Adams, Eve - Trio [Gideon's Ring 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (35 page)

He immediately calmed. Her touch always had that power, not just to soothe, but to instantly heat him. Just like that his entire body hardened, his dick swelling with a sudden, demanding need.

“You need to listen to my brother.” She flashed him a glare close to matching the viciousness in her brother’s eyes. But then Chris walked over
,
and her gaze softened as she kept her focus on him. “He has information about Strickler, information you need to hear.”

He’d never seen this side of Sarah before. Something in her had changed. She seemed softer in her appearance. Her rosy skin glowed like an angel.

He’d always found her beautiful, but something about her at that moment had him captivated, unable to pull his attention away. He reached up and touched her cheek, amazed at how soft her skin felt.

She closed her eyes and leaned against his touch. When Chris touched the other side of her face, she shuddered against their touch.

Then in her next breath
,
she jerked back as if they
’
d burned her. But then her eyes flooded
,
and she turned from them both.

He couldn’t take his eyes off her. Something had changed, something he couldn’t place. And her emotions were all over the place. She acted as if…

Nah.

Barrett dismissed that thought. She would have told him if she were pregnant. And for some reason, the thought of him not being a father bothered the hell out of him. He wanted a family. He’d realized that when Gail told him she was pregnant with Tom’s child. From that moment on he couldn’t stop thinking about what it would be like to father a child.

And how would Chris feel about it if it were true? He already had a kid, apparently. Would he want another?

Chris turned to Norris. “So what’s this all about?”

“Business office,” Norris repeated.

Barrett widened his stand, ready to go toe-to-toe if he had to. No one pushed him around. “Not until you tell me what is going on.”

“Fine. You really want to know? Here it is. Nice and simple. I’ll use small words so you’ll understand.”

Barrett doubled up his fist. Fuck it. He was going to kill Norris. Before the night ended, the man would be nothing but a bloody pile of flesh and bone. His need to hurt Sarah’s brother pulled him forward toward his target. Chris took a step in unison with Barrett.

Sarah spoke up and drew both of the men
’
s attention to her. As soon as Barrett looked at her his rage settled into a simmer. Chris slowed as well.

“Strickler’s name is really Lucky, at least that’s how he’s known in the game.”

Chris
frowned. “Game? What game?”

“He’s a con artist. You’ve been conned,
Gideons
. All of you have. There is no five-star rating.”

Barrett slammed his glare into Wyatt and held it there. “Tell me something I don’t know.”

Sarah then darted her gaze to Norris, who nodded at her to continue. She drew in a deep breath and dropped the bomb. “We’ve been tracking him. He led us here, to your ranch.”

Barrett stiffened and jerked his attention to her, searching for the truth. She looked at him, unfaltering, and waited. Comprehension slowly sank in like lava moving down the mountainside, boiling in his veins and setting his suspicions on fire.

“
What the hell?
”
Chris tilted his head as Barrett watched him struggle to understand. Slowly, painfully, the comprehension sank into Chris’s expression.
“
You knew about this?
”

Sarah nodded.

“
And you never…
”
Chris visibly swallowed and shook his head.
“
Not once. You had all that time with us and you never thought to bring it up?
”

“
I’m sorry, Chris.
”

He shook his head and stumbled back.
“
Jesus Christ. How could you, Sarah? How could you do that to
Barrett? To
us?
”

No way. No
fucking
way. The truth hit Barrett with a wave of nausea so intense he had to swallow several times to stop from puking. “You knew. You knew he was going to do this, and you never said anything.”

“That isn’t the whole story.”

“But it’s the truth.”

She didn’t deny it, and his last thread of trust he had in her snapped like a brittle twig in high winds.

“I…I’m sorry.”

A hardness took over, encasing his heart. He’d trusted her. He’d fallen in love with…what? A con artist? A liar?

One in the same.

That thought clawed at his gut like a feral beast. He was an idiot for falling for her little act. No more. She’d fooled him once, but he’d never let her close enough to fool him again.

Sarah’s lower lip trembled, and he almost gave in. But then he saw the utter lost look of devastation in his cousin
’
s eyes
,
and it hardened his heart. The thought of what she did, lying to them just to get close enough to track Strickler
,
or Lucky or whatever the hell he was called, damn near broke him. Hell, it damn near broke them both.

Fuck that. It did break him. He’d never trust another woman again. From this day forward he’d play the field, just like Chris, and send the women packing as soon as he started developing the hint of any feelings.

He couldn’t deal with this right now. As he always did, he pushed his feelings deep into the black abyss he called his soul and focused on work.

Norris sighed and pinched the skin between his eyes. “Let’s solve one problem at a time. First Lucky, then you three can deal with your issue.”

They had an issue? Well, aside from the obvious—she’d lied to them and came back to rub it in their gullible faces.

Amber stepped forward. “Let’s go over what we know about Lucky.”

“He won’t be so lucky if I get my hands on him,” Chris growled.

“
You can have what
’
s left of him,
”
Barrett added.

With a pleasant smile, Amber set the black bag on the floor at her feet as she looked at Barrett and then Chris. “Once we get the money back
,
you two can do whatever you want with him.”

Michael burst into the room just then, his gaze narrowing in on Wyatt as soon as he spotted him. “Where’s the money?”

Wyatt shook his head. “Michael, I—”

Without warning, Michael threw a punch and connected it square on Wyatt’s jaw, sending him stumbling backwards. He charged and grabbed Wyatt by his shirt collar, and connected another punch, this time to Wyatt’s cheek.

Barrett nodded for Matt to grab his twin before he killed Wyatt. Matt held Michael back, just barely.

“I’m sorry, Michael. I thought I was doing the right thing.”

Michael looked ready to kill Wyatt.
Chris
could relate. “Can the bullshit, Wyatt. Tell me the truth. For once. What happened to all our money? Checking. Savings. Even the two CDs you didn’t know about. Gone. I just got a call from the bank. We’ve got checks bouncing left and right. The bank just put a freeze on all our assets. What did you do?”

“It wasn’t just me!” He pointed to Matt, not hesitating to sell out his own blood.

Matt’s jaw dropped. “You coward. I told you not to give him those deposit slips.”

Michael turned redder than
Chris
had ever seen him. He looked more like
Barrett
than his twin at that moment. “Are you insane or just fucking stupid?”

“Congratulations,” Norris growled. “You’ve given Lucky a golden ticket into all your accounts.”

Barrett
muttered a curse and shook his head as he lowered his attention to the floor.
“
Goddamn it. We
’
ve been conned. I can
’
t believe it.
”

“What’s wrong with giving him deposit slips? It’s just money coming in.” Matt’s irritation echoed in his voice and shocked the hell out of
Chris
.

Chris
stepped back, surprised at
Matt’s
sudden change in attitude. At the first sign of trouble
,
Matt would usually be the first one to find a way to stick his head in the sand and ignore his problems.
He’d been that way since they were kids.

Norris barked out a curse. “Unbelievable. How in the hell have you guys kept this ranch afloat? It’s a good thing you have Sarah on your side. I’d just as soon let you go under.”

Chris
blinked and glanced over at Sarah, barely restraining his want to rush to her, pull her into his arms, and never let her go. He looked away and forced himself to keep his attention on anything but her.

Barrett
didn
’
t do as good a job. He made
his want
to rush to her side
no secret
and even acted on it. Until Norris stepped between them and even snarled at
Barrett
.
“
Try touching her, Gideon. I dare you.
”

“
And who
’
s going to stop me? You?
”
Barrett
took another step.

“
Perhaps you boys can simply whip them out and measure,
”
Amber quipped.
“
Honestly. We
’
ll never get a bloody thing done with all the pissing matches going on.
”

All the men hung their heads, even Matt and Wyatt.

Damn. She was good.

Norris went on with his explanation. “He used the deposit slips to create his own checks—he just needed something with your routing and account numbers. More than likely
,
he wrote checks from one account to another, one to the other, and so on, so it looked like you had more money than you really did. He then wrote checks to himself and drained all your overinflated accounts, leaving you not only broke, but in the hole with the bank. It’s one of the oldest games in the book and Lucky’s MO.”