“It’s none of your goddamned business.”
“You’re making it my business. Tell me what the hell you are talking about.”
“What is it about you? Do you just want to live up my ass? You’ve been nothing but a pain in my ass ever since that Aura woman showed up around here. Fuck her and get it over with.”
He refused to take the bait. He wasn’t about to fight about Aura. “I bet there’s not much room in your ass — not with your head so far up it.”
Zeb spat on the ground. “You think you’re real fucking smart, don’t you? I know you only arrested me to satisfy some asshole urge … you’ve always been jealous of me. Of what I had. Who I am.”
“You can go fuck yourself. The last person I’d want to be is you. You’re a pile of shit.”
“This has been a long time coming.” Zeb rushed toward him, throwing his cowboy hat on the ground.
Dane dropped his shoulder, covering his head as Zeb swung his fist wildly through the air. His hand whooshed past his head, missing him by a few good inches. Dane stood back up, fists raised.
Zeb swung again.
Dane smiled wickedly. “You fight like a woman.”
“You didn’t use to say that. You used to get your ass beat and then cry like a little bitch.”
He could envision his fist connecting with his brother’s square jaw. He could feel the way his knuckles cracked across his jaw … But he stopped himself. No matter how badly he wanted to pummel the asshole he couldn’t. He was wearing a uniform that stood for honor and justice … not for settling longstanding family feuds.
The bar door swung open and Aura came running out. “What the hell do you think you two are doing?”
Dane turned toward the noise.
He never saw the punch coming.
Chapter Fifteen
What was wrong with men that made them think fighting was always the answer?
Aura dabbed the wet rag over Dane’s forehead, wiping away a little speckle of blood that had risen from the cut above his eye, matching the little cut in his hair. His eyes fluttered a bit as he must have felt the cold cloth on his head, but he didn’t wake up.
Zeb sat at the bar drinking a beer, but he kept glancing over his shoulder almost as if checking to see if Dane was okay. Aura tried to assume that it was out of mere concern, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that he was more worried about the consequences of assaulting a police officer.
She just didn’t understand that man … Dane was more tolerant of him than he should have been and yet the man kept trying to set him off. It was a wonder Dane hadn’t taken the chance to punch him in the face. A tendril of guilt wiggled up her spine. She was the reason he was lying here in the tacky red vinyl booth. If she would have just given him the answers — or at least some of the details — he would have never charged out of the bar and straight into a fight.
“Dane?” She shook his shoulder slightly.
His eyes fluttered, but he kept them closed.
Maybe he needed to go to the hospital. He had been out for over five minutes and Zeb had been forced to help carry him into the bar. His head had hit the concrete hard, but Zeb had convinced her to give Dane a minute to recover … that “he’d be alright.”
She pulled her phone out of her purse and it reminded her of Natalie. If Dane was in the hospital, the department would assign someone else to the case and she would have to start at ground zero. But if Dane was hurt, he needed to see a doctor. He needed to be safe and taken care of, and maybe the best way was for him to be as far away from her as possible.
Aura ran her fingers through his chestnut hair. It was so full and lush; he would age well. Whoever had the opportunity to spend their life with him would be a lucky woman. He was handsome, smart, ambitious, and he lived his life with a morality that rivaled Mother Theresa. Everything he did seemed to be with honorable intentions. He was a saint. Almost. In the woods he’d been anything but saintly — he’d been carnally voracious.
She wiggled in the seat as she thought about him between her thighs. He’d taken her to a place few men had. The tender flesh at her center warmed as she remembered how he’d grazed his lips over her flesh, up her chest, and then sucked on her nipples. She wanted to feel that, and him, again.
Leaning down, she traced her fingers over the fine lines that surrounded his eyes, down over the dark stubble upon his cheeks. She feathered her finger over the skin of his lips. They were slightly chapped from the cold and she tried to remember exactly how they’d felt against her lips. She couldn’t remember …
Though she lifted her finger and ran it over her lips, the feeling wasn’t the same. It wasn’t his kiss. No one was watching. Zeb was chatting with the bartender and the other people in the bar were stuck in their own worlds. There would be no one to judge her, or him.
When her lips touched his, he jerked beneath her as if he felt the energy that flowed between their touching mouths. She closed her eyes and ran her hand through his locks. The kiss lasted longer than she’d wanted, but she couldn’t bring herself to pull away from his lips. This could be their last kiss.
A hand caressed her cheek and her eyes snapped open. Dane was looking up at her. She pulled back from the kiss.
“I’m … sorry.” Her cheeks flames with lust and embarrassment. “I thought you were … ”
“Dead?” he said with a weak chuckle.
“I was just about to call an ambulance.”
“No need. I’m right as the rain.” He moved to sit up, but fell back down to her lap.
“I can see that.” She lifted his head and sat it down on her other arm, to cradle his head.
He smiled up at her. There was something unfamiliar in the way he looked at her and for once she wished she could know what he was thinking. He didn’t look upset or angry. He looked almost as if he … loved her.
She picked up the rag and dabbed at his eye a little too hard.
“Ouch.” He jerked.
“You had a little bit of blood.” She pointed above her eye. “Just there.”
He grabbed a hold of the table’s edge and pulled himself to sitting. “I think I need to apologize for the way I acted at the bar. I shouldn’t have run out on you like I did.”
“It’s alright.” A sense of guilt rose up within her, but she tried to ignore the feeling. She had to protect him, even if it meant not telling him the full truth.
“Has anyone ever told you you’re not great at opening up?”
She chuckled. “Well, has anyone ever told you that you need to learn to fight?”
A little color returned to his pale face. “Every man needs to take a punch for the woman he cares about. Builds character.”
She squirmed in her seat. She had been right about the look in his eyes — at least a bit. He said cared. To think that he loved her would be presumptuous. Wouldn’t it? She glanced over at him and met his gaze. There was a fire in his earthy brown eyes. She could only hope it wasn’t love that had ignited the flames.
The door to the bar flew open and banged against the wall as Pat strode into the bar. His cowboy hat was low on his face, covering his eyes. He seemed not to notice her or Dane as he sat down at the bar next to Zeb.
Dane stared over at the men and he put his finger to his lip as he motioned for her to stay silent. She nodded and strained to hear the talk of the two men above the noise of the bar.
Pat waved at the bartender and waited as the man poured him a beer. “The sale went real good. I think I got some buyers lined up.”
“Did you take care of our little problem?” Zeb glanced back at them and Aura tried to play off that she was rifling through her purse.
Pat followed his gaze. “Son of a bitch. What are they doing here?”
She couldn’t hear what Zeb said, but Pat nodded and turned
his back to them. The bartender slid a beer in front of Pat. Zeb said something she couldn’t hear. The bartender looked over to them and then turned and flipped on a black stereo that sat perched on the back counter. A country song by George Strait filled the bar and covered the voices of the men.
“What sale are they talking about?” Aura asked.
Dane turned to her. “My brother likes to buy wild horses. He breaks some and then sells others to be used as rodeo stock.”
Her stomach tied into a tight knot. “He does what?”
“You know … wild horses … Mustangs. The BLM rounds them up, sells the healthy ones at auctions. He picks them up for cheap, then turns around and sells them for a quick profit.”
“He wouldn’t … ” Her body went numb. She’d never been this close to anyone that had bought a wild horse. Was this how Natalie had gotten so wrapped up with these men? Was that why she had lied?
“Excuse me.” She stood up and made her way to the restroom.
Dane looked at her like she was crazy, but she didn’t care. She needed to get away just for a second. Get her head straight. Come back to center. They hadn’t found Natalie. And if she had to bet, Zeb was behind her disappearance. It couldn’t be just a coincidence that they fought against the roundups and the men who profited from them, and Zeb had been in contact with her. Natalie was never short on opinions, and if she knew what Zeb had been doing she wouldn’t have missed the chance to tell him what she thought.
The door to the bathroom swung open and revealed a cracked sink that hung crooked on the wall. Next to the door were a dented condom machine and a broken paper towel dispenser.
She stepped to the sink and stared into the mirror. The yellow light above her cast shadows around her eyes and made her skin seem the color of dirty snow. On the wall behind her someone had scrawled a phone number. She tried not to think of the things that went on in this room, the stupid choices, and lousy mistakes. She hated everything about this bar, from the way it smelled of cheap booze to the men sitting at the bar.
She wanted to rush out into the bar and break Zeb’s neck. He had something to do with what was going on and he needed to pay. But there had to be a better way to take him down. What was she going to do?
Her head pounded with the start of a headache. What had Natalie gotten herself into?
She turned on the faucet and splashed her face with cold water.
Zeb sat out there full of self-righteous pride, thinking he’d been wronged for being arrested. He deserved to sit in prison. Anyone who trafficked in wild horses deserved to be behind bars.
Bile burned her throat and her mouth turned bitter. She’d fought for so long to stop the culling of the wild herds. She and Natalie had worked so hard … and in front of her was the man who profited from thwarting her in her efforts to stop the travesty that was the roundups. Wild horses deserved to be wild, not enslaved and beaten by money-hungry tyrants.
She washed out her mouth.
Maybe she could seduce him and find out where Natalie was that way. But what would Dane think? She couldn’t do it while he was around or he may never forgive her. Even though they couldn’t have a future together, she didn’t need to destroy the precious little time that they would have together.
There had to be a way to get what she needed. And maybe she could stop him from sponsoring the slaughter of innocent animals.
She closed her eyes and long-buried memories flooded her mind. It had to have been in the early 1900s. The herd they’d been running with that morning had meandered down dusty stagecoach tracks. The black stallion with the white blaze face had led them down the red scrub brush hillside to a small oasis. At its center sat a blue watering hole.
The alpha mare, a beautiful paint, stepped beside the stallion and took a long drink and was quickly followed by the rest of the herd. Aura could still remember the scent of bitter almonds. At the time her mouth had watered with hunger from the smell, but now it only made the burn of the acid in her throat more severe.
Aura waited her turn to get around the tiny hole, munching on the patch of green grass that grew around the little pond. Before she had the chance to reach the edge of the water, the alpha mare lay dying and Natalie lay sick on the bank. It had taken years for her beautiful sister to fully regain her health. If she had been a normal wild mustang she would have surely died like thousands of others.
She blinked back her tears.
The BLM used the helicopter roundups as an alternative to the antiquated way of eradicating the wild horses from fertile grazing grounds — ground the ranchers had wanted for their cattle. It was better than euthanizing them with cyanide, but many still died.
Modern day ranchers, for the most part, would never think of murdering horses, but by allowing the roundups and supporting them in the way they were advocating abuse. Zeb was a monster.
She had to fight him the only way she could. She would find the evidence and pin him down to the murders. He could spend the rest of his life behind bars.
The door creaked as she opened it and stepped out into the stale air of the bar. Zeb and Pat were gone.
Parked outside was another sheriff’s car. She stepped out of the narrow hall and there, sitting across from the table from Dane, was another officer. He had his fingers tented in front of his stoic face. He said something she couldn’t hear. Dane dropped his head into his hands.
The officer looked up and, noticing her, said something to Dane. Dane turned and stared at her. His eyes were red and bloodshot.
What had happened?
She rushed to the table. “What’s going on? Did you find Natalie?”
The man looked at Dane like he wanted him to be the fall guy so if she went crazy he wouldn’t be the one to blame.
Dane patted the seat and motioned for her to sit down.
“Forget it. Just tell me what’s going on. Now.” Aura crossed her arms over her chest. She knew she was being childish, but he couldn’t lessen this blow … not by patting some seat … not with his soft, apologetic gaze.
The other officer cleared his throat anxiously, urging Dane to speak.
He exhaled long and hard, but she wouldn’t back down.
“Say it.” She dropped her hands to the edge of the table and leaned into him.
He stared up at her. “They’ve found another body in the lake. They found a credit card on the body. They think it may be Natalie.”
Chapter Sixteen
Dane had given more than his fair share of bad news to families throughout the years and it always hurt to see the look of anguish and pain caused by words he was forced to speak. Yet telling Aura about Natalie’s body was the hardest thing he’d ever had to do. From the look in her eyes it was clear it wasn’t just Natalie who had been murdered … a part of Aura had died as well.
The drive to the scene was done in silence. There was nothing he could say or do to make this easier for her. There was no way he could soften the blow of losing her sister. So he simply held her hand. He couldn’t help thinking that he was lucky that she was even letting him do this one simple thing after he had let her down. He’d failed. He’d failed to help her sister and to keep his promise.
This was his fault.
The body was already in the coroner’s van when they arrived at the shoreline. From what the officer had told him, a man had been out on the lake fishing when he’d seen a body floating about a hundred yards from the beach. He’d pulled the woman from the water, hoping to revive her, but it had been too late.
“You ready?” Dane lifted Aura’s hand and lightly kissed the back of her fingers.
Her eyes were glazed over and she nodded numbly like she wasn’t there, instead trapped in her own mind. Guilt raged within him. He could never make up for his failings.
He walked around the patrol car and opened the door for her
. If he did everything right for the rest of his life, he would never make up for the hurt that she was feeling. No matter how much love he showed her, no matter how much he tried to make up for the mistake he had made, he could never fill the hole in her heart that he’d created.
Aura’s gaze stayed on the door, never rising to his face, as she stepped out of the car. His heart reeled like a car hit by a speeding bus.
“Aura?”
“Hmm?”
“I’m so sorry … ” His voice trembled.
She put her hand on his shoulder, but said nothing. The snow crunched under her feet as she walked away.
He slammed the car door shut and moved after her. Parked by the coroner’s van was the sergeant’s patrol car. He was standing by the open door talking on his cell phone. Sarge’s lips were pulled into a tight pucker; if they would have been his ass he would have been making diamonds.
When he saw Dane looking he beckoned him over. From the look on his face there was no question in Dane’s mind — he was in trouble. He dragged his feet as he slowly turned. He could only guess who the sergeant was talking to who could force that specific facial contortion.
He glanced over to Aura who was standing on the edge of the icy water, staring in the direction of the fisherman’s boat. The silver chrome bar that ran along the edge of the craft was smeared with blood. Aura couldn’t be alone.
He spun toward Aura. Sarge could wait.
“Dane, get your ass over here!”
It was worse than he’d thought. In all his years on the force he couldn’t remember a time when the sergeant had ever yelled at him. He begrudgingly made his way to the waiting pit bull.
“What’s going on?” He mentally kicked himself for not staying silent. If he was going to get an ass-chewing he might as well make it quick and get it over with.
“I thought you had this.” He pointed at the water. “And here I am finding another victim.”
“You think it’s the same person killing all these women?”
The sergeant’s face darkened from tomato red to about-to-stroke burgundy. “Don’t you think you should be the one telling me? I’m not the fucking investigating officer.”
The Nymph's Curse: The Collection Page 33