Taylor held Kurt’s gaze.
“All three of us are attracted to her. We all worry about her, keep an extra eye out on her whenever she’s nearby, hell, you and Warner have gone out of your ways to be in the same places as her just so you can get a glimpse of her, maybe say hello, or just like I said, make sure that she’s safe. That isn’t normal behavior. It isn’t being good men of Chance and watching out for one of the single women of this town. It’s wanting her. Wanting to get to know her, hold her, kiss, hell, make love to her and claim her all ours. That’s the difference. That’s why she’s special. Mark my words, she’ll be ours. She’ll be Mrs. Dawn. You, and especially Warner, just need to get your heads out of your asses and admit it.”
Kurt didn’t know how to respond to him. Anything he thought of saying would be lies, words spewed from his lips that he didn’t mean and that were plain bullshit. Instead he looked away, took a sip from his beer, and thought about what Taylor said. He was right, and as soon as he worked out his personal reasons for trying to keep Mercedes at arm’s distance, maybe he could take the chance, too, and be a family, just like what their mom and dads had.
Chapter 1
Mercedes was in the supermarket doing some shopping. She had her list, everything budgeted out, and even had her coupons. She had the routine down pat, and many locals had asked her how she saved so much and where she found such great coupons. They thought she was being savvy. But it was way more than that. For most of her life she was poor. Her parents were both disabled and very ill. She had been their caregiver and they were on a very fixed income. What they could save they did for her to help assist her for school. When they passed away, she was only eighteen years old. High school was just ending. Her parents hadn’t lived long enough to see her graduate or to be accepted into college.
The little money they put aside for her wasn’t enough to help her with school. So she took a job as a secretary in the local college campus and worked as a bartender on weekends. She sold their house and broke even. She rented an apartment and for the first year she just made the payments at the end of every month.
As Mercedes looked at the beautiful fruit and delicious salad bar, she thought about the many times she went hungry. Having one meal a day and trying to keep up the energy to work, go to school, study, and pass had been difficult to say the least. But she did it for her parents. Her only family. The two people who cried because they believed they failed her as parents.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. That was so many years ago. It didn’t even seem real anymore. Those days, weeks, months of starving, of making ends barely met and then graduating from college.
Thank God she came to Chance. Thank God for Mrs. Peters. She had been tired of meeting the same types of men. Men that wanted sex and thought that just because they paid for a movie or a dinner date that she should put out. There weren’t any good men or even good people around where she lived. Well, except for Mrs. Peters, who lived in Chance. She had been a professor for years and then she stayed on in retirement and worked in the main office alongside the dean of school.
Mercedes smiled to herself. Mrs. Peters was the one that told her about the job opening in Chance with the sheriff’s department. When she’d arrived for the interview she was a nervous wreck. Max had been so intimidating. She knew he was a good man, an honest and caring man, but had a role to play and an appearance to keep up to enforce the law. She was thrilled that he and his brothers fell in love with her friend Alicia.
Mercedes smiled and continued around the store picking up the items on her list. She gathered her coupons and knew she would be right on target to her spending this week. But when she got to the floral section and saw the bright yellow bouquet of flowers and admired them, she felt that instant anxiety in her chest. They were quite beautiful. But not in her budget. She could afford to get them, now that she was working full time, but there was always that fear. That worry that if she was frivolous here and there, it could get out of control and she would be in debt again. She gulped down the lump of emotions. It made her belly ache.
She looked at the price and cringed. Not this week. She just didn’t spend foolishly and really, what would she do with them? She was hardly home enough to enjoy them. She walked away and headed toward the register. She talked to Lucy, one of the teenagers that worked there, and they chatted about her brother, Gardner, a deputy. They laughed, exchanged pleasantries, and Mercedes once again felt grateful for living in a place like Chance. It was safe, people were friendly and kind, and she felt at ease, not on guard like she did years ago.
As Mercedes walked out of the store with her bags in the cart and headed to her car, she heard her cell phone ring. Glancing at the caller ID she saw that it was Marlena.
“Hi, Marlena, how are you?”
“I’m doing well, what are you up to?”
“Just finished food shopping and heading home to put it away then get back to the station. What’s new?”
“You really do like to keep your time organized. I bet you had a lot of coupons. How much did you save today?”
“About twenty-five dollars. But it wasn’t a big food shopping.”
“That is great. You’ll have to teach me so that I can be a savvy, smart shopper.”
“With Danny, Jack, and Mike spoiling you the way they do, you don’t need to worry.”
“That they do. In fact, I’m calling you to see what you’re doing on Friday night? There’s a comedy show in Wager and I can get great tickets, close to the stage for the four of us to go. Are you interested?”
“Well how much are the tickets?”
“I think I’m getting them for free. I’ll know for sure by Wednesday.”
“Okay, count me in.”
“Wonderful. I’m going to call the others.”
Marlena hung up and Mercedes smiled. It would be fun to get together with just the ladies. It was getting kind of depressing being the only one of the four to not be in a relationship. Not that she wanted to be. She’d never had a boyfriend, never had sex, and didn’t know why she was opposed to it. Maybe because she was used to being alone and making her own decisions? Perhaps she felt that a man, or men, would control her or ultimately have control over her? Or it could be the simple fact that she lost her parents when she was eighteen and had always taken care of herself and counted on herself and no one else. To actually let down her guard, or open her heart to another human being so deeply, scared the living daylights out of her.
It was easier to not make a connection or bond. Then it wouldn’t hurt so badly when they disappointed her, or broke her heart, or left her.
It wasn’t like she wasn’t asked out. She got asked out a lot, but she wasn’t interested. Funny thing was that she kind of liked Taylor, a deputy in the department. But that wouldn’t be wise to get together with someone she worked with. It could only lead to disaster. Besides that, by the way things worked around here, brothers shared, and that meant a relationship with Kurt and Warner.
The thought made her nervous and afraid. Kurt and Warner traveled a lot. Both men had that whole bad boy, dark, mysterious look about them, and reputation. People avoided them. That couldn’t be good. Plus they got together with the sheriff a lot on criminal matters she knew nothing about. When there was an intense situation like with Adele and her ex, she overhead Max talking with Warner over the phone and he did something, helped out somehow, and she wasn’t supposed to know anything about it. Max saw her and warned her to not repeat what she heard and then stated that Warner had connections and was involved with the government years ago.
Sounded like trouble to her, and also like the kind of man that wasn’t the commitment type, and neither was his brother Kurt. She heard through the town gossip that both men had dangerous professions, and no one really knew what they did. Some said they were spies, hit men, mercenaries, whatever. All she knew was it all sounded scary and she’d done scary all her life, she didn’t need it now. Men like that would break her heart.