Texas Hustle (2 page)

“Fuck you. Go back into the hole you climbed out of and leave me the hell alone.” She slammed down the phone, her whole body shaking. When the phone rang again, she let it go to voice mail.

A couple of days passed with no contact from Slade. Porchia hoped he’d moved on, but in her heart, she knew she was kidding herself.

Friday morning, business was brisk, her pastries flying out of the store as though she was giving them away. She glanced at the clock. Almost noon. Someone from the fire station would be by soon to pick up all the unsold pastries from earlier this week. She’d made the firehouses a deal they couldn’t refuse…all the left over pastries from the last two days at sixty percent off. The deal was a win-win for both. She got excellent public relations from it and the firefighters got some cheap treats.

The bell over the door jangled, and Porchia looked up with a smile ready to greet her next customer. But it wasn’t a customer. Instead, her worst nightmare had just reentered her life. Slade Madden oozed into the shop. Her stomach roiled with the sudden influx of acid.

“Get out,” she said between clenched teeth.

“Now, Kat, is that any way to greet an old friend?”

The bell over the door jangled again as a probie firefighter came in to pick up the firehouse box. He stopped short when he caught sight of Slade. Not surprising. Dressed all in black—jeans, T-shirt, boots and leather jacket—Slade looked like Lucifer himself. Adding to his threatening appearance was a skull and crossbones tattoo on his neck.

“Um, is everything okay, Porchia?” The young firefighter’s eyes ricocheted from her to Slade and back.

“Everything is fine,” Porchia lied. She held out the box of pastries. “Here’s your box. We’ll settle up later.”

Chad, the rookie firefighter, took the box. “Thanks,” he said with a glance at Slade. “I can hang around until you finish with this customer.”

“No. That’s okay. You’d better get back to the station.”

As soon as the door closed behind Chad, Porchia held up a finger for Slade to not say anything. She went and closed the swinging door to the kitchen.

“I have other employees here, Slade, so make it quick and get out.”

“I don’t like my ladies hanging up on me.” He spread his stance and fisted his hands.

“Well, that’s fine since I’m not, and never have been, one of your
ladies
.” She swept her hand around the small bakery. “This is all I have, so if you came here looking for money, it’ll be like getting blood from a turnip. And, trust me, my dad won’t give you a dime. He’ll call the cops on you for some type of probation violation.”

If only her internal strength matched the grit in her voice, she’d be fine. But her insides were quivering like a puppy expecting to be hit. Luckily, she only had to channel her mother talking to their cook to get her haughty tone perfect. Forcing her spine straight, she squinted her eyes in what she hoped appeared to be a glare and tightened her lips across her teeth as though she were her mother ready to give her tsk of disapproval.

When he gave her one of his greasy smiles, she noticed he’d had a gold tooth put in his mouth. “No probation worries, my dear. I served my entire sentence. I’m a free man.”

“Great.” Her voice dripped with sarcasm. “Now go away.”

She turned to go to the kitchen, but Slade was faster. He grabbed her arm and jerked her back against the counter. The hard edge slammed into her side and back, but she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of hearing her scream as the pain shot through her.

“Not without what’s due me.”

“Let go of me,” she said through gritted teeth.

“Hey! What’s going on? Is everything okay, Porchia?”

Porchia and Slade turned toward the deep, masculine voice. Porchia’s heart skipped a beat or more at the sight of Darren Montgomery standing in her kitchen door, a freshly baked apple fritter in his hand. Taller than Slade and more muscular, Darren wore a threatening scowl on his face. He pointedly moved his gaze down to where Slade’s fingers were pressing into Porchia’s flesh and then back up to Slade’s face. He took a step toward them.

Slade released her arm. “No problem,” he said, a used-car-salesman’s smile on his face. “I thought I’d forgotten to pay for my coffee. I wanted to stop the lady before she got away.” He glanced at Porchia. “I always pay my bills. I’m sure you do too.”

Porchia rubbed her arm. “I’m fine.” She gave Slade a threatening look, or least she hoped he felt threatened. “He was just leaving, isn’t that right, sir? You’re all paid up here.”

Slade tipped an imaginary hat. “Real nice place you’ve got here. I’ll see you around.”

The minute the front door shut behind him, Porchia went on the offensive, wanting to distract Darren from any additional conversation about Slade. Her Grandmother Summers had been well loved and respected. That respect and goodwill had been extended to Porchia when she moved here. The very last thing she wanted was to darken her late grandmother’s good name or her own. So the less Darren—and everyone else—knew about her past, the better.

She cocked both fists on her hips. “What are you doing coming in through my kitchen? Callie let you in the back door again?”

Darren’s body relaxed and he grinned. She was positive this was the grin that got every girl in town picking out wedding dresses and checking church reservations.

“What can I say? I love Callie’s apple fritters.”

Her jaw tightened. Callie couldn’t make an apple fritter with instructions from an “Apple Fritters for Dummies” book. Porchia had made those fritters.

“Great. That’ll be two dollars.”

“Two dollars? Isn’t that a little steep?”

“Not when I know Callie fed you at least two more in the kitchen.”

The twinkle in his eyes let her know she’d hit the bull’s eye.

He tilted his chin toward the door Slade had just exited. “About that guy—” he started.

“Stop. Don’t say anything. It was nothing. Just a jerk being a jerk. It’s over.”

“Didn’t recognize him. Someone you know?”

“Nope. Never seen him before today. Probably just passing through town. Now, what are you doing here and why aren’t you at the D&R?”

Darren loved the cattle ranch he and his brother Reno ran. The ranch was a good hour outside of town, so for Darren to be in Whispering Springs on a Friday morning was definitely out of the ordinary.

“Hot plans for the evening.”

“Really? Do tell.”

Darren pointed to the glossy brochure Porchia had on the counter. “I’m up for bids.” He gave her a leer. “And, baby, let me tell you, you’ll get every dime’s worth.”

A loud laugh bubbled up from deep inside Porchia, something she desperately needed after Slade’s little visit.

“You are in the bachelor auction? You? Darren Montgomery? What is this world coming to when you have to sell your wares on the street?” She tsked. “D&R a little hard up for money this month?”

Shaggy long dark hair brushed the collar of his denim shirt. Piercing-blue eyes that could make any woman drown in them. And his voice. Oh Lord. His deep Southern drawl combined with a husky laugh made her gut tumble to her knees.

He chuckled. “What can I say? Aunt Jackie caught me in a good mood one day and I said yes. Besides, it’s for a good cause. It’s to raise money for an abused women and children’s shelter.”

“I know.” She pointed toward the large plate-glass window at the front of her store. “I’ve had the flyer up for a couple of weeks.”

“You coming tonight?”

“No. Why would I?”

He tapped on the brochure. “You have all the various information. I thought maybe you were checking out the manly goods.”

She laughed again. One thing about Darren, he never failed to entertain her. If only he were her age instead of being years younger. The age thing was her problem, not his. But being thirty-two and dating a guy still in his twenties made her feel desperate, and she wasn’t.

However, she didn’t make the best decisions when it came to men. Slade was only one example. Somehow every loser found his way to her doorstep.

She really liked Darren and valued their friendship. If he had some fatal flaw, like every other guy in her past, she didn’t want to know.

If she gave in and let herself get romantically involved with him and it didn’t work, there went their friendship. And since he was the brother-in-law of one of her good friends, a failed romance could also put a damper on her girl friendships.

No, she had just too much to lose if everything went south. It was in her best interest to keep him as her friend and nothing more.

“Manly goods? It might be worth it if there were any manly goods to be seen.”

He leaned over to whisper in her ear. The scent of man and sugar and cinnamon was an aphrodisiac for her. She felt a tug in her gut just behind her navel. Her breath caught, holding all that deliciousness in.

“The date I’m offering is very special. It’s not just any girl that I’d want to take. Check it out.”

His warm breath on her neck had her knees going weak and her head wanting to turn until her lips could meet his. In the end, she grinned and pushed him back.

“I’m sure you’ll raise a lot of money tonight. Have fun.”

Six hours later, Porchia locked the back door of the bakery, exhausted and ready to put her feet up. Her car was the only one in the lot, which was not unusual. However, what was different was finding a piece of paper on her windshield held down by a wiper blade.

“See you soon.”

The note wasn’t signed, but it didn’t have to be. Slade Madden was fully aware of where she worked and what she drove. He’d probably already scoped out where she lived. That thought didn’t bring any comfort.

During the drive from the bakery to her house, which was a mere five miles, Porchia watched her rearview mirror for any sign of Slade, but if he was back there, he was doing an excellent job staying hidden.

Her house phone was ringing when she walked in. She dropped her purse and tote bag on the couch and hurried to answer.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Kat. Nice house.”

Her eyes shut in frustration. “Slade. There’s nothing here for you. I have nothing. If you don’t stop calling me, I’m going to go to the sheriff’s office and file a complaint.”

“No, you won’t. I’ve asked around town about you. Everybody I’ve spoken to thinks you’re a wonderful addition to their little community. What would they think of their nice addition if they learned about your part in killing a nice little old lady?”

Bile began rising in her throat as her nervous stomach spasmed.

“I had nothing to do with the accident. The courts found you totally liable, and that’s why you went to jail and I didn’t. I’m sorry it happened, but it did. Like you said. You did your time and now you’re out. There’s nothing I can do to help you restart your life. Nothing.”

“Yeah, there is. Money. Starting over takes money, money you can provide. That’s a nice little shop you have. I bet you have it insured and everything. Be a shame if something happened to it.”

His threat came through loud and clear. He wasn’t going away empty handed. What was arson to someone like him?

“Give me some time. There’s no way I can get a million dollars, but I might be able to scrape up twenty thousand.”

“Chump change.”

“Twenty grand is it. Take or leave it.”

“One week.”

“Two, at least. I don’t have that kind of money lying around.”

“Two weeks, and if I don’t have my money by then, I’ll look for ways you might could get it.”

He hung up. Porchia stood with the phone receiver in her hand, tears flowing down her cheeks. She’d been so stupid getting in that car with Slade Madden. It’d been the perfect
screw you
to her parents, who’d never approved of any boy she liked, unless he happened to be the son of close friends in the same social class. Dating someone like Slade Madden had been completely out of the question.

Where was she going to get twenty thousand dollars in two weeks?

Asking her parents wasn’t an option. They didn’t approve of her living in Texas or of her owning a simple bakery. So they’d never give her money unless it was to move back closer to them.

Getting into the small trust fund her paternal aunt had left her wasn’t an option either. She couldn’t access that until she was thirty-five or married. Right now, her father controlled it, so even if she could get into it, there’d be many questions.

She had nothing she could sell worth twenty grand.

She had to think. She’d bought herself a couple of weeks to come up with a solution to her Slade problem. What, she hadn’t a clue, but the answer had to be there…somewhere.

Chapter Two

Porchia had bought herself a small window of time to figure out how to handle Slade’s demands. She knew if she stayed in town, he would continue to dog her.

Frankly, she didn’t know if he was dangerous or all hot air. If he was as threatening as he wanted her to believe, she could put her employees at risk if he kept coming to the bakery.