by CP Smith
I nodded. He’d been flogging himself for a year, and it was time for it to stop.
“You pick a song yet?” Maxine asked, squeezing into a chair next to Mia.
“I think we should do ‘All About That Bass’ by Meghan Trainor.”
I looked down at my body, then back up at Mia. “I’m not exactly built for that song.”
“Pfft, it doesn’t matter. You’ve got tits and ass enough for the song.”
The bar erupted in laughter and our whole table turned toward the door. A group of men ranging in size from big to huge walked in. Five in all. Two were very good-looking in that lumberjack sort of way, with dark hair and beards. And three needed dental work along with a good scrubbing behind the ears. They were wearing matching T-shirts with the name Juggernaut across the chest.
“Who are they?” I asked Mia.
She shrugged. “Beats me.”
“Oh, Lord,” Maxine gasped. “Juggernauts.”
“What’s a Juggernaut?” Mia asked.
“Asshole logging company two counties over. A couple of years back, Max kept having equipment break down and tools come up missing. He put up security cameras and caught the guy in the act. It was some flunky from Juggernaut. The man said he was instructed to make sure Max couldn’t meet his quota for the lumberyards so they could win the contract.”
I looked back at the men and then toward Max and Shane. Both were standing at attention, arms crossed over their chests, staring the Juggernauts down.
“Think Max and Shane will fight them?
“God, I hope so,” Maxine replied, distracted, as she dug in her purse. “Yes,” she hooted, pulling out her phone. “I thought I left my phone at home, now I’ll be able to record my boy when he beats the shit out those assholes.” Maxine was holding up her phone trying to swipe it open when she noticed we’d all gone quiet at her outburst. She paused her actions, and looked around the table, saying, “What? Can’t a mother dream?”
One of the men from the Juggernauts made his way toward the bar and Max. He stopped in front of Max, looking smugly at him from head to toe, mumbling something none of us could hear. Max didn’t respond; he stared blankly at the man as the other four Juggernauts surrounded their apparent leader.
“This doesn’t look good,” I whispered.
“Maybe we should do our song now. It’ll take attention off the tension in the room,” Mia said, standing.
I watched her approach the man who handled the karaoke machine, then point out the song we’d chosen. When she was done, she turned to the table and jerked her head toward the stage.
Joanne and Suzy got up immediately and I followed. I looked over my shoulder as I approached the stage at Shane and Max, and found them leaning against the bar, watching the Juggernauts. Once on the stage, Mia handed us the mics, told me what part I was supposed to sing, then we stood silently waiting for the music to begin.
I kept my gaze down until the music started, then I lifted them and looked out into the crowd. When my eyes landed on Shane, he saluted me with two fingers, and I rolled my eyes.
What was I thinking?
Mia started the song off. She had a great voice: deep and husky. She had no problem grabbing Max’s attention away from the Juggernauts as she wiggled across the stage, singing about not being a size two. The girls and I sang back up as she handled the song like a pro. Then she turned to me and I sang the chorus about bringing booty back. I’d no sooner finished my line than I saw Shane lunge and throw a punch, sending a Juggernaut to the floor.
The girls and I stopped singing and watched in shock as the other four Juggernauts lunged toward Shane and Max. The whole bar erupted then as other men jumped into the action, no doubt wanting to protect Max, the biggest employer in town.
“Should we do something?” I shouted at Mia.
“Like what?” she shouted back.
“Call Chester?”
“He’d join in,” she answered, then pushed me back as a man came flying onto the stage followed by Max.
“Are you having fun?” Mia asked.
Max drew back his fist, landed a punch to the guy’s gut then grinned at her. “Stay on the stage,” he ordered.
One of the other Juggernauts was trying to sneak up behind Max, and Mia shouted, “Behind you,” in time for him to turn and block a punch. Then he grabbed the guy by the shirt and launched him back five feet.
“Again,” Maxine shouted. I turned my head to find her standing on a chair filming Max.
Scanning the room for Shane, I found him with his arms locked around a Juggernaut’s neck in a chokehold. The man was trying to pry Shane’s arm from around his neck. When the logger stopped fighting, Shane let him go and watched him slump to the floor, shaking his head. When another man was shoved into Shane’s back, he turned, drew back his fist, but stopped mid-punch and smiled.
“They’re having fun,” I shouted at Mia as I watched the chaos.
“Of course they’re having fun,” Suzy answered. “Men are just boys with bigger dicks. When a bully comes into their playground, they’ll protect their own.”
“I wonder what started it?” Mia asked.
A bottle flew across the room, so we ducked before it shattered on the wall behind us. Unfortunately, we were showered with beer and glass.
I looked back at the wall then turned to Mia. “Shane threw the first punch.”
Ralph climbed on top of the bar finally and kicked a man off who’d fallen on the scarred wood. Then he raised a shotgun toward the ceiling and pulled the trigger. The shotgun blast caused everyone to jump back and turn toward him.
“If you aren’t a local, get the fuck out of my bar,” he shouted. When no one moved immediately, he pumped the shotgun, expelling the used shell, then loaded another and ordered, “Now!”
Everyone moved then, including the girls and myself. We jumped off the stage and headed toward Maxine, who was already watching the fight on her phone.
“You should have punched the big one harder, Maximilian.”
Max turned toward his mother and winked. Those two had the oddest love-hate relationship I’d ever seen between a mother and son. But there was one thing I was sure of, if any man ever messed with Maxine, Max would kill him.
Now I understood why Gregor kept his distance.
“Did you record the whole fight?” Mia asked.
“I missed the first punch on account of watchin’ you girls, but I was ready for it.”
Max walked over shaking his hand and wiggling his fingers. So Mia launched herself at her husband and rewarded him with a kiss.
I was still curious why Shane had thrown the first punch, so I turned my attention toward him and watched as he shook hands with a few locals. When he was done, he turned and headed in our direction. Butterflies fluttered in my stomach as he approached, so I brushed a length of hair away to give my hands something to do. When he was close enough, I moved toward him with deliberate slowness to hide my nerves. When he stopped in front of me and looked down, I grabbed his right hand and examined the cuts and bruises forming.
“You should ice that down,” I told him.
“I’ll be fine.”
“But it’s starting to swell.”
He curled his hand around mine and squeezed, so I looked up. His gunmetal-gray eyes were laughing at me.
“What’s so funny?”
“Your singing didn’t send the men running from the bar, it caused a fight.”
“It was that bad?” I gasped.
“It was that good.”
“Why did you punch that man?”
Shane didn’t hesitate to answer.
“He said he wondered if your red hair was natural.”
“You punched him because of that?”
“Nope. I punched him because he told his friends he’d find out after the show.”
“How was he gonna find out if my hair was naturally auburn?” I asked.
“By burying his head between your legs.”
I
blinked twice.
“Shane Sherman, were you defending my honor?”
“Yes, ma’am,” he grinned.
He was flirting with me, and my heart soared. Without thinking, I rose up on my toes and brushed my lips across his, whispering, “Thank you.”
Shane stiffened at the contact, and I held my breath. Then he reacted. Pulling me into his body, he bent me at the waist and kissed me thoroughly until my toes curled. When he released me, I stumbled back, raising my hand to my lips. Shane had a smug look on his face, and I blushed at my reaction. But I was feeling confident I was making headway, so I was about to launch myself at him again when he turned to Suzy and smugly said, “I’m not gay,” right before he turned and headed for the door.
“Wow,” Mia whispered beside me.
“I’d say you’re making progress,” Maxine remarked, grinning ear to ear.
I watched Shane as he pushed through the door and shook my head.
“No. He didn’t kiss me because he’s changed his mind. He kissed me to make a point to Suzy and Joanne.”
“Well, it proved one thing,” Suzy replied. “You can get a gay man to switch sides.”
I turned to Mia and raised my brows.
“See why I want you to move here?”
“I still say you’re making progress,” Maxine interrupted. “So stay your course and full steam ahead.”
“I leave in the morning for the rafting trip. I won’t be back for three days. Maybe a few days without me in his face will give him time to sort out his head.”
Maxine grinned slyly and nodded. “I’m thinking the next three days will probably be eye openin’ for both of you.”
Eight
Tormentor
Shane pulled into Little Big Horn and braced when he caught his first glimpse of Sage. He’d climbed the walls the night before after leaving Last Call. He shouldn’t have kissed her, shouldn’t have given in to temptation. The result left him restless half the night, pacing, staring out the window hoping to see her headlights in his drive. He’d slept in his chair to avoid his bed. He hadn’t changed the sheets yet, and they smelled like her. Smelled like sweat, passion—sex. It had taken all his self-control to keep from picking up his phone and calling her, and now he was spending the next three days in close quarters with the object of his desire.
It was going to be a long three days.
Christ, what was I thinking?
He knew what he’d been thinking and nothing had changed. He’d protect her with his life if need be because he owed Sloan that much. The fact he wanted her played no part in his decision. She was his responsibility to keep safe until her stalker was caught.
To keep her safe, emotionally and physically, he intended to navigate the river as ‘safety kayaker’ on the trip for both reasons. One, if Sage fell in, he could get to her quickly in a way he couldn’t if she was on his raft. And two, it would keep a distance between them during the day so he didn’t fuck up like he had last night, keeping her emotionally safe from him.
Throwing his truck in park, he climbed out to unload his kayak. He looked toward Sage to keep an eye on her. She was loading food into sixty-gallon coolers as Gregor assembled the rafters. When he lowered his tailgate to retrieve his kayak, she looked up and saw him. She paused, her eyes widened in surprise, and then she came unstuck and dropped the food.
He didn’t know what was running through her head after he kissed her the night before, so when she started toward him, he turned his back to prepare. He’d gotten his head straight by the time he left, but he had no idea if she was pissed because he was sending her mixed signals. She’d find out just how stubborn he could be if she asked him to leave. Her safety took precedence over everything else, including his need to be as far away from her as possible.
“Are you going on the trip?” Sage asked in a breathless voice. The sweet sound of it curled around him like a warm blanket.
He turned his head at her question but cast his gaze down to avoid hers. They pulled him under like a current and made him forget when he needed to focus.
“Yeah, I told you I was keepin’ you safe and I meant it.”
“I’m glad you’re here,” she replied again softly.
His eyes shot to hers of their own accord and he froze, drowning in their color. They were smiling in the morning light; the sun bouncing off the pale-green made them glow as they curved upwards.
He had to take a deep breath to fight the urge to fall under her spell.
Focus.
Nodding, he turned back to his kayak and pulled it from the back of his truck.
“You aren’t riding on the raft?” she asked as he laid the kayak on the ground.
“I’m following as the safety kayaker. That way, if anyone falls in, I can get to them quickly. I’ll be more maneuverable this way.”
Nodding she understood, Sage rushed forward and leaned into the back of his truck to grab his paddle, asking, “Is kayaking as fun as rafting?”
Shane didn’t answer immediately; he’d lost his train of thought when she bent at the waist, giving him a clear view of her heart-shaped ass. An ass he’d had in his hands and kissed with his own two lips.
“Better,” he finally replied between gritted teeth. Three days of that view was going to be the death of him.
When she turned and opened her mouth, he could see the question on the tip of her tongue and he shook his head.
“I’m not teachin’ you how to kayak.”
“I didn’t ask you,” she replied with a husky laugh, then smirked at him before heading toward the rafts.
Shane watched her hips swaying with each step she took. When she turned and curled her arm up and back, motioning for him to follow, his lips twitched.
“I’m coming, impatient minx,” he mumbled, then picked up his kayak and followed.
He helped the other guides load supplies and packs onto the ore fame gear Boat, then he waited with the rest of the crew for Gregor to finish his safety talk. As he stood there, he caught Sage watching him and tried to block her out. It was a lost cause. He was so fuckin’ drawn to her he couldn’t turn away, and when her face lit up like a kid on Christmas morning, he grinned and shook his head. She was fired up and ready to hit the water.
Gregor finally finished his long-winded instructions, then called out who was on which raft. He’d put Sage with him, Shane noted, which eased his worry. When Gregor turned to make his way toward the rafts, he approached the old man.
“What’s the speed of the river today?”
“It’s running around thirty-six hundred CFS, so it should be a good day. They’re calling for rain tonight so we may have a roller coaster ride tomorrow if we get dumped on.”
Shane nodded then turned to head to his kayak. He caught sight of Sage fighting her life vest; she had the pillow stuck inside, causing it to ride up in the back. Moving toward her to help adjust the PFD, he scowled when another man stepped up to help. He was average build, with dark hair and beady eyes that kept zeroing in on her chest as he helped her out with the vest.
Shane hated him immediately.
“I’ll help her,” Shane rumbled low as he moved forward.
“I got it,” the man said without looking up from her chest.
“Appreciate your help,” Shane clipped short, “but I’ll do it.”
The man looked up at his tone, caught the fire in his eyes, and nodded, stepping back.
“It can’t be that hard to put on,” Sage mumbled, looking down. “It’s just four buckles, but they won’t reach.”
“The pillow likes to fold in,” Shane replied, then adjusted the PFD and began buckling her in. The scent of flowers hit him, so he took a step back to avoid the temptation to bury his head in her neck and drink his fill.
“Remember what I taught you out there today,” he said to take his mind off her body. “If you fall in, it’s nose and toes out of the water. If you’re heading toward a boulder, turn around and swim backward in a ferry angle. That mean
s you swim at a sixty-degree angle from the bank, heading toward the center of the river,” he explained. “If you fall in don’t worry, I’ll have my eyes on you, and I’ll get to you as quickly as possible.” When she nodded she understood, he continued. “Also, if by some chance you go over the falls and get sucked into the eddy, swim down not up. It’s gonna tumble your ass but swim down. The current will kick you out if you get below the hydraulics.”
“How about we avoid waterfalls all together?” she asked playfully.
“Babe, you can back out anytime. There’s no shame in that. You’re not ready for this trip, and Gregor would understand.”
Sage shook her head, the movements quick and short. “I spent half my life being scared. I like to meet challenges head-on.”
At the mention of being scared, his jaw tightened. He didn’t want to think about what she and her sister had endured at the hands of their stepfather, but he understood Sage’s need to face life head-on. It was one of the many things he respected about her.
“All right. Just know I have your back. If you need me, all you have to do is shout.”
“Same goes here,” she replied, looking him dead in the eyes. “If you need me, I’m here for you.” She placed her hand on his arm and squeezed once before turning and heading to her raft.
His arm burned where her hand had touched him.
If you need me, I’m here for you.
“Jesus.”
Unknowingly rubbing his arm, Shane waited until she was safely loaded into the raft before he headed for his kayak.
One by one, the rafts launched and all forwards were called out. Shane stayed at the back, keeping his attention on all the rafts, but most importantly, the auburn-haired rafter in the lead boat. Hours passed, people were rescued and helped back into their rafts, and thankfully, none was Sage.
When they broke for lunch in the predetermined take-out point, Sage jumped out of her raft when they beached and threw both arms in the air, shouting, “Best job ever.” Shane had to bite his lip to keep from smiling at her enthusiasm.
Gregor always stopped at predetermined put-in and take-out points. That way, if they had an emergency, a man was waiting with a vehicle. Since Shane had insisted on replacing Joel on the trip, he was the designated recovery man. Essentially, Joel was paid to hike into each put-in point and check for injuries or deliver messages to the rafters in the case of emergencies. He was waiting on the bank when they arrived, and at Sage’s outburst, he turned and glared at Shane.