by Kim Jones
“No, you bought a fraction of the land from the Mayor, and let me guess, he wanted Carmical Construction to clear the timber? Said he owed me a favor? Well, let me tell you something, sweetheart, Paul Kirkley knew that this would happen. It just so happens that I was the lucky guy who ended up in your bed and not some other shithead. That’s why he wants me to cut the timber. He wants you to think we’re friends. He wants me to get close to you, so that I can gather as much information about what you plan to do with that property. Your tight lipped assistant won’t tell anything and we all know that trying to get something out of you is like trying to chisel cement with a spoon. So, what does he do? He waits ‘til I get in your panties and goes in for the kill.”
I couldn’t breathe. This was not happening. Luke loves me. I know he loves me. Why is he talking to me this way? Why was that property so important to Kirkley? I started to ask him, when he interrupted me.
“Regardless of what you think, Dallas, your dad was not a good man. He was a fucking crook. You were just a stupid, naïve little girl. You thought your daddy hung the moon. He was a murderer. A thief. A-”
“Shut-up!” I couldn’t take anymore. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. You think, I was naïve? Do you really think that I didn’t see through all his bullshit? I know who he was, but I’ll be damned if I let you stand here and slander his name! You have no idea what really happened!” There it was. I said it. All these years, I had kept shit bottled up inside me, knowing, that if it ever came out, it would destroy me. I had secrets that I never wanted to be discovered. I had shit that I never wanted anyone to know, yet here I was exposing myself. I had become vulnerable and now Luke knew that I knew the truth. I could tell by the surprise on his face. Of course I knew my father was not a good man. He was good to his family. He was a wonderful father, a wonderful husband and a wonderful friend. But even though he tried to hide it, he couldn’t. He climbed his way to the top by stepping on other people. But, the world was not a fair place and he did what he had to do to get by.
“What do you know, Dallas?” Luke asked. His voice just above a whisper. I shook my head at him.
“No, I’m still asking the questions around here. Why the fuck did Kirkley want that land so bad?” I spit between my teeth. I was angry at Luke. I was angry at Kirkley. I was angry at my father, but most of all, I was angry at myself. I wanted Luke to believe that I was naïve and stupid, but now that the cat was out of the bag, I had no other options.
“The pipeline. They have been trying to lay one across that highway for years, but it keeps getting rejected. As promised, your dad got Kirkley in as Mayor and he passed it. They are supposed to begin construction next year. He wanted to know what business you planned to put there so he could invest in businesses that would coincide with yours, pulling everyone from downtown, out to the highway. He knew you wouldn’t fail, you never do,” Luke said seriously. I could see respect and approval written on his face. I didn’t need either one.
“I just did,” I said, turning and placing my full cup of coffee in the sink. My mind was blank. Fun, flirty Dallas was gone. It was time for me to go back to being the cold bitch that I was. For years, it helped me avoid shit like this. It was my shield, my armor, and I knew that the moment I let my guard down this shit would happen. Luke Carmical would be a memory of mine. Just like all the others.
When I turned, Luke was standing at the bar. The look on his face let me know that he knew he fucked up and that he was sorry. It was a little late for that.
“I assume Red knows the details,” I stated, giving him a cold stare. He nodded, confirming my assumption. I didn’t need a friend or a confidant. I needed the fucking truth and she would give it to me, if I had to beat it out of her.
“I’ll call her. She can come over and fill me in. I want you to leave. I want you out of my life and out of my business. I know what you are going to say, but I don’t want to hear it. I have had enough of this shit with you. I don’t need anything else. I want my dog and you can leave the box that contains my information. I don’t see where it’s any concern to you anymore. You don’t have to tell Kirkley anything. I’ll call him myself and fill him in. When Red comes, you can send my dog with her.”
With that, I turned on my heel and headed to my room, leaving Luke standing in my kitchen, his face impassive.
“Dallas,” Luke started. I threw my hand up in the air, letting him know this conversation was over. I walked in my room and shut the door then lay down on my bed, smothering my face in the comforter. I’m not sure how much time passed before I heard the rumble of Luke’s pipes as he headed out. My stomach twisted when the realization hit me that he was really gone. He never tried to talk to me, other than saying my name. I would be lying if I said I hadn’t expected him to come into my room and try to talk to me. I would be a bigger liar if I said it wasn’t exactly what I wanted. Oh well, sometimes life was a hard knock. I set my emotions aside and went to get dressed. I could cry about life later, right now, I had shit to do.
After my makeup was on, my hair was fixed and I was dressed in a pair of black Armani palazzo pants with a sage green, satin sleeveless top and a pair of black, thin heeled Jimmy Choo’s, I located my purse and cell phone and called Dr. Yarborough. He answered in a very cheerful voice, and I got an eerie feeling that he knew who it was before he answered.
“Ms. Knox. How are you feeling?” he asked in his smooth voice. Doctors had a way of making you feel extremely inferior or comfortable. I was happy it was the latter.
“Call me Dallas, please. I am feeling much better,” I said in my I’m-the-CEO of-a-multimillion-dollar-corporation-and-I-think-my-shit-don’t-stink voice.
“Well, that’s wonderful news. Were you just calling to check in or can I help you with something?” he asked, his voice turning silky and I could have sworn he was attempting to flirt with me. Not a chance in hell, doc.
“Yes sir, actually, a little bit of both. I was hoping to find out if you could narrow down the time for me, so that I could re-cap my surroundings and see if I could get to the bottom of what happened.”
“Well, everyone is different. Your body might have processed it faster due to the alcohol you consumed with it. The best I can give you is about an hour before you started feeling the symptoms, at the most two.”
Fucking Tammy.
“Are you sure about that, doc? I mean, on a scale from one to ten, ten being the most sure, where are you at?” I was back to sounding like Dallas Knox, property of LLC. Fuck.
“I would give it a ten, Dallas. There is no way it could have been in your system any longer and you not have known. You could have begun feeling the symptoms immediately. But, my professional opinion is at most, two hours before.”
I stared at my feet, my head in one hand and my phone in the other. I was sitting in the living room and if I were standing, I probably would have passed out. I hung up the phone without saying goodbye and leaned back on the couch. My pulse was quickening, but I didn’t want to jump to conclusions. I thought back on the events of that night. I had only had one drink with Tammy. I had also had one drink with Stacy.
Bile rose in my throat as I reached for the phone and called Luke. Maybe I had misunderstood him. Luke had acted like he didn’t know who Stacy was when I told him I was going to Tupelo and he worked there at the Abbey where I was staying.
“Dallas,” Luke’s clipped tone came through the receiver and it was like another dagger to my heart. I sat there for a second trying to remember why I called him in the first place. For weeks, Luke had answered my phone call with a “babe” and a smile in his voice. I never thought I would miss his endearments so much. “Hello,” Luke repeated, sounding a little more anxious. Maybe I should tell him I heard something so he would come back. Shit! I was such a pathetic idiot!
“Luke,” I started, managing to find my voice although it was a little more breathy than I intended. I cleared my throat and continued, “Who did you say would get that land if som
ething happened to me?” I sat on the couch holding my breath.
“Stacy,” Luke stated. I let out the breath I had been holding and took another deep one.
“You acted like you didn’t know him when I mentioned him working at the Abbey,” I said, still hoping that this was all a misunderstanding.
“I don’t know him. I only know his name. I assumed that he lived in Georgia.” I could tell Luke was getting curious as to why I was asking.
“Okay, thanks,” I replied and quickly hung up. I didn’t need him questioning me on this and his voice made me quiver-in a way I had no business quivering.
I would deal with Stacy later. Next, I needed to change the code on my gate. I grabbed the pamphlet from a drawer in the kitchen and called the number on the back. The lady informed me that I would just have to key in a generic code, and then key in the code I wanted as my new one. They would cancel the old one, letting the generic four zero code be the temporary password until I programmed it myself. Step two-done.
As soon as I hung up, Red called letting me know that she was on her way. That gave me about thirty minutes to figure out what in the hell I was going to do about everything else. My phone rang once again and I looked down to see Luke calling. I started to not answer, but who was I kidding? I wanted to hear his voice. I missed him already. Apparently my hard shell had a few cracks in it. I answered the phone in the bitchiest voice I could manage and with a simple, “Yeah.” Luke ignored my bitchy response.
“Hey, babe. I was wondering if you wanted me to send a couple guys over there to bury the rest of that barn. I looked this morning and it seems there aren’t any lines running under it. It shouldn’t be a problem and will only take a couple of hours.” Fuck me. Why did he have to be so nice? And why was he calling me babe? I walked to the back door and noticed that the large heap of burnt tin and wood was a grotesque sight, and an even worse reminder.
“That would be great,” I said, thoughts of Frankie tying me up and touching me invading my thoughts and causing me to involuntarily squint my eyes shut and steady my breathing.
“You okay, darlin’?” Luke asked me softly. All the fight in him seemed to be gone. I needed him, but I wouldn’t succumb to this shit again. “I’m fine. Red will be here soon. I’ll call you later if I have any questions.” I hung up the phone on him, again, before he could respond. I took another look outside, and this time my eyes were on the pool. What the hell. I didn’t need an expensive outfit to express my bitch persona. A bikini would do.
I changed into a black, barely there, strapless bikini and wrapped a beach towel around my waist. I grabbed some flip flops from the closet and headed out to the pool. The October air was thick and humid and at noon, the temperature was already in the eighties. The weather here was so unpredictable. We could have a frost by the end of the week. I decided to take the small hike down to the gate and re-program it.
As luck would have it, Red showed up at the exact same time, and I was able to try it out on her. Of course, I shielded it from her view-or so I thought. I jumped in the sleek, black Mustang that Red drove and rode with her back to the house. She hadn’t said anything other than, “Get in and I’ll give you a ride.” Red looked stunning, as always, in a pair of cut-off shorts and an orange tank top. I could see the strings of her bikini peeking out the top of her shirt and I smiled to myself. Red was planning to make herself at home and I liked it. I studied her profile as she drove us down the winding driveway to the house. Her long black lashes were curled perfectly around her large brown eyes. Her red hair was piled high on her head in a messy bun and her flawless, tanned skin seemed to glow in the sunlight. Beautiful.
“What?” she asked, making me jump. I was so engrossed in her looks that I didn’t even think about what an idiot I looked like for gawking at her. “I mean, I know I look good and all, but damn,” she said turning to smirk at me. She had been around Luke too long.
“Thanks for coming,” I said looking at my hands.
“Hey, no problem. I like being in the middle of shit. Especially, when it’s Luke’s shit,” she said winking. I smiled and shook my head. It would probably be best if I didn’t ask her to elaborate.
She pulled the car under the porch and it was then I realized that she didn’t have Neo.
“Where’s my dog?” I asked looking in the backseat like he might be there.
“You think that I would put that thing in my car?” she asked, looking at me like I was covered in warts. “Besides, he’s taken a liking to the club house. The guys want to nickname him, Devil.” Shit. Well, there goes my damn dog. Just like a man.
I led Red into the house, stopping in the kitchen to grab a drink. “You might as well mix us up something with some alcohol,” Red said, throwing herself onto one of the bar stools and thumbing through the box that Luke left. “The more I drink, the better I remember shit and the more you drink, the better you will handle it. I suggest vodka.”
I just stared at her with my practiced impassive face. Fuck. This was going to suck. I pulled out the bottle of vodka from the freezer, then located a couple of cans of Red Bull and made us drinks.
“You wanna lay out?” I asked, gesturing with my hand to her bikini straps peeking out the top of her tank.
Red looked to her shoulder, to see what I was referring to and smiled, “I was hoping to.”
I smiled back and then walked out the back door with her on my heels. For some reason this was slightly awkward, yet Red seemed completely at ease. I guess she should, considering it wasn’t her world that was about to come crashing down.
The long, covered patio that ran the length of the house was covered in potted plants, some hanging, some on the floor in pots and some on tables that were scattered throughout the porch. The concrete area around the pool was littered with lawn chairs to suit anyone’s desire. Red chose a set of Balencia chaise lounges with a side table in the middle of them. I took off my towel and laid down, grabbing a pair of shades off the table and placing them over my eyes. Not only would they shield the light, but also help hide my feelings when she dropped the bomb.
“So, where do you want me to start?” I looked at her, completely relaxed, lounging in a chair in a skimpy bikini like she didn’t have a care in the world. That was the easiest question that I had answered all day.
“From the beginning.”
Chapter 2
RED
I about shit my pants when Luke called me a few hours ago and told me I was up. I knew this day would come. The day that I would have to tell Dallas Knox the truth. I secretly hoped that Luke would do it, but deep down I knew that Dallas couldn’t handle the truth from him, nor would he be able to handle her when she lost her shit. Now, here I sit, at her house, by her pool, in my Victoria’s Secret bikini that Regg had yet to see me in. On the outside, I knew I looked like I had it together. Dallas was probably wondering why I was so at ease. Little did she know, I was as nervous as a long tail cat in a room full of rocking chairs. This was not unusual though. I had managed to perfect this over the years. Being an ol’ Lady in an MC taught you how to deal with shit. No one ever knew what I was truly feeling. I didn’t want anyone mistaking my nervousness for weakness and in the life I lived, weakness could get your ass beat, or worse, take your pride. MC’s had a way of making you a better person. I was lost before I met Regg and with help from him and my MC family, I was better than I had ever been. I loved this life, but at times like this-it fucking sucked. I looked over at Dallas and I smiled to myself as I watched her try, and fail, to be nonchalant about the situation. She was the epitome of female perfection. Considering Luke was the epitome of male perfection, they were perfect together. She was broken. I knew it when I first saw her, but on the outside, she had her shit together-that’s how I knew she could handle the truth and this life. Her long brown hair was piled high on her head, much like mine. Her skin was a golden tan-the color you get from sunning and tanning beds, yet it was flawless without the slightest hint of it ever being expo
sed to the sun. My skin was tan, but I had to work hard to get it this way and use a bottle a week of moisturizer just to keep from looking like leather. Lucky bitch. I would have to get her secret. Everything about her was perfect. From her perfectly shaped nose to her perfectly pedicured toes-she was gorgeous. I hated her. Not really, but in a sense, it felt good to think. Dallas had just informed me that she wanted me to start from the beginning. Great. I drained my glass of vodka and Red Bull, which was no easy task, and watched as Dallas followed suit, then stood grabbing our glasses and headed inside. I didn’t need to ask. I knew she was going for refills. I looked around the yard and over to the area where the barn once stood. Luke chewed my ass for letting her out of my sights, but I thought her burning it down was good therapy. But, then again, I loved to burn shit myself. It gave you a sense of power.
Dallas returned and I watched as she handed me a full glass, sat down and took a deep breath. She was ready. Damn. I had a plan though. With a little bit of luck and a whole lot of vodka, maybe I could convince Dallas to follow my plan and if she did, it would save her once again, and give Luke the happiness he deserved.
DALLAS
Four drinks later, I was half sprawled out on the lounge chair and giving thanks to the vodka gods. I would never have made it through this conversation without them. Red didn’t fuck around. When I told her I was ready, she gave it to me. Not once did she stop to elaborate about anything, not that she really needed to. She explained everything in enough detail that I never had to ask questions. She held nothing back and didn’t seem to care if something hurt my feelings or made me cry. She was exactly what I needed, and although she would never know it, I was scared enough of her not to cuss her out or chew her ass like I would have if Luke had told me. I leaned back in my chair and watched as Red gracefully floated around the pool. I closed my eyes and let my mind wander back to the new found knowledge that had just destroyed my life, yet might have saved it.
