42. Piper
Piper
I sat staring at the text message, as if it might cease to exist if I looked at it hard enough.
“Well, of all the bullshit I expected her to pull, this was actually a couple of spots down the list.” Dakota snorted unkindly from his place beside me on the couch.
We were all piling onto the sofa in the air-conditioning to watch a family movie after an early dinner, Maisie already nestled into Clay’s lap, a bowl of buttered popcorn balanced in Montana’s.
“Swear jar, seventy-five cents, please,” Montana droned, thumbing over his shoulder at the large glass jar filled with coins and small bills on the kitchen island.
“Colorful language notwithstanding, Kota’s got a point,” Zeke agreed, rubbing a hand over his jaw, already covered in stubble again after his turn as a clean-shaven lawyer the other day.
Only now that the cat was out of the bag, everyone’s favorite beefcake was using words like notwithstanding and other legalese here and there.
“What were you thinking her prime strategy would have been?” I lobbed back, unfamiliar with Caroline and her ways, and thus useless in predicting her behavior.
“I would have put money on her trying to get Clay to accidentally bond her.” Montana shrugged easily.
Clay began coughing on the handful of popcorn he had just chomped down, and Dakota made a distasteful sound.
Zeke gave a half-smile, half-grimace, and shrugged.
“Jeez, is she really that bad?” I ran a worried hand over my belly, trying to imagine doing something so incredibly manipulative and cruel.
“I mean…” Montana lowered his voice, turning up the volume on the animated movie playing on the living room TV to ensure it held Maisie’s attention before he continued. “The way she’s looking at it, b-o-n-d-i-n-g Clay would give her claim to both him and the ranch.”
Zeke nodded, quick to add, “Yeah, in her mind, we’ve all been desperately waiting and counting the days until she returned.
She probably thinks that if she gets a couple of drinks in him, the chronically single Clayton Blackwood would end up distracted and excited enough over her feminine omega wiles to overzealously bite her in the heat of the moment. ”
My face must have done something awful at this point because, suddenly, the twins were at either elbow, pecking kisses onto my cheeks and muttering reassurances.
“Caroline would find nothing for her if she came here. No, she’d find more than she bargained for, and not in a good way,” Clay scoffed.
A wild idea began to blossom in my mind. I knew how shitty Pack Adamar was now. I had seen their true colors—cruel and calculated, to say the least.
What little I’d seen of Caroline seemed right in line with Pack Adamar.
“What if I agreed to meet her?”
As soon as the words left my mouth, the others began shouting over one another with their objections.
“Now just hold on. I’m not talking about meeting her to give her what she wants!” I protested, lacing my fingers below my belly to help hold up my more than sizable baby “bump.”
“And what could possibly be gained by that!?” Montana snapped, clearly upset by the idea of giving Caroline any opportunities to dig her claws into me.
“She gave a lot of herself away in the mediation. I’m willing to bet that Pack Adamar has made her think that I’m considered lowly house staff by all of you, because that’s how they thought of me.
” Though the admission stung, I let it hang in the air, the boys of Pack Blackwood settling down at my sad words.
“You think that she’ll spill the beans to you?” Dakota rubbed his palms together hopefully.
“If I had to make a guess, she might offer me some kind of payout to turn on you,” I answered flatly, everyone falling silent with the uncomfortable truth.
Clay scooted Maisie, who was sucked into the movie, off his lap and into the corner of the couch with a large throw pillow to lean against.
“I don’t like it,” Clay growled out under his breath as he drew closer to me and the others. “Caroline is a snake, and I don’t trust her not to bite,” he sighed, reaching out to cup one of my cheeks in his big, rough palms.
“You might not like it, Clay, but do you have a better plan?” I challenged, crossing my arms over my pregnant belly.
Zeke beamed, those big green eyes of his, glittering with mischief. “I don’t know Clay. Piper’s not the same shy girl who came to us to be a nanny.” He rocked up and onto his feet to stand beside me, draping one of his muscular arms across my shoulders.
“Yeah, she’s been all in from the moment she volunteered to bite in,” Dakota chimed in, jumping up to join Zeke and me.
“Plus”—Montana gave a wry chuckle—“if she’s tough enough to stand up to you and your temper and sour moods…” He shrugged at Clay, before lifting onto his feet and falling into line behind me.
“I didn’t really mean for this to be up for debate,” Clay grumbled as he looked over the united front against him. “But since I’m so outnumbered, I’m at least going to set down a couple of ground rules…”
Clay had set the following ground rules before he and the other boys dropped me off at the line dance bar.
One, I wouldn’t approach Caroline alone. Both Emmy and her friend Jordana who worked the bar, would be keeping eyes on me at all times, their phones at the ready to call the boys out in the parking lot if the meeting started to go sideways.
Two, I would continue to hide my belly and my bites to keep Caroline in the dark. It was easy hiding under the table with the large fluffy dress and my hair down. Plus, with mocktails served by the waitress, I was covered.
Three, the second anything started to feel off , I prioritized getting out safely above keeping up any kind of ruse or getting information. Easy.
Caroline arrived in time to catch me ordering a drink from Jordana, along with some chips and queso to munch on.
“I’ll have a margarita, with whatever your best silver tequila is and Grand Marnier,” she snipped out impatiently as she sat down, not even bothering to look Jordana in the face. “On the rocks—no salt.”
She was prettier in person than on the grainy webcam. About as tall as me, with a pinched little waist that made her look fashionable as could be in her short white and blue gingham eyelet dress.
“Oh my god, Piper, I am so glad we got a chance to sit down and chat, just us girls!” she gushed through her fake smile as she batted her expensive eyelash extensions at me.
“Me too!” I lied through my teeth, gently tapping my hands against the table as if I was truly excited to be there.
“It’s such a small world. Imagine my surprise when I found out the ex-girlfriend of my…” She trailed off, clearly unsure of how to address Pack Adamar in the situation. “... Friends in Pack Adamar was working as a nanny for my former pack.”
Caroline leaned across the table as if sharing a secret. “So, I’m sure you’ve heard a little gossip about me while you’ve been watching sweet Maisie.”
“Oh, they don’t talk about you at all,” I chirped, unable to pass up an opportunity to get in one little jab before I continued. “Not to me, at least.” I shrugged, turning to Jordana as she arrived with our drinks.
“Not even that asshole Monty says nasty things about me anymore? They must really miss me,” she laughed, wildly pleased with herself.
“Mister Flint?” I asked innocently, as if I hadn’t gotten to know Montana as way more than my employer.
Caroline’s pink lip gloss, Cheshire cat grin curled larger and larger as I played dumb. “That’s fair, I guess they wouldn’t want to air that kind of dirty laundry in front of the help .” Caroline reached forward and patted the back of my hand.
I had to resist the urge to pull away, returning her hollow smile. “So what was it that you wanted to talk about?” I asked sweetly, leaning forward to purse my straw between my lips and take a slug of my drink.
Caroline looked over each shoulder before she confessed in a lowered voice, “You didn’t hear this from me, okay? And you shouldn’t repeat it to anyone.” She waited soberly for me to acknowledge her.
“Oh, of course not!” I waved my hands through the air and leaned in close so Caroline could see I was hanging on every word.
“Well, I don’t know if the boys have mentioned it, but there’s a good chance of them losing the ranch soon.”
I didn’t have to fake my jaw dropping, though I was more shocked by Caroline’s detachment from reality than I was devastated, but luckily enough, she interpreted my slackened jaw as shocked dismay.
“I know, and I know how rotten they are—they probably haven’t even told you. They’ll wait until the last minute and then put you out on the street. Trust me, I know!” She shook her head with solemn disappointment.
“How do you know they’re gonna lose the ranch? If that happens, I lose my job and the place I’m renting!” I stammered.
The two of us were forced to sit in a moment of awkward silence as Jordana came back with the chips and dip, setting them down on the table before she asked us if we wanted anything else, then disappeared back into the crowded bar after Caroline snippily dismissed her.
“Well, like I said, you didn’t hear it from me, but Clay is still madly in love with me .” Caroline almost whispered the last few words, and I had to curl my lips over my teeth to keep from laughing out loud.
“Uh-huh,” I prompted her to continue with a series of wobbly nods.
“I was in a really bad place right after the baby was born.” Caroline sighed sadly, and for the briefest moment, I felt the icy wash of panic, wondering if there was any chance that Caroline wasn’t the horrible person I’d been made to think, that she really loved Maisie, Clay, and the others.
That Clay and Pack Blackwood still loved her.
“I had a few years on the road, trying hard to survive, and I kept thinking about how things would have been different if I hadn’t left the ranch and sweet little Daisy.”
“ Maisie ,” I corrected as evenly as I could manage, but that was all I needed to kill any pity for Caroline. It crushed any remaining worry I had that she might be for real.
“Right, right.” Caroline glossed over the offensive mistake as if it were nothing. “Now that I’m back, it’s only a matter of time before Clay and I are bonded. Even if the boys don’t want to take me back, I know my baby.” She grinned, and I thought I might actually be sick.
“So, where do I come in?” I gritted my teeth in a fake smile.
“Well, right now, you’re providing the boys of Pack Blackwood with some much- needed childcare, along with a woman’s touch around the place,” Caroline explained sunnily. “Without you around, it’s going to really be obvious how much Maisie needs a mama, that the ranch is in need of a woman’s touch.”
I nodded slowly, my stomach clenching as I understood what she was asking of me.
“Whatever Clayton’s paying you, Pack Adamar can pay you double.
Or if you would rather move on, we would be happy to pay you a month’s salary in advance to help you transition into a new position,” Caroline explained hurriedly.
“And don’t worry about a place to stay—we can get you something at the extended-stay motel in town while you look at new apartments. ”
I blinked, completely incredulous that she thought I would just pick up and leave right then and there, even if I had only been working at the ranch as a nanny.
“Wow, Caroline, that’s such a generous offer.” I finally scraped together the words for a bewildered response.
“Please! It’s the least I can do, especially since I would hate for you to have been left high and dry like they left me,” Caroline offered sympathetically.
The boys had called it—Caroline wanted to try to entrap Clay to get herself bonded into the pack, and thus eligible to be part owner of the pack business.
Caroline had taken the bait and confirmed everything. All that was left was for me to finish playing my part.
“Thank you so much for looking out for me, Caroline; it’s very sweet of you.” I laid it on thick. “I’m going to have to take a little while to think about it, since it’s a big decision, but I feel better already, knowing that I have options.”
“Of course! I wouldn’t dream of forcing you to make the decision here.” Caroline reached into her purse and produced Lance’s business card, along with a copy of her lawyer’s. “Whatever you decide, just let us know before the end of next week.”
I had been about to thank her, to try to move the conversation toward more casual conversation, but Caroline was already touching up her lipstick and checking her phone.
“I am so sorry, Pippa,” Caroline began absently, eyes still glued to her phone.
“Piper,” I corrected coolly.
“Oop, yes, Piper , so sorry. Something just came up. Enjoy another drink on me before you go back.” Caroline slapped a twenty-dollar bill down on the table next to her barely touched margarita.
“Oh! Well, take care, then, thanks again for talking with me girl-to-girl.” I beamed.
“Anytime, girl!” Caroline winked, swinging her purse over her shoulder.
“See you later, Caroline!” I called as she waved to me from the double exit doors.