“I can’t eat ever again,” said Deliah.
Gabe swung his head around. The wild look in his eyes startled me. He slid Brianna into my hip and pushed us off the seat.
“Gabe, what’s wrong with you?” I helped my sister down so he wouldn’t trample her.
“I heard something,” he said hastily as he slid out and caught my eye.
I reached for his arm, but he bolted for the front door. The bell chimed, and he was gone.
“Somebody forgot to fill their prescription,” Caleb said.
Brianna crawled back onto the bench to look out the window. “It’s a race!” she said excitedly.
A rumbling, brutish growl filled the diner. Then a black car whizzed by like a bullet. Ten seconds later it was followed by a police car with full distress sirens and lights. Gabe sprinted to the road and waved his HalRem cap as if he were trying to get someone to stop. Caleb stretched a long arm past Deliah and knocked on the window.
Gabe jogged to the window while I sat my sister on my lap. “Why do you care about that idiot driver?” I asked through the glass.
He ran his hand under his hat while he watched the infinite road with concentration. Out of the side of his satisfied grin he said loudly, “Because Av’ry—that idiot’s driving my car.”
Seven
“It’s a cowboy,” Brianna said after the black Mustang GT veered into the parking lot and Judson got out. He fixed his hat on his head and stretched his arms out behind him. He and Gabe slapped each other’s backs and shook hands. Gabe led him into the diner after they exchanged some words. They walked up to the table, and Gabe dangled the car keys in my face and grinned like a little boy.
“Looks like y’all pulled babysitting duty,” said Judson.
“Oh wow,” I told him as I got a look at him up close. “You look so much like Joel now.”
He ran his hand slowly through his new haircut. The ponytail was gone.
“You lose a bet and have to cut it off?” Caleb asked Judson with a mouthful of scrambled eggs.
“In fact no, smartass. I wanted to look sharp like you.”
“I hope you covered your tracks,” Deliah told him. “You’re a wanted man around here.”
“Howdy,” he said to his daughter. “Nice to see you too. Tessa sends her hugs.”
“What happened to the cops?” I asked.
“There’s an accident up ahead. They weren’t after him,” Gabe replied as he sat down beside Brianna. He leaned into the aisle when he realized she was pouring copious amounts of syrup all over her pancakes.
Judson stole a chair from the table behind him and sat at the end of our booth. “I brought you your wild horse, cowboy. The least you could do was save me a piece of bacon.”
“Back in black,” said Caleb.
Erika showed up with two more plates and set them down for Gabe and me. Gabe pushed his meal in front of Judson.
“The police are looking for you,” Deliah told Judson as she picked at her cold oatmeal. “You must have done something bad.”
He glanced around the diner in a phony suspicious manner. “Now let’s not make a mountain out of a molehill,” he said in his familial Texas drawl. “Depends on your definition of bad.”
“Do you know about the skull in Gabe’s field? Is that why you didn’t come back?” she asked.
“I know as much as you do, missy.”
“How did you know we were here?” I asked.
“Couldn’t miss the silver Raptor and the brodozer snuggling out front. Lucky break I was driving by.”
Deliah persisted, “Are you here to talk to the police?”
“The vultures have a tendency to come find me.”
Erika returned with a repeat order for Gabe and examined Judson’s face. She inclined Gabe and brushed her arm against his shoulder. “Is this your dad?”
Gabe sat up tall and nodded at Judson. They couldn’t look any more alike. “Yep.”
“She’s Erika Ingarson. Little Travis’s sister,” Caleb introduced.
Judson froze for a noticeable beat. “Nice to meet ya. I could use a tall black coffee, if it’s no trouble.”
“Coming right up.”
“She’s got the hots for you,” he told Gabe as he watched her stop two tables down to pick up a dirty plate.
Gabe wiped his hands on his jeans. The color of his cheeks darkened.
“I’m kidding, boy. Lighten up.” Judson winked at me as if he thought I approved of his joke.
“I hear she’s got a loser husband,” Caleb shared.
“Avy got a J-E-P-P,” Brianna misspelled to Judson while he dug into Gabe’s breakfast. “It’s a gravitation present. Daddy made it go fast.”
“Nowhere near as fast as my wheels,” Gabe told her as he snuck a glance at me.
I was giving him prickly vibes. I was irritated that Erika knew about the Haldens’ paternity mess.
“Why are you back now?” Deliah asked.
“I got kicked off a yacht.”
“You missed Meggie and Joel’s wedding,” she told him.
Judson held up his fork. “Guess he passed on his chance to trade in Miss Meggie for two twenty-year-olds.”
Caleb snorted and finished off his eggs.
“They kissed each other’s faces,” Brianna said and giggled. “Then fireworks happened.”
“Oh I bet there were fireworks all night long,” Judson said. “My brother’s all about showing off.”
* * *
“You know what this means?” Gabe said as he gave Caleb and Judson a head start so he could spin the tires and charge out of the diner like a maniac.
“We die young,” I muttered into the rumble.
I secretly begged Caleb to drive my sister and Deliah back to the farmhouse so I could keep an eye on Gabe and his driving. Gabe didn’t even bat an eyelash when he handed over his truck keys to Judson. He opened the car windows and pealed out of the lot, creating a puff of dust. He thought he was a racecar driver, charging down the road, passing everything in his way.
Before our last turn he pulled over and cut the engine. The black interior heated up, and the smell of a strange perfume filled the car.
“Why did you stop?”
He kept one hand on the wheel. He ran his other fingers over the ceiling that was upholstered with the Texas flag I shot holes in at his family cabin last fall. “You’re mad at me. It’s the only time you’re ever quiet.”
I bit my lips. They tasted like bacon.
He lowered his hand to the shifter.
“I’m not mad. I’m confused.”
“About what? I didn’t know Jud was coming back,” he said. He wiggled the shifter, but he didn’t look over.
“Let’s go home. I need a shower. It feels like I’ve been in this dress for days.”
Gabe leaned over the console and stuck his face in mine. “Look at me,” he said. “I can read your mind, Av’ry. I wasn’t born yesterday. You’re making up crazy stories about Erika Ingarson, a girl I’ve known since I came here for summer break. She’s married, she’s not anything to me like you think she is—and I like her as a friend only. Okay? Don’t listen to Judson.”
“Okay,” I agreed, but I didn’t like it.
* * *
“I need to check on Travis at the lodge,” Gabe said after he parked the Mustang in front of the cabin. It was good to be home. I didn’t think we were going to make it alive.
“I’ll be in the shower.”
“Can I watch? Travis can wait,” he said and grabbed the skirt of my dress.
I held out my hand and pointed down the hill. “Play nice with him.”
I let myself in the cabin and leaned on the couch to pull off my boots. I needed to brush my teeth and shower, but the thought of falling into the bed for a short nap was a better idea. The bedroom door was closed. The cabin reeked of the same smell that stunk up Gabe’s car. For a moment, I thought maybe he was up to something. Then I remembered I left the window open. The door must have sla
mmed in the wind.
The shade was down, so I turned on the light. My heart made one deathly pound in my throat and stopped. There was a naked woman lying on her stomach in the center of my quilt. She started to roll over, and I fled the cabin in my bare feet. I didn’t know if she was awake or drugged. I didn’t want to find out. I marched down the dirt path to the lodge. My mind raced in step with my feet. Something awful was boiling in my chest.
“Gabe! Can I have a word with you?” I shouted when I reached the lodge.
He came around the side of the building with an ax in his hand and a wooden beam over his shoulder. He dropped the post. His shirt was already soaked from perspiration. There was a dark grease stain across his chest.
“Long time, no see,” he said as sweat dripped down his face.
“Is there something you want to tell me?”
He tilted his head and set his hands on his waist. “No.”
“Really? Are you expecting company?”
“No.”
“There’s a naked lady in our bed!”
Travis stepped out of the front door. He had a T-shirt wrapped around his head. Gabe and I both stared at him.
“She’s not mine,” he said as he raised his hands in the air.
“Who is she?” I demanded.
“Are you sure you saw a naked woman? Lemme go check,” Gabe said as he dropped the ax and wiped his hands on his sides.
“You’re not going to look at her. She’s buck naked.”
“Well, it’s dang hot out.”
I balled my fists in frustration. “Gabe!”
“Can you describe her?”
“No, I can’t describe her,” I said hotly. “She’s naked.”
The corner of his mouth turned up. “What color is her hair?”
“Red.”
“Well, then I need to see her,” he repeated. “Is she a natural red or dyed red?”
“Gabe, come on!”
He couldn’t hide his amusement. “I don’t believe you. I need to see with my own eyes. I need my glasses.”
I was utterly disgusted with his teasing and lack of seriousness. “What are we going to do?”
“Call the police. They’ll let me see her.”
“Go ahead, but she’ll be the last woman you ever see,” I told him.
“Av’ry, what do you want me to do? Blindfold myself and ask her who she is? I have to go up there to see if she’s real.” He picked up a bottle of water and drank from it before dousing his face and hair.
I stomped my foot and gritted my teeth. I wasn’t going to stand in the sweltering heat and argue about a naked lady whom I didn’t imagine. I took off for the lake.
“What about the naked lady?” Gabe yelled.
Laughter stuck in the humid air and made me run faster. The tall grass tickled my legs. I tried not to trip as I picked up my pace. A path through the weeds led directly to the water. I sat down, stuck my toes in the lake, and wrapped my dress around my legs. There was no dock or structure to sit on other than some old posts. I allowed the serene buzzing sounds of summer insects to lull me as I stared out into the rustic scenery. Gradually, my reflection rocked back and forth in the warm water and made me dizzy. Then Gabe stepped into the image.
“Now that you’ve mentioned it—Jud mighta said something about bringing a friend by. I got distracted with my car and this heat and all. I forgot to tell you.”
“Get the stripper out of my bed or I’m going to stay at Lane’s with Caleb,” I said into my hands. “And burn all of the covers.”
“All right, all right.” I could still hear the humor in his voice, and it made me want to splash him.
“I’m dead serious about going to Lane’s.”
A cowboy boot cartwheeled across the rocks, and then the second one landed beside it. He shot his phone and paperback book at the boots.
I reached into the lake and shoveled a handful of water at him. As I started to stand, he snatched my legs and scooped me into his arms.
“No you don’t!”
Three seconds later I was airborne and smacking the water. He walked toward me fully dressed until the water line hit the hem of his shirt. I gave him no reaction as I shook off my arms, spit out a mouthful of water, and then ran my hands over my face. He was hoping I would scream or fight. I just stood there and hid my frustration as my dress floated to the surface.
He pulled his undershirt over his head and shot it past his shoulder. Then he unfastened his belt buckle and yanked it out of the loops. When he was done, he glanced up to catch me watching. Thankfully, he couldn’t see my heart pounding.
“So we’re not speaking now,” he stated smugly.
I had nothing he wanted to hear. I ran my fingers through my wet hair.
“I know you don’t fancy being teased,” he continued.
“She touched your arm,” I said. I heard everything around me stop. Right away I wished I could take it back.
Gabe’s expression warped into something I didn’t recognize. He waded closer to me and set his hands on the surface of the water.
“You freakin’ kissed my brother—I don’t know how many goddamn times,” he spit.
I covered my eyes. He didn’t need to know what happened with Lane.
“And you made it clear how you felt. You don’t know how I feel, and I don’t think you care.”
“You’re jealous,” he said.
I sucked in a breath and dropped my hands into the water. “I don’t want girls touching you. That doesn’t make me jealous.”
“Then what should we call it?” He stepped closer until his flawless midsection was submerged. “I’m not going anywhere. You shouldn’t feel threatened.”
“Why do you like her?”
“Jeez, Av’ry. I’m damned if I answer. Damned if I don’t. She was there for me. She was one of the only people I could—” He paused and looked up. “She let me cry.”
“I don’t understand.”
“When Eli was killed, she found me and helped me. I couldn’t cope. Hunt Barrett was getting away with murder.”
I made a face that told him I didn’t believe that was everything.
“Every time you get like this, you don’t know when to stop,” he said.
Tears bubbled in my throat. I didn’t know why I was being insensitive. “I want us to be honest.”
“No, you want us to be complicated.”
My bottom lip quivered, but I was confident he didn’t see it.
“You know I suck at figuring out what’s going on in your head,” he continued.
“If I hold back what’s going on—it’s because you get mad and freak out and beat on people. You have to promise not to do that.”
He grunted. “Oh brother, I’ve heard this before. I don’t think I wanna know.”
I took a deep breath until my lungs hurt. Then I blew it out hard. “It was Lane this time.”
“I really don’t wanna hear it.” He splashed me with both hands and vanished under the water. When he emerged, it was like watching a men’s cologne commercial. He flipped his wet hair back and shook off his head in slow motion. His body glistened with beads of water. “Can the confession session be over?”
In the grass, I sat cross-legged and attempted to dry off my dress. Gabe stretched out his long legs and fixed his hands behind his neck.
“There’s one more thing,” I said.
“No, there isn’t,” he said sharply. “I’ve reached my limit.”
“I wanted you to follow me,” I said anyway.
Gabe rolled to his side and set his hand on my leg. He tried to get me to unfold, but I fought him, and it turned into a battle of wills with me on my knees and him trying to flip me over. When he retracted his hand, I gave in and fell back. I set my head beside his and fanned my arms and legs over the grass.
“Dang it,” he said in that adorable way he said things that never let me forget he was from Texas.
I inquired with tight eyes.
He rolled
onto me and trapped my hands in the grass. He released his weight on my torso and sighed. The sly twinkle in his eye made me bite back my smile.
“Why do guys try to make girls uncomfortable?”
“I think it’s the other way around, Av’ry. You’re the one lying in the grass in a wet dress posing as a sex angel.”
I snorted. I hadn’t heard that line before. “I don’t make you uncomfortable,” I told him as I deliberately wiggled underneath him.
Gabe’s hair dripped in my eyes. I lifted my head off the ground to reach his lips, but he pushed himself up and away with one arm.
“You have no idea what it’s like to be a guy and to be tortured by you.”
I licked my lips and held his gaze. He had his hand between us unzipping his fly.
“What if Travis sees us?”
“He won’t come looking. He’s afraid of me,” he said confidently. “We could always go back to the cabin.”
I closed my eyes tight and shook my head. He was incorrigible.
* * *
I pulled into Lane’s driveway the following morning and parked my new Jeep behind Caleb’s pickup truck. He was parked in the garage beside the abandoned motorcycle. Caleb was sitting on the front step eating from a can of baked beans. He whistled as I twirled my keys on the cowboy boot keychain Gabe left for me on the kitchen table.
“Legs, you’re lookin’ more and more Texas grown with every passing day,” he said as he observed my boots and my new sundress. I gladly accepted the dresses from my mother after Gabe commented on how I ticked all his boxes when I wore a dress with boots. I was pretty sure he loved me in boots no matter what I paired them with.
“What are you doing out here? It’s a hundred degrees,” I said as I stood above him feeling the sun bake my scalp.
“Lane’s air conditioning died. It’s no better inside.” He leaned back on his elbows. “Valerie’s been trying your phone.”
“What happened now?”
“Mona Deliah fled the dang coop. Walked out the front door with a sack on her back.”
“Why is she running away?”
“You’re asking me why that crackerjack does what she does?”
I pulled my phone out of my bag and found I had three missed calls. “What does my mother want me to do?”
The Luxury of Being Stubborn (The Stubborn Series Book 4) Page 15