Military Romance Collection: Contemporary Soldier Alpha Male Romance (7 page)

“You!” one of the cops shouted. “Stay where you are!” Their gun was pointed directly at the injured guy. At that moment, Bird Boy decided to run. He leapt toward the back of the bar, pushing through the swinging doors that led into the kitchen. One cop – the tall, thin female officer – followed him while the other cop shouted into his radio for backup.

“This is some fucked up shit,” the big guy said to Charlie, as if they were suddenly friends. “He shouldn’t have run like that.”

“Maybe he didn’t want to go to jail?” Charlie suggested.

“For this?” the big guy laughed. “It’s all good. A weekend away from the Old Lady, you see some of your friends.” He looked at the cop and smiled. “Right?”

“Shut up!” the cop replied. “You know you’re not supposed to be talking.” He shifted his attention to Charlie. “I don’t know you.”

“I just moved here,” Charlie said. “Three months ago.” He tapped the bar floor with his foot. “It’s the first time I’ve been here.”

“You need to go to nicer places,” the cop said. “They let anybody in here.”

Another pair of officers arrived, and soon Charlie was being questioned. He told his story to a short, balding cop who wrote down almost everything Charlie said in a narrow notebook without once raising his head. Then he looked up, raised his eyebrows and said, “You do realize that based on what you just told me, we could bring you in for assault?”

“I was just trying to save the guy,” Charlie protested.

“That doesn’t mean it’s not assault. You need to understand that. What your intentions were is not what matters; what matters is the result of your actions.” He nodded across the way where the big guy was being cuffed. “It seems to me pretty clear that you have no idea of the situation at hand here. You don’t know these guys, you’re just trying to save the day.” The officer closed his eyes for a second and opened them again. “You’ve got to be careful doing that. It’s a good way to get yourself killed.”

“I’m sorry,” Charlie said. “It just happened.”

“That’s usually how it works,” the cop replied. “Lots of things just happen. But I’m going to tell you that lots of things that just happen, happen here. So like I said, you need to go to nicer places.”

“You’re not going to see me in here again,” Charlie promised.

“I believe that.” The officer looked back at his notebook. “We’ve got all your contact information here in case we need to follow up about anything. So you’re good to go.”

When Charlie stepped out onto the street, the town seemed deserted. There was absolutely no one around. The parking lot held only a handful of cars; he guessed most of these belonged to employees. “I guess this neighborhood is a little rougher than I realized,” he mused. His pickup looked fine, so he got in and started driving home.

As Charlie drove, the scene with the big guy kept running through his mind. He couldn’t believe he’d charged the guy. That was something he’d expect his little brother to do: David was the action hero type. Charlie had spent most of his life avoiding fights. Knocking someone off balance was a new experience for him. And he couldn’t help but wonder, exactly what did the cop mean when he said Charlie clearly didn’t realize what the situation at hand was. Who was the guy he’d run into? What had really been happening?

These questions concerned Charlie so much that he didn’t think about Ada again until he was safely at home, in bed. Then the curvy blonde’s face and form occupied all of his attention. She was a sexy woman, and clearly smart. Charlie sighed. It would have been nice to spend more time getting to know Ada. It was too bad that the odds were he’d never see her again.

***

Charlie had just finished taking all the pictures of new fencing he’d installed that the insurance company had insisted on when he heard a car pulling into his driveway. He turned and watched the low blue sedan slowly navigate the long gravel road that lead to his front yard. Whoever it was parked carefully next to his white truck, and then opened the door.

It was Ada, the pretty blonde from the bar.

“Now, what’s a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?” he asked.

“That club got a little crazy last night!” Ada said. “I give Lee Anne all kinds of hell for bringing me there. That fight was nuts. I hear one guy went to the hospital and another guy wound up stealing a car before he wound up getting caught.” She shook her head. “You should know I’m not in the habit of frequenting places like that. I’m really not.”

“Me either,” Charlie said. “But I’m surprised you drove all the way out here to tell me that.”

Ada didn’t answer his comment directly. Instead, she very obviously let herself be distracted by the tall, gray stallion who’d come to the fence line in search of treats. “Who’s this pretty boy?”

“Officially?” Charlie reached up and scratched the horse’s forehead, pushing his fingertips way up under the salt and pepper forelock. “His name is Daniels Tall Boy Growing, but nobody calls him that. We just call him Bad Ass.” He smiled. “Over the course of his career, only two riders managed to stay on his back for the full eight seconds. Everybody else didn’t stand a chance.”

“That’s a classy name for such a pretty horse,” Ada laughed. She reached up, gently stroking Bad Ass’ nose. It was clear she didn’t have a lot of experience with horses. “So you’re a big tough boy? Nobody can ride you?”

Bad Ass neighed, just loud enough to startle Ada. She did her best, but she did jump a little bit.

“It’s not so much that he’s tough,” Charlie said. “But he’s really smart. He understands what his role is. The minute there’s a rider on his back, his brain just starts spinning. He’s thinking every second,‘How am I going to get this guy off of me?’”

Ada raised an eyebrow.

“Some horses will always go right,” Charlie explained. “Others will go left. With Bad Ass, you can never tell what he’s going to do. He’ll change up what he’s doing, based on what he feels the cowboy anticipating.”

“And now he’s retired,” Ada said. “Do you think he misses the rodeo?”

“I’m not sure ‘retired’ is exactly the right word for Bad Ass. He’s just switched careers. Before, he was a saddle bronc. Now he’s got a new job, standing stud.” Charlie nodded toward the far pasture, where a handful of mares stood grazing. “Hopefully we’re going to see another one or two with his smarts and attitude born next spring.”

“It sounds like a tough way to make money,” Ada said.

“Gramps managed,” Charlie said. “And if he could make a go of it?” He shrugged. “I don’t see why I couldn’t make it work too.”

Ada took a deep breath. “There’s something I’ve got to tell you, Charlie.”

He looked at the little blonde. Her forehead was wrinkled, and for the first time ever, she wasn’t smiling. “What’s wrong?”

“You’ve got one real big obstacle to your plan.” She shook her head. “God damn, I wish I didn’t have to tell you this.” Ada spun on her heel and walked down along the fence line, hugging herself tightly. She went some thirty feet before pivoting back and returning. “I’m happy to see you, but I’m here in my professional capacity. I’ve got to tell you, your Grandfather didn’t exactly manage his business the way he needed to.”

“What do you mean?” Charlie said.

“When Bad Ass – or any of the horses – won a prize, or got paid for standing stud, that’s considered taxable income. But your Grandfather wasn’t including this money on his tax filings. He’d only report when he sold a horse – which you know he almost never did.”

Charlie blinked. All of a sudden, he felt sick. His stomach clenched up inside of him, and he really didn’t want to hear what came next. But he had to ask. “Which means what?”

“It means he underreported his income, reducing his tax liability significantly.” Ada looked out across the pasture. “According to our numbers, your Grandfather owed close to one hundred thousand dollars in income tax.”

“But he’s dead,” Charlie said.

“He is, but the debt doesn’t just go away,” Ada said. “What happens in cases like this is that the tax liability transfers to the estate.” She frowned. “Your Grandfather’s heirs – which appears to be you, I’m sad to say – are left to deal with his mess.”

“I asked the attorney about this,” Charlie protested. “He said we didn’t have to worry about any estate tax!”

Ada nodded. “He’s right. The value of the ranch, stock, and assets, as far as we can determine, doesn’t meet the threshold for estate taxes. You have to have like five million before estate taxes kick in. But we’re not talking about estate taxes, Charlie. We’re talking about personal income taxes, and that debt doesn’t go away.” She looked very sad. “We’ve had a tax lien on the property for almost a decade. And now that your Grandfather has passed?” Ada shrugged. “Standard operating procedure is to seize the property and sell it at auction to clear the debt.”

“Wait, what?” Charlie’s head started pounding. “How come this is the first I’m hearing about this?”

Ada shook her head. “I don’t know. Your attorney – I’m assuming he was your Grandfather’s executor…”

“No,” Charlie said. “There was no executor. There was nothing. Gramps left us with such a mess. It’s a good thing my brothers and I get along.”

Ada kicked at the ground, sending a small cloud of dust up. “I don’t know why people do stuff like this to their families,” she said. “We see it all the time and it’s always heartbreaking.”

“Who’s this
we
?” Charlie asked. “How do you know all of this stuff?”

“I work for the IRS,” Ada said. “That’s what I do back in Charleston. I’m so sorry.”

“So how does this work?” Charlie said. “How much time do I have to come up with $100,000?”

“There is no time, Charlie,” Ada said. “We’ve been sending notices to your Grandfather for years. He never responded to any of them, but the process keeps moving forward. I’m here to start proceedings to take possession of the property.”

“You can’t do that!” Charlie said. “I literally just found out about this!”

“If you can pay the debt, you can keep the ranch,” Ada said. “I know it’s not fair, but it’s how the system works.”

“So I have to buy my own ranch from you,” Charlie said. “And I have to do that today?” He looked at Ada intently, staring into her crystal-clear, blue eyes. “How does that even seem remotely close to being right to you?”

Ada sighed. “The fact that your Grandfather died without leaving any kind of will or paperwork behind may qualify as a mitigating circumstance.” She looked out over the pasture for a long moment, biting her bottom lip. “I can’t just make this debt go away, Charlie.”

He reached out and took her hand. “I’m not asking you to. I’m really not. But please…” his voice broke, and he had to swallow before he continued. “I’ve sunk everything I had into getting this place ready to start operating profitably again. I mean
everything
. I cashed out my retirement. I sold my condo. Every thing I had is gone. So if I lose this, I lose everything.”

Ada squeezed his hand.

“Can’t you give me just a little time?” Charlie asked. “Please?”

“You’re going to try to raise the money?” Ada asked.

“I’m going to sort out what happened,” Charlie said, “and do everything I can to keep this place.” He chuckled, a bitter sound that caused Bad Ass’ ears to perk up. “Who knows? Gramps has secret debts. Maybe he’s got a secret pot of money somewhere.”

Ada nodded slowly. “You’re going to need this,” she said, reaching into her jacket pocket and drawing out a fat envelope. “It’s our final – well, what was going to be our final – statement.” She shook her head. “I can give you thirty days. I know it’s not a lot of time, but I’m not even supposed to do that much.”

Charlie smiled. “I appreciate that.” He took the envelope she proffered and glanced at it. “What’s this address on here?” The PO Box listed under his Grandfather’s name wasn’t one he was familiar with.

Ada’s forehead wrinkled. “That’s the one on all of the correspondence we’ve had with your Grandfather. He used it when he filed his tax returns.”

“That’s not the address here,” Charlie said. “Mavis brings the mail round every morning.” He turned toward the driveway; it was some distance, but the silver mailbox was clearly visible. “3259 Long Trail Road!”

“Well, that’s where I’d definitely start, then,” Ada said. “You need to find out what’s in that PO Box.”

“Let’s hope it’s $100,000,” Charlie said.

“That would be good,” Ada replied. She let go of Charlie’s hand, slowly. “So, I’ll come see you in a month?”

“I’d like to see you before that,” Charlie said.

Ada blushed. It was a beautiful look on her, a pale pink flush that went from the neckline of her shirt right up to the roots of her hair. “I’d like that too,” she said, “but maybe it would be best if we waited until this whole situation gets sorted out. Mixing business and pleasure makes things…complicated.”

Charlie closed his eyes for a moment. This was definitely not turning out to be his day. Then he opened them and forced a smile. “All right,” he said. “If you think that’s best.”

“I think it is what is best,” Ada said. She stood on tiptoe and planted a gentle kiss on Charlie’s cheek. “But that’s not the same as what I want. Just so you know.”

***