by Nikki Ashton
“I’m not sure I did the right thing,” I said and glanced over to see Dominic being comforted by Miss. Watkins, while he groaned in pain against her chest. “Maybe if I hadn’t Ellie wouldn’t have either.”
“I damn well would,” Ellie snapped, pausing her conversation with Carter.
“How the hell do women do that?” I asked. “Have a conversation with one person but listen to another.”
Ellie and my aunts all grinned at each other and shrugged.
“Anyway,” Janice-Ann said as she linked her arm with mine. “We just wanted to let you know there’s no need for you to take us home. We’re going back to Brewster’s room at Sunny Years to play poker with him and Norm.”
I looked over to where Brewster Whittaker and Norm Carmichael were grinning and waving their fingers at my two aunts.
Shit what the hell was in the water that made the older folks in this town act like teenagers at an after-prom party?
“How you going to get home?” I asked, glancing at my cell to see it was almost nine-thirty.
“Norm will bring us back on his scooter,” Lynn-Ann replied as she patted the back of her perfectly set silver hair.
It was three miles from Sunny Years to our ranch and Norm’s scooter was only big enough for one person to ride. Did he even have headlights on it? I thought about protesting to my aunt, but she already wore a look of grim determination.
“Okay, if you’re sure.”
She patted my arm and then looked coyly at Norm. “Oh, I’m sure, sweetheart.”
I suppressed a shudder and turned back to Ellie and Carter, who were going at it again.
“You should be on my side,” Ellie cried. “I’m your sister and he disrespected me.”
“I am on your side,” Carter replied, glancing over at Dominic who was dabbing a handkerchief to his lip. “But you have a career and punching guys won’t look good if the hospital board find out.”
“Hey.” I slapped a hand on Carter’s back. “No one is going to tell the hospital board.”
“Dominic might,” he snapped and turned to glare at me.
Ellie suddenly looked scared. It hadn’t occurred to me, but Carter was right. Dominic had been punched by a girl who had split his lip, not to mention the nice bruise I’d added to his cheek. Telling Ellie’s employers was just the sort of thing someone like Dominic would do. I decided to take control of the situation and moved around Ellie and Carter to Dominic and Miss. Watkins.
“Don’t you dare touch me.” Dominic took a step back and pulled Miss. Watkins in front of him – damn coward.
“I’m not, I’m here to make sure that this is the end of it all. You know what you did was wrong, cheating on Ellie and then coming back to rub her face in it.”
I looked at him and actually wanted to punch him again, but knew that wouldn’t help matters, plus he was hiding behind his woman and I couldn’t get to him.
“I didn’t rub her face in it. I’m entitled to drink in here.” Dominic winced as he dabbed at his lip again. “I was trying to be nice.”
“Winking at her when you’re wrapped up in another woman and then calling her frigid is nice?”
Miss. Watkins winced and took a half step away from Dominic. “You didn’t need to punch him, Hunter.”
“He disrespected my friend,” I said realizing as I said it that it didn’t feel as weird as I thought it might by calling Ellie my friend. She’d always been Carter’s little sister, but that hadn’t been why I’d punched Dominic. “And to be fair, you both have; when you carried on behind her back. Not real good behavior from a teacher now is it?”
Miss. Watkin’s face reddened, and she glanced over to where Ellie was with Carter.
“You’ll hear no more from us,” she replied. “We’re only back in town to put my house up for sale. We won’t be back.”
“Pamela—”
Dominic grabbed her arm, but she pulled away from him and stopped him abruptly. “No, Dominic. I can’t afford to have any investigations into our relationship.”
A look passed between them and when Dominic nodded my pulse notched up a rate.
“Fuck,” I said quietly. “Sex with a pupil, Miss. Watkins, now that is naughty. As for you, Dominic. I had no idea you had it in you all those times at high school when you crashed and burned with the girls. No wonder you didn’t put any effort into it if you were already banging one of the teachers.”
I braced myself for the punch for disrespecting Miss. Watkins, but the cowardly piece of shit just dropped his head and muttered something about, ‘leaving this shithole of a town’ and then stormed past me with Miss. Watkins hot on his tail.
“Okay,” I said and turned around to face Ellie and Carter, the rest of our audience now gone and tucking into Penny’s grilled cheese. “All sorted. We won’t be hearing from them again.”
“You sure?” Ellie asked hesitantly.
“Yeah, now let’s get another beer and talk about the hospital fundraiser.”
Ellie’s eyes lit up and I couldn’t help but smile. She looked like an excited little girl. She knew this was my way of saying I’d help with her damn awful plan to get Carter and Bronte together, and even though I didn’t think it was necessary, it might be kinda fun. We never did get around to it though. Penny felt we were a distraction to bingo night, so were asked to leave, which meant one very unhappy Carter.
Ellie
Carter wasn’t happy we spoiled his night in Stars & Stripes and was ignoring me. I’d been over to his apartment with a chicken casserole from Mom, but he’d opened up, taken it out of my hands and then slammed the door in my face. Even when I kept banging and ringing his doorbell for a full five minutes, it drew a blank, unless of course you counted his neighbor Valerie. She flung her door open and shouted a string of abusive words at me for a full minute before… slamming the door.
When I got to work and found no one had refilled the coffee jug, it added to my bad mood. I decided to order Carter a dildo online and arranged for it to be delivered to the veterinary clinic where he worked. That would teach him to ignore me just because I’d got us thrown out of the local bar.
Penny hadn’t barred us or anything like that, but she had told both Hunter and I to go home and cool off, and as he’d taken me there, Carter had to leave too. I think he’d hoped that Hunter might offer, as he went in the general direction of the street that we lived on, but he was out of there and speeding off in his truck quicker than Mrs. Abbot from the bookstore, on coupon day.
“Why has no one filled up the jug?” I grumbled to my friend and colleague Davis as he walked into the break room.
“It was Joella’s turn, but as usual she’s been too busy fluttering her eyelashes at Dr. Hotpants.”
I laughed and opened up the cupboard where we kept the coffee. “He’ll hear you call him that one day.”
“No, he won’t.” Davis sighed. “He doesn’t even know I exist. I could faint at his feet and he’d step over me.”
“Unlike Joella, who would trample all over you to get to Dr. Andrews.”
“Exactly. You totally understand.”
Davis had had a huge crush on Dr. Andrews since the doctor had first joined us six months previously, but he was right, he barely glanced Davis’s way.
“I think he’s scared of me,” Davis added. “I mean I’m so openly gay I could hold my own Pride event. I think old Hotpants is worried that I’m going to roofie him or something and take him into the storeroom and have my way with him.”
At the mention of the storeroom I thought about the last couple I’d found in there – Jefferson and Miss. Watkins. That reminded me not only of Dominic and his smug face, but also that Hunter and I needed to put our plan into action. Which also reminded me of the fact that he’d agreed to take part in the hospital fundraiser.
“I have some news which will cheer you up,” I said to Davis who took the coffee from me to get the jug on – he always said I made it too strong.
“What’s that?�
�
“Hunter Delaney is going to take part in the calendar this year.”
Davis’ hand went to his heart and he took an exaggerated step back. “Tell me you’re not joking.”
“I’m not joking.” I grinned at him and pulled two mugs from the cupboard.
“How the hell did you manage that?” He began to fan himself. “You’ve asked him for the last two years and he’s said no each time. What did you do to persuade him?”
I shrugged. “I kind of tricked him into it. I told Bronte he was going to do it before he’d said yes, and then I guess he didn’t feel he could say no”
It wasn’t exactly true, but I didn’t want to tell Davis about my plan. He had a mouth bigger than that on the Mississippi and would no doubt tell Bronte next time she tinted his eyelashes when he went into the small beauty salon that she owned.
The truth was we’d only been trying to hide our plan from Bronte, but it had been the first thing I’d thought of when she’d asked what we were talking about. I’d never once thought Hunter would go along with it, so when he texted me after our night at Stars & Stripes to say he was in on the plan and the fundraiser I was more than surprised. I read the text at least five times to be sure I’d read it right.
“I want in on the photoshoot that day,” Davis squealed. “I need to see that cowboy’s hot bod with those beautiful tattoos.”
“How do you know he has a hot bod and that his tattoos are beautiful?”
I turned to get the creamer from the refrigerator, mainly because I didn’t want Davis to see my pink cheeks. I’d seen Hunter without a shirt, and he was right, his bod was hot, and his tattoos were beautiful; my favorite being the edgy and cool, zombie cowboy on his left, tight, tanned pectoral.
“Ellie what the hell are you doing?” Davis asked and clicked his fingers in front of my face.
“W-what?” I stammered, pulling my scrubs away from my chest and wafting it to create some breeze around my girls.
Davis let out a roar of laughter. “You were pushing your thighs together girl and circling your damn nipple.”
“I was not!” I gasped and punched Davis’ arm. “You, big fat liar.”
He held his hands up, palms forward as if I might be about to shoot him. “Swear on the life of RuPaul, honey. You were having naughty thoughts about Hunter Delaney, weren’t you?”
“No.” I pushed a mug toward him. “Coffee now. I only have ten minutes of my break left.”
“Please would help.”
“Please.” I gave him a narrow-eyed stare. “Circling my nipple, as if,” I muttered.
“Swear to God, and like I said, on the life of Our Lord RuPaul.”
I cleared my throat as heat prickled over my chest and back. Okay, Hunter was a good-looking guy, he was sexy if you liked that tattooed cowboy thing that he had going on. If you could even call him a cowboy, he didn’t even wear a Stetson, instead favoring a ball cap, often flipped around with the peak at the back and a tuft of his hair poking out the front and a pair of shades hooked in the front of his shirt. And, more often than not he drove a truck, only riding his horse to round up the herd.
“You’re doing it again, honey,” Davis called as he poured the coffee.
My eyes met his and his eyebrows were high up on his forehead as he pushed a mug to me.
“I’ll take this back to the nurse’s station,” I muttered.
“Okay, honey, you do that.”
Davis gave me a look that said he knew my secret, well great for him because I had no damn idea what it was. There was nothing wrong in daydreaming about Hunter, like I said he was handsome and most girls in Dayton Valley had crushed on him at some point – except for me, I’d never seen the attraction. He was just Hunter my brother’s best friend.
“Oh, and Ellie,” Davis called as I reached the door. “Maybes wipe that drool from your chin before you do your drugs round.”
I chose to ignore him, but still felt my chin, just in case.
Hunter
I looked at Carter and gave him the dead eye, only for him to laugh right in my face.
“Fucking fancy dress,” I moaned. “You know how I hate fancy dress.”
“And you know that Belinda’s birthday party is always fancy dress. You could have bailed if you really wanted to. I’m guessing the prospect of seeing Belinda Jennings dressed as a sexy schoolgirl again, is what had you logging online and buying that.” He pointed at my outfit and grinned.
“I didn’t damn well order this and you know it. How did you manage to change the order without me knowing anyway?’
Carter winked and shrugged his shoulders. “You should know not to leave your account open on your laptop.”
“You were supposed to be checking my damn cows, not messing with my fucking fancy dress order. I only slipped out for a few minutes to pee.”
I glanced down at my costume and groaned. I looked like an idiot.
“Like I said, you could’ve bailed or not worn it.” Carter shifted the box of beers in his arms and pushed through the door into the crowded hallway of the Jennings’ house, strutting through in his Top Gun outfit and Aviator shades.
“Carter,” Belinda our hostess and birthday girl screeched and ran toward us, her arms waving in the air.
“Belinda, looking lovely as usual.” Carter leaned in and kissed her cheek. “Happy birthday.”
She was dressed as expected, as a sexy schoolgirl and I was pretty sure that her skirt was a damn sight shorter than the year before.
“You brought beer,” she squealed and almost pierced my eardrum as she bounced up and down and clapped her hands.
Belinda could only be described as perky both in personality and tits. Rumor had it that the perky tits had been a twenty-first birthday present from her mom and dad.
“They can go in the kitchen with the keg my daddy organized. Isn’t it good of him for doing that? He and Mom have gone away for the night so we can have fun. My brothers are running wagers on beer pong in the dining room if you want to go play.”
I was exhausted from just listening to her and when she went quiet, I wondered if she’d actually passed out through lack of oxygen. I looked at Carter who was grinning at her like she was a little kid who was telling some tall tale that barely made sense.
“I need a drink,” I muttered. “Great to see you, Belinda, Carter you coming with?”
Carter nodded and gave Belinda another quick kiss and pushed through the crowd of people to the kitchen. With a huff he let the beers drop onto the counter.
“Thanks for your help,” he groused, giving me the stink eye.
“I paid for them, seeing how you conveniently forgot your wallet.”
Carter laughed. As usual he thought he was damn hilarious when he was actually a pain in my ass. Why Ellie wanted to land poor Bronte with him, God only knew.
“Hey guys,” a deep voice boomed behind us.
We turned to see our old school pal Alaska Michaels dressed as a woman with a blonde wig, chest hair poking out of the top of a pink jacket and a sign around his neck that told us he was supposed to be Hilary Clinton.
“What the hell, Alaska.” I looked him up and down feeling a little uneasy at the sight of him.
He shrugged. “Jennifer thought it would be funny. She’s dressed as Bill.”
“Does she have a sign too?” I asked. “Or is it more obvious.”
Alaska grinned. “It’s obvious. We rubbed mayonnaise into her crotch.”
I bust out laughing at the thought, Carter though looked at me with narrow eyes and a facial expression like he was constipated.
“You don’t get it do you?” Alaska said with a roll of his eyes.
Carter shook his head.
“Damn, Carter, for a brainy guy you’re totally stupid,” I muttered. “Come on let’s get a drink and I’ll explain it to you later.”
Alaska shook his head and slapped my back. “I’ll catch you later, I’ve left Jennifer with Minnesota and he ain’t the best compa
ny at the moment.”
“How come?” Carter asked.
“His girl dumped his ass. He wasn’t going to come tonight, but Mom made him. It was a kinda last minute decision, so he’s come dressed as a cowboy.” He grinned at me. “You should hang together tonight you’d be a pretty good pair.”
My smile dropped as I was reminded of my costume. I wondered if I could poison Carter in some way and get away with it.
“Pass me a beer would ya?” I held out a hand to Carter and waited for him to pass me one of the bottles. “Is your sister coming tonight?”
“Yeah, her and damn Bronte are coming. One night I hoped I could spend without her giving me shit, but no, she had to agree to come.” He popped the caps off two bottles and handed me one. “When was the last time you remember Ellie ever going to a party, especially one Belinda was throwing. They hated each other at school.”
“Well Belinda did say Ellie had a fat ass.”
I took a sip of my beer and considered whether Ellie had a fat ass or not. I quickly concluded while it wasn’t skinny it wasn’t fat, but just the right handful – if I really cared about her ass of course.
“Yeah well, we all know it doesn’t take much to get my sister to exact revenge.” Carter rolled his eyes at me and I knew he was getting at two nights before when Ellie and I had tag teamed to put Dominic down.
“I was going to call her,” I said, a little surprised I’d admitted it to him. It had always been an unsaid rule that you didn’t make any moves on a buddy’s sister, and I didn’t want Carter to think that’s what I was doing. “Just to check she was okay, and that nothing had been said about it at the hospital.”
I felt the need to clarify my reasoning, but I wasn’t sure who I was trying to make a point to; Carter or myself. If I had to be honest, I’d worried about Ellie and whether the whole situation had upset her. She’d been cheated on and then made to look a fool when he’d rubbed her nose in it with Miss. Watkins. I didn’t like the idea of that. For all her spit and fire, Ellie Maples could be easily hurt—Belinda’s comment about her ass being a case in point. Tonight, would be Ellie’s first time at any of Belinda’s parties for years, she certainly hadn’t let it go easily.
