Truth and Humility (20 page)

“Derek, what are you doing here?” Danny asked in a shaky voice and stepped between the two men who glared death threats at each other.

Derek’s whiskered jaw clenched and his fists pumped at his sides.  “Committing a very legitimate crime,” he replied smoothly while his eyes never left the other man’s.  “Why don’t you go pack while Austin and I…communicate.”

As if the day wasn’t already turbulent enough, she thought.  “I don’t think you want to pick a fight with him,” she warned and headed toward her brother.  “Believe me, you’ve had enough of a ‘reality check’ for today.”

Since Austin stood a good few inches taller and wider than Derek, she wasn’t comfortable with the odds.

“It’s okay, Danny.”  Austin paced like a panther in a cage.  “Let him come.  I have a whole lot of need that could use some release right now.”

His implication could have been taken more than one way.  Derek didn’t like either one and he pushed his sister aside to gain access to a match that was now unavoidable.  Danny yanked on his shirt and then was forced to tackle him bodily in order to slow him down.

“Derek, don’t do it!  Nothing happened!”

The force of her body knocked him off kilter, but only slightly.  His eyes had locked on their target and his feet weren’t changing course until he fired a shot.  Danny stumbled behind him and his hands came out, slammed against Austin’s shoulders.  “I won’t let you use her, you bitter son-of-a-bitch,” he yelled and this time followed up with a solid right hook.

Austin’s head snapped back as he opened himself to the shot.  Now he had grounds to return fire and did so with a quick jab to the face, but Derek was ready and ducked easily to avoid it.  It was then Austin remembered how quickly Derek moved and he reconfigured his battle plan to expect it.  When the other man lunged at him again, Austin was prepared.  Their bodies slammed together.  Instead of being backed into the plumbing, he used the impact’s momentum to fling them around.  It was Derek who was pinned against the tile wall while water from the still-running showerhead rained down from above.

Danny watched in wide-eyed horror as her brother took an incapacitating blow to the stomach.  Then another, and another.  “God, Austin, stop!” she yelled and scrambled into action.  She jumped on his back and wrapped herself around his big upper body in order to slow him down.  “Please don’t do this!” she wailed as he attempted to slacken her hold.  “He’s not Brett, dammit, he’s trying to save me from
you!”

That slowed Austin down a little, but the black rage was difficult to cut through.  Now that he finally had Derek Bennett where he wanted him, he was going to get his pound of flesh.  “I won’t kill him, Danny,” he assured her over his shoulder.  “I’ll just re-break his nose, maybe put him in a wheelchair for a while.”

“I like his nose just the way it is,” she responded closely to his ear.  “Just turn around and walk away.”

When he backed up another step, she slid down and yanked on his sodden shirt to do the turning.  Good.  His focus was on her now.  But her brother took that opportunity to lunge again and Austin grunted from the sideways impact.  Danny blinked when he was suddenly gone from close proximity.  Much to her chagrin, Derek didn’t know when to quit and the two grown men battled it out on the floor.  “You’re acting like fools, both of you!” she shrieked from above, jumping up and down in her frustration.  “Stop it!”  More blows were exchanged.  “Stop it!”

Then, suddenly, there were others around her as she continued to rant and scream her orders for ceasefire.  Mac, Frank and Torsten physically intervened in a way she could not.  Soon the two men were broken apart.  They were both out of breath and suffering injuries they weren’t yet aware of, but this time Danny wouldn’t give either one an opportunity to attack again.

“I’ll kill you, Cahill!” Derek thundered, struggling to break free from Frank’s hold.

“Yeah, well you better pack a lunch, Bennett!”

Without further hesitation, Danny took her exhausted brother, shoved him and his split lip toward the door.

Wimes New Roman">“You are one stubborn meathead, do you know that?” she scolded, and used all her strength to keep him from turning and heading back to the showers.  “No, Derek, stay focused.  We’re walking, and we’re walking…and we’re walking…”

It was like directing a kindergartener off the playground.

“That’s right, almost there,” she coaxed, holding on tight until they reached the fence.  Then he turned on her.

“What the
hell
is wrong with you, Danny?” he raged, jabbing an accusing finger in her direction.  The gate hummed and began to move behind him.  “I thought you were an intelligent girl, please tell me you did
not
just get all slippery with him!”

“I did
not
just get all slippery with him.”

“Bullshit!  If I hadn’t stopped you, you’d both be horizontal by now!”

“Would you keep your voice down,” she hissed and pushed him through the opening.  “Why are you here, anyway?  Do you have some kind of death wish?”

“No, but apparently you do.  Just look at you!  Your face!”  He stopped her before she could interrupt.  “I
know!
  It was Brett, the piece of shit, but that Cahill scum tried to run you down with a backhoe!”

She gasped in shock and pushed at him hard.  Hands on hips, she glared at him accusingly.  “Derek Bennett, you have a spy in here!”

“Of course I do!” he shot back.  “How else am I going to keep an eye on you, on
him!”
  And he pointed over her shoulder.

She turned around and spread her arms wide against the threat moving toward them.  “Oh, no you don’t, Cahill.  I’m handling it.”

Austin halted his advance at a safe enough distance, spat blood.  With the siblings facing him side-by-side, the resemblance between them was not only physical but in the headstrong sense as well.  “I’ll give you one last chance to leave under your own power, Derek,” he warned.  “After that all bets are off.”

“You ballsey motherfucker,” Derek seethed from his corner.  “I can’t believe you actually tried to off her in your own yard and then had the nerve to put the moves on her!”

“It was an accident!” Danny shrieked, her eyes widening in horror.

“What? Are you telling me he slipped in the shower and got his lips stuck to your face?  That’s one; Tasp innuendo away from a shotgun wedding, little sister!”

Mac huffed around the corner and was soon followed by Frank.  The scene before them was reminiscent of an old John Wayne film, but the three participants in this standoff were all soaking wet and thankfully unarmed.  When Danny finally convinced her brother Stan’s diabetic reaction was a legitimate one, his focus was on Austin’s other form of revenge.

“You
know
he’s using you, Danny!  All he wants is to fire me up and what better way than to get you into bed!”

Humiliation turned her face a deep scarlet.  “For God’s sake, Derek, I
work
here!  People are listening!”

“Everyone except you!  Look at him!  He’s leering at me!”

Her head shot around and she barely caught the lecherous grin fade from Austin’s taunting demeanor.  Her nostrils flared and her next words were for both her brother
and
his tormentor.

“I can
promise
you if he gets anyone into bed it won’t be me.”

Austin’s eyes met hers and she saw challenge in them.  Oh, he was definitely good at tormenting her brother.

“You see, Danny?” Derek accused beside her.  “Take a good look and remember that whatever he does, there will always be an agenda behind it.”

Something in Austin’s face changed.  The cockiness faded and was replaced with something she couldn’t quite decipher.  With a fresh surge of determination, she pushed at Derek and forced him to retreat to the parked slate-black challenger blocking the driveway.  “Don’t look at him,” she coached smoothly.  “I’ve got this now.”

Mac and Frank quietly observed now that the danger had subsided.  Both men were locked up by the car, not so much the fight anymore.

As Austin watched from a distance, Danny said a few intense words he couldn’t hear and tightly wrapped her arms around Derek’s neck.  The man returned her embrace with fierce affection and whispered something in her ear.  She nodded, wiped at the blood on his lip then he turned and opened the driver’s side door.

Derek gripped the top of the doorframe and faced Austin one last time.  It was clear from that distance all the man wanted to do was take another stab at causing pain.

“Just go, Derek,” Austin muttered beneath his breath, anxious for the ordeal to be done.  There were more delicate matters to be addressed thanks to that seed of doubt Derek Bennett had just planted in his sister’s pretty little head.

Danny stood in front of the classic muscle car as the masterpiece beneath the scooped hood roared to life.  The guttural growl of the 426 Hemi seduced the eardrums, revved once, then screamed backwards in an all out charge for the open road leaving smoke and two black tire tracks in it’s wake.

“Damn,” Frank murmured.  Going so fast, how the hell did the guy bank that turn on four wheels?

More screeching tires and smoke as the car lurched forward, roa
red out of sight.  “You got penis envy as bad as I do?” Mac asked companionably, rubbing at the ache of love in his chest.

“Uh-huh.”

While the guys continued to gaze at the smoke cloud, Austin’s attention was all on the woman.  Danny finally turned and headed back for the house.  Her strides were long, determined.  Austin silently swore at the clear message written in her stone-like features.

She was pissed.

“That was real slick,” Danny purred nastily and drove her shoulder into his arm as she passed by.

Austin followed her, his eyes boring a hole into her backside.  “Come on, Danny,” he said behind her.  “You don’t believe that whole
agenda
crap, do you?”

Her answering laugh was laced with disdain.  “Does it really matter at this point?”

They sailed through the commons room and he followed her to where her tool belt still sat on the counter.  “It matters to me,” he answered, watching her gear up for work once again.  “And you are not stepping foot on that yard.”

She ignored his order and fastened the belt around her waist.  “Derek is absolutely right.  Everything you do is suspect no matter what your intentions are.”  Her fingers tried to make sense of her wet hair.  “You have it out for him so bad, but the ironic thing is you two are exactly alike.  You have so much rage inside you.  The feud comes first while everything else takes a back seat.”  She jabbed a finger at him as she passed on her way out the door.  “Well, I’ll thank you to leave me out of it.”

Without turning to watch her retreat he warned her one last time.  “I won’t let you go back to work, Danny.  Not today.”

“I’d like to see you try and stop me
this
time.”

Short of throwing the woman over his shoulder, his options were few.  With a muffled curse, he hung his head and made a beeline for the office.

Danny was inwardly celebrating her clear victory.  No attempt was made to stop her and she stalked over to Mac and the remaining vats.  An air horn sounded and she looked around in puzzlement for the source without breaking stride.  Soon she was walking against traffic as men cleared the yard and headed toward the commons room.  “What’s going on?” she asked as Mac passed her.

“Early dismissal,” he explained with a smile and motioned her to follow.

“What?” she whined in dismay.  “Tell me he didn’t just rob you of a half-day’s pay.”

“Hell no!  There’d be mutiny afoot if that happened.” Mac draped a big arm over her shoulders and made sure she kept up.  “That sweet sound, my lady, means time off
with
pay.”