Chapter Fifty-Seven #2
“We felt like we could handle it without her having to miss her game, but she did help considerably,” Fiona explained. “My turn.” She hugged me tight. “We rescued you.”
“That’s my mate,” I said proudly. “And my pack.”
“You’d do the same for us, man.” Dusty hugged me. Saoirse nodded.
I looked at Big Tad and nodded. “Thank you.”
“Of course.” He nodded back. “I worried when you never came back for your dog. Then Candy mentioned that your truck was just sitting at the Titty Tank, which made me worry more, especially with Clegg hassling you.”
“That’s exactly what happened. Clegg was upset I wouldn’t sell him the formula. So, he kidnapped me,” I explained. “He was the one who broke into our house and the lab.
“Shit, that was him?” Tad asked.
“The formula for what?” The cop’s eyebrows rose.
“Something I developed. I go to Briar University in Research Circle. Clegg wanted it for the wrong reasons. He didn’t listen when I said I couldn’t sell it to him,” I replied.
We gave him our IDs as a fire truck pulled up. I could still see the flames through the trees. The smell of smoke was strong.
Police came and got our official statements, and an EMT checked us out, as another fire truck came through.
I texted Mercy and let her know they’d rescued me.
“You ladies are lucky you didn’t get hurt, next time leave it to the professionals,” one of the officers said.
Saoirse caught his eye and gave him a lethal look.
But considering she’d shot people up, it might be better for them to think she wasn’t capable. Not sure they were going to look too hard at everything, anyway.
Which was for the better.
“I’m going to need to talk to somebody about whatever was in the lab.” A woman in a lab coat with a county badge came over.
“I know what they were trying to make,” I replied. I went with her and answered her questions.
Fiona and Carlos stayed close to me, and no one objected.
“It's technically not illegal,” I added. “It was formulated very specifically to be grey-area and not show up on the collegiate drug tests for athletics. But don’t worry, it’s going off the market, because it’s been sold to Compass BioTek.”
As I answered a few more questions, I realized they were much more worried about the toxicity than any shooting that had happened. Smoke, as well as the scent of chemicals and burning booze, hung heavily in the air.
“Was anyone hurt?” I asked, feeling bad about the explosion. I’m pretty sure I knocked over one of the lights when I tripped, which then set something on fire, and caused things to blow up.
“There are some injuries, but no fatalities,” she replied.
Okay, that was good.
When we finished, we sat on the tailgate of my truck. I wrapped a blanket around Fiona, Carlos, and me. Saoirse and Dusty talked with Big Tad. I’d fill Grace in tomorrow, in case she needed to send a cease and desist letter to Clegg.
“Can we go now? It's cold,” Fiona whined.
“Officer, when can we go? I'd like to take my pack home,” I asked.
“I’ll check on it.” The officer left.
It didn’t look like anyone was in any trouble for coming to get me. Thank goodness.
I held Fiona to me. “You looked so fucking sexy back there.”
“I’m always fucking sexy.” She grinned.
“True.” I turned to Carlos. “You, too.”
My pack came for me. Amazing.
Dusty had Saoirse in his arms as he murmured to her softly.
She rolled her eyes and gave him a little push. “Fine.”
“All right, you can go, but I don’t know if you should leave town.” The officer came back.
“We’ll be leaving town because we live in New York,” Fiona replied.
“Yeah, I gotta meet up with Grace in the morning, it's really important, but we’ll answer our phones. You got all our numbers, right?” I asked the officer.
He sighed. “Yes, we’ve got your numbers. We appreciate your help in catching these moonshiners. They usually operate on the very edge of the law, but kidnapping crosses that. Him getting into drugs is a little disconcerting. Though you need to stay out of that, you got that, son?”
“Yes, sir. I have a pack now. I am absolutely legit,” I replied. I turned to Tad. “Thank you so much. Do you need a ride back to the house?”
Tad shook his head. “I have my truck. Your pack’s real nice. Shit, I’ve been hanging out with famous people. Y’all staying the night?”
“There’s a train in a little bit if you want to head back tonight,” Carlos said.
“Fine with me, but I need to get my shit,” I replied. Yeah, I’d like to go home.
“That sounds good to me,” Fiona said, putting her arm around me. From the lust I was getting from both of them, I had a feeling they wanted a little something.
I wanted them, too. This had been scary.
“All right, let's get my truck. We’ll get my stuff and we’ll go home,” I said.
Fiona cupped my face with her hand. “You didn’t run away, right?”
Shaking my head, I put my hand over hers. “While I doubted myself and I’ll probably doubt myself more, I wasn’t running away. I might need a little space to think sometimes, but I will never run away. Promise.”
Saoirse gave her a look that said, See, I told you.
“You didn’t actually think I was running away, did you?” Worry coursed through me.
She shook her head. “No. But when you go missing, it’s hard to imagine you’re not, because you have a good reason to run away. This is a lot and things didn’t go your way today, which can seem daunting. Also, you were probably just trying to get out of dinner with my dads tomorrow, right?”
I laughed. “Never. I’m sorry if I scared you. My mentor and I figured a lot out. Also, I still have time before classes start. I have to stop letting the parents get in my head.”
“You know a good way to not let your parents in your head?” Saoirse asked. “You block them. Best thing I ever did.”
“That might not be a bad idea, and I should start that therapy. We should probably do that pre-pack formation counseling too,” I added.
“Those are all excellent things. Can I meet my surprise? It’s a puppy, right? That’s what Big Tad said.” Fiona bounced up and down as we got into the truck
“Yeah, I got our pack a puppy. Everyone else contributed to the house, and I wanted to as well. I can’t wait for you to meet him,” I replied as I got into the front seat.
Carlos tossed me the keys as he, Fiona, and Saoirse squished in the back. Dusty sat up front.
“A puppy! So excited,” Fiona replied.
Yeah, that was just what my pack needed.
“Can I have one?” Dusty held up the box of honey buns.
“Go for it. I bought them to share. They’re my favorite.” I held out my hand, and he gave me one.
He took a honey bun and passed the box back.
“Oh, I like these,” Carlos agreed as he shared one with Fiona.
Exhaustion hit me as the adrenaline died down. I’d like my bed–with them in it. At least we were all safe. As for everything else, well, that was tomorrow’s problem.