Entangled (Free Indeed Book 1)

by Jenesse Bates

  Allie followed Dory around the room as she introduced her to the other animals, there were fifteen total including Reavers. Ten dogs and five cats. Dory said she did make house calls to take care of horses and cattle as well, but the fifteen they had right now were the strays they had accumulated and were trying to train and domesticate so they could possibly get adopted into nice homes.

  Allie felt very welcome and comfortable in her new surroundings and was looking forward to starting her new job. They got all of the paperwork out of the way, and then Dory told her she could start first thing in the morning.

  “I’ll be here! Thank you so much!” With an even bigger spring in her step than before, Allie pranced out of the building. One more thing to cross off her list. It felt so good to cross it off because it was definitely one of her biggest needs if she was going to be able to survive on her own indefinitely. Not that she was ever going to go back to Free Indeed, no matter what. Even if she was homeless and had to beg, she was done with that place forever.

  Since it was still early, Allie had plenty of time left in the day to get more things done. She remembered passing a garage on her way to the shelter and retraced her steps until she stood in front of the wide open bays of Hank’s Cargo Hold.

  A gruff but kind looking man walked up to her while wiping the grease off of his hands with a not much cleaner rag. “Hi there miss. What can I help you with today?”

  “Hello sir—” she paused to read the name tag on his shirt, “um, Hank, I need some help retrieving my car. It broke down on the interstate just outside of town, and I’d like it towed then maybe if it’s not going to be too expensive, possibly repaired.” Out of curiousity her eyes roamed around the bays in front of her while she spoke.

  “Of course,” the man grabbed a pen and a pad of paper from the overflowing with clutter table to his right. He turned back to Allie and asked, “What kind of car should I be looking for?”

  “It’s that one right there,” Allie blinked in surprise as she found herself staring at her beat up, dilapidated car on the lift directly in front of her. She pointed to the suspended vehicle in the bay, “Umm, that’s my car.”

  “You must be Little Bit!” A smile quickly grew until it covered his entire face. “Jason called about your car last night, so we went out and brought it in. Shame that it broke down, but I’m glad Jason stopped by to give you a lift into town.”

  “Yes, it was very Prince Charming of him,” Allie grimaced and then sighed. She knew she probably wasn’t being fair, after all, he did help her out multiple times now. He gave her ride and set her up with an apartment referral. And now he arranged to have her car taken care of as well. But still, something about him was just so absolutely annoying! Maybe it’s because they started off on the wrong foot, but he just rubbed her the wrong way. Made her feel all knotted up and tense inside, Allie wasn’t sure what that was all about. The less she saw of him going forward, the better off she’d be.

  “Yep, Jason told us to make sure we took good care of you,” Hank grinned. “We’ve already started working on your vehicle and—”

  His words were abruptly cut off by an irate honking noise that stole their attention. Both of their heads spun quickly to the street to see a shiny red convertible speed right up to the bay door and slam on its breaks. Hank snatched Allie’s arm and jerked her out of the way just in time to avoid impact with the car.

  Momentarily stunned, Allie just stared at the car that had almost run her over twice now. No doubt about it, the convertible in front of her with horn blaring was the same one she had an altercation with on the interstate just outside of town.

  This time, Allie could make out the driver. She was about Allie’s age, probably slightly older, with flowing platinum blonde hair cascading down past her shoulders. The woman was actually very stunning, despite the fact that her face was pinched in anger as she yelled furiously from inside the vehicle. A pointless endeavor since she couldn’t be heard over her incessant honking anyway.

  Finally, Hank had enough of the racket and tromped over to the driver’s side door of the vehicle while bellowing, “Shut up that racket, you crazy woman! If you want to step out of the vehicle and have a conversation, well then I’ll try to oblige. But you don’t get to come all up in my place of business and cause a shit storm.”

  The woman closed her mouth with a grunt and turned off the car. She swung open the door and climbed out at Hank’s disgruntled look. The blonde marched right up into Hank’s face and shouted, “You people ruined my car! Seriously, how hard is it to paint? I finally get my car back, only to find a dent that you people caused, because it sure wasn’t there before I brought it in!”

  “Miss Miller,” Hank’s voice rose to be heard above her screeching, “how bout you just calm down and show me what you’re in a pissy fit about?”

  “Don’t you use that tone with me, Hank. This is something your garage screwed up, and you’re going to fix it, or I’ll have my daddy the mayor shut this place down.”

  Hank just rolled his eyes, uncaring whether she saw or not, as he gestured toward the car indicating for her to lead him to the damage. Miss Miller huffed as she led Hank to the rear passenger wheel and pointed, “There.”

  Hank’s eyes scanned the back of the car, “Where?”

  “Right there!” Was her exasperated reply.

  Hank leaned forward and crouched down to inspect the siding above the wheel. “This?”

  “Yes!” She hissed back. “It’s a scratch, and I want it fixed. And I also want to know who was responsible and the assurance that they’ll be appropriately reprimanded.”

  Hank just grunted, keeping his mouth shut. “Don’t you grunt at me. Look at it and tell me what you think caused it.”

  Hank looked at the scratch, then glanced back at Miss Miller, “Well, I won’t know for sure until I look into it more thoroughly, but offhand I’d say it was caused by one of those flashy, oversized rings on your hand scratching against the car as you closed the gas cap.”

  “How dare you!” She gasped.

  “Mmhmm,” he grunted again.

  Allie was unable to stop a small snicker from escaping at the annoyed, disgruntled look on Hank’s face. Obviously she should have tried harder because the pissed off woman heard her and snapped her head in Allie’s direction, “You got a problem, bitch?”

  Allie’s jaw dropped open at the woman’s rudeness. Wow, this lady was really a piece of work. Based off of the woman’s attitude, Allie was luckier than she thought that the woman didn’t run her over on the interstate.

  “Hey,” Hank stepped in between them with his hand outstretched in Miss Miller’s direction, “Don’t you be messing with Little Bit, she hasn’t done anything to you and doesn’t deserve your attitude.”

  “She deserves it if she has a stupid name like Little Bit,” the woman smirked as her eyes raked across Allie taking her in from head to toe. Her nose crinkled up in disgust as she observed Allie’s attire.

  “I’m serious,” Hank continued, “she’s new to town and Jason’s girl, so don’t you be a snot to her.”

  The woman’s eyes snapped to Hank’s at his comment as her jaw dropped open in disbelief. For the first time since she had arrived, it was silent enough to hear the crickets chirp. Her gaze darted back to look at Allie, “What?” The word sounded like it was strangling her throat.

  “You heard me, she’s Jason’s woman. So leave her out of this.”

  “You—you BITCH!” The words sputtered from her in fury. A look of rage radiated from her eyes as she glared daggers in Allie’s direction.

  Unsure how to respond to that outburst, Allie just remained silent. The other woman, however, had no intention of doing the same, “How dare you try and steal my man!”

  Hank’s annoyed sigh filled the space as she continued, “I’ll have you know Jason and I are together. He’s all but my fiance, and if you think for one second that you can saunter into my town with your trashy ass and hideous taste in clothi
ng to try and steal my man, then you are so disillusioned. You’re not even his type.” She smirked at Allie.

  “Obviously not, if his type is you,” Allie muttered softly. Unfortunately, it wasn’t soft enough based off the fact that Hank started snickering, and Miss Miller’s eyes grew wide with fury.

  Her gaze narrowed to mere slits as she glared back at Allie and warned, “Stay away from my fiance.”

  “I’ll take care of the scratch and call you when it’s done.” Hank stepped back between the two woman cutting her off, “Do you need a ride home?”

  “No, I already called my brother. He should be here any second.”

  Just as she spoke the words, a police car turned into the parking lot and pulled up next to the convertible. A deputy stepped out of the car and walked over to where they stood.

  “Dillon,” Hank greeted him with a head nod.

  The baby-faced deputy who barely looked old enough to attend college looked at Hank with annoyance, “Hank, I’ve told you to call me Deputy Miller when I’m wearing the uniform.”

  “Whatever you say, Dillon.” Hank retorted. Allie could swear she saw him roll his eyes as well.

  The deputy sighed and turned to the still furious woman, “Ready to go, sis?”

  “First, you deal with this—this slut who’s trying to steal my Jason.” She pointed a very long, well-manicured finger in Allie’s direction.

  Deputy Miller glanced behind Hank to see who his sister was pointing at. “What do you want me to do about it?”

  “Take her down to the station...fine her...I don’t care.”

  “For what?”

  “I don’t care—something!” His sister threw her hands up in the air in exasperation. “You’re a deputy...start deputy-ing.”

  The deputy thought for a moment before turning to Allie, “Are you loitering?”

  Before she could even answer, Allie heard Hank heave a huge sigh, “She’s a paying customer, boy.”

  “Well...” He faltered casting a sideways glance toward his sister for clarification.

  The angry woman mouthed something to him from the side, but based off of his befuddled look, he wasn’t able to make it out. He raised his confused eyebrows in his sister’s direction. “Vagrant.” This time, even Allie could hear the whispered hiss from several feet away.

  “Are you a vagrant?” Deputy Miller snapped his face back in Allie’s direction as he asked the question.

  “Excuse me?” Allie asked with a look of surprise. What in the world was wrong with this boy. Was he just going to go through his list of offenses until he could find one that might apply?

  “Oh for the love of all that’s holy,” Hank’s exasperated huff broke in, “shut your trap boy, and leave my paying customers alone. Now I have business to discuss with this little lady, so if you two don’t have anything more important to say, I’ll ask you to go about your way.”

  The deputy tilted his head in askance in his sister’s direction as if he were waiting for permission to leave. With her arms crossed across her big, busty chest, Miss Miller didn’t look like she wanted to leave anytime soon.

  Finally, an unladylike grunt escaped her lips, and she threw up her hands in frustration. “Get in your car, Dillon.” She demanded as she tromped over to the passenger side of his squad car and climbed in.

  Deputy Miller turned back to Allie one last time, “I’ll be keeping an eye on you then. You be sure not to make any trouble in my—“

  The blaring horn from the squad car cut him off while scaring him enough to make him jump two feet in the air. “What the—“ Their heads all snapped around to see his sister waving her hand at Dillon in exasperation, and giving him an annoyed look that said he should have been in the car ten minutes ago. “Um, so—bye then ma’am.” He nodded at her, then at Hank, “Bye, Hank.”

  The deputy sulked around the side of the car to scramble into the driver’s seat. Then he hit the reverse and squealed out of there like it couldn’t happen fast enough. Miss Miller’s high pitched reprimands chastising her brother's incompetence could still be heard as they left the lot.

  Allie stood next to Hank as they both watched the deputy and his pissed off sister drive down the street. Without even turning to look at her, Hank muttered, “Around these parts we call that boy Deputy Dumbass.”

  Caught off guard by his comment, Allie was unable to stop the laughter from escaping her lips. That was the perfect name for the douchebag who just left. She turned her head to glance in Hank’s direction, and they both shared a smile. “Thank you.” Allie told him gratefully, “I needed something to make me laugh after that.”

  Hank just laughed, “And it’s actually the truth. You ask anyone around here about Deputy Dumbass, and they’ll know instantly you’re talking about that pussy-whipped boy.” At Allie’s grin, he changed the subject back to the reason for her visit, “So the car...I’ll have it all fixed up for you in about two weeks time. And you have my word it’ll be running even better than when you bought it.”

  “Thank you so much. I really appreciate all your help.” Two weeks was perfectly fine with her. She wasn’t planning on going anywhere anytime soon. And now with a job and apartment so close together, she probably wouldn’t even need her car that much.

  He gave her a little nod as he turned and sauntered back into his garage.

  Well, that sure made her day more interesting. Hopefully, the rest of her day would be a little less exciting.

  Allie left the garage and continued walking down the sidewalk. She remembered passing a little clothing boutique earlier and new clothes that didn’t scream fundamentalist churchie were a must. It wasn’t just because of the way people like the Miller siblings looked at her that made her want to redo her wardrobe. This was something she needed to do for herself.

  Every second she wore these clothes it was a reminder of Free Indeed. She wanted to be free of that place and shedding these clothes would help do that. Plus, the simple fact was, the clothes she was wearing made her feel ugly. They were frumpy and unflattering. Not to mention they were hot. They covered every inch of her body in heavy and, a lot of the time, itchy material. It would be nice to actually feel pretty for a change.

  She was tired of the weird looks. Even when Jason had seen her, she had seen the odd look he had given her when she had climbed into his truck. It wasn’t disapproving or mean like the Miller siblings had been, it was just a look reminding her again that she was different.

  But she wasn’t going to think about Jason. He had officially moved onto her douchebag list. If he was almost engaged or even just dating that Miller woman, then he had no right to be looking at her with those sexy eyes of his, or teasingly flirting with her the way he had.

  She made her way down the street to the store and walked inside. It wasn’t huge considering the small town they were in, but it had a very nice selection from what Allie could see.

  “Hi, welcome to Garb & Gab Boutique, let me know if I can help you with anything.” The lady behind the counter greeted her with a friendly little wave.

  Allie returned the gesture with a grin. She was really starting to like her neighborly new town, with the exception of the Miller family anyway.

  After she had made her way through the aisles, she poked around and meandered about, really unsure of what she should get. She had never really actually shopped before. Back home a lot of the women made their own clothes and made them for the other women who weren’t that good at sewing or just flat out didn’t have the time because they had too many children to keep up with. Other than that, Allie had been to the thrift store in the nearby town, but that was really it. She had never actually bought new-never-before-worn clothes just because she liked them or thought they were cute. And the thought of doing that now just felt so...liberating.

  She knew that she wanted to get some pants. The thought of it made her feel like such a little rebel, and that made her smile. Pants were forbidden for women in her fellowship. Thou shalt not put on a ma
n’s garment. The men, but especially her father since he was the Patriarch, always loved to drill that one home. Yep, she was definitely getting pants, and she was using her father’s money to buy them. In fact, she may just never wear another skirt again as long as she lived.

  Oh wait, she may have spoken too soon. She just walked right past an adorable little pleated gray skirt that just begged to be tried on. Ok, so maybe skirts would still be on her new-Allie-approved list as long as they were cute, fun, and short. No more of that down to her ankles crap. Allie snatched the skirt from off of the rack and started a pile of clothes she wanted to try on. Since she had never worn pants before, she wasn’t really sure on what the sizes meant, so she just eyeballed what she thought would fit and when she found something she liked she pulled a couple of different sizes so she’d be able to compare.

  When her arms were full, she made her way to the dressing room off to the side and started to try everything on. It was so much fun! Definitely buy this….no to that....maybe to these…she started several different piles as she quickly flipped from one item to the next.

  Finally deciding on her selection, she emerged with pants, skirts, shirts, sweaters, a jacket, and a couple pairs of shoes. There wasn’t a huge selection of shoes since it was just a small clothing boutique, so her high heels would have to wait until her car was fixed so she could go to a bigger store in one of the neighboring cities.

  Allie strode up to the counter with her stash and lay it down. She turned to the lady waiting there for her. “Hi, I’m Stacy. I’m the owner here. I see you found some things you liked.” She let out a little laugh at Allie’s stockpile of items.

  Allie smiled back at the friendly store owner, “Yes, it’s all so cute I just love it. Obviously, I was in need of a makeover.” Allie motioned with her hand to the frumpy clothes she was currently wearing.