“Are you hungry? I could go downstairs and fix you a plate,” Winter offered.

“We ate before we came home. Rider called us and warned us about your cooking,” he teased.

Winter laughed. “That jerk ate two plates.”

Viper gently shoved her down on the bed. Winter looked up at him in surprise.

Viper gave her a mocking smile as he took an ankle in each of his hands, pulling her towards him. “What did I tell you about adrenaline?”

Chapter 15

The next morning Winter glanced at the work sheet before going next door to the factory. She was going to get her punishment over with so that no one could say she was shirking it because of Viper.

When she entered the factory, she was stunned at the size of the operation as the members were all busily at work. Jewell and Bliss seemed to be filling orders. The other women were in an assembly line packaging the orders. The men were all doing various jobs with the machines. Seeing Train standing with a clipboard in his hand, she asked him where she could find the seeds that needed to be organized.

Nodding his head, he walked through the factory with Winter on his heels, curiously studying the items being packaged. She couldn’t help but question one of the items.

“Customers order bottled water?”

Train paused to show her the water. “It’s not just any water. It has vitamins and nutrients. Our customers are in disaster areas or they are disaster preppers who can survive on the water when food is in limited supply,” he explained.

Winter looked around. It was amazing to her how they had built a company based on items, that when a disaster struck, became more valuable than gold.

Train showed her several of the gadgets that they made while he walked her to a door in the back of the factory. As they entered the room, he flipped on the lights. The room contained three refrigerators and two deep freezers that had inventory lists posted on the front.

“There they are.” He nodded toward the refrigerators.

“Where?” Winter asked confused.

Train walked forward, opening one of the refrigerators. Inside were hundreds of plastic baggies with little seeds inside.

Winter’s mouth dropped open. “When we fill the orders, they can often fall out of place. They are filed based on numerical order.”

“What order? It’s a mess.” Winter was amazed they could find anything the way the hundreds of small baggies were haphazardly placed in inside.

“That’s why they need to be straightened out. By the way, they need to stay cool, so don’t leave the door open long, the fridges are set at a certain temperature. Take a few out at a time to get them organized.”

With a goading smile, he left her alone in the room. Winter opened the door and studied the mess inside. Closing it, she went to the other two refrigerators to find more of the same. She couldn’t understand how anyone could find anything inside; they were long since out of numerical order. Rolling her sleeves up, she began work on the first refrigerator. Twenty minutes later, she was leaving the factory with a determined expression. Rider was outside working on his bike when she asked him to get her keys and purse from the house.

Returning with her things, he handed them to her.

“Escaping your punishment?” He joked.

Winter just gave him an annoyed stare that cut off his laughter. Getting into her car, she was proud of her herself for not hitting him with her purse.

The Dollar Bin was her first stop. Taking a cart as she entered the store, it didn’t take long to find the items she needed. The store was relatively slow for the morning and she was going through the door after paying for her purchases when she passed Carmen with her parents.

“Good morning Ms. Simmons.” Carmen’s parents greeted her. Carmen refused to say anything, not meeting her eyes and giving her the cold shoulder treatment.

“Good morning. I didn’t know you were back in town,” Winter remarked to Carmen’s parents.

“Not for long. We came to town to sell the lot our house was on,” Mrs. Jones replied sadly. “I’m sorry we didn’t come by the hospital to see you. We are so sorry that our daughter’s misjudgment caused Jake to take his anger out on you.”

“Don’t….” Winter started to say when Carmen interrupted her.

“Jake didn’t do anything to her. I keep telling you, but no one will listen,” Carmen angrily glared at Winter. “I don’t know who attacked you, but it wasn’t Jake.”

Confused, Winter questioned Carmen. “But he’s already been sentenced. I read it in the newspaper that he confessed.” Winter had been dreading being called as a witness, she had been relieved know she wouldn’t have to testify.

“He was scared after he burned down our house. He was angry and made a mistake, but he didn’t touch you. The prosecutor offered him a plea deal and he knew no one in this town was going to believe him, so he took it. But I believe him,” she said angrily. “He wasn’t the one who hurt you.”

Winter could tell she was still just as infatuated with him as she had been during the summer.

“I don’t remember anything from that night, but I will ask the sheriff if there is any possibility there could have been a mistake.” Winter saw the hope in the girls face and sought to caution her. “Carmen he was on school property earlier that week, and I know he was pretty angry with me for telling your parents that he was mistreating you.”

“He didn’t do it,” Carmen repeated stubbornly.

Winter and Carmen’s parents said goodbye. Winter hoped they would be able to find a new start away from Treepoint.

The members all stared at her as she walked back into the factory carrying her bags. Returning to the back room, Winter organized the refrigerators for the rest of the day. She didn’t even stop for lunch, wanting to get the job done. She was so occupied sorting the seeds that she didn’t notice the door opening.

Warm arms circled her waist, tugging her back into his warm body.

“Having fun?”

Winter shook her head. “Your system sucked, but it’s finished.”

Viper released her to open the refrigerator to find several baskets with seeds. Instead of hundreds of baggies, she had organized them into larger bags and organized them by numerical order. Viper whistled in admiration as he closed the door and opened the other one, which was also organized. Looking at her with a raised brow, he opened the last one to find it too organized. Winter gave him a gloating smile.

“I’m impressed.” Viper meant the compliment.

“You should be,” she continued to gloat.

Viper smiled at her exuberance. “You do know it won’t last?”

Winter lost her smile. “Why not?”

Viper shrugged. “You’ll see.”

“It’s a good system.”

“I agree. But it still won’t last, that why it’s one of the punishments. It’s a constant job that needs to be kept in check.”

Winter could understand that. “At least it won’t be my job.” She wound her arms around his neck. “I don’t plan on needing any more punishment. I learned my lesson.”

“I hope not.” His hand rubbed her ass. “I have several more interesting punishments in mind for you than organizing a refrigerator.”