ma’am,” I reply.

  “When I told you how she was holding up, and that at some point she’d come around?” Again, I nod my agreement.

  “Well, son, she just walked away from her favorite thing in the morning. Coffee. You were getting through to her. I’d say you just backed up the cart a few too many paces and hit a wall.”

  Thinking on her answer, I still feel dumbfounded by what I said. “I’m still confused, Cassidy. What did I say?”

  Scrunching up her nose, she pulls her long black hair back from her face. Stepping away from the stove, Cassidy rounds on me. “What has Miss avoided this whole time you’ve been here?”

  “Oh, I know this one,” Trevor gladly interjects, raising his arm in a mock teacher’s pet attention. Swatting him on the head, he pouts.

  “This is mine to figure out, not yours, you dolt. You already messed up today and answering my fuckup isn’t going to gain you points. Shut up and eat.”

  “And?”

  By now, I’m no longer hungry for food, I’m hungry for answers. “I must be the dumbest smart guy in the room right now as I’m not following you.”

  “What are the Crown’s known for, Mr. Risen Mason?” she asks.

  Fuck, I get it.

  “Fuck,” I mutter. I should have figured it out. She’s avoided the track the whole time, and I just pushed her right into a fear she’s been harboring. She’s afraid of the track.

  It’s become a nemesis.

  Without waiting on my reply, Cassidy turns back to the stovetop and says, “That about sums it up.”

  CHINA

  “Miss Crown?” Answering the phone today was probably not a good idea. I’ve been in avoidance mode for weeks. No, for longer than that. Answering a call from Merconda’s secretary was stupid. I thought it might have been about my house arrest, not about mother’s funeral or will reading. Something I’ve tried to forget about.

  “Yes, I’m here,” I answer.

  “With your brother awake, and Jamieson in attendance, we really must finalize the burial of your mother’s remains.” Tiki is a nice lady, but reminding me that I haven’t dealt with a cold corpse, probably wasn’t a way to get me involved in her conversation. “The team member will be meeting you at the hospital to go over everything. You need to be in attendance. I don’t care to remind you that I can contact officer Mason and have him bring you in, as I’m sure you want closure to this too.”

  You bet your ass I do, but dealing and doing are two different things. Huffing lightly into the phone, I put a smile on my face and answer. “What time are you looking to do this, Tiki?”

  “Four o’clock, please. And don’t be late. We’d hate to have to charge you more hours than necessary.” With a resounding click, Tiki doesn’t wait for my reply.

  “Thanks for the invite,” I say to the air, placing my phone on my lap.

  Risen was originally taking me back out to Creaper’s today to grab a few other parts that I’m missing, but I guess my day has been redirected. I’ve been sitting in my room for the past hour, hanging on the porch, avoiding the world.

  Picking my phone back up, I text Circe. Did the lawyers already contact Cas?

  She answers, Sedated now.

  Shit, that’s not good. Over the past few weeks, Casper was doing a bit better. The drugs they’d prescribed had been regulating his moods. For Dr. Callie to have to resort to further sedation, it’s not good news. As I pocket my phone and attempt to deal with what’s to come in a few hours, I think of how this will affect my brother.

  In regards to the outcome of the will, Whiskey and I decided it was best left until Casper was out of the hospital. It seems that Crown Board of Directors doesn’t wish to wait any longer. So the three of us will cram into his hospital suite with a team of lawyers, his girlfriend and her mother, and Risen to complete the obligations our parents demanded of us.

  Shit! What about Jamieson? This is going to be horrible for him. Going through the motions with something he’s not involved in will be unfair.

  “You okay in there?” Risen asks from the door of my bedroom.

  “Yeah, I’m good.” Liar. A damn good liar. “Give me a second.”

  Stepping out of the anteroom, I plaster on a fake grin. Acting like it doesn’t affect me, Risen will see through it, but I need him to take me there so there’s no use in hiding my intentions.

  “Ri, I need to go to the hospital. The lawyers called. I need to be there at four.” Moving off to the closet, I grab up an outfit. “They’re pressuring us to go over the will.”

  Sneaking up behind me, wrapping his arms around my middle, Risen gently kisses the nape of my neck. Leaving peck after peck, I melt into his greedy touch. “How are your brother’s dealing with this?” He asks, letting his hands wander. I don’t want to stop him, but we only have a short time before I need to be there for the inevitable.

  “Ahh, Risen, we need to go.”

  Reaching my panties, thumbing my folds, my breathing quickens. “It’s not a long drive. We have some time to spare.” Plying my will out of me, delving his fingers within, I lean into his touch. “Just a bit of time to make you feel better. Let me make you feel better, China.”

  He doesn’t mention the earlier conversation about racing, and his way of relaxing me was a devious
plan of avoidance. It works.

  CHINA

  “He’s still pissed.”

  “Yeah, I know. But until we sign and accept the direction our parent’s wanted us to take, then we can’t change anything.” Slumping back on the bed, Casper is so weak. And with the dulling drugs, he’s clouded.

  Risen and I arrived about twenty minutes ago, after our interlude soiree in my walk-in closet. I was definitely relaxed. Even sitting here, I feel his tongue on my body, exploring and ravishing me in ways I’ve always wanted to feel. I’d hoped to find a man who could pleasure me, help me to enjoy life, and to show me there is life after all the death I’ve endured. Hopefully, this isn’t short-lived. I’d hate to see Risen leave in a couple weeks and never look back.

  Snapping me from my daydream of Risen being around long-term, Casper jolts my thoughts with what we’re avoiding. “The lawyers should be here soon. Do you mind going to find James?” Wyatt’s motions are languid, and his speech is definitely affected by the calming concoction. Nodding, I agree and head off in search of our broody brother.

  Walking out of the room, I find Risen sitting in one of the uncomfortable folding recliners that I slept in for weeks. His massive frame makes the chair look like a child’s under his weight and size.

  “Everything okay?”

  “Yeah, so far. I need to go find my brother before the she-demon arrives with paperwork. Last thing he wants to do is miss this fiasco. Actually, it’s more like I need him there for the comedy relief and bluster.”

  Taking my hand, Risen and I set off in search. Passing the nurses station, Dr. Callie looks up with a shit-eating grin as she takes in the man by my side. Yeah, he’s quite the package and I know it. Stare, gawk, think dirty thoughts about what you’d like to lick, or what you imagine his cock is like. It’s nothing like you’d imagine. Nothing prepared me for the Anaconda, but I wouldn’t ask for less. What girl would anyway?

  Passing more women, I look at it like when I’m on a bike. I’m the leader, and they’re the ones in my dust. Eventually finding my brother, sitting in the cafeteria with a sport’s drink and a bag of peanuts, he’s gazing at his phone. “Hey,” I say.

  He doesn’t look up. “Hey, Doll. It’s time, I guess.”

  Plunking my ass in the chair beside him, I give him a kiss on the cheek. “Yeah. No more avoidance, I guess. Time to deal with the pied piper. The call went out and our little mice asses have to dance now.” Rolling his eyes, growling out a nondescript sound, Whiskey gives me that big brother chin raise I know so well.

  “Well, fuck. Guess we might as well get this shit done. I have snow awaiting my board.” Rising out of the chair, he’s just as unhappy about this as the rest of us.

  Whiskey has been detached from this family for so long, since we were kids because of that freaking will. The will our parents amended just before his twenty-fifth birthday, when he was supposed to take on the controlling power in Crown Racing Industries. But they fucked him over. Royally. I never had the balls to ask why, because I never saw Dad leaving the power to us. It didn’t matter. He was a dynamic leader, a forward-thinking racer, and a brilliant strategist. We’ll never be as good as he was, and I don’t believe that any of us wish to attempt that. We can’t replace him.

  We make our way back to the room. “I’ll wait out here,” Risen states as Jamieson opens the door to Cas’ room.

  “You don’t have to. I don’t mind you there, and I doubt they care.” I laugh. “Actually, it could be good to have the law on our side. I have the feeling one of us might go postal.”

  As a sweet smile courses his features, Risen places a gentle kiss on my forehead. “I trust you’ll be fine. And besides, I took the bullets out of your gun.”

  Narrowing my gaze, mocking his silly remark, I pull Risen down by the collar of his shirt and make him kiss me in earnest. His tongue blends and vies for power. I love the light he pulls from me.

  He gives me a tiny peck to send me off. “I’ll see you in a bit, China.”

  I back away from him and open the door. “I’ll be either screaming or ranting. Be ready for both,” I say, walking inside.

  WYATT

  No matter how much they wanted this done, we’ve been trying to avoid it at all costs. Our family fell apart and it all happened in less than a year. We’re the sad souls left here to pick our hearts off the ground that have been stamped on repeatedly. If it weren’t for Circe in the bed beside me, the secondary run-in with mind fogging drugs, and my brother and sister by my side, I think I’d be looking at a rubber room instead of signing the papers that turn over the controlling power of Crown.

  “So that’s it? We’ve sang the song and dance you needed. You’re satisfied we’ve fulfilled the obligations of our parents’ will, and you’ll leave us to our own devices?”

  “To a point, yes. That about sums it up,” Merconda states mechanically. Anytime I’ve met the woman, I’ve wanted to throw her over a pit of vipers. Her bedside manners are horrific.

  “Fine. Get out,” Jamieson grinds out.

  “Yes, the will is settled. You’ve yet to deal with the funer—”

  Cutting Merconda off, Jamieson rises out of his chair and stomps across the room with deadly intent. “I told you to leave.”

  She raises her hands in mock defeat. “Mr. Crown, I’m sorry, but until you decide a date of interment, your mother’s corpse will remain on ice in the morgue, but she cannot stay there indefinitely.”

  Even in a clouded mind, I have enough clarity to know my brother is close to slamming her through the shaded window. “Ms. Smith, I think it’s about time you leave. We no longer require your services.” Sitting up slightly taller in the bed, I grip Siren’s hand tighter. “We’ll have our new lawyers get in touch with you to settle the bill.”

  With a facial expression that can only be explained as shock and awe, she nods and leaves the room in a rush.

  “I hate that woman,” James grinds out, locking the door.

  Stepping back from the situation, I try to deflate my stress. As my monitor beeps a few high notes, Circe leans over and says, “Wyatt?” She’s imploring me to settle down..

  “Sorry, love. I’m better now.”

  My little sister has said very few words, hardly involving herself in the affair, which has managed to frighten me a bit. Doll always says something. For her to be so quiet, the whole ordeal has to be affecting her harder than she wishes to convey. “Doll?”

  She snaps out of her trance-like state. “Sorry. I was just thinking about something.” Standing, she paces around, almost matching Jamieson’s path. “It’s almost my birthday, and the hospital will want to be rid of Mom’s body. It’s not quite the present I expected for my twenty-first birthday.”

  “I bet you had other things in mind,” James scoffs, trying to get a rise out of her.

  She doesn’t skip a beat. “Yeah. I thought of bourbon, tequila, and being able to move out. Well, that was until a few months ago. Now, James, all I’m thinking about is the band on my ankle, and wondering what you wrap an urn in. Do you use flowery paper, or just put a bow on it and a card that says, I burnt this just for you?”

  Using her humor to deal with the larger issue at hand, we all start to laugh at the predicament. Slowly, it turns into belly rolling giggles from each of us, and Circe wondering what the hell we’re thinking, I’m sure.

  “Someone wanna tell me when they turned on the laughing gas?” This only makes us laugh harder. It hurts my sides and my lungs, but it’s good to let it out and find humor and solace in an awkward situation. It’s necessary for our repair.

  Once our silliness subsides, we discuss and decide on a date for her funeral, and James and Doll both leave shortly after. I have three weeks to get well enough to go. I think we’ll all have a bit more closure once she’s finally at rest.

  CHINA

  The track sits there, looming, dark and enticing. I can’t remember a time when I didn’t ride on two wheels. The sounds of a revving engine or squ
ealing tires didn’t set my heart rate soaring and my soul alight. Ri’s right. I need to get back on and stop being fearful. The fear of...never mind. Just fear itself is a stupid enough reason. I’ve never been afraid of anything that had to do with the track, and now should be no different.

  Perching myself on the steps, just feet away from the track, I look at all the marks from years of hits, scrapes, dings, flips, and quick stops. It gives me a moment of serenity, which is something that’s been sorely missing in me lately. Earlier today, we drove over to set in motion the stipulations of my parents’ will. My brothers and I also worked out the date of her funeral. Thankfully, the hospital gave us time to allow Wyatt the opportunity to attend in person, but he’ll need the weeks we’ve requested to get him up and moving. Hopefully, he’ll be out of the hospital for good, not for just a few hours with a sidekick nurse.

  I needed a bit of time to myself to think alone, to finalize that part of my life I both anticipate and dread. My mother never made it easy to love her, so her funeral will be for others, not for us. At least her cremation is booked for two weeks after my birthday. I didn’t see an urn as a present I wanted to accept.

  This funeral won’t be any different than the last, I know it. I feel the same.

  When my Dad died, I couldn’t make myself feel any emotional attachment to the funeral proceedings. It was for everyone else but me. He died on a track; a track he loved. I went to the funeral at that same damn track where he went up in a fiery inferno, and I went to the funeral, but only in body. My spirit hadn’t shown up for the event.

  I thought it was...it doesn’t matter what I thought. I wasn’t there. My race was taking place at the same time, and while I felt joyous for winning, his life had been extinguished.

  I’ve woken from dreams, remembering the events differently. I’d been watching from the sidelines of our Crown Industries paddock, and as he died, I ran out to the track like a banshee on a mission. I had no care for the dangers of forty-five Indy cars at two hundred plus miles per hour. I could see his car crumpled, and I watched it catch fire. I’d dreamed that I could be the savior, the princess saving the King, instead of the way it always was, him protecting me.