Texas_Winter (9 page)

The neon sign for Shooters was a welcome and familiar sight. It was missing the 't' and the 'e', but it still signaled the one place that leveled Jack the minute he walked through the door. A twenty minute drive and he had gone from scarlet red with anger to a calmer temperament. Resentment still simmered below the surface but probably due more to being angry with himself than at Neil. Jack checked out who was there, but at three in the afternoon, it really was only him, Riley, and Eddie the bartender, who was also the owner. Beers in hand, they took the corner table as usual. Riley had his cell in his hand and was texting.

"What are you doing with that fucking cell again?" Jack asked quickly. Riley frowned. Probably at the heat in Jack's voice.

"I'm just texting Eden, telling her we'll be back in a couple of hours."
"It won't take that long. One beer and we'll go back."
"Hmm." Riley was still hunched over his phone, and his phone beeped to indicate receipt of something. When he checked it, he nodded to himself, and then with a smile, he sat back in his seat. "We have some time to sit and relax."
Six feet plus of Riley sprawled this way in the dented seat was a sight for sore eyes. His blond hair was longer than the last time they'd been in Shooters, which had been only a month or so ago. It wasn't slicked back or styled to within an inch of its life any more. Jack liked it, for reasons other than the way it looked. It gave him something to grip on to when… Idly he looked to the left and the door to the room he had used pre-Riley. The door locked, it had a table and chairs in it, and he remembered it was always clean. Well, nearly clean. They wouldn't have lube here, but the time was well past for them to use condoms, and they could just…
"Talk to me, Jack." Riley was insistent.
"Nothing to say."
"I'm here if you need someone to listen." Jack looked at his husband, at his tall, sinful, well-muscled body. The hazel eyes stared at him intensely. So gorgeous. So much time had passed since they had done anything physical that connected them beyond hugging. He couldn't seem to get his head back into a serious discussion fixated, as he was, entirely on Riley and the idea of sex.
"Riley?" He shifted in his chair as his dick was filling at the thought of Riley on his knees in front of him. It was easy to imagine swallowing Riley to the hilt and bringing himself off to the noises he knew Riley would make.
Riley was mid gulp, and when he looked at Jack, he didn't appear to have anything to say other than, "Uh huh."
"I want to show you something," Jack said, and glanced back at Eddie, who met his questioning shrug with a nod.
"What?"
"Come with me…" He held out his hand, and Riley stood. He still kept hold of his beer and was looking more than a little confused. He didn't drop Jack's hand though and followed him through the closed door.
"What's this?" he asked.
Jack allowed him in fully and pulled the light cord. The room lit with the flickering of a bulb nearing the end of its life, and Jack looked around with eyes that weren't alcohol fogged as they normally were in this room. It looked okay—the floor looked clean, table looked clean. He shut the door and took the beer from Riley before backing his husband to the door.
"Oh," Riley huffed as Jack used his foot to widen Riley's stance, bringing his lover more to his height. He reached past him and locked the door, and as sudden as that, it was on.
Every single part of Jack was in the kiss, and Riley was responding with equal passion. The exhaustion, the anger, the temper, the love was all pushed between them, and the heat of them together was just right.
"Never wrong," Jack whispered against Riley's mouth.
He pulled Riley's lower lip between his teeth and then soothed the small bite. Holding tight to Riley's hands, he entwined their fingers and deepened the kiss. It had been way too long since they had kissed past a simple goodnight, let alone made love, and he was so close to just bending Riley over the table and fucking him here and now, apart from the fact there was no lube. He wouldn't, but the thought of pushing Riley flat was just one more erotic image he couldn't handle. He pressed harder, his dick hard and insistent against Riley, then he pulled back from the kiss and took in the gorgeous picture of Riley's heavily lidded eyes and pouty, swollen lips parted on a moan. Punctuating Riley's moan, Jack began an unrelenting rhythm, and his back arched as orgasm chased down his spine.
"Fuck… Jack…" Riley leaned closer for more kisses. "Please…"
But Jack had other ideas. Riley whined low in his throat as Jack pulled away, but Jack wasn't going far. At first he simply crouched in front of Riley, releasing the hold on his hands and instead pushing his fingers into the indentation of hip bone and stretched toned skin. Riley shifted under the hold, and there was another "Jack, please
"
.
As slowly as he could allow himself, he unzipped Riley's pants, nearly losing it at the scent of his aroused lover. Riley was hard and needy, the tip of his dick slick with expectation, and a quick flick of Jack's tongue was enough to have Riley bucking up into his mouth. Jack pulled his lover's pants and black boxers down a little lower until he could bury himself in the dark curls at the base of his dick. Riley settled his hands on Jack's head, but there was no pressure there, just a twist of long fingers in Jack's hair to guide. Never to force or push.
Jack was worshipping Riley with his body; with lips and tongue and fingers, pushing and sucking and pulling until incoherent ramblings spilled from his husband's mouth. He had apparently been rendered incapable of saying anything other than a string of random pleas and sprawling praise.
Jack looked up. Riley was watching him, and it was never going to be a situation where Jack could hold himself back. He flicked open his own jeans, groaning around a mouthful of Riley as he pushed material away and circled his own dick, setting up a rhythm of his own. Fuck. This was insanely hot. He was getting off by sucking his lover to completion and just listening to the noises coming from Riley's mouth. Riley lost it first, coming hard and fast down Jack's throat. Jack heard every single word with Riley thanking him with over and over. Riley slid down the door in a crouch and stared right into Jack's eyes. Jack was so close, and he met Riley in a heated kiss. The taste of Riley between them had Jack coming seconds later, leaning against the hard expanse of Riley's warm chest and nearly whimpering his completion against his lover. Riley simply held him, settling into a kneeling position, pulling Jack close, and holding him tight.
"Jeez," Riley murmured into his ear, and Jack just smiled and whispered words of love and want and need. "D-do you… hot…" was all Riley could say, and suddenly, all Jack needed to hear. He had reduced Riley to a mess of fractured words and thoughts.
He
had done that.

Hayley was waiting for them in the kitchen. She had cookies and milk and wore an expression Riley hated from the minute he walked into the door. She looked angry, terrified, sad, all rolled into one pint-sized wall of angst. She left her drink and her cookies and walked out of the kitchen.

"I got this," Riley said, wishing he didn't have Jack's taste in his mouth and the need for Jack to be with him. Hayley was his daughter, and her witnessing them at odds with each other, while a part of life, was something he wanted to protect her from for a while.

"I like it here," she said mutinously from her perch on her bed. Riley sat down, but there was no smile from her as his weight caused her to roll. No comment about giants and breaking beds like he'd heard every night when he tucked her in. This was serious, and he needed to pull his head away from making love at the bar with his husband and back to his daughter.

"I like having you here," he offered cautiously. "I
love
having you here," he qualified.
"You argued with Jack. I like Jack."
Riley hesitated. She liked Jack. More than him? He knew he'd fuck this up. What did he know about having any kid, let alone a daughter?
"That's what—" Daddies do? Parents do? Jeez. "— we do," he finished lamely.
"Okay, I get that. Ebony's mom and dad argued a lot, and Ebony was really sad." Riley nodded his understanding. How did he explain that when there were two men and lots of testosterone in the room, not to mention men as volatile as he and Jack, sometimes arguments could happen?
"You don't shut your door," she commented, but wouldn't meet Riley's eyes.
"I'm… we don't… we…" Riley Campbell-Hayes, twenty-eight and lost for words in front of an itty-bitty girl.
"Look," she said, "Ebony's mom would shout at her dad and he would shout back and then there would be cuddles. And sometimes they would shut their door."
Jeez. Riley felt a blush rise from his toes to his face. Out of the mouths of babes or some such nonsense.
"Uh huh?" It was the safest response he could give that didn't involve him tripping over his words. He wondered briefly if Eden was still around. Maybe this was something that should be classified as girl talk.
"You don't do that. Momma said you 'n Jack were real happy. Like married happy, and that means you should cuddle and sometimes you need to shut the door."
"We do—"
"I haven't seen you cuddle once."
"Okay… we'll, um… cuddle," he finished helplessly.
"And shut the door?"
"Yes, we'll shut our door."
"'Cause I'm okay, you know."
"What?" Riley didn't mean for that to come out as blunt as it had. What did she mean she was okay?
"Momma said I would be sad, and that would be okay. I will be sad. I know. And sometimes I am sad. Sometimes I am more than sad, and then I read her letters. But I'm okay in my room on my own."
Riley was stunned. He had been walking on eggshells, trying not to push his relationship with Jack in her face, trying to make it all okay, and here she sat, telling him he was doing it wrong. Realization smacked into him with the force of a truck. She was right. He opened his arms, and she clambered onto his lap and cuddled into him. He held on for dear life, choking back the emotions that threatened to burst from him, and buried his face into her neck. She smelled of apple shampoo and horses and all manner of things that reminded him of Eden. God, the times he had held Eden when she was little as they listened to their dad rail at their mom or when Jeff was being a particular kind of a bastard to them both. He had the same love for Hayley he'd had for Eden, and it was a love that started in his heart and spread like wildfire through him.
"I love you, Hayley," he said simply. He had only known her two weeks, but he knew she was the most precious thing to him. He, Hayley and Jack were a family, and he needed to let Jack in.
"I love you too, Daddy."
"Jack?" he called. If he knew Jack, then his husband would be loitering in the hall waiting for a sign everything was okay. Jack peered around the door and then stepped in when Riley crooked a finger to indicate he should. He sat next to Riley and allowed himself to be pulled into a kind of odd three-way hug. Hayley just nestled in closer, and Jack inclined his head. Riley didn't have to be told he'd done okay.
He could feel Hayley's tears against his throat.

Eden, Beth and Donna had taken Hayley shopping, citing they had better fill her wardrobe before the article hit the press and shopping became a chore rather than an enjoyable day out. Riley was under no illusions that once the news hit the stands the gossip rags would pull out every single excruciating detail of what had gone on with the Hayes family last year. Hayley needed clothes, an iPod and more books apparently. The clothes were Eden's idea; the iPod, Beth's. Donna was the one thinking along the lines of education. Hayley's uniform was hanging on the back of her door, waiting for Monday and her first day of school, and Donna was taking the list of what she needed to buy. Hayley was visibly hopping from one foot to the other in excitement and hadn't even given her dad a backward glance as they drove off to God knew where.

Riley left Jack pacing outside Taylors' stall and took the hours to go into the office. Something wasn't going according to plan with the horse, and Jack was nearly incapable of leaving Taylors. There was nothing Riley could do, and in fact, it was Jack that said he should get his giant ass back to the office. The last few weeks he'd spent at home working had pushed him just marginally away from having his eye on the ball, and it was good to be sitting at his desk. Working on Sunday always felt so quiet and relaxed, and there were no other staff members in the office apart from the usual front desk security guard. He was the front face of the whole building and had control of the alarms as well as who came in and out of the small complex containing different companies. It was a far cry from the tower where HayesOil had been, but the views were no less spectacular. Instead of the cityscape, he saw rolling hills and green grass. It suited him more. A text came through from Eden.

He quickly texted a few words back and then tried to settle in to work. His latest research had led to HayesOil drilling speculatively in the seabed off the Texas coast, and he smiled as he read first reports from the site. The drilling was looking good for all the right mineral markers, and they had hopes oil wasn't far below. Eighty percent of people involved in the drilling were from local towns along the coast, and HayesOil was being sensitive to environment considerations, both ticks in Riley's boxes. It might not have started as such, but Riley was working hard to work with ethical guidelines. Big donations, not to bribe but to thank, were being made, and Jim and he were doing well. It wasn't going to make one hell of a lot of money, but Riley was doing what was right and, in doing so, was attempting to balance some of his father's and brother's wrongs.

His main phone rang, giving him a shock. It sounded so damn loud in the otherwise quiet working space.

There are some people here to see you."
"People?" Riley pulled his head out of his work and
blinked back to the here and now.
"A Sarah and Elliot Anderson, and their lawyer,
Abbot Essene."
Sarah Anderson? Quickly, he pushed the papers to
one side on his desk, revealing the scribbled notes he had
made earlier. Anderson was the surname of Sarah's
husband, the guy Lexie wanted to keep Hayley away from. "I'll come collect them," Riley said cautiously.
"Could you please make them coffee and tell them I'm on a
conference call?"
"Thank you, sir. I will."
The man at the front desk ended the call, and Riley
immediately dialed an outside line. When Jim answered,
Riley released a huge sigh of relief.
"Jim? Can you spare some time at the office?" "Are you okay, son?"
"No, I think… Can you come now?"
"I can be there in twenty minutes."
"Come in the side entrance."
"What's wrong, Riley?"
"I'll let you in the fire door at the back of the
office."
"Okay…" Jim paused as if maybe he wanted to ask
more questions, but clearly the urgency in Riley's voice got
through to him. "On my way."
Riley started to pace. He couldn't sit still and think;
he needed movement. His instinct was to call Jack as well,
but Jack was with Taylors and probably all this was nothing
more than the aunt wanting to make sure Hayley was in
good hands. It must be.
Jim made it in the space of twelve minutes, and
Riley didn't like to think of the speeding tickets on Jim's
license. The other man was dressed casually in denim and a
T, but he still looked every inch the lawyer. He started
straight in with the questions.
"What's wrong? Is it Hayley? What can I do?" "Hayley's aunt and uncle are in reception," Riley
started worriedly. "They've brought a lawyer." He referred
to the newer scribbles on his note pad. "Abbot Essene?" "He's…" Jim paused, evidently sifting through information in his head to tell Riley what he needed to hear.
"A shark."
Riley had already run a Google search, and he could
guess what Jim was going to say.
"Family law, right? Adoptions, fostering, that kind
of thing?" Maybe they had the lawyer because they
believed Riley was going to stop Lexie's sister having any
access?
"Child placement for money. That kind of thing,"
Jim said sadly, and Riley straightened tall. Well, fuck. He walked to reception and took a few minutes to
look at the three visitors from behind the safety of a Rileysized yucca plant. Sarah looked like her sister with the
same dark hair and slim build. Only, she looked older; not
just the five years Riley knew there was in difference, but
ten or twenty. Her dark hair was scraped back off her face
and her selection of clothing had aged her. She wore a
simple A-line skirt, sensible shoes, and a blouse. She sat
nervously on the edge of her seat and stared straight ahead.
It wasn't difficult to spot the lawyer in the thousand dollar
suit, which just left Elliot Anderson. The man Lexie had
hated.
Elliot was dressed simply; nothing about him
screamed ex-con. There were no tattoos, no restless
aggressive pacing. He just sat still opposite his wife, waiting patiently. His hair was thick and black and pushed away from his forehead in deference to the heat. He had the look of an urbane and polished professional. It seemed like
the years in prison hadn't left much of a physical mark. "My apologies," Riley said as he finally walked
towards them with his hand held in front of him in greeting. The lawyer took his hand first, then Lexie's sister,
and finally Elliot. "Please follow me." He led them down
the short corridors to the offices of CH Consultancy and
pushed open the door marked Riley Campbell-Hayes. Jim
stood up, and Riley introduced him as "my father". He
expected Jim to correct him and add he was a lawyer, but
Jim simply raised an eyebrow. There was no sense in
giving his visitors a heads-up that Riley had a lawyer
present himself. He pulled enough chairs for them to sit
ranged opposite his desk and offered them a drink. Sarah
opened her mouth to speak, but Elliot interrupted. "We're fine." He was obviously keen to get on to
whatever he wanted from Riley. "We're here to make
arrangements to bring Hayley back home." Silence. "Hayley is staying with me." Riley could be just as
blunt.
Elliot pasted a condescending smile on his face. "A
young man like you doesn't want to be saddled with a child.
I don't know what Lexie was thinking. She was on a lot of drugs, you know." Their lawyer was scribbling notes, and Riley stiffened at what Elliot had said. Was he implying to
Riley that Lexie was some kind of drug addict?
"Yes, I know. Cancer is a terrible thing," Riley
offered instead.
Elliot narrowed his eyes. "She wasn't really in the
right frame of mind to be making decisions. Was she,
Sarah?" Sarah shook her head, but Riley caught something
in her expression. Was that a glimmer of defiance? Or
sadness?
"The letter my son received and the copy of the will
indicated Lexie was of sound mind when she wrote she
wanted custody of Hayley to go to Riley. I'm sure you're
just mistaken in thinking she was less than lucid." Jim had
on his best lawyer face.
Elliot leaned forward in his chair, and momentarily,
Riley considered this was probably Elliot's intimidating
pose. Beside her husband, Sarah visibly shrank in her seat,
and it reminded him of how Lisa would try to hide. Jeff's
wife was outwardly strong, but in rare moments of
vulnerability, she had often slunk into the background as if
she could disappear. Narrowing his eyes, Riley settled back
into his seat, seeing the situation for what it was. There was
no love lost between husband and wife—was this what
Lexie had meant? Was Elliot a bully? If he was, why was he interested in a small child? Money had to be the only motive. After all, he had been put away on charges of
embezzlement.
"You are welcome to visit any time you want,"
Riley offered. "I will cover all costs for you to visit,
including hotel stays and transport." Abilene was little
more than three hours away, but Riley didn't want to leave
anything open to chance.
"The child would be better off with her aunt," Elliot
insisted.
Riley picked up on the single word "child", not
Hayley, or Lexie's daughter, or "my niece". No, he used the
term "child", and it sounded cold and calculating. "Not as part of an experiment with a man who
believes he is married to another man and carries on
unspeakable acts behind closed doors." Elliot was on a roll,
and despite feeling like jumping up and breaking Elliot's
nose Riley had a sudden inspiration.
"I would like to talk to Sarah on my own." "That won't be possible," Elliot said immediately. Riley was determined to see what Sarah would say
if she was away from her domineering husband.
"Nevertheless, it is what we will be doing," Riley said
slowly.
"I'll be fine, Elliot," Sarah began. Elliot dismissed her defense with a shake of his
hand. She subsided into silence once more but sat on the
edge of her seat as Jim stood and indicated the door. "I think we should leave the father and aunt alone to
talk."
He was leaving no room for maneuver, and while
Elliot appeared to want to argue, he really had nothing left
to say. Soon, with the attorney leaving also, only the two of
them remained in the room. Riley moved around the desk
and arranged a chair so he sat at a right angle to Sarah. "Don't let him do this," Sarah breathed, and looked
over her shoulder, clearly scared Elliot was going to rush in
at that very moment.
"Do what?"
"He doesn't want Hayley. He just wants control of
whatever trust fund you establish for her."
"I thought it might be that," Riley offered gently. "Lexie never had a single bad word to say about
you, Mr Campbell-Hayes. She said she thought you had
grown up well, and Hayley would be happy with you." "Riley, please."
"Riley then." They sat in silence a moment longer. "He's not long out of prison. Is that what scares
you?" He tried to be as gentle as he could in what he was
saying.
"No." She looked like she was about to cry. In that
instant, with her defenses lowered, Riley could see Lexie in
her eyes. "It scares me I waited this long for him to come
home and then realized I want to leave him."
"I have the money to help you—"
"It's not about money, Mr—Riley. It's having the
strength to leave him. All those years he was behind bars I
could stay married, and it didn't matter. But now he's back.
He's not the same man. I mean… he is the same. He's still
overbearing, but he has nightmares. I want him to get help,
but he is fixated on Hayley and the money he knows she
will have."
"Thank you for your honesty." Riley so wanted to
be the grown-up here. He couldn't, though, when all he
wanted to do was go home and grab Hayley and never let
her go.
"I won't fight for custody. I only came to make sure
you understood this is not my idea or my wish. I won't
bring Hayley into our house no matter what Elliot wants to
do."
"But you'll be okay? With Elliot?"
"I don't think he is a bad man. He just sees what
others have and wants it all. Mr Campbell-Hayes, I know
who I married," she finished cryptically and then stood. She
left the room and pulled the door closed behind her, and for a second, Riley waited. He needed to take everything in and hoped that somehow she would break free from Elliot and make a stand. The door burst open, and Elliot was there
with a taut, furious expression on his face.
"I don't know what the fuck you said to her," he
spat, "but one way or another, we'll get what is ours." "Mr Anderson—"
"Fucking fags." Elliot spun on his heel and stormed
out of the office and down the corridor. Riley followed him
just to the end to make sure he really left the building.
Sarah stood with the lawyer and just shook her head.
Lowering an argument to personal insults was a sign of
desperation, and Riley bit back the need to shout something
back. He could rise above this.
Jim stood quietly, and the other attorney spoke.
"My client will accept an out-of-court settlement in lieu of
suing for custody." He said this plainly, and Riley stiffened. "Who is your client?" Jim asked just as plainly. "Mr Elliot Anderson."
Riley barked out a laugh, and Jim shot him a
censorious look.
"Please feel free to file the paperwork for our
consideration," Jim said simply. Avarice shot into the
lawyer's eyes, and Riley wondered what percentage of a
final settlement he would receive. Sarah followed the lawyer out, and at the last moment, she turned and shot a grateful smile in their direction. Riley kind of liked Lexie's
sister.
When everyone had gone and it was just him and
Jim left, Riley pulled two beers from the fridge and passed
one over. Taking a long slug, he sat down on the nearest
chair.
"They don't have a hope in hell, son. The only
connection there is Sarah, and even then, historically, a
sibling relationship does not outweigh a parental one. "What about—" He wasn't sure how to word it, so
instead, it came out like a careless comment, "The whole,
y'know, gay thing."
Jim lifted the beer and swallowed. He was evidently
delaying what he wanted to say, and Riley's stomach sank.
If it came to a choice… if he had to choose between Jack
and Hayley… God…
"Two people. Married. In love. Financially secure.
A strong family network. And two lawyers in the family?
They haven't got a snowball's chance in hell of getting
anything from you. Hayley is loved and wanted, and my
granddaughter is staying where she damn well is now." Jim
had a passion in his eyes that made Riley smile.
He never even thought about what he said next. In
fact, it just slipped out as effortlessly as a thought, and he wasn't surprised to hear himself say, "Thanks, Dad."