Boom Boom Bang (Love & Lawlessness Trilogy #1)

Chapter 1

Small Town Hall

FIONA

“The current proposal would have Henley and Montank breaking ground on the new resort site during the third quarter of this year and—”

“This is in addition to their projects on Bridal Mountain and Hay Creek?” a voice from the back of the room shouts angrily.

I spin in my seat to find the speaker and see Richard Alan White the Third, AKA Tre White, AKA That Asshole. I turn back to the front where Councilman Nammier is scowling at Tre and raise my hand.

“Yes, Dr. Carson?” the councilman asks, and I resist the urge to wince. I hate being called doctor outside of work. I’m not even a big fan of people using it while I’m at work.

“I think it sounds like a great idea. It’ll bring so many new jobs to the community,” I say.

In reality, I don’t think it sounds like a great idea at all.

I actually agree with Tre, not that I would ever tell him that—he can eat a flaming bag of dicks.

It’s a terrible fucking idea. But I don’t bother saying so because it doesn’t matter.

Standing up and telling the city council that their plan to ‘revitalize’ the town should go kick rocks because it’ll destroy pristine local habitat and contaminate the watershed will achieve absolutely nothing.

This is a done deal. This is the city informing us they’ve greenlit Henley and Montank’s third project.

As if the previous—but still ongoing—projects haven’t been disastrous enough.

I’m only here to hear firsthand how bad this is going to be, and it sounds like the answer is pretty damn bad.

The words ‘ecological disaster’ spring to mind.

“Yes. Thank you, Dr. Carson. As I was saying, Henley and Montank will be breaking ground in the third quarter, with construction anticipated to last for the next two and a half years. At the end—”

“They’ve already contaminated Hay Creek!

” Tre shouts, interrupting once more. “Last year the salmon didn’t even spawn in the creek, and you’re giving them permission to ruin the rest of Kalomish?

The runoff from the dig site alone has the potential to fuck up the entire watershed!

That’s not just the fish. That’s the birds, the beavers, the foxes, the bears.

It’s us! Our drinking water comes from the same watershed! ”

“Mr. White. I will ask you to hold your comments until the end for the question-and-answer session—”

“The question-and-answer session that will last all of ten minutes? The one where you’ll politely brush aside everyone’s concerns by saying that ‘Henley and Montank will take the utmost care to minimize any environmental impact’?” Tre yells.

He’s an asshole, but he may have nailed their lip service quote verbatim.

Councilman Nammier sighs as if he finds the entire exchange distasteful, but his dark eyes light up gleefully when he says, “Deputies, if you wouldn’t mind escorting Mr. White out?”

The deputies leave their positions flanking the dais and head down the aisle toward the back of the room, where Tre is leaning against the wall with his tanned arms folded across his chest, appearing completely unbothered.

And maybe he is. He’s been escorted from all five of the last town halls.

It’s practically an old game for him by now.

“You’d think he’d give it a rest at some point,” Ewan whispers from my right.

“Mmm.”

“Although you didn’t need to egg him on.”

“Whatever. He’s an asshole. I hope he takes a swing at one of the deputies and lands his ass in jail for the night,” I say as they finally reach out to grab Tre, and he shrugs them off.

“Sis,” Ewan chides.

“What? He’s an asshole!” I reiterate quietly.

The entire hall is watching as the deputies reach for Tre again, dragging him toward the door this time. Unfortunately, he goes with them without a fight, denying me my one real desire to see them throw him face down on the floor and slap some handcuffs on him.

“He’s right though,” Ewan says. “And you know it.”

“So? It’s not like it matters. They’re going to do what they’re going to do.

Same as always. This is just a dog and pony show.

” I turn back to face the front of the room, where Councilman Nammier looks undeniably smug as he adjusts his tie.

I think he enjoys throwing Tre out of these meetings as much as Tre enjoys being thrown out of them.

It’s simply a leftover pissing contest from high school for both of them—small-town guys with big-time egos.

Tre’s dad is—was?—the richest man in town, and Jacob Nammier always resented the fact that no matter how good he was at whatever varsity sport he was playing that month, Tre had more money, a nicer car, nicer clothes, and at least as much interest from every girl in school.

“It seems like now may be an appropriate time to open the floor for questions,” Councilman Nammier states with a smirk.

I plaster a pleasant smile on my face to match his smirk as I nod in agreement. Because fuck him. Fuck them all.

Half an hour later, Ewan and I walk into the bar across the street.

It’s just after eight-thirty. Normally, Malcolm’s wouldn’t be so busy on a Wednesday night, but it looks like everyone had the same idea.

The town hall meetings have been a shitshow during the five months I’ve been back, and it sounds like they’ve more or less been this way for the past couple of years.

I’m guessing that Malcolm is well-accustomed to the post-town-hall-meeting rush by this point.

“Hey Carson,” someone calls out as we shove our way toward the bar. “I always knew you never gave a fuck about this town, but I can’t believe you’re stupid enough to think this is a good idea!”

I don’t even bother looking. Having heard the voice so recently, it’s burned into my memory.

Hell. It’s been burned into my memory since I was sixteen.

And I know he’s talking to me and not Ewan.

Mostly because I’ve heard the insinuations that I don’t care about Kalomish again and again.

Turns out leaving for fifteen years will do that.

Doesn’t matter that I came back and took over for Dr. Restin when he decided to retire and sell his practice. It only matters that I left.

“Hey Dickie,” I reply over the din of conversation and clinking glasses, not caring who hears me. I’m the only doctor in town. I don’t have to be nice to anyone. “Does shouting about your problems make you feel like more of a man?”

“Sis, you know he hates being called that.”

I spot Tess and veer toward her. She managed to save us two stools.

“Why do you think I do it? Besides, if he has a problem with it, he should take it up with daddy. Hey Tess,” I say as I slide onto the stool next to her. I lift two fingers when I catch Malcolm’s eye and receive a small nod in response.

“Hey Fiona. Hey Ewan. Took you long enough. I practically had to fight off half the bar to keep these seats free,” she says, her dark hair shining in the light.

Tess and I have been best friends since her family moved to Kalomish the summer before eighth grade, when her dad took a job with White Construction.

Our dads ended up working together doing demolition, and my mom invited her family to a barbecue.

I’m pretty sure she was hoping that the three of us would become friends, and Tess would know people before the school year started.

“Hey Tess,” Ewan says, before resuming our conversation. “If you’d give him half a chance, you’d see he’s not the same person he was back in high school.”

“He doesn’t deserve half a chance, Ewan,” I mutter.

“Tre?” Tess asks.

“Yeah,” I answer before returning my attention to Ewan. “I don’t know why you’re defending him, anyway.”

Ewan shrugs. “People can change.”

I side-eye him as I ask, “You and he aren’t…?”

Ewan laughs, his green eyes full of amusement. “No. I’m pretty sure you’re more his type than I am.”

“Gross.”

Tess grins. “He’s okay, Fiona.”

I shoot her a glare. “You’re supposed to be on my side.”

She shrugs and takes a sip of her beer.

“Seriously though,” Ewan continues, running a hand through his russet hair, “if you stopped antagonizing him long enough to actually talk to him, you’d probably get along.”

“I don’t want to get along with him, Ewan. You know what he said about mom!”

“I know, but he was a dumbass sixteen-year-old.”

“Whatever, Mr. Live-and-Let-Live. It was like three weeks after she died. I’ll keep holding my grudges, thank you very much,” I say over Tess’s snicker as Malcolm sets two pints in front of us. “Hey Mal.”

“Hey Fiona. Hey Ewan. Want me to add them to your tab, Fi?”

“Yeah, thanks,” I reply before he nods and moves away. “Anyway,” I continue, focusing on Ewan again as he lifts his beer to his lips. “I don’t want to make peace with that asshole. I fully intend to outlive him and then spit on his grave.”

Ewan nearly sprays beer across the bar as he smothers a laugh. “Okay. Fine. Do I need to hate him, too?”

“No. You can do whatever you want,” I tell my twin.

“Changing the subject,” Tess says, her brown eyes still dancing with amusement, “I was talking to Cath and Kelly earlier. We were thinking about doing a climbing trip in the Gorge over the Fourth of July. Want to come? We can camp out all weekend. I’ll bring fireworks—”

“Those are bad for the environment,” I interject. “The animals don’t like them.”

“It’s one night, Fi. And people like them. It’ll be fine. Are you in?”

“Yeah. Fine. I’ll come,” I agree, already planning to see if I can change her mind about the fireworks.

“Ewan?” she asks.

He stares off into the middle distance for a few seconds. “Sure. Sounds like fun.”

I park in the driveway behind my dad’s beater at nine-fifty. The main floor of the house is dark, but I can see light leaking from the basement windows as I get out of my truck.

I left Ewan at the bar about fifteen minutes ago because, unlike him, I’m not a river rat, and I have to wake up before ten in the morning.