Waiting For Eden (Eden Series) (16 page)

Marcus glanced up to find a petite blond waitress, twenty-something, with full, taut breasts that strained at the cheap fabric of her uniform, and sky-blue eyes that widened as she took in all of him in.  There were dark smudges under thick, sandy lashes, like she hadn’t slept in a long while, but they seemed to only accentuate the fragile sweetness of the rest of her delicate features.  She reminded him very much of Andrea in her early days.

He smiled, thinking Deena’s Diner might not be so bad after all.  The waitress smiled back tentatively at first, then her smile grew feline and promising as his dark looks and lean body
worked their magic.  She cocked her slim hips and leaned against the counter, then bent over and pointed to number 3 on the menu, giving him a fine show of a pale, ripe bosom, positioned to the point of near overflow.

“Number 3
’s my favorite,” she offered succinctly.

“Is that so...” he narrowed his eyes at her nametag, “Trac
ey?”

She actually giggled.  “Marty will make you the best burger you ever tasted.
  I’m serious.”

Marcus leaned forward and slowly laced his long fingers together, eyeing the girl appreciatively.  “That would be wonderful, Trac
ey.”

A light flush rose on her cheekbones, yet she struggled to retain a lazy sensuality that would attract him, ambling her way back to the kitchen with swaying hips and young, upthrust breasts.  Marcus watched the show with amused interest. 
Yes, she reminded him of Andrea, only she was perhaps a bit more dumb and a little less used.

When she returned with his order and a Miller Genuine Draft on the house, he had a picture in his hand.  “Trac
ey, do you recognize this woman?”

The waitress squinted at the photograph and slowly shook her head.  “I don’t think so.  Where is she from?”

“Well, she was last sighted in the Coudersport area, north of here.”

“I live near there!”

Marcus sighed.  “Too bad you haven’t seen her.”

“Is she a runaway girlfriend?” she questioned, disappointment settling over her
face, even as she tried to remain nonchalant.

“No.  No relation. 
She’s wanted for an insurance... issue,” he stated carefully.

“Hey, are you s
ome sort of detective?  A P.I. or whatever they call it?”

He chuckled.  “Something like that.”

“Well, I’ll keep my eye out for you.

“Good.  Let me give you a number where you can reach me.”  He scribbled down his cell number and gave her a
lazy but pointed smile.  “Day or night, Tracey.”

She blushed
, full and heavy this time around, but took the number, brushing his fingers in the process, and then brazenly tucked the slip of paper into her bra, giving him another good view of the sweet, soft meat encased within.

Marcus swallowed,
momentarily allowing his mind to flash to a vision of Tracy tied to a bed, waitress uniform ripped open to the waist, as he took a crop to those heavy, lush mounds of creamy flesh, bringing up contrasting welts like the stripes of a candy cane.  He envisioned her screaming in both pain and pleasure.

“I’ll call if I see or hear anything... uh, what was your name?”

“Tony,” he replied.  “Antonio Marco.”

He turned to his plate of fries and a burger, dismissing the girl momentarily.  His mind whirled
toward business matters, and the series of necessary phone calls he would make upon returning to the motel.  Tonight, he was too busy to mess with a local waitress.

Tomorrow might be another matter.

~~~~~~~

Wrapping her body in a warm, terry robe, Alex wandered downstairs to boil water for a cup of Chamomile.  She was humming, contented now that she had worked through the events of the afternoon.

It was best that
Michael Dalton had put a stop to the heated interlude between her and Jamie.  God only knows what might have happened if he hadn’t.... yes, it was best.  There simply needed to be some distance between them for the moment.  Jamie had an effect on her that she didn’t entirely understand, but it certainly had something to do with her own loneliness and vulnerability.  And it was causing her guilt.

The phone rang.  She picked up the receiver.  “Hello?”  There was nothing.

“Hello, Eden Ranch.  Hello?”  She paused, and heard the slight wisp of breathing from the other end.  She slammed the phone back into the cradle as the whistle of the tea kettle rose in pitch.

Alex poured her tea, stirring, and the phone rang again.  She answered, again to malevolent silence.  She hung up, hesitated briefly, and then lifted the phone out of the cradle.  She wouldn’t listen to some asshole play games with her all evening.

She added honey to the amber liquid, and then sipped languidly from the ceramic mug.  It soothed her immediately. 

Alex
then contemplated trying to muscle the ancient TV antenna into surrendering enough crackly reception to watch a program.  Although it was likely to be Pennsylvania Polka, or something worse.  She would definitely call for satellite TV tomorrow.  Glancing down at her watch, she ambled through the archway into the living room. 

Dead fear stopped her cold. 
There was a woman,
a woman
sitting in the wheelchair…right there in front of her.  A small, ancient lamp touched the contours of her face with a muted glow.  The amber light proved there was no illusion, no play of shadows.  She was real, she was solid.  Right there in the middle of the room.

The mug slid from her fingers and bounced soundlessly on the old carpet.  A hot spray of water patterned her feet.  Alex felt the burning pain of the steaming tea, but couldn’t move.  Her mouth opened to emit a whispery breath, but it was soundless.
  Fear gripped her with cold talons.

The woman was old, stooped, and sheathed in soft wrinkles.  Her gray hair was long and plaited in thin, crooked braids.  She smiled then and raised one gnarled finger.  Her mouth was closed, but Alex heard a voice. 

“Watch yerself, Alexandra.  There’s bad ones about.”

Her body felt light, limitless, as if gravity had ceased its unrelenting grip.  The lamplight grew smaller, a tiny dot of color down an endless stretch of space. Mercifully, Alex
simply fainted.

Waiting for Eden

~*~*~*~*~*~

Chapter 12

Tracey pulled into the Sheldon driveway at eight-thirty
.  The sunset had dimmed to a copper glow above the treetops, melting like candle wax into the black, rustling boughs. 

Dismissed early again, she thought bitterly.  And she’d had nothing but a single beer before work.  The thirst gripped her at the very thought, knotting her stomach and constricting her throat. 
             

Mary Lou Riker, daughter of the long-dead Deena, was nothing but a jealous bitch.  It had r
eally rankled the old bat when Tracey had been the one to receive all of the handsome stranger’s obvious attention.

“You gave him to me, Mary Lou, fat old shrew,” she muttered, slamming the car door.  The little sliver of paper scratched at
the skin inside her brassiere.  She wished she could think of an excuse to call Tony.  No,
Antonio
.  He must be Italian, she thought dreamily.

Her
worn flats made a crunching sound on the gravel.  It didn’t look like anyone was home anyway.  Jamie was
never
around anymore, the rotten shit.  And she was sick of Diana’s quiet, knowing looks.  Queen Mother Diana.  Knows all, sees all. 

“Well, you don’t know shit,” she announced to the
solid oak door, then roughly seized the knob and twisted.

The door was unlocked.  She slipped inside, threw her purse on the table, opened the fridge and
swiftly popped the top of a Yuengling lager.  Four long draughts and she started to feel much better.  She paused, thinking, and then headed determinedly for Jamie’s room.  Perhaps he was napping, and she could slip into bed with him.  Like old times.  Antonio had made her so damn horny!

Disappointment assailed her when she discovered
that the room was empty.  Flicking on a lamp, she then decided to snoop.  After all, there had to be a reason why he was out more and more of late.  He could be seeing someone.  Her lip curled, distorting her delicate, feminine features.  She’d kill the bitch and him too.

After ten minutes of yanking drawers around, she’d uncovered nothing other than two new names added to his phone list on the desk.  Alex
Winters and Curt Greenwick.  Curt was definitely a man.  Alex could go either way, she supposed.

A man’s shape appeared in the dimly lit doorway.  She whirled.

“What are ya up to, Tracy?”

She sighed.  “Aaron.  You sneak.”

“Look who’s talking.”  Jamie’s brother stepped into the room, crossing his arms with a grin.

“Do you know where Jamie is?”  She took a defiant swig of the lager.

“You’ll run him off for good if you don’t quit that shit.  And your pot.”

“That’s not what I asked you
, Aaron.  Is he seeing someone?”

“He went for a ride
on Lilah.  Long one, I guess.”

“It’s almost dark!”

Aaron flicked on the overhead light absently, erasing the shadows in the room.  “He’s a big boy, Tracy.  The dark doesn’t scare him, and you don’t scare me.”

“You didn’t answer me, Aaron.  Is he seeing somebody?”  She struggled to keep the shrill quaver from her voice, but didn’t completely succeed.

Aaron regarded her with silence.  Her lower lip quivered, and she sucked again at the beer bottle, draining the last of the amber liquid.  Her blond locks had escaped her ponytail to curl around her face.  Her clear blue eyes still watched him defiantly.

He caved. 
“How the hell should I know what he does with his free time?” he finally grumbled, obviously feeling guilty over something. 

“You’re his brother,” Trac
ey said sulkily.  “Thought you would know.”

“
I just don’t think ransacking his room’s the right idea, Tracey.  Come on, now.”

She looked around the disorderly bedroom, realizing she had closed none of the drawers, and left neatly stacked papers in disarray.

“Fuck him.”  She waltzed past Aaron with her head held high. 

He grabbed her arm.
“Tracey, wait.”

“Fuck
you
,” she said tartly, and watched his jaw tighten.  “I’m going out for a drink.”

“Why don’t you just go home to your place,
Tracey?  I’ll go with you.  We’ll pick up a movie or something. ”

“My place?  It’s not
my
place.  It’s a fucking shack and it belongs to my asshole father.  I hate it!”  She finally managed to jerk her arm from his grasp.

“Trac
ey-”

“You can kiss my ass, Aaron Sheldon.”  She turned away as tears exploded, and ran down the stairs.

Aaron sighed, and leaned against the doorjamb wearily.  When he heard the front door slam, he walked to Jamie’s window and looked below.  Tracey got in her car.  Seconds ticked by, then the door opened again, and screeching, she leapt out and kicked the tire.

He jingled the car keys in his pocket.  “One step ahead of you, this time,
honey buns,” he murmured.  But instead of returning to confront him, as Aaron had expected and even hoped, Tracy headed through the back yard in the direction of the old summer cottage.  Well, good enough.  If she was bent on getting drunk, it was best she wasn’t behind the wheel of a vehicle.

Sighing again, he tried to put some order to his brother’s room.
He’d walk out and check on Tracey a little later.  If he went now, she’d deck him.

~~~~~~~

Night had fallen swiftly.  The muted ache in his arms and legs reminded him of the long, hard day he had put in riding.  Jamie pulled the barn doors smoothly together, grateful that he had recently oiled the hinges.  The squeaking had been getting to him.   

A slim, shadowy figure awaited him outside.  He paused, eyebrows raised.

“Aaron?”

“Howdy, big brother.”

Jamie stuck his hands in his pockets.  “If you’ve come to help me tuck Lilah in, you’re too late.”

“What the hell are you doing, Jamie?”

“I told you, I’m-”

“Quit fucking around
with me!”

He was taken aback by the vehemence in his brother’s voice.  “I’m not sure what you mean,” he said quietly.

“Does Alexandra Winters ring a bell?”

Jamie felt his body tense.  “Sure it rings a bell, Aaron.  She’s our neighbor.”

Aaron crossed his arms and whistled low through his teeth.  “That’s soooome neighbor, too.  Fine piece of ass.”

Jamie sighed and hooked his fingers through his
belt loops.  “Don’t bother, Aaron.  You’re not gonna get to me.”

“Don’t want to get to you, brother.  I want to get to
her
.”  He shook his head.  “Just wanted to make sure you weren’t interested before I took a gander at her.  Christ, I’d love to slip my dick into that hot little-”

A fist connected with his jaw, and Aaron tumbled backward.  But not before he hooked his fingers in Jamie’s shirt, bringing him down for the ride. 

They rolled over one another in the dewy grass.  Aaron felt a hot pain in his gut as Jamie’s fist found him again.  Then he was on top, feeling a moment’s sharp pleasure as his knuckles raked his brother’s face.  Then Jamie was hauling him up, and his body hit the barn door hard enough to wrench a gasp from him, and a nervous neigh from the horse inside.

When Jamie released him, he nearly slid to the ground, but managed to keep his boots up and under him.  Aaron spat the blood out of his mouth and laughed, as his brother paced furiously.  “Now I know the truth, Jamie.  You’ve got it
bad
.”

“Kiss my ass.”

“Heard that earlier tonight.  From Tracey.”

Jamie halted in his tracks.

“Yeah, that’s right.  Forget about your other piece of baggage?”

“
She’s hardly baggage, Aaron.”

“Bullshit. 
She’s nothing to you now.  Why don’t you just cut her loose, Jamie?”

“Cut her loose? 
Cut her loose?
  From me?  From our family? She
needs
us all!”  Cursing, he spat at the ground, and no longer able to keep his long legs still, he paced, back and forth in front of the silent barn.

“That’s only your opinion, Jamie,” Aaron returned quietly.  “A bit conceited too, I might add.”

“But you
know
what happened before!  What if....”

“What if she does it again?”  Sighing Aaron shook his head.  “I don’t know, Jamie.  But something’s got to change around here.  Everyone’s miserable.  Especially Trac
ey.”

Jamie crossed his arms and laughed harshly.  “Good observation, little brother.”

“Getting involved with Alex Winters is not going to help matters, either,” Aaron added pointedly. 

Again, Jamie tensed at the mention of her name.  “Who the hell is talking about involvement?  She’s a bitch, Aaron.  That’s all I have to say about it.”

“Well that’s something we agree on.  She’s not our kind, even though Mom might think so.”

A light flicking on in the kitchen caught Aaron’s eye.  Seconds later
, their mother’s silhouette appeared in the back doorway, haloed by a shroud of muted gold.  Aaron?  Jamie?  That you, boys?”

When they emerged, sheepishly, from the darkness of the backyard, Diana’s smile faded immediately, and her brown eyes darkened with anger.  The side of Aaron’s face was purple, and Jamie’s lip was swollen and smeared with blood. 

“You idiots!  Take your damned fighting elsewhere!”  The door was slammed in their faces.  Fighting amongst one another was something their mother had never tolerated.  But it happened from time to time anyway.  They were male, after all.

Aaron stared at the closed door for a second, and then turned to his brother.  He raised an eyebrow.  “North Fork?”

“You’re on.  I need a drink right now.”

~~~~~~~

Slowly, steadily, a soft burning light grew behind her closed eyelids.  Alex sat up with a gasp.  In her own bed.  She scanned the room anxiously.  Alone.  Could it have been a bad dream again?

She rose, tightening the terry robe at her waist, and
preceded downstairs, her head high with false bravado.  The living room was empty.  So was the kitchen.   She opened the basement door, flicked on the light, and marched resolutely down the steep, wooden stairs.  The wheelchair rested in its rightful place in the far corner next to the woodstove.  It was empty.

Sighing, Alex returned to her bedroom.  She tossed.  She turned.  She cried a little.  Then she fell asleep with the lights
still on.

~~~~~~~

Alex groaned.  It seemed as though she had shut her eyes only moments ago.  Sunlight streamed through the open window, brushing her face, vanquishing the meager light of the lamp as if it held no substance at all.

Al
ex forced her eyes open, and stretched languidly.  But the mellowness of the morning was short lived.  A million chores tumbled across her mind as she dressed and splashed her face with cold water.  She tried to put them in some semblance of order as she fiddled with her cereal, leaving more than she ate to turn to soup in the bowl. 

Barn work first:  feed and turn out the animals, muck stalls,
and sweep.  Arrange a meeting with Greenwick.  The trail horses would arrive at eleven, so she must have clean and handsome stalls prepared for them.

Advertisement.  That was a big one.  She should run an ad in the Potter Times, look into several other local papers, plus check out the larger ones in Williamsport and southern New Yo
rk State, and hit up Facebook.  She sighed, remembering that her laptop was still nestled in a cardboard box since its transport from D.C.  It was time to get it up and running. 

She would cover the other broodmare this afternoon, minus the help of one Jamie Sheldon.  He was probably
still mad at her anyway.  But how the hell should she have handled things?  They were whirling out of control… and she had no clue Dalton was going to show up.  As a result, she had gained a lucrative customer.

“Business is business, and business must grow,” she mumbled a line from a Dr.
Seuss tale, closing the front door behind her. 

As the morning progressed, she felt more and more like the miserly old
Oncler of the said same tale.  Should she call Jamie and apologize?   No, that was ridiculous.  She’d done nothing wrong in speaking with a customer, even if the timing wasn’t so hot.  So if he wanted to pout, let him. 

Distance was a good thing.  A safe thing.  Eden Ranch demanded all of her attention
at present.  No matter that she was going stir crazy, imagining things that weren’t there, ghosts and all that paranormal bullshit.