ABANDON ALL HOPE: The Hope Brother Series (Book Two) Read online

  ABANDON ALL HOPE

  THE HOPE BROTHERS SERIES

  BOOK TWO

  Copyright © 2015 HONEY PALOMINO

  All Rights Reserved Worldwide

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means without permission from the author. This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, events, locations and incidences are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This book is for entertainment purposes only.

  This book contains mature content and is intended for adults only.

  ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼

  “Hope never abandons you, you abandon it.” ~George Weinberg

  “How many women did you invite, Eva?” Lee Haggard asked after pulling Eva out to the balcony of her bedroom and away from the group of women waiting by her bed.

  “I know it’s more than I told you,” she replied, stroking Lee’s arm reassuringly. “But really - what’s the difference between three and seven?”

  “Four, Eva! Four! That’s eight more eyes than I agreed to. Hell, I’m not just a piece of meat for you to display to your friends,” Lee growled.

  Eva smiled, reaching down and cupping Lee’s famously enormous package.

  “Of course you aren’t, sweetheart, you’re better than a dead piece of meat. You’re alive!” she squeezed him firmly and rubbed her ample bosom against his arm seductively.

  “This is just weird, Eva. I went along with it the first time,” he said, pulling her hand away. “But you’re making feel like…like a fucking whore or something.”

  Eva’s eyes squinted and then instantly lit up.

  “That’s it! Stay right here!” she insisted, pressing her palm against his chest, and then turning and running back to the waiting crowd of eager women.

  Lee shook his head, and looked out over the balcony and up at the bright moon that hung over the tall pine trees that surrounded Eva Montgomery’s property. Why Eva insisted on holding this little party at her house, the very same house she shared with her husband, who just happened to also be the sheriff of Sugar Hill county, was beyond him.

  If he had to guess, he’d have to say she liked the risk of being caught. Hell, if he was being honest, he’d have to admit he was guilty of getting his thrills from it, too.

  There was something about pushing the envelope to the edge of danger that made him feel alive.

  As if to remind of him of exactly how alive he was, his cock twitched expectantly. Eva usually just invited a friend or two for a little roll in the hay and he was gone as soon as it was over.

  But she had something else in mind this time. He agreed to her shenanigans during a drunken late night hook up, and now that he was faced with the additional women in the room, he was regretting it.

  He wasn’t just some circus act with a big dick, and to hell with Eva if that’s what she expected him to do.

  He had just decided to leave when Eva came running back out with a sly grin spread across on her pretty face, her black mane flowing down her shoulders, thrusting a straw cowboy hat full of money at him.

  “What’s this?”

  “Admission fees,” she said, pulling out a twenty dollar bill from the top, and tucking it into her bra. “The rest is your cut.”

  Lee took one look at the money, then gazed through the French door and into the eyes of seven women expecting something from him. Something that he could easily give them, if he just adjusted his standards a little.

  “All this money just to see it?” Lee asked.

  “Yep.”

  Lee’s head began spinning - all the odd jobs he had done over the years to survive, all the back-breaking work he had done under the blazing Texas sun, all the mind-numbing bullshit he had put up with from asshole bosses with power trips…he had hated every second of every job he ever had.

  His only other choice had been to work on the family farm, and he had done that, too, but it wasn’t any better. Hell, parts of it had been worse. Working with the Haggard family was not all that it was cracked up to be.

  And now, here were these women, throwing money into a goddamned cowboy hat, just to see what he was so used to whipping out just for fun?

  “No way,” he replied, loud enough for the other women to hear, shaking his head as he began walking back in to leave. They parted to allow his large towering frame pass by, their eyes filled with disappointment at his words.

  “Why not?” Eva called to his back. He paused, reaching for the door handle.

  “It just wouldn’t be right,” he said, tipping his hat. “Sorry, ladies.”

  “Wait! What if we do it privately? One on one?”

  The women began nodding in excited agreement.

  Lee turned back to them, and shook his head again, “I don’t know…”

  “C’mon, Lee,” Eva asked, sidling up to him.

  “I’d pay double,” a soft voice spoke up, her drawl thick and smooth. Dixie Clark was a debutante married to the mayor of Sugar Hill. Dixie did nothing to hide the fact that the Mayor was a little too busy with his job to properly attend to his wife. Hell, she told anyone that would listen how horny she was. She pulled a huge wad of cash from her bra, peeled off three hundred dollar bills and threw them in the hat that Eva was still holding.

  “I’d pay triple…for a lot more than a showing,” Lucy Martin, murmured from behind Dixie with a wink thrown Lee’s way. Lucy was the widow of the County Commissioner, who was also the heir of one of the biggest oil dynasties in Texas. She added six more hundreds to the pile and smiled expectantly at Lee.

  Lee’s eyes squinted, he took a deep breath, and walked back to the women, taking the hat from Eva and staring down at the overflowing pile of bills.

  “I think this could be a lucrative adventure for you, Lee, for both of us,” Eva whispered hastily. “I could coordinate everything for you…private appointments, you know? Sugar Hill needs a man like you, Lee.”

  “I’ve been here all along,” Lee replied.

  “That’s true. And you’ve done so much for the community,” she drawled, a mischievous grin spreading across her pretty face. “It’s time you let us give something back in return, don’t you think?”

  “Goddammit, Eva, you are one crazy bitch,” he replied. She laughed delightfully and clapped her hands again. She kissed him on the cheek, and he shook his head before turning back to the women, a sly grin on his face.

  “Let’s give these ladies what they came here for,” he said to them all, as he slowly pulled open the snaps on his pearl-buttoned black western shirt. The room filled with appreciative moans as he shrugged it off, leaving only his hat, jeans and boots on his tall frame.

  “Alright, now, y’all ready?” he asked, his fingers on the button of his tight Wranglers. They all nodded enthusiastically, and Eva, Dixie and Lucy all sank to their knees in front of him.

  He shook his head and smiled, as he unzipped his jeans, exposing the most famous pleasure ride of Sugar Hill county.

  A chorus of ooh’s and ahh’s escaped from the lips of the curious women. Eva looked on proudly, as if she had created the magnificent masterpiece herself.

  Dixie’s hand floated through the air between them, reaching out to touch the twitching temptation.

  “No touching!” Eva said, slapping her hand away. “Terms of each individual private appointment will be negotiated - with me - ahead of time.”

  Lee raised an eyebrow, impressed at her business sense, his head spinning with possibilities that had never crossed his mind before. Possibil
ities of financial stability, without breaking his back - the one thing that had eluded him for years.

  Hell, they always said find what you love, and you’ll never work another day in your life.

  “Get a good look ladies, because you won’t see another specimen this fine in all of Sugar Hill,” Eva stated.

  “You’d know, too,” Dixie said to Eva.

  “Don’t be jealous, Dixie,” Eva retorted.

  “Well, I’d believe this was the best with or without your slutty comparisons,” Dixie replied. “When do I get my appointment?” she asked, her eyes glued to Lee’s throbbing perfection in front of her. She inspected it visually, each curve, every throbbing vein, the perfect skin stretching enticingly, begging to be touched, to be utilized for exactly what it was put on God’s green Earth to do - please women.

  “I’ll be in touch,” Eva said, jumping up, clapping her hands. “That’s all for tonight, ladies. If you want a private session with the exquisitely skilled and endowed Lee Haggard, you’ll have to go through me. Get in touch, be generous, be discrete, and we’ll all be much happier women, I guarantee! Alright, everyone out!”

  Lee took a few steps back and did his best to wrangle his stubborn stallion back into its stall, as the women streamed out of Eva’s bedroom, one by one flashing him a smile and murmuring words of approval as they passed.

  After the last one had left, Eva and Lee stood in the room alone. Eva closed the door and turned to Lee with a triumphant smile.

  “We’re in business!” she exclaimed.

  Lee’s eyes dilated, his body yearning for release.

  “That may be, Eva, but if I don’t do something about this raging stallion between my legs, it’s going to explode into a million pieces and we’re going to be out of business faster than a bull coming out of the chute.”

  Eva’s eyes sparkled. She reached down to the hem of her silk dress, pulled it up and over her yoga enhanced thighs, and threw it on the floor.

  Her nakedness was a stark reminder of the cage that Lee’s monster was aching to escape from.

  “It’s all yours, cowboy,” she drawled, her finger tracing her sex in a seductive offering.

  Lee growled with hunger. Sex was his favorite drug, the one thing that allowed him to escape from his demons, the one delicious ride that made life worth living.

  Within seconds, he was fully naked, except for that ever present black Stetson. He sank into Eva like a man dying of thirst, his hunger coursing through his body like a wildfire that possessed his every thought, his every movement, consuming his soul until he was rocking against her like a bucking bull with only one intention - release.

  When he found it, Eva was right there with him, her hips bucking up into him, the dance, the ritual, the savage hunt for the elusive waves of pleasure was performed as one, until echoes of bliss rang out onto the balcony and into the trees, drifting up into the seductive pull of the bright moon, as they lay panting and spent beside each other.

  Eva laid her head on Lee’s muscular chest, her fingers trailing through the hair on his chest.

  “We’re going to make so much money,” she whispered.

  “I reckon we are,” Lee replied, kissing her forehead.

  They lay there silently staring into space, their heads spinning with ideas and their eyes full of dollar signs.

  ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼

  “This town is getting too damned big,” I complained to my brothers, Seth and Jesse, as I maneuvered my truck around a sleek black Mercedes. A Mercedes that was illegally parked in the loading zone near Norma’s diner in downtown Sugar Hill that I normally used to unload Norma’s delivery, that is.

  “I know, and who the hell can afford a car like that? Nobody that lives around these parts, I guarantee,” Seth replied, eyeing the fancy car as we passed by.

  “That’s a fucking SLR McLaren, holy shit! That car cost like a million bucks!” My youngest brother, Jesse, was much more up on current car trends than I was.

  “Well, then you know they’re just passing through. Nobody in this town has ever had that kind of money. Not even old man LaCroix. At least we know they’ll be able to afford the parking ticket when Regina comes by,” I replied. Regina Stewart had been the sole meter maid for our tiny town for as long as I could remember.

  I parked my truck halfway down the block, doing my best to count my blessings, instead of getting frustrated at the inconvenience.

  “We’re gonna have to haul this load down the block,” I said to my two helpers. In addition to our sister, Georgia, I’d be lost without these two.

  We were all that was left of the Hope family. Our parents had died in a car accident a year ago, leaving us forced to quickly pick up the pieces and continue business as usual, or abandon the only hope we had of surviving. It was all we knew, and I would never have been able to do it alone, without the support of my siblings.

  I threw the truck in park, turned off the rumbling engine, and slid out from behind the steering wheel of my pride and joy - my 1978 Ford Lariat pick-up truck. It was black and rugged, and had been in the family since my father, Ward Hope, bought it new - right after he and my mother bought the farm. Every dent and ding had been put there by a member of the Hope family. More than once since the accident, I’d found myself trailing my hands along its curves, appreciating every one of those character giving flaws.

  It was just like each of us - it wasn’t perfect. It had its moments, sometimes it was a little cranky in the morning, but it was loyal and dependable, despite its imperfections.

  Today, it was a work horse. The truck bed was filled to the rim with fresh eggs and produce. After lowering the tailgate, my brothers stood by while I grabbed a box full of lettuce and tomatoes and stacked it on top of another box of potatoes and peppers.

  “Norma needs an extra two dozen eggs today, get them from the back cooler, okay?” I asked Jesse as I strode by him with the boxes. Jesse nodded solemnly, and I smiled at his sincere effort to help out as much as possible these days.

  After our parents died, Jesse slid down a dark spiral of dangerous behavior. So much so, that we had almost lost our farm because of his irrational acting out.

  I hated thinking about how scared I was back then. It was so soon after the accident, and one thing after another kept happening. The fires were overwhelming to me, and as much as I hated to use any excuse for being a loser, I think the stress of everything I was under is what allowed that almost fateful bull ride to go down the way it did.

  My ego appreciated having an excuse, but damned if I wouldn’t go back and change everything. My pride wasn’t so easily comforted.

  I was glad it had turned out to be Jesse who was setting those fires, honestly. At least it was someone I knew, something I could understand, something I could fix. Hell, I more than half blamed myself for the fires, too. Jesse was a sensitive kid…well, a man, now, I had to keep reminding myself. But I had neglected him in those first few months, and he had needed my support.

  I guess none of us really knew how to handle our parent’s death. It had effected us all in different ways. Nothing was the same anymore. Nothing would ever be the same again.

  As I walked down the sidewalk, I took a deep breath, once again forcing myself to count my blessings. I had lost a whole hell of a lot. But I still had some important things, too. I wasn’t at my bottom just yet.

  The door to Norma’s was propped open with an old red brick, the same brick that had been propping that door open for the last twenty years. Today, I was even more grateful for it, as I strode in with the two boxes partially blocking my sight.

  I was just setting the boxes down on the corner when I heard a loud voice bellow through the place. I turned my head to see a man yelling at Sammie, Norma’s waitress.

  Sammie had been serving breakfast at Norma’s for the last ten years, and she knew everyone in town. She also knew exactly what they wanted to eat before they even got in the door. Sammie always said she liked doing the breakfast shift, bec
ause everyone was always nicer in the morning, before the irritations of life had a chance of stacking up on them all day.

  She said dinner was always the worst, with everyone bitching about how shitty their day was. In addition to that, they’d already spent most of their money and they kept their wallets closed a little tighter at night.

  She made good points, I figured.

  At any rate, Sammie was a sweetheart, never had a bad word to say about anyone, and did her best to rise above the urge to gossip that seemed to befall every other woman in Sugar Hill county.

  That’s why I was a little more than shocked to hear some stranger yelling at her. That just didn’t happen here at Norma’s. We were all family, and if you weren’t, well - we welcomed you with open arms, just the same.

  “These eggs are like rubber!” the man roared, as he pointed violently at his plate with his fork. “What is this garbage you’re serving me? It’s absolute dogshit!”

  Sammie looked at him, baffled at his outburst.

  “Sir, I’m sorry, but to be honest, nobody’s ever asked for soft boiled eggs before. You know? If you’re boiling an egg…it makes it hard, sir.”

  “What the hell? Where did you learn to cook?” His voice was getting louder, and as I approached his table, I took a quick look around the diner. Norma must have been in the back, because I knew she would never stand for someone talking to Sammie like that.

  And I knew Sammie, by the lost look on her face, had no idea how to handle someone talking to her like that.

  Everyone else just sat in their booths trying, for Sammie’s sake, to ignore the guy. As far as being polite goes, I figured it must have gone out the door a long time ago.

  “Sir, I sincerely apologize, I’ll take this back and have the cook try again,” Sammie was saying as I walked up.

  “Forget it! You’re all incompetent, obviously,” he said, standing up and screaming in Sammie’s face.

  “Sir,” I called, as I strode up to them. His shiny grey suit looked expensive and when I glanced down at his shiny black leather shoes, I knew he had to be the asshole who had parked his Mercedes illegally outside. He was slight, but he was tall, as tall as me at least and I’m six-three.