Gerard (8 page)

But just as he was closing the curtain again, he saw him…the man he knew had been on the phone just now. And when he stretched, his arms going up over his head, his cowboy hat, of all things, moved back from his face, and Ernie knew a kind of fear that had not just his cock and balls tighten up, but his asshole seemed to crawl up inside of him again. Closing the curtain, he sat down in the chair and didn’t move the rest of the night. That man was fucking huge.

~~~

Mason watched her pace. Well, pacing wasn’t what Susie was doing so much as she was stomping hard back and forth in front of him. He did glance over at Gerard and knew he’d be no help. The man was in love with his mate, and he was glad for him. But he wasn’t going to save him should she turn on him again.

“I only wanted to scare him some.”

Susie stopped to glare at him before she started stomping her way across the kitchen floor again. He took the opportunity to look around the room while she worked out her being mad at him for calling her father, and could see that his aunt had made good on her promise to only give them things she didn’t need.

There was the old tea maker that was dark with age. The plastic was so stained up with tea it was hard to tell if it was empty or not. The dishes in the drainer were the ones that had been used by him and his brothers when they were younger, and he could see chips on the edges from their clumsy hands. The electric mixer hadn’t been new in probably twenty years, and he knew that the skillet on the stove, drying the only way cast iron could, had been his own mother’s. When Mason heard Susie clear her throat, he looked at her.

“What did you hope to accomplish by talking to him? Did you know that he’s this great leader? And that his word is the only one?” He wasn’t sure if she was serious or not, and one look at Gerard made him think she really believed that, because he looked as shocked as he was. “He could have hurt you. What if he had? What do you think that would have made me feel like?”

“Right now? I’m thinking you’d be thrilled.” He stood up when she looked like she was going to hurt him. “I’m sorry. I should have told you what I was going to do. But I saw him and I just wanted to…to scare him a little, that’s all. I think I did, to be honest with you. Susie, he’s not as big or as bad as you think he is.”

“He’s hurt me.” That confession didn’t really say it all, and he was pretty sure that she might not tell them even if he asked. “He’s mean. And my father. I have to do what he says. If I don’t…if I don’t, he’ll hurt me again.”

“You’re healed.” She looked at him with confusion on her face. “You can’t heal if a leader hurts you. Not if he does it with malice. You didn’t know that either, did you?”

“He said I belonged to no one but him.” Mason was beginning to see the picture now. Maybe not the entire one, but enough to know that this woman might as well have been newly turned for all she knew about what she was. “I don’t want to have to go back to him. But now, thanks to you, he knows where I am. And he knows where you are too. What if he comes here, Mason? What if he tries to hurt you guys? He will. He’s a terrible person.”

Mason sat down and reached for his aunt. The women would be better at explaining things than he was, but he’d give it a try until they got there. Holly and Emma were coming as well, his aunt said. They had some shopping to do for the new couple.

“Look. I’m not just your brother-in-law now that you’re mated to Gerard, but your leader, as you know. But I’m not the kind of…I don’t think anyone is a leader like your father.” When she sat down too, he felt a little better about talking to her. “He’s not a good leader, nor is he a good man. Which I’m sure you know, but he kept things from you. Important information that he should have told you. He can no longer control you like he did when you were a child. He isn’t your leader, nor is he able to control you with compulsion. His power over you was gone the moment you mated and bonded with Gerard and became a member of my leap. But since you said that he hurt you, I’m assuming that it was with his cat.”

“He can’t come near you again, love. I’d die before I’d let him, and I can tell you, it will never come to that. He isn’t going to come near any of us.” Gerard pulled her into his arms as he continued. “We’re a couple now. Never again will he be able to control or to hurt you. You’re stronger than he is because of the fact that we’re together. Mason is a stronger cat because of his mate; Jace is as well. Not just as a cat but as a human too. Your father is no match for us. Not even for you.”

“He will kill me this time.” Susie looked at him, and Mason felt like a real shit for doing this to her. When he’d come here to let them know that he’d talked to her father, he’d been bragging. He’d taken the man to the ground…nearly made him piss himself. Now he felt like a bastard. “Promise me you won’t do this again. That you won’t engage him unless you have to. He’s not just a big cat, Mason, but one that doesn’t play by your rules. Not anyone’s. He’s mean and slick. He won’t play fair and he’ll not do what you expect. He’s a monster.”

“I won’t. I promise.” He stood up and told her again that he’d never do this again. “But if he comes here and hurts anyone in my family, and that would include you, he’s a dead man.”

“I’ll kill him myself if he hurts any of you.”

Mason nodded and moved out of the house. It occurred to him that she’d not said she’d hurt him if he did anything to her, so he decided to keep a closer eye on her.

He was walking up to the last barn to be cleaned up when he saw Paddy as a man at the corner of the corral. His voice was low when he began talking.

“I need your help.” Mason told him whatever it was, it was his. “I might have to…I have a problem in my pack. I don’t know who it is yet, but someone has been coming in and taking our food supplies.”

“Why?” Paddy told him he had no idea. “I mean, it’s not like you couldn’t go and buy more food, right?”

“Exactly. I think they’re doing it to get someone else in trouble. Mainly my wife. She’s in charge of the pantry. We don’t use it often anymore because the pack—thanks in part to you and your family—has been working more and the income is helping a great many people. Two of the women have plans to open a shop in town, and your wife and sister-in-law have hired a few of the others to come and help out with various projects that they have going.”

Mason knew this and was glad for it. He’d even hired on more of Paddy’s men to help out around the ranches. It had taken little for them to get used to working with cats, them being wolf and all, but it had been working out great for all of them.

“What is it you want me to do? I’m kinda limited on my ability to send you some of my leap. I don’t have all that many in it.” But that was changing too. As of this morning, three new families had asked to live and work here. A lawyer, as well as a doctor, was among the new leap members. “You have a plan?”

“I do. I think that someone is selling the stuff to the local diner.” Mason leaned against the fence when someone from the pack came out to help. He had noticed that Paddy had moved deeper into the barn now, and no one would be able to see him unless they entered it. “From what I understand, you and your wife are part owners. Is that right?”

Mason’s wife and her family were wealthy. He supposed in turn he was as well, but he wasn’t comfortable with it yet. He was sort of like Emma’s dad, the laid back and don’t mean nothing to me sort of rich. Not really, but that was what the town assumed he was. Inside, he was mush whenever money was mentioned. He could not wait for Katie and Landon to get back from their holiday so Landon could be the one that they went to for issues of the town and its residents.

“You want me to have someone go in and have a look around?” Paddy said he wouldn’t have asked it if wasn’t so important. “I understand. And I’m sure we can do something. I might even have Ed Clark go and have a look around. He’s working on becoming one of the most overworked small town lawyers there ever was. But he’ll do this for you.”

After Paddy left him, he walked around the corral to see the horses. Since the news team had shown up yesterday afternoon, they’d had a lot of people asking about buying them. So far not one of the horses had a mark on them, and new foals were coming almost daily. The herd was a little bigger every day.

Ed came up beside him with his ever present handkerchief, mopping at his brow. His smile made Mason smile back.

“Hot, isn’t it?” Mason only tipped his hat back and looked up at the sky. They were predicting snow over the next several days, and he was pretty sure it was only about forty out. “I have information on the ponies. You’re not going to believe the people coming out of the woodwork to claim them. One lady even told me that she’d come out and tell me which was hers when I asked her about markings. Told me she had about fifty in her yard and now they were gone. She lives in a retirement apartment. One of those ones that have nothing more than a postage stamp size yard. But boy oh boy, she was spitting mad when I told her that wasn’t going to cut it. Pretty lot, aren’t they?”

“They are. Can they sell them?” Ed grinned. “I take that as a yes. Do you have any information on how much a prime stallion can go for nowadays?”

“Do I ever. I had no idea there was so much information to be had on horse flesh and the selling of it. I have to talk to the new owners, and I did as you asked and put the house and all the land in Gerard’s and Susan’s name. Good idea, that. I’ll have to tell Jace when I see him. But I have several buyers that want to come out and cut the herd. Had to look that one up too. My my, it’s a lot for this old man to take in. Cut the herd means they want a few of them cut from the whole, to buy them.”

Another reason that Mason was glad for the lawyer coming into his leap. “How much do you think they’re worth? Ball park.” Another grin and no answer just yet. “You’re going to make me hurt you, aren’t you?”

“Nah, not that. But it is fun to know more than you for a change. On average, about three grand each. More if they show any kind of racing ability, and more than that if they’re pretty. And yes, I did find out that looks can make the difference.” Mason asked him if he was kidding. “No. I don’t kid around when it comes to this amount of money. The buyers that I was telling you about? One is from a big farm in Kentucky, another from somewhere in Louisiana. And one is from a farm out west who wants to…let me see what he called it. Oh yes, he wants to beef up his own harras. That’s a problem they can have with horses. Too much inbreeding can cause long-term issues like you’ve never heard of. I know that I hadn’t.”

Roughly eighteen million. His brother was going to shit. And Susie was going to…he looked at the house when a car pulled in, and realized it was his aunt and wife. Georgie’s new ride was nice, and he was thrilled that Emma had convinced her she needed four-wheel drive out here on the ranches. He smiled when she walked by it and wiped at the dust. He didn’t think she’d ever had a new car before.

“I’m going to see to Gerard and his mate. They can be…she’s a mite on the stubborn side, isn’t she?” Mason said he had no idea. “Well, wish me luck. I think I might need it. Oh, and if it’s all the same to you, I’m not mentioning the land being theirs now. I think I’ll let you do that talking. You can take her. Me and my old bones can’t.”

Mason called him a coward, and Ed just laughed. He was let into the house just as the women got completely out of the new SUV. He might have to think of getting one for himself if it rode as good as it looked.

After kissing them both on the cheek, then going for a better one from his wife, Mason went to the barn to get his horse. It was time to get to work, and as much as he wanted to go and see Gerard’s face when Ed talked to him, he had to get to the McBride house and see that things were all right there. Mason was enjoying being a ranch baron, but there were times when he missed just being the Double Deuce.

Chapter 7

Susie was putting away the last of the lunch dishes, trying her best not to think about what the nice lawyer had told them this morning. There was no way that he was telling them the truth. Not that she thought he was lying. It wasn’t that, but it had to be a mistake. She looked up at Georgie when she came into the room with a basket of clean towels.

“I found these in the basement of the house. They’re not new, but they’ll work out until you can get better ones. I’m afraid that I didn’t have time to run them through the washer.” Nodding, Susie took them from her and went to the washer and dryer that had arrived that morning, a wedding present from Palmer Snow. She wasn’t sure that it wasn’t a ploy of some sort to get them new things, but she was glad for it. “Honey, are you all right?”

“Not really.” She was sure that wasn’t what the older woman had expected her to say, but to be honest, if Susie didn’t talk to someone soon, she was going to bust. “Did you know that there are all kinds of rules that no one told me about? I’m sure that Mason had a good laugh over how much I didn’t know.”

“No, he feels badly for you.” She knew that he did. And she wasn’t sure that was any better than him making fun of her. “Tell me what’s really bothering you. Is it us, me? Coming over here all the time and helping you out?”

“I don’t know what I’m doing. And you’re helping me.” That was true. When Georgie touched her arm, she turned to the woman. “I’m so afraid that I’m going to mess up. I don’t know anything about running a house. I had to read the instructions that came with the washer three times to know how to put the detergent in before I felt like I could do it without ruining our clothing. I don’t know how to make tea that doesn’t taste like I made it in a slop jar. And even less about working with a lawyer. Which I’m to start doing on Monday. I’m not whiney, but I’m so overwhelmed right now that I think if someone came to the door to threaten me, I’d feel better when I hurt them.”

“Sit down, child.” Susie did but she felt stupid. When a little box of cookies appeared in front of her, she tore open the package and ate three of them before Georgie came back with a cup of tea for them both. “You like sugar.”

“Only when I’m nervous.” To prove her point, she pulled out two more and ate them before she felt better. “I’m very sorry about this. You must think I’m a ninny. A word, by the way, that I’ve never used before but think is perfect for me.”

“When I was told that I’d be taking care of my brother and his wife’s children, I had grand plans for them. I was going to cook them a meal every day that would fill their little bellies up, keep a clean house, and make sure that they never regretted me coming to live with them. I could never have replaced Norman and Zelma. They were the best people in the world, and loved their sons more than life itself.” Susie ate another cookie and wondered if her mother had ever cared about those things for her. “I came to the house and found it spotless, because Zelma made sure that the boys could fend for themselves. And Norman made sure his boys could run the ranch so that it wouldn’t fall apart should he take a needed vacation. Even little Gerard, a wee little guy, could make his bed better than I could, and cleaned himself up in the shower like he’d been born to it. Meals were hectic and most of the time not fit to eat. When I cooked, that is. And for a while there, the only person regretting me was me. I was doing a horrible job.”

“No.” Georgie nodded and smiled. “They love you.”

“They do and they did back then. But I was a novice at caring for them. I’d never even changed a diaper for them when they were babies, and now I was their only hope of staying together.” Susie took the picture that Georgie handed her. “Mason was fifteen when their parents were killed, and Gerard, the youngest, was only five. He was my partner when the others went off to school, and I learned a great deal from him. How their mom had used the washer. Where the clean dishes went when they were done, as well as what kinds of foods the others liked and hated. He even showed me where the cookbook was that his mom had used. It took me nearly a year before I felt like I was going to make it, and still daily I find myself making small mistakes.”

Susie looked around the kitchen, thinking about her own childhood and what her parents had done for her. Little to nothing really. There hadn’t been any trees at Christmas. Most of the time one of them would be in jail on holidays. She couldn’t remember a birthday where there had been a cupcake for her, much less a cake or card. Thanksgiving was just a day for her parents to steal what they could from parked cars, while she had to watch the people inside eat their stuffed turkeys and pies.

Susie looked at Georgie. “When I was about ten, my father was gone. I’m not sure if he was in jail or just gone, but my mother said she was going out to get some groceries. That in and of itself was something strange. I’d never seen her as much as step into a store unless it was to meet a drug dealer or to pay someone off.” She didn’t look at Georgie as she continued. “I saw it happen. I followed her to see if she was really going to get me something for my birthday. It had been a couple of days before, but I was curious. She met up with three other people. A man that I didn’t know and two women that she usually got high with. They were all deadbeats, and one of the women had had her children taken from her when they were born because she was such a terrible person. All four of them went inside, and after getting a bunch of junk food, most of it just beer and liquor, my mother went to the counter and the other three spread out around the store, shoving other customers around and then hitting them when the time was right. My mother pulled a gun on the kid there and demanded that he give her everything that had been made that day. Not just what was in the drawer, but everything in the safe as well. He was nineteen. Working his way through college, doing nothing but working a job to buy books for school. She shot him when he told her, several times, that he didn’t know the combination to the safe and that he had no way of getting into the drop place that was behind the counter. Then when he was down, she stood over him and shot him until the gun was empty before reloading and doing it again. The other people with her shot the other customers as well, and nine people ended up dead that day. And for what, I wonder.”

A tissue was put in her hand, and she wiped at the tears she hadn’t known were falling. Susie nodded her thanks and thought of the things that had happened that day that had changed her life. As she continued, she tore the tissue to shreds rather than look at the nicest woman she knew.

“He didn’t deserve to die no more than I should have had her as a mother. And the money in the drawer was all he had. There wasn’t much, I heard. Less than two hundred dollars. I called them. The police I mean. Walked to the payphone next to the store and called them and told them what had happened. I even gave the names of the people with her, and my mother’s. I knew at that moment that I was never going to mean enough to her or anyone that would make them want to keep me safe. That if I was going to make it, and I was going to give it my best, I’d have to only rely on me and to never trust another person so long as I lived.” She looked at Georgie then. “Then you guys came into my life and I realized this time that there are some good people in the world, and maybe, just maybe, someone might love me like I want to be loved. Thank you for that.”

“I love you too, sweetheart. And so does the rest of the family.” Susie nodded but didn’t look up at her. It was too much. “Well, I need to get my bottom in gear. Holly and Emma are going with me to the mall, and I’ll be by to pick you up in an hour. I won’t take no for an answer.”

When Susie looked up, she noticed that Gerard was standing in the doorway and she wondered how long he’d been there. When Georgie kissed him on the cheek, he told her he loved her as she left. He never moved when she started talking.

“She brought us over some more things. At this rate we’ll be fully stocked with household things and never have to buy anything new.” Gerard sat down next to her and took her hand into his. He asked her to tell him the rest of her story. “My mother knew that it was me that called the police on her that day. She saw me there, standing next to the phone booth, when they brought her out.”

“Good for you.” She frowned at him. “I’m serious. Had you not called them, they might have left the store and killed more people. As it was, you having them arrested there, there were witnesses to what they had done, the cops in this case, as well as the fact that she didn’t go back and hurt you. She might have too.” He grinned at her. “You’re very smart, my dearest love.”

“You’re supposed to be appalled by this, not nice about it.” He asked her why. Instead of answering him, she got up to go to the bedroom to finish things up in there. Gerard followed and pulled her around to face him, and she felt her cat run along her skin. “You’re supposed to hate me.”

“I love you.” She stared at him. He pulled her body to his, and his long lean body felt good against her. “I love you very much. The way you smell, the way you feel. I love the way you scream when you come. The little noises you make when your body is responding to what I’m doing to you. I love the way you try hard to make tea, and the way you tossed out the eggs this morning when you burnt them. You’re doing your best to be better, and even though I could care less if you burnt the entire dozen eggs before I eat, I’m thrilled to death that you are here with me.”

Susie moaned when he cupped her ass and brought her to his cock. It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him she had work to do and so did he, but he started nibbling on her neck and rocking into her as he held her. As he undressed her, slowly removing her shirt, the cool breeze over her bared breast made her breath catch.

“You smell like home to me. My home.” Gerard moved her body, and when he reached between then and unbuttoned her jeans, the sound of the zipper being pulled apart soaked her pussy. “You like this. The way that I touch you. Tell me what you want, Susie. I’m yours to do with or command to do whatever you want.”

“Eat me.” He growled, and she could feel his cat move along his skin. “Him too. I want him to taste his mate. Then I want to let mine have you.”

When he dropped to his knees, Susie felt herself sway a little. He was going to do it. And her body felt it all the way to her feet. As he pulled off her pants, leaving her panties on her, all she could think about was that he could see how wet she was, and how much she wanted to pull his mouth to her to finish her. When he slid his hands under the ties on her panties, she watched him as he tore them from her body. The climax that hit her made her want more from him. Need more of him.

He buried his mouth over her. Crying out because she wanted to feel his tongue too, Susie put her hands into his hair and held him to her, begging him to please give her what she needed. His soft laughter made her smile. Spreading her legs wide for him, as wide as she could with her pants down around her feet, Susie screamed when he opened her nether lips and blew hard over her clit.

“You’re so wet.” Nodding at him, begging him to take her, she looked down her body at him. “My cat wants you first. He seems to think you’ll come for him.”

“Yes. For you both.” Gerard stood up and pulled his pants off. His shirt, already undone because he’d been working outside, was dropped at his feet as his cat took him. The big animal lunged at her, knocking her back on the bed even as she opened her thighs for him. As soon as his tongue touched her, Susie came hard and fast.

Again, love. He wants all of you.
Her body responded to Gerard’s command as if he’d pulled a string and she would follow. When she came a third and then a fourth time in the big cat’s mouth, she cried out. Gerard responded by eating her ravenously.

~~~

Gerard loved the way she came for him. He ate her hungrily over and over until he knew that if he wasn’t inside of her soon, he was coming all over the floor. Standing up after his cat had let him take his turn with his mate, he looked down at her body, covered in a sweet sheen of sweat that made his mouth water. There was very little about this woman that he didn’t love, but watching her when she came was about the best thing he’d ever seen. Fisting his cock, he watched her watching him.

“I want to come on you like this someday. Just empty my balls all over your body and then rub it in with my body while I fuck you.” Her breathless “Yes” had him sliding his hand up and down his cock faster. Her hands were all over her body…at her breasts where she pulled hard on her nipples, and at her pussy, where her fingers moved in and out of her as fast as his hand was moving up and down his cock. Holding his balls, hurting now to be empty, he nearly came all over her when she screamed out her release. But the thought of fucking her, filling her with himself, made him let his cock go in favor of sliding in and out of her.

Moving up her body, holding onto his cock, Gerard knew that as soon as he was deep into her that he was going to come. His goal now was to make her come again so that when he released, she would enjoy it as well. Taking her breast into his mouth, all of it he could, Gerard bit down and tasted her sweat with the sweet taste of her blood too. It was almost as good as her cum, but he knew there was more of her to drink from.

His cock was at her entrance when she wrapped her feet around his legs. He moved his crown in and out of her. She was so wet that he never hesitated to tease her now. When she rose up from the bed, her body taking him deeper as she cried out, Gerard filled her, buried himself to the root of his body.

He came hard, his cock moving in and out of her quicker now. And when she wrapped her legs around his waist, he pounded her again and again, taking her over the edge twice more before he leaned to her throat and licked the pulse there.