Highball Rush: Bootleg Springs Book 6

by Kingsley, Claire

  Jameson caught a pop fly from flat on his back in the bottom of the fifth, earning him a chorus of cheers from the hometown crowd. Scarlett was her usual badass self, scoring a run in the sixth and sending Opal home on her next at-bat. George had been responsible for our first two scores. And now, even though he could barely stand up straight after all the moonshine, he kept earning his keep, using his long reach to tag a Miner out at third base in the eighth. Then he doubled over, laughing hysterically, like it was the funniest thing he’d ever done.

  But like a drunk Scarlett after a big meal at Moonshine, the Miners rallied in the top of the ninth. I shouted instructions to the team and squinted, looking across at the Miners’ dugout for a covert coffee maker or stash of energy drinks.

  Two runs later, we were all tied up. Bernie O’Dell’s voice on the loudspeaker announcing the score sent a hush through the otherwise rowdy crowd.

  “Shit,” I muttered. I cast a glance into the stands, finding Callie. She sat next to Shelby with Cash in her lap. Someone had given her a Cock Spurs cap and her colorful hair hung around her shoulders. Damn, she was adorable.

  Blowing out a breath, I turned my attention back to the game. Bowie was still on the pitcher’s mound, but he was swaying like he might not make it through the inning.

  “Come on, Bow,” I shouted. “Bodine up.”

  Like I’d just yelled a sobriety-inducing battle cry, Bowie straightened, getting his legs under him. He wound up for the pitch, looking steady and focused. Opal signaled behind the batter. We just needed one more out, then we’d have a chance to win.

  If any of my players were still capable of hitting.

  Bowie’s pitch flew straight, smacking into Opal’s mitt with a puff of dust.

  “Strike,” June yelled.

  The crowd cheered but quickly quieted again. Bowie dug his toe in the dirt, rolling the ball in his hand. After another signal from Opal, he nodded. Wound up. Let loose.

  I heard the smack of the ball hitting leather. The Miner stumbled, the force of his swing almost pulling him over. The crowd cheered again. Bowie didn’t acknowledge it. He was in the zone.

  “Strike.”

  A hush settled over the field. One more out was all we needed. Half the Miners had passed out in their dugout, but they had just enough conscious players to finish out the game. And the score was still tied.

  There was a rustle of air as everyone present took—and held—a collective breath.

  Bowie’s pitch flew dead center over the plate. The Miner swung and for a second, it looked like he’d connect.

  His bat came within a kitten’s whisker of skimming the top of the ball. Opal caught the pitch, the Miner spun around in a circle, and June yelled the final, “Strike.”

  I blew out the breath I’d been holding. Bowie took off his hat and waved at the crowd as they cheered him in. Cassidy ran out and jumped on him, throwing her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist. They toppled to the dirt together, laughing to even louder whoops and hollers from the crowd.

  But it wasn’t over yet. Bottom of the ninth and Jonah was up to bat.

  He chugged water, then wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

  “Go get ’em, brother,” I said.

  The Miners took the field and their unnaturally liquor-tolerant pitcher stood on the mound. The girl didn’t even look tipsy. It was like she was Gableton’s version of Scarlett.

  Jonah’s Cock Spurs shirt was snug around his muscled arms. He held the bat up, his eyes on the pitcher, stance firm.

  The first pitch flew in, sailing past Jonah’s bat.

  “Strike.”

  “Shit,” I mumbled.

  Jonah readjusted his footing and got into position, the end of the bat wobbling in a tight circle over his shoulder.

  Second pitch and Jonah swung hard, his body twisting. The ball hit the catcher’s mitt with a thump.

  “Strike.”

  Growling, I clenched my teeth. “Come on, Jonah!”

  The chant started low while the pitcher took her time setting up. It rose behind me, the word rippling through the crowd, gaining strength and volume.

  “Jo-nah! Jo-nah! Jo-nah!”

  Feet stomped against the bleachers, hands clapped in time with the syllables of his name. Scarlett and Opal joined in beside me, cheering for him.

  Jonah’s hands gripped the bat hard, and he narrowed his eyes. The crowd kept chanting as the pitcher wound up and released.

  A sudden silence filled the air as everyone stopped cheering and watched the ball fly toward home plate. Jonah swung and his bat connected with a metallic crack of aluminum.

  The ball flew into the dark night sky, almost disappearing against the starry backdrop. I watched the arc, trying to judge the distance. Their outfielders tracked its path, backing up fast. One stumbled and hit the grass, rolling onto his stomach. The other kept his feet, running backward, his face tilted up, gloved hand ready to make the catch.

  The ball kept right on going.

  The outfielder backed into one of the moonshine stands as the ball sailed over his head. It came down with a hard thunk in what looked like the bed of Rhett Ginsler’s pickup truck.

  “Home run,” June yelled.

  The crowd went crazy. Jonah dropped the bat and jogged the bases, a contented smile on his face. All the Cock Spurs who weren’t too drunk to walk rushed out to meet him at home plate, shouting and jumping. George and Nash tried to hoist him up on their shoulders, but they were too unsteady after all the moonshine. They crumpled into a heap with Jonah laughing on top.

  For a second, Jonah’s eyes met mine. I gave him a proud chin tip.

  “Gibs.” Devlin jogged up beside me and his expression wiped the smile from my face. Something was wrong.

  My eyes darted to Callie, but she was fine—still in the stands with Shelby. She had her arms around Cash, like she was trying to keep him from scrambling away.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked.

  “Lee Williams,” he said, and my blood instantly ran cold. “He’s here. I ran to my car to get Scarlett’s hoodie and I saw him.”

  “You sure? You sober?”

  “Stone-cold sober. Never doing that again. And yes, I’m sure. I wouldn’t raise the alarm if I wasn’t.”

  “Keep it quiet,” I said. “I don’t want a scene. I’ll get Maya out of here. I saw Darren in the stands. He still here?”

  “I don’t think so, but I’ll check.”

  “Thanks, Dev. Make sure everyone gets on the buses to go home. And don’t tell Scarlett until morning. She’ll just want to go after him.”

  “Agreed.”

  Without another word, I raced around the fence to the bleachers, dodging through my neighbors. Callie was at the bottom, wrestling with Cash, who was trying to break free of his leash to get to me.

  “We gotta go.” I grabbed the leash from her and took her elbow to spin her around. “Now.”

  “What’s going on?”

  “Devlin spotted Lee Williams.”

  She didn’t reply. I kept hold of her arm and led her around the bleachers. Despite my desire to get her the fuck out of here, I didn’t run. Didn’t want to call too much attention.

  We walked to the edge of the field where I’d parked my truck. I opened her side first, casting a glance around to see if anyone had followed while she climbed in with Cash. It was too damn dark. I couldn’t see a thing.

  The crowd had congregated on the field to celebrate. No one seemed to have noticed us leave. That was good. I went around and hopped in, slamming the door shut.

  “Get down,” I said. “Just in case.”

  Callie ducked down, leaning toward the center to stay out of sight. Cash seemed to sense things were serious. He hunkered down on the seat with her.

  We high-tailed it out of there as fast as I dared, heading out of town. My eyes darted between the road and my rear-view mirror. No one followed that I could see, unless they were trailing pretty far back and weren’t using t
heir headlights.

  As soon as we were past the edge of town, I gunned it, tearing up the road to my house. I took the corners fast, leaning hard. If someone was behind us, I wanted to get to my private drive before they could see me turn. Then they’d drive right by and end up in the middle of nowhere.

  “Hold on,” I said, my turn coming up. I cut my lights and downshifted instead of braking, flying around the corner just shy of fast enough to flip us over. Callie braced herself against the cab, one arm holding Cash around his middle.

  The tires spat gravel at the surrounding trees. I didn’t slow down until my house was in sight. I pulled to a stop and we got out, rushing into the house. Cash jumped with excitement, like we were playing an energetic game. Callie and I both planted our hands on the front door and slammed it closed.

  I threw the lock and she covered it with her palm. We were both breathing hard and my heart felt like it was stuck in my throat.

  “Fuck,” I muttered. “I’m sorry if I overreacted, but I don’t want to take any chances.”

  She turned around and put her back to the door, leaning her head against it. “It’s okay. We’re safe here either way.”

  My phone buzzed so I pulled it out of my pocket.

  Devlin: Second sighting. Leah Mae saw him getting a cup of moonshine.

  Me: Where is he now?

  Devlin: I’m checking. Darren’s already back at the Red House.

  I glanced up at Callie. “Definitely him. Leah Mae confirmed it. Devlin’s trying to find him.”

  She nodded. Cash jumped up, front paws on my legs.

  “Come here, buddy,” she said and took him to the couch. She sat with her legs tucked beneath her, Cash in her lap.

  Devlin: Spotted him heading to his car.

  Shit. I couldn’t ask Dev to follow him. He needed to do my job and get everyone’s drunk asses on the buses. Not to mention watch out for Scarlett and get her home. But at least we knew the asshole hadn’t followed us out here.

  Me: We made it home. Safe for tonight.

  Devlin: Good. We’re fine out here. I’ve got it handled.

  Me: Thanks, man.

  Damn, it was good to have family.

  “We need to tell Bootleg the truth.” Callie’s voice made me look up.

  “Uh, no.” I put my phone down. “We need to keep your secret now more than ever.”

  I could tell by the set of her jaw that she wasn’t letting this go. “People are starting to figure it out. I see it in the way they look at me. Do we want this blowing up in our face and turning into a town-wide spectacle? Right now, we can still control the information and deal with the uproar.”

  Crossing my arms, I chewed on that for a second. She had a point.

  “Plus we need to warn everyone about Lee Williams. He’s dangerous. We can’t sit on that knowledge if it puts our neighbors at risk.”

  “Coming forward puts you at risk.”

  “I know, but we have to. It’s the right thing to do, Gibs. We can talk to Sheriff Tucker first, but I really think we have to. It’s time.”

  There was a lot about this I didn’t like. It was my job to protect her. Could I keep her safe if news of who she was carried all through Bootleg? I’d been hoping the Kendalls wouldn’t have to know she was here until the authorities knocked on their door to make an arrest.

  But then again, if Bootleg knew, I’d have an entire town full of people watching out for her. Keeping their eye on Lee Williams. Usually, I didn’t like to rely on other people. That opened you up to disappointment. But maybe I wasn’t giving my town enough credit.

  “All right,” I said. “I’ll call Harlan. Then Nadine. We need a secret town meeting.”

  32

  GIBSON

  Old Jefferson Waverly’s barn was packed to the rafters with Bootleg Springs residents, most of them still nursing hangovers after last night’s Cock Spurs win. Wasted Wednesday had been interrupted by the call for a secret town meeting, the chain of communication kicked off by Nadine Tucker. We’d given them until six in the evening to recover, and true to form, everyone had turned out.

  I sat on a crate up front, my back knotted with tension. Callie was tucked under my arm, her legs pulled in, like she was trying to disappear into me. We’d left Cash at home. There was enough to worry about without having our attention divided.

  Callie and I had stayed home all day, relying on my family to be our eyes and ears in town. Lee Williams was definitely here. June had discovered that he’d taken a room in the shabby Bootleg Springs Motor Inn just on the outside edge of town. Jonah and Shelby had spotted him at Moonshine Diner around noon, having lunch. Leah Mae and Jameson had kept eyes on him while he wandered around downtown, acting like he was just another tourist. Everyone else had been on high alert, watching.

  After that, our little team of Bodine-Tucker-Thompson-McAllister spies had lost track of him. Callie and I had spent a tense hour not knowing where he’d gone. Had he left town? Not knowing why he was here, or whether he knew about Callie, made it worse. There was no way he’d come back to Bootleg just for a visit. But without knowing why he was here, I didn’t know how worried we needed to be.

  He’d turned up later, driving in from the other side of town. I had a feeling he’d been exploring the area.

  It stood to reason he didn’t know Callie was here, and that the Kendalls didn’t know either. My family and I all had our ears open to the town gossip. Not a single person had been heard whispering that Maya was Callie. That Callie Kendall was back in town.

  I figured Callie was right and a few people had figured it out. Or at least they had strong suspicions. But if they did, they weren’t talking about it yet. Not where anyone could hear them.

  More lawn chairs scraped over the floor and people took their seats. My heart thumped, adrenaline making me jittery. I wanted to scoop Callie into my lap and hide her from everyone. Coming forward with the truth meant it was only a matter of time before the world knew she was here. The more people who knew a secret, the harder it was to keep. And we were about to share our secret with an entire damn town.

  My family sat up front with us. Devlin, resting his elbows on his knees with Scarlett by his side. Bowie and Cassidy, hands intertwined. This might have been the first secret town meeting Cass had actually been invited to. We tended to hold these when we needed to do something just outside the law.

  Jameson and Leah Mae sat beside Jonah and Shelby. Jenny was on Callie’s right, with Jimmy Bob Prosser on the other side of her. George took up space for two, as did his father. George and Shelby’s mom sat with them, as did June and Nadine. Harlan, too. Hell, it might have been Harlan’s first secret town meeting as well.

  It felt good to have them all here, sitting together. We weren’t all related by blood. Some hadn’t been here that long. But I felt the force of their support. We were a united front, here for a purpose.

  Mayor Auggie Hornsbladt, dressed as usual in denim overalls and a cowboy hat, climbed onto a milk crate up front and spoke into a wireless mic. “Let’s call this meeting to order. Quiet down, now.”

  The hum of chatter faded as people turned their attention to the mayor.

  His eyes flicked to mine. Twenty minutes ago, we’d had an impromptu meeting with the mayor in a secluded corner of the barn while my brothers, George, and Devlin stood around acting casual, blocking people’s views. He’d gone white as a sheet, then teared up a bit and crushed Callie in a bear hug. We’d filled him in on the basics and she’d happily produced the DNA results that verified her identity. That had been easy to get. Apparently, June had a guy. I had no idea why June would have a guy who did DNA testing, but I appreciated it nonetheless.

  “Y’all, the purpose of this meeting is something that we’ve been waiting a long time for. Thirteen years ago, we lost one of our own. Callie Kendall disappeared on a July evening, gone without a trace. And for most of those thirteen years, we didn’t know the truth about what happened to her.”

  Murmurs ran
through the crowd.

  “Recently, we got the terrible news that her remains had been found and identified,” Mayor Auggie continued. “It was over. We didn’t know the how or the why, but we knew her fate. Or so we thought.”

  The murmurs grew stronger, a hum of discontent and curiosity filling the air.

  Mayor Auggie held up a hand for quiet. “I have the very special honor and pleasure of bringing you this announcement. Callie Kendall is alive and well. And she’s here with us tonight.”

  The barn erupted with noise. Voices, questions, people shooting out of their chairs, knocking them over.

  “I knew she wasn’t dead!”

  “Where is she?”

  “Can we see her?”

  “I don’t believe that for a second.”

  “Is this a joke, because it ain’t funny.”

  “What if it’s another fake?”

  “Do her parents know?”

  That last question made me whip around in alarm. Callie rubbed a soothing hand on my chest and Jenny reached across to give my leg a squeeze.

  “It’s all right,” Jenny said. I wasn’t sure if she was talking to me or Callie. Maybe both of us.

  “Now, now, let’s all settle down,” Mayor Auggie said, holding his hand up. “Settle down, now. We’ll answer your questions, but y’all gotta be quiet.”

  George glanced around at the increasingly noisy crowd. He stood, unfolding from his spot on a crate to his full and rather impressive height. “Quiet please,” he bellowed. His voice echoed off the ceiling and the audience went silent. With a nod at the mayor, he sat down.

  “Thank you, George,” Mayor Auggie said. “First, let me address your concerns about her being another pretender. We have confirmed, with scientific evidence, that she is in fact Callie Kendall. There’s no question about it, folks. She’s real and she’s back.”

  He paused and let that settle over the audience.

  Millie Waggle was up front, sitting across the aisle from us. She caught my eye and gave me a subtle nod. I had a feeling she was one who’d already figured it out.