She woke just as the sun was coming up. Still dressed, her book open on the bed beside her. Lying on her back, she stared up at the ceiling of her room, and counted the cracks she found. Ten this time, same as last. The house was old, and run down. A far cry when it had been one of the finest in town then. Not that any of the towns better citizens ever stepped foot in it. Her distant relation had been a gambler from New Orleans who had settled here not long after the Civil War. The combination of the two had made him very unacceptable to all the fine people of Elton. But then, as it was now with those of his blood line who lived here, he hadn't cared. Neither had any of the others who followed him, for a while the house had been a brothel, and a gaming club back in the 1920's. The man who had left it to her dad had been just as oddball as the rest of the family.
Standing up, Dani took off her jacket and boots, and then went downstairs to the kitchen. As usual, there were people crashed out everywhere. She wasn't even surprised to see Annie and Zach curled up in one of the old overstuffed chairs in the corner, and Sue lying on the Bull's shoulder. She looked like a little kid next to him, but maybe he liked that kind of woman. Most big men did. Still, it was enough to make her remember what she had seen outside her window last night. Without knowing why, she felt a shiver run through her, not to mention the feeling that she was glad that Sue had somehow failed him last night.
In the kitchen, she made a pot of coffee, and then stood waiting for it to brew. It was barely six in the morning. No one would venture awake by noon. To be honest, she was surprised the party had wound down so early. Usually, they lasted until dawn and beyond. She even remembered a few times when they had lasted a couple of days. Reaching for an orange off the table, she peeled it slowly and began to suck the juice from each section before chewing the pulp. She liked the flavor of citrus fruit, could eat a lime or lemon or grapefruit just as she ate the orange and its sweet juice.
The coffee finally finished, and she filled a large mug with the strong liquid. It burned all the way down, but it was good. This and cigarettes were her only vices. She didn't drink more than a bottle of beer at a time, and she didn't smoke pot or use any kind of drugs. A few of her parent's friends were into different things, and it seemed like they were always the worst of the bunch. Her brother Dave was a real pothead and he was a little crazy sometimes. The examples of what could happen had been a good lesson to her, and she had learned to avoid too much of a good thing.
Leaning back against the counter with her coffee, Dani closed her eyes and let the aroma and tastes of the coffee really sink in. She wasn't like a lot of people, just drinking and ignoring. She liked to experience tastes and smells. Everything had its own. Her dad smelled like stale beer and sweat. Her mother wore a fragrance like a lily that had exploded. Each of her brothers had their own scent as well. Jeff, the first guy to ever kiss her had tasted like chocolate ice cream and whipped cream. She didn't like to kiss guys who tasted of whiskey or beer, or pot. She remembered Jeff so well, because she had been ten at the time, and he had been a boy at school.
She was a little startled when Bull came into the kitchen. To make it worse, she seemed to be more aware of both his towering height and width, and his coloring. It was a complete contrast. From the toffee tint of his skin to his long, almost white hair and penetrating ice blue eyes. He was a mystery, and a part of her felt intrigued enough to want to solve it. She watched as he leaned back against an unused portion of the counter, and gave her a pleading look.
"Tell me that's coffee I smell, I beg you."
She smiled at his tone and at the same time she shivered as she had last night. "It's coffee, hang on and I'll get you a cup. Want any cream or sugar?" When he shook his head, she filled a cup that took up half the pot and started another run. "Have fun last night?"
He sipped his coffee before answering, and when he did, she watched him shrug his broad shoulders. "It was okay, you friends are nice. Annie is really crazy about Zach isn't she?" It was clear from the look he gave her that her friend's actions were plain to everyone, everyone but Zach.
Her giggle escaped without warning. "Oh hell yes, she's been that way forever it seems. I was glad he was nice to her last night, it would have hurt her really bad if he had acted like a jackass, and that would have pissed me off even more than some of his prior stunts would have."
"I noticed that, you know it's hard for a brother to admit his kid sister is getting older, you keep this image of her being a little girl looking at you with this idolization in her eyes." He took another drink of his coffee and lit a cigarette. "You don't want your friends hurt by anyone do you?"
"Not Annie or Sue, we've been best friends since we were in diapers almost. We were born just a few weeks apart, Annie, Sue then me. My birthday is day after tomorrow, the last of the Three Musketeers. It is hard to believe I'm almost eighteen already though."
"Wait till you hit twenty one, then it's all downhill from there." He gave her a teasing glance. "Your folks got a nice house here; I've seen others like it back in Louisiana."
Dani wondered if it was the outer look of exterior, or the interior that still in a lot of ways had that genteel brothel look to it. Hell, if you stripped away the paint, you would be sure to find some of the rich red velvet that had once decorated the walls. "The man who built it was from New Orleans, he came here around the end of the civil war. I know some of the history but the one to ask my mom's dad, he knew the last one before dad. I do know that until this guy died, no one back in New Orleans knew anything about him, not even my grandfather. I don't know if it was even actually dad, grandpa or dad's twin brother Jake was intended to get it, all I know for sure is that he was in the Marines, got a letter telling him about this place and the rest is history. My grandma and aunt still live down in the Big Easy, as they call it these days. I been thinking I might go there sometime this summer, I haven't seen them or it for years, I barely remember the house. Hell, I barely remember my grandma or Aunt Jessie, they've only come here once or twice in my life, and the rest of the time they just call or send letters and cards. I do know it was huge and I loved exploring it."
He nodded, "My family lives in the Bayous. Daddy and my uncles own a fleet of channel fishing boats." He looked at her. "If you go, maybe you'll be kind enough to take a message to my folks, letting them know that I'm okay. It's been a long time since I been home." A tone entered his voice and Dani got the idea that he missed his family.