Second Chance for Love Read online

  “She’s good, I’m great, love being married to her,” he said. He was beaming widely. “You should come out to the ranch one of these nights, and I’ll throw a couple pounds of beef on the grill. We’ll have some cold ones and just catch up. She’s off, somewhere other than here. I’m here with my brother, trying to drown some of his woes for the night. Ali’s actually going to come rescue our asses later so I don’t have to try and figure out how to get us home once he’s smashed.”

  “Ah yes, Gwen said that Ali and Genny were off doing some super-secret girl stuff tonight. Gwen’s supposed to be here soon.” She shrugged and then smirked. “Oh lord. Travis is a lightweight.” She hadn’t spoken to Joshua’s other brothers in far too long, so she was assuming that it was Travis since he was back in town.

  “Oh, it’s not Travis, and these…” He held up the drinks. “These are just the warm up. We’re planning on getting into the heavy shit soon enough. We figured that since it was still packed in here, we’d behave until more of these good folks were half-gunned and then really get to work on destroying our livers. You should come over and say hi. We’re in the corner near the horns.” He pointed to the large set of bull horns mounted on the wall. “We’ll buy you a drink too if you feel like popping over. Anyway, I gotta run. He’ll kill me if I don’t get him this beer soon. Good seeing you, Mercy.” With a huge grin, he headed into the crowd.

  Mercy shook her head. Huh, she now was curious as all get out as to which brother it was if not Travis. She finished her dance and then moved off through the crowds and toward the horns. She hated being alone, so why not? Mercy stopped dead when she saw the man with Joshua. Holy hell he was...stunning... That was one word that came to mind. She frowned. She recognized him. He was a little older than her, but wasn’t he married? Dear God in heaven, it was Brant Carver. The man she had crushed on for far too long.

  “Hey, guys,” she said happily, and took a seat beside Joshua when he pushed it out for her, thanking him as she sank down. “So, I’m trying to remember which brother you are.” She was teasing him because she knew how it would look if she was able to pinpoint which of the Carver brothers he was from a distance.

  “Brant, you remember Mercy Jenkins. Mercy, this is big brother, Brant. Not the oldest, but close enough to count since we rarely see Frank Junior around these parts anymore.”

  “I remember her,” Brant said. He was watching her intently. “Good to see you, Mercy. Heard you were kicking around these parts from some very nosy, very opinionated females that seem to have invaded parts of my life.”

  “You better not be referring to my wife, bro.”

  “Hardly, Joshua. I like Ali. How she ever ended up settling for the likes of you, I’ll never know.” Brant was smirking at his brother, who was glaring in return. “No, I’m referring to Gwen. Damn female seems to think that if she’s happy, every single guy on the planet needs to become hitched to one of her friends. She whipped the list out the other night and started listing off attributes like they were horses.”

  Mercy laughed. “Well, I’m certain I wasn’t on that list.” Mercy had some serious issues, thanks to her ex, about relationships and marriage. “Because Gwen knows that I just plain don’t do marriage. Burnt once, took me five years to get free. Besides, I thought you were married. Your high school sweetheart, if I remember correctly?”

  His expression tightened and he ended up tipping his beer bottle to his lips, drinking the nearly full bottle down in one go. “I’m going to get a refill,” he grunted. Getting to his feet, he didn’t spare her a look before disappearing into the crowd.

  Mercy knew that look well. She’d worn it for the last five freaking years. “Damn. Why didn’t you warn me?” she asked Joshua. “Before I made an idiot of myself, that is. Now I’m going to have to apologize so that I hopefully don’t ruin your night for you. After that I will leave you boys to drink and have fun. Maybe by then Gwen will be here.”

  “What, and miss seeing both your faces? Fuck that shit,” he said. “Besides, he damn well needs to face the fact the woman is as big a bitch as we told him she was. He just hates to admit he’s less than perfect. Don’t apologize. He’ll compartmentalize it away, so you’ll just be rehashing it anyway.”

  He sighed and then winced. Shifting in his seat, he dug under himself, coming up with his phone. He frowned at it and shot her a look. “Uh, you’d better check your phone. Gwen isn’t going to make it tonight. Apparently, she got kidnapped by her husband and taken off to parts unknown. Genny won’t be coming over either since her husband found the idea appealing and did the same. Ali’s coming to get me, though. Shit. The woman’s going to keep up the tradition of this night, apparently. Brant’s not going to like this. He wanted to get wasted, and it was my damn idea too.”

  “Shit,” Mercy grumbled, and chewed her lower lip. She might regret it tomorrow, but that was then and this was now. “How about I get him good and shit-faced? I will be his DD and take care of getting him home safe and sound. I think he and I could both use someone other than family to talk to right now.”

  “You sure?” he asked. At her nod, he let out a breath. “All right, I’m good with it. Do you have a vehicle here? If not, I’ll give you the keys to my truck and you can use it to get him back to the ranch. Use it to get yourself home afterward too. I’ll have Ali drop me round your place tomorrow and I’ll pick it up whenever it’s a good time for you.”

  “Crap. Okay, leave me your keys. I took a cab here tonight because I was sure that Gwen was going to meet me here.” Mercy nodded and winked. “Now, you go and break the news to your brother that he has to have me as his drinking buddy tonight and I will get him home.”

  Joshua handed her his keys, but hesitated as he went to leave. “Are you sure? He’s not in a very happy place for a number of reasons. He’s not a mean drunk, but his tongue does tend to get more than a little loose when he’s drinking heavily. I only say this as a warning since God only knows what will come out.”

  “I’m a big girl, Joshua. If I can handle twenty first graders, I think that I can handle a man who’s off to get wasted to forget the past. Just go. I got this,” she said with a smirk. “And don’t worry. I have a thick skin, and since he doesn’t really know me, nothing that he has to say would bug me.”

  “Oh, I wouldn’t bet on that,” he muttered. “If you need me, call.” At her nod, he headed off, still muttering to himself, though most of it was drowned out by the music.

  Mercy sighed and sat back. When she saw Brant come back, she perked up. “Sorry for you having to settle for me for the night. However, I think we will have a good time. Don’t you?” she asked with a smile. “Because both of us understand where the other is. By the way, I’m sorry I brought that up. Forgive me?”

  “Forget it,” he said. Sitting in his seat again, he put a glass in front of her. “Since you’re driving, Joshua suggested I bring you some cola to drink. Straight up, no booze.” He had another beer in his hands, one he was rolling back and forth between his palms.

  “Good idea. Thank you.” Mercy took the Coke from him and took a sip. “Besides, I don’t have a very high tolerance for alcohol.” She leaned back and watched him as he moved. She was trying to recall what it was that he did, and for the life of her, she couldn’t. “Wait. Megan knows you. That’s where I saw you. You and she were out, or you went to get a lap dance from her.” Megan. Her twin. Mercy was forever trying to get her out of trouble and, on the night in question, Mercy had gotten a call that Megan was trying to straight up fuck a married man in the club she worked in. Yep, small towns were fabulous. Not.

  “I was trying to talk her out of getting involved with whatever the fuck his name was. She didn’t listen, obviously. Then again, she never listens to good advice. I’ve had a run or two with your twin. She’s a serious pain in the ass.”

  “She is, but if you ever needed anything, you couldn’t ask for a better person in your corner. I just wish she would get out of dancing and simply enjoy lif
e. I wish she would use her degree instead of doing what she does.” Mercy sounded like a prude and knew it, but damn, her twin was stripping down to the skin on a semi nightly basis and showing her body to the world.

  The look he gave her was an odd one, one she couldn’t damn well read. If she had to guess, he knew something she didn’t, and wasn’t planning to share. “Well, as much as you’d love to run their lives for them because of the obviously poor choices they make, you can’t. All you can do is be there for them, and help them dust off when they take a tumble. Trust me, I have enough siblings to know that one well.”

  Mercy laughed and nodded. “Too true.” She lifted her Coke for him to click his drink to. “But your family is tight. Megs and I used to be until we graduated high school and then it was as if both of us went different ways.” Which broke Mercy’s heart. “Oh well, enough of that,” she said with a smile. “Now then, how about we make a toast? To getting blasted so that we can just have a good time?”

  “You mean me getting blasted while you stay nice and sober, right?” he asked. “‘Cause if you say otherwise, I might just have to dig my handcuffs out of my bag and arrest you, Mercy. I might even read you your rights. Doubtful, though, since I don’t think the sheriff would let you stay arrested for long.”

  “Yep, you got it.” She laughed. “Handcuffs? Really? Oh you are seriously bad. And no.” She went still. “Let’s not call the sheriff, if you don’t mind.” He and her ex were BFFs way back and she hated the man. “He would toss me under the fucking jail if he was able to.”

  He frowned at her. “That sounds like a story for when we both can get wasted. Not tonight, though. Tonight, I plan on drowning myself in enough liquor that I can’t remember my own name by the end of the night.”

  “Sounds good. You drown yourself and I will keep you from hitting on someone that you would regret waking up to tomorrow morning.” She took another drink and smiled at him over the rim of the glass. “So, I’m trying to recall which branch of law enforcement you belong to. Care to enlighten me?”

  “DEA,” he said. “Lots of man hours for very few results. I usually work out of country, though, where no one knows my face, my name, nothing about me. It’s the safest route given the size of my family. Don’t need a pissed off druggie or drug lord coming after them. Of course, we could just hire Mrs. H to come over with her cast iron skillet on protection duty.”

  “Ah, gotcha. You know, once upon a time, Megan wanted to go into work such as that.” She shrugged. “Now, then, you want to tell me why you want to get drunk tonight?”

  “Because of the fucking politics within the agency. My moronic boss, the Director of the DEA, had to bring his prodigal son back into the main fold because he’s a nitwit. The kid’s gotten himself written up for being a dimwit, for ruining operations, and generally being a little prick to anyone and everyone. Daddy brought him back and handed him my case. It’s a big one, will take a whole fucking cartel down, took eight years to gather all the intel. The kid’s going to end up dead because he’s a mouthy, cocky little shit who thinks as long as daddy has his back he’s perfectly safe. Only upside is, when the kid screws this all up, and he will, Daddy will lose his job and all respectability he might have still had between the agencies.”

  “Fabulous,” she grumbled. “I hate that. I’m so sorry. There is nothing like office politics, is there?” Even she had to deal with them and she was just a public school teacher, so she couldn’t even begin to imagine what kind of crap he went through. Lifting her drink, she paused and then said, “To a good night and a good time.”

  “I will drink to that,” he said. He tapped his beer bottle to her glass and drank. Setting it down, he rested his elbows on the table. “So, you’re a teacher. That’s a great profession. Tell me the strangest day in the classroom you’ve ever had. You don’t need to use names, not that it’ll make a difference, but if you feel the need to protect the little ones, do whatever you wish.”

  Mercy had to think for a moment. “Strangest day was when John Welsh—his parents are Betty and Bob Welsh—came in for show and tell.” She leaned in closer. “He brought with him a doctor’s bag, said he found it in his parents’ closet.” She snickered and dropped her voice. “It was filled with all sorts of things that you might find in a BDSM catalogue. He shouted, ‘Look, my mom is superwoman’ when he found the mask and red cape.” She snorted in laughter. “I don’t think his parents ever realized that he brought it to school.”

  Brant was staring at her, his eyes wide. When she finished, he threw his head back and laughed long and hard. “Oh God, that’s fucking priceless.” Still chuckling, he took a drink of his beer. “You have to wonder if the kid will one day look back on that, when he’s older of course, and realize just what it had been.”

  “It was epic, and I feel for the kid in the future. I’m sure that he will be gracing Athena Rhodes’s couch more than once.” She named the only shrink in the town, an absolute sweetheart that had taken over a practice from her father that he had from his father.

  “That name rings a bell,” he said. “Her dad was the local psychiatrist to all the townsfolk, his father before him as well, if I recall right. Shit, the last time I saw her, she was still sporting braces and pigtails. Cute kid, shy too.”

  “Yep, that’s her. She’s a complete sweetie. She’s a couple years older than me and Megs, but she and her family came over every single Sunday for dinner. She was an only child and it was her dad’s way of ensuring she had playmates. We got into quite a bit of trouble at times,” she teased with a smirk.

  “Seems to be the running theme with most of the girls in this town.” He smiled at her and shook his head. “Both my sisters got into their fair share, same with Ali and Genny. Can’t really remember if Gwen got into much, but I’m sure she had her moments. Course, the boys around these parts definitely didn’t shy away from getting into things too.”

  “Oh believe me, I know. More than once Travis would give me trouble and he would get Megs and me into trouble. So that’s all on your brother. Then again, there are other boys in the town that got everyone into trouble as well.”

  “Most of them likely my kin,” he said with a low groan. “Shit, I remember the time the sheriff brought Martin home, trussed up yet laughing like a loon. I can’t remember why exactly, but my pops was definitely not happy with him. Martin never once lost the smile, though, so whatever had actually gone down had to have been good. Frank Junior was the only exception. He never got into trouble, got straight A’s through all his schooling, and left as soon as he was old enough. Fuck, haven’t even heard from him of late. He only calls on my birthday and at Christmas. Other than that, nothing.”

  Mercy frowned at that and tilted her head to the side slightly. “You know, Frank Junior hasn’t been around in a while. Is he still working out of the state? For the life of me, I can’t recall what it is that he does. I remember my daddy loved that man, and I vaguely recall him, but heavens, it’s been forever since I’ve seen him.”

  “No clue, he won’t talk about himself when we do chat. He just wants to hear all the news from home. I tell him the same thing each time—come home and see it for yourself. I get the same answer each time too—maybe one day. I don’t know where he is or what he does. Not that I haven’t looked. One of the perks of my job is access to all sorts of information on the Net and via inter-agency records. If I didn’t have the capability to know for a fact he’s alive and well, I wouldn’t know otherwise because the damn man never lets anyone in. There is nothing on him beyond his birth certificate, his academic record up to and including college, and then there’s nothing. No social security number, no passport, no driver’s license. Which is really weird because I was in the car when he got the damned thing.”

  “Well that’s just weird,” Mercy said with a frown. She leaned in closer to Brant and then added, “You have to give him a reason to come home. Maybe when Josh and Ali have a baby, he will come home. God only knows those two go at i
t like bunnies.”

  “Oh good lord, don’t remind me. I’m living in the house currently and can say I’ve seen more of the two of them than I’d ever care to. They are perfectly suited for one another to say the least.”

  “They really are, aren’t they? Those two have seriously danced around each other all the time and they needed to be together. I think the entire town is happy as can be that they finally saw each other for what they were and got together.”

  “Everyone in the state of Texas is happy those two have finally pulled the wool off their eyes. I’m just glad that they are together. Now if only they’d keep it to their bedroom instead of anywhere another human being might happen to wander. Some of the things, damn it, I just can’t unsee.” He shivered and tipped his bottle to his lips, finishing off the beer.

  She laughed. “Too true. From what I understand, they were found on the back forty by one of the hands. Silly people,” she teased. “But you know what?” She looked down at her drink and stood. “It’s good that they are reminding people that it’s okay to love and live. Maybe one day I will remember that. For now, how about another?”

  Nodding, he dug into his pocket and handed her a twenty. “No protesting. They know you’re the DD so they aren’t charging for your pop. You are not paying for me to get my ass drunk.” He held the twenty up, obviously not going to take no for an answer.

  She took the cash from him and laughed. “I was just going to have them start a tab in your name.” Her laughter could be heard over the music. “After you’ve had another, I want a dance. So, tell me, what do you want to drink? Another beer or something harder?”

  “I’ll stick to beer if you’re making me dance. I don’t need anything stronger if you plan on keeping all your toes. Mama may have made us take lessons, but it’s been a damn long time, and I’ve had enough alcohol so far to slightly mess up my coordination.”