by AE Rought
Great. Just what I need. The man-eating shark is here. Slade resisted the urge to check for open wounds and blood flow. Rolling his eyes, he took the shot glass from the tray while Suzy distributed the plates and Adelle forced her butt onto his bench. She smiled at him, her bright absinthe eye shadow sparkling above her venomous green irises. He gave her a lop-sided smirk and quaffed the amber liquor. “Thanks for the shot.”
“My pleasure.” Her smile reminded him of a cartoon shark’s toothy grin. She leaned closer to Slade, the line of her buttons performing shiatsu massage on his arm. “You looked like you could use another drink.”
Damn this alcohol. And damn you too, Adelle. “You always knew when I was hurting. Too bad you learned the lesson by firsthand experience of causing the pain.”
“Oohh.” She batted her eyelashes. “Point taken. I wasn’t always good to you, and I’m awful sorry.”
Nope, not listening to this crap again. Kally’s right about “sorry”. It loses its meaning after a while. Slade redirected the conversation. “So, where’s Tom?”
She didn’t even blink. “We broke up a few days ago.”
Convenient coincidence right after Kally left. Too bad the shots were kicking his ass and he couldn’t keep his tongue. “Right after Kally left for Gillette.”
Her bottom lip sank, perfectly mocking of a sympathetic expression. The denim of his jacket buffered her patting his arm. “So I heard. When is she coming back? Will she be around for Christmas?”
Adelle’s questions drove like a dagger into Slade’s heart. Christmas…the ring… His cheeks were flushed with a bourbon blush, but he still felt the warmth of his tear. Holding his face like she used to, Adelle wiped his tear away with her thumb.
“Y’know, I ran into Kally in Gillette. She was sitting with some fancy pants accountant. Looked pretty comfortable too.”
She should’ve just ripped his heart out and thrown it on the floor. It would have been less painful.
The raucous set of music died, and a tear-in-my-beer love song poured from the speakers and into his chest. Her hand slid along his jaw line, across his shoulder and down to his elbow, which she tugged toward her. “How about a dance, cowboy? Maybe we can take your mind off’n your hurt.”
Against his better judgment, he nodded and excused himself from the table. Shock sat on every line of Red’s face when he spoke. “I’ll be here.”
Adelle wove into his arms, pressing her curves against every sensitive point he had. She wasn’t Kally, but the bourbon lied and told him it was okay to hold her. Slade’s arm rode the small of her back. His other hand curled over her shoulder when his face tipped down close to hers. Adelle’s curves were fuller, familiar in his embrace and smelled oddly floral. The heartache and alcohol nudged him down a reminiscent path and he lost himself in her voice humming in his ear, her hand stroking his body, grazing his belt line.
The moment the music died, he snapped back to his senses. He pulled away, enough for the greedy woman to paste her lips on his and grab the back of his head.
Surprise morphed into anger. Slade cupped her face in his hands and wrenched her lips from his. He seethed and the hot emotion rose through him and out of his mouth. “How dare you?” Her smile faded. “You’re taking advantage of my weak moment. What did you think would happen? I’d pony up and be your pocket boy? Did you think you’d wiggle your way back into my heart as easily as you did my arms?” He pushed her away, fished a five-dollar bill out of his pocket and threw it at her feet. “Pay for the shot and keep the change. It’s all you’re worth to me.”
Adelle’s face sagged tears welled up in her eyes. She balled her fists and stomped her foot. “To hell with you, Slade Carlson!”
“I’m already in hell. You just keep turning up the heat.”
He turned on his boot heel and tromped to the table where Red sat with their meals in boxes, ready to go. “I’m sorry, Red. I just can’t do this. Can’t take being in the same building with…her.”
“Not a problem.” Baxter worked his way free from the bench, tossed money on the table and handed Slade his meal. “I had high hopes she would leave well enough alone, but the sniper had her sights set on you.”
Slade straightened his coat and hat but wobbled on his feet. “If she ever picks up a gun, we’re all in trouble!”
“Agreed. What an interesting call for the P.D. to run.” He stepped even with Slade. “Why don’t you let me drive you home? You slammed a couple shots more than me…”
The officer in Slade spoke up, agreeing with Red’s suggestion. He didn’t want to be another drunk driver on the roads. Even if he felt fine, he knew the effects a few shots of alcohol had on a person. Letting go of the reins, letting someone else take control was hard. Smart, but difficult.
He nodded and led the way through the bar. Adelle, Suzy and Cissy gathered in a tight knot at the waitress station, locked in conversation. He heard his name, a bit too loudly, Adelle was smiling and Cissy held a phone while she watched him walk up. A muscle along his jaw ticked, his shoulders tightened, and when he walked past Cissy Rawlings—an active agent of the Gossip Chain on her cell phone—Slade took the phone from her hand and snapped it shut. “You are not going to spread vicious rumors while I’m within earshot.”
Yaps and growls similar to a pack of ankle-biting dogs rose from the women, and he suddenly understood Kally and Ilene’s long running joke about sled dogs. He tossed the phone back to Cissy. “On second thought, gossip away. Tell everybody you know Slade Carlson is gonna get his girl.”
The two men walked out, and Red slammed the door behind them. The cold air woke Slade up enough to realize he wasn’t in any shape to drive. Skittering across the slippery lot, Slade locked up his truck and then piled into the front seat of Red’s Rodeo. Red’s door complained against the cold air and forced movement. Once he clambered in he slammed it again. “Easy on the door, Red.”
“Sometimes you have to be a little…insistent. Even though it complains, I make it understand.” He gave Slade a curious expression, one eyebrow raised, and Slade got the impression Red had meant much more than he said.
Slade stewed over the implications of Red’s pointedly vague comment until the Rodeo pulled to a stop at the front door of the Fourth Moon. Looking at the carpentry shed, the place where Kally had poured out her heart to him, he finally understood. Kally might’ve complained about his actions and left because of them, but it was high time he made her understand why he tracked down Stransberg’s police record. In his heart, he was sorry for hurting her, for not telling her. They needed to get past it and come back together, or the future would be miserable for them both.
Red caught his nod of understanding. His long time friend steadied his shoulder when he opened the vehicle door. “Go on. Make her understand.”
“I’m damn sure gonna try.”
“Don’t try, man, do it.” Red waved after Slade eased the door closed.
Monday morning came, heralded by a knock on his bedroom door. He yawned, and the motion set his brain to pounding. Rolling over with his hands on his head, he could empathize with bourbon-induced misery Kally had suffered after their night out. The sour mash had kicked his ass last night, and that aftermath knocked his butt up around his ears this morning. The knock came again, through the door and into his skull. “Gimme a minute, please…”
Slade tumbled to the floor and staggered to the closet where he rustled up some thick flannel pants. He pulled them on over his naked behind and scuffed his feet into sweat socks while he walked to the doorway. The brass knob was cold when he opened the door, but Rosie’s smile was broad and warm on the other side of the door. Her voice had a sonorous tone. “Phone for you.”
“All right.” He hitched his pants, adjusted the tie. “I’ll be right down.”
She leaned closer, her eyes sparkling. “It’s Kally. Don’t keep her waiting…”
Hell with getting a shirt! Slade hurried out, leaving the door open wide while he hurried down the
stairs and passed the normal Monday morning workers and timeshares. He mumbled a good morning or two before slipping into the office and shutting the door behind. An accent lamp sat atop a cabinet in the corner, giving the room a deep shadowed appearance. His heart was in his throat when he picked up the phone and he had to swallow twice to get his voice back. “Hello? Kally?”
“Hi, Slade.” Her voice was softer than the light of dawn coming through the window, and somehow sad. “How are things at the Fourth Moon? God knows I miss the ranch.”
“Things are always busy here, with the feeding, the preparations for the cattle drive, and…” Stop blathering. “Things are lonely here without you.”
“How can you be lonely with all the timeshares? I bet Rosie hasn’t let a day go by without mothering you.”
“You’re right. Everyday, there’s Rosie, trying to nag me into being happy. Okay, enough about the ranch and me. How are you?” I miss you. I want you home, here with me.
She was quiet a moment longer than was comfortable for him, but the entire conversation was stiff and awkward to this point. “I’ve been better. Sleep doesn’t come very easy on Ilene’s sofa, and her dog Tinker has taken a special liking to sticking her tail in my face to wipe away any rapid eye movement she senses.” She paused, heaved a heavy sigh and then sipped something Slade was certain was strong coffee. “I’ve tried to fit in here, tried the whole girly thing. Ilene’s friend even offered me a job in her salon.” He heard the shaky breath she drew in. “I’m just not meant for this. I miss you. I miss the ranch.”
“Then come home, girl. Whatever problems I’ve caused, we can deal with here.”
“I’m thinking about it, Slade. I really am. The reason I left bothers me less than being away from you.”
He wanted to reach out and hold her, bathe her in kisses, make her understand why he had done what he did. It was impossible with her so far away. “Kally, girl, come on, let’s work this out together.”
“Please just don’t rush me. I’m not sure if I’m ready yet. I need this to be by my choice. I left and want to come home because it’s what I need to do. If that makes any sense…” She sipped her coffee again. “God, I’m tired, I feel like I’m rambling and I’m scared.”
“Scared? What’s scaring you? Do you need me to come there?”
“No, no. Stay there. Steve is calling an attorney today anyway. What’s done is done and it happened far away.”
“Kally, what’s going on? You’re talking in puzzles.”
“Ilene’s mother still lives in Michigan, and she called here Saturday morning. She said she was harassed by a private investigator about Ilene’s friendship with me. He put a copy of our high school yearbook on the table, so there was no denying we were in school together, but she didn’t say anything more. And he made allusions about his client being impatient and forceful. There’s only one person who would dig into my past and fits the description.”
“Stransberg.”
“Yes, he’s on my trail and will soon figure out I’m with Ilene.”
Slade didn’t know what to say. If Kally was at the ranch, he’d do anything to protect her. She was vulnerable with the Rogers. He drew in a deep breath. “Kally, I don’t want to push. I really think you should consider coming back to the ranch. No one in Michigan but your sister knows you’re out here. I don’t want anything to happen to you after all you’ve been through.”
“Me either.” She sighed. “Look, Slade. I’m going to get off the phone now. I need some time to think.”
“All right.” He hated hanging up the phone, but she left him with few alternatives. “Call me if anything happens, okay?”
“You will be the first. Goodbye, Slade.”
“Bye, Kally.”
He hung up the phone and lost his appetite for breakfast. The woman he loved was in danger and wouldn’t allow him to help, to protect her. The office door shut loudly behind him on his way to examine the guns his father had hidden in strategic locations on the first floor. He checked the barrels, triggers, magazines. It was better to have the firearms and not need them than to need them and not have them.
Rosie caught up with him at the front door. Her eyes were wide with concern. “Is everything okay?”
“Not really, Rosie. Kally’s trouble is sniffing out her trail, and she won’t come home.”
“Well, boy, if you need us, you just ring your mother’s bell. Every rancher around will be here to protect you and her.”
“She isn’t here.”
“Not yet. And when she arrives you love her with everything you have.”
“Yes, ma’am, I promise.”
Rosie patted him on the shoulder and headed off to the mailbox on the main road while Slade bundled up and headed out to care for the animals of the Fourth Moon.
Kally’s call had thrown his normal Monday routine a serious curve, and though he completed his daily tasks, Slade’s mind was on Kally the entire time. He fed and curried the horses with Kally’s bloody, muddy broken doll face in his mind. He knew some of those injuries hadn’t been from her car accident. He thought of her vulnerable side, the one she had shown only to him and Ilene, while George assisted him with feeding and watering the cattle. He contemplated what possible move they could make to stop an investigation of public records while he drove back from the cattle pen. And when he collapsed in front of the Christmas tree and stared into the dance of the flames in the fireplace, he dreamt of bringing her home and never letting her go again.
Slade and Kally: Letting Go of the Reins, Book 1
Chapter Nineteen
The attorney Steve contacted offered us little, considering the Michigan P.I. had had the entire weekend to do his dirty work. He ended his consultation by recommending Steve contact local law enforcement, explain the matter and ask for stepped up patrols in their area. It was cold comfort in comparison to a hot fire in the Fourth Moon’s hearth and Slade’s arms around me.
After speaking with Slade, I knew he was waiting for me to come back home, wanting to work things out. I’d melted when he said, “Come home, girl. Whatever problems I’ve caused we can deal with here.”
Were those his true feelings, or was he saying what he thought I had wanted to hear? I had dealt with the same behavior already in my life. There was bound to be anger in him somewhere. I’d learned from experience anger led elsewhere. In Matt, anger had led to violence against me, and I’d dealt with too much pain born of anger for one lifetime. Heart and mind conflicted, I twined my fingers in the fringe of a blanket, my foot on the windowsill to hold the curtains back and give me an unobstructed view of the skyline. Tinker’s high-pitched bark jarred me from my musing. “What’s up, fuzzball?”
Of course the Pom didn’t answer. She put her front feet on my knee and bounced up and down like a toddler wanting to be picked up. I scooped her into my arms and deposited her on my lap. After a few circular paths, she settled down. The Pomeranian was small, nearly cat-like in size, but the fur, muzzle and big round eyes were far from feline. Still I stroked her back, thankful for a bit of quiet companionship.
Ilene emerged from the kitchen where I’d heard her repeatedly cussing the roast. The yellow checked apron was a comical effect. She looked domesticated, such a mini-Sue, but her quizzical expression made me giggle. “Oh, hun, are you okay? You’re petting the dog for God’s sake.”
“Desperate times call for desperate measures.” I forced a smile. “Speaking of desperate, how are things going in there?”
She waved an oven mitt at a plume of gray smoke. “Umm…how do you feel about pizza?”
“Again?”
The fire alarm screeched. We both laughed, and then Ilene dialed Steve at work and asked him to pick up a pizza on his way home. She took the charred remains of the beef roast from the oven and set it out in the garage where the smoking carcass wouldn’t set off the fire alarms again. Taking off her apron, she left the scene of the crime and settled on the sofa. “Okay, Kally, I think it’s time to sh
it or get off the pot. Either you love the guy and you go back to him and make it work, or you can’t get past the problem and make a go of it without him.”
“Well, so much for broaching the subject gently.” I knew it was time to make a decision. I just didn’t want it to be the wrong one.
“It’s time for straight talk.” Ilene crossed her arms, an “I’m dead serious” expression on her face. “You can’t hang in limbo forever. It’s not good for you or him.”
I sighed, my gaze falling to the small peachy dog on my lap. “I know.”
“You know what?”
I didn’t answer. I petted the dog instead while the storm I’d been avoiding raged within. Go back, or stay and lose the man I loved more than any other.
“Kally, look at me.” I dragged my gaze back to hers. Inside, I stood on the edge of a great precipice—stay alone, or surrender to love? “Kally Jensen! What do you know?”
She cornered me, and with no place to hide in a house not my home, the truth came pouring out. “I know I love him. I know I can’t stand being away from him. What I don’t know is if he still loves me.”
She shook her head. “Honey, a man like Slade isn’t going to give his heart away and then ask for it back when things get rocky.”
I didn’t reply. Tears burned my eyes, and the only things holding my bottom lip in place were my top teeth. Turning the armchair, I looked at Ilene and fought sobs. “Come on, honey, I’ll help you pack.” She stood and held out her hand. “After you’ve had a good cry, you can go and call him.”
Together, we dragged my bags from the living room closet and packed everything, leaving out what I would need over the next day or two. No matter how my heart pounded or my body yearned to be in Slade’s arms, I wasn’t going to ask Ilene to drive me back to Hulett in the middle of the night. A few changes of clothes and a toiletry bag sat atop of the rest of the luggage, which we shoved into the corner underneath the computer desk.
Steve had arrived with two pizzas stacked precariously in one hand when we returned to the kitchen. Over dinner we discussed my talk with Slade, the decision Ilene helped me to make and then we talked over how to get me home to Hulett. Steve had the best solution. “Take the spare Jeep. It’s under the tarp in the garage. It runs fine, Ilene just wanted a newer model.”
