by Ray, Marika
I ran a hand through my hair. “Whoa, we wouldn’t want that.”
“Don’t worry. I’m getting my marketing degree online. I won’t be a driver for hire forever.” She scowled, looking off over my ear like she was lost in thought. Then her gaze came back to mine and she smiled so bright I forgot the sun had already set. “Anyway, if you need a ride or a tour of the surrounding areas, give me a call.”
“Will do. Thanks for that. I might take you up on that if I ever get a day off. Been a hell week getting the prison open.”
A short woman with curves and enough sass to rock them bumped Lenora.
“Don’t be hogging the new guy, Lenora. Give us all a chance, would ya?”
Mmm. I liked that level of confidence and liked the way her hips undulated as she shifted there in the sand.
“Jesus. Give the guy some breathing room, huh?” Rip muttered loud enough for all to hear sitting in a low chair not far from us.
The new girl rolled her eyes and frowned with an impressive amount of attitude. In fact, if the fire wasn’t already lit and burning high, she could have started an inferno with that expression of hers. Rip might be a nice guy, but damn, this girl didn’t like him one bit.
She ditched the fierce scowl and reached out her hand. I was all too happy to grip her firmly, feeling her soft skin and wondering if she was that soft everywhere.
“I’m Hazel. Nice to meet you, Bain.”
“Hazel. That’s a pretty name. Fits you just fine.” I hadn’t let go of her hand yet and if the night went the way I hoped, maybe I wouldn’t have to.
“Bejesus,” Rip muttered again, hopping up to put another log on the fire.
Hazel swiped her free hand through the air. “Don’t mind him. He’s always grumpy. Has been since high school. It’s like he went through puberty and got stuck in the moody stage and never grew out of it.”
“So, where you from, city boy?” Amelia fired her question at me, splitting my attention between the three ladies surrounding me. Damn, this was exactly what I needed to turn my week around.
“Just north of here. San Jose.” I took a healthy sip of the beer, realizing I hadn’t had this much fun in quite a while.
“Aha! I knew you were from The City. Those jeans are just a little too stiff, if you know what I mean.” Amelia winked at me while Titus scoffed behind her.
“He looks fine, Lia. Leave the guy alone.”
I looked down at my legs stretched out in the sand. “Yeah, what’s wrong with my jeans?”
Hazel jumped back into the conversation, edging a little closer to my side. “When you live in the country long enough, you can just tell. It’s like when someone from outside of California comes to visit and they call it Cali. You just know they’re from out of state.”
A loud cheer from the other side of the fire pit drew our attention.
“I knew I shouldn’t have let my little brother bring his friends.” Lenora shook her head.
We all watched a young couple split away from the group on foot and meander out into the dark, finally disappearing into the hillside.
“What’s happening?” The back of my neck was tingling, which always happened when something was going on and could possibly turn bad. I didn’t choose the law enforcement life, the law enforcement life chose me.
“It’s just the young kids being stupid. There’s a legend here in Auburn Hill you should probably know about.” Titus dropped his voice down low.
I couldn’t help myself. I leaned in, wanting to hear every detail. There was something in the human DNA about a good story told around the fire.
Rip took up the story, he and Titus tag teaming. “The first gold nugget in California was found in 1848 in Sutter’s Mill. The first gold nugget to be found in what would become Auburn Hill was found in 1851. Men flocked to the area, looking for their own treasure.”
Titus jumped in. “Thank you, Mr. Historian. People found gold, all right. All the way up until a year later when it seemed to run out. Just like today, there were hundreds of sea caves in these cliffs. It was rumored that the only remaining gold was in the sea caves.”
“’Course, blasting away in a sea cave is fairly dangerous. Several men lost their lives in a horrific sea cave collapse and the group of forty-niners left standing voted to stop mining for gold in the area. It was just too dangerous.”
Amelia wrapped a blanket around her tighter. I was sure they’d all heard this story a hundred times over by now, but everyone’s gaze was firmly trained on the two men. Titus leaned in, his face highlighted by the flickering flames.
“Legend has it that a huge gold mine in one of the sea caves will reveal itself when the time is right. Now, Hell Raisers never miss a chance to have a good time, so over the years the legend morphed into the gold mine revealing itself when the right couple has sex in the right sea cave.”
Rip shook his head like it was the most ridiculous thing he’d ever heard and I had to agree with him. “So watch yourself, Warden. If you’re ever hiking and come upon a sea cave, might want to give a warning holler before traipsing right in. Half the damn town has been caught in a compromising position.”
Titus made a face like he bit into an unripe lemon. “That’s how I got an eyeful of Poppy Strauss, the mail carrier pushing retirement age. Couldn’t even see the guy she was straddling. Haven’t been able to look her in the eye when she delivers my mail for over three years now.”
I tossed my head back and laughed, hearing it echo back to me off the rocky cliffside. The warmth of the fire kept me from shivering though my skin which was cool from the wind coming off the water. The ocean waves crashing against the shoreline were a perfect backdrop to a perfect evening.
This town was crazy.
And I liked their brand of crazy.
8
Lucille
My car had a weird knocking sound under the hood this morning and it was making me anxious. Of course, everything was making me anxious. I’d blackmailed the warden and hadn’t heard a peep. I may have been a blackmailer, but I at least had some tech savvy. I put a read notice on my email, so I knew he’d opened it. He’d had almost twenty-four hours to respond. What had I gotten?
Crickets.
And the wait was about to drive me right out of my mind.
“Oh dear Lord,” I muttered out loud.
The town sign entering Main Street was graffitied again, this time a bright red spelling out “Hell.” The rogue artist had even spray-painted horns onto the top of the sign, adding a spark of creativity I found comical. The mayor was probably already having a fit over his breakfast, as I was sure the news of the addition had made its way to his house phone.
The smile had barely left my face when I barked out a laugh at the sign in front of the only motel in town. No graffiti here. Just a huge sign with those removable letters you can rearrange for a different message every day if you so choose. And someone chose to. Today’s message was “No meth heads or little dogs in purses.”
Very specific. And totally understandable.
That should keep the riffraff out.
The engine knocked again, a little harder this time as I felt it in my hands on the steering wheel, right as I pulled into the last parking space at Coffee. I really needed to call the mechanic and have him take a peek under the hood. Seemed she needed major work once a year, costing me a small fortune, but I couldn’t bear to give her away. I kept my life buttoned up in most areas—barring the recent blackmailing thing—and the convertible was the one thing I allowed myself to not be practical about.
I climbed out and slammed the door shut, taking the time to pull out my phone from my big tote bag and call the mechanic. I made an appointment for Monday and hoped she made it until then. That done, I headed into Coffee and got in line, scrolling through social media while I waited. I didn’t like working on a Saturday, but many times clients had weekday jobs, which didn’t leave a lot of time for things like fertility treatments.
Normally, I’d so
cialize a bit while I waited, but with the way my hands were shaking, I didn’t think today was the day to get all friendly. Shaky meant clumsiness waiting to happen in my book. Who knew what would come out of my mouth. I needed some food to settle my stomach and nourish my brain so I could determine my next course of action with the warden.
What kind of name was Bain anyway? I’d finally done some research, discovering the annoying man was from the San Jose area, which made all kinds of sense. He was from The City, thinking everyone in a small town operated on the same premise of strangers even when we’ve seen each other a million times. Nuh-uh. Here we said good morning to just about everyone, dropped by with food when you were down with the flu, and turned a blind eye if we saw you sneaking into a sea cave with a good-looking friend.
Bain.
More like the bane of my existence.
“Next!”
The line trudged forward and I nodded out a few good mornings to people I knew, not trusting myself to engage in conversation. Every wood-backed chair was filled with another citizen angling to fuel their day while they got a good peek at everybody else. Couldn’t pass on gossip unless you headed into town and purposely overheard conversations you weren’t supposed to.
“Onion bagel, toasted with cream cheese, and a large black coffee.”
That voice.
I’d know that snarly voice anywhere.
I looked up sharply, nearly dropping my phone when I saw that dark head of hair a couple people in front of me in line. The taupe uniform did things to his butt that shouldn’t be legal. My goodness. The muscles were damn near threatening to split the seams of his pants. Was that much muscle really needed? I mean, I appreciated it, for sure, but was it necessary to put on display like that?
Clenching my jaw, I wrenched my gaze away from his backside. I should not be looking there. I needed to remember how annoying he was instead. Besides, sexually ogling the person you’re blackmailing seemed a bit skeevy, even for the new me who did crazy things spurred on by magical animals.
The line moved forward, and out of the corner of my eye, I could see Bain scooting down the wood counter made out of a huge fallen tree years ago by Charlie, the local cabinet maker. By the time I got to Lukas at the register to give my order, Bain had turned away and started walking to the door with his ordered food. I whispered my order to Lukas in a long run-on sentence and threw a ten-dollar bill at him. I raced out the door after Bain, not a single thought in my head except for one.
That jerkhole needed to take me seriously.
Which in hindsight would have been communicated better if I hadn’t been attempting to run in heels, with a huge tote bag thumping against my thighs, and my wallet still out, pennies dropping and pinging off the concrete sidewalk with each hurried step.
“Warden!” I shouted at top volume, but it came out a little breathy and a lot quieter than I intended. I wasn’t a runner, sue me.
Bain spun on his heel a lot quicker than I anticipated, which was how I ended up face-planting into a broad chest that smelled of fir trees and Christmas. I pinged off faster than I’d ever moved in my life. He held his coffee out to the side, the precious beverage spilling over the side and onto the walkway.
“Shit!” He stepped to the side and put the cup down on one of the outdoor tables and flung his hand out.
I winced. That coffee had to have been scalding hot. It appeared I burned Bain Sutter in more ways than one. I stifled the giggle as I remained positive now was not the time for hilarity.
“What do you need, Miss Eureka?” he ground out.
I swooped a few strands of hair back behind my ear that had fallen out of my low ponytail on impact. My skin felt like I had an electrical current running under it. I glanced around but didn’t see a goat or a cat. Hmm. This was getting weird. Maybe I was coming down with something.
“Lucille,” Bain barked.
I jumped, forgetting for a hot second that I was the one to stop him. I pasted on a smile.
“Good morning.”
He lifted a thick dark eyebrow and the current picked up intensity.
“So, um, I wanted to see if you got my email.” I resisted the urge to wring my hands. I had to keep up a strong front.
He sputtered, his face turning redder by the second. “Yeah, I got your email.”
“Oh goodie! So, you’ll help me keep the inmates out of my clinic?” Aha! Blackmailing had worked. Take that, every school teacher and parental figure who’d condemned the nefarious practice.
“No.”
Hold up, what? Wait a second. I blinked repeatedly, thinking I’d misheard him.
“Well—”
“Good morning, Warden.” The mayor walked up behind me and extended his hand to Bain, completely ignoring me. He sure hadn’t ignored me when he was convincing me to put my new clinic on that stretch of road he was so high on developing.
The two men shook hands and backed off to stand with their feet wide apart, arms crossed. The temperature of the air chilled a few degrees. If I wasn’t mistaken, I was witnessing a standoff developing.
“Working on a Saturday, I see.” The mayor eyed Bain.
Bain dipped his head, then looked back at the mayor defiantly, an expression I was all too familiar with. Something was going on here, something below the surface of this conversation that I didn’t have the first clue about.
“Sure am. Gotta make sure things are up to snuff for the new week. We’re supposed to be fully functioning come Monday and I’ll make damn sure we are.”
The mayor sniffed, then pasted on a smile I recognized. It was the same one that was on all the posters a few years back when he ran for office. It was quite swarmy in person.
“Oh, I’m sure you will. Lovely to have you on the end of Brinestone Way, keeping an eye on all of our citizens.”
“Nothing I like better than keeping the citizens of Auburn Hill safe.”
I sneezed, a leftover side effect of Yedda’s cat fur, and remarkably, it sounded a lot like “bullshit.”
Bain’s gaze sliced to me and I saw a spark of irritation that pleased me quite a bit.
“Bless you.” Bain turned back to the mayor. “As I was saying, I’m sure things will settle down now that we’ve gone through a trial week. Nothing but smooth sailing ahead!”
I cleared my throat, rather loudly, unable to deal with all the bullshit pouring forth right under my nose. Care about the citizens? What a load of baloney. That’s why I had to resort to blackmailing him to keep those same citizens safe from his hardened criminals. Smooth sailing? Only if he did what I asked and got the flow of traffic from his facility to leave my clinic alone.
“Do you have a cold, Miss Eureka? Need a cough drop?” Bain’s jaw clenched tight around the words and I couldn’t help but flash back. I wondered if he always did that jaw thing. Probably not good for his molars, but it was a mighty fine sight to see from my point of view.
“No, no. I’m fine. Probably just some seasonal allergies from Yedda’s National Cat Protection Society. Well, that and I don’t like the smell of bullshit so early in the morning.”
Bain took a step toward me like he planned to wring my neck, yet I felt no fear. The only thing I felt was satisfaction. Oh, he sees me now, all right.
The mayor was forgotten entirely as Bain and I stared at each other. Those brown eyes of his were menacing, but they held a fire that drew me in. Made me a little reckless.
I fluttered my hands and produced a giggle, quite believably, if you asked me. “The silliest thing happens. The cats get out sometimes and come into my clinic to visit. Funny how neighbors can tend to intrude on each other if you’re not careful. Isn’t that right, Mr. Sutter?”
I smiled up at him, even going so far as to bat my eyelashes for good measure. His facial expression did something to the electricity now coursing deeper than skin level. Seeing him riled up made me positively gleeful.
Bain stepped even closer, the fire in his eyes lashing out at me, an untapped anger b
rewing inside of him. His target? Me.
Perfect.
Inside I laughed like a maniacal psycho. Outwardly, I tilted my head and wished desperately I’d left my hair down so I could have tossed it dramatically behind my shoulder.
“Well, I must be off to work. Good to see you, Warden. Mayor.” I finally ripped my gaze away from Bain’s, giving the mayor a slight head nod.
I spun on my heel and made it halfway to my car, Bain’s laser stare burning a hole through my blouse, when I realized I never got my muffin and coffee. Well, crap. There went my grand exit.
I spun again and marched right past the stunned face of the mayor. I didn’t hazard a glance at Bain. Figured I’d riled him enough.
My muffin and coffee sat all by themselves on the counter. I gave Lukas a thank-you and a wave and then I was back out the door, seeing that Bain and the mayor had dispersed. My head swiveled left and right before I could reel it in. No sign of Bain anywhere. The guy moved fast.
Whatever. My mission was accomplished. He couldn’t just ignore me now. This was a small town after all. We’d be seeing each other constantly. He could try to ignore my blackmail all he wanted, but I’d make sure our paths crossed.
Again and again.
My convertible chugged to life and cruised down Main Street, the same knocking sound coming more frequently now. I sent up a prayer to the car gods to get me to work and home all right. The last thing I wanted was to get stranded and ruin my one day off a week that I gave myself.
The car gods must have been listening, but had a poor attention span.
The little convertible made it down Main Street and even part of Brinestone Way, giving one final bang and sputtering on the street outside Yedda’s shop. I was able to get her off onto the shoulder before it came to a complete stop. All the righteous indignation that had fueled me after seeing Bain swooped out of my body. My head dropped back and hit the headrest.
“Well, shit.”
I squeezed my eyes shut and prayed for patience. At least I was here at my place of work. I could rest in the safety of my own business while I awaited the town tow truck. And I already had an appointment on Monday for the car to get looked at.