Sophie Oak - Siren in Waiting

“You hope?” Shelley asked.

“I meant suspect. I suspect.” Bryce shrugged as though it didn’t really bother him. “He’s going to be living at the ranch. I doubt he’ll get out much. I mean, ranching is such hard work. That’s what everyone tells me.”

Bryce pivoted on his expensive loafers and walked away.

Shelley turned sad eyes his way. “Don’t mind him, Trev. He hasn’t been the same since his best friend died. He’s been a little lost. Barry was his business partner. He died a few months back. Bad accident. He’s had a lot to deal with.”

And Bryce had obviously dealt with it by being the biggest asshole known to man. Trev leaned forward and took his sister’s hand in his. “Are you happy with him?”

She suddenly seemed to find the tabletop endlessly interesting. “He’s my husband.”

He tightened his fingers around hers. “That doesn’t answer my question.”

She pulled away. “Trev, you weren’t around when Mom got cancer. You don’t know what it was like. I needed someone, and Bryce was there. He isn’t the best husband in the world, but damn it, he was there when I needed him.”

Trev sat back, his stomach in knots. Of course. Shelley had married right around the time their mother had been diagnosed with stage three esophageal cancer. Trev had been drunk off his ass the night his mother had called to tell him. He was pretty sure he’d hung up on her and went right back to his party.

When the bills had kicked in, he was just about tapped out. He’d sold his house and only managed to give his sister a measly ten grand after he’d paid off all his bills. Bryce had probably put forth more.

“Sorry. I won’t mention it again.” Small talk. He needed small talk. His eyes strayed to Bethany. He wanted to ask about her. She’d been so smart in high school. Why hadn’t she gone off to college? Why was she still hanging out in Deer Run? He didn’t ask though. She wasn’t his, and he fucked up everything he touched, so he would leave her be. “So, I heard the rodeo was great this year.”

Shelley reached out. “Trev, I didn’t mean to make you feel bad.”

He ached inside. “Not at all. It’s all right. Now tell me about the rodeo.”

Bo managed to not roll his eyes as Bryce Hughes approached. He was a pretentious son of a bitch who always overdressed for the occasion. The man wore slacks and a blazer to the fair. And he always looked down on cowboys.

“Mr. O’Malley,” Bryce said with an unctuous smile on his face. Unctuous. Bo grinned. He only knew what that meant because Mouse used it an awful lot. She was fond of big words. He’d learned a lot from her.

Now he was learning a little bit about jealousy because that unctuous asshole was looking at her breasts. He might have learned what “unctuous” meant from Mouse, but “asshole” had just come with the territory. Bryce Hughes was a married asshole looking at a younger woman’s tits.

“Mr. O’Malley’s my brother,” Bo said between clenched teeth. “You can just call me Bo.”

Bryce seemed unconcerned with Bo’s show of defiance. “Well, I wasn’t sure what your brother had done about his name given his marital status. He might have taken on his wife’s name. Or the other fellow’s.”

And that was the crux of Bo’s whole world. His brother wasn’t normal. His brother lived an alternative lifestyle. His brother was always a badass who didn’t mind throwing his power around, so Bo took the brunt.

“His name is still O’Malley.” Bo felt his eyes narrow. He’d seen Bryce as he’d walked in. He knew exactly who Bryce had been sitting with. He hadn’t missed a damn thing. “And I would watch where you decide to throw stones. Your brother-in-law is the most hated man in the county.”

“Bo.” Mouse gasped a little. The prim set of her mouth let Bo know he’d done something she considered impolite.

Well, Bo didn’t care. Trev McNamara was an asshole addict who should never have shown his face in this county again. Didn’t he have strippers to screw? It seemed the man even neglected his strippers. What was the world coming to?

“It wasn’t my idea to have him come back here,” Bryce said, adjusting his tie. “Trust me, when I married his sister, I thought I was gaining an asset. He was the hero of Deer Run when he signed that contract with the San Antonio Bandits. I imagined his face on my billboards telling everyone to come to Hughes-Bellows for all their real estate needs. Life doesn’t always turn out the way you think it will. How is that new house treating you, Mouse?”

Bo really didn’t like the way Bryce looked at Mouse’s breasts. He had the insane urge to get Mouse a sweater despite the hundred plus degree heat. The neckline plunged down, showing off a crazy amount of creamy, smooth skin and the rounded tops of breasts he hadn’t imagined were really there. She always wore loose clothes. Bo had thought she was a little chubby. This dress dispelled those mistaken impressions. She was curvy and female.

What had she been thinking putting on that dress?

“I love it.” Pure pleasure could be heard in her voice. Her lips curled up in a strangely attractive little smile, like she had a secret. He’d never seen Mouse smile like that. “It’s the most beautiful house ever.”

“I’m surprised it wasn’t condemned. Well, when you figure out it’s more trouble than it’s worth, you go on and give me a call.” Bryce held out his card. Mouse’s hand came out obediently and took it.

Bryce walked away without saying good-bye.

“Why didn’t you tell that fucker to shove his card up his ass?” Something nasty was brewing in Bo’s gut. He almost never cursed around Mouse. He tended to like the person he became when she was around, but tonight he felt like fighting.

He didn’t fool himself. He felt like fighting because he was in the same room with Trev McNamara.

They had been friends once. After Aidan had left for college, Trev had practically become his big brother. Trev had been the quarterback. Bo had been a freshman in need of a mentor. They had bonded because unlike a lot of senior players, Trev had taken the kid under his wing. He’d taught Bo a lot about football. After a while it had been easy to hang out with the older student. There was a picture somewhere of Bo and Trev smiling on the day Trev graduated from high school. He’d told Bo that his door was always open in Austin. That had been a bold-faced lie. Bo could still remember Trev telling him to go away that night when Bo had needed a friend.

“I won’t call him. He would just try to talk me into a bad deal.” Mouse still tucked the card into her purse. “I just don’t see any reason to be impolite.”

“He’s a dickhead. Everyone knows it.” Bo couldn’t help but notice the fact that Mouse’s eyes kept straying away from him. “What’s got you so distracted?”

“Is that really who I think it is?”

She was looking at him. The fucker. “Yeah. That’s Trevor McNamara. Haven’t you seen an addict before?”

Her mouth turned down. “I’ve seen him before. I wasn’t close to him or anything. It’s just been years since I saw him on anything but a magazine cover or the television. I never thought he would come back. He looks good. He looks healthy.”

“He shouldn’t have come back. After what he said about this town in People magazine, I’m surprised he would show his face.”

Mouse shrugged. “He was a different person. And he didn’t say anything so awful.”

“He called us all small-minded rubes.”

Mouse stared.

He hated it when she made him feel like a dumb-ass. “I know what a rube is.”

He sure did now. He’d looked it up after reading that article.