Chapter 3
Teller
“You’re doing what?” Tate asked. He sat across from me at the big conference table in the top level of Copper Summit. “Flatlanders?”
My sisters gawked at us. Tenor had his laptop open, but he was as invested in my answer as the rest of them. Just my luck our monthly meeting was the Monday morning after the bachelor auction. No, it wasn’t luck. Wynter had planned it that way.
I pressed my fingertips together. “It’s a fucking mess in there. She probably left it for me.” She should leave it for me. The night of the auction was the first time I had noticed the fatigue etched into her pretty features.
“For fifty grand, she should,” Junie said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. She’d piled the rest in a blue-and-pink bun on top of her head. Apparently, each of her stepdaughters got to choose a color.
Wynter ran a hand over her pale braid. “For fifty grand, I’d make more of a mess.”
Just like me, the whole town had likely peeked through the windows of Flatlanders. The damage Scooter had left behind had far outlasted the man. What had made him rage? Would he have done anything differently if he’d known he was leaving it all behind for Madison?
As for her . . .
When she’d bid on me, I hadn’t believed it. Had she been passionate about the charity? I’d heard her family had been on the receiving end a few times—until her mom had gotten pissed and chewed out Wilna, telling her to stick her canned goods and winter coats “where the sun don’t shine.”
Then Madison had kept bidding, all the way to fifty grand. She’d sat in the back, waiting to see how high it went before jumping in. She had to have known the ruckus it’d create. But she’d had the money, most of it. She’d planned to win me.
Thank fuck Riley hadn’t won. I’d nearly had a coronary when Madison had quit bidding. I’d had no idea if she could read my cues. I’d have kicked in all my retirement to keep from spending a day with Riley.
Perhaps my curiosity about why Madison was bidding had been just as strong. We couldn’t seem to get along, but she’d forked over a tidy fortune that could’ve done a lot for Flatlanders without me.
Of course, I hadn’t gotten much for an answer. Frustrating woman.
“You should’ve seen the bidding war,” Tate said, clasping his hands behind his head and leaning back in his chair. “Riley Grant almost got him.”
Autumn made a growling sound. “I don’t like her.”
“None of us do,” Summer added.
“Her salon is tanking.” Tenor closed the lid of his laptop like he knew we weren’t getting to our meeting agenda for a while. “She called Ruby to ask for free social media tips, then chewed her out when she gave her a quote for consulting.”
“Ugh. I can hear her do it too,” Wynter said, her tone dripping with derision.
Summer smacked her lips. “That woman is always in the thick of trouble.”
“So . . . Madison . . .” Junie cocked her head. “How’s that going to go?”
Tenor snorted.
I glared at him. “Care to speak your mind?”
He spread his hands apart. “Judging from your interactions with her last summer? Everything you say is going to piss her off.”
Everything I did would too, and I’d get to witness that fire blaze across her face. She was a passionate woman, and what if that energy was directed somewhere else— No fucking way was I going there with her. I wasn’t one to waste my time on a dead end. She was attractive, gorgeous if I was honest, but she was also a land mine of emotions, and she was not interested. Besides, the bar was my job, and that was all I had to do with Madison Townsend. “That place was ruined. She’s going to have to gut it.”
“ You’re going to have to gut it,” Tate clarified.
Yep. Me. Would she be there while I was working? Why did I hope she was? “You guys mind covering for me with the ranch?”
“Already talked to Mama,” Tenor said. “Cruz and Lane are back for the month, so they can fill in. How long will it take?”
“I don’t know.” I shrugged. “I could set up card tables, and it’d be just as nice as before.” I didn’t know Madison well, or at all really, but she deserved better than getting left with that.
Tenor shook his head. “It wasn’t that bad.”
Wynter smirked. “Because you finally proclaimed your love for Ruby there. You have a soft spot for it.”
The lovesick look on Tenor’s face made me look away. I was the last single sibling. Tenor’s wedding was next month, then I’d be the only Bailey bachelor. Even Cruz and Lane, honorary Baileys since they were Wynter’s in-laws, would soon be leaving Bourbon Canyon for good.
“Good. Everything’s covered,” I said. “I wish I knew more about the timeline and budget. I don’t know how Mads is going to be about it.”
“She might be a dick if you keep calling her Mads.” Autumn tied her long red hair back and secured it with a band from around her wrist.
“It’s Mad Maddy she hates,” I pointed out.
“Yet you call her that too,” Tenor said.
She fit the name. Madison had a permanent scowl and was hard as a nail. When she broke bad news, she just fucking dropped it on a guy. Hit him right in the face with Your girlfriend is fucking my brother.
As much as I had resented Madison for opening my eyes and crushing my dreams, I respected her for it. She hadn’t reveled in it. “I don’t say it to be mean.” I said it to watch her blast out of that hard shell she’d formed around her.
“Everyone else does,” Autumn said quietly. “It’s not as bad as it was when she was in school, but she’s still Karl and Cheryl Townsend’s daughter. Scooter’s sister. She’ll never outrun her family in Bourbon Canyon.”
Regret tugged at my chest. Was that why I’d nearly had to toss the candy into the bar and run in order for her to take it? She just assumed the worst of me?
Why wouldn’t she?
Are you enjoying this, Mad Maddy? Did you look forward to it? The first time I had really talked to her, and that was what I had said. That and more. Yet I couldn’t quit digging under her creamy, smooth skin since then.
“I’ll know more tonight. I’m stopping there after work to get an outline of what she expects.” I spread my hands. “Sorry, guys. I had no idea this auction would take me out of commission.”
“Oh no,” Junie said with false sincerity. “You’ll have to do something else besides work here or at the ranch. What will you do?”
Tate snorted and the rest tried—and failed—to smother their chuckles.
“Haha, fuckers.” I liked my jobs. My work kept me out of trouble and stopped me from noticing how empty my house was. “Let’s get this meeting started.”
We made it through the whole meeting without delving back into the subject of Madison. I’d face her soon enough. When we were done, I all but ran out of Copper Summit, propelled by curiosity. How much backbreaking work did I have in front of me? How much fire would I get to see in her?
I strode to the parking lot and hopped into my truck. The trip to town took minutes and then I was parked in front of Flatlanders. I tried the front door, damn near excited to start backbreaking work. It was locked. Was she in there?
I knocked.
She couldn’t be avoiding me when she paid that much to boss me around. I peered through the window. Shock had me pressing closer. This wasn’t the same view from last week. She’d cleaned up all the debris. Sure, it’d been two weeks since Wilna had given her a flyer, but she could’ve left it all if she was hiring someone.
Why hadn’t she actually hired someone? She could’ve gotten a contractor for cheaper than she’d bought me for. Scooter couldn’t have caused that much damage. She couldn’t be getting back at me for being a dick, could she?
She was a Townsend. They held grudges.
No movement inside and no lights were on. I took my phone out of my pocket. Damn. I stuffed it back in. I didn’t have Madison’s number.
Her truck wasn’t parked out front. She must go through the back.
Jogging around the corner, I hoped the back door was unlocked. Her pickup was parked in a nook made by the two bordering buildings. I bypassed the dumpster and tried the heavy metal door. Locked. I knocked.
A minute passed. What the hell, Madison? I had other things to do.
I knocked again.
No answer.
Now worry started nagging at me. Was she as unpredictable as the rest of her family had been?
“Mads?” I called and pounded on the door. “Madison!”
“Holy shit, Teller.” Her voice came through the metal door. A bolt flipped on the other side. Her normally braided hair was pulled back in a low ponytail. She was smoothing strands back and blinking at me. “You’re going to wake the neighborhood.”
“It’s four.”
She rubbed her eyes. “I thought you said after work.”
I studied her. She wore cloth shorts, and goddamn. She had long, tanned legs that looked even better bare than when they were in jeans. Her T-shirt was baggy, pooling around hips that would be perfect to hold on to while driving in?—
Lust punched low and hard, but I shook it off. It had just been a while for me. That was all. “Did you just wake up?”
She wrinkled her nose and looked away. “No.”
“Do you sleep here?”
“ No .” She crossed her arms, and fuuuck. She wasn’t wearing a bra. Her nipples poked at the fabric, begging to be caressed—by my fingers or tongue.
I lifted my gaze to the sky before I could sport a public erection. “It’s fine if you do. I’m sure it’s better than the drive to your family ranch.”
She didn’t respond. I dropped my attention to her. Her brow was creased and she was shifting from foot to foot.
“Don’t you live there?” I asked.
“It’s none of your business.” She straightened to her full height, and goddamn, I liked it. I liked not having to crank my chin down when I talked to her. I didn’t feel like I could break her.
“Mads, it seems a lot of your business is overlapping with mine.”
Her jaw remained set.
“Gonna tell me what you paid for me to do?”
“Yeah.” She spun around and strode down the hall, her flip-flops slapping against the floor.
I stepped in and let the door shut behind me while admiring the long-legged sight in front of me.
“You can leave the office alone,” she said as she went and I followed. “The bathrooms need work, but I want the main area repaired before I budget for the bathrooms.”
She pivoted again and I had to stop before I stepped on her feet. I nearly swallowed my tongue. Her toes were painted the daintiest shade of pink. Tough-as-steel Madison Townsend had pink toenails. I’d noticed how beautiful she was—who wouldn’t? But this little tidbit wiggled through my blood, heating as it went.
“That will be your job,” she said, ripping my attention off how much I wanted to see what other surprises she had. More things that weren’t my business. “To oversee the bathroom repairs. Unless you’re a plumber in addition to a rancher and a distiller.”
“Master distiller, and I can do rudimentary plumbing, but anything major in this old building should have an expert or be looked at by one first. Who do you want to use?”
“You choose. No one will screw you over.” She turned again and continued to the pool table area. “Consider yourself a contractor and a project manager.” She propped her hands on her hips. “Make this look like a bar again.”
I studied the space. No more splintered wood shards littered the floor. The cords hanging from the high ceilings had no light fixtures at the end, but she’d cleaned all the glass debris too. The mirror behind the bar was gone. The cabinets and busted shelving needed to be removed. So did the bar and countertop.
It was a lot of work, but she’d done the brunt of it. Cleaning up destruction was never fun. “I know it’s none of my business, but what made Scooter trash his own place?”
She sighed and I expected another it’s not your business . “I don’t know. I’m just glad he wasn’t drinking.”
“Why’d you clean all this? You had to know fifty grand made my labor guaranteed.”
“And you assumed I’d leave the pigsty for you.”
Didn’t that make me feel like shit? “No one would’ve blamed you. It’s a lot of money. I wouldn’t have blamed you,” I added when her brow ticked up. Suddenly, I wanted to stay on her good side.
She rocked back and forth on her cute little feet. “I need this done as quickly as possible.”
“You know who could do that? A professional whose only job is to renovate your bar.”
Her expression shuttered. “Everything’s so easy for a Bailey.”
Defensiveness heated the back of my neck. “We work hard for what we have.”
“You don’t think I work hard?”
“No, it’s not that?—”
“Because I do.” She prowled closer, and my fingers were twitching to grip her waist. “I work all the fucking time, and I’ve had to because people try to take what I have away.”
“I didn’t mean?—”
“Everyone thinks we’re shit, so they treat us like it.” She got into my face and her minty breath crested over my chin. “I’ve done nothing but stick up for myself and I get insulted and used. But a Bailey can tell someone to fuck off for doing nothing but telling the truth. When a Bailey tells it like it is, they get praised. A Bailey gets used by a cheater and he gets the sympathy of the town, but that same bitch sleeps with my husband and I get left with his law school debt. I go to work every day and my boss threatens to kick my mom out.”
Her words raced through my head, jumbling together and straightening out. A hard task when she was standing so close. I had told her to fuck off, not in those words, but the rest? Was it true? “Wendi slept with your husband?”
“After he finished law school.” She snapped her fingers. “No.” The apples of her cheeks were flushed. “It was after he got a decent job.”
“A better-paying one than a bar brought in?”
She nodded. “She didn’t just sleep with him. She took him.” Folding her arms again only pushed up those fleshy breasts that demanded my attention. “I just wish that if Wendi was going to cheat, she would’ve done it before my nephew was born.”
I hated to look away, but I did. Wendi and Scooter had Logan a couple of years after she left me, and it sucked watching a cheating bastard get the family I thought I’d have. The kid must be around four by now. “It’s hard on him?”
Her jaw tightened. “I assume it is, but Wendi isn’t really open to letting me visit him.”
“That fucking sucks.” Her ex had no taste, and apparently, mine didn’t either. “Your boss is threatening to kick your mom out?”
Her expression turned impassive. “I’m dealing with it. Anyway, get this place looking exactly as it did before.”
My mind spun from the subject change. “Exactly like it was? It’s yours now. You can do whatever you want with it.”
“And I want it to be selling drinks and making money.”
“It can do that with another plan. This is the chance for a rebrand.”
“I’m not rebranding.”
And here I had started not to mind her stubbornness. “Then make the reopening a thing. You could advertise?—”
She tugged on her ponytail, her features hard. “Just fix the damn bar, Teller.” The red was back in her cheeks.
“Don’t you want better?—”
“None of that is your business. I hired you—bought you—to get this place going again, and that’s all you need to know.”
Her shields were slammed back into place, and goddammit, I did not like being locked out on the other side. Butting heads wasn’t going to help.
I held my hands up. “Okay, okay. You’re the boss.”
“It’ll be easier if you remember that.”
“I have some experience in bars, just saying. You have me at your disposal.” I couldn’t help myself. I knew things and most people deferred to me, but not her.
“I have experience too.”
I tipped my head back and let out a frustrated growl. “Christ, Mads. You can let a guy help once in a while.”
“Nothing good has ever come from that.”