by Lexi Blake
“Well, look at who’s here. See, Marty, I told you where we would find your boy.” Bryce Hughes stood in the doorway with a smallish man in a suit.
Trev’s face had gone a stark white.
Leo got up off his barstool and stood beside Trev. “Bryce, I don’t think Trev wanted to speak with Mr. Klein.”
Li stayed on his barstool, but his gaze had narrowed and he no longer looked casual.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” the man in the suit said, his voice nasally and quick. “Trev likes to play hardball. Always has. He likes to string ’em along. Exactly like I taught you, brother. I was pissed that we missed the meeting today, but the fuckers are now offering us even more money. Idiots. We’re going to come out of this with a huge payday.”
“No.” Trev seemed to have a hard time getting the word out of his mouth.
O’Donnell slid off the barstool.
Marty rolled his eyes. “Don’t be a moron. We can’t hold out for more. Twenty million for this year. If you take them to the playoffs, you get a million-dollar bonus. And their current QB is thirty-two, practically ancient for a football player. We can squeeze a five-year contract out of them. Now, take a little pick-me-up, and let’s go catch a flight out of this hellhole.”
“I’m not going anywhere.” Trev stood his ground.
Bryce frowned. “You damn sure better. Do you have any idea what your mother’s medical bills cost?”
Trev’s jaw tightened. “I know.”
Bryce pointed an accusatory finger Trev’s way. “Your sister is still paying them.”
Trev took a step back as though shocked at the news. “I thought you paid those off.”
Bryce snorted. “No way in hell. Why do you think your sister works two jobs? She wasn’t my mother. I told Shelley to let it go to default. It wasn’t like your mother left a whole lot to inherit anyway.”
“Think about it, Trev,” Marty said, sounding like the devil on Trev’s shoulder. “You could pay off your mom’s bills with one check. Your sister wouldn’t have to work two jobs anymore.”
Bryce smirked. “She’s at the second job right now. She’s tending bar at a strip club up the road.”
“Bastard,” O’Donnell cursed under his breath.
“What?” Leo’s question rang through the bar. “You let your wife work in a strip club?”
There was only one strip club anywhere close to Deer Run, and Bo didn’t like the idea of Shelley Hughes working there. It looked like Trev liked it even less. He’d paled visibly.
Marty kept up his pitch. “Let’s get out of here, my man. We can be in LA in a couple of hours, and all your problems will be solved tomorrow.”
Leo started to get into Bryce’s face. Trev put a hand out, stopping him.
“Don’t make this worse on Shell. Please,” Trev said.
“Trev, if you go back into that life, you will slide back into all of your problems.” Leo’s fists were clenched.
Trev’s face had taken on a blankness that Bo recognized. He’d seen it on his own face many times. It was the mask he wore when he knew he had to do something he didn’t want to do.
“I’ll be fine.”
“Damn right you will,” Bryce said. “Maybe you can wash some of the tarnish off your name and start giving back to this family.”
“How do you want me to play this, Leo?” O’Donnell seemed to understand the whole confrontation was ripe with potential violence.
Leo merely frowned at Bryce.
Marty slapped Trev on the back. “Don’t worry about a thing. Bryce here set me up. We’ll get out to LA, and I’ll make damn sure you feel good, if you know what I mean.”
He wasn’t sure what the man in the suit meant, but he had a feeling that going to LA would be bad for Trev.
Although it might be good for Bo. “You planning on taking Beth with you?”
A hollow look came into Trev’s eyes. He looked like a man who had just realized his life was over. “No. I won’t take her with me.”
He wouldn’t take her with him because he knew what would happen. Bo could see that plainly. He could also see how much it was going to cost Trev McNamara to get his sister out of trouble. And it was obvious that the man had changed. Bo couldn’t fool himself. Trev hadn’t done anything since he’d come into town except stop Bo from hurting Beth and try to get honest work. And he’d offered to share a woman he clearly cared for because she needed it.
And Bo needed it.
If Trev left, he might never figure out what Beth needed.
“This is a huge mistake, Trev.” Leo’s jaw had formed a hard line.
It was. And the shrink was going to stand around talking the problem to death. Frustration bubbled up in Bo. Wasn’t this just the way everything went? It was sure as fuck the way his life always seemed to go. The moment he thought he was making progress, some asshole stepped in and screwed it up. He was goddamn sick of it. He was sick of the Brians of the world tossing their prejudice around. He was sick of the Clarissas, who thought they could have any damn thing they wanted. He was sick of the slick-suited guys who thought they owned everything. He was sick of himself for never fighting.
Leo could try to talk the problem to death, but Bo was done talking.
He pulled back his fist and plowed right into that asshole in the suit. He went straight for the fucker’s face. Bo heard a satisfying crunch and a howl of pain. Yeah, that felt good.
“Bravo, boyo,” O’Donnell said with a wink.
“Bo!” Trev barked out his name.
Bo looked at Trev, who glowered disapprovingly, but Leo was smiling.
The man he’d hit was still howling. Bryce was growling into a cell phone, probably calling the cops. Damn. He was going to jail again, but this time it was going to be worth it.
Like always at The Rusty Spur, the minute the first fist flew, the bar exploded. It was as though violence was simmering right there at the surface, waiting for any excuse to let loose. Almost immediately, Bo felt someone tug on his shirt and a fist smash into his face.
“Hey, asshole, what did you do to Clarissa?” One of Clarissa’s old boyfriends shoved another fist into Bo’s face.
“Fuck off!” Trev threw himself into the fight. The man might have sworn off liquor, but it seemed he hadn’t sworn off fighting. Trev pummeled the guy, tossing him aside when he was done.
Bo lashed out at the next man Clarissa had sent. He could see her standing outside the fray, a humorless smile on her face. Arms and legs tangled in a violent display as the world became a mad mix of fierce joy and righteous pain. He welcomed both.
He punched out at anything that came too close. The music suddenly seemed louder. The lights brighter. Everything seemed to come to life as he realized he wasn’t alone in the fight. Trev was behind him, their backs almost touching.
“We’re going to have a talk about your lamentable lack of control, Bo.” Trev plowed his fist into Brian Nixon’s gut.
“Yeah, well, we’re going to have to talk about your bossiness, McNamara.” But he could feel the grin on his face.
“Fuck!” Bryce Hughes screamed as he started to run, pushing against anyone in his way. “I will sue you, asshole.”
His nose looked broken. Bo couldn’t miss the satisfied smile on Leo’s face.
The doors to the bar flew open, and the sheriff and both of his deputies charged in.
Bo was still smiling as they put him in the back of the squad car. Trev was shoved in after him. This time he wasn’t alone.
Chapter Twelve
Mouse paced. She walked through her house which now had a sturdy door and locks on every entryway. She’d made sure all the windows were solid. She’d even checked the attic to make sure there was no way someone could get in through there. She’d done everything she could with the tools she had, and still Trev hadn’t found his way home.
A note. She’d gotten a note saying something had come up, and he’d be back later. That was it. And he wasn’t answering his phone. It kept
going to voice mail. What had happened?
A million scenarios played through her brain—none of them good. She’d tried his sister, but her phone had gone straight to voice mail, too.
She sat down on her rickety stairs, phone in hand. Why had he left? She’d worked so hard in the short time she’d had to obliterate that nasty message the young man who’d attacked her had left. She’d put two coats of primer and three coats of paint on the wall, and for the life of her she could no longer see the words. Trev wouldn’t have been able to see them. She’d been worried he would leave to protect her, but she didn’t want to be protected. Not like that. Had he seen it somehow or found out about what had happened and that was why he’d left?
Or he might have changed his mind and this was his way of telling her.
The phone in her hand buzzed. She flipped it open as quick as she could. “Trev?”
“No, hon, it’s Wanda.”
Wanda? Why was Wanda calling? There was only one reason Wanda called, and that was to spread gossip about the people who got hauled into the sheriff’s department. Mouse’s heart fell. “What did he do?”
“Which one, hon?”
She sat up straighter. “Trev, of course.”
“Well, I had to ask because both Trev and Bo got their butts hauled in along with that pretty Irish fella, who had way more weapons on him than is right, and the attractive man who thinks I would make a good Dom DeLuise. That’s not flattering, mister. I don’t care what you say.” Wanda sounded like she was talking to someone else. “Seriously, Mouse, you have to get your men under control. Lou is in a crappy mood now because he had to hose down the second cell. No one uses that second cell, and now it’s full of puke. When you think about it, this is your fault. If they think I’m cleaning up after a bunch of drunk-ass twenty-year-olds, those boys are wrong. I have shit on both those deputies, and I won’t hesitate to use it. I got my nails done this afternoon. Do you know how much Sue charges these days? Well, let me tell you, I’m not wasting these nails on cleaning.”
She heard Wanda take a breath. It was the only chance she was going to get. “Wanda, what did Trev and Bo do?”
“Oh, they did what all those boys do. They got in a fight. Why boys need to beat on each other I have no idea.”
Mouse got to her feet and started looking for her keys. Damn it. She was going to have to drive. She hated driving, but apparently Trev had gone looking for Bo and they had fought. Fought. Oh, that was absolutely the last thing she wanted. “Is Bo still alive?”
There was a laugh, and Wanda was talking to someone else. “She wants to know if you’re still alive, Bo.”
“Hell, Mouse, I’m not exactly fragile. Beth, I mean, Beth. Damn it, that hurt, Trev.” Bo sounded far away, but she got the idea.
“Wanda, you have to separate them.” She found the keys to the ancient car her father had left her.
“Oh, Trev wouldn’t let Bo go into the other cell. He did this whole thing where his eyes got cold and suddenly all the men in the room do what he tells them to do. I don’t get that. I would have done what I wanted, but that look does seem to get to the men. So he and Bo and the other two are in one cell, and everyone else is in that second cell, and let me tell you, that man from New York City is getting on my nerves. We should be able to send him to a bigger lockup for that accent alone. How am I supposed to follow that? He talks so fast.”
But Mouse was out the door. Like it or not, she was driving, and she had to hope that her car was going to get with the game plan.
* * * *
Trev felt cold deep in his gut. He’d taken care of everything he’d needed to, and now he could let the guilt wash over him. He sat down on the hard bench and looked over into the second cell where Marty held a compress over his nose. He sat sullenly among the other men the sheriff had managed to catch.
“You’re an asshole, Trev. And your choice in friends has gone way downhill.” Marty spat out the words.
Trev merely leaned back against the bars. His last set of friends had been a bunch of druggies and dealers and Marty himself. He kind of thought Bo was a step up. And Leo. Crap. He’d gotten his mentor tossed in the can. He looked over where Leo stood in the corner talking quietly to Jimmy Nixon. He hoped Leo wasn’t having to listen to crap about how city folk always came into town and ruined everything. He’d gotten enough of that from the deputy.
Liam had promptly found the second bench and taken a nap. It appeared the man could sleep anywhere. He was mumbling in his sleep. Something about hot pants.
And now Beth had been called to come get them all. His heart ached. He was going to have to tell her he was leaving.
“Fine. I’m an asshole. When does our plane leave?” Trev had to do it. He needed the money now. He had to get his sister out of debt. She couldn’t go on working in a strip club.
And where had his brother-in-law gone? Why wasn’t he attending this party? Trev had seen Bryce with Deputy Len and assumed they would all end up in the same cell together. Why had Bryce been allowed to walk away?
“You can’t go.” Bo turned to him. “You can’t leave Deer Run now.”
Bo was a mystery. Trev didn’t understand him. Bo hadn’t even spoken up when the deputy had tried to separate him. He’d seen the way Bo’s whole body had stiffened at the thought of getting thrown in jail with Brian Nixon, the same man who had tried to separate his head from his body this morning, but he’d taken it with almost willful acceptance. Now Bo wanted to protest?
“I would think you would be happy about it.” Mere hours before there had been nothing Bo wanted more than to see his ass leaving town.
There was a long pause. The hum of conversation around them seemed to relax Bo, as though he didn’t want anyone to hear what the two of them were saying. “Tell me why you wouldn’t let me in that night.”
He searched his memory. “What night are you talking about?”
Bo’s eyes became hooded. “You don’t even remember.”
He sighed. His whole body felt like it was weighed down. If he could sink into the floor, he would. The desire for a drink was raging now. Just get through the next five minutes, Trev. He could handle it. He had to. Sure he could. He hadn’t been able to handle fame and all the crap that went with it in San Antonio. How the fuck was he going to do it in LA? He would take some of that money he would get for signing and hire two guys whose only job was to make sure his ass didn’t stray. If he did, they would beat the shit out of him. The minute he sniffed a beer or started to walk into a party, they would beat the impulse out of him. Yeah, that might work. He was sure O’Donnell’s boss knew some guys.
“My dad tried to kill me that night.”
Bo’s words shocked Trev out of his misery. He turned to Bo. “What are you talking about?”
Bo shook his head. “I shouldn’t have said that. I don’t want to talk about it. Look, that’s all over. The thing is I came to your apartment in Austin that night and you told me to go away. You said something about me not being dressed for the party.”
“I had a lot of parties. It could have been any of them.” There was a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. This event was obviously important to Bo, and he couldn’t even recall it.
“You really don’t remember.”
He shook his head. Shame threatened to choke him. “I wish you would talk about it.”
Bo shook his head. “We can let it go. It changes things now that I know you don’t even remember. Maybe you really were a different person.”
“That addict is still inside me.” He was screaming right now.
“Well, don’t let him out again.” Bo’s demeanor changed. He sighed and settled back as though trying to get comfortable. “So, how does this thing work? You know, the whole ‘sharing Beth’ thing. I mean, if she says yes, of course.”
“Well, I wasn’t going to ask her exactly. I was going to strip her down and see how she felt when she had two mouths on her girl parts. That’s when the yes, yes, yeses start.” E
xcept they wouldn’t now. He would be in LA, and he didn’t dare take Beth with him. He wanted to. He wanted to order her to pack up and come with him. She would be the reason he stayed sober. She was his responsibility, the person who kept him grounded, the person he couldn’t let down.
But he would.
Bo chuckled. “Damn, that actually sounds hot. Are we going to tie her up? Maybe we should make a game plan. We have some time. She’ll either have to find a ride or worse, she’ll drive. We could be here for hours.”
Trev ran a frustrated hand through his hair. “We’re not going to tie her up. I have to leave.”
“No, you don’t.”
“Did you hear a word Bryce said? My sister is working at a strip club because she can’t pay the hospital bills. I can’t let her down. I don’t have a fucking dime until next year. I can’t leave her there.”
Bo shrugged it off. “I have eight hundred thousand dollars in the bank. You can pay me back later. Now, do I get to order her around, too? I don’t know how good I’m going to be at that.”
Trev stared at him for a moment. He’d said it so casually. “You would do that? You hate me.”
Bo leaned his head against the bars, his eyes closing as he spoke. “I don’t hate you. I don’t know how much I can trust you, yet. This doesn’t make us friends, but I like your sister well enough. And that money doesn’t mean a damn thing here. What the hell am I going to spend it on? I came into that money last year, and I haven’t spent a dime of it. I thought about asking to buy into the ranch, but Aidan’s got his own family now. He’s going to want to leave that ranch to his kids. I wouldn’t be any good at my own ranch. I can work a herd, but the business part makes me nervous. So, I’ve got a whole bunch of money and not a damn thing to do with it. Beth cares about you. It would break her heart if you walked out now. I’m not doing this for you. I’m doing it for her.” He opened his eyes and turned to Trev. “The question is, are you man enough to accept it?”