Just a Love Story

by Sable Hunter

  Shae clung to him as he ate his fill of her lips, grinding against her, giving her a taste of secret wonders she’d only dreamed about. Going to her tiptoes, she pulled him closer still, her fingers digging into the hard muscles of his shoulders, reveling in the way the strong bands of his arms tightened around her, bringing her as close to him as she could possibly be. Wave after wave of ecstasy swamped her as she rode his thigh, scrubbing her clit on the rock-hard thickness.

  When her whole body was alight with pleasure, Shae couldn’t think, couldn’t reason – she could only feel. “Derek, oh, Derek,” she moaned.

  Hearing her speak his name brought Derek crashing back to reality. What the hell was he doing? “No. No. I can’t.”

  When he abandoned the kiss, pulling away for her, she felt as if she was left bereft, adrift in a sea of unfulfilled need. “Don’t stop.” Shae tried to bring him back, seeking his lips with her own. “Don’t go.”

  He raised his hand, using the length of his arm to put distance between them. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean…”

  Before she could stop him, before she could say more, or understand what had happened – he was gone, and her arms were empty.

  She’d never felt more alone.

  CHAPTER NINE

  When’s your next book coming out? Judge Judy asked in a comment on Shae’s most recent Facebook post.

  Shae answered, seeing the question was about an hour old. I’m working on two. One is a cowboy book in the Texas Heart collection. I hope to have it up and selling in three weeks. She needed the money.

  Immediately, there was a reply. Great! How about the other one? What’s it about?

  SHAE: A little different, it’s sort of my own story. I went through an odd situation, being from a small, close-knit community. A very religious one. Like David wrote in the Psalms, how he would dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Ha! I was like that. I almost lived at the church and when it was found out I was as an erotic romance writer, the earth split in two and the ground shook for days. Kidding. Well, not really. Anyway, this book will be true in that respect, but I’m changing the real events by writing in a hero who comes in and saves the day. I’m afraid that part will be totally fiction.

  JUDGE JUDY: Aww, don’t give up hope. Things tend to work out. You can bet I’ll buy the book the moment it comes out. What do you think you’ll title it?

  Shae thought a moment before she answered. The tentative title is Just A Love Story, because that’s what I told people when they freaked out over my writing. I told them it was just a love story, nothing dangerous or criminal. Ha! I don’t think they bought my explanation.

  JUDGE JUDY: Well, keep up the good work. I’m rooting for you.

  SHAE: Thanks, Judge Judy. I appreciate you.

  The next order of business was to check on her grandmother by calling Joyce. She’d been back to Angelina twice and the second time Coretta let Shae come into the room to check on her. Their visit was very awkward. It was apparent Coretta wanted to see her, but just couldn’t bring herself to forgive her – not yet, anyway. Shae held out hope they could mend fences soon. She’d taken her grandmother flowers, crossword puzzles, and her favorite candy. Coretta accepted them, but feigned tiredness to avoid any further interaction. Now, all she could do was hope. The rejection didn’t make Shae give up, it just caused her to want to try harder.

  “How is she today?”

  Joyce laughed. “Cranky as ever, but on her way back to Longleaf. We’re waiting on the ambulance now.”

  “Okay. Good. Could I call and check later to see if she’s settling in?”

  “Oh, sure. Please do.”

  A clattering noise caused Shae to get up. “Something’s going on, Joyce. I’ll call you later.” She went to the door and opened it. Mojo ran out, hoping to see Derek. The two had become fast friends – more than she could say for herself and the man who’d rocked her very existence with his kiss. Each time she let herself think of those precious moments she’d spent in his arms, Shae would literally vibrate with longing.

  Fat load of good it was doing her.

  Derek had gone back to acting as if she didn’t exist.

  For the life of her, Shae couldn’t figure out what he’d been doing, waiting for her like that. He almost seemed worried about her. And what was the kiss about? For her, it was a dream come true – for him, not so much. He sure as heck hadn’t seemed eager to repeat it. In fact, he seemed pretty disgusted with himself and with her. When they happened to be in the same vicinity, Derek acted like he didn’t see her. And when their gazes happened to collide, he looked away quickly, but not before giving her a stare cold enough to freeze lava.

  She stood at the entrance to the storage shed, still not seeing whatever caused the clamor she and the dachshund heard from inside. When Mojo yipped and scampered across the yard, Shae finally noticed Derek cleaning his paint brushes near the hydrangea bush at the back of the house. “Hey,” she spoke – it was only polite.

  “Hey.” The word was a cross between a noncommittal greeting and a grunt.

  “Pretty day.” She ventured another word or two. Just in case.

  “I’m right in the middle of something, I need you to go to the hardware store to pick up a faucet for the sink.” The sentence was flat. Emotionless. He never glanced her way, just kept dipping the paint brush into a bucket of turpentine.

  “Which store?” She felt a sense of panic pervading her chest.

  “The one in Hempfield. You shouldn’t have any trouble there.”

  “I don’t know about that.” Shae wanted to protest. To refuse. She tried to be an adult about the situation. “Is it paid for?”

  “No, it wasn’t one of the things on the list from before. This is a special order, they’re going to want their money.”

  “But…can’t you go?”

  He lifted his head and locked her eyes with a stony stare. “No. I can’t take time off from the job to go pick up every little thing. This is your house. If you choose to live in this area and be who you are, you’re going to have to learn to live with the consequences of your decisions.”

  That was easy for him to say, she thought.

  “All right. I’ll go right now. Did you order it in my name or yours?”

  “My name.”

  “Isn’t that risky?” she asked, considering the lengths he’d gone through to avoid anyone know he was working on her house.

  “They don’t know me over there,” he said simply.

  “You’d be surprised, the communities are close and a lot of the people who work over there live here. I know they’ll certainly recognize me.”

  Derek shrugged but said no more, so Shae steeled herself and fetched her keys to go on what she deemed was a fool’s errand.

  * * *

  When Shae pulled through the gate of McLane’s, her palms were sweaty. People were milling out in front of the store, looking at displays of everything from plants, to deer corn, to lawn chairs. Some of the people she’d never seen before in her life – thank goodness. But there were a couple who jabbed one another with their elbows and nodded their head toward her.

  She’d been made.

  Taking a deep breath, Shae pulled on her mental armor and went to beard the lion in its proverbial den.

  When she entered, there was a hum of activity. People were ordering supplies, a mom was pushing a buggy with a squalling child riding in it, while another man rubbed his chin trying to decide between two different brands of caulk. Trying to be as unobtrusive as possible, Shae stepped in line and busied herself studying her fingernails. She did notice the noise in the room died down, but she didn’t look up. If she ignored the possibility of a lynching – maybe it wouldn’t happen.

  When her time came at the counter, she raised her head. The man looking back at her was an unfamiliar face. Shae almost went to her knees with relief. “Hey, I’m here to pick up and pay for a kitchen faucet Mr. Derek Alden ordered.”

  “Just a moment.” The redhea
ded man with a grizzled beard pulled up a page on his computer. “A Pfister, model AZ400?”

  “Yes, I think that’s it.” She took out her wallet and was prepared to pay in cash when a woman walked up and whispered in the gentleman’s ear. Shae didn’t notice at first, all she wanted to do was get this transaction wrapped up as quickly as possible. When the man’s eyes widened, she focused on the face of the person who’d interrupted them. “Oh!” With shock, she recognized Vicki, a good friend of Cathy’s.

  Without hearing a word of the whispered conversation, Shae knew exactly what was transpiring.

  “Could you tell me how much I owe you? I think this was a special order.”

  The man cleared his throat and Vicki’s glare burned into Shae’s eyes like a death ray.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “I was wrong, the faucet didn’t come in.”

  “Are you sure? I thought you said it did.” She leaned over to look at the monitor.

  He jerked the screen around so she couldn’t see anything on it. “You’ll have to take my word for it. In fact, I think they’ve discontinued that model.”

  “Well, I’ll order a different one.”

  “No, sorry, that’s not possible.”

  “Excuse me…” She held out her money. “I just want to pay what I owe, take what I ordered, and get out of here.”

  The woman leaned on the counter and popped her gum. “Don’t you get it? We don’t want you here.”

  Even though Shae had heard this all before, it still hurt. “I’m sorry.” She turned to go. Derek wouldn’t be happy. Maybe they’d just have to buy what they needed in Angelina. It was a fifty-mile trip but being away from the hostility would make every mile worth it.

  Quickly as possible, she left the building, heading out to the parking lot. She didn’t get all the way to her car before her name was called. “Hey, Shae.”

  Vicki’s voice caused Shae to turn. The moment she did, something hit her leg so hard she was knocked to the ground. “Oh!” she cried out in pain, confused as to what hit her. There were several exclamations from people watching, but no one approached. When the first wave of pain passed, she was able to focus on a stone the size of a grapefruit lying at her side. “You hit me with a rock!” Stunned, she got to her feet. As soon as she did, a younger man wearing one of the company’s aprons came up beside Vicki with another rock in his hand, a bigger one. Before Shae could get out of the way, the rock flew through the air and hit her in the temple. The pain was brilliant, like electric fire exploding in her brain. She ducked her head and covered her face, finding blood pouring from the wound. “Stop! Please!” She dug for her keys, but before she could press the unlock button another rock hit her in the shoulder. And another in the back of the head.

  She was being stoned!

  Disbelief and pain brought tears to her eyes. She managed to get the door open and a rock hit the driver’s side window, cracking the glass. “Have you ever heard ‘ye who are without sin cast the first stone?’ she cried out but was met by nothing but mocking laughter. Once she was safely behind the windshield, Shae met the gazes of the people who’d stood by while the man and a woman she used to know quite well, pelted her with rocks bigger than their fists. Wanting only to leave, she started the engine and put it into reverse, but not before another rock hit the windshield so hard, it cracked all the way across.

  Blind with shame and pain, Shae backed out of the lumberyard and sped home, crying her heart out all the way.

  …About a half hour later, Derek was laying tile for a backsplash behind the kitchen sink. He heard a door open and close quietly. Too quietly. Thinking someone was sneaking in on him, he laid down his tools and wiped his palms on his jeans. “Shae?”

  There was no answer, but he heard what sounded like crying.

  “Shae?” he called again, this time tapping on her door. “What’s wrong? Did you get the faucet? Do you want me to unload it for you?”

  In response, he heard what sounded like a muffled ‘no’.

  “What did you say?” He tapped again. “Why not?”

  “Please go away.”

  Certain he’d heard her crying, he needed to see what was going on. “Are you decent?” he asked as he opened the door.

  “No.” She was still fully clothed, but she wasn’t decent. That was the problem.

  Derek came to the door of the bathroom and shook the knob. “Shae, what happened?” By now, he was sure there was something wrong. What, he wasn’t sure. “Why didn’t you get the faucet?”

  “I…just didn’t.” She had no desire to tell him or anyone what happened. She just wanted to forget. To pretend it never occurred. “Please go away.”

  Derek had no intention of going away. He turned the knob and found the door unlocked. As he opened it, she lunged to stop him, but not before he saw her reflection in the mirror. “Oh, my God! Were you in a wreck?”

  “No. I fell down.” She lied, hoping he’d believe her.

  Before he could get a better look, she pushed the door closed and locked it.

  “Hell, and damnation. I need that stupid faucet. I guess I’ll just have to go after it myself.”

  Shae heard him mumbling and the backdoor slam. She wanted to run and scream at him not to go, but she just didn’t feel strong enough. All she wanted to do was sleep.

  * * *

  All the way to Hempfield, Derek fumed. “Send a woman to do a man’s job…” he grumbled, knowing fully well he was being unreasonable. Shae most likely had some type of confrontation with the workers at the lumberyard and in the confusion, she fell down. Embarrassed by the spectacle she’d created, she ran away.

  Sounded reasonable to him.

  As he drove, he remembered the kiss. Fuck. He could barely think of anything other than that kiss. She’d felt perfect in his arms. Nothing like Blair. He’d never had a woman respond to him so sweetly.

  Of course, she probably had plenty of practice. That fact, and the reality of his looming custody battle kept Derek from going back for more.

  When he arrived at the lumberyard, he sat there a second until his erection went down. “Okay, I’ll go in. Get the faucet. And leave. No big deal.” He left his truck and headed into the place of business. When he approached the front desk, he could see two men and a woman laughing together.

  “You should have seen her,” the younger guy snickered. “Vicki nailed her with a big old rock right on her thigh, then I picked up another rock and got her in the head.”

  “Did anyone call the cops?” the other man asked.

  Vicki snorted. “Nope, everybody knows who she is. No one’s going to help her, she’s toast in this county.”

  “We got a couple of other blows in.” The guy gushed. “What a rush, man. I’ve never done anything like that before.”

  Derek put on a blank face, even though he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Hey, sounds like you folks had some excitement around here.”

  All of them shut down, not sure who they were talking to. “Yea, what of it? There’s no law against having a little fun.”

  There was a law against assault and battery, if he was understanding the situation correctly. A niggle of fear crept up his spine. Shae might be hurt worse than he thought.

  Derek decided to play along to find out the details. “Hell, no, that’s right. No law against having fun. Is it over? Did I miss it?”

  “Yea, the bitch is gone.”

  What looked to be the manager, nudged the male clerk to stop talking.

  “It’s all right. Who are you talking about?” When neither of them said anything, he decided to lead them along a little further. “You’re not talking about that skank from Longleaf, are you? What’s her name?”

  “Shae. Shae St. John,” the girl hissed the words, making all the s’s sound like a disturbed den of reptiles. “I hate her.”

  “So, what happened? She come here propositioning you?” he asked the clerk.

  “Nah, nothing like that. She just came to pick
up an order or something.” He smiled with confidence. “She should’ve known we wouldn’t associate with the likes of her.”

  “So, what did you do?” Derek grinned, shaking his head back and forth, urging them with his eyes to tell him more.

  The girl moved her arm, winding up like she was about to throw a baseball. “We stoned her.”

  The answer shocked Derek so badly, he couldn’t respond for a moment. “You what?” he finally asked, sure he hadn’t heard right.

  “We nailed her, man,” the boy chimed in. “Got her four times. That’s what they did to sinners in the Bible. Right?” He held up his hands, forming a large circle with his fingers. “Rocks this big. She’s gonna be black and blue for weeks. We taught her a lesson, we taught her a lesson good and proper.”

  Derek swallowed, feeling his lunch want to make a reappearance. He needed more information, just a little more. “Look, I’ve only been in town a few months, but I think this lake area is sublime. I think we should keep it the way it is. Godly, you know.” When they nodded, he asked the question he’d needed an answer to for so long. As shitty as these morons were, this was the one thing they probably wouldn’t lie about. “So, what did this woman do, exactly? Was it illegal?”

  The three looked at one another. “Illegal?” the girl asked, then frowned. “No, I don’t think so.” She dawdled her head back and forth. “Immoral is more like it.”

  “So, she’s not a thief? Is she a hooker? A…” He kept looking for something else to suggest. “What?”

  “No, none of that. She wrote some books. Dirty books,” the girl sneered as if her explanation tasted bad.

  “Lots of sex.” The guy almost guffawed.

  “Did you read them?” Derek asked, curious if this pair could read at all.

  “Hahaha! Parts of them.” The young clerk blushed. “Whew, man. They were good!”

  “Oh, hush.” The manager fussed a little. “You two are making a spectacle of yourselves.”

  Derek leaned on the counter. “Let me get this straight. You threw rocks at a girl who wrote a book. What was it? Something like Salmon Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses, or Mein Kampf?”