You Can't Choose Love (8 page)

BACKYARD ABDUCTION

Caroline Lake

Backyard Abduction

Copyright 2016 by Caroline Lake

First electronic publication: July 2016

All rights are reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced
in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of
brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. The unauthorized
reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal.

NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR:

This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and
incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used
fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to person,
living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely
coincidental.

Warning: Due to mature subject matter, such as explicit sexual situations
and coarse language, this story is not suitable for anyone under the age of 18.
All sexually active characters in this work are 18 years of age or older, and
all acts of a sexual nature are consensual.

           
The wind howls. A porch-screen door slams over and over. Rain falls in sheets
as lightning illuminates the pealed green painted exterior of the old farm
house. Upstairs, 23-year-old Ashton Alexander cuddles up under a thick old
quilt while getting lost in her favorite book. A romance novel about a tall
quiet cowboy who sweeps a northern socialite off her feet. The novel is growing
worn with dog-eared pages. Glistening abs seen through a cowboy’s unbuttoned
shirt splash the front cover.

           
“Lucius ripped off her lacey bodice, revealing her heat flushed bosom. His
weathered worn lips kissed roughly down her silky curves. She craved for him to
be inside her.” Ashton bites her lip after quietly whispering every word of the
book. She’s never had much luck with the opposite sex, or people in general.

Nightly she finds
herself living vicariously through her guilty pleasures: damsels in distress,
knights in shining armor and sexy bad-boys-turned-good, to name a few.

Her thick red hair is
pulled behind her reading glasses into a makeshift ponytail. She rubs her
fingers slowly over the nape of her neck. Her imagination plays out the page
turning foreplay in her books. She yearns for a man to take her like that.

           
“The once sweet socialite kneels down and undoes the rugged cowboy’s six
shooter and chaps only to reveal his…”

           
KNOCK. KNOCK. KNOCK.  Startled, Ashton almost jumps out of her covers. She
hides her book in a frenzy and pulls the covers around her.

“What is it?” Ashton
says twice, the first time barely being able to get out until she cleared her
throat.

           
“It’s Autumn Spirit, Pop says she’s ready to give birth” Faith, Ashton’s
slightly younger sister, yells from the other side of her door. 

           
“Okay, okay… Hold your horses,” Ashton says, cracking herself
up.        “Ha ha, not funny,” Faith says
while turning the door handle. “Why’s the door locked, anyway?”

           
Ashton looks over at her romance book wedged in the side of the bed and yells
to the door, “Something about nosey little sisters would be my guess.”

She pulls the quilt off of her and places her
reading glasses on the large wooden dresser next to her bed.  Ashton,
wearing only a t-shirt and panties, looks for jeans and a hoodie.

Faith keeps knocking
to playfully agitate Ashton. Ashton puts on her hoodie and glances out her
window, overlooking the stable. Lightning strikes in the distance outlining the
structure in the black of night. The rain hasn’t let up.  She hears Faith
knock again and quickly grabs another hoodie. She opens the door to Faith in
mid knock and throws a hoodie at her shocked face.

“You’re helping.”

           
“But hey… I don’t know a thing about… It’s raining out there.”

Faith pleads with Ashton, who runs past her down
the stairs.

 “It’s not my responsibility”

           
Ashton stops at the bottom of the stairs and jerks a look back at Faith. “Well,
today it is.”

Ashton heads to the
front entryway. She grabs her boots and puts them on. Trench coats, jackets,
trucker hats and cowboy hats hang from various coat racks by the door. The
outside screen continues to slam from the wind.

Faith makes it down
the stairs in her purple t-shirt and slippers, still holding the hoodie Ashton
threw at her. Her hair is blonde and frazzled from the drying.

“I’ll help out under
one condition.”

“Okay, I’m all ears,”
Ashton reluctantly says, while putting on a trench coat.

“You go out with me
tomorrow, no questions asked!”

“Fine.”

Ashton rolls her eyes
and slides some boots to Faith.

 “Let’s go help
Pops.”

A white, spotted black
mare exhaustively stares at Ashton while she combs her mane. Autumn Spirit has
been ready for birth for weeks. It’s been a long pregnancy even for a horse,
and Ashton is glad it’s finally time. The weather wasn’t helping, though. Hours
earlier, Ashton had to use all her tricks and energy to calm Autumn from the
outside thunder. Faith didn’t last as long. She’s passed out sitting on a bale
of hay in the next stall. Ashton’s tired, but her animals are the only thing
she loves more than her books.

“It’s okay, Autumn,
it’s okay. You’re going to be a mama, soon.”

Ashton kisses the mare
on the nose.

 “I bet your baby
is going to a free spirit like you.”

The barn door slams
open. Ashton’s father plows in and labors to shut the door against the
screeching elements. The door closes and with it the howling wind and cold
breeze follows. He walks over to a wooden stool under a hanging lantern and
undoes his trench coat with one hand. He reaches into an inside pocket to a
grab a thermos with the same hand.  Ashton’s father is a man with little
emotion, despite his constant frown. He’s worked his farm his whole life, but
after a tractor accident he’s had to reluctantly step back his role. He’ll be
cursed for the remainder of his years with a gimp hand and a stiff walk. He
motions the thermos to Ashton.

“It’s warm, Darlin.
Where’s Faith?”

Ashton motions her
head to the nearby stall. “I guess I shouldn’t have expected too much more.”

“Well, honestly I’m
surprised you got her out here.”

“True. Though, I may
have sold my soul to do it. We’ll see tomorrow night I guess.”

“Well, don’t be too
hard on her.  She’s just not like you, Ashton. Heck, she’s not really like
any of us. Between you and me, if I didn’t see her come from your ma myself,
I’d swear she’s adopted.”

“Yeah,” Ashton laughs,
then turns serious as she continues to comb Autumn. “I miss mama.”

“I do too, kiddo. I
miss a lot of things.” Ashton’s father looks down at his useless hand. “But I
miss her the most.”

           
“I love hearing how ya’ll met. At the Drive in. You spillin your drink all over
her and her date. And you getting decked. What I would have given to be there.”

           
“Yeah, your ma was always a sucker for taken care of wounded animals.”

           
“So that’s where I get it from.” Ashton pats Autumn gently.

Ashton’s dad maneuvers
the thermos open and pours the steaming drink into its cup lid. “I called the
vet. If the storm clears up, he’ll head out in the mornin”

           
“Don’t know if she’ll last that long.”

           
“So, Faith is making you get out tomorrow. That’s good Ashton. I want you to
get out.” He brings Ashton the warm drink.” You shouldn’t be stuck here your
whole life with this old man.”

           
Ashton takes a sip of the cup from her dad.  “Water!”

           
“No, it’s hot chocolate, sweetie”

           
“No, Autumn’s water broke.” Ashton puts her cup down and hollers for Faith. The
horse whinnies and starts to sway back and forth. Ashton tightens the horse’s
rein against the nearby post.

Faith wakes up with a rush of energy.

“What’s going on?”

Ashton grabs her rubber gloves.

“Time to deliver a foal.”

An aged, white Chevy barrels
down winding dark country roads. Mud from the truck’s wheels fling past its
slightly open windows. Country Rock music blares from inside.  Faith
barely pays attention to the road as she applies lipstick on pouty lips through
the reflections of a bedazzled visor mirror. She mostly steers with her knees,
much to the horror of Ashton, her red-headed best friend of the same age,
sitting shotgun. Ashton wears her emotions on her face. She’s always been
nervous by Faith’s driving, and even more nervous about their destination -
“Make-Out Lake.”

In an attempt to
distract herself from what feels like impending doom, Ashton turns the radio
down and tries to figure out what Faith is getting them into. “You know I’m not
a fan of your surprises.”

 “Well, big sis,
as much as I loved seeing Autumn’s little filly being brought into this world,
(I’ll have to burn all those clothes, by the way) so you owe me.”

“Whatever, you slept
through half of it. I should be at the stable right now. That’s gotta be more important
than what this is.”

Faith blots her lips,
puts away the lipstick and gives Ashton a mischievous grin.

 Ashton presses
further. “Let me guess, boys from the other side of the river and
beer?”  

“Don’t act like that’s
a bad thing. Better than you sitting at home reading one of those worn out
romance novels you love so much.”

“God forbid you pick
up a book. Can’t stay out too late, anyway…have to prepare our stock for the
State Fair. Besides, the boys around here are so lame.”

“Even Bobby Darren?” Faith
teases, knowing he’s Ashton’s biggest crush.

“Well, he’s alright.
Is he going to be there?”

“It’s Danny’s, his
brother’s birthday. He’ll be there, and I’m sure the usual bunch of
troublemakers.”

Ashton can’t contain
her smile as she looks out the window staring at the stars. She’s always liked
Bobby - high school quarterback, a disarming smile and soft black hair she’d
love to run her fingers through. She always acted uninterested, but Faith knew
her too well and would catch her staring at him on the sidelines during the
games and at practices. She especially took notice whenever he took his shirt
off, which he always seemed to do during practices. Good thing for Ashton the
bleachers were her favorite place to read from. Faith didn’t mind the bleachers
too much, either.  For her, it was under the bleachers that held her
favorite hobby.

“Sex!” blurts out
Faith.

“What?” Ashton snaps
out of day dreaming about Bobby.

“When’s the last time
you got laid, anyway?”

“Geez, Faith! I’m not
like you. I don’t kiss and tell.”

“Well, I hope you
shaved and didn’t wear your granny panties tonight.”

“You know you don’t
have to say everything you think.” Ashton blushes and shakes her head in
disbelief.

“You know that’s why
you love me.” Faith jokes, as she shifts gears and starts to bring the truck
onto the lake road.

Thousands of stars
reflect over the large black lake. The smell of burning embers permeate the air
as a bonfire glows in the distance. Laughter and music echo through the trees
and over the water. As Faith and Ashton pull closer they see a group of guys
roughhousing and girls watching from nearby. Faith pulls her Chevy next to a
collection of big-wheeled trucks and comes to a stop. 

Faith reaches into the
glove compartment past Ashton and pulls out a leather-bound flask of
alcohol.  She takes a swig and hands it to Ashton. Ashton doesn’t like
parties, doesn’t like boys showing off and doesn’t like pretending to be
someone she isn’t. But she hates saying no to Faith even more, so she takes the
flask and reluctantly takes a sip. She chokes as it burns her throat. “What is
this, gasoline?!”

“It’s Daddy’s
moonshine, but don’t tell. So, you ready to get your flirt on? Here’s your
chance to let Bobby know you exist.”

“I’m just here for the
ride. I don’t have any expectations.”

“Right,” Faith says
with disbelief as she gets out of the truck. “Well, Debbie Wilson has been
broken up with Bobby for months now, so you have a chance.”

Ashton can see Bobby
through a slit between truck windows. He is sitting in front of the bonfire.
The flames glow around his chiseled t-shirt covered physique, which seem to
have become only more defined since high school.

Faith, wearing a tank
top and daisy dukes, opens Ashton’s door and pulls out the dazed Ashton, who
can’t take her eyes off of Bobby. She looks Ashton up and down and sighs.
Ashton shrugs and asks, “What?” Faith ignores her and starts unbuttoning
Ashton’s plaid shirt. She ties its shirt tails into a bow making a make-shift
tank top. She pulls down her shorts, just a little, to expose more of her
midsection. She then unbuttons the top to give Ashton more cleavage. After
jostling with Ashton’s hair she exclaims, “Perfect…more slutty.” They head to
the group around the bonfire.

 “The
Forty…thirty…the twenty…touchdown!!! The crowd goes wild!!!” Bobby jokingly
reenacts a championship high school game for the gathering of girls and guys.

“That was making up
for the first quarter when Neederman couldn’t hike you the ball for the life of
him,” laughs a jock friend nearby. The crowd laughs.

“That’s right,
Neederman. I totally forgot about..” Bobby’s thought is interrupted once he
sees Ashton coming his way.

“Hey, guys,” Faith
yells as her and Ashton move up the sand to the bonfire. The guys shout back to
Faith with excitement.

“Oh no, trouble is
here,” says Teddy, a blonde guy in the group wearing a rock and roll shirt.

“You remember Ashton?
She went to school with us,” Faith says to Bobby, who doesn’t remember Ashton,
but wishes he did.

“Oh yeah, of course!
Thanks for coming. We got drinks over there. You know the guys: Willie, Teddy,
Bronk and my brother and birthday boy, Danny. Then there’s Shelly and Allie
from the good ole’ days, too,” Bobby belts out, trying to be overly hospitable
to Ashton, who’s caught his eye.

Faith yells, “Happy
Birthday” to Danny and heads over to Teddy, leaving Ashton by herself. Ashton
tries to keep her anxiety from going through the roof. Parties and gatherings
weren’t her thing. She smiles nervously at her crush. Bobby offers her a drink
from a nearby cooler.

“This is exactly what
I need right now - a little liquid courage,” she thinks to herself. Ashton
takes a liquor tea mix and Bobby pulls out a cold beer for himself.

Music is turned up
from a nearby truck. The group dispels into smaller groups and a few couples
pair off. Embers from the bonfire dance in the air. Faith and Teddy have
disappeared to the bed of his truck, and Ashton finds herself sitting on a log
next to Bobby Darren, laughing and smiling at just about everything he
says.  Bobby’s brother, Danny, is on the other side of the bonfire,
talking about trucks with a few friends.

“So what are you up to
nowadays?” Ashton asks to keep the conversation going. “Guess life’s a little
different when you’re not winning titles.”

“Yeah, have to work a
little harder now, I guess. When I broke my arm, that was kind of the end of
everything I had in mind for my future. “

“That’s right. Sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it.
Danny says it was the best thing for my ego. Apparently, my head was getting
too big.” Bobby starts to talk louder for Danny to hear. Danny smiles from a
distance, sensing he’s being talked about. “So what about you?”

“Just working on the
family ranch, helping with the animals, preparing for the State Fair this
weekend. I keep meaning to leave the farm and do something else. I guess I
lacked the ambition to do much else.  I want to, but I like animals. It’s
the only life form I really understand,” Ashton rattles out. She tends to talk
a lot when she’s nervous.

Bobby smirks as he
scoots closer to Ashton. “So, no luck with us humans, I guess? No boyfriend?”

“Not so much,” Ashton
takes a quick drink. She’s never been this close to Bobby, at least not in real
life. Plenty of times she’s fantasized about his hands running through her
hair. She’s salivated over the idea of pressing her hands on his hardened
chest. She’s dreamt about devouring his lips.

           
“Really, I doubt that. I bet you have to beat the guys away.” Bobby brushes
Ashton’s hair from her face and behind her exposed neck. Her body tingles with
anticipation. He can’t help but glance down at her body, noticing her exposed
cleavage. Even Ashton had to admit Faith’s quick wardrobe fix made her look
sexy. His lips get closer to her as he talks. “I think I remember you watching
me from the stands during practice.”

           
“Uh, hm. Talk about EGO. I may have glanced over while reading,” Ashton fumbles
over her words as she watches Bobby move his firm hand over her exposed leg.
Bobby leans in to kiss Ashton when…

           
HONK! HONK! A red Corvette blares its horns from across the lake.  Bobby
looks up and shakes his head in disbelief. “Sorry, Ashton.”

           
“What? What’s wrong?” Ashton beckoned in frustration. She was so close to a
kiss from Bobby. 

           
“It’s Debbie,” Yells Danny who’s excited to see another person arrive at his
birthday celebration.

           
“It’s my Ex. She’s always about the drama. Let me talk with her. I’ll be right
back.” Bobby kisses her on the cheek and walks away.

           
Ashton watches Bobby walk over to the Corvette that pulled up behind the
trucks. Ashton grabs another drink. She looks around and feels alone. Just
about everyone else has paired up and left into make-shift tents, truck beds,
sleeping bags and the corners of the woods. She glances over at the truck she
saw Faith go over to and sees it shaking up and down. Ashton shakes her head in
disbelief.

           
“Story of my life,” Ashton thinks to herself. She looks up at the night sky and
sees a shooting a star. She’d make a wish on it, but didn’t see the point. It
doesn’t look like luck would be on her side her tonight, either. She decides to
spy on Bobby to see what’s taking so long.

           
Ashton slowly creeps toward where she thought Bobby went. She didn’t know what
to expect, as she walked back. Different scenarios played through her head. The
one she liked most was Bobby telling Debbie that he found someone else and
ended with his ex driving off. What she saw was much worse.

Bobby’s pants were
around his ankles, and Debbie was passionately moaning on the hood of her car.
Ashton felt a mix of betrayal and curiosity. Her heart ached, but she was so
aroused seeing Bobby’s muscular thighs thrusting into Debbie. She couldn’t help
but stare. She had to force herself to look away. She quickly made her way back
to the log. She pulled back a whimper and held back her tears. Danny watches
from nearby and pretends not to notice. He smiles and looks away.  As she
started feeling sorry for herself, a fleeting thought raced through her mind.
How about Danny?

Danny wasn’t Bobby. He
didn’t have the ruggedness or quarterback charm, but he was sweet. Ashton was
sexually frustrated and a little tipsy. At this moment, any man would do for
her. She was just craving a soft human touch. She wanted to be lusted, seduced,
devoured… She’d even settle for a half-decent kiss. She talked herself into
giving herself to Danny. After all, it was Danny’s birthday. And no one else was
around at this point.

The fire had dwindled
down and Danny was just enjoying the music. “Maybe it won’t be so bad,” she
thought to herself. It’s been awhile since she’s been with anyone. She makes
her way to Danny, who’s smiling and very drunk. She leans into kiss him and…

“Oh my god!” Ashton
shrieks as Danny pukes all over her.

           
The Chevy door slams. Keys are pulled from the visor. The ignition starts, and
Ashton takes off without Faith. She’d find her own way home, and Ashton had
enough.