by Natalie Ann
She kept the groan from escaping her lips…barely. “I appreciate it and I’ll keep my fingers crossed it’s an easy fix, but let me know. As for this order, thanks for offering, but I’ll probably be here finishing up the last of the first part of the Fierce order. Since I couldn’t get vendor shipments fast enough, I’m doing everything in stages. The first one is due in two days.”
She was supervising every step of this order the first time through if she wasn’t doing it herself. This was too huge to mess up, especially with the big balloon payment coming up on the loan she’d taken out to bring this business up to modern times.
Sleepless nights weren’t as frequent as they used to be, but they tended to creep up on her just the same when money was tight.
“I don’t blame you there. If you change your mind and want me to stay, just give me a holler.”
“Will do,” she said and turned back to see the finished test. “Yes.” She pumped her fist in the air, did a little butt wiggle when she was positive she was alone, then loaded the blankets to get them done. She might be back on schedule.
“Alex. There’s someone here to see you.”
She turned to look at Alena, her office manager. So much for her schedule. “Did you get their name? I don’t have anyone scheduled today.”
“Jolene and Gavin Fierce. They were just dropping in and wanted to know if you had a few minutes. They didn’t say what they needed though.”
“I’ll be right there.” She couldn’t tell them no, not when Jolene had talked to Cade and they were giving her a chance.
After grabbing Ralph and making sure he kept the production going on the blankets, she rushed up front to see the Fierces milling around, looking at different samples and laughing. She remembered that about them. They were always laughing. Much like Cade. He always seemed so happy.
She wished she knew what it felt like. It’d been way too long since she felt any type of true happiness. Maybe when she was younger and dancing, before she reached an age of competition and pettiness. Mean names and rumor mills. Or the knowledge that money was scarce and the business had to come first. She didn’t understand it back then, but she sure the hell did now. Adulthood had a way of sucking at the best of times.
The Fierces hadn’t changed much at all. Gavin was still as huge as she remembered, maybe even an inch or so taller than Cade, and Cade was over six foot. Jolene was still as tiny as ever too, and it always amazed her to think Jolene gave birth to five kids at once.
“Jolene, Gavin,” Alex said, walking forward. “So nice to see you again. It’s been years.”
“Alex,” Jolene said. “Haven’t you turned into a stunning young lady. Look at her, Gavin. Isn’t she beautiful?”
“She is,” Gavin agreed.
“Beauty is just surface though,” Alex said. “You should see me after I’ve worked all night long and my hair is falling down and I’ve got dark circles under my eyes.”
Jolene laughed. “I still don’t know that that would make you any less beautiful, because beauty is within, just like you said. Your mother has been singing your praises, but then again, you were always a good kid.”
Alex felt her face flush. She was an only child and hardly ever acted out. Her parents worked long hard hours to keep things together. Money had been tight at times, and Alex worked in the family business long before she was sixteen.
She’d gotten way more attention for her looks than she wanted and tried to become a tomboy to avoid it. It didn’t matter what she did, she still got attention, and with attention comes rumors and speculation. Especially from other girls when the guys brought her name up too often. She never should have let her grandmother talk her into those pageants as a teen. They ended up making matters worse.
Sometimes talk followed you to the grave, regardless of the truth behind it. She couldn’t get out of high school fast enough. She spent a lot of her teen years working to stay away from groups or activities where she’d get caught up in lies or judged.
“I’m sure my mother is keeping some of my ‘moments’ quiet.”
Gavin laughed. “All five of our kids had plenty of ‘moments’. Some more than others. Sorry to just stop in this way, but we were wondering if we could pick out a few things for a throwback line. Did Cade mention that to you?”
“He did,” she said. “He said he was still trying to figure out what he wanted.”
“He’s a good boy too,” Jolene said. “Probably had more ‘moments’ than the other four, but his heart was always in the right place at the right time. More loyal and trustworthy than the rest.”
“You’re making him sound like a dog, Jolene,” Gavin said, laughing.
Alex giggled. “Cade has been really helpful and easy to work with. I appreciate you giving him my name. He offered to pass some of my business cards around to his contacts after the first shipment is done.”
“See,” Jolene said, turning to her husband. “His heart is always in the right place. I don’t know why the others always gang up on him.”
Gavin snorted. “Really? Because he’s exactly like you. Laid back but never zipping his lips.”
Alex expected Jolene to say something sarcastic, but all she did was laugh. “Gavin, you love me that way.”
“I do,” he said, agreeing. “Now let’s get down to business so that we can get out of Alex’s hair. That is if you’ve got time for us. We think we know what we want. Cade thought it’d be neat if Jolene and I picked out a few of the items ourselves since it’s the old logo that I created in the beginning.”
She smiled. “I think that’s a fabulous idea. Why don’t you both come to my office and we can look over what I’ve got.”
The Fierces followed her to her office and took a seat at a table while she grabbed some catalogs and brought over her laptop.
Jolene laid her hand on hers before she could open her computer. “How’s your mother really doing? She looked good when I saw her, but there was still such sadness behind her eyes.”
Alex felt her shoulders drop. “She’s hanging in there. As you know, my father kept the business running and my mother really only helped out. It was hard for her to step in when we lost him two years ago.”
She didn’t want to mention her father hid how bad the business was really doing from everyone. Pride probably kept it locked up hoping he could turn it around. She knew that feeling well now and she’d been told often she shared her father’s stubbornness.
“You didn’t hesitate to move back home and help out though,” Jolene said. “Family is what it’s all about.”
When Alex had graduated from college, she’d been offered a job in Texas. She wanted to get out of the area and make a name for herself. She wanted to follow her boyfriend back to Dallas too. Both ended up being a mistake.
“It is. I was ready to come home anyway,” she said. “My mother needed me in more ways than one and at the root of it, I needed her too.”
“Like I said. You’re a good girl.”
***
“I can’t believe you,” Gavin said to Jolene in the car on the way home. “You just don’t know when to quit.”
“What?” she asked, not even bothering to turn her head to look at him. Hiding her guilt, that was what she was doing.
“I’ll give you credit for being three for three, but Cade is the wild card. Are you trying to set that poor girl up for heartache?”
Jolene laughed. “Please. She’s tough as diamonds.”
“Pretty as diamonds is more like it,” Gavin said.
“Yep, and yet she isn’t trying to have anyone see that. Totally not Cade’s type at all.”
“Then what are you trying to do?” he asked, getting confused now.
“Get them to see they’ve got more in common than they ever imagined.”
“You’re nuts. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Cade is too much of an attention hog himself to get involved with someone who is trying their hardest to keep eyes off of her. He would have a
hard time being with someone who doesn’t want any eyes on her at all. A fool could see that with the way she was dressed.”
“Cade needs someone to let him know it’s not surface. That it’s what is inside that counts. He also needs to realize that he can’t outrun his past but should just face it.”
“Now what are you talking about?” he asked.
“Nothing.”
“You’ve always got something going on in your mind. What is it this time?” he asked.
“You know as well as I do that Cade has acted out for attention his whole life,” she said.
“Yep, and it always backfires on him.”
“Exactly. He’s changing and he’s matured. But the one place he hasn’t really matured is with women.”
“Because he hasn’t been willing to settle down like the other three,” he said. “That’s why you’re nuts. Let Cade be.”
His lovely, sweet, wild wife reached over and pinched his arm. “I’m not letting him be and you shouldn’t either. Cade is the one that needs the most help. It’s taken me this long to find the right girl. One that might put up with him not taking much seriously and getting focused. Those two need each other. Now they just have to figure it out on their own.”
He snorted, realizing that sometimes there was no arguing or winning with his wife. Not when she was usually right. He just wasn’t going to admit it.
Uncommon Around Here
Cade knew he was dreaming, or he thought he was. Maybe hoped. Only he couldn’t get his brain to wake up no matter how hard he tried to push the fog aside.
“I wasn’t aware you three were friends,” Cade said to Sarah, looking around the sorority house at the three girls who had set him up. How he wished he’d seen what was in front of his face back then.
“We aren’t,” Allison said. “I’m friends with both of them. They’re each in one of my classes. I was talking about my date last Friday in class with each of them.
Cade gulped. Last Friday had been the first time he and Allison had had sex. He wanted to make it special for her. “What did you say?”
“I told them how the most handsome man on campus took me to a hot spot downtown. Then he impressed me with all his knowledge of food and beer,” Allison said. “That one of his brothers was going to be a famous chef and another brother was already brewing beer.”
Him and his big mouth trying to impress the women.
“Imagine my surprise,” Allison said, “when Sarah overheard me and said she was dating someone that did the very same thing.”
“Imagine that,” Cade said. “Small world.” Though he wouldn’t consider what he had with any of them actually dating since he hadn’t talked to Sarah in weeks or Lori for that matter. Three dates were all he had with Allison in the past two weeks.
“Small indeed,” Allison said. “Then I went to another class and was bragging to someone else about the second part of our date. The part where you took me to a hotel and made me feel special, not like you just wanted to get in my pants. That most college kids wouldn’t spring for a hotel; they’d just want to go back to their room.”
“It was a special night,” Cade said. “And I’m not sure I said we were exclusive at all.”
Allison just bared her teeth, making him wish he didn’t let that slip out.
But damn it all, he’d heard Allison was seen with her ex that she was bashing just two days ago. Part of him was thinking she was only using him to make her ex jealous. Since he wasn’t looking for a relationship and just some fun, he didn’t have a problem with that. But now he had a problem if she was going to turn the tables on him.
Lori jumped in and said, “I had the hotel experience too. See, that’s pretty uncommon around here. Seems you like to make women feel special the first time they sleep with you, right?”
He felt like a pig at a hillbilly barbeque right now trying to figure out a way to not get roasted.
“No, ladies. You all had a great time when we were together and I don’t remember one of you saying you didn’t want to go to the hotel room either. And I repeat, I never said we were dating exclusively—to any of you—nor did any of you ask or say that is what you were looking for.”
“You think that makes it right,” Sarah said. That pleasure that was in her eyes earlier was now the torch ready to light the flame under him while he was hogtied.
“Right or wrong, I never lied to any of you. Can you say that I have? Have any of you ever asked me if I was seeing someone else? I know I never asked any of you that question, yet I’ve seen you, Lori, and you, Sarah, with guys making out at a party just last week.”
There was silence for the moment while the three of them narrowed their eyes at him. His siblings always said he could talk the Devil into handing over his pitchfork, yet for some reason he couldn’t figure a way out of this other than being honest.
Which he was trying and they were listening, but he wasn’t stupid enough to think they’d let him walk out of here without some forks stuck in his carcass.
“So it’s our fault?” Lori asked, crossing her arms.
“You asked me on the first date, Lori,” he said. “And now that I think about it, so did you, Sarah. The only person I asked out was Allison, which was just two weeks ago. And I did it because you were throwing enough hints my way that a blind man could have caught them all. But both you and Sarah approached me first over a month ago,” he said to Lori.
The girls were all staring at each other now. “You told me he approached you,” Lori said to Sarah. “And that you were with him last weekend when I said I was with him.”
Holy cow, honesty might get him out of this. He was inching back while the two girls started going at each other, accusing each other of lying. They both were lying; he’d only been with Allison in the past two weeks.
“So you liked me the best then,” Allison said, her eyes lighting up. “You approached me, so I’ve got to think you were just passing time with them and they didn’t mean anything?” She was walking closer to him, her eyes all soft. What the hell was going on now? Was she really into him? Had he read that wrong too?
“You’re all disgusting.”
Cade turned to see his sister, Ella, standing there. Part of him was thrilled, the other part mortified. Great, she’d get to witness this and hold it over his head.
“Excuse me?” Allison said. “Is he seeing you too?”
Cade wanted to roll his eyes. Anyone could tell Ella was his sister. “Really, Cade?” Ella said. “You can’t find them smarter than this? No, I’m his sister. And it’s disgusting because you all planned this. You all planned on trapping him tonight. Did he ever tell you it was anything more than a couple of nights together? No, he didn’t, did he?” Ella answered before they could. “You know why? Because if you three think you’re the only ones, you’re fruitier than a box of sugary cereal. And how do I know that? Because I just had a talk with a few girls upstairs.”
Sarah’s face turned red. “You have no right to come in here and talk to my sorority sisters.”
“Really?” Ella said. “Considering they were all up there laughing about what was going on down here. One of them is actually a friend of mine and clued me in on what was going down tonight. She also informed me that Cade is the man most of the women want to spend a night with. Or at least try to, and that the three of you actually planned this. You all thought you could catch him in a lie and make it look like you had something over him. That you could get some rebellion or movement going on about all the cads on campus. Making you girls all look like victims. For what? To gain more popularity? Your pride lets you screw a man for that?” Cade cringed, glad he wasn’t on the receiving end of Ella’s rant right now. These girls had no idea of her wrath.
“Is that why you approached me, Sarah?” he asked, feeling some shame mixed in with embarrassment now. “What about you, Lori?” It’s not that he wasn’t approached often, but he found it odd that it happened twice in a short period of time like it had a month
ago. “And like I said, Allison, you were throwing every sign out to me, all but begging me to ask you out.”
Sarah snorted. “Everyone wants a piece of you and you gladly take what is offered.”
He started to open his mouth, but Ella turned and glared at him, so he closed it. Probably wise.
“I didn’t know who he was,” Allison argued.
“Give it up, Allison,” Lori said. “Some bitch upstairs spilled it all. Don’t try to come out of this smelling like a rose. You were hoping Bobby would get jealous enough to take you back, or fight Cade for you.”
Ella rolled her eyes. “You all had your fun at Cade’s expense. Let’s go now,” she said to him.
He wasn’t about to argue, not when Ella got them all to go back at each other and accuse the other of messing up the plans tonight. Whatever the plans might have been.
They were outside now, walking fast and toward the sidewalk to get back to their dorms. “Thanks,” he said. “That was close.”
She turned and punched his arm. “I meant you too when I said they were all disgusting. What is wrong with you, Cade?”
“Nothing,” he said. “You said it yourself: they were all after me. I’d be stupid to say no.”
She stopped and turned, then narrowed her eyes under the streetlight. She may be barely five foot three and just over a hundred pounds, but he was shrinking back faster now than when the three girls were ready to clamp his balls in a vise and take turns twisting.
“One of these days you’ll grow up. Just be lucky I heard what was going on.”
“I would have been fine,” he argued.
She laughed. “Whatever. Everyone thought I needed one of my brothers at the same college to protect me. Looks like I’m the one that’s been protecting your butt more than anything.”
“One time, Ella. Give me a break.” She lifted her eyebrow at him and smirked, looking just like their mother. “Fine, four times now.”
“Grow up, Cade.”
He sat up in bed fast now, hating that dream from college. Hating that he hadn’t had it in years. That he’d thought he was so smooth with the ladies back in the day.
