Ethan (Alluring Indulgence #5)(102)
Author: Nicole Edwards

After all, what kind of mother would she be if she weren’t prepared to ensure her boys were safe? All of them.

♂♀

Curtis pulled into the parking lot of Moonshiners, his gut churning after the story he’d heard from Travis just a short while ago. Even though Travis insisted that he should stay home, Curtis wasn’t having any of it. He’d raised his boys right, taught them to stand up for themselves and those who needed standing up for, but Curtis believed whole-heartedly that not all lessons could be learned the easy way.

And apparently Jimmy Reardon needed a good hard lesson.

Not that Curtis was a violent man. Quite the opposite, but he believed in fighting for his own. And what had happened to Ethan at the hands of Jimmy had managed to go unpunished for far too long.

As he headed into the bar, Curtis located Travis’ truck, Kaleb’s truck, as well as Sawyer’s car. He didn’t see the others, so he assumed the twins and Zane had other plans for the night. That was just as well.

“Hey, Pa,” Sawyer greeted him when he stepped up to the bar, the overly loud country and western music making it difficult for him to hear. Curtis grinned. No, he was not getting old, he told himself. The music was just loud. That’s all.

“What’s up, boy?” he asked as he signaled for Mack to bring him a beer.

“Not a damn thing,” Sawyer said, glancing behind him as though he were looking for someone.

“Something’s up,” Curtis stated, not believing his son for a single minute. Sawyer was on edge, his shoulders tense, his muscles geared up for a fight. A quick perusal of the bar told Curtis who was there and exactly where they were located.

Travis and Gage were near the pool tables, watching a couple of guys play. Looks like they left Kylie at home tonight. Another thing to be grateful for. His boys weren’t stupid, that was for damned sure.

He nodded his head at Travis, acknowledging him before doing a three-sixty to see who else was in the place. “Charlie,” he called out to his buddy who was sitting in the far corner.

“Curtis, what brings your old ass down here?” Charlie hollered with a gruff chuckle.

“Same thing that brought yours down here,” he answered, lifting his beer up.

“Glad to see you.” Curtis heard the underlying meaning of Charlie’s comment, and that’s when Curtis noticed the four men who were sitting at a table near the door. Jimmy Reardon was one of them. Curtis would never forget that man’s face, would recognize him anywhere. After what he did to Ethan, he had studied his face, prayed that he never caught the man in a dark alley or that one of his boys didn’t either.

“Settle down, Pa,” Sawyer mumbled from beside him. Curtis glanced down and realized his hands were balled into fists at his side. Damn, he was pretty sure he hadn’t been this riled up for at least… well, since what happened to Zane. And now the horrifying nightmare of what happened to Ethan had risen to the surface once again.

“Woohoo! You’re up, Travis! Show that boy what you’ve got!” Some cowboy in the back of the bar was yelling along with the other hoots and hollers around the pool table.

Curtis sipped his beer and turned to look at his oldest son. The grin on Travis’ face made his heart swell. Curtis had wondered for far too long whether that boy would ever find true happiness. And now he had. In abundance, which was what he deserved.

“Fucking faggots.”

Curtis’ head snapped toward the front of the room where the foul language had erupted from at the same time Sawyer got to his feet. Instead of indulging the dimwitted little shits, Curtis grabbed Sawyer’s arm and pulled him up short before he could get far.

Sawyer stared down to where Curtis’ fingers were clamped around his ropy forearm and then back up to meet his eyes. “Not yet, son. Not yet.”

Some of the tension relaxed in Sawyer’s arm and Curtis let him go.

The noise in the back settled to a dull roar, but to Curtis’ relief, Travis hadn’t moved. Then again, Gage was keeping a keen eye on the situation. Ever the cop, that one was.

For the next half hour, things seemed relatively normal. No more hateful comments, the boys in the back continued to play pool and Curtis had taken a seat at the bar and was chatting with Sawyer about the resort. Just normal, everyday stuff. And if Curtis had even believed for one second that tensions weren’t high and a storm wasn’t brewing within the thin walls of the bar, he would’ve been kidding himself.

Curtis turned slowly when Jimmy Reardon and one of the others at his table stood. They didn’t head toward the door as Curtis had hoped. Instead, they were heading toward the tables in the back. As though synchronized, Curtis stood at the same time Sawyer did and they moved in behind them.