Disclaimer: I own none of the characters of this story. They are owned by the WWE or themselves. No profit is being made from this story. It's purely for fun!
A/N: Thanks for the reviews, they are much appreciated. Nina, the R rating is for later chapters and to just be on the safe side.
Chris walked into the hotel with a grin on his face. There was something about a woman's touch at a place that could make a man smile. There were fresh flowers on the tables and a cleanliness that definitely said that there was a woman close by.
"Hi there, I'm Ivory. Can I help you?" Ivory said walking up the hallway.
A dark haired woman with her hair up in a bun and a bright smile walked right up to him as if she owned the place, which considering the name of the place, was a pretty good bet.
"Yes ma'am," Chris said taking his hat off. "I'm looking for a place to stay."
"Oh well, come right on in. Like I said, I'm Ivory the owner," Ivory said holding her hand out.
Chris shook her hand and was pleasantly surprised by the firmness in her grip. "Chris Jericho."
"Well, nice to meet you Chris. I've got a room that's got your name all over it," Ivory said stepping behind the counter. She pulled out her book register and a pencil. "If you'll just fill this out, I'll get your key and show you around the place."
"Sure," Chris said filling in his name. He quickly finished up and said, "How much are your rooms?"
"Well, you look like a pretty decent fellow. We'll start off at $3 a week. If you stay longer than a few weeks, then we'll talk some more," Ivory said with a smile on her face.
"Thank you ma'am, I appreciate that," Chris said pulling out the money and setting it on the desk.
"Now, you just follow me," Ivory said quickly taking the lead.
She briskly walked into the restaurant. "This is where we eat, meals are part of your room so that will help some. We serve breakfast at 6, lunch at 12, and supper at 5. All meals are served on time whether you're here or not. You may have to eat it cold if you show up late so keep that in mind." She rushed back out of the restaurant and walked back into the lobby of the hotel.
She then turned down the small hall on the left and stopped at a door with a small desk next to it. "Now, this is the bath. We all have to take turns as we only have one tub. You'll need to fill out a time on the sheet that's on the desk. You'll have twenty minutes from the time the last bucket is poured in. Use your time wisely. I do ask that you at least wash your hands before each meal."
She then quickly turned back and went down the other hall. She stopped in front of a door and opened it with the key in her hand. She handed the key to Chris and smiled, "This will be your room. It's small but there's a bed, a nightstand, a small chair, and a water pitcher for washing up. How will this suit you?"
Chris followed Ivory into the room. It was small but it had everything that he needed. He looked at Ivory and smiled. "This will suit me just fine ma'am. Can you tell me where I might look for a job in this town?" Chris asked.
"Well, there's a couple of places depending on what line of work you're in," Ivory said.
"I'm more into the cattle business," Chris said.
"I was afraid you were going to say that," Ivory said with a sad look on her face. "I'll be straight up. You seem to be a pretty decent guy. There's only one cattle ranch here and it's the Evolution ranch. When you walk out of here, jump on your horse and head north. There's no way you can miss it. The owner's name is Hunter and he is always looking for hands."
Chris noticed the look on Ivory's face. She had a closed down look that immediately put up all of his warning signals. "I take it that Hunter is not a very well liked person in these parts," Chris said.
"Honey, that's an understatement if I ever heard one," Ivory said smiling again. "Hunter has a unique way of ticking people off around here. Times have been tough with the drought and all and he took advantage of a lot of good folks."
"What do you mean took advantage of?" Chris asked.
"Why don't you have a seat?" Ivory said sitting down in the chair.
Chris sat down on the bed and patiently waited for Ivory to continue her story. It seemed as though this Hunter fellow wasn't very nice. However, if that were the only work available, he wouldn't have much of a choice. It was better for him to find out everything that he could now instead of later.
"Years ago, the Evolution ranch was a ranch struggling to make it just like the rest of the farms around here were. Nobody really knows what happened but the family ended up with a lot of money real fast. There's been speculations but nobody really knows how they turned things around so quickly."
Ivory paused to think carefully about what she said next. She had to be extremely careful in what she said about Hunter. She had butted heads with him one time and that was enough for her. She didn't want any trouble at her place; not when she finally had it paid off and was happy.
"The drought put a real hurting on the farmers around here. A lot of them couldn't make their mortgage payments. J.B., the local banker, was a nice guy, at one time, and would allow them extensions," Ivory said looking out the window in a world of her own going back in time. She could see everything that she was talking about as if it were happening right there before her very eyes.
"Suddenly, the bank started foreclosing on a lot of farms without any warning. It was just awful. I took in as many families as best as I could, as did all the rest of the town folk." Ivory shuddered as she saw all of the homeless families in her mind. "There was talk of Hunter buying the properties from the bank but I didn't believe it at the time. That was a lot of money and I just didn't believe that he had it."
"Where did the money come from?" Chris asked.
"That's the thing; nobody knows. One day they were destitute working their cattle and land as hard as they could then suddenly, boom! They owned everything and tried to own everybody," Ivory said with a bitter tone in her voice and the anger on her face personal.
Being a loner had taught Chris how to read people pretty well. He knew that Hunter had done something to Ivory. He took a guess. "I take it he tried to take your hotel."
Ivory's eyes flashed with anger for a second and then faded away. "Yes, yes he did, but I've always made my payments and thank the good Lord above, the place is now mine free and clear. He can't touch me or my hotel now."
The questions swirling around in Chris's mind were many, too many. He couldn't ask too many questions yet. There was no need to get suspicions aroused this soon. "Let me ask you this, did he buy up land that was just around his place or anything he could get his hands on?" Chris asked.
"A little bit of both actually," Ivory said thinking about it. "It started out as the properties that were around his and then it was anything that was in danger of foreclosure. The second a foreclosure sign was posted, he bought the property the next day."
"You mentioned a they, who are they?" Chris asked.
"Well, Hunter's father, Ric, and brother, Dave, live on the ranch with him. Ric is meaner than a striped snake and Dave's the quiet one. He doesn't say much but he is their muscle. Family means a lot in these parts so they all stick pretty close together," Ivory said.
"Well Miss Ivory, thank you for the information. I certainly do appreciate it," Chris said tipping his hat. He decided that it was time to end the conversation for now. He didn't want anybody to think he was anything but a drifter with a natural curiosity about the town and the people in it.
Ivory looked at the young man with a look of warning on her face. "One thing, you be careful, real careful around that bunch, especially Hunter and Ric. They're just out and out mean and evil." The look of concern on her face was very real and noted by Chris.
"Don't you worry ma'am. I'll be real careful. I promise," Chris said with a smile.
"You know, I like you. I don't know what it is but I liked you the second I saw you. The town could use some honest, hard-working men like you around here. Who knows, it may even change the way some people look at this town," Ivory said with a smile.
"I hope I don't let you down," Chris said tipping his hat.
"See that you don't. Now, I've got to run and finish up supper. You go on and get cleaned up. You look like you haven't seen a bath in a few weeks. I'll call Randy and have him get your bath water ready. If you need anything, just holler," Ivory said rushing out of the room.
For a few minutes, Chris stood there just looking the room over. He walked over to the nightstand and opened the drawer. There were a few pieces of paper and a pencil in there. He took out a sheet of paper and the pencil. He wrote down a few notes quickly before folding the paper up and hiding it under the other sheets of paper in his drawer.
"Mister," a young man said sticking his head in the door with a grin. "Miss Ivory wanted me to tell you that your bath is ready." He was dark-headed and had blue eyes with a smile that Chris would have bet money on had broke a few hearts around town.
"Thank you, I take it that you're Randy," Chris said. He got up from the bed and held his hand out.
"Yes sir, Randy Orton. Miss Ivory told me your name was Chris Jericho. Nice to meet you," Randy said shaking his hand and smiling. "There aren't very many men close to my age around these here parts. I hope we get to hang out a little."
"As a matter of fact Randy, I do need somebody to show me around. I would appreciate that very much," Chris said with a smile.