Betting Hearts (2 page)

“I thought Luke was…um…more inclined toward big, burly blondes now.”

Isn’t that a polite way of saying it?

“Nope. His tastes haven’t changed as much as we thought they did. This was a tiny, petite little blonde with big blue eyes, big red lips and big thirty-eight double-Ds.” Cass trembled to her feet. She looked down to her own breasts. The only D she could use came from the word “Depressing”.

“But if he was with a woman—”

“He’s not gay.” Cass braced her hand on the bureau. So far so good. Both legs working now. “He only said it so he wouldn’t have to marry me. He’s going to marry Miss Grand Tetons. The only reason he was in town was to introduce her to his parents, the weasel. He thought since I’d most likely be down at Shaky Jakes, they’d go to The One Stop.”

Rancho Del Cielo could only boast three restaurants. Shaky Jakes, a bar and burger joint; The One Stop, a fancy new place designed for lady’s lunches; and a McDonald’s by the freeway exit on the way out of town. Most everyone went to Shaky Jakes, where May Belle Butner served up her famous burgers and a hotline to all the town gossip. The other two places survived on tourism.

Usually Cass wouldn’t be found dead in a place like The One Stop. Any other day she would never have seen him.

“Aww, Cassie.”

“I’m going to go soak in your tub. Leave my clothes by the door, will you?” Cass made herself walk out of the square room and head toward Burke’s decadent bathroom. She was going to soak in his Jacuzzi tub and she was going to hope and pray he didn’t say one more thing about last night.

Watching CB wobble her way out of the guest room as if her entire life depended on the scrap of pride she had left made Burke angrier than he would ever admit to her.

He never did like Luke Hanson. He especially hadn’t liked him when CB showed off her engagement ring two years ago. At the time, he figured it was because Luke Hanson’s arrival in RDC—way back when she was in the seventh grade—caused her to leave the circle of himself and her brother to play football with the new, cute quarterback. He hadn’t liked being replaced, although he knew she’d be back. He simply never expected her to be back so often…

It never made much sense to Burke, why Luke strung her along as the years went by. Or why Cass put up with it. She was smart. Sometimes she was even reasonable. And Luke Hanson was a moron. It never added up right. What was the attraction? Why did they play the make-up/break-up game over and over again? Some months they’d hang out like best buddies—in high school they even called it dating. Then Cass would be left broken-hearted while Luke made up for lost time with the cheerleaders. Only Burke seemed to notice their break ups coincided with the football season. As star quarterback, Luke had his pick every year of the girls. He never once chose Cass.

When he didn’t get a football scholarship as everyone expected, Luke managed to fully descend into a disconsolate schmuck. Back he came to Cass like a sniveling weasel. She dragged him to community college with her when she could have gone to State without him. Month after month, year after year, until they both had a business degree. Luke’s was in a frame in his father’s house, next to the sports trophies. CB’s was in the twice expanded and still growing nursery and landscaping company her father founded. This year, she’d added a florist section to the success.

Ever since grade school, Luke had been taking and benefiting from his relationship with CB. Marrying her was going to be his reward to her, and again, only Burke saw it for what it was. The leech meant to suck her dry for the rest of their lives. The thought alone had been enough to enrage him. Seeing it happen wasn’t something he could stomach, either.

He freely admitted he got in the way of the nuptials whenever possible. Subtlety not being his thing, Burke tromped his way through every detail he could find, looking for a way to create a wedge. He started with simple things, flooding her with questions, drowning her in minutiae he knew she didn’t have the patience for—when did she want to do it, where would they honeymoon, shouldn’t they get a place to live first? That alone bought a few months filled with pamphlets and brochures she grew less and less interested in reading. The coup de grâce was asking if she wanted a big traditional wedding like her parents. Her temper kicked into overdrive when Luke complained she didn’t need any fuss. He’d rather go to a justice of the peace and get it over with.

The words “get it over with” were what bothered Burke. As if the man were getting inoculations instead of a bride. But it did allow Burke to swallow his discomfort at openly wrecking her relationship with as big a sledgehammer as he could find. He was being a good friend, protecting her before she made the biggest mistake of her life. Protecting her, after all, was what his entire life was about.

Two weeks before a wedding even Burke couldn’t push back any further, CB showed up on his doorstep with a letter and a stunned look on her face. Luke had left town, explaining he’d been lying to her, to everyone. He had planned to marry her in a last ditch attempt to ignore the truth—he was gay. The letter went on to say he was moving to LA where his looks would get him work and his life choices wouldn’t hold him back.

Burke had to work hard not to smile when he read that letter.

Word got around Rancho Del Cielo like wildfire, although no one seemed to remember who they heard it from first. People whispered at first, then joked, then claimed to have known all along ole Luke was “thatta way”. Of course, people pitied CB for being used. Luke’s parents apologized to her, taking it upon themselves to pay for the wedding plans, and CB’s beautiful wedding dress went into a plastic bag in the back of her closet. Eventually life went back to normal, exactly the way Burke knew it would.

CB continued working for her father’s business. Burke continued to rebuild custom cars. They went back to their Friday night poker games with the guys. It was a happy life. For a whole year, CB had done fine. She smiled, she laughed, she ate with gusto and played every game like it was war. He certainly had no complaints.

Until last night.

Luke Hanson being the one and only thing that could screw up his world didn’t surprise Burke. He’d have to be blind, deaf, dumb and stupid to miss that. He just hoped the lying, cheating, snake in the grass had better sense than to stick around after messing with it this time, because Burke had no intention of letting the little bugger get away with it again.

Burke Halifax did not deserve a tub like this.

Cass sank into the bubble-filled, obsidian pool, the jets quietly blasting her body, removing her physical aches. She looked out the triple windows to the high fronds of various plants and greenery she had planted to give some semblance of modesty to the bather. Not that Burke had a modest bone in his body. She was sure she would have seen it once or twice over the twenty-two years he’d been her best friend. She’d seen nearly everything else.

Burke was three years older and her brother’s classmate when they met. She was six, he was nine. Her brother was constantly trying to get rid of her, but Burke seemed to like her spunky tenacity. There were times he’d play with her more often than Hayne. Of course, Hayne wasn’t as good at marbles as she was. He couldn’t pull a ball for a home run until high school—she finally taught him how—and he had this pesky thing for girls at a young age. Burke knew what was really important: baseball cards. Part of Cass’s charm, she knew, was she had a bigger collection than him.

Hayne had other friends, but by the time Cass was a teen, she only had Burke. The girls didn’t like her—something about how she’d get them dirty,
giggle, giggle
—and the boys were intimidated. That was what Burke said anyway. When she was thirteen, Burke’s word was law.

Cass smiled wickedly despite her headache. Things were certainly different now.

These days, she kind of enjoyed making up her own mind. Burke always put in his two cents—usually closer to a buck-fifty—but he respected her enough to let her take care of herself.

Except whenever she was dating Luke.

At that unhappy thought, Cass’s closed eyes fluttered.

Instead of thinking back on those idyllic days when the town sweetheart had eyes only for her, Cass remembered the night before. Turning away from the manager of the One Stop and the polished black oak bar with its shiny gold rail to see Luke waltzing in, a brilliant smile on his perfect face…and the human equivalent of a Pomeranian skittering behind him on platform stilettos.

Cass had stared in awe as Luke followed the maitre d' to a table, walking right past her. She apparently blended right into the dark garden atmosphere because Luke never noticed her. Not until he leaned over to kiss his date, who made such a high-pitched squeal of delight it should have shattered the water glasses. He must have spotted her out of the corner of his eye, because he pulled back and scrambled to his feet, nearly sending the blonde toppling out of her chair.

“CB!”

“Luke.” She had a heck of a time saying his name without a shotgun in her hand.

“Funny seeing you here.” Because it wasn’t like she lived there or anything.

Cass nodded. “Funny seeing you with a girl.”

“Yeah, well,” Luke replied, his face reddening. “About that—”

“Is she getting a sex change operation?”

“Excuse me?” the Pomeranian asked, eyes wide enough to pop.

Cass gave the woman a fleeting glance. “I would, honey, but that hairdo can’t be forgiven.”

“Hey, now,” Luke took a step forward and put a hand on the Pom’s shoulder. “Don’t go insulting Sally!”

“Sally?” she asked. “
Sally
?” Was he serious? He left her with a note—a got-damned
note
!—saying he was gay and now he showed up with a
woman
? Luke started backing away from the table as CB advanced on him. “What are you doing with a
Sally
? I thought you went off to find yourself a
Steve
. Or a
Mark
. Even a
Billy
.
Sallys
were specifically off your list of preferences, remember? Or did the boobs bigger than her head change your mind?”

“There’s a very good reason for this, CB. A very good explanation for all of this.”

“So spill it.”

Luke moved his head to look for Sally, still seated at the table behind Cass. “Well, did you look at her?”

Before she even realized what she was doing, Luke was soaring through the air and crashing on a table. It collapsed beneath him while Cass shook her hand out.

“You broke my nose!” he roared from the floor.

“You deserved it,” she mumbled, making sure her knuckles weren’t bleeding. A little skinned, aching like hell. Hitting Luke felt a lot like punching a rock.

Luke covered his bloody nose with his hand, glaring at her. Sally rushed over with a wad of napkins and a few whimpers of terror. “You see?
This
is why I didn’t want to marry you, CB!” he yelled, making no motion to get up. “You have no sense of civility!”

“And pretending you’re homosexual reeks of it?”

“It was the only way to break it off without getting my damn nose broken! You got less control than a fricken’ bronco.” Sally helped him to his feet, but Luke continued to yell nasally at Cass. “Everyone always said I should just throw a saddle on your ass. Maybe I shouldda listened. You might have figured out how to act for once.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. God forbid you forget anything your idiot friends say about me. If I was such a pain, why were you always on your hands and knees trying to get me back?” Okay, hands and knees was a little bit of a stretch, but it fit at the time.

“’Cause I’d get sick and tired of putting up with women who want you to do everything for them all the time. They spend all your time and all your money making themselves look good. Truth is, CB, you were easy. Like being with one of the guys. I never had to do anything but be there. Hell, sometimes not even that.

“I can put up with all the other crap women do. It’s worth it not to get beat up by your girlfriend all the time. I want a woman who makes me feel like a man. Not one who makes me feel like a wimp. So I got the hell out and found one. I only came home to tell my parents the truth. I tried to make things easy on you by taking the blame, but not anymore!”

Cass tensed, rage held onto by a thread. “Is that some sort of threat?”

“Maybe.” Luke grabbed another wad of napkins out of the dispenser on the nearest table. “Yeah, yeah it is!”

“Luke, I swear by all that’s holy, if you don’t get out of this town—and I mean quick—I’ll break a helluva lot more than your nose.”

He shook his head, snide as he stumbled to stand. “See, you can’t even make threats like a girl. You gotta beat people up. Being with
you
is being gay. Come on, Sally.”

Luke shoved past her, leaning heavily on Sally and her wobbly shoes. Cass didn’t remember much more than that. A fuzzy recollection of telling Henry to send her a bill for the table. She couldn’t say for sure. Somehow or another, she’d arrived at Shaky Jakes and kept the tequila coming, no matter how much May Belle tried to get her to slow down.

Now, sitting in Burke’s tub, Cass brought her wet hand to her pounding forehead. No amount of alcohol could erase Luke’s words. Or the truth behind them. She sank into the water, glad the swirling bubbles would erase any and all proof of her tears.