“You don’t understand,” Mr. Larson cut in sharply from where he stood behind his wife still holding his grandson. “That hellcat’s been nothing but trouble for us, but we made a promise to take care of her while you were out helping Matt and April and we kept our promise. But that girl? She—” he abruptly cut off, looking down at the children uncomfortably, and when he continued it was in a much lower voice, barely audible. “She says you traded, um, adult favors for letting her into town, and the promise of more of the same to let her stay with you.”
Trev stiffened with shock and outrage. “I did not!”
Mr. Larson nodded, not quite in disbelief. “Whether you did or not that’s what she’s claiming. And not just to us, either. She’s making sure the entire town knows the deal you made with her, and I’m sure she’ll insist you’re beholden to keep your end of the bargain now that you’re back.”
This was a nightmare. After all the arguing Trev had done to keep out the refugees, if Mandy was going around telling everyone he’d only let her in for sex he had to look like worse than a hypocrite. No wonder the Larsons had given him such dirty looks. It was a wonder he hadn’t been slapped. “Where is she?” he asked grimly.
Mrs. Larson turned and nodded to the house. “Probably sleeping in at this time of day. Or at least pretending to avoid work. I’ll go fetch her.”
But before the older woman could take a step a happy squeal from the porch turned them all around, and Trev stiffened in shock when he saw Mandy rushing down the steps and across the yard to throw her arms around him. Almost before he knew what was happening she’d pressed her lips firmly to his, then pulled away and rested her head on his shoulder. “I’m so glad you made it back!”
It was hard to be gentle as he pushed her away. “Are you crazy? What are you doing?” he demanded.
The blond woman backed away, giving him a bright, false smile that did nothing to hide the anger smoldering in her eyes. “Welcoming you back. I’ve been longing to see you again so I could take care of you properly.” She paused, just for a moment, and although her tone didn’t change somehow the intent behind it did. “And so you can take care of me like you promised.”
Trev glanced towards the others, only to find that Matt’s family were retreating to the porch. Even as he watched they disappeared into the house and swiftly closed the door behind them. He still lowered his voice, although he did nothing to hide his anger. “You’ve been telling everyone I made you have sex with me to get into town?”
Mandy’s fake smile remained. “Of course. It’s the truth, isn’t it?” Trev gave her a hard look, and finally after almost a minute of frosty silence her mouth thinned to a straight line. “It’s the truth I needed,” she snapped. “You were going to send me off to Price with a meal and your best wishes, where I’d be packed in with tens of thousands of other refugees and end up starving to death. If I wasn’t raped and murdered first.”
As she’d been talking her expression and tone grew more and more cold, until she was practically spitting venom. “But you didn’t bother to tell anyone my visit was just a one night stopover before moving on, did you? Thanks to that I got to stay in the one town that has its head on straight and is looking out for itself. I’ve been able to eat decently every day while you rushed off to play hero and couldn’t tell anyone the truth. And now that you’re back it’s too late because I’ve already told everyone my own truth and not even your friends will believe you.”
Unfortunately she seemed to be right on that count. “Just what “truth” are you telling them, specifically?”
“That I’m the victim of a predatory monster who offered me food and shelter in return for being his virtual sex slave. Thanks to that I’m offered sympathy instead of resentment, and even the people I’m a burden on like the Larsons get mad at you instead of me.” She curled her lip in contempt. “I don’t regret doing what I had to do to survive.”
Even after hearing her admit it outright Trev still found it hard to believe she’d actually done what she claimed. It was all he could do to control his rage as he considered the implications. “You’re going to go back to the refugees,” he said through clenched teeth. “And I don’t want to see you near me or any of my friends.”
The woman gave him a look with such venom that even after everything Trev was still shocked by it. “No, you’re going to take me to this shelter of yours where I’ll be your guest for as long as I want, no strings attached. Otherwise I’ll go to FETF about how you’ve exploited me. Even with everything that’s happened soliciting prostitution is still illegal in the United States of America.”
Trev couldn’t believe Mandy’s gall, but everything else flew out the window as his mind snagged on one word. “FETF? What are you talking about?”
She laughed. “They sent an administrator to take over Aspen Hill yesterday, along with a dozen soldiers to make sure the town does what he says. All you greedy townies refusing food to starving people are about to get your comeuppance.”
All thoughts of Mandy and her attempts at character assassination immediately faded to the background as the implications of this set in. “You do what you want,” he said. Without waiting for a response he turned and sprinted towards the shelter.
Behind him Mandy laughed mockingly. “I will! No matter what happens in this world people are people, and people will always rush to the aid of a damsel in distress. You really shouldn’t have crossed me.”
You mean I really shouldn’t have helped you? But Trev was already out of earshot and didn’t care enough to reply. He had more important things to worry about than Amanda Townsend: for good or evil he was done with her, and he hoped he never had to see her again.
But somehow, deep down, he had a feeling that he was only at the beginning of the trouble her lies would cause. Even after he’d helped her she seemed determined to do everything she could to ruin his life, and if enough people believed her she’d probably succeed.
Chapter Seventeen
Evicted
When Trev arrived at the shelter he found Lewis hauling two buckets out the door, and was relieved that his cousin had realized the implications of FETF’s arrival too.
“I hope you’re doing what I think you’re doing,” he said, hurrying to kick a rock out of his cousin’s path. If Lewis was relieved or even surprised to see him he didn’t show it, so urgent in his task that he barely paused to nod Trev’s way. He seemed to be heading directly east towards the second, higher hill that partially hid their buried shed. Beyond it was a fairly mild stretch of low hills to where the foothills began, then the mountains of the Manti-La Sal range beyond them.
Lewis grimaced, setting down the buckets and rotating his shoulders. He looked as if he’d been at work for a while. At that point finally he paused to grab Trev’s shoulder and pull him into a quick hug. “Glad to see you made it back safely, even if you stink even worse than before.”
His cousin motioned to the buckets as he continued. “And if what you think I’m doing is caching our stuff then yes, I am. FETF is in town. It’s only a matter of time before they bring “aid” to the area by rounding up any extra food to redistribute to the refugees. We need to hide as much of this as we can before they come around trying to get their hands on it. Our guns, too.” He quickly filled Trev in on Ferris’s arrival, tearing down the roadblocks, dismantling the town’s defenses, and taking over the storehouse.