☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼
This time, when Crit left my house, he did it with such loving tenderness, I felt like my heart would break as I watched his truck back out of my driveway.
I could still feel his caress on my skin, his lips on mine, his throbbing masterpiece still moving inside of my body. With a promise to return as soon as he could and a last, lingering kiss, he had disappeared, once again leaving me alone and able to think about nothing but him.
Crit Hope was without a doubt the man of my dreams. I didn’t care if he lost the farm, if he was homeless and moved in with my dad and me, I didn’t care where we ended up, as long as we ended up together, as long as I got to fall asleep in his arms every night for the rest of my life, I would be happy.
He was all I needed.
My father stirred as I closed the front door, and I stared at him, lost in his usual drunken stupor, sleeping away what was left of his life in an effort to make it all go faster.
I couldn’t understand it. I wanted nothing more than to find a way to slow everything down so I could cherish every moment of my future with Crit. I sighed, and padded back down the hall to my room.
My phone was ringing when I entered my room. I picked it up and saw that it was Lincoln. I hadn’t talked to him since I watched him be led away to his hotel room, and I had no interest in talking to him now, let alone seeing him again.
I picked up on the third ring, as soon as the protective side of me kicked in.
“Lincoln, hello,” I answered.
“Hi, Ruby,” his voice was low, and he sounded a little tired. “Thanks for getting me back to the hotel last night.”
“It was no problem. I trust you made it to your room okay?” I asked.
“I did. Did you take a taxi home?”
“Yes.”
“I’m sorry about that. I feel like an ass. Why don’t you let me make it up to you? I’ve got some business back in New York for a few days, why don’t you come with me? We’ll leave tomorrow. I’ll get you a room at the Waldorf, and I can assure you it’s nothing like the dump in Houston.”
“The Four Seasons is hardly a dump,” I replied.
“Whatever. Come to New York with me. I’ll show you a great time, I promise. You said you’ve never been,” he said.
“Actually, Lincoln, I’m sorry, but I think it’s best we don’t see each other again.” I was turning down a free trip to New York with the richest man I had ever met and the part of me that had been poor all my life was kicking the other half. I kept Crit’s face front and center in my mind, and listened to the icy coldness that crept into Lincoln’s voice.
“Is that so? Your cowboy got to you, did he?”
“Crit is not my cowboy, Lincoln. He has nothing to do with it,” I lied. “I just don’t think we’re a good fit. Thank you for everything, though. That trip to Dallas was really fun.”
“Are you seriously turning me down? Do you have any idea who I am?”
“I think I’m beginning to, yes,” I said, rolling my eyes. I was so tempted to tell him to leave the Hopes alone. It was obvious he had so much money he was only causing trouble because he was an asshole. The steely nastiness that I heard next only proved it.
“You have no idea. This whole fucking town doesn’t know who they’re fucking with!” He was yelling into the phone now. “I’m going to destroy Crit Hope and that fucking farm of his.”
“Why, Lincoln?” I asked, unable to hold my tongue any longer. “What’s in it for you to do this to someone you hardly know?”
“Sometimes, you just need to put people in their place. And Crit Hope is one of those guys that needs to learn who to respect.”
“So, because you have more money, he needs to respect you?” My heart was racing, and I realized just how screwed up this guy was. “What about you respecting him?”
“He would be wise to respect me because I own his land now. He’s got nothing without me.”
“But that wasn’t his doing. His father died before —,”
“—tough shit!” he roared. “You have to be prepared at all times. If he was any kind of responsible businessman, he’d have been on top of this long ago. Way before my uncle died.”
“I can guarantee you that Crit is the most responsible person I know. If he had known —,”
“—and whose fault is that? Mine? Fuck no! Fuck that hillbilly buffoon!”
“Lincoln, please —,”
“—no! You’re going to choose him over me, Ruby? Not that I give a shit, because I eat girls like you for breakfast. But you have no idea what you’re giving up. A girl like you will never have an opportunity like this again. You’re going to live to regret this.”
“You know what, Lincoln? What I regret is ever speaking to you in the first place. You may have money, but you are sorely lacking in integrity and manners!” I was livid now. How dare he insult me like that. He had no idea what I went through, how hard my life was, or even what kind of ‘opportunities’ that may come my way. He was nothing but an arrogant prick.
“Do me a favor, Ruby,” his voice lowered to a menacing sneer. “When you’re living in a shack out in the woods, and your precious cowboy is impregnating you with his penniless heir with his poor man’s sperm, think of me, will you?”
“Kiss my ass, Lincoln!” I hung up the phone with shaking hands. What a disgusting piece of shit, I thought, as I threw the phone on my bed. How could I have ever gotten in a car with him? Was I that fucking gullible to not see through his act? Was I that blindly distracted by shiny things?
I picked up my phone and dialed Georgia’s number. It was time for Ruby Rae Rust to take the bull by the horns.
☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼
Dixie was a wild cat in the sack. She was an entirely different person away from her rich, socialite friends and once she let her hair down, she became much more likeable.
I had been nervous wreck when she arrived. Eva had left hours ago, insisting she didn’t want to wear me out before the client arrived.
When the knock on the door came, I was rock-hard because I couldn’t stop thinking about fucking Eva. But, after one last reminder to myself that this was business, and wanting to make Eva happy, since she seemed to be so invested in our new business venture, I put on my best smile and showed Dixie a good time.
A very good time, according to the way she was had been writhing and squirming on my cock for the last several hours.
I thrust into her, over and over, my strokes long, firm and intentionally slower than she probably wanted, drawing out her pleasure as long as I possibly could, watching for the tell-tale flush of her cheeks, and then speeding up, pounding into her harder and harder until the loud moans turned to frantic gasps.
When the look of blissful ecstasy washed across her face, silencing her moans into a stillness that took complete hold of her, rendering her motionless, freezing her in its gripping pleasure, I pushed into her faster, harder, until she broke her silence, crying out again, cursing me and praising me all at the same time, as she clenched around me. Afterwards, she melted below me with submissive acceptance, her hips offered up in a wanton offering as I hammered into her until my heat exploded inside of her, burying myself deeply in her warmth, her softness quivering around me, until I was spent.
Gently, I pulled away, pulling off the condom and discretely depositing in the trash before joining her on the bed and pulling her into my arms. Eva had insisted I cuddle each and every client, no matter what, informing me that it was just as important as the orgasm. I disagreed, but I was a sex-addicted man, so what did I know?
Dixie was sure enjoying it. The smile spread across her face made me feel as if I had at least done something right. Eva will be proud, I thought to myself.
***
The next morning, hours after Dixie had left, I was on my way to breakfast. While I was waiting for the elevator, I ran over my conversation with Eva in my mind. I had told Eva all about my date, and she told me she had already booked three m
ore. I had a feeling I was going to be spending a lot of time in this hotel.
A door to one of the other hotel suites opened and I turned my head when I heard a man’s voice yelling.
“Get the fuck out, you whore!” The man from the restaurant earlier, the man with the bruises and busted lip, was pushing a beautiful woman out of his door. “You weren’t worth the money I spent! Tell Mario I want a fucking refund, and to send me a woman with some class next time! For fuck’s sake!” he roared.
The woman he was yelling at was dressed in a black sequined dress, tall black heels and her blonde hair danced in wild curls around her face. She took off a shoe, throwing it at the man, hitting him in the shoulder.
“Fuck you, you abusive prick!” she yelled at him, her voice dripping with a thick, southern drawl. His eyes narrowed in anger and he took a menacing step towards her, his hand raised high over his head in a fist.
“Hey!” I yelled. He froze. His gaze traveled down the hall, and I felt his eyes rake over my tall frame, sizing me up before he turned and retreated back into his room.
“Fucking cheap whore!” he seethed, before slamming the door. The sound of the lock sliding into place followed, and the woman ran over to the door, picked up her shoe, slid it back on and walked over to me. I was still standing in front of the elevator, and it opened just as she joined me.
“After you, ma’am,” I said, tipping my hat. What a piece of shit that guy was, I thought. The woman lifted her chin, walked into the elevator, and I followed. Awkward silence filled the air after the doors slid shut, until I couldn’t stand it any longer.
“Are you okay, ma’am?” I asked. “Is there anything I can help you with?”
She looked over at me, smiling through the tears that had formed in her eyes.
“I’m okay, thank you,” she replied. She turned away, lifting her chin higher, and I stopped myself from pressing. I knew that look in her eyes. It said, no, I’m not alright, but I’m really good at pretending to be.
The elevator doors opened and I gestured for her to go first. She flashed a crooked smile at me once more, before walking out of the hotel doors.
I made a mental note to give that asshole a piece of my mind if I ever saw him again. People like that are what’s wrong with this world. Not only do they think they own the world, they think they own all the people in it, too.
If that’s what money turns a person into, maybe I didn’t want that much of it anyway.
☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼
“Did you hear anything from Hank Haggard?” Seth asked. Seth, Jesse and I were sitting around the dining room table, drinking beer for lunch, and trying to figure out some solution to our problem. I had spent last night with Ruby on my mind, and trying to come up with some solution to this mess.
“Nope, not yet,” I replied.
“Do we have any savings at all?” Jesse asked.
“Nope. What savings we did have was used up repairing the barn and for the repairs at Evan’s bar,” I replied. Jesse hung his head, and I felt a pang of sadness wash over me. None of us had asked for this. To be left alone, so suddenly, drowning in a sea of debt that our parents had left. To be left without their constant guidance and support. It had hit Jesse the hardest, and I knew he felt terrible about setting those fires. He was just lashing out, and I understood.
I guess that’s what I was doing when I busted Lincoln LaCroix’s face. Lashing out.
But this wasn’t a time for anger. This wasn’t the time to be a goddamned hot head and let the pressure get the best of me. I needed to stay cool, calm, and collected, and find some way out of this mess.
I patted Jesse on the back reassuringly.
“That doesn’t matter, brother, don’t look so glum. We’re all dealing with this as best as we can. This isn’t the first problem to come up, and it won’t be the last. We’ll get through this. Together. Because that’s what the Hopes do.”
“We’re not together,” Seth said. “Mom and Dad are gone. Georgia’s all wrapped up with Beau. It’s just the three of us.”
“That may be so, Seth, but the three of us is better than nothing. We’ll figure it out,” I insisted. “Hope’s our very name. We can’t abandon it.”
“If you say so, Crit,” Seth said, sighing as he grabbed three fresh beers out of the fridge.
“We just have to think,” I said, as I opened the one he handed me. I took a big gulp off the bottle, and then another. “We can figure this out.”
“What would Dad do?” Jesse asked.
“We know what Dad did. Nothing. So we have to do something different,” I replied. “A thing like this requires being faced head-on.”
“Then that’s what we do,” Seth said.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“We go face this guy together. The three of us. Man to man.”
“I tried that,” I replied.
“Yeah, by yourself. And you ended up with your boots all tangled up with his fancy loafers on the barn floor.”
“He had it coming,” I replied.
“Did he?” Seth asked, his eyebrow raised. “You never did say what set you off.”
“It doesn’t matter. The guy is a snake, and I don't see him reasoning with us anytime soon.”
“Well, it’s worth another try. It’s all we’ve got, Crit,” Jesse said, his sad eyes imploring me.
“Fuck,” I replied, knowing he was completely right.
☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼
“I can’t believe it’s finally over,” I said to Danny. Danny and I had been doing community service now together for almost a year. He had stolen a car, taken it for a joyride and destroying the car in the process. He received a sentence of probation and a year of community service, just like me. We had done our best to stay close to each other the whole time, staying away from the rougher kids that seemed so much more comfortable with being in trouble with the law than we were.
The early afternoon Texas sun was beating down on us as we worked together.
“I know, man, it’s been a long ass year. At least this part is finished,” he said, as he picked up a piece of discarded trash off the ground. Most of our time had been spent cleaning trash out of Sugar Hill park, when we weren’t enduring insults from some random punk kid who was just one mistake away from being in our shoes.
“What are you going to do now? Just work on your family’s farm for the rest of your life?” he asked.
I groaned. As much remorse that I felt for what I had done, for all the damage I had done to our family and the farm, I still didn’t want to be tied to it. I wanted the freedom to live my life as I had seen it unfolding before my parents death. I had dreams of going to art school, becoming a portrait artist in New York, or London, or maybe even Australia. I had always wanted to visit another country, but with the problems we were having now, I knew there was no way that was going to be happening anytime soon.
I’d be a complete ass to ditch my family now.
“For a while, I guess,” I replied to Danny. He shook his head sadly, having listened to many stories about my family during our hours together.
“Look man, I know you feel bad,” he said, turning towards me. His brown eyes stared into mine purposefully. “But listen, Jesse. You need to cut yourself a break. Don’t stay around the farm too long. You don’t owe your life to that place. You don’t have to — holy shit!” he said under his breath, as his gaze traveled over my shoulder.
I turned to see what he was looking at, and my heart skipped a beat. The most beautiful girl I had ever seen was standing behind us, holding a dog leash. Her long dirty-blonde hair fell past her shoulders, framing her pretty face. Her sharp blue eyes looked into mine, and I felt a sharp stab in my gut.
“Excuse me?” she asked, holding up a dog’s leash. “Have you seen a black lab running around? I lost my dog.”
“Oh,” I replied. “No, I haven’t.” I couldn’t tear my eyes away from her, and time seemed to stop as we stood gazing at each other.
“Do I know you?” she asked, tilting her head curiously.
“I-I don’t think so,” I stammered. Danny hit me with his elbow, and I jumped.
“Oh. You look familiar,” she said, her smile lighting up her face. “Nevermind,” she shrugged, turning to walk away. Danny nudged me again, whispering under his breath this time.
“Dude, she likes you, go ask her out,” he said.
“Huh?” I asked. “She does?”
“Trust me, you idiot. Go ask for her number. Do it! Now!” he said, taking my garbage bag from me.
I wasn’t so certain. Why would a girl like her be interested in a guy like me? I was just some poor asshole picking up garbage in a park. Danny’s hand pushed me hard in her direction, and she looked over her shoulder at me.
“Hey,” I called. She stopped walking and turned to face me.
“Yes?” she asked.
“Want some help looking for your dog?” I asked.
“Yes, that would be wonderful! Thank you,” she said with a grateful smile. The stab in my gut returned, and I looked away, tearing my gaze from hers before I doubled in pain, or puked, whichever came first.
“What’s your dogs name?” I asked.
“Lucky,” she replied. “He slipped off his leash and ran into the trees, and I lost sight of him.”
“We’ll find him,” I said. She began calling his name as we began circling the park.
“What’s your name?” I asked. “I haven’t seen you around.”
“Hannah,” she said. “I’m just visiting my grandmother for the summer.”
“Oh, I see. I’m Jesse,” I said, holding out my hand. She took my hand and electric sparks ran along my arm. What the hell was going on? Was I really so inexperienced with girls that I turned into complete mush when a girl smiled at me? Or was it this girl? Her smile could have lit up the darkest room, and her eyes were so open and full of life, full of happiness and joy like I had never seen before.
ABANDON ALL HOPE: The Hope Brother Series (Book Two) Page 10