Chapter 26

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“Second Chance Romance”

2012 Copyright All Rights Reserved

Chapter 26

“Hold on tight, sweetheart.” Libby glanced back over her shoulder and flashed Austin a smile that lit up his entire world. She had already handed her tickets over to the gentleman standing at the gate and was being led by the hand towards a brown and white spotted pony.

“I will,” she told him smartly. She followed excitedly behind a guy that Austin had already been assured would handle the pony expertly during her ride. He was a young man, mid twenty’s with a cowboy hat fitted on top of his head. He looked competent enough and Austin didn’t see a reason to worry about the ride at all with a man like him in the lead.

Once she was saddled, Austin slid around to the side of the arena and pulled out his phone. He watched the young man pick her up and set her on the pony. He proceeded to give her a few instructions on where and how to hold on to saddle horn.

After she was settled and waiting for the other kids to saddle up on their ponies, Libby turned back in Austin's direction and waved at him. He waved too and lifted his phone in the air, preparing to take her picture. “Say cheese,” he prompted her.

“Cheese.” She beamed and posed with one hand holding on tightly to the saddle horn, the other hand waving wildly in the air. Her curls caught slightly in the breeze, blowing against her face and her grin was filled with an innocent enthusiasm that he hoped she would maintain long into her adult years. Austin swallowed hard, not wanting to think about her growing up too fast and then snapped the picture. He liked her just the way she was and it would suit him just fine if she stayed daddy’s little girl forever.

“Beautiful,” he said lowering the phone and offered her a proud grin of his own. The pony lurched forward and Libby spun back around so she could hold on with both hands. He glanced down at the picture again and pressed save. “Absolutely beautiful,” he mumbled again more to himself, staring thoughtfully at the picture.

Tina sidled up next to Austin.  “Now that’s two words that I love to hear, especially when those words are pertaining to moi, Mr.Giles.”

Austin closed his phone and shoved it in his back pocket. The day had been going so perfectly. Jade seemed to be more relaxed than she had all week, Libby was having a good time. Tina was the last person that he wanted to deal with on a day like today, or any day for that matter.

“I wasn’t talking about you,” he commented and intentionally leaned up against the railings that surrounded the arena so he wouldn’t have to look at her.

Tina glanced over at the little girl that Austin was staring at. She could see a little bit of Austin in the child, the darker hair definitely. The high cheek bones maybe, but those eyes. Those eyes were undeniable. But even knowing that she was in fact, his daughter, she wasn’t about to let a little brat get in the way of her plans. What she wanted, she usually got and right now she wanted Austin. Nothing was going to stand in her way.

She pressed up against his back and ran the tip of her bright red manicured finger down his arm, leaving a trail of goose bumps in her path. “You know,” she started with that sultry voice she was so good at formulating, “you and I could be good together, Austin. Real good, like smoking hot good. So hot that I’d wager we could burn for days.”

Austin’s eyes followed her hand but he didn’t say a single word to acknowledge her. Taking this as an incentive, she moved her body around so that her breasts were prominently pushed up against his arm. “You know that I can give a man like you, a real man, just what he needs. All you have to do is say the word and I’m there, baby. One word is all it would take and you could have all this,” she told him glancing down at the vast amount of bare skin she was showing of her chest and legs which flirted dangerously with the thin line of indecency.

He slowly pulled away from Tina, disgusted by not only her words but her touch as well. He looked over at Libby who was laughing at something the young guy who was leading her around had said and then cocked his head to stare at the woman he had just about as much as he could take of her. “You don’t give up, do you?” he asked her lowly.

Her lips slid up sinuously at the corners. “Never, baby. I always get what I want. And guess what big boy, right now, I want you.”

*****

Oliver made his way over to where Jade was standing in line and stood off to the side of the snack bar where she couldn’t readily see him. The world tilted sideways for a minute and he had to balance himself up against the edge of the snack bar so he didn’t end up on his ass. Once he was certain that he had regained his equilibrium, he took a good, long sweeping look over the milling crowd.

Families. Smiles. Love. And of course happiness, that’s what he saw all around him. Everyone seemed happy. That’s all he wanted. Was that really too much for him to ask for?

He may not take much stock in what Tina usually says on a daily basis but he had to admit that in this one thing, he felt she was absolutely right. Jade deserved to know the truth. If she knew the truth, she wouldn’t want Austin to be around her now. And if Austin was undoubtedly out of the picture, then that opened the door for him.

A door to his own happiness.

Which was precisely why he decided that he was going to be the one to deliver to Jade the truth- the real truth aboutnot only her past and but the real the truth about that bastard, Austin Giles. He was going to make sure that she knew exactly what type of snake she was dealing with again. And then afterwards, he planned on being the one to be there for both her and Libby just like any good natured southern gentleman would be and then they could finally start a new life of their own.

”Thank You.” Jade’s soft voice barely registered to him when she exited the line, one hand filled with a plate of funnel cake and the other filled with a drink carrier. He had been so preoccupied in his own thoughts that he almost missed her passing by him.

“Hey there, Jade,” he called out and stumbled forward, catching her forearm with his hand to steady himself.

She startled a bit and tried to move back from his hold. Oliver was oblivious to her reaction and only tightened his grip on her arm so that he didn’t fall flat on his face. “How’s it going?” he finally asked.

At first Jade didn’t recognize him and the fact that he smelled like a brewery made her more than just a little nervous. She tried to pull out of his hold again, frantic to get away when his identity dawned on her. “You… you’re…”

Oliver grinned and did a rather ungraceful bow. “Call me Oliver my lady, your local Sheriff extraordinaire, at your service.”

“Oliver,” she repeated the name, searching her short term memory for any recognition. She recalled seeing him that first night at the hospital but that was it. He never returned and with everything else going on, she hadn’t had time to think about why he hadn’t.

“That’s right.” He leaned into Jade so that his lips were so close to her ears, he could almost taste her. “Now,” he started again and licked his lower lip, “ I know that you don’t re… remember much about  your past and you probably don’t even remember me but I feel that it’s my duty as both your friend and your friendly lawman to tell you about that man you’ve been hanging around.”

Jade tried her best to distance herself from Oliver’s alcoholic breath. The stench was nauseating. He had way too much to drink and it was obvious to her that he was totally soused. “Really,” she said, wishing more and more that he would just leave her alone. “You mean Austin?”

“Yup, the one and only! But I have seemed to run into a dilemma. My problem is that sometimes the truth can hurt and I really don't want to be the one to hurt you. But this is a truth I think you need to know. Your future could depend on it.”

She shifted the items in her hands to get a better hold on them. “Alright,” she resigned, seeing that he wasn’t going to leave her alone until he said whatever it was that he was planning to tell her. “What’s this truth you want to tell me about Austin?”

His mouth curled up into a sloppy, drunken grin. “Austin is a liar,” he said simply.

She raised a brow at the blatant accusation. “Okay, and do you want to tell me why he is supposedly a liar?”

“He’s a cheat too. You know, back in high school you two were quite the item. You were even voted the class’s cutest couple. You dated forever but you know what else happened? He cheated on you.” Oliver sniffed, rubbing at his twitching nose. “He had it all and in one night, he gave it up so he could sleep with the blond slut that showed up on his door. You want to know what else happened?”

Jade blew out a heavy breath. Austin had already told her this story, why was Oliver suddenly so concerned about what happened to her back in high school? “What happened?” she asked coolly.

He leaned into her again, his rank breath wafting over her nose. “You walked in on him doing "it" with her.  Then you left him. You left his sorry ass and went up North where you had Libby. You didn’t come back until a few weeks ago when I called you to tell you about your daddy passing. And then when you came back to deal with your daddy’s estate, you told him that you didn’t want anything to do with him because once a cheater, always a cheater, right?”

Jade let out a tired sigh. The picture was becoming a little clearer to her now. “And let me guess, you’ve been helping me out with my father’s estate.”

“Among other things.”

“I see, you do realize that he has told me this, don't you?” she pointed out and turned so that she could look at the arena where Libby was riding the pony. She spotted the little girl instantly and saw her laughing over the ride. It warmed her heart to see her daughter smile like that with everything else that was going on.

Oliver frowned and followed her gaze, his eyes falling not on Libby, but on Tina and Austin instead. Jade's words barely registering to him. Tina was pressing herself intimately against Austin. “See,” he said waving in their direction. “Look at that. He’s already doing it again.”

“What?” Jade, confused by what he was saying, turned to where Austin stood by the arena just in time to see Austin step back from the blond that was dressed so out of place it was ridiculous. She wore a skirt that barely covered her butt cheeks, three inch black stiletto heels and that sequined top was just too much.  She looked like she was heading to a celebrity movie premier, not a country fair.

Tina took a step to close the distance that Austin had placed between them.  He halted her by holding his hand out in front of him. Jade could see that he was saying something to her and even though she couldn’t hear what he was saying, she could easily tell that it wasn't friendly judging the angry expression on his face.

Jade smiled in satisfaction.  She couldn't remember what happened in the past and all she had to go on now is what Austin had told her and what Oliver was telling her now.  They were kids at the time, barley legal adults when this all happened and Austin had made his mistake.  From what he told her the night before it was a mistake that he sincerely regretted.

What mattered the most to Jade now was the present and from what she was seeing this time around, Austin was having none of what the slutty blond was offering. 

She shook her head at him.  “I don’t think so,” Jade replied conversationally and when she pulled away from Oliver this time, he let her go. He stood there, staring at Austin and Tina, disbelief etched in his face. He never would have thought that Austin would actually turn her down.  Now what was he going to do?

“Hey! Hey there! Hold up a minute! Help! Someone please... get some help!”

Several people started shouting all at once. It was complete pandemonium.  What happened in the next few seconds, seemed like a lifetime in Oliver's small world.

Jade took in the scene first and her breath hitched on a silent scream.  Oliver turned his full attention to inside the arena where he saw that one of the ponies had reared up on its hind legs, completely out of control. He saw Libby’s frail little body go somersaulting through the air.

He sobered up instantly and didn’t even pause to think about his next move- he let his instincts kick in  and just reacted, vaulting towards the arena.

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