Chapter 24
TWENTY-FOUR
It’s unsticking your thighs from plastic chairs season.
—Holly to Nettie
HOLLY
I was coughing up my lungs, and the poor little raccoon babies in my shirt were along for the ride.
I heard talking, and at first the sound of the voice didn’t quite register.
I was coughing too hard for it to.
But then the voice moved closer and the timbre of the voice played along sensitive nerve endings.
I knew that voice.
I’d heard that voice days ago when I’d escaped another dangerous situation.
I peeled open my eyes and stared up at the man blocking the blinding sun.
“Hello.” He smiled as he dropped down to his haunches. “Are you okay?”
No.
No, I wasn’t okay.
And not only because I’d just escaped a burning building with over twenty animals in it.
I wasn’t okay because this was the man who’d been at that dog fighting ring.
The man that Denver had been looking relentlessly for since I’d told him about the man that’d been in the mountains with me that night.
Luckily, the croak that came out of my mouth was answer enough for him because he didn’t push further for me to speak.
Didn’t think that I’d ever thank having smoke inhalation, but there I was.
“Come on over here.” He lifted his hand. “We need to get you away from the fire.”
I was already shaking my head. “No.”
He tried that blinding smile he’d already given me once, but that smile wouldn’t work on me.
I was immune to it now that I’d heard his voice.
“You need to come to my truck so I can get you on some oxygen…”
I was already shaking my head again.
This man looked like anyone off the street.
He wasn’t in a uniform of any kind.
He wasn’t even wearing his club cut.
The sound of his voice was the only reason I knew who he was.
“You seriously need to come with me,” he said as he reached for me.
I was up and moving despite not wanting to be moved.
The grip on my arm was a little bit tighter than it should be, and my heart was hammering in my throat as I started to panic for an altogether different reason that day.
Luckily, before I could get too freaked out, the grip on my shoulders loosened, and he set me back down on my feet.
My knees felt like Jello, and hardly supported my weight as he moved away from me.
I didn’t know why until Denver was standing in front of me, his hands cupping my face. “Are you okay?”
I croaked. “No!”
Tears started to trail down my face, and I threw myself at him.
The raccoons in my shirt protested the move, and I backed off and reached into my shirt to pull them both out.
He looked down at the little burdens in my hands and smiled.
That smile dropped off my face as he looked at the building behind me.
“I don’t see any fire.”
“That’s because it’s in the walls,” someone said.
Not the man who had been here earlier.
A new one.
“And the fire suppression system was disabled.”
I blinked and turned to find an attractive older man that looked vaguely familiar.
Black?
He was a firefighter, too?
“Volunteer,” he answered.
Had I said that aloud?
“Yes.” He laughed. “Every able-bodied man in Bear Pass, Jawbone, and Sawtooth is a volunteer firefighter.”
I guess that made perfect sense since we didn’t have a permanent one.
I’d never had the need to give it much thought before now.
“How was it started?” a man asked.
I looked over to see a badass with a great beard and a bald head standing there, looking at the building.
“Called Boone to review his cameras,” Denver said. “I don’t know yet.”
Sirens wailed in the distance, and I breathed out a sigh of relief when I saw a fire engine pull up and a couple of men spill out.
All with familiar faces.
That’s when I was reminded…
“Denver!”
Denver’s head snapped back to meet my gaze. “What?”
“He was here!” I looked around, coughing at the force of which I’d said that. “The man from the dog fighting ring.”
He frowned and looked around. “None of my guys are here…”
I was looking around myself, but didn’t see the man.
I described him instead, and Denver’s frown grew fiercer. “He had a tattoo right here…”
I described the tattoo on the man’s neck to Denver and his scary looking friend who seemed to hang on my every word.
“I don’t have any brothers under me that have a tattoo on their neck like that. Hux has a lot of tattoos, but…”
“It wasn’t Hux,” I declared. “I’ve never seen this man before in my life. And today he wasn’t wearing his cut. He was the man that was holding me when you got here.”
“I thought that was a good Samaritan.” He frowned.
“Give me a second.” The older man stepped away from us.
Denver pulled me back into his arms, baby raccoons and all, and said, “I’m sorry, baby.”
The firefighters rushed us out of the area, but I ignored them and went back inside the front way to the vet’s office.
The next thirty minutes was spent moving animals around and hooking them back up to their support.
By the time Boone arrived looking flustered I mostly had it covered.
He helped with the last patient and then looked at the damage to the kennels and recovery wing through the large plate-glass window that was installed just a few days ago.
“Guess we’re going to have to redo that one next,” he muttered. “I wonder if it was faulty wiring? That place is over a hundred years old. I bought it from the old vet, and he’d bought it from the old vet before him.”
“Not faulty wiring.” Denver came in with the older man again. A man whom I realized was Sawyer’s husband, the national club president for the Dixie Wardens. “There was a gas trail that led to the woods. It was deliberately set.”
“My god,” Young breathed. “He could’ve killed all the animals if Holly wasn’t there!”
Denver’s eyes came to me. “I know.”
Boone sighed and scrubbed his hand through his already messy hair. “Were y’all able to find anything in the cameras?”
“Yep,” he said. “Look at this.”
Boone and I leaned in.
“That’s him,” I agreed. “Y’all don’t know him?”
“Never seen him before,” Denver and Boone parroted.
“That’s because he’s not from around here.” The older man, Silas, came in.
Sawyer was with him, face grave.
“That man is an ex-Dixie Warden member from the Tuscaloosa Chapter. He took off before the president down there could take his cut. Got excommunicated because of dog fighting.”
“Whoa,” I breathed. “And he just came up here?”
“Looks like he was going anywhere that had a club presence, that was as far away from his old club as he could get. He wasn’t trying to join the club here, it turns out. Just assimilate a bit. Use the Dixie Warden connection to get a dog fighting ring up and running.”
“Why expose himself today?” I wondered. “He could’ve just left, and no one would’ve known.”
“Gambling addiction,” Silas answered. “His old club president said that he was addicted to gambling. Also, spoke with the dude still in jail because no one will touch his bond. Turns out, the man, Errol Fuller, wanted his dogs back so they could start a new ring. Intended to get them out himself, but didn’t realize that the dogs weren’t in that unit. ”
“So where is he now?”
“In the wind.” Gentry came into the conversation. I hadn’t even realized he was here. “Black and I went for a visit at the local hotels. Found him in a long-term rental in Jawbone. But he’s gone. Stuff is gone, too.”
“Fuck,” Silas grumbled. “We’ll find him.”
“You think he’s gone?” I asked.
“If he was smart,” Silas answered.
I didn’t have the same feeling.
We’d just have to wait and see, I guessed.
Another coughing fit started, and Denver caught my hand. “Let’s get you to the house and showered.”
“Actually, I was going to suggest you stay here from now on.” Boone’s eyes gleamed as he pointed at the room that he’d built out with a little apartment inside for those kennel attendants that were here overnight.
“I was talking it out with Nettie, and we figure we’d give you first dibs on the apartment in case you want to stay here. It has a working shower.”
The way that Boone said that made me frown. “I have a working shower at Denver’s place…but it does make sense to be closer to my job…”
“On that note.” Silas clapped Denver on the shoulder. “We’re heading out. We’re sorry we couldn’t stay longer,” he declared. “We’re going to head home and coordinate from there. We’ll find your guy, Denver. He won’t get away with this.”
“Thanks, man,” Denver said, sounding livid.
I didn’t blame him.
A man had come into his town and pretended like he belonged, using the Dixie Warden name to get a leg up. I would be pissed, too, in his situation.
Boone’s eyes were dancing with mirth when he said, “Get her home and showered, Denver.”
I glanced between the two men and decided to ignore them and walked over to Sawyer.
“I’m so sorry that this meeting didn’t go better.” I hugged her. “If you want to shower, you can come to Denver’s place.”
“We’re good. I’m not that smoky anymore after I dunked my hair into the hose outside. Plus, we’re going to be riding the rest of the night anyway. I’m glad you’re okay, Holly.”
I hugged her tighter and let her go.
I waved at Silas, and he winked. “Don’t be too hard on him.”
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
He didn’t answer, leaving me alone with my thoughts.
When Denver joined me, he seemed even tenser than when I left him.
“What’s wrong?”
He cleared his throat. “It’s just been a long day. You ready to go home?”
I nodded. “More than.”