Tangled Up in Texas

by Delores Fossen

  “Cody Joe will leave now and take the pony with him,” McCall went on. “He won’t come back, and he won’t try to contact you or me again. I’ll go back to San Antonio and get a hotel room.”

  She aimed another glare at Cody Joe. “I want to end all of this—quietly.”

  At that exact moment, there was the sound of approaching vehicles. It didn’t take long for those vehicles to come into view. Leyton’s cruiser was in the lead, no sirens or flashing lights. Right behind it though was a San Antonio PD cruiser with its blue lights slashing through the darkness.

  And right behind that were two news vans from TV stations in San Antonio. Broadcast vehicles, complete with satellite dishes that would no doubt make it easy to turn all of this into a breaking news story.

  Any chance of quietly had just bit the dust.

  CHAPTER TWO

  “DON’T WORRY, MCCALL,” the woman in the stripper outfit called out when she stepped from one of the news vans. “Everything will be okeydokey.”

  McCall was reasonably sure that nothing about this situation would be okey or dokey.

  Austin must have realized that, too, because he started muttering curse words under his breath. While he propped his hands on his hips, he stared out at the circus that was now playing out in his driveway and front yard. It didn’t matter that this wasn’t his circus, nor his monkeys. Before this was over, McCall was going to owe him a thousand apologies along with cleaning up some metaphorical monkey poop. First though, she had to defuse a very ugly mess.

  Wadding up the sides of her dress so she could walk without tripping, McCall started out toward the people who were pouring out of the vehicles: three cops, two cameramen and two people that she guessed were reporters because they had microphones.

  Leyton was a welcome sight—especially since he hadn’t arrived with sirens blaring, and unless he’d changed a lot over the years, he’d be levelheaded and reasonable. That wouldn’t make this hunky-dory, okeydokey or less poopy, but at least it wouldn’t add any more monkeys to the circus.

  Her assistant, Rue Gleason, aka Boo, might be of help, as well. Definitely not a circus monkey on most days. Too bad though that Boo was giving this tawdry mess even more tawdriness in her stilettos, sequined halter top and red micromini leather skirt that stopped only an inch below her crotch. Since Boo still had on the “Miss Watermelon Participant” sash, maybe it had been pinned to her outfit, too. Of course, knowing Boo, maybe she just liked wearing it.

  “Why are the San Antonio cops and news crews here?” McCall asked her. She tried to keep her voice to a whisper and hoped that Boo did the same.

  Boo didn’t. “I wasn’t going to let that weasel-balled turd get away with grabbing you like that. I told a cop friend that I met at the fund-raiser, and he said he’d come and arrest Cody Joe. A reporter heard me talking to the cop and offered me a ride out here. The reporter said he was coming even if I didn’t give him directions or anything.”

  Boo sent a steely look at Cody Joe, who was heading in their direction. So were Austin and the Shetland pony. That only upped the urgency to get rid of the problem—the cop—that Boo had obviously seen as a solution.

  McCall didn’t want a San Antonio cop to arrest Cody Joe because it would just end up making more news than it already had. Plus, he hadn’t “grabbed” her for the purpose of bruising her but rather had tried to hold on when she’d turned to walk away from him. Yes, that was pretty much the same thing, but if McCall had thought for a second that he’d been trying to hurt her, she would have kicked his nuts all the way into his throat.

  “I’ll issue a statement in the morning. For now, I want you to respect my privacy and leave,” McCall said, aiming that at the reporters.

  She kept her voice level and noncombative because she’d already had enough bad press for one night. While flying off the handle would feel good temporarily, it could end up costing the foundation even more money in donations.

  “I want you to go, too,” Austin added, “and since I own this property, and you’re trespassing, that leaving will happen right now.”

  “Say, that’s the guy from Little Cowgirls,” one of the cameramen said.

  McCall groaned. In all the years Little Cowgirls had been on the air, Austin had appeared on screen only about a half-dozen times, but he’d gotten a ton of fan mail. His good looks had played into that. Still would with that tousled nearly black hair and sizzling blue eyes. The man looked like a rock star—even in that tutu.

  “I’m sure you want to tell your side of the story as to what happened between Cody Joe, you and Miss Watermelon,” one of the reporters shouted to McCall.

  “Leave now!” Leyton snarled, tapping his badge and holding up a pair of handcuffs that he took from a clip at the back of his jeans. Unlike McCall, Leyton didn’t bother with a level or nonconfrontational tone. He was all pissed-off cop.

  The cameramen didn’t stop filming, but they did walk backward to their vans, and once they were inside, they slowpoked their way down Austin’s driveway. Heaven knew how bad the spin would be that they’d put on this story, and first thing in the morning, McCall really did need to do some damage control.

  “I’m Officer Gary Hatcher,” the cop said. “I’m here to take Cody Joe Lozano into custody for an incident that happened at the Miss Watermelon beauty contest in San Antonio jurisdiction.

  “I was in pursuit,” he added to Leyton, “so that’s why I crossed into Lone Star Ridge.”

  Officer Hatcher grinned at Boo, and McCall instantly knew why he’d taken such an interest in going in pursuit and bringing Cody Joe to justice. He was lusting all over Boo. Of course, plenty of men did.

  “Sorry, but I gotta take you in,” Hatcher told Cody Joe. He shook his head, scratched it, smiled. “But I gotta tell you, I’m a hell of a big fan of yours. That ride you did on Gray Smoke up in Austin was one of the best I’ve ever seen.”

  “Well, thank you. I appreciate that. Always good to hear from a fan.” Cody Joe turned on his thousand-watt smile that McCall suspected he’d been practicing since he had first cut teeth.

  Of course, he’d had to practice that smile around that silver spoon in his mouth, and it had paid off. He was a trust fund rodeo champion with movie-star looks and charm that often got breaks mere mortals didn’t. However, it appeared getting out of his arrest was one break Cody Joe wasn’t going to get.

  “But I still gotta take you in,” the cop added to Cody Joe with plenty of regret. Regret that eased up a little when Boo winked at Officer Hatcher. “Just come on with me, and we’ll try to get this all straightened out as fast as we can.” He shifted his attention to McCall. “You’ll need to come, too, and press charges, ’cause Boo here said that Cody Joe assaulted you.”

  “I didn’t. It was just a misunderstanding, that’s all.” Cody Joe didn’t lose an ounce of his charm with that denial. “I didn’t want her to leave before I explained things.”

  “No explanation needed,” McCall countered. “I got the picture when I saw your jeans hiked down over your hips and your hand in Miss Watermelon’s bikini bottom.”

  There’d be actual pictures of that, too, since McCall hadn’t been alone when she’d gone into the ladies’ room at the rodeo arena and found Cody Joe on the verge of banging the contest winner against the feminine hygiene products dispenser. A few attendees who’d just needed to pee had been right behind her. So was one of the biggest donors of the fund-raiser, Elmira Waterford, who’d simply wanted to powder her nose before the next round of publicity photos.

  Elmira, who was the mother of the contest winner that Cody Joe had been about to nail, hadn’t taken things well and had ended up needing medical attention because of hyperventilation and a panic attack.

  It’d been while Elmira was breathing into a discarded Chick-fil-A bag that McCall had gotten out of the trash that Cody Joe had insisted this was all a misunderstanding and t
hat he needed to speak to McCall alone. McCall had resisted telling him to do anatomically impossible sex acts with himself and had held her ground about not leaving with him. That was when he’d grabbed her. That was also when she’d stomped on his boot to get him to back off.

  While the drama of the night was still playing out in her mind and would continue playing out in the press, McCall started that damage control now. “I won’t be pressing charges if Cody Joe leaves and agrees not to come here again.”

  And once Cody Joe was gone and she did some serious groveling to Austin, McCall would do the same.

  “But, McCall, I really need to talk to you,” Cody Joe protested. He started to move toward her, but Leyton blocked his path. “I need to make things right,” he hollered over Leyton’s shoulder.

  Apparently, Cody Joe was going to continue to act like a fool tonight, but McCall didn’t get a chance to show him her shoe as a reminder of what would happen if he touched her again. The sound behind them caught everyone’s attention.

  Girl squeals.

  McCall turned to see the twin girls in pj’s run out the front door, onto the porch and then down the steps. The girls were identical except for their hair. One had a halo of dark blond curls bouncing around her head. The other had a choppy bob that appeared to be in the growing-out stage.

  That gave McCall a déjà vu moment of when her own sister, Hadley, had cut McCall’s hair. It’d been used in an episode that the producer had joked was “why Badly Hadley can’t be trusted with scissors.”

  “A pony!” the girls squealed in unison. That was accompanied by giggles, jumping up and down and immediate attempts to pet the pony.

  Obviously, these were Austin’s kids, and it was also obvious that this wasn’t something he wanted them to see because he hurried to them. McCall did the same. Well, she hurried as much as the dress allowed, but she wasn’t sure if the Shetland was skittish and might knock the girls down.

  Austin made it to the girls well ahead of her, and he scooped them up like footballs in each of his arms. “You should be in bed,” he said, but there was no anger in his voice.

  “But we woke up ’cause we heard loud talking,” the girl with the longer hair proclaimed. “Santa got us a pony!”

  The twin with the shorter hair gave her a puzzled look as if she might have realized Santa didn’t bring gifts in June, but then her gaze landed on McCall. Her eyes widened. “It’s the fairy princess,” she said with the awe of someone who might be witnessing the real deal coming toward her.

  McCall smiled at her but didn’t get a chance to explain that she was merely a fake fairy princess before the other girl asked, “Where’s your magic bunny?”

  “She brought her magic pony instead,” Austin answered without missing a beat. “Princess McCall, this is Avery.” He kissed the nose of the one with longer hair. “This is Gracie.” He gave the other a kiss on her cheek. “But now that you’ve met the princess and her pony, you have to go back to bed. That’s the fairy-tale rules, and we can’t break them.”

  The girls groaned, of course, and the one with the longer hair declared that “Rules suck.”

  “Yeah, they do on many occasions,” Austin agreed. “You still have to obey them.”

  He turned and headed toward the porch, holding the girls in such a way that he was clearly trying to keep their little eyes and attention away from what was going on beyond the pony and the princess. But the “rules suck” Avery pointed at the driveway. “Nuckle Leyton,” she squealed. “I wanta see Nuckle Leyton.”

  “Tonight, Uncle Leyton’s part of the fairy-tale police. So is the other guy in the uniform. They’re here to make sure we don’t break fairy-tale rules.” Austin didn’t offer explanations for Cody Joe and Boo.

  Avery gave her father a flat look as if she clearly wasn’t buying that. Gracie gave a little wave and shy smile to Leyton, who was now walking toward them.

  “Let me put them back to bed,” Leyton volunteered. “Then you can finish up here with... Princess McCall. I’ll read you a story,” he said to the girls when they started to protest about having to go to bed.

  All protests stopped, even though the twins both cast longing glances at the pony. Since Austin raised horses, McCall would have thought a pony wouldn’t have been a big deal, but it obviously was. Maybe because it’d been a surprise and was still wearing the flower garland. The “magic” part might have played into it, too.

  “I’ll talk to your dad and the pony and see if it can visit you sometime soon,” McCall said to try to console them. It worked. The girls cheered.

  “Read us two stories,” Avery insisted. She cuddled against her uncle when Austin passed off the girls to Leyton. “And we get ice cream.”

  “Nice try.” Leyton took hold of Gracie, too. From the looks of her droopy eyes, the excitement for her had run its course, and she’d likely be asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. “Yes to the two stories, but nope to the ice cream.”

  “FYI.” Leyton lowered his voice and leaned in closer to Austin. “Howie and Edith will get wind of this.”

  Austin nodded, groaned and looked as if he wanted to start digging the hole to bury himself in. It took McCall a moment to realize that she recognized the names. They were Howie and Edith Marygrove, Zoey’s parents.

  “Shit,” Austin muttered once Leyton had the girls out of earshot and back in the house.

  She didn’t know the specifics as to what was going on, but McCall remembered Granny Em mentioning something about Zoey’s parents wanting to raise the twins. Crap. If there was some kind of custody struggle going on, this free-for-all certainly wouldn’t help.

  “I’m so sorry,” McCall said. “I honestly didn’t mean to involve your girls in this.”

  He didn’t give her a “that’s okay” or any other sign that he wasn’t riled to the bone about it.

  “If you think it’d help, I could talk to Mr. and Mrs. Marygrove and explain none of this was your fault,” McCall pressed.

  Austin slid glances at her, Cody Joe, the cop and Boo. “Just wrap this up. I want as little getting back to them as possible.”

  That was her cue to get moving again, so with Austin on her heels, McCall went back to Cody Joe and Officer Hatcher.

  “As I was saying, if Cody Joe leaves now, then I won’t press charges.” McCall motioned toward the Shetland. “And if Austin agrees, you’ll leave the pony for his daughters. Send me a bill and I’ll reimburse you for the cost.”

  Even with the blue lights from the cruiser swirling on his face, McCall saw the glimmer go through Cody Joe’s eyes. A glimmer that let her know he thought this was a time to bargain with her.

  “The kids can have the pony as a gift,” he said, “if you’ll give me another chance and forget all about what happened in San Antonio.”

  It was such a ridiculous bribe attempt that McCall couldn’t even muster up another round of temper. Boo could though. She made a sound of outrage and lunged toward Cody Joe, but Officer Hatcher hooked an arm around her waist and held her back.

  “You were going to marry this guy?” Austin said, tipping his head to Cody Joe, who was attempting his “gotta love me” grin.

  “No.” McCall couldn’t say that fast enough. “But we were a couple,” she was forced to add.

  “A couple of what?” Austin asked.

  A burst of air left her mouth, not quite a laugh, but as close as she would come to one tonight.

  Austin turned and looked at her. The blue lights were swirling on his face, too, but she didn’t see a glimmer there. However, she did see the hot cowboy that’d once been her crush.

  “Cody Joe and McCall are cofounders of the Saddle-up for Tots foundation,” Boo pointed out. “Cody Joe’s the poster-boy celebrity, and his name brings in a lot of money.”

  Austin made a sound to indicate that that explained a lot. It did. But it didn’t exp
lain why the foundation was so important to McCall. Or that she’d known from the get-go that Cody Joe was irresponsible. However, this was the first time he’d put the foundation in the center of what would almost certainly be a scandal.

  “Me and you together can still pull in a lot of money for those kids,” Cody Joe went on, obviously trying to sell an unsalable plan. “I love you, McCall. Just give me another chance.”

  Deciding that he just wasn’t going to get it, that he’d done something that couldn’t be undone, McCall shook her head and turned to walk back to Prego Trail. Cody Joe made another move toward her, and this time it was Austin who stepped in. He caught onto Cody Joe’s arm, but all of Cody Joe’s charm vanished, and he tried to push Austin away.

  Enough was enough.

  McCall turned to give him another “kick to the nuts” threat, but Cody Joe took a swing at Austin. He missed. Then he pulled back his fist to try again. Boo, McCall and Officer Hatcher all went rushing in.

  And Cody Joe’s punch caught the cop right in the face.

  A wise man would have stopped right there and started apologizing, but Cody Joe decided to lunge at her again. Since now both Austin and Officer Hatcher had hold of him, his momentum sent them forward.

  Toward Boo and McCall.

  They all went to the ground, landing in a tangled heap of bodies. McCall’s shoe did indeed land in the area of a man’s nuts, but not Cody Joe’s. Instead, she connected with the cop’s. He howled in pain, and McCall wanted to do the same when Boo’s seriously hard elbow slammed against her cheekbone.

  There was some cursing from all of them, coupled with the sound of the pony, who was neighing over the melee. But there was another sound, too. A car engine. A moment later, a sleek silver Mercedes came to a stop, the tires kicking up the gravel in the driveway, and the headlight spotlighting the human heap.

  McCall managed to crawl out on all fours. So did Austin. His mouth was bleeding, the tutu practically ripped to shreds, but he’d clearly fared better than Officer Hatcher. His nose was gushing blood, there was a cut on his forehead, and he was using both hands to clutch his balls while he writhed in pain and rolled from side to side.