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

Chapter 22

Sutton stood in the kitchen, watching Dustin, Tate, and Logan eat breakfast while she drank her coffee.

“Are you sure you don’t need me to help with the dishes?” she asked Holly.

“No, I’m almost finished. This will be much easier after next week. Tate’s having a new kitchen installed.”

She was struck by how pretty Holly was when she smiled. Sutton couldn’t find it in herself to be envious of the woman, though. She was just too nice.

Holly was constantly trying to please the men as if she was unsure of her position in the tight-knit family. She wore a pair of jeans that showed her curvy butt, but she had put on an oversized top as if she was trying to hide the size of her overlarge breasts. Sutton had to admit she envied that problem.

The sound of a pickup outside had Logan jumping up from the table to look out the window.

“It’s Uncle Greer, and he has that stupid Diane with him.” Logan ran back to the table to finish his cereal.

“And so it begins …” Sutton murmured.

“What did you say?”

Sutton nodded toward Logan. “The next generation of Porters.”

Holly laughed. “I’ve thought the same thing myself many times. As long as he turns out more like Dustin and Tate, he’ll be fine.”

“He doesn’t take anything from Greer?”

“Just one thing, and I’m trying to nip it in the bud.”

Greer opened the door, completely taking over the room with his appearance. Diane came in after him, dressed in a pair of shorts that showed the cheeks of her ass and a T-shirt that was completely inappropriate for the cool weather outside.

“You all still eating? We had breakfast at the diner.” Glancing down at the table, Greer surveyed his brothers eating oatmeal doused in fruit. “Mine was better cold than that crap you’re eating.”

Sutton’s hand tightened on her coffee cup at seeing the hurt look on Holly’s face.

“Eating at the diner is what’s putting that spare tire around your waist.” Tate’s harsh voice left no one in the room in doubt that he wasn’t going to tolerate anyone mistreating Holly.

Diane’s arms circled Greer’s waist from behind, her hands splaying open on his flat stomach. “He hasn’t got an ounce of spare flesh. I can vouch for that,” she purred.

Sutton turned to place her empty cup on the counter, swallowing hard when she saw the flash of emotion on Holly’s face that brought dread to her heart. The sweet woman was in love with the worst Porter brother.

Tate’s cell phone broke the uncomfortable silence. Everyone in the room listened as he talked.

“Hey, Rachel …” His voice broke off as he listened to whatever Rachel was saying. “No one saw anything?”

Sutton’s stomach sank.

“Call me if you hear anything else.” Tate disconnected the call, staring at them grimly. “Holly, take Logan into the bedroom and turn on a movie for him.”

“Let’s go, Logan.” Holly ushered the boy out of the room.

As soon as they heard the bedroom door close, Tate told them the awful news. “Mick found Kyle Hayes dead this morning, sitting in his truck in back of Rosie’s bar.”

Kyle Hayes was the younger cousin of Asher and Holt. He was just a young boy when Sutton had left town. He was one of the only Hayeses who had been allowed to attend school in town. She had often seen Kyle trailing after his much older cousins with hero worship in his eyes.

“They’ll be out for blood.”

“Yes, they will.” Tate’s face became even grimmer, frightening Sutton. “I saw him parking his truck as we were leaving. The parking lot was full, so he parked in the back. Rachel said Knox told her he was stabbed to death.”

“Kyle knew how to take care of himself. He had to have known the killer, or he would never have gotten close enough to him to do any damage.” Greer’s face had gone white. “After the fight we had with Asher and Holt in the bar, you know who they’re going to blame.”

“Us,” Tate confirmed everyone’s worst fear.

“Knox can tell them he saw us at Lookout Mountain, and Diane can vouch for Greer being with her,” Sutton spoke up.

“They aren’t going to believe we didn’t have anything to do with Kyle’s murder.”

Sutton had the awful feeling Tate was right.

When he stood up and put on his hat, she placed a hand on his arm. “Where are you going?”

“I’m going to go talk to Asher. If I don’t make him believe me, there’s going to be a blood bath.”

“No!” Sutton gripped his arm more tightly. “Let Knox go.”

“He’s not going to believe Knox.” Tate pried her hand off his arm. “I have to go, Sutton.”

“I’ll go,” Greer volunteered.

“No, I want you here. You take care of the family.” Hidden in his words was ‘if I don’t come back’.

“Tate … please, don’t go.”