by Carter Ashby
Jeff laughed. “Yeah. I know. You’d have some privacy at our house, though. You can pretend you’re sneaking girls in your room like in high school.”
Rye frowned in thought. “That does sound like fun.”
“And then there’d be breakfast.”
“I do love breakfast.”
Jeff chuckled. “It’s settled then.” He slapped Rye on the back and led him back into Candace’s house.
They all played with the kids for another hour and visited. And then they convoyed out of town to the large, ranch house that Rye and Cash had grown up in.
Cora lay naked and sated in Rye’s bed late that night. The lights were out. The windows were open, the breeze shifting the curtains, which in turn shifted the moonlight and the shadows. She listened to Rye’s breathing, gradually slowing after a passionate round of lovemaking. His fingers were linked with hers as they lay side-by-side.
“How many do I make?” she asked.
“How many what?”
“Women. In this bed.”
“Hmm. Tough question. There were quite a few in high school. Oddly, they all asked that question, too.”
“I think they wanted you to lie and tell them they were the only ones.”
Rye squeezed her hand. “If it makes you feel any better, I’m pretty sure you hold the record for most orgasms in this bed.”
Cora giggled. “I’ll take it.”
He was quiet for a while. Cora’s eyes were wide open as she stared at the ceiling.
“Did you like my family?” Rye asked.
“Yes,” she replied. “Very much. Seeing you play with your niece…mmm. Pretty sure my ovaries were quivering with joy.”
“So Cash was right. You’ve gone and gotten ideas, huh?”
Cora couldn’t tell if there was a tone to his voice other than amusement. “Would you be opposed if I had?”
He was quiet for a moment. “You know, I think my only objection would be timing. I want to spend time with you. Just you and me. But beyond that, no, I’m not opposed.”
Were they really having this conversation? After so brief a period of time? Surely it couldn’t be as easy as this. Surely you couldn’t just fall in love with a man and have him fall in love with you back just in a matter of weeks.
“Inching too close to commitment talk for your comfort?” Rye asked, jolting her out of her reverie.
“N-no. Just…I’m surprised is all.”
“Be okay with you if we saved that conversation for a little later? I’m enjoying what we’re doing right now.”
With that, Cora snuggled close to his side. “We are so right for each other.”
“Agreed. Cora?”
“Mm?”
“There is one thing I need to tell you right now.” He rolled to his side, propped up on his elbow, and brushed her hair out of her face. There was just enough moonlight in the room that she could see into his eyes. “I love you.”
She blinked. Smiled. Her skin flushed, and her heart beat a little faster. True, she hadn’t given much thought to the saying of those words, everything was happening so fast. But hearing them felt right. And she knew beyond a doubt that she felt the same way. “I love you, too.”
His smile lit up the night. “First time I’ve ever said that to a woman.”
“Really? You’re an I-love-you virgin?”
“Not anymore.”
“I’m glad I could experience this moment with you.”
He kissed her, his tongue lapping at her lips as she realized he didn’t know how to do anything without putting his whole heart into it, not even a kiss. She took it, opening to him, excited at all the possibilities for their future.
CHAPTER TWENTY
NOW, NOT ONLY was his boyfriend shutting him out, his best friend was, too. Adam faced the prospect of a weekend alone, knowing that he was losing both Cash and Cora, and not knowing why.
That wasn’t true. He knew exactly why.
Rye.
The guy was obviously one of those soul-sucking, charismatic user types. The kind of guy who could charm the pants off the most stalwart of prudes. The kind of guy who made you think he was a hero so you’d give him all your heart and loyalty.
Wasn’t that what he’d done for Cash? He’d rescued Cash one time, and now Cash was so unbendingly loyal, he couldn’t even see his brother’s faults. Couldn’t even see the potential in his relationship with Adam.
It wouldn’t hurt so bad if Adam hadn’t fallen so far in love that he could hardly breathe from the effort of masking it. He wanted to shout it out, to declare to Cash that he loved him and wanted to spend forever with him. But there was no doing that while Cash continued to give so much of himself to his brother.
And then there was Cora. Rye had changed her, and she couldn’t even see it. Now she was even keeping secrets from him. He’d found out that she knew what had happened to Cash back in Henderson. She knew what Rye had been arrested for. But she wouldn’t tell him. Her loyalties had changed. She’d turned away from him.
“Fuck it,” Adam said on Saturday morning. He swung his legs out of bed, dressed, and drove to his office. Was it ethical to violate the privacy of his lover’s past? No, of course not. But what choice did he have?
He turned on his computer and searched for crimes committed in Henderson, Arkansas three years ago. He found the mugshot of Davis Acton and realized he’d seen the guy before. He was some cousin or somebody to the Dunigans. In the photo, his face was completely rearranged, his eyes swelled nearly shut, his lip split and bloody, and bruising pretty much everywhere.
Next he found Rye’s mugshot. Rye’s lip was also split, but other than that, he looked just as pretty as ever. Adam read court reports and newspaper articles. As he read, he grew sick to his stomach.
Cash.
He’d gone through a hell Adam couldn’t imagine. Six guys had dragged him into the woods that night. They’d kept him there for three hours before Rye had finally found him and intervened. The doctor who testified for Cash had described the injuries in such detail that Adam figured Cash must have spent weeks in the hospital.
Rye had been found innocent of nearly beating Acton to death. Adam couldn’t blame him for what he’d done, but upon reading the testimonies of some of the men who’d witnessed it, albeit men who had later been convicted on other charges, Adam decided he didn’t like the picture he saw. The level of violence Rye was capable of frightened him. And to think that Cora was spending time alone with him.
It was further confirmation of the danger that Rye posed. Adam had a long held belief that violence begets violence. Was Rye really defending his brother? Or had Rye’s already violent personality created unnecessary enmity amongst his coworkers? Maybe bad things never would have happened to Cash if his brother hadn’t been around stirring up trouble.
Adam wound up staring at his computer and stewing. He didn’t know what to do.
He shut down his office and drove to Darcy’s. He might’ve called Cora since she was the one he always talked to when he needed to work some things out. But Cora was lost to him now. He might have called Franny, but he frankly didn’t like Franny’s way of thinking about things.
So he went to Roux and Jack. The bar was slow since it was early in the afternoon. Adam was a little upset to see Les and Eddie Dunigan playing pool, but they both appeared to be sober and not taking notice of anyone else.
Adam sipped on a glass of wine while Roux and Jack leaned against the bar in front of him. “What do you do if you’re dating someone, but you hate their family?”
“Depends,” Roux said. “How serious is the relationship?”
“Serious. I mean, it has the potential to be serious. It’s just, his brother’s got him all tied up, and I can’t seem to cut him free.”
“Why don’t you like Rye?” Jack asked. “Seems like a standup guy. Sure is crazy about Cora.”
“Am I the only one who noticed how many women he ran through in his first few weeks here? I mean, I don’
t know what he wants from Cora, but I know he’s bad for her. And I know I can’t get close to Cash because of him. I also know he’s prone to violence and, therefore, dangerous.”
“How do you figure?” Roux asked. “I’ve never seen him pick a fight.”
“Trust me. He’s capable of inflicting serious damage.”
“Has he threatened you or something?”
“No, but I saw pictures of a guy’s face. He was let off the hook on self-defense, but from the looks of it, he kept beating the guy long after the guy stopped being a threat.”
“When was this?”
“A few years back in Henderson. Davis Acton. You heard of him?”
Roux and Jack shook their heads. But Adam had caught the attention Les and Eddie, who were now heading toward the bar. “You know the guy who beat up Davis?” Les asked.
“Beat it, guys,” Jack said. “This isn’t your conversation.”
“He’s talking about our cousin. You can be for damn sure it’s our conversation, now.”
Adam swallowed the last of his wine and inched away from the two brothers who had moved uncomfortably close.
“Speak up,” Les said to Adam. “Who is this guy?”
“If you cared so much you could have found out. It’s public record after all.”
“Bet it’s that guy who threatened you at the pizza place,” Eddie said.
“Yeah. What’s his name? Ryan or something?”
“Rye Holcomb,” Adam said. “What’s it to you?”
“I’ll tell you what it is to me,” Les said. “Davis is my kin, and we don’t take kindly to folks beating up on our kin.”
Adam had witnessed the behavior before, but he couldn’t wrap his mind around it. People like Les and Eddie suddenly became loyal to family they didn’t even care about when an outsider came around and caused trouble. It was like the whole idea that you can be mean to your brother, but no one else is allowed to be. The situation was made even worse by knowing what a monster Davis Acton was. You’d have to have lost all touch with your humanity to do what he’d done to Cash.
“I say we make sure that son-of-a-bitch knows he’s not welcome in our town,” Les muttered to his brother.
Eddie agreed.
Jack spoke up, then. “Hey, I don’t want talk like that in my bar. You boys can leave the past in the past or else get the hell out of here.”
Les and Eddie muttered and slinked back to their pool table.
Adam shook his head in frustration.
“You can go, too,” Jack said.
Adam looked up in surprise. “I beg your pardon?”
“You just stirred up a shit-load of trouble for a guy who, as far as I can tell, doesn’t deserve it.”
Adam looked to Roux for support and met with only an arched brow and a cold expression. “Are you kidding me?” he asked.
“You need to think about what you’re doing,” Jack said. “Because you’re about to lose what you have with Cash and possibly ruin his life along with it. Now go on.”
“I cannot fucking believe you’re siding with that asshole over me.”
“That’s not what’s going on,” Roux said. “You can’t seem to see how unreasonable you’re being.”
“Whatever,” Adam replied. “I should have known he’d have gotten to you already. Honestly, I hope trouble does find him just so you all can see what he’s really made of.”
Adam left, infuriated and more surprisingly, confused. His anger felt irrational and defensive and yet, he couldn’t seem to talk himself down. Without a doubt, Rye had managed to fool everyone into thinking he was a nice guy. Without a doubt, the guy had to go. And if Les and Eddie Dunigan were the ones to do it, then so be it.
Rye and Cash crashed on their couch after returning home Saturday evening. Rye didn’t want to be there. He wanted to be with Cora, in her arms, in her bed. But she hadn’t invited him, and he’d decided to give her a night to herself. He needed to think things through anyway.
“The old man sure has changed,” Cash said.
Rye grunted, not thrilled about acknowledging the fact.
“I’m glad you swallowed your pride and forgave him.”
Rye grunted again.
“He seemed to like Cora.”
Rye smiled a little. “Who wouldn’t?” Rye turned his head. “I told her I love her.”
Cash pressed his lips together, fighting a smile. “Did she say it back?”
“Yeah. She did.”
“You’re doing good, man.”
“Yeah. Looks that way. How about you? Sounded like you’re thinking of ending things with Adam.”
Cash sighed heavily. “I’m going to tell him he has to make a decision about us. I want to keep going with him. But I can’t do it with him being such an asshole to you all the time.”
Rye didn’t want to be the thing keeping Adam and Cash from happiness. He couldn’t see how it was his fault, though. He’d reached out to Adam, tried to make friends.
A crash outside interrupted his thoughts. He and Cash sat up and listened. Glass breaking. Metal on metal. They jumped up and looked out the window. There were five guys outside. Rye recognized Les and Eddie Dunigan among them. Eddie was the one making all the noise, beating up Rye’s truck with a baseball bat.
Les marched up to the door and pounded on it. “Hey, you come on out here!” came the muffled shout. “We wanna talk to you ‘bout what you did to our cousin!”
“Call the cops,” Rye said.
Cash disappeared into the kitchen. A moment later, Rye heard his voice as he told the sheriff what was going on.
The pounding on the door turned into a loud thunk. Then another. And another. Any minute the frame would splinter. So Rye unlocked the deadbolt, turned the knob, and waited for the next thunk. As soon as Les’s foot hit the door, Rye let the door swing open. He jumped back as Les fell forward with the momentum of his kick.
“The fuck is your problem?” Rye asked, even as he grabbed Les by the shirtfront and shoved him back outside. He pulled the door shut behind him, not wanting Cash to get involved.
“You’re the asshole nearly killed Davis.”
“That’s right, and there were six of them. Know what happened to the other five?”
Les looked confused, his lips twisting in fury and disgust over his rotting teeth. “No. What?”
“They ran away as soon as I took out their leader. Which is what these fellas behind you are gonna do as soon as I take you down. You ready for that?”
“Fuck you! There’s five of us and one of—”
Rye slammed his fist into Les’s face. Les fell back a step, and Rye swung again, absorbing the shock and pain in his knuckles. This time, Les’s knees buckled. Rye caught him and rammed him face first into the gravel of the parking lot. He pinned Les’s arms behind his back and knelt on one knee on top of him. He looked up and, sure enough, the other four were backing away. Even Eddie who held a baseball bat.
“Things get a little too real for you boys?” Rye asked. “You didn’t think there’d be consequences to your actions?”
Sirens approached, and three of the bullies turned tail and ran. Eddie dropped his bat and took another step back, glancing behind him as though he couldn’t quite decide what he should do.
Cash came out, the phone still in his hand. Rye stood and left Les writhing on the ground. “You okay?” Cash asked.
“Yeah,” Rye said. “I guess this was bound to happen.”
A sheriff’s car pulled in, and two deputies got out. Rye was hoping to see Kyle, the sheriff, but he supposed it didn’t matter who hauled these assholes away.
“What seems to be the problem?” The taller of the two deputies asked. He had a long face like a horse and slightly buck teeth.
“This one,” Rye said, pointing at Les, “tried to kick my door in. And that one,” pointing at Eddie, “beat the shit out of my truck with a baseball bat.”
Les scrambled to his feet and dragged his arm across his face, smear
ing the blood from his nose over his cheek. “I’m pressing charges. All’s I did was knock on his door, and this asshole opens the door and starts punching me.”
“It’s true!” Eddie piped up. “I seen it.”
“Bullshit!” Rye said. “Just get these guys away from our apartment, will you?”
“Sir, did you assault this man?” the deputy asked.
“I told you he did, didn’t I? Or do you think I broke my own fucking nose!” Les said.
“Les, calm down, let me handle it,” the deputy said.
Great, Rye thought. They were familiar with each other. Probably old high school chums or drinking buddies or something. “He was trying to knock down my door and—”
“Did you assault him?”
Rye couldn’t very well hide his bloody knuckles. “Look, we’re the ones who called you guys. Are you going to arrest them or not?”
The deputy glanced back at his partner and gave him a nod. The partner went to work cuffing Eddie and reading him his rights. The horse-faced deputy turned back to him. “Sir, if you’ll turn around and put your hands behind your head,” he said as he pulled out his handcuffs.
Rye blinked. “I beg your fucking pardon? I’m the victim here—”
“Les, here, says you assaulted him for no good reason. Don’t look like he kicked your door in. Don’t like you sustained any injuries. I’m gonna have to take you in.”
“Fuck you!” Rye had kept a tenuous grasp on his self-control throughout the whole incident, but he felt himself finally lose his grip.
Cash’s hand squeezed his shoulder. “Calm down. Go with him, and we’ll sort this out.”
“No!” Rye said. “No fucking way. I didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Sir, calm down—”
“You calm down, Roscoe. Just because you’re all buddy-buddy with this asshole doesn’t give you the right to arrest me—”
“Sir, if you don’t cooperate, I’m going to have to use force.”
“Force? You’re fucking threatening me?”
The deputy stepped into his space, and Rye made his mistake. On instinct, he shoved the guy away from him. “Keep your goddamn hands off me!”
