Green Broke Woman (23 page)

Virgil remained friendly, behaving neither
shaken nor threatened by the other cowboy who was equally as hot as he was.
“Virgil Paisley. I'm a friend of Kayla's.”

“Keith Langley. Good to meet you.”

A friend?
Yes, she was generally in the habit of sucking
her guy friends off in their trucks. Keith wouldn't mind her having friends,
but he'd go bonkers with jealousy if he knew about her history with Virgil.

Her tears ceased when Keith hooked a finger
under her jaw and tilted her face slightly upward. “You're upset. What's wrong,
little bird?”

“It's nothing.” She couldn't look him in the
eye while saying that.

“You're getting punished for that when we get
home. You know better. Now answer me honestly this time, or I'll take that
letter from you and read it myself.”

She gulped, clutching it tighter.

Virgil's brows furrowed. “What do you mean
you'll punish her?”

“I mean I'm going to pull her shorts and
panties down and spank her soft little ass until
it's
red for lying to me after we've told her not to for the umpteenth time. She
knows better,” Keith answered, keeping his attention on her guilty expression.

“Are you okay with that, Kayla?” Virgil
asked. “'If you're not, just say the word and I'll take you away from him.”

“What?” Keith growled.
“Who
the fuck do you think you are?”

“Someone who doesn't want to see her get
hurt,” Virgil replied, dark eyes narrowing.

“Please stop arguing,” Kayla said quietly.
“We have to leave. They might be watching.”

“Who?”
Keith asked.

“I can't tell you.” She flinched when he gripped
her arm tightly.

“You'd better fucking tell me. I'm not
gonna
lose you, Kayla. I'm
gonna
protect you if I have to die trying,” he promised, seeming really worked up.

“Easy, partner.” Virgil's gaze was pinned to
Keith's tight grasp on her arm.

“Just trust me,” she whispered, glancing
around discreetly for their faces. “We can't talk here. Just trust me on this.”

****

Kayla sat in the back seat, certain her
complexion now rivaled a ghost's in the paleness department. Beck and Slade
knew where she was and about the Langley brothers as well. She couldn't protect
them ... unless she went along quietly with Beck.

She pushed the thought aside. It would be
suicide, and what if he harmed the
Langleys
anyway?

Virgil sat in the passenger's seat while
Keith drove. The Tennessee cowboy in a white Stetson still took her breath
away. Virgil was without question the sweetest guy she'd ever met. Seeing him
again almost made her feel complete, but there was still one person missing
from her life.

She couldn't think about her Master right
now. All she could think about was which of the men had stuck that letter in
her purse. Whoever it was had only been a few feet from her while she’d had her
back to her purse and was oblivious to the potential harm a mere several feet
away.

She read the rest of the letter.

Hello, Kayla,

I know about your Master. When
you see him again, you tell him Black Dragon sends him his regards.

B.D.

Kayla was baffled, but then she recalled that
Master Hugh had mentioned something on his cell phone message recording about
being ready for Black Dragon. Apparently the cryptic correspondence had nothing
to do with the BDSM club by the same name. Black Dragon, in this case, was a
person.

“Read the letter out loud, Kayla,” Keith
ordered.

Her cheeks flushed with intense heat. “Do I
have to?”

“Well, you don't have to,” Virgil began, “but—”

“Yes, she does,” Keith butted in. “If you
don't, I'll take it from you and then spank you after I read it.”

Virgil snickered. “You're one of them freaky
types, aren't you?”

“I'm not letting those fuckers take her
again.” Keith clenched the steering wheel with white knuckles. “I know it was
one of them who wrote it. Now start reading, Kayla.”

She sighed, feeling her chest sink with
depression. “I don't mind if you read it, just please don't make me read it
aloud.”

“Fine, pass it up.”

She passed the letter to him.

“Vincent—”

“Virgil,” Virgil corrected him.

“Sorry, Virgil, take the wheel for a minute,
will you?” Keith asked.

“Sure.”

Keith read the letter quickly and then
extended his arm into the back seat, but Virgil took the letter before Kayla
could reach for it. When he finished, he passed the paper back to her.

“
It's
gonna
be all right, Kayla. We'll protect you,” Virgil
reassured her.

“What do you mean 'we'?” Keith sounded annoyed.

“I came here to keep an eye on Kayla,” Virgil
explained, seeming undaunted by the other man's blatant disapproval.

“She's got me and my two brothers. She
doesn't need you.”

“I beg to differ. Another man would be added
protection. I already made the mistake of letting this little honey out of my
sight once before. I'm not making the same mistake again.” Virgil glanced at
the back seat and smiled back at her, reaching for her hand when she smiled
back at him.

“Honey?
What the fuck? Kayla, is this an ex of yours?”

“No. We're just friends.”

Virgil snickered. “So do you go down on all
your friends, honey?”

“What?” Keith growled. “Let go of her hand.
Kayla Langley, you'd better explain yourself.”

She swallowed nervously, though his jealousy
amused and touched her. “My last name is Sanders.”

“No, it's
gonna
be
Langley when we make you our wife, and I already see you that way, so you'd
better answer my question,” Keith warned. His steely blue glare in the rearview
mirror said he wasn't kidding.

“It was before we were together. Virgil was
my closest friend at the time.”

“So you sucked his cock?”

“I lo—liked him.” Denying the three words
that wanted to spew forth and fill Virgil's ears felt like a lie, but she
couldn't hurt Keith like that. On the other hand, if by some strange-ass fluke
Virgil still felt something for her, he'd be torn up over the way she held
back.

Yeah, right. The man was probably over her.
If anything the tryst had likely been just a fun romp for him.

Keith's head bobbed up, and his eyes were huge
in the rearview mirror. “You started to say love.”

Butterflies gathered in her stomach, thrilled
to make Virgil aware of that fact even as her chest hurt that Keith would be
crushed over the knowledge.

“No, I didn't.” Why had she never learned to
lie better? Not that having such a talent would be something to be proud of, but
she never wanted to hurt him.

Keith redirected his attention to the road.
He slowed the car down and pulled over to the side of the road, turning to
Virgil. “Get out.”

Virgil sounded surprised, though no less
amused. “Well, all righty then.”

“No!” Kayla protested. “What if they hurt
him?”

“He's a man. He'll be fine,” Keith replied
curtly.

“Men can get hurt, too.”

“I appreciate the concern, honey, but I'll be
fine,” Virgil reassured her. “No one's ever gotten to me yet, not even this
man's ill-tempered dad.”

Keith's head snapped over toward Virgil who
wore a sly half smile as he got out of the car. “What the hell do you know
about my father?”

Virgil's lips quirked up into a crooked grin,
and he shrugged innocently. “I'd tell you, but some ornery twit kicked me to
the curb without giving me a chance to prove I'm an okay guy and a damned fine
one for Kayla.”

“You shut up about her and tell me what you
know about my father,” Keith snapped. “Have you seen him?”

“Am I invited to dinner?” Virgil threw at
him.

Kayla tugged on Keith's arm. “Please, Keith.
He's my friend.”

Keith snorted. “Yeah, I'll bet he is. Fine, get
your Southern ass back in here and tell me where my father is.”

Virgil got back into the car, taking his
precious time to shut and lock the door before satisfying the other man's
curiosity. “I know his reasons for leaving had nothing to do with why you
thought he left.”

“How do you know my father?” Keith demanded.

“You should probably drive, partner,” Virgil said.

 
“I'll drive
when I'm good and ready, partner. Now, tell me how you know my father.”

“I worked with him. He couldn't tell you why
he left, but he loves you and your brothers.”

“How do you know him?”

“We’re friends. We worked together before he
retired.”

“What’s his middle name?” Keith asked.

“Earl. He walks with a cane and has the
disposition of a lobster.
Any more questions?”

“Family?”

“You, Travis, and Jake he raised, and he was
married to Julianne. He used to belong to a covert government division and go
on missions to rescue people, among other things.”

“What was the name of the division?

Virgil looked over at him.
“Black
Lightning.”

“Damn, I was hoping you were a fraud.” Keith
looked concerned and frustrated. “Where is he?”

“I'm not at liberty to say.”

“The fuck does that mean?”

“I have a feeling you'll see him again,”
Virgil said as he gazed through the windshield at the lowering sun. “You'll see
him real soon.”

****

Travis helped his brothers clear the table
while Kayla and Virgil talked in the living room.

“So what do you guys make of him?” Keith
asked
,
sneaking glances at the pair in the other room.

“I don't like him,” Jake said. “He keeps
looking at Kayla like he wants to kiss her.
Makes me crabby.”

Trust Jake to get all fired up over some man
who happened to look at his woman.

Travis rinsed a plate off. “He seems like a
nice guy to me. I like him.”

Keith snorted, still spying on the couple in
the living room. “Well, apparently he and Kayla were pretty chummy back in
California. She sucked his dick.”

“What?” Jake growled.

Travis frowned. “Now I hate him.”

“Are you shitting me? What the hell did you
leave them alone for?” Jake scolded.

Travis took the dirty dish Jake abandoned and
rinsed it off before loading the plate into the dishwasher. “It's not like
anything can happen unless she allows it.”

Jake's jaw clenched. “She'd better not or
I'll paddle her ass.”

Travis felt a wave of longing come over him
when he thought of paddling Kayla's curvaceous bottom. An even keener yearning
heated his loins at the thought of playing doctor with her.

Keith observed them from the doorway, shaking
his head. “The guy said he knows our father.”

Jake stiffened.
“How?”

“He said he worked with him,” Keith answered,
turning to face his brothers.

“Doing what?” Travis asked.

“Virgil didn't say, but he did say that we'd
probably see our father again real soon,” Keith said.

Travis noted the internal war and silent
screams in Keith's eyes and the hostile anger in Jake's stance. He'd helped
their mother play father to his two younger brothers after their dad left. When
Keith turned eighteen, their mother had moved away. He and his brothers were
adults, but their sister, Miranda had still been a teenager at the time.

“It's been years. Why the fuck would he
show
up now?” Jake asked through a bitter growl.

Keith shrugged. “I don't know, but I'm kind
of glad he is. I need answers.”

“I don't want to see his abusive ass ever
again,” Jake spat.

Travis put his hand on Jake's shoulder. “He
was drunk, Jake.”

“That don't make it right,” Jake bit out.

“No, it doesn't,” Travis agreed. He always
felt guilty that his brothers had experienced a single incident of abuse, but
he and Miranda never had. He was glad she hadn't, but it should have been him
and not his poor brothers.

Keith sighed. “It was just one time, Jake.”

“I don't give a shit!” Jake raised his voice.
“If I had a son, I sure as hell wouldn't abuse him, not even once. It makes me
sick to think that Kayla got hit before, too. When I find those sons of bitches
who hurt her, I'm
gonna
kill them.”