Page 48 of Talon
She didn’t know why, but that one gesture, simple as it was, convinced her to go with the others.She stood, took her plate to the sink, and followed the crowd.
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TalonwatchedasMadisonreluctantly followed everyone else out to the fire pit, then got to work.He wanted to go out with her, to be with her as she processed the implications of what her father’s best friend murdering him might mean for her, but he had things to get done too.All he could do was finish the job so he could get back to her.
“What’s on your mind that’s got you scowling like someone’s about to steal your dessert?”Steele asked as he gathered dishes from the table and carried them to the sink.
“Thinking.Jake got word back that they identified the Jane Doe.It’s Morgan’s wife.I’ve also been considering Morgan and why he’s harassing Madison, and what I can do to stop it.”Talon lifted his shoulders and got to work.He carried a load to the sink, then drained the water they’d been using while they cooked because it had gone cold and ran fresh hot water in the sink before he started washing.The whole time, he thought about Morgan and their conundrum with him.
"Son of a bitch!"Talon said to himself as he was elbow deep in soapy water.
"What?"Steele asked.
"I was thinking about Morgan's wife and Madison's Dad.If we can get enough evidence that there's more to both deaths than there appears to be then maybe we can get past who he paid off or blackmailed or whatever he did to get them to look the other way."
"How do you figure?"Steele asked as he grabbed a towel and started drying the dishes Talon had washed.
"Because the two crimes happened in different states.That makes the issue federal, right?We just need to find someone with the FBI we can convince to look at it."
Steele stopped what he was doing and stood staring at Talon, still holding the pan he’d picked up to dry.It took Talon a moment to realize his brother had stopped moving.It wasn’t until he turned to drop handful of flatware into the bin on the drainer that he saw Steele staring at him.
“What?”
Steele glanced around the room, making sure they were alone.“You do know I’m FBI, right?”
“Fuck.Really?”
“Really man.”Steele resumed drying and putting away dishes, while Talon went back to washing them.“I haven’t paid that much attention to what’s going on with your girl.Only enough to know she’s been stalked and harassed by this guy.I thought Jake said he had an alibi for the wife’s death?”
“He did, he said he was at his place in South Dakota, but we’ve since learned that he can somehow make it look like he’s at his home, but be elsewhere.And if he can do it to harass Madison, why couldn’t he do the same to kill off the wife he no longer wants?”
“Point,” Steele said as he came back from putting something away.“I’ll talk to Jake about putting everything together, then send it over to my handler.I can’t promise they’ll do anything, but we’ll try.”
“Thanks, man.I don’t want to have to do it, but I’m willing to take matters into my own hands, if you know what I mean, if it means I can be sure she’s safe.”
“I’ve seen it often enough to know what you mean, I even feel the same way about some of my family, but damn, I’m not ready to tie myself down like the rest of you seem so eager to do.”Steele shook his head.
Talon shrugged.“I wasn’t looking for it, but when the right person lands in my lap, I’m not about to shove her off on the floor because I’d rather swing my dick a little longer.”He turned his attention back to the sink, draining the water and wiping down the counter.He wasn’t debating with Steele the pros and cons of being in a relationship or chasing what Steele had been known to call ‘wild pussy’.
It wasn’t that Talon hadn’t had his share, or sewed his share of wild oats, but as much as he enjoyed those days, he’d been growing tired of them too.When you also factored in that he lived way out here on the ranch, it made partying and sleeping around a little less appealing because he too often found himself waking hung over in some less than idea place.The last time, he’d woken up in the bed of his truck nearly a hundred miles from home with no memory of how he’d gotten there and a bear snuffling around the pickup.
He'd managed to stay off the bear’s radar as he made his way into the cab, then left, and he’d sworn then and there that he would never end up in that situation, or anything like it, ever again.That meant no more drinking until he blacked out and not drinking at all around people he wasn’t sure he could trust, since he was about seventy-five percent sure he hadn’t gotten out there on his own.
Shaking his head and turning his thoughts back to what he was doing, Talon turned and surveyed the kitchen, looking for anything they might have missed, then he turned out the lights and together, he and Steele headed for the fire pit to join the others.
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Madisonsatinoneof the folding chairs that one of the men, Watt she thought he’d said his name was, had gotten for her.Sitting around the fire, she mostly listened as people talked around her, her gaze on the flames slowly licking up the side of one of the logs.There was lots of talk of babies and family.While she didn’t dislike babies, she hadn’t had a lot of experience with them and there was no way she was ready for one of her own, still she couldn’t help but be happy for Ghost and Robyn, in no small part because they seemed so happy themselves.
She looked around the space and noticed that all of the other women, not that there were a lot of them, just four others, were sitting on the laps of their respective men.She frowned a moment, wondering if this was some ritual she hadn’t heard of, but then again, they had been doing the same when she’d arrived at the ranch the night before, and no one acted as if anything was out of the ordinary, at least for them.She watched the group, wondering if Talon would want her to do the same when they reached that point in their relationship, or if they had already reached that point.
Not for the first time she wondered if calling him had been a mistake.Had she been selfish in getting Talon and all of these innocent people involved in her trouble?She stared into the growing flames as she thought about her life and the choices she’d made, wondering if she’d maybe be better off to just give in to Billy and see what he wanted.
He'd been Dad’s best friend, surely he wouldn’t hurt her, would he?
“Hey, Mads,” Talon came up behind her, dropped his hands on her shoulders and bent to kiss the top of her head.“You enjoying yourself?”
“Yeah.I am.”She wasn’t lying and if she could get out of her own head more, she’d be enjoying herself even more.
