Ecstasy in Elk's Crossing (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (20 page)

Katie was consciously aware, at that moment, that she had underestimated Aaron’s intelligence. She had taken his hardworking, plain-speaking country mannerisms and extrapolated them into a man who wasn’t nearly as intelligent, or as multifaceted, as Aaron McGowan really was. When the time was right, she’d tell him as much, and apologize. He might not realize that she had short-changed his intellect, but she knew, and she intended to make her world aright.

“He’s left Elk’s Crossing,” Aaron said, his voice having a dreamy, faraway quality to it that Katie hadn’t heard before. She could tell he was lost inside himself, going deeper than he had before, and the deeper he got, the closer he was to David’s psyche. “He’s gone, but he’s not going to stay away. He’ll come back. Katie’s unfinished business to him, and he won’t be satisfied until he’s closed the book on her.”

She watched as Aaron blinked his eyes, inhaled deeply, and then issued a slow, soft sigh. He had spoken of her in the third person, as though she wasn’t actually right there with him. Now it was as though she was watching him psychologically coming back into the present, back to her.

So enthralled with Aaron’s analysis, Katie was not at first aware of the significance of what he’d just said. When the impact of his words hammered home, she shivered. “Then you think he’s coming back?”

He inhaled deeply once again, blinked one last time, and then looked her directly in the eyes. “I can’t say anything for certain. The man’s a lunatic. A deranged, dangerous man with an ego the size of Alaska. But being crazy doesn’t make him less dangerous or any less intelligent. He’ll come back. You’ve made a fool of him, and that’s something a man with his vaunted sense of self-worth can’t tolerate.” The action at the pool table caused a roar of either approval or disappointment among the brothers, temporarily stopping the analysis of their lives. “He’s gone, and it’s nice to think that he’s gone for good…but I don’t think that’s reality. I think he’ll come back, and that we’ll have to deal with him.”

Katie shivered, and, to take her mind off the reality of her life, she said, “I’d better get your brothers some fresh beers. It looks like they’re all pretty much close to empty.”

David lay in the sagging bed and stared at the motel’s ceiling. It was a crummy motel off the highway, but at least he was back in California. Tomorrow he’d reach San Francisco. He had friends there, and he knew the lay of the land. He needed money, fresh clothes, and a new car.

It infuriated him that Katie was still alive, and that all he’d managed to do was wound some kid who was fucking her. Since when did she start passing out sympathy fucks? The thought made him unconsciously grind his teeth.

It felt like he was running away. David knew on an intellectual level that he wasn’t running away, that he was escaping, but that didn’t entirely make a difference. It seemed to him that very stupid, very boorish cowboys from some shit hole place called Elk’s Crossing were making him run away. They were also fucking his girlfriend. And they were preventing him from seeing justice served by standing between Katie and him.

They all deserved to die. Each and every one of them should die slowly and painfully, looking him in the eyes, knowing that he was the one to put an end to their villainy.

A smile curled the left corner of his mouth as he thought about Katie dying. Even more than the men, she deserved to die slowly and painfully, aware during each and every last second that she had made a fatal mistake by punishing David for doing what he had every right in the world to do. The day would come when he would see that Katie’s punishment fit the crimes she had committed.

But the punishment wouldn’t be with a gun. David had already gone that route, and though he had shot one of the men, the wound injured but would not kill or even permanently maim.

I’ve got to finish the job
,
but I can’t go back there until I’m ready. I’ve got to wait for their guard to be down. I’ll get some good wheels and a pocket full of cash, and then I’ll return. Silently. Alone. Like some badass SEAL Team 6 member.

His smile broadened. Thinking of himself as a member of the U.S. military’s most elite unit was a good feeling, even though he loathed the military and saw it as a fascistic organization and a colossal waste of taxpayers’ money.

I’ll use a knife. A razor-sharp knife. I’ll look her right in the eyes when I cut her, and she’ll feel the blade and know in her heart, right before she dies, that she made the biggest mistake of her life by fucking me over. The cunt. The worthless bitch. Katie will know what a cunt she is right before she dies.

* * * *

Aaron looked at the sheriff. “He’s got to have made it past the checkpoints. We’d have seen him or heard about him by now if he’d stayed in the territory.”

“That’s the way I see it, too,” the sheriff replied. “I found out that a couple days back he rented a room at the hotel over in Sandoval, but it was just one night, and he hasn’t been back since.”

“You know that he’s going to come back for Katie. It’s a blood feud with them, and he won’t let it rest until he gets his revenge.”

“If you’re going to ask me to put out an arrest warrant, don’t bother. I already talked to the county attorney about it, and he flat out rejected the idea. There’s not one bit of evidence that this ex-boyfriend has done anything criminal. No evidence at all.”

“Still…”

“I know you’re not happy about it, but I can’t put out an arrest warrant on someone who, as near as we can tell, has not done one criminal thing wrong.” The sheriff put his hand on Aaron’s shoulder. “I think he’s guilty of something. I don’t know what, but he didn’t just make a wrong turn and suddenly find himself in Elk’s Crossing. Would you mind doing me a favor by keeping an eye on Katie? I’m sure it’s putting your house out a bit by having a female suddenly living there, but I’d feel a lot better knowing that the McGowans were keeping an eye on her.”

“Sure thing,” Aaron replied. “It’s the least I can do for some young woman with a deranged ex-boyfriend trying to kill her. You can count on my brothers and me keeping a careful eye on Katie.”

“Thanks. I appreciate that,” the sheriff said then turned and headed for his squad car.

Aaron got in his pickup truck and drove back to the ranch. When he got there he found that the doctor was just finishing his examination of Garrett’s shoulder.

“Working on young men makes a doctor look like a genius,” the doctor said to Aaron as he put the last strip of white tape on Garrett’s bandage. “Young men like Garrett heal incredibly fast. I don’t want him exerting himself just yet, but I wouldn’t be surprised if within two or three weeks he’s back to nearly one-hundred percent.”

“There won’t be any permanent damage?” Aaron asked.

The doctor shook his head. “It was a small bullet, and I’m sure it hurt like the dickens when it ripped up muscle, but muscle and tissue damage are rarely permanent, and certainly not in this case. Just don’t overdo it right away. There are stitches inside that will dissolve and stitches in the skin that I’ll remove in a couple days. But I don’t want him exerting himself and then ripping out the stitches.”

“I’ll make sure he follows doctor’s orders,” Katie said.

The doctor smiled at her. “It’s nice to know he’s got such a dedicated nurse. Now if you’ll all excuse me, I have to get back to my clinic.”

* * * *

As far as guest bedrooms went, it was nice enough, David decided. Of course, he shouldn’t have to be in a guest bedroom. He should be in the master bedroom with some good-looking babe next to him. And he
would
be in a master bedroom…if it hadn’t been for Katie. She was the sole source of his fall from grace.

And for that, she would have to pay her dues. The world was an unjust place as long as she remained unscathed by her betrayal of him.

During his brief time back in San Francisco, David had acted quickly. He’d borrowed money from four different friends. They didn’t want to loan him a penny, but he’d reminded them of all the times that he’d supplied the cocaine during parties, and only then did they come across with cash. It wasn’t as much as he’d wanted, of course, but at least it was something. David liked to think of it as “working capital.”

Brooding, he stared at the ceiling, asking himself over and over again just how long it would be before he could look into Katie’s eyes and close the books on her treachery, on her deception, and on her dishonesty and cruelty. Every day she lived was a day she didn’t deserve to have. Every time she laughed, her happiness was an act of theft against karma. Pain, suffering, and abject humiliation were the only emotions, the only sensations, she should be allowed to experience.

And then David asked himself, why wait? Why wait for some later time to set things straight?

He felt the awareness that he was going to take a human life in the pit of his stomach. He was going to do it personally, with his own hands, and when he was finished he would know that he had done a good and just thing for this world.

There was no better time than the present.

His friend—the owner of the house in the hills of San Francisco that had deigned to let him have the guest bedroom “for a few days, but no more than that”—was an asshole, and David knew it. What kind of friend would set a time limit on his gratitude when he has a friend in need? An asshole, that’s what kind of friend!

A smile started to curl David’s mouth. His friend was an asshole, all right, but he was an asshole who left his car keys on a hook near the front door.

Sitting upright in the bed, David twisted until his feet were flat on the floor. Was this the right time to make his move? The question taunted him. He didn’t want to act rashly, but he didn’t want to not take action should this be his moment.

Closing his eyes, David looked inside himself. Was this the right time?

He waited for the answer. After several seconds, very distinctly, he heard a voice say inside his head, “Yes! Yes! Yes! Go after that bitch now!”

He got to his feet, and when he moved toward the closet where his new clothes were hanging and the used suitcase was, he was careful to remain as quiet as possible. Pausing, he glanced at the digital clock on the bedside table. The red numerals told him it was twelve minutes after two o’clock in the morning. His friend would be sound asleep, and had been for at least two hours.

Perfect. Everything was falling into place. David knew it wasn’t just luck. It was karma. He was on a mission to make the world a better place and see to it that a traitorous bitch didn’t fuck over anyone else ever again. Soon, he would see that karma was adjusted properly.

He put his clothes into the suitcase. They weren’t designer-name clothes, but they were clean and new. The suitcase was used, having been purchased at a thrift store, but that was all right. David knew that a lot of rich people who traveled a lot had luggage that showed all the miles their owner had taken them.
Used luggage just proves you’ve got the wherewithal to travel all over the world, right?

He was down the stairs, taking them one careful step at a time. Though the streetlight coming through the living room windows was dim, David could see that the cocaine was still out on the mirror on the coffee table in the living room. Using the razor blade, he chopped up two lines then snorted them with the glass tube that he’d used the previous evening. Instantly, he was wide awake, and his thinking was clearer and more rational than ever. David was certain his brain had never been so clear, so purposeful. And now he had enough energy to drive hours and hours and hours. With enough cocaine, he’d never, ever feel tired again. And he’d never be depressed. And he’d never doubt that he was doing the right thing. Cocaine took away doubts. That was another thing that David was certain of.

He carefully rolled up the plastic baggie with the remaining cocaine in it and shoved that into his pocket. Next, he went to the kitchen and, just as he knew he would, found the car keys to the shiny new Lexus hanging on the hook. From the utility drawer in the kitchen near the sink, he found a Phillips screwdriver. Lastly, from a solid woodblock containing many knives with many different functions, he took out a large-bladed knife.

It would be the knife that would draw Katie’s blood and set his soul free. The knife would put him back on the road to riches.

The air was cool, and he could smell the saltwater on the evening breeze. A good night, he decided, to head back to Elk’s Crossing and put his life back to rights.

He drove his old car two blocks, found a parking place, and then removed the license plates. He walked back to his friend’s Lexus and had the license plates changed in only a matter of minutes.

When he put the key in the ignition and turned it, the engine purred immediately to life. For a moment David just looked around himself at the interior of the car. Everything was new. The instrument panel informed him of engine temperature, coolant temperature, gas levels—positively everything. He saw that the gas tank was very nearly full.

“That was damned nice of you to fill this for me,” David said to his sleeping friend as he put the transmission in reverse and pulled quietly out of the parking spot, the finely tuned engine hardly making a whisper.

* * * *

It was a gorgeous, sunny afternoon, and the Mountain View Saloon was packed to the rafters with customers, all of them happy to partake of Katie’s cooking and companionship. Katie was moving here, there, and everywhere, trying to see to it that all her customers were satisfied. She was way too busy and couldn’t have been happier if she tried.

“I’ve got some friends who will show up in a day or two,” Katie said to the sheriff and to Aaron. “They’ll be able to help me during the busy times, so I won’t have to do everything myself.”

“Won’t that be putting them in harm’s way?” Aaron asked.

“David’s gone, and he’s going to stay gone,” Katie replied, confident in her assessment of the man she once loved and now loathed. “He’s a bastard. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not going soft on the guy. But I think he realizes he’s crossed a bunch of lines he’s never crossed before, and he’s probably going to get away with it. But if he comes back and tries something more, something else against me, his odds of succeeding are drastically diminished, and the odds that he’ll spend serious time in prison are enhanced. The guy’s a cretin, but he’s not stupid. I’m on to him, and he knows it. My guess is he’s back in San Francisco mooching off his friends and cursing me for all his lousy luck.”