Authors: Frances Stockton
HazardsDare (12 page)
“He’s always there when he’s in town.”
“And Gabriel Krystiyan?”
“You’ll meet him too.” Hazard stuck his phone back into the
pocket of his jeans. He wore the same clothes as last night. His boots were on.
“I’m going to run to my place and pack a suitcase before driving up to Jax’s
place.”
“How far away is it?”
“An hour’s drive into the mountains,” he answered. “Later in
the winter, it can get tricky getting in and out of there, but it’s not too bad
right now except for the higher elevations.”
“Drive safe,” Avery insisted.
“I will. Kiss goodbye?” He sauntered up to her, grabbed her
close and kissed her soundly.
He was out the door before Avery’s heartbeat slowed to its normal
pace afterward.
Running late because he stopped in at the spa to be sure
Avery made it to her appointment safely, Hazard turned off the engine of his
rented Ford Explorer and scrambled out of the vehicle, trying hard to ignore
the way he rubbed his chest as if it hurt to be apart from her for a couple
hours.
It was crazy to think he’d grown that attached to Avery.
Some men might chalk his feelings up to morning-after great sex.
Hazard knew it was more than sex. He wasn’t prepared to let
go of her at the end of the week. How long they’d last, he couldn’t say. If
their week in Dare together was it, he wouldn’t chase Avery like a lovesick
pup. But he’d sure as hell make sure she didn’t forget him.
Going around to the passenger side of the SUV, he opened the
door and picked up a paper sack with fresh doughnuts and two giant takeout cups
of black coffee from the floorboard of the SUV. The front door to Jaxon
Wynter’s sprawling mountain house opened and closed as Hazard straightened up.
Managing not to drop anything, he turned to see Jax rushing
toward him, wearing torn jeans and a white tee shirt. Jax was usually better
dressed than he was today.
He’d long ago opted for a metrosexual style to make people
wonder if he was straight or gay. His white-blond hair was pulled back into a
ponytail, revealing his plethora of ear piercings.
Looking beyond Jax to the house, Hazard noticed the
cathedral-sized A-frame window reflected a spectacular view of Hamilton Lake
located deep in a valley.
The house had once belonged to Darius Hamilton, the original
founder of Dare Silver Mines and the once-defunct boomtown. At the time Jax
discovered what had originally been a log cabin while hiking in the Sierra
Nevada Mountains, it was in ruins.
Now it was grand and captured the essence of the mountainous
region. It was close enough to the main town to be reached in forty-five
minutes to an hour, depending upon the time of day and year, and far enough
away for Jax to remain secluded when he needed it.
“Morning, bud,” Hazard greeted. They were an odd pair, but
they’d known each other from childhood and their friendship was solid.
“Mornin’, lover boy,” Jax replied, grinning wide. “Don’t
even try to deny it. You got laid. I can see it on your face. Get in here and
tell.”
“Tsk tsk, Jax, you know the code. Going for the casual
homeowner look today, I see?”
“Fuck the code and what I’m wearing,” Jax groused, waving it
off. “We’re far enough outside the town limits to talk like men.”
“Since when do we gossip about women like we did in high
school?”
“Since Red walked into our club and rendered you
fighting-bull mad whenever another guy dared to look at her,” he answered.
Jax came up and grabbed the coffees. “Thanks for breakfast.”
“You’re welcome. It’s the least I could do since I’m late.”
“And why were you late? Let me guess, you were sexing up
Red.” Jax was like a dog with a bone. He’d gnaw on little bits of information
until he got to the marrow.
“You know where I was,” Hazard answered.
“As did anyone else at the club watching the two of you
interact. For a second there, it seemed like you were a breath away from laying
her out across your table. Hell, I’d have joined you. Bet dollars to doughnuts
she’s adventurous enough for the two of us.”
Fighting off the jealousy that’d plagued him after he’d seen
that box of condoms, Hazard followed his longtime friend to the kitchen. The
house was easily the size of a mansion, complete with eight bedrooms, six
bathrooms, a clubroom and multiple play rooms and dungeons that would make any
self-respecting Dom come in his leathers.
Apparently, the books that made Jaxon’s alter ego as Ransom
Hunter famous continued to pay him well. Combined with royalties, reissued
publications of the books and multiple foreign printing editions Jax’s literary
agent had negotiated with a Hollywood director and producer about making them
into a movie franchise.
When the movies hit the theaters, Jax stood to make a
helluva a lot of money. But Jax’s love was writing, not Hollywood, and
unfortunate circumstances had laid a huge shit-brick on his life, causing him
to get a major case of writer’s block.
It was why he’d moved away from Los Angeles in order to find
his voice again. And why Jax had joined forces with illusionist Gabriel
Krystiyan and former FBI agent turned security specialist and Chief of Police
Sawyer Hamilton to buy a ghost town.
Each man had their reasons for wanting to leave the
spotlight that their careers placed on them.
Gabriel Krystiyan needed to get away from the pressures of
being a headliner in Vegas. His illusions were taking the world by storm now,
but his stint as a stripper in an all-male show when he was younger had caused
people to assume he was either gay or a man-whore.
Hazard knew for a fact that Gabriel wasn’t gay. Dancing had
paid the bills. Given that Gabriel didn’t come from money the way Sawyer
Hamilton did, those early days helped make him a household name.
Sawyer wasn’t famous like Gabriel, but his family’s fancy
jewelry store chain was. Not wanting to sell silver jewelry like his brothers
and sisters, Sawyer joined the FBI. A case involving a serial killer ten times
worse than Ted Bundy hardened him, forcing him to retreat to Dare, Nevada, to
recover.
“Have you spoken to Sawyer today?” Hazard asked. He hadn’t
known Sawyer or Gabriel before he invested in the Truth or Dare Club, but they
quickly became friends.
Every Fourth of July weekend, Hazard and the three primary
investors in Dare took off to parts unknown and drowned their sorrows. The
fourth investor had been Sawyer’s grandfather, who’d owned a Nevadan ranch that
raised Appaloosas and quarter horses. Sadly, his grandfather died a year ago
and handed down the ranch to his grandson in his will. Now Sawyer divided his
time between chief of police duties and running the ranch.
“No, but I expect he’ll be at the club tonight. Why?” Jax
asked, kicking out a barstool for Hazard to take a seat.
Sitting down, Hazard looked around. He did like the earthy,
simplistic feel of the mountain house, yet Jaxon had managed to revamp the
kitchen into something chefs would envy.
“Remember the guy at the club who hit on Avery?”
“Sure,” Jax answered, sitting across from Hazard on the
other side of the breakfast counter that was straight out of the Old West.
“There’s really no reason to worry about him coming between you and Red, Trev.
The guy’s gay.”
“How do you know?” Picking up a cup of coffee from the
scarred breakfast bar that was as old as the town of Dare and refurbished,
Hazard took a generous sip.
“He came in shortly before your set started. Flirted with
me, even left a card with his cell number on it. The guy rubbed me the wrong
way. I couldn’t fathom why he made a beeline for Red and I was glad she turned
him down cold. After you two left, he met up with that ballplayer hiding out in
Dare.”
“Billy Grainger,” Hazard said.
“Yeah, those two were into each other. Was like watching
seedy gay porn. Bouncer asked them to take the grope-fest private. What’s the
problem?”
“I don’t know. Something about John bothers Avery. We saw
him and Billy making out on the street. At first, she thought he’d been staring
at us.”
“Do you want me to get Sawyer to check him out and make sure
he’s not some asshole out for a news story?”
“Yes. Avery’s father is a former senator. To say the man’s
powerful is an understatement. She’s only recently gotten out of the public
spotlight that her daddy’s career put on her and she came here for some R and R
that won’t make headline news. If John’s spying on Avery, I want to know why.”
“I’ll call Sawyer. Can’t say I blame John for finding Red
attractive, my man. She was putting off sexy vibes that no man, gay, straight
or bi, could ignore. Fortunately for you, they were all aimed in your
direction, lucky fucker.”
“What kind of talk is that from an author who knows how to
make women stop reading to masturbate?”
“Say that again, please?”
“Avery reads your books, man, so do her friends back in
Massachusetts. One has a crush on you.”
“If she’s as sexy as Red, I might need to visit Boston
sometime soon.”
“Some live in the Salem–Danvers area too. Do you really want
to know about Eve? Are you going to take up writing again and get out of the
funk you’ve been in for two years now?”
“I’m not sure there’s anyone who can get me to write again.
It has to happen on its own. If not, I’m fine with that. I’ve been asked to
write adapted screenplays of my books. I’m using the winter to make a
decision.”
“It should be you, Jax. They’re your books, your stories.
Women love them. Fuck, men do too. How the hell did you learn to write for both
sexes?”
“Fucking both sexes was the place to start. I’ve mastered
the needs and fantasies of men and women and meet them through words on a page.
So when are you bringing Red to me for training?”
Hazard shook his head no. “Calm down with the D/s talk.
Avery’s not submissive. She’s recently shaken off an asshole of an almost
fiancé. She wants to be free to explore life, specifically sex.”
“And you’re the right person for the job, is that it?”
“Sure. Why not? I’m not involved with anyone. She’s not.”
“Aren’t you forgetting something? You two are involved with
each other.”
Jax took out a freshly baked doughnut covered in chocolate
and peanut butter. Dare’s bakery created unusual concoctions when it came to
pastries, cakes, cupcakes and bread.
“For now we are. I like her, Jax. She’s fun and impulsive,
but not irresponsible. For too long she’s been inundated with responsibility.
Last night she said she wanted us to be fuck buddies. Basically, we’re friends
who have sex.”
“And you’re good with the whole friends who happen to fuck
each other concept?”
“If it’s what she wants.”
“Then you won’t mind when I ask her to dance tonight?”
“You’re welcome to. Dancing’s not usually my thing. I’ll be
on stage anyway. Although it’s a bit weird, being that Avery’s friend has a
thing for you.”
“My chances of meeting this friend of hers are small. When
winter hits in full force up on this mountain, I’m going to put the town, the
club, sex, everything on hold until spring. What if I want more from Red? You
gonna break my face open?”
“Her name’s Avery.”
“To me, she’s always going to be Red. That dress she wore
last night was killer, not to mention the shoes. I’d love to see her long legs
slung over your shoulders or feel them around my hips. Bet she’s a little
firecracker.”
Jax feasted on his doughnut. Hazard had eaten with Avery. He
wasn’t hungry.
He refused to acknowledge that the gut-wrenching kick to the
gonads his best friend was delivering had spoiled what was left of his
appetite. All he could do was drink his coffee and hope he didn’t turn Jax into
a jigsaw puzzle.
“She came to Dare looking to break free of the good girl
image she’d projected as Senator Grant’s daughter. Double-teaming her would
scare the fuck out of her, Jax.”
“We’ve shared women before, Trev. How do you know Red
wouldn’t welcome the chance to let go?”
“I know Avery,” he claimed.
But how well did he really know her? He hated himself for
being jealous and they’d agreed to screw the rules of a conventional
relationship.
Last night, if they’d met up with Jaxon outside the club, it
was a possibility Hazard would have coaxed her into a three-way. That’d been
before they’d gotten to her hotel room and became lovers. This morning, the
rules had changed.
“Here’s the deal, Jax. No matter how many times we fucked,
Avery and I couldn’t get enough of each other. Not once since I met her months
ago have I wanted to stay with one woman the whole night through. Hell, since
meeting Avery, I didn’t fuck the last three women I’d gone out with when I
could have.”
“The plot thickens. You knew Red before now.”
“Her brother’s my agent.”
“That’s an understatement. His husband and friends are another
story. Collectively, they could all turn me into dog food.”
“How tough can a few guys be? You are a linebacker for one
of the best teams in pro football today. You know how to tackle and sideline
people.”
“I’d never take what I can do on the field into a fight.
That wouldn’t be fair.”
“What do you want, Alex and his cohorts to beat the snot out
of you?”
“Might be what I deserve,” Hazard admitted.
“Trevor, just because you’re fucking an attractive woman
doesn’t mean you’re doing anything wrong. You like her, right?”
“I do.”
“She likes you?”
“Yes, she does.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
“She came here for a week of spa treatments and a little
holiday romance if the opportunity came up. I happened to fit the bill. Who
knows…if I wasn’t in the club, she might have chosen you.”
“As much as I wish that was so, her eyes were practically on
you the whole time. You’re the man she wants. Go for it and enjoy the time you
have.”
“We agreed on a week. This morning we’ve hinted to each
other we want more.”
“If I could have Niko and Gemma back for one more day, I’d
move heaven and earth to make it happen. Don’t worry about tomorrow, Trev. Take
each day that you have with Avery and be happy. If you do, you might turn a
week into a lifetime. If you don’t, you could miss the love of your life.”
“Now hold on
there, no one’s talking love here.”
“Aren’t we? When I mentioned the two of us sexing up Red,
you squeezed your coffee cup so hard, you crushed it.”
