Page 33 of Recklessly in Love

I take another sip of coffee and slowly set my cup down before leaning forward on my elbows. “The town council?” She nods encouragingly. “Total bullshit. Unincorporated towns don’t have town councils, Mia. Those old fuckers are frauds.”

Mia gasps. “No way!”

“Way,” I respond before eating more pie.

Mia slams a fist on the table. “Assholes! Holy fucking shit!”

I can’t help but laugh a little. She must be really pissed. She rarely curses this much.

Rae steps out of the back, drying her hands on a dishtowel. “Is everything okay out here?” she asks, her brows bunched together in concern.

“No,” Mia says vehemently. “Did you know the supposed town council isn’t legitimate?”

Rae’s brow furrows farther in confusion. “I don’t understand,” she replies.

“Alpine Ridge isn’t technically a town, right?” I offer, babystepping her through the information. Rae nods, though she still looks confused. “If it’s not a town, it can’t have a council.”

Rae’s mouth pops open. “Well fuck me sideways,” she murmurs. “I never thought about that.” She shakes her head slowly as her features pinch together in anger. “Those old bastards sure have some explaining to do.”

I nod smugly. “They sure do. Any idea where we can find them?” I look between Mia and Rae.

Rae lifts her chin. “Now that I’m working for Mia, Jerry has to handle my old afternoon shift at the tavern. He’s been lording his town council member status over everyone for as long as I can remember. How about we close up a bit early and go have a little chat with him?”

Mia and I exchange a look. “Let’s do it,” Mia agrees.

After a quick clean-up, Mia shepherds us out, flips the sign on the door to “closed,” and locks up. Mia peeks into the wellness center but comes back shaking her head.

“Nate’s working with someone. We’ll tell him later,” she says.

“I’ll drive,” Rae offers, gesturing to a well-kept older Bronco.

We pile in, and Rae guns the engine a little more than is necessary.

“Easy there,” I tease. “Maybe we should pick one of us to take point so we don’t all rip his throat out at once.”

“I vote for you, Jo,” Mia says immediately. “Not only did you make this discovery, but I’ve seen you go after someone on the witness stand.”

I smirk but wait for Rae’s response. She nods in confirmation. “If I open my mouth, nothing good will come out of it,” she mutters.

She navigates down the road and into the tavern’s parking lot, pulling smoothly into a spot and cutting the engine.

“All right, let’s do this,” Mia says darkly.

The three of us march into the tavern, and Rae jerks her chin toward an old guy behind the bar. Jerry.

I zero in on him, prowling forward with Mia and Rae flanking me.

He looks to be in his mid-sixties, with dark grey hair neatly clipped short. He’s wearing a faded blue and grey plaid shirt tucked into old Wranglers. His light brown eyes scan me from head to toe as I approach, but not in a skeevy way—more like assessing. Given my company and manner of approach, I can tell he senses something is up, not to mention the fact that I wore a starched blue button-up blouse and black slacks to at least look like I meant business.

“Hello, Rae,” he says, addressing her first. Then he looks at Mia and dips his chin. “Mia.” His eyes flick back over me. “Who’s your friend?”

I slide a business card out of my pocket and deposit it on the bar. “I’m Joanie Morris, a corporate law attorney. I have some questions for you about the town council,” I begin, not bothering with small talk.

He shifts uncomfortably. “What about it?”

“Is it true that you and your fellow ‘council members’ —” I throw heavy sarcasm into the words and add air quotes to give a nice, bitchy edge to it “— have been purporting to legally represent Alpine Ridge?”

Jerry’s neck turns red, and he stops toweling off the beer mug he’d been drying. “Well, I … that is to say …” he splutters.

---