My Texas Sweetheart (book one) (6 page)

Suddenly, he’s off of me and hits the opposite wall, somebody punching him in the face.  “When a woman says stop, you stop.”
Oh, my god! I know that voice! I run over and throw my arms around his neck. I can’t believe he is here. Chase smiles at me and then looks back at Christian. “Get the hell out of here now. You come near my sister again, I’ll kill you,” Chase growls. Christian runs out of the barn.

Chase pulls me in for a big bear hug
. “Sorry I didn’t get here sooner, baby girl. Did that son of a bitch hurt you?” he asks. 

“No, not really. He scared me more than anything,” I say. I can’t believe he is here. “I thought you weren’t coming home.” This is the best gift ever. Chase wipes the tears that are running down my face.

He looks at me for a few seconds
. “I wasn’t going to, but I’m glad I did. Who knows what he would have done to you,” he says. I don’t want to think about that.

“Does anyone else know you’re here yet?”

“No, I saw the barn door open so I came over to close it first.”

Chase and I head for the house
. He tells me all about his SEAL buddies, some of whom will be here in a few days. I tell him all about Jase and Heather. “Sounds like you got it bad for this Jase guy.” He laughs and I slap his arm, which only makes him laugh harder.

I
told him about us playing hide-and-seek last night and how long it took them to find Mark and me. He laughs. “They forgot about that hiding spot, did they?” I laugh too

“Yeah they forgot all about it”

When w
e reach the door I look at him and say. “So, big guy, you ready?” He nods and opens the door for me to go in first.

As soon as we walk into the house
, it gets so quiet that you can hear a pin drop. “Oh, my god! Chase! You’re home!” Mom cries out, running over to him and throwing her arms around his neck.

As
soon as Mom lets him go, Dad walks over and hugs him, too. “It’s about time you came home, son.” Mom and I are both crying.

Once everyone has gotten a hug, they ask
him when he got in. “Not too long ago. Came straight here.” He tightens his grip on my hand. I look over to where Jase is standing with Kara and smile at them. I start to pull away from Chase, but he tightens his grip. I look up at him and he shakes his head.  I look back at Jase and shrug. I can’t believe what almost happened tonight with Christian… what would have happened if it wasn’t for Chase! Yeah my big brother is my HERO! I don’t care what anyone else says, he is there when I need him the most. He needs to ease up on his grip… my hand is starting to hurt. Looking back over to where Jase and Kara are sitting, I notice how pissed off he looks. Huh, why is he mad? I rise an eye brow at Kara and she shrugs. Okay she’s no help.

“When are your buddies supposed to be here” Jade asks

“In a few days… they don’t have a lot of family so I invited them here! I hope that’s alright mom”

That’s something else I love about my big brother, he’s always trying to take care of those he loves. Our parents raised us that way,
and in this small town we never had to worry about anyone! But I think that is about to change… especially after what almost happened tonight. I know for a fact there is no way Chase is going to keep his mouth shut, so my other brothers are going to know soon enough. I am also pretty damn sure that I haven’t seen the last of Christian, I have a feeling the next time I see him that things are going to go downhill fast. All hell will break loose! I get so lost in thought that I didn’t hear Chase calling my name.

“Sorry… what did you say” I ask looking at him, he gets this sad look on his face and I know he’s thinking about what he walked in on.

“Nothing baby girl” giving me a small smile, he turns his attention to Jase and Kara who just joined us.

Chapter 8 (Jase)

Why won’t he let go of Maggie’s hand? It’s almost like he is worried that if he does, something will happen to her. I look around.  Wait a second…Where did Christian go? Did something happen with him?
“Is it just me or does Chase seem worried about Maggie? He won’t let her go,” I say to Kara. 

“No, I see it, too.  Doesn’t look like anybody else does, though.” Maggie keeps looking over at us and smiling.

Wait a second.
Is that a bruise on her arm? She didn’t have that an hour ago! What the hell happened?!
“I’m pretty sure something happened between her and Christian. Look at the bruise on her arm. That would certainly explain why he won’t let her go just yet,” I tell Kara.

She looks at the bruise, but grabs my arm when I start to head over there.
“Don’t say anything yet, Jase,” she says.

“But I need to know if that asshole hurt her,” I growl.

“Okay, but be calm until we know what happened.”

We make
our way over to them. Maggie looks at us and smiles. “Chase, this is Jase, and this is Kara, Gabe’s girlfriend,” Lily tells him.

He smiles
at us. “It’s nice to see that one of my brothers has settled down. Very nice to meet you, Kara. Jase, I’ve heard so much about you…within the last ten minutes. Very nice to meet you, also.” I raise my eyebrows at his comment and look at Maggie, who has her mouth hanging open. She smacks Chase, but he just laughs.

“How long do you plan on staying?” Brad asks Chase.

“Three or four weeks.” They all smile at that answer.

We
all stand there talking for a while. Eventually, Brad and Lily go off to talk with some of their friends; Chase finally lets go of Maggie’s hand, and she goes off with Amy and Kara; and we boys head outside for some beers and fresh air. Chase walks next to me, while the rest walk ahead of us. “My baby sister really likes you. Of course, she won’t admit it right now. Would you ever change your ways for her?”

I think about it
. “I like her a lot, but that’s not the problem. I think she deserves a hell of a lot better than me. I’m not sure if I can give up that lifestyle just yet.”

He nods
. “Fair enough. Just be good to her and don’t lead her on.” I want to ask him about what happened to Maggie’s arm, but I’m not sure that he’d tell me so I keep my mouth shut.

We talk more about Maggie, he tells stories of when
they were all kids, what it was like growing up on a ranch, and about being in the Navy SEALS. We end up at the river just like last night but, this time, Chase is here and Maggie is inside.
“I found Maggie in the barn when I got here,” Chase says with forced casualty. That makes all of us sit up. That has to be why he wouldn’t let go of her hand. What happened? If Christian did anything to her… I don’t even want to think about what I would do.

“What do you mean?” Creed growls. We all want to know what happened.

“Some guy was trying to force himself on her. Maggie was telling him no when I rushed in. I beat his ass, but I wish I got there sooner.”

I meet Adam
’s eyes and read Christian’s death in them. I know he sees the same thing in mine. Why did we let her walk out the door with him?  I get up and start pacing. Why didn’t one of us go check on her? Her brothers are all overprotective, and they didn’t do shit about keeping Christian away from her in the first place!   I start walking towards my car and Adam runs up behind me. “I’m going with you,” he growls. Why not? He can have a few hits, too.

Creed and Chase
both run up to the car.
“Come on, guys. You don’t want to spend Christmas in jail. He’s not worth it!” Creed says.

I shake my
head and start my truck. Adam jumps in. “Hold the fuck on! If you two do this, Maggie will feel like shit because you won’t be here for Christmas,” Chase growls.

I
want to go deal with Christian, but Chase is right. Maggie will feel bad if we go to jail. “Come on, Jase. Turn it off. Come back to the river so we can all talk about this. Trust me, we want to hurt him just as bad as you do,” Creed says. I look at Adam, sigh, turn off my truck, and Adam and I get out. Creed pats me on the back.

As we
walk back towards the river, Maggie, Amy, and Kara come out of the house.  I want to walk over to her, pull her in my arms, and never let her go. The girls look at us. “What’s up, boys?” Amy asks.

Chase says
, “Nothing. Don’t worry about it.” The girls look as if they want to ask more, but just shrug. Kara heads over to Gabe, while Amy and Maggie start walking towards her car.

“
Okay, out with it. You all seem way too tense for it to be nothing,” Kara says, raising an eyebrow. I look over at Adam, who shakes his head.

Maggie
says goodbye to Amy, and I wait until she’s gone before I start to walk over. She does look gorgeous tonight. I can’t believe what almost happened to her. “Jase, is something wrong?” Maggie asks.

Do I
ask her what happened, or do I tell her I know?  Knowing Maggie, she’ll be embarrassed about it. I don’t want to hurt her any more than she has been already. So, for now, I’ll keep my mouth shut. “Nothing that you need to worry about. Do you want to come sit with us by the river?”

She looks
down at her dress, then back up at me. Shit, I didn’t even think about her white dress. “Sure, just let me go get a blanket,” she says.

As I watch her walk back to the house,
Adam walks over to me. “You have feelings for her, don’t you? Believe me, we’d very much approve of you,” he says.

I
stare at him for a few seconds. “Yeah, I do have feelings for her, but you know that she would never date me…don’t give me that look. Yes, I said date!
She’d never be a one-night stand, Adam.”
Adam nods and pats me on the back just as Maggie is coming out the door with enough blankets for all of us. Adam and I help her lay them out.

We all
sit down… I’m on one side of her, Adam on the other. She keeps looking at us. Is she trying to figure out what’s wrong? I just smile at her and look back out at the river. Next thing I know, Maggie lays down, looking up at the stars. “The sky is so clear tonight. You can see all the stars,” she whispers. Looking down at her, I can’t help but think how beautiful she is.

We all
sit there for a while before Heather comes out and asks if I am ready to head home. Dammit, I really don’t want to leave.  I push to my feet, getting ready to say my goodbyes, when I notice that she has fallen asleep. I smile. “Maggie fell asleep,” I say.

Chase
smiles. “I’ll get her to bed.” I would have done it, but they might take it the wrong way so I say goodbye, and Heather and I head to the truck.

****

As soon as we walk in the front door, Mom is asking us how the party was. She and Dad were sorry that they couldn’t be there. I tell her it was great and say that there’s always the New Year’s Eve party that Maggie’s family throws.  As Heather heads up to bed, I say, “Adam and Maggie’s brother, Chase, came home after all. He showed up tonight.” I don’t tell her what happened in the barn, though. What could have happened to her makes me sick and pissed off at the same time. I say goodnight and head off to bed.

****

The next morning my mom wakes us all up early to open up gifts and for our annual Christmas morning breakfast. She and dad tell us we are all heading over to the Summers ranch for dinner, I wanna get there before everyone else so I can have some alone time with Maggie. I hope she’ll talk to me about last night but I won’t hold my breath.

****

An hour later I’m pulling up their lane, parking I see Maggie coming out of the house with Jade.

Jade says he’s gotta go help his dad and tells Maggie to stay with me, she give him a look but still listens. Thank you for that! We both stand there staring at each other. Fuck it! Grabbing her hand I start us walking towards the river, kinda shocked she’s letting me… when we get there I turn around and face her. She beautiful today. Digging in my coat pocket I pull out the gift I got for her, “I got this for you” I say handing it to her. She just stares at me and then gentle starts opening her gift, I hope she likes it. I got her a necklace with a horse shoe that has diamonds all around it with a tiny rose in the middle.

“Oh Jase… it’s beautiful! Thank you” she throws her arms around my neck, “not as beautiful as you” oh shit did I really just say that out loud, she looks shocked but then she gives me the most beautiful smile. Our faces are so close together, if I just lean in a little bit I’d be kissing her, I can tell she’s thinking the same thing. She keeps looking at my lips… just as I start leaning in to kiss her. Adam calls out our names breaking the spell, Maggie jerks herself away from me and start heading towards the house. Fuck Adam you have shitty timing, “Sorry man… if I would of known” he says trailing off. Yeah I know, I gotta get my head together, why did I almost kiss her? Am I falling for Maggie? Can I stop screwing girls for her? Hell. Fucking. Yes!!

Chapter 9
(Maggie)

This Christmas was the best we have had in a few years because Chase came home. Yesterday, Jase showed up to give Adam and me our gifts. I got a really beautiful horse shoe necklace. I gave him tickets to a Cowboys game. He loves football. He’s hoping to get a scholarship to the University of Texas. If all the boys get scholarships there, they can keep playing football together. It’s a few days after Christmas, when there’s a knock on the door. I answer it, smiling. “Hi, you must be Chase’s SEAL buddies. I’ll take you both down to where he is,” I say. They smile at me.

I grab my shoes
, head out the door…and stop short. Christian’s coming up our driveway. Oh, shit. Chase will kill him if he sees him. I’m trying to figure out what to do. Screw it. I keep walking my brother’s buddies down to the barn. As soon as we are inside, I see Dad. “Hey, Daddy. Where’s Chase?” I ask.

Dad
looks over at me.
“Morning, baby girl. He’s out in the corral with Jase and the guys.” He looks at Chase’s friends and they all shake hands. I kiss my dad on the cheek, and turn around and tell them to follow me. As we are walking towards to corral, one of them asks me about bull riding. I tell them the ins and outs, and how Creed is the best.

We get
to the gates of the corral and I holler for Chase. All of the guys look over and start walking our way. “Hey, Todd, Nate. Glad you made it. Come on in and give us a hand,” Chase says and introduces everybody.

Once everybody starts chatting
, I say goodbye and head back towards where I know Christian will be standing. Walking back through the barn, I don’t see Dad. He must have gone to do something else. As soon as I step out of the barn, Christian starts walking towards me. “Hey, Maggie. Can we please talk?” He asks, tenderly.

I want to
tell him to go to hell, but I can’t. “Sure, why not?”

He
begins telling me how sorry he is for last night, and that it only happened because he was so mad that I was breaking it off with him. He said that he’s pretty sure Jase wants me, and he doesn’t know why none of my brothers approve of him. Oh, my god. I can’t believe him. Why am I even standing here listening to this bullshit? “Wow, I can’t believe you! All these excuses for what you did last night when, in reality, you tried to force yourself on me!” I yell. I am beyond pissed.

Shocked that I’m yelling at him,
he looks at me. All of a sudden, he smacks me across the face and yells, “What happened last night was YOUR fault!” Did he really just smack me across the face?

I am so shocked that I don’t hear the
explosion.   As soon as it registers, I turn around and see my dad holding his shotgun. Oh, shit. He’s going to kill him. “Dad, no, stop! You can’t do this!” I say, panicking.

He pulls
me behind him. “You DARE lay a hand on my DAUGHTER?” Dad says in a deadly quiet tone. I am really scared about what my dad will do.

I hear more yelling. Oh, god, no. Not all of them.
“I thought I told you last night to stay away from my sister!!” Chase roars.

Todd and Nate both step in the middle
, trying to get everyone to calm down. “That son of a bitch hit Maggie across the face…wait, what happened last night?! What else did he do?!”
Dad bellows. Oh, god. This is not good. It’s only going to fuel their reason for beating the shit of him.

They’re all
staring at me. I hide my face from them. I feel someone’s arms go around me, but I am too embarrassed to look and see who it is. “You get out of here now before they kill you,” one of Chase’s friends say.

I can
hear a door slam and tires squealing.
“
Maggie, are you okay?” Dad gently asks me. I nod my head, not moving away from Jase’s arms. I realize it’s him from his smell. I can also tell that he’s very tense.

“We heard the gun shot and came running. When we saw Christian, we knew something happened,” Adam said. I really would like to crawl into a hole right now. Dad asks Jase if he can take me inside.

As soon as we are in the house
, Mom comes running downstairs and takes me out of Jase’s arms. “Come on, baby girl. I’ll run a bath for you,” Mom says. I tell her all about what happened last night with Christian, and how Chase saved me just in time. I wish she would stop looking at me like I might break.

After my
nice relaxing bath, I think I’ll take Storm out for a ride. That always helps. Mom is sitting with me and talking about going shopping, or heading to Dallas for a spa day.
“Sure, Mom. Both sound great. Whichever one you want to do,”
I
say, feeling resigned.

She smiles at me
, but it doesn’t reach her eyes. “We can do both, Maggie,” she says.

I finish my bath and put
on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, putting my hair in a ponytail. There’s a bruise forming on my face so I try covering it with make-up. As I walk downstairs, I can hear them all talking. I can’t make out what is being said, but I do know it has something to do with me. As I walk into the kitchen, everyone stops talking and turns to me.  I start to fidget with my t-shirt. “Seriously, please stop looking at me like that!” I yell as I walk out of the house.  I can’t deal with them all at once.

I know that I’m supposed to be going out with Mom, but
I decide to take Storm out instead. Everyone is acting like I’ll break. No way will I just sit there and let them stare at me.  Christian will not get the best of me. I will move past this, and show them all. I finish saddling up Storm and take off for the corral to do some barrel racing but, as I get close, I change my mind. The path looks better; plus, my family won’t find me as fast. It is a path that leads towards town and I am more than happy to take it just to get away. I hate how they all know about what happened last night, I hate how my dad wanted to kill someone but, most of all, I hate that Jase knows everything that happened. He is the one person that I didn’t want to know. What is wrong with me? Am I falling for him?

Just
then, I see someone out of the corner of my eye.  Storm gets spooked, rears up, and throws me. I hit the ground hard.  Everything hurts and I can’t open my eyes. I feel a trickle of blood run down my face. “Oh, my god,” I moan. I can feel someone’s hands pulling at the zipper of my pants. I try to raise my hands to push whoever it is away, but the pain is too much.  My world goes black.