Authors: Beverly Rae
She met Jimmy’s gaze, saw the pain in his eyes, and wished she could make him understand. But what could she say? She hadn’t planned for anything to happen between them. Had they come together because they were compelled by an attraction too powerful to resist? Or was their closeness only a reaction to the danger they’d faced with the wild hog and wolf? A knot formed in her stomach as her heart waged against her conscience.
Jimmy opened his mouth to say something then closed it.
“Please try to understand.” But her plea came too little, too late.
“This is bullshit.” Jimmy growled out his words, his eyes burning with anger.
“Jimmy, please. Give me time.” She grabbed Decker’s arm, keeping him from adding fuel to the fire. Jimmy’s expression tore at her heart. If she could take it all back, if she could turn back time she would. He’d promised to keep her from harm, yet all she’d done was hurt him.
“Forget it.” Jimmy whirled around and stormed inside, leaving her dying to reach out to him, to beg him to listen to her.
But what would she tell him? Should she tell him how she and Decker had started growing apart long before she’d come to
Texas
? Or should she explain how her feelings for Decker were nothing in comparison to her feelings for him? She took a step forward and found herself blocked by a wall of men.
Sara stepped to the side, her face grim. “Nick, run upstairs and grab her suitcase.”
Nick nodded then sprinted up the steps and into the house.
“Mandy, once you’ve gotten your things, you’d best get off our land.” Sara turned and walked into the house.
* * * *
Mandy put her head against the window of Decker’s Mercedes and stared at the land passing by. She blanked her mind, hoping to control the tears threatening to tumble out. Leaving the Matheson Ranch had torn a hole in her, a hole only Jimmy could repair. Yet judging by the way he’d looked at her, she had no chance of getting him to understand what had happened. Hell, even she couldn’t grasp the whole of it.
“Look, Mandy, I’ve given you some time, but I need answers. What were you doing staying with those people? I looked like a damn idiot showing up at your father’s place and having him slam the door in my face. Then when I found out where you were staying, I just about shit myself. Do you know everyone in this rinky-dink town thinks you’re shacking up with those guys? Not just one, but all of them.”
The town thought she was having sex with all six men? She touched the window, flattening her palm against it. Images of the men floated in front of her like ghostly visions from a future that would never be.
If given the chance, would she have sex with the men of Matheson Ranch? She closed her eyes and let her imagination take her along for the ride. She could easily see Michael, Max, Nick, and William pleasuring her along with Ranlon and, of course, Jimmy. She crossed her legs, her muscles clenching with need. Yeah, she’d take them all, welcome them into her arms, and be proud to do it. Then she’d wake up next to Jimmy every morning.
But that dream was gone. She pushed away from the window and concentrated on the road ahead. “Where are we going?”
Decker’s dark eyes flashed, and he ran a hand through his short black hair. “I found a rental just a couple of miles outside the next town.”
“No. Take me to my father’s.”
He gripped the steering wheel, but his tone remained calm. Too calm. “After how he greeted you, why the hell would you want to go back?”
“I need to try again. No, nix that. I’m going to make him listen to me. At the very least, I’ll get him to invite me inside.” She couldn’t think about Decker or Jimmy now. Instead, she would put her energy in doing what she’d come to Lost Hills to do.
“Then I’m going with you.”
Decker whipped the car in the opposite direction to head back to Lost Hills. She studied him and, like so many times before, gratitude filled her. He’d been nothing but kind and helpful to her, and he deserved better than what she’d shown him. Jimmy’s bright face flashed through her memory, but she shoved it aside. Jimmy was no longer an option. After her refusing to dismiss Decker, she couldn’t expect anything more.
Swallowing the tears filling her eyes, she looked straight ahead and summoned her courage as they drove down the road leading to her father’s house.
She and Decker strode to the front door and, like the first time she’d come, she drew in a breath and knocked.
Her father greeted her with a scowl. “Why did you come back?” His gaze slid from hers to Decker standing behind her, and the color drained from his face.
“Mr. Garland, you should welcome your daughter into your home.”
Fear crumpled the anger from her father’s body, and he gave Decker a quick nod. Was her father afraid of Decker because of his size? She didn’t know, but it didn’t matter as long she got inside.
She entered the house and glanced around at the filth and disarray. Liquor bottles lay scattered around the room. Dirty cups and plates filled with leftover food rested on the tattered furniture. She brought her hand up to cover her nose then dropped it before he could see how the stench affected her.
“Mr. Garland, I heard how you treated your daughter when she first came to see you.”
Her father scooted away from Decker and put a chair between them. Why was he afraid of Decker? “Mandy, honey, I’m sorry about the other day.”
“It’s okay.” She motioned toward the couch, and he nodded, giving her permission to move the racing forms and girlie magazines to the already overladen coffee table. “I just wanted to see you. To spend time with you.”
To ask him why he left us
.
Where was she supposed to go from there? If he rejected her again, could she leave town and forget about him? She sought out Decker and found the strength he’d always shown her. He took a step closer to her father.
Her father jumped like a frightened rabbit dashing away from a predator coyote. “Aw, girl, you don’t want to do that. I’m just an old man. I ain’t no good to nobody.” He shifted his attention from her to Decker. “And I ain’t got nothing, either. I’m busted. Flat broke.”
Did he think she wanted money? Something wasn’t right. Did they know each other? Her father was intimidated and fearful of Decker. But why?
“Mr. Garland, I think the honorable thing to do is to sit down and talk to your daughter. She’s come too far for you not to give her what she wants.” Decker moved to hover over Mandy. “I wouldn’t like it if you didn’t do what she asked.”
Did Decker just threaten her father?
“Sure, sure. Anything you say.” Her father rushed to find a seat on the sofa next to her, but kept his attention glued on Decker as though waiting for the man to pounce.
“Good. Then how about I give you two a chance to talk? I’ve got an errand to run, but it won’t take long.”
Mandy took his hand and squeezed it. “Thank you, Decker. Not just for today but for everything.”
He bent and placed a chaste kiss on her cheek. “Don’t mention it, babe. I’d do anything for you. After all, you’re my girl.”
His girl. She forced a smile, but the smile didn’t spread to the rest of her body. Was she his girl?
She watched Decker walk out the door then turned to her father. But her father had already left his seat and was scurrying to the window to peek through the blinds.
“Is something wrong?” What should she call him? Dad? Not a chance. “Glen, what are you looking at?”
“Nothing. Don’t a man have a right to look out his own window?” Fumbling to light a cigarette, he paced the floor, taking several puffs before plopping on the chair across from her only to jump back up and start pacing again. “Have you known him for very long?”
“A few months. Why do you ask?” Why were they discussing Decker when she had so many questions to ask him?
A few more puffs floated around his face before he stopped pacing long enough to ask another question. His hand shook, dropping ashes onto the stained carpet. “Is he your man?”
“We’re dating.” Why was he so nervous?
He snorted and took another drag on his cigarette. “Why are you here?”
Why was she here? To get to know him better? But looking around, she wasn’t sure she wanted that any longer. Hadn’t her mother warned her? What else should she have expected?
“I want answers.”
He took another peek out the window then finally eased into the chair again. His green eyes, so much like hers, zeroed in. “Answers to what?”
“Like how you ended up with those bruises on your face and neck.”
“Hell, those ain’t nothing. The ones on my body are worse. But it don’t matter. What’s done is done.”
“Fine. Then tell me what I really want to know.” She paused to drag in a steadying breath. “I want to know why you left us. Why you left me.”
He ground the stub of his cigarette into an overflowing ashtray then lit up another one. “Didn’t your mother tell you?”
“She said you went out for cigarettes one day and never came back. Good riddance, she said.” Why was he stalling?
“Well, then, you’ve got your answer.” A smoke ring circled above his head.
“No I don’t. That just tells me how you left. Not why.” She leaned forward, trying to mentally urge him to respond. “Was your marriage so awful that you couldn’t stay and try to make it better?”
Or was she the problem? Could he have hated being her father so much that he’d had to leave?
“As far as I knew, the marriage was fine. Your mother, on the other hand, wouldn’t let a man be a man. A man’s got to do what he wants. Not what some nag’s yakking at him to do.”
She picked up a racing form. “You mean like gambling away money needed to pay the rent? Or to put food on the table?”
“Aw, there it is.” He pushed away from the chair to snatch the racing form away from her. “So she did tell you her side.” He tossed the paper to the floor and slid his gaze over her, one corner of his mouth lifted in a sneer. “You don’t look like you came out any worse for wear. So what’re you bitching about?”
Everything her mother had told her was true. Her father was a good-for-nothing man who gambled and drank away his right to a family. But she still couldn’t give up on him.
“I’m not bitching. I just want to get to know you. Is that so bad?” His eyes glittered and, for a moment, she was tempted to run out of the home.
“So you and this Decker guy are tight? I bet he’d do just about anything for you. Am I right?”
“Do you and Decker know each other?”
He darted his gaze away from her. “Naw. Never saw the man before. I’m just curious, is all.”
“So what about it? Do you think I could stay a couple of days so we can get to know each other better?” Would she find any good in the man? Doubtful, but she had to try. “I could help you clean up the place.”
The way he stared at her, like he was calculating how much he could get from her, sent a chill down her spine.
“All right. I guess I could put up with you for a day or two. As long as you pull your weight and help your daddy out.” Yellow, stained teeth shone with his grin. “I guess you can call me Dad or Pops.”
So he wanted a maid? “Fine. I’ll cook and clean for you, but you’ve got to hold up your end of the deal, too. You’re going to tell me about yourself. The good as well as the bad. Do we have an understanding, Glen?”
His cackle was filled with evil glee. “Sure thing, honey. Sure thing.”
* * * *
Hours later, and Mandy was sure she’d made a mistake. Her father, drunk and snoring after downing a bottle of vodka, slumped in his chair, a lit cigarette hanging from the corner of his mouth. She’d worked nonstop since they’d made their agreement and had barely made a dent in the mess. Why was Decker taking so long to return?
“
Garland
, get your ass out here.”
Mandy jumped and almost dropped the empty liquor bottles she held cradled in her arms.
“You’re going to pay up, dirtbag, one way or the other.”
She dumped the bottles into the trash can and shook her father. “Glen, wake up.” She shook him harder until he grumbled and opened his bleary eyes. “There are some men outside yelling for you.”
Panic set in him, from the horror in his eyes to the stiffening of his body. The cigarette fell to the floor and he gripped the arms of the chair as though his life depended on it.
“What’s wrong? Who are they?”
He didn’t answer. Instead, he pushed her out of the way and stumbled to the window to peek through the blinds. “Shit and double shit. They’re here.”
“Who’s here?” She started toward the door, but her father grabbed her arm and pulled her away. “Hey!”
“You can’t open the door.” He held a finger to his lips and flattened his back to the wall. “And be quiet. Maybe they’ll leave if they don’t think I’m home.”
She scooted next to him and tried to ignore his terrible stench. “What do they want?”
“What do they always want? Money.”
“We know you’re in there,
Garland
, so you better get out here and pay up. Otherwise, we’re coming in and taking our money out of your hide.”