I stood, intending to follow Sawyer and speak with him. I had yet to confide in him about Chick’s secret, but I knew I would need his help. Besides, there were other issues to discuss before we retired for the night and the words exchanged between us became those sighed over our naked bodies.
Aiken stood when I did, though, and moved close enough that his legs brushed my skirts. I was wearing Chick’s dress again, and I was acutely aware of the tight, swooping neck and all the bare skin above it. I knew Aiken was, too.
“You sure smell sweet, Ella. Must be all them winnings. What you going to do with them?”
“That’s none of your concern, Mr. Tate.”
“Oh, but it is. I think you’ve got something up your sleeves, or maybe down here.” He ran his finger over the neckline of the dress, touching the tops of my breasts in a slow, unnerving stroke. I slapped his hand and took a step away. He followed, standing too close. Sawyer was still in the other room and I was alone with Aiken. I tried to keep my wits about me. It wouldn’t do to show this man fear.
“The Captain will not like your touching me any more than I do, Mr. Tate. Please keep your hands to yourself.”
I heard the rustle and thump as Sawyer moved some heavy object—a sound I heard each night when he put up the money he’d made. I knew Aiken heard it, too, and had surmised that Sawyer was hiding his profits in the store room. This was something else I planned to discuss with him.
“Sounds like the Captain got a little hidey-hole back there,” he said, smiling. “How about you girl? You got yourself a hidey-hole? You think you’re smart enough to keep it from me?” He reached for me again, this time skimming his hand up my chest to my throat. I had only a second to guess his intentions and then his fingers were tightening, blocking off my scream before it could escape.
“I know you’re thinking you can force me out. I know you talk against me to the Captain at night when he’s fucking you. But ain’t no one makes me do what I don’t want. I’ll leave you for dead and won’t no one care. You hear me?”
I couldn’t move or speak to disagree. I could barely breathe and my fear worked against me, lodging in my constricted throat until I saw spots behind my eyes. I tried to pry his fingers away, but he was strong, much stronger than he looked, and he was furious.
“See, I know all about the Captain. I know what kind of man he is. You think he wants you forever? You think he’ll fight for you?” Aiken breathed in my ear. I felt his mouth against the skin there, and I shuddered with revulsion. “He won’t. He’s not a man to fight for what don’t come easy. You keep your legs spread and your mouth closed, he’ll keep you fine. You talk against me and my girls, and I’ll make you dead and he won’t do a thing about it.”
With that he shoved me away and started up the stairs. I leaned against the bar, breathing heavily, feeling his threat roll over me. He’d hit upon my uncertainties with deadly precision. Would Sawyer fight to defend me? Did he care more for the convenience of my body than he did who I was? If I told him about Chick and her baby, would he help us? Or turn us away? I realized the answer that formed in my head was more telling than anything. I didn’t really know what Sawyer would do.
I had only a moment to pull myself together. I looked in the mirror behind the bar. Only a slight red mark showed where Aiken had gripped my throat. I felt as if I should be black and blue, though.
Sawyer emerged and smiled when he saw me, gave me a playful spank.
“What are you thinking on so hard, Ella?”
I was thinking that I was out of time. That Chick had only a week or two before her condition would be visible to all. Already I could see the swell of her belly and the heaviness of her breasts. Had Aiken not been so busy tormenting me, I was sure he would have noticed by now. I wondered that the others hadn’t seen it, but then I knew how exhausted Athena was and how Chick took care to wear her loose gowns when she was with everyone else.
“I was thinking about banks, actually,” I said.
He laughed. “You thinking on a holdup?”
I forced a smile. “Not exactly. But I do think you’re asking to be robbed by stashing your money in the storeroom.”
He looked stunned for a moment, as if it hadn’t occurred to him that anyone noticed what he did each night. I was willing to wager that every one of the girls knew exactly where the money was kept. Yes, he locked it up, but locks could be broken.
“You need to put your profits in a bank, Sawyer, or you risk losing all of it.”
My legs still felt shaky, so I moved to a barstool and turned it so I faced him when I sat. Sawyer crossed to me and leaned one hand against the bar on either side of the stool. The position brought his face close to mine. I could see the flecks of gold and amber in the depths of his eyes, and I could smell the scent of soap on his skin. I wished he were my husband and this, our business that we would grow together. I wished there were no danger. I wished for a dream.
“You remember who I am?” he said softly, those beautiful eyes crinkled with a smile.
I remembered. He was an outlaw who’d robbed banks until his gang turned to murder.
“I don’t trust banks,” he said.
“Keeping your money here is like declaring the Diablo a repository. It’s foolish.”
He considered what I said.
“Maybe you’re right.”
I was surprised by his agreement, though we both knew I was right. I’d seen the desperate sort that came through our doors. There was no law out here. It would be only a matter of time before my words became prophesy.
He grinned at me then and scooped me off the chair into his arms. “You worry too much, Ella.”
Did I? Or was it that he didn’t worry enough? He carried me up to his room and closed the door. It seemed I couldn’t get enough of him nor he of me, but my thoughts tonight were too heavy. Did I dare tell him about Aiken’s threats? Did I dare not?
He sat down on the bed and pulled off his boots and shirt, looking at me quizzically when I simply hovered beside him instead of undressing. He tugged at my sleeve and raised his brows in question. “You going to sleep in that?”
I shook my head. “Sawyer, if I was in trouble, would you help me?”
“I’ve been doing that all along.”
The simple truth of it bolstered my courage. Yes, he had. But what I was about to ask was different and I knew it. “Yes, I know. But ...”
He looked at me. “But?”
“I’m afraid of Aiken,” I said at last. “He threatens me.”
Sawyer frowned. “Threatens you how?”
“He thinks I have plans that involve the women.”
“Do you?”
I kept my eyes cast down and didn’t answer. Sawyer took my chin in his hands and turned my face to his. “Do you?” he asked again.
My throat was dry, and it was difficult to swallow. At last, I nodded. “Chick is with child,” I said.
Sawyer’s eyes widened.
“She’s afraid when Aiken finds out he’ll try to do away with the baby.”
I told him about Aiken’s methods and the girl who had died because of them. It seemed once I began, I couldn’t stop. I told him about Honey and her sad tale and how the night I’d shot Lonnie Smith, Aiken had talked out of both sides of his mouth, telling the men to leave me alone and have me if they would at the same time.
“He’s a slave master,” I said in conclusion. “An evil one.”
Sawyer looked troubled by what I’d told him, but I knew before he spoke that his answer wouldn’t be what I hoped for.
“What Aiken does with his women, that’s his business. I’m sorry, but that’s how it is.”
“And what about me?”
“You stay out of his way and he’ll stay out of yours.”
“That’s all you have to say?”
“Ella, I told you once. I’m not their daddy. I’m not here to take care of them.”
“And me?”
“You’re different.”
>
“How, Sawyer? How am I different? Because I sleep with you? Go ask Honey or Chick or even Athena. Any one of them would take you to their beds.”
The words burned in my throat, but they were true. He narrowed his eyes at me as I stood before him, waiting for an answer. Waiting for him to say I was different because he loved me. Because we loved each other. But those words never came.
“They’re Aiken’s problem, not mine.”
“And what does that make me? Your problem?”
“Evidently,” he answered.
I knew he meant to tease, but my emotions were raw and I couldn’t take it that way. I was hurt and I was scared for my friends, scared for myself.
“I am sorry I’ve become such a burden,” I said stiffly.
He stood, forcing me to step back. His bare chest gleamed in the candlelight, and I knew his skin would feel like warm silk. I knew if I touched him now, if I slipped my hands around his waist and pulled him close, our argument would be over. Sawyer didn’t like to fight, and it was I who’d picked this battle. But I also knew that ending it would not include a resolution. I would be in the same state of distress as I’d begun.
Hands on his hips, he made a noise deep in his throat that sounded like a growl. “Become a burden?” he repeated angrily. “Lady, you’ve been nothing but trouble since the first time I set eyes on you.”
I inhaled sharply, willing my tears back. “You don’t know how much trouble I can be, Sawyer McCready. I will not see my friends tortured and used anymore. If it means I bring the sheriff here, then I will do that.”
Sawyer laughed out loud. “Good plan, but did you forget about Lonnie Smith?”
I hadn’t forgotten him, but I hadn’t been thinking about him when I’d made my empty threat. I’d only wanted to hurt Sawyer as he was hurting me.
“I can see we have nothing else to say,” I said.
“You’re wrong there, but I’ll let it go. Just stay out of Aiken’s business. I mean that.”
I lifted my chin. “I will be sure to stay out of yours, as well.”
He looked like he might argue, but then he turned his back on me. I bit the inside of my lip as I opened the door and left him alone.
***
I’d cried myself to sleep and awoke feeling angry and foolish. What had I expected of Sawyer? That he would don shining armor and rescue us all? My love for him was not conditional, so why had I forced him to make a choice between me and the others? I had vowed to help Chick and I would, but it was not fair that I force Sawyer into such an alliance. He’d invested so much of himself in the Diablo, how could I think he would risk it all?
It was early when I came downstairs. His bedroom door was open, his bed empty. I expected to find him having coffee at the bar or perhaps taking stock of supplies. But though I found an empty cup on a table, I saw no sign of Sawyer. I went to the kitchen where I knew Athena would be and asked if she’d seen him.
“He gone afore sunrise,” she told me. Her eyes were angry. Her eyes were always angry.
Had I not been so disappointed, I might have left then. But I wanted to know if he’d told her where he’d gone, and I knew she would keep it from me because she could.
“Why do you hate me, Athena?”
I thought my forthrightness would catch her off guard, but she didn’t miss a beat of the eggs in her giant bowl.
“You bring pain to my Chick.”
“I do no such thing.”
She narrowed her eyes. “You will. I see it.”
“You see it?”
“All the time I see trouble come our way and I don’t see no face. But you, I see you. I see you bring death.”
I was shaking my head, but she glared at me with dark certainty.
“You’re wrong. It’s not me that brings death. It’s Aiken.”
“It you.”
With that she turned her back and carried her bowl to the stove. There would be no more conversation. Still, I had to ask, “Do you know where Sawyer went?”
“To the bank,” she said, not turning.
My surprise couldn’t have been greater. I left the kitchen and hurried to the storeroom where he kept the money. The lock was still on the door so I couldn’t look inside, not that I would know where exactly he hid it, but I wanted confirmation that this was indeed where he’d gone. A dark feeling had gathered in my belly, and I knew that until I’d seen him and held him and apologized it wouldn’t go away.
I poured myself a cup of coffee and sipped it quietly while the girls meandered down the stairs. I braced myself for the moment when Aiken would appear, but he did not follow this morning. The anxiety I felt tightened.
When Meaira plopped down with that distant look about her, I asked, “Where is Aiken?”
“Don’t know. He said something about finding Jake Smith, though. Sure, and didn’t you make him madder than a priest in a whorehouse.” She hummed for a minute, distancing herself from the world with the simple sound. “You made him mad,” she repeated in a sort of singsong.
It took a long moment for her words to sink in, but once they did, I jumped to my feet. Did Aiken know where Sawyer had gone? What better opportunity to do away with me than when Sawyer was away. He knew that I was the reason behind Sawyer’s change of heart about their “partnership.”
“He’s bringing Jake here,” I said, though I’d heard her clearly enough the first time.
“To hurt you.”
I looked at Chick’s stricken face and Honey’s widened eyes. “I must leave. Chick, we have to go. All of us.”
As soon as I spoke, I realized what I’d done. Meaira looked placidly back at me, but I knew she’d betray us at the first opportunity. There was nothing I could do about it now. I wouldn’t tell her more, though.
I hurried to the kitchen, gesturing for Chick and Honey to follow. Athena looked up coldly as we entered.
“We have to leave this place,” I said. “Aiken is bringing Jake Smith here.”
“That ain’t our business,” she said.
“He’ll kill me.”
“We leave, Aiken kill us,” Athena told me.
“He’ll kill Chick either way,” I said.
Athena’s eyes widened. Honey asked, “Why do you say that?”
I looked into Chick’s sweet face, silently apologizing for revealing her secret. But it couldn’t be kept any longer. Surely, she must see that?
“I gots a baby in me,” Chick said.
The silence that covered the room was chilling. Athena put her hands over her mouth, her eyes widened with pain.
“No,” she said.
Chick nodded. “You know what he do to me. Ella right, we gots to go.”
Athena shook her head again, refusing to hear the reason in Chick’s words.
“I can’t,” Honey said. “He’ll find me or he’ll kill everyone I love, but you’re right. If you don’t leave, he’ll kill you both. Take Chick. Go. I’ll be fine.”
My heart broke for wanting to help her. But I saw the truth of what she said. I wasn’t sure any of us would survive this. I would be lucky to help myself and Chick.
“Go get your things,” I told her. “You too, Athena. She won’t go without you. I have enough money to buy horses for the three of us. We’ll go as far as we can, and then we’ll figure out what to do next.”
Athena slowly sank to a chair, hands still over her face, head shaking in denial. “Not my Chick,” she moaned. “Not my baby Chick.”
I realized there’d be no reasoning with her until she recovered. All I could do was leave her to Chick while I went to purchase our horses.
On my way out, I saw Meaira still sitting where we’d left her, humming that tuneless melody and staring out at nothing at all. My common sense told me to keep walking, to say nothing more to her. But I’d been raised a Christian, no matter how I lived now, and I couldn’t turn my back on someone so obviously lost.
“Meaira,” I said. “You heard us, earlier?”
“You�
��ll be going.”
“You can come with us.”
A soft light entered her eyes, a light that spoke of the woman she’d been before Aiken Tate. “No place left for me, lass.”
“Will you tell him?” I asked, when I meant, will you betray us?
The light wavered and became murky, like the woman herself. “I canna promise you I won’t.”
That was as much as I would get, and I knew it.
***
The livery was filled with animals that had been bartered for money to buy mining equipment, and I was fortunate enough to have a pick of three of the heartiest horses. The expense took a toll on my savings, but there was no choice. I had to get away. I would leave a note for Sawyer under the storeroom door where only he could find it. I would explain where I’d gone and why. I would beg for him to understand. I would make amends. But I could do nothing if Jake showed up to kill me and so I had to make haste.
When I returned, Athena and Chick were waiting. I took the horses to the back and we loaded them, knowing that we might not make it through another day. I shuddered when I imagined Aiken’s reaction to finding us gone. I wished that Honey would come, too, but I knew for her, death was preferable to being responsible for what he’d do to her family.
“I’ll take care of Meaira,” Honey told us as she hugged me good-bye.
“And I’ll take care of Chick and Athena,” I said in an undertone, so Athena wouldn’t hear. She’d like as not have my head for such a presumption.
“You’re the bravest woman I’ve ever met,” Honey said as she held me tight.
Before she could step away, Aiken rounded the corner ... and with him was Jake Smith.
It all happened fast, yet each moment imprinted in my mind. Aiken yanked Chick off her horse and pushed her back against the rail. Athena and I had yet to mount and Athena rushed to Chick’s side only to be dealt a leveling blow from Aiken. Jake had his gun pointed at my heart before I saw it clear the leather of his holster. I stared down the barrel of it, knowing my last breath was about to be drawn. “You killed my brother,” he said.
“You killed mine first,” I said back, nearly laughing at the childish exchange. But there was nothing funny about dying. Nothing funny about having your body riddled with bullets. From the corner of my eye, I saw Athena, sprawled at Aiken’s feet. He had one boot pressed against her face and was grinding her cheek into the gravel. He held Chick by the throat, as he had me last night, but there was more restraint than intent in his grip. She was sobbing, begging that he forgive her.
Bad Boys of the Night: Eight Sizzling Paranormal Romances: Paranormal Romance Boxed Set Page 193
