26. Dallas
DALLAS
Iscream, trying to pull my shirt down when I hear the voice. Duke’s eyes widen, and he laughs.
“You wanna give us a minute?”
“Hurry up. We got shit to discuss.”
Cash’s voice fades with his footsteps as he heads toward the porch. Another lighter set follows behind him, giggling.
Red-hot mortification seeps through my veins at the realization that Monroe Blue, superstar country singer, just caught me hooking up with her fiancé’s brother.
“Just drown me with that hose, please,” I groan.
I feel his dick twitch inside me.
I gape up at him. “No. No way. We have to stop!”
He shuts his eyes, wincing as he pulls out. “Fine. But I just want you to be aware that my balls are gonna hurt for the rest of the day.”
“Well, that’s not my fault, is it?!”
It amazes me that he’s perfectly willing to stop when I’m having a panic attack, but stopping because we were caught red-handed out in the open is too much to ask of him.
I grab my wet shorts and struggle to wiggle them on. Just as Duke covers his privates, another truck pulls into the driveway.
“How did we not hear them pulling in?”
“I mean, you were moaning in my ear. That’s all I could hear.” He winks at me.
I roll my eyes, secretly glad I at least got off before we were caught.
“I can’t believe Monroe saw me like that. I can never look her in the eyes again.”
“She doesn’t care. I’m the one whose ass was in the air.”
I clap my hand over my mouth, heat spreading through my chest. “How are you ever going to face them?”
He shrugs. “Right now, I’m gonna go change into some dry clothes and see what he’s here for.”
The person in the second vehicle climbs out, and I recognize their family lawyer, Warner. A third one pulls up, and the color drains from Duke’s face when the logo on the side becomes visible.
“Shit. Why is he here?” I ask.
The sheriff barely glances our way before taking the steps up to the front porch after Warner.
Duke grabs my hand, pulling me in for a kiss. “Don’t know. Go get changed and meet me in the house so we can find out.”
I shake my head. “No, thanks.”
He grins. “All right then, you don’t get the gossip.”
“I’ll live.”
After taking a hot shower and changing, I take some time to care for my indoor plants while trying to calm my rattled nerves. It was a shocking change—to go from a mind-blowing orgasm to getting caught having sex outside with someone I basically asked to be my fuck buddy five minutes earlier.
I need a massage. And some Xanax.
Instead, I decide to ask Eden if she wants to go grab a bite to eat. I feel restless, and sitting at home tonight seems like a recipe for me to drink way too much wine or end up doing something extremely reckless again, like begging a younger man to fuck me on his front lawn in broad daylight.
She agrees, so we hop into my minivan and head for town. The driveway now has Holden and Rosie’s side-by-side parked in it.
“Hmm, weird. Something funky is going on,” I muse.
Eden curiously looks out the window at all the cars, but doesn’t say anything. I like her for so many reasons, one of them being that she was brave enough to leave an abuser even though she was pregnant by him—something I will always wish I had done.
I also like that she’s not bothered by my loud and disruptive twins. She’s going to be an incredible mother.
“So, what are you craving? My treat,” I tell her.
She rubs the top of her growing belly. She’s also having a boy.
“I could go for a juicy burger.”
“Oh, yeah, girl. Now you’re speaking my language.”
I reach over to turn the radio up. It’s a Justin Bieber song that I love.
“Do you like Justin Bieber?” I ask.
She shrugs. “I’ve never heard him until now.”
I nearly crash my car into the ditch. “What?!”
“My parents were really strict about all media, music, everything like that.”
“Oh wow. That’s intense.”
“I have two older brothers, Adam and Dan, who went off to college and defied my parents by marrying girls who weren’t active church members and hadn’t been homeschooled. But I was the biggest disappointment, with the pregnancy out of wedlock and all.”
I whistle under my breath. “Well, you’re in the Redford family now, and you’re my friend. We’ll acclimate you to normal life, which Justin Bieber is a very important part of. We’ll watch some music videos of his when we get back home.”
I turn up the song, “Everything Hallelujah.”
I hum under my breath as we pull into Loretta’s Café. They have my favorite burgers, homemade ranch dressing, and dangerously delicious sweet tea.
“You missing Sterling?” I ask her.
She nods, sighing as we walk inside. “Every single day. I got a new letter yesterday. I’m so worried about him.”
“I bet. I’m sorry. I would be a mess.”
We take a seat at an empty booth. I slide the menu to the side, already knowing exactly what I want.
“I think I’m questioning if he was even real or not. He’s been gone longer than I was actually living with him. I’m so glad I’m here with y’all, or I would really think I’d made him up in my head.”
I laugh, shaking my head. “He’s real. I think you guys still have some getting to know each other to do, but since you sort of skipped around in the order of things, you’ll just have to do it with a baby.
Which isn’t a bad thing. Life changes so much after kids.
I truly think a lot of couples fall apart after living for years with just each other.
Kids throw so much work and responsibility into a relationship, and if you don’t both pull your weight, it’s hard. ”
The waitress appears, chewing her gum. Her curly gray hair is tied up in a blue bandana. “What can I get you gals?”
“Sweet tea for me. Eden?”
“Same for me.”
The waitress walks away, wide hips swaying.
“I think you guys will be fine. Honestly, from what I’ve heard, Sterling is pretty easygoing. I don’t know him well, but that’s the vibe I get from what everyone says. He’s a good egg.”
“He’s done so much for me already. It’s part of why I question whether or not it was all real. It’s hard to believe.”
“Like what?”
She twirls a long golden strand of hair around her finger. She’s so pretty and innocent-looking with her freckles sprinkled across her nose.
“I—” She looks around sheepishly.
The waitress returns with our sweet tea. “Anything to eat, hon?”
“Yes, I’ll have the cheeseburger, cooked medium well, with fried pickles and ranch.”
“Oh, that sounds amazing. Same for me, but no onions, please,” Eden says.
The woman nods and walks away again. I look back at her, reaching for the tea.
She lowers her voice and leans in toward me. “I think either he or Duke might have murdered my ex.”
I choke on the tea, accidentally inhaling it while trying to sip from the rim. It dribbles out of my nose, making my eyes water. I blink, coughing as I reach for a napkin in the metal holder.
“Um, excuse me.” I try clearing my throat, dabbing my face with the napkin.
When I’m finally recovered, my eyes meet hers again.
“Could you, uh, expand on that statement?” I choke out.
She licks her lips, her cheeks warm and her voice low.
“I don’t really know. It was … weird. I hadn’t told anyone where I was, but he found me—Michael, my ex.
I was walking down the street, and he took me—kidnapped me, I guess.
He drove me to this motel room and was being his usual jerk self.
I genuinely thought I’d never see Sterling again. I figured he was better off, you know?”
The sinking feeling of knowing exactly what she means settles over me like a wet blanket. From an outsider’s perspective, I don’t view Eden or her baby as any type of dead weight, even though she clearly views herself that way.
“But after a few minutes, Sterling found us, busted down the door and everything. He started beating Michael up before Duke took me out to the truck and told me to stay put and wait.”
Her eyes are wide and intensely focused on my face. I nod, encouraging her to go on.
“I haven’t told anyone about this,” she whispers, glancing around nervously again.
My heart pounds in my ears. “What happened next?”
She licks her lips and chews on her thumbnail before finally continuing on with the story.
“I don’t even know how to explain it. They were in there for another fifteen minutes before Sterling came out with blood all over him.
Then we drove around the block and picked up Duke, who looked just as bad.
I never asked what happened, but I haven’t heard from Michael since.
My sister-in-law Harley told me that he’d been reported missing, but no one has any idea what could have happened to him. ”
Her green eyes are boring into me, clearing gauging my reaction. I blow out an exhale, leaning back against the booth. The waitress returns, dropping off our burgers and fried pickles with a side of ranch. The scent of the greasy food makes my mouth water.
“Anything else you need, girls?”
“Nope. This looks great.”
She smacks her gum and leaves us alone. Eden clasps her hands in front of herself and bows her head. I follow suit.
“Dear Lord, please bless this food to the nourishment of our bodies. And keep my baby and Sterling safe, along with Dawson and Dutton. Amen.”
I smile at the prayer before opening my eyes and dipping a fried pickle in the ranch.
“So, let’s say they did. Where would they have hidden the body?”
She shakes her head. “No idea. We went back to Sterling’s house and watched a movie. Maybe Duke went back that night for it?”
I shudder when I picture Duke dragging a bloody dead man out into a random field to bury him. Is he actually capable of something that brutal?
As long as I’ve known him, he’s been the flirty playboy who bull rides, dances at the bar on Friday nights, and fucks like it’s his only purpose in life. Cold-blooded murder, even of a jackass like Eden’s ex, seems far-fetched.
But I don’t think Eden is a liar. And I also don’t think she has an overly active imagination. She seems pretty levelheaded.
“What else did Harley say?”
She pulls out her phone and taps on the screen. “I have the text right here.” She hands the device over to me.
Harley
I’m so glad you’re not sick anymore. Oh, by the way, I hate to bring up this jerkface at all, but I just thought you should know that Michael has gone missing.
His grandma posted on social media about how no one has seen him in months.
They’re asking for prayers. Yeah, good luck getting people to pray for that prick. Isn’t that weird?
I read over the text several times before clicking on the link attached to it. It brings up a post, detailing how long it’s been since Michael has been gone and that his last-known whereabouts were in Virginia.
“Virginia? Isn’t that where you and Sterling were living before he was deployed?”
She nods slowly, like that’s the whole point.
“So, Michael somehow found you there, went to demand you take him back or whatever bullshit, and then after Sterling and Duke beat him up, he hasn’t been seen since.”
“Yeah. Pretty much. You’re the only person I’ve told this to, by the way. My family is already freaked out by the pregnancy and me eloping with a stranger. I can’t tell them this.”
I nod, wrapping both hands around the huge burger. “You can trust me. I won’t tell anyone.”
My attention is dragged away by a newcomer entering the café. My heart rate triples when I see who it is.
The shoulder-length brunette hair belongs to Matt’s sister. She’s gotten blond highlights since I last saw her.
The hateful glare on her face makes my neck feel hot. Honestly, she disliked me since before the divorce. I’m sure she uses it as an excuse now, but she’s never been nice.
I used to try so hard to earn her approval. After a few years into my marriage to Matt, she told me once she didn’t like me at first because I had an “abrasive” personality. I wasn’t sure what that meant, but it stung.
She must be in town to see the kids because she doesn’t live here. Last I heard, she was going to college out of state.
Instead of continuing to walk past and ignore me, she walks right up to our table and bends down to whisper in my ear. The hair on the back of my neck rises as her lips get close to me.
“I just want you to know, you’re an evil bitch. And I always knew you were a whore. Everyone in our family does.”