Games of the Heart

by Kristen Ashley

  Jerra got up instantly, putting a staring at Fin, open-mouthed Adriana on her feet but taking her hand. Della moved toward Joaquin, Rivera and Jerra’s little boy. They led them out as Mike got close to Fin’s back right side and his eyes went to Dusty who had stood as had No, putting his guitar down and leaning it against the chair. Rivera and Dean also stood. Rees, too, had found her feet and she moved close to Fin.

  But Fin only had eyes for Rhonda.

  Mike’s gaze cut to Rhonda who was staring at Fin, frozen.

  “Fin, honey, take a breath,” Dusty said placatingly.

  Fin ignored her.

  “That was Bernie McGrath on the phone,” Fin announced.

  Mike tensed.

  Jesus. Shit. Fuck.

  Fin went on, “Wanted me to tell you to be sure you deposit that five thousand dollar check.”

  Jesus. Shit. Fuck!

  “What’s this?” Dean asked but Fin ignored him too.

  “Then I called Aunt Debbie,” he continued. “She’s filled me in, Ma, that you’re on board.”

  “On board for what?” Dusty asked, looking back and forth between Fin and Rhonda and at her question Fin’s eyes sliced to her.

  “On board as a plaintiff contesting Dad’s will.”

  Jesus. Shit. Fuck!

  Dusty’s body got visibly tight, her cheeks got visibly red and her eyes fired. Mike could see it from across the room.

  But he read the situation that was more volatile was Fin and Rhonda so Mike positioned himself beyond Fin and between Rhonda and her son.

  Rees approached Fin and laid a hand on his arm.

  Fin ignored her too.

  “You haven’t been up in your room feelin’ sorry for yourself,” he stated, his eyes glued to his mother. “You been up there plottin’ with fuckin’ Aunt Debbie.”

  “Rhonda, please say this isn’t true.” Dusty’s voice was soft but forced.

  Rhonda kept her eyes to her son and she whispered, “It’s for the best.”

  At that, Fin’s torso twisted violently, his arm swinging out in a blur across his front and the phone went flying across the room, over the couch to smash against a wall.

  The room, already tense, went wired.

  “Fin, take a walk,” Mike ordered.

  Fin ignored Mike too and looked back at his mother.

  “For the best? That…is…whacked!”

  Rhonda, surprising everyone, straightened her spine and lifted her chin. “This farm killed your father,” she declared.

  “So now you open your mouth and Aunt Debbie speaks?” Fin asked sarcastically.

  “Rhonda, sweetheart, did you really do this?” Dean asked, his eyes also glued to his daughter-in-law.

  “Yes,” Rhonda kept her seat, the only one in the room who had, outside Kirby. She nodded and repeated, “Yes. It’s for the best. It’s for my boys.”

  “It’s for your boys?” Fin spat, leaning forward.

  “Fin, man, take a walk,” Mike repeated.

  “Yes,” Rhonda spoke over him. “You told me I should be lookin’ out for you. I’m lookin’ out for you.”

  “By taking away my future?” Fin asked.

  “By giving you one. Debbie tells me the sale of the land will set you up.” Rhonda threw out her hand. “It’ll set all of us up.”

  “I’m already set up, Ma. I got everything I want. I got my future and that future, every day, every fucking day I go out and work this farm, I do it with my father,” Fin shot back, his words nearly guttural and not just with anger but with grief burned a hole straight through Mike’s fucking heart. “That’s the future I want and I wanted it even before he died. Now I want it more because it’s the only thing of him I have left.”

  Rhonda blanched and Dean stepped in.

  “Rhonda, I wish you’d spoken to me about this.”

  Rhonda tore her eyes away from her son and looked to her father-in-law. “Debbie warned me not to. She said you’d try to talk me out of it and I knew that was true. And now, that’s been proved.”

  “Go with me now,” Fin ordered, cutting in, his voice now hard, his eyes pinned to his mother. “Right now, get in my truck and go with me to the cemetery so you can actually spit on Dad’s grave rather than doin’ it like this.”

  “Fin,” Rhonda whispered, eyes round, face shocked and horrified.

  “He’d hate you for doin’ this, Ma. All his life he did nothin’ but love you but if he knew you were doin’ this, he’d hate you. He’d hate everything about you. He wouldn’t even wanna look at you,” Fin clipped, Rees got close and Mike tensed.

  She put her hand on his chest, tipped her head back, leaned in and whispered, “Fin, let’s go for a walk.”

  Fin lifted a hand and Mike tensed more but he just wrapped it around Rees’s and held it at his chest, his eyes never leaving his mother.

  “And you know how I know that?” he asked quietly then answered his own question. “Because not five minutes ago, I sat in this room with my family, with friends, listenin’ to Aunt Dusty sing and No play and doin’ it knowin’ Dad would love to have been here for this. Dad would love this fuckin’ house filled with fuckin’ people he cared about, sharin’ time, doin’ nothin’, killin’ time in a sweet way waitin’ to eat. Doin’ nothin’ but doin’ it together which means it isn’t nothin’. It’s everything. And I’m my father’s son, he made me that way and, you takin’ that away from all of us, right now I hate you.”

  Fin’s last three words were so rough they were ragged and Mike pulled in breath at the sound of them but Fin was done. He knew this because Fin dropped Rees’s hand but slid an arm around her shoulders, turning them both and walking out of the living room, through the entryway and right out the front door.

  Mike turned back to the room, his eyes going to Dusty who had her head bent, her palms pressed to her forehead, fingers in her hair, visibly rubbed raw by the harshness of her nephew’s words but he didn’t look at her long.

  This was because Kirby spoke.

  “I can’t believe you,” he whispered and Mike saw he was struggling. He didn’t want to lose it but it was clear he was in a fight he wasn’t going to win and he didn’t. A tear escaped and slid down his cheek as he went on, “I can’t believe you’d do this to Fin, to me, to Aunt Dusty, Gramps, Dad. I can’t believe you.”

  “Kirb, honey,” Rhonda started beseechingly, leaning forward and even reaching out a hand to her younger son. “You’re too young to understand but I’m doing the right thing for you and your brother.”

  “No, you aren’t.” Kirb shook his head. “I don’t know what house you been livin’ in since forever but if you’ve been livin’ in this house with Dad, Fin and me you’d know you aren’t. You’re doin’ what Aunt Debbie wants you to do. You’re too weak and stupid to see she’s usin’ you. Dad knew what she was like. He even said it. He said it all the time around you. Did you even listen? Do you pay attention to anything? ‘Cause I don’t think you do. I don’t think you ever did. I think you’re the most selfish person I ever met because even before Dad died you just took and took from him and now you’re takin’ from me and Fin and Aunt Dusty and Gramps and all because you’re stupid and weak. Weak and stupid. That’s all you are. And with Dad gone, we gotta put up with it. Since he died, the way you been actin’, I’ve been wonderin’ if he was the way he was with you for you or to protect us from what you are. Now I’m thinkin’ it’s that last one.”

  And with that, he got up, eyes to his feet and walked out of the room but he ran up the stairs and Mike heard his bedroom door slam.

  Mike looked back to Rhonda to see she looked like she’d been struck.

  But his eyes cut to Dusty because she spoke next.

  “You deserved that,” her lyrical voice was vibrating with emotion and her eyes were locked on Rhonda. “You deserved every word both of them said. But they didn’t deserve to feel that way and you made them feel it. You carry that responsibility. If Darrin knew this was happening and you were aligning yourse
lf with Debbie he’d lose his fucking mind. And he loved you, Rhonda, he loved you fiercely. But if he knew you made his sons feel like that, you put their future and this farm in jeopardy and why you have, make no mistake, he would set you out.”

  Rhonda’s eyes filled with tears but Dusty wasn’t done.

  “If you deposit that check, Rhonda, I’ll set you out. And I am not fucking joking.”

  “You can’t turn me out of my own home,” Rhonda whispered, the tears starting to stream down her cheeks.

  “Try me!” Dusty hissed, losing it and leaning forward.

  “Angel,” Mike called gently and her eyes shot to him. “Try and calm down, sweetheart.”

  She held his eyes then she sucked in breath.

  Then she looked back at Rhonda and stated, “You made a very bad decision. Very bad. And you need to rectify that. Immediately. I’m not gonna tell you how to do that because you’re older than me, for God’s sake, and it’s time you grew the fuck up. And I’m not talking just about this shit with Debbie but that is definitely priority. I’m talking about you not snapping out of it and being a mother to your sons and the woman of this house. You need to kick in, now. If you don’t, Rhonda, I swear to God, you’ll regret it. No matter what Debbie is promising, no matter what she’s convinced you of, in your lifetime, you have not held down a job that can support you. And you just severed ties with the five people who have your back. Debbie does not like you. She is not going to take care of you. And you two, if you align with her, are not going to win this farm. So you gotta think fast and you gotta do it smart or you are going to lose everything. And I’ll point out the most important things you’ll lose are your sons. They’re slipping through your fingers and only you have the power to catch hold before they’re gone.”

  Rhonda stared up at Dusty, face wet and getting wetter but Dusty was done.

  She moved through the room saying to her father, “Tell Mom I’ll be back in a while to eat.” Then her eyes came to him and she whispered, “I gotta ride, babe.”

  Then she was gone.

  Rhonda got up and dashed out of the room, up the stairs and Mike heard another door slam.

  Dean stalked out, muttering, “Gotta talk to Della.”

  Mike, No and Rivera stood in the living room, silent.

  “Welp!” Rivera ended the silence. “Kids wanted spring break in Disneyland. I like my roller coasters but, gotta say, this is a fuckuva lot more interesting.”

  Mike clenched his teeth to stop himself from smiling. If No tried this he didn’t succeed but luckily his amusement came out in a low chuckle.

  Mike looked between the two then told them, “I’m gonna go talk with Kirb.”

  “Good luck with that, bro,” Rivera muttered, Mike shook his head at him then he walked out of the room, up the stairs and knocked on doors until he found Kirby.

  * * * * *

  Mike stood in the barn, back against the side of a stall, Blaise’s starred nose over the door. Moonshine’s stall was empty since Dusty was now on her back somewhere on the land. Rivera was three feet away, arms crossed on his chest, legs planted, eyes on Mike, ears peeled.

  Mike was waiting for Dusty and he was on his phone. Rivera was waiting for an update.

  “You gotta step this shit up, Ryker,” he said into the phone.

  “I told you, this dude is slippery,” Ryker said back.

  “He hit the sister-in-law. Don’t know how but do know she has a five thousand dollar check,” Mike informed him.

  “Well, I do know that I hope like fuck the bitch hasn’t cashed it because of all the nothing I know about Bernie McGrath the one thing I do know about him is that he doesn’t take refunds for payoffs,” Ryker remarked.

  “Is that all you got for me?” Mike asked.

  “He’s in bed with the sister,” Ryker told him something else he knew.

  So he informed Ryker of that. “Already know that, Ryker.”

  “No, he’s in bed with her. Got an in close to this guy who don’t know much. What he does know is that there was some showdown a while ago, the bitch from DC was ticked and she showed at the office, spread her bitch love, stormed into McGrath’s inner sanctum and she worked out her anger by lettin’ McGrath fuck her on his desk. Apparently, the bitch is noisy and active. The computer fell off the desk. Everyone in the office heard it.”

  Jesus.

  “He’s since hit DC twice. Not business,” Ryker went on.

  Only Debbie would end what had to be, from her disposition, a dry spell by letting a shady real estate mogul bang her.

  Fuck.

  Mike’s eyes went to Rivera. “I gotta make an approach to this guy that succeeds in gettin’ him to back off this land. This means I need intel, Ryker. Somethin’ that I can lean on him with. And I need to do this yesterday.”

  “I hear you, man, but I’m tellin’ you he’s slippery and when I say that, I mean there’s a reason why. Only folks who got somethin’ to hide make an art outta bein’ slick. And this guy’s the master. He’s not wet. The man is lubed.”

  Fuck a-fucking-gain.

  Mike sighed and looked to his boots. “This means I gotta talk to Tanner.”

  And pay him. Tanner had two boys and a wife and although he regularly did freebies out of the goodness of his heart, he still had a family to provide for. His Robin Hood act he played out for those who needed it and could not only not afford anyone near the talent of Tanner Layne but also anyone who was substandard.

  But what Ryker couldn’t find, Tanner definitely had the skills to get. And if he didn’t have time, he could set his crotchety sidekick, Devin Glover on the job.

  Mike’s back straightened away from the stall when Ryker stated, “He’s already in, bro. Rocky and her posse are worried about this business so she got all up in his. In a good way, if you get me. She gave him some, he asked me to brief him last week, I did and we’re workin’ this together.”

  Mike was not surprised. He was pleased but not surprised. He’d watched more than once ‘Burg women take each other’s backs or, more to the point, activate the men in their lives who could do it.

  So he muttered, “Right.”

  “Just a side note, McGrath is married,” Ryker told him and Mike blinked.

  “What?” he asked.

  “He’s doin’ the nasty with the sister and even headin’ to DC to dip back into that but at home, he’s got a God-fearin’ woman who hits church every Sunday and Bible study every Wednesday night. Her Daddy was a preacher. Like you got on your hands with the sister-in-law, bro, Tanner and me feel the wife is the weak link but in a different way. This bitch talks to God and the way she acts, she thinks God talks back. They live in Plainfield and last fall, if you remember, they had that big bust up, those Bible thumpers burnin’ books. She was the mastermind behind that. Tanner is lookin’ at her the same time he’s got Devin lookin’ into seein’ if they got a pre-nup. See, it’d suck for him, her comin’ into the know that he’s got shady dealin’s and on top ‘a that is bangin’ some lawyer who lives in DC…in his office…for his entire staff to hear, and she gets shot of his ass and takes half of his hard-earned money with her.”

  Finally, Ryker gave him something.

  “Why didn’t you tell me this before?” Mike asked.

  “’Cause I got no proof he’s got shady dealings. I just got this in who told me about the sister and I got no proof of that either except a shitload of witnesses, all on his payroll so not one of ‘em is gonna talk. This woman is God fearin’ but that don’t make her stupid. She gets pissed and wants shot of his ass, she’ll want proof. And that’s what Tanner and me are workin’ toward.”

  “That’ll take some time, Ryker,” Mike told him what he had to know.

  “I know that, bro,” Ryker confirmed he knew. “So in the meantime, you hold your woman’s shit tight. You find that check. You burn it. And you sit on the sister-in-law. Freeze out McGrath. While he’s scramblin’ to find another in, Tanner and I hopefully will find your out.�
��

  Mike took in a breath.

  Ryker wasn’t done.

  “Might help, might not, I don’t know how much she knows but you might wanna clue in the sister that her new fuck buddy’s got a ball and chain. She’s feelin’ the love through more than orgasms, she might not be happy to hear he’s not available. And this might make her less inclined to do business with this fuckin’ guy.”

  Mike smiled, liking the idea of sharing this news with Debbie.

  “I’m on that,” he told Ryker.

  “Bet you are,” Ryker muttered, a grin in his voice.

  “I’ll call Tanner. We need a sit down, tomorrow,” Mike stated.

  “I’ll be there. Now I gotta go. I gotta an ass to ream since my girl was supposed to do the dishes an hour ago and she’s still on the fuckin’ phone with one of her boyfriends.”

  Mike grinned at his boots. His “girl” wasn’t his by blood. She was his woman’s. But when she’d been put in danger, he’d laid claim to her and when Ryker lays claim, there’s no letting go. Then again, what Mike had seen of that unusual family, none of them were going to loosen their hold.

  “Right. See you tomorrow,” Mike said.

  “Later, bro,” Ryker replied then disconnected.

  “Feel like sittin’ in on this meeting,” Rivera stated the second Mike took the phone from his ear and Mike looked at him.

  “I’ll give you as much notice as I can and the address,” Mike instantly agreed.

  “Now, before Dusty gets back, give me the brief you just got from your informant.”

  Mike nodded and was just finishing doing that when Dusty rode Moonshine in through the opened double doors of the barn. He saw in the dim lights that illuminated the space that she was no longer furious but that didn’t mean she wasn’t preoccupied.

  She stopped the gray and her eyes swung back and forth between Mike and Rivera. She tipped her chin up but she didn’t smile. Then she dismounted and, hand curled around the reins, led the horse to them.

  “I see the house is still standing and didn’t explode while I was gone,” she remarked. “Is everything okay?”

  “Your Mom is keepin’ dinner warm. Rhonda is barricaded in her bedroom, your Mom tried twice to get in but the door’s locked. I talked Kirby down to spend time with No. By the time Rivera and I walked out here, Fin and Reesee were back. She’d calmed him down so he’s not pissed way the fuck off, he’s just pissed off. She got him playin’ some game with Adriana and Joaquin. And I just got a brief from Ryker,” Mike filled her in.