Stormy Glenn - Blaecleah Brothers 06 - Cowboy Convenience (8 page)

Clearly his folks didn’t understand that they might have destroyed any chance Seamus had of ever being happy. Yancy was going to go ballistic when he saw John. He would—Seamus’s breath froze in his chest as he realized that Yancy and John were most likely in the living room right now—together.

He swung around and raced out of the kitchen, screeching to a stop just outside the living room entrance. Yancy sat in one of the chairs by the fireplace. He was staring daggers in the direction of the front door, which Seamus couldn’t see from his position.

“Yancy,” he said softly, trying only to get Yancy’s attention and not the entire room’s. “Can I speak to you for a moment?”
Yancy’s eyes were narrowed with what Seamus knew was anger when the man glanced over at him, staring for several tense seconds. Without saying a word to anyone, Yancy got up and crossed the room.
As soon as he was within reach, Seamus grabbed the man’s hand and pulled him up the stairs to his old room, which was just the way he had left it. Seamus pushed Yancy inside. He shut the door then dropped his forehead against the cold, hard wood, drawing in a deep breath and trying to calm his racing heart.
“Did you know?” Yancy’s question echoed throughout the quiet room like a bullet shot from a machine gun.
“No, I swear.” Seamus swallowed his trepidation and turned to look at Yancy, leaning back against the door. “I didn’t know until my mother told me she had invited John just a moment ago. I swear, Yancy, I never would have had us come if I had known.”
Yancy seemed to accept his words, but he still looked angry.
“I told my folks that we were dating and that it was serious.”
Yancy’s dark eyebrows shot up as if he hadn’t expected Seamus to say anything in the face of John’s arrival. “What did your folks say?”
“That’s when they told me that they had invited John.” Guilt ate at Seamus as he watched Yancy walk over and stare out the window through the curtains, the hard set of the man’s shoulders was angry and unrelenting.
The man was in turmoil, and it was all his fault. Maybe Yancy really would be better off if they weren’t together. He could just send Yancy back home, and he’d stay here. Yancy could ship his stuff to him.
“Do you want to leave, Yancy?” Seamus whispered, his heart pounding up into his throat as he waited for Yancy’s response, dreading it.
“You’d do that?” Yancy asked as he swung around and pinned Seamus with his eyes.
How could his heart ache like this and still beat?
“As you said in the truck,” Seamus whispered as he blinked away the tears springing to his eyes. “I can’t think of much I wouldn’t be willing to do for you.”
Even if that meant giving Yancy up.
“What about John?”
Seamus frowned, confused. “This has nothing to do with John.”
“It has everything to do with John,” Yancy shouted, using a tone Seamus had never heard from the man before. No matter what Seamus said or did, Yancy never yelled at him. Now that he had, Seamus knew he didn’t like it and he never wanted to hear that tone used in his direction again.
Seamus walked over and sat down on the side of the bed, his shoulders slumping as despair filled every cell in his body. He knew from the very beginning that Yancy wouldn’t stick around forever. Even though he was the one letting Yancy go for the man’s own good, it still felt like he was being abandoned.
He had thought he had been prepared for when Yancy would eventually leave him, but how did someone prepare for this level of pain? He felt like his heart was being literally torn right out of his chest.
“If it’s okay with you, I’ll send one of my brothers for my stuff,” Seamus said, too choked up to speak above a whisper. “Or if you’d rather, you can just send it to me.”
“You’re breaking up with me?”
“No, I—”
“Fuck,” Yancy snapped. “I should have known that the moment you saw John you would go running back to him.”
Maybe that was true except that Seamus hadn’t seen John. He had purposely avoided looking at the man. Seamus didn’t think now was the time to mention that. He just tucked his lips in and stared down at his hands.
A soft sob broke free from Seamus’s chest when he heard his bedroom door open and slam shut a moment later, Yancy’s heavy footsteps fading as he walked down the hallway then the stairs.
He sat there on the side of the bed, afraid to move in case he shattered all over the floor. Breathing was a thing of the past as was the beating of his heart. He couldn’t even grab onto a thought because they were swirling around inside his head like an explosion.
John didn’t want him, and Yancy had left him—the only two men that he had ever loved. There was nothing Seamus could say or do to change the way things were and he knew it.
All of his brothers had found their legends, so maybe wanting one more happy ending was asking for one too many. The tears he had been holding back streamed down his face unchecked as the realization that he was destined to be alone for the rest of his life sank in.
He’d never have the family he wanted so much.

John Riley held onto his temper just as long as he could, the loud voices from upstairs matching the worried looks Ma and Da Blaecleah kept sending in his direction. Something was up, and it involved Seamus.

Considering he was invited to dinner with the express knowledge that Seamus would be here, John found the silence from the man’s folks a little strange. If he didn’t know better, John would have thought that the Blaecleahs wanted him to leave.

“No, Sheriff, of course not.” Alani smiled, but the smile didn’t reach her eyes, which told John a lot.
He had been a lawman for a very long time. He had learned to read people, to see what they were saying even when they were silent. Ma Blaecleah was screaming at him right now, and he wanted to know why.
John had been waiting quite a while to see Seamus again. He had nearly gone out of his mind when he learned that Seamus had left town. It had been all he could do not to track the man down and assure himself that Seamus was okay. Only word from the Blaecleahs of his safety had kept him in Cade Creek.
Getting invited to dinner at the Blaecleah ranch had been great. Finding out that Seamus would be there as well had been a dream come true. John could see with his own eyes that Seamus was okay. He could talk to Seamus without anyone being the wiser. No one would suspect that he had any feelings for Seamus if they just met up at the ranch for dinner. Everyone went to dinner at the Blaecleahs’.
John was just starting to suspect more was going on than a simple dinner invitation. “Is Seamus in some sort of trouble?”
“No, no, Seamus is fine.”
John would have believed that if Alani hadn’t glanced up at the ceiling with a worried little frown on her face. Donnell gently patting his wife’s shoulder only added to John’s certainty that something was going on.
John nearly jumped out of his chair when the door upstairs suddenly slammed. A moment later, Yancy came barreling down the stairs. He shot John a look that could have put a normal man in his grave then shot out the front door.
Donnell went after him.
When no one else moved, they all just continued to stare up at the ceiling, John stood and headed for the stairs. He needed to check on Seamus, to see that the man was okay with his own eyes.
“Oh, John, wait—”
John ignored Alani and bounded up the stairs. When he reached Seamus’s door, he paused. He could hear sniffling from inside, and for one moment, rage ran rampant through him as he considered the possibility that Yancy might have hurt Seamus.
Without knocking, John turned the door handle and pushed the door open. His eyes instantly landed on Seamus, or rather his tearstreaked face. John spun around and tore down the stairs before Seamus could say anything.
What could he say to explain the tears on his face?
John ignored the shouts behind him as he stormed out of the house intent on finding Yancy and beating the shit out of the man. He wasn’t a sheriff in that moment. He was a man bent of avenging the pain he had seen on Seamus’s face.
He knew Yancy was responsible.
The man was going to pay, and John was the one that was going to make him pay.
No one hurt Seamus, not while John was around. He had waited too long for the man to come to his senses where their relationship was concerned. Just when he thought they might be getting somewhere, things had happened that prevented John from claiming what was his.
He had taken a step back for Seamus’s safety, but that didn’t mean he was giving the guy up. And it certainly didn’t mean that he was going to allow anyone to hurt that man he loved.
John spotted Donnell coming out of the barn. Since Yancy’s truck still sat in the driveway and Donnell had taken off after Yancy when the man ran out of the house, John assumed that the guy he was after was in the barn.
He headed in that direction.
Once again, John ignored the shouts behind him until they faded away as he stepped into the barn. The light was pretty good for a barn of this size. John was able to immediately spot Yancy leaning back against one of the doors about halfway down the row of horse stalls.
He stalked down the wide passageway. Yancy looked up just as John drove his fist into the man’s face. Yancy, as big as he was, went down like a ton of bricks. The horses in their stalls started to snort and puff as if they could feel the violence in the air.
Despite the anger riding him like a sledge hammer, John knew what would happen if the horses got upset. He had been raised on a farm and had experienced terror-filled horses at their worst.
John reached down and grabbed Yancy’s collar, yanking the man to his feet. Yancy stumbled after him as John dragged him back down the passageway to the large double doors. As soon as he reached them, John swung Yancy around in front of him then punched the man right in the face again.
Yancy went flying back, staggering as he tried to stop himself from falling. When he finally steadied himself, John expected the guy to demand an explanation for the punch. He didn’t expect Yancy to growl and come charging back at him.
John grunted as Yancy’s shoulder slammed into his stomach. His boots slid on the loose dirt as he tried to keep himself standing. He got in one good punch to Yancy’s kidneys before the man landed a fist in his face.
John could tell from the amount of blood filling his mouth that Yancy had split his lip wide open. He didn’t care because he could see the same fat lip on Yancy. Blood dripped down Yancy’s chin, staining his shirt.
“You stupid son of a bitch!” Yancy shouted.
John’s eyebrows shot up, surprise giving Yancy a chance to land another fist in his face. John retaliated by throwing a punch into Yancy’s stomach. “You hurt Seamus!” he shouted. “No one hurts Seamus.”
“You hurt him every fucking day!”
John blinked. “Wha—” This time when Yancy hit him, John hit the ground. He was too stunned to do anything else. “I would never hurt Seamus,” he snapped as he wiped the blood from his chin.
“Bullshit!” Yancy growled. “He loves you, and you won’t give him the time of day.”
“What in the hell are you talking about?”
Yancy’s eyes narrowed. “Oh, don’t act all innocent with me. I know exactly what you’ve done. Seamus told me everything.”
“What exactly did he tell you?” John asked as he slowly climbed to his feet and stepped back, putting space between him and the enraged bull of a man standing in front of him.
“He loved you. He would have given you everything. And you tossed him away like he was dirt beneath your feet.” John took another quick step back when Yancy’s lip curled back. “And because of you, Seamus has tossed away whatever he and I could have had together.”
“What?” John started to get a sinking feeling deep within his gut. “You and Seamus…?” He almost dropped to his knees as untold anguish swept through him. Seamus hadn’t waited for him. That’s why the man had taken off. He had someone else in his life.
“There is no more me and Seamus,” Yancy shouted. “Not anymore. He took one look at you and kicked me to the curb. I hope you’re happy with yourself, Sheriff. You’ve taken the only man I’ve ever loved away from me, and I’ll bet you won’t even claim him. Will you?”
Yancy’s eyes narrowed, his voice going low and lethal. “Did he ever mean anything to you at all? Did you ever really care about him, or was it all just some sick joke?”
“I love Seamus,” John whispered.
“You have a damn funny way of showing it.”
“You don’t understand,” John began. “I had to—”
“I don’t fucking care, John. You nearly destroyed Seamus by pretending that you wanted him then ignoring him. He was finally starting to come out of his shell, starting to put you behind him when you just had to walk back in and destroy whatever peace he had found.”
“I wasn’t pretending.”
“I don’t believe you!” Yancy shouted as his face became enraged again. When Yancy started toward him once more, his fist raised in the air, John took a hasty step back, bringing his own fist up.
Just as Yancy reached him and started to swing, John heard a loud shout from the direction of the house. He turned, knowing Seamus’s voice like he knew his own, only to let down his defenses.
Yancy’s large meaty fist slammed into the side of John’s face. Pain burst in his head. Lights exploded behind John’s eyes in a kaleidoscope of color as he dropped to the ground, and then everything went black.

The first thing that John felt was a searing pain that burned though his entire body. It felt like he had been hit by a truck—several times. The second thing he felt was the soft fingers gingerly stroking the side of his face.

John cracked one eye open and tried to open the other one, but it hurt too much. Besides, everything was blurry out of that eye. What he could see out of his one good eye, however, stole the breath right out of his lungs.

Seamus was leaning over the top of him. The tears in his eyes weren’t falling down his cheeks like the last time John had seen the man, but they were close. They gathered on the tips of his long thick eyelashes like raindrops.

“Seamus.” John blinked, surprised by how scratchy his voice sounded even to him.
“Hey, how are you feeling?”
John smirked then quickly wished he hadn’t when the split on his lip started bleeding again. He winced when Seamus raised a rag and wiped the blood away. “Guess I’m in worse shape than I thought I was.”
“That’s what happens when you take on a Mack truck.”
Speaking of Mack trucks…
John raised his head and looked around for the one that had run into him. He wasn’t thrilled to find Yancy standing several feet away, surrounded by two of Seamus’s brothers. His eyes were narrowed to tiny little slits as he stared at John, obviously wishing for John’s quick demise.
He almost stuck his tongue out at the man.
John groaned and dropped his head back down, thankful that Seamus had been cradling it with his thighs. He had already hit the ground enough times today. He didn’t relish doing it again.
“Can you stand?” Seamus asked.
John nodded grudgingly. He didn’t want to get up. This was the closest he had gotten to Seamus in weeks. He was perfectly happy right where he was. With Seamus’s help, John climbed to his feet. He wobbled just a bit when he did, but at least he was standing.
He went to reach for Seamus, only to have the man pull back from him. John’s eyes immediately went to Yancy, just knowing that the guy was laughing at him.
Yep, there was a firm smirk on Yancy’s face.
“Seamus,” he said as he turned back to the look at the man, “we need to talk.”
Never in all of his wildest dreams had John expected a sound to come out of Seamus’s mouth like the one he made when he started laughing. It was bitter and cold, and just a bit scary, especially coming from such a sweet man.
“I’ve heard that before, John.” Seamus shook his head. “I’m not buying it a second time.”
“No, Seamus, I’m serious. We need to talk.” He had so much to tell Seamus, so much to explain. He knew once he did that Seamus would understand, and hopefully forgive him.
“Go fuck yourself, John. We have nothing to talk about.”
John glanced over when he heard Yancy laugh. It wasn’t bitter and cold like Seamus’s laugh. It was happy. John just bet the man was thrilled with Seamus’s words.
But Seamus didn’t seem to be. He turned and glared at Yancy. “We have nothing to talk about either. You’ve made your decision.”
Before anyone could say anything else, Seamus spun on his heels and stalked off toward the house. John jerked when the door slammed shut behind Seamus.
Fucking peachy.
John rubbed his hand down his face, wincing when he rubbed right over the split in his lip. He wiped away the new drops of blood then planted his hands on his hips as he turned his gaze on the man he held responsible for all of this shit.
Maybe Yancy had been the one to make all of the threats against him in order to come between him and Seamus. It was as plausible an explanation as he had. John started to smile. It would also give John an excuse to slap the man in handcuffs and get him away from Seamus.
He always had assault on an officer if he needed more.
Knowing he was just coming for dinner, and out of respect for Mr. and Mrs. Blaecleah, John had locked his police stuff up in the trunk of his cruiser, along with his weapon. It was time to pull them out.
Ignoring the man standing by the barn staring at him, John walked over and unlocked his trunk. He pulled his gun out, checked to make sure that he had a full clip, then slid it into his holster. He buckled the holster around his waist then grabbed the rest of the items he would need to drive Yancy Butler out of his life.
John couldn’t help the smile that came to his face as he sauntered over to stand in front of Yancy, twirling his handcuffs around by his finger. “Yancy Butler, you’re under arrest. Please turn around and put your hands behind your back.”
“In your dreams, lawman.”
John arched an eyebrow. “Do you want me to add resisting arrest to the charges already against you?”
“What charges?”
“We’ll start with assaulting a police officer and go from there.”
“You threw the first punch, Riley.”
John’s smile widened. “Prove it.”
“Now look,” Rourke began as he took a step toward him. “You can’t do this.”
“This isn’t right, John,” Lachlan said.
“I am an officer of the law. I do not have to explain myself to you, but for the sake of your brother, I will. This little scuffle that just occurred between Yancy and me is not the only thing going on here. You’ve known me for a very long time, and I’ve always been straight with you. I’m asking you to step aside and let me do my job.”
Both brothers looked confused. They started glancing between Yancy and John. Yancy, on the other hand, was staring straight at John, drilling holes into him. John could tell that it wasn’t going to be easy to take the man in.
Maybe impossible.
“Are you going to come quietly, or do I need to call in backup?”
Yancy crossed his arms like he had no intention of going anywhere or allowing himself to be handcuffed. “Oh, you need to call in backup.”
Yancy spoke so matter-of-fact-like that John felt the corners of his lips twitch. Under normal circumstances, John would have found Yancy amusing. Unfortunately, these were not normal circumstances.
John knew he had no other choice. He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed the station. “Webber, this is Sheriff Riley. I need backup out at the Blaecleah Ranch. I have a suspect resisting arrest.”
Rourke reached over and covered the mouthpiece with his hand. “Don’t. Yancy will go quietly.”
“I will?”
“Yes. We’ll have Elijah meet you down at the station. Between his knowhow and our statements as to what really happened here, Elijah should have you out in a couple of hours. Resisting arrest in front of a bunch of officers isn’t the way to go. You, of all people, should know that.”
Yancy rolled his eyes as he held his arms out. “Fine, arrest me.”
John wasn’t stupid. He cuffed Yancy as quickly as he could before speaking to dispatch again. “Cancel that, Webber. The suspect is now in custody. I’ll be down at the station in about thirty minutes. Have an interrogation room waiting for me.”
“Are you sure, Sheriff?” Webber asked.
“I’m sure.”
“Ten-four, Sheriff.”
John hung up the phone and slid it back into his pocket. He grabbed Yancy by the arm and escorted him to the back of his cruiser. Once he put Yancy in the back, he glanced toward the house.
John really wished he had time to talk to Seamus, but maybe getting this threat hanging over his head taken away would enable him to be with Seamus even faster. He didn’t want to put Seamus in the limelight more than he already had.
John climbed into his car and started the engine. He could feel Yancy’s eyes boring into him as he backed up then drove down the driveway. The man really hated him, and as far as John was concerned, the feeling was completely mutual.
“You’re not going to get away with this, you know,” Yancy said from the backseat. “You might be able to arrest me, but I’m not one of your local yokels. I was a police detective for a very long time, and I know what you are doing is against the law.”
“Tell it to someone who cares.”
“You’ll lose your badge over this, Riley.”
“If it gets you away from Seamus, they can have my badge.”
“Is that what all of this is about?” Yancy started laughing. “Thanks to you, Seamus already doesn’t want anything to do with me.”
“You already said that.”
The laughter was instantly gone from Yancy’s voice. When he glanced in the rearview mirror, the anguish shining in Yancy’s eyes gave him pause. Would a man that was in that much pain over losing Seamus threaten his life?
The answer was a resounding
yes
.
“Have you been calling my house, Yancy?”
Yancy frowned. “Why in the hell would I call you?”
John couldn’t tell if the man was telling the truth or not. “To threaten me?”
“No.” Yancy chuckled again. “But I wish I had thought of it.”
John opened his mouth to question Yancy further when he heard the very distinctive crack of a rifle firing and a second later the tire on the cruiser blew out. He grabbed the steering wheel with both hands as the vehicle began to swerve, going all over the road.
John heard the back window shatter just before he lost control of the cruiser, and it flipped, tossing him into the air over and over again. When the vehicle finally stopped careening through the air, John was staring up at the floor of his truck, lying on the ceiling.
John lay there panting heavily, his body aching all over again. He heard a low groan from the back of the crushed vehicle and turned to see Yancy trying to lift his head. “Hey, man, are you okay?”
“Are we dead?”