I laughed at her comment. She was engaged to her boyfriend and they’d been building a house on a piece of property his parents gave him. Ethan was from a farming family as well. If you ask me, they were made for one another. They were like the same people in two different bodies. “Thanks for the money you gave me. It’s going to help us get a start.”
“Do you know where you’re going to be staying? Did Brant even discuss what his new job is? Uncle Conner is speculating it’s something illegal. You’d tell me if you were in trouble, wouldn’t you?”
“Yeah. For sure. He hasn’t talked about it, but I’m not worried,” I lied. “I’m sure it’s a normal job. There are plenty of jobs here.”
“True.”
I heard the door opening and knew my boyfriend was returning. If he saw me on the phone he’d think I was trying to back out of our plans to be together. “I need to go. I’ll call you soon, Chris. Love you.”
I hung up before I heard her reply. Brant came in the room and stared at me, and then the phone. “I leave for a couple hours and you’re already calling home?”
“No. Of course not. I called Chris. I promised I’d tell her we were fine.”
“She better not tell your daddy where we are.”
“She won’t. I trust her.”
He shrugged. “It don’t matter if you did. We’re out of here.”
“Really? So soon?”
“I got in touch with my friend this morning. He’s going to meet us at our house we’ll be living in. Grab your things. We’re going to our new home, baby.”
With excitement consuming me, I hopped out of bed and avoided asking about his job again. I had to trust him. After all, wasn’t he doing this for us to be together?
Chapter 3
Cassie
When he said we were headed for better things, I assumed we’d be staying in a nice sized apartment, at least something we could afford. I never imagined it would be as lavish as the property we pulled up to. A green landscaped lawn was the first thing I noticed when we turned into the driveway. Then I saw the house; the huge two-story dwelling. “Do we need to pick up a key? Is this where the landlord lives?”
Brant cut off the ignition and turned to address my question. “I told you we were going to be happy here, baby. This is our place, at least for the time being. Once I get enough dough we’ll move on to our forever home.”
“Yeah right. You must think I’m gullible.”
Right as I said it a couple came walking outside, and when I say a couple I meant it in the nicest way. They weren’t holding hands or giving each other googly eyes. The guy looked to be in his forties. His hair was slicked back, and I couldn’t tell if it was a dark brown or jet black. What I did noticed right off the bat was his attire. He was wearing a lot of gold around his neck and on his wrist. He had this suspicious kind of smile, which made me feel uncomfortable.
The female, well I don’t even know what to say I noticed first. Admittedly, it was most likely her extremely large breasts, and then probably her platinum blonde hair. She bounced when she walked, and I wondered if she was one of the performers in one of the exotic shows people come from far and wide to see. She definitely had a Barbie complex about her. The word bimbo came to mind, especially when I turned back around to look at Brant and caught him checking her out. Immediately I felt overwhelmed with jealousy. It’s not like it was the first time it happened. He had a wandering eye, especially when it came to women who flaunted their sex appeal. I suppose moving to Vegas was going to be an adjustment. If I wanted our relationship to work, I’d have to learn to trust my boyfriend. The problem was that we’d been on again and off again so many times I often wondered what he’d done when we weren’t an item. I’d always said I didn’t want to know, but deep down inside it tore me up wondering.
The blonde approached Brant first, hugging him like they were old friends. I didn’t have time to curl my lip in disgust, because the guy was headed in my direction with arms wide open.
Now, I’d always been a friendly person, but like I mentioned before, something about him creeped me out. He wasn’t exactly a charming kind of man. In fact, it was more the opposite. It would be a challenge to pretend I felt normal being around him. My cousins had been through a lot with relationships, one being raped by someone she thought she could trust. I knew better than to think I was safe from being a victim. Knowing that kept me safe, because I was always on the lookout for a possible suspect.
His arms came around me, but I didn’t dare hug him back. “You must be Cassie.” He turned to give Brant his attention. “You were right about her being pretty. Now I know where all the beautiful women must be hiding.” He winked when he said it as if it was meant to be funny. I however, felt like kicking him where the sun doesn’t shine and calling it a day. “My name is Rocky by the way. That fine looking woman over there is Tammy. We’ve been clearing out the room in anticipation of your arrival.”
“The room?” I’d been under the impression we were living alone.
“Yeah, baby. I told you we’re sharing a place with another couple.”
No he hadn’t. “It must have slipped my mind.” I rolled my eyes and looked away, doing my best not to pay attention to Tammy and her huge breasts. “It was nice of you to get the room ready.”
Tammy headed in my direction, taking me by the hand and leading me inside. “You’re going to love it here. The pool is kept around ninety-six, so late night swimming is a blast. You don’t even need clothes,” she said with a giggle.
I didn’t respond. I had nothing to say about it. If she thought for a second she was going to go skinny dipping with my boyfriend she would soon find out how country girls protected their belongings.
Brant came up behind me and pulled me along, while Rocky followed. We walked into the foyer and right away I was impressed with what I saw. The cathedral ceilings made the place look huge. I could see the landing to the second floor immediately, even before taking a single step further. “The living room and kitchen are on the first floor, as well as a formal living and dining room. There’s a powder room down the hall, and the master bedroom is at the end. That’s where we stay,” she explained. “Your room is upstairs. There’s also a private bathroom. You’ll have to use the one out in the hall until the plumber comes and fixes the glass door.”
I didn’t respond until she walked us upstairs and showed us around. The glass door frame was intact, but the glass was gone from it.
“Wow, what happened?”
She turned and looked at Rocky before explaining. “Our last tenant had to be removed. It got ugly.” She smiled like it was nothing to worry about. “We’ll have it fixed in no time at all.”
I had to admit, the place was roomy, and having the upstairs to ourselves made me feel a little better. I didn’t want to take a dip in the pool yet, but maybe in time I’d feel better about being around the couple. My first impression was that they were hiding something, or up to worse. I didn’t do well with shady people, but since I knew they were going to be our ticket to freedom, I had to get along with them, against my better judgment.
Since this was the only way Brant and I could be together, I couldn’t complain. He was doing his best to provide for us. Once he started making money we’d be able to get a place of our own. I had to be patient. Good things came to those who waited.