All of the Voices (3 page)

“Crap! I am going to make an idiot of myself it I keep thinking about the sheriff like that.” Especially when he knew the sheriff had all his teeth—Aunt Mary had shared that ALL OF THE VOICES

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bit—and was attractive. Then again, Aunt Mary thought any man was attractive as long as he had a pulse. Which reminded Carlin that Mary didn’t have a pulse, and his nose burned as tears pooled in his eyes and spilled down his cheeks. “Shit shit shit,” Carlin muttered as he swiped at his cheeks.

“Quit stalling, you freaking wuss.” Carlin got out of the car and looked at the motel.

The hideous army green and beige colour scheme made Carlin cringe, but the place itself was actually decently maintained from what he could tell. The U-shaped building was only a single story. There were assigned parking slots in front of each room. All of the green doors had numbers on them, and a large window so the customer could open the curtain and peer out on the
wonder
that was downtown McKinton.

Carlin rolled his eyes at his own cattiness. He really needed to find a more productive way to vent. He wiped at his cheeks again and wished he’d checked in the rearview mirror before he’d got out. Then he shrugged off the thought.

It wouldn’t make any difference if his nose was red and his eyes redder, his hair dishevelled and his clothes rumpled. He wasn’t here to impress anybody—just the opposite.

Giving a shit what anyone else thought about him here in this town was stupid.

The only thing he wanted from this trip was to make sure his aunt had a proper funeral.

Everything else, going through her things, deciding what to do with them, finding a real estate agent to sell the house—those were secondary.

The clerk behind the counter looked at him suspiciously as Carlin pushed the door open. He returned the look with a cool disdain that had said more than words ever could in a courtroom on more than one occasion. Mentally warning himself to turn down his flame, Carlin approached the desk and lowered his voice from its normal light tenor to something closer to a baritone, another trick he used in the courtroom.

“I’d like your best room,” Carlin informed the clerk, ignoring the way the man narrowed his eyes. “I don’t know how long I’ll be in town, so if you have a decent room you haven’t booked for anyone else for at least, say, a week?”
Oh God, please don’t make me stay in
this hell hole that long.
But he’d stay as long as needed.

The clerk quit glaring at him long enough to tap at the keyboard. “You Mary Hawkins’

nephew?”

Carlin jerked before he could stop himself. “How the fu—how the,”
okay, not hell, either.

After sputtering for a few seconds while the clerk smirked, Carlin finally found that smooth ALL OF THE VOICES

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tongued devil he pulled out for the judges and juries. Pasting on his best tired and timid smile, Carlin dropped his gaze to his shoes, knowing the sheepish look was his best bet at charming the clerk. “I’m sorry, it’s been a horrible couple of days and a long, tiring trip. I imagine I’ve already come off like a prig. How’d you know who I was?”

The clerk snorted and tapped the keyboard some more. “Small town gossip. Likely I knew you was here ‘fore you did. Sorry about Mrs. Hawkins, she was…she was something else. As for the rest, reckon you can be ‘scused for walking in here like you was God Himself.”

Well, how very charitable of you to
‘scuse
me, you twit.
Carlin bit his cheek as he fisted his hands in his pockets.
Flies and honey, don’t forget.
“Ah. I’m not really familiar with small towns, and Aunt Mary was…” Carlin didn’t have to fake the emotion in his voice. He’d loved Mary for all her quirks and her support, once she’d given it.

“I loved her a great deal.” The admission was easy to make. Carlin didn’t believe it made one weak to love, only stronger. Which didn’t explain why he ardently tried not to get attached to another man, but whatever.

“Then maybe you shoulda visited her once in a while,” the clerk sniped, and Carlin very nearly resorted to violence as he imagined his fist connecting solidly with the man’s jaw. “Room one-nineteen, down towards the end. Ain’t no different than the others. They’s just rooms.”

“I offered to buy Aunt Mary a roundtrip ticket to visit me in New York several times,”

Carlin ground out against his better judgement. “She always refused, and I have other obligations—”

The clerk snorted. “Yeah, well, guess no one felt obligated towards
her.
Need your credit card and license.”

“Sure.” Carlin dug his wallet out of his back pocket, shame and anger making it take longer than it should have. He refused to care what this…this hick thought about him. There were reasons why Carlin hadn’t been able to come to McKinton besides the fact he didn’t want to experience
any
Smalltown, USA. Not that he’d share that information with someone who so clearly thought Carlin was an asshole. Let him think whatever he wanted. Carlin plucked out a credit card and his license and handed them over, determined not to let the obnoxious man get to him.

“New York,” the clerk snorted. “Figures.”

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Carlin merely arched a brow at the guy and silently willed an invasion of bedbugs on the man. Which was not a wise choice for payback, since the whole motel would end up infested.
Fine. I hope he has a nasty bout of dysentery.
He nearly snorted himself. Like there was such a thing as a ‘not nasty bout of dysentery’.

Once he finished checking in, Carlin opted to skip stopping by his room to drop off his luggage. As tired as he was, he still wasn’t in a hurry to see the inside of what he was sure was a crappy room. Besides, he wanted to talk to the sheriff and the deputy who’d found Aunt Mary. He had his doubts about whether or not her emergency call had been answered rapidly.

It didn’t take him long at all to get to the Sheriff’s Department. That was one thing McKinton had over New York, Carlin supposed. It would have taken him forty-five minutes in morning traffic to go the distance from the motel to the Sheriff’s Department had he been driving in New York.

Then again, he didn’t drive in New York for exactly that reason. Traffic was a real bitch.

Carlin took a moment to check his appearance in the mirror attached to the car’s visor. It wouldn’t do to confront the sheriff looking like a rumpled, emotional mess. He couldn’t do much about his suit, but his hair had been cut in such a way as to always look good. Court room professional or casual, sexy lover, all it took was a moment or two and Carlin could appear as either. A flicker of movement caught Carlin’s eye and his breath hitched when he cocked his head to the side to get a better look.
Oh, damn.

Another thing McKinton had over New York was the very attractive male bodies clothed in the dark uniforms of the Sheriff’s Department. Seemed like every cop Carlin had ever seen in the Big Apple was sporting a gut that’d make finding said cops’ dick darn near impossible without the help of a crane.

Of course, Carlin was out,
way
out, and he was a lawyer, so cops weren’t exactly likely to flock to him, and certainly none like the ones currently in his line of sight. The two men in the parking lot walking up to the door of the building were both
very
fine. One was taller than the other and wearing a cowboy hat, his shoulders broad, waist small, and his ass was quite tempting.

But it was the other man who truly caught Carlin’s attention. A few inches shorter and several pounds lighter, the guy had a butt that made Carlin’s mouth water, which was funny as he definitely preferred to bottom. Lean, almost too much so, and long legs that Carlin ALL OF THE VOICES

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wanted to feel quivering as he bounced on the man’s cock. This guy had a hat, too, though he was holding it in his hand. His very big hand. Carlin dragged his gaze up the man’s back to his wide shoulders, admiring their breadth for a moment before looking farther up to his nearly shorn head.

“Oh, nice.” Carlin could make out the pale strip of skin under the man’s hairline at the back of his neck. The short style must be new. “Almost like a gift just for me,” Carlin mused.

He had a weak spot for men with buzz cuts, burrs, high and tights, and bald. God, he really loved the feel of a man’s smooth scalp under his palms or between his thighs.

His lovers’ bodies, however, Carlin preferred them to have hair, the more the better.

Carlin liked his men furry and rough, and this guy—well. If his front looked anywhere near as good as his back, the guy could have a body as smooth and hairless as Carlin kept his own. It’d be weird, but it also just might be worth it.
Like that is ever going to happen here in
Hicksville
.
Quit being an idiot, you’re not here to get laid. Probably get your ass beat if you so much as
look at any man here.

Except, as Carlin started to get out of his car, a gorgeous little guy with lovely dark skin stepped out of the building and greeted the bigger guy with the cowboy hat on with a long, definitely had to be tongue involved, kiss.

Well. McKinton just got a whole lot more interesting.

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Matt looked away from Laine and Severo as they kissed. Thinking of the bigger man as the sheriff when he tried to devour Severo’s lips just wasn’t possible. Matt hissed as he heard footsteps.

“Someone’s coming,” he informed the horny duo, feeling a bit like a teenager on the lookout for adults while his friends made out.

“What was that about?” Laine asked Severo, a question Matt wondered as well. He usually didn’t see the men being so openly affectionate out in public. Seeing them kissing like that had been scary and…and
hot.

“I just had to,” was Severo’s answer.

Matt barely kept from rolling his eyes. “Well, you two might want to work on your impulse control issues. I’m not the only one you just put a show on for.” He turned to see who was walking towards them and felt a punch of lust so strong his legs nearly gave out.

“Holy shit,” Matt muttered before he could stop himself. The petite blond man heading their way was the prettiest thing he’d ever seen. Sleek lines and blade-sharp cheek bones set off by a firm square jaw, full, sensual lips, wide eyes—Matt couldn’t see what colour they were, but he just knew they’d be gorgeous—topped by artfully arched light brown brows.

Shit,
the guy even has one of those cute little dimples in his chin.

The man drew nearer and Matt thought he could
smell
wealth. He didn’t know jack about men’s fashion—his one suit came from the discount rack at Sears—but he’d bet a year’s salary the dark blue suit this little guy was wearing cost more than everything on the discount rack combined.

Green, that’s the colour of his eyes. Like a…like a cactus!
God, he had to do better than that.

Maybe learn the actual names of different shades, but really, the guy’s colouring—white-blond hair like the spikes on a cactus, lips the colour of a cactus apple, those eyes…Yeah, corny or not, the comparison was apt.

The blond frowned as he stopped. Matt had the thought the guy might be as prickly as a damned cactus as well. Those green eyes narrowed as the man swept Matt with his gaze, lingering on the semi erection Matt had hoped like hell wouldn’t be noticed. Lips twitching, ALL OF THE VOICES

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which Matt figured was a good thing, certainly better than getting a knee to the ‘nads for offending this stranger, the man finally dragged his gaze up to meet Matt’s.

“It seems McKinton’s changed since I was here years ago.”

Despite the heated look and the sweet tenor, the man’s words obliterated every bit of Matt’s lust. Anger replaced it in a heartbeat as a certainty that he knew who this man was filled him.

“Carlin Douglas,” the blond offered as he put his hand out. “And you are?”

The man who’s going to set you straight on how to treat your family.
Somehow Matt doubted that’d go over well with Sheriff Stenley, who was, along with Severo, still standing behind him. He took the proffered hand and shook it once, not bothering with the firm grip he usually used.

“Deputy Matt Nixon.”

Whatever admiration he’d seen in the smaller man’s expression died and Carlin morphed into a prickly pear in Matt’s imagination. Not too far from a human version of it in reality, either.

“I see. So you were the one who got to my aunt’s house too late to help her.”

* * * *

Carlin could have kicked himself. That hadn’t come out like he’d meant it to, though in a way, it
was
true. He’d let his mouth spew before he’d thought, still rattled and oddly hurt by the way the other man’s appreciative gaze had turned to icy disdain in the blink of an eye.

Now he’d gone and fucked up any chance of getting the truth easily from Matt Nixon.

“Still got there a hell of a lot quicker than you did,” Matt growled.

“That’s enough, Deputy Nixon, Mr. Douglas.” The taller man wearing the cowboy hat stepped around the deputy and somehow managed to glare at them both. Judging from the man’s rough good looks and the star on his shirt, this would be the sheriff…who also seemed to have all his teeth.

“There’ll be no accusations from either of you, understand?” The sheriff continued. The man the sheriff had been kissing, a sexy little guy with broad shoulders who was shorter than Carlin, stepped around Deputy Nixon’s other side and linked his arm through Nixon’s.

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“Come on, let’s go get some coffee,” Carlin overheard. He resisted the temptation to watch Deputy Nixon’s ass as the man was led away down the sidewalk. Instead he waited for the lecture he could just feel the sheriff vibrating to toss at him.

“Now, Mr. Douglas, first off let me offer my condolences on the loss of your aunt.”