Bear To The Bone (Bear Claw Security 1) (4 page)

He raised a hand in greeting. “I’ll see you tonight, then,” he said, opening her front door. “You’re going to be mine, Carrie. It’s just a matter of time.”

Then before she could retort, he was gone.

The soldier in him knew sometimes retreat was necessary in order to advance.

C
arrie spent
the rest of the morning getting ready and trying not to think about her handsome soldier.

Even with the leather and the fact that she’d seen him with the Aces and he’d asked her to be his old lady, she couldn’t help seeing through all of that to the man on the other side.

He had a way of carrying himself, a confident assurance of his ability that must have come from whatever he’d done in the military. He hadn’t talked about it much in his letters. He’d just said it was confidential and he couldn’t tell her where he was going or what he was doing, so she assumed Special Forces.

She could totally see Cage doing stuff like that, with his incredible intelligence and his physical abilities.

Unlike her, an average small town girl who had to do the best with what she had to work with.

You’re going to be mine. It’s only a matter of time.

She shook her head. No, she wasn’t. She’d wanted Cage for a long time, but not like this. She had people depending on her, and Cage would have to shape up if he wanted to be a part of her life.

As much as she wanted him, she couldn’t let him interfere with her higher purpose to keep the bar and protect Willow and the kids.

Still, a part of her was glad he was here to at least protect her from Harvey or other Aces who got ideas about more. Hopefully, just his interest would be enough to make the other men back down.

She hummed as she made half a dozen sandwiches to take with her to Willow’s. She knew which kids liked what, and she made two peanut butter and jelly, two peanut butter and honey, and two plain peanut butter. Then she packed a six-pack of fun-size milk jugs along with the sandwiches into a cooler.

She felt a million times better now that she was showered, clean, and ready to go see some of her favorite people in the world.

She loved that her job at the bar only took up her time in the evenings. And since it was summer and school was out, the kids would all be at home, and Willow could always use help.

A little part of her ached that she hadn’t been able to bring Cage over. She knew Willow would have loved to see him.

It was a beautiful day, so she decided to walk the few blocks to get to Willow’s house. She turned off the main road toward a small gravel one that took a turn toward the woods. Willow’s place was out of the way, on a beautiful two-acre lot that was perfect for kids to run free on.

Carrie’s basket was light on her arm as she made the trip, and sooner than she would have guessed, she was opening the wooden gate and letting herself onto Willow’s land.

“Sunshine Ranch,” the sign on the gate read. Carrie grinned. A perfect name on this sunshiny day, but the meaning went deeper. Willow brought sunshine to kids who’d had nothing but storm clouds, and Carrie was determined to help.

Especially as it seemed she’d never have kids of her own. Maybe that was her purpose, to help other kids instead.

Even though her heart ached at the thought of a tiny version of her and Cage. That would have been nice maybe.

When she got to the front walk, she saw a little girl out front, pouting and crouching in front of a dandelion.

The girl was an echo of Carrie herself. Small, young, defensive about the world and everything in it.

She had dirty-blond hair that hung limply around her sullen face and a thin, pinched look to her that made a person just want to wrap their arms around her and make the hurt go away.

Then again, that’s how Carrie felt about all of the children she met here.

Janet looked up at Carrie and squinted. Then a grin spread over her face and she hopped up. At only nine years old, and having been malnourished when she came to Willow, Janet was a tiny thing. She wore cut-off jean shorts and a unicorn tee shirt that Carrie remembered seeing on other kids who had since left the house.

Nothing went to waste at Sunshine Ranch.

“Did you bring sandwiches?” Janice asked, reaching on her toes to try and get a look. “Jam for me?” Her voice was small and hopeful.

Carrie pulled the basket back gently. “Are you doing punishment?”

Janet’s face fell. “Yes. I got mad at the twins for messing with my bed. They took my blanket for a fort!” Her little face squished up in anger, and Carrie put a hand on her shoulder. She knew how it felt to have so little and to feel so defensive of anyone taking it.

“I’m sure they meant to give it back.”

Janet gave her a sneaky grin. “Yeah, because I put a bug in Tim’s pants when he wasn’t watching.” She giggled uncontrollably at the thought of it, and Carrie tried not to laugh as well and encourage her.

Instead, she walked to the dandelion Janet had been pouting in front of. “Here, I’ll show you a trick to these,” she said. “Did you know I used to do these when I was here?”

Janet wrinkled her nose. “You don’t seem like you could ever be bad.”

Carrie laughed. “Oh, I was bad.” She took the dandelion tool off the ground and expertly pulled up a weed, roots and all. Janet’s eyes widened. “See? Easy. Just really stick it in there.”

“I’m not strong like you,” Janet said mournfully. She eyed the basket. “I want a sandwich.”

“And I have one right here for you,” Carrie said, patting the basket. “So hurry up with the dandelions, because we all want to see you inside.”

Janet nodded, grumbling, but was already making her way to the next weed, making Carrie smile.

It was this kind of thing that helped the kids turn out okay. Someone cared enough to discipline them, and that meant something. Even if it was annoying at the time.

She walked over the lawn to the front door and winced when she heard the sounds of things crashing around inside.
Oh dear.

She knocked hard on the door, hoping to be heard over the racket.

“One minute!” a harried voice called from inside. Willow. The next moment, the door was opened a crack, and Willow’s face appeared. She had a long, thin face with large, doe eyes in a soft shade of blue that had faded slightly with age. Her long gray hair had escaped her ponytail on either side of her face. But her mouth widened into a smile as she saw Carrie and the basket.

“Backup,” she said. “Just what I need.”

Carrie grinned and gave Willow a hug as she walked into the house. Sure enough, all hell was breaking loose inside. Janet was actually lucky she was outside doing punishments.

Tim and Thane, the twins, were fighting from some kind of tower, while Jessie and Mark, two other siblings, had set up their own fort from the couch cushions and were lobbing toys over their small walls to crash all over the living room.

“It’s war,” Willow said, putting her hands up.

The twins had bright-red hair and pale faces and were only eleven years old. They weren’t identical, just looked like brothers, but they had the same squashed noses and big green eyes. They were adorable.

Jessie had beautiful blond curls and brown eyes. At six years old, she looked like a little princess but could be an absolute bossy demon. Her brother, Mark, at ten, was completely smitten. Her personal slave.

They were doing most of the lobbing of projectiles, while Tim and Thane were trying to dodge. They were the older kids, after all, and probably knew they would get harsher punishments if they hurt one of the little ones.

The youngest of the group, Robert, was three years old with beautiful, dark curls. He was sitting at the entrance to the living room, watching it all from a safe distance, wearing only a tee shirt and a diaper.

He looked over at her and Willow, and his little grin went bright and wide. He stood on chubby legs and toddled over, reaching up with his hands.

She lifted him into her arms and gave him a hug. Robert snuggled in, then got interested in the basket as Willow took it.

“My sammich is peanut,” he said.

She nodded, setting him down and taking his hand to go into the kitchen.

“I be right back,” he said, toddling back toward the living room. “Sammiches!” he told the others.

She heard the commotion stop and several exclamations of, “Carrie’s here?”

She had to grin at being associated with a sandwich. But as the kids came into the room, peeking around the doorframe, and then shyly walked in and one by one came to her for hugs, she crouched down to meet them. One by one, she asked how they had been doing, letting them know she cared.

Willow went out to call Janet in to join them, and then they all sat down to lunch.

Willow didn’t like sandwiches and joined them with a cup of coffee. Carrie couldn’t help but notice that her old friend was getting thinner, and the lines around her mouth were getting deeper. She didn’t know exactly how old Willow was. She could only guess, and she didn’t want to. It didn’t seem respectful.

“So who got good grades this year?” Carrie asked, knowing school had just let out and she hadn’t seen report cards yet.

All hands went up, and then Janet grabbed Tim’s hand and yanked it down. He frowned, trying to jerk away, but then Willow gave him a stern look, and he calmed.

“Okay, not that great,” he said. “Better than last year, though.”

“You had F’s last year,” Thane said unhelpfully, making Tim pout.

“Improvement is always good,” Carrie said.

“I got straight A’s,” Jessie said sweetly.

“In finger painting,” Janet said jealously. Janet was scruffy and skinny and kind of the opposite of Jessie’s golden beauty. But Carrie felt a special affinity to Janet nonetheless. If she were allowed to pick favorites… but she didn’t.

“We’re glad you came by,” Willow said. “I know it’s been busy with work.”

“Are you okay at the bar?” Thane asked, his red hair sticking up in all directions. He puffed out his eleven-year-old chest. “If those Aces come around, you tell me and Tim.”

She grinned. What was it about little boys and playing at protectiveness? It reminded her of Cage and made an ache start up in her chest.

She caught Willow looking over at her pensively and realized she was probably transparent to the woman who’d practically raised her.

“After lunch, why don’t you all have some TV time so I can talk to Miss Carrie?” Willow asked.

There was some grumbling, but it quickly stopped due to the fact that most of the kids loved TV time because they didn’t get a lot of it. Mostly, they were expected to play outside or do things inside. Willow liked to say TV killed your brain.

Once the kids were ushered into the family room and had all found their seats after minimal fighting, Willow hooked her arm through Carrie’s and led her out the back door, closing and locking it behind them.

Carrie felt her heart beating quick as they walked out over the beautiful land where she’d grown up. The trees here, the grass, each bend in the nearby roads, it was all as familiar to her as the back of her hand.

“So,” Willow said, releasing her to walk a little bit ahead and then turning back to face her. “Cage is back, isn’t he?”

Carrie’s mouth dropped open. “How did you know?”

Willow sighed and looked out at the land around them. “There’s only one person in the world who can put that sad look in your eyes. Like you’re far away and not with us anymore. I knew something was different from the minute you showed up, but I didn’t pick up on exactly what until Thane mentioned the Aces.”

Carrie shrugged. “He would. Thane’s father is still involved with them, when he isn’t stupidly drunk.”

Willow wrinkled her nose. “Stupid, evil men. But I should thank them. Because of their idiocy, I get to take care of their beautiful, wonderful children.”

“You’re an angel,” Carrie said, putting her arm around Willow’s thin, fragile-feeling waist. Though, she knew Willow was strong as an ox, even if she didn’t look it. “You know that, right?”

“I’m just doing what I want to,” Willow retorted. “Nothing much.”

“Well, thank heavens,” Carrie said, leaning against her.

Willow let out a snort at that and set Carrie away from her. “Now, you stop changing the subject and tell me what that renegade Cage is doing back in your life. And also, let him know I’m going to kick his ass for not coming to see me.”

Carrie grinned but felt slightly guilty because it was her fault Cage hadn’t come to see her. But she didn’t want Willow to find out he was with the Aces just yet. “Okay, I’ll tell him.”

“Good,” Willow said, walking out farther in the grass, hands clasped behind her back as she strode. “Now tell me everything that’s happened. I’ll tell you just how to handle that rascal.”

At that, Carrie threw her head back and laughed.

C
age knew
he was taking a risk as he crept into the back office of the club. The Winter Falls chapter was small, and almost all their records over the years were back here. He opened a drawer and quickly rummaged through, hoping to find what he was looking for.

A tapping of feet on the concrete outside had him snapping up straight and coming around the desk to stand in the middle of the floor. He was pretending to simply survey the place when the door swung open.

Pete Sanders, one of the officers who had served with his father, walked into the room, looking pensive.

“Thinking of your dad?” Pete asked gruffly, standing next to Cage and looking around the room for a moment before going over to the desk and sitting down. This was Pete’s office now, and he was head of the administrative stuff the club had to deal with. A heavy burden indeed.

“Yeah,” Cage said, folding his arms. “Lotta memories down here.”

Pete raised an eyebrow. His thinning red hair barely covered his head, and his cut-off leather jacket revealed aging arms covered in faded, full tattoo sleeves. Leather and chain dangled at his wrists. He leaned back in his leather chair, making it squeak.

“Doesn’t look good, you being in here,” Pete said. “I gotta admit. I was reluctant to have you back here. You disappeared. Didn’t know if you could be trusted.”

Cage remained silent. Getting defensive would only make Pete’s implied accusations feel more valid.

“But it was your dad’s wish that if you ever come back, you get taken in without question, and with everything he did for this club, we’d be fools to ignore him.” Pete stared at Cage for a moment, and Cage just shrugged. If the older man wanted him to show grief over his father’s death, he’d be disappointed.