by Erin Wright
“Sir…Rocky, I can’t…I can’t take over the dealership,” he finally sputtered out. “It’s Moose’s…he’s worked his whole life for it.”
“I am not giving the dealership to him,” Rocky retorted, throwing a disgusted look at Moose, who was still standing next to his wife at the base of the stairs. “He defied me and made me look like a damn idiot in front of the whole town. Plus, he’s gone off to work at Massey-Ferguson.” He said the name of the competing tractor company with a sneer. “No loyalty at all.”
Levi’s back snapped straight up. “That’s where you’re wrong,” he retorted, staring his father straight in the eye, unflinching. Finally, the fog in his mind cleared enough for him to argue back against the worst idea known to man. “Moose is the best thing that’s ever happened to you. He’s worked his ever-lovin’ ass off for you and that dealership. I’d never take it from him.”
“You ain’t takin’ it from him ‘cause it ain’t his!” Rocky slammed his fist into his open palm. “I’d rather chop off my right arm than give the dealership to Deere.”
“Then,” Levi snarled, “you best get to work on choppin’.”
He was done. His brain, his soul, his ability to think or breathe properly…he couldn’t handle it anymore. He turned and headed for the door, his legs shaking, barely holding it together, the world closing in on all sides around him. A small part of his brain registered that Moose and Tenny were hurrying along behind him, but he had a hard time focusing on them. Focusing on anything at all.
“You’ll change your mind!” Rocky called out. “Once you think about it, you will.”
“Don’t bet on it!” And with that, he slammed the front door shut behind them and then practically ran to the pickup, his heart racing, the anger pounding through him. How dare Rocky talk about Moose like that. Levi had known that Rocky and Moose had had a falling out – of course he’d known, Moose had slept on his couch for a couple of days after it had happened, until he’d been able to move into his own apartment – but still, there was a difference between hearing it secondhand and seeing it all upfront and personal.
To have a father talk about his son like that, his son who had done nothing but dedicate his life to Rocky and the dealership for years on end…it was sickening.
He sprawled, loose-boned, across Moose’s backseat, his mind going a million miles an hour. Moose looked back at him when he got in. “Thanks,” he said softly. He looked shook up. “I knew how my dad felt about me, obviously, but to hear it all again…it’s like getting kicked in the gut.”
Tenny climbed into the passenger seat, and quietly, they headed towards Levi’s house, each lost in their own thoughts.
I am Rocky’s son. I am Rocky’s son. I have two brothers and a sister. I have a stepmom. I am not Steve Scranton’s son.
I am not Steve Scranton’s son.
He started laughing like a loon when they pulled up in front of his house. “Steve is not my dad!” he crowed in delight.
Moose turned back and looked over his shoulder at him. “No, he’s not,” he said quietly, and Levi sobered up. The pain in Moose’s eyes…
It hurt to see.
“I’m sorry about what Rocky said,” Levi said, putting his hand over the seat and onto Moose’s shoulder. “That was a real dick move to make.”
Moose shrugged, trying to play it cool, and if Levi didn’t have 18 years of knowing him, he might’ve even believed him. “Well, I’m gonna head home,” he said casually. “Tenny, are you staying here or do you want me to drop you off at Georgia’s house?”
Tenny looked over at Levi in the backseat, her blue-green eyes filled with concern and questions. “What do you want me to do?” she asked him. “I’m good either way.”
The happiness and excitement that had filled Levi just moments earlier at the fact that he wasn’t Steve’s son all drained away, leaving anger in its wake. Maybe he wasn’t Steve Scranton’s son, but dammit all, his real father wasn’t much better.
The whiplash between emotions made him feel off-balance, as if he’d just gotten off a Tilt-A-Whirl at the county fair. The world swirled and dipped around him at a dizzying speed. The emotional rollercoaster ride he was on…it wasn’t fair to take anyone else on the ride with him.
“I’d like to be alone,” he growled and then without another word, he pushed himself out of the truck, stumbling and hurrying for the front door, wanting to get away from Moose and Tennessee’s gazes. He didn’t want them to see him fall apart. He needed to get away from them – away from the world.
He made a beeline straight through his house and into the backyard, where he promptly began destroying every piece of wood he could get his hands on. “Everyone—” crack “knew—” crack “except for—” crack “me! Steve, Rocky, Linda, Jennifer…they all knew and they let me live this lie!” Smash! There went an old mirror he’d decorated his back patio with, shattered into a million pieces.
“Seven years of bad luck, huh?” he sneered down at the mirror pieces. “Bring it! I couldn’t possibly have any worse luck than I’ve been having lately.”
His shoulders and chest were heaving as he looked around the backyard, wanting to find something else to destroy, just like his life had been destroyed.
He spotted a piece of rotting plywood, tucked back behind his barbeque, and ripped it out, knocking his folded-up patio umbrella over in the process. “Bastards!” he yelled, breaking the board over his knee. “I hate you all!” He kept breaking the board into smaller and smaller pieces, throwing them across the yard when they got too small to break again.
The world was going black around the edges and he realized that he might pass out if he didn’t stop and breathe for a minute. Just a minute. He put his hands on his knees and gasped for air, trying to get oxygen into his lungs.
The thought burst through to the surface, the one he’d been trying so damn hard to suppress:
He had to break up with Tennessee.
The heaving gasps for air turned to heaving sobs of pain. Even though the farthest they’d gone were some fairly heavy duty (and completely delightful) make-out sessions, he knew that for him, Tennessee Rowland was it. A part of him had loved her since he knew what love was, but then, he’d always known she was out of his league, too. Like falling in love with an A-list celebrity in Hollywood, loving Tenny would never go anywhere.
So he’d settled for Georgia, which in retrospect wasn’t fair to her. He hadn’t really thought of it as settling, except…he had been. Whether he’d wanted to admit to it at the time or not.
But regardless of how he felt about Tenny, what he had with her was fleeting. It couldn’t last.
She was the feted and adored child of the largest farmer in the area.
He was the son of the town drunk.
Except, he reminded himself, it was even worse now – he wasn’t the son of the town drunk. He was the bastard child of the John Deere dealership owner who couldn’t keep it in his pants, and his secretary who was too dumb to know how to swallow a little white pill every morning.
He couldn’t date Tenny and pull her into his disaster-zone of a life. He couldn’t destroy her life like his had been destroyed.
He had to let her go.
Even if it killed him.
He picked up another rotting board and began breaking it to pieces, screaming with anguish as his world fell apart around him.
Chapter 26
Tennessee
Tenny settled down into the reading chair in Georgia’s library with yet another how-to-be thrifty book. Although she was finding them instructive, of course, especially because so many of the concepts were as foreign to her as reading in Mandarin Chinese would be, they also weren’t proving to be as useful as she’d hoped they would be.
They all contained one fatal flaw: They focused on how to save money.
Which didn’t help Tenny much, considering she had no money to save. To save money meant having money, which usually meant a job. She didn’t want a job, though,
she wanted to make yard art. But yard art required that she have cash for the metal and supplies, which she didn’t have, bringing her…
Right back to where she started.
She looked up from the book over to her ragged fingernails. Partial moons were showing above her nails – they were growing out and she’d need to get a new set put on and fast, or just go without.
She gulped. Hard. She couldn’t remember the last time she didn’t have fake nails on. It was one of the few battles in her life that she’d fought and won. Piano teachers were not impressed by her fake nails, to say the least. They’d often complained to her parents that she needed to get rid of them, but Tenny had refused. Real fingernails were ugly.
She groaned. She better get used to ugly real quick – a depressing thought that weighed down on her. Maybe Levi had been right during their camping trip – maybe she was a spoiled rotten rich kid.
She started flicking through the book, skimming pages as she went, looking for some magic pill or formula that could save her. She stopped on the clothing chapter. Now here was something she knew something about. She eagerly began reading, only to find the same ideas that she’d found elsewhere – buy from thrift stores or outlet malls. Buy off eBay. Never pay retail.
Ugh. Well, honestly, the one thing she didn’t need more of anyway was clothes. She’d only managed to bring a small portion of her huge wardrobe with her when she’d left home, and the last thing she needed to do was go on a shopping spree for more.
Hold on…She stared down at the page unseeingly.
The one thing she had was clothes.
Lots and lots and lots of clothes. And handbags and shoes and belts and scarves and jewelry. Enough to keep a fashion model looking good for the rest of her life.
She let out a delighted laugh. Oh Tenny, you’re so stupid sometimes.
She hurried through the house to find Georgia’s landline, an arcane piece of technology that Tenny found rather delightful, the same way you find your Great Aunt Tilda to be delightful – in that quaint, aren’t-you-adorable sort of way. She called her younger sister, Virginia.
“Ginny,” she said, “I have a favor to ask of you.”
Chapter 27
Levi
He collapsed onto his lumpy couch, staring at the far wall without seeing a thing. He was exhausted.
Which wasn’t surprising, considering it’d been a week from hell, but that still didn’t mean he found it enjoyable.
On Monday morning, after the weekend’s big reveal worthy of a reality TV show, Levi had walked into the John Deere dealership and dropped his keys on his boss’ desk. “I’m done here,” he told Sam. “If you wanna know why, you’re free to ask Rocky. But I’m out.”
He turned around and walked out of Sam’s office while the man was still sputtering in disbelief, but Levi just didn’t have it in him to stay and explain it all. His patience for the story and for the world as a whole was simply gone. He felt worn out, emotionally, physically, mentally.
But today was Day 4 of being unemployed, and he was already starting to regret his impulsiveness. Maybe he didn’t have to quit the dealership after all. Maybe he could’ve just learned how to co-exist with Rocky and they could’ve moved on and eventually built some sort of relationship based on trust.
It was possible.
Highly unlikely, but possible.
Levi had been living frugally his whole life, and had plenty stashed away in his savings account that he could live off if need be, but the panic and worry was already starting to eat away at him. What if he didn’t find another job for a long time? What if he lost his house? What if he became homeless? What if he became just like Steve – a drunk who blamed everything on everyone else?
What if…what if…what if…
He forced himself to take a few deep breaths. He’d be fine. A metal shop in town and a few farmers had been interested when he’d stopped by to talk to them. One of them was bound to hire him. He probably wouldn’t be paid as well or have as nice of a benefit package, but he’d make it. He’d been in worse spots before—
Knock knock.
The sound jerked him out of his thoughts. Who the hell is here? Moose hadn’t mentioned coming over tonight but maybe he’d wanted to surprise him. Levi pushed himself off the couch, swallowing his groan. He was tired, stressed to the max, and grumpy as hell. He wasn’t sure Moose deserved to be around him in that moment. No one did. He’d just have to tell Moose that they could hang out another day.
Except, he pulled the door open to find not Moose but Tennessee standing there, just as beautiful as ever.
No, scratch that. More beautiful than ever. His eyes searched her face and body hungrily, betraying him even as he was trying to force himself to tell her to go away. I’m not good enough for you. I’m toxic. You have to leave me alone.
She was wearing a short denim skirt, knee-high boots, and a drapey blue-green top that hugged her tits without making her look like a prostitute.
In short, she was stunning.
He opened up his mouth, trying to force the words out that’d push her away, that’d protect her from him, but only a croak came out.
“You stopped returning my phone calls,” she said softly as she stepped deftly underneath his arm to stand inside of his living room. Stunned, he closed the door behind her on auto pilot, still trying to make his brain understand that she was standing right there, right in front of him. His hands itched to reach out and pull her into his arms. “I couldn’t bear the idea of you being angry with me,” she said, nibbling her bottom lip as she looked up at him beseechingly.
“I’m not mad at you,” he responded instinctively, surprised by the mere idea of it. He couldn’t stop staring at her, drinking her in visually. It’d only been five days since he’d last seen her, but it felt like a lifetime. A lifetime of pain and hurt and just having her here made that dissipate.
Just a little.
“I’m–I’m not good enough for you,” he blurted out.
“Not good enough?” she repeated with a laugh. “Are you saying that because of Rocky and his inability to keep it in his pants?”
Levi had to laugh a little at the inadvertent mimicking of his own thoughts, even as he shook his head. “It’s all of it. I’m a bastard, Tennessee. A literal bastard. You can’t be with me—”
“Babe,” she said, cutting him off, “the one thing you and I absolutely have in common is that we didn’t get to pick our parents and if we had somehow been able to, neither of us would’ve picked the ones we’ve been stuck with. My parents are no prize. I mean, hell, they’ve been busy trying to sell me off to the highest bidder for years now.”
She sucked in a quick breath and clapped her hand over her mouth, her eyes wide as she stared at him.
“Sell you off?” he repeated slowly, totally confused. When she’d moved out of her parent’s house, she’d refused to tell him why, just saying that she’d had a falling out with her parents and that it was better for her to live with Georgia while she began working on standing on her own two feet. He’d applauded the idea, and anyway, he knew better than anyone that you may not want to tell every person you know everything that was happening in your life, so he’d accepted her decision not to share any other info with him.
But selling her off? That sounded huge. Not something they could just brush under the rug.
“What do you mea—”
And then, all thoughts of her parents and what they may or may not have done flew right out of his mind as Tennessee threw herself into his arms and began kissing him.
“I’ve missed you,” she murmured as she kissed her way down his throat hungrily. “A girl can get addicted to someone like you, and then to have you just disappear on me…” She reached down and yanked his t-shirt off over his head and then leaned back so she could whistle appreciatively at the view. He felt awkward as hell having her just drool over him like that, especially since she was still fully clothed, so he decided to do some shirt removal wor
k of his own.
It was only fair, after all.
Before he could get the clingy fabric off her, though, she pulled back out of range of his hands and bit her lower lip again. His groin tightened at the sight. Did she have any idea what she did to him when she looked at him like that?
“Let’s go to the bedroom,” she said softly, her huge eyes looking up at him as if he’d hung the sun, the moon, and the stars just for her.
All of the blood in Levi’s body was going straight to his dick, making it hard for him to even understand what she was saying, let alone be capable of doing anything about it, but luckily for him, she took his hand and began leading him towards his bedroom. A part of him wanted to ask how she knew where it was – they’d always ended up on the couch before – but again with the whole talking thing…
Saying words other than yes and please seemed awfully complicated in that moment. He’d ask her later.
She pulled him into the bedroom, walking backwards, holding his hands as she moved towards the bed. It was dark; he’d left the blinds pulled, giving the room a distinct twilight feel.
“Window,” he croaked out, wanting to see her body better but then she was pulling off her shirt and dropping it to the floor and he forgot why he’d even been asking about the window. The dim lighting of the bedroom did nothing to hide the beauty in front of him – she was delicate all over, like a fragile doll he might break if he was too rough with her.
Her short denim skirt and knee-high boots, combined with a lacy black bra…the world was going dark around the edges again, but this time not with anger but with lust. There was some reason that they shouldn’t be doing this but it taunted him from the sidelines, refusing to reveal itself. Something…something…
And then she unzipped her denim skirt and let it pool around her feet and all thoughts were gone. She was wearing a black lacy thong that matched her bra, worthy of a centerfold spread in Playboy.