Chapter 2 #2
So, the trucker’s name was Drew, and he was headed to some place in California to drop off this load.
Crossing the border into California sounded good to her, so she would simply make herself at home.
There was no way he would know she was back here.
Luckily, she had a granola bar to eat if she got hungry and a bottle of water if she got thirsty.
Ida had warned her about gaining weight over the holidays.
Photographers wanted models who were both thin and photogenic.
Somehow, she didn’t think it would be a problem.
Grabbing the blanket, she spread it on the floor as the truck began moving. She figured she might as well get some rest.
**
Andrew Darryl Steele, known as Drew by family and friends, was settled comfortably in his rig while making the stretch toward I-10, heading to Escondido, California. He figured his ETA would be around two as long as there were no problems on the roadway.
His attention went on alert when a voice came across the CB radio. “Breaker 1-9. This is Road Dog. Beware traveling I-10 West near Exit 29. Smokey Bears are out in full force.”
Drew figured the state troopers would be.
After all, they were days before Christmas, and they needed to reach their quota before the end of the month.
He hadn’t gotten a ticket at all this year and didn’t plan to end the year with one.
Reaching for his microphone, he chimed in with the other truckers, “10-4, Road Dog.”
Because he still held the microphone in his hand, he decided to check in on his cousin, whose route should put him in the area. “Breaker 1-9. This is Casanova. Cigarette, you got your ears on?”
After hearing a little static on the line, Drew was able to pick up a response. “This is Cigarette. Come back, Casanova. Hook up with me on the PC.”
Drew smiled. “10-4, Cigarette.”
He then switched to the private channel to prevent other truckers from listening in on their conversations. Harold Jeremiah Steele, whose trucker handle was Cigarette, was the cousin who got him into the trucking business over twelve years ago.
The Steele family originated in Arizona.
Drew, Harold, and Harold’s brother, Lester Marcus Steele, were cousins.
After Lester finished college, he moved from Phoenix, Arizona, to Charlotte, North Carolina, to accept a management position at a production company.
Within six months, Harold joined Lester in Charlotte and had been hired to drive rigs for that same company.
After finishing high school, Drew joined his cousins in North Carolina and became a truck driver for that company as well.
Lester’s dream had been to one day own the company he worked for, and that dream had become a reality when he’d had the opportunity to buy it after the owner retired.
The name of the business had been changed to the Steele Corporation, and Lester and Harold became partners in the business.
Lester was CEO, and Harold was in charge of the trucking fleet, ensuring products were transported to customers in a timely manner.
It wasn’t long before Harold decided he preferred driving the rigs rather than being stuck behind a desk.
Everything had been working well until Drew had been run out of Charlotte for messing with too many women.
There had been threats against his life, and on more than one occasion, his house had been shot up by an angry woman, her father, and her brothers.
That was when the North Carolina Steeles had decided it wasn’t safe for Drew to remain in Charlotte any longer, and he returned to Arizona.
Harold and Lester had loaned him enough money to buy a rig and start his own trucking company in Phoenix. Now, four years later, he owned ten rigs, and he would forever appreciate his cousins. With their support, he had become a self-made millionaire.
“Breaker 3-4. You read me, Casanova?”
“10-4, I read you, Cigarette.”
Now that they had connected to the personal channel, they could put the CB talk on hold for a spell. “Where are you headed?” Drew asked.
“I just left LA and am headed back home to North Carolina. I’ve been away for almost two weeks and can’t wait to see my woman. I miss her.”
That woman was Harold’s wife, Claire. “When you see Claire, give her a kiss for me.”
“Trust me, I will. Where are you headed, Drew?”
“Escondido to make a delivery, then reload to head east to Dollywood to deliver building supplies.”
“I hate that you won’t be able to join the family in Charlotte for the holidays again this year.
I ran into Greta Robinson at the grocery store last week.
She is still out for blood. She told me to tell you she’s waiting for you to return to Charlotte so she can take another shot at you.
Said she doesn’t give a damn about any restraining order. ”
“I believe her. Greta, her father, and her brothers are crazy,” Drew said, sniffing the air. Was he imagining things, or was he inhaling the scent of a woman?
“Heck, man, I tried to warn you that hell knows no fury like a woman scorned,” Harold said. “And Greta isn’t the only one. You have five women here in Charlotte who have threatened to put bullets in your hide. What possessed you to mess around with that many women at one time?”
Drew chuckled. “I keep telling you and Lester that I was born with incredibly high testosterone levels. They make it hard for me to resist women.”
“If that’s true, then you are the only Steele I know who was born with them, thank goodness. Since you can’t come to North Carolina, what are your plans for the holidays?”
“Once I drop off the delivery at Dollywood, I’m leaving my rig at Sal’s Truck Stop, then renting a car and driving up the Smoky Mountains to the Mountain-Scape Lake Lodge. I’ll be there through New Year’s.”
“Alone?”
“That’s the plan.”
“I find that hard to believe, Drew.”
He did, too. “Just like you’re trying to quit smoking, I’m trying to leave women alone, at least for the holidays. My body could use a rest. Of course, after the holidays, it’ll be full speed ahead again.”
“Keep it up, and you’ll be run out of Phoenix too. And don’t forget the time we had to switch you with another driver, since women were gunning for you in Florida, Michigan, and Texas.”
Now why did Harold have to mention Texas?
That immediately brought back memories of Tina and her twin sister Nina.
Drew had been in his early twenties at the time when he and Tina had met at a pool hall in Dallas.
After a few hours of flirtation and a buildup of sexual chemistry, he suggested a night with Tina and was surprised when she later showed up at his hotel room with Nina in tow.
They explained they liked doing things together.
He’d engaged in a threesome before and had no problem doing so again.
The only problem was that he hadn’t known Nina was engaged to marry some wealthy prick.
And, unknown to them, that prick was occupying the hotel room next to theirs.
After hours of lovemaking, he and the twins were ready to settle down for much-deserved sleep, when Nina’s ears perked up to the activities in the hotel room next door after the man let out a hell of an orgasmic holler.
She jumped out of bed, claiming nobody sounded like that when they came except the dude she was engaged to marry.
Before he or Tina could stop her, or remind her of her present situation, she stormed naked out of their hotel room and beat on the other man’s hotel room door.
What happened next could have been considered comical now, but it hadn’t been at the time.
In all the madness, the other man, totally forgetting about his own cheating ass, began screaming at Nina about cheating as well.
Nina pushed past the guy when she saw that the other woman in the room was one of her soon-to-be bridesmaids.
By the time Drew had quickly put on his clothes, the fight between the two naked women had escalated and somehow moved from the hotel room to the middle of the hall, causing other hotel occupants to come out of their rooms to witness the calamity.
The prick in question had been trying to break up the fight, but was suddenly attacked from behind by Tina, who jumped on his back and began hitting him on the head for sleeping with her twin sister’s bridesmaid.
Drew had used that time to hurry down to the lobby and check out of his hotel room.
He had informed the man behind the desk that two women would need to re-enter his room and to make sure that they were granted access. Then he had hauled ass.
A week later, he received an angry call from Tina and Nina. The wedding had been called off, and the prick would now be marrying the bridesmaid. The twins were angry because they felt Drew should have defended their honor by fighting the prick. Seriously?
When he told them it hadn’t been his fight, Tina and Nina had issued a warning that if he ever returned to Dallas and they found out, he would be sorry.
“It’s not my fault that I’m in hot demand, Harold,” he said.
“For crying out loud, Drew. You turned thirty a few months ago. I was married at thirty. So was Lester.”
“And I’m happy for you both. But marriage isn’t for everyone. Heck, it would be just my luck to get tied to a woman like Ma.” He believed Walleen Steele thought her main purpose in marrying Galen Steele was to nag him to death.
“I tried to warn Galen about Walleen, but he wouldn’t listen,” Harold said. “I hate to say it, but your mother was the most ill-tempered woman I’d ever met.”