It wasn’t a working ranch anymore, but she hoped that one day it would be again.
And then there was their friend, Freddy, who was always around. He made frequent sexual remarks to her, and just thinking about them made her shudder.
She pushed thoughts of Freddy aside. Why ruin a perfectly good day?
As the kids ate their cookies, she thought about her mother and felt an ache in her chest. Her mother, Marilyn, had been a southern belle who had taught Hollie to be gentle and loving, and somewhat prim and proper. Hollie knew that her mother had been her father’s only true love. It was two years after Marilyn had been killed in a car accident that Hollie’s father, Joe Simmons, had married Betty Whitfield. He seemed to have been under the impression that Hollie needed a mother figure around.
Hollie would have been better off without a female influence when it came to having Betty Whitfield as a stepmother and her three sons as stepbrothers. Hollie had grown up feeling something like Cinderella but with three stepbrothers rather than stepsisters. She was still waiting for her fairy godmother, crystal slippers, and prince.
Inwardly Hollie sighed. When her father had been killed in a freak accident, she’d felt like her whole world was crumbling. Betty had become more and more vicious in her attacks on Hollie, and she’d had nowhere to escape.
A chain smoker, Betty had died from lung cancer. Her passing had been a relief to Hollie, if she was honest with herself. And she was almost always honest with herself. She felt some shame for feeling that way about a human life, even one as despicable as Betty, but she couldn’t help it.
The feeling of being set free came to a resounding halt when Hollie’s brothers took over where their mother had left off. They’d thought they would inherit the ranch, not knowing that Betty had signed a prenuptial agreement that left the ranch to Hollie.
Hollie stood straighter. None of that mattered now. The important things in her life were her job and her students, who were like her own children.
In her jeans’ pocket her phone vibrated, but she ignored it. She never answered her phone until school was out.
She glanced at the clock to see that the school day was almost over and turned her attention to the students. “Time to get your things together. Don’t forget the Christmas cards and gifts you made for your families. When you’re ready, line up at the door.”
The room was filled with scuffling noises and chatter as the students pulled on jackets and gathered their things. Soon they were lined up, ready for Hollie to walk them to the buses and parent pickup.
She led them down the hallway that was decorated with red and green handmade decorations for the holidays. As they walked outside, a chilly breeze made Hollie break out in goose bumps beneath her light blue holiday sweater with its big snowman wearing a Santa hat. At the end of the hat was a fluffy white ball along with smaller green balls for buttons on the snowman’s chest. The sweater wasn’t enough against the chill and she rubbed her arms, regretting having forgotten to wear her own jacket.
As her students met with their parents or climbed into school buses, they waved at Hollie and called out with farewells of “Merry Christmas” and “Happy Holidays.” She waved in return and smiled at the children.
When the kids were safely taken care of, Hollie shivered as she walked back to her classroom. Her phone vibrated again and she pulled it out of her pocket and checked the caller ID. Her stomach dropped as she recognized the number that had appeared on the phone’s screen too many times in the past. It was the number of the police department. Likely one of her stepbrothers was in trouble again and needed her to pick him up or bail him out. She prayed it wasn’t to bail one of them out. They were going through her savings way too often.
She considered ignoring the call, but a spark of hope went through her that maybe it was John McBride and not her brothers. She answered the phone with a hopeful, “Hello?”
“Why didn’t you answer before?” came Carl’s surly voice and Hollie’s stomach dropped. “Need you to pick me and Freddy up at the police station.”
Not Freddy. She couldn’t stand Freddy and his lewd comments and the way he looked at her. She hated his influence on her stepbrothers. They were bad enough without Freddy around.
She bit her lip. She wanted to say an emphatic “NO” to Carl and tell him to find another ride. “Why can’t Floyd or Dickey pick you up?” she said.
“They’re busy.” A sneer was in Carl’s voice.
She walked from the cold outdoors into the warm building where her classroom was. “I’ve got things to do, Carl.” She did her best to sound firm.
“I need you to pick up me and Freddy,” Carl said in a nasty tone. “Hurry and get your fat ass down here or you’ll regret it.” He disconnected the call.
She slowly lowered the phone, her face hot, the backs of her eyes prickling. Truth was, she was afraid of her stepbrothers. She couldn’t trust them and she was afraid they might hurt her or somehow get her involved in whatever terrible things they might be up to. They’d made threats in the past and she didn’t trust them at all. She wasn’t sure what they were capable of.
Heart thumping, face still burning, she shoved the phone into her pocket and walked into her classroom. She slipped on her coat and gathered her purse, as well as other things she needed to take home. She shut off the light and walked out into the hallway, and locked the classroom door behind her.
The entire drive to the police station, she cursed herself for her fear of her stepbrothers. She didn’t know what would happen if she stood up to them again. The times she had stood up to them in the past, her cat mysteriously disappeared, all of her dishes had been broken, and one of her tires had been slashed, among other things.
The worst incident as an adult was when Floyd had shaken her so hard her neck hurt, her head ached, and he’d left bruises on her upper arms. He’d been livid at the time and she’d been terrified, more than anytime before. From the gleam of hatred in his eyes, she’d been so sure he had been about to strike her. Instead, he’d shoved her away from him and she would have fallen if a wall hadn’t been behind her. Her head had struck the wall, hard, and she’d seen stars.
As she drove, she chewed one of her nails, a habit she’d acquired since Floyd, Carl, and Dickey had been brought into the family. The faces they’d shown her father had been so different than the way they were in reality.
When she arrived at the police station, she parked, got out and locked the doors, and headed inside. She prayed she wouldn’t see John McBride. She wasn’t sure she could take the embarrassment.
Freddy and Carl were waiting when she walked inside. Both men scowled at her.
“Why the fuck did you take so long?” Carl said.
“I got here as fast as I could.” She hated how small her voice sounded and how she felt she had to defend herself.
Freddy jerked his head toward the front doors. “Let’s get out of here.”
Before they could take a step, John McBride walked through the station’s entrance. Hollie’s chest hurt at the hard look on his features as he took in Freddy, Carl, and her.
“Hi, Officer,” Freddy said with a broad grin.
Lieutenant McBride’s brows narrowed, but he passed them without saying a word.
Hollie’s spirits sank even further. Was it just this morning that he’d saved her from a fall and had given her a smile?
Feeling a lot like Cinderella must have, Hollie followed Carl and Freddy outside. When she unlocked the car, Carl snatched the keys from her. “Get in the backseat, fat ass.”
A flash of anger caused Hollie to grit her teeth but she opened up the rear passenger door, slid onto the seat, and buckled herself in. She had expected Carl to take the keys because they never let her drive. She hated the way every one of her stepbrothers drove, not to mention Freddy, one of the many reasons why she didn’t like to pick them up. The way they sped and swerved everywhere, they were bound to get someone killed and she didn’t want to be a victim of their recklessness.
Carl drove to Freddy’s trailer on the south side of town where their trucks were parked. Hollie let out a breath of relief that they’d made it and soon she could part company with them and be on her way.
She scooped her purse up off of the floorboard then climbed out of the car. Freddy and Carl stood near the driver’s side door.
“Excuse me,” she said, reaching for the door handle.
“Not so fast.” Freddy slung his arm around her shoulders and brought her up close to him. His breath was hot as he spoke in her ear. “Stay and I’ll show you what a real man is like.”
“What, you have one in there?” she said before she could stop herself.
Freddy scowled and shoved her up against the car, his arm across her throat. “You better watch it, bitch. You understand me?”
Hollie swallowed, her throat hurting from the pressure of his arm. She said nothing as she tried not to look away from Freddy’s muddy brown eyes.
He pressed his arm tighter and her eyes watered. “I said, do you understand, bitch?”
She could do nothing but whisper, “Yes.”
Freddy pushed away from her. For a moment she thought he was going to hit her, but he just smirked. He and Carl bumped fists before Freddy headed for his front door.
Carl rounded on Hollie as she slid into the front seat of her Honda. “Get home and fix dinner, woman. I’m hungry.”
Hollie snapped. All of the fury she felt for her stepbrothers and Freddy crashed down on her. “Fix your own dinner,” she said before slamming her car door shut and putting the vehicle into gear. She refused to look at him as the car’s tires spun before it lurched forward and she was driving away from where he stood. Against her will she glanced in the rearview mirror, saw the dark scowl on Carl’s face, and shivered.
She chewed on her nails as she drove aimlessly for a while, not wanting to go home. As much as she loved Prescott, she sometimes wished she could leave this town and start somewhere new. Somewhere away from her brothers and their low-life friends, like Freddy Victors.
Dear God, she needed the strength to stand up to her stepbrothers. Somehow she had to get them to stop bullying and threatening her, and scaring her. But how?
She’d never told anyone what happened at home, too embarrassed over her own inability to stand up to them and because of who and what her stepbrothers and their friends were. A bunch of no-good troublemakers.
Her breath left her in a rush. The longer she stayed away from home, the harder it was going to be to face them when she got there. If she didn’t have to go home, she wouldn’t.
To hell with Carl, Dickey, Floyd, and their friends
, she thought, veering from the politeness of her mother’s lessons on how to be a lady. Ladies didn’t say things like “to hell with”.
Right now she didn’t give a damn about being a lady.
Who said she had to go home now? She gripped the steering wheel in one hand as she reached into her pocket for her cell phone. It might be a small act of defiance, but it felt good to make the decision to stay in town, at least for a little while.
Music poured out of the open doors of the Highlander, the beat pounding through Hollie’s blood as she headed toward the bar. Her friend, Leigh Monroe, should be waiting for her and saving a table.
Hollie clutched her small purse and shivered from the chill in the air. She snuggled more deeply in her jacket as she walked. She didn’t mind the cold—it was an excuse to wear sweaters and jackets. Although she might have chosen something other than a sweater with a big snowman and fuzzy balls on it to wear for a night out if she’d been able to go home without dealing with her stepbrothers.
The Highlander was decorated with red chili lights around the windows and colorful mini lights along the eaves.
When she entered the bar, smells of bar food and beer mixed with smoke. The odors flowed over her along with the bar’s warm air. To her left was the dance floor that was filled with people doing the two-step, and beyond that were two pool tables and a dartboard. Even over the music she could hear the crack of billiards.
She looked to the right where the mechanical bull was in full swing. Up ahead she saw Leigh Monroe, a willowy blonde sitting at a table along with a petite woman who Hollie recognized as Detective Kelley Petrova-McBride. Next to her was Leigh’s friend who was originally from Indiana, the redheaded Carilyn Thompson-McBride
.
Lord, does everyone marry McBrides around here?
Hollie thought to herself with amusement, then thought of John McBride and bit her lower lip. She likely didn’t have a chance with him, but she could fantasize, couldn’t she?
When she reached the three women, Leigh got up and hugged Hollie. “So glad you could make it,” Leigh said, talking close enough to her ear that Hollie could hear her over the music. Leigh drew away and smiled, but something about her smile looked sad.
“What’s wrong?” Hollie frowned.
“You’re either extremely perceptive or I’m not very good at hiding things from you.” Leigh’s smile faltered. “Mike and I broke up.”
“I’m sorry.” Hollie squeezed her friend’s hands. “Are you all right?”
Leigh smiled again. “I’m fine. Tonight is about having fun and not thinking about things that are a bummer, right?”
“You bet,” Hollie gave Leigh an encouraging smile. It was obvious Leigh didn’t want to talk about her breakup with Mike, at least not now. Frankly, Hollie didn’t want to talk about things that were a bummer in her own life, namely her stepbrothers.
Leigh slid into her chair while Hollie set her small purse on the table then shrugged off her jacket. She put her jacket on the back of the chair next to Leslie’s and greeted Kelley and Carilyn as she sat.
The four women had to talk over the loud music, but soon they had drinks and were laughing and chatting. Even Leigh looked happier than she had when Hollie had first walked in. There was still an edge of sadness to Leigh, but Hollie thought she was feeling a little better for the time being.
Hollie sipped on her rum and coke and found herself feeling warm inside and nice and tipsy. It was easy to push thoughts of her stepbrothers to the back of her mind. She’d really needed a drink to relax her after her time with Carl and Freddy, and she was celebrating the end of the semester and the upcoming holidays.