What kind of hell had he gotten himself into this time?
When Billy awoke, he was alone in bed. Alone, except for the dull throbbing behind his eyes. Grinding the balls of his hands into his eye sockets, he tried to ease the pressure. As far as hangovers went, it was far from the worst he’d had, but add it to the total silence in the place and it was irritating.
Squinting against the light, he took stock. He was still splayed out cattywampus across the bed. All around him, sheets were twisted and clothes were awry. Only one pillow remained on the bed, and Roxie’s belt was looped around the lamp on the nightstand.
All in all, the room looked like it had been struck by a tornado.
He supposed that was a good way to describe her.
The silence in the place practically screamed at him. He didn’t have to get up to check. Not only had she left the bed, she’d left the apartment. His arm fell limply onto the mattress. That familiar sense of anger and resignation settled in his chest. Couldn’t she even share a cup of coffee with him before he cleared out?
Although…
He vaguely recalled the phone ringing at some ungodly hour. “Ah, hell.”
He scrubbed a hand over his face. That was right. Something about having to meet her sisters.
Lifting his head, he glared at the clock on the bedside table. Big red digital numbers read 10:42. Considering they hadn’t fallen asleep until after four, it felt like the crack of dawn.
He sighed.
She’d left. They’d had a good time and they hadn’t hurt each other’s feelings too badly. By all rights, he should hit the road and be thankful that he’d gotten away with only a headache this time.
“Son of a bitch,” he grumbled.
Tossing back the covers, he sat upright. His head didn’t wobble too badly. Away from the slit of light blazing through the window, it was actually better.
Making his way to the open door, he gathered up what clothes were his. Roxie had already made an initial swipe through, he could tell. Her clothes had been kicked towards the hamper in the open closet. A path led to the living room, although a crinkly wrapper sat on the floor like some clue for a forensics expert. He tossed it in the waste basket as he passed, and his teeth ground. Two condoms had already been disposed of, along with a wadded up Kleenex.
His headache kicked him right between the eyes. Grabbing his jeans off the floor, he continued onward, his grumpy mood deteriorating.
A shower made him feel more like himself, but finding Roxie’s birth control pills in the medicine cabinet didn’t help his temper one bit. She really didn’t want him getting close, did she? In any way, shape, or form.
The road was calling louder and louder, as was the need for coffee. Heading down a floor, he put on fresh clothes. He’d better drop by Charlie’s today, because it didn’t look like his stay was going to be very long this time. The sex had been great, but all the same old problems were there.
Swinging his duffel bag over his shoulder, he headed out, trying to remember where the closest McDonalds or Dunkin’ Donuts was. His footsteps slowed on the front stoop, though, when he saw the silver Acura parked in front of the bar. It stood out like a sore thumb in this part of town, all waxed and detailed.
If there was one thing he could read, it was cars. He’d bet money he knew who owned that one.
His brow furrowed as he looked at the bar. His head told him he should keep on going. He’d already slipped up. If he had any self-preservation instincts at all, he wouldn’t let himself get sucked in again. He knew all that, yet he found himself moving towards The Ruckus. He’d always been a glutton for punishment, and he was curious. So sue me.
He tested the front door and wasn’t surprised when it swung right open. Stepping inside, he pulled off his sunglasses and waited for his vision to adjust.
“Billy!”
It wasn’t Roxie’s voice, but it was as he suspected. Three copies of her were seated around a table, their dark heads bent together conspiratorially.
Man, it was still enough to stop him in his tracks.
Standing, one of the sisters came over to welcome him. She looked sharp and pressed in a designer dress, and she smelled like a dream. It made him glad he’d showered and changed. The Harley T-shirt he wore wasn’t high fashion, but it didn’t reek of smoke and his jeans hadn’t spent the night on the floor.
The floor of her identical triplet’s bedroom…
“Lexie?” he guessed.
“I’m so glad you’re still here.”
He shook her hand, evaluating her. Up close, he’d thought there’d be more differences between them. There were details, small changes, but overall they looked so much alike it was uncanny. “That your car outside?” he asked.
She nodded.
“There’s a good engine under that hood.”
The look on her face brightened. Women were like men that way. They all had a soft spot for their rides.
“It runs like a dream,” she admitted.
“I bet you look good driving it, too.”
He was satisfied when that moony-eyed expression returned, the one she’d given him last night before all hell had broken loose.
“Come in. Join us.” Smiling, she drifted backwards until she bumped against her chair.
Maxie had turned to watch, but the expression on her face was different. She was frowning as she stared at the duffel bag he carried over his shoulder. “Are you leaving?”
“Thinking about it.” He dumped his load on another table, finding room between the overturned chairs.
“But we just met you. We haven’t had a chance to talk.”
No, they hadn’t. His gaze caught Roxie’s. She looked surprised to see him and not all that happy about the idea of swapping stories.
He spotted donuts on the bar, and a bit of the devil rose up inside him. “I smell coffee.”
He stripped off his jacket, but suddenly felt like one of those Chippendale dancers when he felt them all staring at him. Maxie and Lexie were open in their wonder, but Roxie’s look had turned into more of a glare. She tried to cover it with calm composure, but the expression riled him enough to want to shake her up.
Heading straight for her, he caught her by the chin and gave her a hard, hot kiss. It was quick, but long enough for him to feel her lips soften in response.
And long enough for him to harden somewhere else.
“Morning, babe,” he said, his voice gravelly. “You ran away fast.”
She wasn’t the only one at the table who inhaled sharply.
“Not fair,” she hissed after him.
“All’s fair,” he said, tapping her on the nose.
Continuing along, he circled the bar. The scent of java was pulling at him like a finish line. He was happy when he found the pot half-full. He kept his head down as he searched out a mug, but he was watching the table closely. Skeeter was right. There wasn’t a word passed between them, but there was a whole lot of conversation happening over there.
Lexie and Maxie were asking silent questions, and Roxie was tossing back frustrated glares that clearly said, “Yes, he stayed the night. What’s it to you?”
It was a lot to him.
He took a drink of coffee and the cobwebs in his head started to pull away.
Leaning forward, he braced his elbows atop the bar. You’d think he would have gotten used to the three of them last night, but he just couldn’t stop staring. They were so unbelievably beautiful, but it was more than their identical looks. Roxie had sisters. She had blood. He’d always thought they’d been the same—loners against the world—but that wasn’t true anymore.
Here, they weren’t the oddity.
He was the one thing not like the others.
Maxie leaned her chin against the top of her chair. She’d twisted all the way around to watch him, but her gaze faltered when he caught it. “Hi,” she managed to say.
With as much tension as was floating around, that was enough to make a smile pull at his lips. “Hi back at ya.”
“I’m Maxie.”
“I know.” He blew her a kiss. “Now.”
She blushed bright red. “Did you have a good time last night?”
He coughed as his coffee went down the wrong pipe, and his gaze shot straight to Roxie. She was gaping at her sister like she wanted to yank on her hair. He’d had a frickin’ fantastic time—when his lover hadn’t been pulling away from him.
Maxie’s blush turned impossibly brighter. “I didn’t mean… The party. Did you have a good time at the party?”
She was shy, and it was fascinating to watch. She might have her sister’s face, but Roxie had never been shy a day in her life.
“It was a nice send-off for Charlie,” he said, letting her off the hook.
“How do you know him?” she asked.
Roxie’s fingernails began ticking rhythmically against her coffee mug. She wasn’t comfortable having him here, and she didn’t like her sisters asking questions. The set of her shoulders said so. So did the press of her lips and the cock of her foot under the table. Billy took pleasure in the fact that he could still get under her skin.
Lord knew she could still scratch him bone deep.
“I used to work here,” he said.
“At The Ruckus?”
He looked around the darkened room. With the neon lights off and the booths empty, it seemed more like a library than a drinking hole. Still, the memories were here. “Charlie gave me my first job when I really needed it.”
Lexie leaned forward, curiosity plain on her face. “Was that before or after you and Roxie got married?”
The drumming of Roxie’s fingernails got faster.
Aha. So she’d shared a bit of their backstory with her sisters, but not all of it.
God, he hoped not all of it.
“Before,” he confessed. Those memories haunting the place became more vivid, and his voice dropped. “But she was in the picture.”
Front and center. He didn’t like thinking back to a time when she hadn’t been in his life.
“What do you do now?” Maxie asked.
He took another drink of coffee to give himself a moment. It was good and strong, but not bitter. Another three or four cups and he’d be human again.
“I’m a mechanic.”
That finally got a response out of Roxie. Her chair scraped against the floor as she pushed it back and stood. “He’s being modest. He’s a top-of-the-line gearhead, but truth is, he can fix anything.”
Everything but them. His jaw clenched.
“I’m working on stock cars right now,” he shared.
“Wow,” Maxie said.
He winked at her. “You say that a lot.”
The blush that had almost disappeared came roaring back, and he chuckled. She was sweet. He liked that.
Roxie, apparently, didn’t. Hers heels clomped across the hardwood floor until she stood directly between the two of them. Thrusting out her empty coffee cup, she looked at him sternly. “Don’t try to charm my sisters.”
“I’m not trying, baby, I am charming.” He let one eyebrow lift, but freshened her cup anyway.
“They have boyfriends.”
Their gazes met in silent challenge, but there was something more in her eyes… a kind of fear…
Billy paused. He knew her well. To some, she might seem tough and rowdy, but there was an insecure side to her, too. Every foster care kid had one.
“I know which one is you, Roxie,” he said, for her ears only. He wouldn’t play on that fear, no matter what happened between them. “I’m not looking to upgrade.”
Her gaze dropped to her cup of coffee, but instead of drinking it, she ran her finger around the lip of the cup.
“Believe me, I know which one runs on high octane fuel,” he said softly.
That round-and-round motion hitched, and her gaze lifted. Her eyes were big and brown, and he saw how her pupils dilated. Desire set inside him like a racer wanting the checkered flag. That little romp last night hadn’t been nearly enough to keep him going. He’d been running on fumes for too long.
And last night had been different. It had just been… more.
In the wee hours of the darkness, she hadn’t been able to keep her emotions locked down so tight. The sex between them had always been hot, but the way they’d touched only hours ago? It had been more like in the beginning, when the need to connect had been overpowering.
“Want to go back upstairs and wake each other up properly?” he asked.
Her fingers tightened around her mug, and her teeth sunk into her lower lip. She leaned forward over the bar. She had him poised, holding his breath, but then she pulled back with her long hair swinging. “I can’t.”
She took a deep breath, and his gaze dropped to the clingy top she wore.
“You can. You really can.”
She glanced over her shoulder. Seeing they were being watched, she flicked a finger at the donut box, opening it. “I can’t leave my sisters,” she said as she plucked out a chocolate treat.
She left him feeling hungry as she walked back to the table, hips swaying.
Billy didn’t know if the growl that came out of him originated in his throat or in his belly. Following her lead, he grabbed a bear claw.
At least she hadn’t been running away this morning; she’d been running to something.
He looked over all the pretty dark heads.
Something important.
His headache eased, and his stomach rumbled. Taking a bite of the pastry, he fed it.
What were they all doing here, anyway? It had to be for more than breakfast. He and Roxie had had a late night workout, but none of them had left the bar early. Glancing over to the table, he paid a bit more attention to all the papers that were spread atop it. There were folders upon folders, newspaper clippings, and even a laptop all powered up.
The heavy feeling in his head moved down to his gut. He knew of only one reason why the three of them might be doing research. “What are you gals up to?” he asked.
“Just a little project,” Roxie said. She crossed her skinny-jean-clad legs, but the top one bopped up and down suspiciously.
Little? He didn’t think so.
Maxie took a sip of orange juice. “We’re looking for the rest of our family.”
Billy eased back and folded his arms over his chest. “How many more of you do you think are out there?”
“Not more of us—” Roxie broke off and sent a startled look at Lexie.
Their eyes rounded to the size of saucers. It was clear they hadn’t considered that possibility, but then Lexie’s eyes narrowed. She cocked her head, and a sly smile settled on her lips. “You’re terrible, Billy.”
“You are.” Maxie let out a laugh. “There couldn’t be…”
They’d probably thought the same thing before there were three of them.
She shook her head decisively. “We’re looking for our parents.”
And boom, there it was.
That bad feeling settled into his empty stomach.
“Birth parents,” Lexie said, a bit more subdued.
“We’re looking for answers,” Roxie said, her voice flat.
Billy tossed the bear claw in the trash. He wasn’t feeling hungry anymore.
“Be careful with that,” he said, dropping all pretense of joking. Answers could be painful, and they could just open up more wounds rather than provide the illusive “closure” all the pundits liked to talk about.
“Why?” Maxie asked.
For the first time, he worried about her sweetness. “The answers you get might not be the ones you want.”
Roxie gestured with her chocolate donut. She hadn’t taken more than a bite. “At this point, I’d be happy with anything, even another clue.”
He glanced around the table. So this wasn’t a new venture for them; they’d clearly been at this for a while. “What do you have?”
“Not much.” Lexie tapped her pen against the table. “The private investigator Cam hired has run into a brick wall. The paperwork behind our adoption is a mess. It may have been a closed adoption, but he can’t get confirmation on that.”
“Zac hasn’t made it any further either,” Maxie added. “He’s trying to pull some strings, but we were minors. The system takes that seriously.”
“The system,” Roxie snarled. “Social Services couldn’t find their asses with both hands.”
It echoed the thought running through Billy’s own head. He had little faith in anything official. He had too many scars to trust otherwise.
“We filled out their forms weeks ago, but they haven’t gotten us anything. I’ve called and I’ve emailed. I swear they lost our files and don’t want to tell us.”
Lost. He glanced around the table. That was what the four of them had in common. Suddenly, he didn’t feel so much like an outsider.
“Were you two adopted?” he asked.
Both of Roxie’s sisters nodded.
“By different families. I was adopted by the Underhills, and Maxie was taken in by the Millers.”
He frowned. All three of them had been separated? What the hell? Even back then, it hadn’t been Social Services’ policy to break up siblings. Probably another reason for the paperwork delay. Someone was sensing a lawsuit.
Frustrated, Roxie pushed at the laptop that sat on the table. “The online search has been a disaster.”
“No luck?” He rounded the bar and took the open chair next to her. Turning it around, he straddled it.
“Who can tell? There are so many sites, it’s hard to know where to start. Once we put the identical triplet thing out there, we get swarmed with well-wishers and looky-loos wanting more of the dirty details. So many people posted comments on the boards, I can’t find any piece of information that might be valuable.”
Billy grunted, swiping his hand through his hair. That headache was coming back with a vengeance. “You need to hold some things back. Don’t show all your cards at once.”
Roxie turned in her seat and that bouncing leg of hers brushed against his knee. “What do you mean?”
His gut began to twist. This was not something he wanted to get in the middle of. “Post that you’re sisters looking for your family. Maybe you could even post the triplet thing, but make the people who respond give you more. The pieces of info that you hold back could be the biggest confirmations you have that someone is telling you the truth—when and if they contact you.”
He wrapped his hand around her knee when her leg bumped into him again. He didn’t want to burst any bubbles, but they needed to be more careful. If they charged right into this without preparing themselves, they could get hurt. “You girls know how the world works. The moneygrubbers show up where people are the most desperate. They know how badly you want this, and they’ll use that desire against you.”
“So what are we supposed to do?” Maxie asked. “We don’t want to stop looking.”
Hell, now he felt like the Grinch. He could feel the ache of their wanting in the air. He could practically taste it.
“There are other places you can look than just online.”
He suddenly became aware of Roxie. She’d gone quiet. Very quiet.
And her leg had stopped bouncing.
“Where?” It wasn’t just one of them. Their voices blended as they all asked at the same time.
Shit. Billy shifted uncomfortably. Now he knew exactly what kind of hell he’d gotten himself into. It was hell times three.
“Libraries, hospitals, churches…” He looked deliberately at her sisters. “How did you find each other?”
Maxie’s eyes widened. “Didn’t you see it?”
“See what?”
“The billboard on I-67 just before the bridge. It’s an advertisement for The Ruckus. Roxie posed for it.”
Billy slowly drew around to her. “Do I even want to ask?”
“Hey, I look good, and it brought in a boatload of new customers to the bar.” She examined her nails. “We put up a billboard for the bar, and Lexie came to see what it was all about.”
“Really?” her triplet said. “That’s all you’re going to say about it?”
“Come on, Miss Marketing Maven. Admit it. It’s a good ad.”
“Whoa, ladies.” Billy held out his arms, feeling like a ref in a women’s MMA match.
Lexie smiled wearily and rubbed her temple. “It is eye-catching. My entire family thought it was me up there on the big screen.”
Roxie inhaled sharply, and both her feet hit the floor. Billy looked at her face quickly. He recognized one of her ideas forming and braced himself.
“We should go see it,” she declared. “We’ve never been there, not together.”
Energy humming, she leaned forward. “We should go there this morning.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Maxie said, looking at her watch. “I have to meet Zac soon. We need to head back to Indigo Falls for his shift.”
“Well then, we need to get hoppin’.” Slapping the table, Roxie bounded upright. “Let’s do this.”
As far as her ideas went, this one seemed pretty tame. And it reminded Billy he had other plans—like running in the opposite direction. The walls were starting to press in, and the cursor on that damn screen was winking at him. He’d expected uncomfortable conversation when he’d walked in The Ruckus’s door, but nothing like this.
“I suppose we’d have time if we went now, and it is kind of important to us as sisters.” Maxie looked at the website they’d pulled up on the computer. “Could you show Roxie what you’re talking about later today, Billy? Maybe help us word things better?”
“And these other resources,” Lexie said. “Could you make a list?”
Damn it. He’d been so close to escaping.
He looked at the hopeful expressions on their faces. The last thing he wanted to get involved in was another search. He should leave. He had his own life now, and he needed to get back to it.
But he couldn’t let them down.
“Sure,” he muttered. He ruffled his hair. He’d keep it simple. Quick and dirty. What was another kick in the gut, anyway?
He felt Roxie’s stare boring into him. She looked just about as comfortable with the idea as he felt. Wrapping his hands around the back of the chair, he pushed himself to his feet. “I’ll let you gals get going.”
Maxie jumped up. “What? No, you have to come with us. You haven’t seen it.”
Lexie grinned. “You could take our picture with it—if you can stop staring at it long enough to snap a shot.”
The sisters laughed, but Billy grimaced. That sounded like a challenge. “Dear God. How bad is this thing?”
Roxie sighed and pushed her chair under the table. “The word you’re looking for, honey, is ‘good’. It’s really, really good.”