Chapter 31
Thirty-One
For the fuckteenth time…
—Text from Sage to Gentry
Sage
Six weeks later
I stared up at the ceiling in exhaustion. The ceiling tiles were yellow in some places. They looked like they needed to be replaced five years ago.
That was yet another thing we needed to fix.
“We have to figure this out,” I groaned in exhaustion.
“Surely there’s at least two people in a population of twenty-five thousand that could start helping us,” Bernice said from where she had her head resting on her arms on top of the table.
We were all exhausted.
We’d been pulling eight to ten-hour days for weeks now and we were still no closer to getting help.
We’d gone through three people so far, and none of them had meshed well with our tight-knit group. They were either constantly late, constantly complaining, or constantly thought they knew better than you.
Odin had fired every single one of them within a week.
Which left us where we were currently. Exhausted and ready to collapse.
“We’ll figure something out.” Odin sighed and stood up. “I have to go be the medical examiner for a bit.”
We both waved him away, Bernice not picking her head up off the table to do it.
A honk sounded outside, and I got up, stretched my arms up high over my head and said, “That’d be my ride.”
“What ride is that?” Bernice called out.
“Gentry used my truck today to get Dean from school and drive him into Bozeman for his appointment with his lawyer and child psychologist,” I answered as I threaded my arms through my jacket sleeves.
It was officially freezing in Montana. Literally and figuratively.
I loved Montana. But I hated Montana’s weather.
It sucked.
I was so not prepared for winter.
“How’s he doing?”
“Terrified,” I admitted. “Tomorrow’s the big day.”
“Oh, yeah.” She sat forward. “I forgot that you had the day off.”
I grinned. “You’re going to die.”
She dropped her head back to the table. “I hate you.”
I giggled as I walked out the door. “See you the day after tomorrow, Bernie!”
“Don’t call me Bernie!” she yelled at my back.
Odin, Bernice, and I were close. As one would expect after spending every single day together since they’d opened the doctor’s office.
However, Bernice and I? We were practically best friends.
It felt really freakin’ nice to have her in my life.
She was a piece I hadn’t realized I was missing.
Another piece I hadn’t realized I was missing was sitting in the truck with his window rolled down talking to Ida Bell Pruitt.
She smiled at Dean and waved.
I walked up to her side and said, “How happy are you with your job?”
Ida Bell turned to me with her brother Boone’s eyes and said, “Actually, not happy at all. Have something for me?”
I blinked, shocked.
She worked with Koen.
Why was she not happy?
I opened my mouth to ask why, then closed it.
That was none of my business.
Not to mention, she was pretty private. I had known her for months now, and I still knew just as much about her now than I did when I’d met her.
“We’re looking for a receptionist slash office manager,” I said. “And you don’t even have to quit with King Construction. You can keep working there if you want. Maybe you can do both?”
“Definitely not both,” she muttered as she looked at the building behind me. “What’s the pay?”
“That I have no clue.” I paused. “Hold on, let me go get Odin.”
I hustled up the front walk of the medical examiner’s office and pounded on the door.
Odin pushed it open with a frown.
“What is it?”
“I have a prospect!” I cried out, pointing behind me.
Odin’s brows rose. “She works for Koen.”
“She says she’s not wanting to anymore.”
Odin’s eyes narrowed, then he pushed past me to go talk to Ida Bell.
He offered her his hand and Ida Bell shook it. “Hey. You’re looking for a job?”
She nodded.
“And you’re not working with Koen anymore?” Odin asked bluntly. “Why?”
Ida Bell’s face flushed. “Koen’s baby mama is back in the picture, and she’s helping run things. And I hate her. I can’t stand her at all, and being around her makes me want to shoot myself in the face. I have to get out of there for my own mental health.”
Ida Bell was in love with Koen.
You could read it plain as day on her face.
Poor girl.
“Pay’s twenty-two dollars an hour,” Odin said. “Hours are eight thirty to five every single day.”
She looked relieved. “I’ll take it.”
After a few minutes, Odin led Ida Bell into the office, and I climbed into the truck with Gentry and leaned over the console to place my mouth on his. His hand came up and cupped my chin, holding me to him slightly as he kissed me hard back.
“That’s so gross.”
We broke the kiss, and I looked into the back seat to see Dean staring at us with a small smile on his face. “Hey, buddy. How did today go?”
He wrinkled his cute nose, which made the dimple in his chin more prominent. “I’m just ready to get it over with.”
I didn’t doubt that.
I reached back and squeezed his hand. “It’ll be okay.”
A wet nose poked my hand and I smiled, reaching down to pet Neo’s head. “Hey there, buddy. I didn’t see you there.”
He was under Dean’s feet, practically invisible in the dark cab.
“Moral support,” Gentry said. “Can’t say the lawyers were too happy to see a dog there, but they understood when I said that he did better with him around.”
“Neo makes me calm.” Dean shrugged. “Plus, if Brooke ever attacks me, maybe he’ll bite her.”
Maybe indeed.
The night went quick, as it always did, and by the time the morning arrived, I was freaking out.
Today was the day that Brooke and Nadine would get sentenced for their crimes.
And Gentry couldn’t be there.
Not only did he have to work, but we’d also decided that it would be best for everyone if he continued to stay hidden from their view.
They didn’t need to know anything that was going on behind the scenes.
Plus, with Black there to testify, Gentry was needed to work in his place.
Strong arms curled around my belly and pulled me to a very hard body. “What’s the frown for?”
I sighed. “I don’t want to go alone.”
He nuzzled my neck. “You won’t be alone. My brother will be there. My club brothers will be there. You are not alone.”
“I know it’s not about me,” I found myself saying. “But I just have a horrible feeling something bad is going to happen.”
He squeezed my waist and let me go, turning me around to get a better look at my face. “What do you think will happen?”
That was the problem. I had no clue.
Which I shared with him.
“Neo will be there, too,” he noted. “Maybe he can calm Dean and you down at the same time.”
That was true.
We’d gotten permission to bring Neo with us into the courtroom.
He’d have his muzzle on.
Everything would be okay.
Everything wasn’t okay.
Brooke was making Dean nervous, and every time Dean said something on the witness stand, Brooke would scoff or say something under her breath and Dean would clam up.
Eventually, Dean’s lawyer asked for a recess, and it was granted.
Van and I sat on the bench stiff as boards as Dean made his way to us.
Van reached for his son and pulled him in tight, whispering to him quietly.
In the six weeks that Van had become a dad officially, he’d changed a lot.
No longer stiff and unyielding, he had a lot of bend in him now. Until it came to Dean.
Then Van was ruthless and cunning, conniving and vindictive.
I loved it.
The recess finished, and we were forced back into our earlier positions, though this time Dean took Neo up to the stand with him.
The judge didn’t say anything, but I could tell he thought it was unusual.
Van, the club brothers behind me, and I didn’t.
The pair had done a lot of healing over the last six weeks, and you could tell that they were partners now.
You usually didn’t see one without the other.
Dean was even going to SAR meetings with Neo and me, learning right alongside us.
“Dean,” Dean’s lawyer said. “Can you tell us about the time that Brooke hurt your arm? Broke it?”
Dean nodded warily and started with his story.
But Brooke’s ugly snort and “what the fuck ever’” had the judge turning to her and saying, “One more outburst, and you’re out of my courtroom. We don’t need you here to sentence you.”
Oh, boy.
“Sorry, sir,” Brooke said, overly sweet.
Two-faced bitch.
“Continue, Dean,” his lawyer urged.
Dean continued, but this time, Brooke wasn’t the one to interrupt, but Nadine.
“Dean, honey. Let’s be honest here.”
This fucking bitch.
“Silence!” the judge barked. “Both of you, enough. Dean, kiddo. You’re good for today. You can leave the room.”
Dean’s lawyer and Van stood up.
Dean caught Neo’s leash and they headed down the length of the walkway toward the door.
Brooke, however, thought she was going to get a little hit in on the way and reached out for him.
But Neo was there, snapping and snarling, throwing himself at her before she could touch Dean.
Brooke screamed.
It was barely heard over Neo’s snarls.
“Shit,” I said as I stood.
“Neo,” I called out. “Come here, Neo.”
Neo stopped instantly and backed away.
Brooke was on the ground crying, her face flushed. “He’s a monster!”
“A dog like that shouldn’t be around my child!” Nadine cried out. “He could hurt him!”
Van snorted. “Neo was protecting Dean from a woman you brought into your own son’s life. You’re currently on trial for your stupidity when it comes to your own child. I think if anyone’s going to throw stones here, it shouldn’t be you.”
Van walked out with Dean. Dean’s lawyer followed.
Neo was still at my side.
“Have a seat, Mrs. Ryan.”
I did, bringing Neo to my side.
He laid down on my feet and went quiet.
The courtroom was silent for a long moment before the judge said, “From here on out, we’re going to let the jurors listen to the video that was recorded citing Dean’s abuse at the hands of Brooke and Nadine Wood.”
“But…” Brooke and Nadine’s lawyer stood up, about to object. But the judge pointed at her. “You can’t control your clients, you don’t get to decide how this is done. I will not have a child traumatized any more than he already was because you have abominations as clients.”
The video played, and you could hear the emotion in his voice as Dean spoke. You could also hear Dean’s heartbreak and confusion.
The reason the video wasn’t going to be used was due to Nadine’s lawyer thinking the raw emotion in the video would sway the jurors’ feelings toward their client.
We hadn’t put up a fight about it because Dean and Dean’s therapist said that he could testify.
Hours later, as the clock struck four, the judge took the papers from the jurors.
He read both, then leveled a look on Nadine and started to read. “Failure to report, child endangerment, child abuse, aiding and abetting…”
The judge read off what Nadine was charged with before saying, “The jury finds you guilty on all counts.”
Nadine let out a little hiss of sound.
“Brooke Woods,” the judge drawled, a small smile in his voice. “On the counts of…”
I closed my eyes and buried my face in my hands as I listened to all of her charges.
Then I smiled behind my hands as the judge said, “Finds you guilty on all charges.”
“This is fucking bullshit!” Brooke hollered.
“Brooke, you have forty-five years.” The judge leveled a look at her before turning to Nadine. “Nadine, you have twenty-nine.”
I stood up and walked out of the room with Neo, a huge fucking smile on my face.
When I got out there, I found my deputy in uniform standing there with his arms crossed next to his brother. Dean was on his knees looking out the window at a moose that was in the courtyard of the court building.
“Well?” Van and Gentry asked.
I threw up my hands and yelled, “Guilty, baby!”