Mad Gold (Providence Gold 2)

Scratching the beard I’d grown since I’d been living here, I looked out at the acres of grass that surrounded the houses and contemplated the situation I was now in. Realizing that I wouldn’t be able to go as in depth as I wanted to with the Townsend family around me, I turned and said goodnight and walked down the steps.

“Oh, cushion tush!”

Hearing the name that would haunt me for the rest of my life, I turned slowly and saw Levi hanging over the railing of the porch.

“Does this mean the wedding’s off?” he pouted.

“Don’t push your luck!” I snapped and turned to walk back to my house.

“Noted,” he yelled, followed by, “But I do love the cushion you’ve got for my pushin’ on your tush…” he was cut off by the sound of a smack followed by a yelp. “Ma! I just wanted to make sure he knew how much I loved his…” there was another smack and a yelp.

Good, I hope he saw double for a while.Eight days later…

I hadn’t seen Dahlia in eight days, eight long days. Why? Because there had been an issue on site four where they were drilling and tools were going missing. So far, it had cost the company a grand total of twenty-four-thousand dollars, which might not seem like much for a huge oil company, but when you add on their normal expenses and things like that, it was a big blow.

What pissed me off even more was that we didn’t know who was doing it. We’d tightened security and installed more cameras throughout the operation, but I really wanted to catch the son of a bitch.

Right now, though, we were sitting around the huge family table at Jer and Erica’s for ‘whatever Wednesday’. This Wednesday consisted of a variety of food. Sushi, nachos, fried chicken and steak.

Ariana and Luna had dragged Dahlia to join us, and I mean dragged. She’d apparently been drinking a cup of coffee as she spoke to one of the mechanics– the one who had checked over my truck and assured me there wasn’t a damned thing wrong with it – and they had marched in, grabbed an arm and dragged her into the car. She hadn’t spilled a drop of her coffee, but she was still glaring at them every chance she got.

It was at that moment that I fell in love with Erica and Jer as they marched through and put a bowl of beans in front of her. When she looked at them in confusion as they stood watching her with their arms crossed, I realized what they were doing and grinned.

Game on!

Dahlia kept looking between them and the bowl, not saying one word.

Sighing, Jer reached down, plucked a bean out of the bowl and placed it on the table.

“It’s very easy. You do this, and then you flick it,” he instructed, flicking that bean with precision like he was Tiger Woods.

The bean flew through the air and smacked Levi in the side of the head.

Not realizing what it was, he turned smiling in our direction thinking we’d been trying to get his attention, just as Erica flicked another bean at him. This one hit him dead center in the middle of his forehead.

Dahlia burst out laughing and lined them up on the table in front of her. The whole time Levi was looking around him searching for what was hitting him. How he hadn’t figured out where the beans had come from I’ll never know, but just as he turned with his mouth open to say something, Dahlia let rip and fired the line of beans one at a time. Seeing as how it was wide open, the first one flew into the back of his mouth making him choke.

Laughing his ass off, Archer smacked him hard on the back as he coughed and spluttered.

She did not let up once, though. Each one of the beans that she’d lined up went flying in his direction. Because his head was now facing the floor as he coughed, the only place they could land was in his hair – some staying, some falling.

With a hacking cough, he finally cleared the bean from his throat, catching it in his hand.

“What the hell is this?” he wheezed, reaching for his beer which had one of the pulses floating on top. Not seeing it, he took a mouthful and then spat it back into the glass. “Why are there beans everywhere?”

“Man, if you can’t figure that out…” Archer snorted, still laughing hard. “Holy shit, that was one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen.” I was in total agreement with that sentiment and felt myself warming even more to another one of the Townsends… until he turned his attention onto Dahlia. “Marry me. Please, marry me!”

Every muscle in my body tensed, ready to lunge over the table and punch him in the face. A soft hand holding onto my left one ruined that plan, though. There was something very calming about Dahlia and I could imagine that sometimes that would be beneficial, but at times like this, not so much.