Boomtown

by Lani Lynn Vale

  Once my breathing went back to normal, I pulled up off of him and went to the bathroom to clean up. I came back with a wet wash cloth for him and cleaned him up, tossing the cloth in a pile on the floor in front of the dresser.

  I crawled up next to him, kissing his chest, neck and finally settling at his lips for a long wet one, and then settled down, reaching down to pull the comforter up over us as I went.

  I let out a long sigh and snuggled a little closer, kissing his pec one more time and falling to sleep shortly after.

  Chapter 14

  I woke up deliciously sore around six forty five to find Sam leaning over me to wake me up. Unfortunately he was already dressed.

  “Overslept babe, so I gotta go get my gear ready and head out. Come give me a quick kiss when you get dressed and are about to leave.” Sam said.

  “Okay.” I mumbled, rolled out of bed and gave him a kiss before he walked out of the room and then out of the house. I heard his Suburban rumble to life outside, and motor to the front of the shop where it shut off shortly after.

  I brushed my teeth, and put my hair up into a ponytail on the top of my head, and then braided it. I made a quick potty break, and then headed into the bedroom and slipped on my favorite pair of boot cut jeans but stopped dead when I couldn’t get the button to button. Fuck. This happened a lot in the summer since I bloated because of the heat, but I hadn’t been expecting it this early on in the summer when it was barely in the nineties. Pissed off, I shucked them off my legs and kicked them across the room. I went to the dresser and picked through for my looser pair of jeans, and slipped them on. These were tighter, but not unmanageable, so I went to find a t-shirt, threw some socks on and jammed my feet into my tennis shoes.

  I went to the kitchen and heated up a whole box of toaster strudels, smeared on the icing, grabbled two Dr.Peppers, my keys, and purse, and hopped into my truck. I pulled up beside Sam’s Suburban and got out, juggling the plates and Dr. Peppers as I went. I got to Sam and handed him the plate with four on it, and he took it.

  “Thanks.” He muttered distractedly.

  “Welcome.” I said around a big bite.

  Sam finished his off in practically eight bites, and chucked the plate on top of his tool box. Handed me his Dr. Pepper which I promptly popped the tab and handed back to him. We’ve done this quite a few times before since his fingernails were never long enough to get under the tab. Sam’s fingernails were short on purpose. He kept them like that so he didn’t have to deal with the cleanup of having long nails and being a mechanic. Grease was a bitch any way it went, so it’s best to cut some corners when you could.

  I was licking the icing that had dripped down my arm with my tongue when a cop car pulled up to the gate. Sam went to the switch on the wall and pressed the button that opened the gate, and we both stared as the cop pulled up to the front beside my truck and got out.

  “Can I help you, officer?” Sam asked.

  “Sam Mackenzie?” the officer asked.

  Sam nodded and waited.

  “And you are Cheyenne Allen?” the cop asked as he turned to look at me.

  “Yes, sir.” I answered.

  “Do you know a Leah Waters?” The cop asked authoritatively.

  “Yes sir, she is my ex-girlfriend. Why? Is she in some trouble?” Sam answered.

  “Where were you both last night between 2 and 6 a.m.?” He questioned.

  “We were both in bed asleep.” Sam answered. “Is she okay?”

  The cop seemed to come to some sort of conclusion, and he opened the flood gates.

  “Leah Water’s was killed last night; she was shot in the back of the head. The baby was cut from her stomach and was lying on the ground next to her body with the umbilical cord cut. They were found by another guest who was out walking her dog at the hotel where she was staying. Looked like he saved the baby’s life while taking Ms. Water’s.”

  I gasped and threw my hand over my mouth, suddenly feeling nauseous.

  “Is the baby okay?” Sam asked gruffly.

  “Yes, baby is in the NICU at Children’s in Dallas. Was flown there as soon as she was found. Are you the father?” he asked no bullshitting.

  “No. As far as I could tell, the father was a man named Luke Roberts.” Sam answered quickly. “He was deployed in Iraq, the last time I heard from her.”

  “Thank You, we will try to contact him as soon as we can.” He said. “Do either of you know what,” he said as he removed his notebook from the pocket of his slacks and read, “You don’t deserve a family, Cap.” means?

  I quickly looked over to Sam to see that all of the blood had drained from his face. He took a deep breath, and then went in to an explanation.

  “We have been working with an Officer Marsh, who has been also working with my former CO. We believe that a former member of our unit who was thought dead, went rogue, and is now targeting the former members of the team. Another possibility is that it is another member of our old team, who knows us well enough to use only things that we would know, and is just using Justin’s name. Cheyenne and her brother James, Blaine Master’s, and myself have all gotten threatening letters. A couple weeks ago we had a team member die, and it is suspected that he was responsible.” Sam explained quickly and efficiently.

  The officer nodded throughout Sam’s explanation. He took a couple of notes and assured us that he would check into it. He also assured us that he would keep us updated on the baby’s condition. The officer left shortly after, and both of us just stood there watching him leave.

  I turned to look at Sam once he was no longer in sight, and could see that he was struggling with what we just heard. I slowly walked up to him and wrapped my arms around him. His arms came around me and squeezed me hard, almost to the point of pain.

  “That could have been you.” He said to me.

  “It wasn’t. Are you ok, Sam? I know you have to be upset by this.” I said back to him.

  “I’m sorry that it happened to her, and I am worried about her baby, but I’m just thanking God right now that it was her and not you.” He whispered. “Thank God.”

  James came with me to work. Sam called a group meeting and explained to them all what happened. James decided that he would be my body guard for the day, and accompanied me to work after we dropped off Janie and Kayla at daycare. The bosses loved James though, and didn’t have a problem with him tagging along with me.

  He used to be best friends with the owner’s son. Their son, Briggs, died in a car accident when they were seventeen. He was hit by a drunk driver and killed on impact. It was a huge deal for this small town, because he had just gotten a full ride to UT for football. The drunk driver was also killed on impact, he was a father of a girl that was in their graduating class, and the girl was shunned by the rest of the school for the sins of her father. Brigg’s parents and James went out of their way to be nice to the girl and help her, but she left when she turned eighteen and no one ever saw her again. James got quiet after that, staying to himself. He enlisted in the army as soon as he graduated, not wasting any time to get away from here.

  When he was twenty three he met Anna. I didn’t like her as soon as I met her, but who was I to say anything when he was so obviously in obsessed with her? He got her pregnant not long after they met. I had a feeling that she got pregnant on purpose, but soon regretted the decision when she found out that pregnancy was not to her liking. Anna was a complete bitch after that, and I hated her more and more every day. James acted like a different person as well. His personality seemed to drain out of him every day until the man that was left no longer resembled by big brother I knew and loved. I thanked God when she left, even though James became even more withdrawn. But he loved Janie, and his light shines through when he is with her. The Ranger’s helped James a lot more than he likes to admit. James came back on leave, and he almost acted like his old normal self.

  Gabe was on Ember duty at her apartment, even though she hadn’t been threatened directly. The men
thought it prudent that she be covered though since they were targeting loved ones. I’ll bet that she was just going to love having Gabe in her apartment. I was still waiting for the low down on what was going on with Gabe and her. But she was keeping that info tight to her chest, and not even giving me a little hint at what was going on. I didn’t know if she was doing this on purpose, since I didn’t share with her about losing my virginity, or if she just didn’t want to talk about it.

  I heard James and Max laughing in the garage a few days ago, teasing Gabe about Ember. I stopped before they could see me so I could get some low down on what was going on with the two of them since Ember was like a steel trap.

  Apparently Ember had gone on a date, and Gabe was pissed. He wouldn’t let Ember out of his sight. He intimidated the date throughout dinner, and he was so nervous he ended up leaving, while using the excuse that he needed to go to the bathroom.

  “She thought that since she was on a date that I would leave her alone. She found out rather quickly though that I wasn’t going anywhere. She met him at the restaurant. He was wearing an expensive three piece suit, and there Ember was in jeans with rhinestones on her ass and pointy toed cowboy boots that looked like they had been worn a million times. The guy was so out of place he looked a tad uncomfortable. Apparently Ember was the one to suggest the venue. He had never been to Hog’s Breath Saloon before, so he had agreed without checking to make sure he would fit in with what he was wearing. Ember tried to ask for a two person booth, but I sweet talked the waitress into giving us a table in the middle of the room. I sat down beside her and her date was forced to sit across from her. Ember ended up arguing with me more than she even spoke to her date. Didn’t even notice he had left until the bill came and he still hadn’t returned from the bathroom. She even begged me to go check on him, but he was nowhere to be seen. It was the funniest thing I had witnessed in a long time. She tried to one-up me and ended up screwing herself. She-“

  The peeling “zillllll” of an air wrench pierced the quiet of the garage from just behind me. I turned to find James, the little snot, standing behind me with the wrench raised in his fist directly behind me. I’ve been in garages so long, that those sounds don’t even penetrate my mind anymore, that is unless they are done right behind your head and scare the ever loving shit out of you.

  I was carrying a staple gun in my hand, and of course I had to shoot him with it. I mean, that is a normal reaction, right? I unloaded the entire clip unsuccessfully trying to nail him in the ass. However, I did nail him in the arm, cheek, and lip. No blood was evident, so I threw the stapler at him for good measure. Shit head.

  I contemplated the conversation I overheard for the next few days, trying to get Ember to open up, but the trap remained closed. What Ember had been thinking, I don’t know. She gets a wild hair about her sometimes, and doesn’t think about anyone’s feelings but her own.

  James and I didn’t talk about the danger we were in, we did however talk about the other elephant in the room. We hadn’t gotten the chance to really talk about all that had happened since he got home on medical leave. My mom had arrived home shortly after him for just a few days, and then shipped off to the east coast for three months for another travel contract.

  “So.” James started. “You’re getting married. To my captain.”

  “Looks like it.” I said nonchalantly.

  “Where did you two meet?” James asked. “I know I never introduced the two of you.”

  “We met at Deacon’s.” I said. ”We didn’t know the connection until after we started seeing each other.”

  “He pick you up in the bar?” he asked offhandedly.

  The question made him sound like he wasn’t interested, when I knew he was.

  “Sure did. Didn’t even say a word to each other, I just hopped on the back of his bike, we went to his place, and had sex all night long.” I said with as straight of a face as I could manage.

  “That’s disgusting. Please shut up.” He said with a smile in his voice. “I used to tell all the guys those embarrassing stories that were so hilarious about you. He probably knows all of your dirty secrets!”

  “You didn’t!” I seethed.

  “Yep. Sure did. I told them everything. We had to pass the time someway, and it was best to keep an upbeat attitude about things, or you got to thinking about the hell hole you were stuck in.”

  The anger deflated out of me as fast as it entered. If it made like more bearable over there, then I would gladly let him tell them anything he wanted to. No wonder Sam wasn’t too surprised when I did something weird or crazy. Apparently my reputation preceded me.

  “Please just tell me you didn’t tell them about the time at the Dairy Queen.” I pleaded with a whiny voice.

  “Yea that was probably the first one I told them. I even remember what we were doing at the time. We were holed down in a remote village, the tangos didn’t know where we were exactly, and we were waiting for dark, and staying as still as possible so not to attract attention since it was like fifteen to one. So to keep our minds positive, I started telling them that story.”

  “What exactly did you tell Sam?” I whispered.

  “Well, just about everything.” He said with a smile in his voice.

  Fuck me. Ember and I had gone to Dairy Queen for a blizzard after dinner. It was the place to hang, and a lot of the high school was there regularly. I had spotted James and Max almost as soon as we walked in, but didn’t go over to them, just ordered and we sat down. The booth behind us was occupied by a state trooper with his back to us. There was a group of boys behind us on the other side who were being quite obnoxious. The boys hadn’t noticed the state trooper, and were making fun of Ember and I.

  It had gotten so bad, that my ears were turning pink, and I was thoroughly embarrassed. They were talking about what they would do to us if they had us alone and naked. Finally they crossed the line when one of them said something along the lines of “My dad has this drug that makes them want it.” At that I had surged up out of my seat, and over to the boy’s booth so fast that I didn’t realize I had done it until it was already done. I was leaping the table to go after the guy who said it with everything I had when the state trooper caught me around the waist and pulled me back. I still had my Blizzard in my hand, so I took the opportunity to throw it at the wanna-be man who would say something so disgusting.

  I’d unintentionally started a food fight, and was promptly taken into custody. The boy was also arrested for threatening harm to a minor, and the boy’s father sent him to military school, and I never saw him again. The State Trooper had taken me to my mom, and she had torn me a new one. Only after the Trooper was gone did she say that she probably would have done the exact same thing. The embarrassing part of the whole thing was that the Trooper said I deserved a spanking in front of the entire Dairy Queen crowd, and he would be happy to deliver it if I didn’t settle down. The whole school knew by the next day, and I was offered spankings, even to this day.

  That was just one of many times that I had gotten into trouble with the law, but probably the most memorable.

  “Why are y’all getting married so fast?” James asked, pulling me out of my thoughts.

  “We want to.” I clipped and left it at that. I really didn’t want to go into why we were moving so fast. I was still denying the possibility of pregnancy, and was doing a really good job at ignoring it. I couldn’t really tell him why, just that it felt right, and I couldn’t see myself spending my life without him.

  To get him off this particular topic, I changed the subject.

  “Hear anything more from the baby mama?”

  “No, I spoke with my lawyer just to make sure I had an air tight case, and he confirmed that I did. The daycare knows all about it, and has a copy of the paperwork just in case the cops are brought in. Hopefully though, we don’t have to worry about that.” He said matter of factly.

  The daycare was a very secure location, and the security of the buildin
g was good, so the guys weren’t worried about the girls like I had originally thought they should be.

  “This daycare facility has the mayor’s kids, as well as the prestige of the city’s kids in it. The security is air tight there, they have cameras, the doors stay locked unless you have a code, and they have a top notch security system. Nothing will happen to the girl’s on that front.” I felt a little better after hearing this. I hadn’t noticed when Sam and I had been there with James’ baby mama (I didn’t like saying her name), but we had never made it past the front foyer, which still meant we had to get past two locked doors to get back to Janie.

  “I didn’t realize you had a lawyer.” I said to him. I mean I knew he had one three years ago when he got custody of Janie, but why would he still have one?

  “I have one because every soldier needs one. My will is with him. That was the first thing that the COs told us to take care of before we deployed. This lawyer is also the one that took care of Janie’s custody. I even think mom has her will with him.” He said to me.

  I stayed silent for quite a while after that. I guess I never really thought of it before, but it would make sense to have it because Iraq and Afghanistan were deadly places, and on could never be too careful.

  A couple of parts orders came in, so James and I headed out to my little Ford Ranger. First stop was the same shop that James worked at when he was younger. Old Mr. Tanner loved when I stopped by, and he was in for a surprise today when he saw James.

  SAM

  “Now, repeat to me your new name, and all of the information I have given to you.” I said to Robin.

  All of our girls got new names after we found them new places to stay. They were new people as far as I was concerned. They not only received new names, but new jobs, places to stay, backgrounds, and even new hair colors and ways to dress. They left their old lives behind, and became their new identity.