King of Her Desire

23

I snuck up behind Elliott at the corral and nuzzled her neck like her horses do.

Yep, she had horses. On this spread out in Orange County that told me that woman had mad money. Like, the kind of money that means you can see a car or boat or even a plane you want and just buy it. No sweat.

I mean, one acre of land cost millions out there, and she had five. Near a beach, too. With a house that cost a few million on top of that. And those horses, which cost plenty to keep, too.

She laughed, turned around and said, "I'm going to freely admit that I've missed that."

Her eyes were shining when she said it, too. These women with the eyes, man...

So I said, "I've missed this, too. This specifically, not the other nonsense."

"So we're not celebrating?" she said. Cause news traveled fast there.

"I don't know yet. I mean, it feels like I'm playing Russian Roulette all the time. Something happens and I kind of cringe, waiting to see if it's going to blow up in my face or be the best thing that ever happened to me. Or both, which is probably closer to how things work out here."

She took my arm and said, "How about we don't judge yet? Did Remy feed you?"

"We grazed a little bit. But listen, let's go out, you and me. Some place nobody we know would go."

She laughed and said, "That's a tough ask. But—no, wait!"

"Whoa, lookit that big old smile! What's up?"

She grabbed my arm and said, "We'll take one of the cars, okay? I'll even drive."

"You sure?"

"Oh, my God—c'mon, let's go," she said, those eyes all lit up.

I was a little bit uneasy when she drove into the parking lot of this kinda seedy looking bar in what looked like a pretty a sketchy part of LA. But when we went inside, I felt a little better.

Turned out to be this big old concert room with tables and chairs and a big old stage with a big old band on it, too. Blues band with horns and everything. And the audience was totally into it. So I gathered they were pretty famous.

There was another whole club in back, with the bar and all. And there were all these pictures and posters of all kinds of famous country, rock and blues bands on the brick walls. Signed. The walls were signed, in fact. And the tables and things, too.

The dude at the door looked at me, looked at my ID and gave this smirky smile as he let us pass. And as soon as we went through, this big, bearded bear of a guy rushed over and grabbed hold of Elliott like she was his long-lost daughter.

And she said, "Shelby! Oh, my God!"

And he looked her over and said, "Yeah, you called them and they called me. Goddamn, you look good!"

"Considering..."

"Yeah, I'm sure sorry about all that mess you're goin' through, baby girl. I really am."

She kissed his cheek and said, "Well, Shelby Smith, this is Shoshoni King. Shoni, we call 'im. He's out here working on a TV show."

"And I take it he's got some serious ID," he said. "Right this way, son!"