Boomtown (6 page)

  While doing this I listened to Janie talk to mom and Ember about what she did today at daycare.  Really all you could understand was a few select words, and the rest was gibberish.  She was getting better though, I still remembered when she said her first word.  James was so happy when I called him and let him hear Janie say “dada dada” over and over again.  

  I turned to the kitchen table and joined into their conversation by mentioning who I saw at the store and what had happened.

  Mom was the first to say “Didn’t I tell you that you should never touch without asking?  You didn’t need a father to tell you that, because I did.”  Of course that would be what she picked up on.  Whatever.

  Ember laughed and told my mother “Chey never listens, don’t you know that by now?”

  Annoyed with where this topic was heading, I turned around and went back to dinner ignoring them as they went back and forth about everything I ever did wrong in my life.  This was an easy dinner, so it didn’t take much concentration, which was good because my mind kept creeping back to Sam.  I was putting the finishing touches, and portioning it all out onto plates when Ember asked “Do you want to go shoot pool with me tonight?”

  “You know I don’t know how to play pool, and it hasn’t changed since the last time you asked me.” I replied as I brought Janie’s plate to the table and set it in front of her.  I then took away the cell phone that she somehow managed to sneak out of my pocket when I wasn’t paying attention, shoving it back into my back pocket.  I then turned around and poured tea into a sippy cup, and three juice glasses.  I carried my plate and cup to the table and sat down while my mom and Ember got up to get theirs as well. 

  Dinner was not as messy tonight as it normally is because this is one of Janie’s favorites, and she doesn’t waste much of the food.  She was practically licking the plate when she was done.  Poor Chewy was staring at us from his sprawl on the floor with sad eyes; he would have to be happy with regular dog food tonight.

  I piled the empty plates into the sink and started putting away the leftovers and putting the pots on the floor for Chewy to lick clean.   

  “I’ll do the kitchen if you go with me.” Ember said. 

  Damn.  She sure did know what to do to get me to go.  “Clean my room and we have a deal.” I said to her making eye contact.  She made a face and thought about it for a moment.   

  “Fine.  But I get to pick what you wear.” 

  That sounded acceptable since we both had the same taste in clothing, and I said “Yes.  Just let me get Janie in bed then we can start getting ready and go.” 

 I walked to Janie and picked her up and carried her to her and James’ room.  I pulled out her pajamas laid her down on the bed.  I stripped off her dirty clothes and diaper, changed her into a clean one and put her into her pajamas.  I took her into the bathroom and ran a wet wash cloth over her face and brushed her teeth. She liked sucking the watermelon toothpaste off so she was agreeable to this.  Walking back into her room, I grabbed her favorite book that we read every night and began to read to her.

  Dr. Uses was easy and fun to read, so I wasn’t bothered by this.  What I did mind was when she would say “Again, Again” over and over.  If she didn’t get what she wanted then she would throw her tantrum, and the night would go downhill from there.  Finally after the third round, I told her that was it, and laid her into the crib and covered her.  I walked briskly out of her room, shut the door and headed straight to my room; all the while screaming followed me. 

  “That wasn’t too bad today.” Ember observed as I walked in and closed the door.  

  “Nope, not as bad as it normally is.  Wish James could have skyped with her, she does anything he says, no fuss no muss.” I replied. I went to the bed and saw that she had laid out ribbed knit tank with the Harley Davidson logo on the front.  I stripped out of my polo and pulled that one over my head.  She handed me my cowboy boots, so I traded my Adidas for my boots.  She led me into the bathroom and pulled the pony tail out of my hair and French braided it.  

  While giving me my leather banded fossil watch she said “We are going to Deacon’s.” 

  “What?” I shrilly said “why are we going there?” 

  “That is where Max is going to be.  So that is where I want to go.  And I can’t go by myself, because I don’t want to be the only girl there with a bunch of guys.” She replied. 

  “Just because your brother is going to be there, doesn’t mean that is the place we have to go.  How about Shark’s?” I pleaded. 

  “No, I want to go.  And you promised.  Plus I already did the kitchen, you can’t back out now.” She said.

  “Fine. Fucking fine.”  I said, “But don’t expect me to be happy about it.”

 She of course didn’t know why I didn’t want to go there.  Didn’t know that I had picked up a guy in the bar and had sex with him when I didn’t even know his name.  That was where we always went.  Sighing, I swiped on some mascara and some black eye liner and headed for the door. 

  “You coming or what?  Get your fat ass in gear.  Unhook the trailer.  Get a move on. Take the lead out.” I said sarcastically. 

  “Go eat some Bon Bons, I’m not fat.” She popped back when she followed me out of the room.   

  I said goodbye to my mom and locked the front door and closed it behind me. “Your car or mine?” I asked Ember.   

  She looked at me and said “Yours.”  Just like I knew she would.  She got a kick out of setting off the car alarms, just as I did.  I started the truck, and it growled to life. We both laughed when Mr. Yates came out the door and bleeped his car alarm back off.

  Deacon’s was in the same area as Free.  My heartbeat sped up a little when we passed Free, the gate was closed tightly.  Deacon’s was just a block away once we passed Free.  We pulled into the parking lot and the first thing I spotted was the bike.  It was his.  It had to be.  None of the other bikes made my heart lurch and my breathing pick up.  

  I threw open the door, but failed to notice the dirt bike that was right beside my truck.  The force that I threw the door open with made it slam into the dirt bike and tip it over.  I just stared at it dumbly trying to figure out how the hell I just did that.  I looked up as Ember rounded the corner, and we looked at each other and immediately started laughing. 

  I heard a shout from the side of the building and saw a guy dressed in jeans and a cut off sleeveless t-shirt come barreling to us.  Both Ember and I backed up towards the back of the truck all the while he called us names.   

  “Bitches!  What the fuck are you girls doing knocking over my bike?” He said as he stalked us. 

  He staggered a little, and was obviously drunk.  We were practically rounding the back of the truck again when I backed into something hard.  I turned suddenly and found that I was staring into a t-shirt covered chest.  I followed that chest up and my gaze slid past his neck, chin, and nose to stare into those odd copper eyes.  But he wasn’t looking at me; he was staring at the douche bag that had been stalking us around the truck.  He grabbed my arm and steered me around his back.  I looked to my left and saw Max, who was also there, grabbing Ember’s arm and doing the same with her.  Sam’s back was touching my chest, and I couldn’t help but push in a little bit and wiggle my hips against his as I looked over his shoulder to shoulder to see what was going on. 

  His chest started vibrating when he spoke “Back off, she didn’t mean to.”  

  “Bullshit.  Those cunts purposefully did that.” He replied. He took out his pocket knife, opened it up and started gouging it into the side of poor Optimus. Sam went positively rigid and said “Stop” in a low furious voice.  The guy immediately stopped and looked at him. 

  At that I became unstuck and pushed back between Sam and Max. I got about three inches past them before a strong arm curled around my stomach and snatched me back into a hard chest.  Just his arm being around me made me shiver.  He wasn’t even touching anything important and I had a low ache in the center of my body that felt like nothing I have ever felt before.  I inadvertently rubbed my ass against him, and he leaned down and whispered “Behave.”  

  I don’t take orders very well, and I wasn’t going to start now. 

  “Don’t call me a cunt you little cock sucker.  I didn’t mean to, I was going to apologize and offer to pay for any damages.  Now you can go suck it.  You can’t prove shit.” 

 “Calm down, Cheyenne.” Sam said. 

  Fuck calm. I calmed down, but only on the outside, just so I could get him to think that I wasn’t going to do anything stupid.  His arm loosened just enough for me to twist away when the little prick went to go for my truck again but Sam beat him to it.  Before I could actually get away from him, I found my body pushed into Max’s arms and Sam was gone.  He had the guy on the ground with a knee in his back before I could even blink.  He also had the guy’s knife at his throat, and was speaking to him in a low tone that I couldn’t understand.  Although, I didn’t really need to understand to know that whatever it was he was saying was scaring the shit out of the guy.  

  I let out a deep sigh, turned in Max’s arms, and stomped off.  Grabbing Ember’s arm as I passed her, I strolled into the bar, looking over my shoulder once or twice, or maybe three times to get another glimpse of Sam. I didn’t fail to notice that Sam was hard all over, even down lower.  He was not a small man, and that turned me on so unbelievably that I was sure that anyone looking at me would know exactly how I was feeling. 

SAM 

“Listen up you little piece of shit.  If I ever see you threatening a woman like that again, I’ll castrate you with your little pocket knife here. Do you understand me?” I asked as I kneeled a little harder, grinding my knee a bit into his testicles. 

  “Yes s-sir.”  He gasped out

  “Good, glad we have that clear.” I said, punching him in the nose hard enough for his nose to crunch.  He was out cold. 

   Walking back inside with Max he asked me, “What the hell was that?” 

  “What was what?” I asked back. 

  “Nothing.” He gave up trying to make sense of it and went back to our booth at the back, across the room from the pool tables.  Cheyenne was bent over one, with a cue stick held incorrectly, shaking her ass.  She peered over her shoulder and looked directly into my eyes.  A challenge.  I accept. 

CHEYENNE

  “Two Coronas” I said to the bartender.  He gave me a weird look, but none the less did what I asked.  I paid, and strolled to the pool tables, never letting go of Ember.  “Let’s do this shit” I said to her when we spotted an empty table.

  “Now, show me what the fuck to do.”  I said snottily and grabbed a pool stick and swung around and stared at her expectantly.   

 She was unfazed by my attitude and came up to me and talked quietly “He had you up against his chest! You should have seen your face. It was like you went all soft and dreamy.  That was until that guy called us cunts and started screwing with your truck, then your eyes flashed and you got that crazy look like you always get when you are about to let your temper out.”

  I rolled my eyes and got the little triangle thing and placed it in the middle of the table.  Putting four quarters into the machine, I pushed it in and then listened to the balls release and come down to pool at the opening next to where you put the quarters in.  I grabbed the balls, put them into the little triangle, and motioned with my hand for her to get on with it.

  She got on with it, but she still added her commentary here and there about what she thought about Sam and me.  I stopped at two beers, since I still had to drive us home.  But I still had a great time playing pool with Ember.  She can make anything fun, and that is why I love her. 

  I felt his gaze on me throughout the night, I would look up when I was taking a shot and see him staring at me, I would look back down, take the shot, look up, and he would still be staring.  We did this all night long, and he never tried to hide the fact that he was looking at me. 

  At one point a cute little tart walked up to him, placing her hand on his chest. Her tits were on display, and she had a short blue jean skirt that barely covered her panties.  If she even bent over a little bit she would be showing everyone the goods.   He turned and smiled at her and they struck up a conversation.  I was fuming.  How dare he do that in front of me when we both know there is something going on between us.  I put the cue down with a snap. 

  “I need a refill.” I said to Ember before walking off towards the bar.   

  Sam watched me come, knowing I was pissed but doing nothing to remedy the situation. 

 I came up on the side of Sam that the girl wasn’t hanging on and glared at her.  She backed off a tad, but not completely.  The bartender walked up to me and asked what I wanted. 

  I spared him a glance but stared into Sam’s eyes and said “Screaming Orgasm.”  

  I was satisfied to see his eyes widen at my order. 

  “Is it just me, or do you think a girl’s skirt should be longer than her vagina?” I asked him before downing my drink and walking away. 

  Sam’s bark of laughter followed me as I made my way back to the pool table. 

 We played about four games until we decided to call it a night. Ember waved at Max as we were leaving through the front door, but Max stopped her and motioned her over.   

  She headed into that direction muttering, “Be right back.” 

  I sat there near the door and decided to go to the restroom instead of waiting there, this could take some time because it looked like a couple that their parents knew. 

  I headed into the dark hall and was reaching for the door handle when I heard a deep male voice say, “Chicken.” 

  I stopped dead in my tracks and turned to stare at Sam, “What did you say?” 

 He was wearing his usual attire of blue jeans and black t-shirt.  His hair was disheveled, falling into his eyes.  He walked up to me and I stepped back until I was backed into a corner. 

He nuzzled my ear and said again, “Chicken.”