Rough Riders (3 page)

I made her breakfast while she sat Indian
fashion on the kitchen island, nagging the fuck out of me about what happened
the night before. “Nothing for you to concern yourself about.”

“Now I’m not gonna lecture you, I’m thinking
being assaulted is punishment enough. But the next time some shit like this
goes down because you disobeyed me, just know you’re gonna get worse than the
other guy.”

“That’s so not fair, it’s not my fault you have criminals loose in this
stupid city. Nothing like this ever happens in my town.”

“I’m sure nothing more exciting than jaywalking ever happens in bum
fuck nowhere.”

“Hey, don’t talk about my home town like that.” She folded her arms and
pouted. Too cute!

“All this is beside the point, which is, that I told you not to wear
that shit unless you were on the back of my bike.”

“I thought you weren’t going to lecture.”

“Lydia, do not fuck with me on this…shit baby, don’t cry…fuck.”

“Why’re you yelling at me?” I pulled her off
the island and into my lap. The damn eggs would probably burn but whatever. I
can never stand my baby’s tears and she knows it.

“I’m sorry I yelled baby, but you could’ve
been seriously hurt, if I tell you not to do something it’s for a good reason.
Your dad’s already looking for any excuse to take you out of my house and I’m
not about to let that shit happen. So please just listen okay.”

“Kay…baby?” She cuddled into my chest and I buried my nose in her hair.
It smelt sweet and fresh from her shower.

“Yeah?”

“Something’s
burning.”

Fucking girl.

We headed off for school without any
problems. Word is that Potter was holed up in his house on pain meds. The fire
was being blamed on a faulty electrical wire or some shit, fuck if I know or
care. And I was pretty sure the asshole would never put two and two together
anyway.

 
I
only had to watch and make sure he didn’t try to hit back at her, me he could
come at whenever he felt brave enough. I have no problem breaking his ass, but
my baby is off limits. She was a little
more clingy
this morning than usual and I was thinking again that I should’ve kept her
home. It was too late now anyway since we were already there.

After dropping her off at school, where all
her little friends gathered around oohing and
aahing
over
me like I was some kinda fucking freak show, I kissed her goodbye with another
stern warning and headed out.

I never asked her what she’d told her friends
about her much older boyfriend and she’d never shared. I just knew that every
Monday to Friday for the last five weeks give or take a day here and there, we
were met by a bevy of young girls, and every once in a while boys too. At first
they were a little shy about their approach, but now they were growing bolder.
I think one of them had been discussing my ass the other day.

I could do without the teen brigade, but my woman is one of them, so it
came with the territory. My house is sometimes overrun with them and she was
having so much fun enjoying the usual teen bullshit, that it was hard to tell
her no.

I had shit to do, I still had to go finalize
the deal with this Jarvis prick, then I had to go see about getting her a new
fox, plus I had some other shit on the burner. All before I hunted down that
fucker Wayne for my money. He knew better than to fuck with me if he wanted to
retain the use of his fucking limbs, so I was sure I would find him.

I pulled my phone and called my boy Nate who
was taking care of yet another problem I was dealing with, the shit never
stops. “Nate, where you guys at?”

“At the warehouse why?”

“Anything yet?”

“Nah, he’s still
insisting it wasn’t him.”

“Lying fuck, break
his fucking legs, that ought to get him talking.

“Will do boss.” I hung up the phone before heading back the way I came.
I was busy trying to clean up the streets of Cedar Grove, too many youngsters
were strung out these days for my liking, that shit was dead.

I’d found out that this guy Slim had brought
his operation down from Seattle, trying to branch out I guess. Too bad he’d
chosen the wrong fucking place to peddle his shit, right in my fucking
backyard. It had started with this young kid Pete; his parents searched me out
because their sixteen year old son had Od’d. I did some digging starting with
his friends and found out little Pete hadn’t been the first, there had been a
few others who’d survived the shit, but still too many were dying.

Farther digging led me to Williams Town and
that’s where I’d found my girl. Apparently her high school was being used as a
distribution center. It made sense, small town full of impressionable teenagers
with nothing much to keep them occupied but Friday night football, and the
Drive-in movie theater that probably played the same shit over and over for
months.

It wouldn’t have been so bad if this fucker
was selling them weed, everyone knows that kids experiment with that shit; but
he was selling these kids shit that was laced with some other shit. Shit that was
making them crazy as fuck. As far as I can tell, the shit he was using was
supposed to make it more addictive, like it needed any help, but instead it was
fucking killing them.

I’d even heard of one case where one kid
actually started eating off the face of another, before slicing his own fucking
throat. Now that’s some serious shit right there. The more I dug, the more I
knew I had to do something. Now weed is perfectly legal here, but not for
minors and definitely not jacked the fuck up to fuck with
their
little minds.

Whatever this shit was, it wasn’t good for
anybody.

After Peter’s family came to me for help, I started
my little crusade. I put my boy Nate in charge of finding out who the schoolyard
dealers were, and that had led me to their boss, who turned out to be this Slim
guy. I’m pretty sure he’s just a middleman though, because this fuck is too
stupid to live. Which means there’s more where he came from.

I had my guys pick the fucker up this morning
before dawn after having him under surveillance for a couple weeks. He’d been
using the smaller town as his base, but had been spreading into Cedar Grove and
the surrounding areas. Whatever this fucker was using must be some potent shit,
because he’d been doing a steady business by the time I got the scent and he
hadn’t been here that long.

I’m not into the drug scene so I wasn’t too
familiar with the new shit that was on the streets, but there were rumblings
about some new shit on the market that was more destructive than anything law
enforcement had seen before. I could’ve put in a call to my guys on the force,
but sometimes their shit took too long and I wanted this fuckery gone
yesterday. The fact that he was going after kids with this shit only made it
more imperative that I act fast.

The day I’d decided to check out the school
myself, to get the lay of the land so to speak, there’d been a thousand fucking
kids milling around the place. I’d forgotten how fucking busy high school was.

One of the informants, who’d given us the
lowdown on how this guy was able to infiltrate the school under the noses of
the principal and teachers, had pointed out that there was this kid there who
was sort of the go between. A big fucker named Sam who looked like he should’ve
graduated ten years ago. I found this guy no problem, within five minutes of my
crew and I showing up on the school grounds. He was easily the tallest and the
biggest kid there.

We’d pulled up to the school, about twenty of
us on our bikes, just before the bell had rung to let the little terrors out
for the lunch break. He was chatting up a group of kids, mostly girls, who all
seemed to be hanging on his every word. All except for this little brunette
with a Grade
A
ass.

I caught her rolling her eyes at him more
than once and had to bite back a smile. No one had been alerted to our presence
as yet, as we’d snuck onto the field where they were hanging out at lunch,
because we’d left the bikes at the end of the street. No sense in coming onto
school grounds with twenty hogs, didn’t want the principal alerting the law and
shit, and that was bound to happen if we showed up like that.

I didn’t have any clout in Williams Town
because I’d never really had any dealings with the town or anyone in it before,
so I had to lay low for now. I let my boys go ahead and approach the kid while
I hung back.

The other kids were standing around watching
things unfold. I’d kept my eyes on the tight ass while my guys branched out.
This kid Eric came over when he spied me off to the side, he knew why we were
here since he’s the one who’d told us who was who and what was going on.

I don’t remember what made me turn in her direction;
maybe it was the bright sunlight glaring off of her shiny hair, or her laugh at
something one of the girls in the crowd had said. Whatever it was, it had
caught me off guard. I remember staring at her for a hot minute, taking her all
in.

Just then she looked up and over and my
fucking breath got trapped in my lungs. If she turned out to be a fifteen year
old I was so fucked. My mind was off and running while I prayed she wasn’t
jailbait.

I’m not in the habit of raiding the kiddie
pool, so it was a bit of a shock to realize that this one had not only caught,
but
held my attention.

“Who the fuck is that?”

“Where sir?” Eric
turned to look in the direction I had been staring in.

“Over there in the
purple sweater with the hair down to her ass.”

“Don’t know, can’t
see her face, she’s looking the other way.”

“Bring her to me.”

He walked over to where she was standing with
a group of friends and said something to her. She looked over at me, blushed
and then looked down at the ground, before shaking her head no. Eric looked
back at me as if to ask what now? I just looked back at him not saying a word.
I guess it’s true what they say, never send a boy to do a man’s job.

He came trotting back over to me looking all pensive and shit, like he
expected me to kick him.

“Ah sir, that’s the
chief’s daughter.”

“The what?”

“Her father’s the chief of police here in
Williams Town.” By then our eyes had reconnected and it wouldn’t have mattered
if she
was
the virgin queen, the die had already been
cast.

I don’t know what possessed me, but I
beckoned her with my finger. At first it looked like she was going to ignore
me, but then her cheeks got all flushed and she walked over to me. I sent Eric
packing as soon as she got close.

She had the sexiest walk I’d ever seen, almost
as if she was afraid to put her feet on the ground, and it added a little twist
to her hips. “I’m Travis Mallory.” I held my hand out for her to shake when she
came to a stop in front o me.

“I know who you are.”

“You do? Well then, you have me at a disadvantage. Let’s walk.” I
didn’t give her the opportunity to deny me again, but instead, took her arm and
led her off to the side, out of hearing range. Up close she was stunning, that
amazing hair with bright blue eyes and her peaches and cream skin, was a
fucking exotic combination.

“What’s your name?”

She blushed again
and looked around as if seeking rescue.

“I’m not going to
hurt you little one, just talking, it’s okay to talk right?”

“Lydia, my name is
Lydia.” Damn she’s so cute, I liked that lip biting action she had going on
too.

“Hello Lydia. So, I hear you’re the chief’s daughter.”

She threw a quick glance Eric’s way, before
nodding her head yes. “ So, did you live somewhere else before, because I’m
pretty sure I would’ve known about your existence before now if you grew up
here.”

“No, I’ve lived here my whole life, that’s how I know who you are.”

“Is that why you
refused to come to me, because you heard about me?”

She shrugged her
shoulders and avoided eye contact.

“Look at me; so if
you know who I am it’s a good guess you know how I am.”

“I’ve heard stories, why do you want to talk to me?”

“I like what I see, you’re gorgeous; any of these boys around here
think he’s your boyfriend?”

“No my dad would
kill me.”

“Oh yeah, why’s
that?”

“He doesn’t think I need to be dating right now, I’m supposed to
concentrate on my school work that’s all.”

“Well we have a problem.” She finally picked
her head up and looked at me, and I felt the punch in the gut. No fucking way
she was getting away.

“What problem? I don’t understand.”

“I think we’re going to be seeing a lot of
each other, so either we work around your father, or I go see him; which do you
prefer?”

She studied me like she was trying to see if
I was for real or not, I held her eyes with mine so she could see I was dead
serious about this shit.

“My dad would never allow us to meet.”

“Do you want to meet?”

She didn’t answer but she was blushing again,
I couldn’t help myself, so I lifted her face with the tip of a finger. I didn’t
hear the people around us anymore, nothing else mattered except what was
happening between the two of us right that second. It was her eyes, they did
something to me; fuck if I know what that was.

“Scratch that, I want to see you again, so
that’s what’s going to happen. Now all I need is your phone number.” I didn’t
have all day and besides, I’m not in the habit of playing around when there’s
something I wanted. And little Lydia was the first thing I’d wanted this
fucking badly in a long time.