Page 8 of Weston

He was telling anyone who would listen that he’d okayed for him to live with him.Anyone who knew him knew it for a lie, but the people who were still supporting his mother and grandfather were starting up again.Talking like it would be something that he’d do, invite someone to stay then tell them no.Hank also knew where his parents were and wasn’t talking.They could hold him in the cell for a bit longer because of that, but he didn’t know what he’d do when the man got out.He, as his aunt said, had his cheese slip off his cracker.

Pulling out his laptop to work while the Watson family planned—what he didn’t know, but he was going to make sure that he had bail money when it was necessary—he decided that he could get a little work done before he had to go home.Just as he was pulling up a file, Rogen came to sit with him.

“I want to move here.With you.”He told her that would be fine with him and did she want the house he’d built.“Just like that, you’ll be all right with me moving in?What about my murdering brother?Do you take that into account, too?”

“First, he’s not your brother.He was never related to you or any of you.And only to Sandy marginally.Second, I’ve been in love with you since I first laid eyes on you and could care less if you have fifty murderers in your family.It’s you I love, and the others can suck off if they wish.”He laughed at the expression on her face.“Did you expect me to just turn you down because of one idiot?Danny won’t be around much longer, and that’s about all I can stand of him.Now, do you want the house or not?I’m willing to rebuild or buy anything that you want.”

“I want the house.What if I told you that the others have decided to move here as well?By the way, I’m worried about Belinda.She said it’s like having her family murdered all over again with this coming out.”Weston said he could understand that, and he was fine with all of them living around here.“Will your family give them a good deal on the houses that they’re renting out for us?I’m to understand that Sunny owns them all.”

“According to Sunny, we own them as a family.And yes, if she doesn’t give them to them, I’ll help them buy them.I have enough money for that.”Rogen nodded.“What else did you want to tell me or ask me?You look like you have a lot to say.”

“I don’t, not really.I’m worried.What if he gets out?Danny won’t last long if he does.It won’t be a matter of if he gets killed but who gets to him first to do the deed.He’s done enough to us as it is, and for some reason, him sitting in a jail cell and being taken care of pisses me off to no end.”He told her what he’d heard from his brother.“So they’re not giving in to his demands.I would hope that they don’t do that anyway.”

“He’s not getting any kind of treatment.Like when his meal is ready, they’ll wait until it’s cold before they serve it to him.No extra blankets either.His cot has a missing leg, and they have ignoredhis requests for a new one.Little things that are making his like hell being in jail.Oh, and the phone is broken.He can’t call anyone, meaning he can’t call the family for help with getting himself an attorney, either.And Archie is making sure that he’s getting nothing in return for his ‘help’ on having you jailed.He said this is all your fault.”

“How the hell is this all my fault?”He explained what he’d heard from the office.“So because my sister couldn’t give him a child, even though he’d been told about that before, it’s my fault that he had to kill my brother and his kids?That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.What else is he saying?”

“It’s funny, really.He thinks that your brothers are only farmers because they’re too stupid to do anything else.Also, and this one I find really funny, you go to him for advice on how to do your job.He said he should be getting a consulting fee or something.He’s actually telling people that one the most.And, he needs for you to get him some money so that he can grease some palms in the jail so he can get things going.The thing he’s requested most is a cell phone.I don’t even want to think about what he’d do if he had one of them.”

“He’d hire a hit on us all.”He didn’t even blink at her when she suggested that was what he’d do.Because that was exactly what he was doing even in the jail system.“He wants us dead.”

“Just you.For now.”She nodded and asked for him to tell her.“He believes that you’re the one that controls the family and that they do what you tell them.That’s the reason that Sandy wouldn’t do what he wanted, and the others agreed.He said that you should have bought her out so that she could stay at home with him and cater to his every need.Children were mentioned, but he said that he’s manly enough to be able to make it work with Sandy having them a few kids.He’s talking about welfare and the benefits that are there for him to get if he has a lot of children.The man is off his noodle if you ask me.”

“Or he’s really smart.Could he be playing that he’s really stupid to get out of jail?I’ve heard it happen before.”Weston said that he’d not thought of that.“I think we might want to think about anything and everything concerning him.If we don’t, then he’s going to make some waves that even killing him won’t take away.”

“I’ll have my brothers look into things.You might have a brilliant idea.”She sat there long enough for him to talk to his brother, Jameson.He was a young attorney, just passing his bar in the last few months, but he was smart in that he never let anything get by him.He had an idea that Rogen might be onto something and left to go and look into things.“He said he likes the way that you think.Outside the box, so to speak.”

“I’ve been around a lot of people that will try their best to take advantage of you.It’s why I’ve been very careful of what I allow humans to do and not do.My friendliness only goes so far before I cut them off.”He never would have thought of her as jaded and said as much to her.“I don’t know that I’d call me jaded, but more like I’m not as trusting as most are.Sandy is.Or she was very trusting.I don’t think any of us will be that much after all this.”

They talked about the plans he had for the office he was in.She had some ideas too about how to make improvements around town that wouldn’t cost so much.Getting people involved in their own town was something that she had her heart set on in her other town.She didn’t think it was so different here, either.

“Have a yard décor contest for the holidays.That’s one way to get people involved.There doesn’t have to be a big money value, just their picture in the paper with their home.A lot of people take pride in their homes that no one around them understands.Planting a few flowers even will go a long way in making the streets look good for people coming around when you’re flirting for new businesses.”He wrote down all the things that she was saying.“Also, if you have decorations stored away for street lights and stuff, people will help you out with those too.Have a parade or something.That’ll bring in other family members just to see their cousin or something on a big float.It doesn’t cost all that much, and it’s fun for the families.”

She had a lot of good ideas on how to make a town spruced up.He was all for that.It had occurred to him that gardens, too, would be a good way to get people involved.Having a farmersmarket too would certainly bring in some fun, too.As he was making notes, he noticed that the Watsons had grown quiet.Asking him what was going on, she told him that they were going to find them places to work and were going over the newspaper that was in his living room.Weston thought that it was as good as any place to start.

~*~

It was the first time in longer than she could remember that Rogen was out running with someone other than just her family.Having the Sheppards out with them, all of them running through the wooded area, was like being free of the burden—at times, it felt like that—but just being free of being part human.

After running for a good solid hour, she was ready to stretch out and enjoy the sun beating down on her skin.The first thing she did when she found herself a nice spot was stretch out her cat and her claws.Even getting dirt in them didn’t make her any less satisfied with what she’d been able to do.

“Where did you go?”She smiled when she heard from her sister, Sandy.“I have to be honest with you, Rog.This is the first time I’ve felt like a real person in a long time.Even being a cat, I feel like I could take on the world.I’m glad that Weston suggested it.”

“I am too, but I think that he only meant for the two of us to go, but I believe he’s having the time of his life as well.We all needed this.”Sandy agreed with her.“I was just thinking about how seldom we get to do this at home.Toby said it had been years since he’d been running.I know what he means.I shift to give my cat some freedom, but nothing like this.No wonder they don’t want to leave this area.I don’t either.”

There were nearly two hundred acres around the houses that they could roam in.The Sheppards all had homes going up around the area, too, but it was mostly trees and deep scrub they were playing in.The pond was a long, rambling one that seemed to be in the middle of all the land that her cat had played in for nearly twenty minutes before running after Archie when he came and splashed her in the face.It was a treat that she’d not expected and loved all the more because of it.

“I have a question for you to ask Weston.”She told Sandy that she could ask him if she wanted something.“I could, but he’d just tell me to ask you or something, and I want this in the worst sort of way.I want to have the butler’s home behind your house.I don’t want a big house, I don’t want to live far from you, and I think that it’s the perfect place for me to be.Deep enough in the woods so that no one will bother me either.”

“I don’t care if you take it, but it really is off the beaten path.Are you sure you’d rather not have a little house nearer to town?”She told her why she didn’t want to live in the town.“I doubt very much people will care that you were married to Danny, honey.They’re going to be more than likely ready to take you under their wing rather than blame you for something that you had nothing to do with.”

“I just want to be alone for a while.I’m not saying that I want to live out my life in solitude, but for now, I want to…I guess you could call it reflect on what I’ve done to put me inthis mood.He really did take us all for a ride, didn’t he?”He had to.And the worst part was, he’d profited off their sorrow.“I was sort of afraid that Belinda would blame me for all this, but she told me that I was supposed to get that notion out of my head.That he did this all on his own, and that’s all there is to it.”

She had said as much to her about Sandy as well.And that he would have done it to another family had it not been theirs but with them, he was caught before it got too far.He would have killed more of them if not for the fact that Weston had figured out what he’d been up to.She would have been—

“I’m going to bond with Weston as soon as possible.Life is too short for me to be waiting for the right time.We both love each other, so what the hell am I waiting on.”She, like Weston, had fallen in love quickly.Probably because they were both cats, she didn’t know, but she wanted to be with him for the rest of her life and damn this waiting game to see if it was going to last.“I’ve been a fool in waiting around for the other shoe to drop.He’s been so sweet in waiting for me to come around.Not once has he pressured me, either.Just being my mate and waiting on me to shit or get off the pot.”

“You have such a way with words, love.”They both laughed as she was lying in the sun drenched field.Curling into a nice ball of fur, she rolled to her back so that the sun was hitting her in all the right places.“I see you now.Can I join you?That looks so inviting.”

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