Page 29 of Bombshell

“It’s been four days. I gave him ten,” I told him.

“Why exactly did you decide on ten?” Liam scowled.

“Told you, Pres, Acree had Pepper’s best friend with him,” Brick said. “Micah was a little thrown off by it.”

Which Liam would know if he spent less time in Ocala with his grandkid and more time here. I didn’t say that though. Wasn’t my place.

“That’s the girl we have Ringer guarding?”

“And me,” Brick added. “But, yeah, Ringer is there right now.”

“Why ain’t Micah over there, babysitting, seeing as it’s Pep’s best friend?” Jars asked, leaning his beefy arms on the table.

“’Cause she’s pretty as a peach and Micah wants to fuck her,” Tex said, grinning.

“I don’t want to fuck her,” I corrected him, although that wasn’t completely true.

I’d about decided I might be wrong about her being slow. She wasn’t like I remembered when she had been younger. She had a quick wit I hadn’t expected. She didn’t stare at me silently anymore either.

“I say we shorten the ten days. Might as well make it seven for shits and giggles. I want to hurt the son of a bitch,” Grinder suggested.

“You seen the fucking news? Another hurricane formed, and we’re in the cone. Be a few days yet though before it lands,” Brick told him. “Probably don’t want to start any wars when we might need to be boarding up and prepping for a full house here soon.”

“When are we not in the cone?” Tex asked. “Tis the fucking season. No need to get worked up over it. Let’s go find the bastard and end this bullshit. If Dolly wants to mess around with him when we’re done, that’s on her.”

“This hurricane is promising to be a big one,” Brick said.

“We will wait and see what the hurricane is gonna do, and then we hunt him down and get our money, or we send in the family. He’s been warned,” Liam said. “Now, what’s the update on Toxic Throttle’s refurb? And has the case been settled with that bitch who was claiming sexual assault when she was caught taking from the register?”

I watched Tex take in another long pull from the cigarette and fought the urge to reach over and snatch it from his hand and inhale. I was ready for church to be over. I had my own list of shit to handle. Starting with one of the dancers claiming she had gotten knocked up by a prospect and demanding the club pay for her abortion.

I knew the first thing I was going to do when I walked out of here was call Dolly. I was finding myself needing to hear her voice, and I wanted to believe it was just because she was important to Pepper and nothing more. If I was honest with myself, I liked the sound of her voice, and listening to her talk soothed me. I was keeping my distance, but I found myself calling her more often than I should.

Last night, I’d talked to her on the phone for far longer than necessary. Just listening to her go on about her job, Mrs. Mildred, and her attempt to get Harold to sleep on her sofa had distracted me from everything else.

She made me laugh. That was all this could be about. I just had to make sure I stayed away.

15

Dolly

After climbing out of Ringer’s truck, I waved goodbye and thanked him before heading toward the apartment building. The past four days, Brick had been outside my apartment when I went to bed and woke up. Ringer arrived to take me to work, then brought me back. There had been no more calls or texts from Canyon, but Micah, on the other hand, was calling me at least once, sometimes twice a day.

After the gun incident, when I had freaked out on him, he’d stayed away, but he checked on me. Asked me about my day and listened when I started rambling on about what all had happened. He even laughed and seemed to be enjoying my need to give him more information than he required.

“I’d better stay here.” I heard Brick’s voice talking to someone at the top of the stairs. “No, I can’t do that. Not without Micah’s approval. You’ll need to call in Tex to help out,” he said.

There was no other voice, and I realized he was talking on the phone. I wasn’t sure if I should interrupt him or not. I had planned to tell him I was going to see Mrs. Mildred. She hadn’t been home the last time I had stopped by to help with her bills, and they were due now. I knew that much.

“Micah claims she’s slow. He’s not messing with her. Shut that shit down. The boy hasn’t even been over here in days,” he said in a low voice that I could still hear clear as a bell, seeing as the building was quiet.

I gripped the handrail hard and stood there, letting his words sink in. Slow? What did he mean, Micah said I was slow? I felt bile rise in my throat as my stomach turned.

“She’s a sweet girl. Too damn sweet for him. Don’t know if she’s slow or not, but if Micah wants to think so, it’ll keep him from fucking her.”

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly, then backed away to stand where I couldn’t be seen if he looked down here. Placing a hand on my stomach, I tried to talk myself out of being hurt.

It didn’t matter what Micah Abe thought about me. I shouldn’t care at all. It had been years since anyone had accused me of having some mental deficiencies. I’d proven them all wrong.

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