by Anne Martin
Bree stood with her arms crossed in my path. I tried to veer around her, but she wanted words, and at least she wanted them away from Jessie. I hadn’t invited her. She must have found someone who needed a plus one.
“Jackson, look at you, all domesticated,” Trevor said, sipping from his bottle of blue sparkling water. That’s what the bottle advertised, but knowing Trevor, it was anything but water. That explained the plus one.
“So glad you were able to make it. We are distant cousins.”
“We’re first cousins,” he said with a frown.
“But distant first cousins. I didn’t think you’d be able to make it on such short notice. I thought you were busy getting skin cancer in the Bahamas.”
He waved his hand. “That was last year. Bree wanted me to come. No one says no to Bree. Except you. Your bride looks familiar. She looks like a grown up version of the Grace Kelly girl, you know, Bree, the girl from Summer Camp who got Jackson’s heart.”
Bree gave him a hard smile. That smile reminded me of Jezabel. Bree had always had that smile. I’d given it to Jessie. I shook my head. “I’ve got to go find all the kittens. You two enjoy the party. You guys should go play some bocce.” With Abigail.
Bree grabbed my arm. “Is it that girl?”
I stared at her. “She’s Jessie Strait.”
“She’s a gold-digger, Jackson!”
“Which is why she’s marrying me now that I’m broke.”
She waved her hand. “Anyone would give you a loan. I’d marry you and give you half of my fortune.”
“That’s considerate of you. How about you, Trevor? Would you marry me and give me half of your fortune?”
He snorted. “No, but I’d marry your wife and give her the whole thing. I haven’t seen your cousin for awhile. I don’t suppose you noticed how he was looking at her. I’d watch him.”
I frowned at him. He sounded almost serious. “I have to find the kittens.”
“Seriously? You always have been weird with your canals and your models that blow up and almost kill everyone. What are we trying to do?”
He followed me as I made my way to the people in charge of looking after the kittens and puppies. They looked slightly stressed. Maybe mixing puppies and kittens wasn’t the best idea.
“Are you kidding me? Trevor, what’s wrong with you?” Bree asked.
Trevor looked from her to me. “Is something wrong with me? Other than being half out of my mind from whatever stimulant cocktail I’m on? I think I’m okay. You?” he asked, turning to me.
“You need to grow up,” I said, handing him a kitten I’d just dragged out from under a seat.
He nodded soberly, passing it to Bree. “That’s very possible.”
“I’m not taking that thing,” Bree said, hissing back at the kitten who did have claws out.
“Here, I’ve got it,” a woman said, scooping the kitten up and cuddling it into her bright red sheath dress. She was Las Vegas, but no one I recognized. “What am I supposed to do with it?” she asked Trevor with big green eyes.
He stared at her, maybe at her cleavage. “Are you a hallucination? You’re like Jessica Rabbit. Roger’s birthday is coming up.”
She rolled her eyes and peered around him at me. “Congrats on the wedding. Where does Jez want the kittens? They’re so cute. She’s killing me. Every time she gets it into her head to place animals, the next thing you know, all the gamblers are walking through the place with kittens peeking out of pockets. How am I supposed to say no to a man with a kitten?”
Trevor bent down and snagged a racing ball of fury that I’d barely noticed. He held it up to his chin and batted his blond lashes at the bright red-haired woman. “Hi there. Do you want to get a hotel?”
She shook her head and followed me as I directed her to the woman taking care of the kittens. After a few more volunteers, mostly men lured by the red-haired woman’s charms and red dress, the kitten situation was fairly well in hand.
I went to check the puppies, but they seemed to be all accounted for.
“Excuse me, son.” A heavy hand landed on my shoulder.
I turned to face Jessie’s dad, crouching slightly like he might bust my face. “Sir?”
“Where’s Jessie? She said that she had to go to the house for something, so I thought maybe she’d taken off.”
Ice coursed through my veins. “Do you?” I turned and made my way to the house, smiling and shaking hands until I got to the horse ice sculpture. I went through the side door and up the back stairs. When I saw Jess pressed against the wall while a tall man hung over her, I wasn’t sure whether to attack or run away. Maybe this was someone who had a past with Jessie in Vegas.
She struck his throat and kneed him in the groin so he stumbled back, but he came after her, pressing her against the wall so she couldn’t move. In that movement, I identified him clearly.
“Kit, if you don’t remove yourself from the premises, I will personally add your bones to the family cemetery.”
Kit turned away from her and grinned at me. My cousin looked good, charming, like a prince.
“You got the house. Don’t you think that you should share the rest of the booty? You left too soon the last time all those years ago. This time, you should stick around,” he said to her with a leer as his eyes raked her from head to toe.
I grabbed Kit by the jacket and punched him. He punched me back, and with that, it was nothing but violence, vicious and cold. I beat him very badly and then threw him down the stairs while my chest rose and fell and rage threatened to eclipse everything.
Jessie touched my shoulder, light as a butterfly.
I turned my head and kissed her fingers. “You didn’t tell me that my cousin assaulted you at my graduation party.”
“I wouldn’t call it assault. The girl who was helping you with the kittens, Bree, she hurt me more than he did. Where did you learn to fight like that? You’ve never been a fighter.”
I closed my eyes and forced my heart to slow down. “Jessie, I need…” you. I need you. I couldn’t say that. I couldn’t push her too far, or she’d run when she couldn’t tell me no. “To kill him. He’s always been a jerk. That’s why I got the house, because my grandmother… So many things. He’s always been pretty blatant about his capacity for destruction of property and people. Bree? She was at the camp, so you knew her. Right. She hurt you?”
She opened her mouth and then her eyes darted away and she crossed her arms. “She gave me my name. Jezabel. I embraced it so it wouldn’t hurt me. I’m not sure if that was the logical approach.” She exhaled and slumped against the wall.
I wanted to move close to her, to touch her face, smooth her hair away from her eyes and tell her that no one would ever hurt her again. I tucked my hands in my pockets instead. “So, you hate rich guys like my cousin.”
“I lived with my dad in Casinos from twelve to seventeen. There was a lot of wealth, and a lot of men who thought that they could take whatever they wanted. It wasn’t the money I hated, but the men who use it badly. I didn’t think all rich boys were like that, or I wouldn’t have gone to camp.”
“Right. And then I asked you to be my mistress, so you learned that we are. We all think that we can buy what we want. I’m sorry, Jessie. You taught me a very important lesson. Thank you.”
She stared at me with those enormous blue eyes. “Jackson, can I stay here? I mean tonight instead of going to the hotel. Trix will be here, and Minx and Felicia. Do you mind?”
“Of course not. My house is yours.”
“Oh! That reminds me. What I came up here to get.” She went to her room and went inside, leaving the door open. She opened up her bag and pulled out a baggie full of papers. She pulled out the deed and turned, holding it out to me.
I caught the baggie out of her hands and searched it for the letters. There they were, paper clipped together with dozens of postcards. “Are these…”
“Oh! I forgot I had these.” She snatched them out of my hands and push
ed the deed into my chest. “Take what’s yours.” She stood there, staring at me while her hand stayed on my chest.
I covered her hand with mine, but then she pulled away, leaving the deed.
“Have you had the barbecue chicken?”
I shook my head, staring at her. The bed was right behind her, and she’d married me.
“Come on.” She grabbed my hand and dragged me out of her room. At least she was taking me with her.
Chapter 17
The surgery went well enough. I texted Jackson before I went in and when I came out, he asked if he could call, said he was feeling things.
I called him even though I felt pretty loopy. “Hey there, cowboy. How’s Abigail?”
“I just want to know why you wanted alligators at your wedding. Debbie doesn’t know, because I asked her. She also doesn’t know how to get them out of the pit. She’s sending a team of ‘specialists,’ her words, not mine, day after tomorrow.”
“Alligators are cute. Those big eyes and smiling faces. They always look so happy.”
“Right before they bite off your leg.”
“Especially after they bite off your leg. I miss you.”
He inhaled sharply, but when he spoke, he sounded normal. “Of course you do. Who else can play Go Fish like I do? How long until you come back? I mean to go to your ranch South of Abilene?”
“Three days. Is my dad still around? You haven’t gambled with him, have you?”
He didn’t say anything for a long pause and I sighed.
“Never mind. Don’t tell me. You’ve been so good for so long. Look at it as a stumble. You can quickly recover without falling flat on your face.”
“I lost my grandpa’s bike to him. He’s giving it to Cora, so maybe I shouldn’t be too sad. Maybe she can put it in her will for me.”
I smiled crookedly. “Maybe so. I miss you.”
“So you said. Can I come visit you on your ranch?”
“Yes. Bring gloves. I have a lot of fences that need repair. It comes with a thousand head of cattle. Can you imagine? I should have had some cows at the wedding.”
“Next time.”
“Next time what?”
“Next time I see you. I’ll bring gloves. You sound very soft and sleepy. I wish that I could tuck you into bed. Get some rest, Miss Jessie.”
“That’s Mrs. Dewitt to you.” I smiled and hung up.
The next few days, I was busy arranging packing up my house and getting my old red truck and trailer ready for my two horses, Knickers and Apocalypse. The warehouse was sad and empty. Nix and Sunny hadn’t been at the wedding.
“Were you going to let me know you were coming in?” Nix’s voice was as familiar to me as my own.
I continued barring the back door of the trailer. “Nope. At least I invited you to my wedding.”
“You know how I feel about weddings.”
“Do I? I thought I did.”
“Who’s the guy? Horse says he’s some kind of know-it-all hoity-toity prissy boy.”
I turned to beam at him. “He’s my puppy. You got your kitten, I got a puppy.”
He ran his hand through his blond hair. “Is he what you need like Sunny’s what I need?”
I stared at him while my heart pounded. I rubbed my chest where the stitches itched, not because my heart ached. “How can you tell? I don’t need anyone. Like you.”
He chuckled and leaned against the trailer, arms crossed. “Well, you went through with it, and didn’t end up passed out drunk so your spouse had to drive you home.”
“It wouldn’t have mattered because we had the wedding at the house. But there was no drinking, anyway, not with Trix… Do you know that she’s pregnant again?”
He winced and rubbed his hand over his face. “That girl. I should beat the tar out of Horse.”
I nudged him. “You just miss the fighting. What are you doing in Vegas?”
“Handing over the deeds to a few places, this being one of them. I guess I didn’t need to bother making sure you have the right to these stalls.”
“I told you I was retiring.”
He frowned at me. “I don’t recollect.”
“Well, maybe I didn’t tell you, but it was obvious. You, Horse, Trix, retired. All that up-and-coming talent makes me feel old.”
“You’ll always be the youngest one of us. So, you retired to get married?” He caught my left hand and whistled when he saw the diamonds, particularly that eye-popper in the center. “It’s the end of an era.”
I pulled my hand away from him. “All good things.”
“And all bad things, apparently,” he said with a wink.
I laughed and shook my head. “Thanks for coming to see me off. It’s going to be a long drive.”
“Are you rested up for it?”
I nodded.
“Do you need someone to go with you, you know, another driver?”
“Did someone say you needed a driver?” Trix stepped around the trailer and grinned at me.
I squealed and threw myself into her arms, like she was Deb or something. She grunted and patted me awkwardly until I disentangled myself.
“Sorry,” I said with a sniff. “But, it’s fifteen hours. At least, and the horses, and I’m not the best driver.”
“And I’m coming! Chicas, do you think that you can have a road trip without me? I barely saw you at the wedding. Ask why. Well, the husband has this business trip to Prague, so of course I went, and it was supposed to be the flight wasn’t cancelled, but then he had to…” Felicia crushed me into her warm hug and I hugged her back. She pulled away and stared at me. “You’re crying. That’s because you’re so happy to see me. I know. How big is your truck? We can all three fit, right?”
“My butt is pretty huge,” Trix said with a frown then shrugged. “Not as big as it will be. Come on.”
The drive was insane. Trix drove until she got sick of the truck knocking, and then she pulled over and worked on it at a random garage where the workers were stunned into submission by Felicia’s cleavage and Trix’s not at all big butt. She’d always been voluptuous.
I took care of the horses, feeling awkward because I didn’t have the dazzling attributes to knock all the men in a heap. It did leave me unbalanced. I wasn’t Jezabel anymore, just Jessie. Was that enough? For who?
I wandered away from the garage and leaned against a tree and pulled out my phone. I called Jackson.
He answered immediately. “How did you know that I was feeling things?”
I smiled and ran my fingers over the bark. “I’m at a garage in New Mexico with Trix and Felicia. Trix is fixing my truck. Before you know it, she’ll be pimping it up.”
“Wow. I’m glad you have some help. You’re moving your horses?”
“That’s right.”
“If I’d known you needed an extra driver, I would have flown out.”
“I wouldn’t have asked, but Trix and Felicia insisted. It’s not that I need help.”
“Because you don’t need anyone? That’s because you’re not a gambling addict. Are you guys stopping for the night?”
“Oh, no. Trix has to get back to her little girl.”
“Good. What’s that sound?”
“What?”
“Sounds like a helicopter.”
I looked around, and there in the distance was a little black bug. It came closer and then lowered until the horses were neighing and kicking. “I’ve got to go. I think it’s Felicia’s husband because I’ve never seen him before and who else would it be?”
He said something, but I couldn’t hear. I hung up and went over to the horses. There wasn’t much I could do until I dealt with the helicopter, which was in the middle of the road.
“Excuse me!” I hollered, hand over my eyes.
“Hello! Do you know Felicia? I traced her phone here.”
“Can you turn off your helicopter? It’s scaring the horses.”
The tall blond man frowned at me then turned and made a jerking
sound with his hand. The engine faded and the dirt stopped rising and getting into my eyes.
I coughed and waved my hand. “She’s in the garage with Trix.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Should I be worried?”
I cocked my head and stared at him. “Oh, Trix is pregnant again. I don’t think she’s got the energy for too much trouble.” I heard a holler from the garage. “Then again, it’s Felicia.” I ran towards the garage, but the blond man outpaced me. He was fast. He didn’t move like a billionaire, but like a long distance sprinter. He broke into the doorway before I got there.
Trix had a man in a chokehold while Felicia sat on the counter, swinging her legs and lecturing in Spanish.
“Ah, husband! That was you making so much noise? What’s going on?”
He strode over to her, picked her up off the counter and proceeded to kiss her like no one was watching. He pulled away as suddenly as he started.
“Why didn’t you tell me that you were going on a road trip? You said you’d be with Trix in New York, not in Las Vegas, and definitely nothing about traipsing across the country.”
She smiled at him, a smile I’d never seen before. “You look so good coming in here like an angel of death. Kiss me again.” Where did her accent go?
He kissed her, but it didn’t last long, and when he pulled back, he was frowning. “Felicia, I realize that you’re a free spirit, or five, but you married me. Your protection is my primary concern.”
She stroked his cheeks. “I thought it was keeping me satisfied in bed. Jez, are you blushing?” She glanced over at me, and I rolled my eyes. Yes, I was. “Can’t get over you blond with that short pixie cut. Isn’t Jez cute?”
The guy blinked at me and frowned. “Oh. I didn’t recognize you.”
I shrugged and went over to Trix. “Hey, are you going to kill him, or what? We’ve got to get on the road.”
Trix frowned at him. “He was talking about my big butt.”
“He said he liked it,” Felicia said.
“Did I ask his opinion?” Trix snarled, fixing the man with her ominous glare.
