Joshua_The Whitfield Rancher_Erotic Tiger Shapeshifter Romance Page 11

  “I just let her know that I found you.” She told him she wasn’t missing. “I just wanted to come by and see what you were up to.”

  “You did not. Don’t lie to me again. You came by to see if you could take me away and make Carter do things for you. Well, it won’t work this time. Carter is her own person, and if she doesn’t want to go someplace with you, then no matter who you have in your clutches, she won’t go.” He was embarrassed at how loud she’d been and looked around. “Don’t worry, Daddy dearest, the entire town cares about Carter and me, so you’ll have to go through all of them to get me anyplace. Now, do you want to order or not?”

  He ordered the first thing he saw on the menu, then she walked away. Lee wasn’t sure what to think about this version of Rachel. She used to be so timid and kind. That’s why they thought it would be easy to take her and then get Carter. It didn’t look like that was going to work.

  Hazel messaged him back, telling him to take her. So instead of going over the entire thing with her that he and Rachel had talked about, he called her. After telling her what she’d said and her attitude toward him—hostile, Lee told her—she told him that it wasn’t right.

  “I know. It’s like she’s this different person than we knew from before.” Hazel asked him what she was doing in the restaurant. “She’s waiting tables. And doing a good job of it too. Provided that she doesn’t dump my meal on me when it comes back.”

  “I wish I was there right now, but I will be in a few minutes. Order me whatever you’re having.” Since he didn’t know, he told her that he’d get her the special. “Oh, I’ve not had meatloaf in ages. Yes, that’s good. I should be there in about five or so minutes.”

  When Rachel brought him the bowl of cole slaw, he told her that Hazel wanted the blue plate. Without a word she walked away, leaving his glass of water behind with his rolls and slaw. After his first bite, he knew that he had died and gone to heaven. It was the best slaw that he’d ever eaten.

  By the time Hazel joined him at the table, he’d gotten a glass of tea as well as some more of the rolls that were brought. Hazel’s green salad was put down, and Rachel asked her if she wanted tea or coffee.

  “You know I don’t drink coffee. My goodness, you’d think you don’t know me.” Rachel said that she didn’t any more. “Yes, you do. I’m your mother. I know that it’s been a long time, but I know things about you too. You used to be so sweet all the time.”

  “I grew up when you had my sister arrested for a crime that she didn’t commit. You’ll be happy to know that the police are aware of what went down and are currently looking for you. They’re in no hurry, mind you—they have bigger fish to fry.” She moved away from the table when one of the other people eating called for her.

  “She sure has a terrible way about her. Carter must have told her that we did the robbery or something. That would be the only way she’d know that the police are looking for us.” Lee asked her if she was going to eat her rolls. “Yes, I am. You can’t just fill up on rolls, Lee. While we don’t know if the food is good here or not, which I’m thinking not, then we’ll have more rolls. But you can’t eat them all.”

  “I think the food will be terrific. And I’m betting that the dressing on your salad is homemade too. Nothing this good comes from a can.” He snatched another roll and buttered it with the creamy mixture that was in a cold crock. “She told me that she’s not going to cooperate when we take her. Do you suppose that she’ll give us a hard time?”

  “Yes. And I don’t care. We’ll kill her where she stands if she’s too much trouble.” He finished off his roll when the platters came. And they were platters, not little round plates like he had expected. “Holy shit, Hazel, this is a lot of food. I want to try yours and you can have some of mine.”

  He had what the menu called baked steak and taters. When Rachel had returned to ask him what sort of vegetable he wanted with his dinner, he’d asked her again what he was having. There was slices of pot roast that looked tender enough to cut with his fork. Green beans with chunks of ham in them. Mashed potatoes that were smothered in dark brown gravy with mushrooms in it. And a side of lima beans too. He looked at Hazel’s platter.

  There were three big thick slices of the prettiest meatloaf that he’d ever seen. And it had a tomato sauce crust on the top just like he loved it. She had green beans too, and the fluffiest white mashed potatoes. They looked like puffs of clouds on her plate. Before he could reach over and taste her dinner, she was already reaching for his.

  They both moaned at the same time. Christ, this was better than good, it was died and gone to heaven good. As they kept sharing each other’s food, Rachel set another basket of rolls by their plates and refilled both their drinks. He might have spoken to her again, tried to be friendly so that she’d be all right with going with them when they needed her, but his mouth was full. When he couldn’t eat any more, he leaned back on the seat and thought about unbuttoning his pants. They’d gotten uncomfortably tight on him, and he was aching a little.

  “Lee, I stand corrected. This was far and away the best meal I’ve had in a very long time. I mean, even the portions were a good size. Please tell me that this didn’t just cost us an arm and a leg.” He showed her the bill that had shown up when the food had. “Six dollars and ninety-nine cents for yours, and five ninety-nine for mine? That can’t be right. And they didn’t charge us for the extra rolls either. You think Rachel is giving us a discount? That would be really nice to know. We can make it back here when she’s working for the next couple of days.”

  “She didn’t give us a discount. That’s what the menu said they cost.” He pulled the one out behind the ketchup and showed her. “See, the blue plate special—that’s what you got—is cheaper by a buck when it’s the special, I guess. And refills on drinks and rolls are free, it says here.”

  Rachel came back, and they tried very hard not to look impressed. She took away their empty plates and asked them if they wanted pie. Before he could tell her no, they were much too full, she started naming them off.

  “We have peach cobbler and apple dumplings. There is lemon meringue as well as chocolate. Cherry pie, rhubarb pie, strawberry pie that is made with her frozen strawberries, as well as blackberry and blueberry pie.” Hazel asked her what she meant by using her frozen strawberries. “The others are made right here with everything fresh. The strawberries are from her garden in the spring, and she froze them to use in pies when they were no longer in season. Which is it you want?”

  “I want peach cobbler with ice cream.” Rachel asked him if he wanted it warmed up a bit. “Yes, I’d love that. Thanks.”

  Hazel looked at him like he was insane, but she ordered too. “Lemon meringue for me, and I’ll have a cup of tea with the bag on the side. I don’t want it too strong.”

  When Rachel walked away, he looked around. There were perhaps twenty or so people in the place, and they all seemed to be good-natured people. And, they all seemed to like Rachel. One man, who was running the register, seemed to know everyone, and talked to them while they were checking out like he was their long-lost friend. He was the one that brought Hazel her tea.

  “You folks should just climb on back in your car and give up this crap you have going on with them girls of yours. I’ve kinda taken a shine to them, and I’ll be powerful upset if you harm either of them.” He smiled the entire time he was telling them to get the hell out of his town; it was sort of disconcerting to Lee. “Them is nice young women, and one of them is my granddaughter-in-law. You don’t want to mess with her family. They’ll kill you where you stand.”

  He just walked away after telling them he hoped they had a nice meal. Hazel was looking at him like he felt right now—a bit shocked, of course, but also a little afraid, he didn’t mind thinking. What the hell did they tell these people, anyway, to have them treating them like this? Lee asked Hazel what she thought about it all.

  “I don’t care what they’re saying about us so long as we can get Cart
er where we want her. Tomorrow after we have breakfast here, we’ll ask Rachel to have a nice meal with us, to get caught up on things. We’ll take her back to our hotel, have her call Carter and tell her that we have her, and be done with this place.” He asked her if she thought that was going to work. “Yes, I do. They both are going to have to learn that we’re their bosses, and what we say goes. And we are running out of time here. Those men are going to be here tomorrow night to take their delivery and pay us. We have to move this along now.”

  He told her that he knew that but was worried that everyone seemed to know what they were doing here. And it wasn’t like they’d been quiet, either, when talking to Rachel. Hazel told him not to worry about it. This town was small, and small towns were always in other people’s business. And if they thought to get in their way, they’d take them out if they tried anything with them.

  “We’re in the right here, Lee, you know that. Once we have our money, they’ll never hear from us again.” He said that was true. “And I don’t know about you, but I’m looking forward to settling down in my own home with my own things, and not worrying about anything but us.”

  For some reason he didn’t think it was going to be that easy. Sure, they could tell Rachel to go with them to the hotel and have her call Carter, but he was reasonably sure that she’d not do it easily. And Carter was going to be hostile toward them too. It bore thinking about a secondary plan. Just in case this one fell apart, like he thought perhaps it would.

  Chapter 9

  Carter sat at the booth and tried to enjoy her breakfast with Josh. They’d been there for the last thirty minutes just waiting for her parents. She was sort of sick to her stomach right now, and was sure she was going to have to go and throw up again. Instead of letting it get to her again, she sipped her tea.

  Tea. She was drinking tea now. Not that it wasn’t good, because it was, but she hated having someone make a pot for her when she went to their house. Most of the time she just drank water so they’d not, but she wanted something to settle her belly, and the tea had done it at home before they left.

  Dylan was waiting tables with Rachel. She wasn’t as good at it as her sister was, but people liked her so that worked out well. Ollie was running the register and having a good time. The man could talk your arm off if he had a captive audience. He was also having a couple of biscuits while he worked. This was after he’d eaten a huge breakfast before the place opened.

  She laughed when he turned and winked at her—the man was about the cutest and sweetest man she had ever met. Besides Josh, that was. When he started talking about the weather, she wondered how many ways a person could say it was blustery out without repeating themselves. Ollie was doing a fine job of it so far.

  Carter knew that her parents were in town. That they were parking their car around back of the restaurant. Their plan was to get Rachel outside, then knock her out. If she screamed or did anything that would draw attention to them, they’d simply kill her. Carter could not believe that they were so cold.

  “Blake said that they just parked by the dumpster around back. You know that, correct?” Carter nodded at Josh, and he took her hand into his. “This is going to work, love. It was just our good fortune that Dylan was able to track down the guy that is going to buy you from them. And with the email that she sent him, he’ll be showing up here too.”

  “Yes, I know. And Adrian is going to tell them that the gig is up, and that the police and agents are here to talk to them. I know that’s what we hope will happen, but I know that you understand that anything could and will go wrong.” He squeezed her hand and she saw them come in the door. “They’re here. And good Christ, they sure have gotten old.”

  Josh burst out laughing, which brought her parents’ attention to them. They looked at them both, but didn’t seem to recognize Carter. That’s what Dylan was hoping for. After ten years without seeing her, they’d be surprised by her being there with Rachel. When they were seated in Rachel’s section, all was going according to plan. But Carter was going to be ready, just in the event that things started to not go the way that they wanted them to go.

  When their order was taken, Rachel moved away from them. She could feel their disappointment at her not cooperating, and they were going to have to work a bit harder, Carter thought. Just as they were being served their breakfast, a stranger came into the diner and sat alone in one of the booths. He was talking to Ollie when her father grabbed Rachel’s arm.

  “Now see here, I just want to have a nice long talk with you.” Everyone in the diner turned to look at her father while he spoke in hissed tones to Rachel. “Come now, we’ve not seen you in years, the least you can do is have a meal with us.”

  “I told you no. Now, I’d like for you to unhand me before I knock the shit out of you. I’m not a kid anymore, and I won’t put up with your shit.”

  Rachel jerked from their dad and moved away. While she waited on other customers, she was as polite as she’d ever been.

  “It’s time.”

  She stood up after telling Josh she had this. Moving toward her parents, she saw the stranger do the same. Reaching into his mind, she paused and waited for him to reach her parents and sit down. Carter moved to sit with Josh’s grandda who’d returned to the counter.

  He’s the man that they’re selling me to. He’s pissed off that they’re making such a scene in here, when all he wants to do is gather his goods—I’m guessing he means me—and then go. Josh asked her what his plan was. Josh, tell your family not to move.

  The man stood up then, his gun out where everyone could see it. “Everyone, this is just a friendly exchange of goods here, and I don’t want any trouble.” He turned then and shot both her mother and father in the head before continuing. “Change of plans. Rachel, you’re to come with me.”

  “It’s me you want.” She couldn’t let her sister be taken. Not only would she not survive with him any more than she would have her parents, but Carter thought she was better able to handle the man. “I’m Carter. The person you want to take with you.”

  “Well, aren’t you just helpful.” He shot Rachel then, and when she fell back, Josh caught her. “Now, you’re going to come with me, all quiet like, and no one is going to try and stop us.”

  Is she okay? Josh said that she was going to be all right. Don’t do anything stupid. Have Dylan go out to the air strip. He has a plane there that he’s going to try and take me away in. There are four men inside waiting for him.

  I don’t want you to go. Please, just take care of him here. She said that there were just too many people. Then I’m going with you. Carter, you’re my mate. I can’t let anything happen to you.

  Nothing will. I promise you, I will be just fine. But he’ll figure out too late that I’m not one to fuck with. He laughed a little. What? You don’t think I can do that?

  “Are you fucking listening to me?” She looked at the man when he grabbed her arm. “I said, let’s go. I don’t have all fucking day.”

  “No, you really don’t. But I’m ready.”

  She walked in front of him as he back stepped to the door. The gun was pointed at her head, but for reasons that she couldn’t explain, Carter wasn’t worried about that. None of the people in the diner moved, and for that she was glad. As soon as they were outside, three other men grabbed her and shoved her in the back of the van that was running and waiting on them.

  “You have no tears for your poor dead parents? They should have known that this deal was going to go sour on them. Stupid people.” As someone else drove she was cuffed in chains and a gag was put over her mouth. Since she wasn’t required to answer anything, she reached beyond the van to talk directly to Dylan.

  You scared the fucking shit out of me. What the hell do you think you’re doing, just going with them like it’s a trip in the fucking zoo? Josh is frantic—your parents are both dead. Sorry, no loss there, I’m guessing. And your sister is shot. She asked her if she was going to be all right. Yes, Josh called
in some extra help, and she’s going to be fine. She might glow in a couple of weeks, but— I’m not done being pissed off at you.

  The people in the diner were going to be killed if I didn’t do something. Dylan told her that was a good call then. Thank you so much. Will she really glow? Never mind. There are four in the van with me, not including the guy with the gun. I’m currently chained up, but I’m not worried about that.

  I’m at the airport now with the troops. There were enough of them there before to take them down should it get nasty, but you said that this was going to make it so that no one is killed, right? She told her just the bad guys. Yes, all right, I can live with that. And until you say so, I’m to wait on you. Are you sure this is going to work?

  Positive. Once we’re at the strip, then I’ll take care of them all. Dylan was still skeptical about the way she wanted to do this. I promise you that no one will be hurt if they do just what you told them. Just let me do my thing and I’ll be all right as well.

  I don’t want you hurt either. I’ve grown kinda attached to you and your weirdness. Just stay all right and I won’t have to shoot you myself. Carter laughed and felt better for it. All right, we’re in position. And his pilot isn’t who he brought. Good idea that, I’ll have to remember that in the future.

  My pleasure. But I’m sure you would have thought of it sooner or later. Dylan told her that she would have just popped him in the back of the head and been done with it. Then what would you have done if the bad guys were all pilots too?

  They wouldn’t have gotten that far, trust me. All right, I see a blue van coming up the road. That you? She said it was. All right. Just remember, we’re here if you need us, and be sure not to get dead. Josh would never forgive me.

  Me either.

  She felt the van stop and the man, she knew his name now, was pointing the gun at her again. After telling Dylan all their names, she got out when he told her to. Things were going just as she had thought they would. And when Reed Hunt put the gun to her head while they unchained her, she looked around the strip.