Southern Charms (8 page)

Chapter 15

It was about a half hour later when Elizabeth excused herself to find the bathroom. It was while she was in there that Mark and Val showed up. Xander let Val know where to find her. After she vanished down the hall, Xander and Mark went over to where Kyle was talking to a few of the other boys they knew from town.

When Elizabeth and Val came back out, they went to the bar, did a shot together, then Elizabeth ordered another beer. Staying at the bar to finish the conversation they had started in the bathroom, Val looked at her little Dolly, smiling as she went on and on about Xander this and Xander that. She was excited for her, and gave herself a mental pat on the back for remembering to tell her to steal his hat.

They, however, turned to look that the guys just in time to see two little bodies sidle themselves right on up to the Steele brothers, sending a wave of irritation straight to Elizabeth’s core when she recognized the one hanging on Xander like a fucking spider monkey. She didn’t want to let it get to her, but damn it, it sure as fuck did.

Val looked back to see Dolly’s face fall a bit, and felt it necessary to pick it back up. “That’s Lindsay, or Lynn as she prefers these days.”

The slight fall to her face turned dark with the reminder of the name and the last time she saw her. “Oh, we’ve met.”

Blinking at the tone in her Dolly’s voice, Val decided the best way to get rid of it was to confuse the fuck out of the girl. So, falling back on southern sayings that the girl was still learning, Val giggled. “I tell ya, that girl is as happy as a dead pig in the sunshine.”

Blinking at that, Elizabeth looked over at Val, wrinkling her nose as a giggle came out of her mouth. “What?”

Val tittered, “Means she’s an idiot.” She then filled the girl in on the story on the town hussies. “Two summers ago, she went to visit her daddy up in Dallas. Left a b-cup, came back with those monstrosities. Been barkin’ up the wrong tree ever fuckin’ since. She’s a sweet talkin’ little thing, but wet behind the ears.”

Then she nodded to the other girl that was trying to be all over Kyle while rolling her eyes again, “And that’s Margret. She showed up one day ‘bout four years ago and hunkered down with the very first man that opened the door. Poor ol’ Mr. James certainly bit off more than he could chew, but he’s just too kind hearted a man to put a lady out with nowhere to go, or who claimed to have nowhere to go anyways. Ever since she first laid eyes on poor Kyle, she’s been nippin’ at them heels like a rabid wolf. Ky don’t take too kindly to it, but if his mama ever found out that he misspoke to a lady, she would knock his teeth down his throat. He deals with it because of that, but he got his eye on this little honey from the next town over.”

Elizabeth grimaced at the thought of that, picturing exactly how he would look without teeth. She felt really bad about it when she snorted at the image, having met the woman and knowing that she would actually do it.

Val smiled at the sight of her little Dolly finally seeming to be happy, even if the happiness was only gonna last till the whisky wore off. Leaning toward Dolly, she nudged shoulders with her. “Wanna go fuck up their night?”

An overly enthusiastic look over took Elizabeth’s face as her eyes light up. “What do you have in mind, Sugar Pie?”

An elated laugh came from Val’s lungs at the horrible southern twang of her Dolly. Once she settled down, she grinned, “Well now, that had to be just about the worst Scarlet O’Hara voice I ever did hear, Dolly. Points for tryin’, though. Give it more time and you’ll get ya accent.”

Once Val stopped laughing again, she stood up and turned to her Dolly, taking off Elizabeth’s hat before putting it between her teeth. After taking out the half ponytail in her hair, she used all ten fingers to quickly run them through her hair, messing it all the fuck up while at the same time giving it a lot of body. Once she was satisfied, Val put the hat back on her head and crouched down, tugging and pulling certain sections of hair to make the hat lay right while giving Elizabeth the ‘look’.

Once she deemed herself done, Val stood, pulling Elizabeth up with her. Grasping her shoulders, Val locked eyes with her dolly. “You just follow my lead here, Dolly. This is gonna be a hoot-n-nanny.”

Linking arms, the two girls walked across the floor to go teach a couple of little sluts a lesson or two.

Chapter 16

Xander was doing just about everything in his power not to lose his temper at the moment, because he knew if he did, he would have the wrath of his mama in his head before he could blink. He had tried every last thing he could think of to get the little twit to realize he had no interest in her, whatso-fuckin’-ever, but the stupid bitch just wouldn’t take the nice hint. Now that he had the girl he wanted on his arm for the night, who could show up at pretty much any time, the LAST thing he wanted was for her to see him with some other girl hanging all over him.

Just as he was about to throw caution to the wind and get more forceful with the girl, he happened to look up to see Val and his Little Darlin’ heading their way. Looking down at ‘Lynn’, he suppressed a smirk. By the looks on their faces they were looking to either get laid or cause a whole mess of trouble. He wasn’t entirely sure what his preference was at the moment.

Catching his brother’s eye, he jerked his chin out, calling Kyle’s attention to the approaching ladies, winking when Kyle snorted. Words without speaking passed through their eyes, both looking forward to whatever was about to go down.

Once the girls were close enough to hear him over the music playing, Xander tipped the brim of his Stetson to them. “Well, Howdy there, Little Darlin’, Val.”

Feeling Val flex her arm, Elizabeth took her cue and smiled a wide one. “Well, hey there yourself, Cowboy. Val here was telling me all about how well you ride. Can’t wait to see for myself.”

There was a cough and a gag from beside the girls, drawing their attention to Mark as he choked and sputtered on the beer he
had
been drinking.

Xander just smirked while playing along with her. “That a fact, Sugar Britches? I certainly can’t take all the credit there. I do have one hell of a stallion.”

Having seen the actual stallion, she certainly couldn’t disagree with that. However, keeping with the theme, Elizabeth winked at him. “Bet he’s a beautiful one, too. Think you’ll let me pet him?”

Swallowing the groan, Xander grinned. “Whenever you feel obliged, Little Darlin’. He’s a sucker for a pretty girl with soft hands.”

Throughout the entire conversation, Val was trying SO hard not to laugh. She certainly had not expected her little Dolly to be quite so crass, but it was the absolute cutest thing to see. It also didn’t hurt that Lindsay was creating a new shade of red with every word spoken.

When she had finally reached the end of her rope, Lynn stepped away from Xander’s side and got between him and the little bitch trying to steal her man. Glaring at her, Lynn sneered. “Why don’t you go’n back where you can from, ya stupid Yank.”

Silence.

Elizabeth turned to her, slowly sliding a brow up her forehead to the brim of her hat, “Why don’t you fucking bite me, ya biggity bitch?” Taking a step closer, Elizabeth stood toe to toe with the bottle blonde once again looking for a go. Keeping her voice even and cool, “Remember that the sun don’t shine on the same dog’s tail all the fucking time. Call me that again, and you’ll be as busy as a stump-tailed cow in fly time spittin’ teeth, get it?”

Val’s hand came up and covered her mouth.

Mark just stared on with wide eyes.

Margaret stood there blinking at the girl.

Kyle snorted.

Xander brought his hand up to his mouth and bit his index finger to keep from laughing while mouthing ‘damn’ against his skin.

Lynn’s glare darkened as her voice lowered. “Don’t be gettin’ too big for them britches, Bitch.”

Elizabeth just smirked. “Least I know when I’m not wanted, Hussy, and that every once ‘n awhile you need to do a root touch up. You look like a two toned goat that had one too many kids.”

Lynn let out the most god awful screech before whirling around and stomping away, a wide eyed Margaret following behind her, calling out for her to wait.

Elizabeth watched as the girls stomped away for a second before cupping her hands around her mouth and called out. “Watch out for the ‘Hoe-down’, Sugar Pie. Wouldn’t want ya to pop!”

The remaining four people stood staring at her for a minute before Mark snickered, which turned into a full on belly laugh. “Jesus Christ. That last one was fuckin’ perfect, Little Lady.”

Elizabeth just giggled while shrugging. “I have absolutely NO idea what the fuck most of what I just said was. I heard Uncle Marsh say the cow thing to a farm hand before, and she reminded me of this goat that he’s had for years that has had like seven kids, so she almost walks on her tits.”

Xander groaned a bit as he reached a hand out. After grabbing his girl’s wrist, he pulled her to him, wrapping his arms around her back to lace his fingers together. A smoldering look entered his eyes as he looked at his girl, watching as she looked off to where Lynn and Margaret went with a light glare on her face.

After a minute or so, she turned her face up to him and cocked a brow. “You ain’t ever done anything for her to be all stalker wanna be with you, have you?”

Cocking a brow right back at her, he asked, “Beg pardon?”

“I told you what happened at the rodeo with her and that other chick when you came to my house for dinner, remember?”

Rolling his head on his shoulders a few times, he recalled something about it, but not the whole conversation that pertained to Lynn. Shaking his head, “Not really, no. I tend to not really pay the damnedest bit of attention to anythin’ that has to do with her. I think I have said maybe ten words to the bimbo over the last three years. However, I have told you that I don’t even raise my voice to lady, no matter how they act.” Jerking his head toward the bitch in question, “That just happens to be a side effect of bein’ raised to be nice to ladies... no matter what.” Then he smirked at her. “You jealous, Little Darlin’?”

Glaring at him, Elizabeth cocked a brow. “What would you have done if the situation was reversed?”

There was no need to think about that on his part, “I’da laid him out. ‘Course, I ain’t got a problem admitting I’ma jealous and overprotective sumbitch though, and I won’t give a fella a warning ‘fore I break bones.” Leaning down to place his forehead on hers, he lowered his voice while looking in her eyes. “The only arm my girl hangs on is mine. You got any problems, now’s the time to say so, Little Darlin’. I ain’t ever had any issues fightin’ for what I want.”

Moving his hands down to hers, he laced their fingers on both hands before wrapping his arms back around her. “I don’t do nothin’ half-assed, never have. I also don’t start nothin’ I don’t intend to finish. I make my intentions clear from the git-go, no matter what those intentions might be. I ain’t had an actual titled girlfriend since I was teenager ‘cause I don’t play games. I’m too old for that kind of bullshit, but I want to you to be my girl. Once this cast comes off in a few weeks, I want you to come with me when I travel because I wanna look at ya whenever I want, not just when I happen to be in the area. I wanna hear ya cheerin’ me on when I ride. I wanna finish teachin’ you to ride. I’m in this for the long haul, Little Darlin’, but I want back what I put in. If ya can’t, or won’t, give me what little I ask for, ya need to tell me now.”

Elizabeth blinked at him before sighing. “How do you know you want all that with me when you don’t really even know me?”

Xander just shrugged a bit. “We got our whole lives to find out the finer details, Little Darlin’. If I’ve learned anythin’ from my profession, it’s that when you want somethin’, you go for the whole hog.” Knowing that she would probably take exception to the metaphor, he continued before she could interrupt. “You give it everything you got, ‘cause one false move, and you can lose it all.”

Finally pulling back a bit but still looking in her eyes, “This is all I need to know. I really like you and want to know everythin’ ‘bout you, and I don’t wanna learn it over the phone.” Giving her a smile and poking the tip of her nose, “Think about it, Little Darlin’. You got till this cast comes off to decide.”

Elizabeth cocked her head to the side, already knowing that come a month from then, she wasn’t going to be able to say goodbye. “How far north do you usually go?”

Xander blinked at her a few times before asking. “What?”

Elizabeth just shrugged. “If I’m gonna be running all over the country with some guy, I’m pretty sure there is an unwritten rule about my daddy needing to know about it and I’m also pretty sure he’s gonna wanna meet him.”

Smirking the most panty-soaking smirk she had ever seen, Xander cocked a brow at his girl. “Just like that? What ‘bout all that shit ‘bout not knowin’ each other yet?”

A challenging look sparked in her eyes. “I thought you said we had our whole lives to figure that out?” Then she shrugged, “‘Sides, you only live once, right? Why not do it in such a way that the church pickets your funeral? To another point, we still have about a month before you get your cast off. We have time to learn the big stuff before then.”

Letting go of one of her hands, but using the arm that was still around her to pull her flush with his chest, he used his now free hand to crook a finger under her chin, tilting her head back and lifting her face up to his. There was a wide range of emotions swirling in his eyes as he looked in hers. “You ain’t gonna regret this, Little Lady.” Dipping his head down, he sealed the deal, their agreement, with a kiss.