Texas Hustle (3 page)

She’d not known him all that well seventeen years ago, more by reputation than personal interaction. How far he would take his threats was anyone’s guess.

Prison changed a man. Sometimes for the better. She was thinking not so much in this case.

Slade Madden had been a popular senior at her high school. Captain of the football team. President of the senior class. But he’d also been known for being quite the party boy. Born into a lower middle-class family, he hadn’t met the criteria her parents believed acceptable for their daughter.

They’d believed her too young to date at fifteen, other than the occasional country club dance where they could keep an eye on her.

Plus, it was their opinion that any senior—particularly Slade Madden—was simply too fast for her. As her parents had told her numerous times, she was too immature to be dating a senior.

However, Porchia believed the bottom line had been that his family simply hadn’t been in the same social and economic class as hers.

One night, he’d come to a party where she was a guest. He’d been tall and handsome and smelled dreamy. When he’d asked her to take a ride with him, she’d jumped at the chance. All her friends had been so envious.

She knew he’d been drinking but had thought it was only beer. It hadn’t been real booze or anything. But she hadn’t realized how much he’d had to drink before she got in the car.

He drove his car like he faced life…fast and reckless. A corner taken too fast. A missed stop at a stop sign. A momentary loss of control. An elderly woman standing in her yard.

Everything had happened so fast. Lives had been irreparably changed.

Porchia pulled herself back from the memories. She had to get out of her house tonight. She needed something to distract her, and nothing could be more distracting than a bachelor auction, not that she planned to bid on anyone. But Tina and Delene were going, and she’d said she’d try to come.

At eight, she went to the Whispering Springs Country Club, purchased an admission ticket, was handed a bid paddle with a number on it and walked into a room of giggling, twitching, loud-talking women. The mix of perfumes, hair sprays and other assorted scents was almost overwhelming. The ladies of Whispering Springs and its surrounding areas had shown up in full force and dressed to grab attention.

She looked down at the simple black slacks and multi-colored sweater set she wore. She was a simple glazed doughnut on a tray with fancy petit-fours.

Whatever. She wasn’t here to impress. She was here for the entertainment.

“Porchia!”

She turned toward the voice. Tina stood on a chair waving her arms. Leave it to Tina and Delene to get a front-row table.

Getting to them was a challenge. She weaved among throngs of ladies crowded around small tables littered with empty glasses. Apparently, the organizers believed the better oiled the crowd, the looser the purse strings.

“You made it,” Delene said, giving Porchia a quick shoulder hug.

“I’m here. Now who do you two have your eyes on?” Porchia held up the auction date brochure. “There are some juicy ones here.”

Tina and Delene exchanged glances.

“Okay, which one of you is buying Sheriff Singer?” Marc Singer had recently been voted in as county sheriff, and she knew both her friends had laid claims.

“Neither,” said Tina. “We figure he’ll go high and neither of us has the money. And second, Delene can kick my ass.”

Delene laughed. “You know it.” She looked at Porchia. “You got your eye on anyone?”

Porchia shook her head. “Just bored, so I came to watch you two.”

“You sure? Darren Montgomery is on the auction block.”

“I’m sure,” Porchia said with a smile. “And why would you think I would be interested in a date with Darren?”

“Good evening,” a tall, older woman yelled into a microphone on the stage. “I’m Reese McClure, your host for the evening. Thank you all for coming and supporting this very worthwhile cause. Each bachelor has outlined his planned date that’s up for sale.” She held up the glossy brochure. “If you don’t have a program, please see the ladies at the ticket counter. You can’t know the players without a program.”

The room of ladies chuckled.

“Let’s get started, shall we? First up is Michael Buchannan. Michael is a lawyer with Montgomery and Montgomery Law Offices. He’s new to Whispering Springs, so let’s make him feel welcome. Bid high and bid often.”

An attractive blond man strutted onto the stage wearing a three-piece suit. Smiling, he waved to the crowd. And the auction got underway. Porchia leaned back in her chair and enjoyed watching the bidding frenzy as one attractive bachelor after another came on the stage. While the three ladies laughed, gossiped and critiqued the bachelors and the bidders, there were no bids offered up from their table.

“Okay, ladies,” Reese McClure said. “Everybody loves a firefighter, right? Welcome Chad Jamison.”

The rookie firefighter walked onto the stage wearing his turnout pants with the suspenders hanging down around his hips. The tight muscles in his chest were nicely highlighted by the spotlight operator as he’d apparently lost his shirt.

There was a ripple of female sighs through the crowd. The opening bid was fifty dollars and Porchia was a little concerned. The last bachelor had sold for over three hundred dollars.

Then Chad grinned and flexed his biceps and the bidding became fierce.

Tina stood and waved her bid paddle at the emcee. “Three twenty-five,” she shouted.

A woman Porchia didn’t know called, “Three seventy-five.”

Tina glared at the other bidder. Porchia bit her lip to keep from laughing. Chad continued to strut the stage, pausing to flex and pose.

“Five hundred,” Tina shouted.

“Are you kidding?” Porchia said. “Where are you going to come up with five hundred dollars?”

Tina waved her off. “VISA.”

Delene shrugged. “A girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do.”

The other bidder blew a kiss to Chad and sat.

“I have five hundred dollars. Do I have another bid?” the emcee asked. When there were no more bids, she said, “I have five hundred going once, going twice, sold to paddle number one-forty-five. Go meet your date, Bachelor Chad.”

Chad jumped from the stage and headed for their table.

“I’m dying,” Tina said. “I can’t believe I just did that. But O-M-G, is he cute or what?”

Chad came over and kissed Tina on the cheek. “Thank you.” He took her arm and led her back to the cashier’s stand. Porchia had noticed that as soon as the bachelor sold, the group running the auction got their payment. She figured each man had been instructed to take his winner to the cashier immediately.

“We are so honored to have the next bachelor tonight. Help me welcome our new sheriff to the stage. Marc Singer.”

Marc walked out dressed in his sheriff uniform. His hair was tousled as though he’d been running his fingers through it. The excitement in the audience was electric. Porchia knew this was one of the organizers’ big draws. She expected Delene to bid on him since Tina had bought Chad, but she was wrong. Delene stayed true to her word and let the bidding go on around her.

Five hundred came and went quickly. As did seven-fifty. As the bidding neared a thousand, the bidders began dropping out, but there were still a few diehards who apparently wanted to be patted down by their sheriff.

From a dark corner at the back of the room, a voice rang out. “Five thousand dollars.”

There was a momentary stunned silence at the bid before the emcee collected herself.

“I have a five-thousand-dollar bid from paddle number two-ninety-five. Do I have any other bids? Going once. Going twice. Sold to the lady in the back for five thousand dollars.”

Marc hopped from the stage and made his way to the back of the room. When he and his bidder made their way to the cashier, there was a growing murmur through the audience. His buyer was Dr. Lydia Henson, fiancée of Jason Montgomery.

“What’s going on?” Porchia asked. “That’s Jason Montgomery’s fiancée. Why in the world did she buy Marc Singer?”

Delene shrugged. “No clue. I don’t run in those circles. Here comes Tina. Maybe she’ll know something.”

“Did y’all see what I just saw?” Tina asked, dropping back into her chair.

“You mean Dr. Lydia Henson with Marc Singer?”

“Yeah. Crazy, huh?”

“We were just wondering what was going on?”

“Don’t know. They were pretty closed mouth as she was paying.”

The emcee tapped on the microphone. “Now here’s an interesting date for sure. A ten-day camping trip with a cowboy. Who wouldn’t want that? Help me welcome Darren Montgomery to our stage.”

Darren strode from the right-side wing wearing jeans, a plaid snap shirt, highly polished cowboy boots and a black hat. He lifted the hat as he entered and bowed to the audience, which drove the ladies into a giggling mania and sent Porchia’s heart racing. Just as every time she saw him, a familiar swirl of lust began to churn in her gut.

Then, before the bidding started, he blew a couple of kisses from the stage, one directly toward their table. Porchia pretended it was meant for all three women, but she would have sworn she felt his lips touch her cheek.

She settled in to watch the women claw each other to death for Darren, resigned that she and Darren were simply not meant to be more than the best of friends.

The opening bid came from Porchia’s right. Five hundred dollars. That made her sit upright. An opening bid of five hundred? For a camping trip? She, and many other women in the room, twisted in their seats trying to get a look at the bidder. Sarah Jane Mackey was waving her paddle and glaring around as though daring anyone else to buy her man, not that Darren was her man. Last year, she’d tried to trap Darren into marriage by stabbing needles into his condom stash. It hadn’t worked, but that hadn’t slowed her obsession.

Another girl stood and raised her paddle. “Seven-fifty.”

“Who’s that?” Delene whispered.

“I was going to ask you guys that same question.”

Tina leaned in. “New chick in town. Name’s Rose or Violet or some flower. I forget. She’s the new nursing director at the hospital. She was in the shop last week. Seems nice enough. Look.” Tina tilted her head toward Sarah Jane. “I think Sarah Jane is trying to kill her competition with a death stare.”

All three women turned and Porchia chuckled. Sarah Jane didn’t stand a candle to June Randolph, Porchia’s mother. Nobody had perfected a death stare like June Randolph. Porchia should know. She’d been on the receiving end more than once.

Tonight, Sarah Jane stood with her hands on her hips, her lips pulled tight across her teeth and glared at the new bidder. Then she raised her paddle again. “One thousand.”

Porchia turned toward the stage to watch Darren’s reaction. She knew him well enough to recognize he was not happy. A date with Sarah Jane had to rank high on his not-to-do list. A two-week vacation with the harpy would be nightmarish.

“Fifteen hundred,” the nurse countered.

“Two thousand.” Sarah Jane continued her threatening stance, which seemed to be working as the nurse pulled down her bidding paddle and sat.

Porchia saw Darren’s lips move as he said something to the emcee, who nodded. Then he caught Porchia’s gaze and gave her a wide-eyed help-me look.

“I have two thousand,” the emcee said. “Are there any other bids?”

Sarah Jane looked around, a triumphant smile on her face.

Porchia simply couldn’t let that haughty rich bitch win this date so cheaply, or at least cheap for Sarah Jane. The woman had too much money and wasn’t afraid to flaunt it. If Darren had to spend time with Sarah Jane, Porchia wanted to make sure the cost took a chunk out of Sarah Jane’s obscenely large allowance.

Porchia pushed to her feet. “Two thousand three hundred.”

Before Sarah Jane could react, the emcee said, “Two thousand three hundred going once, twice, sold. Congratulations. Go collect your date, cowboy.”

Porchia’s mouth dropped open. What had just happened?

Tina grabbed Porchia’s arm. “What are you doing?”

“Wow. That didn’t work out like I’d planned.” Porchia pushed to her feet and headed to the cashier before Darren could get to her. She’d explain to him later that she’d been trying to drive up the price.

She was digging for a credit card when Darren caught up with her.

“That surprised me,” he said with a warm smile.

“Me too.”

“Thank you.”

“No problem.” She pulled the credit card from her wallet.

“Wait. Before you pay, part of my offer for the date was if the winner didn’t want to go or couldn’t go for some reason, I would pay her bid and add a ten percent bonus. So, you’re off the hook. I’ll pay the bid. You don’t have to go away with me.”

Two thoughts occurred almost simultaneously.

First, hadn’t she just told herself that she needed to get away? That she needed some time to think? Camping trips didn’t require a lot of brain power. Eat, sleep and fish or whatever. A few days away could be just what she needed. Besides, she could always take her car and leave whenever she wanted.