Page 18 of Love Bank
The skirt covered the length of her legs, the dark material highlighting how pale she really was. She sipped from a tiny white cup, probably Earl Grey, the most basic tea imaginable. A second later she put the cup down and leapt up to wave her arms maniacally at an innocent seagull who dared sit on the back retaining wall. Didn’t she know we lived at the beach? This was a seagull’s natural environment. They had just as much right to be here as we did.
She shook her fist in the air when he swooped around in a circle and settled back on the same spot on the wall. A chuckle broke free at the sight of her obvious irritation.
And that’s when my caffeine and carbs finally kicked in, providing the spark I needed to solve at least one of my problems today.
I needed to fight back.
I needed to play dirty just like her.
Maybe then she’d learn a valuable lesson.
You didn’t mess with Bain Sutter.
7
Bain
The day had gone similarly shit-tacular from there, ending with a strained conversation with the mayor once Gary-the-spitter was apprehended yet again and escorted to a different cell. My faith in the locksmith had been shaken so badly that even after he fixed the lock and I made him go one by one to lock himself in each cell to prove the locks worked, I zip-tied Gary’s cell closed. When all else fails, use zip ties. A shitty life motto, but it served me well today.
But that was all behind me. I still had my job, maybe not my pride, but I did have social plans that evening and that was the only thing buoying me up at this point. I took a quick shower to wash the day off me, trading in my taupe uniform with the cream cheese and coffee stains for a pair of dark wash jeans, boots, and a faded green long-sleeved Henley. The days were getting warm here in the spring, but the nights, especially right on the water, were still quite chilly. For good measure and to show I still had hope for the day, I sprayed a bit of cologne on and shot myself two pistols into the image in the mirror staring back at me.Saddle up, cowboy, we have some socializing to do.
I grabbed my keys and ran out the door, stopping and retracing my steps to lock my front door, then hit my truck for a quick ride to the beach. Just as Titus had described, a mile past the bluffs there was a pullout, currently jammed with every make and model car you could imagine and including one John Deere tractor.
I whistled through my teeth as I edged my truck onto the shoulder, but not in danger of scraping the side of the tractor. “We’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto.”
The wind buffeted my door the second I opened it. The sun was just setting into the ocean, casting the hillside in an orange glow. I put my hands on my hips, admiring the view and gulping in the fresh air. Life could hand me a shitstick for dinner and, yet, if I could catch that orange ball dipping into the water every night, I’d die a lucky man.
I waited until the last sliver of the sun faded into the sparkling gray-blue ocean and then I found the trail that led to the beach below. The beaches here in Auburn Hill were very different than the few I’d visited in Southern California where the sand stretched as far as the eye could see. Here you had cliffs, rocks, and very small sand banks. The way the beaches were set into the hillside, we didn’t have a whole lot of tourists down below. The hike was too steep and the rocks were liable to roll the second you stepped on them if you didn’t know what you were doing.
I heard some good-natured hollers as I got lower, carefully picking my way down the hill in the last bit of daylight. A quick switchback and my boots sank into the sand. A huge bonfire within a six-foot-wide concrete ring blazed, lighting up the beach and pumping out some much-needed heat.
A familiar raven-haired beauty stood up and held her red plastic cup high in the air. The crowd seated on logs and blankets all around the fire started shouting and clapping. With a flourish, she brought the cup to her lips and slowly chugged, tilting her head back the further into the cup she got. When the thing was empty, she pulled it away from her mouth, tipped it upside down, and curtsied to the cheers of her friends.
Well, hello, Friday night.
Small towns knew how to party better than any big city I’d lived in, that was for damn sure. But unfortunately, that woman was off-limits. The chief’s daughter I’d seen at the Tavern earlier in the week. I didn’t need that kind of trouble as the new guy.
I worked my way to the group, spotting my new friend Titus when he pulled the lady down next to him on a blanket. Considering he’d been crying in his beer over a woman, I could only imagine this was her. I’d have to find out who was single and who was taken in this group. Didn’t want to get my flirt on with one of the ladies and find out she was already seeing someone. The dangers of being the new guy in town.
“Oh hey, Bain!” Titus waved to me and then hopped up. “Glad you could make it.”
When he reached me, he spun around and slapped me on the back and yelled to get everyone’s attention.
“Quiet down, Hell Raisers. This is Bain. He’s the new warden in town and I invited him to join you losers, so don’t make me regret it.”
I glanced around, seeing smiles and open, friendly faces. They all said hello and another guy hopped up to grab a red cup and fill it from the keg. His hair was dark and on the shaggy side like he had a thing for male pop stars, but any guy handing me a free beer was all right in my book. He extended the cup and I took it, nodding and mumbling my thanks.
“Rip. Nice to meet you.” His expression was stern and he sounded serious, but in a nonaggressive way. First impressions were my specialty. As law enforcement, you had to make snap decisions about who people were and what their motives might be. I’d say Rip was a good guy underneath that mop of hair and scruffy beard.
“Thanks, man. It’s nice to finally meet some people my age.” We shook hands and then Titus pushed me into the circle.
I sat down in the sand next to his blanket, figuring I knew him best out of all of them, so it made sense to stick close. The chief’s daughter, who’d chugged a beer, gave a little giggle and scooted closer, leaving poor Titus to take the other side of the blanket.
“Hey there, Bain. I heard about you this morning from Lenora’s brother, Lukas.” I didn’t follow the connection, but she kept right on going. “I’m Amelia, by the way.”
She put her hand on my arm, which I guessed was her way of shaking hands.
“Lukas didn’t tell me how handsome you are, though.”
