by Jenny Penn
She wanted to. She wanted to be doing something good with her life. She wanted to help. That didn’t make her qualified to. At the end of the day, as she trudged back toward the cabin at the top of the hill, Kitty Anne couldn’t help but wonder what she would do then if this didn’t work out.
That wasn’t what she should have been worried about.
* * * *
“What did you do?” Kitty Anne screeched, tearing through the closet that was now filled with full-length, high-necked, floral dresses. “Where the hell are my clothes?”
She’d been gone only a few hours. Hell, Kitty Anne had only stopped by the bungalow on her way to dinner to make sure her mother actually got something to eat. She’d been worried about Lynn Anne skipping lunch, but she should have been worried about what her mother was up to.
“I donated them,” Lynn Anne answered primly, completely nonplussed by Kitty Anne as she clutched her chest and wheeled backward, certain she was about to keel over in shock at any second.
“You did what? Why? Oh, never mind, I don’t care.” Kitty Anne waved away her own questions as her shock soured into anger. “Go get them back. Now!”
“I can’t. I took them down to the church’s thrift store, but we all agreed they were…not suitable for sale, so we threw them out. But don’t worry. I got you a more appropriate wardrobe for a teacher of young, impressionable boys.”
Her mother smiled sweetly as she delivered that blow, seeming completely oblivious as Kitty Anne’s fingers curling into fists, but she wouldn’t strike Lynn Anne, and her mother knew it. Having accomplished her goal, Kitty Anne’s mother turned and started for the bungalow’s door.
“Hurry up, dear, I’m quite hungry this evening, and have you noticed that these little heathens demolish everything in sight? They’re like rodents...actually, that’s very fitting…”
Lynn Anne prattled on, her annoying commentary fading away beneath the roaring rush of the rage beginning to consume Kitty Anne. Her mother wanted war, then war it would be. That vow brought a smile to Kitty Anne’s lips as she turned back into the closet and began gathering her mother’s clothes up.
Damning the consequences to hell, she took the biggest armload she could hold. She chose the garments she knew her mother loved the best and lugged them right out the door to dump them on the very top of the hill, assuring everybody below would be able to see what she did.
Everybody included Lynn Anne even though she had already disappeared, but that was all right. She’d still get the message. Everybody would once she got the lighter fluid and matches Nick kept in the kitchen, along with the bag of charcoal. That was also where he kept the fire extinguisher. Kitty Anne brought that with her as well. It was showtime, and what a show it turned into.
Her mother came running at the first whiff of smoke, no doubt having already guessed that Kitty Anne had decided to take revenge. Lynn Anne tried desperately to stomp out the flames and save some of her pieces, but all she managed to do was catch her own clothes on fire. Kitty Anne reacted immediately, shoving her mother down and slapping out the flames as she rolled Lynn Anne in the grass.
By then Nick and several of the other instructors had appeared. They made the mistaken assumption that it was Kitty Anne’s clothes going up in flames and that she’d tackled her mother in response. Before Kitty Anne could even begin to explain that the situation wasn’t that logical, she found herself being hoisted up over Nick’s shoulders while the other guys put down the fire.
It went out quickly, but that didn’t stop the boys from gathering at the bottom of the hill below. Drawn by the smell and the commotion, they thickened into a large crowd. They didn’t disperse either but remained fascinated by the scene playing out in front of them as Lynn Anne threw herself at Nick, knocking him down in her attempt to get at Kitty Anne.
That was when things really got out of hand.
* * * *
GD glanced around one last time, assuring nobody was around before he slipped into the back door of Lynn Anne’s tiny trailer. The early evening light cast an eerie glow through the windows and painted the small place in creepy shadows that matched the psychotically feminine decorations.
It was no wonder Kitty Anne was so weird. GD shook his head at the thought and began doing what he did best—snooping. He was looking for some kind of leverage, something he and Nick could use to control Lynn Anne before things got out of control.
He had a suspicion that things were going to spiral in that direction pretty quickly. While Kitty Anne might be close to her mother, he didn’t suspect that either one of them had a lot of patience for the other, which meant it would be best if Lynn Anne’s stay was short.
GD kind of thought Kitty Anne would agree with that sentiment, but Kitty Anne’s mother wasn’t going anywhere until she got what she wanted, and he was pretty damn sure it wasn’t to marry Kitty Anne off. It was to be bought off. The good news for Lynn Anne was that Nick and GD were willing to pay. So that was what he looked for, but what GD found was rather amusing.
The cigarettes hidden in an old vase was cliché, but the pot hidden in the vents wasn’t, and neither was the bondage gear hidden in a small storage compartment built into the floor and tucked away from view by Lynn Anne’s bed. In some sick kind of way, all those telltale vices fit what he’d begun to suspect about Kitty Anne’s mother.
The woman was a fraud.
Shit, she might even be a dealer given the quantity of reefer, not to mention the stash of pills. GD studied the labels on the golden bottles and wondered if Kitty Anne knew what her mother was up to or the fact that Lynn Anne had damn near ten thousand dollars hidden in a fireproof safe box stored in a false bottom of a large planter out on the patio.
GD recounted the cash quickly and wondered why, if Lynn Anne had so much money, she stayed there when it was obvious, given the papers he’d found on her desk, that she dreamed of living in a much bigger trailer. The answer evaded him, and he figured it didn’t really matter as his phone rang.
It was Nick, and apparently all hell had broken loose, leaving GD repeating what was quickly becoming a new mantra for him. “You’re kidding me, right?”
Cutting back through the woods toward where he had left his truck, GD kept his voice low but couldn’t mask his shock as he listened to Nick describing a dinner, or at least an attempt at one, that was nothing short of tragically hilarious.
“Lynn Anne threw out all of Kitty Anne’s clothes?”
“Including her underwear,” Nick assured him.
“Then Kitty Anne set Lynn Anne’s clothes on fire?”
“I think Lynn Anne actually caught on fire…briefly.”
“Then Lynn Anne nailed you in the nuts?” It was hard, real hard, to say those words without laughing, but he tried. Tried and failed.
“I’m glad this is so damn amusing to you,” Nick muttered. “I’m the one sitting here on a frickin’ icepack.”
“Yeah, well, it wasn’t like the kids were going to be yours anyway.” GD shrugged out of the last of the brush and checked both ways before crossing the highway to where his truck sat parked in the darkened ditch. “So then what happened?”
“The two of them tore into each other.” Nick heaved a heavy sigh, and GD could all but hear the shake of his head. “I tell you what, man, we got three hundred boys in this camp and haven’t had one fight until the two women showed up.”
“I’m not sure it’s right to judge the rest of the female population on Kitty Anne and her mother.” In fact, GD knew it wasn’t. “They’re kind of special.”
“They’re kind of something,” Nick grumbled. “So after we get them separated, Lynn Anne demands to be taken to the hospital to have her burns looked at, and I’m telling you, she wasn’t even singed.”
“She’s probably planning on suing you, or Kitty Anne,” GD tacked on as he settled into the cab and turned on the engine. He didn’t bother to pull out onto the highway, not wanting to be distracted from his phone call. “Apparently, it
’s a family tradition.”
“Great.” Nick sounded downright miserable. “That’s just what I need. At least, it didn’t happen on campus or I’d probably lose my accreditation along with my insurance.”
“Don’t worry. I got the goods to keep Lynn Anne on a leash,” GD assured him.
“Yeah? Well, what about Kitty Anne?” Nick shot back, unimpressed with GD’s confidence. “You should have seen her when she finally did show up to dinner. I mean, my God, dude! It was terrifying!”
“What the hell did she look like?” GD demanded to know, certain there was no way Kitty Anne could be terrifying.
“Her hair…it looked like somebody electrocuted her, and she had like clown makeup on and her skirt tucked into like five pairs of old lady panties…it was something else.”
“I can believe it. Kitty Anne’s quite an actress.”
“That was what it was, too, an act because the minute Kitty Anne found out her mother wasn’t there she went back to the bathroom and returned looking…somewhat normal.”
“And still beautiful enough to die for, right?”
“And still,” Nick agreed as they shared a moment of silence and acceptance of what fate had given them, both good and crazy. “That reminds me, I think we have another problem.”
“Another one?” They seemed to be swimming in them lately.
“When I caught up with Kitty Anne at lunch, she was sitting and talking with Seth.” Nick paused, but GD wasn’t certain what he was supposed to say about that.
“You think maybe she wants to add him to the roster?”
“No, dude! God!” Nick heaved an aggrieved sigh, proving Kitty Anne wasn’t the only drama queen in their group. “You know how shy Seth is, so she had to be the one pushing the conversation and then Kevin comes over and she was all sweet to him...”
“…and you think she might be into younger guys?” Now GD was just having fun with Nick, and he knew it.
“I’m thinking more in line with the fact that Kitty Anne is besties with Rachel…Rachel who got her arrested and now got her a job. Are the pieces starting to add up for you yet?” Nick asked obnoxiously, but GD still wasn’t completely impressed.
“Yeah, I guess you could be on to something,” GD admitted reluctantly. “I could always swing by Rachel’s work and take a look at her notes.”
Nick’s tone perked up as he jumped on that offer. “I like that idea.”
“Yeah, well, not tonight.” GD glanced at his watch and grimaced at the time. “I got another appointment to keep, and then I’ll head out that way.”
“Don’t bother,” Nick muttered. “I’m not in any kind of condition to have any fun, and Kitty Anne’s sulking over her clothes.”
“Then it’s up to us to cheer her up,” GD insisted. “I’ll be there in an hour or so.”
It would probably be more like “or so,” but he didn’t want to listen to Nick complain. Neither did GD want to head back out to the club, but right then, he was on the job, and he went where it took him. That evening it led him to Lana’s office. He had to know the truth about the fire, had to know if her brothers really had started it and if he’d been blaming an innocent kid all this time.
Just the thought of how wrong he might be made GD a little sick.
He didn’t find any evidence that pointed to Lana’s brothers, not that he expected to. She was smarter than that, but he couldn’t help but take note of her desk planner. It seemed as though every Tuesday she had a weekly meeting, but it wasn’t for any club business. There really was no reason to be suspicious. He just was.
So GD headed the rest of the way into Dothan to the bar Lana had notated and waited for her to arrive. She was punctual. Gwen Harold was late. GD straightened up in his seat as he watched Gwen sashay into the bar and told himself not to jump to any conclusions, not that he could. He didn’t have a clue as to what was going on, and he sure as hell couldn’t go in there and find out.
Instead, he tested the waters the old-fashioned way and called Lana. She didn’t answer. That wasn’t a good sign. An even worse one was that she called him back ten minutes later, right after Gwen had sauntered out of the bar looking pleased as punch. Lana looked less so as she followed in the other woman’s wake. GD eyed the two women as he flipped open his phone and called out a cheery greeting.
“Hey, Lana, what you got going on?”
“Not much. I was just seeing what you wanted.”
“Oh yeah? I was just curious as to what you were up to tonight.”
“You were curious about what I was up to?” That had Lana pausing in the parking lot and glancing around. She didn’t spot his truck buried in the shadows of the alley across the street, but the fact that she looked told him she was guilty of something.
“Yeah. I was thinking of introducing you to my girl and seeing about getting her a membership,” GD lied smoothly, watching as Lana relaxed and hurried on to her car.
“I’m not there now. I had some business to take care of, so…”
“Maybe some other time,” GD filled in easily for her. “I get the message.”
“You sure you want to get your girl a membership? You know the board hasn’t changed the rules for members’ significant others,” Lana warned him.
“Yeah, you’re right. I guess I ought to think about this a little more,” GD agreed easily, knowing that would stoke her suspicions anew.
That didn’t bother him. Just the opposite. It suited GD, and sure enough, Lana sounded as hesitant as he wanted her as she responded to that peculiar comeback.
“You do whatever you think is right.”
That was just what he intended to do.
* * * *
Kitty Anne looked around the shed and sighed. It was small and sterile looking, but at least it was clean. There was even a cot tucked into the corner and Nick promised that tomorrow he’d have electricity run out to it and a hole cut in the side for a window. If that wasn’t good enough, she’d have to return to the cabin and sleep with her mother.
That Kitty Anne would not do.
She was mad at her mother right then. Mad enough to once again consider throwing her mom out, but she still hadn’t figured out how she was supposed to do that. Drag her out by her hair? Throw all her stuff away? Change the locks when she went out?
Every single suggestion that popped into her head left Kitty Anne both amused and a little ashamed. Her mother had sacrificed so much for Kitty Anne. Worse, Lynn Anne would be quick to remind her of that, making Kitty Anne feel guilty enough to not have the strength to confront her mother.
So, she nodded and accepted her fate. After all, she’d lived in worse.
“This will do.” Kitty Anne sighed over that bit of faint praise and turned to smile at Nick.
Waiting in the doorway for the verdict, he appeared to relax at her acceptance. “I’m glad.”
“And I owe you a thank-you.” Sashaying up to him, Kitty Anne reveled in the now familiar thrill that twisted through her every time he was near.
He made her heart skip a beat, and she wanted to return the favor. However, when Kitty Anne wrapped her arms around his neck and tried to grind herself up against him, Nick laughed and stepped back away from her.
“You know I think you’re just the sexiest thing,” Nick started, and she could hear the “but” coming, “but I’m sorry. I’m sore.”
Nick was definitely sulking, and Kitty Anne couldn’t blame him. She and her mom really had put on a show, and unfortunately, Nick had kind of gotten caught up in the brawl. No doubt, he’d have claimed that was an understatement, given her mother hadn’t accidently nailed him in the balls with her knee.
She’d done it on purpose. Worse, she probably wasn’t done.
“I hate to tell you this…” Now it was Kitty Anne’s turn to hesitate over the moment as the “but” built in the air until there was no escaping saying it. “But she’s probably going to sue you.”
“So I’ve been warned,” Nick assured her, surprising
Kitty Anne.
“You have?” She blinked in confusion. “By who?”
“By me,” GD answered for Nick as he stepped up behind him. “Hey, beautiful, miss me?”
“All day long,” Kitty Anne shot back as Nick let him pass so he could swoop her up in his arms.
He gave her a quick kiss that turned into a long kiss at Kitty Anne’s insistence. Then she remembered Nick and his condition. That made this kind of cruel and anything more just downright mean. It was only Kitty Anne’s concern over hurting him that gave her the strength to pull back.
GD let her go, smiling as he glanced around the small shed Nick had managed to tow up from the campus below. It clearly had been some kind of garden shed given the musty, dirt smell, but Kitty Anne had smelled worse.
“Nice pad.” GD eyed the cot with a frown. “Did your boyfriend tell you that I was going to be sharing it with you?”
“You are?” Kitty Anne glanced over at the cot and chuckled. “Then I think we’re going to need a bigger mattress.”
“I think we’re going to need a bigger shed.” Nick sighed. “Because I don’t think all three of us are going to fit in here comfortably.”
“We could get a trailer,” Kitty Anne suggested. “I know just where to find the cutest, little one.”
“Now wait a minute,” GD spoke up, clearly following the direction of her thoughts, but he didn’t get a chance to lecture her before Nick’s phone went off.
He looked at the number and swore before answering. It didn’t take long to figure out what had him irritated.
Apparently, Kevin was gone.
Chapter Eighteen
“He’s not at the Davis brothers’ ranch,” GD insisted, but he could tell that Nick was having difficulty accepting that fact.