RattlingtheCage (4 page)

He gripped her hips in his moist, strong hands and continued
to take her hard and fast and deep.

Heat flooded her face as she neared the peak. She forced her
hips back into him, meeting his ever increasing pace, readying herself for the
climax. Wave after wave crashed into her and this time she let herself freefall
while he barreled into her once more. His hands clenched her hips tight, nearly
lifting her from the table, and then a deep, resonating growl erupted from his
throat.

Her pulse throbbed to the steady beat of the music. Behind
her she heard a hiss of air and then a quiet mumble of words. Montana feared
his regret.

He withdrew and on shaky legs she turned. She opened her
mouth to comment, when he silenced her with a kiss. She tasted herself on his
tongue and kissed him back with renewed vigor. Lawson pulled away, leaving her
lips raw and swollen.

“Whoa there. Easy.”

“Sorry.”

“Did you want to go back to my place?”

Feeling shy, she tugged her skirt down. “Why?”

“To talk, or something.”

“I thought that you…”

He pressed his finger to her lips. “Don’t read into it. I
just don’t fuck and go.”

Montana smiled. She’d been wrong about him. He had a tender
side. And she planned to use that to her full advantage. “Sure. Let me find my
panties.”

Chapter Seven

Clint Mitchum tired of pacing and sat down at the kitchen
table. He stared at his half-eaten sandwich and pushed the plate aside, opting
for stale beer. The walls vibrated. A moment later the front door slammed.

Garvey ambled in and tossed his keys to the counter,
plopping into the chair beside him.

“Hey pop, can’t sleep?”

Clint took in the boy’s ever expanding paunch. “Nah, my
mind’s racing.”

“Cooking up a new scheme?”

Garvey’s ignorance aggravated him. “No. On account of the
stranger. He’s bad news.”

“I dunno. Looks harmless enough. Shifty-eyed, though. Least
he’s spending money.”

Clint pounded his fist. “You got sticks in those ears, boy?
He’s oozing trouble out his armpits. And we don’t want his tainted money.”

“Oh. Okay.”

He ran his hand across his face, aware of the extra wrinkles
he’d developed in the last year. “There’s something familiar about him and I don’t
like it.”

“Familiar how?”

“If I knew I wouldn’t be sitting here,” he said with
impatience. “My gut’s all tangled, and that only happens when something’s about
to cause me a mess of problems.”

“Sorry, pop. You gonna finish that sandwich?” Garvey gave him
a hopeful look that ratcheted his anger a notch higher.

“Shut up, boy. You need to hear what I’m saying. I want you
to get your ass over to Montana’s place in the morning.”

“What for?”

“To see if she’s alone. From the way her mother behaved, I
can’t trust her to not be thinking this newcomer’s her meal ticket outta here.”

“You sayin’ he might be with her?”

Clint chuckled. “Wipe that green off your face. That whore
can have any man she wants, and she knows it. She’ll sink her nails into this
guy and run off with him. Everyone knows she’s itching to leave, but we need to
make sure that doesn’t happen.”

“Maybe he ain’t seen her yet.” Garvey reached toward the
sandwich, but Clint knocked his hand out of the way and shoved the plate to the
corner.

“No man misses the likes of Montana Lee.”

“What do I do if he’s there?”

“Beat the shit outta him and then lock him up. We can’t have
strangers sniffin’ around the woman you plan to marry, can we?”

Garvey scratched his elbow. “Ah hell. She’s always telling
me to get lost.”

“All women do that. They don’t know what they want. But I’ll
say this, you’ve been nothing but a coward. Letting her tell you what to do.”

“I’m not a coward.”

“You’re a damn momma’s boy,” he said. “Quit taking no for an
answer. It’s up to you to make an honest woman out of her. The second she
tastes freedom you’ll never get a second chance.”

“Dammit, pop.”

“Act like a man and remind her who’s in control. Women like
to be told what to do. Don’t let her think she’s got your pecker wrapped around
her little finger. Put her in her place.”

“She’s a tough little thing,” Garvey whined. “Has quite a
mouth on her. I get near her and I’m all tongue-tied.”

Clint drummed his fingers. “Once you get into her panties, I
guarantee that’ll change.”

A smile creased the boy’s lips. “Doubt it.”

“Trust me. The novelty wears off. Sooner than you think.”

“She’s not like any of the other women here.”

Clint snorted. “Course not. She’s the daughter of a whore.”
He licked his lips and relaxed into the chair. “Look, sometimes you gotta take
what you want. Otherwise someone will step in and take what’s yours. See?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Now, get some sleep. I expect you up early.”

Garvey nodded and sauntered down the hall, his head down
like a defeated dog.

While he’d done his best to raise the boy, Clint hated how
little they were alike. Too soft in the middle and not much smarts. Still, he’d
been strapped with him.

Clint leaned forward, his head pounding. The stranger meant
trouble. He didn’t need trouble. And Little Miss Short Skirt didn’t need the
motivation to skip town. His father didn’t stand for outsiders, and neither did
he. A bullet could be mighty persuasive.

* * * * *

Garvey knew sleep wouldn’t come with Montana on his mind.
She occupied his every thought. Not hard when she paraded around in slinky
clothes that showed off her figure. Or when the sun hit her shiny gloss and
made her lips irresistible. None of the women in town compared to Montana Lee.

If she’d let him, she’d understand how much he cared. He
wanted her happy and smiling and his. He wanted to come home to her after
another wasted day and make love ’til sunrise.

Garvey removed his gun and holster, and sank to the bed.

Now he had a stranger to contend with. He didn’t need the
competition.

His pop had a point. Maybe it was time to prove his
intentions to Montana. Maybe she’d respect him more for it. She lit him on
fire, even when she treated him like dirt. He knew the novelty of being with
her would never wear off. All the nights he’d stood outside her window and
watched her undress. Seen her step out from the shower, dewy wet and fresh
looking.

Garvey didn’t want anyone else touching her. He was done
being pushed away. Come morning he’d give Montana the kind of attention she
wanted. Whether she begged him to or not.

Chapter Eight

Lawson picked at the chipped paint in his motel room. He
didn’t know why he’d invited Montana back, but he didn’t want to bail right
after sex like he always did. Had he any sense, he would’ve kept his ass out of
the bar.

She sat on the bed, her nipples plump beneath her nothing of
a shirt. The nipples he’d had his lips around. She’d been so hot, so damn
responsive that even when he wanted to turn and run, he couldn’t ignore the
pull. The scent of her lingered on his skin, his fingers, his entire body. Fuck
she smelled good.

Lawson ran a hand through his hair. He needed to get his
mind off her body and back to why he’d returned to Rattler City.

He glanced around, uncomfortable and craving beer.

“Did you want me to leave?” She looked up at him, her eyes
big and expectant.

“I didn’t say that.” He hated the way she read his thoughts.

Her features clouded. “Are you sorry you fucked me?”

Lawson fiddled with the chipped wall some more. What could
he say? She was the devil in disguise. A sexy little seductress hell bent on
destroying all the plans he’d worked up over the years. He’d already told her
straight out—no attachments. She couldn’t give him grief about it later.

“I’m sorry you’re here at all,” he said. “Why do you stay?
You don’t belong in this place.”

She sighed. “It’s complicated.”

“What’s complicated?”

“I don’t have enough money to leave. I’d never make it on my
own.”

“You work,” he pointed out. “I’m sure you get decent tips.”

Montana shook her head. “I can’t up and leave like you. I
have obligations and responsibilities.”

All he heard were excuses. “Like what?”

“Like my momma’s debt. Half my earnings go toward paying off
her loans.”

Lawson leaned his shoulder against the wall. “I don’t
understand.”

“My momma borrowed a lot of money to help pay for our home
when we moved here, and for food and clothes. It took her a while to get a job.
After she died there was a large sum of money still waiting to be taken care
of, and I had to borrow more to pay for her burial.”

Sounded more like slavery to him. “Doesn’t seem right to
me.”

“It’s the law.”

He wanted to shoot a great big hole through the law. “Seems
to me the law wouldn’t be this big entity if you and the rest of the town took
a stand and did something to change it.”

“Are you kidding? Mitchum doesn’t take crap from nobody. If
you cross him you’ll pay with your life.”

“That so?”

“Yeah. I know of a few men who went against Mitchum over a
land deed, and they wound up dead. It keeps everyone quiet.”

While that didn’t surprise him, he hated hearing about people
who cowered in fear, especially when it meant assholes profited.

“Do you really think they’d kill you if you stopped paying
on your momma’s debt?”

She paused, chewing her lip. “I don’t know. I’m afraid to
find out.”

“Why do you let people take advantage of you? You seem like
a smart girl. Act like one.”

Her feet hit the floor and she marched right up into his
face. “I am smart. I’m also stuck.”

“No one is ever stuck,” he insisted. “Pick up and go. What
are they going to do to you?”

She blinked, her eyes glossy with tears. “Maybe you’re a
rebel, but I’m scared. My childhood was shit. I have no idea who my father is.
My mom spent every night with a different guy, which made for an awful lot of
uncles.”

He rolled his shoulders. “She probably didn’t know any better.”

“For a while, I felt like I was the parent. And then she
died. Some sudden illness. And I had nowhere to go and no one to turn to. Since
then I’ve worked my ass off to not be like her.”

“Good. But how does that make you stuck?”

Her voice rose. “Because I’m stuck paying for her sins.
Because at the snap of his fingers, Mitchum can send twenty men after me for a
nice fat reward. Because I’ll never get far enough fast enough to be out of
their reach.” She paused for a breath, her eyes like sparks from a fire. “I
swore that once I broke free from this place, I’d never come back. Not by
choice and not by force. Everything will be worse for me here if I’m caught.
Understand?”

“So you’re scared.”

“Dammit, I said that I’m scared. I’m not a reckless wanderer
like you. I don’t drive a fancy truck. Do you see anyone around here with a
truck? The only vehicles are owned by the law. If you want to pay for gas you
might as well sell a loved one, it will cost as much. We’re all prisoners here.
Screw you if you can’t understand.”

Lawson reached for her, but she reeled away.

“Don’t pity me.”

“I don’t.”

“Right. Lie to me some more.”

“I haven’t lied.”

“Then stop judging me.”

Lawson saw through the tough girl act, but didn’t want to
say anything. He just wanted her to go so he could stop picturing her on the
pool table and think straight. He knew that if he took her out of Rattler City,
he’d never let her go. A mistake he knew better than to follow through with.

* * * * *

Not wanting the spotlight on her, Montana shifted the focus.
“Tell me, what’s your story? Restless man out playing vigilante? Bounty hunter?
Murderer?”

His jaw tensed.

“Come on,” she prodded. “I’ve shared parts of my sordid
little history. Actually, I’ve shared a lot with you tonight. It’s only fair.”

After several minutes of silent coaxing, he conceded. “Did
you know this town used to have a different name?”

She shook her head.

“It used to be called Cage Crossing. A thriving town with
beautiful homes and good-natured people. What took years to build ended up
destroyed in a day.”

The name Cage sounded familiar, but she didn’t know from
where. “What happened?”

“My grandfather and his father helped build the city, and
eventually my grandpa ran the bank. JR Mitchum, Clint’s father, up and got
greedy one day. He’d always had an issue with my grandpa because he married my
grandma. The way I heard it, she had all the men eating out of the palm of her
hand, but she had eyes only for my gramps.”

Montana arched a brow. “So there’s a little romance in your
blood.”

“Nope. Skipped a generation or two.”

Her shoulders sagged.

“JR had it fixed in his mind to do whatever it took to bring
down my grandpa and soil his reputation. Hoped it would make my grandma leave
him. Only, it brought them closer.”

He paused and then smiled, and she imagined a woman every
bit as stubborn as Lawson.

“Course that pissed JR off even more,” he continued, “so he
made it his mission to turn the town against gramps. The sheriff at the time
went missing, and the judge appointed JR to take his place. No doubt from some
coaxing with cash. Pretty soon Mitchum started pocketing the townspeople’s
money, raising their property taxes and increasing prices on goods. He became
your all-around bully who happened to have the law on his side.”

Feeling the wind knocked out of her, Montana sat back on the
bed. “So people put their money in the bank and then Mitchum stole from the
bank?”

“Yep. But he did far worse things. He regulated how many
children a family could have. Young girls were sent away to orphanages, older
ones were sent to whore houses. I heard he made a percentage off each one.”

Her stomach soured. “How did he get away with all of it?”

“With the law holding everyone’s lives for ransom, they
easily swept everything under the dirt. The Mitchums bought off the law in the
surrounding towns so that no one had anyone to turn to.”

“My god.” Montana shook her head. She’d always considered
Mitchum a bogeyman, but now she realized he was worse than any nightmare.

“Wasn’t long before JR put his son, Clint, to work at the
bank. A week later he claimed that gramps stole wads of cash.”

She searched his eyes. “Did people believe him?”

“Grandma said they didn’t, but who knows. The Cage name got
hammered into the ground along with my grandpa’s reputation.”

“Did he fight the accusations?”

His expression softened. “With words, yes, but he was a
peaceful man. Didn’t have the heart for violence.”

Something in his voice made her think he wished that hadn’t
been the case. “Does that upset you?”

His eyes downturned. “I don’t begrudge him for not taking a
stand. I’d have done different, but he handled it the way he wanted.”

“So he went to jail?”

“Nope.” He paused and paced along the room. Quick strides
that turned him into a blur. “They shot him and burned his house to the ground.
My mom tried to stop them, and she got shot, along with my week-old baby
sister. They all burned.”

Her hands covered her mouth. “Oh, Lawson.” She wanted to run
to him and hold him, but the tension he wore on his face deterred her.

“My grandma and I were on our way back from the mercantile
when we saw smoke billowing in the distance. By sunset, Cage Crossing had
become a hole in the ground.”

Montana winced. “I’m so sorry. What did you do? Where did
you go?”

He paused, his jaw clenched. “We moved to Arizona. Grandma
had a friend who lived there. I don’t know how she convinced JR to let her go,
but I guess since gramps no longer had her, it didn’t matter as much. She never
loved another man.”

“Where was your father through all of this?”

Montana caught a glimpse of pain in his eyes before he went
back to pacing. “About a month before the fire, he was shipped off on some
train with a handful of men to do business for Mitchum. None of them returned.”

“You think it was on purpose?”

He faced her. “Had to be. I’ve been all over the area
throughout the years looking for clues, but they covered it up so well that
there’s no trace. Somewhere they disappeared.”

“Jesus. So the Mitchums erased everything good that your
family did for the town.”

“Yep.”

“And then erased them.”

“Uh huh.”

“And you’re here to make Mitchum pay.”

He nodded.

“But JR set the fire,” she reasoned. “How does Clint figure
into this other than accusing your grandpa and being born into a rotten
family?”

“Clint was the one who shot my mom and sister. He has the
same evil that ran through his family’s blood. It would seem that so far he has
been carrying on the Mitchum legacy.” He took the silver dollar out of his
pocket, flipped it and caught it in his palm. “When my grandma died, I swore
I’d return to Rattler City and hunt down Clint and anyone else who helped bring
Cage Crossing to ruin. And then burn the place down.”

She took a few minutes to absorb it all, wrestling in her
mind for anything of comfort to say. It dawned on her that while she understood
his motivation, she still didn’t understand the man.

“You know, the more you tell me, the more mysterious you
become. I don’t know what makes you tick.”

“I’m a man who learned that there isn’t room for friends in
life. Enemies are easier. You take your enemies out. Everyone’s better off.”

“Am I an enemy?”

“No. And you’re not a friend.”

Montana pushed off the bed to her feet and approached him.

He stepped away, his head shaking.

Her skin bristled at the blatant rejection but she played it
cool.

“So what’s the plan once you leave here?”

“Headed to Washington.”

“Got a girl there?” She regretted the words once they were
out. He didn’t belong to her.

“I’m going to pay Bremmer Dubois a visit.”

Her brows knitted. “Who’s he?”

“A low-life who shot my grandma while holding up a store.
He’s getting out of jail because of overcrowding. Or so he thinks.”

She cringed. “So, you’re going to drive your way around the
world knocking off everyone who did you wrong?”

“It’s my life to do as I please.”

“People do change.”

“Not anyone I know.” He cut her off with a sharp look. “I
grew up with the knowledge that you couldn’t wait around for the law to serve
up justice. If you waited around for every Tom, Dick and Harry Hard-On to
finish out their sentences, or get their asses behind bars, you’d find yourself
an old man.”

“You can’t go and kill everyone blindly,” she said.

“Justice is blind. Rather than find protection, my family
lost their lives at the hands of the law. They didn’t do anything wrong, but
they paid dearly, and everyone who loved them paid, and continues to pay.”

“Yes but…”

“I’m not a good guy, understand? Whatever you’ve built up in
your head about me, it’s an illusion. I know you see me as your ticket out of
here, but sugar, it’s not going to happen. I ride alone and I sure as hell
don’t have time for skirts. Much as I loved the feel of your body beneath me,
it’s not going to lead to anything more.”

“You could at least take me to the next state. I haven’t had
it so easy.”

“Oh boo hoo, you had a whore for a mother. I’m not sure how
traumatized you can be when you—”

She slapped him so hard she swore her hand cracked.

“Fuck you! You’re an insensitive jerk who doesn’t have a
clue about the real world. You’re missing the big picture if all you care about
is an eye for an eye.”

Montana bolted for the door.

“It’s four in the morning,” he called out. “At least wait
until the sun is up.”

She whipped around. “I’m not staying here another second.
You got what you wanted from me. Leave me the hell alone. Bastard. I should’ve
kicked you out of the bar instead of taking you between my thighs.”

“Gotta love the beauty of hindsight.”

Montana slammed the door. Her body quaked. She took a few
steps, turned, turned back and kept walking. There’d be no going back. No
begging him for second chances. His words hurt. They stabbed her heart into
tiny pieces. Not only was Lawson born a Cage, he was a rattling cage. And
dangerous. The stray bullets should’ve been enough warning for her to keep
away. But it seemed men made her stupid. Traits of her mother.