Money Grab

They laughed. "You have everything, Mr. Davis," Malina complimented him.

"Can I help you with anything?" Calley asked.

"Thanks, do you know how to make gravy?"

She didn't and they both got up and came around the stove to watch him. It was evident that neither girl had anything on but the undershirts and the boxers and Davis' eyes bugged out and he choked a little.

"Well girls, I'm glad you aren't shy," he stuttered. "Just let the boobs hang out there, don't mind me. Are you trying to embarrass me?"

Malina cupped her pointy little breasts in his direction. "I'm not shy," she said. "I like to be sexy. Besides, my only bra is dirty."

Calley looked down at her chest and grinned. The undershirt was barely containing her full breasts and her nipples were making two peaks in the thin material. She brushed them with her fingertips and they became even more pronounced. "Regretting not taking me up on that offer, Mr. Rade?"

"Maybe a little," he laughed. "Don't torture me like this."

"I'm sorry Mr. Davis, you will soon become accustomed to living with girls," Malina said. She arched her back and stretched languorously.

"Jesus Malina, stop that." He turned red and took the sausage out of the pan. She laughed and crumbled the sausage up on the plate.

He sifted flour into the sausage grease. "The trick is to soak up all the grease with the flour. Then you make roux and cook it a little. That keeps the gravy from becoming lumpy when you add the milk. Too much flour at first is best. You can always add more milk but if you have to add flour you've got problems."

He stirred the gravy until it thickened and added a little more milk. After it was bubbling he put the sausage back in. He opened two biscuits on their plates and ladled on the gravy.

"I like pepper, but you do it like you want."

The girls devoured their food. "I was starving," Calley said. "That was awesome, Mr. Rade. Can we have another biscuit and some of that strawberry jam?"

"Help yourself. You don't have to ask me. Me casa es su casa."

"Do you speak Spanish, Mr. Davis?" Malina asked.

"A little," he admitted. "Not as well as you speak English. There are a lot of Hispanic ball players and I picked some up. Are there a lot of blonde girls in Spain?"

"Some," she said. "Mostly in the north we live. I lived just a few miles from France and some of my family has blonde hair and blue eyes. I speak French nearly as well as Spanish. English is my third language."

"Well, it's my first and you speak it as well as I do. You know what, I'm declaring tomorrow a holiday," he decided. "There's a general store over at a little town called Belvedere about 10 miles away. It's really not a town, just a store and a few houses. We might be able to trade for some stuff for you. I'm afraid to go into Medicine Lodge, there's still a lot of violence going on and all the stores have been looted, but this is a pretty out of the way place that used to supply the ranches around here. They carry outdoor clothes, hunting stuff; things like that. Maybe they'll have something. We'll go in the afternoon; right now I'm going back to bed. Sleep as long as you want and we'll just wake up when we're rested."

That turned out to be noon for the tired girls and Davis got up at 10:30. He dressed quietly, got his Jeep Wrangler out of the shed and fueled it up. He made sandwiches and put them on the bar. He milked the cow and fed the animals.

He ate his sandwich and went to a door off the kitchen. He walked inside and looked over the weapons hanging on the wall. He picked out two riot guns with pistol grips and picked up a dozen rounds of buckshot.

He loaded the weapons and put them in the Jeep along with his M16. When he went back in he heard showers running in the girl's rooms. He searched around and found gym shorts with drawstrings. He got t-shirts, boxers and his smallest socks.

He knocked on Calley's door. "Just a minute," she called. She soon opened the door and peeked out. "Clean clothes," she opened the door, wrapped in a towel and he handed a pile to her. "You're going to have to make do with boxers until we get something else for underwear. You can pull the drawstrings up tight on the shorts and they'll stay up. I don't have any shoes that will fit you."

"That's okay," she said. "My shoes are fine." She turned away and then hesitated. "Mr. Rade, thank you for taking us in."

"You're welcome," he told her.

He was about to knock on Malina's door when it opened. She, too, was dressed only in a towel. "Mr. Davis," she began. "Oh, I see you have already thought. I was going to ask if you might have anything for me to wear. I cannot stand putting those dirty clothes back on."

He handed her the pile. "Just until we can get you something else."

"Thank you, Mr. Davis." She sauntered back to the bed, and opened her towel, looking back at him over her shoulder. "Do you want to watch?"

He choked and quickly turned away. Her laughter followed him into the kitchen. They looked like they had been dressed by an older brother when they emerged. They took one look at each other and laughed themselves to tears.

"Well, if you're done mocking my wardrobe, grab your sandwiches and let's hit the road," he said.

Chapter 2

When they got outside he sent Calley to the bunker. "Go down to the second level and you'll find shelves full of whiskey. Get ten of the purple boxes that say Crown Royal on them and five of the ones that say Jack Daniels on a black label.

He and Molina carried flour and corn and loaded it into the Jeep.

The drove down the driveway and he asked, "I've been wanting to ask you something, Malina. How old are you?"

"I am 17," she said. "I will be 18 next week."

"Trying to find out if she's jailbait?" Calley teased.

"No, just wondered," he laughed. "You said she was an exchange student and I wondered if she was a senior or a junior."

"I am a senior," she told him.

"Listen girls, I don't know what to expect over here. I don't know what's been going on. I haven't been here for nearly a year. There may be no one there or it may be a pretty rough crowd. I'm going to leave the rifle in the car. I've got two pistols and I want you girls to carry those riot guns. You know how to shoot?"

"No," Calley said. "I hate guns."

"Do you like living? You better fall in love fast. Jesus Christ, that attitude is going to get us all killed. You can't miss with that. Just point it and pull the trigger. You operate that slide to get another round in the chamber. Slide it and see how it works."

She worked the slide and a round flew over the side of the car into the road. "Oops, I wasn't supposed to do that, was I?"

Davis laughed. "Well, no, but that's how you do it." He handed her another shell.

"I know how to shoot." Malina told him. "I have often hunted partridges at home."

"Good. That's good, little girl. There isn't a round in your chamber. Wait till we get there before you put one in."

"Is this town on a dirt road?" Calley asked.

Davis laughed. "I told you it isn't much of a town. There used to be a restaurant and the store; that's it."

There were three vehicles pulled up in front of Grizzly's General Store: two pickup trucks and an ATV. The restaurant appeared to have been closed for some time. The windows were boarded up, but the store had an open sign in the window.

"Pay attention in here," Davis told the girls. "Don't let anyone get behind us. I'm going in friendly, but they may not want to be friends."

They got out and the two girls followed Davis inside. They positioned themselves beside the door. A bearded, heavy man with an open flannel shirt with no sleeves was behind the counter. He had a chain running across his belly from a ring in one nipple to another in his navel. Two other men lounged on piles of horse blankets off to the side. One was a young man who looked to be in his early twenties wearing a cowboy hat that had once been white. The other had on biker leathers with an open vest. He obviously worked out.

"Hey, Grizzly, you remember me?"

"Yeah, you're that baseball player got a place across from the Z bar. What can I do for you?"

"You got any clothes or shoes for women?"

"I've got flip flops, boots and Converse All Stars that they might wear. Don't have many clothes. I've got wife beaters, jeans they might find in a small size, t-shirts, thermal stuff, a little cammo hunting stuff and a couple of pairs of insulated coveralls."

"I'll take everything you've got," Davis said.

The two men had gotten up off the blankets and they moved to stand on each side of Davis.

"How were you planning to pay for that?" Grizzly asked.

"How do you want to be paid? I've got whisky, flour, corn or silver. I'll trade any or some of all of that. Or," Davis reached into his pocket and the two men tensed, "I've got a credit card." He showed it to Grizzly.

Grizzly roared with laughter. "He's got a credit card! Ain't that a hoot, boys?"

The two men slapped their sides laughing. A cold light came into Grizzly's eye. "Or, how about we give these two little honeys of yours a roll in the hay? That sound like a fair trade, Rade? You trade some pussy for what you need?"

"I'm afraid that doesn't work for me, gentlemen. I don't own these ladies. They don't look interested, so how about we trade for what I offered you?"

"No, I think I'll take the pussy," Grizzly said.

Davis exploded into action. He stomped his heel sideways into the knee of the biker and slashed the credit card across the eyes of the cowboy. The biker's knee was destroyed with an audible crunch and the cowboy screamed and fell to the floor clutching his eyes. Blood seeped between his fingers and the sound of a shell being jacked into the chamber of a 12 gauge froze Grizzly behind the counter.

Malina pointed the riot gun at his belly. "Take your hands slowly from beneath the, como se dice, the counter."

Grizzly slowly raised his hands. "You take it easy with that shotgun, girl. Ol' Grizzly was just joshing. We wasn't going to hurt nobody."

"No, I would not wish to hurt anyone either. But I will blow a hole in your belly if you lower your hands."

The cowboy was still screaming and Davis took out his 9mm and cracked him on the head. He went quiet. The biker was unconscious, passed out from the pain of his wrecked knee. Davis covered Grizzly and spoke to the girls.

"Go look over the stuff. Take anything you feel like you can use and put it in the jeep, then come back in here with the whiskey."

They quickly moved to the shelves and carried out several armloads. They didn't find any women's underwear, but they got two dozen pairs of boxers. They found All Stars that fit, jeans and t-shirts. They took thermal shirts and some of the hunting clothes. They took two stacks of the undershirts and lots of socks. They found gloves and stocking caps and they both found boots that fit. They made two trips with whisky and Davis put ten 2 ounce silver coins on the counter.

"We aren't thieves Grizzly, but we don't like rapists. Walk around here."

Grizzly walked slowly around the counter and stopped when Davis gestured.

"Cover him, Miss Vega."

Calley leveled her shotgun at the man and he flinched.

"You made some bad decisions today Grizzly. I think that chain made you do it."

"My chain? Are you crazy?"

"No, I've heard that men with chains in their nipples make bad decisions all the time. I'm going to fix that for you."

Davis reached out and ripped the chain off the man. His nipple and navel tore and blood spurted. He screamed and clutched his nipple.

"I'm going to kill you for that, Rade."

"You've still got the ear rings," Davis told him. "You want to go for those? I've got pliers in the jeep."

"No, no, I didn't mean it. Just take your stuff and these two bitches and get out of here."

"Now that's no way to talk to ladies, Grizzly. I think you ought to apologize or I send the girl to get the pliers."

"I'm sorry, ladies. I don't know what I was thinking." He swallowed and licked his lips."

"Next time we come I expect you to be polite," Davis said. "Ladies, go and get in the jeep."

He kept the gun on Grizzly and backed out the door. He turned and ran for the jeep. Calley had the engine running and she put a cloud of dust in the air as she spun around in the road and flew out of town.

Five miles out of town they crossed the Medicine River and Calley pulled off the road. "Why are we stopping?" Davis asked.

"I need to talk to you," she told him. "You guys get out and let's sit on the tailgate for a minute."

Davis lowered the tailgate and sat down. Calley sat on one side of him and Malina on the other. They were tightly packed and Davis could feel the two warm bodies pressed against him. It was a beautiful spot. The wind rustled the leaves of the cottonwoods along the creek and they could hear the sound of running water.

"What is it, Miss Vega?"

"I need to apologize to you Mr. Rade. Damn it, this is so silly. I'm going to call you Davis and you can kick me out if you want. Those men were going to rape us back there and you stopped them. They were going to kill you and rape Malina and me and then kill us. We were going to die horribly and you saved us. Please don't call me Miss Vega anymore. I know you're still mad at me and I deserve it. Will you call me Calley please?"

"I'll think about it. Go on."

"I don't know what to say. I treated you like shit. I didn't know anything about you and I just threw you under the bus like you said. I was 22 years old; I was an intern and I needed to get on the desk in front of the camera. I didn't want to sleep my way there and so I used you. That story I did on you got me the anchor job. I'm very sorry. I know you think I'm a slut Davis, but I'm not. I'm just selfish. I've always just thought about myself. I know it but I'm going to be better. I'm so sorry I treated you that way and I'll do anything you want me to to earn your forgiveness. If I start acting like a bitch again you have my permission to kick me out. Please don't hate me, Davis. I can't stay with you after what you did back there if you hate me. It will destroy me. I'll know that you're the kind of person that will risk his own life to save mine and if you hate me because I treated you like that, I can't live with it. I know what kind of a guy you are now. You risked your life to get us clothes. So I'm begging you, will you forgive me?" She knelt in the road at his feet and looked up at him with tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Don't do that," he took her hand and pulled her back up beside him

"All you had to do was apologize and ask. I do forgive you Calley, and I like to be called Davis. You don't have to beg."

She hugged his arm and rubbed her cheek on his shoulder. It felt like a silk pillow against his skin. "Thank you, Davis," she whispered.

"What I wish to know is how you learned to fight like that, Mr. Davis?" Malina asked.

"Well, that's a long story. Calley knows part of it. It's the reason she called me a racist."

"I'm so sorry," Calley said. "I just found out you spent six months at one of The Covenant, The Sword and the Arm of the Lord camps and I thought you were one of them."

"How could you think that, Calley? Jesus Christ, the people were racist nut bags. Do you know that my mother was a half black South African? I hate racists. You know the police never caught the men who killed Cindy?"

"Who is Cindy?" Malina asked.

"She was Davis' fiancée," Calley told her. "She stumbled upon a group of cattle thieves on the way home from town one night and they raped her and killed her. The police never found them. What does that have to do with The Covenant, The Sword and the Arm of the Lord, Davis?"

"Well, it turns out the thieves were part of that group. I went there looking for them and joined up so I could find them. They taught me how to fight. I spent six months with those sick bastards and learned everything I could about fighting. Some of them were tough. They were sick sons of bitches but they had trained all over the world and they taught me everything they knew. I found out who the five men were that killed Cindy and I killed them, loaded them in the back of my truck and buried them out in the gypsum on the back of my land. That's why you called me a racist, Calley, and I couldn't say one thing in my own defense. I couldn't risk anyone finding out about the men I killed."

"Maria y Christo, Davis. I never knew. How could I know? I'm so sorry."

There were tears in the eyes of both girls. Calley pulled his head down and kissed his cheek.

"Those men were very bad. It makes me happy that you punished them." Malina told him. "Those evil men, those pigs back there; they were not going to let us go after they traded for pussy, were they?"

"Probably not, little girl. They would probably have killed me and used you until they got tired of you and then killed you. I wasn't going to let that happen."

"Thank you, Mr. Davis." She kissed him, too.

"You're welcome. You may save my life sometime." He put an arm around each of them and squeezed. They both sighed and pushed their cheeks into his chest.

He shook his head and let go. He stood up. "All settled?"

They both nodded. "Good, then let's go home."

"Yes, Davis, I like that word: home," Malina reached her hand to him and he pulled her up.

Chapter 3

They unloaded the Jeep and Calley and Malina wanted to try on their clothes. None of them fit exactly except the shoes. They looked a little odd in the men's clothes, but they would work. They came out and gave Davis a fashion show while he made dinner. After dinner he took them to the barn and they watched as he milked the cow.

"This is Molly," he introduced them. Davis had raised her from a bottle calf and she was very gentle. They stroked her smooth hair and giggled when she licked Malina's hand.

"Her tongue is very rough," she said. "She is very fat. Her stomach is big, is she with calf?"

"No, not yet," he laughed. "She's a Jersey and they all look like that. When she has a calf next spring, she will have a huge stomach."

"I would wish to pet a calf," she told him.

"Well, if things go well you'll get your wish."

Both of them wanted to try milking but their hands tired quickly. "Don't worry about it. My hands were like that, too. You'll get used to it. We have to do this twice a day if we want milk. I drink it for breakfast every morning and we'll cook with it quite a bit. We also use it to make butter. I want to make cheese but I don't have the enzymes for it."

They went inside and they all showered and changed for the night. It was apparent that the boxers and wife beaters were going to be the norm for pajamas and Davis groaned. They never wore bras, they didn't have any, and the sight of all that jiggling girl flesh was driving him crazy.

"You girls want to watch a movie?"

"How will we do that?" Calley asked. She was sewing a cross stitch design onto a pillowcase.

"We have electricity, a TV and a PS4. Go in my office and push the yellow button to the right of the door."

She went in and pushed the button. The bookshelves rotated and on the back side of them there were thousands of Blue Ray discs.

"Malina, come look at this," she called.

Davis popped popcorn and after 20 minutes they finally selected a movie. It was a Nicholas Sparks film and Davis groaned. "I don't know what I was thinking when I bought that."

"It looks very romantic," Malina told him. "We like romantic movies. We are Latin and have romantic natures."

"Well, I'm an American and we have violent natures. I like action movies."

He had a huge TV and they plugged in the disk. Davis sat on the sofa and the two girls sat on either side of him. He held the bowl of popcorn on his lap and they reached in while the movie rolled.