by Tess Oliver
I rounded the corner on Moonstone Road where the elevation leveled off. Cash was already balanced on a ladder prying off some warped siding from Ben’s house. It seemed the two must have hit it off, although it was hard thinking a guy like Cash would be happy in a small, slow moving town like Tucker’s Village. Hopefully he’d stay long enough to give Ben back the house he once had. Of course, our house was even more dilapidated, but I knew there was no chance of my dad or brothers lifting a finger to fix it. They were only interested in pursuits that provided them with instant gratification or money.
The breeze coming up from the shore carried a cold mist. The hood on my sweatshirt was too small to accommodate my absurd mass of hair, which was wavier than usual due to the braids I’d worn to work, so I pulled the zipper higher, hoping to shield myself from the late November chill. Normally, the dog walk warmed me up quickly, but there was definitely a glacial feel in the air, and it seemed to have come up over night.
Cash looked away from his task. He smiled as he saw me come round the bend with my herd. He climbed back down the ladder. He had stripped down to just a black, short sleeved t-shirt and jeans. His leather motorcycle jacket hadn’t belied the bulk of muscle beneath. I’d wondered if there was just a lot of padding inside because he’d looked almost alarmingly big. But, it seemed the jacket had added little to his shoulders, arms and chest. The man was indeed big and a bit menacing. If I hadn’t already had a conversation about lollipops and sugar peanuts with him, I might have been a little frightened. And, after growing up in my house, not much scared me.
“Hey, Esme, that looks like an unruly bunch you’ve got there.” His smile also helped diminish the menace. It was a particularly good one.
“Yeah, sort of.” I pulled them to a stop as they all moved toward Cash with wagging tails. Of course, staying true to his Chihuahua roots, Wally growled and gritted his teeth at the stranger. “It seems I spend the first half of the walk trying to get them all quiet and in line and paying attention to my directions. I’ve suddenly gained a great deal more respect for my elementary school teachers.”
He looked up the street I’d just come from. “Seems like it might be kind of hard to stay on both feet with all of them pulling you.”
“It’s not too bad, but the downhill can be treacherous, especially if I forget to check them and they get a good momentum going. Then I basically have to sprint behind and hope I don’t land on my face.” Twister walked past us and plopped down on the weed patch that looked almost as gnarly as my dad’s pathetic landscaping.
Cash glanced back at him. “That’s your dog, right?”
“That’s Twister. His tail moves in circles like a tornado when he’s excited.”
“Makes sense.” The Schnauzers had decided that the front of his boots were tasty and started to lick them.
He looked down at the dogs. “I guess that’s what you call a spit shine. And after my trek across several states, I imagine there’s plenty of delicious stuff on these boots.” He lifted his face. I wasn’t sure if the sunlight had caught him at just the right angle, or if it had just been so long since I’d seen a guy worth looking at, but I realized that even with a deep scar above his eye, he was extraordinarily good looking. He smiled with confidence, almost as if he could read my thoughts. There was probably plenty of arrogance to go along with his physical appeal.
“How’d you get that scar? It looks like it just missed your eye.”
“Yep.” He reached forward and brushed his calloused fingertip over my chin scar. His touch lingered long after his hand dropped, and I had no clue why. “You first.”
“My brother, Seton, the large beast you had the misfortune of meeting yesterday, got pissed at me one day and pushed me through the sliding glass door. I guess I was lucky I got out of it with my head still attached.”
“Shit, he’s even worse than I figured, and I figured him to be pretty much an asshole.”
“You’re right on all accounts. Well, what’s your story?”
He reached up and touched the scar almost as if he’d forgotten it was there. “Had some trouble with a few guys I used to ride with. A friend of mine put superglue on it, and it healed up pretty nicely.”
“Really? Superglue? Who knew that was a surgical tool?”
“Angel did, apparently. She knows a lot about medical stuff. She’s studying to be a doctor.”
“Is Angel your girlfriend?” I asked before I could stop the nosiness. “Sorry, none of my business.”
“No, she’s not,” he answered anyhow. “Just a close friend, who I sort of grew up with. In fact, she’s both family and friend.”
“Where’d you grow up?” I put my hand to my mouth, pulling some of the leashes tight on the dogs. They yanked in protest against the pressure. “Shit, I’m like a nosy old woman. Nevermind.”
He smiled. “Nevada.” He left it at that, and I told myself to stop. It was only because he was a new face in town, and we saw so few of them, that my curiosity had gotten the best of me.
Bentley opened the front door. “Hey, Esme. Here are those gloves, Cash.” He waved, placed a pair of work gloves on the porch railing and went back inside.
“I’m glad this worked out for the both of you,” I said.
Cash glanced toward the house and then turned back to me. “Yeah, me too.”
“There’s not a whole lot to do around here, but it’s a cool place to live. There are a lot of resorts and beach rentals up the coast, so this place is overrun with tourists in summer. It sort of keeps the place breathing, if you know what I mean. That old lighthouse at the front edge of town is a big attraction. I’ve been saving up to rent the old lightkeeper’s cabin that sits right below it, and I’m just rambling on here.” The Schnauzers started barking in frustration. “I better get this group moving. I guess I’ll see you around.” My last words were drowned out by the extremely loud stutter of motorcycles. Two of them turned around the corner. The riders were covered in black leather. Helmets and sunglasses shaded their faces. I looked at Cash. He seemed to have the same question on his mind. “Friends of yours?” I asked first.
He shook his head. “So you don’t know them either?”
The two bikes coasted past, their riders blatantly staring at both of us as they cruised by. There was nothing friendly or touristy about either of them. They passed the house and craned their necks to watch us. It seemed a lot of their attention was on Cash. Any other guy might have tensed up while being scrutinized by two dangerous looking guys on bikes, but he remained completely cool, almost astonishingly so, as if trouble had followed him at every turn throughout his life. The bikes reached the next corner and slowly circled back. I sucked in a breath.
“Esme,” Cash said without taking his eyes off the bikes, “why don’t you walk your buddies up to the porch for a second.”
I pulled the group along and whistled for Twister to follow. The sound of the motorcycles brought Bentley to the front door. He came out and stood next to me on the porch. They pulled up in front of the house. The loud motors sent birds flitting from the tree in Ben’s yard. Cash didn’t move or flinch but stood with his arms crossed. From behind, his shoulder span was enormous, and I detected just the slightest tension in his back.
“Can I help you?” Cash called.
One of the bikers yanked off his sunglasses. His face looked familiar, but I couldn’t place him. “We wanted to talk to Esme.” I squinted to get a better view.
The other biker took off his glasses, and my heart slapped my rib cage.
“Christ almighty,” Bentley muttered. “Is that the Ridgewater brothers?”
“It is. What are they doing here?” I stepped off the porch and walked up next to Cash. He didn’t look happy about it.
“Do you know these guys?” he asked.
“Unfortunately. This would explain the Arctic chill in the air this morning,” I called to them.
“Esme, my my, you turned out even hotter than I expected.” Just the sound of Cl
int’s voice, even deeper and older as it was, made a shiver race through me.
“What are you guys doing here?” I asked.
Clint kept a suspicious eye on Cash as he spoke. “Is this your boyfriend?”
“None of your business,” I said. “Why are you two here? You know you won’t be welcome.” As hated as my family was, there had practically been a parade and festival in town when the Ridgewaters had sold their house and pulled out of the area.
Jacob laughed. Jacob wasn’t as horrid as Clint, but he was a close second. Or maybe I just hated Clint more because I’d spent my teen years ducking around every corner and into every building just to avoid contact with him.
“Your daddy has already welcomed us back,” Jacob sneered.
Cold shards of ice went through my veins. “What do you mean?”
“We’re joining the family business,” Clint said with a wicked glint in his eye. “Jacob and I have rented that old lightkeeper’s cabin. So, sweetie, I guess we’ll be seeing a lot of each other.”
I blinked back tears. My life had just taken an ugly turn, and I wasn’t sure how to pull out of this one. They both lifted their chins at Cash in a see you later gesture. Then they put on their sunglasses and pulled away.
I turned back to Bentley. His expression mirrored the dread I was feeling.
“Bad news?” Cash asked.
“Remember the black plague in Europe?” I asked.
“Yeah.”
“Let’s just say the village’s black plague is back.”
Chapter 5
Cash
“You sure are a hard worker.” Bentley came out and stared at the progress I’d made on patching the siding. “Guess we’re going to need some cedar to replace the warped pieces. There’s a hardware store about fifteen miles inland. Just write out the list of what you’ll need, and I’ll pick it up tomorrow.”
“Sounds good.” I grabbed my sweatshirt from the porch railing and pulled it on. “The temperature sure drops with the setting sun out here.”
“Especially with winter around the bend.” Bentley clapped his hands together. “Now, I know that meager lunch I offered you today couldn’t possibly have been enough food for a guy your size. There’s a sandwich shop on the dock, a ten minute walk from here, that makes the finest tuna melt this side of the Pacific. And that’s only because I haven’t been on the other side. It might just be the best on both sides.”
“That sounds good to me.”
We headed in the direction of the shop. I had to consciously slow my pace so that Bentley didn’t have to struggle to keep up. It gave me a chance to sightsee. It seemed every seabird on the west coast had settled out on the water. In one huge mass, they coasted up and down with the movement of the tide. “Are they waiting for the last catch of the day? Never seen so many birds in one place.”
“Those birds have great internal clocks. They know the fishing boats will be coming in soon, and they like to be nearby to pick up after them. Sometimes the fishermen will throw over the bait they didn’t use. We’ve got some of the best fed birds on the continent.”
“I’ll bet.” The houses along the street varied in color and shape, but most of them were small and compactly built like Bentley’s. But most of his neighbors had neatly kept yards complete with dark green lawns and sprawling succulent plants. After having lived on the streets and then inside the Bedlam compound, which was located in a desolate part of Nevada, it was strange to think that storybook villages like this one existed.
I glanced over at Ben. “So, tell me more about those two guys on the bikes.”
“The Ridgewater boys?” Bentley zipped up his jacket and pulled his collar up higher over his ears. “Pure trouble, those two. Can’t believe they’re back. Their parents had no control over them. Of course, the parents were no better really, crude and badly behaved in every way. They were both from fishing families, and if there were ever two people made for each other it was those two. When their eldest got killed in a knife fight a few towns north, they put the house up for sale. A layer of darkness lifted from the town when they drove off with those awful sons. They always hung out with Esme’s brothers. Naturally. They were all cut from the same cloth.” He glanced over at me. “I noticed how quickly you sent Esme up to the porch. I guess even without knowing them, you sensed some sort of trouble.”
I nodded, silent at first. “To be honest, I’m still spending some time looking over my shoulder. Until new leadership stepped in, the club was pretty persistent in their attacks.”
“You don’t have to explain to me. I haven’t been on the battlefield for fifty plus years and I still jump when there’s a noise behind me.” Bentley waved at a couple sitting on a wicker couch on a front porch. “Hey, Bill and Jean, this is Cash. He’s helping me fix the house.”
They smiled hesitantly and looked at me with rounded eyes. The man recovered first and waved back. “That’s great, Ben.”
He chuckled. “I suppose you’ll be getting a few second glances for the first few weeks, but people will get used to you soon.”
“Yeah, I seem to have that effect on people.”
“You definitely weren’t intimidated by those two today. Stood there as cool as a cucumber.”
“It takes a lot to rattle me. Esme sure seemed upset about them being here.”
“With good reason. That scoundrel, Clint, followed her around this village like a— well— like a stalker. Can’t believe her dad has hired them on. Of course, the man isn’t known for good decisions. That’s why his wife walked out on him. Turns out she was no better. She left that beautiful little girl behind without looking back and with those three jackasses, too. Esme still visits her mom, but last I heard, she was a drug addict.”
The houses had morphed into a variety of shops and markets, each with a different colored striped awning hanging over wavy windows of tinted glass. The crumbly asphalt of the road had changed to the sun-bleached wood planks of the long dock. The distinct smell of the ocean mixed with various food aromas.
A few people strolled along the fronts of the shops. As Bentley had predicted, each one did a double take when they saw me. No doubt, if I hadn’t been walking with Ben, someone would have alerted the town police about the dangerous looking stranger.
The pier stretched way out into the water. Farther along the dock, there were boats moored, and a few people hung fishing poles over the railing. The sun glinted off the waves as it sank lower in the sky.
“How old is Esme?”
“She’s twenty-one.” The question earned another chuckle. “There can be only one reason for a question like that.”
I held down a smile and realized he was right.
“Esme lives in a horrible house with a disgusting family, but she’s a good girl. There isn’t a boy in the village who hasn’t laid their hat at her door. Excuse my old man talk but that’s how we said it back in the day. What day, I’m not completely sure, but it was before cell phones and what’s the term— sexting?”
It was my turn to laugh.
“I’m not saying that I know anything personal about the girl, but I do know she’s never had a steady boyfriend. She once told me that since the town was so small she could confidently say that she had no soul mate in Tucker’s Village.”
The aroma of fried food and grilled onions made my mouth water as we stepped up to a window shaded by a blue striped awning with Buster’s Subs painted on the sign above. We got into line behind two women who took turns peeking back at me. I was pretty sure if Bentley hadn’t been standing next to me, they would have scooted out of line. I’d shaved my hair close to my head for no other reason except convenience. It seemed to have added a layer of distrust to my appearance. The goatee had been to take the place of my new lack of hair. My tattoo, the one with the Bedlam logo, was on my back where it was hidden under my shirt, but I’d never been able to shed that aura of being a member of an outlaw club. It wasn’t something I’d done intentionally. After spending my late te
ens and early twenties with the club, it had just become a part of me.
“Do you want the tuna melt?” Bentley asked.
“If you say it’s the best then I’d be a fool not to give it a try.”
He motioned to something over my shoulder. I glanced back. Esme was dragging two chairs into a shop. “She works at the candy shop during the day and the restaurant at night,” Bentley said. “She’ll be getting off soon.” There was a sparkle in his eyes as he grinned at me. “There’s a great view of the sunset from the end of the pier. Maybe you should ask her to watch it with you.”
I raised my brow at him. “Why, Ben, are you going rogue matchmaker on me?”
He laughed. “Not that you seem like the type to need it, but I saw you two talking in the front yard this morning and well…” He waved his hand. “Just a suggestion.”
I pulled out my wallet, and he shook his head. “It’s on me.”
“Thanks. Order mine with onions. I need to go see a girl about a sunset.”
Esme had gone back inside with the chairs. Her back was turned away from the door as I stepped into the shop. “Make your selection fast, I’m closing up,” she called without looking back.
I grabbed a lollipop from a display, walked over and stuck it in front of her. She swung around. Her warm smile was becoming familiar. “You are definitely consistent.” She looked at the candy in my hand. “Should I ring you up?”
“Nah, I’m good.” I walked over and put the lollipop back in the display. “Ben mentioned something about a great view of the sunset from the end of the pier. Would you like to watch it with me?”
A faint pink blush washed over her smooth cheeks as she wiped off the counter. “So, you’ve got Ben giving you romance advice, huh?”
“Seems that way.”
She stopped her task and looked up at me. Her thick hair was tied up with a bandana, and she had on a tight blue sweater and jeans that revealed a very sweet set of curves. “If you don’t mind me saying so, you don’t really look like a guy who needs help in that department.”