My pole was bent in an arc, and I really had to put some muscle in to reeling in now. I was really hoping that my line didn’t break. I saw the flash of white about six feet into the water right beside the boat, and started getting really excited. Sam stood on the back of the fishing deck with a net and bent down and scooped up my fish with the net.
It was the ugliest fish I had ever seen. Fairly big too, but with it that ugly no one was likely to go around it.
“That is one ugly fish.” I said to him jumping up and down and clapping my hands.
“It’s a mud cat. And it’s huge. Probably a good six pounds. Here, hold it.” Sam said.
“No fucking way. I’m not touching that.” Sam said.
“Hand me the net, Sam.” Elliott said from behind me.
Sam handed Elliott the net, and then put the fish in the live well. Baited my hook for me, and I cast it back into the spot I was just in. I turned then to watch Blaine as Elliott caught her fish in the net. It wasn’t as big as mine, but still fairly big.
“Yay, Blaine!” I said to her.
She beamed at me, and then I turned around to my cork. Except that my cork was no longer there. I yanked my pole up, and it started pulling immediately. This went on for the rest of the hour. Blaine would catch one, I would catch one, Blaine would catch one, and I would catch one.
Sam and Elliott were our bait boys. They also took off our fishies. They each sat back with a beer and waited for the next fish to come along. Blaine and I caught eighteen fish in the first hour. The fish must have gotten smarter though, because after that hour we didn’t catch anymore.
“Can I have a coke?” I asked Sam.
“We don’t have any coke.” He said.
I was almost one hundred percent positive that I put some coke in there. In fact, I knew there was some in there.
“Y’all drank all the coke? The only thing left is beer?” I asked
I was starting to get annoyed. He was leaning back in his seat. His jean clad leg stretched out in front of him. He had on a dark grey t-shirt, a black Rangers ball cap, and aviator glasses. He was looking at me like I was nuts.
“There is some Dr. Pepper left.” He said.
Oh my god. I was going to kill him! I turned my head and looked at Blaine. Was I missing something here? She smiled
“You just said there wasn’t any coke!” I yelled.
“There isn’t any coke. There is Dr. Pepper!” he raised his voice back at me.
I’m pretty sure that there was steam coming off the top of my head. In Texas, a coke was a Dr. Pepper. A Coca Cola is a Coca Cola. His Yankee ass probably would never understand.
“Can you hand me a Dr. Pepper?” I asked him sweetly.
He gave me a measuring look, and then tossed me a coke. Blaine had her hand covering her mouth, stifling the giggles that were shaking her tiny body. Elliott was looking at something interesting across the lake.
“So. Were y’all gonna fish?” I asked.
“Why bother since you won’t take the fish off the line, and you were catching them as soon as you threw it back in the water?” Sam asked sarcastically.
I gave him a beaming smile.
“Yea. We are pretty freakin’ awesome if I do say so myself!”
The boys finally did fish, and they ended up catching two more a piece, but they weren’t keepers like all of ours were. We pulled up at the dock, hopped out, and waited while Sam and Elliott secured the boat back into its slip. Sam also produced a stringer and he carried the fish to a flat concrete table where he proceeded to kill them one by one.
I don’t know if you have ever experienced skinning fish before, but let me tell you, it is gross. They break some little bones on each side of their heads, skin them, and then twist their heads off. All while they are alive and making croaking noises. Needless to say, we only watched the first one being done, and then busied ourselves inside the marina looking at all the pictures of the records of the lake.
We arrived home around seven. Blaine and I hugged goodbye, I unlocked the door to the house and undressed on my way to the bedroom while Sam unloaded the truck and stashed the fish. I took a quick shower, came out, and then decided I would get dressed as soon as I lay down for a minute. I didn’t wake up until around four A.M. wrapped around Sam. I smiled, and then fell back into dreamland. This was heaven.
Chapter 16
“Are you ready to go visit your grandma, Kayla?” I said to the little girl that was drawing with chalk outside on the patio in front of the house.
“Mmmm-hmmm.” She said, but continued to draw.
“Go!” Janie said.
She was sitting on the other side of me with chalk as well. I rolled my eyes. These girls liked going anywhere. I rounded them up and stuck them in car seats in Sam’s Suburban. I had to move to Sam’s vehicle because I didn’t have a middle belt in my truck, and a lot of the times I had both girls with me. Weeks had passed since my dart gun/water fight with Sam. A lot had happened.
Kayla visited quite a bit. Anne Nash worked at a local law firm as a receptionist. I picked her up if I happened to be picking Janie up that day.
Kayla and I visited quite a lot when I wasn’t working. Janie also tagged along since James started working with Sam.
James was released on medical disability from the military, and the rest of his deployment was discarded. He started working just last week, his gunshot wound finally healing enough to be released for light duty.
Sam informed me the night of the water fight of his suspicions with Malcolm. Unfortunately they haven’t been able to get a lock down on his location, and continued every day to try to find him. Sam said it was almost like he had disappeared. Just erased his self from the earth. The bad part was that if anyone could do it, Malcolm could with his connections and money. Malcolm came from an elite family in Washington, and his whole existence made him feel entitled.
I got the girls dressed, and sat them in front of the Wiggles on TV to watch while I got myself dressed. Today I was having a second fitting for my wedding dress so I put on my strapless bra, then decided to go ahead and put on a tube top, since I was already in the god awful contraption that wouldn’t show bra straps. I slipped on Jeans and flip flops, then texted Jack, who was in charge of babysitting today.
I headed out to the truck with the girls and got them both strapped into the suburban when Jack rolled up on his big scary Harley. Jack wore the same exact thing every time I saw him: Worn denim jeans, white t-shirt, black motorcycle boots, red bandana, and black on black Oakley sunglasses. He also had a crazy looking knife that he wore under his shirt that ran along his spine. If I didn’t know him like I knew him, I would take one look at him, turn and walk the other way. He didn’t speak much, but he did make sure I was protected, and I would like him forever just for that very reason. He didn’t have to do what he did, but he did it for Sam.
“Hiya, Jack!” I said to him.” Riding with us, or are you go on the death cycle?”
His answer was to mount the bike and start it up. Okay. Guess that answered that!
I nodded, and climbed up into the Suburban. Sam’s Suburban was awesome; it was black with black trim. He had thirty five inch tires with black rims that had stars as the lug nuts. There was a large bronze star in the middle of the wheel that set off some of the black. There also was no step up on it, which I loved. I had to hike my foot a good four feet up to the door frame, grab the OS handle, and pull myself into the truck. Sam hadn’t needed the step ups, and had once said he would put some on for me, but I refused.
“Trucks look better without them, I can get up by myself, don’t worry about it.”
He reluctantly agreed, and let me have my way.
I waved at Sam and blew him a kiss as I passed by him on the way out of the driveway. He waved back but didn’t interrupt his conversation with the customer that he was speaking with.
I drove the short distance to the Anne’s office and parked in the parking space that had two open, so j
ack could park next to us. I hopped down and got Kayla out of her car seat while Jack got Janie. We all headed inside hand in hand, Jack holding back a bit surveying the lay of the land.
“Hello, Mrs. Patty!” I said to the lady who worked the front desk. “How are you today?”
Mrs. Patty got a sad look on her face and smiled sadly.
“Not so well darlin’” she said. “It’s been a rough day. We had a death in the office.”
“’I’m sorry to hear that. If there is anything I can do, let me know please.” I said quietly to her and patted her hand.
She nodded and motioned us through. We visited with Anne for about forty five minutes before she had to get back to work. Jack helped me round the girls up after a round of kisses, and we loaded them up and headed to the dress shop.
We pulled up just as Ember was getting out of her car, Jack exiting beside her. I just made it out of my car, and was about to open the door when Gabe beat me to it. He unbuckled Kayla out of her car seat like a pro. He gave her a big sloppy kiss on the cheek and she giggled.
Jack got Janie out, and we all headed into the dress shop. Gabe did a quick look through the store, and came back and nodded at us that we could precede.
Jack and Gabe stayed towards the back of the fitting area while the girls, Ember, and I went to the actual fitting room with the owner of the store.
Mrs. Canderi pulled my dress out of its bag and hung it on the hook on the door and left. I stripped off my clothes and was down to white cotton panties and my push up bra and walked over to the dress and unzipped it, and then took it off the hanger. I got it on, and then turned so Ember could zip it.
SAM
“Yeah, boss. She’s trying it on now.” Jack said into the phone to me.
“What does it look like?” I asked him. Cheyenne was being very secretive about the dress. All I got out of her was that it was white. She had let me in on the other wedding preparations. Mainly that we were having it at the church that she went to when she was growing up, and that it would be in three months from now on November second. The reception was to be at a local bar that her uncle co-owned, which I wholeheartedly agreed with. I didn’t want anything fancy, and I was extremely happy that she didn’t either. All I wanted was for close family and friends to be there, and so far that is all I heard would be attending.
A couple of bickering female voices started in over the line of the phone, and I asked “What’s going on?”
I heard rustling like Jack was moving closer, and then the voices became a little clearer.
“What the fuck? Have you gained weight? Your tits are like spilling over the top of this dress, and I can’t even get the fucker zipped all the way!” Ember was saying. “Suck in and hold your breath fat ass!”
“Suck it. Watch your language; we have impressionable two year olds here.” Cheyenne scolded.
There was some groaning and muttering and then I heard the door latch click and Ember say “One of you come here and try to zip this bitch. I can’t do it.”
Apparently it was Gabe who did it because Jack said, “White. Poofy.”
I laughed and said to him, “What’s going on?”
“The dress isn’t zipping. Ember’s right, girl is spilling over the top. I can almost see her nipples.”
A feminine growl echoed mine when I said “Zip it.”
“Suck in. Jesus, don’t you know that you are supposed to diet before the wedding?” Ember said.
“Fuck off. Hurry up, Gabe.” Cheyenne said. “You’re right; I need to start working out.”
“I’m sure Sam can show you some really good throat exercises.” Ember said.
I strangled a laugh, but couldn’t hold it in very long. Gabe and Jack were both howling in the background.
“My throat already gets a lot of exercise. It’s my stomach that needs it.” Cheyenne told them all.
“When did you grow breasts?” I heard Ember ask.
“It’s a push up water bra a-hole! SHUT THE HELL UP!” I heard Cheyenne say, ending in a near scream.
There was laughing on the other end and I was about to say something when a call beeped through on the work line.
“Got to go.” I said and hung up.
“Free.” I answered
“So you finally figured it out, eh?”
My blood ran cold. Fuck, I would know that voice anywhere. It’d been almost two years, but I wouldn’t forget it in a lifetime.
“Malcolm.” I growled.
“So you had to all Dear Ol’ Dad, just so you could find little Ol’ me. I’m flattered. I never knew you had it in you.
I had broken down and called my Dad for a favor. I was at a loss for what to do and I wanted this taken care of. I could have found him on my own, but not nearly as fast as my dad could with all of his connections in the criminal world. I didn’t want to call him, and knew that it come back to bite me in the ass. I’d lie, cheat, steal, or kill for Cheyenne. Calling my dad was a bit like shooting myself in the foot, but I thought that he would be able to help. Apparently I was right. He was able to shake Malcolm out of the woodwork in less than two weeks, where I had been trying for two months.
“Yes I did.” I said to him. “Apparently he has found something, or you wouldn’t be calling me, would you?”
While saying this, I slid my phone open and typed out a coded message to the boys, and said who was on the phone.
Max came into the office moments later and started pressing buttons on the computer that was set up on the desks. The computer system we were working with was state of the art, thanks to Jack. Max knew his way around computers, not as well as Jack, but he could handle this situation. He pressed a few more buttons and something popped up onto the screen that looked like a map of the world and a red dot kept pinging. Slowly it broke down in size from the world, to the North and South American continents, and then again to a map of the United States. Then finally it beeped again and a map of Texas bleeped onto the screen with thousands and thousands of tiny roads, county lines, and rivers dissected it.
While it was doing this, Malcolm stayed silent.
“Okay, that is all the time I’m going to give you. See ya!” he said, and then he was gone.
“Dammit.” I said to Max. “He was doing that on purpose. Waited until he knew we knew he was in Texas before he hung up. Motherfucker.”
Max nodded but didn’t say anything for a while, continuing to press buttons. I was watching him work but not seeing what he was doing. I was thinking back to when I had called the one man that I promised myself I would never talk to again.
The phone was ringing and a raspy smoker’s voice answered gruffly, “Yeah?”
“It’s Sam.” I said into the phone.
“Well, well, well.” He snickered and said. “If it isn’t the golden boy who can do no wrong.”
“I need someone found. Name is Malcolm Kincaid. Your connections seem to work faster than mine will, so I need your help.” I gritted out through clenched teeth. My dad had so many connections and favors owed him that he could get things done about three times faster than I could. Oh, I would be able to find them, but we were only able to go through official channels at the moment since we were trying to do this clean where it didn’t start a shit storm firing back against us. I had people that depended on me for their safety. My father however could do it in a way where he only had to watch out for himself. I’d also much rather risk my father than my men who put their lives on the line for me.
“It’ll cost you.” He said to me.
“What do you want?” I asked wearily. I knew this was going to happen. I prepared for it. I would do almost anything to protect my woman or my men. I knew he wouldn’t make me do anything illegal though. He may be a major dick, but he watched over his family. Only he was allowed to beat them, or kill them. He made sure that
“I want to know where your mother is.” He said to me.
“No.” I said firmly. “I’ll do a lot of stuff, but it won’t be ille
gal, and I won’t give you her.”
“It was worth a try.” He said back to me.” I’ll get back to you on the favor. I’ll ask around about this Malcolm. I’ll also put Mack on it and let you know. This number where you work?”
“Yeah. Appreciate it.” I said to him.
“Oh, this won’t be pleasant. You can count on that one. I’m going to make it something that will absolutely kill you to do.” He said and then hung up.
My stomach dropped when he said that. The bad part was that he would make it unbearable. He would probably think about it and rethink it until he came up with something that he knew I would loathe. It was bad enough that he now knew where I lived and place of work. He could find me and visit anytime he felt like it.
He had called only two times throughout the two weeks that it had been since I had called him. Once to tell me he put a few feelers out but hadn’t heard anything. The second was to tell me that he had a trail that he was following that might be hot, and that he would call me back as soon as he heard anything.
Both of these calls went to voicemail on the work line because he called at three in the morning. My father obviously still kept long hours. There wasn’t a time when I was younger that he wasn’t home by dawn. He would leave after dinner, and come home about the time it was time for me to get to school.
I flipped my phone back up under my ear, and called the number for my dad.
“’Lo?” he answered.
“Whatever line you were following, reel it in. He just called and told me he was surprised that I had called you in.” I said to him. “Be careful how you proceed. He is not some lowlife that you are used to dealing with. He has skills and training that you wouldn’t believe. Learned anything new?”
“Name he goes by now is Justin. Followed his info and found that he had plastic surgery, and just showed up this new person and goes by Justin. He was heading south from Washington. That’s all I know.”
Boomtown Page 17
