Against Me (Cedar Tree Book 3) (25 page)

I almost slap Neil when he tries to lift me into the Tahoe.

"Would you knock it off? I'm not an invalid."

"Could've fooled me," the ass grumbles as he takes my chair and folds it in the backseat while I pull myself up into my seat.

"Heard that." Guess he's still smarting 'cause I laughed at him, so I punch him in the arm as soon as he sits his butt down beside me. "Knock it off, you sourpuss. You've gotta lighten up a little. You're too young to be so damn grumpy half the time."

"Ouch," he grumbles, rubbing his arm furiously. "For a chick you have a surprisingly solid punch."

Just for that he gets another one.

"Ouch! Have some mercy will you? That'll leave a mark."

"Serves you right. Who the fuck are you calling a chick anyway? Besides, I was just confirming something for you, that way next time you won't need to be so surprised."

A small smile plays at the edge of his mouth. "Not surprised as much as impressed, I guess."

"Oh now you're just blowing smoke up my ass," I chuckle, finding myself enjoying spending time with Neil a lot. He is super sharp with all things electronic and can work the computer like you wouldn't believe, but even more I enjoy the casual familiar banter. Almost like a younger brother I never had. Yeah. I really like the kid.

Listen to me. Calling him kid like Caleb does―he's maybe ten years younger, if that. And he sure doesn't look like a kid, maybe his face, but the rest of him is ripped and toned like a man's body. There's a lucky girl out there somewhere, although he could use some help smoothing his game out.

In the diner the lunch crowd is thick, even for a Friday. Beth has us sitting at the counter, which meant I had to leave my chair and hoist myself up on a stool. Something that was closely observed by Arlene.

"You're doing pretty decent there, missy," she point out.

"Yeah. Getting there," I tell her with a wink, not ready yet to reveal my newfound ability to walk a few steps. Let them see me stand and manoeuvre myself around for a bit. I don't need gawkers anyway. Awkward enough as it is.

Seb comes out of the kitchen and gives me a hug. Cripes, he is a
nice
man, and Arlene is one lucky woman.

"I have home made elk burgers on special today guys, with sweet potato fries. You game?"

"Hell yes," belts Neil, whose three eggs fried over hard in my kitchen at 10:30 weren't enough to tide him over I guess.

"Yes to what?" Emma asks, just walking up in front of Gus.

"Seb has elk burgers and Neil is a bottomless pit," I announce, "he's already emptied our fridge and now he pretends to be starved again. Don't fall for it."

"Hey, I'm a growing boy," Neil protests, a big grin on his face.

"Sign me up too, Seb." Gus throws in his order and with Emma's and mine to match it's unanimous.

"No table?" Gus wants to know.

"Hang on, I think the corner booth is about to leave, I'll go wipe the table to help them along." Beth grabs a rag and heads over to the booth where Clint and some woman are finishing up lunch. Furiously wiping the table and slamming plates and cutlery together, she succeeds in chasing them out of the booth in no time. Clint with a confused look on his face and the woman by his side more than mildly irritated. With a wave in our direction he guides her out the door.

Heading our way is Beth with a giant smile on her face. "There," she says triumphantly, "your booth is ready and waiting." With a toss of her ponytail, she flicks the rag over her shoulder and heads into the kitchen.

"Oh boy." Emma looks at Arlene who is looking at the doorway where Beth disappeared.

Gus starts chuckling behind her. "Leave it alone, Ems. Whatever it is, leave it alone."

"But..." she starts, but she’s cut short when he grabs her around the waist and moves her along to the now vacant booth.

"Come on guys," he says over his should to us, "we've got some business to discuss."

––––––––

F
our elk burgers, a mountain of sweet potato fries and some damn good diner coffee later, Gus finally is ready to go over the details of a call he mentioned earlier he received from Manny Jordan, the detective from Shiprock. Emma stopped him from discussing business while eating, which earned her a scowl, but he did eat first. Never thought I'd see the day.

"Manny says it was a routine traffic stop for speeding, the idiot. They took him in and are holding him for questioning."

"Who is this Benjamin Chee?" Emma wants to know.

"He was, or still is we're not quite sure, Caleb's brother Malachi's best friend and also his number two man in this gang he runs. He may be involved. At the very least, he knows a lot more than he should."

"So we're gonna sit and wait for news?" I ask, hoping I might finally be able to do something instead of waiting around twiddling my thumbs, but no.

"We should know more by the end of the afternoon. Anything else from Caleb?"

"Nothing since the text that he would be out of range."

"How long ago was that?"

"He's been gone for five hours now."

I approach the three rocks along the side of the cliff wall. It's taken me much longer to get here than I had anticipated. An hour's hike is what I counted on, but it turned out to be at least double that. And no reception to give the guys back home a head's up.

A slight rustle above me, has me snap my head up, but all I see is a bird taking off from some brush on the cliff above. Pausing a moment to make sure that is all it was, I rest my head against the sun warmed red and yellow sandstone rock of the cliff. Minutes pass without any further sound and I slowly push away from the wall to make my way over to the hidden kiva.

With a sudden change of light and a rush of air, a large form knocks me forward and flat on my face. The unmistakable cold steel of a gun is pressed to the base of my skull.

"Don't. Move." A voice hisses close to my ear.

"S
eb's already prepped tonight's dinner special; Jambalaya. I packed up a tub for you to take along."

Arlene is waiting at the cash register when we're ready to leave. Of course Gus wrangles Neil and I for the bill and wins.
Asshat
.

The bag is shoved in my direction and when I hesitate to accept it right away, Arlene scoffs and adds, "Don't make a big fuss, okay? I'm having a nice day - don't spoil it. Beth's made these ridiculous little pouches with some kind of wood eating tools for our new take-out menu, and I popped some in so you won't even have to do dishes."

I have a shit eating grin on my face at Arlene's obvious discomfort with having been caught doing something nice―in front of witnesses, no less! For all her abrasive bristle, the woman is a gem and I'm really starting to love her.

With a loud 'humpf', Arlene throws one last dirty look in our general direction, as if daring any of us to say anything, before turning and virtually stomping off into the kitchen.

"Better go," Emma chuckles, "all these kindly vibes are bound to pop her a blood vessel."

Outside I stop Gus by grabbing his arm, not able to forget my anxiety over Caleb despite our little chuckle at Arlene's expense.

"How long till we activate the trackers?"

"I promised him seven hours to get back in touch, Katie. Go home. Trust him to know what he's doing. If we haven't heard by three this afternoon, I'll be at the barn and we move."

Mildly placated with a timeline and a gentle reminder that Caleb is a highly trained professional who would take no unnecessary risks, I join Neil waiting at the Tahoe.

The drive to the barn is a quiet one, both of us alone with our thoughts, but pulling onto the yard the sight of Blue sitting by the picnic table instantly lifts my spirits.

"Whoa, what the fuck is that thing?" Neil exclaims when he gets his first glimpse of all that is Blue.

"Thing? That's not a thing, that's my puppy."

From the incredulous look he throws me, I gather he's not convinced and almost yanks me back in the truck, when I try to slide out.

"Hang the fuck on, woman. What if it mauls you?"

"Get over yourself," I call him on the drama, "he's just a dog. Let me get out and prepare him for you."

"Oh
that
makes me feel a lot better. Thanks." Rolling his eyes and with his arms crossed defiantly over his chest, he cautiously keeps an eye on Blue as I slide out of the truck and hold on to the door for balance.

"Come here, Blue!"

With a twitch of his ears, the dog gets up and gingerly moves closer. Always aware of any movement around him. There is no hesitation in his approach of me though. Nuzzling my hand, he flops back on his haunches and leans his body into my legs as I scratch him under the chin.

"Hey buddy. Did you come to see me? I need you to be nice to my friend. He's gonna help me inside, okay?"

When Neil opens his door to get out, I can hear the low growl vibrating through Blue's fur.

"I'll be damned," Neil chuckles, "that mutt loves you."

"Don't come barging up right away, he's very protective of me. Let me introduce you first."

"Every man around you is protective of you, Katie. Although it beats me as to why. You may look the part, but you're no damsel in distress. You're actually kinda scary."

I smile at Neil, who lingers at the hood of the car, careful not to come too close.

"Awww, you just gave me a compliment. That's so sweet."

"Me calling you scary is sweet? Fuck I have a lot to learn about women."

A few minutes later Blue is sniffing Neil's hand and is cleared to get my wheelchair out of the back. None too soon either; my legs are starting to buckle from exertion.

I wheel up to the house with Blue in tow, while Neil dives back in the Tahoe to get the food out. To my surprise, Blue actually leads the way once I have the front door open. It's the first time he's been inside. Curiously sniffing around he makes his way around the entry and the doors to the side leading to the laundry and bedroom, stopping only to look back at me as if for approval to move ahead.

"Go on. Have a look around." I urge him on. Neil walks in behind me with the bag of food and puts it in my lap.

"Here, you can put this away, I'm going back to work." He moves over to the table and boots up his laptop, ignoring the dog that does a 'sniff-by' as he passes Neil on the way to the kitchen. I follow behind, curious to see where he'll go.

Blue stops in the middle of the kitchen and sits down, looking expectantly at the fridge.

"You're not such a wild dog, are ya, buddy?" I chuckle; amused he knows exactly where the goodies are kept. Opening the fridge I plop the bag from the diner in and pull out a length of kielbasa Caleb bought last week when we were stocking up. I hate the stuff, but he loves it. Maybe Blue will too. Slicing off a piece I look at Blue whose ears are perched to attention and I swear the dog is licking the drool off his lips. Slightly dipping his head down, he gently lifts one paw and puts it on my lap.

"Well, you little bugger! Somebody trained you at some point didn't they?"

I hold out the meat and with his head tilted sideways he very carefully takes it from between my fingers, barely touching them.

"I'll be damned."

Neil is leaning over the counter looking on with a grin on his face.

"Don't know who's got who suckered in, but it looks like love to me."

Before I have a chance to come back with a response, the large window over the sink shatters and Neil dives over the counter and knocks me out of my chair on the ground, covering my body. Blue stands in front of us facing the window, growls coming from deep in his chest and shards of glass glistening through his fur that is standing on end.

"Phone?" I ask Neil, since mine is on the counter where I put it earlier. He hands me his cell from his back pocket, never letting go of the gun he has clutched in his right hand. I dial Gus' number as Neil shoves both of us up against the cabinet under the broken window.

"Gus, shots fired at the barn. Kitchen window, were hunkered down and ok."

"Fuck! On my way. Leave the line open."

Putting the phone on speaker I put it down on the ground and slide out my own side arm, which is strapped, under my arm. Neil is trying to have a look through the window, but dives down when this time a volley of shots comes flying in hitting surfaces around us. Blue's had enough and starts barking furiously. Fuck. That's all we need.