by Brook Wilder
The ride rolled to a jerky start and his stomach lurched. All the reasons he hated this stupid plan tumbled through his head. But as the cart wheeled forward and up and around the bends, the wind blowing past him and catching Lori’s hair, turning it to a sweet-smelling cloud around them, some of his anger started to melt away.
By the middle of the ride he had to fight a grin, when he glanced sideways and saw the exhilarated glow in Lori’s wide-eyed gaze. By the time the ride jolted to a stop, they were both breathless and laughing and, for one brief, perfect moment, they forgot themselves enough to share the moment together.
Tex and Lori’s eyes met, shining with excitement and the thrill of the ride. The sound of their laughter mixed together in the night.
“I always loved roller coasters,” Lori said suddenly, and Tex just shrugged as they rose to their feet.
“I’ve never been on one before. Not before this anyway.”
Lori shot him a shocked look before grinning at him.
“You did pretty good for your first time.”
Tex grinned at the innuendo in her words and, as they walked down the ramp towards the exit, he was a surprised to find that he liked this, the easy banter between them, the heat that flared between them at a low simmer. It was almost… nice. He was intrigued by this side of her, the teasing and sultry side.
They reached Porky and Carrie a moment later.
“Kyle’s here. He’s over by the food tent,” Porky announced.
And like a bubble being burst by a pin, the moment between Tex and Lori faded.
It was back to business. He would see this through, and they could each go on their own separate ways, just like it should be.
Chapter 10
Lori lagged behind as the rest of the group followed Porky over towards the large tent that was lined with vendors and packed with wooden picnic tables. Standing several inches above everyone else, he had no problem seeing over the crowd of people and, after a moment of scanning, he pointed at a table towards the far-side wall.
Nerves ate at her and made her legs feel shaky, but she forced them to move forward, not wanting to get separated from the others in the crowd. Lori tried to banish the fear, telling herself that she had no choice, that they were all doing this to help her, and that the least she could do was not embarrass herself completely.
But nothing seemed to make the nausea go away. She just drew in a deep breath and kept her legs moving. That’s all she could do. It was too late to turn back now. Besides, she’d hate to see the smug look on Tex’s face if she called it off. It would be unbearable.
It was that thought that gave her the strength to take the lead as they found the right table. A guy in his thirties was eating a giant piece of greasy pizza as they approached. He continued chewing loudly as they came to a stop.
“Hey, Cuz,” he said with a nod of familiarity to Porky.
Lori tilted her head to one side as she studied him. He was skinny and tall, though not quite as tall as Porky, and he had acne scars marking his red cheeks. His hair was brown and cut short, and his eyes were a little too far apart. But, altogether, he was rather unremarkable.
Lori let out a huff of relief. She didn’t know what she’d been expecting. Maybe big, muscular bikers, rough men with rough pasts, who didn’t mind hurting other to get what they wanted. She certainly hadn’t expected this. He looked like he played video games all day and may or may not still live in his parent’s basement. He even blushed an even bright red as his gaze travelled around the group, finally landing on Lori.
“Uh, hi there.”
He reached out a greasy hand in her direction, but she just nodded, sending him a small smile instead.
“Hey there. Kyle, right?” Lori asked kindly and he hurried to nod.
“Yeah. Yep, Kyle. That’s, uh, that’s me.”
“I’m Lori. It’s nice to meet you. Do you mind?”
She pointed to the seat next to him and he tripped over himself to let her know that he didn’t mind at all.
Eventually, they all took seats around the table, trying to look as inconspicuous as possible. They chatted for a few minutes, but Kyle directed most of his talking towards Lori than the others, including his cousin. He tried to make a few jokes, but mostly he was just awkward. Even still, Lori nodded along, not saying much, just waiting for the opportunity to bring up the reason they were all there in the first place.
Finally, she saw her opening.
“It’s really nice to meet you, Lori. Are you from around here?” Kyle asked, leaning forward a little too intently.
Lori brushed it off.
“Actually, Kyle, speaking of meeting… Maybe we should talk about why we’re meeting here?”
He shrugged, glancing around him at the others. Tex stared at him, hard and impatient. Porky and Carrie were busy whispering in each other’s ears.
“Why don’t we go around to the back,” Kyle said, glancing nervously at Lori. “I know a place that’s real private. No one will see us. Just, uh, just you and me.”
But Tex was already reaching for the small blue back pack at his feet. He tossed it across the table to the other man with more force than was probably necessary.
“It’s all there.” Tex drawled, sounding bored as he sat back again.
Kyle ignored him, looking at Lori instead.
“I trust you,” the man said fervently
Lori just nodded, not quite knowing how to respond.
Suddenly he was standing and leaning towards her to give her a hug, at the same time slipping a wad of cash into her pocket.
Lori tensed, sure that he held on to her longer than he needed to, and finally she pulled away, putting plenty of space between them as she jumped to her own feet and shuffled back a few steps.
By the weight of the cash pressed inside her pocket and the flash of hundred-dollar bills that she’d seen, she could tell that it was a good amount of money. A hell of a lot more than she’d make working a week at the Reaper Club. Hell, more than a month!
Suddenly ecstatic and full of confidence, Lori shot Kyle a good-natured smile and he immediately stepped towards her again.
“You know, my friends would love to meet you too. Maybe I can have your number? I’ll call you and give you the details.”
The idea of making more easy cash outweighed any weird feelings she got from the other guy, and she hastily agreed. Kyle pulled out his cell and Lori quickly gave him her phone number before putting his in her own phone.
“Just in case you want to call me,” he said by way of explanation.
She didn’t think she’d be calling him for any other reason than selling, but she didn’t say so. Lori just sent him a wave as he got up and left, before turning excitedly back to the others.
Before she could take a step thought, Tex was standing right in front of her. He grabbed the cell phone she still held in her hand.
“What the hell are you doing, cowboy?” Lori demanded, a hint of the earlier anger rising back to the surface. The man was insufferable.
Tex just rolled his eyes up at her, brushing off her anger as if he didn’t even feel it.
“I’m giving you my number too.”
“And why do you think I’d want your number.”
“Sure as hell not to call and chit-chat,” Tex snorted
He nodded in the direction in which Kyle had just disappeared and his expression grew serious.
“I just got a strange read from that guy, alright? And I’ve learned to listen to my gut when it comes to people. Never try and deal by yourself, got it? Promise me.”
Lori was so surprised by the serious tone in his voice that she found herself agreeing before she even realized the words were coming out of her mouth.
“Alright. I promise, but…”
“Just call me if you need back up, okay sweetheart? It’s not that complicated,” Tex said before tossing the phone back at her.
Lori had to scramble to catch it.
“Now, let’s g
et the hell out of here,” he added.
She agreed with him on that as well, and soon Porky, Carrie, Tex and her were all walking out of the fair and making their way back to the parking lot and the motorcycles.
Carrie shouted a goodbye at her just before Porky revved the engine of his bike and tore off onto the highway.
With a sigh of resignation, Lori turned back to Tex.
“Can you drop me at the Reaper? My car’s there. I can take care of myself from there.”
“Are you so sure about that?” he asked, and then hastened to forestall her outrage. “I’m sorry. Sorry. Yeah, get on. I’ll take you.”
Lori swallowed the bit of temper than made her want to throw the offer back in his face, but finally she climbed on behind him.
As they drove off into the night, she tried to pretend that it didn’t feel so damn good pressed against him.
Chapter 11
Lori was pacing again. She knew she was and there wasn’t a damn thing she could do about it. She bit at what little remained of her fingernails as she moved from room to room in the small house, checking all the locks on the doors and windows. Again. For the hundredth time. Or maybe the two hundredth. She’d lost count over the last few hours.
The worst part was knowing that it wouldn’t really make a difference. It wouldn’t help her, not if Gears really wanted to get into the house. Hell, he had keys to the front door. He could just walk right in.
Her thoughts whirled as she paced. Maybe she should replace the locks. It would probably send Gears off the deep end if he found out, but hopefully by then she’d be long gone and out of his reach.
She checked that the chain was thrown on the back door. At least it made her feel a little better, but first thing tomorrow she was definitely stopping at the hardware store to pick up some deadbolts.
Lori wasn’t working at the club tonight. Mondays were her night off and she was at home, alone. Pacing.
She tried to shake off the terrible, heavy feeling that settled inside her, but everything she did seemed to just make it worse.
Maybe she could call Carrie, ask if she could stay at her friend’s place for the night. Lori was sure that she wouldn’t be able to get a wink of sleep if she stayed at her own house, worrying about Gears all night.
With her mind made up, she pulled her cell phone from her back pocket to call Carrie. But, before she could dial her friend’s number, her phone buzzed in her hand and a number popped up on the screen. Startled, she answered it, holding the phone close to her ear.
“Hello?” Lori said hesitantly.
A familiar, greasy voice slid over the other end.
“Hey, Lori,” the deep voice said. “It’s Kyle, from the fair last night. You know, you sold me some pills.”
“Hi Kyle. How’s it going?” Lori said, rolling her eyes.
“Good. I’m good. Well, remember those friends I told you about? They’re interested in getting some of your products. I could come over and pick it up?”
Lori bit her lower lip. She desperately wanted to get out of the house, but Tex had been right about Kyle. There was something shady about him.
“Uh, sure. I’ve got plenty more. Why don’t you tell me the address and I’ll bring a delivery by?”
The last thing she wanted was for Kyle to be here alone with her. Something told her it would be almost as bad as Gears.
Kyle hemmed for another minute but finally rattled off the address. It was an apartment on the other side of town. Lori told him she’d be there soon and hung up the phone before he could try and wheedle another invitation.
For a long moment she just stood there, feeling that same wild and out of control feeling that she’d had when Carrie had first told her of her plan. But it was easier to push the feeling aside, especially with the roll of hundred-dollar bills she had stashed away with the rest of her savings.
She grabbed her keys and turned to go, but then remembered the weird feeling she got from the other guy and Tex’s warning from the night before, the promise he’d made her make.
“I promised not to go alone. I never promised to go with him,” Lori muttered out loud to herself as she pulled her cell phone back out and finished dialing Carrie’s number.
She let it ring and ring and ring, but still there was no answer. After a minute, Lori hung up, admitting defeat.
Damn it. The last thing she wanted to do was call the cowboy and ask him for help. Knowing Tex, he would probably make some snarky comment and rub her face in how out of her depth she was. It made it even worse that he was right.
Lori forced herself to draw in a deep, calming breath as she pulled up the number he’d saved to her phone and hit the button to call him.
“Hello?”
Tex’s deep voice rolled over Lori and, for a second, some of the nerves disappeared. It didn’t make sense how he could make her feel better and worse at the same time. But that was a conundrum for another time. Now, she had money to make.
“Hey cowboy. It’s, uh, it’s Lori.”
Stunned silence hit her from the other end of the line. When he finally spoke, he sounded surprised as hell to hear from her.
“Lori.”
The way he drawled her name, even across the phone line, made her toes curl and had instant desire flaring up between them.
“I didn’t think you were going to call me.”
“I didn’t want to.” It was the honest truth. “I couldn’t get a hold of Carrie and there was no one else for me to call. Kyle has some friends who want to buy more of the pills and I…”
“You made a promise,” Tex said, his voice growing somehow even huskier. “Good to know you can keep your word when you want to.”
“Listen, if you’re just going to insult me you can just forget I called, okay?”
“I’m sorry,” Tex said quickly, cutting off the rest of her tirade. “You’re right. I’ll try and keep my… insults in check.”
Suddenly his voice switched from sultry to businesslike, so fast it made her blink.
“Where are we going?”
Lori told him the address and the details of the drop off.
“I’ll be there in twenty minutes. Maybe fifteen if I can get out there sooner. Just sit tight and wait for me. And try not to do something stupid in the meantime.”
Lori opened her mouth to comment right back, but he was already gone.
With a huff of irritation, she hung up the call and let her phone drop to her side. She was even more irritated to find a hint of a smile threatening to curl up the corner of her lips. He really was a ridiculous person and he knew just what to say to get a rise out of her.
The seconds ticked by like hours and Lori was driving herself crazy waiting for him in the cramped house. Every minute that passed made her feel more and more claustrophobic, like the very walls of the place were closing in on her.
“I’ll wait outside.” she muttered out loud to the empty room. Anything had to be better than just sitting there alone in the suddenly too-small living room.
Feeling better now that she was moving, Lori grabbed her bag and phone and headed for the door.
Outside, she turned, making sure to turn all three of the locks and even jiggling the door a little to make sure it was secure.
“Hi there, Shortcake.”
The gruff voice behind her made her jump and, as she spun around to face Gears, her stomach sank painfully to the ground and her heart leapt to pound fiercely in her throat. It made it hard to speak but she forced out the words.
“Hey Gears. I’m just heading out so…”
Suddenly he was there, too close. Way too close. So close that she could see the mad jealousy raging in his gaze and smell the hint of beer on his breath.
“Where were you last night, Shortcake?”
The question was edged with the same jealousy that burned in his gaze.
Lori had to fight to get her pulse under control, to catch her breath, as fear threatened to steal it away again. Oddly, it was Te
x’s voice in her, telling her not to do anything stupid, that had her regaining her control.
“I, uh, I went out with Carrie. You remember her, she’s my friend from the bar? Black hair, dark eyes? Usually with something sarcastic to say.”
Lori forced out a laugh, trying to sound as casual as possible, but it was hard with Gears staring at her with that wild, awful look in his eyes.
