“Poor little orphan Dalton, still wandering round like a lost puppy. The Griggs have been taking in strays for years, they were scraping the barrel when they found you, just another one to add to the freaks and weirdo list. It was a nice change when Jonas turned up, their luck had to change sooner or later.” No way am I listening to her disrespect Barbara and Harrison.
Oh, the fucking gloves are coming off now.
“Don’t go there. DO. NOT. GO. THERE.” I grit my teeth and say the words through them, whilst leaning forward into her with a menacing glare.
“Did you get all cozy with Jack and Jake under the one roof? Teach those twins a thing or two?”
“Seriously, shut the fuck up.” I pray she notices my fury soon, I don’t like what I’m feeling, but my grasp on its control is becoming untenable.
“A little Twins/Dalton spit roast after a game of spin the family bottle, and doctors and nurses maybe or just the classic of you show me yours and I’ll let you have a good feel of mine?”
I’ve reached the limit of what I’m prepared to listen to so I launch myself at her, she’s not as tall as me even though she’s wearing ridiculous stripper looking shoes, it comes as a surprise to her when condoms are flying everywhere because I’ve pushed her into the shelving. When she drags herself upright I slap her so hard her head spins, exorcist style, this time she ends up on the floor and she is literally sitting on hundreds of boxes of condoms. I bring my hand back and bend down for another go but my hand is clasped in mid air. Tits is still on the floor holding her face, and the audience are silent, somewhere in the background I can hear a frantic speaker announcement asking for a manager to urgently haul ass to our aisle.
I feel myself being pulled against a large frame and am nervous that Jonas has just witnessed this bitchy ugly scene, taking in the hand wrapped around my middle I feel relief when I see it is really sun tanned. “Ssshhh Dalton,” I’m breathing heavy almost heaving and my face feels wet. I’m crying, when did that happen?
I recognize the voice, it belongs to Chris.
“Come on Dolly, let me get you out of here,” he says quietly.
“I can’t, I’m meeting Oli at his office,” I try to say between sobs.
“It’s OK. We’ll sort that out, delay it for a bit and get you straight first. Come on.” He’s talking to me like he’s trying to reason with a crazy person. Yep. That would be me right now; I’m feeling all shades of crazy.
I nod and go with him and as I get in the car, he is calling someone who I assume is Oli on his cell. He tells Oli that something has come up and I’ll be along when I can. I’m really too stunned to argue. I know I’ve got a temper, but I’ve never lashed out like that.
I’d like to say I feel sorry for what I’ve done, but I don’t. Defending my family, my loved ones, is the only thing to do and Harrison would secretly be proud, but I think Barbara would be sad that I let myself get so affected by someone else’s words.
The only other thing that makes it way to the front of my brain and I can’t get out of my head is that anything between Jonas and I would have been seen like she’d just described, wrong. People would talk about it like its dirty and I can’t believe in all this time I never figured that out and realized it for myself. Maybe she’s not as dumb as she looks or maybe your brain really does block out things it doesn’t want to acknowledge or deal with. Holy crap, for years I’ve been lusting after someone and never seen how inappropriate it was, more importantly that it could have ripped our family apart. Where the fuck has my head been?
Chapter Six
After a bit of a drive I begin to realize that we’re heading for Chris’s ranch, it’s located on the far edge of our town, around 15 miles away from the main high street and it’s in a beautiful part of the county which is dedicated to our rural and agricultural community.
I don’t want to go there.
I can’t bump into Jonas whilst I’m this undone. I know he lives on a different part of the property and the hunting cabin is set back but I don’t know whether they see each other during the day or live completely separate lives.
“Errrr, honestly Chris, I’m feeling better now and more together, we can just head back now so I can get my car.”
“No worries, Dolly, just a quick coffee at mine first, we’re nearly there now.”
He doesn’t look at me when he replies he knows I hate being babied or pitied. I’ve always been fiercely independent. When we were together I shared some of the things I went through before I came to live with Barbara and Harrison, so Chris knows I am used to making sure I’m OK myself. He knows it helps me get to grips with whatever issue I’m having quicker.
We pull up outside his ranch. It’s extensive and the building and grounds are a blend of old and new. It’s obvious if you really look where the old house used to start and end. Over the years, Chris and his family have built on it, added to it and modernized it so it’s more suitable for modern day living and family life. The outside is a mixture of traditional wood cladding and brick, its facade looks tough but homely. It now has an additional floor but didn’t always and one of the best features is that it has plenty of windows all over the property.
The views all around are amazing and the way it takes in the surrounding ranch land means the whole place comes across as the home of someone who wants to survey all the land they can see, they’re proud of it and want to remind themselves of it every day, remind themselves why they work so hard to keep it growing and thriving. It has views you wouldn’t tire of, but feel blessed every time you see each new winter, each new fall and the other seasons of the year.
From the back windows you get a view of the undulating fields on the ranch land, with an added glimpse of some of the cattle occupying the land, as well as some cattle sheds further in the distance. Beyond those sheds are uninterrupted hills and mountains.
To the left side of the house you can see and access the working side of the ranch, the barns, the horse stalls and machinery. I imagine that most of the day you’ll be able to sit in the kitchen and view the workers working and keeping busy to make the ranch a success. Chris and his family have always considered the workforce as part of their extended family, the Hales are good people and just as the Hales have worked the land for generations so have some of the ranch hands; it really is a large family unit. I imagine that many of the females in Chris’s family over the years have baked cakes and bread and made refreshments for the men they’d been watching come and go all day long.
To the right side of the house you get to appreciate the family side of ranch living. A large back yard which is more like a small field contains a huge old tree and in it hangs a couple of swings that are used by both adults and children. There is a large decked area with outside furniture and a BBQ grill where Chris cooks most of his meals in the summer. He returns home after a long day on the ranch, uses the outdoor shower which is heated, throws some steaks on the grill and kicks back with a bottle of beer. The newest addition to this area is a massive hot tub. It is situated in the corner of the decking and is accessible by a huge sliding door from the living room. Its position and location is also in eye line of the ma-hoo-sive flat screen television on the living room wall, this means he gets to relax and watch a football game at the same time surrounded by views and muscle relaxing spa bubbles. I also imagine this accessory is a big hit with the many girls he entertains.
The front of the property simply faces the long gravel drive, it has a set of large wooden double doors that welcome all. My favorite feature of all the new additions is the wrap around deck and covered porch. You can walk all round the ranch house completely under cover and see lots of different things. There are also odd bits of sporadic placed furniture which means you can just stop and take in something that catches your eye when you see it. Growing up with my camera here was amazing, whilst Chris was helping his dad on the ranch I would just do loops of the house and stop every so often to capture something great. It would be mainly nature o
r the farm workers but also Chris and his family. Chris used to worry I’d be bored when his mom roped him into helping his dad, but I was fine, she knew my passion for photography and would sometimes come and sit outside with me whilst I did my thing.
I climb out of his huge dodge pickup and we head into the house and straight through to the kitchen. I slump onto my elbows leaning on the island in the middle and place my head in my hands whilst Chris assembles coffee for us. I’m still unsure and nervous about whether Jonas may appear and I have to keep that in the back of my mind, I must remain vigilant and after all, I have no idea why he chose to live on the ranch and what he does during the day. He’s also still my family and I’ve just attacked his fuck buddy in the supermarket.
“Arrgghh, what the fuck got into me?” I say it out loud but it’s more of a rhetorical question.
“I was only there for a bit,” he says, “I didn’t see all of it, but I certainly heard the complete bullshit she was spouting at the end about you and the twins.”
“I still should have kept a grip on my shit; I just publicly slapped that cow.”
“I know and in all fairness she’s lucky it took this long, you should have done it years ago Dolly.”
“I won’t apologize, I may need to go out in disguise for a while around town to avoid the gossips, but I won’t apologize.” This I feel strongly about.
“You’ll need the disguise to avoid the autograph hunters. I’d suggest you go low key for a while, just to avoid the UFC promoters that will be looking for you. You could be the next big thing, they’re always looking for hot girls to get into that.” He pauses in contemplation, “I’ve got access to a lot of mud out back if you fancy really making a splash and trying your luck on the mud wrestling scene too.” At that I burst out laughing, he’s achieved what he wanted; he’s got me to calm down and have a giggle.
“Seriously, Dolls, everyone has a breaking point and you hit yours but you know how disappointed Barbara will be when she gets wind of this.”
“I know, damage control won’t help me this time, I’ll just take my verbal bollocking I suppose and hope for the best, but if the twins hear about what she was saying they won’t leave it alone until she pays. Those young studs won’t want this reputation damaging crap flying around about them. It could harm and limit the numbers of available girls in the still to do pool.”
We both know my younger brothers are studs. They’ve got the looks, they play football and can be an effective tag team on unsuspecting girls. I also wouldn’t put it past them to have been fully up in some sultry spit roast action in the past and I am hoping to God that Tits was not commenting from personal experience because one brother tapping that skank is vile enough. Then I remember that she will make the most of this with Jonas and God forbid he actually likes that woman, this episode will not make him happy.
“Pfftt, well that’s that then...” I mutter to myself.
“What Dolls?”
“Nothing, just having a little chat with myself.”
“Come on spill,” he says.
“Jonas is gonna be pissed, I’ve just walloped his bitch.”
He sniggers and has a funny look on his face but says no more as the door bell rings and Chris goes into the hall and shouts “Come in” to whoever is here. The next thing I hear is someone beat boxing the drum intro from one of the Rocky films, it then morphs into a female voice singing the eye of the tiger.
Neely.
I look at Chris and see he’s trying to hold back his laughter, he doesn’t manage it for long before a huge laugh erupts from him. My shoulders then start to shake too and I also start chuckling.
“Did you call her?”
“Yeah, when we were on the way here.” WOW, I really was stuck in my own head; I don’t remember him making that call as Neely comes to me and embraces me with a hug that tells me she wouldn’t be anywhere else right now. “She’s your ride back to town, I knew you wouldn’t want to miss your meeting with Oli and she’s going back to the same place.” He’s as thoughtful as ever.
“You really are wasting your talents by being a hook up guy whore. That kind of consideration would have ladies flocking to your door and dropping at your feet,” I reply. He ignores that comment and smiles shyly at Neely who sort of smiles just as awkwardly and blushes back.
“Dolly Deckster, do I need to ice your hand or get a mould made of it so we can display it in the town hall? Taking that skank down a few pegs is like a public service, we should allow the public to celebrate in some way, see the weapon and honor it.”
“Neely, don’t, I lost it, totally and utterly, I exploded. I’m still waiting for shame and feelings of remorse to hit me.”
“Don’t push it yet, the acting required for those kinds of emotions are a onetime thing...save that one time for the sheriff.”
“WHAT!” I shout and stand up.
“Well, she’s an evil spite filled super whore and she lost...in public. If people don’t forget quickly she may exercise her right to have you put in chains and publicly flogged.”
“Jesus Christ... what have I done?” I ask no one in particular.
“Nothing you can do about it now apart from see how it plays out. Of course in order to make that play she’ll need to sign a statement, I imagine she’s still using a pencil and has that cardboard finger they give kids when they’re five, you know the one that you use to put the correct spaces in between the words? She’ll have modified hers and it’ll now have an evil painted talon. That probably won’t be as fun as watching her string the words together for a sentence in the first place and then try and spell her own name. The duty officer could be onto an internet winner if he films it.” I’m really smiling now because she says all this shit with total seriousness and I know she’ll have my back if I do have to take a trip to the sheriff’s office. “Anyway let’s hustle girl, I ran out like someone was burning alive and I need to get back, this chat isn’t over though, I want details.”
I wander over to Chris, kiss him on the cheek and wrap my arms around him as I feel his familiar big arms close me in. Embracing him I quietly say “Thanks for rescuing me and getting me straight.” I kiss him again and make my way out of his hug and as I turn back towards the kitchen entrance, there bolt upright in the doorway looking unhappy, is Jonas. I wait for him to berate me over my supermarket smack down, but I get nothing but a glare.
“I almost forgot Chris, can I use your access to the lake and waterfall if I get this photo job with Oli?”
“Sure, whenever,” he says.
“Thanks again,” my tone is softer this time, there is hidden meaning in the way I say it so he knows I’m thanking him for the rescue too. Neely and I walk towards the entrance, while she exchanges a normal greeting with Jonas he just grunts in return. I say nothing to him and he says nothing to me, he just moves out of my way to let me past. After shutting the front door behind me, I climb into Neely’s Hybrid and we head into town for my meeting with Oli.
The offices of Hart, Hart & Smythe are like any other respectable Attorneys’, they are clean, smart, sleek and full of shelves rammed with books. As we progress through the reception I say a quick “Hi” to Sonny’s mom who is at the receptionist desk today. She has worked here for years during the school day as a secretary but also covers as a receptionist and from what Neely tells me she is seriously capable in the legal field but decided raising Sonny and his sisters was more important. Even though her qualifications lie in the legal secretarial area she does get involved in research and other trusted duties. We head to Neely’s desk and when we get there she drops her purse in her drawer and jiggles the mouse to activate the computer screen and as she turns towards me to say bye, Steven Smythe appears.
“Neely good to see you’ve made it back; I see the beauty factor in here has just doubled. You should go out and bring girls back more often.” The way he says “girls” is creepy because Steven Smythe is a bit of a sleaze. He is like a stereotypical lawyer from a bad movie. H
e’s a guy you don’t feel comfortable having to trust, for anything, how he ended up in partnership with the Harts is beyond me.
“Steven, you remember my friend Dalton, she’s got an appointment with Oli.”
“Dalton and Lottie in one day, Oli is a lucky guy.” He throws back at her. I’ve had enough references to threesomes for one day so I cut this short.
“Neely, thanks for today, catch you later.” I nod at Steven and move to the back of the building. I also know that in doing this whilst he is still watching me gives him a perfect chance to be creepy and letch at my ass. It’s like I can feel him crawling over my skin. Utterly disgusting. I sometimes worry about Neely working with him, but then I remember Neely and her ways. She knows he’d jump for a chance to get in there, so in her way of meeting shit head on, she shut that shit down early on after joining the firm. Now he’s all innuendoes and lewd looks which she can cope with and if he tried anything else the Harts would have a front row seat to how she would physically deal with it. Being small at 5’ 5” means she’s often underestimated but she can look after herself and when you add rage into that equation she’s a little ball of rage and fire all rolled into one.
Fostering Love (The Soul Sisters Series Book 1) Page 5
