Stolen in Texas, page 1
Stolen in Texas
Big Heart, Small Town Address Series
Sandy Appleyard
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ISBN 978-1-990807-04-6
ISBN 978-1-990807-05-3
Copyright © 2022 Sandy Appleyard
All rights reserved.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Left in Texas
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Author’s Note
Chapter 1
Sloane
Ellie’s face turns to stone. “Thanks for the faith in me, sis.”
I tilt my head and smirk, displaying how ridiculous she sounds. “You all but swept him under a carpet back there.” I state, recalling how she regards her lover Maverick as a piece of grade A beef, and all in the same breath, spoke of her future plans to sleep with a golf pro. “Does he know?”
Snatching the package out of my hand, she hisses. “No, he doesn’t. And I’d like to keep it that way, thank you.”
My teeth are grinding together I’m so angry at her. “Ellie, he has feelings. Don’t you think he might want to know about this?”
“Yes. And that’s precisely why I’m not telling him. And neither are you. So, you keep your mouth shut the next time you’re out at Halen Ranch, riding a horse. The less Maverick knows the better.”
“How dare you.” I seethe. “You’ve sunk to an all-time low.”
“I didn’t ask for your opinion.” She says, and the way she says it, her nose might as well be in the clouds. “Just what do you know about being in this predicament?”
“Nothing. But if I did, I certainly wouldn’t be keeping it from the person who should know the most.”
She pulls the plastic stick out of the bag and looks at it, as though disbelieving, and in need of a secondary look. There is a clear pink line indicating a positive result. Any fool can tell that. After a beat, she stuffs it back into the bag. “And you didn’t know anything about this, either.”
“You expect me to lie about this?”
“Are you saying that you’re going to go and blab? He’ll never bring it up, otherwise.”
“Not unless you start giving him the silent treatment. You start ignoring him and he’ll get suspicious. If he asks why you’ve stopped calling him, I’m not going to lie. Forget it.”
“I didn’t plan on not calling him, Sloane. I’m not that cruel.”
“Do you even like him? Aside from the fact that he has a ‘fine ass’, as you put it downstairs?”
After a harrumph, she sighs. “Yes, of course I like him. But I don’t like him enough to just…settle with him.”
“You should have thought of that before sleeping with him.”
“Look, I know that you’re all miss high and mighty here, but some of us aren’t all about falling in love first, and then sleeping together, okay? Some of us are imperfect humans, you know, Sloane. And I’m not in the mood for a lecture, so please, just spare me.”
“And what did you and your ex-husband just go through, huh?”
She raises an errant hand. “That was completely different, and you know it, Sloane. Don’t go there.”
“Fine.” I sneer. “But if I find out you did something completely selfish and insensitive about this, Ellie, I’ll never look at you the same way again, and I mean it.”
Her nostrils flare, and I know that she’s about to say something, but she refrains. As I hear her stomping down the hallway to her bedroom, I hear the rustling of the plastic bag, and then she closes her door. I strain to listen for a moment. It’s so quiet in here you could hear a pin drop. The boys are still outside, taking a break, and this house is so goddamn big, you could be having a party in the basement, and still not hear it from upstairs. Except for the din from the air conditioning, that comes on intermittently, one couldn’t hear a thing.
After a beat, I rise, as my stomach tells me that something is wrong. I walk down the hallway and tap on the bedroom door with my knuckle. “Ellie?”
A sniffle, but no answer.
“Ellie, are you okay?”
“Yes, I’m fine.” She says, but I can tell that her voice is wet.
“Can I come in?”
“No.”
I’ve never listened to my sister, and I figure now isn’t the time to start. I open the door and see Ellie sitting on the floor. There is no furniture in the room yet, just her bed frame, and her cedar chest, plus her bags of clothing, stuffed close to her walk-in closet. Her eyes are red, and her intermittent swallowing tells me that she’s fighting back tears.
“Ellie?” I say, my voice soft. “Look, I’m sorry. It’s none of my business. I shouldn’t have said anything.”
“How did this happen.” She says as more of a statement than a question. “We used a condom. Every time. We were so careful.”
“It…happens, Ellie. Nothing is foolproof.”
“But Maverick is so not ready to be a daddy. And I’m not ready to be a mama, neither. How could this happen?”
“Are you sure it’s positive? Was that the only one you did?”
She looks at me with a shred of hope. “Are you serious? It could be negative?”
“It’s a small chance, but, yes. It happens sometimes.” I lick my lips. “You should get it confirmed with your doctor. But I wouldn’t count on it being a false positive, Ellie.”
Her chin quivers. “I can’t have a baby, Sloane. I just…can’t. I’m so not ready. I don’t even really like Maverick. He’s sexy and sweet and all, but I just…I don’t feel anything for him, you know?”
“You should tell him that, Ellie. He strikes me as the kind of guy that doesn’t just fool around.”
“Why? Why would you say that?”
A shrug. “I don’t know, Ellie. He came running when you called him the day I got in trouble at the bank. A decent guy wouldn’t do that for just anyone.”
She gives me a look. “That’s just the macho Texan reaction.”
I give up. “Whatever, Ellie. Be the bigger person here and be honest with him. Believe me, you won’t regret it.”
Her voice raises an octave. “What if I do?”
“Well, you’ll regret it a lot less than if you go and do something stupid and he finds out about it later.”
She rests her face in her hand. “God, Sloane. What the hell am I going to do?”
I sit down next to her. “First let’s find out if it’s positive, okay? That’s step one.”
“Will you come with me?”
“Of course.”
***
Maverick
“Yo, Gunner!” I shout at my little brother, who’s holding up a box with as much care as if it were a pile of dog shit packed inside. “You looking to drop that thing, or what?”
“It’s got pillows in it, man. What’s the big deal?” he chuckles with a scoff.
“Yeah, what are you so worried about, man?” Zack pokes. “Your girlfriend have a problem with how her pillows are handled?”
“Look, if you guys have had enough, you can leave. Me and Terence can take over.” Jacob, Sloane’s boyfriend, offers.
“Na, we’re just tired is all.” I wave. “Too many days of working and not enough days off.”
“I can relate to that.” Terence suggests.
Austin, my other brother, picks up what looks like the foot of Ellie’s bed. “Yo, how’s your girlfriend feel about her boyfriend’s brother handling her bed?” he teases.
A hand goes to my hip. “First of all, she’s not my girlfriend. Second, have you seen this place? I’m sure she could afford to go buy anything…twice…if need be.”
Gunner scrunches his face. “If she’s not your girlfriend, then why the fuck are we wasting our Saturday helping her move, man?”
I lift my arm, gesturing to the street. “You got better things to do…go do ‘em.”
Jacob looks at me, puzzled. “Wait, you two aren’t…together?”
I crane my neck, scrunching my face. “Naw. We’re just fucking around.”
“By the way you were kissing her and fawning all over her, I think she thinks you’re more than that, dude.” Jacob guffaws.
“She knows we’re not.” I retort.
“I…don’t think so, man.” Jacob argues kindly.
“Have you told her this, dude?” Austin asks. “Because that’s the kind of thing that you should both know, man.”
“No, I haven’t told her.” I bark, and then I murmur, as if Ellie may be able to hear from inside the house. “And I’d appreciate it if none of you said a word about it, either.”
Jacob raises both hands, as if in defeat.
“Yo, you’re like…not going to say anything to Sloane, either, are you?”
“No, man…it’s all you.” Jacob states, hopping into the back of the truck to help Austin and Gunner with the bed.
Feeling like a shit, I say. “She just got divorced, anyway, man. She’s not into that yet.”
No response.
Blake and Zack, who return from just bringing another load inside, see me standing there, doing nothing. “
“No, man. Just…” I trail off, raking a hand through my hair.
“He needs to make a call to that ‘Dear Abby’, man.” Gunner teases, calling from the truck.
Blake gives me a look. “What’s up, partner?”
“Nothing, just…” I wave. “I don’t want to talk about it anymore.”
“He’s feeling guilty because he and Ellie are just fucking around, but Jacob here thinks that she thinks there’s more to it than that.” Gunner adds as he and Austin walk past me, holding the headboard, one on each end.
“Thanks, asshole.” I sneer.
A strange look crosses Blake’s face. “Why don’t you…go on in there.” He gestures with his head towards the house.
“Why?”
He shrugs, but his face says that he knows something I don’t know. “Just because.”
I look towards the house. “Something wrong?”
Zack walks by me and says under his breath, so no one else can hear. “We heard her crying in there, man.”
“Shit.” I mutter, rolling my eyes.
Zack gives me a little shove. “Go on, man.”
After a sigh and some heckles from the other boys, I decide to do the right thing and go inside. When I enter the house, I don’t see the girls anywhere, and I don’t want to call Ellie, so I trot upstairs. My mama’s voice is inside my head, telling me to be respectful, or face a lifetime of repentance. Mama’s advice has always served me well, and I should know better, considering that this is my first casual relationship in a while. But Ellie just kinda showed up out of nowhere and took an immediate liking to me. How was I supposed to know that she’d take what we had so seriously? If that is, in fact, what is happening.
Sure enough, I hear the two girls talking in the bedroom, and as I approach, the sniffling stops. “Ellie? You okay in there?”
“Y…yes, I’m fine. I’ll be out in a minute.”
I’ve always been a good judge of the truth versus a lie. Being that Gunner is the best damn liar on the dang planet. For instance, he’s supposed to be some straight A student in school, yet he’s home, claiming that he did so well that the teachers let him off the semester early. Mama spots the lie and so do I. I think Gunner’s the only one that thinks he’s got it licked. Ellie’s most definitely lying. Suddenly, Sloane scurries out of the bedroom.
“No, don—” Ellie says, evidently trying to stop her sister from leaving.
It suddenly feels like I’m as unwelcome here as a vagrant.
“Look, Ellie. If you don’t want me here, I’ll leave.”
She sighs, rakes a hand through her hair, rolling her eyes, which are reddened, and sinks her head into her lap, as she sits on the floor, cross-legged. Her hands are in her hair, grabbing hold of fingerfuls of her locks.
I sit next to her, feeling like if she wanted me to leave, that she would have said so by now. “So, what’s up? You don’t like the house? You don’t like me? What?”
A groan.
“Ellie. It’s okay. You can tell me.” I exhale fast. “It takes a lot to upset me. I can handle it.”
If she wants me to fly, I’ll do it. No loss to me, other than the fact that I won’t get any more of her fine ass. But I’m no more into relationships than she is. Sure, I’m a gentleman. My mama raised me right. But by no means am I going to be someone’s sucker here. “My brothers heard you crying up here. Told me to come in and thought it might be something to do with me.”
“I knew I should have kept my mouth shut.”
“About what, man? Come on. Is this a girlie thing? You know, like, we didn’t put your couch in the right spot or something?”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” She says. “I’m not that delicate that I can’t say something when something isn’t right.”
“Well, then, out with it.” I say conversationally. “What’s this about?”
She lifts her head and draws in a deep breath. And then she lets it out quickly. “Maverick, just what did your nosey brothers hear, anyway?” her voice is slightly snide.
“Well, they didn’t hear anything, per se. They just said that they heard you crying. Or thought they heard crying, and that I should come and check it out.”
“Isn’t that just great.” Ellie sneers. She’s clearly pissed off about something. I’m not one for drama, and this type of behavior is annoying. That’s one of the reasons why I steer clear. While Ellie and I have only slept together a half a dozen times, we also don’t talk much, and this is about as much talk as I can handle. My mama is the most level-headed woman I know, and I can’t stand for anything less.
I decide to come out with it. “You want me and my brothers to leave?”
A long-winded, exasperated sigh. “No. I need to get my stuff in here somehow, don’t I?”
I hear Sloane shuffling around in the bathroom. She can clearly hear us. I have half a mind to go close the door so she can’t eavesdrop anymore, but I also don’t want to make it obvious. Bad enough I’ve got one woman pissed at me. I don’t need two. Sloane rises and comes to the bedroom, making it look like she’s just transferring stuff from the bathroom, that doesn’t belong in there, to the bedroom.
“Ellie, isn’t there something in that little plastic bag that Maverick might want to see?” Sloane says.
“No.” Ellie says too quickly.
I scan the room and see a small plastic bag in the corner, stuffed next to a suitcase. “Did you get something for me, babe?” I ask, thinking maybe I’ve got her all wrong.
“She did.” Sloane says, but her tone is facetious.
“Sloane…” Ellie warns.
Now I’m confused. Did Ellie buy me something that Sloane doesn’t approve of?
“Ellie, I really think that you should show him what’s in the bag.” Her tone is dripping with contempt.
“Well, what if he doesn’t like what’s in the bag, huh? Or, what if it’s a dud and I have to do what my ‘oh so wise sister’ suggested and get it done professionally?”
What the fuck?
I’m looking closely at the bag, and it looks like there’s two of them, actually. I’m tempted to get up and go help myself, but I’m not fond of getting slapped…especially by an audacious chick like Ellie.
“Well, like I said, it’s rare that it would be a dud, Ellie.” Sloane insists. “I still think you should show him.”
Surprising me, Ellie bolts up off the floor, and trots straight to the bag. She stuffs her hand inside and I can feel Sloane’s eyes burning into me from behind me. Just as she’s about to pull whatever it is out of the bag, we hear a huge bang from outside and then Blake shouting loudly. “Shit! Call nine-one-one!”
…and I don’t get to find out what’s in the bag…until days later.
Chapter 2
Maverick
Gunner’s face is as pale as a goddamn sheet. His forearm is hanging by a thread from his upper arm. A lone towel wrapped around it is the only thing keeping it from pulling an Eeyore, and falling from his body, like he’s one of them children’s birthday games, where you can pull the body part away and attach it somewhere else. Nobody ever got the goods on what he was actually doing in the moving van, but we all heard the bang. And Gunner’s the type to go on ahead and so something stupid, putting himself in danger, and this is no exception.
Ellie’s guilt is clearly showing. She’s in the room with him, and she seems to be the only one of us that can stand it, as well. Hell, even Blake can’t stand to look at it, and he’s the one who’s in the stable when all of our mares go into calf. Me, I’m in the room, only because I can keep my eyes pinned on Gunner’s. He’s a tough kid, though, and the doctors are working as fast as they can to prepare the operating room for him, so they can re-attach and repair his arm. He’ll probably never be able to use it properly ever again, but the doctor says that the orthopedic surgeon, whom they’ve called, with check it out.
“It’s not that bad, Gunner.” Ellie comforts. “They’ll get your arm back in place in no time.”
Sloane and Jacob, plus Terence, stayed back, to get Ellie’s place put together. So, it’s just us Walters boys here. Nobody called mama. No need to alarm her, plus, since all of us boys are here, she’s got her hands full minding the hands and the ranch.
