Once Upon a Time in Bliss

  “I’m Henry Flanders. I teach military history at a small liberal arts college in the northwest.”

  The Stark kid didn’t move a muscle. “I doubt it. I’ve never seen any teacher move the way you do.”

  Bishop shrugged. He’d pegged the kid’s accent the minute he’d started talking. Pure Manhattan. Upper East Side. “You haven’t been out of New York enough, kid.”

  Stark kept his distance. “I’m not stupid. I’m actually quite smart. What do you want with Nell? She’s a nice girl.”

  And Stark had a thing for her. He could understand that. “I’m trying to help her.”

  And he was starting to think she didn’t really need his help. Didn’t want it.

  Stark nodded. “Okay. I heard someone was trying to hurt Nell. It looks like it’s true. It probably has something to do with her work. She’s shut down some businesses for violating laws. That can make people mad. I can start trying to look on the web. I’m really good with a computer.”

  That could be helpful. “Check her e-mails. I would be surprised if he hadn’t written her before this. This feels like an escalation. You’ll need her password.”

  The kid snorted, an arrogant sound. Bishop appreciated a proper amount of arrogance. “I think I can handle it. I haven’t met an account yet that I couldn’t hack.”

  Yeah, sure. “All right.”

  The kid flushed, his cheeks reddening slightly. “I just mean, I’m pretty good. I can do it. Uhm, I’ll ask for her password. You’re right. That would be way easier.”

  And now Bishop was interested in Seth Stark because he was hiding something. It was right there in the pink of his skin and the way his eyes suddenly found the floor. Maybe he was wrong. “Who caught you?”

  Those lanky shoulders moved up and down. “No one.”

  “I can strangle you again. This time Nell isn’t around.” Killing the kid might release some stress.

  His hands came up in defeat. “Fine. I might have been a curious kid. I thought I was a hacker. I got into the tiniest bit of trouble with some suits.”

  Fuck. Suits? More like feds. Feds were the ones who showed up on a dude’s doorstep when he got handsy with someone else’s accounts. Yeah, if the FBI was interested in the kid, then maybe he really could help. “Did someone come see you?”

  He shrugged again. “I do a little work for the government from time to time.”

  Then he was really fucking good, and Bishop needed to look into him. “Sure, kid. Just check her e-mail. Find out what you can. I’m staying out at the Mountain and Valley. Get in touch with whatever you find.”

  He’d promised Bill he would solve her problem. He glanced back in the room, and she was smiling up at the deputy.

  “I will,” Stark said.

  “And give her a ride back up the mountain, will you?” Bishop asked. He could do this from a distance. “She doesn’t need me.”

  Bishop stepped off the porch and drove off up the road. Toward that bar she’d mentioned. Hell on Wheels. Sounded like his speed. He could use a drink.

  Chapter Three

  Nell picked up her broom, eager to get something done now that Rye had completed the obligatory report. She glanced around. No Henry. He was probably getting some fresh air on the porch.

  She still couldn’t breathe thinking about how he’d kissed her. She’d been kissed before, but those tiny pecks and awkward fumblings seemed in another universe with what Henry Flanders had managed to do. She could still feel his lips on hers. Not tentative and waiting for her to take the lead. Nope. Not Henry. He’d just taken what he wanted, and wow, that did something for her.

  She couldn’t allow her female hormones to turn her into a crazed sex addict. But wouldn’t it be okay to just be a little bit crazy? What was one step down from addict? Enthusiast. Yes. She could be a crazed sex enthusiast.

  Of course she had to actually manage to have sex first.

  “Nell, what do you know about that Henry fellow?” Rye Harper asked, his eyebrows arched as though it wasn’t the first time he’d asked her.

  She could get lost in her own head. “I met him at Mountain and Valley an hour ago. He’s friends with Bill.”

  “An hour ago?” If Rye’s eyebrow moved another inch, it would climb right off his forehead.

  Nell flushed, but tried to hide it by crossing her arms over her chest and sending him her sternest look. “Are you judging me, Ryan Harper? Do you think I haven’t heard the story about the new cart hostess at the golf course in Del Norte? How long had you known her before you…well, escorted her into the bushes and got to know her in a biblical sense?”

  A slow smile spread across Rye’s face. “I get your point, darlin’. I really do, but Beer Bringing Becky is a little less lethal than the man you were playing around with.” He frowned. “Though she could cut me off from beers. I hadn’t thought about that. Oh, well, we didn’t talk very much. The next time I see her I’ll pretend I don’t know her, and she’ll think it was Max who didn’t call.”

  She knew she should lecture him on the whole turnabout twin thing, but her ears had caught on something else. “He’s not lethal. He’s a college professor.”

  And a cranky one at that, but she was rapidly coming to the conclusion that his demeanor was likely brought on by a negative environment. She’d heard many professors complain about how rough it was to get tenure. Publish or perish. The ivory tower could crumble right beneath Henry’s feet if he didn’t have tenure. Yes, that was likely what was making him so crabby. And she suspected he ate too much red meat.

  But she wasn’t sure how much that mattered since she could still feel her lips tingling and it had been a good forty-five minutes since he’d touched her and kissed her and thrown her on her bed.

  She wasn’t a dumb girl, just a cautious one. She knew what would have happened if Seth hadn’t interrupted. She would have lost her virginity to a man she barely knew, and Rye Harper would have been sitting in her devastated living room listening to the whole thing. She knew how embarrassing that would have been.

  And yet she was still a little mad at Seth.

  “Nell, all I know is I haven’t seen a man move quite as fast as that one did,” Rye said, closing up his notebook.

  She frowned. “You were watching?”

  Rye Harper was completely immune to her sternest look. It really bothered Nell. “I wasn’t watching the sex stuff, but I damn straight wanted to see if Seth could save you from your rapist.”

  She sighed. “Do people really think I don’t like men?”

  Maybe Bliss was less tolerant than she thought.

  Rye winked at her. “Honey, Seth is just a kid. He believes anyone who isn’t interested in him is likely a lesbian. Well, he hopes that. I happen to notice the way you look at a man when he takes his shirt off. You’re not disinterested, you’re just picky, and that’s a good thing to be, Nell.”

  She wasn’t so sure about that. Her pickiness meant she was a twenty-five-year-old virgin. It wasn’t that she placed a special value on her hymen. She didn’t. She just hadn’t been moved to get rid of it. Maybe she did place a special value on sex, though. She’d heard one too many fairy tales. She wanted to be in love.

  It was stupid, but she thought she might be able to love Henry Flanders. There was no intellectual reason to believe in the idea of love, but her heart had softened the minute she’d looked at him. She couldn’t take her eyes off him when they were in the same room.

  Why wouldn’t he come back? She didn’t like not being able to see him.

  Would he find her obnoxious? Lots of people did.

  “I like him, Rye.” Why did it take such courage to admit that?

  Rye gave her a brilliant smile. That was what she loved about Bliss. She could talk to almost anyone and they were open and happy to be engaged. This was a family. She’d spent years with only her mother for company, but everywhere she turned in Bliss she found a brother or a sister. Sure, it meant she had no private life, but privacy was overrate
d. “I’m glad, Nell. You deserve a great guy. And I stand perfectly ready to beat the shit out of him if he isn’t worthy of you.”

  “Ryan!” She was a nonviolent person.

  He shook his head, putting his hands on her shoulders. “Nope. I’m not going to feel bad. Every woman needs a couple of men who are willing to kick some ass for her. You don’t have any men. So me and Max will step up. Stef, too. You’re a nice girl, Nell. You need brothers.”

  Tears filled her eyes. She should completely disavow the whole violence angle, but she had to admit the idea of having a few men who cared enough to look out for her made her want to cry. “Thanks, Rye. I really do like him. I’m a little scared though.”

  Rye reached up, smoothing her hair back in a perfectly nice brotherly gesture. “You have to try, Nell. Nothing in this life happens without some risk. One day some sweet thing is going to come through this town and she’s going to be perfect. She’s going to love me and she’s going to love Max and I believe that. I have to. I can’t stand the thought of not having a family, but I’m weird. I worry deep down that it won’t happen. I think maybe I’m too weird, you know.”

  She hugged him without reservation, throwing her whole body into it because Rye Harper was a wonderful man and he should know it every second of the day. “You’re not weird. You’re wonderful and Max is wonderful.” Max was a crabby man but someday some amazing woman would fix that. “You’re going to get married and be so happy. It can happen, Rye. I believe it.”

  Because the universe was what a person made it. Positive thoughts brought about a positive outcome.

  “I hope so, sweetheart. I sincerely do.” Rye returned the hug and then pulled away. “Now, I’m going to look into this, but I think it would be best if you stayed up at the commune.”

  “I need to clean this place up.” She really couldn’t leave. She couldn’t let anyone trash her house again. She needed to be here. “I have to watch our house. Mom and I sank everything we had into this place and our insurance kind of sucks.”

  He frowned. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. Look, I’ll send someone out here to stay with you.”

  She didn’t want someone. She wanted Henry. “I think I can manage that on my own.”

  “Okay, but if he isn’t interested in protecting you, I’ll send someone out here. We can take turns until this guy is caught. I think Seth and Logan can take first watch. They’re prepared to take out whoever comes your way with a Ping-Pong paddle and a couple of rolled-up comic books.”

  She laughed and let Rye leave as Logan and Seth walked back in the house. They were sweet kids. Seth was a little older, but he was Logan’s best friend. He’d spent every summer of his life in Bliss since he was five. Nell envied him finding this place at such a young age.

  “Rye said we needed to stay here tonight,” Seth said with a smile as he walked in. “I think we should grab some burgers and watch Star Trek. They didn’t get your DVD player. It still works. I rewired it so we’re good. Do you want fries?”

  Logan looked out the window. “We should hurry. Dark thirty comes early this time of year. I’ll have to call my moms.”

  Seth rolled his eyes as Logan walked away. His lips curled up. “I’ll take care of you, Nell. My granddad won’t mind. He expects me to stay out all night. I’m in college, you know. I’m working on a software system that will change the way we use operating systems, so my parents don’t fight me too much on staying out.”

  How did she put this? “I appreciate it, but I think Henry can take care of me.”

  She walked to the window looking for where he’d gone.

  Seth frowned. “He left. He went to Hell on Wheels and told me to take care of you. It’s all right, Nell. Logan and I can handle it. I promise I won’t let him come at some stalker with a Ping-Pong paddle.”

  He’d left? “When did he go?”

  “A while back. He kind of shrugged and said you didn’t need him and left. It’s cool, Nell, because Logan and I can totally take care of you. I’ll get you some free cable, and we can just hang out.”

  He’d left. He’d just walked away, and he hadn’t said good-bye. He’d kissed her like there was no tomorrow and she was the only woman in the whole world, and then he’d just decided a shot of liquor was more important than saying good-bye to her? He’d put his hands on her breasts and taken her to completely different places and he’d promised to take care of her, and this was how he did it? He went to a nasty bar with a bad reputation?

  Did he think that would scare her off? He didn’t know her at all. Tears threatened and that really made her mad. She wasn’t the kind of girl who just sat back and accepted the unfairness of the world. She protested. She let people know when they were being douchebags of the highest order because some of them just didn’t understand.

  Henry was about to understand.

  She grabbed her coat and then opened the closet and found a knit hat. She had several but selected blue because it would go with Henry’s eyes and he didn’t have a hat. All he’d had was a leather jacket and that wasn’t the warmest thing in the world. She picked some gloves, too. Even if he was a complete ass, she wasn’t going to let him go cold.

  Logan walked back in the cabin. “I talked to my moms. I can stay but I have to call in, and I can’t have sex with Nell.”

  “Ewww.” Nell sent him her patented look, and it had the proper effect on Logan, who shrank back.

  “They kind of laughed when I said I wouldn’t sleep with you and then I got that whole sympathetic tone,” Logan admitted, his hands up in a defensive position.

  She sighed. “It’s okay, guys. I’m going to be fine. Y’all go on back home.”

  Seth frowned. He was so young, but there was a deeply defined sense of responsibility about him. “That’s not going to happen. I talked to both Rye and Henry. I promised them both I wouldn’t leave you alone here. I can take you up to Mountain and Valley, but I won’t leave you here.”

  She looked to Logan. He would be the voice of reason.

  “Rye said he’d kick my ass if I left you alone.” Logan grimaced. “I kind of believe him.”

  “We’re not leaving her alone.” Seth sent his best friend a nasty look. “Come on, man, we’re over eighteen. It’s time we manned up. We have to protect our woman.”

  “I’m not your woman.” Even as she said the words, she winced inwardly. She apparently wasn’t Henry’s woman either. He’d walked out. He’d walked out after he’d kissed her like she was the air he needed to breathe. He’d walked out after he’d promised to take care of her.

  They had two completely different versions of taking care of her.

  A slow anger started. She should let it go. He didn’t like her. She got that. So why had he touched her? Why had he put his lips on hers and shoved her on a bed? Why had she felt that hard part of him when he rubbed against her pelvis?

  He really should have thought about all of that before he’d done it. He should have thought about that before he’d made her think he’d liked her. It wasn’t fair to pretend.

  He should know that.

  Nell took a deep breath. She was naïve when it came to men. She knew that. She was kind of a dork. She spent too much time on intellectual things, but she’d learned long ago that it cost her more to fit in than it did to be herself. She sniffled, willing herself not to cry. She was weird. But she was a good person and she didn’t just lie down and take anything. She was deserving. She had a lot to give. She wasn’t willing to just sit back. Not for him.

  He was going to get her speech. He was going to understand exactly what he was missing and then she would move on knowing she’d spoken her mind.

  “I’m going to Hell on Wheels.”

  Seth frowned. “Why? He left, Nell. He walked out.”

  Nell shrugged. “I’m going.”

  Seth took a long breath. “All right. I have fake IDs for me and Logan.”

  “Dude, my moms will kill us both.” Logan went a little white. “Seri
ously, they consider you their second son, so death will come swiftly.”

  Seth rolled his perfect blue eyes. He was skinny, but it was easy to see he would be a lovely man someday. “What they don’t know won’t hurt them.”

  “They know everything,” Logan whispered.

  “Ignore him,” Seth said. “I’ll take you up there if that’s what you want, but this Henry guy seems like an asshole if you ask me.”

  She didn’t care. He’d made her feel more in a few hours than she’d ever felt before. “I’m going.”

  Seth opened the door, and she followed him out trying not to think about the fact she was seriously contributing to the delinquency of minors.

  * * * *

  Bishop looked across the bar at the pretty redhead and just knew he’d made a really big mistake. She was lovely. She was soft and feminine. She was obviously needy.

  She was wrong because she wasn’t Nell.

  The woman across the bar stared down into her Seven and Seven, ignoring everyone around her, but they weren’t ignoring her. Bishop counted at least four men who were eyeing the redhead, and they weren’t planning on being her friend.

  “Hey, what can I get for you?” The bartender was an enormous man of obvious Native American descent. He looked to be in his mid-twenties and wore a leather vest. MC. Motorcycle Club and not the Harley-Davidson-riding weekend-warrior type. Nope. Damn. Even small-town Colorado had criminal problems. The man in front of him didn’t wear a three patch that would proclaim him a one percenter, but had the word PROSPECT emblazoned on his left side. One day, if he was a very good boy and did all kinds of nasty things, he would turn in his PROSPECT patch for the three patch and then he would be a fully adult criminal. When he turned, Bishop noticed he had his prospective club’s name on his back. The Colorado Horde. If he moved from prospect to member, that symbol would be inked on his back.

  “Scotch, neat. At least fifteen-year.”