Manesto Nights

Chapter 1

This is a three chapter excerpt only. Full book is being uploaded to Inkitt.

Chapter 1
Vicky
My quads screamed in protest.
My lungs burned with each ragged breath.
Keep going.
Don't give up now.
Adrenaline fuelled me through the field of lady slippers. I ran as fast as I could, the lush grass tickling my bare feet. My wedding dress billowed around me, the breeze lifting it above my knees as I sprinted toward the finish line.
The airfield loomed on the horizon. Flungfarwood airport was nothing more than a few hangars and a small terminal surrounded by the trees and mountains of Northern Alaska. But on that warm summer day, the tiny airport was my ticket to freedom.
I stopped when I reached the asphalt, bracing my hands on my knees while I caught my breath. My chest heaved, my heart thundering against my ribs while I recovered from a mini marathon I clearly wasn't prepared for.
My phone was tucked safely in my spanx. I fished it out and fired off a text.
I'm here.
A response came less than a minute later.
Hangar two.
I shielded my eyes in the late afternoon sun, scanning the buildings. Hangar two was straight across the clearing. I slipped on my heels and hurried over the asphalt.
Arlo appeared in the open doorway. "I knew you wouldn't go through with it," he said as he hustled me around the hangar to where a small plane was waiting.
"I got closer than last time."
"I see that. How did you escape?"
"I climbed out the bathroom window."
"Why did you put on your dress? It would've been easier to run in regular clothes."
"I thought if I was in my dress, I might be more inclined to walk down the aisle."
"How did that work out for you?"
"Well, it didn't, obviously."
"If you didn't want to marry those guys, why didn't you just say no, Vicky?"
"I don't know."
"You have to stop getting engaged just to keep your dads off your case."
"They seemed okay at first."
"You should've told them you didn't want to get married. Imagine what they're going through right now."
"I didn't know I didn't want to get married until this morning, Arlo," I snapped. "Get off my ass. You promised to help me escape."
"I'm sorry, babe," he said, pulling me into his arms. "Happy Birthday, beautiful. You don't look a day over twenty-five."
"Very funny."
"What are you going to do when you get to Anchorage?"
"I don't know," I sighed. "I haven't thought that far ahead."
"Did you bring a change of clothes?"
"No."
"ID?"
"Of course."
"Where is it?"
"Hidden in the back of my phone case."
He shook his head, gesturing for me to climb the steps to the plane. "Let's go. My other passengers should be here any minute."
"I thought you said you were flying solo down to Anchorage, and picking up people there to bring back?"
"That was before three flights were diverted here from Fairbanks on account of the fires burning in the Yukon."
"Well, that's just annoying. I thought I was gonna have the plane all to myself."
"Sorry, princess."
"Don't call me that, Arlo."
"Then stop acting like one, Vicky."
I made my way to the back of the cabin. The plane had six rows of seats. Hopefully, the other passengers would sit up front and leave me alone. I wasn't in the mood for company.
I was no stranger to flying. I grew up in Alaska. I'd flown to Fairbanks many times for various reasons. Shopping, medical appointments, dental cleanings. Flungfarwood was an isolated town with a population of just over eight hundred, and one commercial street that offered only the basic necessities for daily living. If you needed something that wasn't available, it was quicker to jump on a plane than wait for it to be delivered.
But this flight was different. I wasn't coming back. There was no future for me there. I wanted more out of life than to be a wife and mother. Being a twenty-something single woman in Flungfarwood was unheard of. People looked at me like I was some sort of freak.
Heavy footsteps sounded on the stairs. A tall, muscular dude appeared, ducking his head as he entered the cabin. He glanced briefly in my direction with a stern scowl before taking a seat in the first row.
Another man appeared a moment later. Unlike the grump up front, this one actually smiled and nodded as he came down the aisle and settled in the seat across from me.
"The back of the plane is the safest place to be in a crash," he advised, his deep, sexy voice resonating right between my legs.
Seriously?
He's old.
Did you miss the gray hair?
"I did not know that," I said.
He leaned across the aisle and extended his hand. "Hollis Becker."
I reached out to accept, his long fingers swallowing my hand with a firm shake. "Vicky Vespa."
"Nice to meet you, Vicky Vespa."
I glanced up when the next passenger entered. "Nice," I murmured under my breath while I checked out the hot hunk of a man sauntering down the aisle.
Oh yeah.
Finally, a guy my age.
You just ran out on your wedding.
You're still wearing your wedding dress.
And you're checking out another guy?
Look at him!
Shoulder-length, curly blonde hair.
Thick sideburns with a short beard and moustache.
Luscious lips.
Captivating light blue eyes
The sexy Viking gave me an indifferent once-over before folding his long lean body into a seat a couple of rows up.
"Are you on your way to your wedding?" Hollis inquired.
I returned my attention to the sexy silver fox. "From," I replied.
He scratched the back of his head. "Um, where is your groom?"
"Grooms," I corrected.
His bushy gray eyebrows shot up.
"How many people are out there?" I muttered when a fourth man appeared, putting an end to the streak of hot flying companions.
Redheaded guys didn't really do it for me. There was one in the harem I left at the altar, and I faked it every time I had a one-on-one with him. Palmer was a sweet guy, but he had serious performance anxiety.
And yet you got up this morning and put on a wedding dress, with the intention of marrying him.
Not just him.
He was part of a package deal.
"Hello," he said slowly, his nasally voice a bigger turn off than his ginger hair and pale skin. "I'm Sutton."
"Vicky," I said. "Before you ask, I ran out on my wedding."
"Oh. I'm sorry to hear that."
If this plane crashes on a deserted island, you'll be shit out of luck.
I'd fuck the two grumps and the old dude before I'd let you near me with your freckled pecker.
Heck, I'd bang Arlo before a pasty white carrot top who looks like he never goes outside.
Arlo is gay.
I could ungay him.
You can't ungay someone, and that's not a word.
One night with me, and he'd be straight, and ungay would be added to the dictionary.
The skinny shoe salesman loosened his tie before sitting down in the row in front of Hollis.
Arlo's deep voice came through the speaker. "Good afternoon, folks. I've been advised that all passengers are onboard, and we've been cleared for take-off. We will be landing in Anchorage at approximately six o'clock."
The engines roared to life. I gazed out the window as we taxied to the small runway. The little plane picked up speed, the wheels lifting off the ground, carrying me away from the only home I'd ever known.
I was too excited to be sad. My escape from Flungfarwood was long overdue. I should've left the day I turned eighteen. Not twenty-five. I couldn't get back all the time I wasted. All I could do was move forward with my new life.
"Can I ask how many grooms you left behind?" Hollis inquired.
"Three."
The sexy Viking grump rose from his seat and strolled to the back of the plane. "I'm Finn," he announced, holding out his hand.
I accepted, giggling when he lifted my hand to his mouth, his lips brushing against my knuckles. Devilish blue eyes penetrated me with a lusty stare, igniting a fire in my panties.
"Is this seat taken?"
"No," I replied, my voice coming out in a breathless pant.
He let go of my hand and flopped into the seat, stretching one of his long legs into the aisle.
"You can't marry three men," Sutton said. "That's against the law."
"People live by their own rules where I come from," I explained.
"You're still in your dress," Hollis pointed out. "You can't have run too far."
"I'm from Flungfarwood. I literally ran from my wedding, straight to the airport."
"How far was it?"
"Too far to run in a wedding dress, but I'm not a quitter. Obviously. I'm on this plane."
"How did you know there would be a flight leaving?" Sutton asked.
"The pilot happens to be my best friend. He knew there was a good chance I wouldn't make it down the aisle, so he signed up to do this flight to Anchorage today. The plane was supposed to be empty. He's picking people up down there."
"Why did you run away?" Finn asked.
"It's complicated."
"I can't imagine how a marriage would work with one woman and three men," Hollis said, those thick brows of his working overtime. If he was my boyfriend, the first thing I would do is trim and wax those things.
Your boyfriend?
He's probably old enough to be your father.
"I sure can," Finn said, his eyes twinkling with mischief before he delivered a flirtatious wink my way.
"Where are you guys headed?" I asked, steering the conversation away from my polyandrous relationship. If I was on a plane with women, I'd be happy to enlighten them, but my current company was all male strangers.
"Home to Maine," Hollis said. "I'm on my way back from a fishing trip."
"Where did you go?"
"Pimento Lake."
"Nice," I said. "Did you catch any King Salmon?"
"Sure did."
"How about olives?" Sutton asked with a high-pitched snort.
"Is he part horse?" Finn whispered.
"That wouldn't be a bad thing," Sutton retorted. "Horses are well-known for their oversized sex organs. Surely, you're familiar with the phrase hung like a horse."
"I'm pretty sure the only horse attribute you possess is that snort," Finn said.
"Let's be kind to one another," Hollis suggested.
Finn rolled his eyes in my direction before glancing across the aisle at Hollis. "This isn't kindergarten class, old man."
"Perhaps, if you'd been more respectful to the customers, you'd still be employed at the lodge."
"You worked there?" I asked.
"Yes."
"Did you get fired?"
"Yup."
"What did you do there?"
"I was the chef."
"Oh, wow. Why did they fire you?"
"For being disrespectful to the customers," he replied, glaring across the aisle at Hollis. "It's an uppity place. Only rich, stuck-up people can afford to stay there. And they want me to cook all their damn fish every fucking night of the week. Like, send the fucking fish home."
"Did Hollis ask you to cook his king salmon?" Sutton asked.
"He didn't ask. He came into my kitchen, my fucking kitchen, and demanded I cook it for everyone to enjoy. All forty-eight fucking pounds of it! And then he proceeded to tell me how he wanted it served, and had the fucking nerve to hand me a handwritten recipe."
"Really?" I laughed.
"It was my grandmother's recipe," Hollis explained.
"What was the recipe?" Sutton inquired.
"Blueberry salmon," Finn shared, sticking his tongue out when he pretended to gag.
I caught a flash of metal before his long tongue disappeared back inside his mouth. "You have a pierced tongue!" I exclaimed.
"You like guys with piercings?" he whispered.
"I've never met one before."
"What? Not one of your three grooms had any metal on their bodies?"
"No," I sighed. "No metal and no tattoos. And neither did the first trio I almost married."
"You've run out on two weddings?" Sutton gasped with a disapproving scowl.
"Don't judge me, shoe salesman," I snapped.
"I'm not a shoe salesman."
"You look like one."
"She's right," Finn said. "The cheap pinstriped dress shirt and ugly brown tie scream shoe salesman."
"I happen to be the manager of Manesto in Anchorage," Sutton boasted.
"What is that?" I asked.
"You're kidding, right?" he scoffed.
"No."
"I'm with the shoe salesman on this one, doll," Finn said. "How have you never heard of Manesto?"
"Just tell me what it is, please."
"It's a department store that was originally developed with the idea of targeting a mostly male demographic," Sutton explained.
"Which begs the question, why are you the manager of a store like that?" Finn chuckled.
"Are you always this rude to strangers?" Sutton asked.
"I prefer to think of myself as honest and straightforward. Blunt, if you will. I suppose I might come off as rude to some people."
"It is possible to be a direct and honest person without being rude," Hollis said gently.
"Thanks, Dad," he snorted.
"Have you ever travelled outside of Alaska, Vicky?" Hollis inquired.
"I've never been anywhere. The furthest I've ever travelled is to Fairbanks. That's town for us. There isn't a lot in my village, so we have to travel there for shopping and medical appointments, and that sort of thing."
"How far is it from your village?" Finn asked.
"Just under an hour."
"By car?"
"No," I laughed. "By plane."
"Manesto has evolved," Sutton said. "We carry a full line of women's sporting and outdoor wear. The main floor is auto parts, tools, plumbing and electrical, outdoor power equipment, yard maintenance and
snowblowers. The second level is the outdoors department, where you'll find everything you need for hunting, fishing, camping, shooting, boating, bikes and outdoor living. There's a grocery and personal care and pharmaceuticals section geared toward hunters and campers. The third floor is sporting goods.
"Three floors?" I gasped. "That must be a huge store."
"Not really," he said. "It's one of the smaller ones."
"How many are there?"
"Eighty-eight in the lower forty-eight."
"Wow."
I stared out the window, losing interest in the conversation between the old dude and the shoe salesman when they started talking about fishing. The sexy Viking put his seat back and closed his eyes. If he wasn't hot, I might've been annoyed. There were lots of empty seats on the plane, but he chose to stay in the one next to me.
My wedding dress was not designed for travelling in. The satin under layers stuck to my sweaty thighs, bunching under my ass while I fidgeted around like I had ants in my pants.
I was dying to scratch my boob, but there was no way I could pull that off without any of those guys noticing. The lacy corset bodice designed to push up my milk dispensers had transformed into a titty prison.
"Why don't you take that thing off?" Finn suggested.
"I don't have any other clothes with me."
"What's the plan when you get to Anchorage?"
"I don't have one."
"That seems like a problem."
"I'll figure something out."