Damn, I wonder how long she’ll be here. Chances are if it was more than a fortnight this little filly was gonna find herself mounted.
Fuck Caleb! I got my mind out of the gutter and back on what she was saying.
"Well..." Shit, she's such a tiny thing, how could I ask her to clean this whole three-story monster on her own?
No, maybe I'll have her prepare my meals or something, just something to keep her busy. Heaven knows I love to cook, but some days it was a trial after spending all day on the range.
"Well, can you cook?"
"I love to cook." She gave me her first real smile and all I could do is stare. She is so fucked.
"Alright then, that's what you can do, and maybe the laundry?" I said it as more of a hopeful question than an order. What the hell do I know about hiring a woman around the house?
Men, I can handle, men are rough and tumble, there wasn't much I couldn't ask of them, but a female, a tiny one such as her to boot, I'm way out of my depth.
"I can do that." She nodded, seeming happy enough with the idea.
"Good then, I have a cleaning service that comes in once every two weeks on a Thursday, I don't use most of the house anyway so there isn't much to do just mainly the first-floor."
I showed her around the kitchen, dining, living and family rooms and last I showed her to the room she would be using.
It was down the hall from mine, an all-white wicker room with blues and greens in the color scheme.
My sister-in-law Diane had taken care of the decorating, her and my little sister Carly. I'd given them carte blanche since I have no real interest in such things. As long as I have my flat screen, my pool table and my bar I was set.
I figured when I got around to finding a wife she’d fix up the place to her liking, but for now since I had to live in it, I wanted it to at least look presentable. After years living in bunkhouses and dicey motels while on the circuit, I wanted the comfort of a nice house to come home to in the evenings.
After Drake left I helped her get settled in, she only had one duffle bag, which was kind of a shock.
Carly would barely make it one night with a bag that size. It made me wonder what kind of life this young girl had led. Then again, maybe she’d had to run and leave all her worldly goods behind when word of the asshole’s release came through.
“I’ll be back in a little bit. You’re gonna be ok here by yourself?” I saw the true answer before she composed herself.
“I’ll be fine thank you.” That slight tremble in her hand said different. I hope she was going to be okay here during the day by herself.
The boys and I are usually a ways away in the fields, or fixing fences along the border. If she was going to be afraid to stay by herself then I’ll have to figure something out.
“I wont be far, just down to the bunkhouses I pointed out to you earlier. Here take this I have an extra somewhere around here.
I gave her my communication device, the one that all of us had to keep in contact when we were spread out all over the place for one reason or another.
Her shoulders slumped in relief when I showed her how to use it and reassured her how quickly I could get to her if she needed me.
When she finally got it and looked up at me with the light of achievement in her eye, I felt that pressure in my chest shift.
Sure as fuck my little brother had walked my destiny to my door. I didn’t even whimper at the loss of my fucking sanity, cause sure as shit, a woman with her baggage is going to bring a lot of sleepless fucking nights.
I barely resisted running my fingers down her cheek before turning away. Funny, I always thought that when my time came I’d put up a fuss, fight that harness tooth and nail. I gave in without a fucking sound.
Chapter 3
I went out to have a talk with the men. Drake hadn't said anything about the ex showing up here, but I've seen enough newscasts to know shit happens.
My crew consisted of nine men, Max, Alex, Diego, Jonah, Mikey, Simon, Mark, Adrian and Nathan, who was the foreman.
Of the nine of them Drake had sent me five. Mikey was the youngest; he'd gotten into some trouble with the local gang back in his hometown.
It was either run for his life or lose it. Someone had seen something worth saving in him because he'd been hooked up with Drake and his network, and two years later, here he was.
Max and the three Scranton brothers, Simon, Mark and Adrian, had been part of some racket back east that was into everything from drugs to prostitution.
Apparently when the syndicate decided to try their hand at human trafficking the Scrantons had taken a stand.
When the smoke cleared there were quite a few mob bosses missing heads, along with other body parts. Needless to say, the Scrantons and their little cousin needed to get gone fast. The funny thing is, they all fit in here like they were born to it.