Salem Charm: Book 3 of Colson Brothers Series (3 page)

“Mmmm. You still smell good.” Lou’s voice brought me back to reality quickly.

“Get off me!!!” I pushed hard against his chest.

He lifted up in a push-up over me with a smile that is annoying to say the least. “Sleep good?”

“No!” I kicked but it had little effect the way his legs are trapping mine.

He lowered his head and whispered in my ear. “I am not a sick pervert. You are perfectly safe with me. But you do smell damn good.” He hopped off taking my hand along the way pulling me along with him for me to stand up. “Go get ready. We leave in an hour.” He smacked me on the rear end.

“Ow!!” I spun around and smacked him across the face again. “That hurt!!”

He stalked me to the bathroom with a playful yet hunting look in his eyes.

I walked backwards with my finger pointed at his nose, “Stay away from me.”

“Go. Get. Ready.” He insisted slowly.

“I would if you didn’t look like you were going to pounce on me.”

He smiled a wicked smile, “Trust me, it’s a thought. Go.” He pointed to the door. “Now. By the way, you look much prettier without all the make-up.”

I turned and grabbed the door to shut in his face. Geez that man is a conundrum. One minute he’s telling me I smell good. The next he’s smacking me on my rump, then a minute later he’s flirting with me?? And why is he so mean at times?

“Where is my car??” I looked around for the beautiful piece of machinery. I think we were in the Mercedes Myles usually drives. He’s going to miss that car. It always looks brand new, and I’m sure I’ve never seen a speck of dust on the thing.

“I had to ditch it, don’t worry Myles will pick it up later. Get in.”

“This thing is filthy.”

“It’s a classic GMC pickup, you should be proud to ride in it. Get in before I throw you in.” He threatened back to his foul mood and meanness.

I wiped who knows what from the seat to the floor and climbed in. “We have enough money to buy a decent form of transportation.”

He slammed the door and walked around to sit in the driver’s seat. All this door slamming needs to stop, it’s making me jumpy.

“I would appreciate if you would not slam doors in my face.” I scolded him as he started the poor old engine.

“I would appreciate if you would kindly shut the fuck up.” He snapped and shoved the truck into gear. I gasped at his words then looked out the window figuring something had him in a mood, and I was not about to remain the target of his aggression.

A full five minutes later he said, “Sorry. It’s been a long night.”

“You didn’t sleep?”

“Not much. I woke up about an hour after you fell asleep and went to deal with the car bullshit.”

“Lou. Language please?” I interrupted as nicely as I could.

He glanced at me, “Lighten up Barbie. Are you hungry?”

I sighed once again forcing myself to resign to my situation. “Yes, breakfast would be nice.”

“I know a diner in New Bern you should like.”

“What makes you say I should like it?”

“They have grits.”

I laughed for the first time since this ordeal began. “You have me there Mr. Colson. I do love good grits.”

“There, we have one thing in common.”

“Two.” I corrected him.

He looked at me again, “Two? What’s the other thing?”

“We both need a haircut.”

He pretended to give me a dirty look but the way his mouth turned up at the corners gave away his amusement. “I’m growing it back out, if you must know. It just happens to be at a weird length. Joe said I looked like Johnny Depp.”

“No, he’s much shorter, and if I remember correctly you have blue eyes and he has brown.”

“You sound as if you’ve met the man.” He suggested.

“Briefly. More like a passing introduction at an event. I’ve been introduced to many famous people, however I can’t say as I know them.” I explained.

“You talk like music.” He replied looking to his left.

“Pardon me?”

“Nothing.” He fumbled with the radio for a minute before pretending to care about the news more than talking to me. We talked on and off about various topics. Agreeing to disagree on some things came fairly easily as I didn’t wish to rouse up that foul mood again. I’m sure we could have a good go-around over our differences, but not today. I’d rather save that sparring for a happier occasion. Maybe once this is over I’ll have to put together a party. Invite Lou. Thank him.

I smiled and shook my head. He’d never show up. Funny, but I find myself liking that about him.

“What’s so funny?”

“Nothing really.”

“If it was nothing, you wouldn’t have laughed. Tell me what’s funny.” He insisted blowing his hair out of his eyes.

“Well, if I must be honest, I was trying to imagine you in a suit.”

“The only suit you’ll see me in will be on my wedding day, and that’s not about to happen anytime soon.”

“I’m sure your girlfriend is thrilled.”

“Girlfriend?? Ha!” He said that a little too loud making me jump. Realizing his mistake he apologized, “Sorry honey. It’s just the mere idea of having a girlfriend sets me off. My job doesn’t leave much room for relationships.”

“Somehow I doubt it’s your job that’s the problem.” Okay, I seriously need too filter myself.

“Oh really? And just what do you think, in your professional opinion, is my problem?”

“You’re rude, grabby, and up until last night, you stunk.”

He cracked up. “I stunk. Very nice Barbie. Very nice.”

“Just drive.” I turned the volume up on the crackling advertisement. Of course there’s no music playing to at least attempt to cover my obvious discomfort. At least these jeans are comfortable. I miss my Jimmy Choos. The poor things are shoved carelessly into one of his bags.

Almost seven hours later, the sign reading Black Mountain perfectly described my mood, and added to my fear. “Where are you taking me?” I’m less afraid of Lou than I am the rest of this adventure. I don’t know this man, and now I’m about to meet his brother. This Turner guy sounds dreadful. I can only hope his ‘bitch’, or ‘old lady’, as Lou insists on calling her, is nice. I could use someone to talk to right about now.

Normally that would be Myles. I miss my best friend. Lou is forcing me to realize just how much I take for granted when it comes to Myles. He really does spoil me. Lou does not spoil me. Not one bit.

“Where are you taking me?”

“Wherever I see fit to keep you alive.” There’s that bad mood again. It seems the longer we go without speaking, the snippier he gets when I break the silence. This man is either a jerk, or complicated. I’m going with jerk at the moment.

“I just asked where we are going, no need to get snippy.”

“I don’t get ‘snippy’, I get annoyed. The last transport that mouthed off to me found himself in the fucking trunk. Don’t think you’re any different just because you wear a damn skirt.”

I can’t believe the audacity of this man!! Instead of dignifying him with a reply I un-dignified myself with a good pout out the window. The man is unbearable. I can’t wait for this to be over. I hope my father is okay… shoot. What if he’s not?? Then what do I do?? I’ve been so busy being mad at this jerk next to me I haven’t had time to worry about my father.

Lou picked up my hand so I looked at him. His expression had softened, “It’s going to be okay. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

I snatched my hand back, “I can take care of myself thank you Mr. Colson. You are, if nothing else, a hinderance. Kindly give me my father’s money and drop me somewhere with a public telephone. I’ve had enough of your mouth.”

He slammed on the brakes making me brace myself with my hands on the dashboard. Then he grabbed my arm to face him. “I’m not here to be nice, or cater to your every snobbish desire like Myles. Me being here is a risk I rarely take. Anywhere east of the Mississippi river is an invitation to get a lot of people hurt. People I love. I don’t give a rat’s ass about you beyond keeping you alive and getting paid. Now sit back and for once today, shut the hell up.” He let go and pulled back onto the now dirt road. “Women.” I heard him complain as I composed myself.

“Insufferable ass.” I went back to looking out the window.

“You call me insufferable. I’ve never met more stuck up bitch in my life.” He informed me as he sped up.

“Probably because you hang around loose women.” Great, now I’m picking fights with this man. This man I barely know.

“As a matter a fact, I do not. Although I did get a wicked forty-dollar blow job before I left Arizona.”

I covered my ears, “I did NOT need to know that!!”

He’s laughing now. “Yeah, probably not, but you’re irritating the shit out of me.”

“Maybe we shouldn’t speak to each other for a while.” I suggested firmly.

“Good idea.” I can see him shaking his head. “You talk too much anyway.”

“I was trying to be polite.” I argued.

“And she’s still talking.” He glanced at me. “You don’t get out much, do you?”

I crossed my arms over my chest. “I get out plenty Mr. Colson.”

“Boyfriend take you out to fancy restaurants and shit?”

“Language Mr. Colson.” I reminded him before continuing. “No, I’m currently between boyfriends.” I lied. I’ve never had a boyfriend. I’ve played spin the bottle type games over the years, but aside from an uncomfortable sloppy kiss here and there, my experience with men is very limited.

“No wonder you’re so uptight.”

“Pardon me??”

He looked over to me as he slowed for yet another turn, “You need to get laid. Don’t worry, Im not picking on you. I could use a good fuck myself.”

My face went bright red, “We need to stop talking.”

He laughed, “I tried telling you that.”

2

A little while later he finally stopped at what might as well have been an outhouse in the middle of nowhere. When he started covering the truck with random branches I decided to try and help.

“How long before your brother gets here?” I asked hoping my tone wasn’t going to set him off again. He’s quite scary when he’s mad.

“Maybe an hour or so.” He shrugged.

“Where did you get this truck?”

“I stole it.”

“Then you should give it back.”

“I’ll send someone back for it later.”

This surprised me. “You will?”

“Sure. I try to borrow more than I steal, but sometimes shit doesn’t work out. This truck shouldn’t be a problem to return to it’s owner in a week or so.”

“I hope so. I know you’re just doing your job, but I’m not partial to thievery.”

“Neither am I. I am however partial to getting my job done and collecting a paycheck.” He informed me as he tossed a large branch over the hood of the truck. He’s obviously very strong, and moves with a confident grace. This is a man who is comfortable in his own skin. It made me wonder if I’m as confident. No, probably not.

“What do we do now?” I asked trying to hide the driver’s side mirror with smaller branches.

“We’re going to walk back to the main road a couple miles back, that way Turner won’t have to bring Daisy all the way up here.”

“Daisy? Is that his wife?”

“No, that’s his rig. Georgia is his old lady.”

“Old lady? I’ve heard this term before, but never really understood why you would refer to your significant other as ‘old lady’.”

“Yeah, seems my big dumb brother found himself a woman. First Joe, now Turner. Somebody must have tilted the world on it’s axis, because that’s some shit I never saw happening. Especially Turner. That man ain’t right. Any woman brave enough to put up with him is alright in my book, or just as crazy as he is.”

“What about you?” I asked as we started walking. “Do you ever think about having an old lady?”

“No. I am happily single.” He shifted his bags to one hand after hefting a large backpack over his shoulder.

“Oh, right, the whore.” I remembered his rude and disgusting comment about a certain sexual act in Arizona before the conversation got too personal for comfort.

“Actually, that was a rare moment. It had been a while and I was in more of a physical need than an emotional need. Don’t think poorly of all whores Barbie. Ginger is a professional, and takes her job very seriously. All the girls do.” Just because I don’t sleep with the paid ladies, doesn’t mean I don’t respect what they do.

“I just can’t imagine the diseases.”

“No diseases. Stacy is their Madam, she makes sure they use protection and get checked out by a doctor once a month, or whatever it is. I don’t exactly know the details, but I know Stacy runs a tight ship. They are very attractive and well kept ladies. The only reason I gave in to Ginger was because she’d been flirting with me for the last week. Everyone knows I don’t sleep with the ladies of the night, so I guess she saw it as a challenge. I guess we both won.” He explained rather easily.

“I’m not sure how to reply to that.”

“Then don’t. You asked, so I answered. I don’t have time to date Barbie. It’s been almost three years since my last serious relationship, that’s a long time for a man.” He hinted.

“I honestly wouldn’t know, but I suppose for a man that is a long time. I apologize for misjudging you.”