Once Upon a Misty Bluegrass Hill (5 page)

Mel
leaned down and peered at her with eyes the color of Coca Cola and framed with crinkles.
"
Can
'
t you talk beautiful?
"
 

"
Oh…of course, I just thought I saw someone I knew.
"

Chad
followed her gaze to the Irishman at the end of the room leaning against a tall table
with a
n increasing
frown
. 
"
Patrick
McCabe, yes, all the girls are certain they know him.
"

Jolene noticed
in another glance
that
the Irishman
was indeed surrounded by
women
.  Very pretty
women
.  Two blondes, one dark haired and one with long sable hair.  They were dressed in sleek dresses and stood tall
and proud
in their pumps.
She tore her gaze from his and smiled at
Chad
. 
"
You didn
'
t tell me your
full
name
s
.
"
 

He grinned, his eyes twinkling charm. 
"
I am Chad
Cartwright and this is Mel Ableton.
"

They were at the window now and the horses were making their final turn
for the first race
so everyone else in the room pressed forward to the glass and began shouting.
 
"
I am Jolene
,
"
  s
he said loudly. 

"
That is a nice name,
"
Mel purred rubbing her hand that rested in the crook of his arm
while his
gaze fixed on the horses
as they came out of the turn
.

At least he was not as horrible as Travis…and he smelled good.   Still,
Jolene shivered and fought against
the
instinct to pull her arm back
, run to the bathroom and throw up
. 

Instead
,
she focused on
the magnificent animals
as they
rumble
d
to
ward the finish line, her pulse
and spirit
catching and
charging with them. 
She,
her
daddy
and
her
mamma
had watched many a race together at Keeneland
and at Derby
.  It never failed to stir her to her very soul. 

A big red horse named Gabby
'
s Grand tipped
his
head across the finish line
a
head
o
f
the others
leaving some curses and other shouts of joy in his wake.

I
n the seats below
them tickets fluttered and then rested
on the floor
as
forgotten
hopes
.  Other tickets were clinched in hands of those who
raced to the betting booths to collect
winnings
and
wager for the next race.
  Bobbing hats of every conceivable color moved below her like a garden of flowers in motion.

"
Come on
, if you won
'
t drink
then
how about food?
"
  Chad suggested, tugging her away from the window.

The epicurean
aroma o
f foods drifted around her head and made her stomach growl.  She cleared her throat to cover
her rumbling-rude tummy
. 

They
arrived
to a
bountiful table, laden
with
finely shaved
pork, roasted chicken,
thin-slivered
roast beef and beautifully prepared potatoes, vegetables and pasta.

Jolene shook off the
men
'
s
clutching hands to
pick up a
plate and
heap it
with food. 

Could she sneak some back to Finnegan and Oliver?

Mel laughed beside her. 
"
What an appetite you have for such a
petite
young lady.
"
 

When they were seated at a small table with two other couples who were already
nibbling,
Jolene immediately dove into her food. 
"
My Aunt Paula says I eat too much and that I will eat her out of house and home
,
"
s
he offered between bites.

Chad chuckled leaning forward over his own sparsely filled plate.
"
Well
,
you may eat as much as you want here sweetheart because you will certainly need your energy later.
"

Everyone at the table laughed except Jolene.  She put her nose back to her
own array of delicious sustenance
.

More people joined them at the long table
chatting with easy laughter
. 
Jolene didn
'
t offer conversation and nobody seemed to mind.

She
at
e
with relish while the conversations flowed around her
in the form
of
introductions and discussions about mutual friends
. 
Jolene
soon
checked out of the conversations, not
interested in
hearing absurd things about
people she didn
'
t even know
…going to spas, getting a divorce
, liposuction?  Like what was that? 
Instead
of following the chatter
, she used the time between bites to find the Irishman named
Patrick
. 

No sooner had she started her sea
rch when she fell into his gaze,
which was fully
occupied with taking
in her every move. 
His brows were drawn over his stormy blue eyes. 
Her breath hitched in her lungs. 
  He didn
'
t seem to be listening to the conversations around him either.

He was so beautiful, even when
furious
.

She tore her gaze away from him trying to calm her quaking insides
. 

She ignored him as best she could for the next few hours.  When the horses were running she had such joy in watching them and involving herself in the spirit
of the race
for those who
h
ad bet.  Chad and Mel hovered nearby and enjoyed wins and a few losses with a celebratory attitude that
Jolene failed to
conjure
at
the notion of such a loss
.

Jolene endured kisses to her cheek and squeezes around her waist with a smile
stitched
on her face
like a quilt square
and an icky quiver in her stomach.  Thank goodness she had eaten or she was certain her stomach would have been
giving her terrible fits by now
.

At least neither of
these men had
yellow teeth
, bad breath
or stinky underarms
like Travis
.

When their hands started to wa
nder too close to
the
nasty-girl areas
of her body, often at the same time
, she would move away with a smile just like she did when
Travis or other of Aunt Paula
'
s friends
tried
a like maneuver
with her.

Chad and Mel drank a lot of bourbon
and in short order
they were pawing her to a point she could no longer
endure
and brush them off
with a smile
. 
In desperation she
decided to retreat to the bathroom
to plan an escape
.
  Maybe she could
somehow get home
.

The trouble was nobody had given her money like Aunt Paula said they would.
  So, she would go
to the ladies room
and figure out what to do next.  Was she supposed to ask for
the
money?  And if so, when?  Certainly th
e men
had already done all the things Aunt Paula said they would do.

"
Excuse me, I must visit the ladies room.
"

Jolene wobbled down the hall to the ladies room, shaking and uncertain of what to
do next.  Inside the bathroom she peered
in
to
the mirror as she passed
and it
reflected someone she didn
'
t recognize. 

She went into
a
stall and just as she started to latch the door
someone
pushed it open.

It was Chad. 

Inside the ladies room!

Jolene backed into the toilet
behind her, the
cold porcelain
spiking
her bare
calves. 
"
What are you doing?  You are not allowed inside a ladies room!
"

Chad
'
s lips twisted and something that could have been a laugh echoed in the bathroom
. 
"
Come on now Jolene, it is time to do what you came here for.  I
'
ve got a hundred dollars for you and I can
'
t wait any longer.
"

He reached down with
drunk
en
unsteady hands and unzipped his pants while
his light eyes glazed with
bourbon
held her in
a motionless
terror-prison
. 

R
ooted to the spot
Jolene
star
ed
at his peepee that stood out like a
thick twitching switch
.
"
What are you
doing?
"
  Her voice was small and far away.

"
Turn around and get that dress hiked up redneck!  I have to finish
up
before someone comes in here.
"
  Chad spat the words out, his mouth twisting ugly
and his eyes filled with contempt
.

He was not so different from Travis.  He just smelled and looked cleaner.

She shoved him as hard as she could
.  He
staggered
backwards through the swinging stall door.  Jolene pushed past him and
started to run
on her wobbly hee
ls to the
bathroom
door
.  Just as she started opening the door
Chad
slammed it closed and pulled the lock.  Jolene e
lbowed him as hard as she
but met only air.

He grabbed her upper arm and spun her around slamming her against the wall
and pinning her hands above her head.
  Jolene felt stars
from the impact with the tiled wall
battering in her head
while enduring his slobbering hun
gry mouth around her neck.  He
plucked at her dress in front and freed one of her boobies and began kneading it
hard
like dough.

Jolene was consumed with
pain, mortification
and
shock
. 
"
Stop!
"
  She panted
her panic
struggling to free her
roughly captured
hands.  Despite her own compact strength, he was athletic
,
a lot bigger and much stronger.

She tried to kick him but he had her pinned so tight against
the wall she could barely breath
e
.  Her
heels made it impossible for her to get any traction.