Cougar's Victory (4 page)

Effie sat chewing on the edge of her thumb. She’d been working on the changes Dax requested. He’d added a number of options that he wanted her to mock-up. Depending on its use the design needed small tweaks here and there. But her mind kept wandering back to her phone call and that scrumptious voice. She wanted to call him, but couldn’t think of a valid reason.

Her distraction was also from the contract sitting on her desk. A very nice lady named Margo tracked her down to give her the paperwork. Intending to give it a cursory glance and toss it down, Effie had frozen solid when she spotted the bonus addendum.

“Did he sign it with an ‘X’ so he won’t be legally obligated to pay?” Cassie asked, laughing while she flipped a grilled cheese on the stove.

“No, he signed it. He also added if I finish in the month he’s giving me a bonus. There is still three weeks left so I’m not concerned about a deadline. But he must have written this wrong,” she said, dropping to the broke down sofa.

Cassie leaned over, snatching the contract out of her hand.

“Holy freaking shit, ten G’s! He wants to give you ten thousand dollars to do the job he’s going to pay you three grand to do anyway? That man is crazy and rich. Or he’s just crazy rich! You better get your cute little booty in gear my friend. We gonna be rollin’ five figures this month! Holla!”

“Did you just say, holla? Really, Cass?”

“What? Am I wrong? We could even go out and eat at one of those fancy restaurants where your butt doesn’t stick to the torn vinyl. That would be totally cool,” Cass said, throwing up a pair of devil horns and sticking out her tongue.

Effie heard her phone’s text message alert. “Whatever!” Cass had been kind enough to select that sarcastic option and tormented Effie by frequently sending her messages. Reaching for her phone she swiped the screen to check her messages, there was one from a number she didn’t recognize.

Done yet?

Who is this?

Dax Hayes

Oh, geez she’d told him to text her but she really didn’t think he would do it. And what did he mean by ‘done yet?’ was he joking? Crap, what if he wasn’t joking, she wondered.

Hello?

Sorry, didn’t recognize the number

No problem, just checking in seeing if you had any ?’s

Um, nope, all good thnx

Big plans tonight?

What did he care if she had plans tonight. Maybe he’s just being friendly. Yup, don’t read too much into it, Effie, she thought.

Not unless you count working on a project for a very demanding new account.

I might microwave a frozen pizza too.

Very exciting stuff.

I’ve been craving pizza.

Anywhere good in town?

Good, no. Decent? Sorta

Red Tomato on Main is as close as you are going to get to Italian food around here.

Sounds legit lol

Oh sure it is. Red and white check tablecloths and everything.

Ah, just like the last time I was in Parma

Why wasn’t she surprised he’d been to Italy. He was a millionaire. Had probably been all around the world. Effie had never left the great state of Washington. Hell, she’d never even seen the ocean. At least not in person.

You still there?

Sorry, had to consult an atlas to find Parma

Never been to Italy?

Never been out of the state.

Shit, she’d never left the state? There was not being well traveled and then there was being stunted. But Dax realized he knew nothing about this person. He wasn’t even sure what convinced him to text her. His cat was meowing loudly and it was bugging him. He could feel his cat’s desire to talk to the girl again so he’d caved. His cat had never steered him too wrong so he went with his gut.

He didn’t want to come across as a snob, so he racked his brain to recover their conversation.

Not even Disneyland?

Nope, no mouse ears for me.

Maybe I should have offered

a roundtrip ticket to Disney

instead of the bonus.

I’ll take the cash thanks.

My car may not make it another six months

I might upgrade to something without Duct tape.

Duct tape, you’re joking right?

I never joke about cars.

Neither do I

Alright, I’ll let you get back to work

Don’t want your client upset with you.

Heaven forbid

Goodnight

Dax scanned across his phone and wondered who this Effie Parks was. And why was he thinking about someone he’d never even met?

Effie smiled as she set her phone down. That was a weird conversation. Was that friendly or flirting? She wasn’t sure. What she was sure of was that Dax Hayes was so far out of her league that they were probably different species.

Turning back to her computer she figured out where she’d stopped in her work when her phone beeped. A few minutes later she heard someone shouting. Assuming it was a group leaving the restaurant downstairs, she tried to ignore it. When the noise persisted she got up to look out the window. Down on the sidewalk below was Chris. Tall, dark, and handsome in a very rough sort of way, and clearly intoxicated.

“Effie, you bitch! Let me in!”

Opening the window she leaned out and shouted back down, “Are you for real? Get lost Chris!”

“You changed the locks, let me in,” he bellowed.

“I changed the locks, because I didn’t want you to be able to come up, you moron!”

“Fuck you! I want to see you!”

“Well I don’t want to see you. Go home before I call the cops,” she yelled back down. God she really didn’t need this. She was feeling a warm fuzzy after texting with sexy wine man. Now reality came knocking or screaming as the case may be.

“I need you. Come on baby, you know I miss you. I bet you miss me too!” he said, grabbing a handful of crotch and giving it a tug.

“You’re disgusting! Trust me, there is not one thing I miss at all. Take your pathetic ass and get lost,” she threw back and shut the window, muffling his angry shouts. She could still hear him yelling and then she heard Mr. Barnes, the diner owner, coming out and shouting at him to shut up. Then Chris telling him to fuck off and after a few more exchanges, it was quiet.

Effie shot off a text to Cassie letting her know that Chris made an appearance and to keep an eye out on her way home. She texted back that one of the guys offered to drive her home and would make sure she made it to her door safely.

Settling back to her desk, she stared for a while at the Tiger Mountain Winery logo. It was more than a logo to her. It was an opportunity to a better life. That ten grand could move them into a nicer place. Get Effie a better car. Being able to use the winery as an example of her work would show new clients she was legitimate, the real deal.

This was Effie’s chance for a different life. She never wanted riches and jewels. She wanted a roof over her head, food in her belly, and a safe life for her and Cassie. Two kids from the system rarely survived without falling into the same bad choices their families had made. Leaving two small kids being dumped into state care with no future ahead of them. Effie wasn’t going to let that happen to either of them. They were strong, smart girls, and she knew one day, they’d have it all.

Dax actually enjoyed the drive out to the Olympic peninsula to visit his sister. He picked a time when traffic would be light and he could enjoy the lush rain forests and cooler breezes the closer he got to the coast.

He’d made a promise to his mom that he’d visit his sister regularly if he was moving to Washington. At first it had annoyed Dax, but after the second visit he’d started to enjoy his little trips to the coast. Getting to stay at the Rochon family’s main house and have Connie Rochon feed and coddle him was better than a five star resort.

He’d even become better friends with the Rochon brothers. They had always gotten along, but with his sister mated to Conner Rochon now, they were family. It also helped that Dax no longer wanted to kick Conner in the nuts every time he saw him. He was lucky to be alive in Dax’s opinion.

That man had broken his little sister’s heart one too many times. In fact the first time he did it, he thought he deserved to be neutered. But his sister assured him that Conner just needed time. He must have gotten his shit figured out, because now he was a groveling mess around his sister. It’s like he was making up for decades of bad deeds.

The minute he figured out his mate was expecting, he turned into a hovering mother hen. The Rochon men all had either pregnant mates or new cubs and they were completely fixated on their families. So much, they had called in reinforcements in the form of some of their cousins that ran the lumber mill side of the family business. Dax had met their cousin Cash on his last visit, not a bad guy and he had serious feelings about family loyalty.

He was looking forward to this weekend and even more was looking forward to teasing his sister about how big she was getting. A dangerous but fun game when you had five grumpy bears and one pissed off cougar all growling at him. He liked to live dangerously.

Effie hadn’t heard from Dax at all during the weekend. Not that she expected him to be sending her texts about what the Real Housewives were up to, but some kind of contact would have been nice. Maybe she’d misinterpreted his texts. Maybe they weren’t flirty at all?

She’d finished up the changes he’d requested and turned in a few online jobs that had come through in the past week. Now she was bored. Deciding being trapped in the stuffy apartment didn’t sound appealing. Effie peeked out the window to make sure Chris the creep wasn’t waiting for her outside.

She’d seen him a few times across the street looking at her window. She didn’t want to call the police because the police in her town really didn’t think domestic disputes were worth their time. And she was afraid most of them still knew who her mother was and would judge her for her mother’s actions. Elvira Buckley was one of the town’s more notorious criminals.

A little extra caution to avoid a run-in was a good idea. Calling ahead to the tattoo parlor to let Cassie know she was coming, Effie headed out.

She could have walked, but felt safer in her car, even if poor old
Betty
was on her last legs or wheels as it were. Not hearing from Chris for so long then having him start showing serious stalker tendencies was not in her comfort zone.

Pulling up to the tattoo shop she saw Cassie waving from the front desk. As she entered, she got a chorus of greetings from the guys working. She knew their piercer Lila was in the back somewhere. Effie liked her ink, but never had an urge to poke holes in her body.

“My main squeeze! What’s shaking baby?” Cass greeted.

“The usual. Avoiding weirdo ex-boyfriends. Finishing up the revisions to my biggest account. Now I’m starving,” Effie informed

“Don’t forget checking your phone every few minutes for new texts from Mr. Handsome Pants,” Cassie teased.

“Is that what we are calling him now? Last night he was Studly McStudson.”

“Yes well, it’s an evolving process. I’ll settle on something eventually,” Cassie smiled wickedly.

“Awesome,” Effie said sarcastically, as she flopped down on the couch in the lobby.

She stared up at the flashes on the walls. The shop had them nicely framed. Not like some of the seedier places that had them laminated and taped to the walls. Here even the flashes were custom. At least they were when the employees drew them. They were their interpretation of classics. Anchors and butterflies abounded. But they all had a twist to them. Effie had the jones for some more ink, but hadn’t settled on anything.

As her eyes roamed the walls, they caught on a tiger picture. Another classic. Seems her world was raining cats at the moment, thanks to Tiger Mountain Winery. Maybe that would be a great commemorative tattoo for landing her first big account. She’d have the money from the bonus. But she couldn’t really see herself with a big orange tiger gracing her skin.

She saw a sweeping paw print next to the head of the cat. It had long claws that looked like they were tearing into skin. That was kind of badass she mused. She could most definitely rock that ink. Smiling to herself she checked another item off her To Do list. That list wasn’t long, but each check mark was celebrated. Tonight felt like a margarita type celebration.

“Hey, skank,” she called out to Cass.

“Yes, ho ho,” Cass called back.

“Margaritas?”

“Oh, hell yeah!” Cassie let out a squeal.

“Bitches, this is a classy joint. Keep it down up there!” A tall heavily tattoo man called out not looking up from the back of a very large biker dude he was working on.

“Love you too, Spike!” Both girls called out and broke out into fits of laughter.