Lookin' for Trouble (Honky Tonk Angels Book 6)

by Ciana Stone

  “Please Jax.”

  He knew it was important because she used his first name.

  “Please,” she said again. “I know you’ll probably break my heart but please don’t say anything to give me false hope. That’ll just make it hurt worse and I don’t know if I’m strong enough for that.”

  “Then this is enough?”

  “No, but sometimes we don’t get all we ask for. We only get part, so let’s not waste the part we have, okay?”

  “Cody—”

  “Touch me, Riggs. Take me out of my head and let me pretend this is real.”

  How the hell was he supposed to answer that? How could he make her understand that this was real, that she made him want to be thirty again, a young man with enough time to build a life with her, have a family with her? How was he supposed to make her understand that she was a dream to him, one he was afraid to reach for?

  Maybe she was right. Maybe it wasn’t words that would prove to her. He pulled her closer, their breath mingling as his lips touched hers. Then her lips parted against his and time fell away.

  Chapter Ten

  “Okay, great, see you then.” Hannah hung up the phone and looked across the desk at Cody. “Bryson.”

  “I figured.”

  “Oh?”

  Cody grinned. “Yeah you light up like a Christmas tree when he calls.”

  Hannah laughed. “He’s really something.”

  “That he is. And I’m glad to see you enjoying life. It’s been a while.”

  “Too long. God, can you believe how stressed and unhappy I was when I was engaged? That should have told me something, shouldn’t it?”

  Cody shrugged. “It’s in the past. Let it go.”

  “Right. You’re absolutely right. But then, you’ve been right about a lot of things.”

  “I have? Like what?”

  “Like this not being a bad place to live and raise a family.”

  “Damn girl, you and Bryson are barely past the holding hand phase. Don’t jump into having kids just yet.”

  “I didn’t mean that. I just meant that maybe I don’t have to leave here to have a good life and be happy.”

  “Oh, well, I agree with that.”

  “Have you heard anything from Belinda?” Hannah asked.

  Cody’s good mood evaporated. “I might be right about some things but damn when I’m wrong about something I’m monumentally wrong. As soon as Tom cut her and that dude loose, she took off and I haven’t seen or heard from her since. I’m starting to think she’s not coming back and almost wish she wouldn’t.”

  “She sure doesn’t deserve a precious little girl like Bernice.”

  “Amen to that.”

  “Which reminds me, Lily said you had her draw up the papers for you to be Bernice’s legal guardian.”

  “I did.”

  “But what if nothing happens to Belinda? Or if Cooper is the father?”

  “It doesn’t matter. Cooper doesn’t want her and honestly I don’t think Belinda does either.”

  “Do you think she really is sick?”

  “I don’t know, honest to God. I think she’s all kinds of screwed up but I don’t know if she’s really sick.”

  “Isn’t there a way to find out?”

  Cody shrugged. “Again, I don’t know. And right now we need to be focusing on these interviews this afternoon.”

  “I agree. God, I’m so ready to get some help in this place.”

  “That makes two of us. And Cade’s pretty eager to get out of here.”

  “Well, we have four interviews.” Hannah looked at the schedule and then at Cody. “Were you surprised to see Eli Youngblood’s name on the list?”

  “A little.” Cody stood and stretched. “I need a refill.” She picked up her coffee cup. “How ‘bout you?”

  “I’ll walk with you. So why were you surprised?” Hannah asked.

  “I guess I thought he’d look for something…I don’t know, something where there are more opportunities.”

  “Well, I guess if it looks good on a resume to say you’ve had management experience.”

  “I guess so. Still, I thought maybe he’d go to work for some of his mama’s family.”

  “Are the Youngbloods close with the Legacy family?”

  “Sara keeps in touch and she and Bill visit at least once a year but I don’t know much more than that.” Cody poured herself a cup of coffee. “You know they don’t talk a lot about that side of the family.”

  Hannah held her cup as Cody poured coffee into it. “You think there’s any truth to the rumors about them? The Legacy family, I mean.”

  “I don’t know. I mean, Sara seems normal and she’s a Legacy. Who knows how those stories got started anyway. All I know is the Youngbloods are good people and if it hadn’t been for them I wouldn’t know a lot of what I know today.”

  “You did spend a lot of time with Emily when you were growing up.”

  “Yeah, we were good friends.”

  “Do you still see her?”

  “I do. Not as much but at least once a month, we get together for a meal or just to talk.”

  “She’s married, right?”

  “She is and has two of the cutest little boys you’ve ever seen and another on the way. She’s hoping for a girl.”

  A rap on the back door had them both turning. Cody hurried to the door. “Come on in.”

  Eli Youngblood walked in and Cody closed the door behind him. “You remember my sister, Hannah?”

  Eli smiled at Hannah. “I do. Nice to see you again, Hannah.”

  Hannah returned the smile. “I’m guessing it’s been longer than I realized since I last saw you because I don’t remember you being quite so tall.”

  Cody laughed. “Looks like we could get a two-fer hiring Eli.”

  “A two-fer?” he asked.

  “Yeah, manager and when needed, muscle. Can’t imagine too many dudes standing toe-to-toe with you shorty.”

  Eli laughed. “I guess I finally caught up with my feet.”

  “Oh my god, your feet!” Cody chuckled. “I had forgotten about that. You want a cup of coffee?”

  “Sure, thanks.”

  Cody got a cup and went to the coffee maker. She looked at Hannah. “When Eli started high school, he was about five nine and had the biggest feet. Size thirteen or something, wasn’t it?”

  “Yeah,” he answered.

  “Cream or sugar?” she asked.

  “Black is fine.”

  Cody carried the cup to him and continued her tale. “He got teased something fierce about those big feet.”

  “Well, you definitely grew into them,” Hannah commented. Eli was a very big man. He had to be around six foot four and from the looks of him was rock solid. She was willing to bet he’d broken some hearts in college.

  He had his mother’s green eyes but the skin and hair coloring of his father, who was Apache. The result was a bit exotic, a whole lot handsome and quite sexy.

  “Okay, let’s go out to the bar and sit,” Cody suggested.

  “Sounds good,” Eli agreed and waited for them to leave before following.

  An hour later, they had a new bar manager. While Hannah took Eli to the office to fill out all of the paperwork for taxes and insurance and get him on the schedule, Cody handled the next interview.

  It took her twenty minutes to hire the woman, Sandy Smouthers, as wait staff. By the time Eli was finished, Cody was sending Sandy in to Hannah to fill out her paperwork.

  Eli came out into the bar. “Thanks for taking a chance on me, Cody. I won’t let you down.”

  “I know you won’t. I’m glad to have you on the team, Eli. Hannah get you all squared away?”

  “She did. I’ll be back at five to shadow her on opening procedures and tomorrow she said she’d have Callie, the bookkeeper, come in around noon and go over things with me.”

  “Sounds good. So, I’ll see you tonight.”

  “You bet.”

  She watched
him leave and then went into the office. Hannah was finishing up with Sandy.

  When Sandy left, Cody took a seat. “So we have two more, right?”

  “Yes. One for wait staff and the other for manager.”

  “Man, if we could fill both positions and get everyone trained we just might get a couple nights off a week.”

  “From your lips to God’s ears,” Hannah said.

  At the sound of a, “Hello?” from the bar, she called out. “In the office!”

  Cody was sure they were on a roll when half an hour later they’d hired another server. “We’re three for three,” she said.

  “Think we can make it four for four?” Hannah asked.

  “There you are,” their dad, Billy, said from the doorway.

  “Daddy.” Cody got up and gesture to her chair. “What are you doing here?”

  “Applying for a job.”

  Cody and Hannah looked at one another and then at him. “Say what?” Hannah asked.

  “You heard me. Girls, you know I love your mama something fierce, and I love spending time with her, but I need to get back to work. I’m going plumb crazy.”

  Cody laughed and leaned over to give him a hug. “Well, you own a third so if you want to work all you have to do is tell us when.”

  “So you don’t mind having your old dad around?”

  “Are you kidding?” Cody asked.

  “No one we’re rather have here than you, Daddy,” Hannah added.

  “Well, then, let’s have a look at the schedule.”

  Cody and Hannah looked at one another again and Cody offer Hannah a fist to bump. “Four for four, little sister.”

  “Hell yeah.”

  *****

  Pressley was the last to enter the conference room and take a seat. Wes looked over at her and she shrugged. Clearly she didn’t know why Cooper had called the unscheduled meeting either.

  In the room with Pressley and Wes were Cooper, Bronson, Jasper, Lily Matthews and Liz Stadler. Wes knew this wasn’t a typical company meeting with Liz present. She had as little to do with the business as possible.

  He was about to ask about the purpose of the meeting when Cooper broke the silence.

  “Sorry to spring this on all of you. As of this morning, Liz has purchased all of my stock in the company. I’ll be leaving at the end of the week.”

  Wes looked at Cooper. “Mine if I ask why?”

  “Not at all,” Cooper replied. “I’ve decided to rejoin Quinlan Oil.”

  Wes couldn’t help but cut a look at Liz. The way she was glaring at Cooper told the tale of how she was taking the news. That wasn’t much of a surprise. Liz had pretty much bankrolled the company with a trust left to her and had made it clear that she was doing to it help Cooper break free of their father.

  Now it appeared that her efforts and her money had been wasted.

  He returned his attention to Cooper. “I can’t say I’m thrilled, but I wish you happiness and success.”

  “Thank you. I’m sure things will run smoothly without me.”

  “Traitor,” Liz said.

  “Liz—” Cooper started to speak but she cut him off.

  “Don’t even talk to me. You said you wanted to be free of him. To be your own man. Why the hell would you go back to him? Why would you betray all of us this way?”

  “It’s not a betrayal. I just realize that where I belong is in our family business. Our family, Liz. Dad isn’t going to live forever and when he’s gone, it becomes ours anyway.”

  She stood, obviously fighting not to cry. “You betrayed me, Coop. Again. We’re done.”

  With that she turned and walked out. Everyone watched her leave, the air ripening with unease. Bronson was the first to speak. “Is there anything else we should know?”

  “Yes.” Cooper said. “My father offered Jaxon Riggs a job.”

  “You’re trying to hire Riggs from under us?” Wes looked at Cooper.

  “Yes.”

  “Did he take the offer?” Wes asked.

  “Not yet.”

  “But you’re going to make it damn hard for him to turn down, aren’t you?”

  Cooper smiled. “It’s just business.”

  “I thought we were beyond that. When our fathers formed a company here and tried to talk us into signing on, we agreed that to throw in with them would be taking a step backward.”

  “And it would have.”

  “But going back to work for your father isn’t?”

  “With him, not for him.”

  “You’re a fool if you believe that.”

  Cooper smiled. “Just because your father doesn’t respect you doesn’t mean the same holds true for me.”

  “I think you’re making a huge mistake.”

  “Well, it’s mine to make isn’t it?”

  “Yes it is. But don’t compound it by trying to hire Riggs. He’s under contract.”

  “Contracts are made to be broken.” Cooper stood.

  “So, we’re back to that?” Wes stood as well.

  Cooper shrugged and gave Wes a smirk. “It’s just business.”

  “Right. Well, since your business here is over, if you’ll excuse us?”

  “I’m here until the end of the week.”

  “Don’t bother hanging around.”

  “Have it your way.” Cooper looked around the table. “It’s been a pleasure. I wish you all success.”

  The room was silent for several seconds after he left. Finally, Wes sat back down. Bronson was the one to break the silence. “You want to tell us what the hell happened?”

  “I wish I knew,” Wes said.

  “She’s never going to forgive him,” Pressley said and at a questioning look from Jasper, added. “Liz. She only got involved to get him free of their father.”

  “She said he’d betrayed her again,” Jasper pointed out. “What did that mean?”

  “Something from their past,” Pressley said.

  “So what now?” Bronson asked.

  “Now we try and make sure they don’t get away with hiring Riggs,” Wes answered.

  “Is he really that valuable?” Lily asked.

  “He’s the equivalent of a rabbit’s foot, four leaf cover, your fairy godmother and the lucky leprechaun all rolled into one,” Bronson said.

  “And the best in the business,” Wes added and looked at Bronson. “Talk to him and see which way he’s leaning.”

  “I’ll ride out to the site as soon as we’re done here.”

  “Good. We’re all going to have to pitch in to make sure we have everything covered.”

  “Then let’s do it,” Bronson agreed.

  Wes nodded. He wouldn’t admit it to anyone but Cooper’s announcement brought with it a feeling that had steadily grown stronger. He told himself it was his imagination but he didn’t believe it. Cooper quitting signaled the start of something. Something bad.

  Two hours later, everyone but Lily left the conference room. He looked at her as she got up and walked around the table to sit down beside him. “Do you think Cooper was being honest?”

  “About wanting to go back to Quinlan? Yes, I do.”

  “Would you do the same?” she asked. “Go back to your father’s company, I mean. You made Pursell International millions of dollars.”

  “No. I don’t want to go back. I told you I turned him down when he and Quinlan partnered up and tried to pull me and Cooper in. And I turned him down when he tried to get me to come back to Pursell. I’m on my own and I like it.”

  “Do you think Cooper leaving will hurt Cotton Creek Oil?”

  “No. I don’t. Not that he wasn’t an asset, he was. But we have a solid team and can do just as well without him as we did with him.”

  “Particularly with Liz’s money still behind us.”

  “Yeah, there is that,” he agreed. “It’s her I feel bad for. She came in with us only to try and free Cooper from his father’s control. She did it out of love and I know she’s feeling like he threw it
back in her face.”

  “Well, he did. He knows how things stand between her and their father and he pretty much told her by his actions today that he’s choosing his father.”

  “I agree. She didn’t deserve that, but there’s nothing we can do.”

  “Except be her friend and support her,” Lily said and put her hand on his arm. “And stick together.”

  Wes put a hand on top of hers. “Always.”

  She smiled and leaned over to kiss him. They’d not made any declarations but he was pretty sure Lily knew that she owned his heart. One day, not so far from now, when the dust settled, he needed to make a declaration and ask her to marry him because he knew as sure as he lived and breathed, she was the one for him.

  Chapter Eleven

  “Well, will you be back today?” Hannah asked.

  “I hope.” Cody answered. “But I’m not coming back until I find her. This shit has gone too far.”

  “Amen to that.” Hannah got up from the table to fetch the carafe and refill coffee cups. “She’s a real piece of work.”

  “Don’t get me started.” Cody waited for Hannah to refill her cup and then lifted it to her lips. She felt like she’d been existing on caffeine the last five days. That was how long Belinda had been gone.

  As much as she’d come to love Bernice, fending off questions about “where’s my mommy” could definitely wear on a person’s nerves. Especially when then questions started at daybreak. Cody had closed the bar three of those four nights, picked Bernice up from Stella’s and taken her to the ranch, each night hoping she’d find that Belinda had returned.

  “What if we’ve been wrong about her?” She put down her cup and looked at Hannah. “What if she really is sick and something’s happened to her?”

  “And what if she’s just a lying sack of shit who is trying to play you?”

  “That’s pretty cold.”

  Hannah reached over to take Cody’s hand. “Look, I know you want to believe the best, but honestly, she’s not shown one sign of being sick. I mean nothing and I asked Doc about people who are in kidney failure. Trust me, she wouldn’t be walking around, much less drinking and carousing the way she does if she were really that sick.”