The Gamble

by Kristen Ashley

  “Max –” I began again.

  “Don’t, Duchess,” he cut me off. “Seriously, don’t. It’s a guy thing. I know you got an opinion about everything but the bottom line is what he did was not cool, he upset you and that led to a string of events where you got hurt. I know it was our shit that led to you gettin’ hurt but what he did didn’t help the situation. It’s my job to protect you. What he did interfered with my ability to do that and I need to make certain that shit doesn’t happen again. I’m doin’ that. It’s a guy thing and you need to know right now, you do not stick your nose into a guy thing.”

  “Okay,” I replied, Max stared at me a second then blinked.

  Then he asked, “What?”

  My hands moved on his back and I repeated, “Okay.”

  “Okay?”

  “Yes, okay.”

  He stared at me again. Then he asked, “Easy as that?”

  My hands slid around his sides, up his chest to curl around his neck and I asked back, “Is this important to you?”

  “Yeah,” Max answered.

  “Then yes,” I lifted my head and touched my mouth to his before dropping my head to the pillow again, “easy as that.”

  That’s when, bizarrely, he said one word firmly and that word was, “No.”

  My head tilted on the pillow. “No what?”

  “No to your earlier question. We’re definitely not crazy.”

  I smiled at my man’s amazing, handsome face. My man. And God, I didn’t care if it was crazy, but I loved my man.

  The fingers of one of my hands ran along his jaw and I asked quietly, “Can I tell you something?”

  The fingers of both of his hands ran along my body as he answered quietly, “You can tell me anything, baby.”

  I planted a foot in the bed and rolled him to his back, rolling over him, I looked down at his face as my thumb explored the contours of his cheekbone.

  Then I whispered, “There was a time in my life where I used to roll the dice. I did it a lot and I always lost. Every time, I lost and when I lost, I lost everything. So I got scared of rolling the dice.”

  My hair was hanging down, curtaining our faces and one of Max’s hands moved to pull one side up and hold it at the back of my head. I watched his face get soft and I knew that he knew what was coming.

  So I gave it to him.

  “Thank you for showing me it was worth taking a gamble again, darling.” I dropped my head until my lips were against his and finished, “It feels good finally to win and win huge.”

  I saw the flash in his eyes and heard the rumble of his growl before his hand at the back of my head brought mine down the fraction of an inch it needed to go before his mouth took mine in another kiss.

  Then he rolled me to my back and showed me yet again why taking a gamble on Max, on us, on Colorado and on life was absolutely worth it.

  * * * * *

  “I don’t know, Neenee Bean,” Mom said at the grocery store checkout, her face thoughtful, her eyes watching the clerk scan my purchases, “this feels like a celebration and a celebration doesn’t say ‘red wine, beer and pasta bake’. A celebration says ‘champagne and salmon en croute’.”

  Mom and I were shopping for dinner that night. Max and Steve were giving us Nellie and Nina time. They were leaving the next day and Mom had announced upon their arrival to the A-frame that she wanted a testosterone free zone for at least two hours.

  Prior to Mom and Steve’s arrival, Max and my love fest was interrupted by a variety of calls that were, as Max decreed, only slightly less annoying than Harry’s. They included Mom and Steve saying they were heading up the mountain; Linda saying Kami was coming with her for pasta bake; Brody calling to remind us this was also his last day in town and therefore getting an invitation for him, Mindy, Barb and Darren to come too; and finally, since Gnaw Bone was Gnaw Bone, Arlene heard about the party and called to alert us to the fact that she and Cotton would be there. She didn’t ask for an invite and she hung up before I could politely demur.

  So our party of five turned into a party of twelve.

  This did not make Max happy. Mom’s decree of a testosterone free zone made Max less happy. And what made him even less happy was when Mom pointed out his dining room table seated six and it needed to seat twelve. Thus she ordered Max and Steve off on the errand of buying more dining room chairs, this, her attempt to establish her testosterone free zone.

  Mountain Man Max, not exactly the kind of man to be sent on an errand, did this only after his eyes cut to me and he asked, “This gonna happen often?”

  “Is what going to happen often?” I asked back.

  “Half the town sittin’ at our dining room table?”

  I scrunched my nose and tilted my head because, at the look on his face, I didn’t want to say yes but the answer was yes. I liked to cook. I liked to entertain. I liked my friends around me. So it was definitely going to happen often.

  Max read my face, sighed, hooked me at the back of my head to pull me in so he could kiss my forehead and then he took off with Steve to buy chairs.

  “Individual,” Mom, at the checkout, finished.

  “Individual what?” I asked, handing my credit card over to the clerk.

  “Individual salmon en croutes,” Mom answered and I looked at her.

  “Mom, I’m not making individual salmon en croutes for twelve people. That would take all day.”

  “It’s a celebration, Neenee Bean! It doesn’t matter how long it takes just as long as it’s special.”

  I signed the credit card slip and handed it back to the clerk. “Firstly, I just signed the credit card receipt. I’m not going back through the store to buy ten more bags of food. Secondly, Max gave you two hours and I know you like Max because he’s a great guy and there’s a lot to like. He also likes you. But take my advice, you shouldn’t test him. He’s a great guy but he’s also a mountain man. Mountain men aren’t fond of being tested. And lastly, I think mountain people will be happy with red wine, beer and pasta bake as a celebration. I think mountain people don’t care what they eat during a celebration, they just care who’s there to eat it with them.”

  “Damn tootin’,” the clerk muttered under her breath and I turned my surprised gaze to her then smiled at her welcome solidarity. Maybe I was finding my mountain woman within.

  Mom glared at the clerk. “Have you had salmon en croute?” she asked.

  The clerk’s eyes came to me. “I saw five bags of grated mozzarella. Is that for your pasta bake?”

  “Yes,” I answered and her eyes went back to Mom.

  “Anything with mozzarella wins, especially five bags of it,” she declared, I laughed, thanked her then I tugged Mom through the checkout, commandeered our cart and headed to the car.

  Mom fell in step beside me and she did this while pouting. I grinned at the cart full of food because I decided Mom was cute when she pouted. I had to admit I may have decided this because I had an amazing looking mountain man who was in love with me so pretty much anything would be cute.

  Still, I said softly, “Stop pouting, Mom, we have today and then you’re off home. Don’t waste it pouting.”

  She bleeped the locks on the car and pulled up the boot. “Okay but only if you promise me you won’t argue with what I tell you next.”

  I didn’t have a good feeling about this. If there was anything that could put a dent in my euphoria, Mom’s craziness could.

  I pulled the cart to a halt and rounded it, yanking out bags to put in the boot. “That depends on what you say next.”

  “You can’t argue, Nina, because it’s important.”

  I stopped loading bags because the tone of my mother’s voice made it sound important. I straightened and looked at her to see her face communicated what she was going to say was important too.

  “What?” I whispered.

  “You know what you told me on the way here about Max’s inheritance from that murdered man?”

  “Yes,” I replied.

/>   “Well, I’m going to talk to Steve about us giving you some money to help with the taxes so Max doesn’t lose that land.”

  I felt my face go soft and I moved closer to my Mom.

  “You can’t do that, Mom. It’s sweet but Max would never let you,” I informed her.

  “He won’t have a choice. I’ve been thinking about it and as far as I’m concerned, the way he is with you, the way you are with him, I see good things and so I’m thinking it would be me investing in my grandchildren’s future,” she replied, I pulled in a sharp breath at a thought I’d never had, having Max’s children, giving Max a family and I felt my body grow tight even as my heart wound up to sing. “He wants that mountain clean, you want that mountain clean and I want to do my bit to help you keep it clean for you, for Max, for your children, their children and so on.”

  “Mom –”

  “Don’t argue, sweetie, and don’t tell Max until I have a chance to talk to Steve.”

  “You don’t have to talk to Steve, I’m selling Charlie’s house and using that money for the taxes,” I blurted before I even thought about it and then my body got tighter.

  “You’re what?” Mom breathed, her eyes scanning my face, her face a mask of shock. She knew how I felt about Charlie’s house.

  Oh my God. What was I saying?

  Do it, Neenee Bean, Charlie said in my head, it’s time. Let the past go. Just let it go. I’ll always be right here.

  Charlie – I started to say back.

  Let it go, sweetheart, I want you to give this to Max, to your future. You don’t need that house to have me with you. I’ll always be with you.

  Oh Charlie.

  Always, Nina.

  “Nina!” Mom called sharply, her hand squeezing my arm and I focused on her face and stopped talking to my dead brother in my head. “Are you really going to sell Charlie’s house?”

  “He’d want me to,” I told her the truth. “I…” I looked at the grocery bags in the boot then back to my Mom. “I think I was holding onto him through that house because I didn’t have anything else. Not when I was with Niles. I was holding onto that house because I was trying to hold onto something Charlie. But Max told me that having the memory of Charlie is precious. And he’s right. And I have Charlie with me all the time. I don’t need his house to keep him with me. And I think, if Charlie was here and he could give it, he’d want to do what he could, just like you, to keep Max’s mountain clean for Max, for me and for…” I smiled but I felt my lips tremble as tears filled my eyes and I concluded, “Our kids.”

  Mom’s eyes never left my face as she lifted her hand to cup my cheek.

  “Love you, Nina,” she whispered.

  “Love you too, Mom,” I whispered back, my hand coming up to curl around hers at my face.

  “And I’m happy for you, sweetie,” she kept whispering.

  “Me too,” I kept whispering back.

  “I think you’re right about this. It would be what Charlie wanted. He’d want you to have everything you want and he’d want you to be happy.” Her fingers curled around mine and brought our hands down where she tightened her grip and shook them between us. “He’d like Max,” she finished.

  “Yes,” I agreed.

  Yes, Charlie said in my head and I laughed at Charlie.

  Then I said to Mom, “Let’s get back to the house.”

  We filled the trunk and Mom got in the passenger side as I hoofed the cart to the bay. I was turning around, my mind on pasta bake, family, friends and getting back to Max so I wasn’t looking where I was going and I ran smack into something solid.

  I took a step back, lifting my chin, muttering, “Sorry,” when I saw Damon standing in front of me and my body locked.

  “Pressed charges, English,” he hissed, “stupid. Seems you never learn but I’m gonna teach you.”

  My body prepared to take flight as my mouth opened to scream but he landed a roundhouse punch to my temple and everything went black.

  * * * * *

  I came to in a truck bouncing along the main street in town. I blinked away the unconsciousness and could see I hadn’t been out for long. We’d barely left the grocery store.

  My head turned left slowly and I pushed away from the door I was leaning on. Damon was behind the wheel.

  I lifted my hand to my pounding temple and kept blinking against the fog in my eyes.

  “Damon, pull over,” I said quietly.

  “Shut your fuckin’ mouth, English,” Damon clipped back.

  “Please, pull over.”

  “Shut your fuckin’ mouth!” he snarled.

  “Don’t do this,” I urged. “This isn’t smart.”

  “Fuck you,” he bit out.

  “You’re already in trouble. Don’t –” I started to explain but his beefy arm shot out, his knuckles impacting on my lips, pushing them into my teeth and I instantly tasted blood. My hand at my temple dropped to my lips as his arm disappeared.

  “Like I said, bitch, shut your fuckin’ mouth.”

  I shut my mouth. I didn’t want to rile my mountain man stalker any further. He was already riled enough.

  My mind was whirling but through the haze still over me from his first punch all I could think of was that if I opened the door and threw myself out, I’d likely give myself broken bones and I didn’t want broken bones because it would be difficult to cook pasta bake after Max rescued me if I had broken bones.

  I was still thinking this when I heard Damon mutter, “What the fuck?” and then I saw another truck speeding alongside us.

  We were out of town and on the open road. I leaned forward, looked passed Damon and saw the driver was Harry.

  Harry.

  Thank God! Harry! He must have seen us and come to rescue me.

  Harry sped several car lengths beyond us and then I watched in shock as Harry cut the wheel and then Harry’s truck turned sideways into our lane, cutting us off. Damon stood on the brakes and I flew forward, throwing up a hand and it slammed into the dash as my body not in a seatbelt flew forward too and kept going. My head cracked against the windshield then immediately I was thrown left as Damon cut the wheel to avoid colliding with Harry’s truck and then I was thrown forward again when we rocked to a bone-jarring halt in a ditch.

  I was blinking away stars as I pushed myself back in the seat. It was pure instinct that lifted my hand and guided it to the door handle. I pushed my door open and nearly fell to my knees as I shoved myself out of the cab. My body was making its escape before my mind caught up with it but I lost my footing as I climbed the ditch, scrambling up the last of it on my hands and knees. I pulled myself to my feet at the top and rounded the back of the truck where I saw Harry standing, his eyes on the driver’s side of Damon’s truck.

  “You fuckin’ asswipe! Are you fuckin’ nuts?” Damon bellowed and I looked to him to see he was out of the truck and charging up the ditch toward Harry.

  Then my whole body jolted as I heard the sharp crack of a gunshot and I stood stock-still when I saw the blurred, hideous spurt of blood spray from Damon’s chest before he fell down to both knees.

  Stunned to immobility, I stared as Damon’s body dropped face first to the grass, gravel and mud beside the road then slowly my head turned and I saw Harry moving toward me, a peculiar look on his face, a gun smoking in his right hand and he was shifting it to his left.

  “Harry,” I whispered, my voice trembling, my tone a mixture of horror and shock, “he hurt me but you didn’t have to –”

  I stopped talking when the look on Harry’s face penetrated and his right hand lifted.

  He no longer had the gun in that hand. He now held a syringe.

  Too late I took a step back but he caught me at the waist, yanked me to him and I felt the needle plunge in my neck.

  Then his face was all I saw.

  “Just like Max told me to do, I’m mannin’ up, Nina. This is me mannin’ the fuck up.”

  My lids lowered against my will, I forced them open as I felt
my body lifted in Harry’s arms and we started moving toward his truck.

  Then they lowered again and I was gone.

  * * * * *

  My eyes opened and I was confused because I was certain my eyes were opened but all I could see was dark.

  I started to move and it was then I realized both my arms were over my head. I thought this was strange until I tried to move them and it was then I realized they weren’t only over my head, there was something cold biting into my wrists and it hit me my arms were secured over my head to something.

  I went still and my mind raced. Then I remembered Damon. Then thinking Harry was there to save the day. Then watching Harry shoot Damon. Then Harry taking me.

  Oh my God. Oh my God!

  I sucked in breath and that was when I felt the gag. There was something in my mouth and something tied around my head to hold it in place. I fought back the panic that surged through me and tried to take stock.

  I was on something soft, a mattress. It was cold, not bitter but not comfortable. My limbs were stiff from inactivity and lying in the chill. My arms were not only secured to something over my head but my ankles were also tied together. My head hurt like hell and I was still fuzzy from whatever Harry injected me with.

  And I was in the dark. Lying gagged and tied up in a foreign location in the dark. Just like the heroine in a horror movie but real.

  I kept fighting back the panic by turning my mind to trying to figure out where I might be. I was either someplace dark, like a room with no windows or I was someplace secluded and it was dark outside, someplace the moon couldn’t light.

  Either way, I was in trouble.

  Cautiously, I tested my wrists against whatever they were secured to and it made a clinking noise so I stopped.

  “Nina?” I heard a woman call and stilled.

  Bitsy. Oh no, that was Bitsy’s voice.

  The mattress under me moved and I felt a hand light on me. “Nina, it’s me. Bitsy.”

  I rolled to my back, turned my head in her direction and tried to see through the dark.

  “Oh honey,” she whispered, her voice breaking. “Oh God, Nina. Oh God. God. God. God. What have I done?”

  I tried to say something from under the gag, she heard it, her hand left me and I felt the gag being pulled from my mouth. When it was free, I spit out the material and then swallowed against the dryness coating the inside of my mouth.