“I can take her,” Leon piped up, and looking at Charley, he smiled. “That is, if you’ll ride with me on my scooter, Charley.”
Charley saw Sully tilt his head. She could read a lot into his simple move. Was he wondering if there was more to the story with Rod, which there wasn’t, or perhaps he was pondering if she would ride with Leon on his scooter after all? Maybe he was trying to second-guess what she thought of the gun on his hip or the ones in his retail store. Could her opinion on guns change? Sully hadn’t been without one since she’d met him. Funny, thathadn’t bothered her in the least. But seeing Rod with a gun had scared and angered her. So maybe it was the man holding the gun and not the gun itself that mattered.
“There’s no hurry,” Charley said to both men. “Like Sully told me, my car probably isn’t ready yet.”
“Let’s get back to work then,” Leon said and began sweeping.
“All right, Charley. See ya,” Sully said without being specific as to when.
“Okay.” Charley hoped Sully would be back later. But maybe he’d had enough of her and her problems, so she didn’t press him. “See ya, Sully.”
“Yeah.” With a lift of his chin, Sully disappeared out the side door.
Charley missed him even before the door had closed.
Who didthat guy think he was? He hadn’t counted on…what was his name…Sullivan Custis coming into the picture. Didn’t he have enough on his plate with one man, much less two seeking Charley’s attention? He paced and cursed while chewing his thumbnail. His brain worked feverishly. His body tensed with frustration. The voices told him to keep it together. He knew exactly how he could best do that. He walked into the cool night air. So what if Custis carried a gun? Who cared if he was bigger, more muscular, and far better-looking? What about that other man in her shop today? He was a threat to their relationship too. Charley was his. All his. She just didn’t know it yet. He opened his mouth to scream. Then he saw her, alone and unaware. He’d throw off the police with the disposal of this one. He wasn’t stupid. Longing for the blissful numbness he so badly needed, he pulled the ski mask over his head.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“Thanks for your help, Randy,” Sully said inside the stables on his ranch.
“Of course,” Randy replied. “None of us saw the damn thing when we came back from the skeet shoot. I hate snakes, especially prairie rattlers.”
“In October, they’re looking for a place to hibernate for the winter,” Doc Henderson, the veterinarian, said standing next to the mare that had been bitten, named Rain.
“I’ve got the Springs Snake Control and Removal experts on the way. If there are any more rattlesnakes trying to hibernate, we’ll find ’em,” Sully replied with a pat to the mare’s mane. Rain was a little sister to Storm. He’d had both horses for a couple of years, and Doc Henderson had always taken good care of them and his other four horses.
“The snake was a small one.” The veterinarian nodded to the dead rattler a few feet away that was missing its head thanks to Randy’s sure aim with a gun. “So, Rain’s bite isn’t nearly as bad as it could have been.”
“Right. Still, I appreciate you getting here first thing this morning, Jill,” Sully said to the vet. “And for coming back to check on Rain this afternoon.”
“Any time, Sully. And even though the snake was small, I administered steroids and an anti-inflammatory to minimize tissue damage and to help with potential shock. Along with the tetanus shot I gave Rain, the antibiotic will take care of any bacteria the snake may have transferred into the wound when it bit her.” The vet closed her bag and stepped out of the horse stall. “Swelling and infection are the main concerns. So, watch for both and call me if need be.”
“We will,” Sully said. He walked the vet out of the stables and back to her car as the exterminator truck came to a stop near the barn. “Thanks again, Doc,” he said as she got into her car. He gave her a wave, thinking this was not the way he’d planned to spend the day. But he greeted the two men from the snake control company and escorted them to the stables. “After you’ve inspected the stables, please take a look around the exterior of the house, garage, and barn.” He left the snake experts to take over the rattler hunt from there. Sully checked his phone to see if he had a missed call or a text from Charley. Then it dawned on him, he hadn’t given her his number. “Damn.”
Sully called Cash Cooper and asked for Charley’s number. He punched her number into his cell. It rang. No answer. He hung up. His number would have come up as unknown, so she might not have answered for that reason. Or maybe she hated guns so much she no longer wanted to see or speak to him. Whatever the case, she was a beautiful, independent woman, and he wasn’t the only man who wanted her. Maybe she’d made other plans for the evening. He called again. No answer. This time he left a message.
An hour later, Sully was checking on Rain when the men from the snake company tracked him down. In a far pasture, they’d found the den from where the prairie rattler had slithered. Maybe it was looking for one last mouse meal before the long winter. In any event, they had captured half a dozen venomous snakes. Then they had spread a commercial-grade snake repellent to create a barrier around the house, garage, barn, and stables, deterring other rattlers from looking for a home in which to hibernate during the cold months approaching. Since the snakes’ food source needed to be eliminated, rat poison had been strategically spread as well. Sully thanked the exterminators, paid them, and returned to his house.
It was around four when Sully checked his cell to make sure he hadn’t missed a call or text. None. Why hadn’t Charley invited him to come back? Why hadn’t he offered to treat her to dinner? Dammit. He turned on the flatscreen in his bedroom. Blue lights from police cars and red lights from a fire truck were on the scene in Old Colorado City.
“Hell,” Sully muttered. He punched in Charley’s number. No answer.
He sprinted outside to his truck, cursing himself for leaving her. On the main road, he stepped on the gas. Please don’t let her be hurt. Or worse.
The trip into town seemed to take twice as long as usual. Leaving the highway and heading toward Colorado Avenue, Sully finally neared Charley’s shop and duplex. He saw lights on in the windows of her apartment. He also saw the lights of police cars just up the street from her place. Making a quick decision, he veered up the short hill beside the shop and turned into the driveway of her duplex. He hopped out of the truck and knocked on her door.
“Charley!”
No answer. Sully called her phone. It rang from inside her apartment. He pulled the extra key to the new door lock out of his pocket and opened the door. Her phone lay on the kitchen counter. The place was quiet and just the way they’d left it earlier in the day. Locking the door, he sprinted back out to his truck and took off along Colorado Avenue. Nearing the bluelights of the police cars, Sully saw an ambulance parked near the firetruck now as well. He strained in the late afternoon duskiness to see beyond the police, paramedics, and onlookers. Glimpsing Rod Vaughn and Leon Lerfeld, it appeared the two of them were getting into it again as they had been earlier that day.
“Charley,” Sully whispered in relief as he finally caught sight of her.
Standing under a lamppost, she was caught between the two men, who were obviously vying for her attention. Sully parked his truck as close to the scene as he could and jogged across the street. As a body on a gurney was rolled toward the ambulance, he heard the raised voices of Vaughn and Lerfeld. Sully stepped onto the sidewalk halfway down the block behind the trio. Charley whirled away from the two men, and the frown on her beautiful face disappeared the instant she saw him.
“Sully!” Charley called and raced toward him.
Vaughn and Lerfeld turned as well. Shock registered on their faces. Whether it was from seeing him or watching Charley running away from them to him, Sully didn’t know. Maybe both. In any case, Sully walked toward Charley, and as she neared him, he opened his arms. She flung herself against him, and he wrapped her in his embrace. Her arms clasped around his neck and her feet left the ground.
