Southern Charms

by S. E. Kloos

  “He told you to call him Kenny. There are kids I grew up with that aren’t even allowed to call him that. I think he really wants to like you.”

  Smiling down at her, he cocked a brow as he handed her through the door. “Oh yeah? What makes you so sure?”

  Elizabeth smirked. “He didn’t come outside with his gun on his hip... and you got in the front door. If he wasn’t willing to at least try, he would have just gone ahead and shot you.”

  Xander gave her a flat look as he closed the door behind him, setting their bags down. “Very comfortin’, Little Darlin’.”

  She just giggled as she grabbed his wrist and pulled him the rest of the way into the house.

  Chapter 26

  “Go baby, go, go, go, GO... FUCK!”

  Kenny dropped back into his chair as Xander leapt from his, double fist pumping with a “YES!” when his Cowboys tackled the fuck out of the Jet’s wide receiver and recovered the fumble. He might be trying to win over his girl’s daddy, but where he was from, football was a religion, the Cowboys their gods.

  Sitting back down next to his girl with a hand on her thigh, Xander reached for his beer. After taking a drink, he turned to Kenny. “I got fifty bucks that say my boys kick the shit out of yours.”

  After swallowing his own mouthful of beer, Kenny pointed the bottleneck at him, “You’re on, Son. My team has never let me down.”

  Xander smirked. “Neither has mine.”

  He tried not to be too smug as he took his girl’s daddy’s money later that night. It was kinda iffy there around the middle of the fourth quarter, but as always, his boys came through and won by 9.

  Elizabeth just shook her head, a smile on her face as she watched them interact. She had been worried at first over this visit, but she knew that if anything would bring them together -beside the fact they both wanted to kill the same person- it would be football.

  “Well, as sweet as the male bondin’ is, I’m tired. Y'all have a good night, now.”

  As Elizabeth was turning to head upstairs to her room, her dad snorted his amusement. “Y'all? What the hell is that shit, Lizzy?”

  Glancing over her shoulder with a grin, “Blame your new pal, Daddy. I promise by the time we leave, you’ll be sayin’ it, too.”

  Kenny shook his head. “Fucking Southerners.”

  Without missing a beat, Xander retorted. “Fuckin’ Yankees.”

  Kenny looked at him with a cocked brow, but said nothing as he hugged his daughter, wishing her a good night and sweet dreams.

  The next morning, Xander woke up to the most mouth watering scent there was. Taking a deep breath, he hummed in his throat. ‘Is that bacon?’ Stretching out his back, popping his spine back into alignment, he reached down to adjust his extremely painful junk with a sigh. After rolling out of his girl’s bed, he grabbed his jeans off the floor. He knew this was his fault. His girl wasn’t nearly as vocal about not doing anything in her dad’s house. Those protests were all him. But he was definitely regretting the choice right about now. He knew one thing for fucking sure, if she was still up for it that night, there would be NO denying it.

  After a quick stop at the bathroom, he followed his nose and the smell of pig to the kitchen, where his girl and her daddy were bullshitting about nothing as she bustled around the room. After a ‘Mornin’’ to Kenny, he kissed his girl’s cheek. He was pointed to the table, where there was enough food to feed a small army.

  “Help yourself, Xander. I got some guys coming over this morning to help me with thinning out the tree line. If you want to eat, you better do it before they get here.”

  Elizabeth snorted at the stove, turning around while twirling the spatula in her hand in a circle with a chuckle. “Daddy, I have seen breakfast time in the Steele house. Xander here is not above stabbing hands with forks.”

  Xander took a drink of his juice to wash down the bacon, then cocked a brow at his girl. “Ya make it sound like I do that shit all the time. It was once, it was Mark, and he went after the bacon on MY plate. Ya damn skippy I stabbed that fucker’s hand. Ya don’t mess with a man’s bacon, Little Darlin’. That’ll land ya knee deep in shit faster than ya can blink on the Steele ranch.”

  Elizabeth cocked a brow in return as she jutted out a hip. “It was three times. It was Mark, Kyle and Rocky’s vet, and you drew blood.”

  He was completely unrepentant about it, too. “Previous statement stands, Sugar Britches. You don’t fuck with a man’s bacon and ’spect to keep all ya fingers. They knew better.” To prove his point, he shoved another piece of bacon in his mouth and winked at his now laughing lady.

  Kenny watched the banter going on between his daughter and her new boyfriend, the small smile on his face hidden by the newspaper in his hands. He couldn’t remember a single time he saw her -while she was with that thing she calls an ex- that she looked that happy... not even before all that bullshit happened. She also never talked about him, but hasn’t shut up about Xander since he got up this morning. He had to admit, he was curious about the man, and she had no problems telling him anything he wanted to know. When she told him that he was a professional rider, with multiple national championship titles in different events under his belt, he would be a liar if he said he didn’t have him looked up. He’d make a few phone calls while she was in the shower.

  He would also be a liar if he said he wasn’t impressed.

  He knew he hadn’t misunderstood what she said. He knew she said he had them, but he didn’t think that she meant the he was the CURRENT national champion in those events, just that he’d had them at one point, but no. He was the current ‘gold buckle’ holder in the tie-down wrestle and the steer wrestle. He had the silver one in the saddle bronc and bareback bronc, along with the bronze one in the bull ride. He held a title in every event there is for a man. The guy he got the information from was jealous as fuck that Xander wasn’t only staying in his house, but dating his daughter.

  He wondered if she knew he was the current title holder in anything but the one she actually said he had at the moment. After making a mental note to ask him if she knew just how big of a name he had, Kenny set the paper down, leaning back in his seat. “So, what do you kids have planned for today?”

  Elizabeth was pulling a pan of biscuits out of the oven when she answered, “Nothing until tonight. I want to take Xander to Glen Falls tonight to go to that club I went to for my 21st.” Setting the hot pan on the stove top, she turned to lean against it. “I figured we would just laze around the house for the day, so I can see Cole when he and the guys get here.”

  Kenny nodded. “I know he can’t wait to see you, Lizzy. The damn kid started calling the house everyday for the last three to find out exactly when you were going to get here.”

  Elizabeth snorted before rolling her eyes, turning to take the biscuits out of the pan before moving them to the basket on the counter.

  Xander looked at her with a cocked brow as he leaned back in his seat. “That the boyfriend you been talkin’ ‘bout, Little Darlin’?”

  With a bark of laughter, she looked over her shoulder and winked at him. “Ex husband, actually. We were married when we were kids. Poor bastard didn’t take the divorce well.”

  “I was 6.”

  Elizabeth whirled around with a squeal, dropping the biscuit in her hand and darting across the room before leaping into Cole’s arms, laughing as he spun her around. Once she was on her feet again, she beamed up at him. “Holy hell! What on Earth have you been eatin’? You weren’t this tall two months ago.”

  Cole smiled at her while ruffling her hair a bit. “You didn’t sound like a hick then either, Lizzy.”

  With a swat to the chest with the spatula in her hand -as well as a huffed ‘asshole’- she turned to Xander, who was looking at her with a smile, “Cole, This is...”

  He cut her off and held out a hand to Xander, “Oh, I know who this is. Cole Hunt, Mr. Steele. It’s an honor to meet you.”

  Xander smirked at him as he shook
Cole’s hand. “Mr. Steele is my Daddy. Call me Xander.”

  There was a definite swoon in Cole’s eyes as he nodded, making Elizabeth cock a brow. “Looks like someone got crush on ya, Xan.”

  Xander snorted as Cole looked at her like she was making fun of Jesus in bible country. “I do not. But, come on, Lizzy, it’s not everyday you meet a legend.”

  Xander grunted, shaking his head. “I ain’t no legend, kid. I just ride.”

  The spark of swoon was back as Cole shook his in disbelief. “You’re a national champion, three years in a row, in more than one event. You are the highest rated rider in the circuit. You have won more events -in the last year alone- than most riders do in their whole career. They say that if you keep going like you are, you could even beat Frost.”

  Xander sighed, his eyes seeking the ceiling. “Well, I don’t know who ‘they’ are,” he intoned, looking back at Cole, “But ain’t no fella gonna ever beat him. Frost a legend; I just ride.”

  Seeing the annoyance creeping into Xander’s eyes, Kenny intervened on his behalf. “Cole, shut up and leave the man alone. He isn’t here for you. Now sit down, shut up, and eat.”

  Cole looked like he was about to protest, so Elizabeth smacked him on the back of the head before pointing to the table, “Sit.”

  Shoulders slumping a bit, Cole did as he was told, grabbing a plate of food before plopping down at the table. Once a few minutes passed, he looked across from him at Xander, then swallowed his mouthful. “So, where’s Rocky?”

  Xander looked up at him, “Border few miles over got ‘im for the week we gonna be here. Why?”

  Cole shrugged. “No reason. I just know that you don’t go anywhere without him.”

  Xander cocked a brow at him. “You a stalker?”

  Kenny choked on his coffee at the same time Elizabeth spit hers out so she didn’t. Cole turned beet red at the question, but Xander sat there waiting for an answer.

  Elizabeth wiped her chin off with the back of her hand, blinking a few times before slowly turning to look at Xander. “Feel free to use the fork.”

  The rest of the day was pretty uneventful after that. Around noon, Elizabeth was in the kitchen with a couple of her girl friends. They made a mountain of sandwiches, pitchers of sweet tea and lemonade, then put several bags of chips into bowls. Once that was done, the girls took lunch outside to the picnic table. There was no way, in any life, that she was going to allow 8 men who spent the day out in the woods cutting back trees and branches in the house… at least, not without turning the hose on them first.

  Once everything was outside, Elizabeth blew a high pitched whistle, and thencupped her hands around her mouth. “All hogs to the trough!Y’all boys come on and eat now.” As she turned back to go grab the paper plates, there was a pained yell from the woods, causing her to whirl back around to see what was going on.

  It didn’t take long.

  Out of the woods came Cole, Frankie hot on his heels. Frankie spear tackled in him the back, taking him to the ground face first. The girls crossed their arms, heads cocked to the side as they tried to figure out what the hell Cole did to piss him off this time, when Xander walked calmly out of woods, his own arms crossed.

  Xander smirked as he saw Frankie take the stalker to the ground. When he was close enough, Xander pointed to his girl, making her start a bit. “Ya best apologize to the Lady, Kid.”

  Cole fought against the hold Frankie had on him as he turned to look at Xander. “She didn’t hear me.” Then he cried out when Frankie twisted his arm more.

  Xander cocked a brow at him, “Don’t rightly matter. Frankie ‘bout to rip ya arm off, Kid. I reckon I’d apologize, iffin I was you.”

  Cole cried out again as Frankie pushed up on his arm again, yelling, “Sorry, Lizzy.”

  Elizabeth’s eyes shifted from the guys to the girls, then back again, with the girls only shrugging in response. “For what?”

  Frankie answered that. “He was picking on your accent again.”

  Elizabeth groaned in her throat, huffing out, “Dick.” Shaking her head, she pointed to the food, “Just eat, ya bastards.”

  After she came out with the plates, she took a seat next to Xander, who put his arm over her shoulders, then jumped into the conversation like she was there the whole time.

  Chapter 27

  Elizabeth and Xander had been staying with Kenny now for four days. Elizabeth was just this side of the line of castrating Cole and raping Xander. The rape would be easy to see coming by anyone with a brain, since they have boned every day for the last two months, then NOTHING for the entire time they were in New York; she was about to explode. The castration, however, everyone but Cole saw in his future. Cole’s little man crush was beginning to reach creepy levels, so Xander was just about to knock the kid into next week. Elizabeth felt that castration was a far better punishment.

  Currently, Elizabeth was at the stove making stew for dinner while Xander gave her a hand peeling those devil spawns called potatoes. Cole was sitting across from Xander, yapping on and on about this, that and the other, asking all matter of personal shit about Xander that was really none of his business.

  Seconds before Xander made the fantasy about stabbing the kid in the eye with the potato peeler in his hand a reality, Elizabeth snapped. Slamming the spoon on the counter with a crack, she whirled around, shouting, “For the love of God, Cole, that’s enough! I get you have a crush on the guy, but you have been up his ass since we got here. Do you really have nothin’ better to do than to sit there and ask all matter of fucked up questions that are none of your fuckin’ business? He might be above shutting you up, but you damn well know I’m not. Either shut up or I shove my fist down your throat and rip out your voice box. Ya get me?”

  Cole stared at her while Xander gazed at her like she hung the moon. It was completely silent in the house for a moment before there was clapping that slowly sped up into a full applause coming from the living room, where Kenny and some of the other boys were watching a repeat game from the night before.

  Cole went beet red and he swallowed hard, looking at Elizabeth again. “Sorry, Lizzy.”

  She just glared at him. “Oh, don’t be apologizin’ to me. I ain’t the one you been making all kinds of uncomfortable. You just pissed me off.” She pointed to Xander, “Apologize to him.”

  Cole sighed before turning to Xander. “Sorry man.”

  Xander shrugged, trying to make it look like less of an issue with him than it was. “Don’t worry ‘bout it. Just knock it off. I ain’t got a problem witcha Kid, but I don’t even get hounded on like that by rodeo whores. Keep the questions away from shit that ain’tcha business, and it’ll be fine.”

  Cole nodded and Elizabeth pointed to the living room. “Get out, Cole.” He got up and left the room without a word, but Elizabeth growled and crossed her arms, leaning against the stove. “Jesus.”

  Xander chuckled as he stood to take the veggies over to his girl, set them on the counter, and set a hand on either side of her before bending down to look her in the eyes. “Ya know, y'all kinds of sexy when you get pissy.”

  Elizabeth smirked at him with a cocked brow. “That wasn’t pissy, that was irritated. Ask Cole what the difference between the two is.”

  Xander hummed in his throat. “Let me guess, you get violent?”

  Elizabeth giggled. “I only reached that point once, and it was years ago. Cole cut my hair off, so I think he deserved the kick to the shin.”

  Xander grinned, nodding as he leaned in. “I bet he did” he hummed, pressing his lips to hers. Nipping at her lip lightly, he made a noise in his throat when she parted them for him.

  They only kissed for a minute or so before there was a catcall from behind Xander. He groaned louder this time while his Little Darlin’ out right growled. When he pulled back, she looked him dead in the eyes. “We’re going to a hotel.”

  He was fine with that.

  After dinner that night, Xander and Elizabeth packed their
bags and straightened up her room. Xander carried them down the stairs to set them by the front door while Elizabeth went to let her father know they were heading out. He walked into the living room at the WRONG part of the conversation.

  “No, we’ll be here for a while longer, but Jesus, Dad. We can barely kiss, and I kinda want to fuck my boyfriend.”

  Xander froze and his jaw went lax. He slowly backed out of the room before anyone saw him, then as quietly as he could, opened the front door while pretending he didn’t walk in on that. He was just closing the storage case in the bed when his girl came sprinting out of the house. She leapt off the front porch, darting to the passenger side of his truck, her face as bright as the sun when she yelled, ‘We gotta go!’

  Xander looked toward the house, his eyes widening at the sight of the shotgun in Kenny’s hands. ‘Oh, goddamn it’.

  Wasting no time, Xander jumped into the driver’s seat and turned the key, throwing the truck in reverse before peeling out of the driveway. The sound of a gunshot and squealing tires could barely be heard over the sound of his psychotic girlfriend’s laughter. He looked over, just staring at her as she played with his iPod for a minute, and shook his head. “You are out of your fuckin’ mind, Little Darlin’.”

  It was about halfway through when Xander realized that he was following orders from a country song. He glanced at his girl to see that she was actually wearing a white tank top. Shaking his head, he cut the wheel sharply to the left as he laid back on the gas.

  Getting back on the main highway, Xander let up on the gas and looked over at Elizabeth, who was still laughing as she clung to the ‘oh shit handle’. “Your Daddy gonna kill me.”

  She shook her head, smiling widely. “He won’t do nothin’. He shot at you, so this is kinda understandable, Xan. I’ll call him later, once he calms down some.”

  Xander shook his head, glancing in the rearview mirror for a second, then let out a breath when there were no red and blue lights to be seen.