by Bijou Hunter
Snake Charmer
Bijou Hunter
Copyright © 2016 Bijou Hunter
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.
*****
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
For more information about this series and author visit:
http://www.bijouhunterbooks.com
Cover Design
Photographer: Victor Tongdee
Photo Source: Shutterstock
Cover Copyright © 2016 Bijou Hunter
Dedication
Freckles, Tigger, Pooh, and Roo for laughing at my jokes
My sweet mama for being an ornery badass
My beta reading babes Sarah and Janie
Nicole for smiling through her tears
Jaimie for enduring my endless drivel
Book Summary
Dad was an outlaw. Mom was the daughter of The Man. I never belonged in either world, always stuck somewhere in between.
My job with the sheriff’s department pays the bills, but I’m faking my way through life. No one is the least bit interested in seeing behind my mask until I meet Journey Sheerer.
My temperamental temptress knows as little about relationships as I do. We ought to crash and burn. Maybe we still will, but I’ll never let her go. For all of these, I wait for my shot with the girl sporting a scary scowl and a scarier right hook. Having finally made my move, I got no doubt it’ll be one helluva bumpy ride.
Table of Contents
1 Snake Charmer
2 Snake Charmers
3 Snake Charmers
4 Snake Charmers
5 Snake Charmers
6 Snake Charmers
7 Snake Charmers
8 Snake Charmers
9 Snake Charmers
10 Snake Charmers
11 Snake Charmers
12 Snake Charmers
13 Snake Charmers
14 Snake Charmers
15 Snake Charmers
16 Snake Charmers
17 Snake Charmers
18 Snake Charmers
19 Snake Charmers
20 Snake Charmers
21 Snake Charmers
22 Snake Charmers
23 Snake Charmers
24 Snake Charmers
25 Snake Charmers
26 Snake Charmers
27 Snake Charmers
28 Snake Charmers
29 Snake Charmers
30 Snake Charmers
31 Snake Charmers
32 Snake Charmers
33 Snake Charmers
34 Snake Charmers
35 Snake Charmers
36 Snake Charmers
37 Snake Charmers
38 Snake Charmers
39 Snake Charmers
40 Snake Charmers
41 Snake Charmers
42 Snake Charmers
43 Snake Charmers
44 Snake Charmers
45 Snake Charmers
46 Snake Charmers
47 Snake Charmers
48 Snake Charmers
49 Snake Charmers
50 Snake Charmers
51 Snake Charmers
Epilogue
Epilogue
About Bijou
1 Snake Charmer
Journey
The flashing red lights in my rearview instantly put me in a bad mood. Every day for months now, I’ve driven this two lane highway in Clinton County, West Virginia. Not once have I seen a police car, let alone any drivers pulled over. The place is as close to abandoned as a lived in nowhere highway can be. In fact, I worry so much about weirdoes showing up rather than cops that I keep a gallon of pepper spray handy.
Today, though, I have a cop on my ass, signaling for me to pull over despite my sticking to the speed limit like a well-behaved member of society.
I’m exhausted after working an extra shift at the hospital. Typically, my ultrasound technician job involves looking at unborn babies. Occasionally, I get the weird mass or cancer patient. I don’t know if something is in the water around these parts, but every able-bodied woman in a fifty-mile radius has come down with a pregnancy lately.
After pulling over, I yank open the glove compartment to grab my registration and insurance. I glare into the rearview mirror to find the cop moseying from his car to mine.
No one in West Virginia is ever in any damn hurry. People constantly tell me to slow down and smell the roses. “You’ll miss life if you keep going a hundred miles per hour, young lady,” they say.
In this state, I’m a go-getter when anywhere else I’d been a lazy lump. Ah, the wonders of living in a small town.
I lower the window and stare up at the beefcake cop with his wide-browed hat and mirrored glasses.
“Do you know why I stopped you, ma’am?”
“No. Do you?”
“Why yes, I do,” he says, giving me a toothy grin and showing off his great smile. “Thanks for asking, ma’am.”
While he doesn’t look all that familiar, something about the familiarity of his tone makes me wonder if he knows me.
“Was I speeding?”
“No.”
“Then why did you pull me over?”
Straightening his stance, he moves away from the door. “Ma’am, will you step out of the car?”
My temper is supposedly legendary, though I doubt most people have heard of it. My younger sisters are known to run screaming when I’m on my last nerve. This response would be more impressive if they didn’t react the same way to spiders.
I step out of my silver Chevy Equinox and stare at the cop.
When I say nothing, he smirks. “You don’t remember me?”
“Should I?”
Swiping off his glasses, he shakes his head. “You sure don’t have much of a memory.”
Though I recognize him a bit, I can’t place from where. I’ve never been the kind of woman to memorize every attractive man I come into contact with.
“If you’re looking to shake me down for a bribe, you’re going home empty-handed. If you’re looking for a sexual reward in exchange for letting me go, I wouldn’t suggest you put your dick anywhere near me. I can’t promise you’ll get it back in one piece. If you’re just looking to be a pain in the ass, mission accomplished.”
“I do enjoy listening to you make threats. Many nights, I think nostalgically about when you scared off Becca at the fair.”
A few months back, my sister Justice was having issues with a royal bitch. Justice had fallen for Court Bayer, who had a kid a decade earlier with Becca Pamton. I adore my sisters, but they can’t fight for shit. They’d win gold medals in tantrums, but a physical fight leaves them on their asses. So when Becca made an appearance at the fair with the plan to start trouble, I stepped in and ran her off.
Part of our little group at the fair that day was Court’s cousin. I remember Donovan Mooney being rather handsome in a messy undercover cop way. He’d been wearing a hat down low like he was incognito. As sexy as I suspected he was, I’d still thought he was an idiot.
After he stops me today, my view of him hasn’t improved.
“What was your name again?” I ask.
“Donovan Mooney.”
“Nice seeing you again. Bye, now,” I say, reaching for my car handle.
His body shifts to ensure he blocks my ability to open the door. Now I could move him, and I bet he’d look sexy as hell flat on his ass. Unfortunately, I have a
sneaking suspicion this cop wouldn’t approve of anyone disrespecting his authority.
“Why are you hassling me, pig?” I ask rather than pushing him to the ground and making my getaway.
“I’ve been thinking about you.”
His answer doesn’t startle me half as much as his tone. Donovan sounds a little dangerous, and I consider how easily I can get into the car for my pepper spray.
Regaining my ability to speak, I ask, “And that matters to me why?”
“Because you aren’t seeing anyone.”
“Nice stalking, Porky.”
“Let me take you out to dinner, so you can get to know me,” he says, leaning against my car.
Gesturing for him to get off, I ask, “What do I get out of that?”
“A free meal with an interesting guy.”
“Interesting how? Do you have exciting hobbies or something?”
“Something like that.”
“When you talk creepy, my fingers itch for my pepper spray.”
“Bring it with you to dinner.”
I consider going out with my brother-in-law’s good-looking creeper cousin. Dating hasn’t been on my calendar for years. I once tried caring about a man’s problems and found myself bored to tears. It was one of the only times I’d cried since hitting puberty.
Still, I’ve been thinking about having a baby, and Creepy Cop is physically appealing. Tall and wide-shouldered, the blue-eyed stud even smells good. While I know hygiene isn’t genetic, male stink gives me the pukes and making a baby shouldn’t involve projectile vomiting.
“Let me ask you something. Does your family have any genetic problems?” I ask, sizing him up like a piece of meat.
Smiling, Donovan clearly enjoys feeling objectified. I give him props for not whining like a bitch.
“We’ve suffered for generations with some mighty painful cowlicks. Do you mean like that?”
“I meant cancer, heart disease, mental illness.”
“Nope.”
“Are you certain because pulling over a civilian so you can ask them on a date screams unhinged psycho behavior?”
Donovan grins, making little lines appear around his eyes. He reminds me of a young Clint Eastwood, ready to ask if I feel lucky.
“What other choice do I have? I can’t just show up at your house.”
“You could have asked your cousin.”
“Court doesn’t need to know my business,” he says in a tone that makes me think he’s shot down this idea a bunch of times.
“No, you’re right. This harassment is much more adult.”
“So I’ll pick you up at your place when?” he asks, reaching out to tuck one of my unruly brown hairs behind my left year.
“You’ll meet me at a well-lit restaurant on Thursday. Does that work with your busy schedule, Bacon Boy?”
“Sure. Where?”
“Seven at the Pam’s Pizza. I know people around there, just in case you get weird, and I need to call in reinforcement.”
“My department is the backup for your town, and I don’t think they’ll prove too helpful.”
“I mean my dad’s club,” I say, assuming he’s well aware how my father Jared Sheerer is a member of the local Rawkfist Motorcycle Club. “If I need you to go poof, he’ll do the magic trick for me. I’ll clap, and he’ll take a bow, and you’ll never be seen again. Does that sound okay?”
A smiling Donovan scratches at a hint of stubble on his chin. “Are you finished threatening me, ma’am?”
“Almost,” I say, opening my door. “If you ever use your job to harass me again, I’ll file an official complaint against you. Are we clear?”
Smiling wider now, he leans back on the heels of his boots. “That shouldn’t surprise me. Your sister’s a snitch, and apparently, that trait runs in the family.”
Months earlier, Justice testified against Becca after the bitch attacked my sister at work. No one in Tumbling Rock believed in the law or calling the police. Even so, they were all thrilled when Becca ended up getting two years in prison. Her kids ended up living at our house including eight-year-old, Otto, who looks to me like a substitute mom these days.
Now Donovan didn’t likely care about my home problems. He was looking for a good time. Men always were.
“I agreed to your shakedown, cop, so leave me alone until Thursday.”
“If you don’t show up, I’ll need to go full stalker on you. Keep that in mind if your feet get chilly.”
Turning on my engine, I smile up at him. “Sounds fair, but if you plan to threaten me like that a lot, you might want to get your will in order. I sense this thing between us either ends in a love match or me laying flowers on your unmarked grave.”
We’re both wearing grins when I pull away. I put on an arrogant façade, but Donovan’s left me flustered and more than a little terrified of what comes next.
2 Snake Charmers
Donovan
As the bastard kid of the county sheriff’s wild daughter and an outlaw biker, I’m a lawman with no love for the law. I’d grown up only knowing the Mooney side of my family.
My grandfather is Sheriff Arnold Mooney, a prominent name in this part of West Virginia. He casts a wide shadow over the family, and most of us followed his footsteps into the sheriff’s department. I wear the badge, but I don’t feel the pride I see in the eyes of my cousins in uniform.
Still, I do the job without complaining. Routine keeps me from thinking about why I should complain. I get up, do what I’m told, and go to bed. Same every day for ten years except for when I do a little dirty business on the side for my cousin and Rawkfist MC enforcer, Court Bayer. We keep our relationship quiet, even if our family ties are well known.
Everything around these parts is common knowledge. Even though I can’t change my shampoo without someone noticing, I’ve kept my friendship with Court on the down low. I doubt that’ll last much longer now that I’ve finally pulled the trigger on my lust for Journey Sheerer. Her sister is married to Court. Her father is in the Rawkfist MC. If I make things public with Journey, people will piece together the puzzle of what I do with myself when I’m not living a quiet life with my dog, Kitty.
Journey is worth the trouble, though. I’d only met her in passing one time at a carnival in Tumbling Rock. She paid me little attention, but I didn’t think she was much of a flirt. I hadn’t been able to take my eyes off of her. Thankfully, I’d been wearing glasses so she couldn’t catch me gawking.
That day, I took a few pictures of her, and I still look at them on my phone. Before I left her today, I snapped a shot of her snarling face. This photo joins the others that I use to keep myself sane during the long, boring night shifts.
Pulling up the snarling pic, I show it to my basset hound sitting next to me on the couch.
“Even though Journey was pissed when I pulled her over, she agreed to a date. You didn’t think I’d have the nerve to ask, did you?”
Kitty smells the phone before licking it. He isn’t the most animated animal, and would be happy spending most of his day on the couch watching the flashing box. Still, he humors me by investigating the phone.
“Months of waiting but I finally got up the nerve to force her to go on a date. Now, what?” Scratching my head, I shrug. “I guess I should have thought further ahead.”
Kitty spends hours alone at the house every day while I work, leaving him accustomed to the quiet. When I get home, I rarely talk so much. Typically, we watch TV until bedtime. That’s our routine. Now I’m talking off his floppy ears.
“She has the most beautiful eyes,” I say, looking at the picture. “I’d forgotten that part since none of my pictures show off her eyes. They were so bright today when she glared at me.”
Since meeting Journey at the fair, I’ve been blinded to other women. I never dated much and mostly just hooked up for sex with a few local girls. They wouldn’t do once I knew Journey existed. She’d been tough that day, scaring off Court’s raging baby mama. I’d watched her k
eep guard over her family while they relaxed. She was the protective mama bear. That night, she’d scared off more than a few guys checking out her sixteen-year-old sister, Poppy. It was funny to see, but I’d been more than amused. I’d been fucking addicted.
Now I have a date planned with the woman I’d gotten hooked on months earlier. Every night, I wondered about the day I would make my move. I’d planned it over and over in my head. So focused on getting her to agree to dinner, I hadn’t worried about the next part. Tonight, it’s all I can think about.
3 Snake Charmers
Journey
I’m still overheated when I arrive at the house I share with my divorced mother, Christine, youngest sister, Poppy, and Otto. We live on a six-acre piece of uneven land off a main road in Tumbling Rock that Christine inherited from her grandfather. After Justice married Court, they added their own prefab home not far behind Christine’s.
When I pull up to the property, I spot Court playing with his son Felix along with Becca’s other kids, Otto and Matilda. I’m relieved when they miss my arrival. Donovan’s request for a date has left me mentally scattered and physically worked up. No way do I want the kids to see me in this state.
Inside the main house, I discover Justice lying on the couch with her feet in the air. I don’t know what she’s doing, and I’m not dumb enough to ask. Poppy stands in the kitchen staring at Justice. She barely blinks when I enter. Her trance only ends when Christine appears from the back bedroom.
“How was your day?” Christine asks, looking tired from a long day at her veterinarian office.
“I have a date with a guy,” I announce since no one wants to hear about my actual job.
“Oh, wow,” Justice says, immediately sitting up. “Can we meet him? Is he hogtied in your trunk right now? Should we introduce ourselves?”
“Why would a man want you?” Poppy asks, playing with my hair now that I’ve taken down the ponytail. “Is he defective?”
“Nice attitude,” I mutter, poking her between the eyes.
“What’s his story?” Poppy asks, now wrapping her arms around my shoulders. “You’re too special to waste time with a punk ass loser.”