The Unbreakable Trio (7 page)

“You don’t dance,” she said.

“Tonight, I’m going to try.” Shane suddenly appeared behind her. He reached out and grabbed her hips, bringing her closer. Shane forgot about the people surrounding them. This wasn’t their moment. Claire deserved to have some fun. “But I like to dance close.” He brought her close to his body. One of her hands circled the back of his neck.

The tempo of the music changed, the funky music slowing down to the pulse of sex. The lights dimmed. No one else mattered but him, Liam, and Claire.

She didn’t take her eyes off him. Liam moved in behind her, their hands on her body moving her this way and that. Shane pressed his thigh between her legs, the most public display of want.

Claire danced with them, and Shane felt the heat through to his heart. The fire felt good, and he wanted the moment to last.

Claire laughed as she sat on Gary Walker’s lap. Shane and Liam had led her off the dance floor and back to the four brothers. The gorgeous redhead was still on the floor with the sheriff. Every now and again, she saw each brother glaring in that direction.

Shane went to get another round of drinks, and Liam was in a deep conversation with the youngest brother.

“Why don’t you go and talk to her? Cut in and force her to dance or something?” she suggested as she caught Gary staring toward her.

“Forcing her to do something is what caused her to go with the good old sheriff there.” His hands rested on her leg.

“You know, using another woman isn’t going to help your cause,” she pointed out.

“I know that. She’s just stubborn. We care about her and want to make sure she’s safe. If that doesn’t involve us, then so be it. We want her to be happy,” he said.

Claire nodded, understanding his point completely.

“Okay, so tell me what you did to make her get mad.” She’d noticed the other woman looking over at the four brothers. She might not want to be with the men, or she might be mad at them, but the interest still existed.

“I told her to go and put some extra clothes on,” Gary admitted after some time. Confused, Claire frowned at him. “She went swimming at the local lake in a bikini. When I swung by, I was too heavy-handed. I told her, no, ordered her, to put more clothes on.”

“Ouch. You shouldn’t have ordered her around.”

“I know.”

Shane came back with a round of drinks, and the night carried on. Claire had to leave the group to go to the bathroom. She weaved her way through the crowd, thankful when she saw the toilets empty.

She washed her hands and patted some cold water onto her neck. The heat was getting to her. The bar was getting rowdier, but she was having fun.

The sounds of crying made her stop touching up the small amount of makeup she wore.

“Hello?” she said to the room.

Opening each of the toilet stalls, she found the redhead from the dance floor on a toilet seat, crying her eyes out.

“I’m sorry,” Claire said.

“Are you going to run out and tell them all I made a stupid mistake?” the redhead asked.

She shook her head.

“I saw you sitting on Gary’s lap even though you came with Shane and Liam. You know those men are taken, don’t you? Liam and Shane only have the hots for one girl, Claire Martin.”

Seeing the issue, Claire started laughing.

“You’ll be sorry,” the redhead warned.

“I think we’ve got our wires crossed. I’m Claire Martin, and I’ve only heard you referred to as
the redhead
.” She offered her hand to the woman.

“Cassidy Jocks.” They shook hands. “I’m sorry. I’m a mess.”

“Gary told me what happened. I understand why you’ve pretty much given them the finger all night,” Claire said.

“I’ve been an idiot. Michael is an amazing man and a brilliant sheriff. I don’t know what to do. He’s been wonderful to me, but seeing Gary and the others with you hurts.”

If someone had said she would be standing in the girls’ bathroom with a redhead called Cassidy Jocks talking about a bunch of guys, Claire would have laughed.

Grabbing some tissue, she offered it to the other woman.

“If it’s any consolation, Gary feels bad about it. Talking down to you. Maybe you should stop worrying about the men and think about what you want. I don’t think the brothers are going anywhere. Be certain before you make any rash decisions,” Claire advised. She went to the sinks and finished powdering her nose.

“Are you dating Liam and Shane?”

Closing her eyes, she gathered her thoughts. “I don’t know. We’ve been best friends forever. I don’t know where that’s going to develop.”

“I know, I remember. We used to be in the same year. You and the guys never paid any attention to the rest of us.”

Claire frowned, feeling awful. She couldn’t even think of the classes she’d had with the other woman.

“I’m sorry about that.”

Not liking the direction of the conversation, she walked out of the girls’ room and straight into the confrontation between Shane and the sheriff.

Both men were arguing.

“Claire?” Shane said.

“What’s going on?” she asked quickly, glancing behind her to see if Cassidy had followed her.

“Michael here wanted to invade the ladies’ bathroom to see if his date was there.” Shane held her in his arms. The instant comfort she got from the experience pleased her.

The comfort soon left as she saw the four brothers walking over with Liam as well. Her gut was telling her real bad shit was about to go down. If they started on Michael, they’d be attacking a sheriff.

“Are you hassling her again?” Gary yelled to be heard over the noise.

Claire saw Michael tense. Cassidy had really stirred the fire within these men. She gripped Shane for more comfort. Never had she liked displays of violence. They always unnerved her.

“Me, hassling Cassidy. You’re having a laugh, Walker. Everyone knows you want her as part of your slut parade,” Michael said.

Cassidy walked out of the bathroom. Her face was puffy and red from the tears. “What’s going on?” she croaked.

“You bastard. You made her fucking cry.” Gary grabbed the sheriff’s shirt. His presence was threatening in tone and manner. “No one makes her cry.”

Shane moved out of Claire’s hold and went to the men. “I think this should be taken outside. Causing a scene isn’t ideal.”

Seconds later, Cassidy and Claire were being escorted outside. “This is going to end badly,” Cassidy said, her hands shaking.

“Are you afraid of the brothers?” Claire was concerned.

“No. But if they start something, the sheriff and the whole department will need to lock them up. They’d been warned about starting fights. This will be their fourth bar fight this month. Don’t worry. They’d never hurt me.”

Not liking where it was going, Claire walked into the center where a lot of the shouting could be heard.

“Get out of here, Claire,” Shane said.

She shot a glare to him, refusing to back down. “Are you really going to have a prick-fighting contest, to see who’s got the biggest dick?” she shouted.

“We don’t need a contest. We’ve always known Michael’s a spineless bastard,” Gary snarled.

“Stop it,” Cassidy yelled, coming into the circle.

Claire couldn’t do anything but scream for Liam and Shane to stop. She didn’t know who threw the first punch or what happened for it to escalate to a punching ground. The people from the bar spilled out and were shouting words of encouragement and in no time at all, more men were brawling.

Thirty minutes later, cop cars had arrived and arrests were being made. Shane and Liam were taken to the local lockup with all of the four brothers.

Cursing the unfairness of her first time out as a girl on a date, Claire wanted to stomp on their balls. The fight had nothing to do with them.

Claire and Cassidy rode in the same truck all the way down to the station. They gave their statements, and because their men were in the same room behind bars, they were both taken to see them. Even Michael had been locked up.

“Thank god. Please tell me you posted bail,” Shane said.

Michael and the brothers stared at Cassidy. Grabbing her hand to make a stand together, Claire spoke. “We haven’t posted your bail. None of your bail. The cops have told us you can’t come out until morning. They explained it all, but I can’t remember. I’ll pick you guys up in the morning. One of the cops did say that you’d have to do some sort of community service.” Claire dragged the other woman out of the room. The men shouted after them.

Claire drove to the ranch.

“You can take me home,” Cassidy said.

“I know. I don’t want to be alone tonight.” Claire let her in and made a pot of tea.

“I can’t believe we left them in the cell.”

Claire agreed. When she got Liam and Shane, they’d be pissed with her. One of their past agreements had been if they were ever in trouble with the law, they’d make sure to post immediate bail. In their agreements, they never said anything about being possessive pricks over a different woman.

“They’re going to hate us.”

Claire shrugged her shoulders. “They were in the wrong tonight. They shouldn’t have fought. They’ll get over it with time.”

She didn’t tell the other woman about Shane and his hatred of small spaces. The cell would be killing him inside. She had to figure out a way to get him to open up. Being nice to him and treating their encounters as if they never happened hadn’t worked.

She had to push up the pressure.

Going to bed, she stared at the ceiling for the longest time. In the cooler hours of the morning, she started to doubt her decision.

“When I get my hands onto that woman, I’m going to spank her ass so damn bad she won’t be able to sit down for a month,” Shane said.

Liam burst out laughing. The thought of seeing Claire across his friend’s knees while the bigger guy gave her a spanking was fucking hilarious.

“What’s so funny?”

“You. Never in your life would you hurt Claire. You’ll do your usual self and give her a dose of the silent treatment.” Liam leaned back and closed his eyes. His jaw ached from the few punches he’d received. Getting into a fight had been a huge mistake and one he hoped never to repeat.

“Don’t think I won’t. She left us here.” Shane paced the cell. The Walker men sat on the floor of their cell, shooting glares at Michael.

“And you don’t think we deserved it?” Liam asked.

“We got into a fight. It’s what men do.”

“No. We got into a pissing contest to see who had the biggest dick. Might I remind you over a girl who we don’t even want,” Liam informed his friend.

“Why can’t you guys stay away from Cassidy? She doesn’t need or want any of your trouble.” Michael growled.

“I don’t see her bailing your ass out of here,” Scott Walker said.

“Who gives a fuck what she wants,” Shane shouted. Liam watched his friend, amazed at the anger within him.

“Claire will get us in the morning,” Liam said. “You might as well get some sleep.”

Shane sat beside him, his legs bouncing to an unknown beat.

“Seriously. Don’t you know how to sit still?”

“I can’t help it. We agreed if we ever ended up in the station, one of us would bail the other out.”

Liam laughed. Since being locked up in a jail cell, Shane had turned into a complainer. “Are you really going to hold that against her when we’ve done so much stuff against what we’d originally bargained?”

“Some shit we can’t change. She should have bailed us out. It wasn’t our fucking fault we got into a fight in the first place.”

Sometimes his friend did have double standards.

Their bargains had been ridiculous, like sleeping together on prom night if they hadn’t lost their virginity. Liam had lost his the day after to the high school darling before she left for college. Shane had lost his in the back of a car not long after he turned eighteen. Claire had lost hers…he couldn’t recall if she had. Liam frowned. Thinking about his past brought up so many questions and memories.

Being in the cell didn’t feel great at all.

Closing his eyes, he willed himself to fall asleep.

* * * *

Shane watched his friend fall asleep. Most of the men around him were in some stage of slumber. Cursing his situation, he stormed to the other side of the cell.

“I never thought I’d see the day I’d be on the inside of these bars,” Michael said.

“Don’t talk to me. I’m pissed at you,” he told the man. Shane sat on the floor with his back to the bars. There was a single window, and he could see the outline of the full moon outside. Not letting himself look at the metal surrounding him, Shane calmed his racing heart.

He was at home in a warm bed. The noise of the ranch told him it was settling for the night.

“I love Cassidy.” Michael broke the silence and Shane’s exercise in self-restraint. “I know Gary and the others love her, too.”