Maddy's Oasis by Lizzy Ford Read Free Book Online Page B

drug gangs made it into the paper, but most
were unwritten rules known by the locals. He doubted she knew
anything about Alex's issues, either.
    No, he'd keep an eye out for now and leave
Duke as protection. No one in their right mind would mess with
Duke, and maybe he could coax her to leave the site and sleep
elsewhere.
    Toni and a few others appeared as the sun
reached the horizon. His mother's brother, Toni was lean and
slender compared to Javier's large frame. Toni took in the Rotts
and Jake and then frowned.
    "Issues?" he asked.
    "Yeah. Someone broke into the office and
scared city-girl."
    "Wow, did you talk to Javier?"
    "Not yet. Alex owed half the town money.
Didn't want to jump the gun," Jake replied. "At least nothing's
damaged. No extra work for us today."
    Toni snorted and followed his gaze to the
structure.
    "Ugly bastard, isn't it?"
    Jake snagged his hard hat from the truck and
didn’t answer.
    "Brought you breakfast and your horoscope,
compliments of Sonya," Toni said, handing him a thick breakfast
burrito wrapped in tinfoil.
    Jake took it, reading the small square
horoscope Toni's wife, Sonya, cut out of the newspaper for him
every day.
    "You will find happiness where you don't
expect to," he read aloud.
    "Not here you won't," Toni said.
    "Tell me about it," Jake said, and chuckled.
"Tell her thanks. Better than the doom-and-gloom horoscope from
yesterday."
    Toni smiled, and they walked to their
planning area, marked by three card tables standing side by side
covered with plastic containers of paper and office supplies. They
sat in silence to eat their breakfast before cracking one container
to look at their notes from the day before.
    "I wanna take another look at the damaged
portion," Toni said.
    "I need to throw off some angry energy before
I deal with that woman again," Jake said. "I'll start with the
stones."
    "Have fun."
    Jake rose and joined the men already working
on restacking one of the massive piles of tiles while another broke
down broken stones into gravel. The stones had been cut into
similar sizes for use in the courtyard as decoration. The vandals
went out of their way to destroy them, and they couldn't be used in
their current shape. He'd decided to salvage them for gravel rather
than remove them.
    Jake got to work, oblivious of how much time
passed until Eric called his name.
    “Jake, where’s Maddy?”
    He tossed the block in his hand and
straightened, twisting to see a pale-faced Eric. Eric wore large
sunglasses and a hat and flinched as one of the laborers nearby
smashed a rock with a sledgehammer. He was dressed well despite the
apparent hangover.
    “G’mornin’, Eric,” he said. “How you doing
today?”
    “Great, great. Where’s Maddy?” Eric asked
with a grimace as another rock exploded.
    “She’s sleepin’ in the office,” Jake
responded. He glanced at his watch, satisfied to see it was past
eleven. The exhausted woman had drifted to sleep mid-sentence on
the couch at around four-thirty. Part of him had wanted to check on
her a couple times, but he'd resisted. Just because her body had
felt so nice against his, he wasn't about to volunteer for more
abuse from the sharp-tongued city-girl by checking up on her.
    “Great,” Eric murmured with less
enthusiasm.
    “Tonight’s tequila night. You up?” Jake
asked.
    “I’ll stay back and help Maddy,” Eric replied
quickly. “We’re a bit behind. I appreciate the offer.”
    “Any time,” Jake said, and returned to his
pile of stones.
    Toni winked at him from across the small
square area they had designated the stone corral. Eric’s phone
rang, and he wandered toward the office. Jake continued with his
stones, reviewing the night. He hadn't thought about the
conversation they'd had at the bar since arriving early this
morning. Toni had dragged a lot of info out of Eric, revealing Mr.
Howard’s legal woes and a little bit about how long Madeleine had
worked for Mr. Howard. Eric knew surprisingly little about