Keeping What's His: Tate (Porter Brothers Trilogy 1)

“What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to give that to the department of child protective services and make sure that pretty little girl you’ve been fostering is put in another home.”

“Please, Tate, don’t.” No tears filled the calculating women’s eyes, the only thing she was concerned about was how it would look to the town if she had the little girl removed from her home. She stood reaching out to touch his arm.

Tate jerked back out of her reach. “Be grateful, that’s all I’m going to do. You should pray tonight and give thanks to God. If you ever dare to try to harm what’s mine again, woman or not I’ll make damn sure it’s the last thing you ever do.”

Tate nodded at the picture clutched in her hand. “You can keep that one, I have plenty more.” Coldly he motioned for Greer and Dustin to leave, she stood, staring after him speechlessly as he strode to his truck. He waited for Greer to pull out of the parking lot before backing his truck up leaving Lisa still standing numbly by the car she was so proud of. She had always been too good to be seen in his truck, but not too good to pose for the pictures smoking weed and being fucked by two men at the same time with her husband watching. As he drove out of the parking lot he saw Shade sitting across the street on his big ass bike. Tate lifted two fingers to his hat tipping it forward in a salute. Shade nodded then started his bike, pulling out onto the street and accelerating out of sight.

Tate hadn’t questioned why Shade had offered the photos, too happy for the opportunity for his revenge against Lisa. He had a feeling it was for the same purpose different reason. Either way, the little girl that Lisa was fostering had spent her last night under her roof. They may have been at cross purposes, but both had achieved their goal.

“Damn.” He hated getting along with those fuckers, but for Sutton it had been worth the price of the weed he would be giving them for the next month. They had wanted two months free but Tate had Greer bargain them down after he had figured out they wanted the little girl away from Lisa.

Greer was a hell of a negotiator, he loved to argue, and he didn’t care who he pissed off. Tate started whistling as he drove home. He really needed to put a stop to Greer’s aggravating ways. He would get on it soon, but right now he was going home to Sutton. His hands curled over the steering wheel, gripping it tightly resisting the temptation to press down on the accelerator. Some things were too good to be true, and his life with Sutton made him realize how close he had came to never knowing true happiness. He had told her if was the most painful word in the dictionary and it was the truth. If she hadn’t came back…if Lyle hadn’t been murdered…if he hadn’t listened when his heart had told him he loved her. He was done looking back. From now on, the only if he had left to deal with was if he could ever get his ring on her finger and finally claim what was his.

Chapter 19

“Run Logan! Don’t let him catch you!” Sutton yelled, watching as Dustin chased after his son.

She laughed as Dustin grabbed Logan from behind, tossing him up into the air then deftly catching him. The squeals coming from Logan brought a smile to her face. She could watch the two together for hours, even if it amazed her that he was a father.

“They’re just alike, aren’t they?” she asked the woman sitting next to her at the picnic table.

“Yes.” Holly grimaced. “Sometimes, I don’t know who the child is.”

“I bet you don’t.” Sutton picked up her beer, taking a drink as she studied the woman.

When Rachel had invited them over to hers and Cash’s home for the Labor Day picnic, she had worried the police would be watching. However, after the sheriff had stopped by to talk to Tate, she had been relieved as she had unashamedly listened in as Knox had told Tate he had been officially cleared of killing Lyle, Mrs. Stevens, and shooting Rider.

“I handed over the bullets from your guns to the state police that Greer turned in to me. They didn’t match the weapon used on the victims. An unregistered gun was used in both instances. The gun you hid, I took to Knox. It was bought at a gunshow, and the seller didn’t pick out your picture as the buyer.”

“You or the state police have no idea who it could be?”

“No. Jo let us search through Lyle’s things. He was a drunk, but he didn’t use drugs as far as we could tell. Helen Stevens wasn’t, either, and all Rider does is what Shade buys off you.”