Rattle His Cage:

Book 3: The Baxter Boys ~ Rattled

by Jane Charles

Genres: New Adult & College; Contemporary Romance

Synopsis

Twelve years Dylan White has waited.
Twelve years since his family was yanked away
Twelve years of being alone—except for the friends he met at Baxter, who are now his family.
His brother, Noah, has disappeared.
His sister, Nina, just turned eighteen, but he has no way to find her.

Mary Robins wears her heart on her sleeve.
And it's tattooed on her chest—the dog tags of the man she worshiped, surrounded by beautiful ribbons.
Her only purpose in life is to take care of those who are in need. Heal the broken and comfort that wounded—the very reason she's becoming a nurse.

Except, she's never allowed anyone to take care of her. Not in a very long time.

No one has wanted to take care of her until she meets Dylan and the Baxter boys. They're a weird bunch – fiercely loyal and... hers.

Dylan is searching for something, and so is Mary. Searching for family, searching for friendships, and searching for love. Can they find what they so desperately need in each other?

***New Adult novel intended for audiences over the age of 18 due to adult language and sexual content***

Release date: January 1, 2017

Publisher: Night Shift Publishing

Print pages: 333

Sample

1

 

DYLAN

 

I should not be up this early. Not after last night. We were out long after midnight, celebrating the new year, and I should still be asleep.

Except, today is the first day of a new year. It’s Nina’s eighteenth birthday. 

I haven’t seen my siblings since I was twelve—half of my life. Tomorrow I will be at child services as soon as the doors open to find out where my sister is.

“Morning,” Kelsey whispers as she comes into the kitchen. She’s smiling, relaxed, and practically glowing. At least somebody is getting some.

I’ve known Kelsey Fry since high school.  She lives on the top floor of the house, and she’s dating one of my best friends, Alex Dosek. She and Alex had been split, somewhat, for about a week, until a well-planned and perfectly executed intervention by our friends last night.

I push my glasses up on my head and rub the bridge of my nose.

“You okay?” Kelsey asks.

“Yeah,” I answer right before yawning. Maybe I should go back to bed and try to sleep. Unless Nina suddenly makes a profile on a social media site, I won’t have answers until tomorrow anyway. I’ve already checked through all the sites this morning, and she’s not anywhere. Nor is my brother, Noah, or my youngest sister, Jade. I check every day hoping I’ll find them.

Kelsey grabs a mug out of the cupboard and pours a cup of coffee. I’ve already drunk half the pot, so chances are that even if I did go to bed, my brain would be just as wired as it was when I got up. Or worse.

“Did you sleep last night?” she asks.

“A few hours.” Though I’m not sure if it was real sleep. More like dozing with constant dreams.

Kelsey stops behind me and starts to lean over. “What are you doing?”

I close the lid on my laptop. After going through the social media sites I worked more on my novel. It’s a piece of crap, but I still keep working on it.

“Reading something naughty,” she teases.

She’s close.  Not reading, writing something very naughty.

Maybe I just need to get laid and then I won’t be so frustrated. The image of Mary Robins flashes in my mind. She is so not for me and way out of my league, but that doesn’t mean I’ve erased the image of her in that towel, fresh from the shower, with beads of water still glistening on her bare shoulders. That’s how she answered the door the day I dropped off dinner for Kelsey when the two still lived together.

Kelsey leans against the large island, the mug in her hands, close to her face. “Okay, since we won’t talk about what you’re reading, let’s talk about Mary.”

I choke and splash coffee on the counter, barely missing my laptop. Grabbing paper towels, I quickly wipe up the mess. “Okay…” I hope to God she can’t read minds because my thoughts aren’t exactly clean when they’re about Mary.

“Maybe not so much her, but you.”

“Me?” I take a step back, pretending that I have no clue what Kelsey is talking about. Unfortunately, I’m all too aware of Mary. Perfect legs, that beautiful, infectious smile, and sparkling blue eyes that are all Mary. Perky, happy, and so fucking hot.

 “She’s clearly interested. You’d have to be living in a cave, in total darkness, and never look at her, not to know.”

My face heats, though I’m pretty sure Kelsey is exaggerating. Sure, Mary said I was hot when I was cleaning their kitchen, but that doesn’t mean anything.

“So?” Kelsey demands.

“So, what?” I counter.

“Why aren’t you interested?”

Oh, if only she knew. Thank God Kelsey has no clue.

“He’s saving himself,” Alex announces as he comes into the kitchen.

This, I don’t need. It’s bad enough with Kelsey trying to get information. “Sod off.” I unplug my laptop. 

“Sod off?” Kelsey laughs.

“Bloody hell,” I mutter as I pick up my computer.

“Novel!” Alex proclaims.

Like I’d be working on anything else the first morning of the New Year. I certainly don’t have food articles to prepare, nor do I have current assignments for the various newspapers and magazines that I get freelance work from, and nothing for my food blog.

“He always slips into different dialects when he’s working on a novel,” Alex explains. “If he were writing an article, he’d be all foody. Not that I’ve heard a foodie cuss word, but if anyone knows one, it’s Dylan.”

I do slip into the dialect, which I’m well aware since that is where my head’s at, which is currently England. Until that last scene I just wrote, the poor chap had been as frustrated as I’ve been lately. “Are you two quite finished?”

“No,” they say in unison.

“What don’t you like about Mary?” Kelsey asks.

“It’s not that I don’t like her.” They just don’t need to know how much.

“So, ask her out,” Kelsey pushes.

“We have nothing in common.” I open the cupboard and grab a skillet. Maybe if I feed them, they’ll shut up.

“How do you know until you have a conversation that lasts over five minutes?” Kelsey asks.

I straighten and look at her. Kelsey and I come from similar backgrounds in that we were in the system and ended up at the same high school, Baxter Academy of Arts, so she’s got to get it. “What does her father do?”

“Her dad was killed in Iraq when she was ten.”

Mary lost her dad? Kelsey’s words are like a fist to the gut. It’s one thing to have dicks as parents but totally different when you lose one because they’re fighting the good fight.

That still doesn’t mean we have anything else in common though. And mine is not dead, he just might as well be. “Her mom?”

“She’s some kind of engineer at Watervliet Arsenal Army Base.”

Both parents, honorable, serving their country, even if one is dead. Mary comes from heroes. I come from selfish, filthy, hoarder slobs who made their living cooking meth in the basement while I raised my younger brother and sisters.

“That doesn’t mean you don’t have anything in common.”

I blow out a sigh and turn to her. “Look, Kels, I know you mean well, but I’m not interested in Mary or any woman.” That’s only a partial lie. I’m not interested in any other woman.

“Dude, why didn’t you tell me you were gay?” Zach cries as he comes into the kitchen. “I have so many friends that would just love to grab that ass.” Zachary Hawk. Another guy I’ve known since high school and who lives in the house. He’s also a drag queen who leaves his four-inch stilettos in the middle of the living room after a late night.

Why the hell is everybody up so early? We got back from the bar like only five hours ago. It’s a fucking holiday and meant for sleeping in. “I’m not gay.”

“Prude?” Alex asks and then his eyes go wide. “You’re a fucking virgin. That’s it!” He rushes forward and pats me on the shoulder. “It’s okay, really, and explains why you’ve never had a girl up to that pristine room of yours, or at any time since we left Baxter.”

That’s because I kept any girl I was seeing away from them. Well, except Patty. But that’s a female I’d like to forget.

“Do you think if he got some he’d loosen up?” Zach asks with a laugh. “No wonder he spends so much time scrubbing and cleaning shit. He’s frustrated because his dick’s not getting the attention it deserves.”

Kelsey grins. “Mary would be more than happy to give it all kinds of attention.”

I’d be more than happy to let her, if things were different.

“I’ll caution her to be gentle,” Alex adds with concern.

The three of them laugh and something inside me snaps. “I’m not a fucking virgin. I am not a prude. I am not gay. She’s just not the girl for me.”

With that, I head out of the kitchen with my laptop. “Fix your own fucking breakfast.”

 

MARY

 

“What the hell?” I push the blankets away and look at my clock, then groan. It’s only like noon and I’ve gotten a total of two hours sleep.

Laughter bleeds through my bedroom door right before someone starts pounding on the wall.

I grab my robe and storm out.  There are a ton of boxes in the living room and I can barely get around them. Where the hell did they come from? They weren’t here when I got home from the hospital this morning.

Shelby and Tiffany are in Kelsey’s old room with who I guess is our new roommate. She’s hammering nails into the wall.

“Oh, hi, Mary,” Shelby greets me with a sugary sweet smile. “This is Brit. She’s moving in.” Her grin gets bigger, but there’s a glint of cold calculation in her baby blue eyes. “Britney and I have been friends since high school. Isn’t it great that she’s living here now?”

“Great.” I’m pretty sure my dry tone is missed on them, or maybe not. “Can you be a little quieter please? I worked all night and need to be in at eleven tonight.”

Tiffany over-exaggerates a pout. “Poor thing.”

“Your friend, Kelsey, wasn’t exactly quiet when she moved out,” Shelby reminds me.

“Don’t punish me if she pissed you off.”

With that, I leave them and return to my room, pull the covers over my head and two pillows, but it doesn’t drown out the sound of the drill. A damn drill. This place has been taken over.

Blowing out a sigh, I grab my noise-canceling headphones. I bought them when I needed to study in the dorm, so I hope they work now.

Silence. Well, almost silence, but it’s better than before. Until something bangs against the wall knocking my favorite piece of art, a reproduction of Renoir’s Woman in a Landscape, from the wall. It hits the nightstand and the glass shatters. Does Brit have a bulldozer in there I missed?

Grabbing my pillows and blankets I head to the closet. At least it’s on the opposite side of the room and doesn’t share a wall with anything but the living room.

After closing the door, I switch off the light and burrow into a nest of clothing on the floor. It’s certainly softer than the hard floor. 

I hope to hell this doesn’t keep up, but now that Brit is here, and she’s Shelby’s BFF, it’s not going to be an easy semester.

Wait, Kelsey is looking for a new place to live. If we combined our funds, maybe we could get a place together. I’ll still be stuck with the rent here, but if this shit continues, I might commit murder. I didn’t spend the last four years working on my degree to become a nurse at the nearest penitentiary.

Grabbing my phone, I send her a text.

Me: Are you still looking for an apartment?

Kelsey: No. Why.

Me: New roommate, Shelby’s bff from high school

Kelsey: Shit

Me: Yep

Me: Why aren’t you looking anymore?

My guess is that she and Alex finally made up, as they should, but I don’t want to assume anything either. The other guys in the house may have just insisted she stay.

Kelsey: Alex is back.

Me: Happy for you. Sucks for me

Kelsey: Sorry

I am happy for her, but it puts me back at square one. I know Kelsey didn’t have any luck finding a place on a budget when she was looking so I doubt I will either. Besides, school will also start back up on Tuesday and we’ll all be on a normal schedule again.

At least I hope everything goes back to normal

Today they are probably just pushing my buttons because it’s Brit’s first day. I can play this game until we are back in classes. If my feathers don’t get ruffled, they’ll get bored.

Music blares.

Mama always said to pick your battles, and I’m too tired to pick this one. Plus, I don’t want them to think they succeeded in pissing me off on day one.

Me: Getting a hotel room

Kelsey: Why

Me: They’re playing Adele

Kelsey: You like Adele

Me: Not when I’m trying to sleep and it’s loud enough to make my ears bleed

Kelsey: It’s like noon

Me: Worked 11 to 9. Got 2 hrs sleep. Gotta go in tonight

Kelsey: Come here

Me: And sleep where?

Then again, if Dylan offered his bed… maybe sleep wouldn’t be so important.

Kelsey: my bed.

More music blares from a different part of the apartment.

I only have two more nights of thirds and then my sleep schedule will be the same as theirs. I just need to remember that and not react. Getting pissed will only encourage Shelby and that’s the last thing I want to do.

Me: Heading over.

I quickly dress, throw some stuff in a bag and head out of my room.

“What’s wrong? Couldn’t sleep?” Shelby asks with mock sympathy.

“What?” I ask as if confused. “No. I’ve got to be some place. Thank God you woke me, or I might have overslept.”

I finally allow myself to smile at Shelby and Tiffany’s shock once I’m out in the hall. They were so counting on pissing me off, and I just took it away from them. Well, not totally. They did piss me off, but I’ll be damned if I let them know it.

 

2

 

DYLAN

 

Coffee. I need more coffee and to apologize. It’s not Alex, Zach, and Kelsey’s fault I’m in a pissy mood. And, really, the guys give me shit all the time and I give it back. This is just the first time I let it get under my skin.

Plus, I’m hungry. Zach couldn’t boil an egg to save his life, Alex makes those box meals, but they taste more like the cardboard the food came in, and I’m not sure if Kelsey has any skills in the kitchen. She certainly didn’t have the groceries to cook with when she lived with Mary. I guess they could all eat cereal and toast, but I want real food. It’s lunchtime and all I’ve existed on so far today is coffee.

The other guys I live with are sitting around in the living room relaxing since nobody has to be anywhere today. There are six of us and Kelsey. Ryan and Zach are watching the Tournament of Roses parade. Sean is working on a set of floorplans in the dining room, and Alex is sketching. Kelsey and Christian are the only ones not in here.

I scratch my chin and fight the urge to shave. How much longer can I stand this?

“I’m liking the beard,” Ryan says. “You’re getting all scruffy.”

He would. He has a beard and refuses to shave in the winter because he often works outside. Mine is a test—to see I can just let something go. I haven’t even trimmed it, which drives me crazy every time I glance in the mirror.

Baby steps, if I can let my beard go, and my hair, then maybe other things won’t be so important either, like Zach’s stilettoes in the middle of the floor. “Are the girls coming over for dinner?” Sean asks.

The girls being Joy, Alyssa, Mia, Kate, and Zoe. We’ve all been friends since high school and stuck together once we got to college and out into the real world. Well, at least once we left the stone walls of Baxter that kept us from the real world.

“I think so,” Ryan answers.

“That was the plan last night,” I answer. Between sips of champagne they convinced me that since this was a holiday and we are family, even if there’s no blood linking us together, that I should cook and serve a feast for everyone.

It’s not like I don’t cook for them anytime they decide just to pop in for a meal, but I did enjoy their groveling and begging.

“Mia wants to know what time,” Zach says after looking at his phone.

“Six or seven.” I don’t even know what I’m going to cook yet.

My day is really thrown off. I knew last night that I’d be cooking for a crowd of twelve, but this morning it didn’t even occur to me to take some meat out to thaw or even plan a meal. Other than thinking about food a little earlier, I haven’t given dinner a single thought.

“What are we having? Alyssa wants to know,” Ryan asks.

“It’s a surprise,” I yell back as I head into the kitchen and open the freezer. I’ll be just as surprised if I come up with something.

Nothing in there is going to thaw in time. Then I open the fridge. Just the basics. Maybe breakfast?

“Joy wants to know if you want her to bring edible flowers,” Zach says as he comes into the kitchen.

Really? Edible flowers? I cook with food, like meat, vegetables, spices…not flowers. “Um, no thank you.” I turn around and look at him. “Is that what they are selling at the florist these days?”

Joy is a flower child at heart, or at least that’s how I see her. Even in high school she was in the gardens helping plant and weed instead of hanging with anyone else. She studied horticulture and design in college and one day wants her own garden shop, which would allow her to landscape too, though lately she’s been thinking that being a wedding planner.

“Mary’s coming over.” Kelsey grins at me as she comes into the kitchen.

If Kelsey is attempting to set us up, she and I need to have a long talk.

“Why?” Alex asks.

“New roommate is Shelby’s BFF from high school.”

“Bad?” Alex asks.

Kelsey shakes her head and puts her phone on the counter. “Mary worked ten hours in the ER last night. New roommate moved in and is banging on the walls and the other two are playing loud music.” She grabs a banana out of the bowl. “She’s coming here to get some sleep.”

“Where?” Alex asks.

Kelsey shrugs. “I assumed my bed.”

I slowly turn. “Really, your bed?”

“What’s wrong with my bed?”

I think I just offended her, but she and Alex probably spent most the night having sex on those sheets.

“Wet spots,” Sean yells.

“Unless there weren’t any,” suggests Ryan.

“That’s kind of sad, if that’s true,” Sean returns.

The more the guys go on, the redder Kelsey’s face gets. I should tell them to shut up, but she might as well get used to them.

“What’s sad?” Christian asks as he comes in the front door.

“No wet spots in Kelsey’s bed,” Sean answers.

“That’s more depressing than me sleeping alone,” adds Zach.

“No shit,” Christian grunts. “I thought you two made up,” he says to Alex.

By now Kelsey has her face buried in her hands and her shoulders are shaking.

 “You okay, Kelsey?”

She blinks up at me and cracks a smile. “I was just thinking how sad it is that the guys don’t know how long it took for a wet spot to dry.” She winks at Alex. “They should all be gone now,” she yells into the living room.  “All ten of them.”

“That’s cruel!” Zach cries.

“Really?” I say. “Ten? When telling fiction, the story should still be somewhat believable.”

 

MARY

 

Maybe I should have asked Kelsey if Dylan’s bed was available. If he wanted to share it with me, I’d certainly stay awake and sleep later. Not that he ever would of course. The guy hardly notices me, and I’ve tried almost everything except stripping down in front of him. I did come close to doing just that when I answered the door wearing only a towel. Had it been anyone else who wanted buzzed in, I would have asked them to wait while I put on a robe.

He didn’t even blink an eye.

He’s gay or his dick is dead.

Or, he doesn’t like me and doesn’t find me attractive. There’s always that and it’s nothing I can fix.

And it sucks!

Kelsey opens the door almost before I can knock, and I go on in.

Six guys and Kelsey live in the brownstone, and it looks like everyone is home. Furthest away, kicked back in a recliner is Ryan with his short blonde hair, beard, and green eyes. The photographer. At least I assume he is one because he was taking pictures of Alex passed out when they all went to give blood. But those were on his phone and not a real camera. But the way the guys talked, it sounded as if he was a real photographer. He’s doing something on a laptop.

On the far end of the couch is Christian, with shoulder-length, straight brown hair and warm brown eyes. The saxophone player. That’s what he was playing the day I came here with Alex and Kelsey.

At the other end is Zach, the female-impersonator. Or, so I’ve been told. He’s a handsome guy, and tall, with light brown hair and the lightest blue eyes. Kelsey said he’s a beautiful woman. I’m not seeing how that’s possible, especially with the scruff on his chin. There is nothing about him that screams beautiful drag queen.

Sean, bulky guy who looks like he works out a lot, is sitting at the dining room table looking at floor plans for a building or something. He scratches his nearly bald head then takes a drink of what I assume is coffee from a black cup.

Alex is at the end of the table drawing. Probably a tattoo or something. Dylan is the only one not in here.

The guys in the living room are watching a football game.

That’s right, it’s New Year’s Day. Isn’t there a bowl game today? Probably more than one.

It’s a homey room and reminds me of the places I lived as a kid. The base housing wasn’t near this big, but the furniture was the same. Worn and a hodgepodge with nothing matching. But it was comfortable, warm, and inviting when it was just me, Mom, Dad, and my brothers.

The Christmas tree is plugged in, a fire is burning in the fireplace, and there are a row of stockings along the mantel. There are twice as many as the number of people who live here and half the names belong to girls. Why didn’t I notice that the other night? Kelsey and I sat down here and watched TV all night.

Maybe it was because my focus kept switching between the movie we were watching and Dylan, who was working on his laptop at the dining room table.

Who are the girls? Girlfriends? Does one of those girls belong to Dylan? Maybe that explains why he doesn’t even notice me.

“Is it really that bad?” Kelsey asks, drawing my attention back to her. “Wow, you are out of it.” She laughs.

I groan. “She is just like them.”

“Why are those rich girls living there anyway?” Dylan asks as he comes from the kitchen.

My heart skips a beat. What is it about him? Every time he’s in the room my temperature rises just a bit and my pulse kicks up.

“There’s nothing wrong with the place, don’t get me wrong,” he continues. “But it’s basically student housing for a budget. I assume these girls are loaded.”

“The college experience,” Kelsey answers.

“They told us that their parents wanted them to experience college life, from the tiny rooms, to sharing a place, classes, all of it.”

“They call it slumming.” Kelsey rolls her eyes.

“Then they have no clue about the real world.” Christian snorts.

“They only know the filthy rich one.” I confirm and then turn to Kelsey. “I’m going to head up. You sure you don’t mind?”

“Of course not.”

Dylan comes forward. “You’re not sleeping in Kelsey’s bed.”

I blink at him. Did I come all this way not to have a place to sleep? Does he dislike me that much? “It’s one day, I promise.” I am so not above begging right now.

He holds up his hands, defensive, as if I’m going hit him or something. I may be tired, but I’m not violent.

“Use Alex’s room.”

“My room?” Alex looks up from his sketching in surprise.

“It’s not like you’re using it,” Dylan reminds him. “You haven’t slept in there for two weeks.”

“I don’t want to be a bother.” Really, I just want a bed. Any bed.

“You don’t want Kelsey’s bed, trust me. Alex has clean sheets on his bed.”

“I do?” He asks in surprise

“I washed your sheets while you were brooding above your tattoo shop.”

“I wasn’t brooding,” Alex argues indignantly. “You washed my sheets?” he adds in disbelief.

“Your bed was unmade and I was doing laundry,” Dylan counters defensively.

“What’s wrong with Kelsey’s?” This is really too much.

“Wet spots,” Zach answers.

I roll my eyes. “As if I care. Before I came here, I was trying to sleep in a pile of dirty clothes in my closet.”

Dylan’s eyes widen in shock, or maybe disgust. It’s hard to tell with him. “Really?”

“Well, maybe not all of them were dirty.” I bite my lip. “Maybe some.” Then I shrug. “It doesn’t matter. I just need sleep.”

Dylan grabs my bag and heads upstairs. “Alex’s room is better.”

“At least let me get a few things,” Alex calls as he follows me up.

I hate to put anyone out.

Dylan stops by an open door on the second floor. “Here you go.”

Alex walks in and looks around.

“Are you sure you don’t mind?”

“Actually, I don’t need anything from here. It’s all upstairs.”

“See,” Dylan says and then pulls Alex from the room and shuts the door.

I pull my shirt over my head as their voices bleed through the door.

“I think I know why you want Mary in this room.”

“Clean sheets,” Dylan counters.

“And it’s close to yours,” Alex teases in a sing-songy voice.

“Sod off,” Dylan counters from a little further away.

I move to the door and try and listen, but they are gone.

Hmm, so Dylan may want me close. I’ll just have to figure out how to make that work to my advantage.