Truth and Humility Read online

  Hesitating, Danny considered her options. They were few. But, when she thought about it, her odds of leaving this place whole were much greater than how she’d farehe she’d after facing her father with this gem of deceit.

  “I’m growing old.” His growl prompted her to scribble her signature without further consideration.

  “I’m only doing this because you don’t scare me,” she grumbled impudently then threw in a comment about her father as she threw down the pen.

  Austin didn’t really care. Now that step two was complete, he verbally laid out the rules while he turned to the computer screen beside him. “You’ll clear out of your private room, I need it for a new hire. Instead you’ll be staying in the servant quarters in the main house.” To keep a closer eye on her...just in case her brother should get involved.

  Danny’s mind instantly revolted. Servant quarters!

  He fiddled with the mouse until the ink-jet printer began to feed paper. “After putting in a full eight-hour day in the yard, you’ll be expected to work a second job, that of maintenance crew.”

  “I wasn’t hired to work in the salvage yard.”

  “It pays $60 a day as long as the work gets done. And since I know you’ll be in a hurry to get this over with, ninety percent of your weekly wages will be put toward your debt. That should leave you with enough money to feed yourself at night if you limit the menu to peanut butter and crackers.”

  Pig. Obviously she would not be working demolition, but in the prison yard. “Why not just go the distance and make it bread and water?” she sniped. The paper he handed her was still warm from the printer.

  “A checklist of your nightly chores,” he supplied before she could ask. “Good timing, too, because my full-time maintenance lady just went to Hawaii for a month.”

  “How convenient,” she sneered, growing angry at the size of the list and the duties she was expected to perform for sixty measly dollars a night. At least it was limited to the staff facilities and not the main house. Sweeping, mopping, disinfecting, trash, laundry. Bathroom maintenance, locker room and shower maintenance and break-room kitchen maintenance all had their own separate checklists. How was she supposed to do all this in one night? How was she supposed to find time for her on-line studies? How was she supposed to find time for sleep?

  “Look,” she began, bone tired from just reading the checklist. “I’m sorry about what happened to your girlfriend.”

  “My fiancé,” Austin bit out angrily.

  “But, I haven’t done anything to you. You’re using me as a pawn in this vendetta of yours and it’s not right.”

  “I don’t want an apology from you, I want the truth from Derek.”n>

  “You want him to confess, whether it’s the truth or not.”

  Austin exploded. “I want him to man up and admit his attempt to get me back for screwing his deceitful whore of a girlfriend nine years ago ended up killing a kind, soft, beautiful woman; a woman I planned to spend the rest of my life with! Rena meant everything to me! She – no, we were above this feud and had every intention of campaigning for peace between our families. So, don’t sit there and judge me, Bennett, when all I have faced for the last eight months is repeated attempts to destroy my life from your side!”

  He was shaking with his fury and those black eyes were dark with thunderclouds as they bore into hers. Danny shrank inside, unused to being subjected to such loathing from another person. When she looked down and folded the checklist, she realized her own hands were shaking. In fact, his speech had shaken her to her core. Without another word, she stood and left him to simmer in silence.

  ____________

  Melanie’s skin was burning up. Sweat was building between them, making their bodies slippery as Derek increased his speed. He bent his head, took a salty nipple into his mouth, clamped down with his teeth, flicked the nub with his tongue.

  “Oh, Geeeee-od!” she screamed.

  Derek quickly covered her mouth with his hand and laughed through his mouthful of plump breast. Judging by the extreme pressure that was now gripping his manhood, her orgasm was tremendous. He continued to pound until he found his own release. He threw his head back, eyes clamped shut as rapture took him by the balls.

  “Melanie, you kill me!” he groaned, waiting until his body had released the final drop before collapsing exhaustedly on top of her. They were both panting like dogs without water, the sun beating down on their naked bodies. Derek’s posterior was taking most of the heat but he didn’t mind it. He never minded it, though he wished he could have showered first. Fresh off the job, he’d planned to leave the semi-demolished home with the handful of men he’d been working with all day. He was dirty, sweaty and smelly. But Melanie liked him that way for some ungodly reason. She proved it by devouring every inch of him regardless of how cruddy he was.

  “You’ve got to quit ambushing me like that, babe,” he said, slowly catching his breath. “I nearly crushed you when you pulled me over into these boxes. I didn’t know what the hell was going on.”

  Melanie’s white teeth shown as she gazed at the clouds, still coming down from the pleasure she’d found with him. She could always count on Derek when her sexual cravings got out, fings go of hand.

  Danny’s big brother never disappointed. Melanie had lusted after him since the first day she was invited to the Bennett home. Luckily he was easy. “I wanted to do it outside. Even now, someone could walk by and see us here.” Her hands skimmed over his tight posterior in a teasing circular motion. “Making love among the pile of rubble, buck naked and…” she slapped him hard, “soooo hot.”

  “Ow,” he responded, smiling against her earlobe. “Well, I’m pretty sure the guys saw you. Didn’t take them long to realize not to wait for me.” He lifted up and moved a strand of flaxen hair away from her swollen mouth. The lower half of her face was red and chafed from the heavy stubble he kept, but he knew she liked that, too. “You’ll have to give me a lift back to the house.”

  Her hands continued to roam. Oh, how she loved his body, all muscle and sinew, sweat and strength. He was so athletic, so limber, and an extremely fierce lover. His gorgeous brown eyes never hid much, for the man was an open book. Honest as the day was long. It was never a secret he was only after relationships that began and ended in the sack.

  His face wasn’t perfect. His nose was crooked from being broken once, but coupled with the high cheekbones, square scruffy jaw and mischievous nature, the women went nuts for him. And he was all hers for the moment. “I’ll take you home when I’m good and done with you, Derek Bennett,” she purred, her hands running through the soft sweaty depths of his hair. Then she grabbed fistfuls and yanked his head back playfully. He winced. Smiled. A broad roguish grin that had her gasping for breath again.

  Footsteps approached from the sidewalk and he quickly ducked, hoping against hope the pile of collapsed empty boxes covered his backside. Melanie’s eyes lit up with mischief and he covered her mouth again before a sound could come out of it. He warned her with his own eyes to keep quiet, but he couldn’t hide his amusement. She was an exciting lover and he would never get tired of her creative ways to seek sexual fulfillment.

  An hour later he sat down in the laundry room of his parent’s home and toed off his dirty boots. “Mom, I’m starving!”

  “You’re late, young man,” her voice answered from the dining room. “Wash your hands and come sit down with the rest of us!”

  When he did, sleeves rolled up past the elbows, he greeted the crowd of family already finished with their meal and attacked the serving dishes with vigor.

  “Grace.”

  “Sorry.” He bent his head for a mere second, then resumed piling his plate with pork chops, mashed potatoes, zucchini casserole and homemade rolls.

  “I believe your version of grace has shrunk down to that one word, son.” Herbert Bennett worked the toothpick between his teeth and observed from the head of the table. This meal drew out three of his sons, two daughters-i
n-law and three grandbabies. It would be different tomorrow as it was every day. >

  The habitual thought entered his brain before he could stop it. Herb’s aging brown eyes instantly clouded over behind the thick glasses he wore and he clamped his weathered hands together to keep them steady. “Did you turn over your clipboard to Marshall before you came in?” he asked. At Derek’s quick nod, “Any troubles with the Dickenson home?” His son raked in another mouthful and shook his head. “Heard from your sister?”

  His food forgotten for that instant, Derek looked up regretfully. “No, Pop. And she doesn’t answer her phone.”

  “I can’t believe she hasn’t even called,” Mary worried from her place at her husband’s left. Her brow furrowed and her pale complexion flushed slightly as she thought of her only daughter lying dead somewhere. “Something could have happened to her and we wouldn’t even know it. That last accident almost killed her, Herb, and I’m tired of worrying!”

  “Now, Mary, you quit that,” Herb lightly scolded. “Danny’ll come back when she realizes how stubborn she’s being. It’s never easy striking out on your own for the first time, but she’ll be okay. The ornery ones always are.”

  The subject of Danny and her defection was discussed around the table for a while until Derek felt the need to interject. “Now, y’all calm down, it’s not like she’s gone to work for the Cahills or anything. She’s got plenty of skills to keep her head above water and she’s determined to prove herself, that’s all. As soon as she’s got something impressive to report, she’ll be bragging to us about it, guaranteed.”

  To his relief, everyone agreed including his mother. Poor woman, her hair must have lightened two shades of gray since Danny left one week ago. It was one more reason he was going to turn his little sister over his knee when he caught up with her. The inconsiderate little peckerwood was going to pay for making his home life harder than it had to be. Everyone expected him to know what was going on just because she and he were so tight. The hell of it

  was, he was more frustrated not knowing than all of his family put together.

  Chapter 4

  Bugs were out in droves. The sun was once again high in the sky, beating the July summer heat down on the yard and its organized piles of quality junk. Danny lifted another heavy length of cable and began feeding it through the machine. As it exited the other end, the rubber hose was gone revealing a clean rope of bare copper that gleamed a fiery pinkish gold as it fell to the ground. She bent to pick up the stripped metal and throw it into the large plastic bin that was quickly filling to the top.

  Smack!

  “Skeeter on your butt.”

  Clenching her jaw tight, she took the abuse to her backside from that jerk-off Torsten, knowing from experience she would be laughed at if she complained. It was a man’s world, after all. But this time she had retaliation in mind and she slyly reached into the pocket of her tool belt. After threading the thick rubber band on her fingers, she pulled back, took aim, and let it fly.

  “Holy shit!” The man reacted like he’d been shot with a .22 caliber bullet. Holding his hand over the fresh wound on his neck, Torsten turned his look of wide-eyed surprise to find her practically daring him to lay his palm on her again.

  “Keep in mind my reach is longer than yours.”

  It was all she needed to say. His pale beady eyes sunk even further into a wide, unattractive face that had been pitted with old acne scars. Sweat pored from his receding hairline of spiky red hair, no doubt from the pain rather than the heat. He turned and moved on without a word.

  Over the last few days, Danny was slowly getting her message out to the crew that she was willing to give back as good as she got. Retaliation was her only defense, for she knew her boss was relishing in her misery, had no interest in championing her cause. Hell, Austin rarely looked in her direction when he was even in the yard, let alone when she was being openly harassed. Tom was never available as he was constantly operating the heavy equipment. Bobcat, backhoe, forklift, uni-loader...that was his job since his arthritis made it tough for him to perform physical labor. But she had a feeling the man was doing his best to ignore her out of loyalty to Austin, and he certainly wasn’t concerned with supervising this band of misfits.

  Her hardhat protected her face from the sun’s rays, but her body was so drenched with sweat, she prayed for another breeze to come and cool it down. And it was still morning...the morning of her third day at Cahill Salvage. She knew if she stripped to her lacy camisole like she could at home, she’d be inviting even more sexist comments from her coworkers. So she suffered in her long sleeves while they were allowed to go shirtless.

  Her brain fought back the fresh memory of Austin shirtless from her first day. All grown up now, the man was built like pure sin. Slapped hard by that tanned, broad, hairless chest, she had to shake herself in order not to look any time he was around.

  It wasn’t even noon and she already felt fatigue wash over her. Her evening job was brutal; made worse by the kind of mess only a large group of disgusting men could leave behind. They were all ruthless slobs because they knew who had to clean up after them. Every night was a late night. She hadn’t even touched her laptop since she’d walked through Cahill’s gates, knowing she was too exhausted to produce a coherent thought.

  There were a few things she was catching on to, however. These men wagered on just about anything. Their propensity to bet had he Cto job sincr wondering how she could use it to her advantage. Of course, she had no money to wager which only meant she’d need to borrow it and bet only on her skills...the ultimate sure thing with this bunch of cocky, indolent assholes.

  Just by observing, she noticed how much money Cahill was losing from incompetence alone. Half the men were so hard on tools they’d damage them without even trying. Broken drill bits, burned up motors, chewed up socket wrenches, stripped lug nuts, the list went on. The other half were so lazy, they’d fail to strip all of the value from their junk pile and hundreds of dollars worth of recyclables would end up in the dump truck. Did Austin even notice? She assumed that’s why these men were stuck in the salvage yard and not chosen to work the big location jobs. But as much as she wanted to coach them on their shortcomings, she refrained. Not so much because she was afraid they’d reject her input, but because she wasn’t about to lift a finger to help the Cahills.

  Lunchtime came eventually. As usual, she sat by herself at the end of a table. Kept her cap low, her nose to her plate. Austin usually carried on with his crew during this time, relaxed and unobtrusive, usually surrounded by Torsten’s machine-gun raucous laughter. It was pure curiosity that had her watching her captor – her brother’s worst enemy – on a constant basis. Nothing more. Certainly not because of an attraction of any kind. That thought was laughable.

  The food was quite good since it was catered fresh from a nearby deli. It consisted mostly of hot and cold sandwiches and simple sides, but the selection was large enough to fit anyone’s taste. Breakfast was more like a continental offering of fruit, muffins, bagels or packaged oatmeal you prepared yourself. Danny craved protein that time of day, but there were many things she would be denied during her imprisonment at the Cahill compound. Not a single complaint crossed her lips. The food was free, so she’d load her pockets and save some for dinner.

  “Hey, sweetheart, I have to pee,” said a mocking voice behind her. “Wanna hold it for me?”

  When she turned to look, the new employee she remembered from the day before pointed to his open fly. A vee of white briefs covered the details, but the implication was by far the boldest attempt to rile her.

  Really? Her eyes searched the tables for Tom and she found the man with his nose suspiciously down. Left on her own again, even when exposed undies would cross a line in any workplace.

  Fine.

  Going for an air of compliance, Danny cocked her eyebrow. “You got a real king snake in there, huh, stud?” The kid grinned wide and made suggestive noises. Unfazed and oh-so cool, sh
e reached into the pouch of her tool belt, which was never far. “I may have just the thing to cure that.”

  Zwing!

  The kid’s trill of pained surprise held a feminine lilt.

  Danny drew her brows together as he doubled over and she turned back to her plate. “Sure. The guy screams like a girl and I’m the creampuff.”

  Laughter erupted around the commons room. When she looked up, she was surprised to see the men were laughing with her, not at her. The poor fellow with the stinging crotch turned his reddening face toward the bathrooms and limped in that direction. Moments later, another feminine voice rose above the din in the room.

  “Okay, who took all my rubber bands?”

  About a dozen fingers pointed in Danny’s direction and she met Sue’s accusing glare unwaveringly. “Sorry.”

  The girl didn’t look sorry, Sue thought, mildly annoyed by her unapologetic tone. “What in blazes did you do that for, Bennett?”

  Before Danny could answer, a big man she recognized as one of Cahill’s biggest liabilities offered up the information. “To keep these jerks in line, Sue. Just buy another box.”

  Torsten stood up. “Come on, Mac, she put a permanent mark on my neck and that poor kid’s gonna have sexual problems for a week!”

  “You deserved it, Torsten. Both of ya.”

  The big burly man named Mac had actually come to her defense, which came as a huge surprise to Danny. Another surprise was when Sue’s look of annoyance instantly settled in mollification. “In that case, you come to me any time you need more ammo, girl. All you gotta do is ask.”

  The equipment building was huge and organized. Rows of gas cylinders, coils of heavy extension cord, enough tool chests to stock a home-improvement store, a couple of bays for working on broken down equipment and vehicles. Ladders, cabinets and shelves loaded with stock. For a moment, Danny forgot why she was there. It certainly wasn’t to shop, no matter how much she wanted to.