Oxygen Deprived (Kilgore Fire Book 3) (14 page)

I bit my lip, wondering if I should intervene…then decided to hell with it.

I reached for the bag of chips that were sitting on the counter next to me, opened them up and started munching away.

My brother and Drew took turns pushing Danny around, and the scene playing out before me reminded me of the saying ‘Don’t play with your food.’

Not because of the fact that they looked like they were going to eat him or anything, but because they were the predators and Danny was the prey.

And he just didn’t know when to shut up!

“I fucked her first,” Danny coughed, wiping a stream of blood from his mouth. “How does it feel to know she had my cock in her cunt…her mouth?”

My mouth dropped open.

“I never gave you head!” I yelled loudly, drawing the attention of my brother.

He looked furious, sure.

But the look on Drew’s face…that was a sight to behold.

He was in a full rage.

With one look at my face, he leaned forward and whispered something to Danny, causing my ex’s face to turn from a red to flat out purple.

“My dick is not vomit inducing!” He cried. “She did
not
say that.”

My mouth dropped open.

“You told him that?” I cried. “I told you that in confidence!”

Drew’s eyes lit with mirth.

“The man needed to know that his dick made you rather have sex with your dildo instead of him,” Drew added. “I can see it’s starting to add up.”

“My dick is not bad looking!” he fumed.

“Actually,” I said. “It is.”

Danny’s face became mottled with rage.

“Take that back,” he hissed.

The front door to my house banged open and I immediately hopped off the counter.

“Get out of my house!” I screamed at the woman.

The woman tossed me a cursory glance, ignored me, and walked straight up to Danny.

“Let him go, or I’ll arrest you,” she ordered Drew.

Drew laughed at her.

“I’d like to see you try,” he said to the woman that I’d caught Danny cheating on me with.

Her hand shot forward, but Drew caught it before she could punch him in the face.

“Darlin’,” he drawled. “I know you’re a cop…but you’re a woman. No matter what you try to do, you’re never going to be a man. I have the same training as you…in fact, I have more. I’ve easily got a hundred pounds and eight inches on you, and your form’s all wrong.”

He pushed her fist away from him, also knocking her back a few steps in the shove.

She hissed and pulled out her gun, or she would have had Downy not stopped her.

“Ms. Meek,” Downy said with authority lacing his tone. “You are off duty. You’re in a house that’s not yours and you were not invited into it. You assaulted a fire fighter, and to be honest, I don’t like you all that much. I suggest you take Danny and get the fuck out of here. I don’t think I need to tell you how this will go if you decide to pursue this, right?”

Officer Meek bared her teeth at Downy.

“No,” she said. “I don’t think you do, Assistant Chief Downy. You’ve made yourself clear, Sir.”

Drew let Danny go, who immediately sagged when Drew was no longer holding him up.

“I don’t want to see you here again,” Downy snapped.

“Except for when you return Aspen’s things,” Drew added when the two went to leave.

Danny snarled a curse.

Downy’s brows rose.

“You took some belongings that aren’t y
ours, Officer?” Downy asked Da
nny.

“I didn’t…” Danny started to say, but the lady dragon stopped him before he could get much more out.

“We’ll return it via a courier tomorrow,” she replied hastily, exiting as fast as she could get Danny out of there.

“Well…” I murmured, turning to my brother and Drew. “Are we still on for lunch, at least?”

Downy’s eyes narrowed.

“You never told me he took your stuff, Ridley,” Downy growled grumpily.

I shrugged, not bothering to correct him on my name.

“You also never come over for me to tell,” I added. “And you actively ignore my calls.”

“I do not,” he argued.

My brows rose.

“I called you last week to wish you happy birthday, and you chose to ignore the call three times,” I told him.

His mouth opened to deny it.

“I was at SWAT training…” he lied.

My mouth dropped open.

“You’re a lying sack of shit!” I accused him. “Do you not realize that Drew would be attending the same SWAT training that you go to? And he was here. With me.”

Downy’s eye twitched.

I pushed.

Why I thought this was the time, I would never know, but since he wasn’t running away like he usually did, I thought I should press the matter.

“Why do you call me Ridley?” I asked softly.

Downy’s eyes flicked to Drew, then back to me.

I flicked my eyes at Drew, and he took the hint.

“Be right back,” he muttered. “I’m gonna make sure they’re gone.”

He disappeared in the next instant, closing the door quietly behind him as he went.

“Well?” I challenged him, crossing my arms over my chest to stare at my stepbrother… who was actually my real brother, only he didn’t know it yet.

I didn’t expect him to answer.

Not really.

And what he said blew me away.

“Aspen was my father’s name, and it hurts to call you by that. It’s a constant reminder that you’re here and he’s not,” Downy hissed defensively.

My mouth dropped open.

That was the first time he’d ever told me that. Sure, I’d known his father’s name.
My
father’s name. Stupidly, I’d thought it was an honor to be named after our father, but apparently I was wrong.

“I…” I said. “I don’t know what to say.”

Downy shrugged.

“I can’t help it. I just hear your name, and I’m reminded of how much I miss him. It’s nothing against you…it’s just how it is,” he hedged.

“Okay then,” I said. “Well, that sucks, but at least I know now.”

I started backing away, a strange feeling welling up in the back of my throat.

“I gotta use the restroom,” I whispered softly, backing up faster now.

Downy started to reach for me, but I stopped him with my next words.

“I want you to leave.”

Downy’s brows furrowed.

“But what about lunch?” He challenged.

I shook my head.

“I think that’s enough for today, thanks.”

With that I left, not looking back.

If I had, though, I would’ve seen the devastation on Downy’s face.

Would’ve seen the instant regret filling his eye and in his entire demeanor.

But right then, I chose instead to focus on myself.

Seemed like a good time to do that.

It was hours later when I heard my bedroom door open.

I didn’t bother looking over my shoulder.

I knew who it was.

Drew got into the bed with me, curled his big body around mine and settled in deep.

The room was dark except for the glow from the street lights streaming in through my blinds.

The clock next to my bed read nine P.M. Meaning I’d fallen asleep, seeing as I’d come into my room a very long time ago.

I lay there, with Drew’s arms wrapped securely around me, thinking.

Thinking about what’d happened that day. About Downy and his inability to ever see me as anything but a reminder of what I was and was not. Then finally about Drew. About how he was in the process of divorcing his wife.

And I just wanted to be someone’s first choice.

I wanted to be loved by someone forever, someone who’d never chose anyone else over me.

Danny. Downy. Drew.

Maybe it had something to do with ‘D’ names. Maybe I should look for a Sam or a Michael. Possibly a Luke.

When Drew’s breaths finally evened out indicating he’d fallen to sleep, I inched my way out of his hold, heading to the kitchen.

Maybe some ice cream would be helpful right now.

Blue Bell had finally returned to Texas grocery stores, and not a day went by that I didn’t gorge on my favorite ice cream. It’d been a helacious few months without it after they pulled all of their ice cream off the shelves, and I still got kind of panicky when I was close to running out.

I’d just put the first spoonful in my mouth when a sound from outside had me walking out of the kitchen to the window that looked out over my front yard.

I moved the blinds down, hunching over so I could see out, and blinked when I saw the same two men that I’d seen in the same exact spot a week ago.

“What are you two doing?” I whispered, absently spooning up some ice cream and shoving it into my mouth.

I’d just moved my spoon down for a third dip when one of them lifted his hand toward his car, presumably using his keychain to pop the trunk open.

Then movement caught my eye as a young girl came out of Drew’s house. The further she moved down the driveway, the more I realized that I knew that form. It was Attie, Drew’s daughter.

She was nearly all the way down the driveway when she heard the men talking.

She was shielded by the bushes that ran down the length of Drew’s driveway, and the men never saw or heard her.

She stopped and turned, peering over the bushes.

And screamed.

I dropped my spoon and my bowl of ice cream and started running.

The front door was locked, bolted and chained, giving me a very hard time as I tried to get out in my haste to get to Attie.

Once the last lock was undone, I slammed the door open.

It hit the wall with a loud thud, but I barely noticed as I started to run down the middle of my yard, straight for the men that now had Attie by the arm.

“Let her go!” I screamed. “Now!
Drew!
”

I screamed for Drew so loud that my throat throbbed.

“Fuck me!” One of the men cursed as he started to move toward his car.

Attie, though, fought back,
hard
.

So hard, in fact, that I was initially surprised.

I froze beside her, unsure of where to grab her to help or to let her continue on her own. She figured it out without me, but she got herself free and lurched for the car, grabbing something that was inside the trunk and pulling.

I chose that time to rear back and hit the other man that was still there, but he caught my fist so effortlessly that I was momentarily shocked.

He hadn’t even been facing me, how the hell had he seen me?

And I wouldn’t get into the fact that he was still holding my hand as well as pulling a gun out from under his front jacket.

I heard Drew’s shout from somewhere behind me, causing me to turn and stare at him running, shirtless and shoeless, directly to us.

He had a gun in his hand as well, but he wasn’t aiming it at anything.

“Freeze, Smith,” the man that was holding me ordered. He had his gaze on the man behind the wheel of the car. “Put your hands on the wheel and I won’t shoot you.”

Everyone froze, except for Drew, who kept coming until he was in reaching distance of not just me, but his daughter as well.

Attie had her arms around something that was bundled in a blanket, her eyes wild and scared as she let her gaze dart around this way and that, looking like her life had just been thrown upside down.

“Fuck you,” Smith said, revving the engine.

The distinct ‘
thump
’ of the car being put into reverse rocked through the still night air, and before any of us could even react, the man holding the gun on the one in the car pulled the trigger.

The car started to roll backward, but the man inside of it was too dead to stop it.

The one who’d just shot the other man then turned his gun on Drew.

“I’m a cop, if you shoot me, I’ll shoot you, too. Then your kid and your woman will have to bury you,” the man said.

He still had a hold of my arm, but his gun was pointing at Drew’s chest, and I was too scared to do anything that might upset the perilous balance that the two men had going right then.

“Put it down,” Drew ordered. “Let her go.”

The man let me go, but he didn’t drop the gun like he’d been instructed to.

“I’m not stupid here,” the man snarled. “My name is Raphael Luis, and I’m on assignment as a liaison with the FBI. Call whomever you want and confirm it.”

Drew hesitated.

“I have my phone, Daddy,” Attie whispered. “It’s in my back pocket.”

“Aspen,” Drew barked. “Call your brother. Get confirmation.”

I moved around Drew, careful not to obstruct his view of the man or the situation.

I reached Attie’s back, and it was then I saw that what she was holding was a human being.

A
live
human being.

One with big, bright, blue eyes and long curly blonde hair.

“Mother fucker,” I breathed, my hands freezing on the phone in Attie’s jeans.

Drew’s angry bark of ‘hurry up’ had me yanking the phone out Attie’s pocket and unlocking it without another thought.

My eyes, though, kept glancing back at the girl.

I’d just dialed the phone and put it to my ear when the first cop car came rolling down the street.

And it was then that I could hear my ankle monitor’s beep-beep-beep.

Well, that was helpful!

What wasn’t helpful, though, was having three more guns added to the mix.

“Put them down,” the officer, one of the two that I didn’t want to see right then, barked.

“Hello?” Downy answered, voice alert.

“Umm, you might want to come to my house. I think the Wild West is about to make a reappearance,” I said. “And hey, can you vouch for a man for me? He says he’s with the FBI, and I don’t know who to call besides you to verify he is who he says he is.”

“The one across the street from you?” He asked. “Dark hair, green eyes. Beard?”

I blinked, surprised that Downy knew my neighbor.

“Yeah, that’s him,” I concurred.

“He’s with the FBI. Introduced himself to me and Luke a couple of months ago,” he said. “I told him about the house across from you that was for rent.”

I could hear him shutting doors, as well as his keys jingling.

“That was nice of you to tell me who he was,” I growled in annoyance. “Would it really have been that hard to say, ‘Oh! Hey! You have a cop living across the street from you.’”