Page 60 of Moon's Promise

“Don’t talk that mumbo jumbo to me when we both know you can do whatever the fuck you want. At least be a man about it and admit you don’t want me to.”

“That’s not what I’m saying,” he denied. “I’m not going to lose my badge because you don’t want to wait a couple of days to get approval.”

“Who’s going to take them in the meantime?” Crazy Bitch asked, her body tense as if she could change Knox’s mind by sheer force of will.

“I don’t know yet. I haven’t made the call. I was waiting for the doctor to come out, so I know if the two young ones need to be hospitalized. I wanted to talk to the mother as well, to see if she has any relatives who could take them. I was trying to buy some time before notifying CPS. If a relative is willing to take them in, they might not have to go into foster care.”

Knox looked at Larissa. “Did Eryn give you emergency contacts?”

“Yes.” Larissa nodded. “Her husband, Dusty. You could contact him maybe.”

Knox shook his head. “He’s going to be under investigation for manufacturing and distributing drugs. A couple of the men I arrested say Dusty was involved, too. I won’t have all the facts until I have the opportunity to interview them, but that isn’t going to help the kids out until I finish my investigation.”

Crazy Bitch folded her arms across her chest, tapping her foot impatiently. “I’m standing here. I can take them.”

“Lennon says”—Larissa nodded her head toward the young girl sitting to the side—“Eryn is her aunt. That could be a possibility you could look into.”

“I can’t get her to talk to me.”

“Maybe I can find out more if I talk to her,” Ginny suggested.

Knox shrugged. “At this point, anything we find out could be helpful.”

The door opening from the treatment area drew everyone’s attention. Lana walked over to where they were standing.

“Dr. Price is about to move Eryn to the maternity ward. The baby is being checked out, but so far, his stats look good. She wants to talk to you,” Lana told her.

Larissa immediately started toward the door. She entered the emergency room and found Eryn sleeping.

Not wanting to wake her, Larissa started to leave.

“Larissa.”

She moved to Eryn’s bedside and took her hand. “How are you doing?”

“I’ve been better,” she replied wryly. “This isn’t exactly how we planned for me to have my baby, is it?”

Larissa studied her seriously. “No, it wasn’t.”

“I always manage to screw everything up, despite how hard I try not to.”

“Sometimes, life gets out of our control.”

Eryn turned her head away on the pillow. “Then sometimes, we end up in the bed we deserve.”

“Don’t say that. No woman deserves to be hurt by their partner.”

“I knew Tanner was bad news for me.” She gave a bitter laugh. “I just couldn’t stay away from him. Everything got out of hand after Dusty left. Tanner might have been better in bed, but Dusty had the brains. Everything went to shit when he took over. He wanted us to leave Treepoint. He said the only reason they hadn’t been caught was they weren’t selling to anyone in town. I gave him the excuse to leave when Tanner told him about us, but I knew he was terrified of The Last Riders. He kept saying they would kill us if they found about us.”

Larissa’s heart had started pounding when she’d mentioned The Last Riders.

“That’s a harsh accusation for him to make. Did he say why he was so scared of them?”

“No. Some things, he would tell me about; others, he and Tanner kept it to themselves.”

“I’m sure he was doing whatever to keep you safe.”

“I don’t know anymore.” Eryn looked down at where she was holding her hand. “I figured you wouldn’t want to talk to me after you found out all the lies I told you.”

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