The Trouble With Love (28 page)

"Yes, sir." Elmer hopped up from the chair and gave him a curious look then walked out of the office.

Cole sat back down in his chair and rubbed his calf.  The wound was healing well, and he was a lot more mobile now,
even walked without the crutches, although he had a limp
.  T
he wound in his chest would be slower to heal, he knew.
  He slammed his fist down on the desk, then picked up the messy stack of papers in his inbox to sort through
them
.  Busy work was what he needed, and it looked like Elmer had left him plenty.

By Wednesday, Cole had managed to clear off his desk, and had run out of busy work.  He started trying to contact contractors to get bids on setting up a
computer
network in their office, with access to the national law enforcement databases. 
After he had all the bids,
he was going to submit a request with justification to the Mayor and see where that went.
 

Looking up at the clock on his wall, Cole realized it was almost lunchtime, at the same moment that Luke walked through his door and plopped down in the chair in front of his desk.  "Wanna go to the Blue Bird?

"Thought you were helping Cassie exercise the horses today," he asked noticing that Luke wasn't dirty and sweaty.

"Nah, she had a doctor's appointment in town, so I dropped her off.
 
I've got an hour to kill
, l
et's go get lunch."

"I've got a lot to do..." Cole said looking down at his desk trying to find something he could use as an excuse. 
He didn't want to go out in public in the mood he was in. 
He picked up the one estimate he'd gotten so far and studied it.  Luke wasn't fooled.

"You need some comfort food, man.  It's chicken fried steak day at the Bird...c'mon."

Looking back up at Luke,
Cole
huffed out a breath
, and asked, "Cherry
c
obbler for dessert?"

"You got it..."
Luke
told him and pushed up from the chair.

"Now
that
's
the kind of
comfort
I could go for," he told Luke with a half-grin
.  He was
surprised his face didn't crack from the effort.

Luke put his arm around his shoulder
,
once they got in the hall and led him past Julie Beth's desk to the door.  "You need some sunshine, son
...you're looking mighty pale." he told him, then patted
Cole's
stomach
.
"And you're building a shed, too."

"That's all Imelda's fault," he laughed, then said, "Well mostly...the Fritos and soap operas didn't help either."

Luke stopped and bent over laughing, and Cole managed a chuckle or two himself.

"You know Carl is hooked on this one soap he has to watch every day now, or he's a grumpy bastard
,
"
Luke said incredulously then howled laughing.

"Yeah, I watched it with him a time or two," Cole admitted and felt heat rush to his face.

That caused Luke even more belly laughs then he stood up and wiped his eyes, and patted Cole on the back.  "
We better hurry
and eat
, or you'll miss your show
,
"
he teased
and threw his head back laughing again
.

They walked across the street and down the block to the cafe then Luke held the
door open for him and he limped
inside.
 
It took a minute for his eyes to adjust to the dimmer interior, so he stood at the door for a second, and Luke stepp
ed inside to stand beside him.

Seeing an open booth against the far wall, he started in that direction, but his eyes snagged on a woman sitting two booths behind that one and he staggered and almost fell.  Luke caught him under the arm and said, "Oh, shit...I didn't know she was coming to town today."

Cole turned around and grabbed Luke by the collar, "What the fuck do you mean?"
 

Cole watched color spread
over
his best friend's cheeks then he admitted, "She's been at the Double B a couple of days...Cassie hired her to help with the horses."

Cole's fingers tightened on the material in his fists and he got nose to nose with Luke. "And you didn't fucking tell me?" he asked incredulously.

The whole cafe had gone quiet, and everyone was watching them intently, even
Sabrina and the cowboy she was eating lunch with.  A wave of emotion slammed into him and almost took his breath away, he was panting trying to
contain it, but he felt
hot tears burning his eyes.  His best friend had betrayed him and the woman he loved was with someone else. 

Now, he knew how Luke had felt the night he'd seen Cassie with James at the restaurant
,  understood his need to act the way he had that night.
 
He wanted to do something very stupid like go over there and beat the shit out of that guy
, or beat the shit out of Luke
. 

Instead, he sucked in a deep shuddering breath,
then looked
over at Sabrina and held her gaze,
before he
dragged it back to Luke and did the same,
then
he pushed Luke away from him and turned to
limp
out the cafe.

Walking as fast as he could with his limp and aching calf, Luke made his way across the street to the station parking lot.  He'd just stepped on the curb when he heard Luke calling his name behind him.  Too fucking bad, he thought, he had nothing to say to his ex-best friend...nothing at all.  Or to Sabrina.  Let them keep their little lies and secrets...he was
over
both of them. 

Cole
needed space, before he did something stupid, and he was going to find it.
  Starting a relationship with Sabrina was the
worst
mistake he'd ever made
in his life
.  Not only had it cost him his heart
and nearly his sanity
, it had cost him his best friend.  Now, he was well and truly alone.  And he wanted it that way.

He
managed to get to his truck
and had his hand on the door handle,
before Luke caught
up with him
.  Luke jerked him back by the shoulders and shoved him against the bed of the truck.  "Cole
,
listen to me!"

Anger threatened to overwhelm Cole, he was dazed and his ears were buzzing.  When Luke put his finger in Cole's chest
,
something snapped inside of him and he drew back his fist and hit
Luke in the jaw.
..hard.
  Luke's head snapped back and he stumbled backward,
then landed on his ass
holding his jaw
. 

Cole
got into the truck and slammed the door
, then jammed
the keys into the ignition
. He
threw the truck into reverse, then forward and whizzed very close to Luke who was trying to grab the door again. 
Glancing
back
, he saw
Luke
leaning his on his thighs with his hand to his face.

Cole didn't know where he was going...but he'd be happy as long as it was away from here...away from them.
  His cell phone started chiming in his pocket and he looked down at
his pants
in a daze
,
listen
ing
to it ring, then he slowly reached inside and pulled it out
,
then
rolled down the window
and tossed
it as far as he could.

***

Sabrina ran out of the cafe and toward the police station, hoping Cole would be there.  She had to talk to him...explain.  It was obvious what he
thought, and he was so wrong.

And so was she, evident
ly.

I
f the depth of misery and
despair
she
'd seen in
his
eyes
at
the cafe
was
any indication
,
Cole Jackson
was not over her,
not by a long shot
.
  Cassie had tried to tell her, but she'd been too hardheaded and stubborn to listen to her friend.
 

Sabrina
had
thought he was going to break down right there
in the cafe
, or kill Kenny's brother, o
r Luke.  He was that despondent, before he'd run out
of there
.

When she reached the parking lot, she saw Luke sitting on the ground holding his jaw. Sabrina increased her speed and ran over to him and crouched down beside him, lifting his head. 
"Oh, God, Luke...are you okay?" she said in a shocked whisper.  His jaw was swelling and his lip was split.

He moved his hand and rotated his jaw then felt his lip.  "He cold cocked me," Luke said with amazement in his voice, then shook his head and looked at her.

Sabrina's hand flew to her mouth and she said, "Luke, I'm so sorry...I never meant for this to come between you two.  I shouldn't have asked you to keep it from him."

"It's okay, sugar
, w
e'll work it out...I owe him an apology."

"No, I'm going to leave the Double B...I'll just go back to Phoenix and figure out something."

"Hell no, Sabrina. Cassie needs you...you're staying
.
"
H
e looked at her intently then told her, "Cole needs you too."

"
Not enough to stick around and let me explain, evidently," she said.

"Like you stuck around to let him explain
at the hospital
?" Cole said with tight lips.

Sabrina groaned, "
Ouch
."

"
Truth hurts, darlin'. Just reme
mber that when you talk to him," Luke told her then rubbed his jaw again.

"You need to go to the doctor?"

"Nah, he always did hit like a wuss," Luke said then laughed.  "We need to go find him
,
"
he
told her then got up off the ground and brushed off his jeans.

When Cole had gone home to pack a few things to take with him, he'd called the Mayor and requested an emergency leave of absence.  He told him to put Elmer back in charge until he came back.  Cole really didn't give a shit who they put in charge...he didn't care about anything except getting the hell out of dodge for a while.
  They could fire him for all he cared.  Maybe a move somewhere else would be the answer
anyway
...
a
new
start elsewhere
, where he wasn't constantly reminded of this shit
. 

There was
nothing
left
for him in
Bowie
now anyway.

His options for the break he was taking were wide open, and at first he'd thought about heading to
Dallas
and hopping a plane to somewhere tropical, or to
Colorado
to a mountain cabin or something, but blew that off.  He didn't have enough energy. 

Instead, he decided to go to the lake house for a while
. 
A little mindless fishing and drinking would probably be just the cure for what ailed him.
  He was going to take his bike out there, so he could ride around the lake too.
  Hell, if he could remember Candy's phone number,
it had been in the cell phone he'd tossed out,
he might
even
call her up t
o come out there
for
a day or two.