Spider

by SJ McCoy

  She grinned as a thought struck her. Then she pulled her phone out of her back pocket. She hit the call button on the newly added contact and waited while it rang.

  “Is that my favorite cowgirl?”

  She laughed. “It sure is. How you doing, Terry?”

  “All the better for hearing from you. What’s up young ‘un?”

  “I wanted to ask you about the kids at the center.”

  “What about ‘em?”

  “Do you have any organized programs for them?”

  “Not as such, no. They come in after school. We make sure they get something to eat and have a place to do their schoolwork. That the kind of thing you mean? Or are you talking about the little kids? The ones who come in with their moms?”

  “Honestly, I’m not sure what I’m talking about, Terry. I just know that Spider needs to spend at least some of his time here. If I want to be with him, then I’m going to need to spend time here, too. I don’t do well with sitting on my ass. The things I’m good at are horses, cows, and kids. I can’t see there being much call for a cowgirl around here, so I’m wondering what I can do for the kids.”

  Terry’s laugh was low and raspy. She loved the way it sounded. She loved him.

  “I reckon we can figure something out. Barbara’s been saying we need to set something up. Mind if I give her your number and the two of you can get to work on it?”

  “Oh, I don’t want to interfere. I don’t want …”

  Terry laughed again. “You need to get the hang of how the center works. It’s like one of them many headed monsters. TJ works with the vets. Gracie keeps on top of the big picture. Spider keeps everyone fed. Barbara’s been doing all kinds of projects with the older ladies. We all pitch in and do what we can. But there’s always someone’s needs that are going unmet. If you see a gap and you have an idea to fill it, you get something started. You don’t need anyone’s permission. All you need’s your own initiative. But it strikes me as you’ve got plenty of that.”

  “I do. I just don’t want to tread on anyone’s toes.”

  “You won’t be hurting anyone’s toes, Frankie.” Terry was quiet for a moment. “I reckon you might be taking a bit of weight off a certain young fella’s shoulders, though. If you can find yourself something you feel good doing at the center.”

  “That’s the plan, Terry.”

  “I’m glad to hear it. I’ll send you Barbara’s number. And if it’s okay with you, I’ll give her yours. After that, I’ll take my nose right out of it. Unless you want me. You know how to get ahold of me if you do.”

  “Thanks, Terry. You’re the best.”

  He chuckled. “Don’t go telling anyone else that. They all think I’m just the old fart in the wheelchair.”

  She laughed out loud. “Yeah, right. You’re the mastermind behind everything that happens at the center. I can see it, and they all know it.”

  “Yeah, well. You fly safe back up there to Montana. And take care of Spider for me. He’s a good ‘un.”

  “I know it, and I will. I’ll talk to you soon, Terry.”

  “I’ll look forward to it.”

  She ended the call and looked up guiltily when Spider spoke. He was leaning in the doorway from the bedroom with a towel wrapped around his waist and a puzzled smile on his face. “Terry? What did he want?”

  She smiled. She didn’t want to tell him about her plans yet. “He was just wishing me safe travels and telling me to take care of you.” That was the truth – just not all of it.

  “He took a real shine to you.”

  “It was mutual. He’s awesome. I’m already looking forward to seeing him again.”

  Spider raised his eyebrows. “Did you invite him to come to Montana again?”

  She went to him and slid her arms around his waist, reaching up to plant a kiss on his lips before she answered. “Not yet. I mean next time you bring me back here.”

  She felt him relax in her arms. “You want to come back?”

  “Yeah. This is your world. I’ll find a way to fit into it.”

  “You sure?”

  “Never been more sure of anything in my life. I’m going to find a way to have a bit of a life of my own here. Just like you’re going to have your own life in the valley with the bakery. If that sounds good to you?”

  He wrapped his arms around her and held her tight against his chest. “You want to know what sounds good to me?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I like the sound of our life; we’ll live it in two places, and each do our own things, but what’s important is that we’re together.”

  She looked up into his eyes, and he claimed her lips in a kiss that left her breathing hard. “That works for me,” she said when he finally let her come up for air. She tugged at his towel and laughed when she was too quick for him.

  He laughed with her as his hands gripped her hips and turned her toward the bed. When they reached it, he lay back, pulling her on top of him. “And you know, even when we’re here in LA, you can still be a cowgirl.” He lifted his hips, his hard length pressing between her legs as she straddled him. “Want a ride?”

  She nodded breathlessly as she pulled her T-shirt over her head. “Always.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  “I should probably stop and fill up,” Frankie said when she brought the truck to a stop at the red light at the end of the exit ramp.

  “Okay.” Spider checked the time on the clock on the dash. It was late. It’d been a long day, and a long week. Things had moved quickly since they came back from LA. He’d been busy with what felt like hundreds of details getting ready for closing on the sale of the bakery. Frankie had been busy, too. She’d been in school with Owen a couple of days. She’d watched him for Tara while Reid had gone to some meeting and had taken on a new job training some young horses. He wasn’t sure that he understood too much about that yet, but he was going out to Remington Ranch with her tomorrow to watch, for a while at least.

  She’d offered to go over to Bozeman with him this afternoon and then they’d made the most of it and stayed for dinner and to watch a band for a while since they were over there.

  When she pulled the truck into the gas station, they both climbed out. “Want me to fill her up?” He didn’t know too much about her financial situation, but he got the impression that it couldn’t be too wonderful, considering that she took what seemed like any and every job that came her way, be it working with kids or horses. The trip over to Bozeman and back was a full tank of gas and she’d only gone to keep him company.

  She shook her head with a smile. “Thanks, but I’ve got it.”

  He raised his eyebrows, not wanting to push it but still feeling bad.

  She laughed. “If you want to get me a candy bar, I won’t say no, but you’re not paying for my gas.”

  “Okay. Want anything else?”

  She shook her head.

  He pushed his way through the door and into the gas station, intent on finding her a KitKat and one of those cold coffee drinks she loved.

  “Hey, Spider.”

  He smiled and nodded at Brooke, who was manning the cash register. She seemed to be here every time he came in. It turned out she was a friend of Frankie’s and had gotten over her initial wariness of him once she’d seen them together.

  “Hey, Brooke.”

  He frowned at the sight of two big burly-looking dudes coming out of the back. They made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

  Brooke chuckled and he shot her a glance. “You’re not going to tell me that you judge people by appearances, are you?”

  He rolled his eyes and smiled through pursed lips. She’d been prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt the first time he came in here. He should probably do the same for these two. But it wasn’t their looks that bothered him so much. They were big and they looked like trouble, but it was more than that. Some gut instinct told him that they were trouble. He kept an eye on them while he picked up Frankie’s candy and drin
k. They didn’t give Brooke any problems as she rang them up and then they left. He felt his shoulders relax when the door closed behind them.

  Brooke grinned at him as she rang him up. She held up the chilled bottle of vanilla latte. “I hope you’re going to offer these when you buy the bakery.”

  He smiled. “Not these exactly, but I do plan to offer more iced coffees.” Monica didn’t offer many and when he’d asked why, she’d told him that no one ever asked for them. He thought that was kind of short-sighted. In his experience, most customers only asked for what they already knew was available. He planned to offer iced specials over the first few weeks and see how they went down.

  Brooke put everything in a bag for him. “Say hi to Frankie for me.”

  “Will do.”

  He opened the door and stepped outside. The second he did, he dropped the bag and flew across the forecourt. The two guys who’d set his nerves on edge were out there – and they had a hold of Frankie. They stood on either side of her. One had hold of her hair and the other had her arm. She was trying to pull away, cursing as she aimed her knee at a crotch, but missed as the other asshole yanked her back by her hair.

  “Easy there, girly,” he said with a laugh. “You wouldn’t want – ”

  That was all he got out before Spider’s fist landed in the middle of his face. The other guy stepped toward him, but Spider swung for him, too, and he went down.

  “Frankie, get out of here!” He turned back as the first guy recovered and came toward him.

  She let out a short angry laugh, but at least she turned and opened the truck door. He could handle these two, but not if he had to keep an eye on her at the same time. He spun and kicked the first guy’s knee, relieved to see him go down. The second one was faster than he’d expected and was coming at Spider again. He managed to block the fist aimed at his face, but the asshole followed up with a gut punch. Spider doubled over but knew what was coming. He straightened and butted the guy’s chin with the back of his head on the way up, sending him staggering backward until he tripped and sat on his ass.

  Spider whirled, ready for the first one to come at him again. But then he, and the two of them, froze.

  “Hold it right there.” Frankie hadn’t gotten into the truck. But she had, apparently retrieved a weapon. A Glock if he wasn’t mistaken.

  He backed away from Asshole Number One and went to stand beside her. Not sure if he was getting out of the line of fire or backing her up in case either of them lunged for her.

  “I said, get the fuck out of here!”

  Spider was pretty sure that she hadn’t said that, but he didn’t feel like this was the time to correct her. He just stared the two men down as they backed away and then turned and ran for their truck.

  Frankie kept the pistol trained on them as they pulled away with a screech of tires. When she finally lowered it, she blew out a sigh. “Are you okay?”

  He let out a short laugh. “I’m the one who should be asking you that. What happened?”

  She shrugged and engaged the safety before opening the door and putting the pistol back into the glove box. “You ready?”

  “No. Come here.” She stepped toward him, and he wrapped his arms around her. “Are you okay?”

  She nodded against his shoulder and spoke into his neck. “I would have shot them before I let them hurt you.”

  Spider couldn’t help smiling as he dropped a kiss into her hair. “I know. I wasn’t worried about me, though. I wanted to kill them when I saw them with their hands on you like that.”

  She laughed. “You don’t need to worry about me. I can handle myself.”

  “I don’t doubt that. But I do worry. And no way will I ever let anyone hurt you.”

  She looked up into his eyes and smiled. “I told you. I can take care of myself.” Her expression softened. “It’s kinda nice knowing that you can take of me, too, though.”

  He tightened his arms around her. “I’m not into fighting or violence for the fun of it. I think you know that already.”

  “Yeah.”

  “But that doesn’t mean I’m not …” He stopped and raised an eyebrow at her and had to laugh at her expression. “You thought I was a pussy?”

  She laughed with him. “I wouldn’t say that! It’s just … I thought maybe the tough guy look was just for appearances. I mean, in my experience – before tonight – you’re more of a lover than a fighter.”

  “Yeah. I am. With you. I don’t go looking for trouble, but that doesn’t mean I can’t handle it if it finds me.”

  “I noticed.”

  They both turned when the door opened, and Brooke stuck her head out. “Are you guys okay?”

  “Yeah. We’re good.” Frankie smiled at her friend.

  “Want me to call it in?” Brooke asked.

  “Nah.” Frankie looked up at Spider. “We don’t need to be hanging around here giving statements. We want to get home.”

  He pursed his lips.

  “You want to?” she asked, looking surprised.

  “Want to? No. Think we should? Yep. I’m afraid I do.”

  She frowned.

  “I saw the license plate. We should at least report that. And even though those two assholes didn’t hurt you, I doubt that the next woman they pick on will give them as much trouble.”

  Frankie blew out a sigh. “Yeah. You’re right.” She turned to Brooke. “Do you know who’s on duty tonight?”

  Brooke smiled. “Luke is. He stopped by earlier for his coffee.”

  “In that case, I’ll give him a call.”

  Spider smiled. “Another cousin?”

  “No, but another one who may as well be.”

  Brooke picked up the bag Spider had dropped when he came outside. The bottle had smashed, and coffee dripped out. “I’ll replace these for you while we wait for Luke. And I’ll get the security footage ready – the cameras should have caught it all.”

  “Thanks.” Spider let Frankie go ahead of him as she pulled out her phone to call Luke, and they followed Brooke back inside.

  ~ ~ ~

  Frankie’s eyes narrowed as she walked into the bakery on Sunday morning and saw Luke sitting at the counter. She’d slept in for a while this morning. She and Spider had gone to Chico last night and he’d had to come up here early. Monica was showing him the ropes of how she handled the rush of the before and after church crowds. Frankie was really hoping that Andrea, the baker, was planning to stay on after the sale went through. She enjoyed weekend mornings in bed with Spider too much. She might have gotten some much needed extra sleep, but she’d rather have had him still there with her.

  She’d driven up the valley in a good mood, hoping that he would be done soon and that after she’d had herself a coffee and a pastry, they’d be able to spend the day together. But a phone call just before she got here had wiped the smile off her face, and the sight of Luke perched on a stool sipping coffee had her scowling.

  She took the empty stool next to him at the counter and nudged his elbow just as he was lifting his coffee mug to his mouth.

  “Hey, careful.” He frowned as he met her gaze. “What did you do that for?”

  She scowled at him. “I might ask you the same thing, Deputy Donuts.”

  He rolled his eyes. “Seriously? We’re not in grade school anymore.”

  “I know, but I almost wish we were so I could kick your ass for you.”

  He laughed. “What the hell did I do?”

  “You know damned well what you did.”

  He shook his head slowly. “The only thing I can think I’ve done that has anything to do with you recently was come over to the gas station on Friday night and take your and Spider’s statements.” He smiled. “I’ve got to say, I’m impressed that he insisted on calling it in. I like him, Frankster.”

  She smiled, her pleasure at hearing that Spider had won over yet another of her old friends momentarily blinding her to everything else he’d said. But only momentarily. “What do you mean, he in
sisted on calling it in? You don’t know that I didn’t …”

  Luke’s laugh cut her off. “Yes, I do. I know you. You would have blown it off. Am I right or am I right?”

  She made a face at him. “Of course, you’re right.”

  “And Spider was right to call it in.”

  “Okay. I know. But you weren’t right to tell Mav about it.”

  “Mav? Nope. Not guilty. Not me. I promise.”

  She narrowed her eyes at him. “And I’m supposed to buy that? I didn’t tell him. Spider sure as hell didn’t. That leaves you as the only other person who knows what happened on Friday night and who could have told him.”

  Luke smiled. “Nope. I promise you I didn’t tell him. I thought for a second Deacon might have, but he won’t even have seen the report yet, and you’re forgetting something.”

  “What?”

  “Someone, actually. I’m not the only other person who knows what happened. I’m not even the only other person who was there.” He grinned.

  “Shit!” Frankie blew out a sigh. “Brooke.”

  “Yep. If Mav knows, then I’d put money on the fact that Brooke talked to Blane and Blane told Mav.”

  Frankie shook her head. “And they wonder why I never stick around this place for long. It’s like we have a big brother brigade.”

  Luke laughed. “Yeah. I guess we do. But at least you and Brooke’s big brothers aren’t here most of the time. Mav and Blane are off saving the rest of the world. I, on the other hand, not only have my big brother right here in the valley, I also get to work for him every day and report to him.”

  Frankie had to smile. “Yeah, well. Deacon’s awesome.”

  “He is. But you think you have trouble with your big brother? How would you feel if Mav not only lived here, but was also your boss and the sheriff?”

  Frankie had to laugh. “There are so many unimaginables in what you just said! But I think the funniest part is thinking of Mav as the sheriff.”

  Luke laughed with her. “Yeah. That really is unimaginable. Shit. That brings me back to the original question. You were mad at me because you thought I told him about the other night. I take it that means he’s not happy. Is he coming home?”