“She should be here. She’s not even answering her damn phone.” I stomped out onto the porch. “Give me a cigarette.”
“I thought you quit.” Steve handed me his pack and I lit one up.
“I’m nervous and I don’t want to start drinking until I know she’s okay.” I took a long drag and my lungs instantly rejected the smoke. I hadn’t smoked since I was a teenager.
“I’m sure everything is fine.” Jesse stood up and let out a sigh. “Try her phone again.”
“We shouldn’t have let her go.” I dialed her number and listened to her voicemail pick up.
Fuck
“We didn’t have a choice.” Luther shrugged. “She’s not our hostage.”
“It’s our job to make sure she’s okay though.” Major tapped his foot and I could see nervousness on his face.
“I’m going into town.” Jesse started down the steps. “I’ll try to find some way to get in touch with her father. Joe, did she leave any information for him when she did the deed?”
“I’d have to check City Hall.” Mayor Danvers sighed. “Let me ride with you.”
I was going out of my mind. When Samantha left, I expected to see her beautiful face again the next day. When that didn’t work out, I was at peace because she did call and touch base with us. It had been almost twenty-four hours since her last call and I had an uneasy feeling in my stomach. A million things went through my head—she could have been in an accident, her father could have reacted badly—she could have even decided that the whole thing was crazy when she thought it through. I just needed an answer. If it was her decision, I would figure out a way to live with it, but I needed to know one way or the other. Jesse had barely been gone for an hour when Steve’s phone lit up with Jesse’s number. He tossed his cigarette over the side of the porch and put the phone to his ear. All of us gathered around him waiting on the news.
“You have to be shitting me.” He hung the phone up angrily. “She got arrested—for a fucking DUI.”
“What!?” I raised my eyebrows angrily. “How the fuck...”
“I don’t know. Jesse ran her license and got a hit. She’s still locked up. He’s going to make some calls.” Steve sat down and sighed.
“At least she’s okay.” I leaned against the porch. “I’m going to kick her ass when I see her.”
“Let me handle that.” Luther folded his arms and his eyebrows came together angrily. “I’ll make sure she doesn’t sit down for a week.”
Chapter 18: Samantha
The cold steel of the handcuffs hurt my wrists when they were clamped on tight once the officer had me do a breathalyzer. He took me roughly by the back of the neck and shoved me into his squad car. When that didn’t sober me up, I realized how drunk I really was. The officer kept me in the back of the police car while a wrecker came for my car and then he started driving me towards the station. As we got closer, the impact of my decision really started to sink in. I wasn’t going to be able to return to Granite Falls the next day—I might not even get to go back the day after that. The police officer booked me and put me in a cell that was cold and lonely. I curled up on the cot and started to cry. I couldn’t believe how badly I had screwed up. I got my phone call the next morning and tried to call my father, but I got no answer at home or on his cell phone. I didn’t have any other number memorized, so the officer took me back to my cell and told me I would be arraigned later that day.
“Come on, Grant.” A police officer appeared at the entrance of my cell. “You must have a guardian angel because you’re being released.”
“What?” I sat up in confusion.
“I don’t get paid to ask questions.” He motioned for me to follow as he opened the cell.
I had no idea what was going on, but I followed behind the officer as we passed the rest of the cells and entered the part of the police station where I was booked. I was allowed to change back into my regular clothes and all of my personal items were returned once I signed a piece of paper. It felt like a dream when he started leading me down the hallway towards the exit. I knew something was definitely wrong, but freedom was so close I could taste it. I didn’t get arraigned and they never set bail or anything—I was just being released. I stepped through the exit and things became a little clearer when I saw Jesse leaning against his sheriff’s car.
“Get in.” He opened the passenger door.
“How did you get me out of there?” I started towards the car, feeling my heart beating in my chest.
“Professional courtesy, but that doesn’t mean you’re completely off the hook. Luther is going to have a long talk with you once we get back to Granite Falls.” He motioned towards the open door.
I don’t think he’ll be doing much talking—and I’m not sure I’ll enjoy it this time.
“I still haven’t told my father...” My words trailed off as I took a seat.
“You don’t have to. I just came from his house. I was actually there when you called.” He sat down behind the steering wheel and looked over at me. “He’s not very happy, as you can imagine.”
“You told him about...us? What we talked about?” I swallowed a lump in my throat.
“I told him enough. He was concerned, but he wants you to be happy. We’re going to swing by there on our way out of town.” Jesse nodded as he started driving.
My father didn’t yell at me either, but I could see a lot of disappointment in his eyes. It was hard to tell if it was because of my decision to move to Granite Falls or my arrest. When our talk was over, he hugged me and told me he did want me to be happy, regardless of what that meant to me. Jesse helped me pack my bags and carry them to his car. I hugged my father one last time before getting back into the passenger seat. I hoped time would show him that it wasn’t just a random whirlwind romance where I was running away to marry a man I just met. The truth was so much sweeter than the fiction we created, but there was no way he would understand that. Nobody would understand it except the eight of us that had agreed to the arrangement. He promised to visit when he was feeling better and I promised I would come back to visit him when I could as well. After that, we were on the road and the next stop was Granite Falls—and the rest of my life.
“I don’t like lying to him.” I let out a sigh and stared out the window.
“You’re not lying. I do care about you and I’ll be marrying you.” Jesse reached over and took my hand. “He’ll see how happy you are when he comes to visit. That will help him understand that this is right for you, even if he doesn’t know all the details.”
“I hope so.” I looked to Jesse and smiled.
My homecoming to Granite Falls wasn’t as joyous as I originally thought it would be when I left. After the other six hugged me and told me how thankful they were I was okay, I got seven lectures about the dangers of what I had done. When that was done, Luther took me upstairs and I knew it wasn’t going to be a pleasant experience. I spent some time over his knee getting to know the paddle in a way that I didn’t want to ever know again. I spent the night alone in my bed, denied their touch as additional punishment for what I had done. I didn’t wake up to breakfast in bed or any of the pleasantries I had become accustomed to. I dressed myself in a pair of pajamas and walked downstairs where they were all sitting and talking. It appeared to be fairly early. Mayor Danvers was the first one to get up when he saw me.
“It seems like you did something right while you were home.” He walked over and wrapped his arms around me.
“What happened?” I felt him squeeze me tight and when he leaned back, there was a smile on his face.
“Our proposal has been accepted! The American Motors plant is coming to Granite Falls!”
“It is!?” I was quickly overcome with excitement. “I don’t know if that was me...”
“I do.” Mayor Danvers released me from his embrace. “The guy that called me mentioned you specifically—a Mr. Charles Payne?”
“That is Jennifer’s father! Oh my God! He did it!”
I reached into my pocket for my cell phone. “I have to call Jennifer.”
JENNIFER CONFIRMED that her father had spoken to some colleagues that were on the fence and convinced them that helping out a small town in need was better than satisfying the state’s greed for more money. He also brought up the fact that having land nearby developed and growing a town could increase the value of the land in the long run. After I hung up with her, I decided to call my father. He was happy I had made it to Granite Falls and said he was feeling a little stronger that morning than he did the day before—every day seemed to be getting better than the last. I apologized for driving drunk and promised him I would never do it again. I had said those words to him the day before as well, but I felt like I needed to keep saying them. He asked about Jesse, which I thought was a good sign. There was still hesitation on the subject, but I was content with my decision. I was in Granite Falls where I belonged with seven men who would always make sure I was well taken care of. Regardless of how strange it was, I couldn’t have been happier.
Two days later
“THOSE FUCKING CATS...” Blue walked into the house and sneezed, wiping his nose with his hand. It was followed by a grunt.
“What did you do with all of them?” I walked into the living room with a tissue and handed it to him.
“It was like wrangling—well, fucking cats. I got them all loaded up and they’re on the way to a shelter. They’ll all have new homes.” He grunted and shook his head as he wiped his nose. “I spent all day chasing them down.”
“Hey, I helped.” Steve walked in behind him and sighed. “How the hell did your grandmother get so many?”
“I have no idea.” I tilted my head when I saw something under Steve’s arm. “What is that?”
“Oh, I found this in your Grandmother’s house. It appears to be her recipe book.” He smiled and handed it to me.
“This is nothing but pie recipes.” I raised my eyebrows as I flipped through it.
“Did someone say pie?” Mayor Danvers popped his head out of the kitchen.
“We found Mrs. Grant’s recipe book.” Steve folded his arms and beamed like he had just discovered gold.
“Seriously?” Mayor Danvers walked out into the living room. “Samantha, do you think you could make them like she did?”
“Well...” I flipped through a few more pages. “The directions are here, I could give it a shot.”
“Good! I’d love to have a dozen or so when they break ground on the new American Motors plant.” Mayor Danvers’ nodded. “Of course, you’d need to practice and make sure you know how to make them first...”
“Which means we’re about to eat a lot of pie?” Steve raised his eyebrows and his face turned to a hopeful grin.
“It looks that way...” I tucked the recipe book under my arm. “Who wants to go on a grocery run?”
It was like a cascade of hands all volunteering at once—apparently, they really did like my Grandmother’s pies.
“AMERICAN MOTORS JUST faxed over the details on the new plant. We’ll have five hundred new jobs by this time next year—all because you.” Mayor Danvers leaned against me and kissed my neck.
“That is wonderful news.” I closed my eye and leaned my head back against his kiss. “Did you find out what the holdup was with the state?”
“Yeah, apparently they were dragging their feet on the permits. American Motors wanted to take our bid, but the state made it seem like they needed to do a lot more work and it would take years to complete it. They even offered to discount their land at first, but once your friend’s father put words in the right ears, things took off like a rocket.” He kissed my neck again.
“Good, I’m glad things are working out.” I reached back and caressed his hair.
“When will the pie be ready?” He pulled his lips away and looked over my shoulder at the mess in the kitchen.
“Relax...” I shook my head and laughed. “I’ve barely got the ingredients in the bowl.”
“If it is a good pie.” Mayor Danvers leaned back and licked my ear. “We’ll all spend a little time showing your gratitude once we’re done.”
“You’ll do that whether they’re good or not.” I turned to him with a sarcastic scowl.
After a few hours of figuring out my grandmother’s recipe, failing, trying it again, and turning the kitchen into a disaster zone, my first pie was done. The eight of us gathered around it and I started cutting slices, hoping it would be half as good as the ones my grandmother made. The sound of satisfaction echoed through the room once they all got their first bite. I pushed my fork into my mouth and immediately understood why—it was absolutely delicious. One thing was for sure—they were definitely going to be showing me a lot of gratitude once their plates were empty.
The End
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Chapter 1: Heather
The sun had been down for a while and what was supposed to be a great trip to the Appalachian Mountains with friends had turned into a miserable tour of falling snow as I drove down a long, seemingly deserted road. Even the radio had given up on me as I fought between bouts of static for a brief melody of actual music. I didn’t even care if it was a genre I hated if it kept me company and reminded me I wasn’t alone in the world. Each push of the radio’s scan button brought a little bit of hope, but it wasn’t long until the static started again and the music was drowned out.
“Come on. Give me something.” I tapped the radio and hit the scan button again.
My cell phone was dying and I hadn’t even thought to pick up my car charger because I thought I would find the cabin I was searching for long before it ran out of juice. It wouldn’t have helped anyway because the reception was so bad my GPS couldn’t even get a signal. I stared at the spinning circle indicating it was searching for satellites, but it always timed out before anything was found.
Ugh.
I cranked the heater up another notch and tried to peer through the mixture of snow and ice forming on my windshield. The wiper kept pushing it out of my line of sight, but the cold outside was making it harder to defrost as the temperature dropped. I squinted my eyes against the darkness and tried to see with the abysmal light the high beams were managing to produce in the falling snow. Mostly I just got a reflection of snow that seemed to be falling in sheets instead of flakes.
Yeah, this is bad.
The situation was going to turn from bad to dangerous very soon if I didn’t find a road sign to guide me back to civilization. I wasn’t even sure where I took a wrong turn. I tried to remember the landmarks and follow my GPS even when the signal went out, but I had made a terrible mistake somewhere along the way. The road stretched on, my eyes got weary, and the gas meter signaled that the end of my journey was coming fast.
“Please, just a bar. A half a bar? A quarter of a bar?” I picked up my cell phone and tried to get a signal but I was still met with nothing. I even tried flipping it into airplane mode in hopes of somehow picking up a distant service tower, but it went right back to zero bars when I told it to search for a cellular signal.
Driving around in the dark until my car ran out of gas wasn’t going to help the situation and there was nothing for miles that I could see. It certainly didn’t help that my vision was fairly obscured by the frost on my windshield and the blinding snow falling in front of me. I let my car roll to a stop and kept the engine running as I thought about my situation.
Am I the only person on this freaking road?
I pulled my coat from the bag behind me and opened my door. I just needed to get a lay of the land and see if I could somehow get a signal if I wasn’t confined to my car. My coat did little to protect me from the elements as I wandered away from my headlights with my phone in the air, searching for any sign of service. I was met with a constant row of empty bars, and every step I took plunged me furt
her into the darkness.
“Come on...” I muttered through chattering teeth.
I heard noises in the distance and felt fear creeping up my spine. It was cold, but there were still wild animals out there, especially in the mountains. I turned towards my car and quickly ran back to safety.
Yeah, forget that.
Exiting and entering the vehicle had broken the warm seal I was enjoying from my heater, so I cranked the heater up as high as it would go and blew into my hands. After a few minutes, I could no longer see my breath so I took off my jacket and killed the headlights. It wasn’t like anyone was going to see them anyway.
What in the world am I going to do?
Somewhere in the distance, further up the mountain, was a cabin filled with some of my closest friends. It was supposed to be a party far from civilization, a party that lasted several days. My friends were probably already drunk, and rightfully so. I would have been doing the same thing if I wasn’t lost in the middle of nowhere facing the darkness and starting to panic.
I wasn’t sure how long my car would run if I just left it sitting there with the heater going, but I was certain it wasn’t going to last the night. I had no idea if the road I got lost on was traveled or if I was going to be stuck there until I eventually froze to death.
I peered out every window, looking for some sign of light—any sort of beacon to guide me towards civilization—but the only light I saw was the reflection of the moon peeking through part of a cloud and bouncing off of the snow around me. It was accumulating fast. If I hadn’t gotten started late, I would have made it to the cabin before nightfall and everything would have been fine. I silently cursed my terrible sense of direction.
“Drive until I run out of gas or sit here and hope someone shows up before I run out of gas...” I stammered angrily. “I’m too far down this road to just turn around.”
Small Town Seven: Reverse Harem Romance Page 11
