by Jenny Penn
* * * *
“What the hell happened to you?” Patton stumbled to a halt, her mouth gaping open as she took in the sight of Angie waiting on the bench tucked beside the entrance to the Bread Box.
Angie had been waiting there for over ten minutes, feeling more than a little self-conscious, thanks to the looks she was getting. Patton’s bug-eyed look of horror didn’t help.
Reaching up to finger her hair, Angie knew she must look worse than a mess, but still, she sought some kind of reassurance.
“Do I look that bad?”
“Yeah.” Never one to coddle anybody, Patton offered her a sad smile and a quick nod. “I’m sorry, honey, but…did you drop your brush in the toilet or something?”
“Or something.” Angie felt her eyes flood inexplicably with tears as her voice broke over those two words. She didn’t understand what was happening to her, but Patton seemed to.
“Oh, honey, noooo!” Patton rushed over to settle down on the seat and swooped Angie up in a big hug. “It’s going to be okay. You just tell me what is wrong, and I’ll take care of it.”
That was Patton. Commanding, dominating, and, in her own twisted way, a big softie. She was a good friend. For some idiotic reason, that thought had Angie bursting into full-on sobs. Patton tucked Angie’s head against her bosom and rocked her as if she were some kind of baby.
Distantly, Angie knew they were probably making a spectacle of themselves, but she didn’t care. Neither did she worry what anybody would think of the sight of her cuddled up against Patton. Maybe elsewhere in the world, it would have been weird, but in the south, people were huggers. Huggers and patters.
“There, there.” Patton patted her on the back and rocked Angie as if she really were a child.
It didn’t help. The crying did. While Angie felt no less rational when the tears finally dried up, she was, at least, a little more sedate. Pulling back with a sniff, she rubbed at her eyes, certain that she looked even worse now.
“Look at me.” Angie snorted and shook her head pathetically. “Look what they’ve done to me.”
Because she was certain this was Brett and Mike’s fault. Patton seemed to instinctively understand that as well. She leaned back to do just as Angie had ordered and studied her with a critical eye. It wasn’t shocking that she saw the truth almost instantly.
“Oh my God!” Patton breathed out like a prayer. “You…Mike, Brett…isn’t this supposed to be congratulations?”
It was, but for some reason, it also wasn’t. Angie didn’t have an answer for that bit of confusion. She didn’t need one. Patton seemed to understand perfectly, or, at least, she thought she did.
“Oh my God!” She gasped once again as her eyes rounded with another wave of shock. “They aren’t any good, are they? I would never have thought…I mean, given their reputation—”
“Patton!” Angie snapped before the other woman could upset her further by following that thought to a comment about all the women they had been with. “They’re good.”
“Then you—”
“Yes!” Angie could feel the flames consuming her face, which made absolutely no sense. She’d never been shy about sex, but then she’d never had the real thing before. “Many times.”
“Hmm.” Patton seemed to consider that as she continued to keep her narrowed gaze focused on Angie. “Then why exactly are you sitting here dressed like some hobo with no shoes on, no purse in sight, your hair sticking damn near straight up, and crying your eyes out? Because that’s how good they are?”
Angie shot Patton a dirty look for that and reached up to try to pat her hair down. It was pointless. Without a blow dryer or any of her products, her hair was doomed to be larger than the rest of her head. A brush, though, would have helped with the knots. Angie eyed Patton’s purse, betting she had more than simply a brush in there.
“Oh,” Patton sighed, drawing Angie’s attention back toward her. “I get it. You feel used, don’t you? You thought it would feel special, and it wasn’t, was it?”
Those words cut right through Angie, making her freeze from the inside out with a bitter recognition. That was exactly it.
Chapter 16
“I don’t want to talk about this.” Angie hopped off the bench in a sudden rush to avoid that conversation. She couldn’t have it. Not until she had some amount of time to consider the matter herself. “I’m hungry, and, obviously, you’re buying breakfast.”
“Here.” Patton passed her purse over to Angie. “Run on into the bathroom and try to clean yourself up a little. I’ll get a table.”
“Fine, but if the waitress stops by, order my usual.”
“Usual?”
“Coffee and raisin-bourbon pancakes with caramelized maple syrup sauce.”
“Not a problem, but don’t let Heather see you’re not wearing shoes,” Patton warned.
Angie frowned down at her feet and found her first real smile of the day. “Yeah, you want to go get pedicures after this?”
“Sure.” Patton smiled. “We can get them done at the club.”
“Um, you’re not allowed at the club…are you?”
The answer was no. Angie could see it in Patton’s gaze, but the other woman’s smile just grew bigger as she opened the bakery’s door. Angie hesitated before rushing in and past the curious glances. That conversation was not over, but first, she really did need to do something about her hair.
Thankfully, Patton had more than just a brush in her purse. She had a rubber band and some powder and even a tube of mascara. By the time Angie was done, she was, at least, presentable, if not actually bordering on cute, in a hippy sort of way. More amazing than her transformation was the fact that Patton had managed to snag a booth.
“Okay, I called this meeting because we are at DEFCON 5, and we’re all out of stages!” Patton declared almost the instant Angie’s ass hit the seat.
“Uh…Patton—”
“The flash drive was a fake!”
“I know.”
“What? Why didn’t you tell me?”
Angie heaved a heavy sigh and shrugged. “It wasn’t like I knew when I talked to you yesterday, and shouldn’t we happy about this? Like, maybe, only at DEFCON 3 or 2?”
“Three or two?” Patton gaped at her. “We’ve been duped, played for fools, we got—”
“Lucky,” Angie cut in with a pointed look that had Patton sulking back into the booth.
“Fine then.” Patton stuck her chin into the air and settled back against the wall of the booth. “I guess all we have to talk about is your, Brett’s, and Mike’s evolving relationship.”
“So, we’re at DEFCON 5, huh?”
“And sinking fast.” Patton nodded as she leaned forward again. “I had to sell out my share of the club…and agree to let Lana work there.”
“I know.”
“Of course you do.” Patton hesitated, lifting a brow in Angie’s direction. “Aren’t you going to thank me or marvel at my generosity in letting her return to work for, at least, a little while?”
“No.” Angie snorted, finding a laugh buried in that idea. “You weren’t being generous.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I know you. This move benefits you in some way.” Angie paused to study Patton for a second before admitting, “I just haven’t figured out what way, yet.”
“I want male strippers.”
“What?”
“And I’m not talking about those cheesy, wiggle-around kind. I’m talking about hunks who know how to move it!”
“Patton—”
“I know a few back in Atlanta that…oh my God, did they test my vow to be faithful to—”
“Patton!” Angie cut in, feeling her frustration level rise as she tried to rein in her friend’s more extreme ideas. Unfortunately, all of Patton’s ideas were extreme. “I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about, but if you think you’re bringing male strippers into the Cattleman’s Club, think again.”
“I’m no
t talking about their club,” Patton shot back. “I’m talking about my club.”
“Your club?” Angie repeated, hating to point out the obvious because she already knew Patton had a comeback, and she feared what it was. “You don’t have a club.”
“I’m going to start one.”
That was exactly what Angie had known she was going to say. “Patton—”
“Oh, come on!” Patton cut her off with a frown. “We’re over forty years past the sexual revolution. Women should be allowed to get their groove on.”
“And where are you going to find these women?” Angie demanded to know, already certain she knew the answer. Based on the smirk Patton shot her, she wasn’t wrong.
“Well, I do have a list of female clients who already enjoy, shall we say, an active lifestyle. I also happen to have a good friend who knows how to recruit even more women.”
“Okay, fine.” Angie knew when not to argue a point. “Let’s just say you got women…where are you going to put them? A club will require a massive amount of capital investment.”
Patton just smiled, and Angie knew that look. It sent a cold chill down her spine, but before she could give voice to her fears, Heather came shuffling down the line of tables with a fresh pot of coffee, refilling mugs as she went. She paused by their table, but before she could get a word out, Patton was already speaking up.
“Tell Angie you’d go to a club where the women ruled and the men walked around on leashes, wouldn’t you, Heather?”
Heather stilled for a moment, glancing between the two of them before reaching over to refill their mugs. “Your orders will be up in just a moment.”
“That’s not a no!” Patton hollered after her as Heather moved on. Turning back to confront Angie’s pointed look, Patton still refused to give up the argument. “Like Heather is our target member. She’s a prude.”
“You asked her,” Angie reminded Patton, as if that were needed. “And she can’t be that big of a prude. She’s all but engaged to the damn sheriff and his best friend.”
“Yeah, well…Alex was never much to look at,” she muttered resentfully.
“Patton.”
“Konor, on the other hand…”
Patton tipped her head and watched the big fireman strut up with two plates. She was all but licking her lips, and Angie didn’t think she was checking out the food. She shot Konor a smile as he came to a pause by their table.
“I got a raisin-bourbon pancakes with caramelized maple syrup sauce,” he announced, lifting a brow along with a delicious smelling plate.
“Right here.” Angie had expended enough energy last night that she deserved a good lunch.
Of course she always came up with a good excuse to eat well in the first meal of the day. Breakfast was her meal, and, apparently, a tight ass was Patton’s weakness. She didn’t even make any bones of checking out Konor’s ass as he set Angie’s plate before her.
“There is some toasted walnut butter on the side,” he informed her before turning back to Patton, who glanced up quickly at him as if she hadn’t been guilty of anything. “And you must be the three-egg omelet with bacon, cheese, and chives.”
“Mmm-hmm.” Patton nodded, studying Konor’s well-cut features for a second before horrifying Angie with a question Patton should have known better than to ask. “Say, Konor, you don’t happen to know how to dance, do you?”
“Patton!”
“What!” Patton obnoxiously shot back with the same outraged shock, earning her a dirty look from Angie and a smirk from Konor, who didn’t bother to answer her question before turning to walk away. He did pause, though, to shake his ass at them, causing Patton to laugh as Angie heaved a sigh.
The man had no idea of the danger in encouraging Patton’s outlandish ways. Nobody did. Not even the people who knew her well enough to love or hate her. There was one person who Angie was pretty certain did hate Patton, which made it all the more deranged that Patton actually had the audacity to bring Lana up as a possible business partner.
Apparently, Patton had it all figured out. She’d sold her share back to the brothers with three conditions. They cut off a part of the club’s lands and titled over to her. They gave her a whole lot of money to spend how she wanted, and they replaced Lana within the next two months.
That was when Lana would be taking her punitive trip across the country with Cole Jackson’s bone-headed cousins in an RV, no less. Despite the fact that had to be the cruelest of all things Patton could have dreamed up, she still seemed absolutely certain that Lana would buy in and partner up with her in her new adventure.
“Do you even hear yourself?” Angie finally had to ask. “Lana hates you.”
“So?” Patton shrugged. “I hate her, too.”
“Then why the hell would you want to partner up with her?” It made no sense except, maybe, to Patton.
“Because she knows how to run a club,” Patton shot back, as if that weren’t obvious.
“No, you’re not getting the point.” And she was driving Angie insane in the process. “Why would she want to work with you?”
“Money.”
That actually made some sense. Sort of. That is if Angie refused to consider the obvious, which Patton clearly was. It almost pained her to point it out, but somebody had to.
“You do realize that’s not why Lana worked at the club?”
That blunt question got little more than a shrug from Patton. “Yeah, I know, but if everything goes to plan, Lana won’t be lusting after Chase for long.”
Angie stilled at that comment. Lana had been lusting after Chase for almost all of her life. Why Patton thought she’d soon be distracted made little to no sense to her. She almost didn’t want to ask but had to know the reason for Patton’s certainty.
“And why is that?”
Patton just smiled and dug into her omelet, going silent for the first time that morning. She didn’t have much else to say after that either, leaving Angie to worry over just what kind of plans Patton was making. She was worried because Patton had a history of getting things her way, which Angie guessed wouldn’t be so bad this time.
The idea of buff, dancing, half-naked men wasn’t all that bad.
What was bad was Patton suggesting they head out to the club to get those pedicures. Angie agreed, though mostly because she wasn’t paying attention. That changed somewhere around the time that Patton was explaining her idea for luring away all the women from the Cattlemen and forcing them to negotiate with her club to get pussy.
In short, she wanted to be the madam of Pittsview, if not the whole of lower Alabama. Actually, Patton wanted Lana and her to hold that title. That was just the weirdest of all of Patton’s ideas.
Angie couldn’t wait to see her pitch it to Lana.
* * * *
Brett glanced around at the obstacle course and had to admit he was impressed. Nick Dickles had really built something spectacular here out at his camp. That wasn’t shocking. Nick had always succeeded at everything he did, right or wrong. What did amaze Brett was that the horny bastard was all ready to settle down.
Of course, true to his nature, Nick had found himself a character and a half in Kitty Anne. She wasn’t only hot. She was also currently showing Mike up as she raced through the course. Nick and GD’s woman was clearly impressive. Definitely the kind of woman Brett would have picked out for himself if his heart hadn’t already settled on one.
Angie.
He’d been trying to call her all day, but she’d left her cell at home and was never around when he called out to the club. By the fourth time, Brett got the message. Even if she was around, Angie wasn’t speaking to him. He just didn’t know why, and he was starting not to care why.
The woman couldn’t do this. She’d pursued them. She was the one demanding that they marry her. The one saying she was in love with them and calling them her destiny. Now that he and Mike had finally given in, she ran cold?
That wasn’t right. That wasn’t fair. Brett wasn�
��t going to let Angie get away with it either. They were getting married and living happily ever after. That was the deal.
“You okay, man?”
GD broke into Brett’s brooding thoughts, reminding him that he was doing it again, loosing focus. Angie really had his head twisted around. Brett tried to shake it loose as he cocked a smile in GD’s direction.
“I don’t have a clue,” Brett admitted honestly.
“Then you must have woman troubles.” GD paused, his own smile taking on a wicked curve. “Angie troubles.”
“Yeah.”
“Can I give you a piece of advice?” GD asked and then promptly went ahead and did just that before Brett could respond. “Just give in. It’s not worth the fight.”
Brett didn’t respond to that. He didn’t have to. Something in his face had GD’s gaze narrowing before his eyes widened, a chuckle falling from his lips.
“Holy shit! Ha! You gave in. You didn’t even last a week.”
For some reason, that just tickled GD. He didn’t keep the mystery to himself but gloated with an ego that was apparently growing richer by the second.
“You just made me five thousand buckles. Man oh man.”
Brett didn’t say anything. He just stood there staring at GD as he laughed and shook his head. It took the big man a moment, but eventually he realized Brett wasn’t cheering him on. Brett wasn’t even smiling anymore.
“Uh-oh.” GD heaved a deep sigh as he calmed down. “You did her, and you don’t want to marry her.”
“You got that reversed,” Brett muttered, causing GD’s jaw to go slack as the merriment twinkling in his eyes shined even brighter.
“You’re kidding me!”
“I don’t know. I don’t want to talk about it.” All talking about it was doing was giving him a headache. So, he turned his attention back to the obstacle course and dismissed GD’s continued stare. “This thing is impressive. The kids really built it?”
“Yeah, well…they had some help,” GD slowly admitted, clearly reluctant to follow the change in conversation but knowing he couldn’t force Brett to talk. “The guys in town really pitched in. A lot of them are mentors, including Cole—”
