Mountain Man Regret (Mountain Men Book 2) Read online

  “Oh, that’s irrelevant,” he said. “Because you’re not going to tell him.”

  I lifted my chin in defiance. “Do you really believe that?”

  “I do. Wanna know why?”

  I didn’t want to know anything, I just wanted him to get the hell out of my house. He continued even though I hadn’t answered his question.

  “You’re not going to say anything, because this has got nothing to do with my brother and everything to do with Cooper Brown. And I don’t think you want me to tell Jackson about your conversation with Coop now do you, Faith?”

  I gritted my teeth. “What do you want?”

  “I’m just here to deliver a message. I want you to tell Coop to stay the hell out of our business.”

  I frowned. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  “You don’t have to know what I’m talking about. You just need to deliver my message to Coop and make sure he understands it.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “Why can’t you deliver it yourself?”

  He chuckled and the sound raised the hairs on the back of my neck. “Because the message will be so much more effective if it comes from you.”

  I backed up as Owen rounded the table. “So that’s it, that’s the message. I just have to tell him to stay out of your business?”

  “No, you have to tell him to stay out of our business,” he corrected. “And that if he doesn’t leave this alone and continues to poke around, there’ll be consequences.”

  I didn’t know what the consequences would be and I thought it better if I didn’t ask because whatever those consequences were, they wouldn’t be good. I suspected that the ‘we’ he was referring to was the MC club that Owen was a prospect for and that this had something to do with Coop’s warning to me earlier. But one thing about all of this was niggling at me.

  “What makes you think that Coop will listen to me?”

  “Isn’t it obvious?” he asked.

  I shook my head. “No.”

  He grinned. “It’s because Coop has got it bad for you and I’m sure he won’t want us to harm a hair on your pretty little head.”

  I was fairly confident that Coop didn’t have it bad for me, as Owen had suggested, but I couldn’t think about that right then. All of my attention was focused on the fact that if Coop didn’t back off from whatever it was he’d been poking his nose into, Owen along with some of his club brothers were going to hurt me. And the excited look in Owen’s eyes told me that not only would he make good on that threat, but he’d enjoy every second of it.

  When Owen reached out towards my face, I flinched away from him.

  “Don’t touch me.”

  His grin turned positively menacing. “Why not, Faith? You some kind of prude? We’ve already established that you’re not banging my brother, but what about Coop, huh?

  “Have you given it up to him or are you keeping him waiting for it, too? Is that why you’ve got him wrapped around your little finger? Could it be because he hasn’t fucked you yet either?”

  “Get out!” I snapped. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

  Owen shrugged. “Are you going to deny it? Because we all know that Coop doesn’t usually get turned down.”

  “You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about,” I fumed. “I want you to leave. Now.”

  Instead of doing as I asked, Owen took another step closer to me—so close that I could smell the pungent aroma of beer and cigarettes on his breath.”

  He reached out to my face again, but I grabbed his wrist and snatched it away from me. My heart was beating ninety to the dozen, but I didn’t let him see how afraid I was and I wasn’t going to let him intimidate me.

  “I said, get out.”

  A glazed expression froze into place on Owen’s face and it occurred to me that he liked being told no. it turned him on. The observation chilled me to the bone and I realized, maybe for the first time, exactly what he was capable of. His threat just got a great deal more real.

  I stood my ground.

  I was afraid that if I pushed him away or even tried to walk away from him, it might set off his hunting instincts just like the animal he was and that was the last thing I wanted.

  I needed him to calm down.

  Our standoff couldn’t have lasted for more than ten or fifteen seconds when the front door opened and Andrea shouted out to me.

  “Hey girlie! We’re here! Get pouring that Prosecco!”

  Owen took two steps back and disappointment flashed in his eyes. I’d never felt such relief and released it in a long exhale. Owen caught the action and chuckled.

  “Your friends have got bad timing,” he said as he walked to the door.

  He was just about to go through it when Andrea breezed into the room with Violet and Libby hot on her heels. They all stopped dead when they set eyes on Owen and I felt a small amount of satisfaction when they all stared at him disapprovingly.

  Andrea met my gaze. “Everything okay, hun?”

  I forced a smile on my face. “Sure! Everything’s great. Owen was just leaving. Weren’t you, Owen?”

  He looked across the room, the shadow of a smirk ghosting over his lips. “Yeah, I was. Enjoy your dinner ladies. It smells great. See you around Faith.”

  When no one replied, Owen shrugged then strode from the room. I didn’t let go of the breath I’d been holding until the front door had slammed and I head the faint purr of a motorcycle engine get quieter and quieter as Owen rode off into the night.

  Chapter Ten

  Coop

  I worked my way through the closing-up tasks on autopilot as I contemplated my next move with Faith. It wasn’t going to be easy to convince her that I wanted her for more than a one night stand, but it was doable. The trouble was, Faith had come to distrust me over the last few years. She’d made that abundantly clear every time she spoke to me and I needed to get to the bottom of why, exactly, she felt that way.

  After all, I hadn’t treated her badly.

  I hadn’t promised her something then not made good on it.

  I’d seduced her, sure, but when we slept together there was no question that she’d wanted it every bit as much as I had.

  Maybe that was the issue.

  Had she expected more than one night? Had she been under the impression that I’d call her? I thought I’d made it clear that I was only looking for something casual, but I hadn’t come right out and said it, had I?

  Shit.

  That had to be the reason why she could barely meet my gaze now. Was she embarrassed? Did she feel humiliated and used?

  If it was true then I hated that I might have hurt her. That had never been my intention. When she’d walked out in the morning before I got out of the shower, I’d thought we were on the same page. I never imagined that she could have wanted more from me. But if she had, that meant that even back then, Faith saw relationship potential between us.

  Could she still feel the same way about me, given time or had I blown my chance with her?

  I hoped I hadn’t ruined things because the more I thought about her, the more I was convinced that we could make a relationship work if we both wanted it.

  And I wanted it. I really did.

  If I imagined my future and the possibility of growing old with someone I loved, she was the only person I could see beside me.

  “That’s me done for the night,” Mario said as he stepped out from behind the bar. You nearly finished, Coop?”

  “Yeah, I’m done. Thanks for tonight, Mario. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  I followed him to the door so that I could lock it after he’d left.

  “See you!” he called over his shoulder as he headed out into the parking lot.

  I was about to close the door behind him when someone got out of their car then headed in my direction. My heart began to race when I realized the person walking towards me was Faith. What was she doing coming to the bar so late at night?

  I was adept at reading the emoti
ons on her face, but this time her expression was stonier than it had ever been so it didn’t take a genius to realize she was pissed about something. But as she neared, I could see that it was more than that. She was upset. Her bottom lip shook as if she was fighting off tears and the draw of her eyebrows seemed to indicate anxiety rather than anger.

  “Faith?” I pulled the door wider and took a step towards her. My first instinct was to pull her into my arms and hold her. I would have done it if I thought for a moment that she wouldn’t have pushed me away.

  “What’s going on? Are you okay? Has something happened to you?”

  She lifted her head to meet my gaze then sighed wearily. I cataloged her from head to toe and noticed that her hands were shaking too.

  “Hey,” she said quietly. “Can I come in?”

  “Of course.”

  I stepped out of the way for her to get by me then closed the door and locked it. I put my hand on her upper arm in an effort to comfort her in the best way I could.

  “Tell me what’s wrong.”

  She stepped away from me then wrapped her arms around her middle and rubbed her hands up and down her arms as if she was trying to get warm.

  “Do you want something to drink?” I offered.

  She nodded, but when she didn’t tell me what she wanted, I walked around the bar and poured out a generous helping of bourbon.

  “Here, drink this. It’ll make you feel better.”

  “Thank you.”

  She took the glass from me then downed half of the contents before grimacing. “Jesus, what is this, paint stripper?”

  I couldn’t help but grin at her assessment of what amounted to a pretty nice bottle of bourbon.

  “Would you have preferred sex on the beach?”

  I lifted my eyebrows suggestively in an effort to make her smile but I only caused her to roll her eyes. She downed the rest of the amber liquid then put the glass down on the counter.

  “Thanks, I needed that.”

  “Want another?”

  I asked her more out of courtesy than anything else because I wouldn’t have given her one. I was trying to calm her nerves not get her drunk and she had her car with her. Although, I could have offered for her to spend the night. No strings attached, of course. I would never have taken advantage of her by trying to seduce her when she was so upset.

  She shook her head. “No, thanks. I’m good.”

  “So, are you ready to tell me what’s going on?”

  She chewed on her bottom lip for a moment as if considering how to tell me. To anyone observing me I would have seemed calm and collected, but inside, I was a giant ball of nerves.

  “Owen just came to my house,” she said confirming my worst nightmare. “I thought the girls had arrived for dinner so I shouted for them to come in, but it wasn’t them. It was him. He just came right on into my house and he, he scared me.”

  I’d stopped breathing around the time she said Owen had been in her house. I froze, my muscles locked into place, tight with strain. Faith stepped away from my tense body as if she was afraid of me and I hated that I made her feel that way. I’d never harm a hair on her head, but she could probably sense the violence that swirled around inside me, strong and sure.

  I was powerless to hide it.

  I tried to soften my expression as I crossed to her side so that I didn’t spook her any more than she already was. I took hold of her upper arms and waited until she met my gaze.

  “Did he…?” The rest of the sentence got stuck in the back of my throat. I took a deep breath then tried again. “Did he, hurt you?”

  When she shook her head, I was so relieved I thought my knees would give out.

  “Thank God.”

  “He didn’t hurt me,” she continued. “He just threatened me.”

  “Threatened you?”

  I was so angry I saw red. I was going to kill him. I was going to wrap my hands around his scrawny neck and squeeze it until—“

  “He told me I had to deliver a message to you and if you didn’t do what he wanted, he said that then they’ll, they’ll hurt me.”

  “Fuck!”

  I picked up the empty glass off the bar then launched it across the room so that it shattered against the wall.

  Faith gasped and jumped back, away from me.

  “They’re not going to get near you,” I vowed. “If they so much as breathe in your direction, I’ll—“

  “Don’t you want to know what the message was?” she asked.

  “I can guess. They want me to stay out of their shit, right?”

  She nodded. “Yeah, that about sums it up. What have you done to these people, Coop? What exactly are you involved in?”

  “I’m not involved in anything!” I answered with a little more venom than I would have liked. I tried to calm down. “Is that what you think of me? That I’d be involved in their shady dealings? What do you take me for?”

  She chewed on her lip as she eyed me dubiously. “Then what is he talking about? What business do they want you to stay out of?”

  “Owen is dealing drugs,” I told her. “The kind of drugs that kill people. They put Arlene in the hospital. She was lucky, but next time she might not be. I found out who sold them to her and I’m trying to stop him and whoever else is involved before they do end up killing someone.”

  Her face paled. “Drugs?” she whispered. “But why would you get involved in that? Shouldn’t you let the police handle it?”

  It was a valid question. Unfortunately, it was a question that didn’t have a simple answer.

  “I should,” I said. “But Owen is too stupid to get into something like this on his own, which means that the club is behind it. I need to know how deep it goes. If I’d have taken over as president when my old man died, I would have kept a clean house.

  “I never would have stood for any of the brothers dealing drugs. It just wouldn’t have happened—not on my watch. But I didn’t take over, Ryker did and now someone could die because he’s a coward who lets people walk all over him and do whatever the hell they want, and that’s assuming he’s not involved in this himself. If he is…”

  “If he is?” she repeated.

  I met her gaze and held it. “I can’t leave this alone, Faith. I have to do what I can to help.”

  “In other words, you feel responsible,” she assumed. Correctly.

  I shrugged.

  Her face became stern and I’m ashamed to admit that it turned me on.

  I liked seeing the fire in her.

  Faith was an open book—her emotions were always displayed so clearly on her face.

  “Coop, you can’t blame yourself for every little thing that goes on inside that club after you left.”

  “Wanna bet?”

  “Now you’re being pig-headed.”

  “I’m not backing off,” I said. “I can’t. But I don’t want you to worry about anything, okay? No one is getting near you. I promise. In fact…”

  I grabbed my cell phone out of my back pocket then pulled up a number. Faith watched me with narrowed eyes as I put the phone to my ear.

  “Who are you calling?” she asked just as the person on the other end answered.

  “Hello, Jackson? I need you to come to The Shack as soon as you can. There’s something we need to discuss. It’s important. Faith is here.”

  I hung up when he said he’d be right over.

  Her lips thinned with displeasure. “What the hell, Coop? Why would you call Jackson?”

  “Because he’s your boyfriend,” I said, nearly choking on the distasteful word. “And I think he has a right to know that his own brother just threatened his girlfriend, don’t you?”

  She cocked her hip, her accusing gaze trained on me. “You’re unbelievable!”

  If she thought that was unbelievable, I would have loved to have seen the look on her face if I told her that all her sass was making my dick hard. Which it was.

  I turned away from her for fear that I’d grab her
and kiss her like I wanted to.

  I wasn’t in the mood to get slapped.

  It took Jackson just over five minutes to get to The Shack and during that time, Faith sat at one of the tables near the pool table and pretended I wasn’t in the room. I wasn’t used to being ignored and I didn’t like it. The fact that she was the one doing the ignoring pissed me off even more, but I suppose I couldn’t blame her.

  When Jackson arrived, he went straight to Faith and kissed her on the forehead and I imagined how satisfying it would feel to smash one of my bar stools over the back of his head.

  “Is everything okay?” he asked. “What are you doing here so late at night?”

  Faith opened her mouth to answer him, but no words came out so I decided to help her.

  “She came here because your moron brother went to her house earlier and threatened her.”

  Owen’s face went as white as a sheet. “Owen went to your house?”

  Faith nodded in answer to the question.

  Jackson waited for a beat, then asked, “Did he hurt you?”

  So it seemed that Jackson was well aware of how dangerous his brother could be.

  “No, he didn’t hurt me,” she said. “He just frightened me.”

  Jackson pulled her up against his chest and my nails dug into the palm of my clenched fist.

  “I’m so sorry,” he said against the top of her head. “I’ll talk to him, I’ll—“

  “Were you aware that your brother is dealing drugs?” I asked.

  Jackson leaned back from Faith then met my gaze. “Drugs? Are you sure?”

  “So that’s a no then.”

  “The coke he sold Arlene was laced with a lethal combination of heroin and rat poison,” I informed him. “It nearly killed her. I think it’s got something to do with the club.”

  Confusion clouded Jackson’s expression. “I don’t understand. Owen is dealing drugs for the club?”

  “Possibly, or just working with someone inside the club. Either way, he’s got to be stopped or one day soon he’s going to prison for murder.”

  Jackson let out a resigned sigh. “That wouldn’t surprise me. But what has all this got to do with you?” he asked, looking down at Faith. “Why did he come to your house?”