“Don’t worry about it. I’m headed out first thing in the morning.”
“You planning on coming back at all?”
“Not sure. I guess it depends on how everything goes with Tiffany and whether the Army is willing to let me go. I have nine more months left on my contract. I either need to decide to reenlist or get out, so I’ll let you know soon.”
The next morning, I made sure Mr. Mathers had my to-do list in hand.
Evict the bitch
Fight her in court
Take a picture of her face (if you can) when she finds out I already owned the house and the 25 acres it sits on.
Make sure Mitch Thompson gets paid along with any of his helpers he takes on.
That was the best I could do with the time I was allotted to come back to town to take care of things. If I had thought for one second that my father might have actually planned for my future, rather than giving it all to Tiffany when he died, I would have asked for more time off to handle business and help Mitch get the animals moved. We didn’t have enough land for cattle in New Mexico. We did however do really well with sheep and goats. Mitch mentioned alpacas, too. They were a newer addition and bringing in a mint according to him. And no, Tiffany knew nothing about them or what they were worth. They also did exceptionally well in the New Mexico climate where our ranch was located. It was something I would look into once I figured out whether I should keep my mother’s family lands or not.
With everything set to the best of my abilities, I took off back to Fort Haze in southeastern Virginia to fill my friends in. Funny how leaving home all alone, under the cover of darkness could shift to a life in the military with friends who were closer than family ever had been. It was the right decision for me and I was thankful that freshly graduated me had the courage to sign those papers and head out on her own.
10.BIKERS AND CAKE
KNUCKLES
“Cassidy Billups,what the hell are you doing here, girl?” I heard Jasper call out from somewhere around the corner. My feet wanted to take off a dead run to see if she was really there or if my best friend was fucking with me. I couldn’t, though.
Bigfoot, Grease, and I had to finish our discussion about how the latest shipment of shrooms was going to go down. We had a big order that needed to get all the way to New York Fucking City. Big city life seemed like enough of a ‘trip’ to me. I didn’t understand why anyone there would want to alter their reality further. I guess they’d probably feel the same about me and my small town biker life.
“You going to be good to head out on that run?” Bigfoot asked.
“Not happy about it, but I’ll get it done,” I agreed.
“Jasper?” I heard in response to Grunt’s earlier question. It really was her.
“I need to go see something, can we put a pin in this, prez?”
His eyes twinkled with humor as his head bobbed once indicating his agreement. I turned the corner only to come to a dead stop as I watched Grunt wrap his arms around the woman of my dreams - the one whose nightmares I probably starred in.
“Long time, no see, Cassy.”
“It’s good to see you, too.” Cassidy disengaged from the hug as she spoke and I didn’t miss the way her eyes tracked the surrounding area.
It was fucking obvious she was checking for danger - namely me. I was such a cunt the year before when I saw her. I had no clue that Simone had been lying about her all these years until Grunt took me aside after hearing what went down at Michael Billups’ wake. He had wondered all along, ever since their initial blow up in high school if Cassidy had remained friends with Simone. It was true their dynamics and behavior changed before graduation, but I thought it was just because Simone was paying penance for leaving Cassidy out of stuff and then for hooking up with me knowing I was her best friend’s crush.
