Just as Stubborn Page 9

  “Son of a bitch!” he hollered. “There it is!”

  He struck the flooded pavement like he was on a mission. I watched him disappear around the front of his Ford where it stood abandoned on the side of the lot, propped up on one side.

  Caleb grabbed my hand again, pulled me under the shelter and shouted, “This isn’t gonna be pretty.” He didn’t let go.

  “Why?” I yelled above the sound of rain hammering the roof. Somehow I managed to hear Gabe swear through the chaos.

  Caleb batted his lashes. “Now’s your chance to run away with me, legs. It’s in your best interest. I know you know why.”

  I didn’t want to address what happened between us in my bed any more than I wanted to deal with Gabe’s stolen truck or his temper. He was going to lose his marbles over the truck.

  “See those pretty rainbows in the puddles by the rear tire? Oil on the ground. It’s all over the place.”

  Caleb and I followed Gabe through a crowd of men in the truck stop lobby who were waiting out the storm. By the time we pushed through the group of whistlers and eyeballs, he was holding his truck keys between his fingers like a weapon. I noticed he had a book in the waistband of his jeans like some guys carry a baseball cap. He set a fist on the counter in the cafeteria.

  “Have you seen a girl, her height? Dark reddish hair?” he asked, his voice full of anger.

  The waitress tipped her chin at me and then examined all of us dripping on her carpet.

  “Why no, sugar. You might want to ask around this place. Some of the fellas would take better notice of a girl than I would. Can I get y’all something? Power’s been out, but we’ve gotten creative back here with just a generator. How about it, sweetheart? You fixin’ for a hot coffee?”

  She addressed Gabe, not me. He must have looked the most pathetic.

  “He really needs to loosen up. Coffee with a shot of bourbon.” Caleb turned his HalRem hat around, leaned sideways into the counter, and grinned at me.

  “Sorry, son. You look too young. You kids work for Halden-Remington?” Her accent sounded strong. “That’s a tough life, boys. You need to go to college, get a degree, or you’ll burn out by thirty. Those pretty looks don’t stand a chance in the oil fields. My nephew rough-necked. Busted his shoulder twice before he was twenty-five.”

  The Halden brothers didn’t flinch. I made an effort to cover my nervous cough. Perhaps I was invisible standing there. Perhaps she enjoyed their pretty looks.

  “You know, you’re right, ma’am,” Caleb told the woman cheekily. “It’s not a good way for us youngins to live.”

  She set a mug of coffee on the counter in front of Gabe. Then she lifted two more from behind the counter and set them down. “Take these over to that empty table. I’ll get you a candle and be right with you.”

  Men were spread out around the dark room eating and playing with their phones. I studied the sea of trucker hats and tried not to make eye contact with the ones who looked up.

  “Did they tell you how long it’s going to take to fix your truck here?” I asked Gabe as he pulled a chair out and dropped into it to mope. He was kind of sexy to watch all helpless and wet and exasperated. Usually his moods annoyed me.

  “Could take a day. I slipped the guy a bill to put a hurry on it. I hope he knows what he’s doing in the dark.”

  “Show her what you found,” Caleb said.

  Gabe sat up and pulled a wad of paper out of his pocket and tossed it at me. I caught it in my lap. The word sorry was written in bubble letters along with a name and an exclamation point dotted with a heart.

  “That was a valuable book,” Gabe grumbled.

  “Mona?” I tried not to laugh. “She wrote you a note on one of your book covers, and her name is Mona? That’s not a girl’s name. Not in this century.”

  “Hey, that was my grandmother’s name. Don’t knock it, legs,” Caleb said. “But what a hoot. The kid drove in four-wheel-drive for what…thirty miles? Overheated the engine. Ruined the transfer case. Stood it on a curb. Then had the audacity to write an apology note. Politeness must run in her family.”

  Gabe hung his head and huffed.

  “It’s no joke. She left the keys in the ignition. Every freaking warning light was on,” he said.

  “I gotta meet this girl. She’s a pisser,” Caleb drawled.

  Gabe crossed his arms over his chest. He didn’t seem to notice that he was drenched to the bone or that I couldn’t help staring at the wet T-shirt that stuck to his torso like paint.

  “I need the ladies room. I’ll be back.”

  Caleb stood and addressed Gabe. “You gonna let her brave the Wild West alone?”

  I didn’t hear Gabe respond as I walked toward the cash register where the mindreading waitress nodded in the direction of a dark hallway. She and I were the only females in the entire building. It wasn’t much different than being in Williston.

  “Take a candle. Watch yourself,” she said.

  I pushed open the bathroom door. There was enough light from a small window to see minor details in the mirror. I pulled my comb out of my back pocket and went to town on my hair.

  “You can take the red hat. What a stud,” a female voice spoke outside the door. “He seems more your speed.”

  “Sure. I’ll take the red hat. You get the black shirt,” said the other voice as the door pushed in. Two women emerged side by side.

  Gabe wore a black shirt, and Caleb wore a red hat. An icky feeling came over me. I combed my snarled hair into a tie while my eyes held amazement at their reflections in the mirror. One of the girls rolled the hem of her top to expose her belly button ring. A tattoo of a panther covered her hip. I almost laughed thinking about the beast that Gabe and I came across on our first sort-of-date. He would get a kick out of her artwork, but I hoped he wouldn’t get a chance to see it.

  The second girl, who looked about my age, stuffed her bra with Kleenex and then teased her hair until it stood on end. That’s when I realized they probably weren’t in the business of driving trucks. My initial thought was correct.

  “What are you eyeballing? You ever seen a gal get gussied up?” The older tattooed woman tipped her head and got in my face. She was at least three inches taller in her heels, and her perfume caused my eyes to water and sting. I hugged myself and gazed at her colorful complexion. The ink on her body was abundant. I had never seen so many wild animals on one person unless I counted my sister’s pajamas.

  “Uh nothing. Just admiring your wildlife,” I mumbled and threw my gaze to the door.

  “Keep those doe eyes of yours away from my fellas, ya hear? This is my territory,” she said to me. Her bangle bracelets jingled. Her voice lapsed into a predatory growl. They both left the bathroom, but their perfume stayed behind.

  “Tell me about it,” the second woman said as she walked out. “These girls just come in here thinking it’s an all-you-can-eat-man-buffet. That preteen in the parking lot snatched my friend out there, the one with the glow-in-the-dark cab. He opened the door, and she climbed right in.”

  I finished scrubbing my hands and pushed the door open with my elbow.

  “It’s my birthday,” I heard Caleb say.

  I found him in the hall with his arm stretched out along the wall. The tattoo queen was in front of him, standing quite close. Close enough to swap her gum with his. Her back was to me, and I rolled my eyes for his benefit. Did he have some kind of girl radar? I was pretty sure he’d need to be hosed down with Lysol.

  “They saw her. Your Mona. She got in a truck with a guy,” I blurted and shuffled past him.

  “Well then, giddy up, legs. You got us a lead,” he called after me.

  The red HalRem cap trailed me into the cafeteria where I spotted Gabe paying for a bag of Styrofoam boxes. The waitress offered a grin from ear to ear as he mumbled something and nodded. He was out the door and climbing into Caleb’s cab before we even reached the lot.

  “Hurry up. The truck-napper left with a teamster heading eas
t. Neon green cab,” Gabe offered. “Shouldn’t be hard to miss. She’s heading home.”

  “We know,” Caleb shared, patted my leg, and turned his HalRem cap backward. “Avery here heard the same.”

  We ate sandwiches as Caleb sped through the rain. He announced we would be in Arkansas in a matter of minutes.

  “Whoa. You see that?” Caleb’s eyes flew around.

  I shrieked, “Watch the road!”

  The truck veered across the lane before Caleb corrected and slammed the brakes.

  “I think that dude behind us just hit an armadillo. Folks aren’t used to rain around here.”

  My neck twisted so fast I whacked Gabe with my wet ponytail. I could make out the taillights on the car that spun out. It looked like it had a white top.

  I’d never seen an armadillo.

  “He’s been riding my tail since we left the stop. Good riddance.” Caleb blew his breath onto my neck on purpose. I tried not to let him affect me.

  “Undercover cop,” Gabe said quietly. “Off duty. He’s held the same speed all along. Woulda pulled us over out of the gate.”

  “Yeah, you’d know all about that,” Caleb said as he took off.

  I studied Gabe’s profile and let my ear fall onto his shoulder. His clothes were drying; the heater vent blasted hot air toward his chest. He didn’t make a move, so I stayed still and watched him breathe. What I really wanted was for him to take my hand. Just sitting beside him, all quiet and pensive, made my stomach ache.

  There was a point I dozed off listening to the rain. The horn woke me out of my daze.

  “You two are lame,” Caleb said. “You missed it.”

  The sound of the horn rung in my ears. I ironed a hand over my hair and rubbed my eyes.

  “Where are we?”

  The highway was bumper to bumper traffic. Were we back in Williston?

  “We crossed the Mighty M-i-s-s-i-s-s-i-p-p-i,” he sung with a twang. “Just as muddy brown as I remember. Gabe’s seen it once or twice when Eli brought us out this way.”

  “Have you been to Graceland?” I asked as we passed underneath a sign that read Elvis Presley Boulevard.

  “That’s why we came here way back, I think. I don’t exactly remember. But Eli was all about Elvis. He dragged us here in a minivan.”

  “It’s not far. See the signs? I could die if I got to go there,” I said.

  “Well, I can’t let you die,” Caleb replied.

  Gabe lifted his head off the window and straightened his backbone against the seat. “We’re here to find the girl. If it was your truck, you wouldn’t be fooling around. I’ll make it up to you later.” He popped open Caleb’s glove box and a pistol poked out from behind the driver’s manual. I held my breath as he glared sideways at Caleb and slammed the glove box tight. “Thought maybe you had some candy hidden away.”

  “You never mind that,” Caleb snapped.

  “Oh, come on. Please, Gabe?” I swung around to look directly in his hazel eyes, trying to pretend I didn’t see the gun—praying I wouldn’t see it again. “We’ll find her. Can’t we just do something fun first? Even if you don’t find her, your truck is being fixed.”

  Caleb elbowed me. “Look who you’re talking to. Find me later when he doesn’t pay up.”

  I nudged his elbow back. He should have known better not to disagree with me. I didn’t know which of us would be in more trouble with Gabe if he found out what happened the previous night, but I pretended it would be Caleb.

  Five

  The silver pickup pulled into a gas station in the middle of Memphis just as a dozen college girls filed off a tour bus. We’d driven six ridiculously long hours since we took off from the cabin in pursuit of Gabe’s truck-napper. I’d been traveling practically nonstop since I left Syracuse.

  “Go fill her up. This trip is on you, little brother. I’ll ask inside if they’ve heard of Red’s,” Caleb said.

  Gabe and I stretched our legs and arms and stood with our faces toward the sun. A break in the clouds made for a welcoming breather from the drizzle that followed us all the way from Texas. When I observed Gabe to see if he noticed the girls, he was staring at me while they were staring at him. Somehow the smallest things he did—or didn’t do—made me feel hopeful.

  “This feels so good. I wish we were laying out on a tropical island doing nothing right now. I bet those girls are all getting a tour of Graceland. I wish we could go,” I said as I watched what looked like a casting call for shiny-haired, Pantene models parading into the store. Caleb marched right after them.

  “He better not dally in there. I gotta get back to my truck as soon as we nab that little punk,” Gabe said. He rammed the fuel nozzle into the gas tank.

  I really didn’t care one bit if Caleb took his time and flirted with every single one of those girls. All I wanted was to be alone with Gabe. Let Caleb have his birthday fun—as long as it wasn’t with me.

  “Caleb said your brother loved Elvis and brought you to Memphis. Did Eli take you guys away a lot?” I had a difficult time wrapping my brain around the fact that Gabe had a third brother who looked just like him—who I’d never get to know.

  “Eli hated the lieutenant. They always had words. He was always trying to get away. Lane’s the only one of us who puts up with my dad. Lane’s so passive it kills me. When I left for boarding school junior year, Eli quit oil and my dad chased him down and dragged him back like he did to me in New York. I don’t know why Eli didn’t keep running. My dad’s got this way of trapping us. I remember something happened that summer. Barrett was at the house when I was packing up.”

  My eyes must have given up my surprise at the mention of the name.

  “Yup. They were buddies, Eli and Hunt, all through high school and then when my—”

  “Your what?” I asked. Was he talking about his mother? He never mentioned her or any of this. Ever.

  “Nothing. They just knew each other from summers in Williston. Far back as I remember the snake was always hanging around. I think Eli was on to Hunt last year, but he still hung out with him. Probably to piss my dad off. He was really good at doing that. I learned from the best.”

  He raised his brows. That’s how I knew witty Gabe was in there somewhere. I made a mental note to get him a mood ring for Christmas.

  The card reader on the pump was jammed, so we walked to the counter inside the store.

  “I should try to call Meggie,” I said from our place in line to pay. Gabe wore his cowboy hat. His hats were as interchangeable as his moods and the weather. Though it didn’t stand out as odd attire where we were traveling—it was different to me. Different good.

  Caleb was nowhere.

  “I left your phone at the cabin. It was on the table,” he said. “Sorry.”

  “Oh no. I meant to ask you.”

  “Why? You expecting a boy from back home to call?”

  “Gabe, how will we know if she has the baby? I better look for a payphone and call your house. I hope your father made it out in the storm. Meggie didn’t want to have the baby in Texas, and I’m sure she doesn’t want to have it at the mansion. My mother had complications with my sister. If she’d been stuck at home, bad things could’ve happened.”

  “Grass don’t grow under the lieutenant’s feet, Av’ry. He got her out. He has his ways.”

  I thought of my little sister and wondered if she was feeling better or if my mother lost it over my ingenious escape. I hoped both were true, but I missed Brianna and I would someday have to face my parents again. I was still waiting for the right moment to tell Gabe why I left New York without telling them.

  “Caleb’s got a phone. They’ll call him,” he said as he waited impatiently and grabbed at a stack of Snickers bars. “I wish they’d hurry up here. The truck-napper’s getting farther away the longer we dawdle.”

  “Where do you think Caleb went?” I asked.

  I watched Gabe swing his eyes around and notice a blonde straggler who swept her hair behind her shoulder.
So much for thinking he didn’t have a wandering eye like his brother. I kinda didn’t blame him. The girl was glamorous.

  “I’m going to look for a phone,” I said at his side. When he didn’t take his eyes off the girl, a rush of irritation knocked me. “Can I borrow some quarters?”

  Gabe straightened up but didn’t answer me.

  “Gabe,” I said loudly.

  He turned and scowled. “What?”

  “Can I borrow some change to call Meggie?”

  His hands were full of candy. He jerked his chin at his jeans. “Help yourself,” he said.

  I rammed a hand into his pocket and pulled out three guitar picks and three quarters. I had no idea how much a call cost to Texas or anywhere for that matter. In the corner of my eye, I spotted him glancing back at the girl. She waved and walked out.

  “Get a good look, cowboy?” I slapped his guitar picks on the counter in front of him and started to follow her out.

  Gabe dropped the Snickers and grabbed my wrist. “Hey. What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Like you don’t know, Caleb…I mean Gabe.” I yanked out of his grip and left him to ponder my deliberate faux pas.

  The girls shuffled onto the idling bus as I explored the parking lot, looking for a phone. I felt the rain before it even left the clouds. A downpour was inevitable. My leg ached.

  Was Gabe really interested in the pretty girl? I knew how boys worked, but he was always so behaved. He wasn’t at all like Caleb. At least, I hoped he wasn’t.

  I found a phone booth on the side of the building. It was a good thing I’d memorized Gabe’s home number in Benjamin. I didn’t do it because I ever called him in Texas. I did it because I wanted to know everything about him. I wanted to know every detail of every minute he ever lived. Until I caught him eyeballing that beauty queen.

  Nobody answered at the mansion. I tapped my head on the wall in the tiny cubicle and listened to a bus horn honk.

  “Any luck?” Gabe asked as I caught up to him at the truck still feeling the sting of our last exchange.