Page 10 of Ace of Spades
“You’re joking, right? You can’t tell me that’s a coincidence. Mike and Rhonda lose the barber shop last year after random water line damage sends them into bankruptcy, Tony sells the trailer park after mysteriously ‘falling down the stairs’ andbreaking his hip, and now vandalism? All properties that the Sorrels were trying to buy. Come on, we’re all thinking it,” Chance insists, throwing his arms up in exasperation.
There was no doubt in any of our minds what was going on around here ever since the resort was announced. But the ranch was already struggling as is, and the four of us were working overtime to make ends meet while also helping as many of the families around town as possible.
“Rafe’s right. Even if that’s the case, we have no proof,” I tell him.
“Then we need to get proof!”
“We’re not vigilantes, Chance,” Beau tells him. “Trust me, I wish there was something we could do. Wes and I grew up in this town, you don’t think we want to help? But you’re the one who went to law school—”
“Business school,” Chance corrects.
“Business school. You know that without any sort of evidence, we don’t have shit.”
“Well what about the trailer park?” he asks, turning towards me. “Didn’t you say they keep raising the rent to try to get everyone to default so they can cut all of the contracts? We can start by reporting them for that.”
“They found a loophole,” I admit, the feeling of defeat washing over me once more. “They’re not technically raising the rent, but they’re tacking on all of these bullshit fees for shit like trash fees, landscaping fees, fines for having more than one vehicle or for trailer homes that are falling apart and aren’t meeting the ‘aesthetic requirements’. Trust me, my mom checked.She’s been fighting tooth and nail but there’s nothing that we can do since it’s technically legal.”
With all of the random charges that had been getting tacked on to my mom’s rent, she’d had to pick up a second job just to keep the roof over her head, and that was still proving not to be enough, even with my continued help.
“We’ll figure something out,” Rafe mutters, his face remaining expressionless as usual.
“Guarantee they’ll go after Sonny’s next,” Beau comments.
“So let’s do something about it,” Chance insists.
“We can’t just camp out there every night to keep an eye on the place.”
“For now, we keep helping Sonny how we can.” I join in. “It’s gonna be a good breeding season, and we can all pitch in from some of our winnings each rodeo. We’ll make him a cushion in case something happens.”
“You meanwhensomething happens,” Chance mutters, taking another sip of his beer.
“Listen, can we not talk about this around Kota?” I ask. “Sonny’s was her favorite place growing up. She already took Lisa’s death hard enough. If she knew what was going on around here, she might insist on staying to help.”
“You want us to lie to her?” Beau asks.
“No. But I don’t want her to worry too much. She’s got a job all lined up as a registered nurse in River Valley next year, and she’s been over the moon about it. She was already super homesick after graduation and her internship and all, and I don’twant her to feel like she needs to stick around here because of all of this shit. Y’all know Kota—she’d want to help.”
“You’re right. I remember how close she was with Lisa. It might be best if she doesn’t know the extent of it, for now at least,” Beau agrees.
“We’ll keep it lowkey,” Rafe nods.
“So when is she getting here, anyways? And more importantly, is she hot?” Chance asks, and it takes everything in me not to punch the fucker.
“You even think about trying anything with my sister, and I’ll fry your balls off with a branding iron.”
“Geez, relax. I can have some self-control,” he tells me.
“Right,” Rafe snorts.
“Clearly, I haven’t told you about the time that Julie Holbrook’s mom came up to me at the rodeo last year, and little Chance managed to turn her down. Do you know how much self-control that took? Have you seen her new boob job?”
“You let her give you a blowie in the gas station bathroom,” Beau deadpans.
“Yeah, but I didn’t fuck her!”
“Wasn’t she married?” Rafe asks.
“And didn’t you sleep with her daughter?” I add, Rafe and I exchanging a playful look.
