“Is that right?” For as bored as she looked, Cole could hear the slight vibration of tension in her voice.
“It is.” Sauntering off to slouch into the one little chair tucked in along the far wall, Cole relaxed back. “You see, I know we agreed to this show and tell. You tie me up, and then I give you a taste of the same medicine, but for my money I figured I’d like this to be a little more exciting.”
Worry flashed through her eyes and straightened up. “We already settled on our terms, Mr. Jackson and our price.”
“Ah, don’t sweat that, darlin’. I renegotiated with the clerk at the counter.” Cole paused to let Kitty Anne consider the ramifications of that before prodding her. “She does, after all, run this little motel, right?”
“She might represent the owners, but we all work here on a freelance basis, Mr. Jackson. She can’t speak for me when it comes to services and pricing.”
She’d regret that line if she didn’t fold on it in the next moment or two. “No? So you mean the fact that I paid for three pussies don’t mean I’m going to get them?”
Disgust pinched in Kitty Anne’s features, making Cole’s grin just grow bigger. “No, but it doesn’t guarantee you mine. If you're that interested in an orgy, I’m sure Robin can handle that for you.”
“Robin?” Cole scowled in mock confusion. “I didn’t come here to play with any Robin, I came to play with a Kitty.”
Not amused or relaxed, Kitty closed her robe for all the good it did. “Robin handles the room assignments. Vanessa made a mistake when she implied this one was a double occupancy.”
“Triple,” Cole corrected right before a knock echoed through the motel’s hollow door. “Ah, and here are the reinforcements.”
Before she could object, Cole hopped out of his seat to go open the door for the two women in matching maid outfits. Just as he ordered, one was a red-head and one was an African queen meant to bring a man to his knees.
“You requested extra services, sir?” The red head asked him that as she brushed past, carrying a load of towels with her.
“I did indeed.” Cole nodded, letting both ladies past so he could shut the door and enjoy the sight. “And I must say, I am quite pleased with the offering.”
“We aim to satisfy.” And they didn’t wait because Cole had an arm full of woman on either side of him the second the door clicked closed.
“Well now, ladies, I’m going to have to ask you to take a step over to that bed and make yourselves comfortable.”
Every hooker in the world knew that code, but Cole didn’t bother to watch the show as the two women moved off, stripping out of their clothes. Instead, he focused his smirk on Kitty’s outraged face.
“See, Kitty, I was thinking we could kind of have ourselves a competition. You pick your lady and I’ll pick mine, and we’ll see who gives the best orgasms.”
“You're disgusting,” Kitty spat, unable to keep to her role. “And I’m not taking part in any of this.”
Just as planned, that refusal sparked an argument between the two other whores, who didn’t want to see a good night's wage flushed down the toilet. It didn’t even take the women five minutes to call the Madame herself. All Cole had to do was settle down and let the spying eye on his belt buckle play back the scene to the men in blue.
Sure enough, Robin appeared at the door, and Cole had to admit she kind of surprised him. Looking more like a soccer mom with her blonde hair cut into a boy’s bob, the whore house master lit into her troops. It took her maybe a minute to incriminate herself once the door closed behind her.
Given the cat fight brawling in front of him between Kitty Anne and Robin, it kind of disappointed Cole when the police rolled over the little motel like a tsunami. Everything snapped so fast he didn’t know which came first, hearing the roar of voices shouting, “Police, open up”, or hearing the crash of doors being blown out all around.
What came next muddled the moment even more as women screamed, men shouted, and suddenly Cole’s face was pressing way too deep into the shag carpeting. He didn’t have to get arrested, but he’d asked to. Still, he hadn’t really been prepared to be shoved around, arms wrenched behind his back, guns aimed at him, and then being lifted and dragged like a piece of meat to be pushed into the back of a paddy wagon along with a whole bunch of other men.
It took only a few minutes for him to go from being comfortably seated to being cramped on a metal bench with his fist pressed into his ass. At least he had his clothes on, Cole smirked to himself, more than comfortable with the moment since he knew it was all for show.
* * * *
Eight thirteen. Hailey stared at the clock trying to feel the number. Eight thirteen, an hour and thirteen minutes had passed since the official end of her relationship with Cole and Kyle. After three hours of consuming nearly a dozen cookies and half pound of batter, the only thing Hailey felt in that moment was bloated.
She certainly didn’t feel like a woman whose heart had broken, but it should have. Her brain reasoned it through almost every second of the way. This was the moment Cole would be smiling at Kitty Anne and then that was the moment she’d kiss him. All of it went noted and ignored by her heart that just blatantly refused to notice anything more than it was eight fourteen and she was getting kind of bored of watching TV with Patton.
Maybe it was time for her to go home, sit in her own house, and stare at her own clock. Then she could wait for what she’d been waiting for all night—the call. Somebody had to call, Rachel, Cole, Kyle, at some point one of them would call and then maybe, just maybe, her heart would begin to understand.
A flash of headlights through the den window broke the silence between her and Patton as Patton glanced up from the movie she’d been watching. “I think Chase, Slade and Devin just got home.”
Hailey followed Patton’s lift off the couch, but stretched instead of going to peer out the blinds. “I guess that means my ride is here, huh?”
“I could have given you a lift home.” Patton let the blinds snap closed as she glanced back at Hailey. “But are you sure you want to go home? All alone?”
Hailey smiled, about to tell Patton it would be better than staying here, listening to Patton and her men enjoy themselves. The ringing of her phone cut off her comeback. The little cell started vibrating on her hip, and finally her heart sank.
Forgetting all about Patton and paying little attention to the pounding quaking across the floors as the Davis brothers came up the porch steps, Hailey sank down as she stared at the number flashing on the cell’s screen.
Bavis. She hadn’t expected him to call. “Hello?”
“Hello, Miss Mathews.” Bavis’s words sounded like they caught on either a cough or a chuckle. The difference was hard to tell in the old man’s gravelly voice. “I wanted to be the first to congratulate you.”
“Congratulate?” In a reversal, her heart began functioning, understanding all too clearly the implications of that word. Now it was her brain that flat-lined, appearing unable to understand the obvious.
“I admit I added on something special for your friend Rachel’s story, and it was spectacular.” Definitely laughing, Bavis did end up hacking over the sound and giving Hailey a moment to digest that.
“What did you do?”
Clearing his throat, it took the old man’s breathing a moment to stable out and let him answer. “Cole’s been arrested.”
Heart, head, time, everything just stopped with that revelation. “No.”
“Oh, yeah. I just had me a nice talk with him in his cell. I have to give it to you, Miss Mathews, you got that boy so wrapped up he just plum out wouldn’t believe you had anything to do with this.”
His words twisted the knife slowly deeper into her gut, holding her paralyzed with pain as he gloated on. “I’m having the Fastback dropped off as we speak because I know he’s going to come looking for it.”
“No.” She said it too softly, too much to herself for Bavis to even bother to recognize that s
he made a sound.
“Enjoy the car, Miss Mathews. You earned it.”
Before she could repeat her objection, the line went dead, leaving Hailey sitting there, holding her phone and feeling nothing at all. It felt like she’d been sucked into a vacuum cleaner and the whole world existed some distance from her. The sounds of the Davis brothers, the commotion of their entry, everything felt disconnected as she stared down at her phone.
Cole had been arrested.
That changed everything. What could have been pawned off as a joke gone too far had just turned into a disaster for which Cole would have every right to seek justice.
“Hailey?” Slade’s hand folding over hers to close the cell phone in her grip brought her focus to the man settling into the couch beside her. “You okay?”
“No.” She answered honestly without thought.
“Wanna talk about it?”
“No.” That time she managed to answer with some real emotion—horror at the thought.
“Well, then how about I take you home?” Slade’s head dipped so he could catch her gaze. “You look like you could do with some sleep.”
She could, but Hailey didn’t think she’d find any tonight. Being at home, alone, didn’t actually sound like a good idea given Cole would be released from jail sometime tonight and Kyle was out there freewheeling around. All those thoughts came to her but didn’t actually transmit into action as she allowed Slade to help her up and escort her to the door.
Still caught somewhere in the trance of shock at Bavis’s stunning phone call, she didn’t do anything but follow as Slade led her out of the den and through the living room. They cleared the porch and just started down the path when Patton’s sudden holler echoed out of the house behind her.
The high pitched words came out muffled and almost inaudible, but Hailey ears caught on what she thought she heard. It’s a set up. Her feet stumbled over her steps as her mind tried to figure that message out. Slade dragged her along, not even appearing to notice Patton’s screams or the way they just suddenly stopped.
“Slade?” Hailey didn’t know what she wanted to ask him, but confusion clouded her mind.
It didn’t his, and he brought her to a stop by his truck without even recognizing she’d spoken. Opening the door, he stepped back to offer her a hand up. “Here you go.”
“I don’t think I want to—”
“Here you go.” He repeated himself but this time latched on to her waist. Before Hailey could figure out his intent, Slade boosted her into the seat before slamming the door.
Hailey might have objected. She might have jumped back out and gone storming in the house to find out what Patton yelled. She might have done a lot of things right then if fate hadn’t conspired against her and lit her phone back up. Worse than Cole or Kyle, the number that flashed across her screen had her going cold.
“You gonna answer that?” Slade asked as he slid up behind the wheel.
Hailey couldn’t. She couldn’t do more than stare at the phone, tracking it as Slade picked it out of her hand and answered it for her.
“Hey, Brett. What’s up, man?” Pulling his seat belt on, starting the engine, Slade chatted it up with her older brother, pinching the phone between his ear and shoulder. “Yeah? I hear we are going to be throwing a welcome home party in the coming week…Yeah, actually she’s right here…Nah, man, she’s just having a rough night. One of the guys she’s involved with just got arrested at whore house and—”
The scream that bled her own ears shrieked out of her with such violence the truck actual swerved down the drive as Slade flinched in reaction. His fumble gave her the second she needed to rip the phone out of his hands and rush to reassure her brother.
“He’s only kidding, Brett.”
“He better damn be,” Brett shot back, obviously believing her.
“He is. I’m not even dating anybody right now.”
That lie popped out of her from force of habit. Since she’d been a teenager, it had always been better if her brothers didn’t know about her personal affairs. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t even require them to be nosey to find out the truth this time. All it would require was them finally getting home.
“When are you going to be home?”
Bret didn’t answer her sudden question, but attacked it. “Why you asking that now? I want to know about this man you’ve been dating, and don’t think I didn’t take note of Slade’s comment. He said one of the guys, which means you got more than one bothering you, and I want names. Now.”
“Don’t take that tone with me, Brett.” She might have made a complete disaster of her love life, but Hailey knew Brett’s involvement would only make it worse.
“I’m not taking any—”
“Hey, Kiddo.” Mike must have jerked the phone away from Brett because her other brother’s cheerful voice sang across the line with his normal good humor.
“Hey, Mike.”
“Why you picking a fight with Brett? Huh, Kiddo?”
Happier he might be, but Mike always agreed with Brett, and he liked to throw just as many punches. He just threw them with a grin on. “I’m not picking a fight with Brett. He’s picking one with me.”
She could hear Brett yelling in the background. His voice fading away as Mike obviously moved away from his irate twin. “Now, you know Brett just loves you to pieces and wants you to be happy, so I’m betting you aren’t happy if he’s upset.”
That twisted bit of logic could only come from an older brother. It had the usual benefit of making her so frustrated she didn’t know how to respond with anything other than a snarled, “I am happy.”
“Well, see, you don’t sound happy.”
“That’s because you’re annoying me.”
“And that’s it?”
“That’s it.”
“Because you know I can always make a call or two and—”
“Fine.” Hailey had enough. If Mike wanted to hear it she’d give it to him. “I was dating this guy and his best friend, but then he just got arrested tonight at a whore house, so the wedding’s off and I’m not really in the mood to hear about what you think of all of this.”
“You were dating two best friends?” Mike didn’t sound so happy now.
“It’s over, Mike. O.V.E.R. Over. So, I don’t want to hear any more about it.”
Silence greeted her, and Hailey wished her brother stood before her so she glare back at the stare he no doubt drilled into something through those moments. Finally, when he did respond, his tone came out tight and crisp, more like the military commander he’d been trained to be than the big brother he’d always been.
“It’s going to stay over, Hailey.”
Normally, she’d have told him to kiss her ass, but right then she had no problem agreeing with him. “Don’t worry, Mike. The only reason I’d ever see them again is if they forced me to endure their presence.”
That wasn’t really true, but Hailey knew better than to tell her brother exactly who was at fault for her boyfriend being arrested. They’d figure out those details soon enough, which made Hailey suddenly consider the virtues of taking a sudden vacation.
“And we’re going to be having a long talk just as soon as we get back into town.”
She had no doubt, but if she wanted to take a spontaneous vacation, timing would be everything. “And just when are you arriving in town?”
“Maybe we should just leave that at soon.”
The conversation went downhill from there. Slade didn’t even defend himself, just grinned as if he knew something she didn’t. It made her suspicious and nervous as he pulled into her drive.
Slade didn’t help her anxious state when, instead of getting out to escort her to the door, he just beeped his horn and backed out the second after she shut the passenger side door. Never before had any of the Davis brothers left her standing in her dark driveway as they drove off. Hailey just watched Slade’s taillights disappear in absolute amazement.
He’d left he
r, left her out in the dark where anybody could be hiding. Swallowing as that thought occurred to her, Hailey’s eyes started darting over the shadows. It was impossible to miss the biggest shadow filling out the driveway. The Fastback. Bavis must have had it delivered before he called her because there was no way it had been towed here in the past half hour.
It didn’t matter when it had come. What mattered was she needed to get it out of her drive. Carefully, quickly, keeping an alert eye out, Hailey unlocked the garage. Turning on the light reminded her of another grim fact. Her Studebaker was still parked over at Cole and Kyle’s.
No way to get out of town fast without a set of wheels, and Hailey wasn’t dumb enough to go within a mile of their place—not tonight. That meant instead of fleeing, she had to bunker down. This would be the last time she stepped out of her house until she knew she was safe.
Rushing through her chores, she covered the Fastback with a tarp, failing to get it to budge into her garage. She picked up all the hidden rocks that held keys, double checked every window and even latched her doors. Even the idea of turning on a light and letting anybody outside know where she was inside seemed like a risk in that moment.
Between Cole’s arrest, Patton’s warning, Slade running off on her, and her brothers’ call, Hailey knew something was coming. She just didn’t know what, or who. Hunkering down in her bedroom, she took up a vigil, waiting for whoever showed.
Chapter 39
Hailey woke with a start, unsure of what snapped her from sweet oblivion back into a world flooded with sunlight. Cramped and stiff, she still wore the same clothes from last night. That fact put everything back into focus. She tensed as she again looked for the sound that woke her.
Straining to hear, the only thing that echoed around her was the silence. Still, she had to check out every room, double check every window, peer out them before pulling the blinds back down. By the time she circled back to her room, Hailey told herself she could relax, everything was fine.
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