Chapter Ten
Monty wasn’t exactly sure if it was a nightmare or his real life. Either way, he felt sore. Cracking one eye open, he scanned the way too bright room that thankfully, was his. He saw Harper in the corner asleep in a rocking chair that should be in the living room.
“Am I dead?” he asked wondering if he really had crawled through his truck window to get inside. That didn’t quite seem right. Neither did Harper being in his house. Let alone his room. “Did we fuck?”
Harper shifted and began rubbing her neck. “What do you remember from last night?”
“Night? Not much. Afternoon wasn’t exactly my best day ever.”
“Because of Deputy Sue?”
This caught him and he shot up in the bed only to hit a wall. Not a real one but the way his brain sloshed in his skull it might as well be. “You know about Sue?” he asked with a hard swallow.
“Oh…yes…and let’s table that discussion to when you’re body is flushed of alcohol.”
“If that ain’t a reason to become an alcoholic, I’ve never heard of one.”
“You have the constitution of a twelve year old.” Harper rocked back in the chair. “Shouldn’t take much.”
“You don’t know how much I drank.”
“True.” Harper nodded her head. “How many did you have?”
“It’s a bit fuzzy.” Monty rested his head in his hands. “What happened? Did I crawl through my truck window?”
“Yep.”
“Did I fall on my head?”
“Nope, you just did it to hug Deputy Andy while you cried.”
Monty flipped his head up and once again, sloshed his brain to the point he saw only a white light before it refocused. Deputy Andy?
“He and I had a long talk before he escorted me here.”
“Anything else I should know?”
“You’re more than a hard dick to me,” she confessed. “I figured now that you’re sober, you should know that.”
He wasn’t sure how to respond to that. “Is my mom home?”
“Yes.”
“Does she know you’re in here?”
“Yes.”
“And you were allowed to sleep here?”
“You were unconscious and I promised not to molest you,” she said as she looked to the side and nibbled on her lip. “Now that you’re awake, you need to go to work. Your dad says he expects at least ten hours out of you today.”
“That sounds about right.” Monty got up and when his blanket fell to the floor Harper’s lips curled into a smile. The cool breeze indicated why.
“I never said I would keep you dressed.”
Crossing the room, he stood proudly in front of her with his cock twitching and hardening as he approached. Leaning over, he put a hand on each of the arms of the rocking chair and trapped her.
“And you said you could have loved me.” This was said with a crack to her voice. “Were you as truthful as I was? Because if you could have loved me once, you may still be able to love me now.” A tear rested at the corner of her eye. “You showed me in one night, how your body could make me feel loved. What about you? Could you show me how I was supposed to be loved?”
Monty pushed off the chair and went to his dresser. After pulling his boxers and jeans on, he turned back to her to see the tears had escaped and were now trailing down her face. Holding his hands out, he waited until she took them and he pulled her up from the seat. She was so slight compared to him as he pulled her into a tight embrace. “We’re two fuck ups that people like to use. Seems like the perfect pair to be together.”
Running his hand over her curls, she cried into his shoulder and he couldn’t tell who was holding on to who harder. Neither was ready to let go, even after the knock on the door told them someone was coming in. Monty didn’t know why he needed Harper, but it seemed the feeling was mutual and for the first time in his life, he wasn’t going to let a woman go.
“Rusty is at the door,” his mother said. “He wanted to check on Harper after what happened last night.”
“What happened?” Monty said as he pulled back to look at Harper.
“The guy who ran me off the road—”
“Yahir?”
“Yes.” She glanced over her shoulder at his mom then back to him. “He drove past when Deputy Andy and I were talking at the truck and did this.” Harper held her fingers like a gun and pulled the trigger.
“You’re moving in here.” There was no way in hell, Harper was going anywhere without him at her side.
“Not here,” his mother chastised. “She can move in with Walt. He can help her with the case. Montgomery, I’ve heard enough about you over the years, but none of it took place in my home. You will be going to church this Sunday.”
Monty hadn’t missed a church service since he returned home after graduation. Why his mother had to threaten, he didn’t understand. He waved her out then focused on Harper. “Julio said something yesterday, didn’t he?”
“No, but he wanted to.”
“Go talk to Rusty, then I’ll take you over to the main house with Walt. Tonight, I’ll drive you up to get some of your stuff.” Monty pulled a t-shirt over his head.
“You have a ten hour day,” Harper protested. “I think I can—”
“It’s not up for debate. Not anymore.” Monty took her in his arms. “You said you wanted me to love you. This is it. You can go wherever you want, as long as I’m there to protect you. At least until this is over. There’s no way in hell, I’m going to let anything happen to my woman.”
* * * *
Julio sat with his head down in the courtroom.
He was taking a plea, no reason to draw this out any more than he had to, Harper assumed. She should be happy. The case was over or nearly over after his allocution, but it wasn’t enough. Turning her head, she looked back at Art Connelly standing with his arms crossed by the back wall. His face, hard and unforgiving.
Monty sat in the front row with his sister, brother, parents and Sunshine Parker holding tight to Melody’s hand. In the second row, the Winston family was being represented by Conrad’s sister Teddy, her children and his brother Patty. Behind them in the third row, sat the rest of the Long’s, including JT’s new wife Betsy and Clayton’s girlfriend Savannah.
“We need the families satisfied. A man behind bars will do that,” Art explained when she pushed to speak to Julio again, and was rejected by his lawyer for the third time. “Julio did it, there’s no question about it. Accept his allocution or I’ll accept your resignation.”
The terms weren’t up for negotiation. What did she have to offer the man? He was her boss and her ‘anonymous’ call to the Bar Association hadn’t given her any direction. She knew she should walk away. Federated Gas screwed up, they caused some damage, but they were compensating the Winstons’ and Longs by buying their cattle above market value. Sure, they wouldn’t be able to farm on the land for a few years, but the land was still theirs.
The win-win didn’t feel that way to Harper. She wanted Julio to be behind bars for the rest of his life. She didn’t feel he was a hapless victim in the whole thing. Not by a long shot. He was guilty, but he wasn’t the only one and that was bothersome to her. She felt like a two-year-old being smacked on her hand for reaching for more vegetables. They were healthy. She was doing the right thing. So why was she being punished?
“Ms. Maxwell, I see a plea deal has been struck between the defendant and your office,” Judge Herman said as he looked over the paperwork submitted.
“Yes, your Honor,” she replied after standing. “The defendant is pleading guilty to one count of first degree murder and a count of first degree assault and attempted murder.”
The first degree was the bothersome part. It carried the heaviest sentence, but it wasn’t premeditated. That was the itch right under the surface for Harper. It should be a second-degree charge, not first. Minor difference in this case, because he wasn’t going to be eligible for parole, but he didn’t even try to fight it. Every time she went to his lawyer to try to get information from him, she was turned away.
Art wasn’t any help, not with Dylan on one side and Sam on the other. Both blowing smoke up his ass. He didn’t see it. Not the bad advice. Dylan had gotten a handful of candidates elected, but as part of a team, never leading the charge. Somehow, he’d charmed Art into believing he would take him as far as his aspirations, then he’d go one step further. Then again, his charm was all he had. A cute ass, fast talking mouth and model looks. Thankfully, she learned she wanted more than surface details.
She sat as Julio told of how he attacked Melody and Conrad. Harper heard sniffing behind her, as he told of how Melody fell into the creek that had risen from recent rains. A growl came from Sunshine she believed, as Julio explained the swing and impact from the post-hole digger he used as a bat.
Harper could hear the crack of impact in her mind and she stared down to her desk. Over the past few weeks, she’d gotten to know Melody. The whole family really. She practically lived at the Long Ranch. She felt safe there. Even attending JT and Betsy’s wedding a week before as Monty’s date. Somehow, she’d shifted from a one-night-stand, to a hot date to finally, a part of the family. She was treated the same as all the other in-laws. Better than she had been by Dylan’s family.
As the judge read the sentence determined by her office, Harper felt a pain in her chest. They would get away with ordering a murder. The board members that didn’t even care why or how they acquired land. As long as people needed power, they were the provider and didn’t care the cost.
“Is that acceptable Ms. Maxwell?” Judge Herman asked.
Harper looked up then nodded her head yes.
Julio had been willing to deal. She knew it. That’s why they tried to kill him in jail. All she needed was time with him alone. A hand on her shoulder made her jump.
“Harp,” Monty said. “You okay?”
“Yeah, sorry.” She gathered her files and put them in her briefcase before entering the gallery to be with the rest of the family. She needed to shake hands and pretend she wasn’t disappointed.
“Do you have time to get some food?” Monty asked. “Bets and JT are heading out after this and we wanted to have one last big family meal.”
Harper glanced over at Art, who hadn’t moved from his position. “I better not.”
“You did what he wanted. What more does he expect from you?”
“What every man wants, but never gets,” Harper replied with a smirk. “Obedience.”
“Don’t get me twisted,” Monty said as his finger brushed against hers. “I like when you’re disobedient.”
“Is this about the handcuffs again?” Harper asked as she saddled up to his hip. “Because you know, you were the disobedient one then.”
“Congrats Harper,” Dylan said as he practically sandwiched her between the two men. “Always glad when justice wins out. Especially, when one of my best friends is successful.”
“Best friend?” Harper tried not to choke on the works.
“Do you prefer lover?” the word rolled off his tongue with a purr.
It grated like nails on a chalkboard and Harper covered her lips with her fingertips to squelch her vomit reflex.
“Best friend, lover, that almost sounds like you’re someone important,” Monty said. “I’m sure Harper appreciates a friend like you coming to support her.”
Dylan smiled as he put his arm around Harper’s shoulders. “We were better friends than lovers. Now that wasn’t it, because we were phenomenal lovers.”
If he said lover one more time, Harper would not be able to control the vomit. Thankfully, with a quick turn to her right, the recipient would be Dylan’s new khakis.
“I’m sure it was on your end,” Monty snipped at Dylan as he removed Dylan’s hand from Harper’s shoulder. “How about we stop confusing you getting your rocks off, to making love. You had sex, thank you for sharing. You’d been married for over six years. I’d hope at some point, your wife would put up with you for the five minutes it took for you to drop your pants and come. I’m going to attempt something that might not be possible right now.”
“Please, hit me, the bus to the prison isn’t full yet.”
“I was going to attempt a man to man conversation. Sadly, you can’t hold up your half, so I’m going to talk to you like the child you are. Stay away from Harper.”
“Or what?” Dylan challenged, but wasn’t fool enough to step into Monty’s personal space. “I’ve been looking into you Longs. Upstanding citizens, on paper at least.”
“Funny,” Monty said as he crossed his arms across his broad chest. “Guess I’m the total opposite of you.”
Dylan went from peacocking male to worried politician. He was allowed skeletons in his closet, but everyone had a limit and Harper had found more than she could stomach.
“Harper,” Art called, motioning her over with a hand.
She was glad to step away from the spray of testosterone because a few more minutes, and she might just jump Monty here and now. “I’ll let you two figure this out.” Harper waved her hand between Dylan and Monty, but not before making sure to call out and let Monty know she was thinking about him, “Montgomery.”
* * * *
Over the past few weeks, Monty had learned quite a bit about his girlfriend. First…that she was a girlfriend, not an overly friendly girl. Second, that no matter what was brought up about him, she seemed down for him. Although, she didn’t like that he a predilection to married women, she kinda got why he was the way he was. He’d never cheat on his woman, but who was he to stop them from doing what they wanted? He wasn’t the one breaking a vow, they were. At night, before they had to separate by his mom’s insisting, they’d talked about how he never saw them as women. A woman wouldn’t do that.
“What did you think about me?” she asked one night while she lay draped across his chest with her fingers drawing little circles. “I was wearing my wedding band.”
“I don’t know if I should admit this.”
“Why not?”
“You felt different to me. More lost. There was a part of me that wondered at first, if you’d lost your husband.” He tucked back a few curls, so he could take in her features. “Then when you asked me to make love to you, I knew whoever he was, he was still alive, but there had been a break. A big one. Grand Canyon sized break between you. I almost walked away.”
“What made you stay?” she asked as he cradled her face in his hand.
“You didn’t want my name. I let myself experience what I could never have with another woman.” Monty pulled his lips in and bit down. “It was stupid on my part. Thinking I could actually connect with a woman and not want more.”
“You think you’ll ever get enough?” she challenged as she crawled up his body to lightly kiss his lips.
“No,” he replied with a surety he’d never felt before.
Dylan made the mistake of using his shoulder to bump Monty as he made his way out of the courtroom.
“Oh, he didn’t just—” Miles growled.
Monty put his hand up to silence him. “We’ve got him hemmed up with a dozen federal charges, he just doesn’t know it yet.”
“But that motherfucker just—”
“We’re going to get him, just not in the courthouse. Trust me.” Monty nodded to Clay, he tapped JT and they popped out of the gallery, abandoning Savannah and Betsy with his Uncle Clevon. He was less interested in scolding him than his mother, thankfully.
“Should I pull the truck around?” Miles asked.
“That would be helpful. Only I’d pull it out around back.” Monty pushed through the double doors and peered down the hall for Harper. “I gotta make sure Harp is still good. She looked a little uneasy in there.”
Walking down the hall, he couldn’t see where she might have taken off to. A door was slightly cracked and the plaque on the wall said conference room. The voices floating into the hallway were raised, but he’d learned Arthur Connelly’s voice well enough from when he ran for governor.
“Then you’re fired,” Art’s voice said. “Clear out your office.”
“You fire me for this and I will bring you up on ethics charges with the Bar.”
“Try it. You’re a little girl with no pull.”
“I haven’t been a girl since grade school,” Harper challenged.
As much as Monty wanted to fight for her, this was her battle, so he stayed put.
“Don’t get me twisted with the yes ma’am I had to be when Dylan ran your campaign. You may have Sam and Federated in your pocket, but I’ve seen and know all. There are class actions pending against your office and you directly. Right now, my job is the only thing stopping me from disclosing.”
“This is a dangerous game and that compound you’re living on isn’t as safe as you think it is. Thousand of acres that soon, won’t be ranched at all. It would take months to find someone if they had an accident.”
Monty punched the door open and it slammed hard against the wall before flying back and hitting him in the shoulder. He didn’t even register the pain. Instead, his nostrils flared as he stared down the man who had done more than threatened Harper’s job. When he traveled into her life, the line had been crossed. “Harper, it’s time to go.” This wasn’t a suggestion.
“Mr. Long, I assume you were content with the verdict today,” Art’s politician voice was back.
“You know what they say about people that assume,” Monty countered as he picked up Harper’s briefcase. “JT is leaving soon.” With his arm around Harper, he led her from the room and back into the hallway.
By the front door, Clay stood with an anxious look on his face.
Shit, he forgot he was just going to give her a quick kiss and handle Dylan. “Will you be safe driving home?” he asked.
“What about lunc—” Harper covered her mouth with her hand and rushed to a restroom.
“We don’t have time,” Clay called.
“Let him go,” Monty said. Harper had to come first. Every time. He’d get his revenge soon enough.
“You know we can do this,” Clay said.
“It’s mine.”
People were starting to question the hallway conversation. They’d track down Dylan again. He couldn’t leave Harper alone. That’s why he needed to deal with him. Harper was his and no one would ever make her sad.
Five minutes later, Harper finally emerged.
Monty was sitting across from the restroom door on a bench. “You fall in?” he asked, but she wasn’t in a joking mood.
“I’ve never been that upset about a case.”
“Nerves?” he questioned since he assumed she’d vomited.
“Let’s hope so. Any chance we can skip lunch and go to a drug store?”
Monty got up and felt her forehead and cheeks. She wasn’t warm. If anything, she was cool. “I told Clay we probably wouldn’t make it, so sure.”
“In Mexico…” Harper began before covering her lips again and rushing back in the restroom.
Mexico? Why would she bring that up? It had been months ago. She couldn’t think she picked something up there. Even if she had, it would be gone by now. He knocked lightly on the door then pushed inside. He’d been sitting outside the restroom long enough if anyone else had been in there, they would be gone by now. “Harper?” he called and heard retching from the first stall. “Damn, it’s true what they say about women’s restrooms. They are much nicer. Although, you’re putting your own stank on it.”
“You’re—a fucking comedian,” she gasped before releasing another round in the toilet.
He turned on the sink and wet a few paper towels. Kneeling behind her, he placed them on the back of her neck. Even though she had her hair constrained in a tight French twist the vomiting was making curls pop from the sides and he brushed them away from her face when she fell against the side of the stall. “You know me,” he said as he sat across from her. “I bring joy and love into your life.”
“You also bring complications.”
“Me?” he replied as he held his hand to his chest. “Your life has been a rollercoaster of fun and excitement since I arrived.”
“About that night in Mexico,” she said. “I recall you using protection.”
“Well…I did and didn’t,” he confessed and now the Mexico comment made sense as he glanced at the toilet bowl and back to Harper. He should be freaking out. He wanted to be freaking out, but he wasn’t. Part of him thought fuck it, we’re in a courthouse let’s make this shit official.
Harper didn’t seem to be on the same path. “What do you mean you didn’t?” she asked with a bit of a growl.
“In my defense, you got me hard more than any other woman.”
“What do you mean you didn’t?” she repeated.
“I ran out. It’s half your fault you know?”
“Half my fault?” she snarled. “What if I never found you again? I’d be some knocked up—”
“We don’t know you’re knocked up,” he said with a bit too much hope in his voice. “Seriously. Tina made tofu last night. Let’s just hit the drug store before we get all worked up.”
“Why aren’t you freaking out?” Harper asked as he helped her up from the floor.
“Because it’s not all my fault,” he replied before getting a smack from Harper. “You’re too fucking hot and I’d kiss you, but you got a little puke on your face.”
* * * *
“I’m not telling my mother,” Harper stated plainly, as they sat in the unisex restroom at the drugstore. She hadn’t looked at the result, but she knew what it was. A missed period, she’d been too busy to notice it hadn’t happened, but it wasn’t the only sign. She’d been nauseous for over a week, but she’d stupidly attributed that to the lies she was typing up in Julio’s allocution.
“Have you told your mother about me?” Monty asked.
Harper had to decide what was a harder question to face. The test result or telling Monty she hadn’t even considered telling her mom about him. She loved him and she convinced herself she was ashamed of her mother not him. Still, it dug at her that she wasn’t screaming from the rooftops about him. With Dylan, she had them Friendbook official before the date ended. Since she moved down to the Long Ranch, nothing really mattered but her time with Monty.
The pink plus sat at the end of the plastic stick of destiny. She knew she was being overly dramatic, but a baby—she still had people threatening her life regularly. “Tell me nothing bad will happen to me,” she said as she held the stick in her hand.
“It’s positive isn’t it?”
“There were two others in the box,” she suggested. “Go buy me a few drinks and we can double and triple check.”
“I don’t need to,” he said as he sidled up behind her. “Harper, we’re going to have a baby.”
“I swear to God if you ask me to marry you, I’ll walk right out that door and never look back.”
“Marry you? Please, I’d never marry you.”
“And why the hell not?” she balked, indigent as she turned to face him.
The bastard was grinning from ear to ear.
How dare he? She was pissed and he should be. Neither of them were ready for a baby.
“And you call me bi-polar.” He laughed as he claimed her lips and trapped her against the sink. “You know this means we don’t have to use condoms anymore.”
“How are you so calm?” she asked. She didn’t know if it was the hormones, but she was going to blame it on them that’s for damn sure. Her body felt different somehow. She placed her hand over her abdomen, but it hadn’t expanded at all, but the rest of her began to buzz. A baby. She was having a baby.
“I’m calm because I’m with you. We’ve got enough shit to worry about, a baby is just another blessing you’ve given me.”
“Blessing?”
He took her face in his warm hands and caressed her lips before claiming them in a way that let her know everything would be all right. It was the same every night before he left her at his cousin’s. A kiss to tell her she was safe and the world was hers if she wanted it. No one made her feel the way Montgomery Long had. He’d made her world right and even as every part of her logical brain was telling her the world was crashing in around her, her heart said something very different.
“I haven’t done shit in the right order ever in my life,” Monty said. “I kinda hoped this would have been different, but I’m not upset it isn’t. Harp, you know I love you. This isn’t a one-night-stand baby. You asked me to make love to you. I did and this baby is the result. Very few people get that blessing.”
“I’m not telling your mother either,” she stated plainly.
“Yes, you are,” he said returning to the man who found a way to make every situation a joke as he placed his hand over her belly. “She’ll kick my ass, you’ve got body armor.”
“What about Art’s threat? Maybe I should just quit and drop all this Federated shit. It’s not just me anymore.”
“Art doesn’t have body armor and Loretta Long’s first grandchild will be more cherished and protected than anyone on the ranch.” Monty gathered their things. “Besides, the sexiest part of you is that you’ve never been intimidated by anyone. Plus, you’re a Long now, whether you marry me or not. Federated fucked with Long land and we kill over that.”