Protectors (10 page)

here, if you want to work.”

Gage frowned at the computer screen. “You sure you don’t mind?

I’ll only be gone a couple of hours a day. It’s not a rush project, but they’d like to get it started.”

“Tell them you’ll take it,” Sara said.

Gage typed the email quickly, letting the barn owner know that

he’d drop by the following afternoon to go over the project details,

and clicked send.

When Gage was finished, Tyler logged in to check his email as

well, but there didn’t seem to be any updates from any of the lawyers or policemen, so the three of them moved to the couch to watch a

little TV and relax.

* * * *

Billy Barack, recently hired delivery boy for Planet Pizza, loaded

the two medium pies into the warming carrier and then slid behind the wheel of his ageing Chevy Cavalier. He double-checked the address

on the order and headed for the Big Sky Ranch. He’d never been back

the drive the whole way, but he knew how to find the house easily

enough. Billy had grown up in the small town, and he knew who was

who and where just about everything was.

He wasn’t particularly looking forward to the delivery, but he had

heard that the queers who ran the ranch tipped well, so he hoped that it would be worth putting up with them for a few minutes. As a recent high school graduate, he felt that the whole job was beneath him. The fact that he couldn’t pick and choose his clients only made it worse.

He didn’t mind a little late night delivery to some of the better looking girls in his high school class, but the town fags didn’t rank high on his list of people to see. He just hoped that they wouldn’t be all over each
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other when he got there. He’d be likely to puke in their bushes if he saw them making out.

The car bumped uneasily over the dirt lane, and Billy cursed. He

couldn’t afford to replace the shocks again, not if he was going to get into the police academy this fall like he hoped. He’d have to pay

tuition plus the cost of the uniform and the firearm. Delivering pizzas was hardly lucrative.

“Fuckers better tip
really
well,” he mumbled under his breath.

When he pulled up in front of the big farmhouse, he could see the

living room lights on. There were three people huddled together on

the couch, and for a minute, he thought that three men were making

out. One of them stood up, though, when they heard his car, and he

got a better look. It was two men and a woman.

One of the men came to the door, and the other two walked

toward the kitchen. He barely caught her profile, but when she turned into the light, Billy recognized the woman as Sara Effese.

What the hell is she doing here? Sheriff Jeremy’s girl doesn’t

belong on this ranch.

The tall man on the doorstep cleared his throat, diverting Billy’s

attention. “What do I owe you?”

“Uh, twenty-seven seventy-six,” Billy said, looking down at the

receipt.

The man handed him thirty-five dollars and told him to keep the

change. He did tip well.

Billy gave him the pizzas and got back in his car, tossing a final

glance over his shoulder to see if he could find Sara again, but the

living room was empty.

* * * *

The pizza was good and hot, and it went down well with a couple

of cold beers. Sara felt more content than she might ever had

imagined possible. Everything was turning out better than she had

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Samantha Blair

dreamed. On either side of her was a warm, protective man, and she

believed them when they said that they would help her and keep her

safe. Sitting in the pleasant atmosphere of the kitchen with them, it was easy to imagine that she could stay like this forever.

They went to bed early, partly because the stress of the day had

worn them out, and partly because they were anxious to be naked and

tangled together again. They lay awake in the dark talking softly as

hands roamed over warm skin and gentle kisses were placed.

* * * *

A dark figure sat in a rusty truck on the outskirts of town. He

knew that she hadn’t gone far. She didn’t have transportation, and

he’d seen to it that she had no money either. He tipped the bottle of Jack back and took a long swig.

Fucking bitch. How dare she defy me?

Well, she could run, but she couldn’t hide forever. This town

wasn’t that big. She’d turn up eventually, and when she did, he’d be

waiting to welcome her home.

The stupid cow had called the state boys on him. He just knew it.

He’d passed an unmarked police cruiser twice today. The state police

had no business being there, in his jurisdiction, without notifying him, so he’d flipped his radio over to the state frequency and listened in to find out what they were after. Turned out they were after him.

Stupid lying cunt. It was all her fault. She thought he was too

rough on her, always bitching and moaning about how hard he hit.

Damn straight he hit hard. She deserved it, too. He’d put up with her mother’s mouth long enough to get the old bag’s money, but he

wasn’t going to take the same shit from her white trash daughter.

When his truck wouldn’t start, he’d called one of the deputies to

bring him a patrol car. That was fine for yesterday, but he had to lay low with cops looking out for him, so he’d ditched the car a couple of blocks from the station and hiked back to the truck.

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Turns out the old rust bucket had only been out of gas. Apparently

he’d had a little too much to drink and had left it running most of the night. It was an easy enough problem to solve.

So now he waited. They couldn’t arrest him if they couldn’t find

him, and he knew this town a hell of a lot better than they did.

He’d picked the parking lot off Route 87 as his current hideout. It

sat up from the road a little ways and allowed him to overlook the

town watering hole as well as the only pizza place. A truck parked

here overnight wouldn’t arouse any suspicions, as many a cowboy

never made it home from the bar below.

He’d also picked it because Sara had a friend that kept bar in the

filthy place, and he thought that it was possible that she might come here for help. Plus, 87 was the main route to the interstate. If she was leaving town, odds were good she’d pass by here.

He kicked his dirty boots up on the dash and returned his attention

to the road below. He needed a plan. He could wait her out, but those state cops would keep looking for him. He needed some way to get

them off his tail.

He’d gone to the ATM early in the day, as soon as he realized that

he was wanted. He withdrew the maximum ATM limit, which was

four hundred and also took a stack of cash out of his safety deposit

box. Sara hadn’t even known about that box. You couldn’t trust

women with anything, and this was why.

If they had enough on him to arrest him, they might also be able to

freeze his accounts. Odds were good they were watching his credit

cards, too. If he attempted to use one, they’d be all over him.

The plan formed in his mind as he watched Billy Barack pull into

the pizza shop. He was no doubt returning from a delivery; he hadn’t

been gone long.

Jeremy knew Billy like he knew most of the town kids. He’d

broken up more than a couple of drunken bonfire parties over the last few years, and Billy had been in attendance at most of them. He also

knew that Billy wanted to be a cop. The kid looked up to him, maybe

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Samantha Blair

enough to help him out. Billy never had been terribly bright. He had a snowball’s chance in Hell of actually making something out of

himself.

If Jeremy sent the kid out of town with his credit cards, it might

lead the state troopers away long enough for him to find Sara and shut her up. They had nothing on him but her testimony. If she weren’t

there to speak out, they’d have nothing on him.

Billy finished his shift about an hour later, and Jeremy pulled out

behind him. The kid was going about ten miles over the speed limit,

which he normally would have let go, but it was as good an excuse as

any to pull the boy over. He turned on the single flashing blue light that he kept on the dash in the truck. It took a little while before the kid realized that he was being pulled over, but he eventually slid onto the shoulder, and Jeremy pulled up behind him.

“Evening, Billy,” Jeremy said, walking around to the side of the

Cavalier.

“Sheriff Granger, I sure am sorry,” Billy said.

“Well, you were going mighty fast. You’re lucky you didn’t plow

right into a deer out here.”

“I’ll slow down, I promise.”

“See that you do that,” Jeremy said. “But I think I’m gonna have

to write you a ticket just so I’m sure you’ll remember.”

“Oh, no, please don’t. My dad’s going to kill me.”

“Well, you’ve gotta learn a lesson, Billy. You don’t think that

they accept speeders like you into the police academy, do you?”

“No, sir. I promise. I’ll learn my lesson.”

Jeremy had him right where he wanted him. “Well, I know you

didn’t really mean no harm…”

“No, sir. I sure didn’t.”

“Maybe we could work out a bit of an agreement?”

Billy agreed eagerly.

“See, I’ve got a delivery coming into the sporting goods store

down in Sheridan. I ain’t had the time to go pick it up. If I gave you
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my credit card to pay for the order, do you think you could run down

there for me tomorrow and bring it back?”

“Sure, Sheriff. I’ll take real good care of your stuff.”

“I’m sure you will, Billy. You wouldn’t want to disappoint me.”

Jeremy pulled out his credit card and handed it to the kid. “I expect you’ll be real careful with my credit card too, won’t you?”

“Oh yes, sir. Where should I bring the package? Will you be at

home?”

Jeremy considered the question. He wasn’t quite sure how to

answer that one. “Just bring it back to the pizza shop there. I’ll get it from you later.”

“Okay.”

Jeremy took a step back from the car, satisfied with his plan. He

was about to get back in the truck when Billy called out the window.

“Tell Miss Sara I said hello, and I hope she enjoyed the pizza.”

The good sheriff stopped short. “Pizza? You delivered a pizza to

Sara? Tonight?”

“Well, yeah. Out to the Big Sky Ranch. She was visiting those gay

ranchers.”

“Was she now? You’re sure?”

“Positive.” Billy nodded up and down in eager affirmation.

“Good work, Billy. You just might make an okay detective after

all. I’ll be sure to tell Sara you asked about her.”

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Samantha Blair

Chapter 9

When Sara woke, she found one side of her body to be warmer

than the other. She was still curled around Gage’s back, but Tyler was suspiciously absent from the bed. He appeared a moment later,

already dressed with his black Stetson on his head.

He pressed a finger to his lips indicating that she shouldn’t wake

Gage. He pulled her gently from the bed and brushed her sleep tussled hair out of her face. The rough weave of his jeans pressed against her naked skin, bringing her body to life as he brought her into his arms and kissed her good morning.

He swept her into the bathroom and quietly indicated that she

should get dressed in the jeans and long sleeve shirt that he’d laid out.

He produced a smaller version of his same hat, that wasn’t quite as

well broken in, and put it on her head.

A few minutes later he was tugging her out the back door. “I

didn’t want to wake the bear,” he said when they were finally out of

earshot, “but I thought you might like to go for a morning ride with

me.”

“I’d love to.” Sara smiled.

The sun was barely up, but there were already a pair of horses

saddled and tied to the fence waiting for them. It seemed Tyler was an early riser.

“This is Johnny Cash,” Tyler said, introducing her to the all black

quarter horse. “He’s pretty gentle. I don’t think you’ll have any

trouble with him.”

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Sara stroked the horse’s nose for a minute before accepting

Tyler’s help up into the saddle. He adjusted the stirrups for her and made sure that she was comfortable.

“This is my little sister’s saddle,” he explained. “It’s her hat, too, but it seems to fit you pretty good.”

“Is your sister around a lot?”

“’Fraid not. She visits about once a year. Still lives in New York

with the rest of the family.”

Tyler handed her the reigns before swinging himself up gracefully

on to his own horse.

They set off on a nice easy walk along the fence line. “I thought

we’d just take a loop of the property so you could see the place.”

They fell into an easy conversation, learning more about each

other as the horses ambled peacefully along. When he was sure that

Sara was comfortable with the ride, he suggested that they push the

horses into a trot. They jogged along at a steady pace, cutting across the grazing land. The land was open on one side and largely wooded

and mountainous on the other.

Sara stayed half a horse behind him, appreciating the view from

the rear as Tyler rode the beautiful animal. When they got around to