Skirt Steak (Grade-A Beefcakes 5)

I went over to my locker, opened it and pulled my cell from my purse. There was a voicemail. I listened to my brother’s voice, then hit the button to repeat it, set the phone on speaker so Liam could hear.

“I’m sorry, sis,” Tommy said through the phone, his voice unusually tense. “I’m in trouble. I need to pay them back or they’re going to fucking hurt me. Why weren’t there any fucking drugs in the doctor’s office? I could be in the clear now. Find me ten grand, Jilly. I know you’re putting money in a savings account for an emergency fund. This is an emergency! Shit, I’ve got to go.”

The message ended and I looked up at Liam. His jaw was clenched and he ran his hand over the back of his neck. This wasn’t just my brother losing money at the casino. Clearly, he’d gotten in over his head with some bad people.

Ten thousand dollars? I didn’t know what to think. How could Tommy lose that much money? He’d implicated himself in the break in. The sheriff heard it, knew he did it and why.

“That emergency fund?” I said, rolling my eyes. “Like I said, it has about two hundred dollars in it.”

Even if I withdrew that money, it wasn’t going to help Tommy. I might not be fired yet, but the voicemail proved I would be because Tommy wasn’t going anywhere. He’d always be my brother and always turn to me to clean up his messes. To save him. He was clearly desperate. If he’d broken into the doctor’s office and found nothing, that meant he was more frantic than ever. What would he do next?

I was out a job, there was no question. Which meant, I couldn’t pay the mortgage and all my bills.

10

PORTER

* * *

“Hungry?” I asked as we came in my house through the garage.

Liam had called me, given me an update on the clusterfuck. Fortunately, I wasn’t due in court today and had been able to hand off my meetings to someone else in the office or have them postponed so I could get Jill from the sheriff department. They’d questioned her, asking her about her brother and who she thought they were from the voicemail her brother had left on her phone. Tommy mentioned they when he said he owed ten grand. Of course, Jill had no fucking clue who he was talking about.

I’d been thrilled to collect her when Liam was done with her, to bring her here and take care of her. She was subdued now; the questioning hadn’t been fun. She hadn’t said a word on the ride from the station. Since she didn’t have to go back to the hospital for the remainder of her shift, I drove her to my house.

No way in hell was I taking her to hers with her brother out of control. And I wasn’t leaving her alone no matter what she said.

She wanted Tommy to be more than the fucking deadbeat he was. Hell, I wanted Tommy to be more than a fucking deadbeat for Jill. She deserved a family that loved her and took care of her. She had Liam and I now, and by extension, our extended families, but it wasn’t the same.

Tommy was all the family she had left. The Dukes were a big group. My parents lived in Arizona now but we were still close. Auntie Duke and Uncle Duke—such ridiculous names since we were all Dukes—lived in town along with my four cousins. I couldn’t imagine no weekly family dinners. No game nights. No summer picnics or even that one year we’d formed a bowling team. That had been interesting. Someone always had my back.

Tommy definitely didn’t have Jill’s. The opposite, in fact. He was using her, treating her like shit and now, most likely, made her lose her job. Even her reputation around town. I was pissed for

her. So was Liam.

While he stayed at the station and tried to track down the fucker, I brought Jill home. Home was my house. Hopefully, soon enough, it would be our house. Liam’s, too. He’d moved back to the family ranch when his dad died last year, but it wasn’t permanent. We’d agreed once we claimed Jill we’d live here, or buy a new place for all three of us. He and I would have our own bedrooms, but we’d share Jill. She’d spend the night in our beds, taking turns or however we worked it out. Sometimes, like over the weekend, we’d fuck her while the other watched. Other times, one-on-one. And soon, at the same time. So far, the only time we’d really touched her together was when we finger fucked her pussy in the SUV. Soon though, soon, we’d take her at the same time, make her ours in all ways. One of us would claim her pussy, the other her ass.

She would never be lonely or alone again. Like now, she had shit going on and she wouldn’t deal with it all by herself. No fucking way.

She just stood there, not sure what to do, so I pulled her in for a hug, leaned down and kissed the top of her head. She was so small, fragile. In this case, emotionally, although she was the strongest person I knew. I wanted to protect her from anything that didn’t put a smile on her face. I wanted to take care of her every need.

Starting with food. It was after noon and she had to be hungry. Stepping back, I helped her out of her heavy coat and hung it on a hook in the mud room.

“Not really,” she replied to my question about being hungry.

I kissed her forehead again. “All right, sweetness. Go take a bath and relax and I’ll make you at least a snack.”

Her sad eyes met mine and she nodded.

I nudged her into the family room and toward the master suite. “Go on. There’s nothing you can do right now but relax.”

There really wasn’t. Liam would deal with finding Tommy and also Dr. Metzger. From what he’d told me, she’d already filled out a police report. Nothing had been stolen since they hadn’t found the drugs it was assumed they were looking for. The office only needed glass replaced in one window and a thorough clean up. She’d be back to seeing patients soon enough. She didn’t mention that Jill was fired, but being smart, she was waiting to hear how the investigation went.

Tommy was as big a dick as ever, and Jill taking a bath and a nap wasn’t going to change that.

Five minutes later, I carried a plate with a ham and cheese sandwich and chips into the bedroom. Based on the sound of the running water, Jill had chosen a shower instead of a bath. It was the quiet sobs that had me swearing under my breath, ditching the snack and opening the bathroom door. Even with the glass shower enclosure fogged with steam, I could see her small form on the tile floor, curled up in a ball.

Quickly stripping, I joined her. Thankfully, she wasn’t in the bath because there was no way I could fit in the tub with her, but my shower stall was meant for two. It gave a huge guy like me plenty of space, but still left lots of room for another.