Dirty Shame (Bluefield Bad Boys #1) (15 page)

Chapter 31

Kellan

Max climbed up on the couch next to me and dropped down with a loud dog sigh. His big head rested on my thigh. I placed my hand on his head and used the other hand to lift the bottle of whiskey to my mouth. I winced at the taste of it, some cheap, questionable stuff that probably only tasted good if it was mixed with something else. But tonight, it was serving its purpose. I wasn’t looking for a good drink so much as a good buzz that would leave me just numb enough to not feel anything.

Dawson came out of the bathroom with a steam cloud that smelled like soap, shampoo and way too much aftershave. “Sure you don’t want to go? I hear some hot women hang out at this place. Think I’ll be getting lucky tonight for sure, so if my bedroom starts a rockin’—”

“I think you need a van for that saying to work.” I lifted the whiskey bottle. “I’ve got my date for the night. Is Huck going with you?”

“Yep. He’s still getting dressed.” Dawson stood there staring down at me.

“What’s that look for? If you put on a flower print apron and put your hands on your hips, you’d look just like my mom used to look when she was lecturing me about some dumbass decision I’d made.”

“Then my point has come across just right. I knew the second I heard she was coming back to town that you were going to end up just like this with a face that is droopier than that dog’s and a bottle of whiskey clutched in your hand.” He did a double take of the bottle in my hand. “Can’t believe you’re drinking that hog’s piss. I was going to dump it down the sink.”

I lifted the bottle and took another drink. I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand and stared at the label. “I find the taste mellows with each swig.”

“Yeah, I guess hog’s piss might do the same.”

Tommy came out from his room. His look mirrored Dawson’s. “So this is your Saturday night?”

“Yep. So run along, Moe and Curly. Max and I are busy holding down the couch.”

Tommy grabbed his keys and phone. “I’m sure as fuck glad I don’t have my balls all twisted up around my heart like that.”

I laughed. The whiskey had already changed the sound of it. “The hell you don’t. When Andi was patching you up the other night, I thought you might lock your jaw up for good with the way you were clenching your teeth so damn tight.”

Dawson laughed, but Tommy ignored the comment. They walked out. With the exception of Max’s snoring, the cabin was quiet. I leaned my head back and closed my eyes, just about drunk enough to land myself in a nice sleep coma. My phone rang. I knew who it was even before I answered it. It had always been that way with Rylan. I could sense her even when she wasn’t with me. She was that tightly bound to my soul.

“Hey.”

“Hey,” she said softly. The sound of her voice made me grip the bottle in my hand tighter. “Just wanted to make sure you were all right.”

“I’m not. I would never do anything to hurt you because I love you. You’re the only one, Lanie. There’s never been anyone else.” My words were sluggish from the alcohol.

“I heard the truth about grad night, about what Jason did.” She took an audible breath. “And that my dad was behind it all.”

I stroked my hand along Max’s back. “I didn’t want to tell you. I knew it would hurt you.”

“I know.” She sniffled a few times. “Kellan, I’m going back to Pennsylvania. My old job is open again, and I think it’s for the best.”

“The best for who? Sure as fuck isn’t best for me.”

“Are you sure? I’ve only been back for a few weeks, and I’ve screwed up everything again. I see now that my dad is completely unreasonable. My parents will never understand.”

“So what? Stay. Stay with me.”

Another sniffle. “I just need this—I need—I don’t know what the hell I need, but what I don’t need is to feel like I feel right now.”

“Lanie, please—”

“I’ve got to go, Kellan. Take care of your—” the last word fell off with a sob.

“Lanie.” No answer. She was gone.

I tossed the phone on the table, leaned back against the cushions and brought the bottle to my mouth.

Chapter 32

Kellan

Dawson came up behind me as I reached the man trip. “Shit, are you even sober yet?” he asked.

“More sober than I want to be. Slide in.” I motioned toward the empty seat.

He climbed in and propped his lunch pail on his lap. I climbed in next to him. The vehicle waddled and groaned as it headed into the entryway, the tunnel that would take me to my work place deep below the Earth’s surface, away from sunlight and fresh air. Away from everything. Away from Rylan.

“As I’ve said before, I knew that day you told me Rylan was coming back that this was going to happen. And now here it is.”

“I can’t take this shit today, Dawz. Save it for another time.”

“Yeah? Well fuck you. I’m the one who has to spend my entire fucking work day in the pit of hell with your mopey ass. Sorry if I sound like a fucking nag.”

I leaned my head back. My miner’s cap nudged forward covering my brow and shading my eyes. Thankfully, Dawson decided to stop his rant. Now, if I just managed to avoid running into Meade down in the hole, I just might make it through Monday without throwing my fist at someone.

Most of the workers climbed off the man trip at the first few stops. Dawson and I were the lucky roof bolters who had to go to the deepest section of mine, the area where the continuous miner had already scraped free all the coal, with the exception of the pillars left behind to keep the entire thing from collapsing. Dawson and I would work our way through the mined out cavern and bolt the roof for extra support.

We climbed off the man trip and turned on our lights as we headed down to the area where our machinery and equipment waited. The floor and ribs of the mine trembled as the continuous miner worked its way through the next section. Once the giant machine advanced, Dawson and I would sweep in behind it and add bolts to the newly mined section.

With Dawson pissed at me, and me not interested in conversation, our work went fast. Even without communication, we worked together like a well-oiled machine, securing the roof of the mine. I was lost in my own world, watching the bolts disappear into the dark rock and, all the while, working hard not to think about Rylan leaving me for good.

Dawson’s face shot my direction. His brows were creased together beneath his safety goggles. “What the fuck?” he mouthed to me.

That was when I heard the roar of the continuous miner getting closer, much closer than it should have been. The remote had been giving the operator trouble, and I briefly passed it off as a wrong turn. Then, in a surreal replay of every nightmare I’d ever had about being buried alive in the mine, the gnarly grinding wheel of the continuous miner broke through the ribs of the section we were working in.

Dawson shot toward me. “Roof fall!” He grabbed my arm. “Let’s head toward the passageway.”

I dropped my tools and raced behind him. The noise shook me to my core. The dust cloud that swirled up around us was as thick as cream soup. My safety goggles were smeared with dirt, making visibility even worse. I pressed my gloved hand over my mouth to keep from inhaling the choking air. Dawson was just a dark silhouette with a dim light as he led the way to the passage.

The continuous miner had finally stopped behind us. The roof and ribs of the mine groaned and creaked before collapsing. The ground beneath me shook, throwing me off my feet. I landed hard on my side. The wind was knocked from me. As I struggled to get it back, I sucked in dust. I fell into a coughing fit and couldn’t find enough clean air to recover.

I squinted up ahead but could no longer see Dawson or his light. Still coughing, I pushed to my feet, taking tiny sips of the acrid air. I made my way with only the light of my helmet to lead me.

It seemed as if I’d been walking forever, alone and in the dark. Then voices and alarms and red flashing lights showed me the way out. I reached the surface. The daylight was completely muted by the float dust.

Kooley, one of the supervisors, grabbed my arm. “Kellan, thank god you’re all right. Is Dawson with you?”

“He was ahead of me, but there was another collapse and I lost my footing.” I looked around. “Dawz!” I yelled.

“Haven’t seen him come out yet,” Peters, the man in charge of head counts, yelled back.

I turned to go back in. Kooley grabbed for my arm, but I yanked it out of his reach. “Braddock, you can’t go back inside.”

I pushed back through the curtain of dust and headed back down the passageway to find Dawson.

Chapter 33

Rylan

I placed my suitcases down at the entry to the dining room. Dad was sitting alone at the massive mahogany dining table having a poached egg as if everything was perfectly fine. He looked up from the newspaper next to his plate. “Rylan. Your mom went into the city to shop.” He spotted my suitcases. His white brows lifted. “You’re leaving?”

“Don’t look so shocked, Dad. Besides, it’s what you wanted, me away from this town, away from Kellan. It seems, once again, your plan was a success. This one might even pass the seven year limit of the last plan.”

His beard twitched. “You’re not making sense. Come sit down and have some breakfast. I certainly don’t want you to leave here mad at us.”

“Too late, Dad.”

He put down his fork and leaned back against the chair. “Rylan, I’m sorry about Chase. You are right. It was a bad decision.”

I walked into the room but didn’t sit at the table. “I know what you did, Dad.”

“Rylan, you’re talking in circles. Come sit.”

“I don’t want to sit. And I’m not talking in circles. You’re just not listening. Grad night. That awful night when you saw your little girl inconsolably broken. You were the cause of it. You paid Jason Meade to threaten Kellan to stay away from me.”

The expression on his face was one of guilt and resignation. He wasn’t even going to try and deny it. “I only told him to let Kellan know that his job was in question if he continued to keep in touch with you.” He fingered the newspaper. “I didn’t realize that Jason had some old scores to settle himself. I never would have told him to hurt the boy. That was all on Jason. You were leaving off to college. I just wanted to give you a chance to start fresh without ties to Bluefield.”

“You mean without ties to Kellan, the unsuitable match for your daughter. Then, even knowing just how awful Jason was, you paid him again to break us apart.”

His lips drew thin, nearly disappearing completely behind his white facial hair. “I merely told him that if he had any opportunity to find something that would—”

“Break my heart? Well done then, because you’ve succeeded again.” Tears filled my eyes. “Dad, you were a wonderful father, and you always supported me in everything I did . . . but this. I’ve been in love with Kellan since I was a teenager. That has not ever changed.” A loud, irritating bell sounded in the distance, but I was fully into the speech I’d been practicing in my head all night. I worried that if I stopped, I might lose my nerve. “But
our
relationship, the one between
us
, has become brittle. And I don’t know if it will ever be strong again.”

I knew my words would sting, but the look on his face was not hurt. He’d tuned me out and turned his head toward the sound of the bell. That’s when it hit me. It was a sound I’d heard twice as a little girl.

My throat went dry. “Is it from the mine? The alarm that something has happened?”

His phone rang before he could confirm it. “Yes, this is Merritt.” His face blanched nearly as white as his beard. “Any casualties or trapped miners?”

I grabbed the back of the dining chair to keep myself upright.

“I’ll be right there.” He avoided looking at me.

“Dad, what is it? What’s happened?”

“A collapse. I need to get over there.”

I followed closely at his heels as he went to collect his hard hat and coat.

“I’m coming with you,” I said. “Everyone else in town, anyone with a loved one down in that mine will be there. I will be too. Waiting for my loved one.”

He stopped for a second. I was sure he’d say no. He nodded and we hurried out to the car.

It seemed all traffic, both wheeled and pedestrian was heading toward the mine. A roof fall or explosion was rare nowadays, thankfully. But there was never any way to ignore the fact that the people who went down into the mine each day were putting their lives at risk.

The sight of red flashing lights and emergency vehicles sent an icy shiver through me as Dad pulled his car up to the parking area. A crowd of worried onlookers stood embracing and comforting each other as they waited for news.

“You’ll have to stay back here with the others, Rylan.” Dad put on his yellow hard hat and headed toward an area that had been roped off with caution tape.

I walked to the circle of townsfolk who were waiting for news. Some of the miners had already emerged unscathed and were giving quick hugs and reassurances to their loved ones before heading back to the hub of activity near the entry to the main. I scoured the chaos and the blur of coveralls and miner’s caps for the familiar face, for my reassurance, but I couldn’t find Kellan.

“Rylan Merritt, right?” a woman’s voice said from behind.

I spun around. It was hard not to show shock. It wasn’t the fact that Lilly Upton had dared to approach me as much as it was the terrible black and blue marks on her face.

It took me a second to find my voice. “Yes. Lilly, right?” She was of course the last person I needed to see at that moment. I briefly wondered if she was there to wait for Kellan too. At the moment, I didn’t care as long as Kellan was safe.

She glanced back toward the mine. “Just came up to make sure my dad and my friends were safe. Kellan went back inside. He came out but found that Dawson was still trapped inside. He rushed back in.” She glanced over the heads of the onlookers. “Doesn’t surprise me though. That’s just the way he is.” She pointed to her face. “Kellan saved my life. I heard there was a picture going around.”

I opened my mouth to talk, but she placed her hand on my arm to stop me.

“I didn’t have anyone else to call. He risked his life and came to Browning.” Tears clouded her eyes. “He loves you.” She laughed weakly, but it seemed to strain the cut on her lip. She reached up and pressed her fingers against it. She took a deep breath. “Much to my dismay and to the dismay of half the girls in this town. Kellan Braddock has only ever had eyes for one person and that is you. Just thought you should know.”

I swallowed hard to keep from crying. “Thank you, Lilly. And I hope things get better for you.”

“They will. Especially now that I’m back here in Bluefield. Guess this dirty old town is hard to let go of, eh?”

I nodded. “It really is, Lilly.”

She placed her hand on my shoulder. “I’m sure he’ll be coming out any minute.”

“Yes. I’m sure too.”

She walked away. The crowd was thinning as some of the miners had been released to go home. There would be no more work today. It seemed most of the workers were out and some of the sense of urgency had diminished. I still couldn’t find Kellan or Dawson anywhere in the sea of faces. With the chaos slightly lessened, I decided to break past the barrier of onlookers. I moved closer to the action.

Tommy was wandering around looking more than a little uptight.

“Tommy,” I called as I raced to him.

He turned around. He, like the others, was covered head to toe in black dust. “Rylan.”

“Have you seen them yet?”

“No. I guess the collapse was in the room they were working. Kellan came out fast, but when he heard Dawson hadn’t emerged, he went back inside.”

Dad spotted me and walked over.

“Dad, I’m not going to go any closer. Is there any word about Kellan and Dawson?”

“Nothing yet. They are the last two still inside. Rescuers went as far as they could, but the roof fall was extensive in the area they were working.”

I covered my mouth to keep from crying. Dad put his arm around me.

Tommy pointed toward the mine entry. “There they are!”

Cheers and clapping thundered through the air. I hopped up on tiptoes but couldn’t see over the heads. Tommy’s hands suddenly clamped around my waist and he lifted me up like a parent might lift a kid to see a passing parade. I cried in relief as I watched the two men, both covered so heavily with float dust that they were hardly recognizable, walk out of the mine. Dawson had his arm around Kellan’s shoulder and his left foot was dragging behind.

“Shit, Dawz must have broken his leg,” Tommy said, his voice wavering with obvious relief.

Dad headed in their direction. I followed. He turned and started to tell me to stay back, but the determined look on my face assured him that wasn’t going to happen. By the time we reached the staging area where the medics were checking the injured, Dawson was being lifted onto a gurney. Kellan stood with him until they rolled him toward the triage area.

I broke through the line of miners and emergency workers. I stood a few feet away. He hadn’t seen me yet. He looked dazed and tired and relieved and dirty. Very dirty. His blue eyes, the only thing still visible through the dust, landed on me. He stared at me for a second as if he was trying to figure out if I was just an illusion.

But I wasn’t. He wasn’t. Everything between us was real. I raced to him, tears of relief filling my eyes and my chest aching to be in his grit covered arms.

“I’m covered in dust, Lanie,” he warned as I dove into his embrace.

“Thought I’d lost you.”

“You can never lose me, Lanie. Never.”

“Kellan,” Dad’s deep voice came from behind. Kellan reluctantly lowered his arms.

I turned around. Dad lifted a brow at my charcoal covered clothes and face. “Dad—”

“Kellan,” Dad continued, “the supervisor will have to write you up for going back into the mine.”

“I understand,” Kellan said. “I’d do it again.”

Dad nodded. “I’m sure you would.” He walked forward and stuck out his hand.

Kellan stared down at my dad’s clean palm for a second before placing his grit-covered hand in my dad’s.

“Even with a reprimand, there isn’t anyone out here who didn’t consider it a true act of courage. Most of us would like to think we had friends who would risk their lives for us, but few of us really have that.” Dad’s beard was beginning to catch the dust from the air, and the snowy white hair was beginning to turn gray. He looked at me as he continued. “It seems I’ve been an ignorant ass.” He turned his attention to Kellan again. “I’m sorry.”

Kellan nodded.

I put my arms around Dad and hugged him tightly.

“Can you ever forgive me, Rylan?” he asked.

“I imagine in time. Besides, your punishment will make you think about what you’ve done.”

“Punishment?” he asked.

“You have to tell mom that I’m staying and that I’m going to be with Kellan whether she likes it or not.”

“Sounds fair. Now, I’ve got to go meet with the board to find out just how much damage has been done.” Dad walked away.

I turned back to Kellan. “I should never have doubted you. I won’t let it happen again.”

His arm curled around me and he pulled me into his embrace. “See that you don’t.” He kissed me. “It’s only ever been you, Lanie. I love you.”