Chapter 4
He called Roger, one of the guys he’d met at the bar, and asked Roger to pick him up and take him home, but not until he’d walked down the street to the hardware store and bought half a dozen good quality metal “NO TRESPASSING” signs. When Roger got him to the house, he didn’t even go in—he just went straight to his tool room in the barn, grabbed a hammer and some nails, and headed back to the end of the driveway on the ATV. He tacked one to the fence on each side of the drive, then to trees on both sides about halfway up the drive. When he drove back through the trees into the clearing at the house, he tacked up two more on each side of the drive. Now there was no way anyone could be the least bit confused about whether they were welcome.
They were not.
The guys were beating and banging around in the kitchen, so Avery headed back out to the barn, hooked the trailer to the ATV, and took feed out to the cows. At least they seemed glad to see him. He scratched a couple of them behind the ears and they shook their heads and butted their faces against his chest. Cows. Simple, uncomplicated, straightforward. Unlike fucking women. They had to be the most exasperating creatures on the planet.
Damn it, there he went again. He couldn’t stop thinking about her, no matter how hard he tried, and he tried. Hard. But she kept creeping in, and he hated that. Why couldn’t she just get the hell out of his life and his head? She wasn’t wanted there.
He stood there in the pasture for a few seconds, then took off to the nearest hill. When he’d climbed to the top, he looked out over the fields around him. They were lush and as bright as emeralds in the northeast Texas sunshine, and Avery couldn’t help but be overcome with joy as he gazed out over them, knowing that land was his. His farm. His future. Maybe even his family’s future. Maybe he’d find a nice Texas girl and settle down. Danette passed through his mind and he shuddered. Oh, lord, that would be a disaster. She was dull as dishwater.
But as soon as she vacated his brain, that little blond agitator took up residence there, and Avery thought he’d go mad. He could just see that hair, those big, crystalline eyes, and those amazing tits. Were they even real? God, he’d be disappointed if they weren’t. Knowing her, it was a padded bra. Yeah, that would be just like her. But that ass… now that was real. There was no doubt in his mind. He could almost feel the curves under his hands, his fingers burning into her skin, the taste of that lip gloss―strawberry maybe?―and he’d run his tongue into her mouth, tasting, exploring…
A groan escaped his lips. Damn it, he was hard for her and that was the last thing he’d ever want. Bedding that woman would be a mistake of epic proportions, not to mention that if he was lucky, he’d never see her again. LydiaKinsey was not someone he should be thinking about that way, not at all. He stroked up the front of his jeans, hoping like hell it would wither and go back to its usual noodle-like way. The idea of her under him in his bed? No. He had to get rid of that.
Avery tried to remember all the ways she got under his skin, the stunts she’d pulled and difficulties she’d thrown at him, but he couldn’t. All he could see in his mind was her eyes as he dropped down beside her on the dirt in front of the porch and the way she’d looked at him over her shoulder when he’d left the hospital. She’d pointed out the fact that he didn’t have a ride home. Had she wanted him to stay? Surely not. Why would she want that? She hated him. She’d even told him so. No, she was just hurting and wanted someone else there to hurt with her. And that’s what she would’ve done if he’d stayed, found a way to hurt him. She was a pro at that.
That was all it took, and he found his little friend down south headed back to normalcy. No more saluting from it, not to LydiaKinsey. That simply wasn’t going to happen. Avery headed back down the hill and chuckled when the cows all lifted their heads and stared at him, hoping for more feed. “Nope, you guys got what you’re getting this time. Later, but not now.” He climbed back on his four-wheeler and, to his delight, two of them loped along after him, certain they were getting more feed from the buckets bouncing around in the trailer. He let himself through the gate and closed it, then revved the engine before putting it in gear and rolling back toward the house.
Pulling up to the barn, he saw a car in the drive. Something about it looked familiar, but he wasn’t sure where he’d seen it before. Once the trailer was unhitched and he’d driven the four-wheeler into the barn, he hopped off and headed to the house. Maybe it belonged to one of the workers.
The sight that greeted him on the porch almost made him run. There sat Danette, waiting patiently and holding something. As Avery got closer, he could see quite plainly what it was.
A picnic basket.
“Oh, dear god, what do I do now?” he muttered under his breath as he watched her face light up at the sight of him. I can’t do this. Not today , he told himself. Before he could even reach the porch, Danette stood and waved.
“Hi! I heard they were working on your kitchen and I thought you might need something for lunch,” she chirped out.
“Hey! Yeah, um, they’ve got the kitchen torn out but, uh, I was planning to go to town. I’ve got some things I need to do and…”
She stopped him. “But you still need to eat! And I’ve got fried chicken and potato salad and coleslaw and baked beans,” she offered, holding out the basket. “Oh, and Arlene’s sweet tea.”
Great. Arlene put her up to this. That’s what he’d forgotten to do―go and talk to ReverendPotter. And now this. Fantastic. Somehow, some way, he had to put a stop to it. He wasn’t interested in Danette, and that wasn’t going to change. Then he remembered something. “I’m surprised the signs didn’t scare you off,” he threw out, wondering what she’d say.
“Oh, I knew they weren’t meant for me,” she smiled back.
Oh, yeah? They were meant EXACTLY for you and anybody else I really don’t want to see , Avery wanted to say, but instead he said, “I didn’t mean for them to scare away my friends.” Her eyes lit up and Avery thought, Oh, shit! Now she thinks we’re friends! Damn, damn, damn! What’s wrong with me? I can’t say anything right!
She batted her eyelashes. “I know. So come on! Got somewhere around here where we can sit down and eat without all the racket around us?”
Avery tried to think. There was an old picnic table in the barn. That could be a good place. “I guess we can go out to the barn.”
“Ooooo, the barn! I like the sound of that!” Danette skipped down off the porch. “Let’s go!” She took off across the lawn, Avery trailing behind her. And that’s when he noticed … She was wearing skin-tight short-shorts and a top that tied up right under those great big breasts of hers. As she walked along, her ass swayed back and forth seductively and Avery started having more of those thoughts, the ones he didn’t want to have, especially thoughts for Danette. God, no. He couldn’t do that. They reached the barn and she turned and beamed at him. “Oh, this is perfect.”
“Um, good,” he mumbled as she spread a tablecloth out on the table and started setting food out. And there was plenty of food. She even had cups and flatware in the thing, everything they needed, and he was astonished to see her pull salt and pepper shakers out. The girl had brought everything except the kitchen sink.
“Oh, and here’s a jug of water I brought so we can wash our hands before we start and after we’re finished,” she added.
Nope. She brought the kitchen sink too , Avery thought. She’d even set out a small bowl of mints. “That’s, um, very handy, Danette,” he managed to choke out.
Her smile was more than unsettling. “I try to think of everything,” she explained. That idea scared him a little.
They sat and started to eat, and Avery found himself surprised. Danette was a great conversationalist. She had him talking about his family and hometown in no time flat, and it was an even greater surprise to hear more about her. Seemed she’d gone to college at TexasTech and had a degree in chemical engineering. Even more shocking, she owned a chemical lab there in town where they formulated new chemical compounds for fertilizers and pesticides. She’d sold a couple of their formulas to large chemical manufacturers and had a comfortable nest egg and a nice home on the other side of town. “So I’m pretty self-sufficient,” she stated, popping a strawberry into her mouth.
“I can see that. It’s a wonder nobody’s snapped you up,” Avery told her, then immediately regretted saying it.
“Nah. I’m really not interested. I’ve got a couple of fuck buddies here in town that get the job done. Past that, I don’t have to have a man. I’m looking for somebody really interesting and not from here.”
Whaaaa? Avery was sure he’d heard her wrong. “Wha, um, fuck bu…”
“Oh, hell, don’t look so surprised! I wear those frumpy little dresses to church and all those little old ladies think I’m an angel. But there’s a hellcat underneath all that rayon, buster. You know Joey in there, tearing out your kitchen?” Avery nodded, unable to even speak. “Let me tell you, he doesn’t look like much, but that guy fucks like a Brahma bull and he could put out a barn fire with that hose,” she laughed.
OH HOLY HELL! Avery didn’t quite know what to say. How did one respond to something like that? “Um, that’s good to know, I guess?” he tried, knowing he probably sounded pretty lame.
“Don’t worry,” she grinned. “I’m betting you could give him a run for his money. Whaddya say we find out?”
SHIT! Oh, god, what do I do now? Avery’s brain shrieked. “Um, Danette, I, uh…”
“Whatsa matter? Need a little blue pill or something?” she chided.
“No! I do not! It’s just that, um, I really don’t think we should, I mean, I don’t want to, uh,” he tried, fumbling for words. At that point, the nightmare unfolding before his eyes seemed unavoidable.
Danette angled herself away from the house as she sat on the picnic table bench and untied her top, then reached for the clasp on her front-closure bra and undid it. “Tell me you don’t want these,” she whispered as both of her large breasts sprung free.
God, they were huge, with big, rosy, hard nipples the size of his index finger, first joint to tip, and he couldn’t think. His eyes were glued on them, almost as though they were looking back at him. “That’s what I thought,” she said with a giggle, then reclasped her bra and tied the top.
Avery shook his head to clear the fog. “Danette, you shouldn’t have done?—”
“Shouldn’t have done what? I’m a grown-ass woman. I can do whatever, or whoever, I want. And I wanna do you, AveryHolcomb. Today. Right now. Come on.” With practiced precision, she snatched the tablecloth right out from under everything on the table and almost sprinted across the barn floor to the hayloft ladder. “Well, come on! Let’s go!”
The only thing that flew through Avery’s mind was how many months it had been since he’d had any, and he couldn’t scramble up that ladder fast enough. By the time he made it up, Danette had spread the tablecloth out on some hay bales and was down to nothing but her lacy thong. The body that greeted him was twice as delicious as any he’d seen in a while, and she licked her lips and set his cock on fire. It took him two seconds to shed everything and stand there in front of her, his shaft twitching with need. He reached for her, but she pushed his hands away. “No.” Kneeling on the tablecloth-adorned hay, she grinned. “You’re going to watch me play with myself and you’re going to stroke yourself for me.”
“O-o-o-okay,” Avery heard himself sputter. He watched the fingers of one of her hands tweak and pull a nipple while the other hand wandered down to her slit. After she moved her thong to the side, she spread herself open with thumb and middle finger, and retracted the hood of her clit with her index finger.
It was huge and hard, and the piercing there glittered in the shafts of light filtering through the boards on the barn walls. Avery almost lost it. She stroked and moaned, and he did the same, wondering if the head of a cock could actually blow off, because his sure felt like it would. As he watched, her finger worked its magic and her hips churned as she moaned and gasped. After what seemed like forever, he heard her whisper, “Oh, yeah,” and watched as her hips thrust in time with the stroking of her finger. Quicker than he could process, she spun on all fours, her ass to him, and ordered, “Fuck me, stud.”
That was all the invitation Avery needed. She’d dropped a strip of condoms on the hay bales, and he grabbed it, tore one off, tore it open, and rolled it down over his hardness. In less than a minute, he was balls deep in her warmth and pounding away. Then he stopped and ground down into her, hard and deep, and she purred, “Oh, god, that’s so good. You’re an awesome fuck, Avery, but I knew you would be.”
“Um, thanks,” he gasped out. “You’re nice and tight.”
“Yeah, tight. Um-hmmmm. And you’re big and hard. Pound me some more, big boy. Come on. I can take it.”
Avery tore into her. In twenty strokes he had her crying out, begging to come. In a few more minutes, he slapped her ass and she cried out, “Oh, yeah! Fuck me harder!”
“More than happy to oblige you,” he murmured back, his voice jumpy with his thrusts. It wasn’t long before he announced, “I’m gonna come. Can’t hold back anymore.”
“Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah!” Danette cried out as she clamped down tight around his dick, and Avery saw stars. Ten seconds later, he unloaded into the condom and dropped down over her back, winded and spent. He felt her wriggle under him before she said, “Up, boy.”
Avery was still gasping for breath when he stood behind her and she pulled away from him, but before he could thank her or even wonder what was next, she was kneeling in front of him on the hay, stripping off the condom and running her mouth down over his softness. “Wait! Whoa! Let’s… oh, damn,” he muttered as the cock he’d cared for and nurtured all its life betrayed him by standing at attention for Danette. “Danette, we should?—”
“Fuck like the world’s ending and it’s the last time, that’s what we should do,” she said, taking a momentary break, and then she went right back to sucking him for all she was worth. Avery was aghast. This was not at all how he’d planned to spend the afternoon, and yet it wasn’t an entirely bad way to do it. All he really dreaded was what would come afterward.
“Danettte, I’m gonna, oh, god…” he groaned.
“Oh no you don’t!” she cried out and pulled her mouth off his hardness with a pop ! “Get another one of those bad boys over there,” she ordered, pointing at the condoms, “and get ready.”
Who was he to argue? Avery rolled one on and watched as she spun around again. But just as he was ready to enter her, she barked out, “Put it in my butt.”
“But Danette, I don’t think…”
She craned her neck around and glared at him. “You gonna fuck my ass, or am I gonna have to walk naked up to the house and get the guys to do it?”
Uh, no. We can’t have that , Avery thought and almost chuckled. “Dry?” he croaked out.
“Dry. I can handle it. I like it that way,” she told him, never looking back.
Avery forced his cock into her back entrance and she gave a little squeal. He was glad the condoms were pre-lubricated or he never would’ve made it in. She was so tight he almost saw stars again, but as soon as his balls rested against her ass, she snarled back, “Fuck it. Fuck it hard. I wanna walk funny for a week.”
Avery banged her like she was a blow-up doll, like she was a post and he was a sledgehammer, driving that bad boy into the ground until it almost split. She groaned and whined and slapped her hands on the hay, whether from ecstasy or pain, he couldn’t tell, but she didn’t tell him to stop, so he kept going. He watched as one of her hands came up and she fingered her clit, and that made him fuck her all the harder. When she finally squealed out a little orgasm, he buried himself in her and gave a couple of short strokes to milk himself into the condom. He certainly hoped she didn’t want more, because he was pretty sure he didn’t have anything left.
The hay poked into his skin through the thin tablecloth as he spun around and lay down beside her on the hay, rolling the condom off and throwing it on the worn boards. Avery fished around in his brain for something to say, but he couldn’t come up with anything. After lying there in what could only be described as extreme awkwardness for what seemed like forever, he heard her say, “Well, that was pretty good.”
“Pretty good?” Avery sat up and frowned at her. “Pretty good? What the hell? Who says that to a man who just fucked her ass to kingdom come?”
“Me.” His jaw dropped as she gathered up her clothes and put them all on. “I’ll add you to the list,” she said, then added with a wink, “up close to the top.”
“Oh, well, thank you so much for that,” Avery groused.
“You’re so very welcome.” She leaned over to him and gave him a quick peck on the lips. “I kissed you. Does that make you feel better?”
Avery just rolled his eyes and watched her climb down the ladder. When she was gone, he got up and got dressed, then grabbed the tablecloth and climbed down just to see her gathering up the rest of the things and shoving them into the picnic basket. When he handed her the tablecloth, she wadded it up and shoved it into the basket too. “Well, this was fun!” she singsonged at him. “We should do it again sometime.” With that, she swayed her round ass toward the house and her car.
She’d no more than opened the car’s trunk when the screen door on the house opened and one of the workers stepped out. “Hey, Danette!” he sang out and waved.
“Hey, Joey!”
Three more of the guys wandered out and in a chorus called out, “Hey, Danette!”
“Hey, Robbie! Byron! Greg! How you guys doin’?”
“Doin’ good, Danette! Hey, you free later?” Joey asked.
“Maaaaaaaybe. Give me a call, okay? But give me until about six. I need a little recuperation time, if you know what I mean!” she yelled back, then turned and winked at Avery.
He could feel his face sizzling as she got in the car and peeled out of the parking area, heading down the drive and bouncing along as she went. As Avery started toward the house, he looked up to find the four guys staring at him. “What?”
“She gotcha, didn’t she?” Joey asked while the other three snickered.
“What do you?—”
“Aw, hell, Avery,” Byron smirked. “She’s had every man in the county. You expect us to believe the two of you just went to the barn and had a ‘picnic’?” he practically spat.
“Well, I?—”
“Did she say she’d put you on the list?” Greg asked.
Avery could feel his face flaming. “Yeah.”
“Better hope you’re close to the top,” Joey laughed out.
Before he could answer, the door opened and Mike stuck his head out. “What the hell are you knuckleheads doing out here?”
“Danette got him!” Robbie howled, and the other three were laughing so hard they were gasping for breath.
“DanetteMoyers. Lord have mercy, son,” Mike said, leveling his gaze at Avery, “you’d probably be wise to go get tested.”
Avery could feel his balls shrinking as he stood there. God, how embarrassing. He’d always held his own in the bedroom, at least as well as he could tell. Well, at least he’d never had any complaints, not even from Shannon, or at least not to his face. She’d wanted Ben’s job and status, not his cock. Hell, for three months after she’d been with Ben, she kept coming to Avery, trying to sneak into his bed to get him to sleep with her. He’d finally had to tell her he wasn’t going to be her dirty little secret. Women didn’t do that with guys who were lousy in the sack.
Did they?
He had to believe they didn’t. Of all the things Avery had ever felt shaky about, his sexual prowess wasn’t one of them. Until that very moment. I don’t need this shit , Avery told himself as he stepped into the house. The five workers just kept working, either ignoring him or cutting him a little slack from all the previous teasing. Avery stomped up the stairs and headed straight into the bathroom.
One hot shower later, he padded into the bedroom and lay down across the bed. Somehow, all the relaxation he’d gotten from the romp in the hayloft had petered away with the teasing the guys had given him. How in the hell would he ever show his face in town? He rolled from his stomach onto his back and stared at the ceiling, the towel falling away and the air from the ceiling fan flowing across his naked body. God, he hated himself sometimes. How had he let that happen? But he knew exactly why he’d done it.
As long as he’d been fucking Danette, he wasn’t thinking about Lydia. But the second they were done, she waltzed right back into his mind. What was it with that stubborn, difficult, hateful woman? Why couldn’t he shake the sight of her standing there, leaning against the house, her face tear-stained and arm swollen? The urge to call and check on her was so great that he had trouble fighting it, but he knew he couldn’t do it. If he did, she’d decimate him the next time she had a chance, and he wasn’t going to encourage that.
The day had taken its toll and Avery dozed off, tired of thinking about it all. When he woke, the house was silent, and he rolled to look at the clock. Six thirty-three. He pushed himself up off the bed and sat up, then rubbed his eyes and reached over to rummage in a drawer and find some underwear. Once he’d found some old boxers and pulled them on, he grabbed a pair of pajama pants and slipped them on too, then remembered to put on his flip-flops to avoid nails on the floor downstairs. The guys had hooked up the refrigerator out on the back porch so he at least had cold beer. He’d just popped the top on a cold one when his phone rang, an unfamiliar number, but local. He hesitated for just a few seconds before he hit ACCEPT and let out a shaky, “Hello?”
“Hi!” a cheerful woman’s voice said. “I’m looking for AveryHolcomb.”
“This is Avery. Can I help you?”
“I hope so. My name’s MarjorieFowlkes. My daddy died about six weeks ago. I was talking to the county extension agent and he said you might be interested in Daddy’s cattle.”
Avery’s eyes popped open wide. “Oh? So what’ve you got?”
“Well, we’ve got forty head of heifers. Angus.” Avery’s heart started to trip in double-time. “They’re all between a year and three years. Good-looking lot, real healthy.”
It just seemed too good to be true, but he knew Cletus wouldn’t have given the woman his number if she wasn’t for real. “So what do you want for them?”
She chuckled. “I have no idea. Wouldn’t even guess. What would you give me for them?”
“I just bought twenty. I can tell you what I paid for them on the hoof.” When Avery looked up the price, he told her and added, “And I can transport them myself, no problem.”
“Sounds like a good price to me. Oh, and we have a livestock trailer for sale too. It’ll hold ten cows easily. I’ll take twenty-five hundred for it.”
Ten cows! That beat the five-animal trailer he’d rented. “I’ll take it. When do you want me to come and get them?”
“As soon as you can. We’re taking care of them and, frankly, we really can’t afford it until the estate’s settled. They need a home. Oh, and one more thing.”
“Yes, ma’am?”
“I’m not sure if you’d be the least bit interested, but there’s an old bull out there. He’s not much to look at, but he’s a good old man. Very gentle, and very gentle with the cows in their season too. Been a good producer over the years. If you want him, I’ll throw him in for free just so he has a home.”
It was all Avery could to do keep from screaming and jumping up and down. A bull! How had a day that had started out so shitty turned into such an awesome evening? “Yes, ma’am! I’ll be glad to take him, and thank you for the offer.”
“You’re welcome. You’ve got my number now. Just let me know when you want to come and get them and I’ll make arrangements to meet you out there.”
“Yes, ma’am. I’ll get the money together and give you a call. And thank you so much, really. You just made my day!”
She chuckled. “Son, you just made mine. I look forward to hearing from you. Have a great evening.”
“You too!” Avery called back into the phone as she hung up. Shaking all over with excitement, he tried to think of one person he could call and tell about his unbelievable luck.
And he couldn’t think of a single one. He didn’t know Walter or ReverendPotter well enough to just call them up to chat. The guys were at the bar shooting pool and getting falling-down drunk, and they’d think he was a babbling idiot. Danette? Good lord no. There wasn’t one soul in that town who’d welcome a call like that from him. In that moment, the guy who’d never felt lonely in his life was all alone. Then he thought of someone and hit the contact in his phone.
A familiar voice answered, “Hello?”
“Hey! What’s happening?”
“Avery? Hey, man! How’s it going?”
“It’s going pretty damn good. You won’t believe where I am and what I’m doing.”
Jason laughed. “Try me! Nothing you do surprises me.”
Avery told his former roommate everything going on in his life, and he was relieved at how good it felt to connect with someone from back home who wouldn’t judge him. He’d forgotten how easy Jason was to talk to. When the conversation started winding down, Jason said, “Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“You’re really happy there, aren’t you?”
Avery smiled. “I am. I’m away from Ben and Shannon and that whole thing.”
He could practically hear the smile on Jason’s face coming through the phone. “I can tell. Before you left here, you were so bitter that it was hard to be around you. I’m glad something’s finally going your way.”
“Yeah. It feels good to finally have something going right.”
“Hey, I should come see you sometime!” Jason exclaimed.
“I’d like that! You’re welcome any time, but I’d wait a few weeks. The kitchen’s torn out now and it’s a mess. But I’d say in another month, most of my renovations should be done and it’ll look really nice. Then yeah―by all means, come and see me.”
“You know I will.”
“Oh, and Jason?”
“Yeah?” his friend answered.
“Don’t tell my mom where I am. I don’t want anyone to know until I’ve got the house finished and everything all set. Then I’ll invite her here if she wants to come. But until everything’s settled, I don’t want her interfering. Know what I mean?”
“My lips are sealed, bro. Not a word,” Jason assured him.
“Great. God, it’s good to hear your voice,” Avery said, meaning every word.
“Same here, man. Sorry I haven’t called you, but I got the feeling you wanted to be left alone.”
Avery sighed. “Yeah. But that feeling’s wearing off. Finally.”
“Good!” Jason laughed. “Catch up with you soon?”
“You know it! Thanks for listening, bud,” Avery said, a smile on his face.
“You’re welcome. Thanks for calling. Talk to you soon.”
“Talk to you soon. Bye.” Avery hit END and put the phone down. God, it had been good to talk to Jason. He sat for a few minutes, contemplating calling his mother, and then decided against it. She’d just give him hell, and he didn’t need that. Worse yet, she’d call Ben and tell him all about what Avery was doing, and he didn’t want any of them knowing anything about his goings-on. It was none of their business. None at all.
Avery sat down on the front porch glider and drank his beer. The sun was going down and it was peaceful, the most peaceful place he’d ever been in his life. Out across the pasture he could hear the cattle lowing back and forth to each other, and he smiled. It was so different from Clarksville. It was just what he needed.
His soul felt at home.
* * *