Truth and Humility

by J. A. Dennam

  She had chosen a sleeveless babydoll-style top in shades of rose and white to go with a pair of white skinny jeans that ended at the calf. Her summer platform wedge sandals added five inches to her height and their beige color blended nicely with her tanned legs.

  It was nice being a girl again. Dangly earrings, bracelets and all. After spending most of her time with men, dressing like them, working like them and sweating like them, she craved the opportunity to connect with her feminine side. This night with Melanie was exactly what she needed after the hellacious week she’d spent in the Cahill compound.

  Her Jeep Wrangler was still parked in the employee parking lot by the strip of private rooms. If she were very qui NHeret, she could make it behind the wheel without anyone noticing. The last thing she needed was to re-ignite the sexist comments just after she’d managed to stop them.

  “Well, look at you!”

  Danny jumped and spun around just as she was about to insert the key. “Frank! You scared the hell out of me!”

  Frank chuckled, leaned against the rear of her Jeep and crossed his arms. His light eyes sparkled with harmless appreciation. “You sure clean up nice, Danny. Gotta date?”

  “Yes,” she replied, taking the compliment as a sincere one. “And thank you, Frank. I hope we can…you know…keep this between us.”

  “My lips are sealed, Monkey.” With a chuckle, he unfolded his limbs and sauntered toward his room. “Have a good time!”

  Well, Danny thought as she slid into the driver’s seat and shut the door. That wasn’t so bad.

  Twenty minutes later, she was in the parking lot of Kelly’s bar applying her lip gloss in the rearview mirror. Her heart pumped with excitement at seeing her friend’s lovely face, nervous about what she might reveal after consuming that promised margarita. When she walked through the door, her eyes adjusted to the dim interior and spotted a familiar blond head in one of the booths. The platform sandals put a natural swing to her hips as she headed that way.

  At the soft touch on her shoulder, Melanie looked up and sprang out of the booth. The woman emitted a shriek that gained some attention and the girls giggled, hugged, commented on how great the other looked.

  Danny had known the woman since the fifth grade and Melanie was always able to pull off the cutest outfits. The purple, lacy little number she chose for this night was a chopped-off thing that made her boobs say “come hither” and her legs a mile long. More of a nightclub dress, really, Danny thought, feeling slightly underdressed in comparison.

  “And you’re wearing the blouse I got you for your birthday!”

  Danny shrugged, struck a pose. “What can I say? I love it.”

  “And you appear to be in one piece, no bruises or visible scars…”

  For a moment, Danny thought her whereabouts of the past week had been found out. But Melanie dispelled those fears by explaining she’d promised Derek a report if she saw her.

  “But you won’t tell him you saw me, right? That was part of the deal.”

  Melanie sighed and scanned the crowd. “No. I won’t. But, Danny, he is so worried about you. So, I am begging you to at least call him, let him know you’re okay.” She leaned in so the others wouldn’t hear. “His anxiety is starting to interfere with my sex life.”

  Danny rolled her eyes, made a silent ‘oh please’ through heavily glossed lips and hiked up her strappy purse. “You promised to keep those details to yourself. Last thing I want to hear is how good my brother is in bed.”

  “In bed, out of it... you have no idea, girl!”

  “Enough!” Danny covered her ears and laughed. “You’re awful!”

  A voice piped in from below. “Aren’t you going to introduce your friend, Mel?”

  Disinterestedly, Danny turned toward the two men in the booth Melanie had vacated. One was mildly handsome, longish face with dark hair that was pulled back into a stubby ponytail. The other was better looking with light, meticulously groomed hair, intelligent green eyes and a slight under-bite that emphasized a thick neck and strong jaw. He reminded Danny of a college football player.

  “Danny, the dark-haired one is my date Randy, and this handsome gentleman is your date.”

  Danny extended her hand and quickly shook the first, then the second, bracelets rattling. Truth was, she wasn’t interested in the “blind date” aspect of this outing. With any luck, she and Mel could mostly talk amongst themselves. Share a drink. Get back to her slave quarters in time to sleep off the alcohol, be fresh for her studies and a little work in the morning.

  “Brett,” the college prep offered when he stood up to take her hand. “Brett Lockton.”

  The predatory sparkle in the man’s eyes immediately put Danny on high alert. A sixth sense? Blind dates of any kind were never her thing, but Danny already decided this one was headed nowhere. But if she could get the guy to produce a margarita, she’d call it good. After all, she had no money.

  There was a few minutes of mild conversation in the crowded bar before the waitress came and took drink orders. The place was lit with deep amber wall sconces and about five wide-screen televisions in various corners of the seating area. The booths were cozy and dark, the bar at the end long and colorfully arrayed with liquor bottles and incandescent lighting.

  The men mainly talked to and about themselves, which was perfect. It gave the girls an excuse to carry on with their own thing. A few bits and pieces sparked her interest enough to pay attention and Danny quickly figured out that Brett and Randy were college roommates. No football, oddly enough. Frat parties, alcohol, sleazy pranks, an over-used gym membership and lots of sexual liaisons.

  Dang, did they have any classes? A test? Study group? If so, it didn’t rate for conversation.

  “Brett is a climber too, Danny,” Melanie piped in with a telling look.

  Brett took it from there, sent Danny a smoldering gaze. “Yes, I’m training in wilderness search and rescue.” His look lingered with expectation.

  Danny guessed this was her cue to swoon. “Oh...so, you climb with ropes and stuff.”

  He leaned back, stretched an arm over the bench directly behind her shoulders. How cute was this girl? “Yes, ropes, anchors, ascenders, grapples and such. It requires great endurance. Mental stamina. I plan to finish my training in Yosemite where I could perform possibly hundreds of rescues a year. You never know when that little female hiker with something to prove will get lost on a mountainside, hey, Randy?”

  The men grinned at each other like fools.

  The urge to gag was relentless. Danny tamped it down and stifled a yawn instead. “Huh. How interesting,”

  “Danny climbs, too,” Melanie provided cheekily.

  Something told Danny that Brett wasn’t too interested in competition.

  “Is that right?” he said with repressed amusement. “Do you also use...ropes and stuff?”

  He was mocking her. Her eyelids drooped. “Ropes are for pussies.”

  “Danny!”

  Brett pretended not to hear, but Danny knew better and was instantly bored with the topic.

  It was concluded that Melanie needed a wake-up call when it came to her choices in men. Other than Derek, the woman had struck out in Danny’s book. But Melanie’s constant quest for sex, though tiring, could be mildly amusing. She just hoped that insatiable “on button” wouldn’t get her friend in trouble one day... and subsequently drag her brother down with her. More than once, Danny found her mind going to that dreaded place. Sometimes it wasn’t easy, this strange relationship they three shared. And she knew perfectly well Derek was no slouch when it came to women. But, was he exercising the appropriate amount of caution every time Melanie begged him to scratch her itch?

  Once again, Danny removed Brett’s wandering hand from her thigh. Snake. But rather than shrink away, she considered slugging him the next time he tried it. The man was possessive, arrogant, and slimy, but she decided he at least deserved a fair warning.

  “Are those fingers important to you, Mr
. Lockton?” she purred charmingly.

  It took him a moment to absorb her words as a threat. When their meaning sank in, Brett instantly stiffened. But instead of retreating, his face inched closer, gaze masked over ever so slightly, challenging. “You need to lighten up, sweetheart. The night is young.”

  It was as if he knew something she didn’t. Slug. To make a point to Melanie, Danny lifted her half-empty margarita glass and glared at her friend over the rim of salt. I’ll get you for this, her look said. Bite me, Melanie threw back with a wink. Danny laughed, tipped more alcohol into her mouth. Then her eyes caught site of a group of men entering the bar.

  Suddenly her air passage burned and she coughed into the glass, creating a slight mess in her booth.

  “Hey, these are Dolce and Gabbana!” Brett exclaimed when green liquid doused his trousers.

  “Danny, are you okay?” Melanie asked with wide-eyed concern, laughing a little at her friend’s attempt to wipe up the puddle on the table.

  “Fine,” Danny wheezed, keeping her eyes down as Austin, Mac, Sue and Frank strolled through the establishment and made themselves comfortable at the bar. “I’ll go get more napkins.”

  “Hurry, it’s soaking through!” Brett admonished with blatant irritation as he accepted the little cocktail napkin from Randy, gently dabbed at his pants.

  Danny quickly made her way to the bar and leaned into it beside Mac. The big man had spiffed up, was wearing a western cut shirt, cowboy boots and smelled of Old Spice. The thin tuft of hair atop his bald spot was clean and impeccably combed. All of them were notably cleaned up...except for Austin, who exuded a natural confidence that didn’t require fluffing. She kept her gaze forward.

  “What the hell are you doing here?” she sang through clenched teeth. All four heads turned to regard her. “Don’t look at me!” she hissed and snatched a pile of napkins from the holder beside her, tossing a few in her haste.

  “Danny!” Austin bellowed loudly from Mac’s other side.

  “Shhhhh!”

  “I’ll be damned. What a surprise running into you here…” His eyes traveled suggestively from the platform shoes to the tanned calves, white pants that advertised a spectacular ass, all the way up to the sexy hairdo. “And don’t you look good enough to eat.” Her pretty little nostrils flared, sending pleasant thrills down his spine. The bartender handed him a frosty beer and he grinned at the man. “Doesn’t she?” he asked playfully, pointing to the fuming woman in question with his bottleneck. “Look good enough to eat?”

  “I’d eat ‘er,” the man replied without pause, winked and sent Danny a knockout grin before moving out of range.

  Backfire. Mac guffawed as Danny blinked and Austin reacted in an unpleasant manner.

  “I y blinked>know what you’re doing, Cahill,” Danny hissed again, stiff necked, glaring out of the corner of her eye. “And I’m warning you to keep your mouth shut!”

  “Relax, Monkey, we’re just here for a beer,” Mac replied smoothly. But the sparkle was in his eyes, too.

  It didn’t take Danny long to learn they were all in on it. Even Sue and Frank grinned into their drinks while they made lighthearted conversation.

  Unable to resist, Danny slowly pivoted on her heel and finally pinned Austin with a killing look. “You promised. Just you remember that.”

  Her hasty retreat left a fresh scent of honeysuckle. For a second, those thick, smoky eyes stayed on him until Austin blinked, realized they were only burned to the back of his brain. Wow.

  Mac clapped him on the arm, grinned. “You look pole-axed, boss.”

  Damned if he wasn’t. “Shut up, Mac.”

  Back at the table, Danny was relieved to see that no one had noticed her covert interaction with the group at the bar. The room began to spin. She sat down, threw the napkins on the table, picked one out of the pile and began to violently pursue the wet patch on Brett’s designer pants.

  “Whoa, sweetheart,” Brett said, grinning rakishly when her efforts opened her blouse a little. “I know you’re anxious but don’t worry, we’ll get to that later.”

  Just as he said the words, Danny realized she was downright woozy.

  “We’re going to the beach at Brighton Heights on the lake,” Melanie informed from across the booth. “Randy has a cooler in the car. Waddya say, Danny, you up for it?”

  “She’s up for it,” Brett answered, sending signals to Randy across the table.

  “Sure,” Danny agreed, hoping to vacate the bar before Cahill got any bright ideas about announcing his presence. Careful of falling ice, she turned her margarita glass upside-down and winced as the cold affected the back of her nasal cavity.

  The room doubled. Her senses tumbled. She frowned at the sudden nausea that gripped her insides and when Randy delivered a tongue-in-cheek comment about her drooping eyelids, she squeezed them tight to right the world.

  This time when Brett wrapped an arm around her shoulders, she leaned into him and accepted his warmth. Her s

  kin tingled wonderfully when his right thumb did a stroking number on her upper arm. When she didn’t shirk his touch, his other hand slinked over to boldly cup her inner thigh, testing, caressing.

  Yeah. That felt nice.

  St>Chapter 7

  Pain...bad things happening in her head. Movement...her stomach protested against the constant motion beneath her. Danny made a face in the ugly act of coming to. The familiar noises were somewhat of a comfort. Low hum of deep-tread tires speeding over asphalt, crackle of windblown ragtop overhead. Definitely her Jeep.

  She groaned and turned her head, slowly opened her eyes. A blurry mass was all she saw until her eyes slowly focused. The colors separated until she could distinguish the dim blue light of morning and the dark blob that was a person. Breathing in deep, she stretched and tried to sit up. Seatbelt.

  “Morning, sunshine.”

  Austin’s voice hit her like smelling salts to the nose. “Wha?” she groaned, propping herself up on her elbows and blinking at the passing landscape through the windshield. “What’s going on?” Her seat was laid back and her body was covered with a blanket she kept in her car. A quick personal inventory produced bare feet, itchy eyes and a mouth that tasted like death.

  Austin maneuvered the Jeep off the main road and began the journey down his long driveway. “Maybe we should get you inside before I explain things.”

  “Is it morning?”

  The house came into view and he stopped at the gate, rolled down the window and punched in a code. “Just after five.”

  The gate slowly opened. “Why are you driving my Jeep? And where’s Melanie?”

  “Aaaah, Melanie.” Austin added a hint of satire to his voice. “That’s some friend you got there, Bennett. Fixed you up with a really nice fella.”

  Danny plopped back down on the seat and stared at the black ragtop overhead. “Oh yeah. Brett. I didn’t like him much.”

  The Jeep came to a stop and Austin set the brake, cut the engine, rested an arm over the steering wheel as he looked at her. “That isn’t how it appeared when he attempted to leave with you last night.”

  Now she was perplexed…about a lot of things. “I don’t remember that.”

  “No, I imagine you don’t.” Still suffering from the aftermath of her amorous attentions, Austin teased her with the truth. “How ‘bout brazenly molesting me in the parking lot.”

  Shock stiffened her spine. “I did not.”

  “Your repeated attempts to get me out of my shirt?” Misery. His smile widened. “Got so bad I almost let you. I’ve never tangled with such a horny woman in my life.” Her infuriated gasp was music to his ears. “And that kiss! Holy Jesus, you cleaned me out good.”

  “I did not!”

  “Yep. You did. Tongue, teeth and everything. See? I have the bite marks to prove it.”

  Danny squinted, noted a small abrasion beneath his bottom lip that looked suspiciously like teeth marks.

  “That’s just from your bottoms. The upper
s left their mark on the inside. Almost got a hickey.”

  She’d sucked on that full bottom lip? God, no! Though, part of her wanted to remember. Badly. “But...nothing else...happened. Right?”

  He thought about lying, but she looked so darned dismal as she lay there with her hair fanned over the seat, trusting him to give her an honest answer. Besides, she’d been through enough. “Nah,” he said instead. “You conked out as soon as I belted you in.”

  Her relief was overwhelming. “Jeez, how many drinks did I have?” she paused to do a mental count. “Damn. That must have been one helluva margarita…wait, what time is it?”

  A swell of mixed emotions gripped Austin by the throat as he watched the slideshow of expressions cross her features. She was so damned sweet in the girl clothes with the loose messy hair, smudged make-up and red eyes. Could she really be so naive?

  A part of him still wanted to resent her. Another part wanted to shake some sense into her and the biggest part wanted to hold her tight and protect her from predators like Brett. But, after the moves she’d put on him earlier – the thought of which had him fighting back full-blown wood – perhaps that wasn’t the safest route. He settled on the direct approach.

  “Danny, you were drugged last night.” In the silence, he reached over, pressed the red button and her seatbelt retracted with a zip.

  Something in her brain already knew it, knew that slime-ball, Brett, was exactly the type to use pharmaceuticals on an unsuspecting woman. But hearing it come from Austin Cahill sent a rush of humiliation through her that made her want to hide forever. She put her hands over her face. “Did he…”

  “No.” Austin set his teeth and wanted to punch something. “We knew something was off about you the moment he tried to get you out of that bar. Mac and Frank stopped him.”

  “Mac and Frank?”

  “Yeah, I was too busy yelling at your girlfriend.”