Loving the Heartland

by Marjorie Jones

  Kendra pulled off the old tire and shoved the spare into place before replacing the nuts and lowering the frame. Still crouching beside the tire, she turned to glance at Michelle over her shoulder. “You laughed at me,” she quipped, the smile in her voice evident. Kendra sent Michelle a look meant to tease, one eye squinting against the sun. She turned back to the truck and tightened the lug nuts.

  “No. I would never do that...” But Michelle laughed again, anyway.

  Kendra snorted and rolled her eyes. “Lord, save me from insincere women.” She secured the spare tire in place with the iron and stood back, crossing her arms over her chest.

  Michelle had a clear view of her back as her shirt stretched taut over squared shoulders. The laughter died in her throat and she swallowed. Hard.

  “Well, it’ll get us there. But we’ll have to pick up a new tire in the city.” Kendra lifted the large jack back into the bed of the truck as though it weighed nothing at all.

  Michelle didn’t answer.

  “Good thing I wasn’t pulling that empty horse trailer,” she continued. “Could’ve flipped the whole damn thing.”

  She still couldn’t respond.

  Kendra turned to stare at her. Was it possible for someone to spontaneously combust from a simple glance? Michelle vaguely remembered seeing a documentary about people who burst into flames for no reason. They must have been under the watchful scrutiny of Kendra Williams.

  Kendra took a step closer. Michelle wiped her palms on her skirt and her stomach trembled.

  A person would have to be blind not to see the sparks.

  “Miss Loving...” Kendra closed her mouth, as if the words she wanted to say wouldn’t come.

  “Michelle. My name is Michelle.”

  Fists clenched at her side, Kendra stopped at least two paces from where Michelle stood. “I don’t know what’s happening here, but...”

  Oh, no. Here it comes. She couldn’t bear the thought of hearing those words from her. Not from Kendra. She’d heard them so many times.

  Bad timing.

  My life is too complicated.

  Let’s be friends.

  I’m straight...

  At least she could be almost dove-soap certain that wasn’t the case here.

  “Don’t worry about it, Kendra. Really. I mean, it was one little kiss, right? You were upset; things were tense. It was only natural. No harm, no foul.”

  She forced herself to walk back to the truck. What she really wanted to do was run for the border. As far away from the humiliation and possible heartache as she could get.

  Kendra followed her, like Michelle knew she would. Why did she have to bring this up here? Where she had no escape? She threw herself into the front of the truck and tried to pull the door closed.

  One of Kendra’s weathered hands caught the edge and held it open. “Wait one cotton-pickin’ minute!”

  “We’re going to be late, Kendra.”

  “What was that all about?”

  Michelle shrugged. “What do you mean?”

  “I didn’t get to finish what I was saying.”

  Why did she insist on saying it? Why couldn’t she just get in the truck and drive? Michelle closed her eyes and bit her lip until she thought it would bleed. She tried to pull her other leg into the cab, but Kendra’s body was in the way, positioned between her legs like some primal being. A wave of tangible passion collided with reason and crashed over Michelle’s thundering heart.

  Kendra leaned forward slowly, her flesh putting off heat to rival the sun. Passion eclipsed reason as Michelle realized she’d jumped to the wrong conclusion. She braced herself for a powerful, searing kiss. Her body yearned for it.

  A truck pulled into the open space behind them, drawing their attention away from the moment. Three men climbed out and made their way over to them. One of them wore a dirty, red ball cap, which he pulled off momentarily to wipe his forehead. The second one, the largest of the group, had short-cropped black hair. The third was smaller than the other two. When he grinned against the morning sunlight, his parted lips revealed missing teeth. None of them looked like good Samaritans.

  “Ya’ll need some help?” Red-hat asked before spitting chewing tobacco on the ground.

  Kendra ran a hand through her hair and pushed away from the door of the truck, her head bent at a forward angle. “No thanks, man. We’re good.” Her voice was deeper than usual, as though she were putting on a show.

  Michelle knew why. If these strangers believed her to be male...

  Silence followed. The men looked at each other and one of them grinned knowingly. The ruse hadn’t worked. Worse, it was fairly apparent that they had interrupted something.

  The largest of the three men spoke. “Fellas, I think we may have just stumbled on a straight-up lezbo porno.”

  Kendra bristled, raising her head to its normal, confident aspect. “You guys can just drive on. We had a flat tire. I fixed it. We were just leaving.”

  “Yeah, a big strong man like you wouldn’t have any trouble fixing a flat, right?” The little guy replied, sarcasm dripping from every pore of his being.

  “Fuck you!” Kendra growled.

  Michelle had heard that tone of voice before. Kendra’s temper was on a tightrope.

  “Aw, come on, honey. Don’t be like that,” the second man cajoled. “We’ll just watch.”

  “Michelle, get in the truck and lock the door.”

  Michelle’s first reaction was to obey, but she didn’t follow it until Kendra made a hasty line for her side of the truck around the front end. Michelle reached for the door handle, but Red-hat got to her first. One of her legs was still hanging outside the cab and she instinctively raised her knee. She made hard, immediate contact with the man’s groin and he fell to the ground. Screaming.

  Kendra yelled from the front of the truck, “Lock the door!”

  Michelle scrambled to reach the handle and slammed the door just as the her attacker rolled away, clutching his groin and retching. She reached across the seat to grab her cell phone out of her purse. Why wasn’t Kendra in the truck yet? Panic closed her throat and stole her breath. She fumbled in her purse, searching blindly for her phone while scanning the windshield for any sign of Kendra.

  Kendra was pinned between the biggest of the three men and the hood of the truck, his outstretched arm holding her at length and his fist balled next to his face. He swung hard, making crushing contact with Kendra’s cheek. The force spun her around. Michelle’s eyes met Kendra’s. She screamed, “No! Stop!”

  “Stay in the truck. Lock the fucking doors!” Kendra’s voice was strong and forceful and not afraid. “Stay in the truck!”

  Toothless had found his feet. He banged on the window with his fist only once before circling the front of the truck. He helped the big guy hold Kendra’s arms while Red Hat rubbed his jaw. “I wonder if I kick your ass, if that’s really beatin’ a woman?” He laughed. “And when we’re done with you, we’re gonna show your lady friend what it’s like to have a real man.”

  Michelle couldn’t take it anymore. A thought struck her – clear, concise and right between the eyes as she stared at the asshole in front of her.

  The Williams Clan really liked guns.

  She spun onto her knees and reached between the back of the seat and the back of the cab. Her fingers touched cold steel and she grinned. She yanked the shotgun from behind the seat and checked to see if it was loaded. By rights, it shouldn’t be.

  But it was.

  She kicked open the door, raced around the front of the cab and shot once into the air. Then she cocked the five-shot, pump-action Winchester and leveled it at the three men.

  There is a very distinctive sound that a pump-action shotgun makes when the shells are chambered. The men dropped their hands. They let go of Kendra, who fell to one knee before steadying herself and standing upright. She spit blood onto the red dirt, wiping her mouth and nose with the sleeve of her shirt. She glared at the blood stains left on the
fabric and Michelle heard her thick breaths.

  Michelle turned her attention to their attackers. “I am so sick and tired of jerk-offs like you telling me how you would just love to show me what a real man is like. I’m sick to death of people like you spewing hate and violence. I’m gay. She’s gay. We’re both women. Get the hell over it, and if you don’t want to find pieces of your damaged brains all over the goddamned highway, I suggest you get in your truck and drive back to whatever cave you crawled out of.

  “Now!” Michelle raised the gun higher and reinforced the stock against her shoulder.

  Red-hat picked up his ball cap and headed toward his truck, pulling his keys out of his front pocket. The other two followed, with the little guy limping for his trouble.

  Michelle didn’t move until they had pulled back onto the road and were well out of sight around the curve. She began to shake, her stomach lurching into her chest. Lowering the gun, she ignored her weakness and rushed to Kendra’s side.

  Kendra’s lip was split and a line of blood smeared across her cheek. Michelle moistened the hem of her skirt and wiped it away.

  “Those guys hit like pussies,” Kendra managed to whisper with a smile. “They barely broke the skin.” The tremble in her voice was unmistakable. Kendra laughed, but it obviously made her ache. She clenched one hand against her side. “You know, you could have just told me you were gay. You didn’t have to go to all this trouble.”

  Tears finally burned the corners of Michelle’s eyes as she sucked in a breath. “Are you okay?”

  “Hey,” Kendra answered, standing up straight. “I’ve had worse from my mother’s old mare. They were pussies, remember?”

  In a stand-still moment that lasted the briefest of seconds and the infinity of eternity, tenderness engulfed her, taking Michelle’s breath away. Warm lips pressed against hers, bitter with blood and sweet with passion.

  Slowly, Michelle felt her muscles relax. First her neck, then her shoulders, until her entire body seemed to float on a summer breeze. Hot and inviting. Strong, soft hands grasped her shoulders and pulled her into a hollow of chambray and woman. A quiet squeak left her throat and she couldn’t begin to fathom where it had come from. No air was left in her lungs to form it.

  Prompted by pressure from Kendra’s lips and tongue, Michelle opened for her. Kendra tasted of coffee and mint and blood, the heady mixture intoxicating as it made its way through Michelle’s body like a drug.

  How had this happened? For days, Kendra had kept her distance until Michelle thought she would scream. Then that picnic, but no moves... And now? Now, Kendra filled her mind with images of their naked bodies wrapped in the sunlight and nights spent counting the stars.

  She didn’t know what the powerful ache in her heart meant. She only knew it lessened when Kendra held her like this. When Kendra kissed her, and ran her gentle hands over her back and...

  Passion heated her blood as the kiss deepened...

  Dear God!

  Kendra filled her palm with Michelle’s breast as Michelle arched into her touch. Her arms, leaden and heavy, moved around her neck. She became greedy for Kendra’s attentions, pulling her lips with her teeth, stroking the short hairs on the nape of Kendra’s neck.

  Everything about Kendra screamed for her attention. She wanted to feel her next to her. Inside her...

  Kendra pulled away, her breasts heaving with shortened breaths. “This is crazy.”

  Michelle frowned. Would she apologize? Again? Compared to the last kiss, they just made love on the side of the highway. How could she possibly live with herself if Kendra said she was sorry! Tears stung the back of her eyes.

  “Now isn’t the time or the place for ... this.” Kendra pushed away and retrieved her jacket from the back of the truck, escorting Michelle to her side door. “Can you just see the headlines? Dykes who should have known better run down by semi while making out on the side of road. Film at ten.”

  Relief swamped Michelle’s chest. She wasn’t sorry! She was just... practical. Michelle didn’t know if that thought made her laugh or if it had been Kendra’s joke, but she laughed just the same.

  Kendra collected her tools, tossed them into the back and then hurriedly slid behind the wheel and started the engine. Then she shifted her attention back to Michelle, the glow in her eyes completely serious. She lifted one hand and gently palmed Michelle’s cheek. “Are you alright?”

  Michelle leaned into the warm, fragile touch. “I’m fine, Kendra.”

  Kendra inhaled a breath and held it for a moment. When she released it, she looked deeply into Michelle’s eyes. “What I was going to say before... well, I don’t know where any of this is going, but I know that I didn’t know what was missing in my life before you got here. Hell, I didn’t know anything was missing. Things are kind of crazy right now, but I just wanted to say ...” She paused and ran a hand through her hair, exhaling what seemed like frustration. “Hell, I’m no good at this stuff. I’m just glad you’re here, that’s all.”

  A ripple of pleasure washed over Michelle, making her skin tingle and burn. She sensed how difficult such an admission must be for a woman like Kendra. Of its own accord, her hand stroked Kendra’s smooth, square jaw in a reflection of her hand on her cheek. “Everything will be fine. You’ll see.”

  

  Michelle couldn’t remember a time she’d been so happy. If it weren’t for the recent tragedy at the ranch, she wouldn’t have been able to keep herself from giggling every time Kendra looked at her. Maybe she’d never had anything to giggle about, until now. She marveled that the stoic, uncompromising cowboi beside her was responsible for the change.

  Kendra concentrated on the horses brought to the auction block. She’d bid on two already, having won the first and lost the second. She raised her head in a barely perceptible nod and the auctioneer accepted her latest bid.

  A moment or two later, Kendra owned the pretty little mare she’d called a Palomino. She sat back in the bleachers and rested her elbows on the bench behind her. The position put one of her arms around Michelle and she tamped down the urge to lean into Kendra.

  What would happen if she did? Would Kendra be uncomfortable with the show of affection? Would she push her away? The burgeoning feeling she was experiencing still seemed too new to allow such an assumption, so she refrained and rested her elbows on her knees instead.

  Glancing back at Kendra over her shoulder, she asked, “How many horses are you going to get?”

  “I’m shooting for six. That’s all I can haul back in the new trailer. But I’ll be coming back next week for six more.”

  “Why so many?”

  “I’m putting on another half-dozen or so hands next week. They’ll all need something to ride.”

  Another horse came up for bid, so Michelle fell silent and let Kendra pay attention to the bidding. A commotion ensued to their left. Several cowboys held a young man by the arms as he tried to break free. The cowboy shouted at a man she couldn’t see clearly as if he wanted to kill him.

  She elbowed Kendra to get her attention. “What’s going on over there?”

  Kendra shrugged just as the crowd parted and Harold Mason came into view. The air around her rippled with tension and she glanced back at Kendra. A muscle in Kendra’s jaw worked furiously as she gritted her teeth.

  “What’s he doing here?” Michelle asked, returning her gaze to Mason and his men.

  The cowboy put his head down and raised his hands before shrugging off his friend’s hold and marching out of the enormous metal barn.

  “I don’t know. But I think I’d like to talk to that guy that just left. I’ll be right back.”

  Kendra rose and sauntered down the bleachers, her boots echoing on the aluminum slats. Despite the concern thrumming through her mind, Michelle couldn’t keep her eyes off the fit of Kendra’s jeans and the ease with which she moved. For such a butch woman, she seemed to exude an inherent grace, as if nothing could ever catch her by surprise. Always wary. Alw
ays alert. But often underestimated by her slow, natural movements and relaxed manner. Michelle found the contradictions more than a little appealing.

  She watched Kendra until she exited through the same door as the earlier cowboy who’d been so upset with Harold Mason. She sighed, shaking her head, as Kendra disappeared.

  Moony as a school girl, that’s what you are.

  She could no longer stifle a giggle before she leaned back on her elbows, closed her eyes and relished her sudden blessings.

  The bench to her right sagged under considerable weight.

  She turned and found Harold Mason sitting close beside her. Too close. His presence startled her, like when she watched television and blinked just as the scene changed from one to another.

  Piercing black eyes fell on her. The lack of emotion behind those eyes stole her smile.

  “You know, Miss Loving, a person should carefully consider who they go to bed with.”

  Anger burst through her chest and her mouth fell open. “Excuse me?”

  An oily smile spread Mason’s lips, but didn’t reach his eyes. “Figuratively speaking, of course.”

  Something about the man scared her, made her want to run away. She wanted to slide further down the bench seat, but felt any retreat on her part would only fuel the man’s ego and make him even more dangerous. “How do you know my name?”

  “I make it my business to know everything about what concerns me. You work for Kendra Williams. That concerns me.”

  Fight fire with fire. If he wanted to play intimidation, she was more than willing. Buffering her spine with false bravado, she called on the hard-won experience of years spent dealing with casino managers and pit bosses. “Concerned, or scared, Mr. Mason?”

  He laughed. “Scared? Not in the least, Miss Loving. I just thought I’d give you the opportunity to cut your losses. A successful woman such as yourself shouldn’t feel obligated to a project just because of friendship. That pretty little waitress back in Vegas won’t hold it against you if you back out. It’s just good business.”