My Coyote Ugly Life

by Jessica Spoon

  “Ree,” he says with a smile in his voice.

  I ignore him (and another flutter) and continue to babble, “I mean, I don’t want to tell you what to do if you’ve already got something planned, but we probably will have everyone in town stalking every place we could possibly go waiting on bated breath.”

  “Ree.”

  “You know how it is, I mean you’ve lived here for… Wait. How long have you lived here?” I ask but continue before he can answer, “It doesn’t matter. A week here and you learn how it is. This is the most excitement the town has probably seen since Hilda burned down her flower shop. A crazed woman wielding some gasoline and a match doesn’t hold a candle to the fact that Belton’s Chief of Police is taking the town’s notorious wild child out.”

  “Ree.”

  “I wasn’t a bad kid or anything and notorious isn’t really the best term, though I’m sure some would disagree, but this town loves any kind of juicy scandal and the straight-laced Chief taking me out is probably juicy enough for them. I don’t get what the big deal is, but hey, whatever,” I shrug.

  “Ree, you gonna let me talk here?” he asks with an obvious laugh.

  “Sure. If you have something to say.” I look at the clock and notice it is seven o’clock. “Though why would you call? You should be almost here right? I mean it is pretty rude to be late for a first date. It’s rude to be late anytime, but especially a first date. Just because you’re sex on a fucking stick doesn’t mean you can show up willy-nilly.” Oh my God! Verbal vomit please stop! “Or

  you know… whatever…”

  “Sex on a stick, huh?”

  He’s totally laughing at me. Oh dear sweet baby Jesus.

  Fucking, fucking belly flutters.

  “Yeah… you should really stop me when I get on a roll like that… It never turns out good for me.”

  “Maybe not, but it allows me to learn a lot about you.” I can still hear the smile in his voice.

  “Like what?” I ask a little shocked. What could my rambling reveal other than that I am a complete dork.

  “We’ll have to talk about it later.”

  “Oh. Okay,” I say wondering what that means. “So are you almost here?”

  “That’s why I called…” he trails off.

  “Oh.”

  My stomach drops and I just know it’s those fucking flutters turning to lead and deciding to stay awhile to berate me for being such… an… idiot.

  “I had a case come up and I can’t leave,” he tells me. I don’t register the disappointment in his voice. All I can concentrate on is the disappointment that I am feeling and wondering where in the hell that came from.

  “Okay.” I infuse cheerfulness into my voice.

  “Ree,” he breathes out, sounding remorseful. He didn’t buy the cheerfulness.

  “No, it’s fine really,” I smile even though he can’t see it. “It’s your job and it’s important. Protect and serve. The Great Chief Cole. No worries. Um… Some other time. Talk to you later. Bye.”

  I pull the phone away and hang up just as he says, “Ree, wait.”

  I’m not mad or upset that he has to work. Really, I’m not. I’m upset that I was looking forward to this. Upset that I got excited because he somehow found my number and called me. Upset because I’m falling into the patterns of those helpless, fool, ran-by- their-heart women. I don’t like it and I don’t like the path I’m heading down.

  I need to keep my distance.

  Yep. Stay far away.

  I look down at my outfit and feel a bit of disappointment that I

  don’t get to show it off.

  A slow smile forms on my face as I realize that I can show it off.

  I pick up my phone and call some friends from Des Moines, make plans to stay with them and head out.

  I’m not about to sit at home and wallow in self-pity. Fuck that. I’ve just got to stay busy and this won’t matter. So that is what I am going to do.

  Keep Busy.

  Avoid Grayson Cole.

  These are the keys to survival in the small town of Belton, Iowa.

  ***

  “Fuck,” Grayson clips as he looks at the display of his phone where Ree just hung up on him.

  “Trouble in paradise, boss?” Ryder Jacobson comes up to him with a grin on his face.

  “Something like that,” Grayson mutters, pushing off his truck that he was leaning against and looking at Jacobson.

  “I’m glad you have the balls to take on Azaria Gable,” he laughs. “That girl is a nut. Nice, and hot as fuck, but a nut.”

  “So I’m learning,” Grayson clenches his jaw, not liking the idea of other men wanting in her pants.

  “Sorry ‘bout having to call you away,” he apologizes sincerely.

  “Shit happens. What do we got?” Grayson asks his Chief Deputy.

  The two of them served together in Special Forces for too long, and Jacobson convinced him to come back to his home town with him. Grayson didn’t have anything to go home to back in New Mexico, so he packed up his shit and came to small town Iowa.

  After meeting Ree a few nights ago, he’s glad he did. She may be a nut, like Jacobson said, but there is something about that woman. She has this spark; something so magnetic that just drew him in from the moment he laid eyes on her.

  That first night, listening to her ramble on, her honesty and innocent view of the world, he knew she was the kind of sweet he hadn’t known he was even looking for.

  Grayson Cole hasn’t had a lot of sweet in his life and he thought it would never matter to him.

  Until he met Ree…

  That night when he called her out on her move of getting him to buy her drink, he really had to hold back his laughter at how affronted she was about it. When she explained about her name he was itching to touch her. Move her hair over her shoulder, trace those perfect lips with his tongue, have her pressed against him as tight as he could get her.

  He’s not sure why, but the way she threw her head back when she would laugh, the column of her throat exposed, her eyes lighting up, his mouth went dry and he had a pain through his chest. It was a warm, caressing pain that flowed through him and he couldn’t stop it even if he’d tried.

  They got to talking about drinks of choice and she mentioned that her weakness was vodka with lemon juice, so he started ordering them for her. He had no idea it would make her so shit faced after only three of them.

  She invited him back to her place and he agreed only (or so he told himself) so that he could make sure she got home safe (and find out where she lived so he could come find her the next day). But as soon as they got in the cab she curled up in his side and something more shifted in him.

  Especially when she sighed contently and whispered, “It’s so nice just to be held for once,” an edge of pain in her voice, like she didn’t get that often.

  He hugged her body tighter to his in response and felt that warmth spread through him again. Right when he was getting ready to ask her what her address was, she passed out. He had to laugh at his damn luck. He took her to a hotel, got her into bed and decided that since she obviously doesn’t get held much that he would just hold her for a while longer. Then he fell asleep.

  When he woke up that next morning alone, he was pissed. He had no way of finding her. He didn’t get her last name and stupidly thought he would get it in the morning. He shouldn’t of cared. Just

  another woman out of many, but this particular one… She changed something in him in a matter of a few hours.

  He smiled so much that his cheeks hurt. He hadn’t smiled that much since he was a kid. Hell, probably not even then.

  He wanted to take her to breakfast… get to know her… Get more of that feeling that she gave him. He needed that feeling.

  Craved it.

  And she fucking snuck out in the middle of the damn night.

  He couldn’t believe his fucking luck when he walked into Gert’s just two days later and saw her perfect fucking ass standi
ng at the counter. He could swear that his heart stuttered and stopped for half a minute. He thought he was possibly seeing things until she ran right into him and his whole body lit up and he had to force all of his concentration to keep his dick from getting hard.

  And she walked away, again.

  And now he finally got her to agree to a date, a date she was clearly excited to go on, judging by her voice on the phone, a date where she was clearly disappointed that he had cancelled.

  It tore at him.

  Completely.

  He never minded his work before tonight. For the first time that he can remember, he wanted to walk away from his career. Just so that he could go to her house and hold her. Hold her like she’s never been held before. Hold her to get the cold out of his veins and replace it with the warmth from her soft skin.

  “Looks like apparent suicide,” Jacobson answers him, an odd edge to his voice.

  “And?” Grayson presses.

  “Well, the key word there is ‘looks’,” he elaborates.

  “Fuck,” Grayson clips.

  “Yeah.”

  “Alright, is everyone notified? Crime investigators? County coroner?” Grayson asks him.

  “Yeah. All on their way.”

  “Do we know who it is?”

  “I.D. says Donna McGee of Keokuk,” Jacobson answers.

  “That’s a long way from home,” Grayson notes as Keokuk is in the south eastern corner of Iowa. “Family here? Friends?”

  “Nope. My guess? Junkie. Plenty of scars from years of track

  marks.” “

  What makes you suspicious?” Grayson asks his friend.

  “Just a gut feeling, boss.”

  Shit. That wasn’t good for them, then. Jacobson’s gut feelings were always spot on and had saved their old units’ asses on numerous occasions.

  “Alright. Let’s get to it,” Grayson says, slipping on a pair of nitrile gloves.

  ***

  Grayson walks up the steps to Ree’s front porch. He could hear the music she’s listening to from the driveway.

  He finally caught her at home.

  It’s been two weeks since they were supposed to have their date and that woman has been amazingly good at avoiding him.

  She ignored all of his calls. He never saw her anywhere in town. He even drove by her parents’ place out in the country to see if her car was there. It was. Once. He decided he’d hang around and follow her home for about ten minutes, then he realized he was acting like some kind of crazed stalker. He left and didn’t drive by again.

  He stopped by her house a couple times, but she was never home. Everyone in town had been asking him about how their date went and he wasn’t really sure what to say, so he just smiled and shook his head at them.

  Before long they began asking him where he was hiding her because they hadn’t seen much of her.

  It was then he knew that he had to clear the air with her. If for no other reason to tell her that he would back off if she really didn’t want anything to do with him. He’d tell her that they could just be friends.

  Fuck, he hated that idea though. But he hated not seeing her even more.

  He’d been busy with work most nights. Trying to figure out what had happened to Donna McGee. She was a junkie, but according to DNA tests done on her hair she’d been clean for two years. And she had about three grams of pure heroin in her system. Definitely not something an experienced junkie would use, unless they meant to kill themselves.

  They had investigators head down to Keokuk to try to find a connection, but everyone said that she had cleaned up. She had no family left, but her friends and co-workers said she was always very dependable. Also, no suicide note was found. Her roommate was on the way to the police station, when they arrived at her apartment, to report her missing.

  And then there’s the way she looks.

  About a half a second after seeing her body, Grayson understood Jacobson’s gut feeling, perhaps for reasons of his own.

  She looked a bit like Ree. Multiple shades of highlighted brown hair, short, and curvy. It freaked him right the fuck out. He hoped that it was nothing, but his gut was twisting right along with Jacobson’s. Like there was about to be a shit storm hit Belton.

  Which is another reason why he has been so adamant about trying to find Ree. He knew she was safe though, because there were still some sightings of her. People in town would tell him whenever he ‘just missed her’. Which only aggravated him more.

  And now, he finally has her at home. They are going to get this shit straightened out, once and for all. No matter the outcome.

  He steps up to the door and decides against using the bell, in case she decides to pretend she’s not home. He tries the knob and finds that it is unlocked. He clenches his jaw. She shouldn’t be so careless.

  He turns it and steps into the foyer. Music blares at him from the living room’s surround system.

  “What the fuck is she listening to?” he mutters to himself. “Is that…? Oh, Jesus Christ.”

  He shakes his head as he walks down the hall and into the living room. Over the half wall that separates it from the kitchen he can see her dancing and singing along to the song about putting the lime in the coconut and shaking it.

  He shakes his head again and can’t help but smile as he leans against the doorway into the kitchen, arms crossed; watching her dance with her back to him. She’s wearing an orange, tight tank with a pair of cut off jean shorts that make her legs go on for-fucking-ever and her hair is pulled up messily on top of her head.

  He tilts his head to the side to get a better view of her great fucking ass shaking to the beat of the music; her feet sliding across the linoleum. She’s belting at the top of her lungs, totally off key, making him shake with silent laughter.

  She does a little roll of her hips as she stirs something in a bowl and he feels his dick begin to stiffen.

  Fuck, they could never be just friends. He wants her too damn much. She does a spin in the limited space and freezes when her eyes land on him.

  “What are you doing here?” she asks, her voice surprised and a bit shaky.

  Grayson turns and walks back into the living room, turns down the music and comes back into the kitchen. He takes a seat at the island and smiles at her.

  “What are you doing?” she repeats, her voice firmer.

  “Thought I’d come by for dinner,” he answers.

  “You… you thought… I’m sorry, what?” she looks at him like he’s crazy and hell, maybe he is. He’s never been this brazen with a woman before. Never forced his way into their lives, trying to set up for the long haul.

  Hell, he’s never even been interested in the long haul, until now.

  He reaches out and grabs a purple grape from the plate in the center of the island, pops it into his mouth and repeats, “I thought I’d come by for dinner.”

  She looks at him with a perplexed expression, clearly at a loss for words. That’s a first.

  “Okay. Let me get this straight…” she says slowly. “I haven’t seen you in over two weeks and you just come by and waltz into my house, sit down and wait expectantly for dinner like this is a nightly ritual? What the fuck am I? Your ‘little woman’ all of a sudden?” she asks placing a hand on her hip. Damn, her attitude is sexy as hell.

  “Well, you’re definitely ‘little’ and I’m still working on making you mine,” she opens her mouth to interrupt but he continues, “And I haven’t seen you for two weeks because you’ve been avoiding me.”

  “I have not,” she lies.

  “Liar,” he points out, popping another grape into his mouth.

  “I am not!”

  He shakes his head and smiles at her, gets up and walks towards the refrigerator. She backs up as he gets close to her, bumping the side of her hip against the counter, but he walks by her, grabs a beer, opens it then walks back over to her. He places his hand low on her waist and bends down to brush his mouth against her ear. He watches in fascinati
on as goosebumps break out across her neck and her breath hitches.

  “And a shitty liar too,” he whispers then softly kisses her neck.

  He straightens and walks back to sit down. When he looks at her, he notices her eyes are a little glazed over. He smiles to himself.

  Yeah, she definitely wants this as bad as he does.

  ***

  Have I stepped into an alternate universe? What the heck is happening here?

  Those fucking flutters came back full force the minute I saw him. I couldn’t stop the excitement that steeled through my veins, causing my heart to kick up a couple dozen notches.

  Dammit, I really need to pull my shit together.

  I shake my head and stand up straighter, “You can’t stay for dinner. I have company coming.”

  “Oh?” he asks with a raise of his eyebrow. “Who?”

  “My parents.” They can’t see him here.

  Jesus, my mother would have a conniption of excitement to see him here again. Especially since I told her we never went on the date and there wasn’t going to be any rescheduling.

  I went to the city that night and tried (really I did) to have a great time, but I just kept thinking about Grayson. It took two days to purge the thoughts of wanting to see him. Hoping he’d find a way to see me. Even as I was avoiding him, and the town, like the plague.

  I’ve gone to Des Moines a few times, out with friends, trying to find a guy to purge the thoughts of Grayson Cole, but not a single one had me turning my head. It pissed me right the fuck off.

  When I was home, I shut everything off and just used my e- reader, so that he would think I wasn’t home. I only worked during the day, when I thought he wouldn’t be around. I would go to my parents’ house and work; anything to keep him from getting me alone.

  Because I knew… I just knew that if he cornered me, I would cave. I’ve missed him. I hate myself for it, because I hardly know him, but I miss him.

  I’ve been keeping my doors locked so he wouldn’t just come in, but tonight I had to leave them unlocked for my parents. I thought that he’d have gotten the message by now to just leave me alone, but apparently not.