by Ellie Danes
No relationship was perfect, but I wanted as close to that as I could get. I wanted it with my Dalton. With his scar, his sardonic smile, his wit. The last week without him had made me sure that this was the route to take. I missed him with every beat of my heart. It felt like I was in the dark when he wasn’t around and light when he was. It was time to come out of the shadows. It was a gamble and a price I was willing to pay.
What Dalton and I had been experiencing was enjoyable, so very enjoyable, physically. The best I had ever had. I no longer just needed companionship. I wanted the fire that went with it. The blaze that burned and melted and forged. I tasted it. He made me feel that way when I was with him. I was willing to stake it all that he wanted it as well. He wasn’t angry when he left. He looked determined with that iron jaw fixed in place. I smiled to myself. I could see how my brother’s hand had busted on that. It’s probably why he had been so successful so fast. When he was determined, he went after what he wanted.
That just swung it back to me again. Had he not wanted me? If you want something, you come back for it. Right? That’s the way of the world. Why had Dalton never come back to me? Never called, never anything. Just left. Confused more than ever, I shut down my computer and headed back upstairs.
I bounded to my bedroom and felt my phone start singing and vibrating in my sweat pants. My Facetime was lighting up and it was Kris. After the incident with Eric and Courtney, Kris texted me that she had a whole full week of work. Then it was radio silence. It bothered me. I knew she fumed over Courtney, but I didn’t know if she saw her as competition or if Kris was feeling sorry for herself. I had gotten a couple of texts. Those gave me little or no information on her state of mind.
The fact she was Facetiming instead of coming over was disconcerting. I clicked on the app and saw Kris's reddened face. She was in full bawl mode. The only other time I had seen her this way was when she lost out on the role in the high school play. It pushed her toward photography instead of the dramatic arts in college, but at the time, she was devastated and looked just like she did right now.
My friend took too much to heart, and it was hard to watch at times. She would go quiet and then think about things until it came out in buckets of tears.
“Okay, what’s up, Kris? And don’t you dare say nothing.”
She blinked at my gruff remark. She shrugged and then started her story. “Taylor, all week I have thought about Courtney and Eric. I thought that maybe they had something going on. Something behind my back, but then I realized that if anything does happen, it's because I didn't do anything. I just let it go. Obviously, all the times over the years I've thought about him, but I always kept him at arm’s length, never wanting Eric to know how I felt about him. I always felt like I’m like another kid sister to him. And it might be too late. I listened to him in the bar all those years ago as he talked to me about what it felt like to lose Courtney and here she is, back in his face again.”
She stopped momentarily, swiping at her tears, almost angered by them. “And the fault is all mine. Taylor, I can't do that anymore.”
“You need to step out there. Tell him how you really feel. Tell him you don’t want to be just friends anymore. If you don’t, if it is not Courtney, it will be someone else. Get out of the friend zone.”
I knew I was preaching to the choir, but I was in her same shoes. Only I was the friends with benefits and I wanted more.
“I know I can't go on like this any longer,” we said together.
“What?” Kris asked.
I rolled my shoulders. I hated being on the spot, and Kris, with laser vision, would see right to the heart of the matter with me.
“I told Dalton today that he needed to tell Eric. No more secrets. Either make it real or let me know it’s not. But I’m not okay with the way things are, and I want more.”
“Huh,” was all Kris said.
I heard running up the stairs. For a second, my heart soared, thinking it was Dalton. However, a moment later, I realized it was just my brother’s heavy clod that I would know any day of the week.
“Kris, Eric’s coming. I need to get back with you.”
She wiped at her face. “I don’t want him to see me like this. Can I come by tomorrow?”
“Always,” I told her. “I’ll even make some muffins.”
Kris snorted. “Your muffins suck. I’ll bring my own.”
I smiled at her. “It’s a date!”
I had barely gotten off the phone with Chris when Eric slammed the bedroom door open, and I jumped about a mile. He stalked across the room to me. Crap, he knew. I braced myself.
“Taylor, there you are! I’ve been tearing up the house.”
“Eric, what the hell? This is just weird.”
“I’m your brother. I’m always weird.”
“It’s the middle of the day, and what are you doing home?”
“I want you to check into Courtney for me.”
It took effort not to shake him and ask him if he was crazy. Not what I thought he was going to say. Not even close.
“Seriously, you can do a little bit better than looking up your ex-fiancée on the web. Really?”
“I’m not interested in Courtney,” he protested.
I immediately perked up at that information. “If you’re not interested in her, why do you want me to look her up?”
She was seriously pissed off when she left Eric’s office last week. I didn’t say anything to him about it, as Eric always will talk about things bothering him. She didn’t get her way with either Dalton or my brother. My day was looking up.
“Dalton came by the bar today, and I found out from him that she had hit on him the same day the will was read.”
“Okay,” I responded. “Did Dalton mention anything else?”
Eric shook his head. “Not really. We did some talking about things between us and covered some ground about how I felt about Dad and him being closer than I felt Dad and I were.”
“That’s bull, and you’re feeling sorry for yourself.”
“I realize that now, but I needed to just get it out of my system.”
“Smells like that went down with a shot or two of Crown Royal.”
Eric breathed into his hand. “Whatever.”
Great, so Dalton didn’t say anything. I didn’t know if I felt relieved that it hadn’t happened yet or pissed off for the same reason. I sure as hell wasn’t going to say anything. Maybe I imagined that I meant more to him. It didn’t matter right now. I could only deal with one guy at a time and right now that was my brother.
“I need to find out what's going on. Since you are the tech geek in the family, I need your help.”
He grabbed me by my arm and started dragging me to the stairs. “Come on. Let's go do this. I really want to find out what she's really up to.”
I pulled my arm out of his grasp. “Okay, okay. I'll help because I am as curious as you are. In the meantime, you need to get something for us to eat because I will be down in my captain’s chair for quite some time.”
He saluted me as he pulled out his phone and dialed.
About three hours and a cheese pizza later, I was able to dig around and find some things out. Now, it’s not exactly legal but you learn things over time when you spend all your days online. What I couldn’t find on the Internet, I sent little texts or messages to people I knew just asking innocuous questions about how things were going and any good gossip and did you hear about Courtney hitting on Eric and Dalton both in the same night?
Women, I have found out over the years, love a chance to gossip, even more so if it is anonymous and they don’t think it will come back on them. Nothing is cattier than women who think someone will get a comeuppance for slights of the past. And Courtney had sowed some bad seeds with many pissed off women in the area. Surprising to me, however, some of her clique wanted their pound of flesh as well.
What I found out was that Courtney's family, once the richest family in the county, was now one of t
he poorest. Ready to be bumped out on their asses. The reason their family was still in their home was because George’s family bailed them out. The Harris family couldn’t have that black mark on their family name. Some of the rumor mill thought that Courtney was going to leave him years ago and get money in the divorce, but apparently, the pre-nup was iron clad and she got nothing and her family lost everything if she filed or ever left him. That would seriously suck to be stuck to someone you didn’t want to be attached to anymore. It explained why they both seemed to sleep around.
George’s family was a little bit harder to delve into. Old money, of course, but I couldn’t make heads or tails of the business partnerships and development deals I was reading about over the year. He was the only son, his father was off roaming the world with wife number four, Mom on husband three. I knew I could find more if I kept digging but I was getting tired. Courtney’s family had all this real estate, but it was just on paper. Their properties, their family home, everything had dried up and blown away. Bad business deals had long since closed the door after the horse got away.
It looked like George handled it all. He was the one whose money kept Courtney and her family in the business of still being wealthy when they were heading toward bankruptcy. Of course, all the work Courtney had done – they say you can’t tell, but you really can – must have cost a pretty penny as well.
I turned to Eric, who was asleep in the beanbag chair on the floor. “Eric, do you have any idea when you were talking with Courtney that her family is flat broke?”
He yawned and stretched his arms. “No. She never brought that up.”
“I'm not so sure about George's either. They may be rich on paper, but I'm not seeing anything on here that says how they are making their money. Either that or I just don’t really know how to read what I’m seeing.”
“Well, that’s good, right?”
“I don’t know. I do know I can't do anything else tonight; it’s getting to late to talk to people.” My wheels started turning. “But it’s not too late to put a thought about…”
Eric raised up out of the beanbag chair. “I don’t like that look in your eye, sis.”
“I won’t be able to hear anything back until tomorrow, but I can do something tonight that might get a rise out of her.” I nibbled on my lip. “Something girly.”
“Girly?” Eric asked.
“You know, that only a girl would understand, but it has to be a girl of Courtney’s social status. Which isn’t me, but…”
I let the question hang and then I cracked my knuckles and turned back to the keyboard. I started pounding on the keys to get to the sites I wanted. I had an alias account that I used when I searched for things… just in case. I used it now for what I needed so it would keep my identity unknown but let me have a little fun with Courtney.
“I’m going to start a little rumor. Maybe observation would be a better word or white lie. I’m sure I will not only get a rise out of Courtney, but I’ll start hearing back pretty soon.”
I typed just a couple of sentences.
Eric looked over my shoulder. “What does that mean?”
“Wait and see.”
The single tweet said, Was that a knock-off purse and shoes I saw Courtney Knight-Harris wearing at the Blue Oyster the other day?
“How do you know that she was at the Blue Oyster?”
“It’s on her Twitter account. You really need to pay attention. Tech is here to stay, you know.”
I pressed enter and within thirty seconds, the responses came in.
Let the games begin.
Chapter Sixteen
Dalton
Well, yesterday sure wasn't what I was expecting, I thought as I slowly, and painfully, woke up. I was hoping to be able to see Taylor at the very least and spend some quality time with her. I missed everything about her. It was like she had gotten under my skin, and I just needed her near me to ease the ache.
Then she laid down the gauntlet and told me that for us to be together, I needed to talk to her brother. Okay, I was fine with that because I was tired of all the layers upon layers the family has had going on. It was time to be transparent and open.
But Eric had blown me off to go talk to Taylor. After a couple more stiff shots with Peggy, I left the Viper at the bar and staggered back to my hotel. Luckily, it was only about four blocks away, but it gave me time to clear my head.
Unfortunately, my head was anything but clear this morning, and the throbbing started as soon as I opened my eyes. I had not had a hangover in a very long time. It probably came from not eating all day. Dumb ass. I called for room service. When it was delivered, I lifted the lid, and immediately had a war with my stomach. My stomach won.
I hopped in the shower and hoped it would clear up my foggy morning and help me get back on track. Here I was a successful night club owner laid low by alcohol. That’s not what I wanted to be doing right now. I needed a clear heart and head, so Eric could see that I care about Taylor.
I made a decision while the rainfall shower beat water on my head. Eric would know about Taylor and me by the end of the day, and I would have Taylor in my arms tonight. I was a determined man. The way the last two weeks had been going, this was not my finest hour. But all that was about to change.
After I got out of the shower, I dried off and wrapped the towel around my hips. I was about to shave when I heard my phone ringing in the bedroom. I walked over to the nightstand and picked it up. I noticed that I had several calls from Eric this morning and it was only ten o’clock.
Did Taylor talk to him already? Did she not wait for me to say something? That was the only thing I could think of as to why Eric would be calling me so persistently about.
I called him back and could immediately hear that he was outside.
“Dalton, I need you to come to the bar right now.”
“If this is about Taylor…”
“What? No, why would this be about Taylor? There’s a problem. I need you here right now.”
I started getting dressed while I was still on the phone. Eric’s voice bordered on angry, and it took him a long time to go from simmer to angry.
“What’s the problem?” I asked.
“We’re being evicted.”
It was the fastest I had ever gotten dressed and since the Viper was at the bar, I practically ran down the four blocks to the bar. I could see and hear the commotion long before I got there. There were a couple of police cars – probably from Eric shooting his mouth off – and locks were being put on the door.
Tommy Bryce, the running back from high school, was now a deputy. His ebony skin glistened in the early morning humidity. I got there out of breath and doubled over. When I could look up, I waved at him.
“Hey Tommy, what's up? What’s happening with our bar?”
“Dalton, heard you were back in town. Taxes haven’t been paid, and the seizure notices haven’t been addressed.”
My business wheels started turning as I tried to figure out and ran through my business law knowledge on a serious hangover. I remembered things, but they were hazy. Just a little bit out of reach, but I did have a small idea. It was a long shot. Maybe Tommy would buy it. He already had Eric cuffed. The other cop just sat in his car watching the scene, having his coffee. He raised his cup in a salute.
“Can we have a minute, please?”
“Sure, but make it quick because he’s about to head down to the jail to cool off. Never thought I would see the day that Eric Price would actually start yelling at someone in the middle of the street, and I sure as hell didn’t think he would be stupid enough to do it to me… a cop.”
“Tommy,” Eric said.
Tommy made a motion with his hands like a closing of lips. “Shush. You can talk when we get to jail. You can chill there for a couple of hours. Get whatever it is out of your system.”
I didn’t even have a chance to try to talk Tommy out of taking Eric downtown, as we were interrupted. As we were talking, a late-mode
l Mercedes pulled up. George got out and walked over to the sheriff. Courtney stepped out on her side and leaned against the car, sunglasses and stilettos as always.
The Third walked over to us three standing there with our mouths open. What were they doing here?
“Having little bit of a problem?” he asked.
“What are you talking about?”
“Heard on the local news radio that there was a commotion down here at The Boar and Brew. Looks like there is a seizure going on. That’s so bad for business.”
“Shouldn’t surprise me by now that news travels so fast in these parts. However, George, I’m not really sure why you are here on this wonderful Saturday morning, why you would care, and why what happens here matters to you and yours.”
George stood up as far as his short legs would get him, which still put him half a foot below me. I looked down on his balding head.
“My family has been developing these properties over the last hundred years. And this one here is a piece of prime real estate in a downtown but growing gentrified area. Building’s over a hundred years old, but the bar has only been here for about fifty. Property taxes have to be paid or it goes to tax seizure. All your bills need to be paid. It’s too bad that the Prices have fallen on such hard times.”
I’m glad Tommy Brice was there, as I was sure Eric was ready to uncharacteristically strangle George. I could see his hands clenching next to me even with his hands in cuffs.
“All the property taxes have been paid, you little maggot,” said Eric.
Tommy shook his head and pointed at Eric. “Eric, I’m not telling you again.”
“Not according to the tax records, they haven’t been,” George claimed. “The property in question then goes to a tax sale in the next two weeks so whoever bids on the property and pays the taxes gets the property.”
I wanted to smack the smirk right off his shiny balding head.