Darin: The Pride of the Double Deuce - Erotic Paranormal Shapeshifter Romance (14 page)

The man nodded, and Nash turned to look in the direction he did. The two men were digging a hole, and Nash turned to look at the younger man.

“What are they doing?” He smiled, his mouth full of long sharp teeth. “What are you? What are you going to do?”

“Digging your grave. Your worst nightmare, and I’m going to kill you.” Nash took two steps and felt the pain down his back. As he was being dragged backward, he screamed for help. The other two men only continued to dig his grave. Nash realized he was a dead man.

Chapter 13

Darin closed the door and turned and looked at Mercedes. The police had come by to tell them that Nash was gone. Just gone. His clothing and other things were still in the house. The police said he’d gone out earlier to get the paper and he’d gone back in the house, but they hadn’t seen him since. That when they’d gone there to arrest him, he simply wasn’t there.

“Did you do this? Or any of your brothers?” He shook his head at Mercedes’s question. “You won’t lie to me, right? You didn’t have him killed?”

“No. You made us promise to do this the legal way and we were going to. I swear to you, I had nothing to do with his disappearance. And while the police were here, I asked Mason and the others and they didn’t either.” She stood there. Shell shocked was all he could think about. “Maybe he gave up.”

“You know as well as I do that he wasn’t going to ever give up.” Darin nodded but watched her. He wasn’t sure what she was so upset about. He was gone, shouldn’t that make her happy? “What if he’s out there, just waiting for us to get relaxed enough that he can attack and kill me?”

“Do you really think that?” She shook her head. “Neither do I. I think he’s dead somewhere. I don’t know who might have done this, but I’m betting that someone has killed him.” He moved across the hallway to take her into his arms.

“I’m afraid, Darin. I feel like everything is perfect right now, and something is going to happen to take it all away. I wish now I would have let you do it your way. At least then I would know for sure.”

Darin did as well but didn’t say anything. She was upset enough as it was. Holding her in his arms, he thought of tomorrow and what he’d planned for her and Bonnie. He thought now would be a great time to give it to her.

“Your birthday is tomorrow.” She looked up at him, frowning, and asked him who had told him. “Okay, so I had no idea when it was until Bonnie mentioned it. But I got you something.”

As he reached for his jacket and the envelope, he felt the little box in his pocket that was also part of her birthday. He was going to give that to her when they were having dinner tomorrow night.

She took the envelope and opened it. When she read each of the tickets, including the ones to the opera house in town, he watched her face light up. He felt pretty good about what he’d done, and then she started crying. Now he wasn’t so sure. Darin had wanted her to like this so badly, and he told her he was sorry.

“I thought you’d like a little pampering after all this stress. And then Holly suggested the opera. I actually don’t know that I’ve been to the one in town, but thought it would be fun. Then there is the dinner. I know the chef is really good and that he can—”

She put her hand over his mouth, and he licked it. “You’re the sweetest man I know.” Darin nodded and laughed when she smacked him on the shoulder. “I’ve never been to an opera either. And to have a spa day with my favorite people? This is so wonderful. I can’t believe that you thought of it. Not that you’re not smart, but it is a sort of girly thing and that—”

He didn’t shut her up with his hand but with his mouth. And when she melted against him, all he could think about was being inside of her. His cat moved along his skin as if to say that he wanted her too. Darin pressed her against the wall and backed away from her.

“Take it all off.” She pulled her shirt up and over her head. He did the same. “When you’re naked I’m going to let my cat have his fill. Then I’m going to eat you. After you come so many times that you can’t stand up, I’m going to fuck you hard enough to make walking difficult.”

“Yes, please.” Darin was naked before she was and let his cat take him. When she took her panties off, his cat moved in and licked her pussy while she held on to his fur. Darin wasn’t sure he’d ever get enough of her and wondered if his cat would either. Having her to feast on was one of the greatest pleasures he’d ever had.

When his cat backed off, Darin took his body and buried his mouth over her dripping pussy and fucked her with his fingers. The more he drank of her the more he needed. Even when she begged him to stop, that she could no longer stand on her own, he ate her. Sucking on her clit and fucking her hard with his tongue was giving him everything he needed. When she jerked his head up, he looked up at her

“Fuck me. Now.” He stood up, his cock so hard it hurt when she wrapped her fingers around him. “Fuck me, Darin. I want to feel you hard inside of me.”

Turning her so that she faced the wall, he told her to hold onto the table there. When she bent at the waist, he walked up behind her and slammed his cock deep. He was too close for foreplay, not that she needed it. She was soaking wet and tight for him. Darin wanted it to last, to make her come several times before he took his own pleasure, but she’d teased him all morning before the police had shown up. Now he had to have all of her.

Holding her to him, he leaned over her and took her as hard as he could. When she slid her fingers into her pussy and touched him, Darin saw stars. His cock actually felt like she’d shocked him with something electrical.

Christ, she was going to make him come too soon. Fucking her harder, trying to think of anything but coming, she told him to bite her. His cat snarled at him to do it, and he snapped his mouth around her shoulder and tore into her flesh.

Her screams of pleasure brought him over the edge. Coming this way, buried deep inside of her, had him coming again, twice more before he felt that he could no longer move. And when she slumped over the table, he picked her up and held her to him.

He’d hurt her when he’d bitten her. He knew that, and he felt just horrible for it. When her shaking made him ache more, he lifted her chin up to see that she wasn’t crying but laughing. He asked her what was so funny.

“You are. You can be the most gentle and loving man one minute and this savage the next. I love it, the way you can just be so animal-like and loving at the same time.” Darin kissed her nose. “And you make me feel like I could take on the world and win.”

“I want you to win.” He put her down and the two of them dressed. The police coming by had interrupted their morning, and they both needed to get back on track. Each of them had a great deal to do, and the sooner they got it done, the sooner they could get back here to their home.

Mason was in his front yard when Darin came out of the house a few minutes after Mercedes left on foot to go to the clinic.

“Is there a reason that your wife isn’t driving the car we gave her?” Darin told him the reason she gave him. “I see. It’s her car to get back and forth with. We wanted her to use it all the time.”

“Then I’d like to suggest you tell her that.” Mason said that he would. “What are you really doing here? You could have asked her when she got to work this morning.”

“Zach.” Darin nodded and went to his beat up truck. “Were you going to tell me about it or was I going to be the last to know?”

“Again, you could have asked him. If you’re pissy about it, I would like to suggest that you cool off before talking to him. He’s pretty proud of himself. And I think that if you were to piss him off, Mercedes might make you regret it. So would Landon.” Darin tossed his hat on the seat and turned the key to his truck. He wasn’t surprised that it didn’t start. The stupid thing was as old as he was. But he was in too good of a mood to let it fuck up his day. “Can you give me a lift to work? I’m late now.”

“I can’t. But I can give you a truck.” Darin shook his head. “Sorry, little brother, it’s the new family policy that Jace and our wives have come up with. That we all have reliable cars, as well as safe housing. Most of us have that, but we—you and I—are going to go over and convince Zach that we are going to help him out too.”

“I don’t want you to buy me a car.” Mason said it was too bad, it was done. “What the fuck is wrong with this one?”

“Well, it won’t start most mornings when the weather isn’t near perfect. The tires are as bald as Mr. Sloan’s head from high school shop class. The battery is seven years past its expiration date, and it’s needed a new engine since the day you bought it for too much off of Peter Luster when you turned sixteen. Take the damned car we got for you.” He looked to where Mason pointed. “It’s four wheel drive too. No more worrying about your ass sliding all over the road when you have to go out in the snow with my niece.”

Picking up his hat, Darin put it on and walked to the big blue truck. Christ, it was pretty. Four doors, hard-covered bed, and a snow plow on the front of it. As he ran his fingers down the side of it, all he could think about was riding around in something that was younger than his daughter. Looking at Mason, he asked him why he’d done it.

“We did talk, Jace and I. We have it better than most. A love that won’t ever grow old, enough money that we never have to work if we don’t want to. And family. One we should have been taking care of.” He told him about the money from Nash. “I knew about that. But that doesn’t negate the fact that we should have done more for you and the others. A safe truck is a small thing when I think of all the things you’ve done for us. For all of us.”

“I didn’t do anything that any other family wouldn’t have done.” Mason didn’t even bother saying anything. Over the last several months, they had learned the hard way that families like theirs were the oddity, not the norm. “Is this your way of buttering me up to talk to Zach? I have to tell you, he’s pretty set on making this work by himself.”

“I know that. What I want you to do for me is act as my representative when it comes to his fields. Jace and I want to buy into his first three years of crops so that he can get a start. We figured that if he even charged us ten percent off what we pay now, we’d save about three million over those first years.” Darin said he’d done the math too, and it was more like six million. “He means to plant it all then.”

“Yes. And he was going to go to you about three fields that you have empty right now. He figures you’d cut him a good deal on them for a lower price on the grain.” Mason got in the new truck. “We going somewhere? I have to get to work.”

“Jessie said he’d cover for you. Julia—good choice, by the way, on hiring her—has breakfast going, and said that when you do get there, she wanted you to set her up so she can do her own ordering for the kitchen.” Mason grinned at him. “See, I can be helpful too.”

The truck started on the first turn of the key. Darin looked at his big brother and told him he loved him. “I don’t think I say that enough to any of you. And I do, love you I mean.”

“I love you too, but let’s get going. You might have the morning off, but I have shit to get done. And my wife is up for election this year. I expect your votes.” Darin nodded. “Oh, and something else. I wanted to talk to you about expanding the Douglas House.”

~~~

“Thank you for this.” Austin only nodded and took the small envelope. “If you ever need a favor, you know that I’ll do it for you.”

“You know that I’ll never be able to repay you for what you’ve done for me.” Paddy said nothing. As far as he was concerned, that debt had been paid long ago. “He was a monster. More than that, he was one that did not care what he did so long as he would benefit from it.”

“He hurt my future daughter-in-law. For that alone he needed to die.” Paddy watched Austin sit down. There was little about the man across from him that made him think of calm seas. More like a turbulent storm where people died. “Will anyone ever find him? I mean, his body?”

“Never. I made sure that he will be fodder before the next season of planting. And you have ensured that no one will use that land again. Not so long as I live.” The envelope disappeared in Austin’s jacket pocket. The deed inside of it gave Austin four acres, all he’d wanted to take out the man that would have haunted them all for a very long time. “You never said he was her father, this child that will mate with your son. Do you think she’ll be upset should she find out?”

“Will she find out?” Austin laughed and said she’d not hear it from him. “Then I don’t have to think about it. But I’d say that if she’s anything like her mother, who I’ve discovered she is a great deal like, then yes, she would be. But you know as well as I do that he would never have stopped.”

“No, he was a man set in his ways. They would eventually lead him down a path that would kill him, but there is no telling how much he might have done before that.” Paddy nodded. “You’re a good man, Paddy Sexton. Why have I not noticed that before now?”

“You were too busy being a hit man for some very unsavory people.” Austin said there was that. “And hiding out. Do you suppose they still hunt for you?”

“No. I think they believe me dead, just as you said that they would.” Paddy had made sure the right people had seen the man’s body before he’d converted him. “You saved not just my life but my future. I know you think us even, but we will never be so far as I’m concerned. I wish I could do more for you.”

“You’ve done more than a friend should have.” Austin said nothing. “Someday I’d like for you to meet the Douglas men and women. They’re a group of people that I think you’d enjoy. Smart, savvy, and on top of things. Nothing like the previous owners of the land were. Except for McBride. There is a man of men.”

“Him I have met. And his son. I heard that he was dead.” Paddy said that he was. “Good. There was a monster I would gladly have taken care of, too, if things fell my way.”

“When are you leaving? Or do you want to stay around for a while? I’d like that. It’s been a long time since I’ve had someone to talk to.” Austin stood up and put out his hand, and Paddy took it in his as he spoke. “Yeah, I didn’t think you’d want to hang around.”