Page 8 of Warrant (The Berserker’s Rage MC: Wyoming Chapter #1)

Ainsley

W iping my hands on my jeans, I juggled the bottle of wine I’d brought with me as I paused before knocking on the door.

Why am I here?

A hound dog bayed at me from the side of the porch, making me jump even as he came over to sniff me, tail wagging a mile a minute.

“Quiet, Beau!” Cindy said, sounding exasperated at the dog as she opened the door with a smile. “Right on time.”

That was why. I gave Cindy a weak smile and thrust out the wine bottle. “Hi.”

She wiped her hands on her blue and white checkered apron and took the bottle from me with a wide smile. “Thank you so much, Sweetie. Come on in.”

Warrant’s mother reminded me of my own. What was it about moms?

I was tempted to just…step into her and wrap my arms around her.

Sink into her embrace and let her take all the stress and worry out of my very bones.

Moms were the best at that. I wasn’t sure what they did with that negative energy, but it was like they managed to release it off into the ether.

They left you feeling boneless and loved and safe.

God. I needed a hug. Someone to talk to about the fact that I was worried about messing up and disappointing…

well everyone. Didn’t matter that Denison had been such a fuck up that no matter what I did I looked good.

I wanted to do good. To be good. To be exactly what Sentinel needed.

It was a lot of damn pressure. But that wasn’t new.

I always put too much pressure on myself.

I followed Cindy into her home, wringing my hands as I went.

My steps paused as four men looked up at me from where they were crowded around the dining room table.

They were practically carbon copies of each other.

The older man was clearly Warrant’s father and he had the same blue eyes.

The only difference was the crow’s feet at the corners that let me know he smiled often and had worked in the sun all his life.

From there, they ranged downward in age until you got to Warrant.

I’d bet the lacy thong I was wearing that Warrant was the baby of this family. It explained so much about him and his attitude. But all four men were smiling at me. Before I could say anything I was being tugged against a muscular body.

Shocked, I froze in Warrant’s hold. After a moment, I asked, “What are you doing?” under my breath.

“Looked like you needed that.”

How did he do that? It was like he knew me on a level no one else did. It was…worrisome.

Pulling away from him, I stepped a little away, trying to get my blush under control because everyone was staring at us. His dad looked mildly surprised, but his mom and brothers didn’t.

“You’ve met my mom,” Warrant said, motioning to Cindy as she turned to the stove and stirred whatever was simmering there.

The kitchen smelled so good I was tempted to lick the walls. Seriously, cooking wasn’t exactly my forte. But I was very, very good at eating and I hadn’t had a truly delicious home cooked meal in weeks. Most nights I made due with cereal.

“This is my dad, Dale. My brothers Lucas and Alex.”

“We’re the better looking brothers,” Lucas said, flashing me a smile.

“Which your wife and newborn baby daughter know all about,” Alex said, arching a brow his way. He gave Ainsley a wide smile. “I’m single, though.”

I couldn’t help but laugh when Warrant knocked Alex’s hand out of the way before I could shake it. “It’s nice to meet you all.”

“Go wash your hands, Alex,” Cindy said, shooting me a wink.

“What am I? Seven?”

“You’re a man with dirty hands,” Cindy said, eyeing Alex’s hands with a look of disgust. “Scrub under your nails.”

When Alex opened his mouth to argue, she leveled him with a look that made every one of us in the kitchen straighten up. It was that ‘Mom’ look. The kind that no one, no matter how old they were, argued with.

Sighing, Alex shoved Warrant before heading out of the kitchen to go do as his mother asked.

“I’m sorry about them,” Cindy said as I drifted closer to her, mostly so that Warrant would stop finding small ways to touch me. It was distracting having his fingers brushing my arm.

“Don’t be. You have a very nice family. And I love your home.” It’d taken a full five minutes of driving down their driveway to get back to the house. Their ranch was huge. This was my kind of place. Well, maybe bigger than I’d ever need. But it had all the wide open space you could want.

“Thank you. After dinner I’d love to show you my gardens, and my greenhouse.”

“I’d love to see it,” I told her with a grin, and I meant it.

She and my mom would get along so well together.

They’d bond over gardening and knitting and grandbabies.

I wasn’t going to mention that I couldn’t keep a plant alive to save my life.

My idea of a plant needing something was to just dump more water on it.

That usually didn’t work out so well. For the plant.

I was thinking about getting a dog. I needed a companion and that had to be easier to keep alive than a plant. Right?

“Have a seat.” Cindy eyed Alex’s hands as he came back just in time for everyone to pile around the dinner table.

“Beth is sorry she’s missing this,” Lucas said, helping himself to some of the pot roast Dale helped Cindy place on the table. “Her sister needed a sitter tonight and Beth offered to watch the crew until she got home.”

“I’ll send enough home for her,” Cindy said. “Be sure to let her know we missed her and Maxine.”

There was roast, potatoes and gravy, a variety of vegetables, and homemade rolls. My stomach rumbled.

“Heard that,” Warrant muttered so only I could hear.

I narrowed my eyes at him. “You heard nothing.”

“Better than cereal right?”

Staring at him with my mouth hanging open, I wondered how in the world he could know I’d eaten cereal for three nights straight? Now why did I assume he knew that too, the three nights in a row part?

“That’s my go to when Mom doesn’t take pity on me and send me home with leftovers,” he explained.

Right.

Of course he wouldn’t know what I was eating. Or how much of it.

“Though Trix does hit just right sometimes.”

I blinked at him in shock. There was no way that was his favorite cereal too.

“Sometimes I’ll eat it two, even three nights in a row.”

“How are you liking Sentinel?” Dale asked me. This pulled me away from what was about to be labeled the Sentinel-Trix mystery.

I smiled at him. “It’s a great town. Everyone’s been really-” I paused as Warrant started dishing up my plate. I must have taken too long and he took it upon himself. But my eyes widened at how much he was shoveling on. Putting my hand out I blocked a fifth spoonful of mashed potatoes.

“Do your parents live close by?” Cindy asked, distracting me again.

“About four hours from here, toward the state line,” I told her.

By the time I looked back at my plate there wasn’t a spare inch of room.

There were four rolls piled on top of my roast. I gave Warrant a look of disbelief, but he was already busy making himself an identical plate.

I knew the man was interested in me, but I didn’t realize he harbored a fetish for watching women eat mass quantities of food.

There was zero chance I could finish all this.

Everyone’s plate, except Cindy’s, looked exactly the same. No wonder there was so much food on the table. I’d never lived with a man. Only had a couple semi-serious relationships, but I didn’t remember any of those men eating like they had a tapeworm. These men did though.

Of course they were ranchers, it was easy to tell by the work clothes and the calloused palms—mmmmm—and I knew that meant long hard days of working outside in the different weather conditions that Wyoming provided.

I had to bite back a moan of delight as I popped the first bite of pot roast into my mouth. The flavor was better than any restaurant I’d ever had it in. And much better than cereal. Feeling eyes on me, I glanced over and glared at Warrant.

He grinned at me. “Good, right?”

“So good,” I said, and there might have been a little moan at the end. Which was embarrassing enough, but I also caught Alex staring at me with his mouth hanging open.

When he grunted and scowled at Warrant and I was pretty sure he’d gotten kicked under the table.

“It was so nice of you to invite me to dinner,” I told Cindy.

“Oh, it’s nothing,” she said with a wave of her hand. “I always make too much.”

Probably because her kids and husband were black holes.

They were already halfway through their plates.

I never did understand how men could breathe while simultaneously shoveling food into their mouths.

But I didn’t say that out loud. Most of my thoughts remained inside as I observed.

It was what made me a good cop. Couldn’t let people know what I was thinking.

Feeling Warrant’s gaze on me, I worried again about the fact that he somehow seemed to be able to read my mind more often than I was comfortable with.

“Besides,” Cindy continued, “this gives us a chance to get to know our new sheriff.”

“And Rafe’s new-” Alex let out another grunt, but this time scowled at Lucas.

I looked around then focused on Warrant. I had to be careful here. He didn’t know that I had a file on him that was almost as thick as my forearm, the man had a penchant for getting into trouble. “Rafe? Is that your real name?”

He smiled at me. “Sure is.”

Before I could respond, Beau—Warrant’s dog, I found out—let out a massive bay from the porch.

“He’s always going on about something,” Cindy sighed.

“Probably Owen,” Warrant said, getting up to go check.

Cindy gasped. “Rafael Dale Barringer! You didn’t tell me Owen was coming for dinner.”

Warrant glanced over his shoulder at her and shrugged. “He usually does.”

“And you usually tell me so that we can wait for him,” she snapped. She was out of her seat before any of her men could stop her.

“He can get his own plate,” Dale said, starting to stand.

“Besides, I keep telling you, we don’t wait on Owen, we only wait on people,” Warrant added.

Cindy was already busy grabbing one from the cupboard and dishing up food as though it was her own personal mission.

“Sit down, Mom,” Lucas said, but everyone had stopped eating because Cindy wasn’t eating.

My chest tightened as I watched Cindy fret over the fact that someone invited to her home might be offended that we’d started without him, and her men worry over her. The love coming off this family was so easy to see and feel. It made me soften a little toward Warrant. He had an amazing family.

Which really shouldn’t surprise me. I’d watched him, and his MC brothers, the day of the funeral.

They’d run themselves nearly into the ground doing anything that needed to be done to make sure that day had gone smoothly.

I hadn’t missed the way they’d positioned themselves around the park during the wake.

The way they’d come to the rescue with bag after bag of ice, or anything else that was needed to keep the food cold, or hot.

Warrant had watched over it all, eyes scanning, missing nothing.

I’d noticed because I’d been doing the same.

Mike Linstrom had been returned to my jail cells—where he was still sitting as he awaited his trial—but I hadn’t been sure whether someone would show up to try to see him or not.

Other than his lawyer there hadn’t been anyone yet.

But if there had, I would’ve had all the backup I could have needed, thanks to the Berserker’s Rage MC.

“Hey,” Owen said, grinning as he took off his ball cap when he stepped into the dining room. He looked surprised to see me, but didn’t mention anything.

I was glad. It was embarrassing enough that he was seeing me here. How did I explain to one of my deputies about why I was here?

“I see Cindy must have cornered you and offered to feed you, too,” Owen said, taking care of my dilemma in a quick and efficient way. Which, I was learning, was exactly Owen’s way.

“Guilty,” Cindy said with a laugh as she set the full plate in front of Owen when he sat to her left. Everyone had slid down to make room for him.

“She does that,” he said with a laugh.

I chuckled and nodded as Warrant sat back down next to me and everyone returned to the meal.

We all chatted, they asked a lot of questions about my family as we ate, and soon, I was sitting back, stuffed to the extent I was worried about the button on my jeans.

“That was probably the best thing I’ve ever eaten,” I told Cindy.

“Best thing you’ve ever eaten, so far,” Lucas interjected. “Just wait until she makes you her homemade clam chowder.” Everyone groaned in appreciation.

She grinned at me. “Well, if you want, Rafe can take you out, show you around, work some of it off. Once I put all this away I’ll show you those gardens.”

“I got it, Mom,” Alex said as all the men rose and began clearing plates and putting food away.

Dale was already rolling up his sleeves and getting ready to do the dishes.

Warrant put a hand on my shoulder. “Come on.”

“We should help-”

“Guests don’t help,” he said with a wink as he walked me outside.

The sun was going down over the mountains, staining the sky in reds and golds. Thanks to his family, I was feeling relaxed and completely comfortable. And now I was about to go on a walk around this ranch with the one man I really should be avoiding.

It was a bad idea. I went anyway.