Texas and Tarantulas (7 page)

Trent cocked his head, still staring at him.

No, he couldn’t be. Trent couldn’t see him in the dark.

Mahon knew his business, and he was well-hidden. He wasn’t more than twenty feet away, but he was invisible to Trent.

Trent flicked his wrist.

The next thing Mahon knew, water splattered his face and chest, as well as almost all the rest of his front.

“Heard you gasp, motherfucker,” Trent said in a perfectly calm voice. “I think we were quite clear on what would happen—”

“I don’t believe we even really spoke,” Mahon said, stepping out of the shadows before Trent could say something Mahon wouldn’t be able to plausibly deny hearing.

Trent hit him right in the face with a full-on blast of water. It stung in places, and Mahon had opened his mouth to keep on speaking, so he ended up coughing and blowing snot bubbles as he tried to keep from choking.

Then it occurred to him to duck.

Trent followed him with the water until Mahon got smart enough to turn his back to the sadistic hose-wielding bastard.

“Stop!” Mahon said, and when that had no effect, he roared it. “Stop!”

“I never did like taking orders,” Trent drawled. “You don’t want to get hosed off, get the fuck out of here then.”

By all accounts, Mahon had heard stories about how nice the Jacek boys were, even if there were some people who said shitty things because the brothers were gay. Joe was more serious, and everyone—except the bigots—loved Trent.

Mahon was ready to strangle him. He moved back into the shadows, then back further still. “I just wanted to meet you and see if we could fuck again.” That wasn’t an untruth. Mahon’s ass still ached, but he’d take another round if Trent was interested.

Then he’d do his job.

“Yeah well, you’re evidently a stalker, and I really don’t do well with that kind of attention on me—or that kind of pressure,” Trent said. “Besides, I don’t believe you. You’re standing out in what amounts to my back yard, spying on—” Trent dropped the hose. “I swear to fucking God I will hunt you down and shoot you if anything’s happened to Joe or Diego!”

Trent was inside and yelling out the rest of his threat.

Mahon scrubbed his hands through his soaked hair, then over his face. How the hell had everything gotten so messed up tonight?

Oh, right. He’d gotten busted spying on Trent. That’s how. Added to that problem, he’d been a right idiot to think Trent would buy the whole ‘want to see about fucking’ line. Even if it was true. Mahon would have tried to kill someone if they’d acted the creeper like he’d made it seem he was doing.

The real reason he was out there was worse. Mahon needed to cut his losses for the night and forget about sex with Trent. He had to put his people first.

He took a half-step back when Trent came outside, holding something a lot more dangerous than a water hose.

He aimed the shotgun right at Mahon. “Get your ass up here where I can see you in the porch light again.”

Mahon raised his hands up. There was a very serious, very deadly quality to Trent’s tone that let him know Trent would pull the trigger.

The wolf shifters had said Trent was a brutal killer. Mahon knew almost anyone could be, given the necessary circumstances.

He moved forward cautiously, noting the steady grip Trent had, the way the barrel didn’t move so much as a fraction of a centimeter.

“Now, try telling me again… Why are you out here?” Trent asked. He thumbed the hammer.

Mahon felt the sweat breaking out along his back and armpits. He wasn’t afraid to die. He just really didn’t want to do it until he was a hell of a lot older. There was no way he was deviating from his claim when doing so would result in his death.

“I told you. I wanted to talk to you,” Mahon began, letting his nervousness show. “People in town talk. It wasn’t hard to find out who you were and where you live. Asking people for your phone number would have been too weird, so I…I came out here.”

“And hid out back like a weirdo,” Trent added.

Mahon let more of the truth out. “You had people over. I didn’t want them to think I was a creep, like you do now. I was going to come around to the front and knock, but you came outside and I was mesmerized.”

Trent rolled his eyes so dramatically it had to have hurt. “I bet you were. You had a chance to talk to me today.”

Mahon figured he would just have to own up to another truth. “Look, I’ve never let another guy fuck me. I was, um. I was stunned and yeah, maybe I didn’t know what I wanted. It’s not something I ever thought I’d allow.”

“Ah.”

Trent still didn’t lower that damn shotgun.

He did nod. “I get it. I have the magic dick. It made you see the light and fall in love, right?”

Mahon laughed before he thought better of it. “Sorry, but no. I just wanted to get laid again.”

“If that was your first time, your ass won’t be up for more,” Trent argued. “In fact, as hard as I fucked you, walking should be difficult.”

“You think it isn’t?” Mahon retorted. “I can still feel you in me, fucking me, your teeth on my skin, your hands gripping me.”

Trent cursed and still didn’t waver. “You ain’t right in the head, coming onto someone’s property like this and lurking around. Legally, I can kill you in this state. Just FYI.”

Mahon did gulp then. He wasn’t familiar with Texas gun laws, but… He
was in Texas,
for fuck’s sake. It was likely that Trent had the right of it.

“Please don’t,” he asked. “I am not wrong in the head, either. Just in a situation I never thought I’d be in before.”

“Hunting down a dick to fuck you again,” Trent said. “Maybe that does just make you the average guy.” But Trent snorted and followed that up with a laugh. “Yeah, me and the magic wang. It can cure all ills.”

With Trent’s Texas accent, ‘wang’ really came out sounding almost like gibberish.

“I’ll tell you what. You come on up here, and strip out of your wet clothes on the porch. I don’t want my carpet wet. And don’t touch my plants,” Trent warned.

Mahon didn’t budge. “You’re going to shoot me inside the trailer.” His gut cramped.

Trent laughed again, this time like he thought Mahon was an idiot. “Please, dude. I don’t want water on my carpets. You think I’m going to want blood and guts on them? Get real. I’ll stop aiming at you once you step inside.”

It was as good an offer as he’d get. Mahon forced his shaky legs to move forward. His shoes squelched with every step. When he reached the porch steps, he stopped.

Trent backed into the trailer. “Come on up.”

Mahon did then he proceeded to strip down to bare skin while Trent watched him. “Do I get the all clear now that you see I’m not armed?”

Trent stared him right in the eyes. “There’s more than one kind of weapon. What’s your name?”

“Mahon Morrison. I’d offer to shake hands.” But he didn’t, because there was still a gun aimed at him.

Trent backed up some more. “Come inside. I told you I’ll take the aim off you then and I will.”

“Because I’ll be shot?” Mahon asked, both of his eyebrows twitching.

“Only if you give me reason to shoot you.” Trent stepped to the right, then another movement and he was out of sight. “Come in or get out of here. I won’t say it again.”

“So I could leave now—”

“And I’d let you go,” Trent finished. “Wouldn’t even fire a warning shot.”

For some reason, Mahon believed him. He entered the trailer—

Only to be tackled by Trent.

“God—” Mahon panted as he tried to fight the man off. “Damn it!” He didn’t want to kill Trent, not yet, though if the man kicked him one more time that might change.

Trent didn’t kick him.

Mahon had a half a second to register the fist coming at his head. Not enough time to move away or use his strength to throw Trent off him.

Just enough time to realize he’d really and truly fucked up.

* * * *

“He smells like a bear,” Diego said a few minutes after Trent had knocked Mahon unconscious.

“Good thing he’s restrained then,” Joe muttered.

Trent was stuck on the bear part. “There are bear shifters? For real?” He glanced at Mahon because Diego nodded. “And they’re stereotypical bears?” Because Mahon was. Big, muscular, barrel chested, hairy… “Hirsute.”

Mahon had brown hair—a rich, mahogany shade of brown. He also had brown eyes—inside. Outside, in the dark, there’d been that weird orange glint to them, and it’d clued Trent in real quick, despite all of Mahon’s claims to just want sex.

Only weird and dangerous people showed up stalking someone, wanting to get laid.

But that hadn’t been why Mahon was out there in the first place.

“They’re sent to do a lot of the dirty work for our kind. Shifters, I mean,” Diego added. “Not just wolf shifters, but all of us.”

“Because they’re big and strong?” Trent asked. “He could have killed me earlier today.” There was no sense keeping that particular cat in the bag now. “Who puts cats in bags anyway?”

“Did you hit your head?” Joe reached over like he was going to feel up Trent’s head.

Trent smacked his hand aside. “No, just wondering about that cats in a bag saying.”

Joe tucked his chin down close to his chest. “Okay. Then you are going to explain the comment about him killing you earlier today. I don’t remember hearing anything about you meeting a big bear shifter today.”

Trent shrugged. “Didn’t meet him, just fucked him in Hollis House, over that pretty flower-patterned couch.”

Joe’s eyes bugged and Diego gasped.

Diego also grabbed Trent’s arm. “You mean you and him did—”

“I meant what I said, Diego.” Why was Diego looking like his mind had just been blown? “He followed me through a store, and I wanted to fuck him, so I let him follow me. Lead him to that historical place, slipped in past Mr Cheney, up the stairs, and when Mahon grabbed—”

“Mahon?” Diego squeaked.

Joe pulled him in close. “You all right, honey? You look like you’re ready to pass out.”

“He’s the worst one of all of them,” Diego said.

Trent thought he was going to vomit. “He hurt you, Diego?” Diego had scars all over his body from a lifetime of abuse—up until he’d fled his pack.

Diego was shaking his head vehemently. “No, never. Bears and wolves, we don’t mix. I don’t know why. I just meant he’s the meanest one of the bears. I’ve heard stories about him murdering people just because some pack or another didn’t like them. He’s brutal. And he is a complete alpha top.”

Trent recalled very differently. “I shoved him onto that couch, rolled him over, and stretched him. He was really tight, like nothing I’ve felt, so okay, I can believe he doesn’t bottom—for anyone other than me. I most certainly fucked him, and he loved it.” Trent leaned down and whispered, “Didn’t you, Mahon?”

Mahon was awake. Trent knew it in his bones, just like he’d known he was being watched.

“You’re eyes glow in the dark, not nearly as much as Diego’s, but there’s little glints of amber. I probably shouldn’t tell you that, but since you’re restrained, what’s the harm?” Trent also had his shotgun within very easy reach.

Mahon narrowly opened the one eye Trent could see.

Trent touched the knot on Mahon’s head. “I didn’t shoot you. Just want you to be aware of that. I am a man who keeps his word.”

Mahon grunted and that one eye started to roll back. He looked to be struggling to stay conscious, then Mahon jerked and his sudden awareness was unmistakable. “Shit.”

“That about covers it,” Trent agreed. “So, you’re a big, bad bear assassin. Wait, let’s go with butcher. I like alliteration.”

“M’not,” Mahon scraped out.

Diego huffed, putting a lot of disbelief in the slight sound.

Trent nodded at Diego. “Seems like Diego disagrees. I’m way more inclined to trust him than I am to trust you.”

Diego sent him a grateful smile. “Thanks, Trent.”

Trent was going to end up loving Diego like a little brother, damn it all. “You know it. Besides, you’re prettier than this guy any day.”

Diego giggled.

Mahon shuddered. “My…my leg.”

“I didn’t—” Trent looked down the length of Mahon’s body at the same time Joe and Diego did.

Diego screamed so loud Trent’s ears rang.

Joe leaped up with Diego in his arms and ran for the kitchen.

Trent watched the tarantula climb over Mahon’s leg. “We just have some weird spiders in here today. I knew there had to be another one.”

“I reminded you,” Joe hollered.

Mahon’s eye was very wide open now, and his face had gone from the nicely tanned color it had been to ashy gray. “S-spider?”

“Tarantula,” Trent confirmed. “They don’t—”

He didn’t get any further. Mahon bellowed, and the sound of it blew Diego’s scream away.

Trent reached for his gun as hair sprouted out all over Mahon’s body. “Bedroom!” he shouted, since that was where the rest of his guns were.

The handcuffs burst open, as did the rope binding Diego’s ankles.

Then there was a big-ass brown bear, maybe a grizzly, entirely too close to Trent.

Trent had the shotgun up and was aiming it when the bear roared again, baring truly frightening teeth.

And the fucker swatted one huge paw, knocking the gun out of Trent’s hands.

“Shit!” Trent was dead meat. He didn’t think Mahon would fall for him playing dead, either.

Trent saw long, sharp claws, those nasty killer teeth, and he felt the hot, acrid waft of bear breath over his face as he was attacked.
God, please let Joe and Diego live. Let ’em kill this bastard.

Trent went down hard. He hoped he died fast.

The weight of the bear settled on him and Trent knew then he was going to suffer. He tried to curse, but the only sound he could make was like the air being let out of a balloon, a high-pitched noise too close to the nails on chalkboard range of audible hell.

The weight lifted somewhat but there were sharp teeth at his neck. “Do it,” he got out. Although maybe he should try to get it drawn out so Joe and Diego could escape. “Come on, you weak asshole.” Or not. He couldn’t control his mouth, not when he was so scared he had to fight not to piss himself.