Southern Comfort (19 page)

"I know about that girl."

"She's not the first. He's had others."

That was news that both hurt and embarrassed her. She hated to have Riley and Bobby hearing all of the sordid details of her failed life. "Okay, he was a bad husband and a bad father. But we're away from him now and you never have to see him again if you don't want to. I just don't want what he's done to make you resentful or bitter. I don't want it to ruin—"

David bounded across the room and sat down beside her, pulling her into a hug. "He's not going to ruin my life. Or yours either." He pulled back, looked at her and then at Riley. "You have something good here, Mom. You have someone good here. Someone with honor. Hang onto that and be happy.

"I'm going to be happy. I spoke with Kade today. As soon as all of this is settled with my father, I'm going to apply to the FBI. Kade said if I am accepted, I can go through the training and they have special arrangements that can be made so I can go to law school and work. I can be part of the division he and Cia work with. I want to do that. I always wanted to make a difference and now I can."

"With the SACU?"

David nodded and she took his hand. "If that's what you want, then do it. You know I'll support you every step of the way."

"That I do. And now—" he got up, grabbed the remote and turned off the television. "Enough of that. What say we have a couple of beers and throw some darts?  Bobby has a dart board at the bunk house."

"Why don't you men go ahead and do that?  I'm kind of tired and I have a busy day tomorrow helping Cody get ready for the weekend homecoming thing."

"That's a pretty big deal around here isn't it?" Bobby asked.

"Oh yeah." Riley answered. "And I think I'll call it a day, too. You guys take as much of the beer as you want, but remember that in the morning we've got a good half a mile of fence to replace on the western border, and I expect you up and ready to go by six."

"We won't be late." Bobby said with a grin.

"If you're on time, you're late." David added.

"Okay, get out of here. Me and Annie need some quiet."

David gave Analise a kiss on the cheek, then he and Bobby headed to the kitchen. She heard them as they got their beer and left via the back door. Then she looked at Riley. "Well, the shit's hit the fan now, hasn't it?"

"Yep."

"Are you still sure you want us here, Riley?"

"Absolutely."

"I don't know why."

"Yes, you do."

She smiled and leaned over, snuggling up to his side. He wrapped his arm around her and kissed her forehead. "I like that boy of yours, Annie."

"I'm glad. I think it's good for him to be around you."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"And is it good for you to be around me?"

"You have no idea how good."

"Then how about we make it permanent?"

She pushed away to look at him. "Meaning?"

"Meaning live here with me. I mean live, as in this is your home, too. Be mine and let me be yours."

"I notice you didn't say anything about marriage."

"Is that what you want?"

"No. I don't need a piece of paper, Riley. I know I love you. That's enough for me."

"Me too, honey. Me too."

Chapter Seventeen

Analise heard the sound of voices on the back porch. She saved the file she was working on, closed her laptop and placed it on the coffee table, then got up and went to the back door. Riley and David were sitting on the back steps talking.

She opened the door and walked out. "Hey guys. I wasn't expecting you for another hour."

Both men turned to look at her but only Riley smiled, a fact she took note of. "Everything okay?"

"Fine." Riley stood with his boots in one hand. "Just talking about all the homecoming doings that start tonight."

"That's it?"

Riley looked down at David and David shook his head. Riley blew out his breath. "Fine. I was going to wait until later to tell you."

"Tell me what?" A shard of fear had her tensing.

"Seems some eager beaver reporter figured out you were here, connected the dots and has been calling wanting Nate to make a statement on what he's doing shacked up with a mob wife on the run."

"A mob wife?" She looked at him and then at David. "A mob wife?"

"Well, Dad is wanted by the FBI and he's all over the news in the case they have against his family and their ties to organized crime."

"But a mob wife?  Me?  That's – that's the most ridiculous thing I ever heard. But—" she looked at Riley, "but I know you don't want your privacy invaded and I'm so sorry, Riley. Tell me what to do and I'll do it. If you want us to leave—"

"You're not going anywhere." He glanced down at David. "Either of you. I can handle the reporter. It's not my first rodeo, honey. It'll be okay. It's just an eager guy trying to land a story."

"Eager is an understatement," David commented. "The guy's been blowing up Riley's phone for the last three days."

That kind of hit Analise wrong. "Why didn't you mention it?"

"It didn't seem worth getting you upset."

"But you could confide in my son?"

"He heard me talking and asked. I wasn't going to lie. And I was going to tell you. I was just waiting for the right time."

Analise didn't want to make more of it than there was, so she let it go. "Okay. So, are you men excited about the big day? Cody says there's a parade after the game and then the high school is having a dance, and everyone else will he headed for the bar."

"Yep, I'm ready. In fact, I let everyone have the rest of the day and half the day tomorrow off."

"Well then get yourselves in the house and get cleaned up. I told Cody I'd catch up with her after the parade and help her get things set up in the bar. Oh, and her family wanted to know if we wanted to have an early dinner with them at the bar before the crowd arrives. Around five?"

"Fine by me." Riley looked at David. "Dave?"

"Works for me." David stood. "I'll head on up to the shower. I'm riding with Bobby, by the way, so you guys go on whenever you're ready. I'll see you at Billy's at five?"

"Yep. And invite Bobby." Riley said to David's back,  and to Analise's questioning look added in a lower voice. "They like him and it'll be good for David to have a friend there. So, you upset with me Wildcat?"

"No. And I wasn't trying to start a fight, Riley. I guess it just hurt my feelings that you told David and didn't think you could tell me without upsetting me."

"Are you upset about it?"

"No. But then our situations aren't the same. For people to know that I'm here with you is no hardship at all. It's like being homecoming queen or the girl who dates the quarterback. Kind of exciting to be basking in the warmth of that star's shine."

"Honey, I'm no star."

She stepped over and looped her arms around his neck. "Riley Morgan, you'll always be a star to me."

"Riley or Nate?"

"Is there a difference?  Now when I see you in a movie, I'll see Riley. Riley playing a role. Nate is just a name you used to use. Kind of the way I've been Analise my entire life, but now when I think of myself I think, Annie."

"Have I told you today that I love you?"

"Not nearly enough."

"I love you, Annie Becke."

"And I love you. Now go get clean so you can take me to town, cowboy."

"Yes ma'am. But first…"

The kiss had her nerves sizzling. Would he always have the power to excite her this way with a kiss?

She hoped so.

*****

Analise started waving the moment she spotted KC Sweet on the homecoming float. KC looked beautiful and was beaming. It wasn't every day a girl was crowned homecoming queen and Analise had no doubt that this would be one of the red-letter days of KC's life.

Once the float passed, she tugged on Riley's arm. "I'm going to head for the bar to help get everything ready."

"Want me to run you over there?"

"No. I'll ride with Cody. She's right down the block with Billy and Stella in front of the Sweet Shop."

"Okay, so I'll see you in a little while."

She stood up on tiptoe and kissed him. "See ya."

Analise started working her way through the crowd. It seemed like everyone in Cotton Creek was lining the street. She smiled and inched her way along, smiling and speaking to the few people she knew and smiling at those she didn't.

It took nearly ten minutes to cover half a block. Analise worked her way to the rear of the crowd and made her way to the end of the block as quickly as possible. There she made a left turn. She could cut through to the next street and make much better time.

The alleyway wasn't very wide, barely enough for one line of cars. When she made it to the end of the alley she started to make a right turn and was suddenly pulled back. Some had a tight grip on her right arm and had put their other hand over her mouth.

Analise struggled against her captor but he was bigger and stronger, and twisted her arm up behind her. She was shoved along by her unknown assailant, led down the block to an old beat-up car, and then shoved against it.

She whirled around, intent on fighting. One look at her captor and she froze in shock. "Rick?"

Her husband looked at her through eyes set into hollow sockets. Dark bags beneath his eyes and more than a few days unshaven growth, combined with a really horrible black dye job to his hair gave him the look of a drug addict.

"What are you doing here?"

"Analise, we need to talk."

"We don't have anything to talk about. I filed for divorce."

"I'm in trouble. You've got to give me that money back."

"No, I don't. The FBI have already been here, Rick. They know everything. You need to turn yourself in and see if you can cut a –"

"That's what I'm trying to do, you dumb bitch. But I can't do it without the money."

"Yes, you can. I know an agent. The one who brought – the one who came here to talk to me. He can help—"

"I want that money."

"Rick, that money is the least of your worries. The FBI doesn't want it. It's simply a trail that leads back to that mobster. What they want is to put him behind bars."

"And what I want is that money so that after I turn state's evidence against Moretti I can get away."

"But the FBI can help you with that. They have witness protection and—"

Her head whipped to one side from the slap he gave her, before he slammed her into the side of the car. She righted herself, staring at him in shock. He pressed in close and his breath was foul in her face. "You listen to me. You're going to give me that money. Moretti already probably has men headed here since that story came out about you screwing that old cowboy actor. How long do you think it's going to be before they find you?

"And let me assure you that they won't think twice about killing you, Analise."

"What purpose would that serve?  I don't have the money. It's in David's—" Sudden realization had her stopping in mid-sentence. "They'll kill me and David and then the trust will go to you. You don't want the money to escape, you want to try and buy your life back."

"I'll do whatever it takes to get Moretti off my ass. If it means giving him what you took, then so be it. I'll do it and he'll think I'm loyal. Then I can turn on him. With what I have I can leave the country. But I need that money to make my plan work, so you're going to give it to me. One way or the other.

"Please, for our son's sake, take the easy way."

Analise couldn't believe the man standing in front of her was someone she'd shared more than twenty years of her life with. He spoke of ending her and their son's life with no more regard than swatting an annoying fly.

"You'd let them kill me, Rick?  And our son?  Just like that?"

"Don't get all high and mighty with me. You're the one fucking some washed- out actor in this backwater hell-hole."

Analise opened her mouth, ready to deliver a scathing diatribe on his audacity but then changed her mind. It was clear that Rick had lost whatever feelings he'd once had for her and their son. All he cared about was saving his own ass and escaping.

"I can't just give you the money, Rick. It's in a trust. I'd have to get my attorney involved and it's Saturday. He won't be in his office until Monday morning."

"Fine, then on Monday that's just what you'll do."

"Fine. I'll do that. Do you have a phone?  I'll call you when—"

She never got to finish the sentence. The last thing she saw was his fist coming at her face.

*****

Riley had not taken two steps into the bar before Cody was yelling at him from across the room. "Where's Annie?"

"With you."

"She's not with me. I waited twenty minutes and called her a dozen times."

Riley felt like his heart had just jumped up in his throat. He pulled out his phone and called Analise. It went straight to voice mail. "Call me, Annie." He ended the call and texted her.

Where are you?

When there was no immediate response, he called David. "Hey, David. Is your mom with you?"

"I thought she was with you."

"Have you talked to her in the last hour or so?"

"No. Why?  Is something wrong?"

"I don't know. Why don't you head over to the bar."

"On my way."

Riley ended the call to find the entire Sweet family, standing at the bar watching him. "Well?" Cody asked from behind the bar.

"He hasn't seen or talked to her."

"Well when's the last time you saw her?" Billy asked.

"When she left to go meet Cody and come here."

"Where were you?" Cody asked.

"Standing in front of the hardware store."

"That's two blocks from the bakery," Hannah commented.

Riley turned on his heel but stopped at a yell from Cody. " Where're you going?" She ran from behind the bar to him.

"To look. Call Tom. I think he's on duty."

"You think something's happened to her, don't you?  Like that guy who hit your truck?  What's going on, Riley?"

"I don't have time to explain now. I need to find her, Cody."

"We'll all look."

"You have things to do. I can't ask—"

Cody shook her head. "We don't open 'till six. That gives us an hour. With all of us we can cover the town faster."

"We're on it, Riley." Billy announced.

"Thank you." Riley gave the family a nod. "Call me if you find her."

"We will." Cody gave his arm a squeeze. "We'll find her."

Riley headed out to his truck. Just as he reached it, Bobby drove up. David jumped out of the passenger's side. "What's going on?"

"We need to find your mother."

"Where do we look?"

"Start with town. Call if you find her."

"You too." David ran back to Bobby's truck and climbed in. By the time Riley had started his truck, Bobby's was disappearing down the road.

His insides were in a knot. Something had happened. Analise would not have left Cody in the lurch. She'd have called if she were not going to show. Something had prevented that. But what?

That's the question that scared him.

*****

Analise woke and for a moment was disoriented. Until it hit her what had happened. She was in the backseat of a car. A car that wasn't moving. There was no one in the driver's seat. She pushed herself up to look outside.

The car was parked on the side of a dirt road. When she looked through the rear window she could see they were not far off a paved road. It had to be the road to someone's house. There was a mailbox at the end of the dirt road where it intersected the pavement.

She scanned her surroundings and jumped when she spotted Rodrick. He was behind a tree, pulling down his pants. Now there was a sight she never expected to see. It was also the chance she needed. As quietly as possible she crawled into the front, slid the key out of the ignition and eased out of the driver's side door. She didn't bother to close it, she just took off running.