by Jamie Begley
Nodding his head, he walked through the factory with Winter on his heels, curiously studying the items being packaged. She couldn’t help but question one of the items.
“Customers order bottled water?”
Train paused to show her the water. “It’s not just any water. It has vitamins and nutrients. Our customers are in disaster areas or they are disaster preppers who can survive on the water when food is in limited supply,” he explained.
Winter looked around. It was amazing to her how they had built a company based on items, that when a disaster struck, became more valuable than gold.
Train showed her several of the gadgets that they made while he walked her to a door in the back of the factory. As they entered the room, he flipped on the lights. The room contained three refrigerators and two deep freezers that had inventory lists posted on the front.
“There they are.” He nodded toward the refrigerators.
“Where?” Winter asked confused.
Train walked forward, opening one of the refrigerators. Inside were hundreds of plastic baggies with little seeds inside.
Winter’s mouth dropped open. “When we fill the orders, they can often fall out of place. They are filed based on numerical order.”
“What order? It’s a mess.” Winter was amazed they could find anything the way the hundreds of small baggies were haphazardly placed in inside.
“That’s why they need to be straightened out. By the way, they need to stay cool, so don’t leave the door open long, the fridges are set at a certain temperature. Take a few out at a time to get them organized.”
With a goading smile, he left her alone in the room. Winter opened the door and studied the mess inside. Closing it, she went to the other two refrigerators to find more of the same. She couldn’t understand how anyone could find anything inside; they were long since out of numerical order. Rolling her sleeves up, she began work on the first refrigerator. Twenty minutes later, she was leaving the factory with a determined expression. Rider was outside working on his bike when she asked him to get her keys and purse from the house.
Returning with her things, he handed them to her.
“Escaping your punishment?” He joked.
Winter just gave him an annoyed stare that cut off his laughter. Getting into her car, she was proud of her herself for not hitting him with her purse.
The Dollar Bin was her first stop. Taking a cart as she entered the store, it didn’t take long to find the items she needed. The store was relatively slow for the morning and she was going through the door after paying for her purchases when she passed Carmen with her parents.
“Good morning Ms. Simmons.” Carmen’s parents greeted her. Carmen refused to say anything, not meeting her eyes and giving her the cold shoulder treatment.
“Good morning. I didn’t know you were back in town,” Winter remarked to Carmen’s parents.
“Not for long. We came to town to sell the lot our house was on,” Mrs. Jones replied sadly. “I’m sorry we didn’t come by the hospital to see you. We are so sorry that our daughter’s misjudgment caused Jake to take his anger out on you.”
“Don’t….” Winter started to say when Carmen interrupted her.
“Jake didn’t do anything to her. I keep telling you, but no one will listen,” Carmen angrily glared at Winter. “I don’t know who attacked you, but it wasn’t Jake.”
Confused, Winter questioned Carmen. “But he’s already been sentenced. I read it in the newspaper that he confessed.” Winter had been dreading being called as a witness, she had been relieved know she wouldn’t have to testify.
“He was scared after he burned down our house. He was angry and made a mistake, but he didn’t touch you. The prosecutor offered him a plea deal and he knew no one in this town was going to believe him, so he took it. But I believe him,” she said angrily. “He wasn’t the one who hurt you.”
Winter could tell she was still just as infatuated with him as she had been during the summer.
“I don’t remember anything from that night, but I will ask the sheriff if there is any possibility there could have been a mistake.” Winter saw the hope in the girls face and sought to caution her. “Carmen he was on school property earlier that week, and I know he was pretty angry with me for telling your parents that he was mistreating you.”
“He didn’t do it,” Carmen repeated stubbornly.
Winter and Carmen’s parents said goodbye. Winter hoped they would be able to find a new start away from Treepoint.
The members all stared at her as she walked back into the factory carrying her bags. Returning to the back room, Winter organized the refrigerators for the rest of the day. She didn’t even stop for lunch, wanting to get the job done. She was so occupied sorting the seeds that she didn’t notice the door opening.
Warm arms circled her waist, tugging her back into his warm body.
“Having fun?”
Winter shook her head. “Your system sucked, but it’s finished.”
Viper released her to open the refrigerator to find several baskets with seeds. Instead of hundreds of baggies, she had organized them into larger bags and organized them by numerical order. Viper whistled in admiration as he closed the door and opened the other one, which was also organized. Looking at her with a raised brow, he opened the last one to find it too organized. Winter gave him a gloating smile.
“I’m impressed.” Viper meant the compliment.
“You should be,” she continued to gloat.
Viper smiled at her exuberance. “You do know it won’t last?”
Winter lost her smile. “Why not?”
Viper shrugged. “You’ll see.”
“It’s a good system.”
“I agree. But it still won’t last, that why it’s one of the punishments. It’s a constant job that needs to be kept in check.”
Winter could understand that. “At least it won’t be my job.” She wound her arms around his neck. “I don’t plan on needing any more punishment. I learned my lesson.”
“I hope not.” His hand rubbed her ass. “I have several more interesting punishments in mind for you than organizing a refrigerator.”
Pulling out of his arms, she went to the door and held it open. “Not today you don’t, I’m starving.”
They went to the house and ate dinner, relaxing on the couch in his bedroom watching television. Viper laughed at her complaints about the different varieties of green beans and ignored her suggestions of taking it down to one variety. That way, if she earned that particular punishment again, the less to organize the better. Tired, Winter stretched out beside him. Noticing her movements, Viper took her hand pulling her to her feet.
“Bedtime for you.” Winter leaned against him, unable to prevent herself from wincing. Viper leaned down and lifted her into his arms. He carried her to the bathroom, turning the shower on until the room filled with steam. Helping her remove her clothes, they silently took a shower. After drying off, Viper helped her to bed and reached for the ibuprofen on the nightstand. Handing her the bottle, he went to the small refrigerator to retrieve a bottle of water. Taking the pills, she laid back down and was pulled to his chest.
“Take it easy tomorrow, you did too much today,” Viper advised.
Winter nodded her head in his shoulder. “I’ll be fine.”
“Yes you will, pretty girl,” Viper promised.
The next day Winter took Viper’s advice. Taking it easy, she caught up on his reports and then decided to read a book. Hungry, she went downstairs to find Rider and Train cooking lunch. It didn’t involve much cooking other than placing the frozen pizza in the oven. Deciding to forgo the pizza, she made herself a sandwich. Taking a bottle of water, she started to leave the room.
“If you lay the pizza directly on the wire rack, it will cook the crust better with it being frozen.” The men thanked her for her suggestion. Winter hummed as she went back upstairs to finish her book. Viper brought dinner up to her later that night; aft
erwards they had a quiet night together before going to bed.
Viper was still sleeping when Winter got out of bed early the next morning. Dressing in her workout clothes, she went down to the weight room to do her exercises. She missed having Donna there when she worked out, but they had agreed she no longer needed her every day, instead now coming by once a week.
When she finished, she went upstairs and took a seat at the kitchen table, slowly drinking a cup of coffee. She heard a few sounds upstairs, aware that the others would be getting up to get ready for work. The kitchen door opened and Shade walked in. He looked tired and irritable. She watched as he poured himself a cup of coffee. He still didn’t speak to her, but she wasn’t upset by it. Winter had learned he wasn’t much of a talker. After he took a few sips of his coffee, he moved towards the stove. Opening the oven door, he stared at it several minutes before closing it.
Shade went to the kitchen closet. She noticed he was gathering cleaning supplies and then filling a bucket with soapy water. He went to refrigerator opening the door and within seconds he was slamming it shut. Turning green, he hastily moved away to lean on the counter.
Winter took another sip of her coffee. “The punishments are a bitch, aren’t they? I thought mine was bad, but at least I don’t have to clean that oven or the fridge,” she remarked conversationally.
Shade looked back and forth between the offending appliances. Winter knew he was trying to figure out which one to start with.
“I would start with the oven. Give your stomach time to settle, it’s a little early to clean something that smells so bad.” Winter stood up to freshen her coffee and watched as he stood debating in front of the oven.
“Of course, I could help you with your problem.” He turned to face her, his eyes narrowing in on her innocent expression.
“I could clean the oven, fridge, and pantry for you.” His eyes went to the pantry door, but he made no move to see what condition it was in. Everyone knew it was a close second to the seeds in punishments.
“What do you want?” He said grimly.
“It’s going to take me at least a couple of hours to scrub that oven down. In case you didn’t know, that’s cheese on the bottom. The fridge is even worse, it smells like Armageddon, and the pantry has an ant infestation,” she said, taking another sip of coffee.
“What’s your price?” He repeated through clenched teeth.
Winter faced him squarely, looking him straight in the eyes and she told him exactly what she wanted.
“I want your vote. Look at it this way, it’s going to take several hours of work to clean this mess up. If we had sex, it would take ten minutes. You’re getting a better deal, besides we both know that you’re not going to vote me in with sex anyway.”
Shade stared at her, before shrugging. “It’s all yours.”
Winter frowned that he had given in too easily, but she wasn’t going to question her luck. She started to go into the pantry to begin as Shade reached into the cabinet.
“I’ll have to tell Viper that he must be getting old if you think sex lasts ten minutes.”
Her poor choice of words was going to piss off Viper and the bastard knew it from his smug grin.
He poured himself a cup of coffee as he started to sit at the table. Winter went to the refrigerator and opened the door. He was out the door before she had finished the movement. Reaching inside, she took out the leftover sauerkraut, placing it in the trash bag before carrying it outside the backdoor to the trashcan. When she came in she lit a candle and opened a box of baking soda. She was busy cleaning the fridge when the members started coming in for breakfast.
She was almost finished when Viper came in for breakfast. He watched closely as she closed the door to the refrigerator. “Why are you doing Shade’s punishment?”
“I decided to give him a helping hand.” Viper fixed himself a bowl of cereal. Winter noticed him glancing at her in speculation a couple of times, but she ignored it and kept cleaning. That night in bed she was almost asleep when Viper brought up Shade.
“He told me he gave you his vote.”
“Yes.” She curled closer to his side.
“I didn’t know we had an ant infestation.”
“We don’t,” Winter confessed.
“You’re a dangerous woman Winter Simmons.”
***
Winter knocked on Ton’s door. It opened several minutes later to a bleary eyed Ton with a sour expression on his face.
“I brought your groceries.” Winter gave him a bright smile.
“Beth never comes until after ten,” Ton grouched.
“I’m an early riser.”
“I bet Viper loves that,” Ton said snidely. Winter blushed at his remark. Viper was not an early riser. He worked hard, but he did like sleeping in the mornings. Unless he had a meeting, he never got out of bed before nine.
“The groceries are in the car,” Winter told Ton. Beth had warned her he would take it as an insult if she packed the groceries inside.
Winter hastily moved out of the way of the screen door. Ton stomped to her car lifting out the box of groceries. She followed him inside uncertainly. Ton put the groceries on his table while she was wondering why Viper hadn’t just brought them himself.
“Do you need anything else while I’m here?” Winter offered.
“No, since I’m up, do you want a cup of coffee?”
“I would love one.” While the coffee was brewing, Ton moved around the kitchen putting up his groceries. When the coffee was finished, Ton poured each of them a cup.
They carried their cups to the living room and sat on the couch. Winter loved his cabin, it was rustic and homey.
“Beth told you she was going out of town today?”
“She mentioned it, told her she didn’t need to worry about the groceries,” Ton answered her question.
“Why didn’t Viper just bring them by?” Ton looked at her with surprise.
“I haven’t seen Viper since the day at the diner. He’s pissed at me, and when Viper get’s mad it takes him a while to get over it.”
“I didn’t know,” Winter said, regretting her question.
“He’s right. I let my anger get the better of me and I put their women in danger because I couldn’t control my temper,” Ton admitted.
Winter felt sorry for the man. It couldn’t be easy for a man who had lived an active life in the military to suddenly find himself with nothing but time on his hands. Losing a son and declining in health would only exacerbate the problem. The man needed something to keep him occupied but Winter didn’t know what to suggest. She would have to give it some thought.
“Perhaps I could talk to him?” She suggested.
“It won’t help, he’ll gradually come around.” Ton shrugged. Winter guessed it wasn’t the first time the father and son had butted heads and it wouldn’t be the last. Not only did they share the same genes, but obviously the same temper.
Winter rose to go. She had made an appointment and didn’t want to be late.
“Beth won’t be back until Monday. If you need anything, just call.” Winter saw a paper and pencil by the phone and wrote her number down.
“I have been taking care of myself for a long time,” Ton grouched.
“I am sure you have,” Winter smiled. “But I am at a loose end right now so it would give me something to do.”
Ton’s face turned red. “Those stuck up townspeople take your job?”
“They are going to try,” Winter responded.
Ton nodded. “Don’t let them push you around. Stand up for yourself.”
“I plan to,” Winter said with determination.
Winter left Ton inside; she was about to get in her car when she noticed the garage door was partially ajar. Ton had forgotten to turn out the light after storing some of the supplies that Beth had sent. Winter walked to turn off the lights for him. Opening the door wider to find the light switch, she curiously glanced around the large garage. A large blue tarp
that was covering a large mound had slipped to the side revealing a motorcycle wheel. It had obviously laid there for a while with dust and spider webs.
Winter quietly walked over to the tarp and lifted a corner to reveal what was left of a motorcycle, or at least that was what she thought it was. It looked like it had been in a crash; the frame was bent and it was torn to pieces. Winter swallowed, imagining anyone on this bike when the damage occurred surely hadn’t been able to walk away alive, it was that bad.
“I thought you were leaving.”
“I saw that you had left on the light,” she answered.
She didn’t take her eyes off the bike. “What happened?”
Ton didn’t answer and Winter turned to face him. “Who’s bike is it, Ton?
“Viper’s.”
“He crashed his bike? When?” Winter swallowed tightly.
“He didn’t crash. He did that himself.”
“But why?” Winter said shocked.
“Don’t know, you’ll have to ask him. He just brought it here and told me to leave it alone. I offered to help him rebuild it, but he said no. He loved that bike, him and Gavin picked it out together when they got out of the service.” Winter saw another bike covered in the corner.
“That one Gavin’s?” Winter pointed to the bike.
“Yes.”
Winter brought her attention back to the mess in front of her.
“When?” Winter asked again.
“The best I can figure is the day after your attack,” Ton sighed.
Winter turned white. Turning on her heel, she didn’t say another word. Getting in her car she pulled out and drove into town. Impulsively, she drove to her home. Going inside, the quiet struck her. At the clubhouse there was always someone moving around, music playing, talking, or fucking. Winter walked from room to room. Going back to the living room she took out her phone and called to reschedule her appointment, not even paying attention to when it was rescheduled.