Dirty Money(29)

"Almost," Clay says. "The manager didn't much appreciate gettin' fired. She's takin' her time packing up her stuff."

Fired? I blink at the brothers, then back at Boone, where he's talking  to the firefighter. "I'm afraid I'm a bit confused," I say. Okay, I'm a  lot confused. "I thought Boone just purchased this place?"

"Oh, he did," Clay drawls. "This is all part of the plan."

There's a plan here? Because this just seems like chaos to me.

As if I can't get any more confused, the doors to the clubhouse open and  a woman comes out with a box in hand. It looks like a bunch of desk  junk, and she's weeping. Is this the manager that got fired? I want to  ask what's going on, but the others are staring at her like she's some  sort of viper. This just gets weirder and weirder. As she passes us, she  glares at Boone and his brothers. "Trash!" she spits at them. "I wish  you'd go to hell!"

"Wish in one hand, shit in the other," one of the brothers murmurs, and that sends them all into a fit of laughter.

The woman gives me a haughty look, as if I'm some kind of idiot for  being here with them, and sticks her nose in the air. She marches  through the parking lot and gets into her car, and when she drives off,  Boone turns to the fireman and rubs his hands. "Shall we get started?"

"Be my guest," the man says, gesturing at the building.

Boone turns to his brothers, a wicked smile on his face. "Boys. You know what to do."

"I call dibs on golf carts," says the youngest brother. He picks up one  of the gas cans and hauls over to one of the carts, then drives off. As  he does, I could swear that I see gasoline splashing out onto the  bright, well-tended golf greens. Another pair of brothers pile into the  other golf cart, each with cans of gasoline. As I watch, Clay opens the  box at his feet and pulls out a stick of dynamite and waves it at Boone.

Has everyone gone completely insane?

Boone steps forward to take the dynamite, and I step forward, too, because I'm confused. "Can we talk, Boone?"

He frowns at the dynamite his brother is holding out to him, and then  looks over at me. He immediately heads to my side and tries to pull me  against him. "What's up, baby girl?"

"I don't understand what is happening here," I tell him. "Is . . . is  this place condemned?" Because it doesn't look condemned to me. It  actually looks very nice, and the realtor in me can see it being fixed  up and sold for a very pretty penny. Which is why it's doubly confusing  to me as to what is going on.

"It is now," Boone says, and grins at me.

"What do you mean, it is now?"

"I mean, I bought this place." There's a hard look in his eyes. "I came  here a few days ago and they were shitty to me. Treated me like I was  low class. Like I was human garbage and didn't deserve to walk on their  perfect green grass. I don't stand for that shit, and I vowed that I'd  handle things." He gestures at the fire trucks. "This shit's about to be  handled."         

     



 

My jaw drops. "You're going to torch the place because they were rude to you?"

"Not just torch," he says with a gleam in his eyes. "We're gonna demolish the clubhouse and burn the greens."

I think of the crying woman. "And you fired the employees?" I'm shocked. This seems . . . insane.

The look on his face is hard. "Maybe next time when she's shitty to someone, she'll think twice about passing judgment."

"But you . . . you can't fire everyone, Boone! There are livelihoods at stake here."

He shrugs and looks off over where his brother is. As if on cue, Clay  waves the stick of dynamite at him. Then, Boone looks back at me. "This  place was going under fast, Ivy. That's why the owner sold it so quick.  So it wasn't like those guys weren't gonna be out of a job soon. I just  made it a lot sooner. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a golf course to  torch." He presses a kiss to my forehead and then heads off to Clay's  side.

I watch him go, my arms crossed. I think my jaw is going to permanently hang open.

This is madness.

This is . . . stupid money. Petty revenge for an insult. I'm shocked . .  . but then again, am I really surprised? Boone has shown that he can be  incredibly pigheaded, and he's sensitive about being treated like  trash.

They treated me like I was low class. I don't stand for that shit.

As I watch the brothers light up a stick of dynamite, the sick feeling  in my stomach grows. I turn away as Clay races into the building and the  men howl with laughter. I don't want to watch this. Of course, the  moment I turn around, one of the brothers drives past in a golf cart,  shaking gasoline onto the carefully tended grass.

This is how Boone reacts when he feels like he's been mistreated. What's  he going to do when he finds out I'm just a big fat lie?



The razing of the golf course takes a few hours. Everyone seems to have a  great time-beer is passed around, a catered lunch is brought in, and  the firemen are given plenty of opportunities to train. Everyone except  me, that is. Boone is attentive to me, but I'm sick at heart with my  secret.

There are no in-betweens with Boone Price and his brothers. To them, the  world is in black and white. You are either with them, or you are  against them.

And I? I can't do this. I can't continue like I have been.

I'm crazy about Boone . . . emphasis on crazy. Nothing about our  relationship makes a lick of sense. In the space of a week we've gone  from me taking him on as a client to me tossing my virginity at him with  extreme haste. I've forgotten all about the fact that he's a bull in a  china shop and that he takes what he wants, and if you don't like it,  too bad. I'm still crazy about the guy . . . but this isn't healthy. I  don't know that I can be with someone that has such callous disregard  for other people's feelings.

More than that, I don't know that I can be with someone who hates how  people view his roots so much that he's sure to hate my roots, too.

I'm quiet as the day goes on, and when Boone realizes I'm not having  fun, I cite a stomachache from the catered food. The truth is, I haven't  eaten a bite. I can't. My stomach's too knotted with misery.

He's sweetly attentive, getting me water and rubbing my shoulders, but I  just want to escape. I ask Boone to take me back to his place so I can  get my car and head home. He immediately agrees, much to the dismay of  his four brothers. They exchange a few teasing insults, and then Boone  takes me back out to his truck and we head out to his trailer.

Back at his place, he wants to take care of me, but I cite work again,  and my illness. He looks torn, like he doesn't want me to leave, but  eventually gives in. I climb into my small, rickety car and feel like an  even bigger failure as I do so. I wave at him in the rearview mirror as  I leave, feigning a cheer I don't feel.

As much as I like Boone, I need to break this off before it gets ugly. I  can't do this. I can't. Even the commission doesn't matter anymore.  While the money would be terrific, it's not worth the heartache-both  mine and how Boone would feel if he realizes I'm the realtor equivalent  of putting lipstick on a pig. I can dress up however I want, train my  voice, fix my hair, and do any number of things to make myself seem more  upscale . . . but at the end of the day, I'm still Reba Lee Smithfield,  trailer park trash and burger flipper.         

     



 

The drive home seems endless, and I'm paranoid enough that I watch my  rearview mirror just to make sure that Boone isn't so worried about me  that he's going to follow me home. That would be the worst. But there's  no one behind me, and I pull up in front of my trailer.

Wynonna opens the screen door before I can even make it inside. "Dude,  where have you been? I have to send my admissions payment off today!"

Oh, shit. The last thing I need is to deal with Wynonna and her college  issues. I love my sister, but the fact that we have no money for her  college is stressing me out almost as much as the lie that is my  relationship with Boone. "I'll send off the payment, don't worry." It'll  put our account in the red quite a bit, but I have a few dollars  stashed into my wallet that I can make do with until payday. I hope.  Monday, I'll call and see if I can donate more plasma.

Wynonna gives me a weird look as I enter the trailer. "What's with your jacket? And were you out all night?"

"Farah invited me over to watch movies and have a girls' night," I tell  her, coming up with a quick lie. "I drank a few too many margaritas and  ended up crashing on her couch."

"And . . . you wore a suit and your realtor heels to your friend's house?" Her brows draw together.

"We went to a club to get a few drinks ahead of time. You know I told  you Farah's between boyfriends." As if that explains everything. I set  my purse down and head to the kitchen to get a bottle of water, like all  of this is no big deal and I normally go out all night every weekend.  "Some guy spilled a drink on me at the club and that's why I have this  towel over the front of my jacket."