Owned (9 page)

“No, haven’t gotten that far.” I shook my head which was stupid right then. “It’s been nonstop chaos since I pulled in this afternoon.”

“Kate,” Nate said, kneeling in front of me, taking my chin so I had to look him in the eye. “I don’t give a flying fuck about the money, neither does Jamie. We’re worried about keeping you safe. You’ve got two assholes that are nuts pissed off at you. You’re the toughest woman I’ve ever known, hell, you’re tougher than most men I know. But you’ve been through emotional hell in your life and I think you’ve finally reached all you can handle. Let us help you.”

He let go of my chin, I nodded, and he hugged me and Jamie hugged both of us. I didn’t hug them back, but I didn’t push them away, and they knew how hard that was for me.

“You trust me, right?” Jamie asked, letting us go.

“Yeah, I do, I’m sorry,” I whispered. Looking at her, I wiped some of the tears off her face.

“You trust me too, right, Kate?” Nate asked and I turned back to him.

“I do. You never participated in the bet, that’s how I knew we were really friends,” I answered. Then I cursed my drunk ass for running my mouth.

“You knew about the bet?” he asked, his eyes going wide in shock.

“Of course I knew.”

“How come you never told me?”

“How come you never told me, Nate?” I threw right back.

“That’s fair,” he answered, nodding.

“Umm, I’m lost, what bet?” Jamie asked.

“Remember how I told you I was the only girl in my OCS class?” I asked her.

“Yeah,” she drawled, raising an eyebrow.

“It seems the guys in my class, other classes, and guys on the base had a bet going to see who could fuck me first.”

“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me! Those pricks,” she replied, outraged, shooting Nate a look that could kill.

“Nate didn’t participate in the bet,” I told her, touching her arm. “I even heard him telling some of the guys if they got in on the bet, he’d kick their ass.”

“I never wanted you to find out about it, Kate, I’m sorry,” he said sadly, shaking his head.

“I know you didn’t, but wasn’t it better that I knew, instead of finding out after I slept with someone?” I asked.

“Fuck! I never thought about it that way.” He smacked himself in the head. “I kinda just assumed you wouldn’t sleep with them anyways.”

“Why not?” Jamie asked, laughing.

“I don’t know, you took training so seriously. I figured you wouldn’t risk the kind of shit that can happen when you hook up with one of the guys.”

“You know why I threw myself so hard into training, I wasn’t in the right mindset to think like that. I would have gladly taken comfort, even if it was wild sex,” I replied, laughing.

“Yeah, makes sense, I’m an ass,” he replied.

“No you’re not,” I said, trying to pat his cheek, but I was too drunk to do more than give him a few light smacks. “I love you like a brother,” I started to say, but all of a sudden my world was spinning badly. “Umm, guys, I think I’m going to pass out soon.” At least that’s what I think I said before everything went black, and I never even felt if I hit the floor.

“Wake up, drunk girl,” I heard Jamie say to me the next morning. “There’s about twenty men in your kitchen that you need to talk to.” The only reply I gave was a groan so she continued, “Open your eyes or I will dump cold water all over your face!”

That got me up, because I knew she really would. She pulled that a few times when we were roommates. Granted she saved my ass by getting me up, but it was just mean to do it that way.

“Bitch,” I growled, heading to the bathroom and not even bothering to close the door. After I went pee and brushed my teeth, I headed out towards the hallway.

“Uh, Kate, don’t you want to put on some more clothes?” she asked, giggling.

“What am I wearing?” I muttered, not having the energy to look.

“One of your little nightshirts with a bra in them and pajama pants.”

“Fuck clothes then.” I waved her worries off as I headed towards the stairs. Thankfully I grabbed on to the railing because otherwise I would have fallen down them. “Wait, why are there stairs?”

“Because that’s the way to the kitchen,” she answered, puzzled.

“Okay.” I shrugged, stumbling into the kitchen.

“Good morning, sunshine!” Nate said in a very loud voice.

“Fuck you, douche. Do that again and I swear I will kick your ass and shove something too big to fit up there when I’m sober,” I practically snarled, shielding out the sunshine. I turned around slowly when I heard a bunch of male laughter. “Uh, guys, why the fuck are there people in my kitchen?”

“You had us invite them over for breakfast, remember?” Jamie said, trying not to laugh.

“Oh, okay,” I replied as if that made any sense to me, heading towards the coffee next to the sink… Except it wasn’t there. That got me to wake up a little more and look around. “I’m not in my condo, am I?”

“No you’re not, Kate,” Nate said, not doing very well hiding his laughter, and neither were the other guys sitting at the big kitchen table.

“Where the fuck am I?” I growled, starting to get pissed.

“You’re at the ranch, sweetie,” Jamie said carefully, finally realizing why the stairs had confused me. Once she said that, I was awake, but still not sober. Then everything that happened yesterday hit me like a ton of bricks and that sobered me up really quick.

“He’s dead,” I whispered, leaning against the counter of the island, not trusting my legs anymore.

“Yeah, he is, baby, I’m sorry,” Nate said, putting his arms around me. Of course I pushed him away and ducked under his arms.

“It’s fine,” I assured them, and just like that my normal armor slid back into place. “Coffee?”

“I’ll get you some,” Jamie said softly. “Go take a seat.” I just nodded and headed over to the table.

“You okay, Kate?” Nick asked me, though it took me a minute to realize it was Nick. I glanced up and was glad there weren’t two of him at least.

“Fine, I’m fine,” I answered. “Just need to sober up.”

“Still drunk?” one of the other guys asked and I nodded. I gratefully took the coffee Jamie handed me. She knew I was more a latte kind of girl, so there was a lot of milk in it. I didn’t even hesitate, drinking it right away.

“Can’t hold your liquor, Kate?” one of the other guys asked and I flipped him off, still drinking my coffee.

“It happens when you have about seventeen or eighteen shots in the course of a few hours,” Nate drawled from where he was leaning against the stove, defending me.

“Is that right?” Nick asked.

“Sounds about what I remember,” I said with a shrug when I finished the coffee. “More please?” I gave her my pathetic face, pout lip and all as I handed her the empty mug.

“What was she drinking?” I heard a deep voice ask from the corner. His voice was sexy as hell, but it would take too much effort to look that far away, so I didn’t bother.

“Four or five shots of whiskey and about twelve or thirteen shots of Jäger,” Nate replied. “She was doing three or four at a time. Kate’s not a drinker, only seen her drunk once in the seven years I’ve known her, but nothing like last night.”

“Unless someone beamed me up, I’m right fucking here,” I growled. “Don’t talk about me like I’m not.”

“Yeah, and she’s lots of fun when she’s first drunk, but she’s a grouch when she’s sobering up or hungover,” Jamie threw in.

“I’m always a fucking grouch,” I argued.

“But we love you anyways,” she said, kissing the top of my head and giving me more coffee. “I’ve seen her drunk more often than you, Nate, but that’s only because I knew her in college.”

“Yeah well, I’ve seen you drunk way more times than you’ve seen me,” I reminded her. “And I don’t puke out my guts nine times out of ten.”

“Well, I’ve seen you puke out your guts,” Nate said, smiling. “That’s how I met you.” Everyone else was laughing because they didn’t understand what he just said. Jamie and Nate just froze and watched me turn slowly towards Nate. “Kate, I’m sorry, I—”

“You’re a fucking bastard, Nate,” I sneered, smashing my coffee mug on the table as I stood, shaking with rage. “That’s beyond low for you to throw in my face.”

“Kate, I’m sorry,” he started to say again, but I just walked out of the kitchen and headed outside.

“Nate met Kate throwing up after she got the news that her grandma had died,” I heard Jamie explaining to everyone else as I got to the front door. I reached down and grabbed my sneakers and headed out to the barn. I realized I was heading towards the back of it where I had an eighty-pound boxing bag hanging.

But I also had some extra workout clothes on a shelf in there. Not bothering to make sure no one was watching, I tugged off my pajamas. I pulled on a sports bra, tank top, panties, running shorts, socks, and of course my sneakers. After a thought I also pulled on a baseball cap, since I was going to be light sensitive and all.

I took off in a sprint when I hit the barn door. The house was on the north side of the property, so I headed south. I had my markers all over the ranch for distance, but I also knew which level of difficulty each marker was. There were some that were straight flat runs, and there were others that had rougher terrain or hills. Today was a day for the hardest path. I needed to get this anger and rage out, plus kick the rest of the alcohol out of my system.

I didn’t slow down until I hit the halfway point, finally stretching out. After that, I started sprinting back to the house. Knowing I was pushing myself way too hard, I couldn’t seem to care or stop myself. This was the only thing I could feel right now, the ground under my feet, the blood pumping through my beating heart, and the air rushing through my lungs… Everything else was numb.

And it would be for a while.

* * * *

Dean

“Nice one, asshole,” Jamie yelled at Nate when Kate was gone. She stormed across the kitchen and smacked him upside the head. “Do you use that thing on your shoulders for anything other than to hold up your ears?”

“Apparently not,” Nate mumbled, staring down at his feet. “I was trying to get her mind off why she was drinking last night.”

“By bringing up when her gram
died
?” Jamie’s face was so red that I thought steam might come out of her ears soon. “You fix this, Nate, or I swear to god I will beat you and then let Kate beat you and we both know in the mindset she’s in she won’t go easy on you.”

“Yeah, I’ll handle it. For now let’s get these guys back to work.” He nodded over to the other hands sitting at the table watching them like a boxing match on TV. I was only half paying attention to all of this. I was too busy replaying what happened minutes before.

“Wipe that look off your face,” Jared whispered so quietly no one else could hear.

“I can’t,” I replied at the same volume. “Tell me she wasn’t everything you ever imagined and more?”

Jared sat back up, biting his lip, and looked away. Exactly.

It was comical to hear Kate and Jamie’s banter, having better hearing than most others in the kitchen. I thought she was totally adorably endearing. But I swear I fell in love the moment Kate stumbled into the kitchen. I never,
ever
imagined a woman could make me instantly hard having just rolled out of bed and still drunk.

She was the sexiest woman I’d ever seen all while being cute as could be and I didn’t even care if she hadn’t brushed her teeth yet or not.

Thick blonde hair that was sticking up in a few spots that on most would have made her look unkempt but on Kate looked like she was just enjoying the Olympics of sex. She was shorter than us, but not
short
by any means, tall for a woman even.

Perfect height to me.

And my god, her breasts. Seriously, they needed to be worshipped. When she moved around the kitchen, the way they bounced had my cock leaking and my mind picturing them doing the same thing as she rode me. No, I’d push her onto the table and suck on her nipples as I fucked her.

Both. Yeah, that was the answer. I’d do both and as often as possible.

She had curves in all the right places, skin that looked so soft I just wanted to explore every inch of her to see if it really was, and a body that set my blood on fire. But it was so much more than the way she looked.

Even pissed off she was sexy. When she yelled at Nate for being loud, my heart raced. I wanted her to boss me around, command me to please her, and then scream out
my
name as I gave her orgasm after orgasm.

I’d never felt like this before. Hell, I’d thought lust or love at first sight or an animalistic attraction like this was just bullshit. Apparently I was a reformed man.

“Scale of one to ten, how bad do you want her?” Jared asked me, interrupting my thoughts. I snapped back to the present, realizing Nate and Jamie were talking to the hands about coming back after dinner and maybe I should be paying attention.

I thought about my twin’s question. “Infinity? At least a few million.”