Chapter 21
Summer
Rebel spins me around the dance floor. Sonatina is singing some sweet ballad for our first dance. “Enjoying yourself?”
“Everything is perfect.” I stare up at him. Everything outside of him and me might be a total mess right now, but inside our locked gazes and his hands on my body it’s heaven. “The only thing that would make it better is if we were actually alone.”
“I can make that happen.” His lips curve up in the corners.
I love his smile. It gives me butterflies.
“Come on, wife.” He ushers me from the dance floor and across the lawn. Our friends continue to congratulate us at every turn, but somehow, we manage to make it into the house with very few stops along the way.
The door closes and he crushes me against the wall, his mouth claiming mine. His tongue delving between my lips when they part. “Alone at last, wife.”
“I like the way you call me that, husband.” I twine my hands at the back of his neck as we kiss and kiss and kiss.
When he pulls back, he shakes his head, his blue eyes glittering. “Is this real?”
“For the rest of our lives.” I squeal when he scoops me up and strides through the house. I gather up the train of my dress as quickly as possible. “Be careful. You could trip.”
“Head over heels in love with my wife? Check.” His gaze simmers with want.
“Hello?” A woman calls out as she enters the house.
I stop kissing Rebel long enough to see a woman with rolling carry on. She’s also carrying a garment bag over her shoulder. “Sorry to…” she frowns when she takes in my dress. “This is Heart Ranch?”
“Yes.” Rebel sighs as he puts me on my feet.
I walk around him. He probably needs a minute for the tent in his pants to deflate. “You must be Danica.”
“Oh good.” She relaxes. “Your dress threw me off. I didn’t realize there was another wedding here this weekend.”
“Neither did we,” I approach her. “Until tonight. We’ve set you up a room close to the brides, uh, Ivy’s.”
“Great.” She follows me.
“I’ll be right back.” I blow Rebel a kiss as the front door opens again, this time to the FBI agent. Apparently private moments are in short supply tonight.
“Could I speak with you a moment?” Agent Lane asks Rebel as Danica and I leave the room.
“This is it.” I flip on the light inside the room to show Danica. It’s a huge room that isn’t usually used for sleeping, but since it’s the room Ivy and us girls will get ready in tomorrow it made sense to put the dress and Danica in here.
There’s a made up pull-out couch, a couple of stations for make up and hair, and a full length mirror. There’s also a portable steamer for the dress.
“Thank you.” Leaving her suitcase just inside the room, she carries the garment bag over and hangs it before reaching for the zipper on the bag.”
“If you’re hungry there’s plenty of food.”
“I’ll get some shortly.” She tugs the zipper down, revealing the dress inside inch by inch. But then she stops. Only Ivy and Adira have seen the dress, and it looks like that won’t be changing tonight. “I need to steam it.”
“If there’s anything you need let me know,” I tell her before shutting the door. I want to check on Kelsey anyway.
My phone starts to ring before I get halfway across the house. Violet’s Florist comes up on my screen. It’s too late for flowers, isn’t it? What if it’s not about flowers? “Violet?”
“Summer, I… I’m sorry to call you. I saw your flyer. I listened to Kurt’s confession. I didn’t… know.”
I’m glad she’s reaching out. That she knows I’m here for her. For anyone Duke and his asshole friends have abused. “Kurt was a piece of shit. They all are.”
“I know…” she says so quietly I have to strain to hear her. “They… hurt me. They all do. And I can’t escape it.”
There’s a wrenching in my chest. I hate that she’s in this spot. It sounds like they’ve gotten worse as they’ve gotten older. Must be what happens when everyone gives you a free pass.
“Yes, you can,” I say. “I’ll help you. All you have to do is decide to walk away.”
“Where will I go?” Her voice shakes.
“Here. You can come here.” My brothers will be fine with it. More than. “Duke wouldn’t dare set foot on Heart Ranch.”
In the background there’s a loud crash. Shattering. My pulse starts to race.
Violet yelps. When she speaks it’s a whisper, “They’re here. Duke. And Kyle. Oh God, Summer… I’m scared.”
Sprinting out of the house and across the lawn, I climb in the rental. The wheels spin before the car lurches forward. “Can you get out? Can you find somewhere to hide?”
Shit. Is this my fault? I put up the flyers. I’m the one trying to make sure these men get what they deserve. They retaliated after the beat down by my brothers, now it sounds like Violet is in even more danger.
“I don’t… I’ll try.” Her breathing is shallow and quick. Her footsteps loud, but theirs are louder. “They’re too quick. I can’t…”
She screams. There’s an awful clattering sound, probably the phone dropping since everything grows muffled.
I press the accelerator all the way to the floor, praying for her voice to come back on the line the whole way to the florist shop. I pull up out front. The pretty windows are shattered. Glass litters the ground inside and out. What’s left in the frame hangs like tattered curtains.
The door is off its top hinge. It hangs at an angle. Bits of the glass crunch under my shoes.
This isn’t right. Duke and his friends might not be scared at all of what people in this town think of them, but they wouldn’t be this blatant, would they?
But if I pushed them too far…
Please let Violet be okay.
Cautiously, I pick my way across the shop floor. My dress drags behind me, the lace picking up shards of glass as I move. It’s quiet. Like no one is here. “Violet?”
There’s no reply. Not from Violet. Or Duke. Or whoever attacked her. I hope she managed to get away from them and find somewhere to hide. But the backroom is empty other than a hamster running on his exercise wheel and a half-finished cup of tea.
I keep going. There’s a long hallway with a powder room off it. I poke my head in. “Violet? Are you in here?” My voice echoes on the tiles.
She’s not in either of the storerooms. The roses Ivy must have seen last night are still in the last one. She mustn’t have had time to dispose of them yet.
That’s where I find Violet’s phone. It’s still connected to mine. I hang up the call. Violet’s gone. They must have taken her somewhere.
My phone rings.
I answer it. “Where is she?”
“You shouldn’t have come back,” Duke says. “You should have stayed in L.A. and let us be. You kicked the hornets’ nest this morning with those flyers. You coerced a confession from Kurt. People aren’t going to believe you.”
He’s pissed and it isn’t because the people around here believe me. It’s because maybe one or two can see through him in a way they weren’t capable of before. “Violet believes me.”
“Violet doesn’t matter,” he snaps. “She’s nothing. To nobody.”
Except my brothers. She’s a whole lot more than nothing where they’re concerned.
“Then let her go.” I try to keep the fear out of my words and the shake from my hand, but I’m aware I have no idea what Duke is capable of. We were only kids when I was in his crosshairs. It’s been years.
“Come and get her. Oh, and come alone,” he says and the line goes dead.
I hurry through the shop and get back in the car. Going to meet Duke is a bad idea, but what choice do I have? I won’t let him hurt Violet anymore. I can’t risk this poor woman’s life because I pissed Duke and his pals off.
I stare at the double rings on my finger. Tonight was the best night of my life. Marrying Rebel; it’s a moment I will always cherish. I wish he was here with me now. But I can’t go back to get him. There isn’t time. And Duke said to come alone.
The problem is I’m not alone. I press my hand to my belly. And I would be the biggest idiot if I ignored how much Duke hates me. And how he hurt me before. I’m walking into danger with no way to protect myself if I don’t come up with a plan.
I duck back into the florist and grab a pair of gloves from Violet’s workspace then drive over to Kurt’s and break in again. It’s harder without Dizzy. Except this time Kurt isn’t here. He’ll be at Duke’s.
I find a tire iron and a gallon of fuel. Then I go upstairs for one of the rifles and bullets every man in this town keeps. A lighter, some empty beer bottles, and a couple of Kurt’s shirts round out my supplies.
I distribute some of the fuel into the bottles and rip his shirts into strips that I stuff into the open necks. I find a parts carton and place them carefully inside before loading everything into the passenger seat of the rental.
I’m going to have to be quick when I get there. Quick enough they don’t have a chance to realize what I’ve done before they catch up with me.
It takes me five minutes to reach the front gates of Duke’s ranch. Two more and I’m in his driveway with a bottle in one hand and the lighter in the other.
The first Molotov breaks the windscreen on his vehicle. The interior catches quickly. A glow starting up in a matter of seconds. The second I aim at the hay bales stacked up near the exercise yard. The third shatters over the logs piled near the house.
I lift the rifle to my shoulder, take off the safety, and ready the trigger. Maybe I don’t know what Duke is capable of, but he doesn’t know me anymore either.
The front door opens and Duke shoves Violet out in front of him. She trips but manages to steady herself.
“Did you think I wouldn’t expect this?” He clamps a hand on her shoulder, which makes her flinch as he uses her as a shield. Kyle heads to the left. Kurt to the right.
I squeeze the trigger and a puff of dirt sprays up in front of the sheriff.
“You could go to jail for that.” He sneers.
I could but they have no intention of that happening. For now, the fact that he holds his place means he remembers shooting soda cans off the railings of the stockyard with me. “It’s been a while, but I can still aim straight and true.”
“All right.” He puts his hands up, palms facing me.
“Let Violet go,” I order.
I turn the weapon on Kurt when his movement catches the corner of my eye. But it doesn’t matter that he stops dead still, because Kyle takes that next step. I’m in a deadly game of red rover.