Saving Treasure (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (16 page)

James came out of the store, which was across the road. She smiled at him before something caught her attention from the corner of her eye. A familiar man was getting into the beaten-up old truck that seemed to turn up continuously. James noticed her body still and eyes widen in reaction.

“Larson?”
she asked, incredulous but sure of the man standing not too far from her.

James ran full speed toward the man. Just before Larson pulled the door closed, James managed to grab him and pull him to stand just outside the truck once again.

Treasure stood in the middle of the sidewalk for the space of a heartbeat before she walked determinedly toward to the two men who were glaring at one another. No words were exchanged, but there was plenty being communicated between the two. She stood next to James and studied Larson’s scruffy face and rumpled shirt.

“It’s amazing. You left me how long ago, and you have already found yourself a new guy. That’s fast work, Treasure. I do find myself missing you, but I think you may have already tried to replace me. Did it work?” he asked snidely.

“I’m not yours, and I never was,” she responded, unsure of what else she could say.

His eyes roamed over her body before coming to rest on what she was holding in her hand. He reached forward and snatched it from her, looking at the title and then looking back at her. His lips twitched, whether in a frown or a smirk nobody could have determined.

“I know the brat ain’t mine since you were so prudish, so you have moved on, and you’ve become easy,” Larson sneered, trying to get back into the truck.

“I came back to take you home. You know, the place hasn’t been the same without you, and everyone misses you so much. I’ve been asked so many times about where you went. I just don’t know what I will have to tell your friends. It seems you have no loyalty,” he continued.

“Shut up and go away, Larson,” she snarled at him.

His lip curled in a snarling smirk. “I could drag you back, ya know. I’ve still got these.” He pulled from his back pocket a thick wad of wrinkled papers that had been folded.

Treasure felt her face go cold. It was the proof that Galeno could not legally work in the US and that she was the one who hired him.

She moved to snatch it from him. He jerked back from her, his face settling into a lazy smirk. “Getting in the truck or going to jail?” He was too self-assured, and it pissed her off. She jumped forward again to grab the papers.

She was grabbed and shoved behind a very large male body.

“Give me those papers, Larson! None of this is your business. Not who I hired. Not where I am or who I’m with. And definitely not my baby,” she snapped at Larson, and James did his best to keep her from moving around him and trying to grab the papers again.

“You may be a slut, but you’re still mine.” Larson tried to snatch her to him as she tried to steal the papers he held. She wanted to rip those papers to shreds, and she wanted him to get the hell out of her life and her town.

* * * *

James had heard enough. He normally wasn’t a violent person, but the shit spewing from this man was getting the best of him. The last straw was this wimp trying to grab his woman. He let his right hook fly, connecting with the tall, thinner man’s jaw. That’d shut him up for awhile. The small crunch was slightly satisfying.

Larson shot a glare at James before pushing him away and gaining some distance between them. He rubbed his jaw, and James could see the slight swelling.

They faced each other. Larson swung his fist in retaliation, catching James in his gut. Air whooshed out of him as he hurled himself at Larson. He was beyond pissed. He was damn angry. The way this man had hurt and scared his woman made him livid.

Their fists flew. James felt the few good punches Larson got in on him, but his connected solidly each time.

Treasure tried to move around James, but he wouldn’t let her near the fight.

James was still attacking the other man when someone tried to pull him away. He pushed the person off the first time, but another person helped the first man.

James finally realized he had been pulverizing Larson into unconsciousness. He actually found pleasure in the busted lip and misshapen face. Larson was bloody, with swelling patches.

The two people who drug him away from Larson were now pulling him farther away. He finally looked around. It looked as though everyone had gathered on the street to see the fight.

He finally registered Officer Jules Rodes’s words. “Come on, Calloway. You’re comin’ with me and Nate. Jim has that other man. You know better than to have a bar brawl in the middle of town. What were you thinkin’?”

“That’s the guy who hurt Treasure, and he followed her here to take her back.” He allowed the men to push him into the back of the sheriff’s car without any resistance. He was too busy scanning the people for Treasure.

“That your little lady over there?” Jules asked, pointing at Treasure with his thumb.

James soaked in the sight of her. Her green eyes were wet, and her mouth was slumped almost into a frown. “Yeah, that’s Treasure. She filed a report against Larson, the other man.” James sighed heavily and looked up at Jules. “Before we go, could you at least hand her the keys to my truck?”

“You know I’m not supposed to do stuff like that.”

“Please. You know nobody would like it if a pregnant woman was left all by herself with no way to get anywhere, and she was riding with me.” James shifted, pulling out his keys, and held them out to the officer.

“You better not give me any shit, James.” Jules’s voice was firm. He took the keys and passed them to Nate with instructions to hand them to Treasure.

The door was shut. Jules and Nate leaned against the car. The ambulance they were waiting for came to an abrupt stop next to their car.

James watched as Larson was loaded into the back, one of his hands handcuffed to the bed.

It was going to be a long day.

* * * *

Treasure paced in the lobby of the sherriff’s department. She had called Chad and told him about the fight between James and Larson.

Chad had her drive James’s truck to the house and wait on him.

The fury on his face when he hit the other man was something she was trying to process. It scared her. She’d been around plenty of fights, and they could be pretty vicious when a couple of drunk army newbies were involved. Those hot heads didn’t even need a reason to fight.

Chad walked toward her, picking her up then sitting down with her in his lap.

“It’s gonna be another hour before they finish processing everything. They’ve got his side. Now, they have to listen to that asswipes’s.” Chad stroked her back, trying to get her to put her head on his shoulder by shushing her. She sighed at the feeling of his lips in her hair.

“Can they actually charge him with anything?” She hated the way her voice wavered.

“I don’t know. Since you have filed a complaint and pressed charges against Larson when you got here, it should help. But James did throw the first punch.”

Treasure closed her eyes as she listened to the stupid ticking clock that hung on the wall behind the desk. She let the silence settle for awhile before she squirmed in her seat. She hated waiting.

Chad shifted her around and kissed her cheek.

The door screamed as it opened. A woman appeared. “You’re still here for Calloway, Hardin?” It was Nate.

“Yeah. Can he go home?”

“Larson Walters tried to press criminal charges, but we don’t feel there’s much of a case because Calloway was with the complainant, Miss Lane. He may still opt to press a civil lawsuit though. We’re letting him go home, but don’t leave the area yet.”

Treasure couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “The hell he will.”

“Excuse me, ma’am.” Nate looked as though she shocked him.

“He came after me. He tried to make me go with him. He even tried to blackmail me. If I press charges for that, he won’t be able to do a damn thing to James about that. James heard every word of it.”

Nate looked her up and down. “Did he touch you?” She could tell the deputy was itching to get her back into the room to take down her side of the story.

“Not really, but he had some papers that he was trying to use to get me to go with him. I’ve already disclosed what he was trying to use to blackmail me.” She took a deep breath. “I’m going to file additional charges against Larson.”

“Come with me,” Nate said as he quickly turned then walked back through the door.

She knew Chad was following her, but before he made it through the doorway, the deputy stopped him.

“You have to stay in there, Hardin. Calloway’ll be out soon enough.”

* * * *

Treasure felt weary as she walked through the door. It felt good to be home.

James wrapped an arm around her. She was still pissed at him, but she wasn’t sure exactly why. On top of that, she was exhausted. Telling the officers everything about Larson that led to the fight had been draining.

She saw Chad shrug out of the corner of her eye. Their silent conversations were pissing her off when she normally liked watching them. She was here. She could talk. If they had something to say about her, they really needed to just say it. She went straight into the kitchen and started to pull all of the ingredients for bread out of the cabinet. She mindlessly started to set the yeast over to the side to set and prepped the flour. She felt more than saw when James left the kitchen and went into the part of the house that was still being renovated.

* * * *

James dragged a hand down over his face as he rolled out the blueprints for their house and started to sketch out the two options to show Chad later. He glanced in the kitchen’s direction every once in awhile, trying to figure out what to do about Treasure. He knew she was upset, but he had to retrace what had happened to know how to fix it.

He shook his head. She had made it crystal clear that she hadn’t wanted to be around him as she froze him out and ignored everything. The image of him punching that man came to forefront of his vision again.

He had punched someone in front of someone who he knew had been beaten brutally before. He growled as that thought came floating through him. It was stupid of him to do that right in front of Treasure. He wanted to kick his own ass for not only scaring a pregnant woman but scaring the woman he loved and wanted around for the rest of his life.

He huffed and threw himself into the blueprints again. It would be wonderful to completely finish the house once and for all.

The delightful scent of bread and chocolate-chip cookies finally wafted and filled his attention. He looked up at the plastic that was attached to the unfinished inside of the wall, which separated him from her.

He went into the kitchen, deciding maybe trying to sneak some sweet, warm cookies would get her to talk to him and maybe smooth things over, only to find that she wasn’t in the kitchen. He passed through the kitchen to the stairs and dashed up, looking for her. He glanced around the TV room and through the bathroom, not finding her. He stood in the doorway of his bedroom, looking down at a small lump under the covers. His feet carried him toward her until he was lying down next to her, scooping her into his arms. He nuzzled his face into her neck and enjoyed holding her while she napped.

They would talk as soon as she woke up.

Teasing kisses tickled her cheek, chin, nose, and neck as sneaky fingers caressed her sides and middle. The fog of sleep lifted enough for her to snuggle into the body near her, tucking her head into the shoulder and deciding to remain that way for awhile. Her mind flitted from her feelings to the scene that had unfolded in front of her between one of the men she loved and Larson, a guy who was only ever supposed to be a roommate.

“I love you.” The words escaped her before she realized she had said them, hanging in the air.

Time seemed to cease to exist for a moment as they just lay there, wrapped in each other. Everything seemed have settled and cooled as they tended to do when the moment passes and senses prevail once again. The looks they sent each other forgave and healed and spoke the reassurances the other needed. James trailed his hand along her back, both absorbing the feeling of the other.

“I love you, too,” he finally said. The timbre in his voice was dark and clear and serious.

Lips began touching her shoulder, surprising her even as her body acknowledged who touched her so intimately. She jumped and tensed before she heard Chad’s voice at the shell of her ear. His breath tickled her and sent goose bumps to cover her body. “I love you, baby,” he murmured.

She turned her body around in James’s arms before responding, “I love you, too.”

Chad was still dressed in his scrubs, and he was crouching on the bed rather than actually lying on it as she and James were doing.

James moved her face until she could look directly in his dark, sad eyes. He was quiet as she studied the anxiety, clearly visible there. Chad watched from close by, but he didn’t intrude. This was something he was apparently leaving them alone to solve. Her heart twisted with the conviction that he wasn’t right there with them.