Wylde (19 page)

Josh was quiet, and Kell figured the kid was probably fighting similar feelings to those Kell had experienced while beating the shit out of Adam. And Kell, by God, couldn’t keep out of it any longer; it was time to deal himself in. He limped into the kitchen, favoring his sore ribs, and sat in the kitchen chair. “Sorry, I was listening,” he admitted. Then he rubbed his unshaven jaw. “No, damn it, I’m not sorry.”

“Kell!” Noah sighed, giving him a look of exasperation, as if he were hopeless. But Kell noticed he didn’t seem really pissed.

“I know you don’t want me too close, that you don’t need anyone, that you have Josh,” Kell said, taking the biggest chance of his life. Shit, his hands were shaking when he reached out for the cold, sweating glass of mineral water Noah offered him. “But here’s the thing: I want you both.”

Noah put down the utensils he was using for the stir-fry— which thank fuck smelled of more than veggies and tofu—and went to Kell. He squeezed his swollen hand.

“I don’t know how to be part of a family. I’ve never had a boyfriend. I’m… a little rough around the edges.” Kell cleared his throat. “Just so you know what you’re in for if you want me around.”

Josh looked at Kell gravely. “Sounds good to me. You look like shit, Chief.”

 

“Call me Kell,” Kell offered. Then he looked to Noah. “As long as it’s all right with you?” Noah nodded, face soft.

Josh leaned forward. “So can we kill Adam?”
“No,” Noah said.

“If he pushes it, I will deal with him,” Kell growled, his shoulders relaxing as he felt the tacit approval as Noah absently played with his fingers. Maybe he’d gone from houseguest to boyfriend. He felt wanted here.

Noah scolded primly, “Violence is never the answer.” Josh’s eyes filled with cold anger. “I say we rip off his balls and feed them to the ghost.”

Kell reached out and pulled Josh close so that both Matthews men were in his protective embrace. “Maybe we can eat our stir-fry first,” he joked, trying to deflect Josh’s rage. Truth was, this felt fucking good; it wasn’t every day he became part of something. “Since your Dad threatened to teach me how to use a wok, I might as well learn how it’s supposed to taste when it’s not burned.”

“In my house, everyone helps out, cooking, cleaning,” Noah said.
“All right,” Kell agreed. If cleaning up after himself meant living with Noah and Josh, he’d do it. He’d even eat scrambled tofu for breakfast every morning. That had to spell a commitment.
A
LEC
rubbed Beau’s head, looking at Jade with a relieved smile. “So the vet says he’ll be okay?”

Jade looked uncomfortable. “Yeah. Look, about you spotting the money to take him to see one. I totally
will
pay you back. I was just short on account I had to get some parts for my jeep.”

Alec cocked his head, wanting to put her at ease. “How about you give my SUV a tune up sometime soon and we’ll call it even? You’re as good as any mechanic in town, and since we’re friends, I know you won’t lie to me about what it needs.”

She smiled at that idea. “Okay. As long as it’s not charity.” “How can it be charity to have a hot girl tuning my engine?” Alec cocked a brow.

“Jerk!” But Jade gave him a once over. Oh, yeah, she was thinking about it.
“Just be sure to wear a short leather skirt and no panties and bend over a lot,” Alec drawled. “Just like my fantasies.” He knew he was dopey from the adrenaline crash of their long day and night up on the canyon wall, saying stupid things and risking angering touchy Jade. Probably now she’d order him from her house, and he couldn’t blame her. Shit!

“Would you stop…?” she huffed, crossing her arms and pacing in her doorway. “I’d take your head off but you look like shit. Still got that headache?”

“Yeah.” Alec shrugged, deciding to leave before he further embarrassed himself. He had her thinking about him lately, and he’d worked for years just to get to that point.

“Where you goin’?”

“Uh, just back to my SUV. Thought I’d drive to the diner and get something to eat.” And then he planned to park his truck outside her house to keep a lookout, not that he was telling his independent Jade about that.
“Nope, stay here with me instead.”

Alec blinked. No way she was asking him to—“What did you say?”
“I mean, uh, I’ll feed you. And I figure you’re so with the Boy Scout shit, you’ll sleep out in your truck tonight to protect the little woman if I don’t invite you in anyway.”

“Jade.” Alec’s face sobered. “I
saw
the ghost.”

“Is he… shit.” Jade swallowed. “I think I maybe saw him once too. I told myself he was just passin’ through, but once a week I put out cookies and they are always gone the next day. You don’t think he’s the one who killed Morley, do you?”

Alec rubbed the back of his stiff neck. “No idea, but he was dressed crudely and he had a scabbard for a knife. I hope not, Jade. Because if he did, this town is going to hunt him down.”

“I know it,” Jade said. “I wish there was something we could do, Alec. Anyway… in the meantime, I got an extra room so you can stay over if you want.”

Alec followed her into her house. There was no question. “I want,” he told her.
“W
HAT
I hear is some kind of vengeful ghost is up on the mountain

killing people,” Adam Drummond shared with his guest while drinking some of the very fine vintage scotch Anderson had offered him. “That’s what the guy at the bar told me.”

“Ghost,” Anderson sighed, examining his hat as he sat on the twin bed opposite the badly bruised Adam. “That silly rumor. I have seen the ‘ghost’, and I sincerely doubt he poses any threat. But he is useful.”

“So nothing’s haunting the mountain?” Adam sounded disappointed.

Anderson forced himself not to roll his eyes, reminding himself he needed Adam. He had to take care of things, just like always. “No ghost.”

“Oh, bummer. I’d really like to see that bastard Farraday get torn apart by an angry spirit.”

“Mr. Drummond, never mind ghosts. Do you want to make some extra money or not? It does involve causing possible trouble for the local chief.”

Drummond rubbed his purpling eye. “I want to fry that bastard’s balls.”

Now they were getting down to business, which Anderson understood. “Very good. I can certainly understand the need to even the score. He took your man, didn’t he? I’m also a… possessive man.”

“Yeah, okay. What do we do?”

Anderson smiled dryly. “Why, we go hunting, of course. But first, there’s something I need you to do.”

N
OAH
lit the wood fireplace in Kell’s guest room. One of the things he’d liked about this house was it came with efficiently designed real wood fireplaces as well as electric ones downstairs. And there were backup systems—there was a generator hut next to the pool, so if they lost power, it could kick in. Despite needing a makeover in a major way, the house was sound.

“Did you ever think it was strange that an entire family ran from this house?” Noah mused.

“Yes, I thought it was strange, so I looked them up. They said they had their reasons,” Kell shrugged. “Maybe the fact their relative, Ralph Hindle, had been in some accident on the side of Sullivan’s Mountain turned them off.”

“So you think they were frightened away?” Noah swallowed and lowered his voice. “That they knew something about what’s happening on this mountain?”

Kell sat on the edge of his bed, cupping his knees, his face still colorful from his encounter with Adam, though he held himself with more ease after a long soak in Noah’s hot tub. “I don’t know, Noah. At the time, no. Now… it’s not so cut and dried.”

“I’m sure folks in town think something scared them off, like the so-called ghost.” Noah put more kindling in, watching as it ignited in bright bursts, thinking that was how he felt whenever he got close to Kell. He recognized that part of the reason for this conversation was easing closer to intimacy with him. His heart was pounding!

“I can’t help rumors. I deal in fact.” Kell shook his head. “What is a mystery is what happened with Morley Orris, but I think we’re getting closer to figuring that one out. And anyway, this house has had a turn of good luck; you and Josh came here and made this place your home.”

“We’re trying to do that,” Noah observed, pensive.

“I think you are.” Now Kell got to his feet, and his warm body was a breath apart from Noah’s. He put his arms around him from behind as they both stared into the fire. “You certainly stood your ground with Adam.”

“So did you!” Noah’s lips quirked. “Emphatically.”

“Yeah,
ouch.
” Kell leaned his head closer to Noah’s. “I’m not a young man anymore. I even find the odd gray hair nowadays.”
“It’s sexy,” Noah said honestly, hiding a smile since Kell had more than the odd gray hair at his temples, but it
was
sexy. “I don’t want a young romance for a young man. I want to enjoy every part of falling for the right person.”
“I don’t remember it being very romantic when I was younger,” Kell admitted whimsically. “More like scratching the itch, hot, fast.”

“Oh, yes, you’ve definitely matured,” Noah teased.

Kell touched his lips to Noah’s, and Noah’s heart gave a big thump. “I’ve learned patience. I don’t have to like it, but I have learned that good things do come to he who waits.”

Noah moaned when Kell outlined his lips with his warm, sure tongue. His fingers clenched in Noah’s shoulders. Oh, Lord! Kell was an experienced, thorough lover. “Am I your good thing?” he rasped.

“N
OPE
.” Kell’s eyes warmed at Noah’s poorly disguised
disappointment. Then, feeling a need to grope toward romance, he continued awkwardly, “I think maybe my last thing. All right?”

“Wow,” Noah breathed.
“Wait, ‘wow’ is scheduled for later on in the evening.” “Is it?”

“Those shy glances you give me make me hard. Fuck, I have it bad. I was supposed to drill you into the mattress, not feel things, other than with my dick.”

“Chief, you’re positively poetic.”
“Damn straight. Is it working?” Kell reached for the wine that Noah had brought up, finding it surprisingly perky with a nice sting. Noah was a hell of a cook, even if he did have strange ideas about tofu. Brownies! Christ! But they had been damned tasty, once Kell stopped thinking they were made of mashed-up bean curd.
“I’ll let you know.”
Kiss.
“Thanks for being there. Even though you weren’t exactly invited,” Noah commented drolly.
Kell lifted a shoulder, watching as Noah opened another of his

shirt buttons, spreading the material and revealing Kell’s bruised and muscled chest. An appreciative and timid hand swept his skin, and Kell wanted to groan. “What do you expect from your caveman?”

“Are you really mine?”

Kell took a deep breath, feeling as if he were parachuting into uncertain territory. He didn’t usually trust folks too easily; it was a trait he’d learned as a foster kid, not knowing what one home would be like, another set of adults. He’d buried the need for a family of his own pretty quick and learned to be self-contained. “If you want me.”

“Josh and I have indicated we like you around.” Noah gave him a clear-eyed look before continuing to touch the vivid flowers of bruising on Kell’s chest. “Shit. I hope never to see Adam again. Is it wrong that I was motivated to move because of him?”

“Wrong to want to be happy? I don’t see that. You regrouped, you learned to take better care of yourself. But don’t worry about seeing him again; you won’t. He checked out of his motel.”

“You have someone watching him?”

Kell nodded, not making any bones about it. “Hell, yeah. I don’t trust him as far as I can throw him. This is my town.”
“Anyone tell you that you’re a throwback to Wyatt Earp?” Noah’s lips curled into a tentative smile, and Kell pulled him into his arms, giving free rein to his possessive side since Noah wasn’t objecting.

“I’m asking myself if I’m ready to go further with you,” Noah admitted.

“Why not?” Kell was nuzzling Noah’s throat. He pushed his cock against Noah’s hip so Noah was aware of Kell’s desire, but he didn’t try anything else.

“Well… Josh.”

 

“Nope. I locked the door while you were busy with placing the wood in the fire.” Kell cupped Noah’s chin. “Do you mind?” “No. I’m just getting accustomed to the water, you know?”

“Yes. I’d never want Josh to see us, uh, doing stuff, but he might catch me kissing and hugging you because I’m going to do that.” Kell pushed back Noah’s curls and gave him a tender kiss. “I have to go see Makepeace soon. He wants to talk to me about something.”

“Something that will bring you closer to solving our mystery?” Noah asked hesitantly.
Kell sighed. “Fuck, I hope so. I’m getting tired of folks being scared.”

Noah frowned. “I just hope no one else gets hurt before this is resolved.”

“I hope to prevent that,” Kell said. “Still don’t have a fucking clue what Morley Orris was up to, though I gave Makepeace his journal full of business notations for his pot crop. Hopefully he can make sense of the type of short hand used.”

“You work so hard,” Noah said, leaning against Kell and stroking his arm gently. Kell’s shirt hung from his wrists now, baring his upper body like a model for a sculptor. He rather liked the feeling of being shy Noah’s sex object.