“Babe, don’t play poker,” he advised and then smiled before he finished, “ever.”
“Good advice,” I whispered.
His face grew warm and he bent his head, kissed my nose and whispered back, “Cute.” Then he rolled, wrapping his arms around and taking me with him so I was mostly on top.
I lifted up with an arm on his chest and an elbow in the bed and asked, “Are you going to finish your story?”
“Yeah,” he said on a sigh, “though not much to it. We graduated and Shauna went to CSU. She disappeared for a few years after that, got married to some rich, old guy from Aspen, divorced his ass and fleeced him for as much as she could though not as much as she wanted. She might be beautiful and he might have been old but he wasn’t dumb. She came back and has been livin’ on that payoff, lookin’ for her next one ever since.”
“Sounds like his payoff is dwindling.”
“Yeah, she’s fucked. She’s been workin’ Curt hard. One good thing about that will and those letters is that he knew it. She thought she was fuckin’ him but in the end, he took what he wanted and fucked her.”
“Literally and figuratively,” I noted.
“Yep.”
“And you?”
His head tilted on my pillow and he stated bluntly, “She’s gorgeous, she’s good with her mouth, she wanted in my bed, she worked at it, I let her in my bed. She played a game with me, hid a lot of who she was and I bought it. Right off the bat it wasn’t near as good as she made it seem like it was gonna be. Then it got worse. When gettin’ off wasn’t worth puttin’ up with her, I ended it.”
“You didn’t know she was also sleeping with Curtis?”
“That was part of gettin’ off not bein’ worth puttin’ up with her, when I found out she was playin’ me and Curt at the same time.”
“So you don’t like to share?” I asked and his arms, which were resting around me lightly, tightened.
“Depends.”
“On what?”
“Shauna, I didn’t give a fuck. Even when we were together it was casual. It’s casual, I don’t care.” His hand slid up my back bringing my torso close to his and I watched his eyes grow intense when he said, “It ain’t casual, Duchess, like us, no, I absolutely do not like to share.”
I bit my lip, liking his answer then I enquired, “So, if you didn’t mind –?”
Max cut me off, explaining, “It was Curt.”
“And you didn’t like Curt.”
“Nope, didn’t like him, didn’t like a woman sharin’ his bed and mine and didn’t like why she was doin’ it.”
“How long were you with her?”
“I work outta town most of the time so it lasted a year. Probably would have figured it out a lot sooner if I’d been around. Don’t know exactly but the time I was in town and with her probably was around a coupla months.”
“When did Harry enter the picture?”
“Awhile ago, some time after I scraped her off and she figured out she wasn’t gettin’ back in. A year ago, bit more.”
“How did they hook up?” I asked and Max’s face changed, his eyes grew distant.
“That’s the fuck of it,” he murmured.
“Sorry?”
His eyes focused and he looked at me. “Harry’s always had a thing for Bitsy, always. Never had a thing for Shauna. Surprised everyone when they got together.”
This was news, interesting news.
“Bitsy?”
“Yeah. The day she married Curt he got so loaded, he tore The Dog apart. Mick had to put him in a cell to keep an eye on him and dry him out.”
“Wow,” I breathed.
“Yeah,” Max said. “After Curt, Bitsy and Harry drifted apart, after she lost her legs, they became friends again, got close. Still are.”
My mother was right, this was the Rocky Mountain Peyton Place.
“So Kami was with Curt before he was with Bitsy and Harry has always had a crush on Bitsy –”
“No, honey, Kami was with Curt until Bitsy broke up with Harry. Brody and I stopped hangin’ with him in high school but that didn’t mean we weren’t still friends. We were. And Bitsy dated him through high school and after, until somethin’ happened, she broke it off and Curt wasted no time. He ended things with Kami and went after Bitsy.”
I blinked at him. “So, Harry and Bitsy were together?”
“Yeah, six, seven years, at least.”
“Oh my God.”
“Long time ago.”
“Motive for murder?”
Max burst out laughing and rolled again so we were on our sides but he came up with his elbow in the bed and his head in his hand and I moved to my back so I could look up at him.
“Harry wouldn’t hurt a fly, doesn’t have it in him. He’s never even been huntin’, doesn’t own a gun, far’s I know,” Max told me. “His folks left him a trust fund but he still opened his own lumber store, does all right for himself on top of that stash. And even if he would go after Curt, he’d never go after Bitsy, not even threaten it.”
“Oh.”
He grinned. “Though, few months, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him standin’ on her front step, carrying flowers.”
I liked this idea so I smiled.
Max’s eyes drifted over my face and then his head dipped close.
“That answer your question?” he asked quietly, I nodded and Max moved on to a different subject. “So what are we gonna do today?”
I thought staying in bed watching movies (or doing other things) held merit but I didn’t suggest that.
Instead, I said, “I vote no brawls.”
He grinned before he suggested, “I thought I’d take you out shootin’.”
“Shooting?”
“Teach you to use a gun.”
I closed my eyes, my eyebrows went up then slowly I opened them. “A gun?”
“Yeah, you’re in a house with one, you should know how to use it.”
“How about I just ignore its existence?”
“How about you wrap up warm and I take you out and teach you how to shoot?”
“Um…”
His face dipped even closer. “Baby, guns are dangerous in the hands of people who don’t know how to use them and people who do who mean for them to be dangerous.”
“But –”
“I’m out on a job, you’re here by yourself, it’ll make me feel better you know where the gun is, how to get to it and how to use it.”
“Out on a job?”
“Yeah?”
“What do you mean, out on a job?”
“I work contract, take three month jobs, sometimes six. Sometimes I take jobs and work fourteen hour days, six days a week, three months on, one month off. Builds. Mostly in state, sometimes out. Thought you knew that.”
“Well, kind of, but –”
“So, I’m gone, you’re here, I’ll –”
I cut him off. “Fourteen hour days?”
“Yeah.”
“Is that even legal?”
“When they pay you a shitload to do it, yeah.”
I pointed out what I thought was the obvious, “But, that’s insane.”
“You get used to it.”
I didn’t like that he worked fourteen hour days that was a brutal schedule. I also didn’t like the idea of him being gone for three months straight, sometimes six. That would be brutal for me.
However, the current subject was a golden opportunity and I thought if I was careful, I could use it to suggest helping out financially.
So being cautious, I waded in. “Um, Max, after awhile, if I move in –”
Then I stopped talking when I realized I hadn’t been cautious enough and I hadn’t even gotten to the meat of the matter.
I knew this because his eyes narrowed dangerously and he cut me off. “After awhile?”
“Well, yes, I thought once I moved here I’d get an apartment in town, maybe a condo –”
“Those go on year leases,” he informed me.
“Well, okay.”
“You ain’t stayin’ in town a year.”
“I’m not?”
“Fuck no.”
“Where am I staying?”
“Here.”
My eyes got wide again and I stared at him.
Then I asked, “Here?”
“Yeah.”
“But I can’t move here.”
“Why the hell not?”
I blinked at him, uncertain how to answer for the answer should be obvious. And that answer was, I couldn’t move in here because we’d known each other a week.
Max kept talking. “I’m outta town, babe, I get back, I want you in my bed not in a bed in a condo in town.”
“Max –”
“And bein’ apart for months, I’m not wastin’ more time waitin’ for you to drive up the mountain or wastin’ gas drivin’ down to you when you should be here in the first place.”
“Max –”
“Or fuckin’ you in your bed one night, mine the other.”
“Max –”
“Draggin’ clothes everywhere.”
“Max!” I said loudly to get his attention.
“What?”
“What about your rentals?”
“You live here, Duchess, I pull it off the rental market.”
I blinked again then started to ask, “But what about –?”
“That’s the reason I can’t keep the land Curt gave me, losin’ the rental income makes it tough, standard of living changes.”
I stopped breathing at this news.
Then I asked, “Could you keep it if you didn’t lose the rental income?”
“Yeah, but you’re movin’ here, I’m losin’ the rental income.”
Suddenly my day brightened and to brighten Max’s I shared, “So I can help.”
It was evident Max’s day didn’t brighten; I knew this because his face darkened. “No, you can’t.”
I put my hand to his jaw, my heart getting lighter. “If I move in, I can’t live here and not contribute.”
“Yeah, babe, you can.”
I blinked again, my heart going right back to heavy as I grew confused and I asked, “What?”
“Things aren’t tight, they’re good, more than comfortable, solid. And they can stay good, we can live a nice life, we contain the acreage. That rental income means I already paid off the build on this place, got no mortgage, just taxes, utilities and I pay those.”
“But –”
“Not up for discussion.”
“But –”
“You use your money for your fancy clothes and you can plant flowers and buy shit for the kitchen.”
I stared at him in shock. Did he say plant flowers and buy shit for the kitchen?
Helpfully, I reminded him, “Max, we celebrated a new millennium a few years back.”
“So?”
“So, I’ll be earning money, I can help.”
“No,” he stated shortly, firmly and with a definite finality.
I stared at him again.
Then I asked, “That’s it? No?”
“That’s it. No.”
“I thought you didn’t have a problem with me earning more than you?”
“I don’t.”
I was no longer shocked, now I was back to confused.
“I don’t get it.”
“I don’t have a problem with you earning more than me. I do have a problem with you payin’ my bills.”
There it was. Macho Mountain Man Max. I knew there was a hitch.
“If I lived here, they would be our bills,” I pointed out.
“When you live here, you’ll be my woman, I take care of my woman therefore they’re my bills.”
Losing patience, I called, “Hello? Max? I’m calling you into the twenty-first century. Follow me into the light of a world with cell phones and sat navs and computers you can carry around in a briefcase instead of them taking up entire rooms. Oh, and where women have been financially contributing to the household for decades.”
His face remained dark and his voice was low and lethal when he told me, “Not findin’ you funny, babe.”
My body tensed but I felt my eyes get big.
“Are you serious?” I asked.
“Deadly,” he answered.
We stared at each other silently as it hit me like a succession of blows to the stomach. I was lying on my back but I still felt winded.
I had conflicting information about the state of play with Max’s bank account, but none of it had come from Max until now.
I took what I knew and I put together the picture.
I knew how much it cost to rent his house for a week, it was a small fortune. And what I paid wasn’t even the top tier of on-peak rent. In the winter months rent was nearly double what I had paid. If he was only home two months of the year, and rentals were steady as he said they were, especially in winter, he made a fortune.
And he didn’t have a mortgage.
And he had two ATVs, a snowmobile, a motorcycle, a car that needed to be kept under a tarp, a Cherokee that wasn’t brand new but it was far from old and a housecleaner.
He might not be loaded but he certainly wasn’t doing too badly for himself.
What he was was unwilling to let the little woman contribute to the household finances. He was such a macho mountain man that he would let his macho mountain man pride stand in the way of keeping his mountain clean.
Yes, here was the hitch. This was when the good part of starting out with someone turned bad. I felt the fear prickle my skin but I was too busy controlling the fury that nearly blinded me.
“Proud and stubborn,” I whispered, my stare had turned into a glare.
“What?” he asked, his stare had turned into a scowl.
Quickly I rolled off the bed and searched frantically through the clothes we’d tossed on the floor the night before. Latching onto his thermal, I straightened and struggled to yank it on, getting caught in the voluminous folds.
“Proud and stubborn,” I muttered from under the shirt, battling the sleeves.
“Nina, get back into bed.”
I successfully yanked the shirt down and glared at him.
“Just like your Mom!” I accused, my voice getting louder.
His already dark face turned that scary dark and his voice turned into a warning when he repeated, “Nina, get back into bed.”
“No!” I snapped. “You can handle me in that bed, Max, and when you do, I’ll admit, I love it. But when you aren’t fucking me, you cannot handle me.”
His brows snapped together and his voice was a low, angry rumble when he asked, “What the fuck?”
I rolled the long sleeve on one side up my wrist and as I did so I leaned forward and fairly shouted, “You! Macho Mountain Man Max! You cannot handle me, tell me the way it’s going to be! Not let me participate in the conversation! Not let me participate in our lives!” I finished rolling the sleeve and threw my arm out. “Do you think, if I lived here, that I’d want that bluff to be desecrated? Do you think I’d want a condo on it or a house or a hotel? Do you think I’d want more traffic on the road, the quiet and peace of this place ruined? Do you think I’d want the erosion of the mountain that people and building would cause?” I started rolling the other sleeve and finished on a shout, “No! I don’t want that! But are you going to give me a choice? Are you going to let me help? No again!”
He threw the covers back and I whirled and bent, digging through the clothes to find my underwear. As I did this I saw the leg of his jeans slide away and I knew he was out of bed. I found my undies, snatched them up and twirled, taking a step back from him as I saw he was close and buttoning his jeans.
I bent over and tugged my panties on, shimmying them up, abrading my scraped leg as I did but ignoring the pain.
“I can plant flowers and buy stuff for the kitchen. You’re mad!” I yelled as I pulled on my panties.
“It’s my house, babe, my land, my responsibility. This l
and has been in my family for over a hundred fuckin’ years.”
I straightened and faced off with him, still shouting. “Yes, you told me that and, if this works out like you’re so darned sure it will, then won’t I be your family?”
His upper body jerked and I knew I’d scored my point but I kept right on going.
“You’re absolutely fine money-wise but you’ll take this hit to have me the way you want me. Not the way I want us and that’s with me being your partner, not your little woman!” I yelled.
“Nina, that’s bullshit,” he clipped.
“It is?”
“We’re done talkin’ about this,” he declared.
“Oh, so now that I’m right and you’re wrong, we’re done talking about this?”
“Nina –”
I shook my head and lifted up my hand, still shouting, “No, no way. Proud and stubborn. That’s you. I come here, I slot into your life. We don’t build one together.”
He took a step toward me and I took two quick ones back as he clipped, “God dammit, Nina.”
“I’m glad I know this now, Max, this is good to know,” I snapped and then I heard a rap on the door and my head twisted in that direction. From my position in the loft I couldn’t see who it was but I suspected it was my mother or, if the turn of my morning luck held true, it was my father and Niles, so I instantly marched in the direction of the stairs announcing, “I’ll get it.”
“Leave it, Duchess,” Max growled, catching my wrist but I twisted it free, not looking at him.
“Go to hell, Max,” I bit off and marched to the stairs and down quickly, my mind in turmoil, my heart beating too fast, tears threatening, hope dying and that was the worst. It always was the worst when hope died.
I made it to the bottom of the stairs and I knew Max was close behind. I took two steps to the door, belatedly focused on it and stopped dead.
Standing outside the door, the sun blazing on a new blanket of white coating the front steps, were Kami, Shauna and an older woman who looked like Kami. Her hair was a beautiful, silvery white streaked with Max and Kami’s almost-black and pulled back in a ponytail. She, like Kami, held extra weight but not as much as Kami and, even at a glance, I could tell she wasn’t uncomfortable with it on her frame. She was attractive and wearing the mountain woman uniform of jeans, poofy vest, long-sleeved shirt and boots.
Max’s mother.
Wonderful.
The Gamble Page 46
