by Amber Malloy
“I’ve got to go.”
Knocked off kilter by the quick turn in conversation, he helplessly felt her pull away.
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” he choked out before the girl he truly wanted disappeared into the belly of the funhouse.
****
Present Day
Levi woke in the dark room with a major crick in his neck. He cut the groan off in his throat once he realized Cayden finally fell asleep. Reluctant to move away from her light grip, he slipped her hold and creeped out of the room.
Without bumping into any of the girly furniture, he worked his way around the oversized pieces.
Boxes full of books, medical reports, and pictures littered her living room. He picked up Shana’s school picture, which lay on top of the pile, and studied the photograph. She appeared younger than he remembered. The townie with the dark hair and alabaster skin had scored a scholarship to Chesterfield. She gave the camera an arrogant smile only a sixteen-year-old girl could pull off.
St. Geneva rarely had crime, let alone murder. The death of the teen forced a huge wedge between the working Joes and the upper class who seemed to look down upon them. After her death, the locals no longer wanted any part of the spoiled rich kids.
Levi put the photo back in the pile and left Cayden’s cabin, making sure to lock the door behind him before he followed the light of the full moon to his house. Since he had gone off the radar for most of the day, he pulled out his cell and saw a ridiculous number of texts.
Groggy from too much sleep, he slid the phone back in his pocket and prayed the Winnebago parked in front of his house did not belong to his parents. Maybe a crazed hitchhiker with a chainsaw, he thought, but hopefully not Mom and Dad.
When his mom threw open the door, his wishful thinking went straight out the window. “Where the hell have you been? We’ve been calling you for over an hour!”
“Good to see you, too, Mom. Why didn’t you let yourself into the house?”
After Dad’s mild heart attack, Levi had taken over the family home. He refinished the floors and changed almost everything about it from his childhood. Unfortunately, the furniture holdovers were a problem. One hideous antique couch and an even worse piano, Lydia promised him a painful death if he put them in storage.
Unlike most retirees, they didn’t want to move to Florida. Instead, they bought a motorhome, which allowed them to come and go without notice. Their accessibility to the house almost made him regret the arrangement altogether.
“To what do I owe the pleasure?”
“Do we need a reason to visit our business, and most importantly our son?” She kissed him on the cheek. “Trent, he’s finally home.”
“Took him long enough!”
“Uh, you two do know that there’s a cabin set up for you just a yard away, right? I mean, you’re not that old, dementia shouldn’t be kicking in quite yet.”
“Funny, funny boy.” She patted his cheek with more strength than it warranted. “You didn’t tell us Cayden’s in town.”
“How did you know?” The sound of a dog barking brought a smile to his face. He kneeled down for his Blue Pitbull, Belle, as she ran out of the motorhome to greet him. “Hey, girl.” He loaned his baby to his parents for their motorhome trips.
“Goosebay Lake hashtag is viral.” She turned her tablet around to show Levi.
“I think it’s hashtag Goosebay Lake … never mind,” he said before he focused on the screen—as Cayden did this amazing jump in the air, the ponies ran underneath her.
“Looks like one of the farmhands has a future in cell phone photography,” Mom said.
He gave the blue beast a kiss on her head while his dad brought the luggage out of the motorhome and set it on the ground. “In other words, you came home to play referee.” Levi stood and grabbed their bags, ready to lug them to the next cabin over before his dad waved him to put them back down.
“Of course not, honey. You two are grown adults—”
“Trust me, we’re fine,” he muttered, sounding lame to even his own ears.
“Until you’re not,” Dad said. “And that’s why we’re here.” Not much on the chitchat, Dad always got to the point.
“How did you find that picture, anyway?”
Golf cart headlights bumped down the path from the main resort toward the cabins.
More good news.
“There’s this Instagram account.” Mom flashed the screen at him again and swiped the pics. “It’s called Rich America. Cayden’s image often ends up there. She’s a favorite.”
Various pictures with celebrities displayed her on yachts, beaches, and shopping. The sexy woman more than held her own against the unobtainable Victoria Secret beauties next to her.
“Mr. Scott!” Katie, his marketing manager, hopped off the cart. “I tried to call you but— Oh hi, all the Scotts!” she said to his parents. “Is this a bad time?”
He opened his mouth to explain that it couldn’t have been worse, but Mom held up her hand to cut him off. “No, dear, please.”
“Well, after you went to the barn this afternoon, reservations lit up and now we’re overbooked for the rest of the season.”
His mom clapped with a cheer. “That’s a good thing, right?”
“Yes and no. We have a wedding that Ms. Young booked for her friends and that’s now presenting some conflicts with the rest of the resort.”
Levi sighed. “We’ll take care of it later. Thanks, Katie.”
“I told you the pumpkin patch idea was a good one,” his marketing exec squeaked excitedly. “We just put our fall plans on the website and I believe that’s why it crashed.”
“What time did those reservations start coming in?”
“Around 3:00 PM?” Katie stepped back into the golf cart as his mother held up the tablet and pointed at the time. Cayden’s photo posted at 2:55 PM.
“That’s just great,” he hissed underneath his breath.
“Yep.” Dad grabbed the bags and took them into the main house. “You two are good … until you’re not.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll just stay here for the night, honey. Tomorrow will go to our own cabin,” Mom said.
“They’re all our cabins!” his dad hollered out the front door.
Chapter Five
Although the sun hadn’t cracked the horizon quite yet, Cayden grabbed her fishing rod and walked up the path to the Scotts’ house. “I see the band is back together.” She nodded at the Winnebago.
Levi continued to pack the truck with equipment. She couldn’t tell his mood in the early morning darkness, but she had an idea.
Once he loaded his tackle box and rod, he reached for hers. Their fingers grazed at the tips. Neither pulled away from the touch. “Apparently, we need adult supervision,” he groused.
“We always did.” She whistled for the dog. Belle ran from the back of the house and Cayden opened the truck’s door. “Hey, beast,” she greeted the blue beauty. After a few good stumbles, the dog scrambled in. Cayden stepped in behind her.
“If she falls in the water, she’ll sink like a stone.” Levi got into the truck with a grunt.
“She’ll be fine, grouchy.”
Belle was originally Levi’s dog, but he worried about his parents traveling alone and made them take the pit for protection. As they drove past the main resort to the dock, Belle rested her head on Cayden’s shoulder. She petted the sweet girl’s muzzle.
It would take less than eight minutes to trek the gear up the trail, but nobody wanted the hassle. “The bugs are going to eat you alive in that.” Levi parked the truck before he gave her camouflage, green bikini cover-up an appreciative glance.
“I’m drenched in tea tree oil, I’ll be fine.” Several boats lined the dock. She followed him to the Scotts’ fishing boat. He took her hand to help in her while Belle made a jump for it.
Once they got settled, he started the motor and steered them to the middle of the lake. Cayden cast her line first, then put her earb
uds in from her phone. After a good ten-song shuffle on Pandora, Levi nudged her leg.
“You got one,” he grunted.
She opened her eyes to the full rays of sun and braced her rod to reel the carp in without fanfare. “How long was I out?”
“It’s 11:00.” Reaching for his beer, Levi took a long swig.
“Did you bring enough for the class?”
A lopsided smirk graced his lips. “I didn’t know you would be coming.” He drank a little more to taunt her.
“Levi…”
“You know the rule. It’s B.Y.O.B around these parts.” This time he took a good long drink while staring at her.
Anger reared up at his pettiness. Mad about his parents and who knew what else, she would be damned if he took it out on her. She quickly swiped at the bottle, but he managed to dodge her attempts.
“You’re going to flip us,” he warned. As she crawled over to his side of the boat, Levi grabbed her waist to stop her. “I swear, Cayden—” Before she could change direction, he brought his head down and captured her lips.
When he moved his mouth against hers, the taste of beer touched the tip of her tongue. It wasn’t the first time they kissed. However, Cayden didn’t expect the rush of heat that instantly warmed her body.
Nor did she count on the shock of coolness once he stopped. Levi’s blue eyes darkened. The realization he broke his own rule to never touch her again probably just occurred to him. She took the bottle of beer she filched from his hand and drank the rest. “Remember this when you have to clean the fish.”
Whomever caught the most got off scot free, so Cayden made sure she always beat Levi and never got bogged down with that disgusting task.
“One of the ranch hands posted your picture to some Rich America site.” He held out his phone.
“Ponies!” she cried at the whimsical creatures on his screen.
“That’s all you have to say about it?”
“Mutha-fucking ponies.” Cayden winked with a smile and grabbed her reel before she sat back down.
“Once again, you’re missing the point.”
Weight beneath the water tugged on her line. She struggled with the fish but managed to pull the rock bass from the water. Harder to control due to its size, it took her a minute. “I’m sure we booked out the resort after that picture posted,” she huffed, out of breath.
“In other words, you don’t mind people thinking you’re a spoiled brat?” He brought another beer out of the cooler while peering at her through heavy lids.
“Why?” she asked. “You do.”
Chapter Six
The resort hopped with the end-of-summer crowd. The season would soon change to fall and they were booked. He had Cayden to thank for the influx of business, and truthfully, Levi didn’t know how he felt about it. Usually the silent partner, she brought in a flow of money with her presence.
“Levi!”
He dodged his marketing manager and headed down the opposite end of the lobby, which seemed worse. The resort crawled with people he didn’t want to see.
“Thanks for letting us take over while we get out pipes fixed.” Taylor Garber, St. Geneva’s Assistant DA, caught him mid-stride. “Besides, this place is so much cooler than city hall.”
“No problem,” he lied with a smile to match her too big and bright one. For over an hour, the mayor’s council had locked down his conference room. They were a small group of prominent members in town who counseled the mayor on all things St. Geneva.
“Hey, congratulations on your Margot Award! I’ll be giving a speech at the ceremony … maybe we can carpool up to the big city?”
Used up on small talk, he took a sip of his coffee and tried to think of a way out of this conversation. Levi nearly forgot about the philanthropist award business owners received for excellence. However, the camp for underprivileged kids at the resort had nothing to do with him. Cayden put the whole thing together.
As he thought of a way to gently let Taylor down, his partner’s rich voice broke through his pile of excuses. She rounded the corner with Katie. Loose hair cascaded over the shoulder of her strappy dress, and his heart skipped a beat. “So how much would three more miniature ponies cost?”
“That’s a good question, Ms. Young. Can I get back to you on—”
“Katie, that is far from a good question,” he interrupted them with a sigh before the conversation got too far out of hand. “No more ponies.”
“But those two are super lonely … you saw them.” She batted her big brown eyes at him. A lesser man would have melted, but he got hip to Cayden a long time ago. Determined to stick to his guns, they stared each other down.
“Hi, I’m Taylor Garber, Assistant DA,” the brunette butted in, and Cayden took her hand with a smile. “We were just talking about Levi receiving the Margot Award. It’s an amazing program he put in place for the resort. You couldn’t do any better having such a great businessman in charge around here.”
“Yeah, he’s just a huge pony hater.”
“I’m sure he has the resort’s best interest at heart concerning the little beasts. Taking in account your type of lifestyle, you should heed his advice,” Taylor chastised her as if she were a child.
“And what type of lifestyle might that be?” Cayden asked.
Amused by the whole scene, Levi hoped she didn’t rip the attorney’s head off.
“Uh, you know … jet setting,” Taylor responded, a lot less sure of herself as the rest of the mayor’s council spilled into the lobby.
“Cayden, Cayden Young?”
“Dale Newman!”
“Soon-to-be Mayor Dale Newman,” the condescending ass said.
The actual mayor of the town teetered near death. Two years away from the end of his term, the town had to wait for him to resign or die. Considering Dale had become their only viable choice of late, Levi hoped the old geezer lived forever.
“You look awesome.” He heaped the compliments onto Cayden. Tall but not close to Levi’s height, Dale scooped Cayden up into a big bear hug. “How the hell are you? I think I saw something about Monaco and a prince?”
“No prince.” She laughed.
“Well, in that case, how about lunch?” Dale tried to run his hand through his unmovable hair but settled on a quick pat instead. Too much damn product, Levi figured. “We just wrapped up the city council meeting and I would love to catch up.”
“Sorry, Dale, I’ve got plans.”
“Come on now, you can’t blow me off that easy.” He grabbed her arm a little too aggressively for Levi’s taste.
“She’s not blowing you off,” his mom said from behind the big idiot. “And quite frankly, I don’t appreciate you holding up our date.” Reaching over, Mom pulled Cayden out of his vise-like grip.
“Oh, sorry, Mrs. Scott. I didn’t see you there.” Dale chuckled.
“Raincheck?” Cayden’s right eyebrow twitched at her obvious lie.
Levi hid his smile behind the lid of his coffee before he took another drink.
“It was nice meeting you!” Taylor called at his mom’s and Cayden’s back. “You two would make a great couple.” She elbowed Dale before she snagged Levi’s coffee cup out of his hand and took a sip. “Whoa, doggy, that’s crazy strong.” She plopped the cup back. “Let me know about the award’s ceremony.”
“So, Cayden’s back?” Dale inquired after Taylor turned the corner. Considering Levi never had much to say to the tool, he let the question linger. “You’re not going to mess this up for me again, Scott.”
With one divorce under Dale’s belt and too many angry ex-girlfriends to count, Levi doubted he had to lift a finger. Dale’s charm only went so far. “We’re not in high school, man. If you want to chase after someone who’s not interested in you, be my guest.”
“I know you flattened my tires at prom.”
Levi closed the small space between them to breathe his hot-coffee breath in his face. “Grow the fuck up,” he growled. It would be one hell of a la
wsuit if he hit the jerk on his property. Levi waited for him to throw the first punch.
“Ahem.” Katie cleared her throat. “Three miniature ponies from a good breeder will cost upwards of three thousand dollars,” she read from her phone with a quiver in her voice.
Dale’s mask of affable businessman slid back into place. “Thanks again for letting us use your facility,” he said. “Katie, always good to see you.” The fake smile he had perfected over the years returned. “Tell Cayden I look forward to that raincheck.”
Fighting back the urge to follow him to the parking lot, Levi clenched and unclenched his jaw.
“Word is he wants to run for city mayor,” she said, which broke through the angry haze that had taken over. “Honestly, who would vote for him?”
“Yeah, my mom said the same thing.” They shared a chuckle which helped knock away the slimy energy Dale left behind. Grateful that Katie stopped him from murdering the stand-in mayor, he promised to sit down with her for a marketing meeting sooner rather than later.
Chapter Seven
Beautiful and ritzy, St. Geneva’s downtown area brought tourists from miles around. When she was a teenager, it held a homey feel where locals were the insiders and the tourist were merely tolerated.
In that sweet spot that snuggled up to the school year but after the busy season, most of the locals took their families on a vacation. The shop owners who stayed experienced a bit of a drought, but the sales were great for the locals. Stealing season was how Lydia referred to this time of year when everything came at a discount.
“Big mistake,” Lydia quoted from Pretty Woman. “Huge mistake.”
Once Levi’s mom popped on her sunglasses, Cayden held the door open for her big exit. “See you guys next week.” She waved, while Lydia left with her nose is the air.
“It’s not the same when they know you,” Lydia muttered before she slipped her arm around Cayden’s waist. They headed up the street to The Candy Cookie Ice Cream Shoppe.
Apparently, Lydia had a better time pulling that stunt on the mag mile in Chicago, but Cayden had to call the shops before they arrived and make them play along.