Page 2 of Waylon

When the car paused, slamming on its brakes really, she stood as still as she could, holding onto the tree with one hand and the cat with the other. She even managed to hold her breath for nearly too long when she let it out as quietly and as silently as she could.

Maxi seemed to sense there was danger, so he curled himself up and around her neck, nearly making it impossible for her to breathe, much less see the car. When he backed up, flashing a huge light over the woods that she was hiding in, Londyn closed her eyes.

Like her not being able to see them was somehow going to translate into them not seeing her. Opening her eyes, she closed them tightly again when the light flashed over her tree. Not moving, so desperately wanting to take off running, Londyn stood her ground and waited. Finally, in what seemed like forever, the car took off again.

She didn’t move out of the trees. Thinking that she was at least marginally safe since they’d not found her. Turning her back to the road, she made her way down the hill, careful not to fall and break something until she came to a clearing.

All kinds of things popped into her head then. Did they have drones looking for her? Was there a snipper just lying in wait for her? She was going to have to keep from watching those stupid shows,or she was going to be a basket case all the time. But instead of going through the clearing to God knew what else, Londyn sat down on the very edge of what she thought was summer wheat and leaned against the tree behind her.

“I’m in a pickle, Maxi. I don’t know anyone to call who would want to come out in the middle of the night and rescue me. Because I don’t know if you’re aware of this or not, but we are in a pickle.” Opening her pack up, she dug into it to see if there was anything that she could munch on. Finding a beef stick and a bottle of water made her a little leery. “I’ve never bought a beef stick in my life. But I must have, right? Want some?”

She kept talking to her cat, though she was careful not to talk too loudly. There were cars going back and forth on the road she’d been on, and she didn’t want to alert anyone of her hiding place. Thinking how the beef stick smelled, she did think about if it would give away her cover, then hurriedly finished it off, giving a large portion to her companion.

The sun was coming up when she realized how exhausted she was. There were probably only a few miles between her and the town she’d been living and working in, so she was going to have to stay on her toes. Just as she was thinking that she had to pee, Londyn closed her eyes to let her mind settle a bit before she got up and moved on.

Chapter 1

Waylon didn’t care all that much for being sued. Well, he was counter-suing, so it didn’t really make that much difference to what the outcome was but he was assured by his attorney, his dad, that he was going to win hands down. He wasn’t quite as sure as he was, but that was all right. So long as it was finished, he was glad too of that.

Douglass Brown was suing him because he couldn’t get a house built without using him as a source for the wood and screws. Not to mention all the things in-between. Since he’d not waited on him hand and foot the day he’d come in for a five-cent washer, he decided that he was going to tell each builder that he got to talk to that they could build his home without using Waylon’s hardware store.

“Mr. Dixon, I’ve read over the statement that you gave to your attorney and I think that there must be a typo in this. It says here that Mr. Brown was upset with you because you didn’t go back and find the washer that he needed and bring it up to the counter in the first place. Is this correct?” He told his honor that it was true and also told him that Mr. Brown failed to get his house built because he wouldn’t allow any of the builders to use him as a source. “I see. And is this a new thing? Having the store employees waiting on their customers instead of having them go back and find the item that they want?”

“No, sir. Not that I’m aware of. I did tell him were the washers were and even went so far as to tell him what size he’d need to replace the one that he had on him. But he was upset that I didn’t go and get it for him. I was busy putting away merchandise and didn’t figure that it would really be all that big of a deal.” The judge told him that he didn’t think it would have either. “So he’s been unable to hire a construction crew to build his home because he tells them that they aren’t to use me. I don’t care one way or the other if he uses me or not, but the companies around—I give them a good deal on buying the entire needs of a house at one place, and I even only order things that will be used later down the line until they need them. It’s a win-win for everyone that places the orders, and I make out well, too.”

“So let me get this straight, Mr. Brown. You’ve been blackballing Mr. Dixon here because he didn’t do what you wanted when you showed up at his hardware store.” Mr. Brown said it was more than that. “Then how about you explain to me what the difference is. Because as far as I can see, you’re going to not get your house built because of a penny’s worth of rubber.”

“He wasn’t all that busy that he couldn’t go back on the shelf and get it for me. I told him that a lot was riding on him doing what I wanted.” The judge asked him what the man had been doing. “I haven’t any idea. He had this little dusting feather thing in his hand and was using it like it was going to be giving him some kind of magic. But it’s the principle of the matter. I was going to be spending a great deal of money in his place, and he didn’t seem to care about my money.”

“I doubt very much that for all your blustering that day that it didn’t matter to Mr. Dixon. Now, what is it you’re suing him for, in your own words.” Brown started out by complaining about how he had to park in the rain because he didn’t offer any kind of pick-up and delivery service in the first place. Then he went on to say that since he was the customer who was in need of an item, Dixon should have been more accommodating. “Have you ever been in a hardware store, Mr. Brown? I mean one as large as Mr. Dixon’s. and if you have, did they go and get what you wanted and bring it to you?”

“That’s not the point. You see, I’m a paying customer that was going to spend a great deal of money in his place that he was willing to piss off because he wouldn’t do what I wanted. The customer is always right.” He was told that it was exactly the point, that he was thinking he deserved service that wasn’t offered in any hardware store in the world. “And why not? Let me ask you. When you go into a store, do you want the best kind of service? Having someone cater to your needs? I do, and that’s why I’m suing him. Because he didn’t want to do what I wanted when I wanted it done.”

“You’re wasting my time here.” He banged the gavel down on his dais and said that the case was dismissed. “Mr. Dixon, are you willing to let this go on your end if he tells you just what an idiot he’s been. Not in those words, but close enough.”

“He has been badmouthing me to several local construction companies to the point that they wouldn’t build his home even if he were to use my hardware store. So I guess that’s all right. Unless he tries this again.” The judge looked at Brown and asked him if he was willing to let this go as he wasn’t in the right.

“He bad-mouthed about me too. Telling the other construction companies not to work for me in getting my house built. I can’t get my house built in town because once I put it out there that I didn’t want this panty waste of breath to be any part of my home, they sided with him.” The judge told him to move on. He wasn’t going to be getting anything from him. “Well, that’s not going to work for me. I want my house built.”

“Then find yourself someone that will build it.” Rolling his eyes, the judge looked at him. “I’m finding for the defendant, Mr. Dixon in this case and charging court cost as well as a five thousand dollar fine to Mr. Brown. See the cashier on the way out, gentlemen. Next case.”

Waylon left with his dad who was disappointed in not being able to say a single word about the case. He decided to pay for his dad some lunch in compensation. He asked if he thought that he’d pay up.

“No. I mean, he’ll have to pay at least the court costs, right? Then after that, there will be no money coming to me. I don’t care, so long as he leaves me and mine alone from now on.” They were just getting their lunch when his younger brother Cullen walked in with Logan, the supposed little boy that he’d picked up overseas when he’d been out of the country.

Logan was a magical creature that helped the family with things. Mostly, it was his brother Jayden and his new wife Hazel. They were the people to call when they had children who needed a good home for a temporary situation or even long term. The two of them had already taken in one child, an infant by the name of Allen. The entire family was in love with the little man and was spoiling him already.

“You look different today.” Logan told them that he was fading into an older person, to be about thirty-five, so that he wouldn’t have to hold onto the shape of a fourteen-year-old boy when he was considerably older than even Minx, who created him. It was not so much difficult but taxing for him. “I think that will take some time to get used to if you were to do it all at one time. You’re very smart for doing things this way.”

“Thank you. We’ve come to ask you for a favor. You don’t have to do it, but there is a young woman, I believe that you might have met her, who is in need of a place to stay while she figures out how to get someone off her tail.” He asked if he meant Londyn. “We do, as a matter of fact. She’s a brilliant attorney and is being hounded by her former boss for the checks that were supposed to come to her when her family was killed. It’s a goodly sum of money, too.”

“I didn’t meet her that day, but I did see her. Dallas told me that she was on the run, but she’s also very skittish, too.” Logan smiled. “You’re not telling me something, and I don’t care to be—She’s my mate, isn’t she?”

“She is. Telling you this now will be much better for the two of you in the long run. I’m afraid that if her boss, one of the Davis’s of the Davis and Davis law firm, finds her, he’ll not just take her money from her but kill her in a way that would make it impossible to identify her in any way. I believe that he’s had practice. You do remember hearing about young Donnie Lawson, didn’t you? Well, he suffered greatly for his part in making sure that Londyn got the checks.”

“Grandda said that he could smell that they were there at the house. Shot his mom while she was in bed, then tortured Donnie in a way that—like you said, it was hard to identify him. Why do they want the money from her? I mean, she’s intitled to it, correct? There is no subterfuge on her part, right?”

“Every five years since the family was killed, the firm sends out another set of checks. She is thename on the checks, and they send them out with the banks, knowing that the pervious checks can’t be cashed if the most recent one is being used. Or something like that. I’m not sure on all the details.” It was Cullen who continued to speak. “They’ve been holding onto the checks at the firm until such time as she’s killed. I think they were just waiting on her to be murdered by their hand, I’m assuming, so that they could go in and take the money as her attorney.”