Gannon: McCray Bruin Bear Shifter Romance Read online

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locations, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  World Castle Publishing, LLC

  Pensacola, Florida

  Copyright © Kathi S. Barton 2020

  Paperback ISBN: 9781951642501

  eBook ISBN: 9781951642518

  First Edition World Castle Publishing, LLC, March 23, 2020

  http://www.worldcastlepublishing.com

  Licensing Notes

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in articles and reviews.

  Cover: Karen Fuller

  Editor: Maxine Bringenberg

  Chapter 1

  “Aunt Mel, can you show me how to use these things?” Mel looked back at her niece and saw that she was holding something that shouldn’t be held by an eight-year-old. “It looks like something I saw in a movie one time. They chopped off a man’s head with it. It rolled right over to the kids, too. Teenagers are stupid, I think.”

  “You might be right on that. But if you don’t put that cut off tool down, we’re going to have a problem. I don’t mean you and me, but your daddy and me. Just lay it back on the big machine there, and I’ll answer your questions about it.” When she put it atop her laser cutter, Mel smiled at her. “Your daddy was a dork when he was a teenager. Not me. I was the perfect picture of a child, and I never got into any trouble.”

  “Bull hockey.” She’d seen Daniel standing behind Mary, and had said that to get him breathing again. “Mary, what have I told you, repeatedly, about picking up tools out here when Mel is working?”

  “You said that I should be more responsible than she is. But Daddy, Aunt Mel said that I can’t learn anything if I don’t get to touch, see, or even use something.” Mel laughed and looked at her brother. “She’s very smart about her tools too. Aunt Mel told me that if I picked anything up, it had better be unplugged and have the safety on the plug. I looked before picking it up. I promise.”

  “Yes, well, I didn’t see that.” Daniel kissed her on the cheek as he sent Mary into the house for lunch. “Are you staying for lunch?”

  “Are you having anything besides fu-fu food? Like meat and potatoes?” He said that they were having a salad with salmon on it. “Fu-fu food. Why can’t you have a burger with something like potato salad or French fries like normal people?”

  “I’m trying to instill good eating habits in my children. Unlike their aunt has. Did you really get them to try anchovies, Mel? I swear to you, you’re a bad influence on all three of them.” She just stared at him. “I was joking. I feed them healthy meals so that when you’re in charge of them, they can have whatever junk food you give them to balance it out.”

  “We rarely eat junk food, as you call it when they’re with me. The night that they came to spend the weekend with me, we had a nice big healthy bowl of popcorn with hot pepper powder all over it, and no butter.” Daniel just shook his head. “When are you leaving to go to the McCray’s? I’m sorry that I can’t go with you.”

  “No, you’re not sorry. You’re thrilled to have to stay here cooped up in this building working. Speaking of that, I told Demi that you weren’t coming, and she said that if you weren’t with us when we arrived, she was coming for you.” Mel just pulled the welder mask over her face and turned on the soldering iron to use. “I know you can hear me still, Mel. I don’t think I’d mess with this family about this. They’re going to get us out of debt with what they’ve asked us to do. Especially you.”

  “I’m paying things off, Daniel.” She pulled the mask up and put her equipment down to turn to him. “I love you dearly, I really do. Your children mean everything to me. I would…. I think that I’m only alive because of the four of you. But I will tell you right now, I can’t do this much longer and remain sane. It’s too much for me. People terrify me.”

  When he pulled her to him for a hug, she went to him willingly. But she was afraid that he realized that she wasn’t hugging him back. It was difficult to have people hug her. Much harder for her to hug them back.

  “Mel, I have a deal for you. And don’t turn me down before I ask you. You come with me for a couple of days—that’s all, just two of them. Then whenever you want them while I’m still there, you can come and get the kids and keep them for the entire weekend. All of them, if that’s what you want.” She looked up at him, suspicious of him giving her something that she wanted so desperately. “I promise you too; I won’t even put any restrictions on them. Including what you do with them and feed them.”

  “So, I can take them to the movies with me.” He asked her if she’d want to do that. “No. Never. But for them, I would. I’d do just about anything for them and with them if it made them love me.”

  “Oh, Mel, they love you right now. Even if you didn’t take them to places, or get them food that would melt a normal person. My kids have never thought of you as anything but their much loved aunt. I promise you, honey. For as much as you love them, they love you that much, if not more.” She didn’t say anything but did lower her head. “You don’t believe me, do you?”

  “I know what I am, Daniel. I know, too, what I look like. I see people staring at me. Looking at me like I’m some sort of freak.” Daniel, as he usually did, told her that wasn’t true. “Look at me, Daniel. My face is a mess.”

  “Melody Austin, you need to get yourself a better mirror if that’s all you see. You’re the most beautiful creature—woman—that I’ve ever seen. Well, except for Demi McCray. Did you see that woman? My goodness, I should have used her good looks when I was a kid to have as a wet dream.” She smacked him on the arm. “I’m joking. She’s scary, don’t you think?”

  “I don’t like her.” She pulled away from him and turned back to what she’d been doing. “She is scary, but she’s also nosey and rude. I don’t like the way she thinks that her shit doesn’t stink.”

  Mel reached into her pocket and put a buck in the cursing jar on her shelf. It wasn’t very full, not as full as she thought it would have been had there been someone out there with her at all times. They did it, mostly her, when there was someone around to hear it. If she’d had to put something in it when she was alone, she’d never be able to afford her rent, not to mention food.

  “When are you leaving?” He told her that they were going to a hotel in Vegas tonight, and leaving first thing in the morning. “I’ll have to meet you there then. I have to finish this door with the specs on it that Demi asked for before I leave here.”

  “Are you going to crap out on me?” She said that she’d let him know for sure before he left there. “I’m going to hold you to that. I’m also going to tell the kids the deal that we made. I know you well enough to know that you won’t be able to turn them down.”

  “If you tell them, they’ll be out here for the rest of their time here. And that will only delay me getting finished. Up to you, but if I’m pestered too much by them, I won’t be there for a while.” He nodded and said he’d hold her to it. Mel looked at him. “You know what this is going to cost me, don’t you? You know that I’m going to be a mess the entire time that I’m there. I’m afraid, Daniel. Every time someone gets too close to me, I’m afraid that they’re going to hurt me.”

  “I know, honey. I know. I also know that you’ve yet to tell me what else happened t
hat day. You getting shot and left for dead doesn’t explain your fear of people, nor the scarring on your face. I wish that you’d tell someone about it.” She turned away again. “Mel, you know that I’d never judge you or even tell you that you were anything but lucky to be alive.”

  “I know that. But why am I? Alive, I mean.” She tried to smile at him and knew that it came out as tight as it felt on her face. “Go away and leave me to it. The way it’s working now. I’m going to be another few hours getting caught up for Miss “I would like this on the door too, please.”

  “What is it you’re doing?” She knew what he was doing—changing the subject so that she’d not dwell too much on their conversation. “She has some good ideas. I know you’ve had a lot of extra work cut out for it, but I think that her ideas are right up there with what you wanted. Did I tell you that they’ve gotten rid of the cafeteria idea? That was a smart idea you had with not having one.”

  “She only wants to butter me up by going with my idea so that I’ll change things around on the door.” Daniel asked her if she believed that. “No, but it’s a lot of extra work that she’s asking for after we gave her a quote for what the doors were going to cost.”

  “I never thought of that. Yeah, that is something that we’ll have to add to future contracts. That the deal is based on the doors that we show them at the time. Or we have to jack up the prices. How much longer is it going to take you to make the doors now?” She told him. “Christ, Mel, that’s a lot of time for each of the doors. Will it be all right with the pricing that we gave them?”

  “Yes. Mostly because I make the doors myself, I wonder if they know that. Not that it matters, but anyway, yes, I have the parts here to modify the other four that I have done, but if she keeps making me have to go back and redo them, it’s going to be cheaper for me to tell her to fuck off. Much more satisfying too.” They both laughed. “I can make it work. The extra three hours per door is going to go faster once I get the hang of putting it together. And you’re right, her ideas have been really good. This modification is to make sure that the deadbolt to the wall is longer than the standard size. I told her that I put in four inches now, and she wondered if there was a way to make them longer to lock into the frame. It’s a good idea, no busting the door in, but like I said, it’s costly in man hours for me.”

  After he left her, Mel pulled her equipment back on and started working on the bolt. She had made it so that the door would lock into place when the alarm was triggered, but having the bolt longer and going through the entire width of the door, plus ten more inches into the wall, would make it safer for the kids.

  Mel worked through lunch and dinner. Once in a while, one of the kids came out to ask her something. Mel always put down her work to talk to them. They would also shove something at her—a bottle of water, a granola bar, or something. Usually, she’d take a bite of one of those nasty things and toss it, but if they hung around, she’d have to finish it. Mel couldn’t stand food that was good for her.

  “Aunt Mel, I have something I need to talk to you about.” She looked at Holly when she sat on the stool where she was working and told her to ask away. “I’m sixteen now, and I was wondering if you would help me pick out a dress for the winter dance.”

  Everything in her seemed to freeze up. Winter dance meant they were getting the school ready. It meant that they would be decorating. Mel watched as she saw her niece’s lips move, but nothing was moving through the air to her ears. The sting to her face had her inhaling sharply, and her heart beating again.

  “Are you all right?” She looked at Dan, Daniel’s fourteen-year-old son, standing between her and Holly. “Aunt Mel, are you all right now? Christ loves a cat. You scared us to death.”

  “I’m all right. I just zoned out for a minute.” Dan just looked at her. “I’m fine. You have a nice slap there for a veggie eating man.”

  He laughed, just as she hoped that he would. Holly looked a little freaked out still, but she hugged them both. When she thought that she could speak again, she held them tighter so that they’d not see her face.

  “Don’t tell your dad. He thinks I’m perfect.” Holly hugged her tightly. “I’m sorry that I scared you. It was never my intention. But you guys know that I’m weird, right? I just got all caught up in thinking about things that I shouldn’t have.”

  “We love you, Aunt Mel. We know that you hurt—even when you’re with us, we can see it.” She told them that she loved them as well and let them go. She looked at Holly when she took her hand into hers. It was everything that she could do not to take her hand back. “You’re the bravest person I know. You’ve done more since you were in the hospital than anyone ever did before. You’re making something that happened to you into something that will help others that could have been hurt the same way.”

  “Thank you.” Holly nodded, and then Dan hugged her again. When they both moved back, he told her that he was sorry he’d hit her. “It’s all right, Dan. I know that you were trying very hard to keep me from hyperventilating again. You did the right thing.”

  Daniel came out to tell them they were getting ready to go to the hotel. When he asked her if she was all right, Dan told her that his aunt was perfect. Daniel looked at her when the other two went into the house to finish loading stuff in the car.

  “I’ll be there in a couple of days at the most. But don’t try and talk me into staying more, Daniel. I’m doing this for you and no one else. All right?” He nodded and thanked her. “You might want to remember that if anything happens to me, if I have a meltdown in front of our clients, I did try and warn you.”

  “I’ll remember. Thank you, Mel. I promise you, nothing will happen to you.”

  She nodded and went back to work. She knew that he stood there for several minutes. Mel could feel him looking at her. But after a while, not only did he leave her, but he told her that he loved her.

  Not letting her tears blind her anymore, she wiped them off and started working. The sooner she got this done, the sooner she could see her nieces and nephew to bring them home with her. They would be the only thing, she knew, that would keep her from ending her fucking miserable life.

  ~*~

  Gannon didn’t know who he was picking up other than the kids and maybe one or two adults. He thought it was a ploy to get him out of his home, but really, he was ready to hit the town running anyway. His list was finally complete enough that his house was starting to fill out around the edges. Which to him meant that he not only had towels so that he’d not have to wash one every day to use but sheets for all the beds, baking stuff if he was inclined to do that, as well as throw pillows that his mom had helped him pick out.

  The two couches that he ordered had been delivered yesterday. He was thrilled that the evening had been cold enough out that he was able to light a fire. It was both homey, he thought, as well as cozy. Gannon was loving the house more and more daily.

  When the plane landed, he stood there waiting for the family he was to pick up to disembark. It had frazzled him a little to know that not only did Demi have her own plane, but Meadow’s family had one as well. They were both so stinking rich that he felt intimidated every time he was around them when they were talking about what they had in the way of money.

  He saw the little girl first. Her name, if he remembered correctly, was Mary. The other two, who he knew were Holly and Dan, got off next. They stood with their sister at the bottom of the stairs, waiting for the others to disembark. When the father came down the stairs, he was loaded down with bags, but Dan ran up the stairs of the plane and helped him down with them. Laughing as Dan handed each of his sisters something that he’d taken from his dad, Gannon thought that he could really like that kid. He came into the airport with nothing in his arms as he’d pawned it off on his sisters. He thought that he’d just found his favorite Austin.

  “You must be the Austin family.” He and Daniel shook hands.
After that, he introduced his children to him. Gannon shook all their hands too. “I have a car for you to use. All the things that you sent ahead are already at the house. Demi said to tell you that she has the staff in place, and all you need to worry about is having dinner with them tonight. If you feel like it.”

  “I’m starving to death. My belly thinks that my throat has been struck through.” Gannon glanced at the little girl, then at her dad, who was mortified at what the child had said. “I want something to eat, please. I’m sorry, Daddy.”

  “Yes, well, I’m thinking that I might have to have a couple of rules to go over with your aunt when she has you. Mary, tell Mr. McCray that you’re sorry.”

  Gannon looked at Mary, who winked at him when she said that she was sorry.

  Gannon changed his mind—Mary was going to be his favorite to hang out with. She was sassy and adorable. When he suggested that they hit a pizza joint on the way to the house, they all looked at their dad. This, he would bet, was a real treat for these kids.

  “I’m hungry too, so we’ll have pizza. But, and I can’t stress this enough, there will be no trying to outdo the others with how hot they make it. All right?” The kids moaned and groaned, but they agreed. Gannon wondered about that but decided to see if they could order the pizza to sit in the back for a minute or two so that it wouldn’t burn the kids when they ate. “Mr. McCray, thank you for this. It’s been a very long morning for us.”

  “It’s fine.” He helped them load everything in the back of the limo. He was to bring Daniel up to date on the school project, as well as give him the information about the house they were going to be staying in. “The ground level is nearly up, and all the walls for the basement are finished and standing now. Most of the wiring had to be redone, but that wasn’t on our end but that of the contractor. He is working overtime to catch up with his mistake.”

  “Yes, when I was looking at the video of the place, I did wonder why there were no outlets on that level. I’m glad that Mrs. McCray is sending me progress reports so that we can be up to speed on things as they go, instead of finding things when the building is nearly finished.” Gannon agreed with him and pulled out his notes. “I’m so glad to see that someone else writes themselves notes to go by. My sister, she’ll be coming in a few days, has never taken a list to the grocery store since she’s been going. Of course, now that she can order online and have it delivered, it’s worked out well for her. I don’t like it, but it’s working for her.”