Chapter Three

The sun had set long ago, replaced by a full moon and a canopy of silver stars. Wildflowers teased the air, or perhaps it was the large planters of night flowering jasmine sprinkled with sprigs of big sagebrush scattered throughout the festival. Flanked by Eli and Stede, Hollis drew a deep breath and walked into the Beer Gardens. A local country western band called Laramie Lonesome played in the background, and up ahead a makeshift bar held down the far end of the enormous tent. In here, the cloying air smelled of sweat, tobacco and spilt beer.

Backs to the bar, Stede and Eli faced the rowdy crowd and tossed down their first beers in record time. Still nursing hers, Hollis grabbed the vacant stool between them and sang along to Cherokee Fiddle. The bartender set down the second round to the opening strains of Alan Jackson's Pop A Top. Hollis handed Stede her beer, slid off the stool and grabbed Eli by the elbow. "Dance with me?"

With raised brow, Eli looked to Stede and waited for his approval. "Take her; she's yours."

Hollis shook her head. "Gotta hand it to you, Stede, you really know how to make a girl feel loved."

"Just cuz I don't dance doesn't mean I have the right to ruin your fun. 'Sides, Eli knows if he doesn't bring ya back, I'll hunt him down and beat him to a pulp."

"Is that right? What if I don't want to come back after dancing with Eli?"

"Then I'd have to hunt you down."

"Gonna beat me to a pulp, too?"

The corners of his smoky eyes crinkled with a smile. "Do you really want me to tell you what I'd do to you in front of Eli or…do you want to dance?"

She gave Stede's shoulder a playful push. "Oh, come on, Eli, let's leave the brute to wallow in his beer while we go have some fun."

They fell in line with the revelers on the dance floor, kicking up their heels to the two-step. Breathless and working up a sweat, they danced through the next two numbers, and then paused on the dance floor when the lead singer of Laramie Lonesome broke into Ronstadt's Long, Long Time.

With a tilt of his lips, Eli opened his arms and drew her close. She laid her head on his shoulder, her heart fracturing with every sorrowful word blaring through the tent.

"Hey," he whispered in her ear. "Don't be sad."

She sniffled. "Every word of this damn song was written for me and Stede."

"Nah, that isn't true. He loves you; he just has a strange way—"

"Of showing it?"

"I can't say you hurt me when you never let me near."

"Something like that. I don't know what happened in his past but it ain't good."

"Cause I've done everything I know to try and make you mine. And I think it's gonna hurt me for a long, long time."

Jerking her chin up, Hollis peered into Eli’s eyes. "Has Stede told you what he’s running from?"

"No, he'd never share that. But we were out on the horses one day. You know the kind of day—a soft Wyoming chinook, the sun sharing its warmth with everything on God's peachy earth. I asked him if everything was all right because he hadn't uttered two words all day. He didn't answer that question but countered with, 'No matter how many miles of gravel your bike swallows, you can't outrun your past.'"

Tears filled her eyes. "Oh, God, Eli."

"Then Stede blew a long breath and added, 'And you sure as hell can't change your destiny.'"

"I wish I could help him, but I can't. Neither can you; he won't let us get close enough."

"I don't know how it's gonna work out but somehow it will."

She rested her head on his shoulder again, and low-voiced, sang along to the next lines. "Wait for the day; you'll go away, knowing that you warned me of the price I'd have to pay." That's me, all right. Stupid, gullible Hollis, waiting for the day he leaves, knowing I never had a chance of hanging onto him."

"Stop talking like that, and stop crying. I can't stand it when you cry."

"Eli, when the day comes, don't let me fall apart in front of him. It's the only thing I have left, my dignity. Swear to me."

"I swear." He brushed the side of her head with his hand. "But he won't leave, I tell ya, not while you draw breath."

"If he does, I think I'm gonna love him for a long, long time."

The song ended. Hollis eased from his arms and then terror froze her heart. Jasper and Ned stood behind Eli grinning like hyenas. She closed her eyes hoping the brothers were a figment of her imagination. Where had they come from? Her eyes flicked open. Nope, not apparitions. Two heads with hair the color of squash pulp and two stout bodies with flabby paunches smothering their belts, came into view. Beady blue eyes, amid an army of freckles on their pale skin, glared back at them.

"Now ain't that just the sweetest sight you ever did see, Jasper?"

Eli's intentional pivot blocked Hollis from their view. "Don't want no trouble tonight, Ned. You and Jasper best be on your way."

"Or what, rich boy? You gonna take us both on? Your bodyguard ain't nowhere to be found."

The hair at the nape of her neck stood at attention. She looked in all directions for Stede. Part of her hoped he'd come to help Eli; the other part hoped he'd remember how much trouble he was already in and make himself scarce. Fat chance of that happening.

Eli looked at Jasper and sneered. "Didn't get enough the last time?"

"No," Ned interjected before his brother could answer. "We're looking to even the score."

Eli's body tensed. He ground out the words, shifting his weight evenly between both feet. "Bring it."

"Better tell the girl to move unless you want her to get hurt."

"Get outta here, Hollis."

She dodged Eli's back and stood beside him as Ned's lecherous leer rolled over her. She sneaked a covert glance at Jasper. He licked his lips, his bird-like eyes boring a hole through her white gauzy blouse. "I'm not leaving."

The band kept playing but the crowd had splintered and now formed a circle around them. Again, Hollis searched for Stede.

When he cut through the masses, relief bit into her thundering heart. He glanced at Ned and then allowed his gaze to linger on Jasper. Something raw and primal sparked in his dark eyes but his tone remained cool and calm. "Eww, Jasper, what happened to your nose? You run into a door or something?"

"Screw you, Marrow."

Eli's voice sliced through the thick undercurrents suffocating the room. "Take Hollis and go, Stede."

Fists clenched at his sides, Stede advanced and took up a position next to Eli. "No, don't believe I will. In fact, the only ones leaving are Ned and Jasper. It's yet to be determined if they're walking outta here of their own free will or flying out head first."

His face blighted by a frown; Ned fell into a crouch. "You sonofa—"

A shrill voice rang out. "Out of the way, people, step back!" A pair of uniformed officers shouldered their way through and took in the scene, their eyes traveling from Ned and Jasper to them. "All right, fun's over. Break it up."

One of the deputies pushed Ned and Jasper back; the other opened his arms and steered Stede, Eli and Hollis toward the sidelines. There, he turned to the men. "I don't know what this is all about, and I don't care at this point. Before I do, you best take her and go on home. We don't look kindly on fighting 'round here. Bad for business and tourism, know what I mean, boys?"

Still riled and no doubt pumped full of adrenaline, Eli shot back, "We weren't looking for trouble."

The deputy raised both hands in the air, waist level. "Like I said, I don't know who started it but it ends here…unless you two would rather spend a night in jail."

"Come on, man." Stede grabbed Eli's forearm. "Like he said, fun's over."

On shaky legs, Hollis walked toward the exit with Eli and Stede dogging her heels.

Two blocks later, after she found her vocal chords she looked over at Stede. "Do you have any idea what would have happened if those deputies hadn't come along?"

"Yeah, Ned and Jasper would have gotten their asses kicked."

"Again," Eli said, and accentuated his boast with a fist pump.

"Oh, you're cool, Eli Trace. Did you forget Stede's on probation? Huh, did you? If he even whistles wrong, he'll end up in jail, and then what?"

Slack-jawed, Eli came to a halt and slapped his forehead. "Oh, God, I didn't think about that. When I saw Ned and Jasper all I could think about was getting you out of there, Hollis, before the fight broke out. Then Stede came along and . . . hey, I'm sorry, man. Hollis is right, good thing the sheriff's boys broke it up when they did." She blew a disgusted breath. "Getting to be we can't stop in for a beer anywhere without you two fighting our way out."

Brows slanted low, Stede's hair-trigger temper flared. "Anytime you don't like my company, sweetheart, just say so and I'm gone."

Out of the corner of his eye, Eli caught her attention and shook his head, warning her to swallow her tongue.

At times she hated the way Stede spoke to her, treated her, but then she'd remember the good times, like the down and dirty words he'd whisper in her ear when they were in bed…words that melted all her girly parts. Or the many times he'd look at her a certain way, his half-masted eyes saying a thousand things his mouth couldn't seem to.

A familiar voice near Eli's truck broke her reverie—Ned's, a voice she hoped she wouldn't hear again tonight or ever. "Like I said back there, we came to settle the score."

Stede looked at the ground, the words soft and low. "Jesus, some mule-headed assholes never learn."

"Maybe not but Jasper and me talked it over."

"Yeah," Jasper said with the crooked smile of an idiot. "We never got to ask Eli our question, the one we gotta know the answer to."

Silence descended. No one moved except Hollis. She hugged her waist, panic invading every cell in her body.

Ned turned his reptilian eyes on her before focusing on Eli again. "See, me and my brother been wonderin' if you get sloppy seconds when Stede's done with her."

Someone sucked all the air from night. Like the predatory stealth of a cat, Stede stepped forward…and then he charged, taking Ned down at the knees. Eli jumped Jasper, and with a swift uppercut, sent him spiraling backwards. His hand covered his nose, thick, red blood oozing between his splayed fingers.

Ned and Stede rolled and tumbled through the dirt like rabid dogs, with Stede gaining the upper hand. Straddling the stout man with his knees, Stede raised his fist, prepared to crush his face.

Eli scrambled toward him and grabbed his forearm. "Don't, Stede!"

"Get off me, let go of my arm!"

"Don't do it, man; he's not worth it."

Regaining her senses, Hollis rushed forth and knelt beside Stede. "Look at me, right here, look into my eyes." She shuddered from the lethal look in his when their gazes locked. "Trash, Stede, that's all he is. Eli's right; he's not worth it."

Eli pulled him off Ned but not before he leaned down and whispered in Ned's ear, "You even look at her again, I'll kill you."

"That a threat, Marrow?"

An arctic chill crossed his features. "No, a promise."

"Come on," Hollis said grabbing Stede's elbow. "Let's go."

They left Jasper and Ned on the ground and climbed into the truck, Eli's heavy foot on the gas pedal churning up dirt as they roared out of the parking lot.