Pawned Virtue - #wattys2015 BK4 TPBS - Completed 1st draft

-67-

Not edited.

Tara sat with a scowl on her face. OK she understood the why of Lucas joining them but that didn't make it any easier to deal with. If she didn't get some breathing space soon she knew she was going to kill him!

Day in day out he was there. She couldn't move without him wanting to know what she was doing! She was sure his new mantra was whatcha doing?

She knew his brothers were coming over today. If it wasn't one then it was the other or both. It was nice in a way to know that she was being treated as one of their own but surely their families needed them? Well Damon anyway. He was married with two kids whereas Maxon had a daughter who lived with her mum in another state.

Knowing they were together and seeing them walk in was completely different. As individuals they demanded attention and respect but as a group they demanded that and a whole lot more. Even walking in smiling and teasing one another set off alarm bells with other customers within the restaurant.

Whispers of who they were and why they were there were the order of their arrival. It was strange to see them waiting in line to place their order. Their whole presence of being making it seem like the lunch time crowd should part the way like the men were some form of royalty. But they took their turn and waited and for Tara that showed a whole new level of respect that they had for others.

The stiffness in Lucas' shoulders showed anyone who knew him that he wasn't relaxed as he appeared to be. In fact, his brothers were the same. Each of them were very much alert to the people in the room.

Arriving at the tabld next to them then men were smiles and teases with Tara and an almost comical narrowed look from Maxon to Keiran as a warning that his ârse was off limits to pinching.

"Baby, you get to meet my Mum and Dad soon. They'll be living back here within a fortnight."

She just smiled as the air escaped her body as if it were punched out of her. Meeting the parents? Hell!

Simeon smiled widely.

"Can't wait to see Mrs P again. Will they be staying at the beach house or..."

Tara gulped.

"No. They'll be at the main house with you lot for now until we see what the doctors have to say about the dementia. Get her assessed by people close by so there's no mix up with where she's at."

Simeon shook his head sadly.

"Damn bítch of a disease."

Damon nodded with a dark expression.

"Can't imagine our Mum with it though I'm sure we're not the only family that says that. We've been waiting so long for her to come home it'll be good to see her regardless of her state of mind."

"Is it bad?" Keiran asked. It was no secret around the house that Lucas was trying to get their mother home because of the dementia.

"Some days can be" Lucas started "she thinks she's back here in Sydney and because the house isn't what she remembers she gets upset."

"She should have been home before this" Maxon said with a grim fierceness.

Lucas and Damon agreed.

"So that's why she's coming back to the house?" Jones asked "Because it's what she knows?"

"That's right. Whatever it takes to make things easier on her."

"What about your Dad?"

"He's coming too obviously but he has something to sort out as soon as he gets here."

"What's that?" Tara asked.

Lucas looked at her with softening eyes.

"I've put out a TD order on Ellie."

"Huh?"

"It means take her down. Bring her in. Whatever the situation requires. My father will have no choice but to deal with his own mess."

"How?" she asked curiously.

"The eventual result of a TD is final."

Tara paled.

"You mean..."

Lucas nodded.

"No one hurts my family..."

"Our family" Damon and Maxon both said together.

Lucas nodded.

"No one hurts our family without repercussions and to hurt any of our wives... let's say that breathing is no longer required and most certainly for at least one in the past to give up breathing was considered a blessing."

"You'd do that to Ellie because of me?"

Lucas shook his head slowly.

"Not just because of you but for our mother... and it won't be me doing it."

"Hell twirp. What have you got planned?"

Lucas shrugged.

"It's simple. Dad created this mess so he'll be the one to clear it up."

Keiran's jaw dropped to the floor.

"You're going to make your father..."

"It's a TD. He has no choice."

**********

This story will be finished, complete, kaput in the next two weeks if not sooner.