Chapter 42
I think this must be what people who believe in God feel like. Only, I have no need for blind faith when the subject of mine exists right in front of me.
All those years waiting…I’d do it all again.
Aiden and I stand toward the back of the room at the end of what has been a perfect day, close enough that I can feel the warmth rolling off him more than I can feel it from the rest of the bar.
Both of us watch the dancers up on stage, grinning as we see Lula give Sammy a cheeky wave whenever she looks up from behind the bar.
“How long have they been together?” Aiden asks between songs.
“They aren’t.”
“Why not?”
“Sammy is shy,” I explain, biting the inside of my cheek at Aiden’s sudden concern with local gossip. “Or so I’ve been told.”
“She obviously likes her,” he argues. “She doesn’t look at anyone else all night. What’s she nervous for?”
I shake my head, my eyes straying toward the ceiling in search of a more perfect display of irony. “Couldn’t tell you, wolf.”
I glance around the room, for once not because I’m looking to join a game, just looking for a couple open seats. When I spy a few, I tentatively place my hand on his lower back and point their direction. “You want to have a seat?”
He frowns. “Someone could see us.”
“Someone could see us here, too,” I point out, removing my hand from him since our current spot, while inconspicuous, is not invisible.
“I don’t want people to…” He sighs, and my stomach drops, leaving me wondering if he’s going to say he doesn’t want to be seen with me. If, as much as I’d like to tease him for feeling nervous with me, I’m much better.
He’s going to see. If we keep going like this, he’s going to end up seeing that I’m—
“I don’t want people to see me,” I hear him say as I stare at his perfect face. “I don’t want to deal with the questions.”
“The questions?” I repeat, not following.
“About who I was before,” he explains, and I swear my knees almost buckle from the relief as he leans his shoulder into mine and keeps talking. “This is nice. Back here. Just us.”
I love you, I think, still staring at him though his attention is back on the stage. I’m so much in love with you that I feel like it could kill me, and I don’t even care.
“It is nice,” I say instead. “Just us.”
If only it could last… My gaze is drawn away from him as I see Dolly striding across the room while talking to someone, clear concern etched into her expression before she grabs for her shotgun behind the bar and walks toward the front door.
“Aiden,” I mutter, and he immediately turns, seeing the same thing and already reaching for his own gun.
No one else notices us go, the music and the party still in full swing behind us while we pause on opposite sides of the main door to listen and check our weapons. Outside, I can hear talking, raised voices, one of them Dolly’s.
Aiden and I exchange a glance, and for a moment it looks like there’s something he wants to say before he nods and holds up three fingers to count.
Three. Two. One. When he lowers the last one, we burst through the door in perfect sync with guns drawn, one in Aiden’s hand and two in mine, but based on the crowd already assembled, it’s not nearly enough.
While Dolly stands alone, there’s fifteen men on horseback facing her out in front of her place, all of them armed and all of them looking particularly unhappy to see us, although none more than the one near the middle…who still has a good amount of earth on him.
Upon seeing us, Tom starts for his gun, but another man holds up his hand for him to stand down as Dolly does the same with us. Both sides begrudgingly follow orders, but Aiden steps closer to me, positioning himself so that he’s slightly in front.
“That was fast,” Aiden murmurs, looking at Tom, too.
“They must have already been searching for him as he said,” I guess.
“Him, or the money,” Aiden agrees. “You burn it yet?”
“Not yet.”
“Should have burned it all with the body. Two birds…”
This time, I can’t help myself. “I find you incredibly attractive. Do you know that?”
Aiden smirks as he shakes his head, about to respond when Dolly turns toward the two of us. “Finished?”
I give her a small smile. “Hope not.”
The look she gives both of us is once again exasperated but also undeniably adoring.
“Dolly,” the man in the center who had held up his hand calls her back, and I’d guess he’s the boss, based on how he’s the only one not in the strict brown-coat-red-bandana-brown-hat uniform.
Well, he is, but his hat and coat are far, far nicer.
“As much as I respect you, I won’t allow one of your people to steal from me. ”
“Afraid you will, Jim,” Dolly replies easily. “You know the rules.”
“I have my own rules.”
“Then you ought to start enforcing them. Or use better discretion when picking your people,” she counters. “Two of them came into my place last night and thought to attack one of my girls. Whatever they misplaced while being escorted from the premises is not my problem.”
“Escorted?” Tom pipes in before pointing over Dolly’s shoulder in our direction. “That one killed John. And the other left me for the coyotes.”
“Could’ve done worse,” Aiden replies, voice chilly. “Still can.”
“I do like him,” Dolly murmurs, looking back toward me. “He surprises you.”
“Thanks,” Aiden mutters, not sounding sure if it’s a compliment.
Ahead of us, the men on horseback appear to be growing antsy, exchanging glances as the boss moves a bit closer. “I’m not leaving without my money.”
“You will be, as I don’t have your money,” Dolly says, sounding tired.
“But I do have it on good authority that your boys were planning on skipping out on you.” She tips her head toward Tom.
“The only reason that one ended up crawling back is because he had nowhere else to crawl. You want someone to blame, then you have him right there in your ranks.”
“That true?” Jim asks, turning to Tom, who seems less brave than he had a minute ago. “Were you and Johnny skipping out with my money?”
“No, boss, wouldn’t do that. She’s lyin’. We were on our way back like I said. Just stopped here for the night is all. That one—” Tom points a finger at me. “He’s the one who took the money. He told me he swiped it from under the bed.”
“Under the bed.” Jim’s tone is full of barely concealed rage. “You hid my money under a bed while you went drinkin’? How stupid are you?”
Tom shrinks into himself, and I mutter, “Told you,” loud enough for him to hear before Aiden and Dolly both give me warning looks over their shoulders.
“Dolly,” Jim calls. “I know none of us want this to end in a massacre.” Quite a few of his men appear to disagree with that, something he doesn’t notice as his gaze slides to me. “Get him to turn over my money, and we’ll be gone. No retribution.”
Once again, Jim’s men look like they would very much like to disagree but Dolly beats them to it, simply saying, “No.”
“No?” Jim questions.
“No.”
“You’re really going to—”
“No, you are really going to gather up your band of morons and leave. Now. Unless you want to make an enemy of me.” Dolly fixes each of the men on horseback with a glare as they sneer back. “That clear?”
“This is not a discussion,” Jim replies, raising his voice rather than getting the hint. “You will turn him over.”
This time, Dolly doesn’t reply. She simply raises a hand, and on cue, every window on the first and second floor of her building opens to reveal the long barrel of a rifle in each, all aimed and ready.
In response, Jim’s face pales, he and his men finally taking a wise step back.
“You come for him…” Dolly says, coldly. “You so much as harm a hair on his head, and I will make sure that every single one of you dies a very slow and very painful death. Whatever death your man received last night will look like a mercy. Clear enough now?”
Without hesitation this time, Jim nods. The rest of them do, too.
“Enjoy the rest of your evening, boys,” Dolly tells them, all smiles again. “And get the hell off my property.”