Daddy's Sweet Girl (Montana Daddies, #3) Read online

  She dialed 911, noting that her battery was nearly at the end of its life. She hadn’t had time to charge it before driving here. She’d raced home from the diner, quickly gotten changed and came here to meet with Mr. Markovich. He didn’t like to be kept waiting.

  She didn’t want to find out what happened if you did keep him waiting.

  “911 what’s your emergency?” the calm voice asked.

  “My name’s Abby Reynold, there’s an assault on a woman happening in the parking lot of-of Suck ‘n Blow bar.” She hung up. She didn’t want whoever was with Eden to overhear her.

  Another cry sounded. Shit. Shit. Shit. She wished she wasn’t a wuss. Why had she never taken up Karate or Judo or gone to a damn self-defense class?

  At another pained noise, she knew she couldn’t just stand here while Eden was assaulted. She ran forward, creeping her way around the van, her whole body trembling with fear. She spotted two men looming over Eden, who was sprawled on the ground. One of them pulled back his leg as though to kick her.

  Oh, hell no!

  “Hey! I’ve called the cops. They’ll be here any minute!” she yelled out. “You better leave!”

  “Fuck, who’s that?” One of the men turned, spotting her. She guessed her ability to blend into the shadows needed work. This looked so much easier on T.V. “Well, here’s another bitch.”

  She swallowed nervously. “I mean it, I’ve called them. You need to leave.”

  “You haven’t called anyone, bitch. Grab her, Ron,” the other one said, reaching down to grab Eden. She bit down on his hand and he screamed. “You fucking cunt.”

  Abby yelled and whacked the man coming for her across the face with her handbag. That police baton would really come in handy right now. “Fire! Fire!”

  “What the fuck? Why you screaming fire, bitch?”

  “Fire! Help! Fire!” she continued to scream.

  He grabbed her and flung her against a car, her side slammed into the mirror and stole her breath. Shoot. That was going to bruise.

  In the distance sirens sounded. To her shock, both men froze.

  “Fuck, this bitch really did call the cops! Let’s go!” her assailant yelled.

  “I’m not leaving this one, she fucking bit me.” He kicked Eden in the leg, making Abby gasp. “Fucking cunt.”

  “You really need to work on your insults,” Eden told him, sounding breathless and in pain.

  He pulled back his leg again and Abby dove forward, placing herself in front of Eden. She knocked Eden’s assailant back onto his ass. He climbed to his feet and reached around his back for something. “Fucking bitch, I’m gonna put a bullet in you!”

  Oh God. Oh God.

  This was it. She was going to die. What the hell had she done with her life except work and pay off Max’s debts? Nothing.

  And now she was going to die in this dark parking lot with absolutely nothing to show for her life.

  “Hey! What’s going on! Hey!” a deep voice yelled. “What the fuck!”

  “Shit, that’s Gray! Fuck!” one of the men yelled. “Let’s get out of here.”

  Both men took off. Abby lay there. Had that really just happened? Had she nearly died?

  Oh, hell.

  Eden moved then whimpered.

  Abby, pull yourself together.

  “Eden, are you okay?” she asked, turning towards the other woman. “Where are you hurt? Do you need an ambulance? What am I saying? Of course, you do. Let me find my handbag. Shoot, I don’t know where it went.”

  “Abby, it’s okay, take a breath. You’re going to hyperventilate.” Eden’s voice was surprisingly calm. How could she be calm?

  “It’s not okay, you were just beaten up. Who were they? Oh hell, here comes Gray.”

  “Gray?” Eden asked. “Who is Gray? Help me sit, will you? And can you see my chair anywhere?”

  “What the fuck is going on?” Gray asked as he approached, his voice a low growl.

  She placed an arm around Eden’s back and helped her sit. The other woman hissed and winced. Where had her handbag gone? She needed some light to check whether Eden needed an ambulance.

  “Abby, what the fuck is going on?” Gray demanded.

  “You know this guy, Abby?” Eden asked.

  “Yeah, that’s just Gray,” she muttered absentmindedly as she found her handbag and reaching in, grabbed her flashlight.

  “Thanks for the ego boost there, babe.”

  She turned on the flashlight and shone it straight at him. He cursed and stepped back, shielding his eyes. “Jesus, Abby, watch where you’re aiming that.”

  “Oh, sorry, are you okay?” She lowered the light, noted a few people from the bar were standing behind Gray. That wasn’t good. She knew firsthand the type of people who hung out at Suck ‘n Blow. And they made Gray look like a choir boy.

  “Damn it, sometimes I think you’re some secret weapon Max sent in to destroy us.”

  “Me? A weapon? I don’t think so.” She laughed nervously. The idea was absurd.

  “Well, you’re something, babe. Just haven’t worked out if the sweet, clumsy, naïve thing you have going on is an act or not.”

  “It’s not an act,” Eden said from where she leaned against the car behind her. “Now can you two stop talking and find my damn chair? Not too fond of sitting here in the dark on the ground.”

  “Chair?” Gray asked. He turned to Eden, studying her for the first time. “Fuck, please don’t tell me you’re who I think you are.”

  Eden said nothing.

  “Umm, I’ll find your chair.” Abby stood.

  Gray held his hand up. “Stay where you are. Rex, find Ms. Jensen’s wheelchair. Now. Fuck. What the hell happened?”

  “Well, I was trying to get to my car when two assholes assaulted me, they dragged me from my chair and told me they’d always wanted to fuck a cripple,” Eden told him. Her voice didn’t sound shaken or scared. But there was more than a hint of bitterness. “When I objected, they decided to beat on me instead.”

  Gray let out a series of curse words that had Abby blushing. Although she filed away some of the words for future reference. At the rate her life was going to crap she would need them.

  “Your brothers are going to fucking lose their shit,” he muttered.

  “Yes, they will.”

  Rex, who she recognized as one of Mr. Markovich’s other associates, wheeled over a chair and placed it by Eden. “Umm...you want a hand?”

  Eden glared up at him. “I’ve done this a few times.”

  But not while injured and Abby really wasn’t sure she should be moving around without being checked out. “We need an ambulance.”

  Those sirens were close now and Gray cursed under his breath.

  “No way, no ambulance,” Eden said. “I am not going to the hospital.”

  “Fuck, who called the fucking cops?” Gray asked.

  “I did,” Abby said.

  He swung towards her. Fury came off him in waves, beating at her. She took a step back.

  “You called the fucking cops?”

  “Those assholes were hurting her! What did you expect me to do?” Wasn’t calling the police the normal reaction in that situation?

  “Come and find me,” Gray roared.

  “Stop yelling at her,” Eden told him. “It’s done.”

  “Shit. Fuck. Rex take ’em to the back room and stand guard at the door. No one gets in or out except me or the sheriff. Got it?”

  “Umm, I really think I should just go home,” Abby said hesitantly.

  “Abby get your fucking self and your fucking friend into the fucking back room. Fucking now. Got it?”

  He stood there, heaving for breath.

  She said the only thing she could in the face of such anger. “Yeah, I got it.”

  Eden was struggling to pull herself up into the chair and Abby couldn’t take it anymore. She stepped forward. “Can I help?” she asked quietly.

  Eden froze then nodded tiredly. “Yeah, just gr
ab me under one arm and help me get up.”

  She was heavier than she looked. As Abby tried to lift her, Eden groaned.

  “Abby, let her go.”

  Gray stepped forward and gently brushed her away then lifted Eden into the chair with a care that frankly surprised Abby.

  “She needs an ambulance,” Abby told Gray.

  “I’m fine,” Eden said.

  “You’re not fine.”

  “Abby. She said she’s fine,” Gray stated.

  “But—”

  “Abby, shut the fuck up,” Gray snapped.

  “Hey, don’t talk to her like that,” Eden told him.

  “Both of you are pains in my ass. You wanna know what I do with pains in my ass?”

  “Take some Advil?” Abby asked. As soon as it left her mouth, she couldn’t believe she’d said that. To this extremely scary guy.

  Both of them just stared at her. Her flashlight bobbed as nerves threatened to get the best of her.

  “Or maybe an enema,” Eden added, turning Gray’s attention to her.

  Oh no. That wasn’t good. Gray wasn’t a good guy. He was a dangerous guy. And Eden didn’t know that. She needed to get his attention back on her.

  “Or a colonoscopy.”

  Gray growled. Actually growled. “I was thinking more of a bullet.”

  “Now that’s gonna hurt,” Eden said sweetly. “And seems a bit drastic.”

  He sighed long and loud. “Rex get them into the back office.”

  “I know the way,” Abby pointed out.

  “Well, now, wouldn’t want anything else to fucking happen to you on the way, would I? Trouble seems to follow you around.”

  No, it didn’t. She led a boring life. Nothing exciting ever happened to her. And any trouble she did have was entirely due to her no-hoper brother.

  And she could definitely do with less of it.

  She saw the flashing lights of a police car as they neared the back of the bar. Abby pushed Eden’s chair around to the door. The fact that the other woman didn’t protest told her she was hurting more than she let on.

  “Shit,” Eden muttered. “This isn’t good.”

  “It doesn’t sound like Gray’s planning on hurting us,” Abby said. Although she wasn’t entirely certain.

  “Not worried about Gray. Although I wouldn’t trust him as far as I could throw him, which obviously isn’t that far. I’m worried about Clint.”

  “Clint? Your brother?”

  “Only Clint I know.”

  She pushed Eden through the back door and into the room she always met Mr. Markovich in. Thankfully, he was gone. If Gray was a bad guy, then Mr. Markovich was a...well...shark. Handsome in a really terrifying way. And the worse things were, the more he smiled. It was the weirdest freaking thing. She’d never thought that she would be petrified of a smile.

  “Clint will hurt you?” She was shocked. She didn’t know him well, but he was always polite, if a bit brusque. Except when he was with his girlfriend. Charlie softened him. When he looked at her, his eyes filled with warmth. It was obvious they adored each other.

  It was sweet.

  She wanted that. She wanted adoration. She wanted sweet.

  She didn’t have a chance in hell of finding it.

  Eden stared up at her. Abby winced as she saw the other woman’s right eye was mostly swollen shut.

  “Oh hell, Eden. Your eye.”

  “Yeah, that’s not going to be good. I could really use a bag of frozen peas.”

  She strode over to the small fridge, opening the door. “He’s got crème de cacao, and crème de menthe. That’s weird. That’s weird, right?”

  Eden shrugged then winced. “So, he likes grasshoppers.”

  “It’s Mr. Markovich.” And she could not imagine him drinking grasshoppers. Not that Abby wouldn’t mind a grasshopper right now.

  “I’m not really sure who Mr. Markovich is,” Eden told her.

  Right. Because Eden didn’t live in the underbelly. She lived in the light. She had two brothers who loved and protected her. Well, Abby thought she did. Now she wasn’t so sure about Clint.

  “He won’t hurt you, will he? Clint?” She closed the fridge and slowly stood. Now that the adrenaline was draining away, she could feel every one of her aches and pains. Her knees, her hands, and now her side.

  “Clint? Clint would never hurt a hair on my head. But the man can lecture. You do not want to be on the receiving end of one of those.” Eden sighed tiredly.

  That’s what she was worried about? A lecture? At least it meant that her brother cared.

  “I lost my cell, do you have yours on you?” Eden asked. “Since Gray the goon won’t let us leave, I need to call Kent.”

  “Sure.” She searched through her bag. “Um, Eden, why are you here? At this bar?”

  “I was meeting someone,” Eden muttered. “They didn’t turn up. They chose the place, not me. Won’t make that mistake again.”

  Someone knocked on the door and Ed stepped inside. The sheriff was a big, intimidating man with dark hair and smoky gray eyes.

  His gaze took in everything, running over first Eden then Abby. “Well, shit. Have you called your brother yet?”

  “Just about to,” Eden said, taking Abby’s phone from her hand. She stared down at it. “What the hell is this?”

  “A phone.” Abby blushed at Eden’s disbelieving look.

  “I didn’t think they still made phones like this. I’ve never held one.”

  Yeah, well, Eden wasn’t hurting for money. Her whole outfit probably cost more than Abby made in a month.

  It doesn’t make you less than her.

  “Eden,” the sheriff said in a low voice. She turned to stare at him. Slowly. How hurt was she? “You’re being rude to Abby.”

  Abby gaped at the sheriff. She couldn’t remember the last time someone had stuck up for her. The sheriff had always been kind, but she’d never really spoken to him for any length of time. Mind you, she’d been trained to avoid cops.

  Eden glanced up at Abby. She winced at the other woman’s swollen face. “Sorry, Abby. I tend to be a bit grouchy after assholes kick the shit out of me.”

  The sheriff’s face clouded over. “Who exactly kicked the shit out of you?”

  Chapter Two

  She heard a commotion out the door. A deep voice barked something. Demanded. Whoever that was, he was furious.

  Eden sighed. “Kent’s here.”

  That was Kent?

  The sheriff had insisted on calling the paramedics. He’d taken Eden’s statement while waiting for them. Now a paramedic was checking Eden over while Ed took Abby’s statement.

  The door to the room opened and in stepped Kent Jensen. Her whole body heated. He was wearing sweatpants and a sweatshirt. How could he still look hot in that outfit? Nobody looked hot in sweatpants.

  Except for Kent.

  His light-brown hair was kept short, drawing your gaze to his gorgeous features. He was sporting a five o’clock shadow, which just gave him a more rugged appearance. His deep brown gaze roamed the room. She’d noticed that about him. He always took in his surroundings no matter where he was. She guessed it came from being a former Navy SEAL. Or maybe it was because he owned Jensen Security International.

  Once he’d glanced over the room, his gaze immediately locked on Eden. For some stupid reason, she felt a stab of jealousy. Idiot.

  Someone moved into the room behind him. A big guy also wearing sweatpants. Although he didn’t rock them the same way Kent did. This man gave the room a similar glance. She’d seen him a few times before. She knew he worked at Sanctuary although he rarely came into the diner.

  His cool gaze touched her briefly before Eden became the entire center of his focus. Kent was already crouched beside his sister, talking to her quietly. The other man moved to her side.

  And here sat Abby. Alone. She took in a deep breath.

  “Abby, you okay?”

  She jumped. The sheriff, who was sitting a
cross from her, gave her a worried look. She forced herself to smile. She’d forgotten he was even there.

  “I’m fine.”

  “Rye, check Abby over,” the sheriff ordered the hunky paramedic.

  “I’m fine.”

  “You’re getting checked over,” Ed said in a firm voice. She shivered slightly at that tone.

  “Really. They didn’t even touch me,” she insisted. “I don’t need to be checked over.”

  “Then how’d you get those grazes on your hands?” he asked.

  “What grazes?”

  She glanced up in shock as Kent asked that question. She hadn’t even seen him move and now he was standing next to the sheriff, staring down at her. She froze. She didn’t know what to say. His blue eyes were serious, his face cool. Was he angry with her? What had she done? Was he mad over the grazes?

  She tucked her hands under her thighs, concealing a wince at the pain.

  Kent raised an eyebrow. “Hiding them doesn’t mean you don’t have to show me, sweetheart.”

  Warmth filled her at the endearment, even though she told herself he probably called lots of women that.

  Kent moved his gaze to Ed, and she was able to breathe once more. “Eden told me what happened. I’m telling you right now, you better find these assholes before I do.”

  Ed sighed. “You can’t say things like that in front of an officer of the law, Kent.”

  “Just stating a fact. Two assholes beat on a woman who couldn’t even fight back. You think that sort of thing is gonna go down well? Fact that she’s my sister, belongs to Sanctuary, you can bet you’re gonna have a whole lot of angry people breathing down your neck.”

  Ed rubbed the back of his neck as though he could feel it already. Then he stood. He looked down at Abby once more.

  “Abby, let Rye check you over.”

  “Promise it won’t hurt a bit, darlin’,” Rye told her with a wink.

  Abby blushed and turned her gaze away, feeling uncomfortable.

  “Back off, you’re crowding her,” Kent told the paramedic with a scowl. He came and crouched in front of her. “Where are you hurt, sweetheart? You can tell me.”

  His soft voice brought tears to her eyes. She couldn’t help it. She knew he was just being nice. Across the room, the other big guy was crouched in front of Eden in a similar position. Was he her boyfriend? If he was, then what was she doing in the parking lot of Suck ‘n Blow? That guy didn’t seem like the sort of man who would let someone he cared about come here.