Wild Heart- Extended Edition (The Wild Heart Series) (6 page)

When she finally reemerged, she was feeling almost better than she had when she woke, a clean smelling and dressed Ani made her way into the kitchen to find her dad who was cutting a sandwich for her.

“Well good morning, Sleeping Beauty,” he chimed, placing the plate down onto the table smiling. “Have fun last night?”

“Morning, daddy. Yes, we had a good time. Thank you for the sandwich,” she smiled up at him before placing a light kiss on the cheek that he was lightly tapping with his finger before he planted an affectionate kiss on the top of her still damp hair.

“Surprised you remember any of it. You were passed out and snoring when Cash carried you in last night,” he let out a deep laugh, “we had no concern that you weren’t breathing.”

“Gee, thanks.” She smirked at the imagery in her head as she bit into the sandwich; the bread immediately settled her empty stomach. She grabbed the soda her dad had sat next to her plate and took a big swig. She paused as the immediate burn of sweet whiskey flowed down her throat. It was everything she could do not to gag. “What is in this drink?” she asked with a half-full mouth, grimacing as she swallowed the remaining liquid down.

“Hair of the dog,” her dad chuckled.

“You put dog hair in this?” She looked up at him as shock and disgust spread across her face.

“No you silly girl. Haven’t you ever heard the expression,
the hair of the dog
?” he asked as if it were something she should have known.

“No, apparently not.” She could feel her headache easing away as she took another swallow; this time taking in almost half of the glass. Her body was so dehydrated that it craved anything cool and replenishing.

“After a long night of drinking, you should have a drink the next morning. I mixed a little of my good whiskey in with your Coke. That should put a little pep back in your step.”

She smiled as he headed back down the stairs. As she finished her sandwich, and let the last of the whiskey burn down her throat, she went to the fridge to see what groceries she needed to pick up. She grabbed the notepad and pen from the side of the fridge and began jotting down various items, taking note of some of the things that she could slip into her dad’s diet with little, to no, detection.
No more zebra cakes are coming into this house.
She grabbed the empty box from the fridge shelf and threw it into the trash.
Who eats those cold? Gross.

“Daddy, I’m gonna head into town,” she called out, grabbing her purse from the counter.

“Ok, dear. Can you get me some more zebra cakes?” he asked loudly from down the stairs.

“Nope,” she whispered to herself before calling out to him, “I’ll see what I can do. Love you”

“Love you too.”

Shortly after, she pulled up to the only grocery store for miles and parked. She kept her sunglasses on as she went in, hoping that she wouldn’t run into anyone from the bonfire last night. She grabbed a buggy and started milling up and down the aisles, grabbing things as she went. Just as she turned the corner to the coffee aisle, she noticed a woman with a familiar face. Ani caught herself awkwardly staring and quickly turned the opposite direction. She knew this woman, but she couldn’t put her finger on where it was that she knew her from.

“Ani?” she heard the faint voice of the woman behind her and slowly turned, taking off her sunglasses.

“Hey!” Ani tried to hide the uncertainty in her voice.

“Ani, it’s so good to see you. It’s been what six, seven years since you have been home?” The woman’s warm smile engulfed her as she began to remember how she knew her. Her hair was different now, an unnatural shade of red, and curled as if she’d started perming it, and Ani could see a bit more make-up on her face than what she used to wear.

“Yes, Mrs. Williams. It has been a few years. How are you? Are you still holding the craft sales up at the Baptist church?” Ani could remember all of the crafting projects that her mother had taken up before she’d passed away. Mrs. Williams had been one of her mother’s closest friends.

“I am good, honey, and I am still the crafting queen of Coker Creek Baptist,” she said smiling, “and actually, it’s Mrs. Thomas now,” she smiled, flashing a very shiny diamond ring.

“Well congratulations!” Ani embraced her.

“Thank you. I didn’t think I would re-marry after Bill passed, but John came along and swept me off my feet,” she gushed, “You know, I’m the branch manager at the credit union now?”

“No, ma’am, I didn’t know that.” Ani felt as though Mrs. Thomas was trying to lead up to something, she just wasn’t sure what.

“I am. I’ve been there for the past three years,” her southern drawl lingered even when she stopped speaking, “Your dad was telling me about how you were working for the Federal Reserve up in New York.”

“Yes, ma’am. I started working there after I graduated. I left when daddy got sick and came back home about a week ago.”

Ok, ok, let’s get to it already.

“Well, we’d love to have someone with your expertise over at the credit union. Have you decided what you’re gonna do for work yet?”

Ani actually hadn’t thought about work much since she’d gotten back in town. She knew that her savings would eventually be spent and she’d have to find work before it was gone to insure that she and her father had a cushion. There wasn’t much work in this town, but she assumed she would eventually find something. Or if it was up to her dad, she’d be married off in the next few months and it wouldn’t matter.

“No I haven’t. I’d love to swing by next week and chat if you have anything open,” Ani grinned.

“Oh, I thought you’d never ask!” Mrs. Thomas said too excitedly for Ani’s aching head. “What do you say to coming in on Tuesday? Just swing by around nine and we can do an informal interview. It’ll be nice to catch up.” Mrs. Thomas’ smile grew as if she’d just found a prized possession.

“Sure, that sounds great.”

“Great, I’ll see you then. I gotta get going before my ham hocks thaw out. I’ll see you this coming week,” Mrs. Thomas patted Ani’s back as she headed off down the aisle.

Ani grinned at how much Mrs. Thomas had changed, though one thing was for sure, her sweet southern demeanor was still there; that hadn’t diminished one bit. Now she’d offered Ani an interview and possibly a job. Ani knew the ins and outs of banking so she wasn’t intimidated by an interview at the local credit union.

After finishing her shopping, and talking to another handful of people she hadn’t seen in years, she pushed her buggy out towards her truck. She strolled out into the cross walk unaware of anything happening around her, until she caught the faint glimpse of a black shape out of the corner of her eye. She made her way over to her truck just as the black figure transformed into the outline of a motorcycle and pulled in to the parking space right beside her. For a second her heart skipped a beat. Was it the man from downtown the other day? She walked slowly, never letting her eyes leave the man as he un-snapped his helmet and set it down onto his motorcycle. His long hair was pulled into a tight bun on the top of his head while his long beard flowed down messily off his chin.

What did Mrs. Bell call him? Oh yeah,
Knox.
Even his name was sexy. She jumped at the sharp and unexpected sound of a horn honking to her right and waved in apology as she hurried the rest of the way across the street.

Great, no way he isn’t going to notice me now.

Just as before, when she’d walked across the street downtown, she could feel his eyes burning into her. Not a part of her was unaffected by his gaze. She smiled politely in his direction as she made her way to the back of her truck. Her heart was pounding and she wasn’t sure why. But she was sure it was something about his mysterious and dark eyes, mixed with the intrigue of knowing nothing about him. The thought of merely speaking to him sent shivers through her body. He was like a shiny new present at Christmas. You could see the beautiful outer layer but had no idea what lie beneath.

As she lifted the gate on her filthy truck, she began grabbing bags from her buggy and tossing them in. He came to the end of her truck and discreetly peered at her before he took off his dark Ray Ban sunglasses. She chanced a glance over at him again, but this time his steel gray eyes cut down to her soul. She wasn’t sure just how long they had stood there, staring at each other, when catastrophe struck. Before she could even react to catch it, the gallon jug of milk came rolling out of the back of her truck and landed on the ground, spewing up like a volcano. As the ice cold droplets rained down on her Ani, let out a squeal and tried her best to dodge the liquid.
Son of a bitch!
She looked down at the front of her shirt that was now dripping with milk and then over at Knox who was also covered.

She couldn’t help but laugh and let out a chuckle that was straight from her belly. This was fucking brilliant. No other way to describe it. Most likely, it was partly the deliria from her hangover, or the anxiety this man gave her from his looks that made it seem so perfectly horrible a scenario.

As she saw the smile spread across his face, she reached her hand out toward him, “I’m Aiyana,” she smiled, “Sorry to splatter you with my milk.”

Lovely choice of words Ani. Awkwardness-two; Ani-zero.

He reached out and took her hand in his own, where it fit perfectly into the contour of his grasp. She felt the rough skin that covered the palm of his hand as it rubbed against the soft skin of her own. “I’m Knox; and it’s ok. Not the first time,” his deep Irish accent sang through her ears, causing her to linger with their hands intertwined, before she let it go with an embarrassed look.

He brushed the white liquid off his black leather cut and as she watched, she noticed the worn rockers over the left pocket that read “President” and underneath another that said “Brothers of Chaos”. She wondered briefly what kind of chaos he and his club were getting themselves into. More than likely illegal, no less. His accent teased at her ears and pulled her from the long list of crimes she was concocting in her head.

“I can get you another jug of milk if you’d like; this one’s crocked.” He reached down and picked up the half empty, leaking jug.

“It’s what?” She smiled at him with a confused look.

“Sorry, it’s ruined,” he brushed his hand through the stray hairs around his face nervously. “I can run in and get you another. I was going to stock up on brew anyway.”

“Oh. You don’t have to do that. I can go get one,” she offered.

“No bother. I’ll be right back,” he turned and headed toward the store, taking long jogging bounds across the parking lot.

Well this isn’t exactly what I expected.
For such an intimidating man, he was so reserved and quiet; as if he was flying under the radar. She couldn’t help but want to know more about this man. She mulled over the different scenarios in her mind as she packed the rest of the groceries into her truck. Maybe he had moved here because he’d killed a man in the last town. Or, maybe he was helping to hide someone up in the mountains. Or, what if he was a kidnapper and the whole motorcycle gang was just a cover up. That was the moment she decided she’d find out more about Knox, no matter what it took or what it unveiled.

As she shut the back gate of her truck, she saw him jog back across the street with three bags. One with her milk and the other two full of various liquor bottles. He made his way over to his motorcycle and shoved the bottles of liquor into the bag on his seat before handing her the grocery bag with her milk.

“Thank you, Knox. I’ll appreciate that with my cookies tonight,” she smiled, trying to coax one more out of him as well.

“Your name. What is that?” he asked.

Ok, we can change the subject. That’s cool.

“It’s Cherokee. My mother was Cherokee Indian.” She placed the bag of milk into the backseat of her truck, “It means eternal bloom.”

“It’s beautiful.” His gaze lifted and anchored in her eyes and there it was. That smile, one more time. It drew her in like a moth to a flame.

“Thank you.”

“I haven’t seen you around before. Do you live here?” he asked.

Ok, I thought I was the one wanting to stalk your life, not the other way around.

“I do. I actually just moved back; I grew up here. How long have you been around town?”

“We started the new charter here about a year back. Been enjoying the scenery ever since.” His eyes moved aimlessly down her body and back up and in their trail left a burning desire that grew stronger by the second.

She turned trying to hide the blush on her cheeks, “Well I hope I see you around, Knox. It was nice meeting you.”

He stepped closer for just a moment, causing her breath to hitch before he turned and put on his helmet and got back on his motorcycle. “I hope I see you too, Aiyana; and the pleasure was all mine.” His dark eyes didn’t leave hers as his bike growled to life. Just as quickly as he had shown up, he was gone again. The pipes of his motorcycle thundered out and sent vibrations through Ani’s body as she watched him head down the road.

What the fuck just happened?

CHAPTER FIVE

OUT WITH THE OLD, IN WITH THE NEW

By the time Tuesday had rolled around, Ani had almost decided to turn off her cell phone completely. If it hadn’t been for the worry that Mrs. Thomas would need to get in touch with her before her interview today, she would have already called and canceled her service. It had been easier to dodge Cash’s calls when he’d only been calling the house phone. She was able to run out the door before her dad could call out to her, “Ani, Cash is calling for you.” But then her father had gone and given Cash her cell number and it hadn’t stopped ringing since.

She brushed her hands down her skirt to smooth out the wrinkles. One last glimpse in the side mirror of her truck and she was headed into the credit union. The building had gotten a major overhaul since the last time she had been in it. A second story had been added and the dingy old paint was now restored back to its former glory. She walked through the large glass doors and looked around at the neatly placed desks around the lobby. She smiled toward a petite girl that sat behind the first desk just inside the door.