Chapter 4
Chapter Four
WADE
“Oh yeah, this oughta be fun,” Jackson muttered under his breath.
Sliding my gaze to his, I fought the urge to grin. I worked with Jackson on Stolen Hearts Emergency Response Team, and we’d just been called out to a rather epic and ridiculous situation.
“You fucking asshole!” Sarah Lind shouted from below the porch.
Unfortunately for Sarah, the porch in question was built on angled beams jutting out over a cliff. It offered an excellent view of the valley, with a small brook bubbling in the trees nearby.
Lyle Smith shouted back to her. “For fuck’s sake, Sarah! Now really isn’t the time.”
“Oh, I’d say now is the time!” Doreen Smith, Lyle’s wife, called from where she stood nearby, taking turns glaring at Sarah and Lyle.
Glancing to the police officer with us, I asked, “Do you want to deal with Doreen and Lyle while we figure out how the hell to get Sarah out of this mess?”
The police officer let out a sigh. “Sure. At the moment, I envy your job.”
Jackson chuckled. “Well, let’s all hope Lyle learns how to keep it in his pants after this.”
Lyle happened to be approaching and heard that last comment. “No need for your commentary, Jackson,” Lyle said sharply.
The police officer turned to Lyle, leveling him with a pointed glare. “Lyle, right now, this mess is entirely of your making.”
Lyle’s cheeks flushed a deep shade of red. He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. “I know, for fuck’s sake. Do you guys have any idea how to get her down?” he asked, gesturing toward Sarah, who hung from the deck over the cliff. She actually had on a harness. Not for climbing, mind you.
“In all seriousness, can you please tell us what happened?” the police officer asked.
As Jackson and I suited up in our climbing gear, Lyle launched into an explanation.
In short, he and Sarah had been having some early-morning fun in a sex swing.
A sex swing that apparently belonged to Doreen, his wife.
Doreen was supposed to be out of town, but she returned home early. Now, here we were.
“Dude, how the hell did Sarah end up hanging off the porch?” I mused to Jackson as we looked up at her.
Jackson shook his head. “I don’t know that I want to know. I think it had something to do with Doreen.”
Humor helped in trying situations, especially when no one’s life was at risk. While Sarah was definitely in an awkward position, she would be fine, albeit probably a bit cold.
“All right, let’s climb on up,” I said as I eyed the steep cliff underneath the porch. “We’ll put her in a climbing harness and lower her down.”
This porch was in such poor condition, we assessed it was better for us to rescue Sarah from the cliff below rather than from the porch itself.
Not that she was at risk of falling, but we estimated having the weight of all three of us on it wasn’t the smartest move.
After this rescue happened, Jackson and I would be recommending to the town that they request this deck be demolished.
The Appalachian Mountains were filled with cabins tucked in odd locations, some built more safely than others. This one was definitely on the questionable side.
It didn’t take long for us to fetch Sarah from her predicament.
Once she was down on the ground, safe and sound, and we medically cleared her, she started a fight.
As it was, Jackson and I had to help the police officer break up a small scuffle between her and Lyle.
Doreen attempted to enter the fray, apparently happy to take sides with Sarah over what a scumbag Lyle was.
We learned Sarah had ended up on the porch when Lyle locked her out to try to hide her presence from Doreen.
Seeing as there were plenty of windows, his attempt failed.
Doreen stormed the deck. In the ensuing argument, Sarah, who was naked and in a harness, shoved Lyle or Doreen—that detail remained unclear—and was shoved in return.
She tripped over a flimsy deck chair and the railing broke when she fell against it.
The harness tangled on the broken railing, and there she was, in her undignified escape.
Our escapade ended with the police officer calling for backup. Although Jackson and I could help break up a fight, we didn’t have the authority to arrest. After that little mess was over, I looked at Jackson in the truck. “I need a beer, and I’m fucking starving.”
Jackson grinned, his blue eyes crinkling at the corners as he ran a hand through his messy brown curls. “Right there with you, buddy. Let’s hit up Lost Deer Bar, whaddya say?”
“Where else?”
“Mind if I make a quick call?” he asked as I started driving.
“Of course not.”
A few seconds passed before he said, “Hey, babe.”
The moment he said that, I knew he was calling Shay. If you had told me a year ago Jackson would fall in love, I would’ve laughed. Now, Shay, his best buddy’s little sister, stole Jackson’s heart so fast, I had actually worried for his sanity for a bit there.
Shay was the best thing that had ever happened to Jackson. At least, as far as I could tell.
“Yeah. Wade and I are going to grab a beer and some dinner at Lost Deer. Are you hungry?”
There was a pause as he listened to her reply and then moved the phone away from his mouth just as I came to a stop before turning onto the highway. “Mind if Shay and some of the others meet us there?”
“’Course not,” I replied, turning onto the road that would lead us to the bar in question.
“See you in a bit. Love you.” Jackson hung up.
That was how bad he had it. The man told Shay he loved her probably about ten times a day in my presence when I happened to be around them.
In that vein, I felt the need to chime in. “You know, I gotta tell ya, I’m damn glad you got over yourself with Shay.”
Jackson chuckled. “Not that I have much choice. That woman slays me,” he said with bold honesty.
We fell quiet for a few moments. The sky was stained pink and lavender with a dusting of snow on the mountain ridge ahead. It didn’t snow all winter in the Blue Ridge Mountains, but enough to give the mountains a bit of that fairy dust every year with occasional heavier snows.
Jackson’s voice broke into the quiet. “Speaking of women, Shay mentioned she walked in on a moment between you and Dani.”
I silently swore. Not that Shay was much of a gossip, at all, but I should’ve expected her to say something to Jackson.
Dani would lose her fucking mind though.
Nosy as she could be about others, and as freely as she poked fun at herself about many things, Dani was fiercely private in some areas of her life.
Romance, or anything resembling it, was one of those areas.
Frankly, in the several years since I had returned to Stolen Hearts Valley after spending some time out West, I had no idea if she’d even dated anyone. I had no problem admitting I was quite curious.
As I turned the steering wheel into the parking lot at Lost Deer Bar, I glanced over at Jackson. “What the hell did Shay tell you?”
I could tell Jackson was fighting a grin, and I looked away, shaking my head. I spotted a parking spot in the far corner and aimed over in that direction.
“She said she was pretty sure she walked in on you two kissing. That’s it. Dude, you know she won’t say anything to anyone else.”
Jackson knew Dani maybe as well as I did, so he knew that would matter to her. “I know she won’t. It’s just, Dani will be fucking pissed. Not with Shay, but with the situation.” I rolled to a stop and put the truck in park before cutting the engine.
“So, what gives?” Jackson asked.
I leaned my head against the seat and let out a gusty sigh. “Hell if I know. It’s no secret there’s tension between Dani and me. If I had my way, we’d get that shit out of our systems.”
Jackson chuckled. “I can imagine. You know, far as I know, she’s never dated anyone since you two were together in high school. Last thing I recall was her throwing that slushy at you in the cafeteria.”
I remembered the slushy, but I couldn’t focus on that point. A little shock jolted me as I swiveled my head to look at Jackson. “You’re fucking kidding me,” I said flatly. “I figured she was just keeping things quiet.”
Jackson lifted a shoulder in an easy shrug. “Maybe, but I don’t think so. Not that people tell me everything, but I don’t know how she could keep something like that a secret for too long.”
“That can’t be true,” I muttered.
“How the hell would you know?” Jackson countered. “You went to college out West, and she stayed here. You only moved back a few years ago.”
“Look, this thing with Dani is complicated,” I began.
“I don’t see what’s so fucking complicated. You totally have a thing for her, so do something about it.”
It all sounded so simple coming from Jackson. Pocketing my keys, I rolled my eyes when I looked his way again. “Right. Like it was that easy for you and Shay.”
“Yeah, and you made sure I stayed on the right track. Just returning the favor,” he replied, clapping me on the shoulder before he climbed out of the truck.
Moments later, we were weaving our way through the tables in Lost Deer Bar. This place was a local favorite, and on the circuit for bands on the winding roads that led to Nashville. Tonight, a duo was playing on the stage in the back.
Jackson and I made our way over to the restaurant side of the bar. This bar had been around as long as I could remember. It had started in a small home, just a tiny mom-and-pop kind of place. It had expanded significantly since then, with the original area nothing more than a waiting section.