River's End (River's End Series, #1) (6 page)

It made his joints ache to think of sleeping all night on a cold, hard, ground as his stupid, little brother had just done. Didn’t they notice the bitter chill of the morning? Any of them? Ben? Joey? Erin?

There was quite a crowd down at the beach, strewn over it in different spots. He found Chance as naked as his sister, his white ass hanging out, with some girl Jack didn’t know next to him. He found his son curled up beside Marcy, near what was once the fire. By then, it was no more than a small circle of charred wood and glowing coals. Most people had already gone home. But a few couples still littered his land and he didn’t like it. He really didn’t like his son being down there and a part of it. Joey was one thing. Joe did stuff like that still. But Ben was too young to start already. Fatigue overcame him; how could he fight the teenage rebel his son seemed determined on becoming?

He overreacted to Joey. He knew it even as he gazed down at his coffee. His brother had the right to do what he wanted, where he wanted, and with whom he wanted. He had no right to speak like that to Joey. But God. Didn’t he have the sense to realize Erin Poletti had set her eyes on him the moment she stepped foot on their land? She had a nice ass and if she wagged it enough in front of Joey, she was likely to end up with a chunk of Jack’s ranch. Jack slammed the cup down. He’d be damned if that little parasite would get any part of his land, his house, or his brother.

The trailer door opened and Chance came out and started puking in the grass. Jack turned away. One way or another, it was high time the Polettis got the hell off his land.

“Jack?”

Joey came into the kitchen and sat down at the table. He rested his head in his hands. He looked up at Jack.

“I didn’t know Ben came down there last night.”

“I guess you probably didn’t. I overreacted when I saw Ben there.”

“When Erin and I left the fire, he wasn’t there. You know that, Jack. I wouldn’t let Ben stay there. Or drink.”

“He was with Marcy Fielding.”

Joey grimaced. Everyone knew what the Fieldings were like. Marcy wasn’t the girl he wanted Ben with. “Shit. Did they…”

“Not yet. My guess is she said no. This time.” Jack stepped away from the counter, and started pacing. He couldn’t handle this. His son having sex? It was too soon. Too much. What the hell was he supposed to do with a teen? A teen who was rapidly growing up and wanting to listen less and less to authority. Jack felt a fist in his stomach and pressure in his neck.

“Fifteen? You don’t think he’s trying to…”

“Of course, he’s trying to, Joe. Weren’t you? I was. And all it takes is a girl like Marcy Fielding. I just hope he’s smart.”

Joey pressed his lips together. “I’ll be more careful, Jack.”

“Thanks. Look, I shouldn’t have yelled at you. Sometimes I just get in the habit, you know? Years of practice.”

Joey nodded. “I know. I know you did this for me too. Don’t be so hard on yourself. I didn’t turn out too bad, did I?”

Jack looked toward his little brother. No. Joey hadn’t turned out too bad. But he was naive. He didn’t see through the equivalent of Marcy Fielding in Erin Poletti. And Joe wasn’t nearly as grown up yet as he thought he was.

“You careful with that girl?”

“Erin? Of course. I’m not stupid, Jack.”

“I don’t think you are. But don’t underestimate her, Joe.”

He laughed and grabbed a banana from the bowl in the middle of the table. “You’re way over thinking it. We had fun together. We’re not even, well… much beyond that. It was just sex, Jack. We’re not getting married or anything.”

Jack turned away. He didn’t want to know, and didn’t want details. He simply wanted Erin and Chance Poletti to leave the ranch and never come back.

“The fence along the main road has a section that needs to be repaired. Meet me out there in an hour.”

Joey nodded. “Sure, Jack. See you then.”

Jack walked out of his house. He paused before continuing across the dirt to the barn to begin cleaning the stalls and feeding the horses. Morning routines didn’t change. No matter the day or the season, Jack did all the chores. His brothers helped. Whatever ranch hand they currently employed also helped, but usually, no matter what, it was still Jack’s job. He liked it. He could check on his horses. He let the rhythm of the work flow through him, relaxing him, and letting some of the tension out of his neck, stemming from the rest of his ordered life.

For their personal horses he put more work into their feed routine. He started mixing the morning rations of food for their horses that consisted of soaking alfalfa pellets in warm water, and adding sea salt. Evening chores included feeding each of the horses a pound of barley. Part of their care was intended so if they ever got lost on one of their remote mountain rides, the horse would come home, looking for its evening meal. Most of the training he did for his horses was in relation to trail riding. Jack didn’t mind the extra care. Ever. And today, he was particularly glad for the distraction of his horses.

His head kept going back to the beach. He never intended, of course, to stumble across his naked brother. Or Erin. It shouldn’t have surprised him to realize it happened. He knew it would. He thought perhaps it might be a few more days. But then again, it was hard to fault Joe. She was that beautiful: so slim, with small shoulders, and white skin, in contrast to her long, wild ringlets of hair. She was as feminine as the entire ranch was all male. She was easy and beautiful and helpless. It was as exactly as Jack knew it would be; and why he didn’t want her there so much. She was nothing but trouble, and could only turn the ranch, the brothers, and his sons upside-down. Jack knew it in his gut. Erin Poletti was going to be like a stone being thrown into the still waters that usually characterized Rydell River Ranch.

And so what if he stared at her? Sound asleep, she looked almost ethereal in her dark-haired ringlets and snow-white skin. So what if his gaze followed the lines of her body below the blanket that was precariously covering her? She’d been the one naked outside on
his
ranch. He’d stared at many porn stars too. Not much difference, he supposed. This one just happened to be in the flesh. And fucking his brother. He sighed as the tension reclaimed the same spot in his neck again.

Erin loved the ranch. She didn’t know how else to describe how much she liked waking up each morning. She’d never felt that way before and was never particularly happy about anything. But she couldn’t wait to open her trailer door each morning and view the valley all around her and the horses. She loved the clear sky and endless tracts of land encircling her. She loved how free it made her feel, but also sure of where her feet stood. She had no right to love the ranch as she would be leaving it soon, but she did love it. It intrigued her like nothing else ever could. Perhaps that was half of the draw she felt toward Joey. He told her about the ranch, as well as the work they did.

She let him into the trailer most evenings. Chance was usually gone on one of his nightly jaunts. She didn’t ask and they rarely spoke. She did her best to pretend Chance didn’t even exist.

Her favorite place soon became the river and she went to the beach each day. She gazed at the river before closing her eyes. The deep, undisturbed quiet of the land seemed to speak to her. A silence she’d never heard before filled her ears. Bugs. Birds. River. Breezes. They all filled her ears and her head. It did something to her, something that was new and better. Something she guessed maybe church might have tried to give her.

She avoided the main house at all costs and stayed in the trailer or at the beach, sometimes walking the endless dirt roads that ran in all directions from the ranch. She did everything she could to stay out of the others’ way, especially Jack’s. She didn’t miss his scowl after the morning he found her with Joey. And she knew what he thought, and what he wanted. She hoped if she avoided him, and kept to herself and out of their way, perhaps he would ignore her presence there for a while.

She couldn’t stop Ben, who came over frequently to talk to her although she shooed him along. She nearly hibernated in the trailer without any TV or radio to entertain her. And God knows, there were no books to distract her from her dire thoughts. What good would they do her?

So she had a lot of quiet time. The more quiet she became, the more thoughts went through her brain. And she felt even worse about what she saw and who she was.

Late one afternoon she left the beach and started back along the narrow path to the trailer. She hummed while feeling the warm rays of the sun on her skin. It was nearly April and spring was exploding with color all over the valley.

She was almost to the trailer when she heard a sound. Glancing down towards the trailer steps, she screamed. Then she screamed again before jumping back and running.
There was a snake!
And no way past it. She stared at the despicable spot with chills breaking out all over her skin.

Chance came running at her screams from across a field. “What the hell are you screaming about?” he asked once he spotted her.

“That!” She pointed at the snake.

“That?” Chance repeated, walking forward with his voice full of disgust. “The snake? Spring’s here so they’ll all be coming out now. Didn’t you know that? Gotta be careful around the rattlers.” Chance reached down and grabbed the snake from behind its head. She stepped back further and Chance saw her. His chilling gaze focused on her.

“You afraid of this harmless snake, Erin?”

He used to enjoy tormenting her for no reason and did terrible things to her as a young girl. He often took her stuff and hid it. Then he would smear it with feces or something equally repulsive. Once, he ejaculated all over her favorite Barbie. She was ten-years-old. He was sadistic and liked to be. For no apparent reason.

She stepped back again. Her gaze was riveted on the writhing snake as it undulated against Chance’s grip.

“Put it down, Chance. Just let it go.”

He grinned. Most grins didn’t cause the flesh on one’s arm to bristle with disgust. Chance’s, however, did. “No. I think my little sister is afraid of the snake. Gotta get over that to be here, Erin. This area is infested with them. Come on, touch it, it’ll help get you over it.”

“No.” This time she turned to run from him, never doubting he’d do just that. And maybe it was a harmless snake, but it had her heart sinking in actual fear. All snakes terrified her.

Chance caught her wrist and she yanked it back as hard as she could. He had an iron grip on her arm. She yanked harder and didn’t turn, but kept straining as far away from Chance as was possible. Tears filled her eyelids.

“Let me go.
God damn
it, Chance!
This isn’t funny.”

“Come on, Erin. It’s just a little snake. Touch it. Come on, you like to touch things, don’t you, Erin?”

She refused to look back at him and expected to have bruises from the intense strength of his grip on her. She fell into the dirt, trying to pull free in a crazy, manic rush of energy just as she realized what Chance intended to do.

The snake touched her and he rubbed it over her arm. She squeezed her eyes shut, all the while screaming. She knew it was unreasonable, and just a snake. But the fear of it touching her ignited inside her and left her crying, and nearly hysterical.

“I think you need to get over your fears, little sis.”

“Stop it!” She was screaming irrationally. “Let me go!”

“You’re not particular, never were. Come on; open your hand for it.”

Then it was gone.

Erin opened her eyes.
Jack.
He was on Chance after yanking her wrist away from her merciless brother. He pushed Chance down before Chance could react. Jack grabbed the snake from her brother as if it were nothing more than a piece of rope. He obviously didn’t fear the snake, but neither did he think it was something to torture her with.

“What the hell is going on here?”

Jack glared down at her brother, then glanced at her. She was on her ass in the dirt. She wiped at her tears and jumped to her feet, stepping back from where Jack stood with the squirming snake.

Chance laughed as he started to lumber onto his feet. “Ahh shit, Rydell, I was just messing around with my little sister. Haven’t you ever messed with your brothers? All siblings do it.”

Jack stared at her brother. “She was screaming.” His acidic tone suggested the statement said it all. She hesitated. She was about to start apologizing to Jack for the commotion she inadvertently made, but he wasn’t looking at her. He was scowling at her brother and his tone was quiet, almost lethal.
Huh.
Maybe he disapproved of Chance doing that to her.

“She was overreacting, Rydell. Jesus, it was no big deal.”

Jack one-handedly pushed Chance backwards. “Get out of here, Poletti. Get out of my fucking sight
right now.”

Chance stepped back and Jack stepped forward. Her cowardly brother suddenly turned and fled towards the south field. Jack watched him go, then turned and walked out past the house before he squatted down and gently released the snake.

Maybe he’d simply go back to work. No. No such luck. He walked back to where she stood, still rubbing the dirt off her ass and legs.

“What was that?”

She glanced up into his face. He was tall, and seemed high above her. She licked her lips in humiliation. She overacted. Her screams drew not only her brother, but also Jack from his work. He probably thought something was really wrong. Instead, he found her as usual: the stupid, insipid slut whom he hated, getting hysterical over nothing. She was sure Jack thought that of her before and this only confirmed his opinion.

She shrugged and looked at her feet. “I’m sorry. I overreacted to the snake. I didn’t expect it. I mean, I never knew they were here.”

“Overreacted to the snake?” he repeated as he frowned at her. He pushed the tip of his cowboy hat back and shook his head. “That’s not what I meant. What was Chance doing to you?”

“Oh. He…” Erin didn’t know quite how to word what Chance was doing to her. He was being mean to her. No, malicious, even sadistic to her, but he never quite did anything so physical or obvious as abusing her. Sometimes, his incessant humiliation felt worse. How could she explain that? Then again, she couldn’t. Jack couldn’t know that. Jack was barely letting her stay there as it was.

Jack’s gaze was on her and when he finally spoke, his tone was quiet. “He do things like that to you often?”

She dropped her head. She could not look up at him for the humiliation swimming in her gut. “He thinks it’s funny.”

Jack was staring at her and she could feel his eyes boring into her scalp. “That wasn’t funny. Not funny at all.”

She looked up after hearing the quiet tone. She expected him to be mad at her, and not, well, so kind. Jack’s hand came out and he took her arm. She jerked back at his touch and looked down to see what he was doing. His touch wasn’t like Chance’s, however. There was no pressure. No pain.

He pushed the long sleeves of Joey’s coat up her arm. Her wrist was bright red where Chance held her while she twisted like a maniac to get free.

“Chance often leave bruises on you, Ms. Poletti?” he asked quietly and gently. His gaze brushed over her and she stared at her red wrists.

She shrugged. “I haven’t lived with him in years.”

She didn’t answer his question, and he, of course, realized that. “Why would you come to him now? Here?”

She looked up.

“You might as well be honest with me, Ms. Poletti. I’m not quite as blind as Joey is. I see exactly what your relationship is with Chance; and if it’s possible, I think you must detest him even more than I do. Explain that to me. Explain to me what the hell you’re doing here.”

Erin dropped her shoulders as she stared at Jack’s boots. She swallowed before she finally looked up at him. “I didn’t come here just to be here. I came here because I had nowhere else to go.”

“You’re not a college student.” He said it as a fact. He always knew she was lying.

She shook her head.

“And there was no fire, was there?”

“No.”

“Then why did you come here without any clothes?”

She dropped her head down. “My stepfather never liked me. Or maybe it was he liked too much. But I detested him. After my mom died, he inherited what little she had and kicked me out after trying to… take advantage of me. I fled with what was on my back and whatever was stashed in my car. My mom had met him through me. He was my boss. So I lost my job and apartment in the same moment.” It was the same car her mother killed herself in. But Erin failed to add that pathetic, albeit gruesome, fact.

“And Chance was your best option?”

She shook her head and raised her eyes to the horizon. “No. Chance was my
only
option.”

She couldn’t meet Jack Rydell’s eyes. She couldn’t take the shame of having Jack see what a loser she was.

He was silent for a long, drawn-out moment and she squirmed under his intense, sharp gaze and muteness. He cleared his throat, finally, and simply stepped back. “Spring brings the snakes out. They’re pretty lethargic though this time of year. Just give them some space and they won’t bother you.”

She glanced up. “That’s it? You’re not forcing me to leave?”

His gaze seemed flat. “I have to insist that Chance leave at some point. He’s a terrible worker. I don’t know how much more I can take of him, even for Joey.”

She nodded, feeling puzzled. Meaning what? She could stay until Chance got evicted? She had no time and had to come up with a plan soon.

Jack stepped around her and started back towards the barn. She watched him leave and rubbed her wrist before turning to head for the trailer. She had to think of something fast. She could no longer hang out here. Chance wasn’t going to like what happened today. She’d gone from just being a nuisance to a major problem.

****

Jack pounded nails into the loose boards of a horse’s stall. Sweat beaded on his face. He finally stopped and swiped at his head with his shirt. When he looked over, he saw Ian standing in the doorway.

Ian was seven years younger than he, while Shane was ten, and Joey was a full fifteen years difference. Since their father died, Jack became the only father figure to all of them. It was a responsibility he accepted right down to his bones since the age of only twenty years old. The ranch. His brothers. The house. His wife. His two sons. All had been thrust upon him, and around him, and in need of him since he was just barely done being a teenager.

Ian was the quiet one. So quiet, he rarely spoke unless he had something important to say. He usually just said it and that was over. Jack couldn’t have handled the ranch, his kids, and his brothers in the ensuing months after his parents, and then his wife’s death, if not for Ian.

“You working through dinner?”

Jack sighed. “I could and still not make a dent in the work that needs to be done around here.”

Ian nodded. “It all gets done eventually.”

Jack smacked at the board. “We should hire some decent hands.”

“Joe still set on Chance?”

“Yeah, well, we’re having a talk tonight about that.”

“’Cause of her?”

“Her? Erin? Yeah.”

“Joey likes her, Jack. You gonna throw her out? Joey won’t like that.”