Something's Gotta Give (Tempered Steel Book 3) (12 page)

Chance looked at Georgia, who nodded. “Okay, I’ll grab the boys and start dispersing the crowd. You get Angel, and Georgia, to the police station.”

The Coalsons met Sam and Angel at the police station. Georgia sat quietly in a corner, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. She didn’t know how much more of the night was left, but she was pretty darn sure Chance would drag her back if she made so much as a move to leave.

After explaining the circumstances of Bob’s death and his part in the heroin delivery, Sam was more than ready to take Angel home. He looked over at his father. “Going to need a place to stay for a few days.”

His father nodded and stood up. “Your mom and I will get everything ready. You take care of your wife.”

Ginny hugged both of them. “We’ll see you at home.” With a small wave, they were gone.

“So he said ‘they would kill her’ if he didn’t kill Angel?” Ben asked Sam.

“I don’t think he was talking about me,” Angel whispered. “I think someone he cared about could be in danger. When we went out,” she glanced at Sam, then away, “he mentioned a woman he had cared for, who he let get away.” She shuddered. “I’m sorry. I don’t even know her name.” She dried her tears with a tissue.

“Baby, don’t worry. We’ll find her. I’ve already got a file on Bob.” When she looked askance, he continued. “You were interested in him, so I was interested in him.” Sam gathered her onto his lap. “I’ll put Jax on it as soon as we’re done here.”

Angel sighed and snuggled against Sam. Georgia’s stomach clenched in envy. She looked to Chance, but he was studying the files on the drug case Sam had unwittingly unearthed.

“So now we’ve got someone who is bent on destroying our family, plus drug running, and an unknown woman to find?” Nick asked.

“It’s all connected, Nick. I can feel it,” Ben stated. “We’ve just got to connect the damn dots.”

“Find the money trail, Ben. Check out this drug runner. Maybe he’s working with the vandal.” Sam grimaced. “I’m taking Angel home, then I’ll be back. Jax should be in any minute with what he found out about Bob.”

Chance spoke over his shoulder. “Georgia, too.”

Startled, she looked up. “What? No, I can make my way home.”

Their eyes locked and silent battle of wills ensued. Chance turned away. “Fine. Your choice Georgia. Always your choice.”

The tears she held at bay coursed down her cheeks. “No. You’re right. If it will make your job easier, I’ll stay with the Coalsons.”

Chance didn’t even look up. “Whatever.”

“I don’t know who you boys pissed off, but you sure did a good job of it. And the Vegas angle, anything there?” Ben asked in the uncomfortable silence.

“Lucky’s in place and gathering info. We’ll know more in a few days.” Nick returned.

“So take your family home and try and get some sleep.” Ben looked at Angel. “It will be a few days before I can let you back in to your place. You stay with Sam.”

He turned to growl at Nick. “And for God’s sake, don’t go off halfcocked again, gentlemen. You may have stirred a hornet’s nest none of us are prepared to deal with right now.”

“We’ll lay low, Ben,” Brandon opened the door to leave. “At least until we’ve got something else to go on. Then all bets are off.”

“I don’t care what’s on the horizon. They come after us again, we’ll go to war.” Nick nodded at the sheriff.

Ben sighed as the brothers filed out. He didn’t envy whoever was doing this. The Coalsons were going to make their retribution very long and painful.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Georgia stepped into the crowded bar the next evening. Halloween night. The noise level was deafening. Across the room, a disc jockey was playing Jace Everett’s,
Bad Things,
at high decibels, as people danced, laughed, and generally had a good time. She spotted Nick behind the bar dressed as a cowboy. He was serving drinks to several people and only nodded in her direction.
Not much of a welcome from the host,
she surmised. But she wasn’t here to confront Nick. She was after his brother.

After spending the night with the Coalsons and seeing firsthand the love within the family, Georgia was positive that it would be selfish of her to deny her child the opportunity to receive such love and devotion. Hank and Ginny would be wonderful grandparents. The brothers, while gruff at times, were always there to see to the needs and wants of the women. Dixie, Angel and Ginny had basked in their attention.

Hank and Ginny Coalson danced by. They were adorable as an old time cowboy and his ladylove. Sam and Angel look like they stepped off the cover of an MC novel about a biker and his old lady. Angel pointed to the back room as Sam whirled her past.

Angel seemed to be coping with the loss of her friend, Adam, and the fallout from drug dealers using her storm cellar to store heroin. Of course, being wrapped in her lover’s embrace after fifteen years was probably adding to her happiness.

“There you are!” Dixie came around the table and grabbed her arm. “I’m so glad you made it!” Dixie’s squeal of delight had Georgia smiling. She burst out laughing when she got a good look at her and Mac. In Georgia’s opinion, the best costume prize went to them. Dixie was a very pregnant angel and Mac was the devil, complete with horns and a tail.

“What a fitting costume,” Dixie exclaimed when she reached out and pushed her pillow belly aside to embrace Georgia. “You’re here to rescue Chance again? I love it!”

Georgia hadn’t given her costume much thought. She’d only remembered she needed a costume when she walked past her fireman’s coat on the way out the door. She donned the jacket and pants, and with her hat perched upon her strawberry blonde curls, she knew it wasn’t the most glamorous outfit here.
Or especially what she wanted to wear to tell her lover that she accepts his proposal,
she realized with a grimace.
Especially since he hasn’t asked her yet.

Georgia straightened her shoulders and met Mac’s eyes. He hadn’t said a word. She hoped Chance’s family would one day forgive her for the pain she put him through, but she could tell nothing from his stern face.

“You don’t realize just how scared you look,” Mac said as he noted her shaking hands and pleading eyes. “Go to him. You’re the only one who can fix him. He’s in the pool room.” Mac nodded toward the back of the bar and steered Dixie over to a vacant table.

“Good luck!” Dixie yelled above the commotion.

Georgia took a deep breath and made her way slowly to the back room. With each step, her stomach knotted and her heart threatened to leap out of her chest. Her nausea had returned in spades, and she wondered if she should stop by the ladies room to get it under control.
Could morning sickness happen in the evening? Apparently so, if the pregnant woman was also a nervous wreck.

She made it through the crowded main room. She could see the restrooms directly ahead of her. To her left was a room filled with video games that folks were playing. A bit further to her right, she guessed, was the pool room. As she neared, she heard the unmistakable crack of balls hitting the pockets.

“Well it’s now or never, Peaches,” she murmured to herself as she walked through the door. She came to a standstill.

The room was crowded, but she was able to pick Chance out immediately as he stood at the secondary bar in the corner. He was dressed as a pirate, with a sword at his hip and a patch over his eye. Rochelle Wilkins was plastered all over his chest, trying to kiss him greedily and it didn’t look like Chance was putting up much of a fight.

All of Georgia’s insecurities came to the forefront. With an anguished cry, she spun around to head back out the door.

“Georgia!” Chance called out to her while the redhead tried to keep him at her side. “Get off me, woman. What the hell is wrong with you?” Chance shoved her to the side. He ran to catch up with Georgia. Grabbing her arm, he twirled her around and she came face-to-face with the evidence of his passionate embrace with Rochelle. Big smears of red lipstick covered his cheek and mouth. She cringed away from him.

“Georgia, let me explain,” Chance begged.

              She tried to pull out of his arms “There’s nothing to explain. I knew you couldn’t change.” She managed to get out of his grasp and started to walk away.

He called after her, “You said we were through, you said it was over. Were you lying to me or to yourself?” That damn Rochelle had tapped him on the shoulder then went in for the kill before he had even realized who she was.

Georgia heard his slurred words and realized he was more than a little drunk. But she was more than a little pissed.
How dare he take up with the very bitch who had tormented her for so many years.

“And you said you loved me. You said we had a forever kind of love. I guess your version of forever is different than mine,” she spat out.

The tiny redhead came up behind Chance and grabbed him around the waist, hugging him to her. “Don’t listen to her, baby. You don’t need some firefighter freak. You and I can have a good time together. I’ll be here forever,” the drunken redhead slurred.

Chance extricated himself from her embrace. “You!” He looked at Rochelle in disgust. “You and your psycho friend are why we’re in this mess. I’ve never hit a woman in my life, but, by God if you don’t get the hell away from me, you’ll be the first,” he roared. Rochelle finally realized she was in danger and scampered out of his way.

“Everybody out!” Chance growled.

              When the crowd just looked at him, he barked, “Now!”

There was a scuffle of feet as everyone tried to leave at once. As they begin to pass Georgia, she turned to go as well. Chance grabbed her arm. “No, Peaches. We are settling this here and now.”

Georgia was shaking with fear and heartache. “There’s nothing to settle, Chance. It’s just not going to work.” She didn’t know what she was going to do about the baby. She didn’t know where she was going to live. She didn’t know anything except the pain of this moment. If this was being brave, it sucked.

“Oh no, Georgia Haines. This is not settled, not by a long shot. I want to know why you are here tonight. And don’t give me some lame bullshit excuse. Are you here for me?”

Georgia looked away. She couldn’t allow him to see how much she wanted and needed him. Not after what she’d seen. “Dixie invited me.” That was pretty close to the truth. She thought of Dixie and her advice. Of Sam and Angel and their misunderstandings. All happy endings, but not for her, no happiness for her.

Chance hauled Georgia up against him, cupping her face in his big hands. “No, Georgia, you tell me why you came. Say it. You came for me.”

She looked up. She wanted to see the love in his eyes. She wanted to see the tenderness. She wanted to feel the love that she had felt in his arms and in his bed. But all she saw was the red splatter of lipstick on his face. And it sent her back into her shell of insecurity.

She struggled against him. “I just came to get out. I needed to get out.” She had to get away from him. She was beginning to hyperventilate.

Chance stepped back. “Then go, Georgia. Go back to your safe little life. You can make believe you have children, by playing with everyone else’s kids. You can go back to your lonely bed and your lovely pillows hugging them tonight, instead of me.”

He walked back to the bar and threw back a shot of whatever was in the glass. “You risk your life fighting fires, you risk your life for children at your daycare, you risk your life for everything, but love for yourself. You won’t open your heart. You built that damn wall so high nobody can get over it, not even the man who loves you.”

He turned away from her. “So you go on. But you know this - I will love you until the day I die. But I’m a man and I need a woman and I’ll find one. She won’t be you, she’ll never be you, but I want kids. I want a family and I am brave enough to go out and get what I want.”

Georgia choked back a sob. He was going to have a family. He was going to have kids, but after this, how could she believe him? Could she be brave enough to believe him, to reach for him? “You don’t understand, Chance. I don’t think I’m what you need.”

Chance looked at her with wide eyes “Are you kidding me Georgia? Are you fucking kidding me? I’ve told you over and over again how much I need you. I’ve told you every single day with my words and my actions. All you have to do is believe.”

Chance raked his hands through his hair. “Even when you didn’t say it back, I could see it in your eyes. I could feel it in your body when I made love to you. I was there, Georgia. I was in your room. I was in your bed and I took your virginity.”

He walked around the bar and poured himself another drink. “And I’ll remember. I will always remember the look in your eyes, the way your body smells, the way it curves into mine. I’ll remember everything about you, the weight of your breasts in my hands, the way your lips are so soft.” He smiled and tossed back the drink, “That little overbite that makes me crazy, the way I can smell your arousal when we kiss. I know how sweet you taste, Georgia.”

He advanced on her, ignoring her tears, his own pain consuming him. “I know all this, and I also know that because of the walls you’ve built up around you, and your fucking father leaving you, and all those stupid ass men who did horrible things to the children that entered your life through the foster care system with Missy Dee - you’ll never change. You’re never going to open up your heart and let me in.”

He contemplated her tear streaked face, like he was memorizing every nuance of her pain. “But I’ll remember you, Georgia. I’ll take every opportunity to be with you until you leave because my heart knows and my soul knows we are supposed to be together.

He stepped back. “You!” he pointed his finger at her, swaying slightly. “You’re the only one holding us up, Georgia Haines, and I could almost hate you for that.”

Georgia, sobbing, turned away from his condemnation. He was right. Everything he said was right. All she had to do was trust him.

              She looked up and saw Rochelle standing outside the doorway with a hateful smirk on her face and she realized that she had heard every word. Chance might very well end up with someone like that instead of her, and she couldn’t stand it. She just couldn’t stand to see him with someone who wouldn’t appreciate him, someone who didn’t love him the way she does and suddenly, it hit her.

Something broke free and she knew she could be brave. She would fight for her love. She wasn’t going to let that bitch or anyone tell her she wasn’t good enough anymore. Chance had said she was and that’s all that mattered.
He
was all that mattered.

She turned back to find Chance swallowing another shot of whiskey. At this rate, he was going to pass out before she could tell him she loved him. “Chance, please.”

He didn’t even turn around, just looked over his shoulder, “What Georgia? Isn’t it enough to know that you have totally emasculated me? I don’t want anybody, but you. Never gonna fuckin’ want anybody but you.”

He raised his empty glass to her. “I may as well become a friggin’ priest, No, I may as well become a friggin’ eunuch for all the good it’s gonna do me.”

With a sob she ran across the room. He dropped the glass and caught her in his arms. But he was stiff and cold. He looked into her eyes as her tears poured forth, his face carved in stone. “Don’t, Georgia. Don’t you fuckin’ do this to me again. I can only accept forever from you. I can only accept your undying love and trust, forever.”

Georgia reached up and swiped the red lipstick off his face with a rough hand. She pulled his head down to hers. “You listen to me, and you listen real good, Chance Coalson,” she said, trying to stop her tears. “Red is not your color. Peach is your color and always will be -
forever
.”

His eyes misted over as he truly looked at her for the first time and realized that she was telling the truth. “You better spell it out, darlin’. I don’t think I can take anything less.”

“I love you, Chance Coalson. I want forever and always. Please don’t keep me waiting any longer. I have waited for you since I was fourteen years old and you held me at my mother’s funeral. Marry me, dammit,” Georgia demanded.

“Yes, ma’am.” Chance grinned and grabbed her tight.

He kissed her with all the passion that had built over the past few weeks. Georgia gasped as she was pulled up against his body. She could feel his erection. She wanted more than anything to continue kissing him and holding him and loving him, and she saw no reason to stop. Their kisses turned from sweet to full of passion as he slowly lowered her to the pool table, murmuring sexy love words, kissing every inch of her skin he exposed as he took off her jacket.

Chance’s hands roamed down her arms and then up under her shirt. He gave her breast a gentle squeeze and she winced. “Sorry, baby, too rough?” He peppered little kisses along her jawline and her throat as he undid the buttons of her shirt.