Chapter 21
Twenty-One
When two people kiss, they create a long tube, butthole to butthole.
—Nettie to Eddy
Nettie
I had no clue why Joe was here, but I’d seen the desperation in her eyes, and I’d had no choice but to ask my heart and soul to leave.
I had a feeling Joe wouldn’t talk with her pseudo-uncle here.
I waited until the sound of Boone’s motorcycle could no longer be heard before I asked, “What’s wrong?”
Her lip quivered, then the tears she’d been holding at bay started to spill forth. “I-I-I’m p-pregnant.”
The bomb had dropped.
“Joe…”
She covered her eyes with her hands and sobbed.
I reached for her and held on tight, letting her cry into the crook of my neck for long minutes before I said, “Can you tell me everything?”
She leaned back and swiped at her eyes, her mascara running.
“It’s bad, Nettie.”
My stomach seized. “Bad how?”
Please, please, don’t say what I think you’re going to say.
“My ex-boyfriend, Jetty, made me.”
My eyes closed and dread filled my insides.
“Forced you?” I asked calmly. “Did he r…”
“Not like that. At least I don’t think,” she admitted. “He wanted to. I didn’t. He kept asking, and finally I just said yes because he wouldn’t stop. It wasn’t bad. Wasn’t great. It was both of our first time. We used protection, even!”
Shit.
Shit, shit, shit.
Denver was going to lose his mind.
Boone was going to lose his mind.
Hell, even Sawyer was going to lose his damn mind.
This was going to be really bad.
“And you haven’t told anyone yet?” I guessed.
“I told Catalina and DeeDee.”
“Okay,” I said. “I’m assuming that you’re coming to me first because you want me to help you tell him?”
She nodded, looking devastated.
“Have you been to the doctor yet?” I asked.
She shook her head. “Just took a couple of tests.”
“Then here’s what we’re going to do…”
The next thirty minutes I spent on the phone with the doctor getting an appointment as soon as we could get it, which luckily was later in the day thanks to a cancellation.
The next thing I did was call Boone to tell him to forget about Arby’s and to meet me out at Denver’s place.
Boone agreed readily, knowing that something was wrong.
Then I got dressed, and we headed out to Denver’s place in Joe’s truck.
When we got there, Boone was already there, and I breathed out a sigh of relief.
Someone to keep Denver in check was a definite necessity.
“You ready?” I asked her.
She nodded and latched onto my hand like a lifeline.
When we got inside, Denver looked up from the table where he was sitting with Boone, drinking coffee.
My stomach rumbled at the scent of bacon and eggs.
I eyed the food that Denver was steadily shoving into his mouth now with want.
Boone cleared his throat and gestured at Joe.
I looked at her to see her face completely white.
Shit.
“It’s the smell, isn’t it?” I whispered.
She nodded.
I gestured toward the back door. “Go out there and sit down.”
She left, leaving me to tell her dad what had happened.
“Denver?” I asked.
Denver’s brows rose.
“You might want to get yourself something a little bit harder than coffee,” I suggested.
He leaned back in his chair, his food forgotten. “Why?”
I glanced at Boone and widened my eyes.
He got up and poured a glass of whiskey from a bottle that was on the middle island of the kitchen.
When the glass was on the table in front of him, I took a seat next to Boone, putting him in between Denver and me, and started talking.
I didn’t finish before Denver had downed the whiskey and poured himself another glass.
He set the second empty glass down so carefully that it had me stiffening.
I’d seen him that mad once.
He’d caught a boy trying to get a little rough with me at a soccer game when I was seventeen.
He’d had this eerily calm look on his face, and he’d looked so approachable.
That look was a lie.
Before the boy could react, he’d broken the kid’s hand. The hand that’d been touching me.
That same look was on his face now.
“I made an appointment for her later this afternoon at my doctor,” I said as I slid the piece of paper out of my pocket. “She needs a parent there since she’s a minor.”
Denver closed his eyes and leaned his head back against his chair.
“Don’t kill the kid, Denver,” I ordered. “You have a lot to lose here.”
Denver’s blazing eyes opened and pinned me. “Who was it?”
“Jetty,” I answered.
Denver’s eyes narrowed. “Her and Jetty haven’t been together in three to four months.”
I nodded.
“Goddammit.” He stood up. “I need a minute alone with her.”
Three hours later, Denver was once again in control, and we were finally headed back to the house.
When we got there, I unwrapped myself from around my man and said, “I’m sorry I kept you from work.”
He caught me around my thigh and pulled me to him.
Going, because why the hell wouldn’t I, I bent down and pressed my lips down on his.
He growled into my mouth before I pulled away.
“I’d follow you into hell, Nettie. I’d fight every single demon in the place as long as I got to be by your side.” He gave me one final squeeze. “Get inside.”
I waved at him as I climbed the steps to the house, then used the keypad code on the door to let myself inside.
Only when I was inside with the door locked did I hear him ride off.
He had a lot to do today at the vet practice, and Holly had been able to cover for him mostly. But she couldn’t take patients and do surgery, so he was still needed.
A soccer ball was in the middle of the living room, and I couldn’t stop myself from flicking it up off the floor with my toe and juggling for a few minutes.
That was what I was doing when I saw movement out of the corner of my eye.
A man, all in black, covered from head to toe, started to raise his hand.
I didn’t think, just reacted.
I kicked the ball as hard as I could at the man and dashed into the kitchen.
I knew exactly where all the hidden guns were.
Boone was pretty bad about stashing them throughout the house. One in the bathroom under the third towel. One in the living room, behind the fourth cushion. A few in his room, some in his office. But the one I was going for was in the kitchen.
It was in the cabinet under the sink at the very back.
I yanked it open but didn’t bother to check the chamber.
I knew a round would be ready for me.
The sound of a motorcycle started in the distance just as the man in black came from around the living room wall, arm raised with a gun front and center.
And because I’d had Margery Windsor as an idol, I knew all there was to know about guns.
She was a sharpshooter and had taken up the hobby when she was in her teens. She loved going to competitions and had taught me everything that I knew.
So, when his gun was in sight with his hand holding it, I aimed and fired.
Pieces of the man’s hand blew off as the gun blast sounded.
What remained of the man’s hand and the gun hit the floor with a clatter.
The man started to scream.
The door to the front of the house burst open.
The man who’d come inside with a flourish produced a gun from a holster at his back, took aim, and shot the man dead in the next moment.
“Oh, hey, Beau.”
Beau, the richest man in the state, as well as the club brother to Boone, had come in at a perfect time.
Beau glanced at me, at the man he’d likely just killed, then back at me before saying, “I came to ask if you wanted to join the Montana Cowgirls after you give birth.”
I blinked. “I think we should talk…but only after we call this in.”
For the second time that day, Boone was losing his shit.
He stared at the bloodstain on his living room wall for so long that I thought his eyes might cross.
He’d been standing there staring at it for the last two minutes since the crime scene had been released back to us.
“Boone.”
He looked at me. “He came into our home.”
He had.
“He was smart,” I said. “Got in here without setting the alarm off or the cameras spotting him.”
“Only man that I know could do that is Kurt.”
“You think it was him?” Boone asked Sawyer.
“Ida Bell is meeting the body at the morgue to confirm,” Sawyer said.
I winced. “Will Koen be with her?”
Sawyer nodded. “He wouldn’t let her go alone. I like him.”
“Why not just wait for the DNA test or something to confirm?” I wondered. “Then you could spare Ida Bell the visual?”
“Takes too long,” Boone growled. “We need answers now.”
I guess that was true.
A man had literally bypassed all of Boone’s security measures.
He wanted to know the man’s identity.
Of course he wanted that answer right now.
Speaking of Ida Bell, the phone on the table rang and Boone walked toward it, hitting speaker before saying, “Hello?”
“Hey, it’s me,” Koen said. “Ida Bell went to the morgue. It wasn’t Kurt, but Kurt’s younger brother.”
Great.
That was just freakin’ great.
“Fuckin’ perfect,” Boone said, echoing my thoughts. “We didn’t have Kurt involved anymore, but now that we killed his younger brother, he’s going to come back.”
My thoughts exactly.
“Agreed,” Koen said. “Ida Bell gave everything that she had on Kraig to the FBI agent in charge, as well as Black and Gentry. I went ahead and sent all that information to y’all to have as well.”
Boone’s fingers fisted at his side. “Thanks, man.”
“Welcome,” Koen said before hanging up.
Boone and Sawyer started discussing what would happen next with Kurt, and I called the first company I found that dealt with biohazardous waste.
The company said they’d be out in half an hour, then told me that they would charge me an arm and a leg.
After agreeing to give them both to them in trade for services rendered, I called Margery just to give her an update since I didn’t want her to worry.
I then sent out a text to my sister telling her everything that had happened so far.
Finally, when I was done, I texted Beau.
Nettie:
Thanks for shooting someone for me. And I’ll agree to work with you at the Cowgirls as long as you can get me out of a contract with Oregon FC.
Just what I needed. Another team that hated me.
He took two seconds to reply back.
Beau:
Consider it done. I want you there for practices.
Don’t want you to do anything but light working out and bonding with the team.
You’ll officially be on the roster as long as you show up for practices.
Also, the team’s pretty hostile right now.
Lots to tell you, but I can give you that information when you show up for practice tomorrow.
Smiling at his words, I put the phone into my pocket, looked up, and declared, “I have a job!”
Both men stopped in their conversation to look at me.
“That’s why Beau was here.” I gestured toward the spray of blood. “To offer me a job with the Cowgirls. I start tomorrow.”
Boone scowled deeper.
“Only light working out and no contact, I promise,” I said. “Which is great because I’m bored as fuck at home.”
Sawyer’s brows rose. “From where I stand, you’ve had a lot of excitement at home.”
I waved away his words. “I’m hungry, can we go to Arby’s?”