Mastered by Malone (Haven Texas Book 6) Page 12

  Oh, she was going to find out very soon why it was never a good idea to go against him.

  “Malone!” Saxon yelled, grabbing the door of his truck as he tried to slam it shut.

  “I don’t have time for this.” He glared up at the club owner.

  Saxon scowled. “Someone dying?”

  “They will be soon,” he said ominously.

  Saxon spoke calmly, but there was a little twitch beside his right eye that betrayed his irritation. “You want to tell me what’s going on?”

  “None of your business.”

  Saxon crossed his arms over his chest. “You left in the middle of a scene.”

  “I apologized to Sarah. Find her someone else to take over. I’ll make it up to her. Is that all? Couldn’t we have had this conversation over the phone? I’m kind of busy.”

  Saxon narrowed his gaze, glaring down at him. “No, we couldn’t fucking have this conversation on the phone, because you never pick up the damned phone. And I didn’t come after you because I’m worried about Sarah. No doubt she’s moved on by now.”

  Yeah. That’s why he often chose her to play with. Because she never got attached. “I came out here to see if you’re all right.”

  “Jesus, Aspen took your balls, didn’t she?”

  Saxon tensed. Stared down at Alec coldly. “You want to tread carefully when you talk about Aspen.”

  Everyone knew how protective Saxon was over his woman. Alec didn’t usually back down or apologize but he did give a nod of acknowledgement. It was enough to make Saxon ease up a bit on the death stare.

  “Right, now that that’s solved.” Alec reached out and grabbed hold of the door handle of his truck. “Get out of my way.”

  Saxon didn’t move. Alec glared at him. “You want me to make you move?”

  “Good luck with that,” the other man drawled. “I know you like to do things on your own. You hold things close to your chest. But if you need some help, I’m here.”

  “I don’t need any fucking help,” Alec growled at him.

  “Is that so?”

  “All I need from you is for you to get out of my goddamn way.”

  Saxon backed off, his hands up in the air. “Fine. Go. God forbid I should offer to help the mighty Alec Malone.”

  Shit. “Look, it’s a family matter.”

  Saxon nodded. “Got it. But the offer still stands. You need help. I’m here.”

  Alec closed the door, unsure what to say to that. He didn’t make friends, deliberately kept people at arms’ length. The very last thing he needed was anyone meddling in his business. And still, they offered to help him when they thought he needed it.

  He left the parking lot of Saxon’s and headed as fast as he dared towards the ranch. But it wasn’t Saxon’s problem. Or anyone else’s. It was his.

  And he intended to make sure she never disobeyed him again.

  She made it safely home. But when she reached the ranch house, which seemed to have every light on, she found herself having to fight the urge to turn around and drive away.

  “Oh, crap, what is he doing here?” She drummed her fingers against the steering wheel, staring up at the imposing figure who was standing on the porch at the top of the stairs, his hands on his hips, no doubt glaring daggers at her.

  Jaret actually woke up, miracle of miracles. “We home? Thanks, darlin’.”

  “We’re not the only ones who are home,” she warned. She knew she couldn’t stay there indefinitely, but it was damn tempting to try. She gulped. “I’m in big trouble.”

  “Huh?” Jaret asked, looking over at her. He yawned.

  “You stink of whiskey,” she told him.

  He shrugged. “Gotta go to bed.” He fumbled with his seatbelt latch then reached for the door, opening it and stumbling out onto the ground. She quickly climbed out and went around to help him.

  Jaret put his arm around her shoulders and nearly toppled her over.

  “A little help here?” she snapped at Alec. What was he doing, just standing there?

  “Why?”

  “Because I need to get him to bed and he weighs a ton,” she said with exasperation. Wasn’t it obvious?

  “He got himself into this state, he can make his own way to bed or sleep outside. I don’t care.”

  “Wow, you are really going for brother of the year, aren’t you?”

  Alec started down the steps and she gulped, standing her ground only because if she didn’t, she was pretty certain Jaret was going to land on his face.

  “I suggest you start rethinking the tone you use with me,” Alec said in a low voice. “I am not happy with you nor him right now.”

  “Got that. I’m not stupid. But anytime now, there’s going to be some cops turning up on your doorstep, wanting to know if Jaret destroyed the car of the guy who he caught fucking his girlfriend, and I figure it might not look good if he’s found sleeping off his hangover on the front lawn. Not to mention he could get run over.”

  She heaved in a deep breath and tried to balance herself as Jaret rested more of his weight on her.

  Alec muttered something under his breath. But he reached for Jaret and hauled him over his shoulders in a fireman’s carry. Wow, he didn’t appear winded at all as he carried his brother inside. He turned sideways as he moved through the front door, and she had to quickly grab Jaret’s head to stop it being smashed against the doorframe. Alec obviously didn’t care much about being gentle. Her fingers scrapped along the jamb and she hissed in a pained breath.

  “What?” Alec half-turned.

  “Nothing,” she said hastily.

  “Good. You’ve caused me enough fucking problems tonight. I don’t need any more. So you do exactly what I tell you, understand me?”

  “Yes. Sure.” He’d always intimidated her, but right now he was scaring that shit out of her.

  “Go and make some coffee and get some water. We need to sober him up.” He strode off into the living room. She heard a crashing noise and winced, hoping that wasn’t Jaret’s head. Then she raced off to grab coffee and water.

  By the time she returned to the living area, Alec had laid his brother on the couch and was pulling off his boots.

  “What the fuck happened?” he demanded of her.

  “Oh, um, well . . . ”

  “Well, what?” he asked, clearly at the end of his patience.

  “I got a call from Jaret. He needed to be picked up. He was too drunk to drive and he didn’t have his phone to call anyone else.”

  “And?”

  She licked her lips. “And I couldn’t find anyone. I don’t have their cell numbers.”

  “You could have used the radio to call West.”

  “I did. He wouldn’t go get him,” she pointed out reasonably.

  Alec stood, looming over her. Stand your ground. Don’t show him you’re afraid.

  “And you thought it would be smart to take one of the ranch trucks and go pick him up yourself? You didn’t even leave a note!”

  “I didn’t think anyone would notice I was gone.”

  He looked at her like she was an idiot.

  “He needed help. He’d walked in on Gloria fucking some guy and he was torn up. So he went and got drunk and then he did something stupid . . . ”

  “What stupid thing did he do?” Alec asked quietly. “Please don’t tell me he fucking killed him?”

  Really? That’s where his mind went first? To murder?

  “No, he didn’t kill him. He destroyed his car.”

  “That’s all?”

  That’s all? That’s all? That was not the response she was expecting.

  Alec moved towards Jaret and then slapped him. Hard. Jaret groaned and she jumped forward, inserting himself between Alec and Jaret.

  “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” she yelled.

  “You want to get out of my way now,” Alec commanded in a low, deep voice that sent chills down her spine.

  She wanted to move. Every cell in her body screame
d at her to obey the very scary man glaring down at her. It would be the smart thing to do. The sensible thing to do. Instead, she shook her head.

  Seemed she just wasn’t that smart.

  Alec glared down at the tiny woman as she dared to shake her head at him. Grown men had been known to run the other way when they saw him coming. And here was this little thing standing against him? And why? To defend his brother?

  “What the fuck?” Jaret’s voice reached him as he continued to scowl down at Mia.

  He was starting to revise her nickname. He should just call her headache. That’s all she’d been to him. Oh, she’d lulled him into a false sense of security for those first couple of weeks, tiptoeing around the house, not saying boo. But as she’d settled in and felt safer, the real problems had begun.

  “Who the fuck hit me?” Jaret grumbled.

  “I fucking hit you, you idiot,” Alec snapped at him. “And I’ll do it again if you don’t get some damn coffee inside you. Now. We need you sober before the cops arrive.”

  “What? Why? What’d I do?” He sat up then slumped back. “Fuck, too much to drink. Got to sleep.”

  Alec had run out of patience. He wasn’t even going to ask, well demand, anymore. He simply reached out and grabbed Mia around the waist, moving her out of his way.

  “Hey! Let me down, you brute!”

  He set her down, turning so he loomed over her. “Brute? Honey, you haven’t even seen me in brute-mode yet. Keep pushing and you will. Now, get your butt upstairs, brush your teeth, put your pajamas on and get your ass into bed and stay there.”

  Her hands went to her hips, her eyes sparking with temper. Damn, she was gorgeous.

  “I am not a child.”

  “No?” he drawled. “Tell me, what rule did I give you when you came here?”

  “There was so many it’s hard to remember.”

  “Oh, you don’t want to push me tonight, little one,” he warned, taking delight in the way she swallowed nervously. “You know what rule I’m talking about. What was it that I expressly forbid you from doing?”

  “I don’t like the word forbid.”

  “Tough. What was the rule?”

  She bit at her lip then let out a huff of breath. “You said I wasn’t to leave the ranch.”

  “And what did you do tonight?” he asked in a dark voice.

  He didn’t hold back. He released the side of him he usually kept buried. The uncivilized part that had served him well in his old life. Part of him recognized it wasn’t quite fair to her. She was an innocent. But the idea of her putting herself in danger made him furious. He needed to ensure that the next time she thought about disobeying him, she would stop and remember this.

  “What did you do?” he repeated with a bit more of a snap.

  “Alec, stop,” Jaret said, sounding more sober than he’d expected.

  “Stay out of this,” Alec told him. “You’ve done more than enough damage tonight. I’ll be talking to you about that later.”

  “I left the ranch without permission,” she said in a quiet voice.

  “That’s right. And you put yourself in danger. What if someone had seen you? What if that someone had ties to Angelo? What happens if they turn up here looking for you?”

  “The odds of that happening—”

  “I didn’t ask for the odds. My job is to keep you safe until the trial. Nothing more or less. You staying on this ranch is the best way to secure that. You going rogue and doing whatever the fuck you want is going to get you killed. So, get your ass upstairs and into bed.”

  As she turned away, he had to fight the urge to call her back. To apologize.

  Instead, he let her go.

  She woke up feeling worse than when she’d gone to bed. Not that she was actually in bed. She glanced around the closet she’d commandeered as a bed. She was so fucked up.

  She yawned. She’d only had a few hours’ sleep. And those hours had been broken up with nightmares.

  She knew she’d messed up last night. But she’d been trying to help Jaret. And the likelihood of anyone seeing her had been pretty slim, let alone anyone who might have ties to Angelo. Alec hadn’t needed to speak to her that way. She wasn’t an idiot. She’d made a mistake, but she’d had a good reason.

  She dressed and started down the stairs. She’d slept in, but it was Sunday. She didn’t make breakfast on Sundays. The cops hadn’t turned up last night, which had kind of surprised her. She guessed maybe Bergman hadn’t seen his car yet.

  She walked into the kitchen and poured herself some coffee.

  “Good morning.”

  She gasped, turning to find Alec standing in the doorway. His face was unreadable.

  “Shit. You scared me.” She placed her hand on her racing heart.

  “When you’ve had some breakfast, come to my office. I want to talk with you.”

  Oh. Great. That didn’t sound ominous at all. And even if she’d felt like breakfast before, she didn’t think she could eat now. Her stomach was in a knot. She sat the coffee down. Was he going to kick her off the ranch? He wouldn’t, would he? She’d been doing Jaret a favor. She’d taken precautions. She hadn’t just left to go shopping or out for coffee or anything like that.

  He wouldn’t make her leave. She had nowhere to go. And besides that, she felt safe there. She took a deep breath then let it out slowly.

  No sense putting it off. Waiting wasn’t going to change anything. Time to face the dragon in his lair. She made her way down the hall to his office. The door was slightly ajar, so she gave a small knock and stepped in.

  He glanced up with a frown. “Thought I said to come after you’d had breakfast.”

  “I’m not hungry.”

  His gaze narrowed. “You’re losing weight. I told you the other day that I expect you to eat more.”

  “You’re not in charge of what I eat. I’m just a body to protect, remember? An obligation.”

  “You are an obligation. A responsibility. But you’re wrong if you think I’m not totally in charge of you. Keeping you alive until the trial means making certain you’re healthy. Body and mind.”

  She flushed at the reminder of her panic attack the other night. “Have the cops been here yet? How’s Jaret?”

  “He’s still sleeping off his hangover in one of the bedrooms upstairs. The cops haven’t arrived. Yet.”

  “What are you going to say to them? Jaret said that he wanted me to . . . um, lie and say that I picked him up earlier than I did.”

  “You won’t be doing that,” he said firmly.

  “I won’t? But—”

  “This is not something you need to worry about. I’ll take care of it. What you do need to worry about is what happens to you next.”

  “What do you mean?”

  There was a knock on the door. West stuck his head in. “Cops are here.”

  Alec just nodded as West disappeared.

  He stood up and started towards the door. “Stay here.”

  “Wait,” she called out. “What should I say to them?”

  He sighed and looked back at her. “You’re not saying anything, because you’re not going to speak to them. You were never there. You aren’t even here, so how could you have been there last night?”

  “That’s some messed up logic,” she muttered. “Malone—”

  “Should have known you were gonna give me trouble first time I saw you.”

  “What? I haven’t been any trouble.” She’d done her best not to create trouble. All right, some things had happened that weren’t her fault, but he couldn’t hold them against her.

  “Delusional too.”

  “Malone.” She stomped her foot in frustration. She hadn’t done that since she was a toddler. Felt kind of satisfying, though. Why wouldn’t he give her a straight answer? Was he being deliberately annoying?

  Of course he was being deliberately annoying. Why, she had no idea. Maybe he liked watching her head explode.

  In what seemed like the blink of an eye
he’d moved across the room and was standing in front of her. No, looming over her was more accurate. He was trying to intimidate her.

  He was doing a good job.

  She gulped, hoping he couldn’t hear it.

  “Do you know what my job is?”

  How was this relevant? “Um . . . you’re a rancher?”

  He snorted. “Not that. What is my job when it comes to our arrangement?”

  “Well, I imagine, is it to keep me alive?”

  “I keep you alive. What’s your job?”

  “To feed your brothers?”

  “Jesus, she still doesn’t get it,” he muttered to himself.

  “There’s no need to be rude.”

  He narrowed his gaze. “Didn’t see the attitude before. Couldn’t understand how you’d survived what you had, but it’s there. But there’s one thing you haven’t learned.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Your job is to obey me. I keep you alive. You obey me. Got it?”

  What she got was that he was an ass. An arrogant jerk. Handsome, sure. But that didn’t make up for him being a cretin. And he thought she had attitude? He should look in the mirror. Not that she had the balls to say that to his face.

  “Got it, Calamity Jane?”

  She ground her teeth together. “Got it.”

  “You’re gonna stay in here and you’re gonna stay quiet. You can’t do that, tell me now and I’ll get my handcuffs out and cuff you to the desk.”

  She looked over at the enormous desk that probably weighed five times what she did. Knowing what he was, she probably wouldn’t be the first woman to be handcuffed to it.

  She wanted to tell herself that the hot poker that fired through her gut was disgust. But it wasn’t, it was jealousy. She did not want to be jealous of any woman who had been with the macho, maddening Alec Malone.

  “Don’t think the cops will be too happy to find me handcuffed to your desk,” she pointed out.