by Cat Johnson
Leesa waited until the house was silent. She’d never actually unpacked her bag. She’d been kind of living out of it, knowing she wouldn’t be staying long. That didn’t make going any easier though. She considered leaving the dress Chase had bought her but decided that was silly. It wasn’t like he could return it. She’d already worn it. She folded it and the sweater and put it neatly on top of the rest of her things, then laid the new shoes he’d bought her on top and pulled the zipper shut.
Now for the hard part. She sat at Chase’s desk and pulled open a drawer. Being a boy’s desk, there was everything in the drawer, from an old metal toy truck that probably dated back a good fifteen years, to a few awards for his riding. Leesa eventually found a pencil. Holding it up, she saw teeth marks and smiled. She pictured a younger Chase doing his homework, chewing on the pencil as he thought about whatever problem he was working on. With that pencil, she wrote the hardest letter she’d ever written, then left his room and didn’t look back.
She was back in her sneakers and sweatshirt again, but given the cool night, and with a mile to walk, she was grateful for that. She’d at least gotten to do a load of laundry, so her pitifully small wardrobe was clean. With that small happy thought which was outweighed a million fold by the sadness in her heart, she slipped out the back door and started walking.
The night was clear. It was kind of peaceful actually, with not a car on the road. Just the sound of the night in the country. Leesa hadn’t heard that in a long time. The hoot of an owl. The scampering of little furry feet in the woods along the road. She reached the pay phone without seeing another living soul. Leesa wasn’t sure if she should find that comforting or scary.
After letting her bag drop heavily to the ground, she rotated her shoulder and tried to work out the stiffness there. She hoped she’d be able to get a taxi or it was going to be a long walk ahead. She rummaged in her pocket and pulled out her wallet. Inside, she found an old calling card that still had some minutes on it. Without her cell phone, this would have to do for now.
Leesa imagined where that phone might be now. Could she even dare report it lost and have it deactivated? Of course not. That would tip Jerry off to her location. She sighed. Vegas had defeated her. She’d never get out of the hole she was in. She’d never be able to go home to her parents as the success she pretended to be.
She should call them now, on her way out of town. If the bad guys had a trace on her parents’ phone, she’d be long gone by the time they got here looking for her, hopefully on a bus heading somewhere else.
Leesa steeled herself to dial her parents’ number. It wasn’t too late to call the West Coast. They’d be sitting in their chairs, side by side, watching one of their shows on television. They’d stay up for the eleven o’clock news so they could check the weather for the next day, then go to bed. She’d never been able to convince them that they could get a computer and see the weather on there. Or even watch the weather channel any time of day or night and get the local forecast. They were creatures of habit. Maybe that was why they believed her lies so readily. They were simply used to trusting her. Leesa’s lying was a recent addition to her repertoire.
Her mom would answer after the first ring. The phone, an ancient looking one, the kind that still had a cord attached to the wall, had always sat on the table between their two chairs. An easy reach for either one of them, though her mother was usually the one to answer.
Every word Chase had said over dinner replayed in Leesa’s head as she changed her mind about calling her parents and hung up the receiver. She didn’t want to lie to them anymore, but she also couldn’t tell them the truth right now.
Maybe if Jerry and his brother weren’t in the picture things could be different. She could go home and tell them everything. As things stood, it was safer to stay away. She didn’t know what she’d do or where’d she’d end up eventually, but at least she knew her next move. She had to get out of here.
This was a small town. There was even a phone book where one was supposed to be. She flipped through the pages, looking first for public transportation and then for a taxi company close by but not from this town. Chase would have probably gone to school with the driver if she chose a company from here. She didn’t want him to be the laughing stock of the locals or pitied either, that the girl he’d had dinner with snuck out on him in the middle of the night. She also didn’t want to risk him tracking her down and trying to follow her. The situation was both too dangerous and too painful for her to see him again.
Selection made, Leesa marked the toll free listing for the cab company with one finger and picked up the receiver. Time to get on with her life.
Leesa wiped her hands on the polyester apron tied around her waist and tried to remember why she’d walked back into the kitchen. Her weary brain finally supplied the answer as she stared into the reach-in fridge and frowned. Catsup for table eight.
“Here’s your tip from table twelve, Leesa. Raul bussed it and I wiped it down for you. You just have to reset.”
“Thanks, Tina.” Once again her coworkers were picking up her slack. Leesa pocketed the two single dollar bills and sighed. At this rate she’d have her bills paid off in about fifty years or so.
The redhead paused in what seemed like her usual state of constant motion. “You know. You’d make more tips if you gave them a little something extra.”
“Something extra?” Leesa nearly laughed. Déjà vu of an eerily similar conversation with Holly not even a month ago struck her. She waited for Tina’s theory on getting larger tips, not sure she wanted to hear it after what had happened the last time.
“You know, nothing that will be noticed. Like cut them a really large piece of pie once in a while. Or refill their soda for free even though there’s only free refills on coffee and iced tea,” Tina continued.
“Okay. Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind.” Leesa let out a huge sigh.
“You all right?”
She nodded. “Yeah. Just tired.”
“You can go if you want. It’s pretty dead out there. I can handle it alone.”
Leesa knew that was true. She probably only got in everyone’s way. No wonder Tina was anxious for her to go home. “You sure?”
“Yup. Not a problem.”
Who was she to argue? It wasn’t like she was making good tips anyway. Leesa held up the bottle she’d just grabbed. “I better get this to table eight, then I guess I’ll reset table twelve and go.”
Already halfway back to her table with their food, Tina dismissed her with a quickly waved goodbye.
Leesa needed to call her parents anyway. It had been two weeks since she’d talked to them.
She tried not to feel guilty about how seldom she could call home as she rode the bus to a town half an hour away. She’d spotted a pay phone outside the library the last time she’d been there using the computers and internet. Next week she’d have to go to a different town with a different library and hopefully find a working pay phone there as well. If Jerry had her parents’ phone tapped, she couldn’t safely come back to this town again.
She’d gotten so used to taking the bus that it seemed like no time before she was dialing her parents’ phone number. Leesa stashed the anxiety of the past few weeks away temporarily. Donning a smile since she was convinced her mother could hear it in her voice, she said, “Hey, Mom. It’s me.”
“Leesa. Where are you?” That was not her mother’s usual greeting.
“I’m uh, traveling again for work. Why? Is something wrong?” Panic hit her hard. For the first time in weeks, Leesa tasted the fear she’d felt when fleeing Vegas.
The image of Bruno with a gun pressed against her mother’s head nearly took her off her feet.
“Two men were here looking for you…”
Leesa swayed and grabbed for the shelf beneath the phone to stop herself from falling. Tiny black spots began to close in on the edges of her vision.
“…they left their number and said that if I heard from you
, I should have you call them. Leesa, they said they were from the FBI.”
Jerry’s guys were pretending to be FBI now. They were still trying to find her, but they hadn’t harmed her parents. Not yet. That was what was important. She tried to compose herself. “Okay. What’s the number?”
Even though she had no intention of calling it, she scribbled down the number with shaky hands on her order pad still in the apron shoved in her bag. She had to get off the phone so she could go vomit somewhere and then figure out what to do. “Thanks, Mom. I’ll call them.”
“Leesa. What’s this about? Why would the FBI need to talk to you?”
A suitable lie didn’t present itself, and she couldn’t tell her mother it most likely wasn’t the FBI but rather the two men hired to kill her, so she did the best she could. She told the truth for once. “I don’t know, Mom. I’ll call you again soon. Love you.”
Leesa slammed the receiver down, as if hanging up extra hard would stop any phone trace or wire tap more quickly than disconnecting the call normally. Shaking so hard she could barely read the number she’d written down, she stared at the piece of paper in her hand. What should she do? What if it really had been the FBI looking for her?
She needed to take another risk, one she hoped would pay off. It took her two times to dial in Holly’s cell phone number correctly, but Leesa finally heard her old friend’s voice answer. Thank goodness she didn’t get voice mail.
“Holly. It’s Leesa. If you’re at work or not alone, don’t let on it’s me. Okay?”
“Leesa. Oh my God. Do you have any idea what’s been happening here?”
“No. Tell me.”
“Jerry turned state’s evidence and then disappeared. His brother is in jail and the club’s been shut down.”
“What? Holly, slow down. Tell me what happened exactly.”
“It all went down right after you left. There was some FBI sting happening right under our noses. One of the guys Jerry was meeting with was an undercover fed. Apparently they got enough evidence to arrest Jerry. The minute they did, he sang like a bird and spilled everything he knew, including financial records of all the money his brother was laundering through the club. Meanwhile, every employee had to give a statement to the feds and the club has been shut down.”
For the second time in just a few minutes, Leesa grabbed the shelf for support. Maybe it really had been the FBI looking for her. The FBI visiting her parents now made perfect sense. They probably needed her statement, but that didn’t mean Jerry’s hit wasn’t still on. “Where is Jerry now?”
“Gone. We figure they got him in witness protection until the trial. Word is his brother is pissed.”
She could imagine Johnny would be far more pissed at his brother than he was at her having seen the back of a man sitting at a desk with money in front of him. In fact, that man she’d seen was probably the undercover agent.
“Wow.” That was all Leesa could manage at the moment, she was in such shock.
“Where are you? Are you okay?”
Leesa had been on the run too long to answer the first question willingly, but she answered the second. “Yeah, I’m fine.”
Jerry and his brother were both out of commission now and probably too worried about staying alive themselves to worry about her. Leesa knew a little something about being consumed with trying to stay alive.
If what Holly said was true, Leesa could go back to Vegas, but then what? Her rent was paid through the end of the month. She could get the rest of her stuff out and move home. Or stay and go back to stripping.
Her life might almost be normal again, but all of the old problems that existed before were still there. She was still lying to her parents. And Chase… Did she dare hope to build something with him after how she’d left things?
“Are you coming back? I found a job at a new club on the strip. I can put in a good word for you.”
Thinking of Chase and the short time she’d had with him seemed to make everything clear for her. Suddenly Leesa knew with certainty going back to stripping in Vegas was one thing she wouldn’t be doing. “No. I’ll be back to clean up some loose ends, but no. I think I’ll be moving back home for a bit. At least until I get my life together again.”
“Good. I think that’s a good idea.”
Leesa nodded. “Yeah, I think so too.”
Chapter Seventeen
The bull ran into the chute. Chase dropped to his knee and said the usual prayer, asking God to protect both himself and this animal from harm during his ride.
Antsy, the bull rattled the rails as Chase climbed over the top. His brother was there right behind the chute, delivering encouragement with his words and his very presence. One reason Chase liked riding close to home was his family being there. Even though this wasn’t the professional bull riding championship series, but rather a local rodeo he’d chosen to ride in, having loved ones close meant a lot. Particularly now, when he needed all the support he could find to ease the hurt Leesa had left behind.
He knew he needed to concentrate on the ride, not on memories of her. Yet the letter she’d left behind still popped into his head at the worst times, like now for instance.
I can’t stay. No explanation as to why.
It’s best if we don’t talk again. Please don’t try to contact me.
Meanwhile, Chase was about to compete for the first time since she left and he had his wedding ring in his pocket. The superstitious riders back on tour would be crossing themselves and sending up extra prayers if they knew that.
It wouldn’t be the gold band in his jeans that got him hurt, but it might be his lack of concentration. Trying his best to center his mind, Chase lowered himself onto the bull’s back and slid his gloved fingers into the bull rope’s handle. He pulled and then wrapped the rope tight around his hand. Flexing his fingers a few times, he tested the wrap.
The bull made one single but powerful move and crashed forward against the front of the chute. Bearing down with his legs, Chase lowered his chin, raised his arm and nodded to the gate man. Then they were off into the arena.
The bull went into a perfect spin into Chase’s hand, bucking just enough to impress the four judges but not enough to send Chase into the dirt. Just the kind of ride he liked.
He knew the announcer’s voice filled the arena above the cheers from the crowd, but the only sound Chase focused on was the eight-second buzzer. When he heard that, he took the safest way off the animal. He pulled the tail of the rope to release his hand and threw his left leg over the animal’s head. He jumped off the side, then felt his right foot catch.
His head slammed into the dirt as his spur got momentarily caught in the flank strap. He was vaguely aware of the shouts of the bullfighters as hooves came down close to his face. Chase pulled himself into a ball, squeezed his eyes shut and waited for the pain, but it never came.
His head was spinning and he was sure he’d have a headache from hell later, but that was all. The bull was out of the arena and hands were lifting him from the dirt. Still dizzy, he took the help from the medical team to get off the ground. Once he assured them he was fine, and let them shine a light in his eyes, they let him walk out of the arena under his own steam, which was always a good thing.
He was greeted behind the chutes by smiling faces and more than one hand pounding him on the back.
“Great ride, man.”
“Perfect ride. You’re in the lead.”
Chase accepted the congratulations from the other riders with a nod as his brother ran up to him.
“Holy shit, Chase. Did you see your score?”
Pulling the mouth guard from his mouth, he shook his head. “No.”
He looked for the scoreboard but hadn’t located it yet thanks to what may well be a concussion when his brother supplied the information. “Ninety and a quarter.”
Normally, Chase would have jumped for joy at that information, but right now there was only one thing he could comprehend. That was Leesa pushing her w
ay through the crowd as she came toward him. Even more amazingly, she was wearing the dress he’d bought for her.
Cody didn’t see her since she was behind him, but Chase couldn’t take his eyes off her.
“You okay?” Cody put a hand on his shoulder and blocked his view of Leesa as he peered into Chase’s eyes. “You might have a concussion.”
“I’m fine.” Chase pushed his brother’s hand away and moved to look around him.
Cody finally turned just as Leesa, teary eyed, reached them.
“Ah.” He glanced at Chase and raised a brow. “Do you want me to stay or go?”
It was a valid question. Cody had been on the receiving end of Chase’s mood swings for the past few weeks. They’d had some good sparring sessions because of them though. Chase found it helpful to beat the crap out of something when trying to heal a broken heart. Here before him stood the cause of that pain, but all he could think as his pulse raced was that she’d come back to him.
“You can go.” He spoke to Cody, but his eyes never left Leesa, who was crying openly now.
“I saw you fall. Are you hurt?” Her voice quavered.
“That? Nah. That was nothing.” He reached out and she came willingly into his arms. Burying his face in her hair, he squeezed her tightly to him and tried to absorb that she was really there. He was holding her again when he thought he never would.
“I’m so sorry.” Her apology was muffled, delivered into the vest he hadn’t yet taken off after his ride.
“It’s okay.” He rubbed her back, as much for her comfort as for his own. Maybe if he touched her enough he’d start to believe she was really back.
Her tearstained face lifted. “I have so much to tell you.”
His relief over that statement nearly brought tears to his own eyes. “Okay.”
“After I tell you, once I explain, maybe you’ll be able to forgive me.”
Hurt and confused as he was, he’d never been able to be angry with her. He pulled back far enough to slide his right hand into the front pocket of his jeans. He brought out the ring he’d worn for those few short days when they’d thought they were married.
