Linda Warren - Texas Rebels - Elias

There was nothing Elias liked more than a good fight, especially if the prize was the blonde. But sometimes common sense prevailed, even with Elias.

She glanced his way and smiled. He lifted his beer in response. Things were looking up.

Just then the front door opened and the six o’clock June sunlight bolted into the dark bar like a flash of lightning. It was blinding. Elias blinked and turned his head toward the door. The woman silhouetted there had strawberry blonde hair and he would have known her anywhere. She sashayed her pretty butt to the bar to talk to Bob, the owner of Rowdy’s.

Forgetting the blonde, Elias got to his feet and made his way over to her. “Well, well, if it isn’t the long-lost Maribel McCray.”

“Go away, Elias,” she replied without even looking at him, the way she used to do in high school.

“Oh, she remembers my name and even my voice.”

“Go away, Elias,” she said again, still not looking at him. Her full attention was on Bob.

“Are you sure you haven’t seen him?” she asked Bob.

“No, Maribel. Young boys don’t come in here.”

Digging in the big purse slung over her shoulder, she pulled out a pen. She reached for a napkin and wrote on it, and then pushed it toward Bob. “That’s my number. Please call if you see him.”

“Sure thing, Maribel.” Bob eased the napkin toward himself. “It’s nice to have you back in Horseshoe.”

She turned and walked out without another word. If there was a sexier woman, Elias hadn’t met her. In school, with thick hair hanging down to her hips and a figure that was made for a young boy’s dreams, she had personified hotness. She hadn’t changed, except her hair was shorter and in a ponytail.

“What did she want?” Elias asked.

“She’s looking for her son.”

Elias rested his forearms on the bar, twirling his can of beer. “She has a son. She must’ve gotten married. Wonder where she’s been all these years.”

“I didn’t ask, Elias.”

In high school, Elias had had a big crush on Maribel, but she hadn’t given him the time of day, which was just as well since she was a McCray and he was a Rebel. There was something about attraction, though, that transcended family feuds.

She’d left school mysteriously in April before graduation and everyone had wondered what had happened to her. The rumor was she had gotten pregnant and her dad, Ira McCray, had kicked her out of the house. The other rumor was she’d run off to get married. The rumor mill in Horseshoe was alive and buzzing like bees around a honeypot. A lot of people had felt its sting. Even though Elias didn’t listen to rumors, he knew certain women thrived on them. That’s the way it was in a small town. But soon everyone had forgotten about Maribel McCray. What was she doing back in town?

Then it hit him. Elias’s brother Phoenix had married Rosemary McCray and Rosemary, or Rosie as everyone called her, was having a difficult pregnancy. She was confined to bed until the birth in late August. Maribel must’ve come home to help her sister. Funny, his brother had never mentioned it.

“Why are you so curious?” Bob asked, wiping a spot on the bar. Bob was a former marine, built solid and stout. Over six feet with a growl in his voice, not many patrons dared to question him when they were asked to leave, unless they were drunk as a skunk. “Since Phoenix and Paxton married McCrays, it’s been peaceful here in Horseshoe. I, for one, would like it to stay that way.”

Bob was right. The McCray women had infiltrated the Rebel family and everything was going smoothly. Elias hoped, like everyone in Horseshoe, that the feud was dying. A lot of bitterness and resentment still lingered on the McCray side. His father had shot Ezra McCray years ago in self-defense, and the McCrays had held on to revenge like the devil holds on to a sinner. Time was passing, though, and maybe old wounds were healing.

Bob placed his hands on the bar. “What are you doing in here so early?”

Elias took a swig from the can. “I’ve been up since four getting hay off the field. I came here to relax. Besides, it’s like a nursery at the ranch. Babies and pregnant women everywhere.”

“You’re the lone bachelor, Elias. When are you going to change that?”

Elias chuckled. “Never. I like my freedom.”

“Did I tell you Tammy Jo’s getting married?”

Elias looked at his beer and not at Bob. Tammy Jo was Bob’s only child and she and Elias had been an item for a couple of years, seeing each other when she’d come home from Austin. Bob had never found out. Tammy Jo had wanted to get married and Elias hadn’t, so their fun weekends had stopped. Part of him would miss Tammy Jo and the good times they’d had. But deep down he had known he wasn’t the man for her. He wasn’t sure if he was the man for any woman. Like he’d told Bob, he enjoyed his freedom and didn’t want to be tied down.

“She’s marrying an accountant and he has a good job in Austin. I hope they start having babies soon. My wife and I can’t wait for a grandchild.”

“Congratulations, Bob. You deserve a house full of grandkids.”

The biker couple got up and walked toward the door. The blonde looked back and smiled at Elias.

“That could get you killed,” Bob remarked.

“Ah, I can take him.”

“In your dreams.”

The door opened again and Wyatt Carson, the sheriff, walked in. Wyatt came straight to Elias. “Thought I might find you here.”

It wasn’t a good thing when the sheriff came looking for you. “What’s up?”

“I have a stack of parking tickets on my desk that need to be paid as soon as possible.”

“Wyatt.” Elias sighed. “You’re not going to bring that up again.”

The sheriff tipped back his hat. “It’s against the law to park in the fire zone at the courthouse. Yet you continue to do so despite my warnings and Stuart’s.”

“When was the last time you had a fire at the courthouse?”

“None that I can recall.”

“See? I’m not endangering anyone. The auto-parts store is right across the street and there’s never any parking. I park to the side and run to the store. It takes ten minutes, tops. But Stuart always manages to ticket my truck. Next time I see him I’m gonna put a knot on his head.”

“Then I’d have to arrest you.”

“Come on, Wyatt, what do you want from me?”

“I want you to pay the tickets, but I know you’re stubborn and you’re not going to do that. So I’ve got a better solution.”

“And what would that be?”

“I need someone to do undercover work.”

Elias laughed out loud and slapped the bar with his hand. “I’m not a cop and I don’t want to be one. That’s your job.”

“Okay, Elias, I’m going to give you a choice. Jail or undercover work. Teenage boys are stealing beer around Horseshoe. They’ve hit the grocery store, the convenience store and this place.”

Elias looked at Bob. “You didn’t mention that.”

Bob shrugged. “Wyatt said not to tell anyone because he wants to catch ’em.”

“Have you checked out the Kuntz boys, Wyatt?” If anything was stolen in Horseshoe, Freddie, his brother Scooter and cousin Leonard were always at the top of the list. They lived in a run-down trailer on the outskirts of town. Their mother worked nights in a bar and the boys were left to fend for themselves. Elias had given them rides. Sometimes late at night.

“It’s not them. The school called CPS and they’re checking into their home situation. But the mother always pulls a rabbit out of her hat at the last minute. The sister has now moved in and she’s supposed to be there for the boys at night. CPS has backed off, but I’m keeping a close eye on the boys. I was talking to them when I got the call about the convenience store.”