Gage, Ronna - The Search is Over (Siren Publishing Classic)

by Ronna Gage

  Donita looked at the two drinks sitting in front of Candi. “What the heck are you drinking? You have a beer in one hand and a Sprite in the other.”

  Candi looked at the two drinks and thought for a logical answer. “Mixed drink,” she replied after a second, barely getting it out due to the bout of laughter that overcame her. It was the only thing that seemed to make sense at the time.

  “Why not drink one or the other?”

  “I don’t like the taste of beer, unless it is really cold. I didn’t want to ruin a Coke by chasing it with the beer.” Candi shrugged at the sensible excuse. Then she took a swallow of the beer, chased it down with a swallow of the Sprite just to prove her point.

  “It sounds disgusting to me.”

  “You have to try it before you knock it,” Rafe defended quickly.

  Candi felt tingly inside. Her heart soared at the gallant act of defending her against the busybody, goody-good Donita Grimes.

  Candi extended the two cans toward Rafe. “You want a drink?” she offered with a hopeful smile.

  “No.” Rafe laughed. “I like beer! It makes me a jolly good fellow.” he sang and rubbed his stomach.

  “So going to worship every night at the silicone temple doesn’t make you jolly?” Candi asked sarcastically.

  The chaser didn’t cut the buzzing effect of the beer, and Candi, barely weighing over one hundred and twenty pounds, buzzed easily. The laughter of the crowd at Rafe’s expense exhilarated and enabled her quick wit. She loved the power of besting him, and she did engage him. Success.

  Donita looked around the table. “I think I better go. The shit is getting too deep around here.” She patted Chandler on the back. “I’ll see you later.”

  “I’ll call you tomorrow, Mom.” Chandler kissed his mother on the cheek.

  “Bye, Donita!” the group around the table said in unison as they all watched her walk to her car.

  Donita started the engine and then backed her Cadillac out of the driveway. Heading the car down the rocky, bumpy drive through the park she was gone in a minute.

  * * * *

  Chandler leaned forward and kissed Debbie’s cheek. “Did you have fun, sweetheart?”

  Debbie looked at him and softened her facial expression. “Yeah, but I could use some tea.”

  Chandler smiled and hugged her. “Hey, go and get my bottle of Crown will you?” Chandler placed a gentle kiss on her lips.

  “I suppose.” Debbie stood up from her seat. She stopped and gave Rafe and Candi a resentful once-over before she turned to go inside.. Her stomach churned bile while she fumed with jealousy as Rafe and Candi ogled one another with intense desire.

  I think I’m gonna be sick!

  Debbie stomped into the house, letting the sliding door slam against the metal threshold. She took the bottle of bourbon from the bar and removed the lid. Chandler will never know the difference if I took one little sip. Taking a huge gulp, she let the burning liquid mellow in her mouth before she swallowed. She opened the refrigerator and took a quick drink of lemonade, and gulped it down. She then grabbed a can of diet soda and set the cold can to her forehead. Satisfied that the trembling feeling was past, she turned toward the window and watched Rafe outside at the table. “What does he see in her? She’s just a little airheaded knitwit. She has as much class as…” She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror and sighed. She smoothed a shaking hand over her face. “It is such a shame to have that hot, virile man outside looking so damn good when I look so shitty.” Debbie bit her tongue. “You better change your attitude right now, or the whole park will know your business. Get a grip on your emotions before you go back out there,” she told her image. God, I hope my body doesn’t look as bad as I feel. Rafe is too fine a piece of ass to get by me, baby or not. She pinched color back into her cheeks, smoothed a hand over her hair, and licked her lips. Gathering Chandler’s bottle of bourbon, ice cups, and ice, she went outside to join the rest of the group.

  Chapter Six

  The effects of the two beers she drank crept up on Candi. Sipping the second beer, it became warm. She took a deep breath and downed it until it was finished. Her body trembled with the taste of bile. She watched Chandler take a shot of bourbon from the bottle and then passed it to her.

  “Chase that beer with this,” he suggested.

  The opened bottle passed under her nose. The smell of the bourbon watered her mouth. “I don’t have any more beer, sorry.” Candi tried to hide her disappointment. She preferred whiskey to beer, and right now she was in the mood to get wasted.

  “I can fix that,” Roy said, and handed her a tall can of another lite beer.

  “Would it be a good idea to mix beer and bourbon?” Minerva’s concern was evident. “She’ll get a horrible headache.”

  Candi took the beer from Roy. “The silver bullet! I was raised on this stuff.” She pulled on the tab and easily opened the beer. She grabbed the bottle of bourbon, tilted it back, and took a big shot. She swallowed, and the burning liquid scorched its way down her throat. She chased it down with a big swallow of cold beer. “Ahhhh, that’s good!”

  The table erupted in another round of laughter.

  “Oh my gosh! She did it! I didn’t believe you would do it,” Jack blurted out, giving her a high five.

  “I’m not a weak little girl!” she protested.

  “Candi, be careful. Don’t get so fucked up you won’t be able to go to school tomorrow,” Minerva reminded her as she worried her bottom lip.

  “It’s Friday, Minerva. She doesn’t have school tomorrow,” Roy reminded her impatiently.

  “God, you’re such an ass tonight,” Minerva commented. She took the bourbon from Chandler and defiantly slammed down a shot. The sharp intake of her breath alerted the table.

  Swiftly, Roy slapped her between the shoulder blades. “Goddamn it, Minerva, you’re going to vapor lock yourself to death,” Roy hissed.

  Minerva said nothing, but she quietly sipped her beer, brooding over Roy’s patronizing ways.

  Chapter Seven

  Rafe sat back and watched Candi drink the shot of Crown but said nothing. He wondered if she was a boozing alcoholic but decided she was more of a light weight than a boozer. Which is good, because I don’t need the drama that comes with alcoholics. What do I care anyway? She’s just a possible fuck, a passing fancy to get off with some night.

  Who was he kidding?

  Rafe was enamored with her. She’s funny, witty, and cute. She impressed him with her quick wit. He liked a woman who could think on her feet, and several times that wit put him in his place. The silicone temple comment was creative. I’ll give her that.

  Knowing that she was single changed his views of her. He thought about asking her out. She would be a cheap date if two beers and a shot were all it took to get her buzzed.

  He almost fell off the bench earlier tonight when Chandler requested Minerva ask her to the table. The perfect opportunity presented itself to see her up close. When she walked up from the darkness, Rafe felt the stiffness in his jeans. Her wet hair wet hung loose around her shoulders. I love her hair wet. She’s prettier up close, not that she wasn’t through the window.

  “Rafe, what bar did you go to tonight?” Roy’s question abruptly took his attention from Candi.

  “What?” Royis trying to put a cold patch on the warm ambience at the table. Good move! “I went to Desert Illusions. You know, the one on Main.”

  “Oh, well.” Candi waved her arm. “Come on back to reality. It’s so much better.” Her speech slightly slurred.

  The table erupted in another peal of laughter. Rafe laughed as well. In a war of words Candi could probably come very close to becoming the victor.

  But close is not good enough.

  “That’s good, Candi,” Rafe praised. Candi gave a simple shrug of her shoulders. He leaned back hugging his knee. “I have a question for you.”

  “All right. What’s your question?” She took a swallow of the beer and cocked her he
ad in challenge.

  “Has anyone ever made you wiggle, giggle, shit, fart, faint, and pass out?”

  Candi spewed beer on a squeal of laughter spraying the liquid over the table.

  Jack quickly jumped up and grabbed his own beer. “Towel!” he yelled. “We need a towel here,” he said wiping his chest.

  “Because F-C-K the only thing that is missing is U, baby. Every time I go to town, the divorce rate goes up one hundred and ten percent.” Rafe tipped the longneck bottle in a slight salute, followed by a wink of his eye. He successfully rendered Candi speechless, making him the victor.

  * * * *

  Candi saw a hint of Rafe’s boyish charm and a subtle wickedness that she wanted to eagerly explore. The leaned-back position reminded her of what she suddenly wanted at this very moment. To mount and ride him like a wild mustang on the prairie. She could feel the bucking sensation at the image that flashed before her eyes and reined in her desires.

  Stop! Pretty boys are out of the question. Remember?

  Chapter Eight

  “Great!” Candi said under her breath.

  Everyone looked in the direction she did. Headlights of a car approached at a slow speed.

  “It’s Jesse,” Roy stated. He jumped up and left the table almost in a dead run to meet Jesse at the door.

  Jesse’s untimely arrival interrupted the jovial mood of the evening. Candi’s good humor changed to a simmering burst of energy which hummed at the surface. Her posture stiff and set countered the calm, easy, outgoing woman she was a few minutes earlier. Now she felt cold.

  “I guess Roy’s going to tell on you,” Minerva whispered to Candi.

  “I don’t give a damn. He wants to be with someone else, more power to him,” she challenged with a wave of her hand.

  Two shots of bourbon may have slurred Candi’s speech, but they didn’t keep her from speaking her mind. If anything, she voiced her opinion and feelings with little restraint.

  Jack took her hand. His sympathetic gaze looked down at her. “Wow! You shouldn’t be so broken up about it.”

  Candi laughed. She looked down at the joined hands and sighed. Why can’t this be Rafe’s hand holding mine? She sought him out and found him casually sitting at the other end of the table watching her. His eyes showed understanding and empathy. His smile caught her attention. And she felt a pang of regret for a lost chance.

  “What do you think he’s doing in there?” Jack whispered, breaking into her intent focus on Rafe.

  Candi removed her hands from Jack’s. She picked up the cup of Sprite and Crown. “He’s probably in there calling his new girlfriend right now.” Candi took a drink.

  “He could be beating off for daddy,” Minerva commented. She gasped and hid her eyes in her hands.

  The uproarious laughter shook the table, which got even louder when Jack fell off the bench seat, knocking beer bottles and half empty cups of mixed drinks into Candi’s lap. With a shriek, she jumped up.

  “Ah shit! That was funny,” Jack hollered out and grabbed his side. He wiped the tears off his cheek.

  Minerva’s hands slowly smoothed down her face. “I can’t believe I said that. It is so unlike me to be that crude in front of anyone.”

  “That’s all right, Minerva,” Jack said, wrapping an arm around her in a consoling hug. “You just couldn’t stop it from coming out.”

  Candi shot up out of the chair and immediately wiped the drink off her bared legs. “Dammit! Now I need another shower.”

  “Here.” Rafe pitched his shirt to her, leaving his arms bared in his tank.

  Candi caught it and quickly patted her sticky legs. The scent of his cologne settled over her senses, calming the raging storm of mixed emotions inside her. She walked the shirt back to him. “Thanks.”

  “No problem.” He shrugged his right shoulder with the comment. He sat the shirt between his feet.

  “I guess I’ll call it a night,” Debbie said next to Chandler. “I’m kinda tired.”

  “I guess I’ll go along, too.”

  “No, honey, stay. You’re having a good time.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes.”

  Everyone watched Debbie until she walked into the house. Candi stared at Rafe. I should go in, but I can’t think of one reason why.

  Without asking, or being told, she sat down on the bench next to his feet. It was the perfect excuse to stay near him. She could feel his leg rest softly against her arm and smell the scent from his body on her legs, along with the cologne left by the shirt. The intimate reminders generated thrills of excitement through her whole body.

  In the short distance, Jesse and Roy approached the table, silently talking amongst themselves.

  Rafe bent close to her ear. “Here he comes,” he whispered.

  Candi shrugged off the comment.

  “Hey, everyone, how’s it going?” Jesse asked.

  “Nothing much. What about you?” Minerva greeted.

  The light mood drastically changed with Jesse’s presence. It no longer had the relaxed atmosphere of flirting and subtle teasing, but tension-filled stress. Candi thought she would choke on its strength.

  “Does anyone have a beer for a working man?” Jesse asked.

  “Here, you can have one of mine,” Chandler said.

  Jesse pranced around with his chest heaved out, reminding Candi of a bully on the playground. He ruined the festive mood of her evening. You look like a fucking idiot.

  “You all right?” Rafe whispered.

  “Yep.” She grabbed his beer and took a drink. “Mmm, that’s cold.”

  “That’s what I’m here for, to make sure you have cold beer.” He laughed.

  “You do it so well,” she praised with good nature.

  “Jesse doesn’t look too happy,” Jack added across from her.

  “Should have thought of that beforehand.”

  Jesse walked to her side of the table, sat down next to her, and rested his arm close to hers. She scooted over out of his reach and closer to Rafe.

  Jesse leaned forward, and Candi wanted to cringe.

  “What’s with you tonight?” he whispered in her ear.

  Candi looked at him. Is he kidding? The gruff tone of his voice penetrated her mind and the friction inside sparked with a snap. “That is none of your damn business.”

  “She’s on her third shot of bourbon,” Roy informed him.

  “Ah.” Jesse reached for the beer she took from Rafe.

  She drew it back, slapped at his hand and leveled him with a glare. “If you don’t keep your hands to yourself, I will kick you so fucking hard your balls will be lodged in your nose.”

  Jesse slowly withdrew his hand away from her drink. He looked at his father. “I was just trying to help.”

  Rafe inhaled sharply. He leaned forward and whispered to Jack. “I have no doubt in my ex-military mind that at that very moment, Candi would have kicked Jesse and made good on her threat to kick him hard enough to make his balls move to his face.”

  “No shit. Don’t mess with a woman’s beer.”

  She stood up from the bench, looked at everyone else but Jesse, and calmly announced, “I guess I’ll call it a night, too.” She turned to Rafe, extended her hand to him, successfully shrugging Jesse’s hand from her elbow. “Thank you for the Sprite and beer.”

  Rafe took her hand. “No big deal.” He held it as his gaze held hers in a silent message of encouragement. Encouragement of what?

  * * * *

  “It was very nice to meet you. Welcome to the neighborhood.”

  The cottony whisper of her voice wrapped around him and held him captive in a web of desire. He saw only her in that moment, as if they were the only two people in the world. Candi made no attempts at releasing his hand. His conscience focused on the softness of Candi’s hand in his, the heat of her touch, and the tingling in his cock.

  “Hey, Candi! What time do you work tomorrow?” Jack cut in between her and Jesse, flanking her on the right
while Rafe flanked her on the left.

  The question and the gesture caught Rafe by surprise. Jack said once before that he never went to her bar.

  “I open. Why do you ask? You never come in because it’s too quiet,” she mocked his statement from way back.

  Jack and Rafe each offered her an elbow. “We’ll walk you home,” Jack insisted. Candi’s mood picked up from the added attention bestowed on her. “Why thank you. I feel like a distressed damsel.” She tucked her hand in the crook of their elbows and walked with them toward the door of her trailer.

  Rafe turned toward Jesse, smiled, and led Candi away. Serves him right.

  At her front door, Candi acted giddy and silly. She turned to her two escorts.

  “Sleep tight. Don’t let the bed bugs bite,” Jack whispered, and then laid a brotherly kiss on her forehead. Turning to Jesse, who had at that second walked up behind them, he offered the same sentiment. “Good night,” he walked past him.

  Rafe stopped at the end of the three-step porch. “Well, I guess this is good night.” Can I leave her just now? Will he do something to her if she’s alone? “Are you going to be all right?” She nodded. Deep down he didn’t want to hear that. He’d rather she ask him to stay with her for awhile longer, at least until Shitass went to bed. But this wasn’t his affair. She looked like she could handle it. “I would eat something before going to bed. It’ll help with the hangover.” He gave a stern steady look to Jesse who still stood outside with the two of them. I wouldn’t want to see her with another man. Rafe looked back at her. “Call me if you need me.”

  Jesse rolled his eyes, stormed past them, and threw open the flimsy screen door.

  Turning toward the door, Rafe and Candi saw Jesse’s face in the glass. She reached in and shut the door without a word to him, giving them some privacy. She looked back at Rafe, “Don’t worry. He’ll sleep on the couch.” She giggled, giving him some reassurance.

  “Okay. But like I said, if you need me just call me.”