The Rider's Dangerous Embrace (An Interracial Bad Boy Romance Story) (17 page)

“You got it, boss.”

She walked out of the office and through the lobby to the parking lot, hoping to be free of the office confines as soon as possible.

Except as soon as she stepped out into that late August sun, she saw Alice, leaning against her car.

And the look on her face was not a happy one.

“What the hell?” Alice said, her soft voice shaking. “You needed to ruin my relationship?”

“I’m sorry?”

“Why Samson broke up with me, he told me you found out about this. About us. You confronted him about it. And he broke it off.”

“It wasn’t about… we were discussing other business. That came up.” She tried to keep her tone even, but Alice was becoming completely unhinged, and it was making it hard for her concentrate. She was too busy thinking of ways to defend herself in the event the woman attacked.

“Yeah, well, he said he couldn’t date me because of you. He was going to leave is wife, we had all these plans…”

“If you had them, why would he break up with you? Why not just leave his wife now that someone knows?”

“Because it got ruined…”

“We were going to find out anyways, when he did leave her for you.”

“I, I…” She could see the wheels turning in her mind, trying to make sense of something that only had one real explanation.

“Look, Alice. Sometimes men do this.” Jayda tried to explain what she knew Alice didn’t want to hear, but it was true. Men, and sometimes even women, would promise the moon, all to have it fall apart. They looked for any reason to get out of it, and Jayda was just the scapegoat.

“No, Samson was different. He was going to marry me,” she insisted.

“And leave his kids behind?”

“You’re the reason all this has gone wrong, not him.” She refused to see reason. “That’s it. I quit. Tell Thomas he can take care of his own dirty laundry from now on.”

“He makes you take care of his dry cleaning?”

“No, his own fucking mistresses. You wanna go ruin a life, why not his? He is neck deep in shit you wouldn’t even begin to understand.” Vitriol spewed out of her mouth. “Just like your father, constantly womanizing.”

“Do not talk badly about my father.” She annunciated every single world. “It’s the truth.”

“Get the hell off my property, now. You quit, fine. I accept. Leave. Before I have security escort you off.”

Alice stormed away, throwing herself into her car and driving off, her foot on the accelerator, she whipped out there faster than she should have.

Some people never learn. She dialed Thomas’s number.

“Yeah, hun?”

“Alice just quit.” She didn’t know how to say it, so she just came right out with it.

“Again? What happened?” He didn’t sound upset at all, instead, like he was expecting this kind of behavior.

“She’s done this before?’

“Oh, yeah, what happened?”

Jayda needed to know this, because it would have changed how she handled her. It was frustrating enough to be the new boss, but to not have all the missing pieces made it hard to run the company.

“I went to talk to Samson, thought he was the one embezzling, along with Alice. Found out they were…”

“Yeah. I know what they were doing. You should have asked me.”

“I, I didn’t know who I could trust, Thomas. I feel like I am chasing a phantom.”

“I know, kid, but you need to rely on me. So, what happened with Alice?”

“He broke up with her.”

“Probably looking for an excuse, typical Samson.” Thomas added, “kid has a bit of a reputation.”

They were all kids to him, Jayda realized. A small smile crept in as she shook her head.

“Exactly. But she blamed me. So she quit.”

“She can’t quit. She needs the money, give her two days, she will ask for her job back.”

“You aren’t worried?”

“No, I just want to decide if I am going to let her come back this time.” She could hear the hesitation in his voice, so she spoke up for him.

“Normally, I would say not, but she just got a big shock,” Jayda couldn’t believe she was defending a woman who screamed at her not seconds ago.

“Now you are getting it kid, balancing the hard choices with the human aspect of it. Your father would be proud of you. I’m proud of you.”

“Thank you, Thomas.”

They both hung up.

She still needed to get over to see Dustin, he would be a welcome distraction right about now. Especially because it would let her get focused on the one thing she could handle right now. Her job.

“Where in the hell have you been?” Dustin sounded more amused than irritated.

“Seems I can’t step anywhere without landing in some bull shit.”

“Ah, I get you there. It is pretty much a daily occurrence.”

“I imagine it is.” She squared her shoulders and cleared her throat. “What it is that you needed me to look at?”

“I have been having a hell of a time finding any records of construction online. Almost like they didn’t happen, you know? Luckily I have Lucy, my part time assistant, make a copy of everything and store it the old fashion way. She recycles it out every 6-12 months, but I asked her to save any invoices for construction, if she came across them.” Dustin reached into a desk drawer and started rummaging around.

“Well, she came across a couple of them yesterday, and I knew you would want to see them. One from when your dad was running things, and one from a few months ago.”

“And you said they didn’t do the work?” she asked.

“Someone came out, and they did something, but hell if I can tell you what. I get a lot of these orders, so I don’t really look at them too seriously. That was always over my head, you know. I just needed to know where and when so that I could section off the area. These requests weren’t really in high traffic places, and I am willing to bet that none of them were.”

She nodded, trying to understand exactly what he was saying. Someone was placing, putting in, and paying for non-essential work orders. Someone who she knew forged her signature, and could have forged, or coerced her fathers. Especially if he was ill.

“Let me see the invoices.”

He handed them over, the fuzzy copy of what must of been little pink slips. It was darker than she would have liked, and blurred, so she could just barely make out the words.

R&J Construction was clearly written over the top of the page, along with a number. The details were a bit fuzzy, but she made out a number. Along with a work order.

“This says the repaired some fencing over on the West Field?”

“Where we keep some of the bulls, it is a series of fences that separate them from each other, with buffer space in-between. Except we had an issue there last week. One of the fences deteriorated to the point of collapse. Without the buffer space it would have been a nightmare. Very little, if any, work was done.”

“Shit. You wanna take me to see it?”

“Sure, horse or ATV?”

“Horse, you got a good one for me?”

“Clayton just sold us a couple the other day, one of them is a pretty little mare, the kind that might be just the right size for you, come on.” The handsome salt and pepper man stood up from his desk and led her through the office, out the back doors. They cut off to a small set of stables, nothing like the equine facility, not in scale or quality, but it was well built, and sturdy. It suited the place.

“You ride a lot?” He asked as they followed the path away from the office and down to the stables.

“I did equestrian in high school and college.” She was accomplished with a horse, and it was something she was fairly proud of. No reason to hide it.

“I’m not surprised. Did you do any other kind of riding, beside the fancy kind?” He didn’t sound like he was judging her, but like that was what he really thought of equestrian. That it was fancy. The truth of it was, the act itself was freeing, but the people, the ones he thought were so pretentious, were nothing more than catty and spiteful. At least most of the time.

“You mean like trail riding? I did, especially in the summer, when I was with my dad.” She remembered the rides she used to take, relaxed, on the back of a horse while her father showed her all that the Indiana wilderness had to offer. It was flatlands, sure, but the small valleys, and the waterways made it beautiful. They were some of the best memories she had, and she guarded them like a treasure.

“You spend a lot of time with your old man?”

“Unfortunately, no. Even in the summer, that was his busy season, so our time together was spread out, a couple of days here, a lucky weekend break there. He came home to the lake for holidays, though. Most of the time.”

It hard for her to admit, especially because she looked up to her father, but he was very rarely there for her. Not when she needed him most, like when she broke up with her boyfriend for the first time, or when she needed him to go to the father-daughter dance in high school, and certainly not now.

It was hard to swallow.

“Sounds like it was a rough growing up.”

“Not really, I had most of the things I wanted, didn’t really have to do more than ask, unless it was a luxury or something outrageous. But within reason, I got everything I asked for.”

“Yeah, but what was it you really wanted?”

How could he reach in and pull out essential pieces of her soul like that? Ask the questions that made her want to scream and cry? It was too difficult, and yet, she felt compelled to answer him.

“No. I wanted him. I wanted her to stop hating him. I wanted a happy family, but isn’t that a myth? The happy family?”

“For a lot of people. Some of us are lucky, though. It happens.” Dustin leaned against the barn doors and looked down at her. “Your father was a good man. It doesn’t mean he was a great man. Or a great father. But he loved you. I know, because he talked about you. No matter what you did, he was proud. So many people don’t even get that much from their parents.”

“Very true.” She cleared her throat, unwilling to talk anymore about this subject. It was emotionally draining. “My horse in there?”

He turned and lifted the latch, opening the stable doors, a large pathway framed two rows of horse stables on either side. Only moderately sized, but it was still impressive.

“This is beautiful.” It held a simple, a rustic kind of beauty, one that made her like she was a kid again, in her grandfather’s farm, picking out a horse for a ride. Simple, and country. Two things she absolutely loved.

“Thank you, I designed it, your father approved it. Especially when I explained how more horses would be a great value to the facility.”

“Has it been?”

“Oh yes, riding horses is something that helps the guys relax, but it helps with work too, you know. This isn’t just a place to train, this is their second home. Even the younger kids come out. You know the kind, the one’s who go to high school, they come after, ride some bulls. Sometimes we do a five dollar ride night, and those who stick around, it helps. You know?”

This wasn’t just about being a training facility, or a middle man between the big sponsors, it was about creating a community. She was starting to get it. Her father was up to so much more than making a profitable business.

He wanted to foster an entire lifestyle. It hurt a little that she wasn’t included in it growing up, not really. He paid for her horse riding lessons, her equestrian gear, all of it, but he never really brought her into the fold. All these men and women, they were more his children than she was.

Somehow that made her feel lonelier than anything else in the entire world.

“This is the one I was thinking about for you.”

She looked at the small mare, not much coming to her as she checked it up and down, it would do, but it was nothing like she was hoping. Not that she should be hoping. It was only an animal, one that she was just going to use here on the facility grounds.

“Which one are you riding?” She asked.

When he pointed, she had to fight to catch her breath.

The dark gelding just about took her breath away. He was black, with just that little spot of white right on the forehead, the kind of horse she always dreamed about owning as a kid. Her equestrian horses were important to her, but she never felt that… instant connection. Not like she did with him.

“Wow. He is gorgeous,” she said as she walked across the pathway. She stroked his head, completing the nuzzle as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

“Guess I just got demoted,” Dustin chuckled, grabbing the tack for the mare she was to ride, and getting it settled. “How about I take Pokey, and you ride Scream?”

“Scream?”

“Yeah, that was his name. Apparently when they first got him, he liked to whinny, really, really loud. Still is a bit of a talker, that one.”

She didn’t care what he said about Scream. That horse spoke to her.

She saddled him up and walked him out of the stable, hopping on him like a pro.

“See you don’t need any refreshers.”

“Nope. Which way we going?”

“Just follow me.”

“What if I want to lead?”

“I wouldn’t be surprised, that is for sure. You sure you aren’t just a copy of John?” He was lighthearted as he said it, but she could see the pain in his eyes.

“Were you two close?”

“I didn’t have much of a dad, you know. So when I met your dad, he was towards the end of his career and I was beginning mine. Still in high school. He kinda took me under his wing. Did that for a lot of guys. I’d say we were close, get hired me as soon as I retired. But my story isn’t any different from a lot of guys around here.”

It made sense to her, she just wished she knew it, knew him. Really knew him. The man that all these guys talked about, he wasn’t the same man she knew. The tight lipped, quiet man who showed up here and there, who loved her, but was gone way too often.

She patted her horse.

“What about you, I know your family had its problems, but were you close to your dad?” he asked, clicking hit tongue to make his horse move a little faster. Pokey was a very apt name for such a pretty unassuming mare.

“Not really. Not really close to my mom either. Both were… emotionally unavailable.” It killed her to admit it.

“Well, I know he loved you. He was always talking about his kids.”

“Kids?”

“Sorry, kid. Slip of the tongue. Said that you were a natural on a horse, but didn’t want it to be your career. He had seen too much of that.”

“Yeah, I went into business. Nothing special, just secretarial work, but…” She was going to finish but he already knew.

“Steady, stable. Able to work your way up? That was what your dad said.”

“Exactly. Sounds like you know me better than I know myself.” Sounds like everyone knew her better than she knew herself, him, Luke, hell, even Mark seemed to have a good grip on her personality.

She didn’t like that, she wanted to be the only one who knew herself.

“I wouldn’t say that, but I do know that you have his determination. And his anger.”

“Anger?”

“I can see it in you, you want things to go smoothly, and you have that slow burn when it does. Way more scary than the explosive kind, if you ask me.”

No one had ever called her scary before, she kinda liked it, even if she wasn’t willing to own up to it.

“We are almost there, just a little further, around that small ridge.”

She fell silent, rounding the path he took and coming out on the other side. What was there was beautiful, but it was anything state-of-the-art. The old, dilapidated fences would have made for a pretty picture, but they in no way were appropriate for the housing of very large, very powerful bulls.

Her mouth fell open.

“We have been dealing with this for a while, patching it as best we can, but… honestly, we need new fencing. And it isn’t in the budget.”

“Shit, I had no idea. This is really terrible.” It was abhorrent. The conditions of the facility were worse than she thought, even after the dinner with the men. “You all really were not kidding.”

“It isn’t that bad, but there are areas like this, were work was supposed to have been finished, and it… wasn’t.”

She got out her phone from her pocket and turned it on, taking snapshots of the fencing, the areas that were clearly repaired, and with old material. “Do you have a map of this area, something I can take in with me?”

“Take in where?”

“To R&J Construction. I am going to confront them.” “I do. But do me one favor.”

“What is that?”

“Don’t go alone. Take someone with you. Me, or Luke, hell, even Thomas. Someone you trust.” He was concerned, and he had a right to be. She could be walking into anything.