Another short pause. Finally, “Okay,” Hoyt yelled. “All right. Just me.”
“Don’t try to force the door,” Travis warned. “I know you got five guys with you. I’m pretty fucking good with a gun, and I’m sure I can take a few of you before you get the door opened up.”
“No tricks,” Hoyt said. “You keep that gun down.”
“I got nothing to gain by killing anyone here.”
“All right. Open up.”
I stared at Travis, wide-eyed. I couldn’t believe he was really going to do this, but he slowly stepped up to the door and began to open it.
One man slipped through the opening. Travis pressed his gun against the man’s chest as he slammed the door shut again and locked it.
Hoyt was tall, though not as tall as Travis. He had tattoos up along his neck and was wearing a grimy jean jacket, a white T-shirt, and jeans. His hair was cut short and he looked like he needed a shower.
“Hoyt,” Travis said.
“Travis,” Hoyt said. “Mind aiming that gun somewhere else?”
“All right.” He moved the gun away and gestured at the table. “Sit?”
“Where’s the girl?”
Travis nodded back at me. “In the bathroom.”
Hoyt looked in at me. “You’ve caused a lot of problems, girl,” he said to me.
“Don’t talk to her, Hoyt,” Travis said. “Sit down. Have a drink. We’ll talk.”
“She comes in here or I give the word and my boys light this room up.”
Travis frowned but nodded. “Come on, Hartley.”
I walked into the main room, staring at them tentatively. I had the sheet rope all done and ready to go in the bathroom, and I could get out of there pretty fast if I needed to.
“Sit,” Travis said, and sat at the table. Hoyt joined him. I sat down on the bed across the room, terrified. Travis poured two drinks and slid one over to Hoyt.
“To your brother,” Hoyt said.
“To Ray.”
They clinked glasses and then drank.
Travis poured two more and then leaned back in his chair. “So, what’s the play here, Hoyt?”
“I need the girl,” he said. “It’s that simple. I’m only in here out of respect for you and your family.”
Travis sighed. “I can’t let that happen, not after earlier. Your boys were going to rape her. I only did what I had to do.”
“That wasn’t part of the plan,” Hoyt said. “They were only supposed to bring her back.”
“Sure, I get you. Bring her back untouched so she’s worth more when you go ahead and sell her into sex slavery anyway.”
Hoyt shrugged. “They owe us a lot of money.”
“I’m sure they do.” I sensed an undercurrent of anger in Travis’s voice. “Enough to ruin a nice girl’s life, I’m sure.”
“Fifty thousand,” Hoyt said. “Plus interest.
Travis nodded slowly. “Well, here’s the issue. I can’t let you have the girl, and you can’t leave without her. How about we make a deal.”
Hoyt crossed his arms. “I don’t want to make a deal, honestly, Travis. I respect you and your people, and your brother, but this is pissing me off.”
“I’m sure it is, but hear me out. You know what I do now, right?”
“Military, I guess.”
“I’m a fucking Navy SEAL, Hoyt. You wonder how I took out your boys so easily? I have skills, the sort of shit your organization could make good use of.”
Hoyt frowned, stroking his chin. “Interesting. That true?” he asked, looking at me.
“That’s what he said,” I answered.
“All right then, so you’re a fucking Navy SEAL,” Hoyt said, looking back at Travis. “What does that do for me?”
“Like I said. I have skills you can use. Give me and the girl a job. We’ll take care of it for you. Then we’ll call it even.”
Hoyt laughed at that, shaking his head. “One job for a fifty-thousand-dollar debt? Plus beating down my boys? That’s a big fucking job, Travis.”
“I’m sure you’ve got needs,” Travis said coolly.
Hoyt leaned back in his chair, sipping his drink. The two men stared at each other, neither of them looking like they wanted to back down. I sat completely still on the bed, terrified to break the spell.
Finally, Hoyt started laughing. It felt like the tension began to deflate from the room, and even I cracked a little smile.
“Okay,” Hoyt said. “I like you, Travis. You’re a businessman. You get how these things work.”
“I try,” he said.
“I’ll run this by my bosses,” he said. “But you can’t leave town.” He looked over at me. “Hear that, girl? You try to skip out again, and we’ll burn your fucking farm to the ground.”
I nodded, not able to say anything.
“She won’t run,” Travis said. “I’ll keep an eye on her.”
“Good.” Hoyt finished his drink and stood up. “My boys are going to be pissed that they didn’t get any revenge, but they’ll live.”
“I hope they’re not too upset.”
Hoyt nodded at me. “Hartley.”
Travis stood up. “You know where to find me. Find a job, I’ll do it, and we’ll be square.”
“Just warning you, Travis, it won’t be easy,” he said. “We got things that need doing, but none of them are clean.”
“I can get my hands dirty,” Travis said.
“I know that, boy,” Hoyt answered, laughing. “Until I see you again.”
He opened the door and stepped out. There was hushed conversation on the other side that slowly receded into the night.
Travis looked out the window and sighed.
“They’re gone,” he said.
I collapsed back onto the bed, relief and terror rolling through me simultaneously.
“What the hell am I going to do?” I said out loud.
“Nothing,” Travis answered, grinning. “You’ll sleep here tonight, and in the morning we’ll work it out.”
“This was supposed to be just one night,” I said softly.
“Shit changes,” he answered, and disappeared back into the bathroom.
I couldn’t believe what had just gone down. Now, somehow, this stranger was involved in all of this, whether I wanted him to be or not. He was making deals with the Dixie Mafia for me, offering to take care of work for them in exchange for my debts. But fifty thousand dollars of debt wasn’t going to come off easy.
Not to mention I was stuck with a man who drove me absolutely wild. I wasn’t the type of girl to get involved with men like him. I was a good girl, a farm girl. I grew up on my family peach farm and never imagined a life beyond that. I didn’t go to college because I always thought I’d work the farm my whole life, and that was all I wanted.
But now I was with some strange man in his strange hotel room, wanted by the Dixie Mafia, my whole life destroyed beyond recognition.
I didn’t know what I was going to do, but I had no choice. This asshole SEAL was a part of this now, whether I wanted him to be or not.
6
Travis
I woke up with a fucking backache on the floor. The sun was streaming in through the curtain and Hartley was wrapped up in the sheets, sleeping soundly.
The memory of the night before came back to me. It was a damn coincidence that Hoyt was the one to show up, but I couldn’t pretend like that really surprised me.
Hoyt had always been into shit like this. But he was smart and capable, so he never was the type to get tangled up in the petty crap that a lot of guys got into, including me.
It shouldn’t come as a huge shock that Hoyt had worked his way up through the Dixie Mafia. Frankly, I was lucky as hell that it was him who showed up. I remembered him and my brother hanging out after football games, laughing and drinking beer. We were all just kids back then, but Hoyt was a nice enough guy.
Not a violent and sick fuck like the guys who worked for him, the guys who almost raped Hartley. Hoyt was reasonable at the very least, and I trusted that he’d take my offer up to his bosses.
Whether they took my offer or not, well, that was another matter entirely. Who knew what they were thinking, if they thought they could get more from Hartley’s family by putting pressure on her, or if they saw value in me. It was hard to tell with these guys sometimes, but at least I’d gotten us through the night.
Once Hoyt had left, I could tell the girl was exhausted. I’d had another drink and then let her sleep in the bed. She was snoring before I could even get comfortable, or at least as comfortable as I could get.
I’d slept in some pretty fucked up situations as a SEAL. I was used to sleeping on rocks and shit. Still, I hated sleeping at the foot of a bed, especially when that bed had a fucking sexy, available woman sleeping in it.
I’d had my chance. Damn was I fucking close, inches away from tasting those sweet lips, and she was dripping for it. I knew she wanted it, wasn’t stepping away, and fucking Hoyt ruined that. He broke the spell, and the girl seemed back to her normal, sullen self.
“Morning,” she said, and I glanced up at her.
“Morning.”
“Been up long?”
“Not long.”
She sat up, her hair spilling down around her. “What’s the food situation?”