Chapter Sixteen
Fallon stood atthe rail of the gazebo staring as the black dot on the horizon grew larger.It seemed so small, she didn’t understand why everyone perceived it as a threat.Obviously, the other women had a different view.“Don’t worry, girls.I got this.”Lilly stepped between Fallon and Jen, raising the biggest pistol Fallon had ever seen.Okay, so it was theonly oneshe’d ever seen except in the movies, but still.
“Damn, Lilly, I don’t think the guys will want you to blow it into a million pieces.”Jen’s words of warning seemed reasonable to Fallon.What harm could a kiddy plane do, anyway?
“Pieces, hell.She’ll vaporize it with that bazooka.”Tobi’s giggle was followed by the distinct sound of men shouting in the distance.
“Tell those guys to keep their blasted shirts on.I’m not going to shoot it down.I just wanted to scare them a little.”Her words were followed by a deafening blast that made Fallon screech in surprise.Lilly glanced her way, her eyes glimmering with mischief.“Sorry, honey, I should have warned you.Bessie here is noisy.She’ll put a good-sized hole in you, as well.Of course, I was just playing with that boogie.Kyle would bitch like an old maid at a church social if I roasted the evidence.He gets downright cranky about that sort of thing.I swear he is going to give himself a stroke someday.”Seconds later, the man in question was reaching for his mother’s weapon.
“Good lord, Mother.Are you trying to give me a stroke?Give me that thing.Do the dads know you have this cannon?”Fallon wasn’t sure how Kyle seemed to have materialized from thin air.One second, he’d been running down the sidewalk; the next, he’d hurdled the side of the gazebo, landing directly behind his mother and wife.
“Drop it.”Kent West jumped over the railing, landing on both feet in a move that reminded Fallon the men must spend a lot of time training.His tone seemed too harsh, and Fallon was surprised Kent would speak to his mother so rudely.She opened her mouth to speak for Lilly when she noticed the small aircraft landing nearby.A man she didn’t recognize stood nearby smiling as he held a small controller.
“Damn, you guys sure know how to welcome a guy home.”There was almost surreal confidence surrounding the man with the controller.Fallon wondered who he was and how long he’d been gone.His dark hair and intense eyes made him seem mysterious, but when his gaze landed on her, she didn’t sense he was a threat.Until she met Hagan Brody, Fallon considered herself a good judge of character.In some ways, she’d known the two of them would never work out in the long term, but she’d been so lonely after her parents died, she’d ignored the red flags.
“You going to stand over there gloating or shut the damned thing down so the owner doesn’t decide he wants it back?”Fallon knew Kyle was speaking to the man she hadn’t met, even though his focus was centered on his wife.Kyle gave Tobi a quick kiss that made her giggle like a schoolgirl before casting a scathing look his mother’s way, earning an exaggerated eye-roll from Lilly.
“Tobi dear, I don’t think your husband is getting enough nooky.He’s so cranky, if you could please put out a little extra… well… effort, I’d appreciate it.”Lilly pretended to buff her nails on her silk blouse, batting her eyes in such an exaggerated manner it gave the entire scene a cartoon appearance.Kent West pulled the gun from his mother’s purse when she discretely tried to hide it.Shaking his head and chuckling to himself, he checked the safety before shoving beneath his belt.
“Notice I’m nice and calm.Tobi likes me best.”His muttered words made Tobi giggle as everyone around them burst into riotous laughter.
“Cameron, you certainly know how to make an appearance.I’m not sure what you’re holding, but I want to talk to you about it later.It looks like something I could manage, and I’m tired of the college kids having all the fun with drones.Some drones have weapons, right?”Lilly moved closer to the man she’d call Cameron and Fallon wondered if Carl Phillips was nearby as well.
“Jesus, Joseph, and Mary, that’s all we need.”Kyle turned on his heel and stomped out of the gazebo.
“Ladies, I don’t see any reason you can’t continue your party, but we’ll ask you to move it closer to the house.There’s plenty of us to move everything to the pool in one trip.”Looking around her, Fallon was surprised to see each of the women standing with at least one man.It wasn’t hard to distinguish between those who were simply being watched over by a member of the Wests’ team and those who were being protected by their own Doms.For the first time, Fallon understood what Carson and Silas had tried to explain.There was an intense intimacy between the Doms and their submissives—something difficult to define but impossible to miss.
Fallon felt Silas approaching just before his hands wrapped around her upper arms.Turning her slowly, he looked down at her, his gaze filled with concern.“I’m sorry it took us so long to get here.We were at the shooting range.Since you don’t have an alarm, we didn’t know there was trouble until a few seconds ago.”Pulling her close, Silas hugged her tightly against his chest before releasing her to Carson.
“We’ll fix the alarm problem in short order, Cher.”Carson embraced her, and Fallon didn’t miss how much comfort she found in both of their holds.She was overwhelmed by everything happening around her but grateful for the growing connection she felt with both men.“Come on, let’s move closer to the house.Kyle and Cam are going to spend hours taking that damned drone apart.You and the others might as well enjoy yourselves.”
“And we’ll enjoy watching you do it.”Silas moved to stand beside Carson, giving his eyebrows a quick wiggle like Snidely Whiplash.“Until we know the drone isn’t connected to you, I think it would be best if we didn’t let you out of our sight.”Fallon wanted to argue but reluctantly agreed there was a chance the drone had been looking for her.She’d driven to Austin, then basically vanished.If Hagan was intent on securing the puzzle, he’d need to find her first—though why he didn’t simply call seemed odd.
“I wonder whatever happened to my cell phone.To be honest, I forgot all about it.It wasn’t much, and I can’t say that I’ve missed it.”She shrugged when Tobi and several others looked at her aghast.
“No phone?Are you kidding?I’d lose my mind if I couldn’t check on everyone and social media.”Tobi paused, tapping a perfectly manicured nail against the side of her lower jaw.“Now that I think about it, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.God knows I’d have a lot more free time and money since I wouldn’t be shopping online when I was bored.I’ll bet those plain phones are harder to track, as well.”It took them less than a minute to move from the gazebo to the pool area, and they’d continued their discussion about the merits of phones as they moved along.
“Definitely a perk.”Jen dropped into a chaise lounge and leaned back, her long legs extended with her ankles crossed.“I get the whole safety issue, I really do.I was kidnapped, and it sucked.As the kids say,do not recommend.”Fallon remained silent as Jen seemed lost in thought before shaking off the momentary disconnection.“Now, our panic alarms are more powerful and more likely to be overlooked by anyone with nefarious intentions.”Fallon felt her eyes widen despite her best effort to remain impassive.She heard Carson’s low chuckle as he and Silas kissed her cheeks and moved to the side.
“Jen’s a smart girl.I mean, like a really, really smart girl.Nerdy smart.”Gracie’s response made Jen blush.“Everybody expects CeCe to be super smart because she is a surgeon, but tall, blonde and gorgeous over here takes people by surprise.They never see her coming.I’ve never seen her start something she didn’t master.Smack, I might be jealous if I didn’t like her so much.”Lifting her margarita, Gracie leaned forward to clink her glass against Jen’s in a toast to the power of friendship.
“Smack?I swear you really should stop eavesdropping on your kids.You pick up their slang, but not the correct context.”Gracie frowned before shrugging off Tobi’s comment.
“All kidding aside, Fallon.You’re going to love it here.I did not know how incredible real friendship could be before coming to Prairie Winds.The members of the club are screened within an inch of their lives, so it’s unusual to meet someone who is anything other than what you see.”Fallon smiled at Gracie’s odd way of phrasing things.The woman’s Spanish accent was faint but enough to let Fallon know English wasn’t her first language.
“That’s not to say bitches don’t walk among us because that sort of behavior is damned hard to detect in the sort of testing and rigorous background checks members go through.In general, the subs sort through them fairly quickly.”Fallon didn’t know Jen well but didn’t miss her sarcasm.
“Kent and Kyle don’t have the time or inclination to deal with petty nonsense, so any member exhibiting questionable behavior has their membership revoked quickly.”Tobi’s gaze moved to a young woman standing to the side of the pool deck.Fallon followed the other woman’s gaze, surprised to see her staring intently at Carson.When Fallon looked back at Tobi, the pretty blonde frowned.“I’m not sure how she ended up at this party.I didn’t call her.”
“She was standing outside the office yesterday when we were talking about getting together.Micah told me she mentioned how anxious she was to make friends at the club, and he agreed this would be an opportunity for her to meet people.I told him that was a mistake.She is only here for one reason… Carson.I’m telling you the woman is obsessed.”Gracie pulled her chair around, so her back was to the man standing watch over the group.“Nancy Dressler comes from the same small town where Carson grew up.She moved here because she knows he has money.I heard her telling one of the other subs how she was willing to put up with Silas as long as she had access to their bank accounts.”
“I don’t want to get involved in any love triangles… or whatever shape it might be with four people.”
“That would be a square, dear.”Lilly moved closer, giving Fallon a mischievous grin.“I’m sorry, that was too easy, and I’m cranky because Kent took my gun.Now I wish I’d blown that damned drone into a million pieces.This is what I get for behaving.There’s no future in it, I tell you.As for Nancy, she is a couple of sandwiches short of a picnic.She keeps trying to get Carson’s attention, but he wants nothing to do with her.I’ll let him tell you the story, but I don’t want you to worry about him being taken, no matter what she might try to tell you.”Patting Fallon’s hand, she added, “I’d have never picked them for you unless I knew they were available.”
Fallon let out a sigh of relief.She’d forgotten Lilly was responsible for Carson and Silas being on their way to the club the afternoon they met.Arranging for them to be her escorts that night should have been all the endorsement Fallon needed.She felt her face flush with shame, knowing it looked as though she hadn’t trusted Lilly’s judgment.Her whispered apology was met with a shake of Lilly’s head.
“Don’t worry.I’d have been surprised if youdidremember.After all, you’ve had a harrowing few days on top of a disastrous couple of months.Your heart will be safe in Silas and Carson’s care.I’m not saying you’ll end up with them… that’s up to the three of you to work out.I’m only saying they are honest men who are so taken with you anyone can see they are off the market.”