Page 18 of Kingston (Savage Dragons #2)

No one could figure out why she was there either, so she didn’t stay long.

After the meeting for the pool was called to order, she pulled out her notes on the last time they’d gotten together about this very thing.

After reading over what was said, she told them that the Savages position hadn’t changed, and if they wanted to get that put in, they’d have to raise part of the money.

“But it has to be put in. We’re being fined daily for not even starting on the project.” Kaida asked the mayor what the holdup was. “We can’t afford another fundraiser this time of year. People are getting ready for back to school, and there’s just no money set aside for something like this.”

“I don’t know what to tell you then. You’ve had two years to raise the money or not, and it’s small wonder that you’re getting fined.

You were to start on this when it was brought up, and now that they’re fining you, you decide that you can’t afford to work on the project.

That sounds like something you should have taken care of over the planters that you had filled for the sidewalks. ”

“That was from the beautification of the town money. Not the pool fund money.” She said she didn’t care where the money came from, but they were only going to fine them for so long before they started taking legal action. “You’ve had two years. Something should have been started by now.”

“Why don’t you just pay for it, and when times are better, we can pay you back for some of it?

” She stood up with her notes and was ready to leave.

This was the exact reason that the dragons had left their other town was that the town was forever in their pockets.

She was nearly to the door when the mayor realized that she was really leaving the meeting.

“You can’t just walk out of here. We’ve not gotten anything finished or set up. ”

“As far as I’m concerned, the meeting is over.

You’ve been told what the Savages would do, and you decided that wasn’t enough.

How about if we stop helping with projects all over the town?

” The mayor, she really wished she knew what his name was, said that he’d sue them if they did that.

“Good luck with that. We’ve been helping long enough.

I believe that I can speak for the rest of us when I say good luck with the projects that you have on the list of things we were going to help you with. ”

She was out the door before she let him say another word.

As soon as she was outdoors, she leaned against the building she had been in and covered her mouth before she felt like she was going to be sick.

She hated confrontation, and this had been a huge one.

Skye could only hope that the men of the family weren’t upset with her when they found out that she’d stopped all projects in the city that were going on.

There were only two, but in order to make this stick, she made her way to the first project and halted work.

Telling the supervisor that the Savages were no longer going to fund their part in the Works Department, and their new furnace and air conditioner being put in.

The Works Department was the one in charge of the beautification projects around town.

They had agreed to fund half the work when it was apparent that the building had no furnace or air conditioner that functioned.

And with winter fast approaching, they’d need to have it fixed soon.

The second project that they’d been a part of was the expansion of the grocery store.

It had burned down a few years ago, and they’d been able to get funding for it to be rebuilt.

But it was much too small for their growing town, and they asked for money to double its size.

She had them stop the work as well, and she was happy to see that they seemed to think it was funny that she was the one making them stop when the mayor had only yesterday told them to hurry up and get it finished, as he had more projects to work on.

She reached out to Kings and told him what she’d done.

“Brilliant. It should have been done years ago. Thank you for helping us out of that black hole.” She told him that she thought that he’d be upset with her.

“For taking a stand against a bully? Never. He’s just lucky I didn’t go with you.

I might well have shifted to my dragon and taken the place out.

Then where would he be if the building had burnt to the ground?

Moron. I’m happy you did it as well, the rest of the cousins will be when I tell them. ”

“He wanted you to fund the pool project for the lift, and they’d pay you back when they had the money.

I had a feeling that they’d never have the money for the project while others are going on.

This wouldn’t have been the end of it either, I don’t think.

” He told her that he believed she was correct in that as well.

“I have nothing else to do today but to hang out with Ace and Tank. They’re thinking of moving here, isn’t that great? ”

“It is. I hope they do. There is nothing like having a lot of family around that you like and having fun. Why don’t we have them over for a cookout tonight?

That was where you left off in convincing them; the rest of us can take over.

” She asked him if he’d heard anything from Lady Earth.

“Only that I’m king of the dragons. I don’t know how I feel about that, but she’s going to work with me in getting the training that I need about the laws, so I can rule.

I guess there are a lot of them that even I’m breaking, but I get a pass on them because we didn’t have any idea.

Oh, and the faeries are staying, but not nearly so many of them.

We can pare them down as much as we see fit to. ”

“A quarter of them is still too many.” She laughed with Kings.

“All right, I’ll have to go over the book, too, I guess.

This is really fucked up. When I think of all the things that had happened to you when you were younger, it makes me want to find your parents and beat them to death. I think I could do it too.”

“I have no doubt that you could take them on and come out the winner. They’ve been terrible all my life, and I’m glad that they’ve been taken care of by the council.

I don’t know what happened to them, but whatever it was, it wasn’t nearly enough.

” She agreed with him, and she hadn’t been around when they were causing so much trouble.

“Trust me when I tell you that they would have tried to do something to you from the very beginning of our relationship.”

After closing the connection she had with Kings, she decided that she needed a malt.

Chocolate on chocolate ice cream. The others agreed, and even Kaida decided that she needed a brownie sundae.

As they were seated eating their treat, she looked around the town and could see what other improvements needed to be done.

Someone had planted trees on the sidewalk.

They had been pretty, she was sure, when they were first put in, but now that they were overgrown and too large, their roots breaking the concrete slabs, she could see the potential for someone getting hurt.

The flags were still up from the Fourth of July.

There were yards along the main street that needed to be cleaned up.

Two of them had cars that had trees growing out of them.

There were other things, too, some of them major, like the trees in the sidewalk, but there were little things, too.

The library needed a new parking lot. There were empty buildings that needed to be boarded up because the windows had been broken out, and the glass was still there.

This was all along Main Street, where she noticed this and not throughout the entire town.

“What are you thinking about that’s going to cause me trouble?” She laughed with Ace, the more relaxed of the two brothers. “I was joking, but what were you thinking about?”

“This town has gone to pot.” She pointed out the few things that she’d seen in the few minutes that she’d been looking and said she knew it was like that all over town.

“Now that no more projects are going to be finished up, it’s not difficult to tell what this town will look like in a few more years. ”

Ace looked around before speaking. “You can bet things like the streets will be the first to go. Then the schools. The schools will get funding from the state if it’s needed, but if the town isn’t viable, then there will be no one voting in the taxes that will be needed to maintain the buildings.

Or pay for teachers. They’re doing all right now, but like you said, in a few years, when there is just as much wear and tear going on with them, what they’ll look like.

” He looked at her after taking one more glance around the streets.

“Our town that we came from was just getting back on its feet. The sidewalks were being replaced. There was a new school going in. Also, the mayor there was working to keep the buildings that were falling down in good repair. You might be better off moving to where we live than staying here.”

“You might be right.” Her treat ruined now, she stood up and tossed it into the trash.

“I’m going to go home and look for options on what to do when the town you grew up in is no longer a place you want to be.

” He told her he was sorry. “You didn’t do it.

It’s the government that is around here.

They’ve let things slack off for lack of a better term. ”

As she made her way home, she was feeling kinda depressed. So much was wrong with the town that she had to wonder if it was ever going to be a pretty little town again. It certainly didn’t look like it from where she was standing.

~*~