“Explain this little coup attempt to me.” In the background he could hear Marie arguing with Polly.
Before Zane could say a word, Laura was walking into the short hallway. The space was starting to get cramped.
“Rafe, what’s going on? Why is there a town hall meeting in our living room?” Laura asked, concern in her eyes.
“Because we’re trying to avoid a town hall meeting in the town hall,” Zane explained.
“Hiram died.” He wasn’t going to keep that from his wife.
“Damn it, Kincaid.” Zane slapped at the wall. “We’re going to have to work on your discretion.”
Laura’s eyes filled with tears, her whole face softening. “Oh, I suppose that wasn’t unexpected given his age. It’s just so sad. When is the funeral?”
“Whenever they decide to take him out of Zane’s freezer.”
Those tear-filled eyes went wide. “What?”
“Our friends are here because they stuffed Hiram into Zane’s freezer in an attempt to take power.” It was a very Blissian-style coup. No real violence, just a pacifist hooker and a freeze-dried mayor.
Laura turned on Zane, her body on full alert. “You need to explain what is going on right now, Zane Hollister, or I swear I am going to tell Callie and she is going to be so upset with you.”
Zane did not look impressed with Laura’s temper. “Who do you think suggested the freezer at Trio? Callie’s really smart. She was totally in on this. And don’t try to call Nate. He’s backing me on this. He knows what could happen.”
Laura shook her head and walked back into the living room, talking as she went. Rafe and Zane had no choice but to follow. “I can’t believe this. You should all be ashamed of yourselves.”
“You told her?” Long-Haired Roger asked. “Maybe we should rethink this. Rafe is not as sneaky as Zane said he was.”
Rafe was a little offended. He could be very sneaky when he wanted to be. He shut his mouth. It actually worked on his behalf if no one thought he was sneaky. “I don’t lie to my wife.”
Of course he hadn’t told her about the Miami offer either.
“Stella, how could you?” Laura looked at the café owner. “Hiram was one of your best friends.”
Stella stared her down. “And I’m trying to save his legacy.”
Marie stepped up. “Will you think about this for two seconds, Laura? What happens if Hiram dies without a deputy mayor in place?”
“We do what every other town in this country does. We have a special election.” Laura crossed her arms over her chest, a sure sign that she was irritated.
“Yep,” Zane said as he sat back down on the couch. “We have a special election. How’s Nell going to handle that?”
Laura sighed. “Well, she would probably run. She would think of it as her civic duty.” Nell was one of Laura’s closest friends, but even Rafe could see she was a little disturbed by the idea. “Obviously she wouldn’t win.”
No one in their right mind wanted Nell with real political power. She would force the citizenry to switch to eco-friendly cars. She would turn city hall into an animal refuge. Rafe tried to imagine Zane Hollister stuffing his massive body into a Prius.
“You would think that,” Stella said. “But I’m not so sure. We’ve run several scenarios and you would be surprised at what happens. I had the Farley brothers make a computer simulation of the most likely outcome. You see I happen to know that Stef is planning on bringing in his own candidate.”
“See, Stef will pick someone good. He loves this town. He’ll find the right candidate and then Nell won’t stand a chance,” Laura pointed out.
“Oh, Laura, but you’re not thinking about the fact that Bliss has two kings now and they are battling it out.” Polly shook her head with a rueful sigh. “Ever since Seth Stark came home, he’s been trying to prove he’s just as generous as Stef. Poor Gene. Stef gave him a loan to upgrade his projectors at the drive-in and then Seth turned right around and paid for new screens. And then Stef brought in new popcorn poppers and a brand new audio system and then Seth had to pay for someone to teach Gene how to use all that stuff. He was crying, I tell you. Caught between two billionaires. It’s horrible.”
There were a lot of women Rafe knew who wouldn’t think it was horrible, but he was starting to see the issue. “You’re afraid they’ll compete to put in their own mayors.”
Marie shook her head. “I’m not afraid. I know it will happen. I offered to shoot them both, but Stella had a problem with it.”
“I’m not going to let you shoot my son.” Stella had taken to calling Stef her son ever since she’d married Sebastian Talbot. She would shrug and say she really just meant that he was her stepson, but Rafe knew the truth. Stella had raised Stef.
There were odd little families all over Bliss.
“I wasn’t going to kill him,” Marie shot back. “I was just going to make sure he was laid up. He and Seth could share a recovery room and maybe they would learn to play nice.”
“No one is shooting Stef and Seth.” It was really time someone laid down the law. If he allowed them to go on, they would argue in circles for hours. “And Seth is spending most of his time in New York right now. Stef has a baby on the way. They don’t have time to dabble in small-town politics.”
Stella coughed a little and mumbled under her breath.
“What did you say?” Polly asked, her eyes narrowing.
Stella cleared her throat. “I said Stef already has a plan.”
Marie pointed an accusatory finger Stella’s way. “I knew it. And if Stef is involved, Seth won’t be far behind.”
“What kind of plan does Stef have? Hey, you don’t think he sent Bambi to Hi, do you?” Long-Haired Roger asked.
“He certainly did not.” Stella sent the mechanic a stern look. “Stef loved Hiram, but he’s been waiting for him to step down and he definitely planned on installing someone who would be friendly to Stef’s plans. He hired a political consultant and he’s got it between two candidates, neither of whom actually lives in Bliss right now. He’s planning on moving them in.”
Rafe felt a frown cover his face. He actually didn’t like the sound of that plan. “Why on earth would Stef bring someone from the outside in?”
“Because he doesn’t think anyone in town could do the job except himself and he really doesn’t have time for that,” Stella explained.
Really? Stef didn’t think a man who had been educated at an Ivy League school could handle small town politics? “If I decide to be the mayor, I assure you I can handle the job.”
Laura looked back, obviously startled. “You?”
Did anyone think he could do it? “Probably not, but it’s been discussed, though apparently not by Stef and Seth. So Stef intends to bring in a candidate and you believe Seth would follow by bringing in his own candidate.”
Zane groaned a little. “Oh, he will absolutely follow. Do you honestly believe he won’t? They would go all out. They would try to beat each other. We would be in for weeks and weeks of those political calls. You think you like the local radio station that plays classic rock? Well, forget about it because all we’ll hear are ads for the two parties, and you know what happens at the end of all of it?”
Laura gasped a little. “Oh my god, everyone gets sick of the city folks and votes for Nell. Nell will be the mayor of Bliss.”
Zane gave her a thumbs-up. “Like we said—it’s the apocalypse.”
Laura turned to him. “Rafe, you have to save us. Please tell me you have a plan.”
Yes, he had a plan. Moving was looking better and better.
Chapter Nine:
Stef and Jen
Jen stepped out onto the balcony and looked down at the gorgeously decorated party space below. The morning had flown by and now the afternoon was here and the party had begun. She’d done pretty well if she did say so herself. The backyard was elegantly decorated. The manicured lawn was filled with beautifully dressed people eating the best food and drin
king the best wine she could afford. The mountains in the distance lent the scene a gauzy, soft feel, like the world was just one big well-painted landscape.
All the men were on the mountain at their party. She wondered if Stef was smiling and having a good time.
“Everything is so beautiful,” Shelley McNamara soon-to-be Meyer said as she looked around the balcony. The bride-to-be was wearing a pretty summer dress that set off her black hair. She had been out on the lawn talking to the guests who had come out to her small Bliss pre-wedding reception. She looked even prettier up close.
Jen felt a little like a watermelon around the radiant bride. Shelley McNamara had a lovely sense of style. With her raven black hair and stylish dress, she was rapidly making Jen feel like a big old cow.
“Thanks, I love throwing parties,” Jen murmured. She wished she could have a sip of wine, of tequila, of anything.
“Well, this is one I’ll remember for a long time. I just wanted to say thank you.” Shelley waved to someone on the lawn. “I’m going to go downstairs. I see my friends. Thank you again.”
She hurried along, her heels clacking along the floor. Jen couldn’t wear heels right now. She couldn’t fit into that svelte, sleek little dress Shelley was wearing.
“I know that look. I’ve had that look on my face many times.” Rachel shook her head as she looked over the crowd. “I hate her.”
Jen had to smile. Rachel was always ready to lend a hand. There was no one in the world more loyal than her friend Rachel. It had been a blessing to find her. “No, you don’t.”
“Yes, I do. I hate whoever you hate.”
Callie walked up, a margarita in her hand. “Who do we hate?”
They were her girls. Callie and Rach always had her back. Her dour mood began to lift and she couldn’t help but tease her friend. “Honey, we hate you because you’re the only one of us who can booze it up. I hired two bartenders for this pre-wedding reception and all I can ask for is a Shirley Temple.”
Callie put her drink down. “Well, I’m the only one who’s not pregnant. And I’m not going to be for a little while. I’m taking a break from gestating. There are four men living in my house. Can you imagine the mess when my babies get to be teenagers? My whole cabin is going to smell like feet. I totally need the tequila.”
Rachel was pregnant again, but she was barely showing. And she had to beat her husbands off her even when she was round as a beach ball. Just a few weeks before, Rachel and Max had gotten locked in a closet at the art gallery where they were sneaking away for some fun in the afternoon.
Stef wouldn’t touch her now. How did she talk to her friends about it when they seemed to never have problems tempting their husbands? Max and Rye were all over Rachel, and Nate and Zane liked to bring the babies over to the estate so they could spend some time in the guesthouse. Callie liked to talk about how sore she was.
Jen was perfectly unsore except for her back and her feet, and that was the baby’s fault. She really wanted some aches and pains that went along with remembered pleasure.
Stef rubbed her feet and her lower back and then he would turn out the lights because “she needed her rest.” She needed her husband, but it seemed like her husband didn’t need her.
“What’s going on, hon?” Rachel asked. “You look sad.”
Suddenly she just knew she couldn’t share this. It was stupid. She should be able to share anything with her friends. They loved her and she loved them and she just couldn’t tell them that her husband didn’t want her anymore. She still had some small amount of pride. What the hell was she going to do?
“I’m just tired,” Jen said, staring out over the lawn. Everyone seemed so happy and peaceful. She was a ball of anxiety when she wasn’t perfectly content. She swung from excitement about her son’s impending arrival to a deep worry that Stef wasn’t happy.
“Well, you should be.” Callie patted her back. “You’re breathing for two, eating for two, living for two.”
“Don’t be hard on yourself,” Rachel said. “It’s your first baby. You need to eat like there’s no tomorrow and sleep like you never will sleep again, because you won’t. I don’t care if Stef stays up with the baby, you’ll still get up because he’s your boy.”
Her baby might be her only boy now. She’d gone through a thousand scenarios—from Stef telling her he’d been joking all along, to their inevitable divorce where she ended up raising a baby over Stella’s in that little one bedroom apartment she’d first lived in when she’d come to Bliss.
“It’s all going to be better in a few months,” Callie offered. “The first couple are hard, but you’ll see it gets back to normal. Or you find a new normal. Stef will settle down.”
They all looked out over the lawn. In the distance, a single Jeep was flying down the drive.
“Oh, no. I think I see Cassidy coming up the drive.” Rachel’s eyes narrowed as she looked out over the estate’s long road. “I thought she was going into the bunker. She put it out over the radio earlier today.”
Callie took a long swallow of her margarita. “I heard she and Shelley are struggling about the whole alien queen thing. Shelley won’t eat beets. Something about the color of them apparently sets her off.”
“Or it could be that beets taste like ass,” Rachel murmured.
Jen wrinkled her nose. “I can’t blame her for that. Do you know how they can stain your teeth? Nell gave me a beet smoothie and I had purple teeth for days.”
It was supposed to lower blood pressure, but hers had only risen at the idea of purple teeth.
Rachel crossed her arms over her chest. “I don’t think Cassidy is going to care that Shelley doesn’t like the taste. She really believes that beets stave off the alien invasion. It looks like she’s pushing her point home. We should go and head that off.”
Rachel and Callie practically ran back down the stairs.
And Jen was left alone again. Why hadn’t she talked to them? They would talk to her. Callie reached out when she was struggling. And Rachel yelled for a while. Either one of them would listen to her and help her find a solution. So why did she feel so damn alone?
“Can I get you anything?” a masculine voice asked.
She turned and tried to place a name to the startlingly handsome face. She’d never met him but she’d seen those emerald green eyes on another face. “You’re Jack’s brother.”
The man smiled. “Lucas O’Malley. Jack and I are half brothers. If I hadn’t married Lexi and Aidan, I would have changed my name to Barnes. I’m afraid I’m not close to my father. Especially since he went to prison.”
“I’m so sorry,” Jen said.
A satisfied smile crossed Lucas’s face. “I’m not. It was the best gift he could have given me. I framed his mug shot. So, is there anything I can help with? I came with my wife, but she’s taking a phone call. I was going to kiss her good-bye and go and wait for my partner, but she’s busy.”
That was said with a hint of bitterness. Not all was right in the O’Malley household, but, then, everyone had their problems. Lucas looked out over the lawn where a black-haired woman was pacing as she spoke into her phone. Jen hadn’t met the woman. She hadn’t come to any of the gatherings before now. “Is everything all right?”
Lucas didn’t take his eyes off his wife. “Oh, I’ve been told everything is nearly perfect, at least as far as my wife’s career goes.”
Lexi O’Malley was a writer. From what Jen had heard, she was becoming very popular. A couple of women in Bliss read her works religiously—including Jen. Lexi was very prolific. She wrote books that combined BDSM and romance in a way Jen completely understood. “She works a lot, huh? I’m married to an artist. I know how they can get. It’s hard to get them to notice you’re alive when they’re really focused on the work.”
Jen was an artist, too, but somehow she never got lost the way Stef did. She could always pull herself away. It might have been different if she hadn’t married another artist, but she had and she nee
ded to be the grounded one. It never bothered her when Stef was focusing on his work. She’d always known he would come back to her, but now she wondered.
Lucas stared back out at the woman pacing on Jen’s lawn, a hollow look on his face. “Yes, I suppose so.” He turned back and his face cleared. He was right back to being charming and handsome, without a hint of worry in the world. “I’m a big fan of your husband’s work.”
Jen gave him a smile. “And I have to admit, I’ve read all your wife’s books. So we’re both married to successful artists. Why do I have the feeling neither of us is very happy with them right now?”
Somehow what she couldn’t admit to her friends was easy to say to Lucas.
“I’m not good at hiding it anymore.” Lucas sighed a little. “I used to be quite good at hiding my dissatisfaction. Maybe because it didn’t mean as much.”
“I was always terrible at hiding anything at all. I think I might have been born without the patience to prevaricate.” It had gotten her in trouble on many occasions. “I’m afraid I can be a bit of a brat.”
Jack Barnes was firmly in the lifestyle. Lexi wrote lifestyle romance novels. It only made sense that Lucas was in the lifestyle, though she couldn’t figure out if he was a Dom or a sub. He didn’t seem to fit either title completely.
“A little brattiness never hurt anyone. Sometimes it’s the only way to get what you need.” His handsome face grew contemplative. “The question is what to do when the brat loses interest.”
A deep sympathy welled. She knew that feeling except it was her Dom who seemed to be losing interest. “It’s funny. I thought once I’d gotten that man to collar me and put a ring on my finger that the rest of it would be a breeze.”
“You too, huh? It must be something about the whole wedding thing. Watching someone else starting a life makes you think about the state of your own marriage. It makes me think about a lot of things. I watched my parents be utterly miserable for most of their lives. Oh, my father wasn’t unhappy. Marriage just made it easier for him to cheat. My father wouldn’t have been truly happy without someone to cheat on.”