Page 4 of Throw Down

Chapter Two

DEREK

Icy rain slapped Derek in the face as soon as he ducked out the emergency exit, sinking him deeper into the freeze that had taken hold of his bones.A little more wet hardly mattered; he was already soaked to the skin.He propped the door open with a nearby five-gallon bucket, gritted his teeth, and plunged back into the storm.

Late spring was always unpredictable this far east of the Cascades.Last week's sunny t-shirt weather had become a soggy, blustery mess.The wind whistled tunelessly in his ears, ripping through the new leaves of the maples dotting Main Street.Downtown wasn't much. Never had been.But it looked especially ugly on such a lousy night.The rain made the touristy veneer easy to see through, washing away everything but pitted concrete and a few abandoned vehicles.No one reputable would be out on a night like tonight.

No wonder a tiny city kid like that had thought the worst of him.The world was brutal to someone so young and soft.The kid had probably learned those scared-rabbit reactions the hard way.

Sabbath squirmed weakly beneath his jacket.Whatever was wrong with her had come on hard and fast.Worry and anger lodged inside his chest, under the skin, like an ugly itch he couldn't scratch.

She was almost a year old, but still small enough to carry with one arm.Just a pint-sized bundle of fur.The day she'd turned up in a box of spare parts outside his gate, she'd barely been old enough to wean.He had a weak spot for every runt of the litter, but he should have ditched her a long time ago.Before it came to this.

He headed back to his truck and tucked her gently into a blanket before checking on the generator, which sat in a small shed at the back of the clinic's parking lot.It was an old diesel, badly in need of service.

Rain dripped into his eyes as he squinted down at the fuel gauge.Even after wiping off a layer of grime, he couldn't make out the dial in the darkness.Digging into the ass pocket of his jeans, he pulled out his cell and tapped the flashlight button.

An incoming message chimed across the screen.

James: You need to call Mom.

With a low growl, he swiped at the text with his thumb, adding it to a growing stack of unread messages.

Missed Call: Mom

Bethie: I’ve got the total expense list for next semester.Let me know if you can help.

Susan: Hey, bro. Did James text you?

Missed Call: Susan

Missed Call: Mom

Missed Call: Mom

James: Mom’s freaking out. West isn’t answering his phone.

Missed Call: Mom

West: Up at north mountain camp with Michael.Bad reception. Make sure Dad takes his meds, okay?

He scowled down at the last message before deliberately pressing delete.Now that his baby brother had decided to become independent, the rest of the family was continuously taking the brunt of their mother's nervous breakdown.Typical. West had been coddled all his life, always expecting others to pick up his extra slack.

Ordinarily, Derek didn’t like to leave messages on read, but they’d come in nearly on top of each other while he was neck-deep in the guts of a broken skid-loader.Besides, at least one member of the Owens family was always in a state of emergency.They could wait. His girl needed help now.

The generator's diesel reservoir was full, but the battery that triggered the electric start was dead.Derek doubted that old Ed Riley had serviced any of his equipment in the last few decades before selling the clinic.There was no manual pull cord, so Derek slogged back through the rain and moved his truck.He parked as close as possible to the concrete berm that separated the shed from the parking lot, but it was still too far for his jumper cables to reach.

He muttered a curse and sat there for a moment, shivering, with his head hanging and his hands balled into fists on top of the steering wheel.

He was so tired of solving everyone else’s problems.

The rusty hinges of the emergency exit squealed, and Derek’s head came up with a jerk.

A mop of silky blond hair poked out, so pale that it tossed back the glare of his headlights.

They had never officially met, but he knew about Briar Phillips.Everybody did. It was impossible not to notice the day he blew into town like a sparkly tumbleweed.Not because he was gay. Same-sex couples were popping up around town like daisies these days, and folks had been mostly accepting of it.Or at least ambivalent. Even Derek’s own brother was shacked up with another man.People didn’t look sideways at Briar because of his sexuality.It wasn’t even his size or his delicate foxlike features that set him apart from everyone else.It was the way he carried the city on him like a stink, right down to his Baccarat cologne and the studs in his earlobes.He was like nothing this one-horse town had ever seen before.

But he sure was pretty.

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