Chapter Fourteen
Chapter
Fourteen
Olivia started for the steps that led to the entrance
of the sheriff’s department.
“Livie!” her mom called out and proved that her papa could
drive fast when he wanted to.
Olivia had tried to leave them behind since they’d had a
hand in this, too. Oh, not like her dad, but they knew something was going on
and hadn’t told her. They claimed it was because she was delicate after the
events of the evening.
Everyone was about to find out how not delicate she
was.
If she’d learned one thing from this whole evening, it was
what she wanted. When she felt the drug start to take over, the only thought
she had in her brain was about them. Keane and Garrett. When she was trying so
hard to fight and then she was in Garrett’s arms and the world was okay again.
The last thing she’d heard was Keane’s voice.
Baby, baby, hold on. Hold on. Please hold on.
There had been unspoken words in his tone, in the way she’d
been almost certain he cried.
I love you.
She hadn’t been able to speak. But she had her voice back
now, and she was going to use it to save her men. From her dad.
Luckily, she had her girls. Gigi and Miranda had her back
when she told them she needed to get to the police station and figure out what
was happening.
What she needed to do was get here and stop her father from
making an ass of himself.
“You want me to distract them?” Gigi asked.
“I don’t think you should get into more trouble tonight.
You’ve already helped Livie leave against medical advice,” Miranda pointed out.
“Your dad is getting such a call tomorrow.”
Gigi’s shoulder shrugged. “And I’ll handle it because while
I love Uncle Jack, he’s wrong about this. He’s overreacting and should have
waited until he could hear Livie’s side of the story before he told the sheriff
to arrest Keane.”
That was the news that had gotten her out of that hospital bed.
She still didn’t understand exactly what had happened, but she knew one thing
in the world. Keane wouldn’t drug her drink and try to kidnap her. Unless…
She would have to ask him, but she was pretty sure he didn’t
do it. If he meant to play a scene with her, they would have talked about it
and set boundaries, and he would never use actual drugs. Nope. Totally sure
since her Master would never have put her in a position where she was
vulnerable.
Though it would be fun for them to kidnap her and have their
wicked way with her.
She would have called her dad, but she was certain he
wouldn’t listen. She knew that for a fact since her dad had taken off for this
very station without bothering to give her a heads-up that Keane was being
arrested and he had something to do with that.
She loved her dad.
She was about to kick her dad’s ass.
“Livie.” Papa rushed up. “You have to understand. We learned
something about Keane you don’t know.”
There was a look of sympathy on her mom’s face as she held
Papa’s hand like she needed strength.
She went still. This was it. This was what Keane wasn’t
saying, and her nosy father had found it out and was using it against him,
which was precisely why he was afraid to tell her in the first place. She had
been kind. And patient and loving, and she had almost cracked the walls around
her Master, but then her dad comes in and trashes all her good work.
She pointed a finger her papa’s way. “Don’t you dare tell
me. That is Keane’s story. Not yours. I told him he could tell me when he was
ready.”
Her papa sighed. “Sweetie, it’s not good.”
“Then I’ll deal with it, but I know for damn certain that he
didn’t do this.”
Her mom stared at her for a moment. “You’re sure about this
man?”
Her mother was the reasonable one. Always. “Mom, I am sure
about him. I would trust him with my life. Whatever his secret is there was a
reason he did it.”
Her mom seemed to relax. “All right, then. I agree with you
now that I know. Your father isn’t asking the right questions. He’s panicking.”
She wasn’t even clear on what Keane had been arrested for.
She probably wouldn’t even know except her friends always had her back. She
looked to her papa. “Were you even going to tell me he was in jail?”
“I mean, yes,” her papa hedged. “Someday. In the future.”
Her mother waved a hand. “Baby girl, do not scare your papa.
You save all that angry goddess energy for the one who can handle it. The one
who deserves it.”
Papa turned to her mom. “I thought you would be the one
kicking Jack’s ass like you did when he threatened to have Nicole hauled in.”
Her mom waved him off. “Well, that was Josh and Grim.
They’re never going to properly put Jack in his place. And Nicole was pretty
shy at that point. Livie is not. Really, she’s been waiting for this day for a
long time. I can sit back and know I taught her well.”
Olivia started for the station again, Gigi and Miranda hot
on her heels.
“I hope they don’t think he stole Gabe’s truck,” Gigi said,
opening the door. “We can clear that up.”
“I’m pretty sure they think Keane’s the one who put that
stuff in her drink,” Miranda said as she walked through. “How would he even do
it? I didn’t see him around the drink, and I was only in the bathroom for a few
minutes. It was surprisingly uncrowded.”
“I think they found some half-assed evidence and decided to
railroad the new guy.” It was kind of how things worked in this town. “They’ll
do it faster if my father is on their ass. If my dad is putting the pressure
on, they’ll do anything to placate him. Does anyone know if Garrett is in
there? Keane needs a lawyer.”
Garrett wasn’t at the hospital, so she had to believe he was
here trying to get Keane out. Which is exactly what he should do. After he
called her.
Oh, she understood that asshole who drugged her also took
her phone and her purse, but he could have called Gigi or Miranda or Gabe. She
made sure they all exchanged numbers days ago.
She had to wonder if they were going back into their shells.
It was hard for her men to trust after everything they’d been through.
“I think he is, though I don’t know where they are in the
process,” Gabe admitted. “I’ve already got a call to come in and give a
statement.”
Why? Gabe hadn’t seen anything. He’d been on the dance
floor, though so had Keane.
She made it up the steps and through the glass doors. She
stepped up to the reception desk where Tanya Hallway sat. She was roughly three
hundred years old and formed one of the hearts of the Willow Fork gossip
center. Tanya didn’t mind spending half her work time calling and letting her
friends know who was being arrested and for what.
“Olivia.” Tanya stood. She was a tiny woman with big eyes
and a steel helmet of hair on her head. “We thought you were in a coma after
all the drugs. You know those city boys always have the drugs.”
“I’m fine. It was one drug, and I’ve metabolized it.”
Apparently she hadn’t gotten a full dose or she would be asleep for hours.
“What do you know?”
It was always best to go to the center of the information
world when one needed the story. Best to cut to the chase.
Tanya settled her glasses and nodded as though this was a
report she’d known she would have to deliver at some point. “I know your daddy
is mad as hell at your uncle. When he walked in he was spitting bile at Lucas.
On the phone, of course.”
Why would her dad call Lucas? Maybe she should call Lucas
herself. Garrett was a good lawyer, but he loved Keane. Lucas could make
practical decisions. “What was Keane Rollins brought in for?”
Tanya frowned. “Well, for attempted kidnapping, of course.
And then there’s the drug violations. It’s a lot of serious stuff, Olivia.”
So she had her work cut out for her. “What kind of evidence
do they have?”
Tanya didn’t even hesitate. Her true loyalty was to gossip.
If that woman had been born elsewhere, she might have joined the CIA. And then
probably gotten fired for telling state secrets. “They have the surveillance
footage for the bar. I saw it. It shows that man of yours standing in front of
the bar. It looks like he’s waiting but his arms move and I think the sheriff
is saying that’s when he spiked the drink.”
“They have him on camera with the drugs?” She wouldn’t
believe it until someone told her it wasn’t AI. Someone she trusted. Ruby
Lockwood’s day might not be over yet.
“Not that I could see. I think he was just standing there
and then he looked at his phone, but the sheriff says criminals always do
crimes, so it must be him.” Tanya leaned over. “He has a record. A nasty one.”
Well, she’d known it was coming. “Is that all they have on
him? Surveillance footage that doesn’t actually show him with drugs and his
past?”
“Well, I think they are talking to a witness,” Tanya
replied. “Pretty girl. She looks familiar. Jimmy is taking her statement right
now and flirting like mad. That girl knows how to bat her eyelashes. I hope
Betsy Ann doesn’t hear about it. She is one jealous bitch, and she shouldn’t be
surprised since Jimmy was cheating on his first wife with her when they got
together.”
Gigi frowned. “Wait. Jimmy? That troll managed to get not
one but two women to marry him?”
Tanya waved a hand. “There’s not a lot to work with around
here. Especially since some women get all kinds of greedy and take two of the
best. Though I don’t fault her for it. If I was younger… Hey, Sam, you are
looking good. Abby, we missed you at book club. How was the wedding?”
She did not have time for this. “Where is my dad?”
Then she heard the yelling.
She turned toward the office space behind the locked doors
and then stared at Tanya. “Are you going to let me through? I promise what is
about to happen will go down in Willow Fork gossip forever, and you will have a
front row seat.”
“Tanya, maybe we should talk about this before Olivia goes
in,” Papa said.
Tanya hit that button before he could get the last of the
words out. The light above the door went green and clicked open. “Sorry, Sam.
You know I think you’re a beautiful angel of a man who should get everything he
wants, but I’m going with Olivia on this one. And hey, Gigi, have you thought