“What the hell have you done, Carri?” Whisk bellowed, “Why is Addison crying?” Which of course made Carri laugh again. This was too much. Addy got up and went over to Whisk, giving him a kiss that Carri could tell she’d cut if off way too soon for his tastes.
“I’m not upset. Carri was telling me the ceiling in the guest room needed to be repaired. Apparently, last night a natural phenomenon happened and shook it loose. I told her you would fix it.”
Both she and Addy started laughing so hard that Carri fell off the chair. She was crying and laughing, and holding her stomach because, damn, this was so off the wall. At first Whisk looked at them like they were nuts, then he figured out what they were talking about.
“Natural Phenomenon, huh? I can live with that.”
And they started all over again. By the time Carri was sitting upright again, her stomach hurt like she’d done a hundred sit-ups. She didn’t think she’d ever laughed so hard in her entire life. Finally composed, Carri congratulated both Addy and Whisk.
“So, what were you up to so early this morning?” Carri asked.
“Feeding the horse, oh, and talking to Link,” Whisk answered. “I told him about the baby; he said to say congratulations from him, and he would speak to you later,” Whisk told Addy.
Link was here this early in the morning? What the hell was that man up to now? Carri didn’t have to ask because Addy did it for her.
“Link was here this early in the morning, why?”
“He told me he was checking out the cave; Carri told him last night about another entrance.”
Carri didn’t even think, she got up and went straight for the back door. How dare he go to her cave without even saying anything? Seeing some of Addy’s rubber boots by the door, she slammed her feet into them and grabbed a jacket off the hook. Addy and Whiskey were saying something to her, but she didn’t even pay attention. She was going to give Link a piece of her mind.
Walking toward the pond, Carri’s anger built. The damn boots were too big, and she kept tripping. She blamed that on Link, too. If he’d only come in like a normal person and said, Hey, I’m going to the cave, she wouldn’t be wearing Addy’s boots, she’d be wearing her own. Ones which fit and didn’t make her trip every frickin five seconds. But no, that didn’t happen because Link was a rude bastard.
There had to be something which said if a person tells you about something you didn’t know about and offered to show you that, you let them. Carri knew it was a rule somewhere, and she would find it. After all, it should have been common courtesy, right? Yeah, she was going with that. Common courtesy, something she was sure Link knew nothing about, but she would teach him.
Then there was the fact that he went by himself, which, in her opinion, was damn stupid. Who went into unknown, unstable caves all by themselves? No one that’s who. He could get hurt or something. Then there wouldn’t be anyone there to help his stubborn, arrogant ass. She would tell him that, too.
What was he worried about, anyway? It wasn’t like she would have offered to go with him, caves were not her thing. But still, wouldn’t a normal person at least offer? She told him about the entrance, he didn’t even know it was there. Wasn’t it proper manners to at least say, Hey, I’m going over to the cave, you want to see it? Yeah, damn it.
Plus, it was cold outside and who the hell got up at o’dark thirty to go running around in a cave. No one, that’s who. Only Link because the jerk didn’t want to run into her. She wasn’t a bad person. Hell, most people liked her. Link was the only one who seemed to have something against her, and she couldn’t figure it out. What had she ever done to him?
They hadn’t even seen each other in over ten years. What the fuck? So, she had a little crush on him. It wasn’t like she would act on it. Hell no, he was just something good to look at. Man candy, everybody needed some of that in their lives, right? Carri was a normal, healthy woman with a great imagination; she could look, she just wouldn’t touch. It wasn’t like she was a creeper. Stopping, she looked around and realized she’d turned the wrong way somewhere. That was Link’s fault, too. If he hadn’t pissed her off by going to the caves by himself, she wouldn’t have gotten lost. Fixing her direction, she went back toward the pond and the entrance to the cave.
Spying the pitchfork, okay more like tripping over the damn thing and stubbing her toe, she was there, but guess who wasn’t. Stomping her foot like a two-year-old, Carri looked around, and yep, the asshole was nowhere in sight. But she did see the entrance to the cave and that was exactly where she was going to go. Why? Because she knew Link was in there, and she had things to say to him, damn it.
Carri was so ramped up, she’d made it pretty deep into the cave before she even realized it. Not seeing Link anywhere, she decided she would go a little further. She could turn around if she needed to. She hadn’t made any turns, so it should be a straight shot to the outside. It couldn’t be all that bad, he was in there after all, right? When she still couldn’t find him anywhere, she went even further until she realized why she’d never once considered playing in here as a child. She didn’t like it, nope, not even a little. It was dark, damp, and there were crawlies all around.
She tripped on something and fell to her knees. Falling back and landing on her butt, she rubbed her knee, trying to soothe the sting. Her flimsy pajama pants were not the ideal thing to wear to tromp through a cave. Damn it, that hurt. Then she felt it. Something was crawling in her pants, and it was big. Without thinking, Carri screamed bloody murder, but only one word came out, “Link!”
Chapter 15
Link hadn’t made much progress; this wasn’t the same tunnel system he and his brothers had wandered through as children. This was an entirely different system, but he knew they had to meet up somewhere. Not a lot of people knew that the Sinclair family had run moonshine through these tunnels during prohibition times. Some of the tunnels were natural, but others were man made and from the looks of it, this tunnel was one of the latter.
Pop had shown him the still they used to use; it was a monster. Even back then, he remembered thinking they must have made a shit ton of booze to need a still that big. By the looks of these tunnels, he hadn’t been wrong. He knew this one would lead out in another county that was how it worked. They would make the moonshine and then transport it through the tunnels to someone waiting on the other side. The cops didn’t know anything about it, so it was their own little pipeline.
He had been checking out some old ass lanterns when he heard it, and his heart dropped into his stomach. Fuck, Carrington was in here, and she was screaming for him. Link didn’t even think about it, he took off running, leaving all his gear behind. He skidded to a halt and stared, Carrington was screaming her head off while smacking her ass and dancing around.
“What the hell, Carrington?” Link couldn’t help the sound or volume of his voice. Her scream had scared the shit out of him and seeing her dancing around like a loon pissed him off even more. But when she stopped and looked at him with those big blue tear-filled eyes and said, “You have to get it out, it’s in my pants,” Link couldn’t do anything, but help her. Walking to her, he turned her around and looked at her pants.
“Carrington, there isn’t anything there.”
“Yes, there is! Oh god, Link, I can feel it crawling on me, please.”
Link did the only thing he could think of and whipped her pants down, then cursed everyone and their brothers at what he saw. Carrington was wearing a thong, a lacy pink thong. He groaned, then he started laughing when he saw the spider on her ass cheek, pretty as could be.
Capturing the little creature, he thought about showing it to her, but changed his mind, tossing the little interloper away instead. Carrington was already freaking out enough. Link never claimed to be a decent man, hell, half the time, he was the exact opposite, so he didn’t resist the urge to smack her plump, little ass hard.
“What the hell, Carrington, what are you doing in here? You could have gotten hurt, not o
nly attacked by a fucking harmless, little spider.” When she turned around and put her hands on her hips, looking at him like a little pissed off kitten, he tried not to smile and failed. Carrington didn’t even realize her pants were still around her knees and the back view was amazing; but the front, that little piece of pink lace, damn. He didn’t even try to hide it when he adjusted himself.
Carrington looked at him and what he was doing, then looked down at herself and whipped her pants up as fast as she could. “How dare you!” she yelled, pushing him away.
Link wouldn’t let her have her little fit; he was too pissed off. That little love tap helped, but not a lot. What he wanted to do was turn her over his knee and make that ass fire engine red.
“No, Carrington, you don’t get to do this now. What the hell are you doing here? No, don’t answer that. How about this, don’t you have any common sense? It’s not safe in here, didn’t you listen to what I said yesterday? This cave could be unstable. There are holes all over the place you could fall into and break your leg or worse, and that doesn’t even include the fucking snakes which could kill you with one bite. Shit, what the hell are you even wearing?”
Carrington felt stupid now. She hadn’t been thinking clearly, and she knew she looked ridiculous. But she whispered, “I didn’t want you to be in here alone.” Yeah, it sounded stupid and immature, but it was the truth. After all the fury faded away that was the real reason she’d tromped all the way down here. She wanted to make sure he was okay.
“You didn’t want me to be alone, are you nuts? I’m trained, Carrington, I served six years with Air Force Pararescue. I have gear, and if something happened, I’m wearing a GPS tracker,” he said pointing to his vest. “Whisky would be down here quicker than shit. Now, tell me what you would have done if I hadn’t come running at your screams? What if those fuckers still have a way in here and they found you instead of me, huh? What would you have done?”
“Listen, I get it, I was stupid to come in here. I let my anger get the better of me, lesson learned. I’ll go back the same way I came and leave you to it.”
“Oh no, you don’t. You’ve come this far, and I’m going to make sure your ass gets out of here in one piece.” Link grabbed hold of her arm and started leading her further into the tunnel. Carri didn’t want to go, but she figured, with the tone of his voice and the tenseness in his body, she didn’t have a choice. Link was pissed, and truth was, she didn’t blame him. She’d been stupid and to top off this shit sundae, now her allergies were acting up.
Her eyes were watering like crazy and her nose was either dripping or she felt like she had to sneeze. She was trying to be quiet, not wanting to rile the bear known as Link any more, but damn, she’d never had a reaction like this before to anything. She was a seasonal allergy girl; every so often, it got bad enough where she had to take some medicine, but nothing like this.
Fuck Link wanted to smash his fist against the wall, he’d been pissed, but he never expected Carrington to start crying. “Listen, Carrington, I’m sorry. I was pissed because you could have gotten hurt, but I didn’t mean to upset you, okay. Please stop crying and I’ll get us out of here.”
“I’m not crying, Link.”
“Carrington, I have ears, not to mention better than twenty-twenty vision if those aren’t tears…”
“It’s allergies, Link, I’m not crying. It would take more than a little slap on the ass and a few harsh words to get me blubbering. You don’t have anything to worry about, I told you already, lesson learned. Let’s get through this, and I promise I’ll never follow you into a cave again. You have my word of honor.”
“Shit, okay,” Link said. Link shocked her by stopping and pulling her to stand in front of him. He had one of those light things that attached to his head, so the beam went right in her face making her squint and try to pull away. Link wasn’t having any of that; his big warm, calloused hands caressed her neck and throat. His touch was gentle as he rubbed his thumbs back and forth. He was looking at her with such heated concentration, Carri had to shut her eyes. She was sure that he was going to kiss her. She felt his warm breath near her lips, and she tilted her head, preparing herself for him. She’d felt his lips one time before, way too long ago. She wanted, no needed, to see if it was still as good as she remembered or something she’d made up in her mind.
“Carrington, open your eyes,”
Carri didn’t hesitate it was a weird request for a kiss, but hey, everybody had kinks, right? Link liked to look into the eyes of women he kissed. She wouldn’t judge him for it.
“That’s better,” Link smiled and Carri smiled right back. This was slightly weird, but also sweet. “Babe, are you feeling any dizziness, tightness in your chest, itching? Does your throat feel sore or swollen?”
Oh God, Carri thought, he wouldn’t kiss her, and he was checking her for anaphylactic reactions. Damn it. Carri backed away, pulling herself from his touch.
“I’m fine, Link, it’s only my eyes and nose, nothing else.” In a very unladylike fashion, she used the sleeve of the jacket she was wearing to wipe both to prove her point. Carri started walking again. She felt so stupid. Man, what was it about Link that turned her into a pathetic little girl? She went into the courtroom with more confidence and sense than she did walking down a stupid tunnel with the man.
“Hey, hold up there, Carrington, you don’t know where you’re going, and you don’t even have a flash light.”
Carri wanted to groan. This was beyond humiliating. They walked in silences for a couple of minutes, well, not silence because she kept on sucking the snot back into her nose, but still.
“What is this place, anyway? I thought it would be all stone walls and stuff, this is more like a tunnel than a cave.”
“You’re right, it’s a bootlegger’s tunnel.”
“Bootleggers?”
“Yeah, the Sinclair family were bootleggers, pretty legendary ones at that. This was one of their routes. Pop told me about it, but he never showed me this one. The caves the Prospects blew up were the only ones I knew about, and they went into the mountain. This one is underground and manmade. Just plain cool if you ask me.”
“Yeah, it is. Pop never told me any stories about bootlegging relatives.”
“So, are we going to talk about what happened back there or should I say what didn’t happen back there?”
No way in hell was Carri going to relive her humiliation, so she played coy, “What are you talking about, Link?”
“You thought I was going to kiss you.”
The man had no manners. Wasn’t it the polite thing to not mention it? He didn’t kiss her, he probably didn’t want to. Why did they have to talk about it? Carri sure as hell didn’t want to talk about it.
“No.”
“Well, I think we should. I’ve been giving this a great deal of thought, actually. Since you said no to me, you have to pay the price. You’re going to ask me for the next kiss I give you, and I’ll decide if you deserve it. I think it’s only fair.” Link was smiling like he’d laid down the gauntlet and was all proud of himself. The problem was Carri didn’t have the first clue what he was talking about. She hadn’t said no to him, and he hadn’t tried to kiss her.
“Umm, Link, I realize you’re older, but not that much older, so it can’t be senility driving your mouth. So, I have to assume you’ve been hitting the bottle or smoking something really good because I can’t think of a single time we’ve been in that position before, and I said the word no. Not that it’s ever going to happen again, mind you.”
“Oh, it will happen again, and I’m talking about you telling me no when I asked you on a date.”
The man preened like he’d won an award. Carri kept looking at him as they walked; he was so proud of himself. Carri, on the other hand, was still confused, he hadn’t asked her on any date, unless… Carri stopped in her tracks and turned around and looked at him.
“Link, are you talking about high school?”
“Yea
h, I kissed you, then asked you out. You said you would think about it, and then out of nowhere, you turned me down. So, now, you’re going to have to ask nicely, and I’ll think about it.”
What a dick!
“So, let me get this straight, I turned down a date with you in high school over ten years ago, you’re still carrying some kind of torch, and want me to pay for the injustice to your manhood, by asking you to kiss me now and then you’ll think about?”
“You said No to me. Nobody says No to me.” Link shrugged his shoulders like this wasn’t this most ridiculous conversation ever had between two adults.
“Shit, really, that’s what has your panties in a twist? I mean, get real, Link, that was over ten years ago. Why are you even thinking about it? I’m sure as hell not.”
“I asked you out on a date. I didn’t ask anyone out on a date back then, and I still haven’t. I made an exception for you, and you threw it in my face. Now you have to cope with the consequences of your actions. What is it they say, all’s fair in love and war?”
“First off, let’s get one thing straight, this isn’t love or war. Secondly, I want to make sure I’m understanding all of this. I turned you down because you and your little girlfriend were setting me up, but since I was the one who popped your rejection cherry, you’ve been holding this grudge because I didn’t do what you wanted at the time. Does that about cover it?”
“I didn’t set you up.”
“Ah, yeah, you did. Val was ever so kind to explain to me exactly what the two of you had planned.”
“Well, that was your first mistake, believing anything that came out of Val’s mouth. It doesn’t matter though, my mind is made up. You’re going to have to ask me, preferably on your knees, in front of me, naked.”
Carri was working up a good mad, this man was infuriating. He denied what she thought she knew back then. Come to think of it, Val was a slimy human being. She could have lied, but she’d been so convincing, saying that Link’s plan was to humiliate her in front of the rest of the school. She didn’t have the greatest confidence back then, being a nerd. Still, that was forever ago. Why in the hell would a big, bad ass biker even care? It didn’t fit his image, now or back then. Carri could see him wanting her to beg him, yeah, that went along with his personality, but being slighted by a fifteen-year-old and still holding on to it, no way.
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