Tanner Read online

  “No, she won’t.” He wondered what she’d say to him if he decided to leave town and not return until Giyanna was gone. “It wouldn’t work, and you know that. When the fates have your life planned out, it matters little when you get together, but you know that you will.” He did, but said nothing else. His mind was going over the things that he still had to finish up. Not just his home, but there were a few things that he wanted to take care of here as well. Tanner had his life planned out too, right down to what he was going to have for dinner tonight and tomorrow. But this, having a mate, he knew as well as Chris did that it would consume him when they came together. “You have such a shitty outlook in all this. Why is that?” He told her that he didn’t know, but he wasn’t keen on having a mate. And asked her to stop reading his mind. “I don’t have to tell you what she’ll bring to you. Or how you’re going to feel when she comes into your life, do I?” “You know me and what I’ve had going on since I was a kid, so you know what sort of things I’m dealing with.” She said that she didn’t. “Chris, I might be the youngest, but I think that I’m more set in my ways than even Joe is. I don’t care for change. It was the most difficult thing I’ve ever done, quitting my job and working for Noah. I can’t give a woman, any woman, what she will want. I’m not built like that.” “And what is it, Tanner, that you think a woman might want from you other than your undying love?” When he didn’t have an answer for her, she didn’t continue her train of thought. “If you could please tell Bridgett not to come home. No matter if she wants to face her demons or not, that would be disastrous.” “Are you mad at me?” She said that she wasn’t, just disappointed, but not mad. “I don’t want you disappointed either. But I know what I am.” “Yes, and so do I. All right then. We’re planning a large picnic for the summer. You all will be invited as well. And we hope to be notified when Noelle has her babies. It’s soon, correct?” He told her in two weeks. “Good. Let me know, and I’ll come out to see her. Thanks again, Tanner.” Then she hung up. He felt all twisted up inside when he couldn’t give her what she wanted. A mate would want children, and he just couldn’t give that to her. Not like the others could. As he worked through the rest of the morning, he tried hard not to think about what was going on. His mate was here. And she was an attorney. He decided to do a little digging on his own about Rogan McGowan, and see what he could find out to either hurt or help their case. It was funny really—he’d never thought of himself as not being able to take a side on something like this. He knew just what he wanted as soon as he’d been approached with a case. But this one, he knew that it was going to change a lot of lives, his included. “Sir, there is a Mr. McGowan to see you.” He looked at his cook and friend, Mabel, his heart doing a little jump. He asked her where her husband was. “He’s gone to the market, and the young man said to tell you that he’s Tyrrell, not Rogan.” “Send him in, please.” She said that she would, and would bring refreshments as well since he’d worked through lunch again. “I’m sorry. Did you go have some?”

  “I did. And I’ve made you a bowl of beef and vegetable soup. You can have it later. If you don’t piss this young man off. He looks like he’s had a rough time of it. I’m sure he has too.” Tanner asked her why she’d think that. “He’s related to that dreadful man, isn’t he? Poor man. I’d hate to have him on my coattails. You need to know something about him, just gossip mind, but I can tell you.” Tanner thanked her and shut off the monitor on his computer when she went to get Tyrrell. Tyrrell looked just like he thought he would except for the hair. While Rogan’s was silvery white as the clouds and nasty stringy, Tyrrell’s was as red as the roses that were blooming in his mother’s garden. He had a moment to wonder what his own mate’s would look like, and squashed that thought down. Not now, he told himself. “Hello, Mr. Calhoun. My name, as you know, is Tyrrell—Rogan McGowan is my brother. And I assure you, we’re nothing alike.” They both laughed as they shook hands. “I’m new to this area and state, but I do have a federal license that takes me pretty much where I need to go. I work for the government. Mostly to do with paperwork, but I wanted to let you know that I won’t be representing him without a license.” “He’s got a lot on his plate right now. And, I would imagine, you as well if you’re taking this on.” He said that he knew that. “I’m not going to be involved in this. First, he had an issue with a public defender—I think you know who that is.” He said that it was his sort of brother-in-law. “Yes, that’s him. Phillip Chester is now safe, as is Bridgett. The second thing, along with a list of other items that they’ve put on his docket, is that he destroyed a public housing home and made a public nuisance of himself.” “Yes, I called and got Bridgett’s address from your sister-in-law before coming here. My sister, Giyanna, came to the States to second chair with me. I’m going to be honest with you, sir, I have no desire to be here any more than Bridgett did.” He asked why he was here then. “My sister and I haven’t seen each other for a very long time. Just once since we turned seventeen. She went off to Ireland to be with a relative, and I stuck around to get my law degree here. This is a way for us to—sort of, I guess—write off a way to see each other and have a little time together. We don’t want him out of jail any more than anyone else might. Rogan is and always will be a bully.” “I’ve been reading up on him. He’s a bit more than that, I’d say. But as for you and your your sister, that’s a very long time to not see someone you’re related to, I think. My entire family lives near here. It can be both a blessing and a pain in the butt most of the time. But I do love them.” He said he knew about pains in the butt. “What can I do for you?” “I was hoping that you could help Giyanna and I out with the judges. As I have said, neither of us wants to help Rogan out, but we’re stuck with him as a brother. But I do have to go through the motions so that he can’t say he didn’t get a fair trial. That would just piss him off, and he’d take it out on a lot of people.” He said he understood. “Also, we don’t know the area, and we were kind of hoping you could steer us in the right directions of a nice place to have a meal. It doesn’t have to be fancy, but Giyanna will want cloth napkins. It’s been a sort of requirement of hers since we were kids when a nice dinner was suggested.” “She sounds like a stickler.” He said that she was usually laid back, but he’d not seen her in ages. “I take it she’s here?” “Yes, today as a matter of fact. She’s resting now at the local B&B. It was a long flight.” Tanner told him that was good that they were staying so close. “Why don’t you come to the house tonight? The two of you can meet my family—they’re a little on the large size—and then we can figure out a plan for the two of you to find a nice place. There are several in Columbus, but around here, about all we have is burgers and pizza. The one restaurant that we do have, they’re not open on Mondays. But the food is good and filling.” “We don’t want to impose. We can just have dinner at the pizza place.” Tanner told him he insisted. “Well, if you’re sure no one will mind, then yes, we’d love to have dinner with you. Is there anything I can bring? Not that I know what it would be, but I’m sure I can bring something.” “No, that’s all right. Just come casual. We are a big family, as I said, and they’re very casual about things. My sister-in-law is due in two weeks, so we’re sort of on pins and needles too.” He nodded. “I’ll send a car for you, and that way you won’t get lost. It’ll be at my parents’ house. They’ll be happy to see you.” After he left, Tanner wondered what the hell was wrong with him. He’d just invited his mate to meet his family. A mate that he’d not met yet. Laying his head on the desk, he was still there when his cook cleared her throat. He took the soup and thanked her. He was so fucked right now. Tanner had no idea where to begin. But changing his attitude might be a good place to start, he thought as he ate his soup.

  Chapter 2

  Giyanna wasn’t sure that this was a good idea. Having dinner with strangers was never anything that she would do at home. Hell, she thought, she didn’t even enjoy having dinner with people that she did know anymore. She looked at he
r brother in the mirror, and saw that he was in jeans and a polo shirt. “Tanner said casual.” She told him this was as casual as she had with her. “Don’t you ever just let go? I mean, I bet you’ve not had a good time since we spent that week together before you left home.” “That was a lot of fun, wasn’t it? I mean, I think that I put on ten pounds for all the junk food that we ate.” She hugged him and asked him if she looked all right. “I want to make a good first impression. Maybe that’ll get us in good with the judges here because of how important this family is. And then he can say that he’s guilty no matter what we’ve sort of thrown at him, and we can all go home.” “I doubt very much that anyone will want him to be anything but guilty, don’t you? And how do you know that the Calhouns are important?” She told him that she’d looked them up. “I did as well, but I never got that they were important. Just rich and well known.” “I also talked to Bridgett. She told me that they have a fundraiser every year for the kids around here. For backpacks and coats and gloves. And not only that, but for the food pantry as well as a lot of other charities that they run and donate to. One of them is a teacher, and Bridgett’s son was in his class. Bridgett said that he has a closet full of food that the kids can take from when they don’t have enough to eat.” He asked her how many times her kids had eaten from it. “I don’t know, but I would say a great deal. Rogan has been taking her food card from her until she got a post office box to have it mailed to. They refill it on the first of the month, but he’d lose the card after emptying it, and she’d have to apply for another one.” “He’s a bastard.” Giyanna nodded her agreement and looked at herself in the mirror again. “You look lovely, spring like. And you look very good in green with all your red hair. Not that you’ve changed that much, but you’ve grown up, and I guess in my excitement to see you, I didn’t think of that. In my mind you were still going to be that kid that told me to make something of myself before you got on that plane.” “It’s funny, I was thinking the same thing before I saw you. Then I realized that you’d be older and might not be the same as before. I have no idea what I assumed would change, but I didn’t care for my thoughts.” Tyrrell told her that he loved her. “And I love you too. We’ve been apart for too long, and I would like to change that.” “Me too. Since you’re going back home when this is finished, perhaps I’ll go there to see you once in a while.” She nodded, and he could see the tears as they filled her eyes. “Don’t cry, Giyanna. I still can’t stand to see you cry.” “Ty, what are we going to do if we get him off from all these charges? He’ll hurt her if he manages to find her. And I don’t know about you, but I’m good at what I do. Even though I’ll only be second chair with you, we can’t fuck this up—we’ll look bad if we do. And he’ll be free to do whatever it is that he does to people. No one around here likes him.” He said he had a plan. “You do? Let’s hear it. I’m game for anything about now.” “You don’t second chair with me.” Giyanna just stared at him. “Let me finish. You’ll be there with us, but I think that we should ask Tanner to help us out. He hates him as much as we do, and if we do fuck up, he’ll be there to save us.” “You mean for him to take the fall.” He shook his head. “He’s not going to do this. I’m not even sure that I’d want him to. He’s a pillar of this community. If he is as good as Bridgett says he is, then I don’t want people to dislike him simply because we don’t want to get Rogan out of jail.” “I don’t know what else to do, Giyanna. Rogan strongly believes that the state has him on trumped up charges. And he’s pissed off. And you know Rogan when he’s pissed off. He tends to hurt those around him.” She shivered, thinking of the last time she’d seen him. “I won’t let him hurt you again. I will do everything within my power to make sure that he doesn’t. But we have to do something, or he’s going to terrorize this town because they’ve had the nerve to arrest him.” “He will, and we both know it. Then he’ll wonder why everyone is so upset with him when he gets caught again. Did you hear what he did to Phillip? He stabbed him with a pen right there in the frigging jail. He hit Phillip with it so hard he had to have surgery to remove it from the bone. What sort of person does that shit and thinks that it’s all right?” Ty told her that they had to do something. “No, we don’t. Now I have an idea. Why don’t you and I hire this Tanner person to be his attorney, and we’re his second chair. That way, when the shit hits the fan with Rogan, and we both know that it will, then perhaps this guy will be able to take him down. You said he was a big man.” “I did, but don’t you think that’s a little unfair? To Rogan, not Tanner. I think he can handle himself.” She laughed with him. “He’s a wolf, I think I told you that. And he’ll have his beast on his side. That’s more than you and I would have if Rogan gets mad. And you know as well as I that it doesn’t take much for him to get upset. It doesn’t even have to be centered around him. He’s always had a short fuse.” “Not to mention, Tanner could know things that we can’t about Rogan. They’ve lived in the same town for ages, and he’d know what sort of person Rogan is. We’ve not seen him in a decade—not that I think Rogan has changed all that much, not for the better anyway—but we don’t know our brother all that well, and he should be represented by a local.” She knew that they were stretching the truth of this. And there was a good likelihood that the man wouldn’t help them out. She’d not. She would be telling Rogan that he was on his own and that he wasn’t worth the effort anyone would put forth for him. They were both worried, she was at least, and wanted the same thing as Tyrrell. But they had no way of getting it. “I’ll talk to Tanner about it at dinner.” Giyanna hugged her brother and grabbed her sweater. To her it was still chilly out, but to Tyrrell, it was nice and warm. “You’ll back me up on this? Tell him how much we dislike Rogan and want him to stay just where he is?”