Yes, and do it now.
It was no longer funny. They decided that they were going to go to the same restaurant that Wesley had made reservations at, just in case. They didn’t know this woman, but there was no way that she could be his mate if she was moving him forward this fast.
Chapter 10
Wesley wasn’t able to get in touch with Rose personally, but he did leave her several messages. He told her that his brothers had invited him out and that he’d not be able to make their date. Wesley also told her that he’d be getting in early, so for her to leave him a message if she got his message after showing up at the place.
Rose Marie Conley was her name. He thought it was odd, too, that she’d told him repeatedly that if he wanted to get in touch with her just to call her cell. That was all she had, and she had it on her all the time. Now that he had time to think about what she’d said to him the other day when she’d asked him out, Wesley knew that she was more than just having a date with him. This woman was trying to get her claws into him.
He knew that what was going on was a little over the top. She had asked him out, of that he was certain. Wesley tried to think how he’d even agreed to it. Rose had said they should go out sometime, and he found himself all of a sudden making plans to meet her at the restaurant. There wasn’t even a pause in her saying that and him moving his plans around to make it happen.
Making the reservations for seven even sounded like nothing he’d have done. Christ, he was in bed by nine every night, so that he could get up at the crack of dawn to get his day going. Eating dinner at seven to go home and be in bed by nine didn’t even occur to him until he walked into the restaurant with his brothers. The fact that they’d changed their plans to help him out made Wesley feel slightly better. But once he saw Rose in the restaurant ahead of even their early arrival had all kinds of warning signs going off in his head.
She was speaking to one of the wait staff when he was seated with the rest of them. Sawyer got up to speak to the staff member when Rose went to the ladies’ room. Sawyer was really getting to know everyone in town, and this time Wesley didn’t want to make fun of him about it but was ever so grateful for it.
“Hello, darling.” He looked around when someone spoke, and he was surprised as hell that it was Rose. “Don’t you have a kiss for me, Wes? I do hope you don’t mind, but I’ve decided to join you all since you had to break our date because of them.”
“No, I don’t think so.” Sawyer sat down as he was speaking. “We’re here to have a good time, and I think you’d just rain on our fun, Rose. And he’s Wesley, not Wes. He doesn’t like to shorten an already short name. He never has.”
“That was just rude. Are you going to allow him to speak to me that way, Wes? Wes, I really think you should say something to your brother about his manners too. That isn’t very nice of him.” Wesley pulled away from her running her fingers through his hair. “What’s the matter, honey? You sure liked it last night when we were playing around.”
“I’ve never met you before today. As for last night, I haven’t any idea what you might be referring to.” Wesley spotted the police coming into the restaurant and glanced at his brother. Sawyer nodded only once. “I’ve left you several messages today to let you know that I’d broken our dinner plans. I wish now that I’d thought better of them when you were making them. My family is very important to me, and we’re having dinner tonight. Don’t call me again.”
The officer just stood behind Rose but didn’t engage with her. Rose, however, had plenty to say.
“I guess that this is our first lover’s spat. And here in front of your family. Wes, darling, did you tell them the news? You really shouldn’t keep it from them for much longer. Especially with me carrying your baby and us having a lovely Christmas wedding this year. Come on, honey—Wes—tell them.”
“I’ve never met you before today. And it’s impossible for me to have fathered your child. You are carrying a baby, but anyone that knows me knows that there isn’t any way that it could be mine. You’ll have to try that on someone that is human.” She laughed, then seemed to realize what he’d said and stopped laughing. She asked him what he’d just said. “Yes, not human here. If you’re smart, which I’m beginning to think there is no way that you are, you’ll walk away from this before you dig yourself in too deep. I’m not going to be a father to anything that you might have gotten yourself impregnated with.”
“You are not going to leave me alone to deal with this baby, Wes. You made a promise to me, and I’m going to make sure that you keep your word.” She pulled out a gun and put it to his head. No one moved, not even the officer who had pulled out her own gun. “You tell them what I said is true, or you won’t be marrying anyone, dumbass.”
“I don’t know you. I have no idea what is wrong with you other than you’re a little off your rocker. I’m not the father of your child, nor do I plan to marry you. You, lady, are insane.” Wesley decided that this was as good as time as any to assert himself in showing her that he wasn’t human.
Letting his cat take him, he snarled loudly when he felt the bullet hit him in the shoulder. Taking the woman down with him, he held her under him while the police, three of them now, started spouting off things that were going on. It took him a moment to realize they were calling their dispatcher. Sawyer was there with him as he was asked to move off the woman.
By the time they were able to leave the now closed restaurant, Rose had been arrested and taken away. He’d been able to shift and put on some clothes that he forever had with him. And his brothers were there with him the entire time. Nothing like family to have around when the shit started rolling in.
“She was planning this for a while. Rose is the same woman that called my house a few months ago, about the time that I met Raven. She tried to tell me about a date that we didn’t have.” Sawyer said that he was sorry that he’d not recognized the name sooner. “She told the waiter that you and she were planning this big event soon. That you were there at the restaurant to figure out if their venue was what you wanted in the way of a pre-wedding rehearsal dinner. Needless to say, no one believed her when Charlie told the staff what was going on. They called the cops on her, not me.”
“How the hell did she think she could get away with this? And why did she want to marry me, anyway? I’m a farmer, guys. Not the usual type of person that people scam like this.” Chandler told him he thought it was the big tractor and the fact that Raven had money. “I don’t. I mean, I have a few bucks in the bank, but not enough to plan a big wedding with a woman that I don’t know.”
Wesley was home and in his bed by ten. Later than usual, but it mattered little. He wasn’t able to sleep, nor was he able to calm his nerves down enough for him to relax. Getting up when nothing was working, he went to the living room of his place and decided that he’d do some work. It was then that he found an old yearbook.
Like his brothers, Wesley had graduated from high school early. They all attributed it to having Mom homeschool them for the first five years of school. She had them working on lessons whenever there was a spare moment. Mom told them that the only way to succeed in life was to be smart enough to know what life was about. By the time he was ready to go to school like his brothers had, Wesley had tested out enough to be put in school as a senior. An entire seven years before he should have been.
The yearbook was Sawyer’s, so he figured that it seemed to be about the right age that Rose would have been in it. She’d been a senior, she’d told Sawyer when she’d tried to scam him, so that was all he had to work on. Stretching his shoulder that he’d been shot in, he was happy that a simple shift had taken care of the broken bones that had occurred when the bullet entered him.
He found her picture, but the name under it was different. She was Rose, but that was her last name rather than her first. Sharon Rose, he knew, as did all his brothers. Sharon Rose had moved to their town wh
en she’d been a teenager. She lived with her grandparents until she got to be too much for them to handle.
Sharon was a handful, he remembered now. But only a week after she’d been kicked out of their home, her grandparents—nice people, he remembered—were found dead in their home. Sharon was living there with their corpses, and they’d put her away when she admitted to not just killing them, but their animals too.
Wesley made notes to tell his brothers about her and was glad to know that someone was going to be watching her for a while. Wesley didn’t know why she’d been out of the asylum, but he hoped that she’d be able to return. There really was something wrong with her.
Feeling better about why this person had targeted him and not a human, he made his way to his bed again. He laughed at himself when he realized that he’d made it when he’d gotten up earlier, and wondered if his mate, if she was out there, would think him an odd duck, as Grandpa Bishop used to call him. For a farmer, he’d been told, he was the neatest person Grandpa had ever encountered. Instead of being insulted, Wesley had worn it like a badge, that he was special.
The knock at his door, at three in the morning, had him reaching for his ball bat. He wasn’t sure that he could ever use it on someone, but it was nice to have around when he was met with something that he wasn’t sure of. Of course, he told himself, he was a cat, but there was no point in pulling him out when he could take care of whatever bothered him with a few pops on the head with the bat.
Opening the door, he realized that it had been raining. The person standing on the front porch was soaked to the skin. When she looked up at him, he knew that she wasn’t there to hurt him. The way she’d been beaten up made him think that she’d had enough tonight.
“Come in.”
She did, and stood there shivering when he went to get her some of the clean towels that he had just washed. Handing her two of them, he asked if she needed the police.
“Not yet. I mean, I should more than likely call them, but I’m not ready to admit defeat just yet. I’m Emmie Donnelly. My brothers are looking for me. I think I was able to talk my friend out of marrying one of my brothers.” He helped her come into his living room and said he’d get her some tea. “You’re very nice. I think that Penny would do better marrying someone like you.”
He nearly tripped on his way to the kitchen. Two marriage proposals in one night. Instead of asking her to leave, he finished making the tea and brought it to her. With her coat off, he could see that she was injured as badly as he thought she had been.
“Do you need me to do anything?” She shook her head, then nodded. “What is it? I can lend you my phone if you need to make a call. Or I can take you someplace where you think you’ll be safe.”
“If you don’t mind, I’d just like to sit here and lick my wounds for a while. I know that you’re a cat. Your brother, Gunner, I think he knows me if that helps you. I just need a nap, a place that is free of my family, and this warm drink.”
He didn’t know what to think but did reach out to Gunner.
I know of her, but not her personally. However, I do know the brothers. Pieces of shit, all of them. He told his brother what she’d told him. You should put her up if you don’t mind, Wesley. She’s more than likely gone through this before, and just needs to hide out. The others aren’t too keen on their sister being smarter than them.
Wesley told him that he’d put her in his room and watch out for her brothers. It wasn’t like he was going to get any sleep tonight now. When he realized that she was asleep, he made sure that was all she was, asleep. He didn’t want her having some sort of head injury and passing out from it.
After he covered her up with one of the many quilts that his mom had made, he went to the kitchen to make himself some tea. Tomorrow was going to be a very long day, and getting an early start on it might make it a little shorter. He didn’t think so, but he could convince himself of that to make himself feel better.
Leaving her a note, Wesley made his way out to the fields to get the last of the corn in that he’d been putting off. He was going to go to his new home soon, the one that had been purchased by Sawyer and Raven, and he was looking forward to it. Mom and Dad had told him that he could continue being a farmer with their land if he wanted. He did, very much so. That was all he wanted to do. Wesley didn’t want to grow any kind of new plants. He didn’t foresee himself coming up with a new way to plant either. Just farming. And when he had plenty enough for himself to use from what he was growing, then he’d help out the other farmers around. It was tough being a farmer nowadays, and he tried to make it work the best he could for himself and others as much as he could.
As the morning wore on, Wesley began to feel much better. Not having a bit of sleep usually would have him dozing off at the wheel. But today he had renewed faith that he was going to get this pasture picked and that he’d be able to put his equipment to good use helping out around other farms.
By one, he was on the neighboring farm working. At five, when he usually told himself that he could go another hour, he was finally feeling the lack of sleep. Heading home, he didn’t even pause at the door to see if he had any mail. Instead, he made his way up to his room and flopped on the bed. Wesley was out before his head hit the pillow.
~*~
Penny was on the phone when her Uncle James told her to get off of it. It was her cell phone, not the house phone, so she just turned her back. Christ, she hated doing this, but she guessed that if it was left up to her grandma’s brothers, nothing would be done. James jerked her around when she started talking.
“What the fuck, James? The house phone is in the kitchen.” He drew back to hit her—he’d done it before—and she drew her gun. “Back the fuck off. I’m not a little kid anymore, and a double funeral wouldn’t be much more expensive than a single one. Go the fuck away and leave me alone. Or I’ll put a hole in your gut that will take them hours to find with all the flab you got on you.”
“You think you’re so smart, don’t you?” She just walked away from him and let him keep talking. “You’ll not be someplace where you can have that gun on you all the time, little girl.”
“Yes, my name is Penny Harold. I’m trying to find out if you have my grandma’s body yet. Her name is Wendy Howard. She was in a fatal accident yesterday.” The funeral director, Mr. Benson, told her that he’d not gotten word yet that she’d been released from the morgue in Columbus. “Thank you. I’ll be in with my Grandpa Joe as soon as you let us know to make the arrangements for her. I think that she might have set something up a while back with you, Mr. Benson.”
“Yes, she did. And it’s all paid for too. Your grandma took out one of those funeral policies that paid for her funeral when the time came. She paid on it monthly until she had it finished up.” That didn’t sound like her grandma at all, but she didn’t tell him that. “You and your Grandpa Joe, when you get here, all you need to do is arrange for the time of the service. She didn’t want anything extra. Just a graveside.”
“Good, that will help us in making plans. Was there anything else that I should know before we get there, Mr. Benson?” He told her that everything, including her flowers, were all arranged. “Thank you. Like I said, we’ll be there when we hear from you.”
When she got off the phone, she went out on the deck to find Grandpa Joe. He’d been sitting there since she’d arrived yesterday, only coming in to go to bed. He’d not said anything, but he did nod when she told him something. Her uncles and brothers had shown up an hour ago. They were there with the Donnelly men right now, who had shown up yesterday.
Dutch was pissed off that Emmie had left without explaining herself. Penny would have left too if she could have. They’d all knocked Emmie around enough that she’d had to leave or they might well have killed her, as they were threatening to do. Emmie would be hiding now, and that was good for her. Someday, Penny would like to be able to keep her safe. But
there had to be someone keeping Penny safe first.
Breaking it off with Dutch could have been better timed, but she didn’t want to have to deal with his shit along with all the other things going on right now. Besides, she’d been planning it for a few days now, and when he’d shown up with his brothers, she told him what her thoughts were on the subject of them hitching, as he called it.
“What do you mean, you’re not marrying me? Penny, I’m a catch. You should be happy that I’m willing to give up my bachelor life for you.” Penny wasn’t sure if he was kidding or not, so only told him again that she wasn’t marrying him. “You have to have a better reason than you just don’t want to, Penny. I’m not a man that likes to be truffle with.”
“It’s trifled with, and I told you that I’m sorry. But since we never had a date set up or even a ring, then that should be fine with our families.” He told her that it wasn’t all right with him. “Too bad, Dutch. I’m not going to marry you. That’s the end of it. If you give me any shit, then I’m going to have to have you arrested. I’m too busy and too stressed to be putting up with your bullshit today anyway. I don’t even know why I considered it in the first place.”
“You don’t have to stay faithful to me, Penny. I never planned on it with you. Hell, a man has needs, and I don’t see you fulfilling mine.” Shaking her head, Penny turned to walk away. He pulled her around just as her uncle had, and she drew her gun. “You sure are quick on the draw there. What are you going to do if I have something bigger than that?”
He made a crude gesture with his cock, and she pretended to measure it. Of course, it was then that her dad came into the room and wanted to know why she’d not be marrying Dutch. She told him what she’d been telling Dutch—she no longer thought it was a good idea to marry at all.
Chandler: Bishop’s Snowy Leap – Paranormal Tiger Shifter Romance (Bishop's Snowy Leap Book 2) Page 14