The Word of a Liar (8 page)

“You know, Mad Dog, when I was sitting out there on the highway, I realized how alone I was. Even if my cell phone had worked, I had no one to call. If something would have happened to me, no one would have known.”  Ellen sniffled. “It was the most terrified I’ve ever been.”

“You’re not alone anymore Ellen. You have all of us now. The Sons of Thunder will take care of you,” Mad Dog said as he wiped a tear from her face with the cuff of his sleeve. “If you need your car fixed, I can do it. Spider is as good a carpenter as they come. And if you need anyone killed, Rambo will take care of it.”

Ellen laughed. “Yes, I believe he would.”

“What more do you need?”  He hugged her closer. “Stop crying. If you don’t, you’re going to get me going,” he whispered.

“I can’t help it.”

He stroked the hair back from her face, his rough hands, tenderly wiping away the tears. Ellen relaxed, feeling safe for the first time in a long while. “Thank you for all you’ve done for me tonight. Considering I crashed your party, you’ve all been very nice. Well, except for Desi.”

“Desi’s usually cool, but she’s got Rambo for a boyfriend. And Rambo, well he’s Rambo.”

“Do you think she’s jealous of me?” Ellen didn’t let him respond. “She’s gorgeous. I’m so out of her league. So why the hostility? If my husband Paul had seen her dancing up there on that trailer, he would have thought he died and went to heaven. No pun intended.”

Mad Dog yawned. “I think you underestimate your appeal, Mrs. Abrams.”

A long silence ensued as Ellen considered Mad Dog’s remark. Was it possible Mason was attracted to her as much as she was to him? The possibility made Ellen giddy, but she quickly dismissed it. No man would go for a woman like her, when he had Desi. Not in Ellen’s life time.

“Mad Dog,” she whispered.

“Yeah.”

“I know you’re tired, but do you suppose you could do me one more favor?”

“What is it?”

“Do you think maybe you could …” Ellen hesitated.

Mad Dog propped himself up on his elbow, his dark eyes questioning. “Could I what?”

Ellen bit her bottom lip. “Do you think you could kiss me?”

Ellen looked away. “It doesn’t need to mean anything. It’s been so long since a man has kissed me, I worry if it’ll ever happen again…. Sometimes I feel so old.”  Her voice quivered.

“Ellen, are you asking me for a one night stand?”

“Would that be so terrible?” She brought her hand to his bearded cheek. “I want you to make me feel eighteen again…. When dreams evolved and as kids we knew it all. Before autism… before death.”

Ellen smiled slightly, catching a glimpse of deep understanding in his eyes.

Mad Dog moved over her.

Warm breath on her face, his strong frame surrounding her, she clasped her hands around his neck, surrendering to the moment.

“That’s a tall order for one kiss,” he whispered. “But I’ll try.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

At 6:45, Mason’s wrist-watch beeped. He opened his eyes to a sun-soaked sky.  Shrugging off the blanket he’d retrieved from Spider’s truck earlier, he rose from the lawn chair and then clutched his lower back. Cold and stiff, he yearned for a real bed in which to sleep. Limping over to Mad Dog’s tent, he squatted by the tent flap.

“Mad Dog,” he called softly. “Get up, man; it’s almost seven o’clock.”

No response.

Mason imagined Ellen and Mad Dog sleeping in each other’s arms. He whapped the side of the tent and hollered. “Mad Dog, get the hell out here! It’s almost seven!”

Finally, he heard movement and then Mad Dog’s groggy voice.

“Is that you, Rambo?”

“Who the hell else would it be, Smokey the Bear?  Get your ass out here, man.”

“You have piss poor timing, brother,” Mad Dog groaned. “I was just about to make Ellen a very happy woman, and then you show up. Go away for a while will you?”

A vise squeezed Mason’s chest. Incensed, he stood and kicked the ground. “Get the fuck out here!  Put that cheese dick of yours back in your pants. We should be up at the road by now.”

Mad Dog crawled out. Ignoring Mason, he walked over to a lawn chair and sat down. He propped his rifle by his side and then pulled on his boots. Looking at Mason, he shook his head. “You need to learn how to relax, brother. Besides, what you mad about? What if Ellen and I were getting it on? She’s not your old lady.”

“I don’t care what the fuck you and Ellen do.” Mason lied. “It’s time for us to be on, and I know how I hate it when some asshole keeps me waiting.”

“Sure,” Mad Dog snickered. “You don’t have a thing for our little teacher friend do you, Rambo?”

“What the hell are you talking about?  First Desi and now you. How can I have a thing for a woman I just met?”

“Desi noticed it too, huh?” Mad Dog frowned. “Doesn’t look good for you, brother. Ellen and I really hit it off last night. Her pot smoking lesson and the large quantity of alcohol she consumed got her all loosey goosey, and I tell you, I’ve never experienced anything like it. A widow who hasn’t had a man in seven years is one sex-crazed animal. I thought she was going to kill me. You should see the claw marks on my back. She rode me like the stallion I am.”

Mad Dog stood and pawed the ground with his boot then whinnied. He elbowed Mason and then retrieved his rifle. Slinging it over his shoulder, he grinned. “That tent was rocking so hard, I thought we were going to land in the river. So how’d things go with you and Desi last night?”

“Shut the fuck up, Mad Dog, before I waste your sorry ass.”

Mad Dog roared. “That bad?”

The two men headed in the direction of the barn.

***

Ellen slapped her ear to kill the annoying buzz of a mosquito, but it persisted. She rolled unto her back. The sunlight saturating the red nylon tent glowed beneath her eyelids. Reluctantly, she opened her eyes and looked from left to right, resting her gaze on the rumpled sleeping bag where Mad Dog had slept. She was alone, again. Ellen sighed, remembering how peaceful she had felt falling asleep in Mad Dog’s arms.

She looked up when suddenly the hot, stuffy air inside the tent coiled around her chest and squeezed the air from her lungs.
JD! 
She panicked.
They forgot to wake me. Dear God, I have to get to that farmhouse and call JD!

She shot up to her knees, smoothed her hair, found her jacket and then frantically scoured the tent for her sandals. She tossed the sleeping bags and pillows helter-skelter but couldn’t find them. When she unzipped the tent flaps, the back of her neck was already wet with sweat.

Outside the tent, Ellen was suddenly struck with an intense throbbing at her temples. She rolled her head back and across her shoulders to shake it off, but the movement only intensified the pain. Her stomach lurched. Through bleary eyes she saw Dee Dee heading in her direction. Ellen hurried toward the small woman. Frustrated by her irresponsible behavior during the night, Ellen lashed out.

“Why didn’t you wake me?” Ellen demanded.

Dee Dee looked puzzled.

“You said you’d wake me before nine, so I wouldn’t be late calling JD. I told you how important it was that I call him on time.”

Ellen started to walk past her, but Dee Dee grabbed her arm and spun her around. The woman’s dark eyes narrowed, and the hard lines around her eyes and mouth deepened.

“Who the hell do you think you are, talking to me like that? If I didn’t know your kid had autism, I’d kick your up-tight teacher’s ass right here and now.” She squeezed Ellen’s elbow. “I was on my way over to get you. It’s 8:35.”

“Oh,” Ellen sighed. “It was so hot in the tent when I woke up, I thought it was later--I’m sorry--but I need to make that call.”

Dee Dee let go of her arm.

They walked in silence toward the farmhouse. Ellen felt awful for yelling at Dee Dee, but she was too preoccupied with thoughts of a hysterical JD to try and smooth things over right now. She wished Dee Dee could understand her stress and make a small allowance for her out-burst, but Ellen supposed that would be wrong. 

At the farmhouse, Dee abandoned Ellen to Ray Mullen Senior, who sat on the screened-in-porch and only grunted at her. After talking to JD, Ellen went back out on the porch to thank the man.  Her head pounded more fiercely than ever, and her anxiety lingered. She sat down on a wooden rocker and looked out over the driveway. She didn’t speak and neither did Ray.

Ellen knew the old man must think her crazy, but she needed some time to collect herself before she went back—to those people. She’d have to face Dee Dee’s anger and Desi’s hatred. She wasn’t quite sure if she wanted to even see Mad Dog, and Mason—the mere thought of him scared her to death. So, she sat rooted in the rocker.

“Your boy okay?” Ray Mullen asked.

“Yes.” Ellen nodded, looking over at him.

Ray Mullen was long-legged and thin like his son, but his broad shoulders were stooped with age. His white hair, unusually thick for an elderly man had long bangs which swept across his high forehead. Deep lines above his nose cut into his bushy, white eyebrows, and gray, weathered eyes considered her.

He nodded.

“Ray Junior said the tow truck will be here later this afternoon. I guess Mad Dog’s going to take you to your car when the truck gets here, and then the driver will take you home. But I can drive you to your car if you don’t want to ride on one of those death traps.” Ray said. He pointed to the dirty bandage on Ellen’s ankle. “You get that from the Spider’s bike?”

“No. I got it riding on the back of Mason’s bike. You ride, Mr. Mullen?”

“Hell no. I’m not that damn dumb.”

A slanted grin pulled upward on the right side of Ray’s clean-shaven face.

Ellen thought he wasn’t nearly as formidable as Mad Dog and Mason had made him out to be, and he looked like a man with a good many stories to tell. She smiled.

“You have pretty teeth,” he said. 

“Thank you.” Ellen giggled at Ray’s off-handed compliment.

She felt her anxiety diminish. She took a deep breath and then sank back into the rocking chair, ready to converse. 

“So, Ray, tell me all about this beautiful farm. Did your family grow up here?”

Ray indulged Ellen in many of his family’s stories and then, after inspecting her burned ankle, insisted she use his facilities to take a hot shower. When Ellen left the farmhouse her spirits were high. The sun had lifted a malevolent mask of darkness, and she wondered why she’d been so afraid when Mason had brought her here last night.

However, when she returned to the campsite, her high spirits quickly plummeted. Desi sat by the cold fire pit, filing her finger-nails. Two men sat next to her, holding plates full of pancakes and bacon.

“Good morning.”  Ellen forced a smiled, thinking Desi looked like an evil queen with her suitors flanking her. Desi looked up without responding then looked back down at her hands. Ellen shrugged off the insult; the men nodded a greeting.  She walked over to Spider’s truck. He cooked on the open tailgate, pouring pancake batter onto a hot griddle.

“How’s the school teacher doing this morning?” He smiled. “Grab yourself a plate. I make the best damn pancakes you ever ate.”

“Really?  I love pancakes and I’m starving. Must be the fresh air, and maybe some food will get rid of this headache.”

“A little hung over this morning?”

“I guess so,” Ellen admitted.

He flipped a pancake on her plate. “So, did Mad Dog take good care of you last night?”

“Yes, he did!”

“Glad to hear it.”  A wide smirk spread under Spider’s long handle bar mustache. Spider shook his head. “The ladies always go for Mad Dog. Lucky bastard! I suppose his ass will be dragging since the two of you were messin’ around all night.”

“Mad Dog was a perfect gentleman,” Ellen assured him.

“Yeah, I bet he was. Mad Dog has always been known for his manners, especially when it comes to the ladies.”

Ellen didn’t comment; she took her plate and sat down on a lawn chair across from Desi and the two men. She didn’t bother to try to engage in conversation.

“You know, Ellen,” Desi said as she looked up from filing her nails, a catty smile spread across her dainty features, “pancakes are loaded with carbs, especially when you smother them in syrup.”

“Thanks, Desi, I didn’t know that. I’m so tired this morning, I think carbs are just what I need to get me going. When I’m done with this one, I’ll have Spider cook me up a couple more.”

“You know what they say, a moment on the lips, forever on your hips. Except in your case, it looks like it all goes to the middle.”

Ellen bit her lip.
What is this woman’s problem?  Thank God in a short while I’ll never have to see her again.
“I suppose you have to be very careful about what you eat. If you were to have any fat jiggling, I don’t suppose guys would stuff big tips down your G-string…or whatever parts of your anatomy you stick in front of their faces.”

Ellen took a large bite of her pancake.

The two men stared down at the ground. Their chests moved with subtle laughter. Desi’s green eyes glared across the ash-covered fire pit. Ellen wasn’t sure if Desi was going to come after her or not. Nevertheless, Ellen glared back, pretending she wasn’t afraid. Just then Mad Dog and Mason approached.

“Look at this, Rambo. Two beautiful women waiting for our return.”  Mad Dog slipped into the chair next to Ellen. Mason stood behind them, making no move towards Desi.

“You two weren’t getting ready for a cat fight, were you?  Please don’t stop on our account.” Mad Dog smiled at the women.

“Fuck you, Mad Dog.”  Desi shot up and stormed past them. She didn’t look at Mason.

Mad Dog turned. “What’s up with her, Rambo?”

“How the hell should I know!”

Ellen and Mad Dog watched Desi disappear down the row of tents. Ellen expected Mason to go after her, but he sat down in one of the vacant chairs.

“Hey, Blade,” Mason addressed one of the men. “You and Animal take over for a while?”

“Sure, Rambo.”  The two men stood, tossed their plates in the fire pit and then left.

Soon Spider and Dee joined the trio.

Ellen cast Dee Dee an apologetic smile and much to Ellen’s relief Dee Dee smiled back.

“I’m eating before I do anymore cooking. I’m starving.” Spider said as he sat down next to Mason and Dee took the seat next to Spider. “Ellen tells me you took good care of her last night, Mad Dog. It’s nice to know the members of the
Sons of Thunder know how to treat a woman right.”

“We took care of each other. Right babe?” Mad Dog asked.

Dee Dee’s face lit up, reminding Ellen of a woman whose boyfriend just waved a diamond ring under her nose.

“I knew the two of you would hit it off. Having both lost your spouses, I think you’re exactly what the other needs.”

Ellen was about to correct Dee Dee’s romantic imaginings, but Mad Dog slipped his arm around Ellen’s shoulders and squeezed her close.  Bewildered, Ellen stared into his face, and began to wonder if she’d said something to make Mad Dog think they were more than friends. Then he smiled and she saw the laughter in his eyes. He was acting and she needed to play along. She didn’t know why, but she assumed it had something to do with his roguish reputation.

“We did.” She smiled seductively as she picked up her fork. “Have you tried Spider’s pancakes yet, Mad Dog?” 

Not allowing him to answer, she speared a piece of the pancake and brought it to his lips. He bit off the pancake, growling as he slid his teeth along the tongs of the fork.

“Good isn’t it?” Ellen asked. She glanced over at Mason. His heel tapped the ground, like a telegrapher sending out Morse code. His eyes, hot enough to ignite the ashes in the cold fire pit, made Ellen shiver. Turning her attention back to Mad Dog, she licked the syrup off the fork with the tip of her tongue.