Halfway Between (18 page)

Taming Team TEN Book Four

by Jana Leigh

“
Where in the fuck are we?” Jessie said, grabbing the GPS and shaking it.

“
Call the hospital again,” Drake said helpfully, hoping to distract his friend enough so he wouldn’t damage anything important in the truck. 

"I did and they won
’t tell me a damn thing,” Jessie said. 

“
Four more miles until you reach your destination
,” the woman’s voice said and Jessie relaxed a little.  They had been on the road all night and he had plenty of time to think.  That and Mark kept annoying him with updates.  Apparently you could go from place to place quickly when you were dead.  According to him, she was in her final stages of dilation and there was a stranger helping her.  That didn’t sit well with Jessie, but he held his tongue, he was the asshole who got her into this mess, and he would be the one to get her out.  During the drive, he promised all sorts of things to whoever was listening as long as Brin was safe, and the baby was fine.  One of the most important was to marry Brin and give their child a name.

He knew firsthand what it was like to be fatherless, and his child would not grow up without him.  His mother had done a great job raising him and Jessie would never say anything different.  However
, growing up without a father was hard.  Jessie always felt like he had to help take care of his mother.  Watching her work her fingers to the bone just to put food on their table was hard.  His worthless father, who showed up only when he needed money, was Jessie’s idea of what
not
to do when you father a child.

He saw the small medical center ahead and gripped the
‘Oh shit’ handle as Drake whipped into the drive and braked fast, kicking up gravel.  His child was going to know his father loved and cared about them.

Jessie jumped from the car and his only intent was getting to the birthing suite that held Brin.  Mark and his other friends appeared at the end of a hallway and they were all pointing and smiling.  As he ran down the hall he heard the guard from
the front chasing him, as well as a nurse yelling at him to stop.  He was not going to, not until he saw Brin.

“
Sir,” the nurse yelled as he rounded the corner and kept running. 

A man stepped out of the doorway at the end of the hall.  The only thing he
registered was that he was wearing hip waders and was frowning at him.

“
BRIN?!” he yelled loudly and desperately.

Another man stepped out into the hallway and frowned.  “
Hey?” the guy said and Jessie skidded to a halt.

“
Do either of you know where the birth center is?” Jessie asked, in most hospitals it was a locked ward.

“
Right here,” one of the men said.

“
Jessie?" the other man said and Jessie snapped to attention when the second man had stepped into the hallway.  He was tall, and had sandy brown, shaggy hair.  He had green eyes and when he looked in them, he recognized a boy from his past.  Wait…Grant was here?  Why was Grant in nowhereville? 

“
Grant?” Jessie said and looked at his childhood best friend in shock.  But the other man had other ideas as did the nurse who finally caught up with him, and the security guard who was yelling in his radio.

“
Why are you looking for Brin?” the other man demanded and Jessie’s attention snapped to him.  He was big, and a little more than threatening but Jessie was desperate.

“
Because I am,” Jessie growled and the man looked at the people behind him.  “Wanda, Roy, I got this,” the man said as he heard a grown from the room to his left.

“
Jessie?”  He heard a woman say.  BRIN!  Jessie took a step toward the doorway.  He heard Drake make a noise but didn’t turn.

“
Now hold on there a minute, big guy.  Brin is one of ours now.  What do you want with her?” the man said and Jessie frowned.

One of whose?

He turned slowly and saw the man was bowing his shoulders and standing even taller than the mountain of a man did already.  Jessie stood his full height as well and then scowled at him.  Most men would have backed off when they saw the look on Jessie’s face.  The guy must have a death wish—he laughed at Jessie.

“
Why don’t you scoot along, I will have the Sheriff come and talk to you when Brin is available,” the man said.

“
Who the fuck do you…”  Was as far as he made it when the man reached into his large wading pants and pulled out a pistol.

Taming Team TEN Valentine
’s Day Special

by Jana Leigh

Cynthia Plater drove to the road that would lead her to Healing, Wyoming.  She was finally going home.  After four years of college, she finished with her degree in finance, taken a few months off to travel.  It was New Year's Day, the first day of the rest of her life.  Finance wasn’t the normal degree someone in Wyoming would need, but there were a lot of ranches in Healing, and she was opening an accounting office in the town. 

Ever since her sister, Brin, offered to let her live with her when she graduated high school, Cyn had dreamed of this day.  She loved the town of Healing.  Brin and her
husbands had come to her graduation, when her sister saw the bruise on her hip from where her father had kicked her, Brin had offered to take her away.

Mark, her brother, had never known how bad it was in that house after he left.  If he had, Cyn was sure
he would have come and rescued her.  Nevertheless, Mark had been killed on a mission, Brin had been in college, and Cyn was left alone in the cold and unfeeling household they had grown up in. 

The abuse hadn
’t started until Cyn had been twelve.  Her father had been pissed when he found letters she had written to her brother.  He ranted and raved about Mark leaving them in disgrace and forbid her from contacting him again.  Cyn just did it in secret, but when her father found the letters—that had been the first time.  She still remembered having to stay home from school to heal.  That was the only time he hit her in the face.  After that, he had been more careful to make sure the bruises were able to be hidden.

If she had stepped out of line, or disagreed
with him at all, Cyn had been disciplined.  Terrified to tell anyone, Cyn just made sure she didn’t get in his way most of the time.  Apparently, it had gotten easier for him to find things to take out on her.  Because no matter what she did, she had gotten hit.  But that all ended the day Brin, Jessie, and Grant had come to visit.  Her father wouldn’t speak to her sister because he said she was an embarrassment for marrying two men.

Cyn hadn
’t cared; she liked both men on site, and loved her nephew, Marcus.  However, because of her parents’ refusal to meet with Brin, Cyn had to see her in secret, just like she had when Mark had been alive.  Her father had been pissed when he found out.

Cynthia never knew what happened when Jessie and Grant had gone to the h
ouse she grew up in to get her things.  But when they came back, she saw the bruises on their knuckles when they handed her the bags she requested.  They never spoke of the incident again.  For that she was grateful, Cyn moved to Healing, and entered college in Laramie, Wyoming.  She loved the small town, and knew she would make a home there when she graduated.

Mark had left her money in his will.  That paid for college and she still had a chunk to buy the small little spread across from her sister.  Cyn go
t excited when she thought about it.  The house was small by farming standards, but perfect for her.  It was a two story Victorian with a wraparound porch.  It had twenty acres of land, and a nice looking barn where she planned to keep a few horses.  The best part was the small building the previous owners had intended on making a mother-in-law house.  She was opening her accounting business in there.  It was perfect.  There were only four rooms, the living area, which she was going to turn into a waiting area, and one large bedroom, which would be her office.  A bathroom, and a kitchenette, which she could use for keeping drinks and stuff.  Plus, if she hired a secretary, they could use it as a break room.

Cyn had it all planned out.  Now she just had to ge
t into town, and put an offer down.  Closing wouldn’t be a problem because it was empty and Brin knew the owners.  She grinned in the mirror and wanted to jump for joy when she saw the small town sign.  She was finally home.

JK Publishing, Inc.