Vanishing Dreams: Vanishing Dreams (Devil's Bend #2) (14 page)

Once she was inside the small room, Katie closed the door behind her,
retrieved a bottle of water from the small, antiquated refrigerator that they
kept stocked. She was pretty sure they did it for her since she really was the
only one who used the pseudo-office as a retreat when she took her breaks.

After a few sips of her water, she sat down at the desk and reached for
the phone. Glancing at the clock on the wall, she knew she needed to wait three
more minutes before she could place the call or she risked an unnecessary
altercation. She tried to avoid those at all costs these days.

Not only did she not want any pointless incidents, Katie just wanted a
little peace. She was tired, to be honest. It seemed like she was working
herself into the ground, what with working at The Rusty Nail on Tuesdays,
Wednesdays, and Saturdays and then over at Diamonds and Lace, the strip club
she’d been employed at for the better part of the last four years, on Thursdays
and Fridays. Her only days off were Sunday and Monday, and even then, she
really didn’t have any time for herself. There was too much going on.

Damn.

That reminded her that she had homework that was due tonight. There was
no way she was going to hit the midnight deadline, but she’d still have to go
right home and finish it. Her instructor might accept it being a couple hours
late, but for sure, he wasn’t going to give her a pass to hand it in too late.
She’d already used up every extra pass she had.

Katie was taking online classes at a local university, working toward
her degree in accounting. She was crazy; there was no doubt about that. Taking
some of the classes online was a recipe for disaster, but she knew there was no
way she could manage to take day classes with everything else that she had
going on. So, she had to settle for the occasional B-minus just to make things
a little easier on herself.

With another look at the clock, Katie realized it was time.

Grabbing the receiver, she quickly dialed the number, and she listened
as the ringing began.

One ring.

Two rings.

Three…

“Hey, baby, it’s me,” she said softly into the phone. She forced a
smile, sending up a silent prayer that this conversation was going to go well.

If not, she wasn’t sure what she was going to do.

Friday
morning

“Damn, it’s good to be home,” Dalton drawled when he stepped into the
barn early Friday morning. After their final concert on Wednesday night, he had
foregone a hotel room in lieu of coming back to Devil’s Bend. It would’ve been
a waste to stay so close, although he’d been ready to crash in the closest bed
as soon as he’d walked off the stage. But he had been looking forward to being
in his own bed again. He wasn’t disappointed that he’d done it, either.

Thursday had been about relaxing, hanging out at the house, and trying
to get a few things unpacked. Although his house was complete, located at the
far end of the Dream Chasers ranch, he hadn’t had much of a chance to move in.
Since he’d opted to make his Texas home permanent, he’d sold his Nashville one
and stayed with his parents or on the road for the better part of the last four
months, which meant the movers had relocated all of his belongings with the
help of Cooper’s manager 
slash
father while Dalton had been on tour.

Needless to say, he still had a lot of work to do in order to feel like
he wasn’t living out of a box. Since, technically, he really was living out of
boxes, it was quite literal and very much a pain in the ass.

“Glad to have you back,” Cooper replied, his voice muffled as he
stepped around Sacred Spirit, the most recent gelding to have been acquired by
the center.

“How’s she doin’?” Dalton asked, referring to the horse Cooper was
brushing.

“Better. She’s calmed down some. Braydon’s been working with her quite
a bit. She’s not quite ready to go out with the kids, but maybe a few more
months. She’ll get there, though. I have faith,” he answered, crooning to the
horse as much as answering Dalton.

“How’s Braydon doin’?” Dalton asked, referring to Tessa’s cousin who
had come to stay at the ranch while Dalton was away. He was living on the
premises and handling some of the chores, as well as giving direction to the
volunteers as needed. Dalton hadn’t realized Braydon had taken to the horses,
but he couldn’t say he was surprised. The few times Dalton had seen the man,
he’d looked like he was deep in thought and doing everything he could to stay
busy.

Dalton knew what he was going through. He’d been plagued with the same
need to fill every spare minute with something to do, no matter how trivial.

“Doin’ good. Doesn’t seem to be goin’ anywhere anytime soon. Tryin’ to
keep him busy.”

“I see you’ve got a group coming out today,” Dalton said, glancing over
at the giant board on the wall that listed upcoming events.

“Yep. Day-care center. About ten kids.”

“Mind if I take that one?” Dalton asked, sliding his fingers over the
wood bar on the outside of the stall, gripping the board, and resting his boot
on the bottom rung.

“You sure? I’ve got another group coming in tomorrow mornin’, and I’m
meetin’ with my dad then so I won’t be able to get that one.”

“You gonna be able to get up that early?” Dalton joked. “What with the
bachelor party tonight and all.”

“I’m sure I’ll be fine,” Cooper said, frowning.

The guy had made it known that he didn’t really care for a bachelor
party, but Tessa had overruled his arguments.

“All right. Well, I can take that one, too,” Dalton told him. Anything
to keep himself occupied. Since it seemed that his personal life had fallen
right off the edge of a cliff thanks to the shit storm that had become his
life, better known as the overwhelming thoughts of Katie, Dalton wasn’t
interested in any downtime. Keeping busy was the only way to keep his mind off
her.

As if that was working.

“Have at it then,” Cooper acknowledged. “If you need help, just let me
know. I’m gonna run Harmony and Havoc into town tomorrow. Time for their
shots.”

Speaking of…

As though the two giant huskies had been waiting for Cooper to call
their names, they frolicked into the barn, nudging one another as they vied for
first place.

Dalton knelt alongside them when they approached, receiving his
customary greeting from Harmony and a sniff or two from Havoc. Glancing over
his head, he noticed that Sacred Spirit was getting a little antsy. Probably
thanks to the dogs.

Yeah, she’d get used to them. Everyone else did.

“Talk to you later then,” Dalton told Cooper as he pushed back to his
feet and then turned on his heel to head the opposite direction, the dogs
falling into step with him.

He needed to go check on the horses, noticing that several of the
stalls were empty. One of their volunteers must have already taken the other
geldings out for their morning walk around the giant covered arena, which meant
it was time for Dalton to get to work.

“Hey, Dalt!” Cooper called.

Dalton turned and continued walking backward toward the exit. “Yeah?”

“Tessa wants you over for dinner on Sunday.”

“Tell her I wouldn’t miss it,” he hollered before turning around once
more.

Dinner with Cooper and Tessa had become somewhat routine for him when
he was in town. Now that he was going to be there more often, he really needed
to let Tessa know that the gesture wasn’t necessary. He was quite capable of
cooking for himself, and if that failed, he could always grab a bite in town.
Not that he minded at all, because hanging out with Cooper and Tessa was about
the only way he could keep his mind off things he shouldn’t be thinking about
in the first place.

Like Katie.

And the fact that she’d lied to him.

Damn it. He did not want to think about her now.

His attempt at keeping his mind off Katie wasn’t working nearly as well
as it had been when he was on tour. Being back in Devil’s Bend was a constant
reminder of the woman. He had yet to talk to her, aside from a polite hello a
time or two, and he didn’t have any intention of saying much more to her, but
clearly, his brain thought that having a running commentary of what-ifs flowing
through his head was productive. He had news for his brain… It wasn’t.

In fact, the more Dalton thought about her and the way she’d looked the
last time she’d been at his house — naked and riding his cock for all she was
worth — it made his head hurt just to remember.

His first instinct after she’d done her little disappearing act had
been to confront her. Now that he knew the truth about who she was, he wasn’t
sure he even wanted to see her again. The second had been to confront Cooper
about it, but he had the distinct feeling that no one in Devil’s Bend knew that
their beloved waitress was a fucking stripper.

It wasn’t his place to fill them in on it, either. And he wasn’t really
made that way. Creating gossip just for the hell of it was not on his list of
things to do. He spent his days fending off asshole reporters who liked to speculate
on his life as it was. He wasn’t about to do that to someone else.

“Hey, Dalt!” Austin Paxton called when Dalton approached. “How’s it
goin’?”

Dalton offered the young man a forced grin and followed with a lie.
“Never better. How ’bout you?”

Dalton could tell Austin was excited when he was around. The kid wasn’t
even out of high school, and it was obvious he harbored a little hero worship
where Dalton was concerned. Since Austin was usually tongue-tied, he considered
this a step in the right direction, especially since they hadn’t run into one
another for at least three months.

“Good. Just gettin’ the horses ready.”

“You wanna help me with this group when they get here?” Dalton offered,
remembering he was actually supposed to be working.

“Me? Really?”

Dalton laughed. “Yeah, you. No one else out here to volunteer. So what
d’ya think? You wanna give it a go?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Awesome.” Nodding toward the barn, Dalton told the kid they would need
to get the horses saddled, at least a few of them. Then they could wrangle one
more volunteer to help out.

And by that point, maybe Dalton would’ve forgotten all about Katie. At
least for a few hours anyway.

♥ ♥
♥ ♥ ♥

“Sissy! I need your help!”

Katie brushed her hair out of her face, blowing a couple of strands
with a huff, a hint of frustration escaping with the exhale. She knew she
shouldn’t be irritated. It wasn’t Lexi’s fault, but Katie was exhausted, and
she had no one to blame but herself. Last night had been an incredibly long
night, so the early morning wasn’t helping.

“I’m comin’,” Katie hollered, keeping her voice as steady as she could.
It was incredible how Lexi picked up on the slightest nuance in Katie’s tone,
easily detecting her moods.

“Now!” Lexi screamed.

Katie ran through the small apartment, frustration replaced by a sliver
of panic as she made her way to her little sister’s bedroom as fast as she
could.

Before she got there, Sarah peeked out of her bedroom, looking as tired
as Katie felt. “She okay?”

“Probably,” Katie answered. “Sorry we woke you. Go back to sleep. I’ll
try to keep her quiet.”

Sarah nodded and then closed the door softly.

Katie made it to the end of the hall, calling out to Lexi as she did.
“What’s wrong?”

“I can’t find my pink shoes!” Lexi exclaimed.

Crap.

At least it wasn’t something that required medical attention, but in
all fairness, when it came to Lexi, this was a critical matter.

Katie took a deep breath and stood stone still in the bedroom doorway.
There was her little sister, sitting cross-legged in the middle of her floor,
her stringy dark hair falling down over her shoulders, her little hands in her
lap, fingers white as she rocked back and forth.

“We’ll find them, Lex,” Katie assured her. This was not what she needed
today, but she couldn’t very well blame Lexi. “May I come in?” 

Lexi looked up at her, eye contact minimal as she nodded her head and
looked away. Only after she had been approved to do so did Katie step into her
little sister’s room. One of the fastest ways to set Lexi off was to approach
her without warning.

“Do you know where you last saw them?” Katie asked.

That earned her a glare, followed by, “In my closet where they belong.”

Right. Closet.

Katie made her way over to Lexi’s closet. Not surprisingly, the room
was clean. Spotless, in fact. Everything was in its proper place, to Lexi’s
exact obsessive-compulsive standards.

Katie’s heart ached when she thought about the hell her little sister
went through on a daily basis. According to the doctors, there wasn’t anything
Katie could do to fix Lexi’s obsessive-compulsive disorder, but she could help
her to adapt. On top of that, they had to deal with her attention deficit
hyperactivity disorder. Which was exactly what Katie had been doing ever since
their mother had hauled ass back when Katie had turned eighteen. That had been
a truly suck-ass day that Katie was sure she would never forget.

Opening the closet, Katie glanced down at the row of shoes on the
floor, all in perfect order by color: Black to red to dark blue to lighter blue
to yellow to… Nope, no pink shoes.

Crap.

Just for grins, Katie peered up at the top of the closet. Nope. No
shoes there, either. Not that she had really expected them to be there, because
the top shelf was reserved for Lexi’s dolls. The ones she didn’t allow to be on
her bed. All in perfect order from biggest to smallest.

“There’s one more place I need to check,” Katie assured Lexi. “You stay
right there. I’ll be right back.”

Lexi nodded as she continued to rock back and forth, wringing her
little hands together in her lap.

Running to the only bathroom in their tiny apartment, which didn’t take
much effort since it was directly across from Lexi’s room and right next to her
own, Katie threw open the hamper and rummaged through the dirty clothes.

Just as she’d suspected, Lexi’s pink shoes were in the hamper, but
finding them wasn’t the hard part. Now she had to try to explain to her sister
why they were there in the first place. And to make sure that Lexi didn’t have
a panic attack because they had been buried with the dirty clothes. Lexi had an
incredible distaste for dirt.

A quick glance in the mirror above the sink was just what Katie didn’t
need. She looked like hell, and the dark circles beneath her eyes certainly
weren’t helping matters.

It’d been a really rough morning. Lexi had woken up early, forcing
Katie out of bed at five o’clock when she shouldn’t have had to get out of bed
until at least seven. But that wasn’t unusual in her little three-person
household. Especially not when Sarah had to go to work early, and definitely
not these days, when Lexi seemed to be getting more and more antsy.

“Found them,” Katie called from the bathroom, more of a warning to Lexi
that she was coming back.

“Where were they?” Lexi yelled, staring up at her as Katie stepped
through the door of her room. She quickly took a step back when Lexi began that
humming sound that she had been doing for the last few years whenever Katie
would invade her personal space. Or rather, the space she deemed personal,
which was her entire bedroom.