Betrayal (Southern Belles)

by Amanda Heartley

  She wished she knew who he was so she could ask about his family. “Can you stay and sit with me for a little bit, though?” She asked, feeling a bit more nervous about it than she should have. If only he wasn’t so hot. “Just until my friend Marti gets here.”

  A shadow seemed to pass over his face, but he nodded. “Marti? Marti Odell? Sure. She’s just up the road, she won’t be long.”

  Annie nodded, confusion still sweeping through her as she tried to figure out who he was. “The kitchen is probably the brightest,” she said, and he nodded “After you, Ma’am,” heading off toward the light of the kitchen. Annie rushed to pick up her phone and beg Marti to come over. Marti laughed and Annie knew that she had a long “told you so” conversation coming. She didn’t care. She certainly wasn’t going to try to stay the night alone again.

  She turned into the kitchen to face the policeman. He grinned that same crooked smile, and she felt a blush creep up her cheeks. “Can I get you some tea?” She asked.

  “Sure. I would appreciate that, ma’am. And I’m sorry about your grandfather. Ol’ Graham was a great guy. I’m really sorry.” He replied.

  Annie turned. “You knew my grandfather?”

  “Sure did, ma’am. He did a lot for this little town and the church. Everyone knew him. Never asked for any help, though. Proud old man. If I had known Gibbon’s Ranch was in this much trouble, I would have fixed it myself. No one even knew he was sick.”

  Annie nodded, and busied herself at the refrigerator, pouring two tall glasses of tea from a large pitcher. “Thank you so much for coming out“, glancing behind her to find his eyes dancing in laughter as he watched her. “I was freakin' terrified.”

  He nodded, still smiling to himself. “That’s what we’re here for. I’ll come back tomorrow when it’s light outside, and see if I can’t figure out what it was that frightened you so much.”

  She smiled at him, finally passing him a glass of tea, the ice cubes bobbing cheerfully. “Thank you, I would sure appreciate that.”

  He grinned, his fingers lingering just a little while over hers on the glass, and she felt a shiver run up her arm. She forced herself to look away, and pulled up a chair across from him, her body still shaking a little. She needed to distract herself. She waved vaguely out toward the town, her voice light. “I guess I didn’t expect it to be so hard to come back.” She said, turning to smile at him. “But I do remember a lot of things about this town.”

  He took a long sip of tea. “Well, eight years is a long time, and a lot of things have happened. People move away, new people move in, folks grow up, have families. Lots of things change.”

  She smiled at him, glad that he understood. She waved at his uniform. “Like you.” She smiled, hoping that her guess was right. “You’re a policeman now.”

  He laughed, shaking his head a little. “More than just a policeman, ma’am” He pulled at the uniform at his chest, showing off a shiny badge over his heart. “I’m actually the sheriff here in Mountain View.”

  “Oops!” She giggled. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize.”

  He shrugged, looking away as though embarrassed. “No big deal, ma’am. In a small town like this, well, it’s not like there are a lot of criminals running around.”

  Annie was blushing, shaking her head. “That’s still pretty cool. I mean the town Sheriff and all.”

  He smiled, and she had to look away to take a sip of her tea as well. She felt embarrassed, not knowing who he was. If only she knew. She steeled herself, and finally decided to just ask. Looking back at him, she smiled. Before the words could leave her mouth, there was a loud knock on the front door.

  They both jumped, and then laughed as Annie hurried to the door to let Marti in. Marti scowled at her, shaking her finger. “I asked you how many freakin’ times, “Are you sure? Are you okay?” and all you did was say ‘yeah, yeah, yeah’ then you call me at this ungodly hour and need me to come rescue you from the dang coyotes.” She pulled Annie in close for a hug, “It’s alright, honey bun, I’m here for ya. Just glad you’re okay”.

  Annie pulled away, feeling sheepish, and shrugging. There was a soft cough behind her, and she suddenly remembered her manners. Turning, she smiled at the cop, but Marti noticed him first. Marti sneered.

  “Well, I'll be damned, it’s Tommy! Tommy Donovan, town sheriff. You’re the cop on duty tonight? Well, thanks for taking care of my girl here. You can go now.” She waved her hand. “The cavalry has arrived.” She squeezed Annie tight, but Annie was too busy gazing at the cop to squeeze back.

  Tommy? Tommy Donovan? The geeky kid from school? Surely this incredibly delicious man couldn’t be him. But Marti was sure, chatting him up, shooing him off, letting him know he could leave. Tommy answered with a laugh, his eyes catching on Annie’s. He knew she couldn’t figure out who he was and he loved it.

  He bowed out; he had to get back to patrol. Annie watched him go, her mouth agape. She turned to Marti, hands on her hips. “Who the hell was that and why didn’t you tell me?”

  Marti laughed, heading into the kitchen to pour a glass of iced tea. “It’s no big deal, Annie. It’s Tommy. He’s an asshole. Finest asshole I ever saw in these parts, but nonetheless, an asshole. You don’t want him.”

  Annie scowled and followed her into the kitchen. This night had been a whole lot more than she had bargained for.

  Chapter 4

  As Annie lay in bed thinking, she thought about Tommy. They were back in sixth grade, with the big baseball field out around her. She remembered the kids from her childhood were all there, Marti and her on the same team, Big Ernie, not so big yet, standing on the pitcher’s mound. Annie was already on third base, ready to go running for home, waiting for the next kid on her team to get up to bat.

  Suddenly she heard Marti, sitting in the pit wail. “Not Tommy!”

  To her dismay, she watched as the skinny kid scurried his way up to the plate. He held the bat awkwardly in his grip, his eyes darting nervously throughout the crowd of kids as boos and shouts rained down on him. Annie had to groan. They were so close to winning, but Tommy could ruin everything.

  Big Ernie was thrilled. He knew exactly what was coming. He winked at his teammates quickly before launching a fastball that even Annie would have had a hard time hitting. It flew right past Tommy, and by the time he’d swung, the ball was already in the catcher’s grip.

  More boos from her team rained down on him, and cheers from the other team. Annie groaned, gritting her teeth. “Come on, idiot! Just hit the stupid ball!”

  Tommy glanced her way, his face flashing even more scared, before he turned back to face down the pitcher. She could see him grit his teeth, his whole face a mask of concentration. Once again, the ball sped right past him, and he missed it by a mile. Jeers sounded around him, and Annie and Marti joined in as they all yelled the familiar chant from elementary school. “Loser! Loser! Loser!”

  Tommy already had tears in his eyes, and the bat wavered in his hands. This time, Tommy didn’t even swing at the ball, which sailed perfectly right past his bat. Tommy was out, and marched quietly back to the bench, where he tried to ignore the jeers and boos from his teammates.

  Annie groaned. They only had one shot left before the game was over, and they needed a solid home run. Then, there were cheers. She looked up to see Marti striding cheerfully toward the plate, swinging her bat like a pro. Annie joined in the cheers, as Marti stepped up to bat. Big Ernie scowled, and threw his fastest, but Marti was too good. She slammed that ball right out of the field, and Annie and the others flew over home plate.

  Everyone surrounded Marti, cheering and chanting “Marti! Marti! Marti!”

  Tommy slowly trudged away. He was casting sad glances back to the field, shaking his head in dismay. All he could think about was her, Annie. He was thinking how beautiful she was, and how much he wanted to just talk to her. He knew he was never going to get that chance. Didn’t she know that baseball isn’t everything?

  Annie si
ghed, her heart aching for Little Tommy. She glanced around her dark room, feeling horrible. She had always been so mean to Tommy just because the other kids were. What was she thinking? Poor guy. How awful.

  She turned over to go to sleep, Marti already snoring softly in the bed beside her. She would show Tommy that she wasn’t the same person she used to be. She’d show him that she could care about him, too.

  Chapter 5

  Annie woke with a start. Marti was already long gone, off to get ready for her job almost before the sun had risen. Annie lay in her pajamas, wondering what had woken her, when she heard the knock again.

  She ran down the stairs to the front door, flinging it open. To her surprise, Tommy stood there, still in his uniform, looking surprised when the door flew open so fast. He flashed that lopsided grin and Annie smiled back. Of course it was Tommy. She couldn’t imagine how she hadn’t instantly recognized that silly smile.

  The cool morning air had chilled her and she shivered. Her nipples hardened under her pajama top. He blushed and cleared his throat, his eyes taking in her pajamas nervously. “I’m sorry if it’s too early, ma’am. I just thought I’d check things out before I started my shift this morning.”

  “Oh! And call me Annie” Annie blushed, crossing her arms nervously across her top. “Sure, let me get my shoes, and I’ll go out with you.”

  “Yes, Ma- ‘er uh… Annie” He nodded, smiling. His hands resting calmly on his heavy belt. Annie turned quickly to slip on a pair of heavy mud boots that rested just inside the door. She followed Tommy across the porch and around the back of the house. He moved with confident grace, and Annie wondered what had happened to the clumsy kid she had once known.

  They trekked through the mud and overgrown hedges that surrounded the old house. She could see several pairs of footsteps, “Hey, look! Footprints” Tommy laughed “Those are mine, ma’am. From last night.”

  “Oh, duh!” As she smacked her forehead.

  They went all around the outside of the house, Tommy looking close at the door and the ground around it. The fence had been knocked down, and they both walked over to look at it.

  Tommy played a little with the short chain-link, and the stubby post that had held it up. Amidst all the green growth, it was a mangled half-rotted mess. He glanced back at her. “This old post needs replacing. It just collapsed. I don’t think anyone knocked it down. Actually, this whole fence needs replacing.”

  She nodded. She had no choice but to believe him. “Are you sure? No one was here?”

  He pointed out several small animal tracks in the dirt. They looked kind of like dog-paws. “See this?” She nodded. “These are coyote tracks. There are a lot more over by your door.”

  She turned to look over at the door in surprise.

  “My guess…” he said, letting go of the post, and brushing his hands on his pants, leaving marks behind “…is that you cooked some amazing, fancy L.A. food last night, the coyotes smelled it, wanted it and they tried to break in.” He smiled at her, even though she felt silly. “Good thing your door was bolted too. Coyotes can cause quite the ruckus, though they usually try to avoid people.” He pointed to the door. “You can see the scratch marks all up the door though; they were hell bent on getting in. I bet it was my siren that sent them away.”

  Annie shivered, suddenly cold in the brisk morning air. “They can’t get in though, right?”

  He smiled reassuringly at her. “No, Ma’am uhm… Annie. They didn’t get in last night. They won’t get in tonight. Just keep all your doors locked and you’ll be all right.” He waved toward the fence. “But, you ought to see about getting that fence repaired. They’ll keep scratching at your door until you do.”

  Annie nodded. She’d have to go into town to see if she could find someone who could fix it for her. Her grandfather had always insisted that she shouldn’t be working on the ranch, so she was not even going to try to fix it herself. He’d wanted her to become a famous actress almost as much as she had.

  Tommy walked quietly with her, back toward the house. He had the most amazing body she had ever seen. Especially from the back side. She giggled thinking to herself. He could crack a walnut with that ass. Annie looked at him, feeling herself flush, her nipples hard in the cool morning air. She quickly crossed her arms again. He caught her looking, and raised an eyebrow.

  “You fixin’ to ask me something?” he asked.

  She blushed. “Sorry, I just can’t get over how much you’ve changed. You’ve grown up so much. A policeman…oh, wait… not a policeman, a sheriff and you're so freakin’ hot. Way too sexy for these parts!” The words were out of her mouth before she realized it, and then she looked away, blushing even harder.

  Shit! Did I say that?

  He looked at her, his lopsided grin returning. He spread his arms wide, bowing slightly for her. “I’m glad you approve, m’ lady.” Annie giggled. “Damn straight I do.”

  They made it back to the porch, and Annie pulled her long hair out of the way, smiling at Tommy. He stood nervously; his eyes appeared to see everything but her. Suddenly, he leaned in to give her an awkward hug. “Glad you’re alright, ma’am”

  Annie hugged him back, her breasts brushing in tight against his ripped chest. Her nipples pushing hard against the fabric of her pajamas. She blushed, folding her arms across her chest again, hiding what was there.

  He headed down the steps, and glanced back at her, swallowing hard. “Hey, Annie?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Maybe we could catch up sometime. You know, go in to town or something?” He was stumbling over his words, and suddenly Annie had no difficulty seeing young Tommy in him.

  She smiled. “Sure, that would be nice.” He gulped. “Yeah? You mean…like a date?” Realization hit her, and she blushed again. She felt her voice go all girly. “Yeah, I’d like that.” He blinked for a minute, as though he didn’t understand her, and then his smile lit up his whole face. “Great.” He shifted a little in his jacket, glancing back at her. “How about Friday night? I’ll come ‘round about seven?”

  Annie pulled her arms tight against herself, and felt them tingling with anticipation. She found herself having to push away a sudden thought of how the evening might go, that made the rest of her body quiver. She would love to spend an evening with Tommy Donovan.

  She nodded, clearing her throat. At last, she found words. “That’d be great.”

  He beamed at her, stumbling a little as he backed off the porch. Finally, he broke her gaze, turning back to his car. He stopped there and waved as he got in. Annie stayed in the doorway, watching him drive off, and all she could think of was that her very lonely life might just have taken a very nice turn.

  Chapter 6

  When Annie told Marti about the coyotes, Marti laughed and told her that she would fix the fence for her. Annie had gone into town, but hadn’t been able to find what she needed. Who was she kidding? She didn’t have a clue about fixing the fence. People were nice enough, she’d just been afraid to ask one of her old acquaintances after all this time. She had to admit that she was relieved when Marti offered. Marti was still sleeping over, but she knew that couldn’t last forever. Marti had a life to live.

  She met Marti in town after school got out, and Marti led her through the shops to buy the supplies that they needed. As they shopped, Annie told Marti about Tommy asking her out.

  “Wait,” Marti said, pausing in the aisle. “Seriously? You mean that he asked… just like that?”

  Annie was already blushing again as old Tim turned to stack up their purchases on the feed and grain store’s counter. She picked at the peeling linoleum top, darting glances at Marti. “Yeah.” She smiled. “He did. I mean, I might have called him sexy...”

  Marti’s mouth opened even wider. “You did what? Wait - seriously?” She stared at Annie. “You just told him ‘hey sexy guy’? I can’t believe you said that. What are ya, crazy?”

  Annie giggled then glanced back, her eyes bright. “Why not? He
is sexy. I wasn’t lying. See how well it turned out? Maybe you should try it next time a hot, sexy guy rolls through town.”

  She laughed, but was surprised when Marti blushed a little. Marti wasn’t really the blushing type. “What?” Annie asked, intrigued. “You have someone you are keeping a secret?”

  Marti cleared her throat, looking away. “Come on,” she said, her voice slowly returning to its familiar clipped tone, “You know that the only guy in town I’m interested in is old Tim here.”

  Old Tim’s head snapped up in surprise and he backed away a little, as though threatened. Marti and Annie laughed, and he seemed to realize it was a joke, chuckling as well.

  “There you are, ladies,” he said, pushing their purchases toward them. “Hope ya’ll have a good day.”

  Annie and Marti thanked him and headed out into the bright sunlight, laughing. They continued on, forgetting the conversation from before, but Annie couldn’t help but wonder just who could make Marti blush like that. He must be quite the man.

  Chapter 7

  Tommy was 15 minutes early, and Annie rushed to finish getting ready while he stood nervously in the doorway. He had brought her flowers, which made her blush even more. She couldn’t remember the last time a guy had bothered to bring her flowers. Especially one as handsome as Tommy, with his piercing dark eyes and broad shoulders under a black tailored button-down shirt, with his faded jeans catching in all the right places down his legs.

  At last she was ready, in a pink silk blouse, dark jeans and stilettos. Even with the stilettos, he towered over her.

  Tommy held the door for her as she slipped into his car. She brushed against him and he could smell her sweet perfume. He wanted to reach out and grab her, but thought twice about it. It was only their first date.