Disclaimer: Didn't think I'd keep ya waiting, did ya? Anyway...almost done. Two more chapters left. There's another stories in the series --okay, there are A LOT more stories in this series. At least three or four. So if you're interested, give a hollar. I'll probably post them anyway but it's always nice to feel wanted. :)
888888888888888888888888
"A deputy?" Boss echoed.
"Why not? I have experience with firearms and with criminals; that qualifies me, doesn't it? I'm loyal, I can take care of myself, and blue is a great color for me." She winked at him. "What do you think?"
He seemed to consider this for a long time. Honestly, she had expected him to blurt out something objectionable about a girl on his private arm of the law, but he didn't. He continued to chomp on the end of his cigar and regard her.
"Why you wanna be a deputy?" he finally asked. "What's in it for you?"
Her smile widened a touch. "Boss, it's no secret how much you hate the Dukes. I can personally assure you that I have no love for them either. And that any opportunity I get to make their lives miserable, I'll be sure to seize up on it."
Boss chuckled. "Want some payback for what Bo did to you?" he said, his voice a bit darker than she would have expected. "There's been talk all over town—"
She cut him off by leaning in close, almost across his desk. "What if I were to tell you, Mr. Hogg," she said, "that that whole thing was a set-up? That I put Bo up to what happened and then yanked the rug out from under him?"
"So you ruined his rep on purpose?" Boss half-whispered, in something akin to awe.
"Absolutely," she said with a Cheshire-cat grin.
He chuckled, and then bellowed a huge, belly laugh. "That is…something else!" he cried, standing up. "You wanna make the picture complete and press charges or something?"
She considered this. "I think what I've done is just cruel enough," she said. "If we try and go for charges, too many things can go wrong. Sometimes you have to know when to back off."
"A girl after my own heart," Boss said, laying his hand on his breast by example. "So, do we have a deal?"
"A few more things," she said, realizing she might be pushing it, but she didn't really have much to lose. "I want you to pay for getting my father's house cleaned out, before you mow it down. And I want free storage space for his things, until I'm ready to deal with them."
Boss flinched a little, did a few quick calculations, and nodded. "I think I can arrange that." He extended his hand. "Anything else?"
"Just your Ridge Runner's promise," Henri-Mae said, spitting into her palm. She stretched out her hand. "Do I have it?"
Boss grinned at her wickedly. "I do love a smart girl," he said, and spat in his own palm.
Balladeer: Now if you're thinking that's a rather gross tradition, let me assure you that it's the surest way to make Boss keep his word, and Henri-Mae knew it.
8888888888888888
"You're serious?" Shelly said, practically gawking at Henri-Mae over a table at the Boar's Nest, where the two of them sat with Lula Marie, who was not looking too thrilled. "You're going to work for the Sheriff's department?"
"God knows that place is corrupt enough," Lula muttered. Henri-Mae was too busy dousing her palm with alcohol to care.
"It'll be fun," she quipped. She winked at Shelly. "Besides, weren't you just telling me the other day that it would be nice to have me back in Hazzard, permanently?"
"Well," Shelly said, glancing toward the door, "I didn't think you'd take me seriously, after what happened."
"So you don't want me to stay?" Henna smirked. It was too easy to get Shelly riled up.
"No, no," Shelly said, sipping at her beer. "I don't know. The town's gotten pretty divided over this whole thing with the Dukes." She glanced around. "I'm surprised we haven't gotten some unkind words from those girls glaring at us over there."
Henna glanced over her shoulder. Sure enough, there was a small pack of country girls, shooting her the occasional dirty look. She closed her eyes slowly, a gesture of contempt, and turned back to the table. "They don't dare mess with me," she said. "Not after word gets around that I'm going to be a deputy."
Lula sighed, deeply. Henri-Mae didn't bother to ask her what was wrong. She knew well enough. But as was Lula's way, she was determined to just wait it out and say "I told you so," later.
The door to the Boar's Nest swung open, and a head of bright blond hair popped in. Henna started for a moment, and then realized that it was too long, and straight, hanging around a pair of artificially-tanned shoulders and a perfect, heart-shaped face. Dark green eyes scanned the room and landed on them, and Tonya let out a whoop in greeting.
The trio of girls stood up. This was what they had been waiting for, as the call had come to Shelly earlier that afternoon. Hugs were exchanged, particularly when it came to Tonya and Henna.
"Man, it's been a dog's age," Tonya said, her drawl much thicker than Henna remembered. "How are you?"
Henna looked at her, eyes slightly narrowed. If there had ever been any competition in her life in terms of boys, it had always come from Tonya. Quite frankly, to this day, she was surprised that Tonya had never made a play for Bo. It was even more shocking that it hadn't been Tonya Bo was found with that fateful evening.
Brushing it aside, Henna brightened her smile. "You look good," she said. "You been working out?"
Tonya shrugged one slender, tanned shoulder. She was dressed in a pair of close-fitting jeans and a bikini-like top, with a jacket slung over one shoulder and sliding down the other, showing off her shapely figure. "I take care of myself," she said. "And my job affords me lots of exercise."
"Stripping always does," Lula quipped.
Tonya mock-glared at her. "Exotic dancing," she corrected. She nudged Henna with her elbow. "If they want me to take my top off, it's a hundred dollars extra."
"Only a hundred?" Shelly muttered, and while it was not heard by Tonya, Henna did hear it and suppressed a grin. It was just like the old days – the best of friends and the worst of enemies. But that was just how girls were.
"You all ready to go?" Tonya said. "They're opening up this great new club in Capitol City and I've been dying to go for weeks now."
"You came down here from Atlanta to go to Capitol city with us?" Henna asked. "Isn't that a little bit…redundant?"
Tonya flashed her a bright smile. "Wait until you see my ride. Then you'll know why."
Balladeer: And indeed the girls did. Tonya's got herself a brand new, candy-apple red convertible, and if I had one of those I'd drive the extra two hours to show it off, too.
8888888888888888
"What?"
Bo stared blankly at Cooter, who was sitting in the driver's seat of his pick-up, come to take away what was left of the junker for Luke.
"Let me see if I got this," Luke said slowly, wheels in his head turning, "Boss Hogg is going to give Henri-Mae a job as a deputy?"
"Sure as the General Lee is painted orange," Cooter replied, tipping back the edge of his baseball cap. "Overheard Rosco griping about it to Enos when they came to pick up his car. Going on about having a girl on the department is a disgrace and all of that."
"But why…" Bo's jaw was slack, he could barely operate it. "Why would she want to do that?" he finally managed, swallowing.
Cooter and Luke exchanged glances. "What worries me more is why Boss Hogg wants her," Luke said darkly. "She's got a big mad-on for you, Bo. Chances are he's hiring her just to make trouble for us."
"There's gotta be a way to talk her out of it," Bo muttered.
Cooter shrugged. "Beats me. She brought her bike by the garage yesterday afternoon, she seemed like a nice enough girl, but the bike was in bad shape. She was talking about getting a new one, but the one she wanted was specially made by a friend of hers in Atlanta, and all she needed was the cash to pay for it. Which she didn't think she had much of a chance of getting."
"And she got it by selling Boss her father's farm," Luke said, folding his arms. "Wonder what he's going to do with it."
"Well, I'll keep you updated," Cooter said, starting his engine. "Keep it 'tween the ditches, boys."
Luke waved, but Bo was deeply distracted. Henri-Mae, a deputy. Same power as Rosco, Enos, Cletus…and working for a man who desperately wanted the Duke cousins back in prison. No doubt she'd put all those skills to work. She'd done an extremely fine job of it so far.
"Where are you going?" Luke called, as Bo made his way toward the General.
"I'm going to talk to Henri-Mae," he said over his shoulder, climbing into the driver's seat.
"Hell, I'm going with you," Luke said, scurrying to catch up. "Better to watch the fireworks than have them directed at me when Uncle Jesse finds out I let you go into town."
8888888888888
Dark came fast, as the days were getting shorter. The sun was sinking below the horizon and dusk filled the sky with pink twilight as the cousins pulled into the Boar's Nest parking lot.
Balladeer: First the boys went to the boarding house, but all they got was Shelly's husband Lloyd, who told them that they'd all gone into town at the Boar's Nest to meet up with Tonya, who was coming down from Atlanta so they could all go into Capitol City.
"It's something they do once every month or so," he said as he sorted messages. "Now that Henri-Mae is back in town, it'll probably happen more often."
"Did they say where they'd be going in Capitol City?" Luke asked.
Lloyd looked carefully at Bo before answering. The younger man was pretty much a wreck, his hair disheveled and his eyes a bit wild. He looked desperate and frustrated. "Don't know for sure," he said, a bit cryptically.
"Look," Luke said, shooting a look at his cousin before proceeding, knowing that if he didn't, Bo might well pop and then they'd get nowhere, "whatever story is going around about Bo and Henna, it isn't true."
"Isn't it?" Lloyd said with a shrug. "A lot of us here witnessed the spectacle you two made a few days ago."
"Yeah, but it ain't how it happened," Bo said, his voice low. "Henri-Mae's out to get me for what happened between us years ago, in high school, and apparently she doesn't let go of grudges easily. Just pray you're never on the receiving end."
Lloyd smirked. He was a slender man, not much taller than Shelly herself, with very large, round blue eyes and a full set of lips. Which gave him the advantage of a vast array of expressions. "Well, you did cheat on her," he said. "With a cheerleader. Correct?"
Bo flushed red. "I was a kid," he said. "What the hell did I know?"
Lloyd shrugged. "True enough. Anyway, I'm sure that regardless of whether what happened in this boarding house was consensual or not, either one makes a nice scandal for the town to talk about."
"So how about giving them some more to talk about?" Luke said. "Let us know where they went. I'm sure the show that Bo and Henri-Mae will put on will have everyone in Capitol City talking, too."
Lloyd sighed, and reached under the counter. "Cash has been a little short lately," he said. "You two boys planning on racing in the Hazzard Derby next Saturday?"
"Do fish swim?" Bo replied.
"You two'd better win. I've got a bet placed on you." He pulled out a piece of paper, with Shelly's feminine script scrawled across it. A name of a club and an address. "Don't take it with you, memorize it," Lloyd instructed. "I know how Shelly and her friends can be. Almost every gray hair I've got is because of her."
Luke glanced at the man's fair brown head. "You don't look like you have any."
"Well, I'm anticipating," Lloyd said. "Good luck."
Balladeer: You know, I think I like that Lloyd fella already.
888888888888888
It had been a while since Henri-Mae had been in a club. And Capitol City clubs were not like the thick, heavy New York clubs she'd been popping in and out of over the last half dozen years. It was smaller and not quite so crowded – there was still room to move and breathe, she remarked to Shelly, when the girl complained at the close quarters.
It took a bit to get Lula and Shelly warmed up. Neither of them were quite the attention whores that Henri-Mae and Tonya were prone to be, and it was fun to be with Tonya again, to be around a girl who had the same, "to hell with it" attitude that Henri-Mae sometimes felt. Okay, usually felt. But Tonya was, to be honest, much more bold than her friend, and was bumping and grinding with several complete strangers before the first two hours of the evening were over.
Shelly had shed her professional clothes, usually a matching skirt and jacket with a white blouse underneath, for jeans and a T-shirt that showed off her midriff. Ever loyal to her husband, she kept her wedding ring on and stuck to the thinner part of the crowd so as not to become a target. Lula, once she'd had a few martinis, was dancing close to her, and soon Henri-Mae joined them, having lost Tonya to a particularly muscular man who could dance like a boa constrictor.
Some time passed before Henna felt Tonya grab hold of her arm. "Hey!" she shouted into Henna's ear, "John's got a friend!"
Raising an eyebrow, Henna glanced over Tonya's shoulder to where the glistening man who had been wrapped around Tonya for most of the last hour stood beside another man, this one much dryer and obviously laid back, sipping a drink. Although his hair was much darker and his frame much wider, something in his face immediately reminded her of Bo.
He was pretty. That was it. The boy was completely pretty.
Tonya was dragging her across the floor and after a few seconds of this Henna shook her off and came willingly. She smiled at the stranger as Tonya promptly reattached herself to her new friend.
"Henna, Tom, Tom, Henna," Tonya said.
"Hey," Henri-Mae said, extending a hand. Tom shook it, his eyes just as blue, if not bluer, than Bo's. "So you're not dancing?" she said, figuring that her conversation skills were most likely not the reason she'd been called over here. She knew what she looked like in her slinky, low-necked top and skirt that would have rivaled Daisy's shorts for how much thigh it showed off.
"I prefer watching," he said, the arrogant glimmer coming into those baby blues. She widened her smile at him, finding his directness rather refreshing. After dealing with so much soul-searching country-boy attitude, it was nice to remember that there were still wolves in the world.
"Well, then you're in luck," she said, swaying her hips as another song came on, one she recognized and loved. "I'm in the mood to be watched." She winked at him and danced away, to where Shelly and Lula and some other girls had found a common rhythm and were swaying like cattails around a swamp on a breeze day.
A/N: Shelly and her husband Lloyd are being played by a couple in a movie from a recent obsession of mine. Doubt anyone will guess...if anyone is interested I'll reveal in the next chapter.