“Baby, were you just on your four-wheeler in the woods?” Trulee asked.
“No, I’m still at the—why?”
“Darrin Daigle called Walt and said he was driving past your place and saw headlights in your woods, he thinks it’s poachers. Walt’s been trying to get in touch with you, and when he couldn’t, he called Kyle, who is with Trent in Belle Chasse. Kyle called me in a panic because he thinks it was you and Stevie on the four-wheeler, and he was afraid I would give Walt a ride out there and he’d catch y’all. I’m covering a shift at the diner, and that man has been bugging the—”
“Trulee, I think that’s Stevie on my four-wheeler. I have to call her right now, thank you!” Kellen ended the call with Trulee and tried to get in touch with Stevie. The phone rang until it went to voicemail. “Would you call me back as soon as you get this, please?” Kellen said and called the number again, hoping Stevie would answer.
Kellen debated on ending the meeting as she waited for Stevie to return her call. The trail between her house and the cottage was so deep in the woods there was no way anyone would spot her lights. If it was Stevie on the four-wheeler and Darrin could see her, that meant she was way off the trail. They’d talked about it that morning, though, and Stevie was supposed to drive her car to the house, so Kellen hoped she simply had a trespasser as seconds ticked by. She was about to try to reach Stevie again when her phone rang, and it was Trulee.
“That blind jackass is on his four-wheeler! Eve Crenshaw just told me he ran over her mailbox, nearly hit her and her dog, and kept on going. I called the police, I hope they arrest him.”
*******
If Stevie had been able to see an overhead view of the route she’d taken, it would’ve looked like a figure eight. When she finally accepted defeat and pulled her phone out to call Kellen, she saw the missed call from her. She switched the motor to the ATV off and was about to call her back when she realized she could still hear the engine noise, but it sounded slightly different. A blinding light hit her in the face, and that’s when the screaming started.
“Put your hands in the air, this is the police!”
Stevie’s phone flew out of her hand as she did as she was ordered. “I’m not trespassing. This is a friend’s land, and she gave me permission to be on it.”
“Keep your hands up and get off the ATV,” the police officer said as he stepped between her and the light coming from his four-wheeler.
Stevie obeyed. “Sir, I swear to you I have permission to—”
“To do what out here in the dark?” another man asked.
“Darrin, I got this,” the officer said, then asked Stevie, “Ma’am, do you have a weapon?”
“God, no! I was riding, I was just riding,” Stevie exclaimed.
“Do you have ID on you?” the officer asked.
“It’s in my purse in the front compartment,” Stevie said.
“She ain’t no poacher if there’s a purse in there,” Darrin said. “She’s probably hauling drugs for someone at the marina, Zach.”
“I am not a drug mule,” Stevie snapped.
Zach set Stevie’s purse on the seat of the ATV, opened it, and aimed his flashlight inside. “Ma’am, get your ID out for me, please.”
Stevie did as she was asked and took her driver’s license out of her wallet. “Do I have to put my hands back up?” she asked as she handed it to Zach.
He didn’t reply immediately as he gazed at Stevie’s license. “Ma’am, are you sure you know whose land you’re on?”
“Kellen McLin’s.”
“I’ll bet you ten to one that she didn’t give you permission to be out here, Ms. Sealy. You’re a little long in the tooth for pulling stunts like putting up signs and spraying graffiti, so what exactly are you doing out here besides trespassing?” Zach asked as he looked at Kellen’s four-wheeler with a frown.
“Did you just say Sealy?” Darrin asked.
“Long in the what?” Stevie asked at the same time.
“Put that phone back in your pocket,” Zach ordered. “Darrin, chill, let me do my job.”
“Walt’s gonna wanna know about this,” Darrin argued.
“Hey, Zach, you obviously know Kellen because she’s the mayor. Would you just call her so she can explain everything?” Stevie pleaded.
“Yes, I will.” Zach pulled his phone from his pocket and made the call. “Hey, Mayor—” He frowned and whispered, “Are you kidding me? Oh…okay. Well, she ain’t anywhere near there. We found her about forty or fifty feet from the road, just west of your driveway. Yeah? Okay.” He handed his phone to Stevie. “The mayor wants to talk to you.”
“You got lost, didn’t you?” Kellen asked the second Stevie said “hey.”
“Okay, yes, I did,” Stevie said and went off on a tirade. “I don’t know who Darrin is, but he’s a dick. He said I couldn’t be a poacher because I brought my purse! He’s saying I’m a drug mule. They blinded me with a light, and Zach called me a long tooth—old, he called me old.”
“I meant she was too old to be out here playing pranks, Mayor,” Zach said as he moved closer to Stevie to be heard by Kellen. “It was a reasonable observation.”
“You think thirty-fucking-four is old, are you twelve?” Stevie retorted. “You didn’t have to be rude.”
“Stevie? Zach? Who am I on the phone with?” Kellen asked.
Darrin was on his phone and said, “I see ya, Walt, come on in.” He looked at Stevie with a big grin. “You only thought I was a dick.”
“Zach, talk to me now!” Kellen yelled.
Stevie held the phone out to Zach. “She wants you,” she said numbly as she stared into the approaching headlights just like a deer.
Walt arrived and climbed off his ATV. “Which Sealy are you?” he demanded as he approached the group.
“Walt, look at this four-wheeler,” Darrin said, sounding smug. “Don’t it look just like Kellen’s? I bet you she stole it.”
“Mr. McLin, I didn’t steal anything, and I’ll explain everything if Zach will get off the phone and shoot Darrin,” Stevie said as calmly as she could.
“Walt, hey, man,” Zach said as he stepped between him and Stevie. “Look, I was just talking to the mayor. She’s on the way, and she’s gonna handle everything. No one’s been poaching, nothing has been stolen. You looking good, man, you been working out?”
“Boy, don’t stand there and try to bullshit me. I know Kellen told you to keep me away from that woman, I ain’t stupid. Ms. Sealy was about to explain everything, so let’s hear her out while we wait on Kellen.” Walt waved a hand in Stevie’s direction. “She can start with her first name.”
“My name is Stevie Sealy.”
“Shouldn’t she be in cuffs?” Darrin asked.
Stevie glared at Darrin. “I don’t even know you, and I hate you so hard right now.”
“That feelin’ is mutual, girlie.” Darrin wagged a finger at Stevie. “You just be glad you ain’t no man, or I’d be beating on your ass.”
“Back atcha,” Stevie said with a maniacal smile.
No one said a word for a moment, then Zach snorted. “She just called you a woman, Darrin.”
“You two hush for minute.” Walt folded his arms. “I don’t see very well, but your voice sounds awfully familiar to me. Do you happen to also go by Stephanie?”
“The mayor’s coming in hot,” Zach said as Kellen barreled through the woods in her Jeep dodging trees.
Darrin grinned. “Now the shit is gonna get thick, Stevie Sealy. We ain’t gonna beat your ass, but Kellen ain’t afraid to put her hands on a woman.”
“I’m sorry.” Zach bowed his head, and his entire body shook with laughter. “Darrin, you can’t even buy a clue.”
“Boys, thank y’all for coming out and helping,” Walt said. “Me and Kellen can take it from here.”
Darrin shook his head. “I’m staying to watch the ass whipping.”
Walt dropped a hand on his shoulder. “You know I appreciate you, and you�
�re a good friend, so don’t take offense. Darrin, I think that nose spray you use all the time is messing up your brain. You better get yourself some sinus pills instead. Now go on home, and I’ll catch up with you later.”
“What?” Darrin looked confused as Zach dragged him away.
Kellen walked over to Stevie and asked softly, “Are you okay?”
“Yes, and I’m so sorry about this,” Stevie whispered.
Kellen gave a quick smile before she turned to Walt. “We should probably go up to the house and talk.”
“I wanna thank you, Kellen, for convincing me to get my eyes fixed. I learned tonight that I need them, so I can see when people are lying to me.”
Kellen sighed. “I am wrong for—”
“Not only you, but Kyle, Trent, and even your girlfriend lied to me. While I expect that behavior from a Sealy, I can’t believe my family would stoop so low. You wanting to be soft on the Sealys makes sense now. We ain’t going to your house to talk because you’ll just tell me more lies.” Walt turned and headed for his ATV. “You betrayed me, and this hurts worse than the time you went down the swing set slide and kicked me in the nuts. You kicked my heart nuts, Kellen.”
Chapter 17
Stevie drove Kellen’s Jeep back to the house, and Kellen followed on the ATV. When they walked inside, Stevie couldn’t even meet Kellen’s gaze. She was furious with herself for being so stubborn. “This wouldn’t have happened if I had listened to you and drove over here in my car tonight. I’m so sorry.”
“The end result would still be the same. There was no way we were gonna be able to keep us a secret for very long.” Kellen pulled Stevie into her arms and chuckled. “I thought it would be longer than a week, though.”
“Less than a week actually.” Stevie rubbed Kellen’s back. “Tell me what’s going on inside of you.”
Kellen released a heavy breath. “I have mixed feelings. It’s a relief that he knows, and it hurts me to know I hurt him. I’m worried about you because now it’s just a matter of time before word gets back to your family. If not Walt, then Zach and Darrin will tell people, and that juicy gossip is gonna spread like wildfire and will invariably burn its way to someone in Sealy.”
Kyle knocked on the door and opened it. “Is it safe to come in?” He held out a bottle of wine. “I brought medicine.”
“Yeah,” Kellen replied.
Trent rushed past Kyle as they came through the door. “What the hell happened tonight?”
“I did something stupid and fucked everything up,” Stevie replied tight-lipped. “I got lost on Kellen’s four-wheeler and was busted by a cop and his sidekick, Darrin, who called Walt.”
“We knew that part because we met up with them at the end of the driveway, along with Trulee.” Kyle shook his head. “I’ve never seen Trulee that mad. When Walt rode up, she went off on him so bad for driving and nearly killing Mrs. Crenshaw and her dog, Walt couldn’t get a word in edgewise. He looked like a little kid when she told him to get into her car, and he just did it. She made me park his four-wheeler next to your garage. She also called a family meeting for tomorrow night, and all of us have to be there, including Stevie.”
Stevie swallowed hard and pointed to the bottle in Kyle’s hand. “I think it’s a good time for you to open the medicine.”
“I can hear the torches lighting up in Sealy right now,” Trent said, looking at Stevie. “Have you gotten any calls yet?”
Stevie stuffed her hand in the pocket of her jacket and groaned. “My phone is in the woods, I dropped it when Zach made me put my hands up.”
“We have to find it before we start drinking any of Kyle’s medicine,” Kellen said and headed for the door.
*******
It took less time for them to find the phone than it did to find the spot where Stevie encountered Zach and Darrin. Everyone had left going different directions and added to the tracks Stevie had made when she was wandering. When they found the place where all the vegetation was smashed down, they turned off the motors of Kellen’s and Walt’s ATVs, and Kellen called Stevie’s number. Trent walked right over to it and plucked it out of the leaves. Everyone held their breath and waited for Stevie to check her missed calls, and fortunately, they were only from Kellen.
*******
“How did you get so far off the trail?” Kellen asked when they were back at the house sitting around her living room drinking wine.
“Honestly, I don’t think I ever found it,” Stevie said with a sheepish smile. “Everything looks so different in the dark. I kept thinking I was at least going in the right direction and I’d invariably come up on your house. When that didn’t happen, I stopped to call you, and that’s where I got busted.”
“How far off the trail was she?” Kyle asked Kellen.
“About a mile.”
“Well, the high side is y’all don’t have to do that anymore now that the cat is out of the bag,” Kyle said and took a drink. “Then again, it might not be. You know, they might not hear the gossip for a while.”
“I’m going to tell my parents tomorrow morning.” Stevie drummed her fingers on her glass. “I shouldn’t allow them to hear it from someone else.”
Kellen put her hand on Stevie’s knee. “I’ll go with you.”
“That would be like going into their house while it was on fire, waving a can of gas around, and yelling ‘look what I got.’” Trent pointed at Kellen. “You’re like an accelerant on two legs. I’ll go with her.”
Stevie smiled at Kellen. “He does have a point, and he’s not going with me, either. Y’all are wonderful for wanting to support me, but this is something I need to handle.”
*******
Before sunrise the next morning, Stevie’s plan changed. “Are you at Kellen’s?” Christine asked when Stevie answered her phone half asleep.
“Yes.”
“Has Mom or Dad called you?” Christine asked with tension in her voice.
“No, why?”
“Don’t go back to the cottage, Stevie. One of Dad’s McLin spies called him this morning. I don’t know what was said yet. Mom called me and said she and Dad went to your place, and it was obvious you had not slept there, but your car was there. She wanted to know if I knew anything. I played dumb and asked what was going on. The only thing I could get out of her was that they’d heard you’d been hanging out with Kellen. They haven’t called you, so that means they’re waiting for you to get home, so they can pounce.”
“Dad has spies?”
“That’s what you’re concerned about after all I just told you?” Christine asked incredulously. “Girl, you are in so much trouble! You better wake up and put your balls on.”
Stevie squinted when Kellen switched on the bedside lamp. “What time is it?”
“Six thirty,” Kellen and Christine said at the same time, then Christine asked, “What’re you going to do? I need to know so I can be there to witness this spectacle and be supportive. I should’ve said supportive first.”
“I don’t know. I’m hungover, and I can’t think. Talk to Kellen, I have to pee.”
Kellen gazed at Stevie with a blank stare as she pressed the phone into her hand and got out of bed. Kellen put the phone to her ear. “Uh…hey, Chris.”
“Hi, Kellen, how’ve you been?” Christine asked casually.
“Fine, and you?” Kellen replied with a shrug. “What’s going on?”
“Condensed version, my parents were told by someone that Stevie is hanging out with you, and they know she wasn’t home last night. They’re going to start putting the pieces of this puzzle together if they haven’t already. I told Stevie not to go back to the cottage because Mom and Dad are waiting to attack. Do you have a passport?”
“Oh, shit, that happened fast,” Kellen said as the news settled into her mind.
“Tell her to come get me,” Stevie said as she walked out of the bathroom with her jeans on.
Kellen didn’t have time to argue or comment before Christine said, “I�
�m on my way,” and ended the call.
“I’m taking off work today, and I’m going with you,” Kellen said as she jumped out of bed. “They already have my gas can in their house fire or whatever.”
“No.” Stevie grabbed Kellen by the arm. “Please listen. If you walk in the door with me, things are gonna escalate. Given the circumstances, Walt was very kind last night. My parents won’t be the same way. They’ll say things to you that will make me lose my mind, so it’s best if you let me handle this.”
Kellen shook her head. “I can’t stand the idea of sitting back and letting you face this alone.”
“Christine will be in my corner…I think.” Stevie smiled. “I knew I was going to have to do this when I danced with you. It’s been going around in my mind like a program running in the background of a computer, and I’m ready. I don’t know exactly what I’m gonna say, but they’re going to understand that I care for you, and if it’s either or, I will choose you. I need you to have faith in me.”
“You said something along those lines about the four-wheeler, and we know how that turned out,” Kellen said with a slight smile.
Stevie laughed. “Oh, I can’t believe you just went there.”
“Seriously, I hear what you’re saying, and if I were in your shoes, I’d be saying the exact same thing.” Kellen shook her head. “I’m still not okay with it.”
“When you and Walt talk, you’re going to want to make me stay behind for the same reason and out of respect for him.”
“We’re gonna see him tonight, and I want you to do all the talking for the both of us.”
“You are so full of it,” Stevie said with a laugh.
“If we can still make each other laugh in the middle of a shit storm, we’re gonna be just fine, right?”
Stevie smiled and gave Kellen a quick kiss. “Right.”
“If things don’t go well and you have to move, I want you here. I know we can make it work, but if you’re not at that point yet, I’m okay with that.” Kellen stroked the side of Stevie’s face. “I just wanted you to know where I stand.”
Kellen's Moment Page 19
