Force of Nature (11 page)

CJ didn’t speak to him when she got in the driver’s seat. She had to work on how much he needed to know. She started the truck and looked over at him as he buckled in.

“I don’t want you here, but since you are, you’re on my turf. My rig, my rules. I drive for twelve and sleep eight. I don’t have time to stop when you get a whim so if you have to take a break, tough. I have less than five days to get across the country. There’s food and water if you want it. If not, then you’ll starve. When I stop for gas, you can shower or whatever, I don’t care.

I use what they offer and I won’t, contrary to what you think, leave you stranded.” She put the truck in gear and looked back at him. “Oh yeah, I sleep alone.”

They were getting on highway when he finally spoke. She was actually surprised he’d waiting that long. She was sure she’d pissed him off, but frankly, didn’t care.

“May I speak or is that against your rules too?” She shrugged her reply. “All right. I would like to pay for whatever half of the stuff you bought costs. I know you got money from Isaac, but that is for you, not me.”

“No. I don’t want anything from you.” She looked down at the speedometer and decided if she could maintain this speed for the next few hours, she could make St. Louis, Missouri by the time she needed some sleep.

“CJ, I have to insist that you—”

“Insist all you want. I’m not taking anything from you. Now, if you don’t have any other pressing matters, I’d appreciate it if you shut the hell up. I have over four hundred miles to eat today before I can stop for the night.”

Austin sat there for another hour and for the most part, didn’t say anything. He had several calls, but she ignored them for concentrating on the road. This trip might have come at a good time, but with him here, it wasn’t going well. When he got up and went to the sleeper, she sighed. This was going to be a really long trip.

By the time she was pulling into the truck stop on I-44 West, she was both exhausted and starving. Deciding she could use a hot meal and a shower, she turned to tell him what she was doing and he came through the door.

“Showers cost about five bucks. I suggest you get one here. Tomorrow I’m going a bit further, about five hundred miles and with only a couple of stops. I’m getting a shower and dinner.” She got out before he could comment.

The shower was stingy with its spray and hot water, but it felt good. She dressed in her sweats so that when she ate she could just go back to the rig and climb into bed. She didn’t care what he did tonight. She just hoped that he stayed out of her way. By the time she was dried and dressed, she felt she could almost eat a horse. And she hated that she felt a little disappointed when Austin wasn’t in the diner when she came out.

She was just looking over the menu when her phone rang. Smiling for the first time in hours, she answered. Phil had been her friend too long for her to stay mad for very long.

“Hey, buddy. What’s going on? Please tell me that there is nothing wrong with the buy. I need that area to finish the project.” She noticed the silence and knew something more had happened. “What it is? Are you all right?”

“I’m sorry, honey, but I have terrible news. There was an explosion from a gas leak in the basement of the Jewel. Everything was a total loss. The explosion was felt for about ten miles.

The fire department said had you been there, you would never have made it out.”

She felt the room tilt. She hadn’t lived there long, not even long enough to have moved her stuff from storage in it, but it had been her first real place. She laid her head on the table top and tried to think.

“Did anyone get hurt? I mean, windows breaking or anything? Tell everyone I’ll pay for any damages. Phil…”

“It’s all right. No one was hurt. There were a few windows broken from a couple of houses just down the road, but since the Jewel was so far out, not as much damage as there could have been if it had been in town. The insurance paid up. I kept it up since you inherited it. Your car…it’s gone too, I’m afraid.”

“I don’t really care about all that. Just make sure…make sure that no one was hurt. Make some sort of restitution to the fire department. I don’t know…don’t they have a Christmas fund or something?” Her mind raced over what to do. “Make sure that everyone’s windows are repaired too.”

“I’ve already done that. I’ll make arrangements for money to be sent to the toys drive they are having this weekend. I’m assuming you want it to be anonymous, correct?” She told him yes and could hear him scribbling as he spoke. “The Red Cross too. I’ll make sure I send them a donation as well.”

After clearing a few more things off the list he always had, he asked her about her run. “It’s okay. Austin watched some movies, I suppose. I’m sitting in the truck stop on I-forty-four.”

“You take care, you hear me? And call me if you need anything. I love you, kiddo.”

“Love you too.” CJ looked up when someone sat down. She raised her head when Austin sat next to her, his hair still damp. She closed her phone just as the waitress came to the table.

~Chapter Eleven~

Something had happened. Austin wasn’t sure what, but she wasn’t even rising to the bait when he tried to piss her off. And when her dinner came, all she did was move the fries around and only nibbled at the burger.

He’d asked her twice and both times all he got was a “nothing” from her. He was about to call Phil when Austin noticed that someone was walking toward the table. CJ groaned and put the fakest smile he’d ever seen on her face.

“Well as I live and breathe, if it isn’t Charlie Jane Webber. How you doing, darlin’? Still driving, I guess.” The man looked over at Austin and put out his hand. “I’m Dudley Cantrell. I own Cantrell Shipping Express. Been trying to get little Charlie Jane to join my stable of drivers for near about five years. Always turns me down.”

“Because I don’t like you. Don’t you have some other person to annoy? I’m eating and don’t want to puke on that fine fake suit of yours.” Austin nearly bit his tongue off trying not to laugh at the man’s face when CJ made her statement. “Go away, Dudley.”

“See how she is?” Dudley asked of Austin. “No matter how badly she treats me, I still want her to work for me. What will it take, Charlie Jane? Hummm? You have to have a price.”

“She said to get the hell away from her,” a deep voice said just behind Austin. “I would suggest you move along or I might have to show you how I treat men I just don’t like.”

Dudley, who had just pulled out a chair to sit, backed up. “Now, Faith, there isn’t any reason for you to get all heed up. I was only having a nice conversation with her. Tell her, Charlie Jane.

Tell Faith we was having a nice conversation.”

“He was just leaving. Bye, Dudley. Oh and by the way, it’s CJ, not Charlie Jane.” CJ smiled at Dudley, and not a nice one either. “If you bother me again, I’ll have my friend drain you.”

Dudley backed up quickly after that and nearly fell twice trying to get away. Austin watched his progress, but was distracted by the woman… Faith, he presumed, sat down in the chair next to him. He couldn’t help but stare at her.

Even sitting down, she was huge. Not fat really, though she did have a few pounds on her frame. But she was tall. Austin was six-foot-four and she would have towered over him by another foot. Her figure was…full, he supposed. Large chest and generous hips. He bet she weighed close to four hundred pounds. When she settled in the chair, Austin was sure he heard the chair scream for mercy. He looked down at the hand she extended to him and wondered briefly if she could crush his.

“You sure are a pretty thing, aren’t you? I’m Faith McKenzie. I own this here joint.” Austin shook her hand and was surprised by the gentleness of her grip. “You Miss CJ’s partner?”

“No, he’s not. He’s just along for the ride.” Austin glanced over at CJ when she kicked him under the table. “He is just enjoying the scenery.”

Faith threw back her head and laughed. “Oh, honey, he’s sniffing around for a piece of that scenery too.”

Austin laughed. He liked this woman and her brash, blunt way. “I’m Austin Force. It’s a nice establishment you have here. The food was excellent.”

“Thanks. My husband cooks, though there are days when I try my hand.” They both looked at CJ when she snorted. “You think I can’t cook, girl?”

“I know you can’t. If you remember correctly, I was here last time you tried your hand at cooking. I think eighteen people died and twelve more threatened to sue.” The twinkle in CJ’s eye made his breath catch while she continued teasing the older woman. “Then there were the small animals that died from the fumes coming from the dumpster.”

Austin couldn’t believe how beautiful she was when she smiled like she was. He realized in that moment that he’d never seen her smile until that moment. As she and Faith continued to tease one another, Austin watched her. She was having fun and laughing so that for a few minutes, whatever had been bothering her when he sat down was forgotten.

“I have some stuff for you,” CJ said after a good belly laugh. “I was going to send it tomorrow, but when I found out I’d be coming this way, well, I decided to bring it.”

She moved a white envelope across the table toward Faith, who took it and put it down her shirt. Faith nodded before she spoke.

“You know more and more need this nowadays. You been real helpful to some of them.

Cleo and me, we got a list of some who could use it. We even have some of our own to put in this year.” Faith wiped away a tear. “I don’t know where me and Cleo’d be without your help all those years ago.”

“Never mind that. You know to…you know. Keep it quiet. I don’t want…you just say whatever you did before.” CJ seemed embarrassed and gathered up her bag and coat. “I gotta get some sleep. You keep out of the kitchen while I’m gone.”

With a quick kiss on Faith’s cheek, CJ grabbed up the check and seemed to race toward the cashier. She was out the door before Austin realized she’d taken his check too. He looked over at Faith who was staring intently at him.

“She know what you are? CJ, she know you’re a wolf?”

Austin leaned back in the chair and regarded the woman in front of him. “Yes. You’re not a supernatural, so how did you know?” He looked over when she did when a short, balding man came toward them.

“My husband. Cleo McKenzie, this is Austin Force. Austin was just asking me how I knew he was a canine.”

The man took CJ’s seat and smile before answering. “Our dishwasher smelled you. He’s a were, though not wolf. He’s a cat…panther, I believe. Told us you were here and sitting with your mate. Imagine our surprise when he pointed to our CJ’s table.”

Austin wondered if CJ knew her friends knew of his kind and decided almost immediately that she didn’t. Otherwise, she would have taken his and Phil’s news a little better. Austin wondered how well these people knew CJ. Before he could ask, Faith shook her head.

“Don’t ask. I won’t tell you anyway, but don’t ask. You want to know what she’s about then you’ll have to get it from her.” Faith shifted on the chair before continuing. “She’s something else, our CJ. And I’ll be honest with you when I tell you we don’t know much about her either.

She’s a…what did you call her, honey?” Faith turned to her husband as she asked.

“Enigma, a puzzle of sorts. Can’t figure her out either. ‘Bout the time we get her where we think we know, she changes into something more.”

Austin could see that. She was driving him crazy too. He nodded toward where Dudley had gone. “That man, has he hurt her? Tried to do anything that would have him killed?”

Cleo laughed before answering. “About six months ago, she came in for dinner. I think it was right after her rat bastard of a father died. Me and the missus was away on a second honeymoon or he’d a not gotten to the table. But CJ, she took care of him. He was getting too close and she…well, it’s said that he doesn’t sit for too long a period of time no more.”

Austin looked over at Faith as she picked up the story. “She threw knives at him. Hit his ass about a dozen times with our steak knives before she let him get away.” She nodded to a frame on the wall and Austin burst out laughing.

There were a dozen black handled steak knives mounted on a board and framed. The caption under it said, “You fuck with ours, you get skewered.”

Faith looked at Austin before she spoke, her voice low and full of meaning. “She doesn’t think she needs anyone. Or that anyone needs her. You’d do well to remember that.”

Austin thought about that as he went back to her rig. Cleo was right, she was an enigma. He just wasn’t sure yet if he wanted to figure her out. As he sat in the passenger seat and looked back at her sleeping in the big bed, he wondered about her.

She didn’t really need him to take care of her. Austin thought that pissed him off more than he wanted to admit. CJ didn’t seem to be the least bit intimidated by him either. He grinned when he thought of the knives hanging on the wall. His phone going off made her stir and he grabbed it up and whispered a quiet “hang on” to his brother and got out of the rig.

“How is she doing? Poor girl,” Dallas said when he told him she was asleep. “Sucks what happened, isn’t it? But she has you, right?”

Austin didn’t answer. He didn’t know what had happened because she hadn’t told him. He couldn’t even be mad because she hadn’t. Austin leaned back against the cab and closed his eyes.

He’d been a complete ass with her from the start. If he was smart, he’d call someone to come and get him or catch the next flight out and let her be.

“Austin,” his brother asked. “She didn’t tell you, did she? Damn it, Austin, either take her as your mate or fucking leave her alone. The girl has been through enough. Come home. When this is over, then you might start over with her.”

“What happened?” Austin refused to acknowledge that his brother was probably correct. She was his, damn it.

“The Jewel blew up earlier today. Gas leak from a line that should have been closed off a decade or two ago. The fire marshal said that if anyone would have been inside, there would have been no way to escape. He said that the house went up in a fireball so quickly that it’s small wonder more windows weren’t broken out. As it was, there were houses about ten miles away that got a little kick back from it.”