Tag had just left the ranch house not thirty minutes ago, so the sound of an approaching truck wouldn’t be one of the guys. Emily wouldn’t be out at that time of night unless it was an emergency, and then she’d probably call on her way. The hair on his neck prickled—his sister wouldn’t use the phone if his granny had died or if his parents or older brother was injured. She’d bring the news to him in person, but then he realized that in that case, someone would probably call him first. He’d be the one on the way to comfort her.
He stood up and focused on the noise. Two headlights shone through the darkness, but they weren’t high enough to be from a pickup or low enough to be on the front of Emily’s Mustang. When it got close enough, he recognized the little silver car as Nikki’s. Before she turned off the engine, he’d crossed the yard and opened the door for her. From the dim light in the car, he could see that she’d been crying.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“You said your door was open. I need to talk.” Her words came out one at a time, as if she had trouble getting them past a lump in her throat.
He held out a hand. “Come right in. I’ll put on a pot of coffee.”
She put her hand in his. “Got anything stronger?”
“Part of a jar of apple pie moonshine and half a bottle of what’s probably stale blackberry wine that Emily left in the refrigerator.” He closed the car door and led her into the cabin with Red at his heels.
“Moonshine will be great.”
She sank onto the sofa and kicked off her flip-flops. Red hopped up beside her and laid his head in her lap. Tag went to the cabinet and took down a quart jar of apple pie moonshine and a glass. He carried it to the coffee table and set them down.
“Double shot,” she said as he twisted the cap off the jar. “No, make that a triple.”
“It’s pretty strong, Nikki. You sure?” Tag started to pour.
“Positive.” She waited until the glass he held looked like three fingers before she reached out and picked it up. “I’ve never had this before, but it smells wonderful.”
“How well do you hold your liquor?” He was genuinely worried, a new feeling for him. Before he met Nikki, he didn’t care how much a woman drank.
“Not so well, but tonight I don’t care. I want to be numb.” She took the first sip. “Now this is some good stuff.”
He sat down on the other end of the sofa. “You said you wanted to talk?”
“No, I said I needed to talk. There’s a difference. If I was just lonely and wanted to talk, I’d call you. But I need to get a lot of crap off my mind, and to tell the truth I don’t even know where to begin.”
“Then give me a minute.” He went back to the cabinet and got down another glass. “If it’s going to be a long story, then I’ll join you in a drink. But only one for me in case I have to drive you home.”
Something about this budding friendship seemed comfortable and right. No, it was more than that. After the kisses they’d shared, it was definitely a relationship. With his past, it might be at a standstill for a very long time and then fizzle and he could accept that. He deserved it. But right now it was nice to be needed, not just wanted, in any capacity.
He sat back down and said, “Okay, shoot.”
“It all started with me thinking back over our fishing trip yesterday and how I opened up to you. Don’t know why I did that since…” She took another sip.
“I’m a damn good listener,” he said.
“Probably gets more women in your bed than all those pickup lines you’ve got up your sleeve.” She finally smiled.
“Hey, now. I’ve worked hard on those lines for a long time and sometimes they work, so don’t go knockin’ ’em,” he argued.
“But not as well as when you look deep into a woman’s soul with those sexy blue eyes and listen to what she has to say,” Nikki told him.
“What does your soul want to say to me?” Tag asked.
She set the empty glass on the table. “I’m comfortable with you, Tag. The only other person I’ve ever been able to talk to is Emily. Don’t know if I like you because you’re like a brother, but no, that can’t be it, because I wouldn’t dream of kissing my brother. Anyway, to get on with it. After we talked, I was thinking about it, and Mama’s voice got in my head…You ever have that happen to you?”
He nodded. “All the time. Most of the time it’s my granny’s voice. What did your mama say?”
“She asked me why I’d tell family secrets to a cowboy,” she answered honestly.
“Why not?” he asked.
“She thinks you are too wild for me, but I’m not listening to her, not even when she gets in my head.” She went on to tell him everything her mother had said.
Red jumped off the sofa, scooted across the floor, and stopped at the door. Tag let him outside and returned to sit close enough to Nikki to hug her. “I’m so sorry. That had to be tough, to know that you weren’t ever wanted by one parent and to have the other one desert you.”
“Oh, darlin’, the story isn’t finished yet.” Tears streamed down her cheeks.
Tag jerked a blue bandana from his hip pocket and wiped them away. “It breaks my heart to see you weep like this.”
Between sobs, she told him about the letters and cards and all the money. “He must think that I didn’t want to live with him, and I did, Tag. I would have.”
And if you had, I would have never met you, he thought.
“Where does he live?”
“Just outside Dallas in McKinney, not far from here.”
“Let’s go see him,” Tag said.
“It’s been fifteen years, more than half my life. What would I even say to him?”
“‘Hello, Daddy’ would be a good start,” Tag suggested.
“I work weekends and he works through the week.” She yawned.
Poor girl was mentally exhausted and probably just as tired physically since she’d worked a forty-eight-hour shift.
“If you really want to see him, you’ll make it happen.” Tag went to the bed and got a pillow. “You should stay here tonight. You can have the bed. I’ll take the sofa.”
“No!” she protested. “That moonshine is hitting me hard. I’ll just stretch out here until it all metabolizes.” She took the pillow from him and laid her head on it and was asleep in seconds.
He covered her with the quilt that was draped over the back of the sofa and pulled the rocking chair up close to the coffee table so he could stare as long as he wanted. She looked lighter now that she’d shed that burden she brought with her that evening. And what a load it was. His heart went out to her, and he was amazed at how strong she was, given everything she’d had to deal with in her family.
Dark lashes rested on her cheeks. Equally dark hair fell over one side of her face. One hand rested under the pillow. The other was tucked under the quilt. She looked so damned vulnerable that he wanted to wake her with a kiss and carry her to his bed. Not to have sex but to simply hold her and melt away all that pain.
And that isn’t a bit like you, Taggart Baker, his grandmother said.
He nodded in agreement.
Nikki woke with a start the next morning and saw a note lying next to the jar of moonshine. She reached for it and read: There’s milk in the fridge and cereal in the cabinet. Coffee is already made. It was simply signed with a T.
She sat up and stretched, then padded across the floor in her bare feet to the cabinets. After she’d poured a bowl of Cheerios and added milk, she sat down at the table to eat. She’d just finished when someone knocked on the door. Figuring it was Tag since she hadn’t heard a vehicle approaching, she hurried across the floor and swung the door open.
Cold fear ran through her veins when she looked up into Billy Tom’s menacing eyes. “What are you doing here? Where’s your motorcycle?” She hoped she sounded a lot meaner than she felt.
“Where’s Tag?”
“He’s taking a shower,” she lied. “How did you find this place?”
“I talked to a guy in town, asked where Tag and Hud Baker’s ranch was, and he gave me the directions, then told me that Tag was staying in this place.” He pushed his way into the house, scanned the whole cabin with one look, and then pushed open the bathroom door. His eyes drew down until his dark brows were one solid line, and then he jerked a pistol from his belt and leered at her. “I hate liars. Can’t trust ’em.”
She glared at him, determined not to show fear.
“Not so mouthy now that I’m the one with the gun, are you? Since Tag ain’t here to do what I tell him, I’ll just take his woman. Is that your car out there?”
“No, it’s my mama’s,” she said.
“Well, it’ll do anyway. You’ve got the keys, don’t you?”
She shook her head and he pressed the end of the gun to her temple. “Remember I hate liars.”
“The keys are in the car. Take it.” She stared him right in the eyes without blinking.
“Oh, no, darlin’, me and you, we’re going for a little ride in your mama’s car. If you make a sound or try to warn someone, you are dead. Understand?”
She nodded. Her purse and her pistol were in the passenger seat. If she could get to it, she’d show the big overgrown smartass just how mouthy she could get.
His left hand shot out and he grabbed her arm so tight that it hurt. “A hostage will come in real handy. Besides, it’s been a while since I had a woman to keep my bed warm at night.” He pulled her out the door, leaving it wide open.
“Can’t I at least get my shoes?” she asked. “If I get caught driving barefoot, the police will ask questions.”
“Get them,” Billy Tom said through gritted teeth. “You can get behind that wheel and drive us out of here. And, darlin’, I’ll be right behind you. I can’t miss your heart if I shoot through the backseat.”
“Where are we going?” Nikki reached for her purse the second she was in the car, but Billy Tom grabbed it from her and flung it out the window. “No driver’s license. You’re askin’ for trouble.”
“Don’t get stopped. Not one mile above or below the speed limit. Drive north to Nocona and catch Highway 82 going west,” he said. “We’ll have us a nice little road trip. Maybe if you do what I say, I’ll even tell you stories about Tag and the good old days.”
There was a very good possibility that she’d never see her father if she didn’t do what he said. Life wasn’t fair. She should at least get a chance to explain what had happened to his mail. She started the engine, turned the car around, and then braked. “The gas tank is nearly empty. If you don’t let me get my debit card from my purse, we won’t be going very far. I’ve got less than a quarter tank of gas.”
“Get out and get it.” He stepped out of the car and pointed the gun at her. “If you run, I’ll put a bullet in your back. I can always drive myself if I have to.”
She slowly walked back to where her purse was located, picked it up, and started to unzip the end pocket that held her pistol, but he grabbed it from her. “I’m not stupid, woman. I remember that you keep a gun in your purse.”
He fumbled inside with one hand, brought out her wallet, and then threw the purse on the ground. “Now go back to the car.”
“Can I take my phone?”
“Nope,” he said.
“Can I move my purse so I don’t run over it when we drive off?”
“I’m watching you,” he said.
She picked it up by the strap and carried it off to the side, where she deliberately pretended to stumble and fall over a rock. While she was setting her purse out of the way, she reached inside, grabbed her phone, and since Tag was the last person she’d called, she hit redial. Then she stood up and marched back to the car, yelling the whole way. “Thanks so much for being a jackass, Billy Tom. Where are we going?”
“Don’t you scream at me, woman, or I’ll put you in the trunk and drive myself,” he threatened her again.
“I’d rather ride in there than smell you the whole way,” she shot back.
He chuckled as he got into the backseat again. “I’ll tell you when to make turns. You just obey me like a good little woman until we get there; then maybe I’ll show you what a real rebel is, and it ain’t Tag Baker, honey.”
Nikki gritted her teeth and turned toward Sunset when she left the ranch. Hopefully Tag would get the call and know when she didn’t answer that she was in trouble. It was a crazy world when her first thought in the face of danger was to reach out to Tag rather than hitting her mother’s number.
“Not one mile over the speed limit.” Billy Tom reached around the seat and pulled back her hair with the barrel of the gun. “Tag must’ve meant it when he said he was through with our way of life, fallin’ for your type like he’s done. So I bet he’ll do exactly what we tell him to get you back.”
Nikki held on to the steering wheel with a death grip to keep her hands from shaking. If she got out of this alive and unhurt, she would enroll in a self-defense class as soon as she got home to Bowie. When she reached Nocona, she turned west on Highway 82, just like he said.
She pointed to the left. “We should get some gas if we’re going more than twenty miles. All right if we stop at that station right there?”
“That’s fine, but don’t you try anything funny. I’m hungry. We’ll get some road food while we’re here too.”
She pulled up to the gas pump, picked up her wallet, and slipped her debit card into the slot. When she had filled the tank, Billy Tom got out, slung an arm around her shoulders, and walked her into the station. Either Billy Tom was stupid and didn’t realize that the police could track her payments with the card, or the whole ordeal would be over before they even knew she was gone.
Her skin crawled at his touch and her nose twitched at the rancid odor coming from him. She wanted to kick him in the shins and run, but she could feel the barrel of the gun against her ribs.
“We’ll go to the bathroom while we’re here. If you crawl out a window or run while I’m in the men’s room, when I come out I’ll shoot everyone in the place. That’s a promise, not a threat,” he whispered as he pushed the door open.
“Can I help you?” the young pregnant clerk asked.
“Just need to use the restrooms and get some food,” Nikki said sweetly.
“That’s good,” Billy Tom said from the side of his mouth. “Real good. Be a shame for a mama and baby both to die today.”
She went to the ladies’ room and used the facilities. Then she removed her library card and a pen from her wallet. She wrote West on 82 on the back of the card and stuck it in the corner of the mirror. When she went back out into the store, Billy Tom was covering the counter with potato chips, cookies, fried pies, and a six-pack of beer.
“Y’all must be taking quite a road trip,” the lady said.
“Yep, our very first one together,” Nikki said.
Billy Tom gave her a dirty look. “We’ll have half a dozen of them burritos in your hot food case, too, and half a dozen of them sausage biscuits.”
“Yes, sir.” She got it all out and bagged up. “Anything else?”
“What do you think, darlin’? You want some milk?” Billy Tom kissed her on the cheek.
She fought the desire to wipe her face. “Root beer, please. Bottles not cans. If you’ll get it for me, all this should be rung up by the time you get back.”
“You go get it,” Billy Tom said. “I’ll wait right here for you.”
That squashed the idea that she might get a word with the clerk, but there were ways to slow the trip down. She picked up two six-packs of root beer and set them on top of a case of water.
“My little woman is sure strong.” Billy Tom beamed to the clerk. “And looks like she’s real thirsty too.”
“That apple pie moonshine from last night makes a girl want water.” Nikki set everything on the counter and took out her credit card.
“I’ll need to see your ID if you’re paying for the beer,” the clerk said.
“That’s sweet but I’m twenty-nine years old,” Nikki told her, and flipped her wallet around so the lady could see her ID.
“Nikita Colleen. What a pretty name. Irish?” the woman asked.
“That’s what my mama Wilma tells me.” Nikki nodded. “As far as I know, we don’t have any Irish in us. Go figure why people name their kids what they do.”
“My mama got my name Jenny from a character in a book,” she said. “If you’ll sign this, you can be on your way, Miz Nikita.”
Nikki signed her name with a flourish on the receipt. Billy Tom had picked up the water, so she wrote HELP below her name and nodded at Jenny as she picked up the two bags he’d left behind.
Of all the times for the convenience store’s phone to ring—Jenny shoved the sales slip into the cash register without even looking at it. Nikki couldn’t catch a break.
In her car and back on the road, Billy Tom kept the gun in one hand and twisted the cap off a bottle of beer with his teeth. When he spit it on the floor of her car, she grimaced. She was proud of her car. She’d worked hard to save up to buy a decent vehicle and she kept it in pristine condition. She was tempted to slam on the brakes when he tipped up the beer, gulped down half of it, and then burped loudly.
“Want one?” he asked.
“Want me to get drunk and pulled over for speeding? I’m sure the cops would love to get their hands on you, so, yes, hand me a beer,” she answered. “What’d you do anyway?”
“I stole a white pickup and put the license plate I pinched from Tag’s truck on it. Y’all were so much in love you didn’t even suspect that I switched it at the pizzeria. That was a stroke of luck for sure, finding y’all in there like that. I used the truck to steal a load of ephedrine headed for a little meth lab over in East Texas. Then I sold the goods to another meth cooker. Now everyone is going to be looking for your precious Tag. He wouldn’t join us, so we figured he could take the blame for driving the getaway truck.” Billy Tom tossed four bottles of water over into the passenger seat.
“How’d you get to the cabin?” she asked.
His phone rang and he put it on speaker. “Hello, y’all at the hideout?”
“We’re here. Where are you? You should’ve beat us here,” a man answered.
“Stole me another car. Damn one I was driving ran out of gas a mile from the ranch, so I had to walk. All I wanted was for Tag to give me a ride to Mesquite to get my bike and maybe a hundred dollars to get me to my little hideout, but he wasn’t there.”
“Is this damn phone on speaker? I hear road noise.”
Billy Tom burped loudly. “Hell, yeah. I’ve got a gun in one hand and a bottle of beer in the other. Tag’s woman is driving. I figure he’ll buy her back from us.”
“We don’t need that shit. We can divvy up the money we already stole and then lie low for a few months.”
“Tag needs to pay for not goin’ with us,” Billy Tom said.
“You’re crazy.” A different voice laughed. “But I like it. Reckon he’ll cough up five grand?”
“I’m thinkin’ ten might get me a good used motorcycle, and I’ll just leave mine out in Mesquite where I stole the car. Y’all get that money counted out. We’ll be there in a few hours.”
“We already got it in stacks. Damn driver of that ephedrine haul didn’t even know what hit him,” a third guy said. “We’ll see you soon.”
He ended the call, patted her on the shoulder, and then dug into the bag for the sausage biscuits. “Want a biscuit?”
“No, thank you. I’ll just drink water,” she answered. “And, Billy Tom, just so you know, I’m not Tag’s woman.”
“Then what the hell were you doin’ in his cabin this mornin’ or out on a date with him the other night?” He burped again.