by Eden Butler
“Ed…” Chance said, easing his hand to my shoulder.
He wasn’t here to play some savior. He’d never asked to be. I’d never want him to be, but the man had been my friend. My cellmate. He understood me better than probably anyone could.
I jerked a look around the bar, inhaling, reminding myself that Slim hadn’t done the worst to me. He might be trying to get me the only justice I’d ever have.
Another deep breath and I rubbed a hand over my face, relaxing against my seat before I grabbed the glass, holding it between my hands, but didn’t drink. It was cheap draft and smelled like piss. After a second staring down at the foam and amber liquid, I pushed it away.
“Fine,” I said when I’d calmed. Slim moved his head, but didn’t speak relaxing back against the booth. “I want to finish this. I want my life and my name back, but first, there’s something I want you to look into.”
“What’s that?”
“Maddox Bishop.”
“He a friend of yours?”
“He was killed just after I got sent to Stillwater. I got a feeling Sam had his hands on that shit. More likely he had Red doing his dirty work.”
Slim considered me for a second, rubbing his thumb along the bottom of his glass. “I got you,” he said. “I’ll take care of it.”
“Now. Tell me what you need from me.”
Chance laughed, clapping his hands. “This part you’re gonna love.”
“Thought you said I might not like it.”
“Oh, the punching Travis part, that much I well know you’ll love, mate.” Chance slapped my back, his grin obnoxious.
“And the other part?” I asked Slim, my throat thick when the man scratched his chin, his features hardening.
“Yeah, man…this part, you’re gonna have to hear me out on.”
“Is it gonna get me killed?” I said, rolling my shoulders when Slim shook his head. “Then what is it.”
“It’s gonna make you wish you were dead.”
Ed
I’d never wanted to kill anyone.
Not when Sam smirked at me during the trial and Erin swore, under oath, that she found the bank deposit underneath a duffle bag behind the passenger seat of my truck.
“It was about five grand short, ma’am,” Erin had testified, her uniform crisp, her blonde hair pulled back in a low bun. Then, she grinned at someone in the back of the room and I’d glanced over my shoulder, wanting to jump over the partition that separated the lawyer’s tables from the audience chambers and bloody Sam’s face just to get that smirk off his prissy purple face.
But I didn’t.
What would have been the point? I’d known my fate then even before the sentence was handed down. If I was honest, I knew the second that first-year rookie pushed me into the cruiser.
Even then, I hadn’t wished any of them dead—not Erin, not the judge who gave me eight years, not the junior D.A. who objected to nearly every half-assed question my public defender posed to the arresting officer, not even to Sam. Though, that was a hard one.
But as I pulled into the B&B’s driveway, slamming the company truck into park, heading up the walkway, and up the porch steps like a man on a mission, the thought of at least knocking the piss out of Sam Travis was the first thing on my mind.
“Where the hell is he?” I asked the receptionist, the sound and volume of my voice jerking her attention away from her phone as I moved in through the door. The entire place smelled like cider and pumpkin bread and there were fall decorations along the porch and around the receptionist’s desk, down the hallway as I darted toward that asshole’s office.
“Sir? Sir, wait!” But the girl running behind me couldn’t keep up with me as I moved through the lobby, ignoring the looks that came my way as I cleared the large dining room and the larger rotunda filled with a few couples and one or two kids playing checkers in front of the empty fireplace.
Shit. Why did there have to be kids around?
When I barged into the room, they scattered, running toward their parents, hiding behind chairs and the long antique couches along the back of the room. I adjusted my hat, lowering it over my eyes, trying not to look to long at them as I moved away and out through the side door.
“Travis!” I yelled, moving through the kitchen, and onto the back porch, ignoring the couple hugged up together on the back swing, wrapped around each other and a thick throw. I moved down to the patio where Piper’s lavender patch had overtaken the planter boxes, kicking one of the planted mums on the steps as I went.
Sam stood, turning toward me with his cell at his ear and a lit cigarette in the corner of his mouth. It took him several seconds to register me, even longer for him to watch how fast I moved toward him before he stepped back, hurrying a quick “I gotta go” into his phone before he threw his smoke onto the ground.
“You son of a bitch,” I said, coming straight for him, hoping like hell this stupid idea of Slim’s would work.
“I told you not to show your face around here again.” For his part, Sam didn’t look scared, but then, it was hard to tell. Every time the man looked at me his face was pinched and angry, turning seven shades of red.
“You had Red fuck up my jobs? That’s what I’m hearing?”
Eyes rounding, Sam swallowed, but recovered quickly. “What the hell are you talking about?”
He moved away from the porch, the cell still gripped in his hand like he was ready to call for help if I got too close.
“Red. And your landscapers.” I motioned to the garden shed, where I knew the same men his cousin had used for his hustles hung out when they weren’t letting Sam scream at them. “I hear a lot of shit being back here, especially about you and how damn desperate you were to get rid of me.”
Sam rubbed his mouth, his gaze moving around the yard, to the couple who scrambled off the swing and through the back door before he tightened his jaw, his top lip curling as he looked me over. “I don’t know who you’re listening to, and I don’t damn well care.”
“Does Piper know about the criminals you hire?” I stepped closer, crowding him, but Sam held his ground, not running away like I expected. “Does she know that you hired your cousin and his crew to work on her property when they aren’t insured? The same assholes who run hustles for developers who can’t get their properties sold?”
“I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.”
The worry was clear in his eyes. There was fear rounding them, turning his pink pale, and I thought Sam might scatter, start making a bunch of bullshit excuses, but just then he shifted his gaze, looking over my shoulder and that fret and worry disappeared.
“You’re the only criminal around here, Mescal…oh wait. You’re not. That’s right. Your cellmate Bateman. He’s here, too.” I dropped my mouth open, hoping my expression looked as surprised as I pretended to be. Sam seemed to buy it. A satisfied grin transformed his features. “You thought I wouldn’t find out? My uncle ran a background check. For me. I always look out for Piper. You should know that. It’s what I do.” He inched forward, licking his lips. “It’s what I’ll always do even if that means selling out the people she thinks she loves.” His voice was low now, so low that I barely made out his words. Then, he shifted his gaze again, clearing his throat. “You’re a convict and so is your cellmate. You’ll never be good enough for Piper and you know it. This whole town knows it, Mescal.”
I’d waited five years to knock that asshole out. I wasn’t pretending when I did it right then. He smiled until I reared back and landed a fist right against his chin, popping him so hard he went down quick, flat on his ass.
“Sam!” I heard, shutting my eyes when Piper bumped my shoulder to get around me and kneel next to her friend. “My God, Ed, what the hell is your problem?”
“Piper…”
“No!” she said, holding Travis’s face in her hands as she glared at me. “You don’t get to put your hands on anyone. My God. What’s wrong with you?”
“If you
just let me—”
“What? Lie to me some more? I heard Sam. You lied to me about Chance. Is anything you say to me ever gonna be the truth?”
“He broke my jaw…oh God…” Sam whined, cupping his face.
Eh, what could I say? I’d waited five years to smack that asshole. Put all my weight into it, too. It likely was broken, but the small slip of satisfaction I felt disappeared when that bastard covered Piper’s hand with his, and I thought I might be sick at the sight.
“It’s okay, sweetie, don’t worry, I got you.”
“Piper,” I tried taking a step toward her, “You can’t…”
“Ed, get the hell out of here,” she said, not bothering to look up at me. “I got you,” she said to Sam. “I’ll take care of you, honey. I promise.”
I couldn’t watch her fawning over him. I couldn’t handle that shit. It made me sick. It made me want to bloody my knuckles over and over against Travis’s face. And, just like Slim said, watching the woman I love hold my enemy in her arms made me feel like dying.
My sister stared at me, eye wide, mouth open and a death grip locked around her husband’s hand. “You can’t…be serious.”
“This doesn’t leave this room, Evie.”
“Atsili, who are you talking to?” She was right. No one had been more loyal to me than my family. Evie most of all.
Alex sat next to her, his hand looped around her waist. “If Dexter catches wind of an investigation, we can all be—”
“Slim promised to put some of his people on both of you and Tasso.” Rolling my shoulder, I still wasn’t convinced if that made a damn bit of difference.
“You don’t seem happy about that,” Alex said, frowning.
“Man, I did five years inside a state pen. I’m never gonna feel real comfortable about any of this kind of shit.”
Evie laid back against the mattress resting her hand over her stomach and a swell of fresh guilt slammed into me. “Choady. I’m sorry. Maybe I should have not told you, but I wanted to make sure you were safe. In case…” I waved a hand, hoping she understood.
“You’re my big brother.” She reached for me and I sat on the bed next to her. “Next to Tasso and Alex you’re the only other person in the world I know will protect me. Don’t you dare feel bad about that.”
Evie pulled me close, holding my face between her hands. My kid sister wasn’t so much of a kid anymore, and I got a little choked up watching her eyes get all watery again, seeing her hold her belly like she’d fight tooth and nail to keep what was inside her safe. I knew she would.
Leaning forward, I kissed her forehead taking second to pat her belly before I left the bed. “I’m gonna let you sleep. I need to check on Tasso and then I’ll head back to the ranch.”
“Thanks, man. Really,” Alex said, patting my shoulder. “And watch your back.”
I left my sister and her man behind, hoping Slim would keep his promise. Praying there would be no need for me to worry too much what Sheriff Dexter might do if word somehow got out that the county was on to him and his deputies. I grabbed my phone, ready to dial Tasso as I walked down the hallway, eager to hear his voice, but stopped short when I spotted the beautiful woman walking toward me. Her face was red, a bit on the swollen side, the way it always got when she was flustered, and she’d knotted her hair into a messy bun at the top of her head. I’d never seen Piper look more beautiful. Or more frantic.
But there was a crowd around the elevator that separated us when I caught her eye, and I stopped to watch her, wishing like hell I could read that expression and know for sure what was in her head. Was she pissed? Was she disgusted? Had I bungled this shit up completely?
She moved her head, giving it a small tilt before she turned, motioning down the hallway to her left and I went after her, trying to be subtle, likely failing but I hustled after anyway.
Two nurses and an orderly blocked the intersecting path between the corridors ahead, but I made out the top of Piper’s head as she slowed behind them, putting enough space between her and them that they cleared her entrance to a supply closet just beyond the empty hallway to her right.
I waited two full minutes, checking that no one was looking, or following behind me, that there weren’t any visible cameras to keep tabs of either of us, before I slipped into the storage room.
Piper stood against a rack of janitorial supplies, her hands behind her back, eyes round, features tight as I moved into the room. My heart pounded like a jackhammer just watching her, trying like hell not to think about her holding Sam in her arms, promising that asshole she’d take care of him.
“I’m sorry about not telling you who Chance was.” It was the first thing I could think of. The first of a damn list of apologies I knew she had coming. When she only nodded, her expression not changing as I moved closer, I continued. “Did it work?”
Piper lowered her shoulders, rubbing a hand against her neck, looking like she might get sick right on the storage room floor. “Too well. I feel dirty.”
“I didn’t want you to do that.” I hated that I’d asked her to get involved in this shit. “And I’m sorry for waiting so long to tell you about the drugs.”
Piper pushed away from the rack, reaching for me. “I…don’t care about you not telling me that, Eddie.” She gripped my arms, head shaking. “I don’t feel dirty about lying to Sam.”
“Slim said the drugs being dropped at the B&B—”
“Eddie, I don’t care what that piece of shit has done to my business.” She stretched her hand to my face, seeming scared to touch me, then relaxed when I held her fingers against my face. “He’s a liar and a criminal. He used me. He used my business to run drugs.”
Piper shook her head, squeezing her eyes tight, and I tried like hell to get the image of her dropping to her knees when Slim showed her the evidence of Sam’s drug business stashed in the cottages at the back of her property.
“I feel dirty,” she said, her grip on my face tightening, “because I believed him for so long. I feel dirty because I didn’t believe you.”
She didn’t fight me when I crushed her against my chest, when I wrapped my arms around her, wanting like hell to hold on to her for dear life and never let go. She smelled so good. She felt even better.
“I would have never…”
“I know that now. I should have known that then.” Piper looked up at me, her bottom lip shaking. “Eddie…I’m so sorry. For everything…”
I didn’t want to hear her apologies. I was tired of excuses and guilt. I was sick of the past and making up for it. I just wanted Piper’s mouth on mine. I just wanted her taste against my tongue and her body over mine.
She took my kiss like she was hungry for it, giving as good as I gave her. That kiss was searing, sweet, and Piper only arched closer to me, tightening her arms around me harder when I deepened the kiss.
It only lasted a few minutes. Hot and fast, hurried and frantic. But this was no place to make amends, no spot for a real reunion. The voices outside the storage room carried down the hallway and we broke apart at the same time as they came closer.
“Slim said we have to keep our distance until they collar Sam and Erin.” I still held her, shifting a look at the door, then back to her face, brushing the hair from her eyes as I watched her. “And Dexter has eyes everywhere. Us being here together is stupid.”
“They’ll be watching the ranch, too,” she said, her frown deepening when I dipped my chin. Then Piper’s expression shot from worried to defeated, her eyebrows and mouth lowering, her chin dipping as the grip she had on my arms got looser. “They took so much from us.”
I couldn’t let her give up. Not yet. Not when we were so close to the end. “We’ll make up for it, nizhóní,” I told her, holding her face still to give her one last kiss. “I promise.”
Piper
Betty’s diner was a Midland Grove staple.
If you came here with someone, and that someone was a person of the opposite sex, you wanted to be seen.
I’d known it then and had no problem with all the statement-making he wanted to do. The townsfolk here liked to run their mouths and it was Ed’s name they liked to dirty the most. He was a rebel. The kind to never conform.
It was what I loved most about him.
But today, I wasn’t making a statement with anyone. At least, that’s what I told myself as I waited in the second to last booth at the back of the diner. The place wasn’t full. In fact, if I gave a close look to the people filling up the booths at my back and near the entrance, my guess would be that none of them were locals. Most, in fact, had to be undercover investigators working with Slim.
The thought of the man himself made the small mic attached under my bra pinch and I tried leaning forward, being smooth and subtle about adjusting the damn thing right when the bell chimed over the door and the waitress—no waitress at all from how stiffly she held the pad in her hand and poured the cup of coffee in front of her—cleared her throat, alerted me to the new arrival: Sam.
He carried a small bouquet of daisies, not my favorite flowers by any means, and a smile so wide I wondered how he managed it without his mouth drying out. Some part of me felt the smallest inkling of guilt for the friendship the man had given me for so long. Years, I’d known him. Cared about him. But then, a louder, angrier part of my mind reminded me of what that same friend had done to me: set up the man I loved for a robbery he, and his girlfriend, committed and run drug drop-offs out of my B&B.
Right. Guilt gone.
“Hey there,” he said to me, leaning down to kiss my cheek as he handed over the flowers. “Thought you might like these.”
“Oh, wow, thanks so much.” My enthusiasm was forced, but I kept it level, hoping that he bought the attention I’d been giving him the past two days as genuine. “You’re so sweet.”
“It’s nothing. I would’ve gotten you roses, but I remember you liking daisies.”
It wasn’t me. In fact, it was Erin who went stupid over daisies. A fact I only knew because for her birthday every year, Sam had the receptionist send her a bouquet at the station.