Chapter Two

 The summer has flown by. Schools around here start today or next week. We've been enjoying watching the hummingbirds performing their acrobatics around the feeders. We had a bald-faced wasp problem but Mr. B took out his high powered shop vacuum and sucked them up. I have to say, he enjoyed that too much. lol

Mr. B is in A-fib again. Has been since yesterday. I suppose we're going to have to call the heart doc. Last week, we were at the doc's, four days out of five. Flipping in and popping out is expected. It's when he doesn't pop out is the problem. That will lead to heart damage and failure. Thank goodness his heart doc is one of the best. 

Okay, here is a little more of Reese's Return.

Jimmy finished brushing Twyla’s tail and set the curry comb back onto the shelve. He scratched the underside of the mare’s jaw before guiding the horse back into her stall.

“There you go, sweet thing.” Jimmy unhooked the lead rope from the horse’s halter and caressed the side of her neck. “You’re exercised and beautiful. Joe will be in later to give you some grain and tomorrow we’ll take a ride on the south trail to the pond.”

He paused and rubbed the small of his back, wondering if he’d strained something. The front pocket of Jimmy’s jeans vibrated and began to ring. He pulled the phone out and read his brother Tristen’s name on the screen.

“What’s up.”

Tristen had been talking about seeing the latest Disney movie in town. It had become a tradition for the twink squad, the smaller husbands of the team, to set aside one day a month in town for food, fun, and end the adventure at the cinema with lots of popcorn and candy. Jimmy was more than ready for some de-stress time. He loved his life and all the people in it, but sometimes the hacienda could get on his nerves.

Jimmy rubbed his belly and decided he must be getting an ulcer. He had to admit his short temper and all-around crabbiness over the last few weeks might be attributed to the deep ache in his stomach that could stopped him in his tracks and leave just as fast. Jimmy wondered if he should have it checked out before the last of Roman’s patience snapped and the big man’s hand connected with his ass. As off-balance as he felt, a spanking wouldn’t lead to the usual epic, hot as sin, sexual marathon.

“You need to get up here.” The distress in Tristen’s tone caught Jimmy’s entire attention. “An emergency call came in while Carson was in Roman’s office. Reese is in trouble.”

A prick of emotional hurt joined the deep ache in his belly and soreness of his back. No matter how many people joined the household, there would always be a void of emptiness left by Reese’s absence. The man needed to come back to the family.

“I’ll be right there.”

Jimmy took a minute to scroll through his contact’s list on his phone. With a press of a few buttons, he sent out a text, ordering all the team member’s husbands to meet him in the hacienda. Within seconds, texts came back letting him know they were already there and that their husbands had let them know what had happened.

What the hell?

 He knew committed relationships had their ups and downs. His years with Roman tilted toward many goods times with little troubles between them. Of late, between rescues and the number of children that had needed a safe place to stay while their adults sorted their lives out, Jimmy no longer seemed to be Roman’s number one priority. He hated that he felt this way.

As he stalked out of the barn and climbed into one of the hacienda’s utility vehicles, Jimmy made a decision. After this latest emergency he would be giving Roman a much-deserved earful and then they were getting away from Los Héroes and going on a vacation. No phones, internet, or smoke signals would be allowed on this trip. Just two people, reconnecting. Nothing was more important than each other.

The ride through the opening in the stone wall and across the back lawn was short. He found the kitchen deserted, as well as the rest of the rooms he moved through to get to Roman’s office. The eerie quiet of the house pissed Jimmy off. When had he become the outsider?

Jimmy opened the office door, ignored the people in the room, and confronted his husband.

“What the hell?”

Roman’s gaze traced over Jimmy from his dusty boots to his face. The man might as well have used his hands to explore the secrets of his body. Goosebumps rose. Jimmy wondered how that happened every time Roman looked at him, even after all these years. Jimmy hung on to his anger by his fingertips.

“Now that we’re all here, we can get down to business.” Roman touched the wooden chair next to him that had been Jimmy place since the beginning of their relationship. “Little bit, come sit and take notes.”

Wait, what? Roman’s comments implied that he’d been waiting for him? Was he supposed to be able to read minds now? Had Roman decided to use telepathy when he needed him? Jimmy sighed. Stating facts at the moment would make him look as if he were a shrew. Which he wasn’t, no matter what his brother said.

Jimmy moved to the chair and sat. Beside him, Roman began to speak. Jimmy grabbed his wand and electronic tablet from the desk’s top drawer and listened to the man who was his whole world.

“I received a call from Lee Sanchez,” Roman stated, and every member of the team stiffened. “Reese has been attacked at the beach. I assume Lee was also attacked as he could only talk for a few minutes before a nurse grabbed the phone and he was taken to surgery.”

“What hospital are he and Reese at?” Morgan, the team’s computer and gizmo expert shifted the laptop sitting on his crossed legs to a different position and began typing.

Jimmy studied Morgan’s face. A small line between the man’s eyebrows deepened and he chewed on his bottom lip. There was no love lost between Morgan and Lee. Lee loved Reese, and at one time Morgan had loved the idea of a romantic relationship with Reese. That would have never happened. Those two men weren’t suited. Morgan, and his husband, Tatum, who was one of the team’s medics, on the other hand, were mates of the mind, soul, and heart.

“Lee is at the Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo.” Roman picked up his pen, twirled it between two fingers, before letting it drop back onto the desk. “Lee told me the authorities airlifted Reese from the beach. He doesn’t know where they took him.” Roman’s gaze narrowed on Morgan. “I need to know the nearest hospital with a trauma center and a bird landing.”

“Is it possible that Lee is confused, and they took Reese to Mission Hospital, too?”

Roman turned his attention to Parker. The team’s other medic sat between his two husbands. Jimmy thought Parker won the lottery every night when he retired to the bedroom with those muscley hunks. Yum.

Roman’s hand grazed the side of Jimmy’s leg. The small gestured pulled his mind back to his own husband whose looks and massive muscles outshone, in Jimmy’s opinion, every man in the room. Now Jimmy wanted to know how the guy knew his mind had wandered.

“Reese isn’t at Mission Hospital.” The conviction in Roman’s tone ended that idea.

“UCI Trauma Center and Inland Valley Medical Center are the closest trauma centers to San Onofre State Park,” Morgan stated as his fingers raced over his keyboard. “Thanks to a nifty little program I may have stumbled upon, we now have a genie’s ball to tell us what we need to know. Never again will we hit bullshit walls like we did the first time Reese disappeared.”

“Of course, what you’re doing is on the up and up?” Roman asked.

Jimmy didn’t care how many laws Morgan broke. They needed to find Reese.

Morgan leaned closer to his computer monitor. “According to the information here, UCI’s bird brought in a victim with multiple stab wounds from San Onofre State Beach,” Morgan announced while side-stepping Roman’s question. “He was rushed into surgery where he currently remains. Inland Valley has had no new trauma patients in the last twelve hours.”

Silence reigned as everyone seemed to be processing Morgan’s statement. Jimmy watched Roman. The tell-tale twitch at the corner of his mouth and intense gaze told Jimmy that his husband had a plan in mind with a hidden agenda.

“Flyer, make the arrangements to fly into the airport nearest UCI Trauma Center,” Roman ordered. “Little Bit, we’re going to need rides and hotel rooms.”

Jimmy waited for the kicker he sensed was coming.

“Isaiah, you and Parker will head to Mission hospital and monitor Lee’s condition,” Roman directed. “Santos, you and I will confirm Reese is at UCI.” Roman’s gaze scanned the room. “We’ll keep the rest of you updated on what we find.”

Jimmy sucked in a breath and rested his hand on his belly as a sharp pain stabbed through his insides. He had suspected that Roman was going to stir the pot regarding the family’s feelings toward the Reese situation. He hadn’t thought Roman was going to use an airplane engine powered kitchen mixer to explode the thin membrane covering the still festering wound of Reese’s leaving Rescue for Hire.

He winced as the volume of everyone’s objections grew.

“We’re not staying behind.”

“When someone is hurt, we all go to the hospital.”

“Reese is still one of us.”

“We are family, and family sticks with family.”

“I object.”

“Enough.”

Roman hadn’t had to raise his voice to gain the room’s attention. Those who had stood, settled back down into their seats and all of them waited for the big man to speak.

Jimmy held back a snicker. Man, they’d been played by the best of the best.

Roman rested his elbows on the office chair’s arms and steepled his fingertips together.

“Who of you want to go and who stays home?”

 Garrett cleared his throat. The older man ran the house with expert efficiency as well as cooked meals that would make angels drool if angels did that sort of thing. If Garrett had something to say, Jimmy let him. An irritated Garrett could result in multiple meals of dried-up cold chicken and mushy vegetables. It seemed as if the rest of the gang thought along those same lines. Everyone looked toward Garrett.

The keeper of the house reached over and entwined his fingers with the frail man sitting in a wheelchair. Complete devotion and total love shown in the smile that Tolliver directed at Garrett.

“My wee one and I will stay and prepare for Reese and Lee’s homecoming.” Garrett glanced at Jimmy’s parents. “We also have the children to consider. I’m sure James and Peggy will help.”

The heart attack that had ravaged his father’s health was called a widow maker for a good reason. Not many people survived. James Earl had lived but the toll to his body had forced him to give up his ranch to his oldest son and move to La Heroes. Jimmy thought that decision had been a good one. The family of Rescue for Hire West had welcomed his parents and everyone watched over them.

Peggy Earl nodded. “The two new foster children will need extra attention and school is still in session for our kids.”

Morgan and Tatum may have adopted Keven and the four Thompson kids but the whole gang thought of them as theirs. This hacienda of heroes and their spouses were doing their best to raise them right.

“I’ll stay and take care of all the animals,” Joe Beck spoke up. “I assume, you are leaving Norman and Sadie home?”

Rhys and Santos nodded at Joe’s question. They wouldn’t need to take their tracking dogs along to California. This missing person rescue would be solved by a computer.

 Joe would have his hands full taking care of all the animals accumulated over the years. Besides the tracking dogs and the horses that filled the barn, there were the outside cats, one spoiled inside cat, a couple of guinea pigs, a tank filled with guppies, a Golden Retriever named Sam, and of course Bentley, the Chihuahua. Yep, Joe would have his hands full.

“Cayman and I are committed to quite a few jobs,” Seth, one of Parker’s husbands said. “It will take us a couple of days to rearrange our schedules.”

Parker touched Seth’s cheek and his other hand rested on Cayman’s thigh. “Don’t change anything unless it looks as if we’ll have to stay longer than a week.”

Cayman’s eyebrows lowered. “We want to be there for you, Reese, and Lee.”

“I’ll call every day and we’ll decide together if you should join us,” Parker answered.

Jimmy could almost touch the love flowing between Parker and his plumbers. He glanced at Roman. He bet the plumbers would never neglect Parker like someone else in the room had been lately neglecting him.

“If you all are finished, we have plans to make,” Roman stated. “I want to be in the air in less than two hours.”

“I need to call the shop,” Tristen pulled his phone out of his leather vest pocket. “I’m sure Sabastian will understand that this is a family emergency.”

Jimmy had to acknowledge that his spoiled brother had done good. After starting part-time at a clothing store, he had not only worked hard and transferred to fulltime, he’d also invested and become part owner.

“We’re going to need two planes,” Flyer said before popping a chocolate kiss into his mouth. Jimmy wondered if he had stolen the candy from Rhys. Joe was always giving his husband a kiss candy. So romantic.

Jimmy hardly noticed Flyer’s leg bouncing any longer. Okay, that was a lie. It was impossible not to see that leg’s constant jerking up and down. One time he had sat on Flyer’s knee to try and stop the habit. Yeah, it hadn’t worked. Flyer would always be Flyer.

“We will split into two groups.” Roman picked up his pen and twirled it between two fingers. “My group will go with Flyer and after we land, we’ll head to the hospital to find Reese. Isaiah’s group will fly with Styx and go to Lee.”

Styx, Flyer’s husband nodded. He never said much. Being sucker ambushed by some homophobic assholes had left him with a voice just above a whisper and a harsh, gravely tone. It had improved for a while but disintegrated back to what he had now. That never stopped foster kids from swarming the big, beefy, tattooed and pierced mechanic. They saw beneath the surface of his bad boy image to the awesome person he really was.

“Now, who’s going with who?” Roman asked.

No one spoke up. Jimmy knew what they were all thinking. They resented Lee because they blamed him for Reese leaving the team and living with him on the beach. Everyone had conveniently forgotten that Reese lost all his memories of Rescue for Hire and the team. He hadn’t known any of them from a cartoon character on television. They were all strangers in a strange place to him. Lee had been his lifeline in a confusing world in which time, numbers, and letters held no meaning. And yet, the group still resented Lee. All because they hadn’t gotten the miracle cure they wanted.

“You all are assholes,” Jimmy sputtered and jumped to his feet.