“Let’s see if you have the balls to show up first. Seven o’clock. ” With that he straightened up to give her a quick, almost dismissive look. “And see if you can actually find something appropriate to wear, princess.”
Hailey delighted in slamming the door on that one. It felt better because she almost nailed him with the solid wood punch in the process. Kyle got out of the way, though, and from the whistling she could hear trailing off her porch, the near miss hadn’t bothered him at all.
Chapter 20
“Are you nuts?” Aaron leaned in to whisper across the table at Cole. The dinner crowd still lingered in the restaurants and at home, leaving Riley’s place pretty much empty. That didn’t stop his cousins in matching Cole’s hushed tones as they deliberated over a back table.
“You know Bavis is just screwing with you,” Jacob added. “You can’t trust him. Even if he just asked you to pay him some number that would be a risk, but this has set up written all over it. That puts you in the sights to either get beaten or killed. You need to stay away.”
“And I agree.” Though not because of any of the reasons his cousin just listed, logical as they were. No, Cole didn’t want to waste time and energy on Kitty Anne when he had the more entraining prospect of Hailey and their porno-date night.
“Then why you smiling like that?”
“I ain’t smiling like nothing,” Cole snorted, tightening up his features.
“He’s thinking about Hailey,” Aaron grunted. “That’s his real problem right now. Kitty and the Fastback or Hailey and Kyle. And you know if it wasn’t for Kyle, he’d be trying both pussies and the car.”
“And that ain’t no lie, but as you just pointed out, I’m a little jammed up here.” Cole shot back the expected answer.
Truthfully, he just wanted Hailey and the car. Kitty Anne didn’t even rank as a side benefit in the moment. She’d become more like the weight dragging him down.
“I get the feeling this is the part where he asks us to do something stupid for him,” Jacob murmured to his brother.
“Why should we do it for him?” Aaron grunted. “Why can’t we just get the same deal from Bavis? I mean if it’s not a setup.”
“Even if it is, I think I’d take a beating to own that c—”
“Holy shit and mother of God, is that the Kitty?”
Jacob and Aaron bent over the picture Cole had gotten from Bavis. Like two teenage horn dogs looking at a nudie magazine, they drooled over the blonde. Just as he suspected, that shut them up. Jacob and Aaron had always been into the Marilyn Monroe types.
“I think I’d take a beating for a piece of that,” Jacob whispered as his head lifted. “Damn, Cole, what the hell is wrong with you? You can’t pick between this woman and Hailey? You gone blind or something?”
Before he could respond to that taunt, Aaron elbowed his brother. “Don’t be a dumbass. We’re about to get ourselves a piece of this action, and you’re trying to convince the seller not to sell.”
“I didn’t mean it like that, dummy. I’m just saying we really should go talk to Bavis, and maybe even Hailey.” Jacob’s gaze rolled around toward Cole. “I mean you got to figure she’d be interested in—”
“You might get the beating and no reward for it,” Cole growled out. “Now will the two of you stop playing and listen up.” He didn’t wait for his cousins to obey but rolled on over them. Cole did snatch the picture back to help keep them focused.
“As I said, Bavis’s nephew’s going to marry this woman in three weeks, and Bavis is convinced that she’s whoring around—”
“God, I hope so,” Jacob whispered.
“—and Bavis wants the proof. So I’m thinking one of you jackasses seduces her and the other takes some pictures. We give them to the nephew, take the beating if needed, then get the damn car.”
“As in, we get the damn car? Or you get the damn car?” Aaron shot back instantly.
“Well, you are getting the pussy.”
“So what,” Jacob turned to consider his brother, “three way split, man, thirty-three, thirty-three, and thirty-four. We’ll give you the point.”
Cole snorted at that. “How about twenty-five, twenty-five, and fifty?”
“Why you get fifty?” Jacob demanded to know. “You ain’t doing none of the work.”
“Well, I don’t think Bavis would give you this deal, and I know you are going to go after this woman no matter what. So why don’t I give you squat and just sit back and let you do what you’re going to do anyway?”
That had Jacob and Aaron sharing a look that ended with Jacob shrugging. “Fine. We’ll take the quarter each and the picture.”
“You do drive a hard bargain.” Cole smirked as he handed over the image. “Just remember her name is Kitty Anne and she works at the library over in Dothan.”
“Librarian,” Aaron nodded in approval, “I’ve had a few fantasies about those. You think she got the keys to the library? Always wanted to do it in a public place.”
Cole rolled his eyes at that but reframed from egging on his cousins as their conversation dipped into outright perverseness. Kitty Anne wouldn’t know what hit her once Jacob and Aaron got done with the little gal. He could almost feel sorry for the woman, but definitely felt better for himself.
Aaron and Jacob were the miracle answer to all his options. Now all he had to focus on was Hailey, their porno-date night, and figuring a way around all the stupid restrictions Kyle had agreed to. Hailey might have thought she covered her bases, but Cole could do a lot with just a dildo and a little lube.
Even if she didn’t let him get out the ropes, there were two of them. One to hold her ass down while the other had his fun. Yeah, they’d give Hailey Mathews a few lessons tonight, and with Jacob and Aaron doing all the grunt work, he’d have both Hailey and his Fastback…and Kitty, well, would have Aaron and Jacob to enjoy.
A sharp bolt of sunlight illuminated the yellow din of Riley’s bar. Snapping out as quickly as it broke through the building, the darkness chased the main door back into its frame, washing shadows over the mountain of a man who shouldered into the bar.
Snapping the picture over, he gave a sharp nod toward GD as he bore down on them. Speaking a little loudly and very pointedly, he greeted the man.
“Hey, GD, what you doing in here at this time of the day?”
“Looking for you.” GD came to a stop at the edge of the table, barely sparing a nod toward Jacob and Aaron.
“I’m taking it this isn’t a social call.”
“I hate to do it, man, but I got to ask for your club card.”
“What?” Aaron’s head dipped to catch GD’s gaze. “You’re kidding, right?”
“No, he ain’t.” Cole had expected this all day, and he didn’t offer up any resistance as he pulled his wallet from his back pocket.
“Them Davis boys are pissed because of what happened at the Bread Box last week, and they’ve finally scrounged up a rule to kick Cole’s ass out without it looking like what it is.” GD snatched up the card Cole offered him, giving him a hard look in the process. “You’d do well to remember that Hailey has a lot of friends in this town and none of them want to see her get hurt.”
Cole straightened up at that threat. “You talking for yourself or for somebody else, GD?”
“I’m just saying, Cole.”
With that, GD turned to storm off, saying quite a bit more as he slammed back out of the bar.
“Well,” Aaron sighed as he turned back to gaze at Cole over the table. “It seems to me Cole’s flirting with his own kind of beating, huh, Jacob?”
* * * *
“I can’t wear this, Patton.”
“Let me see.”
“No.” Even though Hailey couldn’t see her friend through the bathroom door, she still gave it a dirty look.
“It’s not like you got something I don’t, or do you?”
“Patton.” Disgusted, Hailey wrenched back down the tank top she’d worn over to her friend’s h
ouse.
Thankfully, Patton had the perfect red, floral skirt to go with it. With its fitted waistline and flirty, mid-thigh length skirt, it looked very girly and very down-home sexy when matched with the white tank. The problem came from the underwear, which Patton insisted really made the outfit.
“I’m just saying, Hailey. I won’t judge.”
Hailey wrenched open the door and shoved the lacy garments into Patton’s hand. “You know, I think I’ll just stick with white cotton.”
“What is wrong with these?” Patton dangled the little lacy camisole and matching panties from her fingers. “They’re one of my best sellers, and you said you wanted something sexy and not lewd.”
“They’re black, Patton.”
“So?”
“So, only six foot tall, all tanned models look good in black. I’m only five foot six and pasty white. They kind of make me look short and fat.” Hailey snapped the words at her, annoyed at having to point out her own flaws.
She didn’t believe in belaboring the downfalls of her looks because she was not a vain person. That’s why these girly kinds of things Patton always enjoyed irritated Hailey. The only reason she’d come was because Kyle laid down his stupid challenge about wearing something appropriate. It certainly hadn’t been to become Patton’s lingerie model.
“Oh, you are not short and fat,” Patton groaned as she moved off to hang the garments back on the rack.
The new barn the Davis brothers built to house Patton’s business glowed all white and ultra modern, making Hailey even grumpier. Seeing Patton study the racks with that look only worsened the condition. Hailey felt like the experiment trapped in some kind of weird scientific chamber.
“And I don’t look it in my normal underwear.”
“But what kind of statement does that make?”
“Oh, spare me.”
“Seriously, Hailey.” Patton turned to drag Hailey back over to the long line of skimpy outfits. “Underwear makes a statement. It sets a mood.”
“Mood? It’s just sex, Patton.”
“Just sex is so boring.”
Hailey grimaced. Ever since Patton wrangled her way into the Davis brothers’ bed, she’d become a little deviant. “Don’t start with me about all those kinky little fetishes. I like my sex straight up.”
“Which just makes the underwear so much more important,” Patton countered. “I mean if you’re not setting the mood with whips and chains, then you might as well be wearing some, right?”
“Underwear is like a yield sign, Patton. Men just pause long enough to see if they’re going to get stopped before taking it off you.”
“Only if they’re boring and uncreative,” Patton retorted in disgust. “A good lover is like a grandmother trying to save wrapping paper—they know how to savor the unveiling.”
Hailey’s head dropped at that. She’d asked for it. Give Patton one metaphor and she’d give you back another. There would be no winning this argument, but she sure as shit wasn’t going to show up on Kyle and Cole’s door in a hoochie-mama outfit.
“I don’t know why I’m bothering.” Hailey sighed out all the frustration holding on to her in that moment. Not that Patton helped.
“You’re bothering because this is your big victory over Kyle Harding.” Patton plunked the discarded lingerie set back on the rack before turning her grin loose on Hailey.
“I have to admit I wasn’t too keen on this idea when you brought it up last week, but seeing as how you actually got Kyle to agree to sleep with you and leave Cole on the sidelines, all I have to say, Hailey, is congratulations. You’re the Queen Bitch now.”
Hailey didn’t smile back or laugh or enjoy the moment in anyway other then feeling even sicker. She wanted Patton’s help, but she didn’t have the balls to tell her she upped the ante on her original plan. Perhaps she didn’t want the help after all because she knew Patton’s only advice would be to call her an idiot and tell not to go through with the porno-date night.
“Of course, you’ve won the battle, not the war.” Patton shrugged and turned back to sifting through the rows of cotton, lace, and leather. “The war takes place tonight, and your opponent has a much higher shock factor than the average male. You better keep that in mind given you’re walking into your own funeral.”
“It’s not going to be a funeral.” Hailey rolled her eyes. “It’s going to be sex, Patton. Just plain sex.”
“Hmm.”
“What’s that mean?” Hailey paused to glare at Patton before imitating. “Hmm?”
“I’m just thinking.” Patton paused to consider a green and blue silk teddy. “I mean, Kyle has to know this will upset Cole, and he agreed anyway. Kind of like he did before.”
Hailey closed her eyes knowing just where Patton headed with that thought. As nice a trip as it would be to take, it would be a fantasy because Kyle hadn’t really forsaken Cole. “It’s nothing, Patton.”
“Nothing but betraying his best friend a second time for you.” Patton’s gaze rolled into her with a pointed accusation.
“It’s nothing, Patton.”
Patton didn’t jump into the argument Hailey’s tone prodded for, but continued on down the racks. “It’s been nothing for a whole week. Every time I call who are you with? Morning, night, lunch, dinner, and breakfast who are you with? Oh, Cole and Kyle.”
Hailey groaned, hating the way her friend dragged out her smug observations. “Get to the point, Patton.”
“Well.” Patton released a panty and bra set to swing back into line as she turned on Hailey. “I guess when you called this afternoon, I figure you’d come over here for dinner and tell me that you wanted to call the game off.”
“Why would I do that?” Haley scowled in honest confusion. The game was going to save her from making the biggest mistake of her life. It was her safety net.
“I don’t know.” Patton shrugged. “Maybe because you’re falling for them?”
“You think I’m falling in love with them?”
Hailey gasped, taking a step back from the big, smug smile spreading across her friend’s face.
“Yeah.”
Hailey almost laughed at Patton’s confident response. “Are you insane? Fall in love with Kyle Harding and Cole Jackson? If you honestly believe that then you should be calling the loony doctors because I need to be locked up for my own protection because what fool falls in love with men like them?”
“You do.”
The quick, calm response had Hailey sobering up. Attempting to impress Patton with the truth, Hailey walked up to meet her scowl to grin. “Okay. First off, I’m not falling in love with Kyle or Cole. Second, I’m spending so much time with them because that’s part of the plan.”
Patton’s brow arched. “And that’s all?”
“That’s all.” Hailey held firm.
“And sleeping with Kyle?”
“Just part of the plan.”
Pausing to consider that, Patton’s grin faded. “So you still want to go through with the plan.”
“Absolutely.”
“Even if that means that Cole and Kitty might hit it off and end up in bed. That wouldn’t bother you in the slightest.”
Hailey couldn’t answer that one, and she knew Patton had her. So, she cared. It didn’t change who or what Cole was. If Cole was a cheater, then Kitty Anne was a just a placeholder. Take her out of line and another woman would step up to fill Kitty’s role.
“Yeah,” Patton nodded. “That’s what I thought.”
“It’s Cole’s decision to make, Patton. I might be the one putting the offer on the table now, but someday some other woman will make him the same offer.”
“And you just need to know that he isn’t going to make the same decision as your father, right?” Patton finished for her before snorting. Shaking her head, she glared at Hailey. “This game isn’t supposed to be a test, Hailey. You can’t test men like that.”
“I’m not testing Cole.” Hailey snapped. “I already know his answer.
That’s why I’m not falling in love with him. Do you think I’d be that dumb?”
“I don’t think brains has anything to do with it. You fall in love with your heart.”
“I’m not in love with Cole.” Hailey repeated it slowly, clearly, assuring Patton could not misunderstand a single syllable. “I’m not even falling in love with Cole.”
“Hmm,” Patton sighed and finally let it go, sort of. Turning back to the racks, she began rummaging through them again before letting her next bomb slip. “Let’s just hope he isn’t, either.”
“What do you mean by that?” Hailey’s head felt ready to pop, Patton drove her so far up the wall.
“It’s just, what if he doesn’t lose? What if you’re wrong and he chooses you over the car? You are going to owe that man a whole night, his way, and I’m not sure you’re ready for that or that you would ever be if you’re not in love with the man. I mean, seriously, Hailey, I’ve read Cole’s Cattleman file and you—”
Hailey couldn’t help the curiosity that piqued at that. “You looked at Cole’s file? I thought Chase put down a serious threat if you broke into the Cattleman’s database again.”
Shooting her back a smug smile, Patton fairly glowed. “Like that would stop me. Seriously, if those men think that punishing me is some kind of deterrent, then they shouldn’t make it feel so good.”
“Never mind,” Hailey cut her off before Patton could go any further down that road of thought. “I don’t want to know.”
“Well, first they have to catch me, and then I’ll just call it taking one for the team. Because, trust me, it was thick and it was juicy.”
The knot in Hailey’s gut tingled to life as threads of pure excitement snarled in with the dread she’d been carrying the last few minutes. Like being tempted with a peek of the fate she’d be coming dangerously close to within hours, Hailey waited as long as she could for Patton to continue.
“Well?”
“They call him the Denier. He’s a legend for toying with women for hours and never letting them come once.”
“Hours?” Hailey swallowed.
Hailey's Game Page 21
