Keeping What's His: Tate (Porter Brothers Trilogy Book 1) (5 page)

Sutton started her car and pulled out into traffic cautiously.

She made no effort to hide the scars. Usually, she didn’t give anyone a chance to get close enough to see them, or if they did, she refused to feel embarrassed.

Every time she looked at them, she was reminded of how she had survived and been given a second chance, a chance to right old wrongs. Rachel was the one who haunted her the most. She was the one unresolved issue Sutton needed to fix so she could move on and leave the past behind where it belonged. She wasn’t the same weak, spoiled young girl who had left Treepoint behind. She was strong and could survive anything, even facing Tate and bring up all the old painful memories again. She had proved to herself that she wasn’t weak anymore. This time when she left Treepoint with her goals accomplished, she wouldn’t be coming back.

Chapter 6

“Who’s that Rachel and Cash are talking to?”

Tate dragged his eyes away from the window to answer Holly’s question. “That’s Sutton Creech. She used to live in town.”

“Oh. Rachel doesn’t seem too happy to see her,” Holly remarked.

“No, she doesn’t.” Tate watched as his sister and her husband talked to Sutton. He was about to get up from the table, seeing how upset Rachel was, when he saw Sutton move away, nearly getting run down by a car.

Holly gasped. “I hope she’s okay.”

“She seems fine.”

His sister’s expression had changed, and Tate relaxed back against his chair. He didn’t want to come into contact with Sutton any more than he had to.

A few minutes later, the couple came inside the restaurant after their conversation with Sutton ended. Tate critically surveyed his sister, trying to determine if she was upset from the encounter. When her troubled expression didn’t relieve his doubts, he shot Cash an angry look, which was returned with a direct stare.

“Sorry we’re late.” Rachel leaned over to kiss his cheek as they took a seat at the table.

“That’s okay. I saw you talking to Sutton. Are you all right?”

“I’m fine. It won’t be the first or last time I run into one of Cash’s old girlfriends.”

“She wasn’t my girlfriend. We went out a couple of times, and that was the extent of my relationship with her.” Cash stared at his wife unapologetically.

Rachel took a sip of her water, avoiding her husband’s gaze.

Tate wanted to ram his fist in Cash’s face.

“No, she was
my
girlfriend. She was just a one-night stand to you.”

Cash stiffened. “You don’t know what the crap you’re talking about, Tate.” Cash’s eyes went to Logan. Tate knew, if his nephew wasn’t sitting at the table, Cash wouldn’t have been so polite.

Holly threw her napkin down on the table. “Finished, Logan?” At the little boy’s nod, she grabbed his hand and pulled him up from his chair before turning back to the group. “I’m going to take Logan to the library for an hour. I’ll meet you back at the truck.”

Holly took off with his nephew in tow, the set of her shoulders a clear reprimand. Tate stared after them, beginning to believe Greer was right. If they weren’t careful, Holly would make Logan a pussy. It was time they came home. He would talk to Dustin tonight. Since they were almost finished processing the plants, there was no reason they should remain away.

“You didn’t have to embarrass her, Tate,” Rachel scolded.

He shrugged. “Someone has to look out for you.”

Cash stiffened again. “You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about. I don’t have to protect Rachel from Sutton. I don’t have a fucking thing to hide from her, either. There may be a lot of women I have to apologize to Rachel about, but Sutton isn’t one of those women.”

“Let’s change the subject.” Rachel placed her hand on her brother’s arm. “I’m not upset, Tate.”

He stared at her disbelievingly.

“It’s true. I have to admit I was at first, but I’m not now. I’m not even angry at her anymore.”

“Well, I am,” he stated without apology.

“Tate …”

“Let’s change the subject. Sutton isn’t worth talking about.” Tate waved his hand to catch the waitress’s attention so she could take Rachel’s order. He didn’t give a fuck if Cash ate or not.

The waitress left after taking their order, looking relieved to get away from the tension at the table.

“She’s not had an easy time since she’s been gone.” Rachel’s soft voice didn’t rouse his sympathy.

The soothing warmth he was receiving from his sister’s hand on his arm didn’t dispel the churning anger in his stomach, and Tate refused to talk about Sutton any longer.

Rachel sighed. “Your temper is going to be your downfall, Tate. Greer may be a hothead, but he gets over it fast. You hold a grudge forever.”

“Yes, I do.” He and Cash had a contentious past with fights about women, but he only remained angry about Sutton.

“You’re an asshole. I never touched Sutton, but you’re not going to change your mind despite me telling you the truth. Ask me about any woman in town, and I’ll tell you the truth; why would I lie about her?”

“Maybe because your wife is sitting right here,” Tate replied sarcastically.

“I’ve never denied my past to Rachel,” Cash snapped back.

“Then it’s because you knew I cared about her.”

Cash snorted. “You didn’t care about Sutton. You let her go easily enough. If you were as into her as you claim, you would have whipped my ass over her. Greer tried to give me a beating over that slut Diane. You replaced Sutton with Lisa within a day. You were just tired of having blue balls, and it gave you the excuse to do what you wanted to do all along.”

“Which was what?” Tate snarled.

“Break up with Sutton and fuck Lisa. I saw her flirting with you when you would pick Greer up from football practice. Was that short little cheerleader skirt getting to you?

Tate stood, his chair scraping the linoleum. “I’ve gotta go before I knock the shit out of you. I can’t afford to do any jail time right now. Bye, Rach.”

“Tate!”

He ignored his sister trying to call him back. He didn’t bother paying his bill either, knowing Cash would take care of it. The son of a bitch deserved to pay his tab.

He strode to his truck and climbed inside to wait for Holly and Logan. He slammed his hand down on the steering wheel, wanting to vent the anger he couldn’t take out on Cash.

He was angry at himself and Cash. He should have beaten the ever-loving shit out of Cash all those years ago.

Tate ran his hand through his hair. He had never been with a girl as long as Sutton, certainly not one he hadn’t fucked on a regular basis and remained faithful. She had made plans for their future together, despite him constantly evading the issue. He had no intention of leaving Treepoint, and he had selfishy hoped deep down that she would change her mind about leaving. Moreover, she had stood beside him when his parents died, and Rachel had grown attached to her. She’d had dreams of being a lawyer, while his dreams had been simplier—a woman who would fuck his brains out and help him raise his brothers and sister. If she could do that, he would be content never to leave his mountain.

In his mind, he had seen Sutton getting out of Cash’s truck, and his pride had been stung. Truthfully, it still was. Now he realized how selfish he was being; she had only been seventeen, and he had been her first boyfriend.

Sutton had been the best part in the shit hole his life had become. She deserved to leave Treepoint and follow her dreams without him holding her back. She had probably figured that out for herself, which was why she had cheated on him with Cash.

Seeing Holly crossing the street with Logan, he got out to hold the door open for her, watching with a smile as Logan climbed inside. He ruffled the boy’s red hair when he succeeded.

“I did it all by myself,” Logan boasted.

“Yes, you did.” Tate chuckled as Logan sat down in his carseat.

“I’m getting too big for this. Can’t I just sit on the seat like you?” he complained, buckling himself in with nimble fingers.

“You have to gain a few more pounds for that to happen.” Seeing the frown of discontent, Tate winked at Holly. “How about we go to the store and see if we can find the next size up? If Holly tells me you’ve been good at your grandmother’s, I might even buy you that new bike you’ve been wanting.”

“I’ve been really good, haven’t I, Holly?” Logan looked anxiously at the woman sitting in the front seat.

“Yes, you have,” she said, throwing Tate a furtive look.

When he was back in the truck, Holly lowered her voice. “I thought we couldn’t afford it right now.”

Tate shrugged. “Came into some extra money.”

“I don’t know how I feel about you using your drug money to buy him a bike.”

Tate’s mouth firmed. “It’s a good thing it’s not up to you then, is it?”

Holly crossed her arms over her chest, turning to stare out the window.

Tate drove them to the store, letting Logan pick out his bike after they found a booster seat for the truck. Tate ignored Holly’s disapproval.

“Holly?” Logan’s face fell when she didn’t return his excitement.

Her expression softened as it always did where Logan was concerned. “It’s a nice bike.”

His excitement returned as they wheeled it toward the cash register. Tate ignored Holly’s holier-than-shit attitude as he paid for the purchases. He felt no guilt over how he and his brothers earned their money. If they didn’t purchase the weed from them, their customers would buy it off someone else. The money was better off in his wallet than the Hayes’s or the Coleman’s, and their clients damn sure were better off not smoking the weed they sold.

As they were going out the door, Tate saw Lyle Turner, the town drunk, coming in and throwing him a glare, which Tate forced himself to brush off. The case had been thrown out of court. If Lyle wanted to start a fight, he could do it with the store cameras on him. Tate wasn’t about to spend a night away from home with the sense of danger he had felt lately.

Tate loaded Logan’s bike into the bed of the truck and switched out the car seats before he climbed in. Logan fidgeted with excitement on the way to his grandmother’s house.

“How much longer are we going to have to stay with Mrs. Langley?” Holly asked.

“Just a few more days.” Tate took his eyes briefly off the road. “I figured you would prefer Mrs. Langley’s house over ours. It’s a hell of a lot bigger.”

“It’s not home.” Holly glanced away, avoiding his gaze.

“It won’t be much longer,” Tate promised as he pulled into the driveway.

Tate climbed out while Holly opened the back door to let Logan out. The anxious boy could hardly wait as Tate pulled his bike out of the truck.

He stayed and watched him for an hour until Dustin showed. Then Tate left them alone for some private time.

Logan and Dustin had developed a close relationship, but Tate noticed an expression of sadness appear in his brother’s eyes when he wasn’t aware someone was watching. His young, devil-may-care attitude hid the pain Samantha had left behind. Dustin had loved her. He had never discussed it with him or Greer, but both brothers felt Dustin’s pain.

Their father had warned them when they each turned sixteen that a Porter loves only once. He had often told them how he managed to catch their mother. He had loved her on first sight. Tate still remembered rolling his eyes when his father regaled them with his past. His mother had been engaged to Cash Adam’s father at the time.

“I knew she was meant for me the first time I set eyes on her.”

“She belonged to someone else,” Tate had reminded him.

His father had shrugged. “I knew Mattie would catch on to him cheating on her. Your momma ain’t nobody’s fool.”

“She caught him?” Greer had asked.

Their father had nodded, not trying to hide the triumph in his voice. “Kind of hard not to when he knocked up the town whore. Took me a year to talk her into going out with me, then another six months to get her in my bed.”

“Ew,” Dustin had groaned, covering his hands with his ears.

“Son, you won’t be thinking that in a few years when a pretty girl walks by you, sashaying a pretty ass in front of you.”

Tate and Greer had both laughed as their father had shot them a know-it-all grin.

“I wouldn’t laugh too hard if I were you two, either. I’m gonna give you the same warning my pa gave me: once a woman catches a Porter man’s heart, she never lets it go. My pa and each man before him only loved one woman.”

“Not in this day and time,” Tate had snickered.

He had shaken his head. “Porter men are different.”

“You really believe that?” Tate had asked in disbelief.

“I know that,” he had said in conviction. “I wouldn’t want to live without your ma.”

Tate had a feeling of forboding and quickly changed the subject. “Maybe it will skip our generation.”

“I hope not. I wouldn’t want you to miss out on what me and your ma have.”

“Didn’t Cash’s dad try to get her back?”

A familiar look that had always scared them shitless had come over his face, the same one that had been on his face when he had caught someone snooping around their property.

“He tried, hard.”

“What did you do?” Dustin had asked the question they all had wanted answered.

“I followed the rules my father gave me and the same one I keep telling you. A Porter always stands his ground. Don’t leave an enemy standing, and always keep what’s yours.”

All of them had stared at their father in awe.

“Don’t forget them rules,” he had ordered.

“We won’t.” Each of them had given their promise to their father.

“When I’m dead and gone, live and breathe them. Mark my words, no man or woman will stand a chance against you.”