Missy's Gentle Giant Read Free Page A

stashing the take somewhere else.  Ben shook his head in disbelief,
opened the door and climbed out.  Again he reached for the horn and let it
scream to the neighbors while he helped Melissa from the truck.  Only his
fury kept him from grinning when he saw her wide eyes of shock.  Yeah, she
did hear it.  He was sure of it now.  Out of the corner of his eye,
he saw a young boy about sixteen come to the door.
    “Amá!  Melissa’s here in a big
truck!”  The boy disappeared, but moments later was followed a heavy set
woman as she stepped off the porch.
    Ben reached for the suitcase and
purposely hit the horn again while he pulled it out.  Melissa went totally
pale, glanced around and swallowed hard.  She did hear it!  Damn he
wanted everyone on the damn block to see them!  How could they be so narrow
minded?  Force him to marry her as if they’d done something wrong? 
And hell, if they were going to beat him up, he might as well have some fun
with it.
    Ben lowered Melissa from the
truck.  She saw her mother and ran to her.  “Oh Mama, my car broke
down and he brought me into town, but when I asked him to let me walk to the
house he wouldn’t.”  Melissa buried her head against her mother.
    Fury hit him, and Ben dropped the
suitcase with a loud thud on the sidewalk.  “My name is BEN SPINELLI and
I’m an ITALIAN, Mrs. Sanchez!”  He glared angrily.  “ITALIANS do not
drop RESPECTABLE GIRLS off and leave them to walk home!  ITALIANS drop
CHEAP GIRLS off to walk because they’re ashamed to be seen with them! 
ITALIANS take RESPECTABLE girls home and make sure their parents meet them—him—so
they know who their daughter’s with.”  Ben took several deep breaths
trying to cool his temper.  He looked around for her brothers.  What
the hell was he doing?  “Now you’ve met me and Missy’s safe.  Tell
her brothers and her father if they want to discuss this further, they can find
me, BEN SPINELLI, at the first damn motel up the road.  I’ll be ready for
them.”  Ben turned on his heals and started for his truck.
    He stopped and turned back to Mrs.
Sanchez.  “Tell Missy—oh to hell with it—forget it.”  He waved and
climbed in his truck.  He didn’t see the smile on Mrs. Sanchez’s face as
he drove off blasting the horn one more time just for the hell of it! 
Damn, he was losing his mind.  What the hell made him do such a stupid
thing?  Practically invited all her brothers and father to come and kill
him!
    Oh, his father would love it! 
His dad could add it to the list of stupid choices Ben had made rather than
take over the damn chain of stores his father owned.  Angrily Ben pulled
into the first motel he saw and registered.
    A few moments later, he dropped the
keys to the room on a nightstand and rubbed the back of his neck.  He was
supposed to find out which one of her family was pushing coke!  Great way
to start things off.  Feeling very tired, he dropped on the bed.  He
ached from being cramped up and sitting, and as usual the bed was too damn
short.  Worse, his brain was useless.  After pulling off his clothes,
he lay back, rolled over on his stomach, pulled himself up on the too short bed
from the left top corner to right bottom corner so he could stretch out and
fell into a dreamless sleep.

 
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Two
     
    Later in the evening Mr. Sanchez
hovered worriedly over his only daughter.  “All right now, Melissa you’ve
had plenty of time to calm down.”  He patted her on the shoulder. 
“Just tell me what happened.”
    “My—my car broke down and he
stopped and tried to fix it.  He said it was my—no—Abigail’s rear end and
more like a heart attack than a heat stroke.  Anyway I asked him if he’d
take me to the next gas station and—and—”
    “And?”  Mother and father
asked in unison.
    “He got mad at me and said he
wouldn’t.”  Melissa bit her lip.  “Then he said he’d bring me to McAllen,
got my suitcase and