by L. T. Marie
“That’s interesting. Because I don’t remember saying that.”
Jay shifted restlessly, not wanting to hear any more about Coal doing anything with Mr. Perfect, or anyone else for that matter.
“It’s okay if you forgot,” Jefferson said, his tone as arrogant as the smug look on his face. “I was thinking of dinner in the city and a tour of the sights. What do you say?”
“Jefferson, really, I can’t—”
“Sure you can. Whatever plans you’ve made I’m sure can wait,” Thomas said, his tone unyielding.
“Dad, I have chores to do. Tonight’s not a good night.”
“Chores can wait. You have to make time for social outings. You’ll learn that after the ranch becomes a full-time undertaking.”
“Fine,” Coal said. Her tone one of resignation. “Tonight will be great.”
“Sir, if you would excuse me,” Jay said. She needed to get the hell out of there. “My cousin needs me back at the house. Ms. Davis, if you have anything else to add to the list, I’ll be here first thing tomorrow morning.”
“Certainly,” Coal said. “Thank you, Jay.”
Jay sprinted back toward the house, her head spinning from the last few minutes. If that’s how she wants to play it, then fine. I don’t want anything to do with women who date men.
“Quittin’ time, Cuz!” Dino shouted from the roof as Jay ignored him and barreled through the front door.
She picked up the first tool she could find and, forgetting about where she was or the consequences of her actions, launched the Philips head screwdriver cleanly into one of the walls. Too bad that wasn’t Jefferson’s head.
“What the hell?” Dino said, more pissed than shocked by her actions.
Jay yanked the screwdriver out from the sheetrock and threw it into her tool chest before slamming the lid shut. “It’s nothing. Just a little hole. I’ll fix it later.”
“No, you won’t. You’ll fix it right fucking now or you’re not leaving.”
An hour later, she joined Dino inside the truck, her temper still set to simmer. She wanted away from the job, because she needed to get as far away from Coal Davis as possible.
“You want to tell me what’s going on over a beer?” Dino asked.
“No. Just take me back to the shop. I’m not in the mood for company.”
“Come on, Cuz. You always talk to me.”
Even if she could tell him about Coal without risking getting fired, how could she share her feelings with him when she didn’t know how to categorize them? She had never experienced this intense need to want to be with someone so badly before. Not that it mattered anyway. After today, Coal was a closed issue. “I don’t want to talk. I need a night out.”
“Uh oh.” He wiggled his eyebrows playfully. “I know what that means. My cousin needs to get laid.”
“Exactly.”
“Well, I’m glad to see you’re still not lusting over our hot client. I thought after the way she had been looking at you today something was going on. Glad I was wrong.”
Jay glanced sideways at him, letting out a disdainful snort. “How did she look at me?” Like she cares. She tells her horse all she does is think about me, almost kisses me again, and then in the next breath she agrees to go out on a date. With a man!
“Like she wanted to eat you for lunch!”
“Fucking right,” she said sarcastically. “You obviously can’t read women, because I know for a fact that she has other interests.”
“And how do you know that?”
Jay stared out the truck window and pointed at the passing silver Jaguar. “Because of him. That would be Jefferson Sutter. Coal’s date for the evening.”
“Cuz,” Dino said cautiously. “Do we need to talk about something?”
“Just get me the fuck out of here.” She slammed her head against the headrest as he started the truck. She needed a drink and a warm body, hoping that both had the power to banish Coal from her every thought.
*
Coal stripped off her clothes, angrily throwing them onto the floor in her wake. Once again, she’d allowed her father to tell her what to do, but this time she’d felt as though she didn’t have a choice.
If Jay hadn’t been there, she wouldn’t have agreed to this bullshit night out. She knew this was her dad’s fucked up way of getting her out on a date with Jefferson. He’d even brought up the ranch as a warning.
“Night out, my ass.” She yanked on the shower faucet and stepped into the hot spray. She poured shampoo into her hands, roughly running them over her scalp as if she could scrub the last few minutes out of her memory.
Before he’d barged in, Jay had nearly kissed her, and unlike that morning, this time wouldn’t have been an accident. She’d become so entranced in Jay’s hot, demanding gaze that she almost hadn’t heard her father and Jefferson approaching. She had watched Jay closely as Jay’s eyes followed Jefferson’s every move. She hadn’t missed the tightness in her jaw when Jefferson had subtly but deliberately touched her. When she’d finally agreed to hanging out with Jefferson, Jay’s entire demeanor had changed. Where her body had once vibrated with restrained emotion begging to be released, she had become stiff, detached, her face a mask of indifference.
With towel in hand, she stepped from the shower and stormed into her closet, pulling out a pair of tailored gray slacks and a green silk blouse. She planned to get this night over with quickly, and maybe if she had a little extra time, go for a drink to forget the entire day, everything except for the kiss she and Jay had shared.
With only minutes left before Jefferson was due to arrive, she picked up the phone, needing desperately to talk with Angel. She’d hoped Angel could give her a bit of advice, but after giving Angel the short version of what happened, the advice Angel gave her was not the kind Coal had in mind.
“I can’t believe you’re going through with this. You do realize this is a date, right?”
“I refuse to think of it that way. Let’s just say it’s another family obligation and leave it at that.”
Angel made a gagging sound. “I hope you’re not buying that crap you’re dishing out. Because if it was me, I would have told your father to shove it years ago.”
“You make it sound so easy. And you know that’s not an option right now.” This wasn’t the conversation that she had planned. She needed a little sympathy, yet this was Angel she was talking to.
“Ah, right. The Davis name. How could I forget? The same name you’ve been running from for your entire life. Hello! What is with you?”
“You know what. I’m going to go.”
“Wait!”
“What?” Coal sighed, putting her hand over her face. As if that would stop the tears.
“Honey, look. I’m sorry. But can’t you see it kills me to see you having to put up with all this shit? You know I love you. But I’m also the one person you turn to when no one else will tell you the truth no matter how painful it is to hear. You can’t keep choosing to put your life on hold to make other people happy. You need to take the reins and live!”
“You’re right.”
“Say that again? I want to record it for next time.”
“Bite me,” Coal said with a small smile. Angel could always find a way to make her feel better no matter how fucked up the situation.
“That’s the Coal I know. Tell you what. After you dump Jefferson, why don’t you come by Spice? We’ll have a drink and you can tell me all about how horrible the night out was.”
“Maybe. I’ll call you when I get back.”
“Awesome. I’m here if you need me. Bye, babe.”
Coal hit end on her phone and reached for a Kleenex to wipe her damp face. With ten minutes left to get ready, she ran a brush through her hair and applied a small amount of eyeliner and mascara hoping to cover the dark circles under her eyes. She stared at the woman in the mirror, not happy with the person she saw staring back.
You need to take the reins and live.
&nbs
p; Angel’s words echoed loudly in the empty house. If she had more guts, she would have spoken up to her father. She would have kissed Jay like she had wanted too. And she wouldn’t be showing anyone the town tonight.
Taking one more look in the mirror as the doorbell rang, she took a deep breath and grabbed her purse. This was going to be her last family favor. After tonight, she wouldn’t only take those reins; she planned to own them.
Chapter Eleven
Coal shouldered her way through the packed room trying to make her way to the fifteen-foot section of bar that was adjacent to the postage stamp-sized dance floor. The heavy beat vibrated throughout the crammed room, but even that couldn’t compete with the booming voices she had to shout over to order a drink. She had to get away from the crowds. Find a quieter place to sit and gather her thoughts.
She’d called Angel about an hour earlier, telling her about her disastrous evening with Jefferson. Well, at least she thought it ranked high on her shit-o-meter anyway. Since seeing the sights was what she had agreed to, she’d planned to show him around San Francisco’s famous Fisherman’s Wharf. From there, a short stroll would also give them the opportunity to check out Pier 39, and if the evening had to drag out longer, they could possibly take a short drive to visit the Golden Gate Bridge. But as they entered the city, it became apparent that plans had already been put into motion and that her meddling father had made all the arrangements, right down to dessert.
Jefferson had suggested a trendy French restaurant where, coincidentally, her father visited with many of his high-powered associates on a weekly basis. She sat quietly, listening to him talk about everything ranging from his job to his career plans, politely nodding when she felt it necessary. She barely touched the scallops Provencal he had taken the liberty to order for her, and by the time the crème brulee had arrived, she began complaining of a headache and had asked him to take her home.
Once she’d set foot into her quiet house, loneliness had all but consumed her. When she began to feel claustrophobic, she’d grabbed her keys and hoped Angel hadn’t found someone to go home with before she’d reached the bar. With drink in hand, she finally spotted her standing near the entrance to the restrooms talking with one of the butches, who was eyeing Angel as a child would an all-day sucker. Angel was apparently amused by whatever the woman in the motorcycle boots and remarkable arm tattoos had to say because when she tilted her head back and laughed, Coal caught sight of Jay leaning against the back wall engaged in what appeared to be an even more intimate type of conversation.
Maybe it was the second vodka cranberry or the fact that she had been off-kilter all night that made her world seem as though it was spiraling out of control. She wasn’t sure. But seeing Jay with Shiloh draped against her made her throat constrict with every breath and the feelings of loneliness to return more powerfully than ever.
Jay’s head was resting against the wall, and her eyes were closed while Shiloh whispered something into her ear. A smile creased Jay’s handsome face, and Coal’s heart faltered. She knew that sexy grin well. But this time, it wasn’t meant for her. Roommate, yeah, whatever!
Paralyzed to move, all she could do was stare at Shiloh’s hand where it rested on Jay’s midriff. When Jay’s eyes searched the dance floor, Coal wished she were somewhere else. What struck her as strange was why Jay appeared to be unresponsive to Shiloh’s attentions. Jay’s gaze was flat, bordering on uninterested. She knew this because only hours before, she’d witnessed Jay’s desire. Recalled how Jay’s arousal had sparked a need in her so intense that she had nearly succumbed in her arms. Back then, she had been the cause of that need. They’d almost kissed. Had nearly been given the chance to become completely lost in each other. Yet nothing had happened between them because her father once again intruded upon her life. Now Jay was in the arms of another woman. Someone else was touching her. And she refused to sit there any longer and pretend as if it didn’t matter.
A k.d. lang song poured from the speakers, and Coal watched helplessly as Jay led Shiloh out onto the dance floor. When k.d. started singing about constant craving and Jay opened her arms to admit Shiloh, Coal shot to her feet sending her stool crashing to the floor. She swayed and grabbed the table for support, cursing under her breath as the alcohol rendered her lower limbs useless. But dizziness be damned, she needed out of that bar, and the front door was ten feet away.
“Whoa, there,” Angel said. She grabbed Coal’s arm to steady her. “Where are you going?”
“Home. I’m exhausted.”
“Not in your condition, you’re not. And what’s the rush?” Angel followed Coal’s gaze with her own and tightened her grip. “Never mind. Let’s dance.”
“Let go of me,” Coal whispered, but Angel ignored her and yanked her toward the dance floor.
“Shut up and talk with me for a minute. You’re in no condition to drive. Besides, I saw who you were looking at, and I’m saving you from yourself.”
“You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“That tune’s about as old as the one that’s playing.” Angel gripped Coal tighter around the waist. “Now calm down and tell me what the hell is going on between the two of you.”
“Nothing…obviously,” Coal said through a jaw so tight her teeth ached.
“Do you know who that is with her?”
“Her roommate, supposedly.”
God, why couldn’t Angel have just let her leave? Seeing Jay in that woman’s arms was slowly killing her. She focused on Jay’s hands, remembering how they had caressed her back in long strokes. She knew what those hands were capable of. They held the power to create new from old. To thrill and excite. To comfort and protect. Now they were wrapped around someone else and she was seconds from going postal.
She wanted to be held like Jay was holding Shiloh. The last time she’d been held in a similar fashion, she’d been dancing with Taylor. Life with Taylor had been all about lust and sex and the excitement of her first time being with a woman. Taylor had been wild and reckless and passionate. She’d loved making love with Taylor, but this time was so very different. She didn’t have this incessant craving that clawed at her to be released like she did when she was anywhere near Jay. And whereas Taylor’s arrogant attitude had been a turn off most times, she loved Jay’s shit-eating grin and youthful exuberance when she talked about things she loved. Even though Jay’s stubbornness and pride angered her sometimes, she also had to admire those traits. If Coal possessed the ability to be a little more like Jay, maybe then she would be sure of her own actions and decisions and finally have the guts to stand up to her family.
“Roommates, interesting,” Angel said. “They look to me to be more than that. And you know, now that I’ve seen her for the second time, she looks vaguely familiar.”
“Funny, your dad said the same thing.”
“Like I said, interesting. He never notices anyone. So what’s the roommate’s story?”
“No idea. I know her name is Shiloh, and supposedly they’re not an item. The rest is a mystery.”
“So what’s the problem then?”
“No problem because it’s none of my fucking business,” Coal said in frustration, drawing a few curious stares.
“Oh, well, that was convincing. And even if I believed you, which I don’t, you might be interested to know that she’s spotted you. And by the way she’s glaring at me, I think she wants it to be.”
*
Jay had spent most of the evening clinging to Shiloh, afraid that if she’d let go she’d drown in her own pity pool. The evening had started out with the intention of drinking Coal’s memory away. She’d hoped to find some companionship, anyone to help take her mind off Coal and her date. But the more time she’d spent staring at the unfamiliar faces of the needy and intoxicated, the more the idea of sex with a stranger didn’t appeal to her. All she wanted was for the suffering to end. She hoped that the images of Jefferson touching Coal would vanish. But not even being in the comforting ar
ms of her friend could help her forget.
“You’ve been awful quiet tonight, darlin’,” Shiloh said.
Jay spun them toward the center of the packed floor. “I know. Sorry. I told you I wouldn’t be good company tonight.”
“I remember. But you’re being unusually needy. Want to tell me who you wish you were dancing with?”
Jay pulled away and stared at her. “That’s a weird question. And I’m dancing with you.”
“Physically, that’s true, but I know you. You’re holding me, but another woman’s troubling that mind of yours. Tell me I’m wrong.”
Man, why did Shiloh have to pick this moment to play shrink? Shiloh had always been perceptive, but Jay wasn’t there to remember. She wanted to forget. Forget that Coal was somewhere right now with that smug pretty boy probably sitting under a blanket of stars. That he would pull her close. Lean forward in an effort to kiss her…
“Jay?”
“Hmm? I’m sorry, Shi. What did you say?” Jay sighed, laying her head back on Shiloh’s shoulder.
“Don’t worry, darlin’. You already answered my question.”
Thankful that Shiloh had stopped with the inquisition, she closed her eyes and recalled the kiss she had shared with Coal that morning. No one’s lips compared to Coal’s. They’d been soft, welcoming, hungry. Then there was her scent of hay warming in the sunshine. From the moment they’d met, that scent had the power to ignite all her senses. Today, when they’d almost kissed for the second time, she’d felt a feeling of belonging that she’d never experienced before. Then Jefferson presented a barrier between them, and the tenuous tie that had bound them snapped and she’d felt completely adrift once more.
When the memories became too painful to bear, she opened her eyes and released Shiloh, intent on calling it a night, when she spotted Coal dancing in the arms of a familiar redhead. At first she thought she was hallucinating, that is until Coal’s gaze locked on her own. And she looked pissed.