Colorado 01 The Gamble (33 page)

It was after Bitsy’s police interview; after
Max took us to lunch, again at that little caf�� by the river but
this time it was warm enough for us to sit outside close to the
rushing, snow-melt swelled river; and, after lunch, we took Bitsy
home where she insisted we stay for a thank you mug of her homemade
lattes which she created in a fabulous kitchen that also had a load
of extra counters that had been built so she could reach them and,
incidentally, her lattes were delicious.

Bitsy had been quiet and reflective through
lunch and twice I caught her eyes filling with tears while she
studied the river, though she never allowed the tears to fall. Max
and I kept quiet with her, me because I didn’t know what to say and
I was deep in my own thoughts, Max because, I suspected, he was
leaving her be. When she went home, she seemed to perk up but I
guessed this was because she wanted to entice us not to leave and I
didn’t blame her. Being alone with my thoughts in my current
predicament was less than fun. Being alone with hers would be
torture.

Now I was studying the beautiful landscape
passing me by wondering, if the cosmos had shined down on me and
given me Max free and clear, if I’d have ever gotten used to the
beauty of it and thinking at the same time that Max thought that
we’d be spending the afternoon further exploring our
relationship.

I was also trying to form a plan on how I
was going to avoid letting him do that and wondering, if he touched
me and, God forbid, kissed me, even if I did form a plan, if I
could manage to be successful in my endeavors.

“Duchess?” he called at the same time I felt
his hand wrap, warm and strong, around mine.

“Yes?” I answered, looking from the side
window to the front but not at him.

“What’s on your mind, honey?” His voice was
soft and he’d pulled my hand to rest the back of it against his
hard thigh.

I hadn’t felt his thigh until just then but
of course it, too, was hard, inviting touch. I decided this was
most irritating even though my brain registered the feel was
totally amazing.

I also decided not to fight at that juncture
and leave my hand in his while I somewhat lied, though I thought of
it more as not telling the full truth, “Bitsy.”

His fingers gave me a squeeze as he said,
“She’ll be okay.”

“She loved him.”

“Yeah.”

I bit my lip then pointed out the obvious
because he more than anyone knew. “That means she won’t be
okay.”

This was as good a time as any, in fact,
better than most, for Max to share about his dead wife.

He didn’t.

He just repeated, “Yeah.”

Jerk!

“I’ll talk with her later, after the
funeral, maybe in a few weeks,” he went on. “Get her to sell that
house. Too many memories, too big for her, hell, it was too big for
them when Curt was alive.”

“Mm hmm,” I mumbled.

He gave my hand a squeeze before he let it
go to downshift in order to make a turn. He left it resting on his
thigh and I moved it away, linking it with my other one in my lap,
hoping he wouldn’t re-initiate the contact as he said, “We’ll look
out for her. She’ll make it through.”

“Mm hmm,” I repeated, hoping he meant “we”
as in Wonder Max and the Townsfolk of Gnaw Bone, not him and me,
something which would never be.

This was another decision I’d come to and
I’d come to it in the silence over lunch thus me knowing that being
alone with my thoughts was not fun.

I couldn’t live a life like the one I led
with Niles.

I also couldn’t live a life knowing the
length of it, even if it was good, that I was second best.

No, there wouldn’t even be a length to it
because eventually, like everything else I’d risked, it would end
in disaster. I’d had enough disaster with jerks, thieves, cheaters
and beaters. I didn’t need the heartbreaking disaster that was all
Max.

I needed to be the love of someone’s life,
like Mom was for Steve. They’d both waited a long time, Mom after a
short marriage that ended in heartbreak, Steve after a long,
loveless marriage that ended with his wife dying of a heart attack
two years before he met Mom. I hoped I didn’t have to wait as long
as Mom but I also knew down deep in my soul I needed to wait for
that special person who felt that way for me, just me and only me
so I could feel safe giving that feeling back to him.

Max was silent through my thoughts then,
before he made the next turn, he asked, “You still thinkin’ about
your Dad?”

“No,” I replied truthfully this time. My
father was the last thing on my mind, which was the only fortunate
thing that came from the vicious twists and turns of my day.

“That Niles guy?” Max pressed.

“No,” I replied, again truthfully.

Max was silent again while he made the next
turn and he noted, “Somethin’ else is eatin’ you, babe,” but before
I could comment, he pulled in a sharp breath.

I looked at him then followed his eyes. Then
I pulled in a sharp breath too.

Firstly, there was a Subaru parked in front
of the A-Frame. Mindy and a tall man, the sun shining on their hair
and both of them were leaning their backs against the Subaru’s
hatchback. Secondly, there was my rental car at the edge of Max’s
front clearing, obviously, and quite liberally, having been
vandalized.

“
What the
fuck?
” Max clipped as he turned into the lane, drove down it and
parked behind the rental.

He didn’t glance at me when he got out. I
followed him, my eyes also glued to the rental.

It had been nearly covered in spray paint
including the windows. The brake lights had been busted out, their
plastic shards in the gravel of Max’s drive. The tires were flat,
all four of them. The wing mirrors were hanging drunkenly by wires,
the mirrors shattered.

“Appears you got an enemy,” the tall man
said, he and Mindy walking up to us.

I glanced at him. He had dark red-brown
hair, somewhat familiar blue eyes and tanned skin. He was nearly as
handsome as Max and, now that I was becoming somewhat of an expert
at identifying them, I noted he was also total Mountain Man wearing
a thermal under a jeans jacket, faded jeans and boots. His eyes
were attached to me.

“I –” I began.

“I’m so sorry, Neens,” Mindy interrupted me,
coming to his side, she was biting her lip, looking worried, her
eyes appeared red rimmed as if she’d been crying.

It was the red-rimmed eyes that took my
attention therefore I forgot about my unknown new acquaintance and
asked, “Are you okay?”

She shook her head and announced, “Damon did
this.”

“Did what?” I asked stupidly, feeling my
heart start beating faster and my palms start itching.

“Your car, honey,” Max answered and I looked
to him.

“My car?” I repeated, my mind stuck on
thoughts of Damon getting to Mindy in town, doing something to make
her cry and wondering where Max kept his gun.

He tipped his head to the rental and his arm
slid around my shoulders. “Damon, he did that to your car.”

I glanced at my car then my gaze went back
to Mindy.

“Did you see him do this?” I asked.

“No,” she answered.

My voice was softer when I went on, “Have
you seen him at all, darling?”

“No,” she replied.

“Did he call you?”

“No.”

“Then how do you know he did it?”

“That’s just,” she flicked a hand to the
rental, her breath hitched then she pulled in a deep one to cover
it before she went on, “what he’d do.” Then tears gathered in her
eyes and she concluded, “I’m so sorry, Neens.”

Then she covered her face with her hands and
burst into tears.

I pulled out from under Max’s arm and
swiftly walked forward, gathering Mindy in my embrace.

“Sweetheart,” I cooed to her, “I have full
coverage on that rental. It’s no big deal.”

Well, it was since I
really
now couldn’t escape Max unless I somehow
managed to make off with his Cherokee in the dead of night but I
couldn’t tell Mindy that.

I’d worry about that later, though hopefully
not too much later. I had to worry about Mindy now as she was
hiccoughing and still hadn’t taken her hands from her face even
though I was holding her.

“
Yes, but it’s such a
dick
thing to do,” Mindy said from behind her
hands.

“You’re right about that, still, if he
didn’t do it, really I would just be throwing that insurance cover
away. I should find him, thank him for making that financial outlay
worthwhile.”

Her body jerked, her hands went down and her
head came up.

“What?” she whispered and I looked over my
shoulder at the car then back at her.

“
And, Mindy, seriously, he made that
insurance
really
worthwhile. I mean he was
thorough.
Don’t you think, darling?” I teased.

A surprised giggle came up her throat, she
gulped it back and I smiled at her as I pulled one side of her hair
over her shoulder.

Then I put my hands to her face and used my
thumbs to rub away the tears as I said softly, “All right, you’ll
probably shed more tears over that Neanderthal before you’re well
and truly over him, but please, don’t do it on my behalf.
Okay?”

“You aren’t pissed?”

Oh, I was pissed. Damon Matthews had taken
away all hopes of escape and he was, indeed, a very serious dick.
Still, Mindy didn’t need to know any of that.

“
I’m of the opinion, the more evidence he
presents that you can
so way
do better than him, the better it is.”

“Already, I like her.” The deep, rumbling
voice of the redheaded man came from close.

I dropped Mindy’s face and stepped away,
looking up at him.

“Brody,” he introduced himself, hand up,
eyes (Mindy’s eyes, which was why they were familiar) smiling and
open as well as openly curious.

But I wasn’t breathing.

Brody. Mindy’s brother.
Max’s best
friend!
Here to “check
me out” no doubt. Why did this continue to get worse?
Why?

“Nina,” I introduced myself back,
unquestionably unnecessarily, and I took his hand.

His grip was firm, strong and overlong.
Overlong in the fact that he didn’t actually let me go. His hand,
like Max’s, engulfed mine.

“You’re pretty,” he told me.

“Um… thanks?” I answered on a question,
giving a small, polite pull which was met with firm, impolite
resistance.

“You’re right,” he said, eyes still on me
but I got the sense he was talking to someone else and his next
words would prove me correct. “She’s got fuckin’ great eyes.”

I didn’t know if he was talking to Max or
Mindy but I didn’t ask nor could I care because I was back to not
breathing and he still hadn’t let go of my hand therefore I had
more pressing things on my mind.

“Um…” I muttered.

“You wanna let her go?” Max suggested and
there was humor in his tone, humor mixed with an indication that
his words weren’t entirely a suggestion.

“Not really,” was Brody’s insane and
alarming answer and he coupled this with his grip becoming
stronger.

“Brody,” Mindy said on a mini-giggle, “quit
jacking around.”

Brody obviously was in the mood to “jack
around” and he didn’t let me go.

Instead he remarked, “I thought you English
people were reserved.”

“I’m not, um... exactly –”

He cut me off noting, “But you’re
sweet.”

“Um…”

“Can you cook?” he asked, still holding onto
my hand.

“Cook?” I asked back.

“I heard English food sucks.”

I tried another pull, met with more
resistance and answered, “I think that’s what Americans think when
they go to England and eat American food. English food is
delicious. English doing American food isn’t as successful.”

“
Yeah, Arlene said she had some kind of
fish casserole thingie-ma-bobbie over here last night that Neens
whipped up and Arlene said it was
unbelievable,
” Mindy put in.

Brody looked toward Max. “Arlene’s havin’
dinner at your house?”

Max came up close to my side and answered,
“She’s taken a shine to Nina.”

This for some reason made Brody throw his
head back and burst out laughing.

“Brody,” Max said over his laughter, not a
lot of humor in his voice, in fact none at all, “would you fuckin’
let her go?”

Brody let me go, then again anyone would let
me go with the way Max asked for it to be done. I stepped back, my
shoulder hit Max and his arm immediately curled around my waist
from behind.

“Relax, bro, just bein’ friendly,” Brody
said over my shoulder.

“Too friendly,” Max said back.

“We’re that,” Brody’s eyes came to me,
“friendly.”

“I’ve noticed,” I replied.

Then Brody asked, “Arlene?”

“We got slightly snockered with Arlene at
The Dog before Max kicked Damon’s ass,” Mindy shared.

“Ah,” Brody nodded, light dawning, “Arlene
held the sacred ritual. Snockered with her at The Dog. She’s
usually ornery as hell but you’re in now, Nina, never to be let
out.”

“You make that sound not so good,” I
noted.

“Arlene’s good people, if she likes you, but
when she likes you, she’s opinionated, in your business good
people.”

“Oh dear,” I muttered and Brody burst out
laughing again.

Max gave my waist a squeeze.

“Either of you think to call the cops about
Nina’s car?” Max asked.

“Yeah, about fifteen minutes ago. They’re on
the way up,” Brody answered.

“Mick should set up an outpost next to the
house, he’s been here so fuckin’ much this week,” Max muttered.