Stone Deep: An Alpha Bad Boy Romance (Stone Brothers Book 3) (5 page)

Chapter 9

Slade

Hunter and I had parked a few blocks down from the police station. Of the three guys involved in the attack, only one, the one who had actually stabbed me, was still inside. But I’d given my statement and I’d admitted that I’d started everything by assaulting the guy in a bar. I’d dropped the charges. Of course, I wanted something in return. Information.

A couple of days in a hospital bed and the reality that I’d be off work for a few weeks had given me a crazy fucking idea. I wanted to help Britton find her
answers
. I wanted to help her find her sister’s boyfriend. I had no complete understanding of why I wanted to do this except that she seemed so incredibly distraught about her sister’s death. Of course, the fact that she was beautiful, funny, sweet and altogether unforgettable might have had something to do with my wild idea too.

Hunter leaned back in the passenger’s seat and closed his eyes. “I think you lost just a bit too much blood out there on the highway. You should have left the fool in a jail cell. Like the doctor said, a couple inches north or south and we’d be burying your ass instead of melting inside your car outside, of all places, the county jail. She must have been some fuck.”

“That’s right, a couple of inches. The way I see it, I’ve been left on this wonderful earth for a reason. And right now, the only reason I can think of is to help Britton find the guy responsible for her twin sister’s death.”

He looked up. “And then what? You going to play vigilante? So far that pretty wood sprite, as you call her, has cost you some blood, several days stuck in a hospital bed and two weeks wages. Seems to me you should be running the other way.” He lit up a joint.

I looked pointedly at it. “Uh, you do realize we’re just a hundred yards from the county jailhouse.”

He ignored my comment and took a hit.

I reached for the joint. “Actually, I could use some of that. I’m going to need something to keep me mellow when I face this guy because what I really want to do is break every bone in his fucking face.” I took a hit and held it deep in my lungs while we watched the front door of the building slide open. “That’s him,” I said through clenched teeth. I blew out the smoke, stuck the joint in the ashtray and opened the car door. Hunter climbed out too.

The asshole looked smaller and stupider than I remembered. He was checking his wallet to make sure the police gave him back everything. He looked at his phone and jammed it angrily in his pocket.

“Guess they didn’t keep it charged for him,” I said. “What a dick.”

It didn’t take him long to notice Hunter and me leaning against the front of my car. His face paled, and his gaze darted in every direction as if he was trying to figure out which way to run.

“We’re not going to hurt you, fuckface.” I turned to Hunter. “You should probably stay here. You’re extra scary, and he already looks ready to piss his pants.” I pushed off the car and started walking toward him.

The guy held up his hands in surrender. “I’m unarmed.”

“Yeah? That makes three of us.” I motioned behind me with my thumb. “Unless you count that guy back there who could easily kill you with just his fist.” I stopped a few feet from him. If he ran, there wasn’t any way I could chase him down with the stitches in my side. “Just need a little information, then you can be on your way and we never have to set eyes on each other again. I sure as hell know I don’t want to see you again.”

“Why the fuck would I tell you anything?”

“Because if I hadn’t dropped the charges, you’d be waiting in a jail cell for your public defender in his forty dollar three piece suit and cheap smelling aftershave.”

“You assaulted me first.”

“I kicked your knee, which, I assume, from the way you look ready to spring into cheetah action right now, isn’t causing you too much pain.” I patted the thick gauze under my shirt. “I, on the other hand, lost a pint or two of blood and had to sit through seventy-five stitches. I was defending a girl from three assholes. You were defending your pride. I think we know who the true weenie is standing on this sidewalk. All I want to know is where I can find your buddy Kyle’s brother.”

“Don’t know where Damon is.” He shrugged casually, but he was still looking pretty damn uneasy. His attention kept flitting to Hunter, who was still leaning against the car. “From what I hear, that crazy bitch who pulled the gun on us—”

“Fake gun,” I reminded him.

“Whatever. She’s nuts. She’s trying to blame Damon for her sister’s death. Total whack job.”

I curled my hands into fists but kept them tight against my sides. The last thing I needed was to get my own ass thrown in jail over this loser. I stepped a little closer, and he flinched.

“Listen, you asshole, and listen good. Tell me where to find Damon, and you won’t have to be jumping at your own shadow for the rest of your life wondering if I’m coming after you for payback. You’re out of jail, but you might just have been better off inside. Unless you tell me what I need to know. Then we’re through here.”

Hunter must have pushed off the car because some of the color left the guy’s face again.

“Who is that?” He pulled his phone from his pocket and glanced at it like he was reading a text. “My friends are just around the corner.”

“Really? That was very considerate of the cops to keep your phone charged for you.”

He took a step back.

“Look, don’t shit your pants. We’re not going to hurt you. Just tell me where Damon is, and we’ll be gone.”

Hunter stood next to me. The guy stared up at him, and his throat moved as he swallowed back fear.

“This is him?” Hunter asked. “This is the motherfucker who stabbed my brother.”

“Palm Springs,” he blurted. “Damon works for Blue Lagoon Pool builders. He’s working on some pool in the California desert. That’s all I know. I swear.”

“See, that’s all I needed.” I turned to leave, but Hunter stayed.

“I don’t know,” Hunter said. “I sure hate to skip the opportunity to make this asshole feel some pain for what he did.” Hunter raised up his arms and pretended to lunge at the guy. The man turned and ran like a chicken being chased by a fox.

Hunter had a good laugh. We walked back to the car.

“It really would have been fun to smear his face on the sidewalk,” Hunter said as we climbed inside.

“Yes, yes I know.” I reached over and patted his shoulder. “Maybe someday Hunter can squash the scared little man. Just not in front of the county jail.”

Chapter 10

Britton

“I didn’t tell you about the epic disaster with that Gucci purse I was bidding on.” Nina poured granola into her yogurt and stirred it up. We’d taken our lunches out to the tiny corner park at the end of the street.

“I take it you were outbid.” I opened up the brown bag. I’d still been living in a crummy weekly rate motel just a few miles from work. Most of my meals came from the local mini-mart.

Nina stared with disapproval at my lunch, a bag of trail mix that looked well past its prime, a banana that had more black spots than yellow and an energy drink.

“It’s like going to lunch with three frat brothers on a road trip. Seriously, Brit, why don’t you come and live with me while you get stuff cleared up with Ryan. It’ll be fun. We could have slumber parties and talk about cute boys and practice putting on makeup.” She laughed.

I opened the drink and sipped it. “You were talking about your epic purse fail.”

“Right. I nabbed the darn thing for seventy bucks and, boy, was I thrilled. Then it comes in the mail, and it’s a damn fake. The brown stain was even coming off the faux leather.”

“I think your first mistake was thinking you could get a real Gucci for seventy dollars.” I put a handful of trail mix in my mouth. It was stale. Like my entire life. I was in such limbo, and I desperately needed to straighten myself out. But I wasn’t completely sure what I wanted or how to untangle things.

“How was your friend?” Nina asked over a spoonful of yogurt. “The one you visited in the hospital.”

“Oh, he’s fine.” Her question caught me off-guard. I’d used my visit to the hospital to get out of a shopping trip with Nina.

“Who is he?”

Another unexpected question. I waved my hand. “No one you know. Someone I knew in high school.”

“But I thought you went to high school in Iowa?”

“Yep, yep, I did—and he, the guy in the hospital, just happened to have moved west too.” Nina seemed to accept my poorly crafted response. I’d taken up the new hobby of lying and I hated it.

A group of pigeons landed in front of the bench. I tossed them a handful of the trail mix, and a dozen more fluttered down from the telephone wire above.

Nina gasped and closed up her lunch bag as if the birds might waddle right up and take it from her. With the way we were suddenly outnumbered and with the way they were eyeing us as if we were made of breadcrumbs, they just might have made a grab for it.

“Oops, I guess tossing them food was a mistake.” I closed up my bag as well.

We stood up and walked back toward work. My phone rang, and my heart did a little skip. It had been three days since I’d visited Slade and had, on a whim, decided to punch my number into his phone. Like a teenage girl with a crush, my pulse had sped up every time my phone rang. I pulled it out. The number wasn’t familiar. Probably just a wrong number, I assured myself to avoid too much disappointment.

“I’m right behind you, Nina.”

She walked on ahead.

“Hello.”

“Hey, Tink, it’s Slade.”

Another round of fluttery heartbeats. His deep voice did not disappoint on the phone. “Hey, are you out of the hospital? Shit, just saying
hospital
has churned up all the guilt again. I’m so sorry that happened, Slade.”

“I’m out and no worries. I’m pretty sure I’m going to have a cool scar from it. I did get a remote control car out of the deal. Not to mention, the phone number of the very sexy elf who delivered it.”

“I’m pretty sure you’ve got your fantasy creatures mixed up. Fairy and elf are two different species.” His smooth laugh rolled through the speaker as I stepped under the shade of a tree. Passing traffic made it a little hard to hear. “I’m just walking in from my lunch break, so I can’t talk long. I’m glad you’re up and about, Slade.”

“Me too. I’m off work for two weeks. I work on a fishing boat.”

I paused. “Shit. If there’s anything I can do, just let me know.”

“Actually, there is something. You can keep me from being bored out of my mind. Britton, the real reason I called was to let you know that I found out where Damon is. He’s working for a pool contractor in California.”

“What? How did you find that out?”

“Fairies aren’t the only ones with magical powers. Plus, I waited outside the county jail and asked the guy who stabbed me. I dropped the charges. My brother and I met him as he walked out.”

“And he told you?”

“Turns out that without a knife in his hand, he’s pretty fucking easy to intimidate.”

“California?” After my actions had nearly cost Slade his life, I’d been trying hard to convince myself that I needed to give up on finding Damon. But Perris’s death was still an open wound.

“What do you say, Tink? How about a road trip to sunny California? We could stop along the way in a couple of cheesy motels, and, well, you know what happens inside those cheap, sleazy rooms.”

“But your injury? Are you sure you’re up to it?
All
of it, I mean.” I’d thought so many times of that one night we’d spent together that thinking about it now was making my pussy warm.

“You underestimate me, my little sweetie. A little gash won’t slow me down, if you catch my not-so-subtle meaning. Besides, the stitches come out in three days. It occurs to me I know little about you, including where you work.”

“Why, I thought you already knew,” I said. “I’m working for Peter Pan.”

“Hmm. Should I be jealous?”

“Uh, have you seen the way the guy dresses? I don’t think you have too much to worry about. I work in an extremely unexciting insurance office. I’m off on the weekend, and I’ve got some vacation time saved up. I suppose I could stretch a weekend for a few extra days.”

“Great. Sounds like a plan.”

“Are you sure about this? I mean, I’ve already got you caught up in my dirty laundry.”

“If we don’t go, I’ll probably end up sitting on the couch playing a marathon session of video games while shoveling chips and blue sports drinks down my gullet. By week’s end, they’ll be carrying me out on a stretcher with the controller glued to my hand, my lips and teeth stained blue and in a salt coma from all the chips. You’ll be doing your civic duty by saving me from that.”

I chuckled, and it dawned on me that anytime I was talking to this man, I was smiling. “Well then, I don’t want to shirk my civic duty. When do we leave?”

“Friday. What time do you get off?”

“I’m off at five, but I don’t really have a permanent address—” Just admitting I had no home made me feel like such a loser. I wondered, briefly, if this was far crazier than anything else I’d done, which, considering the events of last week, was saying a lot. “I’ll come to you. Just text me your address. I’m assuming you want to take my car?”

“Unless we can both fit in that remote control car. Only I’d have to put the wheel back on because there was an incident with my neighbor’s lawnmower.”

“Why don’t we just stick with the people-sized car. I’ve got to get back to my desk.” I paused. “Hey, Slade, thanks.”

“See you Friday, Tink.”

I hung up and headed back to the office. I wasn’t completely sure anymore what my motives were for finding Damon. Answers, an explanation, a chance to tell him face-to-face what I really thought of him, or maybe I just needed something to ease my pain. No matter what the reason, the notion of hanging out with Slade for a few days, away from my own bleak existence, sounded way too good to pass up. It was all a little insane and impulsive, but then, I hadn’t been in my right mind since I’d lost Perris.

Chapter 11

Slade

I’d realized this was only the third time I’d seen Britton. I opened the door. She was standing on the front stoop wearing a pale blue sundress, sandals and that smile that I’d been thinking about nonstop since the first time I saw it.

“Holy shit, Tink, warn a guy before you show up at his front door looking like that.”

She looked down at her dress. “Like what?”

“Like
this
.” I waved my hand in front of her like she had a habit of doing to me. “Come inside and I’ll grab my duffle bag.”

“Do you live here alone?” she asked.

“No. My brother, Hunter, and his wife, Amy, live here too. I’m saving to get my own place. Sort of puts a crimp in the whole newlywed thing with me always hanging around.” I walked down the hallway and grabbed my duffle. Britton was standing in the center of the room when I returned. Her cropped, shiny dark hair was combed off her picture perfect face. Her big brown eyes surveyed the faded and slightly dusty furniture.

She walked over to the family pictures on the wall above the couch. We’d never moved them. They were as much a part of the wall as the cracks in the plaster. I looked at them about as often as the cracks too. My mom had felt unusually sentimental one day and she’d decided to frame the few pictures we had of our childhood. Dad yelled at her for putting nail holes in the wall, but she never took them down. It had been one of her rare moments of standing up to my dad. We’d never talked about the pictures, but I was sure that was why we never took them down.

Britton wiped away some of the dust with her finger and leaned closer, giving me an extremely nice view of her silky legs. “This must be you and your brothers.” She leaned even closer. “Oh my gosh, you were all so adorable.”

“Adorable. Now that is a word I never heard used to describe the Stone brothers. Especially not in this town.”

She turned back to me. “When was this one taken?”

I walked over and glanced at it as if I’d never seen it before. But I knew exactly when and why it had been taken. There were so few memorable occasions and pictures to remember that I’d never forgotten any of them. “My brother, Hunter, the giant with the goofy grin was ten in that picture. I was nine, and Colt, the pretty guy here with the dark hair and mischievous smile, was seven. Hunter won that bike in a raffle. He’d returned a bunch of empty bottles for cash and used the refund money to buy a raffle ticket at the local hardware store. He bought the winning ticket. It was pretty cool. Of course Colt and I could only look at it and touch it, occasionally, but we were all stoked about him winning it. Except my dad. Nothing ever made him smile.”

She stared at me with those chocolate brown eyes that could look right through me. “That must have been awful. Where are your parents now?”

“Mom died when we were still in school, and Dad died when Hunter was eighteen. Bad heart, bad liver, bad aura.”

“Bad aura?”

“Yeah, it’s a theory of mine. You know how they say people walk around with an aura that sort of reflects their character? I figured my dad’s aura was so black and bitter, it finally got tired of having to float around him and just sort of swallowed him up.”

Again, her dark eyes gazed up at me.

“Shit, Tink, I’d swear you are reading my mind when you look at me like that.”

She hopped on her tiptoes, pressed her palm against my face and kissed me lightly on the mouth. “I don’t need to read it. You just told me a lot.”

I’d revealed more of myself to her in a few short minutes than I ever had to any other girl. I wasn’t sure why except I knew she’d listen. And she had . . . with that face that really did look as if it belonged in a magical story. “What about you, Tink? Are your parents nearby?”

“Iowa, which is close enough, thank you. But really, I do love them. They worry that I’m too wild and reckless and well—impulsive. They’re right for the most part. Anyhow, my sister’s death has really aged them. I go to see them on holidays, but being home”—she paused—“it’s hard.” She walked over and glanced at a few more pictures. “Let’s change subjects. I don’t want to start our road trip on a downer.” She looked around the room. “I take it you grew up in this house?”

“Yep. Excuse the general ugliness of the place. We aren’t really big on interior design . . . or cleaning for that matter. Although it is way better in here now that Amy lives with us.” I put my duffle on the floor and walked over to her. My gaze dropped down to her dress. “Just so you know, that dress is making my whole day.”

She held out her arms and spun around once. “You like? I’ve never been to the desert, but I hear that Palm Springs gets really hot. I thought this dress would work.”

“Uh, you do realize that there are hundreds of miles and at least two dark and dingy motels between here and Palm Springs?” I ran my finger under the thin strap of the dress. “And I’m pretty sure this dress will have to come off more than once during that time. In fact, I’ve got to get this over with right now so I don’t keep thinking about it while I’m driving.” I looked at her. “I do get to drive, right?”

She pointed a long finger at me. “Ah ha, now I see the whole reason behind this road trip. You just wanted to drive my car.”

“I admit, the car played a part.” I curled my arm around her waist and pulled her against me. “But this was my real motive, and it’s purely selfish.” I lowered my mouth over hers and lush, plump lips met mine. I kissed her long and hard enough that her body nearly melted into mine as she softened in my grasp. I lifted my mouth, and her long lashes fluttered open. “Damn, you taste as sweet as you look. I’m glad you walked back into my life, Britton. I haven’t stopped thinking about you since that first night.”

“That’s because you are walking around with a stab wound that I caused.”

“True. But that’s not it. There’s just something about you, and it’s not just
this
.” I went to wave my hand, and she grabbed my wrist.

“All right, let’s make a promise right now to stop the hand waving and referring to each other as
this
.”

The front door opened and Hunter and Amy walked inside. A huge smile broke out on Amy’s face the second she saw Britton.

She walked right up to her as if they’d known each other for years. “You must be Britton. I
love
that pixie haircut. It goes so perfectly with your beautiful face.” She lifted her arms. “I’m Amy. I guess I should introduce myself before I give you a big hug.” The hug followed. Britton smiled.

“You’ll have to excuse Street, I mean Amy, she gives the word
outgoing
a whole new meaning. By the way, this is Hunter. You probably already guessed it since the house sort of tilted on its foundation when he stepped inside.”

“Nice to meet you,” Hunter said. “Where are you two going?”

“California desert. Road trip, baby,” I said.

“Vegas?” Hunter asked with some interest.

“Palm Springs,” I answered.

He raised a brow. “You’re going all that way to watch old guys drive around in golf shorts?”

“Yep. Of course, if you two are going to miss me too much—”

“Fuck no,” Hunter said. “Why are we even holding you up?” He looked at Britton. “Thanks for peeling him off the couch.”

I picked up my bag. “I’ll see you when I get back on Tuesday. Come on, my tantalizing little travel buddy, somewhere out there is a sleazy motel room with our names on it.”

“Sleazy motel rooms and Palm Springs,” Amy repeated. “Actually, that sounds fun.” She kissed my cheek and hugged Britton again. “Drive safe.”