Page 164 of Double Bucked

Arris snaps something in Russian. I make out the word Wolfpack and a string of something that doesn’t sound all that pretty.

The tall one traces his finger along the rope. “Nice knots,” he says. He cocks his head to his quiet partner. “He could give you some lessons.”

The other man frowns. “We’ll take it from here.”

Which is a relief to hear. I’m tapped out.

I start to get up, but my legs buckle. The quiet man catches me. “You okay?”

“Yep.” My side is burning up. I clutch it. It’s wet. I peel my palm back and spot marks of red, spilling out through a hole in my shirt.

“Ah. Crap.”

I guess Arris didn’t miss all of his shots.

My knees give. I’m glad I’m in strong arms. Gently, the guy lowers me to the ground. “Slowly, cowboy.”

I hear myself murmur, “Damn…lucky…bandana…”

I see the moon, staring down at me. All pearly white and full. I hope Claire and Everett are seeing this moon. What a beautiful night to kick the bucket, I think.

Then my lights go out.

57

CLAIRE

Two weeks later.

It’s dark when Ransom comes home from the hospital.

We’re lit by the hanging lamps around the Preacher estate, but the light is still dim, and we’re delicate guiding Ransom inside.

I hold his crutches at the bottom of the steps. Everett has his arm around the other man, helping him up to the front door.

“Would you quit babying me?” Ransom complains. “I’m a grown-ass man.”

“A grown-ass man with a bullet wound in his abdomen,” Everett corrects. “One more step.”

We make it inside. Even with Everett’s support, Ransom is limping. His face has lost some color, and he grunts, “Okay…set me down…”

Everett carefully helps him into one of the lounge chairs left in the living room. I set his crutches up beside him.

The light walk from the truck to the house has Ransom breathless. He rests for a second, his eyes scanning the room. “I like what you two’ve done with the place.”

It’s all in a bit of…disarray. Drop cloth over furniture. Chairs stacked on chairs.

A lot has happened since the Belleflower Festival.

After Arris Dagney “mysteriously vanished” into the custody of the Wolfpack Operatives, the FBI swooped in and picked apart the scraps of what was left of the Benefactors’ Society. Men and women in expensive suits walked out with their heads down and their hands cuffed behind their backs. Loren Dagney was rolled out on a gurney, screaming the whole way. He’ll live to see his day in court.

Something I won’t be witness to. The Preacher Ranch was purchased in full by one Everett Hollow and then promptly sold again for the high price of a nickel to Maeve Belladonna Katherine with the stipulation that she do whatever the hell she wants with it.

I’m washing my hands clean of Belleflower, Daddy’s demons, and the haunted walls of this house. And I have three one-way plane tickets to France to prove it.

I crouch down in front of Ransom. I slip my hands over his thighs and look up at him.

“We can wait,” I tell him. “Give you some time to heal. There’s no rush…”

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