by K. C. Crowne
“What’re you doin’ tonight?”
“Finishing up here. Then hopin’ my car actually starts. Then I’m goin’ home and gettin’ some rest before comin’ back to do it all over again.”
“I’ve got a better idea.”
She cocked her head to the side. “Is that right?”
“Yeah. Come with me into town when you’re done. You ever been to Raddler’s?”
“Never heard of it.”
“Burger joint down in Patterson. Got the best damn French fries you’ll ever eat. And the beer’s good and cheap.”
“A cheap date, huh?” she asked, a hint of a smile on her full, red lips. “You really know how to entice a woman.”
The word date brought the whole situation into the forefront of my mind. Yeah, I wanted to take her on a date. And I wanted to do a hell of a lot more than that with her. But with the conversation I’d had with Travis still fresh and knowing what I knew about what he was likely thinking, I figured that wasn’t the best idea in the world.
“Not really a date,” I said. “More like…a couple of friends grabbin’ a bite.”
Confusion and relief washed over her face in equal parts. Easy to see she was likely conflicted about everything too.
“Hm. Alright, I’ll grab a burger with you. But you ain’t payin’.”
“Whatever the lady wants.”
“Let me finish up in the barn, shouldn’t be more than fifteen minutes.”
“I’ll help.”
She opened her mouth, almost certainly to protest, but seemed to realize there wasn’t any talking me out of it. “Fine, fine. But you helpin’ is a one-time thing, got it?”
“Got it.”
We headed into the barn, the low light of the late afternoon sun streaming in through the top windows and dappling across the hay bales. My little fantasy of getting frisky with Skye returned to my thoughts. But I pushed it out as best I could.
Skye set her box down and I did the same. She looked at me and said, “Just help me get these supplies all in one place. I guess if you help it’ll make the job go faster.”
The two of us went to it, moving a few more boxes from around the barn all into one corner. With the two of us, it didn’t take long. When we were done, her belly grumbled loudly enough for me to hear it.
“That sounds like the belly of a woman who needs a burger, fast.”
“I ‘spose it does sound kinda good.”
“Then come on – I’m starvin’.”
The couple of beers I’d thrown back with Travis had got my appetite going, so my mouth watered at the thought of something good and greasy to eat. We headed out of the barn and to the parking area. She stepped over to a beat-up old truck, one that looked like it had seen much better days.
“That’s your ride?” I asked.
“What, not fancy enough for you?”
“No, not that. More that…I don’t know, doesn’t look all that safe to me. When’s the last time you took that in for a tune-up?”
She laughed. “You kiddin’? Between not havin’ the money or the time…gonna say a good few years.”
I didn’t like the sound of that. Not only was it beat to hell, the tires looked bare as a newborn’s head. “I’m gonna take a look at it later. I’m more of a construction guy than a car guy, but I know enough to make sure it’s safe to drive.”
“You don’t need to do that.”
“Skye, there’s no debate here. If you’re gonna be drivin’ that thing, it needs to be safe. Consider it a favor to let me look at it if you want.”
Again, she seemed to get the impression there wasn’t any talking me out of the matter. And there wasn’t. The thing with Bryce caused concern about her safety, and I wasn’t about to add a dangerous truck to the mix.
“Fine. But food first, truck shit later.”
“Deal.”
She climbed into her truck and I climbed into mine. Before I gunned the engine, I listened as hers sputtered to life, the sound not giving me any more faith in the safety of her truck. But I’d have to worry about that later. I let her pull out first so I could stay behind if anything happened to go wrong with her truck on the way down.
About fifteen minutes later, we reached downtown Patterson. I texted her the address of Raddler’s and we were soon in the parking out getting out of our trucks. We walked inside and found a booth near the window that looked out on the small park in the center of town.
“Holy hell,” she said, the beat-up paper menu open in front of her. “Now that I’m here I feel like I could eat a whole damn cow.”
“Ask the kitchen – might be the day’s special.”
She grinned before turning her attention back to the menu. “Alright,” she said when the waitress arrived. “I’ll take…the double-bacon cheeseburger, extra bacon. And can you do the thing where it’s fries and onion rings all at once? And make that a large size.”
“Hell, sounds good,” I said. “Gimme the same. And a pitcher of Bud.”
The waitress jotted down the order and was off.
“Damn,” I said. “You weren’t kiddin’ about bein’ hungry.”
“I never mess around when it comes to food. People are always surprised when they see how much I can put away.”
“Nothin’ wrong with a girl who likes to eat.”
Skye had curves for days, and it was easy to see where she got them. It made me like her more – nothing more annoying than a woman who ordered nothing but salads and picked at it when it finally came.
With the food ordered, the grim expression returned to Skye’s face. I realized I was about to have the second conversation of the day about the me-her-Travis situation. And there was something else. Sitting there with her, talking with her about nothing in particular, made me realize there was major chemistry between the two of us. I’d been sincere in bringing her out to spend some time together as friends, but it was hard as hell to not want to move things in a different direction.
No sense in waiting to bring the issue up. After we’d spent a little time chatting about this and that, I cleared my throat and changed the subject.
“OK,” I said. “You’ve obviously got somethin’ on your mind, somethin’ that’s bothering you.”
She glanced away as if she’d been caught. “It’s…nothin’. Nothin’ you need to worry about.”
It was strange. If she was worried about me and Travis, it most certainly was something I needed to worry about.
“Come on,” I nudged. “Not gonna do you any good bottlin’ in up.”
She took a deep breath, her eyes on the table in front of her. Finally, she lifted her gaze to me and spoke. “There’s this website…”
I frowned. Wasn’t the direction I imagined the conversation to go. “What kind of website?”
“It’s kind of an investigative newsletter sort of thing. I run it with a few friends of mine from college, activist friends who have as much passion about animal rights as I do.”
“Sure.”
“And I wrote this piece a few days ago. Nothin’ major, just a tiny expose on this racetrack in town.”
“Shamrock Greens?”
Her eyes lit up. “Yeah, that’s the one. How’d you know?”
“Figured – it’s the only track nearby. Anyway, go ahead.”
“They treat the animals there terribly,” she said, a hint of sadness in her voice. “Ride the life out of ‘em, and when they show the first signs of losing their step, they’re sold for…God, I don’t even want to know what they get sold for. Anyway, I wrote this article about what I’d heard from a few employees, how they treat the animals.”
“And what happened?” Bryce came to mind, my blood heating as I remembered the conversation I’d overheard.
“I checked the article this morning and the comment section has blown the hell up. And all the comments were really bad. Like, threatening bad.”
“Are you serious? What’d they say?”
“Called me a liar, said I was
makin’ stuff up for attention, slandering the name of a local business owner, things like that,” she listed. “Said I didn’t know the first thing about horses, said that if I knew what was good for me, I’d quit writing such nonsense.”
My hands clenched into fists under the table. “Bryce Atwater.”
Her eyes widened. “You…you know him?”
“I know him. And it sounds like the kind of shit he’d pull.”
The waitress brought the food, but both of us were too engrossed in the subject to touch it.
“And what’re you thinkin’?” I asked. “You wanna pull the article?”
“Hell no,” she said hotly. “Article’s stayin’ up, and there’s gonna be a hell of a lot more to come.”
I grinned, loving her passion and fire come out. “But,” I said, sobering. “You know Bryce is gonna be a problem. If he’s behind this shit, and I’d bet good money he is, there’s not a chance he’s gonna keep things at some pissy comments online.”
“I know. And he hasn’t.”
“What?” The word came out in a growl. The idea of Bryce doing anything to her was…not something I wanted to hear.
“When I protested at Shamrock. He’s come to talk to me. Though it’s less like ‘talkin’ and more like ‘threatenin’.”
“How?”
“Tellin’ me that if I’m smart, I’ll leave him and his business alone. Tellin’ me that he’s dealt with people like me in the past before, and he’s not afraid to do it again.”
“Fuckin’ prick.”
“No kiddin’. But I’m not scared of him, not even a little. He can do his worst.”
I snatched up a fry and popped it in my mouth as I contemplated her words. Skye was brave and bold, no doubt about that. But Bryce had money, and he had power.
I vowed that I’d look out for Skye. Nothing was going to happen to her.
Not on my watch.
Skye
Bringing up the subject of Bryce didn’t put me at ease. Made me pretty damn tense, actually. But having Adam with me, listening to my concerns, it actually helped. I didn’t know the man very well, but it was obvious he wasn’t about to stand around and let some rich prick threaten and intimidate me.
Felt good to know I had someone like him in my corner. Went a long way.
When I felt ready to eat, I tore into my burger. Just like Adam had promised, it was fucking delicious. The burger was juicy and flavorful, the bacon crisp to perfection. And the beer to wash it all down with was the cherry on top.
After finishing our meals, I sat back with a full belly.
“That was pretty damn impressive, gotta say,” Adam said, his eyes on the grease stain on my plate where the burger had been.
“I told you, I like to eat. And workin’ on the ranch sure as hell gave me an appetite.”
“You want anything else?” he asked. “They’ve got some killer blackberry pie. Not sure if it’s as good as what my mama makes, but it hits the spot just right.”
“Nah. Beer’s my dessert.”
“I’ll drink to that.”
He poured the rest of the pitcher, the two of us tapping our glasses after he’d filled them.
“Alright,” he said after taking a sip. “Here’s the deal – I’m gonna drive with you back to my place.”
“Your place?”
“Yeah. And you’re gonna hang out while I take a look at your car. Shouldn’t take too much time.”
“Aw, hell, you don’t need to do that. I told you.”
“It’s nothing,” he said. “And if you’ve got a prick like Bryce breathin’ down your neck, that means you’ve got enough to worry about. Knowing your truck’s up to speed should be a little bit off your mind.”
I wanted to protest. After all, I knew a little about cars myself. But Adam was obviously one of those stubborn cowboy types, the ones who took pride in looking after the women in their lives. No sense in trying to talk him out of it.
“You’re…pretty damn sure it’s Bryce?” I asked.
“I’m thinkin’ it is. After what I heard him say, it wouldn’t surprise me that he’d go to that kinda length to intimidate someone.” Another sip of beer. “You have any other run-ins with the man?”
“Yeah. There’s these city council meets I go to sometimes and I see him there. The guy’s got pull around town, I think.”
“You’re right about that. The money his family’s got means he has a say in how these parts are run. What happened there?”
“Well, I do my best to make sure the issue of animal rights is on people’s minds. And he never likes to hear about it – always shootin’ me down and talkin’ over me and all that shit.”
He nodded. “Like it or not, you’re on the man’s radar. Doubt he’s gonna let up until you do.”
“And I ain’t gonna let up. After hearin’ what I have about how he treats the horses at his track…not a chance in hell I’m gonna stand aside while that happens.”
“Sounds to me like that thing about two irresistible forces collidin’,” he said. “Not gonna be pretty.”
“I’m not scared. My parents always taught me to do the right thing, and I can’t think of anything more right than closing down that damn track.”
“You say that like it’s gonna be simple. Bryce has money, and like it or not, money means you’ve got power. And you’re just some kid fresh out of college—”
“I’m not some kid,” I said, my tone sharp. “I know what I’m doin’.”
He raised his palms, as if signaling for me to calm down. “Now, I ain’t sayin’ you’re stupid or nothin’.”
“Then what are you sayin’? That I’m naïve?”
“More like…still learning how the world works.”
“Talkin’ to me like you’re my daddy or somethin’,” I grumbled, crossing my arms over my chest.
“I ain’t tryin’ to baby you. But Skye, I’ve been on this planet for ten years more than you. That means ten years more of experience seein’ how shit works. And I’m sorry to say that when a man’s got money and power, things tend to work out in his favor. Regardless of whether or not they work out in the right way.”
I wanted to tell him he didn’t know what he was talking about, but there was something to his voice that made me believe him, like he’d been through some shit I didn’t know about.
“Then what I’m I supposed to do?” I asked. “Give up?”
“No, don’t give up. That won’t sit right with someone like you. But be careful. Play it smart.”
“Easier said than done, you know.”
“I know. But also understand that you’ve got two guys lookin’ out for you.”
Travis. We hadn’t talked about the issue between the three of us, and I wasn’t sure if I’d even know how to do it. I still wanted both of them – our night together had only whetted my appetite for the men. But Adam seemed more interested in looking out for me, in being my friend.
As much as I wanted him to be between my legs again, maybe a friend was something I needed more.
The bill came and I reached for my purse. But before I even had a chance to open the zipper, Adam slipped a pair of bills into the book and handed it back to the waitress.
“Hey,” I said. “You’re payin’ for the food, too?”
He grinned. “If you don’t like it, consider it a celebration of your first day on the job.”
“Fine, fine.”
Adam was in construction, but he was the cowboy-type through-and-through. Stubborn, rugged, and damned charming. His type had always had an effect on me – I couldn’t resist them.
“Let’s get a move on,” he said after polishing off the rest of his beer. “I want to make sure your truck’s in good working order – it’ll put my mind at ease as much as it will yours.”
Truth be told, I was glad to have him look at it. My truck had been dependable over the years, but I knew she was getting up there. I finished my beer and the two of us headed out. We’d parked around back in the
alley of Raddler’s, so we had to walk around the building to get to our trucks. When we turned the corner, I saw something that made my jaw drop down to the damn concrete.
My truck. It’d been totally trashed.
“What the hell?” asked Adam.
They were the exact words on my mind, but I didn’t say them out loud. The truck was a mess. The tires had been slashed, the windows broken, and deep gouges cut into the sides. It was more than a break-in – someone had set out to wreck my ride.
“My truck!” I stammered out the words as I ran over to her. The damage was even worse up close –inside I could see that whoever’d done the job had gone to the effort of tearing up the seats and ripping the ignition.
I turned to Adam, who looked about ready to boil over with rage.
“Who…who…” I shook my head as I looked at my truck with frantic eyes.
“You know who.”
“Bryce?” I squealed.
He nodded. “We’re not sticking around. And I’m sure as shit not letting you go back to your place. Come on.”
I wanted to protest, to tell him I’d be fine. But the state of the truck had put fear into me. Still shaking, I hurried to Adam’s truck and he helped me inside.
“You stay right here,” he said. “I’m gonna call the police.”
I nodded weakly, still in a state of mild shock. Adam took out his phone and stepped in front of the truck, making the call.
Didn’t take more than five minutes before a Patterson PD squad car pulled up. The officers got out and approached Adam, who eventually gestured for me to come speak. The conversation with the cops was a blur – I was barely aware of what I said to them. They took a report, told us they’d look into it, and were gone. Adam called a tow truck, who told us they’d be by in a bit to cart my truck to Adam’s place. After all of that was done, we got back into his truck.
Adam turned over the engine and pulled out of the parking lot. I didn’t know what to say, what to do. We drove in silence for a time.
“It’s Bryce,” he finally said. “You know it, and I know it.”
“Maybe…maybe it was some kids. Some punk-ass vandals or something.”