by Bijou Hunter
“Well, you are now.”
“It’s not the same.”
“We both have men who fucked up before we gave them second chances and now we’re in love.”
“On paper, it’s the same, but Camden only started a stupid rumor about you. And the other people stupid enough to believe the stupid rumor were stupid people. Even when he siphoned your gas tank, he gave you a twenty to make up for it. Bonn cheated on me with a skank while I was nine months pregnant with our baby. So, yeah, not the same.”
Daisy cocks an eyebrow. “Camden hurt me, and Bonn hurt you. It’s not a contest.”
“If it was, I’d win.”
“Probably, but I can’t be sure. Let’s ask Harmony.”
“Such a middle child,” I tease.
Daisy flips her dark hair over her shoulder and gives me a dismissive eye roll. “You’re competitive like all first born loser. Talk about annoying.”
I imitate her pouty sad look and whine, “You think I’m annoying?”
“Love has made you rude. I blame Bonn.”
“That’s not the love, but you can still blame him. Great sex turns me into an obnoxious jerk.”
“So very obnoxious.”
“Are we okay?” I ask, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.
“No. You’re hiding things from me.”
“Is that what’s really bothering you or are you just pissed that I’m not hiding things from Harmony?”
“Well, there’s that.”
“She isn’t connected to everything, and she’s also around me more. If I hide something, she wears me down until I spill.”
“I guess I could move back into my trailer. Has it been rented yet?”
Grinning, I hug her tighter. “Yes, and I don’t think the new cat lady would appreciate the old one pushing her out.”
Daisy gives me a dark glare about the cat lady thing, but I only watch Elle swing higher. My baby is fearless when she wants to be.
“Where are you and Bonn going to live now that you’re back together?”
“I don’t know.”
“Really, or are you hiding the truth from me again?”
“Bonn is talking about finding a house for the three of us, but I’m not sure I’m ready for that step.”
“Why not?”
Removing my arm from around her shoulders, I shrug. “We just got back together. Shouldn’t we date and get to know each other a bit more before we move?”
“What’s there to know? You haven’t changed much since you were eighteen, and he’s a man, and they don’t change much at all.”
“Stop rushing me to be a couple, just so you’ll have a couple to hang out with.”
“I’m not doing any such thing,” Daisy lies.
“Uh-huh. Admit it. Being a couple makes it harder for you to hang out with Harmony and me. If you hook us up, we’ll have more in common.”
“No. That’s not it, so shut up.”
Daisy pretends to be angry at my accusations, but she’s mostly pissed I caught onto her plan.
“I love Bonn, but I’m not ready to jump into house hunting and merging his crap with mine.”
“You do love him, don’t you?” she says, hugging me against her hard and refusing to let go. “I wanted you guys to get back together, but I never thought you would and now you have and it’s the best thing ever. Well, me being with Camden is the best, but you and Bonn are a close second.”
Kissing her forehead, I smile at her enthusiasm. “It is pretty exciting now that I’ve gotten over the shock of him showing up out of the blue. And Elle is happier than I’ve ever seen her. Every morning when she wakes up and finds him at the trailer, she smiles like it’s Christmas.”
“You’re going to make me cry.”
“Oh, hell, you’re not pregnant already, are you?”
“No. I mean, I hope not. Camden and I drink like fish during the weekends, and I kind of enjoy being a lush right now. Adding a baby to our hedonistic ways already would be a downer.”
I recall when I learned I was pregnant at eighteen. I’d been careful while taking an antibiotic while on the pill. We used condoms every single time or so I swore to myself. How could I be pregnant when I’d done everything right? Except I probably did miss a condom once or twice, maybe more. I’d been young and stupid and Bonn was working in construction and often came over to my place sweaty and, okay, I hadn’t been so careful after all.
A baby wasn’t convenient for my plans with Bonn. I imagined being my current age before we’d have our first kid. If I had gone to the clinic, things would have been easier and Bonn wouldn’t have cheated. Probably anyway. Or maybe he would have cheated when we were twenty-six rather than back then.
But we never considered the clinic. I freaked out for two days about how my birth control let me down as if it were a self-aware entity out to cause havoc. As soon as I got a grip, I started thinking baby names and if our baby would have straight hair like me and Bonn or take after my father’s Afro-Caribbean roots?
I’d taken to the idea of being a mom quickly, and I know Daisy will too when the time comes. Our lives always revolved around family, and I can’t imagine that ever changing.
Forty Nine - Bonn
The Common Bend Sheriff’s Office is a decadent building with stone walkways and water fountains out front. I imagine the cops skimmed plenty of money from what the dealers and whores handed over for the Reapers.
Five years ago, this town reveled in a golden age of easy cash and no overlord interference. The former strongman sheriff did his job, and the Reapers never sent people to micromanage. Those days are long past, which is why I arrive unannounced at the office with the intention of making clear the new pecking order.
The receptionist gives me the once-over, finding me attractive enough for a smile she didn’t give to the man she just helped.
“I’m here to see Sheriff Tiller.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, sug, but he’s in a meeting.”
“That’s okay. I want you to get up and tell him I’m here and he’ll make time for me.”
Her eyes widen before flashing back and forth to see if I’m joking. “I can’t interrupt his meeting.”
“I’m sure you think you can’t interrupt, but I can promise you that you can. I should also mention if you don’t interrupt, you’ll need to find a new job. I don’t know about you, but I hate job hunting.”
“Um…who are you?”
“Bonn Fletcher. Now go tell the sheriff I’m here. Be sure to mention how I’m already complaining about the wait.”
The receptionist glances around, still waiting for someone to jump out and tell her it’s a joke. When I tap my watch, she cautiously stands before taking slow, uncertain steps toward the back offices.
I wait at the counter, focused on where the receptionist disappeared. A feeling as if I’m being watched finally forces me to turn around where I find a blushing blonde.
“I remember you,” she whispers. “You danced at my friend’s birthday party.”
“Sorry, but I don’t remember you and there will be no repeat performance. I quit my dancing job, so I could stalk blonde women and burn down their houses.”
“What?”
“What part confused you?” I ask, enjoying her shocked expression.
“You burn down houses?”
“No, probably not, but maybe. I mean, I haven’t seen what happens when people piss me off by running their mouths. Now that you’re testing my patience, we’ll see if a fire ensues.”
“I don’t understand.”
Leaning forward, I speak slowly, “I’m saying you need to go away and never talk to me again. Do you understand that?”
The blonde swallows hard. “You’re an ass.”
“Wait, are you challenging me? I’m new at this bad guy thing, so I want to make sure you’re really a threat before I go and do something I can’t undo. So, when you called me an ass, were you challenging me?”
The blonde looks over a
t the uniformed officers at their desks. Maybe they’ll save her, she thinks. Before she can find out, Sheriff Tiller appears from the back offices.
“Mr. Fletcher,” he says, holding out a hand long before reaching me.
After flashing a smile at the blonde, I shake the sheriff’s hand and follow him to his office where he shuts the door. I give the woman one last look before sitting down. I hope she runs to her friends and tells them how the stripper is a psycho. That way, none of them talk to me in the future. The last thing I need is them interfering with my new job or bothering me when I’m out with Ruby and Chevelle.
“How can I help you?” Tiller asks.
“You likely heard you have a new boss, and I’m his representative in Common Bend. Meaning if you have issues, you call me,” I say, handing him a brand-new business card. “Mr. Hayes won’t hold anyone’s hand in Common Bend. He doesn’t want to know about issues. If problems get so big that he hears about them, we’ll both be in a world of pain.”
“I don’t want to seem ungrateful, but what does Mr. Hayes expect from my department?”
“You arrest who he wants arrested and look the other way when he wants you to. If he wants your men to have a presence somewhere, I’ll let you know. Otherwise, you run the department the way any sheriff would. Protect and serve.”
Tiller nods, but he’s nervous. I see the sweat on his wrinkled brow and at the back of his neck. He is an average man in a seemingly average town now run by a not very average asshole named Hayes.
“In the past, you worked for an out-of-town boss,” I continue. “The Reapers didn’t care about Common Bend except for the profits it brought them. Mr. Hayes wants this town to be quiet and well-behaved. I’m sure you want the same thing for the people living here.”
“That I do.”
“Then we shouldn’t have any issues. You do your job, and I’ll do mine. If you need assistance, I have a local office. If I need your assistance, you’ll do as you’re told. Everyone is happy. No one needs to die.”
Tiller looks as serene as a babe until my last sentence. I figured he needed reminding that Hayes didn’t get to be top dog in White Horse without spilling plenty of blood on his way up.
Sure, I’d like to avoid bloodshed on my way to controlling this town. However, having made a deal with the devil, so to speak, I’ll do anything to create a good life for my family.
Fifty - Ruby
Bonn struts like a big shit when we meet a realtor named Sherry at a house in Common Bend. Shuffling along rather than strutting, I’m not thrilled with how quickly everything is moving. One day, I hate Bonn. The next day, we’re looking for a place to live as a family. When the hell did everything get thrown into fast forward in my life? Oh, yeah, the day Bonn showed up at the trailer and bullied me into agreeing to a movie night.
“This house is in a great school district,” Sherry announces while unlocking the front door. “And the yard is fenced like you asked.”
The realtor barely acknowledges me. She’s all about pleasing her hunky client. I follow them inside the house where she talks about the refinished floors and high living room ceiling. Despite the house’s appeal, I’m blind to the details. All I know is things are moving too fast, and I can’t move to Common Bend.
“Can you leave us alone for a few minutes?” I ask the realtor, interrupting the rental’s upgrades.
The woman doesn’t immediately agree. First, she looks to Bonn to see if he’ll ignore my request. When he gestures for her to go, she finally relents. I watch her hurry out and realize I’ll need to get used to women fawning all over him.
I wait until the door shuts before I speak. Even with a moment to prepare, I’m startled by the emotion in my voice.
“This isn’t happening. The moving and the changes, they’re not happening. I don’t care what that means, but it’s what I want and it’s what will happen.”
My words don’t make a hell of a lot of sense, but I’m overwhelmed and struggling to keep my shit together. The last thing I want is to break down crying with the realtor outside.
“If you don’t like this house, we can find another,” Bonn says, caressing my cheek. “That’s the point of looking at them.”
“I know the point and you know that’s not what I’m talking about.”
“You’re assuming a lot if you think I know why you’re upset. I really don’t.”
“You and I just went away for the weekend. We just slept together for the first time in eight years. We don’t know what’ll happen next and you’re already moving us into a house in a town where I don’t know anyone.”
“This house is less than ten minutes from Lush Gardens. It’s not like we’re moving to Nashville.”
“I don’t care. I’m not ready for this. Maybe you’ve spent years planning for us to get together, but I never thought we would. So, you showed up and pushed your way into a family movie and then a dinner and then a kiss and then the laundry and suddenly we’re going away for a weekend to act as a cover for you. It’s all happened so fast and now you want me to move and I’m not ready.”
Bonn’s face is a blank canvas, and I admire his ability to hide from me. He’s tougher than I thought. That’s good for his job, but right now, when I’m ready to burst into tears, I’d prefer he show me something.
“Tell me what you want,” he asks, leaving the door open for me to say anything.
“I’m not sure. I spent every day hating you because if I didn’t hate you then I’d crawl back to you. I never thought I’d forgive you, but I knew I would if we spent too much time together. I was right, of course. So, I have forgiven you, but I still don’t feel it completely. I wake up wondering how I went from resenting you to sharing a bed. It’s all too much.”
“I still don’t know what you want.”
“I want to take things slower.”
“Slower how? Do you not want me to stay with you?” he asks, frowning as if I’ve lost my mind.
“Of course not. I want us to be together, but I can’t make this big move to Common Bend.”
“Where can we live, though?”
“Why can’t we stay in Hickory Creek?”
“Because I work for Hayes, and my job is in this town.”
“So? People commute. If there’s an emergency, you’re minutes away. Why can’t you still live in our hometown where I feel comfortable?”
“It’s just not done.”
“Who makes those rules?” I ask, and a pouty Bonn shrugs. “Well, fuck them. We should make the rules in our life. Do you think if Hayes wanted to move next door to White Horse that he couldn’t? Or if Camden decided to buy a house in Common Bend that someone would interfere? No, they’d do what they want because they take what they want. That’s supposed to be you too. Isn’t that what you did with me? Well, do that with our home.”
“Is this because you’re afraid to leave Lush Gardens?”
“Yes and no. It’s my home and I’m still freaking out about Daisy no longer living across the walkway. I feel like she’s a million miles away. The trailer park is my security blanket.”
“And that’s where you want to live?”
“If you’d agree. I mean, I want to live with you, and there’s no reason to waste money on two rents.”
Bonn grudgingly agrees. “We can’t stay there forever.”
“I know.”
“This is what you need, right? It’s not me that’s the problem, but the location. I need you to be square with me.”
Staring into his eyes, I say the words, “I don’t trust you. I want to and I know I should trust you, but I still don’t. For so long, it’s been drummed into my head that you’re the enemy, and I still forget like the day by the pond. I’m trying, but I need time.”
“I’m not blind, you know? I see how I’ve pushed things fast. I think I’m worried if I slow down that I’ll lose everything. You and this job. Yeah, that’s coming off like a pushy asshole, but I’ll never get another chance at things.”
“With me forever, through thick and thin, right?”
“Through morning breath and bad jokes and blowout arguments over which Taylor was better in Duran Duran. I’m yours in every way, and we’ll both have to get used to that fact.”
A grinning Bonn is dying to defend his preferred Taylor, but he keeps his mouth shut by kissing me. Wrapping me in his arms, he looks around the house.
“It’s a nice place.”
“Yes, it is.”
“I want to give you a home like this one day.”
“You will, but we don’t need to rush. Let yourself focus on your new job. We also need to get used to being a threesome. Elle says she loves having us together, but she’s only known going back and forth all these years. We’ll see how she feels when she gets no break from me,” I say and then mutter, “Or you. Wanna bet she gets sick of me first?”
“Don’t be so sure. She got homesick a lot. When she woke up from a bad dream, she asked for you.”
“Really?”
“Yes. I’d show her pictures of you until she relaxed.”
Tearing up, I smile. “You can’t know how much that means for me to hear.”
“I’m sorry I overwhelmed you.”
“I’m sorry I’m having trouble dreaming as big as you.”
“How about I work on slowing down while you work on dreaming bigger?”
Even nodding in agreement, I don’t feel ready to think any bigger than Bonn, Elle, and me together at Lush Gardens. Between working on the restaurant and Bonn’s plans with Hayes, I’m overwhelmed and only want to hide in my little trailer where time seems to stand still.
