by Gen Griffin
“I try not to keep count,” David admitted. “You're really not sleeping with him?”
“Why would you think I was sleeping with Addison?”
“Because you're a stunningly beautiful girl wearing a very sexy dress and you're riding around in his truck with him on Friday night.”
“I had car trouble,” Trish explained without actually explaining a damned thing. She didn't want to tell to David about how Curtis had tried to kill her. “Addison offered to tow it for me for free if I'd go out to dinner with him. I can't exactly afford the tow job plus whatever repairs I'm looking at, so I agreed. But we're only going out as friends. He has to keep his hands to himself or the deal is off.”
David furrowed his eyebrows and frowned at her. “You're going on a date with Addison in exchange for him towing your car?”
“Don't give me that look. I'm broke and my credit card is maxed out. A girl's got to do what a girl's got to do. Besides, he promised he'd behave himself.” Trish turned away from him because she didn't want to see the judgment in his eyes.
“I get that people have to do what they have to do to get by,” David said. “I'm just kind of stuck on the part where Addison is using my tow truck to pick up women.”
Trish turned back to him. “What?”
“The wrecker is mine,” David said flatly. “Addison has keys to it because its the only one in Callahan County. Sometimes I just can't get to people in a timely manner. He's supposed to be using it to rescue stranded motorists, not pick up girls.”
“Well technically I was stranded,” Trish pointed out.
David shook his head and grinned. “Technically, I bet you still are. He never got your car towed, did he?”
“No,” Trish admitted. “We were going to go get the tow truck when he got the call about the escaped alligators. My car is still sitting on the side of highway 29. Hope it doesn't get towed before we can get back to it.”
“It won't get towed,” David said with a smirk. “I've got the only tow truck in town.”
Trish couldn't help laughing. “I guess I should be grateful for that.”
“I'll make you a deal,” David said.
“Oh boy, should I be scared?” Trish still didn't know what to make of David. He seemed like he could go from pissed off to amused in roughly four seconds flat.
“Maybe,” David admitted. “I'm changing the terms of your deal with Addison. He can still tow your car for free, but you have to go on a date with me.”
“A date with you?” Trish was startled.
He nodded. “And I promise I'll behave and keep my hands to myself.”
Trish leaned back against the glass of Addison's truck and took David in. He had more tattoos than anyone she'd ever seen and she'd never liked tattoos. His rough, scarred hands and ownership of a tow truck implied he was a blue collar kind of guy. “I've always dated really preppy guys,” Trish admitted unexpectedly.
David considered her words for a moment and then shrugged his shoulders at her. “Your ex one of those really preppy guys?”
“Yes.” The question took Trish by surprise.
“Maybe you need to go out with someone a little less stuck-up,” David replied with a wink. “It's just one dinner. You don't have fun, you don't ever have to talk to me again.”
“You're ballsy,” Trish told him. She couldn't help smiling as she said it. “I'll go out to dinner with you, but you need to understand that I'm not looking for another relationship. I'm still trying to get rid of my last one.”
“Your ex giving you problems?” David asked. She could see concern flicker in his dark eyes.
“He doesn't seem to understand the meaning of the word 'ex'.” Trish intentionally looked away from him. She was on the verge of telling him about Curtis snatching her car off the road earlier when the truck rolled to a stop roughly 20 feet away from the largest alligator she'd ever seen.
David handed her the rifle. “We'll start with the long guns. If you still want to learn to shoot the revolver, we can make our night out into dinner and a trip to the shooting range. How does that sound?”
“Like you've got yourself a date.” Trish adjusted her grip awkwardly to keep the gun from falling onto the ground.
David laughed as he reached out and adjusted her grip on the gun so she didn't drop it. “First lesson. Always keep the barrel pointed up.”
Chapter 14
“Brace the butt of the stock into your shoulder and look down the barrel. See that little nub on the end?” David had his arms wrapped around Trish's shoulders. The gesture might have been a little inappropriate if he hadn't been teaching her how to properly handle a very large, very heavy rifle. Trish nodded at what he was saying while she tried to ignore the way her hair brushed against his cheekbones and the fact that she could feel his heart beating against her spine.
She wasn't exactly excited about the idea of going on a date with David, but he might be fun to get to know if Curtis ever took the hint and left her alone long enough for her to seriously entertain the idea of a new relationship.
“That's the sight. You want the sight at the back of the barrel to line up with the sight at the very tip of the barrel.” David rearranged the gun so that both the sights lined up. Below them, a big alligator let out a loud hiss.
“Okay.” Trish shivered as the big predator opened its mouth and displayed a terrifying amount of razor sharp teeth.
“Breathe,” David told her. “You're the hunter. He's the prey.”
“He's scary,” Trish replied. She took a deep breath and steadied her own hands on the gun. “Aim for right between his eyes, right?”
“Yes ma'am.” David tipped the barrel of the gun down just a hair. “Fire when you feel ready.”
“I'm not sure I'm ever going to feel ready.” Trish watched the gator watch her. The massive reptile looked like he was thinking Trish might make a good late night snack.
“In that case, shoot before he moves and you have to re-line up your shot,” David suggested.
“Maybe you should just shoot this one,” Trish said.
“No. You've got this. I have faith in you.” David rubbed one hand against her shoulder. He released his grip on her and stepped back. She was on her own. It was just Trish, the rifle and the alligator.
Trish took a deep breath, closed her eyes and pulled the trigger. The force of the recoil knocked her backwards. David caught her before she landed on her butt in the bed of the truck. He was grinning at her when she opened her eyes and looked up at him.
“Nice shot,” he said. “You got him.”
“Did I really?” Trish didn't try to hide her surprise as she looked back down to the road below them. The alligator was laying dead in the street. What remained of his head was resting on the yellow line that divided the road.
“Yeah. Next time keep your eyes open,” David said.
“Hey David, we need to pull this big SOB onto the side of the road.” Addison had already opened the driver's side door and gotten out of the truck to grab the tail of the gator. “Don't want anyone to hit it and total out their car.”
David vaulted down from the bed of the truck. “If someone can't see this fucker in the middle of the road, they don't have any business driving. He's got to be 13 feet long.”
“Ron Appledale is going to hate us in the morning.” Addison let out a soft whistle. “We’re killing off his prime stock.”
“He should have kept these bastards inside the fence,” David replied.
“True. You grab the bloody end,” Addison instructed David. Sometime during Trish's shooting lesson, Addison had decided it was a bad idea to leave the corpses of humongous alligators laying around all over town. With the addition of the beast she'd just shot, there were about to be three gigantic alligators in the bed of Addy's Ford.
“You're pushing your luck.” David grabbed the gator around its thick neck.
“I'm pulling my own weight.” Addison grunted as he hefted his end of the alligator over the si
de of the bed of the truck. “I did save your life earlier tonight, remember?”
“Yeah yeah. You're going to hold that one over me for awhile, aren't you?” David slung his end of the alligator into the truck without showing any visible signs of effort.
Trish sat down on the roof of the cab and pulled her legs up beside her. She'd very quickly decided she didn't care for standing on top of dead alligators. There was something distinctly creepy and disrespectful about having warm, vaguely squishy dead reptile under her bare toes.
“I think I'm going to have to invest in a pair of sneakers if I stay in Possum Creek much longer,” Trish told David as she waggled her bare toes several inches above the skulls of the alligators.
David laughed. “You might just want to skip the sneakers and buy a good quality pair of boots. And in the future, when you’re out with me, you may want to consider adopting a wardrobe consisting mostly of jeans and t-shirts.” He glanced down at the alligator blood that was covering his t-shirt as a result of having to lift the dead gators into the truck. “I tend to wind up bloody. Especially when a certain someone decides to be a whiny little sissy and refuses to pick up the bleeding end.” He shot a purposeful look at Addison.
“Eh. Whatever. Screw you. I don't have to care what you think. Besides, I don't think Trish is interested in spending time with you.” Addison smirked as he gave the gator's meaty tail a final heave into the truck. “She's got the hots for me.”
Trish snorted with disbelief. “I do not.”
“You don't think I'm hot?” Addison pretended to be insulted.
“You're hot,” Trish said. “But I don't have the hots for you.”
“You don't have the hots for David either,” Addison said flatly.
Trish looked David up and down for a long moment. He was tall, lean and very sexy if a girl liked bad boys. She licked her lips. “He's not bad.”
“Not bad?” Addison snorted.
“Hey, at least she didn't say I was ugly.” David grinned as he leaned on the side of the truck. “Besides, she's going out to dinner with me. I've poached your date.”
“You poached my date?” Addison narrowed his eyes at David in disbelief. “You haven't been on a date in years.”
David shrugged.
Addison turned to face Trish. “You know he's a crazy son a bitch, right?”
“I wasn't under the impression that either one of you were sane,” Trish informed him. “Besides, it's a friends date. Not a date-date. Also, there's another gator over there by that fountain.” Trish pointed to the edge of the small city park on their right.
David looked over at the park and nodded. “So there is.”
“You going to shoot it?” Addison asked him after several moments pause.
“Nah. I think Trish can get this one,” David replied. He held his hand out to Trish, offering to help her down from the roof of the truck.
“Me?” Trish squeaked. She swung her legs to the side of the cab. “I'm going to fall,” she told David.
“You need the practice and no, I won't let you fall.” David reached up for her. “Slide down, I'll catch you.”
“I'm too heavy for you to catch,” Trish whispered, feeling slightly embarrassed by her less than slender hips. “I'm not exactly skinny. Just in case you haven't noticed.”
“I don't like skinny,” David said bluntly. “Slide and trust me.”
Trish slid. David caught her by the waist and gently set her down on her feet. He pressed the rifle back into her hands. “Take your time. Make me proud.”
Trish took a deep breath and raised the rifle to her shoulder, adjusting the stock until it felt the way it had in her hands when David had first shown her where to hold it. She checked the safety button to make sure it was turned off and then struggled to line up the sights. Her hands were trembling slightly but she focused on her breathing until she felt steady and then pulled the trigger. The rifle bucked once and the gator jumped visibly. She'd hit it in the tail.
“Crap,” Trish cursed.
“Pop him again,” David said.
Trish adjusted her sights and pulled the trigger a second time. This time her aim was true. The gator rolled over against the concrete and then died.
“Not bad,” Addison told her. “Nice going.”
“Thanks,” Trish said to him. She turned to face David. “Am I doing okay?”
David studied her for a long moment without speaking. She watched as his eyes traveled from her bare feet to the hem of her silky little blue dress and then up her thighs, across her hips, over her breasts and up to her face. “I think I may be in love,” he informed her bluntly.
“With the alligator?” Trish was baffled.
“With you,” David said. He gestured for Trish to hand the rifle back to him.
“You probably say that to all the girls,” Trish said as she passed the gun back to him. She shot him a teasing smile. He didn't return it.
“No. I don't.” His dark eyes were strangely serious in the moonlight.
“David, you feeling okay?” Addison was staring at David as if he'd suddenly sprouted a second head. “I swear to God you just said you were in love.”
“I'm good.” David looked Trish up and down again. “I'm real good. And Addy, I know what I said.”
“Don't you think it's a little soon?” Trish didn't know if it was the tequila she'd drank earlier, the late hour or David's eyes that had her feeling so off balance, but suddenly she felt lightheaded.
“No, I don't.” David smirked at her as a terrified scream echoed out through the night air. It was followed by another scream. And another.
“What the?” Trish spun around but she couldn't see anyone near them.
“Fuck me,” said David as he took off running towards the sound.
Chapter 15
“Help! Oh God. Someone help me!” Kerry couldn't breathe and he definitely couldn't run. He clung to the top of the jungle gym as if his life depended on his ability to stay balanced on the top of the monkey bars. The playground equipment had provided his only possible escape from the horrible teeth of the reptile that had been chasing him for the last ten minutes. Unfortunately, he was now stranded.
Shots echoed out from the streets around him. Someone, probably the Sheriff, had commenced a highly fatal alligator round up. Kerry wondered if he could stay on top of the metal climbing structure until help arrived.
The alligator smashed its body into the bars below him, making the jungle gym shake. Kerry nearly lost his balance. His palms were so sweaty he could barely grip the metal bars. He slipped and smashed his chin hard into the play structure. The pain made Kerry gasp. He tasted blood inside his mouth and realized he'd bitten through his lip.
The angry alligator charged the jungle gym a second time. Kerry lost his grip on the play structure. He fell hard against the bars, clinging to them as he slipped through the gaps in the metal. Kerry dangled upside down for a terrifying minute and then his sweaty hands slipped off the bars and he fell all the way back down to the ground.
The alligator hissed once and then charged.
“Help!” Kerry screamed as he scrambled back to his feet and frantically tried to claw his way back up into the safety of the playground equipment. “Help meee!”
Chapter 16
“Help! Somebody help me! Help!” A terrified voice echoed chillingly through the night air. “Ahhhhhhhhhhh! Help me!”
The screams sounded as if they were coming from several roads over.
“Shit.” Addison yanked the driver’s side door of his truck open and jumped into the seat.
Trish did the same on the passenger’s side because she knew she didn't stand a chance of catching up to David on foot. Addy gunned the engine and then snatched the wheel hard, forcing the truck into a tight u-turn. The truck plowed over the curb and then squalled tires on the pavement as Addy plowed though a picnic table.
Trish shrieked as chunks of splintered wood flew over the cab of the truck.
; “Sorry,” Addison said. “I love this truck but it doesn't turn all that well.”
“It's okay.” Trish clutched the passenger's side door for dear life. Addy straightened the wheel and the Ford bounced back towards the center of the road.
“Where did David go?” Addy asked.
“That way.” Trish pointed to the city park. “I think he ran through the park.”
Another scream echoed through the night air.
“Through the park?” Addy asked. “You sure?”
Trish nodded.
“Okay then.” Addison turned hard and drove the truck back across the sidewalk and into the grass. “I guess we'll take the short route.”
“Oh God.” Trish closed her eyes as Addison cut between two short, shrubby trees with inches to spare on either side of the truck's cab. Branches scraped against the paint. The front end of the truck hit something hard. Trish's head nearly hit the top of the cab and the rear view mirror fell off the windshield and into her lap.
“Shit!” Addison slammed on the brakes.
Trish forced her eyes open as the truck slid to a stop across the damp grass. “Oh my God.”
A scrawny man in a sheriff's deputy uniform was dangling from the bottom of a playground climbing structure. He had looped one leg through one of the metal openings and he'd managed to get one arm through another. An alligator was underneath him, snapping its jaws at his single dangling leg.
David was standing a good 30 feet away from the jungle gym. His expression was a mixture of confusion and amusement. He had the rifle positioned against his shoulder but he wasn't firing.
A loud engine roared behind them. Trish twisted in her seat to see a light colored Chevrolet approaching. The truck slowed to a stop just before it rear-ended them. Trish could see a stocky guy standing in the bed. The driver was a girl with long blonde hair.
“Well, damn.” The guy in the bed of the Chevy said as the dangling deputy nearly lost his grip and screamed again. “Kerry's gotten himself into a bit of a pickle, hasn't he?”